Now The Everything, And Anything Related To Shin Megami Tensei Thread

[The Drunken Samurai]

well i havent banged any virtual teens yet but ill try to get my 20 bucks worth.

ive only heard some of the songs ingame and theyve been real repetitive. i still have yet to put in the soundtrack disc

[pilot]

all high on hard drugs

TDS, I'm playing Persona 4 now and it is pretty much more of the same. The only difference from what I can tell is that in 4 the weather changes and you don't pretend to blow your brains out to summon your persona. It's enjoyable to me but if you hate miles and miles of dialogue and cutscenes it isn't for you. I'm really into building personas and I like the dungeons. That said though I'm about 70 (sad) hours in and I don't think I'll be finishing the very last super secret dungeon because I've totally lost interest in grinding.

[FortNinety]

So I've been playing Devil Survivor on and off for the past couple of weeks, and gotta say... might be almost done with this one. If not for it's MegaTen ties, probably would have given up a long time ago.

I constantly hear how awesome the story is, but I'm still stuck on day one. I fully accept how punishing the MegaTen fight mechanics tend to be, but the added strategic gameplay is just too much. Then again, I'm a novice when it comes to the genre, so many all games feel like the computer knows exactly what you're doing and always has the unfair advantage. Perhaps those kinds of folks also don't mind spending close to an hour, chipping away at the enemy's defenses, only to get completely (and unfairly) obliterated by the enemy in one foul sweep, over and over again. It's beyond frustrating.

Though what really pisses me off is the reward system at the end of each of bout. Depending on what you do, a fight that would have normally netted 5 XP points and 15 bucks can get you 50 XP and 500 dollars instead... or 1 XP points and 0 dollars. Guess which I end up with the most? It would help if I knew what criteria is being used to make such calls to then better myself.

Speaking of, the game has one of the worst interfaces for any DS title I can recall, and not at all suited for a game with such depth. Because things are either explained poorly or not at all, I screwed up a few times when first fusing Personas, which I'm still pissed about. The idiotic inventory system sure doesn't help, which like virtually every issue could have been easily avoided if they had simply used both screens!

One of the biggest additions is the ability to buy Personas via an online auction, which sounded great in the beginning, till I realized that the entire system is fundamentally broken. Not to the point that it breaks the whole game, but simply in one of those "well, what's the pointing of having it in the first place?" kind of fashion. It's actually a lot like eBay; what's the point of even bothering with an auction when you can just pay the Buy It Now price?

It's okay right now, but I can easily see myself getting frustrated beyond belief later down the road, hence why I feel like bailing. Have hardly put a dent in Nocturne, which I know is hard, but at least doesn't have the bullshit strategy component, far more interesting characters, better graphics, etc.

[isfet]

well, it's a tactics RPG, so if that's not really the kind of game you like to play or are used to playing it might be a bit difficult.  the approach to a battle in a TRPG is wildly different from how you'd battle in another RPG. 

i guess basically, if you see the strategy component more as "bullshit" than "the reason to play the game" then it really might not be worth it to go on.

[FortNinety]

But the thing is, I've played stuff like Advance Wars, and not once did I feel that things were unfairly stacked against me. If I lost a long-hard battle, I never felt screwed over, just a desire to jump back in.

[isfet]

Advance Wars is more like a real-time strategy game than it is a tactical RPG. i love those games, too, but they're like more intricate versions of rock-paper-scissors.  this unit beats this unit etc. etc. etc.

games like Devil Summoner have a lot of other stats and strategies to consider.  any time i've lost in the game, i knew what i had to do differently next time.  whether it was have a demon that made me walk further, or use more demons with fire abilities or whatever the case might be.  the only time things are particularly difficult is during boss battles (but that's to be expected).

i dunno what to say to that could help, other than have a diverse array of demons you can summon and try to make each party as balanced as possible.  or, try to make each party have its own agenda.  if you see one side of the map has mainly ice-using demons, maybe send in a party that uses fire (but can heal itself).  if you exploit the weaknesses and get extra turns, there shouldn't be a lot that the enemy can do to you.

and maybe this is obvious, but it's always fundamental that you don't just send someone in to a group of enemies or they're going to get raped.  i always try to lure one enemy out at a time so i don't have a shit ton of enemies to contend with all at once.

[ATOMU]

what

[FortNinety]

Well, that's certainly unexpected!

So long as you still get to bang Yukari and Mitsuru, it's all good. Also the robot.

[FortNinety]

Also, makes me not feel so bad for not finishing the FES component!

Also also, and come to think of it, it would have been a bit nicer to put Persona 2 on the system, at least in full, mostly for us Americans, which might be asking much.

[ATOMU]

Considering that the velvet room attendant this time around is a dude, sadly signs point to no. IDK if any of P4's improvements to social links are going to apply here...I hope so, but if they don't then we're shit outta luck. (i.e. ACTUALLY GETTING TO KNOW THE KIDS YOU'RE DUNGEON CRAWLING WITH FOR HOURS ON END)

I'm realizing that you probably get to fuck the student council guy, which will be hilarious

[FortNinety]

So is Dudelisabeth the one and only attendant? Will you be able to choose the gender of the main protagonist, or is this simply Persona 3 Girl's Side?

I'm realizing that you probably get to fuck the student council guy, which will be hilarious

Quoted for truth.

[ATOMU]

While I don't doubt there'll be cameos from the other attendants, I'm pretty sure Dudelisabeth is the only one, yeah. I could get analytical as to why that is, but it'd be like begging for a wedgie. When I neckbeard, I neckbeard hard.

Honestly, looking at p3's male cast, there is no social link that can't end in hilarity. You don't even need a social link with Akihiko to slowly discover that he is completely and utterly retarded.

[FortNinety]

Hey, don't forget the ultra emo and suicidal 8 year old! Can't wait to bang him.

[ATOMU]

Hey, don't forget the ultra emo and suicidal 8 year old! Can't wait to bang him.

[Llydis]

This is interesting news. Oh, PSP, why are you sucking less nowadays?