Which is funny, because I just started Ys IX and...it really feels like the dev team behind it really liked Persona 5?
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Shin Megami Tensei: New Reincarnation of the Thread (Actually Featuring Dante From The Devil May Cry Series)
- Thread starter Zef
- Start date
I've been playing through SMT (on the SNES fans translation) and it's been okay. I have dungeon crawlers aren't my favorite thing but some of the more aspects of the genre that I find egregious (teleporters, fog) are only in a few dungeons and I appreciate that. I will admit that I ended up using some on-line maps to streamline my run. I'm doing a neutral run because really I found the Chaos and Law Heroes to be obnoxious.
Is the story a little more fleshed out in the original Japanese and its bare bones nature just because of the fans translation and limits on putting additional text in? The game seems to be hinting at a lot more than it is saying, and I can appreciate that, but it also can be a little frustrating that I'm having to fill in some big parts of the plotline with my own fan theory.
Sprites are great. I toyed with making a thread rating all of them. Names are all over the place is that because it is the first SMT game, or because this is a fan translation, something else?
Is the story a little more fleshed out in the original Japanese and its bare bones nature just because of the fans translation and limits on putting additional text in? The game seems to be hinting at a lot more than it is saying, and I can appreciate that, but it also can be a little frustrating that I'm having to fill in some big parts of the plotline with my own fan theory.
Sprites are great. I toyed with making a thread rating all of them. Names are all over the place is that because it is the first SMT game, or because this is a fan translation, something else?
I can't speak to the story being more fleshed out in Japanese, but the Aeon Genesis patch is older than Nocturne, so there were no official English names for a lot of things at the time. There's a later patch that changes the names to the official ones:
www.romhacking.net
Shin Megami Tensei
[b]Shin Megami Tensei - Bug Fix Patch[/b] This is a patch for [b][url=http://www.romhacking.net/t
I like it as well, the frustration comes in with me not knowing if it was intentional or due to the translation. As you said it is evocative of some things rather than being expository.
I started the second game today, and just by looking up the names of the main characters it seems this one is going to be a lot more explicit in the story telling. Though it seems to be hitting a lot of the same beats that the first game did.
By far the most uncomfortable thing in this game (SMT2) so far are the walls of the Abaddon dungeon...
Started SMT4 and I thought I was doing okay until I get to Minotaur and he keeps wiping my party out. I'd say I could grind some levels out but the XP from mobs even right before the Boss fight is so paltry that it would take hours to do so.
I guess I need to go back and rethink this whole thing... I'm also shocked at how stingy this game is with macca when 3 seemed so generous with it.
I guess I need to go back and rethink this whole thing... I'm also shocked at how stingy this game is with macca when 3 seemed so generous with it.
Yeah, they want you to buy the experience/macca DLC. Though for Minotaur, like many SMT bosses, doing some fusion should help... His weakness is ice, so make sure you have a lot of that. IIRC, accuracy buffs/debuffs work pretty well on him, too. You'll clear him eventually, keep trying! That fight is the main roadblock in IV imo - there's some tough fights from then on, but you'll have a lot more tools at your disposal by the time you get to them.
Yup. I went back and fused some demons with the ice spell and it was much easier when I get to take like 7 to 8 actions for every one of my turns.
Down into Tokyo now!
@Kazin you were right! Every other boss so far has been much more manageable. I've completed the Black Samurai story arc and have paused the main story line to clean up my quest log.
I wish there was a little more info on where I turn some of these quests in though! I don't remember who gave it to me or where to find them for some of them!
I wish there was a little more info on where I turn some of these quests in though! I don't remember who gave it to me or where to find them for some of them!
I havent had much trouble navigating the map yet. Some of the weird hops in and out of areas seem a little unnecessary. My complaint is mostly that I can't find some of the people who gave me these quests once I completed them and need to turn them in.
Right now I'm trying to find the Shinjuku guy who wanted me to take pictures of Ikebukuro.
Right now I'm trying to find the Shinjuku guy who wanted me to take pictures of Ikebukuro.
It was mostly a problem of lack of labels, and a kind of labyrinthine structure to getting around the place - even if you did know the layout of Tokyo (I don't), you have to remember which areas are passable, and which are locked behind a story event or whatever. Apocalypse's map didn't look as pleasing as vanilla IVs, for sure, but it was easier to use imo.
Is there ever a time or a skill or an app that will make low level mobs run away from me or auto-defeat them?
Pajaro Pete
(He/Himbo)
not in 4. the best you get is the Estoma Sword skill, which makes your sword strikes instantly banish low level mobs on the map (and usually resulting in you getting ambushed by a low level mob that was already chasing you because you stopped for a moment to do the sword strike)
That's ultimately what killed my enthusiasm for playing 4. I just couldn't be arsed to deal with trivial map enemies. I don't know why it bothered me more there than it ever did in a game with random battles (like say, Nocturne).
I just made it to Shobuya. I've been having a harder time knowing whether I'm Law, Chaos, or Neutral in this game than I did in SMT3.
Eventually there's a guy at one of the bars who will tell you.
However, unless people have figured out a better way in the years since this came out (very possible), the way to reliably get neutral in this game is to overshoot just enough toward law or chaos that you will be put into the narrow neutral sweetspot by going the other way in the answer to a question with a big enough impact that it would normally push you out of neutral, right before your path is locked in. Kind of annoying!
Whether intentionally or just a result of how the questions are weighted, in practice the neutral route in this game is canonically someone who is slightly law or chaos, then changes their mind at the very last second.
However, unless people have figured out a better way in the years since this came out (very possible), the way to reliably get neutral in this game is to overshoot just enough toward law or chaos that you will be put into the narrow neutral sweetspot by going the other way in the answer to a question with a big enough impact that it would normally push you out of neutral, right before your path is locked in. Kind of annoying!
Whether intentionally or just a result of how the questions are weighted, in practice the neutral route in this game is canonically someone who is slightly law or chaos, then changes their mind at the very last second.
When does the path lock in happen? And are any of the endings better or canonical?
When you talk to the White in the monochrome forest. Spoilers for proper nouns, but they'll be meaningless I think. In that conversation, you get a question with obvious Law and Chaos answers that will push you out of neutral, if you're already there. This is after (actual spoilers, not sure how to obfuscate this but still have it make sense) you explore two alternate universes, if I recall. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...
As usual, Neutral is the Happy Ending.
One ending is canonical to the spin-off game, if I recall, but I never played that so I don't know which... My guess is probably Neutral and then the spin-off makes that ending less happy.
As usual, Neutral is the Happy Ending.
One ending is canonical to the spin-off game, if I recall, but I never played that so I don't know which... My guess is probably Neutral and then the spin-off makes that ending less happy.
Okay none of that made any sense to me so I must still be a ways off. I have found the guy who rates me and it seems I'm leaning Law because he says everything thinks Im sort of polite/nice and that's a little weird for Tokyo.
Another way to tell your current alignment is by going to the map. Your little triangle icon will rotate clockwise or counterclockwise depending on your L/C alignment (I forget which direction is which), or it will sway back and forth if Neutral.
And yes, although the alignment lock technically happens there, SMTIV is unique in that its secret point system has a way of firmly setting you on an alignment, with no way of recovery, if you accrue enough points on that path. This could happen relatively early on if you're polite and mindful and helpful to other people, and if you try to course-correct by being an ass to everyone it may be too late to make a difference. You don't get any "Are you sure you want to do this?" confirmations if you're on the edge, like you do in Strange Journey.
This is a little frustrating because, as I mentioned above, the point system is secret and often arbitrary. There are regular "I'm not a choir boy, I just want to help people" actions that are firmly Law, and there are "I'm not an anarchist, I just want to be an individual" ones that are firmly Chaos. Then, later on, there is a sequence of events where simply proceeding with the plot will force Law or Chaos points on you, so even if you're following a guide, you have to account for a surprise "+5 to Law!" that will be forced on you.
Staying Neutral in IV Vanilla is less a matter of conviction and more min-maxing sociopathy.
And yes, although the alignment lock technically happens there, SMTIV is unique in that its secret point system has a way of firmly setting you on an alignment, with no way of recovery, if you accrue enough points on that path. This could happen relatively early on if you're polite and mindful and helpful to other people, and if you try to course-correct by being an ass to everyone it may be too late to make a difference. You don't get any "Are you sure you want to do this?" confirmations if you're on the edge, like you do in Strange Journey.
This is a little frustrating because, as I mentioned above, the point system is secret and often arbitrary. There are regular "I'm not a choir boy, I just want to help people" actions that are firmly Law, and there are "I'm not an anarchist, I just want to be an individual" ones that are firmly Chaos. Then, later on, there is a sequence of events where simply proceeding with the plot will force Law or Chaos points on you, so even if you're following a guide, you have to account for a surprise "+5 to Law!" that will be forced on you.
Staying Neutral in IV Vanilla is less a matter of conviction and more min-maxing sociopathy.
Sounds unpleasant. I might just watch the ending on Youtube.
I mean, it's not to discourage you from playing the game. Whichever route you end up on, the endgame plays phenomenally and the story goes into interesting places (even if I have... quibbles with some demon designs and some plot beats.) It's just a warning to temper your expectations, and so you know what to do if you are aiming for a specific outcome.
Just play as you normally would. If you want to see other paths (not just the endings, but the whole story from the alignment lock onwards) it's best if you have some guidance.
Just play as you normally would. If you want to see other paths (not just the endings, but the whole story from the alignment lock onwards) it's best if you have some guidance.
SMT IV Apocalypse begins just before the true neutral ending, and then goes from there. Because I got Chaos in Vanilla, the game made no fucking sense. (but still a good time, hahaha!)