bit-tech Shopping: Atlus Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (PS2)

Rating: 10

Time with product: 2 Years

Strengths: graphics, storyline twist, demon depth, and difficulty.

Weaknesses: If it is the music, I wouldnt know. I wasn't paying attention to that. But on the outer map moving from icon to icon, as an icon was not great. some freedom of movement.

Summary: In an age where games are beatdown in days or just hours, looking for games that are worth my money and give me something to do, are hard to find. Why on earth are people referring this to a pokemon type game is beyond me. I've never played pokemon. However I have played YU-GI-OH. I enjoy yugioh. The reference is to the fact that as you talk to demons and recruit them they fight with you. YOU may have on call a certain number of demons with innumerable differences in abilities. LIKE yu-gi-oh you may mix your demon friends together 2 at a time or all of them, to create a much different demon. if you do this right you can transfer certain spells or abilities, sometimes this takes alot of time and resetting. but if you want to have those hard earned spells, it is worth it. You will mix them at a cathederal. once you do this your old demon or demons are gone. however.... the cathederal also offers a (storage) of your demons it will save the most current version, if you want. so...for a price, (after you have used the demon to mix),you can purchase it back. the higher the level the higher the price. Now the game itself is very deep, it offers good challenges and it is familiar to other rpg's. So just buy the game, play it, and play it, and play it. Too bad the brady book isn't made anymore I would have enjoyed seeing what I am missing, plus I'm hung on the little numbers you step on then fight those girls up in that tower. Crap. Be careful or youll get stuck like me.

Rating: 6

Time with product: 5 Days

Strengths: + cool,stylish art design and graphics;

Weaknesses: - the battle system is not innovative- the presentation of the overhead map is weak; instead of the character walking from town to town, you move a simple icon on a map.

Summary: You'll either love SMT: Nocturne or hate it. The setting, graphics, character designs are refreshing, but the battle system and the overhead map aren't anywhere as innovative.SMT: Nocturne offers probably the best use of cell shaded graphics I have ever seen. It's almost like watching an anime cartoon.On the other hand the battle system is nothing new; it's pretty much selecting moves through menus. Gameplay also involves talking to monsters and trying to convince them to join your army. In that sense it's almost pokemon-esque; they join you and you use them to fight with you.

Rating: 4

Time with product: 1 Months

Strengths: Looks nice and has interesting character design

Weaknesses: Requires TONS of time and patience

Summary: Shin Megami Tensei: Nocture is based off a popular rpg series in Japan. I wanted to like this game, but I couldn't. While the game does a good job at presenting it's dark atmosphere, everything else didn't hold up. You will be assaulted with lots of battles thanks to the game's high encounter rate and yet will gain levels at a pitifully slow rate. To make matters worse, some extreme balance issues will force you to constantly level up or you'll be floored by enemies that will attack several times in succession before your turn. The storyline starts off with promise but you'll go through large amounts of time where nothing exciting happens, greatly reducing interest. Worth a look only for serious rpg fans who have a lot of time and patience on their hands and even then you could do better than this game.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 10 Days

Strengths: Dante from DMC, engaging plot, multiple endings= replayability

Weaknesses: can get repetative (like any rpg), definitly not for rpg newbies

Summary: A great RPG, SMT: Nocturne will last you a while, with multiple endings to get, and tons of side quests to do. The style, story, and gameplay do a very good job of being different from almost any other game on the market as well. A great game, but only for the truly RPG hardcore, due to its sometimes complicated, and always deep gameplay. Recomended if you are up to it.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 4 Months

Strengths: Great storyline, recruiting demons, cut-scene graphics

Weaknesses: None

Summary: SMT: Nocturne is one of my favorite games. It has a great storyline and puts an interesting spin on the role-playing events that take place. The main character fights against demons that have been brought through to Earth?s dimension by an evil force. However, the main character has also been turned into a half-demon and now has the power to fight against this new threat. During the game, the main character can also recruit demons to accompany him in his quest to defeat this evil force. Dante (from Devil May Cry) also makes an appearance in the game and even joins your party.This is a great role-playing game and I highly recommend the purchase.