Shin Megami Tensei V is a Great Return to the Series

Game: Shin Megami Tensei V

Developer: Atlus

Publisher: Atlus, Sega, Nintendo

Platforms: Nintendo Switch

Release Date: November 12th, 2021

Introduction

Shin Megami Tensei V is a great return to the SMT series with familiar combat and some new mechanics. The release of this game is significant because this is the first time the series has had a simultaneous world wide release. Obviously it was out a day earlier in Japan, but that’s the result of time zones. It was nice to play an Atlus game without worrying about having to avoid spoilers all over the internet.

Story

Whenever I do reviews I usually summarize some of the story myself, but going forward I’m just going to show the story trailer they show. I’m using one of their earlier trailers that shows less of the game.

The story was very reminiscent of the story of SMT III. It felt as though they drew heavy inspiration from that story. There were parts that I felt as though could have been done a little better.

Game Play

If you’ve played Shin Megami Tensei III and Shin Megami Tensei IV, then this game will be fairly easy to pick up. To me it feels like they took some of the best parts of each game and combined them together. One difference in game play is seeing the demons in the over world. It’s nice to be able to see and avoid enemies.

In this game through various means you can obtain Glory which is used to purchase Miracles. These have different effects such as increasing your demon stock or giving you a discount when fusing. If you have played SMT IV or SMT IV Apocalypse the Miracles are similar to the apps that you purchase in those games.

One new battle mechanic are Magatsuhi Skills. During combat you have a gauge that will fill up over time. After it fills up you can use a Magatsuhi skill. The default skill makes every attack a critical hit for one turn. You can unlock more skills by completing side quests.

There are also unique skills that some demons have. These unique skills are only usable by those demons and can’t be passed to others through fusion. The main character also has unique skills that can be learned. I didn’t find all of them, but I found some.

Music

The music in this game is good, as always with the SMT series. Below are some of my favorite songs.

DLC

This was one of the rare times I decided to get DLC for a game. I got all the DLCs except for the ones that gave money and experience. Honestly the only DLC that’s worth it is the Return of the True Demon. If you’ve played SMT III you battle all the fiends that held Menorahs in that game. The final fight for the DLC is against the Demi-fiend from SMT III. This one is worth getting since you get a lot of new demons you can fuse that can help you throughout the game if you need it.

The other DLCs are pretty short. Two of them are one fight and are only feasible towards late game due to the levels of the demons. The other one can be done pretty early on and has two fights involved. At the end of all three of these the demon you beat join you.

Positives

One of the biggest positives is the game play. They did a great job with keeping the battle system familiar while adding a bit of a new flair. I enjoyed the combat as well as the many new skills that were added. Having enemies appear in the over world is a big improvement that I enjoyed greatly.

Another big positive are the environments. I think that the environments are truly great.

Negatives

The biggest negative Shin Megami Tensei V has is that the further you get in the game the more you notice frame rate issues. As far as I know this issues might have been fixed in the recent update, but I finished the game before the update released. Another issue I had was that in some fights some of the enemies would be hidden behind another enemy.

Another negative is that the final boss is disappointing. It just felt too easy. Part of this might have been attributed to my level since I was around 5 levels higher than the boss. It just didn’t feel like the climactic battle I felt it should have been.

Other Thoughts

I felt as though the characters could be improved just a little. One character’s development is a little odd. I felt like the way they looked and began to act did not fit their alignment.

I feel as though SMT V has some issues with the morality system. The biggest complaint is that it feels like your decisions don’t carry any weight. A lot of the “choices” don’t really result in anything happening.

Conclusion

In the end I think that Shin Megami Tensei V is a great game. It just has some issues that I’d like to see fixed as they go forward with the series. I would say that I do recommend this game to any SMT fans. If you haven’t played the series I think that this one of the easier entries to get into. If you have questions or reservations about the game I’d be happy to answer to the best of my ability. As always thank you for reading.

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