Shin Megami Tensei IV to 3DS!

[jenova_9]

Re: Shin Megami Tensei IV to 3DS!

SMT IV always felt more like "SMT Lite", even down to rendering the battles in what is a glorified menu. It is a portable game, and gameplay you can hop into and out of at a moment's notice is important for that platform however. But it is a shame to see that the game would hardly tax the DS's hardware to any sort of limit when it has had all of the development time in the world to keep Nocturne's 3D rendered battles.

There are also issues with how poorly the game displays information to the player (compare it with any other main or spin off SMT series game and it does a horrible job of it), especially with how the demon recruitment gives you no info on what demons like (it seems random and arbitrary which is disappointing to say the least), and how battles basically break down to Rocket Tag Gameplay, where the majority of wipes are caused by you rolling poorly for initiative. So in a way it makes a better D&D game than most D&D games in accurately portraying how most D&D battles play out.

Joking aside, it's a fun game, and the above things are the only things I can find that are objectively bad about the game. Just remember that you are getting "SMT Lite". It's not a bad thing for sure, but there are better JRPGs on the 3DS like Fire Emblem Awakening and Pokemon X/Y to name a couple, and I can't stop thinking that I would rather be playing Pokemon whenever I try to replay this.

Pokemon is more replayable, but SMT IV is better in various things, mew. Fire Emblem Awakening is also great but battle wise, SMTIV has much more variety, more memorable battles, and better soundtrack. Despite the 2D art outside of the 3D enviornments (which looks great and I don't think they could accomplish 400+ demons if this was 3D combat), it has more atmosphere than Pokemon and FE:A, among other things. I wouldn't call it SMT lite, despite Nocturne being much better. Also, SMT IV has more interesting world than Pokemon and Fire Emblem Awakening combined, but I know my mew mew opinions will be made fun of. In general, SMT IV is a more wholesome rpg than FE:A and Pokemon. The only thing it's really lacking is MC creation like those games, which would be fitting considering the MC is mute and interchangeable anyway, plus they could alter the script and scenes for a female MC like they did with P3P.
And SMT is not as social as Persona games, so there doesn't need to be as much alternate scripting and event altering to fit female MC too. And other thing while on that subject, mew.
Fire Emblem Awakening showed that even an RPG/SRPG with 2D art (and 3D art) can still have great MC creation and appearance options, so it's really nothing outside the SMT team is capable of (and SMTIV combat is first person, so not like they have to add as much new aniamtions compared to P3P). Of course people would question how Jonathan, Walter and Isabeau (besides other characters and demons) would interact with a female MC but I don't think it requires as much extra effort as it took to give PSP femMC her own unique interactions and alternate events in the story.

Even as is, SMTIV is greatly underrated, mew. It is rather insulting a SMT fan would call it SMT lite. If anything, the Persona games should be considered "SMT Lite"

But what do I know mew? The SMT guru, WTFBBQ, will probably determine how high SMTIV stands in the SMT tiers. Everything else is up to personal opinion.
Though SMT IV's story is clearly more emotional and epic than FE:A and Pokemon. Also SMT IV's graphics age much better than SMT 1 and II. It's really looks mewsome.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Shin Megami Tensei IV to 3DS!

I don't really think of it as "SMT Lite" and more the SMTs we never got in the US. Some people try to compare it to Nocturne to make it seek like a downgrade, but I see Nocturne like I do Majora's Mask, those two games are intentional departures from within their own main series and not meant to be anything but that. SMT SJ is also a main series departure, but only in setting and theme, not gameplay or design because it's unrepentantly old school in that respect.

SMT IV is a worthy successor, but I do prefer Nocturne. Nocturne would benefit from IV's upgrades, though - particularly "save anywhere" and demon fusion.