Shin Megami Tensei Series

...what?

...How...do you even fight that?

Fighting Masakado's Shadow requires Uriel because of a nasty Physical that he learns naturally, Phys Pierce and Dark Energy from Sanat, and some other choice skills like Bloody Glee (increased crit rate), Beastly/Draconic Reaction (increased hit/evade rate with Draconic being better), and Charge (increases power of next Phys skill/Gun Skill/normal attack).

Edited by CybranGeneralSturm on Nov 23rd 2018 at 12:27:15 PM

So you have to hit him hard and fast then?

Yes. You're also on a turn limit because a missile is approaching and you only have ten turns before the missile destroys everything.

...Wow. You gotta hit him really hard and fast.

I find the Ancient quite a bit harder than the Shadow, actually. The Shadow is very much doable with the right preparation; the Ancient has a ton of luck-based mechanics that can flip the table at any time.

...So fighting the Ancient again even as I write this.

Been using Energy Drain / Serpent of Sheol (in the case of Raphael) to restore MP (as well as whittle at his HP).

It just recently gave me a message that no more can be drained....as he continues to pummel me with spells and heal himself...

...what the fuck game?

Yeah, pretty much all the preparation it took for me to beat the Shadow was fusing Sanat and leveling him up to 99. Ancient of Days was much more of a real fight.

And you know what else sucks about Ancient?

Brand. I remember you guys telling me how annoying it is that it seems to last a very long time on you and your demons, but can suddenly disappear off an enemy right when they get their turn. And rest assured, it always seems to do just that when I'm fighting against him.

Combined with how he can still cast spells even when I can't drain any MP from him anymore (which you'd think would FUCKING stop anyone from casting spells) and all his other shit, and I'm feeling like the motherfucker who's always trying to ice-skate uphill.

Bosses have infinite MP, sadly.

Don't get why you're even bothering draining. Sticking Brand into the usual buff/debuff => Charge/Concentrate => Exploit Weakness should make the fight tedious if anything.

Don't have anyone with Concentrate. I actually did have it on a demon, but moved it out for something else... I think it might have been Samecram. My mistake.

As for why I use the draining, it's to replenish my MP while still taking a chunk out of the enemies health. I put Energy Drain on as many demons as I can. It's worked pretty well for me before.

I didn't count on the bosses having infinite MP...which can still run out so you can't drain it...which is still bullshit.

Everyone's first Ancient of Days is a rite of passage. Apart from the DDS superbosses I can't think of any other boss as infamous as him, though I'm told Redux Beelzebub is at least close.

I just don't know man.

He's a trial and a half, even with Fire Resistance.

It really is Brand that's killing me. Not being able to block in anyway, and the fact that it lasts longer on me than it does my opponent is a heaping pile of bullshit.

Ancient of Days is way easier. I had a team more than capable of brutally slaughtering him even on hard.

I think that the player can actually block Brand by nulling Nerve type ailments, but I could be wrong.

Edited by CybranGeneralSturm on Nov 24th 2018 at 4:32:00 AM

"So you have to hit it really hard and fast then ?" I'm reminded of the TFS!Meta cooler movie now.

"That sounds like something goku would say. -Yeah, and remember that time you never beat him ?"

Apparently, you can block Ancient of Day's brand by nulling Phys. that'd be pretty useful, but now I gotta re-fuse demons who can do that.

Note that I just learned this after checking above. It actually makes sense since you can stop Gabriel's Brand through Nulling nerve, since it also inflicts multiple physical ailments.

I think I may take a break on Ancient of Days. Is it something you can fuse? I might just wait until Neutral to try it.

Yes, you unlock Ancient of Days after beating it.

I'm definitely thinking of scrapping it for now and coming back in Neutral. I gotta find a way to get Null Phys on all my guys now, so I gotta think about my skills layout for the demons I use.

I know I'll need force and elec skills to hit weaknesses, the ability to null, repel or absorb Fire and Ice, and the same for Phys. That's gonna take up a lot of room in my demons. I also need someone with Stigmata strike of course.

After that, I suppose stuff like Concentrate, maybe some pleromas skills to power up those force and elec skills, and the usual buffing and de-buffing skills...and I always use Energy Drain. Always.

Though bosses having infinite MP (that's still unfair) means it's not that useful.

Edit: Hold on: If I null Phys, will he start using Megido Spam on me? It's usually when every character nulls, absorbs or reflects a weakness that he does that, but I can't be sure.

Edited by HandsomeRob on Nov 24th 2018 at 10:28:06 AM

Wait. I just had thought.

I read that Ancient only uses Diaharan if you hit his weaknesses. Does that mean that if you reach the halfway point without hitting those weaknesses, he won't use Diaharan until after that?

I'm not sure how much that could help, but it might be something new I can try.

If you do not exploit his weakness, he can use the turn he would waste on Diarahan for nastier skills like Stigmatic Gleam? and Damnation.

Shit.

Well, so much for that plan.

Edit: New plan. I fuse Michael, give it an Elec or Force attack, and have it use Archangel's Law every second round to protect it from Brand and Ice (if I can't get it Null / Repel / Absorb Ice).

If I can get Null Phys on one of my other guys (probably Uriel since he'd be the only one left affected by Brand; it's always him and Hachiman who get hit by it, and it never touches Raphael and Flynn), then I'm protected from Brand and can focus on other things (since I'll have less dudes to heal).

Edited by HandsomeRob on Nov 25th 2018 at 8:09:16 AM

Anyone else kinda like messing with Kudlak and Kresnik by giving them both the weapons they need, thus keeping their struggle eternal as ever?

Plus you get both those awesome vests too.

It does sound like fun.

Honestly, since Kresnik only wants to keep Kudlak from stirring up shit, he'd probably be ok with dying as long as the other died too.

Any thoughts on my idea for fighting Ancient of Days above?