Atlus Shin Megami Tensei IV 3DS (beating MaroonSkein to the punch!)

[Duraframe300]

Catherine was Gamebryo.

My bad. It's still weird that Atlus decided to give their highest production values yet to a one-shot puzzle game. I guess the plan is to put games that may appeal to the West (Persona, maybe a Raidou-style ARPG) on consoles, and everything else will go on handhelds, which are the hot thing in Japan now.

It's made by the Persona Team.

As easy as that. Persona 3&4 have been ridicoulusly successfull, which is why we are getting all these remakes/re-releases and that fighting game. They just have a large enough fanbase to make console titles lucrative. Compared to that the other games in the series have a small, but dedicated fanbase who don't mind buying a 3DS for the game.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Now I remember, the one I played was called Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Strange little game. Very odd atmosphere (not bad), pretty hard combat system. Are all SMT games in that style?

Wait, what happened to "Game was gay, why are you people talking about this"? I can't tell if you liked it or not.

 

[Comrade Goby]

Great a shitty handheld game.

Are slopes afraid of consoles and PC's?

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Great a shitty handheld game.

Are slopes afraid of consoles and PC's?

Handhelds don't require as much money spent on asset creation, which is vital for a very small company like Atlus that will only sell a limited amount of copies. A game like Catherine doesn't matter as much because it has a very small portion of the detailed high-def assets a high-def RPG would have.

You're talking about a company which on PS2 used some of the same monster models and animations over seven different games.

 

[groke]

Great a shitty handheld game.

Are slopes afraid of consoles and PC's?

Hurr durr. Just wait 5 years for an emulator, then. The DS has been a total breeding ground for blobbers, take what you can fucking get, man!

 

[damicore]

I just hope the hardware of the 3DS is not that different from that of a DS.
Then we would have an emulator much faster.
Look at the Gamecube/Wii emulator (dolphin).

 

[Jasede]

Meh, I can't play DS games on an emulator. Feels weird and wrong. SNES works fine for me though. N64 doesn't, neither Wii. Just feels wrong, man.

 

[Comrade Goby]

Great a shitty handheld game.

Are slopes afraid of consoles and PC's?

Handhelds don't require as much money spent on asset creation, which is vital for a very small company like Atlus that will only sell a limited amount of copies. A game like Catherine doesn't matter as much because it has a very small portion of the detailed high-def assets a high-def RPG would have.

You're talking about a company which on PS2 used some of the same monster models and animations over seven different games.

Whatever but I'm pretty sure the SMT and Persona series sell well enough to boost development.

Shit wasn't Catherine their best selling game?

 

[damicore]

It's a pretty decent trailer (for a trailer that says nothing), no epic shit whatsoever.

 

[MaroonSkein]

Yay, a COMP!

I wonder about the castle, though. Three possibilities I can think of:

1. The game has time travel.
2. Some parts of the game take place in the past and feature a different protagonist.
3. The castle is a part of the post-apoc world and was either built by a faction or somehow materialized because of demonic influences.

Can't wait for previews.

 

[Whisky]

Alright trailer. Doesn't really say much though. Wish they'd reveal more, fast.

 

[MaroonSkein]

Alright trailer. Doesn't really say much though. Wish they'd reveal more, fast.

TGS is less than a month away...

Also, the official site plays an arranged version of the Nocturne opening theme now.

 

[deuxhero]

Yay, a COMP!

I wonder about the castle, though. Three possibilities I can think of:

1. The game has time travel.
2. Some parts of the game take place in the past and feature a different protagonist.
3. The castle is a part of the post-apoc world and was either built by a faction or somehow materialized because of demonic influences.

Can't wait for previews.

Raidou 1 does say the center has time travel.

Wonder why no one is shown from the front.

 

[MaroonSkein]

Raidou 1 does say the center has time travel.

How did this slip my mind? Now I wonder if the Raidou from 20XX will make a cameo appearance.

 

[Whisky]

New trailer.

The lack of Kaneko artwork disappoints me, whoever they've got for the characters isn't very good.

Otherwise, it looks pretty cool. Though I've got a feeling after it comes out I'm gonna be all, "Strange Journey was the REAL SMT4!" I'm still hopeful though.

 

[Jasede]

...reminds me of a more youthful and noisy Nocturne.

Ah who are we kidding I'm getting it anyway.

 

[MaroonSkein]

It could use more visual cohesion. The combination of third-person 3D exploration and first-person combat with 2D enemy sprites looks very jarring. Sprites being barely animated doesn't help at all. Can't say much else until I read previews that describe the combat and the plot.

 

[evdk]

Does anyone know any moonspeak?

 

[damicore]

I somewhat agree with you Maroon. But those sprites look awesome, I much prefer this than having 3D monster models.

I hope the inclusion of furigana in these games doesn't mean a further decline in the writing. It makes me feel this games is more aimed towards kids.

I would love playing it but I seriously doubt I'll put the little money I have left from back when I worked on a 3DS and this game. I guess I'll have to wait a couple of years

 

[damicore]

Does anyone know any moonspeak?

As much as I could understand (which is not much) They were talking about a rotten world, there seems to be something like a samurai order of some sort and there was this line about adam not eating the apple because he wanted it but because it was forbidden but there was nothing -nothing I could understand at least- that shed any light on the setting, the change from the urban landscape to the castle, etc.

 

[deuxhero]

Megaten uses a lot of uncommon foreign terms. I'd like to know what it is telling me how to pronounce first.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

I was shocked at the 2D enemy sprites, when Nocturne has such beautiful cel-shaded 3D monsters, but I suppose it would cost too much, and that this game already costs too much as it stands. If I recall correctly, Atlus only had the money to develop their PS2 engine and to animate such a huge bestiary because Microsoft subsidized them to make an Xbox game, which ended up sucking tremendously.

Are these the same ones from Strange Journey?

Shame about the fruitcake Persona character designer, I want horribly creepy designs, not Japanese fashion. I fear it will rub off on the game itself.

Strange Journey was pretty corny and preachy itself, it seems Atlus doesn't want to do anything messed up anymore.

 

[MaroonSkein]

I somewhat agree with you Maroon. But those sprites look awesome, I much prefer this than having 3D monster models.

Sprites themselves are great, but the high degree of detail only makes the flaws of animation stand out more. Having no animation at all would be preferable to what we have now.



Character designs seemingly being done by someone other than Kaneko raises a question: what is he working on? I think it's been confirmed that Soejima is the character designer for Persona 5, so it's not that. The only other Megaten project we know of is the unnamed Vita game. I assumed it would be another port of a PS2 game, but if Kaneko really is on that, it's probably something new. Something interesting enough to make him pass on working on SMT IV, too. Fingers crossed for Raidou 3.

 

[MaroonSkein]

http://www.siliconera.com/2012/09/1...eturns-to-tokyo-will-have-lots-of-new-demons/

This week’s Famitsu magazine also brings details of Shin Megami Tensei IV. The game’s story takes place in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo that has fallen into darkness and is overrun by demons. The only hope are the “Samurai” characters mentioned in the latest trailer, who are able to control these demons.

These Samurai characters hail from the fictional country of East Mikado, which is said to be similar in its civilization to Middle Ages Europe. East Mikado appears to have a link to Tokyo. “Mikado” is the Japanese word for the emperor, who resides in the capital. In the Kanji that form the word Tokyo, the “Tou” Kanji is East while the “Kyou” Kanji is Capital, which is what implies the connection.

Back to the Samurai. The Samurai wear gauntlets on their hands that allow them to summon demons. Famitsu say to expects lots of new demons in the game. Demon art for the game is being provided by various people that have worked on the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai (and similar) franchises. Famitsu’s report mentions the following demons and designers:

Asmodeus: designed by Yasushi Nirasawa
Kogasaburo: designed by Tamotsu Shinohara
Omoikane: designed by Yoshihiro Nishimura
Raphael: designed by Keita Amemiya
Kuebiko: designed by Aki Kyouma

Character design for Shin Megami Tensei IV is being done by Masayuki Doi, who was the art director and character design on Trauma Team. As shown in the game’s trailer, the four main characters in the game are you, Jonathan, Isabeau, Walter, and Famitsu also mention a fifth character named Navarre. Here’s a quick rundown of each:

You: A member of the Samurai group. You’re 18-years-old.
Jonathan: Described as being gentle with a good upbringing. Jonathan is the mediator between the Samurai.
Isabeau: The sole girl in the group. She’s described as a strong-minded lady with a dignified character, but there’s more to her than meets the eye.
Walter: Walter appears to be badly-behaved with gruff language, but is described as passionate underneath his exterior.
Navarre: An elitist character who is described as a sore loser. For some reason, Navarre appears to be listed in the demon section?

Music for Shin Megami Tensei IV is being composed by Ryota Kozuka, who has worked as a composer on Persona 4, Trauma Team and both Devil Survivor games. Also working on the game’s music is Kenichi Tsuchiya, who has worked on Catherine, Trauma Team and Devil Survivor, among other Atlus titles.

Shin Megami Tensei IV will be released in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS. As with other Shin Megami Tensei titles, you will get to choose between Chaos and Law in the game.

 

[ghostdog]

I don't see why 3D models would cost much, since they already have all the models from SMTIII and the demons are give or take the same. The assets of the previous games belong to Atlus, don't they ? It looks to me like they're still using the same engine anyway.