Get a null ailment skill, preferably on the majority of your party (and a null accessory for the MC). If any of Ancient Curse's ailments are nullified the attack has no effect. Kenji should only be spamming megidolaon if all of his other attacks are absorbed or nullified. Swap out the offenders with demons who resist the elements instead of nullifying them.
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Shin Megami Tensei IV |OT| The Dark Souls of Persona
- Thread starter Volcynika
- Start date
Get a null ailment skill, preferably on the majority of your party (and a null accessory for the MC). If any of Ancient Curse's ailments are nullified the attack has no effect. Kenji should only be spamming megidolaon if all of his other attacks are absorbed or nullified. Swap out the offenders with demons who resist the elements instead of nullifying them.
charlequin
Banned
But not too bipolar, because it's actually possible to come into the last set of mandatory choices too neutrally, such that you can only actually get the law or chaos ending.
ask me how i know this. ;_;
Playing neutral in SMT basically pisses everyone off, thus we got the better deal of the day in term of game content.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
I killed White Roder and thought I was done with fiend hunting, but then I looked it up and realised that I still have to find Trumpeter.
:-/
:-/
Join the cluuub.
Gonna try to find a demon with ailment resistance as Caladrius suggested.Alice nulls all ailments by default (no skill slots needed). You could consider fusing her.Join the cluuub.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
Alilat does the same.
Ah, interesting. Hm, but you have to be at least Lv. 80 to fuse that one, right? Alice can be fused earlier at Lv. 49.
Either way, I'll need to consider making an Alilat for myself now just to have one.
Hm, which ones are you missing? I may just have formulas written down for some of them (I've been writing down quite a few fusion recipes for normal fusions along the way).
Sweet, managed to get in the Neutral route
Still really enjoying the game so far.
after backing out of potentially getting onto the Law route with Jonathon. I don't really want to lean towards any particular end on my first playthrough but I think I'll go for Chaos on my new game+.
Still really enjoying the game so far.
Splash Wave
Member
I need--need--help with the challenge quest, "Dance of the Dead." The boss, a skeleton named David, is fucking impossible. He uses an attack called Blight twice and it always wipes my party. Two of my party members have the ability to use Zio (MC)
and another with items, but this isn't enough to win. Should I try to fuse even more party members with Zio? I'd hate to have to do this because all of the demons at my disposal with that skill are really weak.
My MC is 17, by the way.
and another with items, but this isn't enough to win. Should I try to fuse even more party members with Zio? I'd hate to have to do this because all of the demons at my disposal with that skill are really weak.
My MC is 17, by the way.
Other than Zio, I also had a Raiju when I reattempted that challenge (a Lv. 18 demon that comes with Shock, which has the chance to electrify him more than once for added damage). A Gremlin can evolve into a Raiju (how I got mine), but it's also possible to recruit one once you reach Tokyo. As for Blight, I think I just had to get lucky with that by that point. You could try buffing/debuffing to deal with it (either Rakukaja to up your defense or Tarunda to lower his attack, or Sukukaja to increase your evade/hit rate).
You'll also want armor with darkness protection, as David has a habit of using Mamudo. Coming back after getting the
Black Demonica
Splash Wave
Member
How soon will I be getting that armor? Mamudo is rarely what does me in--it's god damn Blight.
Err, evolve? How do I do that? The problem with moving forward is that I'll have to restart the quest, but maybe it's necessary.
Yeah, Blight's a problem for quite some time early on. Much too early for any demons with Tetrakarn (reflects physical attacks for one turn), so the best thing after that would be buffs/debuffs, or a demon that resists physical attacks. Sorry for the late edit in the previous post.
Some demons, like with Gremlin, will evolve after leveling up to a certain point (the ones that do drop hints about either feeling a change coming on, or premonition of evolution). When they're ready, you'll have the choice to let them evolve after they level up, or make them stay the same demon.
You'll get that armor by the time the group heads to
the Counter-Demon Force in Kasumigaseki
If nothing works early on, you may have to drop the quest and restart it later (I know I did, anyway). The problem is, they make you find and kill every horde again before you get to fight David.
Splash Wave
Member
Thank you so much for the advice. Since you mentioned buffs, I decided to really load up on defense increases in lieu of storing MP for healing. It worked! My defense was far higher than the one buff I'd use in previous fights, and this was enough for me to survive Blight.
I can't say the reward was worth it, but it was an exhilarating win nonetheless. This is a phenomenal game.
To be fair, as awesome as she may be, Alice has a very low HP.
Fuse Mahamayuri instead. He has Null Nerve to stop Ancient Curse and Salvation to cure any one who is infected.
Pass Salvation to MC and enjoy kicking Kenji's ass.
He's one of the easier ones. Has no bullshit moves.
Welp, got through the Reverse Hills the other night...wasn't quite expecting the stuff that happened in there.
Anywho, since I managed to stay mostly neutral, I guess I'm gonna try and go for the Neutral ending.
Sitting at
now.
Given what they'd sorta been dropping about a farm and all, I kinda expected there to be like a human breeding farm or something like Soylent Green.
Granted, the whole sucking brains outta people they kidnapped off the street is still pretty messed up in itself.
Granted, the whole sucking brains outta people they kidnapped off the street is still pretty messed up in itself.
Anywho, since I managed to stay mostly neutral, I guess I'm gonna try and go for the Neutral ending.
Sitting at
the aftermath of Camp Ichigaya
I guess opening the Expanse really did mess Tokyo up!
Took the Chaos choice for the final alignment choice, but ended up on Law anyway. Ah well, better than Chaos at least.
Ew no. Walter > Jonathan
I like Walter more as a bro, but the whole Chaos business felt a bit too crazy.
I found Law to be way worse personally. I went Neutral but still Law's goals felt much more, I dunno, genocidal.
is this game super difficult? ive only played persona 3 and i would really like to try this out but i hear that theres a lot of difficulty spikes. im also a little bit hesitant on purchasing this with bravely default so close to release as well which im looking forward to picking up
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
It's like trying to decide whether you'd prefer Republican foreign policy over Republican domestic policy for the rest of time, but you can only choose one.
The hardest part is at the beginning while you're learning the game's systems and your demon selection is small. After that, it gets better, but you can still get steamrolled if you're not paying attention.
My advice would be to pick up BD so you can be a part of the conversation as it releases and be LttP on this one. They're both super long JRPGs and since you can get this one digitally, it's not like there will be rarity issues later on.
NeonZ
Member
I wish the law route in SMT4 were more like the Amane route in Devil Survivor Overclocked,
where you can tell the angels to stay out of the way with their "kill first talk later" approach, and go around cleansing people's "death" marks with words.
an epilogue saying that destroying saves the world and keeps peace and happiness from then on...
Although I guess if things didn't turn out
fine after destroying Tokyo, law would basically have no good points at all.
So I read the Prologue of the novel that the original Megami Tensei game was based on:
http://ddstranslation.blogspot.co.uk/2006/08/introduction_16.html
Interesting and dark stuff so far.
All I've played of the series so far is Persona 3 and 4, but I'm about to try Nocturne for the first time. Based on what I've seen on Youtube I will eventually get a 3DS primarily for SMTIV! Bring on a European Collector's Edition.
http://ddstranslation.blogspot.co.uk/2006/08/introduction_16.html
Interesting and dark stuff so far.
All I've played of the series so far is Persona 3 and 4, but I'm about to try Nocturne for the first time. Based on what I've seen on Youtube I will eventually get a 3DS primarily for SMTIV! Bring on a European Collector's Edition
.Splash Wave
Member
If you have to ask, then yes--probably. I'm finding the game to be incredibly challenging (I'm fairly new to SMT), but also very rewarding. I'm just getting back into the game after buying it at launch, and I'm not sure I'll be willing to stop playing for Bravely Default.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
Killed Trumpeter last night and beat the
.
Now I'm gonna troll around Infernal Tokyo and see if there are any missions I might've missed before finishing the game.
Are any of the über boss DLC missions worth it?
Chaos dungeon
Now I'm gonna troll around Infernal Tokyo and see if there are any missions I might've missed before finishing the game.
Are any of the über boss DLC missions worth it?
Nothing comes close to the Fiends.
The story part of Clipped Wing 1&2 is nice though.
Anyway, well done for the Fiends. It seems you were very lucky with RNG. It took me more than a month of continuous reset to spawn them all.
The Clipped Wings and For the Past.. For the Future DLC are good.
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
My wife and I have been marathoning The West Wing. I just relied on muscle memory and the DLC mission method to reset the RNG while watching President Bartlet do his thing.
Still took a lot longer than it should. Hiding post game boss fights (and the best ones in the game at that) behind random occurances like that is bad game design. Those boss battles should be earned, not doled out like lottery winnings.
Thanks. I'm very tempted to get these. I'll have to see.
I agree, when you look at it like that it's a bad game design.
But I like how unique it is and it's not like the game is lacking boss fights or anything. I really love games with weird resources allocation, when the developers put details and little things where they shouldn't and that most of people will not see (Deadly Premonition says hi!). The only regret I have is that they didn't make more effort regarding the mise-en-scene. You just fight without any conversation.
With that said, keep in mind that it became a tradition in the series. Other than Nocturne, it has always been like that. I remember I was very lucky to fight Alice in SMTII (PS1). She has a cool and unique battle theme that you don't hear anywhere else even when you fight the other Fiends.
Finally beaten the game for the first time, clocking around 79 hours at that. Don't know if I will revisit the game later, maybe except for DLC quests. The gameplay is addicting though, especially demon fusion. The story isn't that bad either.
EDIT: I just see Masakado's Shadow attribute, and holy shit how the fuck I supposed defeat that thing?!
EDIT: I just see Masakado's Shadow attribute, and holy shit how the fuck I supposed defeat that thing?!
cj_iwakura
Member
Which ending? I didn't even know about the Fiends, so I guess I'll do them on my Neutral run. Or Chaos, but I figure Neutral has the better end. It usually does.
Got neutral. I'll probably will play the game bit longer before I truly have it as Clear Data
(still yet to explore Infernal and Blaster Tokyo post-Lucifer)
Did you try to fight him?
If you go blind, yes it's pretty depressing first time but if you have the right skills, it's a very easy fight.
Splash Wave
Member
I'm at a point in the game--Shinjuku--where my sheer number of Fusion options has become overwhelming. Are there any demons I should be looking to make in particular?
viciouskillersquirrel
Member
I spent a not-inconsiderable amount of time in this game staring at the OS menu and a loading screen hoping that this time, the RNG would smile at me. That's bad game design no matter how you slice it. Tradition is not a good enough reason to keep a bad design decision that would have already been annoying two decades ago.
EDIT: I'm not saying don't have secrets in a game. I'm saying have them be rewards for exploring every obscure corner of the map or filling the compendium etc. The door that only opens if you have a certain stat up to scratch was a cool condition, had that been all there was to it.
Just do what I did and fuse the ones you like the look of best or the ones with the best skills as a priority. Believe me, you'll get through the rest of them in time.
The general rule is to have a team who covers each one's weaknesses and with more and more powerful skills.
So recruit and fuse whoever you find to get their skills and keep these which are the most useful.
I assume your level is around 25.
These demons will be useful now and later to pass their skills:
Gnome for High Elec Pleroma and Life Gain
Raijuu for Endure and Shock
Zhen for Fog Breath. He also doesn't have any weaknesses.
Kanbari(special fusion) for Tetrakarn
Mithras for Fatal Sword
Shikome for Gun Pleroma
Sylph for High Force Pleroma
Fortuna(special fusion) because she doesn't have any weakness. This actually is a very powerful demon that you can make with a magical build.
Nata Taishi: a very powerful physical demon who doesn't have any weakness.
I think it became a tradition because there are people who like that. Again, it's only optional and the game already has incredible amount of content.
Like I said, I spent much more time than you and I don't even have any of the bullshit grinding DLC <= that is a terrible game design. Making people pay for something that doesn't make any sens, as if the game wasn't broken enough.
Speaking of that, I just saw that Asterius is an exclusive demon that you can have only via the macca DLC. FUCK.
I guess I shouldn't feel bad since it has a shitty design.
cj_iwakura
Member
Ordered the OST, cd-japan said first print was still available. I hope I get a Gauntlet!
Whew.
After hours of challenge questing to fill that stupid chalice I think I might've been a little over-leveled for
. Fun series of fights with him and the previous bosses though and good music. I can see the complaints of the game slowing to a crawl after getting onto the Neutral route. The payoff was neat though but could've been implemented better.
Now it's time for
!
edit - oh man this music
After hours of challenge questing to fill that stupid chalice I think I might've been a little over-leveled for
Merkabah
Now it's time for
Lucifer
edit - oh man this music
Nope, just from crowsing the Megaten Wikia. But drain all attack is crazy! And he got resist on almighty attack nonetheless! RIP my DEX oriented MC ;__;
I think I'm overleveled too against the two.last boss. But I had a fun fight against Beelzebub somehow more than those twoWhew.
After hours of challenge questing to fill that stupid chalice I think I might've been a little over-leveled for. Fun series of fights with him and the previous bosses though and good music. I can see the complaints of the game slowing to a crawl after getting onto the Neutral route. The payoff was neat though but could've been implemented better.Merkabah
Now it's time for!Lucifer
edit - oh man this music
Don't worry. You only need 1 demon with pierce to win.
I quickly made Shiva with Pierce Physical + Berseker God + High Phys Pleroma + Phys Pleroma + Dark Energy and he was able to beat him alone with that setting.
I don't think that it's possible to beat him without pierce. Probably with a team 100% physical 999 dx + 999 st and Desperate Hit lol.
Finally made it through
this afternoon.
THAT was certainly interesting.
But it looks as though I'm nearing the end of the game now, since I just made it to
.
Also got a ton of App Points I need to do something with...already got all skills on my MC and Demons, Party MP Recovery, and got the Scout apps as well.
Blasted Tokyo
THAT was certainly interesting.
Pluto was creepy as hell though with that voice. Goddamn...
But it looks as though I'm nearing the end of the game now, since I just made it to
Infernal Tokyo and just won Shinjuku for Akira
Also got a ton of App Points I need to do something with...already got all skills on my MC and Demons, Party MP Recovery, and got the Scout apps as well.