For detailed information about this series, visit the Megami Tensei Wiki.
Summary
Megami Tensei, often abbreviated as MegaTen, is a long-spanning game franchise currently owned by Atlus, consisting of a variety of series and sub-series covering several role-playing genres, including tactical role-playing, action role-playing, and so on. Having originally started with Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, a series of urban fantasy Light Novels by writer Aya Nishitani, the franchise eventually branched off into various derivative works that have long since outstripped their source material in popularity and notoriety, with the franchise itself being able to be divided into:
Shin Megami Tensei (True Goddess Metempsychosis) is the first and most notable game series that branched off of the original Megami Tensei duology, originally published as a reimagining and spiritual successor of the original two games, rehashing much of their concepts and storylines, but introducing new characters and expanded plot-points.
The games usually involve the sudden appearance of the supernatural on the world, with Gods, Demons, creatures from all faiths involved, and Apocalyptic scenarios soon following. Over time, the series has developed to include elements from various religions such as Judaism, Gnosticism, Hinduism and Buddhism, Jungian Psychology, and Cyberpunk aesthetics.
Thematically, the series is known for its bleak tone and for hardly ever presenting clear-cut moral choices. The player will find themselves split between opposing forces, Law and Chaos, seeking to shape the world according to their ideals. The player may deny both alignments and seek the Neutral way.
Law is the path of God, with heavenly forces seeking absolute peace and order under their Lord's rule. Their victory means an end to all pain and suffering. However, their means involve the genocide of all opposition and the elimination of humanity's freedom of action and will.
Chaos is the path of Lucifer, with the demons at his side desiring complete freedom above all else. If they succeed, it will end all tyranny, as everyone shall live in a state of equality. However, that will lead to a world of unsuppressed vice, anarchy, and war, with the survival of the fittest as the only way.
Neutral is the path of humans and those seeking balance. It accepts the need for laws to restrain anarchy, but not at the cost of one's freedom. It rejects the powers of both Law and Chaos, instead longing for the personal empowerment of mankind and their inherent strength and individuality. Though it may seem the most ideal path, it is the hardest to attain. Seeking neutrality will often put the protagonist against their former allies and friends and force them to destroy all who stand in their way. More often than not, his victory simply leads to delaying the inevitable conflict of Law and Chaos or even worsening it. Alternatively, it may leave humans alone, with no one to guide them away from their self-destructive nature.
The most popular and commercially successful branch of the Megami Tensei franchise, having originated as a spin-off of the mainline Shin Megami Tensei series, inspired by the high-school-oriented setting of Shin Megami Tensei If... before growing to outsell its mother series with the release of Persona 3 in 2006, giving way to several adaptations and spin-offs spanning several other mediums.
Although the series still draws from mythology and religion as its primary sources of inspiration and shares many of the same summonable demons with Shin Megami Tensei, its main distinguishing factor is the focus on social interactions and interpersonal relationships between the characters, as well as their underlying psychology and evolution as individuals, with Gods and Demons themselves being recognized above all else as merely symbolic manifestations of one's own personality and will, thus the series' namesake: Persona.Power of the Verse
Megami Tensei is an astronomically powerful franchise. Approaching nearly 35 years of content, the amount of power it has displayed throughout the decades since its inception should be unsurprising, making it not only one of the most powerful verses within the varied genres of JRPGs but throughout all video games.
Even Low-Tiers, for example, the Elemental Spirits, are responsible for all of the Earth's weather phenomena, such as Eryths, being the conceptual embodiment of all phenomena connected to earth across the planet, and should very easily be capable of replicating feats such as these, cementing even the most basic and fodder of Devil Summoners and Persona-users at 6-B. Reaching farther, significant Demons, such as Morax, can create their own space-times comprised of data, entirely mutable for their whims. This type of feat isn't a stranger, as Palace Rulers, such as Kamoshida, are capable of replicating the same feats, as Palaces are mere cognitive reflections of the world (in this context, referring to the universe), equipped with moons, and even stars, granting a Low 2-C key as a consequence.
Moving onto the Mid-Tiers, significant and imposing Demons, such as the Four Devas, can generate and sustain a forcefield that can expel Yetzirah, a higher-dimensional realm and the lowest layer of the Demon World that transcends past, present, and future, from consuming and assimilating with the Human World (Assiah) with sheer power. The White seized control of the entire Expanse, expanding the Monochrome Forest to the whole space, granting them a blatant Low 1-C rating. More powerful Heralds, in turn, are natives to Beriah (Supreme Angel World), the realm immediately above Yetzirah, landing them at 6th-dimensional.
Approaching the summit of Megami Tensei's strength, Demons such as Elohim, one of the Names of YHVH, exist and reign over Chokmah, one of the three Sefirot that comprise the Atziluth (Archetypal World) within the Tree of Life, which transcends the concept of dimensions, a realm of formless, nonexistent information unbound by the concept of coordinates. Elohim, one of YHVH's many aliases, is equal to Shaddai and Sabaoth, in which the former is metaphysically undifferentiated from Metatron, stapling Demons of this caliber at 1-A. Such Demons, such as Metatron and Lucifer, rule over the Kether, the peak of the Atziluth, and are exceeded by the monster Kuzuryu, who, in its nine-headed state, is capable of destroying the entire Expanse down to the Atziluth. So powerful Lucifer must satiate its rage despite him only possessing one head.
At the zenith of Megami Tensei exists individuals such as Nyx, Mother of Shadows, and the personification of Death, in which all Shadows of the Personal Unconscious are mere fragments of her essence. YHVH, the progenitor of all Gods and Demons, in which they are all very aspects of His being, and responsible for the creation of the Tree of Life in its entirety, existing outside the World, unchanging to the events before him. The embodiments of the Collective Unconscious in full, Philemon and Nyarlathotep, are the personifications of human essence itself, residing within the Monado Mandala, a distant abyss below even the Kadath Mandala, the origin of Gods, Demons, Archetypes, and Personas. Adam Kadmon, the First Man, and the First World preceding the Tree of Life exist as the primordial man, and the ideal existence Man seeks to achieve. Stephen was a genius scientist who, through his studies, transcended his humanity and gained access to the Great Reason, and finally, the Great Reason: a lifeless force that governs the endless and infinite cycle of transmigration of which everything, without exceptions, spawns and returns to, being the primordial nothingness of which everything originated.
In terms of speed, anyone who transcends Yetzirah would have Immeasurable speed via transcending the past, present, and future, which in turns scales to any human who can fight them and anyone who is above those characters. Fodder characters have feats dodging lightning and reacting to EMR attacks.
When it comes to hax, the series is also no slouch regarding abilities, having a labyrinth of powers that even Low-Tiers possess. Since Demons are informational existences comprised of data, which also serves as the foundation for the rest of the verse, such as minds, souls, and even concepts, Demons are capable of striking all four of these attributes with mindless attacks. Masters of Magic, Demons possess elemental, supportive, healing magic and can even negate durability and erase one beyond death. Manipulation of higher forces, such as universes, are casually maintained and created by Demons. Ones on the level of the Atziluth can manipulate the rudimentary concepts that comprise the verse on an existential level.
Explanations
To get a fundamental understanding of why the verse is rated with such high statistics, the following threads and blogs will be referred to:
- Megami Tensei and 1-A
- Megami Tensei Cosmology Explanation
- Cognitive Physiology & Understanding
- Scaling Chain
Supporters/Opponents/Neutral
Supporters
- MagiSinbad
- Kiraaerth
- Elizhaa
- TISSG7Redgrave
- Matthew Schroeder
- Amelia Lonelyheart
- Yomi Schwarz
- Dragonmasterxyz
- Ultima Reality
- CrimsonStarFallen
- Edwellken
- Scottycj256
- MarvelFanatic119
- Ionliosite
- The Divine Phoenix
- Dark warrior 100
- LukaSolosYourVerse
- LightinAnt
- Yvel Atsly
- DarkDragonMedeus
- LeoEpicGamer8910
- Lukewoesal007
- ShadowWhoWalks
- ProfectusInfinity
Opponents
Neutral
Characters
Demons
Gnosticism
Humans
Human (人間/人, Ningen/Hito) is the weakest of all races in Shin Megami Tensei, being the race of the Protagonists and Player characters, rather than any demon. However, of all races it is the one with the greatest potential and capability to evolve.
Digital Devil Story
Mainline
Digital Devil Saga Series
Devil Survivor Series
Devil Summoner Series
Others
Persona
S.E.E.S
Strega
Velvet Room
Other
The Investigation Team
Others
Velvet Room
The Phantom Thieves
Palace Rulers
Velvet Room
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Discussions
| Discussion threads involving Megami Tensei |
General Discussion
| General discussion thread for this verse |