An incredibly compelling game that I wish I liked more than I do. The theme is fantastic. More than any other game I've played, this game grapples with the overall potential decline of humanity through climate collapse, economic decline, warfare, and chaos. As with any SMT game, you're fighting demons, but ultimately it's a story about humanity's choices that have led to this point, and where to go from there.
The characters are some of the best in any SMT (or even Persona!) game I've played. I became attached to all the crew members and their personalities and quirks. As the game progresses, they become even more interesting due to some spoilery stuff. You really feel connected to them; when your fellow crew are in danger, you instinctively want to work together to save them.
The music is wonderful. All of the most dramatic moments hit even harder due to the fantastic composition choices. There are some very funny moments where mechanics are a little at odds with themeing. One recurring moment would be a demon asking me if I want it to learn a new ability upon level up, I would tell it no, it would insult me, only to have a new dialogue immediately pop up with it telling me how much it likes me and giving me a free item.
With all the good stuff I've mentioned, why only a 3.5? Most of the time you're dungeon crawling. This is good! That's what we're here for, after all. Unfortunately, after having played other dungeon crawlers like Persona Q, Etrian Odyssey, and Labyrinth of Refrain and Galleria, the dungeons felt lackluster in comparison. Most of the puzzles consisted of teleport mazes (not the worst, you're mostly treading new ground a lot with some memorization) and arrow shenanigans. Or, as you progress, fake-out and illusory walls, which are a bit frustating but still doable with trial and error. It's not that the puzzles were particularly challenging, there just wasn't enough variety for me for how long the game took.
I ended up going with the Chaos route and the final boss is incredibly frustrating, RNG-based, and unforgiving. There is an attack that, to my knowledge, can't be resisted or blocked unlike every other type of attack in the game, and can simply wipe your entire party in one turn if you're unlucky. This fight is supposedly easier in other routes, so I think a lot of people won't encounter this same problem. It feels bad to have a deeply skill-based game end on whether you can get lucky enough at the end.
I really want this game to be a 5 and would love to see a new version or re-do of this with better dungeons.
The characters are some of the best in any SMT (or even Persona!) game I've played. I became attached to all the crew members and their personalities and quirks. As the game progresses, they become even more interesting due to some spoilery stuff. You really feel connected to them; when your fellow crew are in danger, you instinctively want to work together to save them.
The music is wonderful. All of the most dramatic moments hit even harder due to the fantastic composition choices. There are some very funny moments where mechanics are a little at odds with themeing. One recurring moment would be a demon asking me if I want it to learn a new ability upon level up, I would tell it no, it would insult me, only to have a new dialogue immediately pop up with it telling me how much it likes me and giving me a free item.
With all the good stuff I've mentioned, why only a 3.5? Most of the time you're dungeon crawling. This is good! That's what we're here for, after all. Unfortunately, after having played other dungeon crawlers like Persona Q, Etrian Odyssey, and Labyrinth of Refrain and Galleria, the dungeons felt lackluster in comparison. Most of the puzzles consisted of teleport mazes (not the worst, you're mostly treading new ground a lot with some memorization) and arrow shenanigans. Or, as you progress, fake-out and illusory walls, which are a bit frustating but still doable with trial and error. It's not that the puzzles were particularly challenging, there just wasn't enough variety for me for how long the game took.
I ended up going with the Chaos route and the final boss is incredibly frustrating, RNG-based, and unforgiving. There is an attack that, to my knowledge, can't be resisted or blocked unlike every other type of attack in the game, and can simply wipe your entire party in one turn if you're unlucky. This fight is supposedly easier in other routes, so I think a lot of people won't encounter this same problem. It feels bad to have a deeply skill-based game end on whether you can get lucky enough at the end.
I really want this game to be a 5 and would love to see a new version or re-do of this with better dungeons.