Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Moves to Open Beta

A tiny and quiet announcement (only two sentences!) on December 30, 2008 at Aeria Game’s website revealed that microtransaction-based MMORPG Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine has shifted to open beta. All you need to do is register an account, install the game, and join the wonderful (so far) community.

The game, as the name suggests, is based on the long-running series originally conceived from the novels, Digital Devil Story, written by Aya Nishitani. The franchise, published by Atlus, has gone on to establish itself in the Japanese RPG genre due to its unique blend of random dungeons and player choice, all taking place in a modern Tokyo setting. Most notable is the Persona series, with the third, and most recent, fourth installment receiving high praise.

SMT:Imagine transports players to the same universe, albeit different time, where they can partake of many of the series’ trademarks, such as fighting alongside Demons, fusing them to create new breeds, and personalizing your character’s outfit with their signature style, according to their website.

I was one of the many lucky players who were able to get a taste of the game during closed beta. And although I’m still debating about the business model, I want to get at least one point across: the game shows promise. It might look and feel like all the other MMORPGs out there, action bars on the bottom, round map at the top right corner, but fans of the series will be surrounded by everything they love about the franchise, including familiar demons, interesting cast of NPC characters, and most of all, a well-defined story to get lost in.

The plot takes place between the first and second Shin Megami Tensei games and is told through many cut-scenes, including “fully-animated cut-scenes at key points in the game.” (I can’t confirm that at this point of time). What really sold me about Persona 4 was the multiple interweaving tales of all the characters and the underlying theme of friendship, which sounds like a great basis for an MMORPG.