The latest entry of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise has been out for a bit now, and it took me a bit longer to get to this review than I would have liked due to real-life obligations keeping me from getting through this game, though I am happy that my glorious return I get to talk about a game that I was really excited for.
With god dead at the hands of Lucifer, we are left wondering what the future of the world is going to be. Helping the remaining forces of heaven to protect the land from the forces of chaos, you are left to eventually decide what kind of world it will be going forward as a Nabohino, the result of a human and demon coming together. I'll avoid too many details on that as to not spoil anything, but it's relevant to what comes at the games end.
I am actually pretty down on the story overall, not that it was bad. These games have always had a pretty prominent emphasis on themes of opposing ideologies, and as is normal it does a pretty decent job at highlighting the pros and cons of the different sides or at least give you an understanding of where the different sides are coming from. Here it just kind of feels arbitrary, the different sides just seem to be opposed to having different sides to represent the ideas at play.
Characters are all rather well presented considering how little time they all actually get. None of them are particularly memorable, but they do serve their purpose well. The lack of screen time they all get through does leave the final confrontation being a little lacking. It's one of the reasons that the longer this game went on, the less interest I had in the game's actual story. I was happy enough with the ending I did get, but it just feels like it kind of happens and then ends. I know it is very little I am saying in relation to the story, but that's because the more you break it down, the less I think actually happens, and what little does happen almost all constitutes a spoiler.
The game does shine in regards to the actual gameplay though. To start with a problem I have with it, it's a problem I think most SMT games have, and that is the actual act of going through dungeons and the over-world isn't very interesting. It all looks fantastic, but their level design has always been pretty basic.
Combat, conversely, is a lot of fun. The core of the game-play remains the same as it was in Nocturne, striking enemy weakness to gain extra turns, heavy use of buff and debuffs, all standard for the series. In fact, as far as the actual combat is concerned there has been very little change. The big change is the ability to build your Magatsushi gauge which will allow for a special skill to be activated, those abilities being dependent on the kind of demons in your party. There is the basic one that makes all attacks critical for the turn you always have access to, one that reduces MP cost to one for the turn, a few different ones that work as attacks, and using one of these skills does not take up your turn.
The way weaknesses can be exploited for extra turns and the relevance put on buffing and debuffing spells are the major things that separate Shin Megami games from other RPGs to really give it its own identity. This especially holds true when you realize that the enemy can gain the same advantages by exploiting your weaknesses as well. Despite many other aspects of the game being familiar, these small changes have always done a lot to alter how you approach an encounter.
At the same time, I was a bit let down that, even playing hard, I found it to be one of the easiest Shin Megami games I have played, Persona 5 being the only one I had an easier time with. A big thing I love about this series is just how challenging the games can be, so with how easy this game was in relation to others in the franchise. I still find it a bit harder than many other RPGs out there, but there is a certain standard I have come to expect that I just didn't really get here. It's not something that was enough to turn me off from the game, but I do still feel the game was really generous with how easy it was to get a hold of Grimoires and Gospels to raise your level, as well as essences to boost your demos stats. It's true you can just ignore these things if you want a challenge, which is true, but I've never liked having to impose restrictions on yourself to make it harder. The game is still a lot of fun to play regardless of this, and if you aren't as familiar with how these games work I'm sure you'll have a rougher time, but there is no getting around the ease of the game was disappointing because of my usual expectations.
In the end, I do still recommend the game, even if this review comes across as overly negative, a degree of this negativity does come from what I normally expect out of these games. It's fun to play, it's got some great visuals, and I'm a huge fan of any game that gives you this many options for assembling your party. While a bit on the easy side, it's never so easy to feel like you can just stop paying attention to what's going on, which is what I generally expect out of a game to enjoy playing it.i