Complete List Of The Megami Tensei Games (March/01/2016)

[Kalin]

Nocturne or DDS are great starting points. I wouldn't bother with SMTI or II.

 

[Drudkh]

I suggest starting with the snes SMT games because they have decent visuals and keep the spirit of the series original games. They don't have long annoying story intros and pacing issues like most of the previous games.

Most importantly, play the old SMT games if you want something close to wizardry, and the closer you get to the new games and persona the series turns into something more palatable to modern jrpg fans.

Been thinking about giving the series a shot, as i usually dislike jrpgs and keep hearing that this series is different. Any beginners tips? Which game to start with?

Norturne or Strange Journey - westernized, creepy, cruel, most difficult, best & well-balanced combat and best dungeon design (Eridanus, Kalpas).

Well Strange Journeys "demon-coop" system is total rubbish compared to the press turn system, but it does make the game more challenging, so that's a plus.

Also, the thing about Nocturne being balanced, i have to disagree. I know Nocturne seems to be the fave SMT game in the west, (i think it's mainly because of the art direction) but the game is a total mess imo. The so called "challenge" of that game is totally rng focused. The game is insanely grindy too. A certain famous boss of Nocturne was actually easier on hard mode than normal for me because the terrible rng made him behave like a total retard.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

They don't have long annoying story intros and pacing issues like most of the previous games.

Elaborate, please. Which 'previous' games?

 

[Jacob]

Strange Journey also has something to say to the average Codexer.

 

[Doktor Best]

Starting with SMT1 on SNES now. First notes: Very cool soundtrack, fan translation servicable, 3d navigation got a bit strange in the mall because you dont see shit until you stand directly infront of it.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Starting with SMT1 on SNES now. First notes: Very cool soundtrack, fan translation servicable, 3d navigation got a bit strange in the mall because you dont see shit until you stand directly infront of it.

The "you don't see shit until you're on the same tile" is part of the horror-like atmosphere, man.

 

[Siveon]

The "you don't see shit until you're on the same tile" is part of the horror-like atmosphere, man.

It's also probably a hardware limitation, as well as a staple of old dungeon crawlers to simulate darkness. Nothing about the original SMT feels like regular 'ol horror to me, though. More along the lines of an action flick with horror elements.

ActualSpoiler

I mean c'mon, the warring factions, the almost Mad Max-like scene where you save the leader of the coup. It's amazingly cheesy.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

The "you don't see shit until you're on the same tile" is part of the horror-like atmosphere, man.

It's also probably a hardware limitation, as well as a staple of old dungeon crawlers to simulate darkness. Nothing about the original SMT feels like regular 'ol horror to me, though. More along the lines of an action flick with horror elements.

ActualSpoiler

I mean c'mon, the warring factions, the almost Mad Max-like scene where you save the leader of the coup. It's amazingly cheesy.

I'm not saying that the game scares and shit, but sometimes the game gets kinda creepy when you've got shit equipment, there are few to no healing items and your recruited demons are either dead or shitty. I like the punk-meets-cheese-meets-backyard-horror style tho. It's awesome.

 

[aweigh]

a slew of additions coming up in a bit <3

 

[aweigh]

I'M FALling asleep... sorry peeps. i know, i know... i'll finishi it later today. what at first i thought was good: that there was more media for smt by a big margin than there is online for wizardry has turned out to be a curse. i think i just spent like 25 minutes eating and looking at pages and pages of random smt/persona images

 

[aweigh]

ALSO i remembered someone was yelling about the devil summoner and survivor series not being smt so i have removed the smt's from the offending properties

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/907/

Hack that brings up automap under one button without need to dig in bazilion submenus, a must have for SMT1 (thx for SCO for pasting it few years ago, geam was unplayable w/o it).

 

[Siveon]

Already have that if you want to play the localized gba version, btw.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/907/

Hack that brings up automap under one button without need to dig in bazilion submenus, a must have for SMT1 (thx for SCO for pasting it few years ago, geam was unplayable w/o it).

I beat it without that hack.
Filthy cashuls.

ALSO i remembered someone was yelling about the devil summoner and survivor series not being smt so i have removed the smt's from the offending properties

Good boy.

Already have that if you want to play the localized gba version, btw.

GBA version looks like shit, tbh. SNES version had nice environment, while PS1 and GBA versions are a joke designed by a tasteless schizophrenic who thinks that mixing pixel art with 3d renders is something great.

 

[Siveon]

GBA doesn't have 3D renders. It's...the GBA. Nothing akin to Donkey Kong Country sprites either.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

GBA doesn't have 3D renders. It's...the GBA. Nothing akin to Donkey Kong Country sprites either.

GBA version is basically the PS1 version without realtime 3D graphics (but with poor audio). iOS version uses GBA graphics and PS1 audio (which is so-so).
It's an inferior version compared to the SNES one, in my opinion. It's like remastering a nice looking game for modern audiences by bitchslapping bloom and tons of effects to make the graphics look a little bit more flashy without giving a damn about the original style.

(However, I do like the MegaCD port.)

 

[aweigh]

so... just as with wizardry all dis googling will eventually cough up curious images or content. here's some:

re: inspiration for megami tensei 2 cover art

Michelangelo Buonarroti 's sculpture depicting Mary holding the body of the crucified Christ is the best-known example of one of the most popular poses in art. There is a whole class of artwork, referred to as "pietàs", that depict Mary (usually seated) holding the dead Jesus, going back to at least the early 14th century.

Left to right, top to bottom: Archangel Michael,Archangel Raphael, Archangel Uriel, Archangel Gabriel, Aleph.

 

[aweigh]

http://sorenblr.tumblr.com/post/91772696019/smtiv-callback-compendium

hin Megami Tensei IV is notable for, if anything, the multitudinous callbacks, references, and even borrowed plot elements pulled from across the breadth of the series. Some unobtrusive or even clever, others, well, maybe not so much. But they’re abundant enough to be worth cataloging, and that’s just what Eirikrand I have done for the past few weeks. So go on and take a gander at what we’ve been able to put together!

As you might expect, unmarked spoilers for several entries in the series are sure to follow, so err on the side of caution before reading on.

Megami Tensei I & II (NES)

• Both Minotaur and Medusa serve as the first and second bosses respectively, alluding to the first game in the series.
• Charon originally extorted players for half their Macca to be revived at their last terminal back in 1990.
• In a bit of comparative myth courtesy of Megami Tensei II, Baal is presented as the true form of Beelzebub, taking shape through a fusion of the latter and Bael. In the optional challenge quests “Mysterious Story of Tennozu” and “Rebirth of an Overlord”, Baal nonetheless assumes his “true form” as Beelzebub.
• The layout of the various Domains, with their narrow corridors and nonsensical dead ends, greatly resemble the first-person dungeons found in the NES and SNES era.

Shin Megami Tensei (SNES)

• The prophetic dream sequence wherein lead characters are presented and named during the intro is an allusion to the original game.
• Their appearances as blank, white humanoids in particular are based off the presentation in said scene (pictured above).
• The names of the protagonists are derived from the first syllables of those given in the Kazuma Kaneko works (Waruo, Yoshio, and Futsuo to Walter/“Warutaa”, Jonathan/“Yonatan”, and Flynn/“Furinn” respectively).
• Elemental spells used by your posse mirror those learned by the original Heroine (Healing + Zio), Chaos (Agi), and Law (Zan) heroes, save that Jonathan also learns Bufu.
• The blue and white motif sported by the Samurai and members of the Monastery call back to the Order of Messiah.
• Stephen appears once more, playing much the same role as in SMTI and II.
• The protagonists of both games hail from Kichijoji, or “Kiccigiorgi”, a corrupted form of the name in Mikado.
• Masakado’s Katana is yet again presented to the protagonist on the Neutral route, its appearance notably taken from his SH design.
• The “Visage” DLC pack contains a headpiece that changes the protagonist’s hair blonde and gives the appearance of heterochromia, an allusion to the original Louis Cyphre guise.
• The summoning program is mentioned as having been distributed as shareware years before the events of the narrative, in much the same manner as the original distribution via mass email.
• Blasted Tokyo is once again laid to waste via a God-approved ICBM strike.
• The Gaean cult is back at it again as the Ring of Gaea.
• The “Yuriko” guise once employed by Lilith in the first game is in full effect.
• A scene featuring the Black Samurai at the stake is very much a reverse of the situation found in the original SMT, where Yuriko presided over the execution of the heroine (pictured above).
• Entry into Cafe Florida requires the protagonist to present a matchbook, the very same item used to gain entry to the resistance base in the original.
• Fiends have a 1/256 chance of appearing in certain areas, an encounter method hailing back to the SNES era.
• The camera will slowly pan upwards when initiating a boss battle to display the full scope of a sprite, a little flourish originating in the original SMT and left on the wayside for a decade or so.

Music

1. Hallucination (Title theme)
2. Terminal (Terminal)
3. Traffic (Arcade Street theme)
4. Cathedral of Shadows #1 (Cathedral theme)
5. Battle- c4 (Fiend theme originating from PS1 remake)
6. Kiyoharu (Law theme)
7. Blasted Tokyo: Underground Shelter (Law theme)
8. Law - Origin - (Law theme)
9. Shop (Shop)
10. Battle- c5 (Law theme; also contains II’s Law theme)

Shin Megami Tensei II (SNES)

• VR training makes an appearance as a series of select-able quests provided by Burroughs and taking place within the virtual space of the Gauntlet (pictured above).
• The name of the client providing the Hunter Tournament series of challenge quests is given as “Ex-Hunter Okamoto”, a reference to Aleph’s own tournament trainer.
• The designation of “Demonoid” is likely taken from a race of demons in SMTII consisting of demonic humans and pseudo-creatures of all sorts, rather then mythological entities.
• Gabriel is once again presented as the archangel with a distinct mission and purpose.
• The Eastern Kingdom of Mikado, a would-be Millennial Kingdom under the guiding force of the four archangels, is analogous to Tokyo Millennium.
• Merkabah refers to the ensuing black hole generated by the Yamato Reactor as “Great Abaddon”, mirroring the literal swallowing of Valhalla by the demon Abaddon (pictured above).
• The abode of Lucifer, formerly “Kether Castle”, makes an appearance as Lucifer’s Palace, replete with cohorts such as Lucifuge Rofocale.

Music

1. Cathedral of Shadows #2 (Cathedral theme)
2. Cathedral of Shadows Demo Fusion (Fusion result theme)
3. Chaos - Origin - (Chaos theme)
4. Battle c1 (Virtual Battler theme)

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

• An NPC in Shibuya mentions having read an “occult magazine” that sought to expose the Ring of Gaea, an allusion to Hijiri's “Ayakashi Monthly” at the onset of Nocturne.
• The translucent, blue half-ghosts that inhabit parts of Blasted Tokyo were likely meant to evoke the many spooky residents of the Vortex world (an image reinforced by the desert landscape of the surface).

Music

1. Cathedral of Shadows #3 (Full Kagutsuchi Cathedral theme)
2. CLUB MILTON (Normal battle theme)
3. Shinjuku (Shinjuku hospital theme)

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (DS)

• Demonicas are back, utilized by the Counter-Demon Force some 25 years before the plot takes place, with the black Jack’s Squad variant serving as Yuriko’s outfit of choice.
• The Gauntlet design is simply the vambrace of a Demonica.
• A statue of Mem Aleph serves as the object of worship for the Ring of Gaea at Tsujiki Hongwanji.
• According to director Kazuyuki Yamai, the name Burroughs is meant to play as the “B” to Arthur’s “A”, and is another likely literary reference.

Extra Track

1. Cathedral of Shadows #4 (Majin Tensei - Neo Jakyou theme)

Well, that about wraps it up. If you can think of any we might have missed just give us a heads-up and we’ll put it up there!

 

[Siveon]

GBA version is basically the PS1 version without realtime 3D graphics (but with poor audio). iOS version uses GBA graphics and PS1 audio (which is so-so).
It's an inferior version compared to the SNES one, in my opinion. It's like remastering a nice looking game for modern audiences by bitchslapping bloom and tons of effects to make the graphics look a little bit more flashy without giving a damn about the original style.

If we're only talking about graphics here, I don't see that much of a difference to put it amongst an "HD" remaster. I also prefer the iOS port's smoother walking speed(?), and Atlus's team who localized it did a better job than the fan translation imo. Only odd part is that they couldn't get lowercase letters in name creation. I would like someone doing a side-by-side comparison of any mechanics (most likely a notch or two tweaked, because duh) changed. I did get wiped a few times by a couple nasty spells, and I've had a few close calls, but it is probably easier. Oh, and landscape mode gets a hit on framerate, so I might as well be playing on an old flip phone.

SNES and iOS are the best versions for me (barring the fact that touch controls exists, EUUUGH). I believe the GBA/iOS version has the compendium with descriptions, which is always fun.

 

[aweigh]

Siveon has a very good point about the iOS remakes of the SMT games. For example after scouring (and i did fucking scour!) the web for a scan/PDF of the game manuals for the nes/snes/ps1 versions of the smt games and finding nothing lo and behold i find an unbelievably good looking shiny new smt 1 and smt 2 pdf game manuals... for the ios releases.

ios manual page 21 image:

i "search Google for this image" and found the same chart from the snes version's manual. they're the same. so the game manual links for the smt games will be links to the ios pdf's.

 

[aweigh]

HERE Is the scan of the page in question straight outta the japanese printed manual that came packaged with the super famicom game:

the japanese blog i found it in unfortunately only has (very badly scanned) parts of different manuals scattered across games. plus his site is super annoying to navigate. fucking japs can't into web design.

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/touffu/e/1327f695dae17a3d1006a7c8559a7ef6

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

There is a russkie MegaTen site with tons of manuals and various crap: http://www.megaten.ru/
It's in russkie, but google translating should get you far enough, heh heh.

Just kidding, I'll gib you some direct links.
Artbooks: http://www.megaten.ru/multimedia/scans/art-books.html
Strategy guides: http://www.megaten.ru/multimedia/scans/guide-books.html
Manuals: http://www.megaten.ru/multimedia/scans/manuals.html

Enjoy.

 

[aweigh]

THANKS! i should've been smarter... of course .ru sites have EVERYTHING. i've been under tunnel vision searching .jp only. thanks again

 

[spekkio]

Would brofist, if not for the 2MB jpg in OP.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Well Strange Journeys "demon-coop" system is total rubbish compared to the press turn system, but it does make the game more challenging, so that's a plus.

Also, the thing about Nocturne being balanced, i have to disagree. I know Nocturne seems to be the fave SMT game in the west, (i think it's mainly because of the art direction) but the game is a total mess imo. The so called "challenge" of that game is totally rng focused. The game is insanely grindy too. A certain famous boss of Nocturne was actually easier on hard mode than normal for me because the terrible rng made him behave like a total retard.

Disagree, especially on grindy thing. It's one of these rare games when grinding doesn't help, I learned that during Daisoujou battle. Fucker had no weaknesses and had expel / death attacks that couldn't be prevented by this point by any magatama or deamon - so I grind. And grind. And grind. But it didn't work! He was drainig mana with Medidation easily and constantly healing himself that one. Only way to kill him was proper buffing/debuffing. I mean, there's alway easy solution to any boss fight but you need to figure it out and mindless grinding is never a good way. BTW another proof of Nocturne's balance is that skill is exclusive and cannot be inherited by Daisoujou's fusion offspring which would totally break the game like in DeSu 1 /2 when by the endgame every demon has Drain in skillstock.

RNG? It id not make it hard but easier sometimes. I won battle against Kagutshuchi thanks to that but barely - despite my team being made of most powerful demonz like Metatron, Belzebub or Shiva, boss was still killing my 99 lvl MC with every Vast Light so I won this fight by chance after several tries... but my mistake was not to bring Rakukaja to the fight - properly buffed lower leveled Demifiend would survive such attack unlike my 99 lvl juggernaut... Conclusion is that if you have to grind in SMT3, U doing smt WRONG! No exceptions to that rule.

Now, Strange Journey. How's Demon Co-op actually makes battles moar challenging? Only player's team has benefits from it unlike enemy parties. SJ would reach perfectness after two changes:

1. Replace Demon Co-op With press turn.
2. Bring back Nocturne concept of repelling... In SJ repelled attack overcome immunities, (Rangda1 hits Rangda2, Rangda2 repells attack, attack hurts Rangda1 despite Rengdas abbiltiy to void psychicals), in Nocturne, repelled attacks are voided if attacker voids/repells them.
3. Bring back shock / freeze status.
4. In Nocturne, there was always some piece of uncerntainty during buffing. Whole buff/debuff tactics could be easily ruined by single Dekaja / Dekunda. In SJ, bosses NEVER cast them after 1x, 2x, 3x buff/debuff and ALWAYS cast them after 4x... you can easily Luster Candy / Debilitate every boss three times and never had to repeat such process. It's BULLSHIT!


So.. what SMT gaem do you consider well balanced? Coz like... every pre-PS2 era Megaten is broken as hell?



aweigh, when you'lle be digging around Nocturne plz find that one rare cutscene on youtube (I coudn't last time I tried) where Demifined is discussing with Lillith, it's cut content or exclusive one from original wapanese, non-Maniacs version?