It's still a pretty good game thanks to borrowing IV's combat and making it better than it already was. Sadly, this is countered by losing a lot of the atmosphere IV had and having a much worse story, with an annoying cast of characters that focus on the Power of Friendship trope which feels forced in mainline SMT. Fortunately even though the story itself is bad, the Divine Powers are very good antagonists and they will make you wish they had a route you could follow.