5 hours in and this is already much better than the original

Already alot more interactions (I really like the demon haunt, it's the little things like that, that make the game more memorable IMO)

The new features fit in perfectly, more specifically the QoL improvements (mostly saving on the spot and auto-battle) make the game insanely smooth to play

Not trapped on the switch so it consistently looks great, new tracks are pretty good so far

But again it's only 5 hours and I don't have super high expectations (mostly of the new story), so i'll see what happens - could either get better or get worse. At least the non main story stuff feels good atm.

I'm enjoying this (it's just SMTV again and I liked that game) but it's pretty monkey's paw that I finally have a cross-platform version of SMTV that looks and runs nice but... has all the usual superfluous Atlus rerelease stuff? The first boss on Hard was an actual wall you had to strategise around in the original, in this you've already gotten so much extra shit that it goes down with no issues

Haunts just randomly giving you 3 stat points every 15 seconds... Buncha new side quests, omagatokis, demons. Reusable Aogami essences. Guest characters. No more level scaling. It doesn't really feel like the game was rebalanced around this, the first boss is still level 15 and uses the same skills. This isn't even getting into strange "quality of life" changes (why do abscesses not block the minimap anymore?)

In love with the new music, and there are some features I'm digging (the little magatsuhi ziplines that interconnect parts of the map, auto-skill autobattle, etc). It's just that this is very much Persona 5 Royal or Strange Journey Redux. If you want a version of Persona 5 that doesn't play itself, the original is stuck on PS3/PS4. Likewise, I'm increasingly feeling like the version of SMTV I really enjoyed cutting my teeth on is stuck on Switch.

It's still fun! I was just kinda hoping this wouldn't have the usual Atlus rerelease problem of messing up game balance, less is more and so on. Ah well

SMTV Vengeance kind leaves me really conflicted unfortunately, because in a lot of ways, you could argue that this is the peak of the series, it's visually beautiful, has an amazing soundtrack, and the gameplay is really great!

However, sadly my main sticking point, much like with the original, comes down to the plot. I was REALLY hoping that they would be able to make something really great out of V's story, but still, I remained apprehensive coming in, and while for the first third of the new route, things were mostly all the same, during the second half, a lot of really cool and crazy shit started happening, and I was ACTUALLY really excited by just how much I was getting into it!... But then sadly, the final third came, and ehhhhh it's more or less just the same as in the original, with like a few added plot points, which was SUCH a disappointment man, it just felt like the game was in a rush to wrap up, and it really left me wanting more...

Vengeance is a great game, and a definitive step in a right direction in pretty much every way, however where story is concerned, it's really more of like, a half step, which was really disappointing. I wasn't really sure wether to give this an 8 or a 7, but decided I'll be nice and go with the big ol' 8, cause there is just way too much superb stuff here to ignore, I just wish that when SMT VI comes around, they'll be able to use this foundation to really hone in on just what used to make mainline SMT so magical...

Also remake SMTs I and II with these visuals and presentations, they would be some of the greatest Megaten games ever, please Atlus give me Pascal the Dog in 4K

When we end the world, I'll be sure to spare an aquarium for my babe.

Playing this after the Paper Mario: TTYD remake was crazy whiplash, but what a double whammy demo as to why JRPGs are the best fucking things in the world when done well.

I enjoyed the original SMT V a lot, and yet it was still a disappointment. Its predecessors set the bar too high and its writing just couldn't keep up. Narrative is fixed now. Yoko saves the game and the other characters get a little more as well. Tons of QoL improvements, new quests, all the past DLC is included, along with the original campaign.

Creation and Vengeance get super different towards the mid-game, so it's worth playing both if you're new. I LOVE the demon haunts. Every demon in the game basically becomes an AC villager except there are like 270 of them and all of their personalities are unique. So much funny dialogue. Boss fights are plentiful and rule ass per usual, the Miman are still fun to hunt down, etc. This is a MASSIVE, wonderful game that finally feels complete and this now rightfully stands among the JRPG greats.

About 20 hours into Canon of Vengeance, doing most side content and whatnot.

When I played the original SMTV back when it released on the switch I enjoyed it a lot! But it had a bunch of big (and small) issues, that added up until by the end I sat at the conclusion "could be amazing, but doesn't hit the mark".

Vengeance practically takes everything I had a gripe with the game and amends it, then puts in a bunch of QoL and new stuff on top of that.

To address the elephant in the room, the story (so far, I think I'm around halfway-ish) is so, so, so much better this time around. CoV really feels like they decided to finally give the time to develop a proper main cast, and it is so so gratifying having played the "beta". Yoko especially is a great addition to the cast. With her and Tao being very present throughout the story so far I really appreciate the game retaining that feeling of a pseudo-party that the first half of IV did really well. Back in the original release the only character I really gave a shit about was Dazai, since he was the only one with a visible arc throughout the game.

There are a myriad of gameplay tweaks/additions that aren't really worth going over but a few things I think are really cool:
-Demon Haunts are amazing, like seriously. Having all of your demons have unique dialogue and personalities, even commenting sometimes on current events in the story characterizes them even further than how well characterized demons were in base V. I've had this Rakshasa from level 20 to him now being level 40 just because he's such a bro. The system of keeping your demons around also lets them learn new skills, ones seemingly alot more higher tier than they would have without essence fusion. It's such a nice reward system for keeping a demon around because you like it, instead of everything becoming eventual fusion fodder. The Haunts also characterize Aogami alot more this time around, as does the main story. He's such a dad to the MC I love it lol

-the level scaling is a lot better. I didn't have much experience with it in base V because I wasn't really punching up too much, but I did have to grind significantly. Here I can fight bosses 15 levels above me and win through pure strategy.
-guest characters are really neat! I like using characters from the story that I actually like as a party member, and its certainly a far better system than what they tried to do in IV imo. THOUGH they are a bit OP. Tao has had mediarama for like a good chunk of the game now and I'm yet to get a normal demon with that shit.

Overall so far atleast this really feels like the SMTV I wanted SMTV to be those few years ago. I'm gonna update this review/write a spoiler one by the time I finish but I actually can't put this game down rn lol

Crazy how sexual tension between 2 girls and a guy makes the story that much better.

Everything else is just better than the original too, absolutely zero issues aside from the last like 20% of the story, it's a bit too samey to og considering what happened just before it but apart from that I loved it.

Chaos ending is so cool man, I think law fits more and is better but chaos is just COOL.

SMT V Vengeance is a perfect example of a "Enhancement".

Although the original release was lackluster in both story and hardware lock, and the the overall price of main game and DLC's. Vengeance is worth it if you are looking for a fresh SMT experience with up to date game design. The new added "Vengeance" story is actually meaningful and fun to play, the new areas were a blast to explore. The music was absolutely banging, and the graphics gorgeous. The gameplay was always good even in the original release.

Final thoughts: It is a challenging game even on normal difficulty, but for those who don't want to suffer there is safety difficulty. I raged quite a bit on some bosses.

NAHOBINO RULES!

Pros:
- The game is now available on multiple systems.

- There's more content, so the game feels less unfinished.

- There's a new Nahobino form.

- Level scaling got fixed and some of the DLC from the previous game is now available in the base game.

- Every demon has their own unique dialogue via demon haunts.

Cons:

- The Vengeance content isn't written well and many characters aren't given much character development when compared to the Creation route.

- You're required to play the Creation routes if you want to fully experience the content in the Vengeance route. Vice versa with Creation, which sucks for players that played the original.

- Atlus didn't mention that you need to purchase the three demons from the compendium it you want to use your demons from the original version of SMT V in Vengeance. Which makes you wonder why didn't they just allow you to fully bring the compendium over if you can't even use your save data demons from the guy to.

- Yoko suffers from the Atlus rerelease curse where she does nothing but make the plot worse. Her ending is also very awful.

Overall a decent improvement from the original game, but I wouldn't say that the rerelease actually redeemed Shin Megami Tensei V. More so just put a small bandage on it and act like everything is fine when there's bigger wounds.

Great addition to the original, after completing Vengeance I’ll know for sure but if you have not played this game on switch I would easily recommend to first timers. Just make sure you actually like Atlus Jrpgs first.

Just finished the new canon ending and the game is phenomenal, any criticisms I have are small and have to do with design choices or nitpicks so nothing too serious.SMTVV runs exceptionally and gives full opportunity to show the beauty of the world as a whole. The music alone added another 15 awesome songs to my playlist and every new addition was an improvement. The two dungeons that you have to do for story are still a bit lackluster but all the open world aspect are exceptional. This game was fantastic and after dumping 75 hours into it this past week im ready to try and finally beat demifiend….

Me: Ah, finally, I can play SMTV without performance issues.
Shader Compilation Stutter: No.
Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Update: I refunded the Steam version and bought the PS5 physical.

Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance pega tudo de bom que smt v vanilla fazia, deixa melhor e conserta tudo aquilo que tinha de medíocre ou ruim (o que sinceramente, não compartilho da opinião geral, se for ver aqui, minha nota pro smt v tb é 5*).

Ele de certa forma transforma e consegue subverter várias coisas que o jogo original faz, todo o plot do cânone vengeance é basicamente uma subversão do plot do cânone da criação (o smt v vanilla).

Em questões técnicas, o jogo roda bem mais fluido no switch, em comparação com seu original, só tendo alguns problemas de lag mais pra última área do jogo, mas nada muito sério. Entretanto o jogo conta com mais serrilhado q sua versão vanilla, provavelmente pra deixar mais fluido mesmo. O jogo também conta com novas músicas e variações das músicas padrão de luta. Além de ter se desvenciliado do escalamento fortissimo com nível, como tinha no smt V original. Aqui tudo flui bem melhor e o jogo tem uma maior dependência do rng (como deveria ser). Tem diversos novos demons (alguns tendo sua estreia em smt 3d aqui), novas mecânicas, habilidades e mais diversas novidades que serão um prato cheio pra quem já gostou do smt v original, e que podem melhorar muito na experiência dos que não gostaram.

O desenvolvimento dos personagens aqui é melhor, suas intenções são mais claras e tratadas de melhor forma desde o começo, algo que falta no original. Não que personagens de smt sejam o ápice do carisma normalmente, mas você cria um certo apego aqui, que não criava no V.

Vou me abster de entrar em muitos detalhes porque sinceramente acho que qualquer informação a mais pode tirar a graça da experiência de muita gente, principalmente dos que jogaram o original e vão se surpreender com cada coisinha do cânone vengeance.

Termino então essa review dizendo que esse foi mais um grande acerto da Atlus e que mesmo gostando muito do smt v original, fica claro que isso aqui é o que deveria ter sido de fato o jogo.

+ tem um jack frost nahobino comunista, simplesmente incrível.

So, im as of now 23 hours in, and I can already say that while this is a step in the right direction, there's still so much wrong with this game. Story wise its been really good for now, definitely a huuuuge improvement over the non existent plot of the original. But the gameplay is still seriously lacking in this game.

20 hours. That's all it took for me to completely break the game. I haven't had an issue since the final boss of the first area. And as of now I have a team that's constantly 3 levels over anything that stands in my way. I defeated story bosses in a turn, and thats the same time it takes for me to stack all my buffs and debuffs while dealing a third of a boss hp bar. Look, the level scaling was an awful mechanic that made the original extremely unappealing, but they took it down without accounting that the balance of the entire game was hanging onto it. I have no clue over how such an oversight was even made but its just making this playthrough insanely boring.

Oh yeah, and the exploration is still ass. The rails are cool and they cut a good chunk of time spent running but, the game is still full of exactly that, RUNNING. A lot of mindless running over places that have absolutely nothing interesting in them.

Im certainly still enjoying the game, story is good for now and even if the gameplay is completely broken there's still a semblance of fun to be had, but at this point I just think that the core of the game is just completely unappealing to me. There's too many thing that needed to be changed and I get why they are still there. Howeeeever... I would have been really happy if they completely removed magatsuhi from the experience. I think that stupid mechanic is the culprit behind every single unenjoyable combat mechanic of this game.

I love the Qadištu (Some of the series best designs Imo) and Yoko. The Canon of Vengeance is now my preferred SMT V story. I am a little confused on how this was supposed to be an 80 hour story though. Cause the og story isn't that long either.

(Made 2 saves at the decision)

So after getting both Law and Chaos endings, I prefer the Chaos ending. The Law one makes more sense in the grand scheme of things but the Chaos ending is much cooler and you get to do a whole lot more.

On paper Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is a great idea. ATLUS has proven with SMT IV Apocalypse that they are capable of expanding their previous worlds with indirect sequels, something SMT V desperately needed. Unfortunately this game does not do that.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance was advertised to have a completely new story in the "Canon of Vengeance", however this is quite an overstatement. If you followed the news up until the release you would know of all the content they showed in trailers. This would primarily be the new area and dungeon Shinjuku and Shakan as well as the new antagonists the "Qaditsu". Unfortunately the game itself doesn't have much beyond that. After the Shinjuku and Qaditsu arc are completed the game continues as the original "Canon of Creation" did, going to Ueno then the Temple of Eternity and finally the Empyrean. To be promised an entirely new storyline and to at best get 1 new arc is severely disappointing.

Ueno was a great area in the original as well as everything coming after it. It was the culmination of the game's narrative, which funny enough was what this game was trying to fix. Everything after the Qaditsu arc is concluded is completely sucked of it's purpose that the original story had. The story becomes extremely directionless with all of the main alignment representatives from the first game getting completely shafted. Up until this point they had great development, better than the base game, just to get wasted because this storyline isn't about them.

This makes me wonder why they even bothered including both "Canons" of the story. Vengeance swaps 1 area and a handful of bosses, mostly for the better because once again, up until the conclusion of the Qaditsu arc the game had great pacing. I won't explain what happens afterwards due to spoilers but the entire story gets derailed.

The endgame is severely underwhelming, even more so than the original. I don't know how they managed to do this because one of the endings literally didn't even have a final boss. The endgame level is the exact same as the original, being late 70s. As someone who enjoyed SMT IV Apocalypse's endgame this was very disappointing. The endgame level for that game was literally over 100 because the game had no level cap. Vengeance also removed the level cap but for what purpose? I know of the Godborn mode in NG+ but why even bother?

The character of Yoko Hiromine is great, she's a fitting addition to the narrative that adds much needed dichotomy to the character of Tao. The GOAT Mastema is back from Strange Journey, I was pleasantly surprised with how much of a presence he had in the narrative as well as his banger theme. The music is phenomenal, 89 whole new tracks. The gameplay is as great as ever with a few new additions to make it even more engaging. This game is better than the original; however what they set out to fix in the first place was the story, which wasn't what happened. Characters are developed just to be wasted and 3 quarters of the game is mostly the same. To drive my point even further the final boss of the vengeance storyline is unchanged from the original. This game is wholeheartedly worth playing for the gameplay but as someone who 100% the original there just wasn't enough done to make this game truly new.

TL;DR: I expected something like Apocalypse and what I got was 1 new area/dungeon and a dozen bosses

So, I've just finished the Chaos ending a few minutes ago. Dungeons are still ass but everything else has been massively improved. As for the story, it's corny as fuck sometimes and a certain point near the end was so goofy that it wraps back around to unironically being Peak Fiction, and I'm kind of undetermined on how I feel about the utilisation of the Qadistu. I'll probably make an updated review after beating Godborn and doing all the sidequests and shit. But currently, yeah it's a pretty good game imho.

Reembarking on the journey through the original Shin Megami Tensei V, I found the character's to be unmemorable, unmotivated, uninteresting, and unequivocally dogshit. I played through the original game 2 times, and not once did a single character's name become etched into my mind. This is Shin Megami Tensei we're talking about, I could name over 100 demons just by looking at them. I remember running into a vampire demon and immediately identifying him as Kudlak, so this is inexcusable from Shin Megami Tensei V's standpoint. It was with this version though, that ATLUS seeks to come back with a Vengeance. b-because it's called Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance.

Let's just say that Vengeance makes due on the qualms I had with the original game. Tao, Yoko, Dazai, Jacob, and Luke, are just barely scratching by with their memorability this time. They have proper motivations, and hit you with the titular dialogue of ideology that continuously get rehashed with each game, and characters actually converse with one another. Its sparse but consistent. I won't elaborate on too much, so just know that the writing is better, but the bar was very low with this game. The whole Qadistu are basically Zero's sisters, with the exception of Four (the character). Do with this information what you will. I didn't want to mention Drakengard in this review (I'll try to do better in the future), but I really can't not mention the fact that people are out here being turned into salt.

Now let's talk about Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance as a video game. Absolute fucking banger. This is by far the best turn-based combat game ever produced. ATLUS has always exceeded at player agency and empowerment when it came to their gameplay. Knocking all the enemies down and performing an all out attack, creating a team composition that makes every aspect of a boss obsolete. Even with these ideas in mind, SMT V:V manages to create a strong middle-ground that is genuinely thought-provoking at every turn, giving the player proper incentives that make them want to play better and hit harder. This was true even in the original version of SMTV, and was made abundantly clear to the player when they are presented with the game's first boss, wherein, they were more than likely forced to use a Mermaid in order to defeat it. Mermaid is weak to fire, the bosses magic attack of choice, which forces the player to use dampener's or guard, as no other alternative other than overcompensating with grinding can over come this challenge.

Likewise, I praised Shin Megami Tensei V for its level design above all else. If there's one thing I haven't gotten tired of in my now 3 times playing this game, it's actually playing the fucking game. This is deeply impressive coming from an RPG. Most RPG's lack that replay value, and rely on a strong story to be engaging enough for a replay. I never get tired of exploring the sand-ridden city of Minato where every sand hill is just another attempt at obfuscating the environment, always leaving you peeking over and around corners to see what's ahead, and is designed in such a natural way to where you never feel like you're looking at a wall. The dilapidated Shinagawa, has fallen into disrepair yet remains lively with demon's populating every crevice, with a fairy village off to the west that hopes to usher in a new age of nature and life into the landscape. The new area, Shinjuku, always seems to expand in size yet never feels overwhelming. The tasteful enemy placement and complexity of Kabukicho made for an experience I'd gladly play again, knowing I'm not following the same linear and uninspired path that most games tend to falter with. Navigating the landscapes of Shin Megami Tensei V never feel's like a chore. There's a strong sense of verticality (scaling buildings to get a good view, sliding down a nice slide and/or hill), the game never sabotages its momentum, only punishing you if you run carelessly into an enemy and get fucked, so you're always on your toes, making it all the more satisfying when you make it to the end.

A similar thing can be said for the demon's. The original game led me into a rhythm of 3 demon's: Yoshitsune, Idun, and Alice. Literally an unstoppable team that never fails. My 2nd playthrough let me fuse an Alice that had +20 magic when fused due to an essence skill that gives exp and stat boosts to demon's when fusing. With Vengeance, however, I know I can't defeat the cock in a wheelbarrow if I have Yoshitsune, because Yoshitsune has physical skills. Even still, I keep the team as my focus because Shin Megami Tensei V just loves encouraging you to be creative and unique with your own team composition. There's truly nothing more satisfying in Megami Tensei games than having a demon you like. I was really worried about the balancing, because I noticed that Persona 3 Reload had homo-demons (everyone was using Siegfried), but the game chose to be easier on hard difficulty by minimizing grinding to the bare minimum in favor of pure strategy.

Lastly, I've already spoken praise about the art direction of the landscapes you roam, but the enemy designs are something to complain about. Doi doesn't design demons, he's just drawing women. When there are 2 female demon's that have unique skills exclusively built around sexualization, while Jack Frost remains assless and unviable, I begin throwing sharp objects at children playing at the park. The death of these children are on Doi's hands. The sexuality is fine. Being in a post-apocalyptic world ran by demons, I'm not exactly expecting puritanism to thrive here--fucking obviously. Hearing moans in the background of SMT IV's Tarvern theme, the Magatsuhi is obviously represented as some form of ecstasy akin to sexual pleasure that Demon's love to absorb, the sexuality is core to the atomsphere, but what Doi's doing here is just pure self-indulgent sexualization. Naamah is literally Five from Drakengard 3, which makes 2 nickels in my pockets for the amount of times a Japanese man has made a sexually promiscuous blonde haired white woman. Will update if more are made.

atlus saw the backlash for the incomplete work of SMTV, and they didnt just ignore it, instead listening. SMTV:V managed to fix every single complaint i had about SMTV, all the while building further past what i could have ever expected. the characters were so well written, so interesting, and generally just a ton of fun. the improvements in combat, gameplay, and the general story and layout of the game through the "canon of vengeance" route were so unbelievably good. overall, SMTV:V became a game that i love absolutely everything about, and i'm so glad i got to experience SMTV in an infinitely better way!!! :) 10/10