Shin Megami Tensei II
Aleph Alignment FAQ
Super Famicom/SNES
By: Nicholas "Treble" Allen ([email protected])
Copyright 2017
V. 1.00

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Table of Contents
I.   Introduction
II.  Alignment Basics
III.  Viewing Your Alignment.
!V. Alignment Shifting Events
V. The Final Choice
VI. Credits
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I. Introduction

First off, a warning. There will be SPOILERS in this document, although I have
endeavored to keep them to a minimum.

The purpose of this guide is to cover a gap in the information that is readily
available about alignment mechanics and things that modify your alignment
value.  I was very frustrated with the incomplete or contradictory nature of
the information that is in the current FAQs and boards which led to some issues
maintaining my alignment in a few previous attempts at the game. This prompted
me to manually keep track of my alignment as I played the game. This FAQ is the
product of that experience.

So why do you care about knowing what can change your alignment? Well, knowing
what can change your alignment can help you plan for a particular ending or
keep you from getting into a situation where you cannot use your demons or a
particular piece of alignment restricted gear. Situations like that can be
quite common to an uneducated player. For example, letting the game just use
the default names of the characters and then agreeing to let Hiroko join gives
you a whopping 53 points toward law, digging the player into a Law aligned
hole that is very hard to get out of.

All names used in this FAQ come from the Aeon Genesis translation patch, and
I've made every effort possible to have complete and accurate information.
This information was gathered by playing through the game with the debug menu
code on that displays your alignment below the moon phase.

If you notice any errors or omissions, please email me and I will add them and
credit you.

This guide may be freely posted and shared as long as proper credit is given.

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II. Alignment Basics

Alignment is an invisible statistic that is stored as a value from 0 to 255.
Law alignment is 0-111, Neutral alignment is 112-143 and Chaos alignment is
144-255. Aleph starts at a value of 128.

Killing demons can affect your alignment, but only minorly as it takes several
battles to shift one point. Killing Law demons shifts you toward Chaos and
killing Chaos demons shifts you toward Law. Talking to demons that you have
currently recruited supposedly shifts you toward Law and killing them toward
Chaos.

The main source of alignment changes are the choices that you make during the
course of the game, but you can also control your alignment by visiting the
healing points spread across the game. Using any of the Healing points shifts
you one point toward that alignment. Mesia Churches are Law aligned and shift
you down to an alignment value of 0, Gaia Churches are Chaos aligned and shift
you up to an alignment value of 255, and Garages are Neutral aligned and shift
you up or down to an alignment value of 128.

These alignment changes happen once per visit to the menu where you select the
target of healing. This means that you can get shifted multiple points by
backing to the root menu after healing one target and then going back into the
demon selection menu and choosing another demon. Healing multiple demons during
a single selection only moves you a single point. One of the easiest ways of
moving your alignment is to cast Mapper with Beth or Hiroko and then go inside
to restore the missing MP. Rinse and repeat. I find this to be the all around
best way to shift unintended alignment changes back to where you want it to be.

After a certain point in the story your alignment is locked into place and it
can no longer be changed, putting you onto the path of one of the game’s three
endings.

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III. Viewing Your Alignment

Unlike the first Shin Megami Tensei game SMT2 doesn't have the world map
pointer change depending on the alignment of the main character. The pointer
always spins clockwise. However, there are still a few ways to check your
alignment.

You can use demons, alignment specific equipment, or use a PAR code to enable
the debug mode.

To use a demon to check your alignment all you have to do is try and summon
either a Law or Chaos aligned demon. If you can summon both you are neutral.
The game will not allow you to summon a demon that has an opposing alignment
to you.

To use equipment to check your alignment all you have to do is try to equip
some of the alignment exclusive equipment. The earliest/cheapest purchasable
equipment for this purpose are the Dragon Helm from Akasaka for 6000 Macca and
the Phosphorescent Helm from Roppongi for 7200 Macca. The game will not allow
you to equip armor that is alignment exclusive unless you are that alignment.

Finally, you can use the following PAR code to put the game into debug mode
which, among other things, allows you to see your alignment during gameplay:
7E0E1C10. Your alignment will show up as a 4 digit hexadecimal number under
the phase of the moon. The first two digits are your alignment. Converting
the Hexadecimal value of those two number to decimal will give you a number
between 0 and 255. This is your alignment. The last two digits seem to be
where the game keeps up with incremental alignment changes, such as from
killing aligned or recruited demons. Be aware that enabling this code replaces
the Devil Analyse command in your COMP and it doesn’t always come back after
you disable the code. The safest way to use this code is with save states or
by using it and then loading a previous save.

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IV. Alignment Shifting Events

Using a Mesia Church (-1)
Using a Gaia (+1)
Using a Garage (+ or -1 to 128)
Naming Hiroko (+0)
Naming Gimmel (-9)
Naming Zayin (-9)
Naming Daleth (-9)
Hiroko asking to join to see Madam:
    Saying Yes to Hiroko (-8)
    Saying No to Hiroko (+4)
    Saying yes after no (-8)
    Saying no 2nd time (+4)
Naming Beth (-9)
Naming Aleph (-9)
Finish off Daleth
    Say Yes (+0), Yes (+16)
    Say Yes (+0), No (+0)
    Say No (-16)
Donate to restore Mesia in Great Church (-9)
Cornering Puck
    Say Yes to pay 10,000 Macca (-8)
    Say No -> Yes to take the Sap (+0)
    Say No -> No -> to mug Puck for 10,000 Macca (+24)
    Say No -> No-> No to scare Puck (+24)
Obtaining the Head of Masakado
    Pay 20000 Macca (-24)
    Haggle (+0)
    Mug him for the head (+24)
The fate of Arcadia
    Make Aleph the Savior (-25)
    Destroy Arcadia (+25)
    Just leave (+0)
Freeing the people in the Prison Camp (-16) per prisoner freed
Center Questionnaire
    Wilt thou finish off thy mother?
         Yes (+18)    No (-24)
    Wilt you use thy Macca to feed the people instead?
         Yes (-24)    No (+18)
    Wilt thou rescue the girl anyways?
         Yes (-24)    No (+18)
    Wilt thou slay thy enemy?
         Yes (+18)    No (-24)
    Wilt thou attack the group before they attack you?"
         Yes (+18)    No (-24)
    Wilt thou thy leave thy dead ally where he lies?
         Yes (+18)    No (-24)

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V. The Final Choice

The final choice before the end game locks your alignment to whichever side you
chose and sets you on the path to get one of the three endings. For example, if
you choose the Law path while you are Neutral, then your alignment will shift
all the way to Law and be locked there. Note that if your alignment is too far
into either extreme of Law or Chaos then you might not get a choice and will
just proceed onto the ending that matches your alignment.

Without spoiling too much, this event happens after Gomorie teleports you to
Kether Castle to talk with an important character. Be mindful that after you
lock in your alignment that you are permanently locked out of any alighnment
specific equipment and any opposing aligned demons. Certain demons also join
on some routes and are boss battles on others. Generally, you kill everyone on
the neutral path.

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VI. Credits

Thanks to the following people:
- Icemann666 for the amazing map file I used to get through the game.
- Luisfe on the Let's Play Archive for filling in a lot of blanks as I played.
- The Megaten Wiki for it's complete lists of items, spells, and great info on
Fiends.
- Re-Miel for his fusion charts and explnations on the various forms of fusion.
- Berserker_Blade for filling in those last few cracks with his FAQ.

The End
Copyright Nicholas "Treble" Allen 2017

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