SMT If… is pretty poorly considered by people who go through it today, and while I kinda understand that (it’s the meanest one of the SNES ones), I also think what it does is incredibly interesting and ambitious. In terms of structure and scope it paved the way for both the Persona and Devil Summoner series, and there are decisions made as late as Persona 5 and SMT V that I could trace back here. Plus, at its core, its still SNES SMT, and that’s just a damn good time.
Honestly on a gameplay front there’s not a whole lot to talk about. The party has been split into a front and back row, but all that affects is whether basic attacks can hit or not, and enemies have a completely different party system still. The guardian concept, a proto-Persona idea that requires you to die to upgrade the demon possessing you, feels a little underbaked. It just feels like the guardians would (and do!) feel better when they affect your stats less and your abilities more, which is exactly what they do in later games. I like the dying mechanic though, its a nice buffer at the beginning.
Besides that, it’s still SMT. The dungeons are a bit prettier and sliiiightly less labyrinthine now, and there’s much less of them (only 6-8 depending on how you count it in the main game), but they’re still goofy and mean little mazes at their core. Each dungeon is themed around overcoming one of the seven deadly sins, so like in Greed you make the boss harder if you pick up more loot, or in Sloth you have to wait just beyond the point of boredom/frustration (lots of people despise this dungeon, but idk it wasn’t too bad for me. maybe i just like grinding tho lol)
The story is quite personal compared to the mainline games, focusing on just a couple characters and their interactions, without needing to save the world (instead, just gotta save the school!). I don’t really wanna say more about it, but make sure you play Reiko’s route the first time, as it unlocks an extra dungeon and the true final boss, who is INCREDIBLY thick and difficult.
But yeah, not totally sure why this one gets so much flak, it mostly seems like a slightly different and super interesting spin on the SNES SMT formula. Big recs!
Honestly on a gameplay front there’s not a whole lot to talk about. The party has been split into a front and back row, but all that affects is whether basic attacks can hit or not, and enemies have a completely different party system still. The guardian concept, a proto-Persona idea that requires you to die to upgrade the demon possessing you, feels a little underbaked. It just feels like the guardians would (and do!) feel better when they affect your stats less and your abilities more, which is exactly what they do in later games. I like the dying mechanic though, its a nice buffer at the beginning.
Besides that, it’s still SMT. The dungeons are a bit prettier and sliiiightly less labyrinthine now, and there’s much less of them (only 6-8 depending on how you count it in the main game), but they’re still goofy and mean little mazes at their core. Each dungeon is themed around overcoming one of the seven deadly sins, so like in Greed you make the boss harder if you pick up more loot, or in Sloth you have to wait just beyond the point of boredom/frustration (lots of people despise this dungeon, but idk it wasn’t too bad for me. maybe i just like grinding tho lol)
The story is quite personal compared to the mainline games, focusing on just a couple characters and their interactions, without needing to save the world (instead, just gotta save the school!). I don’t really wanna say more about it, but make sure you play Reiko’s route the first time, as it unlocks an extra dungeon and the true final boss, who is INCREDIBLY thick and difficult.
But yeah, not totally sure why this one gets so much flak, it mostly seems like a slightly different and super interesting spin on the SNES SMT formula. Big recs!