Had quite an interesting time with this one. I'm coming from someone who really loved Shin Megami Tensei V as their first Atlus RPG and wanted to see what the older entries were like. Took a while to get use to the lack of QOL features that were present in V, but soon enough I was fusing demons and killing anyone who I disagreed with their philosophy of the world just fine. I was warned about the difficulty of this entry, but it wasn't much of a struggle personally. I even beat the secret boss with only a handful of close calls. Buffs and debuffs are exceedingly strong in this game and I felt they were much easier to use in this game then in V, mostly due to how little MP they cost. If I come back to this I'd try it on hard mode. It at least still has the thing that I love most about SMT V's gameplay and that is how rewarding level ups are. A lot RPGs make you feel pretty good about reaching the next level in terms of stat growth, but stat ups are not the most interesting or unique thing in the world. SMT not only has stat ups and unlockable moves, but nearly every level allows access to more demons to fuse to add to your party. Makes nearly every level up way more exciting. The atomsphere is pretty strong despite it not being the best looking PS2 era game. I was genuinely creeped out during some of the more claustrophobic areas, and the longer, more dangerous dungeons made rest points a lot more fulfilling to reach. This isn't the most ideal Remaster: frame rate issues, audio issues, and some unnecessary DLC that should've been in the game already would dock this port a few points. But it did add voice acting and able to choose demon skills to inherit (which wasn't in the original?) so it's more "One step forward, one step back". While it isn't one of my favorite turn base RPGs, it is on the same level of SMT V as one of the most unique RPGs I've played. I can see myself coming back to it to try new demons and even a new ending, though I would return to SMT V first.