Megami Tensei Topic

[Klyde Chroma]

Thank you both (Bleaker and Farron) for your input!!

That was totally what I needed to hear to pop this back in today (P2 Innocent Sin)... I REALLY want to enjoy the story, as I have been craving something a little different lately.... but damn.... the slow start had me regretting my decision a bit... And the way the story kicks off really disturbed me... with little to no explanation the main cast is WAAAAY too willing to accept being able to summon persona's, fight demons, and essentially just run off to save the day.... that and they never even touched upon how or why Michel could already summon his persona upon meeting him... I'll give it some more time before I decide whether or not I want to stick with it based on your motivating responses.... I gotta say though my backlogs or an xbox exclusive I haven't touched yet was looking much more appealing by the end of the night...

Now as for Overclocked, I am totally sold. Which really surprised me... thought it would have been the other way around (hooked on innocent sin instantly and on the fence about overclocked given my affinity for older 16 bit-32 bit era games) but "wow-ee"!!! Overclocked is just neat in a really fresh way to me. I really like the combination of tactics type gameplay with turn based classic RPG battles.

Maybe I am spreading myself too thin and should just focus on overclocked... I swear I have shin-megami-ADHD right now...... I woke up this morning thinking maybe I should give the beginning of Digital Devil Saga a shot before I commit or seeing if I can jump right on in at Devil Summoner 2 without having played through the first...... (i am not acting on those impulses by the way... something tells me it would just further muddy the waters at this point, LoL)

[Dincrest]

With Innocent Sin, there are a lot of flashback scenes from when the cast were kids that will explain their affinity for personas and all of that. 

[Klyde Chroma]

With Innocent Sin, there are a lot of flashback scenes from when the cast were kids that will explain their affinity for personas and all of that. 

Yes!.... I wasn't really letting on, but in truth, that beginning REALLY BOTHERED me!! I honestly feared that nothing was going to be fleshed out any more beyond that (in regard to casts abilities and whatnot... I feared super-hero syndrome... for seemingly no reason, random people have crazy capabilities they use without question to combat evil..... big big turn off for this guy.....).. Thanks Dincrest :)

I really want to stick with IS..... I have put down way too many SMT titles after starting them and it bothers the piss out of me... and this one in particular I feel will prove real worthwhile.... Once again, the friendly motivation is of great utility to me guys! Thanks

[Dincrest]

It's no secret that Innocent Sin was my favorite Playstation RPG, and the story/characters were a big reason.  I loved the music too (okay, except for Aoba Park.  Aoba Park's theme was better in Eternal Punishment). 

[Klyde Chroma]

It's no secret that Innocent Sin was my favorite Playstation RPG, and the story/characters were a big reason.  I loved the music too (okay, except for Aoba Park.  Aoba Park's theme was better in Eternal Punishment). 

Actually, given how similar our taste in games seems to be, reading how much you loved IS is what made me want to play it so badly-LoL

Also, i feel like a jerk... within the first five minutes of playing today they already started eluding to the characters pasts and how they tie into their persona use.... glad I turned this back on today...

In truth I just have issues with everything on the shelf calling my name all at once right now for some reason... I am in the mood for SMT... so that is what I am doing... but I have sort of ignored how many games I have collected and not played until recently... the list is LONG (and exciting!!)... but that is another topic entirely.... i may have to hop over to "general discussion" and vent about it later, haha

[Spoony Mage]

So after many years of searching, failing, and watching the game get snatched before my eyes numerous times, I finally got my hands on SMT: Nocturne.  Now I just need to get Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 and I can at least start to feel complete.

A question, though : For someone whose only SMT-verse experiences are the Persona series, some bits of Strange Journey and DS:Overclocked (working on both at the moment), and the Imagine MMO, what should I expect from this?

[Starmongoose]

So after many years of searching, failing, and watching the game get snatched before my eyes numerous times, I finally got my hands on SMT: Nocturne.  Now I just need to get Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 and I can at least start to feel complete.

A question, though : For someone whose only SMT-verse experiences are the Persona series, some bits of Strange Journey and DS:Overclocked (working on both at the moment), and the Imagine MMO, what should I expect from this?

More Strange Journey, less Persona.

It's not a first person dungeon crawler, though. You also don't need to analyze your enemies. Apart from that Strange Journey is the closest to Nocturne.

[Bytor]

Nocturne = many dungeons to get lost in and countless ways to get your ass kicked if not prepared

Persona = much more forgiving in both aspects


in this users humble opinion

[Zendervai]

And Digital Devil Saga tends to sit somewhere in between. Although both DDS games and Nocturne share the dubious honor of having insanely huge final dungeons. They make you feel you are climbing an enormous tower better than most other games I've played.

[Farron]

The thing that made me drop Nocturne in the end (besides the punishing difficulty) is that you walk way too much and have just a tiny bit of story. In a way I understand since the protagonist is alone most of the time, still for me it feels like hours of dungeon, some tiny bit of story and then again.

In DDS1, even though I'm still in yhe beginning it feels like it has better pacing and an easier difficulry curve.

Sad thing, for me, is that I like the premise of Nocturne (and Stange Journey) so far better than Digital Devil Saga, it's just I find myself in a love/hate relationship with those game and some thing really put me away from them in the end.

I think one day I'll just write in my blog a bit about how I love and hate these two games at the same time, at least I'll put as much as I feel like saying without bothering anyone to death and whenever anyone wants an insight from someone else, it'll be there.

[Spoony Mage]

I can understand that.  Then again, I feel as though I've been weaned on "too much story" or "too much drama" lately.  I'm not sure which, but I feel I need a bit of break from that while getting something that still makes you think.  I hear SMT is famous (or perhaps infamous?) for that in a way, though I could be wrong.

[Zendervai]

Oh, that is certainly true, Nocturne especially. The story revolves around several 'reasons' which are existing philosophies made the reason for existence.

[Klyde Chroma]

nocturne is another smt title I put down last year to play tales of graces F and thought I would never go back to... just didn't hook me in the 10 hours or so I put in.... but I feel quite different about it in hinesight....

both nocturne and devil summoner are two I care to pick back up... devil summoner more so then nocturne though... I REALLY couldn't stand the MC's appearance (way more raver then demon if you ask me...) and while I know that is stupid reason to be turned off by a title it bothered me something fierce!!

devil summoner on the other hand I think I am going to pick back up right after persona 2 IS if I am still in a SMT mood.... i only really put it down because I erroneously starting playing it at the same time as disgaea 4....

speaking of persona 2 IS.... i can't put my finger on it.... the gameplay is HORRIBLE.... but I really am starting to love this!... it is challenging in a strange way and the cast is great! in fact i think Michel may very well qualify to be one of all time favorite characters period (its still to early to say that for certain)....if only the battles went a wee bit quicker... that, and I can't help but feel I should be getting more persona cards... is it normal to be in the fourth dungeon and still using my starting persona on account of only having enough cards to get 1 new one thus far?

EDIT: one thing I must say though... I really wish I played persona 1 before playing IS.... it is quite I obvious to me that there is a lot of reference to it as well as returning characters.... with so much more of the SMT universe to explore though, I can't imagine I'll be getting to that one any time soon....

[Farron]

A hint for battles going faster is to turn off the effects of spells. You don't get to see the personas nor their effects but at least it goes way faster. Since they're not that great to begin with, and considering how much time you'll spent on dungeon, I think this is a blessing.

As much as I've grow to love more and more SMT games I regret playing Persona 1, at least these days and the mindset I have now because for me the story in P1 doesn't justify the pain you have to go through to unfold it.
If anything, I wish the time I spent playing P1 I used in P2.

Now that you Klyde  are mentioning theses games again I think I'll pick up my psp and try and finished P2, if I managed to leave Xibalba someday...

[cj_iwakura]

I swear I've seen at least 20 people who own IS and never finished it.