You wouldn't DOWNLOAD a DEMON.

It's hard to overstate the importance of Megaten's PlayStation 2 golden age on the development of the franchise. It was a period of reinvention, one so effective in modernizing the Megaten experience that many of its newly introduced systems remain an indelible part of the franchise's identity. The Press-Turn battle system is still the bedrock upon which every new release builds, often in small, incremental ways. Even Persona owes much of its success due to Persona 3's introduction of time management and social systems.

Like many, I was introduced to Megaten through this era of games. But while Nocturne might be my first Shin Megami Tensei, there were in fact others before it... I mean, you know that. You're on a page for one that came out in 1992, why would I even word the review like this? I'm sorry, it's just that, like, i found out my mom was a demon and it took me to a pretty bad place and i fused the family dog with a pixie and it speaks english now, and i'm just under a lot of stress

CHAOS: I will destroy everything I don't understand.

If modern Megaten is defined by how "difficult" it is, then pre-PS2 Megaten is downright obtuse. This is felt almost immediately in how you interface with the world, which is viewed through a first person perspective. If you've never played a dungeon crawler before, especially one of this era, it can be incredibly overwhelming. Maps are large and labyrinthine, composed of a sparse number of repeating facades and lacking in definable landmarks. You feel like a rat in a maze. A maze which happens to be occupied by other, larger, more mean-spirited rats that want to shake you down for money and call you an idiot. I can't blame anyone for bouncing off of Shin Megami Tensei early, especially if they've never played a dungeon crawler of this era before. In fact, I only made it about an hour in during my initial attempt before getting horribly lost in the starting area and giving up.

Patience and persistence is key, as is unlearning all you understand about these games and opening yourself up to Shin Megami Tensei's idiosyncrasies. You have to learn to rely on your automap, then accept that the automap is useless outside of darkened areas as it doesn't mark teleporters or slippery floors, and then graduate to using graph paper your friend bought for you because she was too sick of hearing you bitch about getting lost in a game from fucking 1992.

Even systems that have carried over into later entries are (understandably) more vague and antiquated. Take the alignment system, which allows you to follow Law, Chaos, or Nautral paths towards one of three different endings. In many of the modern games, your choices and actions during key events influence your standing with each faction. Shin Megami Tensei, on the other hand, gets more microcosmic. Sure, your dialog choices matter, but so does which store you get groceries from. Frequenting establishments with a particular alignment will further associate you with that faction, as does summoning and fusing demons of a particular persuasion. Dismissing, killing, or even conversing with demons can shift your standing ever so slightly before you ultimately hit the alignment lock, so if you want a specific ending you have to be extremely mindful of every action you take, or make efforts to intentionally game the system.

Outside of which ending your alignment earns, you'll open up and potentially block off certain paths in the final dungeon, and come into conflict with the Law or Chaos heroes. Settling on Neutrality will allow you to see the most, however, and is considered the canonical ending. It also happens to be the one I got, because I believe in nothing, I fight for no man.

LAW: Place your faith in the systems and mechanics of the beast.

So you want to make friends with demons, huh? That's great, that's really nice. It's good to have friends. I don't have any because I ran out of Magnitite and they all kicked me in the shins and left me laid out by the Gaia temple. Some might call that a "transactional relationship." You won't be summoning Lucifer through the power of your bonds. No, you pay people to be your friend because you're a sad little loser kid. Not even Jack Frost wants to hang out with you... not unless you got that sweet, sweet Magnitite.

Magnitite has largely been phased out of Megaten, but it plays an important role in the SNES games, acting as a secondary currency used for fusing, summoning, and keeping demons active in your party. Every step you take drains Magnitite proportional to the requirements of your active party, adding a thin layer of resource management. This system sounds great in theory, but in practice it's mostly useless. During the early parts of the game you'll have human companions eating up party slots, reducing the need to have demons summoned. Once your friends start having political opinions and stop talking to you, then you'll need to keep track of Magnitite more, but I found I had so much banked by this point that it was really a non-issue.

Theoretically, managing Magnitite should make the game more tense as a whole given the lack of safe zones and the frequency of random encounters, which some might say is ridiculous. Borderline stupid, actually! Onis are falling out of the walls and from the ceiling and when they get up they're mad as hell and they want to fight, and it's like, dude, I'm just trying to find a cop to report my girlfriend missing, please stop!

The non-stop encounters wouldn't be quite so irritating if Shin Megami Tensei's battle system was more involved, but it's pretty rudimentary and easily gamed. Buffs and debuffs do matter, but weaknesses and defenses are poorly communicated, and you can mostly ignore them anyway and spam Zio since it has a high probability of paralyzing enemies, which is profoundly beneficial. I also believe most enemies are inherently weak to electricity anyway, so there's no reason to not use it constantly. Hey, what do you think a Pryo Jack is weak to? Bufu? No it's Zio. What about Beelzebub? Probably want to hit him with Hama. No! It's Zio!!! FUCK! I JUST TOLD YOU THIS!

A lot of Shin Megami Tensei's systems feel rough, and I'm willing to cut it a lot of slack because it's the first game for the SNES and it goes without saying that it's going to lack some serious polish. It is also a game that is so heavily carried by its atmosphere, writing, and visual design that engaging in battle feels like the cost of admission for everything else, and at worst its other systems don't live up to their potential but also don't hinder you.

Random encounter frequency still sucks, though.

COWARDLY CENTERISM (NEUTRALITY): Dumb bitch is named Louis Cypher.

So I've got my complaints, but I don't hate Shin Megami Tensei. Hate is a really strong word. So is love. No, I like a comfortable middle, and that's where this game sits.

Yet again I have out-maneuvered everybody by having a non-opinion. This is the one true path.

However, Shin Megami Tensei does satisfy a very specific mood. It's the kind of game you might find me playing in the middle of a stormy day, when it's cloudy enough to illuminate the room yet keep it blanketed in a dreary grey, the roar of thunder in the distance and the patter of rain against the window completing that gloomy ambience SMT is so well-suited to. This is a dour game, with fits of levity breaking up long stretches of trudging your way through a wasteland you once called home. Even in its most colorful moments - such as trying to appease Alice, a little girl who would really like it if you just died for her - its humor is distinctly dark.

Though Shin Megami Tensei II is comparatively more complex and insistent upon saying something with its narrative, SMT has enough twists and turns to keep you invested, and similar to Nocturne, the atmosphere of its world is enough to keep you moving forward, motivated to see this bombed out version of Tokyo in full. Tsukasa Masuko's brilliant soundtrack plays pitch perfect to the tone of this demon infested hellscape, earning it a spot among my favorite video game scores. To be fair, SMT2 and If... probably edges it out purely on the basis of them featuring many of the same tracks in addition to others, and there are so many ports of Shin Megami Tensei that offer up their own vibe, it's even debatable which specific version of SMT's OST is my favorite. One of those things that changes depending on the day.

PART 4: Oh no-- I wrote how many words about this!?

Shin Megami Tensei is an acquired taste. Unless you're way into dungeon crawlers, then you'll probably only enjoy it if you sit down and repeatedly tell yourself you want to enjoy it. I'm glad that I remained committed, in any case. This is the Megaten equivalent of a religious pilgrimage, and I am better for prostrating my way from Shibuya to Ginza, but that's not for everyone and that's ok, too. Even among the SNES trilogy, Shin Megami Tensei is the most middling entry, with SMT2 improving upon it in virtually every way, and If... finding a zen balance between being terrible and charming.

I'll get to those soon, but in the meantime I'm going to construct my millennium kingdom right here. Thinking it'll be like, a giant pyramid or something. I sure hope I don't get assassinated.