As a crossover between SMT and Fire Emblem, it's a failure on all fronts. I'm all for lighthearted and fun stories, but you've got to have me engaged. I don't particularly care about pop idols and was checked out about half way through the game to point I was just fast forwarding through everything. It also doesn't help that the first cutscene is focused on one character who probably should have been the playable protagonist but we were stuck with a piece of cardboard instead.

The saving grace for this game is the combat system. Once you have the full party and plenty of options to build sessions, it's a lot of fun, even if the well animated attacks are repetitive and can't really be skipped. The dungeons are well designed and the visuals and music are well done.

Honestly, if this combat system came back, I wouldn't be opposed to it because it's a lot of fun and I think there is plenty of potential with combining SMT and Fire Emblem. I enjoyed this game more than I thought, but its flaws are apparent. I'm glad I got this on sale.

it's a fun and well made game. the combat is really fun, the character design is good (especially the carnage form) and the story is solid, sometimes it can feel a bit too cheesy but good overall. I can see how it is someone's favourite game ever.
however, I wish it wasn't advertised as an FE and SMT crossover, beacuse this game doesn't feel like any of them, and more like one of atlus's other games (like trauma team of refantazio) and the concept of an actual crossover between the two franchises could'e been really fun