Gaming Starting to play SMT....where to begin?

[astrangeone]

Love the game, but only completed one on the DS. Where do I start from now? I'm lost but I love the story and the combat.

 

[ultramario1998]

Go with IV. (I'm assuming you have a 3ds.) If you liked the combat/story of the previous games, IV is a great place to keep going. Keep in mind though, the first dungeon is insanely difficult, but the difficulty curve gets a lot lighter afterwards.

If you have the ability to, I highly highly HIGHLY recommend Persona 4. It's known as one of the best RPGs of all time, and it's certainly one of the best Megaten games.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

Love the game, but only completed one on the DS. Where do I start from now? I'm lost but I love the story and the combat.

Which one on the DS? They can play very differently, so you may like Devil Survivor but not like SMTIV. You said in your scary games thread that you like RPGs, so that may not be a problem.

While they may contain references, each Megami Tensei series is independent of the other, story-wise. There isn't really a universal start point. Myself, I have a really hard time enjoying old games (that I didn't already play as a kid), so I tried but couldn't get into classic MegaTen. If you play a lot of modern MegaTen games, you may find it hard to go back to the older ones. With that being said, I agree with the guy above me. SMTIV is a great game and it's getting a sequel this summer, so now would be a perfect time to play it. I also loved P4G, but a sizable portion of MegaTen fans absolutely loathe Persona so you're not gonna get a consensus about it.

 

[Luckkill4u]

If your looking at Classic Shin Megami Tensei go with try 1 and 2 on the emulators. Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei isn't bad either and I've been playing them on my smartphone recently. Devil Survivor, Soul Hackers, Strange Journey, Persona are all great spin-offs but Shin Megami Tensei IV really is a true SMT game with much improvement over 1/2/3.

Mostly every SMT game has a separate story but you can follow the Digital Devil Story books and Megami Tensei. I'm pretty sure most of the games have multiple endings and the same theme of befriending demons to aid you in your adventure.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

If your looking at Classic Shin Megami Tensei go with try 1 and 2 on the emulators. Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei isn't bad either and I've been playing them on my smartphone recently. Devil Survivor, Soul Hackers, Strange Journey, Persona are all great spin-offs but Shin Megami Tensei IV really is a true SMT game with much improvement over 1/2/3.

Mostly every SMT game has a separate story but you can follow the Digital Devil Story books and Megami Tensei. I'm pretty sure most of the games have multiple endings and the same theme of befriending demons to aid you in your adventure.

If the only SMT game the OP has played was Devil Survivor or Devil Survivor 2 (don't know why he'd play 2 first) then "true SMT" is irrelevant. Strange Journey is as close to "true SMT" as spinoffs go, but people new to the series shouldn't get involved in the vitriolic "true SMT" debate. It's a video game, just enjoy it.

 

[Tigran]

If the only SMT game the OP has played was Devil Survivor or Devil Survivor 2 (don't know why he'd play 2 first) then "true SMT" is irrelevant. Strange Journey is as close to "true SMT" as spinoffs go, but people new to the series shouldn't get involved in the vitriolic "true SMT" debate. It's a video game, just enjoy it.

To be fair.. Strange Journey should have been IV *straight from creators mouth* but it not being set in Japan scared him out of naming it IV.

 

[Luckkill4u]

To be fair.. Strange Journey should have been IV *straight from creators mouth* but it not being set in Japan scared him out of naming it IV.

I don't blame Atlas changing the name to Strange Journey because it made sense to me. It doesn't have the same setting and the plot is a bit different but the overall concept is close to the originals heck lets call it 3.5. I'm pretty sure we can all agree to that?

 

[The Catboy]

ALL OF THEM!
Seriously though, I suggest Devil Survivor Overclock, Strange Journey, and Nocturne (I know it's on the PS2, but it's still amazing!)
Those are my three personal favorites! SMT IV is also a great title, though I find the story isn't as well written as the previous titles.

 

[Greymane]

If you dont mind retro/old looks i would suggest smt 1&2. If you rather have better graphics then it would be smt IV and devil survivor overclocked/record breaker. In the summer months of this year smt IV apocalypse will come out too and it ties into smt IV. So i would suggest smt IV then play any that tickles you fancy until smt IV apocalypse comes out.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

To be fair.. Strange Journey should have been IV *straight from creators mouth* but it not being set in Japan scared him out of naming it IV.

Yeah, but there will always be purists who say "It doesn't follow the same naming convention, therefore it's a spinoff."

 

[Greymane]

smt strange journey is part of the main series no matter what people say (especialy if you consider that flyn is called his 5th self). The purist can go lick a salty stick if they dont like it.

 

[BORTZ]

To all of you suggesting 1 and 2, I do not suggest them at all. They are archaic and hard to grasp. OP, I suggest starting with SMTIV (if you have a 3DS) or either of the Devil Survivor games. SMTIV plays like a dungeon crawler/adult pokemon. The devil survivor series is much different. 2/3rds of your time is spent advancing the clock or organizing your demons, and the other 1/3 you are fighting demons on a tactical grid. I really really like them both.

 

[Noelemahc]

To all of you suggesting 1 and 2, I do not suggest them at all. They are archaic and hard to grasp. OP, I suggest starting with SMTIV (if you have a 3DS) or either of the Devil Survivor games. SMTIV plays like a dungeon crawler/adult pokemon. The devil survivor series is much different. 2/3rds of your time is spent advancing the clock or organizing your demons, and the other 1/3 you are fighting demons on a tactical grid. I really really like them both.

If you have to advance the clock, you messed up somewhere. You literally can't complete some events in Overclocked's extra day or the second half of 2's core campaign if you haven't done certain things in an order so specific, a single detour will mess things up.

RE:1. If you're emulating the SNES one rather than playing the mobile port, there are several patches to unfudge the translation and improve the interface. With them, the game is waaay more enjoyable without tuning the difficulty down.

Don't forget, the 3DS also has the glorious Soul Hackers, which is teeth-pullingly hard for someone not used to the older SMT gameplay (aaagh, running out of Magnetite!).

 

[BORTZ]

If you have to advance the clock, you messed up somewhere. You literally can't complete some events in Overclocked's extra day or the second half of 2's core campaign if you haven't done certain things in an order so specific, a single detour will mess things up.

I know, I mean advancing the clock by completing events or talking to people.