The MegaTen series!

[SuperSabin]

Took me a bit to think of a nice topic that hasn't already been posted about and this one just hit me in the face. There are a ton of the following titles out there: Megami Tensei, Shin Megami Tensei, Digitial Devil Saga, Devil Survivor, Persona, etc. For those of you who don't know about the games, a lot of them are first person view rpgs and you fight monsters known as demons which you can actually communicate with before a battle and you can have them give you money, magentite, or convince them to join and fight with you (like in dragon quest monsters and pokemon). EDIT: oh how silly of me, I forgot to talk about another important key point to the series. The games have multiple endings and you have 3 paths to choose from and you take those paths by doing certain things in the storyline. The paths are: Law, Neutral, and Chaos.

How many of you are familiar with the series? Which out of all the series have you played? Which title was your first one? What title was your favorite? What title was your least favorite?

My first entry into the series was Shin Megami Tensei II for the SFC (via emulation). Didn't like it back then because I didn't really understand how to play and kept getting lost and dying in the process. Years later, I started to get interested in playing the series again and played SMT 1 which I really enjoy now that I understand the game flow and the mechanics and its really addicting.

I would say that SMT 1 is my favorite title so far (still have LOADS of other titles to play before I have a solid opinion).

No least favorite title yet.

The titles I've played so far are just SMT I & II.

[Xanatos]

Awfully noobish of me, but out of the ones you mentioned Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series is the only one I'm familiar with. So far, I've beaten Persona 3 Portable and had a stab at Persona 4. I have like 10 hours into Persona 4, and that would be 10 hours too much if you ask me. The game simply bored me to death.

Persona 3 Portable was somewhat better, it has a great gameplay and well done character development, other than that there's not much going for this game. Take music for instance, in midst of battle you have to listen to cheap Japanese teen pop. Opponent design is also something I found to be terrible, there are like total of 10 opponents with different color swipse for each stage. Also, fighting tables, mush and gloves is as fun as watching Uwe Boll movies. Characters and story, while not rock bottom bad, are also something I'm not really thrilled with.

[SuperSabin]

If you play emulators, Xanatos, you should check out Shin Megami Tensei I & II for the snes. I heard the first one had some glitches (which i suggest reading up on before playing the first one). The story in the first one was really well done and is something that intrigues the player and gets him wanting to know more. The soundtrack is really good (i got a song on my sig thats from the first game which is an example of what kind of music it has).

[smurphy]

I havent played a huge amount of these games but of those I did I really enjoyed them. Digital Devil Saga 2 was a pretty good game but due to unfamilliarity with the series I found it hard to get into. Loved the atmosphere and aesthetic though.

But Persona 3 and 4 are 2 of the best JRPGs on the PS2 system. I would even go as far to say Persona 4 was the last great JRPG that has been released. A shame that it arrives at the end of the PS2s life cycle as it is a hugely underappreciated game. They beat most games with much higher production values for story and characterisation, never mind depth and charm. Even though Persona 5 has yet to be announced(I think...) it is my most anticipated game.