Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster is finally here on not just PS4 and Nintendo Switch, but also PC via Steam. This will be the first Shin Megami Tensei game available in English across those platforms and hopefully we see more follow through new releases and remasters of older games. Many people playing Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster will have never played a Shin Megami Tensei game before or likely have gotten into the series through the more recent Nintendo 3DS entries like the excellent Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker or even Shin Megami Tensei IV (one of the best soundtracks of all time). This guide aims to help everyone beginning their Shin Megami Tensei journey with Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster beginners tips
If you’ve never played a Shin Megami Tensei game before but have played JRPGs, you will find a lot to love here assuming you put the effort in to learn the game’s mechanics. Nocturne isn’t a cakewalk but it also isn’t as punishing as some claim. The tips below will help you out in the early hours of Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster and get your bearings in order for how to best approach some difficult situations while preparing you for some of the later parts of the game.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster Dante or Raidou
Before you start a new game in Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster, you need to decide whether you want Raidou or Dante in your game. This is assuming you’ve bought the Maniax Pack DLC that adds Dante as an option over Raidou Kuzunoha. If you start a ‘New Game’, you get Raidou (on PS4 and Nintendo Switch) but if you start New Game: Maniax, Dante will be in your game. On PC, you need to download the Chronicle Pack DLC (free) to get Raidou because the content is not available in all regions.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster combat tips
Nocturne’s combat is all about stealing turns, buffing, debuffing, and surviving. I adore Nocturne’s combat but it isn’t as welcoming as many modern games because very few people actually pay attention to skills and weaknesses. In Nocturne, you should exploit weaknesses of your enemies to earn more turns and deal damage through buffs and debuffs. Buffing and debuffing are most important in boss fights but they can get you out of a tough encounter with normal enemies as well. If an attack deals critical damage or attacks an enemy weakness, you are rewarded. If you attack and the enemy absorbs it or your attack misses the enemy, you are punished. All of this is indicated by the turn icons on the top of the screen.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster exploration tips
While exploring, pay attention to the colour flashing on your compass. It indicates how far you are from an encounter with it moving towards flashing red. If it is flashing purple, you are in a safe zone. There are a lot of chests and items hidden away in locations alongside a lot of NPCs with important lore. Try and talk to NPCs but be warned that some might initiate combat with you in certain areas. Exploring also lets you discover junk shops for items, terminals to save, the cathedral of shadows, the fountain of life, and more.
How to save in Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster
You can save at terminals in Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster. You can also suspend your data and create a suspend save to resume later on. There are multiple save slots but only one suspend save option. Make sure you save at terminals often because some encounters can wipe your party out and you don’t want to have hours of your time wasted.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster build and stat tips for levelling up
When you level up, you can allocate points to different stats. If you’ve never played Nocturne before, I would recommend focussing on Strength first and then adding points to agility and vitality. Leave the magic to your demons through recruiting and fusion.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster demon fusion tips
One of the biggest misconceptions about Nocturne is that it is a grindy game. The only time you need to work on levelling up is to fuse better demons or unlock specific skills. Avoid levelling up demons beyond a certain point and work on fusing them for more powerful demons. Remember that inheritance of skills in Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster can be manual so you don’t need to hope for a good RNG solution. Don’t worry about fusing initially (barring your first pixie which you should keep track of or avoid fusing) because you do unlock the ability to summon demons you have registered at the Cathedral of Shadows.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster buffs and debuffs are essential
While you can get away with not buffing and debuffing in many modern JRPGs, both are absolutely essential in Nocturne. This is even more important in boss fights. Skills like Rajukaja (raise party defense), Tarukaja (raise party’s physical attack), Rakunda (lower all foes defense), Sukunda, etc are all important in battles. While you may find yourself not needing them in normal battles, some enemies hit very hard so it is best to understand the buffs and debuffs you have in your repertoire for the harder battles.
Save often in Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster
Despite mentioning this already while discussing how to save, I wanted to drive the point home that you absolutely need to get used to saving often because there will be moments you get wiped out and end up losing a lot of time invested if you didn’t save recently. This also helps while fusing because some fusions don’t go according to plan later on.
Your first pixie is very important in Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster
Right in the hospital where you start, you recruit a pixie. Keep track of this pixie who evolves because you are rewarded later on in the game. If you fuse the pixie into something else, you need to keep track of that demon for the same situation.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster has manual skill inheritance while fusing
You can also use the old fashioned random inheritance but if you’d like to select your skills manually, pay attention to the button prompts on the bottom of the screen when fusing to know which inheritance to use in Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster change magatama
Ingesting a magatama gives you specific magic, stat boosts, and some bonuses like the ability to nullify certain attacks (while being weak to others). Ingesting different magatama is key to surviving in Nocturne because some boss battles go from a hard encounter to a walk in the park if you have the correct magatama ingested. You also unlock different skills as you level up with different magatama.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster boss fight tips
Barring ingesting different magatama for a specific fight (this is why you should save often), boss battles are a true test of your combat chops in Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster. Grinding levels aren’t needed but getting appropriate demons fused for specific skills is more important in Nocturne boss battles. While some boss fights are very difficult, paying attention to weaknesses, having a nice spread of skills through your demons, buffing, and debuffing will all take you very far in Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster.
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster releases on May 25 for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.
