Another core theme of Nocturne imo is showing the hypocrisy present in many ideals or at least the path to get to them Chiaki creates a world of power where only the inherently strong can have power, despite having been an originally powerless person that was given power and was still only able to accomplish the creation of this world with the help of others Isamu creates a world of isolation where you yourself are your world by becoming an amalgamation of manly people/entities And hikawa creates the world of silence, one with no violence, emotion, or chaos through violence, emotion, and chaos
Not sure if I fully buy into Hypocrisy as a theme for this game, it's a huge disservice to non TDE-endings Chiaki DID achieve that power herself. She got as far as to fight Sakahagi on her own,lost but survived *by herself* and carried herself to the Mantra HQ,blaming only herself for her failures.It's that spirit that leads her to absorbing power from someone who sympathized. She jumped the slippery slope by that point,but it's hardly hypocritical. She's not advocating solitude or birthright,but strength and resourcefulness. Hikawa is just being efficient & pragmatic. That's what the rules of the game are and it aligns with his personality. Isamu is the hardest one to defend,since it feels like he just was tired of being a nobody in the grand scheme of things.Pragmatism too,I suppose.
@@FujinKeima Late to the party, but anyway: I think it's different for Isamu. Isamu wants a world where everyone is alone, where everyone is independant, for Isamu, it's not much hypocrisy but necessity. Like Chiaki, who's so weak she loose an arm and is forced to flee a battle against a Manikin. Upon entering the Vortex, Isamu is tortured for Kagutsuchi, then find himself in Amala where in order to survive, he have to absord demons, whom, just like him, just want to have peace and be left alone -for example, the nurse in Amala's labyrinth tells you "I'll heal you, as long as you leave"-. I think Isamu is heavily influenced by those demons because well... he absorbed them. And after that, Hikawa has demons following him and helping him. Chiaki has angel deciding to follow and help her. Isamu... has a bunch of ghosts counting on him, like "if he could do that, that'd be great", which ironically, is against the point, but they follow him out of necessity, because he is the only one with the power to do so, because ironically, because of how the creation work, all the ghosts, potentially you, and Isamu all unite in hope to never have to associate with each others ever again. And later on, if you follow Isamu, it's great, but if you wanna follow him, it's your choice, and he wont reward you, because giving someone a reward means, in a way, interfering with their business, if you follow his path, like his fellow ghosts, you're not doing it for him, you're doing it for you. The path of Isamu is complicated, because it goes against how the world works, even in the Vortex: Demons have to allies with each others to survive. Unlike Chiaki who wants a ruthless world similar to how the Vortex work or Hikawa.... who pretty much want to create a communist heaven, Isamu wants to change how the world itself work, therefore, he needs, like everyone, to associate with a sponsor (I'm pretty sure it's not the right term)... and technically with you otherwise he'll die and his dream wont become true. (As opposed to just him dying) And once more, he fuse with a demon, Noah, becoming one, lonely entity and he climb the tower all by himself, because Noah is pretty much an empty husk. And once again, like everyone, he'll need your help for his world to come true, but if you wanna help him, it's for yourself, he wont reward you. But I think the path of hypocrisy is not wrong, but can be associated with realization: During the fight with Hikawa, he's toying with you, which goes against his worldview. But once he realizes it, that there will be no place for games in his world.... well he stop the game and fight you for real, no question asked.
@@MrLednard It's not different though. It is sheer hypocrisy on his part asking for help when he's making a world of isolation. He wants to make a world based on isolation? Build its foundations on his own, like the reason his world was based upon. And when he fails doing so he ends up in the ditch, on his own. Because he wanted to be isolated like he wished, and he got it in the end.
@@wanderin_stud499 It's not hypocrisy but necessity. It's how the Vortex works, no one can do shit on their own, especially not humans. He need help in order to be able to build the foundation of the world he wants, a world that works on basis way different from our world, or even the Vortex for that matters. If you look at it, he really have no choice: He need to absorb demons to become strong enough, which in itself is an interraction and pretty much what was done to him when he was tortured, which probably started his desire to be left alone. Then, he needs to sacrifice someone in order to summon Noah. Then he needs to use Noah to forge his reasons. And last but not least, he HAVE to ally with you because in the Vortex, it's survival of the fittest, and the fittest is you, and everyone and their mother aknowledged it already. Isamu as no choice but to not follow his ideals in order to bring them to life. He is no hypocrite, whatever he can do while following Musubi, he will, but whenever the world forces him out of Musubi, he swallow his pride and do what must be done in order for him to create a world following his ideals. I mean, it really is the same with Chiaki, she's all about survival of the fittest, because she decided to follow the rules of the Vortex, but she is NOT the fittest, she had to flee for her life many times, she lost to a goddamn manikin, had to gain strength by being pumped up by someone else and at the end of the day, she became the fittest, since she can kill both Isamu and Hikawa. Except no, when you unite with her once more while following her reason, she knows her reason is secured, no one can prevent it anymore, so she apply the reason of Yosuga: only the strongest shall live, and I'm pretty sure she is aware it's you.
@@mazokuwolf1279 i cannot agree with this statement, as there are better entries in the Fire Emblem series that preceded 3 Houses. But I respect your opinion nonetheless
Also proceeds to bash one of the best RPGs on the Super Nintendo in Secret of Mana. It's like he can't praise SMT for more than 5 minutes without being an obnoxious git toward something else.
I like how in the ending where you don’t pick a reason, Lucifer and Kagutsuchi are like “dude you did the game wrong, what the heck dude! Why did you do that?!”
Call it what you will-A revelation from God, or a curse of the demon king. The fact remains that our world came to an end. A heretic called upon an unearthly light, and devastation ensued. Chaos crawled out of the depths of the ocean, from the black abyss. Death upon death... nothing but death in this barren land. Who can we pray to? There are only demons and fiends here... A voice in the dark beguiles me. "Truth is a mystery, unraveled by the candles' flames". - From the Journal of a Man who Wandered into Another World
@ Because they are very similar and directly related series? I don't think Persona should be judged by what other games have done, but it's hard not to compare the two given their relationship.
@singular on1 I do agree with you, but they're more similar than that. They both use the same fusion system and battle mechanics, Persona using an altered version of Nocturne's press turns and having the same weakness system.
@ya boi slump Not really they are in the same multiverse. It's like the Raidou games are in the same universe as smt 1 and nocturne, just different timeline.
I started with persona 3, 4 and 5 in that order, then I played SMT 3, 4 and 4A in that order as well, and I personally like mainline better just because it explores much darker themes than persona tends to explore. I loved P3 because of how dreadful and sad it was, and the ending fight was like "well, might as well fight because why not. Nothing else to do." The dread made me miss the game so much.
"We are constantly considering a port/remake of III - Nocturne, I'd like to aim for opportunities" - Kazuyuki Yamai (the director of the Maniax additions to Nocturne / writer on the game proper), 2018. Kagutsuchi, grant him the power of Creation!
@@athyrus0190 chances are it'll only be on switch since the series does better on the nintendo eco system than sony. Also they have kept persona main series to sony and with nocturne being the exception nintendo has largely been the smt platform of choice. Also V is coming to switch so i can see Atlus remaking nocturne returning the roman numeral and promoting eith V with III or III with V would make sense tbh.
Yes! I love Nocturne, its shame that the success of Persona 4 -5 will mean we'll likely not get another slow, brooding contemplative JRPG Here's hoping for SMTV
Yeah at the very least the Persona games insure that the Megami Tensei series isn't dying since they rank in money....money needed to make SMTV, so I ain't complaining in the slightest.
@@dantemustdie00 bois. Did you know there is a remake qeued for nocturne ? But yes. Sadly no other bg game will take it's time to show you that things can get fucked rreversively..
Persona 3, 4 and 5 are slower, more brooding and more contemplative than any Shin Megami Tensei. And in case you didn't know Shin Megami Tensei 5 is coming out on Switch and that's the game developed mainly by the team that made Nocturne(not the Persona team) with Hashino as the game director. Persona's success has nothing to do with Shin Megami Tensei(a series that has a contract with Nintendo and the reason we're getting a new game on Switch is because the previous SMT games sold well enough on DS/3DS).
@@malwre_android1617 i feel SMT Nocturne is a prime example of the artistic golden era that was the PS2/GCN generation. why? lighting tech wasn't to the point where we had things like - physically based rendering; high polycount meshes; roughness / specular maps; complex realtime lighting pipelines with things like deferred rendering; etc. what this led to was a natural reliance on art direction. textures weren't "maps" to be simulated, they were paintings; almost every texture was lambert shaded (completely diffuse / matte, no specular reflection) - add to that that texture sizes were small. what happens in the convergence of all these different factors is that the hand-painted textures, one lambert shader for almost everything, and low poly / low tex combine to keep the scene incredibly "easy on the eyes" and free of visual noise. think "mirror's edge". the rendering pipeline gets out of the way, and lets the art (in the form of the textures) stand alone. i think this PS2 / GCN era "diffuse texture only" style will remain forever; developers and artists will keep coming back to it. it's the most simple, elemental approach to lighting and texturing a 3D world, and with skilled art direction, the sky is the limit. it's timeless.
Man, this game is so dense, you didn't even have the time to talk about its gameplay! A small thing that I never hear people talk about is how the gameplay fits into the themes and narrative. Demon Fusion is literally destroying something you have in exchange for creating something new. The demon talking system feels like an extension of the Reason narrative, like you and demond alike are discussing what they want to do in regards to the conception. And, just the fact that the game is very complex and demands for you to be aware of multiple things at all times puts the player into a state of constant focus, so when you beat a hard enemy or dungeon, you're in a mindstate that promotes being just as thoughtful about the story and themes of the game. I always saw Nocturne as like, a game for adults. Pokemon is for kids and Persona is for teens, but SMT is for the adults who grew up with those franchises. And I wish we had more JRPGs like Nocturne. Here's hoping to SMTV!
As id personally describe it, Nocturne is to SMT as Ocarina Of Time is to Zelda, an older title in the series that looks and plays ever so slightly wonky now a day but is so great it's viewed as the perfect game, or epitome of the series
@@ademirregis5270 demi fiend HAS already been in two other games, Digital Devil Saga where he is the ultimate optional boss and SMT IF Apocalypse where through a certain DLC you can have him, and Aleph, and Futsuo in your party
Imma be real with you chief, but this video is so well edited and you express so eloquently how a lot of us SMT fans feel about Nocturne. Keep doing what you do m8.
No comment about the "DEMON" ending? Its legendary mate, I don't know how you talked about ALL the other endings, but not the one where LUCIFER himself asks you to lead his armies in the FINAL BATTLE of good vs. evil. During this path agents of GOD attempt to reason with you, they beg you not to continue, and finally they resort to force to try to stop you. You must defeat Lucifer's fiends to prove yourself worthy and even fight the big man himself, its really the best part of the game's story. "What good can come of this"?
I don't know. What he said made sense. I might suggest, even, that the game has, or rather, had a balance that the True Demon ending kind of upset. The lure of unparalleled badassery as the devil's own field marshal really destroys any interest most players would have in thinking out the Reasons, and it saps much of the energy that the neutral Freedom ending had and really eliminates any reason that someone would choose the bad Demon ending. This video really shows how the Reason endings and the neutral/bad endings all balanced each other out in an uncomfortable calculus where there was no really great answer, but you could hope to find the on that you could most live with, at least in principle. The True Demon Ending is a bit too over powering and as a result, much of the craft the game presents to the player is nullified or diminished.
@@David_Alvarez77 Perhaps the reason the true demon ending is overpowering is cause it requires you to do so much more in order to reach it and that by that point you would have fought so many more battles compared to the normal reason endings that you do get a sense of power cause by that point you would have ultimate level skills and demons [even pierce] and on another note to my knowledge there aren't really a whole lot of games where one of the endings is you get to fight against the armies of God. At least that's how i see it.
@@David_Alvarez77 Perfectly well-put. I also initially went for TDE in my first run and thought ''nothing could top it'' but in my 2nd and 3rd runs, the game took a *very* different turn when I started paying more attention to every other ending. I loved the game far more for it. TDE was probably added so the game would have a ''flashy'' or ''truer'' ending,since the others are more esoteric and ''up to your interpretation''. It's a tendency that kinda stuck with later games,evidently. While I still like TDE (and especially the Labyrinth), Nocturne would be nowhere as legendary if it was the only ending available.
I think that the TDE is very amazing and you definitely have to earn your prize. However, it is so unbalanced that it destroys the players' desire to ever take the Reasons or the other ending seriously at all. The player just beelines for TDE with its extra bosses, skills, battles, and dramatics. The true demon ending is a very amazing experience, but I do not think it would be as memorable as would be the experience of having to sort through the uncomfortable and slightly unsatisfying ideals and options that are all balanced carefully against each other. In a way, I think that SMT4 also suffers from this problem to an extent as well. The neutral ending has so much more content and a more unproblematic conclusion that most players are tempted to just try to get the neutral ending. The genius of SMT lies in presenting diverging paths and ideals that are propagated by characters that we have come to know or understand and with whom we have experienced much travail. There should be no easy choices without remainder, but always good reasons for siding with either this ideal or that idealist (or both).
I actually wanted that SMT V would like Nocturne but with a Law twist. Law ended being the scrappy of the franchise and you can clearly see that they had a strong bias towards neutral (SMT I, IV, Apocalypse) or Chaos (MT II, Raido Kuzonoha Vs Abbadon, Demikids)
It's wierd. The entire SMT lore comes with a full circle protagonist alignment. SMT1 is Neutral Chaos (the world was being rebuild by Lucifer), SMT2 is Law (test tube baby ment to be the messiah), SMT3 is Chaos (True Demon), SMT4 is Neutral Law (Keeping the world relatively orderly through the Tokyo Goddess and Masakado). So.....SMT5 is probably full neutral, or having both 5 to choose.
@@angquangnguyenthac2833 what if they added new alignment okay I'm tripping but my first was apocalypse yeah bad start I know but good game I then just played the first but can't get the second translated on emulator because they don't load it or detect it somehow but I like wath I played I wonder what 5 will bring
You spoke my soul about this game and about videogames in general, especially with the part about you thinking that videogames are a waste of time, and SMT sorta reintroducing you to them. Probably the most beautiful youtube video i've ever seen, seriously.
Just wanna say that this video on it's own merit is pretty important. What I mean is that, there aren't many analyses on SMT games on RU-vid let alone Nocturne by itself, sure people like SuperButterBuns have reviewed it( and even praised the game), but there aren't many videos that I know of that talked about much beyond the gameplay. I was waiting for this video in particular because I wanted to know what other people felt about the game on a deeper level. Great video, man.
I’m here because of the reveal and I want to see what SMT is all about. I haven’t even played Persona (which I know is a spin-off) but this video so far is pretty good!
Honestly, i recommend you play SMT IV before Nocturne. Playing the best game (Nocturne) in the series as your first may cause the other games to feel underwhelming or not worth it. IV is an awesome starting point for new players. After playing it you'd have no problem going into the older games (SNES, PS1 ones) or the newer ones (PS2 era onwards). Playing Nocturne first may have the same effect P5 had one people. A lot of people i know that played P5 before the other Persona games weren't interested on them because of how much better P5 looks, sounds and plays.
@The Azure Knight That’s hilarious p5r and nocturne hd are my first 2 megaten games. Still excited about the franchise though and am gonna beat persona 3 fes and digital devil saga on my ps3 next.
I have been looking at these videos on smt for a while! I have heard about it when I was younger but wasn’t playing turn based, I had beat persona 5 3 years back and now am watching videos on smt out of curiosity….totally wasted my time with p5 these stories seem WAY better without the kiddy themes of persona
9:27 The protagonist's face throughout the game is something you rarely see. Seeing it in this art montage has given me sudden perspective. So, this is how the Demi-Fiend felt as he battled demons.
I didn't expect to like this video as much as I did, but your passion for the game made me want to play it and look for something I'm even 1/3 as passionate about something as you are!
True Demon ending is probably my favorite ending. Keep in mind, Nocturne was my second SMT game after P3. I was so impressed with Nocturne, that i wanted more SMT. So far i've only played seven SMT games. And most of them are special gems.
TDE is the only ending that left me satisfied. I did all the other endings first and every time I felt like I had lost the battle. I had been forced into this eternal conflict, forced to kill my friends, forced to support reasons that arent my own, forced to return to a broken world or just forced to return to the old reality all the while knowing this cycle of birth and rebirth will continue, and some other poor fool will have to walk the same path one day. It was only in TDE where I got the chance to say fuck it! Screw the system. It sucks and I'm not play into it. So yeah TDE is my canon.
I played p5- liked gameplay but story was meh P3- Tartarus and boring cast killed all the fun. Devil survivor-amazing Should i play nocturne next or which smt game ?
12:28 Power in the Reasons that we all are fighting for You've given up your body and soul and heart Yes, some of us hasten unlike lambs to the slaughter Get the power to reach the next stage 13:13 - The lyrics I know for this one go - but I can hear both quite clearly, and there's even hint of a third (ie, I hear 'Judgement has come, to you', instead of 'Do you aid Lucifer, do you') Hear! This one has been brought to him For the open moment. Do you aid Lucifer, do you? Thou! You are not supposed to abuse any of this power, heretic! I have never been one of your enemies. Do you aid Lucifer, do you?
Great video! Man, that was so well done. The way you structured the video not only got your point across well but the editing was also on point man, can't wait to see what'll come in the future
Eh, I don't see the Freedom ending that way. Specifically the one where the world goes back. I see it as you having resolved that, no, the old world WAS good enough, and you will go out there and PROVE it. But maybe that's me. I always stan the Neutral-side of endings in a lot of these games.
I agree. I also had a much more positive view of the freedom ending. Like you said, the world was good enough (as the teacher/Maiden herself learns) and what is more, life is good and is worth living. I would also say that this is the case even if there is a never ending cycle of creation and destruction. Existence is not less for this fact.
I like the Freedom ending because even if the return to the old world is only temporary, maybe when the next conception happens somebody will have a reason worth recreating the world for.
Nocturne is an example for mainline SMT that states a focus on Atmosphere and Gameplay is far more immersive and enjoyable compared to a focus on Storytelling and character development which are what most Mainline haters tend to complain about. Nocturne proves beyond reasonable doubt that not having a NPC/MC shove character arcs and narratives down your throat does not make a game bad.
I really enjoyed your analysis of SMT Nocturne and you even brought up things I didn't think about like the holiness of destruction, but why in the Amala Network would you leave out TDE or even not mention it? It's such a glaring omission when you touch on the fact that the Reason endings are crap.
There's already a discussion on your question up above but basically, that omission was fully intentional: TDE kinda destroys the balance between the other endings. Because of it, most people don't consider the other endings at all,and thus, don't really put thought in the questions/themes the game puts on the table. The vanilla endings completed each other really well.
When I heard about SMT5 getting announced, i was like, "cool, a JRPG I would be interested in getting" I didn't have high expectations for SMT5 or was super stoked about it. I was casually interested on getting SMT5 when it releases. But when I heard about SMT 3 HD coming on Switch, I immediately jumped the gun. I didn't know why I was more interested and intrigued more on SMT3 than 5. I knew of SMT3 but never played. I was willing to pay $50 plus the added content from Atlus. I heard it was a difficult game and from my Persona experience, the game was somewhat fairly easy until now I use buffs/debuffs. I love SMT 3 Nocturne; it was the first for me. I love the atmosphere, tone, setting, characters, combat, music, art, etc. I loved everything about it. The setting kinda gave me a nostalgic feeling from the early 2000s with the whole underground goth vibe like Underworld, Hellboy, Blade, etc... I personally loved SMT 3 Nocturne and I hold it dear to me as one of my personal favorite video games!!
I disagree with the idea that the freedom ending is a choice brought about by cowardice. I see it as the most brave choice that Demifiend can make, as it is the choice to have faith that humanity has the strength to improve for itself. In the freedom ending, Demifiend is presented almost like a Christlike figure, who is willing to bear the pain, ridicule, and shame of the world for the sake of the rest of humanity. The other three reasons could be Demifiend’s personal heaven, but instead he, in Kagusutchi’s words, “disregards the worlds past sins to pursue such an ideal.” Demifiend recreates the world knowing full well that humankind may reject the second chance he’s given them, but he deems it worthwhile anyways. The freedom ending is only a return to the status quo on the surface, but the events of the game have undoubtedly changed Demifiend forever. The achievement you get for the ending says it all: Old World, New Worldview. All the other endings were doomed to fail, because the meaning of life is the struggle for creation, not creation itself. Yosuga, Musubi, and Shijima are reasons with no struggle, and Demon and True Demon are struggles with no reason. Great video by the way. There really is a near infinite amount to say about this game.
this video almost brought a tear to my eye in the end, not gonna lie. I'm surprised you didn't mention the game-play elements but I know it would probably make the video longer. You also made me realize some of the aspects I never knew I loved about the game. Overall it was a fun and thoughtful video, thanks Dad
I really adore this game, I beat the version with raidou and got true demon end on hard. While I don't think I'll ever put myself through that again it's easily one of the greatest games ever made and I appreciate your appreciation for this game.
I definitely think Nocturne has a distinct art style which is rarely done. The graphics were pretty good for a ps2 game and the monster designs were very interesting. Even the character designs were distinct with a unique ost.
Awesome Video, Shin Megami Tensei is my most favorite Series ever, with Nocturne being my most fav! Only with 2 parts of the Video I disagree, one is were you say, or imply, that the lyrics and bible verses don't make sense or don't fit. Which is wrong. Just look at the lyrics you presented of the song "fierce battle". From the mention of the 1000 years, a reference to the 1000 Year Kingdom, something you actually strive for or fight against in previous SMT titles, to Satan being released, one of the main enforcer of God in the Shin Megami Tensei Series, to God's Judgement, since you literally fight an Avatar of God at the end to judge if you are worthy to have the ideal you represent being fulfilled, or being furious with you to deny his ***Judgement*** and fight against him to stop his plans to create a new world according to an ideal. The lyrics you presented are perfectly fitting to the overall narrative. I also disagree with your opinion of the Freedom Ending, which I never got the feeling was considered to be a "Coward" Ending, or one where the next conception will happen anyway, just without you. The Ending Text (from Lucifer) clearly states that your (demon) powers still reside within you, and that you should keep them until the "true" enemy (God, "YHVH") appears. Lucifer even seems to respect this choice.
I very much enjoyed your retrospective. I, too, have similar emotions and memories surrounding Nocturne. I think it's one of the most overlooked RPGs of its time. SPOILERS: However, I think you have missed why the plot in this game is brilliant. It's playing you. More specifically, who is playing you? None of the Reasons in Nocturne change anything. But how can we know this? Up until Nocturne within the mainline series we had SMT 1 and 2. We become familiar with the series' heavyweights. YHVH and Lucifer. Law and Chaos. We know of their unending war between each other. We are met by Lucifer very early into Nocturne. He gives us the parasite (magatama) that allows us to become a demon. It puts the entire game into motion with the conception happening at the same time. We are aware of the games True Demon Ending involving an alliance with Lucifer to march against YHVH, but we often overlook where YHVH is in Nocturne. This is the part that Western Nocturne fans never think about. Japanese players were familiar with YHVH being the force behind Law and it's concepts. His visage is familiar from SMT 1 and 2. So where is YHVH in Nocturne? In the final fight with Kagutsuchi it is revealed in its second form to have a face. Who's face? It's YHVH without any doubt. But what does it mean? It isn't actually YHVH in form, but an avatar of YHVH. Kagutsuchi is YHVH's will. This is the twist we in the West missed. The big reveal! Kagutsuchi wanted us to find a reason so we could reset the world as we knew it. Therefore all Reason endings are, in a sense, Law endings. You were being played by YHVH to reset the world for him. You only have 2 endings in theory. Law or Chaos. You can see 4 Law endings: Shijima, Musubi, Yosuga and "neutral". Neutral in this game is a Law ending because it leaves YHVH in control with Kagutsuchi feeling displeased that the world cannot be reset just yet. Chaos has two: Demon and True Demon Ending. Anyone who cared to read this, thank you and thank you to Simply Dad for uploading this. Cheers!
I think of it more-so as the humans in the game having very differing and unique reasons an alignments that only get tainted and molded into a uniformed law/chaos one once they get their power from outside sourced, Gozu-Tennoh, Ahriman etc etc.
I like how smt is like peace of art anyone can see different meaning to no meaning at All you can mold your meaning to whichever reality you please it all depends on wath you believe In okay that felt random
Finally RU-vid sugested me high quality content! I've never gotten to play any Shin Megami Tensei games, but you've given me really good reasons to start :)
How is freedom based on a fear of change? What if I just fuckin' like the world as it is or think the reasons are stupid? I went for it envisioning the protag as just wanting to take back his life that the universe took from him in a defiant and headstrong act, not giving a fuck about the cosmic godlike forces demanding rebirth.
Well when I played nocturne I got the freedom ending because I just didn’t agree with the reasons so I said FUCK you guys I think the world was fine as is.
Art direction, music and atmosphere are definitely fantastic in Nocturne, however when it comes to gameplay and story it falls apart really quick. Unfortunalety many people praise the dumb and luck based press turn system, and as a result, Atlus will keep rehashing it forever. Dying simply because the enemy got the first turn may be good for memes, but it doesn't do much for good gameplay. The game decides your fate over a coin flip. Also, you can talk about symbolism all you want, but as far as story goes Nocturne is not that special either. Very little things in this game make any sense when you drop the fanboy goggles and actually think for a second about what happens in the game and how the characters behave.
I am not a fan of the "git gud" crowd, but, the games certainly leaves you with options to cover your bases the further you go. Get ambushed alot? Maybe invest in the literal _luck_ stat. Enemies overwhelm you? Maybe adjust the party to the elements thrown at you. The Press Turn system is just as abusable by you as it is by the enemies.
I first watched this video a few days ago, and it was excellent. I got into SMT back around 2014(I think) when I basically pestered my oldest brother to buy Nocturne on the PSN Store(he also got Persona 3 Fes along with it). Nocturne was the first Megami Tensei game I ever played while for my older brothers it was Persona 3 and 4 years prior. Although I wasn't able to beat it since I was ultimately aiming for the TDE on my first playthrough, I ended up starting over because I messed up some steps before eventually kinda giving up on it(honestly regret giving up because now our PS3 is basically dead). Afterwards however, I played through SMT4(got the neutral ending without a guide on how to get it on my first playthrough), Digital Devil Sega 1, Persona 5, and some I still need to get around to playing like Devil Survivor 2 and Apocalypse. I also bought Soul Hackers for my birthday last month and bought ePSXe on my phone last week so I can play through the Persona 2 duology. I think I can also thank(and blame) Nocturne for my masochistic nature for wanting to play hard af games as well. I kinda have nothing else to say other than restating how great this video is and still consider myself a Megaten newbie and that's about it.
I just want turn based combat that isn't a question of "whose numbers are bigger?". SMT (and to a lesser extent Persona) are the only games I've seen achieve this.
This video is awe-inspiring. I'm currently working on a video similar to this one (that also happens to be SMT-related) and hearing the way you described what video games can be and what impact they can have on us resonated with me more than I think any video on this website ever has. I also felt the same way about gaming just a few years ago; things just didn't speak to me like they used to. But last year, I found media that resonated with me. Things that talked about topics and subjects I didn't think they could tell me. Just knowing that other people can be as passionate about media they've consumed that they wish to make videos explaining its brilliance is reassuring to me and is amazing to see. Consider me a new fan and keep up the good work.
This is an amazing video. A lot of this echoes through my very fucking soul. Well done with this. With that, though, there are a few things I want to address: First. The Freedom/Human Ending. The fact that its the only ending with a stinger after the credits, AND the hopeful music, AND the fact you have to respond to the neutral questions with "bravery" make me consider it as not really the game telling you its a shortsighted thing to do that is worth being ridiculed for and instead the game acknowledging it as the "best ending" - well, until the TDE came along but you didn't even bring up that ending this video so I'd rather not get into that. If not for the fact that it ties into the whole "neutral, law and chaos" of all of SMT by you getting this ending by going against Kagutsuchi's wishes, I would consider it as a flaw of the game since all the other story paths seem to "weigh in" on each other... But hey. Its a fucking cool ending. And second - you mentioned that you love how SMT has stuck to it's guns and stayed as it always has been despite all the spinoffs and stuff. This leads me to ask you: is IV Apocalypse a spin off? Because that was definitely not in the same direction as other SMT games, being about Bonds VS Power and Law and Chaos being more like bad endings. And I never thought of Apocalypse as a spin-off since its gameplay is so mainline but I want to hear your opinion on that.
I really just try to forget that Apocalypse happened at all, it’s a clear sign that the older SMT crew is out and the newer ones are in. during the development of SMT IV there was a conflict between the Old Heads and the new folk on the image of the game, with the newer members wanting a more character-based anime-ish type game like Persona, but thankfully Kaneko had written a basic scenario outline for IV, so I’m assuming Apocalypse was the result of a kaneko-less blank slate of a plot written by a new cast of people who haven’t been a part of the franchise as long as people like Eiji Ishida, Kazuma Kaneko, or Cozy Okada
I love jrpgs but.. nocturne wasn't good. The difficulty spikes are ridiculous and you run in the same corridors over and over. An average game at best.
Yo, my favorite part of the text boxes are how sometimes the lines will go 4 deep and it looks so fuckin' crazy! You're not supposed to go past three lines man! Like against Mother Harlot, or Trumpeter. It's weirdly memorable
Why haven't you made content like this years ago you sound so enthusiastic, clean, non mimicking and raw.. Also I love the understanding and effort you poured into this video I hope to see more content like this in the future. Also hope you have fun playing smt if's english fan translation.
@@moosesnake7193 yup about the same time it took me. Idk why it says 50 hours on the box. When Matador or alotta the bosses can take hours if ur not prepared. Alotta areas are a mindfuck too.
I had never consider the whole concept of the game itself since its beginning as *The Vortex*. I'm so glad to have watched this video, very informative and interesting. Waiting for SMT V for another frustrating life, thanks Dad!
