SMT-SJ: Into the Schwarzwelt!

[caije]

[caije]

Woohoo! Sector "D" boss down. Another lunch hour well spent.

[theo]

Congrats, caije! I'm hoping to replicate your feat tonight.

Thanks for the advice, especially the part about not getting bogged down in the fusion mechanics. Poring over stats just doesn't rock my world, I guess. But, yeah, I can see how this aspect of the game is right up your alley, Scy.

One suggestion I'm trying out at the moment is going with a threesome to pump up the experience to the protagonist. Higher levels means more demon options, right? I'm doing pretty well so far, but I'll add a fourth when it's boss time.

I made a good push last night to where I think I can see what I need to do to wrap up Sector D. And, yes, I did have to force myself to put it down in order to get a decent amount of sleep. That's a special kind of feeling!

I'm ready to get out of Sector D. The atmosphere's getting me down.

[caije]

Glad to see you coming out of your funk. Dropping down to a party size of three sounds like a good idea. I forgot to mention that I finished that fight with only the protagonist and one demon. I got nearly three levels from that fight.

[scy]

Finished Sector D last night as well; bosses are getting progressively easier which is a little sad. I'm waiting for the no-Weakness boss fight so I'll have a reason to keep Debilitate and Luster Candy around.

As for stats, I don't really min/max them too much (though I have reloaded a few times when getting Sources so I can not have useless shit on them; take a -dyne, not fucking Dekaja). I care more about getting the right skills moved around. I spend most my time so far using 3 random demons (all of matching alignment) to max Analyze -> Source obtain and switch to my primary 3 Law Demons for bosses. The game is pretty trivial so it's all building towards the final dungeon/final boss group making, really.

[theo]

You are definitely a master, Scy! I find the swirling vortex of stats and mechanics a bit overwhelming, but I've broken down and started consulting the fusion and demon guides on the wikidot site along with the fusion mechanics guide on GameFaqs. Before that I had been flying completely blind.

Anyway, as of last night I'm also in the Sector E club! Hooray! My Sector D thoughts:

[spoiler]
Yeah, Asura was kind of easy knowing what demons had what skills. I went with Fairy High Pixie, Drake Bai Suzhen, and Black Frost. The Drake went down in a hurry since she was weak to fire, but I put in Yoma Karasu Tengu and then made it through with everyone in good shape.

Well, Asura was easy once I got going, anyway. Asura Rage affected my entire party from the start on my first two tries and it wasn't pretty.
[/spoiler]

And, some speculation on things to come (not looking for confirmation; I'm just musing out loud):

[spoiler]
Ah, Sector E is a nice change of pace, aesthetically! I wonder if Zelinin gave it away when she said "Hmm, the previous sectors seemed to demonstrate the dark side of humanity. Maybe this sector is different." This, coupled with the fact that Arthur mentioned Sectors A through D would loop without trying a new path gives me a hunch:

Part 1 - Humanity Today
Sector A: War
Sector B: Vice
Sector C: Excess
Sector D: Waste

Part 2 - Solutions
Sector E: Law
Sector F: Neutral or Chaos
Sector G: Neutral or Chaos

Part 3 - Implementation
Sector H: Implementation - Choose your path and make it so
[/spoiler]

[Maxine MagicFox]

[scy]

On Sector D Boss:
[spoiler]First turn Defend -> 3rd Turn kill (4x Bufu per turn with 4x Law Alignment). I even reloaded just to see if it would be harder with Rage landing and it still didn't change much (made it a 5 turn kill). He just doesn't have the damage output to really fuck with you if you have >200 HP per Demon.[/spoiler]

The only guide I've been using is the chart for what Demons fuse to what (i.e., Megami x Avian = Nymph) and some checking of Inheritances. Mostly so I can stop wasting time getting ingredients with X skill to see that I have no shot of inheritance due to them only taking Recovery (fuck you Parvati). Haven't done that too much since I have a nice stock of -dyne Sources finally (that and haven't gotten around to making my 40s team).

Sadly, in my efforts of getting a nice stock of Sources, I tend to not even use my actual demons until it's time to upgrade. Like, I have an amazing Parvati (Megido, Bufudyne, Agidyne, Mediarama) that has done nothing and I'm ready to switch up to Scathach (aiming for Garudyne, Agidyne, Bufudyne I guess? too lazy to force Megido onto a Parvati source).

Incidentally, for those curious, the chance of getting a second source is:
(Current Level - Original Level*) * 2 = % Chance to get Source

*Original Level = Level of Demon summoned from Compendium or from Negotiation or whatever; not the Demon's Base Level but whatever you started leveling them from.

[spoiler]Also, Source Skills are set minus the last skill; that's random based on what they have on them at the time of the Source being acquired. Just an fyi, I suppose.[/spoiler]

I'm glad that I've gotten to the point some of the good -dyne Sources are all like 10-ish levels below me now so it's a simple process of getting them ~5 levels, save one fight from gaining a level, and then repeating the process. My ingredients are purposefully Registered at a low level when close to leveling to make the process smoother >>

[Isabelyes]

Wow, thanks for the source formula, Scy!
That'll be helpful, since I'm farming sources right now.

[eharper256]

Ah, so there is actual reason to keep a demon for awhile now, then, if their chance to deposit a second source increases as the level goes up.

Interesting.

[Sampson]

Still grinding, although more for forma than levels.

[spoiler]And by that I mean doing as many enemy searches as I can and hoping that I'll encounter Seth, which is incredibly annoying due to his stone breath.

And then I'll have to find Mot again to get the armor, since I used the Fafnir Ex Mission to get the Dragon Ring...

My planned party for Mem Aleph is Barong, Amaterasu, and Seraph. Seraph only has 3 skills since he's Lv 91 and I can't fuse him with a Mitama, but he has Big Bang and Salvation and that's all that matters. Amaterasu has Big Bang, Debilitate, Luster Candy, and Mediarahan in terms of important skills (though I'll probably only use Debilitate once), and Barong will have Mortal Jihad for damage, and Luster Candy and Salvation, too.
[/spoiler]

[Isabelyes]

[Sampson]

A-And, on a somewhat ironic note, I just beat the game!

[spoiler]My team consisted of Amaterasu, Thor, and Seraph. Amaterasu and Thor started out by reducing Mem Aleph's attack, and Seraph usually just used Big Bang for 250 damage. Great Flood was probably my favorite attack since I didn't care about the agility reduction. Seriously, it just reduced the chance that Amaterasu used Mediarahan before an attack. MC just used Moan Bullet or an item.

I was a bit lucky, since half of the time the second phase used Mem Aleph it targeted Neutral demons, of which I had none. And she didn't use her instant death attack.

It wasn't even a serious attempt to start out with, though. But I'm not complaining.
[/spoiler]

[Isabelyes]

T-T Congrats

[theo]