A game for those who miss the good old RPGS.
But Shi Megami Tensei lived to the PS2 in great style: Nocturne is a masterpiece of storytelling and design.
*Possible SPOILERS*
To begin with, the game picks up where most RPGs do GAME OVER: at the end of the world. Yes, the wotld is gone for good. All the human race is wiped off the map and the life is ripped forever... Well, maybe not forever, since all worlds must die in order to be reborn.
You are among the few people who managed to survive this catastrophe, but you have something the others don't: you've been turned into a demon. Yes, now you are like one of those hellish creatures, with all the powers included. But, since you still have the traits of a human soul, you are not an ordinary demon: you are a fiend and you have the infinite possibilities a human soul bears.
And among these possibilities is the most fascinating one: you can choose to support a new ideology for the world to be rebuild in. Along the way you will be able to choose from several ways to rebuild the world. None of them are "the right one", all are just variables. It's u to you, the player, to choose one and support it 'till the end. Or... don't choose and go for it yourself, risking your life, soul and the future of the world.
*End of SPOLIERS*
Allright, that said, let's get to the technical aspects...
The graphics are not very shining, but they deliver all the feeeling well and do the job. Actually, Nocturne looks a lot like a PSOne game, a good one, but still dated. The animations and quality of frame rate may surprise you and make you think that you are playing with pre-rendered 2D backgrounds, but everything is full 3D. The colors are a little faint, but this helps to deliver the feel of post-apocaliptical struggle the story has in it.
The sound is... nice. The complete lack of voice-over makes this game look pretty old-school, but if you ever played a SNES RPG, it's something you will find to be nostalgic. Your imagination will do the talking! The musical score is good, but the variety of instruments could be better...
The gameplay is quite simple and sometimes boring: it's a classical RPG, with little new thing s on it. There's the system of weak points/criticals, which can sometimes make the table turs during battles, but it feels more like annoying than strategic.
In the end, Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne has a great feel to it, being a good RPG, specially for those who miss the good old games from the 90's. It is not a perfect game, but the story is original and the script is well written, what is really good nowadays, when good graphics and intense action are favored in detriment of good stories.
Rent it first, but if you played lots of RPGs on the SNES, buy it right away.