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HallowHawk Since: Feb, 2013
#56701: Sep 13th 2019 at 10:46:21 PM

Don't forget that Philemon's solution at the end of P2 Innocent Sin is make a new dimension, which would be where subsequent games take place in now it seems.

Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#56702: Sep 14th 2019 at 11:15:00 PM

Does anybody here just play Persona and no other SMT games? If so, why?

Some SMT fans are purist jerks but I'm not trying to do that. I'm just curious.

I will always recommend Persona only'ers try Devil Survivor 2 or Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse since they are the best Persona games in a way. If you play Persona for the characters and focusing on relationships, they got you covered there. They combine Persona characters with SMT plots and themes. And they do both exceptionally well in my view.

Yumil Mad Archivist Since: Mar, 2016
Mad Archivist
#56703: Sep 15th 2019 at 12:18:08 AM

A couple reasons I could give personally :

-First one is one I'll fully admit is a "starting by the wrong game" since it's an oddball gameplay wise, but still doesn't hype me particularly to play more of it, is that I played SMT strange journey redux. Game was cool, I liked it, there's a couple of cool plot points in it, but I'd never put it even close to the ballpark of persona when it comes to liking it. I don't like the general smt/persona gameplay to put up with a game the length of a persona but with 90% dungeon crawling 10% plot ratio.

And for a game that still receives quite a lot of praise from the smt fandom, persona floors it on its ass by three landslides both thematically and when it comes to character writing as far as i'm concerned. Most of the themes and plots of SMT don't interest me from what I've absorbed by reading the thread and stumbling on examples on this site. I don't care about the whole changing the world aspects of the SMT cause what I care about in the persona games are the themes of bettering yourself and being there for your friends.

-the route and alignement system does nothing of value for me and even actually somewhat detracts from it cause I don't really want to put up with replaying the game three times and at the same time I'm a very 100%-ish guy.

-for that matter, hamburgertimes once worded it pretty simply once in the SMT thread :

If you don't like "You have no choice but to watch your friends toboggan down the slippery slope" scenarios, this might not actually be the series for you.
And I'm the kind of guy who wants adachi and akechi to have a redemption so yeah that kinda fits me to a T.

-It's another possible "you started by the wrong game"... but... I hated strange journey's ost ? I usually love meguro's work and all but absolutely nothing in that game encouraged me to leave the sound of the console on.

I've listened to a couple tracks of DDS 2 on occasion and hunting betrayal is pretty cool, so maybe it really just is strange journey striking again.

Edited by Yumil on Sep 15th 2019 at 9:20:47 PM

"when you stare too long into the abyss, Xehanort takes advantage of the distraction to break into your house and steal all your shit."
TrueShadow1 Since: Dec, 2012
#56704: Sep 15th 2019 at 3:50:28 AM

Digital Devil Saga should be fine for you, then. It's more of a classic RPG, without any demon-taming like in mainline SMT or Persona's visual novel stuff.

Devil Survivor subseries is also very Persona-like. Plenty of dialogue and character interactions, as well as a time management aspect. The second game even has a Social Link-like system. Yeah, your party members can die in the plot, but it's possible to save them all.

Edited by TrueShadow1 on Sep 15th 2019 at 5:50:55 PM

Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#56705: Sep 15th 2019 at 6:16:00 AM

Be warned, all the plot is in DDS 2. If you found Strange Journey Redux too exceissve on dungeon and low on plot/characters, it still has far more plot and character focus than Digital Devil Saga 1.

Hashil Since: Aug, 2010
#56706: Sep 15th 2019 at 7:08:08 AM

There's a reason the upbeat, wish fulfillment heavy, character centric Persona games have a character in Smash while the darker, more cynical, esoteric SMT games do not. If you didn't like Strange Journey there probably isn't going to be an SMT game for you that isn't Persona 3+.

Edited by Hashil on Sep 15th 2019 at 8:11:26 AM

OmegaRadiance Since: Jun, 2011
#56707: Sep 15th 2019 at 8:08:20 AM

Yet they didn't even put the Mascot in despite Jack Frost being a lighthearted, 4th wall breaking character.

Every accusation by the GOP is ALWAYS a confession.
Moth13 Since: Sep, 2010
#56708: Sep 15th 2019 at 8:21:58 AM

Yeah a lot of the appeal of Persona is the High School Simulator aspect. Even Digital Devil Saga is mostly dungeon crawling.

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#56709: Sep 15th 2019 at 8:43:08 AM

There's a reason the upbeat, wish fulfillment heavy, character centric Persona games have a character in Smash while the darker, more cynical, esoteric SMT games do not. If you didn't like Strange Journey there probably isn't going to be an SMT game for you that isn't Persona 3+.

I started out playing Persona because of those reasons but now they're the reason I actually find the regular SMT games more appealing. I can honestly say I preferred DDS 1 and 2 much more than any Persona game I've played.

VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#56710: Sep 15th 2019 at 8:59:52 AM

I admit to playing and completing more Persona games (1, 3, 4, 5) than I have SMT games, but I am interested in going back to playing the original SMT and its sequel one day. I also only played SMT IV once because I hated the map.

Weirdguy149 Former King from Lumiose City Since: Jul, 2014 Relationship Status: I'd jump in front of a train for ya!
Former King
#56711: Sep 15th 2019 at 9:03:05 AM

I'm honestly not a fan of Shin Megami Tensei because it's rather unfun in terms of difficulty, and besides Fire Emblem: Three Houses, I'm not a big fan of stories with solely grey moralities.

The legend has returned.
Yumil Mad Archivist Since: Mar, 2016
Mad Archivist
#56712: Sep 15th 2019 at 9:35:09 AM

I didn't disliked playing strange journey. Game was cool. It's like a solid 7/10 for me. but considering the personas regularly grazes the 10/10 for me, there's not really any competition involved.

"when you stare too long into the abyss, Xehanort takes advantage of the distraction to break into your house and steal all your shit."
OmegaRadiance Since: Jun, 2011
#56713: Sep 15th 2019 at 9:39:56 AM

Yumil is into stories that are ore character driven, while SMT is more story driven.

But somtimes the stories handling of it isn't the greatest, which is why I like Redux for giving new endings and saving Jimenez and Zelenin from the extremes of Momma Aleph and Female YHVH.

Every accusation by the GOP is ALWAYS a confession.
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#56714: Sep 15th 2019 at 9:41:05 AM

Part of the reason the regular SMT series interests me more is that there isn't really much else like it in terms of the JRPG landscape.

P3 was a really unique and interesting game when it came out, but since its success and that of its sequels multiple games started copying its social sim and time management aspects, therefore making it stand out less (and to be perfectly honest I'm not a big fan of that, the social sim elements have a lot of downsides, at least with the way Persona executes them).

Which is kind of the thing, partly because of that Persona is emblematic of the most common type of JRPG that comes out today: extremely character-driven, social sim elements, big focus on wish fulfillment, you defeat the big bad at the end with the power of friendship, etc. It's not an inherently bad type of story or anything but I haven't cared for the execution of it in the last two games. So the larger story to gameplay ratio isn't really a positive for me in this case, in fact it's probably the opposite.

I've heard a lot of pretty well-founded criticisms over how mainline SMT games do things, but even so, the more minimalistic story with a moody atmosphere and bigger gameplay focus sound like a breath of fresh air.

Edited by Draghinazzo on Sep 15th 2019 at 12:42:08 PM

darkabomination Since: Mar, 2012
#56715: Sep 15th 2019 at 10:40:05 AM

[up] Basically my thoughts exactly when I played Nocturne after 3 and 5. It was nice to have a similar but more demanding combat system that had interesting story, but didn't feel the need to spell it out in repetitive detail the way Persona games do. Especially after 5 and how monotonous its script was.

Getting thrown into a twisted hellscape with nothing but cryptic clues and ambiguous characters was deeply interesting to me. Not to mention SMT kind of goes out of its way not to judge you, I could do whatever path I wanted, and wasn't constantly getting moralizing by the game for not doing what it wanted. If they made a Persona game with alternate endings/paths while still keeping a party that changed with you, that would be really interesting.

The biggest problem I have with those games aside from the IMO bland simulation aspects is that they're very linear games. I'm a silent protagonist, and all the narrative lets me do is occasionally answer questions with simple answers, and half of the time those choices don't even give me a different voiced line in response.

RodimusMinor Professional Complainer Since: Oct, 2018
Professional Complainer
#56716: Sep 15th 2019 at 10:46:27 AM

I used to be a Persona devotee but between souring on the modern Persona trilogy and playing Digital Devil Saga, I'm leaning towards SMT nowadays.

Demongodofchaos2 Face me now, bitch! from In a Cultivation World (Ancient one) Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
Face me now, bitch!
#56717: Sep 15th 2019 at 11:03:12 AM

I like all of them equally, and think the bitter SMT fans that think the Persona series being more popular then mainline SMT is ruining SMT are dumb eltists.

Watch Symphogear
asterism from the place I'm at Since: Apr, 2011 Relationship Status: Hoping Senpai notices me
#56718: Sep 15th 2019 at 9:17:19 PM

I feel like the Redux endings for Jimenez and Zelenin are what people who support Chaos/Law actually want the world to be like. None of this singing zombies or pyramids of corpses nonsense.

Bewitching Eyes
HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
RodimusMinor Professional Complainer Since: Oct, 2018
Professional Complainer
#56720: Sep 15th 2019 at 9:23:12 PM

I never played Redux but I happily brainwashed all my friends and turned the world into a feral, bloodstained wasteland with my boi Jiminez for Mommy Aleph.

HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#56721: Sep 15th 2019 at 9:26:53 PM

This is why you'll never be as good as Optimus Rodimus.tongue

Edited by HandsomeRob on Sep 15th 2019 at 10:28:16 AM

One Strip! One Strip!
RodimusMinor Professional Complainer Since: Oct, 2018
Professional Complainer
#56722: Sep 15th 2019 at 9:27:57 PM

Rodimus is a cool dude but you get Prime killed one time and the world never lets you live it down.

He comes back to life every other week! It wasn't a big deal!

HandsomeRob Leader of the Holey Brotherhood from The land of broken records Since: Jan, 2015
Leader of the Holey Brotherhood
#56723: Sep 15th 2019 at 9:29:19 PM

It was back then!

You never forget the first time.

I don't care if he can throw Decepticons hella far! YOU. NEVER. FORGET. THE. FIRST. TIME!

One Strip! One Strip!
slimcoder The Head of the Hydra Since: May, 2013
The Head of the Hydra
#56724: Sep 15th 2019 at 9:33:31 PM

Lay off the poor bot, he's suffered enough.

Last Knight made him French for God's sake.

Edited by slimcoder on Sep 15th 2019 at 9:33:40 AM

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
RodimusMinor Professional Complainer Since: Oct, 2018

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