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SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI III: NOCTURNE HD REMASTER – Game Review – One more god rejected

 

 
Overview
 

Published by: ATLUS, SEGA
 
Developed by: ATLUS
 
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows - Steam
 
Genre(s): Role-playing
 
Mode(s): Single-player
 
Game Type: , ,
 
FG RATING
77%
77/ 100


User Rating
2 total ratings

 

Raves


Post-Apocalyptic Setting, Kaneko’s Eerie and Beautiful Artstyle remastered, Great Soundtrack, Various Demons, and Character Personalities, Good Voice Acting for both English and Japanese, Great storyline and narrative

Rants


Can get Grind-heavy and repetitive depending on the Difficulty, Many Areas can feel empty, New players might get lost on the next objective or how to progress the story


0
Posted June 3, 2021 by

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Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne is originally a classic Role-playing Game developed by ATLUS for the Playstation 2 and was initially released in 2003. It is the third entry in the mainline Shin Megami Tensei Series. In 2021, a High Definition Remastered version was released for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and on Steam. SMT III: Nocturne is set in post-apocalyptic Tokyo after an event known as the “Conception” triggered by a cult that wiped out humanity for the purpose of a rebirth for a  new world.

Disclaimer: This review covers events mostly that happened before encountering the Assembly of Nihilo to avoid any spoilers.

STORY

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The protagonist who was originally known only as the “Demi-fiend” has now a canon name, Naoki Kashima (which was revealed when a drama CD for Shin Megami Tensei 3 was released.) is just a normal high-school student before the Conception. Naoki was transformed and was reborn as a Demon with a human heart by an unknown character in the form of a child. Gaining his newfound power and abilities, The Demi-Fiend goes in search of his friends and the two cults that are in conflict that both seek to remake the world in their own images.

GAMEPLAY

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Shin Megami III: Nocturne is a dungeon-crawler role-playing game that is story-driven. The player controls the Demi-fiend and is on a path to finding his friends and finding more about post-apocalyptic Tokyo which is now the Vortex World as more events unfold.

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Exploration throughout the game can be mainly categorized into two types, traversing in 3rd-person as the demi-fiend himself, and a map view exploration for traveling to different main areas, both of which feature the dungeon-crawling system random encounters. Traversing from one point to another can also be done with fast travel in some areas via using the Terminal, which is also a save point like in previous SMT titles.

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The main gameplay is a turn-based battle mechanic that is based on strategy exploiting enemy weaknesses and utilizing skills and buffs. Aside from the Demi-fiend’s abilities, other allies can be acquired as well with the Demon-recruitment system, which is a form of negotiation that players can choose to do in random encounters upon entering combat. Acquiring new demons as allies is a big help to the game’s challenging difficulty. Recruited Demons can also be fused in the Cathedral of Shadows to produce more powerful allies. This mechanic can produce a variety of results in different circumstances based on the demon’s skills and characteristics that players can utilize to their desired result.

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Aside from the different important locations in the game that are related to the story, there are other locations as well that serve different purposes that can help players in their journey as well like: The Junk Shop, which is manned by a vendor that sells items, Rag’s Jewelry, where gems that are acquired throughout the game can be traded here for rare items and unique demons, and The Fountain of Life, which players can use to heal party members. All of these features use in-game currency known as Macca which is also vital in recruiting demons in negotiation.

VISUALS & PERFORMANCE

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Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster delivers what it’s supposed to be, a remaster of a cult-classic RPG. Atlus has done a good job of remastering the models, locations, and environment of the game. However, most cinematic cutscenes still have a lower aspect ratio and are not fully remastered in comparison to the quality of most of the in-game textures.

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The voice-over is a great improvement from the original game giving more dubbed parts for the game that is provided in both Japanese and English and first-time subtitles for French, German, Italian, and Spanish. However, all the battle music is still heavily compressed, and the frame rate is still capped at 30 fps even for PC.

VERDICT

9

Coming from a fan of the Megaten series, I enjoyed the Remastered version of Nocturne a lot. It stayed through to what it was gameplay, visuals, and overall atmosphere. Atlus did well on improving the textures of the game for the most part. A new “Merciless” difficulty was also added so that it will entice new players more to try and enjoy the game without worrying about the famous difficulty of the game. However, I think Atlus could’ve done a bit more with this remaster by remastering all cutscenes to their full glory and adding a bit more instructions on some mechanics of the game so that it will be a lot more friendly to people who have never tried the game.

[This review was done using a retail copy Digital Deluxe Edition of the game provided by the publisher]

 

 


Ian Matining

 
Artist | Illustrator | Gamer . Yo! I'm a passionate Artist and Illustrator who loves playing video games and making art. Architecture has never left my being as well after graduating and dealing with it for more than 7 years.


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