Reviews VideoGame / Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne

The thing about Nocturne is that it's a mainline SMT game, and they always favor the plot and world over characterization. It wants to immerse you in the game and make you seriously think, (which explains the 'lack of investment; by not being too invested in the characters, you instead can think more critically about what's going on rather than become emotionally involved, or that's the theory anyway,) and it's a style of storytelling that 1.has been used in other videogames, and 2.would only really work in a videogame.

But even by mainline SMT standards, Nocturne is also incredibly minimalistic. Demon Negotiations are more straight and to the point than before or since; the characters only give you the bare minimum of what you need to know about them in order to get the philosophies that they serve as vehicles for; and the game purposefully spends more time letting you play it than dealing with the story.

The real star of Nocture though is the world, and what a world it is. Kagutsuchi is one of the most phenomenal landscapes designed for a video-game; imagination and wonder meet you at every turn, and it's one heck of a nightmarish fantasy to behold, and even better to walk through.

But as for the other problems you have with it — the crushing difficulty, the 'bleak tone with no life', the 'lack of investment — that's mainline SMT par for the course, and it's admittedly an acquired tase. Some people (like myself,) like the challenge that SMT offers, consider it truly throught-provoking, and appreciate the detailed plot-lines.

But hey, I can understand if this isn't to your liking. The stories of the mainline SMT games are, more than most other SMT lines, REALLY designed for videogames than something like DDS, which has a story more like something you'd see in other media; greater focus on characters, more time spent on the story, etc. I'm just trying to get across why others might actually like the mainline SMT games, Nocturne included.

You might actually like SMTIV; there still isn't QUITE as much emphasis on character or emotion as in, say, DDS, but there's still a lot more of it than in Nocturne, as SMTIV ditched the minimalism that Nocturne strove for. There are also a lot more conveniences to the gameplay; no more random battles, an easy mode, (though only after you die twice,) you can revive yourself for a price, faster battles, you can fuse at any time, sidequests abound, etc. So you might want to look into that.

I'd been wondering what the rest of the series is like. Sounds like more of the same. When I tried to play SMT: Strange Journey, I quit because of problems with the difficulty. And I will say this flat out: I feel justified in doing so.

When I lose a well-designed difficult game, I feel like it was fair. I feel like I lost because I didn't prepare enough, or use the right strategies, or even grind enough. I feel like there were things I could do the next time to prevent my loss, so I want to try again. This is, in brief, the right way to craft a challenging experience, one that is, in a word, fun.

SMT: Strange Journey was not a challenging, fun experience. It was a frustrating, thrown-together, random mess. You can and will die all the time, and it won't be your fault. The game will just throw some dice and, if they fall wrong, put you in the Camel Clutch, break your back, fuck your ass, and make you hamble. I never finished it, but just looking at the YMMV page on this wiki makes me glad I didn't because it sure seems like it only got worse from where I left off.

Then I checked the Internet and found the usual suspects bitching and moaning that Atlas was watering down the difficulty for the noob-scrubs.

This review has confirmed my suspicion that I am not alone in hating the mainline SMT games. I am not wrong for despising their shallow, gormless, stereotypical characters, their shallow, sophomoric philosophy, their shallow, formulaic Order vs. Chaos plots, their shallow, tasteless use of my faith, and the faiths of countless others (but not, naturally, their home-grown Japanese religion) for symbolism and shock value without any real substance behind them.

Thanks for that.

If you like the idea of Pokemon with mythological characters and creatures, just play the Persona spin-offs. They've got good characters, decent plots, gameplay that's fair enough, and at least their pacing problems are the result of giving leeway to the player rather than beating him up for fun completely at random like a school bully.

With the way you talk about it, you'd think it literally did all those things to you.

Man's allowed to have an opinion.

Also, I've been repeatedly told that the only reason I don't like them is because I'm not smart enough for them.

...That said, fair enough on the tone.

Didn't mean to imply you weren't allowed to have one; apologies if that somehow came across. I was just commenting on your tone.

Honestly, I don't even really disagree. I've only played SMTIV out of the mainline games, and I don't hate it, but I generally prefer the spinoff games.

Ya know, after a few hours hindsight, I kinda wish there were an edit/delete button for these.

And not just for the spelling errors.

Honestly, I've never had a problem with the difficulty of the mainline SMT games. Heck, in Nocturne, I only had real trouble at the early Matador boss, who was basically a wake-up-call boss. After I dealt with him, it was smooth sailing until the end-game. I made sure to keep getting a variety of demons, and fusing them with versatile attributes and skillsets. The game barely ever 'fucked my ass'. And SMTIV is a cakewalk by comparison. To me, mainline SMT is challenging and unforgiving, but fair.

...Well, then I don't know what to tell you. I can't help but notice, though the sheer number of times "nothing you can do to stop it" appears under the SMT: Strange Journey YMMV page on this wiki.

Well, maybe you should try a different SMT game. Maybe SJ just happened to be the hardest in the series, and the others aren't quite so broken. SMTIV is probably the easiest mainline game in the series,(it even has an easy mode,) so you could always try that. In fact, it's probably the most accessible of the mainline games.

Actually Spectral Time, Nocturne and Strange Journey aren't considered that similar. Combat, demon alignment, who you can use, your character's abilities, movement through the game and the like are pretty different. So you might like Nocturne, or you might hate it even more than Strange Journey, but I'd suggest not basing your opinion on it from SJ but on reviews and whether the Let's Plays look like they're fun to you. If something you see about Nocturne that makes you dislike Nocturne, perfectly fine.