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[duckroll]

Since I've never played SMT1 and 2, and all the other intepretations I've played do have guns (except Persona 4, at least so far (don't tell me!))... I assume that SMT1 and 2 had guns? Or at least, guns that were decidedly guns, rather than Aigis' piercing weapons?

At least they were good in Raidou Kuzuhona. Empty a clip into a demon and stun it. I like that.

Guns are a huge part of Megaten. Being a cyberpunk series originally, the entire concept and visual direction was basically high-school students who summon demons from their portable computers and shoot demons with guns. Starting with SMT3 though, they seemed to have decided to remove guns from the gameplay entirely. Thankfully, the guns have made a return with the Raidou games, as well as the Persona PSP port, and now SMT:SJ! All's right in the world again.

 

[Althane]

Guns are a huge part of Megaten. Being a cyberpunk series originally, the entire concept and visual direction was basically high-school students who summon demons from their portable computers and shoot demons with guns. Starting with SMT3 though, they seemed to have decided to remove guns from the gameplay entirely. Thankfully, the guns have made a return with the Raidou games, as well as the Persona PSP port, and now SMT:SJ! All's right in the world again.

Sounds good then. Seriously interested in this game... anyone want to give some guesses on when us non-Japanese readers wil lever be able to play it? =P

(I am SUCH an altus whore... I should really post a Pick Up post... 3/4's of my games on the PS2 are Altus...)

 

[RocketDarkness]

Guns are a huge part of Megaten. Being a cyberpunk series originally, the entire concept and visual direction was basically high-school students who summon demons from their portable computers and shoot demons with guns. Starting with SMT3 though, they seemed to have decided to remove guns from the gameplay entirely. Thankfully, the guns have made a return with the Raidou games, as well as the Persona PSP port, and now SMT:SJ! All's right in the world again.

Devil Survivor had guns as well, although you couldn't use them yourself. But they did get their own special abilities and such.

 

[duckroll]

Devil Survivor had guns as well, although you couldn't use them yourself. But they did get their own special abilities and such.

I'm talking about guns as weapons you can equip.

 

[pancakesandsex]

Guns are a huge part of Megaten. Being a cyberpunk series originally, the entire concept and visual direction was basically high-school students who summon demons from their portable computers and shoot demons with guns. Starting with SMT3 though, they seemed to have decided to remove guns from the gameplay entirely. Thankfully, the guns have made a return with the Raidou games, as well as the Persona PSP port, and now SMT:SJ! All's right in the world again.

Digital Devil Saga still had guns, although you could only choose the ammo iirc.

 

[duckroll]

Digital Devil Saga still had guns, although you could only choose the ammo iirc.

I try not to think of DDS as much as possible, so pardon if I forgot.

 

[Llyranor]

Is SMT gameplay substantially better than EO? I couldn't get in the latter too much (enjoyed it to some extent, but lost interest). What little I've played of Devil Survivor so far has seemed good enough.

 

[RocketDarkness]

I'm talking about guns as weapons you can equip.

True. I just thought it was cool of them to give them a pair of specific abilities, even if you couldn't use them yourself (the Long Range ability, along with a physical attack that's strong against humans).

 

[toneroni]

man i've become such an SMT whore myself...wish I still kept Persona 1 and 2.
I bought them when they first came out and lent them

 

[duckroll]

Is SMT gameplay substantially better than EO? I couldn't get in the latter too much (enjoyed it to some extent, but lost interest). What little I've played of Devil Survivor so far has seemed good enough.

Seeing how they're not the same games at all, it can't really be said if one is better than the other. EO is a traditional Wizardry style dungeon crawler with party created and stuff. SMT is more about recruiting demons from battles to use in your party, and then fusing them to create new demons, and there's a huge focus on exploiting weaknesses both to destroy the enemies as quickly as possible, or to protect yourself against being destroyed. The style of "dungeon crawling" is very different too. SMT isn't really loot or exploration driven like EO is, but the challenge is basically making it through a dungeon alive because it's pretty fucking hard. You generally don't explore a bit of a dungeon and then head back to recover before heading out again. You want to prepare yourself and just go through a dungeon to get to the other side, because it's more of a RPG where there are story objectives and a narrative to compel you to move from area to area.

 

[TheChillyAcademic]

man i've become such an SMT whore myself...wish I still kept Persona 1 and 2.
I bought them when they first came out and lent them

Come September you can fix one of those issues.

I try not to think of DDS as much as possible, so pardon if I forgot.

 

[Llyranor]

Seeing how they're not the same games at all, it can't really be said if one is better than the other. EO is a traditional Wizardry style dungeon crawler with party created and stuff. SMT is more about recruiting demons from battles to use in your party, and then fusing them to create new demons, and there's a huge focus on exploiting weaknesses both to destroy the enemies as quickly as possible, or to protect yourself against being destroyed. The style of "dungeon crawling" is very different too. SMT isn't really loot or exploration driven like EO is, but the challenge is basically making it through a dungeon alive because it's pretty fucking hard. You generally don't explore a bit of a dungeon and then head back to recover before heading out again. You want to prepare yourself and just go through a dungeon to get to the other side, because it's more of a RPG where there are story objectives and a narrative to compel you to move from area to area.

Alright, thanks.

How are Devil Survivor's non-SRPG combat elements (eg. once you meet up in battle) comparable to traditional SMT combat?

 

[duckroll]

Alright, thanks.

How are Devil Survivor's non-SRPG combat elements (eg. once you meet up in battle) comparable to traditional SMT combat?

I think they're somewhat representative, but not entirely. The fact that you can use skills on the map outside of an encounter during your turn changes stuff significantly. If you can imagine how battles would go if the turns just kept rolling, instead of going back to the map after a single turn each, then it would be closer to what SMT combat is generally like.

 

[duckroll]

So like, question. What is stopping Atlus from using its composers that aren't Meguro?

Who was the guy who did Devil Survivor's soundtrack?

What's stopping them from using composers who aren't Meguro, is that Meguro is probably the only composer left in Atlus internally!

This is the composer of Devil Survivor: http://vgmdb.net/artist/2380

I hope he never composes an Atlus game again.

 

[Erdrick]

I am so happy for this. We've been getting so many SMT games now in North America over the past few years, it's an overload for me. Not in a negative way, I just can't keep up with all the releases they are doing. Compared to previous years where we had maybe one a year, and well, this is just fantastic news. I'm also pleased that it seems to be going more into the older SMT-style route. The fact that Meguro and Kaneko are involved is another plus for me. Kaneko's art is so distinctive and just beautiful to look at.

Needless to say, I will be preordering this as soon as possible and will pick it up whenever it is available.

The suits the main characters are wearing look like they were right out of Dead Space.

Anyway, I eagerly await it's North American debut, whenever that may be.

 

[Kevtones]

What's stopping them from using composers who aren't Meguro, is that Meguro is probably the only composer left in Atlus internally!

This is the composer of Devil Survivor: http://vgmdb.net/artist/2380

I hope he never composes an Atlus game again.

Bull. I love Devil Survivor's music there just isn't enough of it. I'd say it has one of the better battle themes around...

 

[duckroll]

Bull. I love Devil Survivor's music there just isn't enough of it. I'd say it has one of the better battle themes around...

I feel the opposite. I think the entire soundtrack is underwhelming, and the battle themes are rather forgettable and borderline annoying.

 

[MechaX]

What's stopping them from using composers who aren't Meguro, is that Meguro is probably the only composer left in Atlus internally!

This is the composer of Devil Survivor: http://vgmdb.net/artist/2380

I hope he never composes an Atlus game again.

Hey, Devil Survivor's track was not all bad. It just tapered a little bit into the realm of "generic butt rock" too many times for comfort. And it just couldn't really touch Meguro's work.

I have to hand it to him though; he's been doing MegaTen (And.. uh.. the Wii Trauma Center games? Is he doing Trauma Team?) soundtracks for the last 5-6 years with no real sense of Sakuraba-esque burnout. Although, I'm not entirely sold on his Persona PSP music just yet.

 

[Teknoman]

I feel the opposite. I think the entire soundtrack is underwhelming, and the battle themes are rather forgettable and borderline annoying.

This. the battle theme for the most part just sounds like random rock.

 

[RocketDarkness]

Despite the slight genericism, overall I really enjoyed Devil Survivor's soundtrack and will probably order it once I finish the game.

 

[duckroll]

Hey, Devil Survivor's track was not all bad. It just tapered a little bit into the realm of "generic butt rock" too many times for comfort. And it just couldn't really touch Meguro's work.

That's enough to qualify as bad. There's a standard expected of Atlus music, and he failed to meet it.

I have to hand it to him though; he's been doing MegaTen (And.. uh.. the Wii Trauma Center games? Is he doing Trauma Team?) soundtracks for the last 5-6 years with no real sense of Sakuraba-esque burnout. Although, I'm not entirely sold on his Persona PSP music just yet.

Did you know he directed Persona PSP too?

 

[Baloonatic]

I'm hoping this game will be really brutal.

 

[charlequin]

I have to hand it to him though; he's been doing MegaTen (And.. uh.. the Wii Trauma Center games? Is he doing Trauma Team?) soundtracks for the last 5-6 years with no real sense of Sakuraba-esque burnout.

His soundtracks all actually sound different, too.

 

[Briarios]

I hope this game isn't easy like all the recent SMT games. I think Persona 4 was the last straw.

The Persona games were always easier than the SMT games ... although, I have to agree with you that they've been trending easier. Considering the platform it's releasing for, I can't imaging they'd make it any harder than Nocturne -- probably around the same level. :-/

I'm ok with Persona being a bit easier (although, it's still easy to get a brutal game over early on if you make even a teeny mistake), but, like you, I'd like to see a more challenging SMT game.

 

[frostythecat]

I still have to beat EO2. That game is hard. Nevertheless, I can't wait to play this game.

Also, Devil Survivor music wasn't bad, it just got too repetitive and there wasn't that many of them.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

This is just about the best case scenario I had in mind when the teaser website went up.

 

[jj984jj]

What's stopping them from using composers who aren't Meguro, is that Meguro is probably the only composer left in Atlus internally!

That's not true, but guys like Kenichi Tsuchiya don't do as much composition as he does.

 

[duckroll]

That's not true, but guys like Kenichi Tsuchiya don't do as much composition as he does.

Are they still alive?

 

[jj984jj]

Are they still alive?

If Kenichi Tsuchiya is composing for Trauma Team he has pretty much taken over the Trauma games, Meguro pretty much only co-composed for the first game while supervising the arrangements for Second Opinion. He also was part of the sound team for every MegaTen game last gen, was the chief sound designer for Devil Survivor, and worked on the Persona series from the beginning right up to the recent PSP version. There are others too, Atsushi Kitajoh and Ryota Kozuka(sometimes Koduka) are people also credited on sound for recent R&D1 games, they just hide them in the credits, Meguro isn't working by him-self.

 

[Varna]

This is just about the best case scenario I had in mind when the teaser website went up.

As excited as I am for this (just picked up a DS) this is really not the best case scenario.

I've been playing SMT2 again and oh man am I getting hyped. It's like the game I've always dreamed they would make again. Hopefully this game paves the way for more of it's kind. A resurgence in the dark and gritty SMT games that is.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

As excited as I am for this (just picked up a DS) this is really not the best case scenario.

How not? It's an original SMT game by the original creators. The only "improvement" that I can see is that it was named SMT4, which is absolutely unnecessary.

 

[duckroll]

If Kenichi Tsuchiya is composing for Trauma Team he has pretty much taken over the Trauma games, Meguro pretty much only co-composed for the first game while supervising the arrangements for Second Opinion. He also was part of the sound team for every MegaTen game last gen, was the chief sound designer for Devil Survivor, and worked on the Persona series from the beginning right up to the recent PSP version. There are others too, Atsushi Kitajoh and Ryota Kozuka(sometimes Koduka) are people also credited on sound for recent R&D1 games, they just hide them in the credits, Meguro isn't working by him-self.

I dunno, I would say that in general Meguro is the only one really composing for Megaten games since SMT3. It's true that there are other composers contributing on various soundtracks, but we're talking about say.... 9 tracks out of 49 in SMT3, 5 tracks out of 136 in DDS1-2, 1 track out of 58 in P3, 3 tracks out of 17 for P3Fes, 5 tracks out of 52 for P4, and he composed every single track in Raidou and Raidou 2. Devil Survivor is honestly the first Megaten game since SMT3 which did not have a Meguro soundtrack.

 

[jj984jj]

I dunno, I would say that in general Meguro is the only one really composing for Megaten games since SMT3. It's true that there are other composers contributing on various soundtracks, but we're talking about say.... 9 tracks out of 49 in SMT3, 5 tracks out of 136 in DDS1-2, 1 track out of 58 in P3, 3 tracks out of 17 for P3Fes, 5 tracks out of 52 for P4, and he composed every single track in Raidou and Raidou 2. Devil Survivor is honestly the first Megaten game since SMT3 which did not have a Meguro soundtrack.

I fully agree, just noting that he's not the only one left internally. :lol

 

[Hive]

is the developer Atlus or Sting?

 

[ravonis]

is the developer Atlus or Sting?

Atlus(?). I don't think Sting develops SMT games do they?

Oh man, I'm not even done Devil Survivor yet...

 

[∀ Narayan]

General ignorance regarding the Shin Megami Tensei series is, in my opinion, unforgivable.

Educate yourself. http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/megaten/megaten.htm

 

[Wizpig]

Not a SRPG like Devil Survivor i hope?
Is this a JRPG/dungeon crawler like the Persona sub-series?

 

[Hive]

General ignorance regarding the Shin Megami Tensei series is, in my opinion, unforgivable.

Educate yourself. http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/megaten/megaten.htm

I just need the developer of this particular game, stinky

 

[B.K.]

I just need the developer of this particular game, stinky

I would assume it's made by Atlus R&D1. I think they're the division that handles all the SMT games.

 

[∀ Narayan]

I just need the developer of this particular game, stinky

LOL. I wasn't really addressing your statement. I was just saying it for the sake of saying it.

 

[Dragona Akehi]

I just need the developer of this particular game, stinky

Considering the development leads and everything else it's safe to say it's R&D1.

A better question is why on earth you'd think ST!NG would be involved with an Atlus title.

 

[Varna]

Considering the development leads and everything else it's safe to say it's R&D1.

A better question is why on earth you'd think ST!NG would be involved with an Atlus title.

Probably thinking of Atlus USA.

 

[Hive]

Considering the development leads and everything else it's safe to say it's R&D1.

A better question is why on earth you'd think ST!NG would be involved with an Atlus title.

I saw Sting mentioned in the thread, but that was probably pertaining to the new Yggdra Unity game~ ^^

 

[Error]

Meguro wasn't the sole composer for Persona 4, btw. He worked with 2 others.

I still can't believe this is real.

 

[ZephyrFate]

I try not to think of DDS as much as possible, so pardon if I forgot.

What... why? The Digital Devil Saga games are some of the best games Atlus has produced.

Anyways, om nom nom I want this game hardcore.

 

[Aeana]

Just poking my head in to say how pleased I am with this announcement. It is pretty much exactly what I've been hoping for for several years now, and when I was first told about it, I didn't really believe it. Almost too good to be true, really. I expected Atlus Japan to just go ahead and continue pumping out Persona games, but even barring that, this is about the last thing I expected. Very cool.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Meguro wasn't the sole composer for Persona 4, btw. He worked with 2 others.

He might as well have been. They did a combined total of 5 songs, whereas Meguro did 47.

 

[jaundicejuice]

The only news that could really equal this, for me anyways, would be the announcement for the North American release of 7th Dragon.

 

[OldDirtyClooney]

You have Persona Remake to tide you over!

True. And I haven't even properly started Persona 4 yet.. >_>

 

[Mamesj]

damn, this sucks. was hoping for a PS3/360 version. The DS is great and all, but fuck...I want a next gen SMT.