Persona without the bullshit.
Shin Megami Tensei 5 feels like a game ripped straight out of the PS2, in the best way possible. It's a game that wants you to, y'know, play the game. Cutscenes are kept to an absolute minimum, and the gameplay never stops being engaging.
Da'at is an absolute blast to explore. In terms of sheer scope, this might just be the most ambitious Atlus game ever. Areas are huge and filled with little things to do at every turn. The game greatly rewards exploration through a variety of methods; Glory to learn new Miracles, the Miman and the rewards you get from Gustave, sidequests that award you with not only tons of EXP, but also unique items such as talismans. So on and so forth. The addition of a jump button really adds a lot to Da'at; the guys over at Atlus have managed to create some really fun levels to traverse, the added verticality allowed them to really go all out on the level design. I do think Da'at can sometimes start to feel a little too samey, however. It's not all desert, of course not, but this barren wasteland sometimes doesn't even feel like Tokyo. That's mostly a minor complaint, though. The atmosphere is phenomenal for the most part, thanks in large part to the amazing soundtrack. It might just top SMT4's in my book, but I'll have to sit on that one for a while longer.
The combat is great. Duh. SMT has had the best combat system in JRPG history ever since Nocturne introduced the world to press-turn, and SMT5 continues that legacy. For the uninformed, in SMT each of your demons gets an action every turn, totaling to a maximum of four actions per turn for your party. These are your "press turns", and you can get more by either hitting an enemy's weakness or landing a critical hit. You can also rid your enemy of their own press turns by dodging, blocking, absorbing, or outright deflecting their attack. What makes SMT so fun is that this goes both ways; just as you can gain press turns by hitting weaknesses, so can your foes. If you use a fire spell on a demon who blocks fire, you will lose your own press turns. it's this back and forth that makes the games more engaging than nearly every other JRPG out there; you have to approach every encounter as if it were your last if you want to make it out alive. This time around, a new mechanic has been introduced: the Magatsuhi gauge. You can gain Magatsuhi in a few ways (hitting weaknesses, critting, null/drain/repel), but for the most part that meter will get filled up a bit more after each turn. Once it's full, you can unleash a Magatsuhi skill; there's a lot of them in the game, but the one you will use the most (and the one every enemy uses) is Omagatoki. Once Omagatoki is activated, every single one of your attacks that turn will crit. Once again, this goes both ways; once the enemy party activates Omagatoki, get ready for a world of pain. The way this is balanced out is by making it so your opponents can only activate Omagatoki at the end of their turn. This does tip the scale a bit in your favor, but it also makes the game not bullshit so I'm willing to let it slide. As you unlock more Magatsuhi skills, party building gets a little insane. Building teams around certain Magatsuhi skills is a blast, and there's so much room for experimentation that I don't think I'll stop playing this game anytime soon.
A few months ago, I probably would've said P5R had the best fusion system in the series, but SMT5 blows it out of the water in terms of sheer customization. Thanks to essences and miracles, the number of ways in which you can build your demons is immense. Not only that, but the Nahobino himself can pretty much be built in any way imaginable. It's Digital Devil Saga levels of customization, and I'm all for it.
There are two things holding SMT5 back: performance and story. Let's talk about the former first. The game looks gorgeous, in and out of battles. SMT5 is one of the best-looking Switch games, but the performance takes a hit because of it. The game usually runs at a somewhat stable 30FPS, but dips to the mid 20s more than I'd like to admit. There were some points where it seemed to go below 20, but those were few and far between. The Switch simply cannot handle this game; it's too ambitious for it, but at least it's running. If the rumored PC port is real, then I can't fucking wait to play this at 60FPS or higher, and with better draw distances.
The story is extremely lacking. Atlus took the criticism they received from SMT4A way too personally, and as a result, we now have a story that basically has no characters. The alignment reps are the weakest mainline SMT has ever seen; the writing is even more barebones than Nocturne's, and that's saying something. The side characters, such as Yuzuru's sister and the bitch whose name I already forgot, are so useless in the grand scheme of things that I'm left wondering why they were there in the first place. Mainline SMT has never had the greatest character writing, but the ideologies behind the alignment reps have always been interesting; this is the first Shin Megami Tensei game where I didn't really think about any of my choices too deeply, and for this series specifically I don't think that's a good thing. You have no idea how frustrating this is for me, given that the game pretty much nailed every single other thing I love about Shin Megami Tensei. We were so close to getting a perfect game. So close. While the story is, well, bad, I can at least find comfort in that ever so sweet "skip cutscene" prompt.
Okay, anyways, let's keep things brief: great gameplay, great atmosphere, great soundtrack, Da'at is super fun to explore, the story is undercooked doodoo feces, Nahobino is fucking cool.
I would highly recommend this game to any JRPG fan out there, it's a blast from beginning to end. Loved it, totally worth the wait for the most part.
Shin Megami Tensei 5 feels like a game ripped straight out of the PS2, in the best way possible. It's a game that wants you to, y'know, play the game. Cutscenes are kept to an absolute minimum, and the gameplay never stops being engaging.
Da'at is an absolute blast to explore. In terms of sheer scope, this might just be the most ambitious Atlus game ever. Areas are huge and filled with little things to do at every turn. The game greatly rewards exploration through a variety of methods; Glory to learn new Miracles, the Miman and the rewards you get from Gustave, sidequests that award you with not only tons of EXP, but also unique items such as talismans. So on and so forth. The addition of a jump button really adds a lot to Da'at; the guys over at Atlus have managed to create some really fun levels to traverse, the added verticality allowed them to really go all out on the level design. I do think Da'at can sometimes start to feel a little too samey, however. It's not all desert, of course not, but this barren wasteland sometimes doesn't even feel like Tokyo. That's mostly a minor complaint, though. The atmosphere is phenomenal for the most part, thanks in large part to the amazing soundtrack. It might just top SMT4's in my book, but I'll have to sit on that one for a while longer.
The combat is great. Duh. SMT has had the best combat system in JRPG history ever since Nocturne introduced the world to press-turn, and SMT5 continues that legacy. For the uninformed, in SMT each of your demons gets an action every turn, totaling to a maximum of four actions per turn for your party. These are your "press turns", and you can get more by either hitting an enemy's weakness or landing a critical hit. You can also rid your enemy of their own press turns by dodging, blocking, absorbing, or outright deflecting their attack. What makes SMT so fun is that this goes both ways; just as you can gain press turns by hitting weaknesses, so can your foes. If you use a fire spell on a demon who blocks fire, you will lose your own press turns. it's this back and forth that makes the games more engaging than nearly every other JRPG out there; you have to approach every encounter as if it were your last if you want to make it out alive. This time around, a new mechanic has been introduced: the Magatsuhi gauge. You can gain Magatsuhi in a few ways (hitting weaknesses, critting, null/drain/repel), but for the most part that meter will get filled up a bit more after each turn. Once it's full, you can unleash a Magatsuhi skill; there's a lot of them in the game, but the one you will use the most (and the one every enemy uses) is Omagatoki. Once Omagatoki is activated, every single one of your attacks that turn will crit. Once again, this goes both ways; once the enemy party activates Omagatoki, get ready for a world of pain. The way this is balanced out is by making it so your opponents can only activate Omagatoki at the end of their turn. This does tip the scale a bit in your favor, but it also makes the game not bullshit so I'm willing to let it slide. As you unlock more Magatsuhi skills, party building gets a little insane. Building teams around certain Magatsuhi skills is a blast, and there's so much room for experimentation that I don't think I'll stop playing this game anytime soon.
A few months ago, I probably would've said P5R had the best fusion system in the series, but SMT5 blows it out of the water in terms of sheer customization. Thanks to essences and miracles, the number of ways in which you can build your demons is immense. Not only that, but the Nahobino himself can pretty much be built in any way imaginable. It's Digital Devil Saga levels of customization, and I'm all for it.
There are two things holding SMT5 back: performance and story. Let's talk about the former first. The game looks gorgeous, in and out of battles. SMT5 is one of the best-looking Switch games, but the performance takes a hit because of it. The game usually runs at a somewhat stable 30FPS, but dips to the mid 20s more than I'd like to admit. There were some points where it seemed to go below 20, but those were few and far between. The Switch simply cannot handle this game; it's too ambitious for it, but at least it's running. If the rumored PC port is real, then I can't fucking wait to play this at 60FPS or higher, and with better draw distances.
The story is extremely lacking. Atlus took the criticism they received from SMT4A way too personally, and as a result, we now have a story that basically has no characters. The alignment reps are the weakest mainline SMT has ever seen; the writing is even more barebones than Nocturne's, and that's saying something. The side characters, such as Yuzuru's sister and the bitch whose name I already forgot, are so useless in the grand scheme of things that I'm left wondering why they were there in the first place. Mainline SMT has never had the greatest character writing, but the ideologies behind the alignment reps have always been interesting; this is the first Shin Megami Tensei game where I didn't really think about any of my choices too deeply, and for this series specifically I don't think that's a good thing. You have no idea how frustrating this is for me, given that the game pretty much nailed every single other thing I love about Shin Megami Tensei. We were so close to getting a perfect game. So close. While the story is, well, bad, I can at least find comfort in that ever so sweet "skip cutscene" prompt.
Okay, anyways, let's keep things brief: great gameplay, great atmosphere, great soundtrack, Da'at is super fun to explore, the story is undercooked doodoo feces, Nahobino is fucking cool.
I would highly recommend this game to any JRPG fan out there, it's a blast from beginning to end. Loved it, totally worth the wait for the most part.