Staredit Network

TABLE OF CONTENTS
#1: Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniacs

#1

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is a game all about rebirth. The Shin Megami Tensei franchise hadn't had a game for TEN YEARS until Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (hereafter called SMT3), so it's safe to say that Atlus wanted to make a big statement with this game. SMT3 is, as I said earlier, a game about rebirth, but it also is a rebirth for the series.

For those of you who don't know, Shin Megami Tensei is a series of games that spawned from the old Famicom (a.k.a. NES) game Digital Devil Monogatari: Megami Tensei. This old game was a very clunky first-person dungeon crawling RPG, in which the main player could interact with the enemies he encountered and recruit them into his party. The game wasn't that great, but it somehow went into third place in the Japanese RPG hierarchy, right behind Dragon Quest (#1) and Final Fantasy (#2).

Now, back to SMT3. The game is about rebirth. In fact, at the beginning of the game, the city of Tokyo is completely destroyed. Now, you wonder, how can rebirth come from destruction? Well, the city is destroyed in a literal sense, but in a figurative sense it is just reduced to a state of total chaos... Which is pretty much the same thing. Every human being in the city is killed, save for six people. Tokyo becomes the Vortex World, a strange desert world inverted and wrapped around an enigmatic glowing sphere of light.

The theme of rebirth also affects the main character: he is reborn as a demon. A weak human being obviously cannot survive in the Vortex World that Tokyo has been reformed into unless he has some great power, so a nice old man forcefully transforms the hero (basically, you) into a bad-ass, shirtless tattoed kid with a spike coming out of the back of his neck.

Obviously, this isn't your typical RPG. This is a game that doesn't ask the player to sit back and watch some people tell a story. It draws you into it, as you go deeper into the Vortex World and learn about its disturbing origins, and what future it has.

SMT3 also has some pretty awesome music. Megami Tensei games are known for their techno and rock soundtracks, and SMT3 continues that tradition. The battle themes are full of guitars getting thrashed wildly, and even has some crazy demonic voices in the background that seem to speak crazy babble. There are also some good remixes of songs from previous Megami Tensei games. The music isn't limited to rock, though. There's also some decent piano and organ music, if that's your flavor.

Now, you can't have a video GAME without gameplay. SMT3 has a lot of it, so much that the game has driven many to shun it. Specifically, the game enjoys killing you. SMT games are hard. This isn't a game that you can simply mash the X button over and over again in, you have to utilize strategy and manage your party.

You see, since the main character is a demon, he can logically speak to other demons. Conversing with other demons in this game is greatly simplified in comparison to, say, Persona or Shin Megami Tensei II. This is an annoyance to people who've played other Megami Tensei games, but I'm sure most people here won't really care.

Anyway, recruiting demons is an integrated part of SMT3. You can't go very far without a party of three other demons. Luckily, demons in SMT3 are very powerful if managed properly. Demons can level up, gain abilities and when they have learned all of their skills, you can (and probably WILL) have then fused with other demons at a Cathedral of Shadows, to form demons even more powerful.

The main character is even more customiazble. Throughout the game, the player comes across strange bug-like creatures called Magatama. By using these Magatama, the player can learn skills too. However, these skills are wide in range. You can make your character a wizard who controls the elements, a bruiser who beats the snot out of his enemies or even a supporter who raises the damage and defense of his party. You won't be reduced to mashing buttons, as there are many options.

The battle system of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniacs is very dynamic. Here's how it works: you get 'Press Turns' equal to the amount of your party members. If you execute an attack that exploits an enemy's weak point or dish out a critical hit, only 1/2 of the turn is used. On the other hand, if the enemy is unaffected by the damage, you lose a turn. Even worse, if your damage is reflected or absorbed, you lose all of your turns. However, the same applies to your enemies, so you can soak up the enemy's turns and at the same time get extra hits on him. Preparation and careful thinking is rewarded; stupidity is punished mercilessly. You can really dish out pain in this game.

Now, as for the graphics.. If you think more polygons = better graphics, you're in for a disappointment. SMT3's visual style is a minimalistic style of cel-shading that I find to be the most stunningly beautiful thing I've ever seen in a video game. It also helps that the characters all look very much like Kazuma Kaneko's (the main artist of the Megami Tensei games) drawings. The demons in the game range from cute little fairies to terrifying gods of death, complete with bony skulls and scythes. The demons are also all mythologically rooted, and believe me when I say they look pretty sweet. There's a gold mine of visual candy in this game.

If you don't believe me, take a look at my signature. That's some pretty insane stuff, isn't it?

SMT3 also has much replay value. There are six endings, for starters. There are also quests to find all of the Magatama, defeat all of the secret bosses (and fuse them, so you can control them and have them kick some ass), you can recruit Dante from the Devil May Cry series.. The list goes on and on.

Honestly, though, this game is not for everyone. Some people can't handle the percieved difficulty, others don't like how the story focuses on the choices and beliefs of the characters rather than if they're afraid of fire or something similar to that. I say nothing to them, I merely raise my middle finger at them and bow my head in shame. For they are missing out on the best RPG there is for the PlayStation 2.

10/10

Rent or Buy?: Buy. This game is rare as hell, and it probably won't get a second print run. Finding a copy of it might be pretty hard, but it's well worth it.

More information: http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/megaten/megaten5.htm

Would you say it takes a lot of logical thinking to win battles? Or is it more of a matter of having several levels above the enemy, aka winning in terms of statistics?

So basically, there's an assload of party members with you being able to use demons?

You sure as hell can try to win by level-grinding, but there are steep diminishing returns on experience gains. If you stay in one area and fight 100 enemies, as you level up, they give less and less experience until you're forced to go on to a new area or rethink your strategy.

As for logical thinking, yes, to an extent it helps. Certainly it's logical to have a good party balance. There's also an importance in analysis. For example, a major roadblock for many new players is the Matador, a very powerful boss you meet early in the game. I constantly see people saying they can't beat him, but really all it takes is a few fusions and bang, you have a party full of demons that absorb his damage.

So yes, you can attempt to level grind your way through the game, but having a good party balance and exploiting enemy weak points rather than mashing Attack over and over is a much more effective means to defeating enemies.



There's you, the main character, a half-human, half-demon. Then there are your up to three in-battle allies, demons that you've recruited or fused. The demons in your party can also gain experience and learn skills, but they do it at a slower rate than the main character, so it's better to fuse them to get demons more powerful than they are. The one exception to this is Dante, who cannot be fused with anything ever.

I'd like to offer a deep conversation, but I don't have this game, nor a PS2. At least the battle system doesn't seem as repetitive as the attack, watch, attack, watch... ones I've played.

Crap I got finals tommorow. Adios.