These reviews take a while to put together, between the full playthroughs and everything else that goes into production, so thank you all for your patience, and huge thanks to the supporters of the show on Patreon, Twitch, and RU-vid Channel Members who help keep these reviews sustainable! And if you're looking for something to do tonight, come hang out with us on Twitch! We're about to wrap-up my play-through/dramatic reading of Radical Dreamers, and begin Chrono Cross! www.twitch.tv/superderekrpgs/
This is a great, and very fair review. As a casual observer of this series (only played Strange Journey) I found a lot of the discourse around this game and its reviews to be surprisingly toxic and off-putting (especially towards IGN's review).
I've been pretty vocal in the past about my disdain for how larger review magazine/websites handle RPG reviews. They pretty much inspired my approach to reviewing them, by doing the opposite. Finishing the games, not bothering with arbitrary scoring systems, and trying to explain what is great and what is not so great, and who these games might appeal to, and who might want to avoid them.
The severe lack of IGNs ability to even touch certain JRPGs to review such as the first two Trails of Cold Steel games is what got me to look at RU-vid reviewers. There are certain JRPGs that IGN just refuses to admit exist with the exception of a page or two of previews.
IGN really didn't do themselves any favors comparing the game to Persona 5 instead of SMT4 or something like that. SMT and Persona are night and day different so they fell on their buttswith that one
iGN could've compared to SMTIV or strange journey and almost nothing would have changed. The characters are very much not as developed or fleshed out as they could been comparing to both persona 5 or smtiv/sj. And the story is not better. SMTV IS persona 5 without the heart. Because even if its trying to be it own thing, it still painfuly mediocre. At least the gameplay is good enough to carry the game.
@@alsaiduq4363 it hurts to say the Persona wih out the heart line IS somewhat accurate,especially after coming from SMT4 ir SJ. Gameplay is stellar,hope they keep it like this and release SMT5 apocalypse soon lol.
Don’t take this the wrong way but I re listen to your hitpoint podcasts to go to sleep to. You and Baku have a calming tone that’s great to go to sleep to
SMT V was my first SMT game and I had an absolute blast playing it! I went for the easier difficulty, but definitely still had moments where I got too confident and was punished for it brutally. And while I personally found the story still okay cause I had zero expectations, this game shows that a game's story can be mediocre to bad as long as the gameplay is fun and captivating enough. Oh, and my final decision was definitely influenced by the fact that I fell in love with Aogami and the Jack O'Lantern 😅
It’s my first SMT too although I do own most of its sister series Persona.. I think it’s an essential purchase for any rpg fan.. Atlus doesn’t fool around!
SMTV is my favorite SMT game I played, I loved the world, the battle system, the music & even the new weird style of story telling. I wonder if we'll get a Apocalypse/Royal treatment to SMTV.
With how successful SMTV was we're definitely getting a Redux of the game or a new game altogether ala 'Apocalypse' maybe even both considering this is the first time an SMT game has sold over a million copies.
Oh boy, I’m sure this one was a doozy. 17 minutes of a spoiler free review, I’m quite impressed that you managed to squeeze all of this together from from your play though. Truly an amazing review Derek, I’m happy to see you got your hands on a premium box of the game ❤️
SMT5 is *by far* the most accessable entry for beginners. They really mastered the press-turn system and give the player customization for the Nahobino and the demon party like never before! The game LOOKS beautiful, SOUNDS beautiful and is this time all about customization and exploration, which are really strong suits...but the story this time suffers. Especially when you're a returning player and are used to the alignments of good eveil and neutral influencing the outcome of the story. They didn't do that this time. They give you the ability to choose and ending regardless of your playthrough, which makes it very much easier to see all the endings without having to go NG+ all the time, but for me it kind of killed the replay value for now. I will definitely come back to it at another point. HECK, we've waited *4 years* for this and it's the reason I bought a switch. If you wanna get into SMT more, I can recomment SMT4 which is the most story-heavy mainline game. If you REALLY liked SMT5 I recommend SMT3 Nocturne which came out only months ago on the Switch as a rerelase. I played Nocturne for the first time in preparation for SMT5 and it helped me get some subtle easer eggs. 5 and 3 are very much alike, with 5 being 'prettier' while 3 having more 'atmosphere' I'd say. Great review of the game for a series that is quite underrated here in the west but hopefully gains more traction because of SMT5! Good Job Derek
This was my first SMT game (I have never even played Persona yet) and I can honestly say this game was awesome and so much fun, I highly recommend it to anyone on the fence!! It kept my engaged the whole way through and made me WANT to go out of my way and collect all the Miman and do side quests (something I don’t typically do in JRPGs).
Fantastic work as always, Derek. I also wanted to let you know that I decided to try this game based on the experience points video you did on it initially. I didn't have any experience with the SMT franchise, but I figured this looked like a good place to dive in. After doing almost everything the game had to offer I just finished it yesterday, and I have to say I loved every minute of it. Thanks so much for covering it!
I love SMT. Played Devil Survivor and watched Raidou Kuzunoha, and I just find it so fun. I just love the hard as nails gameplay with a lot of religious references, and fusing my pokemon to make them the best one possible is such a great experience
Great review! I recently, finally beat this game and all its DLC last month since I started playing it back in November. This the first mainline SMT game I've ever beaten and thought it was really great. 🤙
I sure hope people who appreciated SMT V will try SMT III Nocturne ( Remastered ) as a result. It is much more archaic due to the dreaded random encounters, or more basic style of fusion and combat system, but many people complained that V lacked a little bit of that SMT soul because it tried to copy Nocturne in some ways to be a follow up to it, and III is a great way to understand what they mean. It's a work of art in its own way and a game that definitely tried ( and imo succeeded ) at weirding you out with an unique immersive and heavy experience. Another definite recommandation has to be SMT IV, which features a more story focused type of SMT, or Strange Journey. The former is more a modern type of game gameplay wise, extremely playable even nowadays, and has its own sequel in the form of SMT IV Apocalypse.
SMT5 is my first SMT5 also and I luved it! My 2021 GOTY, it really is THAT good! I am currently playing SMT3 Nocturne on Switch, good game, but I prefer SMT5. Also downloaded the 3DS SMT4 couldn't find a reasonable price on a physical copy, so I look forward to playing that too, I am now a fan of the series.
Nice review! Glad you liked it. The game is so much fun. My only complaint is that the menus are a bit clunky. I'm glad Atlus has started putting Japanese voices in their games lately. (I wonder if that's Sega's influence) But as a fan of subs over dubs, I still have to say that Atlus usually does a good job with its english dubs. The biggest change SMT 5 has over previous games is that it is much less of a dungeon crawler. The previous games are very focused on navigating dungeons. Otherwise, the devastated world and demon interactions have largely remained the same. The press turn system hasn't really changed since I started playing the games. I usually think of critical hits as "half turns" since you can't keep building them up forever. An interesting thing about Megami Tensei is that it is one of the oldest JRPG franchises, and thus it has a bizarre blend of western and Japanese design elements, just like Dragon Quest, the other primordial JRPG series. The silent nameless protagonist for one, but the overall detached feeling of how the story progresses is very WRPG to me. I also think of morality systems as being very western, but SMT sure does have one, even if it is hidden from the player. It ususally decides what ending you get in SMT games, and makes demons respond more favorably to you if their alignment matches your own. (might play a part in why you got better at demon negotiations as the game went on) But unlike most games with a morality gauge, it doesn't focus much on good vs evil, but rather on the law vs chaos axis of the D&D alignment chart. There aren't a lot of human interactions in SMT games, I think, because they are about self reflection more than story telling. This is why they are always a lonely journey accompanied only by manifested aspects of the human psyche. What do you think the world should be like? How do you think people should behave? It's not about being a hero or indulging your dark side. It's about what you think is right and wrong. There usually isn't a good or a bad ending in SMT, just endings that reflect the kind of world your choices would create.
I was playing SMT V directly after I played the SMTIII HD Remaster on my streams (which they all can be found on my RU-vid-channel) and I love the GLOOOORIOUS Japanese Voiceacting along with the beautiful enviroments as well the funny interactions between demons. Once when you learn a special skill when you can butt in during a demons turn, you also have the chance to see one of your demons interact with the demon you fight against. The one I got was Grihmekala and Mara and that was hilarious!
SMT 5 is the only shin megami I actually finished and easily my favorite. What a joy of a game to play. Loved it! Special shout out to all the unique spell animations from main character with his special moves and also the cool camera angle the combat has behind the main character. The game oozes style! I absolutely loved its semi open world. Huge but not open world huge and it was like a little puzzle figuring out how to get up there or over here etc Lots of rewards for your efforts too. So good. Music got better and better as the game went on too. Such a cool game.
Super excited to start this up. I love the whole SMT Universe. Persona games are fantastic for a more story driven, character deep dive. And the SMT series is a great dark themed dungeon crawler with just enough story to pull me through. I think I love them all so much because I am a horror fan. And this is one of the very few horror themed (or horror feeling) rpg series out there. So glad to hear that this one is awesome! Now I just need the time haha I am finally finishing up Persona 3 Fes at the moment.
I'm stoked you enjoyed this game! As a diehard SMT and dungeon crawler RPG fan, I was surprised how much I loved SMT V's switch to open environments. In fact, many of the changes to the formula were for the better imo, and I'm glad to see it paid off for helping new players get into the series. I honestly am disappointed by some of the toxicity around this game--and, frankly, the series in general. But your review is a breath of fresh air (or Garu, I should say lol). Thanks for putting so much time and effort into this and all your videos.
this game literally is phenomenal. i went into it hearing all the nonsense that some youtubers and people online where spewing about how to story sucked and the characters were forgettable and this and that, on and on - and it got me so annoyed. so i unsubscribed from a bunch of channels and unfollowed some subreddits. few weeks go by, beat the game. it was epic, but I didn’t really feel anything from the games story. About four or so months later i started a new file and beat the game again same ending, and HOLY CRAP. EVERYTHING made sense. i realized that this is a game that is tailored towards a very specific type of person/player that you have to know what your getting into. the allusive nature of the game is what throws people off, and is what i was reading and watching about online that people where misrepresenting the game as “unfinished” or “bad”. It really takes a mindset shift to really fully appreciate and understand the incredible concepts this game has to offer, that has left me wide awake thinking about all the possibilities in the universe of Da’at. Shin Megami Tensei V is literally the greatest turn based Mainline JRPG Atlus has ever made. I stand on that firmly.
I initially chose Tales of Arise over this game. At that point I hadn’t stepped in to this series or that of it’s kin yet, but was beginning to become curious. I’ve been playing Persona 5 Royal and quickly became hooked, it’s an incredible game(fingers crossed for that rumored P4 remaster for PS4). But entirely because of Persona 5 Royal, I’m able to understand your point, about Atlus being capable of high quality story and character development. I was really blindsided by Persona 5’s story and characters, how well they were written and into a game that also had a strong and well built core of gameplay as well. I’m looking forward to playing this game too, Shin Megami Tensei V but I don’t have any expectations of it being Persona 5 in regards to its story. Just from what I’ve seen. But that’s not all a negative either, it looks like a game with good, fun and interesting gameplay at its core. It almost vibes like a western to me, in it’s own way. A lone character, traveling the lonely wastelands while dealing with hostile locals and trying to find whatever it is that brings them there in the first place. Which will be interesting. Regardless, Atlus definitely seems to bring something unique/different to the party in terms of it’s game releases.
I have played through a few SMT games at this point. SMT V is a great game but SMT Strange Journey is my fav, thus far. Not the best for a new comer but worth a play if you enjoy the franchise.
Fantastic review but I gotta say, the frame rate is hard capped (!) at 27 fps and even the variable resolution down to 540p in handheld or 720p in docked mode doesn't help much. While I adore the art style, models, effects and so on it's hard to fully appreciate them at a quarter the resolution and a third of the frame rate I would find acceptable (often below 20 fps). As you said the gameplay is the meat and potatoes here, not the cutscenes. I do love the Switch and I realize many consider this not that big of a deal in a turn based game but running around makes me woozy. Here's hoping for a fully unlocked PC Port. (4K 120Hz would literally be about a hundred times the pixels per second! xD) Again, great review, glad I found your channel this way.
@@SuperDerek Yeah, I tried to make clear that I love the game itself just like I love every Persona game. 99% of SMT "people" will disagree. (they're clearly not "fans" in the traditional sense lol) I can't describe to you the amount of people coming into chat when I played through P4 just to say how much P5 sucked when I haven't even played that game. (So looking forward to October 21st though) Then again it's the same with Final Fantasy "fans". Hating 80% of the games seems to be a requirement. I love 'em all! Something doesn't need to be flawless to be magnificent!
Despite being a Persona fan for over a decade now, I've been a bit trepidatious about getting into the mainline series. Not because of the difficulty nor the bleak tone, but because I really, really don't like morality/alignment systems xD That said, even despite that, SMT V looks too good to resist. I love big open games to explore, and I love monster raising, so I know it'll make its way into my collection before too long
For me this game was incredible in terms of gameplay/OST. Really wish they expanded on the other bethel factions, that meeting was a standout moment for me in the game but took a while to get to that plot point. I enjoyed that and the endgame story moments personally. Only real negatives i had was the top down cursor segments. To me seems a redundant feature as navigating or talking to other npc icons gets/gives you nothing of substance or secret sidequests. That and dazai.
Hmm well I just received this over the weekend and for some reason it made me wanna go back to P5R.. It reminds me a lot of that one as far as the turned based gameplay and such.. I see what you’re saying tho as far as the overworld and having to make it through tough battles from base to base.. Funny I actually tried Code Vein last week and I like it more than I thought I would.. I can definitely appreciate the Souls genre and I get why people like it.. It just feels like there’s a little something missing when there’s no intricate storyline like we’re accustomed to in the more traditional stuff.. As of today I went with FFX, Eiyuden Chronicle Rising and now Triangle Strategy as we speak.. No regrets as far as my day off!
would luv to see a Playstation version at 60 FPS, but I am satisfied with what we have in the Switch version which is my 2021 GOTY, it really is THAT good!
Excited to see this. I'm a huge fan of SMT, especially mainline entries, and I find SMT V to be a bit of a mixed bag. While I enjoy it, I find the traversal system to be rather clunky, and the story (while never a major focus in mainline) to be more diluted than recent entries. Specifically, I found the balance that was recently struck in 4 and 4 Final between gameplay and plot to be excellent, and something that wasn't fully replicated in 5. I could go on and on about my thoughts, but suffice to say, I do like SMT V - just not that much. Psyched to see this vid!
The plot was scaled back due to difficulties the team had while making the demons in Unreal Engine, they stated it took 3 times as long to make a single demon so that probably explains it
@@MatthewDadoun Understandable! I wish them the best with whatever project is next - whether it's SMT V part 2, SMT 6 or otherwise. Happy so many people seem to enjoy V as much as they do though!
That's really interesting to hear! I didn't dive into the production stories prior to writing the review, seems they shifted focus pretty well, all things considered. I think more characterization of the side characters would have definitely been welcome, but was a very enjoyable experience anyway. :)
I don't know if I agree with 5 as an entry point. I heard about SMT5 a 2 years back which made me start the series. SMT4 was my 1st and it was amazing. After that I completed Nocturne which stuck with me for a while. Then I completed 5 and I was kind of underwhelmed. I am not an SMT veteran since I beat 2 games but, 5's flaws were obvious. The story structure and pacing for 5 was worse then Nocturne which didn't have much of a story. The frame rate was bad and the boss fights feel bloated. The characters were even less memorable as well. At least the music and game plays was still good.
This is a great start beginner friendly SMT game, great music, best protagonist design, great late game challenge for veterans even the super bosses. But it's story is horribly unfinished no matter what route you take, the game tries to be similar to Nocturne rather than a new original adventure, also the gameplay is lacking in good locations to explore with 4 main areas, 2 dungeons, I still love the battle system, stragety and doing challenge runs on hard mode. The music tho great is a massive step down from SMT4/Apocalypse which have the best n most progressive soundtracks in any JRPG. SMT5 is still worth it for newcomers but if you want a better experience (and I'm being friendly here cus oof smt/persona fanbase can get rabbid my god.) I strongly recommend SMT4 n it's sequel Apocalypse, SMT 3 Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga series, Persona series. I'm glad more folks get to play a game from this series or its spin offs as to kinda see what the originator of monster taming games is like.
This was my first SMT game also and one of a very rare few times when I actually quit on a game with no intention to return. I love Japanese Role-playing games and consider them my favorite genre. The aspect that appeals to me the most is compelling stories told through well developed characters. SMT 5 seriously lacks in this regard. The game features a silent protagonist which can work if there is a strong enough supporting cast, like in Chrono Trigger for example. Having a silent protagonist and no other defined playable characters makes for a boring adventure IMO. The grind between story bits is long and arduous without an interesting overall narrative to drive the player forward. I found it hard to care about the side characters who make brief appearances after every four to six hours of grinding out dungeons and field areas. The landscape is boring and repetitive too, mainly consisting of desolate wastelands and burned out buildings. I've never liked monster capturing games either with the exception of Dragon Quest 5, which has a strong enough cast and plot to carry the journey. This is no Dragon Quest 5. It seems like the demon recruiting system relies on arbitrary or random elements to determine success a lot of the time. I would often answer a demon the way one would think a particular demon would like, only to be turned down or attacked. It's not a very intuitive system, or maybe my logic is skewed and I'm misreading the Demon's personality. I've heard a lot of people gush over this game, but for me it did not check the right boxes. If I'm going to spend 100 hours on a game it has to provide enough compelling story moments and interesting characters to keep me going.
"If I'm going to spend 100 hours on a game it has to provide enough compelling story moments and interesting characters to keep me going." I agree and I think this is the norm for most people, its usually an unwritten rule that your JRPG should have a compelling enough narrative to keep you going
Great review as always, but I have to say it, SMTV death doesn't seems to me more punishing than Dark Souls. Dark Souls may have autosave features, but you lose money and experience each time you die. Also the game saves each time you die or exit to the main menu, so you can't recover any item you used by loading the game. Autosave features in DS makes the game even harder. I mean, what's done is done. The hard part of SMTV is if you forget to save the game, you'll lose progress, like any tradicional RPG. SMTV seems to me like the most mercifull and accesible SMT game out there. Nocturne was hell compared to V.
I respectfully disagree. Dark Souls' death mechanics are less punishing because it's designed to put you back into the action as quickly as possible, and allows skilled players to attempt reclaiming lost progress if they can make it back to their corpse without dying again. You can also open shortcuts that make the process even easier. Dark Souls doesn't *punish* death, it expects it and in fact, centers around it.
@@SuperDerek That's fair, and also true. I enjoy DS system a lot but I think it also forces the player to take some risks that SMTV doesn't. Just my opinion. I've felt the despair of losing progress in SMTV but also felt the despair of DS XD. Anyways, keep up the good work man. I enjoy your videos. Much love from Spain.
The only things I disliked about this game was that it looked grainy like Metroid Dread and that when one of your demons died in battle, you lost a turn with Nahobino to summon the demon back after being resurrected instead of joining your party automatically.
SMT V was also my first SMT game and it will definitely be my last. I don´t like the story or the characters which are the most important things in an RPG for me.
There is SMT IV, IV Apocalypse, Strange journey, Digital Devil Saga and Devil Survivor if you want a focused story. You could also get the Soul Hackers remaster on the 3DS if you don't mind an older game.
You literally played the worst SMT game, in terms of story, and you’re judging an entire series based on a bad experience lmao. I would actually recommend SMT3 Nocturne, SMTIV, SMT Strange Journey, SMT Devil Survivor, SMT Soul Hackers and SMT Digital Saga.
@@Anon9729X Not touching Nocturne, that game seems to have everything I hate about V turned up to eleven. The only mainline game I could see myself giving a try would be SMT IV since that is supposed to have a good story compared to the rest of the series. Other than that maybe on of the spin off games since Persona is technically one of them and I love that series to pieces. I just find myself really bored by games that don't have a strong story hook.
Honestly love this Channel been follow ing for years. Unfortunately I do sincerely believe smt five is by far the worst in the series in terms of story which is the one of the pillars of smt. The gameplay in my opinion-is also the worst since the way combat works you basically must be on samelevel as Rosses which the grind unnecessarily long and frustrating
MAN!! a reviewer who can't take criticism! I never thought it would be you Derek. Why was my comment deleted?! i only made points of discussion related to the content of the video, did you not like that I criticize your judgment of the game? Why are you working as a game reviewer?! ...... unsubscribe.
Played through Persona 5 Royal this year, which was my first introduction to Atlas and WOW. I have yet to hear a bad thing mentioned about their games and if PS5R is anything to go by I'm really interested in playing more of their games. To bad I have no switch to play SMTV 🥲 ,maybe I'll give the soundtrack a listen to I'm sure it's great.
