Megami Tensei

Who plays it? Thoughts? Opinions? Blasphemous lies? Anyone else notice the total lack of occult themed games?

I'm afraid I've only played what's been released stateside. Persona 2: Innocent Sin (yes, I'm aware it's not part of the actual main Megaten series but we're going to generalize for the sake of simplifying this) Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne and I've played a bit of Digital Devel Saga: Avatar Turners.

Overall, I really love the series and the genre itself. I love it's ability to place the player in morally ambiguous situations that truly have no black or white answer. The demon designs are really amazing and the series has a wonderfully, original design.

I'll be getting DDS 1&2 as well as Nocturne for my birthday this March. I played the original Persona along time ago but, it's hard for me to remember much from that game.

LunarWeaver is playing through DDS 1 right now and from what he tells me, the high random battle rate is really hindering the overall game.

I agree, the high random encounters did get on my nerves a bit, and if the battle system were the traditional rubbish I would have given up on the game a long time ago.

However, once you can figure out the general monster weakness (having very diverse mantra helps a lot in this game) the battles are a lot more manageable, and you'll find once you hit the next area that you *need* all those battles to get stronger.

I last played DDS1 a few months ago, I was stuck because I just entered a new area (pretty sure it's near the end of the first game) where all the enemies are Almighty and can kill my guys--who can easily breeze through the previous stage--in less than 2 turns. I do have to go back and play it, because I have been keeping myself in suspense as far as the story goes and I want to see how it turns out.

Nocturne and DDS1 are my only exposure to 'MegaTen', but I really like how they've twisted the boring, traditional RPG combat formula. There's another one that came out recently (more like an action RPG), I'll probably get it if it gets to the Bargain Bin. I am looking forward to Persona 3 as well.

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Originally Posted by JKTrix

There's another one that came out recently (more like an action RPG), I'll probably get it if it gets to the Bargain Bin. I am looking forward to Persona 3 as well.

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That would be Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs.the Soulless Army. That's definitely one of the longest names for a game, ever.

I have Lucifers Call ( Nocturne ), Persona and Digital Devil Saga. Lucifers Call was pretty good, I prefered it alot more to DDS and Persona. DDS was also good, but Persona was pretty dull. I heard Persona 2 is better though.

I own and have played Nocturne. It's a good game but it tends to depress me, so I don't play it a lot and thus am not too far.

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Originally Posted by Dreddz

I have Lucifers Call ( Nocturne ), Persona and Digital Devil Saga. Lucifers Call was pretty good, I prefered it alot more to DDS and Persona. DDS was also good, but Persona was pretty dull. I heard Persona 2 is better though.

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Persona 2 is better but regretfully they never released both games outside of Japan. Only the second Persona 2 was released. It's a shame cause both games together tell an amazing story...

As for Persona 3, I'm wondering if it will be released outside of Japan. It has some obviously controversial elements to it. Like the fact your characters can only activate their Persona by putting a special gun to their heads and "shooting" them out. Throw in the fact it takes place in a boarding school and I can already see the "Mother's against everything we don't understand" committee throwing a little hissy fit.:rolleyes2

I've only played Devil summoner, which boared the hell out of me.

I played Nocturne until a giant stingray ghost jumped out at me and said something along the lines of "I'm gonna mess up ya face!" at which point I ejected the disc and shattered it with a full force punch.

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Originally Posted by Necronopticous

I played Nocturne until a giant stingray ghost jumped out at me and said something along the lines of "I'm gonna mess up ya face!" at which point I ejected the disc and shattered it with a full force punch.

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That is singley one of the greatest lines I've ever heard in my life. Thats going to be my new Custom user title.

Persona 3 is coming.

I've played the first Digital Devil Saga and I'm starting the second one today actually.

It is true that I whined to Mr. Rise about the high random encounter rate, and it still does bother me. And the dungeon design is nothing but a bunch of hallways, usually with trial and error puzzles, and you can get into battles every few steps sometimes. I know these are just the MegaTen way or whatever, but that doesn't mean it should stay.

The later parts of the game also spiked beyond difficulty into ridiculous. I love difficult RPGs because I find most in the genre all too easy. Generally, with the right skills set on your characters things are just fine, and I would go along with no trouble at all the majority of the time, but sometimes the enemies would get to go first and kill my entire party before I could even move. It was totally luck based. That's not lack of strategy that's making me lose... that's just over the top. I had First Strike set but alas...sometimes it would happen. Especially in that goddamn tower when all the bosses became random encounters at the end of it.

Okay, I've bitched and now it seems like I don't like it, but I still really do. Despite all that, I found myself totally addicted to it. The battle system is still very fun and once I got used to the feel of the dungeons I enjoyed them. The plot is original and I was so happy to see something grander than save the freakin' world. The demonic themes and designs of the monsters and world...the overall feel crafted is really great. I'm looking forward to playing the second one and I don't regret spending the moolah to buy the pair.

I'm getting burnt out on the RPG genre in general, and this was something different that I wanted. I'm most likely going to buy Persona 3 now. Hopefully before all 10 copies of it are gone since Atlus likes to do that.

Yeah, the tower where all the bosses become random encounters is where I last played my game :P Insane difficulty spike! I definitely intend to go back to it once I'm motivated, it's one of very few games that I'm close to finishing.

If it helps to motivate you Trix, the final boss is actually fairly easy once you've got it figured it out and go in prepared. Considering the rest of the game, that was a surprisingly easy battle. By the time I was at the final floors of the tower, I just said smurf it and started running from everything.

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Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno

It has some obviously controversial elements to it. Like the fact your characters can only activate their Persona by putting a special gun to their heads and "shooting" them out. Throw in the fact it takes place in a boarding school and I can already see the "Mother's against everything we don't understand" committee throwing a little hissy fit.:rolleyes2

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I know right. When I first saw Persona 3, I thought that as well. I think the whole occult darker theme is rather neat, but I could see people throwing a hissy fit over it. For a while, I wondered if they would bring it over for that reason and it kinda worried me.

But as time has gone by, so far nothing has even happened. I started to give it some thought, and really, the RPG genre is pretty much just left alone, especially from lesser known franchises and developers outside of Japan. The funny thing is, I guarantee if Persona 3 was made by Rockstar it would be banned in about 2 seconds. It just goes to show how little the politicians fighting so hard against games even know about the hobby. Persona 3 has more violence in it than anything Bully has, and both take place in a school, but look which one got all the silly controversy hooby-doo. Fighting a fight they don't even understand, le sigh...

I'm happy to hear Persona 3 is coming:)

As for DDS, is it as bad as Nocturne where towards the end of the game you run into creatures that reflect half the elements, physical attacks, and love to blast you with Almighty or instant death spells? Damn that got frustrating but it's story and world just pulled you in so you kept playing like you were in some kind of abusive relationship...

Concerning politicians not bothering with RPGs, that is fine with me cause god knows my beloved Xenogears, FFT, and MegaTen games would never had seen daylight over here... Let Rockstar take the heat if they are so inclined to stir up controversy. It allows controversial but overall better games to come in unnoticed.