Shin Megami Tensei Series

Accidentally found both Devil Survivor remakes in a local store (Nintendo games are pretty much nonexistant where I live, it was really surprising to find anything, let alone something I'd like to play). I played both DS versions, so they aren't high on my "to play" list, but it's nice to have them! Now I own all SMT games released for 3DS so far (and hope to add SJ and PQ 2 in the future). Checked openings, didn't like the songs, but 2 had nice visuals.

In which the last two human party members are recruited and we explore Ginza.

That part where Inti talked about invaders from strange shores actually reminded me of the Scion take on Hernan Cortes. In that game, the Aztecs didn't think he was Quetzalcoatl, but Quetzalcoatl himself told them that Cortes was his son. When Cortes found out that he was the son of an Aztec god, he became horrified by what he had done to his spiritual people and has been trying to atone even after he ascended to godhood as well.

You know, I'm kind of surprised Prometheus isn't weak to Gun. You'd think that the eagle pecking out his liver all that time would cause him to not like being pierced by sharp things.

edited 23rd Apr '18 11:22:19 AM by dragonfire5000

I intend to make some of the demons semi-tragic characters; as big of jerks as they can be a lot of them really do miss their humans. I also hope I prompted at least some "feels" in Nanashi's line about how nobody has time to study things like mythology anymore in an age when mere survival is highly uncertain.

tfw i fuse the daisoujou ive been waiting to make since day one but then i forget where to go

Soo... I found some interesting triva, the japanese name of the Twisted Tokyo area in IVA is Tokyo.

Thing is, its written with a different kanji. normally Tokyo is written like this. 東京都

While Twisted Tokyo in japanese is written like this. 東狂. With the kanji 狂 (Kyo) which translates to Insanity.

edited 25th Apr '18 5:40:56 AM by dood9780

The sections of Twisted Tokyo do the same thing. The names have some kanji changes that still sound the same phonetically but the new kanji is apparently related to the Fiend that acts as the boss of the section.

Sadly, it's something that's kind of hard to translate into English to get the same effect.

edited 25th Apr '18 8:15:22 AM by dragonfire5000

In which our rescue plan goes the way rescue plans in fiction usually do and a wild love interest appears. See if you can spot the shout out to one of the most famous Megaten LPs.

edited 27th Apr '18 6:11:15 PM by HamburgerTime

A wild love interest? ...Surely you couldn't have summoned Mara that early?

In all seriousness though, I won't be able to guess what the shout-out is; I don't really watch Let's Plays all that much.

Still, very good chapter. Can't wait until you get to the Divine Power boss fights.

edited 27th Apr '18 7:59:12 PM by dragonfire5000

For anyone who did not catch the reference.

It's Nanashi's last line on that chapter, which references a Persona 3 LP called My Life Is A Goddamn Mess.

edited 27th Apr '18 8:18:05 PM by dood9780

This Tumblr post reminds me of a joke from Persona Q;

EDIT: Found the actual moment. Was going off of memory when I typed that.

edited 29th Apr '18 8:56:19 AM by WolfThunder

In which things go further to pot.

I was looking forward to seeing Sukuna-Hikona's reaction to the whole mess. Really too bad that he didn't witness Dagda assuming direct control, though I doubt he'd be in a better mood.

Also, seems like the Nanashi's angel is about to have a crisis of faith.

Maybe Quetzalcoatl becoming a bloodthirsty sun god is the fault of human observation?

edited 30th Apr '18 5:22:06 PM by dragonfire5000

Uh...Cortez as the son of a Native God and ascending to Godhood its really akward to read.

I mean, I am a South American, imagining Pizarro or Cortez like that is just like imagining Hitler or Stalin being treated with sympathy.

I dont think that I am gonna enjoy that.

edited 1st May '18 11:46:22 AM by KazuyaProta

He's part of an antagonistic faction in that tabletop RPG. That faction, the Keepers of the World, wants to make sure that Gods and Titans cannot interfere with the World anymore (so the group leans a bit more towards Well-Intentioned Extremist). So he's not a good guy per say, unless the group of players decide they want to ally with the Keepers and the gamemaster allows it. How sympathetic he's supposed to be is ultimately up to the players and the gamemaster.

As for the ascending to godhood part, ascending to godhood is what every Scion eventually does...provided they survive long enough. The Keepers of the World are all Scions that ascended into godhood, with members such as Imhotep, Heracles, Wayland, Marinette, and Himiko. I don't remember what Cortes eventually became a god of, but I can check my copy of the books later.

edited 1st May '18 12:18:11 PM by dragonfire5000

You see, I can accept them with no issues. But Cortez being the son of the God of the very people that he did exterminate...what follows? Hitler was the real messiah? Mao is the son of the Jade Emperor?

All the other guys mentioned there are fine because they were is already treated as Godly/Saintly/venerable figures but Cortez was never treated as a Godly being, unless we accept the story of natives worshipping him (only to get slaughtered) as a real fact...which is dubious and more likely a racist cartoon.

And even if that was truth, it is still the equivalent of making Mao a Chinese Demigod.

edited 1st May '18 12:27:17 PM by KazuyaProta

I don't really see how "Hitler is a messiah" is an appropriate comparison considering that Cortes' act is still considered to be a really, really bad thing, even by himself.

Hitler himself actually is mentioned in the RPG; Loki helped him rise to power in an attempt to avert Ragnarok, but after the whole Holocaust thing and other crimes against humanity ensued, Loki got pissed off and did what he could to make sure the Nazis suffered in death. Though I think it was mentioned Hitler never showed up in Niflheim, probably as a potential story hook.

Mao as the son of the Jade Emperor is actually something I could see being in the game, since the tabletop RPG establishes that "child of a god" =/= "good person." Heck, one of the most prominent bad guys in that RPG is a son of Amaterasu who was manipulated into turning against the gods by one of the Titans. He actually does end up becoming a demigod, and while he gets absorbed into the Greater Titan of Darkness in one of the book adventures, the books do allow his return as a god if gamemasters want.

As for why they picked Cortes, here's my guess: the "core pantheons" that your Scions could come from were the Egyptian gods, the loa, the Greek gods, the Norse gods, the Japanese gods, and the Aztec gods. I think they wanted the Keepers to be related to each pantheon, so you have Imhotep for Egypt, Marinette for the loa, Himiko for the Japanese gods, etc. Cortes' inclusion may have been a reference to Cortes being thought of as an incarnation of Quetzalcoatl.

To move the topic back to Shin Megami Tensei, Scion was what I had in mind when I once suggested a game where you end up being the child of a god and get dragged into conflict with other gods as a result of your parentage. Something I also want to see in a Shin Megami Tensei game is an antagonistic faction like the Titans of Scion, with the Titans being the old gods who are pissed off at the younger generation of gods.

edited 1st May '18 12:39:10 PM by dragonfire5000

The thing that Cortez is the son of the god of the very same people that he slaughtered is what leave a bad taste in my mouth.

When I said "Hitler was the messiah", I mean the Jewish messiah.

And THIS is the issue. Himiko was Japanese, Imhotep was Egyptian, Cortez is a freaking spaniard,and not a normal one, but the guy that slaughtered the Native Mexicans.

To put it short, its like saying that putting Leopold II as a representation of the people for the Congo.

edited 1st May '18 2:02:05 PM by KazuyaProta

I should point out that he's only one "representative" for one villainous group. An optional group, at that. Also, if the gamemaster wants Leopold II to be a Scion of an African god, they're free to do so as long as the players think it's okay. All it means is that if you end up fighting Leopold II, he'll be throwing magic spells at you.

Speaking of Scion, you know what might be a good addition to the Godly race? Aten. I could see Shin Megami Tensei doing a storyline similar to Scion, where Aten wants to exterminate/subjugate the other Egyptian gods. Aten would also certainly fit in with the "round crowd" of the Godly race.

edited 1st May '18 4:22:07 PM by dragonfire5000

Eh, I think I can agree that a people's conqueror being backed by that people's own god is uncomfortable. Or could easily be seen that way even if it wasn't intentional.

I think it being uncomfortable is intentional to an extent; the character is certainly portrayed as being very, very uncomfortable with what happened, to the point that whatever feelings of glory and accomplishment he might've felt were completely crushed out of him.

I'm not saying the way Cortes is portrayed in that tabletop RPG is a good or bad thing, I just felt that his story was an interesting one.

edited 1st May '18 4:30:08 PM by dragonfire5000

Reminds me more of an opposite to the Fate franchise portrayal of Christopher Columbus as a Rape, Pillage, and Burn One Piece villain who wants to bring back slavery.

edited 1st May '18 4:35:26 PM by OmegaRadiance

That's really pretty accurate. Columbus was a horrible dictator.

Most depictions of him as that portray him as more of a moron who did a lot of terrible things, which he was.

Whereas he's a calculating, scummy evil mastermind In Fate. Though not even close to the genius of Moriarty.

Most dictators tend to be monumental morons, even the smart ones have absurd mistakes.

I have to agree that said despiction is weird, most of the Early colonizers were Stupid Evil

Exactly, and saying "Cortez feels akward for it" is no excuse, because he is still being the Human rep of a culture that wasnt his own at all and that he himself tried to exterminate.

For a Out-Universe perspective, that is akward regardless of his feelings.

edited 1st May '18 5:16:59 PM by KazuyaProta