Atlus Shin Megami Tensei V - It's been hurting my OCD.

[d1r]

Kunitsu Arahabaki: A chief god of ancient Japanese myth. Because he was revered by Nagasunehiko, who was defeated by Emperor Jinmu's Eastern Expedition, he was considered a symbol of rebellion, and belief in him was suppressed for a long time. He uses Tetrakarn (single ally) and Megidola, while Mudoon is listed.

Who's the guy at the end? I don't recognize it.

Moloch
https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Moloch

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Moloch was such good demon to use in Devil Survivor 2. His racial skill of MP recovery based on damage dealt, reduce enemies initiative and chance of getting extra turn.

He's kinda whatever in all other games tho.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Who's the guy at the end? I don't recognize it.

Moloch.

 

[Bigg Boss]

What do you mean by 'conventional mythological look', for example? Not sure what you mean.

By that I mean the image that pops in anyone's head when you think of an angel: a humanoid figure with two white wings.

And we're saying that about a series where the iconic design is bondage angel, and the entire bestiary is about taking artistic liberties on mythological figures?

And given that we have, for example, 13th century depictions of Seraphim, is it really that important to insist on 'conventional look"?

That is a different class of angel.

 

[Sentinel]

I was watching some of the earlier videos since I missed them and I came across this demon:

I initially really liked the design. Nice, different pose, great use of colour, keeping it simple - one of the best Doi has done so far. But then the narrator says:

A Japanese goddess believed to be the origin of tengu and amanojaku. It is said that she was born when Susano-o vomited built-up ferocious spirit from his body. When enraged, she can break any weapon, no matter how sharp, with her fangs.

Where exactly is this represented in her visual design? She doesn't have any fangs nor does she appear threatening.

And in SMTV's angel's description they claim that, among the rank of angels, it is the one closest to humans in appearance. Yet, despite that, they gave the angel a golden skin, while using the standard archangel design for Uriel & co. Seems to me like it'd make more sense to cover those in gold rather than reskin the Angel, but whatever.

 

[Tigranes]

Spoiler

And we're saying that about a series where the iconic design is bondage angel, and the entire bestiary is about taking artistic liberties on mythological figures?

Bondage angel still meets the fundamental criteria for the conventional angel look: a humanoid figure with two wings. The bestiary being about taking artistic liberties is a complete lie, those artistic liberties are pretty much only taken to an extreme degree when there is very little visual information about the deities being represented.

When information about a demon's look existed Kaneko seemed to consider it in most of his designs:
Agares:

Astaroth:

SMT4 version of Astaroth for shits & giggles:

Orobas:

Stolas

Paimon:

Bael:

And the final blow:

Asmodeus, a comparison between the demon that has a drawing in the same source Kaneko got the basic designs above from - let's see what SMT4 artists came up with:

You can't seriously tell me that Kaneko and the new artists' design philosophies are the same.

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And given that we have, for example, 13th century depictions of Seraphim, is it really that important to insist on 'conventional look"?

Kaneko designed Seraph based on that though:

he just didn't call it Gabriel/Uriel/whatever like the other artists seem willing to do.

Thanks! No, I certainly wouldn't argue that the design philosophies haven't changed, but thought it was weird where you're drawing the line in terms of 'conventional myth look'. This makes much more sense. I'll see for myself, I guess, once I get around to SMT4 in particular.

 

[Sentinel]

Tyrant Moloch: A god of fire worshipped in Canaan, in the Middle East. In his altar, a human-shaped bronze statue with a bull's head was placed as an object of worship. His name was also mentioned in the Bible as a cruel god of a different religion. Next: Haunt Preta

Pretty weird they're going with this design but recycling the description.

 

[Sentinel]

Haunt Preta (JP Name: Gaki, from 餓鬼) A starving, atrocious demon of Buddhism. Humans who were greedy in life are sent to the preta realm and take this appearance. Next: Brute Ongyo-Ki

 

[Thac0]

I guess at this point it really seems like they cut dungeons of all fucking things. We are about a month in, and everything is on the open world. Such a strange turn for a series that initially started as a dungeon crawler, and STM III still had a large dungeon focus. IV at least had a normal amount of dungeons, even tho some of them were pretty bad.
It is not necessarily indicative of a drop in quality, but certainly gives grounds for worry.

 

[Lord of Riva]

I guess at this point it really seems like they cut dungeons of all fucking things. We are about a month in, and everything is on the open world. Such a strange turn for a series that initially started as a dungeon crawler, and STM III still had a large dungeon focus. IV at least had a normal amount of dungeons, even tho some of them were pretty bad.
It is not necessarily indicative of a drop in quality, but certainly gives grounds for worry.

We'll see i guess. I enjoyed the main line thus far and give the benefit of the doubt but it's normal that at some point things decline.

I mean at least they have not rushed the game and things work out well. I will remain cautiously optimistic.

 

[dacencora]

A pity it's not SMT4 design though.

Thank god they did not.
As a picture comparison would put it in terms of design philosophy.

Yeah, no.

I've not played SMT4, yet but I've been thinking about getting it and playing it. I'm with you on the other designs because they look way better IMO, but is SMT4 still worth playing even with the odd art choices?

 

[Lord of Riva]

A pity it's not SMT4 design though.

Thank god they did not.
As a picture comparison would put it in terms of design philosophy.

Yeah, no.

I've not played SMT4, yet but I've been thinking about getting it and playing it. I'm with you on the other designs because they look way better IMO, but is SMT4 still worth playing even with the odd art choices?

*I* personally think so, yeah. But i also like SMT4:A which i think should both be played if you plan on playing them. It is a valliant effort in my eyes, not perfect by any stretch but quite good.

 

[Thac0]

I've not played SMT4, yet but I've been thinking about getting it and playing it. I'm with you on the other designs because they look way better IMO, but is SMT4 still worth playing even with the odd art choices?

If you can grab a copy cheap somewhere or

anyway then yes.
The game has a fairly tough beginning, Naraku is quite dangerous and Minotaur and Medusa give you a Matador levels of rough welcome. The difficulty implodes after that and the very messy worldmap makes playing on a bit tedious, but I think every long term fan should have at least killed Medusa and Minotaur on hard to be able to laugh at plebs who get filtered on normal by them.

 

[dacencora]

*I* personally think so, yeah. But i also like SMT4:A which i think should both be played if you plan on playing them. It is a valliant effort in my eyes, not perfect by any stretch but quite good.

Ok cool, I will probably give it a shot.

If you can grab a copy cheap somewhere or

anyway then yes.
The game has a fairly tough beginning, Naraku is quite dangerous and Minotaur and Medusa give you a Matador levels of rough welcome. The difficulty implodes after that and the very messy worldmap makes playing on a bit tedious, but I think every long term fan should have at least killed Medusa and Minotaur on hard to be able to laugh at plebs who get filtered on normal by them.

Do you like Apocalypse? Also all 3DS SMT games except Apocalypse and Strange Journey Redux are $20 nowadays, so they're not very expensive. Physical carts are ungodly expensive, however.

 

[Thac0]

Do you like Apocalypse? Also all 3DS SMT games except Apocalypse and Strange Journey Redux are $20 nowadays, so they're not very expensive. Physical carts are ungodly expensive, however.

A lot actually. Imo it has the best combat of any SMT, tied with Devil Survivor. All characters are shit, except Nozomi who is hot, but for a gameplay driven game I can accept that. Story and characters being so bad is actually pretty good, since you can play it first before SMT IV without losing much of the experience. You get the setting spoiled which takes a bit out of SMT IVs opening hours, but IV A's story is so off the rails it might as well be fanfiction.

 

[dacencora]

Do you like Apocalypse? Also all 3DS SMT games except Apocalypse and Strange Journey Redux are $20 nowadays, so they're not very expensive. Physical carts are ungodly expensive, however.

A lot actually. Imo it has the best combat of any SMT, tied with Devil Summoner. All characters are shit, except Nozomi who is hot, but for a gameplay driven game I can accept that. Story and characters being so bad is actually pretty good, since you can play it first before SMT IV without losing much of the experience. You get the setting spoiled which takes a bit out of SMT IVs opening hours, but IV A's story is so off the rails it might as well be fanfiction.

Ooh high praise. Well I might play SMT IV first. Haha sounds similar to what people say about Fire Emblem Fates - Conquest. Terrible terrible story but excellent gameplay.

 

[Sentinel]

Do you like Apocalypse? Also all 3DS SMT games except Apocalypse and Strange Journey Redux are $20 nowadays, so they're not very expensive. Physical carts are ungodly expensive, however.

A lot actually. Imo it has the best combat of any SMT, tied with Devil Survivor. All characters are shit, except Nozomi who is hot, but for a gameplay driven game I can accept that. Story and characters being so bad is actually pretty good, since you can play it first before SMT IV without losing much of the experience. You get the setting spoiled which takes a bit out of SMT IVs opening hours, but IV A's story is so off the rails it might as well be fanfiction.

I would advise against playing IV-A before IV. Not only is it a direct sequel that spoils some elements of the first game's story, it also fixes pretty much every gameplay problem IV has. It'll be hard going back.

 

[d1r]

Do you like Apocalypse? Also all 3DS SMT games except Apocalypse and Strange Journey Redux are $20 nowadays, so they're not very expensive. Physical carts are ungodly expensive, however.

A lot actually. Imo it has the best combat of any SMT, tied with Devil Survivor. All characters are shit, except Nozomi who is hot, but for a gameplay driven game I can accept that. Story and characters being so bad is actually pretty good, since you can play it first before SMT IV without losing much of the experience. You get the setting spoiled which takes a bit out of SMT IVs opening hours, but IV A's story is so off the rails it might as well be fanfiction.

I would advise against playing IV-A before IV. Not only is it a direct sequel that spoils some elements of the first game's story, it also fixes pretty much every gameplay problem IV has. It'll be hard going back.

Also, SMT4 has a much better atmosphere, and great characters. It's definitely worth playing.

I guess at this point it really seems like they cut dungeons of all fucking things. We are about a month in, and everything is on the open world. Such a strange turn for a series that initially started as a dungeon crawler, and STM III still had a large dungeon focus. IV at least had a normal amount of dungeons, even tho some of them were pretty bad.
It is not necessarily indicative of a drop in quality, but certainly gives grounds for worry.

The Jack Frost and Orobas videos had areas which looked like a dungeon.

 

[Thac0]

The Jack Frost and Orobas videos had areas which looked like a dungeon.

The Orobas video is literally the only one I skipped because that fucker is ugly. Good catch, that absolutely looks like a dungeon.
The Jack Frost one more looked like a bridge with a single accompanying control room for a bascule bridge or something like that.
False alarm then probably.

 

[Lord of Riva]

The Jack Frost and Orobas videos had areas which looked like a dungeon.

Good catch, i haven't been thorough either with the vids. Worries alleviated. Much appreciated.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Next is finally one of my fav demons- Ongyo-Ki!

 

[catgode]

Do you like Apocalypse? Also all 3DS SMT games except Apocalypse and Strange Journey Redux are $20 nowadays, so they're not very expensive. Physical carts are ungodly expensive, however.

A lot actually. Imo it has the best combat of any SMT, tied with Devil Summoner. All characters are shit, except Nozomi who is hot, but for a gameplay driven game I can accept that. Story and characters being so bad is actually pretty good, since you can play it first before SMT IV without losing much of the experience. You get the setting spoiled which takes a bit out of SMT IVs opening hours, but IV A's story is so off the rails it might as well be fanfiction.

Ooh high praise. Well I might play SMT IV first. Haha sounds similar to what people say about Fire Emblem Fates - Conquest. Terrible terrible story but excellent gameplay.

Another thing about SMT 4 is that it's absolutely worth checking out for the soundtrack alone, too.

If you're willing to challenge yourself and make the game a bit harder, avoid getting the MP Recovery app. It restores MC's mana while walking and makes random encounters even simpler since you can easily megido/heal/whatever with Flynn on a regular basis and not worry about running dry.

---edit

Protag's level up screen

 

[Sentinel]

Next is finally one of my fav demons- Ongyo-Ki!

I just realized he has a little dick

 

[d1r]

Next is finally one of my fav demons- Ongyo-Ki!

I just realized he has a little dick

Took you that long, huh?

 

[Sentinel]

Brute Ongyo-Ki: One of the Four Oni used by Fujiwara-no-Chikata, a noble of legend who quelled Ise and Iga Provinces during the Heian Period. He was a summoned being who can make his own form and presence disappear and launch a surprise attack. Next: Divine Throne