One thing I didn't expect from Shin Megami Tensei II was some of the smartest and best executed world-building I have ever seen in a 16-bit game. This game is proof, that, in 1994, Shin Megami Tensei as a series didn't just have "actually decent stories", but SMT2 is easily one of the best games on the SNES when it comes to its scenario and setting.
The scale starts out small, you are in Valhalla, a section of Tokyo Millenium filled with working class people looking to have some time off from their work and some freedom away from the oppressive Center's control, and as you keep playing the game the more the scale of the world opens up to you. With each story-beat, a new area or secret about the world of SMT2 and Tokyo Millenium opens up. You're getting puzzle piece after puzzle piece, and slowly but surely, they all come together in the end to form a cohesive whole. Each section of Tokyo Millenium, like the factory, holy town, valhalla, center, arcadia, the underworld and the abyss have their purpose and place and flesh out the world and story of SMT2. Everything necessary to be able to imagine Tokyo Millenium as a functioning society is there, and its interactions with the underworld and hell create an almost indescribably interesting atmosphere. Fusing sci-fi with the mythological like no other game after or before, the setting of SMT2 is actually one of the most unique and memorable in video game history as a whole, and their seamless and almost logical interation just cements a very immersive atmosphere despite the dated visuals. Each area of Tokyo Millenium can also be seen as presenting arguments or a dilemma for either Chaos or Law on top of that, with the setting not only presenting a great atmosphere and logical world, but is also excellently used to portray the central conflict of the world, which is essential for making your choices in the game feel significant and weighty.
Yes, surprisingly, SMT2 is still the game in the series that explores Chaos and Law the best. Chaos is far from simply about the rule of the strong, and Law is far from simply about brainwashing people. Valhalla is chaos-aligned, it is full of freedom, including discos and casinos, and people having a good time, but there are also Gladiator death matches, horrific slums, high inequality and quickly changing hierarchical conditions. Is the freedom and fun that the people are able to have worth the inequality and horrific conditions? The factory went too far in literally brainwashing the workers in order to work hard, but after turning off the brainwashing, most of the essential workers left the premises and essential farms and factories are left unattended, endangering the population. Maybe some form of order was necessary?
Even Lucifer seems like he genuinely has the interest of the Underworld at heart, the population of the original Tokyo from SMT1 who were too unlucky to get on the Cathedral which eventually became Tokyo Millenium, fored to live under the giant metropolis without sunlight penetrating their country. Lucifer seems like a genuine character in this game - he chose the side of the demons, the mutants, the ugly and downtrodden, and it's understandable why he would, from his perspective, be willing to destroy the faux-utopia of Tokyo Millenium in order to ensure safety and a form of equality for the underworld. All of Lucifer's dialogue portrays him as a reasonable, intelligent being who acts according to his myth without being solely defined by it.
The issues are with the gameplay, getting the teleport spell earlier would do wonders for the game, and having something similar to DQ's escape spell really should have been right there from the start. The battle system is much improved over SMT1, but the balancing is still off, with even YHVH sometimes only doing around 40 damage to each of your characters. The only reason why the two final bosses are even hard at all is that you cannot hit them easily and need to grind for weapons that can be fused into stronger ones which have the required hit rate. The dungeon design, however, is pretty fun and varied, and the layouts present new challenges with each one and generally feel like a big improvement over SMT1. The OST, with the exception of the battle theme, is much weaker compared to SMT1's iconic OST.
Overall SMT2 is bogged down by 90s Atlus rather wonky and amateurish game design, but the game is full of passion, interesting ideas, engaging characters and incredible world-building. Despite being in the same series, SMTII and SMTV are two games that in many ways are the exact opposite of one another.
The scale starts out small, you are in Valhalla, a section of Tokyo Millenium filled with working class people looking to have some time off from their work and some freedom away from the oppressive Center's control, and as you keep playing the game the more the scale of the world opens up to you. With each story-beat, a new area or secret about the world of SMT2 and Tokyo Millenium opens up. You're getting puzzle piece after puzzle piece, and slowly but surely, they all come together in the end to form a cohesive whole. Each section of Tokyo Millenium, like the factory, holy town, valhalla, center, arcadia, the underworld and the abyss have their purpose and place and flesh out the world and story of SMT2. Everything necessary to be able to imagine Tokyo Millenium as a functioning society is there, and its interactions with the underworld and hell create an almost indescribably interesting atmosphere. Fusing sci-fi with the mythological like no other game after or before, the setting of SMT2 is actually one of the most unique and memorable in video game history as a whole, and their seamless and almost logical interation just cements a very immersive atmosphere despite the dated visuals. Each area of Tokyo Millenium can also be seen as presenting arguments or a dilemma for either Chaos or Law on top of that, with the setting not only presenting a great atmosphere and logical world, but is also excellently used to portray the central conflict of the world, which is essential for making your choices in the game feel significant and weighty.
Yes, surprisingly, SMT2 is still the game in the series that explores Chaos and Law the best. Chaos is far from simply about the rule of the strong, and Law is far from simply about brainwashing people. Valhalla is chaos-aligned, it is full of freedom, including discos and casinos, and people having a good time, but there are also Gladiator death matches, horrific slums, high inequality and quickly changing hierarchical conditions. Is the freedom and fun that the people are able to have worth the inequality and horrific conditions? The factory went too far in literally brainwashing the workers in order to work hard, but after turning off the brainwashing, most of the essential workers left the premises and essential farms and factories are left unattended, endangering the population. Maybe some form of order was necessary?
Even Lucifer seems like he genuinely has the interest of the Underworld at heart, the population of the original Tokyo from SMT1 who were too unlucky to get on the Cathedral which eventually became Tokyo Millenium, fored to live under the giant metropolis without sunlight penetrating their country. Lucifer seems like a genuine character in this game - he chose the side of the demons, the mutants, the ugly and downtrodden, and it's understandable why he would, from his perspective, be willing to destroy the faux-utopia of Tokyo Millenium in order to ensure safety and a form of equality for the underworld. All of Lucifer's dialogue portrays him as a reasonable, intelligent being who acts according to his myth without being solely defined by it.
The issues are with the gameplay, getting the teleport spell earlier would do wonders for the game, and having something similar to DQ's escape spell really should have been right there from the start. The battle system is much improved over SMT1, but the balancing is still off, with even YHVH sometimes only doing around 40 damage to each of your characters. The only reason why the two final bosses are even hard at all is that you cannot hit them easily and need to grind for weapons that can be fused into stronger ones which have the required hit rate. The dungeon design, however, is pretty fun and varied, and the layouts present new challenges with each one and generally feel like a big improvement over SMT1. The OST, with the exception of the battle theme, is much weaker compared to SMT1's iconic OST.
Overall SMT2 is bogged down by 90s Atlus rather wonky and amateurish game design, but the game is full of passion, interesting ideas, engaging characters and incredible world-building. Despite being in the same series, SMTII and SMTV are two games that in many ways are the exact opposite of one another.
2 Comments
Really good review you really talk about what makes this game so special.
Deepest_roots
2 years ago