About the Series
The Shin Megami Tensei Series
Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei, or Megaten, series is a series of games and spin-offs that are only very remotely connected (except for Digital Saga 1 and 2, which are part A and B of the same game), like the Final Fantasy games.
You can find my fanlisting for Lucifer (yes, that Lucifer), who appears in a great number of Megaten games, at Morning Star.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
This game, called simply Nocturne (or Lucifer’s Call in Europe) by its fan, is the first Megaten game I played. In it, you play a normal Japanese teenage boy who survives the end of the world, only to be transformed into a half-demon (or demi-fiend) and told that he possess the potential to tip the balance of the war for the cration of the new world in his favour. What path will you, as the Demi-Fiend, follow? Might makes right? Every man is an island? Man in harmony with the universe? Or perhaps something completely different?
Personally, I was siding with the Manikins.
You can see my fanlisting for the Demi-Fiend (Hitoshura, Shu, the Protagonist, the Hero, or whatever name you gave him) over at Reason, and my fanlisting for the relationship between Dante and the Demi-Fiend at Same Difference.
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
Digital Devil Saga is a two-parter game: thus, it’s pretty important to play number 1 first if you want to understand the second. Though Nocturne is my favourite Megaten game, I find that Digital Devil Saga is the one with the most compelling, rich characters.
In Digital Devil Saga 1, you play the role of Serph, leader of a small army group called the Embryon Tribe. The Embryon, as well as five other tribes, are locked into a civil war to gain access to Nirvana, a land of paradise. Things seemed to be locked in a standstill until a strange, egg-shaped device appears in their desolate land. Suddenly, a bright light shines from above, and the soldiers of the various tribes, yours included suddenly transform into fearsome monsters before devouring their enemies! The balance of power suddenly tips thanks to this strange new ability, and the arrival of a black-haired girl that you seem to remember, yet that you’ve never seen before, and a deadly race begins to reach Nirvana before you end up in your enemies’ stomachs.
In Digital Devil Saga 2, lots of really intriguing and weird things happen, but anything I could say about the game would be a big spoiler for the first one.
You can see my fanlisting for Roland of Lokapala (Digital Devil Saga 2) over at Facing Destiny, and my fanlisting for Gale at Token Sane One.
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner – Raidou Kuzunoha vs The Soulless Army
Oh Atlus, how we love your long titles. This is my least favourite of the Megaten
I’ve played so far, but I still enjoyed it quite a bunch. I found the story
too short and underdevelopped, though.
Devil Summoner puts you in the shoes, and stylish hat, of a freshly graduated devil summoner, Raidou the 14th of the name. Armed with a katana, a gun, a sarcastic cat and a bunch of faithful demons, can you discover the truth behind the odds events around the capital of 1920 Japan? Don’t worry, young summoner! You’ll have a lazyass detective, a mad scientist/doctor and a naked yakuza boss(!), among others, to help you.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
Quite different from the other games, with the teenaged party, the dating sims element and the more traditional "save the world from destruction!" plot, but still I game I absolutely loved. Junpei Iori is all the way up there in my list of favourite Megaten characters for being such an ordinary, cute teenage dork.
In Persona 3, you play the role of a transfer student, newly returned to the town where he lost his parents ten years ago. It is discovered then that not only do you have the power of Persona, a manifestation of a fragment of your psyche, but you can handle multiple Personae and change them at will. Therefore it becomes your mission to lead your team of Personae users, all kids of your school, to defeat the Shadows threatening to destroy your world during the Dark Hour, a hidden 25th hour hidden between 00:00 and 00:01 that only those with the power of Persona can access.
You can see my fanlisting for the Junpei/Akihiko pairing at Emperor & Magician, and my fanlisting for Akinari Kamiki (Dying Young Man, Sun S.link) at In Death Comes Life.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
Very much like Persona 3, which I still find is superior in every way except for the fact that you can control all members of the party.
In Persona 4, you play the role of yet another transfer student who arrives in a rural town that only seems quiet and peaceful. There is a world beyond the TV screens that can be accessed by those who have the power of Persona, but this world is also being used as a means to murder people without the perpetrator being caught… unless the player team does something about it.
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner – Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abaddon
Not finished yet.
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor
Abandonned. By far, the Megaten I like the least. I just don’t get strategy RPGs.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
Not finished, but hooked. Up to Horologium now.
