#shin megami tensei 4 apocalypse

[shindynegarden]

Day 12 - Companion

[cake-apostate]

Four Akiras in a Trenchcoat AU: Crime

Something I think is inherently funny about pretty much any SMT crossover with Persona is that the Megaten heroes are just... more violent than Persona heroes. That is, I don’t think that darkness and violence makes a story automatically better; I just enjoy the dissonance. SMT is a game where humans are random encounters, friendship fades in the spirit of idealism/fanaticism, and there is no decision that won’t make you feel guilty afterwards. Meanwhile in Persona, your friends balk at murder and will always support you. 

(The premise of the Four Akiras in a Trenchcoat AU is that Akira Kurusu is the Persona timeline’s version of Akira from SMT4. Black Mask kills Joker in the Metaverse before the game even starts, so the Velvet Room tries to salvage their Wild Card by summoning the souls of parallel versions of him into his empty shell. Now King Aquila, Blasted Akira, Infernal Akira, and Anarchy Nanashi enact the plot of Persona 5.)

Premise

I think it’s hilarious that the four Akiras have definitely committed more crimes than most of the targets. Like, they’ve done a lot of the same shit as the villains, but they’ve not only done more of it, they got away with it!

Nanashi killed more people in five minutes than the actual hitman did over his whole career. King Aquila is beloved as Mikado’s perfect first king, but his throne was built on lies, betrayal, and propaganda. Infernal cobbles together multiple targets; he’s a gang boss, takes credit for other people’s accomplishments, and working conditions under him are literal slavery. And Blasted basically opened a portal to hell to stimulate the economy, an easy metaphor for corporate greed.

Except while they’ve done more evil on paper, they’ve also done a hell of a lot more good. Something I see in all of the Akiras is that they’re ruthless, not cruel; they do exactly what they think is necessary and no more. Whenever it’s possible to show kindness and mercy, they do. 

My take on Anarchy Nanashi is that he made all the Bonds choices, but destroyed the world because he sincerely thought it was the best way to save everyone. Time and time again, he saw gods and demons snatch hope from humanity; every time they think things will be okay, something new screws them over. Nanashi’s goal was to screw everyone over one last time, then ensure it will never happen again.

King Aquila’s similarities with Shido begin and end with how propaganda paints them as the perfect leader; where Shido just wants money and influence, King Aquila manipulated his way into peace, prosperity, and freedom for Tokyo and Mikado. 

Infernal looks bad without context, but the thing is that everything in Infernal Tokyo is was so much worse under Kenji. Akira brings peace and equality, ends starvation, and is almost universally beloved across Tokyo. It’s also telling that even though everyone know he’s weak, nobody wants to overthrow him. He found and enforced the minimum level of cruelty required for his society to function; to outsiders it’s horrifying because that level is not zero, but his citizens remember how much worse it was before.

Blasted Tokyo has almost nothing. Akira may be gambling with the lives of his people, but not playing at all condemns them to a slow death.

That’s also why I’m thinking that the Four empathize with the targets more than the other Phantom Thieves would -- but that empathy makes them despise them even more. They understand why the targets would resort to crime, but they also know there’s no need to continue. They have all the money and power they need; why do they trample on others for more?

Stealing Hearts

I was thinking that before Morgana reveals the change of heart, the Akiras already tried to kill Kamoshida. I originally considered that they succeeded, but I think it makes the most sense if they were still in the planning stage, and decided that the change of heart was a win-win scenario; it’s less risky, and if they screw up, Kamoshida dies anyways.

On another note, I was thinking that if anyone objected to meddling with hearts, it would be Aquila and Blasted. Nanashi’s done much worse to Flynn and the Goddess. Infernal knows that many of the problems with Infernal Tokyo start with how Demonoid’s emotions run rampant, and even if these corrupt desires are completely natural, he’s okay with doing away with them for the safety of others.

Meanwhile, Aquila is uncomfortable with magically messing with people’s minds, because he probably saw the angels do it firsthand. And Blasted saw Kiyoharu be driven insane.

A Different Awakening

When I was playing through Madarame’s dungeon, I was thinking about how badly it would affect Infernal. The whole second Palace is about someone who thrives by devouring the children in his care. Ryuji even suggests ‘Farm’ into the Metaverse App!

All throughout the dungeon, Infernal Akira sees his sins hurled into his face. Madarame’s crimes are uncomfortably close to his own, and whenever the party talks about how despicable the target is, Infernal is quietly listening.

At some point, Infernal cracks, and winds up telling the other Akiras about his crimes. Blasted and King Aquila are horrified, but Nanashi winds up defending him. He knows about Blasted and Infernal Tokyo because of Flynn, and he knows what drove Infernal to his crimes. Nanashi assures Infernal that there was no good way to fix Infernal Tokyo and he simply chose the least bad option; freeing the Neurishers looks good on paper, but it would starve the Demonoids.

It turns out that for the Four, their Personas Awaken as they cope with their own problems (except for Blasted, partially because someone has to rescue Ryuji at the start of the game, and partially because his crimes are the least heinous).

Where Infernal’s problem is that his guilt overrides what good he’s done, Aquila’s problem is that he doesn’t acknowledge any wrongdoings. He thinks he’s completely justified in manipulating everyone around him, founding a cult of personality, and lying to his own allies.

Nanashi, it turns out, has both sides. He accepts that he’s done a lot of evil and a lot of good, but his heart’s still in turmoil. Somehow, his Awakening involves balancing this.

Party Relationship Changes

A Joker who isn’t afraid to commit real crimes makes the story rather different. I was considering a bit where they break into Camp Ichigaya to steal their guns.

I do, however, think that the adult Akiras want to keep the hands of the Phantom Thieves clean. To them, the Phantom Thieves are children, and they shouldn’t have to dirty their hands.

Nanashi is different, because immortality aside, he still sees himself as the same age as them. He still suggests murder as an easy and permanent solution; the only reason why he doesn’t do it is because it’s much easier to get caught here. 

So I think it’s funny if the confrontation with Black Mask turns into a, “I’m more batshit than you” contest. 

[pyromancerofaronons]

I honestly complain a lot about people who claim that the anarchy ending in SMT4 Apocalypse is the only correct option but I had a revelation that really puts how fucking stupid these people are.

So the entire game you have Dagda sitting in your phone being an edgelord and telling you to abandon all of your friends. He continues to preach that relying on others is bad and that they'll only drag you down and make you weak.

Here's the problem though.

YOU LITERALLY RELY ON DAGDA TO KEEP YOU ALIVE AFTER DYING AT THE START OF THE GAME. HE IS QUITE LITERALLY THE ONLY REASON YOU ARE NOT DEAD AND YOU HAVE TO RELY ON HIM.

You stupid fucks are getting manipulated and don't even realize it because you're to busy circlejerking around the Edgelord Option to kill all your friends.

[yurashimadepot]

As for writing this, I finished no-fusion runs on both SMT4 and SMT4A. Usually when you think of challenge runs like this you expect unnecessary difficult and/or tedious playthroughs for people who already finds the games' hardest settings a piece of cake but nothing could be further from the truth. I wholeheartedly recommend giving a try if you like these games because it makes the experience really fresh without making it frustrating.

You see, I like games with high party customization, which includes most "monster-catching" games including SMT, because of the freedom you have to tackle the game's challenges and its replayability. For example, most players will confront the infamous Matador boss fight from Nocturne with accuracy buffs to circumvent his skill that maxes his evasion but I've seen people basing their offense on Counter since counterattacks skip evasion/accuracy checks.

SMT4 was the first mainline game that introduced manual skill inheritance when fusing demons, and while I understand this was for the best I also noticed that this resulted in many players, consciously or not, making a team of physical oriented demon/magic oriented demon/healing demon and just fusing them into stronger versions of themselves, essentialy having a Dragon Quest party that changed appeareance every other dungeon plus a lot of fusion fodder. There's nothing wrong about playing like this but I felt it loses a bit of its charm and that was my main motivation to try these runs.

And what do you know, it was a really fun experience! You start seeing the demons as more unique entities and because of their limited moveset you'll be switching around them a lot more often, without a "main party". It helps a lot that these games have plenty of QoL features to acommodate this, with benched demons also gaining EXP, switching demons in battle costing only half a turn and demons being allowed to switch themselves with another demon. You feel more like a commander of a small army.

Speaking of which, I found the usually worthless "Bad Company" skill really useful in this run. Since everything is so fragile in SMT4 replacing your entire lineup with a single action can be a blessing for those subquests where you're forced to do battles that start with an ambush. Also a common strategy for bosses was starting with a weak lineup of demons with debuffs then using it to replace them all immediately on the second turn with your strongest guys. It's not as good in SMT4A since demons can actually take hits in that one.

Difficulty-wise, I played both games in the Normal difficulty fearing I might find it too difficult otherwise. I think SMT4 is perfectly doable in Hard. SMT4A is another story, since the last dungeon doesn't allow you to recruit anything there there's a big gap between the strongest demons you can recruit and the final boss, I don't think the last part of the game would be very fun playing like this in the higher difficulties.

So there you have it, hope this encourages at least someone to give them a try!

[mayhaps-magical]

Is the shin Megami tensei crowd ok?

Like- y'all? Is this normal?

[genericsseall]

the humans you once knew are now gone

[ken-the-fluffy-pix]

ENG Years later, I was finally able to play the Russian version of Persona 5 Royal. Honestly, I decided to redraw my old art, which I drew after... a month. Hmmm, this is the first time this has happened to me. But still, I was finally able to find inspiration. I once thought for a long time that there were no costumes for the characters from Persona 5 Royal from Shin Megami Tensie 4 Apocalypse. This is what he looked like in the Dagda costume. Morgana: Persona 5

RUS Спустя годы, я наконец-то смог поиграть в русифицированную версию Persona 5 Royal. В чест это��о я решил перерисовать свой старый арт, что-то нарисовал спустя... месяц. Мда, со мной такое впервые. Но все же я наконец-то смог найти вдохновение.

Я как-то давно думал, что для персонажей из Persona 5 Royal не было костюмов из Shin Megami Tensie 4 Apocalypse. Поэтому подумал, как бы выглядел он, в костюме Дагды.

Моргана: Persona 5

[navarresimp]

It’s Joever We’re Flynnished

Also I finally quit my job today

[yarrayora]

hire a trustworthy local to ensure you won't get fucked over by ashura-kai when selling relics and also teach you gun maintenance

[thornart]

Art for @gothamcityneedsme. Flynn and Nanashi from Shin Megami Tensei IV

[pixbeld3carabia]

hELOOOOOOOOOOOOO:3333

[shindynegarden]

Day 6 - Gloves

[cake-apostate]

In two Atlus games that came out relatively close together, there's a male party member who:

Appears to have no combat capabilities for most of the game until he reveals his true power, which is story-wise second to only the protagonist.

Uses opposing elements in combat.

Can't be romanced but is shipped with the protagonist, possibly more than the girls who can romance him.

Is the bastard son of an antagonist, and works for his father even though there's no father-son relationship. The party also takes down his father.

Is also the son of a prostitute who died when he was young.

All I'm saying is that Hallelujah and Goro Akechi should meet.

[pyromancerofaronons]

You know, I'm surprised we haven't gotten post-Anarchy route Nanashi as a super boss yet. That ending perfectly sets it up for being one with them outright saying the Goddess is going to pull Messiahs from other universes in to try and kill Nanashi and Flynn proclaiming he will protect his master and kill any who does show up. I don't know who they pick for Nanashi's chosen Goddess, probably Asahi but you have the recipe for an amazing super boss right there.

[megaten-and-other-polls]

Megaten Funny Little Guy Tournament: Semi-Finals Match 2

[calling-all-comas]

Flynn 🤠🤠🤠