Current Events > So I don't think I've given Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne a fair go

(+) Yeah! (+)

For what it's worth, I have some legitimate grievances about the game. It can be a pain in the ass to play, like it's a bit rough getting between save points without grinding. It's also very clunky, being a PS2 title with some very PS2 camera controls. The main point of contention I have is that I have the PS2 classic on PS3, and PS2 games run like shit IMO - I don't have a great TV to begin with, and the game hasn't gracefully aged in the graphical department. There are legitimate reasons why I dropped the game when and where I did.

But for the last year or so that my PS3 has been out of action, I've regretted leaving Nocturne at the point that I did. I'm posting about it here because CE plays a big part in my experience with the game.

When I first started posting here, I made a pretty well-received pair of threads about the Mass Effect games. I had never played them before, so I liveblogged my first playthrough - the first thread got to 500, and people were helpful and chill and cool. It was a very positive experience, and so once I was done with ME3, I thought about doing the same with other games - turning "Mallard plays *blank* for the first time" into a recurring series.

The follow-up thread was "Mallard plays Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne for the first time", or something along those lines. In which I... played Nocturne for the first time. Very self-explanatory.

The thing is, Nocturne was a much denser game to get into than Mass Effect. I spent a lot of play sessions level-grinding and not getting to any story beats, and the pressure I felt to post about the game really burnt me out in the end. Along with the game running like a stale dog turd and phasing my console to another plane of existence every time I went to play it, that made me really want to stop.

So the thread crashed and burned, I stopped playing the game and I went on with business as usual. It kind of sucked, like when I went to play Bioshock for the first time.

Since then, my first PS3 kicked the bucket and I got a Switch last Christmas. I like the console a lot, but it doesn't have many RPGs at reasonable prices - and I found myself thinking about Shin Megami Tensei, just wanting an interesting RPG experience to play. I recently got a second PS3, and Nocturne was one of the first titles I downloaded.

The current plan is to take it slow. Balance Nocturne with my other games, like Borderlands and GTAV. Give the game the time it deserves, throw it on while I listen to a podcast. Stuff like that.
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It took me a bit to truly get into, but man, once I did I got hooked and beat it 100%
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I'm also thinking of making a liveblog thread for Persona 5. The Ultimate Edition retails for $130, but it's currently on sale for $22 - I'm gonna snap that shit up.
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