Official Japanese Atlus Forums: What Are They Saying?

[Kenji]

There's been a lot of talk around here about the direction MegaTen is taking as a franchise, with some liking or at least not minding the lighter and decidedly less-apocalyptic tones of Persona and Devil Summoner, and others pining for the old days of the core SMT series and wondering when that'll come back.

I was curious about what the general opinion of the Japanese fans, who frequent Atlus JP's BBS, was on these matters. Are they generally happy with the direction Persona and DS are taking? Is there a large percentage of them who are waiting impatiently for SMT4? Is the mix between the "factions" similar to the American boards or different?

This won't settle the question of MegaTen's future, sure, but it may give us some idea of where it's likely to go.

[Olethros]

^ OK, so go over there and translate it for us.

[Kakizaki]

I wonder if the declining popularity of the SMT franchise in Japan is reflective of this? SMT could easily be grouped into the top 3 or 5 rpg franchises 10 years ago in Japan. I don't think you could say that any longer.

I'm just hypothesizing. I realize tastes change and I think P3 and P4 sold alright to pretty well there, but I still have to wonder.

[Olethros]

Hypothesis or not, I doubt you're wrong on this. It makes perfect sense.

[Sei]

There's been a lot of talk around here about the direction MegaTen is taking as a franchise, with some liking or at least not minding the lighter and decidedly less-apocalyptic tones of Persona and Devil Summoner, and others pining for the old days of the core SMT series and wondering when that'll come back.

I was curious about what the general opinion of the Japanese fans, who frequent Atlus JP's BBS, was on these matters. Are they generally happy with the direction Persona and DS are taking? Is there a large percentage of them who are waiting impatiently for SMT4? Is the mix between the "factions" similar to the American boards or different?

This won't settle the question of MegaTen's future, sure, but it may give us some idea of where it's likely to go.

I don't think most people other than a rather small hardcore base truly feels like the series has moved that far in Japan. The games are different, but a lot of the themes are still there and easily recognizable, if not superficially (order/chaos/messiah/gaea/etc). I haven't really seen a lot of dislike for Atlus latest SMT games in 2chan, and they consistently seem to open at number one in the sales charts. Persona 4 and Raidou 2 both did. I don't think Avatar Tuner or Nocturne did bad either with AT coming up at 80 for total sales in 2004.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/07/persona-4-easil.html

I think the biggest problem SMT has in Japan is that they don't release games quick enough. Atlus Japan is also a lot more diverse than Atlus USA, with MMORPGS, UFO catchers, arcades and whatnot, which are either unsupported or dont exist in the states. Another thing to keep in mind is that one of the things (I think) people that dislike P3 and 4 have against the newest issues of the series is the overt anime aesthetic. this is not a prejudice that you really find in Japan, nor something that really hurts popularity. If anything I'd say it enhances it as long as it connects.

There is also a big difference between what makes something popular in Japan and America, as one of my favorite series, Giren's greed, easily tops the charts in Japan with every itineration but would be unlikely to do so in the US (Its a romance of the 3 kingdoms kind of game)

I think Devil Survivor comes out on the 15, so we will see how that sells.

Here is the URL to the Japanese Atlus site: http://www.atlus.co.jp/

And here is the 2chan game board. http://www.2chan.net/

If there is something in particular you'd like to read, I may be able to translate it for you.

[Kakizaki]

^I believe AT did dramatically worse that SMT III regardless of AT's sales position in 2004.

As for the release schedule, that is debatable. I could maybe agree that there was a small window in the real early 2000s (maybe you are contending that this window led to a drop off in popularity -- I could maybe see that), otherwise from the early mid 1990s onward (until that small blip) there was a pretty steady flow between Majin Tensei, DS, Devil Children, Last Bible, and Persona titles.

[Olethros]

There's been a lot of talk around here about the direction MegaTen is taking as a franchise, with some liking or at least not minding the lighter and decidedly less-apocalyptic tones of Persona and Devil Summoner, and others pining for the old days of the core SMT series and wondering when that'll come back.

I was curious about what the general opinion of the Japanese fans, who frequent Atlus JP's BBS, was on these matters. Are they generally happy with the direction Persona and DS are taking? Is there a large percentage of them who are waiting impatiently for SMT4? Is the mix between the "factions" similar to the American boards or different?

This won't settle the question of MegaTen's future, sure, but it may give us some idea of where it's likely to go.

I don't think most people other than a rather small hardcore base truly feels like the series has moved that far in Japan. The games are different, but a lot of the themes are still there and easily recognizable, if not superficially (order/chaos/messiah/gaea/etc). I haven't really seen a lot of dislike for Atlus latest SMT games in 2chan, and they consistently seem to open at number one in the sales charts. Persona 4 and Raidou 2 both did. I don't think Avatar Tuner or Nocturne did bad either with AT coming up at 80 for total sales in 2004.

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/07/persona-4-easil.html

I think the biggest problem SMT has in Japan is that they don't release games quick enough. Atlus Japan is also a lot more diverse than Atlus Japan, with MMORPGS, UFO catchers, arcades and whatnot, which are either unsupported or dont exist in the states.

Here is the URL to the Japanese Atlus site: http://www.atlus.co.jp/

And here is the 2chan game board. http://www.2chan.net/

If there is something in particular you'd like to read, I may be able to translate it for you.

HUH? Sei, are you spiking the punch again? ;)

[Sei]

^ I edited that!

I didn't notice heh :D