This year marks not only the 25th anniversary of the Final Fantasy series, but also the 25th anniversary of Megami Tensei (on September 11th) and the 20th anniversary of Shin Megami Tensei (on October 30th). So, let's play to celebrate!
There are no rules. Play whichever game you like as long as it's somehow related to the series. Try to show as much of your playthrough as you can. Whether it's by posting screenshots or detailed descriptions. You can go through the series in order if you wish but you really don't have to. Let's play as many different games of the series as we can!
Beware of spoilers! There will be screenshots everywhere, especially of bosses and important scenes and the games will be discussed freely. If you want to look at specific games only, take a look at the summary in the second and third post. I will try to keep up with every post to help you follow specific playthroughs.
Here are the most important releases to give you an overview of what games were released and which ones are playable in English. There are a lot more games in the series and I really hope some people will play them, too. Take a look at the links at the end to get information about those games and more detailed information about the ones I listed.
Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (September 11th, 1987)
- Released for: Famicom, Super Famicom (Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei), PC88, MSX
- No English release available!
- Fan translation: http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=megaten1 (Famicom, Not finished)
- Screenshots by HardcoreGaming101
Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II (April 6th, 1990)
- Released for: Famicom, Super Famicom (Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei)
- No English release available!
- Screenshots by HardcoreGaming101
Shin Megami Tensei (October 30th, 1992)
- Released for: Super Famicom, PC Engine Super CD, Mega CD, PlayStation, GBA, iOS
- English fan translation available! (Super Famicom), English version available for iOS.
- Fan translation: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/988/ (fixed version of the Aeon Genesis translation)
- Music: Palace of the Four Heavenly Kings, Ginza
- Screenshots by HardcoreGaming101 and Aeana.
Shin Megami Tensei II (March 18th, 1994)
- Released for: Super Famicom, PlayStation, GBA, iOS
- English fan translation available! (Super Famicom)
- Fan translation: http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=smt2
- Music: 3D Devil's World, Messian Boogie
- Screenshots by HardcoreGaming101 and Aeana.
Shin Megami Tensei if... (October 28th, 1994)
- Released for: Super Famicom, PlayStation
- No English release available!
- Fan translation: http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=smtif (SFC, not finished)
- Screenshots by HardcoreGaming101
Shin Megami Tensei (III): Nocturne / Lucifer's Call (February 20th, 2003)
- Released for: PlayStation 2
- English version available (NA and PAL region)!
- Music: Labyrinth of Amala, Mystery, Cathedral of Shadows (Cursed), Reason Battle
- Screenshots by HardcoreGaming101
- Threads: PS2 JRPG masterpiece / LTTP
Shin Megami Tensei IV (May 23rd, 2013)
- Released for: 3DS (Europe's still waiting)
- English version available
- Release dates: May 23rd (JP), July 16th (NA), tba. (EU)
- Threads: Announcement thread / first screens / trailer / JP version dated / US announcement
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (October 8th, 2009)
- Released for: Nintendo DS
- English version available (NA only!)!
- Music: Theme of Chaos, A Land Controlling Roads, Furious Wrath
- Screenshots by perfect free.
- Threads: LTTP
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner (December 25th, 1995)
- Released for: Sega Saturn, PSP
- No English release available!
- Screenshots by Saint35.
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (December 13th, 1997)
- Released for: Sega Saturn, PlayStation, 3DS
- English version available! (3DS only! NA region: released, EU region: September 13th, 2013)
- Music: Tenkai Airport (Reality), Spookies
- Threads: SAT OT / 3DS announcement thread / 3DS new media / 3DS Raidou is in! / 3DS US announcement / 3DS OT
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army (March 2nd, 2006)
- Released for: PlayStation 2
- English release available (NA and PAL region)!
- Music: Battle
- Threads: LTTP / reprint
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon (October 23rd, 2008)
- Released for: PlayStation 2
- English release available (NA only!)!
- Music: Adventure
Revelations: Persona (September 20th, 1996)
- Released for: PlayStation, Windows PC, PSP
- English release available (PSX: NA only, PSP: NA and PAL region)!
- Best version: PSP
- Music: A Lone Prayer (PSP), Deva Yuga (PSX), Pandora's Den (Deepmost Area) (PSX), Satomi Tadashi Drugstore Song, City 2 Accident (PSX)
- Note: randomkid wrote a great post about the music in Persona here and here.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin (June 24th, 1999)
- Released for: PlayStation, PSP
- English release available (PSP only, NA and PAL region)!
- Fan translation (PSX version): site seems to be down
- Threads: PSP OT
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (June 29th, 2000)
- Released for: PlayStation, PSP
- English release available (PSX: NA only, PSN version: February 27th, PSP version won't be available in English)
- Music: Kasugayama High School, Holy Spear Knights
- Threads: PSP announcement thread / PSOne Classic announcement / PSOne Classic OT
Persona 3 / Persona 3 Fes (July 13th, 2006)
- Released for: PlayStation 2, PSP, PSN (Fes version)
- English release available (PSN version only in NA, every other version released everywhere)
- Best version: People would probably argue between Fes and the PSP version
- Music: Want to Be Close, Danger Zone (PSP only), Battle Hymn for the Soul
Persona 4 (July 10th, 2008)
- Released for: PlayStation 2, PS Vita (unreleased)
- English release available (NA + PAL region, PS Vita version available (NA), coming February 22nd (EU))
- Music: Heaven, Heartbreak, Heartbreak, Time to Make History
- Threads: Golden OT
Persona 4: The Arena - Stop Importing It Edition (March 1st, 2012)
- Released for: Arcade, PlayStation 3, XBox 360
- English release available (released in NA, PAL region: May 10th, 2013)
- NOTE: BOTH the 360 and the PS3 version are REGION LOCKED.
- Threads: OT / region locked / suffering continues / European release date / EU OT
Persona 5 (2014)
- Released for: PlayStation 3
- English version announced for 2015.
Digital Devil Saga (Avatar Tuner) (July 15th, 2004)
- Released for: PlayStation 2
- English release available (NA + PAL region)!
- Music: Muladhara, Sahasrara, Hunting - Comrades
Digital Devil Saga 2 (Avatar Tuner 2) (January 27th, 2005)
- Released for: PlayStation 2
- English release available (NA + PAL region)!
- Note: Part 2 continues right after part 1. If you don't know the games, play them in order!
- Music: Underground City, Divine Identity, Battle for Survival
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (Overclocked) (January 15th, 2009)
- Released for: Nintendo DS, 3DS
- English release available (DS: NA only, 3DS: released (NA), 2013 (PAL))
- Threads: Overclocked OT
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 (Break Record) (July 28th, 2011)
- Released for: Nintendo DS, 3DS (upcoming)
- English release available (released (NA), 2013 (PAL)), Devil Survivor 2: Break Record (3DS) was just announced
- Threads: OT / Break Record announced
Shin Megami Tensei meets Fire Emblem
- Released for: Wii U (tba.)
- English release likely.
- Threads: Announcement thread
and many, MANY more.
Links:
- Hardcore Gaming 101 (main page)
- Shin Megami Tensei Community Thread
- Persona Community Thread
- Persona series story discussion thread
- A Megami Tensei Chronology
- SMT Vita wallpapers
- The History of (core) Shin Megami Tensei: study the origins of IV!
Videos:
- Persona 2 Kozi Okada & Kazuma Kaneko Interview
- Shin Megami Tensei History Featurette (in Japanese, not subtitled)
What's a good game to start with?
- I'd recommend starting with Persona 3, either the "FES" version, that's on PSN (in NA) or the PSP version.
- If you want to play something from the main series, try Nocturne (Lucifer's Call in PAL regions) for PS2 or Strange Journey (not released in PAL regions) for DS.
How to take screenshots:
- For most of the games you will need to use some kind of capture device or just play them on an emulator.
- For the PSP games: Take a look here and here.
- And never forget: If all fails, you can still use your camera! In fact you won't have much of a choice if you play on DS or 3DS.
- When Persona 4 Golden comes out: remember, the Vita has a built-in screenshot function (that sadly doesn't work with PSP games).
For PAL players:
- Need to get rid of black borders in your pictures? Take a look here.
You'd rather play something else?
- Take a look at the Final Fantasy 25th anniversary thread. There are lots of people playing already.
- 2013's Final Fantasy Five Four Job Fiesta is about to begin!
- How about a round of Mega Man?
- Don't you miss Metroid?
The OP beautification project:
This is actually the first thread I ever created here on Gaf. There's still much room for improvement. So if you have an idea how to make it look better or something useful to contribute, please tell me!
Special thanks to cj_iwakura who gave the permission to use the screenshots from the wonderful article on Hardcoregaming 101 and created the anniversary banner.
So, then: