Started playing Shin Megami Tensei IV.

[Frogger]

Hiku said:

After 15+ hours I still haven't gotten close to being consistently confident with striking enemies first. Unlike every other rpg I've played that has a mechanic like this, such as Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, Final Fantasy XIII-2, etc, I have a feeling I never will, as this one seem designed to always make it a closer call even if you succeed.
The hitbox for the sword swing seems a lot smaller than it appears to be, which fooled my depth perception for quite some time. Once I realised it's hitbox was smaller, I also realised I had that much less leeway to get the strike to hit. The lance weapon seems better for that so far, but I'm not always going to carry a lance, and it's seemingly slower, which can also cause problems.

There are also times when you can't strike enemies first no matter what you do, such as when you crawl through a tunnel and the enemy is already standing right on top of you. This has already happened several times for me.

I'm not trying to be mean, really I'm not, but you're strongly exadurating the issue. There's honestly no reason missing a preemptive strike should consistantly give you a game over unless you've got a very poorly put together team of demons. I got a bunch of game overs, and hardly any of them was from any of the times that I missed striking first. You need a more well balanced team that can handle multiple types of attacks, both offensively and defensively. You should have all your demons in your party have resistances/reflect/absorb to all 4 of the major types.

It's really not a big deal, and SMT IV was my first SMT. I was a noob. If striking first is whats giving you so much trouble, it's because you're doing other things wrong, trust me. Do what I did before I started and take a few hours to just go online and research the mechanics, even if you think you know them.