Shin Megami Tensei Series

Odd. Not a single game in the series that is disliked?

The Persona series is disliked by some the main series fans, as is Devil Survivor. Mostly on the grounds that Persona (3 and 4 usually) and Devil Survivor are just pandering to anime/date-sim fans and aren't as dark as the regular series. And many of the complaints are about the art style of those games as well.

edited 12th May '10 11:04:24 AM by Customer

I've heard some not-so-great things about the SMT MMORPG, Imagine. Though MMOs are notoriously hard to do correctly.

Yeah, there are a few poor entries in the series, but they're almost all spinoffs. Like the Virtual Boy game, Jack Brothers (which is really more ignored than really bad). Personally, I don't care much for the first two games in the Persona series, because of interface and balance problems.

SMT: Imagine is a different story, though. It's part of the main series, and it's just not a very good game. The combat system falls apart when faced with more than one enemy, the game features extended enforced grinding periods, and has a bit of an issue with cash items being too essential. But it's also one of the few F 2 P MMOs with an actual plot, with well-developed characters and everything. So the fact that its mechanics aren't very good is a bit of a shame. :/

edited 12th May '10 12:05:46 PM by CactuarJoe

I dunno, I played IMAGINE for a long while and really enjoyed it. It is really grindy though, and kind of a terrible choice for an entry MMO (as it played entirely different from other MMOs and with SMT's trademark difficulty, well...  ^*

IMAGINE was my first entry into the series proper  ^*

edited 12th May '10 12:16:35 PM by Customer

My exposure to the series has been P3 FES, P4, Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2.

Love the series to death, eventually I'm going to get my hands on Nocturne once I manage to scrape up some money. I really need to get back into Persona 2 Eternal Punishment some time in the future as well.

My first game was P3 FES. It caught my eye when a gaming blog had reported about this supposedly controversial game where the characters shoot themselves in the head.

Me: Well, gee...that's different. DAY ONE PURCHASE!

edited 12th May '10 12:27:41 PM by Dr.Vermillion

SMT: Imagine is a different story, though. It's part of the main series, and it's just not a very good game. The combat system falls apart when faced with more than one enemy, the game features extended enforced grinding periods, and has a bit of an issue with cash items being too essential. But it's also one of the few F 2 P MMOs with an actual plot, with well-developed characters and everything. So the fact that its mechanics aren't very good is a bit of a shame. :/

I used to love IMAGINE. Then I got to one point where I had to be level 25 to take on new quests, and I was level 19. After a few weeks of grinding, I finally reached level 20. Then I decided "fuck this" and haven't touched the game since.

I'm chomping at the bit to see what platform Persona 5 shows up on.

My guess is PS 3 or PS 2. All the Persona games have been on Playstation systems, Atlus focuses primarily on their Japanese fans, and there was that whole "mysterious Atlus PS 3 game" thing a few years back. If it's not on a Playstation system, then my money's on the Wii. Just cuz.

P3 vs. P4 for me? P4, I'll always take a character-centric plot over an epic plot. But they're still excellent games as far as I'm concerned.

Agreed.

^I had pretty much the same experience with Imagine. I got by with the combat system, and I loved the game's atmosphere, and Fusion is always a blast. But once the game started expecting me to grind for weeks on end, I really lost interest. :/

I played P3, P4, DDS 2 (first game's hard to find), DeSu, SJ and partway through Shin Megami Tensei I and II (ran out of MAG, fuuu-).

Haven't tried IMAGINE yet, due to losing patient waiting for the client to download.

As for games that players actually disliked...uh, NINE?

edited 13th May '10 2:43:17 AM by Sonica

So far, I've only played Persona 4 and Devil Survivor. Devil Survivor was pretty good, but Persona 4 was my favorite game since the original playstation era. The one thing I really want a PS 3 for is Persona 5. Everything else, I think I can give a miss.

Aw come on Ccoa. How is five minutes into the game a spoiler? *ducks tomatoes*

I've played Persona 1 for the PSP and are still attempting SMT 1, 2, if... and the original remakes Kyuyakku(sp?) Megami Tensei. The latter two (three) still need fan translations. :<

Though I'd prefer a translation of the PSX if... because the real 3D of Persona PSP is just so much EASIER to visualise and navigate. Or for Atlus to give all three original SMT the same treatment as Persona to the PSP. (But keep the music! KEEP THE MUSIC.)

> Jaabi rocks out to SM Tif PSX's alternate battle theme.

edited 12th May '10 6:42:07 PM by Jaabi

Everything else, I think I can give a miss.

Valkyria Chronicles and Resonance Of Fate are some of the best games I've played in a long time. I'm really glad I went with a PS 3 over a 360.

It's unfortunate I went with a X Box over a PS 2. Or PS 3 if that was out then, don't think so.

I was in a "omg Halo FPS guns violence must have" young teen phase. Then I hit RPGs finally... and realised that all the good ones were on the PS 2. :[

And I bet Persona 5 will be PS 3 exclusive. Come on Atlus! I thought Persona was supposed to be your cash sinkhole, make it for the 360 as well! 8<

With the way things are now, I wouldn't be shocked if they had it on both PS 3 and 360. Or hey, they could go the same route as Strange Journey and do a Persona game for the DS.

The persona games are expansive enough that I don't think one on DS could really be up to the level of the rest of the series.

Or… 3DS launch title!

I'm guessing PS360, since I remember reading that Atlus was looking for people for PS 3/360 development...

Though, I wouldn't mind if they use similiar colour schemes from Trauma Team for Persona 5. Bright, colourful and beautiful graphics, as we save the world (again) from monstrous, dark beings that is probably because of the general populace's minds!

This thread inspired me to change my avatar to my old IMAGINE character.

Also, Hypothetical Mega Ten movie: yea, or nay?

^^ Yay, if Persona, nay, if original. Persona is well suited to an OVA or even live-action (but it has to be faithful to games, *cough*Trinity Soul*cough*), but the original series is to morality-based to be suitably converted into one. I've not yet played the Raidou games so I can't pass judgment on that.

I was thinking of a movie maybe based on half the original games and half the original novels the games were loosely based on.

edited 16th May '10 9:35:16 AM by LizardBite

Huh, never read the novels, might have to do that sometime.

I gather there was an OVA based on the original novels/first game/some dang thing. And, er, that it was horrible. ^^; Sort of a testament to terrible 80s horror anime. Never seen it myself, though.

I kind of like the idea of a live-action Persona movie, though. Given that the Persona series tends to have more of an "everyday life" sort of feel to it, I think it might translate to live action better than the rest of the series. Personally, though, I'd hope they'd go with an original cast and story rather than trying to adapt one of the games — 50+ hours of gameplay and story do not condense well into a 90 minute movie.

^this is true, but only so much of Persona 3 was that important to the plot.

But so much that wasn't directly pertinent to the plot was what made the games so fun.

If you cut out everything that wasn't directly plot relevant, you might get it down to, say, a two and half hour movie, but it wouldn't be nearly as interesting as the game.