Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

 

dkn29 edit:  Before you read any of this, go to Amazon.com who recently raised  their price by $20 or Play-Asia.com who has it on sale for $33.67 until Saturday, and purchase this masterpiece before it is too late for probably the last time.

As the PS2 era approaches a close we here at Mediarahan wanted to talk about the best game you probably never played, Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne. Nocturne, a Japanese RPG, was released in 2004 to little fanfare and almost no hype, and despite being the latest installment in the extremely popular, at least in Japan, Shin Megami Tensei series it failed to make a big splash. This is truly a shame as the game had a profound impact on both the Mediarahan editors and even provided us with our namesake. So as an act of community service and our very first review here is Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne.

Gameplay:

The game is truly unlike any other RPG you’ve ever played, barring any other Shin Megami Tensei games. The first thing you’ll notice is the extremely high level of difficulty, which in this case is a huge plus. Nocturne spits in the face of all those extremely easy RPGs, we’re looking at you FF12.

This guy will kick your ass

Nocturne also employs a very unique battle system that rewards the player with extra turns for attacking with the enemy’s weakness. This can flipped on you as you will lose turns by attacking with the enemy’s strong points. These rules apply to the enemy as well so mixing and matching party members is more important than ever.

Assembling a party is made even more fun by the ability to recruit any monster in the entire game, even bosses. You can breed any two, or in some cases three, of these monsters to create a new one at the cathedral of shadows.

The hero is also customizable with different avatars called magatama. Each magatama teaches a unique skill set and carries with it a set of strengths and weaknesses that must also be accounted for.

As a final incentive you can recruit Dante from the Devil May Cry Franchise. The resident B.A.M.F. makes you jump through hoops to get him to join but believe me, it’s worth it.

This is still one of the scariest things ever

Story:

The story, while a tad bit unique, is definitely the weak point of the game. The game opens with the protagonist, I named mine Sleepy Brown, going to visit his hospitalized teacher. Once there he learns of a plot to destroy the world, pretty standard stuff right. Except instead of forming a party and saving the world the world is destroyed two minutes later. In the aftermath the hero must choose how to rebuild the world based on several paths. These paths, however, are only be affected by a few yes or no questions and don’t yield any side quests so they are not as cool as they could have been.

Sound:

The overall sound is solid and at times can jump to spectacular. All the themes, be they simple dungeons or the battle music are really infectious and fun to listen to. The tracks all subscribe to a rock and roll type style which fits nicely into the overall product.

There is no voice acting but that seem to fit the game, especially given the immense amount of characters present.

Conclusion:

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is one the most complete packages you will ever find in a game, great music, great graphics, and an extremely fun and innovative battle system. While the story is a bit lackluster the pluses more than make up for it. If you haven’t played it yet head over to playasia and grab it right now.

~ by tripv on July 17, 2008.