SMT: Nocturne is a game that is like nothing you've encountered before. The story is strong, the characters are well developed and the graphics are true megaten (shin megami tensei) in that the settings are devoid of unnecessary items and everything has a starkness about it. But then the distinctive graphics are what distinguishes a megaten from all others.
In Nocturne you take the part of a normal teenage schoolboy in Tokyo, Japan who, with friends, stumbles across a plan involving their favourite teacher to end the world – but here's where it departs from the usual rpg ‘save the world’ plot. The world ends – called ‘The Conception’ – and in preparation for its ‘Rebirth’ it's you who will put it back together.
Seperated from your friends, your party is formed by recruiting the demons that have escaped into the world. Each has its own skills and by ‘fusing’ two, or more, together you are able to transfer those skills, and add others, to create a team of deadly allies. And you'll need them, because you'll be facing the likes of Vishnu, Cerberus, Titan, Dionysus and other deities. But the Bosses will have you wondering what you've stumbled into as you square off against the 4 Riders of the Appocolypse, The Harlot, The Trumpeter, Beelzebub and others more terrifying and amazinging in their splendor.
SMT: Nocturne is a deeply satisfying turn-based rpg with 4 different endings, and none of them is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
SMT: Nocturne quickly became a cult classic in the US, so I urge you to grab it while it's available because it will become hard to find. Not only that, but buy it because it's an excellent game.