As we close out our coverage of Shin Megami Tensei 2, we journey further into the dystopian Tokyo Millennium, take on the Messians, discover that Lucifer is an alright guy, and of course go to war with YHWH. Stephen Hawking and Aleister Crowley make surprise appearances, as does a well-placed Dril quote.
Show Notes:
Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army
Jack Parsons, Aleister Crowley and L. Ron Hubbard
Ready for a break from the Tokyo Mirage Sessions and Persona spinoff episodes? Paul, Allisa and Fletch delve into the hellscape that is Shin Megami Tensei 2. In year 20XX, religious zealots have taken control of society, creating a utopia of bloodsports, brutal class divisions, and of course, demons. Join us as we explore a SNES game whose themes are far ahead of their time.
Show notes:
Allisa's writing on DualShockers
Paul's new JRPG podcast, Combo Chain
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On the occasion of Joker joining the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate roster. Allisa and Paul take a deep dive into Persona-related fighting games. Is Joker the best fighter to join the Smash roster? Can we officially ship Joker and Bayonetta now? What is Blazblue and why do its characters want mysterious shards from our favorite P4 protagonists? What does Fletch have to say about ARC System Works? And why oh why does Persona 4 Arena need to be canon? Allisa and Paul ponder these questions while going on any number of tangents in this pretty loose and freewheeling ep.
Action items:
Allisa's writing on DualShockers
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We spend the second half of Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE on the hunt for a mysterious antagonist (who probably won't be too much of a mystery to anyone who's played a Fire Emblem game before). Along the way, we become P.A.'s to demons while on a TV shoot, in a shockingly accurate portrayal of the experience of an actual P.A.'s duties, and discover Barry's secret heavy metal shredding side. There are monitor puzzles, stepping puzzles, and again a legendary hero and antagonist whose identities are more shocking than a Twilight Zone twist.
Once upon a time, Nintendo and Atlus announced a crossover between Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem. What we got was an ersatz pop idol-themed Persona with some Fire Emblem characters playing the role of personas. Still, there's a lot that's interesting about Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE: its creative puzzle dungeons, unique battle system, use of the Wii U gamepad, and role as sort of a dry run for Persona 5. Alex, Allisa, Paul and special guest Robert take a deep dive into a game that doesn't get much love among SMT or Fire Emblem fans, but is worth some attention on its own.
Allisa and special guest Fletcher go deep into Strange Journey Redux, the remixed and remastered version of the original DS game. Once again, the hellish dimensional pit known as the Schwarzwelt has consumed Antarctica, but much has changed. Who is the strange woman in the dark suit with a flowing red coat, and why does she want to kill you? What is the Womb of Grief? And is this a remake, a sequel, or does it take place in an alternate timeline?
Show Notes
As we wrap up our journey through the world of Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army, we learn what it takes to defeat a soulless god (destroying a satellite powered by perpetual motion, obviously,) discover a shocking detail about our old frenemy Rasputin, and enter a time void to prepare for our final battle with a sentient battleship. And that's not even close to describing all the crazy stuff that happens in this game's finale!
But in the end, we learn that what truly matters is what we've learned from random NPC's along the way.
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Allisa and Paul delve into the first original SMT mobile game, Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2, and find out that...it's good? We chat about the mechanics, design principles, the general story, and the fact that while this is a gacha game, anyone with a limited knowledge of SMT games can break the game wide open and never need to pay a dime.
Note: There are plot spoilers from the beginning of the game, through to Chapter 2-4, so if you haven't made it to that point in the story, beware!
Show notes:
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What does a general want with an army of undead soldiers? And how does an ancient tree monster play into his plans? We discuss these questions and other imponderables on our latest episode about the first Raidou game. Along the way, we discuss the General's further plans, which include a HAARP-style conspiracy theory and using a perpetual motion machine to create a satellite to resurrect a soulless god.
(Note: Because of technical issues, we lost the second half of Allisa's audio track, so unfortunately she only appears in the first half of the episode.)
Image by alegria via Zerochan.
Extracurricular activities:
As we journey through a demon-haunted Taishō era Japan, we have an enigmatic encounter with the very-still alive Rasputin, do battle with the Marquis of Hell, and are forced to turn down an offer to let a corpse army kill the rich. Meanwhile, we learn more about the enigmatic red caped figure and learn more about the curse befalling Kaya Daidōji.
