Support NeoGAF

[Opa-Pa]

Man, I feel bad for missing this thread, thanks for sharing it in the OT!

It's hard to rank them all properly, but Megaten is easily among my 3 favorite game series ever, and I play a game in it that I've missed pretty much every year, and if not then I replay a couple... Sometimes both! There's just so much to love, from the combat to the atmosphere, music, challenge and even the humor, they're all unique to it.

I've already played a lot of it this year but I'm still in the middle of a Devil Survivor Overclocked replay and itching to replay Nocturne too, so I'll probably post here somewhat often. And hey just seeing people enjoy these games is great to me so this will be fun.

I need to finish P5, but I want to revisit Nocturne again.

"I need ro finish ____, but I want to revisit Nocturne again" is pretty much my permanent state, I can relate (especially bad when it's other Megaten games haha).

 

[Jhoan]

Funny enough, I'm playing through my first run of SMT IV myself right this moment after initially misplacing the cart for several months, then being sans a 3DS for another several months. I have Apocalypse on deck as well. It's brutal and unforgiving at times and makes you want to grind.

Spoiler

The Hunter Tournament Finals side quest is crushing me!

I really like that unlike other RPGs, the game makes players have a diverse stable of demons with different abilities and weaknesses/strengths as well encourages demon fusion. Plus the StreetPass functionality is excellent because I still get at least a hit every now and then. It's as rock,paper, scissors as it gets. Although I loathe navigating the overworld map and hate the fact that the game relegated grinding for app points and money as DLC which is a load of crap. The music is quite good especially during battles where it's very calm but then picks up when you start attacking.

My first foray into the series was with P3 but I never finished it (I ended up reading spoilers for the ending and The Answer). I enjoyed the sim portion though because it caught me by surprise and going deeper into Tartarus.

I've found the other spin-offs a bit hard to get into because of how intimidatingly difficult they sound but I would like to check out SMT III someday. It's amazing how tonally different P3 is from SMT IV down to the music despite having the same core mechanics.

 

[Eridani]

I've found the other spin-offs a bit hard to get into because of how intimidatingly difficult they sound but I would like to check out SMT III someday. It's amazing how tonally different P3 is from SMT IV down to the music despite having the same core mechanics.

Why do the other spin-offs sound too difficult? The Raidou games are amongst the easier SMT games, Catherine is a puzzle game so the difficulty is not really comparable, but it's perfectly fine on normal difficulty and the fighting games are amongst the most approachable fighters out there. The Devil Survivor games do have a couple of really hard fights (though I don't know if the remakes make those fights easier), but aren't too difficult otherwise. If SMT 3 sounds fine for you difficulty wise the spin-offs shouldn't be bad at all.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

It's a weird feeling when you realize that you've played almost all of the games in a massive series like this.

I need to play Devil Survivor 2, but apart from that... not much that I can think of.

 

[JThird]

Let's appreciate the music in the SMT series.
My favourite tracks in random order:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwnuC_4dtk4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO6LWQhvzRw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGORm3P0F1w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6cSbof7Pik
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBy4Ir_Pfng
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s64FSgwez5g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLzJVmw43vg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmqbhyS-BK8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcE4-6QGgpc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzMeFnotI8E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogeG_S6fHvE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcnKsbo9tXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcZHm4VllDs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIiYPJQWnfA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHyf8fHloow

 

[ChasingComets]

Persona 5 (2014)

Dammit, lol

 

[Sumio Mondo]

The best JRPG series out there. The level of quality that this series (MegaTen) has is above and beyond the rest. Think it's really the only JRPG series that I consistently return to in the same fashion, I will continue to make time for well into my adult life since it's just so good and doesn't treat me like an idiot. Every release, that's in English, is worth a play through. Even the weakest games are at the very least better than any of the competition. Combat system in all of the games always are both the perfect cocktail of fun and challenging.

The music is always phenomenal as well, no matter who is the composer. Atlus Sound team are probably my favourite team of game composers, always been consistent throughout the years. Same goes for the artists (both character artists/concept artists and the environmental artists). Their level designers are generally amazing too and beyond most other RPG game designers (with the odd exception). And their programmers seem incredibly talented too. They managed to squeeze so much out of the PS2. 10/10 series, would play again.

 

[Pandora012]

Looks like I had a ng+ save for Devil Survivor, day 4. Think I will try to fight Lucifer, never done it before.

Current Team:

MC
Ongyo-ki
Remiel

Atsuro
Nyarlathotep
Asura

Yuzu
Susano-o
Garuda

Midori
Metatron
Yurlungur

 

[Vic_Viper]

Still working through P5 atm, currently in the middle of the game I think.

Really wish the new Strange Journey remake was coming to the Switch instead or along with the 3DS version. Ive heard soo many great things about it and ive always wanted to play it but never got around to it when I had a 3DS.

I highly recommend people checking out the Raidou games on PS2/PS3 if they havent already. Especially the 2nd game, Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon. Its completely different from the rest of the series and has a badass main protagonist! The action gameplay can be a bit to get used to but its tons of fun once you get the hang of it. Which is primarily why I recommend starting with the 2nd game. The game is also set in Japan during the 1930s and has a really cool detective style story along with a Pokemon esc demon recruiting mechanic.

Then theres the 3rd game in the series, Soul Hackers for the 3DS. Which sets the game in the future with a really cool Cyberpunk style. Its alil retro by today's standards but man I love the game nevertheless.

 

[MLH]

Just finished off Persona 5 yesterday, very pleased with the game, won't be playing NG+ will wait to see if an enhanced version comes out down the line. Nevertheless it was an amazing title, probably one of my favorites of the Persona games - I'll let my thoughts settle on it first, but I think the music, story themes, characters and art style are wonderful, and made a lasting impression.

Was thinking I'd wait for Strange Journey Redux, but realized I still have a couple of games I haven't finished. I'm halfway through TMS#FE (not sure why I never finished it) and haven't started Devil Survivor 2 yet. Other than that, I've played almost all of the western SMT games.
Also temped to play through Soul Hackers a second time, with me being so excited for Strange Journey again, Soul hackers probably is the most similar to it - I also forgot the story pretty quickly.

Easily my favorite RPG series these days, wish more people gave it a go.

 

[Jhoan]

Why do the other spin-offs sound too difficult? The Raidou games are amongst the easier SMT games, Catherine is a puzzle game so the difficulty is not really comparable, but it's perfectly fine on normal difficulty and the fighting games are amongst the most approachable fighters out there. The Devil Survivor games do have a couple of really hard fights (though I don't know if the remakes make those fights easier), but aren't too difficult otherwise. If SMT 3 sounds fine for you difficulty wise the spin-offs shouldn't be bad at all.

Because I heard how notoriously hard the final bosses are particularly in the 3DS games that you mentioned or a super long end boss in the case of P3. I never touched Strange Journey because of that and was put off by Catherine's tower climbing stuff. The only reason I'm somehow getting through SMT IV's demain domain bosses is because my Flynn is a Magic focused build with 150 Ma. It's still kicking my ass though!

 

[Opa-Pa]

Because I heard how notoriously hard the final bosses are particularly in the 3DS games that you mentioned or a super long end boss in the case of P3. I never touched Strange Journey because of that and was put off by Catherine's tower climbing stuff. The only reason I'm somehow getting through SMT IV's demain domain bosses is because my Flynn is a Magic focused build with 150 Ma. It's still kicking my ass though!

Honestly the only modern Megaten games that are notoriously difficult are Strange Journey and Devil Survivor 1, everything else is just somewhat challenging and pretty easy to handle once you learn how to play properly. P3 especially is only somewhat challenging in its vanilla and FES versions, P3P is fairly easy.

IV isn't a very good point of reference either because I find it an easy game, the lack of a proper Def stat makes everyone a glass canon so the balance is all over the place.

Nocturne isn't very hard either IMO but definitely not easier than some of the games you're avoiding haha. I'd encourage you to give them a try and if anything just avoid SJ and DeSu for the time being.

 

[Eridani]

Because I heard how notoriously hard the final bosses are particularly in the 3DS games that you mentioned or a super long end boss in the case of P3. I never touched Strange Journey because of that and was put off by Catherine's tower climbing stuff. The only reason I'm somehow getting through SMT IV's demain domain bosses is because my Flynn is a Magic focused build with 150 Ma. It's still kicking my ass though!

Well, Strange Journey is actually probably the hardest of those, though the final bosses in Devil Survivor games (Devil Survivor 1 actually kind of has a way to get around that though, but has a certain mid boss that's also pretty hard) are indeed pretty hard too. I'd still say they are definitely worth it if you're into SRPGs though, simply because of how well designed they are. The second one might be a better start, since the difficulty is much more balanced (no hard mid boss like the one in the first game I mentioned before).

 

[Jucksalbe]

Dammit, lol

Haha, that wasn't on purpose, though. It was a holdover from the old anniversary thread that I didn't catch. Fixed now, thanks!

 

[Aeana]

Thanks for making the thread~

 

[Laputa_94]

I love SMT, I've been a fan since I played through P3 FES a couple of years ago. To date I have played are the following:

SMT 3: Nocturne
SMT IV
SMT: Strange Journey
Persona 3
Persona 4
Persona 5 (In progress, currently late game)

I think my favorite of those is Nocturne at least in terms of its setting, I think its awesome. The only thing I wished it had was of course quality of life things your getting from SMT IV like choosing inherited skills. I still have a bunch of games bought and either installed on my PS3 or sitting on my shelf to play.

 

[cj_iwakura]

I could have made a new banner if you asked. Was a lazy MSP work anyway. Devil Summoner also has a translation in the works, but who knows when it'll be done.

I could work on the Sat version, but bleh.

 

[Aters]

I wish the old games can receive some QOL improvement. Would love to play SMT1 but my casual self just can't handle how dated it feels.

 

[Tacorona72]

What a fantastic series of games! I got a bunch of them on my PS3 during a summer sale several years ago. I've played:

SMT Nocturne (My personal favorite)
SMT IV
SMT IV: Apocalypse
SMT Raidou vs. The Souless Army
SMT Raidou vs. King Abaddon
Persona 4

I need to get back to both of the Digital Devil Saga games, and still have Persona 3 FES, Persona 5 and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE to play. Also the soundtracks in these games are AMAZING!

 

[Fraxin]

I'll just qoute what I wrote in the artbooks thread, since that thread doesn't seem active and this is an SMT thread.

For anyone interested Kazuma Kaneko Artworks IV is getting released.

 

[Pandora012]

I'll just qoute what I wrote in the artbooks thread, since that thread doesn't seem active and this is an SMT thread.

Mine is still in customs in Japan....Need to get this fixed after work. Hopefully, I'll still get it this week.

 

[asagami_]

I wish the old games can receive some QOL improvement. Would love to play SMT1 but my casual self just can't handle how dated it feels.

There is some QQL improvement patchs for SMT 1, in fact. God bless SMT 2 map access. I would finish the Cathedral this time maybe

 

[Funyarinpa]

The anniversary's one day after my

Spoiler

18th

birthday, sweet!

I love this series. It got me into JRPGs and I've yet to find anything with superior gameplay.

P4G is king for me

 

[Lynx_7]

"I need ro finish ____, but I want to revisit Nocturne again" is pretty much my permanent state, I can relate (especially bad when it's other Megaten games haha).

Lol ain't that right. I'm like "man, I really want to try Nocturne Hard mode... I also really want to finish DDS 1 and 2, Strange Journey, SMT 1, Soul Hackers, Raidou 1 and a bunch of routes in DeSu 1".
It's a nice struggle to have. I'll be a little sad when I have no megaten game in my backlog to look forward to besides new releases.

 

[Brandon F]

Really hoping P3 FES is indeed headed to PS4 as potentially leaked.

 

[Realeza]

Of all the SMT games I own, the only one I haven't gone trough is the OG on iOS. I should give it a go...

 

[snow in jamaica]

I've been obsessed with this series and Kaneko's art for several years. I've always been interested in myths and SMT is what really got me to read about them. I know far less than I should though! Regardless, the series seems more cognizant of myths than most other media (in spite of some questionable choices) and Kaneko's portrayals of mythological beings are standouts.

Maybe I'll replay Nocturne and hopefully catch onto a lot of things I missed.

 

[Igama]

I discovered this series almost two years ago. I played Persona 3 Portable going totally blind and it was magical.

I have played since then, in this order, SMT IV, Persona 4 Golden, Persona Q and Persona 5, so I'm still a beginner. I am playing the first Persona right now, too (the PSP remake).

I also want to play SMT IV Apocalypse (maybe this summer), and it would be amazing if some of the PS2 games got released on PS4.

 

[partridge]

Of all the SMT games I own, the only one I haven't gone trough is the OG on iOS. I should give it a go...

Definitely do it before you update to iOS 11! The game won't be able to run due to being 32-bit.

 

[Terra_Ex]

Amazing series of games, fell in love with it during the PS2 era (SMT golden age, pretty much) and haven't stopped since. SMT4's world map can fuck right off though.

 

[Lunarwhale]

Might be time for me to get back to Devil Summoner (PSP) or Megami Tensei II (via Kyuuyaku). Had to drop both as university stuff picked up, but now that I'm graduated, I've got more time to give them another go. Absolutely love what I played of both.

or it might finally be time to unbox that copy of giten and bang myself against my desktop until the windows version miraculously runs without clockspeed issues. Some trashiness aside, I actually was enjoying it until the second Dantalion fight, which was... an unbearable difficulty spike.

 

[TheMrPliskin]

I was pretty recently thinking that I'd like to get through my backlog of SMT games. I own a number of them but the only one I've finished outside of the Persona series is DDS1 so this should be a good push to start making my way through that backlog.

 

[Fraxin]

Mine is still in customs in Japan....Need to get this fixed after work. Hopefully, I'll still get it this week.

I also ordered a copy, thought it would include Devil Summoner raido kuzunoha, didn't know until much later that was for the first devil Summoner game that wasn't released in the west.

 

[ChasingComets]

Haha, that wasn't on purpose, though. It was a holdover from the old anniversary thread that I didn't catch. Fixed now, thanks!

I feel you could've kept it as is, lol. Also, you could probably add the confidant thread to your OP as well, since it's still getting fairly regular posts.


On topic; as much as I want to play it, I still can't justify getting SMT4:A when I have 4 other games in my backlog. Maybe if I can clean out the house before the holiday season, I'll treat myself to the game. I hear it improves on just about every aspect of SMT4.

 

[Barrylocke]

I just recently went on a trip to a convention for the weekend, and on the way back I decided to stop my long hiatus on the final dungeon of SMT4:A. It really is a slog, but I'm so close to being done and it'd be a good way to begin some SMT love for the anniversary.

Evolving Angel all the way to Nocturne Angel has proven to be surprisingly useful for me throughout the game.

 

[TheMrPliskin]

I'm thinking of starting off with the Raidou games but I feel like I always hear people recommend that people skip 1 and just jump straight to the sequel. Is there something off about the first game that I should be aware of or is this just a case of the sequel being a better game.

 

[Hylian7]

I've been obsessed with this series and Kaneko's art for several years. I've always been interested in myths and SMT is what really got me to read about them. I know far less than I should though! Regardless, the series seems more cognizant of myths than most other media (in spite of some questionable choices) and Kaneko's portrayals of mythological beings are standouts.

Maybe I'll replay Nocturne and hopefully catch onto a lot of things I missed.

On the note of Kaneko art, I posted this in the SMT community thread as well, but figured it was worth posting here. Kazuma Kaneko Works IV came out, most people got theirs delivered yesterday. That was when I got mine as well.

Very happy with the purchase, it's really nice. I don't have any of the previous Kaneko Works unfortunately, as they are all pricey as all hell now. Kaneko Works V is on the horizon though, so I will be picking that up too.

 

[asagami_]

I'm thinking of starting off with the Raidou games but I feel like I always hear people recommend that people skip 1 and just jump straight to the sequel. Is there something off about the first game that I should be aware of or is this just a case of the sequel being a better game.

The endgame is pretty crazy for a Megaten game.

 

[_Ryo_]

I might? be able to play on PCSX2 afterall? I get like 20-35 FPS when playing via disc drive. Does it speed up if I rip the disc to my HDD? Also I am using a very old PC with an integrated Intel graphics chip and do not have a dedicated graphics card. Would it run much better with one? I mean, it is almost playable as is right now but its off just enough to be really uncomfortable. Lol

 

[Ronin Ray]

I have beaten 7 games on that list and played 10. At some point I want to get into the earlier smt games

 

[Tyrant Rave]

This is my favorite series of all time. So many great games and memories over the past decade.

I have such a hard time deciding on favorites, as I enjoy most of them, but I'll say from a gameplay perspective that SMT4A and P5 are definitely the best entries in that regard.

Could probably go for a replay of SMT3 but it's rough going back to randomized skill inheritance.

 

[Stalk]

My backlog of SMT titles currently sits at SMT4A, DDS1 and Strange Journey... A remake of strange journey puts me off slightly from playing it but I am tempted to anyway hah.

 

[cj_iwakura]

I'm thinking of starting off with the Raidou games but I feel like I always hear people recommend that people skip 1 and just jump straight to the sequel. Is there something off about the first game that I should be aware of or is this just a case of the sequel being a better game.

Raidou 1 has a much better story. Play it.

 

[Opa-Pa]

Raidou 1 has a much better story. Play it.

Yeah, Raidou 1 can get a bit repetitive but the charm is off the roof, and the story remains entertaining all the way through. If anything I'd advice to play it after playing some mainline SMT and gaining more knowledge of the older games... The endgame greatly rewards that and its probably the craziest story segment out of any Megaten game. So good.

 

[_Ryo_]

I might? be able to play on PCSX2 afterall? I get like 20-35 FPS when playing via disc drive. Does it speed up if I rip the disc to my HDD? Also I am using a very old PC with an integrated Intel graphics chip and do not have a dedicated graphics card. Would it run much better with one? I mean, it is almost playable as is right now but its off just enough to be really uncomfortable. Lol

Ripped the disc to HDD. Tinkered with settingsm Got it up to 45-60FPS native resolution widescreen with scanlines but the audio has a lot of slowdowns.

 

[Mr. Nice_Guy]

I've played a smattering of these and have generally loved them. Next one I plan to dig into when I have the time is SMT3. That being said, I tried playing SMT 1 on my phone and it just didn't grab me.

 

[archreaper93]

So far I've only really dived deep into Nocturne (got all the way to the end but locked myself into TDE when I wasn't ready to fight Lucifer (and wouldn't be for some time), so I stopped. Gonna go back and do Neutral ending first, then TDE for NG+) and Persona 5 (what I'm currently playing, just finished Palace 4). Both games are fantastic.

I also have Persona 3, Persona 4, DDS, DDS 2, Soul Hackers, Devil Survivor, and Devil Survivor 2. The ones I don't have are a high priority for me to get.

It's overall probably my favorite series of all time. I can't praise the demon fusion system and Press Turn System enough.

 

[TheMrPliskin]

The endgame is pretty crazy for a Megaten game.

Raidou 1 has a much better story. Play it.

Yeah, Raidou 1 can get a bit repetitive but the charm is off the roof, and the story remains entertaining all the way through. If anything I'd advice to play it after playing some mainline SMT and gaining more knowledge of the older games... The endgame greatly rewards that and its probably the craziest story segment out of any Megaten game. So good.

Looks like I'm starting with Raidou 1.

 

[Tacorona72]

I just noticed there's no mention of SMT Nine here. I don't know much about the game since I've never played it, but one thing I do know is the game has a great soundtrack. So I'm gonna post some of my favorites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJfEsdZFbF0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT2aeVJ1Fnc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTtaoMOXQAQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPQWhFG1ruE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqCP2sYD8y4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWTocRHKe_I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXT2tz55zM4

 

[Usobuko]

I played a bunch on PS2 and DS.

Just started Persona 4 this week and after beating P3P about 3 years back, I can finally see the appeal of Persona.