Thursday, 7 November 2013
Shin Megami Tensei IV - Nintendo 3DS
Shin Megami Tensei IV - Nintendo 3DS
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #626 in Video Games
- Brand: Atlus
- Model: SM-30014-3
- Released on: 2013-07-16
- ESRB Rating: Mature
- Number of discs: 1
- Platform: Nintendo 3DS
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 1.13" h x 5.38" w x 7.50" l, .25 pounds
Features
- A World to Discover, A Mystery to Uncover The life of a Samurai is fraught with peril; Players must leave the safety of Mikado in order to defend it from the invading demons; There the story unfolds as the true history of Mikado comes to light
- Demon Collection and Fusion The core mechanic of the Shin Megami Tensei series returns with more than 400 demons to recruit, collect, and fuse together
- Choices and Consequences ? Throughout the player's journey, they must choose their own path; The choices will affect them, other NPCs, and the overall outcome of the story
- Pressing the Combat Advantage The Press Turn system requires strategic thinking for every battle; Pinpointing an enemy's weakness will provide a vital extra turn for players to exploit
- A Finely Tuned RPG Experience Beautiful graphics, extensive voice work, 3D dungeons, and a branching story make for a solid RPG adventure
- A World to Discover, A Mystery to Uncover The life of a Samurai is fraught with peril; Players must leave the safety of Mikado in order to defend it from the invading demons; There the story unfolds as the true history of Mikado comes to light
- Demon Collection and Fusion The core mechanic of the Shin Megami Tensei series returns with more than 400 demons to recruit, collect, and fuse together
- Choices and Consequences ? Throughout the player's journey, they must choose their own path; The choices will affect them, other NPCs, and the overall outcome of the story
- Pressing the Combat Advantage The Press Turn system requires strategic thinking for every battle; Pinpointing an enemy's weakness will provide a vital extra turn for players to exploit
- A Finely Tuned RPG Experience Beautiful graphics, extensive voice work, 3D dungeons, and a branching story make for a solid RPG adventure
Product Description
The Shin Megami Tensei RPG series began in Japan in 1992 on Super Famicom. Neither this game nor its sequel was published in North America. In 2004 Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne was the first SMT game in North America, although "III" was removed from the PlayStation 2 title. The SMT series later spun off several sub series, including Persona, Devil Summoner, Devil Survivor, Digital Devil Saga, and the standalone Strange Journey. This new RPG is considered the fourth in the Shin Megami Tensei mainline series. In 1492, the kingdom of East Mikado is protected by high walls, with the castle and its king at the center. A young warrior, 18 years old, has just been chosen to become a Samurai, one who, with the aid of a special tool called a Gauntlet, will serve as a secret protector of the city. It is the duty of the Samurai to exterminate a demon threat of which its citizens are unaware. However, the situation is not as simple as human versus demon; There are factions within the human group that must be discovered and understood in order for alliances to be formed, paths set, and the destiny of the world decided.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
69 of 78 people found the following review helpful.
By Christopher Barrett
Update (8/6/2013):Nearing end of game! The game gets insanely tough later on, especially boss battles. There is some DLC available, and more in the works, but I haven't added anything other than the Amazon.com coat (which is not really all that useful past level 8 or 9). I wanted to present a review of the core game. I have heard that a couple of DLC quests are repeatable for massive exp, so I didn't want to add those and change the balance. On a subsequent play through I will load most of the DLC.One thing to remember is to NOT GIVE UP. Some battles are tough and require balancing or adjusting your party. I HIGHLY recommend adding extra slots for demons. This is probably one of the best ways to keep reserves for both battles and for fusion.Update (7/21/2013):If you got the pre-order with the bonus book, do not read the book at all if you want to contain the surprise of the story. There is a ton of spoilers, even within the location concept art. Just be aware of this. I would say about an hour after beating Minotaur is a good time to look at the book and not spoil some of the surprise. Also, the story does have a lot of interesting twists and turns. The English voice cast is excellent, the sound editing is spot on, much better then Soul Hackers.My only problem is the difficulty which sometimes is easy (even on the harder setting), but if you aren't careful, even weaker groups of foes might get lucky and wipe out your party. All it takes is a few key hits on your party's weak points and the enemies gain extra turns. Also, enemy groups might be hiding reinforcements. Always dangerous. The game does offer you two options for if you are getting creamed: you can revive your party with macca after you get game over. You can actually do this for free if you keep negotiating with Charon. The other option is that after you get game over a couple of times, the game prompts you with a lower difficulty setting. I did not choose to lower the difficulty, and if you have played games in the series, I recommend also keeping the tougher setting. It's worth it. Since you can save (nearly) anywhere, it's not a big deal if you die. Just keep saving!-----------------------------Original Review:The 3DS is an interesting system. Love or hate the 3D (I am not a fan), it's tough to argue with the quality of games being published. Shin Megami Tensei is one of those games that bears solid roots in classic RPG styles, yet has fresh and up to date touches that keep each new release interesting. The previous SMT 3DS release was Soul Hackers, a re-release of a PS1 (and Saturn) game. This is the first original SMT game on the 3DS, and I hope it won't be the last.I haven't spent too much time with the game, but I wanted to put down a few initial impressions based on my time playing this and virtually every other SMT title (all the way back to the Famicom original). There are a few interesting changes from previous games, but I feel this game bears a little more similarity in style to Persona 4 than previous SMT titles. Mainly this is interface and gameplay, not story and theme of course.Speaking of the story, the game starts off interesting in a fictitious future based on a feudal style Japan yet modern in time. Suffice to say, like other SMT titles the heroes become caught up in the battle between good and evil using demons as their scions. It's like a grown up Pokemon. Demons are either light or dark and this makes for interesting strategy and team building. And the demons are mostly familiar for fans of other SMT titles. Although the attitude level has been ratcheted up on a few! Looking at you Wendigo! And the spell names are the same (mostly) as previous SMT games as well. So fans of the series will be familiar with the names, but those who aren't might not know what Bufu, Dia, Agi, and other spell names refer to. But there are descriptions of each in game.The pre-order bonus was a great plus. The design book was mainly a strategy guide with just about 10 or 15 pages of design works. The soundtrack is also a nice bonus. But for those newer to the series, the strategy guide will help players through the initial portion of the game.The main storyline is very interesting, but a welcome addition is the side quests. There are many to undertake and rewards very from a little macca (money) to rare weapons and items.So far the game has not let me down. I will update the review further as I play more deeply into the game, but my main response is this: if you've played a Shin Megami Tensei game, then expect more of the same great style and story. If you're new to the series, this might be a good starting point, but perhaps playing a Persona title first might be less shocking unless you are familiar with this style of RPG.Highly recommended. And the $30 Nintendo e-shop bonus was a nice plus for purchasing this and Fire Emblem. I used it to get Animal Crossing for $5! Win win!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
By Sean Rohde
As my header suggests, this game more resembles "Strange Journey" than any other Shin Megami game. This is a good thing for me, as I put in about 100 hours in to Strange Journey. If I had something to complain about, it would be the swapping out of first person with third person, and only because sometimes the camera is so close to you that you can't really tell where you are and where the demons are. But other than that, same dungeon crawling and demon fusing. The demons do ask for quite a bit more before they will join you, though.And not really a spoiler, but the game does offer an easy setting. I haven't really found it necessary to switch. All it takes is a bit of grinding and so far there hasn't been anything that has stopped me in my tracks. If you really hate dying, I guess you might want to change to easy, but dying is part of the game. A bit of Macca or just start back from the last time you saved, and you keep moving forward.I'm already addicted to it, having put in six hours the first day of play.
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
By Equuleus
[Edit: I have now finished the game. The story does pick up a bit towards the end, but I haven't seen any need to alter my review.]As a fan of Shin Megami Tensei, I've been anticipating SMT IV for quite a while. After playing SMT IV, I'm a little bit disappointed with it in comparison to the previous entries.The biggest problem is definitely the direction they went with gameplay.First of all, those who are coming to this game from Nocturne will notice the lack of a vitality stat. The game doesn't seem to be balanced around this. You and your demons are much more frail as a result, as well as the enemies. However, since most the points that would have normally gone into VIT now go into offensive stats (such as MAG, LUK and AGI), you and your opponents die very quickly and battles are unsatisfyingly short.Boss battles are not an exception. The biggest difference I noticed between the boss battles of Nocturne and IV is how underwhelming the boss battles have become. The long, beautiful boss fights from Nocturne are replaced with short skirmishes in which you exploit the enemy's weakness as quickly and repeatedly as you can so it dies before you do. The importance of buffing/debuffing is diminished from previous games, as using your turns to simply exploit their weakness ad nauseum is nearly always a more effective strategy. (Nearly every boss has an exploitable weakness by the way. Figure out what it is and you've already won half the fight).Another change in gameplay is the usage of MP rather than HP from physical moves. IV actually isn't the first SMT title to do this, but it executes it the most poorly. In SMT IV there are three basic types of demon builds. Magic demons, physical demons, and balanced demons. Magic demons have a decent HP pool and large MP pool. Physical demons have a large HP pool and a tiny MP pool. Balanced demons have a decent HP pool and a decent MP pool. In the previous games, physical demons used their large HP pool for HP based attacks and magic demons used their large MP pool for MP based attacks. However, physical demons now deplete their MP ridiculously quickly as a result of all skills costing MP, even physical attacks and buffs. Though balanced demons don't suffer as much, their MP pools aren't quite big enough either.The Smirk system is something completely unique to SMT IV. When a you or a demon scores a critical hit or exploits a weakness, the "smirk" status is added in addition to the extra turn. This buffs the demon/player significantly in every stat, increases critical hit rate, AND covers their weaknesses. Rather than adding to the Press Turn system, this detracts from it. Bosses score completely random critical hits quite often, meaning they gain random smirks often. Let's put this together. You and the boss both have very low HP and a completely random critical hit doubles your fighting power. See where I'm going? Randomness now has nearly as big an effect on your battle as strategy. Press Turn added strategy to boss fights, but the Smirk system is a needless addition that adds too much luck to battles for them to be enjoyable.I was pleased, though, with the new demon fusion system. The search function allows you to plan fusions out more accurately and precisely. The complete control you're given over what skills are inherited seemed nice at first, but is a bit too easy to exploit.The third person exploration isn't bad, either. Having demons appear on-screen before they encounter you feels much more logical than standard random encounters and feels like a big improvement. The overworld map is a bit easy to get lost in, but is better than the menu-based travel in Strange Journey.Although I was extremely disappointed with the gameplay decisions, the game fares better in nearly every other aspect.The atmosphere is dark, but good. The urban Tokyo environments are cold and depressing but very well done and give a good cyberpunk feel.The soundtrack fits the game nicely. The music is a bit more subtly done and haunting than previous games at many points, such as Kichijoji forest. The boss themes aren't quite as good as Nocturne's, but I was still very satisfied with them.I haven't finished the game yet, but so far the plot is satisfactory. It has more substance than Nocturne, but tries too hard at some points and lacks the subtlety of the soundtrack. Still, there are some satisfying plot twists and traumatic events.The demon designs and sprite artwork is a point where the game suffers in design. First of all, most of the new demon designs are, I'm being honest, awful. I'm not sure why Kazuma Kaneko didn't provide any new artwork, but I'm questioning why he didn't. The guest designers definitely failed to capture the creativity and subtlety that I expected from an SMT game. The designs for Lucifer and Masakatos are downright insulting. SMT IV did reuse sprite artwork for many demons, and another problem arises from this. The sprites are picked from all points of Kazuma Kaneko's artistic career. Kaneko has been doing designs for SMT for ages, and his art has evolved and changed quite a bit. As a result, there is major discord between designs and the difference is too jarring to ignore.The voice acting is decent. I don't think it was necessary to include it when they could have spent time and resources on actual content, but it's a step up from Soul Hackers (in which I chose to disable the voices completely).Overall, SMT IV isn't a bad game. I'm very critical of what they did with the gameplay, but at its core all the great things about SMT are present. The demon fusion is still addictive, the plot is still interesting, and the decisions are still thought provoking. This just isn't the entry that mainline Shin Megami Tensei deserves and isn't the sequel I was expecting. 3 1/2 stars overall.
Amazon.com: Shin Megami Tensei IV - Nintendo 3DS: Video Gamesview larger Shin Megami Tensei IV Demon Collection and Fusion The core mechanic of the Shin Megami Tensei series returns with more than 400 demons to recruit, collect ...
Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS) Review - Nintendo Life
Game Review Navigation: Home » Reviews » 3DS » Review: Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS) Shin Megami Tensei IV Review. USA Version. Posted Wed 10th Jul 2013 17:00 by ...
Shin Megami Tensei IV Coming To Nintendo 3DS [Update] - Siliconera
Atlus have announced Shin Megami Tensei IV for the Nintendo 3DS in this week's Famitsu magazine.
Shin Megami Tensei IV - Nintendo 3DS - IGN
IGN is the Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS) resource with reviews, wikis, videos, trailers, screenshots, cheats, walkthroughs, previews, news and release dates
Shin Megami Tensei IV | Buy Shin Megami Tensei IV (Japan Version ...
Shin Megami Tensei IV (Japan Version) for Nintendo 3DS (3DS) is available from Play-Asia.com.
Shin Megami Tensei IV Review - GameSpot - Video Game Reviews ...
Dealing with demons and forging a winning party make Shin Megami Tensei IV a great portable role-playing game, despite having a lukewarm cast.
Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Shin Megami Tensei IV - Nintendo 3DS
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for at Amazon.com. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users.
Shin Megami Tensei IV - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shin Megami Tensei IV (IV?) is a 2013 title in the Megami Tensei role-playing series of video games. Atlus was confirmed to be developing a new ...
Shin Megami Tensei IV | Buy Shin Megami Tensei IV (Europe Version ...
Shin Megami Tensei IV (Europe Version) for Nintendo 3DS (3DS) is available from Play-Asia.com. * A World to Discover, A Mystery to Uncover: The life of a Samurai is ...
Shin Megami Tensei IV - Game Review - Anime News Network
Shin Megami Tensei IV is the next main-line game in a series most players recognize more for its spin-off, Persona, than for the core games that started it ...
Shin Megami Tensei IV - Nintendo 3DS
Shin Megami Tensei IV is the next main-line game in a series most players recognize more for its spin-off, Persona, than for the core games that started it ...,Shin Megami Tensei IV (Europe Version) for Nintendo 3DS (3DS) is available from Play-Asia.com. * A World to Discover, A Mystery to Uncover: The life of a Samurai is ...,Shin Megami Tensei IV (IV?) is a 2013 title in the Megami Tensei role-playing series of video games. Atlus was confirmed to be developing a new ...,Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for at Amazon.com. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users.,Dealing with demons and forging a winning party make Shin Megami Tensei IV a great portable role-playing game, despite having a lukewarm cast.,Shin Megami Tensei IV (Japan Version) for Nintendo 3DS (3DS) is available from Play-Asia.com.,IGN is the Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS) resource with reviews, wikis, videos, trailers, screenshots, cheats, walkthroughs, previews, news and release dates,Atlus have announced Shin Megami Tensei IV for the Nintendo 3DS in this week's Famitsu magazine.,Game Review Navigation: Home » Reviews » 3DS » Review: Shin Megami Tensei IV (3DS) Shin Megami Tensei IV Review. USA Version. Posted Wed 10th Jul 2013 17:00 by ...,view larger Shin Megami Tensei IV Demon Collection and Fusion The core mechanic of the Shin Megami Tensei series returns with more than 400 demons to recruit, collect ...
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