SMT Nocturne HD - Merciful TDE Glitched Route

See here for more information on specific glitches:
https://pastebin.com/GtzT8M8r

Before the run:
Disable Mercy and Expectation Map Pack DLC
Backup and erase previous saves - %APPDATA%\SEGA\smt3hd
Config > set Auto Memory on

You are required to save whenever it's mentioned. Always save in a new save slot, because you will need to use older saves as part of some glitches.

The first half of the run is trying to get to level 28 as fast as possible. Therefore pre-level 28 we want to quickly defeat any random encounters that give good EXP and run away from all others. Generally I'd wait until you at least have Ice Breath and maybe even wait until you have Ice Boost and/or Tornado to start fighting random battles so that the battles go as quickly as possible. Post-level 28 you'll run away from every single random battle for the rest of the run. Escape chance is 100% on Merciful.

Generally all of Demi-fiend's level-ups go to MAG stat. But STR on the first few level-ups may save a bit of time.

Reject all demon skill mutations and item gifts. The only thing that you could get that could be useful is a single Attract Pipe if you don't have Willy.





Pre-conception:
Don't need to get the Sacred Water. You do want to get the Soma.


SAVE as soon as you get to the first terminal in Shinjuku Medical Center

Pick up tutorial medicine
auto through all of the tutorial fights

Pretas:
attack zio attack

Immediately after Pretas, pause and switch the difficulty from Merciful to Normal to get more encounters

Need to get 2 recruit's before Forneus, one of which must be Shikigami. ideally you get Willy for Riberama, but it's not worth resetting for and if you're lucky with encounters later then he's unnecessary

if you can get a third demon very quickly it can be nice too, it'll save one fusion later

Pick up life stones in room to help with recruiting


as soon as you've recruited 2 or 3 demons, pause and set difficulty back to Merciful


Forneus:
zio until shock and all attack when shocked
Start putting stats into MAG from here onward
equip Wadatsumi

you do not need to stop at Yoyogi park

Run straight through Shibuya. No need to stop at the store at all. If you want to heal, it'll be faster to just do it at the heal room in Amala 1

Amala 1
1. left right

2. left left left thing straight backward

3. left right straight straight thing
then back
right right stairs, straight, right to specter

Specter:
literally just attack
Evolve High Pixie if not evolved already

Grab the Repulse Bell in Ginza if you have Willy (and so might Riberama later)

Underpass
straight through first hallway, door
cutscene, right, ladder
second door on right left door door
follow cutscene right


Troll:
attack and 1 Rakunda (NO ICE BREATH)
Either High Pixie or Kodama might go first

Heal at fountain on the way back to Ginza terminal to restore Pixie's MP (and any HP)

BUY HIFUMI. Buy 11 Chakra Drops (hit R1 once when buying) and sell soma and bead chain(s)


Between here and level 28:
take any battles that look like they give a lot of EXP. quickly Ice Breath / Tornado them


Matador:
Ideally turn order is 1 Pass, High Pixie, 3 Pass, MC (Look at agility ties if High Pixie isn't going second)
if you recruited any extra demons in SMC and have a choice to slot someone in to mitigate force weaknesses then do it

Pixie keep him at -2 Rakunda, attacks otherwise
If he taunts, switch MC to attack


equip Hifumi now that Ice Boost is learned


After Matador:
at fork go left right door ladderdown, cross diagonally
ladderup ladderdown ladderup door
ladderdown, cross on same side
ladderup ladderdown, cross on same side ladder up

Heal before or after cathedral
Register the whole party. Buy back Pixie
Fuse Pixie x High Pixie = Aeros with Rakunda
buy back Pixie and High Pixie and summon Aeros, High Pixie, Pixie


For Orthrus / Yaksini, don't go below 75 MP (want 3 Tornado's for Thor)
Orthrus:
Attack and Ice Breath, two ice breaths round 1 can kill

Yaksini:
zio zio Ice Breath zio
learn Tornado if not learned already

Thor:
Tornado twice each turn and Rakundas
if he's still not dead then you may need an extra Ice Breath

Dante:
Tornado twice each turn and Rakundas

Daisoujou:
Tornado twice each turn and Rakundas

Assembly of Nihilo:
First puzzle
5 1 7 exit 8

Eligor:
just Tornado.  extra Zio if necessary
no need to pick up the Kila after the fight

if you have willy and haven't gotten a lot of encounter EXP already then activate Riberama now to get a few more while on your way to Berith

Second puzzle:
1 6 7 exit 8

if you're partway through level 26 then maybe you can skip first optional Eligor
else, do it now on the way to Berith

Berith:
Tornado's and Rakunda's

Need to be level 28 now. If you need more EXP, fight the stationary Eligor's on this floor and a couple more battles
use Riberama to help with this if you have Willy
setting the difficulty to Normal and then setting it back to Merciful just before an encounter can speed things up too. just have to be careful because the radar's color is a couple seconds delayed


Warp to Shibuya

Follow the fusions depending on who you recruited in SMC. There's an argument for either going for Take-Minakata OR Momunofu here. See appendix to see the pros and cons. Up to you who to choose. Maybe even just go with whichever has the shorter fusion chain here.
If you recruited an extra demon in SMC you can skip the extra demon mentioned here.

Shikigami AND Willy:
Take-Minakata route:
Shikigami x Pixie = Lilim
Buy back Shikigami
Shikigami x Lilim = Take-Minakata with Tarukaja
High Pixie x Willy = Choronzon (for extra demon)
Buy back High Pixie, Pixie, Shikigami, Lilim, Willy

Momunofu route:
Shikigami x Pixie = Lilim with Tarukaja
Willy x Lilim = Momunofu with Tarukaja
High Pixie x Aeros = Jack Frost (for extra demon)
Buy back Aeros, High Pixie, Pixie, Shikigami, Lilim, Willy

Shikigami AND Preta:
Take-Minakata route:
Preta x Pixie = Lilim
Shikigami x Lilim = Take-Minakata with Tarukaja
High Pixie x Aeros = Jack Frost (for extra demon)
Buy back Aeros, High Pixie, Pixie, Shikigami, Lilim, Preta

Momunofu route:
Preta x Shikigami = Slime with Tarukaja
Buy back Preta
Slime x Preta = Momunofu with Tarukaja
High Pixie x Aeros = Jack Frost (for extra demon)
Buy back Aeros, High Pixie, Shikigami, Preta, Slime

Shikigami AND Kodama:
Momunofu route:
Shikigami x Pixie = Lilim
Buy back Shikigami
Lilim x Shikigami = Take-Minakata with Tarukaja
Buy back Shikigami
Shikigami x Kodama = Jack Frost
Jack Frost x Take-Minakata = Momunofu with Tarukaja
Buy back Jack Frost, Pixie, Kodama, Shikigami, Lilim

Take-Minakata route:
Shikigami x Pixie = Lilim
Buy back Shikigami
Lilim x Shikigami = Take-Minakata with Tarukaja
High Pixie x Kodama = Apsaras (for extra demon)
Buy back High Pixie, Pixie, Kodama, Shikigami, Lilim

Shikigami AND Hua Po:
same as Shikigami and Kodama, just replace Kodama with Hua Po


You must have 8 demons now


Go to labyrinth, dismiss Demi-fiend, summon 3 demons and get Pisaca, SAVE at labyrinth entrance with Pisaca summoned in 4th slot
^THIS IS CUTSCENE STORAGE SAVE^

Warp to Shibuya, do Transparent Menu Storage, perform Early 5th Kalpa. Don't go down the elevator. Rather, perform a Suspend Interrupt on the nearby ladder. Hit the Suspend button the same time as ladder climb, quickly hit up A as fast as you can and you should interrupt. Then climb back down the ladder and get TDE.

After TDE, SAVE at SMC terminal. Reload the suspend on the ladder and then load warp the SMC save here.

Make your way up through 5th kalpa. ACCEPT Dante the first time. Go to labyrinth entrance and SAVE

Warp to Shibuya. PART WITH any 2 unsummoned demons (not Pisaca) to make space for 2 more Dante's. Heal now if 4th demon is injured at all.

Leave Shibuya, use a Dante join scene to Cutscene Storage to clip to Yoyogi East (specifically go through the trees):
Suspend. Reload latest Labyrinth save. Go down to 5th kalpa. Load warp the earlier labyrinth save when you first got Pisaca in 4th slot. then dupe the Dante scene to the suspended save you just made

Summon 2 Dante's and Momunofu / Take-Minakata.


Talk to Yuko

Touch the Yoyogi terminal (no need to save though)

leave and make your way backward to Asakusa

Asakusa Tunnel:
Left track, liftoma and lightoma and estoma
Go to corner of the floor, ignore room you pass on the way. climb ladder leave on your right
Touch Asakusa terminal (no need to save)
See Sakahagi first then Suspend and Dante dupe down to Mifunashiro. Warp back to Asakusa and say hi to Hijiri

Warp back to Yoyogi


Pyro Jack's maze:
left, right, door on the right, right, straight to the end, door, right, end then left, door, right, door.

Titania's maze:
Straight to the end, left, door, left, turn right, door, Oberon cutscene, right, door

High Pixie's 8-way maze:
wiggle right, left door (door in front of you), right, door, left, door, left, door, straight, door, Shrek cutscene.

5 rows of 3 doors.
middle, middle, middle, left, left

Gary:
Provoke Provoke Whirlwind Whirlwind repeat (he'll probably Dekunda every turn but it's possible he won't)
PRAY he doesn't kill or panic 4th demon
If you're really worried about Gary killing your 4th demon then you may mitigate risk by just Whirlwinding 4 times every turn rather than Provoking him at all

Sakahagi:
Provoke Provoke Attack Attack

Overwrite Pisaca's Watchful with Stun Gaze
Overwrite Dante's E&I with Twosome Time
Evolve Momunofu to Arahabaki, say no to any skills he learns
If you're on Take-Minakata route, it may be worth learning Dekaja (probably not though)


Small terminal warp back to Yoyogi terminal, talk to Yuko and mash A through her dialogue choices

warp to Ikebukero, Estoma and go to Gozu-Tennoh
Heal on your way back to Ikebukero terminal
Warp back to Asakusa

Specter 3:
Twosome Twosome
Alternatively, Provoke Provoke Twosome. Twosome has a really long animation so they're about equal

Amala Temple:
suspend facing left wall near exit
cutscene storage to get through
Set Pyramidion then walk over to terminal (you can safely walk diagonally oob toward it)

Warp to Ginza. Estoma.
Walk over to Marunochi entrance
Straight to elevator
Left/Straight at the bottom of elevator to door to proceed


Moirae Sisters:
t1: Provoke Provoke Twosome Pass Twosome
t2: Twosome Attack Atropos who's probably barely alive
if Tetrakarn, use Whirlwind twice turn 2

Discard Stinger


Tower of Kagutuschi:

We need to save the game with Dante having an escape in Auto Memory. So Riberama right away to try to get an escape before the first save point. After you get one, use Estoma to turn it off.

go straight and ride up light. door. ride blocks up

straight up stairs, save if you got an escape (stop and get one if not), door, door, right path, left door, ride, left door,
door, right passage, door, hook right to stairs, ride

middle block up, open menu storage and load while on the elevator. LET THE BLOCK RIDE ALL THE WAY UP then load the savefile
you should be below the block now

left block
block to your right goes to Ahriman

Menu storage and load last save to escape from Ahriman. Be careful and don't dismiss any Dante's when you're doing this Menu Storage because we need to be positive that the one who goes first is the one who has Escape in Auto Memory


Go straight a few times and ride up blocks. left immediately through door. use liftoma. straight through red floor and up the block
hug left, ignore 1st door, SAVE on your left (doesn't matter if you got an encounter after Ahriman or not)
straight into big door
2nd left door, wiggle left then right to peninsula sticking out, follow invisible bridge

Menu storage and load last save to escape from Noah


At ToK3 area heal and buy 99 medicines (hold R1 to buy quickly). no need to save

There are two ways to skip Thor. The second way is a little bit faster.
First way to skip Thor:
Menu Storage and suspend the game during pre-fight dialogue. When you reload you'll be past his battle trigger and can walk up to the right side to do the teleport maze.
follow your compass to beat teleport maze:
S-E-N-E-S-Mid-S-Warp
S-W-S-W-S-Warp
N-W-N-W-S-Warp
NE-Warp
S-W-Warp.

Second way to skip both Thor and the teleport maze:
Suspend while facing a wall before the Thor battle trigger. Perform Cutscene Storage to get out-of-bounds. VERY carefully run up the stairs on the side of the room while staying oob. The floor void drop-off is extremely close to the edge here. Get to the other side of the room or middle of the room and then go back in bounds. You can safely fall through the middle of the room because there's solid floor in the middle even when the block isn't down.

go right, right, use liftoma, turn right twice while hugging left wall, mash X to Ride
straight over invisible bridge, walk into corner, go S to big door
right, right, loop thru middle island to Dominion
ride, save at 3-C on your left

Menu storage and load last save to escape from Baal Avatar


no need to save at 3-D. put stones in. then menu storage before Kagutsuchi.

Kagutsuchi:
t1: Pass, Provoke, Pass, Tarukaja x2
t2: Pass, Rebellion, Pass/Attack, Tarukaja x2
t3: Rebellion and whatever

kind of try to count to 20k for phase 1 and just use Attacks or Passes when you're close
use medicines as much as you like just for added safety


Lucifer:
Escape lol gg


















Appendix:

The 4th demon - Take-Minakata vs Momunofu:
You can get 4 Dante's if you like. But each Dante clone requires another trip down the 5th Kalpa tunnel minigame, and 4 Dante's is effectively the same as 3 Dante's and a random 4th since the random 4th can just pass its turn to get 4 Dante turns. Also, adding a different 4th demon lets us use Tarukaja, which speeds up Kagutsuchi. The easiest way to get Tarukaja is to learn it on Shikigami and then fuse it on to something a little stronger

Take-Minakata and Momunofu are the two best-looking options to use as the 4th demon fused up from Shikigami. The big difference is their resists. Momunofu resists Phys, but he's weak to Panic Voice. Take-Minakata doesn't resist Phys but he also isn't weak to Panic Voice. This is the most notable difference, because the biggest variable the 4th demon has on the run is whether or not Gary decides to end the run by targeting this demon. Gary's pretty strong and if you want to go fast you'll Provoke him up to +4 Tarukaja, so he can easily kill Take-Minakata if he wants to. But if Momunofu gets panicked and dismisses himself it's also gg. So it's a tradeoff. More recently I've been going with Take-Minakata because the Kodama + Shikigami fusion is shorter and that's the most likely demon combo you'll have coming out of SMC.

The other notable difference is that Take-Minakata learns Dekaja. But this actually isn't a huge deal. He likely won't get it before Gary, and it's not super useful for later fights. Most bosses die so quickly it wouldn't matter much. With +4 Tarukaja's on Dante's, even Kagutsuchi is pretty safe due to how fast he dies. And also the 4th demon is allowed to die to Kagutsuchi. If the 4th demon dies or gets dismissed anywhere else it's gg because you can't activate Menu Storage anymore. But Menu Storage is already active during Kagutsuchi and you never need to reactivate it at that point so it's no big deal if 4th demon dies then.



Alternate 4th demon - maybe even safer strats:
Shikigami x Pisaca = Black Ooze
Black Ooze both resists phys (unlike Take-Minakata) but isn't weak to panic (unlike Momunofu)
But this is slower because you need to warp back again to labyrinth and save with 9 demons afterward to setup the cutscene storage savefile. You also probably want to buy back Pisaca because his utility skills are just nice to have, and I'm not sure if that might be stretching your available macca thin...
Ara Mitama would also be very ideal, but it's a little trickier to get a consistent fusion chain leading to him.



Rag Demon elements - Possibly useful in a re-route:
Flaemis = Pearl x1 Coral x1 (theoretically possible to nab almost zero-time with a very quick Isora encounter and mystic chest luck)
Aquans = Agate x1 Aquamarine x2
Erthys = Agate x1 Onyx x2
Aeros = Agate x1 Turqoise x2 (but already available from Pixie x High Pixie)



Possible route variation:
You have a choice at Assembly of Nihilo. The first choice is to leave without getting all the Kila's as soon as you get to level 28, likely immediately after Berith. If you leave without the Kila's, you need to unlock the Marunochi entrance legit by going backward to Asakusa immediately when you get to Yoyogi and doing the Sakahagi and Mifunashiro cutscenes. This is necessary so that later in the game you can get to the Obelisk, and therefore Tower of Kagutusuchi.

The other option is getting all 4 Kila's and never unlocking the Marunochi entrance. In this case, you would leave Assembly of Nihilo immediately after beating Kaiwan. You can skip the initial stuff at Asakusa. Later in the game when you need to go to ToK, you would warp back to Assembly of Nihilo, put the Kila's in, and at the bottom in the True Core floor you use Cutscene Storage to go out-of-bounds to walk to the Marunochi side of the floor.

The time difference between these two is actually very close. I think in theory skipping the 4 Kila's is faster. Mainly because the Kaiwan section of Assembly of Nihilo takes so long. Also because the trek down to the bottom of Assembly of Nihilo down the circular floor takes a little bit and performing Cutscene Storage isn't negligible either. But in practice, the difference between the two routes might be very small depending on how close exactly you end up being to level 28 after Berith. If you didn't get any significant amount of EXP from random battles in the run then you'll need to stop and grind a little bit, and this is EXP that the 4 Kila's route would have received from fighting Kaiwan and random battles on the way to that boss fight. So in the end, you have the option to do which variation you prefer without too much difference.


4 Kila's route notes
###################################################
third puzzle:
go north or south for cutscene, I think north is a little closer.
go to south edge for 2nd cutscene, north and take both ladders, hit switch
keep going clockwise and switch to inside path, 3rd cutscene. hit the switch Kaiwan just hit.
go counterclockwise around the outside all the way back to the first switch
go up through the middle, along left path, exit out north cell

after terminal, go left every time, get 3000 macca cube then straight. chase Kaiwan

kaiwans: (no magic allowed)
Rakunda and passing. summon higher STR demons before the fight if you have them
###################################################



Super theoretical unlikely route improvement - the forbidden tech - Skill Mutation Beckon Call
In theory you can get the skill Beckon Call from a skill mutation and this would allow us to summon 4 demons even earlier than buying the level 28 Pisaca as the run currently does. Getting 4 demons immediately allows you to perform Menu Storage and therefore get TDE, get an army of Dante's, and go straight to Yoyogi East. The ideal candidates for this are likely Aquans mutating Anti-Expel or Dis mutating Makajam. You would need to advance at least to the Gozu-Tennoh event so that you have the 10 demon stock, because it is required that you have 9 demons to perform Menu Storage. The chances of getting a quick Beckon Call mutation with the knowledge we have now is extremely low - less than 1% on a level-up. But theoretically this would save ~20-25 minutes on the current Merciful route.