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Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne is a role-playing video game developed by Atlus for the PlayStation 2. It was published by Atlus in Japan and North America, and by Ghostlight in Europe. It is the third numbered entry in the Shin Megami Tensei series, the central series in the Megami Tensei franchise. Multiple versions of the game have been published: the original version was published in Japan by Atlus in 2003, while a director's cut was released in 2004 in Japan. The director's cut was localized and released in North America in 2004 as Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and in PAL regions in 2005 as Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call. A high-definition remaster was released for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in Japan in 2020, and was internationally released in 2021 on those consoles and Windows.

Nocturne follows a high school student in post-apocalyptic Tokyo, who is transformed into the demonic Demi-fiend after the world undergoes Conception, an apocalyptic event triggered by a sinister cult to enable the world's rebirth in a new form. With Tokyo transformed into a Vortex World filled with demons, the Demi-fiend becomes instrumental to the schemes of the Reasons, beings who seek to remake the world in their image, and Lucifer, the lord of demons. The gameplay uses a turn-based battle system based on exploiting weaknesses, and a Demon recruitment system allowing the player to recruit demons found in the Vortex World to fight alongside them.

The game was conceived after the completion of Shin Megami Tensei II and Shin Megami Tensei If..., but was delayed as the team worked out what they wanted for the game, including making it appeal to a wider audience than previous Megami Tensei games. Unlike the science fiction setting of Shin Megami Tensei II, Nocturne returned to a contemporary setting similar to the original game. The setting and characters were inspired by multiple elements, including Gnosticism, Mahayana Buddhism, and modern popular culture. Among the things the team changed from previous entries were the camera perspective, which was switched from a first- to a third-person camera perspective, and using a cel-shaded art style to distinguish it from other games of the time. The music, primarily composed by Shoji Meguro, paid homage to earlier Megami Tensei games while drawing on music styles from the 1980s.

The original edition of Nocturne released in Japan to strong sales and a positive critical reception, and the limited director's cut proved so popular that Atlus made a second print in response to fan demand. It also inspired a drama CD and light novel in Japan. The director's cut was the version chosen for localization, making Nocturne the first mainline Shin Megami Tensei game to be released in the west. The game was well received by video game publications, who praised its gameplay and atmosphere, while its challenging difficulty was often a subject of criticism and occasional praise. It was also announced to have been a commercial success in the West.

Gameplay
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne is initially set moments before a post-apocalyptic conception of modern-day Tokyo: aside from the opening segment, post-apocalyptic Tokyo, also known as the Vortex World, is the main setting. From the outset, the player can select two difficulty settings: Normal and Hard. The player controls a silent protagonist who is given a name during the opening. The player navigates the Vortex World through both a 2D world map, and to-scale 3D environments used in dungeons. While navigating the world map, the Protagonist's party and other non-player characters (NPCs), interactive objects and landmarks are represented by symbols: these objects and NPCs include containers holding items, spirits that will heal the party, and a globe in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen showing the party's approximate location on the world map. During dungeon navigation, the Protagonist navigates grid-based, multi-leveled areas. Different areas are accessed via doors, and as the Protagonist progresses the area is automatically mapped. While exploring dungeons, the in-game camera can be freely rotated, and a "Look" action allows the player to see environments in first-person. The game world can be navigated either on foot or by using a fast travel system unlocked at a certain point in the game.

Multiple important locations are located within the world: these include Terminals that give access to a fast travel system; the Junk Shop, which acts as a vendor for buying and selling items; Rag's Jewelry, where gems collected during gameplay can be traded for rare items and unique demons; and the Fountain of Life, where the Protagonist and other party members can receive treatment for ailments, heal them of damage, or revive characters knocked out in battle. An optional location separate from the Vortex World is the Amala Labyrinth, accessed after the Protagonist has reached a certain point in the story. The Labyrinth is a dungeon divided into multiple floors or Kalpa, each housing both demon enemies and brokers who sell demons to the Protagonist. Each Kalpa is connected by a Warp Zone, in which the Protagonist can collect currency and items while avoiding or destroying obstacles. Proceeding through the levels of the Labyrinth requires the protagonist to find and fight Fiends carrying Candelabra, which unlock barriers. The Candelabra also act as a means of locating and either engaging or avoiding Fiends.

Battle system
During navigation, an indicator in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen indicates the presence of enemies and the likelihood of a battle being triggered. An indicator in the top left-hand corner also shows the current "phase" of Kagutsuchi, a moon-like object hovering in the sky of the Vortex World which shifts its phase as the Protagonist explores. Standard battles are initiated through random encounters, which trigger a transition into a dedicated battle arena. The player party is composed of the Protagonist and three demons: only eight demons can be carried by the Protagonist at the game's opening, but more can be added as the game progresses. At the end of battles, the party gains experience points and Macca, the in-game currency. Party members will level up when enough experience points have been gathered. Upon leveling up, the statistics of allied demons are randomly raised, while the Protagonist's stats can be customized by the player. The Protagonist's abilities and resistances are also influenced by equipping one of 24 different Magatama found in-game. The Protagonist can learn new skills from equipped Magatama when he levels up, and is also granted passive buffs and debuffs which take effect in battle. Magatama will sometimes act violently within the Protagonist, creating different effects depending on the Magatama equipped.

Battles are governed by a turn-based mechanic called the "Press Turn" system. Each character participating in combat, friend and foe alike, provides one or more Press Turns represented in the upper right-hand corner of the screen as icons. The rule behind this system is that any action (attacking, using skills, items, contacting demons, summoning commands) will normally cost one full turn. If a combatant scores a critical hit, exploits their opponent's weakness, or passes on making an action, they gain an additional turn marked by a pulsating icon. These added turns allow characters to perform all actions available within normal turns. If the player chooses to pass on an additional turn, that turn is lost. If an attack fails through missing or blocking, then multiple turns are lost: how many depends on how many combatants avoided or blocked it. If an attack heals an enemy, all remaining turns are lost. An auto-attack option is available, where party members can use standard physical attacks or repeat their actions from the previous turn. Characters can escape from normal battles, with failure forfeiting a player turn. If the main character loses all health, the game ends, regardless of the status of his demons.

Demon negotiation and fusion
A key element related to battles is demon negotiation, the process by which new demons are invited to join the Protagonist and can fight alongside them. The majority of demons can be talked to in battle by the Protagonist, and some allied demons. After selecting the option to talk, the player selects a demon, which initiates a negotiation. For those demons who can talk, the responses vary by both situation and a demon's temperament: some demons can be bribed with Macca and items, some will ask questions related to subjects like philosophy, while others can be influenced by the Protagonist's skills of flattery or eloquence. A negotiation can fail if the wrong responses are chosen, if the Protagonist's demon roster is full, or if another enemy demon interrupts. When in the party, demons can be summoned or dismissed from battle. The level of assigned Magatama can also affect how negotiation goes.

In addition to recruiting in battle, new demons are acquired through fusion at a location called the Cathedral of Shadows. Normally only two demons can be fused at once, but under certain conditions, more demons can be fused together. Fusions can produce a variety of results based on various circumstances, such as the current phase of Kagutsuchi and the addition of items called Deathstones. When in the Cathedral of Shadows, the Protagonist can select two demons, viewing a preview of the resultant demon, then initiate a fusion. The resultant demon will both possess its own skills and inherit skills from both parents: skill inheritance is randomized. Higher-level demons produce more powerful fusions. Demons gained through negotiation or fusion are automatically stored in the Demon Compendium, a record kept within the Cathedral of Shadows. The Protagonist can also pay to summon a demon from the Compendium, returning it to his ranks.

Setting and characters
The setting and events of Nocturne take place in a separate continuity to the rest of the Megami Tensei series. Nocturne is set in modern-day Tokyo before and after an event called the Conception, in which the normal world is destroyed through the actions of a cult to prevent the world's stagnation and ultimate demise, as dictated by the Great Will governing existence. Tokyo is transformed into a wasteland on the inside of a sphere inhabited by the spirits of humans who died in the Conception; demons who wage war with each other; and Reasons, deity-like beings formed from the gathering of Magatsuhi energy by people with a deity or demon sponsor. Those who possess Reasons seek to remake the world in their image by presenting themselves to Kagutsuchi, a semi-sentient manifestation of the Great Will's power which exists to perpetuate the destruction and rebirth of worlds through Conception, and proving their worth. Another realm mentioned in the story is the Shadow Vortex, a limbo where dead worlds and the beings who created them linger.

The nameless main Protagonist is the player character: generally dubbed the Demi-fiend, he is an "everyday man" who represents the player. Several other characters survive the opening events of the game alongside him, many of them representing the various routes the player can choose to take. They are Yuko Takao, his teacher and a key figure in future events; his classmates Chiaki Hayasaka and Isamu Nitta; and Hikawa, leader of the Cult of Gaea and later the Assembly of Nihilo. Other characters include Jyoji Hijiri, a journalist the Protagonist meets with prior to the Conception; and Futomimi, a powerful Manikin seeking to create his own Reason. All the game's events are watched over by Lucifer, ruler of the demons and the Great Will's sworn enemy, who takes on multiple forms during the story. Two characters from other games are included in later versions. These are demon hunter Dante from the Devil May Cry franchise; and Raidou Kuzunoha, a lead character from the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner subseries.

Plot
The game begins with the Protagonist arriving in Tokyo to meet up with Chiaki and Isamu to visit Takao in a hospital. While in the city, the player learns of a confrontation between two cults which resulted in several deaths, and learns details of it from Hijiri when he meets them in the park where the event took place. Finding the hospital deserted apart from Chiaki and Isamu, the Protagonist searches it, is briefly accosted by Lucifer in his child form, and is almost killed by Hikawa. Saved from Hikawa by Takao, the Protagonist is taken by her to the hospital roof and witnesses the Conception, with Takao saying the resulting Vortex World will remain until the next creation is triggered. In the immediate aftermath, Lucifer contacts the Protagonist again and infuses him with a Magatama, wishing to see whether he can lead his armies against the Great Will. This turns the Protagonist into the Demi-fiend, a being with the powers of a demon and the heart of a human. After escaping from the hospital, the Demi-fiend begins exploring the Vortex World with help from Hijiri. He learns of two cults who seek to remake the world in their image: Hikawa's Assembly of Nihilo, and a separate organization called the Mantra Army. Hikawa manages to destroy the Mantra Army, with Takao acting as his assistant.

The Demi-fiend goes in search for his friends and faces these groups. Both Chiaki and Isamu are distraught by the Vortex World and decide to move on their own rather than relying on their friend's power, while Takao realizes she is being used by Hikawa and decides to go on her own quest to create her desired world. To do this, she allies with Aradia, a former deity from the Shadow Vortex. After this point, all the supporting characters are seeking to ally with a powerful entity from the Shadow Vortex and create their own Reason, a powerful inner philosophy of life that can be used to mold the new world. To do this, a large quantity of an energy called Magatsuhi is needed, which each character begins hoarding. Hikawa's Shijima Reason wants a world of stillness and conformity in the service of a peaceful world; Chiaki's Yosuga Reason seeks a world where the strong rule supreme and destroy the weak; and Isamu's Musubi Reason wishes for a world where everyone is an individual who can live without reliance on others. Others also attempt to form a Reason, including Futomimi, who wishes to free the world's Manikins from their servitude, and Takao, who wants a world where people value life and have freedom. Both die before they can realize their wishes, and Takao gives the Demi-fiend an artifact that will enable him to remake the world. Hijiri, revealed to be a manikin doomed to be reborn and suffer repeatedly for an unspecified "sin" against the Great Will, also attempts to gather enough Magatsuhi to remake the world, but is thwarted and sacrificed by Isamu to create his own Reason. Additionally, the Demi-fiend can fulfill a request from Lucifer to collect eight Candelabra from Fiends.

Choosing to support a Reason will result in a different ending depending on who is chosen, but in each the world is reborn in the image of the chosen Reason after the Demi-fiend fights Kagutsuchi to prove his resolve. Chiaki and Isamu die before the Demi-fiend begins and give him their blessing in spirit form, while Hikawa accompanies the Demi-fiend into their new world. If Takao's wishes are followed, the Demi-fiend fights Kagutsuchi and the world is returned to its pre-Conception state, resurrecting and restoring all the main characters. If the Demi-fiend rejects Takao's wishes, Kagutsuchi curses him for allowing the world to die and departs, leaving the Demi-fiend as the only survivor in a barren world of demons, trapped as it is until another Conception can happen. If the Demi-fiend fulfills Lucifer's request of collecting the Candelabra from the Fiends, Kagutsuchi attacks him and is destroyed, breaking the Great Will's control over the worlds. After this, Lucifer fights the Demi-fiend to test his strength, then declares him to be the ultimate weapon in the upcoming war against the Great Will.

Development
The concept for a third Shin Megami Tensei title was originally proposed by Kazuma Kaneko and others after the completion of the previous two installments, Shin Megami Tensei II and Shin Megami Tensei If.... There were originally no plans to continue the Shin Megami Tensei series beyond If..., with there instead being plans for an original project. Despite the release of the PlayStation and Sega Saturn consoles, the team took a while to decide what they wanted for the game, the team spent time deciding to create a different kind of game that would appeal to a wider audience than its prequels. Eventually, the team decided that they needed to develop for the PlayStation 2 to realize their vision. Because of this delay, Atlus shifted development focus onto Megami Ibunroku Persona and Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner. During this early concept stage, many of the staff felt lost as to where they could go with the new project. As part of the research, the team created a 3D test demo featuring the demon Cerberus to test the PlayStation 2 hardware. The demo was created before Nocturne's contents had been decided upon, as a test on modelling and animating demons. Nocturne was among the first Megami Tensei titles to use 3D graphics, alongside Shin Megami Tensei: Nine. Development on Nocturne began in 2000, with the creation of the first Alpha builds to determine how the main character would move around environments. To finalized their desired aesthetic look, the team created internal tech demos using 3D models of characters from previous Megami Tensei games. When their vision for the game had been finalized, full development began in 2002, taking approximately one year.

Along with Kaneko, series co-creator Kouji Okada produced the title. The game was directed by Katsura Hashino, his first time in such a position within the Megami Tensei series. While the option of making a direct sequel to Shin Megami Tensei II was considered, Kaneko wanted to return to the contemporary setting of the original Shin Megami Tensei as opposed to the science fiction aesthetic of its sequel. As it was felt that the game was more than just the third numeric installment, a subtitle was added. Before the final subtitle, "Nocturne" was added, other subtitles were considered. An early subtitle was Vortex. The game uses a third-person camera perspective rather than the first-person dungeon crawling of earlier installments. One of the reasons for this change was that the developers wanted to focus on the protagonist, who would stand out for being a half-demon. Another factor was many reports of people suffering from a condition similar to car sickness called "3D sickness" with first person shooters in Japan: the developers wanted players to have something to focus their eyes on. Despite setting the game in contemporary Tokyo, the team chose a cel-shaded art style as they wanted their game to stand out and enable Kaneko to bring the game as close as possible to his original vision.

The desired feel of the game design was defined by Okada as "simple yet profound". One of the earlier ideas was to make the Vortex World a vast battlefield where players could see distant scenery on the horizon and in the sky, but performance issues meant the idea had to be scrapped. The Press Turn system was created so battles would feel less sedated than the pure turn-based battle systems of earlier titles. The initial concept was a kind of meter where players and characters were given turns which were extended if a character's weak spot was exposed. To ensure this did not lead to repetition in battle, a second meter was implemented so enemy characters would become acclimated with an attack that was used too often. As the displays needed for this cluttered up the screen, the concept was revised so a single gauge represented a party's number of turns, with a side's turn being extended if a weakness was exposed or a critical strike happened. As they settled on the rule of one action to one unit, the gauge was replaced with the current icon display. One of the requests given by Okada was to simplify the gameplay, especially aspects such as demon fusion, which had become fairly convoluted by Shin Megami Tensei II. The equipment system was also redesigned to better fit the setting, and adjusting aspects of demon interaction.

Design
Nocturne expanded on the general Megami Tensei theme of people lacking excitement in their everyday lives, with Nocturne focusing on the extraordinary events people could not experience in real life. The team wanted Nocturne to feel like a "journey into hell" comparable with Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now. Kaneko was mainly responsible for creating the inverted bubble structure of the Vortex World. This design choice was primarily inspired by similar ideas in Gnostic traditions, early science fiction, and the Heart Sutra, an important scripture within Mahayana Buddhism. In contrast to previous games which offered three routes for the cast, Chaos was the only affiliation of the characters. This was due to the fact the staff saw the Chaos route offered more to the player, and that it would be boring to have the same designs as previous games. It also gave the team more development freedom. Another reason was that Shin Megami Tensei II had already explored a world governed by Law, so it seemed natural to swing the other way and depict a world ruled by Chaos. In addition, Kaneko stated that Nocturne was part of a movement to create a single unified mythos for the Megami Tensei series. One of the main aspects of incorporating this theme were discussions about the nature of chaos.

Okada's main wish for the title was it to "go back to the Creation". The initial concept of a triggered rebirth to prevent stagnation was suggested by Kaneko upon seeing a change in fashion: after a period of flashy or gaudy clothing tastes, people had begun wearing plain suits. Using this, he thought up the concept of this signalling a stagnation in the world's life energy, necessitating a drastic change. The game's main setting of Shinjuku in Tokyo in ruins came from Okada, who visualized areas like Kabukichō and Shibuya as good settings. The Reasons were inspired by the team's want to show several styles for living. The Manikins were created as a representation of the Vortex World and the war between the Reasons, acting as a mass pressuring for the birth of a new world. They mirrored the mechanisms of a country with a high population, and were based on the idea of people being overwhelmed by numbers and acting in accordance with a common norm. The scenario was written by Shogo Isogai, whose main task was to take Okada and Kaneko's vision and turn it into a story that would fit into the framework of a traditional Megami Tensei game. The overall concept was so grand that it seemed at times too ambitious, and involved the layering of multiple interactions between different factions and ideals, alongside incorporating the common Megami Tensei narrative features such as multiple endings and the modern-day setting. The story had multiple possible routes and endings to emphasize the importance of the player's decisions. One of the early concepts that needed to be cut was giant demons battling each other in Tokyo.

In keeping with previous entries, the story focused on a single protagonist rather than a group as in other role-playing games of the time to promote full player immersion. The main protagonist was the first character to be created, being featured in the first Alpha build. So as to include a feeling of "digitality" in the game, the main character was designed as something akin to a human computer. This approach was inspired by the special make-up used in David Cronenberg's 1983 horror film Videodrome. While the protagonist was originally designed with keyboards growing from inside him, Kaneko felt uncomfortable with that and instead redesigned him with full-body tattoos. The tattoos were intended to convey the character's demon powers, act as an obvious stigma in place of wings or horns, and be a reference to real-world shamans who commonly made themselves stand out using tattoos. Kaneko's inspiration for the main character's design was the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers: according to Kaneko, he "imagined [the main character] running around the desert naked". The main character was initially going to use one of the series' recurring arm-mounted COMP computers, but as he had already become a demon hybrid, it did not make sense to include it. As he was the character controlled by the player, more focus was given to embodying and reflecting his world view than to developing a personality. In keeping with the game's theme of energy remaking reality, Kaneko dressed his character in comfortable shorts to balance against his tattoos. The spike growing from the main character's neck, the Magatama fused with him at the beginning of the game, was inspired by the theory that a person's aura appears as a shark fin sticking out of the back of their neck when viewed from the side.

The number of supporting characters was kept low to emphasize their individuality, and their personalities were left ambiguous to reinforce the desire for player immersion. The heroine Yuko Takao was intended to be a different type of character to previous main heroines, being a non-playable character from the beginning of story development. She was the only major non-playable character not to have her own Reason. The character of Lucifer designed was not a standard villain, but rather as a gentlemanly observer who sets tests for the player. To reflect his omnipotent status as God's opposite, he is portrayed in a number of forms, including a child and an old man. Alongside this, the staff wanted to portray demons not only as enemies but as characters the player could relate to and grow attached to when inviting them to their party. One of the key elements for demon designs recycled from earlier games was bringing them into the game and making them as true as possible to the original design while fitting into the game's art style.

Music
The music for Nocturne was composed by Shoji Meguro, with additional work by Kenichi Tsuchiya and Toshiko Tasaki. Mixing was done by Meguro, Tsuchiya, and Tasaki. The soundtrack included tunes from previous Shin Megami Tensei titles composed by Tsukasa Masuko. While composing the music, Meguro attempted to express his feelings when he saw the world while remaining true to the styles established by the original Megami Tensei games. Taking inspiration from the game's dungeon-battle transitions, and the cut-scenes' combination of current graphics with classic use of subtitles for storytelling, Meguro created modulating tunes which included elements from 1980s music. Meguro also introduced orchestral elements which were absent from previous Megami Tensei scores, using it to emphasize the gameplay's constant shifts between movement and stillness. Meguro generally worked solo on the original version, but for the director's cut, he had help composing new tracks.

The majority of tracks from the game were released in an album, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Original Soundtrack, on March 5, 2003. The album, published by SME Visual Works under the catalog number SVWC-7173~4, contained 49 tracks and was 1:55:16. A second album containing the tracks composed for the director's cut, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Original Soundtrack extra version, was released on October 26, 2005. Again published by SME Visual Works under the catalog number SVWC-7308, it contained 21 tracks and was 39:04. In North America, selected tracks from the game were released on a promotional CD exclusive to the game's Limited Edition.

Versions and merchandise
The game was first hinted by an Atlus spokesperson in November 1999, who stated that Atlus was planning an entry in the Megami Tensei franchise for the PS2. The game was eventually announced in September 2002 by the gaming magazine Famitsu, where it was clarified it was a sequel to previous Shin Megami Tensei games rather than an entry in the spin-off Persona series. As part of promotion, a TV commercial featuring live-action segments was created. Atlus had high hopes for Nocturne's success, preparing estimated shipments totaling 500,000 units. The game launched on February 20, 2003. It came in a standard edition, and a limited special edition containing the game's soundtrack and an incense burner modeled after an in-game story component. In addition, a version exclusive to Japanese media retail shop Tsutaya with a unique cover was released. It was later re-released as part of Sony's budget series release on August 5, 2004.

An expanded director's cut of the game, titled Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax, (真・女神転生III-NOCTURNE マニアクス) was released approximately one year after the original version on January 29, 2004 as a limited edition. It was later given a second print run in February that year due to fan demand. The original release in Japan had to have some planned features cut out, so the staff created Maniax, which included both the cut content and additional features. Among the additional features is an optional dungeon that leads to a sixth ending. The lead character of Capcom's hack and slash series Devil May Cry, Dante, appears as a guest character. His inclusion in the game was suggested by a member of the Atlus staff who was a fan of the Devil May Cry series. This idea was approved due to how Dante's job as a demon hunter would fit the setting of Nocturne and thus Atlus created a movie where Dante confronted the game's hero. Capcom was satisfied with this video and allowed Atlus to use the character. A second version of Maniax, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax Chronicle Edition, (真・女神転生III-NOCTURNE マニアクス クロニクル・エディション) was released on October 23, 2008 as part of a Japanese limited edition of Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon: in this version, Dante is replaced by Raidou Kuzunoha, the protagonist of the third and fourth Devil Summoner title.

To commemorate the release of Maniax, a PlayStation 2 memory card decorated with the main protagonist's tattoos was released. A novelization of the game written by Boogey Toumon, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Chaos, (真・女神転生III: NOCTURNE 混沌) was released on August 20, 2003 by Enterbrain. A CD Drama based on the game was released on April 23, 2003 by King Records. A comic anthology adaptation was released by Enterbrain in June 2004.

Localization
The localization of Nocturne was handled by Atlus USA, the North American branch of Atlus. The original Maniax is the version that was translated and released overseas, as the main director Kazuyuki Yamai believed the enhanced difficulty and the other new features would appeal to the western audience. In addition, the team were encouraged to release it by the success of mature titles in the west such as Grand Theft Auto, and the Maniax edition would give western players the most complete version of the game. The localization was announced in February 2004. This made Nocturne the first main Shin Megami Tensei title to be released outside Japan. It was speculated that this was the reason the numeral III was dropped from the title. Rather than altering the script, Atlus translated it all faithfully from the original Japanese, preserving the original experience as far as possible. For their work on the game's translation, the localization team were given access to the source files and Japanese strategy guide, which enabled them to avoid mistaking the genders of Kaneko's often highly androgynous designs. According to a later interview, it was said that Atlus had high confidence in the title's overseas release. The later popularity and recognition of the game would result in Atlus attaching the "Shin Megami Tensei" moniker to later Western releases of Megami Tensei titles to aid in identification and marketing.

For its release in North America, it was given an "M for Mature" rating by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. In response to this, Atlus' western branch issued a statement saying that they were ensuring that the localized version of the game was true to the Japanese version, including its mature themes and content, as toning anything down "would [have been] a disservice to the gaming public". Furthermore, the North American version uses the "Nocturne" name, as in the Japanese version, which was under license of Terminal Reality, the developers of Nocturne. To promote the game, Atlus USA created a sweepstakes that ran between May and September 2004: the winner received a laptop decorated with the main protagonist's tattoo design, along with a free copy of the game. Due to backlogs at Sony Disc Manufacturing, Atlus delayed the release of the game by over three weeks to October 12. In compensation, DoubleJump Books offered free priority shipping worldwide for their Nocturne guidebook. The publishing rights in Europe were picked up by Midas Interactive, who published the game through their then-newly formed subsidiary Ghostlight under the title Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call. It released on July 1, 2005. Nocturne was the first Megami Tensei title to be released in Europe. It re-released for the PlayStation Network as a PlayStation 2 Classic in both North America and Europe: it released on May 6, 2014 for North America and May 20, 2015 for Europe.

HD Remaster
A remastered edition, titled Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster, was announced during Nintendo Direct Mini: Partners Showcase on July 20, 2020 alongside the release year for Shin Megami Tensei V. It is based on the Maniax Chronicle Edition release, and includes voice-acted cutscenes, dual audio and additional difficulty settings. Production of the remaster began in 2018 and lasted around two years. The new "Merciful" difficulty setting was included as a concession to modern gaming trends, acknowledging players who would want to easily experience the stories and endings. Alongside these and graphical changes, some dialogue was rewritten. A "Maniax Pack" downloadable content item launched alongside the game, restoring Dante in place of Raidou Kuzunoha. The original television commercial was remade around the production's theme of "respect for the original", with original staff returning to create both a 15 second television version, and a web-exclusive 30 second version.

The remaster was released in Japanese, Traditional Chinese and Korean on October 29, 2020 for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, with a worldwide release and Windows version on May 25, 2021. For the Asian release published by Sega, the Chronicle content was originally omitted. Due to protests from Chinese consumers, the Chronicle content was eventually offered as DLC for Chinese players. It was free for a two week period before becoming a paid item on January 7 of the following year in China.

Reception
Critical reception to the game has been positive. The average score in Metacritic is of 82 out of 100. The Japanese video game magazine Famitsu gave it a score of 36/40, earning the magazine's Platinum award and becoming the highest-ranking review score that week. The reviewers were generally positive about their experience: despite some comments about a lack of polish in environments, the game's character design, aesthetics, gameplay and story all came in for general praise, with multiple reviewers calling it a worthy part of the Megami Tensei series.

It received perfect reviews from both G4TV's Darryl Vassar and RPGamer's Michael Beckett, who praised the balance between cutscenes and gameplay, giving the player several areas to explore and the multiple challenges, as well as the multiple paths the player can take across the story resulting in high replay value. The game has been praised for its challenging AI and combat system, alongside its labyrinths. The modern setting and dark storyline from Nocturne has also been found refreshing for contrasting common RPG storylines. Similarly, Jeremy Dunham from IGN noted its "bizarre" story as one of the reasons to play it due to its post-apocalyptic setting. Beckett also praised the visual style employed by Atlus including Kaneko Kazuma's character designs as well as the design of the Vortex World. The latter point was shared by 1UP.com. On the other hand, the highly challenging battle system has bothered reviewers with Rob Fahey from Eurogamer ultimately finding as a flaw that stopped him from giving the game a near perfect score. GameSpot's Bethany Massimilla and RPGFan's Ryan Mattich shared similar feelings noting that despite these drawbacks the game will feel rewarding to players. Despite also noting the game was quite challenging, Beckett found it significantly easier during its last third with the total play time depending on the players' choices when leveling up and obtaining new skills. Besides good critical response in reviews, Nocturne received recognition by publications. Jeremy Dunham from IGN listed it as the seventh best game from 2004. G4TV also awarded it best RPG from the same year. In RPGamer's awards from 2004 it was ranked third in the Readers' "Best PlayStation 2" category, and had honorable mentions in the categories for the similar Readers' "Best Storyline" and "Graphics" and "Overall". It received a nomination in GameSpot's 2004 "Best Role-playing Game" award category across all platforms. In IGN's "Best of 2004" awards, it was a runnerup for "Best RPG" and "Best Story" in the PS2 category. It was also nominated at the Spike Video Game Awards in the "Best RPG" category. In 2008, Gamasutra listed Nocturne as one of their "Essential 20" role-playing games, noting how challenging the title could be. In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list, also noting the brutal difficulty.

Sales
During its first week of release in Japan, Nocturne sold 185,000 units which were equal to 75.7% of its shipment, topping sales charts. By the second week, the game had dropped to seventh place in the charts, selling a further 37,328 units. This brought total sales to just over 200,000. By the end of 2003, it had sold 245,520 units becoming Japan's 49th bestselling game of the year. Its sales by the end of Atlus' 2002-2003 fiscal year had reached 270,000, falling short of their planned sales of 350,000. The Maniax edition was also popular, reaching 5th place in Japanese sales charts in its first week, and remaining in the top ten for a second week. In an interview with Kaneko, 1UP.com noted that the game had not met with sales equivalent to its high review scores, although no exact figures were given. In contrast, as part of a press release concerning the game's European release, an Atlus staff member noted that it had met with commercial success in North America along with Japan. Speaking in 2013, a Ghostlight representative that Nocturne had, alongside the Digital Devil Saga duology, "met with great success". Later reprints in 2008 and 2009 caused the game to enter the top five PlayStation 2 games on Amazon.com in North America.

The remastered Nintendo Switch version sold 52,481 physical copies within its first week on sale in Japan, making it the second bestselling retail game of the week in the country. The PlayStation 4 version was the third bestselling retail game in Japan throughout the same week, with 48,830 copies being sold. On April 28, 2021, Atlus announced that the remaster had sold over 250,000 copies in Japan and Asia. By October 2021, the remaster had sold over 500,000 copies.

Notes and references

 * Primary references

 * Translations

 * Footnotes

title: Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne


text:
Alyson Court

Alyson Court (born November 9, 1973) is a Canadian actress. Beginning her career as a child actress, her first role was on the series Mr. Dressup (1984–1994) and she made her film debut in Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (1985). Court continued to appear in educational productions, landing the lead role of Loonette the Clown on the series The Big Comfy Couch (1992–2002).

As a voice actress, Court has appeared in several animated series, mostly notably as Lydia Deetz in Beetlejuice (1989–1991) and Jubilee in X-Men (1992–1997). She was also the original voice of Claire Redfield in the Resident Evil franchise, voicing the character for all of her appearances from Resident Evil 2 (1998) to Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (2012).

Television roles
Court first appeared in the Canadian children's series as herself in Mr. Dressup in 1984 and later in the 1985 film Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird. In 1988, she was in the pilot for the series My Secret Identity as Caroline, neighbor to Jerry O'Connell's character. Court played Loonette the Clown, the main character of the series The Big Comfy Couch, for the first six seasons before leaving the show to focus on raising her child.

From 2000 to 2003, Court was the host of the morning children's programming block on CBC, Get Set for Life (now CBC Kids).

Court appeared in This Hour Has 22 Minutes (season 24, episode 3), a Canadian television show where she reprised her role as Loonette the Clown in a comedic sketch on the 2016 clown epidemic.

Voice acting
Court voiced summer camper Dawn in the 1986 animated film Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation and Emily Elizabeth in the Clifford's Fun with... videotape series from 1988 to the early 1990s. Among her animated series voice acting roles are Malani the Ewok in the animated television program Star Wars: Ewoks, and Lydia Deetz (originally played by Winona Ryder) in the animated adaptation of the 1988 film Beetlejuice. She voiced Terri Cloth on The Garbage Pail Kids animated series of 1987–1988. In 1992, she voiced Jubilee in X-Men: The Animated Series and Nora Mouse in the animated series Timothy Goes to School. She was also voice of Trina Riffin in the Cartoon Network/Teletoon series Grojband, Queen Martha in the Nick Jr. Channel program Mike the Knight and Poodle in the YTV program Almost Naked Animals. During 2006 and 2007, she was the voice of Dahlia in the animated series Skyland. She voices Coco in the animated show Urban Vermin, and was the voice of Pixx in the animated show Ultraforce. Also she voiced of Windy Woo from The Naughty Naughty Pets.

In video games, she provided the voice of Claire Redfield in Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil – Code: Veronica, Resident Evil: Degeneration, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. Court did not reprise her role as Claire in Resident Evil: Revelations 2 or the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2, as the third-party localization team overseeing voice acting and motion capture chose to go with non-union voice actors. In addition she directed the voice-over and motion-capture portions of the spin-off title Resident Evil Outbreak, which did not feature Claire. In addition to voice acting, Court was also involved in the localization process of several Capcom games in North America. Among the most worthy were Mega Man X5 in 2001, in which she was directly responsible for the decision to rename the initial eight Maverick bosses to reference Guns N' Roses members, meant as a tribute for her then husband's love for the band. In 1998, Court reprised her role as Jubilee in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes. Court also provided the voice of Arkayna Goodfey/Mysticon Dragon Mage in the Nickelodeon/YTV series Mysticons.

Personal life
Court married Erik Suzuki, a former Capcom voice and video game localization director, in 2000. They divorced in 2005. Court has a son named Blaede. In March 2018, Court became engaged to comic book creator Z.M. Thomas. On July 1, 2019, Court announced her marriage to Thomas.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Alyson Court


text:
Rosa Meriläinen

Rosa Anneli Meriläinen (born 31 December 1975) is a Finnish politician from Tampere. Meriläinen has a master's degree in political science from the University of Tampere. She was elected to the parliament of Finland in 2003. She represents the Green League. Before that, she was the co-president of the green league and an assistant to Satu Hassi. Meriläinen is a candidate in the 2024 European Parliament elections.

In an interview by the Image-magazine Meriläinen confessed to have used cannabis as a representative during her career, and she confirmed the matter to MTV3 news. She was prosecuted for a drug offense, but was relieved of charges.

She reports of the political work on her blog. She is engaged to comedian Simo Frangén, with whom she has a son, Frans, born 2006.

The Finnish version of the pornographic magazine Hustler once printed a comic strip featuring a parody character of Meriläinen. Meriläinen sued the magazine, and the character's name was changed to be less recognisable.

title: Rosa Meriläinen


text:
Doug Duncan

Douglas Michael Duncan (born October 25, 1955) is a former American politician from Maryland who served as Rockville City Councilman, Rockville Mayor, Montgomery County Executive, and candidate for Governor of Maryland. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Duncan currently serves as president and CEO of Leadership Greater Washington, a position he has held since 2014.

Early life and education
Duncan was born on October 25, 1955. The fifth of 13 children, Duncan grew up in the Twinbrook section of Rockville, Maryland, a working-class neighborhood, home to federal employees, teachers, police officers and firefighters. His father worked for the NSA and later worked for the Montgomery County Public Schools as a volunteer tutor and ESOL teacher. His mother worked for the Montgomery County Circuit Court as a courtroom clerk from 1973 to 1999.

Duncan attended St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C., graduating in 1973. He graduated from Columbia University in three years, in 1976, earning a bachelor's degree with a double focus in psychology and political science. Upon graduating, Doug worked for Montgomery County's criminal justice commission, and then spent 13 years in the private sector working in the telecommunications industry for AT&T.

Duncan got his start in politics at an early age, going door-to-door with his mother for John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, and was the only one of his 12 siblings to follow in his mother's Democratic-activist footsteps.

City of Rockville Council
Duncan's first full-time experience in politics was as a field director for Charlie Gilchrist's campaign for Montgomery County Executive in 1978, which Gilchrist won by a margin of better than 3-to-2. Deciding to run for political office himself, Duncan ran for and was elected to Rockville City Council in 1982 at the age of 26. He would be re-elected twice to that position. In 1984, Duncan called for the resignation of then-Mayor John Freeland, who had taken a job with a city developer, claiming it was a rank conflict of interest. Freeland resigned that year.

City of Rockville Mayor
After serving three terms as Rockville City Councilman, Duncan ran for Mayor of Rockville in 1987, beating incumbent Steven VanGrack. During his six years as Mayor, Doug started the process of redevelopment in downtown Rockville, which included tearing down the Rockville Mall. That project would serve as inspiration for his revitalization of downtown Silver Spring years later as Montgomery County Executive. Accomplishments under the Duncan administration include building Wootton Parkway and Gude Drive bridge. One of his proudest accomplishments was starting Hometown Holidays, Rockville's annual Memorial Day weekend festival.

Montgomery County Executive
Duncan successfully ran for Montgomery County Executive in 1994, defeating Councilman Bruce Adams by nine percentage points in the Democratic Primary and earning 63% of the vote against Steve Abrams in the general election. Duncan would go on to be re-elected twice for a then unprecedented three terms as County Executive. During Duncan's tenure as County Executive, he focused on improving educational excellence, strengthening environmental protections, fighting poverty and urban blight, and positioning Montgomery County as an international biotechnology leader and economic engine for Maryland all while managing a multi-billion dollar annual budget.

The Washington Post described his governing style as "county leadership that knows when to quit mulling and start moving." Due to his long tenure and influence, media observers later described him as "Montgomery's dominant political figure for over a decade."

Duncan's focus on education included increasing investments in higher education opportunities for county residents, leading to the expansion of Montgomery College's Rockville, Takoma Park, and Germantown campuses. Duncan's advocacy for Montgomery College helped lead to the planning and development of many new initiatives and institutes including the college's High Technology and Science center, Humanities Institute, Information Technology Institute and Health and Science Center. Duncan also played a role in creating the Universities at Shady Grove Center and encouraging the growth of the Johns Hopkins University Shady Grove Campus.

Duncan was County Executive during the DC sniper attacks, seven of which occurred in Montgomery County in October 2002.

Some of Duncan's top accomplishments during his three terms in office were the revitalization of downtown Silver Spring, including the relocation of Discovery's world headquarters and the opening of the AFI Silver Theatre and Culture Center, the building of Strathmore, a cultural and artistic venue and institution, the Maryland Soccer Plex, gaining the approval for building of the Intercounty Connector, and becoming the first county ever in the United States to implement an earned income tax credit.

Amongst his many awards and accolades during his tenure, one of the most notable was being named Washingtonian of the Year in 2002.

Race for Maryland Governor
In 2005, Duncan announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party's nomination to challenge incumbent Governor Robert Ehrlich in the 2006 Maryland gubernatorial election. His main rival in the Democratic primary election was Baltimore Mayor Martin J. O'Malley. He announced his campaign with a bus tour through each of Maryland's 23 counties and Baltimore City.

During the campaign, Duncan trailed O'Malley and Ehrlich in fundraising. Education became a defining issue in the race: while schools in Duncan's home jurisdiction of Montgomery County had a good reputation, a judge had ordered a state takeover of Baltimore's troubled special education programs in 2005. Duncan began airing television ads in May 2006, relatively early in the campaign season; his poll numbers began to rise in the following weeks.

On June 22, 2006, Duncan unexpectedly dropped out of the race citing a diagnosis of clinical depression. During the brief announcement of his withdrawal, he said that he had at first thought he was simply experiencing physical and mental fatigue associated with campaigning, but that the symptoms had progressed beyond simple fatigue, and sought medical treatment which resulted in the depression diagnosis. He cited a family history of the disease as a factor in the diagnosis, and a number of aides and political associates were quoted in the press saying that Duncan was noticeably unhappy in the period leading up to his withdrawal. During his withdrawal announcement, Duncan endorsed his Democratic primary opponent, Martin O'Malley, in the latter's race against incumbent Republican Governor Robert Ehrlich. At the time of the announcement, polls showed Duncan closing in on O'Malley even as his fundraising was beginning to decline. This weakness in fundraising had led to speculation that Duncan would drop out during the summer, even before the announcement of the depression diagnosis. Reports at the time suggested that his dropping out would have a significant effect on state politics, making it easier for O'Malley to unseat Ehrlich and lowering turnout in the Democratic primary, thereby affecting down ballot races as well. O'Malley won the election and became governor.

Clinical depression
Duncan was honored by a number of mental health groups for having publicly announced that he suffered from depression. The public nature of his declaration led to an increase in the number of calls to Montgomery County mental health agencies from people seeking mental health help. In the months after his withdrawal, he continued to seek counseling for a time and began a medical regiment to treat the depression. He continued to publicly discuss these treatments and his experiences with the disease, including speaking at a NIH Forum on it.

In an April 2009 Baltimore Sun article, Duncan proclaimed, "I'm living proof that treatment works."

University of Maryland and after
On March 22, 2007, Duncan was appointed Vice President of Administrative Affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park, effective April 4, making him the university's chief administrative and finance officer with authority over the university's human resources, comptroller, public safety, facilities and environmental management, and procurement. During his tenure, Duncan led the East Campus redevelopment project, designed as a mixed-use town center with graduate student housing along the Route 1 corridor. In association with the project, he also worked to improve relations between the university and the surrounding city of College Park. On October 15, 2008, after a seventeen-month tenure, Duncan announced his resignation from the University of Maryland.

After Maryland, Duncan was self-employed as a consultant advising various enterprises in Greater Washington D.C. Metro Region and beyond regarding economic development, technology and immigration issues. In 2010, Duncan was speculated as being in consideration for General Manager of WMATA, after John Catoe vacated the post, including receiving an endorsement from then Congressman, and now United States Senator Chris Van Hollen.

2014 Race for Montgomery County Executive
In 2014, Duncan made his political comeback seeking to reclaim his old post at Montgomery County, Maryland Executive for a fourth term. Running on a platform of "Leadership In Action" with ideas of revitalizing downtown Wheaton, better attract and keep jobs and business with an improved procurement process and more "open for business" attitude, create express lanes on I-270, build a technology institute venture similar to that of Cornell and New York City, and provide gigabit internet speeds across the county. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 24 to incumbent Ike Leggett.

Leadership Greater Washington
Shortly after his campaign, Duncan was selected as president and CEO of Leadership Greater Washington, a non-profit organization with a mission to bring leaders together to make positive community impact in the Washington Metropolitan region. The vision for LGW is to help the Washington Metropolitan become a more dynamic and collaborative community with engaged leaders of diverse backgrounds, geographies, and sectors through dynamic, education and membership programs that promote dialogue and cooperation, enabling area leaders to find effective solutions to regional challenges. He still serves in this role today. In this new role, Duncan was named to Washington Business Journal's Power 100 for 2014 and 2015.

Continued involvement in politics
Despite being out of political office since 2006, Duncan has remained politically active in Maryland and the Washington region.

In 2012, Duncan endorsed then upstart and underdog John Delaney in his first bid for Congress; "Duncan's endorsement was the first of any consequence, and he backed up his support by cutting radio spots for Delaney and going door to door with him".

In 2014, Duncan was named to newly elected Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's transition team as well as that of newly elected District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser.

In 2018, Duncan endorsed David Trone, who was elected to Congress later that year.

Personal life
Duncan married wife, Barbara, on June 14, 1980, on the campus of Trinity College in Washington, D.C., where Barbara went to school. They met in 1978, as Barbara worked for Doug's mom, Ellie, at the Montgomery County Circuit Court. They live in Rockville, Maryland, and have five grown children and two grandchildren.

In popular culture

 * Duncan is portrayed by Jay O. Sanders in the 2003 film, D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear.

title: Doug Duncan


text: Template:Cite DCB

title: Template:Cite DCB


text:
David Stoll (anthropologist)

David Matthew Stoll (born 1952) is an American cultural anthropologist. His research has focused on the indigenous peoples of modern Latin America, and especially on the Mayas in Guatemala. He has been a professor of anthropology at Middlebury College since 1997.

Education and early work
Stoll studied anthropology at the University of Michigan. He became interested in Protestant evangelism in Latin America and, as an independent researcher, investigated the role of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, focusing on its ties with Evangelical missionary work among the indigenous populations (see Wycliffe Bible Translators), as well as with its possible covert ties with the anti-communist foreign policy of the United States government. That work appeared in 1983 as Fishers of Men or Founders of Empire?, published by Zed Books.

Stoll began post-graduate work at Stanford University in 1985. He investigated the role of and impact upon the native Maya Ixil communities of Santa Maria Nebaj of the Guatemalan Civil War, at the peak of its violence in the early 1980s. Stoll received a doctorate in anthropology from Stanford in 1992. His doctoral advisor was William H. Durham.

Work on Guatemala
Stoll's work among the native Mayas in the Guatemalan highlands led to two books: Between Two Armies in the Ixil Towns of Guatemala (1994) and Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans (1999). There Stoll argued that, contrary to the view then prevalent among foreign observers, the native population of rural Guatemala was never deeply or broadly committed to the leftist guerrillas' armed struggle against the Guatemalan state. According to Stoll, with the brutal counterinsurgency launched in the early 1980s by the Guatemalan Army, the Ixils found themselves "caught between two fires", with the guerrillas on one side and the army on the other. Stoll joined the faculty at Middlebury College's Department of Anthropology in 1997.

Rigoberta Menchú controversy
In Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans, David Stoll claimed that the life story of Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Menchú, as she had told it to anthropologist Elizabeth Burgos in 1982 and as it was recounted in the book I, Rigoberta Menchú (published by Burgos in 1983), was not entirely consistent with the testimonies of her neighbors and relatives or with the documentary evidence. According to Stoll, although the basic elements of Menchú's testimony were true, significant aspects of it were distorted to make it more compatible with the Marxist ideology of the Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP), with which Menchú was affiliated at the time. Stoll also criticized anthropologists and historians for ignoring other indigenous testimonies that did not fit as well with their own political agendas.

Journalist Larry Rohter investigated Stoll's claims and wrote a story that appeared on the front page of The New York Times on December 15, 1998, shortly before Stoll's book came out in print. Rohter's story supported Stoll's main findings. Stoll's book attracted a great deal of attention and controversy upon its release. Anthropologist Victoria Sanford claimed that Stoll had used unreliable sources as his research informants and accused Stoll of historical negationism and victim blaming. Other critics generally accepted the factual evidence about Menchú's life offered by Stoll, but questioned his interpretations and argued that he had failed to recognize that Menchú's testimonio was part of a cultural tradition that legitimately incorporated communal experiences into an individual voice.

Stoll's Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans was re-issued in 2008 in an extended edition with a new foreword by Elizabeth Burgos. According to Mark Horowitz, William Yaworsky, and Kenneth Kickham, the controversy over Stoll's book on Menchú is one of the three most divisive events in the history of anthropology in the United States, along with controversies about the truthfulness of Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa and Napoleon Chagnon's representation of violence among the Yanomami.

Later work
Stoll continues to carry out research in the Guatemalan highlands. He has recently focused on immigration, microcredit, and what he argues is a financial bubble created by the two elements.

Books

 * Republished in 2008 by Routledge in an extended edition with a foreword by Elizabeth Burgos ISBN 978-0813343969
 * Republished in 2008 by Routledge in an extended edition with a foreword by Elizabeth Burgos ISBN 978-0813343969
 * Republished in 2008 by Routledge in an extended edition with a foreword by Elizabeth Burgos ISBN 978-0813343969
 * Republished in 2008 by Routledge in an extended edition with a foreword by Elizabeth Burgos ISBN 978-0813343969
 * Republished in 2008 by Routledge in an extended edition with a foreword by Elizabeth Burgos ISBN 978-0813343969

title: David Stoll (anthropologist)


text:
Talk:Continental Express

Untitled
Continental Express currently uses both the ERJ 145 LR and the ERJ 145 ER aircraft. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.219.196.189 (talk • contribs) 08:46, 6 April 2005 (UTC-7)

merging
same Icao Code Mion 03:59, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Expressjet is the public name doing business as "Continental Express" —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.114.240.126 (talk • contribs) 16:44, 2 March 2006 (UTC-7)
 * Potentially not true pretty soon, as other carriers may be contracted to operate as Continental Express. I'm keeping them separate and removing the merge request. FCYTravis 05:57, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Chautauqua airlines will be operating as continental express starting in 2007 as per. Keep the articles seperate! 66.25.30.135 20:49, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

BTA equals Britt Airways
ExpressJet's original certificate holder was an entity called Britt Airways, hence the ICAO: BTA. Even people at Continental don't realize this! Anyways, I'll have to dig up the history of that and put it on here. It is not uncommon for a company to buy up another airline and even cannibalize it for it's operating certificate and union contracts. This is probably the product of some mergers and buyouts over time. Acidradio 03:52, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Should not be merged with ExpressJet
ExpressJet is a contractor to Continental, but Chautauqua Airlines has recently begun service under the Continental Express name as well. ExpressJet is currently still providing regional jet service to Continental, but is also operating charter flights under its own name. It is also rumored to begin scheduled passenger service under its own name in early 2007. ExpressJet should be a stand-alone article. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.27.102.34 (talk) 07:26, 6 January 2007 (UTC).

Fair use rationale for Image:Co logo express black 3p.gif
Image:Co logo express black 3p.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 11:57, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

Bye Bye Plane
This item should be noted under this section. "Long term historical notability" is very subjective. Also, since this is a current event, it seems awfully dismissive to delete it before legal action or any investigation undertaken by the airline is complete. I have restored this item, with the recommendation that if be revisited in about 3 months to see if anything else has happened in this case. Feel free to discuss. 70.159.43.66 21:04, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Co logo express black 3p.gif
Image:Co logo express black 3p.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

Can i post the emergency landing of The Continetal Express Flight 3161 To Memphis it had a Landing gear problem here is the youtube video link

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kd_Vxub6bqU —Preceding unsigned comment added by Thecoolman95 (talk • contribs) 15:45, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

BetacommandBot 07:14, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Continental Express


text: User talk:85.100.158.84

title: User talk:85.100.158.84


text:
Wikipedia:Categories for deletion/China Taiwan stub split

The following discussion comes from Categories for deletion. This is an archive of the discussion only; please do not edit this page. -Kbdank71 15:46, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)

China / Taiwan stub split
The discussion over with these three categories, together with the templates linked to them, continues at WikiProject Stub sorting/Criteria. — Instantnood 11:14 Mar 6 2005 (UTC)

I think it is too soon to talk about these categories here. There is active discussion in the stub sorting and template forums that must complete before we do anything here. --ssd 14:37, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Right. I've put up on the categories pages, and therefore I put up a note here to tell people it was an ongoing discussion at WP:TFD. I did not expect anybody to vote or discuss here at this stage. Thanks Ssd.  — Instantnood 20:56 Feb 26 2005 (UTC)

Category:China geography stubs
(see Templates for deletion) — Instantnood 21:01, Feb 18 2005 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Category is well populated. Courtland 00:14, 2005 Feb 19 (UTC)
 * Oppose. --Viriditas  | Talk 08:57, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Oppose.  gidonb  10:33, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Please refer to Templates for deletion. It is not nominated for deleting, but spliting and renaming. — Instantnood 13:43, Feb 19 2005 (UTC)
 * That should be handled at requested page moves. Not here. -- AllyUnion (talk) 11:46, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * It is currently handled at WP:TFD. — Instantnood 13:12 Feb 24 2005 (UTC)

Category:China-related stubs
(see Templates for deletion) — Instantnood 21:00, Feb 18 2005 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Category is well populated. Courtland 00:15, 2005 Feb 19 (UTC)
 * Oppose. --Viriditas | Talk 00:58, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Oppose.  gidonb  10:33, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Please refer to Templates for deletion. It is not nominated for deleting, but spliting and renaming. — Instantnood 13:43, Feb 19 2005 (UTC)

Category:Taiwan-related stubs
(see Templates for deletion) — Instantnood 19:25, Feb 18 2005 (UTC)
 * Strongly oppose all three deletions. You're joking, right? Three well-used categories that fit snugly into the way that stub-sorting works, all full of stubs where the editors working on these types of articles can find them. It ain't broke, don't try to fix it. Or, if you do want to fix stub-sorting categories, at least talk to the people working at WikiProject Stub sorting about it before suggesting removing three important categories! Grutness|hello? [[Image:Grutness.jpg|25px|]] 23:56, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Category is well populated. Courtland 00:16, 2005 Feb 19 (UTC)
 * Oppose. --Viriditas | Talk 00:57, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Oppose.  gidonb  10:33, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Please refer to Templates for deletion. It is not nominated for deleting, but renaming. — Instantnood 13:43, Feb 19 2005 (UTC)
 * In that case, amend my vote to: Strongly oppose all three suggested splits. As I said, these categories fit snugly into the way that stub-sorting works. Splitting them would disrupt that schema. It ain't broke, don't try to fix it. Grutness|hello? [[Image:Grutness.jpg|25px|]] 23:52, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Oppose all suggestions for renaming Taiwan stubs.  gidonb  10:33, 4 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The discussion over with these three categories, together with the templates linked to them, continues at WikiProject Stub sorting/Criteria. — Instantnood 11:14 Mar 6 2005 (UTC)

Results of discussions 0n cfd, tfd and WP:WSS re:geo-stubs
After considerable discussion (which lasted for well over a month), the following compromise was reached on Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting as regards the geo-stub categories relating to the two entities referred to as China. Category:China geography stubs is currently empty of articles (all that is left there is four Wikipedia template message pages), and just about ready for deletion.
 * Template:Taiwan-geo-stub -> Category: Republic of China (Taiwan) geography stubs
 * Template:China-geo-stub -> Category: Mainland China geography stubs
 * Category:Mainland China geography stubs and Category:Hong Kong geography stubs both to be subcategories of Category:People's Republic of China geography stubs

China-related and Taiwan-related stubs are still to be dealt with. Grutness|hello? 07:16, 11 Mar 2005 (UTC)

This seems to have resulted in a "no move" decision. De-listing. -- Beland 07:13, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)


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File:Gowanuscanal.JPG

Picture of the Gowanus Canal near Smith and 9th Streets. Taken by User:Howrealisreal on April 6, 2005.

title: File:Gowanuscanal.JPG


text: User talk:216.56.19.50

title: User talk:216.56.19.50


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Gerry Anderson (broadcaster)

Gerard Michael Anderson (28 October 1944 – 21 August 2014) was a radio and television broadcaster for BBC Northern Ireland. Renowned for his unique style and distinctive sense of humour, Anderson often referred to himself on his show, as "Turkey Neck", "Puppet Chin" or "Golf Mike Alpha".

Early life and career in music
Anderson was born in Derry in 1944, growing up in Sackville Street in the city centre. He was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers and went to work as an apprentice tool-maker and a clerk in a shipping firm. In 1963, having taught himself the guitar, he moved to Manchester where he worked in nightclubs. A tour of Scotland, England and Canada followed, with the showband The Chessmen. In 1972, while in Canada, Anderson joined a band called Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. He returned to Ireland where he gained a degree in sociology and social anthropology, and a postgraduate diploma in continuing education.

Broadcasting in Northern Ireland
Anderson began his radio career at BBC Radio Foyle in 1985, the local station in his home city which he usually called "Stroke City" to reflect the difficulty regarding broadcasting the name of Derry/Londonderry (each name is preferred by a different part of the local community, Derry by Catholics/Nationalists, Londonderry by Protestants/Unionists). Starting with Making the Tea, on with music but then also moving on to talk shows. His programme was picked up by BBC Radio Ulster and given a wider audience. The Gerry Anderson Show was broadcast daily on BBC Radio Ulster from 10:30 am to 11:55 am, and calls made to the show form the basis of BBC NI's animated TV comedy series On The Air. Show regulars included Geordie Tuft a farmer from Loughbrickland, who offered advice to listeners on matters regarding farm animals (particularly goats), using Jeyes Fluid as a shampoo for dogs, and how to "dung out a bed".

Anderson was also instrumental in helping to launch the radio career of Paul McLoone, the frontman with the Northern Irish pop-punk group The Undertones and subsequently a radio presenter with the Irish national independent radio station, Today FM.

On the BBC Radio Ulster show, referring to his earlier career in music, he claimed to have met Elvis Presley and toured with Kris Kristofferson. His co-presenter on the show was Sean Coyle who has his own Wee Show on BBC Radio Foyle. In addition, Anderson presented various television series for BBC Northern Ireland, including a documentary on hair-loss called Gerry Anderson's Losing It. In 2013, Anderson was also the "monumental" guest on Northern Ireland-based comedy panel show, Monumental.

Stroke City
His contribution to solving the Derry/Londonderry name dispute was to popularise the jocular name "Stroke City" (from the "/" in the city's neutral designation), which became the title of one of his radio programmes from 1992 leading some of his friends to rename him "Gerry/Londongerry". The programmes were broadcast nationally on Radio 4.

Radio 4
In 1994, BBC Radio 4 contracted the broadcaster to present an afternoon magazine programme running from 3 to 4 pm. The audience reaction to Anderson Country was polarised with listeners divided over its shift in tone from the rest of Radio 4. After a year Anderson Country was dropped, although the programme continued as The Afternoon Shift for another three years presented by Laurie Taylor and Daire Brehan. Anderson returned to Northern Ireland where he remained popular, sometimes presenting television as well as radio, and continued to make new programmes for Radio 4 such as Gerry's Bar.

Awards

 * Gold Sony Award 1990 for Best Regional Broadcaster
 * Broadcaster of the Year at the Entertainment and Media Awards, 1991, 1992 and 1993
 * Radio Academy Hall of Fame
 * Royal Television Society Regional Presenter of the Year 2004

Publications
The semi-autobiographical Surviving Stroke City, was published in 1999."The main entrance to the cathedral was directly below us and therefore out of sight. When a particular service called for the local bishop to enter in some splendour, we were required to sing the celebratory hymn 'Ecce Sacerdos', which I quickly realised was the bishop's 'signature' tune. When it was time for his glorious entry, the worker-bee priest at the altar, seemingly involved in communication with the Higher One, was, in fact, informing the organist via a series of complicated hand signals (observed through the wing mirrors on the organ) of the progress of the bishop. When the proper psychological moment arrived to give the bishop's entry maximum clout, a signal was made, the organ blared majestically, and we lustily sang our hearts out for the benefit of the fat prelate who strode airily down the aisle whilst the lumpen proletariat clamoured to clutch the hem of his raiment. In a flash I realised that this wasn't religion at all. It was show business. (extract from Surviving Stroke City by Gerry Anderson)"

 * Autobiography: Surviving Stroke City (Hutchinson, 1999).
 * Memoir: HEADS – A Day in the Life (Gill & Macmillan, 2008).

Death
Anderson died on 21 August 2014, aged 69, following a long illness. Requiem Mass for the radio presenter was held at St Eugene's Cathedral.

A year later, on 18 September 2015, Anderson was posthumously inducted into the PPI Hall of Fame.

title: Gerry Anderson (broadcaster)


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D. J. Mbenga

Didier "D. J." Ilunga-Mbenga (born December 30, 1980) is a Belgian-Congolese former professional basketball player. He has also played for the Belgian national basketball team as he is a dual citizen of both his native countries.

Early life
Mbenga was born and raised in Kinshasa, Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where his father was a government employee. When a new regime took over power, it sought out everyone who worked for the previous leader. As unrest in the country escalated, Mbenga and his family were imprisoned. While his father was eventually unable to save himself, he did manage to negotiate on behalf of his wife and son, as Mbenga and his mother escaped the nation and were given asylum in Belgium. While living in a refugee center, he was discovered by Belgian basketball legend Willy Steveniers, who eventually served as Mbenga's personal basketball mentor.

Spirou Gilly (2001–2002)
In 2001, Mbenga joined Spirou Gilly of the Belgian Division II league where he made his professional debut in 2001–02.

Leuven Bears (2002–2003)
In 2002, Mbenga joined the Leuven Bears of the Belgian Basketball League for the 2002–03 season where in 21 games he averaged 8.1 points per game.

Spirou Charleroi (2003–2004)
In 2003, Mbenga joined Spirou Charleroi also of the Belgian Basketball League for the 2003–04 season where he played both league games and ULEB Cup games.

Dallas Mavericks (2004–2007)
On July 14, 2004, Mbenga signed a two-year, $3.4 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks and joined them for the 2004 NBA Summer League. During an injury-riddled first season with the Mavericks in 2004–05, he managed to play just 15 games while averaging just one point per game.

In July 2005, Mbenga re-joined the Dallas Mavericks for the 2005 NBA Summer League, and went on to play in 43 regular season games for the franchise in 2005–06. During the 2006 Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns, Mbenga was suspended for six games for going into the stands, after he saw the wife of coach Avery Johnson being harassed by fans. He went on to manage seven playoff games in the Mavericks' playoff run that ended in Game 6 of the NBA Finals where they lost to the Miami Heat.

On June 30, 2006, the Mavericks extended a qualifying offer to Mbenga in order to make him a restricted free agent. After again playing for the Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Summer League, Mbenga re-signed with the franchise to a three-year, non-guaranteed contract on July 13, 2006. However, he managed just 21 games in 2006–07 after suffering a torn right ACL on February 7, 2007. He returned to the court on October 23, 2007 in the Mavericks' preseason finale against the Chicago Bulls where he recorded 5 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 assist in 12 minutes of action. A week later, he was waived by the Mavericks.

Golden State Warriors (2007–2008)
On November 17, 2007, Mbenga signed with the Golden State Warriors. On January 6, 2008, he was waived by the Warriors.

Los Angeles Lakers (2008–2010)
On January 21, 2008, Mbenga signed a 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. On February 1, 2008, he signed a second 10-day contract with the Lakers. On February 11, 2008, he signed with the Lakers for the rest of the 2007–08 season. On September 24, 2008, he re-signed with the Lakers.

On March 6, 2009, Mbenga recorded a then career high 10 points on 4–5 shooting, along with 4 rebounds and 5 blocks, in a 110-90 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Lakers went on to win the 2009 NBA championship after they defeated the Orlando Magic 4 games to 1 in the 2009 NBA Finals.

With starting forward Pau Gasol and center Andrew Bynum injured, Mbenga made his first start for the Lakers on November 6, 2009 in a 114-98 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Two days later, Mbenga recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, in addition to 4 blocks, in a 104-88 win over the New Orleans Hornets. On April 9, 2010, he recorded a career high 11 points in a 97-88 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Mbenga went on to win his second NBA championship after the Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics 4 games to 3 in the 2010 NBA Finals.

New Orleans Hornets (2010–2011)
On October 13, 2010, Mbenga signed a one-year deal with the New Orleans Hornets.

Mbenga's final NBA game ever was played in Game 6 of the 2011 Western Conference First Round against his former team the Los Angeles Lakers on April 28, 2011. The Hornets loss the game 80 - 98 (and lost the series 4 - 2) with Mbenga recording 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.

Qingdao Eagles (2012)
In July 2012, Mbenga joined the Milwaukee Bucks for the 2012 NBA Summer League. On September 27, 2012, he signed with the Dallas Mavericks. However, he was later waived by the Mavericks on October 2, 2012.

In November 2012, Mbenga signed with Qingdao Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association. On December 12, 2012, he played his final game for Qingdao before being replaced in the line-up by Chris Daniels.

Barako Bull Energy (2013)
On April 3, 2013, Mbenga signed with the Barako Bull Energy of the Philippine Basketball Association.

On October 8, 2014, Mbenga signed with the New York Knicks. However, he was later waived by the Knicks on October 24, 2014.

Personal
Mbenga speaks five languages: French, Portuguese, English, Lingala and Tshiluba.

In 2005, Mbenga started the Mbenga Foundation with the goal to help children in the Democratic Republic of Congo and refugees in Belgium.

title: D. J. Mbenga


text:
Talk:Megami Tensei

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Ameliashort.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 03:49, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

PC
Why do half the games have Win2000/PC etc. listed for them? AFAIK, the only SMT game that came out on PC was Giten Megami Tensei, which was on PC98/Win98. Kirbysuperstar (talk) 09:39, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Those other ports are strictly Japan exclusive. They are released by a company called i-revo as stated in the Japan wiki articles. Iron2000 (talk) 16:56, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

In Japan
Are Japanese players ever confused by the number of spinoffs and spinoff sequels present? Or do they memorize them all?

Roll Call
Who else has been working on these articles? Come on, don't be shy :)

--Morzas Merix 15:53, Apr 6, 2005 (UTC)

 * Hello... 193.51.24.15 (an adress from my old university ^^) and 82.65.196.106 here, from before I created an true account on Wikipedia. Thanks for the grammatical corrections - my english is awful. Ialdaboth 23:07, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

--User:EditingMachine
 * I've been hard at work trying to expand the MegaTen articles. It seems there is a lot of work to do!

If we have anybody fluent in Japanese, we can extract a LOT of information from the Japanese wiki. I'd also like to add info on the Megami Tensei OVA as I've seen it and I'm currently the novel of the same title but I don't know if I should make a separate article or put them with the game. 68.123.155.254 11:09, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Spin-offs
Just wanted to point out that there IS an article for "Persona_(video_game)" which describes the first two titles in that series and the US versions. I'm not sure how that large block of dangling links should be handled though. --Larry 07:37, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Since there's a link to the article with info. on the Persona series, I'm going to remove the links to the non-existant articles on the individual pages. Hope that's OK. Kuribosshoe 05:25, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Majin Tensei
In the article, Majin Tensei is translated as Reincarnation of the Demon God. In Megaten universe only, Majin 魔神 is a clan of chief deities from various pantheons rathen than meaning demon(evil) god in this case. --Peep

"Controversial content"
Can someone provide a source for the statement that the games weren't localized "because of their controversial content?" In at least some cases, the games weren't localized for reasons other than any potential controversy about their content (e.g. Sony Computer Entertainment America's policies against games that are direct ports from other systems).

Since no one has sourced this, I've removed it. Kuribosshoe 09:26, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

 * Rather than removing the section you would be better off to clarify. Nintendo of America's former content policy is well known. Thus, every Famicom and Super Famicom Megaten game was ineligible for stateside release.--Dustin Asby 02:14, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Meaning of 真・女神転生
The article states that the title is often translated to "Reincarnation of the True Goddess." More correctly the title means "The True Shin Megami Tensei" or "The True Reincarnation of the Goddess." Atlus always uses a dot between "Shin" and "Megami Tensei," i.e. 真・女神転生.--Dustin Asby 03:05, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Shin is a pun that really means "new", as in reboot, but *new* would be tacky, so the other kanji is used instead. Its very debatable that Shin games are more this or that. If anything they are probably a heresy. Megaten 2 has a very solid story that is Biblical in scope. The original Shin games are kinda just all over the place like a Saturday morning cartoon. So if one is less true, it's probably the latter.--67.54.192.38 (talk) 06:17, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

See also... ?
Why are Earthbound and The World Ends With You listed in the see also section? Other than the fact that the games share a common genre (JRPG), I see no real semblance between the majority of these games. 98.15.233.250 (talk) 20:49, 4 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Removed neither games are cool enough to lets you beat the YHVH like MegaTen. L-Zwei (talk) 04:39, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Persona 5 coming to Wii/PS2?
Is there any proof of this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.154.25.40 (talk) 04:06, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

 * Sony finds interest of the potential of SMT Persona series thus may offer the technical support for Atlus to develop new Persona installment for PS3 exclusively. Source -- Sameboat - 同舟 (talk) 05:07, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

 * E3 has been and finished, and no announcement, perhaps this is premature? 85.134.133.207 (talk) 02:12, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

With articles appearing today (like this that list Meguro as the producer for P5 even though there's no official announcement, I've created redirects for SMT: P5 and P5 to salt them. --M ASEM (t) 15:17, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Two years later, it's basically confirmed that Persona 5 will at least be a PS3 game, with the advent of Catherine. 174.111.86.22 (talk) 13:48, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Anyone?
I was wonderng if anyone wanted to work together to beef up the Megami Tensei articles that need it, particularly this one. ? EVAUNIT 神の人間の殺害者 16:20, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Shin Megami Tensei vs Megami Tensei
This series is called "Shin Megami Tensei", not "Megami Tensei". Yes, the original two games were called just Megami Tensei and the "Shin" came from the Super Nintendo's naming style in Japan. That, however, does not change the fact that this series is largely known as "Shin Megami Tensei". Not a single game since the original two has been called "Megami Tensei" yet a good deal of them in Japan have been "Shin Megami Tensei" long after the SNES days. Furthermore, ALL of these games have been released outside of Japan under the "Shin Megami Tensei" title. Atlus itself refers to this as the "Shin Megami Tensei franchise". Not sure why Wikipedia refuses to accept this, but it's time to change this article to reflect the fact that this series is Shin Megami Tensei, not Megami Tensei. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.5.100.31 (talk) 20:29, 27 January 2011 (UTC)
 * "真・女神転生"/"Shin Megami Tensei" is little more than branding to raise awareness, due to the success of that Super Famicom game; the same applies to its overseas brandings. You will notice that many of the subseries are given particular brandings to begin with, which are dropped later; Devil Summoner and Persona come to mind, and to a lesser extent, Majin Tensei. The series is referred to and will always be referred to as "女神転生"/Megami Tensei, "メガテン"/"Megaten", and the variations of. (Fun fact: there's even a video game composer that uses "Megaten" as a nickname.) 174.111.86.22 (talk) 13:42, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Technically Megami Tensei is a very specific term, as is Shin Megami Tensei. Megaten is a popular coinage. North American games etc slap "Shin Megami Tensei" on the front of everything, but only a few Atlus franchises fall into this category. Majin Tensei is its own thing, as is Persona. It's like an unofficial multiverse where gameplay just happens to coincide because it's all done by the same people and they have the legal right to do that. It's true the origins all trace back to Megami Tensei, but that's all you can really say.--12.213.80.54 (talk) 06:13, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

FWIW: I edited the opening paragraph, owing to confusion about this. Shin Megami Tensei is a "reboot" that happens in a different universe (that is much more convoluted/digressive than the original's, more biblical epic styled format.) Other spin-offs like Persona and IMAGINE briefly flirted with using "Megami Tensei" being apart from the SMT universe, and the original was remade for the Super Famicom. They are distinct. I personally feel the original is much more refined, and is superior, and that the tone of the latter games is if anything heretical/silly compared to the original's vision. It's sometimes hard to believe the same people directed all of these titles. MTII and the first Persona game are the best the series has to offer, both baring the plain MT title.--184.63.159.28 (talk) 10:20, 1 November 2018 (UTC)

Wording
Why are, in just one paragraph, Demons consistently referred to by 'nakama' and 'akuma'. I understand that the names are originally given to show the Japanese origin and reasoning for the words (ie. the homophone of 'nakama' and the japanese word for comrade, which is also not given) but to continue using these in the paragraph after these facts seems odd. They aren't used anywhere else in the article, and in the English games, Demon is used universally. Is there a justification for this? The paragraph in question. The enemies in the series tend to be referred to as akuma (悪魔?, "devil" or "demon") rather than the "monster" term used in many other RPGs. The player can recruit akuma to their side so that they become nakama (仲魔?) – "friendly demon", a homophone for "comrade" (仲間?). It is also possible to fuse multiple nakama to create another, more powerful nakama and, similarly, to upgrade weapons by fusing them with akuma. I'm suggesting that most of the uses of nakama and akuma here be changed to demon and ally demon. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.25.140.48 (talk) 00:48, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

Protection request on 11 August 2015
To avoid unnecessary changes & vandalism. — 73.47.37.131 (talk) 22:43, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

 * Padlock-dash2.svg Not done: requests for increases to the page protection level should be made at Requests for page protection. Cannolis (talk) 01:19, 12 August 2015 (UTC)

Etrian Odyssey relation
An editor keeps on re-adding Etrian Odyssey as a spinoff of the Megami Tensei. As far as I've ever seen, this is false - they are not actually connected, they're both just merely developed by Atlus. I also doubt that such a glaring omission would have been missed by and  when they brought the article up to Good Article status.

- do you have any sources that back this claim? Any input from anyone else? Sergecross73  msg me  12:24, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * , I've done research. While some staff may have been shared, Etrian Odyssey was inspired by RPGs such as Wizardry (Sourced 1 and 2). There's no connection to Megami Tensei. --ProtoDrake (talk) 12:33, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your input. That's inline with what I thought, but I just wanted to document a discussion on this. Thanks. Sergecross73   msg me  17:11, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

Requested move 1 March 2022

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: Not moved. RM proposer mainly argued that SMT was the WP:COMMONNAME but consensus found that "Megami Tensei" (which is indeed still used in RS) is more WP:PRECISE and naturally disambiguating. It was also agreed that the proposed title wasn't very accurate. (non-admin closure) — Ceso femmuin mbolgaig mbung, mellohi! (投稿) 19:23, 29 March 2022 (UTC)

Megami Tensei → Shin Megami Tensei – I think there is an argument for moving the series article to "Shin Megami Tensei" which appears to be the commonly used current name across all regions, similar to how "Super Mario" became the name of that series going forward. It seems unlikely they are going to go back to "Megami Tensei" ever for any future games, with the original series being the only ones that use the "Megami Tensei" names. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 11:43, 1 March 2022 (UTC) The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * RSs do use "Megami Tensei" when talking about the larger series (including Devil Summoner, Persona, Devil Survivor, etc.), for example IGN, PC Gamer, GameSpot, Kotaku. I won't deny that "SMT" also is used as a catch-all, but given that "MT" is used by RSs and that switching to "SMT" makes it more difficult for us to discuss different branches of the series (if we call something part of the "Shin Megami Tensei" series, will readers take it to mean it's a mainline game or not?), I would oppose such a move.--AlexandraIDV 12:02, 1 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Its very possible that said journalists are getting their info from Wikipedia in a self reinforcing cycle. Seeing the series called "Megami Tensei" here, they call it "Megami Tensei" even though it's been "SMT" for years. Which is an even more pertinent reason to switch titles. Either way, swapping to "SMT" will not make it tougher since only a small amount of games have the "Megami Tensei" label compared to the "SMT" one. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 12:42, 1 March 2022 (UTC)
 * This isn't an issue of citogenesis / incorrect facts getting circulated, though, it's a question about language - we are not perpetuating any untruths by continuing to call the overall series "MT" and the sub-series "SMT". I do not understand what you mean when you say that using "SMT" for both the larger series and the sub-series will not impact clarity.--AlexandraIDV 12:56, 1 March 2022 (UTC)
 * the thing about if you move this article to the Shin Megami Tensei series, not only are you alienating the Megami Tensei games and Kyuyaku Megami Tensei, you're also sort of isolating the Megami Ibonroku subseries, which includes games such as Last Bible, Devil Survivor, and the first Persona game 209.82.165.135 (talk) 16:13, 29 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I have a complicated opinion. Yes, Shin Megami Tensei was frequently used in the Western market, but nowadays that branding appears not to be used outside the actual Shin Megami Tensei subseries (See recent Persona titles and Soul Hackers 2). There's also subseries like Majin Tensei and Last Bible, which don't use the Shin Megami Tensei moniker. Also when referring to the franchise overall Japan uses Megami Tensei, and its common abbreviation is "MegaTen". I would oppose the move. And before it's mentioned, I think the commonality of reference began before the Wikipedia article, so it's probably not generating a trend. --ProtoDrake (talk) 14:01, 1 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Support per nom.--Ortizesp (talk) 05:16, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose for all the same reasons ProtoDrake listed. Megami Tensei refers to the overall franchise whereas SMT is more specific, and the western releases' SMT branding on non-SMT games was phased out by 2012. --TheHumanIntersect (talk) 05:37, 2 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Same Reasons. --Leggsie (talk) 13:44, 11 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose. It's a bad idea. In Japan, the series have many different names for the series. For example, Megami Ibunroku, literally means Goddess Odyssey, was used for Devil Survivor and the first Persona. Megami Tensei is good enough to describe the series as a whole. Bredino (talk) 00:41, 13 March 2022 (UTC)

lots of good stuff here
it seems no one really talks about this page much, but we should. theres a lot of good info and citations here but it's a really informal article that could use some revision. I am also bothered that Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei is completely ignored. even if it's just a 16 bit remaster, it's a hell of a game and at least warrants a mention and placement on the time line if stuff like devil kids is being mentioned. I would like to do some editing for the hell of it, at least to make some of the stuff a little less informal, I perhaps unfortunately have a bit of knowledge about the series myself and would like to spend some time looking into what has been said and what else there may be to say, might as well since theres a lot to work with as it is. I will make sure to attempt justifying any edits I make in an edit or talk page. Loosemanhole (talk) 16:20, 22 August 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Megami Tensei