#9 Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - PS2
I’m not that big of a fan of Atlus games, besides the Trauma Center games, their games didn’t have the charm that I look forward to in games, some outright feeling really bland, such was the case of most of Shin Megami Tensei IV, tight gameplay but it didn’t offer much besides that, but it turns out I was looking in the wrong time.
I’m a fan of SMT now, back then when it had a lot of ambition and care put into their games, where you can feel there is some soul and love put into the world and feel they wanted to create, I have played the majority of their old catalogue, mainline and spin offs (except Persona) and this drive to really explore the series started with their single greatest game, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne feat. Dante from the Devil May Cry series.
What a masterpiece, one of the most atmospheric and heavily engrossing games I had the pleasure of playing.
Compared to other titles in its genre, more so at the time, is very light on story and cutscenes, not many of them and not an abundance of text, that in turn makes for one of its biggest strengths, which is making the few cutscenes that exist, feel special and highly memorable, the cutscene direction and music during each of these is masterful, solely relying on that due to the lack of voice acting, which in this case, the lack of it makes it stand out even more. One of the first cutscenes, the Conception of Tokyo, is a fantastic example of how well done they are.
Characters as is the case with the mainline SMT titles, exist mostly or solely for the purpose of expressing the opposing ideals that will shape the world, but again, these are made more memorable due to the great cutscenes, Chiaki is a Walter (from SMT IV) done very well, is amazing how much difference in quality can make a couple of well done scenes compared to the abundance of dialogue of the same concept.
The presentation is incredible as well, for PS2 this game passes the test of time with flying colors, the 3D modelling has a great shading to it, makes the models pop, a nice blur effect to the overall environments, making the atmosphere that much stronger, also thanks to the main artist, the lost soul in a flower field, Kazuma Kaneko, a man that really defines and accentuates the macabre and more somber tone of the series with his character and demon design.
And that music, atmospheric as hell in the overworlds (very Metroid Prime) and some rocking tunes in battles, a great contrast that does wonders for the game, an oppressing and somber feeling while walking through the world and a feeling of power and just overall badassery during combat, bless Shoji Meguro for the main soundtrack and musicians from the first games for the extra tracks.
The gameplay, oh boy, a challenging but extremely fair and fine-tuned curve. When it comes to RPGs, is just not about the options the player has, which there is plenty, customizing your main character with a single equipment with great variability on the fly with the magatamas, plus the demons you can recruit; but also what the enemies have at their disposals, generally great ramdom enemy loadouts that combine both easy to take out hordes and more tricky battles to keep a good pace, plus most of the bosses having a unique strategy or mechanic to overcome, making it so you can’t out grind these bosses, but rather use a great deal of strategy, El Matador, a really famous boss of the game, is the perfect example of that, a wall that will keep you from progressing unless you actually learn the basics of combat strategy in Nocturne.
Gameplay in RPGs is not just combat for me, there is also the overworlds and everything you do in them and I’m glad Nocturne executes that in the way I like it. First the overworld is fairly linear but it doesn’t feel like you are tied down to a path, you will get to explore new locations and dungeons at a great pace and the dungeons are all well designed, each with a mechanic or general puzzle to solve, something I really love from my favorite RPGs is that extra attention to detail into dungeons, makes them stand out and stick with you for a long time. One of my favorites being Dante chasing you in the fourth Kalpa dungeon, very Paper Mario moment.
Lastly, I want to talk about the avatar, the Demi-fiend, one of my favorite avatars of all time, not just for the cool design, but for what he represents and the world around him.
I’m usually not too immersed with avatars, but with Demi-fiend I felt really connected, is not that he is anything really special compared to others, but more so because he is in Nocturne’s world, besides some really nice details like characters pointing you to places of interest instead of telling you to go to a place outright, always asking you if you want to do a certain task for them, this is a game where every challenge is so fine-tuned it makes you feel like you were the one to overcome it, you completed every dungeon, you fought and befriended demons, you bent the world at your will, every well designed part of Nocturne makes you feel more immersed as that person that changed the world with his bare body, no swords or gun, no tricks, just you, your strategy and your demons, one of the most satisfying and positive experiences I ever had with a game and I can see why so many fans think highly of this tattooed boi.
Overall, I was really impressed with Nocturne, a game I just finished this year, but it gave me a lot of motivation to explore more of the past of SMT and is paying off really well, one of the best RPGs ever made and the single good thing from Devil May Cry 2.
10/10
