My history with Megami Tensei started with Shin Megami Tensei IV back on the 3DS and it took me while to break through the game's incredibly difficult prologue. My history with RPGs had taught me to worry more about levelling up and grinding rather than in depth strategy, so SMT IV really forced me to learn a very tough lesson. Once I finally broke through this barrier, I found that SMT offered some of the most complex and engaging turn-based and RPG systems I had ever used, and I was hooked. Fast forward to now, and I am finally getting to finish SMT III, an absolutely fantastic game that I love, marred by some minor blemishes.
Shin Megami Tensei III's primary draw is seen right after its fantastic prologue. The Vortex World is hauntingly lonely, you rarely feel safe, and are given several mysteries as you wander the barren wastes. The storyline is rather shallow, but finds complexity through its atmosphere, themes, and lore. Between the lingering souls of the dead, the shambling manikins, and the hostile demons; the world keeps you invested even through some predictable events. The characters are also thin, but their purpose is more as a vessel for the Reasons, this game's replacement for the alignment system. As is series tradition, each of the characters become caricatures of extreme ideology, but their turn into this does not feel nearly as engaging as we would see in SMT IV. That said, the ideologies they represent (with one exception) all feel unique in comparison to the series' staple of Law, Chaos, Neutral. While we don't see much of these characters during their descent into their extremism, it isn't unreasonable to believe that while suffering through the Vortex World they would be compelled by these viewpoints for survival. This only works so well because of just how oppressive and unforgiving the atmosphere is, something that I think SMT III does better than almost any game I have played.
The gameplay may not be peak SMT (Sorry, that belongs to IV Apocalypse and V), but it is still more engaging than almost anything else in the genre. SMT III was the introduction of the Press Turn system seen in future games, and it is amazing to see how much they nailed it on their first attempt. Having to focus on exploiting enemy weaknesses, while also having a large focus on status effects and buffs/debuffs lead to even simple random encounters being engaging and potentially dangerous. The series staple demon fusion continues to be some of the most satisfying party customization, and I can (and did) spend hours in the Cathedral of Shadows creating the perfect demon team.
I don't want to bash this game too much for not having features introduced into the series later on, but the lack of some quality of life does make a few things frustrating. Not being able to see demon abilities when trying to swap in battle, a lack of combat information (such as current buffs/debuffs), and the special fusions add some friction that I don't think is necessary to maintain its difficulty and atmosphere. Additionally, several bosses try to use gimmicks to mix up the challenge, but just make for prolonged encounters after learning the pattern and chipping away at their HP before they change phases or die.
My last issues are with the specific version I played, none of which were game breaking, but infuriating for a rerelease of a game from 2003. Slowdown, and resolution drops were CONSTANT on the Switch, something that was incredibly baffling though it was less prevalent in handheld mode. It is infuriating that 4 years later this is still an issue. Additionally, there were several places that this failed as an "HD Remaster". Any cutscenes that were not real-time would be displayed in 4:3 at something close to 480p with awful encoding, this can be seen as early as the OPENING MOVIE AND TITLE SCREEN. While this did not ruin the experience, it is simply unacceptable for something like this to occur. Not only this, but all of the music is still incredibly compressed like it was on the PS2 despite there being high quality versions of this music. All of this says to me that several pieces of source code and files were lost, and Atlus was unwilling to put resources into resolving these issues and instead put resources into creating paid DLC for easy grinding EXP and Macca.
While these issues are huge, the fact remains that the underlying game is absolutely fantastic. I often worry when playing "cult classics" or "masterpieces" that it will be something where I just don't get it like the diehard fans, or it was a "you had to be there" kind of thing. I am happy to say that was not my experience. Despite its rough edges, Shin Megami Tensei III is one of the greatest RPGs I have ever played.
Shin Megami Tensei III's primary draw is seen right after its fantastic prologue. The Vortex World is hauntingly lonely, you rarely feel safe, and are given several mysteries as you wander the barren wastes. The storyline is rather shallow, but finds complexity through its atmosphere, themes, and lore. Between the lingering souls of the dead, the shambling manikins, and the hostile demons; the world keeps you invested even through some predictable events. The characters are also thin, but their purpose is more as a vessel for the Reasons, this game's replacement for the alignment system. As is series tradition, each of the characters become caricatures of extreme ideology, but their turn into this does not feel nearly as engaging as we would see in SMT IV. That said, the ideologies they represent (with one exception) all feel unique in comparison to the series' staple of Law, Chaos, Neutral. While we don't see much of these characters during their descent into their extremism, it isn't unreasonable to believe that while suffering through the Vortex World they would be compelled by these viewpoints for survival. This only works so well because of just how oppressive and unforgiving the atmosphere is, something that I think SMT III does better than almost any game I have played.
The gameplay may not be peak SMT (Sorry, that belongs to IV Apocalypse and V), but it is still more engaging than almost anything else in the genre. SMT III was the introduction of the Press Turn system seen in future games, and it is amazing to see how much they nailed it on their first attempt. Having to focus on exploiting enemy weaknesses, while also having a large focus on status effects and buffs/debuffs lead to even simple random encounters being engaging and potentially dangerous. The series staple demon fusion continues to be some of the most satisfying party customization, and I can (and did) spend hours in the Cathedral of Shadows creating the perfect demon team.
I don't want to bash this game too much for not having features introduced into the series later on, but the lack of some quality of life does make a few things frustrating. Not being able to see demon abilities when trying to swap in battle, a lack of combat information (such as current buffs/debuffs), and the special fusions add some friction that I don't think is necessary to maintain its difficulty and atmosphere. Additionally, several bosses try to use gimmicks to mix up the challenge, but just make for prolonged encounters after learning the pattern and chipping away at their HP before they change phases or die.
My last issues are with the specific version I played, none of which were game breaking, but infuriating for a rerelease of a game from 2003. Slowdown, and resolution drops were CONSTANT on the Switch, something that was incredibly baffling though it was less prevalent in handheld mode. It is infuriating that 4 years later this is still an issue. Additionally, there were several places that this failed as an "HD Remaster". Any cutscenes that were not real-time would be displayed in 4:3 at something close to 480p with awful encoding, this can be seen as early as the OPENING MOVIE AND TITLE SCREEN. While this did not ruin the experience, it is simply unacceptable for something like this to occur. Not only this, but all of the music is still incredibly compressed like it was on the PS2 despite there being high quality versions of this music. All of this says to me that several pieces of source code and files were lost, and Atlus was unwilling to put resources into resolving these issues and instead put resources into creating paid DLC for easy grinding EXP and Macca.
While these issues are huge, the fact remains that the underlying game is absolutely fantastic. I often worry when playing "cult classics" or "masterpieces" that it will be something where I just don't get it like the diehard fans, or it was a "you had to be there" kind of thing. I am happy to say that was not my experience. Despite its rough edges, Shin Megami Tensei III is one of the greatest RPGs I have ever played.