A lot of gamers leading up to SMT5's release had a lot of questions along the line of "How is this going to top SMT3? SMT4? Apocalypse???"

It doesn't.

I'd explain myself, but you're going to have to wait three more years for this review to be rereleased with more content.

I've now beaten the game, and while my opinion has changed it's less of a 180 and more of a 90. This is definitely one of the most solid Atlus games gameplay-wise and one of the most customizable, which is something I adore in an RPG. I also appreciate the music much more now, and the visuals were no longer headache-inducing since they added the brightness slider. Unfortunately, the lows are still low. There's very little area variety; each overworld location is a different colored flavor of "Tokyo but desert," which had long since worn out its welcome even before I went back to play, and while there are dungeons to break up the monotony, there's only two or three in the entire game that are saved for the latter half of the game, for some reason. The story is still garbage too, it's just a big nothing burger that wishes it was Elden Ring — which makes me want to talk about the endings. Unlike Elden Ring, you don't have free will in this game about how you want to reform the world. Instead, you get to pick a side (none of which appealed to me) in a conflict between three different pairs of characters you meet throughout the game. The (already unlikable) character representing the order ending randomly turned into a Very Obviously Evil edgelord psychopath right before the end, like the kind you find at Westboro Baptist Church. I didn't want to side with them for the aforementioned reason. The neutral(?) ending is bland character A and bland character B, who want to create a world where everyone is a god for some reason. I found these characters bland, so I didn't side with them, leaving me with the chaos ending (ironically what I chose in Elden Ring); I felt coerced into this rather than making the decision myself, and I felt like I didn't really do anything to earn it, again, unlike Elden Ring where you very deliberately choose the ending you want depending on which quest lines you pursue. Speaking of characters, I really tried to endear myself to them this time, and I. just. couldn't. You never get to know them well enough for that in the first place, but they don't even show potential, they're just all bland and unlikable. Maybe Vengeance can fix them, but I don't know. I like this game enough now that I might pick that up on sale to try the new content.

I recommend this game now if you like RPGs, just go in for the gameplay and don't expect much from the story and you'll probably have a good time.

This was my first game in the mainline Shin Megami Tensei series. I don't think I could have asked for a more comfortable entry to the franchise. This game took a lot of time for me to adapt to, but I think all of the challenges it presented were enjoyable for the most part. The core loop of making progress and constantly updating your team of demons took some getting used to as a long time pokemon veteran. I really enjoyed the fusion system and how it allows you to create unique versions of demons.

I think some of the dialogue choices that lead to a fixed reaction is something I didn't really enjoy, especially in a game that allows actual dialogue choices that impact the end of the game. Especially because in some moments it's very unclear if those conversations will or won't have any actual impact. But that's a very personal take.

I've had some distance from the game prior to writing this, so I've lost a lot of my general thoughts to the ether. I had fun and it was challenging. Visual presentation was generally good, but 75% of the open world areas are genuinely hard to look at. The combat is incredible when it's going your way, and can turn on you in an instant which was brutal to get used to - again a pokemon fan, I come from games that let you just steam roll your opponents 24/7. I hope SMTVV fixes balance issues and damage scaling, and I can't wait to see this game on something other than 7 year old hardware. 4/5 because there's no Hee-Hobino in this one.

Shin Megami Tensei V proves, like many other great JRPGs (e.g., Final Fantasy V), that a JRPG is not always defined by its story. The gameplay mechanics, level design, encounter design, world, characters, writing, story, music, visuals, and atmosphere are all pillars that can form the foundation of an RPG, but you don't need all of them for the structure to hold. The written story here is not good, so what? At least it stays out of the way - and frankly, I would rather have that than have a poorly-written story take up a significant portion of runtime. Gameplay can tell its own personal story, and my own experiences of playing through this were memorable and interesting. This game knows what it's good at, it's focused, but I can't deny it feels unfinished.

Field exploration is mostly improved. The areas all have an impressive amount of verticality, and trivial dungeon "puzzles" are replaced with figuring out how to navigate these spaces. Collectibles are useful upgrades to your abilities via Miracles and demon essences, instead of just single-use items or gear. Enemies can easily be avoided on the field.

The entire battling/collection/fusion loop is the best it's ever been in these games. Reverse compendium search, demon essences, more unique skills, the works - it all makes it more fun to experiment with different builds and create tailor-made teams for each encounter. You have to manage buffs/debuffs more now since they don't last forever, and there is a reasonable 2-stack limit. It's good to get players to think about when and where to apply these.

There are couple design desicions I think are a bit misunderstood.

The open-zone level design allows you to easily avoid fighting enemies most of the time. But by avoiding enemies, you miss out on valuable experience points, money, and recruitable demons. So how exactly does this make the game too easy? This is like complaining about the random encounter modifier in Bravely Default. In SMTV, not gaining exp and money puts you at a greater disadvantage, since these things are more valuable than the MP and items consumed during battle. Battles are always a net profit. Allowing you to skip most battles means it's more practical and fun to attempt lower-level runs. If this were a dungeon crawler like previous games, then skipping battles would actually make the game easier because resource management is an issue. However, SMTV is clearly not that kind if game; I think think the open zones complement this change to enemy encounters.

Likewise, level scaling is an important and integral part of the game's balance. If you're a lower level than your opponent, you'll be much weaker. Simple enough. Most RPGs have some form of it. But you can still defeat opponents even 10+ levels above you if you put any effort and thought into your party composition, demon fusions, and actions. I don't know where people are getting the idea that the game is just impossible unless you level up and that stats and moves are meaningless; it's just not true. Analyze your opponents abilities and adjust your party accordingly. Take advantage of the tools at your disposal. To me the aggressive level scaling in SMTV is just another thing that makes the game more fun to play at lower levels. The real issue with the level scaling is that it allows you to become too powerful too quickly when leveling above an opponent.

There are still several issues I have though.

I feel like by now, enemy weaknesses should just be visible from the start. All hiding the weaknesses accomplishes is making you use a spyglass and restart the fight. Magatsuhi is an interesting idea, but it quickly becomes apparently how much more useful Critical is over all the others.

The game as a whole feels unfinished. The level design by itself is good, but the field areas look too similar to each other. There are pockets of visual variety like the fairy village and weird floating cube zone, but they're few and far between. On the three times the game decides to throw a dungeon at you, it's pretty terrible. They're too short and too half-baked to be interesting. I think the game would've been better without these. Major quests are locked behind DLC paywalls. Worse still, a maid dress for Nahobino is not included in any DLC. And obviously, the story is undercooked. The game feels so lacking sometimes that it feels like they planned Vengeance from the start, they probably did.

The core systems of the game are so polished and well-designed that they hold up the experience and make it worthwhile. The presentation ties it all together, with some beautiful (if monotonous) visuals and a stellar soundtrack. I had a really fun time with this one.