What do you think I should do after P2 though? Go through the numbered SMT's in order?
Fair enough then. Thanks for the response. Of course I intend to start my foray into SMT with Persona 2 and i hear that's pretty linear. Nevertheless, if the plot is as amazing as I've been promised by people (including yourself!) I won't mind the linearity. Boggles my mind I've been planning to play P2 for like 3 years now... I am a horrible procrastinator.
MegaTen will give you that, though I will warn you that you're not always given the best choices. The Law Chaos aspect is not "Good or Evil" the series makes a point to show that both sides have their merits and their pitfalls. I'm not sure if I can say it will give you the same feel as a WRPG but they do allow your choices to have an effect on the world depending on the game.
To put myself in the PC's position basically. To think "what would I do?" and then pick the route that best suits me.
It depends on which entry we're talking about. Most SMT games stay consistent until the last third of the game, where your choices finally take hold and change the last part of it. It will change your goals, which bosses you fight and the ending. Also, the first two games will restrict which demons you can recruit based on your alignment. Chaos won't follow you if you're for team Law and vice versa. There is also the Neutral path, so really it is three paths. The alignment does slightly change how demons treat you as well as opening up certain sidequests in the newer entries. Nocturne is a bit unique because it has four main paths and then adds a alignment with two endings depending on how you do with it. While the fifth alignment doesn't have much bearing outside it's personal chapters, it does dramatically change the tone of the game to the player as it connects it better to the older entries. Persona has multiple endings but it largely comes down to making certain choices towards the end. The one exception is the first game, where getting the best ending requires you to make very specific choices throughout the game. It even has a section where making certain choices will actually change the entire plot of the game and you'll do a completely different story which has its own endings. I don't know what to say really, what level of roleplaying are you expecting?
Hey dude you've played a number of the SMT games, right? I'm curious about something. While I've been a JRPG fan all my life, more recently I've been playing almost exclusively WRPGs because I've become addicted to roleplaying as well as the power of choice. I love making decisions that effect teh plot, a rare concept in JRPGs that I've seen. However I know SMT has some of this but I'm not sure to what extent. I know it has some Law vs. Chaos route stuff but I'm not sure how much that effects things. like, does it only give you differetn endings or does it substantially change the game?
It's alright, I popped in and saw it. Felt I should give you an answer.
Well it is good to see you again. Hope you've been well. Kinda forgot all about my question to you forever ago. lol
Masato Kato was definitely affected by his time in Xenogears' development. My friends and I joked about that is why CC is so overly-philosophical because the team was scarred from the experience. I do like CC, but you have to remember I started with CT first, and while I'm cool with the direction CC went with the series and felt it was a smart move, I also feel that CC lost the strong emotional attachment that comes with having a strong cast of characters in exchange for being a bit deeper in it's plot and themes and I feel this is what separates it from CT and Xenogears that still had strong characters to push the story forward. Doesn't mean I don't like the game, it's just not one of my all-time-faves. Still give the game mad props for its game design though.
You know, it occurs to me the reason I might like Chrono Cross so much is just that I can see a "ghost" of Xenogears in it. So many similarities, so many obvious inspirations, and yet none of them were quite as well realized as their origins in Xenogears. I'm surprised you don't have a weakness for CC based on all of this. After all, we both loved XG and we're just some dumb kids on the other side of the planet. For Masato Kato, actually being there while Xenogears was being made, actually interacting and helping Takahashi and Saga, he must have been even more profoUndly influenced than you or I.
