Shin Megami Tensei IV

[Samias]

I don't think any build is useless, so long as you have a party to compensate for your weaknesses. With a magic build, you struggle against anything that has no elemental weakness, in exchange for general diversity and more reliable AoE. Phys attacks are typically a little more random but hit harder, can crit, and you have a lot of status inflicting options, but of course you've got less categories of attack. I'd say leave your strength as is and just shore up your dex and your damage will be fine. With a phys build you'll want to have both slash and gun attacks so you run less of a chance of getting stonewalled by a phys resisting enemy. As for skills, a phys build has more room for support skills like the -kaja series of spells (ESSENTIAL).

[Agile Tit-Tyrant]

I restarted my game anyway, and have put all points into LU so far... maybe I'll try something like 2:1:3 dex/agi/luck

[Shengar]

AGI is really important. I've made many mistakes like walk through the enemy or swung my swords too fast, but only few of it end up being fatal because my high AGI make sure that enemy pre-emptive attack don't occured so easily. LCK I guess being an important factor in demon negotiation. Demon conversation is almost totally random that made me thinking LCK maybe affect it in some way.

[Saint of Games]

For those that are playing it. How are the story and characters so far? No spoilers please.

[Ein]

For those that are playing it. How are the story and characters so far? No spoilers please.

Basic and predictable.

[Esme]

For those that are playing it. How are the story and characters so far? No spoilers please.

it's pretty cool so far

haven't progressed that much because I'm too distracted by ALL THESE QUESTS

Edited July 21, 2013 by Esme

[Samias]

I actually really like the characters even though they fulfil the same function as your usual SMT friends. They don't even attempt to hide that one is Law friend and the other is Chaos friend, since it's right on the box this time. So far I've actually been enjoying the story quite a bit, even though I've gotten lost trying to complete one of the challenge quests and thus have inflated my hours played by a good number.

[Saint of Games]

Okay. Thanks.

-Goes back to lurking-

[Samias]

Not sure how far anyone else is, but VR Battle 6 is driving me nuts. I'm trying really hard to figure out how to reflect everything but this game's got me stumped pretty good.

Edit: Well, I got it... but that was a pretty big jump in toughness from VR 1-5.

Edited July 22, 2013 by Samias

[Chalis]

Oh man that VR mission. I gave up on it for another time, but I'm guessing he gets a different set of resistances on the final turn?

For those that are playing it. How are the story and characters so far? No spoilers please.

For characters, time and attention, piecing together clues, very fufilling. Especially so for all of the unnamed NPCs. Out of the group, Jonathan has really impressed me. In terms of story, I just hit a point where I'm being crushed by waves and waves of nostalgia. Everything is so right.

[spoiler=stat check and skills]

St 7 / Dx 17 / Ma 160 / Ag 104 / Lu 95

Bufudyne +2

War Cry +3

Zandyne +6

Mediarama +8

Concentrate +3

Energy Drain +5

Tetrakarn +3

Megido +8

[Shengar]

Guys, what apps do you usually purchase? I'm trying to have balance here between negotiation, self upgrade and demon upgrade. But the lack of macca and those cutthroat compendium price tempt me to purchase scout bonus even further.

For those that are playing it. How are the story and characters so far? No spoilers please.

So far it is not really special but it have some small touch in its writing that make me quite pleased. But since I've only hit 9 hours mark (with grinding included), I can't give further comment.

[Balcerzak]

Help, I never managed to find those Coffee Beans. Somewhere in a Shinjuku Dept store my ass.

Also, I successfully reached my first credit roll. It was an entirely unsatisfactory ending, but I did it to myself and Burroughs was like "Do you really know what you're doing? I mean, I guess you do, you chose it and all." Whatever, completing it lets me unlock Master difficulty and I'm going to do a Fresh Start NG+ (instead of reincarnate NG+).

[spoiler=light ending stuff maybe]

I took the white people black hole ending and my final stats were

Lv 68

St 94 / Dx 97 / Ma 100 / Ag 107 / Lu 107

Power 207 / Gun 132

Mabufudyne +2

Luster Candy +3

Maziodyne +1

Floral Gust +4

Fire Breath +8

Samarecarm +3

Megidola +8

Mediarahan +2

Sword of Hope

Mikado Custom

Skull Rounds

Black Gunner

Black Demonica

Bushi Tasogare

Hunter Crown

Burroughs Apps:

Skill Expansion 1-4

Mapper

Expand Stock 1-15

Skill Smoother 1-4

Demon Skill+ 1-4

Demon Enhancer: St, Dx, Ma, Ag, Lu

Skill Augment

Scout

Demolingual

Demon Fusion

Summon Discount 1-3

I still had quite a few incenses I hadn't used yet (because they're my emergency full heals while out in the field). My gears' stats are also included.

I have pried myself away from the game for now, but will keep tabs on this thread for questions, discussions, and whathaveyous.

[Chalis]

Help, I never managed to find those Coffee Beans. Somewhere in a Shinjuku Dept store my ass.

I believe I got coffee beans from relic searching.

And congrats on reaching an ending, Hard difficulty sounds lovely.

[Agile Tit-Tyrant]

AGI is really important. I've made many mistakes like walk through the enemy or swung my swords too fast, but only few of it end up being fatal because my high AGI make sure that enemy pre-emptive attack don't occured so easily. LCK I guess being an important factor in demon negotiation. Demon conversation is almost totally random that made me thinking LCK maybe affect it in some way.

I have pretty high luck, 117 right now (31/110/24/63/117 at lv 44) and it seems to my that luck does making recruit just a tiny bit easier, but I'm not sure.

Guys, what apps do you usually purchase? I'm trying to have balance here between negotiation, self upgrade and demon upgrade. But the lack of macca and those cutthroat compendium price tempt me to purchase scout bonus even further.

Here all all the apps I have (minus defaults):

Skill Expansion 1-4

Expand stock 1-9

Demon skill 1-4

Scout Gift

Scout Bonus

Scout+ (very useful, one of the first things I got, if youre going to be recruiting demons get it asap_

Expert Scout (very useful as well)

Demolingual

Fusion booster 1

I'd probably be looking toward the Augment skills now, and then enhancer skills

[Agile Tit-Tyrant]

I have pried myself away from the game for now, but will keep tabs on this thread for questions, discussions, and whathaveyous.

Black Gunner? Hunter Crown? Curious of stats and where you got them.

[Chalis]

Black Gunner? Hunter Crown? Curious of stats and where you got them.

They're sidequest rewards, although Black Gunner (32HP / Dx+9 / Lu+8) can also be bought later. I missed my chance of getting Hunter Crown from the Hunter Tournament Finals haha...

[Balcerzak]

Black Gunner? Hunter Crown? Curious of stats and where you got them.

They're sidequest rewards, although Black Gunner (32HP / Dx+9 / Lu+8) can also be bought later. I missed my chance of getting Hunter Crown from the Hunter Tournament Finals haha...

I uh, kind of saved over that information at this point, but will chime in with "Exactly this." See, the funny thing about this game is, I didn't actually buy any gear. Period. The (free) DLC White Samurai + Quest/Sidequest/Treasures loot carried me through the game. Master Samurai mode, I expect, will be a completely different story, especially when I don't let myself abuse the DLC. I am too tight-fisted with my Macca for negotiating, and don't like spending it. (This holds for all SMT that don't have the Macca/MAG split, actually.)

Like, so far, it's pretty ridiculous. I almost died in the tutorial battle (had to actually use an item), and Orthrus is tearing me a new one. Working up a team comp to fight him down. I tried it before it was complete, and I only had MC survive because of a lucky Smirk (the entire front line was decimated), however, I'm the kind of perfectionist that doesn't go in on Pyhrric victories, so I'm going to round out my team of Fire Resists and have another go. (Though, in all honesty, what kills is the double bounce on his claw attack, which one shots everything I've seen so far.)

I'm tempted to make a separate playlog thread.

Edited July 22, 2013 by Balcerzak

[Agile Tit-Tyrant]

They're sidequest rewards, although Black Gunner (32HP / Dx+9 / Lu+8) can also be bought later. I missed my chance of getting Hunter Crown from the Hunter Tournament Finals haha...

I did the finals but I dont remember getting a Hunter Crown... Ill check my game later

Also Black Gunner is not mentioned in the guide, does that mean theres more equipment than the guide shows? I hope so, because all the armor in the guide is really sucky. I want a upper body without a weakness

Right now, I'm doing a 2:1:2 dex/agi/luk setup. Also my MC is like level 50, and if you finished at level 68 Balcerzak then it makes me feel like im not far off from an end... Which would be cool in one way to beat the game but awful since it would mean the game isnt very long???

Anyway, I heard that Chaos route gets the ability to farm Dex incenses while Law gets to farm Mag incenses. Im hoping I can go Chaos on my first route here, though im worried I made too many Law choices... But if all goes as planned? 1st play = Chaos + Dex, 2nd = Law + Mag?, 3rd run would be the hardest as Neutral and not sure what stat setup to use... Maybe Dex/Mag (since i cant farm any?) and use St incenses when i can. Also Agi is like not even worth putting a lot of stats into. I have 66 agi and feel like I dont even need that much.

And yeah, it might be a little baby-ish but I'm playing on easy. Next play I will more then likely move up to normal though.

Also Balcerzak, do you have an answer to this question? If I had bruce gun with ice bullets, and attacked a demon with a ice weakness, and a gun repel, would it be effective as ice or would it repel as gun?

Also Vr missions can be looked up in the guide cant they?

SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT

Edited July 23, 2013 by Agile Tit-Tyrant

[Shengar]

Challenge enemies physical attack is the worst. While their elemental skill usually are laughable since usually at that point you have some null resistance demon to gain advantage, good luck surviving those physical/gun attack. Even if you do have demon with phys/gun resistance, those who don't usually get wiped pretty quick.

This is very evident with Dance of the Dead challenge. My first attempt is when I'm at level 14. Blight would certainly wiped out most of my time. While I can handle the horde just fine as long as they don't attack first. But since David is a dick with his Mamudo and Blight, I decided to put the challenge on hold. I do the challenge again at level 17, and guess what? Even the horde's Blight would usually wiped my team if they use it. I'm not surprised if those Blight is David's but this....

[Agile Tit-Tyrant]

So when will you know what route you got locked into? I really wanna go Chaos route but Im afraid im not doing it right

[Balcerzak]

If you finished at level 68 Balcerzak then it makes me feel like im not far off from an end... Which would be cool in one way to beat the game but awful since it would mean the game isnt very long???

The ending I took is pretty much equivalent to the White Room ending in Saya, as opposed to the Kouji or Bloom endings. At least that is my interpretation of it.

Also Balcerzak, do you have an answer to this question? If I had bruce gun with ice bullets, and attacked a demon with a ice weakness, and a gun repel, would it be effective as ice or would it repel as gun?

No idea, but Elemental Bullets seem like a monumental waste of a Gun, when you could be using Insta-kill bullets, or Sleep Bullets, or Bind Bullets, or (Status) Bullets. Maybe I just use guns differently than you do.

So when will you know what route you got locked into? I really wanna go Chaos route but Im afraid im not doing it right

I am presuming you are not locked into a route until.

[spoiler=Spoiler Level = Severe]Making a decision regarding the Yamato when asked by the White People after doing both Blasted Tokyo and Infernal Tokyo.

I cannot swear as to such, but that is my gut feeling.

[Rehab]

So I hear critical and consumer opinions may not be perfectly aligned on this one

[Agile Tit-Tyrant]

So I hear critical and consumer opinions may not be perfectly aligned on this one

I think it's mainly people just having too high of standards. I've only played SJ before, and I think this game is pretty great.

Although right now, I'm a little confused and frustrated. Last night an enemy hit my stealing have my macca (about 125k) so I had to reset. Make sure you all save often.

But the thing I'm worried about is... I was playing last night, entered a battle with a mob, and the game kinda half froze on me. Things of the screen were moving, but I couldn't input any command. I shut of the game as it was late.

This morning, I start up my game, and soon notice something very messed up. A glitch? I don't know, but it must be...

One sec, I'll upload a pic

Okay, I had White Samurai equipped, but now it's gone and replaced with ??? which has a weakness to Light. This would be cool if I weren't so sucky but it is and I want my White Samurai back :( I guess I'll just have to go turn in the quest again though so it's not too much of a problem, but still annoying and very confusing. Glitches like this shouldn't happen.

Edited July 23, 2013 by Agile Tit-Tyrant

[Samias]

It might be that your SD card crapped out on you, since the White Samurai is a DLC item. You might have to redownload the DLC to fix that.

Also so many of those comments are "It's not Persona! Where are the social links?!" which makes me sad. This game is better compared to Strange Journey (where I think it is better) and Nocturne (where it isn't quite as good).

[Agile Tit-Tyrant]

It might be that your SD card crapped out on you, since the White Samurai is a DLC item. You might have to redownload the DLC to fix that.

Also so many of those comments are "It's not Persona! Where are the social links?!" which makes me sad. This game is better compared to Strange Journey (where I think it is better) and Nocturne (where it isn't quite as good).

Oh... Well that makes sense but still thats weird and it shouldnt happen o_O. I hope no other DLC is messed up.

I did take my SD card out earlier, thinking thered be no problem. I guess I shouldnt do that then?

I bet half the people who bought this expected Persona right? More people need to play main SMT games. And strange journey was fun as hell, it was easier IMO but not by too much, and honestly I dont' want to compare the two because they are pretty different in ways like how it looks and plays. I mean, the feel of first person vs third person is one thing that stands out.

I shouldn't have traded in my SJ because I just want to play it again talking about it :p

Also, I feel like alignment choices in SMT IV are so vague and confusing. In SJ, they were obvious and I liked it much better that way

Edited July 23, 2013 by Agile Tit-Tyrant