Themes of gigantic proportions with the original metaphysical conflict between order and chaos as a guideline. Which one is preferable for a better world, now that the old one has lost its God? Consciences are finally freed from the yoke of divine omnipotence. Where should we go now that we have lost our guide?
All of this goes far beyond our human finitude but, and this is where SMTV shines in its philosophical presentation: we come back time and time again to discuss man's place in this cosmic balance. This is how the game manages to keep its feet on the ground to lay the foundations not only of its plot but also simply of its engagement with the player.
Each character, however obsessed with his ideals, faces at least once a period of deep questioning either by slow introspection or by coming face to face with the consequences of his choices. God dead, what becomes of man? And, as best as they can, beyond good and evil, the characters look for their answer... SMTV has not made any mistake in the description of this very Nietzschean process. The death of God is not an end, it is the beginning of human transformation. Man is a bridge, a rope between "subhuman" and something else, something greater (or rather the chasm that separates them...). He then goes through three essential stages for his advent: the accumulation of knowledge, without reflection (monologue of the prologue, prelude of the Armageddon); the destruction of the whole of knowledge, of what was held to be true (the great war of 18 years ago and its final deicide); finally, the rebirth ex nihilo, from nothing. This last phase of creation, pure of new knowledge and a new morality, is perfectly embodied by the existence of the Nahobino. This is why its existence is taboo in itself.
There might be avenues for reflection too on the slow decadence of the human being, relentlessly crushed by society and a city that never stops growing. The enormous Tokyo map, the bland everyday life at high school, only punctuated by bullying and fear of abduction...
The exploration is awesome. The size and quantity of elements in each level are so huge that managing to keep consistency in the inimitable aesthetic and gameplay is a huge achievement. Because the demons which populate this Tokyo devastated of all human life are well alive, in every possible aspect. Their artistic diversity (Masayuki Doi has done a monumental work on the designs), the fact that they each have their unique animation, their completely offbeat humor (the fact that it goes against all human logic and that you have to decipher it to recruit them...), and their quantity! Their total number seems infinite (the possibilities of fusion). In the end, even if man is the main subject of SMTV, it is through our interactions with the demons that we become aware of certain things that would bring us closer to a definition of "life", "humanity"... What does it mean to be alive? You have to ask the myriad of deities, dragons, fairies, snakes, and other mythological creatures that occupy the Da'at. The latter term, which refers to the hidden sefira of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah, also refers to knowledge, self-awareness, and thus the ability to make decisions for the good of all. Quite fitting.
SMTV shines again in its huge architecture, in these dungeons in which we feel tiny and lost in front of more and more gigantic bosses. I am not particularly familiar with the districts of Tokyo so I may have missed some easter eggs referring to the real-life locations. However, it was a pleasure to discover the city this way: Akihabara, Sukiyabashi, Ginza, all the famous districts are there in a way that amplifies, even more, the mystical side of the adventure.
The cinematography and the mise-en-scène of the cinematics were simply epic! Although the quest is far from being an epic: no initiatory quest, no heroism or sentimentality, no power of friendship, etc.
And the game is hard, very hard (for me anyway). It's not only about complicated fights, which is an easy problem to solve in an RPG that allows us to gain experience and increase our stats. Atlus is, as usual, much crueler than that. SMTV is a marathon: the fights are numerous, very numerous. And there is no question of asking our companions to resurrect us: our death is equivalent without delay to the fateful game over. It is up to us and only us to build our team by convincing our opponents to join our camp, an additional pressure. And then to fuse them strategically.
The members of our party, whose statistics are entirely customizable, only have a limited number of skills. This means that you have to be willing to make many sacrifices from the long list of available spells. Knowing that a deleted skill is permanently deleted. A mistake in our path can be very disabling in the long run.
2 points to lighten this up:
- The combat system is great: touching an enemy's weakness gives you an extra turn, attacking him on one of his strengths makes you lose one. This is also true for your opponent. The tactic is then to gain turns while reducing the opponent's turns.
- And the fact that there are so many side quests and elements to explore in parallel means that you rarely have to "farm the hard way".
All of this goes far beyond our human finitude but, and this is where SMTV shines in its philosophical presentation: we come back time and time again to discuss man's place in this cosmic balance. This is how the game manages to keep its feet on the ground to lay the foundations not only of its plot but also simply of its engagement with the player.
Each character, however obsessed with his ideals, faces at least once a period of deep questioning either by slow introspection or by coming face to face with the consequences of his choices. God dead, what becomes of man? And, as best as they can, beyond good and evil, the characters look for their answer... SMTV has not made any mistake in the description of this very Nietzschean process. The death of God is not an end, it is the beginning of human transformation. Man is a bridge, a rope between "subhuman" and something else, something greater (or rather the chasm that separates them...). He then goes through three essential stages for his advent: the accumulation of knowledge, without reflection (monologue of the prologue, prelude of the Armageddon); the destruction of the whole of knowledge, of what was held to be true (the great war of 18 years ago and its final deicide); finally, the rebirth ex nihilo, from nothing. This last phase of creation, pure of new knowledge and a new morality, is perfectly embodied by the existence of the Nahobino. This is why its existence is taboo in itself.
There might be avenues for reflection too on the slow decadence of the human being, relentlessly crushed by society and a city that never stops growing. The enormous Tokyo map, the bland everyday life at high school, only punctuated by bullying and fear of abduction...
The exploration is awesome. The size and quantity of elements in each level are so huge that managing to keep consistency in the inimitable aesthetic and gameplay is a huge achievement. Because the demons which populate this Tokyo devastated of all human life are well alive, in every possible aspect. Their artistic diversity (Masayuki Doi has done a monumental work on the designs), the fact that they each have their unique animation, their completely offbeat humor (the fact that it goes against all human logic and that you have to decipher it to recruit them...), and their quantity! Their total number seems infinite (the possibilities of fusion). In the end, even if man is the main subject of SMTV, it is through our interactions with the demons that we become aware of certain things that would bring us closer to a definition of "life", "humanity"... What does it mean to be alive? You have to ask the myriad of deities, dragons, fairies, snakes, and other mythological creatures that occupy the Da'at. The latter term, which refers to the hidden sefira of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah, also refers to knowledge, self-awareness, and thus the ability to make decisions for the good of all. Quite fitting.
SMTV shines again in its huge architecture, in these dungeons in which we feel tiny and lost in front of more and more gigantic bosses. I am not particularly familiar with the districts of Tokyo so I may have missed some easter eggs referring to the real-life locations. However, it was a pleasure to discover the city this way: Akihabara, Sukiyabashi, Ginza, all the famous districts are there in a way that amplifies, even more, the mystical side of the adventure.
The cinematography and the mise-en-scène of the cinematics were simply epic! Although the quest is far from being an epic: no initiatory quest, no heroism or sentimentality, no power of friendship, etc.
And the game is hard, very hard (for me anyway). It's not only about complicated fights, which is an easy problem to solve in an RPG that allows us to gain experience and increase our stats. Atlus is, as usual, much crueler than that. SMTV is a marathon: the fights are numerous, very numerous. And there is no question of asking our companions to resurrect us: our death is equivalent without delay to the fateful game over. It is up to us and only us to build our team by convincing our opponents to join our camp, an additional pressure. And then to fuse them strategically.
The members of our party, whose statistics are entirely customizable, only have a limited number of skills. This means that you have to be willing to make many sacrifices from the long list of available spells. Knowing that a deleted skill is permanently deleted. A mistake in our path can be very disabling in the long run.
2 points to lighten this up:
- The combat system is great: touching an enemy's weakness gives you an extra turn, attacking him on one of his strengths makes you lose one. This is also true for your opponent. The tactic is then to gain turns while reducing the opponent's turns.
- And the fact that there are so many side quests and elements to explore in parallel means that you rarely have to "farm the hard way".