SMT: Nocturne has a beautiful Game Over screen.

P

Prospero

Member
And a good thing, too, because right now I'm seeing a whole hell of a lot of it. Even if you exploit the weaknesses of enemies to win battles, the normal mode of this game is still like the hard mode of most other RPGs. And I respect it for that, because it provides the kind of difficulty that can't be surmounted simply by power-levelling.

I just ran into
Matador, the usual J-RPG character who travels the world searching for the ULTIMATE POWER. Usually that character is easily beaten, but he kicked my ass all over the place. Fine--take the ultimate power, if that's how you feel about it.
 
I'm at the beginning and finding it relatively easy. Only time I died it was because this little bastard dodged my attacks 6 times in a row (was in the hospital red room part).

Got to Shibuya and met up with Chiaka. Went to Toyogi and couldn't advance. What the hell do I do?
 
I can't remember the name of the spell, but you need to reduce his agility if you want to hit him. Use Fog Breath if you have it, but there's a plain "de-" spell that'll do it too.
 
AniHawk said:
I'm at the beginning and finding it relatively easy. Only time I died it was because this little bastard dodged my attacks 6 times in a row (was in the hospital red room part).

Got to Shibuya and met up with Chiaka. Went to Toyogi and couldn't advance. What the hell do I do?
Click to expand...
It gets much harder once you advance further, especially once you start meeting Fiends.
The Matador
kicked my ass the first time around too, but I figured out why real quick, switched a magatama, and won relatively easily the second time around.
 
AniHawk said:
Got to Shibuya and met up with Chiaka. Went to Toyogi and couldn't advance. What the hell do I do?
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly,
go to the save terminal in Shibuya and you should meet up with someone else...
 
Prospero said:
And a good thing, too, because right now I'm seeing a whole hell of a lot of it. Even if you exploit the weaknesses of enemies to win battles, the normal mode of this game is still like the hard mode of most other RPGs. And I respect it for that, because it provides the kind of difficulty that can't be surmounted simply by power-levelling.
Click to expand...

The reason I think this game is difficult is that only the main character can use items. If the rest of the monsters can use items, then this game will be much easier.

I'm at the
Matador
too. Not exactly sure how to deal with him yet, but deal with him I will.]
Click to expand...

It will be easier if you have
monsters that are immune to force(wind spell).
 
It will be easier if you have
monsters that are immune to force(wind spell).
Click to expand...

True, but you need to be level 18 to recruit/control some strong demons that are immune to or drain force attacks. If you can't beat the Matador, level up to 18 and then fuse some new demons.
 
Jagernaut said:
True, but you need to be level 18 to recruit/control some strong demons that are immune to or drain force attacks. If you can't beat the Matador, level up to 18 and then fuse some new demons.
Click to expand...

I got owned several times when I faced him at lvl 14~16. I leveled up at the
Ginza Underpass
fighting
stingray lookalikes
. Then I got this
nozuchi with a elephant trunk and no head
and I had a much easier time against him.
 
AniHawk said:
I'm at the beginning and finding it relatively easy. Only time I died it was because this little bastard dodged my attacks 6 times in a row (was in the hospital red room part).
Click to expand...

Well, soon you'll get battles that run like this:

"The enemy attacked from behind!"
"A new enemy appears!"
*enemy casts Gathering*
"A new enemy appears!"
"A new enemy appears!"

It's also not fun when the enemy gets the initiative and starts by casting Sukunda four times in a row, and yes, it stacks.

Interlude said:
The reason I think this game is difficult is that only the main character can use items. If the rest of the monsters can use items, then this game will be much easier.
Click to expand...

There's also the restriction on the number of skill slots for party members, and the difficulty involved in getting additional skills. It seems like you'll never be able to have a party that doesn't have some sort of critical weakness, and that you always have to tailor your strategy to account for it.
 
Going out and getting the right things to beat them is just glorified power leveling.
 
Dice said:
Going out and getting the right things to beat them is just glorified power leveling.
Click to expand...

True, but to be honest it goes relatively quickly. I'm generally not much for RPGs and was concerned that leveling would get old in SMT:N, but it really hasn't been a problem. The only time I've had to just sit there and level so far has been for
the ever-loveable Matador
, and even that was relatively painless. There's a lot of random combat in SMT, but it goes fast, there's auto-attack to make it go faster, and it means that you generally level at a clip that keeps pace with the difficulty. And, if that's not enough for you, there's an item/skill that can increase (if such a thing is possible) encounters for true power levelling goofiness.

FnordChan
 
Dice said:
Going out and getting the right things to beat them is just glorified power leveling.
Click to expand...

I don't agree in this case, partly because the challenge of the game (for me) is learning how to work the game's system in order to get the skills and monsters I want as efficently as possible (and there are some monsters that you can't get at all unless you learn the game pretty well). I'm playing without a guide, and in order to do this I've had to take fairly extensive notes and experiment with fusing characters at different times, etc. I haven't had to take written notes for an RPG since Might and Magic: World of Xeen, and that was who knows how long ago.

Also, as I sort of implied above, one thing that's responsible for the difficulty is that, though you can get all the skills you want fairly easily, you're guaranteed never to have the ones you want all at once. If you get Sukunda, you'll usually be forced to trade some skill like Dia for it that you thought was essential, or the monster that gets the skill will have a weakness against the boss you're trying to take down, and you'll have yet another problem to work around. I love it. Love it.
 
Prospero said:
Might and Magic: World of Xeen
Click to expand...

REPRESENT

Although I reckon Darkside rocked all over Clouds, except for Clouds' hott magic shop goth chick.

Goddamn, someone make Return To Xeen already. Give the Dragon Pharoah a break.
 
Sweet Jesus, the encounter rate in the final dungeon of this game is out of control. It literally must be an average of every five seconds.

I played this game for about three hours last night, and the only progress I managed to save was making my way toward a boss, taking him out, and making my way back to a save point. Otherwise it was Iron Claws and Megidolas and Mamudoons and multiple stacking Debilitates and War Cries for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and new enemies appearing and enemies attacking from behind. This is the only RPG I've ever played that has actually made me throw my controller.

The strange thing about this is that a really high encounter rate usually leads to overlevelling in most RPGs, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. In some cases the random battles can easily be more dangerous than the bosses, if there are enough enemies and they get the initiative.

When one of my demons leveled up last night, he had the nerve to present me with the gift of an Attract Pipe. Yeah, thanks for that, jackass.
 
D2M15 said:
REPRESENT

Although I reckon Darkside rocked all over Clouds, except for Clouds' hott magic shop goth chick.

Goddamn, someone make Return To Xeen already. Give the Dragon Pharoah a break.
Click to expand...

It's a shame how M&M took a horrid dive after that.
 
Truelize said:
Useless withouth pics.

I would like to see this gameover screen please.
Click to expand...

This is an old thread, ya know. :P

Still, pics would actually be pretty useless here as well. You really need to see it in motion to appreciate it (it's not just a static, single screen afterall)...
 
dark10x said:
This is an old thread, ya know. :P

Still, pics would actually be pretty useless here as well. You really need to see it in motion to appreciate it (it's not just a static, single screen afterall)...
Click to expand...

The music helps alot too.
 
Yeeea, I wasn't sure if it was really game over or not (like if it was a boss battle you're supposed to lose) because it had way more effort put into it than any other gameover screen/scene I've ever seen. It was... incredible.
 
MoxManiac said:
Hell Biker owns all, he was the first fiend I went for to fuse when I got a deathstone.
Click to expand...

I've got four Fiends on my roster, including Daisoujou, who's had a fixed spot in the party ever since I got him. Even though he's ten levels behind everyone else, with Prayer + Preach + Meditation + Sukunda + Rakunda he more than keeps up with the other demons.
 
robertsan21 said:
thanks maskrider, thats an awsome game over screen

your playing the japanese version right?
will it be out in the US?
Click to expand...

It is already available in the US (was released last fall).
 
robertsan21 said:
thanks maskrider, thats an awsome game over screen

your playing the japanese version right?
will it be out in the US?
Click to expand...

I used the Japanese version because it is handy, I need to swap in and out if I want to play my SMT US version on my unmodded Japanese PS2.
 
robertsan21 said:
whoooo i better get this game quick.

is it any good storywise?
Click to expand...

Yes, but it isn't presented in a typical fashion...

It's a rather unique experience in comparison to most RPGs (though it really is very similar to previous games in the series).
 
dark10x said:
Yes, but it isn't presented in a typical fashion...

It's a rather unique experience in comparison to most RPGs (though it really is very similar to previous games in the series).
Click to expand...

Eh, I'm not even sure I'd say its very similar to the previous games. The demon's take a much larger portion than prior, what with the not having to have the magnite to keep them summoned, demons themselves can talk to other demons. Granted I'm talking having just played through a chunk of the first SMT (
Up until Tokyo was destroyed.
) but the change to it being just the protagonist and his demons feels quite different.
 
Well, it has changed (naturally), but it still retains the feel of the original games pretty well, I thought...
 
You're not really helping Atlus at this point. By this time, most copies have disappeared from the shelves and stores aren't reordering for restock. A sale would matter primarily at launch time for Atlus, and a used purchase is the same as not buying it at all.
 
This thread got me playing again, and I've been seeingi the Game Over screen far too much.
Any hints on the freaking Pale Rider? Mister McKickmyass is tearing me a new one each time. I'm level 52, and no area really is giving me decent XP either.
 
The encounter rate in the last dungeon is pretty wild but it's easily managable if you have a good setup. I'm playing on Hard and the last dungeon isn't bad especially since I obliterate most of the enemies with ease, maragihama (sp?) two times, Megido, and/or Blizzard/Tornado to finish most enemies in there. If they're immune to fire, mess them up with physical. I've died in there though and that's because I fuck up lol.
 
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