Shin Megami Tensei IV

Shin Megami Tensei IV

Shin Megami Tensei IV is a 2013 role-playing game for the Nintendo 3DS, and the seventh entry in the Template:Serieslink. It was developed and published by Atlus and released on May 23, 2013 in Japan, and subsequently on July 16 in North America that same year. In Europe and Australia, the game was released digitally on the Nintendo eShop on October 30, 2014.

A sequel, Template:Gamelink, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016. Both games were later re-released in Japan in a dual package, entitled Shin Megami Tensei IV & Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final - Double Hero Pack, on April 19, 2018.

Synopsis

Shin Megami Tensei IV follows Flynn, a Casualry living in the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado who begins having strange dreams of two men coaxing him to join their cause and a young girl begging to be revived. Flynn leaves to take the Gauntlet Rite at Mikado Castle, a coming-of-age ceremony where all participants are tested if they are worthy of becoming Samurai. Having been selected as one of the new prentices, Flynn is whisked away from his former life to now live as a Samurai where he is charged with keeping the kingdom safe from the demons in Naraku, an underground dungeon beneath the kingdom. There he meets and befriends fellow prentices Isabeau, Jonathan, and Walter.

However, growing unrest between the kingdom's impoverished Casualries and affluent Luxurors soon lead to incidents of Casualries transforming into demons by reading books rumored to be distributed by the Black Samurai, a masked individual clad in black. While investigating a village raid and failing to capture the Black Samurai, Flynn and the other Samurai are then tasked with descending down the depths of Naraku to find the culprit. Far below they discover the dystopian city of Tokyo, where citizens are locked in a ceaseless struggle against demons plaguing the city streets. Conflicts and interwoven secrets soon after confront the four Samurai as they begin their search.

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Gameplay

Shin Megami Tensei IV incorporates the staple gameplay mechanics originally introduced in Template:Gamelink in addition to a number of new mechanics added throughout the series. IV features both third-person perspective exploration in 3D-rendered environments, similar to Template:Gamelink, as well as exploration of the game's overhead overworld map. Battles take place in first-person perspective. Players control the Samurai Flynn in navigation and combat through the use of the Nintendo 3DS's dual split screen, with the top-screen displaying Flynn's current location and battles, while the bottom screen displays menu information, map data, and the party's status and battle commands. As in previous Shin Megami Tensei games, Flynn is able to recruit Demons through successful negotiation. Flynn can summon up to three demons into battle at a time, with more being kept in a reserve stock to be swapped as needed. In addition to his demons, Flynn is also accompanied by a partner character in some battles, who may either be Isabeau, Jonathan, or Walter as decided randomly at the start of a battle. Partner characters cannot be issued commands and instead act on their own accord after Flynn's party have finished all their turns. During certain events and routes, Flynn's partner may be limited to one of these characters or none at all.

IV reintroduces the Press Turn System, which originally debuted in III: Nocturne and was absent in Template:Gamelink. This combat system adds an extra turn to the party's number of turns whenever Flynn or one of his demons skips their turn, strikes an enemy's weakness, or lands a critical hit. Conversely, two turns are lost if an attack is blocked, drained, or misses. The same also holds true when the opposing party performs any of these. IV introduces new elements to the Press Turn System by stacking extra turns as well as adding the Smirk condition, which a character may gain after striking a weakness, landing a critical hit, or evading or blocking an attack. Smirk temporarily bestows a number of boons to the character, which includes boosting current buffs, greatly increasing their hit rate and evasion, nullifying their weakness, and greatly increasing the likelihood of landing a critical hit on their next turn; though this will not add an extra turn. Also new to IV's combat are Horde battles, where the party fights a collective group of enemies that gradually grow smaller as their health depletes. Hordes are especially prone to exploited weaknesses and critical hits, thereby making use of the game's Press Turn System.

The game's menu is accessed through Flynn's Gauntlet, where he is able to perform a number of functions through its applications. Flynn can spend App Points, earned whenever he levels up, to unlock new app functions, add passive abilities, or expand his demon stock. Among the Gauntlet's available app functions include Demon Fusion and managing Challenge Quests, which can be completed for experience, Macca, and item rewards. Carried over from Strange Journey, IV reintroduces Special Fusions where a required selection of demons can be fused into an unique demon. Some demons, whether through normal or special fusion, must first be unlocked either by defeating them in battle or completing a Challenge Quest.

IV breaks away from the labyrinthine dungeon crawling seen in previous entries in favor of semi-open environments whose surroundings can be interacted with, such as climbing ladders, crawling through tunnels, and the like. However, IV also introduces Demon Domains which function as mazes with a boss at the end. During exploration, Flynn can search Relic Spots for Relics of varying rarity that can be sold. Some Relics are necessary for Challenge Quests as well. Unlike the random encounters found in previous games, IV instead introduces visible enemies that appear as moving silhouettes of blue pixels and will attack when Flynn nears close. This can result in surprise attacks if Flynn is ambused by one; however, Flynn can also inflict preemptive damage onto an opposing party if he strikes a demon first with his weapon.

As with previous Shin Megami Tensei games, IV features an integrated Alignment system based on the Law-Neutral-Chaos scale. This system ties with the game's story progression and revolves around Flynn's responses to characters as well as his actions taken during certain quests, which will either increase his Alignment score towards Law or Chaos. These decisions will ultimately determine the game's ending route. Unlike some previous games, IV does not impose any restrictions to equipment nor affect demon availability based on Flynn's current Alignment.