Introducing Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - Hardtype! This is a hack of the original game designed with several primary goals in mind:

1) Rebalance many aspects of the original game.

2) Create a gameplay experience that is challenging to veterans of the SMT series.

3) Add in some fresh new enemies and skills to revitalize the gameplay experience.

This hack is intended for people who have already played (and generally mastered) the original game, and is designed to be played on Hard mode. For those who don’t fit this profile, or don’t want a more challenging experience than the original, then feel free to play on Normal mode.

This download includes a patch with instructions to apply changes to a ROM file of SMT Nocturne. It also includes a patch for the useful Heretic Mansion tool and instructions on where to get it.

Here is a list of features by category. This list is not comprehensive, but covers many of the more important changes:

Qualify of Life Enhancements:

Lower quality skills are no longer more likely to transfer in fusions (I’m looking at you, Pester)

Unlearned skills on demons and magatama are no longer hidden

Swapping demons now uses half a press turn

Demons can now swap themselves out

Demons in stock gain 75% of the XP gained in battle (100% with Watchful)

Geis can now be bought in a shop in addition to being won from Puzzle Boy

Shop prices are now only doubled on Hard mode, not tripled

Son’s Oath now gives Dante the Pierce effect

Retreat is now possible (albeit unlikely) in Hard mode

MP pools are increased by 1/3

AoE healing now affects your entire roster, not just the active party

Difficulty Enhancements:

After the earliest areas of the game, new and powerful enemies will show up during full Kagutsuchi

Enemy encounter sets have been enhanced

Enemy scripts have been enhanced

Boss scripts have been selectively altered, and their stats have been increased substantially

The HP of random encounter enemies scales up more over the course of the game

New maximum of 2 -Kaja stacks on the player and 2 -Kunda stacks on enemies

Trafuri is removed

Tetra/Makarakarn now only affect the caster

Estoma’s effectiveness is reduced (until you get Masakados)

Mitama stat bonus cap lowered from +100% to +25% of base stats

Balance Changes:

Physical skills have been improved in the early and mid-game

Magic skills have been improved in the late-game (and magic damage no longer caps)

Pierce now also penetrates Resist/Null for magic skills

HP-based skills now use strength for damage, and their damage output ranges from 60%-100% of normal based on your current HP% (the power of these skills was raised a bit to compensate for this)

Agility and Luck now have much higher impact on the things they effect

Luck now affects the rate of ailments and instant death

Luck now affects critical hit chance

Luck is now the primary factor in magic accuracy (yes, Luck did almost nothing in the original game…)

Dark/Bright Might crit rate reduced to 50%

Might crit rate increased to 30%

Might skills, Drain Attack, and Attack All can now all stack with each other

Drain attack healing increased to 100% of damage dealt

Shock and Freeze can now work on bosses and only last through one physical attack

Tarukaja now affects both physical and magical attacks (Makakaja was repurposed)

Tornado damage reduced from Heavy to Med

MC’s unique Phys skills have been re-tooled and re-balanced (check ‘em out!)

Many new skills have been placed on Magatama

Stat bonuses on Magatama have been generally improved

Magma Axis now treats a target’s Drain Fire or Repel Fire as Void Fire (works with Pierce)

Resistances and skillsets of demons have been rebalanced

Elem Boost skills reduced to +30%

New Skills (a few are re-works):

Scald: AoE Light-Mid Fire damage. Lowers enemy physical attack.

Laevateinn: Acts as Fire Boost and enhances Surt’s regular Attack

Chill: Single target Light-Mid Ice damage. Inflicts Sukunda.

Cocytus: 3-7 hits of Mid Ice damage. High odds of Freeze.

Niflheim: AoE Mega Ice damage. Lowers enemy evasion.

Zap: Single target Light Elec damage. Extremely high chance of Shock.

Mjolnir: Single target Mega Elec damage. High chance of Shock.

Thunder Reign: AoE Mega Elec damage. Moderately high chance of shock.

Odinson: Passive skill that acts as Elec boost and doubles Shock chance. (unique to Odin)

Dervish: AoE Light-Mid Force damage. Lowers enemy evasion

Panta Rhei: AoE Mega Force damage.

Vayavya: 3-7 hits of Heavy Force damage. Low odds of Stun.

Antichthon: Single target Heavy Almighty damage. Inflicts Debilitate.

Last Word: Single target Severe Almighty damage. Uses all remaining press turns.

God’s Curse: AoE Med-Heavy Almighty damage. Inflicts random Curse/Nerve ailments.

Sol Niger: AoE Heavy Almighty damage. Dekaja effect.

Babylon Goblet: Sukunda effect. Mid odds of Panic.

Soul Drain: Drains HP&MP from the enemy. (More powerful than Life Drain / Meditate)

Fang Breaker: Single target Light Phys damage. Tarunda effect.

Akasha Arts: Single target Heavy Phys damage. Greater damage with lower HP%.

Primal Force: Single target Severe Phys damage. Cannot crit without Shock/Freeze.

Skull Cleave: Single target Heavy Phys damage. Rakunda effect.

Chi Blast: AoE Light Phys damage. Low accuracy, high crit rate.

Earthquake: AoE Mega Phys damage. High accuracy, low odds of Stun. Cannot crit without Shock/Freeze.

Gate of Hell: AoE Heavy Phys damage. Low odds of Petrify.

Poison Arrow: 3-5 hits of Light Phys damage. Low odds of Poison.

Bloodbath: 3-5 hits of Mid Phys damage. Low accuracy, high crit rate.

Sakura Rage: 3-5 hits of Mid Phys damage. Low odds of Charm.

Amrita: Heals all ailments on the party.

Cadenza: Increases accuracy and magic attack.

Heat Riser: Grants all -kaja effects twice to one target.

Luster Candy: Grants all -kaja effects to the party. (AVAILABLE AS CONSUMABLE ITEM ONLY)

Anti-Magic: Grants Fire/Ice/Elec/Force resistance.

Anti-Ailments: Grants Nerve/Curse/Mind resistance.

Void Ailments: Grants immunity to Nerve/Curse/Mind.

Unshaken Will: Grants 2x resistance to Nerve/Curse/Mind/Death/Expel.

Magic Boost: Acts as Fire/Ice/Elec/Force Boost.

Arms Master: Halves the HP cost of physical skills.

Tips:

The XP gain on player demons not participating in battle and the half turn cost to swap them in makes using more than 4 demons much more powerful than in the original game. Use this to your advantage, and think beyond your 4 active party members.

Be mindful of helpful consumables that can be purchased from Rag’s Jewelry.

If a non-boss battle is going poorly: see if you have a Smoke Ball to use.

v1.1 Changes:

1st Person view no longer requires New Game+

Patra/Me Patra now cures Charm

Spectre (round 1) toned down a bit

Various minor to moderate bugs have been fixed

v1.2 Changes:

Fixed a bug with enemy HP-based Phys damage

Fixed a bug where ailments would sometimes have lower landing rates than intended

v1.3 Changes:

Fixed a bug where Summon would fail after using Counter

v1.4 Changes:

Fixed a bug related to Counter/Retaliate/Avenge

Fixed a bug with Last Resort

Fixed a bug with Babylon Goblet’s Panic effect not working

Fixed a bug where Full Kagutsuchi encounters wouldn’t show up in the certain rooms in a few areas

Anti-Elem skills now remove “Weakness”

Altered a special encounter in the Third Kalpa due to grapical limitations

Reworked some early game Full Kagutsuchi encounters and gave all of them the special music

Removed Akasha Arts from Scathach (she can’t inherit Phys)

Gave Scathach resist Ice

The following bosses made a bit less difficult: Sakahagi, Mother Harlot, Spectre (round 1)

v1.5 Changes:

Various lesser bug fixes

v1.5.1 Changes:

Improved patch compatibility

Gameplay and Development Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLx562Kqmyk&list=PLGBzzp0L1vpBXxA6RwYX0VPpgx3K6x-tt