Let's Play Shin Megami Tensei Options

[Joker]

Joker's text in white.
V-Dub's text in orange.


I first read about the Shin Megami Tensei franchise in an article on controversial video game storylines. Things like the resurrection of Adolf Hitler, teenage suicide, a war against God, and a whole variety of other taboos had all been covered at some point by this franchise. But it's not solely about shock tactics, claimed this article. No, these games took these incredibly taboo topics, and wrote some of the most compelling stories around them that you'll ever see. My interest was piqued, and so I started playing some of more popular entries in the series.

Earlier this year, I started a fan-translated ROM of the SNES game Shin Megami Tensei. While this wasn't the first game in the franchise (that one hasn't been translated yet), it WAS the one that gave it its name, and the first of the flagship series for the franchise. While I didn't finish it, I did decide that I eventually wanted to go through it again and do an LP of the game. Thankfully, I came into contact with V-Dub here, who also wanted to do an LP of the game, and we decided to collaborate on one together.

Since he's way better at the party building stuff than I am (one of the things that eventually screwed me over at the end of my first playthrough), we decided that he would do the actual playing of the game, while we both provided commentary on what was going on. Another way to look at it is that he's driving the car, and I'm sitting in the passenger seat yelling "You're going the wrong way!" and "Do you want ME to drive?!", and then creating the actual topic and taking half the credit for getting there at the end of the trip. So buckle your seat belts, kids, and keep your mouths shut while mommy and daddy drive us to Tokyo Destinyland, or we WILL turn this car around!

As for me, my first introduction to SMT was technically the hiimdaisy Persona comics. I didn’t develop any real interest in the actual games until I heard people talking about it on the boards here recently. After reading Luisfe’s Let’s Play of SMT 3: Nocturne, I bought a copy of SMT: Strange Journey to experience the series first hand. That got me hooked, and since then I’ve gone through four games so far, including this one.

As Joker mentioned, Shin Megami Tensei (or Shin Megami Tensei I, if you prefer) isn’t the first game in the SMT franchise, though it is the first one put out by Atlus. The series started with Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, published by Namco (then called Namcot) for the Famicom in 1987. Megami Tensai was based on the first of a series of horror novels by Aya Nishitani. The title comes from the name of the series (Digital Devil Story) and the heroine’s true identity, the reincarnation of Japanese goddess Izanami (Megami Tensei translates to ‘Goddess Incarnation’).

Namco released a sequel in 1990, Megami Tensei II, before eventually selling the rights to Atlus. In 1992, Atlus released the game we’re playing now, Shin Megami Tensei (True Goddess Reincarnation), which eventually became the de-facto subtitle for all games in the franchise. Besides SMT, the main series MegaTen games are Shin Megami Tensei II, Shin Megami Tensei III and its updated rerelease (known variously as Nocturne Maniax, Nocturne, and Lucifer’s Call), and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (the first game designed specifically with foreign localization in mind). The franchise includes several spin-off series, including Persona, Devil Summoner, Digital Devil Saga and Devil Survivor, among others.

But that’s enough history for now, I think. Let’s get started on the game itself.

After we watch the intro, of course.



And that brings us to the menu screen.



So the game drops us into this undulating pink hallway.

What?

Wobbly.

Oh. You know what other word means wobbly?

Wha-

WOBBLY.



We’re moving on autopilot here, by the way, so no seeing what’s down those corridors.



So when do we get to actually do som-



Zordon!




And now we get to name our protagonist.



And by ‘we’ we mean us, not you losers.

And by ‘us’ you mean me, because you’re not actually playing the game.

>Divide 18 points among your parameters.

Here’s a rundown of what the stats do, transcribed from the manual that comes with the translated romhack:

STRENGTH: This statistic affects the damage that you do with direct hand-to-hand
attacks.

INTELLIGENCE: Affects demon conversation--most demons are not happy being the
minion of a summoner less inteliigent than they are, and will be harder to
convince to join. Intelligence also affects spellcasters' casting abilities.

MAGIC: This affects your magic power and defense, and your maximum MP level.

STAMINA: Affects your ability to withstand physical attacks, and your maximum
HP level.

SPEED: This statistic affects the speed at which you act in a battle round.

LUCK: Affects various parameters in the game--chance at escaping a battle,
chance of getting a sneak attack, chance of enemies dropping treasure, etc.

These are the base parameters each character or demon has--the following are
"derivative" parameters:

POWER: Attack power with your melee weapon and gun (direct attack for minions)

ACCURACY: Accuracy of your melee weapon and gun (direct attack for minions)

DEFENSE: Your defense power against direct physical attacks.

EVADE: Your chance of dodging attacks entirely.

MAGIC POWER: The strength and intensity of your spells.

MAGIC EFFECT: The effectiveness of your spells. (mostly seen in all-or-nothing
spells, when the spell either works or it doesn't)

I generally distribute stats by putting 8 into everything and adjusting from there. The main character can’t use magic, so I take two points out of that and put them into endurance. It’s game over if all human party members are dead, so we need all the survivability we can get.



“Assemble a team of teenagers with ATTITUDE.”

Adam would be the Red Ranger because he's the leader, and he also has absolutely no personality.

and those that rely on their own power that follow the path of competition and chaos await you.
Take care not to tip the balance between the two as you proceed…

This is our first introduction to SMT’s alignment system.

We'll explain more in-detail as it comes up during the game.



And so the ominous portal opens, revealing:



…more pink hallways.

My favorite.



You know, I was kind of hoping we were done with this sort of thing.

That’s what I like about you: naïve optimism.



Wait, what the hell is that?



OH SHIT IT’S COMING RIGHT FOR US



Oh. Well alright then.

If you call his name, he shall awaken.

Hmm…



No.

Man, you never let me have any fun.

>Divide 18 points among your parameters.

Like before, I start by setting everything to 8. Peter’s a jack-of-all-trades, but his strongest point is his healing magic, so I shift a few points in that direction.



Hell if I know.

You saved me, didn’t you?
I sense that if I go with you, I’ll remember what it was I was supposed to do…
Please take me with you.

Yaaay

Guess what time it is?



CORRIDOR TIME



Okay. I spy with my little eye-



Gah!

If you call his name, he should wake up.

He looks like a trustworthy guy.

>Divide 18 points among your parameters.

Judas’ magic isn’t as useful as Peter’s, so he’ll be focusing more on physical attacks. For now, though, he’ll start off with a balanced stat spread.

Rats, and I was having such a good dream…

Yeah I bet you were :perv:




I don’t see how this could possibly backfire.



If I have to see these pink corridors one more time I’m nuking Japan.





Aww yeah.



Aww shit.

My name is Yuriko.
I’ve been waiting for you…
…as you’re eternal partner…

Creeeeeepy.







Oh god, now I’m hearing voices.

Just because you have today off doesn’t mean you can oversleep!
Come on, get up!

Just because you have today off doesn’t mean you can oversleep!
Come on, wake up!

"It was all a dream? What a copout ending! I *HATE* when video games do that! I give this game 0/10!"

It’s… it’s not over yet.



Oh boy, email!

I hope it’s from that Nigerian guy! It’s been six months since I sent my info and I haven’t heard back yet.

Humanity is currently in grave danger!
Demons of legend from ages past have awakened from their long slumber. Soon, they will overrun the Earth!
In order to compete with the demons and fight for out survival, we will need to utilize their power.
Use this program correctly, and you should be able to!
I pray that those with the courage to use it will accept it…
To fight the demons that would destroy us, and to preserve humanity…

This sounds like a fanfic I wrote back in high school.




Fucking dial-up! :shakefist:



SHUT UP MOM I’M SURFING THE INTERWEB!



And here’s the menu for our bedroom. We can check the computer, save our game, go to sleep, or leave. Suspiciously absent: jerk it to internet porn.

It’d be there if we were playing Persona like I wanted to.

Checking the computer again gives you the User's Manual for the DSP, but we'll just explain how it works once we meet an actual demon.

Might as well see what mom wants. GOSH.

Even though police sirens were blaring at all hours, you slept right through them. I barely got any sleep at all!
For that many police to be involved, it must be a huge case…
Ah, that’s right. Here’s your allowance for this month.

Mother:
That’s all for this month, don’t waste it all too quickly!
Could you go down to the café in the mall and buy some coffee?
Be sure to pay them in advance!

Nothing left to do here. Might as well go get that coffee.



Let’s go outside!

What’s the worst that could happen?

This post has been edited by Joker: Jun 21 2011, 11:49 AM

[Soren Highwind]

I look forward to this immensely.

[Max-Vader]

Oh, that's the game with Hitler trying to get Longinus and God being and evil douchebag, isn't it?

This will be interesting.

[P Dot Alex]

The Hitler thing was in Innocent Sin, and God is in basically every SMT a douchebag.

Also, two people LP'ing are better than one. Will continue reading.

[Matto]

Applause.