[3DS] Shin Megami Tensei IV [JRPG]

[Feathers]

Shin_Megami_Tensei_IV_Cover.jpg

Shin Megami Tensei IV was released a short while ago. I just picked it up yesterday for $40 and got the collector's edition. I haven't went too far yet (still in the tutorial dungeon), but I can tell it's definitely a huge step up from the other games (although Nocturne's battles are superior looking). There is A LOT of voice acting as well, something UNHEARD OF for an SMT game (not counting Persona here).

I heard this is a difficult game, which gets me excited. I need a challenge! I got my feathers plucked last night and was one shotted by a balloon fairy (don't know its name yet) at level 2! I don't know if this was to introduce me to the new death toll system or not, but WOW, I've never seen Zan do so much damage in any of the SMT/Persona games. O_O

Spoiler: show

You also get equipped with a female computer sprite who has a very robotic/seductive voice, pretty interesting combination there eh?

The game has blew away the game reviewers and I see 9/10s 10/10s everywhere, and I can see why!

More game info:

http://www.atlus.com/smt4/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Megami_Tensei_IV

If you buy Fire Emblem Awakening and Shin Megami Tensei IV and register them on Club Nintendo, you will get a free $30 Nintendo credit on the E-shop. See your 3DS E-Shop for additional details!

Special offer details page: http://club2.nintendo.com/30/
How to link your Club Nintendo account to your 3DS: https://club.nintendo.com/link-shop-acc ... #tab=eShop

[Oersted]

I bought the game a few days ago and I have to say, I like it a lot, specially the fact you can choose which skills a demon gets when you fuse it. What I mean by that is that unlike in Strange Journey you can choose what skills are inherited and unlike Devil Survivor you can remove the demon's default skills if you don't like them.

Right now I'm lvl37, and honestly I'm having no difficulty with anything that isn't a boss, then again I'm probably over leveled and using a DLC set of armor that hasn't been equaled by other gear although they're starting to catch up. As for my demons I'm using Nymph Kikuri-Hime, Jirae Titan and Femme Medusa. And since I like showing my stats in games like these here's how I'm set up right now.

Spoiler: show

Samurai Ryoma
Lv37
HP:476
MP:222
St:67
Dx:55+9
Ma:7+9
Ag:55+7
Lu:55+5
Sword:Luna Knife
Gun:CC Rifle
Bullet:Steel Rounds
Armor:Demon's Skin Set (A DLC set of armor that can be obtained in exchange for 10 Life Stones per armor piece.)
Acc:Company Earring

And Feathers, the fairy that killed you was a Napaea, and yeah, skills in this game hurt a lot, heck even at level 37 I can actually take quite a bit of damage from weak enemies...But only when they ambush me because I one-shot most demons around my level with Javelin Rain, a phys attack that strikes all foes for "medium" damage.

Finally a little story that proves that even low lvl enemies can be devastating: I was going about my business as usual until I get ambushed by two lvl9 harpies, the little buggers each used Mazan and since I'm weak to wind they each got an additional Press Turn Icon, which they used to cast Mazan another two times, after that I had 2 demons dead while me and my other demon with 1 digit HP left. And that reminds me, one thing I just love in this game is that you only get a Game Over when your team is wiped out, meaning your character can actually get KOed while the demons continue fighting.

[Feathers]

I had no demons at the time, but it was almost comical (almost) how Zan instantly killed me. I never had trouble in an SMT games apart from bosses either. I suppose the entry dungeon was bad luck for me, because there was no lack of skill involved when I miss my melee attack and up instantly killed. ^^;

Strange Journey became boring for me after the 3rd world. It was very grindy and the crawl was quite repetitive, I hope this one is more adventures.

[Oersted]

Strange Journey became boring for me after the 3rd world. It was very grindy and the crawl was quite repetitive, I hope this one is more adventures.

Personally I didn't find Strange Journey too grindy, except maybe at the end but that's because I tend to steamroll stuff with phys attacks and the final boss was resistant to it...

As for it being more adventure, just wait until you reach Tokyo, the maps there are often much less cramped than Naraku and there's stuff like treasure chests or relics scattered around, often in plain view but some are unreachable without finding a hole to crawl through or a place to climb, so exploring can actually get you some nice stuff.


Also as a random thought, I preferred Strange Journey's names for wind spells, to me Garu sounds better than Zan.

[Feathers]

In SJ, It was grindy because all the maps looked they were copy pasted from each other. I also went all melee damage since it's the easiest route (Auto battle lol). I never felt like I was making progress because every room was a mirror image of itself. Course Persona 3/4 suffered from that same issue only in 3rd person form. ^^;

Glad to hear about the more interesting maps. I like being immersed in the maps. I like Garu better as well. Sounds like "Gale".

[L337 m4n]

Have it and around level 37. My demons on the team I use so far are:

Setanta:(The Irish hero before he was the Irish Hero)
Baldur(Norse Light God and my heavy-hitter and revive guy)
King Frost(Ice World is so powerful!)

So far I just kill whatever I face as long as my team is immune or has time to prep. With bosses the same but usually a good exploitation and I get ahead. Saw the bird Feathers once used to use the Caldrius and it gave me trouble in a group with reinforcements. Lots of awesome monsters too! Over 400 and I have barely over a hundred.

Oh yeah I'm going the LAW path so far but I feel sympathy for the demons and some annoyance with humans so far. I hope I feel something for the humans as so far I only like a select few of the humans I've met and worked with.

[Feathers]

I'm only level 5 now, but it's a lot easier with a 4 man team. I usually go LAW or Neutral but I'll see how it goes.

I heard this game suffers from poor characters. I sure hope that's not true. >_<

Caladrius makes an appearance? Nice! I wonder if he can talk correctly yet? haha

[Oersted]

I usually go LAW or Neutral but I'll see how it goes.

Personally I always do the Neutral path when I know how to do it, because seriously in SMT Law folks tend to get on my nerves badly and Chaos folks tend to be...er, too extreme for my taste although I agree with them much more than I do Law. Also Neutral tends to be the hardest path since you get both Law and Chaos coming after you.

Anyhow I'm now at a whopping lvl52 (when enemies are end 30 or early 40.) and I'm currently using these demons:

Lv52 Undead Alice (Sadly, mine Isn't very strong with her only offensive moves being Tathlum Shot and Energy Drain, she's pretty much my healer. Also, kinda odd that she's a Undead race in this game, she has always been a Fiend before...)
Lv53 Jaki Grendel (Basic beat stick demon with Javelin Rain, Blast Arrow and the ever unreliable but strong as heck Titanomachia. Oh, and he has nearly 600HP.)
Lv52 Tyrant Asmodeus (Currently my favorite demon so I'm gonna post his whole stats.)

Spoiler: show

HP:433 MP:195
Ph:- Gun:Nu Fi:Dr Ic:- Th:- Wi:- Li:Nu Da:Nu
St:58
Dx:58
Ma:60
Ag:59
Lu:60
Skills:
-Occult Flash (Medium Phys damage to all foes, can instantly kill.)
-Blast Arrow (Medium Gun damage to all foes.)
-Sea of Chaos (Almighty attack to all foes, its strength varies based on the target's alignment, probably strong on Law, medium on Neutral and weak on Chaos.)
-Cold World (Heavy Ice damage to all foes, can instantly kill.)
-Ziodyne
-Draconic Reaction (Greatly increases hit/evade rate.)
-Retaliate (High chance to counter Phys/Gun attacks.)
-Null Light (Asmodeus is normally weak to light skills. =l)

[L337 m4n]

Yeah the LAW side has assholes with a few humans who are alright or nice to work with. Though in SMT despite the angels being on the side of humans the omnipresent GOD isn't much of a nice guy.

CHAOS helps in being free will and helping those who want a chance but the extreme decisions kinda make it off-putting.

NEUTRAL I'd like but as Oersted said the power of two sides against one is something tough. Be nice if like in Nocturne you could have more choices and do some stuff which makes you a power in the struggle like in Nocturne.

Oh and Feathers about the poor characters . . . well it depends on what your going for. So far the world runs on a feudal system with rich and poor castes and Samurai and the clergy. Just talking to the rich or working with those who look down fits poor characters in one way.

Lots of bird characters though like Harpies, Moh Shuvuu, and the mentioned Caladrius and the history of these demons and monsters is quite a eye-opener.

[Feathers]

Well, so far I'm liking Jonathan and I'm guessing he is LAW. I'm curious why a certain woman appeared from SJ on the advertisements of SMT IV too..

I've never played an SMT that had a side with no bad parts. Nocturne had a lot of interesting choices. I never beat the game, but

Spoiler: show

I'd probably pick the world rebirth choice.

Moh Shuvuu is super popular for being an evil "loli", but I never cared for her.

[L337 m4n]

Yeah Jonathan is LAW. How far are you? Doing the mission with Navarre involved?

I'd probably do the choice for fighting GOD or making a world for the underdogs.

Yeah just figure I mention her since other bird characters include Nu Hui Gua a green bird woman of Chinese lore who is known for kidnapping children. Also have Phoenix, Vidnofir the Norse chicken, and other unusual fowls like Fuxi.

[Feathers]

I've seen a lot of those in SJ as well.

I'm not very far, because I'm playing several games at a time (League of Legends, Tales of Xilla, Trine 2). I'm still on the "beat the other people's attempt at challenge quests!" quest.

I just fused my Angel and wow she is more naked than ever. I also got Pixie who looks exactly the same as before. Soon I will be getting my sexy purple pinecone headed harpy as well. I'm going to need a tanky demon soon though, my girls are getting 1 shotted haha.

I like how if you die the game doesn't end now (the demons can still fight on your behalf). It does take out a lot of the panic factor though.

[L337 m4n]

If you need a tank try to get Tam Lin or a demon that can resist physical and gun skills. Of course upgrading things in the apps menu helps a lot too.

So far I'm doing well but I want to get Hel! The Norse goddess of death. Want to clear the special fusion list as well but to get Mishaguji I'd have to sacrifice my tree goddess Mayahuel and the compendium is expensive. Should go for the discount apps but skill apps have priority as well as demon storage.

[L337 m4n]

I have defeated the game 100%. Got all the demons, endings, and did every sidequest at least once. Worthy foe to the end.

[Kmon13]

Hey I'm currently playing this game!!!

[Feathers]

I got bored and quit after discovering a certain plot twist. Did not because of that though, the random battles started grating on my nerves because trash mobs kept aggroing me. I don't like fighting level 10s when I'm 25, it wastes a lot of time, and I don't have lots of time sadly. >,<

[L337 m4n]

I didn't let a few levels stop me. I grinded and grinded until the only threat was the optional boss Astaroth and the DLC bosses like Kanat Sumara. When I said I got all demons I meant ALL demons. Even DLC, even if it cost a few dollars.

Though I get what you mean. Fighting the same bosses can get tedious and I took a few breaks just to make it when I was having trouble getting Jeanne D'Arc.

[Feathers]

No no it's not the bosses that bored me, it's the weakling trash mobs that die in one hit and keep getting in the way when I'm trying to explore.