Games you're playing: The 2009 edition.

[Grefter]

Oh yeah Master Computer is certainly something I highly recommend using the points on, since well on replays you don't really branch out so much anymore.  Edit - Forgot to say that even just the first rank is sufficient to help make the game a lot easier it is quite easilly the most bang for your buck on skill points to get it to Trained.  Getting it to Advanced lets you fiddle a little with turrets, Master is kind of overkill and just gravy, but it is still nice.

I don't really use Ballistic myself either (It is good in the escape from the hotel though.) since I tend to stealth pretty much everything.  If you replay the game I suggest you just bug abuse past some of the more meh factors in the game.  Downgrade Pistol at the starting screen for a chunk of free skillpoints (You get Trained pistol anyway).  When lockpicking/Mutlitooling start it, hit escape, wait a bit, hit it again and it will have kept ticking down when the game was paused.  The game is absolutely swimming in Lockpicks and Multitools anyway that on replays, fuck it, just get the stuff open without fussing around.

Oh and for replays, the code to the armoury in the sewers of 007 and Smuggler's mirror can be broken ... either just the first time or second time there, but the code to open it is the same as Paul's anyway 4321 (His might be 3 digits?  Meh).  A few extra mods and a chunk of free ammo never goes astray and if you have the backpack space you can always use a LAQ.  Also if you want to be really silly you can save up all the Zyme in the game and sell it in Paris for... 300 credits a vial I think?  It isn't much money and is just before money becomes useless, but it is still a little bit of fun.

Edit -  I also forgot to say that the levelling up on the weapon skills is also in part that at certain ranks they let you do extra stuff that isn't documented.  Advanced in Low Tech is sufficient strength or hardness rating (Whatever stuff uses to determine whether you are capable of dealing damage to it) is high enough that you can melee down a lot of doors, pretty much anything you could do with explosives when using a Sword or the Dragon's Tooth (which could already do it at Untrained on some surfaces, but this lets you do more).  Rifles lets you break turrets, cameras and the same walls at Low Tech (pretty much) with the Sniper Rifle.  Yes this buff is to the two weapon skills that needed it the least, no I do not care about how unbalanced that is.

[superaielman]

MK- Chapter 11. Muppy and Roxis both making passes at Vayne is just wrong. Man.


Really enjoying the game now, etc. Good combat systme and synthing's fun even if it suffers from some polish issues.  Fairly strong PC cast which is nice, outside of Jess and Nikki. Even they have their moments in the main plot. (Jess's last couple of character quests really suck. I refuse to even do Nikki's.)

Probably going to get Anna's ending. Also thinking a little about getting Flay's/Muppy's/Roxis's/Pamela's instead as well.

[hinode]

SRWK: Been poking around a replay sporadically, up to C20. Despite "only" carrying over about 4 million in cash*, the game's been a total cakewalk. Ace bonuses and pilot skills carrying over is a significant factor there, Mist in particular is about a million times more effective now that he started with L3 chain skill and pumped weapon upgrades. Kill totals are getting crazy, Van's over 300 kills already and Mist is nearly there.

*By comparison I had 3 million starting cash in W, despite upgrades being carried over in that game, with 15 bar-everything on GGG and Valzacard, FUB'd Ryus, and 15 Weapon/Energy/Mobility on a bunch of stuff. Granted, this arguably says more about W than it does about K. <_<

Pokemon Platinum: 8 gym badges down. Close to finishing now, so I might as well save my thoughts for the big post-E4 recap. I will say that it's definately a big step up from D/P in terms of polish.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

MK- Chapter 11. Muppy and Roxis both making passes at Vayne is just wrong. Man.


Really enjoying the game now, etc. Good combat systme and synthing's fun even if it suffers from some polish issues.  Fairly strong PC cast which is nice, outside of Jess and Nikki. Even they have their moments in the main plot. (Jess's last couple of character quests really suck. I refuse to even do Nikki's.)

Probably going to get Anna's ending. Also thinking a little about getting Flay's/Muppy's/Roxis's/Pamela's instead as well.

Out of those, Flay's the most entertaining one I've seen. Pamela's is meh, Roxis' is sorta entertaining but very Ho Yay-tastic. Haven't seen Muppy. Anna's isn't all that fun either, but if you like the character, go ahead. I got her ending in my first playthrough. And you're not missing anything from Nikki CQs: she just gets worse. >_>

[Clear Tranquil]

Mana Khemia- Chapter 11. Hit the Zeppel glitch. F****k Forty one hours and forty seconds down the drain. WTF.

... huh I cried at Jess' CQs >_> I guess I'm just weird like that, I cried at Sulpher too <_< Also unlike Super I found Roxis hitting on Vayne entertaining ^_^

I guess I can't fix this glitch =-(

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Zeppel glitch? What?

[Clear Tranquil]

Combat class. Objective is to defeat the chimera in the Wind's Corridor Abyss. However once I do that I can't collect my stamps from Zeppel. He just keeps saying the chimera is in the abyss despite the fact I've already defeated it >_>

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Have you tried going to Student Affairs instead? At least, this won't stop you from beating the game period even if you just lost fourty hours. Hooray for optional classes.

[Talaysen]

Load an earlier save?

[Clear Tranquil]

Thanks Snow~

Yeah the girl there says that my class is still currently ongoing and to report it in >.<  I found something about this at GameFAQs, apparently it is a known in game glitch and that the player has to restart their game from the start if they saved after defeating the enemy. I haven't saved yet but even though I've reset and defeated the thing several times the game still isn't progressing. I'll keep trying.

No Bullies! Super for 9000+ damage  Pamela + Flay ftw <3 Also Roxis for support heaven~

Edit: Tal - I have several saves yeah but the last one is in chapter five >.>

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Thanks Snow~

Yeah the girl there says that my class is still currently ongoing and to report it in >.<  I found something about this at GameFAQs, apparently it is a known in game glitch and that the player has to restart their game from the start if they saved after defeating the enemy. I haven't saved yet but even though I've reset and defeated the thing several times the game still isn't progressing. I'll keep trying.

No Bullies! Super for 9000+ damage  Pamela + Flay ftw <3 Also Roxis for support heaven~

Edit: Tal - I have several saves yeah but the last one is in chapter five >.>

Just pick a different class, then (if you can). The issue seems to stem from that specific class, so pick something else, profit.

[Random Consonant]

Endless Frontier: 1x Crystal-Destroying Plot Item get.  1x Slutbot get, also, but who cares about that.

[SageAcrin]

Downgrade Pistol at the starting screen for a chunk of free skillpoints (You get Trained pistol anyway).  When lockpicking/Mutlitooling start it, hit escape, wait a bit, hit it again and it will have kept ticking down when the game was paused.  The game is absolutely swimming in Lockpicks and Multitools anyway that on replays, fuck it, just get the stuff open without fussing around.

I actually did both of those.

Pistol I hadn't planned on upgrading/using at first(and indeed, did not really upgrade until very late) so it ticked me that the game ate skill points on it; the fact that I knew I'd get Trained anyways wasn't relevant, should have made me not downgrade it then if you didn't want me to ignore Pistols for most of the game for skills and just upgrade the gun instead, silly game. (Crossbow gets a scope.)

Lockpicks bug meanwhile I'd use any time the game pissed me off royally with "lol here is two weapon upgrades you don't need and a few GEP ammo you don't need behind a 75% lock". Anything worthwhile I'd just pick normally.

Edit -  I also forgot to say that the levelling up on the weapon skills is also in part that at certain ranks they let you do extra stuff that isn't documented.  Advanced in Low Tech is sufficient strength or hardness rating (Whatever stuff uses to determine whether you are capable of dealing damage to it) is high enough that you can melee down a lot of doors, pretty much anything you could do with explosives when using a Sword or the Dragon's Tooth (which could already do it at Untrained on some surfaces, but this lets you do more).  Rifles lets you break turrets, cameras and the same walls at Low Tech (pretty much) with the Sniper Rifle.  Yes this buff is to the two weapon skills that needed it the least, no I do not care about how unbalanced that is.

The former's some kind of element of actual damage dealt to the drat doors, I think, the Dragon Tooth starts knocking down every door possible to do this to and then every door becomes melee immune a few hours after because the game's a jerk, but in general I think it varies on the door individually and how much raw damage you're hitting it with.

Combat Strength aug lets you bash up doors you can't otherwise, for instance, which certainly implies they have some kind of defense value or something you have to break with damage, before you can bash 'em down.

The latter I just plain didn't know and wish I had, that's ridiculous, makes Rifles the best skill by miles and is really abusable. Fun fun. Ah well, Rifles isn't that unbalanced overall, there's only so many shots for the drat thing. Even running a huge amount of weapons, rifle ammo was the only one I ever felt like I was going to run out of because it's tempting to over-abuse.

(Granted, I think it's Assault Rifle, too, as well as Shotgun? Such a silly skill. Probably should have cost the Lockpick amount, but eh, who cares, and that skill cost is lame on anything anyways.)

[Niu]

SMT: Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha 1 - Complete!
Yay! It's SMT in ARPG form! Djinn-bait!
Okay, so apparently the SMT timeline looks something like Normal Earth -> SMT1 -> SMT2 -> Devil Summoner happens, someone from the SMT2 future goes back in time to DS to avert the events of SMT1 -> SMTif... -> Persona series.

SMT3 happens either in a parallel pre-SMT1 Earth, OR the Neutral ending is canon and SMT3 fits somewhere between the events of SMT1 and 2 / Persona 2 and 3 but the events of which are nulled by the destruction and rebirth of the status quo Earth...

No, it goes this way

Raidou1-Raidou2-Devil Summoner1-Soul Hacker

Louie Cypher greatly altered the events of history in Raidou2 to prevent SMT1 from happening. Louie plots to create a future without the Messiah and sets up Kuzunoha against YHWH.

IF Louie didn't change history in Raidou2, things well go Raidou1-SMT1-SMT2 instead.

We don't know where SMT3 fits yet, but it is one of the future that Louie preffered to happen. Louie even let Raidou finds out about SMT3 just to spice things up.

[superaielman]

MK- Chapter 11. Muppy and Roxis both making passes at Vayne is just wrong. Man.


Really enjoying the game now, etc. Good combat systme and synthing's fun even if it suffers from some polish issues.  Fairly strong PC cast which is nice, outside of Jess and Nikki. Even they have their moments in the main plot. (Jess's last couple of character quests really suck. I refuse to even do Nikki's.)

Probably going to get Anna's ending. Also thinking a little about getting Flay's/Muppy's/Roxis's/Pamela's instead as well.

Out of those, Flay's the most entertaining one I've seen. Pamela's is meh, Roxis' is sorta entertaining but very Ho Yay-tastic. Haven't seen Muppy. Anna's isn't all that fun either, but if you like the character, go ahead. I got her ending in my first playthrough. And you're not missing anything from Nikki CQs: she just gets worse. >_>

I saw Roxis's last CQ and loaded. It was pretty well done despite the yaoitastic overtones. Ended up going with Anna's CQ and beat on Isolde. That fight was much easier than her last. Need to go post about that in the season topic, in fact.

CT- That really sucks. At least replaying MK is much quicker.

[VySaika]

Of course it was yaoitastic. Vayne/Roxis OTP~

[Veryslightlymad]

FE8 random replay. Up to Chapter 7.
The warriors so far....

Ephraim ~ Don't have him yet, but leveled him a bunch in 5x. He's... uh... Ephraim.

Eirika ~ Unfortunately, she seems like she's being RNG nerfed. Still, one of my better units by virtue of insanely high speed. (17?!!?!?!?)

Colm ~ Is tearing shit up still. I know he's a thief, but this is what I expect most people want from their myrmidon units.

Garcia ~ Has gotten no less than 3 5 stat level ups. Currently he's level 13 and kicking ass. If the luck keeps up, he might be one of my better troops.

Forde ~ Same as Ephraim, only Forde is keeping true to his "Average stats" thing by having over 10 in everything but RES. Good job, Forde.

Artur ~ Is Artur/Lucius. Good for him.

Neimi ~ Still seems to have good strength, but she's falling behind in levels somehow. Oh, well.


MVP so far? Garcia, believe it or not. He has the HP and, thanks to a few good level ups, the defense to plug holes wherever I need 'em, and he kills most enemies in one shot, so that helps a huge amount.

[Talaysen]

CT: I suggest leaving at least one extra save at the beginning of the chapter from now on.  They give you 12 save spots for a reason.  I haven't heard about the bug so I dunno how you can get around it, though, but at least that will ensure it never happens again.

[OblivionKnight]

Real men play through MK without saving

[DjinnAndTonic]

No, it goes this way

Raidou1-Raidou2-Devil Summoner1-Soul Hacker

Louie Cypher greatly altered the events of history in Raidou2 to prevent SMT1 from happening. Louie plots to create a future without the Messiah and sets up Kuzunoha against YHWH.

IF Louie didn't change history in Raidou2, things well go Raidou1-SMT1-SMT2 instead.

We don't know where SMT3 fits yet, but it is one of the future that Louie preffered to happen. Louie even let Raidou finds out about SMT3 just to spice things up.

Ah, I see. I haven't played any of the Devil Summoner series except for Raidou1, as it's the only one in English at the moment (unless Raidou2 has been released already?). I was just piecing together information from various websites plus what I knew of the games I've just played. I don't suppose you could elaborate some more on what happens in Devil Summoner 1 and Soul Hackers? Also... I'm curious if you (or any other SMT fans here) know whether anything from the original 2 Megami Tensei games are directly linked to the SMT timeline?

Original timeline:
Normal Earth -> Raidou1 -> Mostly-normal Earth history -> SMTif... -> SMT1 -> SMT2 (Aleph kills God, End of the World/Timeline)

Revised timeline:
Normal Earth -> Raidou1 -> Raidou2 (Lucifer suceeds in changing history) -> DevilSummoner1 -> SMTif...(good end, probably) -> Persona1 -> P2 -> P3 -> P4? -> Soul Hackers -> DDS (possibly) / SMT3 (possibly) / Megami Tensei (possibly?) / Majin Tensei (possibly?)

Haven't played any of P4 yet and the Megami/Majin Tensei series haven't been translated, so I'm at a loss there, just guessing based on internet research.

Fun stuff. Might make a good Niu Fact Topic.

[VySaika]

P4, at least, is very blatently right after P3. You even see a couple of the chars from P3 and they're like...2 years older?

[Ultradude]

SRW @G: Beated a Cleaver. On Normal Mode, so no Cleaver of Evil for me. Sorrow. At least Ryusei got a ton of levels out of finishing him off.

God that was kind of a marathon though. Freaking parade of bosses that kept self-healing every time you wore them down. At least Thrudgelmir was the only really dangerous mech that had HP regen.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

MK - Beaten again! Final boss was impressively sad with his "getting three actions total counting the one he used to summon the epic losers". Fun little romp. Now, for S3 replay.

EDIT:

P4, at least, is very blatently right after P3. You even see a couple of the chars from P3 and they're like...2 years older?

Literally so, even.

[Meeplelard]

Star Ocean 4 Abridged:

Episode 7 - Reunions and shit!

Edge: So...where did the Phantom Ship land?
Bacchus: Sensors indicate its on the southern coast.
Edge: So basically, some part of the planet we couldn't reach cause we didn't have this ring to blow up the rock in the way?
Bacchus: That is correct.
Edge: Ok, well that's where we're heading next!
*team journeys onward*
Reimi: Say Edge, do these super large bugs from early in the game look a little...different?
Edge: Hm? That must be your imagination.  As if an RPG would reuse enemy designs, slightly alter their coloring, and just up their stats so they would fit the scenery, but still give us actual fights and EXP and...
*next fight actually requires using SP to finish quickly, despite the Bugs looking the same as ones previously in the game*
Edge: ...don't...say...a word...

*team reaches the southern coast finally*
Myuria: There's the Phantom Ship!
Edge: Well, that's...definitely an SRF Design...
Reimi: yeah, but something weird is on it.  That's not just Black and Red Spray paint...
Faize: Something is coming, look out!
*Team gets surrounded by a bunch of Phantom Soldiers with GUNS*
Bacchus: These things don't exist.  My sensors indicate there are no life forms.  THey're just an illusion!
Myuria: Stop relying on your machines and use your fucking eyes. THEY'RE STANDING RIGHT HERE AND DRIPPING GOOP OR SOMETHING!
Meracle: So basically, they're enemies...that aren't really alive, meow?
Edge: Either way, we have to kill them!
*Edge slashes one in half effortlessly*
Edge: Ha, that wasn't...
*three more appear out of nowhere to replace it*
Myuria: Didn't I tell you? THEY SPAWN OUT OF NOWHERE.
Edge: So we're going to be in for a long fight?
Myuria: That's one way to put it...
Edge: *Sigh* Welp, lets get this over with*
*Fight starts with Phantoms*
Edge: HA! That wasn't too ba-
*Another one follows up*
Edge: Oh, right there are a lot of them, and there's probably another Ambush after this!
*Another fight occurs*
Edge: See? Told you! And of course, 3 is always-...
*A 4th fight appears, this time with more enemise*
Edge: The fuck?  Ok, so they're trying to throw more-...
*Another fight happens*
Lymle: There's too many, 'kay.
Edge: Shut up! Just keep fighting!  This the 5th one, they wouldn't have more than 5!
*Another fight*
Edge: Why do you mock me game? WHY?
*Another fight occurs*
Faize: Its like I said! TRI ACE HATES US! WE'RE GONNA DIE!!!!
Edge: HA! Reversal of scenarios! Now you're the one claiming-...
*Team actually loses*
Edge: ...what just happened?
Sarah: Oh dear, it seems we had out first game over entirely due to item throwing taking forever and the enemies being completely unfair spamming naughty people.
Edge: ...so we have to go through all that *AGAIN*?
Bacchus: By my calculations...yes.
Faize: HA! I told you we were going to die!
Edge: Shut up, you're suppose to be emo now!
Faize: Oh, right. Now where's that knife...

*resets game, skips plot scene*
Narrator: And so the team is forced to fight a bunch of fucking Phantoms.  Yes, Star Ocean 4 does in fact summarize plot scenes you skip, cause we fucking feel like it.
*7 fights later*
Edge: I don't get paid enough for this.
Reimi: Hey, you're the one who signed up for being the main character of this game.
Edge: That's only cause you threatened to kill me if I didn't be the main, after you already signed up to the female lead!
Reimi: BUt...I would have been lonely...
Sarah: Oh dear, can you two stop arguing and fight these Phantoms in a plot scene *she blasts a few away with magic*
Meracle: THERE'S TOO MANY! THERE'S TOO MANY!THERE'S TOO MANY!THERE'S TOO MANY! THERE'S TOO MANY! THERE'S TOO MANY!
*Meracle is slaughtering about 15 Phantoms every time she yells that*
Edge: Damn it! We can't rely on plot power forever!
Bacchus: This...isn't good.  My sensors indicate...
Edge: Ok, no, there's no way this scenario can't get any worse.
Bacchus: Might I suggest you look towards the Phantom Ship, at which point, the Phantoms will conveniently stop looking at us?
Edge: Huh? Ok...
*Sees the Phantom Ship charging a huge fucking particle Cannon*
Edge: ...WE'RE GONNA DIE!!!
Reimi: No! They wouldn't fire at their own kind!
Myuria: Uh, yeah, they would; remember, they materiliaze out of nothing.  Somehow, I don't think they even have a remote sense of life value...
Faize: NO! I can't die before my Emo side is fully developed!
*Laser charges, fires at team...only to be interrupted by a different laser*
Edge: What the fuclk was that?
Bacchus: Sensors indicate another Deus Ex Machina saved us from the sky...
*More lasers hit the ship with pin point accuracy, the ship flies away, you can see the Sol from the sky*
Reimi: Oh, wow, every shot was dead on.  Who could have done that...
*Red Haired man in Red SRF Armor is revealed*
Edge: CROWE!!!!!!!!!!!  Now that I found you, I can stop that drama.
*Next to Crowe is that douchey Silver Haired Bishie from the 19th Eldarian division, the two jump down off the Sol in the middle of the fight*
Crowe: So, Arumat, you ready to go all STAR WARS on these things asses?
Arumat: Aren't we suppose to wait til after we kill all these things to actually say anything, let alone reveal my name?
Crowe: Yeah, but I needed to break the action sequences somehow.
Arumat: Hmph, fine.
*Crowe whips out two Blue Lightsabers, goes all Jedi on half the Phantoms, Arumat takes a HUGE FUCKING LASER SCYTHE THAT SPLITS INTO THREE BLADES, kills the other half*
Edge: God damn, Crowe one upped me again!  I'm never going to beat him, am I?
Reimi: Don't worry Edge, its only normal for the Main Character's rival to be better at him than everything until the end of the game where you will spontaneously become better than him.
Edge: Oh, so I'm DESTINED to be better than him EVENTUALLY? Ok, I can live with that.
Crowe: Yo, Edge, been a while!
Edge: Yeah, I've only been looking for you the ENTIRE DAMN GAME.
Crowe: Well, I can explain what happened...but since you already met Bacchus, I think he probably told you everything.
Edge: He did...though, Meracle and Sarah weren't here so they're in the dark, Bacchus, be sure to explain things to them on the ship later!
Bacchus: Understood.
Lymle: Me too! Me too!
Reimi: Um...Lymle, you already know everything.
Lymle: I don't want to be left out of story time, 'kay?
Crowe: In any event...OH SHIT A LIGHTNING BLAST *he dodges*
Myuria: DIE VILE SCUM! YOU KILLED MY HUSBAND LUCIEN!
Edge: What the fuck are you doing Myuria?
Myuria: SHUT UP EDGE! I TOLD YOU I'M GOING TO KILL HIM WHEN I MET HIM! I'LL KILL HIM NOW!
Crowe: Oh, so you're Myuria?
Myuria: YES! AND I WILL KILL YOU! OBSERVE THIS FLASHBACK AS TO WHY!
*flashback*
Past Myuria: Oh, Lucien, I love you! Also, my hair is in a ponytail now making me look so much younger and cuter, right?
Lucien: Oh, I love you too! IN fact I love you so much, i'm going to stop piloting this ship, and thus paying attention, and come over there and give you a nice big ki-
*ship gets blasted by huge lasers*
Lucien: No! Myuria! You're unconscious! Why!? Here, I'll put you in this escape pod! No, don't ask why I only made one, its kind of stupid in hindsight...but don't worry, you'll be alive! I'll die, though, and thus you'll be in emotional turmoil...
*he sends Myuria off, his ship blows up*
Past Myuria: Huh, what? Where am I? An Escape Pod? LUCIEN? NO!!!!
*she sees an SRF ship that looks NOTHING LIKE THE BIG TENTACLE SHIP that was attacking their ship*
Past Myuria: Huh? What? HIM? He's the guy who killed my husband? THAT BASTARD! I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!!!!
*end flashback*

Myuria: AND NOW MY SOUL WILL FINALLY BE PUT TO REST!
Crowe: Well, its clear you're not going to listen to my explanation, so...
*Crowe casually grabs Myuria's staff*
Crowe: I'll just have to...SHOW YOU THIS RECORDING BOX OF LUCIEN!
Recorded Crowe: People on that ship, we are from Earth, we've destroyed your attackers, please answer me, we've come to help!
Recorded Lucien: I'm going to die. I know it!
Myuria: Huh? What?
Crowe: Listen to them, its his final words.
Recorded Lucien: I loved you Myuria.  I'll always love you.  You're my little snuggle bunny, honey. *insert 10 hour long death speech here related entirely to how obsessed he was with Myuria*
Recorded Crowe: Myuria? What's that? Crap! He can't understand us!  Ok, we have to go in there and sa-...
*ship blows up sound effect*
Recorded Crowe: ...god damn it.
Crowe: Long story short, we came to save him, but we couldn't understand each other, so due to that communication fuck up, he kind of died...if didn't understand a word he said until Bacchus gave me this nifty translator.
Myuria: He...loved me...that much?
Crowe: Ok, I think she should be left alone for a while, and we can finally get down to business.
Reimi: So...Crowe...any clue what's going on?
Crowe: Long story short, I'm hunting Grigori and blowing them up, cause they're related to Phantoms.
Bacchus: Know anything more about the Phantoms?
Crowe:  Well, based on info that the Nedians Morphus have discovered, Grigori copy data, and then create things based on that copied data, and those things are Phantoms.
Edge: So Phantoms and Grigori are directed related?  Well then...wait, are you saying?
Crowe: Yes, there's a Grigori here.  That's why I came...I basically saved you completely by luck, IOWs...BUT I'M HAPPY I DID!
Edge: AND SO AM I!
Reimi: Oh god, I smell a potential Yaoi pairing.  I don't know if I should be incredibly giddy like a school girl, or incredibly envious to the point where I have to...*evil stare* KILL CROWE.
Faize: HEY! The evil stares are MY gig now!
Edge: So to get things straight, the Eldarians and SRF stationed here were killed by the Grigori?
Crowe: Yes, that's correct.
Faize: NO! My brethren, they're dead!  Wait, YOU! 13th ARMORED DIVISON MEMBER! WHY DIDN'T YOU PROTECT THEM!? THAT'S THE JOB OF THE MILITARY!
Arumat: Well, lad, that's cause...
Faize: Answer me damn it!
Arumat: ...I was about to, lad.  Anyway, there is no more Military...or Eldarian Organizations for that matter...or well, no more Eldar.
Faize: Wait, what? YOU LIE!
Arumat: Uh, no, I don't, lad.
Edge: Hold on...are you saying Eldar is destroyed? And all the Eldarians are killed besides you and Faize?
Arumat: Oh, no, there are still Eldarian's alive!  By which I mean there's probably like 50 or so, but I'm not suppose to specify how many live.  They're all on Emigration Ships.
Faize: YOU LIE!!!!
Arumat: I think its best you learn the truth, Lad.
Faize: NO! I REFUSE!
Arumat: QUIET LAD! I am telling you the truth whether you like it or not!
Sarah: Oh dear, those two aren't very good friends...
Lymle: Story time, yay!

*shift to an Arumat Narrative with flashbacks.  What he explains is shown at this time*
Arumat: Basically, our sun where Eldar is arbitrarily turned into a Red Giant, thus Eldar's destruction was brought a century closer.  Yes, that's right; I basically just said Eldar would have been totally fucked in only 100 years anyway.  So we evacuated the ENTIRE PLANET.  But well...IT'S A TRAP!!! laid by the Phantoms.  They made our sun that big so we'd all be on ships so they could BLOW US UP.  The military fought them off so that Eldarians could survive...but to no avail.  I'd have been dead too, but I ran into Crowe, and he saved me.  The last thing I saw was Eldar get eaten by the sun...almost literally...
*end narrative*
Faize: No, this is impossible.  HOW CAN THIS BE TRUE!?
Edge: Psst, Reimi, was I ever THAT bad when I was in angst mode a few hours ago?
Reimi: Well, you had one total outbreak where you shouted everything like a mad man, but beyond that, at least you shut up most of the time...
Edge: Ok, just checking.

Crowe: This happened recently, mind, so I just found Arumat and the surviving Eldarians.  We've been escorting them; they're currently just outside this planet as we speak, SAFE AND SOUND! Nothing could go wrong!
Edge: Wait, you said some Eldarians are survived...but now you make it seem like they're all dead?
Crowe: Oh, don't worry.  Captain Graggahn happened to be on Eldar at the time, and lead the evacuation, so a few did survive!
Edge: Ok, that makes sense...except its still contradicting what Arumat said...
Bacchus: I believe it would be wise to just assume it somehow all fits in nicely and pretend it makes sense.
Edge: Right-o!
Crowe: In any event, we have to find that Gri-...hold on, I got a call.  Yeah.  Uh-huh...wait what? SOMETHING WENT WRONG!? NO WAY!
Edge: I'm going to assume that's a bad thing...
Crowe: Uh, well, it seems those Eldarian's we saved? Well...they're under attack!
Faize: NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Crowe: CALM DOWN KID! They aren't dead YET, just I need to hurry back...except...the Grigori...
Edge: Hey, leave that to us!  We'll deal with the Grigori, you deal with the Eldarians.
Crowe: Right.  Arumat, help them out.
Arumat: Ok, looks like we'll be fighting together, lad.
Myuria: Ok, I'm fine, I can help blow up a stupid stone.
Crowe: Myuria...look, I know I failed to save your husband, and I TRULY APOLOGIZE WITH MY DEEPEST GRATITUDE for it.   So whatever you wish to do to me, I'll accept that punishment...but please wait til later? We have other matters at hand!
Myuria: ...you're an idiot.  I won't kill you! Its my...and Lucien's...gift to you.
Crowe: Oh, so we're in the clearing then? Ok, time to GO BE A HERO AGAIN!

Faize: Wait! Let me join you, Crowe! I want to help out my Brethren as well!
Crowe: Uh, ok, sure.
Edge: Look, Faize, I know how you feel; I mean, I BLEW UP A PLANET AND WENT INTO ANGST MODE MYSELF.  I know, you didn't do the planet blowing up, but I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL.  And you know what got me through this stuff? MY FRIENDS!  So I urge you to remember that you have friends and we'll always support you!  But I won't stop you from leaving our team in order to clear a space for a new ally.
Faize: Right, got it!  Cya everyone!
Lymle: I don't want you to go Faize, 'kay?  You are still wearing that cloak.
Faize: Oh, I am.  Well, Lymle, if you tell me it looks good on me, I might just stay around. </actual line of dialog>
Lymle: No, it looks really ugly on you, 'kay.
*Faize leaves*

Meralcle: Ooh! A new ally! This will be cool, meow!
Myuria: Wait, we just lost a well established character and replaced him with some new guy?  Don't all new characters join with no skills learned, 0 levels of BEAT, and underleveled?
Arumat: Hmph, amateurs!  Little do you guys realize, I'm so bad ass, I actually stole all of Faize's support skills, his levels, his BEAT rankings *AND* his SP!  Heck, I even took his SP and put it into my reserves, so I can REDISTRIBUTE THEM HOWEVER I WANT!
Myuria: OH, really? Wow, that's pretty damn convenient.  Speaking of which, how do you fight?
Arumat: Well, I have some attack ma-...
Myuria: Wait, ANOTHER mage? WE ALREADY HAVE 3 WHO ARE MUCH BETTER THAN FAIZE! NO! WE DON'T HAVE ROOM FOR-...
Arumat: QUIET WENCH! Anyway, I also hold hit things with huge fucking Laser Scythe...really damn hard...
Myuria: ...oh, well, I guess that's somewhat better.
Lymle: We got rid of Faize for another fighter whose a lot better, 'kay.
Myuria: Though, I do question how a LONG SILVER HAIRED guy like you is allowed to be a good guy in a jRPG...
Arumat: Oh, that? It only applies to PRETTY boys! Me? I HAVE A SCAR ON MY FACE! SEE THE SCAR!? SEE IT!?!!? That makes me NOT PRETTY! So I'm allowed to be a good guy.
Myuria: Oh, that makes sense.

[Niu]

No, it goes this way

Raidou1-Raidou2-Devil Summoner1-Soul Hacker

Louie Cypher greatly altered the events of history in Raidou2 to prevent SMT1 from happening. Louie plots to create a future without the Messiah and sets up Kuzunoha against YHWH.

IF Louie didn't change history in Raidou2, things well go Raidou1-SMT1-SMT2 instead.

We don't know where SMT3 fits yet, but it is one of the future that Louie preffered to happen. Louie even let Raidou finds out about SMT3 just to spice things up.

Ah, I see. I haven't played any of the Devil Summoner series except for Raidou1, as it's the only one in English at the moment (unless Raidou2 has been released already?). I was just piecing together information from various websites plus what I knew of the games I've just played. I don't suppose you could elaborate some more on what happens in Devil Summoner 1 and Soul Hackers? Also... I'm curious if you (or any other SMT fans here) know whether anything from the original 2 Megami Tensei games are directly linked to the SMT timeline?

Original timeline:
Normal Earth -> Raidou1 -> Mostly-normal Earth history -> SMTif... -> SMT1 -> SMT2 (Aleph kills God, End of the World/Timeline)

Revised timeline:
Normal Earth -> Raidou1 -> Raidou2 (Lucifer suceeds in changing history) -> DevilSummoner1 -> SMTif...(good end, probably) -> Persona1 -> P2 -> P3 -> P4? -> Soul Hackers -> DDS (possibly) / SMT3 (possibly) / Megami Tensei (possibly?) / Majin Tensei (possibly?)

Haven't played any of P4 yet and the Megami/Majin Tensei series haven't been translated, so I'm at a loss there, just guessing based on internet research.

Fun stuff. Might make a good Niu Fact Topic.

It is hard to tell whether Devil Summoners and Personas are connected or not. If... and Persona are definitely connected though. But Where does SMTIf... fits is also a problem.
But I am pretty certain DDS is another whole different continuity.
I'd rather keep P3 and P4 out of the continuity issue, consider the staff swap and everything.
Things can be more complicated if we bring in Apocrypha and Apocalypse, but I doubt many people remember those.
And the two earliest Old Testaments has no connection in terms of plot to the later series. They just provided the settings.

So in a simple format:

Raidou1->SMT1&2
Raidou1&2->Devil Summoners
SMTIf...->Persona
And Majin Tensei would be a stand alone.

As for Devil Summoners plot in general, to put it simply it'll be summoner hacker and detectives vs. evil corporate fallen angels who try to summon evil alien godlike entity by sacrificing human souls.