I found it interesting in terms of gameplay and I also liked the general atmosphere, but the game really got on my nerves :D At first I had hoped for more from the story, as this game series is generally described as "dark" and "adult".... Well, the story seems like what a 14 year old would imagine an adult, dark story to be, it's just as cliché-ridden and stereotypical as any anime stuff :D But what really turned me off was the gameplay and graphic design of the dungeons. I've rarely seen such gray, boring and confusing crap. Somehow I hope to learn to like this game at some point, because the atmosphere of the world outside the dungeons is very unique and dark, but I don't know if I want to fight my way through these dull dungeons.

i like this game a lot
very challenging in a good way, cool af dungeons (although the last one got a bit grating for me by the end)
story felt fairly straightforward for the most part but it works well
music goes crazy (if you have the HD music mod bc the audio quality is kinda fucked)
banger game thank you Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne you would never take advantage of my innate gullibility

funnily enough you have to download more patchs to make the remaster decent than to emulate it on PCSX2

I really enjoyed SMT Nocturne, it has some of my favorite dungeons from the SMT/Persona franchise so far, and the atmosphere and art style are so good to the point that it's almost a horror game, the only problems i had with it was near the end with the Amala Shrine and Tower of Kagutsuchi being both uninteresting in art style and annoying as puzzle mechanics, oh and i also couldn't care less for the characters and story

9.5/10

Soturnidade e Atmosfera.
Junto a uma imersão e uma excelente trilha sonora, nós temos uma das experiência mais memoráveis dos rpg e dos videojogos em geral.

Ainda assim, muitos podem não enxergar o brilho desse jogo e esta tudo bem, sempre existe uma segunda vez.
Muitos conceitos bem executados neste jogo fizeram a resolução que escolhi refletir bastante sobre os temas e a semântica de todo o jogo num geral. (TDE)

Vindo de smt 2, o salto que teve em tudo foi um acerto critico e se fez estonteante.

Infelizmente não hei de dizer muito, afinal eu passaria a noite toda escrevendo sobre tanto e no fim não seria o suficiente, mas como sempre decidi fazer um comentário breve sobre tal jogo.

Não é um jogo que todos vão conseguir captar a mensagem e a parábola, mas fica a recomendação a todo que queira uma experiência imersiva e conceitual.

I have just finished Nocturne and now I'm looking at the TV, thinking... why the fuck did I love this game?

It's like the game was developed to make you suffer and feel miserable... yet... I just loved it!

But still, the question lingers. Why did I love SMT3? There are so many bad things in its design! It's just filled with little to major flaws that prevents me from loving it even more.

For starters, the environments may seem pretty at first, but the repetition will get to you and it will feel dull. It's as if they made it on purpose. Claustrophobia is a thing in the Vortex World. Negotiating with demons is a pain the ass and the game doesn't even explain it to you. In fact, Nocturne wastes no time in explaining anything. The only reason I got through the game's mechanics without looking for a guide is because this is not my first SMT game.

And what about the dungeon maps? They're terrible! Again, was it bad design or is the humdrum on purpose? Why not include a mini-map? Why is the encounter rate so goddamn high? Did the Labyrinth of Amala need to be THAT gigantic and confusing? Was it a necessity to make the final dungeon in the game so frustating and clueless? The puzzles are good, but did EVERY dungeon need one?

And don't even get me started on the difficulty! Look, I get it, it's part of the experience and it's in the series' DNA. But SMT3's difficulty is just absurd. Even normal enemies are ruthless! Was it part of its design to make it extremely unbalanced and inaccessible? I see no necessity for it. And yes, there's that newly added Merciful difficult, but that just turns it into a joke. It makes Pokémon Let's Go Evee look difficult!

But even after pointing out a few of SMT3's many flaws, why do I still love it so much? Why did I have so much fun with it?

Maybe it was the character's design. Every single character, from demon to manikin, they're just VERY well done. Or maybe it's the press turn battle system that just refuses to be boring. Was it Nocturne's thought-provoking intricate writing and social/religious themes that kept me hooked? The minimalistic nature of the game's story and gameplay just hides away a mountain of depth, right?

It was probably the addictive mechanic of collecting and fusing demons. Maybe the oppressive and lonely atmosphere just talked to me, you know? I mean, the story is immersive and every single ending seems solid enough. Or was it the boss fights that kept me pumped? And I didn't even mention how PERFECT the soundtrack is. I could spend days listening to SMT3's ost and I wouldn't get tired of it.

In the end, I do not know why this game is so lovely. It is unnecessarily painful, but I just keep coming back to it.

I wouldn't recommend it, though. Unless you really wanna do it...

Definitely dated in certain aspects and a product of its time like high random encounter rates and overworld enemies not being shown but loved my experienced nonetheless. Isolated, barren, hopeless and dread-filled in tone and supremely rich in its atmosphere. Relentless and daunting in difficulty with some of the best bosses within the JRPG genre. The heavy weight of every decision you make where extreme rhetoric and hypocrisy dominates in a world that desperately desires for a future and nuance. It’s not for everybody but worth checking out if you’re curious about it, love the Persona and SMT games and especially are fans of the JRPG genre.

It was nice to be able to choose skill inheritance instead of hitting the slots at the Cathedral and the graphical upgrades were mostly good but I felt like the lighting was messed up in many areas and the demons looked way less cool than when I upscaled this game on an emulator. Overall I didn't care for the sound design, particularly the demon sounds in combat and the voice acting. I'm sure many appreciate the VA but I thought it was just an awkward overlay. Raidou was cool, makes me want to try his weird games.

Also, there's an achievement for dying and not one for clearing True Demon Ending. It was fine, I'll probably just use my ps2 from now on.

The story is quite simple but has interesting points. The best part of the story, undoubtedly, is the new route that was added after the original game without a doubt, the only relevant characters are your pixie; the rest only appear at specific moments for a short time. The character design wasn't anything special, unlike what we usually see from Atlus, who always creates spectacular character designs. The only thing they got right with this game was the gameplay. The combat is very well done, which makes you want to play and improve in the game. If I were to base my rating on the story, soundtrack, or characters, this game would definitely be far from 4 stars. However, since gameplay is very important to me in a game, it's what makes it a 4-star game.