finished law route + optional superboss. hey, it's pretty good!

gameplay loop is great. they made a risk by almost completely ditching dungeons which are a mainstay of the series, but given the lackluster dungeon design of IV and Apocalypse, it feels like this is a decision they've wanted to make for a while but took until now to do. the closest analogue to the exploration and world layout i can think of is xenoblade, and i think it excels for the same reason xenoblade excels. lots of fun to explore and hunt for mimans, amalgams and treasure.

combat and demon building is about as good as it gets.i love the abundance of unique skills and the freedom that essences, sutras and incenses offer. i spent a significant chunk of my in game time just building my demons for the endgame.

i made the mistake of pussying out on hard difficulty and dropping down to normal, which i found quite easy for most of the game, especially towards the end of the game. i only have myself to blame for that. if you're not as atlus-brained as i am then you might get a fair challenge out of normal difficulty, otherwise i suggest hard.

the story, which seems to be the most common complaint, is definitely the weakest link here. but i mean it's fine. i tend to agree with those who say that narrative is not at all the selling point of mainline shin megami tensei games. and like, it's not like the story is offensively bad to the point that it takes away from the rest of the game. it's just kind of there. which is fine for a game that isn't really story-focused. but i understand being disappointed if the marketing made it seem like the story was going to be better/more extensive than it is.

probably the only thing i really fundamentally dislike about this game is the aggressive level scaling. i don't really think it has a place in megaten. also, this game deserves to be on a better console than the switch. at least the switch's shitty hardware means that you have plenty of time to read the demon lore excerpts on the loading screens!