Also, I found this interesting article/critique of SMTIV I felt you might enjoy.
I would be really surprised if they let you sequence break getting either of those characters since finding both of them is a big part of the story. Melvin especially was a huge part of the first disk. and Aisha joins not so long after that. Thankfully in the original, both of them started off with several skills and better stats than the other party members. Sounds to me like the job system was changed to feel closer to DQIX's system. In the original, you kept every skills and spell you learned, which seriously does bork the game a bit at parts but the skills were also scaled, so sticking too long in the starter classes could make middle sections more difficult as their skills don't quite have the punch of the Intermediate classes. Technically all of the Advanced classes were broken as all hell with great stat boosts and special traits. None of this is helped that the game would often have significant difficulty jumps between locations as you progressed. There are monsters in the final dungeon I'm more of afraid of than the final boss, and I could only imagine what the bonus dungeons must have been like. Pirate is a great and underrated class, and I do highly recommend it for the main character. Gabo was the character I gave Tamer too, but he usually had all of the odd job classes but they always turned out great for him. Shephard, as dumb as its costume design is for the game, is actually a fairly useful class in terms of the skills it teaches. Tamer in the original taught the powerful Elemental Breath skills and BeDragon.
Well that's great to hear! Glad you got that alignment fixed! And yeah, I guess the stories are different enough. Especially since I feel that, while the premise is similar, the focus is totally different, so I'll still probably iron out some details before I start writing so it's something more unique. As for the jobs, the problem with having people go the Luminary (that's what it's called now) route now is that you only keep abilities from basic classes you master. You have to stay a specific intermediate or advanced class in order to have access to its abilities. But the monster classes are still there and I think they teach skills permanently, so I'll probably be playing around with those a lot. I also heard that you can get Mervyn and Aisha either much earlier on or near the end of the game (without spoilers, thankfully) depending on what order you go with fragments, etc., and I'd really like to herb them as early as possible. If that's true, I'll probably be asking you for directions once I get close enough I'm guessing that's soon after unlocking Alltrades Abbey?
I also wanted to mention that I finally fixed my alignment back to neutral, so I can continue the plot of SMT1. I also just took down Varin/Colonel Beck with the loads of plot twists afterwards and I'm currently working on dealing with all of the games optional bosses like King Frost, Metatron, and Beelezebub.
Well my story was more of a Sherlock Holmes knockoff, with the Sherlock character being some powerful Devil Summoner and the story being told from the viewpoint of his mundane human assistant who becomes more enraptured with the world of the occult as the story goes along. It's set in America as well, but specifically a Lovecraftian version of New England. You could still add your own twists to your idea to make it unique and interesting, because it's not like mine isn't borrowing heavily from Doyle, Lovecraft, and the Raido Kuzunoha titles.
It may not be as bad as you think, stat wise, your original plan may actually work out for the hero because his stat specialty among the group is defense. Hero - Defense/Healing Maribel - Magic/Offensive spells Gabo - Strength/Melee skills Melvin and Aire are both balanced, so they can go either way. I will say that you best bet is to focus on melee skills that multi-hit like the Dragoons Quad-Hits and it may be in your best interest to have most of your party master Teen Idol (can't remember the new name) because that class teaches some amazing skills including a group heal that has no MP cost. It's really easy to break the game to be honest. I'm not sure if the Monster Classes are still present, but some of them can be useful as well. In fact the best offensive spells are exclusive to them.
Also, took a look at the classes and I think I have the routes figured out, though the guys who will take on the hero class are abit more problematic, I think, since you don't have a set of intermediate classes that become hero, you just need to master three intermediate classes, regardless of what they are. So I wanted your advice! To the best of your ability, of course. And I'll be using the PS1 terms now since there aren't any solid guides with the 3DS translations yet., so I guess that's all the better for you! So I figured Maribel will be a summoner - pretty much a no-brainer. Ruff will become a Godhand, I think, since I read he's pretty physical, and I think I'll do the same with Aishe, since I heard she's balanced but more suited to physical stuff. Now, for the hero, I thought I could go the Pirate and Tamer for him, since no other advanced class uses these, and I think those two fit him quite well. But I'm on the fence when it comes to the third class. In DQVI I had a hero become a Hero by mastering the Sage, which was pretty cool since he had more spells. So I was thinking it would be cool if I also made this hero a sage. However, since both Pirate and Tamer seem to be more speed-oriented than power-oriented, I worry that a Hero resulting from Pirate/Tamer/Sage will be way too squishy. If that were the case, instead of sage, I could go for Armamentalist (or Ranger, as the original translation called it) or Gladiator (Dragoon). The Armamentalist is another class that does not directlty result in an advanced class, and I quite liked it in DQ VI, while the Gladiator would probably add some more physical punch to him, though I'm not sure it's that necressary. As for Sir Mervyn, I wanted to make him a bit more of a magic-oriented hero, combining a Sage, Paladin, and Armamentalist. I think he'd be pretty balanced like that.
See, cause the idea I have kind of makes it a Devil Summoner fanfic, though a loose one as it's set in the US. Basically, I had an idea of two brothers running a detective agency but it's only a regular detective agency on the surface, as they're actually Devil Summoners and specialize in paranormal cases. So here I was, so excited with the idea, debating whether any of the brothers should have some supernatural abilities or if they should both be mundane, but then it hit me - "didn't I just plagiarize WK's idea?" So that was a bummer haha XD Anyhoo, started DQ VII! I got to my first battle and honestly, I've gotten so used to Persona's introductions that the pacing here really doesn't bother me at all. I'm not one of those people who'll go "alright already, just get to the point! I want to play my game!" And I think it's really cool that the game takes its time to set things up. I really got a sense of what this island community is like, and honestly, it makes total sense why the hero and Kiefer would want to get off the island. Everyone's constantly nagging to them how they have to behave etc. And damn, what is the deal with Austen's (the heros's) parents? I mean, I get that they're good parents who love him and take care of him but I get the feeling they don't like him very much. His mother's constantly berating him while saying how great kids Kiefer and Maribel are (something I know all too well since childhood) and his dad's like "You were born on the day we had the greatest haul of our lifetime! You totally stole my thunder, you little trout. How smurfing dare you."
I did mention an idea concerning a story like that, though it's still in the early planning stages. I'll probably want to start working on it again when I get around to playing Raidou Kuzunoha again.
Didn't you have an idea for a story that involved devil summoners/occult detectives? Because I just remembered that bit and today I had an idea for a story involving that, but I'm not sure if my brain just plagiarised your idea or if they arę two different ideas both stemming from our love of SMT.
