What SMT game should I play first?

[Zerosabers]

I've never played a smt game before so which one would you suggest to play first?

[Shin]

I'm not sure how similar the SMTxFE game will be to the other SMT games, but I'd recommend trying Devil Survivor or one of the Persona series. They're fairly accessible and a reasonable entry into the series.

[Jedi]

If you like traditional style RPGs try SMT 3 or 4 despite brutal difficulty they will get you into the traditional feel of SMT.

Persona 3 is pretty nice for those who wish for a visual novel/dungeon crawler RPG. (4 is also like this, 1 and 2 are likea traditional smt)

If you like SRPGs try Devil Survivor.

[Caster]

Devil Survivor 1 and 2 are really good and are both grid based, so I think it would be a nice transition.

[Zerosabers]

Ok, thank you! I'm going to be grabbing Devil Survivor from the 3ds eshop since its on sale right now. Is there anything really dumb I could do that might make the game impossible to beat?

[lonelyVoxel]

Ok, thank you! I'm going to be grabbing Devil Survivor from the 3ds eshop since its on sale right now. Is there anything really dumb I could do that might make the game impossible to beat?

Quite a few things, actually. It's quite hard, even on easy. The two things that might kill you are not having enough Strength on your main and not changing/fusing your monsters enough. If you level up your monsters to a certain point, they'll start to guzzle more EXP than it's worth to raise them. Also, there are a few decisions you might find that you will regret. Heck, even choosing who to give someone's purse to has a bit of an effect. Basically, it's a live and learn game that you may need a test run for.

[Person123]

The biggest thing to remember is that it'll really hurt you in the long run if you evenly distribute your stats past early game. Choose to invest in either a physical or magical build long term. Keep in mind different skills require you to have specific stats at a certain value, so you don't want to ignore non-optimal stats for your build entirely.

Magic builds tend to be superior, especially in Devil Survivor 1.

[eclipse]

It really depends. If you're going for a game where every last optional thing is done, optimization is the way to go. If you just want to see An Ending, then it's probably not needed.

(source: SMT IV, because I did my stats blind)

[Radiant head]

I've played Persona 3-4 and Devil Survivor Overclocked, so I'd recommend those.

Edited May 9, 2015 by Radiant head

[Magical CC]

If you can play old game then I suggest you to play SMT2 and Nocturne since they are good games. You can then try 2 Diginal Devil games, they are good too. Then you can try SMT4 since it's good too. However if you just want to play SMT because of the upcoming SMTxFE then I suggest Persona 3&4 since I see no dark, wicked and serious tone of SMT series in the trailer, it's more like PersonaxFE.

[dragonlordsd]

Devil Survivor is a fantastic place to start, it was my first SMT game. In terms of gameplay, it's the only turn based strategy game that I'd say has better gameplay than fire emblem. (But just in terms of gameplay)

You should definitely play Devil Survivor 1 before you play 2, or 2 won't make much sense.

Main series SMT games are much harder, and probably not a great place to start. They're great games, but not welcoming to new players.

Persona 3 is more difficult than Persona 4 (The jealousy system... omg.... girls are scary....) but a better introduction to the series, and persona 3 portable lets you play as a girl, which is actually REALLY REALLY cool (it's not just a palette swap, it's a completely different game. You have different friends, different relationships, different subplots...). But Persona 4 is way easier, and Persona 4 Golden has better graphics and more content.

[Radiant head]

Yeah I actually found Persona 3 Easy to be harder than Persona 4 Normal.

[dragonlordsd]

Oh yeah, some quick tips for Devil Survivor:

1. The most important skill in the game is Reflect Phys. It is acquired from Rangda, a level 49 Demon. Make sure to give it to all of your demons, it will completely invalidate all physical attacks. Note that Absorb Phys and Null Phys won't work, because any enemy with pierce (and there are a lot of them) will go right through it.

2. Dance Spells are the best spells in the game. Dances will hit the enemy 2-5 times for medium damage. They are far, far more powerful than even the highest tier regular spells. The only exception to this is Holy Dance, which is significantly weaker than Megidoloan.

3. Thanks to the rebalancing, Physical attacks got a bit better in overclocked. There now is an auto skill which gives all phys attacks the "pierce" attribute, and the skill multi-strike (multi-STRIKE not multi-HIT) will hit all enemys 2-7 times, which is pretty crazy, but remember that it's agility based and is useless for demons like the giant hippo one whose name I can't remember right now.

4. Saving everyone is really, really hard, but it is possible. You can get all of the characters in your party at the same time. However, you will still unlock unique demons even if you let some characters die, so just be careful. To get the perfect ending you must: (warning possible spoilers)

Save Haru from committing suicide, and keep her from getting killed each time. You can't recruit her, but you need her to get other characters.

Tell Gin about Aya's kidnapping, make sure that he tells you where he's going. Then, make sure he doesn't get killed in battle.

DO NOT give Mari's bag back to her!!! Give it to Nikado. Then, TELL NIKADO TO HELP MARI!!! Then you must take down Keisuke. Do not kill Keisuke, only kill Yama. If you kill Keisuke, he's gone forever.

Do not let Mari get killed fighting Kudlak, do not let Kudlak escape.

5. Getting Black Frost: Black Frost is a secret character, who is unlocked by witnessing a series of events in which Dolly teaches him the meaning of love. Getting black frost, and getting everyone else is impossibly difficult, even I don't know how to do it for sure, I've only done it once, you should probably look up a guide for that.

Edit for clarity: There are certain demons that you can ONLY get by getting characters killed. It's a sort of strange consolation prize, it would be interesting if there was something like that in FE.

Edited May 11, 2015 by dragonlordsd

[singularity]

difficulty-wise, the first Devil Survivor is harder than Devil Survivor 2. I haven't finished all DeSu1 paths yet due to the difficult last battle on my last path run(like most SMT games minus Persona, this game has multiple endings, depends on your decisions at events). I'd say the 2nd is better place to start.

Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker(which is DeSu2 reboot, just like how Overclocked is to DeSu1) has already been released(?), so might as well get that one. I'm not sure if it's harder than DeSu2 though.

[dragonlordsd]

Record breaker has the ability to choose your difficulty (as well as the best named difficulties in all of video games: Apocalypse and Blessed).

So far, I've been playing on Apocalypse mode, and it's somewhat harder than Overclocked was, but not a ton.

That said, Overclocked has the hardest boss fight in the history of all strategy games: the optional Lucifer fight. Seriously, this guy makes Thracia bosses look easy. That's how crazy he is. I've put over two hundred hours into training and breeding my team and I still can't beat him.

I haven't seen if they've added any new fights in Record breaker, but the alice fight was a joke. At first I was like, "holy crap, she can one shot any unit in the game, how do you fight this," but then I realized that if you equip the stupidly broken (that's a whole other issue which if you're really into the series you can look up) anti-almighty, the fight becomes like I think the new phoenix mode will be. Literally, if you have anti-almighty, Alice CANNOT kill you. It is acutally impossible. Her attack will always do half of your remaining hp rounded down. I literally spent three turns at 1 hp with her doing no damage each time.

[Captain Karnage]

I'd say start with 4, casual mode will help you get a feel of what you need to do.

and as for persona, start with the handheld ports as they are better than there console counterparts

seriously, start with SMT IV, as it seems the hardcore persona fanbase wants to distance persona from the other smt games as far away as possible and they lack appreciation for the mother(not EarthBound) series. You'll be better off starting with SMT IV.

[dragonlordsd]

I'd say start with 4, casual mode will help you get a feel of what you need to do.

and as for persona, start with the handheld ports as they are better than there console counterparts

seriously, start with SMT IV, as it seems the hardcore persona fanbase wants to distance persona from the other smt games as far away as possible and they lack appreciation for the mother(not EarthBound) series. You'll be better off starting with SMT IV.

Yeah, fair warning, SMT IV lacks a lot of the... bells and whistles, I guess, of the other games. The core game is really good, but the production value is a lot lower. Seriously, Nozomi (one of the fan favorite characters) doesn't even have a character portrait.

Unlike the spin offs, which have a lot higher production value, but arguably less gameplay.

If you like Seisen no Keifu, you'll love IV. If you prefer the Tellius series, go with one of the spin offs.

[Jedi]

I'd say start with 4, casual mode will help you get a feel of what you need to do.

and as for persona, start with the handheld ports as they are better than there console counterparts

seriously, start with SMT IV, as it seems the hardcore persona fanbase wants to distance persona from the other smt games as far away as possible and they lack appreciation for the mother(not EarthBound) series. You'll be better off starting with SMT IV.

Well traditional SMT and Persona fans have been divided since the tone shift in Persona 3, where it doesn't really feel like SMT anymore but its own thing, but has the SMT subtitle just for recognition.

I personally prefer the 4 traditional SMTs to any of the spinoffs and always will, (I do like Persona, and Devil Survivor, well the first one anyways, I'm not sure on the 2nd one. This is probably because devil survivor feels like traditional smt in its themes, 2 looks more akin to persona and that makes me more wary of it, but that's a personal and rare odd preference).

Edited May 16, 2015 by Jedi

[Agile Tit-Tyrant]

My first SMT was strange journey and that game blew my mind

[Jedi]

My first SMT was strange journey and that game blew my mind

I still need to play Strange Journey among other SMT games.

[nihon96]

Persona 4 golden on PSvita. if you have a vita I highly recommend it. The trailer seemed more like Persona X FE

[Radiant head]

Heh, now I want to see Narukami with Ragnell.

[nihon96]

Heh, now I want to see Narukami with Ragnell.

haha that would be so funny!

[Hunter Nightblood]

I'd recommend Record Breaker first, as it has solid mechanics and is a good transition. SMTIV is a good title to play next... although be aware that you are going to suck in the beginning, and the Minotaur will mercilessly murder you. Also, enemies hit like a truck, especially on Master difficulty.

Unless you love pulling your hair out, don't bother with the Fiends.

[feplus]

Nocture is widely regarded as the high point in the series.

But I would personally recommend SMTII. There is a solid fan translation out there, and the game is the complete package. Terrific music, great story, grotesque enemy designs, robust moral choices, emphasis on exploration, and high challenge.