A Preta Predicament is a Subquest in Shin Megami Tensei V. Most Subquests will reward you with a large amount of experience, some Macca, and then you’ll receive an item of sorts. Most of the time, it’ll be a Talisman which allows you to have access to the different Magatsuhi skills in the game.

Find the Pretas that went out in search for food.

How to start A Preta Predicament¶

In order to start this Subquest, you’ll need to head past the first Leyline (save-point) which is called the Tamachi Leyline. When you regain control, follow the road as far north as you can, and you should see a tunnel on the map, just after the treasure chest. Follow the tunnel north, and take the western path into the small room. In the room you’ll see several Pretas collapsed on the floor from hunger. Head over to the Preta Leader sitting on the rocky ledge on the east side of the room, and talk to him to start the quest.

How to complete A Preta Predicament¶

It appears some of its “boys” went out to find some food, but no one’s returned yet. Because of this, it’ll ask you if you can find his buddies for him. Agree to his request, and head back out the tunnel. Follow the road back to the south, and take the eastern road when you can. Keep on following the road until you get near the main quest objective which is represented with a golden pin, and you can find a Preta with a speech bubble above its head, just to the southeast of it.

After speaking to him, you’ll find out he’s scavenging for some food, but to no avail. He’ll tell you that one of the other Pretas with him ran off to be “guided by the goddess” and that the goddess should be around here somewhere.

To continue with the quest, you’ll need to continue on with the main quest, and clear the Abscess. Clearing these will unveil the map, and remove the obnoxious purple circle from it. Once that’s taken care off, continue along the path until you get to the next main quest objective, and when you regain control, take the northern path, and follow it until you reach the “Shiba” leyline. Interact with it, so you can fast travel here later, and head east of it in to a cave. Talk to the Preta right by the entrance to your right, and you’ll receive some Sake and Dango Medley.

Now that you have got the food that the Pretas were so desperate for, it’s time to head back to them. Go back to the Shiba Leyline that you just unlocked, and use the Leyline crossing to get back to the Mita Leyline. Follow the road southwest, then take the northern road as soon as you’re able to. Before heading in the cave, make sure you’re all healed up, as you’ll have a fight when you talk to them.

Now that you’re all healed up, speak to the Preta Leader, and he’ll be overjoyed that they have some food, they’ll eat it up at the camp fire, then the leader will turn to you and demand more. It appears that the food hasn’t kept their hunger at bay, and the next thing on the menu…is YOU!

Recommended Party¶

When the scene ends, you’ll have to fight the Pretas if you don’t want to become their food. This battle will have six of them to fight, which can feel overwhelming at this point in the game. Thankfully they have a few weaknesses which are Fire (Agi), Force (Zan), Light (Hama), and Dark (Mudo). It’s best to always start off a fight by using a spyglass, which will show you the demon’s weakness. What you want to do for this battle, is exploit their weaknesses. Not only will this deal the most damage in most cases, but it’ll give you an extra turn, up to a maximum of four extra turns.

Start the fight with your Magatsuhi skill Omatogi: Critical if it’s available. This’ll make every one of your physical, and magical attacks critical hit, thus giving you an extra turn. If it isn’t, don’t worry, and proceed as normal. For your first turn as the main character, use either Agi or Zan if you have them, if not, a regular attack will suffice. Use Zan with Pixie, then use Agi with Onmoraki, and the same with Mandrake.

This will be your regular rotation, only healing as Pixie if you need to. Always try to take one enemy down at a time, as this will reduce the amount of turns they’ll have the following round. Your only real worry in this battle is if they target Onmoraki with their Bufu skill as he’s weak to it, as they’ll get another turn.

When the battle is over, the Pretas will apologize for their bad judgement, and offer you a Haunt Talisman as their way of saying sorry. This will open up the Haunt Magatsuhi skill “Twilight Wave” to any Haunt demon in your party.