Can You Beat Shin Megami Tensei V on Hard Without Buffs/Debuffs?

First playthrough highlights: • I Thought Playing SMT ...
Watch my other challenge runs here: • Challenge Runs
SMTV won the vote and this was something I wanted to do anyways so that was very convinient. Unfortunately my first plan (Nahobino only) has already been done so we settled for option 2 which was no buffs/debuffs.
Very fun challenge run as always but not as brutal as I expected it to be with a few exceptions cough Shiva cough
Might do something a little shorter next since those runs always take forever to complate. We kinda stuck with Megaten games lately but I do want to do other things as well again, just a matter of what is happening in which order. With Persona 5 coming out on pretty much every plattform today and Soul Hackers 2 still being rather new, there is enough material to cover future challenges for sure :D
Enjoy the run and feel free to leave suggestions what to go for next!
#shinmegamitensei #smtv #challengerun

[@lowfatslaplordofcheese6410]

This has got to be one of my favorite small channels, this man goes though turn based suffering so we don’t have to.

[@VendreadMike95]

You have the greatest name ever.

[@Deoxys_Used_Mimic]

From what I’ve heard, you actually *DON’T* want a ton of null/repel/drain affinities/abilities for the Shiva fight. His AI reads that, and becomes much more likely to spam Almighty attacks, and since you’re going to be taking guaranteed damage anyway if you *resist* instead of null/repel/drain… …you’ll be taking less damage across the entire fight, because you’ll be taking *half damage* from the *more frequent* elemental attacks instead of *full damage* from *endless* almighty attacks.

[@tvgaming2132]

You want to drain 2 of what Shiva pulls off, you can RESIST one and it'll be fine

[@paperluigi6132]

@@tvgaming2132so 2 drains/nulls/repels is ok, and any more causes the Almighty spam?

[@tvgaming2132]

@@paperluigi6132 from what I know, no. If you can't get hit with anything, he'll spam almighty moves/ that one move that powers up AND allows to pierce anything in the game regardless of resistance

[@that_dude8411]

Or you can just lock him by killing his adds and popping dekunda every turn

[@IkraamDaniels]

SMT without buffs/debuffs. My favourite flavour of suffering

[@VendreadMike95]

Uuf. 👍

[@BoxuTrev]

POV kid me playing any rpg

[@killjoy_ao4653]

Debuffs ❌ Buffs ❌ Pain ✅ Suffering ✅

[@pocketinfinity6733]

perfectly balanced as all things should be

[@Zentiu]

Putting the icing on the cake, he wanted to make his last name Ffs 🤣

[@Hymn_]

the smt experience in a nutshell

[@MILDMONSTER1234]

@@Hymn_ unless it’s smt1 lol

[@Hymn_]

@@MILDMONSTER1234 is smt 1 really that easy? like even easier than p4g?

[@xelldincht4251]

No buff/debuff challenge is the most interesting one. My god did Nyarly struggle to get through SMT Nocturn with those rules. It's admirable how you find ways to make a hard game even harder

[@Hymn_]

“Can you beat SMT V on hard difficulty with no buffs/debuffs.” that’s just straight up psychological torture

[@BurritoOfDoom]

Hey man, just going to say that I found your channel randomly through the Ichiban playthrough and I want to thank you for the amount of effort you put into your content! Going to binge every Video now, stay healthy and thanks again!

[@StanleyG23]

Endure and Enduring Soul stack so having them both on a demon or the Nahobino might not have been a bad idea. Other than that, nice run!

[@ihavenonamestilldonthaveon8970]

They...nuh uh

[@pixienyx4306]

I know you said Nahobino solo has been done, (and I watched Deus, it was brilliant!) but I’d love to see your attempt. I mean yeah, it’s possible, that much is proven, but the sheer amount of choice and adaptability in SMT games mean that your play through is likely to be totally different. RNG, unlocks, tactics, it’ll all be different. I’d genuinely love to see your take on it!

[@JackBenci]

Very nice!

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

About Odin and his usage of Gungnir - he uses attacking skills on the first press turn, then Charge/Concentrate on the second. Gungnir is always what he will use after Charge

[@pixienyx4306]

Love this channel… like legit, you are one of my favourite challenge runners, way up there with the likes of Benci, Nyarly and Robin and Zephyr. Teeny thing though. Max Ishtar can be sealed. And she doesn’t seem all that good at shifting it…. So arguably, Max Ishtar is easier if you get the RNG, and the RNG seems to be in your favour for that fight. Maybe something to try messing about with in future 😊

[@RosyMiranto]

now do SMT V No Fusion No Essence (except for Aogami's) in the future. either way, great job for doing this run man.

[@steam-powereddolphin5449]

Bucketgetter has already done a full No Fusion/Demon Customization run with additional restrictions to minimize cheese. At a (somewhat) low level throughout the whole thing!

[@RosyMiranto]

@@steam-powereddolphin5449 okay thanks

[@cryguy0000]

I think a "no socializing" challenge could be interesting. No side quests, demon negotiation, shop, world of shadows, can only talk to mandatory NPCs

[@raxon912]

Yakumos Akihabara boss fight was difficult enough in my own playthrough

[@crowdoveskies5108]

1:00:02 Shiva:"Say some Nahobino's dissin' your fly girl, just give em' one of these!"

[@TheatreKiller]

Great stuff my brother

[@steam-powereddolphin5449]

I've been thinking that someone would do this at some point; I'm surprised I haven't seen the same thing attempted for the SMT4 titles or Strange Journey.

[@OrionEJ]

The game is BALANCED around buffs and debuffs. To not use buffs and debuffs is pain.

[@jbn507]

You pronounced Loup Garou correctly! I’m actually going through the game with no fusions allowed on hard right now, it’s pretty fun

[@Syrahl696]

To get a demon to give you its essence, don't you have to first level it up enough to unlock all it's skills? I'm pretty sure thats how it works, and if so, that Sandalphon grind was a bit of a waste of 2 hours. Oops!

[@deathiezzlulz]

16:27 feeun mac cuu hill. it’s an irish name

[@gabrieldevoogel6225]

Hey! I personally think yoy should’ve done magic because there’s a demon named Yoshitsune who’s really great from when you get him onward as a physical attacker, but I still loved the video and think your phys build was well made with your restrictions especially being impressive to have succeeded with

[@kichiroumitsurugi4363]

He already got Yoshitsune anyway, but Murakumo still far outclasses Hassou Tobi

[@Pystoria]

You are a brave man

[@Atelierwanwan]

Fun video as usual. I do admit since I haven't played SMT I don't know how significant this challenge it as I never use buffs or debuffs in games anyway. I always feel like I'm wasting a turn, especially in the games where the buffs have a short time. Am I doing more damage in 2 turns with the buff than I would have with just an extra attack kind of thing.

[@Noahs_Chair]

In most SMT games not using buffs and debuffs is borderline suicidal. However, SMT V massively nerf buffs/debuffs. They only have 2 stages instead of 4, they run out if you wait, and they are split in All target and single so you don't get party wide buffs out of the gate. They are still really good here since you have passives that extend their duration and their multiplyers are as fat as always. But this is still by far the easiest game to beat without buffs/debuffs.

[@shiroamakusa8075]

Watching this I'd actually think banning dampeners of any kind would actually be a tougher challenge.

[@Zorothegallade-gg7zg]

An even better idea would be a "No added resistances" challenge. -You can't use Dampeners -You can't add passive skills that grant resistances, immunities, repels or drains to the Nahobino or Demons -You CAN use an Essence to change Nahobino's affinities.

[@notbob7305]

9:17 you can also did this with a ragda absence way later in the game

[@scottdreemurrthegodofcreation]

You call this a challenge this is how I always play the only time I buff is for last hit to show off and I only use luster candy to make sure that I overkill everything

[@houseoutwrong2187]

Fionn McCool is how it's pronounced

[@light6666]

can you beat smt5 without MC (note you are alowed to play normally till you get pixie mc is not alowed to deal direct damage so poison and other form of damage is totally fine including reflect as its not you doing the damage)

[@darkstar_xd]

This Challenge is Basically Impossible in SMT 3, Soo lets see If It is Possible in SMT 5 :D

[@ozossosozz7300]

Any reason why you don't slot the nahobino to 2nd-4th team slot at any point since you can't guarantee first turn crit for press token for most of the game on strength build?

[@RagnarAlvarrGaming]

You'll notice that I switched Nahobino around for certain boss battles due to getting easier press turns. For the majority of the game it wasn't necessary though and I kinda like having the protagonist on slot 1 to lead off the team :)

[@katieheys3007]

I'm a long term RPG player so started this game in hard and died on the second battle...three times. haha

[@littlevivigaming4822]

According to Persona 5, Cu Chulainn is pronounced "coo hoolan"

[@raikaria3090]

Wait if Charge/Concentrate is x1.8; dosen't that mean it's a dps loss to use them?

[@RagnarAlvarrGaming]

If you time them with your magatsuhi (guaranteed crit or more crit damage) it is still stronger overall but yeah, those got nerfed quite a bit in SMTV.

[@appledroplarry]

Looks easier than nocturne challenge.

[@Dajudge06]

I guess I didnt know they still made Tensei games or that for some reason I just havent seen this one before, guess I assumed they broke off Tensei for the Persona games. Granted I havent been huge into SMT games but I would keep an eye on them since Nocturne caught my eye way back on the ps2 (mostly because I was HUGE into DMC games at that time XD).

[@DamonAkuma92]

I did i always abuse the shit out of the press turn system and add all elemental skills to multiple magic based demons.

[@chunkytomatosoup1826]

You can pretty much just sleepwalk through base smtv anyways unless