There is a lot to love about Nocturne. The story is relevant and timeless, the characters engaging. The Vortex World of post-apocalyptic Tokyo is eerily beautiful, the dungeons varied. The voice acting is all around pretty solid (I played using the Japanese cast, since I prefer original language to dubs). Even the game’s vaunted difficulty, for all the anguish and frustration it caused, has its own charms. Some of the game design choices feel distinctly of their era and returning to them 20 years on feels archaic and cumbersome, but despite those flaws, Nocturne stands the test of time and remains one of gaming’s best RPGs. You owe it to yourself to play it if you haven’t before, and to revisit it if you have. The HD remaster is a fantastic addition to the SMT library.

https://operationrainfall.com/2021/05/26/review-shin-megami-tensei-iii-nocturne-hd-remaster/

This was my first SMT game outside of Persona and Catherine, and it definitely met and exceeded my expectations on just how peak of a game it could possibly be.

This game manages to introduce to the world one of the most engaging turn based combat systems ever created, along with managing to explore different philosophical view points in an almost equally engaging and interesting way. I loved the reasons each character had and how they all have their benefits and flaws. While I did go for the good freedom ending, I will definitely be going back to this game to explore the different reason endings (specifically musubi and shijima and I find them more compelling personally than yosuga) along with TDK as I didn't do anything in labyrinth of amala in my first playthrough.

This game just blew my expectations away and my playthrough will definitely be one of my highlights of this year.

Fuck the random encounters though