Megami Tensei

Is anyone here a Megami Tensei fan? I apologize if this is a repost, but there's no search feature that I can see. I absolutely love the series, but no one around here plays it. Kind of understandable, since a good amount of them were never localized in English. However, it would be nice to meet others that were into the series.

like most of the people I started with Persona 3 (which makes me feel like a pleb) but I'm planning on building a collection of the games

There's no shame in that. I started when a friend loaned me a copy of Persona 3, as I had never heard of it before. I never start mid-series, so I immediately played Persona 1 and 2, before 3 and 4. I then realized that it was a spinoff of a series, Megami Tensei, and I began to play through those, too. I always try to play games in order of their release, though it is hard when many weren't released in America. I got through many of the earlier games with fan translations. As of now, I have a growing collection of Megami Tensei games, including a handful of imports for the Super Famicom. Have you completed Persona 3?

Owned persona three on ps3 and still own the psp verison. Great games and if you didn't know persona five is coming to ps3 winter 2014.

I'm excited for Persona 5. I've been checking the news for it for quite a while. I'm glad that they stuck to their pattern of not releasing for the new consoles right away, since I don't plan to get a PS4 until they're as easy to get as my PS3 was.

Persona 4 was also awesome. I started on P3FES myself, but I spent so much time playing P4, I found myself getting attached to all the characters

I liked Persona 4, though I liked Persona 2 and 3 better. Persona 4 did have a good story line, it was just different. I must say, though, after using the somber blue user interface from Persona 3, going to the bright yellow of Persona 4 took a lot of getting used to. I suppose that, ultimately, I related to and liked the themes of duty, self-sacrifice, atonement, and destiny that were in the earlier ones, which felt like they were less prominent in Persona 4. I definitely did like it, though; Ryotaro Dojima was one of my favorite social links from that game. What was your favorite social link, from either of the games?

Yea, at first the color scheme of the interface took some getting used to. That's is true, I've never looked at it like that. I suppose Persona 4 resonated a little more with me since at the time of playing it, I had moved to a very rural area and was struggling to discover my self identity (as corny as that might sound hehe). To this day, I haven't yet completed all the social links (although, just got Persona 4 on the Vita and will soon) but from the social links I had completed, I think Kanji Tatusmi and Yukiko Amagi's were my favorite. Kanji's struggle with his identity and Yukiko's struggle with her duties vs what-she-thinks-she-wants really struck a chord with me. As for Persona 3, I still haven't beaten it (I just bought that recently too) I really like Kazushi's social link. I definitely need to play the 1st and the 2nd Personas tho. I'm excited to see the Persona 5 as it is.

I can see why you'd be able to relate to Persona 4. That was one of the strongest points of Persona 3 and 4: they were set in a more every-day situation, and allowed you greater control of the most minute details of the main characters' lives. Putting yourself in the main character's shoes becomes one of the most immersing parts of the game. Yukiko was my favorite playable character, if I recall correctly. Her social link is a tried and true classic tale of inner conflict, pitting inherited responsibilities versus personal liberation. I think that all of the characters were very well written. If you haven't beaten Persona 3 yet, I humbly suggest that you do as soon as possible. Especially FES; while the extra items and quests were rather minimal, the playable epilogue was a very nice touch. While many criticize The Answer, the ending had great effect on me, even if its final boss was easier than The Reason. Persona 3 quickly became one of my favorite games. I think that Kazushi's social link is very similar to Yukiko's, in an abstract way. The social links were a great part of the story, and many feel they should even be in the main storyline at times, such as the Sun arcana (if you haven't gotten there yet, don't spoil it for yourself). I liked Persona 2. It is a two-part story that was very well written, though it took forever for Innocent Sin to reach the US (long after Eternal Punishment did). Persona 1 was rather weak, in my opinion; the US localization butchered a lot of things, and even cut out one of the endings due to it not being translated in time. The series definitely improved in quality after it, but it was an interesting game, nonetheless. On a side note, I am a person that always plays on the hardest difficulty. I believe in overcoming any challenge, and that having to struggle for survival aids in the storytelling. To me, nothing makes you share in the characters' loss and victories like having to fight with all you've got, with a high chance of failure. Life isn't fair, and I think that sets the mood much more when it isn't easy for the player to make light of decisions and the character's experiences.