Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

North American cover art
Developer(s) Atlus
Publisher(s) Atlus
Director(s) Satoshi Ohyama[1]
Producer(s) Kazuyuki Yamai[1]
Artist(s) Masayuki Doi[1]
Kazuma Kaneko[1]
Writer(s) Yusuke Miyata[2]
Kazuma Kaneko[1]
Composer(s) Ryota Koduka[1]
Series Megami Tensei
Platform(s) Nintendo 3DS
Release date(s)
  • JP February 10, 2016
  • NA Q2/Q3 2016
Genre(s) Role-playing

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, known in Japan as Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final (Japanese: 真・女神転生IV FINAL), is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus for the Nintendo 3DS. It is set in the same universe as Shin Megami Tensei IV and forms part of the Shin Megami Tensei series, the central series of the Megami Tensei franchise. It was released in Japan on February 10, 2016, and is planned to be released in North America in Q2/Q3 2016.

Setting

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse takes place in the 2030s. Twenty-five years prior, a devastating war was waged between the angels and the armies of Lucifer. To protect Tokyo from damage, a great rock dome was created. While it protected Tokyo, resources became progressively scarcer over the following years, while angels and demons ruled over the human population. The protagonist, a teenager, is killed while on a demon hunt. Contacted in the afterlife by the demon Dagda, who offers to restore the protagonist to life in exchange for becoming his "God Killer".[3] When returned to life, he learns that the Angels and Lucifer have themselves come under threat from a group of deities calling themselves the Polytheistic Alliance, whose leader Krishna apparently wants to save humanity.[4] The storyline does not follow the previous game's three-tiered moral alignment system. There are multiple endings, but none are explicitly Law or Chaos; instead, they are all Neutral to some degree.[5]

Development

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse was born out of discussions about what Team Maniacs, the makers of Shin Megami Tensei IV, could do that was characteristic of their team. Ultimately, they decided that they wanted to make a completely new title as opposed to an upgraded re-release: as they wanted the game to "make everything clear", they added the word "Final" to the title. Production on the title began after development ended for Shin Megami Tensei IV in 2013.[6][4] As part of their development, the team looked at player feedback for the game to improve and refine some aspects while keeping others. Their goal was to make "the number one RPG on the 3DS". The story's main themes are making or breaking bonds with others, and the advent of "inevitable reality", with a key word in the story being "deicide".[4] The game's world and basic scenario were created by Kazuma Kaneko, while the script was written by Yusuke Miyata.[1][2] Multiple staff from the original game returned, and demon designs from the previous game were refined, including the characters Medusa, Merkabah and Lucifer.[1][4] Tying into the game's themes is the fact that the main protagonist comes from a far lower-class, less elite force than the protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei IV.[7] The music was handled by returning composer Ryota Koduka, who worked on the game alongside his work arranging tracks for Persona 4: Dancing All Night.[6] At the time of the game's announcement in October 2015, development was approximately 90% complete.[4]

Promotion and release

The game was first teased through the main website for Shin Megami Tensei IV: when a specific hashtag had been forwarded through twitter 15,000 times, a rocky surface hiding the title would break and reveal its secret.[8] The game was eventually revealed on October 5, 2015, with a dedicated livestream coming on October 11.[1] The game was released for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan on February 10, 2016,[3] and is planned to be released in North America in Q2/Q3 2016.[9] North American pre-orders and launch day copies will include a set of three metal emblem pins in the forms of a peace symbol, an anarchy symbol, and Dagda's mark.[10]

For its Western release, the subtitle was changed from "Final" to "Apocalypse". The localization team's main task in this respect, once they had Atlus' permission to make necessary alterations, was to create a name that would give the same implications as the Japanese title while being easier for Western players to understand. Among the titles that needed to be turned down were "End War" due to copyright issues and "Holy War" due to potential backlash. As an "A" symbol was incorporated into the logo, they decided on a word beginning with A. The title "Apocalypse" was reached after much discussion. For about two weeks during this process, the team considered dropping the game's numeral as had been done with Nocturne.[11]

Reception

Reception
Review score
PublicationScore
Famitsu35/40 (9, 9, 8, 9)[12]

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse was the highest selling game in Japan during its debut week, with 96,349 copies sold. These sales figures were approximately half of the debut sales for Shin Megami Tensei IV, and it was noted to be a very strong performance for a non-numerical Shin Megami Tensei game.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Romano, Sal (5 October 2015). "Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final announced for 3DS". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 『真・女神転生IV FINAL』を遊びつくすための攻略本が発売!!【ファミ通の攻略本】 (in Japanese). Famitsu. 2016-03-10. Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2016-03-09.
  3. 1 2 Nakamura, Toshi (6 October 2015). "Shin Megami Tensei IV Final Isn't an Update, But an Entirely New Game". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 『真・女神転生IV FINAL』プロデューサー・山井一千氏へのインタビューを全文掲載！【週刊ファミ通2015年10月8日発売号より】 (in Japanese). Famitsu. 2015-11-12. Archived from the original on 2016-04-08. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
  5. ↑ Sato (11 October 2015). "Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final Will Follow A Neutral Route With Multiple Endings". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  6. 1 2 いまだから言える『真・女神転生IV FINAL』の深層に迫る、ネタバレ“あり”の開発者インタビュー完全版！ (in Japanese). Famitsu. 2016-04-13. Archived from the original on 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
  7. ↑ 『真・女神転生IV FINAL』ネタバレ“あり”の開発者インタビューを読む前に！ ネタバレ“なし”のイイ話を全文掲載【週刊ファミ通2016年2月10日発売号より】 (in Japanese). Famitsu. 2016-03-10. Archived from the original on 2016-03-11. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
  8. ↑ Romano, Sal (5 October 2015). "Shin Megami Tensei IV official website: 'In 15,000 tweets, a disaster will begin'". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  9. ↑ Oxford, Nadia (14 April 2016). "Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final Coming to North America This Summer". USgamer. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  10. ↑ Romano, Sal (28 April 2016). "Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse launch edition includes metal emblem set". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 28 April 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  11. ↑ "What's In a Name – SMTIV: Final and Localizing a Name". Atlus. 14 April 2016. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  12. ↑ Ashcraft, Brian (14 February 2016). "Shin Megami Tensei IV Final gets first review in Famitsu". Nintendo Everything. Archived from the original on 15 February 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
  13. ↑ Sato (17 February 2016). "This Week In Sales: Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final Gets Summoned". Siliconera. Archived from the original on 17 February 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.

External links

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