So whos playing SMT IV?

[Exius Xavarus]

I would, but I'm kinda strapped for cash right now and I can't afford the game. Shucks.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Snip

Yeah, I knew that Persona was a spin-off series (At this point though it might as well be considered the main series for all the fame and attention it has), but I didn't quite expect such a jarring contrast in story. However, even if the story is supposed to be light, they could have at least it more interesting. Little story doesn't automatically equal bland story. There are plenty of dungeon-crawlers with not much plot, but the plot they do have still is engaging. I still feel they could have done more with the story especially in the beginning. I still need a reason to go dungeon-crawling after all.

It sucks that it isn't released in the UK for you yet though. If it wasn't for the fact that the 3DS is region locked, I might consider selling you my copy.[/quote]

I can't really comment on the blandness of the story, for obvious reasons. I felt that the other three main series games had interesting stories, but there's definitely a lot less of it than in most JRPGs. I'm kind of hoping I don't have quite the same reaction to the story because it can start to feel like a chore, playing through a game as long as an RPG without some interesting context driving you along. As much as I like the gameplay, I don't think I'd have been able to put 60 hours into my last playthrough of Lucifer's Call if the story didn't interest me, too.

 

[Raine_sage]

To the question of random encounters, it follows the Persona 3/4 system. I haven't played Nocturne so I don't know what system it had.

I've been playing up to the Medusa boss. As someone coming directly from the Persona series, I'm loving nearly everything about it. The demon catching/fusing, the combat, the Fire Emblem deal, you get the idea. The change of tone of setting is rocky but quick.

I've read reviews about how weak and shallow the story and characters are but so far, it's been the contrary. Then again, I really shouldn't be judging just yet.

Thanks, Nocturne had a system where you had a little radar near the corner of the screen and after a certain number of steps it would start flashing red which meant you were about it hit a random battle. But aside from using monster repelling items there was no way to avoid it which made the radar mostly useless and/or annoying.

SMT main games have always been a little lite on story so I know that much going in. Nocturne's lack of compelling narrative didn't stop me from getting right to the front door of the final dungeon. But in a game where there's all sorts of nifty things to explore, it felt like every five steps I was beset by monsters. It slowed travel down to a crawl, and if I spent money on monster repelling items then I couldn't buy actual important things.

 

[klaynexas3]

For a lack of a better place to say that I'm at, I'm about 30 pages from the end of the strategy guide. That's how I'm judging where I am in the thing. At any rate, I love it so far, and when I do get started, it's hard to stop. Though some moments are annoying(like getting hockey checked by a pissed off demon squad that ends up one hitting my demons because it just happens they deal the weakness/are able to crit), it's still a very good game. And quite frankly, I like it so far better than Nocturne, mostly because I actually feel like the characters in game are just that, actual characters, not just plot points. Maybe it got better, but in the first part of the game, I couldn't for the life of my give a damn about any of the people, so I found it damn near impossible to continue on.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Finished the game yesterday on the Neutral route. It didn't take Nocturne's spot as my favorite SMT game, but it's definitely up there in terms of how much I enjoyed it.

My playtime ended up being about 53 hours, so it's about on par with Nocturne's True Demon Ending (the hardest route) in terms of length.

Definitely worth my purchase.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

I loved the shit out of almost every other SMT (and spin-off) I've played and I would love to play IV...

But I haven't got a 3DS.
And I find it kind of stupid to waste God knows how much money (200 big ones, these days, I guess?) on a gimmicky handheld just for one game.
Kind of frustrating, really.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

It slowed travel down to a crawl, and if I spent money on monster repelling items then I couldn't buy actual important things.

There's a spell called Estoma that I grew to love in the teleporter maze of the last dungeon. Does the same job as the Repulse Bell.

 

[rbstewart7263]

Pardon my noobage, but what's SMT?
Edit: answered already. It's an acronym... FOR SOMETHING IN JAPANESE! what does the name mean and what type of game is it?

The name means "True Reincarnation of the Godess." Or something like that.

It's a series of JRPGs where you can negotiate with demons to recruit them into your party. There are typically 3 or more routes through the story and the combat is abso-fucking-lutely amazing. Best turn-based combat in any game, imo. Well, except the two SNES games, which had the typical Wizardry or Dragon Quest style round-based combat. I do enjoy that style (as well as Wizardry and Dragon Quest) but Nocturne and Strange Journey are just so, so fun.

There are a lot of spin-offs, which cover the bases of nearly every type of RPG. Devil Survivor is a tactical RPG, Raidou is an action RPG, Persona is generally more heavily story and character focused (the latter two of which mix social-sim elements into the gameplay). They're good!

I played Nocturne awhile back and unfortunately I can't say I really enjoyed it. The gameplay was solid but I just couldn't really get into the story and the random encounters were annoying during the puzzle stages. Nothing makes me throw my controller harder than being super focused on a puzzle when suddenly my screen flashes and breaks my concentration.

But this game looks really good and I have fire emblem so I could take advantage of the registration deal to boot. Can anyone here tell me if this game has:

A) extensive puzzle dungeons

B) Random encounters


I can deal with either separately but I can't stand both in the same game.

It isn't out in Europe yet, so I dunno about the puzzles ( i hope it has them!) but I know that there are no random encounters. You can see every enemy on the field. Shame you didn't like Nocturne; it's one of my favourite games ever in both story and gameplay (though more for the gameplay, admittedly). It was never gonna be for everyone, though and I can understand how random encounters could get really annoying when you're trying to solve a puzzle. Honestly, I grew to hate them during the teleporter maze near the end. XD

The characters are alright I like em even though there more scooby gang compared to other entries in the series.lol

Is it a bit lighter than the other main series games, then? The vibe I got from the trailers was that it wasn't going to be quite as dark as Nocturne (which, in turn, was a bit lighter and softer than the first two games)

Yes and no. the main characters are very noble noblefaces and they are ignorant as to the plot at large. I imagione they will wisen up later. id say dark wise probably on par with persona 4 but with more medeival cheese.


btw does anyone get this weird ad "behind the craft" that sort of floats in front of the typing bx making it to where you have to guess that you spelled stuff right? I have an ad and its right here in front of my typoing box.

 

[balladbird]

edited for brevity

what you describe is actually a fairly standard reaction from people who first played the persona series trying a game from the main SMT series for the first time. No worries, I'm not going to go all elitist uber-fan on you, but I will point out that the main series has always been about something different from its various spin offs.

the reason the characters aren't as important, developed, or dynamic in SMT IV as compared to persona is because they're not really treated as characters by the narrative. they're plot devices used to personify the chaos versus order struggle that is the primary focus of the past three games in the series. Just as SMT III's cast consisted entirely of extremist followers of nihilism, exceptional-ism, and isolationism. I try to think of them more as distant characters like Andrew Ryan than actual characters in my company. XD

since you've only just made it to Ueno, you haven't even stumbled upon the beginning of the order vs. chaos conflict in the game, so yeah, they probably haven't done much.

the story being thinly spread over a gameplay heavy game is also just a stylistic choice.

I'm not saying you should like these things, mind. Just be aware of what the game was trying to do. If you enjoy/don't enjoy the game, do it by its own merits, rather than how it compares to the persona games.

I guess I only wasted your time with this post because soooooooo many reviewers took points away from its score because "the characters aren't as developed as in personal/where are the social interactions?", despite the game not even trying to do anything like it.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

snip

Not to spoil anything major, but there are sections of the game that will seem pretty goddamn dark as far as the story goes. Much more so than Persona 4.

 

[CMDDarkblade]

I'm not saying you should like these things, mind. Just be aware of what the game was trying to do. If you enjoy/don't enjoy the game, do it by its own merits, rather than how it compares to the persona games.

I think I didn't make myself clear enough, but I am judging the game by it's own merits. It's not that I find it boring because it's not Persona. I fully expected it to be a different experience than the Persona series. I wasn't expecting social links or arcana or any of that sort of thing. I was comparing it to Persona 4 because it was a game I loved from the same company and this another game from the same company that wasn't as enjoyable to me.

Even taking Persona out of the equation the narrative fell flat to me. After 8 hours of gameplay I should feel some connection to the game world or the characters even if they are just archetypes. If I feel bored as a gamer when I've just reached a whole new area in the game world, something isn't working right with the story or the gameplay. The gameplay is fine if a bit tedious sometimes, but I need a reason to slog though these dungeons. I mean Pokemon has some of the lightest and simplest stories around, you wanna be a Pokemon Master. That's what I'm working towards in the Pokemon games. It maybe simple but it's fun and engaging and I'm happy to do all those Pokemon battles just to get there.

However, in SMT IV I don't know what I'm working towards except some vague Law/Chaos/Neutral ending. The story is simple, but unlike Pokemon, it's not engaging. It's boring. If after 8 hours I don't care about being a samurai or fighting demons then something ain't right. If the story isn't supposed to be important then that's fine, but that's not what I'm getting from it. It seems like the game is telling me that the story is important and it should matter to me, but it doesn't. I mean it's a role playing game! I should care about the role I'm in! Doom doesn't have a story; you just kill monsters and that works for that game. However, this game has a story and it should have had some effort put into the beginning of it so I at least care about the world I'm in.

As Roger Ebert once said, "It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it." And the same applies to video games and this game does not go about it's story right. I can't say anything about the later stuff because I haven't played it, but the stuff I have played should make me want to play more to see what happens next. However, I don't. I don't have a reason to care about it because I haven't been given one.

If the gameplay is enough reason for some people to continue playing this game to the end, then that's fine. More power to them. However, for me the gameplay for this game isn't enough reason for me alone. Since it has a story, I feel like the game should have given me a reason to want to play the game which it hasn't.

 

[balladbird]

If the gameplay is enough reason for some people to continue playing this game to the end, then that's fine. More power to them. However, for me the gameplay for this game isn't enough reason for me alone. Since it has a story, I feel like the game should have given me a reason to want to play the game which it hasn't.

Ah, that's a perfectly reasonable way of thinking. the only thing I can say about the story for IV is that it DOES get good, and has very dark and mature themes, as well as endings with heavy consequences.... starting about 25 or so hours in...

but yes, I'm aware of the loaded prospect one makes when they say a game gets good more than a day into it.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I've got it but I haven't really sunk any time into it yet... still working on Persona 4: The Golden (I only picked it up on the 30th of June so... yeah) but I'm looking forward to committing more time to it when I have it.

 

[Fappy]

Finished the Law route over the weekend and I'm about halfway through my NG+ Neutral route playthrough (Reincarnate NG+ reminds me of how broken NG+ of old used to be). I have some issues with it, but I wouldn't have over 100 hours logged in two weeks if I didn't love it

 

[SD-Fiend]

I would be if I actually had a 3DS. I'm hoping my dad can get me a Pikachu one before they get too expensive.

 

[Innegativeion]

I'm absolutely loving it so far, but I seem to be getting lost in

Spoiler

Tokyo

a LOT!

I'm at the part where I have to find the bookstore, but I've no idea where the hell I'm going.

 

[balladbird]

I'm absolutely loving it so far, but I seem to be getting lost in

Spoiler

Tokyo

a LOT!

I'm at the part where I have to find the bookstore, but I've no idea where the hell I'm going.

There's an old subway tunnel you can take to Ikebukuro, I found it naturally while exploring the district.

 

[SweetShark]

I have plans to buy the game too, but I need first finish the 999 sequel first....

 

[Innegativeion]

Okay, here's another one;

I've found the shinjuku station, and I know I have to accept the corpse quest to get by the ashura-kai dickhead. I got the quest and accepted it and everything... but the ************ still won't let me through! I tried abandoning and re-activating the quest, still nothing.

Google has not been any help, as most of what I see is just "get the quest and talk to the guy". It's just not working. Did I do something wrong?