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Shin Megami Tensei IV |OT| The Dark Souls of Persona
- Thread starter Volcynika
- Start date
Thunder Reign being multi-target is quite a bummer for me too. My MC have all Severe spell except for that one, since being multi target more often than not screwed yourself.
It's just a matter of preference (shipping rates & speed, packaging etc.) since all the services are located in Japan and selling the OST for the same price.
Amazon JP only offers DHL for international shipping (shipping rates here), but the shipping is super fast and orders usually arrive in 3-4 days.
CD Japan has excellent packaging, and their orders arrived surprisingly fast (from my experience) even when I used a cheaper shipping method (five days with non-registered Air Mail to Norway).
I have never ordered anything from Ami Ami myself, but it's supposedly a really great site for buying Japanese merchandise. And similar to CD Japan, they offer different shipping methods.
Naraku and early hour in Tokyo will be buratal, but don't let that put you off! Also read the description of each demon you got. They are interesting in their own way and add a lot of enjoyment to me.
I never had any problem with this game, if at all I found the difficulty in the first hours to be exactly right (while it gets much too easy later). If you use the mechanics the game offers you there's really no point where it should get too hard.
Maybe it helped that it wasn't my first SMT game, but I really don't get the complaints about the difficulty.
I'm currently 35 hours in and just locked on the neutral path, hope it gets a bit harder from now on because apart from the bosses my MC is one hitting (casting) everything :/
My physical build MC always kills every enemy in the game -except bosses- in one hit and I'm playing in hard mode since my first NG+.
Don't have high hopes on the challenge after the alignment lock. Everything becomes so easy that it's not even funny, especially if you are physical build.
If you want some challenge, fight the Fiends since you are on Neutral. Some of them in hard mode are likely to give you some trouble.
The game has some serious balance issues especially after you get past Naraku. Since you can save anywhere, they could at least increase the difficulty (say put the hard on normal) or do something to avoid that.
I didn't purchase the grinding DLCs but I imagine they would unbalance the game even more...
It's not a problem from me either, but it is at a level that might off putting for anyone else.
I think this is the big thing. The game really expects you to use all the resources it gives you. It's unforgiving, but it's not super hard once you get a handle on the game's systems.
Thanks for the info. I'll probably go with CDJapan, seems like the best price.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
This problem could be fixed another way...
Got Neutral, fuck yeah. And my other file can go either Chaos or Law. Being that this is my first SMT mainline game, I kept trying to think of who
might be or if he'd just show up, and I was pretty surprised when it turned out to be
. So I'm definitely doing Chaos on my other save since I like Walter a lot too.
Also, does
appear anymore? He was incredibly creepy in his single scene and I LOVE his design. Would be bummed if he was just a one scene wonder. He seems to have a much larger role in Strange Journey which I've yet to play.
Lucifer
Hikaru
Also, does
Mastema
Mastema appears in the Law route and 2 of the story DLC for a massive intrigue where he shows an unexpected aspect of himself.
He is definitely one of my favorite characters.
He is definitely one of my favorite characters.
@SatelliteOfLove: duh, it doesn't work like that.
Unfortunately the only way is to remove the skills and re-learn them.
Well that is a bit of a bummer, thanks for the info.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
Exactly!
So I'm level 76, 295 magic and here are my skills:
Bufudyne 8
Trisagion 3
Ziodyne 8
Zandyne 8 (about to get deadly wind)
Salvation
Concentrate 3
Energy drain 5
Megidoplasma (about to get Megidolaon)
Any recommendations? I'm honestly thinking of ridding myself of Energy Drain for either Debilitate or Luster Candy. Can't really decide which I'd rather have. Any reason to keep Energy Drain at this point? I could get rid of Salvation too I guess.
Bufudyne 8
Trisagion 3
Ziodyne 8
Zandyne 8 (about to get deadly wind)
Salvation
Concentrate 3
Energy drain 5
Megidoplasma (about to get Megidolaon)
Any recommendations? I'm honestly thinking of ridding myself of Energy Drain for either Debilitate or Luster Candy. Can't really decide which I'd rather have. Any reason to keep Energy Drain at this point? I could get rid of Salvation too I guess.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
If you don't have the MP regeneration apps maxed out, keep Energy Drain. Otherwise you'll be like "a chakra, a chakra, my demons for a chakra!". But yeah, the regen apps make Energy Drain redundant.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
Have you fused
Tam Lin
The demon showed up in my list when I fused Setanta, guess that's what I was missing. Thanks for your help!
I just fought (Super late game major neutral route boss spoiler)
Completely blown away. Everything from design, to conversation, to the INCREDIBLE music (headphones ftw) was amazing. Awesome boss, my favorite by far (but I'm not done yet!). I don't want this game to end 
luckily it's my first SMT beside P3 and 4 so I have plenty left to experience.
Merkabah.
luckily it's my first SMT beside P3 and 4 so I have plenty left to experience.BinaryPork2737
Unconfirmed Member
I just fought (Super late game major neutral route boss spoiler)Completely blown away. Everything from design, to conversation, to the INCREDIBLE music (headphones ftw) was amazing. Awesome boss, my favorite by far (but I'm not done yet!). I don't want this game to endMerkabah.
I can't wait for the OST to come out to have a high quality version of the second half of that boss theme. Spoliers, click at your own risk
It's the little things like that that make the game so good. There's so much attention to detail in it.
They did the same thing in Persona 2 and I again only noticed halfway through the game. xD
Also, that track is awesome. The music is great, and I love the variety too. You've got a lot of those kinda groovy electronic tracks, but then you've also got more epic orchestral pieces like this one.
Both pieces were amazing, especially the second one. I really want the OST, it might be my favorite RPG OST in forever. Another track I really loved was the track in
So peaceful.
Anyway I accidentally stumbled upon (optional boss spoiler)
and owned him on my first try. Salvation + Debilitate + Luster Candy + Concentrate + Megidolaon from my 310 Magic MC = 3300 damage per spell and short work of him. Awesome design, fight, and backstory. Now to make him
Blasted Shinjuku.
Anyway I accidentally stumbled upon (optional boss spoiler)
Beelzebub
Did you know that the speech and the demons used by the Terminal guardian change depending on the order you fight them?
It's incredible because that means that every one of them has 9 different dialogs.
Also I discovered a few weeks ago that you can guess your alignment before the cynical man shows up depending on specific dialogs during the story cut scene.
These dialogs change depending on the alignment. If you're chaos, Walter makes comment, if you're Law, Jonathan speaks and if you're Neutral Isabeau is the one who reacts.
There are so many little details in this game that show how much care has been put by the developers.
Yes and that heavily make up girl in Shibuya can have Shiva.
From the top of my head:
Chaos:
- Ishtar
- Asherah
- The Harlot*
- Demiurge
Law:
- Mastema
- Azazel
Chaos/Neutral
- Izanami
- Seraph
Law/Neutral
- Trumpeter
- Lucifuge
- Belial
Neutral
- Red Rider
- Masakado
NG+ only but common to all routes:
- Ogun
- Take Mikazuchi
- Astaroth
*Actually you need to go Chaos to unlock her fusion but you need to go through almost all the Fiends to fuse her which includes Red Rider and thus the Neutral route
Wow, that's awesome.
What do you mean by Law or Chaos/Neutral? That's an impressive list with some awesome demons. I really want Trumpeter and Izanami. Thanks, I'll look up how to get them.
NeonZ
Member
In addition to what was already mentioned (he appears in the Archangel DLC and
in the last Law-exclusive challenge quest
Mastema
And, yes, he has a much bigger role in Strange Journey.
I just downloaded those and
Michael
Wait for the next district where you will find some good armors and if you get access to the restricted zone of the city you'll be able to buy the best armors in the game. They are very expensive but worth the money.
So I just fought this Chernobog demon for a challenge quest and he tore me up. I scraped out a win but it was ugly as hell. Is there any sort of spell accessible around the mid-20's that removes ailments (or at least poison) from all allies? I guess I misread Dekunda and thought it would do that but it is only the group debuffs (I assumed debuffs and ailments were the same from other RPGs ha).
Short answer is NO.
The way they distributed ailment healing spells is strange because the only multi target spell available before Salvation is Me Patra which cures sleep, panic and bind. No poison or sick multi target healing. Amrita which cures everything is a single target and you will have to wait for lv69 to get your first demon who has Salvation which recovers all HP and cures all ailments for the entire team.
Electrichapel
Member
I am at the final boss for the Law path. This endgame has really worn on me and is making me like the game less. I have no clue how I am going to beat the final boss when part 2 of the battle happens. I really wanna get the neutral ending but after doing this I dont think I have the ambition to play the entire game again.
Huh, that does seem odd to me, especially since poison (AOE, no less) in fights can be so punishing. You would think there would be something in between nothing and full heal/fixes everything. On the plus side, thanks for letting me know, I figured I had missed something and made the fight unnecessarily difficult.
What level are you and what demons you got? What type of stat build you have on MC? All my demons had nulled/repelled/drained every element between them, and with Luster Candy, Debililate, and Salvation it's pretty easy. I believe it took 2 or 3 concentrate + Megidoloan from my MC to kill it.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
Go to
the club in Shinjuku
On an unrelated note, I made a new Lham Dearg with Life Surge / Enduring Soul, but it seems to have gotten extra DX points over my old one out of nowhere. Makes me think stat growth for demons is slightly randomised.
Yes, it's random.
When I make a demon I like, I always reset until he/she gets the stat increase I wanted every time he/she levels up.
That or Energy Drain, for sure.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
Geez, okay. Any guide out there on what sort of ranges you should expect?
Yeah. I'll have to experiment whether or not my demons need the extra MP from Energy Drain. Seems like it could help out a lot in boss battles especially. Still not crazy about them changing physical skills to use MP, I liked the HP system in previous games.
Yeah, at first I was glad since that made it more safe. But late game when the powerful skills cost a lot of MP, the physical build demons really need energy drain in boss battles or else they'll have to be switched out if the battle isn't over in a few turns. Or use items, but strangely, I never used items except Revival Beads.
Energy Drain is a waste, I've found, since battles aren't going to last long enough to require their use. You'll have enough consumables in the very rare case you need to refill, but due to how fast boss fights are, that's not going to happen much either.
Basically the MP app takes care of everything.