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Shin Megami Tensei IV Import Impressions Thread of Doom

R

RyougaSaotome

Member
There are a few Shin Megami Tensei IV threads floating around on GAF, but with the Japanese version of the game officially available as of today, I figured it'd be a good idea to have one consistent place to talk about it.

While I'm not against discussing spoilers, I'd really appreciate it if we make sure to mark any story stuff or anything that could be taken as a spoiler. I would love this thread to be accessible rather than terrifying. Thanks for your cooperation! <3

Let's get this show on the road!

BK7yJuwCMAEF1Pq.jpg:large
Click to expand...

I've said this in the other threads, but goddamn the first dungeon does not fool around. In some ways though, it's kind of a great tutorial in the sense that it forces you to come to grips with how the SMT IV plays, and how to properly use the tools it gives you. Otherwise you'll just keep dying over and over again.
 
M

Mauricio_Magus

Banned
I'm so jelly of anyone that has this game, If it's better than Etrian Odyssey 4 then it will probably be my GotY


I've said this in the other threads, but goddamn the first dungeon does not fool around. In some ways though, it's kind of a great tutorial in the sense that it forces you to come to grips with how the SMT IV plays, and how to properly use the tools it gives you. Otherwise you'll just keep dying over and over again.
Click to expand...

PERFECT
 
O

Oichi

I'm like a Hadouken, down-right Fierce!
Don't get mine till Monday because I had it shipped to work and it's being sent out on Friday. :(
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
You will die again and again and again and again if you are not careful lol.

Really need to take full advantage of the battle system that rewards an extra turn for doing weakness / critical damage to an enemy. Esp with the boss fights... D: Its totally also about paying attention to your own resists / weaknesses. Having anything that boosts HP helps too.

Good times though! and with how the game is designed does keep one on their toes most def!

Am currently in the story
back at the hero characters starting home town Kichijoji which has come under attack from demons. The dungeon at the moment is taking place in the near by forest where the towns folks are held captive. Also Navarre needs to be punched in the dick.

In terms of weapons + getting first attack on the map
the spear seems to work the best currently, just due to the longer reach it has over the sword, though the random 1-3 attack on enemies is a bit irritating if you have multiple opponents.
 
R

RyougaSaotome

Member
Parakeetman said:
You will die again and again and again and again if you are not careful lol.

Really need to take full advantage of the battle system that rewards an extra turn for doing weakness / critical damage to an enemy. Esp with the boss fights... D: Its totally also about paying attention to your own resists / weaknesses. Having anything that boosts HP helps too.

Good times though!
Click to expand...

Yup. The game throws elemental damage in your face right off the bat, which is as good a way as any to teach you to be careful. All the tutorials are skippable by the way, which I know some of you will probably be very happy about. The game asks if you want to hear what it has to say. That'll be great for replays.

Not much has been said about this, but I think SMT IV is quite good looking. The first dungeon is visually interesting, especially that opening area. I'm loving the neat little digital effects like the area scanner. The whole package just seems very polished. Menus feel good, and even the battles feature some minor camera flourishes and the typical stylish death animations.

Cutscenes are mostly talking heads, but it's kind of Mahoyo-like in the sense that the camera moves around, portraits are layered, and it's designed to give you an idea of where everyone is located. It doesn't seem like much at first, but it adds a lot to what would have otherwise been still character art.

The whole thing is still brutal, but in a way that seems to welcome new folks just a little bit better than before.
 
S

SpeedySwaf

Member
Has anyone run into those battles with loads and loads of enemies? Are they all individual targets, or is their some kind of gimmick to them?
 
A

Aeana

Member
Parakeetman said:
You will die again and again and again and again if you are not careful lol.

Really need to take full advantage of the battle system that rewards an extra turn for doing weakness / critical damage to an enemy. Esp with the boss fights... D: Its totally also about paying attention to your own resists / weaknesses. Having anything that boosts HP helps too.

Good times though! and with how the game is designed does keep one on their toes most def!
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, have you played SMT3 or DDS1/2?
 
L

luca1980

Banned
so will this be the ot import thread?

anyway thanks for first impressions.

Can i ask about:

dungeon size - is it comparable to smt 3?

plot is it more relevant than usual ?

ost cd or music is it as good as trailers hinted it to be?


thanks!
 
R

RyougaSaotome

Member
SpeedySwaf said:
Has anyone run into those battles with loads and loads of enemies? Are they all individual targets, or is their some kind of gimmick to them?
Click to expand...

A few actually. They're targeted as one enemy, but as you do damage to it, some of the sprites are eliminated and it's weakened. By the end of the battle there'll only be one monster sprite onscreen generally, provided you don't just wipe them all out at once.

if plot is more relevant this time than smt 3?
Click to expand...

I'm only four hours in, but it seems fairly plot heavy right off the bat. The fully voiced main story also helps draw attention to it.
 
A

Aeana

Member
RyougaSaotome said:
A few actually. They're targeted as one enemy, but as you do damage to it, some of the sprites are eliminated and it's weakened. By the end of the battle there'll only be one monster sprite onscreen generally, provided you don't just wipe them all out at once.
Click to expand...

Wow, that's disappointing. Do they attack individually, or just as one?
 
K

Kenka

Member
RyougaSaotome said:
Yup. The game throws elemental damage in your face right off the bat, which is as good a way as any to teach you to be careful. All the tutorials are skippable by the way, which I know some of you will probably be very happy about. The game asks if you want to hear what it has to say. That'll be great for replays.

Not much has been said about this, but I think SMT IV is quite good looking. The first dungeon is visually interesting, especially that opening area. I'm loving the neat little digital effects like the area scanner. The whole package just seems very polished. Menus feel good, and even the battles feature some minor camera flourishes and the typical stylish death animations.
Click to expand...
Thank you to reassure me on that regard. The Youtube videos left me with the opposite impression, and that annoyed me quite frankly.
 
S

Soriku

Junior Member
RyougaSaotome said:
A few actually. They're targeted as one enemy, but as you do damage to it, some of the sprites are eliminated and it's weakened. By the end of the battle there'll only be one monster sprite onscreen generally, provided you don't just wipe them all out at once.



I'm only four hours in, but it seems fairly plot heavy right off the bat. The fully voiced main story also helps draw attention to it.
Click to expand...

Do you know if it's just a way to give more HP to the "leader" enemy or do stacks do more damage too?
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Aeana said:
Wow, that's disappointing. Do they attack individually, or just as one?
Click to expand...

They attack as a single entity. Though may have multiple turns. Whats worse is they dont seem to really give more than average exp too considering how much TP you waste fighting large groups.

Apparently they can appear at random too. Had that happen once so far in the starting dungeon
third floor? I think it was, with a large group of zombie samurai.
all the other battles with the large group types
have been through events where their enemy is stationary and graphic is red in the dungeon
 
E

extralite

Member
Aeana said:
Out of curiosity, have you played SMT3 or DDS1/2?
Click to expand...

I don't think he has, SMT4's first dungeon was a cake walk compared to those. You may die a lot but there are so many safety nets to cushion those deaths. MC can die without game over, his HP are restored to 1 if he died, and you can bribe Charon for at least one continue at a time even if you don't have enough money to pay right away.
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
RyougaSaotome said:
Yup. The game throws elemental damage in your face right off the bat, which is as good a way as any to teach you to be careful. All the tutorials are skippable by the way, which I know some of you will probably be very happy about. The game asks if you want to hear what it has to say. That'll be great for replays.

Not much has been said about this, but I think SMT IV is quite good looking. The first dungeon is visually interesting, especially that opening area. I'm loving the neat little digital effects like the area scanner. The whole package just seems very polished. Menus feel good, and even the battles feature some minor camera flourishes and the typical stylish death animations.

Cutscenes are mostly talking heads, but it's kind of Mahoyo-like in the sense that the camera moves around, portraits are layered, and it's designed to give you an idea of where everyone is located. It doesn't seem like much at first, but it adds a lot to what would have otherwise been still character art.

The whole thing is still brutal, but in a way that seems to welcome new folks just a little bit better than before.
Click to expand...

Indeed the character art is fantastic, though I still think some of the new monster designs are just gaudy.

The dungeons most def do have a nice atmosphere, but since am still early on in the game have not really seen any sort of what people would consider a large dungeon yet. Thank god too since at the time being sometimes trying to get out alive even from the starting on when you first play can be an "interesting" experience. Well if you dont want to die and waste macca / game coins that is. lol

extralite said:
You may die a lot but there are so many safety nets to cushion those deaths. MC can die without game over, his HP are restored to 1 if he died, and
you can bribe Charon for at least one continue at a time even if you don't have enough money to pay right away.
Click to expand...

Ive never died in DDS 1/2.

Personally if they didnt add in those extra systems, would turn off a lot of new users. Would have been more interesting if Atlus went through the trouble to add in a hardcore mode which removed the "prince of persia (2008) never die lol" feature.

Though the debt system if you go and die again while in debt to Charon its game over.
 
S

Soriku

Junior Member
E

extralite

Member
I feel there are a few fallbacks to the original MT and SMT series. Charon was in MT1&2 but he simply halfed your money in those.

And in the first few games you would always fight only one of type of enemy, in groups which you couldn't target the individual membes of. The group enemies in SMT4 remind me a bit of those, although the presentation is different. In the old games you had one sprite and symbols of the individual members indicating their number and health.

And the dream opening, in which you name the MC and meet two important characters who will probably be the equivalents of the law and chaos hero, is very reminscent of the character creation in SMT1.

But it also has visible enemies and initiative attacks, which should appeal to the Persona crowd.

Edit:
Parakeetman said:
Ive never died in DDS 1/2.

Personally if they didnt add in those extra systems, would turn off a lot of new users. Would have been more interesting if Atlus went through the trouble to add in a hardcore mode which removed the "prince of persia (2008) never die lol" feature.

Though the debt system if you go and die again while in debt to Charon its game over.
Click to expand...

Your whole party has to be wiped out before you're sent to Charon. And you can safe everywhere. Dying doesn't make this game difficult.
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
extralite said:
I feel there are a few fallbacks to the original MT and SMT series. Charon was in MT1&2 but he simply halfed your money in those.

And in the first few games you would always fight only one of type of enemy, in groups which you couldn't target the individual membes of. The group enemies in SMT4 remind me a bit of those, although the presentation is different. In the old games you had one sprite and symbols of the individual members indicating their number and health.

And the dream opening, in which you name the MC and meet two important characters who will probably be the equivalents of the law and chaos hero, is very reminscent of the character creation in SMT1.

But it also has visible enemies and initiative attacks, which should appeal to the Persona crowd.
Click to expand...

Thank god he doesnt half your money in this game, since its a bit of a pain in the ass to gain cash unless you like selling useful items / waiting around for the harvest points to respawn. Though there are applications which can help.

extralite said:
Your whole party has to be wiped out before you're sent to Charon. And you can safe everywhere. Dying doesn't make this game difficult.
Click to expand...

At the start with how most of the demons are generally low health its pretty easy to happen. As lot of times they get one shotted. Once you are able to go and fuse your own demons, it gets a lot easier. Esp if you get ones that are resistant to the majority of the attack types in the current dungeon.
 
E

extralite

Member
Parakeetman said:
Thank god he doesnt half your money in this game, since its a bit of a pain in the ass to gain cash unless you like selling useful items / waiting around for the harvest points to respawn.
Click to expand...
The last app I learned in the first dungeon before taking a break and having my SD card being corrupted (Edit: I'm currently redownloading, at 90%.) was Fund. A negotiating app to get money from demons with the conversation command. In the old games that was a good method to get enough cash. I didn't get the chance to try it out in SMT4 yet but it should be helpful.

Your whole party has to be wiped out before you're sent to Charon. And you can safe everywhere. Dying doesn't make this game difficult.
Click to expand...

At the start with how most of the summons are generally low health its pretty easy to happen. As lot of times they get one shotted. Once you are able to go and fuse your own demons, it gets a lot easier. Esp if you get ones that are resistant to the majority of the attack types in the current dungeon.
Click to expand...
Yes, it happens easily. But you learn to be cautious quickly that way. In comparison to older SMT games, Nocturne in particular, it feels easy to me. Although Nocturne got very managable near the end also, you just need to understand the systems.
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
extralite said:
The last app I learned in the first dungeon before taking a break and having my SD card being corrupted was Fund. A negotiating app to get money from demons with the conversation command. In the old games that was a good method to get enough cash. I didn't get the chance to try it out in SMT4 yet but it should be helpful.


Yes, it happens easily. But you learn to be cautious quickly that way. In comparison to older SMT games, Nocturne in particular, it feels easy to me. Although Nocturne got very managable near the end also, you just need to understand the systems.
Click to expand...

Btw the quote got a little screwed up, mine that is in the previous post due to not having added your quote correctly.

Right now where Im at, its pretty manageable due to the large stock of demons that I have, that and some just made to specifically be the anchor in the party incase things go south. Which has saved me on multiple occasions now, from the MC dying from a crit or multiple attack to my weakness.

Thankfully its not that hard to level up in certain parts of the game. Just takes a bit of time.
 
E

extralite

Member
Parakeetman said:
Which has saved me on multiple occasions now, from the MC dying from a crit or multiple attack to my weakness.
Click to expand...

And that was instant game over in Nocturne. I learned and kept the anti instant death skills, against both kinds, as soon as possible to survive. Learning skills from fellow demons in SMT4 is another thing making it easier than Nocturne. You really had to plan well what skills to learn and which to give up. In DDS you could set whatever skills you've learned once, but in Nocturne you would unlearn old skills for new ones. It's the same in SMT4 but you have more control what to learn and I'm guessing it will be easier to learn a skill again.
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
extralite said:
And that was instant game over in Nocturne. I learned and kept the anti instant death skills, against both kinds, as soon as possible to survive. Learning skills from fellow demons in SMT4 is another thing making it easier than Nocturne. You really had to plan well what skills to learn and which to give up. In DDS you could set whatever skills you've learned once, but in Nocturne you would unlearn old skills for new ones. It's the same in SMT4 but you have more control what to learn and I'm guessing it will be easier to learn a skill again.
Click to expand...

Its not that its like a skill that does &#21363;&#27515; basically getting hit by mudo or hama, but more along the lines of just an excessive amount of damage being taken.

With the whisper system am not exactly sure how it works. Need to read up on that, but from what it seems is it happens once your demon learns all of their skills. Since have not had it happen twice with the same demon yet.

But for the most part all Ive been doing if I wanted to re-learn something is just go and get the same demon and level it up fresh again.

Am curious to see what happens though if you re-summon one via paying macca. If the game will allow you to re-learn skills from that particular demon. Have not tried that yet, as cant afford most of my demons lol
 
E

extralite

Member
You should be able to befriend the same demon or another with the skill you want again and just level them until they learn all their skills. I learned the skills of two demons yesterday with the whisper system.

Thanks to Aeana, I was able to restore my save file. Will play SMT4 some more now.
 
R

ryan13ts

Member
I haven't really seen any videos of real gameplay, so I have to ask....

Does the game let you see your character attacking the enemy like SMT3, or is it just a picture of the enemy with graphical effects for damage like SMT:SJ? I really hope it's the former, since that was one of my favorite games ever and it helped to make it more immersive.
 
Velcro Fly

Velcro Fly

Member
Thanks for all the impressions so far. Really sounds like I will enjoy the game.

Some little things sound mildly disappointing but overall I'm liking what I'm hearing!
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
ryan13ts said:
I haven't really seen any videos of real gameplay, so I have to ask....

Does the game let you see your character attacking the enemy like SMT3, or is it just a picture of the enemy with graphical effects for damage like SMT:SJ? I really hope it's the former, since that was one of my favorite games ever and it helped to make it more immersive.
Click to expand...

Enemy graphic taking damage w/ effects like SJ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pFSblG9RG5I#t=128s
 
S

Soriku

Junior Member
ryan13ts said:
I haven't really seen any videos of real gameplay, so I have to ask....

Does the game let you see your character attacking the enemy like SMT3, or is it just a picture of the enemy with graphical effects for damage like SMT:SJ? I really hope it's the former, since that was one of my favorite games ever and it helped to make it more immersive.
Click to expand...

It's first person combat so like SJ. It looks cooler than SJ because of the effects they added though.
 
R

RyougaSaotome

Member
ryan13ts said:
I haven't really seen any videos of real gameplay, so I have to ask....

Does the game let you see your character attacking the enemy like SMT3, or is it just a picture of the enemy with graphical effects for damage like SMT:SJ? I really hope it's the former, since that was one of my favorite games ever and it helped to make it more immersive.
Click to expand...

What everybody else said. Dungeon exploration is all 3rd person though, and armor/weapon changes are reflected on the main character.
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
ryan13ts said:
I haven't really seen any videos of real gameplay, so I have to ask....

Does the game let you see your character attacking the enemy like SMT3, or is it just a picture of the enemy with graphical effects for damage like SMT:SJ? I really hope it's the former, since that was one of my favorite games ever and it helped to make it more immersive.
Click to expand...

Changing the main characters weapon, will effect the animation used for doing a first strike on an enemy in the dungeon map. Slash with a sword, to a stab with a spear.
 
Glass Rebel

Glass Rebel

Member
Having only played Strange Journey I really don't know what to expect from SMT4 but I'll be getting it day 1 nonetheless.
 
R

Ratrat

Member
I don't suppose there are any video reviews yet?
I'm not too excited but am curious to see how this thing panned out.
 
C

Chrono Helix

Member
Soriku said:
It's first person combat so like SJ. It looks cooler than SJ because of the effects they added though.
Click to expand...

Going by some of the released trailers there's some enemy sprite deformations that occur when you kill them. Pretty cool.

ARGH WHEN'S MY COPY COMING
 
P

Parakeetman

No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Himself said:
Harder as in has a more complex battle system or harder as in get ready to grind? This will also be my first mainline SMT.
Click to expand...

The battle system isnt really harder, its actually a lot more simplified due to all of the helpful information it gives you. Such as icons showing if the enemy is resistant, will be reflected, absorbed, weak to, etc when you target them with a certain skill.

Its just that you can die on occasion if you are not paying attention to what you are doing / the stats of yourself and your demons with weaknesses / resistances vs. the demons in a particular dungeon. Some negative status effects were removed too like paralysis (Elec) and frozen (Ice).

In terms of information its really a lot easier on a new player, where in the older games you pretty much had to memorize stuff yourself or constantly check the enemy's stats to see what they were weak / resistant to.

Sorry all of the above is in relation to SMT IV.
 
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