Whee! I’m on the neutral route! I’m so happy~! I didn’t think I’d make it because I only started using a FAQ when it was almost too late. For most of the game I just chose options that seemed right to me and generally tried to be a decent sort of guy. Unfortunately the stories in these SMT games are so juvenile, always trying so hard to be “edgy” and “against the grain” that being an honest fellow and not wantonly murdering people somehow makes you side with brain-sucking gangsters and dictatorial angels instead of just making you a normal human being. Go figure.
Sure it was pretty obvious that Ashura-kai’s red pills were made from people all along (thanks to Soylent Green, everything in fiction is made of people), but I never expected that I was siding with them by trying to be a nice person. It wasn’t till after the event Shene Duque that I realized I was in trouble. Quick, time to do a 360! And so it was that I was forced to be a complete duck’s bottom to everyone for the rest of the game if I didn’t want to end up with the nutcases.
Button up your shirt, for goodness sake!
At the same time I didn’t want to go so far to the other side that I ended up on the Chaos route. Every Chaos route in every SMT game I’ve played (not many I admit) has been quite nonsensical, and Shin Megami Tensei IV was no exception. Part of it is probably due to Walter’s going on and on about how only the strong should make a world when he himself is so weak and stupid he would be wiped out in an instant in such a world. IMO the game didn’t adequately establish what was so bad about being Casualry vs. Luxuror, or what exactly was so terrible about Walter’s upbringing as the son of a fisherman, so all that whining about “You don’t know what it’s like to be a Casualry” just left me scratching my head.
IMO half of the 15 hours spent chasing the Black Samurai in Tokyo should have been devoted to traveling around the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado and seeing just how hard people had it. Then if someone starts blathering about only the strong survive I get it. As it is Walter isn’t making any sense at all. What exactly is his problem? It’s like he just exists because someone somewhere has to be the counterpart to Jonathan and the Law route, but just like Ronaldo in Devil Survivor 2 he doesn’t appear to believe a word he’s saying.
tl;dr Law was repulsive and Chaos was stupid, which left only the Neutral route worth pursuing. After Shene Duque I figured I was way over on the Law side, so I just found a GameFAQs thread with all the answers after the Camp Ichigaya events and picked all chaos choices. Chaos, chaos, chaos, chaos, chaos. Finally when the White Ones questioned me after Infernal Tokyo, I chose to destroy the world. Woke up in the forest and… ewww, Walter. Reload! Reload! From my save right before fighting Kenji. This time I chose to preserve the world. Woke up in the forest, success!! Hello Stephen, boy am I glad to see you! I was so happy I did that little “Hell yeah!” pose Flynn does every time he finishes a delivery quest. ^________^ Yay!
TBH I would have gone with Chaos in a pinch if I’d had to, simply because Infernal Tokyo was kind of fun, but Law? No way. Way no. I would rather destroy the world than go Law. But I’m really glad I got neutral because the chances of me replaying this game are close to zero. I rarely replay games to begin with, much less ones as long drawn-out as Shin Megami Tensei IV. So phew! Lucky me!
Though honestly speaking most of the fun I’m having with this game comes from doing sidequests and recruiting and fusing demons, not from the story. I love getting huge amounts of EXP for doing nothing in particular at all. In fact I’m always bummed out when I run out of quests and have to continue the main game. At the same time progressing the story leads to new areas with new demons to woo, so win-win all around. But anyway, we can talk about all the stuff I like and dislike when I’m finally done with the game. MC is level 76 and I forget how many hours I’ve played. About 70? Yeah, no way I’m replaying SMTIV at this rate, so let’s finish this once and for all!
