| DTG said: Is Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne better than Xenogears in terms of plot? Is there a lot of story and does it deal with any thought provoking subject matter? |
Without spoiling anything: The premise of the game is that, via the cycle of death and rebirth, the world has been unmade and now lies in ruin, with the few human survivors struggling to make their way in a strange post-apocalyptic land full of demons and mythical creatures. The humans that have persevered through the calamity must now engage in a battle of wits to reshape the world in their image.
While there are a few cutscenes, most of the major events in the game occur through choices you make: you can either agree with, and perhaps aid, one of the survivors, or attempt to create your own world.
Aside from the Team Ico-like way in which the story is told, the main draw of the story is how utterly bereft of cliche it is. There's no main bad guy, there's no team of heroes (just you - a half-demon - and whatever other beings you can recruit to your cause), and there's no world to save - indeed, the world as we know it is already gone. Therefore, what looks like a deceptively simple story gradually branches out into something far more profound than any "save the world" fairy-tale-style shindig ever could be.
To compare it to Xenogears, though: I played most of the way through the first disc, and didn't think the story was anything special. In fact, I laughed my ass off when the villain revealed that he wanted to "kill God." How more cliche can you get?
"'Casual games' are something the 'Game Industry' invented to explain away the Wii success instead of actually listening or looking at what Nintendo did. There is no 'casual strategy' from Nintendo. 'Accessible strategy', yes, but ‘casual gamers’ is just the 'Game Industry''s polite way of saying what they feel: 'retarded gamers'."
-Sean Malstrom
