Shin Megami Tensei: What's been your experience?

[Clephas]

The series Shin Megami Tensei is easily Atlus's biggest moneymaker and has the most entries as well.  There are two series that have been consistently followed up with sequels: the SMT 'main series' and the Persona series.

 

I first ran across the SMT games with the original Persona on the PS1... and at the time, I couldn't quite figure out what kind of story they were trying to tell.  At least part of this was because the original localization was so godawful that the story only made sense if you basically excised two thirds of the translated script, lol.  Another part was because you spent an indecent amount of time just walking around in the dungeons, in comparison to other role-playing games at the time.  A lot of this was because the original Persona was not really distinct from the main SMT series, so the gameplay tended to be similar, in the most general sense of the word.  Persona wasn't really all that popular here in its original form, and it really wasn't until it was re-localized (completely revamped) for the PSP that it actually came back to life.

 

My second entry into the series was Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.  Being the latter half of the Persona 2 games, it quite obviously - once again - didn't make a terrible lot of sense.  Too much of the game was reliant on you having known the events from Innocent Sin, and while it was much more interesting than the original Persona and had already started to gain the distinctive split between town events and dungeon events that eventually resulted in Persona 3's unique evolution, it still felt similar to the original game.

 

My third intro into the series was SMT: Nocturne... and it blew me away.  It was just so different from everything I'd experienced up until then, and the three months I was off my feet due to a knee injury at the time gave me plenty of time to explore that unbelievably long game... and its monster fusion system.  By the time I was back on my feet, I'd completed the demon compendium and gotten all the endings, which left me with a feeling of accomplishment that I've yet to experience since.

 

However, it was Digital Devil Saga, the two-game story that is distinct from the Persona and main series in storytelling quality and had the best parts of the main series' gameplay, that still to this day remains in my mind as the best of the entire SMT series as a whole.  It had a darkness to it that even Persona 3 and 4 lack, and it also had the immediate emotional impact that the main series tends to lack.  It was a vicious, bloody entry in the series that was utterly merciless in the first place, and it really did leave an impression, both visually and emotionally.

 

Persona 3, which I was playing in parallel (since 2 was released very close to it), had a slightly different impact... it was this game that prepared me for my eventual trip into VNs, though it itself is not one.  While its difficulty level at its worst doesn't get close to Nocturne's or DDS's, it had its own charm, and to this day, it remains my favorite Persona game. 

 

Persona 4... to this day, I honestly think this is the most overrated SMT game.  It isn't that it was bad... it is just that it was a bit of a let-down after the experience of Persona 3.  While Persona traditionally inserts at least one character who exists to lighten the atmosphere, Teddy was just going too far. 

 

I later managed to play Innocent Sin for the PSP... and this allowed me to honestly enjoy Persona 2 as a whole, rather than having that lost feeling I'd felt during my first playthrough of Eternal Punishment. 

 

When I played the remastered port and localization of the original Persona, I felt that I finally understood what was going on, and I honestly enjoyed it, though it was a bit dated by that time.

 

SMT IV, which is the most recent part of the main series released, was something of a disappointment.  It struggled from the very beginning in trying to make fans who had loved Nocturne love it... but I honestly felt that it fell well short.  Part of this is because Nocturne's VISUAL aspects were actually more pleasant to look at overall (for all their dark overtones).  Like many old series that got moved to portables in recent years, I honestly think it suffered for the transition, and I would have much preferred a console version, lol.

 

To be honest, even though I played them, I hardly remember the Devil survivor series... I don't even remember when I played them, though it was right when they came out.

[Turnip Sensei]

My experiences with SMT games are pretty mixed. I really like some of them, but there are times when the difficulty prevents me from really enjoying them.

 

Persona 3 is pretty much my favorite video game of all time, and it's also the game that made me really interested in JRPGs and visual novels. When I first got myself P3 in form of P3P, I played it pretty much for a week non-stop. It was something I had never experienced. Amazing characters, interesting story, themes I had never seen in a video game. After the week was over and I had finished the game, I dug up savings and went to buy myself Vita and Persona 4 Golden. I was in Persona fever and I had to get more. Persona 4 was great experience as well, although I missed the darker feeling of P3 and the deeper character relationships. 

 

I've also played a little bit of Persona 1, but never properly tried to beat it. Persona 2: Innocent Sin I liked until the last boss, and then gave up because I didn't felt like grinding for it.

Outside of Persona-series I've played some amount of Nocturne and the first game of Digital Devil Saga, but they both remain unfinished.

 

I like tension that comes from difficulty in SMT-games and press-turn is amazingly satisfying combat system, but sometimes the difficulty spikes are just too much for me. As much as I want to see more of the story, there are limits to much I'm willing to grind in order to progress, especially because I don't consider myself very good at these games. 

 

SMT games are something I really want to like, but I don't always have enough patience for them.

 

 

[Jade]

Call me biased but for me, since Persona 4 is  the first of the SMT series that i play i honestly think that it's better than Persona 3.

For me personally i'm more of a fan of a Lighthearted story rather than the kind of dark and grim setting of Persona 3. Also well they are kind off the same Blank-State Protagonist, I prefer the MC of P4 rather than P3 simply because the former fell more alive and more fun to play with,

 

As for the other SMT series, I only play Nocturne and only going for the Freedom ending and the True Demon Ending. The latter is simply one of the best and the most awesome ending off all game i have played.

 

Of course, i also remember when playing Nocturne i once rage quit so hard i throw my controller and actually broke it  

[monkeysrumble]

I'm a newcomer to the series and have only played through Persona 3 and 4 within the last year. They were both splendid JRPG's and I liked them both equally as much. I really want to play more of this series so I'm probably going to watch this thread and see peoples recommendations. 

[bogdankl]

i really liked persona 3 and 4 (personally liked 3 more but i can see reasons why 4 can be considered superior)and honestly these are my personal favorite games of all time for various reasons

 

i can't really get into the other games as much as i got into persona tho, digital devil is meh<the characters are really weird,the setting is hard to resonate with,it all feels disjointed and the voice acting is quite bad sometimes>, nocturne is meh<again kinda the same things>, the detective one is pretty interesting but again... meh, also i don't really like the art style of the games besides persona

 

I really liked the school life part of the game and the god theme really added to it, plus the fact that the characters actually shoot themselves in the head to use their powers is pretty fking amazeballs <and yes, i know it's not a gun>, the depressing theme and shocking moments in 3 were awesome tho the one important death in 5 trumps them all, it really broke my heart when that happened in 4

 

this is a big reason i got into visual novels, i wanted to recreate that slice of school life part in persona but unsurprisingly visual novels are not like that

 

also they have really nice music, were most jrpgs opt for a orchestral soundtrack persona goes for a more rock/metal theme

 

in conclusion go play persona 3 and 4, they are really good jrpgs with good story, decent gameplay, interesting plot and cool god lore to boot

[solidbatman]

Hey Clephas, if you have a 3DS, go give Soul Hackers a shot. Its part of the Devil Summoner series, which has the Radiou Kuzunoha series in it (both of these are very good set in a early 1900's Japan and are action RPGs). Soul Hackers is very grindy, and very tough from what I understand and while dated, is still a good game. I personally enjoy the Radiou Kuzunoha games for PS2 more than I did Soul Hackers (my wimpy ass got stuck and I quit). 

[Conjueror]

I definitely liked Soul Hackers better than Kuzonoha, but the latter is fine, too.

The only megaten game I quit without finishing was the original Devil Summoner on saturn. ><

 

The old SMTs on snes are actually still quite enjoyable if you like Nocturne-like challenging dungeon crawling.

 

Also +1 for Persona 3 being the best smt game (and best JRPG ever in general).

[WinterfuryZX]

Hey Clephas, if you have a 3DS, go give Soul Hackers a shot. Its part of the Devil Summoner series, which has the Radiou Kuzunoha series in it (both of these are very good set in a early 1900's Japan and are action RPGs). Soul Hackers is very grindy, and very tough from what I understand and while dated, is still a good game. I personally enjoy the Radiou Kuzunoha games for PS2 more than I did Soul Hackers (my wimpy ass got stuck and I quit). 

 

SH is not hard at all, did everything with the two main characters alone, except for the bossfights (and not even all of them).

 

SMT ( I ) is also very easy exept for the exploration of the dungeons (the cathedral was utterly complex), the bossfights couldn't be easier.

[storyteller]

I think I played SMT 1 and 2 on vizzed when I was in college, but never finished either.

P4G is the only game from the series I've played to the end, and I did love that.

Perhaps it was the fact that I didn't really necessarily see Persona in connection to SMT,

nor did I have a real idea that the series is generally overly dark that I didn't have a problem with its lightness.

Then again, December did happen.

 

I did play SMT Imagine for a while, if that even counts :V