Over 100k views! That's incredible! I honestly had no idea how this project would be received but to see it just continually grow has been absolutely fulfilling. I've made it a point to read every comment and I truly appreciate all the kind words, the feedback, and places where I could improve in the future. Thank you! ~Derrick
I'm honestly so glad this video is getting the recognition it deserves because with the amound of time and research that obviously went into it, it would've been a shame if it underperformed.
Huge smt fan. First got into the series w/ Survivor. Every few years I went back to the well to try to understand the whole history and legacy of remixed game or narrative elements. This video is a welcomed treat. Going to bookmark for whenever I need to explain smt to friends.
Technically speaking, Catherine was my first megami tensei game even before I played Persona 3, but I obviously didn't know that at the time. Who would've thought that a cheating man having nightmares about tower climbing sheeps would lead into me becoming a huge SMT fan?
Well seems like the "SMT elements" are just perfect for you It's amazing how no matter game did they develop you can feel them even if they're massively changed like Persona series
I didn't even know Catherine was an SMT game until this comment right now (havent watched the video yet). I bought Catherine years ago for PS3 and never finished it. Should go back, it looked great.
@@AleksandrStrizhevskiy It's a great story. I wasn't so much for the puzzle gameplay personally as it felt very "mobile game-esque" but the story was out of this world. The animation in the cutscenes was awesome as well, I'd happily watch a whole series. Definitely avoid the later version though as it changes massive parts of the story and cheapens the whole thing.
Always amaze how this series managed to avoid controversies with religious people, yet things like Dungeons and Dragons or Pokémon unleashed a satanic panic.
The reason for that is cause for a ling time, this series only existed in Japan and in Japanese only. The whole religious paranoia was a western thing, so religious people were not aware of its existence and by the time smt got popular in the west, the religious paranoia had already passed. After all, smt was popular among jrpg fans, but in the bigger picture, it was pretty niche, it wouldn’t be till persona 5 that both persona and by consequence smt would become more well known. That said, I’m glad things happened this way. Parents were panicking in the 90s cause of pokemon, if they had seen smt, they probably would’ve gone on a witch hunt haha 😆
@@perk423that's a good explanation of it. Its also possible that part of the popularity of SMT in the west was due to the fatigue caused by that very same religious paranoia.
Wow this an amazing effort! Thank you. Megaten is my fav franchise and I love seeing videos like these explaining it to people who don't know or only played Persona. As a feedback, Raidou 2 & P5 Strikers segments had the wrong songs. Also there is minor misinformation, like: - The card summoner being a devil children game, It's not. This is Digital Devil Story TCG, which is the devil children game is based on with simpler rules. - SMT 1 & 2 are not the only ones connected, *Maybe a spoiler* SMT 5 is a continuation of SMT 3's True Demon Ending - *There's anther one in the middle of the video but totally forgot now what it was lol* Because I like this vid and what's trying to do, these are some stuff I hoped there were included: - It needed a segment talking about one of the most important pillars of this franchise, the demon artist Kazuma Kaneko and the legendary composer Shoji Meguro. - And you didn't mention how SMT 1 was localized to the west through iOS and how it was removed from the App Store. - Also since you touched on the upgraded ver for some games, others needed too especially SMT 3 Nocturne Maniax & P4 Golden since these upgrades expanded the fanbase if not double them. - Also the upgrades for Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei which is basically a remake for the two Megami Tensei games, SMT 1 & 2 for PS1, Devil Survivor 1 & 2 for 3DS, P3 Portable & FES, Catherine Full Body, P5 Royal and the latest one P4 Arena Ultimax remaster. - And the fact that this series started the idea of collecting monsters before Pokemon >_> lol Sorry for the paragraph, I know there's a lot to this franchise and even 5 hours won't be enough to talk about everything but the important stuff needs to be mentioned. Thank you again for shedding light to this criminally misjudged series.
I can't believe you were able to piece this all together 😮 This must've taken ages to research and put together. You deserve every like and sub you have!
Now all I need is Devil Survivor 3. 🙏 I've been wanting a third entry for years. Seeing the treatment they gave Soul Hackers just gives me more hope. A third Devil Survivor on PC, Xbox Series consoles and PS5 would be a dream come true.
I gotta say Derrick, this is truly an amazing retrospective and historical breakdown of the Megami Tensei Franchise as a whole, my honest congrats on such a project. Amazing work dude!
The sheer amount of research that had to be done to put together this video is absolutely insane to me. Massive props man, I'm loving the video so far while over an hour in.
I love this list and the massive amount of information, though I was a bit let down to not see the remasters/re-releases of some games like Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne Remastered, Persona 3 FES, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, Persona 4 Arena Max, Persona 5 Royal (yes, it’s mentioned once, but not talked about)… Just a little disappointed to not see some of these games talked about, especially the differences between them versus the original releases. Still, what a wealth of information and history lesson about this outstanding series. Thanks so much for your hard work and excellent video. ❤
Soul Hackers were really cool ... i started my Shin Megami Tensei travel with Persona 5 Royal , followed by Persona 5 Strikers , followed up by Persona 4 Golden , followed by Soul Hackers 2. It was a blast and about 480 Hours later i just wished for the next Persona 5 oder Persona 6 game , while i dont play these rythm games i love to play the roleplaying games !
I'm going to have to watch this in part but 😱 I'm so happy you made this!! I remember a long video being mentioned during the GVG cast and was wondering what it was. I'm so exited!
God, it's such a tragedy that SMT-V is "trapped" on Switch. Heck, the game doesn't even display in fullHD (1080p). I wish they re-release it on Playstation, Xbox and PC
So much respect for Derrick pushing through and getting this out. I can’t promise I’ll be 100% attentive but I will let the whole thing play while I’m at my desk today. Thanks for the vibes, Derrick
My history with this series started like it did for many: with Persona 3. I'd heard about the game at a young age while browsing video game music online, and stumbled upon the final battle theme. I fell in love with the song, but had no means to try the game, so my love only extended as far as the music back then. About six years later when I'd graduated high school and started working, I purchased a PS3 and found that Persona 3 was available on PSN. Recognizing the title from the music I used to listen to as a kid, I decided to buy it, and since then, I've gotten my hands on every Megaten title I could. I fell in love immediately with the works of Atlus, and even did my best to play the first two Megami Tensei titles (namely, their SNES remakes.) I haven't beaten them yet, but I at least have access to them and love them all the same. This retrospective has increased my appreciation for this absolutely massive series so much, and it makes me want to properly complete the games in the series even more. As of now, the only games I've beaten in the series are Personas 1, 4, and 5, since I have a tendency to get intimidated by the difficulty of the older games or the more mainline SMT titles, but I eventually want to complete them all.
That roadmap/recap is very useful. The only thing it could maybe use is something like a little indicator of which regions/territories each game has released in as well as a little list of which systems/platforms each game has been released on too. That would make it a one stop shop to try and wrap your head around this massive series.
Nicely done Derrick. I thought I knew a lot about Mega Ten, but you introduced me to games I had no idea about. The franchise has a lot to it, but it’s cool that certain aspects like the demons are present in every game.
I just realized something. In SMT 3: Nocturne, the apocalypse is referred to by Yuko as The Conception as a way of foreshadowing the eventual birth of a new world. Which means that the Vortex World is essentially an Egg cell, and the PC is the sperm that may or may not fertilize it.
This video is so incredibly well researched! I only have known about Persona and little of the SMT games but I had no clue how HUGE Atlus’ catalog is! It’s also really interesting how some story themes from even their oldest games sound so familiar to what a normal Persona/SMT storyline is now. Really well done!
Great video! This has turned into my favorite franchise after playing Persona 5 Royal, Now i want to play the other games too and this certainly helped!
This was great! Enough detail to get me interested in certain games but also remains mostly spoiler-free. With some games being a decade or two old, it’s hard to find videos without spoilers.
1:50:28 The only reason this got bad reception from some folks is that Atlus stuck to their guns on the official crossover. It's a Persona game as much as it is SMT and Fire Emblem. I mean, Performa? Mirages? Come the heck on guys, market it with the Persona brand! You clearly did the thing, just admit it! Also, the Fire Emblem weapon type weaknesses, plus the follow up attacks? P3 + P5.
Dayum, I give major kudos to Derrick for managing to put together this monster of a video. I myself didn’t actually play and fully get into SMT/Persona until 2020 with Persona 5 Royal. And since then I’ve also played Persona 4 Golden, Persona 3 Portable and SMT 3+5. Though I definitely plan to delve more into the series in the near future, as I have every 3DS SMT game downloaded from past Eshop sales.
This was an awesome video! Interesting, entertaining and educational till the end. I always wanted to know about how this "multiverse" worked and this was super helpful! Love lobg videos that are incredible written! Thanks for this video ❤ Shin Megami Tensei really peeked an eye on me the old artstyle is really pretty, the only sad part is that there isn't a full English translation... Yet
At over 550K views now. Sweet! Thanks for the excellent info. I've never played any of these games. Happy to check them out. I'll watch it again and find my 'entry point'. Thank you!
That's part of the problem Megaten fans have against Persona, I believe. Check how much Atlus experimented in the early era until Persona 4. All the spin-offs brought something different, but after Persona 4, it was all Persona spin-offs. From the 2010's onwards, the only non-Persona, non-mainline SMT game was Tokyo Mirage Sessions. And then when they finally tried something different with Soul Hackers 2, it flopped critically and commercially, which has Megaten fans worried about more Persona "milking" and less diversity in themes and games. I myself do not dislike Persona, but I also want something different from Atlus from time to time, you know?
This was a very great list and overview! Nice to learn more about titles I wasn't familiar with before! Now imagine if you included peak fiction (Aegis: THE FIRST MISSION) too...
Just a little thing, in P3 onward there is no press turn system, while yes you get extra turns its not a new turn added at the end, but rather the character that attacked gets to go again. Much better in my opinion.
This is an amazing video, enjoyed every second. I will say though that at least mentioning Dx2 (the gacha game) would have been a good idea as well? Either way, amazing video, learned so much and also pretty spoiler free for the games I haven't played yet
Pretty good, I would have enjoyed it more if you had included the changes made in Persona 3 FES, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal in comparison with the original releases. I think this aspect is important to the saga.
It's really sad to see how Atlus will never re-release their older SMT games, especially the ones still stuck on SFM and 3DS. But you know what's even worse? This series blasphemising the name of THE LORD! Petition Atlus to re-release ALL SMT games on modern platforms with all mentions of the christain god REPLACED WITH YALDABOATH, THE FALSE GOD OF GNOSTIC MYTHOLOGY!!! Persona 5 did this, and every other SMT that includes the false God (SMT1, 2, 4A, etc) should too! Heresy to this calibur must not stand!
At 24:35 meanwhile in North America the Persona games had 'shin megami tensei' in the title up until P5. Guess they did that because the series was already fairly niche enough that the publishers for NA felt the need to indicate similarities with the spin-off titles
Derrick it's amazing how much you put into this video. If they're bringing back Soul Hackers then why not bring back Devil's children? Seems like a cute RPG with deep story and we've seen BDSP sold with its more traditional pokemon gameplay so why not?
@@orangeslash1667 A shame really. Devil Children has more to offer in terms of story content since the versions were actually different games. Final Fantasy is good though, even if I feel that VII, while an amazing one, needs a break from being a cash cow. Seriously there’s two prequels, an interquel with another interquel inside as well as a sequel movie with a director’s cut, an anime and now a remake/sequel combo trilogy still ongoing.
I'm not even interested in the Shin Megami Tensei series (the overwhelming number of titles you went over in the video should clue you in to why), but I watched the entire thing because I knew how hard you've been working on this video. I will say that your occasional mention of Etrian Odyssey reminded me that I was once vaguely interested in that series, and now that I'm more comfortable with JRPGs in general, I might actually try it out (not until I'm all caught up with Dragon Quest, though!). The first-person dungeon crawling bears a resemblance to the first non-Pokemon RPG I tried (a somewhat niche series called Mary Skelter), so it caught my eye during the video. Thanks for the reminder, now I've got another series on the backlog! 😅 I'll have to snag some copies of all the games in the Etrian Odyssey series before they become too expensive. Anyways, good job on the video! Hopefully my view counted for a dollar or two.
@@BBWahoo I see what you mean, but for me, when I get into a new series, I want to play EVERYTHING in that series. Funny enough, I make an exception for Mario, only opting to play the handful of games that interest me. I also tend to pass on most Pokémon spinoffs. Other than those two franchises, I'm pretty much an all-or-nothing kind of person.
I only just got into the persona 5 royal so finding out their history and how they game to be with their games is really cool and make me want to play them
Over the past few years, though my first intro was with SMT IV but haven't played all the way through it, been getting more and more into the series. I like the Modern day aspect of many of the games, and like in Nocturne how things are always just a tad uncanny. Funny that pokemon is the game the church claims is about 'Capturing demons'. Read a translation of the original book it all got inspired from. Just really weird having the character I thought would be the main antagonist, he summoned demons to kill his 'bullies' and sacrificed people, turn out to be the protag. Really thought the new girl was gonna be the hero. I think the chapter that take place in the office building and has the ooze come out of the computer and eat a few late night workers would have been a great start to a ghostbusters movie.
SMT: DDS1/2 are my favorite entry to the series, and I have yet to have a conversation with SMT and persona enthusiasts alike in person that are even aware of their existence 🤷♀️
ATLUS did what everyone beg Pokemon to do for decades, they refined their formula to so many different genres, taking many risks. They should be praised for that.
@@dwrayswez And it mostly became the biggest media franchise in history thanks to one very lucky, and brilliant, marketing move. Pokemon was originally on the same level of popularity in japan as Megami tensei, but prepared all their commercial advertising, toy manufacturing, Merchandise and TV deals for one massive push into the US all at the same time. Having pokemon become popular in the US at the same time toys and a TV show were playing created a marketting feedback loop that allowed them to saturate the market in under 2 years.
The title literally means - True Goddess Reincarnation. Now here are some questions : Who is this Goddess ? Who is her reincarnation ? What is her relationship with the protagonist ?
I've finished 15 of these, in almost any other series that'd be a massive chunk, but there are so many blind spots for me in this series. It's crazy how big it is.
I hope as many people can see this as possible. I love Shin Megami Tensei franchise but I often find it hard to explain to people why. I applaud Derrick for putting all that effort into this video.
Honestly, my biggest issue, as someone completely new to these games, is just how many there are. There's multiple series. There's multiple games in each series. There's some games that were released only in Japan, then later ported/remade for later consoles in English. There's also all the alternate versions like Person 3 on PS2, and P3 Portable on PSP, and a full remake of P3 releasing soon. And even THEN, I don't know if the different series connects at all. Plus the fact that I've heard older games in these series don't feel as good to play nowadays. So, I have zero idea where to start, or what order I should play them in.
I was worried about this video spoiling too much of theses game stories, but it felt like it spoiled nothing! Loved to learn about all the obscure games and how the franchise evolved
That's something I always appreciate in these kinds of videos. A lot of time I'm watching this kind of thing BEFORE I try out the games, to kinda hype myself up and get some history before I jump in.
As someone who is just getting into the series and was absolutely baffled by all the titles, this was a godsend. I'm really enjoying SMT V and this was great for figuring out what I might be interested in playing next. I'm sure this video was a massive undertaking. Thanks for taking the time!
I highly recommend Persona 3 Reload. I haven't played the Original Persona 3 but this remake is seriously one of the best games I've ever played. Took me around a month to finish.
starting to watch now I can't wait. great work Derrick and any and everyone who helped bring this project to life! EDIT: after finishing this video I have to say this retrospective has no lulls the pace is lightning fast and draws you in. no game is over explained nor spoiled giving the viewer incentive to give the series a try. personally I want to try the raidou games.
Persona is my favorite game franchise and in the last few years I've really started diving into all the other Megami Tensei games so it's great to see a video like this. You guys did an amazing job on the video, thank you for making it.
This was enlightening. I came to SMT pretty late for lack of Sony consoles. My first contact was long after P4G was released (borrowed the console + game from a friend back then), and that was it for a long time. Eventually, I fell in love with the Devil Survivor games (Nintendo child lol), later got a used PS2 and borrowed P3. Until now that's where most of my touch points with this massive series are - Persona and Devil Survivor. I did enjoy the SMT IV titles, so I was hyped af when they announced SMT V and the switch ports... never really got around to truly looking into the franchise though. I definitely want to look into Digital Devil Saga now. Thank you for this extensive piece of work, I had so many "oh, huh!"-moments and flashes of nostalgia during this.
You organized and narrated everything so well, i've seen a lot of SMT game timelines but they all seem to complicate things on purpose. As someone who started the series with persona and gradually got more interested in the other games, i seriously apreciate all the work put into this.
I started with SMT IV: Apocalypse after seeing it forever and being tantalized by a rated M 3DS game with cool cover art, and I finally bought it when Toy's R Us was closing and it was cheap. I was hooked immediately and it eventually became my first JRPG I completed, as I have a bad habit of not finishing games. Years later I own every SMT/Persona game you can buy from PS4/Vita/3DS. It's an excellent series, and I'm looking forward to Soul Hackers 2.
Over 100k views! That's incredible! I honestly had no idea how this project would be received but to see it just continually grow has been absolutely fulfilling. I've made it a point to read every comment and I truly appreciate all the kind words, the feedback, and places where I could improve in the future. Thank you! ~Derrick
Congrats!
Just finished watching, you did a fantastic job!
I'm honestly so glad this video is getting the recognition it deserves because with the amound of time and research that obviously went into it, it would've been a shame if it underperformed.
Huge smt fan. First got into the series w/ Survivor. Every few years I went back to the well to try to understand the whole history and legacy of remixed game or narrative elements. This video is a welcomed treat. Going to bookmark for whenever I need to explain smt to friends.
we needed this as the modern games are coming to PC THANK YOU
The compendium is complete!
are you guys going to post an article on your website about this retrospective? because this video is quality!
Nice
The day has finally arrived!
How do ya do fellow megatenists
@@alexsullivan2677
Pretty gud, you?
Technically speaking, Catherine was my first megami tensei game even before I played Persona 3, but I obviously didn't know that at the time. Who would've thought that a cheating man having nightmares about tower climbing sheeps would lead into me becoming a huge SMT fan?
Well seems like the "SMT elements" are just perfect for you
It's amazing how no matter game did they develop you can feel them even if they're massively changed like Persona series
I didn't even know Catherine was an SMT game until this comment right now (havent watched the video yet). I bought Catherine years ago for PS3 and never finished it. Should go back, it looked great.
@@AleksandrStrizhevskiy It's a great story. I wasn't so much for the puzzle gameplay personally as it felt very "mobile game-esque" but the story was out of this world. The animation in the cutscenes was awesome as well, I'd happily watch a whole series. Definitely avoid the later version though as it changes massive parts of the story and cheapens the whole thing.
@@_d0ser unbased take, the new version is the superior one
@@bruhjonson1131 While that's the case with most Atlus re-releases, it seems like Catherine Full Body made it cringe by adding a trap character.
Always amaze how this series managed to avoid controversies with religious people, yet things like Dungeons and Dragons or Pokémon unleashed a satanic panic.
The reason for that is cause for a ling time, this series only existed in Japan and in Japanese only. The whole religious paranoia was a western thing, so religious people were not aware of its existence and by the time smt got popular in the west, the religious paranoia had already passed. After all, smt was popular among jrpg fans, but in the bigger picture, it was pretty niche, it wouldn’t be till persona 5 that both persona and by consequence smt would become more well known. That said, I’m glad things happened this way. Parents were panicking in the 90s cause of pokemon, if they had seen smt, they probably would’ve gone on a witch hunt haha 😆
@@perk423that's a good explanation of it. Its also possible that part of the popularity of SMT in the west was due to the fatigue caused by that very same religious paranoia.
The fact Derek put this together is an achievement in and of itself; this man has earned his Giga Chad status😎
Wow this an amazing effort! Thank you. Megaten is my fav franchise and I love seeing videos like these explaining it to people who don't know or only played Persona.
As a feedback, Raidou 2 & P5 Strikers segments had the wrong songs. Also there is minor misinformation, like:
- The card summoner being a devil children game, It's not. This is Digital Devil Story TCG, which is the devil children game is based on with simpler rules.
- SMT 1 & 2 are not the only ones connected, *Maybe a spoiler* SMT 5 is a continuation of SMT 3's True Demon Ending
- *There's anther one in the middle of the video but totally forgot now what it was lol*
Because I like this vid and what's trying to do, these are some stuff I hoped there were included:
- It needed a segment talking about one of the most important pillars of this franchise, the demon artist Kazuma Kaneko and the legendary composer Shoji Meguro.
- And you didn't mention how SMT 1 was localized to the west through iOS and how it was removed from the App Store.
- Also since you touched on the upgraded ver for some games, others needed too especially SMT 3 Nocturne Maniax & P4 Golden since these upgrades expanded the fanbase if not double them.
- Also the upgrades for Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei which is basically a remake for the two Megami Tensei games, SMT 1 & 2 for PS1, Devil Survivor 1 & 2 for 3DS, P3 Portable & FES, Catherine Full Body, P5 Royal and the latest one P4 Arena Ultimax remaster.
- And the fact that this series started the idea of collecting monsters before Pokemon >_> lol
Sorry for the paragraph, I know there's a lot to this franchise and even 5 hours won't be enough to talk about everything but the important stuff needs to be mentioned. Thank you again for shedding light to this criminally misjudged series.
Cant wait to watch this through. Great work man!
I do hope you add timestamps in the future cause it would be greatly benefitial :)
I'll get on that right away
@@GVG :D
SMT5 was my first in the series, and I really love it. Great video, this makes me want to explore more of the series and spin-offs
I can't believe you were able to piece this all together 😮 This must've taken ages to research and put together. You deserve every like and sub you have!
Now all I need is Devil Survivor 3. 🙏 I've been wanting a third entry for years. Seeing the treatment they gave Soul Hackers just gives me more hope. A third Devil Survivor on PC, Xbox Series consoles and PS5 would be a dream come true.
Amazing work here! Love this channel so much!!!
I agree.
I gotta say Derrick, this is truly an amazing retrospective and historical breakdown of the Megami Tensei Franchise as a whole, my honest congrats on such a project. Amazing work dude!
The sheer amount of research that had to be done to put together this video is absolutely insane to me. Massive props man, I'm loving the video so far while over an hour in.
33:00 the best Persona is always in need of more recognition!
40:51 I am one of those people.
I love this list and the massive amount of information, though I was a bit let down to not see the remasters/re-releases of some games like Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne Remastered, Persona 3 FES, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, Persona 4 Arena Max, Persona 5 Royal (yes, it’s mentioned once, but not talked about)… Just a little disappointed to not see some of these games talked about, especially the differences between them versus the original releases.
Still, what a wealth of information and history lesson about this outstanding series. Thanks so much for your hard work and excellent video. ❤
Soul Hackers were really cool ... i started my Shin Megami Tensei travel with Persona 5 Royal , followed by Persona 5 Strikers , followed up by Persona 4 Golden , followed by Soul Hackers 2. It was a blast and about 480 Hours later i just wished for the next Persona 5 oder Persona 6 game , while i dont play these rythm games i love to play the roleplaying games !
HOLY FRICK! I had a feeling that If had some sort of connection to the Persona universe, but the Devil Summoner series?! That's insane!
I'm going to have to watch this in part but 😱 I'm so happy you made this!! I remember a long video being mentioned during the GVG cast and was wondering what it was. I'm so exited!
God, it's such a tragedy that SMT-V is "trapped" on Switch. Heck, the game doesn't even display in fullHD (1080p). I wish they re-release it on Playstation, Xbox and PC
So much respect for Derrick pushing through and getting this out. I can’t promise I’ll be 100% attentive but I will let the whole thing play while I’m at my desk today. Thanks for the vibes, Derrick
My history with this series started like it did for many: with Persona 3. I'd heard about the game at a young age while browsing video game music online, and stumbled upon the final battle theme. I fell in love with the song, but had no means to try the game, so my love only extended as far as the music back then. About six years later when I'd graduated high school and started working, I purchased a PS3 and found that Persona 3 was available on PSN. Recognizing the title from the music I used to listen to as a kid, I decided to buy it, and since then, I've gotten my hands on every Megaten title I could. I fell in love immediately with the works of Atlus, and even did my best to play the first two Megami Tensei titles (namely, their SNES remakes.) I haven't beaten them yet, but I at least have access to them and love them all the same.
This retrospective has increased my appreciation for this absolutely massive series so much, and it makes me want to properly complete the games in the series even more. As of now, the only games I've beaten in the series are Personas 1, 4, and 5, since I have a tendency to get intimidated by the difficulty of the older games or the more mainline SMT titles, but I eventually want to complete them all.
This is the best video about SMT series! Damn! I didn't know some of the games too! My first was Persona 3 on PSP.
Man this video is amazing. I can’t imagine the time that went into this. Good work.
I wish they'd put compilations out, so I don't have to get like 20 consoles to play the whole series.
That roadmap/recap is very useful. The only thing it could maybe use is something like a little indicator of which regions/territories each game has released in as well as a little list of which systems/platforms each game has been released on too. That would make it a one stop shop to try and wrap your head around this massive series.
Wow, what a fantastic video. Thank you so much for making this.
Finally got a chance to check the video out in it's entirety and it was great! Fantastic job Derrick!
Nicely done Derrick. I thought I knew a lot about Mega Ten, but you introduced me to games I had no idea about. The franchise has a lot to it, but it’s cool that certain aspects like the demons are present in every game.
I just realized something. In SMT 3: Nocturne, the apocalypse is referred to by Yuko as The Conception as a way of foreshadowing the eventual birth of a new world. Which means that the Vortex World is essentially an Egg cell, and the PC is the sperm that may or may not fertilize it.
Yoooo, I've watched a buncha vids on the complete history of Megaten, I'll watch this one too.
This video is so incredibly well researched! I only have known about Persona and little of the SMT games but I had no clue how HUGE Atlus’ catalog is! It’s also really interesting how some story themes from even their oldest games sound so familiar to what a normal Persona/SMT storyline is now. Really well done!
the algorithm: would you like to rewatch this video for the 5th time?
me: why, yes, of course
Incredible video. Nothing else needs to be said. Thank you
Great video! This has turned into my favorite franchise after playing Persona 5 Royal, Now i want to play the other games too and this certainly helped!
This was great! Enough detail to get me interested in certain games but also remains mostly spoiler-free.
With some games being a decade or two old, it’s hard to find videos without spoilers.
Finally a way to string my various wiki dives into one video! Thanks man!
Hotdamn
Good shit derrick ^_^,smt is my favorite franchise and this is gonna be a great watch
1:50:28 The only reason this got bad reception from some folks is that Atlus stuck to their guns on the official crossover. It's a Persona game as much as it is SMT and Fire Emblem. I mean, Performa? Mirages? Come the heck on guys, market it with the Persona brand! You clearly did the thing, just admit it! Also, the Fire Emblem weapon type weaknesses, plus the follow up attacks? P3 + P5.
Dayum, I give major kudos to Derrick for managing to put together this monster of a video. I myself didn’t actually play and fully get into SMT/Persona until 2020 with Persona 5 Royal. And since then I’ve also played Persona 4 Golden, Persona 3 Portable and SMT 3+5. Though I definitely plan to delve more into the series in the near future, as I have every 3DS SMT game downloaded from past Eshop sales.
As a long time fan of the series who has slowly been making their way through SMT's varied catalogue, I really enjoyed this history rundown!
Solid production! A+ !
This video actually made me interested in this long ass series. I’m probably gonna play at least one of these games now.
Well, have you?
i hope you enjoy them!
This was an awesome video! Interesting, entertaining and educational till the end. I always wanted to know about how this "multiverse" worked and this was super helpful! Love lobg videos that are incredible written! Thanks for this video ❤
Shin Megami Tensei really peeked an eye on me the old artstyle is really pretty, the only sad part is that there isn't a full English translation... Yet
Solid video I’m subbing
Shin Megami Tensei Five and Persona 5 Royal are two of the best games I've ever played. Loved the video, such a fascinating group of games!
At over 550K views now. Sweet! Thanks for the excellent info. I've never played any of these games. Happy to check them out. I'll watch it again and find my 'entry point'. Thank you!
Thank you for this!! I played the digital devil saga and fell in love, and couldn't understand why and how it had any relation to the persona titles!
Perfect video for the long drive to work!!
I genuinely enjoy how much atlus try out different genres if they failed at least they tried something new
That's part of the problem Megaten fans have against Persona, I believe. Check how much Atlus experimented in the early era until Persona 4. All the spin-offs brought something different, but after Persona 4, it was all Persona spin-offs.
From the 2010's onwards, the only non-Persona, non-mainline SMT game was Tokyo Mirage Sessions. And then when they finally tried something different with Soul Hackers 2, it flopped critically and commercially, which has Megaten fans worried about more Persona "milking" and less diversity in themes and games.
I myself do not dislike Persona, but I also want something different from Atlus from time to time, you know?
This was a very great list and overview! Nice to learn more about titles I wasn't familiar with before! Now imagine if you included peak fiction (Aegis: THE FIRST MISSION) too...
I see Trauma Center in the chart which piqued my interest to watch this super long video, but you never once mentioned it.
Grinded Persona 2 Eternal Punishment so many times. One of the best classic JRPGs out there.
Just a little thing, in P3 onward there is no press turn system, while yes you get extra turns its not a new turn added at the end, but rather the character that attacked gets to go again. Much better in my opinion.
AMAZING video! Truly enjoyed every second! I’m more hyped for Devil Summoner 2. I really hope they bring back Devil Survivor as well!
It’s the fifth Devil Summoner game not the second. Soul Hackers 2 is the sequel to the second Devil Summoner.
@@calebgoodman3028 ahh, yeah that’s right. I got it mixed up, I meant to say Soul hackers 2 😅 I loved the first Soul Hackers on 3DS
This is an amazing video, enjoyed every second.
I will say though that at least mentioning Dx2 (the gacha game) would have been a good idea as well?
Either way, amazing video, learned so much and also pretty spoiler free for the games I haven't played yet
Mother of Reincarnated Goddesses
love retrospectives on games. this was a good one
Pretty good, I would have enjoyed it more if you had included the changes made in Persona 3 FES, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal in comparison with the original releases. I think this aspect is important to the saga.
great summary
It's really sad to see how Atlus will never re-release their older SMT games, especially the ones still stuck on SFM and 3DS. But you know what's even worse? This series blasphemising the name of THE LORD! Petition Atlus to re-release ALL SMT games on modern platforms with all mentions of the christain god REPLACED WITH YALDABOATH, THE FALSE GOD OF GNOSTIC MYTHOLOGY!!! Persona 5 did this, and every other SMT that includes the false God (SMT1, 2, 4A, etc) should too! Heresy to this calibur must not stand!
Atlus can't count before 3 for some reason....so no SMT1, 2, if..., Persona 1, 2IS, or 2EP.
This 2 hour SMT video is the perfect way to chase the 8 hour Bomberman video I just finished
I love this video bro this is like my 4th time watching it.
Thank you for this. I can finally just point at a video for people to watch.
Fantastic video Derek! Hee-Ho!
I'm late to this franchises, I only cared about P3 & P5 (which I enjoyed), but I didn't expect to finish and enjoyed this video.
Well done, sir!
Play Shin Megami Tensei
At 24:35 meanwhile in North America the Persona games had 'shin megami tensei' in the title up until P5. Guess they did that because the series was already fairly niche enough that the publishers for NA felt the need to indicate similarities with the spin-off titles
Derrick at his best... 😊👍
Derrick it's amazing how much you put into this video.
If they're bringing back Soul Hackers then why not bring back Devil's children? Seems like a cute RPG with deep story and we've seen BDSP sold with its more traditional pokemon gameplay so why not?
Because it failed in the west to Pokémon...
@@calebgoodman3028 RPG's were hard to sell back then unless it was Pokemon or Final Fantasy.
@@orangeslash1667 A shame really. Devil Children has more to offer in terms of story content since the versions were actually different games. Final Fantasy is good though, even if I feel that VII, while an amazing one, needs a break from being a cash cow. Seriously there’s two prequels, an interquel with another interquel inside as well as a sequel movie with a director’s cut, an anime and now a remake/sequel combo trilogy still ongoing.
@@calebgoodman3028 And Sephiroth in Smash Bros. Good thing we also have Joker in Smash.
I swear that I recognize this guy's voice from somewhere but I can't put my finger on it.
Derrick Use to work at gamexplain so you might of heard him there
@@MastrC Thank you, that was really bugging me. Was there some kind of falling out between him and the other people over at Gamexplain?
@@PhazonEnder Yeah. Derrick, along with the other gvg members, all left gamexplain due to poor working conditions and work culture.
Holy shit, I had no idea Team Ladybug made a SMT based game. Now Im sad I cant play it, their other MVs are awesome
I am enthused to see this video
update: was right to be enthused
I'm not even interested in the Shin Megami Tensei series (the overwhelming number of titles you went over in the video should clue you in to why), but I watched the entire thing because I knew how hard you've been working on this video. I will say that your occasional mention of Etrian Odyssey reminded me that I was once vaguely interested in that series, and now that I'm more comfortable with JRPGs in general, I might actually try it out (not until I'm all caught up with Dragon Quest, though!). The first-person dungeon crawling bears a resemblance to the first non-Pokemon RPG I tried (a somewhat niche series called Mary Skelter), so it caught my eye during the video. Thanks for the reminder, now I've got another series on the backlog! 😅 I'll have to snag some copies of all the games in the Etrian Odyssey series before they become too expensive. Anyways, good job on the video! Hopefully my view counted for a dollar or two.
Too many Mario games, not gonna play any of them
@@BBWahoo I see what you mean, but for me, when I get into a new series, I want to play EVERYTHING in that series. Funny enough, I make an exception for Mario, only opting to play the handful of games that interest me. I also tend to pass on most Pokémon spinoffs. Other than those two franchises, I'm pretty much an all-or-nothing kind of person.
@@avalpsychicguy
You should change that, you're missing out
Funny thing atlus makes wtrion Odyssey also
I really love the snes version of megami tensei 2
I only just got into the persona 5 royal so finding out their history and how they game to be with their games is really cool and make me want to play them
wow what a great video, thank you
For Western people watching this video Famicon and Super Famicon are equivalent to the NES and SNES respectively.
Incredible analysis!
Great Video!
Over the past few years, though my first intro was with SMT IV but haven't played all the way through it, been getting more and more into the series. I like the Modern day aspect of many of the games, and like in Nocturne how things are always just a tad uncanny. Funny that pokemon is the game the church claims is about 'Capturing demons'.
Read a translation of the original book it all got inspired from. Just really weird having the character I thought would be the main antagonist, he summoned demons to kill his 'bullies' and sacrificed people, turn out to be the protag. Really thought the new girl was gonna be the hero. I think the chapter that take place in the office building and has the ooze come out of the computer and eat a few late night workers would have been a great start to a ghostbusters movie.
SMT: DDS1/2 are my favorite entry to the series, and I have yet to have a conversation with SMT and persona enthusiasts alike in person that are even aware of their existence 🤷♀️
ATLUS did what everyone beg Pokemon to do for decades, they refined their formula to so many different genres, taking many risks. They should be praised for that.
Yeah the biggest media franchise in history has only stuck to one genre.
@@dwrayswez And it mostly became the biggest media franchise in history thanks to one very lucky, and brilliant, marketing move. Pokemon was originally on the same level of popularity in japan as Megami tensei, but prepared all their commercial advertising, toy manufacturing, Merchandise and TV deals for one massive push into the US all at the same time. Having pokemon become popular in the US at the same time toys and a TV show were playing created a marketting feedback loop that allowed them to saturate the market in under 2 years.
Atlus should pay you for this. This is a really great portfolio for them.
For real. This is the most comprehensible and enjoyable overview of SMT I’ve see
Yeah, I never heard of a lot of these and not just the Japan exclusive ones either.
Or at least sponsor the vid.
The title literally means - True Goddess Reincarnation. Now here are some questions : Who is this Goddess ? Who is her reincarnation ? What is her relationship with the protagonist ?
The chart at the end is especially nice, need a copy for when I'm deciding what to play next.
I've finished 15 of these, in almost any other series that'd be a massive chunk, but there are so many blind spots for me in this series. It's crazy how big it is.
I've only played 3, Persona 4 Golden and 5 Royal, and SMT V.
@@averypatrick5279 You should try out SMT IV! It's my favourite in the series and just my favourite game in general.
@@Froge0 I second this! It's also my favorite!
@@averypatrick5279 Going for SMT recommendations, I'd like to suggest the Devil Survivor duology and Strange Journey.
@@bretginn1419 These are great picks, all of these would be in my Top 5 along with Persona 3 and SMT IV.
I wouldn't mind more retrospectives, but I also do not want Derek to work himself to death.
GameXplain moment
You could totally do SMT Hot takes by the way, especially boss designs. Would work really well with your style
Hi Skyen! Love your work (I don't usually do these embarrassing "omg another person I like lemme annoy them" comments but yeah you have good takes)
I hope as many people can see this as possible. I love Shin Megami Tensei franchise but I often find it hard to explain to people why. I applaud Derrick for putting all that effort into this video.
Honestly, my biggest issue, as someone completely new to these games, is just how many there are. There's multiple series. There's multiple games in each series. There's some games that were released only in Japan, then later ported/remade for later consoles in English. There's also all the alternate versions like Person 3 on PS2, and P3 Portable on PSP, and a full remake of P3 releasing soon. And even THEN, I don't know if the different series connects at all. Plus the fact that I've heard older games in these series don't feel as good to play nowadays.
So, I have zero idea where to start, or what order I should play them in.
Only SMT fans will watch this
I absolutely adore the variety on this channel and how much passion you guys put into each video. Great work, guys! 💖
Oziach
I wish there was more videos like this for this franchise. Hell I wish more people would play SMT and related games.
I was worried about this video spoiling too much of theses game stories, but it felt like it spoiled nothing! Loved to learn about all the obscure games and how the franchise evolved
That's something I always appreciate in these kinds of videos. A lot of time I'm watching this kind of thing BEFORE I try out the games, to kinda hype myself up and get some history before I jump in.
I'm so glad such a unique series is finally hitting the giant success it deserves
It's been decades coming.
It would help if Atlus actually released a lot of these games on current consoles.
@@DragonKingX78 ong
@@DragonKingX78SMT III remake would go so hard ngl
@@AoxKitit’s on steam….
Is nobody going to acknowledge that TMS:FE literally called it’s persona equivalent “Performa”?
As someone who is just getting into the series and was absolutely baffled by all the titles, this was a godsend. I'm really enjoying SMT V and this was great for figuring out what I might be interested in playing next. I'm sure this video was a massive undertaking. Thanks for taking the time!
I highly recommend Persona 3 Reload. I haven't played the Original Persona 3 but this remake is seriously one of the best games I've ever played. Took me around a month to finish.
@@MadfellaDuke thanks for the recommendation! It looks very cool, I'll definitely check it out
liking the video just for the length... can't imagine the amount of time/effort that went into this
Final Fantasy: "I have 16 games, It's going to take multiple years of you want to play them all!"
Shin Magami Tensei:
Final Fantasy has way more games than the 16 main titles, but yeah, Idk if it goes as deep as SMT
starting to watch now I can't wait. great work Derrick and any and everyone who helped bring this project to life!
EDIT: after finishing this video I have to say this retrospective has no lulls the pace is lightning fast and draws you in. no game is over explained nor spoiled giving the viewer incentive to give the series a try. personally I want to try the raidou games.
As a guy who played both the 2nd game specifically is really really fun gameplay wise
@@satAMfox noted thanks 👍
Can't believe there was an Megaten spinoff on the frikkin virtual boy.
Smt card summoner is not a devil children game, the references and card game are based on the main card game series.
Did they go on the... wikipedia 😭
@@Antichthon it is info on Wikipedia sourced by the bigot Kurt Kalata so probably yeah
NOT THE WIKIPEDIA
Persona is my favorite game franchise and in the last few years I've really started diving into all the other Megami Tensei games so it's great to see a video like this. You guys did an amazing job on the video, thank you for making it.
This was enlightening. I came to SMT pretty late for lack of Sony consoles. My first contact was long after P4G was released (borrowed the console + game from a friend back then), and that was it for a long time. Eventually, I fell in love with the Devil Survivor games (Nintendo child lol), later got a used PS2 and borrowed P3. Until now that's where most of my touch points with this massive series are - Persona and Devil Survivor. I did enjoy the SMT IV titles, so I was hyped af when they announced SMT V and the switch ports... never really got around to truly looking into the franchise though. I definitely want to look into Digital Devil Saga now. Thank you for this extensive piece of work, I had so many "oh, huh!"-moments and flashes of nostalgia during this.
I love the DDS games, really wish they would release those and SMT5 on PS4, PS5, PC, etc.
You organized and narrated everything so well, i've seen a lot of SMT game timelines but they all seem to complicate things on purpose.
As someone who started the series with persona and gradually got more interested in the other games, i seriously apreciate all the work put into this.
Everyone share this with everyone you know, dammit.
They put in way too much work for this not to spread across the entire internet.
I started with SMT IV: Apocalypse after seeing it forever and being tantalized by a rated M 3DS game with cool cover art, and I finally bought it when Toy's R Us was closing and it was cheap. I was hooked immediately and it eventually became my first JRPG I completed, as I have a bad habit of not finishing games. Years later I own every SMT/Persona game you can buy from PS4/Vita/3DS. It's an excellent series, and I'm looking forward to Soul Hackers 2.
Have you gotten soul hackers 2 yet?
Lol that was kind of how I got into SMT, except with Strange Journey Redux and getting it on Amazon.
Have you been playing persona 3 reload?