If I were to give the quickest pros and cons to SMT V, this would be it:

Pros:
+Graphically, the game looks pretty good for a Nintendo Switch title. Atlus really went all out and utilized the Switch thanks to the Unreal Engine. Even if it’s not perfect, which… I’ll get into it later.
+Demon fusion is still enjoyable as always. Now with demon essences, where you'll be able to give your demons attacks, support skills, or passive skills. (Through unlocking certain miracles to have access to it, but it isn’t that tiring… for the most part, which, I will get into it later)
+Traversing through the open world can.. vary I want to say. Whether it be finding Mimans, treasure boxes (not really boxes, more like shards?), finding rare mitamas that, depending on the variant, will net you some useful items. Whether it be macca, relics to sell, small glory points, grimoires to max a demon’s experience for the next level, and gospels which max your experience up for a level up. Which is useful, especially later on which… you get the idea where I’m going with this, so for now, let’s move on.
+Demon negotiations are entertaining as always. Recruiting them, paying them macca, and then they run away with your items and macca.

Now for a new section I call, Mixed.
~The soundtrack of SMT V… it’s fine. Really, the best way I could say is, you can tell what is a Ryota Kozuka track and what isn't a Ryota Kozuka track. In other words, when the songs hit, they hit and harmonize with the fight/scene, and are good to listen to outside of the game. Or the song is great on its own, but doesn't necessarily fit with the fight/scene. Or it's bad and doesn't work at all.

Now onto Cons:
-The game looks perfect on the Nintendo Switch, the problem is, it's too perfect on the system. What I mean by that is the game will either drop in frames, texture pop-ins, and slow down. And while I hadn't had any game crashes throughout my play through, it's still jarring and almost nauseating for some.
-The story of SMT V had potential, but is either scattered or nonexistent. Or in the worst case scenario, locked behind one specific side quest that many will either pay no attention to or fuck one important part of it. Even the DLC demons hide important lore that would have benefited in being the main story or even side quest.
-Only two out of the 8 characters get developed throughout the story and honestly were my favorites. Even if I did go with the other route since I had completed a few set of specific side quests that unlocked the fourth ending.
-The change to de/buffs. This is one change I wasn't bothered by initially, until I played the game and by god, what did they do here? I'm not sure if it was just me, but I swear they raised the mp cost of de/buffs. Not to mention, de/buffs wear off by two to three turns. Meaning early on in the game and because for some god forsaken reason they decided to put singular de/buffs and not the usual party de/buff, you'll be wasting most of your MP on keeping a party member buffed. Meaning only the one will be doing the most damage which may seem like an odd and rather idiotic thing to complain. However, that isn't mentioning what they did that I was honestly shocked to see in SMT, damage value isn’t just dependent on your stats, but the big factor to determine your damage, is your level.
- An example I can give is SMT IV and its final area/dungeon (Chaos Route). The final fight was against Merkabuh, Merkabuh is level 99 and my party were around high seventies. Naturally this would sound like a losing battle due to the difference in levels. However, the game takes account of my overall stats to be the determining factor for damage output. And with the help of de/buffs, I managed to beat the boss with ease. No need to grind a few more levels to stand a chance. I know some people will have an issue with my example since SMT IV is an easy game to break, but I use it as an example because I felt it’d be appropriate to mention since it is a previous mainline entry (not counting SMT IV Apocalypse which is more of a continuation of the neutral route). But I bring it up because in SMT V, if I try to go against the boss that is ten to levels ahead of me, even if I come well prepared with heavy attacks and de/buffs, I will barely do any damage to the boss at all. But the boss will have no qualms beating me and my party up to a bloody pulp. So now the game takes a grinding halt, both figuratively and literally. So now you’re forced to grind, and assuming you don’t have gospels to level yourself up or grimoires to level your demons up, you’ll be wasting hours trying to get to a good enough level to deal moderate damage. And that’s not mentioning regular demons in the overworld who have inflated stats. So even grinding in itself is a drawn out, boring, and tedious task. In other JRPGs, this isn’t anything new, but in SMT V, it is and it’s the worst part and easily takes out any enjoyment of the game because the game takes a grinding halt and forces you to do side quests which are mind numbingly boring. While there are some that have you decide on choosing one demon over the other or killing a demon, they all just feel monotonous. And don’t really have any importance to the main story, except for one, which is integral to getting the fourth ending, which… you know what screw it. Let’s get into the process of the fourth ending.
-Now it should be noted that getting the fourth ending isn’t all that tedious, hell if anything compared to IV’s process of getting the neutral route, it is less mind numbing and a lot less tedious. Now with all that being said… Why on earth was this locked behind specific side quests and not part of the main story? So one of the characters that was introduced at the Bethel meeting, Khosu, doesn’t show up for the major boss fights at the fourth area. However, if you do one of the side quests that is near Zeus’ palace (Can it even be considered a palace? It’s more of a battle ground and not the traditional dungeon like in other SMT games.) you learn that he has no interest in taking the throne and instead is interested in Miyazu. And from here, you learn that Miyazu has a non-curable disease, so Khosu pushes her into becoming his Nahobino. You fight him for a bit and that side story is resolved. Honestly, it’s an interesting side quest that does open some character to Khosu and to some extent Miyazu. But the fact that something this important is locked behind a side quest and not tied to the main plot, and one that is integral to unlocking the fourth ending, and not to mention this is assuming you didn’t kill Khosu and fight the superboss right after who is a higher than every boss, including the fight with Lucifer himself, it’s… confusing? I think that’s the right word to use for this predicament, right? And speaking of bosses…
-Boss fights in SMT V, god… what happened here? The boss fights in SMT V are like a variety pack, on one rare instant you get an actually challenging boss like with Shiva, He is easily the most challenging, yet fun boss in the entire game. Sure that could be the Tandava talking, but with that, it made me utilize my magatsuhi’s more. Because I ditched Kannabi Veil, which decreases damage until the next turn, I used Shield of Gods, which became my go to since Shiva had Imperial Animus, which could not only power up his next attack, but also pierced right through resistances, drain, or null. And while the summoning ally stick can be seen as tiring and not a far fight, I’d argue that his allies aren’t that hard to take down. Though that could be me having been prepared, but they could be taken down with ease. They are able to fuck you over by dodging the attack which happened to me a few times. This fight kept me on the edge of my seat, which is what I love about boss battles in Shin Megami Tensei… which is a shame that I cannot say the same for the rest of the boss battles that are part of the main story. Bosses can either range from piss easy, MP draining (Thanks Second Phase Lahmu, you fucking prick), or irritating (thanks snake person who was Shiva’s proxy. I don’t remember your name which shows how little importance you have in the plot.) Or a one more time thing like with Nuwa, who you need to bring down to half health. And then there’s Lucifer, even with the second form that is only fightable if you met the requirements for the secret ending, does not put up much of a fight. Sure that could be because I was at my max level, that being Lv99. You would assume Lucifer would be at equal levels with you. Especially after the Shiva battle who was Lv96. That is not the case however. Lucifer’s true second phase and third form… is Lv90. Yeah I'm not kidding and with my demons having pierce based attacks and Shiva by my side since Tandava debuffs defense heavily so I couldn’t rely on Cleopatra’s Frolic since Lucifer nulls aliments effects, so she would only be useful as Ice Age bitch. Even then Gabriel has both Ice Age and Luster Candy so she could buff the party up and attack. Where the fuck was I going with this? O-oh right, the fight! Anyways, Lucifer doesn’t really put up much of a fight, whether it was intentional for the story since even after taking down God, either way, the fight is a complete let down. Which is not saying much since the previous fights before are piss easy as well.


Ya see what I mean when I said about my love/hate relationship with this game? Now, would I consider this the worst game ever? …No. I consider it to be the most disappointing game I’ve played. For every one or two things SMT V does right, it takes two or more steps back from reaching pure greatness or even being an enjoyable game. Guarantee, there is some fun to be had. However that’s when you finally reach a good enough level where you’re not a completely used condom or wet noodle.

And the funny thing about this “quick” pros, mixed, and cons things was just that, it was supposed to be quick until I thought of a good enough review type beat to write, but no, I got ahead of myself and just vented out my frustration with this game.

Shin Megami Tensei V is the most polarizing game I have ever played. And I might not see myself revisiting this game in the near future. Even if I’m missing three of the four endings, and the battle against Demi Fiend, I am in no rush whatsoever. Hell even after this, I might play Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. A game that SMT V takes inspiration from, and desperately wants to be which it fails in doing. Hell play IV and IV Apocalypse, the mechanics in those games are much more superb and enjoyable. No level gating bullshit to beat a boss. Be a masochist and beat those bosses at low levels. At the time of typing this however, Nintendo will be disabling the ability to add funds to the 3DS eShop. So my advice would be to find a physical copy for a good price or do what every Nintendo fan does… pirate it. Assuming you have a good enough laptop or PC to run 3DS games that is.