(continued from Part 2) (Part 1 is recommended to read prior to Part 3)
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey might be one of the greatest examples of fanservice ever made. In a genre where “fanservice” usually means crass pandering with skimpy outfits for female characters or other brazen titillation, Strange Journey instead provided its ravenous fans with more of what they already loved about Shin Megami Tensei: creative direction from Kazuma Kaneko, more demons, mature characters, an original setting, and proper apocalyptic atmosphere—a true SMT game in every sense. Neither the limits of the Nintendo DS hardware nor the series’ usual rough edges would suppress Strange Journey’s understanding that the greatest fanservice is respect for its audience.
There’s just one big problem: Strange Journey under-performed at retail relative to other games in the franchise and in spite
of being on a platform with a large install base, moving only 127,946 copies in
Japan. [1] To add insult to injury, Persona 3 Portable, the
second re-release of Persona 3, was released in Japan only a few weeks after Strange Journey’s launch and completely outclassed it with
183,283 in sales. [1] The niche Shin Megami Tensei had always relied on
was apparently eroding away.
It was in this climate that development of Shin Megami Tensei
IV began. "I first started thinking about [SMT4] once Strange
Journey, which came out October 2009, was finished," said SMT4’s
director, Kazuyuki Yamai. "I've been hearing from fans who wanted an
'official' SMT sequel for ages, and we thought that we were finally at the
point as a team where we were mature enough to tackle the job, so that's how it
got started." [2] So much like what happened with Persona, a
new generation of creators would take hold of Shin Megami Tensei with a fresh,
modern approach. But amid changing tastes, how much of SMT’s old identity would
have to be sacrificed to bridge the series to the new players it so desperately
needed?
We don't know many specifics of Shin Megami Tensei IV's
development, other than Yamai's quote above confirming it was the next project
for him and his team following Strange Journey's release. However, there would
be a significant event that would have certainly impacted its early
development: In August 2010, Atlus was dissolved into its parent company, Index
Holdings. [3] The idea of a beloved company losing its independence to a
purely for-profit holdings firm with a alarmingly generic name like “Index”
certainly seemed troublesome, but Atlus was quick to reassure fans that this
change would not affect their games' development. [4]
While this dissolution came as a shock to fans, what is just
as surprising is that ownership of Atlus had been bouncing around for quite a
while; toy maker Takara had acquired the company in 2003 [5] before
selling it to Index in 2006. [6] So while corporate oversight was
nothing new to Atlus and its development teams, the concern now was the
possibility of direct involvement, as it’s reasonable to assume that Index
wanted to make good (i.e., money) on its IPs beyond the snowballing performance
of Persona. Shin Megami Tensei is a storied franchise—why couldn’t it be just
as much of a success? Again, without direct sources it’s impossible to know the
truth, but the ambiguous starting date of SMT4’s development and Atlus’
folding into Index are close enough to suggest a possible correlation.
 |
| The Shin Megami Tensei Four (from left): Masayuki Doi, Kazuyuki Yamai, Ryota Kozuka, Eiji Ishida |
So who would be in charge of Shin Megami Tensei IV? Not Kazuma Kaneko; as Strange Journey was a kind of creative pet project for him, its modest results either earned him the fabled “window seat” of Japanese corporate politics or perhaps convinced him to step aside in favor of others. Much of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne’s staff was now inseparable from Persona-related development, so they would be out, too. Instead, the responsibility would fall on the shoulders of the so-called “Maniacs Team,” so named because many of them worked on the Maniacs re-release of Nocturne (and the Devil Summoner: Raidou series), including director Kazuyuki Yamai. Joining him would be character designer Masayuki Doi, who did design work for the Trauma series and Persona PSP ports; concept artist Eiji Ishida, who also directed Strange Journey; and finally, relative Atlus newcomer and composer Ryota Kozuka, who contributed to the soundtracks of Persona 4 and the Devil Survivor series. Importantly, these leads each had previous Megami Tensei titles under their belts and, along with working for so long under people like Kaneko, it’s reasonable to expect they "understood" SMT.
 |
| Initial photo of the SMT4 announcement teaser from May 30, 2012 |
Shin Megami Tensei IV was first announced on May 30, 2012, with only a vague two-page magazine teaser. However, that was more than enough to send fans into a frenzy; finally, after nearly 10 years, the next mainline Shin Megami Tensei game was soon to come. The fervor reached its zenith with a teaser trailer included with the Nintendo 3DS Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers port, which offered tantalizing glimpses at the game’s mysterious medieval kingdom and presumed Tokyo sprawl. The sheer possibilities of what could lay ahead absolutely reinvigorated the excitement of main series fans who may have felt they had been left behind. With the benefit of hindsight, the final game would meet these expectations in some important ways. Here’s what SMT4 did right:
Music. Shin Megami Tensei IV’s soundtrack is
absolutely one of its strongest aspects, performing the double duty of living
up to the atmospheric spirit of its predecessors while also sounding fresh.
This is no doubt due to SMT4 being Ryota Kozuka’s first work as a lead
composer, leaving his style comparatively unproven to the likes of Shoji
Meguro’s domineering acoustics. Stylistic comparisons aside, SMT4’s music is
just good, filled with moody (and sometimes sinister) technopop and synth
that’s just right for the game’s setting. The best part of all, there’s a lot
of it, too: SMT4’s official soundtrack release fills four discs, dwarfing the
musical content of just about every stand alone SMT game except for Nocturne.
Kozuka and SMT4's sub-composers, fellow Atlus initiate Toshiki Konishi and veteran
Atlus sound designer Kenichi Tsuchiya, deserve a lot more recognition than
they’ve received for their stellar contributions to the game.
Environment and character concepts. From Tokyo’s dead streets to the limits of Purgatorium or Lucifer Palace, SMT4's environments
reflect its excellent and creative art direction. Some of the concept work of
Eiji Ishida (and freelance artists) can also literally be seen in-game in the
many static 2D backgrounds used throughout. While SMT4’s particular version of
Tokyo restricts the game from going as far out with its locations as, say,
Nocturne or Strange Journey there’s no lack of interesting sights.
Additionally, Masayuki Doi's character designs succeed in
Kaneko's absence. In Yamai's words, "[Doi] is capable of making these
simple-looking characters that still strike a major presence...We worked
closely together, exchanging opinions as we tried to keep the characters as
simple and free of excess frills as possible." [2] That they
strove to keep away "excess frills" shows the two recognize the
series aesthetic, resulting in Doi's conception of a main cast very much in
line with the rest of the series.
 |
| SMTIV is just a lot of fun to actually play |
Strength of specific narrative choices. Shin
Megami Tensei
IV’s backstory and the ways in which it intersects with its main plot
are
simultaneously the most ambitious and successful parts of the game’s
narrative.
In short, SMT4’s picks up after the conclusion of a previous “game,” so
that
its own world is merely an effect of the choices of a previous set of
heroes.
For better or worse, information about the plot’s previous “cycle” is
mostly
pieced together from random NPCs, throwaway lines from important
characters,
and alignment-specific cutscenes, but its broad strokes and the
underground Tokyo that results from it are both fresh and in the spirit
of past SMT games.
Particularly effective are SMT4’s Blasted and Infernal
Tokyo segments. Though both are relatively brief, in tandem they serve as
SMT4’s climax, not just for their narrative impact but because they have so
much to offer visually and conceptually. However, because the Tokyos aren't
drawn out more than they're needed, their brevity may explain their impact.
Kaneko’s “punk” fingerprints. At the release of
SMT4's first trailers, Kazuma Kaneko’s name was waved like a banner to
prove his involvement and thus “legitimize” the game. In fact, his is the first
name you see in the game’s opening credits. However, Kaneko ultimately took
a mostly hands-off role, credited only for his legacy demon designs
and the “scenario concept” of the Samurai and the kingdom of Mikado. These latter concepts Yamai proudly admits were "Kaneko's idea," [2]
explaining, "we received the original draft of the scenario, with Samurai
and Mikado, from Kaneko." [7]
 |
| Kaneko's prime position in the game's opening credits |
But there may be a message hidden within his original drafts.
As Kaneko would often describe Shin Megami Tensei as “punk” or
“anti-establishment” in interviews, the conceit of the Samurai of the ostensibly
medieval European Mikado experiencing Tokyo as a “foreign” land may have a
cleverer meaning. Considering that, as of the SMT4's development, the
swords-and-sorcery RPGs of yesteryear had been largely surmounted by those with
high schools or otherwise modern settings, Mikado’s castles and castes may be a
sly, very deliberate commentary about contemporaneous trends in the Japanese
game industry. Though it doesn’t take long for the game to break Mikado’s
medieval illusion, the irony of SMT retaining its edge by mimicking former
rivals (i.e., Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy) would surely not be lost on
Kaneko.
Fission
 |
| Expectation-tempering two-page spread from the TGS 2012 issue of Famitsu |
The excitement around Shin Megami Tensei IV’s
teasers would
be tested in September of 2012, with the media blitz of Tokyo Game Show.
The event
brought with it an extended trailer and magazine spreads that revealed
some conspicuous
deviations from past games. However, any gnashing of teeth or rending
of
garments that resulted would be invalid until the game was finally in
players’
hands. And after exactly 51 weeks of hype, Shin Megami Tensei IV was
released in Japan on May 23, 2013. It was only then (and especially now,
2 years later) that SMT4's
problems could be realized. So where did Shin Megami Tensei IV go wrong,
and
how were its changes at odds with the series identity?
1. Blatant Disregard for Demon Design Rules
Without a doubt the most obvious of Shin Megami Tensei IV's
changes, its infamous cadre of new demons spawned controversy the moment they
were teased in Japanese magazines. However, the arguments surrounding these
demons and the guest artists who designed them have run their course and it
would take a scrupulous analysis to bring anything new to the table. But aside
from unsound arguments like "they aren't Kaneko!" or "the art is
bad!", why are the majority of SMT4's original demons such a poor fit for
the series?
It's simple: most of the artists did not heed of the series'
demon design philosophy of using source material and collective interpretation.
No wonder, as, according to Yamai, "We didn’t give any instructions on
the demon designs themselves though, so we left the artists make their own
decisions." [8] As a result, the worst of the lot have a
"generic RPG monster" appearance and lack the fundamental design
motifs unique to the series. They also clash horrifically with the existing
Kaneko catalogue, even though SMT4 already uses Kaneko demons of varying proficiency
from every period of his career. Again, it's all about the eminence of
conceptual quality over artistic competence. There are absolute gems in the
new roster like Minotaur and Chemtrail, but a scant few can't compensate for
critical misses like the four archangels or Lucifer.
 |
| The Good...and the Ugly |
Commentary from the guest artists highlights their predilection for style over substance. When asked whether he begins the design process considering the "shape" or "meaning," Yasushi Nirasawa, who designed Lucifer, says that he begins with the "shape." [8] In an exchange between Nirasawa and Tamotsu Shinohara about the latter's Minotaur design, aesthetics appear more important than the successful combination of man and bull:
Shinohara: Minotaur...had already appeared in SMT in the past, and I figured I had to draw it differently; I couldn’t remove the bull head, so after racking my brain for a while, I realized I should draw him as ‘two-in-one.’ I really like designs where the face has another face.Nirasawa: They’re great, I like them too. [8]
Keita Amemiya injected his personal opinion into his
archangel designs, explaining, "I believe that, since demons and angels
are embodiments of humans’ thoughts, they will still be artificial beings, no
matter how much they resemble living creatures...I am not good with consulting
materials and data, so I constantly feel that I am not suited for ‘realistic’
designs." [8] Kuebiko, the Japanese god of wisdom who is
traditionally depicted as a scarecrow, is seen in SMT4 as a hulking mass with
a fearsome maw of teeth, which designer Kyouma Aki justifies by saying, "using
the motif of a scarecrow would have made him look like a Western horror B movie
monster." [8]
But you can't really fault the guest artists for not
familiarizing themselves with 20 years of demon design rules. Most of the five artists
courted for the project are quite notable from Japan's evergreen Tokusatsu
live-action genre, particularly Nirasawa and Amemiya, who are known from their decades
of work on the long-running Kamen Rider series, among others, so it's
unsurprising that they didn't try to adapt to the series' design MO. Nirasawa admits that he "was careful to provide demons
drawn in [his] own style" [8], which is likely so firmly
entrenched that it would betray his name to do otherwise. Even
Shinohara, whose Minotaur design was the Kaneko-like hit of the game, had some
critical misses of his own like Napaea and Sanat in terms of straying from
source material; hilariously, according to Shinohara himself, his son prefers
Kaneko's demon designs, saying his father's "were all too jumbled."
[8] This reinforces Kaneko's philosophy that the fewer features a design
has, the more memorable it will be. [9]
 |
| Comparison of Paolo de Matteis' Annunciation (center) with its archangel Gabriel edited to include Keita Amemiya's version (left) and Kaneko's version (right); only Kaneko's approaches congruence with the original, sharing details like Gabriel holding a lily |
The most disappointing part of this situation is that Atlus already employs an artist aware of what makes Kaneko's designs tick: Masayuki Doi. In an article about fashion's impact on the series' aesthetic, Doi states, "Kazuma Kaneko['s]...approach to design is not about just replicating these demonic creatures, but more about looking at their origins in mythology and seeing how he can modernize those beings into something that fits in our real world, [using] a lot of modern fashion design techniques to shape those designs. It’s a mix of both the new and the old. That’s something I felt very close to. It may seem like fashion design and demon design are completely opposite or different, but the way Atlus does things, they’re actually very close to each other." [10]
While it's a shame Doi was not given the opportunity, it's exceedingly
clear that the guest artists were hired on the strength of their names alone
as a way of bringing some extra notoriety—and new players—to the game. There
is scant evidence available to explain why this decision was made, though it's
easy to point fingers at Index. But whatever happened behind-the-scenes, the
outcome speaks the message that a defining feature of Shin Megami Tensei was
considered expendable in the face of marketing potential.
2. World-Building in a City of Plotholes
A Shin Megami Tensei game’s setting and metaphysical rules
steer its plot, lending needed directives and consistency to what would
otherwise be implausible events. In the first Shin Megami Tensei, the
accidental opening of the extra-dimensional Expanse floods a "concrete"
reality with demons, leading to Tokyo’s nuclear destruction; Shin Megami
Tensei II builds on this Tokyo and its premise of demons from a lateral
dimension existing in reality. Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne’s
self-contained, "abstract" Vortex World is a demon-centric
environment that defies mundane laws; Strange Journey’s chaotic
Schwarzwelt possesses similar traits. Conceptually, the dichotomy between Shin
Megami Tensei IV’s Eastern Kingdom of Mikado and subterranean Tokyo seems
rich, with a plot and concepts that skew closer to the concrete otherworldly
invasion scenarios of SMTI&II. Unfortunately,
any deeper inspection reveals that its scenario’s foundations are rife with
critical inconsistencies that undermine both the plot’s internal logic and
effectiveness of suspending disbelief.
 |
| Mikado, the forgotten land |
The Eastern Kingdom of Mikado, the first of SMT4's major settings, is both crucial to the narrative and woefully underutilized. Mikado is given ample establishment during the game’s early hours, which is vital to the perspective of the Samurai as “outsiders” and the impact of the Tokyo reveal. But despite its apparent importance, Mikado quickly becomes completely overshadowed by Tokyo. One unabashed admission of this fact is that the game only requires you to return to Mikado a handful of times after stepping foot into Tokyo; even issues like the “evil” books that turned your best friend into a demon and are supposedly rotting away Mikado from the inside are little more than justification for chasing Lilith around Tokyo. The castes of Casualries and Luxurors also seem significant at first since they define Mikado’s society, but in practice they matter little except to provide basic, archetypal backgrounds for Walter and Jonathan, an ultimately negligible effect for a relatively thoughtful setup. Even director Yamai seems aware of Mikado’s fleeting importance as he admits, "I believe that there are some people who forget that they’re Samurai from the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado during their playthrough. (laughs) I hope that some of you guys will occasionally return to your hometown.” [11] Mikado and its problems are swiftly forgotten in terms of gameplay and story.
 |
| Tayama hamming it up |
Leading the plot’s issues are the Reds. These little pills
are the nucleus of Ashura-kai head honcho Tayama’s goal of bartering a “utopia”
where humans and demons will co-exist, so they have a lot riding on them. Their
essential purpose is to justify why a fragile human population has survived for
25 years in such a harsh environment. Tayama’s arrangement with the demons
supposedly ensures that the Tokyoites, should they encounter a demon on the
streets, only need to slip a pill to keep their heads attached. It’s a
straightforward plan, but, within the context of the setting, practically
welcomes obvious questions that the game makes no effort to answer. These
include:
- Aren't many of the demons extremely chaotic? Why would they be willing to settle on this agreement when there are vulnerable human children literally ambling around near wide-open subway entrances? The negotiation gameplay further establishes demons' volatility, as they may run away or slash your throat even if you give them what they want.
- At what intervals are the demons given Reds? Are they satisfied with one pill a week or month? With the huge number of demons in Tokyo, that would require an equally large amount of pills. Won't some demons be greedy and demand extra pills?
- Do all demons want Reds? Clearly the National Defense Divinities are against them. Does that mean that not all demons are “hungry” in the same way? Which demons are the exceptions?
- Similarly, it is the goal of certain Tokyoites to reach the upper surface, but demons like Medusa and angel hordes are said to block their way. Why could the Reds not be given to Medusa or the angels? Are "bosses" and angels distinct from normal demons? Why are they distinct?
- If Reds are so useful for the Tokyoites in mitigating the demon threat, why are none ever given to the player as consumable items?
 |
| Demons will surely read and follow the orders of bulletins instead of preying on unsuspecting, vulnerable children |
Et cetera. It doesn't take long to realize that the Reds are implausible as a plot device. The pretenses of Tayama's over-complicated deal with the demons are weighed so heavily in the favor of humans' survival that it is neither convincing nor sustainable within Tokyo's environment. This is especially damning considering the Reds are the load-bearing support of the entire setting and its human population that has persisted for 25 years. The game's lack of information about the logistics of the Reds raises the possibility that its scenario planners intended for players to think about Reds abstractly (or not at all), even though their effects cause just the opposite.
 |
| No GMOs! |
 |
| Demons defined in Nocturne |
- Reds. Human consumption of Reds transforms them into demons. This is a known quality to the populace, as the pills are taken by despaired humans who wish to integrate themselves into the majority demon population. However, instead of turning them into traditional half-human/half-demon demonoids, they become named compendium demons like Dullahan or Rakshasa that could technically also be encountered in the field or summoned via the Cathedral of Shadows.
- Reading banned books/gaining knowledge. A method exclusive to Mikado where the knowledge within books from the "real" world, distributed by the Black Samurai/Lilith, turns humans into demons. Sometimes the humans turn into named compendium demons, like the baker who becomes Dantalian or the citizens of Kiccigiorgi who are implied to be the demons in their infested forest. Inconsistently, this knowledge may also merely contort one's face, as in Issachar's case.
- Inter-dimensional portals. Gates to the Expanse, from where demons originate in most games in the series. SMT4's is the Yamato Perpetual Reactor.
- Cathedral of Shadows. The demon-summoning cell phone app which streamlines demons and occult rituals into a digital program. Presumably has some connection to the Expanse.
- Human emotions. General or specific human dispositions that can manifest as demons. Nihilism results in the White, spite as Lucifer, goodwill as Merkabah.
- Spiritual mediums. Physical objects that have spiritual connections to specific demons. Exclusive to the National Defense Divinities.
- Sacrifices. Ancient rituals of death used to appease fickle gods. Some humans become sacrifices for Baal in a late game quest.
- Magic summoning circles and rituals. Traditional occult methods like those used to summon Astaroth in a New Game+ quest.
- Human apotheosis. The transformation of a human into a deity, seemingly by the will of demons. Happens to the NPC hunter Nozomi, who is implied to eventually become the goddess Danu.
- Demonoids. While, strictly speaking, they are not actual demons, the demonoids of Blasted Tokyo nonetheless result from the fusion of a human and a demon.
 |
| Pork: Be Uninspired |
The game tries to offer some explanations for the Reds and
books methods. For the books, Lilith talks at length how they are imparting
"knowledge and wisdom" to the Mikadoans. However, these books, such
as what the baker reads, are merely novels from the real world, making their
"knowledge" within actual information about the world as it actually
is (or was). Admittedly, this could be dangerous within the context of the
Mikado kingdom; it would even be clever if the idea stopped short of the demon
transformations. But don't the Samurai effectively receive that same
"knowledge" the moment they step into Tokyo and its true "reality"? Why don't they
immediately transform into demons? Why does abstract knowledge affect your
physical body? Is there something special about the books? Lilith also posits
an explanation for the latter question: according to her, the transformations
result from "humans suppressing their own desires." If this can be
taken at face value, then the books and Reds are nothing but placebos. After
all, again, how can a physical book or pill with brain matter affect a human's
physiology so drastically? Presumably, if you have the will, you could turn
into a demon. But this never happens, and every demon transformation occurs with the books or Reds as a cause.
 |
| "Knowledge and wisdom" |
The Reds also hide a potentially unnatural element that may be intended to explain their transformations. Besides tangible brain matter, Reds contain trace amounts of gaseous excretions from the demon Yaso-Magatsuhi. But what is the nature of this gas? The initial assumption is that it must be noxious because the Reverse Hills workers all wear gas masks, but the Samurai are sprayed directly by Yaso-Magatsuhi and are only charmed briefly before it wears off. So if having direct contact with a pure stream of gas only causes a temporary effect, the trace amount in a pill couldn’t possibly be responsible for the demon transformations. The possibilities regress to Lilith’s words about “human desires,” but that has already been proven to hold no water. It may just be another instance of poor scenario writing. This whole problem could have been avoided if the transformed humans all turned into demonoids instead, as an altered human is easier to accept in this context than a headache-inducing series of complicated threads that may or may not attempt parity with supernatural beings. Considering that demons are of central importance to the series, advocating contrasting explanations for them is not just a misstep but a violation of series essentials.
 |
| The primary effect of the Yaso-Magatsuhi gas is to cause a sudden tonal shift with key characters who will soon be fighting over the fate of the world |
Amid these plot blunders, SMT4 wants its Tokyo to be seen as a savage, deadly place. It certainly can be for the player; the ruthlessness of the enemies and the toxic squalor of the whole environment certainly speak to this. It's also easy to find NPCs talking about their suffering or Tayama chewing the scenery about the rotten state of the city, but what of their actions or behaviors? Even though these last remnants of humanity are supposedly on the brink of elimination, many nonetheless spend their days hamming it up in bars, staging the aforementioned tournaments where hunters can literally murder each other, taking up photography, or banking on the card-based economy of Ginza's luxury district. (It's worth noting that these particular examples are all included in Neutrality's critical quest path, which "canonizes" them, in a sense.) While it's true there are cases like the Ikebukuro woman contemplating suicide and, of course, the Reds-takers, these are relatively few. The environment may show pandemonium, but its efficacy is undermined by the actions of the general population.
 |
| The original SMT has a large number of human NPCs, but most fill the ranks of the opposing Messian and Gaean clans and will ultimately serve as floaters in the great flood; SMT4's humans seem to have the privilege of hobbies in a similarly devastated environment |
This proliferation of human society, despite its plot justifications, is precisely why SMT4 leaves itself open to questions and reasoning that would be invalid in other SMT games. The problem lies with our own knowledge of being human—and the limits that come with it. Even though none of us have ever experienced a demon apocalypse, and therefore can't know of the "right" way to react, we are certainly aware of the "wrong" way. We understand that tone or genre establishes these acceptable limits for fiction, be it a serious drama or supernatural fantasy; introduce ideas that contradict these limits and it's all too easy to shatter suspension of disbelief. Clearly unnatural things happen in both Nocturne and Strange Journey, but their respective settings, the Vortex World and Schwarzwelt, are just as clearly extraterrestrial, like stepping into Alice's Wonderland. On the other hand, SMT4 wants its fantastical, demon-beset Tokyo to be taken seriously as a bleak and dangerous environment akin to the future world of The Terminator, but is simultaneously grounded and disputed by the erratic behaviors of its human society.
 |
| We know how frail humans are from gameplay feedback: even though the main character is "special," even he can only withstand a few hits from enemies; the game also has an entire death mechanic in anticipation of inevitable failure |
There's probably a practical explanation for SMT4's human throngs: making the city seem "alive" to new players unaccustomed or turned off by Shin Megami Tensei's desolate atmosphere. This comes with a high price, as the irregular tone of the game pegs it closer to a spinoff like Devil Summoner rather than the main series games before it. The ideas behind Shin Megami Tensei IV's Tokyo Dome are solid, but a deficient narrative that requires implausible justifications litters plotholes far and wide.
3. Oversimplification of Mythological Themes and Content
Demons’ centrality to the series tends for them to appear in
Shin Megami Tensei topics across the board. But perhaps nothing is more
important than the acuity with which demons (and the mythological and religious
themes they represent) are utilized as part of an SMT game’s narrative and
themes. At a minimum, the series consistently displays an understanding of
demons’ source definitions and characteristics; the best case scenarios involve
a seamless weaving of a demon’s role or symbolism into a game’s own narrative. Examples
of past successes are too numerous to list, but include: SMT1's reenactment of
The Ramayana's climatic conflict between Rama (using Vishnu as a stand-in) and
Ravana; SMT2’s use of YHVH as an unapologetic and wrathful lawgiver in
the Old Testament sense, with pre-fall Satan among his Lawful retinue; Nocturne,
aware of the symbolic renewing properties of fire, giving the Japanese fire god
Kagutsuchi a unique role as the spark of a new world’s creation; and in Strange
Journey, where the Ouroboros, symbol of eternity, guards infinite space.
Without this understanding, Shin Megami Tensei would be like any common property
that cribs mythological names or ideas while neglecting the deeper meaning
behind them.
 |
| Minotaur, a total highlight |
 |
| The White and their motives |
 |
| "Dear diary...God is a poo-poo head" |
Standing in the way of SMT4’s other major Theosophic
element is the game’s treatment of Lucifer. A major character in the series,
Lucifer always harbors a motivation to oppose YHVH's Law and sway protagonists
to his side, but does so with conniving Faustian deceptions that include
thematically appropriate guises, like Nocturne’s old man or young boy and
Strange Journey’s Louisa Ferre. Instead of this nuanced approach, SMT4 opts to
depict Lucifer as a simple-minded foil to God, personally obsessed with the
symbolism and meaning of his own name, the “Morning Star,” a self-delusion so
strong he clings to any related associations, such as the planet Venus and
"light" itself—as tenuous or irrelevant to his actual character they may be. Even
the names of the areas within his Lucifer Palace refer to light, though the
swirling black vortex that surrounds the structure is anything but. Unlike
other series depictions of Lucifer, SMT4’s version does not seem the least bit
self-aware.
But aside from his crass, ugly artwork as a pallid bald man wearing
the traje de luces (“suit of lights” of matadors) with an embryonic
Walter-tumor hanging off his arm, Lucifer’s other preferred form in SMT4 is
Hikaru, a cute, smiling Japanese high school girl whose name is as
conspicuous as “Louis Cyphre”—in Japanese, “hikaru” means “to shine.” [13] While this
seemingly pandering, thoughtless disguise just goes to show how much SMT4
lacks a solid thematic core, Hikaru at least displays some of the tendencies of
“old” Lucifer, even if only to act as a plot device, like giving you the
matchbook needed to access Café Florida. Unfortunately, Hikaru also commits a
grave narrative sin: her presence is acknowledged by her Florida compatriots
Skins and Fujiwara only for them later to have no recollection of her, an
intentionally cheap deception that serves no purpose. But such is the pattern for SMT4’s uninspired portrayal
of Lucifer, a straightforward villain who ironically represents the black of
the game’s black-and-white motif.
 |
| "The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that [she] does not exist" |
This leads to SMT4’s other Theosophic character, the figure of Sanat Kumara, who appears in a DLC-exclusive quest. In Theosophy, Sanat is an "eternal youth" from Venus who guides the spiritual development of Earth from his higher plane of existence. But because of this relationship to Venus, critics of Theosophy, particularly Christians, latched on to the connection to Lucifer and deemed Sanat the Devil in disguise. SMT4's Sanat, through words, form, and Chaotic alignment, is based on the critics' misinformed interpretation rather than the actual source material. Contrast this with the series’ impartial, origin-based portrayal of Baal, who is unfairly villainized in the Bible and beyond. But SMT4, in its zeal to equate anything having to do with Venus directly to Lucifer, would cast a being of light as one of chaos rather than abiding by the design rules that set SMT apart from other properties. Perhaps the gnarled mess of SMT4's Sanat makes for a more imposing "boss" than Theosophy's "hippie" Sanat, though that is an inappropriate justification at best when there’s literally a world of myths from which to choose a character that wouldn’t need such a drastic reinterpretation.
 |
| Left: Theosophy's Sanat, a being of light; Right: SMT4's Sanat, a being of chaos |
The Law faction fares slightly better, though still shows little concern for acuity or consistency. Chief representatives Merkabah and Ancient of Days are obscure and just far enough removed from YHVH himself to avoid a complete rehashing, yet are still meaningful choices on paper. But while the real-world theological ideas behind Merkabah, the chariot of God, are fascinating, neither SMT4's Merkabah's garish design nor its invented correlation to the four archangels have much do with the original concept from Jewish mysticism, other than its very general “likeness of a man.” Likewise, Ancient of Days in scriptures represents eons of time and the spark of initial creation, not the human exterminator he is in the game. Merkabah and Ancient of Days just seem like they were available names to cross off on a list of Yahweh’s hitherto unused retinue.
 |
| A chariot sans wheels and a wrathful, divine baseball |
Similarly, SMT4’s concluding interpretation of angels as robots devoid of free will is unwarranted. Laying groundwork with the monotonous dialogue of Blasted Tokyo’s Pluto, who actually is an automaton, the angel bosses of Purgatorium also endlessly spout the same line, with either Burroughs or Lucifer patronizingly identifying that they “are like machines.” It’s obvious that the game is trying to make a point that to be Lawful is to be orderly at the cost of ego or personality and fairly enough. However, SMT’s demons are probably the wrong medium with which to attempt such incisive commentary, as, by definition, they remain “digital devils.” In other words, demons themselves are not far removed from computer executables and thus cannot act beyond their programmed means, going so far as to be systematized into collections of archetypes (the demon races). [See also: the Nocturne screenshot in the previous section.] Moreover, other angels in the game like Mastema, the archangels, and Seraph all talk normally—but why are they the exceptions when other named angels such as Kazfiel and Azrael fall under the robotic spell? SMT4’s mechanical angel idea isn't completely terrible, but it's redundant within the series' framework and lacks internal consistency.
 |
| "Please understand" |
Between the highs of some of the challenge quests and the lows prevalent within the main storyline, it’s apparent that the SMT4’s main scenario writers and sub-scenario writers each had different goals when it came to demons and mythological content. Compared to other games in the series, the ideas behind SMT4's main scenario are diluted in complexity and its demons afforded minimal plot participation, no doubt due to the needs of establishing the human population and two major locations. While this is unfortunate enough, SMT4 also harbors a completely different issue with its portrayal of demons that's deserving of separate attention.
4. Themes of Xenophobia and Nationalism
 |
| Gotou in Shin Megami Tensei |
 |
| "Peallaidh Extermination" |
 |
| The strength of "a god of the land" (i.e., the Japanese god Kuebiko) is required to overpower a Chinese goddess, who initially defeats but eventually succumbs to the "Yamato-damashii" of Kaga |
Unfortunately, there’s another instance of a “foreign demon” where the xenophobic undertones are much more explicit. Before the arrival of the Samurai, the ward of Ikebukuro was taken over by the Chinese mother goddess Xi Wangmu, subsequently filling her areas of dominion with demons of exclusively Chinese origin, like Tuofei or Bai Suzhen. In real life, Ikebukuro is the location of Tokyo’s Chinatown [14] and, in recent history, Japan's and China's relationship has been tumultuous, to say the least. So in SMTIV, this “foreign” Chinese demon delegation has turned Ikebukuro into a depressing, nearly lifeless area where NPCs can literally be talked into committing suicide. Naturally, the Tokyo native Ring of Gaea wants Xi Wangmu and her “gairai” hordes gone; as you attempt this quasi-ethnic cleansing with them, almost all of the Gaea members, including special NPC Kaga, are swallowed whole by Xi Wangmu’s monstrous maw. Then you, also a foreigner, defeat Xi Wangmu, after which the whole episode is swiftly forgotten, as it was only an unrelated speedbump on the way to the main quest. The only effects are window dressings that speak to the nationalist themes: the areas past Xi Wangmu's domain, the east entrance of Ikebukuro and the Juraku bookstore, are filled exclusively with Japanese demons, like Karasu Tengu and Yuki Jyorou, as if they were primed to retake their territory after the fall of the "foreign" hordes. Though the anti-Chinese sentiments of this sequence are very clear, if it was intended as sly commentary on Sino-Japanese relations rather than just a hostile jab, the confused tone and lack of plot consequences don’t convince. And, like Peallaidh, calling Ikebukuro’s Chinese demons “foreign” makes no sense as 80% or more of the demons in the game are non-Japanese, including the one the Gaeans worship at their base of Tsukiji Hongwanji—if you take it at face value that their colossal, central icon is Strange Journey’s Mem Aleph, a concept of Jewish origin.
 |
| Map of Ikebukuro areas showing their full demon population; Chinese demons live in Sunshine Front (Xi Wangmu's "HQ") and the Underground District while Japanese demons wait outside at the east entrance |
 |
| The complex Japanese title of the NDDs, 必殺の霊的国防兵器, means "deadly spiritual national defense weapon" |
While bad writing and planning are what really plague the
National Defense Divinities, even they can’t get away from the game’s bizarre
nationalistic undertones. In a sidequest, the Japanese thunder god Take-Mikazuchi, who
apparently had been waiting around in a Tokyo Midtown room for 100 years even
though that building has only existed since 2007 [15], says that he and
the NDDs were summoned to fight “a great war” 100 years ago, i.e., World War II
(as SMT4's "present" is the year 2037). Even though he implies they could not fend off
the Americans, given Japan’s controversial track record over the perception ofits military’s actions in WWII, maybe this was one anecdote best left on the
cutting room floor.
 |
| A True Patriot: Masakado says NIMBY, or rather, "NOMB" |
And then there’s Masakado, whose motivations in SMT4 are not outwardly xenophobic but can certainly be interpreted as such subtextually, thanks to the influence of the previous instances. Besides his role in the backstory as the firmament protecting Tokyo against “God’s” (read: foreign) ICBM attack, after his reawakening in the present, he has a singular focus: the extermination of the foreign powers, Merkabah and Lucifer, that are corrupting the city and restricting his own power. While you can call the elimination of the Law and Chaos elements mere Neutral tradition or a cognizant criticism of two obviously Western, Judeo-Christian concepts, Masakado’s true intent might be betrayed by his lack of leniency for the Western-influenced Mikado built on his back. Even though Mikado and its intact districts seem like an ideal place for the humans to live, because it’s not part of the archetypal Tokyo, it’s fated to be destroyed as Masakado’s firmament recedes, ironically causing further damage to the already ruined city as the huge slabs and parapets of the castle crash down below. Whether or not Masakado harbors specific resentment at the Western powers in his city, he certainly lacks common sense.
Shin Megami Tensei games always feature a cosmopolitan demon
roster. SMT4 is no different. Thus, trying to peg certain demons as foreign
just doesn’t work within series establishment. Political commentary can
absolutely fit within the SMT framework, but it needs to be a little bit more
substantial than a petty, one-sided argument in reference to a regional
rivalry. Once again, whether these story concepts were systematically planned
or merely sloppy, they leave SMT4 with an unstable foundation begging for
inquiry it can’t support.
5. Poor Characterization of Alignment Heroes
Shin Megami Tensei's main supporting characters, its
alignment heroes, begin as normal people but become representatives of inhuman
extremes; thus, their development is atypical compared to similar characters in
other RPGs. Straightforward personal motivations may explain their initial
actions and ultimate choices, while their transformations into "heroes"
resonate with the dogmas of their respective ideologies. SMT1's alignment
heroes crystallize this approach. Law Hero's motivation in the story is to find
his girlfriend, but when he fails and is subsequently killed by a demon, he is
resurrected against his will for the benefit of a group, the Messians; Chaos
Hero wants nothing more than to enact revenge on a bully and, when given the
chance, makes the decision himself to fuse with a demon to gain power. It may
seem simple, but this formula nonetheless develops characters along dramatic
arcs.
 |
| The basic, but effective, motivations of SMT1's heroes (top); Jonathan and Walter lack convincing motivations, compensating by telegraphing their alignments at the beginning of the game |
The problems with Shin Megami Tensei IV's heroes, Jonathan and Walter, begin during the game's opening minutes, which include a SMT1-style dream sequence that explicitly telegraphs Jonathan and Walter as the Law Hero and Chaos Hero, respectively. If that weren't enough, two additional, nearly identical dream sequences follow over the course of the prologue, which directly reveal their ideological slants. This could be an interesting setup for a reversal, but the game never attempts to deviate the two from the limits it immediately imposes on them. Subtlety is not one of Shin Megami Tensei IV's virtues.
The two also lack sufficient personal motivations. Part of
the blame is shouldered by the scenario: because the Samurai group is under the
orders of various superiors for most of the game, Jonathan and Walter aren’t
afforded room for individual action. Instead, the game expects motives to be
inferred from the characters’ backstories. Each belongs to one of Mikado's segregated
castes: Jonathan an exalted Luxuror, Walter a lowly Casualry. While Jonathan
rarely makes mention of his birth class, Walter does occasionally grumble about
his humbler roots. However, avenging his downtrodden fellows never seems to be
a concern for him, as Walter mentions that he is glad he doesn't have to
continue his family's business, not to mention being selected as a Samurai
automatically makes one a Luxuror. As the Luxuror/Casualry divide is one of the
Mikado elements quickly swept under the rug, its primary purpose is then
shifted to being a springboard for Jonathan and Walter, for which it is almost
completely ineffective. The only conclusion possible is that the motivations
that drive them towards their inevitable transformations don't exist.
This has a profoundly negative effect on their character
development. With no motivations, their actions under strict order, and a
central setting that’s unfamiliar to them, Jonathan’s and Walter’s dialogue up
until the capture of the Black Samurai (a third of the way into the game) is
mostly reactionary exposition intended to move the plot along, not personal
insight. With so little to build off of, the plot has to rush their development.
Between the two, only Walter displays some semblance of character evolution, as
he expresses interest in the Gaean cult because they have physical power; it’s
not much, but it’s there.
 |
| Forced confrontation |
The game’s dramatic climax occurs after Tayama, Gabriel, and
Lilith show their hands. Of course, because Jonathan has a reserved demeanor and
was a born Luxuror, he wants a world of order and Lilith dead, siding with
the archangels; because Walter is (sometimes) overzealous, is impressed by the
Gaeans’ workout routine, and can’t decide whether he has a grudge against the
Luxurors or is relieved to be in their ranks, he is swayed by a talking bug
lady into wanting to create a world that “humans can shape as they please,”
going on a murderous rampage as a result. It goes without saying, but each
shift is abrupt and unsubstantiated. After the player sides with one or the
other, the party is sent through the Yamato Perpetual Reactor to view Blasted
Tokyo and Infernal Tokyo. Confusingly, the two are no longer at each others'
throats, instead cooperating and joking throughout this extended sequence, in
the process destroying any tension their already tenuously established opposing
philosophies might have had. Once concluded, with neither character deeply
affected by what transpired, Jonathan and Walter then “go off the deep end”
without much in the way of reflective reasoning, transforming, like Japanese
kids’ superhero villains, into Merkabah and “true” Lucifer, respectively. While
going nuts has always been a rite of passage for SMT heroes, it’s usually padded
out with some amount of gradual philosophical weight. In SMT4, these
transformations seemed to happen, again, "because they had to."
 |
| Jonathan's and Walter's completely demonic metamorphoses may bend series rules, but mainly lack the impact of seeing former allies' likenesses become irrevocably changed, as with previous alignment hero transformations |
Unfortunately, it gets even worse for Jonathan and Walter. Even though SMT4 goes to great lengths to pigeonhole them, both characters suffer from multiple instances of contrary actions and dialogue. Among them:
- Even though Walter is "supposed" to be the one who defers to violence, Jonathan physically assaults a man at Club Milton.
- Walter repeatedly apologizes and acts remorseful for his impulsiveness, including after being taken in by Lilith’s initial words.
- Immediately after Walter’s homicidal spree, where he slices the throats of Ashura-kai guards and kills Tayama, he suddenly remembers his Mikadoan manners in the discussion over who should hold the Yamato Perpetual Reactor remote.
- Even though the Mikado Monastery calls the Tokyo population the "Unclean Ones," Jonathan, who should be in line with their opinion, harbors no prejudice against them.
- After agreeing to kill Pluto for Akira in Blasted Tokyo, Walter dismisses the requests of other survivors, deferring to a Law mindset when he says, “We mustn’t forget our duty.”
- Jonathan is completely okay with destroying Pluto even though it describes itself as God's tool.
 |
| Jonathan sassing a machine that just described itself as a "tool of the Lord," even though he is about an hour away from becoming a "tool of the Lord" himself; Walter appears apprehensive about committing violence even though he has already murdered Ashura-kai members and is himself a few minutes away from becoming the wrist-baby of Lucifer |
But besides bad writing and story planning, responsibility
for Jonathan’s and Walter’s poor representation is shared by their constant
presence. SMT4 is arguably the first game in the main series with something
resembling a traditional RPG "party"; the older games usually
featured at least one human companion for battle support, but here the cast
exists throughout to reinforce plot developments and constantly quip during demon
encounters. Taken along with Burroughs as an omnipresent
navigational AI, they make SMT4 into the most sociable apocalypse, another way
the setting’s purported severity is diminished. The ample dialogue may give
Jonathan and Walter the illusion of depth, but the reality is that these
opportunities are mostly spent acting as silent protagonist spokespersons
instead of growing their characters. Because the setting is so literal and
requires so much substantiation, the development of SMT4s alignment heroes
has to happen in concerted, inorganic intervals as the plot requires.
Not everyone in SMT4 is as poorly handled as Walter and
Jonathan. Many of the minor characters fulfill their one-dimensional roles well,
like Hugo, Issachar, Kiyoharu or Kenji. Akira has just as complex a backstory
as the protagonist, with clear motivations across all three of his forms. But because
they are so critical to what unfolds and since you spend so much time with
them, Jonathan’s and Walter’s “alignment rush” is one of the game’s bigger
stumbles. The two are likeable at a glance, but are unfortunately simplified
caricatures of what alignment heroes should be.
6. Isabeau: Tone-Destroyer and Tension-Dissolver
Pandering exists in all forms, in all kinds of media.
Sometimes it can come in the form of crass fanservice, including types common
to Japanese games like hot springs scenes, panty shots, or really any chance to
see female characters with less clothing. Thankfully, Shin Megami Tensei IV
doesn't contain anything that blatant, but instead has something that's subtler,
yet still out-of-place and manipulative: Isabeau.
 |
| Heroines of past SMT games like Beth and Yuko deconstructed SMT1's "eternal partner" archetype; Isabeau reconstructs it but without the plot significance of the original |
Isabeau's character has many problems with agency and plot significance, made particularly apparent in comparison to previous series heroines: she's nothing close to a reincarnated partner, a mother of a savior, or a wizened mentor. Much like with Walter and Jonathan up to their alignment events, Isabeau mostly exists to add another voice to cutscenes or expound on events for the benefit for the player—and to sometimes be "cute." Her major contribution to SMT4's plot is to be indecisive and—confusingly—to illustrate how that leads to Neutrality. At the first crucial alignment fork between Walter and Jonathan, she interjects that she can't follow the party due to lacking a definitive opinion about either choice, likely a self-aware implication of the illegitimacy of the Law and Chaos paths (though the player lacks the same ability to reject both paths). Isabeau rejoins if Neutral is achieved, though she still doesn't accomplish anything important; she's there to serve as a battle companion and voice for the silent protagonist and leaves after the first of the two final dungeons. Her most significant action, "persuading" the people of Mikado to move to Tokyo, happens off-screen and is only accomplished by her convincing Hugo and Hope to organize the exodus instead; even here her agency is negligible.
To compensate for her lack of meaningful
characterization,
Isabeau was given a particular trait: an interest in manga. This
actually
provides effective world-building early on, as through her words we
learn that
the people of Mikado have a skewed reality, one that sees France as a
"fictional country" via relics of a previous civilization now unknown to
them.
Unfortunately, her interest doesn't mature but remains a mere infantile
fascination, causing sudden, inappropriate tonal shifts during multiple
major
dramatic scenes, best illustrated from Isabeau's own perspective:
These two instances are simply some of the worst tonal dissonance in the game, with the additional effect of severely weakening tension, as the ordeals of a world beset by literal pandemonium are seemingly less pressing than the conclusion of a comic book.
- In the search for the Black Samurai, who is actually an ancient demoness, the party finds a city hidden for "centuries" beneath their own, one that is strewn with demonic atrocities, pockmarked by huge poison pools, and marred by decrepit living conditions with its survivors (supposedly) living on the brink; when the party finally confronts their quarry, Isabeau is apparently so unaffected by the extraordinary things she witnessed that being trolled by manga spoilers causes her to cover her ears and say "Tralalala" to avoid hearing them.
 |
| If the characters don't take the situation seriously, why should the player? |
- Much later, after trekking alone through a dying world to find her purpose, Isabeau confronts the protagonist at Ichigaya, who has now sided with either Law or Chaos. With nothing else to talk about, she then brings up the topic of her manga before the Demon Lord of Hell himself; alternately, an emanation of the God of Israel, who cares enough about Japanese comics to specifically name the genre, will chide her for reading their "unclean" pages.
 |
| A massive tonal shift within a single scene |
These two instances are simply some of the worst tonal dissonance in the game, with the additional effect of severely weakening tension, as the ordeals of a world beset by literal pandemonium are seemingly less pressing than the conclusion of a comic book.
Isabeau's manga subplot tries to develop in parallel with her
own, but since most of her growth only happens in relation to how the manga's
own plotline develops, this trait only affords her character the illusion of
depth. While it's been established that Shin Megami Tensei characters aren't
overly complex, they still have measured arcs and meaningful transformations
that Isabeau fails to equal convincingly. In contrast to Isabeau is Nozomi, a
sidequest hunter character who has a better arc than most of the major
characters. She does more than Isabeau, is more hands-on with demons, has a
more interesting motivation, and her quests are even required for the Neutral
path (though don't intersect with the main plot). It's actually a shame that
Nozomi doesn't have a bigger role in the game; if she were the Neutral heroine
instead, she would also provide the perspective of a pragmatic Tokyoite that
the game otherwise lacks. Comparing Isabeau and Nozomi is another example of
how the main scenario writers and sub scenario writers didn't see eye-to-eye with the series' standard themes and tone.
Even Hikaru has more significance to the
plot despite at first glance only existing to meet a modern Japanese games quota
for schoolgirl characters.
 |
| A contrast of priorities |
Though a flat character, Isabeau manages to be manipulative of players' sympathies due to her manga interest (which has a high chance of being shared by the game's target demographic), cute appearance, and general innocence. This is evidenced by how many players seemed affected by her suicide on the Law and Chaos paths, despite her failing to generate any genuine pathos from legitimate character growth. But similar to how images of malnourished children or maltreated animals can manipulate people to donate money to unknown causes, so can seeing a cute, manga-reading girl slice her own throat cheaply sway emotions. Isabeau may be a horrible match for the Shin Megami Tensei universe, but tonal consistency was apparently meaningless compared to the modern, un-SMT-like need of a character who can appeal to the base senses.
7. The Contrivances of Neutrality
A Shin Megami Tensei game's Neutral path is commonly the
target goal for most players, as its rejection of both Law and Chaos carries
the most weight for both story and gameplay. But Shin Megami Tensei IV's Neutral
has a string of contrived plot points that fit poorly within Shin Megami
Tensei's context and go so far as to alter the significance of an important
recurring character. While SMT has never been immune to clichés, never before
have Neutrality's consequences been so watered down and hackneyed as in SMT4.
 |
| Heralds of Neutrality: being scolded for finding binary choices unappealing; a girl who needs reviving |
Neutral's problems begin with the alignment system itself, stemming from the fact that the major choices in SMTIV are always binary. Early in the game, Jonathan and Walter discuss the merits of being a Samurai, resulting in a prompt where you must agree with one, the other, or say "I don't know." If you shrug both off, Burroughs reprimands you for being unable to form your own opinion, even though the other two possible responses are spoon-fed to you. Having absolutely nothing to say might be one thing, but being uncertain or skeptical instead of being peer-pressured into mimicry may be the genesis of rejecting both. Even though such a mixed message makes little sense in context, Burroughs' words portend the game's dyadic choices. Later on, the first major alignment conflict is deciding whether to kill Lilith with Jonathan or deal with Tayama with Walter. It would be fairly compelling if not for the fact that the obvious assertion, that both Tayama and Lilith are loons, and the obvious course of action, dispatching both of them, are not both on the table. This is puzzling in light of the setup resembling SMT1's first act, where killing both Gotou and Thor is available as the Neutral action. The most sensible explanation is that the game's planners wanted Neutral to be more difficult to achieve compared to previous games and the good and bad of each alignment to be precipitously balanced. That's fair enough. But in trying to achieve that Neutrality, you will in turn have to agree with psychotic extremes from both sides of the spectrum that may not reflect your own opinion or even the most sensible outcome.
Should you be lucky enough to balance the correct
number of
murdered babies with adequate hours of volunteer service at children's
cancer
hospitals, you'll end up Neutral. SMT4's Neutral path begins by meeting
Stephen,
Shin Megami Tensei’s infamous Stephen Hawking analogue, after the
alternate Tokyo events. He’s a character that has been absent from the
series for many entries, so
the announcement of his return was welcomed. He begins by telling you
that for
humanity to be saved the “Goddess of Tokyo” must be revived—a directive
that
immediately raises red flags. Stephen was originally included in the
first Shin
Megami Tensei to represent a humanistic Neutral view that rejected the
esoteric, supernatural outcomes of Law and Chaos; he was meant to
present
“science as a candle in the dark” in a “demon haunted world”:
"The famous theoretical physicist Hawking […] became a sensation in the West because he said God wasn’t the one who created the Universe and everything was based on physical principles. He maintained in his books that the Universe wasn’t created by God, but even if we Japanese read the translations of his works, we think this is something obvious. The Japanese aren’t monotheists, so that train of thought is interesting to us. We had Stephen appear in the Shin Megami Tensei series in order to visually present that ideology...So the story of Shin Megami Tensei isn’t just one of gods and demons, but the base concept is that you have to head in a direction different from both of them, and the one who becomes that guide is none other than Stephen." [16]
 |
| "What I have done is to show that it is possible for the way the universe began to be determined by the laws of science. In that case, it would not be necessary to appeal to God to decide how the universe began. This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary." -Stephen Hawking |
While he’s still Neutral with humanity in focus, doing so by aligning himself with a goddess is like the actual Stephen Hawking explaining the universe by using the “God of the gaps” concept—i.e., something antithetical to his actual position. Unfortunately, the desire for Stephen’s presence to uphold “series tradition” was met without grasping his actual significance.
So, to revive the Goddess of Tokyo, the firmament that
encases Tokyo must be removed. It just so happens that the firmament is the
body of Masakado, guardian of the capital, who took on this form in
the game’s backstory to protect the city from nuclear annihilation. For some
reason he lacks the capability to remove the ceiling himself, and to do that
will need "hope." Literally. As in the feeling.
 |
| Hope and its effects |
To carry out this task, Masakado gives you a magic chalice that
needs to be filled with quantified hope gained by "inspiring" the
remnants of humanity. In a contrivance to end all contrivances, immediately
after Masakado tasks you, the hunter association changes the rules of its
ranking system in favor of one that will crown an ultimate
"Champion." Once you have completed enough arbitrary, tension-and-momentum-killing
quests to reach the Champion's rank, the crowds quickly gather to gawk at how
you, a foreigner, are able to rise through the ranks so quickly, even though these
same ranks had been randomly fluctuating, sometimes with the Samurai characters
in very high positions, throughout the rest of the game. Regardless, the
people's hope, now embodied in a glowing sphere, restores enough of Masakado’s
power that he helps you to conquer the other two sentiments that "buttress
hope": goodwill, personified by Merkabah, and spite, personified by
Lucifer. Compare these to Strange Journey’s MacGuffins, the Cosmic Eggs, which
also needed to be collected near its end; they sound silly but
are actually a mythological motif that meshes with the game’s maternal themes. Goodwill,
hope, and spite on the other hand are so literal as to be patronizing, to say
nothing of how the concept of the hope collectathon seems like a magical girl
anime cliché that fits the tone of the series like a square peg into a round hole.
 |
| The invented goddess |
Neutral should be the most gratifying path to take in SMT, not a series of events that would be more appropriate within the context of Final Fantasy melodrama. The strange part is that the Law and Chaos paths don’t have setups nearly as contrived, both playing out as one would expect. There’s nothing wrong with an actual “hopeful” Neutral ending, but SMT4’s literalized sentiments, made-up goddesses, and lack of symbolic awareness read like the simplified, young adult version of a greater, more meticulously crafted work.
8. Self-Belittling Callbacks and References
The original Japanese release of Shin Megami Tensei:
Nocturne, in an attempt to reinvent the SMT wheel, tried to free itself from
creatively confining "traditions" such as strict Law/Neutral/Chaos
alignments and related factions. However, it may have rocked the boat a little
too hard, as the game's subsequent Maniacs re-release added a substantial
amount of new content, much of it restoring those lost references to SMT's
past. These include a decidedly Chaos path (with Lucifer), Law and Chaos bosses
(Metatron and Beelzebub, respectively), Fiends, and even the appearance of
Izanagi and Izanami, to name a few. It's sheer fanservice, but since the
majority of it exists in a separate, optional dungeon, it actually relatively easy to ignore.
Such references and in-jokes are inevitable, almost natural,
for any long-running series. Used sparingly or smartly (like in Nocturne
Maniacs) and they can be a rewarding wink for long-time fans. Used excessively
and they will appear as an obvious ploy to score cheap nostalgia appeal, with
the worst case scenario being that the constant references rob the new product
of its individuality.
 |
| Just a few of SMT4's bevy of series callbacks |
With Shin Megami Tensei IV the product of that same Maniacs team, one would expect some level of series callbacks. Unfortunately, they are so numerous in SMT4 that it edges the game closest to the latter, "excessive" category. While most are minor, innocuous nods, SMT4 commits the sin of having major story beats or world-building elements directly retread those seen previously, such as Yuriko/Lilith, ICBM attacks against Tokyo, the Demon Summoning Program distributed as shareware, and Mikado as a 1000-Year Kingdom; these are just a few among many more that have been exhaustively compiled. [17] Certain references, such as Stephen's reappearance, seem keen to reestablish dormant traditions even though games like Nocturne and Strange Journey deemed his presence unnecessary.
As if cognizant of its many un-SMT-like elements (like those
already discussed), SMT4's overindulgence in references seems like a facade worn in an
attempt to tout its "understanding" of the series and to help
legitimize itself as an SMT title. Of course, even when previous games got
referential, they approached nowhere near the volume present in SMT4 and, on
the subject of "understanding the series," one needs to look no
further than the botching of Stephen's role to realize even that understanding
may be feigned. While most of the callbacks can be dismissed as simple fanservice,
what can't be ignored so easily are the major plot reruns that not only give
deja vu but also keep the fantastic original aspects of Shin Megami Tensei IV
from truly becoming their own.
Fallout
So what happened? How did a capable staff familiar with Shin
Megami Tensei produce a game with such a compromised and conflicted identity? The
true intentions are potentially evidenced by something exclusive to the
Japanese version of SMT4: furigana. Furigana are a reading aid written above
Japanese kanji with multiple contexts for usage, but most relevant is its use
in materials for children still learning kanji [24]; "it's
normal to see furigana in stuff aimed at kids," like manga or games. [25]
Naturally, this includes the "shounen" genre of action-oriented
manga for boys, with notable examples being Dragonball or One Piece. While Shin
Megami Tensei has always had the makings of a boy's power fantasy with its
computer-aided summonings of gods and demons, previous games in the series
(with the necessary screen resolution required for text augmentation, like
Nocturne) don't use furigana, suggesting they may have been intended for at
least a high school audience. For that matter, Atlus' contemporaneous games on
the 3DS like Etrian Odyssey Untold or Persona Q don't use
furigana either, making SMT4 an outlier.
 |
| Examples of furigana in the Japanese version of SMT4 and One Piece |
But when you consider the furigana along with the tokusatsu guest designers, the explicitly sentai-like "transformations" of Reds-takers or Jonathan or Walter, the Samurai team's scarf colors resembling those of a sentai squad, the simplified thematic content, the Goddess of Tokyo acting as little more than a damsel in distress cliché, etc., it becomes apparent that SMT4's target demographic was pre-teen or early-teen boys. The game's Japanese rating is CERO C (15+) with a content descriptor for violence, presumably for the gruesome demon death animations; this is not a retail-restrictive rating, and likely had little bearing in reaching those younger than 15. Something else to consider is that not long after SMT4's release, Masayuki Doi gave an interview that stirred controversy for comments that male characters are more suited for an SMT apocalypse than female characters would be, though he admits, "there are traditionalists on the development team that see the series from the past to present and all of the protagonists have been male. To keep that tradition, there is feedback I’ve been hearing saying that if there is a new SMT title we should keep the tradition of having a male lead." [26] Considering SMT's tabula rasa silent protagonists, this "tradition" is transparently about demographics, as the Atlus number-crunchers probably knew the specific boy audience they were trying to attract would identify more closely, or exclusively, with a male character. Still sexist, though? Absolutely.
 |
| The Samurai's distinct scarf colors and arrangement in promo images bear similarity to children's sentai teams |
And why shouldn't it try and target that entirely different demographic? Releases like Strange Journey proved that Persona players (in Japan and overseas) were not willing to migrate to the main series just because of a common heritage, and Japan's contracted game console environment means that the hardcore SMT players of previous generations likely don't exist in sufficient numbers to support just the "same old." Appealing to the tastes of the young Pokemon and Monster Hunter players who already own the 3DS is at least smart from a business perspective, even if the series has to contort itself to do it.
But being intended for children can’t be blamed for all of
SMT4’s ails. The sloppiness inherent in its characterization and
world-building would be unacceptable in fiction for any age, and if the game
had any production issues or disagreements the tight-lipped nature of the
Japanese game industry will never tell; yet, the resultant product undeniably
displays creative compromises. Of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Kazuma Kaneko
once said, "if the game were to be pulled apart into its various
components—gameplay, storyline, designs, and illustrations—all of those would
contain some aspect contributed by me, [therefore] you can consider the game as
a whole to be my artwork." [27] Shin Megami Tensei IV’s
incongruous demons from disparate designers, confused thematics, and skewed
understanding of its own legacy simply cannot claim a similar unified artistic
vision, instead possessing the soul of a formulaic product with conservative ambitions.
What Does Shin Megami Tensei's Future Hold?
In a cutthroat era for the industry, there are a surprising
number of positives for a small developer like Atlus. The most obvious is their acquisition by Sega in September 2013 [28] and
a subsequent corporate restructuring in April 2014 [29] that saw them
reemerge as a distinct arm separate from the parasitic Index; it’s currently
unknown how this will affect future releases, but on paper it certainly sounds
better. Then there’s the undeniable fact that SMT4 even exists and was
a modest success, though Persona is clearly the money-making priority, with
Persona 5 gearing up for a massive launch. And, for better or worse, there’s Etrian
Odyssey, which has become Atlus’ milked dungeon-crawling series. While it began
with the noblest of minimalist retro intentions, EO has become a vehicle for
typical fanservice, including expanded story modes for its remakes and DLC
cheesecake; nonetheless, it seems to be a healthy and reliable seller. Atlus is
going to be around for a while yet.
 |
| Persona 5 returns to having demons as enemies; will it truly be a game for every type of Megami Tensei fan? |
As for the future of Shin Megami Tensei itself, it’s much more difficult to predict. If Shin Megami Tensei IV was considered to have sold sufficiently (and it probably did), upcoming games may be iterations on its model, meaning straightforward stories for younger audiences, character interaction emphasis, lessening of mythological scope, demon designs that play only to the whims of their individual guest creators, and probably fantastic soundtracks; in other words, the potential for more great games, but they might as well be classified as another spinoff. If it wasn’t considered a success, then it’s either back to the drawing board or another long hiatus. Or, if SMT4's faults were the result of Index’s hand, the buffer gained from the Sega buyout could allow the Maniacs team the room to blossom creatively. On the other hand, Sega’s own classic RPG franchises, Phantasy Star and Shining Force, have both left their roots behind: Phantasy Star iterates exclusively on its successful online action-RPG Dreamcast makeover while the Shining series has become a vehicle for the softcore porn of Tony Taka. It may all come down to how Sega interprets the value of the SMT IP.
 |
| Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem: the potential; the reality |
However, a recent disappointment for main series fans may have already divulged SMT’s worth. A few months before Shin Megami Tensei IV’s Japanese release in May 2013, Atlus and Nintendo announced an unexpected collaboration: Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem. Though unveiled with only a brief trailer, it nonetheless teased the inclusion of most SMT main series characters, from Shin Megami Tensei II’s Aleph to Shin Megami Tensei if…’s Tamaki Uchida, fueling wild speculation as to what this crossover would actually be. Fast-forward to April 2015 and the game’s actual form, Genei Ibun Roku (Tokyo Mirage Sessions) #FE, was revealed, resembling nothing insinuated by the teaser. Any notion of SMT main series characters or influence was replaced by bright, cheerful colors and UI, high school students acting as pop music idols (replete with female characters donning skimpy clothing), dungeons with giant maid outfits, and Fire Emblem characters serving as personas. It’s a game very honest about its intentions of appealing to a specific, otaku-oriented demographic. But, more importantly, it proved that Persona’s style, moreso than SMT’s, was the more valuable of Atlus’ potential contributions to the collaboration.
The reality that’s likely difficult for main series SMT
fans to accept is that Persona may very well be the ultimate evolution of the
franchise, the one that will keep it relevant in the contemporary milieu and
carry the series’ legacy the furthest. "Niche" might be the way SMT can
remain true to itself, but niche series have also had a notoriously difficult
time treading water for the past two console generations. In an era of
declining sales that “retired” classic franchises of yesteryear like Mega Man,
Castlevania, Gradius, and Contra and where low interest keeps even Dragon Quest
games from being localized, the falling sales between Nocturne and Strange
Journey potentially heralded a similar fate for the main series and—were it not
for the breakout successes of Personas 3&4—potentially Atlus
themselves. Maybe it won't be in the form its original creators intended or in
the manner longtime fans want, but the Persona connection will all but ensure
Shin Megami Tensei endures, even as a perpetually lower budget release intended
to keep players content until the next major Persona title.
 |
| Many games are technically or artistically exceptional, but almost none provide an experience similar to Shin Megami Tensei |
Mythology is timeless. Even when specific stories are not recreated verbatim, their pervasive archetypes and motifs will still cast shadows on the wall for us to interpret. Individual Shin Megami Tensei games are not so timeless, as it's turned out, as some of its boldest ideas are locked behind titles that haven't aged gracefully. But, as a series, its concepts are as malleable and adaptable as the myths themselves. You don’t need Kaneko’s art or Cozy Okada’s oversight to make a “real” Shin Megami Tensei game, it just requires understanding of what separates SMT from the rest. The consequence of SMT becoming indistinguishable from other RPG series, even its own spinoffs, is that there is nothing else that could fill the void it would leave behind. Shin Megami Tensei’s greatest asset is its sheer creative potential, and the most disappointing outcome of all would be to see it squandered.
Cozy Okada: I'm confident to say that Atlus' world of Shin Megami Tensei is very distinct from others; its originality has been firmly established. Whether [through] storyline, theme, or game system, the players can experience something they can't experience anywhere else.Kazuma Kaneko: People come across something that doesn't work out for them, or think "this isn't the real me" on a daily basis. They continually yearn for an alternative, a different life. I guess the brain wants excitement. Shin Megami Tensei is a piece of work that contains a lot of those stimuli. Its themes are very familiar to us, so that makes them easy for the brain to comprehend. And that, in turn, expands the players' minds beyond their expectations. In other words, it's good for your brain...Whatever that means. (laughs) [30]
Special Thanks
This piece would never have been written without the aid of the following individuals:
This piece would never have been written without the aid of the following individuals:
- Soren, for always being on the same wavelength
- Dijeh, for translating on a whim
- Pepsiman, for translation and insight
- Gu4n, for archiving and translating so much on Megatengaku
- Belmont, for not reading past the 3rd page
- TK, for constructive criticism
- Jesus, thanks for the tips
- Emerson, Lake & Palmer, R.I.P Emerson & Lake
- Nodal, for being [a nice guy] and prompting me to write this extra-long rebuttal you'll never read
- And all my followers over the years!
________________________________________________________
Corrections & Updates:
Corrections & Updates:
- Originally, Isabeau's section implied that she brings up her manga before Merkabah on the Law path. This is not the case, as she mentions it before Lucifer on the Chaos path. The text has now been updated to accurately reflect both instances. Thanks to messiaharisato for the correction.
- In the Myth section, it was stated that Dagda makes a "voice-only" appearance in the game, but this is not true. He's just name-dropped with the cauldron. The text has been updated.
- Updated 9/1/21 with typo corrections, a few rewritten passages, and a new image!
References:
[1] Geimin.net. Famitsu's 100 Bestselling Games of 2009.
[3] 1UP.com. Atlus Dissolved by Parent Company.
[5] Gamespot.com. Takara to buy Atlus.
[6] RPGfan.com.
Index Becomes Atlus' New Parent Company.
[7] Dengekionline.com. Kazuyuki Yamai Interview. (translated by dijeh)
[8] Famitsu.com. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Recollections of the New Demon Designers. (translated by dijeh)
[9] Kazuma Kaneko Works III. (archived on Megatengaku) Interview.
[10] USGamer.net. The Fashionable Apocalypse of Shin Megami Tensei IV.
[11] Siliconera.com. Shin Megami Tensei IV Developers Talk Difficulty, Multiple Routes And DLC.
[12] Sorenblr.tumblr.com. Shin Megami Tensei IV and Theosophy.
[14] Japantimes.co.jp. Merchants’ plan for Chinatown in Ikebukuro faces resistance.
[15] Tokyo-midtown.com. Development & History.
[16] Shin Megami Tensei II Staff Interview. (translated by dijeh)
[17] Sorenblr.tumblr.com. Shin Megami Tensei IV Callback Compendium.
[18] Dengekionline.com. 【週間ソフト販売ランキング TOP50】Wii U『ピクミン3』が首位を獲得！ Wii U本体の販売実績は前週比2.9倍増（7月8日～14日).
[19] Twitter.com/Atlus_jp. 『真・女神転生IV アトラス・ベストコレクション』発売決定！全世界で60万本以上を売り上げた大ヒットRPGが遂にベスト化です。10月8日（木）発売、価格は2,980円（税別）です。 (translated by Pepsiman)
[19] Twitter.com/Atlus_jp. 『真・女神転生IV アトラス・ベストコレクション』発売決定！全世界で60万本以上を売り上げた大ヒットRPGが遂にベスト化です。10月8日（木）発売、価格は2,980円（税別）です。 (translated by Pepsiman)
[20] Metacritic.com. Shin Megami Tensei IV.
[21] RPGamer.com. Shin Megami Tensei IV - Staff Review.
[22] Amazon.com Customer Review. Joyless Slog.
[23]
Ameblo.jp/mecca-of-all-guitarists. Shin Megami Tensei IV~incompatibility.
[24] Japanese.about.com. What is Furigana in Japanese?
[25] Legendsoflocalization.com. Why Do Japanese Games Have,Like, Double Text?
[26] Siliconera.com. Shin Megami Tensei IV Interview: Making Law and Chaos Heroes.
[27] 1UP.com (archived on Megatengaku) Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne.
[28] Bloomberg.com. Sega Said to Win Auction to Buy Bankrupt Gamemaker Index.
[29] Gamespot.com. Persona developer Atlus secured in Sega restructuring.
[30] Persona 2: Eternal Punishment Bonus Disc. Kazuma
Kaneko and Cozy Okada Interview.
On topic of robotic angels, I should probably mention that in Islam, angels are believed to have no free will or at least do not worship God out of free will, and more or less can not act beyond God's path: http://www.al-islam.org/faith-and-reason-ayatullah-mahdi-hadavi-tehrani/question-16-angels-and-free-will
ReplyDeleteThough it seems to be primarily inspired by the idea Yahweh being originally a god of metallurgy: http://www.bing.com/search?FORM=SK2MDF&PC=SK2M&q=yahweh+metallurgy
Those are both really awesome! Thanks for sharing! :)
DeleteDo you think there will be a sequel for the main Shin Megami Tensei series ? According to the SMT IV's sales that are the best of the series so far, I think there will be more attention about the potential of the series, and maybe Atlus will take time to refine a probable new SMT that will appeal to both fans of the mainline SMT (in terms of fidelity and consistency) that those who liked SMT IV...
ReplyDelete...Maybe the view of Persona 5 reusing demons as enemies gave me hope.
I'm personally waiting for a sequel of SMT IV, who deconstructs the Neutral alignement like SMT II (I also saw SMT IV like a SMT II-2, if you know what I mean...)
But I'm also afraid of the future merchandising if (an unexpected outcome) this hypothetical SMT will sale better than the IV. Can't wait for the dancing game with Louisa Ferre or the shooting game involving shooting some angels.
I'm French (hon hon baguette eiffel tower, you know), and my english is average...Hope you'll undestand whatever I said :v
I did some mainline SMT games except If... and Nocturne (I think I will play it in October), and I understand what you said when I played Strange Journey after I beat the I, II, and eventually the IV. I liked the huis-clos ambiance and the involvement of the protagonists about the destiny of the entire world. Maybe the problem in SMT IV is the protagonists walking around Tokyo without any motive meet some demons who want to change the world and then they will accept their proposal without real afterthought so far :(
DeleteNo need to apologize for your English or appeal to French stereotypes (though those did make me laugh). :p
DeleteThere will certainly be a Shin Megami Tensei V. I personally don't see it happening as the team's next project, though. I've said it other places, but I still think a very likely outcome in the near future is a remake of SMT1 or SMT2, but definitely SMT1. It's a landmark game that has never really been "modernized." Let's see what happens in the wake of Persona 5.
I think there is still some hope pour SMTxFE, featuring Flooded Tokyo from SMT1 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CP_zJZiWoAEbjT8.png:large
DeleteThat is likely not meant to be Flooded Tokyo. Too many buildings surviving, for one. #FE is probably a lost cause as far as meaningful SMT content is concerned. Beyond that, there is all of that otaku audience baiting that is well beyond most Megami Tensei games, which will be difficult to ignore.
DeleteOh.
DeleteA wild sequel appears
http://www.famitsu.com/images/000/090/028/560e5dea922e9.jpg
...Or a prequel ?
DeleteThe boy with the "NO WAR" shirt have the same scar as Akira, and I think the two men on the left are young Tayama and Fujiwara.
Moreover, the woman on the right looks like Nozomi.
http://personacentral.com/shin-megami-tensei-iv-final-story-and-character-details/
DeleteThis certainly gave a lot to think about; I honesty loved SMT IV, but never really got to think about its contrast with other games in the series, or all the inconcistencies in its plot. I still love it though. :)
ReplyDeleteI want to believe that SMT IV will assure more SMT games, and that at least one is bound to be a worthy succesor, right????
In any case, excellent articles, are you into journalism?
Thanks for reading! :)
DeleteI am not really into journalism nor am I a journalist. I just wrote this thing out of a love for the series.
I think SMTIV's sales success will definitely ensure future SMT titles. But as for the overall "SMT-ness" that's the focus of this article? Hard to say. Something I didn't touch on that much because it would have way complicated the scope was the fact of the changing demographics of Japanese game players, due to economic concerns, the shrinking population, and the emergence of powerful niche markets that want more anime-oriented properties like Persona, to name a few. But you can read an excellent treatise on that topic as it pertains to Japanese pop culture at large here: http://neojaponisme.com/2011/11/28/the-great-shift-in-japanese-pop-culture-part-one/
But we'll definitely get future SMT games, and they will probably be more polished and playable than those that have come before, at the very least.
Mhmm, that article you recommended is interesting, thanks!
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, I think that this being such a good article, you could even write for other pages, like Gamnesia (it´s always looking for writers).
Good luck ;)
"There are absolute gems in the new roster like Minotaur and Chemtrail, but a scant few can't compensate for critical misses like the four archangels or Lucifer."
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Great article. I appreciate and share some of your insights.
I'm happy you enjoyed it! :)
DeleteThe line about Nozomi just got hilariously prophetic
ReplyDeletehttps://41.media.tumblr.com/c9800eb790e051d3036b5faabac178e6/tumblr_nvr7wpOZmE1s08tm8o1_500.jpg
All I see is a bunch of whining, ridiculously taking the game out of context, and nitpicking to argue the entire game is terrible.
ReplyDeleteExamples:
You argue why the Samurai didn't become like the villagers. If you had paid attention to Issachar, he explicitly states that he embraced the demonic because he realized that his life was meaningless because of the Luxorer and Casualry difference. That was what was turning the farmers into demons. They realized they had no hope of their lives improving without violent revolution.
Why did the red pills turn people into demons? This is actually explained by Yuriko. In fact, Yuriko explains BOTH reasons quite well in the game. Did you really even pay attention? Humans originally were demons.
Thesophy was not all that the White represented. If you hadn't been paying attention, they also represented the nihilism of human existence. They're the aggregate sentience of human thoughts, their will is humanity's will and humanity has become nihilistic due to lack of meaning from the constant Law vs Chaos struggles.
Neutral was different in this game to show that it isn't the perfect choice. In fact, the game provides a strong criticism of neutrality, to imply that it isn't really a choice at all. That was the whole point of Isabeau's character in contrast to Walter and Jonathan.
Overall, this review of yours goes into ad hominems of the characters (arguing they'll be turning to demons LATER before they've actually made their choices), and is an embarrassment.
Here's an analysis of themes that I did for SMTIV: https://byjarinjove.wordpress.com/2015/01/13/a-thematic-analysis-of-shin-megami-tensei-iv/
Oh boy. :)
DeleteI played the game 12 times across 600 hours in both English and Japanese. I know the context of the game intimately well.
The point is, even if the game does explain why something happens, it's very inconsistent with both the in-game context and the context of the series, which can't be ignored.
Your analysis I think gives the game far too much credit considering its many other flaws. It sees a bit that I don't think is really there, but it was interesting regardless.
In any case, thanks for reading. :)
Do you have any reasonable evidence to provide? It was pretty much explained in the game that humanity is at fault for Law Vs Chaos wars on a cosmic scale because they don't know what they want and continue making the same mistakes, which results in reinterpretations and resurrections of Lucifer, God, and the White.
DeleteThe evidence is all 10,000+ words above us. Of course, not everything in SMT4 is worthy of criticism, and not everything I criticized is on an equal level. But just because SMT4 (or any work of fiction, really) can provide a justification or explanation for something doesn't mean it's particularly good, well-considered, or consistent with other thematic aspects--the whole point I'm trying to make above. For even better examples of this, see SMT4: Apocalypse.
DeleteI'm also happy that I'm not the only long-form SMT4 criticism game in town. See also Michael Peterson's Rebuilding SMT4: http://arbitrarynumbers.blogspot.com/search/label/Rebuilding
I think these views are pure unadulterated nonsense. So you have a friend that agrees with you, congratulations. The themes aren't inconsistent and the "tonal" shifts you're describing is ignoring the fact that real human being act like that even in the face of war, controversy, and death. Apocalypse did a great job in subverting the cliches you continue to harp about. I see nothing of value or anything remotely meaningful from your review beyond "I didn't like it, so it's bad." without any substantive meaning on why.
Delete"This looks like super sentai" isn't actually criticism and the fact they explained why they did it shows you have no interest in looking at authorial intent. You just think of the closest thing in relation to the game to trash it. For one thing, the extent of the chats you can have in Mikado and the significant degree of side quests more than justify the setting.
You also seemed to miss the point of Thesophany in IV. Yes, you are correct about Sanat Kumara, but the demonized form is indicative of Christianity's bastardized and demonized version of it. The Chaos demons are bastardized and fallen gods. A point which has been true for the series since it's inception.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteCan't agree with everything (SMT 4 is the best for me and it really feels same as 1,2, SJ) but article is very good and informative. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading. :)
DeleteWas the intention of the article is tp present SMTIV as a trashy abomination to the mainline SMT games?
ReplyDeleteCuz the game is nowhere as bad as what I've read here.Sure it's subjective since I don't agree with a lot of the statements made here but wow more time spent on the cons compared to the Pros rather than looking at both equally
That was not the intention. I (the author) still think SMTIV is a pretty good video game. I played it for well over 600 hours. However, the sense of identity that separates SMT from other games, hence the title, I think has been diminished. The idea was also to present the evidence objectively, mainly from the confusing world building, to the sloppy presentations of the demons and mythical content that literally made the series into what it is.
DeleteAgain, this is NOT a review. A fair review for SMTIV as a video game would give it an 8 out of 10. This article was always intended as an analysis of the game's non-gameplay half and, indeed, how a necessary shift in appeal to a younger demographic may have affected the quality of that half in comparison to the older SMT games which were intended for at least a high school-level audience.
Boy, I really enjoyed reading your article since I had the same « head scratching moment » when I finished the game the third time on neutral. To be honest, since I played the games in order, I do think IV is quite a mess, but not as much as Nocturne in term of Megaten identity. IV had high ambitions but it feels it didnt pay off at all in the end. Some caracters like Hope (the making of book has a interesting protoype artwork of him that remind me Aleph from SMTII and the chalice of hope quest was ''probably'' a bell ringer) or Issachar could really stand out if some parts of the game (like Mikado) were more fleshed out. Its quite a shame, really, cause there was alot of potential there.
ReplyDeleteI know this might be late compared to when this was written, but I have gone through SMTIVF, and I have to say that the laundry list of problems with IV just got a whole lot longer.
ReplyDeleteSo you'll be writing the sequel to this article? :p
DeleteNot likely since I have trouble writing longer articles, as well as my problem to express myself in ways that others understand. While I might try sometime, don't count on it, and if it did happen it would only be a shorter article. Not as in-depth as this.
DeleteStill, I will say that from my experience with it and from what I understand (I can understand spoken Japanese with decent accuracy but I can't read it to save my life) the game's narrative and structure comes of as not only bad for the SMT series, but just plain bad in general.
The specifics of SMT4F's narrative and structure weren't clear to me either as I was playing it, so the English version that's less than a month away now should be interesting to observe even as I probably don't play it right away. But what I do know doesn't seem that much better than any average JRPG these days, particularly from "lesser" publishers than Atlus.
DeleteGiven my impressions of the game so far, I am unlikely to buy it just to go through it again and might just look up the translated stuff on the web, the game just left that much of a bitter taste in my mouth. Although I maybe should have seen it coming considering all the warning signs. I just hope that Atlus will realize their mistake and go back to treating the series with a bit more respect (kinda like with what happened to the Drakengard series after the black sheep that was the second game.)
DeleteAlso, funny thing is I know of several "lesser" publishers that have repeatedly delivered better stuff than this. NieR and Caligula are good examples of this.
And finally, I forgot to mention this earlier, one reason as to why I am unlikely to write an article about is due to some things in it bothering me without me quite being able to understand why. Maybe it is conflicting with my own values and sense of morality or it is objectively bad but I just don't know what to call it. (spoilers:) The scene in the peace route where they basically kill Dagda and replace him with a version that agrees with them is one such scene. (end spoilers)
Wow, and I thought the language barrier was obscuring all the better details. No idea that was happening in the Dagda scene. I hope you can laugh at stuff like this, as I think we might be in for some comedy gold once the English version releases. :)
DeleteI'm surprised almost none took notice of that chain of events. As for laughter then maybe a bitter one bordering on crying due to how it is SMT in-name-only, and over whatever hope I had for the series future crushed to dust.
DeleteThank you very much for taking the time and effort to write this article! I enjoyed reading the entire article, and in doing so learned a bit about SMT's history, its identity, and why SMT4 received such flak. I came here after seeing the link mentioned on TVTropes, and I myself haven't played any of the numbered main games or the Devil Summoner spin-offs (though I want to) I was introduced to SMT from playthrough videos of Persona 3 and Nocturne back in 2008-9 and have since enjoyed the aesthetics, attention to the origin of the demons in the games, and especially the music. Here's hoping that SMT4 Apocalypse can do more than just be a "fix" and that this game becomes an example for the developers of careful use of pandering to a wider base, finding their own Neutral path.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I'm happy you enjoyed it and especially that you were able to learn something from it. :)
DeleteI just wanted to take the time to thank you for this article/analysis. I don't typically leave comments on pretty much anything so this is kind of a strange case in that regard. Your analysis finally answered the question that I had in the back of my mind the entire time I was playing through SMT4 (all three paths + DLC), "why does this feel so off?" As a long time fan of SMT in its various incarnations I obviously wasn't blind to the influence it received from the spinoffs, though I felt it borrowed more heavily from Devil Survivor than the usual culprit of Persona. Ironically in hindsight the Devil Survivor games (specifically the first) treated the mythology with more respect than SMT4 did, which was made apparent the moment you find that Medusa is a bondage wearing Nomura design reject. You managed to articulate the feelings I had beautifully in a way that helped me finally realize what was actually wrong with the game that I noticed but couldn't quite put a explanation to.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got so much out of it. :) Wow, and it's been a year since it was published, too. Crazy.
DeleteSo I'd recommend you stay far, far away from SMT4: Apocalypse, then, unless you skip all the dialogue and story. It plays really well (best playing SMT game ever), and I thought I was missing a lot of necessary details with the Japanese version, but learning more of the plot specifics I think I was better off using my imagination. Sheesh.
I LOVE THIS!! Thanks for everything you've written here!
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't necessarily agree with everything you say about SMTIV, I still think this is a very well-written and well-researched article. I'll always have a soft spot for it, but you should be proud of this.
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome for you to say. Thank you. :)
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ReplyDeleteFrankly, i liked the archangel designs. according to religious books, the angels were monstrous, not like the paintings painted at renaissance.
ReplyDeletethere is a reason when angels appear to humans, the first words they say are "be not afraid"
but i agree with everything else, great article.
Hey Abit, thanks for enjoying and commenting. :)
DeleteBut check out this post where I delve into what angels were intended to look like according to the texts: http://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/120567275182/littlemercury-eirikrjs-littlemercury
I've found that saying they are monstrous just because of the calls to "not be afraid" is a very modern interpretation. Well, you'll see. :)
I'm sorry, Eirikr, but you're mistaken. Angels have been either portrayed just like human beings without wings, or a complete abomination before the 4th century, where artists began to add wings to these angels because of influence from Roman and Greek deities.
DeleteAlso, the "likeness" of a man is free to interpretation. For example, Gabriel here has a shield with a face of a man, which can also qualify as "likeness of a man". Same thing with Michael having a sword, which is how it also commonly depicted as, with more unique and creative twist.
Amemiya, the angel artist, admitted that he doesn't use sources and used his own interpretation with the angels + Merkabah. They are strictly his invention and have nothing to do with any traditional perception of angels, "likeness of a man" be damned.
DeleteAnd the "abomination" angels are all very specifically described, with the four heads (all animals influenced by the Assyrian lamassu, bull, eagle, lion, human: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamassu), the ophanim, and the Merkabah itself. It's important to note that the major angelic visions were by Ezekiel, who was writing in the 6th century BC while the Israelites were in exile in Babylon, where he would have come into contact with such statues and ideas (if, as archaelogical evidence may suggest, the ideas behind the cherubim/lamassu weren't already assimilated into the local Israelite iconography).
In other Jewish literature, we have the Book of Enoch which dates to around 200 years after Ezekiel and the angel Watchers fall from God's graces because of their lust for human women; presumably an "abomination" in form won't have the same desires. It's clear that for most of the angels (barring Ezekiel, really), the original Biblical writers envisioned them merely with human-like qualities, much like similar divine messengers in other Ancient Near East pantheons.
As a guy who loves SMTIV, I gotta say that this is a damn well written article. I could argue a lot of the points here, but I'll refrain cause 1. You seem like a cool guy who I'd hate to argue with. 2. I'm too lazy. and 3. I'd probably lose anyway. Regardless, nice work.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)
DeleteI also just posted a new article on Dagda, if you've played SMT4: Apocalypse: http://eirikrjs.blogspot.com/2017/02/dissecting-dagda.html
Yeah, pretty much. That point about Dagda's popularity is really on point. The only guys I like other than him are Navarre and Hallelujah.
DeleteYour analysis of Sanat is utter shit. He was demonized by Christianity, that's what they were depicting. Furthermore, theosophy supports going beyond the idea of good and evil depicted by Law.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theosophical.org/publications/1375
The demonization of Theosophy exists even today:
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/New%20Age/theosophy.htm
Other than that, the same Baal example is invalid actually. Since he's been represented as demonical too, and his demonical form are present as different demons, like Belzebub.
Delete(And the Ancient of Days actually represents similiar concept to Sanat Kumara)
Here is my analysis of IV and IVA thus far:
ReplyDeletehttps://byjarinjove.wordpress.com/2015/01/13/a-thematic-analysis-of-shin-megami-tensei-iv/
https://byjarinjove.wordpress.com/2017/04/10/smtivathemes/
https://byjarinjove.wordpress.com/2017/04/10/smtivathemes/
You have conducted yourself like a condescending ass on this blog, no one wants to hear your opinions, pal.
DeleteThat doesn't disprove my point or invalidate it. Moreover, I used pejoratives on the analysis because it was of poor quality, I didn't insult the writer.
DeleteI myself don't mind people behaving like asses if they make a sound argument. The problem is a lot of your arguments aren't rational, they're as emotional as your pompous attitude and your fierce obsession with defending a game that was made to appeal to Otaku.
DeleteI love SMTIV just fine, but that doesn't mean I can't see it was made in part to me bait me, as much as the Persona games was made to bait teenagers who enjoy simulating fantasy friendships while still ogling at teenage girls' bodies.
What arguments aren't rational? If you're gonna go on a personal attack like that, you had better back it up.
DeleteI for one really like Lucifer in SMT4. The level of self-delusion and aggrandisement is reminiscent of Milton's depiction in Paradise Lost. A being that genuinely believes that it's better to rule over hell than be subservient in paradise, and then paves the streets with gold in a cheap imitation of Heaven probably would name his dreary JRPG dungeon after symbols of light. Can't argue with that character design though: dude looks lame.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, good read. A lot of interesting points you bring up.
Holy Hell. I notice that a lot of people who disagree with your article tend to be either bad at forming rational arguments, ignorant of religious sources (except through short youtube videos and wiki articles), or just plain offended and enraged.
ReplyDeleteSome of their reactions remind me of young people who feel the need to flaunt their superiority by nitpicking any small mistake they perceive (which turns out not to be a mistake, as in the case of that person who rather boastfully corrected your statement about angels without citing any sources). Other reactions feel like they love this game so much (too much) that they're angered enough to insult you but too lazy to actually engage with you intellectually.
You're one of the most mature fans of SMT I've ever seen, and one of the EXTREMELY rare EXCELLENT examples of an online commentator on religions and mythology, both in themselves and as they appear in pop culture. Thank you. :)
Omoultakos, thank you! I'm sorry I didn't respond earlier. I hope this reaches you.
DeleteBut... that's really all I have to say. Thanks! :)
Finally sat down to read this article after so long; you’ve hit the nail on the head regarding this game’s problems and why SMTIV (and other recent SMT games following it lbr :P) has been hit-or-miss especially among old-time (or just more critical in general) Megami Tensei fans.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been following you on Tumblr for a while now and been appreciating the discussions unfolding there. Given how talks about the series writing quality sometimes go, it’s really nice to see people discuss the games in a critical but fair/level-headed way. Keep up the good work 👍🏻
This was a very nice read after beating 4. It put words to some thoughts I had myself but couldn't articulate, and it even pointed out flaws that I didn't notice. So thank you for that. The only thing I disagree with somewhat, at least in a way beyond taste, is the bit about Tokyoites having hobbies. While it does get absurd with things like the Ginza shopping district, I found the Tokyoites committing to things like photography or meeting for drinks very grounding. The closest analogues to 4's Tokyo are real world war zones, which often have civilians indulge in things such as hobbies despite the dangers. I suppose that interpretation only focuses on the violence of daily life in both environments, while ignoring the more fantastical aspects of 4's Tokyo. Still, I wanted to offer up more than just praise or a retread of old discussions, whether you see this or understandably don't.
ReplyDeleteJust finished playing it and, like many before me, I was swayed by the endless praise this game receives from its cultish fanbase. I disliked the game quite a bit, specially how messy the plot and world are put together. The best thing about the game is the music by far, which is incredible and very unique.
ReplyDeleteIn the end what I loved most about this excellent article was the look you took at the developers, the rebellious attitude of the original team and how they've been replaced with a team with a very different, softer and more...how can I say this...feminine approach?
Persona is pretty much Shoujo, the entire thing is very much centered around romantic relationships and giving players the ability to live an idealized high school life where they are the coolest kid and get to date whoever they want. It's all very user-friendly. It like the Persona games are saying "yes sweetie, you're the best, most handsome kid and everyone loves you". They are successful for a reason and I believe it has to do with the new generation of youth being very...neutered.
Back to SMT 4. There were some very, very interesting stuff splattered throughout though. Blasted tokyo in particular could've been it's own game and the reveal of Akira being King Aquila (which sounds the same in Japanese) was very clever at showing you that the world is trapped in a cycle.
Anyway, great article man. Had a blast reading it.
You're right about it being a fairly juvenile game. I got into SMT through Persona when I was 11-12 and, though I grew out of Persona 3-4 fairly quickly (mostly bc I found the social sim stuff tedious after one playthrough, and it lost most of its novelty after I actually started to make friends and have girls be interested in me), I still overlooked a lot of the flaws that IV had. It's a fun game, the music's amazing, and there are some cool things like the Blasted/Infernal Tokyo sections, but you're right about a lot of the glaring issues it had, and in hindsight it was somewhat of an omen of things to come. I think the nationalist undertones flew over my head a bit, but that's unfortunately the case in a number of Japanese media. Nocturne's setting is more interesting than the characters, but playing Strange Journey made me realize how much of a downgrade Isabeau/Jonathan/Walter really were from Zelenin/Jimenez/Gore. You get to see how the Schwarzwelt changes the latter over time, while the former are just like "welp, we're in Tokyo now, now we're aligned with Law and Chaos, also Isabeau is here if you want a cute companion character". I haven't played SMT I and II yet but I imagine it's a similar case in both. At least IV did a few things right, though. The same can't really be said for SJ Redux, which spits on the legacy of the original SJ and its endings, or IV:A, which has a good battle system but a terrible story seemingly designed to appeal to the Persona demographic. I dropped SMT V after seeing how much worse they made the battle system, but from what I can tell, the story is even worse, and it really wants to be Nocturne without understanding what made Nocturne such a good game. Sadly it seems like we won't see another game on the level of Nocturne or SJ again, which sucks because SMT has always been the most unique of the big JRPG series.
ReplyDeleteTry Soul Hackers 1 (the original and sole Soul Hackers game). It has interesting bits of Indigenous mythology throughout the game, even if the plot is a pretty standard 80s story of "scrappy young crew against evil corporation" for most of it.
DeleteI just finished smtiv on neutral (first playthrough) and am a newcomer to SMT (previously playing only Persona in regards to Atlus titles). While I did enjoy it immensely, I read how one of the places was a reference to Yasukuni shrine (the lake at Mikado if I recall correctly, corrupted into Yasocony but only mentioned in a strategy guide so that may not even be canon) and that spurred me into reading everything I could find.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for writing this and the research and pointers to your friend's blog's as well. I wasn't able to recognize a lot on my first playthrough, and a lot of the references/comparisons to older SMT titles flew over my head, but seeing it all laid out I can at least understand why 4 was so polarizing. Learning about the nationalism was disappointing though not surprising, considering how present it and xenophobia reflected in Mikado text wise (being Chinese myself I know how Japanese-Chinese relationships are and I was hoping it was just a coincidence with Xi Wangmu and did not notice all the other demons were also of Sino origin). I originally read the game through the lens of "who is worth saving" with regards to the Angels and how Mikado is a caste system, and the strange "purification of humanity" and "who is considered an outsider" for what determines someone as an enemy/threat and how they would be treated socio-politically. I thought Flynn and Isabeau walking away from that and finding a different answer to break away from class division and difference (I am not sure how to word this section/thought; the game continues to reiterate demons were well demons who could not change which also sat oddly with me) before it just abruptly ended.
I'm still gathering my current feelings with SMTIV now, so it's hard to write what I think about it. SMT IV is an old game, so there's not a lot of discussion to see especially in English and isn't deleted. Thank you again for the insight and sorry if any of this wasn't articulate, words aren't my strong suit.
Hey, thanks for reading! I'm very curious where you learned about the "Yasocony" thing as I've never heard of that before. Do you know which guide it's in?
DeleteSorry for the late reply - I'm not sure, as I was first clued into it from a tumblr post that pointed it out.
DeleteNot a problem; it's all been figured out in the interim: https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/762560646897418240/vesk-knows-all-vesk-also-sent-me-this-image-with
DeleteThis will be added to the main body of this article at some point in the future.
and the original post has to be this one: https://alephskoteinos.tumblr.com/post/756512710429212672/feel-like-i-missed-this-one-all-this-time
DeleteCool and that i have a dandy present: How Much Full House Renovation Cost zombie house renovation
ReplyDeleteI just wanna say, for the segment about Walter and Jonathan's characterisation. I feel their conflicting behaviour is made to highlight them as being nuanced people. Essentially, just because they're Chaos and Law aligned, respectively, doesn't mean they have to completely abide by the stereotype of how those alignments expect you to act. Hence, Jonathan not liking what he sees in Blasted Tokyo despite being law-aligned and Walter liking the system put in place in Infernal Tokyo despite it not being too dissimilar from the systems he resents back in the world he comes from.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to counter this if you don't agree or find a hole in my reasoning; I'd love to hear any counterarguments.