Shin Megami Tensei IV

[NeoCracker]

A couple games in the series have had struggles with the difficulty just being unfair though, like Nocturne. (Seriously, my first too random encounters in the game killed me before I even had a chance to take a freakin' action). Persona 3 definatly had it's moments were the you would just get killed for no good reason, though for the most part that game was fine.

I find Devil Survivor 2 and Persona 4 to be the hardest entries in the series that are the best about not just straight up murdering you through unfair means.

[Bright Shield]

^Indeed. Nocturne is without a doubt the hardest, but that's because the computer is cheap. Same thing applies to P3 on a lesser scale.

In terms of fair difficulty. I'd have to go with Strange Journey being hands down the most difficult. Devil Survivor 2 is up there as well. Persona 4 was one of the easiest MegaTen games though.

[NeoCracker]

I had a harder time beating that one then either Tensai IV or the first Devil Survivor though.

[Dat Matt]

NO SHIN MEGAMI IS YOUR PUNISHMENT FOR GETTING BRAVELY DEFAULT BEFORE ME!

At least you have a release date for Bravely Default. We haven't even had SMT IV announced for EU. Damn region lock.

[SirPrizes]

It was my first SMT game. I never had a problem finding my way, the quest screen always told me everything I needed. I also found the difficulty a healthy challenge, but nothing too bad once you get out of Naraku. The hardest part about finding where to go next, for me, was my unfamiliarity with location names, but after a while they feel a lot more recognizable. I tried to do all the sidequests I could, but ended up completing the game because some of the side bosses were destroying me. :P Aligned with Chaos thinking I'd screw over (SPOILER)Lucifer at the last second, and kind of regretted it once I was all locked in. I plan on getting all the endings through NG+, I loved it!

[Dr Unne]

Necro-bump because I'm finally on the very last quest to beat this game, after months of struggles and losing interest. The ending I got was (SPOILER)neutral ending, somehow.

My first big complaint with this game is that it could really use a labeled map. Very often you'll know the name of a place you need to go to, and have no idea where that place is because everything is a meaningless ! on the map. And you can't walk anywhere without getting into 10 or 12 random encounters. On that note, best thing in the universe: Auto-pinpoint + auto MP regen.

And my second big complaint is that the plot makes no sense. But that's JRPGs for you.

How long does it take to blast through the game on NG+? I might just google the other endings. My game clock is nearing 50 hours, and that doesn't count the 100+ times I got my party wiped and reset.

[Wolf Kanno]

Well if you are familiar with Tokyo's layout the map isn't that hard to understand. I disagree about the plot not making sense, in fact I feel it's one of the best written stories in the series. What I love about it is that you have to uncover it for yourself. No one really sits you down after the beginning and really explains what is going on instead talking to the people of Tokyo or Mikado will drop the hints you need to piece everything together. It's incredibly fulfilling after years of playing RPGs that spoon feed the story and characters to you to finally have something that requires a bit more thought and action on the players part.

I've been meeting to do a write up of this game as a blog.

[Dr Unne]

Oh, the way the world is presented, the opportunity for discovery, the lack of spoon-feeding is a great part of the game. I love being dropped in the world without a clue and having to figure everything out. I love a world that's presented in little bits through atmosphere. But that's the setting, not the plot.

So far as the plot: (SPOILER)The entire game is fetch quests and "go kill this guy" quests. Then out of nowhere, it's like "I have this sword I can't unsheathe, and by the way you're the reincarnation of some guy who turned into the dome above Tokyo, so here go talk to this rock, he'll give you a cup you have to fill with liquid hope." What the crap?. There's no narrative, just weird stuff happens randomly, or something happens to force you to go from point A to B so you can find a new dungeon. There's no character development. I like the whole childhood friend arc at the beginning, but after that there's no interaction between people beyond killing or saving them.

Which is fine, not every game needs a good narrative. I still enjoyed the game a lot. The dungeon-crawling and demon-crafting parts are the main draw of the game, and I'm still doing it after 52 hours, so it must've been done right. It was very satisfying going from party wipe every 3 battles, to breezing through the endgame because I figured out how not to suck.

[Wolf Kanno]

The issue here is that SMT has never been about character or narrative. This isn't Persona, DDS or Devil Survivor, SMT has always been about exploring the world and having the story unfold through the events. The story is learning about the world and that's why the characters are rarely given much character development because their real roles in the story are to be mouth pieces for the factions you can choose from. I mean uncovering what happened to the past with the cocoon and the Masakado, realizing who Akira is in the Neutral path, watching as the battle between the Cult of Gaea and the Ashurai Kai tear apart the group and then discovering that (SPOILER)destiny is at work here and your just living in the aftermath of a previous chosen one's path is pretty damn exciting.

I will agree that after you make the choice that locks you in your path the plot gets a bit more swiss-cheese since if you want to get the gritty details about Walter and Jonathan's stories you need to align yourself with their factions but I actually liked the quest Masakado gives because it ties very heavily in Masaskado's role for Japan and in the series. Symbolically the quest makes perfect sense to be honest and it's not like reviving Masakado was going to stop Lucifer or the Archangels from trying to pull off their plans, I actually liked the story.