The Last Great Adventurer
Smash Lord
So, not very long ago I discovered Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei megafranchise. It had completely flown under my radar due to a combination of it penetrating North America late in the game compared to the other major JRPG franchises and my general disinterest in JRPGs throughout the late 90s/2000s. I'd been clued into SMT when Strange Journey made it to the DS, and had thought the preview material sounded really interesting, but I never actually got around to checking it out. When I got my 3DS back in early 2013 I soon discovered an avalanche of SMT related games heading my way. Devil Survivor Overclocked was already out. Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers was coming up quick. And Shin Megami Tensei IV was coming in the summer. I did my homework real quick after that, and finally taking the time to try out Strange Journey. And I'm really glad I did. Because what I found defied my expectations.
I'm not going the lie, the Final Fantasy brand of RPGs don't really appeal to me. Nor Dragon's Quest (though I'm a tad more curious about it), Nor Tales (again, less so then FF). SMT's brand of science fiction horror was just so FRESH to me. And its presentation, as mostly franchise known first first-person dungeon crawling, was so completely different then anything else out there. I instantly fell in love with the franchise as a whole (with a single exception, which I'll get too later). Demon recruiting/summoning is a bit Pokemon-esque, but not really. With Pokes you train them over time, and its likely you'll end the game with Pokemon you started the game with. Not so in SMT. Where Demons are disposable, and to make them better you have to combined them with other demons to make new more powerful demons. Oh, and the games are balls hard. Instant death always a random crit or magic spell away. Hope you saves recently.
Of the SMT games I've had the pleasure of playing (Shin Megami Tensei (iOS port), Strange Journey (DS), Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS), Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS), and Persona 3 FEZ (PS2). I have to say Strange Journey is my favorite overall. Its first person dungeon crawling kept me busy for hours. Coming off that SMT IV unfortunately was a bit of a disappointment in that the game is a lot easier comparatively to other SMT games and its 3rd person gameplay never really felt natural to the franchise. Plus its dungeons are a lot less interesting. Devil Survivor is a strategy game like Fire Emblem, so really its a whole not ball of wax. But the core combat, demon summoning, and demon fusion mechanics are all there. Its pretty good. Soul Hackers is nearly as good as Strange Journey. But its interface is a lot more clunky. Being a port of a 1998 PS1 era game.
I will say Persona 3 was the biggest disappointment of them all though. Some would argue Persona games aren't SMT games, but I don't buy that for a second. Because so much is still drawn from the SMT formula. But I've never played a game that went so far out of its way to prevent me from actually playing the game. This 'dating sim' half of the game just slows the pace down to a crawl. And the way my partner characters just get tired after five minutes in a dungeon... so obnoxious. I don't think P3 or P4 (or P5!) are for me. I don't really want to play an idealized high school experience. But I think P1 and P2 might be for me. I really want to get a PSP to play some Persona 1. First person dungeons!
Phew. Sorry, got a bit wordy there. So yeah. I really dig SMT. And its led me to whole bunch of other interesting things from Atlus. Like Etrian Odyssey (and even Persona Q looks like it'll scratch my itches. Too bad its going to be $50 with no OST. Come on Atlus, you can do better). How about you guys? Does Shin Megami Tensei appeal to your inner gamer like it does me? And for those of you who think you're allergic to all JRPGs, have you ever tried an SMT game?
I'm not going the lie, the Final Fantasy brand of RPGs don't really appeal to me. Nor Dragon's Quest (though I'm a tad more curious about it), Nor Tales (again, less so then FF). SMT's brand of science fiction horror was just so FRESH to me. And its presentation, as mostly franchise known first first-person dungeon crawling, was so completely different then anything else out there. I instantly fell in love with the franchise as a whole (with a single exception, which I'll get too later). Demon recruiting/summoning is a bit Pokemon-esque, but not really. With Pokes you train them over time, and its likely you'll end the game with Pokemon you started the game with. Not so in SMT. Where Demons are disposable, and to make them better you have to combined them with other demons to make new more powerful demons. Oh, and the games are balls hard. Instant death always a random crit or magic spell away. Hope you saves recently.
Of the SMT games I've had the pleasure of playing (Shin Megami Tensei (iOS port), Strange Journey (DS), Devil Survivor Overclocked (3DS), Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS), and Persona 3 FEZ (PS2). I have to say Strange Journey is my favorite overall. Its first person dungeon crawling kept me busy for hours. Coming off that SMT IV unfortunately was a bit of a disappointment in that the game is a lot easier comparatively to other SMT games and its 3rd person gameplay never really felt natural to the franchise. Plus its dungeons are a lot less interesting. Devil Survivor is a strategy game like Fire Emblem, so really its a whole not ball of wax. But the core combat, demon summoning, and demon fusion mechanics are all there. Its pretty good. Soul Hackers is nearly as good as Strange Journey. But its interface is a lot more clunky. Being a port of a 1998 PS1 era game.
I will say Persona 3 was the biggest disappointment of them all though. Some would argue Persona games aren't SMT games, but I don't buy that for a second. Because so much is still drawn from the SMT formula. But I've never played a game that went so far out of its way to prevent me from actually playing the game. This 'dating sim' half of the game just slows the pace down to a crawl. And the way my partner characters just get tired after five minutes in a dungeon... so obnoxious. I don't think P3 or P4 (or P5!) are for me. I don't really want to play an idealized high school experience. But I think P1 and P2 might be for me. I really want to get a PSP to play some Persona 1. First person dungeons!
Phew. Sorry, got a bit wordy there. So yeah. I really dig SMT. And its led me to whole bunch of other interesting things from Atlus. Like Etrian Odyssey (and even Persona Q looks like it'll scratch my itches. Too bad its going to be $50 with no OST. Come on Atlus, you can do better). How about you guys? Does Shin Megami Tensei appeal to your inner gamer like it does me? And for those of you who think you're allergic to all JRPGs, have you ever tried an SMT game?
