Does Strange Journey keep Devil Survivor's wonderful "choose the skill" mechanic?
Naturally inherited things are basically random.
Every demon has, like, a really tiny list of things they'll naturally inherit. And up to...the fourth or fifth area, I hadn't really made anything that ever had more than one or two skills they could get beyond the limit. 90% of the things I made just had a few skills that they would get, and nothing would change that. Anything else you could reset the fusion and it would switch things around, but everything seemed to have about the same chance to appear and there's a bunch of junk anyway and getting the right setup never took more than like twenty seconds maybe.
Demon customization comes from D-Source or something, that you can get one of per demon after you've leveled it up for a while. This basically just copies the skills that it had, or adds to its natural abilities or something (a demon that naturally knows bufu might have a source that gives bufula or mabufu, or something like that). These usually have three or four skills. You can add these sources to any demon during fusion to replace any skills that it has.
It's really hard if you're a packrat and always think "but maybe I'll need this source later." But you get so many of the things that even the most adamant refuse-to-use-unique-itemers will eventually cave in and start popping them into new demons.
Allow me to re-enact the first moments of Imagine in regards to the demon negotiation.
Hey pixie, want to join? NO.
Hey pixie, want to join? NO.
Seriously pixie I need you to progress the storyline. NO.
Pixie come the fuck on. NO.
Okay pixie seriously if you don't come wi- NO.
Okay join me or die. NO.
I fucking hate you so much you stupid bitch. Just join me. NO.
Baby I'm sorry. I know last time I was mean. I'm a changed player now. So won't you join me? NO.
FUCK OFF. *Pixie joined you*
You forgot the disconnects, random mobs spawning near you and attacking while you're talking, and people killing your pixie in the middle of negotiations.
To be fair, they fixed the connects.
The rest still pretty much sucks.
And I guess negotation gets a little easier when you can bribe them with macca and/or gems.
cj iwakura on
0
darunia106J-bob in gamesDeath MountainRegistered Userregular
Spending hours getting the perfect layout of skills on a Persona, only to end with a Fusion accident.
Or to have the X, X, O, O rhythm down so hard that when you actually get the layout you want you back out my mistake.
And then they had to fuck it up by making the cursor reset in P4. Thanks a lot Atlus! Now I have to actually pay attention instead of getting lost in my own little world for 45 minutes at a time!
Wait, as in 45 minutes of browsing through menus meticulously making sure the party is at the best they can be and mixing and matching stuff so you can see the results of different combinations?
...
*runs off to find out more about DDS 1 and 2 and the Persona games*
EDIT: Alright I lied, I did play some of Imagine but I only got partway through the tutorial when I discovered that I really didn't like MMORPGs all that much.
Spending hours getting the perfect layout of skills on a Persona, only to end with a Fusion accident.
Or to have the X, X, O, O rhythm down so hard that when you actually get the layout you want you back out my mistake.
And then they had to fuck it up by making the cursor reset in P4. Thanks a lot Atlus! Now I have to actually pay attention instead of getting lost in my own little world for 45 minutes at a time!
Wait, as in 45 minutes of browsing through menus meticulously making sure the party is at the best they can be and mixing and matching stuff so you can see the results of different combinations?
...
*runs off to find out more about DDS 1 and 2 and the Persona games*
The following is an example of every single person who has played P3 and Nocturne. Demon names and moves will of course vary.
"Goddammit I am not leaving the fusion screen until my Trumpeter gets Debilitate, Mediarahan, Mind Charge, and Panta Rhei on him. I have all day game. All day."
*20 minutes later*
"Okay forget the Mediarahan. That's fine. I need those other 3 though."
*20 minutes later*
"Okay forget Mediarahan and Debilitate. I need those other two though.
*5 minutes later*
"Wait why am I even making this guy? I can just make a kickass Thor instead."
Wait, as in 45 minutes of browsing through menus meticulously making sure the party is at the best they can be and mixing and matching stuff so you can see the results of different combinations?
Not quite... It's more like after having decided on the persona you wish to create, you'll spend 45 minutes trying to get the RNG to give it to you.
Spending hours getting the perfect layout of skills on a Persona, only to end with a Fusion accident.
Or to have the X, X, O, O rhythm down so hard that when you actually get the layout you want you back out my mistake.
And then they had to fuck it up by making the cursor reset in P4. Thanks a lot Atlus! Now I have to actually pay attention instead of getting lost in my own little world for 45 minutes at a time!
Wait, as in 45 minutes of browsing through menus meticulously making sure the party is at the best they can be and mixing and matching stuff so you can see the results of different combinations?
...
*runs off to find out more about DDS 1 and 2 and the Persona games*
EDIT: Alright I lied, I did play some of Imagine but I only got partway through the tutorial when I discovered that I really didn't like MMORPGs all that much.
DDS does not have this system and instead gives your characters a pool of moves based on how you've leveled up skillsets.
Persona does and although sometimes we feel like a battered spouse as we subject ourselves to yet another fusion that refuses to go as planned, we feel like death incarnate when we have that multi-element deity fused.
And Imagine is one of the worst games to try if you don't like MMORPGs much. It lacks many, many refinements to the genre from the last five or six years or so. It reminds me Star Wars Galaxies (pre-NGE revamp) without the social elements. In other words a game that other MMO developers had their designers play and study so as to learn what NOT to do in their own game.
Wait, as in 45 minutes of browsing through menus meticulously making sure the party is at the best they can be and mixing and matching stuff so you can see the results of different combinations?
Not quite... It's more like after having decided on the persona you wish to create, you'll spend 45 minutes trying to get the RNG to give it to you.
Wait what? How does making a Persona actually work?
EDIT: Ah never mind, I see from above. And yeah after playing and trying way too many free mmos, their crappiness kind of runs together.
I don't think I ever spent more than a few minutes creating any persona. Not only did I save a lot of time, but it kept the difficulty level from becoming trivial because of some uber-invincible persona.
Spending hours getting the perfect layout of skills on a Persona, only to end with a Fusion accident.
Or to have the X, X, O, O rhythm down so hard that when you actually get the layout you want you back out my mistake.
And then they had to fuck it up by making the cursor reset in P4. Thanks a lot Atlus! Now I have to actually pay attention instead of getting lost in my own little world for 45 minutes at a time!
Wait, as in 45 minutes of browsing through menus meticulously making sure the party is at the best they can be and mixing and matching stuff so you can see the results of different combinations?
...
*runs off to find out more about DDS 1 and 2 and the Persona games*
The following is an example of every single person who has played P3 and Nocturne. Demon names and moves will of course vary.
"Goddammit I am not leaving the fusion screen until my Trumpeter gets Debilitate, Mediarahan, Mind Charge, and Panta Rhei on him. I have all day game. All day."
*20 minutes later*
"Okay forget the Mediarahan. That's fine. I need those other 3 though."
*20 minutes later*
"Okay forget Mediarahan and Debilitate. I need those other two though.
*5 minutes later*
"Wait why am I even making this guy? I can just make a kickass Thor instead."
Haha! I never spent that much, but I know the general feeling. I wish they would get a real point buy system for Persona 5. If Dungeons and bloody Dragons can get with the times, so can Atlus.
EmperorSeth on
You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
0
YggiDeeThe World Ends With You ShillRegistered Userregular
edited December 2009
Atlus could never do such a thing, as that would be being kind to the players. If the purchase price of these skills of choice were not points but rather something dear and valuable, that would be a more tender option.
"You want Mediarahan and Debilitate? That'll cost five levels. You're level 72 now. What, that sound like too much? No, it's cool. You can listen to the Velvet Room music for another hour, if that's what you really want.
Atlus could never do such a thing, as that would be being kind to the players. If the purchase price of these skills of choice were not points but rather something dear and valuable, that would be a more tender option.
"You want Mediarahan and Debilitate? That'll cost five levels. You're level 72 now. What, that sound like too much? No, it's cool. You can listen to the Velvet Room music for another hour, if that's what you really want.
I thought so."
Level loss would be nice compared to what I was thinking of:
"You want Victory Cry? Give up a rank in all the S-Links besides this persona's."
Darklyre on
0
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited December 2009
I did the weekend 'Arcadia Wars' quest, which is pretty much the only thing worth doing in Imagine nowadays, and it reminds me of how much I enjoy that game's combat system.
It's a shame there's nothing worth pursuing with it.
cj iwakura on
0
darunia106J-bob in gamesDeath MountainRegistered Userregular
My most bizarre SMT fusion accident happened to me with Nocturne:
- Fused two demons; accident happened; result: a Hresvelgr,. Ok. Load Game.
- Fused the same two demons. accident happened; result: a Hresvelgr; Ok. Quit game.
- Fused the same two demons again. accident happened; result: Hresvelgr; WTF¿? Ok. Quit game.
- Fused the same two demons again. accident happened; result: AN AWESOME SURT who I used until the endgame.
My most bizarre SMT fusion accident happened to me with Nocturne:
- Fused two demons; accident happened; result: a Hresvelgr,. Ok. Load Game.
- Fused the same two demons. accident happened; result: a Hresvelgr; Ok. Quit game.
- Fused the same two demons again. accident happened; result: Hresvelgr; WTF¿? Ok. Quit game.
- Fused the same two demons again. accident happened; result: AN AWESOME SURT who I used until the endgame.
Back when Revelations: The Demon Slayer was new, I had a wonderful thing happen at the start of the game.
I'm slugging my way through the encounters, struggling to get new demons to fill out my party and wind up with a pair of weak little nothings... so I fuse them together, because "Well, level eight is better than two level threes."
MOTHERFUCKING LEVEL 87 SHIVA.
I'm pretty sure they've fixed fusion accidents in later titles, even though R:TDS was technically a Last Bible game...
Son of a bitch. I can't find my DDS1 save game. I had beat the game, was in NG+, with the skills required to basically walk through the game on autopilot (the death flies attack + victory cry).
Only savegame I can find now is one from 5/6/06. I'm in some place called "Samsara Tunnels" with almost nothing unlocked. And apparently my main character is pure magic this time, 99 MA with most of the magic trees being what he's unlocking. If this is what I think it is, this is the one from WAY back when I first started the game, which means I'm apparently missing a memory card.
That video reminded me that the music is pretty much the only reason to play SMT1. It does have some pretty kickass songs. Town of Extremists is the name of the SMT song in that video and it's pretty awesome.
Gilder on
0
cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited December 2009
I like the tracks I recognize from Imagine even more as chiptunes.
Trying to beat Persona 4 finally, and that stupid boss at the top of Heaven's Tower just killed me four times in a row. It's basically because Yukiko is weak to ice and it lets the boss have two turns. He just spams Ice x All twice and kills my MC. GAH.
Make a persona null to basically everything and just have Yukiko guard or bring in Teddie. If you're null to most elements as well as physical attacks then there's not too much the boss can do. The big paper persona is easy to make and I think it's already null to physical and possibly something else.
Trying to beat Persona 4 finally, and that stupid boss at the top of Heaven's Tower just killed me four times in a row. It's basically because Yukiko is weak to ice and it lets the boss have two turns. He just spams Ice x All twice and kills my MC. GAH.
This is seriously making me not want to play now.
Change personae and party members?
Get something that drains ice, and use Teddie instead
Trying to beat Persona 4 finally, and that stupid boss at the top of Heaven's Tower just killed me four times in a row. It's basically because Yukiko is weak to ice and it lets the boss have two turns. He just spams Ice x All twice and kills my MC. GAH.
This is seriously making me not want to play now.
Change personae and party members?
Get something that drains ice, and use Teddie instead
Yeah, at this point it shouldn't be tough to fuse a good persona who nulls ice, and you can bring in someone other than Yukiko, or you can have her guard.
if it's the guy I'm thinking of, he uses all the elements
just keep four personas that repel (or drain or null if you don't have one) an element, guard when he changes then pound him with whatever he's hitting you with
Posts
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Naturally inherited things are basically random.
Every demon has, like, a really tiny list of things they'll naturally inherit. And up to...the fourth or fifth area, I hadn't really made anything that ever had more than one or two skills they could get beyond the limit. 90% of the things I made just had a few skills that they would get, and nothing would change that. Anything else you could reset the fusion and it would switch things around, but everything seemed to have about the same chance to appear and there's a bunch of junk anyway and getting the right setup never took more than like twenty seconds maybe.
Demon customization comes from D-Source or something, that you can get one of per demon after you've leveled it up for a while. This basically just copies the skills that it had, or adds to its natural abilities or something (a demon that naturally knows bufu might have a source that gives bufula or mabufu, or something like that). These usually have three or four skills. You can add these sources to any demon during fusion to replace any skills that it has.
It's really hard if you're a packrat and always think "but maybe I'll need this source later." But you get so many of the things that even the most adamant refuse-to-use-unique-itemers will eventually cave in and start popping them into new demons.
To be fair, they fixed the connects.
The rest still pretty much sucks.
And I guess negotation gets a little easier when you can bribe them with macca and/or gems.
Wait, as in 45 minutes of browsing through menus meticulously making sure the party is at the best they can be and mixing and matching stuff so you can see the results of different combinations?
...
*runs off to find out more about DDS 1 and 2 and the Persona games*
EDIT: Alright I lied, I did play some of Imagine but I only got partway through the tutorial when I discovered that I really didn't like MMORPGs all that much.
The following is an example of every single person who has played P3 and Nocturne. Demon names and moves will of course vary.
"Goddammit I am not leaving the fusion screen until my Trumpeter gets Debilitate, Mediarahan, Mind Charge, and Panta Rhei on him. I have all day game. All day."
*20 minutes later*
"Okay forget the Mediarahan. That's fine. I need those other 3 though."
*20 minutes later*
"Okay forget Mediarahan and Debilitate. I need those other two though.
*5 minutes later*
"Wait why am I even making this guy? I can just make a kickass Thor instead."
Not quite... It's more like after having decided on the persona you wish to create, you'll spend 45 minutes trying to get the RNG to give it to you.
DDS does not have this system and instead gives your characters a pool of moves based on how you've leveled up skillsets.
Persona does and although sometimes we feel like a battered spouse as we subject ourselves to yet another fusion that refuses to go as planned, we feel like death incarnate when we have that multi-element deity fused.
And Imagine is one of the worst games to try if you don't like MMORPGs much. It lacks many, many refinements to the genre from the last five or six years or so. It reminds me Star Wars Galaxies (pre-NGE revamp) without the social elements. In other words a game that other MMO developers had their designers play and study so as to learn what NOT to do in their own game.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
Wait what? How does making a Persona actually work?
EDIT: Ah never mind, I see from above. And yeah after playing and trying way too many free mmos, their crappiness kind of runs together.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Haha! I never spent that much, but I know the general feeling. I wish they would get a real point buy system for Persona 5. If Dungeons and bloody Dragons can get with the times, so can Atlus.
"You want Mediarahan and Debilitate? That'll cost five levels. You're level 72 now. What, that sound like too much? No, it's cool. You can listen to the Velvet Room music for another hour, if that's what you really want.
I thought so."
I only have them at the worst time humanly possible.
Oh, and my earlier talk of negotiations was actually about Nocturne, which I only really started playing now after owning it for about a year.
I need a Lillim, but I'll be damned if one will join me.
Chances vary enormously depending on which recruitment skill you use for which demon.
Some, for instance, are much more vulnerable to Charm.
Of course, that could be because Victor's a hack.
Level loss would be nice compared to what I was thinking of:
"You want Victory Cry? Give up a rank in all the S-Links besides this persona's."
It's a shame there's nothing worth pursuing with it.
Now I just need time to play it...
I know that in 4 they occur every 7th fusion or so instead of randomly popping up.
Steam Profile
3DS: 3454-0268-5595 Battle.net: SteelAngel#1772
- Fused two demons; accident happened; result: a Hresvelgr,. Ok. Load Game.
- Fused the same two demons. accident happened; result: a Hresvelgr; Ok. Quit game.
- Fused the same two demons again. accident happened; result: Hresvelgr; WTF¿? Ok. Quit game.
- Fused the same two demons again. accident happened; result: AN AWESOME SURT who I used until the endgame.
Back when Revelations: The Demon Slayer was new, I had a wonderful thing happen at the start of the game.
I'm slugging my way through the encounters, struggling to get new demons to fill out my party and wind up with a pair of weak little nothings... so I fuse them together, because "Well, level eight is better than two level threes."
MOTHERFUCKING LEVEL 87 SHIVA.
I'm pretty sure they've fixed fusion accidents in later titles, even though R:TDS was technically a Last Bible game...
Only savegame I can find now is one from 5/6/06. I'm in some place called "Samsara Tunnels" with almost nothing unlocked. And apparently my main character is pure magic this time, 99 MA with most of the magic trees being what he's unlocking. If this is what I think it is, this is the one from WAY back when I first started the game, which means I'm apparently missing a memory card.
God. Damnit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrBKrXvm59E
man I thought that sounded weirdly old-school
Trying to beat Persona 4 finally, and that stupid boss at the top of Heaven's Tower just killed me four times in a row. It's basically because Yukiko is weak to ice and it lets the boss have two turns. He just spams Ice x All twice and kills my MC. GAH.
This is seriously making me not want to play now.
Change personae and party members?
Get something that drains ice, and use Teddie instead
Yeah, at this point it shouldn't be tough to fuse a good persona who nulls ice, and you can bring in someone other than Yukiko, or you can have her guard.
just keep four personas that repel (or drain or null if you don't have one) an element, guard when he changes then pound him with whatever he's hitting you with
maybe one null phys on hand for that one phase