Back in 2004, a game was released that completely changed how I thought about the RPG genre. This game was Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, and it had a big impact on me. I became a SMT (Shin Megami Tensei) fan right away, and it cemented my faith in Atlus as a publisher. While you may already have a good idea what I'll rate this game, I think you should read this review.



Game: Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus
Genre: RPG
Year: 2004

The story puts you in the shoes of a silent protagonist. You and your friends are heading to a hospital to visit your teacher, Yuko. Things take a turn for the worse once you find out that she is involved (willingly) in the setup of the Conception, which is basically the end of the world. The Conception is successful, and with the intervention of a mysterious child, you become a half-demon. After waking, you encounter a mysterious old man who will continue to play a small (or major, depending on the route) role in the plot. You then explore this new world with the responsibility of choosing a "reason" to shape the new world. There is even a path you can take that reveals the true nature of the mysterious boy and old man.It's a great story with plenty of twists. You'll find that people, who were once your allies, will have goals opposing your own. You even come across everyone's favorite devil hunter, Dante (and he actually fits in with the story).

I'll admit that this game is a challenge. Enemies will exploit weaknesses more often than not. Bosses will make you seriously think at many times and will make you re-think your team (fucking Matador). It is actual challenge, though. You feel rewarded for beating a tough boss, and never really feel that you died from a cheap shot. This is one of the many reasons that this game is so great.


The fiends will kick your ass. Often.

The game's battle system, the Press Turn, is one of its strongest points. You basically start off with a few icons that denote how many turns you have. Any action you take consumes one icon, and once all are used, it becomes the enemies' turns. What makes it unique, and fun, is that it reward strategy and punishes mistakes. You see, if you score a critical or a weakness, one of the icons will flash instead of disappearing, which means that you have an extra turn. If an enemy is immune to the attack, you lose two turns (the current and the next one). If they reflect or drain the attack, you lose all of your turns. It is vital to learn how to exploit this system, or you will see the game over system quite often.

Besides yourself, your party will consist of demons that you have either recruited or fused. Recruiting demons usually consists with you initiating a conversation with them during battle, though they will sometimes ask you themselves. After gaining enough demons, you are able to start fusing. Fusion is important because it allows you to obtain demons that you would not normally encounter, or give skills to demons that they could not normally learn. You will need to fuse, as your demons will become obsolete over time (pro tip: Keep that pixie as it will be helpful to you later).


This is the Fountain of Life. Prepare to visit it, a lot.

As with most RPGs, you level up by killing enemies. What makes it fun is that you can customize your stats and skills. After leveling up, you are allowed to put points into any of your stats. The skills (consisting of magical and physical, either costing HP or MP) you learn depends on the Magatama equipped. You will find it hard to choose which skills to keep and which to throw away. What makes it harder is the fact that once the skill is gone, it won't come back unless it is on another Magatama. Demons automatically allocate stats, but do allow you to choose which skills to keep.

Another aspect to keep track of is the "moon" (kagutsuchi) phase. Every couple of steps you take will result in a shift in the phase of the "moon". The phase determines a variety of things, such as fusion and demon conversations. For example, if the moon is full demons become crazy, and talking to them yields mixed (mostly bad) results. Also, certain demons can only be fused during certain moon phases. It's a nice feature, and plays a key part in how you play the game.


The battle system is highly rewarding, and fun.

The graphics are 3D Cel-shaded, and look pretty good even for today's standards. Kazuma Kaneko has a great art style, and each character has a unique look to them. There are plenty of locales in the game, none of which really seems bland (except the overworld, but it doesn't matter). The only problem is that they are slightly bland, but it's a tiny problem. What I liked most was the design of the demons that you summon. It is clear that they are based off the myths of other cultures, while still showing creativity in their design.

The soundtrack is another strong point of the game (based in preference though). a lot of the songs consist of either rock or techno. The good thing is that each song really fits, and there is a lot of variety (6 or so battle songs). There is no voice acting in the game (except for battle grunts). But, that actually helps the game. It makes it so that you don't have to worry about hammy or bad delivered lines ruining the conversations.

The game has plenty of content (I put around 100 ours into the game). there are plenty of side quests to go through. There are multiple difficulty settings (easy, normal and hard). You can even fight the bosses again in the cemetery side-quest. You will also spend some time trying to improve your stats for some of tougher bosses. The fact that there are multiple endings(around 6) and New Game+ helps the replay value quite a bit.

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is an awesome game that any RPG player should play. There is a lot to do, and all of the content is of high quality. It does a lot of things right, and there are only a couple of problems, which are extremely minor. I suggest this to anyone that likes the genre, especially the hardcore.

My Score:
10/10
It fucking deserves it.