SMT IV: Apocalypse improves on the game set by SMT IV in almost every way, excluding the story.
I have at least replayed this game over 5 times and grinded Matador to 999 stat, which while not hard, is utterly stressful given the amount of grinding you need to do to get around that stat level.
Playing as a poor kid who found a used, broken smartphone from a dead corpse, you soon become thrust into Tokyo's religiously-political factions and... wait I'm getting ahead of myself here.
You die first, and a god, pitying your poor excuse of an existence, offers you a second chance with one condition: You now serve under him.
Then you are thrust into the factions of the world, but are unable to join them ideologically thanks to your contract with the god who resurrected you. Instead, there are two routes in the game.
I should state that at a pivotal point in the game, if you're too inconsistent with your standing, as in you suddenly go for the other route when you qualify for the first route, you will lose all of your items as a punishment. It's a nice touch by the developers to ensure you're as consistent as can be.
Before I end up spoiling the rest of the game, here are the game's improvements, which were eventually carried on to Persona 5:
Smirking has been revamped. No longer do enemies become Speedy Gonzales once they smirk with you having little to no chance of hitting them, but instead Smirking provides guaranteed criticals and incentivizes their use by allowing skills to add additional effects if used while smirked. This can be a good thing for you or very bad if your enemy is smirking.
Two skills have been added to make this very core to the experience: Smile Charge, which grants you Smirk status at will, and Magaon, which removes Smirking status.
In a series where buffs are very important, this adds layers of complexity to the combat.
Estoma Sword is no longer Estoma Sword, but rather Estoma itself directly. It can be tapped in on the menu without going to your skills, and you don't need to hit enemies with it anymore. Pop in, and boom, repel encounters.
Dungeons, which were incredibly small in SMT IV, have been noticeably expanded in IVA. Of course, the small dungeons from the previous game still kind of exist, but new dungeons also fill that gap which are multi-layered.
Allies are also no longer suicidally stupid. Instead, they're just stupid in terms of not being able to properly coordinate with you. Allies will no longer use attacks that enemies block or repel, and it might seem like a cheat, but you will appreciate it given you no longer have a Walter equivalent casting Agi on Minotaur.
The Final Boss is awesome in that you're tested in as much as you know the game's inner workings, and a DLC superboss is the same take, but stronger.
----
There are parts where the game is weak however.
The game is focused on bonds and friendship. This weakens the general theme of the SMT series, but it's not so bad that you'll want to ignore the game and throw it on a Mexican trashheap never to be found alongside the many cartridges of ET buried with it.
The final dungeon is labyrinthine with its multiple stratums and teleporters, and by god the walking is painful. Even worse, you can't negotiate with the denizens inside that dungeon due to plot reasons.
Some AI allies are better than others, the worst of which is a certain spearman who will regularly steal press turns to attack enemies who may resist Physical attacks.
And the DLCs? Yeah, they exist, and most of them exist to make your character obscenely OP from the get-go.
It's not a perfect game, then again nothing is, but it's as close to one and I wish they would remake this game for the PC too.
I have at least replayed this game over 5 times and grinded Matador to 999 stat, which while not hard, is utterly stressful given the amount of grinding you need to do to get around that stat level.
Playing as a poor kid who found a used, broken smartphone from a dead corpse, you soon become thrust into Tokyo's religiously-political factions and... wait I'm getting ahead of myself here.
You die first, and a god, pitying your poor excuse of an existence, offers you a second chance with one condition: You now serve under him.
Then you are thrust into the factions of the world, but are unable to join them ideologically thanks to your contract with the god who resurrected you. Instead, there are two routes in the game.
I should state that at a pivotal point in the game, if you're too inconsistent with your standing, as in you suddenly go for the other route when you qualify for the first route, you will lose all of your items as a punishment. It's a nice touch by the developers to ensure you're as consistent as can be.
Before I end up spoiling the rest of the game, here are the game's improvements, which were eventually carried on to Persona 5:
Smirking has been revamped. No longer do enemies become Speedy Gonzales once they smirk with you having little to no chance of hitting them, but instead Smirking provides guaranteed criticals and incentivizes their use by allowing skills to add additional effects if used while smirked. This can be a good thing for you or very bad if your enemy is smirking.
Two skills have been added to make this very core to the experience: Smile Charge, which grants you Smirk status at will, and Magaon, which removes Smirking status.
In a series where buffs are very important, this adds layers of complexity to the combat.
Estoma Sword is no longer Estoma Sword, but rather Estoma itself directly. It can be tapped in on the menu without going to your skills, and you don't need to hit enemies with it anymore. Pop in, and boom, repel encounters.
Dungeons, which were incredibly small in SMT IV, have been noticeably expanded in IVA. Of course, the small dungeons from the previous game still kind of exist, but new dungeons also fill that gap which are multi-layered.
Allies are also no longer suicidally stupid. Instead, they're just stupid in terms of not being able to properly coordinate with you. Allies will no longer use attacks that enemies block or repel, and it might seem like a cheat, but you will appreciate it given you no longer have a Walter equivalent casting Agi on Minotaur.
The Final Boss is awesome in that you're tested in as much as you know the game's inner workings, and a DLC superboss is the same take, but stronger.
----
There are parts where the game is weak however.
The game is focused on bonds and friendship. This weakens the general theme of the SMT series, but it's not so bad that you'll want to ignore the game and throw it on a Mexican trashheap never to be found alongside the many cartridges of ET buried with it.
The final dungeon is labyrinthine with its multiple stratums and teleporters, and by god the walking is painful. Even worse, you can't negotiate with the denizens inside that dungeon due to plot reasons.
Some AI allies are better than others, the worst of which is a certain spearman who will regularly steal press turns to attack enemies who may resist Physical attacks.
And the DLCs? Yeah, they exist, and most of them exist to make your character obscenely OP from the get-go.
It's not a perfect game, then again nothing is, but it's as close to one and I wish they would remake this game for the PC too.