Megami Tensei Online: IMAGINE is a strangely subtitled Japanese MMORPG set in the Megami Tensei universe. Tokyo is once again at the heart of Armageddon and it’s up to you (and thousands of other players just like you) to “save” the world. For the uninitiated (which I assume is everyone reading this site) Megaten, as fans abbreviate it, is a long-running Japanese RPG series that focuses heavily on demon summoning, character customization, and player choice. Think of it as Pokemon for grown ups. The games are distinctly Japanese, always set in Tokyo (as far as I know), and deal with mature religious themes. It’s no surprise then that the series never made it outside of Japan under Nintendo’s watchful eyes. In fact, the series really didn’t make a name for itself in the West until the last days of the PS2… Well, lastish days. At this rate, the PS2 will never die. If you care enough, and I’m sure you don’t, check out Hardcore Gaming 101’s ridiculously in-depth series retrospective. The Megaten series itself is divided into multiple, subtly different sub-series, including the Persona series and Digital Devil Saga. Various FAQs assure me IMAGINE is set between Shin Megami Tensei and its sequel, but the game’s opening cinematic ends with the title of “Digital Devil Story: IMAGINE,” so exactly where the MMO falls in this Adventure Island/Wonder Boy-esque nomenclatural nightmare is anybody’s guess.

The game’s been in beta for a while now, and is freely available to download and play, so I’ll assume none of the Japanese text in the registration process referred to an NDA. IMAGINE is actually entirely in Japanese, what with it being a Japanese game and all. Still, this hasn’t stopped me from slowly fumbling my way through the game with the help of a few online resources. I eventually managed to create a character named 肉サラダ, which Babel Fish assures me means “meat salad.” I chose the arm computer that best suited my ugly avatar and set forth on my fabulous adventure.

The game begins with a tutorial in what I assume is some kind of VR simulation. The green walls comprised of moving code sort of gives it away. An old man doing his best Big Boss impression walks you through the basic gameplay and sends you to violently murder some unsuspecting slime monsters. Several more tutorials follow, teaching you how to loot fallen enemies and use the game’s menus. Thankfully, besides the old man’s Japanese rambling, each tutorial is also illustrated with large, clearly labeled pictures for those of us unfortunate enough to not understand the game’s moon language.

Eventually, after completing some parts of the tutorial and failing horribly at others, I left the virtual world behind in favor of post-apocalyptic Tokyo. The game begins in a town populated with friendly demons from other Megaten games (which may or may not use models ripped from PS2 entries in the series) as well as other human characters. More tutorials and helpful tips are present here, but I’d had enough dealing with NPCs and my questlog was already full of missions with objectives I couldn’t read or understand. It was time to do some killing.

Despite the language barrier, it’s obvious that IMAGINE is an excellent game that does a remarkable job of translating Megaten’s single player mechanics to an online space. Combat is fast and requires well-timed blocks to avoid being steamrolled by even the weakest enemies. Moves and abilities take time to use, and there’s a great deal of strategy involved in timing attacks and blocks to maximize damage output and minimize damage taken. The game’s skill system is also incredibly deep, with dozens of different skill paths to choose from in order to mix and match your way to a fully customizable class. The game’s a bit grind-heavy, especially when you don’t understand the language and therefore can’t do any of the quests, but combat and customization are both incredibly rich and fun. Atlus, bring this game to the US; I will buy it. Seriously. Just market it as the closest thing we’ll ever get to a Pokemon MMO and everyone else will buy it too.

Like other Megaten games, demon summoning plays a major role in the game. Regardless of your class and skillset, you can initiate conversations with enemy demons to coax them to join your ranks. Succeed, and you gain the ability to summon and level that particular demon. You can only have a single demon out at a time, but you can carry up to six with you and store an additional 50 with the correct NPC. Of course, demon fusing also returns in IMAGINE, allowing you to fuse multiple demons into a single, potentially more powerful creature. Wandering around town and inspecting high level players, it looks like nearly all of the the series’ massive roster of demons has returned. Leveling, customizing, and fusing demons is incredibly rewarding and adds an extra layer of character customization to an already deep game. It’s easy to imagine myself spending hours raising and fusing demons in order to create the perfect companion.

Unfortunately, this game has no chance of every coming out in the United States or any other English-speaking part of the world. It’s a shame too, as even strongarming my way through the experience with only a basic understanding of what’s going on, it’s abundantly clear that IMAGINE is a clever title with more depth and creativity on display than any other MMO in recent memory. It looks like 肉サラダ is stuck on Japanese servers with players he can’t understand for the duration of the beta.

Instructions on how to download the game and register an account can be found in this handy NeoGAF thread by MedievalManIII, who was my questing buddy and fellow ignorant American during my stay in the ruined Tokyo of 202X.