Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance

From a purely mechanical standpoint this is the best JRPG I've ever played. The Press Turn system is engaging and strategic as ever, and there's virtually infinite potential for build-making and team composition between the hundreds of unique demons and all the many ways you can customize them. There's also just so much love put into the presentation of every demon, from their animations to the unique moves a large portion of them have, to the Demon Haunt dialogue which as far as I can tell is almost totally unique for every single demon in the game. They even comment on ongoing story events sometimes; the amount of attention given to every single demon is insane considering there's nearly 300 of them. Story-wise, it's probably one of the *weakest* JRPGs I've ever played. The characters are bland and forgettable, and even the "better" Vengeance story is pretty barebones compared to what you might expect from the genre. If you're looking for a compelling story and loveable characters you aren't going to find them here. But if you're the kind of sicko who likes JRPGs for the mechanics, this is exactly the game for you.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is one of my favorite ATLUS JRPGs that I've played so far. Coming from the three mainline Persona games, I was initially intimidated going into this game, on the Hard difficulty no less because I'm always up for a challenge, because of the Nocturne clips I'd always see on YouTube and word of mouth from friends that SMT is a notoriously difficult series. After 160 hours poured into this game, 3 playthroughs and all superbosses defeated, I can confidently state that a majority of these claims are untrue. The game hands you numerous tools to handle each and every situation that you will ever face in this game. A lot of the things I hear about SMT's difficulty typically stems from lack of preparation, misunderstanding of the boss mechanics, and overall a poor performance. Another thing to note is the grind in this game. From my experience in the first playthrough, there was never a moment where I had to mindlessly grind for any longer than 10 minutes, aside from negotiating with demons to save Macca for fusion early on. The game's progression feels smooth and even clearing things while severely underleveled is a possible task assuming you are aware of the boss' shenanigans first. The combat is also very in-depth, and you are able to do as many wild and wacky builds as you can, and still defeat anything that stands before you. I don't need to mention this, but come on, it's an ATLUS game, of course the music will be top notch. As a game as a whole, SMTV:V is an above average JRPG as a game, but it has several weak points to it that hindered my experience. Namely, the poor storyline and lack of character depth. The story fails to make me feel attached enough to care about what happens near the end, and a majority of the main cast aren't even present! This is only true for Canon of Creation, however. Vengeance does improve on this much more and I was hyped to always look forward to what the story had to offer next. Another downside to mention are the two dungeons of this game. This is a nitpick, but by God those dungeons really sucked in both storylines. The Demon King's Castle was way easier compared to Shakan. Regardless, the conclusion is that this game is an amazing timepour and I dread the day where I've completed the game entirely, getting every ending, completing the compendium, getting every achievements, etc. However, that'll be quite a while away. I'm happy to continue playing as is, and I'm hopeful that I can get the same experience I had here in Shin Megami Tensei VI, too. Thank you Shin Megami Tensei: Vengeance, for never taking advantage of my innate gullibility.

I have not tried the Canon of Vengeance story line as of the writing of this review. Atlus did a very good job at refining its gameplay and balancing the combat. There are some elements that I miss from SMT 3 and 4 that are sadly not present here, notably demon evolutions, spells costing HP or having a maximum of 4 buff/debuff stacks at once, though the welcoming additions of innate skills and magatsuhi do compensate this loss here, giving a new fresh experience without ruining the press system for me. The story felt quiet short in comparison to SMT 3 and 4. On my normal playthrough I have about 70 hours of gameplay (30 of which were resets due to gameover screens). I liked the variety of sidequests that the demon NPCs have to offer I must say, though most of them consisted of going from point A to point B. I overall enjoyed this game, I am thankful that Atlus ported this over to PC and I expect around 200-300 hours if I wish to complete everything. I picked it up on a sale, and honestly it is worth the full price.