Atlus Shin Megami Tensei V - It's been hurting my OCD.

[Yuber]

Nocturne was just another level. I wonder why devs today can't create these gems anymore.

 

[Yuber]

Started Canon of Vengeance and thought it would be like a new game, but it seems to be pretty much the same? Beat the first area now and there was only very minor changes, a guess character with a little dialogue here and there and two new boss fights. Maybe the later areas have more change I guess.
On second playthrough hard is even more easy. I started with Lv 1 again but everything is so easy now lol

 

[Frank Capicoli]

You are telling me Zeus, Odin, demifiend etc. can't do shit, Luicfer just has to be killed by a japanese highscooler fused with a super sentai?

What I inferred from the game is that most of the pagan deities are lesser in power compared to the higher angels that serve the great will. I really doubt Zeus, Odin, etc, are finding a way past Metatron or beating Lucifer. Especially seeing how most of the other branches are busy being deceptive backbiters.

 

[Nathir]

You are telling me Zeus, Odin, demifiend etc. can't do shit, Luicfer just has to be killed by a japanese highscooler fused with a super sentai?

What I inferred from the game is that most of the pagan deities are lesser in power compared to the higher angels that serve the great will. I really doubt Zeus, Odin, etc, are finding a way past Metatron or beating Lucifer. Especially seeing how most of the other branches are busy being deceptive backbiters.

Yes, but why? Just because something is explained doesn't mean it makes for good storytelling.

 

[Frank Capicoli]

You are telling me Zeus, Odin, demifiend etc. can't do shit, Luicfer just has to be killed by a japanese highscooler fused with a super sentai?

What I inferred from the game is that most of the pagan deities are lesser in power compared to the higher angels that serve the great will. I really doubt Zeus, Odin, etc, are finding a way past Metatron or beating Lucifer. Especially seeing how most of the other branches are busy being deceptive backbiters.

Yes, but why? Just because something is explained doesn't mean it makes for good storytelling.

To show the power the player acquires over the course of the game? You know the purpose of an rpg/progression system?

How is it bad storytelling in a modern setting to explain that ancient pagan deities like Odin and Zeus have lost most of their power?

You know what? They need to subvert peoples expectations. What should've happened is you reach the Throne and instead of Lucifer or Satan being the final challenge it should just be one level one Slime. It would break new ground.

 

[Yuber]

You are telling me Zeus, Odin, demifiend etc. can't do shit, Luicfer just has to be killed by a japanese highscooler fused with a super sentai?

What I inferred from the game is that most of the pagan deities are lesser in power compared to the higher angels that serve the great will. I really doubt Zeus, Odin, etc, are finding a way past Metatron or beating Lucifer. Especially seeing how most of the other branches are busy being deceptive backbiters.

Yes, but why? Just because something is explained doesn't mean it makes for good storytelling.

What should've happened is you reach the Throne and instead of Lucifer or Satan being the final challenge it should just be one level one Slime. It would break new ground.

Dat would have been funny LOL.

 

[d1r]

Man, I really want to see the poor sod who is the Knowledge of Slime. That new form must look ... awkward.

 

[Frank Capicoli]

A Shin Megami Tensei board game to be produced by ICREA has been announced, adapting the popular Japanese RPG series to tabletop.

No release date for the Shin Megami Tensei board game was given, but a Kickstarter campaign is set to launch on September 10, 2024 for funds in order to manufacture the game.

The board game will feature 72 demon figures, including new demons unique to the board game. And keeping in theme with the games they’re based on, demon fusion and negotiation will be the main draw to the game, where players work towards gathering powerful allies.

mite b cool.

 

[Nathir]

You are telling me Zeus, Odin, demifiend etc. can't do shit, Luicfer just has to be killed by a japanese highscooler fused with a super sentai?

What I inferred from the game is that most of the pagan deities are lesser in power compared to the higher angels that serve the great will. I really doubt Zeus, Odin, etc, are finding a way past Metatron or beating Lucifer. Especially seeing how most of the other branches are busy being deceptive backbiters.

Yes, but why? Just because something is explained doesn't mean it makes for good storytelling.

To show the power the player acquires over the course of the game? You know the purpose of an rpg/progression system?

How is it bad storytelling in a modern setting to explain that ancient pagan deities like Odin and Zeus have lost most of their power?

You know what? They need to subvert peoples expectations. What should've happened is you reach the Throne and instead of Lucifer or Satan being the final challenge it should just be one level one Slime. It would break new ground.

That's not even my original my original point anymore. My point was that it is lame that only a nahobino (the MC) can "free" Lucifer. You are the chosen one, that the final boss sits around and waits for you to come kill him. That was my complaint. I didn't mean pagan deities losing their power is bad storytelling. I meant your MC being the super special being just because of a chance encounter and fusion is bad storytelling.

 

[Frank Capicoli]

that the final boss sits around and waits for you to come kill him.

I guess you'd prefer the Diablo 3 style of Saturday morning cartoon villain Lucifer phoning up the Nahobino gang and monologuing his plans after every boss.

 

[Nathir]

that the final boss sits around and waits for you to come kill him.

I guess you'd prefer the Diablo 3 style of Saturday morning cartoon villain Lucifer phoning up the Nahobino gang and monologuing his plans after every boss.

What I'd prefer is a good story with decent characters. Even a mediocre one over what this game offers.

 

[Yuber]

I am on the new map in Vengeance now, but for now I liked Canon of Creation more than Vengeance.
Game keeps being easy, lol @ the Hayataro and Yuzuru fight, I just made King Frost and drained all turns when Yuzuru used Ice attack.
Then 2 Freikugel and boss was done.

 

[Haplo]

Now level 24. Beat Lahmu and Matador yesterday.

Lahmu was just a DPS test in the end, once I equipped aoe abilities, particularly ones he's weak to, went down real fast on 2nd try, soon after an early Omagotoki Crit round. Though on first the fight was dragging on, I was forced to destroy tentacles 1 by 1 before they all full heal and once they were gone, it went on a rampage and started to cast some crazy strong spells that demolished the reminder of my party in 2 rounds. Does his magic stat grow with turns spent in combat or something?

Matador was even more of a challenge. The ability to randomly kill on crit or weakness is brutal, so keeping him debuffed and avoiding Force weakness on all allies was critical. In the end, after a nasty Andalucia, only Nahobino was left standing to deliver the final blow...

Overall 2 neat fights.

Now I have fused Matador. Seems like I should try to boost his crit chances to take advantage of his neat passive...

Overall Venom Chaser from Rakshasa and Voivre seems like a fantastic move at these game stages - whenever I can affect enemies with Poison.
And I guess they synergize with a Zhen's Deathly Affliction.

 

[Yuber]

Now I have fused Matador. Seems like I should try to boost his crit chances to take advantage of his neat passive...

He will learn Critical Aura which gives him 100% Crit for one attack.

 

[Haplo]

Now I have fused Matador. Seems like I should try to boost his crit chances to take advantage of his neat passive...

He will learn Critical Aura which gives him 100% Crit for one attack.

That's... very convenient.
Looking forward to pair him with Loa in a couple levels

 

[Damned Registrations]

I meant your MC being the super special being just because of a chance encounter and fusion is bad storytelling.

So do you want

A: Your character is the super special being for another reason (Like... you just start as Odin or some shit?)

B: Your character isn't a super special being and therefore has no influence on the plot because Odin goes and does everything while you watch?

I don't think either of those would qualify as good storytelling. It sounds like you want some personal character driven story like a survival horror or something about a little girl escaping/fighting a monster and nobody ever knows or cares because she wasn't special and neither was the monster. Fuck that noise. I want to go punch gods.

 

[Haplo]

Its a jrpg for fuck's sake.
Who expects good storytelling from those?

 

[Grunker]

Its a jrpg for fuck's sake.
Who expects good storytelling from those?

Well, there are grown men on this forum who will defend the writing of Troubleshooter, so...

 

[Nathir]

I meant your MC being the super special being just because of a chance encounter and fusion is bad storytelling.

So do you want

A: Your character is the super special being for another reason (Like... you just start as Odin or some shit?)

B: Your character isn't a super special being and therefore has no influence on the plot because Odin goes and does everything while you watch?

I don't think either of those would qualify as good storytelling. It sounds like you want some personal character driven story like a survival horror or something about a little girl escaping/fighting a monster and nobody ever knows or cares because she wasn't special and neither was the monster. Fuck that noise. I want to go punch gods.

I want a game where your character isn't the super special awesome one just because a demon randomly sees him and fuses with him at the start. And as a result you are the only one that can defeat the last boss, who you don't see or interact with in any way but he reveals in the final fight his plans were always to be defeated by the MC because it's the only way to escape the Mandala system. Why would it even be a good thing and why is it important? Who cares.

You are focusing too much on specifics it's not about what I want to happen, all I would want is a story that at the very least doesn't make me cringe at every moment while playing. THe whole story feels jumbled and stitched together with multiple separate parts. Protecting Tokyo with Tsukoyomi and Aogami could be 1 separate story. Then the whole school subplot with the bullied girl, that goes nowhere and could have been cut out in its entirety easily without any significant impact to the main story could also be easily made into its own thing. The last act with the race for the throne could (should?) be the focus since the start. Battling against the Qadištu as the main villains till the end would also be much better. Why do we need lucifer at the end? Come to think of it, where do Lilith and co. go after Tiamat is summoned? Why don't they appear at the end? Why can Mastema just control Tiamat?

There just isn't any real flow of events or progression that would make sense. Or reasonable character motivations and development. It feels like multiple writers were writing separate parts that got stuck together in the end.

 

[Nathir]

Its a jrpg for fuck's sake.
Who expects good storytelling from those?

Well, if a game commits to having multiple hours of cutscenes and many different characters it shows the story must have been a concern for them. Is it unreasonable to want soemthing decent? The older SMT games at the very worst had passable stories, with minimal weeb cringe.

 

[dutchwench]

That's because the people who made early SMT games are basically a different race compared to the people working at Atlus right now. I mean, the old devs were clearly into the setting ever since Megami Tensei, and that is, as we all know, a book adaptation. The writer has a bilingual Twitter account nowadays and I don't recall him ever praising the games really so he never played some special role in the games' development, but the influence is tangible, perceptible. Ever since MT ended, Kouji Okada and Kazuma Kaneko became the brains of the franchise, coming up with crazy stuff inspired by both Japanese pop culture, lit-pilled brainiac stuff and the audacity not to pull any punches and rely on controversial ideas and subjects.
Now that they're no longer at Atlus... just who is going to cook the kind of SMT you liked? The restaurant still exists, but the chefs are all different. You aren't ever tasting that omelette you liked and it's time to let go.

 

[Frank Capicoli]

Battling against the Qadištu as the main villains till the end would also be much better. Why do we need lucifer at the end?

Franchise wise this would be like ending DBZ at the Saiyin Saga with Vegeta escaping in the pod and just wrapping it up there. You know there's bigger plotlines coming and more powerful entities at work but, who cares?

 

[Yuber]

That's because the people who made early SMT games are basically a different race compared to the people working at Atlus right now.

I can see that, SMT 5 is so "Anime". God I hated the new story scenes in Vengeance. Will only replay Canon of Creation at least less cringe scenes.

 

[Haplo]

Currently level 34 in Da'at Shinagawa.
Combo of Basilisk + Matador + Loa is fun. Basilisk aoe poisons (or gives another ailment, Loa doubles affliction chance), Matador does a Bloody Glee + Basilisk Deathly Affliction crit chance boosted Critical Wave (or aoe Force if enemies Weak)... aaand many standard encounters end in Press Turn 2 (Loa also doubles Matador's chance to instakill on Crits and Weakness). Loa can also instakill if enemies are Weak to Dark.
Boosted Matador's level and Luck (has like 50 Luck now) to maximize crit and instant kill chances (probably wasteful in the grand scheme of things, but so fun for now!).
Basilisk and Nahobino also have Poison Chaser for a very solid attack versus tougher cookies. And Loa can Seal pretty well too (or just call Daisojou for his Preach with Loa affliction boost active).
So yeah, status effects and instant kills are fun!
...at least if you are not the one on the receiving end.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I loved Loa for a good portion of the game. I used him with Succubus, personally, whose negotiation buff kept her in my party until the endgame.