Line #63 VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIf


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smt_if_new_727.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[Creator/RudyardKipling Yours is the Demon World and everything that's in it]]...]]
3
4	->''...A peaceful everyday life...''\
5	''...A boring day after boring day''\
6	''...Our days of youth slowly passes by...''
7
8	->''What IF...''\
9	''that life was shattered to pieces?''
10
11	->''What IF...''\
12	''the school was thrown into another world?''
13
14	->''This is...''\
15	''...a story of children who were stranded in the Demon World...''
16	-->-- '''Intro'''
17
18	''Shin Megami Tensei: if...'' was the third GaidenGame to be spun off from the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' franchise (the first being ''Majin Tensei'', and the second being ''VideoGame/LastBible'', which came to America as ''Revelations: The Demon Slayer''). The title refers to two things: first is the concept of the game, which is a WhatIf scenario in the ''SMT'' universe, namely "what if a school was suddenly thrown into the Demon Realm?" The title and logo are also references to the arthouse British film ''Film/{{If}}'', where the developers seem to have gotten the school concept from (although all similarities really stop there, with one possible [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer exception]]). Sadly, this game was [[NoExportForYou never released outside of Japan]], but Aeon Genesis released [[https://aeongenesis.net/projects/smtif a fan translation]] on October 25th, 2018.
19
20	Mechanically, the game is built on the engine of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'', and even recycles a large number of art and musical assets from that title. Dungeons are navigated in a first-person view; demons are negotiated with, and fused in the Cathedral of Shadows. Perhaps the biggest change mechanically is the introduction of the idea of "guardian spirits": souls of demons that will save you from death and upon entering your body, strengthen it and even give you and your compatriots magical powers.
21
22	If this sounds [[Franchise/{{Persona}} just a bit familiar]], it should; many of the concepts introduced in ''if...'' would eventually be expanded upon in the original ''VideoGame/{{Persona\|1}}'', and the formerly anonymous main character of ''if...'' even became a character in the early ''Persona'' games, putting ''Persona'' in the same continuity as ''if...'' and the ''Devil Summoner'' games (which detail what would have happened if people knew about demons ''before'' a certain event in ''SMT 1'', thanks to the events of ''if...''). In other words, what started as one GaidenGame ended up dovetailing into a huge AlternateContinuity that has ''eclipsed'' the original ''Shin Megami Tensei'' games in popularity.
23
24	The game begins with your main character (who you can choose the name and gender of, although canonically the Protagonist is a girl named Tamaki) as an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent at Karukozaka High School who is just about to go home for the day... and then, suddenly, things go ''very wrong''. Your school doesn't seem to be on Earth anymore, demons roam the hallways, and a student named Hazama has gone missing... except he seems to be appearing to you as a kind of astral projection, taunting you. It'll be up to you and a partner of your choosing to get to the bottom of what is going on - and what Hazama may have planned for the school and the world.
25
26	The game has a cell phone prequel called ''Shin Megami Tensei: if... Hazama's Chapter'', which details Hazama's past.
27
28	There's a one volume manga adaptation of the game released only in Japan. As with the game itself, it's been translated by fans into English.
29
30	----
31	!!This game provides examples of:
32	* AbhorrentAdmirer: Otsuki is all but outright stated to be attracted to Hazama. Hazama, for his part, considers him a nuisance at best and flat-out asks the heroes to kill him on certain routes at worst.
33	* ActionGirl: Tamaki, Reiko and Yumi are the game's most prominent female characters, and are all badass.
34	%%* AGodAmI: Hazama.
35	* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: [[spoiler: This is a large part of the root cause of Hazama's psychotic ''hatred'' for everyone around him and why he torments his schoolmates upon becoming the Demon Emperor.]]
36	* AlternateContinuity: Infamous for spawning [[Franchise/{{Persona}} a continuity]] that would end up ''eclipsing'' its "mother" franchise in popularity and profitability.
37	* BeneathTheMask: For all his bluster, Reiko's path reveals that [[spoiler:on the inside, Hazama is little more than a scared and bullied little child who is violently lashing out against the world. Add in abandonment issues after his mother left with Reiko and it becomes clear that he is not so confident as he like to make himself appear]].
38	* BigBad: The Demon God Emperor.
39	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Reiko's ending in particular. The school is saved and almost everyone makes it out alive, but Reiko and Hazama are never seen again after Reiko thanks Tamaki for helping to save Hazama from himself...]]
40	* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler: The final boss in Reiko's path takes place in Hazama's mind.]]
41	* BloodierAndGorier: The manga adaptation and its sequel ''Kahn'' are a lot more gory than the source material they were based off of.
42	* BroughtDownToNormal: [[spoiler:The protagonist at the end of Yumi and Reiko's routes, as well as Yumi on her route. After defeating Hazama and returning to the real world, their level(s) return to 1, they lose their Guardians, their equpiment, their items, and most of their macca and Magnetite. Additionally, in Reiko's route, while leaving Hazama's DreamLand upon its collapse, Reiko tells the protagonist to release all the demons they've recruited thus far.]]
43	* CanonName: In ''if...'', you are given the option of naming your character, selecting their gender, and more or less defining their personality through gameplay. The ''Persona'' series, however, defines the Protagonist as a fairly upbeat girl named Tamaki Uchida.
44	* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: [[spoiler: [[MadScientist Professor Otsuki]], in increasing levels of hilarity and tragedy.]]
45	* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Dying simply gets you a new Guardian and bounces you back to the start of the current dungeon, which can be good or bad depending on how high your Guardian gauge was and how far in you were.
46	* DiscOneNuke: Surprisingly, Reiko's starting Guardian has Agilao of all things. Despite the high MP cost, it's extremely useful and will save your ass many times.
47	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Chefei draws her power from greed, but should you open all the treasure chests from the previous room, she will feel disgusted at the protagonist's extreme greed and deem them as hopeless (despite having reached her most powerful form thanks to them).
48	* EveryoneHasStandards: Charlie is a selfish jerk [[spoiler: but even he is horrified when he accidentally kills Ryuuichi and Akiko.]]
49	* {{Ephebophile}}: A special negotiation with a Pixie at the very start of the game allows you to question her about, among other things, Otsuki, who she calls a creep obsessed with Hazama.
50	* EverythingsDeaderWithZombies: Undead students and school faculty appear in the game as enemies. You may also encounter undead dogs outside the school gym.
51	* EvilLaugh: Even at the very start of the game, Hazama appears before you and does this a ''lot'', cluing you in to the fact that he's got something to do with the weirdness going on. [[spoiler: The fact that he ''tries'' to draw out his overdone evil laugh at the start of the game is a hint that he's just putting on a front to try and hide his deep-seated emotional disturbance and is just acting the way he ''thinks'' a Demon Emperor should act.]]
52	* FortuneTeller: NOVA, a computerized one, gives the PlayerPersonalityQuiz.
53	* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:Hazama's is detailed in Reiko's path.]]
54	* FromBadToWorse: Whoever is in control of the Demon World seems to be doing this deliberately to the poor students of Karukozaka High. [[spoiler:Turns out Hazama is attempting to punish them for what he perceives as each of their sins against both him and society.]]
55	* GaidenGame: Naturally.
56	* GameFavoredGender: This was the first game in the entire Megami Tensei franchise with a female protagonist, and boy does it show.
57	** First off, HP values. As a consequence of running in the same engine as ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'', the game makes it so that male characters have naturally higher HP than female characters even when they have literally the same stats. This wasn't a problem in ''II'' as you had a male protagonist that couldn't use magic and a female companion that could, so having more HP than your companion was a way of balancing. In this game however, the protagonist's gender can be selected but if you play as a female you'll STILL have less HP than the male protagonist and no other benefit. And to top it all off, the game's code doesn't only run with "males have more HP than females", but also with "protagonist has more HP than the companion", so even your partner will have more HP if you play as male than if you play as female.
58	** The Jesus and Tenma armor sets, which are extremely powerful. The pieces are found in special treasure chests inside the World of Envy, but the content of those chests changes depending on the protagonist's Guardian: if your Guardian is the Law Hero, you'll find the pieces of the Jesus set; if your Guardian is the Chaos Hero, you'll find the pieces of the Tenma set; if your Guardian is neither of them, you'll just find a Bead inside. Those sets are exclusive to male characters, which by itself is not a problem. The problem is that you can only visit the World of Envy if your partner is Yumi or Reiko, who are both girls. If you're also playing as a girl, those sets are absolutely useless.
59	* GasLeakCoverup: [[spoiler:In Charlie's and Akira's routes, the school is never restored and only a huge crater is left. This is officially said to been the cause of a gas leak explosion]].
60	* HeadTurningBeauty: Hellooooooo, [[HospitalHottie Miss Kayama]]! This isn't just played for laughs: [[spoiler:in Reiko's ending it's revealed that Hazama fell desperately in love with her, but she rejected him as she felt a relationship with him would be wildly inappropriate; this is suggested to be the snapping point at which he decided to open the portal to the Demon World. It's also the reason that she's around to heal you even when bad things happen to all the other students and faculty, though; hurt and emotionally crippled as he is, Hazama can't bring himself to harm Kayama in any way.]]
61	* IChooseToStay:
62	** In Reiko's route, [[spoiler:Reiko chooses to remain behind in the demon world with Hazama out of sympathy for the circumstances of his fall to villainy]].
63	** In [[spoiler:Akira]]'s route, [[spoiler:Akira chooses to remain behind in the demon world because he's fused with Amon and feels he no longer has any place in the human world]].
64	* {{Jerkass}}: Charlie. He's perfectly happy to screw the whole school over if it means getting home. [[spoiler:Which is ''exactly'' what the two of you do in his ending.]]
65	* JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler:The final dungeon in Reiko's Path. There is also SoundtrackDissonance as the Law theme from Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei 1 and 2 play while you trod through Hazama's mind. Though, it wouldn't be the first time the Law theme was associated with changing people's minds for the sake of peace.]]
66	* KickTheDog: [[spoiler:Akiko rejected Hazama's love letter and tore it up, badmouthing him to her friends.]]
67	* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Potentially a reason the game has never gotten a Western release; the lettering of the "if" in the game logo is lifted ''directly'' from the [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/If_movieposter.jpg movie of the same name]], and parts of the game concept also seem to borrow heavily from the movie as well (such as the school setting itself and [[spoiler: a major character rebelling and bringing down punishment on the school after [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer constant abuse]] - Malcolm [=McDowell's=] character in ''if....'', and Hazama in ''SMT if...'']]).
68	* LouisCypher: [[spoiler:Conspicuous only in his near total absence. He never shows up to talk, you don't fight him, he isn't TheChessmaster, and you can only even fuse him at level 99; making ''If'' one of the tiny handful of SMT games where he doesn't have any kind of story impact. [[EpilepticTrees Guesses]] about this aspect of the game abound.]]
69	* MultipleEndings: Each partner has their own route and ending.
70	* MythologyGag: The Fiends in the original version are primarily taken from ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI''. These include Pascal, Gotou, the Law and Chaos Heroes, the protagonist, and En no Ozuno.
71	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the World of Wrath, [[spoiler:after finding out that Ryuuichi and Akiko were turned to stone, Hazama claims that smashing the stone ''might'' free them. If you don't take the bait, your partner [[ButThouMust does it instead]] -- killing the pair instead of freeing them. Cue {{Evil Laugh}}ter from Hazama and MyGodWhatHaveIDone from your partner.]]
72	* NintendoHard: Not quite as bastard hard as the previous two games, although certain dungeons could still kick you around, and the final boss is no slouch.
73	* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Everyone begins as this. Then bad stuff happens.
74	* PlayerPersonalityQuiz: At the start of the game, a computer FortuneTeller named Nova asks you questions what sort of sports and subjects you like, what sort of school club you belong to, whether or not you like video games, and if you have/use a cellphone. Once you finish, she summarizes your strengths and weaknesses, giving you a good idea what your starting stats will look like.
75	* PurelyAestheticGender:
76	** Averted. The female protagonist and partners have much lower HP growths than male characters, though putting enough points into Strength and Stamina can alleviate this problem. And depending on the sex you choose at the beginning of the game for the protagonist as well as how they score on the personality test they'll be given a different lineage of guardians.
77	** In the Envy dungeon, if you have a female partner (namely, [[TheBigGuy Yumi]] or [[OnlySaneMan Reiko]]) then they will leave the group to chase a beautiful male demon.
78	* RecurringBoss: [[spoiler:Professor Otsuki, who keeps rebuilding his body in order to defeat you.]]
79	* SamusIsAGirl: After a fashion. Not only was ''if...'' the first game in the SMT franchise to offer the option of a female protagonist, the ''Persona'' series retroactively made Tamaki the first ''canon'' female protagonist of an SMT game.
80	* SchoolSettingSimulation: The game takes place entirely inside Karukozaka High, as the school has been thrown in the Abyss and the protagonist tries to escape.
81	* SecretCharacter: [[spoiler:Akira]], whose path becomes available after beating the game.
82	* SequelNumberSnarl: This is officially the third mainline game despite not being a NumberedSequel.
83	* SevenDeadlySins: Sort of. The dungeons are based on a major sin ([[spoiler:these being the punishments Hazama wishes to deal out to those who have "wronged" him]]), but there are only six sins represented. [[spoiler:One could make an argument for the "empty school" being symbolic of Pride and Hazama's mind being Wrath given how pissed he is at everything, but this isn't stated outright.]] The worlds, in order: [[spoiler:Pride, Gluttony, Sloth, Envy OR Wrath (depending on your partner) and Greed.]] The absent sin, [[spoiler:Lust]], could potentially be represented by [[spoiler:Hazama himself, as his feelings towards both Akiko and Miss Kayama being rejected helped drive him into unleashing the Demon World.]]
84	* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler:Practically everything that happens in Sloth turns out to be pointless, beyond giving you access to the next area.]]
85	* ShoutOut: [[spoiler:Akira gets possessed by the demon Amon. [[Manga/{{Devilman}} Now where have we heard that one before...]]]]
86	* SoleSurvivor: In Charlie and [[spoiler:Akira]]'s routes, [[spoiler:the protagonist is the only one to escape Karukozaka High School alive (joined by Charlie in the former)]].
87	* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: Played with in the Domain of Greed, where there are about dozen or so chests outside the boss room: [[spoiler:opening none of them gets you a fight with an underleveled fox, taking all of them will force you to fight an overleveled god-like [[MultipleTailedBeast nine-tailed]] [[AsianFoxSpirit Kitsune]], with various forms in-between.]]
88	* TakenForGranite: [[spoiler:Ryuuichi and Akiko.]]
89	* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:The last dungeon in Reiko's path is Hazama's ''mind''.]]
90	* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Both Otsuki and Hazama suffer from this in the end, Otsuki welding ever wilder cybernetics to his flesh while Hazama can't believe that he isn't omnipotent in the Demon World. If you have Reiko with you, you get to see all the steps of his breakdown that ''led'' to this whole mess.]]
91	* WhatIf: Arguably the entire concept of the game, which is [[{{Lampshading}} lampshaded]] by the intro: "What IF...that life was shattered to pieces? What IF... the school was thrown into another world?". Atlus probably didn't anticipate that this would later create [[Franchise/{{Persona}} their most successful franchise yet]], with said franchise's popularity even ''eclipsing'' the mainline ''Shin Megami Tensei'''s popularity.
92	* WhereItAllBegan:
93	** If you take the three Platform/SuperNintendo-based SMT titles (SMT 1, SMT 2, and ''If'') as a kind of "trilogy" this applies after a fashion. SMT 1 begins in the dreams of the Protagonist of that game; [[spoiler:the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''If'' is the Mindscape of Hazama, using the same "dream" graphical effect from SMT 1]].
94	** In a meta-example, ''If'' serves as this for the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' franchise, as many elements from ''If'' would later be expanded in the original ''VideoGame/{{Persona\|1}}'' game, essentially making ''If'' the cornerstone of an ''entire'' AlternateContinuity.
95	* WombLevel: Guttony has this as the real boss in the world is a demon within the stomach of the headmaster who is now Orcus, who is a giant pig.
96	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Hazama, as you discover in the last dungeon of Reiko's path.]]
97	* YankTheDogsChain: Cruelly used in [[spoiler:Sloth, when Hazama declares [[ILied he lied]] about setting free whoever found the ring hidden there.]]

Context VideoGame / ShinMegamiTenseiIf