Shin Megami Tensei V

Shin Megami Tensei 5 is a unique and interesting title for me, it's the only game that I have ever perordered a special edition for, and one of two games I preordered (I preoreded Danganronpa V3 on release because I feared getting a physical copy without a preorder would be nigh impossible in the land down under). While it was announced under the moniker "Shin Megami Tensei: Brand New Title" long before I played my first Atlus title, my completions of, among others, Nocturne, Persona 5, Strange Journey, the Devil Survivor Duology, and importantly Shin Megami Tensei 4 left me filled with an excitement for this title that was unparalleled to anything else I had ever felt.

With this understanding of my being an incredibly large fan of not just SMT titles but also Atlus rpgs in general being established I feel qualified to say that Shin Megami Tensei 5 is a title that wears its passion and pride for the series it is a part of on its shoulder, even if half the jacket it wears it on is missing.

Shin Megami Tensei 5 in no means hides its troubled development, between years of silence followed up with an incredibly quick slew of trailers after November 2020's Nintendo partner showcase, this much seems obvious, but the proof is in the pudding. The game dropping a level 30 something demon into your party in the final dungeon on the law route almost seems like an unintentional bug revealing some unused files in the games data, establishing that many different rewrites and pieces of cut content remain unseen off the cartridge, what remains is an incredibly fun yet different entry in the mainline title, and some hopes of an improved trademark Atlus rerelease.

With the exception of the exploit ridden and hilarious 1 and 2, mainline SMT is a hallmark in the world of JRPG gameplay, the press turn system is the industry's best in weakness exploitation, acting as the perfect roadblock in early game (matador, minotaur), incentivizing discovery and exploration through fusion in the midgame and finally pushing the system to its limit with endgame and/or superbosses, which require tactical application of any given titles nuances (is swapping a demon a half or full turn? Pass or Guard? Etc.) Shin Megami Tensei 5 is no exception to this modern trend, its innovations on mainline gameplay, such as the Magatsuhi gauge and the presence of consistent physical elemental skills offer unique and interesting combat options to 5 that aren't present in its predecessors, and have created some of the funniest strategies for endgame content today (such as the stacking of magatsuhi skills through sacrificing your own demons, giving the Nahobino 4 turns and multiple magatsuhi skills active). The application of customization options from Strange Journey (essences act as demon cores from that game). Demon negotiation is at its strongest in the series here too, even if its characteristically more friendly than its predecessors (demons never seem to run away with the good you give them). Demons giving you an "I o U" if you're too low level to join them is one of the greatest QoL changes to an existing system in video game history.
One major gripe with SMT5's gameplay that I and many others had was the effect that levels had in damage scaling, while the midgame roadblock bosses between levels 30-45 felt much more fair, upon entering the 4th area, the more open design and higher level demons forces grinding, a major uncommonality among mainline titles.

On the topic of these areas, the guided open worlds of SMT5 are a treat to explore, between Mimans, sidequests and less common overworld demons, each area never had me feeling like I just wanted to progress the main story. The nahobino is fun to control, and the behaviours of different demons on the overworld remains exciting and interesting through to the finale. These sections are also aesthetically stunning, each section is often awe inspiring in a different way, from the fairy village's welcome hints of greenery, to the barren sand-dunes of the first area. If you haven't I highly recommend checking out some of the google maps comparisons between the areas and their real life Tokyo equivalents

While Kaneko's soundtracks will always remain the most popular in Atlus' lineup, and for good reason, Shin Megami Tensei 5's soundtrack is still an excellent work in its own right. Each battle theme is unique and thrilling in its own way, as are the various overworld themes. The World of Shadows theme is something that I don't mind listening to for hours on end while I create my perfect team, and the return of the characteristically goofy tracks absent from 4 reinvigorate the more comical quests received on occasion from demons. My standout tracks from the release would have to be "Fairy Village", "Daily Life" and "Battle -edifice-"

Unfortunately, we've now reached the half of the jacket that does not exist, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say it is instead three photos of different jackets. The story and themes of Shin Megami Tensei 5 get a bit lost along the way. The story intentionally sets itself up as a 'psuedo-sequel' to Nocturne: set in a world after the true demon ending, or perhaps the world outside of the inverted and destroyed tokyo? Either way, the choice to kill YHVH before the game starts immediately sets 5 apart from its predecessors, and sets a huge tonal shift away to any SMT fan returning to the franchise, this unique opening is followed up with another subversion as the expected Law and Chaos heroes, based on previous character archetypes, end up swapped by the end of the game. This provides a unique perspective on tried and true alignments within the franchise, but SMT5's weird, rushed story often leaves these character developments off screen or out of place, sometimes they feel out of place even on screen such as Dazai's tip over to law before the final dungeon, the scene would have made more sense with a little rewriting or even just the reordering/rephrasing of his sentences, but is still a believable development . Other characters, such as Yakumo and Miyazu, have their greatest character discoveries hidden in easily miss able dialogue, such as requiring you to talk to Miyazu multiple times at the start of the game, or random nameless faceless NPCs on the overworld for Yakumo, and this game fails to capture the desire to talk to these characters like Nocturne does with it's early game hints and dialogue that interacts with your impacts on the world. These characters provide opportunities for unique insights into characters and themes of SMT5, but often fail to reach their destination.
[on a side note, I think the plot points that SMT5 shares with NGE are really funny]

If SMT5's plot takes inspiration from Nocturne, if making it a lot more epic and grandiose (with the borderline Sci-Fi designs of characters like Aogami), its themes are much closer to SMT4. When the game chooses to approach these on occasion, SMT 5 looks again at 4's ideas on futility, cycles and the reality of our impact on the world through our actions, as grand as they are. Although 5 is a lot less subtle than 4's, and is much less adept at applying it through gameplay. SMT 5 however does bring a "cool" factor to these ideas that 4 lacks, between fantasy names and large flashy designs, the nihilistic look at the cycle of law and chaos has never been cooler. 5, furthermore, has a secret ending that serves as a happy circumvention of these ideas, the requirements of which can seem somewhat arbitrary at times, but mostly demand the completion of all of 5's content. SMT 5 never feels like it "earns" this happy ending however, and its clear that this has to do with the story being nigh non-existent for the first half of the game, before rushing to close out in the second. There are several ways I can imagine a "labyrinth of amala" or "womb of grief" from Nocturne or Strange Journey Redux helping to alleviate these issues, while also exploring underplayed themes in SMT5 about duty and godhood.

A lot of the charm of SMT5 comes from its passion for Mainline, from the references to Nocturne in both plot and throwaway dialogue, to the abrupt demon interruptions in conversation that bring humorous insight to their myths, or, alternatively, references to games all across SMT. This game exudes charm and passion from a group of creators who had too many conflicting ideas to fit into one game and then ran out of time. With a classic Atlus rerelease I believe SMT5 has the potential to be one of Atlus' greatest titles, but for now its just something that I love far more than it is worth.

Once, where a city called Tokyo stood, now lies a desert vast and arid. Buildings sit half sunken in sand, like tombstones of a forgotten age. Unearthly structures rise disjointed into the sky--silvery pillars half-finished by some otherworldly architect. There is only the bluster of wind and the far-off howl beasts. On the horizon, a blue dot glides along the sands, skating over dunes, heading towards the top of a mountain. It's a young man, clad in an electrified, skin-tight suit, with cerulean hair as far down as his ankles. He stops as he reaches the mountain top, for something below the sands has begun to move. The desert floor then erupts with something titanic lurking in the dust. The sand clears, and with a venomous hiss, a multi-headed, snake-like monster lunges out--the Hydra of ancient myth! ...

Shin Megami Tensei V, the latest in the long-running JRPG series from Atlus, manages to capture something novel in this iteration. The series, having been locked to handheld consoles since the release of Shin Megami Tensei IV [真・女神転生IV] in 2013 (and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey [真・女神転生 STRANGE JOURNEY] before that in 2009), had been exploring the claustrophobic--the tight corridors and nooks and crannies in which demons dwelled. It was all about the underground, the smallness, and the confinement. I think back to the Naraku dungeon in IV, and the way that the cramped cavern walls filled me with anxiety--potential death hiding around every corner. Maybe it was just the restrictions of a limited console like the DS and 3DS, but they made do, and they did it well. Though, in retrospect, perhaps it was harder to convey the 'grandeur' of these mythical creatures on such hardware.

This is not the case for SMT V. Grandeur now comes in abundance. From the first moment you're dropped into Da'at, the world comes at you, colossal and heavy. There's a sense of scale to its immersion that no other installment in the series reaches. Demons litter the environment in fully realized 3D, each with their own strange and wonderful personality and aesthetic. Sometimes they'll be having a laugh with one another, swinging from an old street post, or sitting on an abandoned car. At times, you can encounter massive entities, known as punishing foes, that add a sense of awe and fear to the area. Even Nocturne doesn't feel as grandiose in terms of world composition and exploration (though, that too could be chocked up to the hardware). The Nahobino's design also plays well into this sense of scaling the world, his striking blue form (and that amazing hair), as well as his ability to speed along make travel and exploration really enjoyable. Movement wasn't something I could say that I liked in other SMT games, but this one really nails it. There are also times in which mastering movement can be fun and rewarding, such as dodging overworld enemies when tackling the abscess mini-bosses scattered across the maps.

In terms of music and gameplay, SMT V also stacks up to its predecessors. The battle tracks all have that fierce, otherworldly quality that makes for intense fights, and the overworld tracks capture that lonely and menacing atmosphere. They're all pretty excellent. The gameplay is what you'd expect from the past titles alongside some new quality of life improvements and tweaks. Demon customization has been deepened with the introduction of Essences, a new way to share skills, resistances, and affinities between demons and your protagonist. There are also plenty of items that boost you or your demons stats. While the general advice in these games is to not become too attached to any one demon for too long (as there are diminishing returns in leveling), this is probably the easiest game to carry your favorite demon with you thanks to all the additions. Though, the difficulty still has that classic SMT spiciness--so it's still easy to get whomped.

While I think that SMT V does very well (perhaps even the best) at what SMT is generally good at, it still maintains (and maybe even worsens) some of the shortcomings of the series. Mainly, the characters and overall narrative fall pretty flat. There is little time spent building the various characters within the game, and by the time the plot comes to a climax, it's hard to feel much of anything for them. They're all just sort of barely spirited through--things happening without much context. The antagonists, too, don't get much time to develop, and the pacing is a bit jumbled. It can all feel pretty paper-thin at times, and definitely leaves one wanting in the end. Though, I wouldn't say that this is enough to dismiss the game. What SMT V brings to the series through its immense and magnificent world, strong core gameplay, and amazing soundtrack is enough to keep any JRPG fan entertained for a good, long while.

Shin Megami Tensei V was announced only a year after Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, though as the years passed, nothing further about it had been shown until its inevitable second trailer in 2021 that confirmed it would finally come out that year. To say this game had been long-awaited by fans is an understatement, and it had a lot of hype to live up to considering the excellence of the previous game and the expectations going forward.

In terms of mechanics, Shin Megami Tensei V is arguably just as good as Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. Character progression is better in this game than it ever was before; the Nahobino's moveset is fully customizable much like Shin Megami Tensei IV, though unlike that game, your moves are acquired by essence fusion, which skips the process of having to raise demons you might otherwise not be interested in just to get their moves. Some essences do require you to raise demons so that they give them to you, but a vast majority of them can be bought or found out in the overworld. Demons can also inherit skills from essences, though due to this game using the skill potential mechanic from Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, they are penalized for using skills that they don't have affinities for, something that makes demon builds much less homogenous than they were in Shin Megami Tensei IV. Some may find the fact that only one of your four stat points gained on level up is distributed through player choice restrictive, though it prevents your stats from becoming too lopsided, as the biggest issue with character building in Shin Megami Tensei IV being that the dexterity stat was extremely overpowered and easy to dump everything into. Shin Megami Tensei V also improves the press turn system by changing the pass option to always light up a normal icon instead of consuming a blinking one, something that overall nets much more value out of using it as well as creating strategies that were never possible in previous games, such as sending all of your demons back to your stock and using all four of your blinking press turns to spam your most powerful damaging move with the Nahobino when your opponent is in range for them to die from it. While the smirk mechanic from the SMT IV duology does not return, Shin Megami Tensei V introduces magatsuhi skills, which are powerful battle actions that you can use when your magatsuhi gauge is full. You'll start with Omagatoki Critical, which makes all of your attacks guaranteed critical hits (including magic), though eventually you'll gain access to other magatsuhi skills that provide all sorts of different benefits when used, giving even greater flexibility in the way you approach building your team.

The mechanical strength of this game isn't without its flaws though. Shin Megami Tensei V is the first game in the series to use level scaling in its damage formula. This isn't anything new, as many other RPGs do this, though part of the fun of previous games was seeing how much of a level disparity you could get away with by using good strategy and character builds, whereas this game forces you to evenly level with the bosses as to not be handicapped by reduced damage. The presence of level scaling would be less of an issue if the game gave you as many experience points as you needed, though oftentimes you're required to grind to stay on track, something that is only truly alleviated by using DLC to increase the spawn rate of mitama that drop experience boosting items. The character progression is also a double edged sword; while you're given plenty of options for how to build the Nahobino, there does exist an objective best build for him and it's not exactly hard to figure out once you learn what his exclusive skills are. The Nahobino is intended to be a physical almighty nuke, as your ultimate attack, Murakumo, is a devastatingly powerful single target strength-based almighty attack that has more base power if it lands a critical hit, and one of your other exclusives, Sakanagi, is a single hit strength-based almighty attack on par with Freikugel in power that you can find pretty early in the game's second area. Despite the game's efforts to keep your stats balanced, you will pretty much only want to put points into strength and vitality, as you don't need to run magic and both agility and luck are pretty underwhelming stats in this game. Vitality as a stat is pretty heavily overtuned as well since its damage reduction does not scale linearly, meaning if you neglected to raise it during your playthrough because you like building glass cannons, you've pretty much ruined your chances of beating any of the game's more difficult fights, particularly the superbosses. Similarly to how there is one objective best build for the Nahobino, the magatsuhi mechanic is somewhat undermined by the fact that Omagatoki Critical is pretty easily the best magatsuhi skill in the game despite being the one you start with, discouraging the player from experimenting with other options as they typically won't yield the same level of success.

One noticeable change is the size of the demon roster, as it features far less available demons than that of the SMT IV duology, having only 229 demons in contrast to the 400+ demons that those games had. This is to be expected from a fully 3-D SMT game, especially one made in a new engine, though it does limit your team building options and makes fusion less of an exciting mechanic than it was in the SMT IV games. Despite the reduction in size, I really like most of the new demons that were introduced. Nuwa in particular is one of my favorite designs in the series, being elegant and sexy while still maintaining an aura of intimidation whenever she's around. Though I may be in the minority, I much prefer Masayuki Doi's art over that of Kazuma Kaneko, so him being the primary artist for this game works very well for me.

The progression of the game itself is fairly linear, and while the design of the world's areas are also linear, they leave enough open to make exploration fun and rewarding, with tons of hidden collectibles to find to bolster the strength of your party. The final area is completely open ended and allows you to tackle objectives in whatever order you feel like, which is a great way to mix up the gameplay and reward the player for making it that far. Shin Megami Tensei V takes a page from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild by using Korok-like NPCs in the form of Miman, who are strange creatures that are scattered all across the demon world for you to find and bring back to Gustave for rewards. Finding Miman isn't as essential as finding Koroks, though the rewards you get from them are pretty nice, including tons of useful essences and stat boosting items to make searching for the little bastards worth your time. There are also plenty of side quests to sink your teeth into, and while they aren't used as an effective tool for world building as they were in Shin Megami Tensei IV, they provide you opportunities to gain more experience and goodies to help you on your way while sometimes also unlocking special fusions. There are quite a few boring fetch quests among these, though I did like the side content this game had to offer as a whole.

Aesthetically, Shin Megami Tensei V knocks the ball out of the park. The quality of its visuals are limited by the Switch hardware and it is unfortunately capped at 30 FPS, though it manages to look pretty good despite its limitations. The overuse of the "ruined Tokyo" aesthetic does leave the game's main areas feeling a bit samey visually, but as far as the actual presentation goes the environments look great. The world itself may not be as moody and atmospheric as that of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne or as fleshed out and interesting as that of Shin Megami Tensei IV, but I still felt engrossed by it and was especially captivated during the first area of the game, as its shimmering, golden sand elevates what would otherwise be an ordinary desert into a beautiful and memorable location. Battle animations are flashy and cool, with signature skills in particular having some of the best battle animations I've ever seen in an RPG. Nothing really comes close to the feeling of landing Murakumo on a powerful boss and wiping out a good chunk of their HP from a critical hit, and in general the animations really make battles feel more intense and cinematic than they did in previous games. The music is great as well; it might not live up to the unbelievable heights of Shin Megami Tensei IV, but seeing as that game has one of the best soundtracks of all time, I wasn't disappointed at all. The standard battle theme is great and does a lot to add to the intensity, and the area themes fit their environments perfectly. Some of the boss themes are a little underwhelming, but most of them are good, and Dancing Crazy Murder in particular is one of my favorite battle themes in the series. My favorite track in the game overall would have to be A Rain of Light and Shadow, which is probably my favorite level up theme of all time.

The story is a bit of a mixed bag. The idea of an endless war for the throne of creation in the absence of YHVH is a really interesting idea, though the game doesn't really give this narrative enough build up. You'll spend a majority of the game working alongside the law faction regardless of what alignment you choose; only in the game's final area does the war for the throne truly escalate to a point where it becomes the focal point of the plot. The alignment system is unfortunately also a bit scuffed in this game. The main story progresses the exact same way regardless of your dialogue choices or what sides you picked in the law vs chaos sidequests, the only thing that changes your ending is what alignment you get locked into at the very last dungeon, which the game lets you choose even if it's not consistent with the alignment you were throughout the game. The chaos faction is also horribly underdeveloped considering the fact that they spend a majority of the game as bad guys for you to take down during your time as a member of Bethel, which isn't very fair to the chaos purists of the fanbase. Other than my grievances with the story, the writing is pretty good for the most part, especially for the demon conversations. The witty dialogue makes recruiting demons an engaging and fun process, and some demons even have special conversations that you can initiate if you have the right demon in your stock while also rewarding you with useful items.

Despite missing the mark on the alignment system, the game actually does a good job of making sure that none of the endings feel like the "best" outcome, as most games in the series usually have me thinking that the neutral route is the obvious best choice. The law route sees the Nahobino recreate the world into a perfect utopia where everybody is united under a single god, though this comes at the cost of humanity's individuality, as the new laws of this world heavily restrict the free will of its people. The chaos route has the Nahobino create a world where humanity is given unlimited freedom and the gods are allowed to rule the world as they see fit, though this results in a world of endless struggle between gods and humans that cannot reconcile with one another. The neutral ending is the only one in which a new world is not created, as the Nahobino instead opts to destroy the throne entirely in an effort to ensure that nobody can ever claim the power of the creator ever again. This leaves the world in quite a mess, as everyone is left to fend for themselves and many humans perish in their efforts to quell the forces of the demon world, though it is implied that they will eventually emerge victorious. Shin Megami Tensei V also has a hidden neutral route that can only be accessed after certain conditions have been fulfilled. In this ending, the Nahobino decides against destroying the throne, instead opting to create a world where gods and demons no longer exist, giving humanity the chance to prosper without the interference of supernatural beings, with the Nahobino isolating himself from his new world as to uphold this ideal. The game treats this as the true ending of the game, as it has the most amount of content out of any of the endings, is the only ending where all three forms of Lucifer are fought in addition to him being at his strongest, and even being the only ending to have a post-credits cinematic showing the new world. As much content as this route has though, it is disappointing that Lucifer is such a pushover, being much weaker and less threatening than Shiva, who you are required to beat first in order to even reach this ending. Whichever ending you like the most depends on what you value, though I do think that the standard neutral route is easily the weakest of them. Destroying the throne completely skips the fight with Lucifer, which is not only anticlimactic, but leaves the player with less content overall just for picking the ending they liked, and a player who picks the standard neutral route for their first playthrough might not even realize that Lucifer is supposed to be the final boss. Adding to the lack of a real final boss is the fact that you aren't rewarded with a specific demon fusion for new game plus, nor are you given an alignment exclusive miracle that the law and chaos routes give you. You are fortunately able to view the other routes if you created a separate save before the final choice, though having the standard neutral route be such an underwhelming choice is odd for an SMT game.

Shin Megami Tensei V is a game with a lot of excellent qualities, though it has its fair share of flaws that hold it back from being better than it could have been. It's clear from pre-release interviews and observing the content in game that they needed more time to flesh out the game, with the story in particular having to be re-written several times before they settled on something. I wish that they had the time and resources to bring out the full potential that this game had, but ultimately what we got was still a satisfying experience and I loved playing it nonetheless.