How come Shin Megami Tensei as a franchise never really took

Most of them were released on the JRPG engines of their time, be it the SNES, PS2, Saturn, etc., making it hard to stand out.

>>383981240
That's Persona, right?

>>383981240
poorer gameplay

>>383981240
This series is for sadistic people, according to nips

>>383981523
it's part of the franchise
>>383981563
I'd say it's because they're generally difficult games, pokemon can be picked up by anyone

The Shin megami Tensei franchise it's really hard, it punishes you for not being able to gasp the mechanics in the first couple of fights. Pokemon and Final Fantasy have introduction to the battles, what each command do and more opportunities to learn how to fight, Shin Megami Tensei doesn't and that's why scrubs and casuals can't get into the series.

Persona it's the casual spinoof for idiots who can't understand how mainline games work, but does a great work on explaining how the damn game works.

>No marketing
>Depressing
>tons of JRPG competition on the PS1 and PS2 where the series actually started getting localized into english
It got pretty well known on the PS2 though, for a JRPG series. It's less obscure than something like Shadow Hearts or Baten Kaitos and I'd say its only slightly less well known than Suikoden. For a good while I think it was more popular than the Tales of... series, but Symphonia changed that.

The first game that was under the SMT name was on the PS2. Persona 1 and 2 didn't have the SMT name and came out before the first western release SMT game.

Final Fantasy was on the NES and solidified itself with FFIV and FFVI being released and Pokemon is also an old Gameboy RPG. It isn't surprising why both franchises are much more wildly popular than the SMT series in the west.

>>383981494
One part this
One part not heavily marketed to children
One part Atlus not getting as lucky with their associations as Game Freak.

>>383981240
>that name
>has actual demons and deities from real religions
>has almost no story
>it actually has an ounce of challenge unlike FF or Pokemon

As long as Atlus can keep afloat and the series keeps selling among the fanbase, I like it better this way. Broadening to wider audiences and taking off among normies is what takes away the soul of videogame franchises.

>>383981240
Have you ever heard an American say "Shin Megami Tensei" in real life? Just speaking it's title makes you sound like a weebo faggot.

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>>383981240
Back then NoA were real babies about biblical references in their games so SMT never got a chance to start during that time
Persona came to America, but was overshadowed by a landslide of other jrpgs on the ps1, I'm not just talking about Final Fantasy. And honestly, persona 1 is pretty shit, especially compared to Suikoden, Breath of Fire, and Xenogears
Not sure why Devil Summoner never got localized for the Saturn though

But all the PS2, and DS SMT games got to be localised, but most came out really late in the PS2s life time

The series has just been unlucky

>>383981240
It did, though, just not outside of Japan for a long time because of the whole being able to kill God and various other religious figures thing that the English-speaking world didn't want to deal with until the PS2 era.

>>383982682
>Persona came to America, but was overshadowed by a landslide of other jrpgs on the ps1, I'm not just talking about Final Fantasy. And honestly, persona 1 is pretty shit, especially compared to Suikoden, Breath of Fire, and Xenogears
Not to mention the whole mess that was the localization of the PS1 version of Persona 1. Plus one of the villains in Innocent Sin straight up being Hitler (except not really but still) preventing that from being released originally.

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>>383982720
>because of the whole being able to kill God and various other religious figures thing that the English-speaking world didn't want to deal with until the PS2 era.
Maybe, maybe not.

>>383981240
Doesn't really appeal to young children.
Strange setting/plot.
Anti-Christian themes.
High difficulty (by the standards of most JRPGs).
Not very promoted in the west (first localized mainline game was Nocturne).

>>383981240
I honestly don't see the appeal of this series even now. I never knew it was a game until a year or two ago.

>>383983862
Fun mechanics
Difficulty that keeps you on your toes
Huge encyclopedia of mythological creatures/gods from folklore and religion with neat and varied designs
Demon/Persona fusing is really rewarding and addicting

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Demons aren't as appealing or as relatable as super powered animals.

>>383981240
Because it's absolute shit

SMT/Persona are both shit series

>>383981841
in the first two generation of pokemon games you could just pick up any mon with confusion or hyper punch and literally use that on every enemy from there to the elite four and never lose

its that bad

>>383981240
They can't handle a REAL CHEN MEGOOPY like Nocturne or Strange Journey

>>383983862
Styling on faggot angels with your chaos bros

respond to me you fucking butthurt faggots >>383984507

>>383984160

>Tired old JRPG trash
>Grinding
>Fanfic tier designs and writing
>lolwut

>>383984694
Nice try, new IP.

>>383981240
They're harder than Pokemon and FF and all the religious shit scares the normalfag

>>383984705
I'll never understand posts like this,is it for attention or just reddit trying to fit in?

>>383985141

>I'll never understand legitimate criticism.

And that's why no one will ever take you or your opinions seriously.

>>383984705
>grinding in SMT

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>>383981240
>The Dark Souls of Pokémon

>>383981240
Casuals not being able to put up a fight against God

>>383985212
k,reddit

>>383981240
Because it didn't literally grab an entire generation when it came out.

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>>383984705
>Tired old JRPG trash
You'd be wrong, it makes turnbased interesting and a short as possible
>Grinding
You think difficulty equals grinding? I'd hate to know what kind of games you play.
>Fanfic tier designs and writing
A lot of them are already existing designs, and when you say "fanfic tier" that is objectively wrong.
>lolwut
ah okay so you aren't aware of one of the most prominent features in the franchise, proving you know jackshit, good job mate.

>>383985431
SMT doesn't prevent players from grinding.

>>383986201
not him but you never really have to do it.

>>383981240
It was never marketed towards kids.

Come now, a game with naked asses and boobs is never gonna be rated 7+. Pokemon is basically all ages at best and 3+ at worst. Then you get SMTIV where the characters are swearing a lot in the translation. I don't say it's a bad thing I'm actually happy to see that after so many baby-rated localisations we've had so far.

That and what others have already said: difficulty, no marketing, it's depressing, it mocks religion (especially christianity, but strangely they seem to be too scared to make fun of allah).

>>383981240

What's the word on SMT for Switch? When can I expect to learn more about this game/ release date?

>>383986437
>it mocks religion (especially christianity
???
why, because it has demons based on religious and mythological figures?

>>383981240

doesnt appeal to normies

is actually hard which normies dont like

>>383986564
He's probably referring to how you can beat up God and his angels.

>>383986330
You may not have to most of the time but there is usually nothing in your way to prevent grinding or punishing the player for grinding to get to the next tier of skills or better demon fusions so it does give a lot of players incentive to grind.

>>383986703
but YHVH is the god of judaism, not christianity

>>383981240
shit fanbase.

seriously

>>383986757
SMT YHVH is constantly at war with Lucifer, who is more commonly associated with Christianity than he is with Judaism.

>>383986830
but lucifer is also from judaism

>>383986757
Are you saying that Christians don't believe in the same God that created Adam and Eve?

>>383986564
Come now, God is portrayed as either a no-fucks-given asshole who wants to either remove people's free will and make them praise Him for eternity, or is trying to destroy the world because he is not happy with it. And you actually fight Him in a few games.

Then you get Hindu gods, though I can't tell how offensive some scenes are to Hindu followers since I have a limited expose to them.

If that isn't a mockery then I don't know what that is.

>>383986981
i mean by that logic yhvh is also allah so it doesn't make sense to claim that christianity is especially mocked but allah was never made fun of
>>383987018
>chaosfags

>>383987180
They are all the same god, it is beliefs that took different paths. The Jews don't think the messiah has came yet. Christians see Jesus as the Messiah. Islam follows the teachings of Muhammad.

>>383987331
i am already well aware of the relation between the abrahamic religions but thanks for irrelevantly explaining it to me

>>383981240
A game franchise where you kill God using Satan and a bunch of other demons isn't exactly gonna go over well in the West. Persona is successful because they went down the high school sim route

>>383987417
Then I don't see why you dragged this conversation out for as long as you did then.

>>383986819
Fanbase consists of people who
>Actually play the games
>Are usually helpful and give advice to newcomers to the series
>Recommend good starting games in the series.
>Make generally entertaining OC
But it's still shit I guess.

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I like it's spinoffs better.

>>383987520
WHY DON'TCHA PLAY A REAL HARDCORE JARPIG LIKE SHIN MEGOOMI TENSAY

>>383981240
because it's so fucking edgy

>>383987520
Never seen any of these except for the last point to be honest

Religious imagery/themes made it unmarketable back in the 90s. Imagine the backlash if SMT got localized for Super Nintendo way back when.

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>>383985743
>implying there's no grinding

>>383988343
you don't need to grind.

>>383981240
Its dungeon gameplay.

>>383988459
Pokemon practically plays like a dungeon without a ceiling

>>383981240
people are put off by the art

>>383987520
While the general on /vg/ is better than average as far as generals go, SMT thread on /v/ usually leads to lots of shitpost and bait

>>383988408
post your level one completion of smtivapoc then :P

>>383991106
The art looks great and unique though.

>>383982445
This. I never want to see or play an SMT game that has been streamlined or normalized for the casual player. The challenge is part of the fun. If it's too hard the casuals can go play a mahjong tile match game instead.

>>383988343
>Grinding
>In a game where you melt your demons down and mix them together to get stronger

FAILURE OF A HUMAN

>>383986704
So what? Nothing is compelling you to grind. This is bitching for the sake of bitching.

>>383986437
>it mocks religion
It's actually pretty respectful of them as far as video games go.