Drolpiraat said:
Thanks! I'll definitely try out SMT sometime. I keep a list for games I want to try out and it's been on there for quite a while now, but I keep buying new stuff and only rarely get to play older games nowadays.

What do you think would be a good starting point for the SMT series?
Depends what you are looking for. The big question is whether you want to start SMT or Persona (a huge spinoff series in SMT)
Gameplay wise, both are very similar and involve exploiting enemy weaknesses to win.
Story wise, they're totally different. SMT is about post apocalyptic Tokyo being invaded by demons. Various factions fight over what they want the 'outcome' of the new world to be, and you essentially have the power to change the world, which is decided based on the choices you make. (Freedom vs Order is a very reoccuring theme in the series.) Interesting aspect is that you need to negotiate with demons to get them to join your party, and you can fuse them as well to make new demons.
Persona is very different, as it involves a group of teenagers going through high school trying to reach resolutions with the difficulties in their life and fight off demons/shadows (the surpressed thoughts of humans given form) using their 'Personas', which is described as a 'mask used to face hardships', you can sort of look it as a control, tamed ego, the opposite of shadows. It is largely a visual novel/RPG, and can take up to 100 hours, but the character development is very heavy. 'Persona's' work the same way as the demons do in SMT, as you get them to join your party by fusing or obtaining from battle. SMT does not have much character development so to speak of, most of its character development is told through the conflict of the apocalypse and the various wills of people and what their 'ideal world' is. Persona deals a lot with jungian psychology. Persona 5 is coming out valetines day, if you're looking for something more new.
So it depends what you want. The Persona games are far easier in difficulty, while the SMT games are known for being very brutal.
If you want to start with Persona, I'd recommend going for 3 or 4, although 3 is much harder due to stupid AI in battles. As for SMT, start with either Nocturne or Digital Devil Saga.
It all just depends what you're looking for. Don't be afraid to do a bit of searching on the games, as it is nice to know what you're getting into.