Topic: Shin Megami Tensei V Thread

The level spike going into the fourth area of Da'at is nuts. I went from being overleveled and murdering everything easily (even bosses) to being significantly underleveled and getting bodied by random demons I run into on the streets.

First time I've had to grind in this game.

@RR529 Yes, but if they can be fused into ANYTHING stronger, it's worth doing. Or if you can fuse them into unregistered demons, weak or not. You can only take full advantage of the Reverse Compendium Fusion option if you consciously fill it out as much as possible. A surprising number of powerful demons often have weaker demons as part of their fusion recipes.

You talking about the area where you need the three keys? Cause yeah, cause I was on lower difficulties I was always behind on levels but I got to that section and I was suddenly like almost 30 levels behind, I think. Again, on the lower difficulties, it doesn’t really matter too much but on safety difficulty you’re basically not really playing the game. It was at this point I sort of gave up on SMT V without really knowing it at the time. I will probably come back and finish it eventually, but my choice is to either have the game basically play itself on safety all the way through to overcome the level divide or to go back to earlier zones and just grind it out. Neither option sounds fun much, but I think a 30+ level grind sounds utterly miserable.

Did you mean to post this in here?

@Pizzamorg 30 levels sounds insane. The enemies in this zone are around lvl 65, so that means you were around... level 35 in the Demon King's castle? How did you not run into trouble being so underleveled in that entire area?

But yes, that's the area I mean. It took an hour or two, but I'm a comparable level to enemies now. Just surprised how enemies went from mid-50s to mid-60s in the course of one area transition.

Wow, epic 25 minute boss fight just now that reminded me why I love this series. Everyone in my party was way underleveled for the fight, which meant I was doing way less damage than I should have been, but a strategic use of certain magatsuhi skills and targeted switching of certain demons allowed me to keep the pressure on and defeat the enemy.

Nobody does turn-based boss fights better than Atlus.

Half an hour to go up 30 levels?

I guess the different keys are different levels, as the enemies I am finding are pushing 80. And yeah, when I was at Devil’s Castle I was like late 40s I think? And then by the end was mid 50s. I am not sure if it is just lots of level spiking or just different XP balancing at lower difficulties, but after a certain point I’ve basically always been a little behind on levels. It isn’t like I’ve been rushing. I have been taking my time exploring, fighting, negotiating and fusing but somehow could just never catch back up after a certain point.

@Pizzamorg I had the same jump in difficulty too but some of the side quests actually helped me to push up in the levels without grinding too much.
I don't want to give any spoilers by mistake so I'll just say that some of the big bosses for the main quest part you're entering have shared weaknesses. If you prep your team well, you could definitely hold your own at a bit of a lower level to them.

@RR529 Once demons are in your party at any point, they are already in your compendium. The registering to the compendium basically overwrites the original demon to keep all the moves and stats that they have when you register them again.

This is very handy when you have given a demon a lot of essences to give them strong moves or if they have any skills like null force, null physical etc. that you may want to pass on to others as part of fusion

Lvl 73 now and basically destroying everything in my path. I'm kind of putting off the main story progression a bit since I'm afraid I'm nearing the end. Around 55% compendium completion.

edit: It's now 4:30 AM. Where has the time gone? I feel like I could pump another hour or two in tonight, but maybe that isn't the best idea.

Not to spoil anything but I just encountered something unexpected. Only happened once so far but if you have a specific demon in your party then trigger a negotiation with another specific demon, you can trigger a special dialogue between them. I've only played Nocturne in the mainline and I'm pretty sure this wasn't a feature there. Could this be an easter egg of some sort?

@Octane_st1m Special conversations (these unique convos between demons with a mythological connection) were in Nocturne as well.

@Ralizah I didn't know about this. Going to boot up my save later and look for a guide on this. Really odd I didn't get a single one on my entire playthrough. Thanks!

@Octane_st1m

https://megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/Special_conversation

This link will tell you all you need to know for both the convos in III and V.

I've just got to the boss in the shipping crates on the second map. And proceeded to get annihilated time after time. Stuck some resistances on and am still getting obliterated. Don't suppose there is a demon who has immunity to its attacks, is there? Any other tips? Or should I just give in, turn the difficulty down and hopefully have much less trouble? Where about in the game did people starting on Hard, turn the difficulty down?

@yegs88 Is that the...errr....."french one"? (Trying to stay spoiler free).

That one completely obliterated my team the first time, all I could do was some more exploring and grinding. Adding Kaya-no-Hime helped as well.
I haven't struggled with the next two or three bosses after that, so maybe it's just a difficult one?

-I found the fight too easy after grinding so maybe there is a technique to it, I wouldn't know. My demons are quite limited at this point.

@Kimyonaakuma - That's the one. Admittedly I ignored pretty much everyone on the way to him, so a lot of levelling up was missed. Will look at Kaya-no-Hime to see if it can help but yeah I reckon a bit of grinding and maybe someone who can lower his attack could be my priority. Thanks.

@yegs88 Buff your defense, lower his attack, use ice and light magic. Use the appropriate dampener to cause him to lose a turn after he starts gathering magatsuhi. Make sure none of your team is weak to lightning.

I’m not nearly as far as you guys. I’m Level 17, I’ve beaten the first boss that’s weak to ice, and I didn’t really have a problem with them. I knew to bring a team strong against Dark with Ice Attacks, though. Knowledge is so crucial in this game.

I then fought a lion faced enemy for a side quest and he was pretty tough, but I still took him out on the turn he was gathering magatsuhi before he could finish me off.

I am playing on Casual too, though. But so far, it feels tough but fair (well, fair if you’ve sorted what to do and who to bring, otherwise you’re going to get annihilated lol).

@JaxonH Casual is fine, IMO. You still have to engage with the mechanics, but the damage multipliers are slightly stacked in your favor, so it gives some breathing room to new players.

Safety mode is a bad joke, though.

I probably would have switched back to Hard in late zone two if I had the choice, but Normal difficulty is still satisfying enough. My eventual NG+ playthrough can be be when I fully tackle Hard mode.

@Ralizah - Thanks. I'll see who I can add to the team that can boost everyone's defence. I do remember seeing someone had it in my little collection. Didn't even know he had electric attacks, he just destroys me with his regular ones, so will bear that in mind too.

Something that has caught me out a few times: if the enemy is aggravated and running towards me and I hit it, sometimes it is the enemy's turn first even if I hit it. Am I doing something wrong or is it simply chance?