Yeah those are some early game demons lol. Maybe she's more of a recurring boss.
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She might be a recurring boss only because we see her full-on critical hit the entire party. Unless the trailer was edited to not fully spoil the game.
Would be weird to have her on the cover for her to only be a one-off demon.
She's totally suspicious
All acccording to her keikaku, she'll stab us in the throat when we least expect it
I'm liking her transformation a lot.
I hella dig this transformation phase, so love this demon gal
and the way she uses her snake-hair as a whip - she carries so much fucking attitude!
See I know what you're getting at but all I could think of is if we were getting get real nationalist again like SMTIV did.i wonder who will be this games Kaga.
i wonder who will be this games Kaga.
Sahori if anyone, but given the cost of creating HD character models and animating them is substantially higher than doing, what, 2.5 character portraits, I doubt there will be a lot of uniquely designed, named, and voiced human characters who are killed off almost immediately after being introduced.
(A lot of demons will be though! I feel like Finn McCool is getting that sword fight cutscene before his boss battle and then dying immediately afterwards)
I mean they walked back the nationalism significantly in IV:A, so I doubt they'd go back to that well
Yeah, I forgot about Revelations. I don't think that name stuck because it is too broad and doesn't really describe the franchise. It does in a very vague sense at best. "Digital Devil Saga" does a better job of tying it to the games the name is supposed to represent, since that is a major part of (most) games. But Atlus USA probably just said "screw it" and went with "Shin Megami Tensei" going forward, given how Japanese the games were design-wise.
I don't think they were expecting the series to really make waves at the time anyway. Remember back then how anemic overseas SMT related game releases were, and how meager (at best) the fanfare was for them. We didn't even get the mainline games till Nocturne, and among the earlier stuff, we only got an obscure IOS port of the first game since (compare that to Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest, where even the early originally unreleased installments were eventually made available in some accessible form outside of Japan.) Fast forward to today, where SMTV is getting a worldwide simultaneous release, which is really profound when you think about it.
To be fair also, Atlus USA hasn't had a chance to drop the SMT name from other spinoffs, because lately, the only games that have been developed in the franchise have come from the mainline series, or from Persona, which exploded in popularity. I wouldn't mind if the stick the SMT name on other spinoffs, if they would actually make new games from those spinoffs in current times.
You sure? ol'man Futsunishi seem to dislike dem foreigners
I mean I'd hardly use one random demon summoning line as any indication for anything in particular
On a serious note, let's hope they matured. That stuff is so unecessary.
I would let it fly if he's just an old timer set in his ways, but you can't blame us for being doubtful. The ultranationalism from IV came out of nowhere.
I would let it fly if he's just an old timer set in his ways, but you can't blame us for being doubtful. The ultranationalism from IV came out of nowhere.
Revelations was unironically a better name than Shin Megami Tensei.
The Apocalypse and birth of the millenium kingdom is roughly the plot of every one of these games, but there ain't too many about the reincarnation of the true goddess.
Digital Devil Story would also be good, just not with Nocturne, the one game without a comp.
The Apocalypse and birth of the millenium kingdom is roughly the plot of every one of these games, but there ain't too many about the reincarnation of the true goddess.
Digital Devil Story would also be good, just not with Nocturne, the one game without a comp.
You might as well argue Final Fantasy is nonsensical because there are fifteen games and a million spin-offs.
Lachesis: Makajamon +5 (18 MP)/Matarukaja +4 (21 MP)/Masukukaja +4 (21 MP)/Ma no Donamu +4 (28 MP)
And just noticed that the lady in red's Sacrifice of Clay was at +7. Well, that beats Futsunushi's +6 phys.
And just noticed that the lady in red's Sacrifice of Clay was at +7. Well, that beats Futsunushi's +6 phys.
I like it as well, but there's just one thing... That's a penis, on a rope.
I'm liking her transformation a lot.
I say this a lot so it's definitely correct, but more in line with "Devil Summoner should make a comeback and be its own series and act as a third pillar of Atlus RPGs by being Persona for Adults."
I do kinda think Digital Devil Story is the best of all worlds in being exciting, snappy and descriptive, the hallmarks of a good title.
I didn't clarify this in that post, but I was referring to Revelations as a brand name for the series in Western territories, although granted I think as a title it's a little "80s CRPG" and works stronger as a header. "Revelations: Strange Journey" is fine I guess, but "Revelations IV" a lot less.
Anyway Final Fantasy games are reliably about fantasy scenarios, and also "Final Fantasy" is a super cool and slick name. Everyone's made the joke, yeah, that's important; everyone's made the joke 'cause everyone remembers the name. "Final Fantasy" is effortless. Let alone that "Shin Megami Tensei" doesn't mean anything in English, the translation of that title, Reincarnation of the True Goddess, barely means anything to the plot of most of these games and it's a mouthful.
I think going with "Shin Megami Tensei" as a title was kinda cool back in 2004 after the Persona 1's decent sales success in America (or so I've been told, anyway) and the cult nature of Persona 2, so now you've got cult JRPG series Shin Megami Tensei, whispered through the halls of the internet and mostly known through diehard importers and some translated SFC games, coming stateside as Shin Megami Tensei, but I think nowadays that name marks the series in the realm of hardcores who are already about weird offbeat cult classic games.
That might be less a problem now, though, let alone that no Shin Megami Tensei game is going to sell to anyone who hasn't played at least one other RPG in their life and, consequently, isn't going to immediately feel alienated by a game with an untranslated English title. "Shin Megami Tensei" as a title doesn't mean anything as a title, but what it does is sell to an audience who's heard about it that it's that one occult apocalyptic cyberpunk JRPG series about monster collecting and killing your friends.
Nitpick: It's 真・女神転生, so the 'Shin' is applying to 'Megami Tensei' as a whole instead of just 'Megami'. So, 'True Reincarnation of the Goddess'.
...and yes, the dot's part of the title. Just like with Shin Sangoku Musou/Dynasty Warriors, actually.
...and yes, the dot's part of the title. Just like with Shin Sangoku Musou/Dynasty Warriors, actually.
I think Shin Megami Tensei is a dope name tbh. It's a little intimidating at first to the Western eye, but I think in that way it's a good representation of the franchise as a whole. That layer of initial abrasiveness is what makes SMT distinct I think.
Shin Megami Tensei could absolutely sell to someone that's never played an RPG before. And the idea that Shin Megami Tensei as a phrase means nothing as a title is disingenuous when it's the title of something very much set in and associated with Japan and most often Tokyo in particular. That the title's literal meaning hasn't related specifically to its content since the original Megami Tensei is kind of beside the point. The games still feature a heavy emphasis on gods and deities and some manner of world rebirth or world-altering event through a fantastical post-apocalyptic scenario.
For comparison, Suikoden has nothing to do with its namesake novel other than there being 108 Stars of Destiny, and The Water Margin is not a text that the vast majority of western, native-English speakers are familiar with due to its existence as classical Chinese literature. I don't know many, if any Suikoden fans would claim that the localization's use of the Japanese title was bad, though.
I can't really agree with this at all, but I don't think it's as big a problem for pulling in an audience which I'll get to in a bit. Like, I sure as hell don't think "the title has nothing to do with the main plot" is something that can ever be beside the point, let alone the title doesn't really have to do with world rebirth or apocalyptic events other than a connection like "the goddess reincarnating is a big deal." We talked about this regarding Yakuza and how it was named as such over its original name, Like A Dragon, and I think they're similar here in that while one can draw a connection from the title to the events of the game, I think if you have to put that much effort drawing the connection from title to something about the story, be that themes, a character, the plot, anything like that, I don't think it works well as a title. Kiryu is Like A Dragon, except he's like a completely different kind of dragon than the one we know about and it's about how he's ferocious but also calm, wise, a natural leader, and lives as a mythic figure. "Like A Dragon" sells that Kiryu is a huge badass, because our dragons are huge badasses, but that's it.
To get back to my other point, and I might actually be going out of my way to write this as awkwardly as possible so bear with me, but while "Shin Megami Tensei" doesn't mean anything as a title, what it means now to anyone who's aware of it or even just in circles where it's been namedropped is "occult apocalyptic urban fantasy epic with monster collecting, brutal difficulty and moral choice paths." If you pick up Nocturne, Devil Survivor or Strange Journey, you're getting that exact sales pitch, the Shin Megami Tensei name telling you what to expect in these games and someone asking for those elements can be pointed to the series, and I think that really only works on people who are in circles where JRPGs get talked about. If someone asked me something like "I want Pokemon for grown ups" I would say "oh yeah there's Shin Megami Tensei", but no one's ever going to find out about Shin Megami Tensei like that on their own, because Shin Megami Tensei doesn't have the massive mindshare to exist in more casual spaces, and that's where the name "flounders" in that respect, but then works as a sales pitch for its blend of unique elements.
I'm not an expert on Suikoden (I have played the first game twice in order to start Suikoden II, and then never did) so correct me if I'm saying anything wrong here: Suikoden is the literal translation of Water Margin, the novel that inspired the series, and that speaks to me as "this is a JRPG about this famous piece of literature, which factors into the gameplay." I feel in this case, that Suikoden is a Japanese adaptation of a Chinese novel, is a core part of the series' identity, and as such I think it's fine to be described as such even if "Suikoden" means the same as "Shin Megami Tensei" to someone who doesn't understand Japanese, in that Suikoden describes an essential core aspect of what made Suikoden exist, while Shin Megami Tensei describes an event that happens in like two games.
Suikoden is the Japanese name for the Chinese novel (and the games even use the same kanji for the Japanese title), which is a historical piece and while there there are certainly thematic similarities that the games draw from, the games aren't an adaptation of the book, as they're a fantasy narrative set in their own world with a completely different set of characters and scenarios to the point that, if you were to boil down what the series as a whole has in common with the book, you would get, at the top of the list:
108 Stars of Destiny, or the 108 Bandits of the novel
Warfare
Politics
Which honestly isn't that far from how Shin Megami Tensei's connection to the original Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei is largely through the concepts of recruitable demons and demon summoning, a roster of demons pulled from real-world mythologies, religions, and folklore, and, at least until the PS2 era, being mostly structured as RPGs with first-person exploration. And that, plus the elements that you stated above, is what Shin Megami Tensei has largely come to represent to the point that it is the modern identity of the series. Calling it something like Revelations (which Atlus tried and failed to make stick, because it's an awful title with nothing to connect it to the series) doesn't really fit in the same way. It's a title that, if the literal English meaning were used, wouldn't make for a good title, but Shin Megami Tensei has been the series western identity ever since Atlus USA stopped being weird about these games being as Japanese as they are in their settings and cultural content, and chose to embrace that instead. This is the same company that, back in the '90s, scrubbed the original Persona of everything Japanese that it could and literally whitewashed the cast. And then they turned around and applied Shin Megami Tensei as branding to releases ranging from Devil Summoner to Persona despite the individual series not carrying the SMT moniker in Japan.
Here's my take: Revelations - Persona is a dumb name because there are no revelations in that game, not unless you apply it in an abstract manner, like the persona being a metaphor for puberty.
Shin Megami Tensei is silly as hell for a series name and I love it. It is also easy to make into an acronym: SMT.
Not every name has to be super deep.
Shin Megami Tensei is silly as hell for a series name and I love it. It is also easy to make into an acronym: SMT.
Not every name has to be super deep.
i wonder who will be this games Kaga.
My bet's on one of the Atsuta siblings, Yuzuru especially though either one of them could be a moral horizon event for the other.
Very long indeed, I just want to get it pre-ordered and move on with my life a bit more care-free, this f5/refresh party everyday/every half a hour has been exhausting to say the least lmao
Divine Power:
A middle angel placed sixth in the hierarchy of angels [TN: 能天使, "Noutenshi," is the term used for Powers in Japanese]. His name means "power of God." In order to prevent the invasion of demons in heaven, he is always standing in the front line, patrolling the corridors of heaven.
He uses White Dracostrike and Mahama, while Fang Breaker, Light Block, and a Magatsuhi Skill "301,600,000 Lights" (三億百六十万の光) are listed.
Next: Fury Asura Lord
Also this video confirms Vile Mishaguji
The... the original name of that was Nausicaa: of the Valley of the Wind, in a story about Nausicaa who lives in the Valley of the Wind.
Like I know what you're getting at but even by those standards, this is weak.
Like the Book of Revelation, with the apocalyptic end of humanity and the rise of the thousand year kingdom. That is kinda relevant to SMT.
I'm not gonna regurgitate everything I already said so cliffnotes: Revelation is more descriptive except as a name it's kinda boring, doesn't really pop. Digital Devil Story or Devil Summoner as franchise names would be the actual best choices.
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I think that's the first time we've seen Mishaguji in V, right?
I thought that was maybe the first time we had seen him in 3D, but he appeared in the Raidou games and even Persona 5 Royal. I still recognized him despite him not being on the totem like he is in his 2D appearances, and looking more penis-like there.
I just looked through the demons we have seen so far and unfortunately I have not found a single Kaneko demon in V that we have not seen in 3D in any game before. The only ones that we hadn't seen in 3D previously (other than Dx2) were the Doi demons added in IV, IV: Apocalypse, and Strange Journey Redux.
I thought that was maybe the first time we had seen him in 3D, but he appeared in the Raidou games and even Persona 5 Royal. I still recognized him despite him not being on the totem like he is in his 2D appearances, and looking more penis-like there.
I just looked through the demons we have seen so far and unfortunately I have not found a single Kaneko demon in V that we have not seen in 3D in any game before. The only ones that we hadn't seen in 3D previously (other than Dx2) were the Doi demons added in IV, IV: Apocalypse, and Strange Journey Redux.
So Mishaguji is our 3rd confirmed Vile demon, and the current lowest level one we have at 42, so we definitely need some early game Viles to fill out the roster
Asura on the other hand, is our first confirmed Fury demon, glad to see confirmation of that race returning
Asura on the other hand, is our first confirmed Fury demon, glad to see confirmation of that race returning
Hmm I wonder if the player no longer has a COMP if we'll see a return of Apps in some form or another again. That was another feature I really enjoyed in SJ/IV/A to help boost and cater things your play style and was just a nice overall supplement to developing your character/party outside of the base attributes every level up. I guess whatever we get might be more in the vein of Magatama or maybe Mantra.
Well we know that we are getting some sort of system called essence based on the menu, and one of the quest rewards from the gameplay stream was Agathion essence, so how we customize will probably have something to do with that
This is an awful take
I don't see how SMT is any sillier than any other game title. We legit have popular franchises named
Resident Evil
Devil May Cry
Legend of Zelda (despite her not being the main character)
Final Fantasy (15+ numbered games in)
People don't give a shit about the series name
Yeah I imagine there will probably be some kind of upgrade system for Nahobino. We have seen skills only Nahobino has been able to use so far, and I would guess some system like that is how you get them.
There's still time. Anahita made it, so I'm hoping Maya and Asherah will be included too.
Anahita was a Doi demon introduced in SJ Redux. We haven't seen a single Kaneko demon in 3D in V yet that we hadn't seen in 3D in a previous game.
Granted, ALL the demons have a huge glowup on all the models and animations regardless.
Not only is it slightly more nuanced if you follow where the conversation's gone and how I myself even say it's not particularly perfect as a title (my vote is for Digital Devil Story), it's a slightly more nuanced take if you don't crop out all two extra lines giving some context as to why I think that.
I'm sorry if that gets in the way of writing a one-line response with an overused buzzword.
You wrote this like this is some gamer webcomic-tier analysis like "why's it called Resident Evil when only the first game is set in a house" and not having a back and forth over whether selling a game with an untranslated Japanese title that has minimal story relevance to the plot of most of these games was having an impact on the series's sale while the guy I was talking to disagreed with me, but laid out exactly why he disagreed with me, that he finds relevance in the name that I don't, that keeping the name untranslated was an embracing of remaining an explicitly Japanese series, and that even if with all that it wouldn't, or shouldn't, provide a sales barrier.
As if we were talking about something and sharing thoughts and ideas like normal people.
(and Devil May Cry has story relevance, dang it. The Devil May Cry when he loses a loved one)
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True, but prior to SMTV we hadn't seen any Doi demons in 3D either :P
I'm just hoping since Maya and Asherah both came from the same game as Anahita they'll get in too. Maya also showed up in the little animated OP they did for SJ Redux, so maybe that increases her chances a bit as well.
Mastema would be great. I'm surprised we have not seen him even in Persona 5 or something. He was in SMTIV.