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This page covers the Alignment mechanics in Shin Megami Tensei IV.

Overview

Story Progression

The Alignment mechanic is predominately used to determine the game's ending route. Throughout the main story, Flynn will be presented with choices in response to various prompts. The choices made will either increase or decrease Flynn's total Alignment score, with an increase leaning towards Law and a decrease leaning to Chaos. Some choices will not affect the score at all. Other times, certain mandatory points in the game will change Flynn's score toward a particular Alignment without his input.

Flynn's Alignment is determined by the range of his current Alignment score. Neutral Alignment has a range between -8 to +8 points. If the score falls below -8, Flynn's Alignment becomes Chaos. If it raises above +8, his Alignment becomes Law. At the beginning of the game, Flynn starts at Neutral with 0 points.

Alignment Scoring
Law	Neutral	Chaos
+9 and more	-8 to +8	-9 and less

Some optional Challenge Quests and NPC dialogue will also affect Flynn's Alignment as well.

Alignment Checks

An Alignment check is first performed when the party first arrives at the Ueno underground district. A man will steal one of the Samurai's wallets, targeting the one whose own Alignment corresponds with Flynn's current one. The man will steal from Jonathan if Flynn is Law-aligned, Isabeau if Neutral-aligned, or Walter if Chaos-aligned.

Once the Kagome Tower quest begins, a Cynical Man will begin appearing in the Hunter Association Bars in Tokyo and comment on Flynn's current Alignment when spoken to. He will comment that Flynn is polite if he is Law-aligned, hot-blooded if he is Chaos-aligned, or comment that he cannot get a reading on Flynn if he is Neutral-aligned.

Ending Determination

This section contains spoilers. (Skip Section)

The game's ending is determined during Flynn's third meeting with the White after the events at Infernal Tokyo, in which the White force Flynn to make his final choice between "I'll preserve the status quo" (Law-aligned) or "I'll destroy the order of things" (Chaos-aligned), either of which will greatly skew the Alignment score toward their respective Alignments. If, however, Flynn's final Alignment score falls between -8 to +8 points, the game will proceed with the Neutral ending route.

Additionally, Flynn can also choose to instead align with the White, which will proceed with the Nothing Ending. This ending can be chosen irrespective of Flynn's current Alignment score.

End of spoilers.

Demons

In Shin Megami Tensei IV, Alignment is used very little with Demons. Each Demon is associated with a particular Alignment, which can be viewed in their Lore screen from the status screen. Demons in this game lack a Tendency (i.e. a Light and Dark axis) and are instead only defined as "Law", "Neutral", or Chaos".

Alignment has no effect on Negotiation and Demons will indiscriminately join Flynn's party regardless of his current Alignment. However, Alignment is factored with the skills Holy Wrath, Judgment, and Sea of Chaos, which will inflict greater damage against opponents of a particular Alignment.

Scoring

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

This section outlines the game's Alignment scoring with prompt choices and Challenge Quests.

Main Story

Prompt: "Monk: Present to me your left arm."
Response	Points
Extend your arm	+1
Don't extend your arm	-1

Prompt:
Response	Points
Possibly...	-1
I don't believe so	+1

Challenge Quests

Certain Challenge Quests will affect Flynn's Alignment score, either upon their completion or upon answering prompts presented during the quest.

References

General

• Shin Megami Tensei IV Official Complete Guide (2013). Published by Enterbrain. Japanese. ISBN-13: 978-4047290525.

Specific