|
Alteisen posted:After playing SMT IV, I can say with confidence that Strange Journey is miles better. Please explain yourself, because I don't quite understand how the game that actively hates your guts and will try as hard as it loving can to drive an axe into them is better than the game that's more like a strict teacher that will punish you for getting careless, but rewards you for excelling.
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 12:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2024 17:02 |
|
|
Nuebot posted:Well after all that I gave up on Persona 3. I was enjoying it, having a lot of fun. Loaded up my save today and noticed I'd accidentally missed a day for one of Elizabeth's requests and my inner sperg just cried out in agony. I shut the game off and just sighed. Do yourself a favor and never try to do all of the social links in one playthrough then. Ibram Gaunt posted:I'm not quite sure why you're letting something like that ruin a game for you. The Elizabeth requests don't even add anything to the game at all. Well the non date ones at least. I liked them. They are also the only way to get an Omnipotent Orb without farming Messiah for about a year.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 13:13
|
|
subhelios posted:Do yourself a favor and never try to do all of the social links in one playthrough then. I was actually doing pretty good on the social link front without a guide of any sort (I think?) I'd managed to max one and get the others notably available to me to 2-4 depending on how much they bothered me. Either way I'm on to Strange Journey, anything I should know about this one?
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 13:32
|
|
|
Keep a FAQ handy if you don't want to be lost for hours in complex gimmick filled dungeons because you didn't check this wall for a secret door. I liked strange journey, but I'm really glad they cut down the dungeons for SMT 4.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 14:26
|
|
|
Alteisen posted:After playing SMT IV, I can say with confidence that Strange Journey is miles better. I've only played through Overclocked & SMTIV as far as SMT games go, but I have heard that Nocturne is the best one. Is there any truth to this? Should I hunt down a copy? I feel sort of deprived that I've only discovered these games over the past two years. I used to be such a nerd back in the day and played everything I got my hands on. How could I have missed these games? 
Captain Mog fucked around with this message at 14:41 on Aug 3, 2013 |
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 14:38
|
|
|
Yes. It's great. Probably the best gameplay in the franchise (I haven't played SMTIV yet though). And that's even with the old dumb fusion system.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 14:41
|
|
|
Nocturne plays like IV except it uses the old fusion system and it has random encounters. It's pretty drat good and it has a good 6 endings and you can nab a copy for less than $20 on Amazon!
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 14:44
|
|
|
ChaosArgate posted:Nocturne plays like IV except it uses the old fusion system and it has random encounters. It's pretty drat good and it has a good 6 endings and you can nab a copy for less than $20 on Amazon! Don't forget that you also can't save everywhere, the dungeons are a lot larger, and demon negotiation (at least in my opinion) was clunkier and far more aggravating. Basically, Nocturne was brutally difficult because it had a ton of tedious bullshit that IV did away with. It still had a kick rear end MC and pretty cool setting and music. Just wanted it to be clear that coming in from playing DS and IV really make it apparent how bullshit Nocturne can be for no good reason. Personally, I think IV is the best game thanks to all its refinements.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 14:59
|
|
|
Woah, woah, they change the fusion system? What's up with that? I haven't played four but was considering getting it once I had the cash to drop. How's it work now?
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 15:06
|
|
|
The dungeons in IV are garbage. It takes the entire game for any of them to be as interesting as Naraku, and that's the first one. They should have tried to strike a better balance between this and Strange Journey.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 15:07
|
|
|
Nuebot posted:Woah, woah, they change the fusion system? What's up with that? I haven't played four but was considering getting it once I had the cash to drop. How's it work now? Instead of manually choosing which demons you want to mash together, the game tells you the end results of what you can fuse and what component demons you'd have to give up for it. You can also choose to automatically include the compendium in your searches, which both gives you more fusion options and lets the game autobuy demons for you for fusion. You can also pick all of the skills you want to pass down to demons, like Devil Survivor, but unlike Devil Survivor, you can choose to NOT have the fused demon use the skills it would normally start with. It's such a nicer system that I find it so hard to adjust to the old system of mashing demons together and rerolling for better skills.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 15:16
|
|
|
ChaosArgate posted:Please explain yourself, because I don't quite understand how the game that actively hates your guts and will try as hard as it loving can to drive an axe into them is better than the game that's more like a strict teacher that will punish you for getting careless, but rewards you for excelling. Strange Journey's dungeons aren't even that hard. e:Sector G was probably the hardest part, next to the fact that they kept throwing more darkness at you. The problem is that the dungeon difficulty was either at 1 or 10, there wasn't a really good in-between. El Belmondo fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Aug 3, 2013 |
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 16:14
|
|
|
El Belmondo posted:Strange Journey's dungeons aren't even that hard. I know they're not, but gently caress Sectors E and G.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 16:17
|
|
|
SMTIV makes me want to replay Strange Journey. Strange Journey had a fantastic story, great side characters and a really cool premise. Plus there's loads of sweet demons. Oh and I guess there's that endless soul-crushing maze that never ends and never will end
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 16:30
|
|
|
ThePhenomenalBaby posted:The dungeons in IV are garbage. It takes the entire game for any of them to be as interesting as Naraku, and that's the first one. They should have tried to strike a better balance between this and Strange Journey. Pretty much. And even Naraku isn't very good. Though to be fair, given how tiny the dungeons are, and the way they're carved into even tinier rooms, I suspect a large part of that might be due to hardware limitations. And I can see how you could say SJ was a better game than IV. They scratch different itches. IV is a very solid JRPG but a piss-poor dungeon crawler. SJ is an awesome dungeon crawler. I suspect most people that dislike SJ for its dungeon design just don't like dungeon crawlers in general, which is fair enough since it's something of a niche genre. (And as dungeon crawlers go, SJ is absolutely kiddy-pool in terms of dungeon difficulty and getting lost) I much prefer the dungeon-crawler design of SJ to the generic 3rd-person JRPG design of IV, but I like a lot of the gameplay refinements of IV so I think it's kind of a wash as to which is better. The story and characters of IV are better I think but I generally don't care about that so much so it doesn't factor in. If you did I could see how IV would be a heavy favorite though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 16:37
|
|
|
I get frustrated by the dungeons in Strange Journey, but I still like them. I mostly just really don't like the alignment-based combat mechanic (or that, in one or two late-game instances, you are punished for doing what you've been encouraged to do the entire game) or the way the MC's skills and stats are determined. With Press Turn and being able to customize your MC more, the game would be fantastic to me. As it is, though, I don't want to replay it at all.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 18:01
|
|
|
subhelios posted:Do yourself a favor and never try to do all of the social links in one playthrough then. This is the only way to play any P3 or P4  Also SMT IV feels like Nocturne but without Reasons being really cool and going back to chaos/neutral so v  v
Zoness fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Aug 3, 2013 |
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 18:56
|
|
|
Armor-Piercing posted:I get frustrated by the dungeons in Strange Journey, but I still like them. I mostly just really don't like the alignment-based combat mechanic (or that, in one or two late-game instances, you are punished for doing what you've been encouraged to do the entire game) or the way the MC's skills and stats are determined. With Press Turn and being able to customize your MC more, the game would be fantastic to me. As it is, though, I don't want to replay it at all. In addition to this I don't really like how demon fusion works. It's not awful, but its far worse than IV. I also dislike demon negotiation because it feels far more RNG-y than IV. Nothing like multiple demons up and attacking you for choosing any option they offer. To elaborate further on the stats issue it was basically impossible to get any sort of desirable build because the stat gains were random and didn't even always match the tendency you were given at the beginning (which was also bullshit. It just was not fun in any way shape or form to play item bot. I actually liked the dungeon crawling parts. SJ was just a tedious bullshit rpg.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 18:58
|
|
|
ChaosArgate posted:Instead of manually choosing which demons you want to mash together, the game tells you the end results of what you can fuse and what component demons you'd have to give up for it. You can also choose to automatically include the compendium in your searches, which both gives you more fusion options and lets the game autobuy demons for you for fusion. You can also pick all of the skills you want to pass down to demons, like Devil Survivor, but unlike Devil Survivor, you can choose to NOT have the fused demon use the skills it would normally start with. It's such a nicer system that I find it so hard to adjust to the old system of mashing demons together and rerolling for better skills. That sounds AWESOME. Golden's additions to the fusion system are nice, but that just sounds perfect.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 19:12
|
|
|
The only downside is that you can't mash two specific demons that are taking up space anymore without some convoluted method.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 19:17
|
|
|
I'll respectfully disagree, since selecting "Include x demon" and unchecking the "Include compendium" box is pretty much all it takes, and I'd hardly call that convoluted. I really cannot overstate how much I love the new fusion menu and all the optional filters it gives you, and this is coming from a guy who liked that fusing efficiently in Persona 3 took an FAQ of demon combinations and a fusion chart, at minimum.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 19:22
|
|
|
fount of knowledge posted:I'll respectfully disagree, since selecting "Include x demon" and unchecking the "Include compendium" box is pretty much all it takes, and I'd hardly call that convoluted. That's a pain in the rear end though, especially once you've got a large posse of demons with you, because you have to manually search through the results you get until you find the one that includes the other demon that you want to fuse. The other alternative is to include a skill that the other demon has in your search, but that's even more of a pain.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 19:27
|
|
|
Genpei Turtle posted:That's a pain in the rear end though, especially once you've got a large posse of demons with you, because you have to manually search through the results you get until you find the one that includes the other demon that you want to fuse. The other alternative is to include a skill that the other demon has in your search, but that's even more of a pain. Also having this issue, it's something that they could have just kept as a vanilla option for the long-term fans without a whole lot of additional effort.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 19:42
|
|
|
I simply feel SJ was better, I didn't mind the dungeons at all and enjoyed diving into them, I especially how Sector A was so easy then Sector B throws a friggin castle at you with 8 floors, I liked the source system with the demons, not only did I wind switching my team around a lot, but sources let me customize all my guys at my leisure and even give me early access to certain spells, I also liked the story a lot more, and quite frankly I found the cast of SMT IV to be a bit insufferable. I don't really view being able to save anywhere as a positive, that makes the game way to easy I feel. SMT games where already pretty liberal with savepoints anyway.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 19:44
|
|
|
Alteisen posted:I simply feel SJ was better, I didn't mind the dungeons at all and enjoyed diving into them, I especially how Sector A was so easy then Sector B throws a friggin castle at you with 8 floors, I liked the source system with the demons, not only did I wind switching my team around a lot, but sources let me customize all my guys at my leisure and even give me early access to certain spells, I also liked the story a lot more, and quite frankly I found the cast of SMT IV to be a bit insufferable. I appreciate being able to save anywhere. I feel like Charon is primarily a tool for training players to save obsessively, so as not to have to give him all of your money.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 21:09
|
|
|
My biggest issue with SJ really wasn't the dungeons (which I enjoyed) but I just did not enjoy the combat system or the encounter rate at all. If they did some sort of re-release of SJ with the press turn system I'd eat that poo poo up.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 21:18
|
|
|
deadly_pudding posted:I appreciate being able to save anywhere. I feel like Charon is primarily a tool for training players to save obsessively, so as not to have to give him all of your money. Being able to save anywhere would have improved Strange Journey..although the Terminals are arranged in a way that they work as waypoints. It does feel more like you are climbing a mountain when you are forced to start from "base" so to speak, and progress is measured very simply--you MUST get to the next Terminal, or eventually try to turn back. You're committed once you engage, and when you get to Sector C, where you must plumb into hidden areas and pry open secret doors and really get truly loving far, distance-wise, and when you get to Sector E or H where you just go, deep and down and farther than ever before and the map is so huge you don't even begin to know where you are and you are loving lost and those Terminals are the only shining hope you have in the darkness, a bonfire set against a deep and swelling shadow and there's really just no place like home.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 21:24
|
|
|
I thought it was easier to build specific skills onto demons in SJ, thanks to Sources. Though I haven't gotten Mitamas in IV yet, which will probably help. I also liked being able to specifically fuse certain demons to each other. Endless searching just feels like more effort to me. (and including the compendium doesn't help much, since it costs so much and macca is rare on the ground) I'm a dungeon crawling fan, so I really liked SJ's dungeons. IV's are just boring. I think apps were a little better in SJ too. Everything's so expensive in IV, and even if you can eventually get more skills on your demons and MC, having to buy them for costly app points just makes it feel more like a pain in the rear end. Same with pretty much everything to do with apps. Even if eventually you can do more with them, having to slowly pick and choose which to buy feels more annoying than picking the right load out for each situation. IV does a lot of things right, but at the same time it makes some things feel more bullshitty than they have to be. I like it, but not necessarily more than I like SJ.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 21:25
|
|
|
There are no mitamas in four.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 21:33
|
|
|
I much prefer apps in SMTIV purely because I have MP Recovery 2 a little over ten hours in and it will always be on. In Strange Journey I never actually equipped MP Recovery because regardless of what I was doing at the time it was never quite as useful as something else I could use those 5 points for. I went from no MP recovery to having Victory Cry, with nothing in between.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 21:34
|
|
|
I didn't really like SJ's grid based corridors and incredibly obnoxious dungeon gimmicks, so SMTIV feels like a much better game to me. The encounter rate in Strange Journey was also pretty annoying, but SMTIV's is still pretty aggravating even without being random.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 21:40
|
|
|
This SMTIV vs SJ debate is interesting to me, because they were both SMTIV early in their development, and only one went on to become the fourth game in the series instead of a spin-off. As I recall the reason SJ wasn't slotted in as a main series game was because it wasn't set in Tokyo, and that's it, essentially. Also - I'm not done with SMTIV yet so I can't fairly compare it to SJ, but from what I've seen so far, I miss having dungeons that are more complex than simple walkways. Kagome Tower was just hugely underwhelming, for example. So it would have been nice if they could've found a balance - maybe more like Nocturne than SJ? But eh, it's still fun, and I'm greatly enjoying it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 22:03
|
|
|
Nuebot posted:I was actually doing pretty good on the social link front without a guide of any sort (I think?) I'd managed to max one and get the others notably available to me to 2-4 depending on how much they bothered me. An absolutely perfect P3 Social Link run leaves less than a week of wiggle room, so I highly doubt you'd be able to max all the S-Links on your first go anyways. Being a perfectionist is one thing, but P3 wasn't at all designed to be 100%'d on your first go. In fact, that's almost the entire theme of the game.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 22:15
|
|
|
Ibram Gaunt posted:What on earth would make you come to that conclusion? I'm going with the lack of Bugaboo.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 22:15
|
|
|
DeathBySpoon posted:An absolutely perfect P3 Social Link run leaves less than a week of wiggle room, so I highly doubt you'd be able to max all the S-Links on your first go anyways. Being a perfectionist is one thing, but P3 wasn't at all designed to be 100%'d on your first go. In fact, that's almost the entire theme of the game. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Igor actually call you out on it if you do a perfect S-Link run?
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 22:21
|
|
|
Alright, I did it. The Amazon price for SMT4 Limited Edition went up in the last two days, so I snagged the one copy of it I've seen on shelves for 50 bucks. Now I just need a 3DS 
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 22:39
|
|
|
My only real beef with SJ was that, for those times when you had to rearrange your whole party for a boss, those enormous dungeons were a real pain to slog through. Welp gotta give my whole party lightning resist, better go all the way back to the Ship so Protagonist can get in on that, too!On a blind run, the dungeons being smaller really helps cut some of the despair out of going back to town to buy armor just for a boss.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 22:40
|
|
|
Policenaut posted:And, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Igor actually call you out on it if you do a perfect S-Link run? Yeah, he mocks you for being two-faced to the extreme.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 22:57
|
|
|
deadly_pudding posted:I appreciate being able to save anywhere. I feel like Charon is primarily a tool for training players to save obsessively, so as not to have to give him all of your money. Resetting and reloading is actually a lot shorter than paying Charon.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 23:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 22, 2024 17:02 |
|
|
Alteisen posted:Resetting and reloading is actually a lot shorter than paying Charon. I do this so aggressively I don't even see Charon.
|
|
#
?
Aug 3, 2013 23:34
|
|