Analysis of Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is the complete edition of Atlus’ RPG, perfect for first-time playthroughs and repeat playthroughs.

Atlus is a company that never seems to have enough of releasing their games just once. For those of us who have been following their games for years, it’s strange to have a game without an enhanced edition with subtitles like Overclocked, Redux, FES, Golden or Royal. It’s a practice that may irritate those who only want to play (let alone buy) each game once, but it’s clear that the Japanese developer is making a huge effort to recapture its past, overhauling every last mechanic to give the games a second life . your games.

Now it’s the turn of Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, a full-fledged edition of the Atlus RPG originally published as a Nintendo Switch exclusive in 2021. Not only does Vengeance allow you to migrate to almost all current platforms, but it also allows you to choose from the very beginning. from the game if we prefer to experience the original story (Canon of Creation) or a kind of “what if…” that adds a new character named Yoko (Canon of Revenge). In both cases, the game contains a huge number of quality of life improvements designed to soften the rough edges of a series known for its hostility towards new players.

In both Creation Canon and Revenge Canon, we play a high school student in Tokyo who one day is transported to a post-apocalyptic version of his city. Defenseless against the demons living there, the appearance of a creature called Aogami allows him to transform into Nahobino, a powerful being who holds the fate of this new Tokyo in his hands. In practice, my original analysis still largely applies to the Canon of Creation.

The new Canon of Vengeance is a strange middle ground between a remix and a director’s cut, using a formula not too different from that of SMT IV Apocalypse. The first quarter of the game is almost identical to the original, as well as part of the final part, but two areas have been replaced with a new, larger map of Shinjuku, the more traditional dungeon is also new, and almost every scene from the original is changed or outright new. Yoko’s appearance in Nakhobino’s group results in the same characters making different decisions at key moments, and in some cases, their fates are completely opposite to those of their counterparts in the Creation Canon.

While both develop the same themes as the rest of the numbered SMTs regarding order and chaos, the Canon of Creation was much more sparse in words than the Canon of Revenge. Yoko is a character who embodies the conflicts between the characters’ ideologies much more directly, while the new villains, a group of demons called Kaditsu, appear more consistently throughout the adventure, creating a more focused and expansive narrative than the original. SMTV, although it will still be very short for those looking for something similar to Persona.

I think the new Canon may seem a little disappointing as a first experience; It’s clearly intended as an incentive for a second game, aimed at those who have already played the original. In this sense, it works great, looking at points that were already explained in the original (Dazai’s evolution as a character is even more accelerated here) to focus on aspects that were only glimpsed in SMTV and further expand the world of its characters we we already know. knew.

SMTV: Vengeance retains one of its greatest strengths: the excellent Press Turn combat system that debuted in Shin Megami Tensei III, the source of One More! Personalities. Both have the same effect on defeating enemy elemental weaknesses, but One More! This is much more liberal, since in SMT we can lose actions if the enemy blocks our attack, or even lose a turn completely if the attack is absorbed.

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With that in mind, anyone who has never seen SMT will certainly appreciate the additions that have been introduced to create a more player-friendly experience. We can save at any time, we have an aerial view to navigate the labyrinths of open worlds, numerous shortcuts called magatsu rails have been introduced that allow us to move around the stage at full speed, and the simplest encounters can be resolved using the new automatic mode in a game in which characters use the most powerful attack at their disposal without thinking about MP consumption.

In this sense, SMTV Vengeance is a game that adds so many amenities that at times some of the personality of the Atlus saga is lost. On a personal level, I believe that part of the charm of Shin Megami Tensei lies precisely in maintaining a certain hostility towards the player that reflects the situation of the world in which it takes place. There’s always the danger of complicating a regular fight with the wrong decision, but when you can save at every stage, the consequences of not paying attention to game mechanics are less than in the original.

Other expansions seem more suited to complement the original game; For example, negotiations with demons can be handled in a variety of ways, including a fun game of “Who’s That Pokemon?” in which we have to guess the demon’s identity just by its silhouette. A small area has also been introduced where we can communicate with our demons to get to know them better and even receive rewards for winning their favor, such as items or increases in their stats.

The added content is well distributed, so there’s always something to do; In particular, the number of secondary missions has increased significantly and new types have been added, for example, small missions in which we remotely control a demon. Even the exceptional soundtrack is accompanied by a variety of new tracks, which usually focus on boss fights.

We weren’t able to play the Switch version of Vengeance to compare graphics to the original version, but the PC version of the game brings out the best in the post-apocalyptic world (even on the Steam Deck if playing on a laptop). The original game had great art direction but a poor resolution that negated the impact of the settings and the demons themselves, but without those hardware limitations the work already done for SMTV is appreciated much better.

I could go on for hours about the list of Vengeance news, because the list is surprisingly longer than you might expect. The “Director’s Cut” of Shin Megami Tensei V extends to all aspects of the game without completely changing its identity, despite seeing a clear reduction in difficulty and hostility compared to the original. Once again, Atlus listened carefully to what was liked and what was missing to create the equivalent of Persona 5 Royal or Persona 4 Golden: a definitive version that serves its purpose for both those who have never played and those who have looking for excuse me to go back to the title.