If you've been checking up on my blog on this site since fairly early times, you just might recall that I was invited to beta test Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine, the series' arbitrary free-to-play MMO. I signed up for the program if only out of curiosity, as I'm not out and out opposed to the idea of Shin Megami Tensei MMO. The series has enough charm and unique features that, I think, could warrant a really interesting online game if put in the hands of the right team. Hell, there's even a Persona MMO in Japan for cell phones, of all things, and it still has Social Links! Two hours after firing up the game, though, I was done. Demon recruitment was even more botched than other games that did it poorly since it was random and required nothing more than mashing a talk command and hoping for the best, something which I didn't know I was supposed to do since the game lacked any actual explanation for it at the time. I left disgusted and when I fired up the game about two months ago for laughs for my roommates, I still hated it.
 
I thought I was done with the game for sure at that point.
 
But then my roommates started playing it since I was the one to interest them in Shin Megami Tensei in the first place and, lo and behold, against my better judgment, I started forming parties with them on an almost daily basis since their presence made the levelling up process slightly more bearable. It wasn't by a whole lot, but since the game almost punishes you for playing solo, it was certainly better than what had been going on before. Still, I had no real fun with the gameplay itself the entire time; all of the good memories I do have of that game stem from messing and joking around with a surprisingly jovial community. The game that encompasses it is still pretty bad.
 
All of this has resulted in a review of the game that I just posted here that sums up my sentiments about the time I've had with the game. The tl;dr version: There are way worse games you could be playing, but Imagine does such little justice to both what MMOs and Megami Tensei games are that it isn't worth your attention. I may still be compelled to go back and play a bit more because my roommates are hellbent on masochistically levelling up with my help, but again, if I'm going to have any fun, the gameplay isn't where it's going to be coming from.
 
The moral of the story: This is probably the most time I've spent playing a game I didn't like, let alone providing a review for it. That should probably be saying something, since this is coming from someone who spent so much time with Cheetahmen II that they started making cheat codes for it. That's a fair indicator of what little sanity I possess today, I'd say.