Today, we correct my gaming history by finishing a game I should have played way back on the Playstation 2. Back then, I had no idea what Shin Megami Tensei was and no real interest in the console vs the games I was playing on my Pentium II, so it had no chance of being discovered. In fact, it wasn't till Persona 3 that I took interest in the console at all. So when I found out the Persona games were a spin-off and part of a much bigger family of games called Shin Megami Tensei, it was already too late and this game was very hard (if possible at all) to come by. But sometimes, the world is kind and Atlus saw fit to release this one again before game 5 of this main series comes out. I bought and began playing very shortly after it launched. As I put the controller down, I am glad I finally did.
Story: You and your friends were on their way to visit your teacher at the hospital. She's been sick as of late and you all genuinely wanted to see her and cheer her up. But today would prove different then any other visit, for today is the day the world ends. It happened abruptly and with little warning. In fact the only warning was this very teacher talking to you and telling you you and your friends would survive being in this hospital and then it was over.
What is left in it's wake is what is known as the Vortex world: an inverted globe of ruin that exists between creations, the force of which now resides in the center of that globe. Now it's up to those humans who remain to decide what the new world to be born will be like by creating a set of principles the new world will exist by called a Reason. Unfortunately for you, you cannot do this, for you are no longer human. Shortly after the world ended, a child of unknown origin took interest in you and gave you (or rather dropped into you) a Magatama, an insect like force of power which transforms you into a half-human/half-demon called the Demi-Fiend.
But even this has to be put aside for now. After all, your friends and teacher were in the building... you can only hope they survived and, once you find them, you can all figure out what to do next. With that, it's time to leave the hospital and explore this new realm.
The story beyond this point is fairly simple as you will explore, be exposed to all the Reasons competing for the new world before championing one (or not) for the final conflict of the game, battling with the force of creation itself! But this basic outline leaves a lot of space to explore much more world development then it would suggest. You will find yourself wandering a desolate world now populated by demons and other entities who have organized into societies and civilizations you will get to know and the individuals that influence them most. You will see what motivates both the individuals and the whole group as you hunt to find and try to rescue your friends. This will lead you into scenarios where you get to witness them go to war with each other, deal with internal struggles as a society, and even evolve! And every change influences the world itself. The tales that make the world up will more then keep you entertained while you make your way through this game.
8/10
Graphics: SMT 3 was originally a PS2 game, and while this remaster updated the resolution and likely several effects and bitmaps, it shows. It's clean, but the world is sparce and lightly populated, leading it to look a lot more simple and empty the a modern game likely would. Still, it looks pretty good!
You will generally have three distinct views while playing this game: a world map, dungeon/town maps, and in battle. The first of these is going to be the weakest view as it basically boils down to moving a blue cursor-marker around an concavely curved map of a desert-like world. With few exceptions, nothing even really stands out at all, much less is impressive in this mode. But it is also the mode you are least likely to be in at any given time. You will spend the majority of your time between exploring dungeons and the random encounters/boss battles that make up the game.
While exploring these dungeons, you will find the view centered behind the Demi-Fiend as you run through varied locations from the hospital you start the game in to abandoned malls to temples and even structures of completely unearthly nature. Everything you see looks very good with an art-style that transcends the age of the game. Having not played the original release I can not say if the detail has been upgraded significantly, but this release does not hide it is an older game behind a modern coat of paint, but it does show style trumps tech provided that style is clean and effective.
And finally you will spend a large portion of your time in combat, in which case you will have a 3D version of what you would expect from any RPG game of the time: from behind your team you will have a view of the battle facing off with the demons you are up against with. The background this fight will happen against reflects the dungeon you are in (or the overworld desert if you are on that map) and the demons you will see on either side of the battle will have exceptional levels of variety as you travel through the game. Yes there are a few "recolor" demons in the mix, but these are a mere handful compared to what you will actually find yourself up against and using.
Overall, you wind up with a game that shows it's age, but doesn't do so in a bad way. Quite the contrary, it turns out to be quite the nice version of a classic game.
8/10
Sound: The Shin Megami Tensei franchise of RPG games is known for a much darker tone then most other games of the genre, and with good reason. A trademark to it is to have your team made up of demons you have to convince on the battlefield to join your side, bluring good and evil in ways not often done elsewhere (hell even Pokemon you don't convince anything so much as capture and tame wild beasts). As such, you can expect the music here to take to those tones as well, right from the title screen. Dark, forboding, desolate, and haunting, the sound track to this game rises to the occasion of the game itself, no small feat, at least most of the time.
There are times, however the music will fall into that generic vibe that fills space in an J-RPG title. It still sounds good, but it stops being thematic for the sake of injecting a little bit of energy... this seems to fit most with the overworld, which I have to admit did not help it's presentation for me while playing.
Now this is not to say this soundtrack dissappoints. It's actually pretty good on it's own, even as I listen to it while writing this review and to be honest, there is a lot here I would love to just have in the background while working or even driving if I had it in my general music collection. But it isn't something you are going to really remember even a few days after you finish the game.
And don't expect the voice-work to save this game either. There is simply a lot that was left to text, leaving only key speeches to really get that deluxe treatment. Seeing as this is a remaster from an era where it wasn't expected all the time, I can understand why, but what is here is basically here to facilitate the world you are in and not much else. It's all done well enough, but it clearly wasn't top priority compared to the look when the game first came out.
6/10
Gameplay: This, alongside story, is where SMT 3 shines brightest. While the story remains a generally simple affair in plot, but detailed in world, expect a bit more complexity on the surface of the gameplay, and for it to be worth it. The base of the game is centered around it's combat, which you will encounter either as random encounters while you wander around, trapped treasures you will open, or boss battles. In all cases, the encounter is deceptive in that it feels simple, yet has some of the best forms of depth I have seen in a turn-based RPG.
When it is your turn to play, you will see a set of turn icons next to the word player in the upper right corner of the screen which you will want to always keep an eye on. In general, when you have a party member (yourself included) complete an action, you will use up one of these icon and when you run out, your turn is over. However, there are ways to manipulate this counter. If you don't think your current party member you are having act can do anything, they can pass their turn for "half" an icon (represented by it flashing instead of disappearing) and letting the next team member use the other half for their turn, although if one is already flashing this still uses it up. In addition, hitting an enemy with either a critical hit or a type of attack they are weak to will also cause this same effect. In addition doing either of these will simply make the next one flashing if you have any that are not, causing this to stack. In essence, knowing your enemy is a great asset as you can use that knowledge to do a lot more on the battlefield before you have to give up your turn, making such thought essential to the strategy you will be applying, especially late in the game.
But the game is also just as eager to punish you for your mistakes with this system as to reward you for paying attention and taking advantage of your opponents. If you miss or the enemy dodges your attack you will lose two turns (starting with any flashing half turns you have), and if anyone hit in your attack blocks, repels, or heals off of your attack, all your remaining turns are forfeit, so again, pay attention to the battle. I will save you a lot of headaches as you learn the play.
As for your party itself, you will gain allies through a few specific ways. If you are lucky, demons you encounter will offer to (or potentially force their way) onto your team, increasing your numbers, but you can actively reach out to and talk to any demon as well. Some will be eager to join you and require little coaxing while others will be a tougher sell, and some may even not understand you, but try and see since it will get you allies on the fly as well as resources for the other way you get new ones: demon fusing.
When in town-dungeons you will find doorways to cathedrals where you can do this, and fusing is as direct as it sounds. For the most part you will pick two demons to fuse together to get a third one that (hopefully) will be more powerful, but you will see what you are trading for, making this a pretty standard action to make your group more powerful. On occasion, however, mutations and accidents can happen, producing something completely unpredictable, so expect that a couple of times as you play. In addition, there are two other ways to change how fusions work. If one of your demons is a Mitama type, you will not create a new one, but sacrifice it to increase the stats of the other demon you are combining. You can also do this with a 3rd demon if the phase of Kagutsuchi (or the glowing/dark orb in the upper left corner of your screen) is full to do the same thing for the new one you are making. Again, this adds some depth to the system in question and gives you choices in how you will want to upgrade.
And you will definately want to do this, as the game will teach you early on in the lesson known as the Matadore. This guy will show up as one of the most difficult battles in the game, simply because he outlevels anyone in your party by this point, but at the same time, his battle is a lesson to make sure you understand how combat, strengths, weaknesses, and the gains/costs of each work. You will need to learn his weaknesses and how his attacks of choice effect you in order to win, and take full advantage of the combat and demon systems in the game to win this fight. And it is a tough, but fair fight...
..but this also points to a battle towards the end of the game I can not say the same for, because unlike this guy (or another obnoxious battle at the VERY end for that matter) there is one fight in this game that is just plain broken which I need to warn you about now. When you fight MOT, be ready to fail "just because" for a move given to many bosses, but only abused by this one guy. In essence, while you can manipulate turns to maximize your actions and attacks, most bosses can use one of two moves to also get a jump on you the same way: Beast Eye and Dragon Eye. These moves will cost one action and in return give the enemy 2 or 4 more respectively. Normally these are annoying because a boss getting more actions in their turn is always trouble in one form or another, but the bosses use them (if they use them) as their first action and only once in their turn, making for a tougher, but still fair battle. Mot, has no such restrictions. I do not know if this is a bug or not, but this guy can at any time in the fight give himself unlimited actions and make you just wait till he beats the tar out of you and kills you. (and like most SMT games, you do not need to have your whole party die to lose, just your main character). Now given a few tries, you can win (and I beat him in 2 tries cause he gave himself 6 extra actions in a single turn and partywiped me before the turn was over the first time), but this is the single point in the entire game I can honestly say is not fair. Not just hard, not fair, cause the AI can basically decide you don't play.
But still, this is one battle out of the entire game, and I cant shoot down the entire game for this one fight, but this one fight DOES need special attention to be noted.
8/10
Bugs: This is one of those games that ran almost flawlessly for me. I have to say almost due to the game having small stutters when using specific stat reducing techniques on your enemies. And while this is nothing more then an annoyance since the game is turn based and at that point you are just watching it is worth noting the community has taken notice and blamed the Denuvo Anti-tamper system used in the game for the issue. Considering there are Capcom games that faced similar bugs caused by it (and proven) I can't rule out the cause, so you should be aware of it.
Overall: If you are a fan of turn-based RPGs, you would be doing yourself a favor to check this one out. Simply put it is a great game and one you will sink a huge amount of time into if it hooks you like it did me. (I finished around the 90 hour mark and I still didn't do everything.) Enjoy every second as much as I did for something truly unique in the genre.
Score:
System Requirements:
- Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 or AMD Phenom II X2 545
- 4 GB RAM
- NVidia GeForce GTS 450, AMD Radeon HD 5750, or Intel HD Graphics 530 (1 GB VRAM required)
- Windows 8.1
- 14 GB hard drive space
- Ryzen 3 2200G running at 3.5 Ghz
- 16 GB RAM
- Windows 10
- PDP DX Wired Controller (Crimson)
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