Shin Megami Tensei/Persona

finalfantasist

Just searched, there seems to be a lack of talk here about the Shin Megami Tensei games. I'm sure that some of you may of heard of or played one of the Persona games but what of the other Shin Megami Tensei games?

(This topic brought to you curtesy of the fact that my copies of Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga and Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 2 arrived today)

Retr0gamer

They are like Final Fantasy except way better

I only really got into them when I started playing Persona 3 and I'm close to the end of that now but have started Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne (Lucifiers call in Europe) and it seems to be just as excellent as well if a little different. The Persona games were made to help the games appeal to a wider audience and are a little more cheerful than the utterly bleak main series and DDS games. They usually have really amazing and complicated stories, better than anything in the JRPG genre supposedly, mixed with superb battle systems and demon fusion. They are all really tough though.

There's a really good article on hardcore gaming 101 on the series but even it isn' up to date since devil survivor is out and strange journey is coming soon. They are always struggling to keep it up to date because of the amount of games in the series. It's my new favourite JRPG series.

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/megaten/megaten.htm

GothPunk

I actually just bought Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 as well yesterday. Despite the fact that I should really be playing Final Fantasy X and Persona 3, I decided to pop in DDS to see what it's like and having only played it for 2 hours I'm finding it very easy to love.

I think that there is a lot to love about the Shin Megami Tensei games, the art style, the music, the battle systems and the dark storylines. Of the few I have played so far (Persona 2, 3, 4 and DDS), I think DDS may end up being my favourite. What appeals to me most about DDS is the fact that not only does the battle system reward you for exploiting the enemies weaknesses (like FFX or Persona 3/4), but it also punishes you somewhat for getting things wrong, which keeps you on your toes that little bit more.

Considering that Atlus USA most likely do not spend that much money localising the games, I'm finding that of all the SMT games have excellent voice acting, which can be somewhat jarring and distracting in other games. I think that's something Atlus USA deserve a lot of praise for as it really adds to the appeal of these games to me.

I'm currently playing the english translation patch version of Persona 2: Innocent Sin on my PSP and it's possible that the game has the most unique battle system I've ever played. Being able to play a turn based RPG as you usually would, but also having the choice to charm the pants off or frighten the enemy and therefore getting them to help you is pretty funny.

It's a shame that I didn't discover the series sooner!

Retr0gamer

Charming the pants off or scaring demons into joining you has actually been the normal way of getting demons to join you since the first SMT game on the SNES. It was changed for Persona 3 onwards. DDS actually has the same battle system of SMT: Nocturne but I think DDS is the more story heavy of the two supposedly.

I also have to say that Atlus's localisation efforts are absolutely brilliant. They weren't always like that, their original Persona 1 translation was awful, but since the Persona 2 translation they have been excellent and have really exploited the niche market by bringing over very obscure games to the west. Just a pity they don't have a european office.

There's also a free Shin Megami Tensei MMO thats supposed to be quite good for a free MMO. Fully in english too. I've tried it but haven't been able to fully dedicate time to it. Persona 3 is taking all of that up

xeni

For all SMT lovers

http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/Shin_Megami_Tensei_Persona_PSP/index.html