Wait until the game tells you that a quest objective is in Yokohama way.
The fact the map has no markers and there's no way to look at the subareas in each "district" means you either take notes of everything or get ready to google every quest.
Glad to know that I am not the only one getting lost.
Also seriously
Beelzebub
wrecks my team everytime.
Is there anyway to avoid Pandemic Bomb + Death's Door + Megidolan combo constantly? Seriously annoying combo since I could deal with constant Megidolan spam but this ruins it everytime.
I found a very useful way of not getting lost in Tokyo was looking at the bottom screen. Because the map is exactly the same but doesn't have all the clutter of the design of Tokyo. I don't think the over-world would be that bad if the map was brighter.
There is an answer to almost every question if you pay attention and speak to every NPC after each major event. Some of them are alignment exclusive (mainly Neutral).
Basically:
Just like in SMT1, after demons appeared in Tokyo, God launched nuclear missiles to destroy the city. Just before that, god picked up a few humans (with the cocoon) to use them to start over.
If God's scheme was a success, the result is what you see in Blasted Tokyo: wasteland everywhere before the chosen ones have been brought back to build a new city and worship God. Pluto has been sent to exterminate the remaining "filthy" humans.
Infernal Tokyo is the result of humans allying with the demons and totally preventing God from executing his plan. That's why you still see the cocoon in Shinjuku national park.
These are 2 extreme cases that represent Law and Chaos. They didn't happen that's why the White presented them as possibilities.
What really happened is between these 2 extreme scenarios. God was able to pickup a few chosen humans. Meanwhile, a hero was able to summon Masakado, the guardian deity of Tokyo who became the ceiling that protected the city from destruction.
When the cocoon came back, the humans inside found themselves on top of the ceiling instead of the destroyed city but the landscape was very similar(that's why Jonathan said the lakes in Mikado used to be cavities like the ones in Blasted Tokyo).
Akira, a member of the counter demon force and a friend of the hero who protected the city, was looking for his sister who was kidnapped by the angels. He was able to reach the top of the ceiling and decided to stay there, putting a powerful demon to protect the entry(Minotaur).
All that happened 25 years ago but if you talk to some samurai in Mikado some time after you reach Tokyo, they will tell you that they were absent for 1 day but when they came back their children grew up as if 6 months have passed or something, which suggest that time goes a lot faster in Mikado.
Akira became king Aquilla who named the regions of Mikado after Tokyo's districts. That's why the names look so similar:
Kiccigiorgi <-> Kichijoji
Cibooya <-> Shibuya
Shene Duque <-> Shinjuku
wrecks my team everytime.
Is there anyway to avoid Pandemic Bomb + Death's Door + Megidolan combo constantly? Seriously annoying combo since I could deal with constant Megidolan spam but this ruins it everytime.
Yeah I know, but that doesn't mean the new artist has to go and make them look like...like...I don't even...screw it. And Saburo looks like he is about to go on a skiing trip.
Minotaur is the only new design I really like, there are some okay-ish ones there too, but most of the time I'm just shaking my head in befuddlement.
Quick question regarding progress, I am 30 hours in and just hit Lv50:
So some space/time-warp thing going on, on my way to meet Akira. How much is there still left of the game if I am not really doing sidequests?
And I really like the new fusion system. It might be a bit of an adjustment at first, but the farther you get, the more you will appreciate the new search engine and how easy it is to get a demon if you know what to look for, especially since you can search for combinations in all of your compedium.
Tokyo is just very weird to navigate, it can be a pain getting somewhere.
And one thing that upsets me in the battle system its the fact that one miss never comes alone, I get 2-3 misses and followed by a game over, I cry everytime it happens ;_;
Tokyo is just very weird to navigate, it can be a pain getting somewhere.
And one thing that upsets me in the battle system its the fact that one miss never comes alone, I get 2-3 misses and followed by a game over, I cry everytime it happens ;_;
That's probably because enemies with Smirk are incredibly difficult to hit. If one gets Smirk either attack a different enemy or use buff/debuff or reflection skills until they attack next.
Wheelchair guy is Stephen/Steven. in SMT1 he created the Demon Summoning Program and sent to every e-mail he can back in the game's setting in 1992.
Read on if you've already beaten the game
THe little girl is the Goddess of Tokyo, but needed Flynn to bring her back to power IIRC.
OK so let me see if I got the story here right...
Yamato Reactor is activated a little over 25 years ago. They discover they can access the Expanse, which is a world or such where all human thoughts, subconscious and even mythological creatures mankind thought up can materialize.
Yamato Reactor was then to be used to weaponize the Expanse or exploit it. The White represent mankind's Nihilism.
When demons start appearing in Tokyo, every Nuke on the planet was launched to cleanse the earth and start anew, however, Masakado, being the guardian deity of Tokyo, created a shell of some sorts, called the Firmament, to protect Tokyo.
Prior to the nuke launch, various children were taken into a Cocoon and taken above the earth just before the nukes hit their targets. Above the firmament, Akira, became the new king and re-established civilization. Time above the firmament moves faster than our world and so near 1500 years passed, and then the events of SMT4 take place.
Just finished the game for the first time (neutral ending). Was shorter than I expected (my final playtime was around 53 hours) but there was a decent chunk of sidequests that I didn't bother doing. Overall it was an incredibly satisfying rpg. The difficulty never reached a point where I would hit a wall with certain bosses but there were many scenarios that led to extremely satisfying close finishes. The speed of combat was one of the most enjoyable elements of the game. When you deployed an effective battle strategy, you'd often have a boss down in the red in less than ten turns. Compared to other rpgs that have the player continuously whittling down a boss' health while healing and buffing for eternity, it is a preferable style and one I'd like to see more of in the future. I didn't run into too many problems that others had with the battle system either. While Smirking can be devastating and it is unnecessarily random, I rarely ran into a situation where an accidental smirk on its own would cost me a fight.
I think an area I would like to see improved if they ever return to the series is more variety in demon personalities. Once you've talked to one demon of a certain type you've basically talked to all demons of that type. Some more individuality would improve the player's connection with demons substantially. Obviously this would be a huge task with the amount of demons in the game but if you could learn the likes and dislikes of your demons and information about demons they are familiar with, it would go a long way in improving the Scout system.
The world of SMT IV was incredibly engaging throughout but the thing that kept the story so interesting for me was definitely the dynamic between Jonathan and Walter. Both characters were fun and enjoyable companions which made for some incredibly tough choices throughout the game too. It's a shame then that
the two are barely present during the Neutral ending. Isabeau was fine but she was a very withdrawn character and the lack of the duo's personalities and conflict was definitely noticed.
But overall I had an incredibly engaging and fun time with the game. It's probably the most I've played of an RPG in this timespan. There were a couple days where I just didn't want to put it down. I'm not sure if or when I'll get to a chaos route run and the story related dlc.
Yamato Reactor is activated a little over 25 years ago. They discover they can access the Expanse, which is a world or such where all human thoughts, subconscious and even mythological creatures mankind thought up can materialize.
Yamato Reactor was then to be used to weaponize the Expanse or exploit it. The White represent mankind's Nihilism.
When demons start appearing in Tokyo, every Nuke on the planet was launched to cleanse the earth and start anew, however, Masakado, being the guardian deity of Tokyo, created a shell of some sorts, called the Firmament, to protect Tokyo.
Prior to the nuke launch, various children were taken into a Cocoon and taken above the earth just before the nukes hit their targets. Above the firmament, Akira, became the new king and re-established civilization. Time above the firmament moves faster than our world and so near 1500 years passed, and then the events of SMT4 take place.
Almost 40 hours in. I never imagined playing a SMT with such low difficulty, it's a complete walk in the park.
Sometimes there's a build up to a boss fight where npcs talk about how powerful the demon is and then I get there and waste it in a couple of turns. This is really disappointing.
The difficulty never reached a point where I would hit a wall with certain bosses but there were many scenarios that led to extremely satisfying close finishes. The speed of combat was one of the most enjoyable elements of the game. When you deployed an effective battle strategy, you'd often have a boss down in the red in less than ten turns. Compared to other rpgs that have the player continuously whittling down a boss' health while healing and buffing for eternity, it is a preferable style and one I'd like to see more of in the future.
I don't agree with this, at all.
Having fast battle for the random battles was okay (even though, especially on hard, it's more a russian roulette of which group can attack first than really planed battles), but bosses going down in two to three turns in most cases was a joke.
Heck, even the final bosses take less than 8 turns to beat, that was a huge letdown.
The difficulty never reached a point where I would hit a wall with certain bosses but there were many scenarios that led to extremely satisfying close finishes. The speed of combat was one of the most enjoyable elements of the game. When you deployed an effective battle strategy, you'd often have a boss down in the red in less than ten turns. Compared to other rpgs that have the player continuously whittling down a boss' health while healing and buffing for eternity, it is a preferable style and one I'd like to see more of in the future.
Personally, I do I agree with this. I don't care much for RPG battles where combat is a drawn out slog that's more of a test of patience than it is skill. That said, I do acknowledge that it's a game that's easily broken if you know what you're doing. I didn't really start getting disappointed with how quickly anything died until the bonus bosses during the post-game. At the very least, I believe it's something worth revisiting for the sake of further refinement in order to find some form of middleground.
Almost 40 hours in. I never imagined playing a SMT with such low difficulty, it's a complete walk in the park.
Sometimes there's a build up to a boss fight where npcs talk about how powerful the demon is and then I get there and waste it in a couple of turns. This is really disappointing.
So I thought I was near the end but now I'm confronted with a completely devastated Tokyo to explore, didn't see that coming.
I went with Walter though I kinda regretted it when I realized what Lilith's real plan was. Didn't get the option to go with Isabeau so I'm guessing I'm locked out of the neutral path?
Was hit with "Macca blast" ability by a demon and lost 30k macca. Seriously?!
So I thought I was near the end but now I'm confronted with a completely devastated Tokyo to explore, didn't see that coming.
I went with Walter though I kinda regretted it when I realized what Lilith's real plan was. Didn't get the option to go with Isabeau so I'm guessing I'm locked out of the neutral path?
Was hit with "Macca blast" ability by a demon and lost 30k macca. Seriously?!
I don't agree with this, at all.
Having fast battle for the random battles was okay (even though, especially on hard, it's more a russian roulette of which group can attack first than really planed battles), but bosses going down in two to three turns in most cases was a joke.
Heck, even the final bosses take less than 8 turns to beat, that was a huge letdown.
Finally gonna finish up my first play through of this. Doing all those challenge quests for the Neutral Ending was a bit of a slog. I've really enjoyed the game though, despite the lack of difficulty later on.
Just finished my first play through, Neutral Ending.
Some thoughts:
The new demon designs were pretty much all misses for me outside of Minotaur maybe. Wtf did they do to Masakado? And Lucifer? Ugh. I don't see why they felt the need to change so many of the demon designs, it wasn't for the better that's for sure.
I felt way OP by the end. Lucifer was a push over because I had 2 demons that absorbed physical and one that repelled gun, he ended up missing a lot of his push turns and I just spammed Concentrate > Megidolaon.
Was Burroughs an AI based on the Goddess of Tokyo? Sounded like her in the ending.
Despite the easy difficulty I enjoyed the game, I look forward to playing through again a bit later on to see the other endings.
You can heal any time you head back to Mikado. Also when you get the health or mana regen apps you will never have to again. Enemies also rain Life Stones if you want to conserve mana.
Just finished my first play through, Neutral Ending.
Some thoughts:
The new demon designs were pretty much all misses for me outside of Minotaur maybe. Wtf did they do to Masakado? And Lucifer? Ugh. I don't see why they felt the need to change so many of the demon designs, it wasn't for the better that's for sure.
His first stage design was weak, it would have suited a lesser demon but it didn't have the impact you'd expect of the King of Demons. The second design was better, not as good as the older ones but that's to be expected. The disfigured Walter on his arm was quite a disturbing sight though.
Was Burroughs an AI based on the Goddess of Tokyo? Sounded like her in the ending.
You can heal any time you head back to Mikado. Also when you get the health or mana regen apps you will never have to again. Enemies also rain Life Stones if you want to conserve mana.
This probably happened to me ten or so times throughout the game. I don't think it was ever a big deal though. It annoyed me more when the AI wouldn't use a skill the enemy was weak to that they had.
I'm relatively early in the game, but I'm absolutely loving it. It's my first Shin Megami Tensei game. I think the world building is excellent. It has this uncomfortable yet engrossing atmosphere that really gets under your skin.
I'm not sure if there's a wrong way to build your character but there's a lot of options available so you can customize the protagonist to fit your play style which is always good.
There's a lot to take in but I'm finding the whole experience pretty empowering. I'm impressed by how carefully Atlus balanced both boosting your stats and the affinities, without it turning into either a dull grind-fest or a paper-scissors-rock game.
It's a fun system that rewards careful selection of party members. Really enjoying it.
I basically had to talk with a side-kick character in the bar for the mission to behead that demon thingy. wot
, and started exploring Kasumigaseki and Shinjuku.
I must say I think the game was much better designed visually initially (except for maybe Naraku), all these different places inside Tokyo feels like small design variations of each other And moving around in map mode, ugh.
Should I do all the demon domains in Shinjuku @level~20 ? I feel a bit overwhelmed by some of these bosses right now. Even the local demons are above my level here, lol, and I want to scout them all.
