The Guardian system was designed by future Megami Tensei director Katsura Hashino. The ability for sub characters to wield COMPs and need to be rescued was planned, but both were rejected. The Partner system was divided into main and sub categories, with three to four playable characters available. The project's working title was Shin Megami Tensei X.
The modelling for Karukozaka High School was based on pictures from writer Ryutaro Ito's school album as they had no other visual resources.
The main concept was for a high school setting rendered in three dimensions where a portal to hell would open, creating a more self-contained adventure. Its smaller world scope came about because the game's director Kouji Okada felt he had reached the limit of what he could do with large-scale worlds in the previous Shin Megami Tensei games. was developed as a spin-off from the main series. Travelling to the Land of Nomos, Akira is killed and possessed by the demon Amon, who after defeating Hazama takes his place as the Demon Emperor, sending the protagonist back to the human world alone. In another route unlocked on a second playthrough, the protagonist can ally with Akira, who seeks vengeance against the demons who sucked the school into the demon's realm. Reiko, Hazama's sister, calms him and stays with him in the Expanse while the protagonist is teleported back to the human world and the school is returned to normal. If the Protagonist allied with Reiko, they enter the Demon Emperor's mind after he is first defeated, and see Hazama's motivations for his actions. In Yumi's route, the school is restored as if nothing happened, while in Shinji's route the school and its students remain trapped in the Expanse. Should the protagonist side with Yumi or Shinji, they navigate the demon-infested school and towers, finally confronting and killing Hazama. The protagonist is among those trapped in the school, along with fellow students Reiko Akanezawa, Yumi Shirakawa, Shinji "Charlie" Kuroi and Akira Miyamoto. The summoning goes wrong and Hazama is possessed by the demon, declaring himself as the "Demon Emperor" and throws the school into the demon's realm. Īt Karukozaka High School, bullied and brilliant student Ideo Hazama attempts to summon a demon from the Expanse to exact revenge on his tormentors. The Guardian changes each time the player dies. The Guardian's specialties affect how stats are changed: a higher power ranking will raise the player's strength, but lower magic will decrease their Magic Point meter. When the player or their human partner dies in battle, they are granted a Guardian Spirit, who revives them at the last save point and teaches them new skills and alter the player's stats. In addition to standard demons, the player can ally with one human companion, with three being available on the first playthrough and a fourth unlocking during the second. Once a part of the player's party, they will fight alongside them. ĭemons can be talked with in battle and recruited if the right conversation is initiated. During the course of the game, using a wrist-mounted device called a COMP, the player fights demons through a turn-based battle system, using physical and magical attacks to deal damage, as well as healing party members and casting status buffs and ailments on enemies. As the protagonist, the player explores both the demon-infested Karukozaka High School and five towers based on the Seven Deadly Sins. is a role-playing video game in which players take the role of the protagonist (an unnamed boy or girl, who appears in later Megami Tensei titles as a girl named Tamaki Uchida). Its well-received high school setting was the impetus for the creation of the spin-off Persona series.Ī battle, with the protagonist in conversation with a demon received a positive reception from critics and fans, and inspired multiple tie-in print adaptations and a mobile prequel. was developed as a change from previous Shin Megami Tensei titles, focusing on a small-scale environment and threat rather than a large-scale environment as in previous titles. The story follows a student of Karukozaka High School after their school is sucked into the realm of demons by a vengeful student's demon summoning spell going wrong. Since release, it has been ported to mobile devices, the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows, and re-released digitally through Nintendo's Virtual Console service. It is a spin-off from the Shin Megami Tensei series, itself part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise. is a Japanese role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus in 1994 for the Super Famicom.