I have found my fat PS2 so now I can review PS2 games again. Atlus is known for making their games difficult for new comers and Nocturne is no exception. Originally released in Japan in 2003 it was updated an released again in Japan the following year to include Dante from Devil May Cry and was released in America later that year, Europe finally received it in 2005. In 2008 it was updated again for a Japan only release, this time Dante was cut and Raidou from the Devil Summoner SMT series replaced him.
After naming your character and meeting up with your friends, you're thrown into the vortex world, where demons rule everything in a post apocalyptic Tokyo. You're given the powers demon and turned into a demi-fiend by a young boy and an old woman to survive in this chaotic world. Over the course of the game you're given choices of what reason, or way to shape the world, to follow. You can either create a world where only the strong survive, a world where everyone is isolated, a world where there's peace and harmony where everyone is under the rule of one person, reject all reasons and keep your powers, destroy the world under Lucifer's command, or return the world to the way it was.
The battle system is a turn based system with a few tweaks. Officially it's called the press turn battle system, you have as many attack icons as you do allies. If you have a full party of four, you can have up to four attack icons. If you get a critical hit, pass your turn, or you hit an enemy with their weakness, one of the icons begins flashing, indicating it's only half used. Be careful though, if you attack an enemy and you miss, you lose two icons and you lose your entire turn if you use a magic that your enemy absorbs HP from, same thing happens if you hit them with a skill that has no effect on them or reflects.
In order to gain new skills, you have to have a Magatama equipped. Think of it as a parasite that makes your stronger instead of doing something negative to you. Each Magatama has its strengths and weaknesses, so think carefully if you have one equipped that's weak to ice and you're running into lots of enemies that uses ice skills. You can only have eight skills on your character at any time, if you want to learn a new skill you'll have to drop one other skill forever. Your demons don't need Magatama to learn skills though, they learn new skills naturally by leveling up. The downside to leveling demons up is that it takes longer to level them up than it does your main character. To counter this, you have to recruit new demons by talking to them or fuse them into more powerful demons.
While playing the game, I did get stuck several times. Be it a tough boss or tough to navigate dungeon Nocturne isn't shy about becoming difficult out of nowhere. One boss is easier to beat at a certain time of Kagutsuchi phase (think of it as a phase of the moon), another can just keep giving himself more turns when he's on his last turn icon, and one can turn your party into useless flys with no way to undo it in battle. Dungeons can range from very large with empty rooms to very large with teleporting panels with elevators and damaging floors.
The graphics are great for its time and still looks good today. Even the soundtrack is great, I never got tired of hearing the same battle theme every time I enter a battle. Each demon looks strange and unique although some do come close to being duplicates. Overall if you're looking for a fun and challenging RPG, Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne is a great game to pick up.
Summary:
Good:
-Battle system
-Numerous demons to fight with
-Multiple endings
-Soundtrack
Moderate:
-Updated version with Raidou unreleased outside of Japan
-Dungeons can be difficult to navigate
-Semi weak story
Bad:
-Can get lost easily
-Some boss fights are cheap like nothing else
Graphics: 4/5
Gameplay: 5/5
Story: 3/5
Sound: 5/5
Overall: 4.25
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