Finally finished my first playthrough of Nocturne, around 48 hours by the end according to the game clock, though 2-3 of those were probably spent leaving the game on whilst doing other things. This has been a game I've wanted to play since I first got into Megaten games a few years ago when I got Devil Survivor, but I was sort of intimidated to start it as odd as that may sound. But having finished it now it was well worth finally getting around to it.
The depth of customization and huge variety of unique boss encounters are just what I would want out of this, and the game's unapologetic old-school dungeon design really grabbed me, even if I hated some of those teleport mazes. The Obelisk was probably my favorite dungeon in the game, as it felt like such a grueling climb to the top of it. The art direction looks fantastic when being played on a CRT and the haunting tone came across perfectly. I felt that they really used the shift to 3D to great effect to convey the massive scope of some areas. Having played a bit of SMT1 and 2, though finishing neither, I can appreciate how it felt like they set out to stay true to the themes and design goals of the series while also trying out totally new ideas.
In hindsight I sort of wish I had played on hard mode. The game did provide an overall good challenge, but being able to just buy healing items and chakra drops en-masse did feel a bit cheap towards the last 3/4 of the game. And by the end I was just spamming the same multi-hit physical attacks + buffs over and over to end almost every random encounter. The boss battles remained entertaining all the way through though, and I appreciate how unique they managed to make all of them feel. I tried to do as much as I could, though I'm sure I missed a few sidequests or other optional battles here and there, but I did go all the way through the Labyrinth of Amala to get the True Demon Ending. I somehow managed to barely scrape by the very final boss fight with just one of my demons left alive.
My endgame party
Up next I'm hoping to go through either SMTIV and then IVA, or Strange Journey.
