Current Events > Best game to get into SMT?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Bought SMT3 on a whim because I saw it on sale, so that'll be here on Wednesday. I also have access to SMT4 on 3DS, and I can potentially get SMTV, but 3 and 4 are already available to me.

Nocturne is the popular one so that is a safe bet I think.

Get Devil Survivor 1 and 2 on 3DS

Either Nocturne or IV would be fine. Nocturne is older and clunkier, but a bit better overall, though IV is also pretty great and has more constant plot direction.

V is like a mix between III and IV, so that's actually not a bad idea to play both of those first.

I'll go with 3 Nocturne since it's on its way

The Persona games are the easiest of the SMT games.

Smt V in all honesty. It is by far the most user friendly

I didn't like SMTIV that much. You can just get blast arrow and it carries you through the whole game. First two bosses are pretty hard I guess.

Nocturne is probably the most iconic mainline SMT game and perhaps a very important game. It's also brutal. That can be part of the fun but I'd also hate for that to deter someone. I feel like Nocturne is where a lot of the "SMT is pokemon for INSANE PEOPLE!" stuff comes from because the community bullies you if you don't play it on hard, and then you get surprise attacked by a lineup of six slimes that kill your party before your first turn.

SMTV is a brand new game and also mechanically may be one of the greatest JRPGs ever made. It's story and characters are rather... concise, but SMT stories are hit and miss anyway. It's world design and exploration are really good too. The only reason I might not recommend this one to start with is that its finely tuned battle system might spoil you against other games in the whole genre.

Devil Survivor is a DS/3DS game that works like a turn-based strategy game like Fire Emblem, and it's also greatly praised for its story and branching choices. That may be the one for you if you're really into story stuff.

SMTIV is almost an extremely good game, only issue I have with it is its obtuse alignment system; it has a direct sequel following one of its endings but that ending is rather difficult to obtain casually. It has a lot of great set pieces and the beginning unfolds its lore very well. You can't go wrong with this one.

Strange Journey - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYlrmpyPCEg&list=LL&t=57s (load in youtube, GFAQs embed doesn't set the start time of 57s

If you plan on playing Nocturne, definitely do it before playing SMT4 and SMT5, because after playing those two, getting into Nocturne may be more difficult due to its clunkiness.

DespondentDeity posted...

Get Devil Survivor 1 and 2 on 3DS

I'd say this. Simplifies the hardest mechanics while adding one or two from the grid part that allow for some cheese potential on certain fights. "Oh, this boss can only attack 2 squares out? Time to have someone with elements that can't die to the boss get the boss into this spot and the other two surround the boss from both sides and whittle down their health."

SMTV really is the best one to jump into tbh. It has the best exploration of all the games plus refined combat plus refined demon fusioning. SMT4 is a kick in the balls for the first ten hours, but I think it has the best story and setting.

SmtV is like monster hunter rise, its perfectly designed to be a jumping on point for newcomers. Nocturne (and some say 4, wasnt for me) are great games but unless youre used to more difficult jrpgs its a rough start

I'm gonna be the odd man out, and recommend Strange Journey Redux. Its a difficult game, and friggin enormous, for sure, but it hit all my sweet spots and is my favorite of the five games I've played (Soul Hackers, SMT4 and 4A, and 5). Also the way various upgrades give you access to new areas scratched a little of my Metroid itch. I'm not sure if that's a usual thing for dungeon crawler RPGs, but it was sweet.

The core gameplay is a bit different from SMT4 and 5, but there's enough overlap that it doesn't feel like a spinoff at all to me.

IShall_Run_Amok posted...

I'm gonna be the odd man out, and recommend Strange Journey Redux

It's one of the best, but I think it's more for when you're in deep

It's not so much a spinoff as a return to pre-Nocturne style with a modern take

There is something I find pretty charming about older, "clunky" games. I'll enjoy it so long as the base is solid, I think.

I'm also not a difficulty purist, so I will definitely be playing on normal and using whatever I can get to get past stuff. As long as I don't need too much outside reading material early on, I think I'll stick with trying 3 out. V is looking pretty cool, and what got me interested in general, but I'll start with the classic.

I may make a topic when I get to it (trying to force myself to finish Octopath before starting another JRPG), but with JRPGs I usually stop somewhere in the middle and return months later lol.

Doe posted...

It's one of the best, but I think it's more for when you're in deep

It's not so much a spinoff as a return to pre-Nocturne style with a modern take

Well, I haven't played SMT3 quite yet, so maybe I should get around to that, haha.

ProfessorKukui posted...

Have you heard of the Persona series :D

I've played P5, but I kind of view that as a separate series.

Persona 3-5 are good choices and Digital Devil Saga 1 is also a great choice. They are still traditional RPGs so it kinda eases you into the mechanics. SMTIV and Soul Hackers are also alright starting points if you wanna go to SMT proper right away.

IShall_Run_Amok posted...

I'm gonna be the odd man out, and recommend Strange Journey Redux

LMAO no. I made the mistake of trying Strange Journey after beating Persona 3 as my 1st SMT and that was not a good decision >_> That game is extremely raw and undiluted SMT. I appreciated it more after I played a bunch of other SMTs before finally going back to it. But going from 0 to Strange Journey immediately is not a good choice imo >_>

smt is really punishing if you don't fully use its mechanics but can get really, really easy if you do use them
nocturne basically nosedives into borderline auto-battle tier at times as long as you keep your buffs and debuffs up because they're just that overpowered

4 has a rough first two hours but the memetic minotaur is just a huge skill check. if you abuse buffs and debuffs properly it should almost always miss you and never smirk, and if you raise your defenses enough he should struggle to kill you. you can also easily choose to not have walter in the battle which for some reason nobody actually knows that for some reason. the difficulty basically nosedives once you get past the first area of the game, and with some of the extremely powerful apps you get you can get some insane power very fast

it's a decent series, but press turn is kinda fundamentally problematic because it's what makes inexperienced players suffer while letting experienced players auto-pilot the games because it's so strongly in your favor. the plots are never really good outside of the first devil survivor but most games have frustratingly dumb characters and really dumb alignment options. demon customization can be fun and it feels good to see your preparations pay off but the series can feel a bit shallow overall

ArgonHawk posted...

LMAO no. I made the mistake of trying Strange Journey after beating Persona 3 as my 1st SMT and that was not a good decision >_> That game is extremely raw and undiluted SMT. I appreciated it more after I played a bunch of other SMTs before finally going back to it. But going from 0 to Strange Journey immediately is not a good choice imo >_>

It's easy playing modern SMT games to forget it's a dungeon crawler series that slowly evolved into things like Persona 3-5. Strange Journey is straight up right back into the dungeon crawling, and for that reason it's my favorite, but I can understand how people can be turned off by it.

It's definitely more old school like Megami Tensei, SMT, and the Devil Summoner games

I think a lot of what you want out of a MegaTen game is based on what you started with. Most people in the West probably started with SMT3, Persona 3, or perhaps Persona or Revelations (the Western name for Last Bible). Since only one of those plays like a dungeon crawler (Persona), it's going to be a lot harder to build an expectation that MegaTen games are generally dungeon crawlers.

i don't mind strange journey being a dungeon crawler, but the dungeon design is either really bland (the first four sectors), or really repetitive (sector e, f, and h). i don't even mind sector e's teleport maze at all because it's honestly the only notable thing it has besides invisible pits
the new dungeon the 3ds version adds is pretty bad. it has all the boring design of the previous dungeons and mostly the same pathetic randoms but with annoying music. it also seems like they super halfassed its inclusion, as entering it early (the only time it has any challenge) completely overlevels the player so they curb stomp the rest of the game

i don't actually mind the removal of press turn because i think it's generally pretty problematic even if it's a signature staple of the series, but coop is really boring so you're mostly just left with a standard rpg with demon summoning. it's a game that can get pretty easy if you abuse how overpowered sources and the combat is very unremarkable

never really cared for the ost or the visuals. writing is alright even if zelenin and jimenez get less interesting later in the game

i wish we had another dungeon crawler smt but with higher presentation values and better dungeons. strange journey is an alright enough game but nothing about it stands out

I don't think press turn is a staple of the series. It was only in 3 prior to Strange Journey. Now it's been in both 4s and back in 5. But if someone tells you SMT1 and 2 has good combat they're lying. SMT1 is completely broken. Almost everything, including bosses, is weak to stun, so you just max out agility and use sturn bullets. 2 lets you craft incredibly broken equipment through demon fusions that break the game very quickly, and again agility is busted. Both games basically don't require you to use demons at all. I think we're in a pretty great place now for combat with the way the system has been revised for V.

Illuminoius posted...

i don't mind strange journey being a dungeon crawler, but the dungeon design is either really bland (the first four sectors), or really repetitive (sector e, f, and h). i don't even mind sector e's teleport maze at all because it's honestly the only notable thing it has besides invisible pits
the new dungeon the 3ds version adds is pretty bad. it has all the boring design of the previous dungeons and mostly the same pathetic randoms but with annoying music. it also seems like they super halfassed its inclusion, as entering it early (the only time it has any challenge) completely overlevels the player so they curb stomp the rest of the game

i don't actually mind the removal of press turn because i think it's generally pretty problematic even if it's a signature staple of the series, but coop is really boring so you're mostly just left with a standard rpg with demon summoning. it's a game that can get pretty easy if you abuse how overpowered sources and the combat is very unremarkable

never really cared for the ost or the visuals. writing is alright even if zelenin and jimenez get less interesting later in the game

i wish we had another dungeon crawler smt but with higher presentation values and better dungeons. strange journey is an alright enough game but nothing about it stands out

Well, this is an interesting opinion but I do agree with you on mostly everything here. However, I do like the OST of Strange Journey. I only wish there were more tracks.