Persona 1, 2 and 3. Shin Megami Tensei.

Having followed the series for many years (both persona and shin megami) I've considered them to be a love/hate. Most people consider them to be the most different RPG series we've seen to date as the storyline if often dark, deals with elements of religion, and has a more mature feel.

Persona 1--
When I first got the game many years ago I fell head over heels for it. Being an RPG it didnt take place in some fantasy type setting where you had dragons and wizards and goblins, no, it took place in a modern world. The gameplay was a bit more then most could handle though as many couldnt understand the option to talk with the monsters they were fighting. As the game had so many, often times players felt frustrated about it. The story while dark delt with a group trying to find their friend who was hospitalized. I never finished it so I'm sadly unable to say how either of the endings were let alone how well the story progressed. It's been out so long that I'm afraid many who would experience it now for the first time simply could not enjoy it as well due to the graphics dated appearance. Make no mistake though, in spite of this, the game is well worth playing. It's much more easy then people gave it credit for in comparison to later games in the MegaTen franchise.

Persona 2--
Years after it's releast I was finaly able to get my hands on a copy where I've yet to play it. The art style looks very simular to the first but so far I've not got the urge to play it knowing that what we got was only part of the story. The other Persona 2 game which tied into it never saw a release in the states. I dont know why Atlus chose to not release it but they did and I doubt we will ever see it.

Persona 3--
I dont have it, I've seen around 50 screen shots, and while I'm not overly crazy over the art style change from the previous 2 I've already pre-orderd it and the word for the day is "Mitsuke". On an related note, I'd recomend anyone wanting this game to pre-order it and NOT wait untill it hits the streets as it's been reported to have less then 40,000 units in production. Perhaps GameQuestDirect will issue a re-release or perhaps even Atlus will, but with numbers like that I'd find it difficult to expect ever finding a copy in the wild knowing fully well with release numbers like that it wont see major retail support. To all you waiting on the fence over this, good luck getting your copy at launch without a pre-order.

Shin Megami Tensei III:Nocturne--
On a system filled with evil dark RPG plots full of monsters and devils, this game definitly was a shocker for those who played it as their first taste of a MegaTen game. The story started off with the main charcters visiting a teacher in the hospital only to have the world end before the main charcters eyes. At first he thinks he's the only human left but eventualy he finds out both his friends and his teacher as well as a few others survived the end of the world. Well, not the end of the world, just the end of the world as they know it or recognize it. The battle system as well as the recruiting of creatures was rather difficult. Some could only be recruited with certain offerings, some only during certain phases of the moon, and others thru certain other actions. A vast majority of those who hated the game generaly touted the same reason for their dislike. It's difficulty. Make no mistake, this game IS difficult and to some degree quite unforgiving. With the way the skill system is set up, players are forced to do something few RPGs which came before required. To choose what abilities they and their demons would poses, as well as what they would loose. This often lead to many newer players to get rid of skills they would eventualy regret and either start over to have, or simply quit the game completly. Still, even saying this I recomend the game as it's proven to be one of the most original RPG series to have been released in some time. Yes it's hard, yes it's no cake walk, but seriously, do we realy need our hands to be held forever? This game isnt for the weak of heart or for those who want an easy and simple game. If I had to put it another way, I'd call it the man's RPG of RPGs. Also worth noting is the release we got was the better of the two that Japan got. In the original release, Dante from Devil May Cry was not in it. They later released a special edition which included him in and was also the release we got. We didnt get the Limited Edition that they got (which truely was a shame) that included the soundtrack we got, but also included the incense burner that was shaped like the device seen throught the game. As nice as it was though, it hardly was worth the 130$ asking price.

Digital Devil Saga 1+2--
The game doesnt realy take place in the MegaTen or Persona storyline but somehow that's ok as it's got a story good enough to not only stand on it's own, but to fill 2 games as well. The story starts off with the main charcter and his tribe fighting a rival tribe. During the fight an object crashes to the field and knocks everyone out. Upon waking they find a young girl in the object that crashed, the people they fought dead, and decide to take the girl with them and make her a part of their tribe. Things hit the fan and they realize they turn into monsters in which they feed upon those who they fight and also discover it was no miricle that saved them during the tribe fight but that they had defeated and devoured their enemies.
The story as you can see is yet again, dark. With instances of canablism, the overwhelming sense of hopelessness, as well as their gradual realization that something isnt wrong you cant help but want to keep playing it. The battle system is simular to that of Nocturne only much more forgiving as you now keep all your old skills you gathered only now your limited by a certain number of skills which you can equip. The battle system is also much alike to Nocturne except for your charcters being able to change. In human form they use guns for their weapons which for the most part are totaly useless. They are effective against some beasts but for the vast majority they are weak. I've ignored most reviews of this but while I found certain things lacking, I'd still say it was well worth getting and.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner--
Odd duck. If I had to describe the game in five words or less, those would be it. The game takes place in somewhat of a modern era (1930's) where the main charcter is a detective. Basicly if you've followed the franchise up to now, you're used to dark this, dark that, hopelessness there, blah blah rense repeat. This story on the other hand never felt that dark. Dont mistaken me for saying it's bad, just that it's not as serious feeling as the others. The biggest change between it and the others is it's no longer turn based. The fighting is action based. Yeah, go figure. In spite of it all, I'd say it's still a good game and one many should play. I'd recomend it as the first of the series players should start with. It's not as difficult as any of the others and the mood is more light as well.

All said, the MegaTen franchise is one you'll either love or hate. It's dark, it's difficult, and to some respect just not rewarding enough for the amount of work one must put into it. If your tired of all the save the world with teen angst drama and the Final Fantasy clones then this series could be a good diversion from it all. It's always been limited in release as it's never been an overly huge seller as many are put off by it's difficulty. It tends to maintain or exceed it's value for those very same reasons as many who would want to try it out only do so long after the point of original release. The series has been around sense the Famicom days and sadly we've only started getting games for it sense the Gameboy Color and the Playstation 1. I'd strongly recomend anyone wanting to play them to give them a try. They may not live to one's idea of a perfect RPG, but at the least there's no mistakening them for a clone of another in it's genre.