The Shin Megami Tensei: If... Experience

[@MarshSMT]

A full, separate video for the Akira route will be uploaded soon. Hope you guys enjoy a more extended discussion. More short meme videos as usual too. Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to review in the near future.

[@Stephen-vq1wc]

Interesting review. Also best route it's akira route. And game is pretty good, can i said the game on the same level with smt nine. Also i recommend to review majin tensei and smt ii

[@MarshSMT]

I'm excited to give it a try, I haven't done much besides start it yet. I'll probably get around to each of those games too in future videos.

[@bugged-outmario1753]

Marsh, have you noticed that Akira’s route is a big Devilman reference

[@MrBeakdog]

This is some good shit bro

[@saltmiester720]

@Marsh do you by chance do streams or have a stream archive channel cause i think it would be cool seeing you play through these games as well ya know. If you do have a archive channel on youtube could you tell me it's name my guy?

[@bagelgirl]

The average smt game review (excluding persona usually) Reviewer:*talks about how they were clapped endlessly and how the game is borderline torture* Also the reviewer:I reccomend it :)

[@PeteKachew]

We weren't always masochists, the games just forced us to be this way...

[@wister8528]

megaten moment

[@bagelgirl]

@@wister8528 only real megaten fans will get this one

[@mileskillian04]

reviewer * discusses how the suffered immensely throughout the entire game and were beaten for 10's of hours * reviewer: It was fun and it wasnt too hard

[@neoonewingedren1836]

Reviewer: *i hate this fucking game, every single minute is a pure torture and bullshit, i can't even handle these Labyrinths anymore,* Also reviewer: The game is fun, i recommend It

[@natsumesamarama]

"Practice your social skills, because you're going to be simping HARD for this fairy." "She might as well quit her OnlyFans because I gave her enough Macca to buy whatever she wants." Lmao, awesome review for a rare game. Can't wait for Akira's route.

[@Force-hiddenmasquerade]

“I mean he did try to kill the school with demons, but you know how it is.” Yeah high school really just be like that

[@spaceburger7462]

it do be like that tho

[@nisbahmumtaz909]

Ugh hate it when that happens

[@vinicinfodexota5083]

hazama did NOTHING wrong, actually he was the hero, this game had the villains win, pretty cool

[@pian-0g445]

@@vinicinfodexota5083 well it’s not really about winning or losing here but informing us of how actions have effects on people well being. That’s why saving Havama is basically the true ending as that concludes one of the core themes.

[@sirlezard670]

What if demon is a rifle though ? Pretty commonplace school story I believe.

[@PlayerZeroStart]

Fun fact: The reason High School is such a common setting in Japanese stories is because it's a form of escapism. High School sucks in America, but in Japan, it's sunshine and rainbows compared to what they have to go through as an adult. There's a reason there's a word in Japanese specifically for "being overworked to death"

[@morriganrenfield8240]

Sad considering senior year they all go crazy for entrance exams going to prep classes for university... So I don't know how it would really be escapism haha

[@PlayerZeroStart]

@@morriganrenfield8240 Well, it's escapism in the form of "well, it's better than work"

[@morriganrenfield8240]

@@PlayerZeroStart I guess so. That's sad lol

[@Regretted]

@@morriganrenfield8240 I assume theres also a level of nostalgia for youth that adds to the escapism. Like how here in the USA older people miss the high school days

[@morriganrenfield8240]

@@Regretted I don't. Hell was good about high school?

[@blingading4324]

IDK if anyone's told you but there is definitely an incredible amount of charm in your older videos. You're slightly more coarse with your jokes here but in conjunction with your voice cracking every 3 seconds and the worse quality mic it honestly just heightens the quality of your commentary. Everything from 4:18 throughout the entirety of the Sloth section is just peak comedy and I just couldn't stop laughing

[@MarshSMT]

I appreciate it haha - my first few videos were made with absolutely no care or idea for who would see them. It was a very unique time for me where I didn't really have a structure for the videos yet and the idea of having a decent microphone didn't occur to me. I look back fondly on this one because I thought nobody would want to hear me talk about the game for 20 minutes. Not sure if I could replicate this exact atmosphere again

[@Seandude91]

Here's a fun fact I just found about Rasta/Luster Candy, taken from the Megami Tensei Wiki: "Luster Candy" is originally an item from Shin Megami Tensei if.... The name of this item/skill bearing this effect is a wordplay in Japanese that "Luster" is written as "Ra-Su-Ta" (ラスタ), the initials of Rakukaja, Sukukaja and Tarukaja respectively."

[@grayfoxrising]

That makes so much more sense

[@Yohead111]

Not gonna lie if they remade this game from the ground up with the new atlus engine, that would be pretty dang neat

[@el-karasu6070]

If Atlus won't do it, then I'd totally want to see a fan recreation.

[@CherryOpera]

Only if they stay in the 90s though and not be modernized into samey modern day generic high school jrpg. The radness of the 90s flavor is what I love most about this game

[@demokustyle133]

@@dim8961 hey man the video is private . can u give another 1?

[@thorhit]

World of Sloth be a full 48 hours total

[@kramcherryp197]

Maybe it could serve as a proper prequel to persona

[@NIN1]

I love how Charlie is grabbing his nuts even in the concept art

[@Ravenfellblade]

You didn't walk around Sloth for six days straight. You spent six full lunar cycles. That's six MONTHS.

[@theminebloxcraft5779]

SIX MONTHS!?!🇲🇾🇲🇾🇲🇾

[@GSPfan2112]

Smt games are so deep and give me that wholesome anime feeling that most modern jrpgs seem to have lost for me.

[@eavyeavy2864]

Wholesome is word for people with ADHD, not for smt

[@GSPfan2112]

@@eavyeavy2864 Yes to both.

[@WarpstonePainting]

SMT games do have really interesting metaphors and life lessons, which is why the series is so underrated. It's pretty bad when a video game calls society out on its bullshit (P5), Shows you the individual within you is most important because people only want to use you for their benefit (Nocturne), Technology and the internet will be man's downfall unless they can conquer themselves first (Soul hackers)

[@WarpstonePainting]

@CosmicGorillaBoy Megaten games spoiled me, I can't play other series like Final fantasy or dragon quest anymore without falling asleep and eventually just booting up Raidou or Persona 3 again.

[@GSPfan2112]

Good point. When I wrote wholesome I meant complete and deeply layered. Filled with metaphors about good and evil that are honestly useful when you come across different types of people. It kinda points the player to Jungian psychology and human mythology to understand where all these monsters and awesome characters come from. Its a good use of mythology to entice a person into learning about the original myths. At least for me. Persona is literally based off Jungian psychology. No other games are as good at introducing a person to such concepts.

[@kelixbro3456]

The whole main routes (Yumi, Reiko or Charlie) and Akira's Route reminds me of how they later had Persona 1's SEBEC route and the Snow Queen Quest, two routes, two entirely different settings

[@skeletonbuyingpealts7134]

I wonder if the Manga merges them like in P1

[@0ctopusComp1etely]

Four hours? That ain't Sloth. That's practically a steady jog. I spent close to eleven hours in SMT IV: Apocalypse's last dungeon. Started in the morning, played almost non-stop all day, and it was dark before I reached the final boss. YHVH's Universe has ingrained itself into my very DNA. My grandchildren will inherent memories of that place. That dungeon's theme is so deep in my psyche that when I heard those beats at 9:46 I immediately began involuntarily humming along, because I already knew it was the same song. It triggered war flashbacks, and probably this whole comment. Yeah, it's largely my own fault, since I like filling out the map screens and fighting at least a majority of the fights I come across, but... There's a LOT of map to fill out, and a lot more fights to go with it. I wasn't slacking off traveling or taking long in fights. The dungeon is just incredibly, ridiculously long, with a lot of teleporting to completely separate, nearly identical locations. The worst part? I totally get what you mean by the Stockholm Syndrome in relation to these long dungeons. When I finally reached the boss room of YHVH's Universe, I... I didn't want it to end anymore. It'd become "safe". I knew it, and everything it could throw at me. It had become home. I still think I left a part of my soul in that imaginary dungeon.

[@MarshSMT]

Actually yeah, I think YHVH'S Universe did take me a while too. Not eleven hours, but at least three or four. That's another slog, but I think Sloth makes me angrier because wasting time is literally a mechanic. I feel bad for that theme being stuck in your head, I recall it being kinda harsh and weird sounding.

[@plaguis1391]

"So you're basically just standing around in this man's brain, half dead, and out of items." I can relate to this so much, and that man is me.

[@euclidYT]

That's certainly a mood Lol

[@WarpstonePainting]

"Things get a little smelly because you end up in this demons colon. But the encounter rate is high as SHIT!" Fucking legend.

[@shelbybayer200]

Makes sense to me 😂🤣

[@TheSynthPunk]

Just saying, Tamaki probably could've solo'd the entirety of Innocent Sin if she didn't babysit her boyfriend and went grinding for levels.

[@RaytheonThunder]

They really did Tamaki bad in P1 and P2. That pairing with Tadashi (Director SI) also felt cringe-worthy for some reason. There was even backlash against that in Japan.

[@hahalery]

But she also need the COMP to use demons, which broke after the event of If

[@TheSynthPunk]

@@hahalery Kuzunoha replaced her COMP with the GUMP in IS, she even used it in King Leo fight.

[@nicocybernet]

while i found what you said good and she got done dirty on P2, tamaki returned to level 1 in the epilogue of IF and lost all equipment from the demon realm, even if she leveled up i think most of her power comes from the insane equipment she manages to get in there, end game she could have resistance to all magic elements while reflecting hama mudo and all status ailments at the same time while in persona 1 and 2 you cant get anything that comes even close to being that good, there's also that they havent shown any place to make fusions unless her new COMP can fuse and thus has no access to sword fusion which is most of the best weapons in IF so while i think with demons she'd have a decent chance, she doesnt even come close to the amount of tools that were granted to her on IF to go from zero to hero and also the persona cast could just equip a persona that nulls her current weapons and what would she do then, throw agilao stones with her punny magic stat no one bothered to increase? lol

[@Windermed]

@@hahalerybroke? didn’t she just simply have to release the demons from their contracts before leaving Hazama’s mind?

[@alicevioleta3184]

something nobody EVER mentions about Sloth is that you can, and SHOULD, use it to grind for magnetite with the Dark Demon guy. you'll never need to worry about magnetite again for the rest of the game.

[@AceKita]

this is a really vibing

[@redhood7778]

Oh no. He turned Italian

[@remke5137]

Smt if? If what?

[@jellyface401]

If the apocslypse didn't happened on the first one.

[@jrickducking6685]

If smt just became a obscure hidden gem franchise without persona

[@jrickducking6685]

@@deadliestvice5356 Some British movie About teen boys in a military school doing a power fantasy of shooting up the school

[@AB-sw4kb]

Legendary Super Semite idk, I just see people say it on LinkedIn for (You)s

[@professionalfangster1510]

@@jrickducking6685 Lord of the Flies?

[@sporepics]

Who else checked the video uplaod date immediately after he said "simp?" This is a fairly recent video with audio quality from 2009!

[@snakeslife-uroborodjinn790]

2009 production values with 2020 humour is the best.

[@traytonvanderecken3311]

@@snakeslife-uroborodjinn790 Couldn't agree more

[@MissusAnon]

Christ, you did not understate how annoying Sloth is. I swear to God it took me more than 6 moon cycles, I feel like I did something wrong. I walked full moon to full moon six times on B2, but the enslaved students were only partially completed with digging out a section of tunnel. I think I finally had success with going down to B3 and talking to each of the students after one full moon cycle walked and going back up to repeat until the tunnels were fully digged out. Also I recommend the luck build, I played as the female protagonist but basically you say 'idk' to every question in the beginning and when they ask you about what underwear you're wearing you pick 'going commando' and you get the luck build, which has the most stats allotted at the beginning over any other build.

[@taylormcrae1738]

May be a bit late but to advance the tunnels you actually need to talk to the guard on the floor above the tunnels each full moon cycle. I know this is what got me during my time doing Sloth and made me waste 40 minutes.

[@valletas]

Fun fact due to an oversight the female mc has less health then the male one and that is basically their only difference Basically in smt 2 instead of making a separate status spread for beth and hiroku they just decided to make a check to see if one of the player characters is female and if that is the case then they will have less health then the main player Since if just used that with no changes (the game came out in the same years after all) this quirky of the game was kept byt worse Beacuse not only does the fem mc has less health but if you go on with a female partner they will have even less health Remenber people where paid to program that

[@hahadie.5051]

“If you get to the end without opening any chests, this tiny Fox comes out,.. and you beat the shit out of it” lmao I’m dead

[@Pensive_Scarlet]

I wonder if the author of the first book actually had more of a "Hazama" arc in mind for the protagonist. It ultimately works for a pulp novel that blends genres, but the way Nakajima is introduced is such a bait-and-switch premise. I wonder if earlier drafts just had him in this constant game of mental chess with Loki, both of them trying to outdo each other's self-indulgent chaos.

[@FromBeyondTheGrave1]

That's literally every SMT Story though after all those trends continue into Persona.

[@MrTickleFingers]

I've watched this video maybe 15 times now. The passionate energy in your voice when discussing Megaten has made you one of my favorite channels, straight up. Each video you put up is a masterpiece, keep it up

[@makochama0]

I can just watch these videos over nd over, they really never fail to entertain, whether I'm watching them outright or listening to them while I do other things. You really have a talent I hope to see you continue to use.

[@octo6472]

Holy shit this game is a GEM!!!!! I dont know about the dungeon of sloth but the music sounds amazing, story seems like itll pull me in, and I really.....really think I'll dig the combat. P.S: Your vid definitely deserves more views. It's got an older video style feel to it that we never see anymore. Nice work.

[@MarshSMT]

I hope you end up liking it! Sloth is definitely painful, but even that dungeon has solid music. You can definitely feel some of the age on the game, but I think if you push through to the end it's really worth it. Even if you don't feel like beating the entire thing, it's cool enough that you bothered to check it out.

[@austinpaxman6379]

I really like that Marsh refers to demons as “guys” and “people”

[@kaimcdragonfist4803]

They really are just little guys

[@harrymason4300]

Trumpeter is a real bro, even in Nocturne where you fight him.

[@vonithipathachai8449]

Some new information you guys might wanna know if you're playing Reiko's Route. Unlike in SMT1+2, you want to give the Protagonist a good Mag stat. Mag is more useful in general for the Protagonist now because Megidola Stones exist and can be a decent substitute for guns if you're out of ammo. However, on Reiko's Route, the final boss has an instant kill Skill that specifically targets whoever has the lowest Mag. And since the battle immediately ends if the Protagonist dies... yeah...

[@jellyface401]

The Super Nintendo Trilogy of SMT games sucks your soul but if you give it just a small chance , it will hook you so hard that you will finish the game and you will obliterate everyone. Atlus forgot that there was an s before nes and that they didn't want you to throw the gane away.

[@GodKill123]

Completing those game were extremely awarding. There no way these games can be remade or replicated. They're just way too special on their own. I really dig the first game. Neutral route is the best way to go in that game. The second has a great engaging story as well. All three endings are worth checking out (I did two separate endings)

[@AikisDominator]

It was hell for me with my obsessive compulsive disorder, I had to fill every map square. Also you can get Hina sword if you didn't die a single time.

[@Dr0dd]

worst part is that you go to the Orcus level only once so if you miss out on mapping all of it...

[@HylianSevenDota]

I actually did a playthrough of this game because I was really interested in it after watching this video, and reading some other things about it. I didn't make it to the end, but the part that broke me was actually not the Domain of Sloth. That one was awful, but I think I got through it just because I knew what to expect going in. What actually broke me was the school dungeon after finishing Greed. I was too low level to recruit or fuse anything worth a shit, and all the encounters there took FOREVER, and I grinded a bunch and leveled up until I was just enough to hit the lowest level enemies there. I still couldn't recruit anything, and all the higher level stuff was off the table. The fact that it was more of a grind was just totally unappealing (and yes, I know I absolutely would not last long in DDS:MT1). Now this problem I kind of brought upon myself: I got frustrated being unable to find the town in Greed after exploring for many hours, so I looked at a map. I got there, right after the town was the path to Chefei. I beat him no problem, but then robo-teacher said "I'll be in my lab", and I assumed by that he meant back in the school. I had to look up a walkthrough to find out it meant a new lab in Greed, so I used a map to get there. They clearly want you to futz around in the dungeon for a while so you'll naturally just level up more instead of just getting straight to the point. Robo-teacher was tough, but I beat him, and then the school kicked my ass immediately. All-in-all I actually like this game, but that really brought it down for me.

[@kennylauderdale_en]

Did you mention the Devilman & Golden Bat references?

[@godofmediocrity7582]

Oi Kenny! Surprising to see you here!

[@MarshSMT]

I wasn't aware of them at the time, not a huge manga guy but many people have let me know about it

[@calebgoodman2076]

@@MarshSMT Devilman is very SMT-like. If you don’t want to see the manga there’s an OVA series, a sequel series where the MC is a female version of themselves and a Netflix reboot sequel which is just as gruesome if not more so. They also had a child friendly version made for television but mostly because the original was so graphic.

[@Sigismund697]

Shit, Kenny what are you doing here?

[@razorthecurse]

This was a pretty neat video. I remember when the translation patch first dropped I was super psyched to see if anyone had made a video about this, but I couldn't find anything. I'm glad people are doing so now. I've yet to fully play this title, I remember when the patch dropped I played up until the first dungeon and stopped for a while, I'll probably pick it up again soon, but I remember this game having a very unique aura to it. It was the /one/ title we hadn't had translated from the mainline snes smt games and it always seemed very neat. Many companions? Guardians? A school setting? It seemed so... mysterious and ominous. Thanks for the video man, here's hoping you do more SMT stuff in the future~

[@MarshSMT]

I appreciate it. I was looking for videos like this too about a year ago but couldn't find any, so eventually when I got around to playing the game I just ended up making my own. Glad you liked it, after the Akira route video I'll probably get around to some of the other Super Famicom ones.

[@alejandroalfonso67]

This video is still goated. I remember leaving a comment on it when it first came out on my old account. So cool to have more and more smt youtubers

[@MarshSMT]

hey i appreciate it, cant believe its been over 3 years since this one

[@theretroverse3317]

While i knew about smt if before this video, seeing this vid years ago really kickstarted my love for obscure smt games and i get excited whenever a new vid of yours pops up smt or not. Youre one of my favorite youtubers and the quality of your vids has only gotten better

[@SparklingHope-nu8rf]

There's something so funny about seeing "I don't usually write long videos" and comparing the length of this to your recent uploads~ this was a great video though! I'm excited to go through the rest of the MegaTen Experience videos!

[@irl_lizard7880]

Fun fact, turning the battle message speed to fast...actually turns battle messages off completely and it just displays the text it would while auto-battling. Another fun fact, I thought that was just how the game played until I got to the penultimate dungeon.

[@euclidYT]

It bewilders me that this video is 3 years old now, feels like it was just yesterday that I watched it for the first time.

[@euclidYT]

Make that 4 years now

[@malicekerendu3574]

What I like about the repetitive rooms in early smt is that it reminds me of my nightmares. They used to scare the shit out of me when I was a toddler, but now only long for something with such an atmosphere.

[@velvetbutterfly]

This made me laugh a lot, the vibe of this makes me feel like just listening to a friend ranting about an obscure game they emulated on a late night in like 2004 or something

[@hiimakeboxes]

I think I go through marsh’s catalogue more than any other KZbinr. Really love your videos man

[@el_cores]

Dude, I always comeback to this video, I don't know why but this is the 4th time that I watch it. I really enjoy your content 😁

[@morgzana1374]

Marsh doing what not enough people are doing... Reviewing a SNES smt... Review the if... Sequel (p1) or marathon review the snes games. either one or none am hyped over your content, your memes are better then mine but I'd like more reviews from you personally.

[@MarshSMT]

I would like to review those for sure, maybe a P1 video where it's half PSX and half PSP

[@morgzana1374]

@@MarshSMT or just review psx music and say that psx version goes sicko mode in the ice thingy... but only really play psp, idk pick ur poison

[@DengueBurger]

There’s a british or Irish guy who did a sweet full review/analysis of the persona games, including P1. Recommend checking it out.

[@morgzana1374]

@@DengueBurger so like are you gonna say his name or should I try to find it myself? Cuz am not gonna hunt for it even tho it's easy to find.

[@DengueBurger]

co co cola The Ultimate Persona Compendium by Snickety Slice kzbin.info/aero/PLJHL479NPHUil8W_Hc5AeXD3Tgpk-wqDn

[@hrgrhrhhr]

Hazama is just spicy Nakajima

[@B_A-tr]

@Mariesun well technically he didnt do *that* with his teacher it was loki

[@irl_lizard7880]

I fucking love SMT if... It's unironically extremely fun I'm towards the end of Reiko's route and I'm loving it, can't wait to play Akira's Route.

[@aaronsound]

This video is insanely entertaing, thanks. Hope you touch main line someday

[@MarshSMT]

No problem - I will be going for mainline eventually, though my focus at the moment is around some of the more obscure games in the series

[@n64central]

I would love another “experience” video. A lot of these SMT games people haven’t touched

[@Synanova]

*Fight a boss with 30k health and only doing 300 damage per turn.* -Who would do such insanity?? 😏

[@mehmettunc3640]

15:23 Hazuma is gone to the GAY realm

[@Misch13f]

Thanks for covering this. This and P2EP are my favorite SMT games, so more people play if... really is just a win-win for me. Fantastic runthrough btw

[@daverevolutionist]

This is my comfort video

[@polyman6859]

Old Marsh and Fither Megaten content are my comfort junkfood

[@alejandroalfonso67]

Fr

[@shadowman840]

I know this is gonna be lost in a sea of other comments but I wanna thank you for this vid. It perfectly explains the beautiful torture of the original Megami Tensei games that I think most people don't know or realize.

[@kingdongho571]

Wow, I thought I was the only one who uses assplugs while grinding in videogames! Subscribed for relatable content

[@BBWahoo]

Have you had an assgasm?

[@Smudgebucketucket]

You’re legit an incredible storyteller and very funny

[@inept7247]

I'm so glad I'm getting more megaten in my recommendeds

[@denzelromero4796]

Slowly becoming my new favorite channel

[@lebastion7812]

I finished shin megami tensei 2 video and now I am here to rewatch this series of videos from the beginning.

[@BAIGAMING]

Wow, don't see many people who played through SMT If! Really enjoyed all your videos about SMT. I played through all of them myself late last year, many were underpolished low-budget games but they had real charm and style. I'm gonna play your Akira Route vid next, nobody realizes how different that route is and all the unique bosses it has! You never see completely different alternate routes in games anymore, last good one was Soul Nomad's secret NG+.

[@thisninja11]

Hey it’s you!

[@helio1997]

This video feels like an old 2009 gem and yet I look at the date and apparently it was released in this cursed year of 2020. Great video!

[@jaftsix3681]

Still coming back to this video again and again this last 2yrs

[@hrgrhrhhr]

Ok guys I know DLC is bad and all but I honestly wouldn't mind paying real money to be able to skip the domain of sloth

[@nanotfound1042]

Plot Twist:The DLC does not work and you just get insulted and forces to do the dungeon but it's 10x as long

[@aquanaridllcl970]

@ً I mean yeah. Most dlc are just expansions without physics al releases.

[@aquanaridllcl970]

@ً depend on the genre. Simulators and fighting game? Oh yeah. Rts and eurorpg? Nah

[@Sigismund697]

@ً I dunno man, recently I've been playing this game called Radiant Historia:Perfect Chronology, pretty good all things considered, which is a remake of a DS game And the interesting part is that one of the changes they put on the game, aside from art, quests, etc, was that enemies give way less exp and money than they did on the original but all prices on all shops are the exact same (item/equipment drops are really rare) and the game desincentivices random battles by design. Such good luck there's DLC that gives you an item that makes it possible to gain extra xp and makes these rocks that drop valuable items appear And since then I've been scared of 3ds remakes

[@Sigismund697]

@ً ehh it was only the early game that was difficult since you have no healing other than items and as I said the game doesn't suggest you to fight random battles making each 50g potion worth its weight What really pissed me off is that the game does have a way to mitigate this by sending you into a pocket dimension where you can grind a currency you can exchange for items or equipment for way less than money and you also get good experience BUT there's a premium pocket dimension that gives way better stuff and higher drop rates for the currency Really my favorite part was that when the game detected I had the DLC the guy at the entrance says "woah you must really be a hero if you have access to such prestigious area normally not available to our regular customers"

[@RapidFireToaster]

You have a great sense of humour, I'm not kidding, thoroughly enjoyed this video.

[@trainszelda3076]

This is one of the most in-depth videos on one of my favorite games I’ve ever seen.

[@pauuu8076]

I’ve been watching you for almost two years now and rewatching your first vídeo is amazing how much you improved!!! (Sorry for the bad english xd)

[@madpaladin305]

Just played the game myself and here is a pro tip for everyone i just found. When you enter the school obtain a demon Muspell, doesn't look like much BUT, debuffs from bosses don't affect his Heat Wave AT ALL for some reason. I just cranked up tarukaja and was dealing 600-1000 damage per turn just with his heat wave plus it tends to crit and it crits for solid 800 damage evasion drops also don't affect him so he will always hit so if...you're having trouble this is an really ez tactic.

[@netesky1889]

In the world of sloth I didnt use estoma nor did I speed up my emulator... I had max MAG and 200k by the end of it.

[@ProfessionalNamielleLewder69]

This video seems more like Charlie's backstory and how he attained the power to grab his own nuts across the Megami Tensei multiverse.

[@sweatyballs9804]

Unironically thats more or less how I expected him to sound like ngl

[@cloudwhisperer7278]

I love this video so much I've watched it like 8 times. Edit: 20 times lol

[@jeam582]

This video came out this year yet it feels like a video that came out around 2010. Feels strangely nostalgic when watching this video.

[@DJSonidol]

Great video for tips, walkthrough, and such in a nutshell! It's very comfy to watch. I think you should do all the routes! Keep this up!

[@FinalDragoon]

Nintendo of Japan "Here, have SMT if on the Nintendo Switch Online service" Nintendo of America "JELLY BOY!" I'm not jealous at all....

[@wimzilliacus7443]

I'm currently playing my first smt, stange journey. It's really fun, but not that difficult in the first 2 areas like many say. Good review, glad I stumbled on this vid.

[@MarshSMT]

SJ might be my top favorite, if you can handle that one then you should do fine with any of these older games. Hope you have fun with it.

[@salsamonkey65]

I just finished SJR last week. The first two areas aren't bad at all. The difficulty really ramps up in the second half of the game though, so if that's what you're looking for you won't be disappointed.

[@redknight5974]

thanks for the Unicorn recipe. I wish someone told me which demons had Estoma in SMT 1

[@nerothewateruser8030]

Oh god finally, a video about smt if. I swear there is next to nothing about it and the first 2 smt games (or I haven't been able to find any) on here Also nice vid

[@drowningin]

"Been in school 80% of my life" Just wait for the not too distant future where you've been out of school longer than you were in it

[@UltimaPhoenix-dx3kt]

Ah, I see the fairy lady who heals you for macca goes all the way back to 1994 I'm playing IVA and man, I would give her a tier 3 sub if I could, that lady has saved my ass more times than I can count. The feeling of ecstasy and relief I get when I'm nearly dying in the Cosmic Egg or YHVH's Universe and I see that little glowing door that looks like it belongs on a ship is without equal.

[@andrewmanchiraju8005]

I know this is 4 years old now, but I just realized that Hazama is kinda Akemi Nakajima. Both are brilliant high school students who are bullied to the point where they attempt to summon a demon to seek vengeance on their bullies, but this leads to catastrophic results.

[@RandomSubs94]

Not gonna lie, I always come back to this video just because of the "It's Shin Megami Tensei IF!" joke.

[@mkv3542]

Heck yeah a classic smt channel. Instant subscribe

[@autumnoraki]

One year since da best Megaten youtuber came to light to us all Papa bless

[@tophatproductions3031]

Is no one going to mention the fact that the "If..." title is clearly a reference to the 1960s British film of that name? It's set in a boarding school and features a lot of surreal scenes.

[@TheTigersAssassin]

What? I thought I was watching a big youtuber, like 10k at least, really good video by the way, I was entertained till the end, I hope more people get this in his recommended

[@elielilol]

You got me to play and beat the game lol. The grind at the end to get the hinokagutsuchi almost makes me lose whatever was left of my sanity after the domain of sloth. But it was well worth it, I fought both Hazama fights with it and some good physical demons and I think I beat them pretty fast. Great video!

[@face2708]

Not sure why but this style of video makes me nostalgic. Subscribed.

[@elfiebranford9330]

I know I surround myself with Megami Tensei videos all the time, but I gotta thank KZbin for recommending me this video. I've been waiting for a good English patch of If ... to play, and your review really helped me know what to fully expect. Great content, you got yourself a new sub~!! ;3

[@АндрійАніме]

Young man, you nominated with my own Oscar for this brilliant video, I even dropped work for 20 minutes, to watch this. No regrets.

[@Nero0001]

0:10 cursed image

[@Taurinensis]

I recently took it upon myself to stream every single MegaTen game that exists and I started with this one. The viewers wanted me to fight Chefei in his strongest form in World Of Greed which I did in exchange for charity donations and holy moly that guy does NOT screw around. I think he might be harder than final fetus Hazama with a crapton of health and the fact he just constantly spams death spells at you. Had to grind so hard the rest of the Reiko route became almost trivial after that one. Great video!

[@XelchanTheBrave]

I finally decided to play this game after overcoming the idea that this series is "too hard" and let me tell you... while it may not be a masterpiece and it's definitely a budget title, it was a good experience. It was fun to crawl through a classic SMT without having to worry about my alignment (though it does suck that Chaos and Law demons can't be deployed at the same time) and most of the dungeons were enjoyable (except, of course, Sloth. Plus I really didn't like greed). The Guardian mechanic is interesting and I wish more games did Game Over/Death mechanics. I also really enjoyed that it starts off so quickly but the starting part where you have to choose a partner drags on too long when you want to pick Reiko and you have no idea what to do. Honestly? Its biggest problem is probably the Domain of Sloth because it puts a dent on the fact that it was clearly intended to be a game based around replaying it more than once. Male and female protags with different perks and who both have 3 types of guardians (law, chaos, neutral), the different partners having different routes (a shame that Yumi's route is just Reiko's but without Hazama's brain dungeon), etc. I also found the final grind too annoying but a final grind is better than a whole dungeon of grinding like Sloth. On a final note: When I heard people say this was the inspiration for Persona I didn't think it was more than just a surface level thing due to Guardians and the school setting, but I was very wrong: I would argue that Persona repurposed ideas from If in every single game, including 5. The Domains and the final dungeon in Reiko's route are basically the roots of all of Persona's core. The Domains in the end are inherently tied to Hazama like the TV Worlds and Palaces are inherently tied to their "owners", and the final dungeon is basically a psychological romp into his damaged psyche (it's also shaped like a brain). It was interesting to see in a SNES game from 1994 and honestly it's such a good idea that I'm not surprised that Atlus keeps repurposing it. Also yeah Akira is basically proto Demi-fiend and TDE/Amala Network is a lot like his route... I just started it btw and I hope it's more fun because no Domain of Greed (my worstie), plus Akira is a hot guy.

[@moazeid238]

I really enjoyed this experience honestly. Keep up the good work, Marshal!

[@shrersh]

This is a really well made video, I'm currently playing persona 5 and have been planning to play an SMT title after I beat it. I'm considering this or maybe easing myself in with one of the Persona Q games. Very great video 10/10.

[@MarshSMT]

I appreciate it. I would say it's a good game to jump into, it's not really that difficult outside of some of the dungeons I've mentioned. If you have prior knowledge of the function of spells and enemy weaknesses it can also make the experience a bit smoother. I'll have that Akira video up within a few days, I'm actually finishing up his route right now. It offers a different kind of gameplay than what I covered here, and it's much more combat focused.

[@flameingdaethfearies]

Perfect mixing on the speech/music balance. Just now finding your videos, and I’ll be watching more.

[@nekonekopanicnekonekopanic7335]

holly molly a good review that still makes me laugh my ass off amazing make more man

[@KOBEASTXIV]

dude, keep it up you're freakin amazing

[@JavierReyes-vi7vj]

your content pushed me to go and buy shin Megami strange journey since I've only played shin megami tensi 4 and persona 5, and I'm in the middle of a playthrough of persona 3, but I really want to go back and play the older titles. I can't wait for it to arrive and honestly, I think I'll give this game a playthrough once I get through strange journey

[@kara-knight3364]

Aeon Genesis lived through this game, so did you, maybe so can I. Thanks for the video, Marsh. I do wish there were some cheats lol.

[@LesCritiquesduMaSQuE]

Got near to the end of this one and you're right to say it's not fucking around. One mistake and you're done. Especially if you lock yourself out of upgrading weapons. I still liked it, though. Great video, BTW.

[@Blarglesnarfe]

Hey, I realize it means very little, but I appreciate your content. You've got humor, but it's still really informative, and doesn't *feel* like you're copying anyone I can think of.

[@aaronbee6378]

Went here to skim. Stayed because of the dialogue. XD Great walkthrough man.

[@andrewhall6479]

Dude, thanks for speaking about the Casino because I had no clue. I got stuck on the first Hazama fight because he kept tossing out Debilitate and I couldn't hit the guy. If I pick up the game again, I'll be sure to make good use of that place.