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Anyone else worried about SMT V and the future of mainline SMT/Atlus games in general?
- Thread starter Chief Malik
- Start date
I understand OP's worries. The Persona-fication of SMT is something I hate and don't want happening. The mobile game (DX2) has plenty of that shit in it, and even though the gameplay is fine, it ruins the atmosphere.
base IV is not at all like Persona and more similar to older entries. Also worth pointing out that mainline games are:
SMTI, SMTII, If, Nine, Nocturne, Imagine (maybe), Strange Journey, IV and IV Apocalypse.
If you look at all of them, Nocturne is the intrude here and looks very different from the other ones, more similar to Digital Devil Saga.
But you should look into SMTV cause one of the few things we know is that the game should a mix of Nocturne and IV in terms of atmosphere and gameplay.
Persona 4 is really ground zero for a lot of bad elements in the MegaTen series.
The last time he did that was with the original SMT4. All his more recent credits have only been due to work getting reused (like Apocalypse or the remakes).
Kaneko's art was much more anime-looking during the SNES games though. With Nocturne, note that they immediately stepped back to SMT 1/2 elements with its rerelease. It's not surprising that afterwards when doing a new game from zero SMT4 wouldn't really stick with Nocturne's style.
That said, Apocalypse is another matter and already pretty different from SMT4 itself style-wise in spite of having the same artist for the characters.
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Apocalypse was a fucking disaster but I'm gonna wait for V until I decide if the franchise is ruined.
Well, my reference is the PS2 SMTs including DDS and Raidou.
They had a distinct look and feel that separated them from the pack.
That's a huge selling point, ditching it kinda kills my interest.
I dunno, the last two trailers were very good...it's just been so long that people have obviously forgotten them.
It's kind of funny since I felt that exactly when I went through the dungeons in P5 and the change of art being closer to Soejima's style in SMTIV since Doi's Art is like 70% Soejima and 30% Kaneko. Doi's best work remains the Trauma Centre series. I hope he can bring back that kind of character art for SMT5. I also hope that if Kaneko isn't doing the demon art or character art then he is at least handling one aspect of the game like creative direction or art direction or lead writer or something like that.
It's kind of funny since I felt that exactly when I went through the dungeons in P5 and the change of art being closer to Soejima's style in SMTIV since Doi's Art is like 70% Soejima and 30% Kaneko. Doi's best work remains the Trauma Centre series. I hope he can bring back that kind of character art for SMT5. I also hope that if Kaneko isn't doing the demon art or character art then he is at least handling one aspect of the game like creative direction or art direction or lead writer or something like that.
This thread is scarily reminding me of fire emblem threads and how hypocritical those can be
I've been worried about their shitty pay to win dlc. That's why i only bought their 3ds games at bargain bin prices. It's pretty poor how they treat their former hardcore games and it shows and many ways when gameplay is no longer front and center.
The past is all circumstantial OP, and is not coming back. You'd best move on considering P5 is the best selling Atlus game of all time and its not even close.
I kinda are. Persona 5 is one the weakest games ever released by Atlus. It's all style and no substance.
Apocalypse had an amazing combat system, but it went full anime and don't get my started on the companions.
IV was great but it was many years ago. So was Strange Journey.
Apocalypse had an amazing combat system, but it went full anime and don't get my started on the companions.
IV was great but it was many years ago. So was Strange Journey.
Agreed. Singling out the Mermaid demon added to IV:A is especially odd to me, considering the fact that there's no shortage of "waifu" demons among Kaneko's contributions preceding Doi's work. And old Atlus accounting for '90s anime tropes and cliches indeed doesn't make it any less anime than the modern anime influence of current Megaten.
Complaints of Persona's influence on mainline SMT, as observed with the Neutral/true ending path for IV (harnessing the people's hopes/beliefs and such) and the power of friendship focus in IV:A, are more understandable, even with the tone ultimately still being darker. Yet even then, just about anything would look different from the minimalist narratives and flat characterizations normally associated with mainline SMT, and little to nothing is known about V's direction at this point.
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I think SMT4:A is grounds to worry about the direction Atlus will take SMT5. I don't think it's worth spending a whole lot of time on those concerns before we've seen more than one trailer (you can imagine a trailer for SMT4A that did not reveal its objectionable elements or even the general tone). And there's sort of a broader issue with the writing of both SMT4 and 4A being pretty weak. But SMT's footing at Atlus isn't totally clear to me; it's possible Atlus will do some odd things in search of a new niche for the series.
The artwork does not concern me. Don't get me wrong -- I vastly prefer Kaneko to Doi. And it's a real bummer that the series lost Kaneko's distinct style. But Doi is mostly fine. And he and the new artists did a good job cleaning up some of the awful guest work in SMT4. More importantly, the artwork just isn't what's going to make or break SMT5.
The artwork does not concern me. Don't get me wrong -- I vastly prefer Kaneko to Doi. And it's a real bummer that the series lost Kaneko's distinct style. But Doi is mostly fine. And he and the new artists did a good job cleaning up some of the awful guest work in SMT4. More importantly, the artwork just isn't what's going to make or break SMT5.
Doi is an amazing artist and y'all don't deserve him.
You can probably throw Xeno(blade) in there too.
You can probably throw Xeno(blade) in there too.
I expect that they will make a great game, but I also expect there to be problematic story content as they seem to be getting worse as they chase after the otaku/modern anime crowd.
Most of their games have always had problematic content to some extent, but if anything it does seem like it's getting worse rather than better.
I have a huge backlog of portable Atlus games to get through so I haven't started either of the SMT IV games yet, and I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised considering that it is Atlus, but I thought they had gone with a female protagonist based on all the artwork I had seen for the game.
This sucks.
Most of their games have always had problematic content to some extent, but if anything it does seem like it's getting worse rather than better.
I know that it is somewhat off-topic, but this DLC is even more disappointing to me, as I'm only now finding out that the SMT IV:A protagonist is male.DLC. A Trip to Hawaii.
I have a huge backlog of portable Atlus games to get through so I haven't started either of the SMT IV games yet, and I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised considering that it is Atlus, but I thought they had gone with a female protagonist based on all the artwork I had seen for the game.
This sucks.
yup, that's where i'm at...
but at least i'm sure they'll nail the soundtrack again.... hopefully, lol
Games like those are a dime a dozen. Persona even already has everyone covered on that front. It's not an inherently bad approach, but it's also less unique from the onset. Nocturne is nice for me because it's fairly quiet and lets its environments breathe, breaking it up occasionally with creation myth mumbo jumbo (not that it's nonsense, I just think mumbo jumbo sounds funny). Sometimes some people just want a break from a chatty party.
Yep. Not to mention the series' sense of humor is as much of a part of it as anything else. Who could forget the spriit who says he'll give you all your money if you beat Forneus? Or Jack Frost being a bully and going "if you think you're such hot shit, crush this rock with your bare hands!"
When people say "anime" they mean either shounen cliches or otaku trash (or both). The latter means delving into icky territory like Toki watching you sleep, or Nowi's design.
There have always been such things in SMT and Fire Emblem for decades.
I do not say that they are well, obviously they are not, but to say that it is something modern is to see the past with nostalgia.
Atlus is running after the otaku/modern anime people but honestly I still feel SMT is SMT, so no I'm not worried. Looking at the trailer makes me hyped again and I hope we get a release date soon.
It probably helps that I love SMT, Persona and EO. Apocalypse is my second favourite after SMT3 but I hate the mobile SMT game, pure garbage.
It probably helps that I love SMT, Persona and EO. Apocalypse is my second favourite after SMT3 but I hate the mobile SMT game, pure garbage.
Art looks alright, not down with some of those young looking girls though. That mermaid has me feeling like I'm going to be on a watch list so thanks for that my man lol
I just want to see SMT move on from handhelds. Personal preference though. I think the series will be fine. Just get away from the paedo shit Atlus your killing me over here.
I just want to see SMT move on from handhelds. Personal preference though. I think the series will be fine. Just get away from the paedo shit Atlus your killing me over here.
I mean, sure, but there's nothing on Nowi's level. And that's not even mentioning how Awakening made a whole thing of pointing out how young the fetish gear-wearing dragon girl looked. And citing precedent here isn't accounting for quantity and intensity. Even if there were questionable things in the past, there's more of it and it's worse.
SMT2 may have bad Beth, but now Apoc has a 14-year-old who goes even further, and the beach DLC makes it about 10000000 times worse by dressing her in a fetish item and having the older male characters nosebleed over her.
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About that, now that Atlus has hopefully finished milking their ds/3ds engine we can hope for more ambitious spin-offs/remakes in the future. Though it may take some time since SMTV is basically them learning to work with Unreal Engine 5 and P Studio are using their own engine.
demifiend literally does not have a personality unless you can derive that from his sick ass sliding punch
or i guess if you count the true demon ending as canon and his appearance in dds, eh fair
or i guess if you count the true demon ending as canon and his appearance in dds, eh fair
One being worse than the other doesn't mean the first is good.
Also FE4: Incestuous Boogaloo.
I really think this is true mainly if you look at things on the surface level.
SMT4 and SMT4A are adequate to carry on the SMT legacy. I'll admit that SMT4A is significantly more "fanservice-y", but games like that exist primarily as cash-ins that can be developed at a relatively low cost. For a cash in game, I say it's pretty OK.
Yes, the Kaneko art is missing, but he was credited as a writer so his influence is still there. Atlus has realized that Kaneko obviously isn't going to be around forever and have given other artists a chance to make their mark.
The thing that bums me out these days is not lack of quality, but quantity. The PS2 had Nocturne, DDS1, DDS2, Raidou 1, Raidou 2, Persona 3, AND Persona 4 released all in the span of its lifecycle. HD development cost/time has severely slowed down the release of these games, but this is hardly a problem specific to ATLUS. Their limited resources has appeared to make them focus on a few specific series, which is unfortunate because I don't see them releasing any new Megaten spinoffs anytime soon, or releasing new entries in old ones, like Devil Summoner. Which is a shame because I really like Devil Summoner.
SMT4 and SMT4A are adequate to carry on the SMT legacy. I'll admit that SMT4A is significantly more "fanservice-y", but games like that exist primarily as cash-ins that can be developed at a relatively low cost. For a cash in game, I say it's pretty OK.
Yes, the Kaneko art is missing, but he was credited as a writer so his influence is still there. Atlus has realized that Kaneko obviously isn't going to be around forever and have given other artists a chance to make their mark.
The thing that bums me out these days is not lack of quality, but quantity. The PS2 had Nocturne, DDS1, DDS2, Raidou 1, Raidou 2, Persona 3, AND Persona 4 released all in the span of its lifecycle. HD development cost/time has severely slowed down the release of these games, but this is hardly a problem specific to ATLUS. Their limited resources has appeared to make them focus on a few specific series, which is unfortunate because I don't see them releasing any new Megaten spinoffs anytime soon, or releasing new entries in old ones, like Devil Summoner. Which is a shame because I really like Devil Summoner.
Never said parts that were less bad were good!
I never played FE4 so I won't touch on that.
Which is funny, because Xenoblade had sexualize armor, and boob physics. I don't even need to bring up Saga with Telos and Kosmos.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions is the most fun I've had with an RPG the past couple of console generations, but then, I also don't have a history with SMT. I know it's generally known to be darker and more serious.
P4G and TMS are peak-JRPG goodness, so I hope that Atlus at least sustains that creative branding in its own right. I do hope for SMT fans' sake that SMTV is a return to form, at least in tone.
P4G and TMS are peak-JRPG goodness, so I hope that Atlus at least sustains that creative branding in its own right. I do hope for SMT fans' sake that SMTV is a return to form, at least in tone.
Demifiend is extremely anime.
Every SMT game uses anime tropes from their era anyway.
Honestly, there's part of the Nocturne fanbase that never played any other mainline SMT games (or more than a bit) that can't stand any criticism that can be done about that game, which is a shame as it makes those discussions even harder.
Xenosaga had an actual anime even.
Nocturne fans are the DQVIII fans of SMT.:P
That embarrassing WiiU idol game was the first red flag, then Apocalypse of friendship and now waifu'ing up their most mature game, Strange Journey.
I'm expecting SMT5 to be trash, yeah. Atlus are clearly out for a while and FROM and Capcom will remain Japan's saving grace in the foreseeable future.
I'm expecting SMT5 to be trash, yeah. Atlus are clearly out for a while and FROM and Capcom will remain Japan's saving grace in the foreseeable future.
What we've seen of SMTV so far doesn't ring any alarms, though granted we just have two teaser trailers. It's seems Atlus doesn't interject the waifu nonsense unless they're doing an enhanced edition.
Look I hate Redux and everything it stands for but Alex isn't a waifu. She spends like 90% of the game hunting you down trying to kill you.
And Apocalypse had approximately one moment where Nozomi says "we're friends and we work well together!" near the end of the game before the deciding moment on what path you want to take. Apocalypse itself is the most punk and subversive the series has been since Nocturne.
I'm kind of worried about the fact that they have not shown anything for too long about SMTV. I know Persona 5 took almost 3 years to came out, but IDK, unlike that game that had updates, here in almost 2 years and a half we have seen just 2 teasers and that's it. If I rememer correctly they had to re start TMS and for that reason that game took almost 3 years and didn't show anything in 2 years, so maybe they are having a similar issue? I hope not.
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