FL Plays the Persona Series

[Forsaken Lover]

So I never did a write-up for Strange Journey either so why not put it all in one post. I can compare and contrast te games, my first two forays into this new JRPG franchise. (Not counting Persona 2)

I played both Nocturne and Strange Journey for about 80 hours. Yet there is only one of these two games I have any intention of replaying in the foreseeable future. Strange Journey was fun but the dungeons make it almost unthinkable for me to replay. That and it didn't exactly have the most compelling plot to kep me hooked. I've been told the SMT games are more about gameplay than story anyway but I still need some story to keep me going. Otherwise, this is just Pokemon and I always get bored of Pokemon and wander off.

Now all that being said, Strange Journey still had its good parts. The stuff to do with Angels and the "Law" route interested me. I appreciate we saw how Zelenin and Jimenez changed, even if it wasn't exactly the best written or most "subtle" thing ever. I think the game's central message of humans are the real monsters doesn't work too well though.

Nocturne's story to me was saved by the Labyrinth, the Lady in Black and Lucifer. I can't believe all that stuff was added in a later version. How were you supposed to know the identity of the little boy who gave you all your power in the original game? But really, the Labyrinth mixes together the addictive gameplay of Nocturne with a compelling narrative and gives the game some focus when it feels like you are otherwise just doing random fetch quests for Hijiri or whoever. Lucifr and the Lady are everything Jimenez wasn't in showing how Chaos is good. Perhaps it's solely due to the fact everyone else is so unlikable but the Chaos reps come out smelling like roses and everything they say makes sense.

I did like Yuko though. I would be interested to hear if people here had favorite characters in this game? It really lacked compelling personalities for most people I will admit which is one of my most prominent criticisms of it. I wanted to see more of...everyone.

Although I will give credit where it's due, Hikawa and Isamu accepted their defeats very gracefully.

Although, to bring it back to comparing SJ and Nocturne, I had heard semi-frequently on various boards about how some RPGs "if the main character dies, automatic game over." At the time I was skeptical of this complaint because in my experience, only Final Fantasy XIII was like that. No other JRPG I had ever played followed that design philosophy. Yet here I am, with two games of "if the MC dies, you auto-lose." I would assume this holds true for all the games?

(Wait, was it insta-game over if Serge died in Chrono Cross? I can't remember... I don't think so)

Now that being said, neither Strange Journey nor Nocturne were as nightmarish as I had been told by the SMT fans I knew. Shin Megami Tensei has a reputation for chewing up and spitting out gamers who come to this series from Final Fantasy or whatever but I'm skeptical about how deserved that reputation is. The games are decently challenging and if you get complacent, you will probably end up dead. But to me it all has to do with perception. As gamers, we have things we take for granted. I watch a YouTuber and streamer by the name of slowbeef who sometimes has his wife play games. I think those videos show just how wide the gulf is between gamers and non-gamers. There are things we see and inherently understand that other people don't.

So sitting here and saying Nocturne is easy is a privilege I have of playing JRPGs for most of my life. Similarly, the guy who scoffs at the things I had trouble with and says "ha! I beat it with solo Demifiend on Hard mode and with only the starter Magatama and I played upside down" also is approaching things from an alien viewpoint to other people. Long story short, game difficulty is entirely subjective.

Now I want to list some of my favorite songs from the two games....

For Nocturne
Labyrinth of Amala (special props to them for making a slightly more intense version for the Fifth Kalpa.) This song just perfectly captures the feeling of both dread and wonder as you get closer and closer to "him."
Reason Boss Battle Shame all the Reason bosses were easy as trout. Except Baal and his bug thing.
Amala Network Battle This sounds like something Motoi Sakuraba would compose.

And you all already know how much I loved the Fiend Boss theme. Best song in the whole game IMO. I still say running into Matador is a highlight of the entire game. You really do feel like you're just wandered into Hell completely unprepared and you're about to get ripped apart by a real demon.

Now for SJ, it had so many good battle themes. I think it had a way better final boss theme than Nocturne, to be frank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQuLw1WwTyo

And the regular boss music is way better than Nocturne's as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2Rugr05FMM

Might be one of the best normal boss themes I've ever heard.

I'm sorely tempted to go back and try to play the earlier MegaTen games now.... Nocturne has absolutely sold me on the franchise. I have not been so addicted to a video game in ages.

But I have Persona 3 and 4 here and I need to justify the $20 I spent on them, lest they languish unplayed like the the copy of Digital Devil Saga 1 I bought.