Having just (finally!) wrapped up Digital Devil Saga 2 this evening, I originally intended to use this space to discuss my thoughts on that SMT sub-series. That blog may or may not still be coming depending on how motivated I'm feeling and how doped up on triptophan I get come Thanksgiving. That being said, I wanted to pass on this... most fashionable screenshot I just took while playing through Soul Hackers, a somewhat obscure SMT spinoff game for the Saturn and PS1. I could provide further context as to what's going on below, but that'd probably detract from the mystique. I'm also very tired and generally incapable of forming super-coherent thoughts at the moment. And so I give you....

Actually that gives me a perfect reason to cosplay as Jack Frost considering my absolute lack of shame. In fact, the biggest problem I can think of is making the damn suit. 
 
Going to the bathroom is going to be a problem though...

She's doing it wrong. I still call for way more Jack Frost cosplay than we're currently seeing.

Damn, this only makes me want a formal translation for the original Devil summoner games even more. Though i'd kind of prefer if this never made sense.

@Pepsiman: Soul Hackers ain't obscure! It's only the first Megami Tensei game to feel a bit "modern" and try and move the series beyond its roots, though it still is a bit painfully slow by modern standards. I couldn't believe the Strange Journey flashbacks I had when I first played it a few months ago. And going by all the demon designs that Strange Journey cribbed from it, series fans outside Japan probably are more aware of it than ever. Obscure for a series that's already obscure is something like Giten Megami Tensei.
 
Anyway, that Jack Frost lady does truly make you go through HELL. I don't know how I made it out of her trials alive.

You should be more precise about which Jack Frost you are talking about. Because, apparently, dressing up as one from the B-class horror flick should give you some skin.

@Pepsiman: If is basically a sprite swap of SMT 2 (even sharing a lot of the same music) with some additions like guardians etc. but if you couldn't get through the first few hours of the 2nd game then you'll definitely find the same problem here. I'd still recommend a playthrough of both of them if only because it sort of adds a little background story to quite a few of the series' recurring demons.

Jack Frost cosplay already sounds bad on paper....

Ughhhhh...Don't make feel even more bummed out that Soul Hackers never got localized!
 
And seeing how you finished DDS2, I think you'd agree with me that the last third of that game is fucking weird.@Pepsiman said:

" @Eirikr: Pre-Nocturne games still have interesting storyline concepts, but the gameplay tends to very much be a product of its time. I've tried on multiple occasions to do SMT I and II, but never really get past the first few hours because of that. It's sad, because I'd like to have that much more background information on the series, but ah well. I keep thinking about doing a run of If, but that game looks like it might have similar issues as well. "

Hmmm....looking at some screenshots, I'm getting a Soejima vibe of the art. Did he do the ingame art in this one? it looks like his style.

" @mutha3:  Yes, Kaneko did the character designs and Soejima handled the in-game portraits. Same for both P2 games. "

" @mutha3:
And I agree with you about Hashino's games being the ones that make the series shine. The people who maintain the belief that SMT/Persona games were only good in the 90s, I suspect, haven't replayed those games recently and are working off of some major nostalgia. It irks me that there's such a pretentious sector within the fanbase that's all like, "IF YOU STARTED WITH PERSONA 3, YOU'RE NOT A TRUE SMT FAN AND NEVER WILL BE!" Ack. "

" @mutha3:  Yes, Kaneko did the character designs and Soejima handled the in-game portraits. Same for both P2 games.  EDIT: Hnghhhh off by a few seconds. "

@Pepsiman

" @Soren said:

" @mutha3:  Yes, Kaneko did the character designs and Soejima handled the in-game portraits. Same for both P2 games. "

Oh. I stand corrected then. Does Kaneko even still work at Atlus at this point? I've never been quite sure about that since Soejima seems to have more or less taken his place as the primary character designer, save for those demon designs that they're still reusing. "

" @Pepsiman: Of course, he handled the Bel demon designs in Devil Survivor and Art direction/Creative design for Strange Journey. Soejima seems to handle the recent persona games and most of Altus's non SMT related games. It would be a big kick in the nads for me if Kaneko left, his art style is a big part of what keeps me coming back to the series.  EDIT: And the Raidou games of course, though most of these examples aren't exactly recent. "

It irks me that there's such a pretentious sector within the fanbase that's all like, "IF YOU STARTED WITH PERSONA 3, YOU'RE NOT A TRUE SMT FAN AND NEVER WILL BE!" Ack. "

This is why I mostly keep to myself regarding SMT. D:  I've really met only a handful SMT fans I like, and out of them even fewer like the series for the same reasons I do (religion and myth, basically).  But it's not just one sided. Some of those same P3 players can be very dismissive of the other games (even P4), for stupid reasons. I think on my Strange Journey review or in the QL someone said they couldn't stand the characters because it looked like they all had eyeshadow. Talk about missing the point.