@@DogmasDomain it’s not just that since you simply have to stay away from the extremes. I managed to get it first play through blind as well and I missed some side quests. It is hard but truly satisfying specially seeing all of Japan uniting and awakening Masakado finally being able to go back out to the outside world. Also there was a bar that one of the npc would tell you what alignment you were. It’s challenging but possible. Definitely worth the experience.
One thing you missed about Jonathan is that in blasted Tokyo (the desert tokyo) he is actually quite chill in destroying pluto against god's wishes since they were in other dimension/timeline and he wasn't his god, while also encouraging Akira to use demons in order to bring some chaos to seek a better future. Other thing is that Jonathan is offended at the idea of not letting Flynn go to help his village, and is angry at this being a rule. Jonathan has more nuance than most people give him credit for, but he actually has a some moments doubting order and law.
was about to comment this, meanwhile if i remember correctly, Walter did not have any misgivings on burning tokyo's circumstance even with the burning buildings and stuff, he is still "no law, guess this is ideal" and even at the end he was like "but.. if weak king, this is gonna be law... i dont like this place no more" which comes of as... selfish. Johnathan laments circumstances multiple times when absolutes are presented, blasted tokyo with gods order to poison unclean ones, purging of Tokyo entirely by the angels, he is not wholly subservient...
That's quite interesting actually. I guess my only problem with that is aren't you pretty deep into the alignment choices by the time this happens? It'd be great if those thoughts were articulated throughout their time in Tokyo than in blasted and infernal tokyo
Him and Walter swap viewpoints during that section and I love it. Law looks at the macro usually, society as a whole. In Blasted Tokyo, Jonathan sees the struggles of the individuals deemed unworthy by the current law of the land and seeks to change the status quo to save them. Chaos usually looks at the individual. In Infernal Tokyo, Jonathan sees the exact system he wants, a world ruled by the strong. So despite seeing the weak being subjected to the same injustices he feels the casualries are subjected to in mikado, he vocally supports the current status quo because he is looking at the macro rather than the individuals.
@unnamed_protagonist imo, Walter basically feels the same as senator Armstrong from metal gear rising. Despite seeing how the weak are subjagated, he sees it as a fault of them not having the will to get stronger. If they were really strong, they would become fighters like him (like Raiden). I do think Walter's reflection on the world is a bit weak writing-wise though, as I'm pretty sure the original intention here was meant to show that Walter and Jonathan are by no means extremists, but Walter just comes acrossed as becoming more extreme while Jonathan shows the proper reflection that maybe a world controlled by law won't be the best for everyone.
Please cover Strange Journey. Strange Journey was *insane* for what it was and what it was played on. Edit: I actually paid for this game with a gift card I got from donating blood. I still have it, too
It's great to hear this game treated positively. I love it too. I have V and IVA above it though. Too many gameplay problems for me to rank it higher. Also the story while amazing kinda muddles itself in the middle. Its still an amazing game. Although I heard Japanese fans don't really like smt4 compared to the rest of the series.
Don't really know why. All I can say is I saw recent poll for best megaten and smt4 was at the bottom next to if. Also in 2018 not a single track from smt4 didn't make the top 20 in the series.
@@DogmasDomain someone already explained why in your posts lol. It’s not a good game and a messy SMT. Apocalypse is considered the worst due to its story.
@@DogmasDomain SMTIV has a good reputation because it was many people's introduction to the series in the West. Japan has a lot more history with the franchise. I have a lot of history with it too seeing as I started with Nocturne near release and played every game in the franchise long before IV came out. IV just isn't what long time fans wanted. The tone was wrong, the takes on demons were wrong, the art was wrong, and the fanservice story was wrong. It was missing the creative spark that made older games great. The OST was the only part of the game that lived up to the quality we were used to. Koduka did such an incredible job it's a shame his work is stuck in mediocre games.
Something I see in this confusing map of Tokyo is feeling in the role of the samurai, where we don't know this map and it is very easy to get lost because of how new and strange everything is. I know that the apocalypse map is a quality of life change but I like to see it in the sense that this time we play the role of Nanashi, someone who has lived in this area his entire life and knows how to get places.
I agree that it thematically makes sense. The entirety of Tokyo has been run with demons and infrastructure has crumbled. It makes sense why things are falling apart, but from a gameplay sense, it can be difficult to navigate your first time around. I get what you're saying and that's a great perspective as well! Would you recommend SMT4 Apocalypse?
@@DogmasDomain Story wise, it is necessary to turn off your brain on several occasions, but no one can take away the epic moments and the crazy shit that happens in that game. In terms of gameplay, it offers several quality of life improvements and refinements. The smirk now becomes something controllable with specific skills to induce or remove it. It's not my cup of tea, I prefer its unpredictability but it was still Peak SMT combat before SMT Vengeance. I would recommend giving it a shot!
SMT 4 introduced me to the Megami Tensei/Persona series, and changed my idea of what I even thought video games could be. It's still unlike anything I've ever experienced. Im always happy to hear more people talking about it
The reason the class system was invented in the first place is because King Akira and other Tokyo residents were allowed in above by the angels in the past. The angels get rid of the system at the end of the game. They also leave and allow Mikado to live in peace with no fear of demons or class system to stop the progression of mankind. They also encourage them to build upon the technology they were able to salvage. The ending also is the only one to have an epilogue that says it's essentially a paradise God always intended. Comparing that to the neutral ending, it's not in the hands of humanity. They needed the power of the Goddess of Tokyo and Masakado, the demigod guardian of Tokyo. There's still the Yamato reactor and overflow of demons outnumbering the humans. Demons are stated raiding and killing most of Tokyo's remaining population due to not having any more shipments of red pills. There will still be two classes, the demons over the dwindling humans. There is no epilogue; it's a cliffhanger that leads to ruin. The chaos ending is just neutral but worse, while the white ending is just nihilism.
@@DogmasDomain nah it's fine the game goes out of its way to portray neutral as the best option in most of the games. for all the games, If the endings had epilogues it would greatly improve them. I'm actually curious on hearing how you'd feel about 4 apocalypses endings would be cool. Just so you know it's a different timeline that retcons some plot points. It takes place while Flynn is trying to get the neutral ending not after any of the endings.
@@DogmasDomain yeah it was shocking. I did literally everything in the game before finishing it, because that's just how I play games, and I guess my answers were just right for neutral. I'm glad I got neutral, I think any other ending would have been subpar
I was really fine with the map. I can't say I loved it but I did not dislike it. I was lost once or twice but that is fine, you have to be lost once or twice to make things interesting. Also, I got lost mostly because of the level design and Atlus' love for things being inaccessible from the most logical locations. There will always be some debree that will make you go through the entire rest of the town, 3 confusing subways and stuff like that until you reach the other side of the debree.
I really like the game but honestly that is probably because of the story I have with it. This was my commute game for about half a year where i played it for about 40 minutes every couple of days on the bus. When I finally reached the alignment point I was rather surprised at what the game wanted me to do and when I had to kill [redacted] soon afterwards I got so pissed off that I went back to a save 10 hours earlier to try and get the neutral ending. Funny thing though: I played the game for over 4 months at that point so I had no idea what I picked on all the choices. For anybody that doesn't know, the game gives you + or - points depending on the choices you make in dialogue and if I remember correctly you need to be between +8 and -8 points to lock into the neutral path. All this research led to me looking up all the choices in the game and then painstakingly writing down the answers that I thought I chose previous to my save point and then looking for the answers that would give me the right points to lock myself into the neutral path. And the feeling of accomplishment I felt when all of it acutally worked was magnificent. It is to this day the first thing I think about when this game gets mentioned. I love this game... and kinda hate it aswell. But in hindsight it's always cool when a game can make you feel all kinds of emotions. And this game certaintly did that. You made a great video! I agree with alot of it. The criticisms of the alignments expecially.
It's so cool reading stories like this! I actually played this game before getting into Persona and just couldn't get into it. My biggest issue was that playing on 2DS, even with a grip, just wasn't comfortable at all. After beating Nocturne, thinking about it, and revisiting this game on Cira, this game is definitely special. There are some huge problems, but I don't think it detracts from an overall incredible game imo. The alignment system in this game is absolutely awful. I got the nihilist ending the first time because I usually go for the neutral ending and then the game just ended! I'm happy you enjoyed the video! It's a labor of love to an important game in Atlus' catalog that shouldn't be forgotten. It just sucks that it forces you to use a guide or painstakingly assess every decision you've ever made.
One thing about Tayama I never see mentioned (probably because it’s dialogue from a random character in a dungeon) is that in the hills dungeon you can talk to a pig-tailed girl who’s like probably 5 and says that when she grows up she’s gonna marry Tayama and that he said “age doesn’t matter when there’s love” which when I saw my jaw immediately dropped and I screenshotted it so even more for Tayama being awful On another note on my first playthrough after I got the nihilist ending and went back to May last save I accidentally got the neutral route after making some choices early on I thought were chaos and at the last minute deciding to see if I could somehow get neutral which I did but the quests were hell especially since I did no side quests throughout the game and I didn’t have estoma until I had 1 quest left
I’ve seen a lot of criticism of how suddenly Walter and Jonathan become willing to commit genocide post-alignment lock, but I can’t help but feel like that’s an unfair argument. In the Law Route, fusing into Merkabah is called ‘death’ for Jonathan, implying he has no say past that point. Before this, he does hear about the plan to wipe out Tokyo, but he reacts shocked, and in the rest of his dialogue pre-Merkabah he doesn’t address that this is what he will go on to fulfil. It’s fair to criticise him for allowing the Archangels to commit this genocide (though I’d also question if he could do anything to stop them if he tried) but to say he becomes genocidal is not a fair argument. The same ‘death’ happens for Walter by fusing into Lucifer, and he is told even less of what will happen besides going to war with Mikado, so Walter too is not to blame for the chaos route’s genocide either. Neither Walter or Jonathan show any desire to create a world to the extent that their respective routes entail, as proven by the time spent in Blasted/Infernal Tokyo (examples of a world overrun by Law/Chaos respectively), but in their routes (alongside Flynn), they are roped into something bigger. I genuinely like the Law/Chaos endings not because they’re good endings that make a compelling argument, but because they show how well meaning people in Walter, Jonathan and Flynn can be dehumanised and turned into tools of higher powers. It’s absolutely going for something different to the other SMT games, but I like that about it.
I never thought about it from that perspective, but I understand why you like it with that perspective. However, while they don't directly say they're supportive of a genocide, they find a leader with their ideology and blindly follow them. Both of their beliefs are informed by their upbringings and experiences which is great, but I guess that leans more into what you're saying about an allegory of people that are taken advantage of.
Smirk was greatly improved in Apocalypse, with its base properties being drastically nerfed but as a trade-off several skills have been reworked to gain additional effects when cast with a smirk state active as well as a spell to force the state to combo with the reworked skills. The reworked Hama and Mudo spells are particularly interesting as an intermediate stage towards the current idea of having light/dark standard elemental spells (kouga/eiha)
smt iv was my first introduction to shin megami tensei proper (aside from persona of course), and man was it daunting at first. it took 3 times restarting the game before it truly “captured” me, because the first dungeon is such a pain to trek through, and the Minotaur made me think the game was just unplayably hard (isn’t there another boss right after him that nobody talks about?). i only ever got as far as Tokyo and the world map made me toss it immediately because it was very confusing where i was supposed to go. when i *actually* committed to the game, it was great!! and honestly, not as hard as i made it out to be in my head! but i definitely needed to use a guide to get the neutral ending. overall, i actually prefer Apocalypse! but i can see how IV was the blueprint for SMT after that point. very excited for the RE2 remake video! you’ve earned yourself a subscribe :)
Sorry for the late response, been working on the SMTV video and some ideas for upcoming projects. I'm glad you enjoyed, and your story is eerily familiar to my introduction to MegaTen. I tried Persona 4 waaaay back in the day and was bored out of my mind with the intro. Don't blame me, I was young and only played multiplayer games around the time so story bored me if you can believe that. I dropped P4 and tried SMT4 with the identical experience you had. I kept dying, I had no idea what was going on, and I was frustrated so I just put it down. Playing on a 3DS is also immeasurable suffering. That thing isn't comfortable and SMT3, conversely, took me a while for it to click. My real introduction to the series was actually Persona 5, which I need to make a video on as well. Sorry for the long comment! It's just funny seeing how we had the SAME story haha. Thanks for the sub man! I know supporting small channels can be dodgy, so I appreciate it and hopefully you enjoy your time here!
Easily one of my favorite games of all time. The only thing I would've changed is make the point window for Neutral wider so that it's easier to get it intentionally, otherwise? 10/10 masterpiece, no notes
I'm liking this video so far but I disagree on your assement of the Minotaur to some extent: For one, I don't really understand the criticism that you can't fuse any demons which nullify physical hits to use against him when there are a few early game demons which resist physical hits, essentially being the next best thing. For example, I have a video where I almost lost to the Minotaur but managed to pull through thanks to Spriggian and his resistance to physical attacks. You also said this point in conjunction with the fact that all his attacks are physical attacks, I'm sorry if I'm reading this wrong but are you implying that the fight would be better if you could null physical skills? Wouldn't that take from from a lot of the fight's difficulty considering that, as you pointed out, physical skills are the only types of skills he uses? I'd also say that I think your list of strategies is kinda willfully ignoring various ways to approach the fight in favor of saying its unfair, for example, you bring up recruiting a Nozuchi and Ame-No-Uzume as viable strategies and demons to use against the Minotaur, but neglected to include "Fusing a Naga" or "Fusing a Jack Frost" in your section about the Minotaur. Jack Frost especially is really useful for this fight considering that he has Bufula, a medium damaging ice skill. You also say that you didn’t lose because your strategy was bad but rather because the fight was bad, but you barely give us a chance to actually see your strategy. Like for example, what demons were you using? What were the skills they had equipped? How high was their level? What equipment did you have on the Main Character? Etc... Also from the looks of it, you weren't really buffing evasion that much if you're attacks "never hit him", unless it was cuz of Smirk but I can't really see that happening often though you either got Walter as a partner or one of the Minotaur's attacks was a critical hit, but again, buffing evasion more often can easily prevent these attacks from landing. Some other miscellaneous responses: "He has an enormous health pool"-Really? I've often never felt this way when fighting him, there've even been times when I've struggled not to kill him too quickly. Also like yeah, he's a boss fight, of course his health is gonna be large, Matador and every other fiend in Nocturne had one as well. "He has an AOE attack with a large crit rate" and so did Matador, like I said previously, just fuse some demons with phys resistance and buff evasion and this attack will barely be that much of a problem. "He can buff his next attack and debuff all your stats" Ok? So can every other boss fight in Megaten, the Matador fight literally opens up with Red Capote, a move which raises Evasion to Max. Despite this though, I agree with the criticism about Smirk
So you're 100% right about physical nullification. The game deliberately doesn't provide you demons that nullify physical hits because it would break the boss so you're right. I brought it up because when you got an ame-no-uzume, nozuchi, and a specific magatama, you can nullify an entire strategy and mitigate it's turns. This doesn't exist with minotaur because he physically hits you. On the topic of sukukaja and sukunda, I was referring to how he'll constantly crit you and receive multiple turns with high damaging attacks. Also, I don't know if this was my game, but evasion buffs rarely did anything and hitting enemies that have crit is obviously a meme. The joke I was making was centered around bad RNG with whether smirk activated and if I died in one bad turn. You're definitely better qualified to talk about the fight, but to me, he really feels like everything wrong with smirk, which is why so many struggle with him. By the time you get to Matador you have different magatamas, access to more demons, and other things you can do to beat conquer Matador with some thought. However, when you fight minotaur sometimes.... you just kind of die sometimes.
@DogmasDomain Agree on the first one For the second one, yeah the Minotaur would basically become far too easy if you were allowed Null all his attacks, I'd also say the same for Matador since he wouldn't really be able to hit you with anything besides Andalucia On the third point, it might just be a problem with your version then cuz I found Sukukaja and Sukunda to be pretty effective most of the time Fourth point, fair On the fifth point, I wouldn't say you're underequipped when you go to fight the Minotaur, there's tons of demons you can fuse, skills you can whisper on, armor, weapons and items you can buy, etc... Plus even then, I think it's good that you can kinda come into the fight under prepared, it adds to the challenge
Yeah, sukukaja felt like it didn't do anything, but you'd only use it to counter smirks evasion buff. Which is kind of irrelevant. You're right though, it adds to the challenge
The first eight hours alone would keep SMT4 from being the best even if everything else was perfect. SMT4 has several issues on its own as well, on top of issues that originally stemmed from SMT Strange Journey. The regular physical attack is mostly worthless through 99% of the game. The regular physical attack is increased by strength and the weapons base attack, while both attack and dexterity increase your physical skills. Making a physical build is really more broken, in SMT4 than it is in SMT Nocturne where physical damage is based on strength and level. Hit a critical and get a guaranteed smirk, making another guaranteed critical. Demons are always either, high HP/low MP, medium HP/medium MP, or low HP/high MP and now that attack skills are MP based, high strength and high dexterity demons are generally high HP demons meaning they'll have low MP so creating a great physical based demon is a real chore. If you want high MP, high attack, and high dexterity at least, as the ability to fuse demons and transfer all the skills makes carrying skills over easy. Physical based skills no longer requiring HP and requiring MP removes a great risk versus reward dynamic that was so good in past games. While SMT Nocturne is still my favorite in the franchise both spinoff and otherwise, after decades of replays. I've recently have been tired of the press turn system. As everyone else, I thought it was the best gameplay system I've ever experienced since the game released in 2003, the more you play, the more you see how broken the gameplay is. You're never going to have the perfect party, every single time you play through the game, you're never going to have the perfect build every time you play through the game, you're never going to have the perfect sub demons every time you play through the game. So a lot of press turn actions will likely have you not hitting a critical, will likely have you not hitting a weakness, but odds are, your MC and one or two demons may deal a crit/weakness, and you may be buffing or debuffing. In most replays, combat generally turns into almost equal amounts passing or attacking as again you're never going to have the perfect party without taking a significant amount of time every moment throughout the game. If that's how you play cool, but I don't, I don't want to make the perfect build every single time I need to upgrade my demons. I don't want to go through all of that busy work and generally don't have great builds until around late game. I've only started playing SMT Strange Journey in the past year. I got annoyed at it because while I have no problem progressing, I've gotten stuck because I can't find a path to progress fairly early in the game(the jail, can't find out how to get to the top floor.) If not for this instance of just getting stuck, SMT Strange Journey would be my new favorite. Now yes, physical skills do use MP, something that I don't like, but it works better here. There is no press turn system, so hitting a critical or hitting an elemental weakness your characters just combo the enemy party. This forces you to use every single demon in your party, you can't just pass and use the turn manipulation for two demons to pretty much finish off entire dungeons alone. It's a great system that doesn't feel that restrictive but doesn't feel abusable either. If not for my can't find a path to progress, I think this would be my favorite.
I'm still going through my SMTV vengeance route, but I'll add it to the backlog. I definitely want to talk about it. Do you prefer the original or redux?
@@deazee2288 thanks for the kind words! I plan on covering most of the franchise, but only doing SMT will burn me out and probably cause me to quit, which I don't want to do!
SMT4 is a fantastic game and, you're right, it's a crime that this is stuck on the 3DS. I would love for this to be ported everywhere. (also port Apocalypse).
@@DogmasDomain all I wanna say is when I went to tokyo for the first time I had already played smt iv and honestly it kinda helped me know where I was in relation to other locations which sort of blew my mind at the time
Nocturne is actually the outlier in that its the only mainline SMT game to not have originally released exclusive to a Nintendo console. SMT I, II, and if... were originally SFC exclusives, IV and Apocalypse are 3DS exclusives, and V was originally a Switch exclusive.
@@Nocturne989 and it’s easily one of the best lol Only rivaled by SMTV. Main entry wise at least. Radio 2, Strange Journey, and Devil Survivor have better story.
Honestly, 4 is my favorite mainline game, with 3 following pretty closely based off of legacy alone. DS is my favorite spinoff since Persona is basically it's own thing at this point.
@@ashemabahumat4173 I'm playing through smtv on stream right now! I might get to that after the next video. So many people want me to cover all the megaten games in this detail now lol
i went for neutral because all of the other routes seemed to absolutely suck (to me). I got to exactly ONE spoiler event on chaos route, and immediately loaded back many saves ago and tried to fix my alignment. Even if it was a hassle, i am glad i did. And i will bash smt4 for just telling you "go do side quests" on there, because there were many points where i thought i bricked my playthrough because a side quest i havent done did not show up on the list. i really did have a lot of issues with Smirk because, well, its just an unfair mechanic beyond your control. But in 4A for example it is even less appealing to me because you HAVE control over Smirk, which made it even worse. While i am unhappy with 5 (and how 5 does not acknowledge 4 at all, as 5 tries really really hard to be 3's direct sequel.), i am glad they got rid of smirk. But overall? SMT4 has cool stuff, piled on top of cool stuff, on top of cool stuff. Its a complete package that is completely unique to this series and i adore it, with all its cryptidness, smirk, and quirks.
I'm right there with you on all fronts. If you have those thoughts about 5 just wait for the smtv video lol. Keep an eye out for it if you're interested, should be out in a week or two
@@IrvineKinneas8882 Tanks for the support 🫡 just finished writing the script yesterday and it's going to be longer than the SMT4 video. It's going to be a unique take on that game, I promise and everyone might not agree.
Oh yeah, Neutral is too easy of a choice. Despite the whole "Things probably going to shit again later" , that's also true for all endings other than White ending.
Endings in this game didn't really have me think. Neutral and the white ending are the only endings that actually solved problems imo. I also love how Nocturne punishes you for not selecting lol
After watching the whole video i can agree with some points you stated about the endings and Jonathans motivation. However, getting the neutral ending isnt as hard as you stated since you can easily avoid the void ending and giving rational answers to some questions throughout the game and the ring of gaia questions. Also, doing the sidequests, like you stated, builds up the world by a lot. So if you are down with backstory and lore (like i am) its more of a delicious side dish instead of a second course after you're already full. Now, with that said, this game is my favorite Megaten game but i started with Nocturne way back on the ps2. Matador is, imo, comparable to the minotaur fight and is a great learning wall to force players to figure out demon fusion and learning from mistakes. You can ram your head into a wall to try and get through, but you can also find a weak spot first. The demons provided before the fight even point you into the direction of Rakukaja, Media and Bufu, getting more slots for more demons to entice you to fuse and get back old demons you trained, hitting weaknesses to get press turns and smirks, which give critical hits which also give extra press turns. All in all i have never had any problem with minotaur. I also never had Walter with me in the minotaur fight so that helped i guess. Tayama is a fantastic character and antagonistic force up untill the reactor where he shows he's only human after all. Jonathan represents current day Twitter, while Walter is the equivalent of Reddit imo. Both good characters in their own right and trying to put yourself in their shoes makes their motivations believable enough. The kicker is that the game is only half the script and a lot got cut due to it being on 3ds hardware. So a lit of plot points and quests end a bit abrupt or weird because of that, including the main story neutral ending. Apocalypse kind of tried to pick up the story but by giving a different cast and making it a saturday morning anime it lost its dark tones and earlier characters stories. Still a 9.5/10 game. Played all endings. Fantastic.
I agree with most of what you're saying outside of Matador. I've found myself on multiple playthroughs exploiting numerous weaknesses and finding more ways around Matador that tests player skill than the limited scope of solutions to beat the Minotaur. With the minotaur you're always a hit or two away from crit.
Every smt game, huh? That's a lot of smt. I kind of burned out on the series after playing so many of them back to back to back, but I'll definitely revisit the series on the channel. It might be my favorite RPG series of all time. I'll probably cover SMTV, Strange Journey, P3 - P5, and some other games on the channel eventually
@@DogmasDomain definitely agree that it's a lot of smt lol, don't want you to focus only on that. it's just what i personally subbed to this channel for. i prefer that you do whatever interests you so you don't burn out
I respect that. A lot of friends have advised me to become a Megaten creator, but, like, I'd just get burned out making that content. Megaten is definitely here to say though. These projects take like 2 or 3 weeks to come together. I also don't want to force out content to force out content. That probably makes me a bad content creator, but I'd rather upload quality for everyone than just checking off games y'know?
Assuming you're going to tackle Apocalypse, right? I'm all for that and even Strange Journey. If you love Strange Journey, I'd love to hear your opinion between the original DS and compare it to Redux on the 3DS. I've only played the latter but I know there were some controversial changes.
Haven't played apocalypse, but its highly requested in the comments. I have a few videos release before the next SMT project. I might drop an SMT5 video in a month or two because I have like 400gbs of footage of it! ... but I would love to revisit strange journey at some point on the channel!
Literally just finished playing this for the first time two weeks ago - one of the best games I’ve ever played. The world and story kept me on constant edge
@@DogmasDomain bro what?!? Fuck what anybody says! If you loved IV you owe it yourself to play Apocalypse with it fresh in mind I'm so serious it will bring you joy
Wish I could watch this, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers. I’ve been looking forward to this video for a while! Will definitely come back to it once I’ve played the game.
Yesterday I did NG+3 Neutral recently and now moving on to Apocalypse somehow haven't beaten Shadow Masakado DLC because too lazy to do fusing pierce but still after starting Apocalypse they had small intro about back stories. Took me 3 years from 3DS moving saves to N3DS XL before ending my playthrough, my hair was bit long and going to flynn cut tbh kinda grew fund of his haircut.
Trust and believe it's in the pipeline! I have a few other non smt related projects coming out soon. The next SMT project will probably be 5! I still need to get through the Canon of Vengeance, which I usually stream on Twitch. Happy you enjoyed boss!
A major but understated aspect of Tayama's character is the his sadistic element is completely genuine and dialogue from some minor NPCs who knew him back when he was a small time Yakuza before the Firmament went up indicate that they treated him like shit decades ago and they're still proud of that. In particular there's an NPC who used to be a high end sushi chef in Ginza who brags that back in the day his place was prestigious to the point where he could gleefully deny Tayama customer status and scoffs at the idea of someone so small-time ever even thinking about eating at his store. The extremes the Ashura-Kai must go to in order to keep demons at bay are much more palatable to Tayama than merely "this is horrible but it's what must be done" because Tayama is given the additional incentive of being able to get some measure of revenge against and power to lord over the people who treated him like dirt in the past. Tayama isn't wrong when he gives his reasons for running his operations as he does, but he's not giving the full story of what he gets out of it.
Your analysis on Tayama is spot on. He's an incredible anti-hero that really forces you to question whether the end justifies the means. Stopping by Ginza is really eye opening as well because I know the exact NPCs you're talking about. I also love how the game doesn't deliberately tell you everything. The game respects you enough to piece things together and I LOVE that.
IV was my first mainline title and still the one Im fondest of. It definitely has its warts (damn neutral ending requirements) but the feeling of satisfaction I got upon getting the neutral ending for the first time... wow, nothing will beat it. Also my team was stupid powerful by endgame, I steamrolled both final bosses, no problem. Also, on the over world map: I personally didn't mind it at all. I got lost once or twice, but who hasnt gotten lost exploring a city they've never been to before?
I feel that with the end game. The game's opening is hard, but the difficulty falls off a cliff after you get to Tokyo. You might die because of smirk and new bosses though. And you know what, you're totally right about getting lost in the city! I love hearing everyone's perspective with Tokyo because it's such a mixed bag
I tried installing the 2.0 HD pack and It breaks my emulator. I own the OG game and SMT IV apocalypse on my 3ds but don't own the DLC so emulating them on my PC was the best choice, but I just don't know what I am doing wrong installing the HD PACK
I did actually manage to get the neutral ending on my first try, without even knowing alignment was a thing since I got into the series with persona 4 and then this was my first game. For future reference, you don't really need a neutral guide. On the Tokyo map you can see your current alignment by looking at what direction your character icon is spinning. I think clockwise is Law and Counterclockwise is chaos, and wobbling back and forth is neutral. Using that knowledge you can manipulate it before the cutoff, which I believe is right after the blasted/infernal Tokyo section.
Same I got it first play through without the guide too. It’s not impossible. Looking back to it I am grateful Neutral route has the best story. Law was interesting but messed up and chaos was a mess.
I was working at Gamestop in like 2013/14? And I saw a _used 3DS game_ for $49.99! What kind of 3DS game is worth that much used?! So when I saw it on the eshop a few days later for only $24.99 I bought it and locked in! My first SMT anything! I wish I could play thru 4 blind again I really do I haven't been that captivated and surprised by a game in forever. I can't even think of another game in the past few years that pulled me in and held me close like SMTIV! Idk why there's hate for Apocalypse I feel grateful they expanded on one of my favorite games using the same medium. Take my sub dawg you have great taste :3
Appreciate the support and welcome to the channel! And that's an incredible story! SMTIV is an incredible entry point! I'm glad it turned you into a fan. Have you played any other smt games since?
Your issue with Smirk and human teammate RNG during boss fights is valid, but not a complaint that should be very frustrating or even much of a nuisance in this game due to the addition of being able to save anywhere, which you did mention. I would understand being upset at the RNG if you had to trek through all of Naraku again after dying to the minotaur all because Walter joined the fight...but you can save right before the minotaur and restart the fight the second the RNG goes south on you. It would be nice to be able to choose your human teammate, but it never bothered me.
It's not so much about the trek through Naraku, there's just 0 choice. They just throw someone with you and you have to restart until you get who you want. It's more of a nuisance than anything.
@@DogmasDomain The ones i disagree on where the ones about the music, the layout of the map or the endings of smt 4. However that's just a difference of opinions and you clearly laid out why you may have dislike them or may not have been a big fan of. like i said, it was a great analysis and ill check out your smt 3 nocturn video. oh and you earned a subscriber, because i like how honest you are about a game and you try not to sugar coat it.
I get that and I respect it. Most people online, for better or for worse, are weird about opinions. I respect your maturity for listening to something you disagree with. Most people can't and it says a lot about your character! Welcome to the channel and that Nocturne video was my first video ... Ever, so it's definitely lacking some polish
I managed to snatch SMT IV right before the store closed and it was worth every penny. Now I'm just left wondering if missing out on the DLCs is a big deal or not.
SMT experience needs to be Blind? they all follow the same predictable formula so once you play one SMT for the first time you know how the rest tend to play out, but hey you're the Boss, i suppose Vengeance was pretty damn unique and unpredictable to me so things might be changing. As for SMT4 i love Apocalypse, but OG i can't stand how boring Walter and Jonathan can be, Jonathan a little less boring, Isabeau is pretty awesome though, and its a good SMT game but it took until far Endgame to get actually good for me, it got REALLY good Endgame i might add, to the point its worth playing just for that Endgame, and that its the best Endgame of any SMT i had played until i played Vengeance at least, SMT4 definitely my least favourite of them but its still a great and true SMT game.
The reason I say "best experienced blind" is because it could be someone's first SMT game. Nocturne blew my mind in 2021 because I didn't know about alignments or anything... I just sat down, put the controller down, and was like "wow." Also, yes, the alignments are inevitable, but how we get there is often underrated. There's a reason people prefer and praise stories and characters from certain games and forget others (soul hackers 2).
So you know you gotta talk about apocalypse now right? You made such a good vid on 4 so you gotta do apocalypse right? Yeaaaaaaaah you’re def gonna do apocalypse after Resident evil :) Smt was my first mainline smt so yes it has a special place in my heart. The smirk mechanic was so comedically imbalanced that I ended up not caring that much about its brokenness. I got lost for a combined 10 hours in Tokyo all because I’m so stubborn when it comes to looking up guides. On my first playthrough I almost got the neutral route without a guide but ended up trying to doctor my responses toward neutral which ironically slid me to law so bye bye humanity I guess. Over all I’d give the game an 8/10. Certified hood classic
Man I'm hearing so many mixed things about apocalypse, I might as well just try it, huh? I'm glad you enjoyed the video though! Even with its problems, it's just such a special game. And that's hilariously relatable about the ending and guide. I HATE looking guides for story games to bro.
Bruh ever since I decided to try and make an SMT 4 analysis video, every TH-camr on the planet decided to make one too 😭 In all seriousness though, I'm glad more people are talking about this game, its really good
How is it that the textures when enemies die work for you? Did the emulation get better since I last played? It's been a year or so. Or is that part of the HD pack?
Best sales means nothing (when the FE fan base helped boost it) and it is not the best game among long time fans. It is for first timers. Strange Journey still mogs it. Nocturne and Vengeance T pose it too.
SMT4 got me ADDICTED! Played the game four times back to back to get all of the endings. I agree with them being lackluster. For all the hoops we had to jump through to get the neutral ending I was utterly disappointed lol. In the end I was Team White Ending and thought eh,world is screwed. Tear it all down lol. SMT4 is by far my favorite in the franchise...but now I might have to replay it after SMT5 Vengeance. That game was sooooo good and now I GOTTA see if SMT4 still holds up as my favorite.
One thing that prevents Smt 5 vengeance from surpassing Smt 4 or Smt 3 is the fact that Smt 5’s dungeons are pretty mid in terms of dungeon design because they went semi open world, the only decent one being shakan but even then it left a lot to be desired. And also smt 4 had the app point system which in my opinion was superior to the glory point system, i didn’t like the fact that I was forced to explore every inch of the overworld to find mimans just to obtain enough glory points to obtain the necessary miracles, I think what makes the app point system so good is the fact that you obtain app points simply by leveling up so exploration didn’t feel any where nearly as forced as it does somewhat in Smt 5 or vengeance. The cool thing about obtaining useful abilities from app points is the fact that the amount of app points you have was largely based on much of it you saved up on, and the fact that app points scaled through your overall progression into the main story specifically because you gained app points as you normally leveled up which scaled properly to where you were at in a specific point in the game, it made obtaining useful abilities easier by being able to expand the amount of skills a demon or the user can learn, the glory point system was just bad in my opinion as it made exploration feel unnatural as it usually felt very forced due to the game pressuring the player to find every Miman and explore every inch of the overworld just to get enough glory points to obtain the neccesary miracles. One thing I dislike about vengeance yoko’s ending is that it explained Yoko’s desire to start from scratch but it doesn’t really explain the type of world yoko wants to create in the ending or the type of world she and the protagonist ended up with so it genuinely felt like a very vague nocturne-esk ending, it was simplistic but also a very vague ending that didn’t have a conclusion, atleast in the Tao ending you know the type of world the protagonist and Tao wants to create even if it is up in air if that would be a good thing or a bad thing. When it comes to Yoko, I would argue we don’t get much of a glimpse into the type of world she wants to create or what she wants on paper, since she is chaos aligned I assume the type of world she wants would be more towards the anarchistic side, but they don’t do a really good job explaining the type of world she wants to create, or on paper the type of world she wants.
This was the EXACT experience I had with Nocturne. I played through several times for endings. And honestly, yeah, the white ending is probably the best since the world went where it went. I'll be streaming my vengeance run tonight. I never played the original so I felt obligated to run through that before the Canon of Vengeance. SMT4, even with its problems is still goated
Hey just to help you out on the macca issue. If you increase the amount you get when talking to a demon through Burroughs this can help. You can stun the demon and talk to it which will guarantee you get macca. You can do this multiple times in one fight and if you combo that with the talk exp function you can gain levels while doing it.
My main takeaway is that the best ending is the White ending… it helps humanity escape the cycle of birth and rebirth which is the true way of attaining Nirvana
@@DogmasDomain next week is the week I can finally buy a 3ds an smtiv ,iv apocalypse and strange journey redux so it will be my turn to deal with the minatour and the skely bastards
@@DogmasDomain yeah my cousins broke my 3ds when I was a 7 now I can finally buy a new one and play those 3ds games and more plus I also want to fight the strange journey redux super bosses because I've always heard that strange journey redux has some of the hardest super bosses in the series plus I'm buying a PS2 with digital devil saga 1 and 2 yes I will be eating smt games next week that 743$ will be worth it!!! Oh and about the hacking thing I don't Wana risk any thing happing to my 3ds oh I almost forgot about soul hackers.
waltuh... put your demons away waltuh... you're not dealing damage to the minotaur waltuh...
This made me laugh too much. Fuck the minotaur 😂😂
Waltuh... put your agi away, Waltuh... I'm not smirking right now, Waltuh...
Pin this comment please @DogmasDomain , there are so many that quit the game because of this
Waltuh: I AM the one who ends it thus
Goated comment
I got the neutral ending on my 1st try without a guide, but I usually do all the side quests so there's that.
@@disturbedrebirth same, I think it’s the most satisfying route
It's definitely locked behind a complesionist play style
@@DogmasDomain it’s not just that since you simply have to stay away from the extremes. I managed to get it first play through blind as well and I missed some side quests. It is hard but truly satisfying specially seeing all of Japan uniting and awakening Masakado finally being able to go back out to the outside world. Also there was a bar that one of the npc would tell you what alignment you were. It’s challenging but possible. Definitely worth the experience.
One thing you missed about Jonathan is that in blasted Tokyo (the desert tokyo) he is actually quite chill in destroying pluto against god's wishes since they were in other dimension/timeline and he wasn't his god, while also encouraging Akira to use demons in order to bring some chaos to seek a better future.
Other thing is that Jonathan is offended at the idea of not letting Flynn go to help his village, and is angry at this being a rule.
Jonathan has more nuance than most people give him credit for, but he actually has a some moments doubting order and law.
was about to comment this, meanwhile if i remember correctly, Walter did not have any misgivings on burning tokyo's circumstance even with the burning buildings and stuff, he is still "no law, guess this is ideal" and even at the end he was like "but.. if weak king, this is gonna be law... i dont like this place no more" which comes of as... selfish.
Johnathan laments circumstances multiple times when absolutes are presented, blasted tokyo with gods order to poison unclean ones, purging of Tokyo entirely by the angels, he is not wholly subservient...
That's quite interesting actually. I guess my only problem with that is aren't you pretty deep into the alignment choices by the time this happens? It'd be great if those thoughts were articulated throughout their time in Tokyo than in blasted and infernal tokyo
He's also disgusted by the Ashura Kai despite them being a Law aligned organisation.
Him and Walter swap viewpoints during that section and I love it. Law looks at the macro usually, society as a whole. In Blasted Tokyo, Jonathan sees the struggles of the individuals deemed unworthy by the current law of the land and seeks to change the status quo to save them.
Chaos usually looks at the individual. In Infernal Tokyo, Jonathan sees the exact system he wants, a world ruled by the strong. So despite seeing the weak being subjected to the same injustices he feels the casualries are subjected to in mikado, he vocally supports the current status quo because he is looking at the macro rather than the individuals.
@unnamed_protagonist imo, Walter basically feels the same as senator Armstrong from metal gear rising. Despite seeing how the weak are subjagated, he sees it as a fault of them not having the will to get stronger. If they were really strong, they would become fighters like him (like Raiden). I do think Walter's reflection on the world is a bit weak writing-wise though, as I'm pretty sure the original intention here was meant to show that Walter and Jonathan are by no means extremists, but Walter just comes acrossed as becoming more extreme while Jonathan shows the proper reflection that maybe a world controlled by law won't be the best for everyone.
Seeing SMTIV in such good resolution is a sight for sore eyes.
I'm on my knees begging Atlus for an official port. This game actually looks pretty good upscaled with a texture pack.
@@DogmasDomain WHAT IM SAYING DUDE! btw checked out your channel and subbed, underrated channel!
Appreciate the kind words man. I'm still figuring out this TH-cam thing, but welcome to the channel!
Thumbs up for telling me not to watch this video and play SMT III and IV first. Respect.
Perfect timing because I am about 59 hours in the game
I'll watch this after finishing my playthrough
Please cover Strange Journey. Strange Journey was *insane* for what it was and what it was played on.
Edit: I actually paid for this game with a gift card I got from donating blood. I still have it, too
Strange journey my beloved. Do you prefer the redux or the original? I'll probably get around to it after the SMTV video is out.
It's great to hear this game treated positively. I love it too. I have V and IVA above it though. Too many gameplay problems for me to rank it higher. Also the story while amazing kinda muddles itself in the middle. Its still an amazing game. Although I heard Japanese fans don't really like smt4 compared to the rest of the series.
Japan didn't like SMT4? That's actually super interesting. Any idea why?
Don't really know why. All I can say is I saw recent poll for best megaten and smt4 was at the bottom next to if. Also in 2018 not a single track from smt4 didn't make the top 20 in the series.
That's interesting! Do you recall their favorite game?
@@DogmasDomain someone already explained why in your posts lol. It’s not a good game and a messy SMT. Apocalypse is considered the worst due to its story.
@@DogmasDomain SMTIV has a good reputation because it was many people's introduction to the series in the West. Japan has a lot more history with the franchise. I have a lot of history with it too seeing as I started with Nocturne near release and played every game in the franchise long before IV came out. IV just isn't what long time fans wanted. The tone was wrong, the takes on demons were wrong, the art was wrong, and the fanservice story was wrong. It was missing the creative spark that made older games great. The OST was the only part of the game that lived up to the quality we were used to. Koduka did such an incredible job it's a shame his work is stuck in mediocre games.
Something I see in this confusing map of Tokyo is feeling in the role of the samurai, where we don't know this map and it is very easy to get lost because of how new and strange everything is. I know that the apocalypse map is a quality of life change but I like to see it in the sense that this time we play the role of Nanashi, someone who has lived in this area his entire life and knows how to get places.
I agree that it thematically makes sense. The entirety of Tokyo has been run with demons and infrastructure has crumbled. It makes sense why things are falling apart, but from a gameplay sense, it can be difficult to navigate your first time around. I get what you're saying and that's a great perspective as well! Would you recommend SMT4 Apocalypse?
@@DogmasDomain Story wise, it is necessary to turn off your brain on several occasions, but no one can take away the epic moments and the crazy shit that happens in that game. In terms of gameplay, it offers several quality of life improvements and refinements. The smirk now becomes something controllable with specific skills to induce or remove it. It's not my cup of tea, I prefer its unpredictability but it was still Peak SMT combat before SMT Vengeance. I would recommend giving it a shot!
I've never been confused by the map, I found it very memorable, and quest descriptions sufficient enough to understand where to go
SMT 4 introduced me to the Megami Tensei/Persona series, and changed my idea of what I even thought video games could be. It's still unlike anything I've ever experienced. Im always happy to hear more people talking about it
The reason the class system was invented in the first place is because King Akira and other Tokyo residents were allowed in above by the angels in the past. The angels get rid of the system at the end of the game. They also leave and allow Mikado to live in peace with no fear of demons or class system to stop the progression of mankind. They also encourage them to build upon the technology they were able to salvage. The ending also is the only one to have an epilogue that says it's essentially a paradise God always intended.
Comparing that to the neutral ending, it's not in the hands of humanity. They needed the power of the Goddess of Tokyo and Masakado, the demigod guardian of Tokyo. There's still the Yamato reactor and overflow of demons outnumbering the humans. Demons are stated raiding and killing most of Tokyo's remaining population due to not having any more shipments of red pills. There will still be two classes, the demons over the dwindling humans. There is no epilogue; it's a cliffhanger that leads to ruin.
The chaos ending is just neutral but worse, while the white ending is just nihilism.
I like the vid though it has alot of heart put into it.
Glad you enjoyed! Maybe I need to revisit all the endings at some point. When I saw them a while back, it was just like.... You're all awful
@@DogmasDomain nah it's fine the game goes out of its way to portray neutral as the best option in most of the games. for all the games, If the endings had epilogues it would greatly improve them.
I'm actually curious on hearing how you'd feel about 4 apocalypses endings would be cool. Just so you know it's a different timeline that retcons some plot points. It takes place while Flynn is trying to get the neutral ending not after any of the endings.
I'll definitely give it a try at some point. I'll probably have an SMT5 video out before getting to apocalypse since I have like 400gbs of footage.
@@DogmasDomain sweet cant wait to hear your thoughts on both games
I actually did get the neutral on my own, just playing normally
The top 1%
@@DogmasDomain yeah it was shocking. I did literally everything in the game before finishing it, because that's just how I play games, and I guess my answers were just right for neutral. I'm glad I got neutral, I think any other ending would have been subpar
@@jaysans144 I respect that. Games are expensive and you're getting everything you bought! The game really rewards completionists in that aspect
@@DogmasDomain great channel btw can't wait to see what else you make
I love how everyone loves smt 4
It's a game for the people
Yes! It’s in my Mount Rushmore of favorite games ever (alongside og final fantasy 7, Xenogears, and Xenoblade 2)
@@BugabooStrangeJourney not really if you exit the echo chamber. SMTV and SMTIII are better.
@@ironrex6979 lay off the crack, kid
It makes me so incredibly happy that people are starting to see how amazing these games are. Smt IV is locked in my top 3 favorite games
What are the other 2?
I liked the video and subscribed for your warning in the beginning thank you for being considerate
Happy you enjoyed and welcome to the channel! And yeah, too many just throw around spoilers, so I wanted to level set with everyone!
I was really fine with the map. I can't say I loved it but I did not dislike it. I was lost once or twice but that is fine, you have to be lost once or twice to make things interesting.
Also, I got lost mostly because of the level design and Atlus' love for things being inaccessible from the most logical locations. There will always be some debree that will make you go through the entire rest of the town, 3 confusing subways and stuff like that until you reach the other side of the debree.
It makes the journey fun, but sometimes you just want to progress forward
babe wake up another banger video essay about smt iv just dropped
I really like the game but honestly that is probably because of the story I have with it. This was my commute game for about half a year where i played it for about 40 minutes every couple of days on the bus. When I finally reached the alignment point I was rather surprised at what the game wanted me to do and when I had to kill [redacted] soon afterwards I got so pissed off that I went back to a save 10 hours earlier to try and get the neutral ending. Funny thing though: I played the game for over 4 months at that point so I had no idea what I picked on all the choices. For anybody that doesn't know, the game gives you + or - points depending on the choices you make in dialogue and if I remember correctly you need to be between +8 and -8 points to lock into the neutral path. All this research led to me looking up all the choices in the game and then painstakingly writing down the answers that I thought I chose previous to my save point and then looking for the answers that would give me the right points to lock myself into the neutral path. And the feeling of accomplishment I felt when all of it acutally worked was magnificent. It is to this day the first thing I think about when this game gets mentioned.
I love this game... and kinda hate it aswell. But in hindsight it's always cool when a game can make you feel all kinds of emotions. And this game certaintly did that.
You made a great video! I agree with alot of it. The criticisms of the alignments expecially.
It's so cool reading stories like this! I actually played this game before getting into Persona and just couldn't get into it. My biggest issue was that playing on 2DS, even with a grip, just wasn't comfortable at all. After beating Nocturne, thinking about it, and revisiting this game on Cira, this game is definitely special. There are some huge problems, but I don't think it detracts from an overall incredible game imo. The alignment system in this game is absolutely awful. I got the nihilist ending the first time because I usually go for the neutral ending and then the game just ended!
I'm happy you enjoyed the video! It's a labor of love to an important game in Atlus' catalog that shouldn't be forgotten. It just sucks that it forces you to use a guide or painstakingly assess every decision you've ever made.
One thing about Tayama I never see mentioned (probably because it’s dialogue from a random character in a dungeon) is that in the hills dungeon you can talk to a pig-tailed girl who’s like probably 5 and says that when she grows up she’s gonna marry Tayama and that he said “age doesn’t matter when there’s love” which when I saw my jaw immediately dropped and I screenshotted it so even more for Tayama being awful
On another note on my first playthrough after I got the nihilist ending and went back to May last save I accidentally got the neutral route after making some choices early on I thought were chaos and at the last minute deciding to see if I could somehow get neutral which I did but the quests were hell especially since I did no side quests throughout the game and I didn’t have estoma until I had 1 quest left
honey new dogmas domain video dropped
Let's go, another 50 minute banger
Hope you enjoy!
I’ve seen a lot of criticism of how suddenly Walter and Jonathan become willing to commit genocide post-alignment lock, but I can’t help but feel like that’s an unfair argument. In the Law Route, fusing into Merkabah is called ‘death’ for Jonathan, implying he has no say past that point. Before this, he does hear about the plan to wipe out Tokyo, but he reacts shocked, and in the rest of his dialogue pre-Merkabah he doesn’t address that this is what he will go on to fulfil. It’s fair to criticise him for allowing the Archangels to commit this genocide (though I’d also question if he could do anything to stop them if he tried) but to say he becomes genocidal is not a fair argument. The same ‘death’ happens for Walter by fusing into Lucifer, and he is told even less of what will happen besides going to war with Mikado, so Walter too is not to blame for the chaos route’s genocide either. Neither Walter or Jonathan show any desire to create a world to the extent that their respective routes entail, as proven by the time spent in Blasted/Infernal Tokyo (examples of a world overrun by Law/Chaos respectively), but in their routes (alongside Flynn), they are roped into something bigger. I genuinely like the Law/Chaos endings not because they’re good endings that make a compelling argument, but because they show how well meaning people in Walter, Jonathan and Flynn can be dehumanised and turned into tools of higher powers. It’s absolutely going for something different to the other SMT games, but I like that about it.
I never thought about it from that perspective, but I understand why you like it with that perspective. However, while they don't directly say they're supportive of a genocide, they find a leader with their ideology and blindly follow them. Both of their beliefs are informed by their upbringings and experiences which is great, but I guess that leans more into what you're saying about an allegory of people that are taken advantage of.
That's honestly a great perspective. I haven't thought of it that way before.
Smirk was greatly improved in Apocalypse, with its base properties being drastically nerfed but as a trade-off several skills have been reworked to gain additional effects when cast with a smirk state active as well as a spell to force the state to combo with the reworked skills. The reworked Hama and Mudo spells are particularly interesting as an intermediate stage towards the current idea of having light/dark standard elemental spells (kouga/eiha)
Are you a fan of apocalypse overall? Everyone seems so SPLIT on it lol
'I will dine upon the blood of those who want to mingle with the unclean!'
Minotaur is such a good first end boss.
Minotaur really is the we have Matador at home
That brother is bootleg as hell
I didn't finish this game because I couldn't find where to go on this map. As much as I was enjoying this I just hate getting lost.
This is some of the realest shit.
smt iv was my first introduction to shin megami tensei proper (aside from persona of course), and man was it daunting at first. it took 3 times restarting the game before it truly “captured” me, because the first dungeon is such a pain to trek through, and the Minotaur made me think the game was just unplayably hard (isn’t there another boss right after him that nobody talks about?). i only ever got as far as Tokyo and the world map made me toss it immediately because it was very confusing where i was supposed to go.
when i *actually* committed to the game, it was great!! and honestly, not as hard as i made it out to be in my head! but i definitely needed to use a guide to get the neutral ending.
overall, i actually prefer Apocalypse! but i can see how IV was the blueprint for SMT after that point.
very excited for the RE2 remake video! you’ve earned yourself a subscribe :)
Sorry for the late response, been working on the SMTV video and some ideas for upcoming projects. I'm glad you enjoyed, and your story is eerily familiar to my introduction to MegaTen. I tried Persona 4 waaaay back in the day and was bored out of my mind with the intro. Don't blame me, I was young and only played multiplayer games around the time so story bored me if you can believe that. I dropped P4 and tried SMT4 with the identical experience you had. I kept dying, I had no idea what was going on, and I was frustrated so I just put it down. Playing on a 3DS is also immeasurable suffering. That thing isn't comfortable and SMT3, conversely, took me a while for it to click. My real introduction to the series was actually Persona 5, which I need to make a video on as well. Sorry for the long comment! It's just funny seeing how we had the SAME story haha. Thanks for the sub man! I know supporting small channels can be dodgy, so I appreciate it and hopefully you enjoy your time here!
I don't know if it was intentional but the one Kaneko clip you keep reusing is sending me everytime
I didn't feel like downloading anymore footage so that clip was on repeat 😂. Okada and Kaneko literally look like SMT and it's hysterical
one of the major flaw of SMT4 for me is that you can't manually sort your skills or the skills of your demons.
It frustrated me to no end.
They didn't fix it in smtv either right?
@@DogmasDomain they did fix it
Looks like I'm lacking
@@DogmasDomain in iv apocalypse it's also fixed
Next is either the Best (Strange Journey) or .....(Apocalypse)...
Apocalypse would make sense, but it'll probably be SMTV:V since I have over 300gbs of footage to burn though lol
Easily one of my favorite games of all time. The only thing I would've changed is make the point window for Neutral wider so that it's easier to get it intentionally, otherwise? 10/10 masterpiece, no notes
The alignment system in this game is rough, it does have a few smaller problems, but that doesn't take anything away from its legacy.
I'm liking this video so far but I disagree on your assement of the Minotaur to some extent:
For one, I don't really understand the criticism that you can't fuse any demons which nullify physical hits to use against him when there are a few early game demons which resist physical hits, essentially being the next best thing.
For example, I have a video where I almost lost to the Minotaur but managed to pull through thanks to Spriggian and his resistance to physical attacks.
You also said this point in conjunction with the fact that all his attacks are physical attacks, I'm sorry if I'm reading this wrong but are you implying that the fight would be better if you could null physical skills? Wouldn't that take from from a lot of the fight's difficulty considering that, as you pointed out, physical skills are the only types of skills he uses?
I'd also say that I think your list of strategies is kinda willfully ignoring various ways to approach the fight in favor of saying its unfair, for example, you bring up recruiting a Nozuchi and Ame-No-Uzume as viable strategies and demons to use against the Minotaur, but neglected to include "Fusing a Naga" or "Fusing a Jack Frost" in your section about the Minotaur.
Jack Frost especially is really useful for this fight considering that he has Bufula, a medium damaging ice skill.
You also say that you didn’t lose because your strategy was bad but rather because the fight was bad, but you barely give us a chance to actually see your strategy.
Like for example, what demons were you using? What were the skills they had equipped? How high was their level? What equipment did you have on the Main Character? Etc...
Also from the looks of it, you weren't really buffing evasion that much if you're attacks "never hit him", unless it was cuz of Smirk but I can't really see that happening often though you either got Walter as a partner or one of the Minotaur's attacks was a critical hit, but again, buffing evasion more often can easily prevent these attacks from landing.
Some other miscellaneous responses:
"He has an enormous health pool"-Really? I've often never felt this way when fighting him, there've even been times when I've struggled not to kill him too quickly.
Also like yeah, he's a boss fight, of course his health is gonna be large, Matador and every other fiend in Nocturne had one as well.
"He has an AOE attack with a large crit rate" and so did Matador, like I said previously, just fuse some demons with phys resistance and buff evasion and this attack will barely be that much of a problem.
"He can buff his next attack and debuff all your stats" Ok? So can every other boss fight in Megaten, the Matador fight literally opens up with Red Capote, a move which raises Evasion to Max.
Despite this though, I agree with the criticism about Smirk
So you're 100% right about physical nullification. The game deliberately doesn't provide you demons that nullify physical hits because it would break the boss so you're right.
I brought it up because when you got an ame-no-uzume, nozuchi, and a specific magatama, you can nullify an entire strategy and mitigate it's turns. This doesn't exist with minotaur because he physically hits you.
On the topic of sukukaja and sukunda, I was referring to how he'll constantly crit you and receive multiple turns with high damaging attacks. Also, I don't know if this was my game, but evasion buffs rarely did anything and hitting enemies that have crit is obviously a meme.
The joke I was making was centered around bad RNG with whether smirk activated and if I died in one bad turn.
You're definitely better qualified to talk about the fight, but to me, he really feels like everything wrong with smirk, which is why so many struggle with him. By the time you get to Matador you have different magatamas, access to more demons, and other things you can do to beat conquer Matador with some thought. However, when you fight minotaur sometimes.... you just kind of die sometimes.
@DogmasDomain Agree on the first one
For the second one, yeah the Minotaur would basically become far too easy if you were allowed Null all his attacks, I'd also say the same for Matador since he wouldn't really be able to hit you with anything besides Andalucia
On the third point, it might just be a problem with your version then cuz I found Sukukaja and Sukunda to be pretty effective most of the time
Fourth point, fair
On the fifth point, I wouldn't say you're underequipped when you go to fight the Minotaur, there's tons of demons you can fuse, skills you can whisper on, armor, weapons and items you can buy, etc...
Plus even then, I think it's good that you can kinda come into the fight under prepared, it adds to the challenge
Yeah, sukukaja felt like it didn't do anything, but you'd only use it to counter smirks evasion buff. Which is kind of irrelevant.
You're right though, it adds to the challenge
The first eight hours alone would keep SMT4 from being the best even if everything else was perfect. SMT4 has several issues on its own as well, on top of issues that originally stemmed from SMT Strange Journey.
The regular physical attack is mostly worthless through 99% of the game. The regular physical attack is increased by strength and the weapons base attack, while both attack and dexterity increase your physical skills. Making a physical build is really more broken, in SMT4 than it is in SMT Nocturne where physical damage is based on strength and level. Hit a critical and get a guaranteed smirk, making another guaranteed critical.
Demons are always either, high HP/low MP, medium HP/medium MP, or low HP/high MP and now that attack skills are MP based, high strength and high dexterity demons are generally high HP demons meaning they'll have low MP so creating a great physical based demon is a real chore. If you want high MP, high attack, and high dexterity at least, as the ability to fuse demons and transfer all the skills makes carrying skills over easy.
Physical based skills no longer requiring HP and requiring MP removes a great risk versus reward dynamic that was so good in past games.
While SMT Nocturne is still my favorite in the franchise both spinoff and otherwise, after decades of replays. I've recently have been tired of the press turn system. As everyone else, I thought it was the best gameplay system I've ever experienced since the game released in 2003, the more you play, the more you see how broken the gameplay is. You're never going to have the perfect party, every single time you play through the game, you're never going to have the perfect build every time you play through the game, you're never going to have the perfect sub demons every time you play through the game. So a lot of press turn actions will likely have you not hitting a critical, will likely have you not hitting a weakness, but odds are, your MC and one or two demons may deal a crit/weakness, and you may be buffing or debuffing. In most replays, combat generally turns into almost equal amounts passing or attacking as again you're never going to have the perfect party without taking a significant amount of time every moment throughout the game. If that's how you play cool, but I don't, I don't want to make the perfect build every single time I need to upgrade my demons. I don't want to go through all of that busy work and generally don't have great builds until around late game.
I've only started playing SMT Strange Journey in the past year. I got annoyed at it because while I have no problem progressing, I've gotten stuck because I can't find a path to progress fairly early in the game(the jail, can't find out how to get to the top floor.) If not for this instance of just getting stuck, SMT Strange Journey would be my new favorite. Now yes, physical skills do use MP, something that I don't like, but it works better here. There is no press turn system, so hitting a critical or hitting an elemental weakness your characters just combo the enemy party. This forces you to use every single demon in your party, you can't just pass and use the turn manipulation for two demons to pretty much finish off entire dungeons alone. It's a great system that doesn't feel that restrictive but doesn't feel abusable either. If not for my can't find a path to progress, I think this would be my favorite.
Disagree with everything you wrote. I LOVED the beginning too. Favorite JRPG of all time.
Oh please do Strange journey, what an amazing game
I'm still going through my SMTV vengeance route, but I'll add it to the backlog. I definitely want to talk about it. Do you prefer the original or redux?
@@DogmasDomain Take your time mate, love your content
@@deazee2288 thanks for the kind words! I plan on covering most of the franchise, but only doing SMT will burn me out and probably cause me to quit, which I don't want to do!
I just want to tell you something funny......
When I played smt 4 for the first time I accidentally got the neutral path😅
@@danielpratt3794 same I got mines blind. I think he just sucks at these games besides he hasn’t played the best ones.
you're right though
SMT4 is a fantastic game and, you're right, it's a crime that this is stuck on the 3DS. I would love for this to be ported everywhere. (also port Apocalypse).
Atlas needs to do something with their 3DS SMT games.
maybe what you're not seeing in the smt iv map is that it feels like tokyo, much more so than any other game in the series
That's true, but there's also a game design element that's relevant when it comes to the map composition. You're right though.
@@DogmasDomain all I wanna say is when I went to tokyo for the first time I had already played smt iv and honestly it kinda helped me know where I was in relation to other locations which sort of blew my mind at the time
A new video to fall asleep to (:
Hey! I watched a few of your videos before
@@DogmasDomain and now I've watched yours :D
Nocturne is actually the outlier in that its the only mainline SMT game to not have originally released exclusive to a Nintendo console. SMT I, II, and if... were originally SFC exclusives, IV and Apocalypse are 3DS exclusives, and V was originally a Switch exclusive.
Lol can you imagine nocturne on the GameCube?
@@Nocturne989 and it’s easily one of the best lol Only rivaled by SMTV. Main entry wise at least. Radio 2, Strange Journey, and Devil Survivor have better story.
Great video my friend, loved it so much had two watch twice
I'm really glad you enjoyed it and I'm happy it was worth the wait!
if you like SMT IV you'll love Horizon Zero Dawn!
That's one of my favorite games ever!
Honestly, 4 is my favorite mainline game, with 3 following pretty closely based off of legacy alone. DS is my favorite spinoff since Persona is basically it's own thing at this point.
Devil survivor? You recommend it?
@@DogmasDomain specifically DS2, but yea. I'd recommend them if you like srpgs or the artist like I do, and the music is pretty neat lol
@@ashemabahumat4173 I'm playing through smtv on stream right now! I might get to that after the next video. So many people want me to cover all the megaten games in this detail now lol
luckily for me i already got this game on my 3ds waiting to be played
Enjoy! It's one of a kind!
i went for neutral because all of the other routes seemed to absolutely suck (to me). I got to exactly ONE spoiler event on chaos route, and immediately loaded back many saves ago and tried to fix my alignment. Even if it was a hassle, i am glad i did. And i will bash smt4 for just telling you "go do side quests" on there, because there were many points where i thought i bricked my playthrough because a side quest i havent done did not show up on the list. i really did have a lot of issues with Smirk because, well, its just an unfair mechanic beyond your control. But in 4A for example it is even less appealing to me because you HAVE control over Smirk, which made it even worse. While i am unhappy with 5 (and how 5 does not acknowledge 4 at all, as 5 tries really really hard to be 3's direct sequel.), i am glad they got rid of smirk. But overall? SMT4 has cool stuff, piled on top of cool stuff, on top of cool stuff. Its a complete package that is completely unique to this series and i adore it, with all its cryptidness, smirk, and quirks.
I'm right there with you on all fronts. If you have those thoughts about 5 just wait for the smtv video lol. Keep an eye out for it if you're interested, should be out in a week or two
@@DogmasDomain And that's a subscribed gained! Looking forward to it!
@@IrvineKinneas8882 Tanks for the support 🫡 just finished writing the script yesterday and it's going to be longer than the SMT4 video. It's going to be a unique take on that game, I promise and everyone might not agree.
Oh yeah, Neutral is too easy of a choice. Despite the whole "Things probably going to shit again later" , that's also true for all endings other than White ending.
Endings in this game didn't really have me think. Neutral and the white ending are the only endings that actually solved problems imo. I also love how Nocturne punishes you for not selecting lol
8:21 Breh, I've literally started new playthroughs just to listen to the music 🎶😎
That soundtrack is going crazy so I don't blame you. I downloaded the OST for this video and kept most of it
After watching the whole video i can agree with some points you stated about the endings and Jonathans motivation. However, getting the neutral ending isnt as hard as you stated since you can easily avoid the void ending and giving rational answers to some questions throughout the game and the ring of gaia questions. Also, doing the sidequests, like you stated, builds up the world by a lot. So if you are down with backstory and lore (like i am) its more of a delicious side dish instead of a second course after you're already full.
Now, with that said, this game is my favorite Megaten game but i started with Nocturne way back on the ps2. Matador is, imo, comparable to the minotaur fight and is a great learning wall to force players to figure out demon fusion and learning from mistakes. You can ram your head into a wall to try and get through, but you can also find a weak spot first. The demons provided before the fight even point you into the direction of Rakukaja, Media and Bufu, getting more slots for more demons to entice you to fuse and get back old demons you trained, hitting weaknesses to get press turns and smirks, which give critical hits which also give extra press turns. All in all i have never had any problem with minotaur. I also never had Walter with me in the minotaur fight so that helped i guess.
Tayama is a fantastic character and antagonistic force up untill the reactor where he shows he's only human after all.
Jonathan represents current day Twitter, while Walter is the equivalent of Reddit imo.
Both good characters in their own right and trying to put yourself in their shoes makes their motivations believable enough.
The kicker is that the game is only half the script and a lot got cut due to it being on 3ds hardware. So a lit of plot points and quests end a bit abrupt or weird because of that, including the main story neutral ending. Apocalypse kind of tried to pick up the story but by giving a different cast and making it a saturday morning anime it lost its dark tones and earlier characters stories.
Still a 9.5/10 game. Played all endings. Fantastic.
I agree with most of what you're saying outside of Matador. I've found myself on multiple playthroughs exploiting numerous weaknesses and finding more ways around Matador that tests player skill than the limited scope of solutions to beat the Minotaur. With the minotaur you're always a hit or two away from crit.
my demons are a bit different
Pardon me
Best game of all time
The goat?
7:40 IMO Tao’s really the only English VA who’s hit or miss. Everyone else is pitch perfect. Especially Yoko, Yuzuru, and Chadstema
I'll give it a chance. Speaking some Japanese also helps my listening skills, which is another reason I selfishly turn switch to Japanese.
Sub earned, great delivery mate
Pls to Overclocked. It’s so good.
3:32
Please come back and make Atlus Great again u.u
Him and Kouji are the goats
SMT IV is the best SMT.
Such a good video, had to play it twice because i didnt finish after the first time!
Glad you enjoyed man!
Great video ! Good analysis
Thanks for watching
you should not only cover strange journey but pretty much ever smt game, and maybe other games from the megaten franchise too
Every smt game, huh? That's a lot of smt. I kind of burned out on the series after playing so many of them back to back to back, but I'll definitely revisit the series on the channel. It might be my favorite RPG series of all time. I'll probably cover SMTV, Strange Journey, P3 - P5, and some other games on the channel eventually
@@DogmasDomain definitely agree that it's a lot of smt lol, don't want you to focus only on that. it's just what i personally subbed to this channel for. i prefer that you do whatever interests you so you don't burn out
I respect that. A lot of friends have advised me to become a Megaten creator, but, like, I'd just get burned out making that content. Megaten is definitely here to say though. These projects take like 2 or 3 weeks to come together. I also don't want to force out content to force out content. That probably makes me a bad content creator, but I'd rather upload quality for everyone than just checking off games y'know?
this is not SJ
We all got opinions
Assuming you're going to tackle Apocalypse, right? I'm all for that and even Strange Journey. If you love Strange Journey, I'd love to hear your opinion between the original DS and compare it to Redux on the 3DS. I've only played the latter but I know there were some controversial changes.
Haven't played apocalypse, but its highly requested in the comments. I have a few videos release before the next SMT project. I might drop an SMT5 video in a month or two because I have like 400gbs of footage of it! ... but I would love to revisit strange journey at some point on the channel!
no i started with devil survivor 1 the ds version i didn't play 4 till after i was very experienced in megatin
You recommend devil survivor?
@@DogmasDomain if you like srpgs it's god teir
Literally just finished playing this for the first time two weeks ago - one of the best games I’ve ever played. The world and story kept me on constant edge
That game leaves a lasting impression man! It's really special
Take a second a to breathe, man.
Loved iv when it came out. Then I got apocalypse and never played it. Need to dig it out
Let me know what you think of it!
Love the videos!
Glad you enjoyed! I didn't mean for this video to be so long, but I had a lot to say 😂
Commenting for the algo, fantastic video! What are your thoughts on SMT IV Apocalypse, I’d love to see another video in this style on that game.
Thanks for the comment! Haven't played Apocalypse yet. I hear so many mixed things about it. Would you recommend it?
@@DogmasDomain bro what?!? Fuck what anybody says! If you loved IV you owe it yourself to play Apocalypse with it fresh in mind I'm so serious it will bring you joy
Wish I could watch this, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers.
I’ve been looking forward to this video for a while! Will definitely come back to it once I’ve played the game.
Can't wait to hear your thoughts. It's a very special game which is why it got a 50 minute video.
Goated video as usual.
Glad you enjoyed! It's time to go through my most requested videos!
sorry i broke your thracia 776 sub count
Appreciate the support
Yeah the map of tokyo sucks, mainly bc there's no good navigation system
"you can talk to NPCs"
Yesterday I did NG+3 Neutral recently and now moving on to Apocalypse somehow haven't beaten Shadow Masakado DLC because too lazy to do fusing pierce but still after starting Apocalypse they had small intro about back stories. Took me 3 years from 3DS moving saves to N3DS XL before ending my playthrough, my hair was bit long and going to flynn cut tbh kinda grew fund of his haircut.
Plss, do Strange Journey next!
Trust and believe it's in the pipeline! I have a few other non smt related projects coming out soon. The next SMT project will probably be 5! I still need to get through the Canon of Vengeance, which I usually stream on Twitch. Happy you enjoyed boss!
A major but understated aspect of Tayama's character is the his sadistic element is completely genuine and dialogue from some minor NPCs who knew him back when he was a small time Yakuza before the Firmament went up indicate that they treated him like shit decades ago and they're still proud of that. In particular there's an NPC who used to be a high end sushi chef in Ginza who brags that back in the day his place was prestigious to the point where he could gleefully deny Tayama customer status and scoffs at the idea of someone so small-time ever even thinking about eating at his store. The extremes the Ashura-Kai must go to in order to keep demons at bay are much more palatable to Tayama than merely "this is horrible but it's what must be done" because Tayama is given the additional incentive of being able to get some measure of revenge against and power to lord over the people who treated him like dirt in the past. Tayama isn't wrong when he gives his reasons for running his operations as he does, but he's not giving the full story of what he gets out of it.
Your analysis on Tayama is spot on. He's an incredible anti-hero that really forces you to question whether the end justifies the means. Stopping by Ginza is really eye opening as well because I know the exact NPCs you're talking about. I also love how the game doesn't deliberately tell you everything. The game respects you enough to piece things together and I LOVE that.
Genocide. You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.
awesome video man, smt 4 is an amazing game.
I'm glad you enjoyed! I'll be discussing more SMT one day. I'm sitting on a TON of SMTV footage.
SMTIV might be Atlus's best game as a whole and I'm not kidding, if only they didn't butcher the endings to set up a crappy sequel
Is that why the endings were so meh?
IV was my first mainline title and still the one Im fondest of. It definitely has its warts (damn neutral ending requirements) but the feeling of satisfaction I got upon getting the neutral ending for the first time... wow, nothing will beat it.
Also my team was stupid powerful by endgame, I steamrolled both final bosses, no problem.
Also, on the over world map: I personally didn't mind it at all. I got lost once or twice, but who hasnt gotten lost exploring a city they've never been to before?
I feel that with the end game. The game's opening is hard, but the difficulty falls off a cliff after you get to Tokyo. You might die because of smirk and new bosses though. And you know what, you're totally right about getting lost in the city! I love hearing everyone's perspective with Tokyo because it's such a mixed bag
I tried installing the 2.0 HD pack and It breaks my emulator. I own the OG game and SMT IV apocalypse on my 3ds but don't own the DLC so emulating them on my PC was the best choice, but I just don't know what I am doing wrong installing the HD PACK
I did actually manage to get the neutral ending on my first try, without even knowing alignment was a thing since I got into the series with persona 4 and then this was my first game. For future reference, you don't really need a neutral guide. On the Tokyo map you can see your current alignment by looking at what direction your character icon is spinning. I think clockwise is Law and Counterclockwise is chaos, and wobbling back and forth is neutral. Using that knowledge you can manipulate it before the cutoff, which I believe is right after the blasted/infernal Tokyo section.
Same I got it first play through without the guide too. It’s not impossible. Looking back to it I am grateful Neutral route has the best story. Law was interesting but messed up and chaos was a mess.
You just blew my mind
I was working at Gamestop in like 2013/14? And I saw a _used 3DS game_ for $49.99! What kind of 3DS game is worth that much used?! So when I saw it on the eshop a few days later for only $24.99 I bought it and locked in! My first SMT anything! I wish I could play thru 4 blind again I really do I haven't been that captivated and surprised by a game in forever. I can't even think of another game in the past few years that pulled me in and held me close like SMTIV! Idk why there's hate for Apocalypse I feel grateful they expanded on one of my favorite games using the same medium. Take my sub dawg you have great taste :3
Appreciate the support and welcome to the channel! And that's an incredible story! SMTIV is an incredible entry point! I'm glad it turned you into a fan. Have you played any other smt games since?
Your issue with Smirk and human teammate RNG during boss fights is valid, but not a complaint that should be very frustrating or even much of a nuisance in this game due to the addition of being able to save anywhere, which you did mention.
I would understand being upset at the RNG if you had to trek through all of Naraku again after dying to the minotaur all because Walter joined the fight...but you can save right before the minotaur and restart the fight the second the RNG goes south on you. It would be nice to be able to choose your human teammate, but it never bothered me.
It's not so much about the trek through Naraku, there's just 0 choice. They just throw someone with you and you have to restart until you get who you want. It's more of a nuisance than anything.
While i disagree with some of your points of the game, this is still a great analysis of smt 4 👍
I'm glad you enjoyed. I knew there were some hot opinions, but I really do love the game. Which areas did you disagree on? I'm curious!
@@DogmasDomain The ones i disagree on where the ones about the music, the layout of the map or the endings of smt 4. However that's just a difference of opinions and you clearly laid out why you may have dislike them or may not have been a big fan of. like i said, it was a great analysis and ill check out your smt 3 nocturn video. oh and you earned a subscriber, because i like how honest you are about a game and you try not to sugar coat it.
I get that and I respect it. Most people online, for better or for worse, are weird about opinions. I respect your maturity for listening to something you disagree with. Most people can't and it says a lot about your character! Welcome to the channel and that Nocturne video was my first video ... Ever, so it's definitely lacking some polish
Tips: During the Tournament battle make sure you cannonically spare all of your opponents.
I managed to snatch SMT IV right before the store closed and it was worth every penny. Now I'm just left wondering if missing out on the DLCs is a big deal or not.
Same man. It's crazy they aren't doing anything with this and the rest of their 3DS games!
SMT experience needs to be Blind? they all follow the same predictable formula so once you play one SMT for the first time you know how the rest tend to play out, but hey you're the Boss, i suppose Vengeance was pretty damn unique and unpredictable to me so things might be changing.
As for SMT4 i love Apocalypse, but OG i can't stand how boring Walter and Jonathan can be, Jonathan a little less boring, Isabeau is pretty awesome though, and its a good SMT game but it took until far Endgame to get actually good for me, it got REALLY good Endgame i might add, to the point its worth playing just for that Endgame, and that its the best Endgame of any SMT i had played until i played Vengeance at least, SMT4 definitely my least favourite of them but its still a great and true SMT game.
The reason I say "best experienced blind" is because it could be someone's first SMT game. Nocturne blew my mind in 2021 because I didn't know about alignments or anything... I just sat down, put the controller down, and was like "wow."
Also, yes, the alignments are inevitable, but how we get there is often underrated. There's a reason people prefer and praise stories and characters from certain games and forget others (soul hackers 2).
So you know you gotta talk about apocalypse now right? You made such a good vid on 4 so you gotta do apocalypse right? Yeaaaaaaaah you’re def gonna do apocalypse after Resident evil :)
Smt was my first mainline smt so yes it has a special place in my heart. The smirk mechanic was so comedically imbalanced that I ended up not caring that much about its brokenness. I got lost for a combined 10 hours in Tokyo all because I’m so stubborn when it comes to looking up guides. On my first playthrough I almost got the neutral route without a guide but ended up trying to doctor my responses toward neutral which ironically slid me to law so bye bye humanity I guess. Over all I’d give the game an 8/10. Certified hood classic
Man I'm hearing so many mixed things about apocalypse, I might as well just try it, huh? I'm glad you enjoyed the video though!
Even with its problems, it's just such a special game. And that's hilariously relatable about the ending and guide. I HATE looking guides for story games to bro.
Whatch Simply Dad's SMT 4 video. What he explains about thre endings blew my mind.
Hope they port this game someday. Because i don't want to be forced to pirate a game simply because it's not available to buy.
Fill out that Atlus survey! I asked for a port in the comments at the end!
i love shin megami tensei iv and this video
I'm happy you enjoyed boss and thanks for stopping by!
Bruh ever since I decided to try and make an SMT 4 analysis video, every TH-camr on the planet decided to make one too 😭
In all seriousness though, I'm glad more people are talking about this game, its really good
It's a great game that deserves to be celebrated and remembered for its overall excellence. I guess you were the trend setter boss
How is it that the textures when enemies die work for you? Did the emulation get better since I last played? It's been a year or so. Or is that part of the HD pack?
Citra fixed it a while back I think.
@@DogmasDomain awesome. That's good to know
Who is the bigger pawg? Lucifer or Merkabah?
Neither. Mara is.
Best sales means nothing (when the FE fan base helped boost it) and it is not the best game among long time fans. It is for first timers. Strange Journey still mogs it. Nocturne and Vengeance T pose it too.
SMT4 got me ADDICTED!
Played the game four times back to back to get all of the endings.
I agree with them being lackluster. For all the hoops we had to jump through to get the neutral ending I was utterly disappointed lol. In the end I was Team White Ending and thought eh,world is screwed. Tear it all down lol.
SMT4 is by far my favorite in the franchise...but now I might have to replay it after SMT5 Vengeance. That game was sooooo good and now I GOTTA see if SMT4 still holds up as my favorite.
One thing that prevents Smt 5 vengeance from surpassing Smt 4 or Smt 3 is the fact that Smt 5’s dungeons are pretty mid in terms of dungeon design because they went semi open world, the only decent one being shakan but even then it left a lot to be desired. And also smt 4 had the app point system which in my opinion was superior to the glory point system, i didn’t like the fact that I was forced to explore every inch of the overworld to find mimans just to obtain enough glory points to obtain the necessary miracles, I think what makes the app point system so good is the fact that you obtain app points simply by leveling up so exploration didn’t feel any where nearly as forced as it does somewhat in Smt 5 or vengeance. The cool thing about obtaining useful abilities from app points is the fact that the amount of app points you have was largely based on much of it you saved up on, and the fact that app points scaled through your overall progression into the main story specifically because you gained app points as you normally leveled up which scaled properly to where you were at in a specific point in the game, it made obtaining useful abilities easier by being able to expand the amount of skills a demon or the user can learn, the glory point system was just bad in my opinion as it made exploration feel unnatural as it usually felt very forced due to the game pressuring the player to find every Miman and explore every inch of the overworld just to get enough glory points to obtain the neccesary miracles. One thing I dislike about vengeance yoko’s ending is that it explained Yoko’s desire to start from scratch but it doesn’t really explain the type of world yoko wants to create in the ending or the type of world she and the protagonist ended up with so it genuinely felt like a very vague nocturne-esk ending, it was simplistic but also a very vague ending that didn’t have a conclusion, atleast in the Tao ending you know the type of world the protagonist and Tao wants to create even if it is up in air if that would be a good thing or a bad thing. When it comes to Yoko, I would argue we don’t get much of a glimpse into the type of world she wants to create or what she wants on paper, since she is chaos aligned I assume the type of world she wants would be more towards the anarchistic side, but they don’t do a really good job explaining the type of world she wants to create, or on paper the type of world she wants.
This was the EXACT experience I had with Nocturne. I played through several times for endings. And honestly, yeah, the white ending is probably the best since the world went where it went. I'll be streaming my vengeance run tonight. I never played the original so I felt obligated to run through that before the Canon of Vengeance. SMT4, even with its problems is still goated
I don't see the link to the mod?
It should be the first link in the description. I used that video to download the mod.
@@DogmasDomain on the DS?ok
Hey just to help you out on the macca issue. If you increase the amount you get when talking to a demon through Burroughs this can help. You can stun the demon and talk to it which will guarantee you get macca. You can do this multiple times in one fight and if you combo that with the talk exp function you can gain levels while doing it.
Also I got the neutral on the first run on my own. So it’s definitely possible, just very improbable.
Good money tip. I never invest in those skills, but it's good to know you can rob everyone. And you're the outlier! Congrats on getting that ending
Everytime i replay smt nocture i like it less and less. Everytime i replay smt iv i like it more and more
My main takeaway is that the best ending is the White ending… it helps humanity escape the cycle of birth and rebirth which is the true way of attaining Nirvana
I don't know if I'd call it Nirvana since everything disappears. I don't think destruction and enlightenment are the same thing
Dunno if that's the kinda angle they were aiming for when they made that ending, but alright.
BGs
BGs
I got neutral on the route split. . . Dear god did I need a guide
Na, that just means you're the goat
You really hate smirk because of minatour
Na, he's just the worst of it
@@DogmasDomain next week is the week I can finally buy a 3ds an smtiv ,iv apocalypse and strange journey redux so it will be my turn to deal with the minatour and the skely bastards
You're buying smt4, apocalypse, and strange journey redux? You're a better man than I am. I'd probably hack my 3DS if I was in your spot.
@@DogmasDomain yeah my cousins broke my 3ds when I was a 7 now I can finally buy a new one and play those 3ds games and more plus I also want to fight the strange journey redux super bosses because I've always heard that strange journey redux has some of the hardest super bosses in the series plus I'm buying a PS2 with digital devil saga 1 and 2 yes I will be eating smt games next week that 743$ will be worth it!!! Oh and about the hacking thing I don't Wana risk any thing happing to my 3ds oh I almost forgot about soul hackers.
#%$% the minotaur
He's a jackass
I love the minotaur because he is entirely as hard as you are prepared he is such a fun boss!
What about your first time fighting him though? Love the username btw