An engrossing cyber-fantasy-apocalypse narrative with buttery smooth turn-based gameplay, (SMT, as always, remains one of the most fun turn-based JRPGs out there), but I initially fucked up on getting the ending I actually wanted. This led to me just going for the Nihilist ending and dropping it for years. I did have an earlier save that was far enough back to secure the Neutral ending with some different choices, but I didn't feel like replaying those hours of content for a long time. When I finally committed to getting a proper ending, during boss fights or setpiece story moments, I was regularly reminded of how successful this game is at delivering both fun gameplay and powerful vibes (even if some of the characterizations get a bit cartoonish, undermining the plot's heavy moral themes; the very concept of "alignment reps" seems antithetical to making believable, fleshed-out, independently-motivated characters). The atmosphere of its decrepit, demonic world is sold almost entirely on its presentation. The character and monster designs look great, and the visual style of the world is appropriately gritty and mishmashed. But the real standout is its soundtrack, which punches so far above its weight class, it's hard to believe it came from some niche 3DS game that you can't even buy anymore.
Those mostly-good feelings were somewhat tarnished by how getting the Neutral ending nearly demands using a guide and feels like doing taxes. I managed with some trial and error and some foreknowledge about how alignment is tracked, but man. I kind of wish I had just committed to Law or Chaos instead, but the story just didn't give me enough to chew on with either to feel satisfied locking into them. On top of the Neutral ending being weirdly tough to unlock, it interrupts your momentum in the home stretch to make you to perform a bunch of repetitive sidequests. Adding insult to injury, the game offers no signposting as to which ones you actually need to do or where to get them (thanks Gamefaqs), so the pacing takes a nosedive here.
And speaking of signposting, navigating Tokyo without an eidetic memory is a slog. While most of the "dungeons" in this game, a Shin Megami Tensei mainstay, are drastically reduced in scale, complexity, and variety compared to earlier entries, the overworld itself feels like its own inescapable megadungeon. The map has essentially no labeling, and you can't move the camera to see regions of the map beyond the one you're in. There is a fast travel system, but it's a menu with no visual indication of where each terminal will spit you out, so it's only useful if you Google a map or have the geography of Tokyo memorized. Roads might look like they connect at a glance, but actually have indistinguishable grey rubble blocking the most convenient path. Buildings which connect regions of the overworld aren't always obvious. I don't always mind getting lost every now and then in a game, but the process of getting lost needs to be fun. SMT IV is not a Metroidvania, and its overworld design is nowhere near as distinctive, memorable, or well-designed as a good one. The aforementioned final stretch of the Neutral path, which involves substantial time spent running between previously-explored areas to perform menial labor, is made ten times more sluggish by this labyrinthine map combined with constant encounters against low level enemies. They're not a threat most of the time; it just takes far too long to fast-forward through inconsequential fights to not feel like padding. There is a demon ability which lets you one-shot lower-level fights without entering combat, but it requires a conscious effort to fuse or keep around a demon who has it, on top of manually applying it any time you need it. The inconvenience of this convenience feature counters much of the utility it might have, so I rarely bothered.
Or, if things do get tough again, you'll have to sit through an interminable dialogue with Charon just to get back to playing again. Every time you die. It's so long that, if you have a recent save and don't feel like spending Macca or 3DS Play Coins (yeah), it's faster to just close the game and relaunch it. I actually quite like that the game can be challenging (even if this mainly only applies near the beginning and end of the story). I like that boss fights encourage you to experiment to figure out their weaknesses and attack patterns (even if the press-turn and smirk systems punish this experimentation sometimes, making the optimal strategy involve testing a boss's weaknesses before you inevitably die and reload to actually take advantage of them). I love that you have to really understand and interact with the game's mechanics to get an edge, lest you be punished for stumbling into an enemy's resistances or end up unprepared to handle their debuffs. But it's absolutely mind-boggling that a game which needs you to be okay with dying periodically--or even repeatedly against the hardest enemies--makes something as basic as loading your last save take ages.
I am obsessed with player agency and getting to influence a narrative with my choices--so naturally, I love RPGs. Of course, JRPGs that do this are a rare treat. Still, SMT IV runs into an issue that I've seen in some other JRPGs with choice: it's just not as deep as I would like. The aforementioned multiple (non-Nihilist) endings, while a cool concept, ultimately boil down to a math problem--did you make more Law or Chaos choices, or did you hit the sweet spot for Neutral?--without much in the way of alternate quest resolution or branching paths. There is no causal link between any individual choice and the outcome you get at the end of the game, which makes the consequences of each different ending feel a bit disconnected and arbitrary. This isn't objectively horrible (there are plenty of completely linear games that still end up being great, and SMT IV is more liberating than that), so I won't judge the game for not meeting benchmarks it never aimed for. Still, I can't help but feel like an SMT game with CRPG narrative sensibilities would be the coolest game in the world. (Tangent: I played Pillars of Eternity 2 recently, and it would make for a great SMT game if it were set in apocalyptic Tokyo instead of fantasy-pirate-land--that game's themes, especially regarding the role of the divine in human governance, mirror SMT's law-neutral-chaos divide shockingly well.) Maybe SMT IV would be better if it were about half as long but twice as reactive to your choices. That would certainly alleviate most of my padding and pacing concerns.
All in all, SMT IV is a decidedly not-perfect greatest hits album of themes, demons, mechanics, and plot elements from previous mainline SMT games. The new stuff--like the soundtrack, visuals, quality-of-life adjustments, and main characters, are all great, but also feel like they could have shined more unshackled from the genre and formula expectations of a decades-old RPG franchise. Still, for me, it was a slick and strong introduction to what makes SMT tick. It might not be the best JRPG in the world, but it's certainly one of the coolest.
Those mostly-good feelings were somewhat tarnished by how getting the Neutral ending nearly demands using a guide and feels like doing taxes. I managed with some trial and error and some foreknowledge about how alignment is tracked, but man. I kind of wish I had just committed to Law or Chaos instead, but the story just didn't give me enough to chew on with either to feel satisfied locking into them. On top of the Neutral ending being weirdly tough to unlock, it interrupts your momentum in the home stretch to make you to perform a bunch of repetitive sidequests. Adding insult to injury, the game offers no signposting as to which ones you actually need to do or where to get them (thanks Gamefaqs), so the pacing takes a nosedive here.
And speaking of signposting, navigating Tokyo without an eidetic memory is a slog. While most of the "dungeons" in this game, a Shin Megami Tensei mainstay, are drastically reduced in scale, complexity, and variety compared to earlier entries, the overworld itself feels like its own inescapable megadungeon. The map has essentially no labeling, and you can't move the camera to see regions of the map beyond the one you're in. There is a fast travel system, but it's a menu with no visual indication of where each terminal will spit you out, so it's only useful if you Google a map or have the geography of Tokyo memorized. Roads might look like they connect at a glance, but actually have indistinguishable grey rubble blocking the most convenient path. Buildings which connect regions of the overworld aren't always obvious. I don't always mind getting lost every now and then in a game, but the process of getting lost needs to be fun. SMT IV is not a Metroidvania, and its overworld design is nowhere near as distinctive, memorable, or well-designed as a good one. The aforementioned final stretch of the Neutral path, which involves substantial time spent running between previously-explored areas to perform menial labor, is made ten times more sluggish by this labyrinthine map combined with constant encounters against low level enemies. They're not a threat most of the time; it just takes far too long to fast-forward through inconsequential fights to not feel like padding. There is a demon ability which lets you one-shot lower-level fights without entering combat, but it requires a conscious effort to fuse or keep around a demon who has it, on top of manually applying it any time you need it. The inconvenience of this convenience feature counters much of the utility it might have, so I rarely bothered.
Or, if things do get tough again, you'll have to sit through an interminable dialogue with Charon just to get back to playing again. Every time you die. It's so long that, if you have a recent save and don't feel like spending Macca or 3DS Play Coins (yeah), it's faster to just close the game and relaunch it. I actually quite like that the game can be challenging (even if this mainly only applies near the beginning and end of the story). I like that boss fights encourage you to experiment to figure out their weaknesses and attack patterns (even if the press-turn and smirk systems punish this experimentation sometimes, making the optimal strategy involve testing a boss's weaknesses before you inevitably die and reload to actually take advantage of them). I love that you have to really understand and interact with the game's mechanics to get an edge, lest you be punished for stumbling into an enemy's resistances or end up unprepared to handle their debuffs. But it's absolutely mind-boggling that a game which needs you to be okay with dying periodically--or even repeatedly against the hardest enemies--makes something as basic as loading your last save take ages.
I am obsessed with player agency and getting to influence a narrative with my choices--so naturally, I love RPGs. Of course, JRPGs that do this are a rare treat. Still, SMT IV runs into an issue that I've seen in some other JRPGs with choice: it's just not as deep as I would like. The aforementioned multiple (non-Nihilist) endings, while a cool concept, ultimately boil down to a math problem--did you make more Law or Chaos choices, or did you hit the sweet spot for Neutral?--without much in the way of alternate quest resolution or branching paths. There is no causal link between any individual choice and the outcome you get at the end of the game, which makes the consequences of each different ending feel a bit disconnected and arbitrary. This isn't objectively horrible (there are plenty of completely linear games that still end up being great, and SMT IV is more liberating than that), so I won't judge the game for not meeting benchmarks it never aimed for. Still, I can't help but feel like an SMT game with CRPG narrative sensibilities would be the coolest game in the world. (Tangent: I played Pillars of Eternity 2 recently, and it would make for a great SMT game if it were set in apocalyptic Tokyo instead of fantasy-pirate-land--that game's themes, especially regarding the role of the divine in human governance, mirror SMT's law-neutral-chaos divide shockingly well.) Maybe SMT IV would be better if it were about half as long but twice as reactive to your choices. That would certainly alleviate most of my padding and pacing concerns.
All in all, SMT IV is a decidedly not-perfect greatest hits album of themes, demons, mechanics, and plot elements from previous mainline SMT games. The new stuff--like the soundtrack, visuals, quality-of-life adjustments, and main characters, are all great, but also feel like they could have shined more unshackled from the genre and formula expectations of a decades-old RPG franchise. Still, for me, it was a slick and strong introduction to what makes SMT tick. It might not be the best JRPG in the world, but it's certainly one of the coolest.