Shin Megami Tensei

[black orb]

far more high school.

>>> They are scary for that exact reason..

[Wolf Kanno]

Fair enough, we won't argue the details, but I actually like that there is no "good" choice cause it's not about the people involved it's about what these factions represent. I mean even if you were to make them into political factions, Law is basically a Police State, Chaos is the collapse of society, and Neutral is just some form of government that lies in between. All three have their good and bad points cause the police state is kind means people will not have to worry about crime or violence at the cost of personal independence, chaos grants personal independence at the cost of security and the constant threat of violence, and neutral is a nice balance but it utterly imperfect and will eventually lead to the forces believing in the other two paths to rise again. Having to witness all three in their worst point makes the choice harder but genuine. The world is not black and white or good and evil, it's mostly just filled with ideas that some people created to make the world better and others use to make it worse for the rest of us. I can get behind that.

[Wolf Kanno]

far more high school.

>>> They are scary for that exact reason..

Only three of those characters are high school students. Besides you should see their original designs...

persona2pb.JPG

[black orb]

>>> You guys have not convinced me of the true greatness of "Shin Megami Tensei" yet..
Come on, show me something..

[Wolf Kanno]

I've been wanting to post this for awhile even if it's from the anime.

[Del Murder]

I love this genre but I can't seem to get into this series. Why is this? It baffles me how much people whose tastes I usually agree with love these games.

[Wolf Kanno]

Which ones have your played, maybe you just need the right game.

[Del Murder]

Persona 3 Portable and Devil Survivor. In P3P I put in about 40 hours until I got sick of how repetitive it is. In DS I didn't even get into a battle. I don't quite remember why. Either the intro was too long or the story and art style just weren't doing it for me, or a better game came along.

[Wolf Kanno]

Eh, I think you've heard my feelings about P3P, I feel it loses a lot of it's immersion due to the UI. Still fair enough of it feels repetitive. I also have mixed feelings about Devil Survivor which is a fun game but the story and characters are a turn off.

Nocturne or SMTIV are pretty light on character and story, instead it's the fact it plays like Pokemon with demons that should be enticing.

Digital Devil Saga is the closest to a traditional JRPG outside of the older Persona games in that it's emphasis is on characters and story. It also has a really nifty customization system and utilizes Nocturne's Press Turn system.

If P3 isn't doing it for you, maybe try out Persona 4 instead because it does a bit more to break up the monotony of Tartarus and their are more things to do in the real world as well to keep you busy. It's plot is also a bit more involving from the get -go than P3's which even I'll admit is a slow burn until almost halfway through.

[Skyblade]

Fair enough, we won't argue the details, but I actually like that there is no "good" choice cause it's not about the people involved it's about what these factions represent. I mean even if you were to make them into political factions, Law is basically a Police State, Chaos is the collapse of society, and Neutral is just some form of government that lies in between. All three have their good and bad points cause the police state is kind means people will not have to worry about crime or violence at the cost of personal independence, chaos grants personal independence at the cost of security and the constant threat of violence, and neutral is a nice balance but it utterly imperfect and will eventually lead to the forces believing in the other two paths to rise again. Having to witness all three in their worst point makes the choice harder but genuine. The world is not black and white or good and evil, it's mostly just filled with ideas that some people created to make the world better and others use to make it worse for the rest of us. I can get behind that.

I agree with most of this. I just can't agree with where Yahweh and the heavenly host are placed on that scale, nor can I agree that mankind is better off without God.

I think that's part of why I love Persona so much more. All the forces, for good or ill, are human. The battles are with how humanity views the universe and copes with both the world and humanity's place in it. In addition to having what I consider better writing overall, I also much prefer this philosophical focus.


I also have to agree with Wolf that Persona IV does a lot better at breaking up the repetition of the setup than Persona 3 does. But I personally don't think the plot is as strong. It might be worth checking out the new Persona 3 movies when they're imported.

[black orb]

>>> Interesting.. I like demons and cats I think I saw one somewhere briefly.. I guess all these games are for Nintendo DS/3DS, thats bad news for me..

[Wolf Kanno]

Fair enough, we won't argue the details, but I actually like that there is no "good" choice cause it's not about the people involved it's about what these factions represent. I mean even if you were to make them into political factions, Law is basically a Police State, Chaos is the collapse of society, and Neutral is just some form of government that lies in between. All three have their good and bad points cause the police state is kind means people will not have to worry about crime or violence at the cost of personal independence, chaos grants personal independence at the cost of security and the constant threat of violence, and neutral is a nice balance but it utterly imperfect and will eventually lead to the forces believing in the other two paths to rise again. Having to witness all three in their worst point makes the choice harder but genuine. The world is not black and white or good and evil, it's mostly just filled with ideas that some people created to make the world better and others use to make it worse for the rest of us. I can get behind that.

I agree with most of this. I just can't agree with where Yahweh and the heavenly host are placed on that scale, nor can I agree that mankind is better off without God.

I think that's part of why I love Persona so much more. All the forces, for good or ill, are human. The battles are with how humanity views the universe and copes with both the world and humanity's place in it. In addition to having what I consider better writing overall, I also much prefer this philosophical focus.

Fair enough, though I feel the opposite, I like that the mainline games feel a bit heavier and deal with more controversial material. It shows the series sticks to it's punk roots I guess. Not that I dislike Persona since I am very much of the mind that as the series shows time and time again, mankind will most likely be the cause of our species demise.

I also have to agree with Wolf that Persona IV does a lot better at breaking up the repetition of the setup than Persona 3 does. But I personally don't think the plot is as strong. It might be worth checking out the new Persona 3 movies when they're imported.

Well... when a version without a jacked up price finally gets released at least...

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/04/08...e-on-may-20th/

I love P3, but I'm not paying for this.

>>> Interesting.. I like demons and cats I think I saw one somewhere briefly.. I guess all these games are for Nintendo DS/3DS, thats bad news for me..

Actually, most of the games I posted are for the PS2.

PS2:
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
Devil Summoner 1 and 2 Raidou Kuzunohara series (has a cat)
Persona 3 and 4
Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 (the other one with a cat)

[black orb]

>>> PS2 is still bad news for me..

[Fynn]

Digital Devil Saga. Oh my God. How I adore that game You need to give it a shot, Scott!

Haven't really beaten anything of the main series, though :/ The closest I got was Strange Journey, which I had a blast with, but I got stuck at the end and I still want to beat it so eday. And yes, I do consider it a main entry, as it is most similar to the main series, unlike the spinoffs, which usually diverge more.

SMTI got a rerelease on iPhone now. Might give it a shot someday. Also thinking about trying Soul Havkers. IV wasn't even released here yet. And Lucifer's Call was so hard to get.

And you can't go wrong with Persona, that's for sure.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I'll eventually play through Persona 1 and 2. I wish there was a collection of all three of those games for the Vita. I'd play the PSP version for them aside from the one P2 game that is only on PS1 still.

I'm holding out hope that Digital Devil Saga will end up on PSN. I'd rather not hook up my PS2 if I can avoid it.