Current Events > How is Shin Megami Tensei not more popular

(+) Yeah! (+)

it is popular
murrican just afraid of demon entering childrun mindzzz

ssb_yunglink2 posted...

Apocalypse was criticized more for power of friendship type stuff than waifu pandering. Pretty much every other smt pits you against your friends, but apocalypse does the exact opposite in the route the game wants you to take

I dont really have as much of a problem with it compared to some smt fans, but its definitely a departure

There was a bit more to that specific issue mainly focused on how the story handled the characters rather than it simply being about the power of friendship. It was kinda funny how many people flipped on Nozomi despite her being relatively well-liked in Vanilla.

Picked up Nocturne ages ago and played it for a bit. Monster collecting really doesn't do it for me, since i prefer to have a staple team and not having to keep changing it around.

The DDS games were more my style. Set team members and got to experience the fun as hell press/turn system.

Devil Summoner and Soul Hackers 1 on Sega Saturn are also fun if you wanted more SMT with the first person view. Devil Summoner is hard but super fun.

I put 40 hours in Nocturne and got bored. The story never picked up and the overworld travel was boring. Gameplay was good but not enough to keep me interested any longer and thats the most recommended game to start with in the series. Havent bothered to try any others since then.

I remember playing Nocturne and hell even Digital Devil Story in the later 2000s and earlier 2010s and usually it wasn't the difficulty that got me it's that I'd just get lost and then not know where to go, which is a common occurrence in very old rpgs where the developers would try to "plan for that" and the whole "grinding" spiel too. Anyhow I never beat Nocturne not because it was too hard but I got lost somehow in a dungeon and never got back to it much like DDS1.

Anyhow I'll give pony seizures the benefit of the doubt for now. I like a hard jrpg (these can happen in modern days too) though obviously leveling and training out your battles can mitigate that or saving super moves etc. I won't sidetrack it,but I found some recent ones that feel like they can pack a good punch on hard but not just seem like BS. So this post is fit to print. (Sometimes hard is the highest difficulty, sometimes it's like Hell mode or w/e, I don't need to brag that much to play it on the highest one).

I remember Dragon Quest V and VI never came out in North America and fan translations came long before the official releases. At the current time I was just like well dems the breaks I first played Dragon Quest V on the Super Famicon with a fan translation. Thought it was great. I can't imagine DQ being too hard to read in Japanese but I don't know a lick about their languages. Kampai, Nani :P That's about it.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I was into JRPGs in the late 80s and early 90s. I knew DQV existed in Japan because my cousin was there (and informed me Dragon Warrior was called Dragon Quest there). He got me a copy of it and he didn't really play games and I didn't really understand that this game would be in Japanese (and also not fit in my SNES). Thankfully I figured out how to mod my SNES (aka take some pliers and rip off those hinges), but unfortunately the game was entirely in Japanese. However it was only kana and I using a dictionary managed to get the menus figured out. I was basically ignoring dialogue and just running around doing stuff. Learned some basic words, other people online playing helped form early guides (some of them are still on this site). Eventually got Dragon Quest VI as well. I had been reading the dictionary just learning words but still not understanding grammar really, but eventually got a grammar book that helped a lot. Then I wanted to look into other Japan only RPGs and SMT was recommended a lot. That was a massive undertaking as it has kanji (unlike DQ) and a lot of complex words (but English menus lol). I had an N64 and not a PS1, so I basically missed that generation, but I bought a PS2 with money from my first job and modded it by removing the front (it's like a disc swap technique) to play imports. After that I started basically only playing Japanese games outside computer games.

I feel like grimdark JRPG is a niche in a weird spot. JRPG folk tend to lean towards the more animu games (why Persona got so popular) and people that play grimdark games don't really play JRPGs.

MEGAsoldier posted...

I feel like grimdark JRPG is a niche in a weird spot. JRPG folk tend to lean towards the more animu games (why Persona got so popular) and people that play grimdark games don't really play JRPGs.

Shin Megami Tensei is more of a DRPG and those tend to be dark even in Japan. I would say it's only recently they started making a lot of Japanese DRPGs that aren't dark, probably due to the success of Etrian Odyssey.

I repeatedly try to find dark fantasy (j)rpgs and it is quite a daunting task. Most tend to be very small independant releases though and I tend to enjoy the ones I find. I remember finding Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi and while some of the puzzles took a little bit of doing, it didn't feel as difficult as a DRPG should be. Sure I read up a lot about the game before I bought (just class stuff really and party ideas) but there are so many QoL options and a gimmick they introduce very soon into the game that makes most battles trivial.

Anyhow I don't want to just start listing off games I've played that are in that "grim-dark" vibe I'd prefer them to be more like rpgs than say something akin to Dark Souls or BloodBorne. I don't have the patience for that shit and just never had the parry timing down in my better years anyway haha

Kamil posted...

Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi

I think they wanted to go more accessible with that one. Their stuff in general went from stupid hard to reasonable. I think Stranger of Sword City is probably a great choice if you are looking for a dark Experience DRPG that is quite challenging (assuming you play it on Hard of course).

ssjevot posted...

I think they wanted to go more accessible with that one. Their stuff in general went from stupid hard to reasonable. I think Stranger of Sword City is probably a great choice if you are looking for a dark Experience DRPG that is quite challenging (assuming you play it on Hard of course).

I wanted to try that SoSC game, but all the Steam reviews say don't buy it on Steam because it's a bad port. And there was a remade version too that comes with a old game they made. I got Undernauts real cheap physically of eBay for PS4. I loved the atmosphere. Pretty sure I had it on hard but you get thus bracelet you can use every turn that just buffs the hell out of your party so if I went in blind I still feel like it would have been easy.

I've beat the Lost Child awhile ago and got halfway through the bonus dungeon now that is some real bs. Heh not the battles amymore. (That I did play on normal and was a good challenge) but the ways to advance are so obtuse, it's made for a internet walkthrough.

Kamil posted...

I wanted to try that SoSC game, but all the Steam reviews say don't buy it on Steam because it's a bad port. And there was a remade version too that comes with a old game they made.

Yep. Get that one here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1363840/_/

I actually like both of them, but absolutely Sword City is better.

Oh and all of them are technically in the same universe (Wings, Sword City, and Undernauts).

I don't need another game at the moment, but I probably eyed that one up at least several times. Undernauts was really good just the tension of that drpg was undercut by so many QoL features. I don't need a super complicated game like those Galleria games seem to be, but I want some fear if the situation is literally trapped in an underground mine, can't get out.

Kamil posted...

I don't need another game at the moment, but I probably eyed that one up at least several times. Undernauts was really good just the tension of that drpg was undercut by so many QoL features. I don't need a super complicated game like those Galleria games seem to be, but I want some fear if the situation is literally trapped in an underground mine, can't get out.

I really think Sword City is the game for you. Wait for a Steam sale.