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Shin Megami Tensei General: Where the buffs are at.


Raccoon844
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Alright, general SMT/Megaten/Persona thread. I've generally never really had a chance to make a thread due to me trying to juggle awakening's DLC and The entirity of SMT4 (All routes, DLC, FIEND HUNTING, fashion and making the most bulls**t demons that i can make) but due to Persona 5 and SMT4: Apocolypse (oh whyyyy do you do this to me ATLUS why) coming around the corner, i think right now is the PERFECT chance to have sit back, have a glass or 2 liter of nice cold soda and play some of the old SMT games. How about you guys? Do you have any relationship/hate with the series? Have you beaten any of them*? Post a reply below and let's just take this brief interlude to talk.

*You can talk about persona here, but since we have a thread already dedicated to Persona 5's hype train it might be redundant. Frost Ace is best Hee-Ho.

Edited by Raccoon844
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I've played SMT1, 2, 4, Strange Journey, Devil Survivor 1, Persona 1, Persona 2, Persona 3, I need to get to DDS sometime and i'm still waiting for a proper english patch of SMT:IF

I've played Majin Tensei somewhat as well, and all those games barring Majin Tensei (which i'm still working on) that I've played, I've beaten.

I personally am fond of the mainline games (need to play 3), 1 & 4 in particular, unlike most people I'm actually not fond of SMT2 that much past a certain point, and thats also why 4:Apocalypse (still a dumb name) isn't very appealing to me at the moment, because it looks like it'll be the 2 to 4's 1 throwbacks.

I like Persona somewhat, more strictly 2, 3 was the start of trends that made me feel it wasn't all that much SMT like (I like 3 despite that though, it kept just enough I think of the darker tones), but I do intend to play 4 sometime, even if its happy go lucky nature (from what I've seen) goes heavily against typical SMT fare, and yeah I realize Persona is its own thing largely now, but it still bugs me a lot for some reason.

Edited by Jedi
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I played Devil Survivor 1+2, Persona 3+4 and a bit SMTIV and I love them all except for Persona 4 because its story is bleh.

DeSu 2 is still my favorite 3DS game because of its gameplay, characters, soundtrack and Airi.

However I kinda miss (de)buffs in the DeSu series.

Also my started SMT thread died soon, because I was too lazy to update it.

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I've played and own SMT I, Nocturne, IV, Devil Survivor 1+2 and their remakes, both Digital Devil Saga games, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, both Raido Kuzunoha games, Persona 1's PSP remake, the PS1 original and PSP remake of Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Persona 3/FES/Portable, and Persona 4/Golden. I also own Ronde for some reason (I think it came free with my Japanese Innocent Sin disc), but I've never played it. I adore this series, if that list didn't make it clear. Innocent Sin is my absolute favorite, and I think it's both Atlus's best-written game and one of the best-written video games ever. The only game I really have any sort of pronounced negative feelings for is Nocturne, and that's because a lot of its difficulty comes from BS.

I've only played Persona 3 and 4. I was planning on getting into the (real?) Shin Megami Tensei series via Apocalypse, but I'm European.

Feels bad man.

According to this article, the company that's bringing you guys Persona 5 is also bringing over Apocalypse at some point.

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I've played and own SMT I, Nocturne, IV, Devil Survivor 1+2 and their remakes, both Digital Devil Saga games, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, both Raido Kuzunoha games, Persona 1's PSP remake, the PS1 original and PSP remake of Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Persona 3/FES/Portable, and Persona 4/Golden. I also own Ronde for some reason (I think it came free with my Japanese Innocent Sin disc), but I've never played it. I adore this series, if that list didn't make it clear. Innocent Sin is my absolute favorite, and I think it's both Atlus's best-written game and one of the best-written video games ever. The only game I really have any sort of pronounced negative feelings for is Nocturne, and that's because a lot of its difficulty comes from BS.

What are DDS and Soul Hackers like? I've been interested in them for a bit, but I wasn't sure what their differences and such were, from Traditional SMT.

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I've played through Strange Journey, Digital Devil Saga, Catherine, Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon, Persona 3: FES/P3P and 4/Golden, IMAGINE and I'm currently playing through Persona 2: Innocent Sin.

I actually got into the series through P4. I was really impressed with the game play, dialogue, characters and music. At the time I discovered P4, NO game stores had it in stock in my city or the neighboring one. Only after about two weeks did I finally get a hit and it happened to be a used disc that the cashier was somewhat reluctant to give up on as she was interested in the game as well, but didn't realize they had a copy because she was likely not on duty. Literally one week later, the game stores in my city got brand new shipments of P4 that came bundled with Disc 1 of the soundtrack. Predictably, I was pissed because half of the reason I wanted the game was because of the soundtrack CD.

[spoiler=Persona 4: Golden]Persona 4: Golden was alright. I enjoyed the Midnight Channel addition that included the concept art, the psychology explanation and the footage of the Velvet Room concert. Other than than, I didn't really care much for it as it was essentially a rehash of the original, though I did like the portability of it.

[spoiler=Persona 3/FES/Portable]After playing through P4, I invested in P3 even though I was hesitant due to what happens to our player character. I played through it and, throughout the game, I literally only liked Kuromaru, Junpei and Ryoji. I still to this day do not understand the hype of Shiniji. The FES add-on felt somewhat unnecessary, but I did enjoy having an explanation of what actually happened to Minato. During this game section, I still only liked Junpei and Kuromaru, along with the added addition of Aigis. While I enjoyed the game and I preferred the overall theme in comparison to 4, I could feel its age compared to the refined P4.

This changed when I played P3P.

For P3P, the female protagonist truly felt like the definitive main character. She was closer to SEES; her personality, while still bland, was a bit more enjoyable than her male counterpart; her music was a bit better; her supports felt much better; and, the icing on the cake: she had Theodore, who actually made me shed tears once I completed his date requests.

I'm still salty that I couldn't romance Junpei.

[spoiler=Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon]This was my first SMT game and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Despite not having voice acting, I felt it didn't detract from the experience. I am quite fond of the time period that the game is set; the game play, while different to what I was used to, was very fun; I loved the music; I fell absolutely in love with Kazuma Kaneko's art; and I really liked the demon recruitment mechanic.

My favorite part of the game is somewhat random. It can occur when a Cu Chulainn is in the party and the player encounters a Pixie. I believe the Pixie is pissed because Cu Chulainn ate one of her friends and he shows absolutely no remorse over it. It made me laugh for a bit. Also, the Titania x Oberon case file was entertaining.

[spoiler=Catherine]Literally, the only puzzle game that I have ever enjoyed. I absolutely loved Vincent and the struggles he went through. I quite liked the story. I ended up hating both of the female leads, but I reluctantly choose the Chaos ending just to hear Demon King!Vincent's sexy ass voice. I really liked the soundtrack, both the original tracks and the remixed tracks of well-known classical music.

[spoiler=DDS]I actually got this game because of the ENG opening, which I vastly prefer over the JAP/EU version. The story is actually quite interesting despite the background of the world they inhabit being completely unknown; I was immediately drawn in from the introduction.

I appreciated that, despite being a silent protagonist, Serph still has something of a personality (I am aware of the overarching story and I know of all the spoilers concerning him). He is, to date, one of my favorite SMT protagonists, just after Raidou. The cast of characters were pretty good and I found myself liking all of them, particularly Gale; I do think the enemy factions should have been fleshed out but, due to spoilers, I understand why they were not.

I was conflicted over liking Heat. His usefulness as a unit petered as the game went along because Physical nullification, reflect and absorb began to run rampant. However, I have a very strong and disturbing fetish for Crispin Freeman's voice. Ultimately, I kept him in my party just to hear him say, "Your ass is mine!"

*shudder*

The game play is fun, taking up the "One More" turn-based battle system. I started the game somewhat confident because I'd heard the rumors of the difficulties of the series but, I had yet to be wiped out. This changed about midway through the game, where I was grinding and, before I knew it, my characters had been annihilated all due to an unlucky miss during a random encounter. Despite that, the bosses aren't outrageously impossible but, like most battles, they require patience and a little bit of luck.

I bought the second game, but I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet due to not having a PS3 at the moment.

[spoiler=Strange Journey and IMAGINE]Strange Journey is okay. I'm not too fond of it, but I do plan on replaying it. IMAGINE was an online MMORPG that takes place during the first and second SMT games. It's not available in the US any longer, but it really wasn't that great, anyways. I will admit that I am fond of the music and, of course, Kazuma Kaneko's artwork and character designs.

[spoiler=Persona 2: Innocent Sin]I actually know most of the story, but I haven't been playing the game for very long. I have to say that I am somewhat biased towards the second game as, from what I read and watched, I vastly prefer the "dark and gritty" tone of the game.

Again, Kazuma Kaneko's art is top notch; the demon negotiation, while entertaining, is something of a hassle; the battle system is decent; and, surprisingly, I'm not too much of a fan of the soundtrack.

Overall, I'm more of an SMT fangirl than a Persona one, but I like all the games.

I'm honestly excited for Persona 5, though my vision of it is distorted due to this fan project called P5 x ATLUS that came out during the 2011-2012 era when the game was apparently in development hell. It was very interesting and well-put together despite borrowing artwork from different manga and using real music.

Edited by SaiSymbolic
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I've only played Persona 3 and 4. I was planning on getting into the (real?) Shin Megami Tensei series via Apocalypse, but I'm European.

Feels bad man.

Going to be honest with you man: You should start in the "real" SMT series via it's 3rd game Nocturne/Lucifer's Call since it has all the general gameplay mechanics such as press turn, recruiting demons and it has the classic demon fusion, compared to SMT4 and Apocalypse where it uses Devil Survivor's Inherent Skill system (choose 8 skills of your own choosing from the demons that you are fusioning) and the fact that it has everyone's favorite, Red Capote wearing, Wake Up Call Boss of a Fiend known as Matador. Or you could get into the series like i have via Strange Journey, it won't really disappoint you at times but it WILL piss you off when it decides to throw you a curve ball like a random fiend via enemy search OR you getting in a puzzle area.

Speaking of, i am almost done with Strange Journey's first run (neutral). All i gotta do is give Frost Ace his Repel Lightning and give Greg either Jihad (antitichton) or BIG BANG. Speaking of those two i'll make a seperate message just containing my 3 main endgame demons.

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I've played

[spoiler=Long]

  • Nocturne (forgot how far I was, I think the Embessy of Nihilo or whatever, and I last fought Eligor, or maybe Ose)
  • Strange Journey (just entered Eridanus)
  • Soul Hackers (I last completed the Akane Mall/Warehouse dungeon)
  • DeSu1 Overclocked (completed all routes besides Naoya/Kaido)
  • DeSu2 and Record Breaker (completed Daichi's restorer and Yamato's routes)
  • SMTIV (completed White and just before alignment lock, heading towards law I think)
  • Persona 1 (completed SEBEC quest)
  • Persona 2: Innocent Sin (made it out of bomb shelter)
  • Persona 3 FES (day 1/27 of Journey, in the 4th area maybe of Answer)
  • Persona 4 (completed true ending once)
  • Persona Q (on the final floor of Clock Tower)
  • and TMS#FE (completed once, just beat Garrick 2 in Lunatic).

I have a really bad habit of starting a file, playing though a bit, putting it down, and when I return I usually start again or rarely actually continue.

I'm really hyped for SMTIVA and Persona 5, and spoilers only fuel the fire.

Edited by Konnor97
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Going to be honest with you man: You should start in the "real" SMT series via it's 3rd game Nocturne/Lucifer's Call

Isn't that one like, the hardest in the series

Anyways, I've played Megami Tensei 1 and 2 and their respective remakes, SMT 1 and 2, and Devil Survivor Overclocked.

I started with Megami Tensei for the Famicom, but quit after the second dungeon cause I got lost. Megami Tensei 2 (the SNES remake) is actually the most fun I've had with the series by far, Overclocked being a close second. SMT 1 was/is kind of boring after a while (and annoying too) and I haven't really gotten the farthest in SMT 2

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I completely forgot about Strange Journey, because I don't own it anymore, but I have played and beat it. Catherine I've played too, but I personally don't really count it as a part of the SMT series as a whole.

What are DDS and Soul Hackers like? I've been interested in them for a bit, but I wasn't sure what their differences and such were, from Traditional SMT.

Soul Hackers is a lot like SMT I, but with some additional mechanics. For one, there's a loyalty meter that affects how your demon acts in combat; with higher loyalty, they'll obey your direct commands more, but with lower loyalty they'll do whatever they want and even get pissed enough to leave, and the only way to raise loyalty is to have them act in a way that matches their personality, but thankfully you can transfer loyalty when you fuse demons. Like the original SMT I, demons don't level up or gain experience, and have alignments. There's also no Cathedral of Shadows, and you can just fuse on the go.

The DDS duology, meanwhile, is pretty different. Instead of summoning demons, your party members turn into them (and can only change into one specific demon each), and your party members can utilize both human and demon form in combat. You learn skills by equipping items called Mantra, which grows through AP. You can get AP by fighting normally, but you get even more by cannibalizing other demons in battle, which also runs the risk of you getting a stomachache, nullifying all AP gain. There's eight skill slots to equip, and unlike DeSu you can pick and choose which skills your characters use. Also, it uses the Turn Press system.

Going to be honest with you man: You should start in the "real" SMT series via it's 3rd game Nocturne/Lucifer's Call

Honesty, Nocturne would be way more frustrating than Strange Journey, given how difficult Nocturne as a whole is. IV too would be bad for a beginner, since the early game is really difficult.

Edited by AzureSen
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Honesty, Nocturne would be way more frustrating than Strange Journey, given how difficult Nocturne as a whole is. IV too would be bad for a beginner, since the early game is really difficult.

I'll have to agree with you on that actually. I've seen people get turned off by the series thanks to Minotaur and the general "early-game hell" that Naraku has going for it. Nocturne has it similar but atleast you can actually safely grind without the occasional smirk and the fact that you have actual decent early game demons instead of 4's trash.

why they gave you a crappy centaur and your only choice of healer demons is a Pixie-wannabe and an old man duck i will never know

Edited by Raccoon844
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Soul Hackers is a lot like SMT I, but with some additional mechanics. For one, there's a loyalty meter that affects how your demon acts in combat; with higher loyalty, they'll obey your direct commands more, but with lower loyalty they'll do whatever they want and even get pissed enough to leave, and the only way to raise loyalty is to have them act in a way that matches their personality, but thankfully you can transfer loyalty when you fuse demons. Like the original SMT I, demons don't level up or gain experience, and have alignments. There's also no Cathedral of Shadows, and you can just fuse on the go.

The DDS duology, meanwhile, is pretty different. Instead of summoning demons, your party members turn into them (and can only change into one specific demon each), and your party members can utilize both human and demon form in combat. You learn skills by equipping items called Mantra, which grows through AP. You can get AP by fighting normally, but you get even more by cannibalizing other demons in battle, which also runs the risk of you getting a stomachache, nullifying all AP gain. There's eight skill slots to equip, and unlike DeSu you can pick and choose which skills your characters use. Also, it uses the Turn Press system.

Since I really love SMT1 I think I'd love Soul Hackers, thanks for the informative reply!

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Admittedly, I haven't played a whole lot of SMT games--and most of them have been spinoffs. Those have been Persona 3 and Q, but I've played SMTIV, at least!

Now, I didn't play these games for very long, but what I have, I've liked. I hope to get back to them some time. I'm pretty bad at games, so I'm sure that eventually even SMTIV will give me a tough time. I like the idea of negotiating with demons, and how your choices actually affect the game (right? With the Neutral, Chaos and Law routes?).

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Admittedly, I haven't played a whole lot of SMT games--and most of them have been spinoffs. Those have been Persona 3 and Q, but I've played SMTIV, at least!

Now, I didn't play these games for very long, but what I have, I've liked. I hope to get back to them some time. I'm pretty bad at games, so I'm sure that eventually even SMTIV will give me a tough time. I like the idea of negotiating with demons, and how your choices actually affect the game (right? With the Neutral, Chaos and Law routes?).

Yeah, dialog choices will effect your alignment and your eventual route, in SMT4 there are Bars where there is a dude who generally gives you a hint on your current alignment thankfully.

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Admittedly, I haven't played a whole lot of SMT games--and most of them have been spinoffs. Those have been Persona 3 and Q, but I've played SMTIV, at least!

Now, I didn't play these games for very long, but what I have, I've liked. I hope to get back to them some time. I'm pretty bad at games, so I'm sure that eventually even SMTIV will give me a tough time. I like the idea of negotiating with demons, and how your choices actually affect the game (right? With the Neutral, Chaos and Law routes?).

Protip: Naraku is the main bane of everyone but once you get through it and you have access to the main game OR the Dance of the Dead (which is a quest that's a bit hard at that stage of the game but it has a NICE payoff) It will be a whole lot more funner. Also DLC is honestly acceptable if you need a bit of coins via it's gold DLC. The EXP and App points DLCs break the game like a cookie dunked into milk though.

Yeah, dialog choices will effect your alignment and your eventual route, in SMT4 there are Bars where there is a dude who generally gives you a hint on your current alignment thankfully.

I had to actually look up a guide on getting towards neutral, wasn't fun in the slightest honestly. But when i did get it i was so overjoyed to the point that i literally fell asleep on my bed once i finally got the sign that shown "hey kid you dun did good, enjoy yo neutral route".

Edited by Raccoon844
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The main problem for getting Neutral in SMT4

Isn't the juggling alignments thing

Or even the wtf is this how do you figure this out without guide stuff

Or even the sidequest you need to complete

ITS GETTING THOSE MACCA FOR VIP CARD

Not sure if this is specific to Soul Hackers, but the Magnetite Sustain per step system of SH means you can only use 1 Demon for the most part outside of boss battles, which is kinda different from other SMT where you can summon full squad with no issue whatsoever.

I think the partner system in SH is the most gamebreaking characteristic of it. SMT usually have total scrub for a main character. Soul Hackers gave you 2 main character, and the second MC is pretty much the best character in the game on every path until you can create specific broken demons(protip: If you saw demon with cheap AOE spell with unique names, make them and watch the world burn)

Theres also that Custom Demon system, but its kinda useless due to how hard it is to control its results, and lower stats than generic demon, but the Japanese Figure demons are made from those and these are some epic shit

Also unlike other SMT games, Soul Hackers is a cult exposing/team relationship story instead of apocalyptic story #3263726372 like with every other SMT

I basically only played Devil Survivor, Demikids Darl, 4 and Strange Journey

DeSu series is by far my favorite, because of the story tones isn't as dark as the others(yeah i don't really like dark stories much), and the gameplay is pretty good

Demikids Dark is a joke. Really only played this one because of the manga, but its a very broken game due to how poorly thought out several of their features are

SJ is one of my favorite, that i don't play anymore because its very exhaustive to play. Its basically Etrian Oddysey: SMT edition. SJ also had a very unpleasant story

4 was okay. Its almost auto pilot level as far as difficulty goes if you take the MP restoration APP

Edited by JSND
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I had to actually look up a guide on getting towards neutral, wasn't fun in the slightest honestly. But when i did get it i was so overjoyed to the point that i literally fell asleep on my bed once i finally got the sign that shown "hey kid you dun did good, enjoy yo neutral route".

I actually got it without one, because i'm just so used to alignment balancing from SMT1/2 which is a little more difficult to do in a way, if you don't know how it works :P:

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Persona 5 is out in Japan boiz! Who is already playing?

My friend played it. He's living in Japan. He said it's way darker than the previous games. And the characters are way more dark as well. There are a lot of stealth mechanics. You can pursue monsters to join you.

A girl in the same school of main characters committed suicides right at the start of the game and our characters are super nonchalant about it

Edited by Magical CC
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A girl in the same school of main characters committed suicides right at the start of the game and our characters are super nonchalant about it

From what I've heard she's not dead, just in a coma.

I've already been spoiled a ton about P5, mostly because I didn't really want to play "dodge the spoilers" for five months, but honestly everything I've read about it has just made me more hyped.

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Welp, i'm at the doorstep of SMT: Strange Journey's Neutral Final Boss so i might as well give you guys two of my main demon's codes. They are a bit high leveled so they might cost a bit.

Greg (LVL 68, Neutral-Law)

Ne$S4F+tv3#FL4J9 h2hXVP$ghCUrjBJd

Captain Frost (LVL 61, Light-Neutral)

Vy2GY04xYVtUzTQQ tD+Qwzu6fVMTNTv$

Enjoy.

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I really enjoy Soul Hackers, especially since I missed the good ol' days, when you had a partner, the demons had a fixed level, a team of six...

Including when the main character couldn't use any skills at all other than the COMP, and having demons required Magnetite, yup, totally missed that... :p

Protip, give him lot of En so he'll have a lot of HP

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To be honest, I'm not sure if I want to be angry at Atlus from taking down all uploaded videos of P5 game play from YT, or thankful for making sure I don't spoil it for myself. When a game first launches, I tend to watch a Japanese play through (as I don't understand Japanese) just so I can get a grasp of game mechanics, music, stage design, etc.

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persona 3 and 4 are really fun, though the dungeon mechanics could use so much improvement. a lot of the boss battles just feel very procedural and rote. i still enjoy them, mostly because i find it really fun to try to fuse and engineer perfect personas, but i'm hoping 5 will ramp it up now.

playing persona 2 innocent sin. i figure now that p5 is using the recruitment mechanic i might a swell immerse myself in the whole series. the story is great so far, though the crawling can feel tedious.

i wasn't able to finish smtiv because it was feeling very dry, but for some reason apocalypse looks really interesting to me, so i'm going to probably play both now.

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