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Shin Megami Tensei Community Thread: Be Your True Demon

J

Jucksalbe

Banned
Dragonzord said:
Where the hell is DDS on PSN? They registered that forever ago.
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They said they have to wait for Sony to update their emulator. Seems this takes time, might be that DDS isn't exactly high priority and they are more hoping that another more high profile game has the same problems.
 
S

suzu

Member
Nice. I always like seeing fanart with characters + demons, more than the ones with just characters.

The Persona thread moves kinda fast imo. But I think it's cuz sometimes people are kinda sidetracking into other topics or conversations.
 
M

Marche90

Member
How the fuck did I forget about this thread...?

Oh, I think that's because I only saw it when I was unregistered lol. Anyway...

I'll be lurking the thread until conversations happen. See you around.
 
A

Aeana

Member
Fusion search is more of a Devil Survivor thing. The really neat feature that's new to SMT4 is being able to fuse by pulling from the compendium without having to actually have that demon in your party.
 
J

Jessicat

Member
And the burning question I'm sure we all want to know is: are the skills still randomized for fusion in SMT IV, or can they be picked?
I don't think I want to deal with re-rolling skills, been doing it in Devil Summoner Raidou 2 lately and ughhhh. At least there's the full moon mitama fusions that can completely change demon skill sets [including the default skills they come with]. But still, more shuffling ;>> I'm surprised I haven't nightmares about that yet, rofl.

I'm also curious as to what will be in the DX pack; Soul Hackers had the T-shirt and clear file, however I'm seeing a bunch of online retailers getting different bonuses alongside the standard edition+"sound & art guide" [what is this?]. Amiami has 2 wall scrolls, and CD Japan has a set of stickers or something o_O Not sure if I'm psyched for this game simply because of all the attention on the new designs [like on the excusive 3DS LL], I think they're kinda ugly, and I'll be sad if Samael got a redraw, I liked the red snakey-dragon angel ;^;
 
J

Jessicat

Member
Aeana said:
Looks like 200, so only twice the usual.
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Didn't stats cap at 40? And in DDS1+2 they capped at 99 I think... did I miss something [again]? XD

Also, to those of you who didn't nab Devil Summoner Raidou vs The Soulless Army on Amazon yet, don't worry! VGP.ca is selling both games as a double pack for a rather good deal [considering the ebay scalper prices], so if you missed out on these games, nows the time! :3 [They're still selling vs Soulless Army on its own for $29.99 too]
s9GXxGa.jpg
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...Just be sure to use paypal if you're not local to buy from their stores, I hear their online site had security issues in the past ._.;

I already pre-ordered both back in the day, I'm working through beating Raidou 2 but got end-game anxiety [again XD] so I haven't finished it ^^; I know this is a game that you need to play through at least twice, but I dunno if the level cap for summoning compendium demons is removed; if not, I'll need to be back at level 90-something to get my team back ._.; I put way too much effort into those mitama fusions, rofl
 
B

buddha0991

Member
TurnipFritters said:
Really I'm kind of uncomfortable with how high stats seem to go.
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It is really odd indeed, many things about that game looks odd tbh. Such as the mobs of frosts with like jack frost, frost ace, king frost, etc.

And now music corner time. I always preferred the original Fiend/Majin theme over the Nocturne one. I think it was introduced in the PS1 smt ports? I may be wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5XFIUDEFAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqah6JOTnkI
 
Z

ZenComp

Neo Member
Aeana said:
It depends on the game, but you're right, I was thinking about DDS when I said twice. Some games go to 49 too.
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Main SMT games go up to 40, usually. Strange Journey was the odd one out until now, with 99.

randomkid said:
Been on total media and thread blackout but stats in SMT4 go up to 200? That does seem crazy high.
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Yeah, it does. I'm not sure what that means for balance, but that coupled with the 400+ demons in the game means it'll be quite a lot of work for completionists.
 
R

randomkid

Member
ZenComp said:
Yeah, it does. I'm not sure what that means for balance, but that coupled with the 400+ demons in the game means it'll be quite a lot of work for completionists.
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400+ what the eff??? I thought Strange Journey had too many demons haha I really wonder how things are going to end up working out here.
 
C

CSX

Member
ZenComp said:
Yeah, it does. I'm not sure what that means for balance, but that coupled with the 400+ demons in the game means it'll be quite a lot of work for completionists.
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Or it gives crazy players the chance to keep their favorite SMT demons in their party :p
 
Y

Young Magus

Junior Member
About this timeline pic......

QrkAHVs.jpg

T0N8bmv.jpg
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There is something that had been bugging me....
How does the creation of the other side relate to DS and Soul Hackers and how long is it between the DS/Soul Hacker timeline and the Persona timeline?
 
T

TurnipFritters

Member
ZenComp said:
That's not why that timeline is incorrect, Aleph's reincarnation does appear in Nocturne, which is what that image was referring to.
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No, he doesn't. The guy who wrote that FAQ has long since publicly disavowed the theory:
This, a million times this. I was the FAQ writer in question and wrote that when I was working a shitty job with long periods of doing nothing and way too much time on my hands. I was never really serious about it in the first place and never expected people to latch onto it but welp.
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Bottom line is, we don't know and it's left specifically ambiguous. There's fanwank all over the place. On Japanese sites I've never actually seen Aleph proposed, but I've seen Stephen and even Nakajima suggested. Unless someone at Atlus comes forward and settles things once and for all it's nothing but bullshit conjecture.

I don't think YHVH's "I'm going to torture every one of your reincarnations" line to Aleph in SMT2 should be taken as anything other than generic smack talk. Remember reincarnation is a pretty Standard Thing in Japanese culture so it's not that specific a fate. EVERYONE gets reincarnated so it's more like "I'm going to make life shit for you not just in this life, but in all your lives to come."
Click to expand...
 
B

buddha0991

Member
TurnipFritters said:
you can buy avatars for other people, and i earned the ire of someone with more money than sense.
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Hah.

Also, on there I read the whole thing in Megami Tensei 2 where
YHWH is only a part of the Great Will, a hivemind of deities who run the universe. I know the Great Will is mentioned in Nocturne, but people always assumed that meant YHWH himself. I heard Megami Tensei isn't canon in Shin Megami Tensei, but yea, that is really interesting man. If it is indeed the Great Will of the MT series, that certainly puts a new spin on things.
 
J

Jessicat

Member
I can't seem to find the answer anywhere else, so I'll ask here; in Raidou2, I know the compendium contents carry over in new game+, but is there still a "level lock" on what you can summon? If there is, I kind of regret powering up my end-game demons to level 99 ._.;
 
S

Seda

Member
Started Strange Journey, beat the first boss.

Any general tips for the game? I've beaten Nocturne and seems like the gameplay is most similar to that.
 
W

we.are.the.armada

Member
Seda said:
Started Strange Journey, beat the first boss.

Any general tips for the game? I've beaten Nocturne and seems like the gameplay is most similar to that.
Click to expand...

Since some exploration can take its toll on your healing items, it's always nice to have a few demons in your reserve that have a good mana pool and some healing spells as a contingency plan. I'm about 60 hours in the game and I have three reserve healer demons that I use when going on long stretches throughout the mazes.
 
S

Seda

Member
we.are.the.armada said:
Since some exploration can take its toll on your healing items, it's always nice to have a few demons in your reserve that have a good mana pool and some healing spells as a contingency plan. I'm about 60 hours in the game and I have three reserve healer demons that I use when going on long stretches throughout the mazes.
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Thanks, and whoa didn't expect the game to be that long.
 
S

SatelliteOfLove

Member
Seda said:
Learned that one from Nocturne, and I assume this is usually the idea for the SMT games that have demon fusing.


Will do.
Click to expand...

It's much more so than SMT3. They don't learn skills, and your Jakyou Manor/Cathedral of Shadows/Velvet Room is in your Demonica, so you don't have to think out a loadout that'll last you to the next town/trip back to base. Plus, ringers don't have the precense that they do in earlier Megatens (Wu Kong, Black Frost, Senri, etc).
 
S

Seda

Member
SatelliteOfLove said:
It's much more so than SMT3. They don't learn skills, and your Jakyou Manor/Cathedral of Shadows/Velvet Room is in your Demonica, so you don't have to think out a loadout that'll last you to the next town/trip back to base. Plus, ringers don't have the precense that they do in earlier Megatens (Wu Kong, Black Frost, Senri, etc).
Click to expand...

Okay cool. Is there any reason not to stick with demons of a certain alignment (if possible?). Was planning on being Law-aligned, might as well have as many law aligned demons as possible, right?

I mean other than perhaps that there are certain skills more easily available on neutral or chaos demons
 
S

SatelliteOfLove

Member
Seda said:
Okay cool. Is there any reason not to stick with demons of a certain alignment (if possible?). Was planning on being Law-aligned, might as well have as many law aligned demons as possible, right?

I mean other than perhaps that there are certain skills more easily available on neutral or chaos demons
Click to expand...

Nah. Those barriers ain't like SMT1&2. There's a half-baked battle mechanic called Co-op that ceases to be worth bothering with 1/3 of the way thru (your current alignment changes with decisions, the high turn-over rate of demons I mentioned, it only works well with high-STR demons, etc).
 
S

Seda

Member
SatelliteOfLove said:
Nah. Those barriers ain't like SMT1&2. There's a half-baked battle mechanic called Co-op that ceases to be worth bothering with 1/3 of the way thru (your current alignment changes with decisions, the high turn-over rate of demons I mentioned, it only works well with high-STR demons, etc).
Click to expand...

Yeah I've been playing this throughout the day, I'm in the Boones area (second area). I miss press turn :/
 
V

vall03

Member
Since I finally got my hands on Raidou 1, I used this chance to play it and after one hour, for some reason I can't get into it. I dont know what exactly to say, but its just that it feels like something is off that I can't quite put my finger into. I know its very early in the game to judge it right away, but this also happened to me in Raidou 2 wherein I stopped playing right after meeting Geirin and Nagi, and I also haven't played it for years. Not sure if Im just not in the mood for it, but I just finished Soul Hackers recently. It just feels odd tbh.
 
V

Vamphuntr

Member
I really enjoyed Soul Hackers in the long run and now i kinda want to play more Megaten. At first I didn't like the game that much because the presentation really irked me but I eventually fell in love with it. I liked the dungeons and their puzzles and it had been a while since I had to actually write down information on a piece of paper while playing. It would be so great if they could make a SMT game with the dungeons designs from Strange Journey with the puzzles and plot of Soul Hackers.

Now I really want to play Devil Summoner since it's one of the few SMT games I've yet to play. I know people in here seems to kinda hate it but it appears to be heavily connected to Soul Hackers and it seems to use the same lore and characters and I really want to know this universe more ( I already have and beat the two Raidou game).

Apparently the original Saturn version is really hard and has no mapping function unless you use a spell or an item? The PSP appears to have a "normal" (easier) mode, a map function and let you save anywhere? I read you can actually force the game to fill the screen in the PSP version instead of having to play in that small square in the middle of the screen. It's blurry and kinda ugly but it's better than nothing. Used copies for the PSP version seems pricey but the digital version is kinda cheap, 2310 yen.

I could also get SMT IF instead since I never beat it. Tried it for a bit and some life stuff happened and I forgot about it. I like SMT I and II and I'm fairly sure I would like it too. I've read that the game's dungeons have some really unique twists to them. The SFC version appears to be dirt cheap and a fan translation got released recently, I think? The PSN classic release is also fairly cheap at 1000 yen.

Which one is the better game SMT IF or SMT Devil Summoner?
 
Link1110

Link1110

Member
Is there any version of the original Shin Megami Tensei that adds some save points in the final dungeon? If the Amami Monolith is any indication I don't wanna play that game unless I can have a way to save in a dungeon that long.

I like If better. I can never succeed at negotiations in DS1
 
T

TurnipFritters

Member
Vamphuntr said:
:O

In a "death is an experience that is part of the game" way like in Planescape Torment or you really have to die on purpose to get stronger? How are the dungeons in this one compared to I and II?
Click to expand...

Basically the only way to change your PersonaGuardian is to die. PersonasGuardians adjust your stats (it works like in Persona 2, I believe, where it averages together the character stats and the Guardian's stats) and give your partner spells. So eventually you have to kill your characters or else their Guardian will start dragging down their stats.

It's far more linear a game because there's no world map to wander through, so the dungeons are pretty long. They're not really difficult, but some have terrible gimmicks.
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
Vamphuntr said:
I really enjoyed Soul Hackers in the long run and now i kinda want to play more Megaten. At first I didn't like the game that much because the presentation really irked me but I eventually fell in love with it. I liked the dungeons and their puzzles and it had been a while since I had to actually write down information on a piece of paper while playing. It would be so great if they could make a SMT game with the dungeons designs from Strange Journey with the puzzles and plot of Soul Hackers.

Now I really want to play Devil Summoner since it's one of the few SMT games I've yet to play. I know people in here seems to kinda hate it but it appears to be heavily connected to Soul Hackers and it seems to use the same lore and characters and I really want to know this universe more ( I already have and beat the two Raidou game).

Apparently the original Saturn version is really hard and has no mapping function unless you use a spell or an item? The PSP appears to have a "normal" (easier) mode, a map function and let you save anywhere? I read you can actually force the game to fill the screen in the PSP version instead of having to play in that small square in the middle of the screen. It's blurry and kinda ugly but it's better than nothing. Used copies for the PSP version seems pricey but the digital version is kinda cheap, 2310 yen.

I could also get SMT IF instead since I never beat it. Tried it for a bit and some life stuff happened and I forgot about it. I like SMT I and II and I'm fairly sure I would like it too. I've read that the game's dungeons have some really unique twists to them. The SFC version appears to be dirt cheap and a fan translation got released recently, I think? The PSN classic release is also fairly cheap at 1000 yen.

Which one is the better game SMT IF or SMT Devil Summoner?
Click to expand...

You might also like Digital Devil Saga for a combo in dungeons and plot.
 
V

Vamphuntr

Member
TurnipFritters said:
Basically the only way to change your PersonaGuardian is to die. PersonasGuardians adjust your stats (it works like in Persona 2, I believe, where it averages together the character stats and the Guardian's stats) and give your partner spells. So eventually you have to kill your characters or else their Guardian will start dragging down their stats.

It's far more linear a game because there's no world map to wander through, so the dungeons are pretty long. They're not really difficult, but some have terrible gimmicks.
Click to expand...

Well that Guardian thing sounds annoying but I suppose you eventually get wiped out automatically when they start to drag down you characters.

In your opinion the Guardian system makes it a worse game than Devil Summoner? From this thread it seemed you didn't like DS much :S I found a good guide for it similar to the one you had found for Soul Hackers. Do you think the PSP version would make the game more tolerable?

At this point it seems I have to choose between two poison.

Tamanon said:
You might also like Digital Devil Saga for a combo in dungeons and plot.
Click to expand...

Already have and beat both. I pretty much played all SMT games available in English at this point ;)
 
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