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Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse Review Thread

Shaanyboi

Banned
I literally could never find the first boss in SMT4. It just never showed up and I explored every single corner of that damn dungeon. I got in every single fight I could, but it just never showed.

Hopefully this one doesn't annoy me nearly as much.
 
Why is there Persona in my SMT?
You are going take your Persona in SMT!

And you are going to like it!!

Plz buy the DLC pack to also unlock endgame perso- I mean demons.


As long as it's DLC, I don't care personally. Been wanting to pick this up. Played through SMT4 but thought it became medicore after a point, especially with the story. Glad SMT4A will fix some of that stuff.
 

Biske

Member
What was the issue with the map? I don't remember having an issue with it, then again I have a super high tolerance to the ridiculous.

In my case it was confusing as hell, specially as its hard as balls to remember all the japanese names, where they are in relation to each other, visually hard to tell the difference between areas and where you can go and cant go. I was confused the whole game.

Also yea, getting the flying option which makes it a lot easier, is basically hidden away, had to follow a guide to get it.
 

gerudoman

Member
I loved SMTIV, but since I played it last year, I think I'm going to wait some months or even years before jumping into Apocalypse.
 
I literally could never find the first boss in SMT4. It just never showed up and I explored every single corner of that damn dungeon. I got in every single fight I could, but it just never showed.

Hopefully this one doesn't annoy me nearly as much.

If i'm thinking of the right one and it was a "mandatory" side quest type boss...then I think you have to select the quest in quest log to make the boss spawn. The AI thingy tells you this but it didn't stop me forgetting a bunch,.
 
What's the consensus of the game from people who played it? I found SMT IV a rather weak Atlus game. It was nowhere near as good as Strange Journey.
 

Rektash

Member
As someone who put 130h into SMT IV this very year, I can't wait for this to get released in Europe. Reviews are looking great as expected!
 

Lynx_7

Member
I've read about a harder-than-hard difficulty free DLC for this game, do we know if that's going to be available day 1?
 

Neoweee

Member
I've read about a harder-than-hard difficulty free DLC for this game, do we know if that's going to be available day 1?

It sounds like shit. It is the only difficulty with the MC-death = Game Over implemented, which alone discourages me from playing it. It isn't even THAT much harder than the Great War difficulty (the Hard that is unlocked from the start), like 147% damage rather than 130%.

From Gamefaqs:

War= Normal damage
Great War = 30% damage penalty
Apocalypse = 40% damage penalty

War = Normal damage
Great War = 130% damage taken
Apocalypse = 147% damage taken
 

ar4757

Member
Loved SMTIV (my introduction to this wonderful series) and from the looks of it they addressed nearly every problem the first game had. Can't wait to get my hands on Apocalypse.

Yep, Atlus addressed pretty much every problem - now there's waifus
 

Lynx_7

Member
It sounds like shit. It is the only difficulty with the MC-death = Game Over implemented, which alone discourages me from playing it.

That honestly doesn't bother me in games balanced with that in mind, like Nocturne and P3&4, but if this is anything like SMT IV where everyone is a glass cannon and can die at any given moment then I can see that being a problem.
 

Neoweee

Member
That honestly doesn't bother me in games balanced with that in mind, like Nocturne and P3&4, but if this is anything like SMT IV where everyone is a glass cannon and can die at any given moment then I can see that being a problem.

Even in games where it is "balanced" around, it consistently results in less interesting boss fights and more BS sudden deaths. Nocturne's Hard mode is viewed as tedious by a lot of people because of how prevalent ambush deaths are. It was especially egregious in Strange Journey, where one of the paths had the most BS final boss of all time with its non-elemental 1HKO spam.

The SMT series has taken large steps away from that mechanic, so it sucks to see its hard mode again ruined by it (much like P4G's Very Hard mode, which had the mechanic while the lower difficulties had it turned off).
 

marmoka

Banned
Even in games where it is "balanced" around, it consistently results in less interesting boss fights and more BS sudden deaths. Nocturne's Hard mode is viewed as tedious by a lot of people because of how prevalent ambush deaths are. It was especially egregious in Strange Journey, where one of the paths had the most BS final boss of all time with its non-elemental 1HKO spam.

The SMT series has taken large steps away from that mechanic, so it sucks to see its hard mode again ruined by it (much like P4G's Very Hard mode, which had the mechanic while the lower difficulties had it turned off).

Did anybody play the Snes version of the first SMT? In Japanese or with English patches? That game was hard as fuck, you could die in any moment. It was horrible frustrating.
 

Neoweee

Member
What difficulty level will you guys be starting with?

Great War (Hard) seems like the way to go. You can turn it down from there as well. The highest, like P4G, enables insta-GO if MC dies, and prevents you from changing the difficulty mid-game.

Did anybody play the Snes version of the first SMT? In Japanese or with English patches? That game was hard as fuck, you could die in any moment. It was horrible frustrating.

Save Spot placements were super egregious in all of the SMT games Persona 1 and earlier.
 

NeonZ

Member
Did anybody play the Snes version of the first SMT? In Japanese or with English patches? That game was hard as fuck, you could die in any moment. It was horrible frustrating.

By the time the difficulty starts ramping up in SMTI, you get access to nerve and magic bullets that basically break the game aside from a couple of boss battles.
 

Korigama

Member
It's my main issue with the game, which I go over a bit in my own review. It's one of the main themes of the game so it doesn't really seem like a spoiler but, yeah, it was a bit too overbearing.
Hm, that "mash X to avoid getting warped by random traps" sounds like annoying BS rather than something that actually improves dungeons to me, so it's not surprising to read that it and the wall thing are just added busywork (I already didn't like the merely restrictive random traps in the original, and was fine with the dungeons themselves being simpler as places that were mostly actually inhabited once). The focus on the power of friendship was something I had read about with this one, and does come across as very odd for a mainline SMT title.

That said, I really enjoyed the original SMT IV, so I will be getting this. I have no intention of paying full price for it though, as I didn't do so for the previous game, which also came with a better launch edition than this will in spite of also carrying the $10 "Atlus tax". Being busy with Trails of Cold Steel II (which also cost me less than this would've at launch) is all the more reason why I won't be getting around to it anytime soon.
 

LProtag

Member
I'm ready.

Though, I only got the law ending because I messed up my neutral runthrough of SMTIV. Maybe I should read up on what happened in it.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
I'm ready.

Though, I only got the law ending because I messed up my neutral runthrough of SMTIV. Maybe I should read up on what happened in it.

The real additions are the extra sidequests. The ending is just as short and non-descript as the other two, though like you can probably guess, all the
Stephen and little girl foreshadowing
ties into it.
 

TimeKillr

Member
Been waiting to see the reviews, though I know no matter I'll be picking it up.

I throughly enjoyed SMTIV and hope the difficulty is curved upwards instead of downwards this time around. It didn't detract from me enjoying the game, just found it to be peculiar how they front loaded at lot of the boss fights and then the majority of fights afterwards weren't that tough.

Also just ready to jump back in this depiction of Tokyo. The atmosphere for IV was amazing and as much as I would liked a new entry into SMT, I will take going back into the world of IV.

I think the real problem with SMT4's difficulty curve is that the first most boss fights sort of demand certain skills/monsters but it's MUCH more difficult to get those specific skills/monsters early on, plus not to mention it's so incredibly difficult to make money in the beginning that it just scales the curve waaay up. But once you're past that, you have a much more stable source of income, plus it's much simpler to get the skills you want/need, so the game's difficulty just feels lower.

I think it's one of the only SMT games where getting Agi is a bit harder in the beginning (you very specifically need a Melchior and those start a bit further in so it's harder to get them).
 
I'm just gonna leave this here, this is an actual review of SMT4 Apocalypse

CsmIi1AXgAAUgUa.jpg:large


http://gamingtrend.com/reviews/its-not-the-end-of-the-world-shin-megami-tensei-iv-apocalypse-review/
 

Zolo

Member
I'm just gonna leave this here, this is an actual review of SMT4 Apocalypse

Read the review. Thought it was mostly okay. The only problem may have been that it seemed at times like the author had a hard time deciding whether the game should be appealing to new players or veterans.
 

True Fire

Member
I'm just gonna leave this here, this is an actual review of SMT4 Apocalypse

CsmIi1AXgAAUgUa.jpg:large


http://gamingtrend.com/reviews/its-not-the-end-of-the-world-shin-megami-tensei-iv-apocalypse-review/

What a terrible, scatterbrained review. "Waahh, muddy textures on the 3DS! The battle system is fun! What, you can change the difficulty at any point? BOOO!! oh btw the character designs are sexist, here's a picture of a fully clothed cat to prove why"

I just find it bewildering how, in a game where you
team up with Satan to kill God
a female character being a damsel in distress is the most problematic thing

Also, the author keeps flipping back and forth between being a veteran and being a newcomer, but their lack of understanding of classic SMT/Persona tropes such as the silent protagonist suggests the latter
 

Zolo

Member
lack of understanding of classic SMT/Persona tropes such as the silent protagonist suggests the latter
Yeah. I thought that was a weird complaint too.
Nanashi (literally “no name”) doesn’t react to events happening around him, and when other characters are on-screen, he’s reduced to a fly-on-the-wall becoming less of a character and more of an avatar.
I mean....he IS supposed to be an avatar.
 
I'm just gonna leave this here, this is an actual review of SMT4 Apocalypse

CsmIi1AXgAAUgUa.jpg:large


http://gamingtrend.com/reviews/its-not-the-end-of-the-world-shin-megami-tensei-iv-apocalypse-review/

I don't get who this review is for really. It talks about the confusion between appealing to veterans and Newcomers which is reasonable (It was something that ran through my head while playing this venture), but I can't help but feel the structure of this article here is too erratic.

At least he notes the subversion of Traditional SMT tropes. That's a good observation on his part.
 
I don't get who this review is for really. It talks about the confusion between appealing to veterans and Newcomers which is reasonable (It was something that ran through my head while playing this venture), but I can't help but feel the structure of this article here is too erratic.

At least he notes the subversion of Traditional SMT tropes. That's a good observation on his part.

I mean it could be a lot worse but in a game where
you team up with Satan to kill God
a female character being a damsel in distress is the biggest problem
 
If I've only played the first 5 hours of SMTIV, should I get this game instead and continue from the start? Or is it entirely new content?

I'm asking because I'm afraid to be spoiled, if I look into it too much.
 
I mean it could be a lot worse but in a game where
you team up with Satan to kill God
a female character being a damsel in distress is the biggest problem

I'm pretty sure he notes that it's what the Aesthetics appear to be for him, not what actually occurs plot wise. If that's how he felt about the aesthetic quality of the game, then that's the impression he shares with us.

I just think the article's a bit messy structurally.

If I've only played the first 5 hours of SMTIV, should I get this game instead and continue from the start? Or is it entirely new content?

I'm asking because I'm afraid to be spoiled, if I look into it too much.

I recommend trying to gun for the Neutral route of SMT4 or at the least get to that point in the game (you'll probably know what it is) because this game continues from that point chronologically.
 
I'm pretty sure he notes that it's what the Aesthetics appear to be for him, not what actually occurs plot wise. If that's how he felt about the aesthetic quality of the game, then that's the impression he shares with us.

I just think the article's a bit messy structurally.

Agree, the review is just a mess when it comes to structure.
 

Lynx_7

Member
It would help if the reviewer specified which demons' designs they had a problem with. Some of them are sexualized because it fits their mythology.You could argue many myths are sexist by themselves and SMT does take a lot of liberties in its depiction of said demons, but I don't know, it just sounds like an odd complaint in a franchise with charriot penises, many other depictions of the male genitalia throughout its designs, male demons who can also sexy dance, and male demon designs which aren't exactly shy on showing skin.
I'll concede that there's a much larger number of sexy female demon designs than sexy male designs though.

Boring characters are unfortunate but not really something unexpected from a mainline title, and I usually don't have trouble keeping up with plots most people deem "hard to follow" unless they're legitimately a plot-holed filled, contrived trainwreck.
 

Soriku

Junior Member
I'm just gonna leave this here, this is an actual review of SMT4 Apocalypse

CsmIi1AXgAAUgUa.jpg:large


http://gamingtrend.com/reviews/its-not-the-end-of-the-world-shin-megami-tensei-iv-apocalypse-review/

Some...really strange complaints here.

Perhaps this can be attributed to the protagonist Nanashi’s lack of voice, which painfully stands out compared to the game’s varied cast of characters.

Nanashi (literally “no name”) doesn’t react to events happening around him, and when other characters are on-screen, he’s reduced to a fly-on-the-wall becoming less of a character and more of an avatar.

Every SMT protagonist is a voiceless avatar, what else is new?

Unfortunately, Apocalypse gives players the option to change the difficulty at any time outside of battle without repercussion, which completely betrays the game’s fierce learning curve and unforgiving brutality in combat. It’s an addition that doesn’t make sense for a challenge-hungry M-rated audience, and it takes the fun out of combat. This is especially jarring considering how otherwise unfriendly Apocalypse is to newcomers.

Many games allow you to change difficulty on the fly. I don't see why this matters because if you're actually looking for a challenge, you won't be touching the settings anyway. People who want an easy experience are going to play it on an easier difficulty to begin with.

Not sure why the M-rating matters at all with regards to this too, and is Apocalypse even aimed at newcomers? It should be aimed at people who played the original SMT IV more than anything. He doesn't even specify what makes Apocalypse bad for newcomers besides "dull characters and meaningless choices" which aren't really barriers for entry. Certainly no more so than many other SMT games...

Then this part is just laughable:

Even more offensive are the female demons, who can use moves such as “Sexy Dance” to “charm” their enemies. Regardless of this title coming out of the East, it’s a wildly offensive and derogatory design that pulled me out of the experience on more than one occasion.

smtskeve.jpg

LMAO! The Sexy Dance ability (which I think you can even give to male demons) and charming have been part of SMT for a long time. Same goes for the demon Nekomata in his example picture. Has this dude even played a SMT before?
 
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