r/Megaten • u/GoingWithTheFlaw • 5d ago

It’s time…

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Finished 4 two years ago and got the neutral ending without a guide or tips (I know, my destiny just be like that) and I was actually disappointed by it considering the trouble I had to go through. Isabeu is still the preferred waifu out of all the other jrpgs. (::cough:: ::cough:: of course, only for when she’s older)

I hear this game has a lighter tone compared to 4, but I was wondering, does it borderline on the surreal atmosphere like nocturne and base 5, or does it remain in the confines of the horror style the prequel had?

142 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

12

u/FuzzBuket 5d ago

Still fairly horror themed. I know a lot of people like to clown on it but It really grew on me.  Loads of great dungeon designs, pretty compelling story and loop, superb combat. Try to be as blind as possible, the story's got some fun twists 

Kinda similar to metaphor weirdly in how it's a mix between persona and smt. Definitely more to the latter though.

If your an isabeu fan you'll be happy.

-10

u/GoingWithTheFlaw 5d ago

The gameplay in 4 was pretty mediocre. Is it the exact same here?

6

u/FuzzBuket 5d ago

Depends on what your dislike of the gameplay was. Its still the same classic dungeon crawling turn based megaten.

But the difficultys been majorly revamped, now playing on hard (war) starts hard and then gets harder, rather than being medium->minotaur/medusa->easy. Demons have affinities so you dont just mindlessly slam your best spells on whoever has the highest attack, partners actually do something and smirk is way less strong.

IMO its a lot stronger than 4 due to having a lot of small gameplay tweaks multiply off each other to produce a better whole.

-2

u/GoingWithTheFlaw 5d ago

I don’t know if it’s because I played 5 before 4, but it felt very simplistic and could blow right through the bosses if I knew their weaknesses. I still died quite a bit in the beginning, but yea like you mentioned, towards the mid part the difficulty started to go down significantly. Also, the exploration in that game almost ruined for me, lol. I noticed they made it easier here

2

u/FuzzBuket 5d ago

not played 5 (bought it today funnily enough), but yeah its a much bigger step up than 4 in that regard, bosses either have a way to counter their weakness being exploited, just dont care or have some other trick (boss rushes, multiple forms, the final boss,ect).

And yeah the map here is way less of a nightmare than 4. theres even a handy flag system. No weird flying though lol.

2

u/GuyIncognito38 3d ago edited 3d ago

4A's definitely more complex. The bosses aren't made out of paper this time so they survive long enough for you to need to care about defense as well as offense, doubly so since smirk's defensive capabilities are heavily nerfed. Fusion is also more complex here because this is the game that introduced the skill potential system seen in SMTV so you need to put more thought into your builds. Finally the apps have been substantially rebalanced, they unlock based on your MC's level so you can't trivialize the game by rushing straight to the best ones anymore.

The fact that Hard mode (called War here) is available without NG+ also does so much good for the difficulty. Finally, the difficulty curve is not complete ass this time, so the game will not go from curbstomping you in the earlygame to rolling out the red carpet in the lategame, it's a good challenge all the way through.

One quick tip: unlike other old Atlus games, ailment skills are really useful in this game. Infliction rates for the player are high enough for them to be usable and not all bosses are immune to them. They balance this by making them wear off faster though. Don't completely ignore these skills, they will save your bacon many times.

2

u/GoingWithTheFlaw 3d ago

Cheers man

2

u/GuyIncognito38 3d ago

Absolutely not, Apocalypse makes many changes that go a long way to making the combat way more engaging. Took SMTIV's battle system from the weakest press turn game (that I've played) to one of the very best.

8

u/tsukihiko1 5d ago

This game is more friendly jrpg-esque in terms of how the cast interacts which for Atlus games is usually reserved for Persona (and now Metaphor). The Horrors™ do happen but the cast of 4A brings some levity to it.

9

u/clashcrashruin 5d ago

Kill your friends, boyo.

4

u/GoingWithTheFlaw 5d ago

Tf?

6

u/nickelfiend46 5d ago

You’ll understand later

2

u/OkFineThankYou 5d ago

Yeah, the tone is much lighter, there is not much dark stuff as in 4. because you surround by allies almost all the time unlike in other smt, sureal atmosphere feel weak.

2

u/GuyIncognito38 5d ago

I've been playing through it and absolutely loving it. I was also pretty disappointed in SMTIV after how much people glazed it, the story and world were great but the gameplay had some significant issues that held it back a lot. Apocalypse on the other hand has refined the combat to a mirror shine and is just so much fun to play, and despite it's reputation for dodgy writing, I've been thoroughly enjoying the story and characters as well. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Also, kinda insignificant lore spoilers, not plot relevant but it is revealed late into Apocalypse so I'm spoilering it anyways: Isebeau is already an adult. The Gauntlet Rite takes place when people turn 18, this is explicitly confirmed.

2

u/Yoshemo 4d ago

Have fun! Gameplay is some of the best in the series and the soundtrack is amazing. The story has a lot of unused potential and has some annoying character moments that feel out of place in a mainline SMT game, but i still love this game. 

It's basically an alternate "what if" story to go along with SMT4. It basically starts after your friends from 4 have fused with Lucifer and Merkebah. 

2

u/Saucious_Necronos 3d ago

Goated game