Siliconera Speaks Up: Your Dream SMT Game

By Louise . February 15, 2009 . 8:25am

After the news of Persona 1 coming to PSP as well as a Shin Megami Tensei game for the DS, I started thinking about the Shin Megami Tensei games. Persona 3 and 4 really helped introduce players new to the SMT name to the mechanics of these games. What would you like to see in the next new SMT game? It can be a true SMT game, like Nocturne, or a spin-off like Digital Devil Saga and Persona.

Jenni: Personally, my favorite Shin Megami Tensei games are the Persona spin-offs, though Devil Survivor is looking pretty intriguing as well.

I’d like to see the next SMT game be another Persona title. It’d be great if it could follow along the lines of Persona 3 and 4, keeping the aspects that were great from both entries. (That means no sick party members!) A nice “extra” would be the ability to choose a male or female lead would be incredible, adding a whole new level of depth and Social Link interaction options. It’d also be great to see some of the original Persona concepts, like the ability to bargain and talk to the demons, appear in the next Persona.

Louise: While I loved Persona 4 and it made me an even bigger fan of the series, like Spencer, I’m ready to return to the pure dungeon crawling of Shin Megami Tensei games like Nocturne. I’d love to see a SMT game which makes use of all the battle tweaks of Persona 4: rush, mudo/hama skills hitting for 100% on those with weaknesses, and smart auto-battle.

What I’d also like to see, and this is my main complaint about SMT games, is logical weaknesses and strengths for demons or persona. For example, if I have a persona that looks like a giant flame, I’d expect it to be strong to fire and weak to ice. That’s a simplified version, but I’m sure through clever naming it would be easy to remember what persona has what attributes. This may go against the whole nature of SMT games, especially when you get to higher fusions, but I’d be happy just for the lower-rung demons or persona to follow that convention. I can’t even count how many times I have to use some sort of analysis skill in one game session because I couldn’t remember things about persona. I’d even settle for small icons next to the persona’s name.

Spencer: I like how the PlayStation 2 Persona games cleverly integrated side stories with the Social Link system. Shin Megami Tensei as a series really expanded here after Persona 3. However, after two games of making virtual friends I’m ready to parlay with demons and return to the core series. If Atlus is working on Shin Megami Tensei 4 (and really why wouldn’t they be?) they should tweak the combat system. Press turns were a great innovation. They made players think instead of mashing fight and were something new to master in Nocturne.

After a series of PS2 games using modified versions of the press turn system it’s time for something new. Maybe enemies can switch sides during battle depending on the player’s alignment and how negotiations go? Or Atlus could introduce an ideological leveling up system where story decisions affect what abilities you get. This way some parts of the game will be harder and others easier depending on the path you pick. A key element of Shin Megami Tensei games is players have choices on who to side with, what is right and wrong, and so forth. In a future game I would like to see Atlus expand on this by making more branching paths. Also some new monster designs by Kazuma Kaneko would be great too!

Ishaan: That’s a tough one. I don’t know if I can go back to classic MegaTen after experiencing Persona 3 and its social links and plethora of side activities to pursue. In my opinion, Persona 3 fixed every potential problem that could arise from a turn-based RPG. The battle commentary kept battles from getting boring even after you’d been through them hundreds of times; the personae themselves added a great amount of variety to the battle system; and the party members being controlled by the AI made them seem more human and allowed you to focus more on tactics and manage your personae effectively.

Here’s a thought: how about going back to the old first-person perspective for the next MegaTen and making it a real-time exploration RPG? Ditch equipment and weapons. Retain social links, retain demon summoning and put a heavy focus on the plot, exploration and emphasize the mystery elements. The thought of something like Oblivion or Fallout set in a mysterious MegaTen-inspired world sounds very cool. Or better yet, develop a different MegaTen experience for every console and see what works best. I like it when Atlus experiments.

TAGS: Atlus, Highlight, Shin Megami Tensei, Siliconera Speaks Up

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Nyanyaan

Keep the S. Links, but integrate them even further into the game. A template could be that of the Sakura Taisens wherin you unlock specials and combos based upon your relationship variables. Would be perfectly fine to have male "partner" attacks or even use a female lead with a reverse harem thingy. Even go so far as to have whomever the bf/gf is actually impact the story events (again look at ST as an example).

Regards the story, I do think a return to the darker Nocturne, Digital Devil style games would be nice. I WANT to feel that I am near alone fighting a greater, deeper,creeping evil -- and that my ultimate victory is not guaranteed. Even with as much as I love P3/P4, those did at times play out way too much like -- next plot point/next boss fight versus the ruined society, "what the hell is going on here" theme of nocturne.

Regards the difficulty, place the next one somewhere between nocturne and the personas. I don't need to be winging my controller at the screen over the upteen dozenth death from some random spawn monster, but I don't need to be able to solo the entire game with basically no risk if I swtich quick enough between personas with the proper null or reflect attack.

saru man

I'd rather that the next game that Atlus focused on be another addition to the main series. While I loved Persona 4, they should spend more time on the next installment instead of just giving us another Persona 3 with a few changes here and there. Instead, Atlus should take what take what they used in all of the games since Nocturne and implement them into Shin Megami Tensei 4 (voice acting, a refined demon fusing system, intriguing story, and unique battle elements like press turns, talking, and more efficient skill/magic system).

prettyprophet

As long as they don't skip the core Megaten in this gen, I don't care what happens. All I need is Kazuma Kaneko and better quality sound. Maybe update the Press Turn system.

Only thing I don't want is a remake. Atlus, fine, port to the PSP/DS...but for the PS3, Wii, 360? Give us something fresh.

QBasic

Ishaan...Atlus experimented with Jack Bros. ...On the Virtual Boy. Remember how that one went? XD

In any case...I'll settle for pretty much anything. As of late, Atlus has known what it has been doing, so I don't have to worry about wishing this and wishing that. Although, I wouldn't mind seeing my Persona 5 placed in a darker undertone reminiscent of Persona and the Persona 2 games. Maybe move out of the high school setting? Try a new way to integrate Social Links?

Keriaku

I really hope they're working on SMT 4. And I hope the battle system uses the press turn system from Nocturne/DDS, not the press turn-lite of P3/P4.

Chris

I want to see something that plays like Nocturne only with a more DDS-like story.

For Persona, I agree with seeing a better social link system. It pissed me off in Persona 4 how your choice of girlfriend didn't seem to affect anything else in the game. You shouldn't be able to just accumulate every girl in the game as your girlfriend without anyone getting pissed, and if Chie is your girlfriend, she shouldn't get embarrassed if you say 'You'd like a girl like Chie'. Also, you should be able to call other people up and make plans, you shouldn't have to wait until they come to you. You should also be able to gather more than one social link at a time. Also, the game should expect you a little more to honor your commitments like clubs and sports. If you don't talk to somebody in months, they should get a little pissed at you.

I think the only reason they made it so social links wait for you forever, you can get all the girls in the game, and social links never go down, is because the younger gamers would whine if you couldn't get a 'perfect save'.

Chris

Oh, and I should say something about the ideal difficulty.

The ideal difficulty is really hard, but not cheap. Hear me Atlus? If your main character reaches 0 HP, no more insta game over! There's no reason Yukari should suddenly forget revival beads exist every time the main character gets knocked out.

I like the thing in Nocturne and DDS how buffers and debuffers are stackable and infinite, only the bosses should be hard enough so if you don't abuse them and really take advantage of immunities, you won't win. So the fights require a huge amounts of skill, but you won't get these random cheap unavoidable deaths every time a critical hit lands on your main character.

Nyanyaan

I found it interesting that going into P4, they advertised they were changing it so you could only have 1 'serious' relationship, but all that ended up requiring was to cap the girl at 10 before you started catting around. In fact, P3 seemed to have more chances for relations to go reversed.

I am guessing the Xmas event in P4 was based upon your most recent 'conquest', although I may go back and see if redating a girl from an earlier relationship would change anything about that. Being able to cap a relationship without making it 'serious' I did like....Although the S.Links as the convention they are in P3/P4, there always was an element of connecting with NPCs in the game, even f it was only a mission to rescue a friend. I'd be very disappointed to see that aspect taken away as something 'new' to the MegaTen universe.

Hugo17

"Persona 3 and 4 really helped introduce players new to the SMT name"

I doubt most of the people introduced by Persona 3 and 4 care at all about the other SMT games. All they really want is just a constant stream of Persona games. In fact, I've seen some of them question what Shin Megami Tensei even is. All the Persona games popularized is the Persona name, not the main series or any other spin offs. I can guarantee Devil Summoner will not sell nearly as well as Persona 3 and 4 have, but it will have a definite jump from the first Devil Summoner, that's for sure. Devil Survivor will probably see success mainly because it's on the DS and that user base is a safe bet to have good sales off of obscure titles.

Anyway, I'd actually like a main line SMT game next. It would probably be in Atlus' benefit to put it on the DS rather than the PS3 to maximize profits(I'm also all for another PS2 game), and I certainly have no problems with SMT 4 on the DS. I'd like the story to keep the same minimalistic style that SMT 3 used where it implied most of what was going on. In terms of gameplay, keep it classic SMT style with the difficulty ramped up, I love being the edge of my seat when playing any SMT game, knowing that I could lose 30 minutes of gameplay at any moment. In terms of music, I'm confident Shoji Meguro will be able to create something to pull gamers even further into the games. I'll agree with Atlus that I think Persona needs a little break.

Or maybe they should just make something as incredibly awesome as Digital Devil Saga.

NickyD

Nocturne is already my dream SMT game. Fun story, challenging, decent looking (not really anymore, but it's got that nostalgia going for it), and open-ended enough for you to be careful with the few choices you have.

I would like a smarter Social Link system, maybe incorporating demons. If you look at all the "races" of demons in the true SMT games, why don't you get social links with Race A, which affects how you can talk to/recruit Race B or Race Y? I can't explain it very well, but there could be demon alliances, human alliances, and they would affect each other (increasing replay value!) and the ending or story you may get to see.

Kind of like... SMT meets Persona meets Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter meets Radiata Stories. How's that for convoluted and confusing?

prettyprophet

Nocturne is sheer ROCK. If it weren't for that low-quality sound....actually no, I'm still going with it as my favorite game ever. But could you imagine all those demon alignments REALLY going at each other? None of that scripted Nihilo wiping out Mantra. Toss in the various races in too...it'll be beautiful.

Course, this sounds more like the makings of a RTS/turn-based tactics game than a JRPG. Not that I think that's a bad thing.

311

First... Darker Plot like the original MegaTen
Second... Character and Monster Designs should be done again by Kazuma Kaneko
Third... Ability to choose the character gender like in ...If

What would be amazing is to be able to interact with past game Main Characters making cameos in an explanation of why they are in the universe (of the game that is).

Outta school and into hell, no random dungeons, no sick characters, maybe make it so that the player instead of negotiating/cards with demons, you can literary taste the darkness by any mean necessary, 1 can drink a fallen demons blood and acquire certain traits and abilities, then another has a different way of doing it like invoking from a bible passed down centuries of people that were meant to only guard it, one thats a half breed due to a demon and human. well i really dont know but I hope that is a little more on the nocturne dark-plot.

Let not forget original JP voice acting included in the options or menu

EvilAkito

I'm a big fan of the press-turn battle system of Nocturne/DDS. But what I'd like to see is a system like that, except you can have six team members: the main character, another story character, and four demons. There are two main reasons why I'd like to have a story character in the team. First of all, it can balance the difficulty a bit. Instead of getting a game over when the main guy dies, you'll have to lose the story character as well. That way, you're less likely to get a cheap-shot game over when the enemies strike first and kill off the main character before you get a chance to do anything. The second reason is because they can also summon their own pre-acquired demons into the party, which will provide novice players with a fairly decent roster to use if they're not up to the task of raising their own demons every time there's a new boss to fight. Of course, you wouldn't give the player a great party, but it would still be sufficient for players that just want to get through the main bulk of the game and not get too involved in the intricacies of the fusion system and all that.

Also, I really liked the contact system used in Persona 2. It gave you a lot more control over how you would treat the demons, and different effects would occur depending on their emotional response to your treatment. When implemented in an main-line SMT game, different responses could cause the enemy to join you, give you an item, aid in a side-quest, provide you with information, flee the battle, attack you, call for additional help, and so on. I've always liked how the SMT games don't always treat the random encounters as blood-thirsty bad guys that want to kill you, so I think expanding on the contact system would add a lot to the game world.

As far as presentation goes, I'd like to go back to the first-person, grid-based dungeons (with auto-mapping, of course) and to have a visual-novel sort of presentation during story/interaction sequences. I'd be fine with battles using the same third-person presentation used in Nocturne, but maybe with quicker attack animations due to the increased party size.

Nekobo

I'd be a content with an HD, core SMT game with S-Links (but with demons? lol) and the battle system refinements of P4.

Geoff

I'd like to see another DDS style game. I think they really perfected the game style with those two installments.

Leishtek

Wow u got some hardcore SMT fans here on Siliconera. I need to register for a forum account now! :)
oh yes, the big question. I'd like to see more background story on the mythology behind the SMT universe. More text, Atlus. Maybe a release of a manga or anime alongside the Persona games, or as a special add-in for Collectors Edition. Expand on all this Buddhist/Shinto stuff you pack into your games. It's very interesting.

manga

Make a new Persona game. Where the Social Links get a bit more place. Let them change the storyline. If you´re single at the end of the game then you can have one ending.

If you´re in a max lvl social relationship and have a boy/girlfriend then let us see a specific ending for those two.

No leaving them behind, let the game end at the place. I spent so much time with Chie in P4 and then I have to leave her? WTF is up with that Atlus?

Give us a story from after the game has ended that focuses on a couple. Let us choose if they should get married or if they move in together or what not.

Otherwise I don´t think there is anything big I want to add. I loved P4 so all I want is more and deeper social links :p