Alignment (Shin Megami Tensei)

This page covers the Alignment mechanics in Shin Megami Tensei.

Overview

Alignment is a measurement of a character's or Demon's attitude between Law, Neutral, and Chaos. The Hero's own Alignment can change over the course of the game in response to various choices made or actions taken. This Alignment determines the kind of Demons the Hero is able to recruit and fuse as well as the game's ending route. A character's Alignment also determines the kind of equipment they are allowed to equip.

The Hero's current Alignment is determined by a score range between 0 to 255 Alignment points. 0 to 111 points is Law-aligned (with 14 and below regarded as extreme Law), 112 to 143 is Neutral-aligned, and 144 to 255 is Chaos-aligned (with 240 and above as extreme Chaos). Extremely high or low numbers will put the Hero's Alignment into an extreme state, which will force him into taking certain sides during story points that he would otherwise be given a choice over. At the beginning of the game, the Hero begins Neutral-aligned at 128 points.

Alignment Scoring
Law	Neutral	Chaos
0–111	112–143	144–255

Points are determined by a number of factors within the game, which includes various choices made during the game's story, which healing stations the Hero chooses to heal at, as well as certain kinds of interactions with encountered and recruited Demons. These factors are outlined in the Scoring section below.

The Law Hero and Chaos Hero also have their own Alignments, being Law and Chaos, respectively. Their Alignments do not change and mainly affect the kind of equipment they can equip. The Heroine's Alignment is initially locked to Neutral. When the Heroine joins the party during the events of Tokyo 203X, her Alignment will mirror the Hero's current Alignment.

Alignment Check

The overworld map icon indicates the Hero's current Alignment by the direction it spins in: it will spin clockwise if he is Law-aligned, counter-clockwise if Chaos, and turn back and forth if Neutral. If the Hero is in an extreme Law or Chaos state, the icon will rapidly spin.

Story Progression

Throughout the course of the game, the Hero will be confronted by diverging story points corresponding to whichever character of a particular Alignment he chooses to side with, or by his own current Alignment. Choosing a side will have the Hero perform different tasks, such as defeating a character of the opposing Alignment, and greatly shift his Alignment score. Some points allow the Hero to take neither side, putting him in a Neutral position that usually involves defeating characters of both Alignments. While these story points will slightly change the present situation by tasking the Hero with different objectives, the main story stays relatively unchanged until the game's Alignment lock during the events at Tokyo Destinyland, whereupon the ending route will ultimately be determined.

This section contains spoilers. (Skip Section)

Diverging story points involve Thorman versus Gotou, Yama's judgment, Haniel versus Echidna, the Four Heavenly Kings, the Octopus versus Turtle, Vishnu versus Ravana, and lastly Michael versus Asura Lord as the game's final bosses.

The game's ending route is determined by the choices the Hero makes at Tokyo Destinyland, in which the Hero can choose to either side with the Law Hero, Echidna, or with neither. Choosing to defeat Echidna and agree with the Law Hero's views will open the Law ending route, while choosing to defeat Haniel and agree with Echidna will open the Chaos ending route. If the Hero disagrees with both sides and defeats both Demons, the game will lead into the Neutral ending route. In any case, this will lock the Hero's Alignment and pre-determine all other diverging events thereafter.

Extreme Alignment ranges will force the Hero into taking certain sides without choice, essentially forcing the Hero into a particular ending route. If the Hero's Alignment range is in extreme Law, he will be forced to side with the Law Hero. Likewise, if the Hero's range is in extreme Chaos, he will be forced to side with Echidna.

End of spoilers.

Demons

Like characters, Demons have their own Alignment as well as a Light-Neutral-Dark Tendency that together determine whether the Hero can recruit or summon them (if already allied with). Demons will favor the Hero's Alignment if it matches with their own or if he is Neutral-aligned, but will shun him if his Alignment is on the opposite spectrum. The Hero can recruit and summon Law-aligned Demons if he is Law or Neutral-aligned, but will not be able to with Chaos-aligned Demons. Likewise, he can recruit and summon Chaos-aligned Demons if he is Chaos or Neutral-aligned, but cannot with Law-aligned Demons. Neutral Alignment does not impose any Alignment restrictions and allows the Hero to freely recruit and summon Demons of any Alignment.

A Demon's Tendency also determines whether the Hero can recruit them through Negotiation. Light- and Dark-aligned Demons cannot be recruited in this way and instead must be created through Fusion.

Equipment

	This section is a stub. You can help Megami Tensei Wiki by expanding it.
	Reason: Missing equipment and their data.

Certain pieces of equipment are locked to particular Alignments, allowing only party members whose Alignments match to equip them.

Weapons

Equipment	Gender	Alignment
Light Sword	?	Law
Headsman Axe	?	Chaos

Armor Sets

Equipment	Gender	Alignment
Messiah set	?	Law

Scoring

This section outlines the game's Alignment scoring. Following the Alignment lock, these modifiers no longer occur.

Healing

Healing at the Messian Church or Gaean Ashram will shift the Hero's Alignment points by one digit corresponding to the station's Alignment for each unit healed. Healing at the Messian Church will decrease the Hero's Alignment points by -1, while healing at the Gaean Ashram increases this by +1. The Healing Ashram will skew the Hero's Alignment points toward Neutral. If his points are lower than 127, healing will increase this by +1. If his points are higher than 129, healing will decrease by -1. There is no change if the Hero's points are 128, being Neutral-aligned.

If the Hero's Alignment is opposite to the Messian Church or Gaean Ashram, they will refuse their services unless the Hero makes a Macca donation.

Demon Interactions

Certain interactions with Demons will marginally affect the Hero's Alignment points.

Action	Points
Talking to a Demon already recruited	-0.1
Defeating a Demon already recruitedOccurs only after winning a battle; retreating will negate any point changes	+0.1
Summoning a Law-aligned Demon into partyEither via COMP or Sabatma	-0.1
Summoning a Chaos-aligned Demon into partyEither via COMP or Sabatma	-0.1
Abandoning a Demon	+0.1
Abandoning a Demon with status ailment	+0.39
Fusing a Law-aligned Demon	-0.1
Fusing a Chaos-aligned Demon	+0.1

Main Story

	This section contains major spoilers.
	The contents of this section cover major plot and/or character spoilers. Reader discretion is advised.

Prompt	Points
	Yes	No
Rescue Heroine from being sacrificed	-5	+5
Kill Gotou	-32	0
Kill Thorman	+32	0
Kill Ozawa	+5	-5
Allow Chaos Hero to kill OzawaOnly given if Hero agrees Ozawa should die	+5	-5
Believe in OzawaOnly given if Hero refuses to kill Ozawa	-5	+5
Yama's judgment	-5 if guilty, +5 if innocent
Agree to help Yama	+21	-16
Kill Nio and Yama	-16 for each
Kill Echidna	-32	0
Kill Haniel	+32	0
Ending route chosen	-80 if Law route, +80 if Chaos route
Baptized by the Messians	-16	0
Baptized by the Gaeans	+16	0

Optional

Prompt	Points
	Yes	No
Rescue the imprisoned women in Camp Ichigaya	-1 for each
Donate 1,000 Macca to the Messian in Shibuya 10 times	-16	0
Save the Law Hero's girlfriend in Roppongi	-16	0
Listen to the sermon in Shinagawa	-1	0
Maze in Tokyo DestinylandCan select multiple options, but point changes occur once per option	-16 for meeting Gaean, -16 for defeating Gurulu, +16 for meeting Angel, +16 for defeating Basilisk
Kill Kazfiel	+16	0
Asked if humans need God (Neutral only)	-16	+16