PS2 - Shin Megami Tensei...

I love RPGs (FF, Tales, KH etc.) and have seen good stuff come from Atlus but I'm slightly sceptical about these games, more specifically the Persona spin-offs. I'd like to play them but can I have a few people's opinions first?Also, do I have to start with the first game in order to familiarise myself with the plot or can I start with Persona 3 or 4? PS2 - Shin Megami Tensei...
Well first off SMT combat revolves heavily around a strength/weakness system. If something gets hit with a weakness the attacker gets an extra turn, if something gets hit with a strength the attacker loses a turn. It is very important to use that strategy in battles. There is usually 6 element types? This makes the battles slightly more enjoyable than other klassic rpg turn based combat.
Most people usually love the Persona series whether its because of the art stile or because of the social interactions or because of the persona creating/building aspect. I myself find the game boring. I baught P3 Fez because it was only 30$ and when I had played P3 it was not a horrable game but one day I just stopped playing and spent my time with games I actually enjoy. Even the Persona building was boring. It takes forever for your people and your persona's to level up.
Another thing that irks me about the game is that it drags you along for the ride whether you are ready or not. The game advances day by day and at certain times during the month you have boss fights. If you do not goto the ''tower'' and fight as often as you possably can you will be weak and possably get creamed by the boss that month. The problem is when you goto the tower to fight your people get tired which drastically impacts there performance and if you ignore them it will increase the amount of time you have to wait before you can hit the tower again. It just would have been really nice if you could set your own pace in the game. Challenge seekers could have pushed the pace, grinders could have sat back and power leveled.
Persona is a weak game. Digital Devil Saga on the other hand is freaking awesome. Its rare for me to love a klassic rpg(menu driven turn based rpg) but DDS is so freaking good. Awesome story, awesome combat, awesome graphics and you guessed it, awesome music. I hated it the first time i played DDS1. I didnt understand the whole strength/weakness thing, but after playing P3FEZ which does a great job of explaining the whole thing I learned how to play and it made all the difference. I stormed through DDS1.
I admit though my opinion on persona is in the minority. Most people love it to death.(I feel sorry for those people, who maybe haven't had the chance to play as many good games as me and so have a very short list of games to compare it to) :P PS2 - Shin Megami Tensei...
Any SMT offering is worth the price of admission. Just be prepared to spend a lot. The one thing that irks me is how many times one lore can be spun off. Abandon is right, the DDS saga was brilliant. Why did the sequel have to spin off a completely different era? If nothing else, these games are fresh.
Within the last 6 months I have fallen in love with the shin megami series. I have played DDS 1, Nocturne, and Persona 3 Fes in that order. I just started DDS 2. I must that that out of all the games I this Nocturne is the best. DDS is also amazing, but doesn't have the story and grit that Nocturne had. Persona 3 Fes is hard to explain. On one hand I was most addicted to this game, but on the other hand about 25 hours into the game I began to get bored. Persona 3 just talks too long to develope. I found myself rushing through days, just to see how the story progresses. The problem was that by the time I would get to a boss I would be too weak to beat it. Don't get me wrong, Persona 3 is absolutely worth playing. It's a very unique rpg. I would probably play persona first and then try to find nocturne or DDS if you like persona. Keep in mind these games are very long and difficult. Anyone that tell you they flew through Nocturne is lying to you. You will die more in Nocture and DDS than any RPG you have every played. This isn't a bad thing, it's just frustrating.
Persona might as well be an offline MMORPG with all the grinding you have to do. It has a good story and interesting characters, though. Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga should be bought by anyone who enjoys JRPGs. Devil Summoner is also pretty decent, and is worth a buy.
Persona 3 is one of the most addicting RPGs I ever played. I consider it one of the must-play games of the PS2. If you can only play one SMT game-P3 would be the one to play. As for the criticisms brought up by the other posters, I guess P3 could get to be a grind to play, depending on your play style and how well you understand the play mechanics of SMT games. The important thing in SMT games is making sure you breed demons with a good mix of abilities. If, on the other hand, you rely on traditional level grinding strategies, it will probably become a grind for you. SMT games require a different kind of strategy than other RPGs. That is what makes SMT games so much fun to play. That is also why many people consider SMTgames harder than other RPGs - it takes them awhile to figure out that they can't just use the same old strategies they use for other RPG games Don't let the supposed difficulty of SMT games put you off though. They really aren't harder than other RPGs once you figure out the system. For example, look at the poster above who hated Digital Devil Saga at first because he didn't understand how to play it and how it became one of his favorite games once he was able to figure out the system. That is sort of how SMT games are. Once you figure them out - they are all excellent. Whatever game you pick to play first, you will probably have a bit of a learning curve until you figure things out. The first SMT game I played was Devil Summoner. This is considered by many people to be the easiest of the SMT games. But, for me, it was the hardest simply because I didn't understand the SMT system when I played it. On the other hand, I played Nocturne after I played DS, DDS, and P3. Since I totally understood the SMT style of play by the time I got to Nocturne, I didn't think it was hard at all. Now, if I had played Nocturne first, I definitely know I would have found it very difficult because it doesn't really explain things very well. So that is one piece of advice I can give you - don't pick Nocturne as your first SMT game. If you don't know what you are doing, it is really easy to die a lot in that game. IMO P3 is the best pick for a first time SMT gamer. It is the most polished of the SMT games both graphics and gameplay-wise. P3 also explains the general events that are going on in the SMT games the best. Playing P3 first really helped me understand what was going on in Nocturne. It also gave me a deeper understanding of what happened in Devil Summoner and Digital Devil Saga (games I played before I played P3).
You can start with Persona 3... it has no real connection to the other Persona games. Although, I'm sure that it'll be a good idea to play Persona 3, before the upcoming Persona 4. I have a feeling that those two are going to be connected...in some way, or form.I recommend playing DDS1 before DDS2, though.... those are greatly connected to one another.
[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]
You can pretty much buy them in whatever order you want only the first three Persona games were connected and the Digital Devil Saga.Persona 2: Innocent Sin had some of the characters from Persona but it was only out in Japan. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment had the same characters as IS but was in a different reality, also had characters from Persona, it's a rare game though and will cost you. But you didn't need to play IS first or Persona. Nocturne, Summoner, Persona 3, and Persona 4 are all stand alone games.As of today, just bought DDS Part 1, I own all the ones that have been released in America except for the first Persona. I love both series.
I've only played P3, Nocturne, and DDS. I thought Nocturne was the best, but I'd recommend starting out with P3 as it seems a little more accessible for beginners.
The SMT games I've played so far are Digital Devil Saga 1, Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzonoha(SP), and Persona 3: FES.Out of those, DDS1 and Devil Summoner are my favorites, though FES was also good, though a bit boring. :/
Once I got Persona 3 I was instantly taken.I have all Ps2 SMT's now, but my wallet took a beating.
dude i just finish playingn all the series and fron\m 1 to fes all addictive