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[GeekyDad]

Man, the Game Over screen is too long...

Press X to skip.

Press X to fly through Game Over sequence

Trufax.

Eh...if you've paid him before, which I made the mistake of not doing early on. Now it costs thousands of macca to pay him off. The death sequence is very long otherwise.

Tip for all you boys and girls out there just starting: Pay the man at least the first time he asks. You'll be getting off cheap. After that, yeah, you can fly through the dialogue with the X button. If not, you have to sit through that damned mountain-panning-up animation every time.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Eh...if you've paid him before, which I made the mistake of not doing early on. Now it costs thousands of macca to pay him off. The death sequence is very long otherwise.

Tip for all you boys and girls out there just starting: Pay the man at least the first time he asks. You'll be getting off cheap. After that, yeah, you can fly through the dialogue with the X button. If not, you have to sit through that damned mountain-panning-up animation every time.

It always costs thousands of Macca to pay him off. Charon's a punk.

 

[pa22word]

One thing I think Atlus screwed up with majorly is that if you miss with a pre-emptive swing on the field map and an enemy runs face-first into you, they get the pre-emptive bonus almost every time. Enemies should only get first strike if they ambush you from BEHIND, not if you're clearly ready for them.

Yeah the preemptive strike shit is really infuriating, especially given the awkward control layout and lack of proper dual stick camera controls.

 

[Laughing Banana]

When/how does evolution happen?

Level them up. Angel, for example, will evolve into Archangel on level 12.

Proceeding nicely, no real difficulty so far with my Phys MC. Currently level 11.

Time for breakfast!

 

[epmode]

The worst is when you're hit by an exploration mode enemy less than one second after walking through a door. BAM, one or two party members are dropped immediately.

I'm still amazed by how much damage even weak enemies are putting out.

 

[chickdigger802]

Wait there were preorder bonuses by retailer? did newegg have any?

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

I've been playing for eight hours and never felt like there was a death that wasn't my own stupidity.

 

[GeekyDad]

It always costs thousands of Macca to pay him off. Charon's a punk.

Nah, if you die early in the game, he only demands like 150-250 macca. If you pay him while you're still at a low level, you can, I'm assuming, get the first dealings with him out of the way, which should make the Game Over process much faster. After that, you can just refuse him and reload quickly.

 

[decoyplatypus]

I've been quitting to the home menu every time I die. It's faster than watching the death animation. I am pretty miserly about my macca, and I'm not about to pay Charon for the privilege of instant revival when I can just save frequently.

I don't like SMT4's encounter system. It's functionally pretty close to random encounters because (a) enemies appear more or less randomly, and (b) they're frequently hard or impossible to avoid, but I find it far more stressful because I have to deal with enemies running at me or chasing me around. I didn't mind the latter so much in DQ9, where the enemies were cute and largely non-threatening, but here... I actually prefer the Nocturne system where there's nothing on the map, and the HUD tells you when you can expect an encounter. Dungeon diving is tense enough without being chased. EDIT: Nocturne's system also had the benefit of allowing me to stand around and get my bearings.

 

[Laughing Banana]

Lack of END stat is really annoying. Because it feels like you and your demons are just like, piece of paper. Moreover it leads to silly circumstances where muscular, tall demons are just as fragile as a goddamn fairy, the only difference being just HP/MP, not defense :\

Btw, update on TeamPHYS!

I am on TeamPHYS as well! It started off mostly random but have been concentrating on STR,DEX and AGI.

Dresden
Laughing Banana
Lin Siniang
hosannainexcelsis
Soulhouf
yami4ct
Thoraxes
Sseklebeast

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Nah, if you die early in the game, he only demands like 150-250 macca. If you pay him while you're still at a low level, you can, I'm assuming, get the first dealings with him out of the way, which should make the Game Over process much faster. After that, you can just refuse him and reload quickly.

He has been demanding over a thousand Macca from me after every death since I was level 4. Now that I'm level 14, he's marked it up to 2,800. Dude's an asshole.

 

[impirius]

Just got to level 7. Really wish this game had a soft reset. I thought I was doing something wrong with stats, party, etc., but I guess this is just how it is.

 

[Urban Scholar]

He has been demanding over a thousand Macca from me after every death since I was level 4. Now that I'm level 14, he's marked it up to 2,800. Dude's an asshole.

I just save often and say no.

 

[Quote]

About 3 hours in, just wiped on

Spoiler

rose flower boss lady thing

. I feel like I should be fusing more demons at this point but I don't really understand how to get the skills I want.

 

[Mononoke]

I'm level 9, and I'm finding it really hard fusing demons. Let me explain. So, early game I collected up to 5 demons. They were all level 2-3. And then I leveled them up to level 6-8. After doing that, I was like okay, time to start fusing. So I made sure all my demons were registered in my book and I went to fuse. Problem is, the demons that I can fuse would leave me with only 3 demons total (the two new demons that were made from fusing), and the single demon. However, the demons that are created at level 9 (with my demons), just aren't THAT strong. And honestly, I need a full roster of demons in order to survive some of these battles.

My issue is, unlike Persona, I feel like it's REALLY fuckin hard making money in this game. And as a result, I'm being very hesitant about wanting to fuse demons, because it cost too damn much to pull them out (at level 7-8, some of these demons cost up to 4 grand to re-summon). Because money is so scarce, and the cost is IMO too high, I feel like the game is making me shy away from the fusing mechanic, even despite the fact this is a very important aspect to this game.

=/

 

[SteeloDMZ]

About 3 hours in, just wiped on

Spoiler

rose flower boss lady thing

. I feel like I should be fusing more demons at this point but I don't really understand how to get the skills I want.

For your main character or the demons?

If it is for your MC, then your demons need to level up, and after a couple level-ups, they allow you to learn their skills.

I'm level 9, and I'm finding it really hard fusing demons. Let me explain. So, early game I collected up to 5 demons. They were all level 2-3. And then I leveled them up to level 6-8. After doing that, I was like okay, time to start fusing. So I made sure all my demons were registered in my book and I went to fuse. Problem is, the demons that I can fuse would leave me with only 3 demons total (the two new demons that were made from fusing), and the single demon. However, the demons that are created at level 9 (with my demons), just aren't THAT strong. And honestly, I need a full roster of demons in order to survive some of these battles.

My issue is, unlike Persona, I feel like it's REALLY fuckin hard making money in this game. And as a result, I'm being very hesitant about wanting to fuse demons, because it cost too damn much to pull them out (at level 7-8, some of these demons cost up to 4 grand to re-summon). Because money is so scarce, and the cost is IMO too high, I feel like the game is making me shy away from the fusing mechanic, even despite the fact this is a very important aspect to this game.

=/

Negotiate with the demons you fused again if you need them. Since you already got them the first time, it should be much easier to get them again since you know their personalities.

 

[Goby]

Yes finally got enough money to do the compendium gymnastics to fuse Alice

Now die for me!

 

[depths20XX]

EDIT: Nocturne's system also had the benefit of allowing me to stand around and get my bearings.

Yeah, in this I feel scared to even sit there and look around since you always have to be ready to swing on an enemy if they come charging. It doesn't help that it feels kind of wonky trying to hit them with the sword, sometimes it looks like you got initiative but you didn't. I'd almost just prefer random battles.

 

[Jessicat]

I've been quitting to the home menu every time I die. It's faster than watching the death animation. I am pretty miserly about my macca, and I'm not about to pay Charon for the privilege of instant revival when I can just save frequently.

I don't like SMT4's encounter system. It's functionally pretty close to random encounters because (a) enemies appear more or less randomly, and (b) they're frequently hard or impossible to avoid, but I find it far more stressful because I have to deal with enemies running at me or chasing me around. I didn't mind the latter so much in DQ9, where the enemies were cute and largely non-threatening, but here... I actually prefer the Nocturne system where there's nothing on the map, and the HUD tells you when you can expect an encounter. Dungeon diving is tense enough without being chased. EDIT: Nocturne's system also had the benefit of allowing me to stand around and get my bearings.

Ahhhh, this! I'm geographically challenged and it's impossible to stand around and figure out where to go when enemies keep popping up around you ;>> I miss having a map in the menu, because it pauses everything else around you. That

Spoiler

Wu Kong

challenge quest was bs, I don't have enough fingers to run around, check where I was going, dodge or attack oncoming demons and see where he was at ffs x.x I wish the maps marked ledges and some enter/exit areas that are reached by climbing/crawling/etc too, as I haven't memorized all the spots myself, and the AR search interface only shows you when you first walk past it.

This games battle system is brutal like in IMAGINE; at least in this game criticals arent done by base stats only(not counting armour), I'd be dead more often if that was the case XD

Also, I'm so happy you don't have to restock bullets, I just realized that too, haha ^^;

 

[TheExodu5]

Btw, update on TeamPHYS!



Dresden
Laughing Banana
Lin Siniang
hosannainexcelsis
Soulhouf
yami4ct
Thoraxes
Sseklebeast

Original TeamPHYS here. Was going to go mostly STR for the plasma sword, but I've changed my tune and will go dex/luck instead.

 

[Soulhouf]

Holy crap. Shit went real.

Spoiler

I just arrived in Tokyo.

I didn't expect that kind of shift at all.
Also I encountered the first ugly boss:

Spoiler

Medusa

and died like 5 times.
This is the Ys of the megaten. Every time I reach a boss, I die many times before winning.

I love the shift the game got. I can now forgive the shitty start and that awful mission system.

 

[Quote]

For your main character or the demons?

If it is for your MC, then your demons need to level up, and after a couple level-ups, they allow you to learn theirs

For my demons. Id like to fuse some AGI demons for this fight.

 

[IceDoesntHelp]

Level 20 here, still haven't faced

Spoiler

The Minotaur

d:
Trying to finish off one challenge quest.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

So I'm going for a PHYS build and mostly focusing on DEX but I have a question; what do I do about STR? Am I supposed to level it up slowly, never touch it at all, or what? I feel pretty lost when it comes to the actual relationship between these stats and the numbers I see in battle (beyond the surface level stuff that the game tells you about the stats).

 

[buddha0991]

So earlier today, I did the challenge quest

Spoiler

Dance of the Dead.

The mobs hit hard, but if I played it smart, I could take them out before they got a move in. So I kill the last mob, and I turn away to drink something, certain I was about to hear the little victory hymn thing and I would be done with this quest. I heard this instead. (Spoiler warning! Poor quality warning, but you get the point.)

Well....shit.


Of course I died. I died 3 times. On the 4th try, I finally took him, Preta and "Bad Company" saved the day. That was a fun quest man.

Spoiler

David

down, the rest of you assholes are going to be slain yet, I swear man.

 

[IceDoesntHelp]

So earlier today, I did the challenge quest

Spoiler

Dance of the Dead.

The mobs hit hard, but if I played it smart, I could take them out before they got a move in. So I kill the last mob, and I turn away to drink something, certain I was about to hear the little victory hymn thing and I would be done with this quest. I heard this instead. (Spoiler warning! Poor quality warning, but you get the point.)

That's the quest I'm on now d:

 

[decoyplatypus]

I'm level 9, and I'm finding it really hard fusing demons. Let me explain. So, early game I collected up to 5 demons. They were all level 2-3. And then I leveled them up to level 6-8. After doing that, I was like okay, time to start fusing. So I made sure all my demons were registered in my book and I went to fuse. Problem is, the demons that I can fuse would leave me with only 3 demons total (the two new demons that were made from fusing), and the single demon. However, the demons that are created at level 9 (with my demons), just aren't THAT strong. And honestly, I need a full roster of demons in order to survive some of these battles.

My issue is, unlike Persona, I feel like it's REALLY fuckin hard making money in this game. And as a result, I'm being very hesitant about wanting to fuse demons, because it cost too damn much to pull them out (at level 7-8, some of these demons cost up to 4 grand to re-summon). Because money is so scarce, and the cost is IMO too high, I feel like the game is making me shy away from the fusing mechanic, even despite the fact this is a very important aspect to this game.

Let me try to address these concerns in turn:

(1) You don't HAVE to fuse all the time. If your current demons are doing okay, and the fusion possibilities don't carry useful resistances or skills, feel free to wait a bit.

(2) Resistances and skills are going to be at least as important as stats, so some demons that look like a small upgrade or a lateral move are nonetheless worth fusing.

(3) After you fuse, just go ahead and recruit some more demons to fill out your stock / act as fusion fodder. For example, if you're early in the game, why not pick up a Napaea on your way down through Naraku just to act as a healer? You can delete her or fuse her when she's out of MP.

(4) Also, don't worry about making a huge investment in a demon every time you recruit it. If a prior version has already whispered its skill to the protagonist, or if you know you're not interested in additional skills it may learn, just fuse and move on.

(5) Do NOT buy demons from the compendium at this point in the game. You should accrue a fair amount of money from quest completion and relic sales, but you should be saving almost all of it at this point. The compendium is really for later in the game when you've got an idea of a powerful demon you want to make, but you need to back up the recipe two or three generations to make sure it gets the right skills. It's too expensive for any situation except where it would be monstrously inconvenient or impossible to recreate the demon you need.

 

[Bigdrbingo]

Trying to do the

Spoiler

Ares

challenge quest right now. Around level 10 and it's totally kicking my ass. Does he have any known weaknesses? Or should I just come back when I have a stronger team?

 

[SteeloDMZ]

Trying to do the

Spoiler

Ares

challenge quest right now. Around level 10 and it's totally kicking my ass. Does he have any known weaknesses? Or should I just come back when I have a stronger team?

I beat him on my first try. Just make sure you have someone with healing skills in your team and go berserk at him.

 

[duckroll]

This entire thread is starting to turn into a solid collection of "how not to use spoiler tags" examples. Simply awful.

 

[PK Gaming]

The"bad company" ability is really cool ability. (summons all of your demons that are in stock into battle) It's especially useful in situations where an enemy wiped your team out.

Just one question though: Can I whisper it onto the MC?

 

[Volcynika]

This entire thread is starting to turn into a solid collection of "how not to use spoiler tags" examples. Simply awful.

Seriously!

D:

 

[InsaneZero]

The"bad company" ability is really cool ability. (summons all of your demons that are in stock into battle) It's especially useful in situations where an enemy wiped your team out.

Just one question though: Can I whisper it onto the MC?

Yes.

 

[Ourobolus]

This entire thread is starting to turn into a solid collection of "how not to use spoiler tags" examples. Simply awful.

Spoiler

YOU LIE

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Level 20 here, still haven't faced

Spoiler

The Minotaur

d:
Trying to finish off one challenge quest.

Level 20?!

Okay, remember yesterday when you were asking if you were overlevel? You totally are.

 

[QuiteWhittle]

Is there a reason why people aren't going into easy mode when they find the enemy damage output to be too overbearing?

 

[Mononoke]

Let me try to address these concerns in turn:

(1) You don't HAVE to fuse all the time. If your current demons are doing okay, and the fusion possibilities don't carry useful resistances or skills, feel free to wait a bit.

(2) Resistances and skills are going to be at least as important as stats, so some demons that look like a small upgrade or a lateral move are nonetheless worth fusing.

(3) After you fuse, just go ahead and recruit some more demons to fill out your stock / act as fusion fodder. For example, if you're early in the game, why not pick up a Napaea on your way down through Naraku just to act as a healer? You can delete her or fuse her when she's out of MP.

(4) Also, don't worry about making a huge investment in a demon every time you recruit it. If a prior version has already whispered its skill to the protagonist, or if you know you're not interested in additional skills it may learn, just fuse and move on.

(5) Do NOT buy demons from the compendium at this point in the game. You should accrue a fair amount of money from quest completion and relic sales, but you should be saving almost all of it at this point. The compendium is really for later in the game when you've got an idea of a powerful demon you want to make, but you need to back up the recipe two or three generations to make sure it gets the right skills. It's too expensive for any situation except where it would be monstrously inconvenient or impossible to recreate the demon you need.

Thank you so much for this. Puts a better perspective on what I should be doing.

 

[leonemesis]

So earlier today, I did the challenge quest

Spoiler

Dance of the Dead.

The mobs hit hard, but if I played it smart, I could take them out before they got a move in. So I kill the last mob, and I turn away to drink something, certain I was about to hear the little victory hymn thing and I would be done with this quest. I heard this instead. (Spoiler warning! Poor quality warning, but you get the point.)

Well....shit.


Of course I died. I died 3 times. On the 4th try, I finally took him, Preta and "Bad Company" saved the day. That was a fun quest man.

Spoiler

David

down, the rest of you assholes are going to be slain yet, I swear man.

Well, best of luck FINDING the rest of them. Eventually I had to check a FAQ for the exact locations and still I did not manage to find the bastards. I spent a good couple hours trying to run into Trumpeter so I could fuse Mother Harlot, to no avail.

 

[Ken]

Is there a place that explains the benefits of going towards specific stat builds?

 

[LostAnkh]

Guys, I beat the

Spoiler

Minotaur

,

Spoiler

Dragon at the Lake

, and

Spoiler

Wu Kong

!
Trashed them with my new team!

 

[Chrono Helix]

My two cents on the difficulty of SMTIV compared to Nocturne: damage is far too high here. The amount of damage you receive (and deal) from spells can easily take off more than half your life, even if you're neutral to that element. And I think fewer of the early bosses in Nocturne used the breath/rampage type of skills which deals random amounts of hits. The increased use of that sort of skills in IV can make it seem more like a luck-based affair.

A bit curious about this game's economy. Gear for protag seems expensive. is burning macca for recruitment ok?

The stat boosts from armour is meager compared to the amount they cost, but you should be mindful of the different resistances chest armour can have. I didn't spend much upgrading mine, I only bought new pieces if I was taking too much damage from a boss' spells. Sadly your armour is usually only able to resist elements, and not null them. You can find some that do near the end of the game, but they cost so much that I suspect it's a ploy to get people to buy the money-farming DLC.

I didn't upgrade my weapons since I went with a MAG-focused build, so I have no idea if they're worth it.

Yeh but some her dialog is awesome, Leanan Sidhe is too when you encounter her a little later;
(Im paraphrasing)
"Do you think I'm beautiful?"
"Its what's on the inside that counts"
"Oh, then let me rip out your entrails and see"

I have a feeling that for every single dialogue option you have the demons have a response that allows them to segue into why they should kill you.

 

[duckroll]

Whoa!! I didn't know that

Spoiler

this right here could be a massive endgame spoiler, you would have no warning at all!

That scene where

Spoiler

your mom beats my mom at air hockey

was amazing! Also, I just fused

Spoiler

my anus

and finally defeated

Spoiler

your balls.

Btw, I'm 10 hours into the game and

Spoiler

I really wish everyone would STOP USING AWFUL SPOILER MAKING TECHNIQUES LIKE THESE! FFFFFFFFFFF!

 

[toadsworth]

So I'm seriously thinking about getting this game tomorrow after I get paid.

I've never played a SMT or persona game, is there anything I need to know?
I also have the regular 3ds, I tried to play monster hunter on it but the text was too small to really play. Will that be in issue in this game as well?

 

[Dandy Crocodile]

I'm still in Naraku, at the part after the early training mission where

Spoiler

you have to fight Alraune/find Navarre.
She wiped me so easy I have no idea how you guys are talking about her like she's some regular enemy.
I got in two Agis with MC and a demon and she promptly wiped them both with a single hit.
Walter launched a few Agis as my last two demons feebly strung along until they were wasted too.

Haha, I'm at level 10 and have a party of level 9 demons. ~6.5 hours in.
I have a feeling this shouldn't be so hard.

 

[Volcynika]

Whoa!! I didn't know that

Spoiler

this right here could be a massive endgame spoiler, you would have no warning at all!

That scene where

Spoiler

your mom beats my mom at air hockey

was amazing! Also, I just fused

Spoiler

my anus

and finally defeated

Spoiler

your balls.

Btw, I'm 10 hours into the game and

Spoiler

I really wish everyone would STOP USING AWFUL SPOILER MAKING TECHNIQUES LIKE THESE! FFFFFFFFFFF!

Thanks duckroll, YOU SPOILED IT ALL ;_;

 

[SteeloDMZ]

So I'm seriously thinking about getting this game tomorrow after I get paid.

I've never played a SMT or persona game, is there anything I need to know?
I also have the regular 3ds, I tried to play monster hunter on it but the text was too small to really play. Will that be in issue in this game as well?

Be prepared for an ass kicking! But take your time to learn the mechanics, experiment, and learn to be patient and the satisfaction you'll get from defeating a seemingly impossible boss is unmatched.

 

[chris-013]

I just received the game from Canada ! The strategy design book is really good ! ^^

 

[drtomoe123]

I'm about 14 hours in and I'm having a hell of a time with some of the challenge quests. I've been able to beat

Spoiler

Chernobog

and

Spoiler

Setanta

, but I had to practically reset if they got first move. As soon as I get into the battles, I have to immediately -kaja everything. I'm loving it!

 

[epmode]

Sadly your armour is usually only able to resist elements, and not null them. You can find some that do near the end of the game, but they cost so much that I suspect it's a ploy to get people to buy the money-farming DLC

I'm only a few hours in but I already feel like this is the case with regular equipment. Buying even a single piece of the best armor in stores requres quite a few relics or shaking down demons for macca. Buying full set of armor is basically crazy. ..which is pretty disappointing now that each piece of armor is visible. My guy looks like a clown.

 

[LostAnkh]

I've never played a SMT or persona game, is there anything I need to know?

Don't grind like I did and take your time with the game to learn it's mechanics. Demon Fusing will be important and it's essential if you wanna beat certain bosses.

I don't think this game is hard, it's just brutal and very random at times.