This is exactly why smt 2 is one of, if not my favorite game. Noticing the gaean enemies in the VR Battler or modified machines from the first game really drew me into its world. A really amazing game. Great video, mentioned many things I never even noticed, really well made!
Thank you for the video, I learned a lot of new things today. I hope you'll cover Nocturne's choice of demons someday as I believe there's a lot of creative thematic at work, especially in Proto-Indo European mythology.
Excellent video, the pop culture demons and the fabricated mythology theming present in 2 are so interesting and make it so unique as a megaten. Neat to see all that kaneko works stuff I hadn't heard of before as well. Would love to see you make more videos like this, such as the IF... demons one you suggested in your previous NINE video. Keep up the great work!
I knew about Depth, but not Inferno and Hanged Man. Some of my favorite bits of lore building in the series and something I'd really like to see more of in games that are explicitly connected.
See, this is why, as a world, SMT II is one of the most interesting games. While the others have the apocalypse *start*, they all end before it really gets going or with the extermination of humanity. SMT I and II both show the aftermath of that apocalypse and how human society integrated with demons. My favourite part of this is the implication that certain demons, like the former random encounters, simply stopped being hostile to humans after prolonged periods of living together.
I truly appreciate this video in particular, it's my personal favorite next to the NINE palette swap one. I played through SMT2 rather recently and found myself enthralled by it, by all aspects of it. The author's closing thoughts mirrored my exact views on this game, it's a massive shame how seemingly few people played it instead of relying on references (think DDS2), word of mouth or walkthroughs/LPs. This is a wonderful video analyzing aspects of SMT2 that I didn't know could be analyzed, I can only hope your channel will reach the wider megaten community.
Wow this is all very well done! I've watched your SMT Nine video as well and your videos are very insightful. There must be a lot of research you have done, it's very meticulous and entertaining to learn. This shows how much world-building the game developers have done to the world of SMT. I'd like to see more of your video! A little suggestion if you don't mind, the subtitles (?) are a little too fast for me, I don't mind pausing but it'd be nice if it stays a bit longer. Anyway, great work! Looking forward to your next video!
Amazing video. I find it a bit hard to sit through SMT II (Which is weird since I can get through I and If... just fine) but what I did play through and reading the wiki entries on the enemies left me enamored with the world it presented. It's nice to see someone passionate going the extra mile to present it all. As for the pop culture demons, I think you made a credible theory. From what I understand, the demons of MegaTen are created through belief through the Collective Unconscious and with so much time passed, everything from our time has been shrouded in myth, even the antics of the SMT I protagonist. This led to figures of pop culture becoming as real as Flauros or Arahabaki, much like how those two lack context IRL, yet we still believe them to be higher beings. This makes sense with Betelgeuse's design. He wears a bat pendant and bat mask, which is meant to invoke Batman, another role Michael Keaton played around the same time. The two roles melded together due to the memories of them fogging up over time and the laborers who found the evidence coming to the wrong conclusion. I think this design choice helps sell the idea of their in-universe origin.
I'm halfway through SMT1 and 2 seems so awesome, I can't wait to play it. Your description of its world at the end sent chills down my spine. In this day and age, I think this game would resonate with people much more than ever.
I wonder what a modern equivalent of the pop culture pulls would be. Something like Slenderman or Herobrine or other creepypastas? Also i honestly wonder if said pop culture demons are the real reason why 2 never got an official english release, even if the fact 1's mobile translation didnt succeed is the likelier one
Something to do with AI fraud/fake images, maybe? Prior to AI becoming big it'd definitely have been original horror stuff like creepypastas or SCPs. Chemtrails in SMTIV might be the most recent examples of what they'd go for with modern demons. If they wanted to rerelease SMT2 and were worried about the pop-culture demons I think they'd just replace them entirely. Oboroguruma instead of Chris the Car, "Man-eating Plant" instead of Audrey, new sprites if necessary. Still annoyed they never used the SMT1 translation for anything else though, that's how I beat the first game.
It may be. Pop-culture things may make it hard for the game to be brought out of Japan (like the Michael Jackson/Mr. Thriller cameo) since the US tends to be strict/strange when it comes to copyright laws and I would believe one reason SMT: DS not being localized was that its main battle theme has some rifts from the "Beat It" song and SMT if borrowing the "if" font design from the "if" movie (exceptions exist though like Baphomet's SMT II design). Though there also the "taste" or what's insensible in those games. Early SMT games uses religion heavily compared to its modern ones and the Messian Church "portrays" Christianity in a bad light (I know that happens many times in history but it doesn't change the fact that it is offensive to them). SMT II had Demi-Nandi which is a mass-produced creature from a sacred bull who is made to food, when the religion Nandi originated from considers meat consumption from a cow to be extremely offensive. And SMT: DS had Rastaman, named after a religion in Africa, portrayed as a serial killer. While I do wish for many early SMT games to be localized, there were many things that the new staff of Atlus would be scared to localize or cause more controversy. (Gameplay of the MT games, SNES SMTs and SMT DS were also said to be hard or lacks many good features that SJ had, so there is a business perspective to deal with as well.)
This is exactly why smt 2 is one of, if not my favorite game. Noticing the gaean enemies in the VR Battler or modified machines from the first game really drew me into its world. A really amazing game. Great video, mentioned many things I never even noticed, really well made!
Thank you for the video, I learned a lot of new things today. I hope you'll cover Nocturne's choice of demons someday as I believe there's a lot of creative thematic at work, especially in Proto-Indo European mythology.
Excellent video, the pop culture demons and the fabricated mythology theming present in 2 are so interesting and make it so unique as a megaten. Neat to see all that kaneko works stuff I hadn't heard of before as well. Would love to see you make more videos like this, such as the IF... demons one you suggested in your previous NINE video. Keep up the great work!
Damn this is such a good video, it has made me appreciate SMT II a lot more. You are awesome!
legit one of the most interesting SMT videos I've seen in a while
I knew about Depth, but not Inferno and Hanged Man. Some of my favorite bits of lore building in the series and something I'd really like to see more of in games that are explicitly connected.
See, this is why, as a world, SMT II is one of the most interesting games. While the others have the apocalypse *start*, they all end before it really gets going or with the extermination of humanity. SMT I and II both show the aftermath of that apocalypse and how human society integrated with demons. My favourite part of this is the implication that certain demons, like the former random encounters, simply stopped being hostile to humans after prolonged periods of living together.
I really enjoy your videos. The tidbit that Kalkin replaced Vishnu was a jaw-dropper.
I truly appreciate this video in particular, it's my personal favorite next to the NINE palette swap one. I played through SMT2 rather recently and found myself enthralled by it, by all aspects of it. The author's closing thoughts mirrored my exact views on this game, it's a massive shame how seemingly few people played it instead of relying on references (think DDS2), word of mouth or walkthroughs/LPs. This is a wonderful video analyzing aspects of SMT2 that I didn't know could be analyzed, I can only hope your channel will reach the wider megaten community.
Wow this is all very well done! I've watched your SMT Nine video as well and your videos are very insightful. There must be a lot of research you have done, it's very meticulous and entertaining to learn. This shows how much world-building the game developers have done to the world of SMT. I'd like to see more of your video!
A little suggestion if you don't mind, the subtitles (?) are a little too fast for me, I don't mind pausing but it'd be nice if it stays a bit longer. Anyway, great work! Looking forward to your next video!
Amazing video. I find it a bit hard to sit through SMT II (Which is weird since I can get through I and If... just fine) but what I did play through and reading the wiki entries on the enemies left me enamored with the world it presented. It's nice to see someone passionate going the extra mile to present it all.
As for the pop culture demons, I think you made a credible theory.
From what I understand, the demons of MegaTen are created through belief through the Collective Unconscious and with so much time passed, everything from our time has been shrouded in myth, even the antics of the SMT I protagonist. This led to figures of pop culture becoming as real as Flauros or Arahabaki, much like how those two lack context IRL, yet we still believe them to be higher beings.
This makes sense with Betelgeuse's design. He wears a bat pendant and bat mask, which is meant to invoke Batman, another role Michael Keaton played around the same time. The two roles melded together due to the memories of them fogging up over time and the laborers who found the evidence coming to the wrong conclusion. I think this design choice helps sell the idea of their in-universe origin.
I'm halfway through SMT1 and 2 seems so awesome, I can't wait to play it. Your description of its world at the end sent chills down my spine. In this day and age, I think this game would resonate with people much more than ever.
Good shit. Beautiful research.
I wonder what a modern equivalent of the pop culture pulls would be. Something like Slenderman or Herobrine or other creepypastas? Also i honestly wonder if said pop culture demons are the real reason why 2 never got an official english release, even if the fact 1's mobile translation didnt succeed is the likelier one
Something to do with AI fraud/fake images, maybe? Prior to AI becoming big it'd definitely have been original horror stuff like creepypastas or SCPs. Chemtrails in SMTIV might be the most recent examples of what they'd go for with modern demons.
If they wanted to rerelease SMT2 and were worried about the pop-culture demons I think they'd just replace them entirely. Oboroguruma instead of Chris the Car, "Man-eating Plant" instead of Audrey, new sprites if necessary. Still annoyed they never used the SMT1 translation for anything else though, that's how I beat the first game.
It may be. Pop-culture things may make it hard for the game to be brought out of Japan (like the Michael Jackson/Mr. Thriller cameo) since the US tends to be strict/strange when it comes to copyright laws and I would believe one reason SMT: DS not being localized was that its main battle theme has some rifts from the "Beat It" song and SMT if borrowing the "if" font design from the "if" movie (exceptions exist though like Baphomet's SMT II design). Though there also the "taste" or what's insensible in those games. Early SMT games uses religion heavily compared to its modern ones and the Messian Church "portrays" Christianity in a bad light (I know that happens many times in history but it doesn't change the fact that it is offensive to them). SMT II had Demi-Nandi which is a mass-produced creature from a sacred bull who is made to food, when the religion Nandi originated from considers meat consumption from a cow to be extremely offensive. And SMT: DS had Rastaman, named after a religion in Africa, portrayed as a serial killer. While I do wish for many early SMT games to be localized, there were many things that the new staff of Atlus would be scared to localize or cause more controversy. (Gameplay of the MT games, SNES SMTs and SMT DS were also said to be hard or lacks many good features that SJ had, so there is a business perspective to deal with as well.)
Subbed.
Thank you for the video!