This is by far the best mainline Shin Megami Tensei game I've played out and for multiple reasons why is this: fun gameplay, amazing last segment of the story, and the bosses.
With the gameplay it's just like any usual SMT game for its classic press turn system, but with the addition of the Magatsuhi gauge that lets you do nasty damage, heal, inflict ailments, debuff, and more which is a great addition to the game and leads to an interesting case of team building for having the right demons to best defeat bosses. Also thank god you're mostly spending money on demon summoning or items because SMT IV chewed up your money very fast for trying to juggle equipment along with the other two. In exchange, however, demon negotiations and summoning is more costly which is something I'm ok with. New spells like the -barion spells, exclusive moves, piercing spells, and more add a nice variety to choose from when you get to the late to create amazing builds for demons. Speaking of builds, essence fusion is something I love in this game; it's much more convenient than demon whispering in SMT IV and you have freedom to choose a wide variety of affinities, passives, and spells. All-in-all I think this is the best SMT combat has been as well as building your main character (RIP Dex build. I miss samurai gunner).
The plot isn't very special in the middle of it, and I think some of the acting and direction could've better, but the game really picks up when you get to Ueno which made me super excited and engaged. The final area made me excuse all of the bad I felt about the rest of the story.
Finally, I can say that the bosses are a mixed bag. Most are definitely easy by the end of the game (if you grinded on normal or hard to fight against shiva), but some of them were quite a challenge before that. Even so, they amped up the difficulty in the Ueno area and I like that. The bosses felt like a challenge with the introduction of pierce effects, and you need to adjust accordingly with your essences for affinity resistances. Shiva is by far the most fun boss in the game as a secret fight. Even at max level with great demon builds and a team, it felt like a simple mistake could cost the fight as for how tight you need to dps not just the boss, but their adds too. Really, a lot of them are so much fun (even if they're easy near the end).
I really love this game even it's not perfect, and this game has the best JRPG turn based combat in my humble opinion. If I had to pick a goty, it'd be this.
With the gameplay it's just like any usual SMT game for its classic press turn system, but with the addition of the Magatsuhi gauge that lets you do nasty damage, heal, inflict ailments, debuff, and more which is a great addition to the game and leads to an interesting case of team building for having the right demons to best defeat bosses. Also thank god you're mostly spending money on demon summoning or items because SMT IV chewed up your money very fast for trying to juggle equipment along with the other two. In exchange, however, demon negotiations and summoning is more costly which is something I'm ok with. New spells like the -barion spells, exclusive moves, piercing spells, and more add a nice variety to choose from when you get to the late to create amazing builds for demons. Speaking of builds, essence fusion is something I love in this game; it's much more convenient than demon whispering in SMT IV and you have freedom to choose a wide variety of affinities, passives, and spells. All-in-all I think this is the best SMT combat has been as well as building your main character (RIP Dex build. I miss samurai gunner).
The plot isn't very special in the middle of it, and I think some of the acting and direction could've better, but the game really picks up when you get to Ueno which made me super excited and engaged. The final area made me excuse all of the bad I felt about the rest of the story.
Finally, I can say that the bosses are a mixed bag. Most are definitely easy by the end of the game (if you grinded on normal or hard to fight against shiva), but some of them were quite a challenge before that. Even so, they amped up the difficulty in the Ueno area and I like that. The bosses felt like a challenge with the introduction of pierce effects, and you need to adjust accordingly with your essences for affinity resistances. Shiva is by far the most fun boss in the game as a secret fight. Even at max level with great demon builds and a team, it felt like a simple mistake could cost the fight as for how tight you need to dps not just the boss, but their adds too. Really, a lot of them are so much fun (even if they're easy near the end).
I really love this game even it's not perfect, and this game has the best JRPG turn based combat in my humble opinion. If I had to pick a goty, it'd be this.