Shin Megami Tensei Series

I still wonder if YHVH has art somewhere. It obviously wasn't released to the public, but his sprite had to be designed somehow, right?

I dunno, the big face is pretty good resolution as it is.

I think they didn't produce art to hide the "killing god" surprise. I mean, I think even MTII only has artwork up to Satan.

I'd still like it if they brought back Belobog and Ahriman. I mean, Shiva needs some competition, y'know? He'll get flabby otherwise.

Nocturne report: I messed up and forgot to save last night. I retained my victory over Ongyo-ki, but the longest and most tedious boss in the game had to be refought. Damn yo, Puzzle Boy, and damn you Manikin kid, for making me play it so Demifiend can learn Mediarama.

Also, has anyone noticed Asura has declined in importance in each mainline game he's been in? He goes from Final Boss, to secret boss (as Virocana), to Arc Villain, to Mini-Boss. Poor guy'll be a Mook in V...

Nah, he's way too powerful to ever drop lower than mid-game sideboss.

Also important is that Vairocana!Asura's been missing for a while. The low-runger has been Ashera!Asura.

The Asura in IV is a different demon while Asherah is fought as part of Minako's quest.

Remember Asura is a group of demons, which is best shown in the Devil Children games that have the Shura tribe.

Well, I mean, the one in IV is Asherah!Asura in the sense that it's the Strange Journey version of the demon's design that's used.

It's not like SJ!Asura has any specfic design cues that force him to be always Asherah.

I wouldn't be surprised that if Vairocana/Ahura Mazda!Asura returned, he also used the SJ design merely because it's more recent and up to date.

edited 30th Sep '14 6:00:13 AM by Otherarrow

Hello, gentlemen (and ladies, if any).

So, since I'm on TV Tropes forum most often, and TV Tropes has (almost) everything, I thought I'd start here. Also, I apologize if it was asked before, but reading through 400+ pages is kind of a... Chore.

So. Playing Persona 4 now; making friends and facing issues to gain superpowers to save people - and the economy of the Inaba town. Currently highest stat Expression and Understanding, lowest stat Diligence. Yes, trying to max Nanako's and Uncle's SL early. Yosuke's SL at 9 (bros before potential love interests), calendar at the first rainy day of Rise's dungeon, the party at lvl 4 catching rainy-day-only drops. In hindsight, I should have picked Normal difficulty.

My request to you is related to that last point. I'm considering a New Game+ at Hard difficulty, and want to fuse some Personas for that occasion. The fist and central one being Angel. Yes, the lowest-level Justice, weak to Dark and strong to Wind and Light. The second Persona I'm considering is someone from the fae family (Pixie, Sylph, Titania, Leanan Sidhe), and then maybe Hua Po and Yaksini. I'd like to keep maybe three-to-five Personas in total, and, as you see, the choices are mostly aesthetic (but lower levels and diverse arcana are preferable).

The skills I want to have: all or almost all elemental spells (Garu, Agi, Dia and/or Megi go to bros and potential love interests); a good physical attacker; and buffers/debuffers (this is a must, because I'm not impressed with the party members' buffs/debuffs so far). Sticking Growth or Invigorate on as many Personas as possible would also be nice, but seeing that it might be impossible, I'll be content with three out of five.

I've got myself a program, called Igor's Index, which might help me in choosing the best fusion, but will not be able to tell me what is a ridiculously bad idea, and what is a better idea. And so, I ask you, fellow tropers - what would be the best Personas? Should I fuse low-level skills and then Magician-Arcana them up, or would it be more effective to fuse high-level skills from the start? Are there any particular tricks, or something to avoid? If it all was already discussed, or if there's a better place to ask this sort of questions, can I have the link? Also, I'm playing from an emulator, and am not adverse to savestate scumming.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

TL,DR: Fusion choices advice or link, please.

x2 Well even the ingame info mentions they are a group of demons. Part of why I think IV takes place in its own world and not SJ as I've heard theories for it is that Asherah cannot take her true form outside Sector Fornax due to the demonization.

In IV however she already is in her true form and is not Asura.

Fair enough.

... I'd like it if Asura remained a low-ranking Tyrant but Virocana came back as a high-end Tyrant or Tenma or Deity or whatever. Maybe with the old Asura design, maybe with the Virocana design from II.

For the most part we don't mind people asking things that have been asked before, so long as the thing that was asked before didn't spark a Flame War that lasted for fifteen pages and finally get settled before being asked again.

So far, I don't think that's happened since I became a part of this thread. Unfortunately, I have never played Persona 4 and thus have no way of giving you advice on the matter.

Though we have a general Persona thread for a reason- It'd dominate this thread otherwise, and then it'd be harder to chat about your mainline series and your Devil Survivors and your Kuzunohas.

I'll be getting the paperback of the first volume of QDS soon.

Don't forget your DDS and the occasional talk of those old series that haven't seen any new games except on Cell Phones.

edited 1st Oct '14 5:19:31 AM by OmegaRadiance

And Devil Children and Soul Hackers and Catherine

Perhaps not that last one,

Although, I am cool with us talking about it on the Persona thread.

I think Catherine is acceptable in either area, since it has connections to both SMT and Persona without really quite being either.

So I just picked up Nocturne off the PSN... can someone explain what magatamas are? It seems like they're both weapon and armor. Which, for some reason, is confusing me :/

Magatamas boost the main character's, usually referred to as the Demifiend or Demi-fiend, stats, as well as alter his elemental resistances and weaknesses. In addition, upon both reaching a certain level and having a Magatama equipped, to Demifiend can learn skills that relate to that Magatama. You can tell if a Magatama is going to give you a skill soon if it's visibly trembling on the Magatama selection screen, though no one would blame you for using a guide for more concrete answers.

The challenge comes mostly from the Demifiend having only eight skill slots, and if he passes up or deletes a skill, he'll never have another chance at getting it.

edited 1st Oct '14 5:30:08 PM by Pulse

...why would someone do that with the skill slots? It seems designed to punish players who don't know this stuff - oh. I forgot. This is Atlus we're talking about And I heard somewhere that magic is apparently gimped in this game - is it better to just go straight physical or run a mixed build for triggering weaknesses?

My personal opinion is to keep Demifiend diverse until his demons can be counted on to handle the magical weakness-hitting, then emphasize physical attacks. Focus, despite being on a fairly early Magatama, is an absolute must for a physical Demifiend, by the way.

Focus is definitely an absolute must for the entire game, same with Fog Breath if you don't have a demon with it.

Fog Breath can be dropped eventually, but only around when Debilitate starts popping up on demons.

Ah, right- Stat buffs and debuffs are amazing in this game. Absolutely try to take advantage of them.

Physical Demi-Fiend is best Demi-Fiend. You get Freikugel out of it and Freikugel is the most terrifying skill in the game. Have decent magic to make sure you can get around bosses that nullify and repel physical but ultimately physical wins the game.

By the way, when you come to the shop that sells the Force-based Magatama, BUY IT. It's your signal that the game's Wake-Up Call Boss is not that far away.

Also-also, that first Pixie is way important and you should avoid fusing her for most of the game.