Don't let the rating fool you; I really really liked this game. My overall rating consists of an average of: 1) my rating of the actual game, which is 4.5/5 and 2) my rating of the quality of the remaster, which is 1.5/5.

The game (4.5/5): yeah, this game fucks. The atmosphere, themes, demons, dungeons, battle system, everything is there. I didn't think it was as hard as people made it out to be, but I did use a lot of guides to help me though, mostly to figure out where to go next which the game isn't great at telling you how to do (which btw, it really hit different going on GameFAQs posts from 2007 to figure out where to go. That really took me back). With the right preparation, this game is very doable, but will punish you for not preparing and learning from earlier attempts. I was surprised how a game from 2004 felt so good to play in 2021, which is a testament to its legacy.

The one fatal flaw, and the reason the game doesn't get a 5/5, is the random encounters. Playing this really makes you understand why these systems have been phased out in newer RPGs. At first it almost comical that you get another random encounter just 2 steps after finishing the previous one, but it doesn't really hit until the final dungeon, where the encounter rate is insane AND the demons barely let you escape which made me wanna tear my hair out. It completely interrupts pacing and it sucks, but bitching about random encounters isn't anything new.

By the way, I completed this on normal and went for the True Demon ending, and I had NO IDEA how fucking tough and how much grinding I would have to do for that final boss. I feel like its not mentioned often, so here's your fair warning.

The remaster (1.5/5): It's bad. I never played the original, so I was very happy that there was a way to play this game without a PS2, but there are glaring quality errors here that Atlus should be embarrassed about. The best thing about it is the new voice acting, and there's something to be said about not changing the game too much to maintain the experience of the original game, which is cool. However; the shitty quality music (I patched this out with a mod on PC), the 480p cutscenes, and some of the shitty looking textures, and FRAME DROPS (even with my beefy PC I still had some of this, but I know this was pretty bad on Switch), for $50 USD at release should be inexcusable in a modern remaster. Atlus could've and should've done much more for this game to give it the remaster it deserved, but it really feels like a big cash grab with how little work it seems they put into it, which is a shame really. Unless you Really Want the voice acting, there really isn't much of a reason to play this version over the PS2 version, if you happen to have access to it. Hopefully we get more remasters for the older MegaTen games, but I do hope that at least Atlus puts in a bit more work next time (or don't, and just port them and sell them cheap!).

Alright, this one's good.

Went into this game after feeling extremely disappointed with Nier Replicant 1.22, and still trying to find what exactly made this series special. Certainly, this game is much more solid and succeeds in delivering the director's vision to the player much more effectively than Replicant. The combat is much improved, and feels way more responsive and dynamic. The storytelling is much more engaging and cohesive (impressive, as this story isn't what I would call character-driven like Replicant's). The approach to add multiple playthroughs and endings is much better executed, and this is coming from someone who generally has a hard time replaying games; you only truly "replay" part of the game once, and each ending and playthrough has you switching between different characters and lets you explore different arcs and perspectives for each of them. The world is, to use an overused descriptor, truly "hauntingly beautiful" and accompanied with another amazing score, makes you think about what events transpired in the thousands and thousands of years since the humans left earth. There's a lot to say about the themes and philosophies this game tackles, which definitely adds to the experience, even if they are things you realize after the fact; the video essayists on YouTube who are smarter than me do a much better job at explaining though.

My only regret with this game is rushing towards the finish line to see the endings, and while they were worth it, I think this is a game that you can just take in and appreciate the world, characters, music, story, and atmosphere that were created for this experience. Thanks Yoko Taro.

I feel like I've fallen for some sort of cruel prank with how many accolades the Nier series has, for me to play this game and absolutely hate it. The combat is pretty damn boring, slash, shoot, dodge, that's all been done before and there's nothing that this game adds that makes it stand out; but I can overlook that if the rest of the game is good. Okay, so what else is there? The mission structure is a mess; most of it is just walking from destination to destination and doing the same boring combat. Fast travel is there during the later parts of the game but its pretty inconvenient, and the loading screens take forever even on a PS5. Not looking so great. I guess the reason why people like this game is the story then, right? Alright.

So I play through ending A. There's some interesting moments in the story, a couple of characters have a lot of personality and stand out, but overall the story is kind of disjointed with strange pacing, and the resolution of ending A leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Alright, no problem, I've heard this game has multiple endings so I'm sure the story will be developed more in the other endings. What does ending B have in store for us? Maybe we play as a different characters, or maybe the story is abridged to the important moments so that we can see things from a different perspective?

Nope. It's the same second half of the game, as the same character from ending A, except this time there's more cutscenes and exposition relating to another character. At this point I was pissed, since the core gameplay, as discussed before, is not fun. But I stuck though it, and I was rewarded with the same repetitive slog of gameplay and a few more cutscenes and dialog (which would have not been out of place on the original playthrough!).

Once again disappointed, I go online and I find out that you have to do the second half of the game, along with the boring combat and the repetitive walking and backtracking, a THIRD time to get the subsequent endings. Which is when I stopped, because so far this game has not earned my attention enough for me to replay a third time. I'm honestly dying to know, is it really worth it? Even if the other ending have a life-changing conclusion, would that have been worth the 40+ hours of my time to reach them? Please explain this to me. I simply can't justify it.

0.5 stars cause that's the lowest rating I can give, + 1 star cause admittedly the music is pretty good. Overall extremely disappointing for all the hype this series receives. I plan to play Automata next, and if that game does even a little better than this game, then MAYBE I might return to see the full endings, but we'll see.

Edit after finishing Automata 5/14/21: I'll add one more star cause I have a better appreciation of what Taro was trying to do here, but unfortunately I will never see the other endings cause no fucking way am I slogging any more of this game to collect all the weapons lmao.

- this is the review of the game as a whole including the shadowbringers expansion since i dont feel like reviewing expansion individually -

what can i say. i go into savage and fell cleave and it feels good. 5/5.

edit: this game sucks and ruined my life

Coming off a high from P5R and wanting to consume as much P5 content as I could I jumped directly into this game after finishing Royal. The highlights of this game are the characters and their interactions, and more shenanigans with the old crew from P5. The story isn't as strong but does have some great moments, especially during the second half of the game. Sophia and Zenkichi are great character additions and I enjoyed them in the game. The combat, however, was my least favorite part of the game - exploiting weaknesses like you're supposed to in SMT games completely drains your SP and for some reason pulling off the combos with the proper element doesn't quite always work or is less effective. The bosses are also huge health sponges and get boring after a while. The dungeons are also mostly pretty boring and not as fun to explore as it's predecessor, and the sidequests feel like filler. Overall fun if you enjoyed the story elements of P5, but the combat is a very big drawback for people who enjoyed the combat in P5.

Every time I REALLY like a game, I always attempt a second playthrough which normally ends up in me eventually losing interest and/or becoming bored and moving on. It's really amazing how this is the first game ever where that didn't happen and I went directly into the second playthrough to finish all the confidants, finish the compendium, do all the side quests, and do the secret battles. The game is full of character, the characters are overflowing with personality and each feel unique, the environments are all incredibly detailed and so fun to explore and get lost in. And the combat system is the most fun that I've had with any RPG. The story isn't amazing or mindblowing, and can be cheesy at time, but its heartfelt and positive and it is well paced and keeps you interested as new characters join your team over time. As someone new to SMT/Persona and not a great fan of RPG's in general I'm amazed at how this game completely captivated me and is now one of my favorites of all time.