This is the game that introduced the press turn combat system, and everyone agreed it was good enough that every mainline should use it from then on (and every spinoff should use some variation of it).
The combat in this game is very good but, unsurprisingly, very hard. Sometimes I'd go into easy mode for a bit just to give myself a break, especially when the random encounters got to be too much (although never for bosses). Unlike earlier games in the series, you can't really auto-battle your way through random encounters unless you're way over-levelled since you need to take advantage of press turn if you want to get anywhere in combat.
The story hits you like a brick out the gate. You're a normal student for all of 5 seconds and then suddenly the world ends with very little buildup. It's pretty ridiculous but that's not necessarily a bad thing. From then on, the story is fairly minimal and only occasionally pokes its head into your gameplay up until the end.
The post-apocalyptic overworld is fine although it gets samey and old after a while. I thought the dungeons were pretty good, ESPECIALLY the Diet Building which I think is one of the best dungeons in the whole series. I also thought the Labyrinth of Amala was very good, feeling like a dungeon from the earlier games in the series translated to 3D.
Everyone online said you should go for the True Demon Ending so I did and actually regretted it. I mean, the bonus content you do to get the ending was all really cool, but the conclusion to the story felt unsatisfying. I actually fulfilled the requirements to get the Freedom ending if I hadn't gone for TDE and kinda wish I had just done that instead. None of the other endings appealed to me really, I couldn't really see why I would go for any of them unless I was just trying to get them all. Especially Chiaki's, fuck Chiaki (I won't spoil why but there is really good reason to hate her).
Also, SO Many of the iconic demon designs from the series originated in this game. No longer bound to pixel art, Kaneko really knocked it out of the park with this one.
The combat in this game is very good but, unsurprisingly, very hard. Sometimes I'd go into easy mode for a bit just to give myself a break, especially when the random encounters got to be too much (although never for bosses). Unlike earlier games in the series, you can't really auto-battle your way through random encounters unless you're way over-levelled since you need to take advantage of press turn if you want to get anywhere in combat.
The story hits you like a brick out the gate. You're a normal student for all of 5 seconds and then suddenly the world ends with very little buildup. It's pretty ridiculous but that's not necessarily a bad thing. From then on, the story is fairly minimal and only occasionally pokes its head into your gameplay up until the end.
The post-apocalyptic overworld is fine although it gets samey and old after a while. I thought the dungeons were pretty good, ESPECIALLY the Diet Building which I think is one of the best dungeons in the whole series. I also thought the Labyrinth of Amala was very good, feeling like a dungeon from the earlier games in the series translated to 3D.
Everyone online said you should go for the True Demon Ending so I did and actually regretted it. I mean, the bonus content you do to get the ending was all really cool, but the conclusion to the story felt unsatisfying. I actually fulfilled the requirements to get the Freedom ending if I hadn't gone for TDE and kinda wish I had just done that instead. None of the other endings appealed to me really, I couldn't really see why I would go for any of them unless I was just trying to get them all. Especially Chiaki's, fuck Chiaki (I won't spoil why but there is really good reason to hate her).
Also, SO Many of the iconic demon designs from the series originated in this game. No longer bound to pixel art, Kaneko really knocked it out of the park with this one.