Shin Megami Tensei V

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It’s hard to believe that Shin Megami Tensei V was one of the first games announced for the Nintendo Switch, and it took four years for players to experience it firsthand.

Fans of Shin Megami Tensei’s “main” game series themselves also had to wait more than 5 years for a new game, especially after Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse brought many disappointments to fans despite bringing valuable improvements to the gameplay of the series.

Shin Megami Tensei V also marks the return of this “bloody” role-playing game for home consoles after years of absence. Therefore, fans’ expectations are higher than ever.

The first thing we can notice in Shin Megami Tensei V is that this game looks…. How beautiful!

It seems that ATLUS’s team of artists has exhausted their “skill” and launched the game Shin Megami Tensei with the most magnificent and eye-catching art style ever.

Much of the player’s time in the game is spent exploring a ruined Tokyo, and that ruin has its beauty!

Specifically, Shin Megami Tensei V has four “main” areas for players to explore, if not two Dungeons, and an area that acts as a “buffer zone” for the plot. Each area has its unique beauty with interesting environments and highlights colors.

For example, the first area the player can explore is Minato, a vast and brilliant golden sand desert, with familiar landscapes such as Tokyo Tower, and the silent Parliament building.

It seems that Minato was the place that suffered the most damage in the apocalyptic event because only a few crumbling streets existed, the rest were abysses, unspoiled hills with no sign of any kind to show that humanity was once here.

All the remaining areas are also full of personality and highlight, especially the final big map of the game when the different architectures begin to blend, making that surreal feeling more and more… super more real.

The most special feature of Shin Megami Tensei V compared to its predecessors is the liveliness of the world. Of course, Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga, and even Strange Journey all have their unique accents in the art style, but there is certainly no game that allows the demons of the game to…. Run around in the world!

Now the Demons that you will meet, fight and chat with in the game are no longer random encounters or invisible floating blocks, they are built and animated in detail, simulating creatures Exciting life is roaming this ruined Tokyo city.

For the writer, this is the factor that makes the environment of Shin Megami Tensei V, which was already extremely attractive and interesting, is now raised to a new level – Shin Megami Tensei V is exactly the best beautiful game in the series to date!

Shin Megami Tensei V marks the third “main” game in which artist Masayuki Doi is in charge of character and demon design, continuing the very unique legacy of artist Kazuma Kaneko, and indeed the cast of characters and game’s new demon looks amazing!

Characters such as Dazai Ichiro, the Yutsuru brothers, Tao Isonokami, Nu Wa, Yakumo Shohei, Aogami, and the main character – Nahobino all exude a mysterious beauty but are full of personality, and as the plot twists fade gradually opened, the subtle highlights reveal more clearly the uniqueness, intelligence, and meticulousness in design.

Of course, to complete this “sensory feast”, the game’s sound is beyond amazing! The voice quality of the English and Japanese versions are both extremely attractive and show the maximum depth of the character. The Demons also have their dialogue with sound effects that perfectly match their personalities, significantly improving on the innocuous, innocuous hum from previous titles.

As for the music, although it will not be as memorable as other Megami Tensei games, it is still a valuable addition to the playing experience. Still, in the innovative style, the soundtracks of classic JRPGs from the PS1 and SNES eras of Shin Megami Tensei IV, although not unique, are the perfect final piece of a unique audio-visual experience.

In the game, players will play the role of a Tokyo schoolboy who suddenly gets lost in a strange desert, with demons raging and trying to capture or destroy any unfortunate mortal who gets lost here. It was thought that he would be defeated by a group of demons when a mysterious figure… fell from the sky claiming to be Aogami asking him to fuse with him to be able to survive through the strange realm.

Spanning 40 hours, the plot of Shin Megami Tensei V is an experience… in the immediate future, it will be controversial.

Other than the tight pacing of season four or the ambiguity and focus on environmental storytelling of season three, season five is like a hybrid of the two.

As mentioned above, the vivid environment makes exploring the environment and receiving the plot from there extremely fluently because the fifth season is rich in content in the environmental narration. However, the main plot of the game goes relatively linear and consistent.

This will probably make the player feel like not much happens in the first half of the game and too much happens in the second half, creating a certain imbalance, but for the writer, climbing Escalating crisis and conflict in this way makes the story more engaging than ever.

The game’s lovable and deep cast of characters are naturally developed through the main story and highly flexible through meticulously designed side quests. From understanding and sympathizing with this cast of characters, players can appreciate and understand the … sublime values of the game.

As is common in the series, Shin Megami Tensei V narrates and solves its knots in three directions – Law, Chaos, and Neutral.

Each story the game tells will serve to reinforce the value and role of these three directions with the game’s world and the way the characters operate, but instead of each choice directly affecting the game’s ending as season four, the choices of season five act as a bridge, a means of narrative game used to describe more deeply about these three directions.

Some players, again, will find this inconsistent with their playing experience, but I find this to be a narrative style that is particularly well suited to the story that Shin Megami Tensei V tells.

The characters who represent these directions all represent an ideal, but this ideal comes from their deeply personal experiences. The values, beliefs, anxieties, fears, and wills of these characters are all “humanized”, making players more sympathetic.

This gives more weight to the important choices in the game because players will make those choices because they sympathize with the characters who will be affected by it, not because there will be a better ending.

As usual, the plot of Shin Megami Tensei V revolves around very macro concepts about the role of humans in the universe, faith, and power.

These concepts may seem difficult to approach at first glance, but because the cast of characters is so likable and relatable, it is certain to make the game’s larger themes more effective.

The main gameplay of Shin Megami Tensei V is still familiar to all fans of Japanese RPGs in general and fans of the MegaTen franchise in particular.

However, season five still has relatively valuable additions!

The game approaches traditional turn-based combat mechanics with a system called Press Turn – if the player hits an enemy to their weak point or deals critical damage, they get an extra turn called “press turn”.

This mechanic can allow players to perform up to 8 operations during their turn. If the player’s attack hits the enemy’s “strong” point, i.e. if it is blocked, missed, absorbed, or reflected, the player loses 2 turns for that action.

This season five has an interesting addition, as, during the game, the player can fill up the Magatsuhi bar and unleash a powerful ability. These skills are extremely diverse and are always an effective tool for players to turn the situation around.

But don’t get too excited, mechanics like Press Turn and Magatsuhi sound good, but if you use them…. Demons can also be used. Putting players on such a “balanced” battlefield makes every clash like a tense game of chess, where any stumble can … send the player back to the place where the game was saved!

Some of Shin Megami Tensei V’s combat mechanics have also been refined and continued from previous versions, such as the “potential” mechanism, where certain Demons will have a “potential” multiplier to make Specific skills such as crowd control, buff/debuff, and damage of certain types are more effective.

In addition, the support skills increase/decrease the defense coefficient, dodge, attack can now only be used up to 2 times instead of 3 times like previous versions to make the experience smoother and faster – now it doesn’t take 3 buffs/debuffs to prepare for an effective hit.

Adding cool skills and tweaking such familiar stats makes playing Shin Megami Tensei V much less dependent on training because outside of the usual clashes, boss fights will require players to brainstorm.

The player can completely face a boss that you are 3-4 levels lower than it on the difficulty level and may have to die several times to know the strengths and weaknesses, as well as the attack habits of the boss to be able to defeat it.

This makes failure in the game not inhibiting, but will make players think to overcome the challenge, making every victory of Shin Megami Tensei V even more… sweeter.

But to fight effectively, the player must upgrade Nahobino as well as a team. Fortunately, these mechanisms are also greatly expanded and improved.

As usual, the player must chat with the demons to recruit them to be their minions. Certain improvements from season five make this mechanic a bit “breathable”, as every demon you’ve successfully persuaded but haven’t been able to recruit (because of space or low level) will remember this and quickly volunteer to follow you. The Demon Negotiation mechanism, although not as detailed as the third part, can still lead to very interesting interactions.

where can you get a Shin Megami Tensei V online

Shin Megami Tensei V: Standard Edition – Nintendo Switch: Buy it now

Shin Megami Tensei V (Nintendo Switch): Buy it now

Season five also brings very… witty and funny interactions in the recruiting process. Players are constantly being… sexually harassed, angered, teased by other demons, and understanding their personalities to choose the right response is also a very important factor in negotiating or failing. Regardless, looking at the extreme jokes that ATLUS puts into the game will turn inhibitions into fun entertainment!

After capturing the Demon, the player will begin…. Fusing them to create stronger Demons!

In this part, the game only allows players to fuse two Demons, the fusions of three or more are only reserved for specific Demons in the Special Fusion section. This will make some fans uneasy, but this shallow approach is in part to make it easier for players to access the fusion mechanics.

The game adds two more options, Reverse Fusion and Reverse Compendium Fusion so that players can quickly create the Demon they want, rather than guessing and then trying again and again.

These mechanics make building an effective team more fun and easier than ever.

As for Nahobino, he is upgraded through two mechanisms, Miracles, and Essence Fusion.

Miracles are passive changes such as increasing the number of skills he and the Demons can have, the number of Demons he can store, and allowing the Demon to use items and talk to other Demons… These Miracles are enhanced. Granted by a separate currency called Glory, the player can obtain Glory through items scattered across the environment, completing quests, or killing special Demons called Glory Mitama. Players will unlock new Miracles by defeating special enemies called Abscess scattered around the world.

Essence Fusion is the fusion of a certain skill or system of strengths/weaknesses of a Demon with Nahobino (or another Demon), this mechanism is a hybrid between the Demon Whisper of season four and Magatama of season three, when The player can freely choose these two factors regardless of the randomness of the equipment or essence they pick up, making it easier to upgrade the character.

Players will gain Essence through exploring the environment or with a Demon long enough.

These mechanics sound complicated but guided the player in a very natural way, the game only takes more than 2 hours to convey all these mechanisms by letting players directly participate.

Another part is that because these machines are so closely tied to environmental exploration, an activity this season five is heavily invested in, the quest to find rare items scattered throughout the environment to upgrade The team as well as the main characters are very charismatic!

All of the aforementioned changes and tweaks create a perfect balance for Shin Megami Tensei V’s gameplay, where every major game mechanic – upgrades, exploration, and combat is perfect for both players veterans, and newbies alike.

Of course, Shin Megami Tensei V still has minor flaws that ultimately need to be improved to make the playing experience more enjoyable.

The first is the side quest system, although the fifth part has quite excellent side quests, a significant part is… too hard to find, the “old” players of the brand may realize what is a mission potential side service, but surely new players will feel like they are “guessing blindfolded”

The second minus point is that a certain segment of the game feels relative… out of place from the rest.

While Shin Megami Tensei V is memorable for its freedom, attractive exploration of the environment, and beautiful visual design, the “Demon King Castle” segment is lengthy, the visuals are too boring and there are too many opportunities for “trap” mode.