Shin Megami Tensei vs. Final Fantasy

I haven't played a lot of what people would consider the best FF games, but I must say that I generally prefer the darker tone and more adult themes/stories in the MegaTen series. I actually also prefer the Tales series to FF, which is far more colourful and mostly less serious and severe. I guess I prefer games on either end of the spectrum, rather than FF, which I'd say generally goes somewhere in the middle.

I heard it once said that Final Fantasy reflects the supposed cultural divide between Tokyo and Osaka.

Tokyo is supposedly more learned and associated with drama and thought, producing Square's Final Fantasy.

Osaka is supposedly more cosmopolitan producing strange and humorous stuff like Capcom's Devil May Cry.

So, its not necessarily a sliding scale between stuff like Dragon Quest/Tales on one side, and SMT on the other.

Rather, SquareEnix sort of make games that are more reserved dramas about human problems.

"the stereotype is that people in Tokyo are more reserved, while people in Osaka are bawdy and friendly"

[Tokyo is] "considered the city of the samurai, while Osaka is a city of merchants"

Then again, I don't usually buy into stereotypes, because I doubt every single person in Kansai region and Kanto region conform to these steriotypes. It's kinda like the North South divide in England. I guess a better point would be this: Don't classify things into neat categories, because it restricts one's enjoyment of life ;-)

Never played any FF games, sooo SMT?

Honestly, I've played neither seriously, but just from an outsider looking in, I'd be more interested in Shin Megami Tensei.

@shell_kracker:

I approve of this message. I haven't even played XIII to form an opinion, but I do enjoy the evaluation criteria and insights you applied.

I prefer SMT. FF is good and all, but (and I'm trying to think of how to describe this) it seems to always try and 1up itself in terms of epicness. It's always very "boohoo the world is going to end unless we do something"-ish. There's nothing wrong with that really, but I dunno, how many times can you blow up a few cities and put the world in iminent danger before it gets old? Ya know?

SMT always felt a lot more humble in scope and generally much more lighthearted when compared to the average FF game. To each their own though.

Pointless comparison to say the least. Persona 3 and 4 are both better than any final fantasy since 7. However.... as a whole the Final Fantasy franchise has far more great games in it than Shin Megami Tensei and all it's spin offs. Meanwhile the mechanics, the method of story telling, the settings, everything is so different there is really very little reason to actually compare them.

Also I am willing to bet the vast majority of the people on this forum have never played a "real" shin megami tensei. Most of the nerd raging hard core fans are still ass ploding because atlus USA put Shin Megami Tensei on the persona 3 box. Persona is really it's own series now, even if it is a spin off, and P3 and P4 have just as little in common with P1 and P2 (mechanics wise) as they do FF8 or FF9.