Shin Megami Tensei + Persona Thread!

[NozomeAkimoto]

"Master, the communication has been established. Feel free to spread the word."






Thanks, Burroughs.
So! You may be wondering, what is SMT?
Shin Megami Tensei is a series of RPG games made by the highly acclaimed Atlus. The series is rather dark, as it explores in full detail what happens when you take any side on a war of universal proportions, with you having the power to tip the scales the way you want.
In the SMT multiverse (You heard that right), there are two main factions.

Law: An oppresive take on the Judeochristian pantheon, with a God (YHVH specifically) who only wants the whole world to worship him flawlessly, and a set of archangels and angels who back him up on his desires. The typical Law is a world where there is everlasting peace, at the cost of individual freedom.
Chaos: The absolute opposite of Law, of course. Typically heralded by Lucifer, the side of Chaos instead is vicious and brutal. Their perfect world is one where might makes right, where the powerful shape the world as they see fit and the weak are oppressed under the tyrannical sole of their superiors, if not outright killed. A world where everyone is free to do what they desire, but only through force.

Don't like any of these? Hooray, you! Any SMT game with this kind of dispute also has a hard to obtain but highly satisfying Neutral route, where you forsake both Law and Chaos to try to give control back to Humankind, so they can try to fix their mistakes and set right the world on their own.

The series is also hard. Like, balls to the walls hard. You have to make very good use of ailments. The threat of instant kill spells is not ignorable, as they can wreck you with much ease without being ready. When not taking care of enemy weaknessess and resistances you can not only give the enemies the upper hand, but to lose your turn every time. Buffing and debuffing is vital, more so than most games.

The series is very, very wide. It's most probable that you all may know one of the most popular spinoff series of the series: The Persona series. This series takes away from the typical SMT formula and explores the human psyche, with much more analysis on individual characters, how they interact with each other.

So! What are your favorite games? Your favorite Demons/Personas? Spells? Have questions? Come here!

Welcome to the Cathedral of Shadows, where Demons gather...  

[Kitalpha Hart]

I've played Nocturne briefly, want to check out Imagine at the very least
Hnnnggghhh
Definitely some odd games, probably why I like it, despite having played it only a little bit  

[NozomeAkimoto]

Kitalpha Hart

I've played Nocturne briefly, want to check out Imagine at the very least
Hnnnggghhh
Definitely some odd games, probably why I like it, despite having played it only a little bit

I have to reckon, Nocturne is a bit unbalanced on some places. Mainly because the Press Turn system was new, and had enemy-only skills that could exploit this system with no drawbacks.
SMT4 feels so much refines tho! Without being too easy, it fixes most issues DDS/Nocturne players had. You can wipe if you're not careful, even to low-leveled enemies!  

[Kitalpha Hart]

NozomeAkimoto

Kitalpha Hart

I've played Nocturne briefly, want to check out Imagine at the very least
Hnnnggghhh
Definitely some odd games, probably why I like it, despite having played it only a little bit

I have to reckon, Nocturne is a bit unbalanced on some places. Mainly because the Press Turn system was new, and had enemy-only skills that could exploit this system with no drawbacks.
SMT4 feels so much refines tho! Without being too easy, it fixes most issues DDS/Nocturne players had. You can wipe if you're not careful, even to low-leveled enemies!

so either my luck was crazy high, or the glitch allowed monsters to try and join me in every battle. Weird
The guy who actually owned the game got tired of level grinding and so got the code for 12000x experience gain or whatever (he was near the end) for hs Codebreaker, and leveled that way. Apparently, he had a hard time recruiting monsters as well  

[NozomeAkimoto]

Kitalpha Hart

NozomeAkimoto

Kitalpha Hart

I've played Nocturne briefly, want to check out Imagine at the very least
Hnnnggghhh
Definitely some odd games, probably why I like it, despite having played it only a little bit

I have to reckon, Nocturne is a bit unbalanced on some places. Mainly because the Press Turn system was new, and had enemy-only skills that could exploit this system with no drawbacks.
SMT4 feels so much refines tho! Without being too easy, it fixes most issues DDS/Nocturne players had. You can wipe if you're not careful, even to low-leveled enemies!

so either my luck was crazy high, or the glitch allowed monsters to try and join me in every battle. Weird
The guy who actually owned the game got tired of level grinding and so got the code for 12000x experience gain or whatever (he was near the end) for hs Codebreaker, and leveled that way. Apparently, he had a hard time recruiting monsters as well

Well, in most games with Demon Negotiation, your chances of success are mostly defined by how well do you know the correct responses to each demon, deoending on their personalities. Nocturne also has this thing where certain demons carry different Negotiation skills that are more effective on certain situations.
The moon phase also affects negotiation, specially if you're on New Moon where convincing demons is easiest.  

[Kitalpha Hart]

NozomeAkimoto

Kitalpha Hart

NozomeAkimoto

Kitalpha Hart

I've played Nocturne briefly, want to check out Imagine at the very least
Hnnnggghhh
Definitely some odd games, probably why I like it, despite having played it only a little bit

I have to reckon, Nocturne is a bit unbalanced on some places. Mainly because the Press Turn system was new, and had enemy-only skills that could exploit this system with no drawbacks.
SMT4 feels so much refines tho! Without being too easy, it fixes most issues DDS/Nocturne players had. You can wipe if you're not careful, even to low-leveled enemies!

so either my luck was crazy high, or the glitch allowed monsters to try and join me in every battle. Weird
The guy who actually owned the game got tired of level grinding and so got the code for 12000x experience gain or whatever (he was near the end) for hs Codebreaker, and leveled that way. Apparently, he had a hard time recruiting monsters as well

Well, in most games with Demon Negotiation, your chances of success are mostly defined by how well do you know the correct responses to each demon, deoending on their personalities. Nocturne also has this thing where certain demons carry different Negotiation skills that are more effective on certain situations.
The moon phase also affects negotiation, specially if you're on New Moon where convincing demons is easiest.

don't remember the moon cycles or any of that, nor do I remember the Negotiation stuff. It's been a long time. I'd enter battle, a demon would have an exclaimation point, ask to join, and voila
Weird  

[Zephyrkitty]

I've loved what I've played of the MegaTen series. I got Persona 3 FES when I got a PS2 on the recommendations of several friends and really enjoyed it. Played through Persona 4 a year or so later and that's still one of my favorite games ever. Since then I've tried to track down all of the other games that got US releases; I'm still missing a couple, but I think I have most of the hardest ones to find at this point.

I've been pretty terrible about actually playing them, though. I've gotten through P3 (and P3P as the female protagonist), P4, and both Devil Survivor games (loved 1, thought 2 was fun but not as good as the first game), but that's about it. I need to get back to MegaTen IV; I got sidetracked once Pokemon came out.  

[NozomeAkimoto]

Zephyrkitty

I've loved what I've played of the MegaTen series. I got Persona 3 FES when I got a PS2 on the recommendations of several friends and really enjoyed it. Played through Persona 4 a year or so later and that's still one of my favorite games ever. Since then I've tried to track down all of the other games that got US releases; I'm still missing a couple, but I think I have most of the hardest ones to find at this point.

I've been pretty terrible about actually playing them, though. I've gotten through P3 (and P3P as the female protagonist), P4, and both Devil Survivor games (loved 1, thought 2 was fun but not as good as the first game), but that's about it. I need to get back to MegaTen IV; I got sidetracked once Pokemon came out.

I remember playing P3P as the FeMC, but I sorta dropped it when my 3DS came home. =w=

I was lucky to finish SMT IV like a week before Pokemon came out. Right now I'm balancing between the two as I try to get Neutral route. There's a surefire, easy way to get it but it's best for a second+ playthrough because it sort of kills your inmersion.