SMT: Nocturne

[CyberModuled]

Happy to see on Steam it's seemingly bombing (never thought I'd say that about a SMT game on PC but here we are I guess). Didn't even break Top 50 Global Bestsellers on pre-order announcement day in both Western and Asian times and now requires a fuckton of scrolling down on the list for it to load more games to even see it. Even niche DRPG stuff like the Sapphire Wings/SoSC release is higher on that list now. It'll probably spike a bit once it's officially "out" but once the initial launch "hype" ends, it'll drop down almost immediately (which probably is going to push for them to make it on sale sooner

Reality:

Game bombed because it is a full priced low-effort port-job coupled with shitty marketing.

Atlus:

Clearly PC Gamers don’t care about SMT. Shut it down.

I get people's concerns about it (and how hardass ATLUS have been until recently), but I don't really buy the idea they'll instantly turncoat on PC because of a PS2 remaster selling poorly mostly since SEGA are breathing down their neck so more than likely they'll twist their arm for ports of some games even if ATLUS doesn't want to themselves. Both Nocturne and P5S being simultaneous PC release with the Western console version does set a precedent that they'll probably do it for a while so long as there isn't exclusivity string tied to it like SMT V. Plus from what I've skimmed of SEGA's own financial reports in the past, outside of namedropping specific game titles to specify sales, SEGA just seems to bundle SMT and Persona as "ATLUS' catalogue" in general.

What I'm trying to say is, I really can't care to be fake pressured by game companies to buy an overpriced game I played over five years ago just to support theoretical future PC versions of games from a specific developer team (that are probably going to happen anyway) and remasters of older PS2 games that aren't even mentioned by ATLUS or SEGA yet.

 

[Duraframe300]

Happy to see on Steam it's seemingly bombing (never thought I'd say that about a SMT game on PC but here we are I guess). Didn't even break Top 50 Global Bestsellers on pre-order announcement day in both Western and Asian times and now requires a fuckton of scrolling down on the list for it to load more games to even see it. Even niche DRPG stuff like the Sapphire Wings/SoSC release is higher on that list now. It'll probably spike a bit once it's officially "out" but once the initial launch "hype" ends, it'll drop down almost immediately (which probably is going to push for them to make it on sale sooner

Reality:

Game bombed because it is a full priced low-effort port-job coupled with shitty marketing.

Atlus:

Clearly PC Gamers don’t care about SMT. Shut it down.

I get people's concerns about it (and how hardass ATLUS have been until recently), but I don't really buy the idea they'll instantly turncoat on PC because of a PS2 remaster selling poorly mostly since SEGA are breathing down their neck so more than likely they'll twist their arm for ports of some games even if ATLUS doesn't want to themselves. Both Nocturne and P5S being simultaneous PC release with the Western console version does set a precedent that they'll probably do it for a while so long as there isn't exclusivity string tied to it like SMT V. Plus from what I've skimmed of SEGA's own financial reports in the past, outside of namedropping specific game titles to specify sales, SEGA just seems to bundle SMT and Persona as "ATLUS' catalogue" in general.

What I'm trying to say is, I really can't care to be fake pressured by game companies to buy an overpriced game I played over five years ago just to support theoretical future PC versions of games from a specific developer team (that are probably going to happen anyway) and remasters of older PS2 games that aren't even mentioned by ATLUS or SEGA yet.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m fully on the *do not buy it* train (because they will learn nothing either from it if it is successful), just pointing out that they tend to draw the wrong conclusions.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Happy to see on Steam it's seemingly bombing (never thought I'd say that about a SMT game on PC but here we are I guess). Didn't even break Top 50 Global Bestsellers on pre-order announcement day in both Western and Asian times and now requires a fuckton of scrolling down on the list for it to load more games to even see it. Even niche DRPG stuff like the Sapphire Wings/SoSC release is higher on that list now. It'll probably spike a bit once it's officially "out" but once the initial launch "hype" ends, it'll drop down almost immediately (which probably is going to push for them to make it on sale sooner

Reality:

Game bombed because it is a full priced low-effort port-job coupled with shitty marketing.

Atlus:

Clearly PC Gamers don’t care about SMT. Shut it down.

Actually Atlus:

Let's double down on making Persona and put Shin megami tensei in the fridge after SMTV.

 

[Sentinel]

 

[Reid]

The price is disgusting but the biggest slap in the face to me was seeing they had actually added some new stuff only to realise it was a fucking easy mode

 

[Average Manatee]

Yeah, you'd think they'd at least add a higher difficulty too. The Persona remakes added both higher and lower difficulty options. Especially considering they are adding selectable skill inheritance, Hard will be a cakewalk.

 

[Derringer]

The price is disgusting but the biggest slap in the face to me was seeing they had actually added some new stuff only to realise it was a fucking easy mode

That's what they've been doing since the Etrian Odyssey remakes just before they got bought by Sega, when I saw how much they fucked SMT4 with DLC shit with the Medusa fight and fucked difficulty scaling I just gave up on Atlus. Buying a used 3DS to softmod it wasn't worth the bad software rehashes and hand cramps.

 

[Silva]

The price is disgusting but the biggest slap in the face to me was seeing they had actually added some new stuff only to realise it was a fucking easy mode

You just described Persona 5 Royal. They came up with some fairly interesting new stuff... only to realize it made the game even easier than it was, and never bothered to rebalance.

 

[CyberModuled]

Funny to see them pull another SMT IV by making DLC rooms exclusively for grinding XP and money. Aside from PC players likely creating a Cheat Engine table for this, I really doubt the average console player will care for something like this when anyone who wants to experiment have strategies to grind in the base game as is for years. God fucking forbid they actually bother adding a universal QoL feature like turbo/animation speed up that everyone could benefit form.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I have some pscx2 cheat file I made that let's me easily change stats and skills on demons after reloading a save, so I don't really see a point in getting this personally. Being able to choose what skills a demon inherits is a nicety I can't go back to not having.

 

[Sentinel]

I have some pscx2 cheat file I made that let's me easily change stats and skills on demons after reloading a save, so I don't really see a point in getting this personally. Being able to choose what skills a demon inherits is a nicety I can't go back to not having.

the remaster has manual skill inheritance.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

wat

i thought it was confirmed early on that it didn't. well nevermind, then!

 

[lightbane]

wat

i thought it was confirmed early on that it didn't. well nevermind, then!

It was added back in through a patch IIRC.

 

[Terra]

In other news, PC port is supposedly capped at 30FPS, despite seemingly being a complete redo of the engine in Unity... because Japan, I guess? Added to every other shortcoming, Atlus are truly covering themselves in glory with this port, they'll be telling us they lost the source code for this new version next...

 

[Matador]

PCSX2

 

[d1r]

The price tag for this game is an absolute absurdity at this point.

 

[Talby]

ONE MORE PORT REJECTED

 

[Deflowerer]

More likely that the original code was kind of spaghetti, given it was their first game on PS2 and they have never been technically amazing.

 

[Poseidon00]

Just use the PS2 emu like lol it works perfect

 

[Average Manatee]

Just use the PS2 emu like lol it works perfect

Even today there's certain graphical effects that either look wrong or end up automatically disabled depending on your settings. I think

 

[Poseidon00]

Even today there's certain graphical effects that either look wrong or end up automatically disabled depending on your settings. I think

Is there? I've gone through multiple times and didn't notice anything out of place. If there is it's not super noticeable but then again i've had my settings customized for along time

 

[Average Manatee]

Check Shibuya on the surface and see if you can see the shadows properly.

The thing is that you can fix it, but the fix also has some other small issues elsewhere that I can't recall. Basically every fix still then creates some kind of new problem. But I haven't tested on the latest versions of PCSX2 so if they are fixed by now then good. I know they've seemed to be getting more and more bug fixes in the past few years.

 

[HoboForEternity]

wait for modder that will fix it, wait for a big discount, voila

 

[TwoEdge]

I'd wager this is Atlus testing the waters. Persona 4 Golden probably sold beyond expectations and was deemed underpriced, so they're evaluating how elastic is the market in regards to SMT, by selling at full price. If it sells well, profit. But, realistically, they'll adjust the inevitable sales and future pricing based on this experiment. Nocturne is ideal for this, being very low risk, low cost (it's a cheap port of an old game that's well beyond paid for).

 

[Sentinel]

Stop coping. This isn't an "experiment" of any sorts, it's just regular Atlus being the greedy gooks they have always been. There will be no price adjustment after Nocturne for whatever gets ported to PC next lol.