The fact that Mastema wasn't the law rep in the original is a total crime. He's the type of mf to try to gaslight his followers into believing God is still totally alive, but he's letting Lucifer borrow the throne as part of his 'master plan'.
...I'm actually not sure if that's Mastema's motivation or not? I always just assumed he's like, a slimy preacher who doesn't believe what he preaches.
I guess we'll see one way or the other in V, since with YHVH dead his motivations will be more clear than ever.
In the original sj on chaos he talks about wanting to leave behind the form of an angel and take on a divine form. He could just be talking about being an avatar though. In redux it expands this to the idea of him seemingly intending to become the main god. Since he gets annoyed when shekinah takes that role, suggesting he was hoping to himself.
>I guess we'll see one way or the other in V, since with YHVH dead his motivations will be more clear than ever.
Technically that was already kind of the case in SJ. YHVH was sealed away, and no one else took its place yet. But different universes are different versions of the character, so what happens in V doesn't reflect on sj.
Oh, interesting. I played redux, but its been a while and I didn't go chaos, so maybe I didn't see that dialogue?
That ought to make a really cool route, then! I hope we can side with him, and it's not like base game Abdiel.
Yeah. On redux law, zelenin gets convinced by alex to turn against the wisemen. When the wisemen empower themselves, mastema shows up and complains that that wasn't supposed to happen, but then pretends to be okay with it. But then when zelenin says that they intend to kill the wisemen because humanity doesn't need to be ruled directly, he gets annoyed again and complains at you and storms off. Its a bit silly, being a comedic relief scene that is the last time you see him. But its hardly the only dubious writing added to redux.
What exactly happens there? I mostly only remember neutral since I was going to play through SMT 4 Apocalypse and sort of rushed through law and Chaos.
SMTIV Mastema is a friend of Akira/King Aquilla, and is the one who sealed Michael, Raphael, and Uriel away in Tokyo. He's opposed to the state of Mikado and wants to free humanity, and claims he's working for the \*real\* vision of God where the Archangels are perverting it.
It's never dwelled upon and Apocalypse completely dropped Mastema's plot relevance, but Mastema seems to want people to follow God of their own volition versus the creation of the Thousand Year Kingdom.
He isn't that bad in sj though? People play up his manipulativeness. He openly says that becoming an angel will mean no longer being human or living as one. Him having a meltdown on chaos isn't unwarranted considering what you are about to cause.
Oh no HE'S BACK?!? I still remember his character from Strange Journey! . .I heard he's on Smt 4 Too?? This is gonna be intresting. . .! I liked him somewhat lmao
Yes, he’s in 4 but didn’t have that major role like what happened in SJ. However I believe you will find his view in 4 kinda interesting if not bizarre especially if you considered the DLCs.
There's also Noshop too .for the 3ds stuff to download too I think others uses it for their hacked 3ds! it can work on citra as well! and anyway yeah there is one for smt 4a too. if you download from the archiver though you'll have to download a decryptor, [https://gbatemp.net/threads/batch-cia-3ds-decryptor-a-simple-batch-file-to-decrypt-cia-3ds.512385/](https://gbatemp.net/threads/batch-cia-3ds-decryptor-a-simple-batch-file-to-decrypt-cia-3ds.512385/)
To put it in simple terms, whereas most angels under Law have a one track mind of absolute obedience, Mastema stands out as a master manipulator who plays multiple sides against each other in order to achieve his goal. He mixes truths and falsehoods, and you can never tell when to trust him or not. Throw him into a plot and it suddenly gets a lot more interesting.
Most angels in law don't have a one track mind of absolute obedience... by the end of the snes era basically every single relevant angel had shown a willingness to bend rules and do their own thing. The obedience is more nominal than literal.
Hell, before the angels were even introduced, thor, the first law rep is shown as a master manipulator.
In shin megami tensei ii, michael, raphael, and uriel deviate from yhvh's will with their design so much that it creates a new yhvh. In part since yhvh wasn't sending a messiah, so they sought to take matters into their own hands. Gabriel and satan then turn on both the other archangels, as well as yhvh. Since this is the end of the story of smti's world, it retroactively includes this in the character arcs.
In majin tensei, humanity wipes most of itself out because of "nationalist sentiment." YHVH is so disgusted he abandons humanity, and sends satan to unleash demons to wipe out the rest of it. But the four archangels decide that they want to save humanity, and so help you subvert satan despite that satan was working on yhvh's orders. In the sequel, yhvh is never mentioned, which suggests that he never came back after abandoning humanity, and the angels are now acting on their own, with a system they created called the tetrarchy.
In SMT nine, the church of law creates maria, an artificial messiah who will help guide humanity outside the realm of god, who they now see as an enemy. Some angels are implied to be okay with this plan.
In Strange journey, yhvh is canonically sealed away, and you don't have to restore him. The original glosses over this, but in redux, it openly points out that mastema intended to replace him entirely. Zelenin, who is an angel at this point, decides humanity doesn't need a tangible god ordering them around, and opts to create a world of law that doesn't include this. The angel army in redux doesn't interfere with zelenin's plan, but just leaves. Which implies they don't see it as that huge a deal for her to go against "god."
In smt apocalypse, merkabah and lucifer agree to put aside their differences to merge together to get rid of yhvh first. It never says they gave up on their alignments, just that they saw this as a larger priority for the time being.
In SMTV, abdiel accepts that she has to break yhvh's laws to preserve the world of law. In this context she isn't necessarily actively seeking to go against him, so much as conceding that he is gone and that she has to take it into her own hands rather than just comply with his rules if she wants to arrive at the goal.
In dx2, the angel antagonist in season 2 seems to be acting of her own accord even though there was a seeming agreement to be hands off. In the side mission that involves the avatars of god, while it doesn't actively show the angels go against the avatars, it does show them be confused by the avatars' actions, since the avatar suddenly kills people the angels were trying to help, and they act dismayed about it.
In soul hackers 2, there is a side mission where a random mid level angel comes to earth to help some random lady start a cult. While the cult is law-coded, the angel seems to be acting on its own, rather than doing any kind of a larger order.
So there's quite a lot of examples. Basically every universe angels are relevant to has some. I didn't include nocturne, mainly because it has its own weird thing going on.
Ahh, no wonder, I haven't played 5 of these lol. I wonder if the majin games are worth getting into in this day and age. I do recall nine not being well received on release though it didn't seem all that interesting to me.
Majin I is considered borderline unplayable. And it has so few cutscenes you can watch them all on YouTube in like a half hour. Majin ii is archaic, but playable. Nine apparently has horrible gameplay, but a decent story.
I think its interesting that theyre giving him a story role without giving him an updated Doi design. Most story relevant demons in V were Doi designs (I can only think of Vasuki and Shiva being exceptions other than some random bosses like Surt).
The fact that Mastema wasn't the law rep in the original is a total crime. He's the type of mf to try to gaslight his followers into believing God is still totally alive, but he's letting Lucifer borrow the throne as part of his 'master plan'.
I was so happy to see him in 3d. One of the most love to hate characters in megaten imo
There's no need to hate him though. He is a cool dude.
Oh yeah. This guy Laws.
Yeah but have you considered that Abdiel is hot ?
And Mastema isn't?
+2
Mastema could finally achieve his goal of replacing God and being god himself. My boy needs a glow up.
...I'm actually not sure if that's Mastema's motivation or not? I always just assumed he's like, a slimy preacher who doesn't believe what he preaches. I guess we'll see one way or the other in V, since with YHVH dead his motivations will be more clear than ever.
In the original sj on chaos he talks about wanting to leave behind the form of an angel and take on a divine form. He could just be talking about being an avatar though. In redux it expands this to the idea of him seemingly intending to become the main god. Since he gets annoyed when shekinah takes that role, suggesting he was hoping to himself. >I guess we'll see one way or the other in V, since with YHVH dead his motivations will be more clear than ever. Technically that was already kind of the case in SJ. YHVH was sealed away, and no one else took its place yet. But different universes are different versions of the character, so what happens in V doesn't reflect on sj.
Oh, interesting. I played redux, but its been a while and I didn't go chaos, so maybe I didn't see that dialogue? That ought to make a really cool route, then! I hope we can side with him, and it's not like base game Abdiel.
Yeah. On redux law, zelenin gets convinced by alex to turn against the wisemen. When the wisemen empower themselves, mastema shows up and complains that that wasn't supposed to happen, but then pretends to be okay with it. But then when zelenin says that they intend to kill the wisemen because humanity doesn't need to be ruled directly, he gets annoyed again and complains at you and storms off. Its a bit silly, being a comedic relief scene that is the last time you see him. But its hardly the only dubious writing added to redux.
Watch them troll us by actually making him honest and trustworthy this time.
I genuinely love how in Mastemas appearances he's either an absolute scumfuck or the most chill angel in the whole franchise and there's no in-between
SMT4 where he realizes how fucked the archangels are:
What exactly happens there? I mostly only remember neutral since I was going to play through SMT 4 Apocalypse and sort of rushed through law and Chaos.
SMTIV Mastema is a friend of Akira/King Aquilla, and is the one who sealed Michael, Raphael, and Uriel away in Tokyo. He's opposed to the state of Mikado and wants to free humanity, and claims he's working for the \*real\* vision of God where the Archangels are perverting it. It's never dwelled upon and Apocalypse completely dropped Mastema's plot relevance, but Mastema seems to want people to follow God of their own volition versus the creation of the Thousand Year Kingdom.
He isn't that bad in sj though? People play up his manipulativeness. He openly says that becoming an angel will mean no longer being human or living as one. Him having a meltdown on chaos isn't unwarranted considering what you are about to cause.
Evil Mastema be like:
Mastema in 2D Was already fine enough But Mastema in 3D gives me Uncanny valley vibes.
As it should be, completely agree
His D×2 is already fine enough, and i like it too, but V:V... :( (if its The same design, Kill me.)
Not sure I'll have to look at the D x 2 design
If thats true can you pull a Ironhide on me
The model isn't 100% identical, but it's the same design.
todays your lucky day
I think the eyes are way out of place. Should have updated them slightly and it would have looked better
"Kill your friends and abandon free will." "SIR, YES, SIR! PRAISE BE!"
Oh no HE'S BACK?!? I still remember his character from Strange Journey! . .I heard he's on Smt 4 Too?? This is gonna be intresting. . .! I liked him somewhat lmao
Yes, he’s in 4 but didn’t have that major role like what happened in SJ. However I believe you will find his view in 4 kinda interesting if not bizarre especially if you considered the DLCs.
Oh . .cool! \*Thankfully there's still a way to play the dlcs! \*evil chuckle\*
Wheeere
just google 3ds dlc internetarchiver. I can't link it here.
Will do thanks 🙏🏽 does that also work for SMT 4A?
There's also Noshop too .for the 3ds stuff to download too I think others uses it for their hacked 3ds! it can work on citra as well! and anyway yeah there is one for smt 4a too. if you download from the archiver though you'll have to download a decryptor, [https://gbatemp.net/threads/batch-cia-3ds-decryptor-a-simple-batch-file-to-decrypt-cia-3ds.512385/](https://gbatemp.net/threads/batch-cia-3ds-decryptor-a-simple-batch-file-to-decrypt-cia-3ds.512385/)
Anyone care to fill me in? I don't know this one.
To put it in simple terms, whereas most angels under Law have a one track mind of absolute obedience, Mastema stands out as a master manipulator who plays multiple sides against each other in order to achieve his goal. He mixes truths and falsehoods, and you can never tell when to trust him or not. Throw him into a plot and it suddenly gets a lot more interesting.
Most angels in law don't have a one track mind of absolute obedience... by the end of the snes era basically every single relevant angel had shown a willingness to bend rules and do their own thing. The obedience is more nominal than literal. Hell, before the angels were even introduced, thor, the first law rep is shown as a master manipulator.
Could you give me examples of law Angels who betray the word of God?
In shin megami tensei ii, michael, raphael, and uriel deviate from yhvh's will with their design so much that it creates a new yhvh. In part since yhvh wasn't sending a messiah, so they sought to take matters into their own hands. Gabriel and satan then turn on both the other archangels, as well as yhvh. Since this is the end of the story of smti's world, it retroactively includes this in the character arcs. In majin tensei, humanity wipes most of itself out because of "nationalist sentiment." YHVH is so disgusted he abandons humanity, and sends satan to unleash demons to wipe out the rest of it. But the four archangels decide that they want to save humanity, and so help you subvert satan despite that satan was working on yhvh's orders. In the sequel, yhvh is never mentioned, which suggests that he never came back after abandoning humanity, and the angels are now acting on their own, with a system they created called the tetrarchy. In SMT nine, the church of law creates maria, an artificial messiah who will help guide humanity outside the realm of god, who they now see as an enemy. Some angels are implied to be okay with this plan. In Strange journey, yhvh is canonically sealed away, and you don't have to restore him. The original glosses over this, but in redux, it openly points out that mastema intended to replace him entirely. Zelenin, who is an angel at this point, decides humanity doesn't need a tangible god ordering them around, and opts to create a world of law that doesn't include this. The angel army in redux doesn't interfere with zelenin's plan, but just leaves. Which implies they don't see it as that huge a deal for her to go against "god." In smt apocalypse, merkabah and lucifer agree to put aside their differences to merge together to get rid of yhvh first. It never says they gave up on their alignments, just that they saw this as a larger priority for the time being. In SMTV, abdiel accepts that she has to break yhvh's laws to preserve the world of law. In this context she isn't necessarily actively seeking to go against him, so much as conceding that he is gone and that she has to take it into her own hands rather than just comply with his rules if she wants to arrive at the goal. In dx2, the angel antagonist in season 2 seems to be acting of her own accord even though there was a seeming agreement to be hands off. In the side mission that involves the avatars of god, while it doesn't actively show the angels go against the avatars, it does show them be confused by the avatars' actions, since the avatar suddenly kills people the angels were trying to help, and they act dismayed about it. In soul hackers 2, there is a side mission where a random mid level angel comes to earth to help some random lady start a cult. While the cult is law-coded, the angel seems to be acting on its own, rather than doing any kind of a larger order. So there's quite a lot of examples. Basically every universe angels are relevant to has some. I didn't include nocturne, mainly because it has its own weird thing going on.
Ahh, no wonder, I haven't played 5 of these lol. I wonder if the majin games are worth getting into in this day and age. I do recall nine not being well received on release though it didn't seem all that interesting to me.
Majin I is considered borderline unplayable. And it has so few cutscenes you can watch them all on YouTube in like a half hour. Majin ii is archaic, but playable. Nine apparently has horrible gameplay, but a decent story.
Mastema from strange journey. He's a real son of a bitch, but he's also my favorite law character
I never got a chance to play it. Based on how excited everyone is. I guessed they were a fan favorite.
He also showed up in 4 where he's more chill.
Polls have showed him as the most popular character in the series by a wide margin a few years ago.
You'll hopefully get to see why he's been a flair on this sub for so long.
Zelenin got brainwashed so hard by this guys sweet words that she started wearing that ridiculous paper outfit so that she could get him to like her
So true oomfie
No idea what that means, thank you anyway :)
I think its interesting that theyre giving him a story role without giving him an updated Doi design. Most story relevant demons in V were Doi designs (I can only think of Vasuki and Shiva being exceptions other than some random bosses like Surt).