Wikia

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

Developer(s):	Atlus
Publisher(s):	Atlus, Ghostlight
Release date:	SMTIII:N February 20, 2003 Mainax version January 29, 2004 October 12, 2004 July 1, 2005
Genre:	Role-playing video game
Game modes:	Single Player
Ratings:	ESRB: M PEGI: 12+
Platform(s):	PS2

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, also known as Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call in Europe due to licensing issues, is a game in the Megami Tensei series of Role Playing Games.

SummaryEdit

A young Japanese boy (whose name is chosen by the player but is named "Naoki Kashima" in the Japanese radio play) and his two friends visit their ill teacher in the hospital but find it deserted. They witness an event called "The Conception" where all humans outside the hospital are killed to prepare the world for its rebirth. A mysterious young little boy with an old woman dressed in black appears and drops a magatama in the Protagonist's eye. He is transformed into the half-demon known as the Demi-Fiend (Hito-Shura in Japan). He sets out to play a part in the Conception. The Demi-fiend must choose to either ally with a philosophy to re-shape the world. Alternatively, he can choose to destroy the world and keep his demon powers. The game has 6 endings (5 in the original before Dante was added, plus 1 included in the Maniax version for completing the Labyrinth of Amala).

Dante's RoleEdit

Dante is asked by someone (later revealed to be Lucifer) to hunt down the protagonist, the Demi-fiend. Such being the case, he will encounter the Demi-fiend several times in the game as a formidable enemy. The player will fight against Dante twice, the first time at the Mantra building entrance, and the second time in the Labyrinth of Amala. The second battle is optional, assuming the player decides to skip exploring the labyrinth, but the first battle is part of the story.

Dante's first appearance happens as the Demifiend/Hitoshura is leaving the hospital in Shinjuku. He does not meet the player at that point, merely making a nonchalant reference to his employer and his current job at the time, seemingly untroubled by the state of the Vortex World. Dante first meets the Demi-fiend/Hito-shura in Ikebukuro when he jumps off a ledge near the top of the Mantra headquarters, and despite the height of the fall he lands on his feet with no apparent damage and challenges the player to battle. This is an homage to his cinematic leap off of the tower in the beginning of Devil May Cry 2 Later, if the player character attempts to jump off the same ledge, he will be reduced to 1 HP.

In the Third Kalpa of the optional Labyrinth of Amala dungeon, Dante will chase and shoot the Demi-fiend as he tries to run. If Dante catches the Demi-fiend, he will use Stinger at his first turn to inflict instant death (mostly to the Demi-fiend), and in his second turn, he will flee and restart the switches the player activated to advance to the next section making the player start all over again that section of the Third Kalpa. He will fight him again at the end.

In the entrance of the Fifth Kalpa, Dante offers to join the Demi-fiend's main party. If the player declines, he won't mind and will wait in the same spot until the player changes his mind. If the player accepts Dante's services, Dante says that he usually charges an incredible amount of money for his services, but since the Demi-fiend is a rare opponent for him, he makes an exception by making a coin toss. Heads will make the Demi-fiend pay him only 1 Macca (money of the game) and tails will make him pay half of his current amount of Macca.

Lucifer's ambiguous motives are thrown into question after he is revealed to be Dante's employer, since Lucifer previously helped the Demifiend/Hitoshura. However, it is later revealed Lucifer was trying to test the player, with Dante being one of those tests. Dante does not comment on this nor does he seem to recognize his employer if the player goes for the True Demon ending, during which Lucifer may be fought.

Development of Dante's characterEdit

Dante only appears in the "Maniax" version of the game. He still owns the double-sided coin he had in Devil May Cry 2 and wields Rebellion and Ebony & Ivory.

On Dante's inclusion in the game, producer Cozy Okada said:

One of the staff members in Japan, who happened to be a big fan of the DMC series, came up with the idea of including Dante from Capcom's in an upcoming SMT game. At first I thought it was a crazy idea, but realized that Dante is a devil hunter and this might actually work out and presented the Nocturne game concept to Capcom.^[1]

In exchange for Dante's presence in Nocturne, Kazuma Kaneko, the artist responsible for the character, demon and Persona designs in the Shin Megami Tensei series and the first two games of the Persona series (Megami Ibunroku: Persona and Persona 2 duology) was brought into the Devil May Cry 3 project to design the Devil Trigger forms of Dante and Vergil.

Dante's AbilitiesEdit

This is a list of all of Dante's abilities in the game.^[2]

E & I - Dante fires a few shots at a single enemy.
Rebellion - Dante uses a highly powerful attack on a single enemy.
Bullet Time - Dante fires at all enemies with Ebony & Ivory. Can cause "Panic" status.
Never Yield - Saves Dante from death and puts him at 1HP a single time per battle.
Holy Star - Nullifies -nda (Negative stats i.e. low defense) effects for all party members.
Provoke - Dante taunts an enemy, making them lower their defenses and become stronger, and regains Magic Points.
Intimidate - Aids in recruiting enemy demons (passive ability).
Son's Oath - Dante's physical and magical attack power increase by 50%.
Round Trip - Dante performs the Round trip attack on all enemies. The attack has electrical properties.
Whirlwind - Similar to Round Trip but with Force (wind) damage.
Stinger - Dante performs the Stinger attack on one enemy. Random chance of an instant kill; the higher Dante's level, the higher the chance.
Showtime - Dante performs an extremely powerful attack on all enemies. The words Bingo!, Are You Ready?, and Showtime! appear as he performs the attack.

GalleryEdit

TriviaEdit

Despite the world setting being Earth, Dante either came from another universe version of Earth (since he seems untroubled by the current state of the planet), or he was one of the few to survive the Conception due to his half demon heritage and was hired by Lucifer shortly after the Conception.
Dante cannot be "made" or "fused" in the Cathedral of Shadows. Any attempt at doing so will either fail or earn the player a comment from the minister of the Cathedral.
Dante is one of the better characters that can be recruited or acquired outside of demon fusing, but he cannot learn the skill "Pierce" (which allows any character to ignore defense when using an attack).

External linksEdit

ReferencesEdit

↑ www.Atlus.com
↑ [1]

[0] www.Atlus.com

[1] [1]

[1]

[2]

Wikia

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

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