It's been a few years since I last played a Shin Megami Tensei game (in particular, IV), so I was thinking about getting back to my playthrough of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne on PS2 even before the out-of-left-field announcement that a remake, called Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster, would be hitting Switch next spring.
I'm not a huge fan of the grind of RPGs, so I was happy to play the first third of Shin Megami Tensei III and call it a day. The game has the same art style as all the SMT games (which even in my limited experience of the series seems like a big missed opportunity for some variety), a similarly apocalyptic setting, and a similar war between "Chaos" and "Reason", although you can also choose a "Neutral" route in this game. Now that I'm more used to the series' conventions the fact you're recruiting and fusing a whole stable of demons rather than sticking with a small set doesn't bother me as much. The game introduced the "Press Turn" system that I'd already seen in later games in the series whereby you're rewarded for using type advantages and penalized for not using them, and the auto-battle feature was much appreciated. Dungeons are reasonably twisty and entertaining but not particularly memorable, and likewise the story of warring demon factions didn't particularly grab me.
It really doesn't look like the dark, gothic aesthetic of the Shin Megami Tensei series is going to ever make me a super fan, but I'm happy to dip into the series every once in a while. At this point I think I'll probably return to my playthrough of Persona IV before returning to my playthrough of the SMT/Fire Emblem crossover.