Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne - HD Remaster

7 months...it took me ove 7 months to finally say I've done it.What a feeling.The only 10/10 game I played this year.My very first JRPG,and it Justin happened I started with the most difficult one.Nocturne bothered me,because it is type of game that keeps beating the hell out of you,and you keep coming baci for more.Why? Because it's the most difficult game I ever played in my life.I'm not lying when I say this, this game is more difficult than all From Software Games combined.It truly felt special when credits finally rolled,when thinking about how much time I spent playing it+all the shennigans along the way.This game made me had zo use a trainer,because one thing I hate about in these type of games is farming levels.It feels like a waste of time to me.But damn the amount of content Nocturne has.The game is a 3rd person JRPG,you play as a guy that starts as a regular student,then Conception happens,world gets wiped out.From there story is about recreating a world in your own picture along with other characters who have different sight on how world should be like.Your character is turned into a demon by Lucifer,who gives you a power of Kagutsuchi,and that's when gameplay starts.It's a turned based combat and for the most part I enjoyed it.Having allies on your side,building a fine roster of different variety of demons was a lots of fun,leveling up both the protagonist and your group,giving them abilities,interacting with them was dope.I like how all enemies are weak at first,then as you progress,game becomes more and more challenging.I like regular fights,but they can also become quite repetitive.Boss fights were phenominal.Trying to figure out which strategies you should use,what weaknesses your opponent has,what they are immune to.There are 11 menorahs you got to collect by beating specific bosses called Fiends.All of them are amazing,both in fights and designs.Reason you collect menorahs leads me to a thing I hated the most about the game,Labyrinth of Amala.Whoever designed those levels,please go kindly fuck yourselves,it took 20 years of my life.So many frustrations,there is 5 of them and each one is harder than previous one.Speaking about level design,for the most part it looked good,although I wasn't a fan of doing puzzles from time to time.There many different places you can visit,from fountain lady which heals you and your group,old grandpa which allows you to fuse demons into more powerful ones,later you can buy them and register their levels.There are plenty of shops which sells a lot of useful items along with Magatamas which gives you advantages in fights and allows you zo get more powerful abilities.There are 6 endings in the game,I received True Demon ending.There are 2 ways you can play the game,Chronicle and Maniax new game modes.The only difference between the 2 is the change in Rival enemy you face from time to time.Raidou the protagonist in SMT Devil Saga is in Chronicle edition and he is a awesome enemy and even better ally.In Maniax your Rival is Dante from Devil May Cry games.Frickin Dante!I couldn't believe when I saw him,that's one of many reasons why I like this game so much because it was so ambitious and it came out in 2003.When was the last you saw a character from other games being in other ones.Now I see why people love SMT and Persona games so much,defimetly gonna play others in future.I can't really make myself play this any time soon because I'm burned out and fatique took over me.The last area of the game I just choosed to use a trainer to 1 shot kill everyone.I just wanted to be done wigh it.Plus the Tower of Kagutsuchi was even harder to deal with than Labyrith which says a lot.Loved the demons,fusions,fiends,one of them looks exactly like Ghost Rider.All the abilities were useful if you use it properly,and I really enjoy how the biggest weapon in this game is your own brain,because you really need to come up with strategies from beggining of the battle.Side characters were interesting for the most part,and you can play new game plus after you beat the game.Game is not for everyone,especially if you don't enjoy difficult games,but regardless of how many mental breakdowns I had from playing Nocturne,it still feels like acomplishment to beat the game.Definetly in Top 5 video games I ever played

I'm a big fan of Persona (3/4/5) and Tokyo Mirage sessions, this was my first 'real' SMT game and I have some mixed feelings. I've played for about 30 hours and really enjoy the writing, themes and overall atmosphere. I also enjoy the battle system, but... It very much overstays it's welcome. Dungeons drag on and are boring to explore, all the while you can't go 30 seconds without a random enemy encounter. It doesn't help that this 'HD' remaster lacks any quality of live updates you'd expect from a new release. It's basically a glorified port. At least that's what I would say... This port of the game features more compressed music than the PS2 original and can be a bit unstable.

As for now I dropped the game as I felt it was too repetitive and too frustrating. A shame, as apart from the gameplay I absolutely love everything else. I might return to finish this game somewhere along the line.

ONE MORE GOD REJECTED

The combat apparitions in this game are just insane,evil,you can get attached with the demon designs and all the combinations you can get,the story line is vert good and dark,is a hard game that can make you stumbling and make you think in abandon it.

Spam buffs and debuffs and your golden

A great and challenging turned based JRPG.
like others on the Shin Megami Tensei games, you have your main protagonist who you get to customize, and you talk to demons to get them to join your party. You can turn fuse them to become more powerful demons.
Combat is challenging. Hitting weaknesses and buffing your stats in battle is essential to survival.
The story is a dark and mature one centered around different ways of thinking of the world, and ultimately how the world should be recreated.
The game has 6 different endings depending on your choices throughout the story.
The musical score is very good as well.
The HD remaster version has multiple difficulties, so if it is too hard an easy mode is available as free DLC.