Hi there! So I watched the quick look, and I'm pretty into what I'm seeing. If I had a WiiU, I would play this. I won't buy a WiiU just for this, but there are several games on it I'd like to play, so it may very well happen. Now, I think a big reason why I like this game is because I'm a Persona fan. And this game is heavy on the Persona vibes. From its narrative focus (Japanese teens ya'll) to its combat and interface.

But it's been a couple hours since I've watched the Quick Look, and I'm starting to wonder now. This game, from what tiny bit I've seen, looks like it's Persona with some Fire Emblem references. But that isn't how it was pitched. Years ago, we first heard of this as "Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem". Which brings me to the question: does this game deliver on that pitch?

Now, Persona is obviously part of SMT, but it's also kind of an outlier of the franchise. Most SMT games are much bleaker, more apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, they have a lot to do with Order vs. Chaos, etc. Hell, even Persona 4 (site favorite) is an outlier of the Persona series, being significantly more upbeat that Persona 3, which was already more upbeat than Persona 1 and especially 2. With that in mind, I can't help but think that a fan of SMT would be really bummed by this game, because the pitch was "SMT" but the delivered product essentially boils down to a Persona 4 style game.

As for Fire Emblem, I would not be the first to say that, at first glance, the Fire Emblem characters seem somewhat tacked on here. They have amnesia, so they can't talk about their past adventures in the FE series, they only seem to appear in dungeons, and they don't have the character design they do from the FE games. Maybe this is because I have never played a Fire Emblem game before, but the only thing about Chrom's design that makes me think of Chrom from FE is that he's blue and his dialog box has the word "Chrom" at the top. It kind of comes off as pandering, as someone with 0 context for this game or the Fire Emblem games.

So obviously this is all just my own thoughts and conclusions, which is why I'm asking the fans to clue me in here. How are you liking this game? Is it meeting your expectations? Are you disappointed in anything? Do I have no idea what I'm talking about and should just shut up? Please, let me know, I'm very interested to see how fans of SMT and FE feel about this game.

I still think a true crossover between the two franchises could have been something awesome and there's no way I can pretend I am not disappointed it will likely never happen now. But it is what it is. Even if the final product kinda only pays lip-service to each franchise, at least the game itself is pretty good. That's better than getting a half-assed crossover that just tries to use series fanservice to make up for a mediocre game.

My background with both series: I've been a Fire Emblem fan since the initial US release. Don't love every game in the series, but there are several that are some of my favorite games in the genre. The only SMT game I've played is IV on 3DS, and I did not much care for it. I am a fan of Persona, however.

I haven't played Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but I have watched the Quick Look and some other coverage. Unfortunately, it looks like this one isn't for me. As a Fire Emblem fan, that stuff seems extremely tacked on. This could have been SMT x Final Fantasy, or SMT x Tales, or SMT x any RPG series, really. The redesign of the FE characters seems like a really bizarre decision. It seems like this has the Fire Emblem name associated with it purely for marketing reasons.

The J-pop focus is pretty off-putting. I realize that's a personal preference, but pretty much everything about the narrative focus of the game makes me not want to play it.

All that said, the game seems well made and while I realize that it's not for me, it's cool that a lot of people seem to be enjoying it.

Pretty much just a SMT game with some FE names in it so far. That said its the best JRPG in years and I'm extremely happy with it.

I think this is one case where it having come out so long after that first teaser has helped it for me personally. I was pretty disappointed once the stuff about this being an idol focused game started surfacing, and all of my initial hype over this crossover completely died away. Now that it's actually out, I was able to play this game with more moderate expectations and it turns out it's pretty damn fun.

I went in blind and with no expectations. The game loaded up in my WiiU without issue, and the reviews came out pretty good (versus Star Ocean 5).

My expectations were met.

I mean, that first teaser was really just "We have two things! We're not sure what that means!" It was so vague and early I didn't really have any preconceptions on what it would end up being. The two franchices are so different there wasn't an obvious conclusion. What we got is pretty out there, but I'm pretty into it.

On the one hand, this is the kind of Persona spin-off that Atlus should be doing more of. No more fighting games. No more Etrian Odyssey knockoffs. No more random-as-fuck block pushing games also about adultery. Just make an actually good JRPG with a Persona-ish vibe. You guys are pretty good at that.

On the other hand, yeah, it was disingenuous that this game was ever introduced as SMT x Fire Emblem. It sounds like Atlus and Intelligent Systems always knew that it wasn't going to be a joint project with developers from both studios contributing. They knew that it was some business deal they had cut to combine a couple brands, and that one of the two studios was basically going to be the sole developer of the project, so it's bizarre that it was ever introduced as a crossover between the two. It's an Atlus RPG, and it has some character designs from Fire Emblem, but like, c'mon, that's it. It's 95% an Atlus RPG, 5% anything else. If TMS #FE is a SMT x Fire Emblem game, then Tekken 7 is Tekken x Street Fighter.

It's a good game, and I'm glad it exists, but it's such a failed crossover.

I just bought this today, as a fan of both franchises but... I'm mostly ignoring the Fire Emblem in this game since it's so loosely connected to the actual series. It's pretty, colorful, I can recognize the names and it's a Persona-like that will bide me over until, sigh... 2017. The Super Sentai Persona concept is what really sold me on the game. That and a couple of the actual mechanics added.

I wasn't gonna buy it but then I saw Janine Hawkins's review and so I bought it and it's AMAAAAAAAZING. Very popcorn, very fluff, very anime, and that's just what I want right now. It's like a Persona light. Persona Jr. My first Persona.

@bisonhero: To be fair, ArcSys did most of the heavy lifting on P4A. Also if anything we need more random-as-fuck block pushing games about being shitty grownups in shitty relationships.

Okay, so I know this isn't really the thread for it but man, I really wanted to like Catherine. I was really bummed out by Catherine.

Big SMT fan here, especially of the PS2 games.
No. Don't have a Wii U, and this will never be a reason for me to get one.

@starvinggamer: Man, the subject matter of Catherine is totally fine and an interesting area to explore, but weird magical nightmares about pushing blocks are not a fun gameplay component to incorporate into any story of that nature.

@bisonhero: All those games were pretty great though. P4A is a great light anime fighter that I actually like more than Blazblue. PQ is a great mesh of both of those games with a pretty whatever story and some great music. Catherine is basically what got me into visual novels proper and while it's gameplay isn't perfect, the story is one of the best out there in games.

On topic though I am a hardcore SMT fan and a hardcore FE fan and I love everything about this game. I like that they just did their own thing. I feel if this was closer to either it would've not satisfied anyone anyways, so I'm glad we just got a weird great game. Maybe the impact of it being not much of either is lessened by having 3 FE games out a few months ago and a new SMT/a darker looking Persona 5 on the horizon. I've been pretty satisfied with what they did since day one. Then again I love Idolm@ster and Love Live. Also I think there's plenty of Fire Emblem stuff in this game. It's just not immediately obvious and is more fanservicey.

I like Shin Megami Tensei and this game. Could see how a FE fan might be dissatisfied but there were 3 Fire Emblem games this year already so... You still got those. A few of the SMT spin offs other then Persona 4 have a lighter tone as well even if the main ones are typically pretty dark (e.g. Soul Hackers or the Detective games).

@johntunoku: I refuse to recognize that pokemon style hooliganry as 3 separate games. For a FE fan not from japan, unless you liked Awakening your not going to get anything out of this as a fan of the series.

I don't know if I'm happy with this? Because I really don't know what it could have been? My immediate idea was a Fire Emblem game set in Neo Tokyo or wherever and your army is SMT Demons, but much like Austin said in the QL, I'm not game designer and that probably would've sucked.

Considering this was announced as a WiiU exclusive and I had no intention (still don't) of getting a WiiU, I tempered any real interest in this. Also, since when they announced it with the idea of SMT x FE and literally nothing else, there was very little to be excited about. Then all of a sudden it was a Jpop themed game and Tiki was an idol and Chrom was a persona and I heard the word "Performa" and my immediate reaction was, "Well so much for that being anything I was interested in at all."

Then I sort of stopped caring cause again, no WiiU, and it released in Japan to middling reviews and people whined about censorship and blah blah blah. But then, it starts getting better reviews here and oh yeah, Japan didn't like it because it wasn't on their phones, and it's basically Persona with Fire Emblem stuff thrown in and now I'm kind of okay with it. Watching the QL and hearing the FE level up, seeing the weapon triangle mixed into the SMT combat structure, and the unit-specific weakness attacks like Horseslayer put me sort of on board with this game. As a huge FE fan I would certainly have preferred a much bigger FE preference, but that's just me and my craziness.

All in all, not was I expected or initially wanted, but I can get down with what they made.

(The block puzzles were actually secretly the best thing about that game.)

@theblue: Oh no is this game the setting for the next "censorship" controversy. Goddamnit.

@the_tribunal: Oh yeah, people have been complaining about the censorship of the very nuanced, deeply insightful bikini outfits that were in the Japanese version but were changed for international releases.

@katpottz said:

Agreed that Fire Emblem Fates is not especially three games. I mean, it does have a lot of missions, and the campaigns work differently, but at best it's like...2 games. And like, consensus is that none of them quite capture the magic that Awakening pulled off? I still haven't got through all 3 campaigns.

It has been for awhile. Stay far away from places like Siliconera if you don't want to engage with it. It's been pretty toxic.

It doesn't help that stuff like this brings out the anti-SJW crowd in droves.

I mean, compared to the initial version of Persona 3 this is a pretty good game considering you can actually control your party members and that sort of thing. The story seems pretty corny, but other than that I think it's kinda on the same level as the Raidou Kuzunoha games or something where it's just Atlus throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks while still trying to maintain some of the characteristics of other SMT (and FE) games so as not to completely alienate the audience.

So yeah, I'm pretty disappointed in the ways it tries to ape Persona's structure while distancing itself from the SMT mythos, and that they announced it with a trailer featuring characters from just about every mainline SMT and FE was misleading at best, but it's still sound in its presentation and effective enough in all of its actually original and unique mechanics that it's probably worth playing if you have a Wii U.

It's mostly just the lost potential of a Devil Survivor style mashup of classic SMT and FE mechanics that's such a bummer, but I guess if we want another SMT SRPG we've either gotta play Majin Tensei I and II in Japanese or translate them ourselves.

Hey now, 1/3rd of Fates is pretty great. Birthright is just sort of Awakening again but not as good and Revelation is a gimmicky mess, but Conquest is the real-deal, 100% crazy person strategy game dope that I so desperately wanted after Awakening's relatively simple map design left me wanting. But that's a topic I've covered elsewhere and I probably shouldn't derail this one with any sort of grand specifics.

As for this particular topic, I was pretty cynical about this game when it was revealed to be more SMT than Fire Emblem (and a product of the Devil Survivor team, a SMT spinoff I hold no particular love for.) For as little Fire Emblem as there seems to be, I've come around on the whole "Super J-POP RPG" angle and will probably pick Tokyo Mirage Sessions up in the near future.

Don't know if I'd call myself a true fan of either series (I think SMT is neat but have only dabbled in them outside of Persona; loved the GBA FE games we got but my interest in the series declined since) so I was never that hung up on what the actually final result was going to be. Honestly SMT is was too dark and weird to mix with Nintendo properties, so I'm not surprised we ended up getting Persona instead. Honestly I'm more afraid that under the theme the story and structure might be too standard. A Persona-lite game is fine but might draw unfavorable comparisons.

Except those fighting game are AWESOME and Catherine was a worthy experiment. I could give or take Persona Q and Dancing All Night.

I like both series and I like this game a LOT.

Based solely on the QL, as a Persona 3 & 4 enthusiast, I'm gonna say no.

The game's art and style is flashy and plentiful but it doesn't mesh together as well as previous Persona entries imo. I couldn't quite tell if it was trying to be modern or quaint or hipster or what. Just nothing really clicked for me like P3/4 did. Far less...hypnotic? Not sure how to say it.

That being said I'd gladly play the game (given the chance) and I might enjoy it but I'm not getting a WiiU for this, especially with the mysterious NX on the horizon. Also I wouldn't want to risk a Persona-burn out this "close" to P5's release.

I enjoy it. It's light-hearted and bright and silly. The FE characters are definitely just fan service but I didn't expect that much more, honestly. I'm having fun with it and it's had me put more time playing my Wii U then I have since I bought it (exaggeration - but, still).

hailinel isn't here anymore so why are you even asking

Funny thing for me was that when they first announced the crossover, I thought "oh hell yeah, Majin Tensei set in medieval times with Fire Emblem characters!" Then the more they showed the less interested I became overall. Not to say the premise is bad. I mean, they could've done this exact game as new series, with all new characters, and no one would bat an eyelash.

Finished the game today. Enjoyed it a lot. I'm glad they went with this tone for the game instead of a dark SMT/FE style game. Also, I'm glad it's a turn based RPG and not a Strategy RPG. Strategy games bore me for the most part.

I like it a whole bunch.

I never wanted a split collaboration. Either a Fire Emblem style game with SMT references or what we got instead. So I'm happy.

It's definitely the best console JRPG in a while. Maybe the best since Persona 4? Blanking on serious contenders. FF13-1-2-3 were not as good. 360 JRPGs were bad to middling (Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Star Ocean, etc). Can anyone think of a great console JRPG in the last 10ish years?

Edit: tales of vesperia is probably the right answer here. That was a while ago though.

@jjor64: how long did it take

Forever stand by Xenoblade Chronicles.

@frostyryan: a little over 48 hours.

Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. Probably the most overlooked gem of the last decade.

I really gotta get on that cause Trails in the Sky was so good.

@zeik: Just looked at the game page. That game might've come out on PS3 but it looks like a portable ass portable JRPG. Lead platform was vita for sure.

Perhaps, but I played it on PS3 and it looked fine. More importantly, it was a true meaty console style RPG, with all the depth of mechanics and story and voice acting you would expect from one. The closest thing I've played to a PS2 era RPG in ages.

NieR and Drakengard 3 are both fantastic, but not really traditional JRPGs. Both Xenoblade games. Final Fantasy Type 0 is real good. I like a few of the Atelier games a whole bunch. Honestly I remember liking what I played of Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. That's about all I can think of off the top of my head, but I bet there's a few more.

I remember reading somewhere, I think the review on RPG Gamer, that the Vita version had performance issues that the PS3 version didn't. I'd say it's a console ass RPG. (And it's really, really good.)

This is not what PS3 JRPGs look like. The low poly models and evironments, the flat textures, the huge UI. This is an uprezzed Vita game.

@pyrodactyl: I don't know why you're getting so hung up on the graphics. That's not what makes a great console JRPG.

I've played many handheld JRPGs over the last decade, and many are perfectly solid games, but they still usually feel like handheld games. Trails of Cold Steel is console JRPG in every way but looks. (And even then it looks fine.)

@zeik: for me, the look is definitely part of it. All my favorite console JRPGs looked great when they were released.

Initially, I wasn't comparing TMS to the endless ocean of handheld JRPGs but to the more restrained pool of better looking console JRPGs. If you want to start naming all the well received recent handheld JRPGs we would be here all day. Unfortunately I don't really have any interest in those games hence my initial question.

I don't want to derail this topic any further, but to ignore one of the best JRPGs in the last decade just because the graphics aren't quite as detailed as they could be for a console is a tremendous shame, but to each their own. It's your loss.

(For the record, I would place ToCS pretty far ahead of TMS in a ranking, and that's coming from a die hard SMT/Persona/Atlus fan.)

People seem to like those Souls games a whole bunch. (myself included but I know that's not what you mean by JRPG)

I think whether or not you're a fan that feels betrayed really depends on how much (if at all) you liked Persona 4 because this just seems like another spinoff of that.

@boozak: what kind of monster wouldn't like Persona 4?

@pyrodactyl: I've seen a lot of Persona 3 fans despise it. Personally I like both and i'm glad 5 looks different and has it's own sense of style. I can understand Persona 4 fatigue though.

The crossover between Persona 3 and Persona 4 fans is pretty significant. Which one they prefer is a matter of preference, but I think the number that outright despise it are a very very small minority. It's the Persona 1 and 2 (mostly 2) and mainline SMT fans that tend to express their dislike the most with P3 and P4.