Shin Megami Tensei

[Serum]

Has anyone here played any of the Shin Megami Tensei titles? I got into them a few years ago and have been playing them for quite some time, now.

I know there's a bunch on handheld systems, but I hate handhelds so I only play the console games. I have the following ones...

Persona 3
Persona 3FES
Persona 4
Digital Devil Saga
Digital Devil Saga 2
Nocturne (Director's Cut with the Soundtrack CD.)

I'm going to be getting Devil Summoner and Devil Summoner 2 next month. As you can see, I'm pretty much sticking to the PS2 titles, though I do want to get the first two Persona games on PS1. The games are all pretty much the same story: you're a young person who somehow comes into contact with the forces of Hell and then goes on an adventure which ends up with you sucker-punching God, the Devil or the Angel of Death.

[Star Ma'am]

I have! Only some of them were released here in England but they certainly get my thumbs-up. I like to think of them as (to quote myself) 'a dark, twisted, Japan-based answer to Final Fantasy'. And yes, as I am a fan of Vega (from Street Fighter) my favourite Shin Megami Tensei enemy is the Matador

Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 were enjoyable but they were both 'epic fail on ice', but I completed Nocturne (Lucifer's Call here in England) when I was 22. I didn't give a rat's about the worlds which Chiaki and Isamu envisioned, and at first I almost figured the hero would create a new (and certainly favourable) world anyway but I was pleasantly surprised at the world being restored to normal!

I kept getting lost on Devil Summoner but I am planning on getting it again and seeing if I can correct my errors, and when a new games shop opened in my town last year yes I attended the grand opening - and as luck would have it, one of the games I snapped up was a US import of Devil Survivor (which I completed earlier this year, and I had the ending where the hero goes to war against God). Devil Summoner 2 went well -and no prizes for guessing what came to mind whenever the hero took those bullet trains from Tokyo to Osaka - but sadly it froze on me

Persona 3 (standard and FES) and 4 were also a case of me getting lost, but I found a copy of Persona 4 earlier this year so I decided to give it another chance - and this tempted me into getting Persona 3 and Persona 3 FES when I saw them being auctioned together on EBay. I'm doing pretty well on them but I keep getting more and more games which destract me (especially the lovely Odin Sphere!)

[Serum]

Persona 3 is by far by favorite of the series, it's a complex blend of science-fiction, urban fantasy and dramatic storytelling. It's one of the few games that I've actually felt an emotional connection to, and when it was over, I felt like I'd lived through the adventure the characters had pursued.

Persona 4, while a great game, doesn't hold the exact same momentum that its predecessor does, at least not for me. Whilst some of the characters are more likable than the ones in 3, the overall concept falls short of the widespread panic and occultism of the third game.

[Star Ma'am]

Well I like a variety of games, so it only felt natural to give Shin Megami Tensei a try. And yes I try my best to get the 'good'/'best' ending (i.e. restoring the world to normal) but if I get any otherwise endings, oh well!

And an interesting tidbit of when I played Nocturne: when I was on some floor puzzle (I've forgotten the exact area) and I ended up fighting Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos (as separate enemies; this is before the boss fight with them), I immediately realised that's the exact order in which you must fight them. How did I know? That's the order in which their names are listed in the BGM section on the old Genesis classic Columns

[Serum]

Well I like a variety of games, so it only felt natural to give Shin Megami Tensei a try. And yes I try my best to get the 'good'/'best' ending (i.e. restoring the world to normal) but if I get any otherwise endings, oh well!

The first time I beat Persona 4 I got the regular happy ending. I could have gone for the MEGA HAPPY ENDING but I decided to start a new data cycle. Either way, I just bought Nocturne and have started it, but haven't gotten far, yet. Tell me, is it on par with the other SMT titles?

[Star Ma'am]

Hmmmm yes, definitely! Very highly enjoyable game, some very annoying (but not impossible) puzzles and some cute demons as well as the freaky ones. Sadly my Pixie died because I loaned her for some mining thing, but I still had the gem thingy demon I bought at one of the shops. But do you want to restore the world to normal... or submit to the demons??

And with the added bonus of Dante (of Devil May Cry fame) as a guest character! Yes that did kind of add to what convinced me to give Nocturne a shot, yes Devil May Cry is all right though I'm not a MASSIVE fan - but believe me when I tell you, anyone who thinks I disacknowledge Capcom whenever I speak of Street Fighter (particularly the movie) really needs to look again!

[Serum]

I'm not really familiar with the Devil May Cry character Dante, other than he's (presumably) named after my favorite Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, who wrote The Divine Comedy, an epic poem trilogy about a man who gets to wander through Hell, Limbo and Paradise.

I know that the first part in his trilogy, Inferno, has been a huge inspiration to the Shin Megami Tensei titles, though. The whole idea of climbing the tower in various stages in Persona 3 is based on part two of The Divine Comedy, entitled Purgatorio. The idea being that Purgatory is a massive tower and vertical city with different stages of purging, preparing a soul for Heaven.

This is sort of reflected in Persona 3, in that by the time they get to the top of the Tower of Demise, they're ready to fight Nyx/Nyx Avatar/Ryoji/The Angel of Death.

[JayOfSuburbia]

Persona 3 in a nut shell: CLIMB THE TOWER, go to school. CLIMB THE TOWER, go to school. CLIMB THE TOWER!