Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

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JaySevenZero
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Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

Post by JaySevenZero »

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call) for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.
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Sage + Onion Knight
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Re: 549: Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

Post by Sage + Onion Knight »

Having loved Persona 5 (my first and, to date, only other exposure to this massive series), I was excited to be able to play another game within the sprawling Shin Megami Tensei universe on the PS4. My overall impression of Shin Megami III is that it's a 7 out of 10 game... but in that really interesting way. It's not a middling game, it's simply that, for each aspect that I absolutely love, there's something else that's frustrating or irritating.

I loved the almost proto-Undertale darkly comic urban fantasy setting, but I wished there'd been more to explore than just re-skinned corridors. I really enjoyed how the boss battles demanded puzzle-solving as much as JRPG grinding and strategising... but hated how many of the dungeon obstacles were just time-consuming annoyances. I thought the story of sifting through all these potential futures for a ruined world was really interesting, but it really could have used the emotional heart present in something similarly philosophically-reaching like Nier Automata.

I've overall really enjoyed my time with this game, and I can only hope that the deranged Chaos Gods overseeing Atlus' release decisions see fit to port more SMT / Persona games to the PS4!
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ThirdDrawing
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Re: 549: Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

Post by ThirdDrawing »

Like most people, I got into the Megaten series through Persona. However in my case, I'm likely one of a handful of people who were excited for Nocturne after playing Persona 2 Eternal Punishment on the PS1 and Maken X on the Dreamcast. I bought it day one and I was genuinely blown away.

This is a game dripping with atmosphere from the very beginning. The character designs are distinct, the music was unlike any other rpg at the time and the mood was heavy and foreboding. It made Atlus the epitome of cool when this game came out and it turned a lot of heads toward the company, including mine.

Kouji "Cozy" Okada, Kaneko Kazuma and Shouji Meguro have, in my opinion, produced a masterpiece.

The game was so different and so dark in comparison to other rpgs of the time - discarding most rpg tropes in the first couple of hours of the game and giving you a truly unique idea. You can't save the world - but how will you remake it?

The game isn't story heavy, filled with CG cut scenes like Final Fantasy or rich with lore like Elder Scrolls, but it presents a lot of ideas for you to mull over. It gives you enough that you want to keep going to find out what's going to happen next, see what choices you'll be given and how choices you make might play out. It's actually worth getting all of the multiple endings in the game because they are all pretty different. And how many games actually let you join forces with the main villain for one of them? Also, I think not showing the main character during certain cutscenes was effective, especially while you're making story choices, in that it helps you feel like you *are* that character. It harkens back a bit to the old first person perspective of SMT I and II.

I can imagine some complaints about dungeon design but while some of the dungeons may have been a little dull to navigate, they were so visually interesting to look at, I didn't mind. The visual flair of the game is a really important aspect and I can't stress both how unique and at times breathtaking this game looked. It seemed like everything was carefully chosen - the distinct shading, the specific colours used for dungeons, the lighting....everything has a distinct visual flair and the game's graphics still hold up today because of it.

I can imagine some people might moan about random battles, but the press turn battle system is fun to use and pretty easy to grasp. I do think the reputation this game has for being difficult is mostly overblown. Certain bosses are difficult (Matador!), certain enemies are difficult (Mot is a cheap bastard) and the Amala Labyrinth can be brutal because of the traps. Overall though, once you find out the weakness of an enemy, most battles are fairly straightforward as long as you're paying attention.

As for your party, I was never a Pokemon fan, so collecting and fusing demons was a fun new mechanic for me. Though I had to learn not to get too attached to any specific demon pretty early on. Something else to be commended is the variety of demons in the game. It was interesting to see demons from different countries and actually be able to learn a bit about them and the visual style of the game really worked well for them, even Dante.

Lastly, what is there to say about the music except that it is so good that I tracked down physical copies of the main soundtrack and the Maniax spin-off disc as well? In a sea of orchestrated and/or midi soundtracks with fantasy themes, Meguro's guitar-based approach stands out as distinctive, as do his heavy synths which amplify the mood of whatever dungeon you're in.

This is a special game in a special series. It was so unique in its approach and presentation, it was impossible not to become a fan of the series. I've bought every Megaten game that has come out since Nocturne (even a copy of Persona 1 to complete the collection), and by proxy, most other Atlus games that have come out in the West as well. I've even gone back and played the fan translation of the SNES Megaten games. Looking forward to your SMT IV, SMT V, Digital Devil Saga, Devil Summoner, Strange Journey and Etrian Odyssey podcasts next year.

Sorry for the wall of text, but it's impossible not to gush about this series.
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Fermis Parasol
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Re: 549: Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

Post by Fermis Parasol »

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne begins with a nightmare and ends in a dream. In the first five minutes of the game you go from being a thoughtful student visiting his teacher at the hospital, to the arrival of the apocalypse, and finally your metamorphosis into a demi-fiend via ingestion of a demonic insect at the behest of (??) Lucifer.

And the nightmare continues for the next 40 hours until you finish the game. The world is transformed into ruins. There is no respite -- you can be attacked anywhere, including cities where you restock on health, items, talk to NPCs, and conduct demon summoning. The music is dour and forboding -- taking more cues from Trent Reznor's Quake soundtrack than any poppy JRGP. The plot, cut scenes, and NPC conversations are spare -- another departure from typical JRPGs. But they perfectly match the ruined world -- you are fighting for your life and so is everyone else here, demon or human. The multiplicity of endings is foreshadowed from the start, as your former friends adopt different ideals to reshape the vortex world, each informed by trauma. One retreats into his psychological shell, and seeks a world of isolation. Another decides that the only new reality is kill or be killed. A society of mannequins find a prophet to lead them from demonic enslavement. The latter are, despite their origin, the most humanist of the inhabitants, and their fate is almost foreordained. In a more traditional but inferior RPG, you would be given the option to save them. Through all this, you are silent, responding only to a handful of questions, never voice acted. I do wonder whether this was a game that influenced From Software's style of storytelling -- interior, minimalist, formalist.

I don't have much to say about the combat, which Atlas improved in subsequent iterations in both Persona and SMT. The merciful mode in the remaster is just that -- this is a game I started but never finished many times and merciful was a lifesaver in getting me back to where I had left off.

The only false note is the "happy" (canon?) ending where everything is reset, with the protagonist awakening as if from a dream back to the start of the story. If Nocturne is anything, it is an allegory for the decisions we each make everyday about the ethical codes we live by. Death and rebirth in the endless cycle of samsara, but never returning to the past, except in dreams.
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