Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Almost finished but ran out of steam (endgame spoilers)

All through the game I was coached to go fight against Krishna and the Divine Powers. So I killed them. Vishnu-Flynn was tough, but manageable. Watching Krishna’s final meltdown was glorious. I was ready to watch my ending sequence and call it a day. Then some dude shows up, “No wait, you have to fight Necron this other guy first.” Yeah no, I don’t have to do anything. If you want YHVH gone so badly, go kill him yourself. I’m through being tossed to about by random dudes. I hereby declare Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse finished after 61 hours, hurray!

Brief final thoughts

  • I was pretty happy until the last dungeon sapped all my energy. That Cosmic Egg thing was way too big, way too ugly, way too empty of any interesting features. I’m not an expert or anything, but I’ve played my fair share of RPG final dungeons and I know how easy it is to lose focus and give up before the last boss when the last stages are too boring or unpleasant. The Cosmic Egg nearly did me in, but I soldiered on thinking I was almost done, just one more step, I just have to kill Krishna and… now you want to tell me I’m not actually done? LA LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU!

  • I kinda liked this horse guy thingy

    I made two saves before the big choice where you pick whether to destroy the Cosmic Egg or side with Dagda. Destroying the egg is obviously the “correct” decision that will get all your buddies to give you high fives while squealing about the power of friendship, but I derived a certain perverse pleasure from reloading my save so I could kill them all one by one. As a bonus, Asahi stays dead on that route, woo hoo! I haven’t had this much fun doing the ‘wrong’ thing since Elvandia Story’s Dark route. But I didn’t pursue Dagda’s route beyond that point because it doesn’t feel right being his little lapdog forever. Oh I’ll carve my own path alright, Dagda. Right through your smug little face.

  • Too cute!

    All in all Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse was a good game that I really enjoyed playing. Play play play, battery runs out, charge, play some more. It’s been a looong time since I played a game that avidly. Nanashi also made it up to level 95 and it’s been a loooong time since I even came close to capping my levels in a video game. This game is a lot smoother and easier to play than the original, especially when it comes to map navigation and ease of progression. You can tell they incorporated a lot of feedback from the first game.

  • This is where I would normally say “But…” and introduce some negatives but, eh, it wasn’t bad at all. The characters were a bit annoying but I’ve seen worse. Being able to kill them if I really want to makes everything okay. My biggest problem was that the end game dragged on too long. If things had ended with destroying the Egg I would have had the energy to say more. As it is I enjoyed SMTIV: A but I’m also tired and ready to move on. I’ve seen enough.

Move on to what? Ummmm……………… I want to play La Corda d’Oro again! It’s because I was reading a manga about their post-game university days where Kaho is in a “Not My Boyfriend” situation with Yunoki, Tsukimori and Tsuchiura. You hussy, just pick one and let me have the others already *grumble grumble*.

No but seriously, what should I play next? Tokyo Xanadu feels too similar to SMT. It’s too soon for me to play Atelier Meruru. Demon Gaze? I’ve played with too many demons just now. I don’t feel like picking up Legend of Legacy or Sorcery Saga where I left off. Octopath Traveller won’t be out for another two weeks and I won’t have the Switch till August anyway…

Let me look at my resolutions list… Oh! Sakura Taisen 4! Okay, we’ll go with that. I’ve gotta catch up before the newest game comes out anyway. Welp, see you guys later!

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Longer than I’d thought (spoilers)

40 hours in. Chapter 4 out of 8 (?). Just finished yet another battle against a certain repeating boss who refuses to stay dead. Eh, I guess I could spoil a little bit. The boss is a giant snake called Shesha, annoying like all repetitive bosses tend to be but luckily not very strong. Actually I haven’t met any really strong bosses in SMTIV:A so far, but I’m only halfway in. Very easy game, TBH. But not so easy that I want to switch to the Hard setting, haha.

I was building a Phys-based main character, but after putting 200 points in Strength and only 50 or so in Magic I realized that -dyne magic was murdering the enemies much faster and more consistently than physical attacks. You also get access to -dyne magic much faster than Heavy physical attacks become available. Magic misses far less often, and gives you extra turns more easily than relying on criticals that may or may not come. If only I could reset my stat distributions to focus on Magic instead. It’s not too late though, so that’s what I’m working on now.

I made a silly mistake though. Somehow my eyes glossed over that Skill Slot+ option in the apps. I’ve been going through the whole game with only 4 skills on my main character, wondering when at all new skill slots will unlock. Level 20? Level 30? 40? It’s only when I hit level 60 and nothing unlocked that I took a second look at the App list. GAAAHHHHHHH…. Well, as I said Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse is a really easy game so it doesn’t matter anyway. I can think of it as an accidental challenge run or something.

Current Story – Everyone’s about to launch an all-out attack on the supposed Big Bads of the game. Except we’re only in chapter 4 of 8 so they’re doomed to failure. Either that or an even Bigger Bad will show up and make things worse. To be honest it feels like I’ve been playing SMTIV:A for a really long time now, so I’m ready for it to end so I can start something new. At the same time, gathering and fusing demons is still fun enough that I can keep going for a while now. If it ends around the 60-hour mark that will be good enough for me.

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Reads like a kid’s self-insert fanfic

I always have a hard time writing posts about Shin Megami Tensei games. I love them and all, but they all feel the same. Kill or befriend demons, kill or befriend various people, choose Law/Chaos/Neutral, kill boss, end. It’s usually fun, especially the demon-fusing collect-em-all aspect, it’s just not interesting to write about.

Current progress in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Moon Phase 2/8 (or 3?), level 36, just finished retrieving the parts to make the monster-detecting radar. That should be non-spoilery enough. The story is a spin-off set shortly before the end of the original Shin Megami Tensei IV. Some random annoying kids get involved and mess things up for Flynn so it’s up to them to set things right and ultimately save the people of Tokyo.

I hear SMTIV‘s director is called Kazuyuki Yamai. I bet his son little Tarou Yamai read the original script and thought “Wow, Flynn is so cool! But y’ know what would be even cooler? If Flynn had a little sidekick who looked just like me! And the sidekick has a cuuuute childhood friend! And, and then Flynn gets kidnapped so I, um I mean the sidekick is all heroic and stuff and then he saves the day! Wouldn’t that be the coolest? Daddy do it do it do it do it please please pleeeeaaase???” And that’s how we got Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. My uncle who works at Atlus told me everything.

Of course just because something is a derivative spin-off packed with recycled assets doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, I’m enjoying it more than I did the original with around the same amount of time invested. The pace is faster and more focused, for one thing. And the game just packs on the EXP so I’m always leveling up. What RPG gamer doesn’t enjoy level ups? Atlus also changed the demon negotiation system so demons pity-join you if you fail enough times. The whole negotiation process is just 100 times easier than in any other SMT game to date, which is great. The best part is how the maps are sooooo much easier to read so I never get lost.

The negative side… there aren’t many negatives. I probably shouldn’t have expected much new content from a spin-off game anyway, but the number of new locations is low so exploration is a bit dull. And the whole blah blah mankind needs this, no, mankind needs that, no, mankind needs such-and-such drill has gotten old. Who cares what mankind needs, you pretentious pseudo-philosophers. My MC is just gonna beat everyone up and “carve his own path” anyway. Always carving our own path, then the next SMT game comes out and we carve again. And again. We must have carved the whole Statue of Liberty by now but it’s never enough.

Eh, anyway, I’m having fun. Except for that night I played so much I started seeing flashing spots before my eyes. That was scary. I’ve slacked the pace of my playing a bit, but I’m still on track to finish SMT IV: Apocalypse by the end of the week. You can get a lot of gaming done even with one eye on the World Cup matches. After SMTIV: A, what should I play? I’ll think about that next week!

Picross e, SMTIV: Apocalypse and other adventures

I took more time off from gaming than I’d planned to, but it’s all good. When you’re not feeling it, you’re not feeling it. After lounging on my sofa watching K-dramas with my sisters for a month, I’m just about ready to get back in the saddle. I realized two things: 1) I love Picross, and 2) I need a break from Action RPGs for a while. Nothing personal, just that sim games and turn-based RPGs are more relaxing and that’s what I need right now. So here’s what I’ve been messing around with for the past two weeks.

Anno 1404 – I’ve played it before, so I just started it up as rehab. Getting back in the groove with some sun and sea and hungry peasants and all that. Such a gorgeous game… I started the story mode again but then I remembered that Guy Forcas and Cardinal Lukius are going to mess up my fleet and ports in a couple of chapters and got upset. This time they’re not going to have their own way! That said, I only play about 1 hour of Anno a week so they’ll be at large till 2019, probably.

Picross e – Obviously just Picross e is not enough to satisfy me. That’s why I have Picross e2, e3, e4, e5, e6, e7 and e8 lined up to play once I’m done. I play it in snatches during the day. Like, once every 10 minutes or so, nothing crazy. I’m really happy because now I’m good enough to play Free Mode (with hints). I used to get so nervous about making mistakes and having to start all over again but it’s not so bad as long as you don’t guess. Picross is the best!

Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse – Slightly improved sequel to SMTIV, which I quite enjoyed when I wasn’t getting lost in Tokyo. I’m enjoying the faster pace right off the bat, the more navigable map and the smaller cast. None of the faffing about with Jonathan and Isabeau for 20 hours that I suffered in the original.

This time I’m going to be nice to everyone and take my Law route as it comes. It sucks having to choose choices you don’t agree with just to get the route you want, so I’m not going to play along with that nonsense any more. I’ve played about 5 hours now, just hit level 10 and headed off to Ueno to find Nozomi. I’ll write a proper post about it when I hit level 20/play 10 hours, whichever comes first.

get off me get off me get off me get off me

Enkeltbillet – Mediocre otome game I tried to play but lost interest in before even meeting all the main guys. The character designs are okay, I got a good laugh out of the “English” and it has gameplay in the form of HanaIchi-style quests.

The problem is that the characters are too dumb. Especially the main character who goes running off with a stranger in a foreign country. Idiot. And the idiot strangers who take her in. And the idiot incompetent tour agency she was with. And the idiot foreign guys who randomly show up and start pawing at her. The whole game is just stupid. I want to say it’s dropped, but somehow I still want to play a little more. Even though it’s bad and I will regret it.

Right now my main game is Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse Picross e. Lying is bad. I pick up the 3DS meaning to play SMTIV but “just one puzzle” syndrome kicks in. But I’m making good progress in both of them so I’ll post about one or the other next time. See ya!

Everything is too much work

Yo! I’m still alive. Sorted through the “stuff” I mentioned in the last post (family health crisis, everyone’s fine now). The only problem is I’m exhausted and don’t feel like playing anything. I’ve tried to start a couple of games. I’m okay until they start introducing instructions. Press B to do this, press R1 to bring up such and such. It’s work. Too much work. I don’t want to think so much right now, so I end up dropping everything after 5 minutes.

What’s the plan, then? Give up gaming? Hell no. My next attempt will be an otome game. That won’t have any controls, right? Just read and read and occasionally pick some stuff. But visual novels are really boring. Boring stuff is work. So an otome game with gameplay, of which I have about 100 to choose from. Except console games are work too, so it has to be handheld or PC. That narrows things down a bit. I’ll pick something and start…. maybe… if it’s not too much work. Or chances are good I might take the whole May off from gaming and resume normal activities in June.

Anyway this was just a quick message to say I’m alive and well. See you all again soon!