The Megami Tensei & Pokémon Comparison

Comments · 399

• BU

  @bubbletea_ · 9 months ago · pinned

  had one more in me before the year ended. thank you for all the support this past year, in spite of little atlus news or releases. new years resolution is to not put all my eggs into the atlus basket.<br>if you&apos;re willing/able, support my content here for just $1: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/c/bubbletea_">https://www.patreon.com/c/bubbletea_</a>

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• TH

  @thefinalskarm1754 · 9 months ago

  it&apos;s like pokemon but you put 2 women in the guillotine and turn them into a bird

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• IL

  @illuminoeye_gaming · 9 months ago

  I literally pitched SMT to a person in an airport using the &quot;its like pokemon&quot; description last week ☠️

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• RE

  @RenTheStrangeNerd · 9 months ago

  Some people say they never heard the comparisons before but that&apos;s how my dad pitched Persona to me when I was way younger.

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• WH

  @why-ub9mt · 9 months ago

  Cuz more ppl know about Pokémon then the term &quot;RPG&quot; lol

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• UT

  @UTRAPICTION · 8 months ago

  There are 6 main line persona games do not equate my Eternal Punishment with your Innocent Sin

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• CH

  @chococake2024 · 9 months ago

  its like digimons

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• KN

  @KnightofChaosDeck · 9 months ago

  I think there&apos;s another aspect to this that I think is worth saying a lot: Themes.<br><br>The different themes between Pokemon and SMT influence basically every single aspect of these games.<br><br>Pokemon is all about the adventure, discovering new locations, new Pokemon, new characters. You set out on these explorations with a team that you&apos;re encouraged to keep beside you, growing stronger while you grow more experienced. Combat is a friendly sport where a Pokemon fainting is akin to someone taking one for the team. And even when you win or lose, it&apos;s all fine in the end because it&apos;s about bonding with the other recurring trainers. Said recurring trainers are like your allies in your journey, helping you out in one way or another through either direct assistance or by giving you a goal to reach. And all of this is wrapped around a simple coming of age story, where the Pokemon&apos;s levels and evolution (particularly the starters) reflect the growth you would go through in life with beating the champion being akin to reaching your goals in your old age and the freedom of retirement.<br><br>SMT isn&apos;t really about the adventure. It&apos;s about survival. New locations, demons and characters aren&apos;t there for the sake of discovery, they&apos;re a chance of something new and deadly coming into your life. Demons need to be negotiated with so they don&apos;t eat you alive and even then, you&apos;re enocuraged to treat them as tools you use and discard to get objectively better demons. Combat is a slugfest where you&apos;re always David trying desperately to kill a conga line of ever-stronger Goliaths. A demon dying is an oh shit moment as you scramble to recover and not DIE in the process. And losses can be VERY serious, leading to characters premature ends. And most recurring people will inevitably become your own enemies as you battle for ideological supremacy. You are either not friends or are no longer friends. You are not going through a safe, modern life. You are fighting like your ancestors against monsters in the dark just trying to not die.<br><br>Every aspect of these games are influenced by these. Pokemon designs are always some kind of cute, even the creepy or dangerous designs feel like little kid designs. Demons are highly detailed and VERY dangerous, even something like the Jack Bros. Pokemon&apos;s general aesthetics are cute, fluffy and safe with bright colors and happy/whimsical music. SMT&apos;s general aethestic is desolate, harsh and dangerous with dark colors and generally very serious music. Both tackle dark topics but Pokemon&apos;s are more implied like with Team Aqua/Magma being environmentalism/Cyrus being nihilism but SMT is very blunt, detailed and straightforward with its topics (like Strange Journey and The White). This is the major reason why you can&apos;t replace one with the other: They&apos;re fundamentally different.

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• KE

  @kernium · 9 months ago

  I feel like the Pokémon comparisons are inevitable by virtue of Pokémon being the number 1 in the monster catching game genre.<br><br>It would be like trying to explain Sonic to someone who has never played it, you can&apos;t really go wrong with the &quot;It&apos;s like Mario but it is more momentum and speed.&quot;<br><br>SMT/Persona isn&apos;t the only one who suffers from it, Digimon also gets that treatment a lot, sadly comes with the territory.

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• WH

  @whiskeysour7 · 8 months ago

  &quot;It&apos;s like Pokemon but you fight Hitler.&quot;

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• BA

  @BananaBolsterDuck · 9 months ago

  Because Pokémon is the biggest franchise in terms of revenue right now.<br>It&apos;s also a series of JRPGs with collectable monsters, some of them with mythical origins, and an urban setting.

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• ET

  @ethangnasher3848 · 6 months ago

  SMT is like Pokemon, but instead of forcing your “friendship”with wild creatures just hanging around their natural habitats by trapping them in tiny spheres, you befriend cool entities across different myths and legends and they tag along with your shenanigans if they vibe with your vibe.

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