Shin Megami Tensei V
Ah, that incomparable feeling when the progress of the last half hour is reset due to a ridiculous accident. Here you are in a battle with the boss, you realized his weak points, you have understood where you need to correct yours, and with a clear sense of the intended purpose going to grind a couple of levels. And not so much to level up with the said boss, but to cross a slightly stronger demon in Shadow World, who with his invulnerabilities will give you a sure advantage. It seems to be a matter of twenty minutes at best. After all, there are always enough slightly stronger demons around than our half-demon protagonist Nahobino. And nine times out of ten there shouldn't be any problems with them, because, again, there's a long-time proven squad of already tamed demons that are sharpened on the enemies in the current location.
For a while all goes well. And the player, unwittingly feeling confident in his abilities, decides to recruit another demon to the squad, with whose level he is just equal to. But alas, negotiations break down, and the opponents seize the initiative and start pounding on vulnerabilities in the squad, doubling the action points in the course. Scary, but the player somehow miraculously manages to survive this beating, and he has three choices: run away, try to reverse the course of the battle, or go back to negotiating.
The first option is simple and logical, and with the trafuri skill or smoke bomb in the inventory — Is also one hundred percent effective. Because a moment is enough to go after the battle in the game menu, use skils or items to resurrect and heal, and after that there are a few seconds before the nearby demons will turn on the mode of aggression.
The second option can be more complicated and depends on the size of the enemy gang and how much tangible damage the squad has taken. And yet often all is feasible, if first make sure that the hero has the skills to at least the four basic elements — This is enough to hit the vulnerability of one of the enemies, thus earning yourself an extra action in the turn. Or you can, if necessary, replace one of the demons in your squad with a more suitable one, still getting extra activity. Nothing you can't do.
But there it is — The demon you were trying to recruit is right in front of you. You already know at least one chain of dialogue that can take him out. And it's this underworld inhabitant has all the chances to be suitable for some cleverly twisted crossbreeding to create a particularly cool (and often cute) demon. And unwittingly decide to go all-in. To give myself one more chance to persuade the unreasonable animal. And all would be well, but the bargain is again thwarted. And then it's up to your luck: perhaps the enemy will simply take off, leaving the player in a state of bewilderment, but they can also kick you in the teeth again, more painfully than before. And what's worse — even if one manages to survive again, the player will again be left alone with the options listed above and his own excitement, which will not let him just walk away after all the suffering he has endured.
And what you just read is not an excerpt from someone's confession at a Gamblers Anonymous society meeting, but a retelling of about 20% of the game.
Shin Megami Tensei V isn't limited to them. Outside of the anthem of excitement and self-confidence, the players are occupied with no less interesting things. Like exploring the world in search of quests (often mutually exclusive and forcing you to choose sides), treasure chests, vending machines with relics of pre-disaster Tokyo, mystical orbs with glory points, and little demon Mimans not bad for lurking around corners. Of course, there are relatively few dungeons in the game, but they are large, spacious, full of different trails, stashes and platforming puzzles inscribed into the environment. Explore local locations — pure pleasure, and the authors are also actively motivating this case, brazenly shining in the window bright objects of interest, which you can definitely somehow get to. And the locations themselves are interesting because of the cool atmosphere and detailed elaboration. Hell, the Chiyoda area alone — a veritable maze, where you can get lost in the lower levels because of the smog.
And here in the 20 minutes that the character was swinging in preparation for the boss, the player probably managed to bypass a fair part of the map, find a few Miman for a bonus from a demon trader Gustav at the save point, find a few caches, recruit a couple of enemies. But to return to the nearest preservation point on foot is somehow too lazy, and to waste an item on the rapid movement — Wasteful. So why not risk another battle?… Alas, laziness is just as punishable as excitement, so start by traversing the location first. How many Mimans were there? Where did they sit? Forgot? Well, your own fault.
And begins an evil cycle, when over and over again the player because of chance or self-confidence runs into defeat, only to once again continue mining demons and experience points, because the next cute goddess (and cute idol «Of red riding hood» Idunn is out of the question) or the lovely deadly Alice won't cross herself, and the process requires sacrifice.
Despite its regular failures, though, it's hard to tear yourself away from the gameplay, especially since the game eats up the Switch's battery and does not always deliver a stable framerate. Shin Megami Tensei V — an amazing thing where a third of the time you're not even playing, but sitting in Shadow World and thinking about important things. For example, on which passive miracle ability to spend the cherished glory points: to increase the maximum size of the stock of demons in the squad or give yourself a head start and get a small recovery of health and mana points on each turn. What invulnerability to cross our protagonist from demon ability essences to last longer in battle. And is it worth another wifu another demon pokémon to part with his tried and true beloved pets. And yes, you can get your demons back for money right after you cross them. But it's expensive. And you still have to prepare for the battle, and that demoness over there looks more interesting, and for sure her ability has a cool unique animation…
In essence, Shin Megami Tensei V takes place in a series of battles for the sake of preparing for battles. But strangely enough, for all the fascinating combat, it's almost impossible to say anything important about it. If you are familiar with the combat system of Persona or Nocturne series, you will not have any problems with it. The player is given up to four actions per turn, one for each squad member. Hitting the enemy's weak points gives a chance for a second action, hitting the resistance — takes up the available. The same rules apply to your opponents. Simple, effective, but requires you to know your enemy ahead of time, and especially the bosses. If you're familiar with past games of the series, most of the opponents' resistances will be familiar to you from the older installments. Newcomers will have to find out by experience, but you can tell a lot from the demons' looks and species.
The only real innovation (excluding dozens of spectacular unique animations) in SMT5 is the Magatsuhi system, which is a replenishing in the course of the battle on a separate ability that does not spend a point of action. This can be a standard ability of our protagonist, turning all attacks for one round into critical or unique talents in individual demons, or a passive one like the above ability to restore HP and SP points every turn at full Magatsuhi charge. But this mechanic can also be used by your opponents. And when you see a sign saying that someone is gathering Magatsuhi, you can only hope that in your turn you have time to prepare for the enemy's attack. And as a result, almost every battle, even those that confront the player with long-known demons, is not without challenge and can go completely off-topic, adding to the game's interest.
As for the plot, it is built around the same dilemma of choosing between a strict controlled order and the freedom of chaos, in skirmishes with which the player himself spends a fair amount of time (see "The Order of the Chaos. beginning of the text). And there's more to say about it here, but it's trivial, it's relatively interesting, but more of a background. This may surprise neophytes, but it's commonplace for SMT games (maybe excluding the highly philosophical Nocturne, but even there the plot was served a spoonful at ten hours): they were always more about battles and collecting demons. Including through coaxing.
Shin Megami Tensei V — It's undoubtedly a great and deep game. Every battle in it requires an assessment of one's strength. Every corner of the world is worth exploring. Every demon finds his place in the battle. Yes, SMTV doesn't tolerate mistakes and punishes them. But the excitement is only higher. And no matter how frustrating the next defeat is, you'll scowl and run in to get ready for the next race.