I have been eagerly awaiting this game since about the time I went searching on ebay and saw the exorbitant prices for used copies. They were usually about $40 - $60. I checked reviews and it scored very favorably, and I was very interested in the dark demon summoning setting as well. I had made a decision early on in my PS2 years when I decided that I would obtain the Shadow Hearts games as they came out and wait until later to catch up on the SMT stuff. This has saved me quite a bit of money until now since the game count on the SMT/Persona side is considerably higher, and the games more sought after in general. Don't get me wrong, the SH series is A-class stuff. Even the first game has lots of great moments.Well, now I am playing Nocturne and my initial impressions are... mixed. I was puffing up this game a bit on the hype probably, but I don't usually let it get to me. There are two things worth mentioning first that I won't usually hold against a game. One, the main character is on of those silent/yes/no types. This is an old-school thing and I understand why it works. This allows the player to identify with the protagonist, allowing the player's internal commentary to take the forefront in the play experience. I'm not a major fan of it but you can't get on a role playing game for using respected tools of the genre. I mean, am I going to rag on hit points next? Ahhhh, no.
Secondly there are no voices in the game. Of course this is another old-school thing, but not so much for the same reasons. Older games were on carts or simply didn't have the budgets for voice tracks. Now this game was released in an era when at least partial voice tracks were pretty common, but not totally so. I will have to watch this and see if this was an artistic choice or not. Neither of these really have degraded the experience for me, but I just wanted to cover them before going on.
One thing that is really bothering me is that the main character is an emotionless freak. I mean not a peep during combat or a strongly worded (yes/no) response during conversations. The story thrusts this high school age boy into a post-apocalyptic world riddled with demons bent on his destruction, and of course this is after he's undergone an instantaneous demonic puberty that has left him radically changed. Even Dragon Warrior would give us a "!!!" at climatic points. Is this an extension of the silent hero idea, or another artistic choice? Perhaps he really is nonplussed by all of these things. Perhaps he's a chosen one who was born here in a past life or something. Like Paul Atredies, "He will know our ways..." Gawd, I am really making excuses here. My point is that this could be the case in which his near-psychotic detachment would make sense, sorta. But, could he look any more bored??? Ok we're past that now.
The other issue I am having is with the art. This was probably the first cel-shaded game for the SMT people so you can say they were getting used to it, but the real-world environments look really washed out and bland. When you get to the more strange alternate-realms the game puts you into things are far more visceral and convey mood well but they have been rare so far. Could they be trying to make a contrast here? I'm not sure. On the character end of things the art style makes them look stiff and manikin-like. Emotion again is hard to find and in general the designs are not so interesting to look at. I am only five hours into the game now, so these things will probably change a bit as the events take their toll on people. The demons on the other hand have some really great designs, even if the themes chosen thusfar are not the most original.
My guess is that the real star of SMT: Nocturne is supposed to be the setting, which is fantastic. The heart of the main story right now is a mystery about what the heck happened to the world, so at the start the protagonist is fumbling around trying to learn about how this new world works and this allows the largest amount of exposition on the setting. This new world is a nightmarish mirror of the real one, and also a very brown mirror, but it seems to have existed long before the arrival of the main character. There are factions, rules and common complaints coming from it's numerous denizens. So did we travel in time as well as in space when the world changed? Or was the real world the mirror of this one?
Combat in Nocturne (I'm playing on hard mode btw) is a fast turn based system that allows for just enough depth to keep it fun and challenging. It is possible to end up in random battles that can overwhelm you, so saving is a virtue, but so long as you don't make any obvious blunders even these battles can usually be weathered. Demons, their strange behaviors and their powers are obviously as the center of the system but I will save that part for later when I have seen more. The music is very good, if a little quiet at every moment other than battle.
It may be possible that this is a game elevated to it's acclaimed heights on the fact that the setting is so totally unique. Most of the things done here in the systems and design have been done all or in part before. It's a mish mash of good ideas, and I like the way it works. Right now I am just waiting for the moment where I care about what is happening to these people and hoping that the real gold in Nocturne ends up coming out in the story. At least I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed.
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