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Atlus Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (3DS) Blasphemy Edition

duanth123

Arcane
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Messages
822
Location
This island earth


Well it's finally here. Quite possibly the last SMT mainline game you'll ever see in your sorry human lifespan.

The story of Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is one of human pawns being shuffled across a chessboard by the higher deities. One lone Hunter, the game’s protagonist, meets an early demise and through a pact with a lesser god, is brought back to life in exchange for his pledge of servitude. From there, the protagonist allies with other Hunters in the ruins of post-apocalyptic Tokyo beginning a plot that crosses over with the events of the original Shin Megami Tensei IV.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse features:

• The Eternal Struggle Between Gods– The Shin Megami Tensei series, known for exploring the tenuous symbiosis between man and deity , reaches deeper than ever in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, as the band of main characters must decide which side of peace or anarchy they are on.
• Partner Up for Success – A new twist on the SMTIV combat formula allows players to bring one of seven partners to battle (in addition to the standard three demons), each with their own unique skills and AI. Plus, partners will fill up a meter that will interrupt the enemy, do massive damage, and give players an extra turn. Given the excruciating difficulty of battles in Shin Megami Tensei, the partner system will allow for new player strategies.
• Demons Aplenty – Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse has a series record 450+ demons to fight, fuse, or recruit to player parties. With demons from a wide selection of cultures and religions to choose from, players will be able to customize their party to their liking.
• Fuse For Affinities – Demon fusion, combining two or more demons to form a more powerful one, is one of the cornerstones of Shin Megami Tensei games, and now demons will have affinities for certain skills, giving players more decisions to make about which skills fusions will inherit.
• Press Turns and Smirking – The Press Turn system returns, which gives players (or enemies!) extra turns for exploiting weaknesses. The Smirk system returns as well, which gives huge offensive and defensive boosts to party members (or enemies) and now unlocks bonuses for certain skills, such as insta-kill attacks.

I managed to purloin an advanced copy and have played around first two hours if anyone's interested in some first impressions.
 

duanth123

Arcane
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Messages
822
Location
This island earth
Quite possibly the last SMT mainline game you'll ever see in your sorry human lifespan.

And why you think that way? Mainline SMT games are still most popular ones after Persona.

Because for the last two hours of tutorial I've been listening to cheery, in game music while playing alongside a sassy female character who dictates the plot and my actions, with occasional scary thing.
 

grudgebringer

Guest
http://www.cubed3.com/review/3087/1/shin-megami-tensei-iv-apocalypse-nintendo-3ds.html

At the same time, though, it feels like a certain segment of the dedicated Shin Megami Tensei fan-base might not be able to get fully on-board with this latest adventure in the universe. A working knowledge of the original Shin Megami Tensei IV is needed to fully appreciate the story, but people with that knowledge will have already been exposed to most of the tricks this new game has to offer. The battle system is largely the same, although there have been small refinements made to some important aspects, like the smirk system to make the game feel more balanced and harder to break open. Locations are also re-used at times, although there are new dungeons and a nice overhaul to the overworld map to make things less confusing. A nice summary of Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse would be "like Shin Megami Tensei IV, but better." Locations, combat, and even the demons all are largely re-used from the original but appear in an upgraded form. While all these things make this one of the most enjoyable and complete Shin Megami Tensei titles to date, it is also easy to understand if someone who already played Shin Megami Tensei IV might find themselves growing bored because of how similar an experience this offers.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is sort of a weird game in that it is both undeniably great and a little bit disappointing at the same time. It is a poor spot to jump into for newbies and yet returning veterans might be a disappointed by how much the game repeats itself. While it might not be the best Shin Megami Tensei title out there, it is still very enjoyable from start to finish.

So it is pretty much an upgraded version of SMTIV. Seems like a deal for me, especially with a normal physical version for EU this time.
 

duanth123

Arcane
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Messages
822
Location
This island earth
http://www.cubed3.com/review/3087/1/shin-megami-tensei-iv-apocalypse-nintendo-3ds.html

At the same time, though, it feels like a certain segment of the dedicated Shin Megami Tensei fan-base might not be able to get fully on-board with this latest adventure in the universe. A working knowledge of the original Shin Megami Tensei IV is needed to fully appreciate the story, but people with that knowledge will have already been exposed to most of the tricks this new game has to offer. The battle system is largely the same, although there have been small refinements made to some important aspects, like the smirk system to make the game feel more balanced and harder to break open. Locations are also re-used at times, although there are new dungeons and a nice overhaul to the overworld map to make things less confusing. A nice summary of Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse would be "like Shin Megami Tensei IV, but better." Locations, combat, and even the demons all are largely re-used from the original but appear in an upgraded form. While all these things make this one of the most enjoyable and complete Shin Megami Tensei titles to date, it is also easy to understand if someone who already played Shin Megami Tensei IV might find themselves growing bored because of how similar an experience this offers.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is sort of a weird game in that it is both undeniably great and a little bit disappointing at the same time. It is a poor spot to jump into for newbies and yet returning veterans might be a disappointed by how much the game repeats itself. While it might not be the best Shin Megami Tensei title out there, it is still very enjoyable from start to finish.

So it is pretty much an upgraded version of SMTIV. Seems like a deal for me, especially with a normal physical version for EU this time.

They updated some of the demon art (discarding those shitty designs by not-Kazuma Kaneko), which is a good.

But for some fucking insane reason it seems they've managed to slow down the battle system, even during auto-battle.
 
Joined
Dec 19, 2012
Messages
1,633
How is the difficulty? Can you pick Hard mode from the start?

Is the overland map still incomprehensible?
 

duanth123

Arcane
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Messages
822
Location
This island earth
How is the difficulty? Can you pick Hard mode from the start?

Is the overland map still incomprehensible?

You can choose between, essentially, Easy/Normal/Hard, with DLC (releasing in about two weeks) to add an "Easiest" and "Hardest" mode.

I choose Hard and so far it's been decent challenge. The trash encounters can roll you in 1 or 2 hits if you're not paying attention. I've only fought tutorial bosses so far, so I can't really comment on boss challenge other than to say they were no Minotaur (but that might have been intended.)

Something interesting I've noticed is that status effects hit far more reliably than in SMT IV.


The overland map is now marked, meaning the names of each point of interest appear on the actual map, which makes navigation far easier. I also suspect they removed some of the 'debris' that appeared on the prior map so you don't get stuck trying to navigate around random obstacles.
 

Latro

Arcane
Joined
Jun 5, 2013
Messages
7,345
Location
Vita umbratilis
SMT4 was a disaster mechanically, and the story was full of dropped plot or it was simply half-baked. I remember getting to the end and thinking "uh...that's it?".

New Atlus doesn't know how to deal with SMT, simple as that. All the vets retired, we're never going to get a good, well written mainline SMT for another decade or so.
 

Malpercio

Arcane
Joined
Dec 8, 2011
Messages
1,534
IIRC Nocturne Maniax team was responsible for STMIV

I don't think SMTIV base-work was bad, but it felt like a game that was fucked by 1) 3DS hardware not really working for a 3D game with a bazillion of different dungeons 2) Wanting to experiment with different stuff

Some of the plot general ideas were pretty cool, like Tokyo being under Mikado, but they come off as undercooked in most cases (Everything about Lilith and the Angels was uh...). Walter and Jonathan are also kinda meh, and Isabeu is obvious waifu-bait.

I do miss Cozy Okada and Tadashi, tho'.
 

Latro

Arcane
Joined
Jun 5, 2013
Messages
7,345
Location
Vita umbratilis
IIRC Nocturne Maniax team was responsible for STMIV

I don't think SMTIV base-work was bad, but it felt like a game that was fucked by 1) 3DS hardware not really working for a 3D game with a bazillion of different dungeons 2) Wanting to experiment with different stuff

Some of the plot general ideas were pretty cool, like Tokyo being under Mikado, but they come off as undercooked in most cases (Everything about Lilith and the Angels was uh...). Walter and Jonathan are also kinda meh, and Isabeu is obvious waifu-bait.

I do miss Cozy Okada and Tadashi, tho'.
Everything that was cool was looked over, and everything that was supposed to be relevant...fell off...or something?

They don't know what they're doing anymore. When you think about it, Maniax was just the additional edgy demon plot plus Dante from devil may cry and Amala, which though fun makes sense they couldn't adapt towards making their own full-fledged entry. Pacing is a mess, story is lame, characters are dull and etc etc. SMT4 is a huge mess, Atlus just can't do a straight RPG anymore, they've grown adapted towards this anime cutscene plot to string you along to the next dungeon.

Which, if done well gives you Catherine, and if not....SMT. What's most tragic is that they've lost their identity and become another generic JRPG house.
 

Malpercio

Arcane
Joined
Dec 8, 2011
Messages
1,534
By the way, speaking of Blasphemy

JNIdgtD.png


SMT in 2016
 

Jack Of Owls

Arcane
Joined
May 23, 2014
Messages
4,270
Location
Massachusettes


Well it's finally here. Quite possibly the last SMT mainline game you'll ever see in your sorry human lifespan.


Ahhh, watching this trailer really took me back and filled me with a joyful nostalgia, to the days of awful awful voice acting fit only for weeaboos & animetards. You just don't see, or rather hear, that anymore in AAA titles or even indies.
 

Tripicus

Augur
Joined
Oct 22, 2011
Messages
161
is SMT 4 reeeeeally as bad as everyone says it is?
I don't think the plot issues and characterizations were the serious issues of the game.

The fusion mechanics, I.e. how skill inheritance works, pretty much neuters much of the difficulty the game could've had. If you're having problems with a boss, just find a demon to fuse into with the appropriate resists etc and keep all your wanted skills.

That being said, it was my first SMT game, and I enjoyed it well enough to seek out the other titles and spin offs. And now I have all the various titles I could find to play on my 3ds (including DS titles), and the titles off the PS store for PS3. These have largely been superior games in experience.

So no, I don't think it's a bad game overall, but compared to the other entries you quickly begin to see what's missing, and if you're coming from those entries I could see it being hard not to be disappointed.
 
Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
i have a low-key playthrough of Nocturne going on via PCSX2 emulator and while i love it the gameplay is too simplistic to really hook me and play it every day for hours. i only have 15 hours clocked so i know i haven't even reached the mid-game point of the game and it's supposed to get harder.

gotta say though Nocturne is so far unbelievable in everything else and is easily, easily the most captivating storyfag experience i've had in months (i don't say years only because i want to avoid extreme hyperbole, but it's probably years). even saving the fucking game is awesome.

EDIT: really wish it had first-person mazes like smt 2 and persona 1 though. persona 1's mazes were very good. planning on buying a 3ds soon and playing soul hackers and am looking foward to that very much. don't think i'll be picking up smt4 though.
 

tet666

Augur
Joined
Apr 13, 2012
Messages
396
i have a low-key playthrough of Nocturne going on via PCSX2 emulator and while i love it the gameplay is too simplistic to really hook me and play it every day for hours. i only have 15 hours clocked so i know i haven't even reached the mid-game point of the game and it's supposed to get harder.

gotta say though Nocturne is so far unbelievable in everything else and is easily, easily the most captivating storyfag experience i've had in months (i don't say years only because i want to avoid extreme hyperbole, but it's probably years). even saving the fucking game is awesome.

EDIT: really wish it had first-person mazes like smt 2 and persona 1 though. persona 1's mazes were very good. planning on buying a 3ds soon and playing soul hackers and am looking foward to that very much. don't think i'll be picking up smt4 though.

You could try soul hackers in the unofficial Citra build i linked here : http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...ations-in-1st-post.86871/page-47#post-4739030
Played pretty well from what i tried.
 
Last edited:

cruelio

Savant
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
369
Did they do anything about how the game is really brutal in like the first hour where a single misplay will get you rolled by a trash mob but then eventually you learn the megido spells and mp recovery skills and just spam megidos at the endless trash mobs to make them go away and also at bosses who don't punish being holy spammed to death.
 

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