On the weekend I got to where the strategy guide ends. I found the guide very useful in the "where the hell am I supposed to go next and how do I get there" department.
One thing puzzled me though. If indeed I was close to the end where were the requisite boss battles thrown at me in rapid fire succession. So far things had been pretty tame. I still had a chance to breathe, totally unlike the end game in Nocturne.
So I decided to look up a walkthrough on Gamefaqs just to get some idea of my proximity to the end of the game and unsurprisingly I found I was nowhere near the end of the game.
For all intents and purposes the strategy guide that comes with the game represents the "training wheels". It shows you how to plan your team and the importance of buffs, debuffs and abilities that allow to use an enemies power against them.
Now that I'm at the end of the guide the real game begins. Time to whip my demon army into shape.
Now where the hell am I supposed to be again?
my strategy guide ended at age 8 and I've been stranded on unfinished sidequests ever since.
The strategy guide is more like half-way into the game. I got to the end of the guide weeks ago, thinking I was close to the end. I'm still playing the game. I'm 96 hours in! I tend to spend a lot of time getting the perfect fused demons. 
I'm sure I'm close to the end now and I hope to finish the game this week. Though, I did say that last week. And, the week before that. I also spend a lot of time not knowing where to go next. 
The map in SMT4 sucks ass! 
Yes the overworld map is horrible. I love finding new fusions. It's like a much darker version of Pokemon. LOL
I think it's funny that none of us have beaten this game yet lol
Last night I hit the 100 hr mark. Where is the end of this game? I don't even care what happens anymore. I just want it to end.
I'd say the guide ends about 2/3 of the way in. I just got past the big "Law or Chaos" fork in the story, so I guess I'm in the endgame now. I'm going the Law path first but I've got my second save slot ready to go the Chaos route after. I wanna do both so hopefully that's not wishful thinking lol
Hearing about all of these stories. I have no idea why I bought this game. It sounds so daunting and scary.
The problem is that you might know where you're supposed to go, as in the location name, but you don't know where that is, and the map is useless. But if you use the strategy guide (and later the internet) to find out where places are, you can cut down the playtime signicantly. Otherwise it's really not too difficult.
You know what they say about guys who play LONG rpg games.........
er, they have no lives and a huge backlog?
I tried my best to avoid using a guide while I was playing, though I couldn't help it towards the end. Unfortunately, I started using them a little too late and had to play through the game a second time to get the ending I wanted but I thought it was worth it.
I'm glad you managed to finish it. I fear I have miles to go.
Thanks, having a lot of spare time on my hands certainly helped with that. Hopefully you don't have that much further to go 'til the end, good luck!
I hate those kinds of guides. I personally hated the FFVIII one that didn't exactly tell you how to beat the final boss but just told you to fight the final boss like you fought the other boss you faced three fights before.