Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Well since I did not see a thread about this some where, so I thought I start a thread about what I think is an rather interesting series that very few people know: That series being Megaten, or Shin Megami Tensei.

For a rather new person or a passerby looking into this out of curiosity asking, what is Shin Megami Tensei? It is a translation from Japanese to "True Goddess Reincarnation", and a series that is popular and not-so-much depending on what you are looking at with almost approximately 75+ games or so from what I have heard. Often these games are known to tackle rather mature subjects and can be controversial at times depending on which game in the overall series. It also has some spin-off series, like the well known Persona series as well as the Digital Hackers. Now, I am no means an expert, as I am still a bit relatively new, but I have some knowledge into it and have played and/or seen some of the games.

A list of games and there own series and spin-off series:

Megami Tensei I & II: Not so well known since it is based off the book that inspired the idea and has no known translations, both official or fan wise.

Shin Megami Tensei
*I
*II
*III: Nocture and IV: these are often the two most people seem to get into in the Shin Megami and have a cult following
*If: Based on a what-if scenario in Shin Megami Tensei I.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona
*Megami Ibunruko Persona: Be Your True Mind, or Revelations: Persona: The 90's localization to the west is considered to be one of the worst, but has a bit of a following
*Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment
*Persona 3: One of the Megaten games most people know about, but is a massive departure from the gameplay and feel of the original two
*Persona 4: Another one most people know about in the Megaten series.

I know there are a few other games that are relatively known, but I cannot think of at the top of my head. Anyone a better expert than me at this is free to correct me!

Well, lets grab our Comps, fuse Personas and contact some demons, and have a fun discussion!

P.S: I am not sure what the issue is on fan translations, but feel free to talk about the games themselves but please refrain from posting links or mentions any exact groups or works of the fan translations to be on the safe side.

I've liked them more than I've not for the most part. The new Persona games (3 & 4) had a nice shtick and the whole high school setting felt relatively fresh compared compared to a lot of the general field. I thought the characters in both were fairly engaging and the whole power up through popularity mechanic was fun. I'm looking forward to 5.

What I've seen of the main series was very dry, but I could see how someone could be into that.

Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 were fun and great at creating atmosphere, even if the character designs were kind of stupid in place. I found that particularly in DDS1 the use of the soundtrack was excellent. While take alone the music wasn't much more than "Above Average" the way it was used to set the tone and give the setting a very cohesive feel is probably one of the best examples I've run across in games.


That's about the limit of my experience with the series. I've got some friends that are more into than I am and their thoughts very. It feels like the larger megaten brand is very hit/miss on the whole.

Yeah, the main series can be very dry, and most of the games have an unforgiving difficulty as well as being, for the most part, kind of depressing to playthrough since more often than not some, if not all or most, of your human party members leave you and have to fight them later depending on which path you take.

Persona 3/4 from what I have seen have a nice mechanic, but it feels a bit to bubblegummy for me at times. And yeah, some of the things in the Megaten brand can either very good or very bad.

But do not mention Persona: Trinity Soul. We do not speak of it,