RPGCast - Episode 252: "They Announced What?"

[sabin1001]

RPGCast - Episode 252: "They Announced What?"

This was a week of impossible announcements. Shin Megami Tensei crosses over with Fire Emblem. Project X Zone is coming to North America. Earthbound hits the virtual console. But most surprisingly, Persona 4 Golden has a release date in Europe!

You can find the links to all our stories on delicious: http://delicious.com/rpgamer/252

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[Strawberry Eggs]

Aside from the Devil Survivor games (which are indeed excellent), the Megami Tensei franchise first dabbled in the SRPG sub-genere with Majin Tensei I and II for the Super Famicom and the sorta/kinda third game Ronde for the Sega Saturn. These games were much closer to Fire Emblem gameplay-wise (the first Majin Tensei especially) than Devil Survivor. It may not be that big of a stretch to cross these games over, though I have to wonder how that'll work story-wise.

[GaijinMonogatari]

Yeah, when I first heard "SMT X FE", I thought it might be something more like Pokemon Conquest, where you took the trappings of one series (MegaTen) and applied it to the combat of another (FE). Then I watched the trailer and saw that the two companies will actually be using characters from both series. O_O I'm not even sure how they could get all the MegaTen protagonists in one place, considering the multiple timelines and alternate realities involved. SMT X SRT would seem a more likely choice.

[Shaymin]

Instant death + permadeath is all I can think of when it comes to SMTxFE. Well, that and the storm that will ensue if they turn it into a fighting game.

[Jitawa]

Aside from the Devil Survivor games (which are indeed excellent), the Megami Tensei franchise first dabbled in the SRPG sub-genere with Majin Tensei I and II for the Super Famicom and the sorta/kinda third game Ronde for the Sega Saturn. These games were much closer to Fire Emblem gameplay-wise (the first Majin Tensei especially) than Devil Survivor. It may not be that big of a stretch to cross these games over, though I have to wonder how that'll work story-wise.

The most interesting part of the video reveal for me was the characters. Megaten's had a wide enough range of titles that I think you can find a lot of different gameplay examples. They showed the main characters from SMT1, SMT2, SMT-If..., SMT:Nocturne, and SMT4 - only Nocturne had a U.S. release (and they're posing Chiaki as the female lead protagonist it seems).

If the draw of the crossover is supposed to be just the characters from those games, it'll be awkward appeal-wise for U.S. gamers. Not to mention, even if you'd played SMT1/SMT2 on the Superfamicom, graphics in those days weren't going to give you pics that really captured Kaz Kaneko's artwork.