Shin Megami Tensei IMAGINE

Shin Megami Tensei: IMAGINE (真・女神転生IMAGINE) is an MMORPG developed by Atlus through a partnership with CAVE. Originally released in Japan in 2007 and distributed in North America by AeriaGames and Entertainment late 2008 and announced to be transfered to Atlus Online in 2012, Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online was Cave’s first massive multiplayer online (MMO) title for PC. It features demon summoning and other gameplay features from the previous games.

IMAGINE uses a "free to play" model, in which microtransactions are an option for purchasing special items, equipment, and outfits.

Release Dates

 * Japan: March 30, 2007
 * North America: December 31, 2008

Plot
This game describes an alternative view of the future where the Earth is overrun by demons. After years of humanity warring amongst themselves, a wide-scale destruction finally put an end to the war, forcing humanity to retire to underground shelters.

Shortly thereafter, demons began invading in the aftermath of the Great Destruction. The player takes on the role of a Demon Buster (or DB for short), who fights and interacts with demons of SMT lore, in addition to having the option of siding with either the Law ('Order of Messiah') or Chaos ('Cult of Gaia') faction, each with their own vision of how the world should be rebuilt.

In the Tokyo of IMAGINE, sometime around the 21st century (Year 202X), survivors of a war known as the "Great Destruction" live in small constructed shelters awaiting the day when humanity can be rebuilt. These survivors, lead by a group known as the Seven Philosophers construct a massive tower which eventually became known as Shinjuku Babel. The remaining survivors then retreated underground and constructed a refugee city known as Third Home.

SMT Imagine takes place between the events of Shin Megami Tensei and Shin Megami Tensei II.

Characters

 * Snakeman
 * DB Kuroe
 * Ogami
 * Azura
 * Setsu
 * Lord Judah
 * Lord Doukan
 * Kuzaka The Wise
 * Yamamoto the Steel-Willed
 * DB Mikanagi
 * DB Kano
 * DB Yamaguchi

Game References

 * The equipment that the Tutorial NPC is using is a variant of the same COMP design as in Shin Megami Tensei.
 * The first demon you encounter is a Cerberus, which is the same demon as Akemi Nakajima used mainly in Megami Tensei.
 * When you get one of the special COMP models, Snakeman refers to STEVEN.
 * The game intro includes someone typing out the words Shin Megami Tensei, as appeared in the game of the same name.
 * Many references are made to Shin Megami Tensei, including some items being salvaged from the Great Destruction portrayed in the game.
 * Several tracks from the in-game soundtrack are remixes from older SMT music tracks. The music in the Suginami region is a remix of the overworld theme from Shin Megami Tensei II, and IMAGINE's Cathedral of Shadows uses a remix of the Cathedral music from Shin Megami Tensei II.
 * The basic model of COMP in Imagine has the words: The devil is recalled 'Megami' on its display.
 * In a recent update, players receive an encrypted email From: STEVEN. The email acts as a dungeon in which the player must fight digital demons to decript the email. Currently only 27 floors exist.