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

C

CorvoSol

Member
Wow after escaping
Monochrome Forest
the game REALLY drops the ball on telling you what to do, where to go, and basically keeping anything resembling pacing up. This is some Dragon Quest level dragging shit out. "Do quests or we won't let you end the game."

By the way, I give this game a lot of shit but I want you all to know I still like it a lot.
 
S

spiritfox

Member
CorvoSol said:
Wow after escaping
Monochrome Forest
the game REALLY drops the ball on telling you what to do, where to go, and basically keeping anything resembling pacing up. This is some Dragon Quest level dragging shit out. "Do quests or we won't let you end the game."

By the way, I give this game a lot of shit but I want you all to know I still like it a lot.
Click to expand...

Only neutral has the additional grind. The other routes are more straightforward.
 
Quote

Quote

Member
Gazoinks said:
Game is now ruined forever. *Tosses 3DS*
Click to expand...
R6GSJ1q.png

Black Samurai is pleased.
 
P

Protag

Banned
Yo is the MAG mechanic in Strange Journey? Fucking stupid system, really dont like it, i have to shelve soul hackers for now bc there are other things i want to play.
 
S

Soulhouf

Member
Protag said:
Yo is the MAG mechanic in Strange Journey? Fucking stupid system, really dont like it, i have to shelve soul hackers for now bc there are other things i want to play.
Click to expand...

Nope.
Strange Journey is a modern megaten.
But be careful, it's a pure dungeon crawler. So if you aren't into that style of games, you won't probably like it.
 
G

Gazoinks

Member
Soul Hackers was the last Megaten with MAG, wasn't it?

Also, mechanics question: Do elemental bullets still count as gun damage for enemy weaknesses or are they purely magic?
 
S

Soulhouf

Member
Gazoinks said:
Soul Hackers was the last Megaten with MAG, wasn't it?
Click to expand...

I didn't play Nine but I'm tempted to say yes.

Gazoinks said:
Also, mechanics question: Do elemental bullets still count as gun damage for enemy weaknesses or are they purely magic?
Click to expand...

The damage is calculated with the dex stat but it's still elemental damage that hits elemental weaknesses.

BTW if your are building your MC as dex based, I recommend you get the skill Desperate Hits aka the strongest skill in the game later on. It does almighty damage based on dex which means you still do critical hits with it and gain press turns whatever the enemy's resistance.

People say magic builds are stronger than physical ones but that skill alone proves them wrong.
 
P

Protag

Banned
Soulhouf said:
Nope.
Strange Journey is a modern megaten.
But be careful, it's a pure dungeon crawler. So if you aren't into that style of games, you won't probably like it.
Click to expand...

I know, I have grown to like FPS dungeon crawling, MAG is so limiting, and thats what i dont like.
 
V

Venfayth

Member
What apps should I focus on getting? I'm still near the beginning of the game, about level 14, I just unlocked the first terminal. I have 40 app points right now and could get anything, but I'm not sure what to focus on.
 
S

spiritfox

Member
Venfayth said:
What apps should I focus on getting? I'm still near the beginning of the game, about level 14, I just unlocked the first terminal. I have 40 app points right now and could get anything, but I'm not sure what to focus on.
Click to expand...

The extra skill slots for you and your demons are the most important apps in the game.
 
G

Gazoinks

Member
Venfayth said:
What apps should I focus on getting? I'm still near the beginning of the game, about level 14, I just unlocked the first terminal. I have 40 app points right now and could get anything, but I'm not sure what to focus on.
Click to expand...

Definitely the extra skills slots. There's no pain like having to choose between two equally good skills because you only have room for one.
 
C

CorvoSol

Member
The app that lets you recover MP as you walk is indispensable, especially since it unlocks the app that does that for your demons.
 
C

CorvoSol

Member
So I have decided that Flynn and Isabeau are canon, but Nozumi is the secret best girl. Mostly becausre the game has abandioned me to make up the plot for myself now, and it is just Flynn and two ladies taking tasteful snapshots of the apoxcalyptic hellscape.

Also this game feels like survival horror rpg. Which is neat.
 
R

RDreamer

Member
How the hell do you beat this Dance of the Dead quest. Wow this is terribly luck based. I left it alone after getting slaughtered and came back and now it feels even harder. If the horde does blight I'm proper fuckked. Then with the boss he's killed 3 of my Demons right off the bat 3 times in a fucking row with mamudo.

Edit: got incredibly lucky and changed strategy a bit and got it.
 
S

Soulhouf

Member
This guy is awesome :D

IMG_2745.jpg

IMG_2748.jpg

IMG_2753.jpg

IMG_2756.jpg

IMG_2760.jpg

IMG_2761.jpg


It actually fascinates me how they made a unique speech like this for a random and easily missed demon. This is one of the small details I love about this game.
 
B

Bladenic

Member
I finally picked up the game again, I haven't had time to play for a while. In Ikebukuro (spelling probably) and loving it. I've been using about the same 3 demons for a while and they've still been viable, but I think I'm gonna upgrade soon. I'm level 29, almost 30, and magic build.

My main fault right now is electric spells. I have like one weak demon with Zio, no Zionga, and still only Zio on my MC. So I need to get on that.
 
V

viciouskillersquirrel

Member
Okay, I'm on my second playthrough of the game, having just unlocked the neutral ending, and the story still makes no sense to me. I get the feeling there's a bit of lore or background information I'm missing. I have some questions:

Are Haunted, Blasted and Infernal Tokyo all in Mikado's past or are the Akira/Aquila Shinjuku/Shene Duque connection, mystic script/hiragana/kanji connections just a result of some really coincidental repeating cycle?

What I'm asking is whether some time travel shenanigans happen when you pass through the door Minotaur guards in Naraku and when you activate the Yamato Perpetual Reactor. Are these the pasts of parallel dimensions? Is Blasted Tokyo the true past of Mikado?

Mikado people seem to have folk memories of technology for instance, and the circular lakes do look suspiciously like blast craters. The other thing is that the firmament seems to only have appeared over Haunted Tokyo a decade or two ago, which begs the question of where the door in Naraku even led to before that. Is that doorway just another way of getting to the Expanse? If so, what's with the time travel?

Also, I got the neutral ending and was like Stephen? Who's Stephen? You mean that one guy who appeared for like a minute when you lifted that first domain in Naraku and was never heard from again?

Does anyone have a cliff notes version of the stuff I'm not getting?

Also, the demon designs are fantastically imaginative, but Master Therion looks like a giant malformed baby crawling around with a bib on. I see him and think "Awww, who's a widdle monstrous manifestation of the Antichrist? You are! You are!"
 
C

Caladrius

Member
viciouskillersquirrel said:
Okay, I'm on my second playthrough of the game, having just unlocked the neutral ending, and the story still makes no sense to me. I get the feeling there's a bit of lore or background information I'm missing. I have some questions:

Are Haunted, Blasted and Infernal Tokyo all in Mikado's past or are the Akira/Aquila Shinjuku/Shene Duque connection, mystic script/hiragana/kanji connections just a result of some really coincidental repeating cycle?

What I'm asking is whether some time travel shenanigans happen when you pass through the door Minotaur guards in Naraku and when you activate the Yamato Perpetual Reactor. Are these the pasts of parallel dimensions? Is Blasted Tokyo the true past of Mikado?

Mikado people seem to have folk memories of technology for instance, and the circular lakes do look suspiciously like blast craters. The other thing is that the firmament seems to only have appeared over Haunted Tokyo a decade or two ago, which begs the question of where the door in Naraku even led to before that. Is that doorway just another way of getting to the Expanse? If so, what's with the time travel?

Also, I got the neutral ending and was like Stephen? Who's Stephen? You mean that one guy who appeared for like a minute when you lifted that first domain in Naraku and was never heard from again?

Does anyone have a cliff notes version of the stuff I'm not getting?
Click to expand...

No time travel actually occurs in the game, save for a DLC quest where you challenge the patron of the neutral faction.

Tokyo is being subjected to Time dilation. The world outside the dome has existed for 1500 years, but the people of Tokyo have only experienced 10 years or so. I don't remember the explanation for that though.

The various versions of Tokyo you go through are alternate realities where a particular faction won in the backstory (Nuclear war threatening to annihilate humanity 1500 years in the past).

The reality you start the game in came about because the neutral faction won and planted the firmament over Tokyo to prevent its destruction, which eventually becomes Mikado. The crater lakes are just a side-effect of the nuclear detonations on the dome (don't think about how that works too hard) and the heavenly host were the ones who escorted people to the surface in order to create a new kingdom in God's name.

Blasted was what happened after Law's victory, in which the nuclear warheads decimated Tokyo to pave the way for a new human race, as opposed to a new society like with Mikado in the neutral timeline.

Infernal was after the demons succeeded in escaping to the human world and making it their own.
 
V

viciouskillersquirrel

Member
Caladrious said:
No time travel actually occurs in the game, save for a DLC quest where you challenge the patron of the neutral faction.

Tokyo is being subjected to Time dilation. The world outside the dome has existed for 1500 years, but the people of Tokyo have only experienced 10 years or so. I don't remember the explanation for that though.

The various versions of Tokyo you go through are alternate realities where a particular faction won in the backstory (Nuclear war threatening to annihilate humanity 1500 years in the past).

The reality you start the game in came about because the neutral faction won and planted the firmament over Tokyo to prevent its destruction, which eventually becomes Mikado. The crater lakes are just a side-effect of the nuclear detonations on the dome (don't think about how that works too hard) and the heavenly host were the ones who escorted people to the surface in order to create a new kingdom in God's name.

Blasted was what happened after Law's victory, in which the nuclear warheads decimated Tokyo to pave the way for a new human race, as opposed to a new society like with Mikado in the neutral timeline.

Infernal was after the demons succeeded in escaping to the human world and making it their own.
Click to expand...
That makes a lot of sense explained that way, actually. Thanks!
 
B

Bladenic

Member
I have a demon with 190 MP and Tetrakarn. So good. I'm headed to Shibuya now, almost done with how far the guide goes. Haven't relied on it too much outside of a few boss weaknesses.

Oh and Black Frost sucks in this game. Physical based and low MP. Bleh. No Agidyne or Bufudyne either. Oh well, I'm almost level 37 and it looks like King Frost is a special fusion at that level.
 
S

Soulhouf

Member
Bladenic said:
I have a demon with 190 MP and Tetrakarn. So good. I'm headed to Shibuya now, almost done with how far the guide goes. Haven't relied on it too much outside of a few boss weaknesses.

Oh and Black Frost sucks in this game. Physical based and low MP. Bleh. No Agidyne or Bufudyne either. Oh well, I'm almost level 37 and it looks like King Frost is a special fusion at that level.
Click to expand...

Black Frost is one of the strongest demons in the game because of his high HP and no weaknesses. He is even a very good demon to fight the Fiends.

Try this build:
- Mortal Jihad
- High Phys Pleroma
- Phys Pleroma
- Draconic Reaction
- Bloody Glee
- Charge
- Life Surge
- Enduring Soul

That thing will brutally obliterate everything.
If you are crazy, you can even make that stronger if you change him to a gun build with Desperate Hit and Riot gun (the 2 strongest attacks in the game), but it's harder to do since you need to go through Fusion Lite and you will need to sacrifice Draconic Reaction and Bloody Glee for the additional attack skill and Mana Surge.

Always remember that Physical/Gun build demons >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Magic ones who generally have shitty amount of HP and rely on weaknesses to deal damage.
 
B

Bladenic

Member
Cold World is a magic based attack I assume? Would it be worth it to inherit to my magic based MC over say Bufudyne? And I fully expected King Frost to be a magic based guy but nope physical again. Ugh.
 
C

Caladrius

Member
Bladenic said:
Cold World is a magic based attack I assume? Would it be worth it to inherit to my magic based MC over say Bufudyne? And I fully expected King Frost to be a magic based guy but nope physical again. Ugh.
Click to expand...

Cold world is not very good. The moment you get Bufudyne or Mabufudyne, replace it.
 
B

Bladenic

Member
Caladrious said:
Cold world is not very good. The moment you get Bufudyne or Mabufudyne, replace it.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks.

I'm currently working on getting Medusa, and I think I'm gonna have to hold on to my demons for a while before I fuse her. They're all capable of learning a type of Null skill, so it would be cool to get those on her. Or is she not worth that trouble?
 
R

rybrad

Member
Picked this up on the Atlus sale a couple weeks ago and finally got around to starting it this weekend. I am completely new to the series so I am a bit confused on a couple things. If any of you vets could help me out, I would appreciate it!.

For scouting demons, is there something I am missing? Assuming I answer their question right (which I am not great at), the giving them stuff part seems to not go well. The most success I have had regularly is refusing until they want something cheap, complying and then ending talks. Is there a way to make getting the demons more of a "sure" thing?

For fusing demons, how the do I know what is actually going to be good? Should I constantly be fusing to the newest demons available when I level up? I generally fuse whenever I can with the priority going to carrying over group buffs/debuffs. I have been overwriting my demons in the book before I fuse them too but they cost waaaaaaaaay too much to re-summon so I end up having to catch and re-level to use them for fusion again, am I doing this wrong? I tried looking around for info on this but it seems I can't find much that is beginner friendly.

I did see a thing on evolution when I was looking around but it looked like the only demon that evolved a lot was the Angel. Should I keep my Angel and just let it evolve instead of fusing it? The demons feel like they take forever to level up so waiting for it to level and evolve seems like it might not be great.

Sorry for the really basic questions, I just can't find much in the way of resources for completely new players. I really like the game (and difficulty) so far and have a handle on everything else for the most part, just confused with all the demon stuff.
 
G

Gazoinks

Member
rybrad said:
Picked this up on the Atlus sale a couple weeks ago and finally got around to starting it this weekend. I am completely new to the series so I am a bit confused on a couple things. If any of you vets could help me out, I would appreciate it!.

For scouting demons, is there something I am missing? Assuming I answer their question right (which I am not great at), the giving them stuff part seems to not go well. The most success I have had regularly is refusing until they want something cheap, complying and then ending talks. Is there a way to make getting the demons more of a "sure" thing?

For fusing demons, how the do I know what is actually going to be good? Should I constantly be fusing to the newest demons available when I level up? I generally fuse whenever I can with the priority going to carrying over group buffs/debuffs. I have been overwriting my demons in the book before I fuse them too but they cost waaaaaaaaay too much to re-summon so I end up having to catch and re-level to use them for fusion again, am I doing this wrong? I tried looking around for info on this but it seems I can't find much that is beginner friendly.

I did see a thing on evolution when I was looking around but it looked like the only demon that evolved a lot was the Angel. Should I keep my Angel and just let it evolve instead of fusing it? The demons feel like they take forever to level up so waiting for it to level and evolve seems like it might not be great.

Sorry for the really basic questions, I just can't find much in the way of resources for completely new players. I really like the game (and difficulty) so far and have a handle on everything else for the most part, just confused with all the demon stuff.
Click to expand...
1. Scouting is the kind of thing you just get a feel for after a while. I find it often works to grant them three item requests and then end talks, cheating if one's too expensive. Just experiment and find what works for you.
2. Fuuuse fuse fuse. You always want to fuse into higher level demons, because you always want better demons. The main reason you wouldn't want to fuse one of your demons if it has a good skill selection that you won't be able to carry into the next demon because of limited skill slots. Other than that, you should keep fusing (paying attention to what's needed for your party make-up, of course). I personally haven't found much resummoning/recatching necessary unless I'm going for a special fusion.
3. I haven't done any evolution, but it doesn't really seem worth it.
 
R

rybrad

Member
Gazoinks said:
1. Scouting is the kind of thing you just get a feel for after a while. I find it often works to grant them three item requests and then end talks, cheating if one's too expensive. Just experiment and find what works for you.
2. Fuuuse fuse fuse. You always want to fuse into higher level demons, because you always want better demons. The main reason you wouldn't want to fuse one of your demons if it has a good skill selection that you won't be able to carry into the next demon because of limited skill slots. Other than that, you should keep fusing (paying attention to what's needed for your party make-up, of course). I personally haven't found much resummoning/recatching necessary unless I'm going for a special fusion.
3. I haven't done any evolution, but it doesn't really seem worth it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the helpful info! You did just remind me of another question though, are the special fusions significantly better? I am at the point I can make one but it costs over 6K Macca and I have about 200...
 
G

Gazoinks

Member
rybrad said:
Thanks for the helpful info! You did just remind me of another question though, are the special fusions significantly better? I am at the point I can make one but it costs over 6K Macca and I have about 200...
Click to expand...

Hooonestly, I haven't been that impressed by them, although I did use Tam Lin for a while. My problem with the ones I've made thus far is that, while they're pretty good when you make them, I fuse constantly, which means they end up becoming obsolete within a couple of character levels. I'd say look at their skillset and see if they have anything useful you want.

I'm not an expert though, so I could be totally wrong. :p
 
S

Soma

Member
Man, people weren't kidding about Minotaur. Dude's no joke.

I ALMOST got him at one point (down to where he's in the red) but Walter just HAD to go and use Agi, giving him a smirk as a result. :|
 
S

Soulhouf

Member
rybrad said:
Thanks for the helpful info! You did just remind me of another question though, are the special fusions significantly better? I am at the point I can make one but it costs over 6K Macca and I have about 200...
Click to expand...

Sometimes they are better because many of them don't have weaknesses, which lets you focus on giving them more useful skills instead of wasting slots to fix their flaws.
 
G

Gazoinks

Member
NeoSoma said:
Man, people weren't kidding about Minotaur. Dude's no joke.

I ALMOST got him at one point (down to where he's in the red) but Walter just HAD to go and use Agi, giving him a smirk as a result. :|
Click to expand...

Yeah, that guy gave me a toooon of trouble. I ended up barely skating through with one demon alive.
 
B

Bladenic

Member
Evolution is pretty cool actually. I've had Archangel > Principality > Power who's about to evolve to Virtue who's like 4 levels higher than me. They've all served me well.
 
S

Soma

Member
Well, Minotaur is finally down after like 6 tries thanks to fusing demons with Sukukaja and Tarukaja.

...and immediately after that I get two-shotted by a few Hua-Pos spamming Maragi in the next room. :D

Good thing I saved after the boss fight lol
 
J

Jotamide

Unconfirmed Member
I was waiting to start this for a while due to being a little burnt out on SMT after playing Soul Hakcers for 4 months. Today I decided to check this out quickly. 4 hours later and I've realized I've made a huge mistake, I want to play like all the time now. So good.
 
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