JRPGs don't get any harder, or any more satisfying than this.
To those in the know, the Shin Megami series (Which is wildly popular in Japan) has been running for quite some time and has spawned countless semi-sequels. A few of these non-related spin-offs, such as the two Persona games and the handheld pokemon clone Demikids, actually made it to our side of the Pacific courtesy of Atlus. Shin Megami Tensei, affectionately referred to as "Megaten" by its fans, has attained somewhat of a strong cult following in the U.S. Getting coverage on such mainstream outlets such as G4 and Spike TV's gaming awards is quite a feat considering how awkward this game is. After all, the Shin Megami Tensei series focuses on extreme difficulty and extreme situations. Just imagine monsters that attack your party every five steps and kill you with one attack, a giant penis creature popping out of a fat kid's stomach, mass murderers shooting up a school and the frequent display of occult imagery and you have every Christian mother's worst nightmare.
Which is a shame, since the Megaten series has always been so much more then that. Having been one of the few who played through a couple of the unreleased japanese titles in this series (Courtesy of the Emulation community) I have become quite fond of "Cozy" Okada's work and truly believe he is a genius. This latest installment in the series is without a doubt the most impressive. Both visually and aesthetically.
First of all, Nocturne is hard. Very hard. About as hard as a game can be before even the most patient gamer throws it against the wall. Nocturne, like all the other Megaten games before it, requires the player to plan out every battle beforehand. Resistances, weaknesses, and immunities are not just extra padding to make the combat system look deep, they are actual factors that you must consider before each fight. Not keeping track of each monster's statistics is a surefire way to get killed. Even the msot advanced party can be demolished if they approach a fight unprepared. This is what has made the Megaten series so appealing to hardcore gamers like me. Though games like Xenosaga 2 may try to emulate this type of combat, they forget one very important rule: Never force the gamer to play your way. Simply put, Nocturne gives you the chance to strategize the way you want, but makes sure that you spend considerable time coming up with those winning strategies.
Once you can get by the high encounter rate and the annoyingly astute artificial intelligence of the game's monsters, you begin to see the true beauty of Nocturne. Unlike the two Persona games which are probably the only titles in the series that most english-speaking fans have been exposed to, Nocturne allows you to actually convince demons into fighting alongside of you rather then merely giving you their abilities to use as magic in combat. Though the conversation system used to recruit the demons has been "simplified" quite a bit since we've seen it last in Persona 2, it still retains its charm and hilarity. Recruiting demons is as fun as ever, especially when one of your own demons attempts to seduce or intimidate them.
Though recruiting demons is no longer the most entertaining aspect of the game. Unlike the conversation system, the demon fusing system has not been simplified. Combining recruited demons is still as easy and intuitive as ever, but this time it goes much deeper then simply throwing monsters into a pot and praying for a miracle. This time you have the ability to sacrifice a third demon during the act of fusion, opening up many possibilities that would otherwise not be available with a normal one-on-one fusion. Adding even more into the mix is the infamous "deathstone". Found only after certain major battles or in the game's horrendously difficult bonus dungeon, these stones allow the creation of special "boss" demons that have unique and very fun-to-exploit powers. There is something about having the four horsemen of the apocolypse and the biblical "Harlot" of revelations on your party roster that just makes me squeal with boyish glee.
Even the game's visuals, which are some of the best cell-shaded graphics I've ever seen, are top-notch and worthy of extreme praise. Unlike Cell-shading games like XIII or Auto Modellista, Nocturne manages to make its character look completely 3D. The depth and shading, especially in the main character, are comparable to the The Legend of Zelda:Wind Waker. All useless hyperbole aside, Nocturne is gorgeous.
To be fair however, Nocturne isn't all peaches and cream. It has its fair share of rough edges...enough to keep it from reaching the kind of mainstream success enjoyed by Final Fantasy. Difficulty aside, Nocturne is very unforgiving in its design. Dungeons are sometimes so large they can take weeks to complete, often times with save spots so far between each area that it can take an hour to walk from one to the next. Also, many of the game's puzzles are so mind-boggling that ven WITH a guide, they are darn near impossible. Case in point, the mini game where you have to move boxes into holes to fill the gaps in a giant game board. With 20 levels of increasing difficulty, it is hard to find anyone who has beaten it without a guide...and even without one, it took me an entire night (From 6pm-10pm) to complete.
I won't even mention the boss battles.
Another small gripe is the relatively weak storyline. Though the Megaten faithful stick up for this game and deny that Nocturne has a weak plot, it cannot truly be considered as epic as either Persona game. To be fair, neither of the two SNES Shin Megami Tensei games had much of a plot either, but Nocturne seems to eschew narrative in favor of challenging combat. The story, in which the devil rams a parasitic demon-worm down your throat and tells you to give in to the new powers it gives you, isn't as simple as it seems. The world, which has been destroyed and is now waiting for a powerful creature to come forth and "Re-create it", is now home to millions of demons all fighting for different phsilosophical beliefs. Each belief has a champion...a religious zealot bent on making everyone follow their way of thinking whether they like it or not. As the "wild card" in this deck, you can either choose one of the already established beliefs (Or "Reasons", as the game calls them) or say the hell with it and make your own. the most amusing aspect of the game is a special side quest added into this version of Nocturne which allows you to basically kill off everyone and everything and side with the big man downstairs. The ending I got at the end of that, as well as the special super-tough boss I had to fight was WELL WORTH the time spent leveling to get there.
...and lord knows you'll be doing a lot of leveling. Though fans of the Megaten games know how integral that is to their enjoyment of the series. It takes a special kind of gamer to walk around in circles around a healing room for five hours building levels just to learn one new skill or build up a newly recruited demon. It takes an even more uncommon type of gamer to feel bored when other RPGs don't encourage or allow this type of gameplay. Those are the people who will enjoy this game the most.
If Final Fantasy is the greatest tasting soda your lips will ever touch, then Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is the greatest cup of gourmet coffee your mouth will ever get to savor. One is enjoyed by everyone, the other is appreciated by only mature taste buds. Both are great, but one obviously requires sophisticated tastes.