JJ over at Video Game Price Charts has put up an interesting (albeit self-explanatory) post based on an idea that I submitted to them — to track Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga’s price crash after the recent Atlus reprints.

Here’s what Nocturne looks like, and it ain’t pretty:

For the record, I don’t think Amazon ever got the reprints of Digital Devil Saga — only Gamestop did. And to make matters more interesting, Gamestop is only selling the game as gutted and used, a process that they called “newsed” — new product converted to used. This means you can buy a new sealed Nocturne but NOT DDS; I believe means something interesting is going to happen in the long term: Sealed copies of DDS will keep a very high price while Nocturne’s is not as high, because new/sealed copies of DDS are generally not available, even now.

If you’ve read my previous posts, I still think Nocturne’s price will go up once the reprinted copies have evaporated. There’s a precedent for this — both Disgaea and Persona 2 have seen slow price growth even after reprints.

Is Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 destined to follow in the footsteps of series predecessors Digital Devil Saga and Nocturne as among the hardest to find PS2 RPGs? Appears so, as new copies of the title are evaporating both online and in stores.

Amazon has been out of stock of Persona 3 since at least early November. Currently, a new copy will set you back at least $81 from a 3rd party seller. Meanwhile, the official Atlus site, which had copies available at the end of November, has now pulled it from their online store.

Alternatively, a new copy of Persona 3 on eBay will run you about $70. Considering DDS and Nocturne’s legacy, that may be a bargain in just a few months.

I ran into this problem myself last month, since Persona 3 is on my Christmas list. My family, apparently unable to find a decently priced copy at Amazon, asked me for a URL where they could pick one up at retail price. I gave them the Atlus store, since they were still in stock shortly after Thanksgiving.

If you’re hunting a new copy at retail price ($49.99), check your local Sears (if you have one). My local Sears still had 2 copies last I checked. Ah, thank God for forgotten game retailers.

Or perhaps you’ll be like some lucky forumers over at CheapAssGamer, who found Persona 3 inexplicably clearanced for $12.49 at K Mart (YMMV!).