Nahobino: I'm at 1228 HP, I should be fine! Demi-fiend: Nah, think you need exactly 16 HP more. Nahobino: That's oddly specific- *gets Freikugeled to death*
The most fucked up thing about this is that even if Freikugel doesn't crit, that shit is basically a death sentence to any demon that's not Nahobino...
Just curious and want your thoughts. Vengeance apparently made the level scaling much less extreme, so I'm probably going to do a low level run of my own because that made it enjoyable imo in SMT V (or at the least, tedious, along with the rest of the game's design choices). Curious if because of that, it would make sense to allow demon customization (probably not fusion, just essences) for the sake of strategy at the lowest possible level, because I'm pretty sure (especially because you get a guest human character who can spam items so nahobino can actually deal damage) you can beat hydra below lvl 11 and likely many other battles if you could customize with these changes, and while it's technically easier, I feel like it'd be more interesting to fight at an even lower level. It would also be interesting because you're going to be limited in the amount of essences you have (besides the ones you can buy, maybe ban those but i dont know if theyd be that useful), so it would also be cool to have to manage the essences you get throughout the run
I'm still not done with the game and I'll need to do a ton of testing before I can get a decent grasp on what's realistically possible, but so far I feel like the level effects actually aren't that different from before with respect to being underleveled. My SMT V playthrough was dictated by the limits at which each individual battle became possible to win, but I'm not sure that a theoretical minimal EXP playthrough with would have a major level difference. I think you also have to consider that a playthrough might not be realistic without a lot of optional Miracles, Magatsuhi skills, and other quest rewards, which are unobtainable without committing to taking on at least some additional EXP. I think that if you were to use essences freely, you might have to put a number of other restrictions in place and the rules might end up being pretty complicated. In any case, it'll be a long time before I decide how I'd like to approach a playthrough I feel good about featuring.
To me it felt quite significant. Of course I did use Accursed Poison and fused demons but I ended up beating Huang Long at level 43 which I can't imagine is even close to possible in vanilla no matter what you do. It's probably theoretically possible even lower if you really stock up on MP items but I'd personally never attempt it without Idun and Alice. I also noticed I was doing surprisingly well against Koumokuten at level like 21 and only started losing in phase 2 due to not being able to handle his debuffs. As soon as I could fuse Cironupp I was able to beat him. That one could be possible as well in vanilla as it's only like 17 lvl difference with broken shit like Accursed Poison but it'd be such a slog which this wasn't really. Huang Long nearly 30 levels under is for sure not an option in vanilla.
Just wanted to comment on SMTVV I keep seeing the Qaditsu creating their own battlefield... but not having any field skills. Remember SMT SJR? The Womb of Greif bosses had unique field skills and that was a bit fun. Disappointed in that aspect. Regarding the character design, it's just attractive female characters with big assets to attract players... wish it was more creative like SMT4A 😂
