As a major Persona fan, I’ve never tried out any of the SMT games. I’ve always been curious to see where the Persona series started, but the never really have been on my radar. That is until E3 2021, where the re-revealed Shin Megami Tensei V. I was pumped to try out an SMT game on a modern console. So, when I got to it and finally beat it, I was very happy with the results.
First off, I feel like where SMTV shines the most is its combat. While I don’t think it’s as satisfying or rewarding as Persona’s, I still really enjoyed it. You have the typical weaknesses to exploit, stats to buff and debuff, but what I enjoyed a lot were the unique animations that many demons and the Nahobino have. Everything about the battle system has a lot of thought out into it. There are so many types of unique events that can happen as you battle, and it was so fun. What WASNT AS FUN was how the turns work. I get that it’s a SMT staple, and I had to get beaten to a pulp during my first SMT game, but MAN it was challenging to get past. Basically, you get a max of 4 actions at your disposal (3 or less depending on how many members are in your party). Doing anything will cost one. Exploring a weakness or landing a critical hit gives you a bonus turn. Constantly exploiting weaknesses can get you potentially 8 actions during the players turn. That’s neat. However, the enemy has the same formula too. If you fight 5 enemies, then they have 5 or up to 10 turns if they land crits and weaknesses. So, you BETTER know what you’re doing to prevent hordes of enemies from bombarding you. But last and WHAT I WISH CAN BE LEAST, missing costs TWO actions. I wish it wasn’t as punishing for simply getting unlucky. Sure, it’s a staple of the series, but have the option to change it could be nice. But other than that, I loved battling in this game.
One thing that I felt was lacking though was the story. After looking up forums of people mentioning this game’s story, I’m glad I wasn’t in the minority. I felt as if the story felt very slow. After the first area I thought “okay it’s only this slow because all JRPGs start slow.” After the second area, I started getting worried that the whole game felt like there was barely any progression. The third area started getting interesting with its morals and themes, and then the fourth SKYROCKETED in its story. But it shouldn’t take the last third of the game to feel like your actions have weight to them. I wish it felt like there was even MORE meaning to each character, other than having them be there for padding.
Other than that, I had a blast with this game. I can see its faults, and there are a lot of faults. But the gameplay, music, demon interactions, fusing still being super addicting; all of that is still here. Small minor things can be fixed, but overlooking them, you won’t regret spending your time on Shin Megami Tensei V.