Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, and others in the series

['Press Start']

Hi,

I was just looking to get some opinions on these games from like minded RPG fans. Some of my fav RPGs are Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, Dragons Quest 8, Valkyrie Profile, Xenogears etc etc.

I have always had my eye on this series but never checked it out. What does everyone think of these RPGs and would you recommend them to a RPG fan looking for a darker RPG fix....?

thanks in advance for any replies!

[Daragon]

Well, they're certainly alot darker than your average rpg - its in a similar vein to the shadow hearts series if you ever played any of those (which I also highly recommend to someone such as yourself)

[Sane]

Excellent games, I never played the older games but the PS2 ones are great, especially Nocturne. Nocturne is different from your avarage RPG in that you just have 1 character and you have to recruit demons to fill your party. This works very well, basically you have an option to talk to enemies while you fight, depending on the circumstances and the type of demon you can then bribe, persuade, sweettalk or intimidate them in joining your party. There are loads of demons and you can also try to fuse them to crate stronger ones.

The battle system works very well too, with a heavy emphasis on elements. Hit an enemy with an element he's weak against and you get another half turn. It also works the other way around, get hit with something you're weak against and you lose a turn. It's a simple but surprisingly deep system.

The story and atmosphere is where the game truly shines in my opinion. The setting is Toyo Japan after an apocalyptic event, the world is now populated by demons. There are different factions who are all trying to make their 'reason', basically their view of how the world should be, prevail. You can join a faction or go your own way. It's not really freeform though, it only has effect on the ending and storyline. The graphics are a bit basic and blurry, but the art direction is great with some very cool monster designs and great locations.

The game also has some drawbacks though, the random encounters can be a bit annoying and the fact that it's game over if your main character dies can be very harsh, especially as there are enemies who have instant death spells (the person who thought up instant death spells in turnbased RPG's really needs a good beating).

Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 are similar games, but overall I enjoyed Nocturne the most. I'm looking forward to Devil Summoner which will be released in october I think, and Persona 3 which is a sort of spin off to the series.

For a full explanation of how the games all fit together and to give you a better idea of what they're about you should read this article.

[dogen]

Which region would you be intending to play them on?

[sj33]

Which region would you be intending to play them on?

The PAL version has both 60Hz and 480p, so it doesn't really matter.

['Press Start']

I'll be playing them on PAL region but I can buy NTSC if it makes a difference.

Thanks to daragon, Sane and Shakey (good to know Pal is 60Hz) for there replies. Sounds like for ?9.99 I can't go wrong with Nocturne.

Instant death spells are muthaz! Just as bad is the Final Fantasy favourite 'Bad Breath' Confuse, beserk, silent, slow, basically all the worst things in one!

[dogen]

The PAL version has both 60Hz and 480p, so it doesn't really matter.

I asked to get an idea of what he can expact to pay for them, whether he decides to import or not.

But if he does take to the franchise, it would be worth noting for future reference that PAL Digital Devil Saga doesn't support 60Hz. That may matter.

[Champloo]

Been playing through Nocturne and it is brilliant. The atmosphere is great, very dark and the characters are all very cool. Battle system does begin to wear on you after a while, but I get that with more or less all RPG's.

As for the older games, they are a lot harder, Nocturne was dumbed down for western release. There's a few shin megami games on the snes which you could try but I found them too frustrating to be honest. Persona 1 and 2 on the ps1 are meant to be brilliant (although i've only played 1) and Persona 3 looks staggering.

All in all a great series.