SMT3 Nocturne

Picked this game up again, after finishing it earlier this year. Started a Hard Mode run which is generally known for being 'unfair', which in a sense it is, especially early-on. To give a little insight first in how the combat works, it's a turn-based RPG with a twist. You have one turn per party member, but can 'pass' turns on to others if you want. As a bigger twist, if you land a critical or hit a weakness (i.e. do a fire spell on an enemy weak to that element) your gain an extra turn (with the restriction that passing it voids it). Add in the effect that frozen or stunned enemies always get a critical done to them, and you can make some interesting setups. This logic ALSO applies to enemies. If your protagonist is Ice elemental, fire spells will fry your party as you're essentially giving them extra turns.

Since your party is akin to a Pokemon game (you capture, fuse and evolve monsters), and your protagonist is very customizable, most fights are about you analyzing what the boss or area offer to you and how you can counter it. For example the sewers have a lot of enemies that cast Force magic (wind), so if you bring an earth-elemental, you will die a horrible death (like I did).

Hard Mode mostly ups the ante with a few things:

• enemies deal nearly double damge
  
• you CANNOT escape random encounters
  
• all prices of items are trippeled (yes)
  
• enemies backstab you way more often
  

That last one is especially scary, as this means that when the combat starts, the enemy gets a free turn. This is mostly where the 'unfairness' comes from. It is very possible to be fine, exploring for like 30 mins, only to get a random encounter against 6 enemies, and they all attack your protagonist and he dies. There's zero you can do against it in a reactive sense. The game just says "nope, bye". This ironically makes the tutorial nearly impossible at times.

Once you get a decent party going however, and are more equipped, it gets easier. Higher agility stats and mind's-eye ability prevent backstabs more often, and if you fuse demons you can eventually make very potent ones with a lot of different skills.

So far, really enjoying it but it can be bullshit haha. Kinda reminds me of NGII and Halo2 in a sense.

Are you able to talk about how the combat differs from Persona (if you've played them)? I know they have similarities.

I enjoyed the combat in those games, I think the system for extending your turns (I think it's the "Press Turn System" in Persona) is a lot of fun and gives it a really addictive quality. I'm tempted to pick up Nocturne while the Steam sales are still on.

Haven't played any Persona, so cannot comment. Try this topic:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/691087-playstation-4/80048360

Mostly from what I can gather, Persona is way more storyfocused. Nocturne has like...5 cutscenes to my feeling, and barely any dialogue. It's mostly exploration and combat. The dungeons should be mentioened, I think they are pretty balsey. I didn't like them at first, but now they grow on me for how ... evil they are.

They are legit filled with dead ends, traps, long hallways that lead to an empty chest, invisible teleporters, wacky puzzles, tons of encounters, no saves sometimes for an hour - they really do all to make you hurt, no mercy, and it's kinda novel in that way. Very unique and memorable.

Been discussing this game with SBK. His notes on it were pretty interesting, so this title is in my backlog. Though I forgot about the differences between Nocturne and the HD one. Lack of Dante?

>cannot escape from random encounters on Hard
Oh? This is news to me. So low level runs likely aren't doable (you're expected to flee from optional battles to remain at low level, not so much because the run would be impossible otherwise).

>impossible tutorial
Amusing. Kind of makes me think of Digimon World 2, but that's solved by simply not going to the tutorial level right away after completing it (impossible otherwise).

>fusing demons
I'm to understand that there's plenty of RNG involved with this mechanic. Something about the absolute best outcome being luck based, but going for this is apparently not required (not even in low level, thank goodness).

> sbk
Yeah I talked about it in depth with him, I don't think he played it but most of his notes come from me that I assume.

> HD and PS2
Basically you have the base version, then a Maniax edition that adds Dante and the optional superdungeon and hidden super boss, and then Maniax Raidou edition that replaces Dante with Raidou from another game. The EU version that I play is based on Maniax. It's kinda confusing like the Remix titles in KH haha.

The HD version is the base version with the Maniax dungeon, and with Dante and Raidou as DLC iirc. As well as an optional Easy mode (lol).

Personally I'd go for either:
- the PS2 original EU release
- the PS3 digital version (note, you have to set your game to French for the final boss to stop it from crashing...)
- the HD remake

> low level runs
Technically possible as Quick Escape-skill allows you to run 50% of the time (it's a 50% escape increase), as well as Smoke Bombs (escape fight), Estoma (lower encounter rate) and the demon-skill that allows instant escape (but it's quite hefty in mana cost so you'd have to find a way to recover it easily on that demon).

> impossible tutorial
It took me about 5 attempts so it wasn't that bad, but it is quite hilarious:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z08ejOVVens

> fusing
It's not 'random' per se. The skills they gain from the fusion are randomized, but you can just back out of the fusion and select it again to get a different set of inherited skills until you get those that you like. It can sometimes be frustrating if you have two demons with 8 skills each, and the fusion inherits 4, and you want 4 very specific moves of those total 16. Can take up to 10 mins of resetting the menu to get what skills you want which is annoying.

>talked with him about it in-depth
That explains some things.

>Maniax edition
Never heard of this term. Either way, just to be super clear, you mean that this version came out for PS2?

>PS2 EU release
Hope this means that this is the version with the added content.

>setting the game to French to avoid the game crashing
Hilarious. Once again, you reminded me of a Digimon game. Supposedly the EU version is literally unbeatable (and it came for PS1, so no DLC, patches, or even a "v1.1" to fix that). You can't interact with an NPC that blocks your path. The game basically ends there.

>still possible with some abilities
Ah, I see. And do you need to gain levels to get any of these abilities? Or hope to not encounter too many foes before you get either of these?

>link
Definitely amusing, but likely not so much when it happens to oneself. Did they even playtest that part? Wonder if that was even intended to troll players. Also reminds me of a title called Driver (not sure if it's the first game or a sequel), with some players commenting that the tutorial was the true final boss of the game.

>can just back out of the fusion and select it again to get a different set of inherited skills until you get those that you like
That sounds better than what I had in mind, actually. Least you don't have to reset the actual game.

>up to 10 mins
But this still doesn't sound appealing at all, no.

Note: What do you think of certain abilities having you sacrifice a certain amount of your health to use said abilities?

> versions
All versions are PS2, except the HD-rereleases ofc and PS3digital release.

> PS2 EU
It has the bonus content yeah.

> abilities
They are tied to level-ups. You can technically get max-stats at level-1 if you grind for specific insanely rare items, but I'm not sure how that works (kind of like in KH where you can get statboost items). Encounter rate is pretty high, a level-1 run is impossible. Doing a low-level run on Hard is already very, very challenging. You have to realize that Demi, the protagonist, has to take part in every fight. And if he dies, it's an immediate Game Over. So if he's underleveled, and you get ambushed, there's a solid chance you'll die without a chance to do anything.
You can get Endure to at least tank one killing-blow, but that's it.

> playtest
I think they did and felt it was funny. The entire game exhumes the feeling of "we don't care how unfair it is". You're dealing with maze-like dungeons with dead ends, random teleports, ambushes that wipe your party and items being extremely expensive. For example you can buy Smoke Bombs at some shops IIRC, or Repulse Bells (lower encounter rate); but many of the magatama's also cost cash. Healing and reviving also costs cash. So you'd not really want that.

> fusion
It's not super annoying personally. JUst when you feel like "damn just give me the best set possible will ya" haha.

> HP based abilities
They're fine, adds to the tension imo. Demi can get some pretty insane abilities, so it's cool to see there's a penalty for it compared to mana.

In general I'd say don't do a low-level run. The game isn't designed for it. But that's like saying you shouldn't do a NUR in NGII, both are already insanely hard games with little regard for the player's mental health haha. I'd stick to Normal first, get some experience under your belt, then do a Hardrun. Maybe a Demi-only or 'no grinding' run later-on.

>PS2 EU version has the bonus content
Then I'll try to get that one. Thanks.

>tied to levels
I see. Like in KH1. Though SBK said that low level runners ended up with a party of Lv 40-50, so I suppose you'll be getting plenty of nice stuff. Also heard that the recommended endgame levels aren't that far off. Really, as long as nothing requires you to level grind to the cap, it's acceptable to me.

>can get max stats at Lv 1
>stat boosts
Do you know if Level is a factor in damage formulas? Don't recall if SBK said something to that effect.

>level 1 runs are impossible owed to the high encounter rate
Yeah, I figured that if there weren't any Lv 1 runs floating around, then it may have taken the typical route that forces you to flee from fights in order to remain at low level.

>Demi
Demifiend? I heard a lot about this fellow. Was under the impression that he was the antagonist in some of the games (either from SMT or Persona). Apparently, people liked bringing him up in versus topics against Sora.

>has to take part in every fight
So even if he gets to receive EXP at every opportunity, this won't help him that much on Hard (at low level), I assume.

>game over when Demifiend dies
Interesting, so XIII isn't special for this.

>Endure
Nice that the option exists, at least.

>felt it was funny
That wouldn't start today. I wonder how the devs feel about it now. Apparently, the devs of FFIII have outright admitted that they regret creating the Crystal Tower, and hate it as much as everyone else (a super long dungeon *technically two long dungeons* with zero checkpoints).

>dead ends in mazes
>random teleports
>ambushes
They really weren't pulling their lunches.

>healing and reviving costs cash
You mean that there aren't any free 'heals' in the game (like save points in X)?

This all sounds like an extreme version of the aspects that made FFI and FFIII difficult.

>not that annoying
Just what I needed to hear. The less necessary RNG is, the better (obviously).

>adding to the tension
>a way to balance OP abilities
Makes sense.

>don't do a low level run
>not designed for it
That so, huh? Well, last time I didn't listen to somebody about not doing a Super Mario RPG low level run, I regretted it (you need to indulge in a RNG minigame at the end of EVERY fight *past a certain point* to determine if you'd gain experience or not, let that sink in).

>don't do NURs in NGII
For a moment, I thought you were going to compare it to no damage runs in NGII (heard you saying a couple of times that, while it was doable, it was just dull). Didn't think the same would be true of NURs.

>stick to Normal first
Naturally. Learn the basics first and get familiar with the game.

>Demi only
This is doable?

> level scaling damage
Here's some of the damage value info:

normal attack:
damage = (Lvl + Str) *32 ÷15

level base skill:
damage = (Lvl + Str) * ÷15

max HP base skill:
damage = (Max HP) * *(7/20) ÷32


damage range factor:
damage is then multiplied by 1 to 1.1 (100-110%)
and multiplied by 1.5 if score critical hit

additional skill information:
death bound: critical rate 21% avoidance 5%
hasso happa: critical rate 46% avoidance 11%
hades blast: critical rate 41% avoidance 10%
deadly fury: critical rate 50% avoidance 3%
frikugel: critical rate 30% avoidance 3%
gaea rage/divine shot/spiral snake: critical rate 30% avoidance 3%

One should note that there is NO defense stat. The only way to lower incoming damage is by doing strength-debuffs or defensive-buffs. Not sure on the stats of those though.

> low level
I was level 57 IIRC on my first run, so that sounds about right. Didn't do side content.

> DEMI
You're Demifiend in this game yeah, he's an optional superboss in some of the other games. In general he's going to be your powerhouse, depending on forknowledge and planning. He's quite flexible. What makes him 'weak' is that if he's focused down, there's little you can do. And because you can change his elemental weaknesses, you can at times run into a fight with a lihgtning-weakness, and fight 5 lightning casters, and just give them 5 free turns and watch and cry as you lose an hour of progress.

> healing costs cash
There's a few free heals at the start, and in some dungeons - but only because there's no access to healing-centers. Once you pass those points, you always have to pay a premium to revive your party. There's also no way to regenerate Mana outside of the healing-priest, so you're always spending resources.

Should note there's no safe zones either. Even towns have random encounters. You're always at risk. It's almost akin to a survival horror game at times as a result.

> NURs in NGII
Meant more like, on your first run.

> Demi Only
Doable, to an extent. Most players do NG+ with a fully decked out Demi. There's one run I know of that does a Fresh Hard Demi Only run and that run took like a zillion hours. He even ended up having to restart nearly half the game because he had unlearned a specific skill that he needed for the final boss.

The Final superboss also took him nearly 7 hours in his final attempt (as you need to drain his mana in phase1, otherwise you'll simply die when playing solo).

Here's the run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cgm90K7CAA

Beat the game on Hard TDE. Absolutely insane experience, definitely the "ninja gaiden" of JRPGs. TDE entails that you completed the (insane) optional dungeon and beat the super secret final boss. For comparison, you can generally beat the final boss with a mid-level 70s party without too much fuss.

TDE's final boss, Lucifer, required me to have a fully optimized party for that encounter at level 95 and I still barely made it through. I've seen some lower-level runs but they all abuse a very particular strat (you can drain his mana in phase 1, which negates his second phase, but this requires you doing phase 1 for about 7 hours to drain his mana (yes)).

In general, easily one of the best games I've played and by a mile the best turned-based rpg I've played despite my love for Pokemon and Golden Sun. This one just is at the top.

Did you play the Persona games? I'm not playing turn-based games, though I have an interest in Persona for the premise. I also tried Paper Mario TTYD and really enjoyed it, though it seems it isn't heavy on RPG mechanics due to not having to manage leveling stats and equipment.

Haven't played them yet, they're a spin-off I think. I'm first going to (eventually) play SMT4 and 5.

> TTYD
Really fun game. I admit I haven't played it in years but I really enjoyed it when it came out back in the day. Still have my original copy.

I'll get back to you on our previous exchanged later. Pretty interesting notes. What does TDE stand for?

>NG of the JRPG genre
>your #1 game
Coming from you, that's some serious high praise. Getting more eager about trying the game myself.

>drain something's MP to make it more manageable at low level
Sounds like antics I'd see from FFVI (down to the absurd amount of time required), but in that game, for some reason, 0MP equals death (I think not even superbosses were safe from this, which is why the MP drain/damage was trash in comparison to HP damage).

At least it's possible to do it at a lower level, unlike FFX's postgame (without Aeons having pumped up stats, which I feel defeats the point of the low number runs). Just not something I'd do.

>Mario RPGs
Curiously enough, every person I've seen that aren't fans of the genre, found the Mario games to be charming. Though all of them said it's mostly because of the interactivity the combat offers (pressing buttons to make your special attacks stronger *or even being able to work at all*, timed inputs to make regular attacks stronger, and to avoid or reduce damage*, as opposed to simply selecting actions from a menu and seeing those fancy animations play out), and not so much about how effective/useful your kit is, or how well designed the enemies may be.

Yes I can attest to that myself. My main reason to play TTYD was to see if I can vibe with turn based games. I enjoyed what I played and will finish the game, but I won't get my answer from it lol.

> TDE
True Demon Ending. The game has numerous endings that are based on your dialogue choices. These slightly impact which boss you can do/skip in the final dungeon. Unique amongst these is the TDE, which is only accesible after completing the optional Labyrinth of Amala.

The Labyrinth of Amala has 5 floors, each of which is only accessible until you beat a set amount of super-bosses. The first floor needs you to beat the only non-optional superboss. Second floor needs you beat 2. Third three, etc. These bosses are very unique in their design and are more puzzle based if you get me, lots of moving parts and possible strategies.
The dungeon itself is the absolute most brutal dungeon in the game, with tons of dead ends, hidden corridors, one way doors, ambushes, traps, invisible walls - the works.

At the end you face two supersuperbosses if you get me.

Once you complete the entire dungeon you gain access to 'lock yourself' into the true demon ending (meaning all your dialogue choices no longer matter). As a reward you gain access to a unique skill (Pierce) for your protagonist, and you get the ultra super secret final boss after beating the original final boss. Pierce is important as it makes your protagonist's melee attacks ignore all defensive modifiers, including resistances and even immunities.

The super final boss is Lucifer, who is designed to absolutely nuke even top tier parties at max level. What makes him stand out is his ability to attack twice, while also having extremely damaging attacks, ability to remove debuffs and buffs and inflict every status. He's also got a 75% resistance to all damage types, hence why you need Pierce.

Key in the fight is finding ways to tank his attack "high king", which on Hard deals 800 damage. He can do this twice in a row. A max-level party has between 700 and 999 HP depending on if you have done additional sacrifices to level HP, or if you took Life-surge for a 30% HP bonus. So even a level-99 Metatron will die to a single High King.

You can cast Takakunda to reduce his attack-power by 1 stage, or Debilitate to reduce all his stats by 1 stage, while using Rakukaja to buff your defensive state by 1 stage. Since he can remove debuffs and buffs, you have to carefully balance this scale of not overbuffing and over debuffing, but staying on enough of an edge to be able to tank two high-kings in a row. All while keeping your health up and of course damaging him. Makes for a really tense back and forth game.

NOTE: this content is only available in the Maniax edition of the game (akin to KH remix), which was the base in PAL/NTSC, but in Japan it was a new standalone game. In the HD remake you need to purchase this as DLC (scam..). PSN version on ps3 has it by default, but that game has a few glitches related to language settings haha.

> high praise
I wish I could praise it even higher, timeless classic imo.

> mana drain
You can drain quite a lot from him if you have it set up. In phase1 he's very timid, so if you just stay there with a party that all have mana-drain, while also buffing your attack with 4 stages, and debuffing his defence by 4 stages, you can drain about 250 MP from him per turn. He has 66.000 MP though. And you most likely won't have a fully dedicated mana-drain party.

> buffs
The formula btw is a 12.5% increase per buff, and 12.5% decrease per debuff.
What's interesting is that these don't overlap.

So you can only have 4 of each per type. So 4 debuffs to your attack stat, and 4 buffs to your attack stat.
So say you have 4 Takukajas and 4 Takukundas, you've effectively got a 0% increase in your damage (as you get a 60% debuff and 60% buff). But if you then get Dekunda'd (removing all buffs), you still have 4 debuffs, suddenly giving you that 60% loss in power.

It's a very interesting way of handling it imo. As a result you can buff yourself while being debuffed, and then remove the debuffs for example. Hope this makes sense.

Raeng: >level based skill formula
>* ÷
?

>Max HP
So this depends on your maximum HP? Does this apply for HP based attacks?

From the looks of it, it doesn't seem like there are any weapons that could factor. Do they not exist? What of the skills themselves? Assumed they had their own individual base power.

>no Defense stat
>only way to reduce damage is via buffs/debuffs
Noted.

>close to low level on your first playthrough
Impressive. Did you have any issues along the way due to this?

>play as Demifiend
For some time I thought he was the antagonist of the game, so seeing him as the actual protagonist surprised me.

>optional superboss in another game
In one of the past games? Or the sequels?

>change his elemental weaknesses
How do you do this?

>very limited access to heals
>towns have random encounters
So a first time player will be always on the edge (as you noted). No wonder you say this is the NG of the genre.

>first run
Got it.



Note: Unrelated, but as an NG fan, would you suggest someone to play any of the Sigma games as a first experience with NG, if they have no means to play the Xbox exclusive games? Would you at least be able to learn some basics present in Black and 2 (respectively)?

>Fresh Hard Demi Only run and that run took like a zillion hours
Oof. Definitely not something I'd do.

>had to restart
I can imagine the pain he had to endure.

>the run
Into History it goes.

>TDE meaning
Noted.

>multiple endings
You get different final bosses on each ending or something? Chrono Trigger had like a dozen, but I believe you still had to fight the same final boss.

>impacts which boss you can do or skip in the final dungeon
Is there a route where you're allowed to fight all of them, or the opposite (skip everyone)?

>need to beat superbosses to unlock even stronger super duper bosses
Interesting. So if counting the super duper final boss, there's 8 bosses that are stronger than anything you face on the main path? Are any of the 'lesser' superbosses still tough to beat?

>dungeon is brutal
Sounds like it would put FFIII's final dungeon to shame. Though the difficulty for that one came from the fact that once you got inside, there were no checkpoints at all. You must face at least 5 bosses along the way including the final boss, and of course, the random mooks. Lose in any part of the dungeon, and you must start all over again.

Note: Apparently the devs even regret creating this tower. Guess they got old. Wonder if the SMT3 devs would look back, and perhaps question themselves in the same way the FFIII devs did.

>Pierce
Yes, I heard about this ability from SBK. Come to think of it, he may also have mentioned the super duper final boss, but I may have forgotten about it. Though I do remember that one of the version exclusive (?) characters (Dante, and some other?) had this ability as well.

>Lucifer
>able to nuke a max level party
We talking about Lv 99, or "Lv 99+" (heard the menu will display your level as being 99, bit I heard it can actually go up all the way to 255)?

>can use an already deadly attack twice in a row
Sounds crazy. Using Speed buffs doesn't make it so you can at least prevent him from getting two turns in a row? But that probably becomes meaningless once he decides to "LOLNO" your attempts and debuff you back to normal.

>use buffs and debuffs smartly to win
Really sounds like a lot of knowledge about the enemy AI, understanding your kit, and when to use an attack at the right time are at play here. Which is how I prefer it.

>Maniax version only
>present in PAL/NTSC
Think you've said the PS2 version got this content. Which is great for me.

>cut content later to be sold as DLC
Wut. Not even Square Enix went this far with the HD re-releases of the KH games.

>glitches
Least I don't have to worry about that.

>praise it even higher
It's enough to make this title one of my priorities. Just have to get back to something I said I'd do in another thread, do a few runs, then I'm good to go (though I also have to get the game as well).

>timid
Does he not go for that one move where he removes your buffs?

>if using buffs and debuffs by 4 stages each
Big if. Guessing that the major problem here is him randomly deciding to end your efforts early and remove these before you're even able to act (again, if he can even do that in his first phase). If that's the case, I can see why the successful run took 7 hours now.

>250MP per turn
Is this per character? Or the total? Please say the former.

>66000MP
That's curiously very close to what you're dealing with in FFVI as well (65000). What's his HP total, and how hard can you hit him with your strongest attack?

>12.5% increase/decrease
Noted.

>suddenly giving you that 60% loss in power.
Is the final boss able to debuff you? If so, can you remove these?

>hope this makes sense
Yeah, clear as day. Basically, they cancel each other out if you have both applied to you (and if the respective stages for each are the same). Again, thanks for the explanations, pretty thorough as usual.

GN1: >can attest to this
Interesting, so you aren't that exception I was expecting to see from this observation I made.

>won't get your answer
Any plans in trying another? SBK once noted that he was shocked at how good FFXII ZA was, since he's not usually the type to enjoy JRPGs (minus ARPGs, though I think he still hasn't played a true turn based game, which XII technically isn't). And to be fair, when I first joined this forum, the last thing I expected to see was people who were big fans of the Action genre being able to enjoy a turn based game (though that still holds true for a good number of people, like GMG).

Honestly, from what I've heard of Persona, it's also another good choice. Raeng talks up SMT3 (and no doubt I will, too, when I get to it), I do so for FFV, SBK and I think Birdman are fans of XII, etc. can't really go wrong with either of them. Who knows? Perhaps you may be the first of us to try it out, and you may be the one who ends up talking us into the series (or at least, make us even more interested about trying them).

> max HP
You gain HP through leveling and leveling Vitality. Vitality increases your hidden defence stat a tad, while also giving your bonus HP. At 40 Vitality (max) Demi Fiend has around 720 HP. So you need the skill life-surge to get to 999 without overleveling to 255.

Damage of certain skills is HP based, like Deathbound. Deathbound will hit like a truck if at 255.

> low level run
Note my first run was on Normal, not Hard, and I didn't do the superboss content. Biggest hurdle was the final dungeon. I mostly used a guaranteed escape-fight tactic to avoid all random encounters since they were way too powerful for me to handle (basically boss fights become regular mobs there). Had to recompose my team for most bosses just to stand a chance.

> elemental weaknesses
The only piece of gear in this game is Magatama. You can find these by exploring, shops or as progression rewards. They chance Demi's stats, elemental weakness/resists and determine what skills he gets while leveling. It's like a class basically.

> first run is on edge
Can attest the second run is the same and more, since Hard mode disables fight-escapes and triples ambush rates. Going from a shop to save station is a terrifying moment.

> NGB or NGS
I personally started with Sigma 2, then played Sigma 1, NG3, Razor's Edge and THEN 2004, Black and NGII. Order doesn't matter. They're all good games, just some are better. Honestly if you're intent on playing them all, I'd recommend starting with the Sigmas actually, since going to them after playing the originals can be rough.

> ending final boss smt3
The final boss is always Kagatshushi, but on TDE it's Kagatshushi and then Lucifer straight after it. The only thing that changes with the regular endings is which of the 3 other bosses you fight in the final dungeon before Kagatshushi.

> superbosses
In total there are 13 super-bosses. 9 in the overworld, you fight Dante twice and then there's Beezlebub and Metatron. Once all these are done you can try Lucifer at the end (number 14). They're all extremely challenging and brainteasers. What's fun is that if you beat any of them, and know how, you can recruit them to your party. White Rider for example caught my eye. During combat he can, at any point, shoot "God's Arrow" at a party member which kills him instantly. This is a Holy attack (so you can have immunity). If you recruit him, he also has this move. A fantastic tool for OHKO'ing enemies and even some bosses.

Same goes for Trumpeteer (he's way higher level though), who has an Almighty OHKO move that's based on who has the least HP% (doesn't work on bosses). Fantastic tools.

But to give an example, Pale Rider's boss sees him summon 2 allies constantly that try to debuff and status-effect you. The debuff is Debilitate, which is a -1 to all your categories (avoid+hit, defence, attack and magic). If at any time during his next turn you have status effects, he'll cast Pestilence which is an Almighty OHKO against members with statuseffects. So it's an interesting match.

> super dungeon
It does allow you to return to the beginning to save, and there are shortcuts to open thankfully. The final dungeon itself is also pretty insane, doing it without a guide can easily set you back hours with how much of a maze it is.

> Pierce
Slight correction, Dante doesn't get pierce. He gets an ability that gives him a 50% damage boost, which is close to Pierce (highest resist is 75%). So Demi will do 100% damage, while Dante with his boost does 75%. You can also find a hidden demon that has Pierce, so you can give it to other demons if you wish.

> max level party
Talking level99, though 255 doesn't matter either. Your defence will only go so far.

> speed buffs
Doesn't exist. Turns are completely set in this game. You, then him. You can buff avoidance, but HighKing has a 100% hitrate and can never miss (think Swift from Pokemon).

> knowledge based
Definitely. Good party composition is key and forknowledge. Matador is big gatekeeper for example, but if you bring Uzume (immune to force-magic) and give Demi the Kamudo Magatama for 50% physical resist, he's suddenly a non issue.

> phase 1 lucifer
He only does regular attacks and low-level spells to tease you in a fake sense of security until phase 2 (which happens after only taking a few hits) sees him High King you into oblivion haha.

> 250MP per turn
In total. There's a reason it takes hours.

> final boss debuffs
He cannot debuff you, which is interesting. Note all debuffs can be removed, the only one I think is uncurable is Baal's Curse, which is a unique mechanic of that bossfight (Baal). Lucifer has no debuffs, as that would be a timewaster. He's there to kill you.

> GN1:
If you have nostalgia for it, honestly the Pokemon games are a fantastic set of RPGs. They have all the core mechanics, from status effects (some of the best in the business), clear elemental weaknesses, fun exploration, party composition - it's all great. You can also try Child of Light (currently playing that, very short and interesting game) or something like Golden Sun.

I have 0 nostalgia for Pokemon but wouldn't mind trying them, are they good games to see if the genre can click with me?

Unrelated but Kingdom Hearts 1 FM really clicked with me (though I didn't finish it) and I couldn't care less about Disney. The combat and exploration were just really fun (and the music only made it better). Will start it again one day.

@Pheonix Wright

I heard good things about the combat of FFXII Zodiac Age, AFAIK it's ATB and not fully turn-based?

Speaking of ATB, I played Parasite Eve 2 months ago and loved it, really unique and fun game, but it's not turn based, it's real time with ATB - You move and position yourself and avoid attacks in real time, and once the ATB bar fills you can choose one action to perform (attack, use parasite powers, use item, change equipment).

Persona and Divinity Original Sin are actually the reasons why I want to give this genre a chance. Persona for the premise, and Original Sin for the interactivity of the world both in and outside of combat since I heard you can do really cool stuff in it in a way the reminds me of games like Deus Ex, Dishonored and Prey.

BTW I finished Ace Attorney trilogy, really loved the story arc they made for 3. Nothing new for the series but the last case really subverted my expectations.

Pokemon is pretty interesting, but having nostalgia helps since otherwise it's just a really easy RPG (unless you low-level it), especially the later entries. The safe options I'd say would be Pokemon, Final Fantasy X and maybe something like Lost Odyssey if you want something more traditional. Pokemon is by far the shortest of the bunch. I really enjoyed Pokemon Y of the modern ones as it still has some bite here and there, and it isn't as idiot-proof as Sun/Moon for example.

Soul Silver/Heart Gold are great too, arguably the best in the series, but a bit older.

Golden Sun gets a personal recommendation from me, it's where I started the genre. Combat is very fun, though easy, but it also has zelda-esque dungeons which is really interesting in the genre (so lots of interesting puzzles).

Raeng: >still need a skill to bump HP up to 999 without overleveling
Noted. And is this taking up a slot for another useful ability you may have wanted instead?

>hit like a truck at max HP
Theoretically speaking, can you do this at any level?

>Normal on your first run
Still, sounds plenty difficult for an RPG. Especially since the bulk of my experience with them is FF.

>biggest hurdle was the final dungeon
>ran from mob fights
Can you ever run into a situation where you'd nearly softlock yourself (for lack of a better term) owed to being too weak to handle most things, and also being unprepared for what's to come?

>only piece of equipment is Magatama
I see. Definitely not what I'm used to seeing in most RPGs I played.

>like a class
So just to clarify, Magatamas each have their own distinct set of properties to them, right? They kind of remind me of a sort of customizable piece of equipment in another game, but they may work differently here.

>second run can be the same and more
Expected this, owed to how crazy Hard sounds in general. Though a second playthrough on Normal will probably be a bit more tame (unless you run into more dead ends you were lucky to not find on your first playthrough).

>played 3 before the good games
Hoo boy. Guess you were lucky that it didn't kill your interest in the series. But luckily Black (after the original, of course) came in to save the day.

>intent on playing them all
I honestly would have chosen to play Black, 2, 3RE (the latter if curiosity got the best of me), and nothing else. But it looks like I may have the chance to experience the series for the first time, but it will be the Sigmas (since I still don't own an Xbox in order to play Black or 2). Which is why I wonder if these are at least a good starting point, and if there's some things to appreciate here and there. But if you say they're at the very least good, then I may give them a chance.

>going to them after playing the originals can be rough.
Imagined so, which is partly why I didn't want to try them if I did end up playing NGB and NG2 first.

>final boss is always the same outside of TDE
>only change is which of the prior bosses you get to fight
Got it.

>13 superbosses
Oh. That's more than what I had in mind. And they're all stronger than the final boss?

>some in the overworld
Random encounters, or fixed locations (like the Dark Aeons)?

>fight Dante twice
Does something change about the refight?

>recruit the superbosses
All of them?

>instant kill arrow
Neat. Does it make a significant amount of mob fights easier?

>Almighty based
>OHKO
Here comes the PAIN!

>Pestilence
I want to ask how to deal with this, but I feel like this is crossing over a territory I want to explore on my own.

>allowed to make it back to the beginning to save
>shortcuts open up
Noted. Is this an option on Hard?

>doing it without a guide
In terms of traversal alone, do you recommend using a guide (to avoid time loss), or going in blind?

>Dante doesn't get Pierce
Oh, my bad. Must have mixed it up with that other ability he gets.

>find a hidden demon with Pierce
Assuming it's lategame if it has this ability.

>Level 255 doesn't matter
Oh? So your hidden Defense stat hits a soft cap at some point?

>turns are set in this game
I see. A more true turn based game in the strict sense of the word, instead of what the ATB based FF's do.

>High King is Swift
How fun. So you definitely need to plan around how to survive this attack, not how to avoid it. Which isn't bad at all.

>Good party composition is key and forknowledge.
Good, good.

>Matador the gatekeeper
I believe you talked about him in your turn based video, yes. Also heard a few things about him before.

>phase 1 Lucifer
Sounds a bit like final Exdeath from FFV, except his jump to phase 2 isn't nearly as drastic as Lucifer's is, obviously.

>in total
Oof. Oh well, I should've known this. As you say, it takes hours for a reason.

>incurable debuff is unique to a boss
Noted.

>Lucifer can't debuff you
>there to kill you
Not playing around at all. I like that.

GN1: >are Pokemon games worth it
I agree with what Raeng says. Not sure if I'd be able to play Pokemon without the nostalgia factor being able to carry me. Though you'd probably still be able to appreciate statuses (which are VERY good), and possibly buffs/debuffs as well.

>KH1FM clicked
Action RPG, but still, nice to see that you liked this. Also, you mean to say the literal PS2 FM version of the game, or are you playing the HD re-releases?

>exploration was fun
KH2 will disappoint on that front. It just focuses on combat instead (with some minigames mixed in as well, like in 1 *gummi ship, hope you can at least stomach these, as the ones in 2 last longer than in 1 IIRC*).

>XII not being a 'true' turn based game
Correct. You can move around the arena freely, but in some cases (if not a good number), it doesn't change much (this game doesn't have hitboxes, which means that if you're within the range of a spell or an attack, you can't evade it even if you get out of the way, unless the RNG evade chance lets you dodge it, but that doesn't have anything to do with spacing or hitboxes *that said, spacing isn't entirely irrelevant*).

However, in those cases where you can use the environment in your favor, it tends to work really well. Attacking with long range stuff lets you get a few free hits in against melee focused enemies.

If you want to know about the particulars, ask Birdman and/or SBK (the latter if you have a GFAQs or YT account). I only know about the basics, and little else (played the game before, but never actually finished it *that will change someday, of course*).

>PE 2 months ago
This to say you've played PE1 two months ago, or you played PE2 months ago? Because from what I remember of the one I'm interested in playing (2), it didn't have ATB elements (you could perform them whenever you wanted to).

>finished AA
Nice. It's been a long time since I've played the games. Be sure to try Edgeworth's games as well. Ghost Trick, too. Apollo's game (AA4) isn't as good as the third, and AA5 is just OK. You probably might like AA6 better than AA5, though the former's fourth case might leave a sour taste. Also, the DLC case of the latter happens... IIRC in-between Case 3 and Case 4? That's if you care about getting the DLC (though not sure if it's available at all now, unless you used emulation to play it, or watched it on YT).

>subverted expectations
Edgeworth's second game will not disappoint on this front.

> damage values at low level
Depends on your stats. You can 'max' out strength at level 30 if you wish (30 from levels +10 from Gaea magatama equipped). That way for example your melee-skills will already start hitting hard. Debuffs are king though (as are buffs). Do 4x Tarukaja and 4x Tarukunda and even a level 1 protagonist with basic-bitch "Lunge" will start to hit like a truck.

Note: the wording of these skills is a bit confusing at first, but consistent.
Taru stands for Physical. Kaja is buff, kunda is debuff. Hence Tarukaja is a strength buff. And for example Dekunda is a spell that removes all debuffs.

> softlock
Night impossible. When you die, you reload your last save. Every save station has the ability to either warp to any other hub in the world, or warp to an adjacent savestation that can. So you can always 'escape' and grind or change party elsewhere.

The only softlock I can imagine is having 0 cash, a dead party and a low HP protagonist that's almost dead. In that case you're screwed but I legit don't see that happening. Always just keep 1000-2000 macca in reserve for heals from the healing-fountain.

You can get legit walled though. There's four bosses in the game that are completely immune to physical attacks, if you don't come into those with a plan and ability to deal good magical damage, you cannot beat them.

> magatama
Easiest is examples. Hifumi, when equipped, gives you +3 magic, +4 agility and +3 luck (above your regular stats). It also makes you immune to Force magic, but weak to Fire (so if you get hit by fire, the enemy gets another turn). When leveling with this one equipped, you'll learn these spells:
lvl17: Tornado    
lvl22: Force Boost    
lvl24: War Cry    
lvl27: Anti-Force    
lvl40: Null Force

Now, you see between 27 and 40, that's a big leap. So you can just equip another magatama at that time to get their skills. If you are already level 40 when you equip this one, you'll just get a new skill per level if you get me. Magatama also allow you to nullify their existence, for example Hifumi teaches Null Force as shown above. So if you are okay with sacrificing a skill-slot (one of 10) for that, you'll never need this magatama again.

Some other magatama only have buffs and no weaknesses, but teach crap skills. Some are simply upgrades to previous ones (meaning you'll never equip those again unless you want to learn their skills).

Here's the list: https://www.neoseeker.com/shin-megami-tensei-iii-nocturne-hd-remaster/Magatama

> super bosses
They're all more mechanically interesting imo. While a lot of the main bosses are already great, their gimmicks tend to be shallow or really just 'bring this certain immunity to absolutely bypass them'. For example there's a late game boss that just spams OHKO moves all day, but if you're immune to dark and light, or just use the spell Tetraja, he can't touch you. The Super Bosses are all more complicated.

> location
They're all in fixed locations and you get a prompt warning when reaching them if you want to fight them yes/no. If you choose no, just exit the area and re-enter and you'll get the prompt again.

> Dante fight
Significant changes. He gains more abilities and now can give you (very scary) status ailments.

> OHKO arrow
It allowed me to low-level run part of the super-dungeon to unlock superbosses earlier. It's a fantastic move.

> recruit superbosses
Only one you cannot recruit is Lucifer (obviously). You can also recruit most regular bosses.

> pierce demon
He's locked behind a door that requires Metatron to open it. Metatron is a level 95 demon, so pretty darn end-game yeah.

> Pestilence
Won't spoil it, but you can get extremely creative. One of my solutions was having a demon status-effect the demons in place and never kill them. That way the boss would never summon more, but they couldn't move either.

> guide
I'd highly recommend taking your time and enjoy the unique experience of being completely lost in certain dungeons.

> matador
He's really the first boss that requires you to use buffs. He starts the game by buffing his own evasion x4 and hits like a truck, so you have to bring Sakukaja to buff your own accuracy and Rakukaja to buff your defence - or you're dead.

@Pheonix Wright

Noted about Pokemom.

I played KH1FM up to the start of Agraba on X1X, but when I'll start it again it will be KH1FM on PCSX2. I remember asking you before and you told me PS2 version is the best so I'll go with it (also for 2FM).

When I talked about Parasite Eve, it was about the first one, which I played 2 months ago, I figured it my wording was confusing lol. PE2 went in a different direction and it's a fully fledged survival horror game to my understanding. I'll also play it one day. Regardless, I highly recommend PE1 and I'll do a NG+ run as well for the Chrysler building which has the true ending.

I got Ace Attorney Chronicles on Steam as well, and I'll probably get the Apollo Justice trilogy on Steam when it will be on sale. I actually finished the Ghost Trick remaster on Steam 2 days after it was released, absolutely fantastic game and IMO, even better than AA1-3.

If I'll end up getting a 3DS, I'll add the Investigation games to my list (Or if they will also be ported to PC). DS is the one platform I'm hesitant to emulate cause I don't think even a perfect emulator can replicate the experience unlike traditional consoles.

Raeng: >max out strength at Lv 30
That seems something you'd achieve at the mid game, which I feel is early enough (at least for the purposes of 'maxing' something).

>buffs and debuffs are king
Neat. So would you say leveling isn't something you'd have to go out of your way to do (your actions in combat have more weight)? This aside from the skills you gain from leveling, of course.

>even a level 1 protagonist with basic-bitch "Lunge" will start to hit like a truck.
Yep, those (de)buffs seem pretty potent. Nice to hear.

>nomenclature
Noted. It will probably stick the more I use it when chatting, or whenever I get to the game.

>almost impossible to get a softlock
So as long as you don't make any questionable decision (to put it lightly), you're good to go. And what of filling ability slots with bad stuff?

>gatekeepers do their job
Yeah, expected more bosses besides Matador to demand some foreknowledge from the player in order to beat them (either at all or just something that makes the fight easier).

>Magatama
So they each teach some abilities besides the stat increases. I think FFIX did something similar.

>enemy gets another turn
Not sure if we've been over this, but can you just keep hitting stuff with the thing they're weak against to get free turns until the fight ends?

>can equip another Magatama to get their skills for big level gaps
Noted.

>never need it again
Not even for the stat boosts? Though I guess it depends on how good the Magatama is (Hifumi may not be a top tier Magatama, for instance).

>buffs and no weaknesses but teach crap skills
So there isn't an 'ultimate' Magatama (absolutely no downsides at all)?

>link
I see that there's one that grants the Pierce ability. Is this what you meant earlier about the reward you get from completing the labyrinth?

That aside, I'll bookmark this link for later use. Thanks.

>more mechanically interesting
Kind of reminds me of KH's Datas. Hope SMT3's can blow me away as the Data's did when I first fought against the latter.

>shutting down bosses completely
Doesn't sound too bad, at least knowledge is rewarded (arguably too well).

By the way, does this game have anything resembling revive mechanics (during combat)? Or even 'auto revive' (such as Auto Life in FFX)?

>prompt warning when you're reaching them
That's surprisingly more forgiving than what the Dark Aeons do.

>Dante gets significant changes
Excellent. Game just keeps getting better and better.

>allowed you to clear part of the super dungeon at low level
This indeed sounds like a very great tool.

>can't recruit Lucifer
Yeah, didn't expect him to become available. Though I wonder if somebody may have wanted a reward for their trouble (other than winning, that is).

>Pierce demon is at the tail end of the game
This skill must be really good if it's only given to you this late.

>can get extremely creative
That statement alone gives me a lot of hope.

>one of your solutions
You mean applying statuses to your own demons, or the boss's?

>highly recommend taking your time and enjoy the unique experience of being completely lost in certain dungeons.
Alright, I'll follow your suggestion.

>first boss that demands the use of buffs
Basically that one boss in some games who's the first one to remove the kiddie gloves off and tells you to up your game, or die. Neat.

GN1: >told you that PS2 KH1FM was the best
I think that was in regards to KH2FM, but in the event that I did say KH1FM, my bad. Unlike HD KH2 (really, just the 60FPS versions *so PS4 and the likes, PS3 is fine if you don't mind the abysmal load times*), HD KH1 didn't break anything in terms of combat to my knowledge. It just added something not present in KH1FM (Exp Zero), but every mechanic still works as intended. So you can resume or play a new file on your X1X if you so desire. Just be aware that Lv 1 runs in KH1 (if you intend to do one at all) don't work nearly as well as Lv 1 runs in KH2FM.

>meant PE1
I figured, since it didn't look like you had to perform any actions if an ATB bar filled up in PE2.

>fully fledged survival horror game
SBK speaks highly of it. He's the reason I became interested in giving it a shot. Apparently Birdman has played it.

>recommend PE1
Noted. Will look into it.

>Chronicles
You mean the prequels? Never played them, so I know virtually nothing about them, other than they're set well before the events of... every other game in the series, really.

>already played GT
>found it better than AA1-AA3
Ah, great. I honestly haven't stopped to think which game is better for me, just know that GT is well worth a playthrough. The creativity of the puzzles is great, but it also reminds me of my wish on how devs nowadays need to be this creative as well when designing their games.

>don't want to emulate these titles
Understandable. Though I don't think they'll get around to localizing Edgeworth's second game (to my knowledge, it's still Japan only), which is one of the best games in the franchise.

> leveling
In general it will happen organically. Demons level slower than you, so you're generally rewarded for fusing them instead of playing favourites. DemiFiend levels normally, and even if you just do the basic encounters and needed bosses, you'll be about level60 when you reach the final boss, which is fine. The lower level you are (and depending on if you have a shitty build) obviously makes things harder.

> softlock skills
If you learn a skill and unlearn it, it is gone forever. This makes it a bit scary, but in general you'll get the very best versions of most abilities later-on anyway like Freikugle and Deathbound. You can always ask me about a skill over here if you have doubts.

> pressturnsystem
This is a bit hard to explain, but I'll try. Basically you have turn icons, 1 per demon on the field (including Demi), so max 4. If you do an action you lose '1 turn icon'. If you attack an enemy that's immune to your ability, you lose 2 icons. If you miss, you lose 2 icons. If the enemy repels it (so sends the damage back) you lose 4 icons.

Now here's the kicker, you can 'pass' a turn. If you do that the icon will start to 'flash'. A flashing icon will be spent and cannot be passed. So the next demon has to take an action as otherwise it will be used up for nothing.

If you hit an enemy with a weakness, that turn icon will start to flash instead of being spent. Sorry it's super unclear to explain but the end result is you can max get 8 turns haha. Once you play it, it's very clear as day but it's hard to put into words.

> magatama statboosts
You generally use them for immunities. Since you only have 10 slots, you tend not to fill them with Void-FIre etc. I do have Void-Death and Void-Light for most of the exploration, just to not lose progress to random OHKO moves.

> ultimate magatama
There is. Masakados. You unlock it by collecting all magatama's and beating a minor side-dugeon with 4 other superbosses that I forgot about haha. That dungeon is hyped, but I found it to be a cakewalk with easy bosses too aside from one. Masakados makes DemiFiend immune to EVERYTHING except Almighty.

> Pierce skill
That magatama is the first one, but Pierce cannot be unlocked until you beat the super dungeon yeah.

> smt3 datas
A bit, I'd say the datas are more complex but for an RPG I'd say the Fiends are very interesting.

> revive
There's a basic revive skill (recarm) that revives with 1HP remaining. Later-on there are better versions. There's also a suicide version that kills one party member, but revives all others.

> prompt warning
There is one that's quite hilarious. The prompt will appear if you are sure you want to fight, and if you say "no" you'll just get "well too bad" and the boss starts haha.

> pierce
It's super, super good. Your attacks (not spells) will now completely disregard resistances and immunities. Doesn't matter if an enemy has 4x defence buffs, you slap for full damage. Even negates complete physical immunities.

>organically
Just how I prefer it.

>playing favorites
Random question that's slightly related, do people play this title like it's Pokemon?

>playing the game normally will give you the needed levels to beat the game
Neat. Though does this mean that normal encounters yield little EXP? Low level runs end somewhere around the low 50's, yes?

>shitty build
Guess this is more impactful than being at low level (and having little knowledge).

>gone forever
That how it is? Anyway, noted.

>scary
Assume it would be like this to any first time player.

>get the best versions of most abilities later on
Oh, nevermind then.

>ask you
You bet I will.

>explanation
Yeah, what I got from this may not be how it functions in the actual game, so I think it's best if I play the game. That said...

>8 turns max
That answers my earlier question, so it's alright.

>use them for immunities
Makes sense. So the stat boosts are pretty negligible for them to matter at all?

>used up slots to have a few of the Void stuff
Fair tradeoff if it means you're more safe.

>4 other superbosses
So there are 17 superbosses? That's quite a lot. And they're all stronger than the final boss?

>immune to EVERYTHING
Including physical damage? Still better than full invincibility. Can demons equip Magatama?

>for an RPG they're still interesting
For sure. And I'll go into the game with this in mind.

>revive skills exist
Noted.

>sacrifice yourself so others can live
Does it see any use? Also, not sure if you've told me this, but are you allowed to keep playing if Demifiend dies?

>well too bad
Amusing.

>disreagrds even immunities
Oh?

> pokemon
Can't answer that, personally I do. I tend to play Pokemon very organically, so just using what I come by and building a party that way (same with SMT). But a lot of pOkemon players plan their entire team out from the start, which works here but also kinda not since the game is so long and you need to make fusions which can be hell to plan out.

> normal encounters xp
It's okay, but as noted demons need more XP to promote you fusing instead.

> statboosts from magatama
They're handy, but in general being able to fully negate a damage type wins out on the damage-boost you get from +5 Strength if you get me. Especially since some immunities are more niche i.e. Curse immunity being really handy for the Mizuchi boss.

> 17 superbosses
The final boss in itself isn't too difficult (more a statcheck). The final three bosses in the final dungeon, when properly leveled against, are easier than the superbosses in my opinion mostly since they are more straightforward.

> demon magatama
Nope, only Demi. You can plan fusion routes though, so for example you can have a demon with Void Fire, fuse him with another demon with Void Death and make a demon that's inherently weak to Fire, but have Void Fire (which trumps the inherit weakness). So that way you can sorta build around it.

> if demi dies
Instant game-over. This is why many players try to have either the skill that reduces ambushes (mindscape or something) and Endure (basically remain with 1hp).
To avoid ... this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jftHNe3G3A

If you're unlucky you can die with zero chance to do anything about it. Obviously people find this unfair, but imo it's more a case of propper preparation. If you're in a dungeon with enemies that use Focus, have physical resistance/immunity. Don't go in a caster dungeon with magical weaknesses etc. All to mitigate these things. That said, sometimes the game will just say "fuck you".

> Pierce
The only thing that Pierce doesn't ignore is REPEL (meaning, damage is fired back at you). So say there's a demon with Immune: PHysical. Normally a physical attack would just stop dead in its tracks and you'd lose two turns. With Pierce, nothing happens and you do damage regularly. Same if they'd used 4x Rakukaja, you'd still do full damage.

>just using what you come by
So you're not like most (don't have a 'favorite' monster, so to speak).

>fusions
Does this cut some of the grind you need to do in order to get the desired skills/monsters, etc.?

>immunities are more important than stat boosts
Makes sense, yeah.

>final boss is a stat check
At least from what I've been hearing, it looks like you'll get the required level for it naturally.

>only Demi can equip stuff
Suspected this as being the case.

>demons can gain passive skills via fusions
Noted.

>weak to fire
>but also immune to it
Amusing.

>link
So people really aren't kidding when you're constantly on the edge on Hard runs. Especially since it seems to be a meme (judging by that wording).

>unfair
I'm reminded of your article.

>fuck you
For a change, it's nice to see a turn based game having 'teeth' like this.

>Pierce can't ignore Repel
Oh, so this is an actual passive skill (like with immunities)? I assumed there was something akin to Reflect (from FF), but I thought it was something you needed to apply on yourself with an actual move.

> playing favourites
I do have favourites, but they tend to be either terrible (Psyduck, Hippopotas, Typhlosion) or I've used them way too often in the past (Alakazam, Venasaur, Nidoking) so most runs these days I just switch it up.

> RPG with teeth
It's great when it happens. Lost Odyssey had glimpses of this magic too, where enemies could really wreck you if you were complacent. Sad that this is such a rare occurance as I feel difficulty is the one key ingredient most of these games miss to push the usage of mechanics. Golden Sun is a great example of this, fantastic gameplay mechanics, but you can literally win the game by spamming "attack" for 40+ hours.

> pierce
Yeah it's a passive, sorry should've mentioned that!

> Fusions
The highest level fusion can only be equal to Demi's level, so that is a restriction. In general though, you might find yourself being level 20 with a level 7 set of demons, so at that point it is easier to just get some fusions going. The game pushes towards this also because demons, if unleveled, only inherit 2 skills. But if both demons are fully leveled (so they unlocked all their learnable skills) then the demon will inherit the maximum amount of skills.

> nocturn moment
At first it's frustrating, later-on you'll laugh at it and sometimes you'll get extremely memorable moments of you narrowly avoiding one. Once you get Mind's Eye it is lessened and the second you have Endure with a nice set of smoke-bombs in your inventory (item that sees you escape with 100% succes rate) it generally becomes a non-factor.

The only one that's a bit dumb is Beast's Eye. This is an enemy-unique spell that gives them 2 extra turns. Most bosses have it, but one enemy can get a bit....dumb with it as he's not coded well so he'll do weird shit like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg28HL4caQk

That said you can even mitigate that by immediately casting Fog Breath or Debilitate to ruin his accuracy, making him waste turns.

>terrible favorites
Guess everyone can relate.

>Alakazam
Is this one of the mons that must be traded in order for it to evolve?

>Lost Oddysey
Yeah, ever since you spoke highly about it, it's been in my backlog.

>it has this magic too
Excellent.

>Golden Sun
Think this was one of the games you talked about in your turn based video. I frequently mix it up with Golden Axe.

>highest level fusion can only be equal to Demi's level
As in, the resulting fusion won't have a level higher than Demi's?

>game encourages fusing demons to an extent
Given that fusing sounds like the better alternative (compared to grinding), that sounds good. Also, can you fuse demons that have already been fused?

>extremely memorable moments
Nice that something good comes out of it, at least.

>smoke bombs
Mid/lategame item?

>Beast Eye
That seems crazy. And according to some of the comments, it seems like this didn't get fixed in a re-release. Makes you wonder if that was intentional (actively willing to troll players).

>can mitigate it
Least there's solutions for working around this. Good to know.

> fusion
No, as in the fusion is impossible. For example Metatron is base level 95. If Demi is level 94, and you try to fuse him, you'll get an error messages saying that "you're not strong enough to control him". This is also true with recruitment. If you're level 60 and try to recruit a level 62 enemy, they'll laugh in your face and attack you instead.

> fuse stacking
Yes! You can infinitely fuse, which is where the more complex builds come from i.e. you do a whole chain of builds to get a specific spell i.e. "Fire Damage Boost" on Hellrider who is a fire-caster.

> smoke bomb
You get them early, but they are rare and insanely expensive. You can get the spell Trafuri, but it costs 50 MP, so it's a rare cast (at max level you have like 300 MP).

> Golden Sun
Great combat, great sprites etc. but very low difficulty, you can sadly win the game by mashing "Attack" which is a shame. Still, I do recommend it for the overal content.

>fusion is impossible
Ah, I see. Got it.

>also true with recruitment
And if you defeat them, can you ask them if they want to join again?

>can infinitely fuse
>this is how the more complex builds are created
Noted.

>rare and insanely expensive
>escape spell is also extensive
They really didn't want to give the player any easy outs of random encounters early on, huh? Doubly so on Hard.

>great combat, but very easy
As long as the former is good, I'm willing to give it a try.

> recruitment
If they die, they die, can't recruit a dead demon. There's no missable demons though since they are generally speaking random-encounters, and bosses can never be recruited (only gained through fusion).

>can't recruit a dead demon
Right, thought the game just counted these instances as 'defeating' (can refight them again) instead of 'killed'.

>no missable demons
Good to know.

Note: Thanks for all the info you've provided me so far. I'll be sure to come to this topic after playing the game once, and if I have any further questions, I'll get back to you. Again, appreciate all the notes.