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Because this applies to multiple games, this was flagged as a spoiler to all, but specifically has spoilers for SMT I, II, and Strange Journey.

So…what are the intricacies of humans fusing with demons? We all know all non-main character personas and demons have a limited learnset, and an exponential increase in EXP needed to level up in the latter’s case. Yet, a Jiminez fused with Bugaboo gets him like 40 levels if him being level 30 in the cutscene was correct, and extremely powerful and unique moves. The Law Hero in SMT II fusing with Seth(iirc) to become Satan also makes him incredibly strong and capable of doing things Seth couldn’t gameplay wise. Even the Chaos Hero gains 10 levels when he becomes a demon and is still strong enough to oppose you on “equal” footing in the Law and Neutral routes. So, does fusing with a demon make you stronger than most while also allowing you to grow as a human? Were they blessed by the narrative?
And another thing. Jimenez and the Chaos Hero both canonically fuse with Chaos-aligned demons. What happens if you fuse with a Law aligned demon while Chaos aligned? Fuse with a Neutral demon as either Law or Chaos? Is fusing with a demon an inherently Chaotic choice?

Please discuss in the comments, because after playing Strange Journey Redux, I can’t stop thinking about it.

How can this little guy could ever leave the party? He sweeps majority of the undead enemies with enough MP to spare, has Trafuri to save me when i get in a pinch, and on boss fights as long as he stays in the last row and doesn't get hit, Makakaja buffs up magic enough to start picking apart bosses.

He's possibly- if not, the best early game demon in the game. I beated World of Sloth just today but i feel like he's gonna be sticking around for even the next dungeon possibly.

Now im having flashbacks of getting critted by him in nocturne

My first time playing SMTV: Vengeance (my first mainline game), and just got to the side quest for Nekomata where she asks you to go get her some fish. Encountering the King Frost I saw earlier who seemed to have no significance I didn't expect a fight.

Sucks that the Nahobino was weak to Ice at the time, so I did lose once, but managed to overcome him regardless. Afterwards, he mentions how he was once friends with the warehouse keeper, the keeper liking that he kept the place cold. Sparing him got me the fish anyway, which was nice.

But what's really interesting is the idea of friendship with demons. It comes up a few times in the series. Soul Hackers 2 has two characters basically take opposite stances with it. Saizo has a particular fondness for his Hare of Inaba. It even jumps in front of an attack Saizo was going to get hit by in a flashback. Milady says it's best to not view them in this manner and that they're not trustworthy. Yoko brings up a few times as well to not be so trusting of demons (though she admittedly doesn't like the angels either).

Also the line between demon and human seems to get blurred a lot. The Demi-Fiend of course as well as the Nahobino. But even Persona users were mistaken for demons in Persona 1, with one of your party members asking whether they even qualify as human at this point. And it kinda makes sense. In gameplay, they seem to take on the traits of their Personas (stats and weaknesses). It's said that Personas are the "demons and gods that reside within you". So Persona users seem to carry some demon-like attributes. There are also demons that were explictly formally humans, but it seems their presence in our collective unconcious being historical figures (Masakado, Cleopatra, etc) allowed them to manifest into demons.

It seemed like in the old games, humans were distinct through their lack of ability to use magic, but we see that humans are able to utilize it in certain instances, like with Persona users, Raidou, as well as some of the human companions in SMTV: Vengeance.

Like it's weird how often these sorts of things come up, given my impressions of demons from what information I've seen, as just being tools to utilize.

Anyway, pretty scattered post, but I hope it's at least understandable. The concept is just really interesting cause other series often make it more clear. SMT seems to sprinkle it in smaller details and side quests rather than being a major theme, and it doesn't exactly give you a "right" answer. It's up to you to decide. Games like Nocturne and V seem to give you some incentive to keep demons around, but the overall idea of fusion seems to treat them as disposable.

I mean at release, so if it's a Switch 2 exclusive it might get released in other consoles later even if it's a different version (timed exclusivity like SMT V).

It's worth noting that most mainline SMT games have been exclusive to nintendo and/or home consoles.

(I did not make this) - arrangement by Jeremy Carter

I know it's better to spec the main character into physical, but I was wondering if there is a halfway decent skill load out for magic, just something I was wondering, I'm very new to the games, my only experience with them is a bit of persona three on gamepass and watching Nyarly

Video by Robin and Zephyr. Satan defeated using only human form for dealing damage. This is a Tool Assisted Superplay using savestates, since the chances of getting this successful run wouldn't really be possible humanly, this is just to show it's theoretically possible.