Admittedly, this is how i decided to go through Megami Tensei II so I'll mostly focus on my thoughts on that vs the remake of MT1 that's also on this. I might actually go back to that one day through this however as I'm surprised by how much better 2 was over the 1st.
I'll def have to at least look at the original version of MT2 eventually to see if that version was also pretty busted but in the mean time, KMT is definitely the way to go to play either of the original Megami Tensei games (I'll admit to being an idiot for even considering the original Megami Tensei rather than the version here since this one at least has the terminal function).
I didn't think going with the Super Famicom version would be so much of a difference until I realized part way through that this came out after SMT1/2/if. At the very least I feel like the general structure and story are a lot better than 1's.
MT2 feels a lot more in-line with later games, exploring a ruined, blasted Tokyo with a more 'punk' aesthetic vs the weird religious with typical dungeon crawling fare that MT1 was. On top of that I think the story has some pretty cool moments and its somewhat clear to see where the next 'Shin' games might take inspiration from. On top of all this it just felt easier to make progression from dungeon to dungeon, get levels and for once it feels like my protagonists were the useful ones in a fight unlike the original MT. Also the Automapping skill (courtesy of th
That all said there are still quite a bit of issues I have overall, especially by the mid to late game. A lot of the late game dungeons are kinda rough, not just puzzle wise but regarding some of the demons. Its a shame a lot of these demons end up being either just really hard to recruit or unrecruitable at all (as far as i can tell at least) but also so many of them still have those level dropping spells, I have no idea why succubus appears so often. Also while this game's battle system does feel a tad bit more interesting than battling in 1, there's still not too much incentive to using spells other than healing/occasional support/teleports (by the way, bless Traesto+Trastart+Tranpa). Once the game started throwing demons that reflected Sword/Gun attacks i figured they weren't really worth fighting since I'd rather use what MP i had on heals. Also it really seems like they wanted you to do a bunch of gambling since updating your gear takes a lotta macca that i just never had. Thankfully through my immense (save) luck (states), it didnt matter too much and 'Big & Small' gives a good chunk of money for one max prize streak.
At the very least I do think the end game has some neat side stuff you can do like collecting some optional demons, armor and gear. Last thing I'll say though is I did find it really weird how a lot of the best protagonist armor (and one stat check early in the game) requires INT yet in early SMT the INT stat is pretty much (if not entirely) useless for the protag to put points in. At least the armor/sword with these checks can be fulfilled by other armor with stat boosts but still would have liked to not have spent 10 level points on INT for a character with no magic powers.
At the end of the day though this is a much better way to play the original two megami tenseis, by a long shot and also a pretty solid RPG on the SNES. This definitely retained my attention a bit more than SMT if did (although ill be beating that later) and I would like to see how it compares to SMT1 and potentially a replay of 2, but I did enjoy my time with this more than i expected after having played the original version of MT1.
I'll def have to at least look at the original version of MT2 eventually to see if that version was also pretty busted but in the mean time, KMT is definitely the way to go to play either of the original Megami Tensei games (I'll admit to being an idiot for even considering the original Megami Tensei rather than the version here since this one at least has the terminal function).
I didn't think going with the Super Famicom version would be so much of a difference until I realized part way through that this came out after SMT1/2/if. At the very least I feel like the general structure and story are a lot better than 1's.
MT2 feels a lot more in-line with later games, exploring a ruined, blasted Tokyo with a more 'punk' aesthetic vs the weird religious with typical dungeon crawling fare that MT1 was. On top of that I think the story has some pretty cool moments and its somewhat clear to see where the next 'Shin' games might take inspiration from. On top of all this it just felt easier to make progression from dungeon to dungeon, get levels and for once it feels like my protagonists were the useful ones in a fight unlike the original MT. Also the Automapping skill (courtesy of th
That all said there are still quite a bit of issues I have overall, especially by the mid to late game. A lot of the late game dungeons are kinda rough, not just puzzle wise but regarding some of the demons. Its a shame a lot of these demons end up being either just really hard to recruit or unrecruitable at all (as far as i can tell at least) but also so many of them still have those level dropping spells, I have no idea why succubus appears so often. Also while this game's battle system does feel a tad bit more interesting than battling in 1, there's still not too much incentive to using spells other than healing/occasional support/teleports (by the way, bless Traesto+Trastart+Tranpa). Once the game started throwing demons that reflected Sword/Gun attacks i figured they weren't really worth fighting since I'd rather use what MP i had on heals. Also it really seems like they wanted you to do a bunch of gambling since updating your gear takes a lotta macca that i just never had. Thankfully through my immense (save) luck (states), it didnt matter too much and 'Big & Small' gives a good chunk of money for one max prize streak.
At the very least I do think the end game has some neat side stuff you can do like collecting some optional demons, armor and gear. Last thing I'll say though is I did find it really weird how a lot of the best protagonist armor (and one stat check early in the game) requires INT yet in early SMT the INT stat is pretty much (if not entirely) useless for the protag to put points in. At least the armor/sword with these checks can be fulfilled by other armor with stat boosts but still would have liked to not have spent 10 level points on INT for a character with no magic powers.
At the end of the day though this is a much better way to play the original two megami tenseis, by a long shot and also a pretty solid RPG on the SNES. This definitely retained my attention a bit more than SMT if did (although ill be beating that later) and I would like to see how it compares to SMT1 and potentially a replay of 2, but I did enjoy my time with this more than i expected after having played the original version of MT1.