Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne is Beautiful

[@Danielss250]

the story of nocturne fly by most ppls heads, glad to see it's not everyone though.

[@artsandgoodies4653]

SMT nocturne is my favorite game of all time for multiple reasons and your video does a great job explaining some of them.

[@brimstone6665]

27:02 ohhhhh. It's a Demiurge. Yeah, that would explain SMT's depiction of God SOOO much better, as the actual God is the guy that gave them free will in the first place. Plus Persona did that too. Guy didn't have the cube face but it was still basically the same dude with the same motivation. And I mean, universal will, collective unconscious, it's basically the same thing

[@flubberdubbert]

Incredible video man. You deserve more subs

[@louisshah4024]

Always nice to see a video of SMT Nocturne. Excellent work.

[@NIGH11]

Subbed for the title. I'm not the biggest RPG fan but there are a few that have won me over with their worlds. Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Panzer Dragoon Saga , and of course Nocturne. Even the line from the beginning, "From the journal of a man who wandered into another world." Such a haunting line that sets the tone for the rest of the game.

[@thepockyx]

Outstanding video and analysis. Insta like and sub!

[@alessiomadethat]

Great work! Stellar video on a game that defined my teenage years. Thanks for capturing such a unique atmosphere.

[@talesoflizalfos661]

Interesting watch. I will say on topic of TDE, assuming Strange Journey's references to Nocturne are canon, it's funny how TDE and Freedom lead to the same result of humans not knowing any better and the gods having to step in. Sure they may be no Conception, but the gods could just do a Schwartzvelt until humanity gets their crap together.

[@Ti_MD]

I love how much your passion for this game comes through. The aesthetics of the game still hold up so well even after 20 years, and the plot and characters can still lead to such complex thoughts despite the limited dialogue and interactions. One thing that I think gets under-discussed, though, is the fact that the True Demon Ending was introduced with the Maniax edition, one of the re-releases Atlus is so famous for. The base game was led by the producer who would go on to head the Persona games, while the version that included the Fiends, the Labyrinth of Amala, etc., were introduced by the guy who would go on to head the development of SMT 4. In the base game, the Freedom Ending really was the best ending available, and the game stood as complete-- in which case, the Freedom Ending can be understood as the protagonist going through a coming of age story in which he must learn to accept the responsibility that comes with freedom, and the specific choices that lead to that ending take on more meaning.

[@ZeroOmega-vg8nq]

true but TDE gives us SmTVV so better metal canon

[@Twinsidedsoldier]

I thought Simply Dad reuploaded his Nocturne video. The titles are really similar. 😂

[@shealtiel__]

@@Twinsidedsoldier His has the number "III" in it, and that was good enough for me.

[@Twinsidedsoldier]

@shealtiel__ A technically, valid. 👍

[@rafaelgabrielgarlinidal-bo9496]

SHIJIMA TEAM 👇🏻

[@michaelhowell2809]

Is the story told better then smt5v lol not sure if im feeling reload or noctourne for christmass loo

[@torgo_]

i saw the anime

[@phobia1420]

great video bro earned a sub would love to see your channel grow

[@PedroDragonNest]

I played this game last year after finishing SMT 1 and playing 30 hours into SMT 2 and was expecting big things, both narratively and gameplaywise. The gameplay was really refreshing, but it kinda stopped there for me... The atmosphere and gameplay got me through the game, but most of the characters felt like they were just placeholders for their Reason and this really disappointed me. I think that if you compare Nocturne to 1 and 2, you can see that the first two games pulled from history and tried to say something through their plot beats and gameplay. Even though i see the point in your video and in most people's takes on this game, i think that in general, Nocturne just felt really like a nothing burger to me and the endings were so disappointing, like imagine going through the whole Amala labyrinth just to get that mega power trip ending 🤮🤮🤮

[@Ti_MD]

Treating the True Demon Ending as the "real ending" does the game a disservice, and obscures what I understand to be the real historical context and message of the game. The original release of the game didn't have the fiends or the labyrinth of Amala-- all you had was the Reasons and the Freedom Ending. More to the point, the game's release came when Japan was dealing with the aftermath of its economic collapse in the early 90s, and young people (like the high school characters in the game) have to think about how they are going to enter into the adult world. Will they become gears in a corporate machine, working for an executive like Hikawa who they have to trust will lead everyone to a world with "eternal prosperity"? Will they follow ambition and try to prove themselves worthy of standing on top of the pile like Chiaki? Will they, like Isamu, act like no one else has the right to place actual demands on them? Or can they grow beyond their teacher's despair and try to make better use of the freedom that modern society offers to them? If you want more of this perspective, seek out the video by Moon Channel about "Why Do You Always Kill Gods in JRPGs?". It was eye-opening for me.

[@PedroDragonNest]

@Ti_MD I didn't say that TDE is the true ending, BUT if it's the most challenging one, I don't think I would be wrong to expect it to be the true/better one. I agree with your point and saw that video too, but I think that the post bubble existencial crisis is much better explored in the previous entries than in this one.

[@Ti_MD]

I think the fact that most of the Nocturne video essays I've seen treat TDE as the true ending points to a problem with Atlus' tendency to release "definitive" editions of mechanically and thematically complete games. The culmination of the original story gets muddled by the creation of a shoehorned DLC ending. It's not that the idea explored in the DLC is bad, it's just that it obscures the previous idea. Then again, isn't that also what folks say about the newer Persona games relative to the older ones? That they lost track of some of what made the original games special? I admit I'm not as up on the discourse about the older SMT games. I see Nocturne and the Freedom Ending as part of the same train of thought that led to the modern Persona games (and Metaphor: Refantazio) through Katsura Hashino, and TDE as what led conceptually into SMT 4, since Kazayuki Yamai, who directed the Labyrinth of Amala expansion, went on to direct SMT 4. It's not that one ending is actually better or worse, but they're leading in different directions as far as the social and political commentary. Something something artistic vision.