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99-490: The Jewish angelic hierarchy is established in the Hebrew Bible , Talmud , Rabbinic literature , and traditional Jewish liturgy . They are categorized in different hierarchies proposed by various theologians. For example, Maimonides , in his Mishneh Torah or Yad ha-Chazakah: Yesodei ha-Torah , counts ten ranks of angels . The most influential Catholic angelic hierarchy was that put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius

198-475: A guardian angel . Of the angelic orders, he asserted that only the lowest five are sent by God to manifest themselves in the corporeal world, while the four highest remain in Heaven at His presence. The Chaplet of Saint Michael the archangel, a Catholic devotion also called the rosary of the angels, approved by Pope Pius IX, includes prayers and specific invocations for each of the nine choirs of angels. There

297-530: A December 16, 2023 survey conducted by Nikkei Entertainment , the combined fanbase of the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona series within Japan has an average age of 32 years, and a male-to-female ratio that skews 40:60. Japanese website 4Gamer.net referred to the series as one of Japan's biggest role-playing franchises. UGO Networks writer K. Thor Jensen cited the first Megami Tensei game as

396-694: A European branch, they publish titles in the region through third-party companies such as Ghostlight and NIS America . Their latest partnership, after their deal with NIS America ended with the publication of Odin Sphere Leifthrasir , was with European publishing firm Deep Silver to publish multiple titles in the region, including Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse and Persona 5 . Atlus has occasionally published titles digitally in Europe. Prior to its popularity in

495-488: A North American audience, including removing references to Japanese culture and changing one character from Japanese to African-American. This, and other changes were fixed in the re-release on the PlayStation Portable. The first Persona 2 title, Innocent Sin , needed to be passed over due to shortage of manpower and the fact that development was focused on the second title, Eternal Punishment . Nocturne

594-483: A disadvantage in the modern gaming market. Early entries on the PlayStation were also blocked by Sony of America's then-current approval policies. The first title in the franchise to be localized was Jack Bros. ; the first role-playing game in the franchise to receive an overseas release was the first Persona game. This was done to give Atlus' North American branch a flagship RPG franchise that could compete with

693-573: A duology titled Digital Devil Saga ( Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner in Japan) was created based around similar systems to Nocturne , and was also intended as a more accessible gaming experience. Two tactical role-playing games have been developed by Atlus for the DS under the Devil Survivor moniker: the original Devil Survivor and Devil Survivor 2 . Both have received expanded ports for

792-591: A female lead or the ability to choose a lead's gender is not out of the question, some staff feel that Shin Megami Tensei lead roles are better suited to a male character. Throughout its lifetime, the series has incorporated elements of Gnosticism , various world mythologies and religions including Christianity and Buddhism , early science fiction, Jungian psychology and archetypes , occultism, goth , punk , and cyberpunk. The science fiction and fantasy elements are brought together and unified through

891-513: A full fantasy setting. Two more recent notable departures were Strange Journey , which shifted the focus to Antarctica to portray the threat on a global scale, and Shin Megami Tensei IV , which included a medieval-stage society existing separately from a modern-day Tokyo. The Devil Summoner games take the form of modern-day detective stories as opposed to post-apocalyptic settings. The series title translates as "Reincarnation of

990-550: A large 3D environment. The 2D/first person viewpoint continued until Nocturne , which switched to a third-person perspective. This was done due to a condition similar to car sickness called "3D sickness" with first person shooters in Japan at the time: the developers wanted something for players to focus on. A first-person perspective was reintroduced in Strange Journey , and incorporated into IV ' s battles along with navigable 3D environments. Each title focuses on

1089-517: A remake of Megami Tensei II . In many of these earlier games, staff members at Atlus had cameos. The majority of the Megami Tensei series is developed by Atlus' R&D Department 1. Other developers have been involved with the series: these include Multimedia Intelligence Transfer ( Last Bible series), Lancarse ( Strange Journey ), CAVE ( Imagine ) and Nex Entertainment ( Nine ), and Arc System Works ( Persona 4 Arena ). Most of

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1188-567: A traditional prayer naming four archangels , "To my right Michael and to my left Gabriel, in front of me Uriel and behind me Raphael, and over my head God's Shekhinah ['the presence of God']." On the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah , it is customary to call all the boys (in some synagogues, all the children) to the Torah reading and for the whole congregation to recite a verse from Jacob's blessing to Ephraim and Manasheh (Manassas) . May

1287-691: A trilogy of science-fantasy novels written by Aya Nishitani during the 1980s. The media expansion was handled by Nishitani and his publisher Tokuma Shoten . The game was developed at Atlus and published by Bandai Namco (then Namco). Although they wanted to incorporate as much of the original story as possible, the limited capabilities of the Famicom made this goal nearly impossible. The series' creators were Kouji Okada (credited as Cozy Okada in English), Ginichiro Suzuki, and Ginichiro's son Kazunari. The game proved popular in Japan, and effectively launched

1386-659: A wider audience and reinvigorate the Megami Tensei franchise, hiring Suzuhito Yasuda as character designer for this purpose. Some monsters in the second Devil Survivor were designed by manga artist Mohiro Kitoh . For a long time, the Megami Tensei franchise was not exported to western territories despite there being a recognized market. The original reasons were the heavy religious themes and symbols used, which were considered taboo in western game markets, and Nintendo's strict content guidelines for overseas releases. Later, many of these early works were prevented from coming overseas due to their age, which would have put them at

1485-536: Is also representative of the drastic changes a location undergoes during a game. The concept of reincarnation was also included in narratives and gameplay mechanics to tie in with these themes. The series' overarching title has been truncated to " MegaTen " by series fans. Originating in Japan, the abbreviation has become a common term for the series among its fans. Its subseries Persona is named as " Nǚshén Yìwénlù " ( simplified Chinese : 女神异闻录 ; traditional Chinese : 女神異聞錄 ; lit. 'Alternate Tale of

1584-477: Is found in Tractate Shabbat . The text recounts the sages' halakhic discussion in which Rabbi Hizkiya praises Rabbi Yohanan's competencies by exclaiming "this is not a human!". Right after his remark a following passage appears. Rabbi Zeira said that Rava bar Zimuna said: If the early generations are characterized as sons of angels, we are the sons of men. And if the early generations are characterized as

1683-608: Is no standard hierarchical organization in Islam that parallels the Christian division into different "choirs" or spheres, and the topic is not directly addressed in the Quran . However, it is clear that there is a set order or hierarchy that exists between angels, defined by the assigned jobs and various tasks to which angels are commanded by God. Some scholars suggest that Islamic angels can be grouped into fourteen categories, with some of

1782-466: Is their intellectual proficiency. When it comes to the mapping of specific rabbinic competencies onto the angels, the most popular is the ability to engage in halakhic scrutiny and teaching. In sum, this presentation of the sages as angels can be taken as an expression of the sense of elitism entertained by the Babylonian sages. Maimonides , in his Mishneh Torah , counted ten ranks of angels in

1881-592: The God of Israel . They are categorized in different hierarchies . Their essence is often associated with fire. The Talmud describes their very essence as fire. Hebrew mal’ākh is the standard word for "messenger", both human and divine, in the Hebrew Bible ; it is also related to the words for "angel" in Arabic ( malāk ملاك ), Aramaic and Ethiopic . It is rarely used for human messengers in Modern Hebrew as

1980-408: The Megami Tensei franchise, with its more ambitious sequel following in 1990. During the development of Shin Megami Tensei , which was driven by the concept of a Super Famicom game with the company's brand on it, the team slowly decided that they wanted to break the then-current gaming status quo using its aesthetic and content. Despite this attitude, the staff considered Shin Megami Tensei to be

2079-522: The New Testament , specifically Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16 , to develop a schema of three Hierarchies, Spheres or Triads of angels, with each Hierarchy containing three Orders or Choirs. Bonaventure summarized their nine offices as follows: announcing, declaring, and leading; regulating, enforcing, and commanding; receiving, revealing, and anointing. Thomas agreed with Jerome 's commentary on Mt 18:10 that every living human possesses

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2178-662: The Nintendo Switch in 2021. An enhanced version of the game titled Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance was released in June 2024 for Microsoft Windows , Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S . In addition to the main series, there are Shin Megami Tensei spin-off games. The first is Shin Megami Tensei If... , released in the same year and on

2277-455: The Persona sub-series sold 9.3   million copies, bringing total franchise numbers to 21.7   million units (including DL of free-to-play titles ) by 2018. Excluding the Persona series, the Megami Tensei series had supplied 19.2 million copies by 2023, including free-to-play titles. As of 5 March 2024 , the Persona series has sold 22.6 million units worldwide. Based on

2376-534: The Shin Megami Tensei games. Other designers have also worked on the series. For Nine , the developers wanted to have a new style to suit the game's original vision, so the characters were designed by animator Yasuomi Umetsu . the new main designer for the series is Masayuki Doi, who had made a name for himself with the Trauma Center series; and designed the main characters for Shin Megami Tensei IV . Inspired in his work by Kaneko's designs, he created

2475-702: The Shin Megami Tensei moniker in the West, it was dropped for the Persona 4 Arena duology and Persona 4 Golden as it would have made the titles too long to be practical. The Devil Summoner subseries began in 1995 with the release of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner . It was followed by Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers in 1997, which itself is followed by Soul Hackers 2 , released in 2022. Two action role-playing prequels set in 1920s Tokyo were also developed, which revolve around demon summoner Raidou Kuzunoha: Raidou Kuzunoha vs.

2574-928: The Super Famicom : Shin Megami Tensei in 1992, and Shin Megami Tensei II in 1994. After a nine-year gap, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne was released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2 . Its Maniax Edition director's cut was released in Japan and North America in 2004, and in Europe in 2005. The numeral was dropped for its North American release, and its title changed to Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call in Europe. The next entry, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey ,

2673-548: The 17th century, that is commonly sung on the eve of Shabbat , either upon returning home from services, or at the dinner-table. שלום עליכם מלאכי השרת ‎ Peace be unto you, Malakhei HaSharet (Angels of Service) מלאכי עליון ‎ Angels of the Most High ממלך מלכי המלכים ‎ From the King of the kings of kings הקדוש ברוך הוא ‎ The Holy One Blessed Be He Before going to sleep, many Jews recite

2772-491: The 3DS. Other subseries include Last Bible , a series aimed at a younger audience and using a pure fantasy setting; Devil Children , which was inspired by the popular Pokémon series; and Majin Tensei , a series of strategy games. Two notable stand-alone spin-offs are action spin-off Jack Bros. and Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE , a crossover with Intelligent Systems ' Fire Emblem series. Several titles in

2871-673: The Areopagite in the 5th or 6th century in his book De Coelesti Hierarchia ( On the Celestial Hierarchy ). Dionysius described nine levels of spiritual beings which he grouped into three orders: During the Middle Ages , various schemes were proposed, some drawing on and expanding on Pseudo-Dionysius, others suggesting completely different classifications. Pseudo-Dionysius ( On the Celestial Hierarchy ) and Thomas Aquinas ( Summa Theologiae ) drew on passages from

2970-661: The Babylonian Talmud. This tendency has two components, and, on the one hand, the text compares the sages to angels in various respects such as knowledge (e.g., the sages should be good teachers playing the function of the angel of the Lord in Hagigah , some of their halakhic decisions are labeled as angelic in origins in Pesachim ), or appearance (e.g., according to Shabbat Rabbi Yehudah bar Ilai's Sabbath attire resembles

3069-521: The Bible deal with angels to different degrees. On numerous locations the Bible introduces the idea of a Heavenly host or "host of heaven", and the related divine epithet " Lord of Hosts ". While sometimes depicted in military fashion, the assembly also serves to praise God, in descriptions reminiscent of a kingly court. Genesis has Elohim , Bene Elohim ( Sons of God ), as does the Book of Job ; Psalms has

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3168-463: The Goddess": this has carried over into the current Shin Megami Tensei series, which has been officially translated as "True Goddess Metempsychosis". The word " Metempsychosis " refers to the cycle of reincarnation that ties into many Megami Tensei stories. The reborn goddess of the title has multiple meanings: it refers to a female character in each game that could be interpreted as the goddess, and

3267-528: The Goddess';) in Chinese, originating from the Japan version of Megami Tensei series used this term as subtitles in early spin-offs. The gameplay in the series has become notable for its high difficulty, along with several mechanics that have endured between games. A key element present since the first Megami Tensei is the ability to recruit demons to fight alongside the player in battle, alongside

3366-494: The Holy One blessed be He created four winds (directions) and four banners (for Israel's army), so also did He make four angels to surround His Throne— Michael , Gabriel , Uriel and Raphael . Michael is on its right, corresponding to the tribe of Reuben; Uriel on its left, corresponding to the tribe of Dan, which was located in the north; Gabriel in front, corresponding to the tribe of Judah as well as Moses and Aaron who were in

3465-587: The Jewish angelic hierarchy, beginning from the highest: The Zohar , in Exodus 43a , also lists ten ranks of angels, beginning from the highest: Jacob Nazir, in his Maseket Atzilut , also listed ten ranks of angels, beginning from the highest: Abraham ben Isaac of Granada , in his Berit Menuchah , also listed ten ranks of angels, beginning from the highest: Eliyahu de Vidas , in his Reshit Chochmah , also listed ten ranks of angels, beginning from

3564-516: The Kabbalah reasons, when they appear in the Hebrew Bible their description is from the viewpoint of the person that received the vision or prophesy or occurrence, which will be anthropomorphic. However, they are not material beings but are likened to a single emotion, feeling, or material, controlled by God for his purpose of creation. Shalom Aleichem is a Jewish hymn, first documented in

3663-663: The Past Decade" list was topped by the two Digital Devil Saga games, followed by Persona 3 in second place, while Persona 4 ranked fourth place. Kalata, writing for Gamasutra , referred to Nocturne as one of the 20 essential RPGs for players of the genre. GameTrailers cited the Press Turn system as one of the best JRPG battle systems in existence, with particular reference to the version used in Shin Megami Tensei IV . Alongside its critical acclaim,

3762-477: The Soulless Army was released in 2006, and Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon was released in 2008. Aside from Persona and Devil Summoner , there are other spin-off series covering multiple genres. After the release of Shin Megami Tensei II , Atlus began focusing work on building spin-offs and subseries that would form part of the Megami Tensei franchise. Shortly after Nocturne ' s release,

3861-528: The Soulless Army . Called Raidō Kuzunoha vs. The Super-Powered Army in Japan, the title was altered as it sounded "goofy" in English. By the time Strange Journey was in development, the franchise had a strong presence overseas, so the team created Strange Journey with localization in mind: the two aspects actively linked with this were the game's setting in Antarctica as opposed to modern-day Japan, and

3960-541: The ability to cast more spells or exercise other magical abilities. For example, Angels in Dungeons & Dragons , a subgroup of the beings called Celestials , come in three different types, the progressively more powerful Astral Deva, Planetar, and Solar. Another game which has summonable angels is Shin Megami Tensei , often classified under Divine, or Heralds. In the game series Bayonetta , Black Angels are supporting and all seven spheres are present, each divided in

4059-599: The ability to fuse two different demons together to create a more powerful demon. Equivalents to these systems appear in the later Persona titles. The game's most recognizable battle system is the Press Turn system, first introduced in Nocturne . The Press Turn System is a turn-based battle mechanic governing both the player party and enemies, where either party are rewarded an extra turn for striking an enemy's weakness, but can also lose turns if attacks miss or are blocked. A Moon Phase System or equivalent, in which phases of

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4158-453: The alignments were first defined as "Law" (the forces of God) and "Chaos" (the army of Lucifer). In future games, an additional "Neutral" route was included where the player could reject both sides. Selected games have been thematically or otherwise linked to a particular alignment. Shin Megami Tensei II , due to events prior to the story, focuses on the "Law" alignment. For Nocturne , all the characters were roughly aligned with "Chaos", which

4257-469: The angel who redeems me from all evil, bless the children, and let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them flourish like fish for multitude in the midst of the land. In the ancient Near East, Jews understood the sun, moon, and stars to be angels, just as others in the same region viewed them as divine beings. Philo of Alexandria identified angels in Judaism to be

4356-423: The core Shin Megami Tensei series is to focus on a single playable character as opposed to a group. Alongside other recurring characters is Lucifer, the fallen angel who stands against God and is portrayed in multiple forms to represent his omnipotence. Since Megami Tensei II , the series has used a morality-based decision system, where the player's actions affect the outcome of the story. In Megami Tensei II ,

4455-407: The east; and Raphael in the rear, corresponding to the tribe of Ephraim which was in the west. The Babylonian Talmud contains a reworked ancient tradition of the myth of the fallen angels – here, this narrative is invested with new significance and accordingly, these are the distinguished rabbis who are portrayed as the heavenly messengers' offspring. The most explicit presentation of this notion

4554-432: The extraordinary invading the ordinary world, though the two main Megami Tensei series focus on different things: Shin Megami Tensei focuses more on the main protagonist gaining the power needed to survive in a world ruled over by tyrannical deities, while Persona focuses on interpersonal relationships and the psychology of a group of people. The protagonist is generally male within the Shin Megami Tensei titles: while

4653-492: The fact that it was not given a numeral. Starting with Shin Megami Tensei IV , the company decided to actively promote the franchise overseas to North America, Europe and mainland Asia. After 2016, due to Atlus USA's merger with Sega of America, Sega took over North American publishing duties, although the Atlus brand remained intact. In general, Atlus publishes Megami Tensei games in Japan and North America, but as they lack

4752-408: The first five main Megami Tensei titles was composed by Tsukasa Masuko. For Nocturne , Shoji Meguro , who had done work on earlier spin-off titles, was brought in. He later became well known for his work on the Persona titles. The Shin Megami Tensei and Persona art styles have been defined by two different artists: Kazuma Kaneko and Shigenori Soejima . Kaneko had a long history with

4851-421: The first successful use of cyberpunk aesthetics in video games, saying that the series' mix of science fiction elements and the occult "create a truly unique fictional cyberpunk world". Nintendo Power has noted that Atlus always mixes "familiar gameplay" with surprising settings when creating games for the series, citing Persona , with its "modern-day horror stories" and "teams of Japanese high-school kids", as

4950-409: The first three Persona games. Kaneko's style has been described as "cold [and] stoic", evolving into that state over time to keep the artwork as close as possible to the in-game render. He states that he mainly does line drawings for the artwork. He starts his artwork with pencil, and then scans them onto a computer so other artists can work on them digitally. Soejima's first work for the series

5049-448: The franchise consists of multiple subseries and covers multiple role-playing video game genres including tactical role-playing , action role-playing , and massively multiplayer online role-playing . The first two titles in the series were published by Namco (now Bandai Namco Entertainment ), but have been almost always published by Atlus in Japan and North America since the release of Shin Megami Tensei . For Europe, Atlus publishes

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5148-513: The franchise have received anime and manga adaptations: Persona 3 received both a four-part theatrical adaptation ( #1 Spring of Birth , #2 Midsummer Knight's Dream , #3 Falling Down , #4 Winter of Rebirth ), and a spin-off series titled Persona: Trinity Soul . Persona 4 received two adaptations: Persona 4: The Animation , based on the original game, and Persona 4: The Golden Animation , based on its expanded PlayStation Vita port. A live-action television series based on

5247-429: The franchise, Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei , was released on September 11, 1987. The following entries have nearly always been unrelated to each other except in carrying over thematic and gameplay elements. The Megami Tensei games, and the later Shin Megami Tensei titles form the core of the series, while other subseries such as Persona , Devil Children , and Devil Summoner are spin-offs marketed as part of

5346-454: The franchise. There are also stand-alone spin-off titles. Two entries were released for the Famicom : Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei in 1987, and Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II in 1990. The two titles are unrelated to each other in terms of story, and each introduced the basic gameplay and story mechanics that would come to define the series. Two entries were released for

5445-424: The games chosen for localization were all part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise, and using the core Shin Megami Tensei moniker kept all the titles under a single banner. Before this decision was made, the series was given the localized title Revelations , used for the first Persona and the first Last Bible . Later, changes to titles were made to make them less unwieldy, such as with Raidou Kuzunoha vs.

5544-463: The games through third-party companies. The series was originally based on Digital Devil Story , a science fiction novel series by Aya Nishitani. The series takes its name from the first book's subtitle. Most Megami Tensei titles are stand-alone entries with their own stories and characters. Recurring elements include plot themes, a story shaped by the player's choices, and the ability to fight using and often recruit creatures (demons, Personas) to aid

5643-419: The games up to 2003 were handled by Okada, but when he departed to form his own company Gaia , Kazuma Kaneko became the series' creative director. There are two main writers in the franchise: Shogo Isogai and Ryutaro Ito. Ito first worked on Megami Tensei II , joining the team after development to write the script, along with working with the script and being part of the debug team. Isogai's first work for

5742-586: The garments of the angel of the Lord , in Kiddushin the Babylonian scholars are compared to the ministering angels). On the other hand, the Babylonian Talmud portrays the angels as highly reminiscent of the rabbis themselves: they are proficient halakhists (e.g., in Menachot an angel disputes the laws of fringes with Rabbi Kattina, in Avodah Zarah the angel of death betrays his deep familiarity with

5841-445: The higher orders being considered archangels . Qazwini describes an angelic hierarchy in his Aja'ib al-makhluqat with Ruh on the head of all angels, surrounded by the four archangelic cherubim. Below them are the seven angels of the seven heavens. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1209) divided the angels into eight groups, which shows some resemblance to Christian angelology: There is an informal Zoroastrian angelic hierarchy , with

5940-520: The highest: The Kabbalah describes the angels at length. Angels are described in Kabbalah literature as forces that send information, and sensations, between mankind and the Tetragrammaton. They are analogized to atoms, wavelengths or channels that help God in his creation, and it is therefore, reasoned that they should not be worshipped, prayed to, nor invoked. They are not physical in nature but spiritual beings, like spiritual atoms. Therefore,

6039-600: The land of Japanese animation, but it became even more disturbing in Megami Tensei II . A Chinese game regulation document in 2021 cited Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse as an example of unsuitable depictions of religious figures. In a review of the Shin Megami Tensei series in Black Gate , Josh Bycer said "the Shin Megami Tensei series is very similar to Pokémon , in the use of an ever changing party roster. However Shin Megami Tensei did come first and

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6138-430: The latter is usually denoted by the term shaliyakh ( שליח ). The noun derives from the verbal consonantal root l-’-k ( ל-א-ך ), meaning specifically "to send with a message" and with time was substituted with more applicable sh-l-h . In Biblical Hebrew this root is attested only in this noun and in the noun מְלָאכָה məlʾāḵā́ , meaning "work", "occupation" or "craftsmanship". The morphological structure of

6237-423: The lead designer for Persona 3 by Kaneko, as Kaneko wanted the younger staff members to gain experience. Persona 3 proved challenging for Soejima as he needed to refine his drawing style and take the expectations of series fans into account. He would go on to design for Persona 3/FES and Portable , Persona 4 , and Persona 5 . Soejima's drawing style is recognized as being lighter-toned than Kaneko's work on

6336-415: The likes of Final Fantasy , Suikoden and Breath of Fire . According to Okada, the naming of creatures and enemies was adjusted from the main series and original Japanese release of Persona to make it more acceptable for an overseas audience. Though it managed to establish the franchise overseas, the localization was a taxing task due to a small staff and the need to change multiple aspects to suit

6435-660: The main Persona games are spin-offs, so far focused on Persona 3 , 4 and 5 : the canon spin-offs Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth , two fighting games Persona 4 Arena and its sequel Arena Ultimax as well as the crossover fighting game BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle , and rhythm games Persona 4: Dancing All Night , Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight , and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight . While Persona 3 and 4 used

6534-464: The main characters' clothing to be a blend of Japanese and western fashions while incorporating design elements from the Star Wars series. After the success of IV, he went on to become the main demon designer for Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse and Shin Megami Tensei V , while still retaining his job as lead character designer. For the Devil Survivor games, Atlus were aiming to appeal to

6633-462: The moon or changes in the weather affected the behavior of enemies, is also featured in multiple games. The layouts of the first two Megami Tensei games were noticeably different from later games: Megami Tensei used a 3D first-person perspective, while Megami Tensei II used a combination of first-person 3D displays for battle and top-down 2D displays for navigation. The change was suggested by staff members who did not want players getting lost in

6732-478: The original Devil Summoner was broadcast between 1997 and 1998. Devil Survivor 2 also received an anime adaptation of the same name , while the Devil Children series received two anime adaptations. Multiple Shin Megami Tensei and Persona titles have received manga and CD drama adaptations. Action figures and merchandise related to Persona have also been produced. Despite most games in

6831-514: The perfect example. The editor also added that Strange Journey followed a similar system, calling it a "science-fiction makeover" of the series. In an article about the interaction of Japanese and Western gaming culture, 1UP.com mentioned the Shin Megami Tensei subseries alongside Nippon Ichi Software 's Disgaea series. Kurt Kalata wrote: "[They] may not be big sellers, but they've garnered underground success and attracted thousands of obsessed fans." GameSpot writer Andrew Vestal referred to

6930-672: The player in battle. Elements of philosophy, religion, occultism, and science fiction have all been incorporated into the series at different times. While not maintaining as high a profile as series such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest , it is highly popular in Japan and maintains a strong cult following in the West, finding critical and commercial success. The series has become well known for its artistic direction, challenging gameplay, and music, but raised controversy over its mature content, dark themes, and use of Christian religious imagery. Additional media include manga adaptations, anime films, and television series. In Japan, some games in

7029-458: The post-biblical Apocalyptic literature , such as each serving as personal patrons of peoples (Persia, Greece), and some having personal names (Gabriel, Michael). As a subcategory of heavenly beings, mal’akim occupy the sixth rank of ten in Maimonides ' Jewish angelic hierarchy. Numbers Rabbah names four angels who would later be known as archangels , surrounding God's throne: As

7128-453: The related bənê ēlîm and bənê elîon, as well as Shinnan and Qedoshim . The prophetic books , that usually do not write of angels, nonetheless mention Seraphim , Cherubim , and Ophanim , Chayot Ha Kodesh , Erelim , and Hashmallim . In the Book of Zechariah , several episodes explicitly contain Angels. In Daniel , angels gain some of the characteristics they would come to possess in

7227-702: The required online capacities using Xbox Live . A true MMORPG, Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine , was released for Microsoft Windows in 2007 in Japan, 2008 in North America, and 2009 in Europe. Western service was terminated in 2014 when Marvelous USA , the game's then-handlers, shut down their PC Online game department. Its Japanese service ended in May 2016. A smartphone game, Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2 ,

7326-533: The rules of ritual slaughter), linguists (e.g., in Bava Batra Gabriel and Michael scrutinize the semantics of the term kadkod known from Isa. 54:12), and teachers (e.g., in Megillah and Sanhedrin an angelic prince admonishes Joshua for neglecting his Torah studies). On the whole, the quantitative data show that the sages are frequently juxtaposed with angels, and the main dimension of comparison

7425-641: The same being as daemons in Hellenistic thought. In Late Antiquity, the two most popularly invoked angels among Jews were Micheal and Gabriel. Shin Megami Tensei Megami Tensei , marketed internationally as Shin Megami Tensei (formerly Revelations ), is a Japanese media franchise created by Aya Nishitani, Kouji "Cozy" Okada , Ginichiro Suzuki, and Kazunari Suzuki. Primarily developed and published by Atlus , and currently owned by Atlus (and Sega , after acquisition),

7524-765: The same manner, apparently, the prophet Haggai is described as "the messenger of the Lord with the message of the Lord" (malʾakh ʾElohim be-malʾakhut ʾElohim; Book of Haggai 1:13). The Hebrew Bible reports that angels appeared to each of the Patriarchs , to Moses , Joshua , and numerous other figures. They appear to Hagar in Genesis 16:9, to Lot in Genesis 19:1, and to Abraham in Genesis 22:11, they ascend and descend Jacob's Ladder in Genesis 28:12 and appear to Jacob again in Genesis 31:11–13. God promises to send one to Moses in Exodus 33:2, and sends one to stand in

7623-540: The same seven way as the traditional hierarchy. Angels in Judaism#Angelic hierarchy In Judaism , angels ( Hebrew : מַלְאָךְ , romanized :  mal’āḵ , lit.   'messenger', plural: מַלְאָכִים mal’āḵīm ) are supernatural beings that appear throughout The Tanakh ( Hebrew Bible ), rabbinic literature , apocrypha and pseudepigrapha , Jewish philosophy and mysticism , and traditional Jewish liturgy as agents of

7722-536: The same system as Shin Megami Tensei II . The second, Shin Megami Tensei: Nine , was released for the Xbox in 2002. Originally designed as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), it was later split into a dual single-player and multiplayer package, and the single-player version released first. The online version was delayed and eventually cancelled as the developers could not manage

7821-537: The series as the third biggest RPG series in Japan after Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest . IGN 's Matt Coleman mentioned Nocturne in the article "A History of Console RPGs", referring to its content as "challenging stuff for a genre that used to be all about princess saving and evil cleansing". Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II and Shin Megami Tensei both appeared on Famitsu 's 2006 "Top 100 Favorite Games of All Time" audience poll at No. 58 and No. 59, respectively. RPGFan's "Top 20 RPGs of

7920-530: The series do not use the " Megami Tensei " title, such as the Persona sub-series. Many of the early games in the series were not localized due to potentially controversial content including religious references, and later due to their age. English localizations have used the " Shin Megami Tensei " moniker since the release of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne in 2003. The first installment in

8019-449: The series has garnered controversy both in Japan and overseas. Amongst the material cited are its demon negotiation mechanic, depictions of suicide and cannibalism, religious criticism, its use and mixture of Christian and occult imagery, political references, depictions of homosexuality, and its sometimes-strange demon designs. Specific examples have been cited by western journalists. The original release of Persona caused concern due to

8118-490: The series on its list of "Controversies Waiting to Happen", saying that the lack of public outcry was due to its niche status when compared to other series with similar content. Writing for 1UP.com in a later article, Kalata traced this use of controversial content back to the Digital Devil Story novels, which depicted violence and rape committed by demons, and said that "Such violence is not particularly rare in

8217-403: The series taking place in different continuities, they do share certain elements. One of its defining traits is it being set in a contemporary urban environment, specifically modern-day Tokyo. Post-apocalyptic elements are a recurring feature in settings and narratives. This choice was originally made to set the game apart from other fantasy-based gaming franchises of the time, as modern day Tokyo

8316-453: The series was the script for Shin Megami Tensei II . The next entry If... was also written by Ito, and designed as a departure from the grand scale of previous games, instead being set within a cloistered school environment. His final work for the series was the first Devil Summoner . Isogai also worked on Shin Megami Tensei II and If... , and later worked on multiple Devil Summoner games, Nocturne and Strange Journey . The music for

8415-744: The series, having done some work on the original Megami Tensei titles. His first prominent work for the series was on Shin Megami Tensei , who worked on both the sprite art and promotional artwork for the game's characters and demons. He was also responsible for suggesting many of the game's darker features, defining the series' eventual identity. Before designing each demon, Kaneko looks up his chosen subject to get their mythological background, and uses that in their design. Many of Kaneko's demon designs were influenced by both creatures and deities from world mythology, and monsters from popular culture like Godzilla . Alongside working on Shin Megami Tensei II , If... and Nocturne , he also did character designs for

8514-446: The sons of men, we are akin to donkeys. And I do not mean that we are akin to either the donkey of Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa or the donkey of Rabbi Pinḥas ben Yair, who were both extraordinarily intelligent donkeys; rather, we are akin to other typical donkeys. Although on the façade this appears to be a humorous allegory, this passage represents a broader tradition of associating angels and rabbis that manifests in other passages dispersed in

8613-496: The specific angelic beings called yazatas having key positions in the day-name dedications on the Zoroastrian calendar segregated into the ameshaspentas (the second to seventh of the 30 days of the month), yazatas and minoos (the last six of the 30 days of the month). Angels are occasionally presented in role-playing games as having ordered hierarchies, within which higher level angels have more power and

8712-503: The title's religious implications. 1UP.com's 2007 game awards, which ran in the March 2008 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly , Persona 3 was given the "Most controversial game that created no controversy" award: the writers said " Rockstar 's Hot Coffee sex scandal and Bully ' s boy-on-boy kissing's got nothing on this PS2 role-player's suicide-initiated battles or subplot involving student-teacher dating." GamesRadar included

8811-461: The use of philosophical concepts, enabling a blending of concepts and aesthetics that might normally clash. The stories of the core Shin Megami Tensei titles frequently include fighting against a tyrannical God. The method of story-telling in the series can involve traditional use of cutscenes and spoken dialogue ( Persona , Digital Devil Saga ), or a text-based minimalist approach that places emphasis on atmosphere ( Nocturne ). A tradition within

8910-669: The way of Balaam in Numbers 22:31. Isaiah speaks of מַלְאַךְ פָּנָיו "the Angel of the Presence " ("In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them, and carried them all the days of old") ( Isaiah 63:9). The Book of Psalms says "For He Will give His Angels Charge over you, to keep you in all your ways" (Psalms 91:11). Different parts of

9009-402: The west, the game was a major franchise in Japan, having sold over four million copies by 2003. Excluding the Persona series, the Megami Tensei series sold approximately 7.2 million copies by October 2017. By October 2018, the Megami Tensei main series has shifted approximately 12.4 million packaged and digital copies (including DL of free-to-play titles ) of games worldwide. In addition,

9108-408: The word mal’ākh suggests that it is the maqtal form of the root denoting the tool or the means of performing it. The term mal’ākh therefore simply means the one who is sent, often translated as "messenger" when applied to humans; for instance, mal’ākh is the root of the name of the prophet Malachi , whose name means "my messenger". In Modern Hebrew, mal’akh is the general word for "angel". In

9207-412: Was as part of the digital coloring team for the first Devil Summoner . He later had minor roles in artwork and character design in the first Persona and Soul Hackers . He later did the secondary characters for the Persona 2 duology, and was also part of the team checking over the PlayStation ports of the first three Shin Megami Tensei games, as well as minor work on Nocturne . Soejima was chosen as

9306-415: Was done both to bring variety to the series and allow the development team more creative freedom. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is restricted to a "Neutral" alignment while still having multiple endings. The three-tiered alignment was used in Strange Journey , and continued into Shin Megami Tensei IV . The Megami Tensei series began life as a media expansion of the Digital Devil Story series,

9405-458: Was rarely seen in games as opposed to versions of it from the past. The Persona series takes place exclusively within this setting, spanning a single continuity and mostly focusing on the exploits of a group of young people. Shin Megami Tensei II is one of the notable early exceptions to the series' common setting, as it is set in a science fiction-styled future despite still including fantasy elements. The Last Bible series also shifted to

9504-576: Was released for the Nintendo DS in 2009 in Japan and 2010 in North America. Shin Megami Tensei IV for the Nintendo 3DS was released in 2013 in Japan and North America, and a year later in Europe as a digital-only release. Another game set in the same universe, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse , was released for the 3DS in February 2016 in Japan. Shin Megami Tensei V was released on

9603-432: Was released in 2000 in Japan and North America. Persona 3 was released in 2006 in Japan, 2007 in North America, and 2008 in Europe. Its sequel, Persona 4 , was released in 2008 in Japan and North America, and in 2009 in Europe. A sixth entry in the series, Persona 5 , was released in Japan on September 15, 2016, and was released in North America and Europe on April 4, 2017, to critical acclaim. In addition to

9702-408: Was released in 2018. The Persona series is the largest and most popular spin-off from the Megami Tensei series. The first entry in the series, Megami Ibunroku Persona (originally released overseas as Revelations: Persona ), was released in 1996 in Japan and North America. The first Persona 2 title, Innocent Sin , was released in 1999 in Japan. The second game, Eternal Punishment ,

9801-404: Was the first release in the Shin Megami Tensei series to be released overseas. After the release of Nocturne , Atlus' overseas branches decided to add the Shin Megami Tensei moniker to future releases within the Megami Tensei franchise to help market the games. Despite many of the original games not bearing the moniker, it ultimately worked in Atlus' favor as, regardless of title differences,

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