[Toups]

I got this for xmas and it's kicking my ass. anyone else playing this? I need help and I don't wanna just look up fusion charts
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[Isfet]

there's a lot of stuff i've said and others have said in the SMTIV thread for newcomers, but general ways to deal with this game are:

- focus on MA. physical attacks aren't as useful as they used to be (though i still made it through the game 2x with a lot of points put into phys as opposed to magic)
- get new demons when you reach new areas and fuse the ones you have to make better demons
- always focus on exploiting weaknesses so that you can wipe enemies out before they have the chance to wipe you out. finding out weaknesses can be trial and error so it's good to have the basic magic attacks ready at your disposal.

that's sort of the basics.

[idle]

You can get through the game just fine with a physical build, but focus on allocating points to DEX rather than STR. The way the game is set up is kind of odd; STR is basically a useless stat.

Don't hesitate to fuse away demons once they've outlived their usefulness; this game isn't like Pokemon where you can take your favorite critters all the way to the end. Weak party members will only get weaker as the game goes on.

It's extremely helpful to set up your team so that its members cover each other's weaknesses. If your main character is weak to fire, have a demon that drains, repels, or nullifies fire on your squad. That way if some jerk casts Maragi on your party, they'll lose a turn instead of getting an extra one.

SMTIV is pretty unforgiving towards the beginning, but once you hit the big plot twist about 5-10 hours in the game starts to open up and you'll find yourself a lot better equipped to handle whatever comes your way.

Also, hoard Macca like there's no tomorrow.

[Persona mobile]

This is the only way to play:


Usually if you hit a roadblock at a boss, just reconfigure your demons until you're able to maximize your advantage and minimize weakness. There's some frustrating bits but it's nothing some light grinding and clever demon fusing won't solve. Also fusing is super easy now since you can choose what gets passed over and you don't even have to look up what demon fuses into what since it just gives you a list of possible fusion options.

But yeah, if you have a specific bit you're stuck at, tell us and we can help you out.
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[Isfet]

hahahaha so much almighty

[Persona mobile]

The only way to roll~
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[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Seconding pretty much everything Isfet said. Also this may be stating the obvious, but it never hurts to do lots of sidequests (so check back frequently at bars - all of them, because some quests are location-specific). By the time I reached the end of the game after having completed all sidequests that I wasn't locked out of by my alignment, my protagonist was at level 99 and my party was crazy overpowered. (Of course, I did spend a few hours grinding relatively early on.)
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Also what a waste of space Persona, the only Almighty spells you really need by the end are Antichthon (which you can also substitute for Luster Candy and/or Debilitate!) and Desperate Hit. The alignment-based Almighty spells aren't really worth it - even against the right alignment they're weaker than just casting Antichthon or Megidolaon. My final loadout had the two spells I mentioned above plus Energy Drain, the strongest single/rapid-fire spell for each element, and Salvation. Didn't even need to waste a space on Concentrate, really.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[Toups]

this game is so crazy

I'm only at lvl 10 and third stratum and I've been putting my resources into luck and strength. whoops!

I was stuck at some random miniboss fight in the 'find navarre' sidequest but I grinded until I could fuse fortuna and that helped a lot. I guess I should fuse more but I get attached to the little buggers.

any general advice on recruiting demons? the general pattern seems to be string them along until you have the option of ending the conversation. but I still have a lot of trouble getting there. is it just trial and error?
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[Swimmy]

App advice:

Get these and their upgrades as soon as freakin' possible:
Scout gift and scout bonus. They seem useless, but they unlock Scout+. This allows you to recruit multiple demons per battle. Also allows you to recruit demons you can't talk to normally by recruiting their pals.
MP recovery and its subsequent upgrades. By the time you have the second one, you'll never have to worry about MP again, it's ridiculously OP. Save up lots for this.

You don't need the EXP boosts or the level-up bonuses for demons. The game gives lots of EXP and you'll be getting stronger through fusion more than leveling.
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[Swimmy]

Recruiting: When they start asking for gifts or money, give them 2 and then refuse to give any more. This'll keep you from bleeding resources and has about the same success rate as giving them everything they ask for. Some demons will admire your playing hardball.
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[Persona mobile]

Some of the bitchy female demons actually like it if you deny them everything and will only join you that way. It's pretty interesting. But yeah, don't be afraid to just say no to demons.

Also Swimmy's advice is pretty sound. I didn't experiment with those apps until too late and regretted it.

Also also, 2501: I got Antichthon pretty late so having the individual almighty skills was more useful then. Also the other skills are useful for grinding since they're not such huge MP drains.
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[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Adding onto Swimmy's app advice, I don't remember if they're available this early in the game but once the skill slot expansions become available (for both you and your demons) jump on that shit ASAP. Everything else can wait.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[Isfet]

yeah basically don't hold onto demons longer than you need to. let them level up and learn their spells, but once that happens (they generally will learn anywhere from two to four more things), fuse the heck out of them because they will soon be useless to you. it's sort of the total antithesis of Pokémon in this regard. and honestly, even if you do feel attached to a demon, you will feel less so when it keeps getting killed in one hit because it's stats can't compete with the newer demons you meet.

buff and debuff spells are useful, but also not AS useful as they were in previous games. still, it's worth using them if you have them.

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Also keep in mind that once you register them to the Compendium, you can re-summon any of your demons at any time, with their moveset and level retained, for a fee. So you really shouldn't be shy about fusion.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Another tip: when you die, don't pay Charon's fee in macca if you can help it. He charges ridiculous amounts (proportionate to how much macca you are likely to have at a given point in the game) and will severely stunt your progress if you have to pay him too often. Better to either pay him in Play Coins or save-scum before every boss and refuse his offers if you die, because you're going to want - and quite possibly need - that money for buying equipment and summoning from the Demon Compendium.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[RadRad]

Wow, I learned a lot from this thread!
I just picked back up this game, and started to play it like Pokemon. Thought I was kind of doing it right, but I guess not? Haha
Need to fuse and spot investing into STR!
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http://www.iamthefourth.com/

[8128]

man i ignored all other apps and took the ones that raise your fusion level cap and i was not very far into the game when i became totally unstoppable
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[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

I've heard that the fusion cap removal app breaks the game early on. I suspect it's less helpful in the endgame, though, and consider that you only get a finite number of App Points in the game.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[allensmithee]

oh hey toups we should be at similar spots
though i imagine im a lil further since ive been playing all day and i have no life

i'll message you on fb about it. the first few hours take a lot of bashing your head against the efforts of enemies. it's a little frontloaded. it'll come to ya.
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[Persona mobile]

Another tip that may not be useful to you is that the Streetpass functionality in this game is really useful if you have friends that beat the game already. You can set a demon to your profile to either merge with whatever demon you streetpass or level up, but merging is where it's really at. I've thrown some junk demons to my profile and ran into my friends with their high level god demons and usually walk out of it with some really rare/impossible to obtain normally demons from it.
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[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Also if you StreetPass with someone who also has StreetPass data for Soul Hackers (even if you don't) you'll get 40 free App Points.
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.

[Persona mobile]

I heard this also applied for EOIV after a patch but dunno if that was true or not.
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[Toups]

I played a lot of persona 3 but this is the first proper megaten I've spent any real time with. I'm really digging it this time around!

should I hold onto the 'special' demons or are they equally expendable
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[Persona mobile]

All demons are fodder, no exceptions.
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[Ni Go Zero Ichi]

Yeah it's way different from Persona, apart from a few general rules. At least you don't have to learn all the spell names from scratch though.

No demon is too special for fusion. On the contrary, the better moves they have, the more you'll want to fuse them. When one of your demons learns a good move, you then have the ability to introduce that move into your demon "gene pool" by fusing it (and the fused demon, and the fused demon) prolifically, then re-summoning one of them from the compendium to fuse all over again. With this you can end up with a healthy portion of your party knowing a move that you're not "supposed" to get until later in the game. Which is good.

(Late in the game there are a couple special demons with unique moves that can't be transferred through fusion, but I wouldn't worry about them yet.)
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Just another savage day on Planet Earth.