You can do anything within Reason, Let's Play Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne! [Finished]

Put your Let's Plays in here.
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The Game

If you're at all a fan of JRPG's, you've probably at least heard of Shin Megami Tensei and I'm going to assume most of you know at least a little about its more popular spin off Persona. Nocturne (Also known as Lucifer's Call in PAL regions) is the third mainline game in the SMT series (although far away from being the third game released, this series is a spin off factory), and it bucks several conventions of the SMT series thus far. While it's still very much a post-apocalyptic setting, gameplay has changed wildly from the classic dungeon crawling conventions the series had used thus far. The team size has been pared down from 6 to 4, your protagonist is a demon themselves and can learn skills much like the demons can, the concept of equipement has almost completely been removed, and the environments are fully 3D in a third person perspective in contrast from the first person view of the original games. The ideological nature of the story has shifted from strict alignment categorization and instead follows various characters supporting a central Reason, and the your decision on who's reason to back determines your ending as opposed to shifting your alignment based on many choices over the course of the game. Nocturne has had a bit of a slow burn in recognition, in the west it's one of the earliest MegaTen games we got and languished in obscurity for a long while, and in it's native Japan the major settings and mechanics changes made it a bit of a turn off for the built in fanbase. Time has been very kind to it though, as people have recognized just what a collection of cool concepts it has for an RPG and it executes them very well. I've played this game many times over the years and I can easily list it as a personal favorite, and I hope to show it off to you in a comprehensive way that demonstrates just how great it is!

The Let's Play

This will be a playthrough of the original North American PS2 version, played on Hard Mode in what I believe to be the most effective way to approach the game. I plan collecting all Magatama, completing the Labyrinth of Amala Sidequest as well as the time trial sidequest contained therein, and getting two endings for the game as well as showing off the complete Demon Compendium. I doubt I'll show off absolutely everything but this can be considered a 100% run as far as meaningful content goes. We'll also take some quick looks at the game's recent HD remaster when I feel the time is good to do so. Do note, this is a let's play I started and abandoned many years ago due to persistent tech issues corrupting the recordings. I don't feel my original videos are all that bad, so I just recently decided to pick up where I left off with a new file. I've learned much about the game over the years, so some of my comments in the earlier videos may be incorrect about certain mechanics or mixing them up with how things worked in the spiritual successor series Digital Devil Saga. Starting from Part 14, the video quality and my game plan will be much more consistent going forward. I hope you check this out and I'm able to inform you of some new things about this awesome game!

The Videos

Part 1, Beginning With The End
Part 2, Hard Boiled
Part 3, Shibuya Shopping Trip
Part 4, http://am.ala.hel
Part 5, The Ginza Ghost
Part 6, Suicidal Overconfidence
Part 7, A Thousand Yen is Not a Lot of Money
Part 8, Holder of Foundation: Matador
Part 9, Welcome to Hell
Part 10, Noble Voice
Part 11, Might Makes Right
Part 12, Ssstylish
Part 13, Ghost Faced Kila
Part 14, Ni Hao Kaiwan
Part 15, Ose Can You See
Part 16, Prepare For Trouble
Part 17, Second Impact
Part 18, Jailhouse Blues
Part 19, Kin You Believe It
Part 20, Ki Blast
Part 21, Ride or Die
Bonus 1, Puzzle Boy
Part 22, Red Rum
Part 23, Obelisk The Tormentor
Part 24, Sister Act
Part 25, Penis Humor
Part 26, Societa
Part 27, Evil Jellystone Park
Part 28, Ambition
Part 29, Lovely Bones
Part 30, Smokin' Sick Style!
Part 31, Temple OS
Part 32, The Ark of Solitude
Part 33, Brokentooth March
Part 34, Wicked
Part 35, Hell's Bells
Part 36, Slide Away
Part 37, For a Healthier You
Bonus 2, The Hell's Vault Tunnel
Part 38, The End is Nigh
Part 39, True Demon
Part 40, Broken Stillness
Part 41, We'll Never Fight Alone
Part 42, Baal Down To This
Part 43, True Freedom
Bonus 3, HD Glow Up and New Game Plus
Part 44, Time Crisis
Finale, No Church in The Wild
Last edited by Cullen on Thu Jul 28, 2022 2:50 am, edited 30 times in total.

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Part 16 is up! Mostly bonus bosses this part, Daisoujou and Hell Biker get dunked on. We'll be seeing plenty of the former later on.

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Part 17 is up! Very straightforward run-through of the Second Kalpa, we'll get most of the treasure next time. (It's also an excuse to build some extra levels before traveling deeper into Kabukicho Prison)

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Part 18 is out! A quick montage of treasure to grab in the Second Kalpa and then we knock out Kabukicho Prison.

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Part 19 is up! Not a terribly eventful part, we touch base with Hijiri and get our directions to move forward with the game and complete a portion of the Ikebukuro Tunnels.

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Part 20 is out! Finishing up the Ikebukuro tunnels and dumpstering the elite Oni.

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Part 21 is out! In this video, we get paid.

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Didn't have the time or energy to make a proper update today, but I did get a video of clearing the Puzzle Boy mini game. This is far from the fastest anyone has done this, but I did want to get this in video just for the sake of having it demonstrated in the LP in some capacity.

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Part 22 is up! I put up a rather poor but still successful fight against Red Rider, and then we begin our assault on the Obelisk.

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Part 23 is up! Knocking out the bulk of the Obelisk this time, we'll take out the bosses in the next video.

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Part 24 is out! Finishing the Obelisk, and then some juicy exposition afterwards.

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Part 25 is up! A boss bonanza this video, two bonus bosses and a story boss all while knocking out a mini dungeon.

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Part 26 is up! A more plot centered episode this time, with more Reasons being established. Afterwards, we get into another skeleton scuffle and then get one of the most important Magatama in the game.

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And we're back with Part 27 after a brief recording break! More Subways and a fantastical construction site are contained in this video.

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Part 28 is out! This video is finishing up Yoyogi, absolutely crushing a boss I had problems with on my practice playthrough, and more plot.

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Part 29 is out! Another double dip episode with a fiend battle and an unrelated bonus boss, plus the return to the Labyrinth of Amala.

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Part 30 is out! Wrapping up the the third Kalpa, getting that sweet crossover time, and continuing the plot in this video.

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Part 31 is out! We chunk through most of the Amala temple, with one last hurdle to clear before we're done with it.

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Part 32 is up! Finishing up the Amala Temple in this video, and afterwards the first God descends to support a Reason. I always get a kick out of how the pettiest Reason managed to pull this off first.

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Part 33 is live! Mifunashiro falls, Yosuga becomes fully realized, and an emissary of Death channels the arcane powers of Louis Armstrong.

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Part 34 is up! Tackling the 4th Kalpa, this one is pretty involved so only about half of it is done this video. We're getting very close to being completely done with this place!

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Part 35 is out! Rounding out the business in the 4th Kalpa, which involves entering and leaving it repeatedly. Joy. I left a pinned comment on the video about this, but we are able to enter the fifth Kalpa at this point, I've just never bothered to pick the no option for the Matron's questions so I didn't realize it isn't a "But Thou Must" prompt. The discussion about the Afterlife Bell takes priority over her asking if you'd like to continue, and I didn't think to use the peephole a third time while recording. We'll be entering the fifth Kalpa at the start of the next video as there is a cool bonus for us right at the entrance.

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Part 36 is out! Finishing up side business before finally getting on with the main plot. To a certain extent anyway.

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Part 37 is up! After delaying the Diet Building for a couple videos, it gets utterly smashed in a half hour. Just gotta go to the top and see what awaits us there.

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Part 38 is out! We finish up the Diet Building and find ourselves on the cusp of the end of the game.

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Part 39 is out! We finish up the Labyrinth of Amala (in as far as its effect on the plot is concerned) and have a protracted bonus boss battle.

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Part 40 is out! Entering the final dungeon, we start collecting all the loot and begin the process of rejecting various Gods.

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Part 41 is up! Continuing the ascent of the Tower of Kagatsuchi, and another God rejected.

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Part 42 is up, and another God rejected! We're close to the end now, just one more thing to do and it'll be ending time. I'll likely do the Bandou Shrine and the final boss in the next video. Bandou is pretty repetitive so I can easily edit chunks out and we'll have a video that's only slightly longer than usual. Ideally anyway.

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Part 43 is out! In this video, we complete the bonus dungeon Bandou, and defeat the final boss to get an ending. This is not the end of the let's play though, we have one major sidequest left to tackle, a few odds and ends, and a bonus final boss to take on. Should be two more videos left to go.

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Part 44 is up! This video is just for the Burial Chamber sidequest. Not terribly interesting video, but it gives a good idea of what you want to have in order to complete it. Next video will be the last!

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The finale! The game's ultimate boss awaits, and because I tend to under prepare there's some genuine tension for the battle. Thanks to all who watched!

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