Whenever I play this game I can't stop thinking: Why the hell didn't this game be released for North America or remade in English? There are numerous reasons but the important thing is this, THIS GAME KICKS ***!!! Shin Megami Tensei is the perfect mix of rpg, fantasy, mythology, and cyberpunk. If u love Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, u will love this game even more. I give it a 10 out of 10

I haven't played it, but I have to question...

why is it underrated?

I've never heard good or bad things about it... so I'm assuming you mean to say it's just under-advertised.

In which case, I will probably give this a go.

Reviews need a minimum of 100 words, and you've not actualy given me any clue as to what makes it good, so it'l need to go into discussion. If you want you can expand it and get it moved back

It sounds like a fun game to play, I'll have to try this game out some time to.
wow I have many games I need to try. xD

This looks alright, I may try it eventually. The screenshots I've seen don't make it look like an RPG, it looked sort of like an adventure game like Skyward Sword.

Hmm. The screen shots for this game really give little to go off of as to what to expect. Could you care to elaborate on exactly what this game is and whatnot? If I have time to try it (given that your description makes it sound interesting enough), I'll give it a shot.

I should try this game, I'll post back later after I play it for a while, I heard excellent things about it all over the place, and the fact that they're still making it today must be a factor that it's so great.

Well I'll try to summarize the game as best as possible. The story is set in Tokyo in the year 199X. Demons from the nether-realm of Makai have found their way back to Earth, and as such have upset the balance of power. A charismatic Japanese leader attempts a coup
using these demons as a potent military force, forcing America to
intervene with its military. The player, as the hero, becomes involved
when sent a Devil Summoning Program via email which allows him to
converse with and recruit demons to fight for him, storing them as
digital data on his computer. In the aftermath of the ensuing destruction, the hero must decide what
kind of world should be created on its ruins. Will he side with the Angels and create a kingdom of absolute order that would last for a thousand years, or will he side with the demons and bring about an eternal age of chaos, or will he choose neither, and destroy everyone who opposes him? Think of it as a darker version of Final Fantasy

I heard that this game would be released for the 3DS soon, but details are spotty right now.

I'm not sure how to rate this game since it's not in english it's hard for me to know if it's good or not lol

This game is indeed underrated. I have played plenty of RPGs in my time including the Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy but never heard of this one. I gotta say this game looks enjoyable. I might check it out sometime.

I'm pretty sure it was never released do to all the religion and devils with that said it is a great game and its not that underrated i mean SMT is a huge series now

I have honestly NEVER heard of this game before, maybe I should be ashamed of myself!
I am a massive RPG fan scouring ebay for old gems and paying through the nose for them, Xenogears is my all time favourite of these!
Anyway, all I ask is from the screenshots it looks like it is a little linear (I know many RPG's are) what kind of variables do you have, what's the level system or training etc? Is it random battle encounters or more strategy based? I guess I will find out when I finish FFVI but I'd like to know a little more about it as it sounds like something I'd enjoy but I'm not too keen on the strategy style RPG's.

Cheers then 

JonXMasterZZMan : Woah, that sounds like a twisted version of EarthBound. Now I definitely need to check this game out!

Odd Chrono : It is except unlike Earthbound it is more gritty and gory. I like to think of it as the goth cousin to Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

I like this game, but I'd disagree that it's underrated, and especially that it's one of the greatest ever made. The series it spawned may have improved over time (wouldn't know, haven't played them), but this game really hasn't aged all that well.

For starters, you're almost never given any kind of direction. Even if you're playing the game translated, expect to be consulting guides constantly.
 
Second, the game has random battles everywhere. Seriously. There are few to no safe areas in the game, depending on what point you're at, and don't expect the safe areas to have heal points or shops. No, those are in the danger zones, which makes no sense at all.

Next, there's zero indication of what any of your spells or items will do until you actually use them. This can be a problem if you've had something useful all along, but didn't want to risk finding out whether it was useful out of fear of losing MP.

Also, you're forced to distribute stat points before you know how your characters will use them, always a problem. Your main character doesn't have any magic at all, for example, but before you know that, you can put valuable stat points into his magic stat.

And lastly, the graphics and dungeon/exploration system shows tremendous age, as you'll have to explore long hallways and buildings with no distinguishing features in complete first person, making it easy to get lost. Thankfully you do have a map, and navigating would be near impossible without it. However, there are still traps in the game which don't look any different from normal spaces and have no way in which you can detect them without walking right into them. Again, you'll have to use a guide. Worse yet, some of these traps are unavoidable. You'll have to walk over them, violating common sense.

I will say that the game did introduce a ton of good ideas, and other than the above, is very enjoyable.