THERE'S A STEAM GROUP!
It's right here. If you need to ask something please feel free to pop in and ask. Or just hang around in lieu of a party/guild chat.
THERE'S A GUILD! Message Bariaus or Fayalite to get in. If one isn't on try the other. We have to invite manually.
INTROShin Megami Tensei IMAGINE is an Shin Megami Tensei MMO recently reaquired by Atlus. For those of you that aren't aware, SMT (Shin Megami Tensei) is a semi popular RPG where you have casual chats with demons and get them to help you bust up the rest of the demons. It's a lot like pokemon with various horrible mythological monsters. (generally modeled fairly accurately to mythological terms! Although there are a few exceptions.) The MMO is basically also this. This is probably the closest we're getting to a pokemon MMO until nintendo pulls it out of their hat on the verge of bankruptcy and the ensuing explosion of wealth disintegrates the XBOX and Playstation. But I digress.
GAMEPLAYYou wander around as your Player Character, and summon demons you recruit via chatting with them (the computer on your arm translates demon speech and was made by SMT steven hawking, no I'm not kidding.), and eventually either convincing them to join you or them deciding you look more tasty then useful. Why will demons join up with some puny human? Humans, while mostly outgunned against many larger demons (think "Hecatonchires", the creatures that helped the greek gods overthrow the titans), many smaller things like pixies and Cu Sith (Scottish fairies that take the form of dogs about the size of a small calf) are on much more even terms, and often are indeed preyed upon by larger demons. So why not help this guy out if he'll help you not get eaten by a horrible dragon monster. You can hold anywhere from 6 to I believe 10 demons at a time, and only have one out at a time.
The combat is skill based, however, it depends on your location and generally plays a lot like an action game. Your skils can rank up if you let them, just by use, and you should generally only have a few skills activated for leveling, and even then only after you've decided your build. Deciding your build is simple and someone in-game can help you with it. It merely involves simple math. Immunities are a big part of the game, and any given demon can be resistant to several types of damage and in many cases immune to a few as well.
Carrying around multiple weapon types or using multiple elements of magic is highly reccomended.Demons can level up too, and there is an extensive demon combining aspect, think dragon warrior monsters, where demons will inherit skills from parent demons. You can rebirth them to change their growth rates, meaning there's no demon you can't make useful and perhaps even viable into endgame things with a bit of elbow grease. So if you like the look of a demon, keep that sucker around and work at it.
Another factor is ALIGNMENT. Every demon has an alignment, every player character has an alignment, and it is VERY IMPORTANT. Hardcore law demons won't want to interact with hardcore chaos player characters, much rather preferring to take care of this threat to their way of life, and vice versa. It's not to say you absolutely CAN'T USE ANY LAW DEMONS IF YOU'RE NEUTRAL, but most of them are going to be locked out of your reach unless you're in that alignment.
Most people know this already, but a brief description of alignments.
LAW - Absolute order, laws for everything, perfect safety for everyone involved, swift punishment for the unjust.
NEUTRAL - Laws exist, but they are not terribly restricting, and they generally see in shades of grey.
CHAOS - No laws, law of the jungle, the stronger you are the better off you are.
It functions on a sliding scale, and everyone starts smack dab in the middle of the alignment chart. Choices you make during the main plotline determine your alignment primarily, but you can shift to another alignment by making donations at their church.
SETTINGIt's the 2000's, the world has been overrun by various celestial and mythological beasts and humans aren't doing so hot anymore now that there are six armed three faced giants roaming the face of the planet. But not all hope is lost, humans have dug into mountains and made underground fortresses, called HOMES, and have slowly begun to retake the surface, thanks to demon busters, something that is in essence acting as the military in this troubled time, people that have been given training and equipment designed to deal with these new threats. Many demons are not necessarily straight up aggressive, but most of them do not have the best long term intentions for the human race.
The game has an overarcing main plot questline that unlocks various bonuses and such, ultimately culminating in a gigantic raid instance that crushes all but the most prepared people. It also needs like, 60 people and 15 parties of people. Yeah. You'll want to get your Demon Buster liscense as fast as possible as it unlocks a lot of movement options and generally makes long distance travel much less of a chore.
STYLING The artstyle is.... fairly dark? It's not entirely brown and black though, it's got a nice selection of stuff. It's honestly a very good mesh of slightly anime stuff and gothic stuff, I really love the art direction in this game to death. The demons are again usually modeled fairly accurately to their mythological counterparts.
Some samples:
NEUTRAL
Cerebrus - The Hound of Hell in Greek mythology. Its name means "Demon of the Pit". It is known as the loyal servant of Hades, the king of the Underworld.
Cerberus was born from the union of the half-serpent Echidna and the storm giant Typhon. The two-headed beast Orthrus is his brother. Cerberus appears as a three-headed dog with with snakes all over his body and a dragon's tail. The three heads are said to represent the past, the present and the times yet to come.
Cerberus guards the gates of the Underworld, the realm of the dead, welcoming souls of the dead from the outside world, but ferociously attacking all those who attempt to leave.
Jack Frost - Jack Frost is a sprite of English folklore that only appears in wintertime. He can appear in many different forms, such as a snowman, a child, or an old man.
Jack Frost has a mischievous yet innocent personality. He tends to say "hee-ho" frequently and generally acts like a friendly child. He also has a menacing side, though — get him angry, and he'll freeze you solid.
CHAOS
Choronzon - A demon with a vast array of knowledge that serves sorcerers. It is known as the "Abyss," a formless aggregation of consciousness. It guards the door to all the knowledge of the cosmos. However, it is also the natural enemy of sorcerers, an evil being that sows chaos and contrives to send those who seek true wisdom to their downfalls.
The great sorcerer Aleister Crowley is said to have actually summoned Choronzon. While Crowley succeeded in calling Choronzon down into his body, he could not control it, and though used many tricks to try to lure Crowley's follower Neuburg into breaking the seal and freeing it, Neuburg was able to resist. Sources vary on whether Crowley actually obtained knowledge or remained possessed by Choronzon.
Typhon - Typhon was the last son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus and is the deadliest monster in Greek mythology. When Zeus imprisoned the Titans, it caused pain to Gaia (Tartarus was her bowels). So Gaia sent Typhon to destroy Zeus as an act of revenge. Typhon was depicted as having having a human upper half and a bottom half covered in snake coils. Its body is covered in wings and fire.
LAW
Dwarf - Elements of the earth who appear in Norse mythology and other traditions. They are most often depicted with short bodies and long beards. Dwarves excel in crafting weapons, armor, and other accessories. They are greedy, and will never perform a task for someone else without payment. They are a warlike race, skilled in arms, with strength that far exceeds that of humans.
The dwarves are responsible for creating the chain Glepnir, which will be used to bind Fenrir after he swallows Odin. They also forged Mjolnir, the hammer of the thunder god Thor.
Power -The sixth class of angels, members of the Second Sphere. Their name signifies the power of God. They are also known as "Dynamis" and "Polantias".
Powers are tasked by their masters with destroying sinners who defy Heaven. They serve largely as holy soldiers, seen as capable of both good and evil. This is because they have the most contact with devils, compared to any other type of angel and thus are the most prone to fall from grace. They patrol the corridors of Heaven, always ready to stand on the front lines and defend Heaven from demons and other enemies.
Powers have a spiritual awareness four levels higher than humans. They help protect law and order in the natural world. They also took part in the Creation and serve as spiritual guides to all humanity.
Camuel, leader of the Powers, commands one million of these angels, while Raphael, one of the four Archangels, oversees the class.
Obviously this is just six of 152, and there are many to come.
BUILDS 101Builds can be simple. You can max two stats, and dump into a third, so a pure melee build would either be Str and Vit, dump into luck, or Str and Luck, Dump into vit. This is how stat builds generally work the entire time. Pure mage is First magic, then Int, then Vit, etc. Rangers use Speed as a damage stat, so that first, then Luck, then Vit. Stat builds are simple.
Now, skills. Skills can be VERY COMPLICATED.
You have 26k expertise, that's all the skills you get. Every class is 1k, every rank is 100. So, by this logic, you just need to add up the skills at the ranks you want them at to see if they'll fit.
So for instance, a build would be...
9 classes of Attack 9k
1 class of talk 1k
1 class of guard 1k
1 class of counter 1k
9 classes of Weapon Knowledge 9k
5 classes of Survival techniques 5k
9k+1k+1k+1k+9k+5k = 26k
On top of this, for any skills you aren't maxing, be sure to max them, then rank them up once more. Why? because unless you use a rank reset water, the final rank for non maxed skills will almost always have a little bit of garbage expertise that isn't going to anything, and yet is preventing another rank from happening.
Be sure to do this before level 30, as that's the cap for using reset items.
BUILDS 101
Pick one central attack skill to focus on. I picked attack, someone else might pick rush, someone else might pick spin, etc. You might be able to squeeze in a second attack skill, but it's kinda hard. Ranged should be focusing on either shot or rapid. This doesn't mean melee's should never use rush or spin if they're focusing on attack, as they are vital skills to counter other defensive skills, but your primary offense will be composed of your primary attack skill. This is non negotiable, if you're not being experimental.
Look at the
chain expertises and pick one, maybe two if you can work it into a build. Chain expertises rank up as you rank up the skills associated with them. So if you're gonna get two you're almost certainly only raising both of them part of the way, usually to get to a particular chain expertise skill. Builds revolve around chain expertises. Some builds will hybridize, some will stay pure, both are fairly effective.
Now that you know all this, go to
Your appropriate forum at the top here and find a build you like, or do research via asking people and looking at currently existing builds. The system is very mallaeable, the question is how effective it will be after all is said and done, so I do suggest a cookie cutter build to start with, while you get your bearings. If you want to try a seperate build, you can always make another account.
And that's that.
INFORMATIONIf you're below level 20, go to the newbie area in Home III and talk to the drunken DB. Free double exp for half an hour! Nice.
DOLLA BILLS YA'LL (Money management and price guide (in development forever; message me if you have a GOOD price that has worked for you.)Fusing horrible monsters: A tutorial.LINKSGame Link:
Here. THE GAME USES PANDO MEDIA BOOSTER TO DOWNLOAD ITSELF, ONCE IT'S DONE DOWNLOADING, UNINSTALL PANDO AND NEVER LOOK BACK. It won't hurt your computer but it does seed downloads without your permission which is kind've scummy.Wiki:
WIKI USE THAT USE THAT USE THAT. It's not quite up to date but it's up to date enough. You're generally gonna use it to find demon skills to pass around to your mans.
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Topic: Shin Megami Tensei: IMAGINE - Now with steam group and Guild. (Read 13004 times)