Best products from r/Megaten

Okay so

I'll divide this into a few sections, assuming you can only speak English and want books in a somewhat reasonable price range.

Though if you're at uni or have access to a uni library: make the most of it.

Oh yeah before I forget, as a general rule, if you're reading an explanation or exploration of a culture's beliefs or stories, find something written by someone who comes from the actual culture if you can. It's always best as a foreigner to have your first insight being from someone who's grown up with it. Avoid people like Alan Watts like the fucking plague. Though of course actual academics on the mythology and religion generally write quite well about them.

First up, Shintoism.

The perfect primer for Japanese mythology is the oldest book extant in Japan's history: the Kojiki. In English, you really cannot go past the Philippi translation. It is incredibly comprehensive with cross referencing and explaining basically any term you could want to know. Philippi explains the history of the book, the intracies of the language involved, and competing theories regarding contentious points alongside with the translation. The one downside here is that it's rather pricey. The book is out of print due to copyright issues, so you can only really get it for around $100 at the lowest. Still, it's a pretty great resource. A word of warning though, there are a lot of boring chapters in the Kojiki if you're interested in myths. Part of the reason why the Kojiki and the Nihongi were commissioned at the time was to legitimise imperial rule, so you have a lot of chapters that just talk about lineage, connecting the Imperial family back to Amaterasu. "Emperor Steve was born in this year, had six kids with three wives and died. He was succeeded by Emperor Greg." Stuff like that.

If you want something that isn't a primary text and is a little more accessible, The Kami Way is supposed to be quite good. It's very cheap, written by two academics (one from Japan one from the West), and quite short, making it easy to dive into. The one downside is that it's a little old, so its scholarship might not be quite as current as some other books.

Next up, Hinduism.

Hinduism is fucking terrifying to tackle because there is just so much stuff on it. Keep in mind that Hinduism is more a collection of belief systems than one unified belief system, keep in mind that it has an incredibly well preserved written and oral history, keep in mind that it's an offshoot of one of the oldest attested religions on Earth... there's a lot here.

and then you have the five hundred books written by western people about the TRUE way to Awaken Your Chakras

Now two of the most important texts here are the Rig Veda and the Upanishads. The Rig Veda is one of the oldest religious texts in the world, a collection of religious hymns. Until recently, there was no good full translation into English. Sure you can find one on the Sacred Texts website but... it's crap from 19th century England. Scholarship was not the same then as it is now. However, in 2014, an absolutely fantastic resource was completed. It is the full Rig Veda, unabridged, with commentary on every single one of over a thousand hymns. The poetry sings, the commentary is insightful... and it costs 400 american dollars all up. I only got to read these through my university library.

There's a few good Upanishad translations for cheap though. A lot shorter too, normally clocking it at only around 500 pages. I picked one up from Oxford World's Classics. This is pretty essential if you want to understand what the Brahman concept from Digital Devil Saga actually is.

In terms of a general introduction though, probably this book is the best. It's a pretty thorough overview that covers the history of Hinduism from ancient times to today, the mythology of it, etc.

Next, Buddhism.

Buddhism has a similar problem to Hinduism in terms of scope, though somewhat less pronounced, as Buddhism is genuinely just one belief system, separated into sects that are much more comparable to Christianity's variations. You do probably get even more "Namaste Bro" type people with Buddism than you do Hinduism though.

My knowledge here isn't as much up to scratch though, as up til now I've read more about the practice and history of Buddhism as opposed to going in depth about the mythology and cosmology of it all, which I only really know on a very superficial level. I'm trying to change that right now though; it's super interesting to learn what Hindu gods became in the Buddhist belief system, and how they evolved further upon reaching Japan.

If you're looking more into the mythology side of things, don't read something like the Dhammpada, which is a sayings text. Of course it's interconnected, but you'll probably want something a bit more direct.

I'd recommend again going to an academic text rather than straight into the three baskets. And in this case, I'd recommend this book, which I picked up purely because of a certain coincidence and have found very interesting. By framing it around the cosmology of Buddhism, this book naturally leads into talking about Buddhist deities, and other things you're more likely to be interested in, without skimping on explanation about how this connects to the Buddhist belief system.

Finally, Taoism

all i can recommend you here is the tao te ching and the zhuangzi, get them with a good commentary, i don't know enough about other texts that explain taoism to recommend any

That's about what I'd recommend. If anyone wants to suggest any improvements to this list please do!

Persona only generally has one regular ending. You don't have to do much in the way of ideological assessment when its a straightforward story about stopping some form of calamity. It can be considered useful side materials to add to the main content. Though obviously has to be understood in light of the fact that the general outcome is going to presume a mostly neutral outcome. In practice though, that's mainly since its the world that's already there, and not often made into an ideological thing, so its less questionable. I wouldn't prioritize them though, though a look over can be a useful addition. Persona is useful to help explain the jungian elements. Which are obviously present in the other games as well, but less overt.

DDS and devil survivor 2 triangulum are both central to understand the metaphysics, despite lacking much useful ideological content. What a lot of people don't know is that the cat being named schrodinger in dds isn't just another cat joke (despite also being that) but also references his other work, both in terms of physics in general, and open individualism. Something said in both of those games is that the world is made out of data. This might seem like hand wavey fictional logic at first, but what a lot of people don't realize is that that's actually a depiction of the most up to date physics.

Classical matter in terms of the idea of thinking that particles are tiny balls hasn't been considered accurate since quantum mechanics was discovered. What things actually reduce to is more like a number than anything. Energy's official definition is "capacity for work." That's not describing a thing. Only a process. But when everything reduces to energy, what is actually being said is that there are no "things" per say at all. The energy is basically a number in a place. (Of course, technically you don't need to know any of this to practice megatennism proper, but it helps to frame it all into context to know that the general descriptions of the world are slightly fictionalized descriptions of real things that one draws analogues to from the metaphorical stories).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0918024307?keywords=schrodinger&qid=1450233393&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3

This is the book that dds is based on somewhat. Detailing schrodinger's beliefs on open individualism that he also arrived at via quantum mechanics. Though he admits that that's not his main field, so its a short book. But good as an intro. Understanding the general ideas help to understand why closed individualism is rejected. (though the games aren't clear whether they lean towards open individualism or empty individualism, in practice both are more similar than to closed). And these ideas also help explain how the great will works. Of course in the book he denies that this is based on his physics. But if you know a bit about physics, and refuses to talk about physics you can see where the ideas come from. Him and the other founders of quantum mechanics read the upanishads together since they said that it had a striking parralel to what they were discovering. And so schrodinger's relation to the hindu themes of dds.

As for overclocked, overclocked is pretty important, since its the only game where standard law is depicted in a non surreal / extreme form. Not that the surreal / extreme form is bad, but unfortunately, atlus trying as hard as possible to turn people off of it generally suceeded. So a more down to earth depiction of how it works is helpful. Especially since overclocked helps to explain this. Namely that thought experiments about times where killing for the greater good is correct doesn't actually mean that the point of the ideology is that these scenarios will ever happen in the life of random individuals. Like the angels say in overclocked, if you can't see the brand of death, its simply wrong to immediately be willing to go to lethal force. The brand of death represents knowledge. And in terms of real world consequences, obviously real humans don't have supernatural knowledge, and so the point is that you cannot go around trying to guess what people are so dangerous you can do that to. Overclocked is one of the most important texts actually, since it is the most human and relatable depiction of the true path.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Megaten/wiki/mythology

I need sleep though. For now, if you want you can read these hundreds of pages I've written about this. Though ironically there is no order to them. My next page will actually be a guide about how to practice megatennism, with instructions on which of them to read and in what order for someone to get a well rounded worldview perspective on what practicing it fully in all realms would entail. Though I am making a few edits before getting to that. Obviously, someone can still practice it on an ideological level while having differing perspectives on the metaphysics. Since the texts do imply some open endedness to that aspect even in game.

And of course the page titled symbols and aesthetics will be useful for anyone who wants to construct an in home megaten altar. By detailing what combination of symbols can help reflect it. Since the symbols are almost always symbols of existing religions, it takes a specific touch to make it not just look like a christian / buddhist / whatever altar. I'm only now getting around to beginning one, but have been planning for awhile. The good aspect of its symbols being from real religions though is the fact that it means that there are obviously already real existing statues of the types of things you would need for it.

Take it from me, as I feel unbiased. There are always going to be asshats that will tell you that "You aren't a true fan" because you haven't done exactly what they've done.

It is true that the Persona games are easier than the Mainline-SMT+DDS+DS, but that doesn't mean it isn't a part of SMT as a whole, most people who enjoy SMT started at persona.

The easiest way of describing why persona is seen as easier can be summed up in 2 ideas

Expel/Death skills hit MUCH more often

Kaja/Kunda skills take 4 casts instead of 1 to get the same effect, are removed more often, and are pretty much essential to beating any given boss fight.

That being said, persona is a fantastic game, don't be ashamed for liking it

tl;dr Persona is easier, not inferior

also, if you liked persona, it's a better idea to jump in on other PS2 games, starting at Digital Devil Saga

In other news, my first ebook novel finally got published!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075PL3HTN

Here's a summary:

Due to inspiration from the alternative facts movement; Flat Earthers, the Ku Klux Klan, the majority of Neo-Nazi groups, and White Evangelicals joined together to form a utopian society to separate itself from the sinfulness of the carnal world so that they could live according to the Holy Bible. They established their utopian society known as "The Family Values" to rejoice in the purity of their faith in the Lord and in the purity of their blood.

They follow strict conservative social values for their namesake of protecting Christian family values. As such, they forbid the cursed children of Ham from entering due to lacking their pure skin tone, people follow gender roles with strict obedience as per the Bible's instructions on what roles men and women must maintain, brothers and sisters in Christ must often marry or be kept servile to continue the divine right of blood purity, and they live modest, quasi-ascetic lives with strict adherence to the Bible as the inerrant Word of the Lord without question or doubt.

Witness as people of faith and blood purity come together to rejoice in worship for the Lord.

This post is adorable. I like the enthusiasm. I'm glad you enjoyed the game.

Anyways

>I dont really understand why he killed Miyamoto or Saki, was it just for fun??

Yeah, Adachi flat says he did it cause he was bored. Adachi is basically a man child who cries because his life didn't go the way he wanted it. And he got pissy about it. He's an egotistical dick. And I think that makes him a great villain.

> I was thinking either Arena or Dancing All Night, but I don't have a vita so is it worth getting a vita for Dancing All Night?

Or,or,or...here's a crazy idea...(whispers) Play Persona1-3.

But to answer your question. Yes it is worth getting a PlayStation TV in order to play Dancing All Night. Seriously don't buy a Vita just for it. A PSTV is the much better and cheaper option. It's basically a Vita that you can plug into your TV. It can play Vita carts and works with every numbered Persona game and Dancing All Night. Regaurding Arena. Just buy Ultimax it has DLC that covers the orignal Arena story for 10 bucks. So there really is no reason to buy vanilla Arena.

> I didnt really like the ending that much

Did you get the true ending? If so. I guess P4G has more definitive closure if you seek it. Since it expand on the ending a bit.

Well when it comes to tablet's my opinion may be a little bit skewed since I bought this tablet first and foremost to play osu! with, and to draw with second.

That being said This is what I am using. It's even on sale right now so that's pretty neat. Now this tablet comes with a free drawing software, but the software you choose also effects the price of the table (ex the one I got was the cheapest so it came with practically the worst free program). I would highly highly HIGHLY recommend finding out what style your wife wants to draw in and how serious she is about it. I can not recommend clip paint studio pro enough. I've used the software that came with my tablet, and I've used 2 other lite free softwares and nothing compares. It's VERY deep and I'm still learning new things about it, but for 60 dollars I think you get more than what you pay for.

The first tablet I ever bought was this boyo here. This is for people who are like, only passively interested in tablet art AT MOST. the problem with this is that there is definitely a ceiling to it where eventually you will just get tired of putting up with it and switch to the one I linked above. So yeah if she only wants to like doodle once a week or something go for this one, but if she wants to take up the hobby, I've used a lot of stuff and the Wacom Tablet + Clip Paint has been my absolute favorite

I finally ordered a New 3DS because I couldn't stand my old 2DS anymore. Can't wait to get these (way too) expensive cover plates. I've already finished all my 3DS games though, so I'll buy Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon asap.

And after seeing all those memes coming from the Sonic Boom TV series, I decided to watch it despite the chara-design. I'm the first surprised but I really enjoyed it (I watched the 80 episodes in 3 days): it's light-hearted, funny and the chara-design isn't that bad actually (except Knuckles, but it's to emphasize his stupidity). It even makes me like Amy, even though I hated her for +15years. I really recommend it if you like Sonic and self-aware humour.

BTW, has anyone watched the Castlevania Netflix series? Is it good?

Take your BF out. I heard Paradise Scramble on Fates is pretty good

Okay in all seriousness, if you're into music then I recommend buying these headphones. They are the best headphones I ever had

You're right, the figurine and DVD look like they're just thrown in with the Deluxe set for the auction I linked.

The Deluxe package contains:

• The game
  
• 5 huh... incense things, Magic Incense, Speed Incense etc. Really cool idea
  
• 1 incense burner (shaped like the Amala drum)
  
• A case shaped like the treasure boxes (treasure cubes?) in the game
  
• Soundtrack CD
  
• Booklet
  
  A better view at the incense and accessories:
  http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20030110/mega08.jpg
  
  
  70 euros sounds like a great price! :)
  
  And here's the DVD (not included in the DX package):
  
  http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E7%9C%9F%E3%83%BB%E5%A5%B3%E7%A5%9E%E8%BB%A2%E7%94%9FIII-NOCTURNE-Special-DVD-~%E5%89%B5%E9%80%A0%E3%81%AE%E8%BB%8C%E8%B7%A1~-%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0/dp/B0000A8UZN
  

just like da-man said, grab the Legacy Collection and play the games in chronological order, that'll get you up to speed. Even if you don't have much time, the games themselves are relatively short so you can probably beat each of them in two days if you sit down and really play them. I highly recommend it, it's a great franchise, and the spin-off is great too.

Here's a tip from your friendly intermediate wants-to-start-playing-in-tournaments-by-next-year Fighting game player: An Arcade stick won't necessarily make you better, and it isn't necessarily the better option. A lot of people when first entering the Fighting Game community, me included at first, see the pros all playing with arcade sticks and see them dominating in tournaments. Naturally, a lot of people assume that's the way to go and to just ignore controller. However, look at it this way:

The people that dominate in tournaments grew up playing in arcades. They prefer that layout, and thus they use arcade sticks.

It's all a matter of preference. The only thing that an arcade stick will make you better at is "plinking" which is a technique used only in SF4 and SFxTK, and even then it isn't important.

If you think you can learn better on controller, go for it. If you're like me and think an arcade stick is more comfortable, I highly recommend getting either the Hori Fighting Stick Mini 3 or getting a Qanba Q1 (If they ever get restocked)

Both sticks are cheaper than average yet still of good quality. If you're willing to spend that tiny bit more, you could get a Hori fighting Stick V3 for high quality and reliability. A little more from that and you can get MadCatz sticks, which are really good too.

Or, you can take a third option and try out a PDP Fightpad Which, while looking weird, actually work quite well and I have a friend who uses them as his main method of control.

Explore your options! Arcade stick may not be for you, try around and see what you're comfortable with. Just don't be like me and buy a cheap arcade stick... I bought a "Mayflash" stick and it works fine and does the job well, but it's reliability is known to be poor (Mine's lasted longer than two years, which apparently is a miracle) and overall just feel cheap (Which can be kinda annoying/distracting, but you may be able to get over it better than I can)

Hope I helped!

Playing Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. Almost at the end on Chapter 19, but I'm doing the Great Challenge cases to unlock [spoiler](#s "the royal knights"). Even if some evolution conditions for Megas are a bit annoying to satisfy, I've been enjoying these past few chapters.

I ordered Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman earlier this week so I'll be reading that next week or the week after that.

Directly copied from the Persona 4 Ultimax Amazon page:

>Inflatable Teddie Bop Bag with Pre-order
Pre-order Persona 4 Arena Ultimax for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 and receive an inflatable Teddie in bop bag form and Part 1 of the Persona Tarot Card Collection. Teddie bop bag and tarot cards will be packaged with the game. Also get two new DLC characters: Tohru Adachi and Marie are FREE to download during the first week after launch. Download for FREE from PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE from 9/30/14 to 10/6/14. Offer valid when shipped and sold by Amazon.com. This offer will be extended to all pre-orders. Limit one per customer. Amazon reserves the right to change or terminate this promotion at any time. See Terms and Conditions.

Aww man, lucky find!


So I bought These Koss headphones, which are fantastic for 15$, except they just broke on me. I was looking to get those that op has because I friggen love my M50s but I've been eyeing these EW9 for quiet some time. I mean just look at the wood hosuing it looks amazing.

> I wish I could use Dualshock 4 to play games on our vita.

I mean, if you really wanted to, you could make a set up for a PS TV to be portable (since that uses Dualshock 4 and as others here said PS TV can use remote play as well). Get a cheap-ass portable monitor and hook up the PS TV to an external 5v battery source.

It's amazing people don't know they can still buy new copies off Amazon for like 15$

I'm pretty sure amazon has Raidou new.

(Yeah Raidou is around $30, and you completely overpaid for DDS https://www.amazon.com/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Digital-Devil-PlayStation/dp/B00008KTRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473518397&sr=8-1&keywords=Shin+Megami+Tensei+Digital+Devil+Saga)

http://www.amazon.com/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Nocturne-Playstation-2/dp/B00024W1U6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376512883&sr=8-1&keywords=shin+megami+tensei+nocturne

http://www.amazon.com/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Digital-Playstation-2/dp/B00008KTRS/ref=pd_sim_vg_1

http://www.amazon.com/Megami-Tensei-Digital-Devil-Playstation-2/dp/B000784XG2/ref=pd_sim_vg_2

Got $20 (or $60 for all three?)

If you can't purchase stuff online, try checking out a store for Amazon cards.

Now is the best time to purchase SMT games, as Atlus has been reprint crazy with them.

Yes they're the ATH-EQ300M you probably can't find them since they're a Japanese import mine were bought off amazon.
Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DDEJLE/

You can get a PSTV for ~60 dollars and play it on that.

Heres an Amazon link

https://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-TV-vita/dp/B00KVMHSUM

https://www.amazon.com/Persona-4-Golden-PlayStation-Vita/dp/B007W8S2MG

The price of the PSTV varies depending on which seller you purchase it from. Check all available deals for new and used.

http://www.amazon.com/Metal-Gear-Solid-Collection-Playstation-3/dp/B00CTKHXFO

I've been sick of my ear buds for a while now and this finally inspired me to change my headphones up. Not wanting to drop a ton (read: more than $20) I found these on amazon. They're the same company and have a similar look but are only about $12-14 USD. Plus there are a few color options: silver, white, black, brown, blue, and pink. I've noticed that even from yesterday the number available has dropped significantly (and I wonder if it is because of this your post, OP).

Digital Devil Saga and Strange Journey are the best for character driven story. Digital Devil Sage more so than any of the other ones. There are some really amazing set pieces. Amazon has it for 18 bucks I believe.

http://www.amazon.com/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Digital-Playstation-2/dp/B00008KTRS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372163887&sr=8-1&keywords=digital+devil+saga