Demon Party

Shin Megami Tensei: Nine is a role-playing video game primarily set in a cyberspace version of 1990s Tokyo, with players taking control of the silent main protagonist to explore various environments within Tokyo's districts, along with switching between different districts with a dedicated fast-travel menu. The player can adjust the protagonist's name, gender, hair and skin color. Navigation through environments is presented through a third-person perspective, with the player character being followed by one assigned demon. While navigating safe areas, players can enter shops to buy new equipment and items such as healing potions, and change their character's clothing and hairstyle. Combat is triggered through random encounters in environments such as dungeons. Combat in Nine plays out as a real-time combat in an enclosed battle arena: while the battle continues automatically without direct interaction from the player, commands can be issued to party members to perform actions when their turn comes. In addition to specific commands, general offensive or defensive stances can be issued. Battles do not reward experience points as in other Megami Tensei games: instead, equipped jewels affect the protagonist's strengths and stats. As with previous Megami Tensei games, players can negotiate with demons and get them to join their party. Demons can also be fused together to create more powerful demons. The attitudes of demons towards the player changes depending on the current moon phase. The number of demons the player can summon depends on the player's and the demon's "kilodevil" values: a player with 100 kilodevil can summon two 50-kilodevil demons. The player can compress their demons by visiting the Cathedral of Shadows, halving the demons' kilodevil values and allowing the player to summon more demons. At certain points in the game, the player also enters a "hacking" mode, which plays out in a real-time strategy simulation: the protagonist and their companions navigate within closed arenas along pre-set pathways, knocking out nodes blocking the path, and defending against protection bots attempting to stop them. As the player progresses through the game, the character makes dialogue choices that are mapped across a three-by-three alignment matrix: three "down" (Law, Neutral and Chaos), and three "across" (Light, Neutral and Dark). The protagonist's current alignment not only influences the story, but also the loyalty and responsiveness of demon party members.