Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

Shin Megami Tensei III is a role-playing game developed and published by Atlus in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. It is the fourth entry in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, following 1997's Shin Megami Tensei II. It is also the first Shin Megami Tensei game not to be released on a Nintendo console.

Multiple versions of the game exist: in 2002,Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - Director's Cut was released in Japan, and in 2003 worldwide as Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, featuring extra content, including, most famously, Dante, the main character of the Devil May Cry series. In 2005, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - Maniax was released in Japan, replacing Dante with Raidou Kuzunoha, the protagonist of the Devil Summoner series.

A remastered version of the game was released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The game was a fresh new start for the series, in several ways:
 * 2) * Whereas older SMT games were often set in an Earth destroyed by a war between angels and demons, Shin Megami Tensei III is set in the Vortex World, a world without laws and principles.
 * 3) * The main character is a human-demon hybrid, unlike the older games where it was always a human.
 * 4) ** There are no human party members, either.
 * 5) * The game is in third-person, though it's possible to unlock a first-person mode after beating the game once.
 * 6) While older games in the series generally had only three paths, depending on your alignment (Law/Neutral/Chaos), Shin Megami Tensei III has five routes, called Reasons: ideals to rebuild the world upon. Several events will bring you closer to one Reason rather than the other, or you can just decide not to follow any Reason. Doing so will unlock a sixth ending, called the Demon Ending.
 * 7) * The Director's Cut version (and, by extension, the Western version) also have a True Demon Ending, which is triggered by meeting several requirements in the Demon Ending.
 * 8) The game offers a lot of content: the main story alone takes about 50 hours to complete, excluding sidequests.
 * 9) There are lots of sidequests to keep the player engaged outside the main story.
 * 10) In the Amala Network, you can find Shady Brokers, who will gift you special demons with unique skill sets if you meet their requirements.
 * 11) If you retrieve the Black Visor item, you can use it to find hidden rooms in the Amala Network, where you can refight previously defeated bosses. If you defeat them again in a certain number of turns, you will obtain a second press turn for the protagonist at the start of a second playthrough.
 * 12) The Nocturne and Director's Cut versions add the Amala Labyrinth, a massive underground dungeon comprised of five areas, called Kalpas, which are unlocked as the story goes on. Completing the Amala Labyrinth is a requirement for the True Demon Ending.
 * 13) The game is very challenging (many deem it one of the hardest JRPGs on the PlayStation 2), though it becomes easier near the end as you get the hang of it.
 * 14) Very good atmosphere, which makes the player feel hopeless and alone in a hostile world. The challenging difficulty also helps.
 * 15) There are 200+ demons to recruit, either by talking to them or via Demon Fusion.
 * 16) * If you fuse a particularly strong demon, you can save it to the Demon Compendium to summon it as many times you want.
 * 17) The combat was deeply revamped, thanks to the addition of the Press Turn feature.
 * 18) * In battle, the player is assigned turns equal to the number of current party members. By performing certain actions (like striking weak points, resisting enemy attacks, and spending turns), an extra Press Turn can be obtained, and the same can be done by the enemy. This encourages players to think their moves over carefully, as one mistake on either side can turn the tide of battle.
 * 19) Great soundtrack (which is generally considered one of the best in the franchise), mostly employing rock and metal tunes.
 * 20) The story is also very good, making heavy use of religious and philosophical symbolism.
 * 21) * Whereas the older games often employed Judeo-Christian symbolism, Nocturne often uses Zoroastrian symbols to represent Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy.
 * 22) * The story is never told directly to the player, who instead is given clues to piece it together.
 * 23) The game has a New Game + feature, allowing for a good replay value. Some content is specifically available only on a second playthrough and up.
 * 24) Dante from Devil May Cry 2 makes an appearance in the game and has a role in the main story. He will show up at specific points to fight the protagonist.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The game received a PlayStation 3 release via PlayStation Network, however, this version runs horribly.
 * 2) Matador, the first Fiend boss in the game, is notoriously difficult, with many deeming it as one of the hardest first bosses in video games.
 * 3) The camera is mapped to the shoulder buttons, which was outdated in 2001.
 * 4) Skill inheritance is randomized, a feature criticized by many.
 * 5) * While it is possible to have control over inherited skills, it's very limited and time-consuming.
 * 6) Some bosses sport skills called Beast's Eye and Dragon Eye, which give the user one and two free turns respectively. This skills can be used repeatedly with no repercussions, letting the bosses give themselves lots of Press Turns, leading to extremely drawn-out battles. Mot is infamous for doing this.
 * 7) The remastered version was criticized at launch for barely being an improvement over the original game. Thankfully, it received patches that fixed the various issues.

Tips

 * 1) The Physical + Pierce combo is very useful in several points of the game, as it nullifies defensive affinities for the Physical element for any enemy.
 * 2) Matador, the first Fiend boss, while very challenging, becomes very easy with Force-resistant demons (like Uzume or Lillim, which are easy to find before the fight) and the spell Dekaja, which nullifies enemy stat raises.
 * 3) Keeping the Pixie recruited in the demon recruitment tutorial in the Western version until a point late in the game will turn it into a much stronger version with several high tier spells available. Keep in mind that you must not fuse it or dispose of it in any way.
 * 4) It's wise to obtain the Black Visor, as it allows the player to enter the Burial Chambers, where the player can rematch previous bosses. Defeating all of them in a specific amount of Press Turns will allow the player to meet Cerberus at the entrance of the Amala Labyrinth on a New Game + run, where it will lead the player to an audience with Izanagi and Izanami, who will grant the protagonist an extra full turn to use in battle.
 * 5) If the player hasn't reached the bottom of the 4th Kalpa of the Amala Labyrinth and gained access to the fifth and final Kalpa, going to the Tower of Kagutsuchi will lock the peepholes communicating with the Old Man and the Lady in Black, preventing the Lady in Black from opening the door to the 5th Kalpa, and thus locking the player out of the Demon Ending. Likewise, completing the Tower of Kagutsuchi will seal the final door in the 5th Kalpa, preventing the player from fighting Lucifer and thus from getting the True Demon Ending.

Reception
Critical reception to the game has been positive. The GameRankings average review score of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is 83.75% while the average score in Metacritic is of 82 out of 100. The Japanese video game magazine Famitsu gave it a score of 36/40, earning the magazine's Platinum award and becoming the highest-ranking review score that week.

The modern setting and dark storyline from Nocturne has also been found refreshing for contrasting common RPG storylines. Similarly, Jeremy Dunham from IGN noted its "bizarre" story as one of the reasons to play it due to its post-apocalyptic setting. Beckett also praised the visual style employed by Atlus including Kaneko Kazuma's character designs as well as the design of the Vortex World.

Trivia

 * 1) All the characters were roughly aligned with "Chaos", which was done both to bring variety to the series and allow the development team more creative freedom.
 * 2) * The game had a different subtitle as a placeholder before making the final game: Shin Megami Tensei III: Vortex, seen above in the gallery, as a reference to the Vortex World.
 * 3) * Unlike its predecessors, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne seems to borrow heavily from Zoroastrianism to symbolically represent the philosophical works of Friedrich Nietzsche.
 * 4) * The game was designed with "Chaos" as its theme, to contrast with the previous game's theme of "Law".
 * 5) * This is the first, and so far the only, game in the entire franchise to be officialy translated into French and Dutch.
 * 6) * Inside the game disc there is a magnitude of unused content, one that is interesting to note is an audio file containing the main theme of Star Wars, possibly to test the audio of the game.[1]
 * 7) * The European version includes a glitch that soft-locks the game at certain points. Most notably, the game freezes right after beating the final bosses second form, making endings such as the True Demon Ending impossible to obtain. This bug is also present in the PSN version.
 * 8) Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne is the product of a long period of development between Shin Megami Tensei games. Many other games like Megami Ibunroku Persona, Majin Tensei, and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner seem to have influenced Nocturne.
 * 9) No first-person viewpoint by default. Shin Megami Tensei and Shin Megami Tensei II both used fixed first-person viewpoints in dungeons. In Nocturne the first-person viewpoint is only usable after completing the game once, and can be turned on or off as the player desires; however, battles are always in third-person.
 * 10) Fewer humans. The games released in between SMT II and Nocturne all had more of an emphasis on human action rather than that of demons.
 * 11) A new battle system. Classic Megaten games had a simple turn-based system where characters attacked in one round based on their speed rating. Nocturne has a different turn-based system in place called the Turn Press system. In this system, the player is assigned Press Turns equal to the size of his party (although a special event allows the player to gain an extra press turn) and can re-use some of them by scoring Critical Hits or exploiting elemental weaknesses. In contrast, if the attack is nullified or reflected, the player loses some or all of his press turns based on the severity of the defense. This also applies to the opposing side.
 * 12) A new alignment system. The previous Shin Megami Tensei games had two factions of Law and Chaos in opposition with the player choosing to ally one side of the conflict. The player could also follow the path of Neutrality. In Nocturne, the new alignment system allows the player to side with one of three Reasons or with other factions, or none at all.
 * 13) New setting. Shin Megami Tensei games have always centered on the power of gods waging war across Earth, with nuclear holocausts and religious oppression of demons. Nocturne does this differently by introducing the concept of a Vortex World, a world in a state of chaotic limbo that hasn't had its natural laws selected yet.
 * 14) Cel-shaded graphics. The graphics in Nocturne are fully 3D and cel-shaded.
 * 15) The differences between the original version and the later versions are as follows:
 * 16) ; Maniax
 * 17) * A new opening movie.
 * 18) * The addition of the Labyrinth of Amala and, hence, the addition of the Fiends.
 * 19) * A new "true demon" ending.
 * 20) * A bonus for keeping your first demon party member (Pixie).
 * 21) * Devil May Cry 2 's Dante: you fight him, and you can have him in your party if certain conditions are met.
 * 22) * The option of allowing several previously infusible bosses to join your party.
 * 23) * The option to fight and later enlist the help of Beelzebub and Metatron.
 * 24) * Pierce was added as a new skill.
 * 25) * General game balance adjustments (lowered ambush attacks, lower instant death rates, etc.)
 * 26) * Selectable difficulty level from the on-set (Normal or Hard)
 * 27) * Elimination of the Debug Mode.
 * 28) ;Maniax Chronicle
 * 29) * Raidou Kuzunoha the XIV, along with Gouto-Doji, replaces Dante as the Demi-fiend's potential ally.

Videos
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