How do I get into shin megami tensei? Do I have to start all the way from the beginning or is it like persona where they are each their own story with different characters? How similar is it and what am I in for?
Soul Hackers is a good starting point. After that try Strange Journey.It's okay if you quit on the final boss.After Strange Journey, it's up to you where you want to go next in the series.
>>345210413
Play Nocturne or Digital Devil Saga
they each have separate stories
the combat is fairly similar but everything outside of that is pretty different
I would start with SMT IV and move to Strange Journey or Nocturne from there
>>345210543
Seconding this anon. Soul Hackers is great, so is Strange Journey. Generally the only continuity with SMT games is thematic (Law/Chaos/Neutral stuff).
You can't really go wrong with SMT games, just really depends what kind of experience you're after.
>>345210413
Start withPersona 3, not even kidding. It has a similar kind of combat like mainline SMT but it's less of a dungeon crawler than mainline. So if you enjoy the dating sim aspects, play Persona 4 afterwards, or if you enjoy the combat and dungeon crawling more proceed to play mainline (DDS is the best start).
>>345210413
Main series: Start anywhere, they aren't connected and are all pretty good.
Devil Summoner series: The first game is still jap only, no fan translation. Soul Hackers is good. The two Raidou games on PS2 are also good and are connected to each other but not to Soul Hackers.
Devil Survivor: Two games, both good, not connected
Digital Devil Saga: Two games, both good, connected, play in order
>>345210413
They are all self-contained games.
You may get some joking throwbacks or continuity, but you can start from any and you won't miss much plotwise.
Newb-friendliness is another thing though.
>>345210413
I may be sound weird, but playing TMS made me more interested in SMT games more than anything else.
>>345211083
Its weird. I fucking loved TMS and felt it was strongly connected to the SMT world, albeit through a pastel-coloured lens, but any discussion of it inevitably gets clouded by censorship talk. Its great, though.
Start with personas 3 and 4, then go from there. On ps2 you have two devil summoners, two digital devil sagas, two personas and the third mainline game nocturn. On ds you have strange journey and two devil survivors.
I'm a recent entrant to this series and have the personas under my belt and am working through Raidou vs the soulless army. After King Abaddon I'll probably move to the first dds and strange journey in simultaneous playthroughs.
>>345210719
>>345210691
>>345210624
>>345210543
Soul Hackers, Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga are the correct answers for MegaTen starting points.
Strange Journey is great but it is a much more daunting drpg than the other games and not a good starting point.
IV is an ok starting point I guess but it's an inferior game compared to SH/Nocturne/DDS, so why suggest it?
>>345211428
It's really tough game to talk about, if not censorship talk, it'll be idolshit talk or something. Persona fans ignore it, SMT fans try to avoid talking about anything beside battle gameplay.
At least most of them, thankfully have a friend who is really into SMT and Persona, he feeds me with info to point I'll probably start playing 1st SMT after beating TMS.
>>345210413
>OP asks how similar SMT games are to Persona, indicating they are already familiar with Persona
>asks how to get started with SMT
>retarded mongs come in and suggest Persona
Thanks Fatlus USA.
>>345211875
not sure what you're talking about, it's still a good game and most people I see recommend that as their first SMT
it's a bit easier than the others and it's a good way to get into the fusion mechanics since it is much less restrictive
also some people might have difficulties playing Nocturne as their first SMT
SMT II is a sequel to I but that's about it. I'd suggest starting with Nocturne or SJ if you're into first person dungeon crawlan.
