Hi, you might remember me from such threads as, "I just blindly bought all the SMT games, wtf did I do?" Although that isn't accurate. I just bought 4, 4 Apocalypse, Strange Journey Redux, Devil Survivor 1 and 2 remasters, Soul Hackers, Nocturne, Persona 3, 4, and 5, and Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2. So I'm still missing a bunch of games in the series.
I bought them because the SMT series Fandom has always been like a weird cult. The games seem weird as fuck and I heard you kill God and I'm just down for some weird-ass games. Stories, environments, dialog, etc.
And so I'm about 6 hours into my first SMT experience with SMTIV and I have some thoughts and questions that might be of some interest to longtime fans and newcomers. First, let me get the bad out of the way.
While definitely distinctive, this game feels very flat in its exploration so far. The menu based navigation of the castle and town are quite frankly, quite uninteresting. Human NPCs thus far have been wholly boring and side quests and the main quest story are also equally ho-hum. I've heard story isn't this game's strong suit but I hope it at least gets a bit more interesting and fucked up as the story goes on. I was expecting something reasonably complex from a game intended for adults but it's been standard animu scripting so far. Thinking specifically about the interactions with Navarre and the girl who's name I can't remember. Please tell me if it gets better or at least that the rest of the series isn't like this.
The good, and great, is the battle system and demons. I haven't played a Pokémon-like (sure to piss people off, since this series came first) in a long time. I'm not particularly turned on by games that have you gather familiars that fight on your behalf. But the interactions with the demons is almost always interesting and fun. I haven't been playing for super long so it might get old and predictable the more I go but I'm loving that aspect so far.
Memorable interaction:
Demon: Why do you want me to be your ally?
My response: As fodder for fusion.
Demon: To do such a thing is a crime that goes against nature.
I like it.
Demon has joined your party.
The demon designs are ranging from meh to silly and fantastic. There was a frog demon with a wig and a dress and a Chinese aristocrat looking bird that had me cracking up. I love the demon designs a heck of a lot more than all but the particularly cute Pokémon designs.
The battle system is one of the better purely turn based menu battle systems I've ever encountered. It's fast paced and more strategic than what I'm used to. I find myself really thinking about the most efficient moves I can make before making them. The game definitely punishes you for not using its systems as it's fairly difficult in the very beginning and easy to get wiped in a single turn if you aren't taking advantage of strengths and weaknesses. I also really like how in this game buffs and debuffs seem very effective. Status based attacks not so much, as they miss 99% of the time.
All in all, I'm going to keep playing. Time will tell if the satisfying combat and interesting demons can carry me through to the end as the characters, story, and exploration aren't doing it for me. As of now, I'm leaning positive.
Based on my impression so far, do my concerns translate to the other games as well?
I bought them because the SMT series Fandom has always been like a weird cult. The games seem weird as fuck and I heard you kill God and I'm just down for some weird-ass games. Stories, environments, dialog, etc.
And so I'm about 6 hours into my first SMT experience with SMTIV and I have some thoughts and questions that might be of some interest to longtime fans and newcomers. First, let me get the bad out of the way.
While definitely distinctive, this game feels very flat in its exploration so far. The menu based navigation of the castle and town are quite frankly, quite uninteresting. Human NPCs thus far have been wholly boring and side quests and the main quest story are also equally ho-hum. I've heard story isn't this game's strong suit but I hope it at least gets a bit more interesting and fucked up as the story goes on. I was expecting something reasonably complex from a game intended for adults but it's been standard animu scripting so far. Thinking specifically about the interactions with Navarre and the girl who's name I can't remember. Please tell me if it gets better or at least that the rest of the series isn't like this.
The good, and great, is the battle system and demons. I haven't played a Pokémon-like (sure to piss people off, since this series came first) in a long time. I'm not particularly turned on by games that have you gather familiars that fight on your behalf. But the interactions with the demons is almost always interesting and fun. I haven't been playing for super long so it might get old and predictable the more I go but I'm loving that aspect so far.
Memorable interaction:
Demon: Why do you want me to be your ally?
My response: As fodder for fusion.
Demon: To do such a thing is a crime that goes against nature.
I like it.
Demon has joined your party.
The demon designs are ranging from meh to silly and fantastic. There was a frog demon with a wig and a dress and a Chinese aristocrat looking bird that had me cracking up. I love the demon designs a heck of a lot more than all but the particularly cute Pokémon designs.
The battle system is one of the better purely turn based menu battle systems I've ever encountered. It's fast paced and more strategic than what I'm used to. I find myself really thinking about the most efficient moves I can make before making them. The game definitely punishes you for not using its systems as it's fairly difficult in the very beginning and easy to get wiped in a single turn if you aren't taking advantage of strengths and weaknesses. I also really like how in this game buffs and debuffs seem very effective. Status based attacks not so much, as they miss 99% of the time.
All in all, I'm going to keep playing. Time will tell if the satisfying combat and interesting demons can carry me through to the end as the characters, story, and exploration aren't doing it for me. As of now, I'm leaning positive.
Based on my impression so far, do my concerns translate to the other games as well?
