Shin Megami Tensei V 2021
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
1 day
Last played
December 10, 2021
Platforms Played
Library Ownership
This review contains spoilers
Game was amazing at the start, a hiccup here or there but an intense challenge with so much to do! Lots of intrigue building up! The world is huge and sprawling with so much to explore, and seeing demons move about the environment (as well as the various unique dialogues they have, like level-ups) was a treat. The increase in Unique Skill distribution also adds more personality to each demon.
But then the game went on...
and on...
and on...
and my love faded near the final act as its poor optimization, frame drops, minimap being useless for exploration,+the map poorly communicating verticality, balance issues (primarily, getting the best demons in the game in your 40s and level playing a far bigger role in damage calculation than it should), the story not really fleshing out (Yuzuru gets zero development, and his sister is completely forgotten after her introduction if you don't do sidequests, and even then she doesn't get much). A flaw of IVA's story is there's so much of it and some of it isn't good, but this goes way too far in the other direction, the story just goes away after the halfway point and never recovers.
Some things I loved I began to become bored by, the huge sprawling maps were fun but they were all interchangeable wastelands. IV's Tokyo has this issue at times too, but the only landmarks are Tokyo Tower and the Shipping Center. Everything else is just wasteland with varying color tones which just gets boring after a while. The two dungeons are all square and cubey rather than varied. Let me feel like I'm exploring a ruined Tokyo or at least throw in more dungeons and more varied ones.
The biggest offender is the scenario for the True Ending, requiring you to beat a level 96 superboss when the best materials you can fight before you're locked in being the mid-80s. Why the Superboss is a requirement is beyond me. The hidden true final boss isn't even that high leveled, capping out at 90. Have fun grinding or buying the Mitama DLC I guess.
It was still fun, but the many years of wait lead to some form of letdown. If they fixed the camera I'm hoping they'll at least fix the other technical issues.
But then the game went on...
and on...
and on...
and my love faded near the final act as its poor optimization, frame drops, minimap being useless for exploration,+the map poorly communicating verticality, balance issues (primarily, getting the best demons in the game in your 40s and level playing a far bigger role in damage calculation than it should), the story not really fleshing out (Yuzuru gets zero development, and his sister is completely forgotten after her introduction if you don't do sidequests, and even then she doesn't get much). A flaw of IVA's story is there's so much of it and some of it isn't good, but this goes way too far in the other direction, the story just goes away after the halfway point and never recovers.
Some things I loved I began to become bored by, the huge sprawling maps were fun but they were all interchangeable wastelands. IV's Tokyo has this issue at times too, but the only landmarks are Tokyo Tower and the Shipping Center. Everything else is just wasteland with varying color tones which just gets boring after a while. The two dungeons are all square and cubey rather than varied. Let me feel like I'm exploring a ruined Tokyo or at least throw in more dungeons and more varied ones.
The biggest offender is the scenario for the True Ending, requiring you to beat a level 96 superboss when the best materials you can fight before you're locked in being the mid-80s. Why the Superboss is a requirement is beyond me. The hidden true final boss isn't even that high leveled, capping out at 90. Have fun grinding or buying the Mitama DLC I guess.
It was still fun, but the many years of wait lead to some form of letdown. If they fixed the camera I'm hoping they'll at least fix the other technical issues.