I did this as I went through the Persona series and some nice threads were had, so I'll try it with SMT as well.
After finishing Persona 3 (and not being very fond of it), I decided it was time to try SMT, so I played the PSX version of the first game. Honestly there's not too much to say about it. Demon fusing was cool, I got into it more than I did in Persona for some reason. Status effect bullets and Zio spells really made large parts of the game quite easy (not that it was entirely a cakewalk, every now and then a random set of demons would show up and slap my shit). I didn't even use my demons outside of boss battles very often.
I don't think it was exactly great though, I got pretty bored around the time I went to Roppongi because it just one increasingly large maze after another with not much happening. The same could be said for other games I like, so I don't know why it bored me in SMT. At least I started getting back into it towards the end.
I'll play the second eventually, but I might play Strange Journey first, I've heard some good (and bad) things about that one. The premise sounds interesting.
What do you think about the first SMT? How's the second compared to the first? What's your favorite SMT?
Oh yeah, a funny thing happened. The humans were level 70 when I fought Astaroth and got 3000 something EXP from the fight, but somehow leveled up 28 times. I have never had that happen in any game before. I don't think it actually did a whole lot for me though.
Asher Nguyen
2 is better than 1 gameplay-wise. The story is about the same level (which I rarely care). SJ is much better in both. But you totally should play 2 first.
Carson Cooper
>But you totally should play 2 first.
Why is that? Normally I would, but like I said, the first game kinda bored me a bit after awhile, and I've heard that while 2 is better, it's largely similar, so I figured I'd give myself some time before I dove into it.
Xavier Moore
Forget those play Digital Devil Saga and Devil Survivor
Sebastian Wright
Those are on my list too, every SMT thread I've seen, someone always has to mention them.
Parker Miller
not him but 2 feels fresh as fuck compared to the first one
at least give it a try
Connor Rogers
Do you actually speak runes? Regardless, the snes versions of the games have much cooler soundtracks, 2 especially I'd suggest playing the snes version. Kyuuyaku megami tensei is a remake of the first two and both are surprisingly accessible, but if you speak runes I'd suggest playing the NES version of megami tensei 2 (again for soundtrack reasons, it had a special sound chip with incredible quality for NES)
Classic smt are all very fun, but II I replay all the time, very good mix of exploitability and challenge.
Cooper Lee
>very good mix of exploitability and challenge I remember I spent all of the YHVH fight with that slippery fuck dodging all of my attacks and it lasting forever because he'd just one shot my demons and only satan could really do damage to him and it taking so long that I actually had to speed up the fucking emulator.
So what should I have done instead, smt master-san?
Wyatt Nelson
SJ's premise isn't as tight or nearly as entertaining as SMT II's, additionally SJ commits numerous smt sins such as mp rather than hp for physical skills. Also demon co-op and d sourcing skills is dumb
Lucas Torres
Who is the best SMT demon and why is it Mothman?
Connor Martinez
>Mothman endured
Nolan Torres
Yeah I can actually read Japanese.
I planned on playing Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei sooner or later. I'll take your suggestion of playing the NES version into consideration though.
John Bailey
oh hey isn't this finally coming out here?
Benjamin Rogers
Sometime Summer
Lincoln Miller
Surprise surprise, spend all day using nerve bullets, get fucked for the final boss
Sword fusion
There's no way to downgrade a sword during fusion so you can literally just keep throwing compatable demons at it.
Next best solution is to have 35+ Str and you can hit him with anything (boost it at a bar) . Either that or use sujukaja duh.
Even better is just get a chaos/neutral demon with divine retribution, you start finding them around level 40
Ah man. I didn't sword fuse because I already burned myself out fusin the most OP sword in the first one.
>kaja spells >divine retribution Demons that had these just completely disappeared for me by that point and I never realized how over powered the latter was.
I did beat him tho. It was just 30 minutes of DODGE DODGE DODGE.
You have to get pretty deep into fusing to get a lot of the good demons,the one's you get from fusing 2 random encounter demons aren't likely to be great. If enemies are more than 10 levels lower than you threatening them works 90%of the time, you can get tons of fusion fodder that way
Optimization of builds/demons is incredibly fun the second time through, also early game will be a lot easier
Ryan Roberts
Yeah that makes sense. Usually making my perfect team end game is one of my favorite things in smt but I completely neglected it in 2.
Just gives me another reason to replay it someday I guess.
Jack Williams
So is the iOS version of SMT worth or should I just chuck a patched English version on a PSP and play that. Cause I'd have to get the iPod fixed first
Anthony Powell
Put your first 5-8 level up points in vit if you want early game to be a cakewalk
Also since nips are debilitatingly addicted to gambling, the casino's equipment is meant to be acquired. Savestate cheat at keno to get good early/midgame swords, way more fun than abusing nerve bullets
Josiah Russell
Strange Journey is all round excellent
SMT 2 is a straight up improvement on 1 in every possible way, but it still hasn't aged very well. It's only really there for major fans of the series. I'd say KMT is the best of the SNES/PSX games, but I haven't played If so I can't comment on that one.
Soul Hackers is fun too, but it's pretty short and not too hard. The best games to play are probably Strange Journey and the PS2 games along with IV and Overclocked.
Devil Survivor 2 is alright, but it's essentially the Persona 4 of the series.
Noah Wright
Oh of course I got that casino shit.
It's impossible not to just save state fuck casino segments when I'm playing a game on an emulator. And it's so satisfying every damn time.
Especially with how many hours I spent getting that fucking whip in DQ8.
Ethan Watson
Snes version has better music and is more aspheric, but less accessible.
I'd say snes is the better way to play it personally but there's a good chance you'd be put off by it
William Garcia
the SNES version has a patch that binds the map to a keypress too, which is fucking huge From memory, the inventory was fucked and didn't tell you the stats of your current items when you were buying new ones, but the iOS version fixed that.
Kayden Garcia
>Especially with how many hours I spent getting that fucking whip in DQ8.
Really? I only played it recently and it only took a few hours to buy two of them and several other things.
Lucas Brooks
isn't persona 4 of smt just persona 4?
James Murphy
>the SNES version has a patch that binds the map to a keypress too, which is fucking huge
Oh I'd heard that getting the map was annoying in the original version of SMT. In the PSX version you just hit L2.
Come to think of it, the SFC version of II may be better anyway. Apparently if the "Press Any Button" text on the title screen of the PSX version is white, then it's the first, buggy version, and that's the one I have; can't seem to find the updated version anywhere.
Christian Hill
Well it took kid me hours, so suck my cock.
Luis Bennett
Explaining store items was never a feature in 1, all item descriptions were in the manual, partly to discourage resale
Jason Sanders
To add onto this, since you've played the PSX version I'm going to assume you know Japanese, which means you can play the untranslated games like Majin Tensei, Giten Megami Tensei (which is apparently just okay) and the first Devil Summoner
Ryder Miller
I've heard that the first Devil Summoner is kind of shitty. I might give it a look when I run out of the good SMT games.
Asher Wright
The sfc translation is pretty buggy too when it comes to certain dialogue. There's even an entirely untranslated minigame due to how obscure and hard to find it is. if you know runes stick with untranslated
Angel Jackson
All I really know about it is that it was one of the most popular games in the series over in Japan
William Scott
Do you think it's not worth my time then? Especially as I'm a persona baby and also SMTIV.
It looks and sounds interesting
Leo Edwards
It is. The music is better in soul hackers also, the 3ds version additionally runs much faster than psx or Saturn
Luis Foster
>persona baby and also SMTIV it's definitely out of your league
Matthew Allen
It's not that bad, I played through most of the main Persona series (only one I've yet to play is IV) and SMT wasn't too bad. Oh you'll get creamed now and then, that's for certain, but it's not at horrible as I've heard some people say.
Benjamin Campbell
Just go for it. Read a guide if you need to, but if you feel like you need to grind for levels consider trying to recruit and fuse better demons instead. Also give everyone tons of vitality it's the best Stat in the game next to luck.
Gabriel Ortiz
As someone who's played II 3 times now, it gets pretty fucking bad. The two massive midgame fetch quests are literally back to back, the moon pillar one would be nearly impossible without a guide
Chase Wood
Playing both SMT I and SMT II on PS1 is the definitive way to play both games.
Alexander Allen
The second that pillar crap came up I popped open a guide but only for that. I can't handle that shit as an adult but I know I'd have scoured every nook and cranny if I were a kid.
Easton Smith
I can't bear the PS1 version of "Castle of Four Gods" so, no.
Kevin Brown
PS1 has smoother scrolling so now matter what it is the better version.