SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI V
In Shin Megami Tensei V, things move fast. Here we are sitting in a lesson in a Japanese school, and after a few minutes we find ourselves in an alternative, destroyed version of Tokyo and fight demons. It sounds like something from Persona 5, but fans of the series for such comparisons can call an unkind word, because Persona is a spin-off of the SMT series. And no matter how successful the fifth “Persona” was, the developers did not change much Shin Megami Tensei V to please the army of newly minted fans.
Player cover
Brave new world
However, this does not mean that the new SMT clings to the past and is no different from its predecessors – everything is exactly the opposite. Basically, this is the same journey through locations, during which you have to constantly fight with demons and lure them to your side so that they use their abilities against former comrades. But now there is a lot of emphasis on exploring locations – these are huge areas without loading screens, and random battles have gone into oblivion: all opponents can be seen and can be bypassed.
The path to the next story objective is always shown on the mini-map, but there is no point in running there right away. It is much better to explore the surroundings, because in this game the secrets are scattered almost at every turn. Large golden orbs contain money or valuable resources, hidden creatures provide glory points (glory) needed to purchase passive upgrades. You can restore health or mana by running along the paths with multi-colored spheres scattered along them.
Optimization is not ideal, but I did not notice anything terrible.
The friendly demon Amanozako, whom the hero meets at the very beginning of the journey, also encourages him to do research. The Companion regularly points out places where you can find something interesting, and sometimes you can really find a valuable item there. And in some cases, a battle is launched, most often with Mitams familiar to fans of the series, which give a lot of money and experience. In general, the locations are vast and rich in features, and their multi-level nature makes finding useful junk fun.
At the forefront here, of course, are battles with demons. They are still incremental. All participants in the battle have strengths and weaknesses – some of the seven elements either inflict increased damage on them, or allow them to block the attack completely. If any character was able to hit the sore spot, the team gets an extra turn. Since there are four members in the squad, with good luck, they can take eight hits before the turn passes to the opposing team.
Where without this funny demon?
demon pokemon
Collect “army” to be from the demons that you meet on the way. Thanks to the fact that they are all now visible on the map, it is much easier to search for the desired targets. But the recruitment process has not changed – instead of attacking, we select the “Conversation” option and try to make friends with the demon, which happens differently each time. One will ask why you have such long hair, the other will turn away – you need to decide whether you call him or leave him alone. Everyone has a different character – someone likes funny answers, someone likes to be sad, and here you have to rely only on intuition. It is interesting that you can also negotiate with a demon with a level higher than yours – he will not immediately join the team, but at the next meeting he will remember the dialogue and offer his services.
However, it is not enough just to collect a collection of demons – their ordinary versions that you meet in the world can not do that much, the number of their tricks and abilities is very limited. It is necessary from time to time to look into the World of Shadows, where the process of mixing creatures takes place. From two demons, you create a third and take away the necessary abilities from those two. If an ordinary demon can only freeze opponents, then its copy, created in the local “laboratory”, can pour fire, poison, and heal allies – choose for yourself.
As soon as you get a new level, you want to go and see what new demons are available.
If the desired demon is not there, it does not matter. Essences come to the rescue – you either find them in the world or buy them in a store (in the second case, you will have to pay impressive amounts). Essences in the same way allow you to get the abilities of a particular demon, and later they can also be taken away from protection from certain elements. You got a boss that deals heavy damage with dark magic – find a demon with the right perk, “pour” it into the main character and taunt your opponent, who loses two moves at once due to a failed attack.
Poking around in menus and fiddling with demons does not bother you for more than 50 hours. You even have time to become attached to some allies – it’s a pity to part with the creatures that so often helped you in battle. But you have to do it – new individuals have more powerful skills. Someone owns the element so that all attacks associated with it cause increased damage, and someone has an exclusive ability that cannot be transferred to anyone.
