Shin Megami Tensei II
A post-apocalyptic RPG about a gladiator who may be the Messiah.
Shin Megami Tensei II is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus, originally released for the Super Famicom in 1994 in Japan. It is the second game in the Shin Megami Tensei series, a subset of the larger Megami Tensei franchise. The game features first-person dungeon exploration, demon negotiation and fusion, and a branching story influenced by the player's moral alignment.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Kouji Okada
- Producer
- Hideyuki Yokoyama
- Writer
- Ryutaro Ito
- Composer
- Tsukasa Masuko
- Artist
- Kazuma Kaneko
- Developer
- Atlus
- Series
- Megami Tensei
- Platforms
- Super Famicom
- PlayStation
- Game Boy Advance
- iOS
- Android
Facts from the source article.
Plot
Shin Megami Tensei II is set in the year 20XX, decades after the first game's war between angels and demons, in which a man called the Hero created a world where Law and Chaos could coexist. Disasters made the air unbreathable, and people gathered in the encapsulated city Tokyo Millennium, built atop the ruins of Tokyo, where mutants, fairies, and demons live. The city is ruled by the Messian religion from a central unit called the center, and its largest district is Valhalla, where gladiator tournaments grant winners citizenship in the luxurious Center.
The protagonist Hawk, an amnesic gladiator training at Okamoto's gym, wins the tournament and gains citizenship. After helping the temple knight Hiroko search for a missing boy, Hawk is taken to the center, where the Messian bishop reveals his true identity as Aleph, the Messiah destined to bring about the Thousand-Year Kingdom. Beth, a woman from the center, is sent as his partner. Aleph and Beth are sent on missions to eradicate demons, and they encounter Gimmel, who shows them Arcadia, a prototype of the Thousand-Year Kingdom.
They later learn that Daleth, who claims to be the true Messiah, is the Anti-Messiah. During a fight, Beth sacrifices herself to save Aleph, who spares Daleth as her dying wish and is recognized as the true Messiah.
Development
Shin Megami Tensei II was developed by Atlus for the Super Famicom, directed by Kouji Okada, produced by Hideyuki Yokoyama, written by Ryutaro Ito, with music by Tsukasa Masuko. Kazuma Kaneko designed the characters and was involved in planning. During pre-production, the staff visited Hariti's temple in Zōshigaya and Taira no Masakado's grave to cleanse themselves, a practice they had begun after a staff member was robbed during development of the first Shin Megami Tensei, inspired by Go Nagai's exorcism of a spirit with Hariti's help while writing Devilman.
The game was planned to have no direct connection to the first Shin Megami Tensei, so Kaneko envisioned a story loosely based on its future. He initially imagined it set ten years after the first game, but another staff member wanted hundreds of years later; Kaneko argued that culture would change too much over a century. They eventually set it several decades after the first game. The tree of life was used as a central theme.
Kaneko chose YHVH as the antagonist because he saw YHVH as the folkloristic base of all gods, reasoning that common mythological motifs originated in the Old Testament, though he did not intend YHVH to be evil incarnate in Megami Tensei.
Reception and legacy
Famitsu writers praised the player's freedom and found the demon fusion system excellent and fun, noting that the gameplay still holds up in later versions. Kurt Kalata and Cristopher J. Snelgrove of Hardcore Gaming 101 appreciated the lowered difficulty compared to the first Shin Megami Tensei. They felt the story lacked the same initial impact, calling the amnesiac savior a cliché and the theme of Western religion as evil worn out, but acknowledged these elements were fresh at the time of release.
Jeff Howard, in Game Magic, cited Shin Megami Tensei II as an example of a game alluding to Kabbalah through Hebrew letter character names, contributing to atmosphere and depth. Famitsu also commended the game's grand and unique theme and its profound dark worldview. Chris at Square Enix Music Online considered the music the worst in the series, finding it monotone and repetitive, though he noted that ambient pieces like Title Demo and Memory Recovery are effective in context, and found Disco and Casino humorous and catchy.
Kyle Miller and Damian Thomas of RPGFan were more positive; Miller thought the soundtrack well made but weaker than the first game's, while Thomas called it excellent with solid melodies. Famitsu thought the PlayStation version's graphics looked cheap.
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