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Shin Megami Tensei Community Thread: Be Your True Demon

cj_iwakura

Member
Is that the guy who finished translating Megami Tensei for Famicom, made a news post about it, and then said "btw we're not releasing it"

Uh, that was released. :p I have it. And I don't think it's the same guy, no. '理德牧師' is his moniker on Steam.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
I love that kind of Megaten sprite, gives it a somewhat realistic yet very eerie vibe. I think SMT4 kinda tried to recreate it with stuff like the weapon merchant.

It's a nice, tamer alternative to the super realistic, incredibly off putting portraits in SMT1 for the Sega CD lol

smt-mommegacd.png
 

cj_iwakura

Member
I love that kind of Megaten sprite, gives it a somewhat realistic yet very eerie vibe. I think SMT4 kinda tried to recreate it with stuff like the weapon merchant.

It's a nice, tamer alternative to the super realistic, incredibly off putting portraits in SMT1 for the Sega CD lol

smt-mommegacd.png

The Sega CD intro is amazing, so there's that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_GMftXSXgY

(And just that, lol. Someone here has an avatar of the amazing Cathedral scene.)
 

Opa-Pa

Member
Definitely! SMT1 has one if my favorite intros in RPGs, and the SCD rendition is extra eerie. I love how it integrates the main cast to it.

I'll never get over realistic Pascal though
112534-shin-megami-tensei-sega-cd-screenshot-even-your-dog-pascal.gif
 

preta

Member
I've got enough yen on JPSN to get the PSX version of one of SMT1, 2 or If. Having never played any of these three, which would you all recommend? It seems like If has the most PSX-exclusive content, so that's what I was leaning toward so far.
 

Frost_Ace

Member
I've got enough yen on JPSN to get the PSX version of one of SMT1, 2 or If. Having never played any of these three, which would you all recommend? It seems like If has the most PSX-exclusive content, so that's what I was leaning toward so far.

The music sucks in the PSX verion, that for me is a deal-breaker, don't know if that's important to you.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
I've got enough yen on JPSN to get the PSX version of one of SMT1, 2 or If. Having never played any of these three, which would you all recommend? It seems like If has the most PSX-exclusive content, so that's what I was leaning toward so far.
Well 1 and 2 have fan translations... Unless you speak Japanese. If you don't, get If.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
I do, though not fluently. I'm aware that 1 and 2 have translations.

How is If anyway?
Very straight forward. Your school's been attacked by demons. Here's some demons. Go kill them. The different partners do give it replay value since each person has their own path, though.
 

preta

Member
Very straight forward. Your school's been attacked by demons. Here's some demons. Go kill them. The different partners do give it replay value since each person has their own path, though.

I knew that much, I meant more in the sense of "how good is it".
 

Capra

Member
Any Raidou veterans know of a good place to grind by Chapter 10? It looks like I'm severely underleveled at 49, but the training hall isn't cutting it.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Any Raidou veterans know of a good place to grind by Chapter 10? It looks like I'm severely underleveled at 49, but the training hall isn't cutting it.

Really? That seems like a fair level for that point. Are you playing on Hard mode? (If so, you're crazy and I applaud you.)
 

Capra

Member
Really? That seems like a fair level for that point. Are you playing on Hard mode? (If so, you're crazy and I applaud you.)

Huh, guess I'll just keep going then. I've been sort of following along with an LP whenever I get stuck and I just saw that by Chapter 10 this guy is 75... Battles have been pretty easy to just tank so far so I wondered whether I would hit a wall eventually.

By the way, the Training Hall gauntlet battles are ridiculous. The one from a couple floors back felt like it would never end, and the next one looks like that, but with guys who can cast stone. I'm guessing this is supposed to be the "Amala Labyrinth" dungeon of Raidou 1 where the ultimate bonus boss resides and the ultimate fusions are unlocked?
 

Capra

Member
Just finished. So...
Raidou facilitated the events of SMT I+II? Damn.

Definitely gonna jump into Raidou 2 next. I'm excited to play a game with this wonderful setting AND good gameplay.
 
Just finished. So...
Raidou facilitated the events of SMT I+II? Damn.

Definitely gonna jump into Raidou 2 next. I'm excited to play a game with this wonderful setting AND good gameplay.
I definitely did not expect that to happen in the finale.

...Tbh that statement sums up almost everything in the finale.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
Just finished. So...
Raidou facilitated the events of SMT I+II? Damn.

Definitely gonna jump into Raidou 2 next. I'm excited to play a game with this wonderful setting AND good gameplay.

Well hey, If could still happen. ;)

Raidou 2 has the same wonderful setting and fantastic gameplay, but the core plot isn't nearly as strong.
 
Hmm I was wondering if this thread existed here... Persona 5 renewed my interest in SMT games. I've beaten SMT IV, got through Apocalypse to the alignment lock
partly because I dropped it for a few months, partly because I'm planning on siding with Dagda
, and got up to the "3 temples" section in Nocturne.

Right now I'm simultaneously playing through Nocturne and IV (because I can play it on the go). Is the proper way to unlock everything for IV going Law->Chaos->Neutral?

Also does anyone have good recommendations for when to do the Kalpas in Nocturne? I tried the first one right after unlocking it and got rekt.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
Hmm I was wondering if this thread existed here... Persona 5 renewed my interest in SMT games. I've beaten SMT IV, got through Apocalypse to the alignment lock
partly because I dropped it for a few months, partly because I'm planning on siding with Dagda
, and got up to the "3 temples" section in Nocturne.

Right now I'm simultaneously playing through Nocturne and IV (because I can play it on the go). Is the proper way to unlock everything for IV going Law->Chaos->Neutral?

Also does anyone have good recommendations for when to do the Kalpas in Nocturne? I tried the first one right after unlocking it and got rekt.

What do you mean by unlocking everything for IV? Seeing all dungeons and final bosses? If so, well... IV's Neutral route is kinda shit in the sense that it's literally just both the chaos and law final dungeons and nothing else. So the "easiest" way to see most of the content in the game is to just do Neutral.

As for Nocturne, I mostly did them as I got acces to them unless they were too hard. But I remember I beat lots of them in one go... I don't really remember which fiend this was, but I remember that there was one that after a certain point in the story, triggers an encounter with him constantly wherever you are until you beat him. I think it was White Rider? Anyway, I beat most of the kalpas after beating him, and left the harder ones for the last stretch of the game before the final dungeon. I didn't have much trouble this way, but I'm sorry this isn't very specific.
 

Lynx_7

Member
Yeah, just go for Neutral on IV, it's pretty much the canonical outcome and sets up Apocalypse.

As for Nocturne, I just occasionally went back to Amala whenever I felt like I was strong enough for the current kalpa. I suggest visiting them after a few story beats so you don't miss a few events that unlock more fiend fights. The last few kalpas (I think
4 and 5
? It's been a long time :p) should be done before the final dungeon.
 

Quote

Member
Has anyone played Nocturne (NTSC) on the PS3 lately? Right after the first save point, if I interact with anything, the PS3 is crashing. Well I assume it's crashing, the screen just goes black and my TV stops detecting it as a source. If I hold the power button down it will turn back on and be at the dashboard.

I've tried a new save and deleting and redownloading the game and it still happens.
 

Hylian7

Member
After I finish Persona 5 (in 11/30 and already finished palace 7 and beat the boss), I plan on finishing Nocturne. Unfortunately I got stuck on Thor in the Mantra Trial. I can figure out the best way to get past it though (buffs/debuffs).

I also have Persona 3 to finish. If I remember correctly, I was slightly past the first full moon.bi also need to finish Persona 4, but I started that on my janky PS2 where the power cable doesn't secure into it. Fortunately I bought the PSN version. I also want to play DDS.
 
Do you have an iphone or ipod? Even an old one should play SMT 1 perfectly, and from what I hear it's a better version than the SFC one.

Word of warning, SMT 1 on iOS has not been updated for 64-bit compatibility, so it probably won't work on iOS 11. (there's strong rumors and some evidence to indicate Apple will forbid any non-64bit apps from running in iOS 11) I'm currently trying to finish up my playthrough before that happens.
 

Hylian7

Member
Playing P5, the one thing that's bothering me about the game more than anything is the boss battles. Not a single one of the major boss battles has had an actual weakness, and they all feel very "by the numbers". Most of them have some kind of "Send one party member to do this other thing to hurt the boss more!" Some of the bosses even have a "silent" weakness. There is one in particular that takes a ton more damage to guns, but is not "weak" to them. It's really inconsistent with it's weakness exploiting.

I don't mind bosses in SMT or Persona that have no weakness, but many of them don't set up unique conditions. For instance there is almost nothing to stop you from spamming Marakukaja and Masukukaja. It's not like bosses I've seen in SMT where if you were to use Makarakarn, they just spam Megidolaon and you're at a level where you can barely survive that.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
Personally I prefer Megaten bosses without weaknesses in most cases, but what bothers me in P5 is that most of them have gimmicks that make the battles feel scripted (Kamoshida is pretty much just following instructions and Palace 4's was pretty bad), and I'm not a fan of the whole "send someone to do X thing and make the boss vulnerable" either. But bosses like Palace 2's are fantastic IMO, and the main Palace 7 boss is straight up one of my favorites in Megaten as a whole, just very challenging, with great scale and fantastic music.

That being said the mini bosses do have weaknesses in most cases and those were plenty of fun too.
 

Hylian7

Member
Personally I prefer Megaten bosses without weaknesses in most cases, but what bothers me in P5 is that most of them have gimmicks that make the battles feel scripted (Kamoshida is pretty much just following instructions and Palace 4's was pretty bad), and I'm not a fan of the whole "send someone to do X thing and make the boss vulnerable" either. But bosses like Palace 2's are fantastic IMO, and the main Palace 7 boss is straight up one of my favorites in Megaten as a whole, just very challenging, with great scale and fantastic music.

That being said the mini bosses do have weaknesses in most cases and those were plenty of fun too.
Yeah, the mini bosses didn't fall into that trap. I definitely didn't care for the ones that felt more like "corridor" bosses if that makes sense.

One of the biggest offenders was on Palace 3:
Kaneshiro has almost no health and Morgana says "Do you want to throw something to distract him?
I said no because he was a few hits from dying, nope, fuck you, you have to throw something.
 
Playing P5, the one thing that's bothering me about the game more than anything is the boss battles. Not a single one of the major boss battles has had an actual weakness, and they all feel very "by the numbers". Most of them have some kind of "Send one party member to do this other thing to hurt the boss more!" Some of the bosses even have a "silent" weakness. There is one in particular that takes a ton more damage to guns, but is not "weak" to them. It's really inconsistent with it's weakness exploiting.

I don't mind bosses in SMT or Persona that have no weakness, but many of them don't set up unique conditions. For instance there is almost nothing to stop you from spamming Marakukaja and Masukukaja. It's not like bosses I've seen in SMT where if you were to use Makarakarn, they just spam Megidolaon and you're at a level where you can barely survive that.
I think this is why SMT vets liked the gauntlet bosses that SMT4:A sometimes had. It let the game give bosses proper weaknesses, but it could still be tricky because you need a team that accounts for all 2 or 3 bosses you have to fight. I hope they consider revisiting this idea in the upcoming Switch game.
 

Hylian7

Member
I think this is why SMT vets liked the gauntlet bosses that SMT4:A sometimes had. It let the game give bosses proper weaknesses, but it could still be tricky because you need a team that accounts for all 2 or 3 bosses you have to fight. I hope they consider revisiting this idea in the upcoming Switch game.
Yeah, while frustrating when I wasn't prepared for it, it was great that Apocalypse did that. You couldn't rely on one-size-fits-all demons (unless their name is Innanna, but you can't get her until near end game).
 

spiritfox

Member
I think this is why SMT vets liked the gauntlet bosses that SMT4:A sometimes had. It let the game give bosses proper weaknesses, but it could still be tricky because you need a team that accounts for all 2 or 3 bosses you have to fight. I hope they consider revisiting this idea in the upcoming Switch game.

I think that's the best thing Apoc introduced. I hope they do that again for SMTV.
 

ramyeon

Member
Yeah, the mini bosses didn't fall into that trap. I definitely didn't care for the ones that felt more like "corridor" bosses if that makes sense.

One of the biggest offenders was on Palace 3:
Kaneshiro has almost no health and Morgana says "Do you want to throw something to distract him?
I said no because he was a few hits from dying, nope, fuck you, you have to throw something.
I'm pretty sure you don't though.

If you do enough damage to him it has the same effect as throwing something but he doesn't get distracted.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
Apocalypse's boss gauntlets were the hypest thing ever and made it finally worth it to amass those armies of well made demons. So satisfying! They were some of the very few challenges in these games not trivialized by the silly save system >_>

Seriously thank god P5 somehow didn't opt for save anywhere, it was the best surprise for me.
 

Hylian7

Member
I'm pretty sure you don't though.

If you do enough damage to him it has the same effect as throwing something but he doesn't get distracted.
I said "No" and they forced me to do it anyway to take out Piggytron. And Piggytron had a significantly larger amount of HP left than the guy.
 

Lynx_7

Member
The boss gauntlets, the final boss,
Krishna and Vishnu
were my favorite fights from Apocalypse.
Odin
was kinda intense too because he kept powering up towards the end of the fight which gave it a sort of frenetic rush to end the fight as soon as possible. I think the press turn system is at its best when you're constantly at the verge of defeat and fights are pushing you to make the correct turn-by-turn decisions between offense, buff/debuffs and survivability (hp/sp/status effects) and/or when you're planning for the long therm outcome of the fight. I feel the aforementioned bosses all deliver in some way or another.

Seriously thank god P5 somehow didn't opt for save anywhere, it was the best surprise for me.

I completely agree. I know some people consider losing progress too "archaic" as a form of punishment but it's better than nothing. Save and ressurrect anywhere completely kills any sense of danger when dungeon crawling, which is why Apocalypse is so uneven in its difficulty (some great boss fights, but largely unthreatening dungeon segments). With save points I at least feel some sense of dread when my resources are running low and the last time I saved was a while ago, it keeps exploration engaging.

Ideally they need to think of a better risk/reward system. The DQ games make you lose half your money upon death, so you don't really lose progress but you're still being punished for sloppy play. Soulsborne punishes you with its bloodstain/lost souls mechanic. SMT could use a similar system. Controversial opinion: I feel like Charon could've worked pretty well in a game with save points. You'd need to choose between either wasting a hefty amount of macca to keep your progress and demons or go back to your last save file. This way they could keep it challenging by carefully spreading out save points.
 

Hylian7

Member
The boss gauntlets, the final boss,
Krishna and Vishnu
were my favorite fights from Apocalypse.
Odin
was kinda intense too because he kept powering up towards the end of the fight which gave it a sort of frenetic rush to end the fight as soon as possible. I think the press turn system is at its best when you're constantly at the verge of defeat and fights are pushing you to make the correct turn-by-turn decisions between offense, buff/debuffs and survivability (hp/sp/status effects) and/or when you're planning for the long therm outcome of the fight. I feel the aforementioned bosses all deliver in some way or another.



I completely agree. I know some people consider losing progress too "archaic" as a form of punishment but it's better than nothing. Save and ressurrect anywhere completely kills any sense of danger when dungeon crawling, which is why Apocalypse is so uneven in its difficulty (some great boss fights, but largely unthreatening dungeon segments). With save points I at least feel some sense of dread when my resources are running low and the last time I saved was a while ago, it keeps exploration engaging.

Ideally they need to think of a better risk/reward system. The DQ games make you lose half your money upon death, so you don't really lose progress but you're still being punished for sloppy play. Soulsborne punishes you with its bloodstain/lost souls mechanic. SMT could use a similar system. Controversial opinion: I feel like Charon could've worked pretty well in a game with save points. You'd need to choose between either wasting a hefty amount of macca to keep your progress and demons or go back to your last save file. This way they could keep it challenging by carefully spreading out save points.

I think this would have actually worked pretty well. It's clear that likely the main reason they opted for Save Anywhere in SMTIV and Apocalypse was because it was a portable game and the player would need to be able to turn it off at almost any time.(although I feel like the dev ignored the 3DS's sleep mode, but that's another debate I suppose.)

I've said this before, but I also think if they paced save points like Strange Journey, it would have worked. While SJ was difficult, it's save points were very fairly spaced out. Yes, you could pretty much save before a boss, etc.
 

Hylian7

Member
So I would like to play the PSP Persona games, namely Persona 1, Persona 2 IS, and then unfortunately the original localization of Persona 2 EP downloaded from PSN.

I don't have a PSP or Vita, and was researching how best to go about this. I would like to play P4G, and P3P too, as well as potentially a fan translated Devil Summoner PSP if that ever happens.

So how would you guys suggest doing this? Should I just forego P4G if I can play the PS2 version and go for a cheaper PSP out there? Based on what I was reading, I can download PSP games from PSN and play them on Vita? Just looking on Amazon, I saw refurb PSPs for about $100 US, and Japan import Vitas for ~$200 US. I have never actually bought Japanese hardware, would I have to worry about any power issues?

Edit: Or is the best of all words to just get a Playstation TV?
 
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