This should be a 4-star with all of the gameplay improvements and balancing changes made to SMTIV, but that story man. Complete JRPG schlock through and through with some of the corniest characters I've seen in a good while. I'm surprised they didn't fit in a bathhouse scene or something. The final leg of the game feels like the devs ran out of time or steam or something, plot-wise. The day's saved but now we gotta go kill this other dude cuz we all had the same dream saying to do it?????
On the positive, they did a great job with the adjustments they made to SMTIV. Still not a fan of Smirk overall, but having the ability to remove it and requiring Smirk to activate insta-kills and other effects was a welcome addition. Limiting the amount of items you can have, as well as making the more broken ones stupid expensive, really forces you to be smart on your resources. And coming off Strange Journey, the Search function of the Demon Fusion Program is godlike.
Soundtrack was amazing. Dungeon crawling was basic and dull. Despite hating the characters, their VOs mostly did a good job. Dagda's a standout; Akira as well but for the wrong reason.
This might've been one of my fav SMT games if not for that story. Really hope this is just a one-time thing and they stray far away from this tone in future games.
On the positive, they did a great job with the adjustments they made to SMTIV. Still not a fan of Smirk overall, but having the ability to remove it and requiring Smirk to activate insta-kills and other effects was a welcome addition. Limiting the amount of items you can have, as well as making the more broken ones stupid expensive, really forces you to be smart on your resources. And coming off Strange Journey, the Search function of the Demon Fusion Program is godlike.
Soundtrack was amazing. Dungeon crawling was basic and dull. Despite hating the characters, their VOs mostly did a good job. Dagda's a standout; Akira as well but for the wrong reason.
This might've been one of my fav SMT games if not for that story. Really hope this is just a one-time thing and they stray far away from this tone in future games.