Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

[Shibusawa jr.]

Welcome to the forum Zero1 and yes, still enjoying the game a lot. What's even better is that I haven't seen the game-over screen (which is suitably lush) for hours now. Very happy about that.

Like stated previously I travelled back to the Mantra HQ and omfg it actually moved me a bit. Last time that actually happened in an RPG was when Kos Mos launched that assault on the Gnosis. Gozuh Teno or whatever and Thor, we'll meet again and I can't wait for that to happen. Best part of the game thus far imo. (For those that still have to do the assault on Nihilo: don't forget to explore Mantra HQ again after !).

Saurian, where in Tokyo is the place you're talking about ?
I am starting to agree with you on the bad translation. Even for me it's becoming quite annoying and unfitting of the overall polish. Did anyone notice there is no loading time ?

[Saurian]

The translation is irritating, I dont understand why they feel they have to do that to the dialogue.

The place I was talking about is the floor with the red mist in the first Kalpa of the Labyrinth of Amala, I stayed there a while to level up more - another good place is the area near the back entrance to the Assembly of Nihilo I gain loads of exp there.

[kona]

I'm about 10 hours into this, and I'm loving every minute. What a fantastic atmosphere, music, graphical style, storyline, everything really! Don't mind the translation so much, maybe I'm more tolerant or just used to playing badly translated stuff.

My party is at lvl 20 now. I've beaten the Matador and exploring the Ginza underpass. Tried the first Kalpa but got my arse handed to me, so now gone to levelling up & fusing. I think I'll go to Ikebukuro first, although that's not too easy either.

[Bassman]

I've no complaints so far. Will have to try that back entrance to Nihilo to get some more levels then I should be able to control the Level 25 Fusion that is on the cards to do next. My main character is Level 20 at the moment with the others in the mid teens. I am currently making most use of a High Pixie, one of those fiery fairy/pixie things and an Angel (one of the monsters gets instantly dispatched by one of her spells).

Not seen the Matador yet. Something to look forward to I suppose.

[Akujiki]

I read a bit about that cursed area, too. Btw, it's not the "usual" damaging floor (with the red mist) you can float above. Seems like the ability to nullify the curse won't be available until much later in the game, so I took the advice in the FAQ, bit the bullet and proceeded with brute force (= many many Medicines, Estomas, Chakra Drops). The whopping reward is definitely worth it, though. I'm not sure if I'd ever be worried again about money in this game. Yeah, it's that much.

I'm telling you this right here so you wouldn't have to dig in the FAQ yourself (spoiler-threat). Plus, discussions like this don't count as cheating

What loading times? Really well done there. I just find those drum animations (after saving, after teleporting) to be sojourning. The game-over cut-scene can't be skipped fast enough, either. You still see a second or so of it. And you can't kill yourself to get to the start screen (I wanted to watch the DDS trailer the other day).

Anybody else finds the "Fiend" theme rocking? Among others, of course.

[Saurian]

I love that song "Danger" on the DDS trailer - I bought Etro Anime's album after hearing that (the album iss good too btw)

[Akujiki]

I just bought it thanks to this thread (thanks to you).

Listening to it right now, actually. Btw, do you know "Supreme Beings of Leisure"? Their first album "SBL" (bought after hearing "Under The Gun" in Animatrix) sounds similar.

[Saurian]

Nope havent got that one - I'll look that up now, nice one! ^^

[Shibusawa jr.]

I'm out of mullah at the moment but the music is beautiful indeed. Exactly the stuff I love to listen to when driving home at 5 am after making love to a beautiful woman and smoking a nice #####

Should've knocked on some wood after my last post because my party got whooped several times last night. After completing the first Calpa and visiting them lovely ladies - evil women, hope they had a good time cause I can't remember a thing and lost more money then I probably would have at Doc's place - I proceeded to Kubichiro Prison (?). Nothing wrong, me level 36 enemies between 20 and 30 something, untill somewhere on the third floor basement. There's this level 45 Shiva-like creature who has some serious skills (she get's in 4 turns as well, counters all physicals, does hideous amounts of damage). Her only weakness is elec but only got one Principality with zanma to counter that. And I was just about to tell you that my Akira, Koppa, Mikami and Ara Mitama party were proving to be this unstoppable force....

On the plus side I seem to have opened up the option to fuse a fiend. Can't wait to try it out as I have a softspot for the 'Maximo'- skeleton guys. Also the idea of creating a Mitama only party is somehow very appealing.

Is Fiend the theme that plays when Dante first shows his face ? If so, yes .

[Akujiki]

Dante has an own theme. It's the first track ("Enter Dante") on the bonus CD. It's nice too. Just noticed that the E3 trailer basically only contains both the Dante introductory theme and the Dante battle track. I guess SMT is too nonfamous a brand to sell itself in the Western markets.

I'm talking about the theme when you get sucked to the realm where you fight the fiends - well, actually where you do the talking

I solved the Prison some days ago, but don't seem to remember of having the luck to face that Shiva-like demon (I assume you are NOT talking about Taraka with 6 arms, who is rather weak by then).

Instead I got my ass kicked by a certain "4th Oni" yesterday (don't want to risk spoiling anything). Gotta work out a solution...

[Shibusawa jr.]

After being stuck in Kubichiro Prison for a while (met some more nasties, Taraka's indeed, but this time they were 10 levels lower so not much hassle luckily) decided to just look at the Faq and found out I already solved the puzzle and just had to find the exit. Phew.

I must admit that sometimes not really knowing where to go next and the huge amount of random battles is ocasionally wearing me down a bit. There were some battle-free zones early on but a few more would be welcome. The not knowing where to go could be blamed on a lack of concentration though .

Don't know if this is normal procedure but I tried to negotiate a Snake Naga into my party after analysing her skills but once she joined she lost half her abilities and the three that rested were different to what they were when doing the analysis ?

[Akujiki]

Labyrinth-like dungeons may be irritating sometimes, but IMHO the next story goal is always clear. It's actually a positive mark in my book for this game.

Some peace zones would have been nice, but I'm getting used to the danger by now And then there's always Estoma. Only thing which occationally unsettles me is the distance between savepoints. But there's always one before boss-fights, and you're being warned.

As for the recruits being weaker than analysed, I'm experiencing the same thing. I guess that's normal - as an "usual behavior of the game", but misleading the player is not a good thing at all.

I've progressed quite a bit - hero level 54, and I'd say I'm in the second half of the game, story-wise, and it's getting even more engaging. Ahhh, great to have vacations =)

[Shibusawa jr.]

Meh, estoma is for the weak

Looks like I''ll have to postpone playing a bit, work looks to keep me occupied until 2 am. the next two days. Can't wait to finally get out the Prison.

Enjoy your Holiday dude.

[Balou]

I?m currently in the mood to play a good RPG with some depth and came across 'Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne'.

From what I read so far it is quite a difficult game (with some frustrating moments) and targeted rather to experienced RPG players.
So, would you still recommend SMT to someone who only occasionally plays RPG games?
I don?t like frustrating and overly repetitive games (e.g. Front Mission 4), but surely don?t mind deep and engrossing gameplay mechanics. (better slow than too fast)

What still keeps me from buying the game, besides the high difficulty, is that it?s only available for nearly full-price. (48 EUR / ~ 25 GBP)
You think the game is worth the full price?

[Bassman]

I must admit that at the moment I have somewhat lost interest in the game. I have admittedly been trying to level up my characters a little before progressing to another area (I did go there and was a little "underpowered"). I may return to it in the near future though and try the next area to see how I get on now. I bought it as an import so payed more that ?25. There is the potential for a reasonably long game I think (I have probably put in getting on for 20 hours). If I recall correctly the reviews were mostly favouable at GameFAQs (I should check them out).