Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne: Difference between revisions

[[File:SMTNocturne2_6941.jpg|frame|No matter what side you choose, this will be one violent weekend, that is for sure.]]

There, you witness the Conception: the [[The End of the World as We Know It|destruction of the old world]] and its transformation into an embryonic state- [[After the End|the Vortex World]]- to prepare for its eventual rebirth. [[Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe|Tokyo becomes a spherical world]] populated by demons and the wandering spirits of those who died during the Conception, with a glowing sphere suspended in its center. You have survived... but during the Conception, you encountered a mysterious young boy who [[Deal with the Devil|forcefully implanted you with a creature]] called a Magatama, [[Transformation Trauma|transforming your body]] into that of a demon.

The game is largely a dungeon crawler, as you make your way across the ruins of Tokyo looking for answers and your missing friends. Gone are the cyberpunk elements of the previous ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' games;: as your character is a demon, you have no need to use a computer to translate and summon. Your party is made up of the main character and [[Character-Magnetic Team|the demons that you have recruited to your cause]]. By talking to demons, you can convince them to give you money, items or to join your party. Most will demand money and items as a bribe before they will listen to you, but some will also pose a philosophical question that you must answer to their satisfaction.

As demons level up extremely slowly, the quickest way to maintain a strong team is to [[Improbable Species Compatibility|fuse your demons together]] at the Cathedral of Shadows, creating entirely new demons with new powers and some inherited from their previous forms. A handful of demons will also evolve once they have reached a certain level. The Mainmain Charactercharacter develops by equipping different Magatama, each of which has a set of abilities that will be learned upon leveling up. An additional degree of difficulty is added by the fact that your character can only know eight skills at any one time, and must forget moves to learn new ones; once they are forgotten, they are [[Lost Forever]].

Battles are conducted with the Press Turn system, where at the start of each round, you receive a number of actions equal to the number of characters in your battle party. A normal action consumes one Press Icon, but inflicting a critical hit or attacking the enemy's weakness only consumes half a Press Icon. Thus, by attacking the enemy's weaknesses, you maximize the number of turns you get in one round. Unfortunately, attacking an enemy with an element that it is strong against- or missing entirely- consumes two Press Icons, and if the enemy repels or absorbs the attack, you lose all your Press Icons. This also applies in reverse;: the enemy can attack your weak points to win additional actions for itself and loses actions if you defend yourself correctly. This battle system would go on to be used in ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' and in a scaled-down form- the "One More" system- in ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]''.

In January 2004, the game received a [[Updated Rerelease]] in Japan known as ''Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax''. It balanced a few of the game mechanics, added in a massive optional dungeon (and a new ending and [[True Final Boss|Final Boss]] if you complete it) and featured Dante of ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' fame as a [[Guest Fighter]]. Considering that you are a demon, and Dante is a demon hunter, you don't exactly meet on good terms. Fortunately, it was this version that was localized and released in the West. In PAL territories, it was known as ''Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call'' due to copyright reasons. A second [[Updated Rerelease]] named ''Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax Chronicle Edition'' came free with Japanese copies of ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha VS King Abaddon]]'', replacing Dante with Raidou.

* [[Amazing Technicolor Battlefield]]: Several. The battle against Samael (you fight him in a warped version of the Diet Building stained glass room, ''which keeps spinning impossibly on an invisible axis'') really stands out, though.

* [[Ambiguously Human]]: The Manakins. They are made from compound human souls and emotions, and because the Conception killed all the humans except for the Demi-Fiend, Yuko, Chiaki, Isamu, Hikawa, and Hijiri, they are more or less the Vortex World's equivalent to humanity. They have flesh and blood just like true humans, but are also made from the earth, the substance that gives life the easiest.

* [[And Your Reward Is Clothes]]: Beat the game, and you get the option to change your outfit at the start of a new cycle. Your choice influences your starting stats.

* {{spoiler|[[The Antichrist]]: What Lucifer wants you to become. Should you take the True Demon Endingending, it happens.}}.

* [[Apocalypse How]]: Class X at the beginning with the Conception. Class Z at the end of the True Demon Endingending.

* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: Dante. At the point where you get him, pretty much all you can use him for is the fights against {{spoiler|Metatron and Lucifer}}. And he lacks the Pierce skill which is practically required to beat the latter. On top of this, he can't be used in fusion, and you can't use the Compendium to get him back in a [[New Game+]]. This pretty much made him useless in comparison with Raidou, his [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] who has better stats ''and'' learns Pierce.

* [[Badass]]: Although many qualify, the Demi-fiend takes the cake. ''Especially'' if you beat the Amala Labyrinth. To elaborate, this quest requires him to beat the crap out of the incarnations of Death (all ten of them, including certified badasses such as [[Devil May Cry|Dante]] or [[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army|Raidou Kuzunoha]] [[Raidou Kuzunoha VS King Abaddon|the XIVth]] in the ''Chronicle Edition''), go (literally) into the depths of hell itself through one of the largest, most grueling dungeons known to players, beat both {{spoiler|Lucifer}}'s [[The Dragon|Dragon]] Beelzebub and God's Metatron, be appointed the leader of hell's army in the final battle against God after proving his worth and last, but not least, he punches out {{spoiler|Kagutsuchi}} into oblivion to boot.

** By ''[[Megami Tensei|MegaTen]]'' standards, the Demi-fiend is among the most powerful entities to exist. It practically justifies {{spoiler|his [[The Cameo|cameo]] as being an [[That One Boss|excruciatingly difficult]] [[Bonus Boss]]}} in ''Digital Devil Saga''.

* [[Barrier Change Boss]]: Noah. {{spoiler|His weakness is changed through Aurora, and his weakness becomes the opposite of what he casts next, so if he casts Agidyne, he's weak to (or to be more precise, doesn't reflect) Bufu spells. He follows a specific pattern.}}.

* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]] -: The power to remake the world comes at a price.

* [[Big Bad]]: Hikawa, {{spoiler|[[Eviler Than Thou|Chiaki and Isamu]], and in the True Demon Endingending, [[God]] becomes this}}. Oddly enough, the [[Final Boss]] isn't this.

* [[Black and Grey Morality]]: The religious texts of the newly born world will definitely be leaving out a few choice details where the creation myth is concerned. Also, two of the Reasons are portrayed as having ''some'' good points to them, while {{spoiler|Chiaki and Sakahagi}}, both following the same philosophy, are the only characters ever canonically referred to as "evil".

* [[Body Horror]]: Many, many instances. {{spoiler|Chiaki and Isamu}}'s mutations are only the beginning. [[Fridge Horror]] kicks Fusion Errors into this.

* [[Brilliant but Lazy]]: [[Non-Action Guy|Jyoji Hijiri]]. The man has complete access to the [[Akashic Records]] and knows more about what's going on than anyone else and could probably [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb stomp]] the [[Person of Mass Destruction|Demi-fiend]] with what he's learned. But he never reveals much and doesn't seem to realize he could create his own [[Fisher King|Reason]]. Justified, {{spoiler|since God cursed him. When he finally realizes that he could create his own Reason, he dies again.}}.

* [[Canon Name]]: The Mainmain Charactercharacter is called Naoki Kashima in the radio plays based on the game.

* [[Collector of the Strange]] -: The Collector Manikin likes to collect human-made knick-knacks.

* [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]]: Mostly averted, but {{spoiler|Noah}} is highly resistant to almighty attacks. And will change his immunities every turn.

** Some random encounters have Beast Eye. Sound tough? Good, because [[My Rules Are Not Your Rules|some of the recruitable ones]] have ''Dragon Eye'' and will use it '' every fucking turn''.

** Baal Avatar if any of your party members doesn't have Void Curse in some form. She will ''always'' target them first with Bael's Bane, which turns them into a fly -... a status ailment that can't be cured by any means (except dying) and renders them utterly ''useless''. Note that only she has the ability to do this.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: Plenty in the [[Bonus Dungeon]]. The uber pixie appears in the bonus bosses of ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'', {{spoiler|which is against the ''Nocturne'' player character}}, ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]''.

* [[Creepy Child]]: The Young Boy (akaa.k.a. {{spoiler|Louis Cypher}}).

* [[Cursed with Awesome]] / [[Blessed with Suck]]: If you end up cursed by the Magatama, you will suffer random status effects (but mostly hitting your own side). However, if you enter the Cathedral of Shadows while cursed, the curse will change several fusion options so the results wind up of the darker races (Fiends, Fouls, Fallens, etc.). The results will also tend to inherit better skills.

* [[Cute Bruiser]]: Pixie, {{spoiler|if you keep her with you all along and finally take her to the room only she can open on the Fifth Kalpa.}}.

* [[Cute Monster Girl]]: Virtually all of the female denizens of the Vortex World, except Datsue-Ba, Kali, and Mother Harlot.

** More "subjugation" than "friendship", though.

** Or Daisoujou, if you manage to beat and fuse it. It has an almost-[[Game Breaker]] skill which allows it to drain HP and SP out of the opponent which drains more SP than it costs, is immune to ailments, has a very high magic stat; the best healing spell in the game which not only heals your party to full HP, it also cures status ailments. The icing on the cake is that the drain skill mentioned above is considered a magic attack, meaning that it can be buffed and an opponent's defense against it de-buffed. Put two and two together, and you have a demon that fills its own SP to full and sucks the opponent dry in no time WHILE healing everyone. Needless to say, this demon stays in parties for a long time.

** Dark Might. Available as soon as you leave the hospital as one of Jack Frost's starting skills. Can turn any boss that isn't resistant to physical attacks in a complete joke, as long as your entire party has the skill, and you time the battle accordingly. Bright Might works just as well, but appears slightly later.

* [[Doppelganger Spin]]: Ongyo-Ki. You can figure out the real one by {{spoiler|fighting him during a Full Moon and looking for the shadow}}. This only upgrades him from "impossible" to "extremely hard", though.

** Well, until you realize he only uses {{spoiler|physical attacks and buff spells, which can be countered rather easily.}}.

*** The player also becomes the Dragon for {{spoiler|Lucifer in the True Demon Endingending}}.

* [[Dreaming of Things to Come]]: A human dreams of the Conception before it happens. [[Conspiracy Theorist|He thinks aliens from Jupiter did it.]].

* [[Eldritch Location]]: All of the Vortex World. Particularly interesting examples are the Diet Building, the Obelisk / Tower of Kagutsuchi and the Labyrinth of Amala, though the Assembly of Nihilo's Shiodome base, Kabukicho Prison and to a much lesser extent the Mantra HQ also qualify.

* [[End of the World Special]]: The whole story is to get to this {{spoiler|if you don't follow Lucifer, anyhow}}.

* [[Everybody's Dead, Dave]]: The only true humans that remain after the conception is Yuko, Chiaki, Isamu, Hikawa, Hijiri {{spoiler|or not in Hijiri's case}} and the protagonist (and even then only partly). Everyone else? If they aren't turned into pure Magatsuhi, they either get reincarnated into Manakins, the Vortex World equivalent of humans, who suffer from muscle spasms and are {{spoiler|unable to make their own Reasons unlike real humans}}, or they get reincarnated into Souls, the Vortex World equivalent to ghosts, who are mostly friendly, but are still unable to do much, being intangible spirits.

* [[Evil Makeover]]: The Mainmain Charactercharacter. Later, {{spoiler|Chiaki and Isamu}}.

* [[The Fair Folk]]: A Pixie is the first demon that joins your cause. Later, you visit a construction park that has been completely taken over by Fairy demons.

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: {{spoiler|Jyoji Hijiri}}'s fate (speculated to be a result of his {{spoiler|[[Shin Megami Tensei II|brief dabbling in deicide]]}}) is to be doomed to an endless cycle of torment, death and rebirth without hope of reincarnation into a better existence. It's implied that [[God]] will do the same thing- or ''worse''- to {{spoiler|the main character in the True Demon ending if He gets his hands on him}}.

** {{spoiler|It's also applied that it will happen in the Freedom ending where the Great Will will come after the main character one day for returning the world back to normal. He gets to keep his power for when this happens.}}.

* [[Global Currency]]: Macca.

* [[God Is Evil]]: {{spoiler|His endless cycle of creating and destroying Earth is more or less genocide to billions and billions of humans}}. Notably, this is among the last times God is portrayed as card-carryingly evil or overly lawful in ''[[Megami Tensei|MegaTen]]''; his portrayals in games after this are a bit more sympathetic and understandable.

** Not so much as understandable as more obscure. ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey]]'' doesn't pull any punches on God's portrayal, but he doesn't get as many hits since {{spoiler|he is not mentioned directly, and only appears as the Demiurge}}.

* [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]]: According to her backstory, this is what brought {{spoiler|Aradia}} into the Vortex World. {{spoiler|More accurately, Aradia was created by the prayers of a coven of witches, and genuinely wanted to bring them salvation. Due to the mechanics of the trope in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' worlds, however, she was far too weak to do that and instead wound up as an empty voice in a dying Universe where the Conception had failed to start; small gods in her situation are called "false gods" by the Lady in Black. The Lady also notes that false gods are technically forbidden, and what they do to stave off deletion -... invade worlds during ''their'' Conceptions and entice others into including them into the new world so they will become "real" in that new reality. Aradia herself is noted to be the False Goddess of Freedom and the Goddess of Falsehood.}}.

* [[Good Is Boring]]: Played with. As per SMT''Shin Megami Tensei'' tradition, the real intent is to make you think honestly what would ''your'' choices be.

** Not tomentionto mention that if you play a good boy {{spoiler|and ignore Lucifer's offer to enter the Labyrinth, you will miss out on the chance to know the truth about the whole ordeal, including the nature of the Conception and God's goals}}.

** Additionally, there are several skills like Dragon Eye that you can never use.

* [[Groundhog Peggy Sue]]: {{spoiler|Played with Hijiri. He gets to live, over and over and over... but he NEVER gets to ''win''.}}.

* [[Heads or Tails]]: [[Guest Fighter|Dante]] retains this quirk from the second ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' game. He can be recruited for one macca if you know about {{spoiler|the [[Double Headed Coin]].}}.

* [[Hell on Earth]] -: It is possible to make Earth an almost literal Hell - a realm only of demons - until the next Conception occurs.

* [[Heroic Host]] -: [[The Hero]], with the [[Artifact of Doom|Maga]][[Super Empowering|tama]].

* [[Heroic Mime]]:

** And when he DOES speak (or at least leave a written message) in ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' after you beat him ([[Harder Than Hard|good luck with that, by the way]]), what does he say? One of the most [[Badass]] lines ever:

{{quote|{{spoiler|[[Badass Creed|"Death's vastness holds no peace. I come at the end of the long road. Neither human, nor devil... all bends to my will"."]]}}}}

* [[Hero of Another Story]]: Hee-ho. He keeps popping up across you in his quest for power, first as a shopkeeper in Shibuya, then visiting the Mantra HQ, and finally at Kabukicho Prison, where he gets his wish. His story joins with yours for a moment for the Black Frost battle, then he loses and you get separated again, and later, you can join for good in the Third Kalpa.

* [[Humanoid Abomination]]: [[Louis Cypher]] (in ''both'' of his forms), the Lady in Black, the Demi-Fiend himself, Dante, Aradia {{spoiler|and eventually, Chiaki and Isamu, as part of their devolution into the Conception gods}}.

* [[Hypocrite]]: {{spoiler|Isamu}}. The world he intends to create is based on doing everything by yourself and not relying on others, but he never does anything ''but'' ask for help from others.

** Hikawa too. For a guy supposedly interested in creating a world of stillness and silence, he sure stirs up a lot of chaos and disorder. (e.g. causing Thethe Conception, stirring up and participating in a war between the Mantra and his own followers, the riot at Yoyogi Park, etc.).

* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: The Masakados magatama. Subverts some elements in that, this being ''[[Megami Tensei|MegaTen]]'', it is pretty ''damn'' useful even as late as you get it. With it on, you become [[The Juggernaut]] stoppable only by a barrage of Almighty attacks.

* [[Literally Shattered Lives]]: Get [[Taken for Granite]], and there's a chance of this happening if you take a hit. Take a [[Blow You Away|Force]] attack, and this happens without fail.

* [[Loners Are Freaks]]: Chiaki insists on doing everything by herself. Result: {{spoiler|later on, she ''literally'' becomes a freak}}.

** {{spoiler|Isamu}} fits the bill better. {{spoiler|His entire philosophy is based around doing everything by yourself, [[Body Horror|and his transformation is way more freaky than Chiaki's, what with friggin' faces growing out of him]].}}.

* [[Lost Forever]]: Miss anything in the Shiodome portion of the Assembly of Nihilo, and you never get a chance to go back for it.

* [[Louis Cypher]]: Aka,A.k.a {{spoiler|the Young Boy and the Old Man}}.

* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: {{spoiler|Aradia. She lures Yuko with promises of giving her the power to remake the world and uses her as a pawn in a bid to become real in the new world birthed from the Conception; while supportive, she's not overtly concerned about her well-being and will often use her as an underling without explaining her the exact idea as to why she can't get a Reason from her. You could say Isamu tries to be one -... if you're actually listening to his ''very'' poorly thought out [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|The Reason You Suck Speeches]].}}.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Aradia, goddess of falsehood, {{spoiler|isn't really a god at all.}}.

* [[Mind Screw]]: There's plenty of it. One of the most prominent examples is the cutscene where Chiaki reveals her intentions at the Mantra HQ. When did everything become white? Why is she sitting on a desk that definitely wasn't there before? Is this just a hallucination? [[Mathematician's Answer|Yes.]].

* [[The Mirror Shows Your True Self]]: When Mot disguises himself as a statue, this is how you pick him out from the real statues. (Hehe doesn't create a reflection; the real ones do.).

** {{spoiler|A world of unchangingtotal stillnessfreedom and silenceisolation}}.

** {{spoiler|BringA backworld where the oldweak worldare slaughtered and the strong rule}}.

** The Puzzle Boy music was originally used as the world map music before the missiles hit in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei I]]''. The Fiends battle theme also comes from SMTI''Shin Megami Tensei I''.

* [[Musical Spoiler]]: If you're in the Third Kalpa of the Labyrinth {{spoiler|1=and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngUfhhoRh84 Dante's theme] starts playing, it means he's about to catch you.}}.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: You get 65535 experience points after beating {{spoiler|Lucifer}}. This was the maximum amount of XP you could earn per battle in ''[[Shin Megami Tensei II]]'' because of the variable type that was used in the game.

** Dante uses the same coin when playing Heads or Tails that he did in ''[[Devil May Cry]] 2'', {{spoiler|meaning if you pick heads, you always win the gamble.}}.

** In ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'', the last boss has an Amala Drum on its forehead. Given it's an avatar of God, it could spawn orchards of [[Epileptic Trees]] by itself.

*** Not really since Schrodinger himself says that {{spoiler|the God worshipped in DDS''Digital Devil Saga'' is a different God after you beat Satan.}}.

*** And exactly what is an {{spoiler|entirely foreign God doing with an Amala Drum}}, [[Wild Mass Guessing|hmm]]?

** The Super Pixie you can get is summoned by the [[Bonus Boss|Bonus Bosses]] in Personas''Persona 3'' and ''Persona 4''.

*** The Demi-Fiend is the [[Bonus Boss]] of ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' with the aforementioned Pixie as one of his backup flunkies.

* [[New Game+]]: Lets you keep your Demon Compendium, gives you a new choice of wardrobe for the first part of the game and lets you select a "first person" view for that authentic ''MegaTen'' experience.

* [[Nintendo Hard]]: It's a ''[[Megami Tensei|MegaTen]]'' game. OF COURSE IT'S HARD!

** As if to press home the point, the game describes its "Hard" difficulty setting as "A level of difficulty suitable for one seeking the thrill of death"."

* [[Number of the Beast]]: The final floor of the Tower of Kagutsuchi is the 666th floor. Beelzebub is given this number in HP when fused, per ''[[Mega Ten]]'' tradition. And then there's the Tomb of Yomi in the Labyrinth of Amala's 666th basement.

** "You feel the presence of a terrifying demon... Will you stay here?"

** {{spoiler|Dante}}'s theme whenever {{spoiler|he}} chases you through the Third Kalpa.

** Taken into a broader context (i.e. the other ending possibilities), the three main Reasons fall under "Law.".

* [[Ordinary High School Student]]: The Mainmain Charactercharacter, Chiaki, and Isamu. {{spoiler|This doesn't last, though.}}.

** Also Black Frost after beating him at the prison, and Samael in the final tower if you are allied with Hikawa. Although they can also be fused elsewhere, these two will join you on the spot free of charge at a high level regardless if you could fuse them at that point, provided there is a spot for them in the roster.

** It should be noted that you actually ''need'' to recruit Dante at some point if you want the summoning discount, and it's possible to fuse both Samael and Black Frost as soon as you beat them. So Dante's optional unless you want the full compendium. Also, if you go for the True Demon Endingending (and if you go to the Fifth Kalpa, you probably are doing just that), then Dante becomes ''useless'' against {{spoiler|Lucifer}} since he can't get Pierce. And no, once you hire him, you're stuck with him till the end of the game.

** Although given the ''[[Mega Ten]]'' God, [[Anti-Villain]] [[Villain Protagonist|Protagonist]] seems more appropriate.

** {{spoiler|She also naively thinks Aradia will give her a Reason. Problem? Conception gods ''don't'' give Reasons. As in ''at all''. '''''She's''''' the one who has to develop the inner philosophy to create the Reason, but her own self-confidence issues prevent her from doing so, and she is crushed when Hikawa humiliates her at the Diet Building and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] how she has been doing nothing but run away from one thing or another and being used as Aradia's patsy. She has a [[Heroic BSOD]] there and is vaporized shortly after.}}.

** The Fiend "Hell Biker" is an obvious Shout Out to [[Ghost Rider]]. He's a biker with a skull for a face and flaming wheels on his motorcycle. His original name was yet another shout out;: it was "Hell's Angel.".

** The Lisa Silverman thing was [http://www.siliconera.com/2010/10/03/more-on-that-lost-shin-megami-tensei-game/ confirmed] in recently released alpha screenshots of ''SMTShin Megami Tensei III'', though she was evidently removed fairly early in development (her art style isn't even the same as the rest of the game).

** [[Status Buff Dispel]] / Status Debuff: Tarunda, War Cry, Sukunda, Fog Breath, Rakunda, Taunt, Debilitate and to a lesser extent Dekaja. It is also very important: while War Cry and Fog Breath will knock the enemy's fighting capacity and accuracy and evasion by two levels, respectively, Taunt will lower their defense by two levels ''and'' raise their attack power by two.

* [[Sticky Fingers]]: In the Labyrinth of Amala, there are these two ghosts that heal you for [[Suspicious Videogame Generosity|an exceedingly modest fee]]. {{spoiler|They drug you, kick you back to the Kalpa entrance and take a whole lot of your money.}}.

* [[To Hell and Back]]: Constantly! Feel free to feel [[Like a Badass Out of Hell]]! {{spoiler|[[Up to Eleven|EXTRA]] [[Badass]] [[Future Badass|after]] [[Serial Escalation|reaching the deepest part]]!}}@

* [[Touched by Vorlons]]: The whole game is a mere test by [[Magnificent Bastard|Lucifer]]. {{spoiler|It literally [[Xanatos Gambit|didn't matter what the hell the Demi-Fiend did]] with the power he'd been granted -... Lucifer got the Magatama's combat data either way. Once the product was tested, and its effectiveness vouched for, it was just a matter of time until he found a willing accomplice. The True Demon ending, ''at worst'', was just ''a mathematical inevitability'' -... '''''a half-expected bonus'''''.}}.

* [[Trauma Inn]] -: The Fount of Healing.

* [[Updated Rerelease]]: ''Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Maniax''.

** Averted to the point that the most (arguably) useful spell {{spoiler|Fog Breath, which reduces all enemies' accuracy by half}} can be learned at level 21, from the second magatama.

** Against some of {{spoiler|the four horsemen of Apocalypse}}, using petrification against their helpers will make the fight much easier.

** If you manage to freeze or shock your opponent, ''every'' hit becomes a Critical, earning bonus turns. It's even better if you manage to do it on a boss like {{spoiler|Aciel}}.

* [[Waiting Puzzle]]: The old man in the Fourth Kalpa. {{spoiler|Instead of immediately answering his question as he poses it, wait for three minutes and ''then'' answer "Yes".}}.

* [["Wake-Up Call" Boss]]: Matador again. Up to this point, none of the bosses are too much trouble if you play smart and target elemental weaknesses. Then comes Matador, to whom you will lose several times if it's your first time through. (Hinthint: {{spoiler|you ''will'' need Sukukaja, Sukunda or Fog Breath}}.).

* [[We Cannot Go on Without You]]: It's [[Game Over]] the moment the Demi Fiend dies.

* {{spoiler|[[The Worf Effect]]: If you follow the Musubi Endingending, you can see Isamu and Noah slowly dying on the floor. Isamu then remarks that he never knew Chiaki could be so strong.}}.

* [[World of Ham]]: After the conceptionConception, demons fully embrace the ham.

[[Category:Play StationPlayStation 2]]

[[Category:Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne]]