I love the equipment shop dude. Best VO in the game.
This is real, right?
This is real, right?
This is real, right?
This is real, right?
-
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Shin Megami Tensei IV |OT| The Dark Souls of Persona
- Thread starter Volcynika
- Start date
I love the equipment shop dude. Best VO in the game.
This is real, right?
This is real, right?
This is real, right?
This is real, right?
You are getting closer but you aren't there yet. You'll know when you see
white people
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
Thanks. Also, you can't
refuse Tayama request, doesn't it?
Nope, you can't.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
Thanks again, I suppose I'am locked in law, unless there is a big alignment choice coming...
You're not locked in yet.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
So there is a way to change it to neutral? Because (challenge quest)
I ended killing all the dudes in cold blood in the tournament and I'm still polite person
buddha0991
Member
Yep, that is indeed the
Bad Ending,
Law, Neutral, and Chaos not ending there.
Thanks, I'm reassured. I didn't expect that at all.
Can I still visit all the previous locations if I select the other choice? I ask because in the 6 last hours I was locked and couldn't go back.
buddha0991
Member
Dunno cuz I've been pretty busy lately and I am exactly where you are now so I hope I can revisit too.
This could be considered a small spoiler but it answers your question.
The final choice is either law or chaos, period. So pick the choice opposite your current alignment and hope for the best.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
Oh!
Thanks for the answer, and yeah, is pretty minor considering this game alignment system.
decoyplatypus
Member
I about to board a plane. By the time I get off the plane, I will either have the coffee beans or a new set of earrings from the Ginza shop. Let's hope for the former.
Just finished Camp
. I noticed I was going Law a little bit before the first fork, so I went Chaos at the fork and also during the Hunter Prelims, and managed to get back at neutral. So I figure I'll try to go Chaos a little more so I can choose Law at the lock-in and hopefully end up Neutral.
About how long between the two forks?
Ichigaya
About how long between the two forks?
Could you give a hint to what
the final choice is? I'm in Shibuya now so I think I'm close to it locking. I am currently law according to the cynical man.
About how long is it taking people to finish this? I'm at 25ish hours and I still feel like I haven't left the intro (I'm in
). I keep waiting for
to leave and head up idealogical factions, but that might just be my vague memories of Nocturne drifting up. It feels like it will just be binary between Jonathon/Walter in this game? Women getting the shaft in this one. Poor Isabeau.
Edit: Also, this game feels Persona'd up compared to Nocturne. There's a lot more talking it feels like, and Isabeau/Jonathan/Walter feel like they have personalities straight out of the highschool aesthetic.
How does Strange Journey differ from Persona 3/4 or SMTIV? I wasn't really in the mood for SMT when it came out and now I'm curious. I was surprised to see the
show up.
Shinjuku
my human party members
Edit: Also, this game feels Persona'd up compared to Nocturne. There's a lot more talking it feels like, and Isabeau/Jonathan/Walter feel like they have personalities straight out of the highschool aesthetic.
How does Strange Journey differ from Persona 3/4 or SMTIV? I wasn't really in the mood for SMT when it came out and now I'm curious. I was surprised to see the
cover art suit from Strange Journey
buddha0991
Member
I just passed the alignment lock, I am currently talking to good ol'
I am now part of the cool kid club.
Steven.
I finished this last night and overall I think it is ok. Aside from Persona 4 I'm not an SMT fan so maybe there is a lot more here for fans? For some context I've played persona 3/4, strange journey, overclocked, and another one that I'm forgetting. Persona 4 is the only one of those I think is great.
The difficulty wavered back and forth between cakewalk and luck based. If an enemy gets to go first, crits, and just nukes your whole team before you get to make a move that isn't tactically interesting it is just dumb. I'm also not a fan of how your first attempt on a boss generally has to be 'try every type of attack and get killed if you guess wrong.' I don't think I'd want the game to reveal weaknesses by default, but the way the turn system works if your attack gets reflected you are fucked. You kill yourself, you lose your turns that could have been used to recover from that, and the enemy probably smirked and now will destroy you. Null/Reflecting attacks is just grossly overpowered.
Of course all this changes later when I have a 200mag main character tossing out allmighty spells with complete disregard for what I'm fighting and a team of demons that don't actually attack but instead are lumps of HP that null/reflect all things thus wrecking the enemies using the same brokenness used on me. They probably shouldn't let you assign your own attribute points to the MC in a game like this or at least have some restrictions. The power difference between someone who spreads their points around compared to someone who only pumps magic (or maybe dex?) is absurd and can not possibly be balanced around.
I used message boards to find out where I'm supposed to go a lot. I'm not a fan of 'find the story flag' and already felt too powerful and so didn't want to encounter a lot of trash mobs. I also found exploring the city to be quite difficult. I suspect this in part has to do with the japanese names. I know there's two locations that begin with Shi, shinju and... shibu or something and though I've beaten the game I still don't have any real concept for where they are or how they connect to the other regions. They don't distinguish easily in my mind because they begin with the same sound and have the same number of syllables.
I think this is because the japanese names hold no contextual meaning to me and instead are an arbitrary jumble of syllables. If a town is named, I don't know, Appletown, then I think I subconsciously make connections between the word apple and how that town relates to other regions in the game and it's place in the world. I don't know what the answer is to making this better and I am curious if people who speak japanese or have lived in japan have a significantly easier time with this. As another example, I was able to remember Walter and Jonathon's names right from the beginning because they are names I am familiar with and hold meaning to me. The woman's name I have no idea. I think it starts with an I.
I thought the story was fine if a bit typical. It never really grabbed or impressed me but the writing wasn't bad enough to grate so I give it a pass. I'm kind of used to the various SMT games I've played often having the same premise of
.
I did though find myself skipping a *lot* of text. I don't really accept the argument that setting is story because setting never causes me to have an emotional response. I need a reason to care about what people are saying in a game if you don't want me skimming through it and that is achieved through characterization and plot. As is, I had the volume up and paid attention to the main quest story segments with the core cast of characters but where I immediately lose interest is when, "Man with blue eyes" or "Girl with Doll" starts trying to spout exposition at me. If an NPC isn't even worthy of having a name and unique sprite then they aren't worth my time.
Demon fusion this time around is fantastic but probably a little overpowered. I despised inheritance being random so being able to pick and choose was refreshing. I do think though that there should be some restrictions. Like you get x inheritance points and more powerful skills cost more points to transfer over? As is I probably never tried out a lot of the attacks in the game because I found sets that worked and only really swapped out skills for more powerful versions of the same idea.
When fusing, the really great search functions are phenomenal. Being able to run complex searches combining my current demons and compendium was great. Over the game I think I used every single option that page gave me. My only minor complaints would be the 'your search is too broad' error you can run into and I don't think there is a way to search via level range. For example, at some point for one of the special fusions I knew I needed a level 45 holy demon. So I searched for holy and was just going to browse to level 45 but I got the error that holy provided too many search results. Thankfully, I remembered that the demon I needed had wind attacks in devil survivor and searching for holy + wind affinity found me what I wanted. This marks the first SMT game where I didn't use a FAQ for demon fusing because the game provided me with all the tools I needed right there and easy to use. Awesome.
Final stats/playtime:
edit: minor edit, I originally wrote I played on hard but there isn't any such thing... I think I confused my difficult setting with shadowrun. I played on default difficulty.
The difficulty wavered back and forth between cakewalk and luck based. If an enemy gets to go first, crits, and just nukes your whole team before you get to make a move that isn't tactically interesting it is just dumb. I'm also not a fan of how your first attempt on a boss generally has to be 'try every type of attack and get killed if you guess wrong.' I don't think I'd want the game to reveal weaknesses by default, but the way the turn system works if your attack gets reflected you are fucked. You kill yourself, you lose your turns that could have been used to recover from that, and the enemy probably smirked and now will destroy you. Null/Reflecting attacks is just grossly overpowered.
Of course all this changes later when I have a 200mag main character tossing out allmighty spells with complete disregard for what I'm fighting and a team of demons that don't actually attack but instead are lumps of HP that null/reflect all things thus wrecking the enemies using the same brokenness used on me. They probably shouldn't let you assign your own attribute points to the MC in a game like this or at least have some restrictions. The power difference between someone who spreads their points around compared to someone who only pumps magic (or maybe dex?) is absurd and can not possibly be balanced around.
I used message boards to find out where I'm supposed to go a lot. I'm not a fan of 'find the story flag' and already felt too powerful and so didn't want to encounter a lot of trash mobs. I also found exploring the city to be quite difficult. I suspect this in part has to do with the japanese names. I know there's two locations that begin with Shi, shinju and... shibu or something and though I've beaten the game I still don't have any real concept for where they are or how they connect to the other regions. They don't distinguish easily in my mind because they begin with the same sound and have the same number of syllables.
I think this is because the japanese names hold no contextual meaning to me and instead are an arbitrary jumble of syllables. If a town is named, I don't know, Appletown, then I think I subconsciously make connections between the word apple and how that town relates to other regions in the game and it's place in the world. I don't know what the answer is to making this better and I am curious if people who speak japanese or have lived in japan have a significantly easier time with this. As another example, I was able to remember Walter and Jonathon's names right from the beginning because they are names I am familiar with and hold meaning to me. The woman's name I have no idea. I think it starts with an I.
And I played the neutral path, so she was the one that was with me most recently!
I thought the story was fine if a bit typical. It never really grabbed or impressed me but the writing wasn't bad enough to grate so I give it a pass. I'm kind of used to the various SMT games I've played often having the same premise of
Angels are uncompromising lawful douchebags, while demons are uncomprimising chaotic murderous dicks. And I have to choose to be dick, a douchebag, or somewhere in between.
I did though find myself skipping a *lot* of text. I don't really accept the argument that setting is story because setting never causes me to have an emotional response. I need a reason to care about what people are saying in a game if you don't want me skimming through it and that is achieved through characterization and plot. As is, I had the volume up and paid attention to the main quest story segments with the core cast of characters but where I immediately lose interest is when, "Man with blue eyes" or "Girl with Doll" starts trying to spout exposition at me. If an NPC isn't even worthy of having a name and unique sprite then they aren't worth my time.
Demon fusion this time around is fantastic but probably a little overpowered. I despised inheritance being random so being able to pick and choose was refreshing. I do think though that there should be some restrictions. Like you get x inheritance points and more powerful skills cost more points to transfer over? As is I probably never tried out a lot of the attacks in the game because I found sets that worked and only really swapped out skills for more powerful versions of the same idea.
When fusing, the really great search functions are phenomenal. Being able to run complex searches combining my current demons and compendium was great. Over the game I think I used every single option that page gave me. My only minor complaints would be the 'your search is too broad' error you can run into and I don't think there is a way to search via level range. For example, at some point for one of the special fusions I knew I needed a level 45 holy demon. So I searched for holy and was just going to browse to level 45 but I got the error that holy provided too many search results. Thankfully, I remembered that the demon I needed had wind attacks in devil survivor and searching for holy + wind affinity found me what I wanted. This marks the first SMT game where I didn't use a FAQ for demon fusing because the game provided me with all the tools I needed right there and easy to use. Awesome.
Final stats/playtime:
Neutral path, level 87, 43 hours.
edit: minor edit, I originally wrote I played on hard but there isn't any such thing... I think I confused my difficult setting with shadowrun. I played on default difficulty.
SpaceBridge
Member
Late game, neutral path question:
so I'm back in original Tokyo. Mikado is locked out. I'm with Isabeau at the moment. I don't know where I'm supposed to go. Someone mentioned Shinjuku, but I went there and nothing triggered. Anyone have a tip where I should head to?
Go to the Florida bar in Shinjuku
I also finished it over the weekend. Neutral path, around 52 hours, level 90 MC.
Overall, I loved it. It left me wanting more, which is a good sign even though the game is lengthy.
I think the story was ok, it did its job in keeping me interested. It didn't rely on crazy twists or anything, which was good. My biggest gripe with it was (major Neutral end game spoilers)
Story aside, I think the game was just very well done, very modern, user friendly and still challenging.
Atlus knows how to make a damn good RPG. Looking forward to the next mainline Megaten (please don't be another 10 years) and whatever else they throw at us.
Overall, I loved it. It left me wanting more, which is a good sign even though the game is lengthy.
I think the story was ok, it did its job in keeping me interested. It didn't rely on crazy twists or anything, which was good. My biggest gripe with it was (major Neutral end game spoilers)
how non-chalantly you kill Walter and Jonathan. They spend most of the game as your allies, and dispatching them didn't really have any kind of emotional impact. But it's par for the course in a megaten game. Though I feel there was a little more emotional heft when you offed your buddies in Nocturne and in SJ.
Story aside, I think the game was just very well done, very modern, user friendly and still challenging.
Atlus knows how to make a damn good RPG. Looking forward to the next mainline Megaten (please don't be another 10 years) and whatever else they throw at us.
Nope.
SpaceBridge
Member
Thank you.
Guys, it's so fun google imaging the locations from the game: camp Ichigaya is a real place, Tayamas building in Roppongi hills too.
Any of Japan-Gaf comment on how well Atlus rendered Tokyo? My money is that we will see these levels again in another game. Atlus lives to reuse assets.
Bah. They are actual names of districts in Tokyo. Their locations are pretty accurate to the real Tokyo.
Sure, I imagine if you never heard of them, it makes it more difficult but I don't think that changing the names is a good idea since it would ruin the fact that you're in Tokyo. Staying as loyal as possible to the original material is the right thing to do and I respect Atlus for that.
Question for you: wouldn't you like to visit Tokyo now that you visited these locations in the game? I ask it because that was my impression after playing SMT1 a long time ago before going to Japan.
No, but I guess I could see how it would for other people. I've traveled to enough countries in my life that I have no real desire to travel elsewhere just to see it.
And I agree they shouldn't just changes the names to english ones. That is why I said I didn't know the right answer here. Perhaps for non-japan countries some kind of 'tourist guide' should have been included in the game where the first place your characters hit is a tourist stand describing the areas of Tokyo? It would make sense to me since the characters are supposed to be unfamiliar with Tokyo just as I am. Why *wouldn't* they pick up a map and guide asap. And then be able to reference the guide for where shit is. I don't know, I just know that what was in the game didn't work for me.
Bummer, but true to a form with a game like this.
GeekyDad
Member
I think I'm around 90 hours in now, and probably could have ended it 30-40 hours ago, but...I can't bring myself to do that. I keep farming for those secret-shop outfits and spending endless time in the Cathedral of Shadows.
The whole city's open to me now. I'm afraid I'll regret not doing something before restarting.
Beat Red Rider last night, and now I'm tempted to go for the other fiends as well.
I think based on your comments you're not really interested in investing any effort or time into the premise of the game. That's fine. There's probably nothing they can do to make you more interested in the game if you're apathetic about Japan as a setting, and have no interest in finding out more on your own or learning anything about Japan. It's just not for you.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
I heard a lot of positive things to the Nocturne's guide, so is still a bummer if it is anything like SMTIV one...
I guess? I definitely put in zero effort on my end but I consider it the games responsibility to prove to me its worth the effort. If I compared this to Xenoblade, for example, Xenoblade succeeded in making me much more invested in the world by how it visually communicates it to me and having characters I care about describe the world rather than nameless NPCs. You don't need that I guess if you are excited about the setting going in and want to invest that effort yourself, but other (and in my opinion better) games can grab you and pull you in whether you were initially invested or not via more compelling storytelling techniques.
Shin Megami Tensei is a very specific experience which does not need to compromise what it is simply to appeal to people who aren't interested in that core flavor to begin with. It's designed specifically to give players who are interested as much enjoyment as they want out of the game as long as they are on the same wavelength. Those who are not can play something else. I think that's fine. There are more than enough games out there. SMT doesn't need to change to appeal to more people.
I was about the same level. As far as I could tell he has no weakenesses, but I defeated him on my third try just spamming my strongest abilities and not worrying about healing.
It seems like you can beat most bosses in this game with a glass cannon strategy.
You're clearly of the law alignment =P
SpaceBridge
Member
Here here.
Look at recent examples of established franchises that tried to appeal to more people and see how they decline in quality and alienate their core audience. Ie; Final Fantasy, Ace Combat, Front Mission.
Tyrant Rave
Banned
This game (late Chaos boss spoiler):
I feel like I should get a new team since my current one dies too easily to almighty attacks but I like being able to null everything else.
I just fought Aniel and my Alice nulls phys attacks so I just set the fight to auto for a few minutes and she eventually killed it while everyone else died lol
I feel like I should get a new team since my current one dies too easily to almighty attacks but I like being able to null everything else.
I tried to out DPS him, didn't work. I wondering if the reward is even worth the headache. I might just push on with the main quest.
If I remember correctly he isn't immune to light. If you have a high luck and agility stat. accuracy buffs and Hamaon you might be able to kill him with that,
F0rneus
Tears in the rain
I just passed the alignment lock, I am currently talking to good ol'I am now part of the cool kid club.Steven.
Gettint to Neutral first try while pretty much winging it was satisfying as hell. Not being sure what I'd be was pretty much hell for a while haha
Jinfash
needs 2 extra inches
Question about the story, Neutral path at the last fight of the 4
:
Whites
So were the two worlds shown to the player just illusions for the sake of making up our minds about our choices? So far I've assumed they were alt. timelines. Or when the human Akira said something about calling the country he'll form Mikado, in honor or the samurais, I was hoping it would be an ealier point on the same timeline, thus creating some sort or cycle.
Unless there's something ahead that would further explain those two worlds and point of the expanse, I feel it's the weakest part of an otherwise solid setting and narrative.
Unless there's something ahead that would further explain those two worlds and point of the expanse, I feel it's the weakest part of an otherwise solid setting and narrative.
The reward is awful. I thought (no spoiler for you, questioner)
the poison would clear up
I think its just illusions/possibilities. It never came up again that I noticed but I didn't do all the side quests.