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[Emotions]

This game does have a long ass intro... but damn it looks gorgeous on my DSI XL ..... i totally rediscovered my DS library with the DSI XL.. <3<3<3<3<3<3 it!!!!

 

[Archie]

I've been playing other games, so I'm still only in Delphinus. For those who have finished the game, what was your final time? I'm sitting at 22 hours at the moment.

52

 

[semiconscious]

Double Edit: Managed to beat the boss through the very method I expected; he lost a brain cell and spammed his super powerful gun attack on the demons that reflected such attacks. It doesn't even really feel like I accomplished anything at all since the boss had all of the cards stacked in his favor and decided to commit suicide aganist my Alice. Atlus really needs to tone it down on crap-shoot bosses like these in the next game.

truly one of the silliest boss fights i can remember - no real reason not to do it that way. i just had everyone standing there defending half the time...

finally! - nothing but a few floors between me & the final boss. & you're right, the story has taken a serious nosedive. for me, it's gone from funky/amusing to tired/empty, but, hey, they'd kept it up for quite a while, & it'd been a lot of fun, so i'm not gonna complain too much...

 

[Lard]

I'm on level E (can't remember the name)

Fuck this maze. Fuck this maze right in the ass.

 

[Ruzai]

I've been playing other games, so I'm still only in Delphinus. For those who have finished the game, what was your final time? I'm sitting at 22 hours at the moment.

I'm at 53 hours, just finishing up Sector E. Haven't really been purposefully grinding, but I have been chasing down all the EX Missions I've come across. Have also spent a good amount of time going back into older Sectors both to map out as much as I can as well as hunt down components to build up the store. There's definitely a lot of play time to be had depending on how deep you want to go with it.

I'm on level E (can't remember the name)

Fuck this maze. Fuck this maze right in the ass.

This I think has actually been my favorite part of the game so far. It's so incredibly assholish to combine a teleporting maze, a maze of one way doors, and a second tier full of pitfalls, but I was absolutely hooked trying to navigate it all.

I felt on top of the world when I finally 100% filled in that map. Figuring out all the shortcuts between staircases, pits and doors to give free access around that area was pretty cool too. I'm hoping the Sectors to come are as interesting to explore. Delphinus was a bore; easily the lowest point for me so far.

 

[Yaweee]

I thought the boss of Sector D was super easy (probably because of how many levels I gained from the minibosses), but Sector E's final sequence was really damn hard. My strategy basically took everything I had and specifically fusing demons with multiple resistances, and trying to cover up the rest with items. In preparation for that fight, I think I explored pretty much I could (including a complete map of E 1F.)

Currently sitting at right around 30 hours, with about 85% of the EX missions I've found completed.

Some nits that I hope they fix in the sequel:
- Messages when you complete achievements. It would be nice to know when I've done enough or mapped a floor entirely.
- Show damage dealt and brief text for abilities used during auto-mode. Why aren't either of these in?
- Some better interface for registering demons. It feels kind of tedious to have to go to the compendium menu manually to register every demon you fuse.

Really? That's it? That seems incredibly short for an SMT game.

Maybe short for a game in the main series (by a little), but quite a bit longer than P1, DDS1, DDS1, Raidou 1, Raidou 2, or Devil Survivor.

There's also quite a bit of additional content that's worth doing. I fucking hated the side-quests/missions in other recent Atlus games, but SJ's are fantastic-- for the most part. The "go find a random demon, then come back to me, then go find that random demon again, then come back to me" are annoying, but most of the missions are interesting and rewarding.

 

[Althane]

:lol @ the difficulty spike in Bootes

Sector A to Sector B was really, really hard compared to Sector B to Sector C.

Haven't gotten far in C yet (I'm at the point where you need to have a Megami and Wilder demon, and I don't know where to get them, so I'm doing fusions all over the place), so we'll see how C to D goes.

 

[Yaweee]

Sector A to Sector B was really, really hard compared to Sector B to Sector C.

Haven't gotten far in C yet (I'm at the point where you need to have a Megami and Wilder demon, and I don't know where to get them, so I'm doing fusions all over the place), so we'll see how C to D goes.

A guy near the entrance to the dungeon tells you how to make those two classes of demons.

 

[Althane]

A guy near the entrance to the dungeon tells you how to make those two classes of demons.

Ah. Thanks. I've been wandering around fighting (I need 1 more level to be able to fuse a Mitama, so...) and haven't been back to the entrance in a while. Yay healing stations?

 

[Beezy]

:lol @ the difficulty spike in Bootes

Damn, you're catching up to me? Time to start playing this again.

 

[botticus]

Sector A to Sector B was really, really hard compared to Sector B to Sector C.

Haven't gotten far in C yet (I'm at the point where you need to have a Megami and Wilder demon, and I don't know where to get them, so I'm doing fusions all over the place), so we'll see how C to D goes.

D has a few annoying demons that made it a bit more difficult for me than it probably should have been if I bothered fusing demons with a purpose, and I also gave up trying to deal with the hidden enemies, but getting through it wasn't too trying. Beyond the darkness.

The first floor of E has been pretty kind so far, got a few new demons for my compendium.

 

[lucablight]

If I loved Nocturne but didn't like Etrian Odyssey will I like this?

 

[Beezy]

I am a Megami Tensei FIEND, dude.

I am drooling on my ds whenever I play this.

:lol

This is my first time playing one of these games.

 

[Yaweee]

I was so accustomed to FF13, which doesn't let the player do, well, ANYTHING or have any good dungeon design throughout the whole game that I was expecting SJ to have the good stuff saved for the end of the game. :lol FF13 has warped my expectations. :lol

That's one ting that I particularly love about SJ. It gives the player all of the meainingful gameplay mechanics early on (< 90 minutes in you get fusion, the compendium, and forma search with related item creation system), and also has good dungeon design from the get go. Most of the non-Nocturne SMT games in recent memory have meted out the mechanics too slowly or placed bland, uninteresting dungeons at the beginning.

Both are important for replayability.

If I loved Nocturne but didn't like Etrian Odyssey will I like this?

It depends why you didn't like EO. I find the gameplay mechanics in SJ to be far better, and the difficulty curve to be much smoother.

 

[Yaweee]

Yep. Even in Nocturne I don't think you can fuse until you get to Ginza, though, right?

The first city after the hospital has a cathedral (Shibuya?).

 

[Freyjadour]

I thought the boss of Sector D was super easy (probably because of how many levels I gained from the minibosses), but Sector E's final sequence was really damn hard. My strategy basically took everything I had and specifically fusing demons with multiple resistances, and trying to cover up the rest with items. In preparation for that fight, I think I explored pretty much I could (including a complete map of E 1F.)

Currently sitting at right around 30 hours, with about 85% of the EX missions I've found completed.

Some nits that I hope they fix in the sequel:
- Messages when you complete achievements. It would be nice to know when I've done enough or mapped a floor entirely.
- Show damage dealt and brief text for abilities used during auto-mode. Why aren't either of these in?
- Some better interface for registering demons. It feels kind of tedious to have to go to the compendium menu manually to register every demon you fuse.



Maybe short for a game in the main series (by a little), but quite a bit longer than P1, DDS1, DDS1, Raidou 1, Raidou 2, or Devil Survivor.

There's also quite a bit of additional content that's worth doing. I fucking hated the side-quests/missions in other recent Atlus games, but SJ's are fantastic-- for the most part. The "go find a random demon, then come back to me, then go find that random demon again, then come back to me" are annoying, but most of the missions are interesting and rewarding.

The EX Missions only get better. You even get to take sides in some classic MegaTen feuds, pretty neat stuff.

Blasting through a Devil Survivor NG+ run, but SJ has given me such a drive to play more SMT I might break out the Dingoo and play 1 or 2 again.

 

[Beezy]

Beezy, don't you have Persona 3?!?!?!

Bought the original at launch with the artbook and everything. Never played it. I attempted to once, but I fell asleep at the beginning. >_>

 

[Dresden]

Bought the original at launch with the artbook and everything. Never played it. I attempted to once, but I fell asleep at the beginning. >_>

Might as well go buy Persona 3 FES, then, or even Persona 4 if you have yet to play it. P4 is like twenty bucks right now at Gamestop.

 

[Hyunkel6]

I'm on Antila B2, and I'm getting my ass kicked in every encounter. Not only that, but I'm always out of macca since I heal/revive a lot. I think I have a pretty decent team: Main char, Angel and 2 other fusion demons. Is there a way to get more macca? Unless the game is grind-heavy, I feel like I'm missing something here....

 

[Yaweee]

I'm on Antila B2, and I'm getting my ass kicked in every encounter. Not only that, but I'm always out of macca since I heal/revive a lot. I think I have a pretty decent team: Main char, Angel and 2 fusion demons. Is there a way to get more macca? Unless the game is grind-heavy, I feel like I'm missing something here....

Macca can be slightly tight early on in terms of reviving party members, but a few hints:

- You might be swimming in revival beads, which sell for 500 a pop.
- Talk to demons when you already have one in your party. They might give you an item or macca directly, often worth more than you would get for winning a battle.
- You can have 8 demons in your party, so swap in others while you try to get money to revive the others.
- It might be worthwhile to stick to the the icy parts of B1 while you recruit and fuse some demons.

The game is not grind heavy at all, at least up through the fifth dungeon (where I'm at now).

 

[Hyunkel6]

Macca can be slightly tight early on in terms of reviving party members, but a few hints:

- You might be swimming in revival beads, which sell for 500 a pop.
- Talk to demons when you already have one in your party. They might give you an item or macca directly, often worth more than you would get for winning a battle.
- You can have 8 demons in your party, so swap in others while you try to get money to revive the others.
- It might be worthwhile to stick to the the icy parts of B1 while you recruit and fuse some demons.

The game is not grind heavy at all, at least up through the fifth dungeon (where I'm at now).

Those are great tips. Thanks!

 

[NichM]

Oh right. The place where you see Chiaki. Yeah, that's not far at all.

You don't get the Compendium in Nocturne until after Matador though, IIRC.

 

[Dresden]

ISHTAR FIGHTS

TAMMUZ ANGELS

So did no one try out these demon codes?

 

[Cep]

Those are great tips. Thanks!

Also suggest you keep a couple(I had about 3) of healers in you non-active party. They are very helpful.

 

[Beezy]

Beat sector B yesterday. The boss wasn't so bad. Now I'm in sector C... o_0

.................................

I know. :lol

Might as well go buy Persona 3 FES, then, or even Persona 4 if you have yet to play it. P4 is like twenty bucks right now at Gamestop.

Yeah, I might do this.

 

[botticus]

I think I actually need to buy items for Eridanus... poison tiles are not going to be good with no Posumudi. I was kinda hoping my demons could get poisoned and then sleep to cancel out the HP loss.

 

[NaughtyCalibur]

Got kind of side tracked with school/work, but my video review is now up.

 

[demonkaze]

So i'm up to Eridanus and i'm slowly starting to get burnt out on the game. I do love the game but I've been doing every Ex mission and they're really starting to grate on me now but for some reason I can't not do them. Would I miss much by deciding to skip on the ex missions, is it gonna bump the difficulty up a lot?

 

[7Th]

So i'm up to Eridanus and i'm slowly starting to get burnt out on the game. I do love the game but I've been doing every Ex mission and they're really starting to grate on me now but for some reason I can't not do them. Would I miss much by deciding to skip on the ex missions, is it gonna bump the difficulty up a lot?

I honestly skipped most ex-missions and I never felt myself underleved when fighting bosses and stuff.

I have to admit I totally abused the Mitama-fusion Demon Source "trick", though.

 

[Lard]

I have to admit I totally abused the Mitama-fusion Demon Source "trick", though.

Whut trick?

 

[7Th]

Whut trick?

You can fully customize the skills of ANY demon by fusing it with Mitama-type demons and using Demon Sources.

 

[botticus]

So i'm up to Eridanus and i'm slowly starting to get burnt out on the game.

I'm getting similarly burned out around the same place. Not unexpected given how I fared with the EOs. I think 30 hours of dungeon crawling is my limit before it starts to drag. But I finished those so I'll finish this. I'll probably just worry less about fusing everything and focus on keeping a good party together so it's less of a grind getting through each area.

 

[viewtifulsub]

SJ finally arrived a few days ago. I'm in love. This is the return of the JRPG king. It plays and feels like a true successor to SMT1+2 (except without the awesome post apocalyptic cyberpunk).
The storyline and setting is so goddamn awesome, and I’ve only just got to C-Sector Carina.

Spoiler

Many awesome demon expositions such as Mastema and Mitra, that really remind me of the motives found in SMT1+2. And the mirror reality environments representing humanity's self-destruction

. Looking forward to how the narrative evolves from here on in.

The only thing bothering me is how weak the MC is. SMT1+2 provided the MC with a bunch of spells/abilities to be the main offensive member of your party. Nocturne allowed you to build the MC into a powerhouse that had everyone you'll ever needed. But so far, SJ's MC is restricted to equipping weapons that provide 1 physical attack and maybe 1 elemental attack, and that’s all. Which means you'll have to rely on your demons for all of the spells you'll need. Which least to say, is quite disappointing.

 

[MechaX]

So i'm up to Eridanus and i'm slowly starting to get burnt out on the game. I do love the game but I've been doing every Ex mission and they're really starting to grate on me now but for some reason I can't not do them. Would I miss much by deciding to skip on the ex missions, is it gonna bump the difficulty up a lot?

That's the part where a lot of people tend to fall out of graces with the game. Luckily, the dungeons after that aren't nearly as bad as Eridanus in terms of teleport labyrinth-ness and slower pacing. So once you've gotten through Eridanus, you've pretty much gotten through the harder dungeon crawling stuff.

 

[bigdaddygamebot]

So tell me about this password dealy?

Are we sharing passwords for demons here on this thread?

If so...I've can post the password for an awesome 5th level Pixie.

 

[botticus]

Wow, the boss of Eridanus just got obnoxious.

Spoiler

The new all-party physical attack he has is annoying enough when it hits for 200, but when my MC suddenly loses 400 HP (more than his max), that's ridiculous. The physical attack reflect spell apparently doesn't work on it either.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

Heh, had a little trouble with the boss of Delphinus but I'm on my way now. This new area looks scary from the little poking around I've done so far though. :/

 

[Manaka]

Locked to neutral- humanity f*ck yeah!

Now's the perfect time to catch up on all the ex missions- I pretty much ignored them for the last 2 dungeons.

 

[Freyjadour]

So any news on when we're getting the password for Demonee-ho?

 

[Yaweee]

EDIT: NM. My original point was wrong.


Anyhow, I like the that the game got significantly harder near the end of the Sector E. It hasn't let up yet.

 

[botticus]

Can anyone recommend some demons I can use against

Spoiler

Ouroborus

via password at level 44 (Law)? Otherwise I think I'll just say the 40 hours I've spent was worth the purchase and shelve it for another time before I get too pissed off.

... and rage quit following a few more demon combinations. Bring on EO3!

 

[Yaweee]

Can anyone recommend some demons I can use against

Spoiler

Ouroborus

via password at level 44 (Law)? Otherwise I think I'll just say the 40 hours I've spent was worth the purchase and shelve it for another time before I get too pissed off.

... and rage quit following a few more demon combinations. Bring on EO3!

The same advice holds for Sector E as it does for the previous and upcoming main bosses. Get things resistant/immune/reflect to his BIG ATTACK (

Spoiler

physical

), at least strong against Hama, and with

Spoiler

fire

skills. Don't feel overly compelled to field a full army of the same alignment; it might help, but it depends on what skills the demons have. Your MC should easily be able to get all of the requisite strength and gun elements necessary for the boss fight, and you can use sources to transfer the resists and elemental attacks.

In fact, try getting some Chaos and Neutral demons. Generally, demons of a given alignment tend towards children with similar alignments, so recruiting a few on the opposite side of the spectrum may reveal many ideal demons for the fight. Sub Apps like Relax Spray are astonishingly useful for doing this.

But if you really, really, really, really want to cheat for the fight, I have some demons:

38 Zouchouten (Chaos) (ST Phys, ST Null)
Agilao
Deathbound
Void Fire
Makarakarn
Berserker God
z X b n 77 e K E R # % c H u -
2 8 a $ 9 H k P W 8 2 a % H d P


36 Ares (Chaos) (ST Phys, Null Expel)
True Labotomy
Resist Phys
Counter
Tarukaja
Agidyne
Arrow Rain
a R t r t n f V c i a s U 8 2 0
t z G D B 2 V V g q B P q z + E

32 Makami (Neutral) (ST Phys, Null Expel)
Tetrakarn
Needle Assault
Resist Phys
(try dumping the elemental attack onto him with a Mitama or something)
v g d i B B X m B C K b B 2 u E
c % m i B o s c S t m 3 B 3 m H

 

[Hyunkel6]

Do the opportunities to change alignments increase as the game progresses? I'm in the middle of sector C, and I think I only got 1 or 2 opportunities?

Also, what's the use of the demons' second alignment? For example, Lawful-Chaos. What does the Chaos alignment influences?

On another note, I'm finally getting a feel for the game. I disliked the game in the 1st sector, but now, I can't stop playing.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

There is no such thing as lawful-chaos.

There are primary alignments: Law, Neutral, and Chaos.

And secondary alignments: Dark, Neutral, and Light.

I forget what light does but I know that dark demons can't be negotiated with normally(unless it's a full moon and you have Lunatic).

 

[7Th]

Do the opportunities to change alignments increase as the game progresses? I'm in the middle of sector C, and I think I only got 1 or 2 opportunities?

If you complete the Fairy Village missions you can change alignment whenever you want.

 

[SpeedySwaf]

There is no such thing as lawful-chaos.

There are primary alignments: Law, Neutral, and Chaos.

And secondary alignments: Dark, Neutral, and Light.

I forget what light does but I know that dark demons can't be negotiated with normally(unless it's a full moon and you have Lunatic).

In Strange Journey, Light demons are never encountered in random battles, and can only be acquired through fusion.

 

[charlequin]

If you complete the Fairy Village missions you can change alignment whenever you want.

How many are there, and when does the last one actually open up?

EDIT: Because that jerkass Mastema apparently tricked me into going lawful, is why.

 

[7Th]

How many are there, and when does the last one actually open up?

EDIT: Because that jerkass Mastema apparently tricked me into going lawful, is why.

There are only five Fairy Village missions and the last one becomes available once you have access to Grus; right before certain events get your alignment locked.

 

[Xater]

I think I have reached my limit with this game. I loved the beginning and now I am bruned out. When a cool dungeon RPG turns into a mapping game I lose interest. I guess I am really no longer into dungeon crawling.

 

[imprecise!]

I fused a black frost with bufudyne, agidyne, and mediarama today. As someone who's never played a megaten game before, that made me pretty damn happy with myself.

Question: once I've used a demon's source, is it gone for good even if I fuse away that demon, acquire another of the same kind and level it up again? I ask because I once had a dwarf source with tarunda and rakukaja that I'd like to have back, and I have no real concept of how to go about purposefully obtaining abilities I don't already have.