Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster

Dark atmosphere, great OST, a game wich really make you feel alone

this game ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sucks

This game is hard... especially on hard. Supposed to be the dark souls of rpgs (which is why I bought it), and yeah it can be pretty brutal. I will say though, that outside of a few circumstances so far it's at least fair. The only issue I actually got physically mad about was doing the mid game save (you can save outside of a save point, but when you load it up that 1 time it deletes the file so you can't cheese anything), and the save wasn't there... I found since I just closed the game after I saved that it never finished saving and thus my own fault I had 2 hours lost. I'm not going to do pros and cons because well... it's an older game with even the remaster looking older, but I will say a couple thing...: +I've enjoyed the music, the +voice acting is on point, but things like -not being able to skip cutscenes, -having no direction at times with no real guidance can be frustrating. +There is a charm to the game though, the +dialogue is interesting, your +choices at certain points have actual ramifications (well based on the different endings), and there really is a sense of +satisfaction when completing something that is hard.... like beating Matador or Daisoujou after giving up on trying safe mechanics and going YOLO at the end. If you know... you know. So here are some of the annoying points, and ways to combat them if you're stuck. Frustration points (hard mode): -You have to mentally remember, write down, or use a guide to figure out weaknesses and strengths for each demon (I miss the Metaphor/Persona 3 remake/Persona 5 quality of life showing on the enemy whether it's weak/strong/nulll etc. after I've learned it). + Like I said... write it down if you need, or notice that enemies in areas typically share weaknesses to some degree, so keep that in mind if you need help. -You can wipe and lose HOURS of progress EVEN when over leveled. The enemies are brutal in hard, and they'll sometimes instant battle from the overworld, immediately after a battle (sucks if you don't heal), and if a sneak attack everything is a crit (meaning they get another turn), or they'll just hit whatever your teams weakness, and spam it until you're main guy dies and it's game over. No try again, no lower difficulty, just progress gone. + It's annoying because the save is slow, but legit save often with multiple saves in case you mess something up. ALSO LET THE CAME FINISH REBOOTING IF YOU SAVE OUTSIDE OF A SAVE POINT or it would register and everything will be gone. -I haven't played normal but I saw that everything is like 3x more expensive so items/mana/etc, but I'm used to it but I guess if I played normal first that would be jarring. + I'd say if you plan on hard just play hard, don't start soft then get jarred moving difficulty... then going to normal will feel easy (if you want that)... I will also say there's a new mode of cinematic to help newcomers... but honestly there are a lot of other games I would suggest moving to instead of this one if that's the case (or just watch a youtube playthrough if you don't want the grind). -The game does not hold your hand by any means... if anything it tries to rip it off, or steal a finger when you're not paying attention. The game is hard, and it's like a right of passage to lose an hour+ time by having a random demon that's like 20 levels higher than everything else pop up and wipe your party (wish I was kidding). + Find an amala network or a place close to a save with easy access to heals and grind.... grind.... grind.... if you feel over leveled.... grind a little more. The game just has points where the lvl of the enemies just all of a sudden jumps 10 levels and it's a bit rough if you're not ready. + One way to cheese weaknesses if have someone that absorbs what another demon is weak to... the weakness gets absorbs and defaults back to your turn. + With the remake they added 2 additional optional dungeons that if you're really stuck you can go in to fight tough monsters for very valuable items, or experience items like a thick book for exp that gives you all experience down to 1 (meaning level next battle) no matter what level you are. Yes an easy way to get resources and power level but I can make the difficultly trivial so be aware of why you're playing the game and level you're playing. There's a lot more I could talk about but I'm not even finished. I might come back to this after I've gotten the true demon ending on hard... but so far it's a lot of fun. Yes it's hard, yes it's frustrating at times, but finding something that works, and getting through an area first time that feels impossible is a great feeling. I got the game on sale for like 8$ and 1000% worth the money... HOWEVER! at 49.99 I would say don't do it, unless you want to pay 50$ for a game that will make you want to break a keyboard/controller whatever.... and at that point I'd say Persaona 3 remake or Metaphor instead haha.