Shin Megami Tensei 4

[xopher]

I'm 6 hours in and at the minotaur boss.

[Julian]

No one knows what version this game will update you to?

[xopher]

pretty sure no one cares either.

[Julian]

I care.

[Insanecyclone]

Damn this is rough starting out. I don't remember Nocturne being like this starting out.

[Hitoshura]

Nocturne was particularly brutal on Hard mode. I got killed with a critical hit that gave the enemy an extra press turn and just killed me. Had to start over, watch the conception again. FFFF

In related news:

http://i42.tinypic.com/2up69ua.jpg

My body+mind are ready for this. Ultimate SMTIV collectors edition, bong not included. Now that my WiFi is also back up, I will be adding the lot of you.

[Viq]

Man, I sold my 3DS before moving back to Korea. The regret, it's so strong.

[Moridam]

get another one! i bought mine specifically for this game. completely worth it.

[samalis]

Just beat Chaos route, this game is so gooood.

About to do NG+ Neutral. Anyone know if your alignment carries over? I plan to do a fresh NG+ with no levels but wasn't sure if alignment carried over.

[AlexRuzhyo]

I'm ignorant to this thread and the TMS series. I own Fire Emblem, and because of the $30 credit deal, am considering this game (Holy shit a $50 3DS Game?). Can anyone give me a brief rundown of what it is?

[Correction]

I'm ignorant to this thread and the TMS series. I own Fire Emblem, and because of the $30 credit deal, am considering this game (Holy shit a $50 3DS Game?). Can anyone give me a brief rundown of what it is?

Hardcore dungeon crawler RPG with pokemon as the core party building mechanic. Choose your alignment from chaos/neutral/law and run down an army of demons.

[Kaisha]

(Holy shit a $50 3DS Game?).

I assume it's $50 mostly due to the first-run packaging with the extras.

If they still charge $50 for it without the extra goods later on, then lol.

[Krandor]

It was $50 thru the online store as well.

[Hitoshura]

Yeah I just saw that.. what the fuck lol. Can't even justify that if they included the guide digitally somehow.

[Correction]

It's $50 because Atlus wants more money and people are more than happy to pay it for SMT/Persona (unless it's a fighting game lol).

[elison]

So my mother in law just gave me her 3ds and I've been dying to play a good rpg for months now.

I've never played a SMT game before. Is this a good purchase for someone that's never played the series before?

[Correction]

It's a good purchase but don't expect a lot of hand holding. SMT teaches you with pain and lots of dying.

[Hitoshura]

Most would recommend Persona 3/4 to start with the SMT series. since there are easier difficulties to choose from. From what I am getting so far, SMT IV seems to be as ruthless as Nocturne from the get go.

Also if you haven't played Tales of the Abyss, I highly recommend that game it's a fast paced, fun action/rpg.

[AlexRuzhyo]

Most would recommend Persona 3/4 to start with the SMT series. since there are easier difficulties to choose from. From what I am getting so far, SMT IV seems to be as ruthless as Nocturne from the get go.

Also if you haven't played Tales of the Abyss, I highly recommend that game it's a fast paced, fun action/rpg.

Been watching Giant Bomb's Persona 4 run and I've done a Nuzlocke run before. I may be ready for this. I just worry about missin out on any essential lore.

[Hitoshura]

The SMT series is basically pokemon for grown ups, it's storyline often involves a lot of real life religious themes and undertones usually in a futuristic cyberpunk or current setting in Japan mixed in with their very own insane ideas, which contributed to the fact that the first two SNES games didn't get localized in the first place. Nintendo usually didn't want anything to do with games involving real life religion, so it's pretty surreal to see them promoting SMT IV to this kind of length and even giving credit for people that buy it. Hats off to all companies involved, amazing localization and great timing.

Instead of capturing demons you have to convince them via conversation, bribes, or brute force. These games are known to be ruthless but SMT III introduced a sort of revolutionary mechanic called the press turn system which capitalizes on you exploiting the enemies weaknesses and getting and extra turn out of it. It works the same way in return for the enemies if they find your weakness, they get an extra turn to hit you also. It can be an X factor in certain situations and battles as you will rely on it for surviving encounters. The Persona games take it even further, if you knock all the enemies down with weaknesses, you can perform an all out attack where the characters melee the enemies pretty much to death. It's very satisfying and you will find yourself doing it a lot once you figure out the section of the dungeon's demons.

That's pretty much the main aspect of the SMT mechanics in a nutshell, I would recommend you start with the Persona games, I think they have difficulty settings for beginners.

I started right out the bat with possibly one of the most difficult games I ever played. SMT: III and it kicked the shit out of me, I loved every second of it though.

I never really make posts like this that go into detail.. so if it sucked and anyone has anything to contribute for beginners interested in playing, please do! Atlus needs more love, they are finally getting it right and Index has to go belly up.