History VideoGame / ShinMegamiTenseiIV

* LanguageDrift: Subtle, but it's there. [[spoiler:Many of the names of Mikado are obvious corruptions of Tokyo areas, such as Kiccigiorgi of Kichijoji, Shene Duque of Shinjuku and O'Gicksburgh of Ogikubo.]]

** There are dialogue choices throughout the whole game that can make you look like an ass. On that shows up early on can have you deny knowing who Issachar is; Issachar being your childhood friend who is presently depressed (and bitter) that you were chosen to be a Samurai over him.

''Shin Megami Tensei IV'' is a 2013 game in the main ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series, developed by Creator/{{Atlus}} for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. ''SMT IV'' also marks the first {{Numbered Sequel|s}} in the main series since the release of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' in [[VideoGameLongRunners 2003]].

* SaveGameLimits: Mostly averted! As long as you have access to the Gauntlet menus, you can save at any time, as opposed to only being allowed to save at Terminals like in previous games. However, like with ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'', you only have two save slots as opposed to the much higher save slot capacities of ''Shin Megami Tensei'' games on consoles and [[UsefulNotes/{{PlayStationPortable}} PSP]] [[UsefuLNotes/PlaystationVita family]] devices, which can make going for specific alignment routes (especially Neutral) exceptionally annoying.

Not to be confused with ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'', a UsefulNotes/NintendoDS game which used the working title ''Shin Megami Tensei IV'' before they decided not to set it in [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Tokyo]].

** Hero -> Main Character

* ViciousCycle: [[spoiler:The White's argument for destroying all of reality is that history has just been one long back and forth between the forces of Law and Chaos. It even demonstrates this to you by showing alternate realities where Law or Chaos won when the nukes were fired years ago. Both realities are hellscapes, but towards towards the end of each segment, your party sees that the ideology that lost in that respective reality begins to take hold, meaning that both will eventually slide back towards the other idealogy. And neutrality is only a stopgap, eventually Law and Chaos will clash again until one side wins, at which point the cycle will begin again.]]

* AssistCharacter: Jonathan, Walter and Isabeau all function as assist characters; one of them will almost always be present during a battle and will occasionally chuck in attack spells or healing to help you. Once in a while, the enemy will target them instead of your party, too.

* DaylightHorror:
** [[spoiler:Blasted Tokyo, which is a DeathWorld where there is a desert where Tokyo once stood, massive craters mark where major Tokyo districts used to be, the poisonous atmosphere infects and eventually kills humans exposed to it, and demons roam the land killing off humans who dare to wander outside the Shinjuku shelter. Yes, the sun shines on this Tokyo thanks to the lack of a Firmament, but that's the reason the missiles were able to blow Tokyo to pieces.]]
** In the backstory, [[spoiler:the nuke that blew up Tokyo struck during the daytime. This is confirmed in Masakado's DLC fight, where you get to see Tokyo in the daytime...along with that big missile of mass murder descending from the sunlit sky, before going off to [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slap some sense into an insane Masakado]] as the game's ultimate challenge.]]

** After activating the Yamato Reactor, [[spoiler:you travel through Blasted Tokyo, which averts this trope due to a lack of a Firmament. Which, as explained in the DaylightHorror example above, is hardly any better.]]

** The [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Four Riders]] can be fought individually as hard-as-diamonds {{Superboss}} fights. They can also be [[WolfpackBoss fought all at once]] in [[spoiler:Infernal Tokyo]] as part of a sidequest...where not only is each individual Rider weaker, but the entire group at once isn't any more powerful than the FinalBoss.

** The [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Four Riders]] can be fought individually as hard-as-diamonds {{Superboss}} fights. They can also be fought all at once in [[spoiler:Infernal Tokyo]] as part of a sidequest...where not only is each individual Rider weaker, but the entire group at once isn't any more powerful than the FinalBoss.

** The {{Four Horsemen|OfTheApocalypse}} can be fought individually as hard-as-diamonds {{Superboss}} fights. They can also be fought all at once in [[spoiler:Infernal Tokyo]] as part of a sidequest...where not only is each individual Rider weaker, but the entire group at once isn't any more powerful than the FinalBoss.

* ConservationOfNinjutsu: "Horde" encounters seem like they'd be able to mow your party of five (at best) effortlessly...however, the horde only gets two Press Turns instead of as many turns as there are individual enemies, shares its HP with the whole group, and all-targeting attacks will hit the horde multiple times even though the horde is only a single target, depleting its HP much faster than a single-target spell of the same tier can. Possibly justified, as the members of the horde are sometimes shown to be arguing amongst themselves, and will spend some turns doing so rather than actually uniting to attack you.

** Dragon Eye--yes, the spell that everyone hates in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard because bosses can use it for extra turns while the player and their demons can never learn it]]--is finally obtainable for your demons as Guardian's Eye! However, it requires defeating the hardest DLC boss available so you can obtain the demon who has it. On top of that, the spell costs an outrageous '''255 MP''', and said demon will never have enough MP to cast it more than once; you can pass it on but the inheriting demon will be able to use it about three times at most. And finally, well, you beat said hardest DLC boss, so unless you still need to beat up the Fiends and the NewGamePlus {{Bonus Boss}}es, Guardian's Eye is more of a BraggingRightsReward than anything.

* BonusBoss:
** There are many, many bosses that are available through optional Challenge Quests. Many of the Challenge Quest bosses [[spoiler:become mandatory on the Neutral route, as a Main Quest exclusive to this route requires you to complete most Challenge Quests in Tokyo.]]
** There's one or two ultimate bosses for each route: [[spoiler:Mastema for the Law route, Red Rider for the Neutral route and the Demiurge for the Chaos Route]]. In addition, [[spoiler:Beelzebub]] acts as the ultimate boss for all routes and is the second part of a SequentialBoss fight while also being a whopping Level 90, with New Game Plus adding [[spoiler:Astaroth]] at the same level.
** The Fiends, which barring [[spoiler:the Neutral exclusive Red Rider, the Law/Neutral exclusive Trumpeter, and the Chaos exclusive Mother Harlot]], are available in all routes after the alignment lock. They (excepting David, Plasma and Mother Harlot) have a spawn rate of 1 in 256 odds, only appear in a specific spot of a specific map, have at least 5 press turns (Chemtrail has '''6'''), are harder than the {{Final Boss}}es, for the most part, will spam Almighty attacks like nobody's business [[ArtificialBrilliance if you fully protect yourself from their main offensive moves,]] and drop very good rewards. The four Riders can also be fought at once in a quest in [[spoiler:Infernal Tokyo]], but they are all ''heavily'' toned down and can be defeated even with a party that isn't prepped for the {{Final Boss}}es.
** Yet more are available in some of the DownloadableContent. [[spoiler: Of course the true ultimate boss is none other than Masakado, who ''requires'' you buy the other DLC as he drains/repels most elements and resists almighty, and only those bosses along with the DLC PaletteSwap of Asmodeus, called Aeshma, who is obtainable after getting both Archangel DLC, have pierce and elemental pierce type attacks.]]
** Outside of Challenge Quests, Fiends, and DLC is the much easier [[spoiler:Yaso-Magatsuhi]], who can be fought by returning to a previous dungeon after the alignment lock and exploring a little more of it.

** Occasionally when encountering midbosses or {{Bonus Boss}}es, particularly without warning:

** The {{Final Boss}}es are at level 99. Several high-end {{Bonus Boss}}es such as Astaroth, [[spoiler:Beelzebub]], and the Fiends, range from level 80 to 90 despite being more difficult. It's easily possible for a player to expect easy fights from the NewGamePlus bonus bosses due to having parties that can easily smash the final bosses, only to meet Charon about five turns later.

** [[spoiler: Beelzebub's role as Dragon has also been taken over by Lilith, and he only appears as a BonusBoss.]]

* DownloadableContent: Different hairstyles, armor based on bosses and other designs, three expansion map packs for leveling up easier, PaletteSwap demons, and BonusBoss battles against the likes of [[spoiler:the Four Archangels, Ancient of Days, Sanat, and Masakado.]]

* EmptyRoomUntilTheTrap: Go ahead and visit that 100-Luck door in Kasumigaseki a bunch of times. [[spoiler:Persist and the RNG (1/256 chance) will summon [[BonusBoss Red Rider]].]]

** [[BonusBoss The Fiends]] will always begin a battle by letting out a very sinister laugh.

* ForDoomTheBellTolls: The "-Battle C4-" theme begins with the toll of a bell, which is repeated several times and ultimately becomes an integral part of the track. This song is also known as "Fiend Battle Theme" and plays as you face off against the most brutal {{Bonus Boss}}es in the game, who are all heavily associated with death (such as the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse).

** Finally manage to get on the Neutral path? Have fun dealing with the 19 required sidequests to proceed! While some of them are obvious, others are not so much. Some aren't even in the pub, requiring you to find mostly out-of-the-way generic humans to accept a quest for! If it's any consolation, only the human-issued quests and Nozomi-related quests are necessary to complete, and none of them require you to fight the level 90 {{Bonus Boss}}es.

** Many of the bonus bosses. For example:

*** [[spoiler:Red Rider]] might be the biggest example of this in the game. He can conceivably end the fight at any time if he decides to spam Antichthon, which he very well do without warning. The chances of him doing this decrease if one doesn't equip Null/Repel Phys, but this applies to all Fiends as they ''will'' spam almighty attacks if they can't use physical attacks.

* MirrorCharacter: The two DLC [[BonusBoss Bonus Bosses]] for [[spoiler: Blasted and Infernal Tokyo. While their ''motivations'' are pretty far apart--the Ancient of Days is trying to finish cleaning the world out to make room for God's chosen, and Sanat's just a BloodKnight nonpareil who's looking to see if the seeds of chaos he sowed ''well'' before humanity evolved have ripened to his liking--the entities they're ''based on'' are apparently regarded in scholarship as related to each other. Now consider their race names--"Godly" for the Ancient, which in this series typically means "Law King", and "Chaos King" (contracted to "Chaos" in the English version) for Sanat. The "kings" of the two sides would be regarded by some scholars as ''the same entity''. Sanat, depending on your answer to his taunt, might even remark the "true war" is fought against the "dispensation of the universe", a phrase the Ancient often repeats at the beginning of his fight.]] It's enough to make you wonder if Atlus is trying to say in this game that Law and Chaos are ultimately just negative images of each other, rather than genuinely dissimilar.

* TimeLimitBoss: [[DownloadableContent The battle against]] [[spoiler:[[BonusBoss Masakado]]]]. You have ten turns to defeat him, [[spoiler:or else Tokyo is obliterated by the ICBM strike.]]

* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler: Lucifer, who is portrayed far more negatively than most of the rest of the series. May be down to him being [[BigBad one of the direct main antagonists]] this time, as opposed to a [[TheChessmaster behind-the-scenes puppetmaster]] or BonusBoss like he usually is]].

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: This is what the [[spoiler:Black Samurai's Literature]] does. Basically, [[spoiler: Casualries who read it ultimately build up so much resentment at all the Luxuror-crafted barricades to full happiness that they go demonically insane with rage. ''[[ForcedTransformation Literally]]'' demonic. Although the literature itself isn't actually magical, what with being such things as ''No Longer Human'' by Osamu Dazai; in other words, ''real world'' literature. Meanwhile, even the Luxurors only get histories, legends, and fairy-stories. In other words, all Mikado ''has'' for books is propaganda.]]

** The Baker mentions "No Longer Human" and "The Dancing Girl" amongst the books he enjoys.

* ViciousCycle: [[spoiler:The Neutral route outright states it will happen again, so long as humans exist.]]

* PortentOfDoom: Uses the TropeMaker from [[Literature/TheBible The Book of Daniel]].

** Anything in [[spoiler:Blasted and Infernal Tokyo]] becomes this if you take the law path. [[spoiler:Which is justified, considering that Merkabah has [[KillEmAll other plans with the gate]].]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:By the end of Law route, the four Samurais were all killed and everyone in Tokyo got swallowed by the Great Abaddon, leaving only several side characters in Mikado.]] [[spoiler:In the [[ItsAWonderfulFailure "Nothingness" ending]], Flynn sabotages the Yamato Perpetual Reactor to open a black hole and destroy the universe.]]

* VoidBetweenTheWorlds: In a departure from the previous games, [[spoiler:in this continuity the Demon World (Makai in Japanese) does not refer to an information plane where demons are born and reside of a single universe, but rather the endless expanse separating different timelines, each of which is an entire universe by itself. Fittingly, the game's official English translation name it "the Expanse", rather than "Demon World" or "Atziluth" as with previous games]].

* VoidBetweenTheWorlds: [[spoiler:The Expanse.]]

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: This is what the [[spoiler:Black Samurai's Literature]] does. Basically, [[spoiler: Casualries who read it ultimately build up so much resentment at all the Luxuror-crafted barricades to full happiness that they go demonically insane with rage. ''[[BalefulPolymorph Literally]]'' demonic. Although the literature itself isn't actually magical, what with being such things as ''No Longer Human'' by Osamu Dazai; in other words, ''real world'' literature. Meanwhile, even the Luxurors only get histories, legends, and fairy-stories. In other words, all Mikado ''has'' for books is propaganda.]]

* MasterOfNone: Taken UpToEleven in this game, where several demons you get can have a ''completely even'' stat spread.

** In the back of the special shops in Ginza, you can see what looks like [[StarWars a Storm Trooper helmet and Darth Vader's helmet]]

** There's a demon with a green face that looks similar to ''WesternAnimation/TheMask''.

** The game features over [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters 500 recruitable demons]], compared to the approximately 300 in the previous entry in the series, ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney''.

** Downplayed with stats. Stat gauges top out and turn blue at 200, but [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale you can increase stats beyond 200]]. The cap for each stat is 999, which is never reached in practice because you can only gain a total of 490 stat points from leveling up (98 level-ups * 5 points per level-up); to grind the rest of the way, you need an obscene number of Incenses, which are difficult to come by outside of Challenge Quests, and unlike with VendorTrash, App Points, and experience points, there is no DLC quest for farming Incenses. [[spoiler: You can farm them from Red Rider, who drops ''10 of every kind of Incense''. However, not only does he spawn extremely rarely, he's the Fiend most likely to abuse Almighty moves to just wipe you and your team into oblivion.]]

* MetalSlime: The Mitama in the [[BribingYourWayToVictory farming missions]] have a huge damage reduction from most attacks, Null or receive "0hp" damage from the rest (including Almighty skills like Antichthon,) and have a high chance to run from battle. Hilariously, you can still get {{Critical Hit}}s on them for extra turns, as "0 HP damage" doesn't count as a Block. Naturally, they carry the RareCandy and VendorTrash items you're after. They do have [[AchillesHeel one big weakness]], though -- they are easily dispatched with attacks that have been repeatedly powered up through demon whispers, since that damage bonus is applied ''after'' the Mitama's resistances.

* ShopFodder: Your primary means of income (outside of using certain talk skills on demons) is gathering "relics" and selling them at stores is how you make cash. Relics can be anything; semiprecious stones, commonplace technological junk like computer mice or compact discs, or furniture like chairs and desks. The item description for the various modern items is of some confused primitive trying to make sense of them, amusingly. (Mice are thought to perhaps be a small storage box for jewelry, and they think that [=CDs=] are strange mirrors.)