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Shin Megami Tensei IV |OT| The Dark Souls of Persona

esoterika

Neo Member
Chaos route: When is the no-turning-back point as far as quests are concerned?

Chaos spoilers:
As in, can I let Walter fuse with Lucifer or should I do stuff before that?
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
I'm up to where the guide ends even though I wasn't really using it.

This game is getting ridiculous with the "but though must".

BarmVgx.png
 
I'm up to where the guide ends even though I wasn't really using it.

This game is getting ridiculous with the "but though must".

All the "but thou must" questions are basically just the game saying, "There's a big boss or other major event up ahead; here's a chance to make sure your things are in order before you proceed."
 

totowhoa

Banned
So I just got the first boss that uses diarahan after the big "decision" part of the game:
Omoikane
. Fuck me. Just tried twice and wasted a lot of items in the process and still failed. I don't think it would be too hard with a solid setup, but.... I *just* went on a fusing spree to clear up my full stock and (boss weakness/battle spoilers ahead)
I have little in the way of agi-users. MC is physical but happens to have agidyne which is nice, but I only have one other agi-caster, and it's the MP-sucking Maragion with relatively low MP. Ugh... I had Agidyne on somebody recently but gave it up in lieu of some healing/support skills, knowing it would prevalent in later demons :(

Putting the game down for this evening but I hope I don't have to sink 60K+ macca just to get a good team that can buff/debuff and unleash 1500 points of damage in a turn or whatever it'll take. :( I'm going to be broke! Any strategy advice that I may be missing? Pretty sure a bunch of tarukaja + rakunda + agi spells should do the trick, but I don't know that I'll have many people lined up to void his attacks :/ This is the first solid challenge since the early portion of the game for me! I'm enjoying it.
 
So I just got the first boss that uses diarahan after the big "decision" part of the game:
Omoikane
. Fuck me. Just tried twice and wasted a lot of items in the process and still failed. I don't think it would be too hard with a solid setup, but.... I *just* went on a fusing spree to clear up my full stock and (boss weakness/battle spoilers ahead)
I have little in the way of agi-users. MC is physical but happens to have agidyne which is nice, but I only have one other agi-caster, and it's an MP-sucking Maragion Ugh...

Putting the game down for this evening but I hope I don't have to sink 60K+ macca just to get a good team that can buff/debuff and unleash 1500 points of damage in a turn or whatever it'll take. :( I'm going to be broke! Any strategy advice that I may be missing?

Did you fuse Alice? She's pretty godly for that part of the game since she learns Debilitate and other good spells. Just slap a fire spell on her and you're set.
 

TWILT

Banned
Welp just beat the game under the neutral route.
I'm kinda disappointed there isn't a big ultimate neutral route boss. I guess that's what the secret bosses are for and Lucifer was pretty intimidating, but eh.

Overall, the game was absolutely fantastic. It's up there as my GoTY with Fire Emblem. I want to do another playthrough, but I got other games to play as is...Eh, maybe just one more playthrough wouldn't hurt...
9.5/10.
 

ohlawd

Member
Welp just beat the game under the neutral route.
I'm kinda disappointed there isn't a big ultimate neutral route boss. I guess that's what the secret bosses are for and Lucifer was pretty intimidating, but eh.

Overall, the game was absolutely fantastic. It's up there as my GoTY with Fire Emblem. I want to do another playthrough, but I got other games to play as is...Eh, maybe just one more playthrough wouldn't hurt...
9.5/10.

9.5?

SMTIV preorder canceled.
 

SteeloDMZ

Banned
Is it ever explained if this game takes place in the same universe as Strange Journey? With the demonicas that should be a given, but it could be an alternate world or something....
 
Finally got my first Famed
I'll shot the one who suggest 'why don't we make at least one race only achievable through fusion error?', or other thing with minuscule probability, with a nerf gun.
 

Totakeke

Member
Finally got my first Famed
I'll shot the one who suggest 'why don't we make at least one race only achievable through fusion error?', or other thing with minuscule probability, with a nerf gun.

What? Which one?

I may be wrong, but it seems like it's possible to recruit demons that cannot be scouted directly (like those human-like demons) by using the Scout+ app.
 

vall03

Member
Finally got my first Famed
I'll shot the one who suggest 'why don't we make at least one race only achievable through fusion error?', or other thing with minuscule probability, with a nerf gun.

I actually don't mind this, its just that we have no control over Fusion errors here. At least in Soul Hackers, and I think theres one in Strange Journey as well, that will help in having 100% Fusion error.
 
I feel awful whenever I use the experience DLC, its just I can't tolerate wasting time on grinding if I've got a more efficient solution. Loving the story though XD
 

thefil

Member
Quick review of the pay-to-win Macca DLC.

After grinding about about 1.5mil macca from Sky via Fundraise and still not being able to fill out my compendium, I decided to pay the 2.99 for the Macca DLC. I really want to be able to fuse my final party without using a guide, which needs a TON of money for guess and check.

DLC takes the form of a challenge quest that teleports you to a locale. Here, you fight very easy (endgame) enemies that drop "Gold ____" items worth 1000, 5000, or 10000 respectively. Very rarely make less than 7000 in a battle here, with a max of about 25000. In Sky, I was getting around 5-40k money per battle but it was stilted towards the bottom of that scale and each fight took much longer. That said, it's not as much faster as I expected; probably gain money at about 2x the rate in Sky.

It's pretty uninteresting stuff. A surprising "twist" is that you occasionally run into groups of enemies that drop items from the *other* pay to win DLCs: 10 Point App Store Cards, EXP grimoires. I guess it's advertising?

Finally, the demon you access to via the DLC is pretty dumb. It's a Minotaur recolour and is actually worse than Minotaur I think?

It was completely worth it for what I wanted. I will probably get the EXP DLC as well so I can level guys until I find a Null/Dr Fire and Null Dark.
 

ohlawd

Member
It's pretty uninteresting stuff. A surprising "twist" is that you occasionally run into groups of enemies that drop items from the *other* pay to win DLCs: 10 Point App Store Cards, EXP grimoires, and Incense. I guess it's advertising?

You got incense from the Magatama groups from the other DLCs? I don't think that's true.
 

ohlawd

Member
It happened to me. I randomly ran into 4 different magatamas;i managed to kill 2 and get items from the other DLCs.

I'm talking about the incense. I'm aware of the magatama group that consists of all the magatamas and them dropping stuff normally found in the other DLC.

Or are you saying you got incense from the magatama mob?
 
Hey Neutral guys. I need some help.

I just got back to the normal Tokyo after I beat all of the White in that forest. I'm not sure where to go now, and I don't currently have a main quest.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?
 

TWILT

Banned
Hey Neutral guys. I need some help.

I just got back to the normal Tokyo after I beat all of the White in that forest. I'm not sure where to go now, and I don't currently have a main quest.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Go to the Florida Cafe in Shinjuku
.
 

thefil

Member
Alright, got my [almost-]complete compendium and a null/repel/drain all demon in the stock, plus some "demon ingredients" for phys, gun, fire, ice, force, elec, almighty and healer.

Time to decide what the hell I'm going to make with this.
 
Is it ever explained if this game takes place in the same universe as Strange Journey? With the demonicas that should be a given, but it could be an alternate world or something....

Pretty sure it isn't and it just narrative nod to SJ. SMTIV just has nods & mentions to past SMT titles from what I've seen & others have posted
 

Soriku

Junior Member
Just finished *late game spoilers*
Blasted Tokyo
and started
Infernal Tokyo
. Story got pretty interesting in these areas.
 

duckroll

Member
Is it ever explained if this game takes place in the same universe as Strange Journey? With the demonicas that should be a given, but it could be an alternate world or something....

SMT4 is a self-contained story, just like SMT3 was. The similarities to other SMT games are just nods, there's no indication that they're in the same world. It also doesn't really matter considering how Strange Journey was basically an isolated incident.
 
David and his fucking blights..... Aaaargh.

the only reason i continue to play this game is because of 'save anywhere'. as much as i love the megaten games, between the relentlessly mean-spirited combat & the horribly forgettable cast, i would've passed on this one a while ago were it not for that...
 
Just impulse ordered this game from Amazon, should have it in around a week. Stoked, and I have absolutely no idea what I am in for. Never played the series and have done little to no research. :)
 

NeonZ

Member
Without spoiling anything, how engaging is the plot/writing compared to the older mainline SMTs?

It starts fairly mediocre, but gets stronger afterwards, especially if you like exploring and talking with npcs, rather than just following the main story scenes, before having a problematic final segment - mostly because the story in the final part of the game is split between alignments, so no path really has a last segment of the game that feels fully complete.

Is it ever explained if this game takes place in the same universe as Strange Journey? With the demonicas that should be a given, but it could be an alternate world or something....

Never directly stated. There are a few nods to Strange Journey, including the Demonica and the statement about how
the Counter Demon Force in Tokyo is actually the second best demon fighting team in the world, behind one from a "Country A"
, however none of the specific events of Strange Journey are referenced directly. It could fit pretty easily after SJ's neutral ending though, but the game never confirms it.
 

Ourobolus

Banned
Finally beat the Neutral path last night. Overall, it was a good game.

However, (spoilers, obviously) -
I was really disappointed with the final dungeons. Purgatorium was basically a boss gauntlet with 2 half-hearted mazes shoved in between them, and Lucifer's Castle had an interesting mechanic in the first room, followed by a room with a maze, and then the final battle. That's it. I was expecting a long slog, with numerous pitfalls, poison rooms, etc...but I guess the rest of the game had really tiny dungeons so I suppose it's not different there.

Also, given the amount of screen time and dialogue Jonathan and Walter have (compared to SMT3 with Chiaki and Isamu), I was also hoping for a more gradual ramp up to their ideologies of choice, rather than their sudden "oh well, I guess balls-to-the-wall chaotic/law is the only option" moment once you're locked into your path. Although, I have a pretty shitty memory so I may have forgotten some things here and there.

Disclaimer: I've only played bits and pieces of SMT1 and SMT2, so SMT4 may more closely mirror those in that regard, but it just seemed like a missed opportunity in this iteration.

Also, both final bosses were ridiculously easy. I was level 84, so I may have been overlevelled (but I see a lot of people here at like 90 when they finish, so maybe not), but the only thing that ever gave me trouble was when Lucifer would return nearly my entire party back to the stock. I didn't have Bad Company so it was really a minor inconvenience, but still.

Now to go take on some of the Fiends. I accidentally ran into White Rider once and he steamrolled me, so I guess I'll be working on creating some teams.
 

Aeana

Member
Finally beat the Neutral path last night. Overall, it was a good game.

However, (spoilers, obviously) -
I was really disappointed with the final dungeons. Purgatorium was basically a boss gauntlet with 2 half-hearted mazes shoved in between them, and Lucifer's Castle had an interesting mechanic in the first room, followed by a room with a maze, and then the final battle. That's it. I was expecting a long slog, with numerous pitfalls, poison rooms, etc...but I guess the rest of the game had really tiny dungeons so I suppose it's not different there.

Also, given the amount of screen time and dialogue Jonathan and Walter have (compared to SMT3 with Chiaki and Isamu), I was also hoping for a more gradual ramp up to their ideologies of choice, rather than their sudden "oh well, I guess balls-to-the-wall chaotic/law is the only option" moment once you're locked into your path.

Disclaimer: I've only played bits and pieces of SMT1 and SMT2, so SMT4 may more closely mirror those in that regard, but it just seemed like a missed opportunity in this iteration.

Also, both final bosses were ridiculously easy. I was level 84, so I may have been overlevelled (but I see a lot of people here at like 90 when they finish, so maybe not), but the only thing that ever gave me trouble was when Lucifer would return nearly my entire party back to the stock. I didn't have Bad Company so it was really a minor inconvenience, but still.

Now to go take on some of the Fiends. I accidentally ran into White Rider once and he steamrolled me, so I guess I'll be working on creating some teams.

I was level 71 and I found both final bosses to be decently difficult, in a fun way. I wasn't able to just completely steamroll them, so I was pretty content.
 

NeonZ

Member
Regarding Jonathan and the law path, at least,
he's hesitating up until the ending if you follow the law path. He just wanted to keep both Mikado and Tokyo as they were and had to force himself to go along with the archangels even though he admired them and almost breaks down before his sacrifice. Not to mention that he even seems to like Desert Tokyo Akira.

Walter's character is the only one that
runs off a cliff even if you stick with him. The guy's initial motivation, which is still mentioned later in the game, was the casualry and luxuror duality in Mikado, and yet he had no reaction at all when the angels abolished the class system because he was full on Chaos Hero and couldn't possibly acknowledge anything done by the law side by that point. He keeps talking about casualries and luxurors like nothing changed. It's actually rather odd.
 
Also, both final bosses were ridiculously easy. I was level 84, so I may have been overlevelled (but I see a lot of people here at like 90 when they finish, so maybe not),

I beat it at level 70, so yeah, you were probably over-leveled a fair bit. 90 is crazy for normal end of game.
 

Ourobolus

Banned
I was level 71 and I found both final bosses to be decently difficult, in a fun way. I wasn't able to just completely steamroll them, so I was pretty content.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to be so over-levelled, but it just sorta happened while exploring.
Also, I really don't like the World Map. I really wish you could have used the stylus to check what dots on the map represented, or even just a zoomed in map with labels. Trying to remember where certain places were for some of the later sidequests was a huge pain in the ass, while hoping the name appeared at the top of the screen as I flew by.
 

PK Gaming

Member
I'm talking about the incense. I'm aware of the magatama group that consists of all the magatamas and them dropping stuff normally found in the other DLC.

Or are you saying you got incense from the magatama mob?

Incenses? No sorry.

I was referring to the 10 point cards, light grimoire, etc...
 
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