Shin Megami Tensei Series

My favourite Persona games are Persona 1 and Persona 2:EP (haven't played Innocent Sin yet) so I like dungeon crawling.

I think Digital Devil Saga on PS 3 is where I'll start since it sounds like it's more of a traditional RPG that I'm used to.

I saw that there's a Shin Megami Tensei 4 Apocalypse. Is that the updated version like Persona 4 Golden?

Edited by RodimusMinor on Jan 24th 2019 at 1:39:31 PM

It's more like a pseudo sequel.

Its an Alternate Timeline Neutral route of IV. Branching off based on a character choosing to live instead of dying.

Downloading Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 right now. I've been watching some playthroughs and stuff of SMT games across different platforms so I think I have a grasp on what I'm supposed to do.

Just know it also has an (incomplete in english) novel series based on the authors original vision. They got seriously ill and had to leave partway into the making of DDS. The novels were part of the agreement when they had Tadashi come aboard to finish the games instead.

DDS is actually quite weird in that it lacks the entire demon recruiting and fusion system. It plays more like a traditional RPG, with your characters learning skills through a system similar to FFX's Sphere Grid. The combat system is (from what I heard) identical to Nocturne, though.

Tip for DDS: Make your characters specialize in whatever their weakness is. For example, Serph, the protagonist is weak to Fire. So he should learn Fire skills (among other things). This is because at the end of the fire skill-line, you can learn Resist Fire to cover his weakness.

I suggest making each character capable of using at least 2 elements (except maybe Heat), one being their weakness.

Edited by TrueShadow1 on Jan 24th 2019 at 5:11:22 AM

Adding onto that, in New Game Plus you keep your mantras and unlock a super-difficult Bonus Boss that you pretty much need max stats in everything except luck just to stand a chance of defeating.

I just beat the ship dungeon.

...This might be better than every Persona game. It is so fucking good.

If the Digital Devil Saga games were to be remade today, what sort of content would be added? I personally think that two skills that could be added would be Luster Candy (+1 to all stat changes) and something that prevents enemies from running away a la mean look from Pokémon.

Wouldn't that make the Mitama and Omoikane battles too easy?

The skill that would prevent enemies from running would make Mitamas and Omoikanes too easy, but the skill could be locked into a mantra that only appears on the grid after a Bonus Boss is beaten. Luster Candy is just there so that there's a skill for buffing all combat stats by 1 stage without needing a combo or multiple buff spells. Personally, I would add the 'no running'' skill to the Five Gods mantra so that it can only really be used for either New Game Plus and/or if you really want to grind to 99.

Edited by CybranGeneralSturm on Jan 30th 2019 at 10:38:22 AM

I guess that's a fitting trade off, thought now I kinda fear the thought of Demonic Spider demons with a skill that makes the party unable to run away.

True enough. Samaels wouldn't use it since they have all eight skill slots filled, Horus is a complete joke unless it uses Magic Repel, you cannot run away from boss fights anyway, but it would make Arahabakis even more irritating if they refuse to freeze and Hama keeps missing.

I guess they could add new enemy demons?

That's a good point. Perhaps the new demons can be encountered in Vishuddha and a DDS remake makes that area a proper dungeon.

Edited by CybranGeneralSturm on Jan 30th 2019 at 12:56:40 PM

Holy s***! A prototype of a possible scrapped Megaten game!

I made it to the final dungeon in Digital Devil Saga after about 40 hours.

This giant snake man boss fights me with finger guns.

Vasuki... He's smart in that if you put up an anti-ice shield he uses Maziodyne and will use a unique ice spell if you put up an anti-elec shield. Magic Repel will make him toss Megidola and ailments at you.

Yeah I really like how none of the bosses can be trivialized. If you stone wall their main strategies they pull out other, sometimes better attacks.

At least Ananta and Hayagriva can be stonewalled with Null Attack though since those two don't have Almighty. Orochi also becomes a joke with Null Attack, but he's optional.

Trivia: Vasuki's unique ice attack is called Hima Alaya, which means 'land of snow' in (I think) Hindi, and is the source of the name for the Himalaya mountains

Beat Beelzebub's 2nd form and Orochi. Beelzebub was easy enough with Void Death but I burned through all my Chakra Pots, and Oroci was a pisser.

Okay I beat the final boss. Thought I was screwed since I went in all slick like with Last Word but she resists Almighty, but luckily Serph had Ice Amp'd Cocytus and Fire Amp'd Agidyne to deal with the elemental cores, more or less carrying me through the fight.

Beat all the secret bosses except for Haung Long, who curbstomped me all over the place so I hope the reward you get in the sequel is nothing special.

Anyway... count me in as an SMT fan now, I guess. DDS was such a masterpiece to experience with rock solid gameplay that demanded strategy and variety. I loved how every character could swap movesets like in Persona, and most of the boss battles would mess you up if you tried to no sell their attacks. There was no real point in the game you could just cheese your way through, and that was really satisfying.

Gale was definitely my favourite. His stat loadout meant he could basically do anything which made him a swiss army knife of a character, and his personality and awakening after the death of Lupa really sold the whole idea of these emotionless robots gaining sentience.

I got Digital Devil Saga 2 loaded up on my PS 3 but I'm busy with exams this week, so I'll boot it up some other time. Really looking forward to it though.

Beating Huang Long and importing that data into DDS2 makes a forced encounter in the game drop the Dragon Ring, which resists Almighty attacks. There's four other rings that are obtained by beating bonus bosses and importing the data: King Frost is the Hee-ho Ring that nulls Ice, Metatron is the Divine Ring that I think reflects Expel, Beelzebub is the Skull Ring that reflects Death, and the Demi-Fiend is the Amala Ring that gives a lot of stat points.

Onto fighting Huang Long though, you at least want Null Ailment if not Null Attack because Celestial Ray, his special move, is Megidolaon and Vanity in one spell.

Edited by CybranGeneralSturm on Feb 3rd 2019 at 12:39:08 PM

I got DX 2 now somebody tell me how to get Bayonetta I will do anything for her.

(Also: playing through Strange Journey did not prepare me for Asherah's booty.)