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StarTopic SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI V |ST| It's Not Persona(L), It's Demon Negotiations

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NabiscoFelt said:
But since I tend to value gameplay a lot more than story and I still enjoy SMT V's scenario and characters, IV's probably an 8 to V's 9.5 for me (though I still haven't even entered the 4th area so maybe that'll change? Kinda doubt it though). Really surprised how much more I'm enjoying the battle system this time around, actually, given how I figured that would be pretty similar between the two games. But I guess V's larger boss health pools, emphasis on switching demons mid-combat, and more distinct demons in general help give it a pretty unique flavor that jives with me more than IV.
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I'm level 30 now in SMT4 and these are probably the exact scores I'd give to each game based off what I've played so far lol. Agree with what you mentioned too. Demons feeling more distinct is a thing I miss a lot. Demons in SMT4 are honestly pretty generic across the board. Still enjoying the game quite a bit (wouldn't personally rate it an 8 otherwise) but most of the gameplay tweaks were definitely for the better in 5.

It's cool you can pretty easily beat bosses 20 levels above you in this game, though. But honestly that's probably a sign of most of this game's balance issues lol.
 
Despite the Booster kicking my ass on saturday, i was able to finally progress into the third area and made some advancing there.

Good game's good.
 
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Zellia said:
I didn't have any trouble getting through that particular area but it was just monotonous and frustrating.
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The wind "puzzles" were just a frustrating mess. Such things makes sense in Zelda with tight controls and the characters models seems to be a real physical part of the world, but in SMT5 movement feels like floating/stepping on rough hitboxes.

Honestly if I had been forced to spend 5 minutes longer in this dungeon I had quit the game. I don't need to spend my time with some poorly designed Dungeons. If the games designer don't care why should I care? The demons, bosses were no problem, but the wind puzzles in combination with the "controls" are a mess.

Anyway the endboss came and I enjoyed the game again going forward. I spend already some fun hours with SMTV but if another dungeon as poorly designed as this appears I will quit the game.
 
Does anyone have tips for this Abcess battle I'm having trouble with?
its the Yurlungur fight in Chiyoda. I keep getting stuck in an endless loop where it keeps healing itself while I run out of mp 🥲

Edit: Nvm I got it lol
 
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EnergyDrink said:
The wind "puzzles" were just a frustrating mess. Such things makes sense in Zelda with tight controls and the characters models seems to be a real physical part of the world, but in SMT5 movement feels like floating/stepping on rough hitboxes.

Honestly if I had been forced to spend 5 minutes longer in this dungeon I had quit the game. I don't need to spend my time with some poorly designed Dungeons. If the games designer don't care why should I care? The demons, bosses were no problem, but the wind puzzles in combination with the "controls" are a mess.

Anyway the endboss came and I enjoyed the game again going forward. I spend already some fun hours with SMTV but if another dungeon as poorly designed as this appears I will quit the game.
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What I realised with that dungeon is that the wind puzzles are setup like a grid-based dungeon crawler, like Etrian Odyssey. It’s all about which tile you are on/in, not exactly where your character is on the tile. Which is disorientating when it looks like the fan can’t hit you, but if you treat it like a grid puzzle where you will get sent x squares in y direction if you step on z tile, it’s easy to decipher. I think that’s why I had zero issue with it, as I’m way more used to grid-based dungeon crawls than action games or even Zelda.
 
Pixelknight said:
What I realised with that dungeon is that the wind puzzles are setup like a grid-based dungeon crawler, like Etrian Odyssey. It’s all about which tile you are on/in, not exactly where your character is on the tile. Which is disorientating when it looks like the fan can’t hit you, but if you treat it like a grid puzzle where you will get sent x squares in y direction if you step on z tile, it’s easy to decipher. I think that’s why I had zero issue with it, as I’m way more used to grid-based dungeon crawls than action games or even Zelda.
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Yeah it's this exactly. If you just use the map to look for tiles you'll have no issue with it. That's why I was confused that there seemed to be so many problems with this that it required a patch to tone it down, but I can see it I guess. It does go on a bit too long, but I admit I kind of liked it.
 
SammyJ9 said:
Yeah it's this exactly. If you just use the map to look for tiles you'll have no issue with it. That's why I was confused that there seemed to be so many problems with this that it required a patch to tone it down, but I can see it I guess. It does go on a bit too long, but I admit I kind of liked it.
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It’s also why the fans show up as tiles on the map- it’s direct influence from Atlus’s dungeon crawls.
 
You know Nahobino, we really are the Shin Megami Tensei
 
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Just picked this up after it went on sale at Best Buy (wanted to get standard edition over steelbook). Looking forward to diving into this game soon.
 
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Ok, so I believe I am at the very end of the game.

I went with the rebuild-the-world ending, managed to beat Abdiel so ever slightly, and then there's Nuwa and I just die. And I am assuming there's another one after this.. feels like I am severly underleveled :S

any tips?
 
Just beat the dungeon after the fourth area and got to the big decision. Uhhh…
You’ve got something on your face, Abdiel. Or maybe in your face?
 
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It's crazy to me how many random demon conversations there are in this game that very few people will ever see. I just went back to recruit a Yurlunger for a fusion and had Adremmalech in my party, and he jumped in and had a whole conversation with it about how he was recruiting for a fashion show for Satan and loved the rainbow colors of Yurlunger's hide. Like... what? The odds of someone triggering that are SO low!
 
SammyJ9 said:
It's crazy to me how many random demon conversations there are in this game that very few people will ever see. I just went back to recruit a Yurlunger for a fusion and had Adremmalech in my party, and he jumped in and had a whole conversation with it about how he was recruiting for a fashion show for Satan and loved the rainbow colors of Yurlunger's hide. Like... what? The odds of someone triggering that are SO low!
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I only saw two in my ~58 hour playthrough. One was about Cerberus and another talking about Greek myth, but there was another with two of the multi-headed snake demons arguing over who had more heads that was just hilarious 😆
 
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Mbolibombo said:
Ok, so I believe I am at the very end of the game.

I went with the rebuild-the-world ending, managed to beat Abdiel so ever slightly, and then there's Nuwa and I just die. And I am assuming there's another one after this.. feels like I am severly underleveled :S

any tips?
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Don’t be afraid to tailor your team if you don’t want to level grind. If you’ve got any gospels or grimoires you may as well use them to level up quickly, or if you have the items that give stat or skill buffs to demons you might as well use them now on whatever team you go for, but do it after saving so it’s not locked in. Try taking a screengrab of their skill list/immunities after using a spyglass (you can look at their status as well as your units at any point) and using that as a guide to party setup- if you know what they are going to use as their big attacks then having one unit that blocks it at least ensures that their turn will end immediately afterwards and you can heal up. That’s all just general SMT boss stuff though.
 
EnergyDrink said:
The wind "puzzles" were just a frustrating mess. Such things makes sense in Zelda with tight controls and the characters models seems to be a real physical part of the world, but in SMT5 movement feels like floating/stepping on rough hitboxes.

Honestly if I had been forced to spend 5 minutes longer in this dungeon I had quit the game. I don't need to spend my time with some poorly designed Dungeons. If the games designer don't care why should I care? The demons, bosses were no problem, but the wind puzzles in combination with the "controls" are a mess.

Anyway the endboss came and I enjoyed the game again going forward. I spend already some fun hours with SMTV but if another dungeon as poorly designed as this appears I will quit the game.
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Dude that one stretch with the five fans in a row where you have to jump at the end literally made me yell. It was the only part of the game that actually pissed me off. It was so goddamn annoying doing that part over and over again because of the tiniest twitch mistakes. And the challenge was for nothing.

Fantastic game other than that part, though.
 
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Game beaten!

8-8.5/10 or so, might be a top 5 game of the year for me, or maybe just outside of it. According to ingame clock which includes some idling but also missed time due to deaths clocked in at 52 hours.. which is probably close to the truth but probably a few more hours.

170 Mimins, 50% of the compendium. I intend to come back and get some more stuff at a later date.

Nohabino
Idun
Yoshitsune
Odin


  • - The Dungeons, just not very funny. (I feel this about most games though, even Zeldas :O) The fan section was awful
  • - A bit rough around the edges
  • - hidden walls - which I hate with passion post a BotW world.
  • + fun and engaging combat - really liked it!
  • + movement in the overworld was a lot of un
  • + Soundtrack
  • + Challenging, sometimes almost a bit too much.. but still consider it a postive

Will re-visit the series for sure, but I definitely need a break from it now hehe
 
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My alignment is set, I'm doing the last few sidequests I found, I should be done with the game by the weekend, free time permitting. Unsure if I want to go for all the endings but for now I've had a fantastic time with it. Easily top 3 game of the year.
 
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Leo said:
Been hearing here and there that dampeners trivialize most boss fights, is that accurate at all?
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I think "trivialize" is a strong word for it. It gives you the chance to take no damage to a stong and possible party wipe skill.

However if you can't damage the boss or survive things like status effects it will not save you.
 
Leo said:
Been hearing here and there that dampeners trivialize most boss fights, is that accurate at all?
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If you can predict what element the bosses special move is, you can negate that turn (that would otherwise largely inflict critical damage on the party) with an item that you can carry 3 of. That won’t save you if you are getting wrecked turn after turn anyway, and if you aren’t, it just means you’ll win faster as you can focus on offence. What they do mean is that, if you know what you are going to be hit with, you can negate the boss attack that would otherwise put you on the back foot up to 3 times. Of course it’s a valuable option, but it doesn’t turn a difficult fight into an easy one, it turns a fight you already had the advantage in into an easier and faster one.
 
Pixelknight said:
If you can predict what element the bosses special move is, you can negate that turn (that would otherwise largely inflict critical damage on the party) with an item that you can carry 3 of. That won’t save you if you are getting wrecked turn after turn anyway, and if you aren’t, it just means you’ll win faster as you can focus on offence. What they do mean is that, if you know what you are going to be hit with, you can negate the boss attack that would otherwise put you on the back foot up to 3 times. Of course it’s a valuable option, but it doesn’t turn a difficult fight into an easy one, it turns a fight you already had the advantage in into an easier and faster one.
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But finding what the boss' element is is just a matter of using a spyglass. Getting a free null three times in a boss fight seems like a lot, the turns the boss will lose should give me plenty of time to set up buffs and get the upper hand, as long as my team is minimally prepared. I was planning on playing on normal, but I think i'm gonna go for hard now.
 
Leo said:
Been hearing here and there that dampeners trivialize most boss fights, is that accurate at all?
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Maybe in the earlier parts of the game, but once you encounter bosses with pierce effect, then it becomes less useful late in the game.
 
Leo said:
Been hearing here and there that dampeners trivialize most boss fights, is that accurate at all?
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I wouldn't say trivialize, but they're very strong, especially early and midgame. I was cruising through bosses on Hard for quite awhile with the Dampeners.
 
Leo said:
But finding what the boss' element is is just a matter of using a spyglass. Getting a free null three times in a boss fight seems like a lot, the turns the boss will lose should give me plenty of time to set up buffs and get the upper hand, as long as my team is minimally prepared. I was planning on playing on normal, but I think i'm gonna go for hard now.
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Not really. Using a spyglass doesn’t tell you which special move they are going to do, you need to either play out the fight and find through experience, or guess, as they generally have skill lists with multiple elements on them. The spyglass gives you the bosses elemental weaknesses/resistances, and which elements they are strong at, and which skills they have. They largely have multiple elemental proficiencies, they don’t have just a special singular element locked to them. I certainly threw out the wrong dampener several times in my first attempts at bosses, assuming a boss with lightning attacks would use a lightning special, but then getting hit with physical. Bear in mind you also can’t buy all the dampeners. Physical dampeners are rare, and if those are the bosses preferred special move, then you need to have a different plan. I played through on normal and certainly found the early and late game bosses difficult enough, but to each their own.
 
Leo said:
But finding what the boss' element is is just a matter of using a spyglass. Getting a free null three times in a boss fight seems like a lot, the turns the boss will lose should give me plenty of time to set up buffs and get the upper hand, as long as my team is minimally prepared. I was planning on playing on normal, but I think i'm gonna go for hard now.
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If there's a chance you think it'll be too easy then there's no harm in starting on hard.

That being said, 3 null turns in SMT V matters less than in previous titles given how large boss health bars are, and because buffs are both turn limited and it takes a while to get the multi-party buffs. Plus, it's hard to get the null unless you use it on a turn where the boss is attempting a Magatsuhi, since bosses will typically have access to a couple different elements, and Phys Dampeners can't be bought and are fairly rare (you do eventually get access to it as a Demon skill but I think the first time you get access to a demon with it is around lvl 50, though you can get it at 40-ish with the DLC). Don't get me wrong, dampeners are really useful but I think even normal difficulty is fairly balanced with them in mind.
 
NabiscoFelt said:
If there's a chance you think it'll be too easy then there's no harm in starting on hard.

That being said, 3 null turns in SMT V matters less than in previous titles given how large boss health bars are, and because buffs are both turn limited and it takes a while to get the multi-party buffs. Plus, it's hard to get the null unless you use it on a turn where the boss is attempting a Magatsuhi, since bosses will typically have access to a couple different elements, and Phys Dampeners can't be bought and are fairly rare (you do eventually get access to it as a Demon skill but I think the first time you get access to a demon with it is around lvl 50, though you can get it at 40-ish with the DLC). Don't get me wrong, dampeners are really useful but I think even normal difficulty is fairly balanced with them in mind.
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Oh, yeah, I forgot the buffs are temporary in V. I might do that, start on hard and drop down if needed. I like regular SMT difficulty but hard might get too frustrating for me with Hama/mudo/crits hitting more often than normal if that's the case.
 
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Finished area 3 and am now in
the demon castle

Together with wrapping up some older quests, this took quite some time. The verticality made it really challenging finding the way to many treasures and Miman.
I said in another thread that the difficulty stepped up, but after beating every boss in first try here, I have to restrict this to the normal mobs. Either they got easier or I got better with the game's systems lol.

Reached the 60h mark and wondering if I finish it in under 80h. Want to get all Miman and every treasure/glory crystal.
 
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Rolled credits tonight! Finished with 81 hours, did the law path. Everything done except the superboss. The final boss was surprisingly easy? Especially since the last sidequest boss is much harder. I really expected a bit more to it.

Overall I really enjoyed this game, the combat and exploration were excellent although some of the areas could get a little same-y and long. I still stand by that the plot and characters are definitely a step down from SMT4, though. What I would love most for SMT6 is if they could take the more open nature of this game but go back to a cyberpunk setting with more area variety and plot and characters more in the style of 4.

I’m not honestly sure if this is my GOTY. It’s very close and definitely top 3, but between SMTV, Dread, and Returnal I can’t really decide.
 
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Busy doing the fourth area. Really love the music and the open nature of it. But the bosses were about 10 levels above my Nahobino when I first tried them and failed miserably lol. (Oh, but I killed a sidequest demon that was 6 levels over my team.)
Hence, doing the sidequests, defeating the abscesses (only one left) and fusing to get better demons. Also, I found all but 7 Miman.

After applying so many miracles and giving him so many extremely powerful skills, my Nahobino feels so strong. But I still have to be cautious, because this game can punch in your face when it wants to.
 
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Currently in the demon lord palace and I hate this place. It's ugly and all samey, can't find your way in this maze. That's something from the old smt games I will never like...
 
I think I'm almost in the middle of Area 3 (30 hours in) going to Beat the giant.

Holy Shiet, Idunn == Best Suport.
 
I’ve always loved the demon negations in this series. The first two choices make it seem like everything is going so well and then you get to the third and it becomes “well now I’m going to kill you” and the demons begin to crit hit every party member and wipe you and now you’ve just lost 30 minutes of progress.
 
One month later, my copy has FINALLY shipped lol The good thing is that at least i can play with both patches from the beginning. Can't wait to bribe some demons over the holidays.
 
OK, just reached chernobog or whatever in demon palace and got rekt. I think I'm reaching the breaking point and I'm giving up. I sadly haven't got enough time anymore for this kind of game.
And there's danganronpa waiting.
 
Feel bad to say, but I think the game’s performance is gonna stop me from continuing on Switch and make wait to see if it gets ported elsewhere. I’m surprised since I was able to play through Age of Calamity and Divinity II just fine, but I think the combination of low resolution, low frame enemy animations, and the fairly dark second area is just making it hard for me to appreciate the explorable world here. The game hasn’t really grabbed me the same way SMTIV did either.
 
Leo said:
Been hearing here and there that dampeners trivialize most boss fights, is that accurate at all?
Click to expand...

Certainly not, especially once bosses start having more than one elemental attack since dampeners only block one elemental type.

And Almighty attacks start to become pretty common.
 
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Herb Alpert said:
Currently in the demon lord palace and I hate this place. It's ugly and all samey, can't find your way in this maze. That's something from the old smt games I will never like...
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Only part of the game that actually sucked, imo
 
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Think I'm approaching the final gauntlet. Basically just wrapping up a couple more sidequests and we're good to go. Got all the Miman, got all the Abscesses, so yeah pretty much just endgame stuff right now

While I'm still enjoying the game a ton, 60+ hours is about where I start to get tired of playing the same game nowadays, and I'm at around 67 hours atm, so I'm happy to be nearing the end.
 
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Leo said:
Been hearing here and there that dampeners trivialize most boss fights, is that accurate at all?
Click to expand...

Not at all, you only get 3 dampeners max and most bosses I'm finding now are stat boosting or debuffing Nahobino continually and are programmed to hit you where it hurts with other spells/attacks if you put up dampeners. The gameplay balance is really good to be honest, I have zero complaints about that.
 
Finally clocked a few hours into the game again and reached Cumhail and he's difficult, but not impossible if I could easily refill my MP. Any way to do so other than the Chakra Drops which are insanely rare (unless I've missed something). The dude is kicking my rear because I don't have enough...
 
Shadow said:
Finally clocked a few hours into the game again and reached Cumhail and he's difficult, but not impossible if I could easily refill my MP. Any way to do so other than the Chakra Drops which are insanely rare (unless I've missed something). The dude is kicking my rear because I don't have enough...
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There’s the drain skill and gems, also the miracle abilities to regenerate MP when blocking or the special move meter is full. All of those are relatively minor though. Might be easier to fuse multiple demons with the spells you need and bring in reserves when they run out of MP?
 
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