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Shin Megami Tensei: Difference between revisions
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A huge part of the series is the emphasis on following your own beliefs: "You are the only one who knows what is right." The games generally involve factions based on the alignments of Law and Chaos battling it out for supremacy, and the game gives you complete freedom in deciding which side is "right". If neither side takes your fancy, you can even kick both their butts and declare yourself as supreme ruler. The Law factions usually include the Christian worldview with a heavy dose of [[Knight Templar]] and [[God Is Evil]], while the Chaos side views itself as [[The Unfettered]] and [[Social Darwinist]]. Neutrality would seem a safe bet, being the "island of stability" where humans thrive, ''except'' for [[Humans Are Bastards|one or two]] [[Vicious Cycle|teensy flaws]] we happen to be lugging around.
The games also tend to be [[Nintendo Hard]]. Elemental affinities, buffing and debuffing are much more important here than in regular JRPGs: they can make or break battles. ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne]]'' introduced the Press Turn battle system to the series, where hitting an enemy's elemental weakness would reward you with more actions while hitting their elemental strengths would cost you actions. In an aversion of [[Useless Useful Spell]], buffing, [[One-Hit Kill|instant death]] and [[Standard Status Effects|ailment]] attacks are both effective and encouraged. Press Turn would go on to be adopted in various forms in the ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' games that followed, such as the "One More!" system in ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]''.
The Shin Megami Tensei series has multiple [[Spin-Off|spinoffs]]: the ''[[Persona (video game)|Persona]]'' series, the ''Devil Summoner'' series and ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' are the best-known in the US. Others include ''Majin Tensei'', ''[[Last Bible]]'', and ''Devil Children''/''Demi Kids''. It also has an [[MMORPG]] called ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Imagine|Shin Megami Tensei: IMAGINE]]''. Despite being spinoffs, many include references to other Megaten games or feature character cameos. The games have been released outside Japan under the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' label since ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne|Nocturne]]'', while in Japan only a handful of the games bear that name; the rest are unofficially known as MegaTen titles.
A very extensive article about the games in the series [http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/megaten/megaten.htm can be found here.] There's also a comprehensive database of all the games [http://shindds.free.fr/index.php in French here.]
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** ''[[Shin Megami Tensei If]]'' (1994, Japan only)
** ''Shin Megami Tensei NINE'' (2002, Japan only)
** ''[[Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne]]'' (2003)
** ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Imagine|Shin Megami Tensei: IMAGINE]]'' (2007/2008)
** ''[[
** ''[[Shin Megami Tensei IV]]''
* ''[[Last Bible]]'' sub-series (1992-1999)
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** Nor can you truly destroy {{spoiler|[[Persona 2|Nyarlathotep]], [[Persona 3|Nyx, Erebus]], [[Persona 4|Izanami]], or [[Raidou Kuzunoha VS King Abaddon|Shinato]]}}; their existence come from weakness in the human heart. [[Not So Different|Sort of like]] {{spoiler|YHVH}}, really, except applied to {{spoiler|[[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]}} instead.
*** In a minor subversion of the trope, {{spoiler|Izanami (and her offshot, Ame-no-Sagiri) say they'll be able to recorporate but concede the philosophical point to the heroes and agree to stop their plans for the time being after getting their asses kicked in royal fashion. And then there's Shinato, who basically decides he's underestimated humanity after you give him a sound thrashing, and changes his mind about punishing the world for its lack of faith. [[Shin Megami Tensei]]: [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|you can't destroy evil, but you can apparently punch it into submission!]] }}
** The implication is that [[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey|the Schwartzwelt]] is actually Earth's defense mechanism and has appeared before. So did destroying it {{spoiler|or changing Earth to a chaotic/lawful state}} really change anything?
* [[Nintendo Hard|Atlus Hard]] - These games have been known to make players cry.
** Example: In most RPG's, getting back attacked will only result in losing some HP before returning the favor. Here, you can (at higher difficulties, very likely) get killed off ''before you can get a turn''.
** The laconic entry for this series, for a long time, ''redirected'' to [[Nintendo Hard]]. You can't say we didn't warn you.
** And, as one of their company spokespeople proudly admitted: ''We get off on your tears!''
* [[Autobots Rock Out]]: Most of the soundtracks composed by Shoji Meguro during and after the [[Play Station 2]] era, where pretty much every final boss fight ends up being scored to an [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|electric guitar jamming as hard as it can]]. The exception would be ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]'', where he went for a symphonic approach instead.
* [[Belts and Zippers]] - Izanagi {{spoiler|and Izanami}} in ''Persona 4''. Izanagi has a belt buckle jacket and belts hanging off his helmet, {{spoiler|Izanami's first form}} appears to be restrained almost entirely by belts.
* [[Big Bad]]: YHVH, aka [[God]]. A ''[[Light Is Not Good|Law]]''-aligned [[Knight Templar]] who shows up in most games, or oversees the results of his work. Controls the Angels, [[End of the World Special|and has fun with the world]].
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* [[Colon Cancer]] - A number of titles have more than one subtitle, such as the various "Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner X: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. _____" installments.
* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]] - Law is blue and white; Chaos is red and black.
** [[Played With]] in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]'': strike team has red on their uniforms (except the protagonist) and science has blue. Zelenin is science, Jimenez is strike team. Take a wild guess what factions they each support in the end. Oddly enough, the protagonist wears white (but won't necessarily be law) - and no one else does.
*** Extending on that, they also color-code Joint Project vs. Jack's Crew: your buddy's have the standard gold-ish Demonicas, and Jack's Crew get black ones. See above for what black tends to support.
* [[Combination Attack]] - In ''Digital Devil Saga 2'', ''Persona 2'', ''Persona 3'', and ''Persona 4''.
** And now ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]'', but in a very different way. If you hit a weakness, all the demons of your same alignment gang up on the opponent.
* [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]] - And ''how!'' Generally shows up in two ways:
** The [[Turns Red|Dragon Eye]] move, which gives all enemies extra turns, [[Unusable Enemy Equipment|and demons you control never have the chance to learn it]].
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* [[Council of Angels]] - Notable in that, from SMT 2 onward, {{spoiler|they practically become the ''[[Butt Monkey|cosmic Butt Monkeys]]'' of the franchise; in SMT 2 they're basically abandoned by God and are running Tokyo Millennium in a hilariously inept fashion and orchestrated the creation of the Messiah and crew in the first place, which blew up in their faces when Aleph ''carved their shit in''; then, in ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' 2, they show up as bonus bosses - talking about the events of SMT 2, no less - except that now they've been put into mutated human bodies and hunger for the blood and flesh of man just like any other demon. You'd think they'd give the Big Man the finger after all that.}}
** This is, of course, played straight in SMT 1, where {{spoiler|they become quite powerful allies if you're on the Law path, and attempt to stop you if you're on any other path; Seraph Michael serves as the game's penultimate, hardest boss in that case}}. Also played perfectly straight in ''[[Devil Survivor]]'', {{spoiler|where Remiel who serves Metatron and the Big Man himself are far less assholish than franchise standard and will help you out unless you're on on the blatantly chaotic routes}}.
* [[Crapsack World]]: [[Shin Megami Tensei I]] starts out a mild version of this, and gets a lot worse. [[Shin Megami Tensei II]] has this as the default state since it follows the Neutral Path of the first game, though it can either get worse or better. [[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]] goes the route of the first game, but can be reversed, or made even worse. ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]'' has the potential to become this, but can be averted, although the gameplay setting is basically this. The [[Persona]] games are set in [[Crap Saccharine World]] setting that can be made a [[Crapsack World]], and in the first half of the second game duology this actually does happen briefly {{spoiler|in the ending}}, though the second half reverses this somewhat (though the fourth game lets you totally avert this in the true ending and actually improve the world setting from the game world default). [[Devil Survivor]] can turn into this or be averted, depending on your choices.
* [[Creepy Child]] - [[Louis Cypher]] in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]]'', and Pharos in ''[[Persona 3]]''.
** Alice.
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* [[Dolled-Up Installment]] - Minor example in the US releases: the ''Persona'' / ''Devil Survivor'' / ''Digital Devil Saga'' / ''Devil Summoner'' / etc games, while technically not part of the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' series proper, were all released overseas under that title anyway, presumably because the series needs whatever name recognition it can get on this side of the pond.
** Finally averted with ''[[Catherine]]'', which despite having similar themes/characters/gameplay elements/staff/etc (much like the previously dolled-up games) was released outside Japan without the Shin Megami Tensei moniker tacked on, and managed to have the best international sales of an Atlus developed game to date.
* [[Doppelganger]], a [[Character Alignment|Dark-Chaos]] [[Our Demons Are Different|Demon]] that can be fused in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]''. It appears as a shadowy, [[Slasher Smile|grinning]] version of [[The Protagonist]].
** [[Doppelganger Spin]] - Used in both ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]]'' ({{spoiler|where you can use the shadow cast by a full moon to suss out the real one}} and ''Digital Devil Saga'' (which you can suss out the real one with the help of your [[Waif Prophet]]).
*** In Persona 2, you can do this by attempting to run. The camera will then FOCUS ON THE REAL ONE as she taunts you. Oops...
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* [[Fan Nickname]] - The protagonists of ''Devil Summoner: [[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]]'', ''Nocturne'', ''Persona,'' ''Persona 3,'' and ''Persona 4'' are nameless in the game, but fans often use the names given to the characters in various manga and drama CD's based off the games.
** The protagonist of ''[[Shin Megami Tensei If]]'' was also named like this at first, until [[Sure Why Not|she was given a name]] (and a definite gender) in ''Persona 1''.
* [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] - Mor enotably explored in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei I]]'' and ''[[Shin Megami Tensei II]]'', with the various factions and alliances everyone pulls in the road to ultimate power, though ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]'' is also a very good example with the Mothers and the demon lords.
* [[Fiction as Cover Up]]: Many [[Mega Ten]] fans take [[Persona 4]]'s mention of a [[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army|Raidou Kuzunoha]] movie as this. It would make it the only indication of any games in the series (beyond the direct sequels and Persona sub-series) to take place in the same ([[Multiverse|exact]]) universe.
* [[Gag Penis]] - Used frequently in many of the demons. Witness the [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080707022822/megamitensei/images/0/09/MaraSMT.jpg Mara], [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090618224005/megamitensei/images/4/43/PENDRAGON.png Pendragon] and, of all things, [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080806040827/megamitensei/images/0/0e/Cthulhu2.jpg Cthulhu].
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** The [http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/SMTNocturne/Update%2021/76-night_incubus.jpg Incubus], who seems to find every woman and female demon in the game sexy. It's his job, after all.
** Just look at [http://images.wikia.com/megamitensei/images/0/0d/Yamm.jpg Ym.]
* [[Gaiden Game]] - Titles outside of [[Shin Megami Tensei I]], [[Shin Megami Tensei II]], [[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]] and ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]'' (which is a lot). The Japanese super title for the ''Persona'' games (and ''Devil Survivor'') "Megami Ibunroku" even means "Alternate Tale of the Goddess".
** That being said, the Persona games have practically [[Alternate Continuity|become their own franchise]] at this point.
* [[Gateless Ghetto]] -
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*** Another way to put it, God is the guy who wants to create a world where only those who worship him can live, but Lucifer is the guy who wants to create a world where you are free to kill anyone who you wish. The only security would be being able to kill people yourself. Lucifer is also the guy all the demons you randomly encounter killing people report to, so there's a bit of [[Fridge Logic]] in the Chaos path.
** It's also worth noting that ever since the franchise started picking up lots of steam in America (to the point that Persona games sell nearly as well in the States as they do in Japan), this has been dialed back ''significantly'' with every successive game since ''Nocturne'', to the point that in the recent ''Devil Survivor'', {{spoiler|God and his top angels are actually decidedly in the protagonist's camp (unless he decides to become a demon lord himself or just tries to run away from his responsibilities). The rest of the angels are still massive asshats, but Remiel and Metatron (and by extension, their boss) are far more supportive of the player and genuinely want what's best for humanity}}. This is all presumably to better match up with the Western view of God not being a ceaseless jerk.
*** Not quite. While God is a ''much'' better person in ''[[Devil Survivor]]'', ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]'' discreetly returned to this with the Demiurge sidequest. Not naming him God or YHVH made this fly over many's heads, but compare the Gnostic conception of the Demiurge with YHVH's behavior... {{spoiler|without mentioning the fact the [[Updated Rerelease]] of ''[[Devil Survivor]]'' cast Him into a much more ambiguous light by revealing he set the pieces to the [[Cain and Abel]] scenario with the express purpose of creating the world's first martyr... and the first murderer.}}
** More recent games have also begun to imply that the fact YHVH is such a dick is a symptom of something going terribly wrong with the universe, not a cause.
* [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]]: The demons, angels, monsters, and spirits only exist in many of the games because people remember and believe in them. Oddly, if the supernatural creatures believe hard enough, they create fake duplicates of other supernatural entities.
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* [[Harder Than Hard]] - Maniacs mode in the modern games. [[This Is Gonna Suck|It's the subtitle]] of the [[Updated Rerelease]] of Nocturne.
* [[Hello, Insert Name Here]] - Most of the protagonists in the series are nameless until you name them.
* [[Hell on Earth]] - ''Nocturne'' and ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]''.
* [[Heroic Mime]] - The main protagonists are almost always one of these. Which made ''Persona 2'' quite entertaining considering that the protagonists of ''Innocent Sin'' and ''Eternal Punishment'' only have dialogue in the game they're not starring in.
** Some games work skillfully around this. In ''Digital Devil Saga'', Serph is a [[Heroic Mime]] because {{spoiler|he's based on the understanding Sera had on the real Serph. That is to say, she knew nothing about the real Serph}}. In ''Persona 3'' and ''4'', the protagonists' arcanas are [[The Fool]]. One aspect of [[The Fool]] is chaos and creativity; in short, this means they are free to choose any personality they want.
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* [[Mad Scientist]] - [[Shin Megami Tensei I|STE]][[Shin Megami Tensei II|VEN]], [[Shin Megami Tensei II|Dr. Mekata]] and [[Soul Hackers|Dr]]. [[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army|Victor]] all qualify.
* [[Mad Scientist Laboratory]] - Every single incarnation of the Gouma-Den.
* [[Magic From Technology]] - Devil Summoners throughout the franchise usually carry around [[Magitek|a device]] --arm-mounted COMPs in the original games, GUMPs in the ''Devil Summoner'' subseries, [[Nintendo DS]]-shaped COMPs in ''[[Devil Survivor]]'', the [[Powered Armor|Demonica]] in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]''-- that runs the Demon Summoning Program and allows the user to summon and control his or her [[Mons]]. And in ''[[Devil Survivor]]'', it outright gives the user access to magic spells of his/her own.
* [[Market-Based Title]] - In the West, from ''Nocturne'' onwards the games have been branded under the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' label. In Japan, though every game is considered a MegaTen title they aren't marketed as such.
* [[Mascot Mook]] - Jack Frost. He's even the official mascot of Atlus itself, making this a literal example of the trope.
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* [[Orochi]] - Usually a major boss in some of the games and is possible to fuse after beating him.
** Though they refer to him by the full mythological version of his name "Yamata-No-Orochi".
* [[Original Generation]] - There are a handful of demons not directly taken from mythology. The most prominent examples are the [[Mascot Mook|Jack Frost]] variants, [[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne|Black Frost]], [[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army|Raiho]], [[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey|Frost Ace and Demonee-Ho]]. Other examples include Alice, Hell Biker (based on the Hells Angels) and the titular Soulless Army of ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]]'' (which reappear in the sequel).
* [[Our Monsters Are Weird]]: Where can we even start with this one?
** Mara wins this, hands down.
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