Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is a tough-as-nails JRPG where strategy and party composition matters way more than raw power or grinding.
The gameplay is quick and satisfying, using the Press Turn system to let you exploit the turn order by hitting the enemies' weaknesses and quickly turn the tides of battle in your favor - the thing is, those same enemies can do the same to you.
That's not to say that the gameplay is the only strong positive about this game. The story, albeit minimalistic, is interesting and deep. The lonely atmosphere that permeates throughout the entire playthrough is immersive, and, for a PS2 game, graphics and aesthetics are at a high - like a true videogame critic would say, "they aged like a fine wine".
However, even incredible games can have negatives. Nocturne has random encounters that, in many dungeons, are way too frequent and annoying. Many of the endings are also very lackluster, which in comparison to the actual really good endings, just end up making the developers look lazy. Lastly, and this is just my own opinion, some of the later dungeons are very masochistic, and I ended up using a guide to traverse through them just to avoid a huge headache.
At the end of the day, Nocturne is still a must-play for anyone who's bored of the typical easy, "just nuke the enemies" JRPGs and want to immerse themselves in a, albeit post-apocalyptic, very beautiful world.
The gameplay is quick and satisfying, using the Press Turn system to let you exploit the turn order by hitting the enemies' weaknesses and quickly turn the tides of battle in your favor - the thing is, those same enemies can do the same to you.
That's not to say that the gameplay is the only strong positive about this game. The story, albeit minimalistic, is interesting and deep. The lonely atmosphere that permeates throughout the entire playthrough is immersive, and, for a PS2 game, graphics and aesthetics are at a high - like a true videogame critic would say, "they aged like a fine wine".
However, even incredible games can have negatives. Nocturne has random encounters that, in many dungeons, are way too frequent and annoying. Many of the endings are also very lackluster, which in comparison to the actual really good endings, just end up making the developers look lazy. Lastly, and this is just my own opinion, some of the later dungeons are very masochistic, and I ended up using a guide to traverse through them just to avoid a huge headache.
At the end of the day, Nocturne is still a must-play for anyone who's bored of the typical easy, "just nuke the enemies" JRPGs and want to immerse themselves in a, albeit post-apocalyptic, very beautiful world.
Buckru
3 years ago