The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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cj iwakura
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by cj iwakura »

Yeah, Kaz isn't coming back, but be glad the new artist knows his roots and does Kaz justice. I've become a big fan of Doi's style, especially his demon work in Apocalypse. Dagda and Krishna looked great.
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heli wrote:Why is milestone director in prison ?, are his game to difficult ?
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by BulletMagnet »

Nocturne's an old favorite of mine and I'm glad to see more folks get a shot at it, though I do wonder if they'll include any additional QOL-style options, at least on the new easier difficulty settings, i.e. requiring a full party wipe for a Game Over or allowing more agency when inheriting skills during Fusion. I also wonder how the HD upgrade will treat the mood, as I recall the bits of haziness contributing to the feeling that you're walking around in a nightmare, though obviously that's not exactly universal.

It'll certainly be a doozy to Platinum if they include separate trophies for each ending.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by cj iwakura »

BulletMagnet wrote:Nocturne's an old favorite of mine and I'm glad to see more folks get a shot at it, though I do wonder if they'll include any additional QOL-style options, at least on the new easier difficulty settings, i.e. requiring a full party wipe for a Game Over or allowing more agency when inheriting skills during Fusion. I also wonder how the HD upgrade will treat the mood, as I recall the bits of haziness contributing to the feeling that you're walking around in a nightmare, though obviously that's not exactly universal.

It'll certainly be a doozy to Platinum if they include separate trophies for each ending.
The updated visuals sure seem very faithful, but I'm most excited for the VA, including the dub. Some of the voices sound phenomenal, and the US trailer shows voices the JP one doesn't(the Maiden in Black).
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by scrilla4rella »

Pretty stoked to see SMT III on Switch. These long-ass RPGs just work so much better for me on a handheld.

Quick question: Is the OG Strange Journey on DS still worth playing or is it Strange Journey Redux all the way? I already own the DS version but was wondering if the quality of life improvements make the original obsolete or if it's not that big a deal? I have a 3DS, don't really care about the added voice acting, cut scenes, or additional content. I'm mainly wondering about any re-balancing (hopefully for the better) and said quality-of-life improvements.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by Blinge »

You can save anywhere.
I pussied out and started using that.

added content + extra final boss are pretty cool.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

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cj iwakura wrote:The updated visuals sure seem very faithful, but I'm most excited for the VA, including the dub.
I'm actually similarly semi-concerned about that, as even if the voice acting is good I worry it might distract from the game's all-important atmosphere at least as much as it adds to it...that's a nitpick, though, as it surely won't be enough to make the game not worth playing, and if they include an option to disable them it's a moot point anyway.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by BryanM »

Voice volume is standard in the audio settings. People have differing opinions on what the ideal SFX, Music, Voice mix is.

I like how Nocturne tries a little to break away a bit from the three standard ancap/authcap/authcom routes, but all they added was Musubi (isolationist anarchy). One thing that gets me down about the changing the world theme, is they're ultimately cosmetic at the end of the day (and in the case of the Reason endings, very barely so). (And since it's cosmetic, why so few choices - let us be able to have an ending where the mud monsters can live like actual people!)

It's understandable, since to actually live in the world you build would be a god awful amount of work, basically completely different video games. So the conflict during the apocalypse would be just a preamble. And then you'd have a game anthology like GameCenter CX.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by Klatrymadon »

scrilla4rella wrote:Pretty stoked to see SMT III on Switch. These long-ass RPGs just work so much better for me on a handheld.

Quick question: Is the OG Strange Journey on DS still worth playing or is it Strange Journey Redux all the way? I already own the DS version but was wondering if the quality of life improvements make the original obsolete or if it's not that big a deal? I have a 3DS, don't really care about the added voice acting, cut scenes, or additional content. I'm mainly wondering about any re-balancing (hopefully for the better) and said quality-of-life improvements.
Personally, I vastly prefer the look of the original and can't think of many games less in need of "QOL"-oriented remakes than Atlus' DS games, which generally were already dragging the DRPG into the 21st century in so many ways. I suppose it depends on how much you're into Kaneko's artwork and low-poly 3D dungeons, and which one is more convenient for you! I would say the remake in no way renders the original obsolete, though...

Edit: ah, the only thing I remember about rebalancing is that there are more "subapps" to make various aspects of the game easier, so that might be something to consider if you'd like the difficulty to be somewhat toggleable.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by cj iwakura »

scrilla4rella wrote:Pretty stoked to see SMT III on Switch. These long-ass RPGs just work so much better for me on a handheld.

Quick question: Is the OG Strange Journey on DS still worth playing or is it Strange Journey Redux all the way? I already own the DS version but was wondering if the quality of life improvements make the original obsolete or if it's not that big a deal? I have a 3DS, don't really care about the added voice acting, cut scenes, or additional content. I'm mainly wondering about any re-balancing (hopefully for the better) and said quality-of-life improvements.
Original all the way. The new art design is a travesty.

Do keep in mind that I consider SJ *the* hardest SMT by a mile.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by scrilla4rella »

Thanks for the info guys re: OG Strange Journey. I'll probably fire up the DS and give it a go. Glad to hear it's not rendered obsolete. I'll consider Redux if I have trouble with the difficulty.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by bottino »

Yeah, the aesthetics and atmosphere play a big part in what makes the SMT series great; I mean, those features, along with the storyline, are the reasons why the first Shin Megaten is such an awesome game, better than it's Super Famicom sequels IMO, despite it's obvious shortcomings in the game mechanics and design department.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by BrianC »

Even the FC Megami Tensei games had some nice moody music. IMO, Atlus made one of the best sound engines on the FC/NES.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by BryanM »

Music, you say?

This thing's been promoted again due to the announcements.


..... Atlus might be good at memes.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by Blinge »

ONE MORE GOD REJECTED

that one ties into galaxy-brain atheism but probably isn't a reference.
.. the idea that an atheist has just rejected one more god than say, a muslim or a christian did, when they rejected all the others.
BryanM wrote:..... Atlus might be good at memes.
that's from 2017 dawg wth is it
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by Klatrymadon »

SMT1 question: I got to the Cathedral and triggered the flood, but hadn't yet fought all of the bosses you meet via the "Four-Door Gem", and now there doesn't seem to be any way to revisit them. I'm pretty sure this means I can't meet someone pretty important (though presumably not essential) to the Neutral path. Is that right?
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

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Blinge wrote:that's from 2017 dawg wth is it
Re: Fantasy is the first game their newest studio is producing. All the pre-production trailers were... unusual. I could hear Matt Lees talking in my brain: "WOW THESE GRAPHICS ARE AMAZING - oh it's just television." We seriously wondered if it was going to be an FMV game or something crazy like that. The first official artwork was DLC in Etrian Odyssey X, and it wasn't until last year that they felt like they were finally making any progress.

It seems they're putting substantially more effort into it than they did the Last Bible series.

that one ties into galaxy-brain atheism but probably isn't a reference.
It could be. The strategy of persuading atheists that monotheism isn't too different from what they already believe is an old one, its inversion is natural. "Rejecting" gods always being a part of the copypasta talking point.

(Nobody really has a good answer for why there are wizards and clearly other gods in their texts tho. If the text isn't literal, just parables, metaphors and propaganda for the existing regime, then why isn't Yahweh another one?)
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by bottino »

Klatrymadon wrote:SMT1 question: I got to the Cathedral and triggered the flood, but hadn't yet fought all of the bosses you meet via the "Four-Door Gem", and now there doesn't seem to be any way to revisit them. I'm pretty sure this means I can't meet someone pretty important (though presumably not essential) to the Neutral path. Is that right?
You mean
Spoiler
Masakado? If so, yes, you can't meet him and therefore is unable to obtain a powerful weapon and the best suit of armor in the game.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by Klatrymadon »

Thanks! No worries, I can still get the Hinokagutsuchi, which should make the Cathedral a bit more manageable. Combat has been trivial for about half of the game now, but I'm expecting a spike soon... :)
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

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Klatrymadon wrote:Thanks! No worries, I can still get the Hinokagutsuchi, which should make the Cathedral a bit more manageable. Combat has been trivial for about half of the game now, but I'm expecting a spike soon... :)
Indeed.
And hey, I won't spoil anything, but Estoma is your friend :wink:
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by BulletMagnet »

Not sure how many folks are keeping an eye on it, but it would appear that Persona 5 Scramble is headed westward at some point.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by cj iwakura »

BulletMagnet wrote:Not sure how many folks are keeping an eye on it, but it would appear that Persona 5 Scramble is headed westward at some point.
Shocking news. :lol:
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by BryanM »

Woah, I knew the Persona Dancing games were churned out rapidly, but I didn't know they were released all at once Pokémon style. Don't think Atlus has done that since Devil Children? (Being Robopon's publisher doesn't count.)

.... remember Devil Children? The protagonists are children - with their personal army of monsters whom they go on a killing spree with. Was that the earliest use of the "invoker gun" in the MT franchise?
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by BulletMagnet »

Looks like Dante will make an appearance in the Nocturne remaster after all...if you pay up.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by Blinge »

The full meme circle of life... of people laughing at "Featuring Dante" to demanding that he be in the remaster..
Is beautiful, in a way.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

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BryanM wrote:Woah, I knew the Persona Dancing games were churned out rapidly, but I didn't know they were released all at once Pokémon style. Don't think Atlus has done that since Devil Children? (Being Robopon's publisher doesn't count.)

.... remember Devil Children? The protagonists are children - with their personal army of monsters whom they go on a killing spree with. Was that the earliest use of the "invoker gun" in the MT franchise?
I love the DC games, very underrated. A translation is in the works for Fire/Ice(PS1), too.
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by BryanM »

You mean for the GBA? Red+Black is all that's on the Phantasy Station.

There was a project for Fire+Ice a long time ago, the hacker was the same guy who brought us Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Hearts. He eventually burned out, posted a cool rant about how most jRPGs are crap (he didn't go into depth of the failings of Fire+Ice to spare his translator's feelings), and left the scene.

I feel bad that the original gameboy color games have taken so long and not been englishified. I think they're probably better than the GBA games - whenever I look between the two of them I'm always like "this is a cerberus; this is rubbish; this is a griffin; you can't even tell what this is!"

One of the things I really love is how the kid and his dog in Black both have the same haircut. There's something really wonderful about that, to me.

50 episode long children's animated series for the first set of games, 52 for the second. Can't say they didn't try, just like everyone else and their cat during that era. Remember Medabots?
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by cj iwakura »

Yep, Red/Black. I keep calling them Fire/Ice for some reason...
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by cj iwakura »

Took out one of my white whale super bosses, on Hard Mode no less, Raidou 2's Lucifer:

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This guy helped(re: made it possible)
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Also, I can't WAIT for this, there's never been a Raidou artbook.

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heli wrote:Why is milestone director in prison ?, are his game to difficult ?
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

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BulletMagnet wrote:Not sure how many folks are keeping an eye on it, but it would appear that Persona 5 Scramble is headed westward at some point.
Er, then again...
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Re: The Shin Megami Everything Thread

Post by Klatrymadon »

Really don't need Nocturne HD (I have US and PAL copies for the PS2), but I couldn't resist. My review: it's Nocturne in HD.

Anyone else playing it? I'm a couple of hours into it on Steam and it seems like a solid port, so far. I don't think much of the new font they've used on everything (looks like Times New Roman?), but there are some nice changes: you're no longer locked into one difficulty setting for an entire playthrough, or even session, since you can toggle this as you play*, and you have modern camera controls on the right stick. It's weird hearing famous VA like Paul Eiding in it, but it's fun. :)

A quick warning to PC players, though: download the free Chronicle DLC and start a game with "New Game: Chronicle" rather than just "New Game", or else you'll be playing the vanilla version of the game. The PAL and US PS2 releases were based on the Maniax revision, which added new plotlines and Fiends, etc. This content is included in both the Chronicle (free) and Maniax (paid) DLCs - the difference between them is whether you meet Raidou or Dante.

*you can even use it to avoid Hard Mode shop prices!
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