This review contains spoilers
SMTV was my most anticipated game of the year and ticked almost all my boxes.
Exploration:
This game is split into 4 major areas, each holding the same apocalyptic wasteland theme, but being based on different parts of tokyo have locations that stand out compared to each other. Demons roam the field and are fun to dance around and get chased by. They also run away when your too strong!
As well as this, the locations are packed with treasure chest and Miman for scaling puzzles and platforming challenges. Both of these are always worth collecting.
Abcesses are placed around the world that obscure the minimap, each holding a mini boss in them. These are always super fun to encounter and a part of the exploration experience.
Theres 2 dungeons which are short but change up the formula for more direct puzzles over enemy confrontation.
Quests are littered everywhere, most have fun boss fights attached, and a good chunk of EXP, so they help mitigate grinding as well as giving good rewards. Personal favourites are the quests were you must chose between 2 demons who to follow, and you get the demon you spare.
Combat and Teambuilding:
This is the meat and potatoes of this game. Press turn is the best its ever been, with the Persona-Style Buff system bringing and engaging battle to reapplying and combatting enemy buffs/debuffs. Magatsuhi Meter is super fun (unless an enemy ambush charges it turn 1) with the extra abilities having fun uses and lead to super fun strategies. Personal Favourite was the one that doubled SP for Double Damage. Bosses have a specific magatsuhi move so you can use dampeners / block skills to avoid getting crushed. Items are super useful compared to other SMTs, but drop off after the 3rd Area.
Fusion is super easy, with the tradtional, reverse and reverse compendium. Reverse allows you to see the possible ones. Reverse compendium shows every possible option for a fusion across you entire collection which is super cool.
Demons have affinities that determines how you inherit skills, as such a lot of time was spent fusing but was always rewarding. You also get plenty of items to be able to boost up your current demons to get skills and essences faster (or carrying Idun to endgame)
Nahobino gains skills and thier different affinities from demons esscences, found in chests and as rewards from demons. You are able to freely customise easily. You can also fuse essences with demons to pass on skills without fusion, which adds an extra level of fusion decisions.
Miracles are obtained from abcesses and bought with glory, earned from crystals, or items in hard to reach places like Miman or Crystal Apples.
Miracles allow for customization of the team and Nahobinos skill affinities. The combat related Miracles seem much weaker compared to ones related to fusion or skill slots or just upgrading Nahobino
Story:
It was ok. But it had so much more potential. I think its issue stem from 2 issues: Weak Characters and Misguided Routes.
Dazai was the most interesting character while the rest had no depth. Miyazu gets dunked to side character which is a real bummer. And Tao is absent for most of the game.
Out of the endings, Law and Chaos are better than Neutral, with Secret being my favourite. But Law sounded much less beneficial to tokyos struggle, yet Law ending does save tokyo regardless and I wish that was noted to me more, as Abdiel and Dazai showed no compassion.
Overall, I think more time with characters was needed to make theier routes more clear and make decisions more involved
Despite the lackluster story, this game is super good and is a must play for any RPG fan. Its Nocturne without the cheap gimmicks to have a challenging game that pulls no punches.
Exploration:
This game is split into 4 major areas, each holding the same apocalyptic wasteland theme, but being based on different parts of tokyo have locations that stand out compared to each other. Demons roam the field and are fun to dance around and get chased by. They also run away when your too strong!
As well as this, the locations are packed with treasure chest and Miman for scaling puzzles and platforming challenges. Both of these are always worth collecting.
Abcesses are placed around the world that obscure the minimap, each holding a mini boss in them. These are always super fun to encounter and a part of the exploration experience.
Theres 2 dungeons which are short but change up the formula for more direct puzzles over enemy confrontation.
Quests are littered everywhere, most have fun boss fights attached, and a good chunk of EXP, so they help mitigate grinding as well as giving good rewards. Personal favourites are the quests were you must chose between 2 demons who to follow, and you get the demon you spare.
Combat and Teambuilding:
This is the meat and potatoes of this game. Press turn is the best its ever been, with the Persona-Style Buff system bringing and engaging battle to reapplying and combatting enemy buffs/debuffs. Magatsuhi Meter is super fun (unless an enemy ambush charges it turn 1) with the extra abilities having fun uses and lead to super fun strategies. Personal Favourite was the one that doubled SP for Double Damage. Bosses have a specific magatsuhi move so you can use dampeners / block skills to avoid getting crushed. Items are super useful compared to other SMTs, but drop off after the 3rd Area.
Fusion is super easy, with the tradtional, reverse and reverse compendium. Reverse allows you to see the possible ones. Reverse compendium shows every possible option for a fusion across you entire collection which is super cool.
Demons have affinities that determines how you inherit skills, as such a lot of time was spent fusing but was always rewarding. You also get plenty of items to be able to boost up your current demons to get skills and essences faster (or carrying Idun to endgame)
Nahobino gains skills and thier different affinities from demons esscences, found in chests and as rewards from demons. You are able to freely customise easily. You can also fuse essences with demons to pass on skills without fusion, which adds an extra level of fusion decisions.
Miracles are obtained from abcesses and bought with glory, earned from crystals, or items in hard to reach places like Miman or Crystal Apples.
Miracles allow for customization of the team and Nahobinos skill affinities. The combat related Miracles seem much weaker compared to ones related to fusion or skill slots or just upgrading Nahobino
Story:
It was ok. But it had so much more potential. I think its issue stem from 2 issues: Weak Characters and Misguided Routes.
Dazai was the most interesting character while the rest had no depth. Miyazu gets dunked to side character which is a real bummer. And Tao is absent for most of the game.
Out of the endings, Law and Chaos are better than Neutral, with Secret being my favourite. But Law sounded much less beneficial to tokyos struggle, yet Law ending does save tokyo regardless and I wish that was noted to me more, as Abdiel and Dazai showed no compassion.
Overall, I think more time with characters was needed to make theier routes more clear and make decisions more involved
Despite the lackluster story, this game is super good and is a must play for any RPG fan. Its Nocturne without the cheap gimmicks to have a challenging game that pulls no punches.