39,327
edits
Shin Megami Tensei: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
m (Mass update links) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 71:
* [[Absurdly High Level Cap]]: A crowning example of how to avert this trope: make every boss (on average) five levels higher than the best [[Mook]] in the dungeon, and force the player to gather higher-level [[Mon|Mons]]. In a normal playthrough, you'll end up in the mid-seventies by the end of the game, mid-ninties for ultimate summons, and max level for [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]].
* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]] - The series has a bit of a bad habit with these. Particular offenders include the Great Underpass of Ginza in ''Nocturne'' and the Anahata Waterways in ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]''.
* [[Alice Allusion]] - Alice, the recurring [[Cute Ghost Girl]] who has appeared since ''Shin Megami Tensei''. Has many [[Shout
** Though the Mad Hatter and White Rabbit known as Clock Rabbit have shown up in the Devil Children games. With Clock Rabbit and Alice even being in Devil Children White Book.
* [[All Myths Are True]] - All mythical creatures from various folklore and religions are real. Up to and including God, represented as YHVH, and Satan. There's often twists on the representations, since they're usually demons, but they're still real.
Line 84:
* [[Amnesiac Dissonance]] - {{spoiler|Zain}} in ''Shin Megami Tensei II'', {{spoiler|Serph}} in ''Digital Devil Saga 2''.
* [[Anarchy Is Chaos]]: [[Playing With a Trope|Manhandled]] to the degree it runs away screaming.
* [[Anti
** To be more specific, SMT uses the "diminishing returns" principle found in most Modern [[JRP Gs]].
* [[Apocalypse How]]: {{spoiler|My, lessee, we have a Class 1 apocalypse in SMTI and SMTII, a Class 3A in ''[[Persona 3 (Video Game)|Persona 3]]'''s Bad Ending, Class 6 to X-4 (how widespread the annihilation went is left unclear) in the ending of Persona 2, a class X at the beginning of ''Nocturne'', and a Class Z in the True Demon Ending of the same.}}
Line 125:
** In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne|Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne]]'' the previous system of alignment is discarded in favour of three specific philosophies: Shijima (which is closest to Law but without the [[Knight Templar]] tendencies), Musabi (Neutral, focusing on individuality and freedom of choice) and Yosuga (Chaos with a heavy dose of the elitism that Law was previously known for).
* [[Characterization Marches On]] - The [[Social Darwinist]] Chaos Ending from [[Shin Megami Tensei I|SMTI]] is originally seen as a valid enough choice, given the [[Black and Grey Morality]] of the series, but as the world in general becomes slightly less [[Crapsack World|crapsack]], it gets called out as evil far more explicitly; the supporter of its expy in ''Nocturne'' is the only person explicitly called evil and in ''Devil Survivor'', it's virtually an [[It's a Wonderful Failure]] montage.
* [[Character
* [[Character Portrait]] - More clearly seen in conversations in Persona games.
* [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]] - In Persona 2, rumors become reality.
Line 213:
* [[Holy Hand Grenade]] - "Hama" type spells; typically [[One-Hit Kill]] type spells.
* [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse]] - In ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha VS King Abaddon]]'', you help unseal them, then beat them, then can summon them yourself. In Nocturne, they're optional bosses and later, special fusions. It's justified fairly well in the case of Nocturne - after all, you are in the midst of the actual Apocalypse. They are also optional in Strange Journey after you get the Enemy Search
* [[Hot Skitty
** In a much more [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|horrifying]] way, too: In the main series of games alone, you're essentially murdering the selected demons, mixing the remains together, and making a new demon out of it (sometimes that fails, and you just get a Slime). It's not the only way it's been done (''Persona 3'' and ''4'' just mix the Tarot cards together), but it is the most common. And this is almost ''necessary'' to progress in any of the games. [[Fridge Horror|Have fun fusing, now!]]
*** This must be an SMT thing - in the original ''Persona'', you talk demons into handing over portions of their energy ("Spell Cards") and make Personae out of that. The demons never mind (they usually tell you "Make a strong Persona out of me!" or the like), and if contacted while you still own their Spell Card, they'll leave the fight (and sometimes give you stuff).
Line 238:
** It does not make them any easier.
* [[Limited Move Arsenal]] - Of the second type, with the exception of [[Digital Devil Saga]] and humans in [[Devil Survivor (Video Game)|Devil Survivor]], which use the first.
* [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards]]: Magic attacks are generally much more useful than Physical attacks in the newer SMT games, due to the Press Turn system, which awards extra turns to the attacker if the attack exploits an elemental weakness. Few enemies are weak to Physical damage.
** This is balanced out by the fact that physical attacks tend to do more base damage (or hit multiple times, depending on the attack), [[Cast From Hit Points|cost HP rather than MP]] meaning that you can use them and still have plenty left over for healing and buffing, and critical hits work on people even with a resistance to physical. Deadly Fury and Divine Shot from Nocturne, Vorpal Blade and Pralaya from ''Persona 3'', and God's Hand and Pralaya from ''Persona 4'' are quite nasty examples of what physical attacks can do.
** Of note, too: the extra Press Turns are still awarded when Critical Hits are dealt, and there are several games, most notably ''Nocturne'', in which it is ''wizards'' who draw the short stick, as the damage they deal is lessened with the levels they gain due to the damage formula involved. Conversely, physical attacks such as Freikugel, Deadly Fury and Hades Blast, are all powered up with the extra levels, and the [[True Final Boss]] of ''Nocturne'' can ''only'' be reliably damaged with potent physical attacks.
Line 269:
* [[Nakama]] - "We're comrades"
** This trope becomes a major plot point and gameplay element for the third and fourth Persona games. Making friends gives you ''actual'' power.
* [[New Game
* [[No Export for You]] - Several of the games have this issue. Considering the massive issues some of these deal with, it's fair to say it is quite justified.
* [[Non-Elemental]] - Almighty. One of the reasons why it's impossible to defend oneself against any attacks of this attribute.
Line 314:
* [[Sequel First]] - Jack Bros. an obscure Virtual Boy Gauntlet clone spin off, was the first game in the series to be come to the US.
* [[Sex Sells]] - Aeria recently started advertising the MMORPG with this using demons. To be fair, a few of the demons are attractive but others...
* [[Shout
** YHVH looks like the bastard child of Mr. Clean and the Wizard's false form from ''[[The Wizard of Oz (Film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''. More the latter than the former though.
* [[Shown Their Work]] - The Demonic Compendium for every single game in the series, including spinoffs, contains an accurate overview of each demon's background and origin, and the sources pulled from are ''diverse'' to say the least. If you don't have a degree in mythological studies, playing through a bunch of the games and reading the entire Compendium for each would give you one hell of a head start.
* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]] - Mostly set on the further ends of Cynical. [[God]] is usually an [[God Is Evil|evil bastard]], everyone sane is trying to use you to further their personal goals ([[Unwitting Pawn|which you will inevitably fall for]], [[But Thou Must!|whether you like it or not]]) and [[Everything Is Trying to Kill You|everything else is trying to kill you]]. The more idealistic settings (like ''[[Persona]]'' games) are usually [[A World Half Full]], however. The series has gradually gotten more and more idealistic as time has gone by; in newer games, you really can [[Earn Your Happy Ending]] if you don't lose hope.
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: There's a Konami-made smartphone game in Japan called "Dragon Collection" that's immensely popular. Its stable of monster cards is, shall we say suspiciously similar to the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' cast, and the old Devil Children spinoffs in particular.
* [[Soaperizing]] - ''[[Persona 3]]'' and its sequel ''[[Persona 4]]'', while still RPG's, add [[Dating Sim]] [[Level Up At Intimacy 5|elements]]. This games are [[Cash Cow Franchise|INSANELY]] popular, and Persona 3 was the mainstream english market introduction to the Shin Megami Tensei franchise.
| |||