About 20 hours into Canon of Vengeance, doing most side content and whatnot.
When I played the original SMTV back when it released on the switch I enjoyed it a lot! But it had a bunch of big (and small) issues, that added up until by the end I sat at the conclusion "could be amazing, but doesn't hit the mark".
Vengeance practically takes everything I had a gripe with the game and amends it, then puts in a bunch of QoL and new stuff on top of that.
To address the elephant in the room, the story (so far, I think I'm around halfway-ish) is so, so, so much better this time around. CoV really feels like they decided to finally give the time to develop a proper main cast, and it is so so gratifying having played the "beta". Yoko especially is a great addition to the cast. With her and Tao being very present throughout the story so far I really appreciate the game retaining that feeling of a pseudo-party that the first half of IV did really well. Back in the original release the only character I really gave a shit about was Dazai, since he was the only one with a visible arc throughout the game.
There are a myriad of gameplay tweaks/additions that aren't really worth going over but a few things I think are really cool:
-Demon Haunts are amazing, like seriously. Having all of your demons have unique dialogue and personalities, even commenting sometimes on current events in the story characterizes them even further than how well characterized demons were in base V. I've had this Rakshasa from level 20 to him now being level 40 just because he's such a bro. The system of keeping your demons around also lets them learn new skills, ones seemingly alot more higher tier than they would have without essence fusion. It's such a nice reward system for keeping a demon around because you like it, instead of everything becoming eventual fusion fodder. The Haunts also characterize Aogami alot more this time around, as does the main story. He's such a dad to the MC I love it lol
-the level scaling is a lot better. I didn't have much experience with it in base V because I wasn't really punching up too much, but I did have to grind significantly. Here I can fight bosses 15 levels above me and win through pure strategy.
-guest characters are really neat! I like using characters from the story that I actually like as a party member, and its certainly a far better system than what they tried to do in IV imo. THOUGH they are a bit OP. Tao has had mediarama for like a good chunk of the game now and I'm yet to get a normal demon with that shit.
Overall so far atleast this really feels like the SMTV I wanted SMTV to be those few years ago. I'm gonna update this review/write a spoiler one by the time I finish but I actually can't put this game down rn lol
When I played the original SMTV back when it released on the switch I enjoyed it a lot! But it had a bunch of big (and small) issues, that added up until by the end I sat at the conclusion "could be amazing, but doesn't hit the mark".
Vengeance practically takes everything I had a gripe with the game and amends it, then puts in a bunch of QoL and new stuff on top of that.
To address the elephant in the room, the story (so far, I think I'm around halfway-ish) is so, so, so much better this time around. CoV really feels like they decided to finally give the time to develop a proper main cast, and it is so so gratifying having played the "beta". Yoko especially is a great addition to the cast. With her and Tao being very present throughout the story so far I really appreciate the game retaining that feeling of a pseudo-party that the first half of IV did really well. Back in the original release the only character I really gave a shit about was Dazai, since he was the only one with a visible arc throughout the game.
There are a myriad of gameplay tweaks/additions that aren't really worth going over but a few things I think are really cool:
-Demon Haunts are amazing, like seriously. Having all of your demons have unique dialogue and personalities, even commenting sometimes on current events in the story characterizes them even further than how well characterized demons were in base V. I've had this Rakshasa from level 20 to him now being level 40 just because he's such a bro. The system of keeping your demons around also lets them learn new skills, ones seemingly alot more higher tier than they would have without essence fusion. It's such a nice reward system for keeping a demon around because you like it, instead of everything becoming eventual fusion fodder. The Haunts also characterize Aogami alot more this time around, as does the main story. He's such a dad to the MC I love it lol
-the level scaling is a lot better. I didn't have much experience with it in base V because I wasn't really punching up too much, but I did have to grind significantly. Here I can fight bosses 15 levels above me and win through pure strategy.
-guest characters are really neat! I like using characters from the story that I actually like as a party member, and its certainly a far better system than what they tried to do in IV imo. THOUGH they are a bit OP. Tao has had mediarama for like a good chunk of the game now and I'm yet to get a normal demon with that shit.
Overall so far atleast this really feels like the SMTV I wanted SMTV to be those few years ago. I'm gonna update this review/write a spoiler one by the time I finish but I actually can't put this game down rn lol