Shin Megami Tensei released on iOS with English translation
So... I'm a big SMT fan, also a some what new one having only become said 'big fan' this time last year. I find the franchise's mix of super-natural and high technology horror in near-contemporary times to be delightfully different form the usual JRPG breed. Also, I'd discovered I LOVE first person dungeon crawling, as SMT has lead me to English games like Legend of Grimrock and Might & Magic X.
Anyway, last month it was announced that Atlus would be releasing an officially translated version of the original Shin Megami Tensei on iOS. Well, its out now (and only $6 until the end of March, then it goes up to $8 I think) and since this is the only way to legally play the thing in English I bought it as soon as I could.
A couple things about it, it actually uses the 2002 GBA remake version as its base game, rather then the 1992 SNES version. This is probably a good thing, as I had previous tried playing a fan translated version of the SNES version and... archaic didn't begin to describe its interface. Its still a bit clunky here (I never realized how dependent I was on the AutoMap being on the second screen of the DS and 3DS for contemporary SMT games) but its definitely better then it was. Also I hear this iOS version uses the music from a PS1 remake, so its not just a dumped GBA rom.
But here's the thing, its designed for iPhone specifically (in fact, when you search for it in the App store, make sure you have the iPhone drop down selected to even find it) and I'm trying to play it on my iPad. Now, the iPad natively zooms in on iPhone apps, to fill the screen. And that works pretty good here. But the game's controller interface is one of those touch overlays, with directional pad and buttons overlayed over the gameplay screen. This actually doesn't work too bad blown up on the iPad, though I'm sure it works a lot better in iPhone sized devices. Overall I'm a bit disappointed that there wasn't an iPad native version where the game graphics would be centered at the top of the screen (with various zoom options) and the controller overlays not obstructing the screen when in landscape mode. But alas, I suppose I'll take what I can get.
Honestly I'm primarily pumping a few bucks into this release because I'm hoping it might lead to Atlus US A) bring more older SMT releases to English and B) maybe get the GBA version itself released on 3DS eShop (if eShop ever gets around to GBA releases like they're suppose to). I'd be liking the game a LOT more if I was playing it on my 3DS I think.
As for the game itself, its a first person dungeon crawler from the early SNES era. It's clunky and confusing, and god damn do I love it.
EDIT: I probably should have put this in Classic Gaming. Bah.
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