Shin Megami Tensei IV

[Ashton]

There seems to be a prevalent attitude among some that if there are any problems when playing the game it's ultimately the player's fault, and not the game's. This does not correct for the problems I expounded upon earlier in the thread.

[Fadedsun]

There seems to be a prevalent attitude among some that if there are any problems when playing the game it's ultimately the player's fault, and not the game's. This does not correct for the problems I expounded upon earlier in the thread.

In the case of Shinjuku, I think it was the players fault. I found it with no problems. The game tells you where to go by talking to NPCs. That isn't to say the game doesn't have problems, but this particular case, IMO, wasn't poor game design, unless you really want info pushed in your face on what to do next.

[Starmongoose]

That isn't the point they are making. Why should there be a bunch of info pushing you to go to that random guy in the bar? Why should he exist at all? There were already more sensible sources that should have caused Peallaidh to appear. Particularly the Kelpies on the bridge.

I was talking to everyone I met anyway, so I found it just through natural curiosity, but that doesn't mean its good game design.

[AuraChannelerChris]

It only happens once.

Stop making a big deal out of it.

[Ashton]

It doesn't happen "just once." Take off your fanboy glasses.

[Eusis]

I don't remember that being an issue for me, but given the more old school structure of progress it definitely does come off as an arbitrary chokepoint, especially as I'm pretty sure things could've gone mostly the same way WITHOUT requiring anyone's interaction. Though I guess with heavier character interaction maybe it would've been a problem.

Anyways, the game definitely can be an absolute sociopath when it comes to luck. I managed to beat the game, loaded up my save to backtrack out of the dungeon and check on some things... and got wiped in the very first battle I ran into because somehow Mamudoon took out every one of my guys then they stomped all over Flynn before my turn even came up. I tried to hit the enemy for a preemptive attack too.

[ferretwraith]

I suppose I'll make one final clarification attempt.  Nobody got lost on the way to Shinjuku.  It was a 100% randomly selected location name from the (unlabeled) world map used as an example of a phrase I would google search without shame knowing what I know after playing the game.  Rather than running through previously completed areas on hunches and unclear memories on where things were located, I would have had more fun being sure I was headed in the correct direction.

It doesn't happen "just once."

I think a random town citizen advancing the mainline story only happens in the Peallaidh case, which made me find it all the more odd.  There are definitely other instances though of my knowing what the game wants me to do next, but not being sure of how / where to tell the game I know what it wants me to be doing (now that's a sentence I could see there being some confusion around).  Just knowing that the game uses the old school structure however, I feel goes a long way towards trying to figure out how to go forward.  Just because it is 2013, do not expect that progress will be made by visiting a 7-eleven spotpass. 

This concludes my three part explanation of what I hope are two helpful beginner tips!

[Ashton]

I didn't mean that a random NPC advances the plot, I meant any instance where the plot is at a standstill simply because the game never tells the player what to do, or that they are forced to do things that shouldn't be required for the main plot (like challenge quests). It is piss poor pacing and ridiculously bad game design, and any fault attributed to the player for it is grossly misplaced.

It's like that argument when Resident Evil 5 came out that you couldn't shoot while moving. The counter-argument is that it'd make the game too easy. It is still a PISS POOR MECHANIC.

[Fadedsun]

Hmm. You know, I never even realized that the corpse/Dullahan quest was a challenge quest and not part of the main story. I just assumed it was part of the main story because I couldn't get access to that area until I accepted the quest, so I thought it was rather obvious what I needed to do next.

[John]

So the DLC for this game is super broken.  I've got about 16 hours of playtime and I'm level 99 with every single app and running around with Mot, Lakshmi, and Surt.

[Fadedsun]

So the DLC for this game is super broken.  I've got about 16 hours of playtime and I'm level 99 with every single app and running around with Mot, Lakshmi, and Surt.

For comparison, I also have 16 hours of playtime and I'm level 23, with not many of the apps and running a pretty standard demon team.

[Starmongoose]

So the DLC for this game is super broken.  I've got about 16 hours of playtime and I'm level 99 with every single app and running around with Mot, Lakshmi, and Surt.

Yeah, I paid a quick visit when I first got it and realised it truly was just a place to get yourself to max level super quickly. I'm only new really using it on my New Game + because I wanted to experience the games difficulty normally the first time round.

[daschrier]

Just started this up last night and put an hour or so in.

Does the camera drive anyone else nuts? I feel like I am constantly needing to swing the camera around so I don't get blind sided by the enemy.

[John]

I do what I do with all of the SMT games: stick goes forward at all times and I move the camera with the shoulder buttons.

[Aurian]

Ditto!

You get used to it after awhile....

Still enjoying the game but two things bug me: Quests can be kinda vague as to where to go (I wish I could tap areas of the map and get the name of that area - def. would help) and second, its easy to wander off the main story without knowing it. I missed Ikebenuro-whatever, ended up in Shinjuka-whatever and accidently did the Dullahan/corpse quest as well, thinking it was a story quest.

Also, macca is hard to get, so when grinding for items/demons for fusion, I accidently overlevelled myself. Bosses are a cakewalk right now.