Will the real Nocturne please stand up?
In what may be a bit disappointing considering this is an RPG, the plot in this game is easily it's weakest aspect. The game is a bit more open worldish than any other game in the series, so there's more to explore and what not, while the plot takes a bit of a backseat. It's not too bad, it has a small ensemble of mysterious, arguably because they are underdeveloped and underutilized, characters that you meet with every now and then. As for you, taking a page from Nocturne's iconic Demi-Fiend, now you play as the Nahobino, a fusion of man and fiend. As per usual, you get a scant few dialogue choices... that matter very little, as which ending you get depends on what you choose at the end... and whether you finished a few sidequests or not.
Overworlds and dungeons are a thing of the past.... kinda. there's a very small traditional SMT dotted map overworld but only for the human world, and you'll only use it during interims, as the proper game is divided into four large open areas. Each of the four zones will take you upwards of ten hours to completely finish, at least if you, much like me, try to finish every sidequests, battle every bonus boss and find every Miman, tiny red demons that give you rewards every five you find of them. Enemy encounters now appear on the map, and you can choose to engage them, which will transition into the classic turn-based, press-turn combat that SMT has been using since Nocturne.
A thing to note is that all four zones are a bit similar, as they represent different parts of Tokyo in ruins, which means a lot of sand. Golden sand in the first area, red sand in the second area, grey sand in the third area and white sand in the final one. Not to say they are identical, as they all have their landmarks, but you'll be treading through deserts. A lot of deserts.
There are also three very rudimentary dungeons in the game. The first one comes after you finish the first zone, and it's just a multi-leveled corridor-based dungeon. A bit dull. the next one comes after the third zone, this one has puzzles regarding fans that propel you upwards or forwards. This one was a bit tedious and confusing. It was far longer than it needed to be too. And then the final dungeon is about freezing time, which... eh, it was alright. The dungeons were a bit of an after thought, but I wouldn't go as far as hating any of them.... it's just that there rest of the game is simply SO much better.
The only big issue I found with the open world approach is the fourth, and final, zone. The previous three zones, while large, had a clear route forward. You were free to explore around, but you could draw a line between the start of the map and the end of the map that has you going through every part of the map. The fourth area is more of a circle. You are start close to the center of the map and you are supposed to roam around while grinding, and grind you'll have to, as you start this area with your level as high as late 50s at most, while basic enemies can reach up to level 70. The bosses you have to defeat in this area are level 76 too. And this is compounded by the hidden damage modifier that makes higher level enemies hit harder and take less damage from you, the opposite is true as well, as lower level enemies deal less damage and take extra damage. This means that the fourth area feels aimless. Just roam around, battling enemies and finding fast travel beacons so that you can attempt the bosses once your level is high enough. No other part of the game is like this, and I won't lie, it was annoying at first when enemies 10 levels above me could wreck me, while I tried to fight encounters I could farm for XP.
That makes me suspect that it was done on purpose. The only way to get the true ending involves defeating the Super Boss, which is at level 96. The highest level enemy you can find is at 87, which means... getting to its level is incredibly tedious unless you've been saving... which why would you, if you didn't know that higher level enemies didn't exist? But there's a way to solve that... buy the DLC that lets you farm gospels. Atlus is known to be scummy when it comes DLC, so this tickles the noggin;
Combat, on the other hand, is fantastic... because Atlus struck lightning in a bottle with Nocturne, and there's a reason it hasn't changed since. Basically, scoring a critical or hitting an enemy with their weakness gives you an extra turn, enemies can also get extra turns like this. It's still really fun after all this years. You can also skip animations by mashing A, which makes it go by faster. They added a new wrinkle to the combat in the form of Magatsuhi, a new gauge that refills every turn, and once full can be spent on an extra ability. The main character, as well as every demon race, have access to a generic "every hit will crit" ability, which remains useful until the end of the game since it means you get EIGHT critical attacks in one turn, but each race also has their own exclusive ability. For instance, the Fiend class gets the Demi-Fiend's Freikugel that deals a ton of damage in one turn. And do be warned, enemies get the 'every hit crits' ability, and trust you me, bosses love to spam it. Oh! And hitting an enemy in the overworld, in order to trigger the random battle, doesn't always grant you the first strike, which is kinda whacky.
Much like every other hero in SMT, the Nahobino is joined by a party of demons you can recruit by negotiating with them. It's been a bit more mainstreamed than before, and most demons are usually recruited after you give them a few items or money. The other way you get demons is through fusion, and boy oh boy, it's easier than ever to create THE ultimate demon. For starters, now you can see all the results you can get.... by purchasing demons from the ones you've registered in the compendium, so fusing every single monster and getting whatever demon you want is EASIER than ever.
So, you've got your dream demon, but its skills quickly get outclassed by stronger demons, well, fret not, as now you may find a Demon's essence after a fight or as a gift after leveling up the demon. These essences can be used to teach any other demon, or the main character himself, the abilities that the essence's demon can learn! Except for unique skills, but still! This means you can pretty much give any demon ANY skill. Oh, but there's a reason you are encouraged to fuse fuse and fuse demons, since they level up very slowly, right? Well, the game is very generous with Grimoires, items you can use to instantly level up a demon. Snazzy. The game is quite generous with permanent stat boosting items for demons too. In other words, if you grow fond of a particular demon you can very easily take it with you until the end of the game. It's amazing. I really liked Yoshitsune's guaranteed 8-hit critical unique skill as well as Alice's "Will you die for me?" unique skill, so I pumped them full of Grimoire's and kept their movesets up to date through essences.
The Nahobino gets an extra degree of customization, as you can use essences to take up that demon's elemental weaknesses and resistances... if you get the enhancement. There's another currency called Glory, given to you by Miman or by finding Glory Crystals, and Glory can be spent on all sorts of boons, like raising your mastery of elements, increasing the amount of magatsuhi you get per turn, increasing the amount of demons you can carry, etc. There's not enough Glory to get everything, so be careful.
Shin Megami Tensei is a brilliant step in the right direction after SMT IV, at least if you like the PS2 era SMT games. It has a few quirks and flaws, but overall it's a fantastic new game in the series that takes after its most iconic outing. I found that the game was a bit divisive, since I found a few people that actually hated the game... and it's usually people who liked SMT IV. Thank god it's nothing like IV.
9.0
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