Back when the original SMT V came out, one of the new mechanics that was heavily featured in promotional material was the Magatsuhi system. Players would have access to powerful Magatsuhi skills to turn the tide of battle, but many enemies would also be able to gather Magatsuhi themselves, guaranteeing criticals for their attacks on the next turn unless the targets were guarding or had immunities. In the case of bosses, gathering Magatsuhi also indicated that they were preparing an especially powerful skill, potentially spelling disaster for the player if left ignored. And then you had these things called Dampeners that, in most cases, allowed players to effectively disengage with the boss Omagatoki: Critical mechanic entirely, with essentially no cost. Additionally, they often eliminated any player fear of powerful skills such as Toxic Breath, Sacrifice of Clay, or Souffle D'éclair that should have represented the greatest threat to the player. And it’s not they had to be used strategically, either. In my opinion, the game probably would have been better off without them, if not heavily rebalanced. It truly is a shame, really. I’ve seen so many players online complaining about how unengaging they find the games on account on so many enemies being heavily exploitable to Dampeners or Block skills, but I’ve rarely seen anyone mention the idea of playing without either of those, which I think would greatly improve the experience for a lot of players (yes, I know that I used Dampeners in the original too, but I still had an incredibly difficult time with that game for a variety of other reasons). I like this series, and part of the motivation behind this channel is trying to bring out the best of these games, hopefully in a way that might allow others to appreciate them more, either in my gameplay or their own. While trying something like playing the game without Dampeners or Block skills certainly isn’t for everyone, I’d like to be part of the movement to get some players to at least consider the idea. However, it has been some time since the game has released, so it might be too little, too late…and I won’t name names (there are some prominent ones among them, not that that’s the reason I’m leaving it anonymous), but what I see from some others online makes me wonder whether they would actually prefer to enjoy the games or if it’s more important to them that they be able to complain about them. It’s tough to tell sometimes.
Part of the reason I create content is because I want to share my passion for the games I like with others. That’s why, after I made a video on Black Frost, I did not continue covering Episode Aigis. I didn’t want to keep making videos on something I did not enjoy as it would feel disingenuous. That said no dampeners will certainly be interesting. It will definitely make fights like the Squadistu harder as you cannot shut down Eisheth. But I’m also concerned for Tiamat too as even though Nahobino can dodge Annihilation Ray, the other demons can’t survive consistently without something like Shield of God
That's why SO many people are complaining about the Virtual trainer challenges where bosses have an extra press turn and impaler's Animus if a press turn was lost for them. There isn't a single legit elite Virtual 999 run without exploiting strategize, yet they say the game is unengaging.
I rebalanced Dampeners by only having them shield 1 party member. That way, even if everyone puts one up, SOMEONE is left taking the hit. Having only 3 dampeners at a time makes this challenging as well
@@DrMDC Are you saying you made a mod with altered Dampeners, or that's just how you would address the issue? Sometimes it feels like the balance team is taking steps forwards and backwards at the same time. On one hand they made Tetrakarn/Makarakarn/Mirrors into single-target (which at times is still too powerful), but then there's also Dampeners in their current state. It's unfortunate that there's been so much progress in terms of strategic flair that has been added to the game, but generally it's also been largely overshadowed by stuff like Dampeners, Taunt, Strategize, and the like.
Dampeners are worse than block skills tbh. Through most of the game your move slots are limited, so giving up a precious slot for a relatively high MP cost block skill at least adds some thought to team building. Sure, block can trivialise many fights but at least it's satisfting to accomplish that through team building, Dampeners don't even have that going for them.
Nahobino: “I had no idea that Nuwa was so particular about the composition of her salads.” Yakumo: “...?” Nahobino: “You hadn’t realized? She’s always saying stuff like ‘Lettuce test you’ and ‘Now, KALE!’” Yakumo: “...”
I think the original design intention was that you would guard the omagatoki effects like in persona games, but that somewhere in development they realised that having only 1-2 options to deal with omagatoki effects is too limiting? so they added dampeners as a cheap way to deal with things "strategically". Which imo falls in line with how most vengeance bosses are designed, where most bosses have a very clear counter to them, like dark immunity/charm immunity for naamah, taunt + phys resist (or dampener/attack mirror) for eisheth, ice drain for yuzuru etc. smt5 and vengeance especially overly rewards players who are prepared for a fight by turning it into a cakewalk, which seems to be the intended experience. I hope they change their game design philosophy for smt6 so we dont have cool moves blocked all the time and they find a way to design a superboss without summoning a bazillion adds.
The thing is, there are a number of ways that other options to deal with Omagatoki effects could have implemented other than nullifying the attacks entirely. For example, something could merely nullify the critical effect but not the attack, or an item or skill could provide temporary resistance instead of nullification, like the Wall skills in Soul Hackers 2. As it is, Dampeners seem like they may have been introduced to the game as a crutch of sorts for players that were struggling, but the reality is that most players just use them in every available situation and the game can’t fight back from that. Also, in general the new Vengeance bosses were better designed with respect to Dampeners compared to bosses in the original (Phys Dampeners/Block excluded), but even then there’s only so much that can be done when you have a mechanic as overpowering as Dampeners.
That's probably my favorite thing about this type of playthrough, there are a lot of different ways that most demons can contribute. There will definitely be some really fun battles later on with demon usage.
Committing to Aogami Resistances will add tons of dread to any boss that uses Dark or Wind. Great job on Nuwa and good luck with the next story fight that the game jumps you wish lol Curious question for later on in the game, are we allowing the New Nahobino forms resistances as well, or sticking squarely with Aogami?
The restriction isn’t Aogami resistances, it’s Proto-fiend skills and resistances from Proto-fiends, purchasable essences, or recruitable demons at or below the Nahobino’s level. Otherwise there would just be a lot of guarding that wouldn’t be particularly strategic.
I chose those restrictions largely to rule out most of the essences that nullified more than one element (like Amanozako's) or had other overpowering properties. But even if the definition of "recruitable" is taken to be generous, her essence still wouldn't be available since the Nahobino shouldn't be close to level 76 and Amanozako's first quest has to be completed, which won't be done on the main save file for EXP purposes.
@ The ones I had in mind for restrictions were more specific for certain battles, but in general the strongest would be stuff like Belphegor, Ananta, Null/Drain/Repel Phys demons, and then there are a lot of endgame essences worth considering. There are a lot of other good options if you also have a Resist passive or two.
The Nahobino can only damage Nuwa with attack items or Aramasa, so there’s that. But I do try for theatrical flair when I can. Also there are only seven skills the Nahobino can obtain up to this point between the three Aogami essences and the starting Zio, and Makajama isn’t helpful here so only one other skill has to be discarded from his five skill slots.
The cruel part is that she doesn’t get added to your Boss Analyze section at the end of the battle if you don’t use a Spyglass. (Or doing her fight in the VR Trainer)
![SMT V: Vengeance [CoV] - Matador (Low Level, No Fusion/Demon Modification, Hard)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Le97Tq9LY9I/mqdefault.jpg)
![SMT V: Vengeance [CoV] - Matador (Low Level, No Fusion/Demon Modification, Hard)](/img/tr.png)
![SMT V: Vengeance [CoV] - Naamah and Glasya-Labolas (Low Level, No Fusion/Demon Modification, Hard)](/img/1.gif)
Back when the original SMT V came out, one of the new mechanics that was heavily featured in promotional material was the Magatsuhi system. Players would have access to powerful Magatsuhi skills to turn the tide of battle, but many enemies would also be able to gather Magatsuhi themselves, guaranteeing criticals for their attacks on the next turn unless the targets were guarding or had immunities. In the case of bosses, gathering Magatsuhi also indicated that they were preparing an especially powerful skill, potentially spelling disaster for the player if left ignored.
And then you had these things called Dampeners that, in most cases, allowed players to effectively disengage with the boss Omagatoki: Critical mechanic entirely, with essentially no cost. Additionally, they often eliminated any player fear of powerful skills such as Toxic Breath, Sacrifice of Clay, or Souffle D'éclair that should have represented the greatest threat to the player. And it’s not they had to be used strategically, either. In my opinion, the game probably would have been better off without them, if not heavily rebalanced.
It truly is a shame, really. I’ve seen so many players online complaining about how unengaging they find the games on account on so many enemies being heavily exploitable to Dampeners or Block skills, but I’ve rarely seen anyone mention the idea of playing without either of those, which I think would greatly improve the experience for a lot of players (yes, I know that I used Dampeners in the original too, but I still had an incredibly difficult time with that game for a variety of other reasons). I like this series, and part of the motivation behind this channel is trying to bring out the best of these games, hopefully in a way that might allow others to appreciate them more, either in my gameplay or their own. While trying something like playing the game without Dampeners or Block skills certainly isn’t for everyone, I’d like to be part of the movement to get some players to at least consider the idea. However, it has been some time since the game has released, so it might be too little, too late…and I won’t name names (there are some prominent ones among them, not that that’s the reason I’m leaving it anonymous), but what I see from some others online makes me wonder whether they would actually prefer to enjoy the games or if it’s more important to them that they be able to complain about them. It’s tough to tell sometimes.
Part of the reason I create content is because I want to share my passion for the games I like with others. That’s why, after I made a video on Black Frost, I did not continue covering Episode Aigis. I didn’t want to keep making videos on something I did not enjoy as it would feel disingenuous.
That said no dampeners will certainly be interesting. It will definitely make fights like the Squadistu harder as you cannot shut down Eisheth. But I’m also concerned for Tiamat too as even though Nahobino can dodge Annihilation Ray, the other demons can’t survive consistently without something like Shield of God
That's why SO many people are complaining about the Virtual trainer challenges where bosses have an extra press turn and impaler's Animus if a press turn was lost for them. There isn't a single legit elite Virtual 999 run without exploiting strategize, yet they say the game is unengaging.
I rebalanced Dampeners by only having them shield 1 party member. That way, even if everyone puts one up, SOMEONE is left taking the hit. Having only 3 dampeners at a time makes this challenging as well
@@DrMDC Are you saying you made a mod with altered Dampeners, or that's just how you would address the issue?
Sometimes it feels like the balance team is taking steps forwards and backwards at the same time. On one hand they made Tetrakarn/Makarakarn/Mirrors into single-target (which at times is still too powerful), but then there's also Dampeners in their current state. It's unfortunate that there's been so much progress in terms of strategic flair that has been added to the game, but generally it's also been largely overshadowed by stuff like Dampeners, Taunt, Strategize, and the like.
Dampeners are worse than block skills tbh. Through most of the game your move slots are limited, so giving up a precious slot for a relatively high MP cost block skill at least adds some thought to team building. Sure, block can trivialise many fights but at least it's satisfting to accomplish that through team building, Dampeners don't even have that going for them.
Nahobino: “I had no idea that Nuwa was so particular about the composition of her salads.”
Yakumo: “...?”
Nahobino: “You hadn’t realized? She’s always saying stuff like ‘Lettuce test you’ and ‘Now, KALE!’”
Yakumo: “...”
i'd drink nahobino's miracle water
Based and underrated comment.
My question is, if he can perform a miracle with water, can he turn it into wine?
@Bucketgetter i'd love to get drunk off of his miracle wine
Asking the real questions
Miracle Water actually being useful pog
I think the original design intention was that you would guard the omagatoki effects like in persona games, but that somewhere in development they realised that having only 1-2 options to deal with omagatoki effects is too limiting? so they added dampeners as a cheap way to deal with things "strategically". Which imo falls in line with how most vengeance bosses are designed, where most bosses have a very clear counter to them, like dark immunity/charm immunity for naamah, taunt + phys resist (or dampener/attack mirror) for eisheth, ice drain for yuzuru etc.
smt5 and vengeance especially overly rewards players who are prepared for a fight by turning it into a cakewalk, which seems to be the intended experience. I hope they change their game design philosophy for smt6 so we dont have cool moves blocked all the time and they find a way to design a superboss without summoning a bazillion adds.
The thing is, there are a number of ways that other options to deal with Omagatoki effects could have implemented other than nullifying the attacks entirely. For example, something could merely nullify the critical effect but not the attack, or an item or skill could provide temporary resistance instead of nullification, like the Wall skills in Soul Hackers 2. As it is, Dampeners seem like they may have been introduced to the game as a crutch of sorts for players that were struggling, but the reality is that most players just use them in every available situation and the game can’t fight back from that.
Also, in general the new Vengeance bosses were better designed with respect to Dampeners compared to bosses in the original (Phys Dampeners/Block excluded), but even then there’s only so much that can be done when you have a mechanic as overpowering as Dampeners.
NUWA MY BELOVED
also this is looking more like the smt4-4a playthroughs with the variety of demons used
That's probably my favorite thing about this type of playthrough, there are a lot of different ways that most demons can contribute. There will definitely be some really fun battles later on with demon usage.
4:22 you can hear the sigh after that miss
Committing to Aogami Resistances will add tons of dread to any boss that uses Dark or Wind. Great job on Nuwa and good luck with the next story fight that the game jumps you wish lol
Curious question for later on in the game, are we allowing the New Nahobino forms resistances as well, or sticking squarely with Aogami?
The restriction isn’t Aogami resistances, it’s Proto-fiend skills and resistances from Proto-fiends, purchasable essences, or recruitable demons at or below the Nahobino’s level. Otherwise there would just be a lot of guarding that wouldn’t be particularly strategic.
@Bucketgetter I see, thanks for the clarity.
Now I wonder if Amanozako's essence counts considering her in-game lore :3
I chose those restrictions largely to rule out most of the essences that nullified more than one element (like Amanozako's) or had other overpowering properties. But even if the definition of "recruitable" is taken to be generous, her essence still wouldn't be available since the Nahobino shouldn't be close to level 76 and Amanozako's first quest has to be completed, which won't be done on the main save file for EXP purposes.
@@Bucketgetter Which essences do you think are the best without restrictions over the course of the game?
@ The ones I had in mind for restrictions were more specific for certain battles, but in general the strongest would be stuff like Belphegor, Ananta, Null/Drain/Repel Phys demons, and then there are a lot of endgame essences worth considering. There are a lot of other good options if you also have a Resist passive or two.
Yeah, finally Bicorn!
P.S. Do you keep Aramasa just for stylish finisher?
The Nahobino can only damage Nuwa with attack items or Aramasa, so there’s that. But I do try for theatrical flair when I can.
Also there are only seven skills the Nahobino can obtain up to this point between the three Aogami essences and the starting Zio, and Makajama isn’t helpful here so only one other skill has to be discarded from his five skill slots.
Wow, this battle becomes difficult by excluding certain aspect😂.
Pog
Gaining 0 exp at the end of this seems cruel
The cruel part is that she doesn’t get added to your Boss Analyze section at the end of the battle if you don’t use a Spyglass. (Or doing her fight in the VR Trainer)