the first time we perform a demon fusion in smt5, a circle of keys rises up and our nahobino starts jamming out a gothic organ dirge like it's second nature. lots of things come to this mc naturally, with no expression of confusion or uncertainty—not even a smirk. just that cold gaze. and why not? atlus likely understand that this isn't our first rodeo, and that we're here for the vibe. the nahobino is vibing hard. it's almost like they were born for this.

if there really are those who view smt as "persona without the heart," some are going to think this nahobino is without a personality. as i see it, the steely, confident, even menacing demeanor of this character (even in its duality, given your symbiotic bond with the proto-demon aogami) is as good a "blank slate" for us to impose our will upon as we could ask for in a world full of demons. shin megami tensei is about exploring that spiritual freedom like a true libertarian and/or satanist and this game doesn't fuck around. uhm, i'm being sort of facetious. and corny. it probably doesn't come across. anyway.

truthfully, i don't need all of my games to be power fantasy—i play them for the desperation, despair, and helplessness of some of them, too! and other, gentler things... and such. something like this, though, where your goal is to pursue the throne of reason ruthlessly, well, the best shin megami tensei stuff gives me a mixture of empowerment and punishment i find very inviting. and, i mean, those demon's just look awesome

also not fucking around: the practically obligatory opening setup is over very quickly, and then it's right to it. zooming around like a demonic metal sonic in this landscape of glittering golden dunes and destroyed buildings... the music is just a vibe—and then you get into a fight—it continues to be a vibe until you execute your first attack: "aramasa!" the nahobino screams, as the metal kicks in... well, it whips ass. this is just a cool game, constantly making you feel cool for playing it. that battle music alone is almost enough to make up for the absence of a banger attract mode like nocturne's.

in V's favor with respect to other games from the last couple decades of this series, the qol improvements to the familiar systems and ui elements are very nice (e.g. i feel every jrpg needs an auto-heal outside combat and thankfully we have that here). and, i mean, as a blurry open world-ish rpg on switch it actually reclaims some of the dreamy and apocalyptic inverted world vibe of nocturne. there are some fairly obvious parallels to nocturne's imagery, more so than IV. while i'd say nocturne remains king in terms of mood and a somewhat more restrained presentation, V gains a wider, more seamless space to roam. nocturne dwelt much more heavily in interior spaces—a dungeon crawler with lucifer in the black lodge. there are literally two actual dungeons late in V, but, you know, that's just the kind of game this is. it's nocturne's overworld map blown up macro; a sprawling kingdom of brilliant gloom for us to survey from every peak we reach and then make our own. ymmv

while the peak of jrpgs since at least 2010 has, to me, easily been dragon quest XI, this is one of a handful i feel truly begin to even contend (depending on whether we're including action rpgs or mmos). anyway, it's a real one.