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Shin Megami Tensei Community Thread: Be Your True Demon

C

Capra

Member
I actually started DeSu 2 not too long ago and I'm just past that part on Day 7.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure at this point it's an SMT tradition that when in doubt, you must always pick the option that involves fighting the greatest number of people.

As for your complaint:
I was wondering about that too, although I didn't bother to look it up. I feel like they give you more than enough chances to raise her affinity so unless you went out of your way to not talk to her the entire time the chances seem slim that that would actually happen. At the time I actually thought it would have been related to whether you viewed the event beforehand where you can encourage her.

I actually haven't found any of the Nicea deaths to be obtuse - as far as I can remember most of them are just making sure to pick the battle scene where you save that person when the time comes. Although to be honest I'm not sure it would be such a big deal if some of them died, from a mechanics perspective at least. I mean, at least it's not like
Haru
in DeSu 1 where if you failed to view a certain event you ended up immediately locked out of every single route except the absolute worst ones.
 
C

Capra

Member
So I just finished the Septentrion Arc in DeSu2:RB. I chose the Kingmaker ending AKA
Al Saiduq
's route.

All in all, I was really satisfied with it. I'd heard the story wasn't nearly as good as the first so I dialed down my expectations, but even considering the blatant Evangelion nods and the lack of the series' trademark mythological overtones I thought it was really, really well done. I loved most of the characters more than the original's, and definitely appreciated the wider selection of leaders with their own strengths and weaknesses to choose from. I also liked how the overall conflict was a bit more complicated than SMT's standard Law vs Chaos -
Yamato's meritocracy and Ronaldo's equality could be seen as this game's Chaos and Law, but at the same time they also reverse the faction standing on individual vs society. Yamato's system definitely skews towards society, while Ronaldo's tries to give the individual freedom to be whoever they want.

In the end, I think my decision was the best of all possible endings.
Yamato and Ronaldo may both be dead, but with Saiduq's new world everyone has a new chance to create a world from all of their desires. In a way, it's a more legitimate Chaos route than Yamato's since it overthrows the established monarchy of the universe in Polaris in favor of an anarchy with no ruler. I also like the idea of Saiduq literally becoming the new world - kind of a Fool's Journey undercurrent with Saiduq taking the role of Fool. Also apparently this is the only route where you don't have to murder him as the final Septentrion and seeing as I really came to like him - Kaworu ripoff or not - that's enough to make it canon for me.

So yeah, overall I really liked it. Will move on to the Triangulum Arc next.
 
D

Dragon1893

Member
Phew, finally beat Ancient of Days and Eternal Youth. You really have to figure out how to make these fights go your way if you want to win but with Ancient of Days luck is definitely a factor as well.
Now on to the last dlc. This should be good...
 
H

Hylian7

Member
Benetnasch took me two tries to beat. First one I didn't make great teams, so I ran into problems pretty quickly, mainly some of the demons I really needed running out of MP. I fixed that and got it on the second try.

This game gets pretty easy though if you get some critical skill cracks early on. I mentioned it before, but being able to crack Ziodyne and Shield All on just day 3, especially since I built a magic character, makes a ton of encounters that should have been difficult quite easy.

I did find it a bit weird that they didn't introduce Makarakarn and Tetrakarn until day 7. Before that, I was thinking they might not be in at all, since in most SMT games they were usually introduced by this point.

Almost there though, got the final day stuff, and I will make an LTTP thread.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
I highly doubt this is worth its own thread, but a Hindu organization(?) is calling SMTIV Final's depiction of Krishna trivialization.

http://www.rajanzed.com/
Hindus are upset at “Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final” role-playing video game being developed/published by Sega’s subsidiary Atlus depicting Lord Krishna, saying it trivializes a highly revered Hindu deity. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, urged Tokyo headquartered Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. CEO Hajime Satomi to not include Lord Krishna character in its “Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final” Atlus video game being released on February 10. Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that in a video game set-up, the player would control the movements of Lord Krishna, while in reality the devotees put the destinies of themselves in the hands of their deities. Moreover, Lord Krishna depicted by “Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final” wears fedora type hat (widely associated with gangsters), tall riding boots, knickerbockers pant, blue hair, fancy jacket and shirt with neck-scarf, and has brown face; while in Hindu images he is usually depicted wearing dhoti and is blue-skinned; Rajan Zed points out.

Zed stated that Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. needed to follow its own “Group Management Philosophy”, which included “strive to enrich our society and culture”; as in this case it was creating confusion in the society/cultures by spreading misinformation about Hindu deity Lord Krishna. Rajan Zed indicated that reimagining Hindu scriptures, symbols, concepts and deities for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees. Controlling and manipulating Lord Krishna with a joystick/ button/keyboard/mouse was denigration. Lord Krishna was meant to be worshipped in temples and home shrines and not to be reduced to just a “character” in a video game to be used...
Click to expand...
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
tumblr_o23om9mLky1si48w3o1_500.jpg

(from here)
 
S

SpaceBridge

Member
So I'm thinking of doing another play through of SMTIV in anticipation of Final. I've already done all 4 endings and two of the DLC missions but I love the world so much I don't mind revisiting it.

Any suggestions on what NG+ carryovers I should have but still retain relative challenge and fun?
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
Did you know the Demi-Fiend was in Imagine? Neither did I.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swgtfMGlkYg

Looks... not fun.

SpaceBridge said:
So I'm thinking of doing another play through of SMTIV in anticipation of Final. I've already done all 4 endings and two of the DLC missions but I love the world so much I don't mind revisiting it.

Any suggestions on what NG+ carryovers I should have but still retain relative challenge and fun?
Click to expand...

I only did the Law ending and never tried the DLC, so I think I have plenty to do. Well, I also saw the 'bad' end, but I don't think that counts.
 
H

Hylian7

Member
cj_iwakura said:
Did you know the Demi-Fiend was in Imagine? Neither did I.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swgtfMGlkYg

Looks... not fun.



I only did the Law ending and never tried the DLC, so I think I have plenty to do. Well, I also saw the 'bad' end, but I don't think that counts.
Click to expand...
That music though. I tried Imagine for a little bit back when the English servers were still up. It was pretty meh, but one of the few things it had going for it was the music. The normal battle music was a nice remix of the SMT1 battle theme.

Was it actually developed by the same team that made the mainline and mainline-ish games? It definitely feels more like a Korean MMO.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
Hylian7 said:
That music though. I tried Imagine for a little bit back when the English servers were still up. It was pretty meh, but one of the few things it had going for it was the music. The normal battle music was a nice remix of the SMT1 battle theme.

Was it actually developed by the same team that made the mainline and mainline-ish games? It definitely feels more like a Korean MMO.
Click to expand...

It was made by Cave(yes, that Cave). Atlus supervised it. Most of the (stellar) OST are remixes of classic tunes.

My favorite, and someone pointed this out to me:

Shinjuku Babel (Imagine)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHGPMhIiTlU

Kitayama University (Devil Summoner)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGNO_OBTZjs

Imagine had a fantastic atmosphere, this sense of melancholy pervaded everything.
 
K

Kanann

Member
Smt4 final

- map navigator
- blood and semi gore, yum!
- asahi is very cute




- hiragana/katakana on kanji texts are gone, why?!
 
H

Hylian7

Member
cj_iwakura said:
It was made by Cave(yes, that Cave). Atlus supervised it. Most of the (stellar) OST are remixes of classic tunes.

My favorite, and someone pointed this out to me:

Shinjuku Babel (Imagine)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHGPMhIiTlU

Kitayama University (Devil Summoner)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGNO_OBTZjs

Imagine had a fantastic atmosphere, this sense of melancholy pervaded everything.
Click to expand...

These are great. That game really had great remixes.

Kanann said:
Smt4 final

- map navigator
- blood and semi gore, yum!
- asahi is very cute




- hiragana/katakana on kanji texts are gone, why?!
Click to expand...
Did you get to play it? If so, can you answer me one spoiler-ish question?
Do you actually get to fight YHVH of is he just a tease?
 
K

Kanann

Member
Hylian7 said:
These are great. That game really had great remixes.


Did you get to play it? If so, can you answer me one spoiler-ish question?
Do you actually get to fight YHVH of is he just a tease?
Click to expand...

Calm down, I'm just 5 hours in running around with Asahi my waifu.
 
H

Hylian7

Member
I just saw a screenshot that some may consider spoilers around here, but suffice to say, it's a telling sign that Atlus isn't afraid of portraying more stuff from Christianity.

Spoiler box if you want to know what it was I saw:

Flynn hanging on a cross with Krishna, Buddha, and one of the others in front of him.
 
H

Hasemo

(；・∀・)ﾊｯ?
cj_iwakura said:
I'm not importing it(no import 3ds) and no one else here seems to have, Eirikr on tumblr/Talking Time did though. Not sure if he posts here.
Click to expand...
I know at least a few gaffers importing it. If nothing app appears in a while, I'll slap something together to have a place to talk about the game.
 
H

Hylian7

Member
I would love to hear import impressions as well. I watched someone's video of the first 10 minutes or so on YouTube and it looks excellent.
 
U

Ultimate_Trainer

Member
Im not sure if this has ever been mentioned here, but I wanna share what really got me interested in Nocturne after playing through some of the older ones. Last year, a friend on GAF pointed me toward these series of videos going through nocturne only fighting impossible to escape/negotiate out of battles.
Call it masochism if you will, I decided a long time ago to play through this game fighting only battles that were completely mandatory (in other words, fighting most bosses at the lowest level possible). I didn't actually expect it to be possible, and my teams are a little sloppier than they could be in later portions of the game due to lack of planning, but all in all I was rather impressed.

Naturally this involved making a lot of save files in case I got stuck, so I've been able to salvage footage of the bosses for your viewing pleasure.
Click to expand...
Do you guys think its intentionally designed that way? or maybe it came out lucky that you can do that? In either case, I appreciate that self imposed challenge is doable.
 
E

E_Darkness

Member
BlackJace said:
Fuck, I think I got spoiled about one of the final bosses in SMT IV Final...
Click to expand...

Same. This is what I get for surfing wikis when bored.

Ultimate_Trainer said:
Im not sure if this has ever been mentioned here, but I wanna share what really got me interested in Nocturne after playing through some of the older ones. Last year, a friend on GAF pointed me toward these series of videos going through nocturne only fighting impossible to escape/negotiate out of battles.

Do you guys think its intentionally designed that way? or maybe it came out lucky that you can do that? In either case, I appreciate that self imposed challenge is doable.
Click to expand...

Where's my Pacifist Ending then?
If they managed to finish Nocturne like that then damn, that is great. I can certainly appreciate that someone someday decided "I want to beat Nocturne without even fighting". I can't imagine it is designed to be like that.
 
C

Capra

Member
Playing through Strange Journey for the first time and having a blast. And man, this game doesn't lose its teeth, does it? I just got past Sector
E
and
both Ouroboros forms
ended up taking way, waaaaay longer to beat than anything else in the game thus far. I only really ended up making it because I got lucky.

I kind of hope Final takes after SJ more than IV in terms of difficulty - I feel like once you got Megido everything in IV was a cakewalk.
 
B

brinstar

Member
Capra said:
Playing through Strange Journey for the first time and having a blast. And man, this game doesn't lose its teeth, does it?
Click to expand...

It only gets harder, lol

the last boss in that game was no joke

conversely, I beat the last boss of SMTIV with only 2 demons in my party
 
S

Seda

Member
While I recall the final boss giving me some trouble, Captain Jack is the struggle I more readily remember.

Strange Journey is a fun, tough ride.
 
J

jonjonaug

Member
Seda said:
While I recall the final boss giving me some trouble, Captain Jack is the struggle I more readily remember.

Strange Journey is a fun, tough ride.
Click to expand...

Captain Jack is just a damage race. It's not that hard, just a little annoying.

The final boss on the Law and Neutral routes is straight up overpowered for when you can first encounter it (around level 72 or so when the boss is built for level 80+ parties), and due to the way damage formulas work in SMT (taking level into account) you'll barely be able to hurt her and your entire party can die in a single turn from full health even with Debilitate/Luster Candy.

There's really nowhere else in any SMT game Nocturne and forward where you need to grind to finish the game (some bonus bosses sure, but not the main game), but with SJ's final boss it's either you grind for a long time or you use this hilarious strategy with password demons instead.
 
S

Soulhouf

Member
Capra said:
I kind of hope Final takes after SJ more than IV in terms of difficulty - I feel like once you got Megido everything in IV was a cakewalk.
Click to expand...

Almighty spells were OP in SJ. I remember the first time when I fused Lakshmi with Megidola, it was game over.
Last boss was a nice challenge but didn't stand a chance either.

Speaking of Strange Journey, I find it's exactly the antithesis of SMT4: much superior dungeons, design and balance but inferior battle system, music and the world in general.
My dream game would be to combine all these assets and remove the modern stupid aspects (quests, talky partners...), basically something like Nocturne.
 
H

Hylian7

Member
Soulhouf said:
Almighty spells were OP in SJ. I remember the first time when I fused Lakshmi with Megidola, it was game over.
Last boss was a nice challenge but didn't stand a chance either.

Speaking of Strange Journey, I find it's exactly the antithesis of SMT4: much superior dungeons, design and balance but inferior battle system, music and the world in general.
My dream game would be to combine all these assets and remove the modern stupid aspects (quests, talky partners...), basically something like Nocturne.
Click to expand...
Honestly, I want to see a game with a setting like SJ's, but actually in 3D like Nocturne or SMT4. That could be really cool to see.

I actually liked the human elements of SMT4, and I thought a lot of that was underrated. You always had a chuckle if you read the relic descriptions.

I liked the idea of the Ashura-kai, and the major faction war being between them and the Gaians. While the Gaians had supernatural motives, the Ashura-kai did not. It was really cool to see that, with a somewhat realistic take on a group rising to power in those conditions. Tayama, while clearly very twisted, was an interesting character nonetheless.

Speaking of Tayama, does he appear in Final?
I assume no because after Flynn returns from the monochrome forest, you are told that Tayama is dead, but that could go some other route with that.
 
F

Funyarinpa

Member
I hate what I've seen of the SMT4 cast and story so far. Do the characters (except Borroughs) and the story get more interesting, or is it rather weak? How's the atmosphere?

Still trying to decide between that and SJ. I vastly prefer SJ's atmosphere, setting and story (watched a couple vids) but this will be my first "mainline" SMT so I'm not sure if I should be going with SJ as my first. I doubt I'd be able to go through all of a SMT game without good atmosphere and characters. SJ's gameplay seems worse though, which worries me somewhat.
 
R

RecursiveFault

Banned
Funyarinpa said:
I hate what I've seen of the SMT4 cast and story so far. Do the characters (except Borroughs) and the story get more interesting, or is it rather weak? How's the atmosphere?

Still trying to decide between that and SJ. I vastly prefer SJ's atmosphere, setting and story (watched a couple vids) but this will be my first "mainline" SMT so I'm not sure if I should be going with SJ as my first. I doubt I'd be able to go through all of a SMT game without good atmosphere and characters. SJ's gameplay seems worse though, which worries me somewhat.
Click to expand...
Well I'd really say you should play both, but here's my 2 cents.

Most of your observations are somewhat correct. SJ's battle system is somewhat simple comparatively, but the level of difficulty is far better throughout, whereas SMT4 starts hard, and gets easier. SJ also has challenging, interesting level design. SMT4's map is confusing and dungeons are short and uninteresting.
People argue both ways back and forth over atmosphere and setting, but I think SMT4 wins on that for its setting, at least for most of the game. SJ is closer to traditional SMT in tone, though.
If you want traditional character development, SMT4 is closer to that, though it does a middling job at best, in my opinion.

Neither is a bad experience, but I think SJ is a better game, if just for its better gameplay balance.

If you want everything you could play DDS or Nocturne tho
 
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