To an outsider, SMT seems to be one of the most inaccessible RPGs ever. 1st person dungeon crawling, high random encounters, vague decision making... and yet I kinda like this game.
Dungeon crawling in general is for sure an aquired taste. But if you want to get familiar with how they feel, this isn't a bad place to start. The auto map is just the right amount of convenient. It fills out as you explore, but it's locked behind quite a few menu selections. If you eventually get tired of, or are straight up locked out of viewing the map, there's a good chance you can just visualize it yourself by then, and be able to intuitively feel where to go.
As for combat, I was surprised by how easy it can actually be, even when in a few places where some enemies are like, 10 levels above you. Call me insane, but I think the high encounter rate actually helps you. Once you're at a comfortable enough level to mow through encounters with auto battle, you kinda enter this zen state where you can go through maps feeling completely chill. It's a nice contrast to when you actually do have to take battles seriously. But because you spent so much time getting through those enemy encounters, you're almost guaranteed to be at the right level to beat a boss, or that one enemy type that's giving you a hard time. I'm assuming this game just doesn't have the patented difficulty I always hear about surrounding mainline SMT, considering how many encounters can be cleared by the exact same bullshit strats. There's not enough demons that are immune to lightning, so those skills are incredibly broken. You can cast lightning, shibaboo, and shoot nerve bullets out of a spreadshot gun, and there's a 99% chance the enemies are completely incapacitated. It's kinda embarrasing.
I think the thing I like the most about this game is the vibes. There's this surreal, uneasy feeling that sticks with you from the very start of the game. From your hazy dreams, to the mostly lonely feeling maps and environments, I'd almost expect to be seeing all these demons running around. Exploring dungeons for the 1st time, not knowing the layout, plunging into completely unknown territory can feel especially unnerving, not knowing what kind of literal hellspawn is around the corner... What I'm trying to say here is this is like if all that shitty AU Backrooms fanfic shit was actually good.
But it's not all that. It also just feels really cool. I mean, do you see that box art over there??? <- That shit's more raw than a steak that'll give you e coli. The character designs, the music with those hard base lines, the story and themes all probably made this the most punk game ever at the time. Hell, it didn't even release in the west because it didn't line up with big Nintendo's guidelines and agenda. They were cowards to not release this in the west. In fact, them and Atlus are cowards to have still not released this in the west. But if that means the only way to play this game is without giving those pigs our money, then we can keep it this way!... Seriously tho it'd be cool if they brought back that iPhone port.
Dungeon crawling in general is for sure an aquired taste. But if you want to get familiar with how they feel, this isn't a bad place to start. The auto map is just the right amount of convenient. It fills out as you explore, but it's locked behind quite a few menu selections. If you eventually get tired of, or are straight up locked out of viewing the map, there's a good chance you can just visualize it yourself by then, and be able to intuitively feel where to go.
As for combat, I was surprised by how easy it can actually be, even when in a few places where some enemies are like, 10 levels above you. Call me insane, but I think the high encounter rate actually helps you. Once you're at a comfortable enough level to mow through encounters with auto battle, you kinda enter this zen state where you can go through maps feeling completely chill. It's a nice contrast to when you actually do have to take battles seriously. But because you spent so much time getting through those enemy encounters, you're almost guaranteed to be at the right level to beat a boss, or that one enemy type that's giving you a hard time. I'm assuming this game just doesn't have the patented difficulty I always hear about surrounding mainline SMT, considering how many encounters can be cleared by the exact same bullshit strats. There's not enough demons that are immune to lightning, so those skills are incredibly broken. You can cast lightning, shibaboo, and shoot nerve bullets out of a spreadshot gun, and there's a 99% chance the enemies are completely incapacitated. It's kinda embarrasing.
I think the thing I like the most about this game is the vibes. There's this surreal, uneasy feeling that sticks with you from the very start of the game. From your hazy dreams, to the mostly lonely feeling maps and environments, I'd almost expect to be seeing all these demons running around. Exploring dungeons for the 1st time, not knowing the layout, plunging into completely unknown territory can feel especially unnerving, not knowing what kind of literal hellspawn is around the corner... What I'm trying to say here is this is like if all that shitty AU Backrooms fanfic shit was actually good.
But it's not all that. It also just feels really cool. I mean, do you see that box art over there??? <- That shit's more raw than a steak that'll give you e coli. The character designs, the music with those hard base lines, the story and themes all probably made this the most punk game ever at the time. Hell, it didn't even release in the west because it didn't line up with big Nintendo's guidelines and agenda. They were cowards to not release this in the west. In fact, them and Atlus are cowards to have still not released this in the west. But if that means the only way to play this game is without giving those pigs our money, then we can keep it this way!... Seriously tho it'd be cool if they brought back that iPhone port.