Out_Of_Ammo
Member
Ah ok. And is it random when someone smirks or are there certain conditions?
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Shin Megami Tensei IV |EU OT| Atlus Shrugged
- Thread starter Samurai_Heart
- Start date
Ah ok. And is it random when someone smirks or are there certain conditions?
Yeah, this is exactly how I feel. The new designs are way too over engineered and have too much detail in a bad way. Clean is definitely how I would describe the bulk of Kaneko's designs.
I understand that people may like the new designs but for me they just look out of place and not what I expect to see in a SMT game. They look almost cheap in comparison to the originals imo.
I am a huge Kaneko fan so there's that as well.
Whenever you hit an enemy's weakness/crit them with a physical attack or dodge/absorb/reflect an enemy attack that character gets a chance to smirk.
Palculator
Unconfirmed Member
Righto, just finally bought this game and am having a blast. While the huge delay in "localization" is completely ridiculous, it actually provided me with the opportunity to play through the other SMT Games I've missed back then like the Digital Devil Saga series and the Raidou Kuzunoha games. Enough top-notch entertainment to fill the void right there.
I was delighted to see Kazuma Kaneko get listed pretty early as the game's designer. Dude needs more recognition. Though, the artstyle/monster designs seem very different from previous Kaneko games.
I was delighted to see Kazuma Kaneko get listed pretty early as the game's designer. Dude needs more recognition. Though, the artstyle/monster designs seem very different from previous Kaneko games.
Smirks happen randomly as a result of one of the following:
-hitting an enemy weakness (as an added note, a smirking enemy or player character's own weakness is voided while smirking, but a smirk can be undone by getting hit with a status effect such as poison, sleep, bind, or sickness)
-landing a critical hit on an enemy
-blocking, repelling, or draining an enemy attack
-one-shotting an enemy (less likely from what I can tell)
EDIT: Beaten on the smirk explanation.
Much of Kaneko's old work is represented in the game, but the new demons (and some old ones) have designs by new artists this time. In place of Kaneko for human character designs, Masayuki Doi (artist for the Trauma Center franchise) handled those.
Out_Of_Ammo
Member
Alright, thanks. Loving the game so far. It also reminds me that I should go back and finish Strange Journey some day.
Palculator
Unconfirmed Member
I'm really amazed by this game's menus. Most SMT games "get" that in a JRPG most of the stuff you do as a player is tucked away in menus so the menu design, both visually and functionally, is incredibly important to the overall experience. Like, go back and compare SMT IV's menus with Pokemon X/Y.
And it's mostly really simple stuff. Why would you have selecting a skill in an additional submenu when you could just do it with up/down like in this game? It doesn't make the menu more complicated for the user, I doubt it's harder to program and it makes combat so much more efficient. Though I would've preferred holding a shoulder button to show a demon's analysis, like in newer Persona games.
And it's mostly really simple stuff. Why would you have selecting a skill in an additional submenu when you could just do it with up/down like in this game? It doesn't make the menu more complicated for the user, I doubt it's harder to program and it makes combat so much more efficient. Though I would've preferred holding a shoulder button to show a demon's analysis, like in newer Persona games.
Yeah, the whole interface of the game is pretty great.
Safe for two things:
- You can't reorganize your skills.
- You can't see the map in the pause menu. And god knows you'd want to do that given the overworld map is what it is.
Doi did a pretty good job imho.
But I hope we'll never see any of the other artists on the series again.
Dragon1893
Member
Game becomes so much better after you have access to the world map (duh).
So many places to go, so much to do. You can tackle different locations and objectives in any order and there are a ton of sidequests. It's not the kind of world map that ends up guiding you through the game's locations in a fixed order. I wish the map would show the damn names of the locations though, unbelievable.
So many places to go, so much to do. You can tackle different locations and objectives in any order and there are a ton of sidequests. It's not the kind of world map that ends up guiding you through the game's locations in a fixed order. I wish the map would show the damn names of the locations though, unbelievable.
GwyndolinCinder
Member
When does the game open up like that? just killed wukong and about to do Mino, i feel like that should happen now?
You fought Wu Kong before the Minotaur? Isn't Wu Kong a higher level?
You're close, yes.
Yet again, I totally disagree. The whole journey to get there was so well done.
I get that my experience was different from yours though. Sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as me (I don't know how to word this sentence properly without it sounding condescending, so believe me when I say that I mean this sincerely and not like a jerk).
I did that too. Wu Kong is definitely easier than Minotaur.
Spieler Eins
Member
Do you ever get an app for maps in all demon domains? Some of them get pretty convoluted by now and I'm hesitating to save, lol
Me too and i agree.
Holy shit I've finally found a boss that is just destroying me.
Very late game spoilers.
Smirk has started to piss me off. Enemies seem to get it all the time but the chances of party members getting one seem much less.
Edit: Finally beat him. Had much more luck with Smirking this time. His last move was to cast Ancient Curse on my party and luckily my Kresnik woke up and used Mortal Jihad on him to finish him off. Thank god.
Very late game spoilers.
Kenji is just ripping me to shreds. He either gets crits with his party attacks, smirks and then proceeds to wipe out my whole party or he gives us all ailments in one blow and then proceeds to wail on me or cast mamudoon and wipe out my party in one or two goes. This is frustrating.
Smirk has started to piss me off. Enemies seem to get it all the time but the chances of party members getting one seem much less.
Edit: Finally beat him. Had much more luck with Smirking this time. His last move was to cast Ancient Curse on my party and luckily my Kresnik woke up and used Mortal Jihad on him to finish him off. Thank god.
I think I just passed the point of no return for the alignments and have been put on course for the Neutral ending! Very pleased with that.
And now I'm getting destroyed by the Whites in this forest. I have a feeling I need to do some fusion.
And now I'm getting destroyed by the Whites in this forest. I have a feeling I need to do some fusion.
I think I've written in my post that the similarity is on conceptual level, especially Michael.
I'm not crazy enough to called the new Four Herald have similar aesthetic to Kaneko's style.
Its the same with Minotaur: something that you could expect from Kaneko if he's the who design him. This is why I like Minotaur and four Herald, while disliking the rest with more sentai influence like Koga Saburo and Yamato Takeru because they are completely at odds with what Kaneko would come up with.
Inquisitive_Ghost
Member
Just in relation to Persona 3&4´s dreadful tartarus and.....whatever P4´s equivalent is called( I played both for 10+ hours....and just couldn´t do it anymore. So bad)
I bought Lucifer´s call/Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga and already own Strange Journey ( but never played it for whatever reason), consider me hooked
You two are in for such a ride. Nocturne and Devil Survivor Overclocked are legitimately two of my favourite games ever. DSO I think has one of the best stories in the series, and Nocturne is just this incredibly surreal, maddening experience. With amazing music.
Dammit.
Edit: She's just done Mamudoon on the first turn three times in a row. Kills all 3 of my demons instantly every time, she never misses and they're not weak to it or anything (In fact one resists dark). Wtf is going on here.
Isabeau's white is destroying me. All it takes is one Mamudoon and all 3 of my demon's get wiped out, she never seems to miss with it.
Edit: She's just done Mamudoon on the first turn three times in a row. Kills all 3 of my demons instantly every time, she never misses and they're not weak to it or anything (In fact one resists dark). Wtf is going on here.
E_Darkness
Member
I'm alignment locked now. I got neutral so yay. Well not yay, I backed out of going chaos because I had an hunch I could get neutral.
Inquisitive_Ghost
Member
Jealous of everyone getting Neutral on their first shot. The first time I played this game
.
Yes, that is a thing, and yes, it is stupid.
The alignment range you have to fall into to do it is
.
I was too True Neutral to get Neutral
Yes, that is a thing, and yes, it is stupid.
The alignment range you have to fall into to do it is
-1, 0, or +1
buying from the compendium is extremely expensive though. Buying a new one would cost me about 5000 macca, (out of the 6000 I own).
Kaneko's Melchizedek from some of the other SMT and Persona games was kind of sentai-ish IMO, but that's about it.
Orniletter
Banned
Can´t wait
.The Minotaur is definitely pretty hard, I tried to brute force my way through with Bofu and Mabofu magic....and I got him into the red....but then Jonathan gave him a smirk and he landed a critical hit and that was that.
Edit: Is there a point of no return in this game? Final Fantasy X HD made me paranoid. I got the key for that one door on the first floor of Naraku...and I´m not sure If the game expects me to backtrack all the way to the first floor or If I´m expected to kill the Minotaur...and then just use they key whenever.
Hmmm.
Nearing the end of the game it seems. My MC has a pretty standard late game SMT move set:
Megidolaon
Concentrate
Luster Candy
Debilitate
Samarecarm
Mediarahan
Energy Drain
He's hitting pretty hard with 330 stat points in Magic.
Need to replace Dullahan with something soon though.
Tizoc
Member
Oh shi tell me how to get a Demonee-ho please.
Nearing the end of the game it seems. My MC has a pretty standard late game SMT move set:
Megidolaon
Concentrate
Luster Candy
Debilitate
Samarecarm
Mediarahan
Energy Drain
He's hitting pretty hard with 330 stat points in Magic.
Need to replace Dullahan with something soon though.
You used a Magic Build I take it?
Dragon1893
Member
Can´t wait
The Minotaur is definitely pretty hard, I tried to brute force my way through with Bofu and Mabofu magic....and I got him into the red....but then Jonathan gave him a smirk and he landed a critical hit and that was that.
Edit: Is there a point of no return in this game? Final Fantasy X HD made me paranoid. I got the key for that one door on the first floor of Naraku...and I´m not sure If the game expects me to backtrack all the way to the first floor or If I´m expected to kill the Minotaur...and then just use they key whenever.
Hmmm.
Don't worry, you'll be able to go back whenever you want, don't bother backtracking now.
The problem I have with the new art is that while it's overdetailed it is also incredibly flat. Older art had a lot of subtle shadows and depth which is really lacking in new ones.
I found at a certain point I had around 10000+ at all times. And since I'm going magic/agility/luck build I don't have much use for most weapons so it's mostly used for compendium, scouting, consumables and the rare useful equipment.
I found at a certain point I had around 10000+ at all times. And since I'm going magic/agility/luck build I don't have much use for most weapons so it's mostly used for compendium, scouting, consumables and the rare useful equipment.
Inquisitive_Ghost
Member
Can´t wait
The Minotaur is definitely pretty hard, I tried to brute force my way through with Bofu and Mabofu magic....and I got him into the red....but then Jonathan gave him a smirk and he landed a critical hit and that was that.
Edit: Is there a point of no return in this game? Final Fantasy X HD made me paranoid. I got the key for that one door on the first floor of Naraku...and I´m not sure If the game expects me to backtrack all the way to the first floor or If I´m expected to kill the Minotaur...and then just use they key whenever.
Hmmm.
If it's the key I think it is, it unlocks a shortcut from Naraku's first floor to the fourth, in only the downward direction.
The point of no return only locks out certain areas depending on what your alignment is, and you are a long, long way from it.
He's a level 75 special fusion (Frost Ace x Kresnik x Cu Chulainn)! He's certainly a tank, takes quite a beating and deals out some impressive physical and gun damage.
Yeah magic build, only putting points into Magic and Agility.
Dragon1893
Member
Yeah, not having to bother with swords/guns helps, it's money you can spend on something else.
I agree with your comment about the art looking flat.
We were giving the graphics a hard time but some areas can look decent for a 3DS game, mainly the
urban environments
Hm, some recommendations...
Nearing the end of the game it seems. My MC has a pretty standard late game SMT move set:
Megidolaon
Concentrate
Luster Candy
Debilitate
Samarecarm
Mediarahan
Energy Drain
He's hitting pretty hard with 330 stat points in Magic.
Need to replace Dullahan with something soon though.
-consider dropping Megidolaon and Debilitate for Antichthon when you have the opportunity (it's equivalent to both of those in one, though is more expensive MP-wise)
-drop Mediarahan for Salvation as soon as you can fuse a demon with that (full heal for the whole party, cures all status effects except Brand, which is a DLC-only status that nothing other than time gets rid of anyway)
-drop Energy Drain in favor of MP Recovery apps, up to at least MP Recovery 2
Demonee-ho has also the most broken skill for a Dex Build MC, even more broken than Nocturne's Freikugel imho.
That's why I don't like the archangels, but somewhat appreciate Koga Saburo: the concept for the former are indeed close to what Kaneko could do, but the execution is miles away, that just irks me. While the latter are just designs Kaneko would never do, so it's easier to accept them: they're juste something completely different.
I'm a bit late as I see that you're already lv 80, but the hardest boss I face was in the quest Rebirth of the Great Overlord. He just kept destroying me.
Then again, I wasn't even lv70 by then...
For your build: one stat point put in a stat that is already over 200 is, I think, not as effective as before you reach 200. If you've already 300+ points in magic, you could consider pumping your luck instead.
Heh yeah I have a bad habit of grinding excessively in SMT games. I spent hours today just grinding levels and fusing. Probably way over leveled for this point now but oh well.
Will definitely keep that in mind about the stats. Should probably load up Luck since I've barely touched it at all.
Tizoc
Member
Thanks, I'm actually thinking of keeping a Jack Frost and Frost Ace in my party and maxing their level just because.
I mean look at this cute little monster
He just wants a Hee-five-ho!
While I do enjoy the game I really wish, Jonathan, Isabeau and Walter where my actual party members and not the very demons I fight against. Overall I prefer it the way Persona or Digital Devil Saga handled it. Fusing demons is fun but scouting them is not and I prefer to just get them via cards (Persona) or develop my skills in another way (DDS).
I guess you haven't played the "old" Persona games then? I always thought it was weird when they removed it from that series, but I like the demons having more personality with the scouting just because there's so many of them.
I get that you like having humans in your party though, and that's cool.
I've never heard of that. What happens if you fall within that range?
On a semi related note: why are people spoilering
Tokyo
Tokyo banner with characters
Big alignment lock spoiler:
If I remember right, right before the alignment lock, you have to make a choice that gives you either +10 or -10 points. So if you're "too" neutral, you can't get the neutral ending, as that last choice kicks you in either Law or Chaos.
I wonder that too, especially considering it's a mainline SMT game, so that's not really a surprise.
Oh that thing. I thought you meant falling within +/-1 after the alignment lock. This game should have had something like that goblin from SJ where you could just adjust your alignment if you wanted.
I played Persona 2 (forgot which one) for a while. Overall I wasn't too happy with the gameplay, but really enjoyed story and characters. And at least there you have human party members you can really see on the battle field.
It's not like I dislike the main SMT series, but I think it's the main reason why I prefer some of the spin-offs over it. Although I totally see why others prefer the main series and it is indeed a series of high quality.
This is a very powerful move, yet overlooked by many.
Combine it with Draconic Reaction (for accuracy) and Bloody Glee (for critical hits) and you will obliterate everything with it.
And yes, Demonee-Ho is fantastic. He learns the unique physical/almighty attack Desperate Hits which is one of the most broken skill in the game with high stats.
I disagree. Antichthon doesn't replace these 2 because it has 2 majors flaws IMO:
- You can't use it more than twice in boss battles because they will cancel the debuff. So you need something else to do damage.
- It may miss, that's why better use Debilitate instead for debuff purpose.
So better go with Debilitate and Megidolaon (or Great Logos). One for defuff and the other for pure damage. It certainly take more space but it's more efficient. You can keep Antichthon though but you certainly need a more reliant skill for damage.