/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.3760708]

I really just wanted to make a Shin Megami Tensei thread. I'm a complete newcomer to the series, without really any context or idea what these games were about. I decided to go against every recommendation and start at the beginning with SMT1.

I'm so glad I did, this game is a gem. The encounter rate is silly, but everything else is interesting as hell and I'm having a great time with the game. The atmosphere and worldbuilding are well done, and the plot completely took me by surprise. I'm becoming quite fond of the RPG mechanics as well.

[Anonymous No.3760719]

>>3760708
How are you planning on progressing through the series?

[Anonymous No.3760732]

>>3760719

I basically want to finish off SMT1 (I think I've got a fair chunk of game to go, I am in the middle of the Police Station). After that is SMT2.

I doubt I will be able to play IF because the translation is never coming out. After that I'm kind of stumped, because there are a large number of options, depending whether I just want to focus on the main games, side series, chronological release order, etc.

[Anonymous No.3760820]

>>3760732
If you wanted to play a game that feels like a natural progression of SMT 2 I'd recommend Soul Hackers and Strange Journey (not retro).

[Anonymous No.3760837]

>>3760732
What alignment are you going for, anon?

[Anonymous No.3760865]

>>3760837

Neutral. No real reason, it just seemed like an interesting and challenging path, and supposedly lets you fight a few more bosses, which is fun.

[Anonymous No.3760906]

>>3760865
Sounds good, what's your current party?

[Anonymous No.3760948]

>>3760732
Jump into Strange Journey after SMT2, then you can finish SMT4 and SMT4A.

[Anonymous No.3760970]

After SMT 1 I'd honestly recommend Persona, then SMT2 or Persona 2 Innocent Sin, then go straight to Nocturne and feast upon the delicious press-turn system. You can always go back and play the ones you missed, they'll still be good.

[Anonymous No.3760989]

>>3760948
No Nocturne?

I've yet to play Strange Journey myself but I'm excited to do so, it sounds great. I enjoyed SMTIV but found the characters a bit bland and a few bosses from later in the game annoying, but that was mostly rectified in SMTIVA, which I adored for a number of reasons.

[Anonymous No.3760996]

>>3760989
Nocturne is completely different and might as well be a spin-off you can play any time, while you shouldn't really get into SMT4 without playing SMT1, SMT2 and Strange Journey first. It loses a lot of flavor if you jump right into it without them.

[Anonymous No.3761006]

>>3760996
Nocturne is pretty important to the overall narrative and I believe it's the first game that actually introduces and elaborates on the multiverse cosmology of the series. I'd really caution against playing any of the games that came after before playing Nocturne, even though it sets the bar extremely high for quality.

[Anonymous No.3761394]

>>3760732
http://lparchive.org/Shin-Megami-Tensei-if/

This Let's Play translates all the plot dialogue and has no boring autism.

[Anonymous No.3761492]

>>3760708
>>3760989
I'm going to keep my recommendations retro for this thread, come hang in /smtg/ for not-retro advice.

- Play Soul Hackers at some point
- PLEASE play Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei, it's remakes of the original Megami Tensei games (i + II) and II is easily one of the best Megaten games, period. You will really like it if you're enjoying SMT. If you need a break from 1st person stuff and also want something that's a little more mindless, Last Bible I and II are fun and simple Game Boy games in the Megaten universe. I just beat I, which was localized in the US as Revelations: The Demon Slayer, Last Bible II has a fan translation. Megaten has one of the deepest and richest games libraries in history, you'll basically never run out of amazing games to play. I've played almost exclusively MT games since I started a couple years ago.

[Anonymous No.3761543]

Good old dungeon crawler how I miss them

[Anonymous No.3762504]

>>3760906

I'm in Ginza now, here's my party at the moment.

[Anonymous No.3762519]

>>3760708
hope you're using orden's patch

[Anonymous No.3763002]

Does anyone also have a problem with SMT1 on Everdrive? I'm stuck at the execution, after getting rid of one zombie, Yukiko says the same line she said before battle and then it starts all over again.

[Anonymous No.3763128]

>>3762519
You put that patch on top of the old translation patch right? What's it add/fix?

[Anonymous No.3763145]

>>3763128
No, you patch the original japanese rom. The patch includes the translation, but it fixes the bugs, like not being to buy guns at the first gun shop and fixing the glitch that prevented being able to get the law ending.

[Anonymous No.3763172]

>>3763145
fuck looks like I gotta start over on my Wii, I wasn't too far anyway. Was wondering wtf was up with the no guns deal.

[Anonymous No.3763197]

>>3760708
Do you have a PS2? If so, you're in for a treat with its SMT library. The 3DS SMT's are good too, especially Soul Hackers.

[Anonymous No.3763206]

>>3763197
Every single Megaten PS2 game is available digitally on PS3 as well. The emulation has some issues on certain games, but they're all quite playable (unless you're playing on a euro PS3).

[Anonymous No.3763218]

>>3763206
You know what? I'm all for playing on original hardware, but I just looked up how Nocturne looks on PCSX2, and I think it's the way to go. Not sure how the rest of the PS2 games look, but they should look similarly as good.

[Anonymous No.3763243]

>>3763218
Some of the other MT games have some GFX issues with PCSX2 iirc.

[Anonymous No.3763398]

>>3763145
Is there some way to use Orden's patch but keep the Japanese text?

[Anonymous No.3763429]

>>3760708

I want to rush into this series but I'm waiting for a NES flashcart to go in. I want start through Megami Tensei for the Famicom.

[Anonymous No.3763434]

>>3763206

Breath of the Wild doesn't look much better than that...

[Anonymous No.3763552]

>>3763434
lol, it really does tho. Even the Gamecube runs circles around the PS2, forcing it into widescreen and a higher-resolution doesn't change poly counts or texture quality. Looks good, but that's largely due to good art direction in the MT series. The Raidou games look terrible emulated due to the pre-rendered backgrounds.

[Anonymous No.3763583]

>>3763398
no because orden's patch is mostly about fixing bugs introduced by aeon genesis

[Anonymous No.3763597]

>>3763583
Ah, I didn't know that. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.3763606]

>>3763597
Don't forget the automap hack either, you can add that one on top of Orden's patch. Very handy.

[Anonymous No.3763914]

>>3763606

OP here, THANK YOU.

Going through the menu was driving me nuts.

[Anonymous No.3764175]

>>3763606
?

when i did that, it corrupted my ROM

oh well i don't really care

[Anonymous No.3765631]

Didn't have a ton of time to play yesterday, but now the weekend is here. Got the main floor of Ginza mapped out.

[Anonymous No.3766159]

I love how different demons will have their own personality. This one is quite haughty.

[Anonymous No.3766163]

Here's Stephen Not Hawking. He upgraded my demon computer again, so now I can carry up to 10 demons in memory.

[Anonymous No.3766165]

This jerk wants 10,000 macca for me to pass. Of course we refused! He sends a few waves of weak demons at you, and you curb stomp them.

[Anonymous No.3766168]

And this is what he says after. What a dweeb.

[Anonymous No.3766170]

Also in Ginza is this old fellow who we met near the beginning of the game.

[Anonymous No.3766175]

He asks us how we like the post apocalype. I think it's pretty rad, old guy.

[Anonymous No.3766180]

And coming back to leave Ginza, we run into this fellow again. What a dweeb.

[Anonymous No.3766378]

>>3766180
>Boss Fuck!
You madman!

[Anonymous No.3766637]

>>3763606
Orden's patch comes with the map hack, doesn't it?

[Anonymous No.3766838]

>>3760708
>implying smt is the beginning

[Anonymous No.3767079]

>>3766637
I don't think so? I could be wrong, SMT I is a total shit show of patches. It's a shame the only official version is on iOS. Maybe ATLUS will port it to Switch now that the architectures are the same...

[Anonymous No.3767081]

>>3766838

[Anonymous No.3767202]

>>3767079

I installed in order:
1) The aeon genesis patch
2) The orden patch
3) The automap hack

Everything seems to be working just fine.

[Anonymous No.3767638]

Starting to hear a lot about this Cathedral.

[Anonymous No.3767643]

These Messians really seem like a bunch of fucking assholes.

[Anonymous No.3767648]

No thanks.

[Anonymous No.3767649]

They even have TV sermons.

[Anonymous No.3767652]

A little bit of black humor here.

[Anonymous No.3767657]

I love some of the demon personalities in this game.

[Anonymous No.3767661]

Just keep doing what you doing OP. Chronological order always best way to go.

[Anonymous No.3767662]

The boss of this area was another dweeb who sends waves of demons after you. With some smart play, they get taken out pretty easily. Here's what he says after losing.

[Anonymous No.3767778]

Also if anyone has any suggestions on how to format my pictures, it is appreciated. I am using the crt filter, and resizing where it seems appropriate, as well as converting to medium quality jpg to save space.

[Anonymous No.3768037]

>>3767081
IT'S AN ALL OUT DEATH BATTLE!

fucking love this over the top translation, hope it gets finished

[Anonymous No.3768598]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmOd3jud3G0

I think this might be my favorite version of the world map music. Atlus made a lot of SMT1 ports, and rearranged the music several times, but the PCE-CD comes out sounding quite dramatic.

[Anonymous No.3768841]

Glad to see OP is enjoying SMT for the great worldbuilding and atmosphere.

As for me, I played it the year the translation came out (2002 ?) , and as a teen used to binge on traditional fantasy or sci-fi RPG it struck me as very innovative.

The OST is still one my favorite for the SNES, from creepy atmospheres to rocking themes (Ginza!), going through catchy songs.
And of course with a wonder like >>3768598
posted. The first time I heard it ingame, it really moved me and wonderfully accompanied the setting.

I'll follow this thread to see how you're doing, OP.

[Anonymous No.3768961]

>>3767202
That's what I did as well and it looks good.

[Anonymous No.3768964]

>>3768037
Me too, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[Anonymous No.3770263]

We're done with Ginza, and so we take the path to Ikebukuro. However, we run into the chaos hero, who ran off shortly after fusing himself with a demon. He gives asks us if we want to fight him, and then warns us not to continue.

[Anonymous No.3770264]

Of course we ignore him. Moments after we get out of the tunnel, he appears again, and forces us to go with him.

[Anonymous No.3770265]

Looks like they've set up a court. He tells us to mind our manners, and then we're thrown in.

[Anonymous No.3770272]

Sorry for the big mess of tiles, but Lord Yama launches into a very long-winded speech here. After he's done bloviating, we tell him to go fuck himself.

[Anonymous No.3770275]

You can guess what happens next. Thrown into a cell, and it seems like we're stuck here... but wait, what's that?

[Anonymous No.3770280]

Chaos hero, you are a fucking bro.

[Anonymous No.3770284]

Wandering around, you can come across other prisoners, like the little sociopath in this cell.

[Anonymous No.3770286]

Of course, the Gaians think the system is just fine.

[Anonymous No.3770295]

Another nice bit of worldbuilding here.

[Anonymous No.3770298]

And we bust back in to ruin Lord Yama's day.

[Anonymous No.3770307]

Lord Yama is another pushover boss, easily taken out by our party of heavy hitters. Chaosbro notices that we curb stomped Yama, and vows to train to become the strongest. As for us, we leave Ikebukuro for the journey ahead.

[Anonymous No.3770331]

Anyone here played through Giten Megami Tensei on the PC-98?

[Anonymous No.3770906]

>>3770331
Wew I wish. If only I could read moon.

[Anonymous No.3772063]

>>3770331
i really want to play it some day just because of how tonally odd of a game it is compared to the rest of the series

[Anonymous No.3772084]

>>3770906
there's a half-width english font in the PC-98 version of the game already

hint to hackers

[Anonymous No.3772867]

>>3770331

I know this probably sounds redundant for the people who are more familiar with the games, but as a person who isn't well versed in the series... there are a LOT of fucking Megaten games.

[Anonymous No.3772931]

>>3772867
That's the beauty of the series. I've been playing almost exclusivley Megaten for at least a year now and there's many, many more games to play. Currently going through the Game Boy Last Bible games.

[Anonymous No.3772939]

Just started playing through Strange Journey (i know not retro, but whatever, its SMT so its still relevant) and boy is this game FUCKING GOOD!
I'm only just reached the second area though.
Just a question. Will the alignment of the demons i use affect mc's alignment?

[Anonymous No.3772962]

>>3772939
No, only your choices at certain scenes affect your alignment, and the point of no return (also known as the alignment lock) is when you make a choice when talking to a guy in a formal suit. There's a spot where you can freely shift your alignment involving a demon that's digging for treasure but I forget where that is.

It's still a good idea to use demons of your alignment to maximize follow up attack damage though. It makes a real difference.

[Anonymous No.3772968]

>>3772962
That works really well until the end game, where having varied alignment demons outweighs the strength of the alignment combos.

[Anonymous No.3772981]

>>3772968
It's more it outweighs the fact that bloody everything in the endgame has no weaknesses

[Anonymous No.3773012]

>>3772981
You are correct, it's a pretty rough end game, but the demon-password system gives you a little leeway too. I had a beefed up Alice I leveled up from a weaker password-demon and she saved my ass in the final battle.