VideoGame What went wrong here?
After a long five year of silent development, the next game in the SMT series is out, and yet what we got is a game that feels like it was developed in just one.
In general the game feels like it cuts a lot of corners.
The game goes for an open world approach, like the one Kaneko originally envisioned for Nocturne, only the new overworld is mostly just the same desert you see at the start of the game, only with different areas having a differently colored filter added on top. Even the assets seems to be heavily shoe-strung with it clearly just having taken preexisting demon models, add a new texture and then just scatter them across the map. There is just a painful lack of variety. While there is some neat exploration to be had, it is nothing you haven't seen before.
The dungeons fare even worse, for which there are that is. The game only has two (or three depending on how you count) and while the first one is decent, the second one ends up just being a pallet swap of the first with a blatantly artificial puzzle that feels like it borders on being an asset flip.
And the performance clearly struggles as well. Despite being locked at 30 fps and being quite graphically simple, especially compared to some other Switch titles out there, the game clearly struggles to run most of the time with framerate rarely being stable. There just feels like a clear lack of basic optimization being present.
Moving away from the technical aspects, the story, or rather lack thereof is another sign towards some kind of rough development. I know I harp on Apocalypse for it's dreadful story, yet at the very least it felt somewhat complete. This one just feels like something thrown together from scraps in the last minute and then tossed out and calling it a day. To even call it a story feels like being generous as it is barely even functional, let alone good. And what little is here is blatantly derivative of Nocturne, just showing either a clear lack of originality or being a rush job, perhaps both.
The combat system meanwhile is the old standby with the Press Turn System with some small tweaks, but for the most part nothing you haven't seen before. While the new Magasuhi gauge tries to spice things up, it most just ends up being a forgettable novelty given it's limited use as only one of the skills it enables is really useful, which also happens to be the first you get.
And as as per usual, Doi's new designs are just as hit or miss as in the past with some great new ones while others are utterly dreadful. Though at the very least, Kozuka's OST is as good as always, mixing his usual style with some chaotic cacophonies to create a distinct yet familiar sound.
In the end, it all comes together to make a game that basically just exists. Something that was seemingly thrown together out of obligation more than anything else and then rushed out the door. Something that you just play and then forget. If anything it feels like a miracle that what we got was as playable as it was. I honestly think that a Wha Happun? episode detailing the background development would be more interesting than the game itself ended up being.
VideoGame Top tier gameplay, trash story
I think the quote of Fither regarding SMT IV Apocalypse sums up V even better than it did IVA. "This isn't MY Shin Megami Tensei, but I wish my Shin Megami Tensei played like this".
The gameplay in this series is the best it's ever been in mainline SMT, and I don't think saying it's the best gameplay in any Megaten game period is that outlandish a claim. By far the most impactful change is Essence Fusion. No longer is near-infinite customizability purely the domain of the MC. Now you can slap whatever skills you please on any demon at any time. Also worthy of note is the fact that buffs have been heavily nerfed in this game. Buffs disappear after 3 turns and need to be continuously reapplied, as well as primarily single target buffs being available in the early game. Additionally, charge/concentrate now only increases the damage of your next attack by 1.5x instead of 2.5x. So for the first time, it's not the case that the best strategy in every boss fight is "Bottom out the boss's stats. Max out your stats. And go to town on it with your strongest power charge-amped attacks." I also appreciate the increased focus on exploration. Exploration in this game provides two extremely important modes of progression. The first is Glory which are similar to app points in SMT IV but unlike in IV where your app points become less and less useful as the game goes on, you need all the glory you can get in SMT V right up until the end of the game. The second is finding the aforementioned essences scattered around the map. You can get them from Demons but it's extremely unreliable. You're mostly going to be finding them in various gold crystals found throughout the Netherworld.
Now onto the story, which I have significantly less praise for. Let me be clear though: though I HATE this game's plot, I've still replayed SMT V more than SMT IV. The gameplay is THAT good. Probably the best place to start would be the characters. Tao is serviceable enough for what she is if a bit bland. Miyazu is a complete non-entity even though the trailers made her seem like she would be important. She's literally in the game for all of 20 minutes outside of side quests. Yuzuru, the game's chaos rep, isn't much better. I literally couldn't have told you what his motivation was for becoming the chaos rep until I looked it up on the wiki. Probably the most fleshed out characters are Dazai and Yakumo, the game's law and neutral reps respectively. Both of their modus operandi in seeking the throne are completely understandable unlike Yuzuru, though Dazai undergoes some extremely rapid "character development" in the final area that comes off as jarring, and is actually my entry for this game on the Dethroning Moment of Suck page. However, one thing I have to give this game credit for: while its characters are bland at least it didn't recycle the same tired archetypes for the law, chaos, and neutral reps from SMT I the way IV and Strange Journey did.
VideoGame The HELL Just Happened?
I'm aware of the...contentious reputation of SMT Apocalypse in regards to its Lighter and Softer approach to its story compared to the other mainline SMT days. I will tell you right now, I was never too put off by it, and after playing V I actually regret not being able to go back to Apocalypse after 100%ing it.
Because any day of the week, give me memorable settings and likeable characters any day over endless sandy wastelands and a barebones set of characters whose names I can't be arsed to remember.
I mean...the HELL just happened?
Gameplay-wise SMT V is as solid as it comes: it has Atlus's signature pulverizing difficulty we all know and love, on top of a number of quality of life improvements I didn't even know I needed: ability to fuse Essences into preexisting Demons makes customizing our mythological Mons even more engaging, like a fusion of Skill Inheritance from IV and Sources from Strange Journey, but for every one of your party members, MC included.
But story-wise? Interesting in concept, but botched in execution: brought low by bland setpieces and boring, boring BORING characters.
And after the loveable cast from IV and Apocalypse it hurts even more: when Walter and Jonathan fell to the lure of Chaos and Law, you felt it, because they were your friends before those irreconcilable differences drove them apart. They had values, and beliefs, and there was a sense of companionship that they themselves struggled to hold onto, even as their ideologies drove them further apart.
The clash of ideologies meant something in IV. It felt personal. But in V...by the Great Will, Nocturne's cast was more engaging. NOCTURNE'S. I didn't give a shit about ANYONE in V: I kept going because the combat's a blast.
After showing that the grim, post-apocalyptic world of Mainline SMT could be engaging beyond the next brutal battle against this, that, or the other god, that it could have likeable characters making interesting philosophical arguments on top of top-tier RPG gameplay, V feels like a big step backwards.
VideoGame An excellent game with an almost nonexistent story
As a Persona fan, I decided to branch out to the parent Shin Megami Tensei series, starting with the third game. I found that the fifth game is an improvement on the third in many regards, but not the story.
V's story is almost identical to III's- the world has been destroyed, and the survivors must decide how to recreate it. It's not a bad concept, but it's let down by how hardly any characters get much development or depth(Dazai is one of the few with a character arc), making it difficult to care about them or get invested. "Persona 5 without the heart" is hardly a fair comparison, but those expecting a story on par with Persona, or even some of the other SMT games, will be disappointed.
The gameplay, however, is a step up from III in many regards, such as QOL fixes. V does away with Random Encounters in favor of Pre Existing Encounters, making it easier to avoid battle if you want. You can see an enemy's elemental affinities while targeting it, with the game updating the information as you use various elements and giving the full report for demons you've defeated. During demon negotiations, demons won't ask for money and items until after you've answered the questions, making it less likely that waste money a demon that won't join.
Some of the changes, such as making buffs temporary and having physical skills cost SP rather than HP, are contentious, but I didn't mind. The former(along with them only stacking twice) makes it a bit easier to max out your buffs or debuffs, and punishes you less when the enemy dispels them. The latter helps make magic builds a bit more viable in a series that previously favored strength builds, although it's possible to acquire strength-based elemental skills.
The game allows you freedom to customize your character and your demons. In addition to fusing demons to make stronger ones, you can use demon essences to grant yourself or your demons skills or change your affinities, helping you prepare for any situation. Unfortunately, most of the good essences are rather rare, making them fall into Too Awesome to Use, at least for me. The ability to use a currency called Glory to purchase Miracles to unlock new abilities is a fun way to strengthen your character, even if some abilities, such as Level-Up Fill-Up, come for free in other games.
Unlike III, V mainly takes place in a Wide-Open Sandbox, with the vast majority of the game taking place in outdoor areas, and there only being three dungeons, the first of which is very short. It's quite enjoyable to explore these areas to find items, Glory and other collectibles. Unfortunately, you will sometimes have to level grind in order to progress, such as in the final area; you enter at around level 58 and the major storyline bosses and a few of the enemies are 72.
SMT V isn't perfect, and the lackluster story is its main flaw, but it's probably the best starting point for newcomers to SMT, especially those who played Persona.