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News Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance announced for PC and consoles, coming June 14th (out now!)

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Xorhan said:


A couple of things to note from Amabie's video:
-The beginning implies that the only way to get Enigma demons is through fusion accidents, which is not new for SMT. I imagine there will be some new miracles that make the process more manageable.
-The next one is Artemis, which confirms that the DLC demons from V Vanilla will be featured in these videos. Hopefully, they can keep the pace up so my prediction of 45 total new demons can also be proven true.
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I wonder if they'll still have special quests for the DLC demons, or if they will just be available more generally now.

Also two months to release day!
 
Here's the new trailer with Switch footage:


Maybe it's just copium but it looks like it runs a little better than vanilla SMT5, if it matters to anybody.
 
lattjeful said:
Here's the new trailer with Switch footage:


Maybe it's just copium but it looks like it runs a little better than vanilla SMT5, if it matters to anybody.
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SMTV was Atlus' first title developed on Unreal Engine and production had to deal with the Covid pandemic at the time so I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to improve how the updated release runs on the Switch with those obstacles out of the way.
 
So it seems like the two story paths will start to diverge during the “school arc” section of the game/after the first desert area? At least that’s what I’m gathering from the previews
 
The atlustube daily demon videos continue to confuse me by which demons they're showcasing. They're mostly new demons and DLC demons, but also full of some random old demons that were in the vanilla game too?

Like, I think this one is new to Vengeance:


But then tomorrow is Pyro Jack of all things...?
 
lattjeful said:
Here's the new trailer with Switch footage:


Maybe it's just copium but it looks like it runs a little better than vanilla SMT5, if it matters to anybody.
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Actually I don't believe this is Switch footage at all but the PC version with Switch props, the vanilla version is way blurrier than the trailer, if anything, the final version could be closer to the Direct footage from February.
 
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So I don't think this has been shared in here yet (boo me if it has), but we are getting a broadcast giving an overview detailing new and improved stuff in Vengeance in ~23 hours, if my math is correct:

www.gematsu.com

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Special Program – Complete Guide

ATLUS will host “Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Special Program – Complete Guide” on May 10 at 9:30 JST. You will be able to watch it on YouTube (English, Japanese). The 15-minut…
www.gematsu.com www.gematsu.com
 
MissingNo. said:
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Man, seeing all those improvements have raised my excitement for this game. This will be the perfect to play during summer, especially since I'll be out and about a lot this season. One other thing, I would love it if the icon for this matches the one for SMTIII: Nocturne; the OG SMTV icon is boring compared to that one.
Leo said:
This will surely have an upgraded version for the Switch 2, right?

...Right?
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Knowing Atlus they'll release a version specifically for the Switch 2, but a small part is hoping they'll just release a next-gen patch for those of us who grab the Switch version.
 
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The amount of new features and upgrades is really, really good. Can't wait to dive back into this.

...I just wish that it was a few more weeks removed from Shadow of the Erdtree
 
Wockio said:
The amount of new stuff will make Creation route a lot easier compared to V
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I do wonder if the game as a whole will be easier with all the new stuff - might be time to do a Hard Mode playthrough. But it depends on if they tweaked things to balance out the new changes, especially in Vengeance path - might wait on reviews.
 


"Mothman, there’s no need to feel down.
I said, Mothman, lift that man off the ground... " 🎵
 
I guess we won’t see any Switch footage until after release. Leaning PS5 currently but I’m probably gonna be busy with Rebirth over summer. Ah well…
 
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Yamanoi said:
New trailer is up!



Surprised to not see many posts about the definitive edition here.
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Might be because it bites to have the base game basically be an early access version. I’m definitely gonna get this for the new route but, yeah, it is kinda wild to me how much they’re adding on to here all while asking full price for an enhanced re-release, even on the same system. It’s kinda how I felt about P5R, except the base game was plenty complete
 
SuperFakerBros said:
Might be because it bites to have the base game basically be an early access version. I’m definitely gonna get this for the new route but, yeah, it is kinda wild to me how much they’re adding on to here all while asking full price for an enhanced re-release, even on the same system. It’s kinda how I felt about P5R, except the base game was plenty complete
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Eh, I look at it that even if Vengeance had never been made, I’d have been happy with SMTV. It took me 55 hours to play through, had loads of demons, awesome areas to explore and great combat. Main story was minimal but at no point did I think ‘this isn’t complete’. If anything it felt a little overly long, something Persona games are even worse for.

Monster Hunter does this too, but the sheer amount of content in the base game doesn’t make me think ‘they shouldn’t have released it until Sunbreak was done too’. However, at least you had the option to only buy the expansion rather than paying full price for both, something they really should have done here. It’s understandable to offer a ’collected’ SKU with the original path and Vengeance in it, but either Vengeance is an expansion or a sequel, and if the former, it really needs to be an upgrade option for people who already own it.
 
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PixelKnight said:
Eh, I look at it that even if Vengeance had never been made, I’d have been happy with SMTV. It took me 55 hours to play through, had loads of demons, awesome areas to explore and great combat. Main story was minimal but at no point did I think ‘this isn’t complete’. If anything it felt a little overly long, something Persona games are even worse for.

Monster Hunter does this too, but the sheer amount of content in the base game doesn’t make me think ‘they shouldn’t have released it until Sunbreak was done too’. However, at least you had the option to only buy the expansion rather than paying full price for both, something they really should have done here.
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I’d say it more so feels too long for how underbaked the story is. Like it’s not quite lacking in content but what’s there doesn’t quite feel as substantial as it should, imo. Persona games tend to be long but I don’t feel like I’m spinning my wheels as much as the story and everything else is always progressing

That’s plenty fair and, yeah, that really is my main grief here. It’s that there’s no upgrade path or anything of the sort if you already bought the base game
 
SuperFakerBros said:
I’d say it more so feels too long for how underbaked the story is. Like it’s not quite lacking in content but what’s there doesn’t quite feel as substantial as it should, imo. Persona games tend to be long but I don’t feel like I’m spinning my wheels as much as the story and everything else is always progressing

That’s plenty fair and, yeah, that really is my main grief here. It’s that there’s no upgrade path or anything of the sort if you already bought the base game
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Yeah I see what you’re saying. I think Persona feels overly long to me because of all the social stuff and calendar systems that just feel like bloat and literally filling time to me, but the point of the game to others. Whereas SMT is just 95% ‘explore post-apocalyptic ruins and fight stuff while tailoring the demon team’, which is great if that’s what you want (like me!) but lacking if you really want more story to go with that. Ys VIII is similar in that again it’s a very long action rpg at over 50 hours, but 4 of the 6 characters only get like ten minutes of character development each, so if that’s what a player is looking for, rather than the party steaming around the island chopping stuff up, it comes across as that element being half-baked. I guess it’s a perception of how rounded the game is based on player expectations (although Ys Viii is hilarious in how it sidelines the majority of the party the minute the one character it wants to talk about turns up, the rest of them being reduced to just weapon variety at that point). To me an rpg really has to justify going over about 40 hours and very few do.
 
PixelKnight said:
Yeah I see what you’re saying. I think Persona feels overly long to me because of all the social stuff and calendar systems that just feel like bloat and literally filling time to me, but the point of the game to others
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PixelKnight said:
Whereas SMT is just 95% ‘explore post-apocalyptic ruins and fight stuff while tailoring the demon team’, which is great if that’s what you want (like me!) but lacking if you really want more story to go with that
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PixelKnight said:
Ys VIII is similar in that again it’s a very long action rpg at over 50 hours, but 4 of the 6 characters only get like ten minutes of character development each, so if that’s what a player is looking for, rather than the party steaming around the island chopping stuff up, it comes across as that element being half-baked. I guess it’s a perception of how rounded the game is based on player expectations (although Ys Viii is hilarious in how it sidelines the majority of the party the minute the one character it wants to talk about turns up, the rest of them being reduced to just weapon variety at that point)
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PixelKnight said:
To me an rpg really has to justify going over about 40 hours and very few do.
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Oh yeah, if that does nothing for you, I can see Persona not being your cup of tea because of how much of a focus it is

Part of it isn’t so much that I don’t enjoy the standard SMT formula, it’s that it’s been done very before with, say, SMT IV, where the plot progresses at a nice enough pace alongside exploring, demon merging, and combat. I’d say the same for SMT IV: Apocalypse as well, even if it’s a little too friendshipy. But I can see why the way SMT V is structured would work well for someone who is more concerned with the core gameplay loop

Yeah, that makes sense. Can’t speak for the Ys series but I can see that not being too appealing for some JRPG fans but working well for others

Well I don’t disagree that a lot of JRPGs go on forever. Like I kinda appreciate the PM: TTYD remake being such a compact and mostly well paced game. Just being able to knock it out fast while all of the individual chapters are still memorable works best for me
 
SuperFakerBros said:
Part of it isn’t so much that I don’t enjoy the standard SMT formula, it’s that it’s been done very before with, say, SMT IV, where the plot progresses at a nice enough pace alongside exploring, demon merging, and combat. I’d say the same for SMT IV: Apocalypse as well, even if it’s a little too friendshipy. But I can see why the way SMT V is structured would work well for someone who is more concerned with the core gameplay loop
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Yeah, agree, SMTIV/Apocalypse felt a lot more ‘rounded’ (despite the weird tonal dissonance of Apocalypse pasting a Shonen anime cast into the brutal demon apocalypse setting of SMTIV).
 
PixelKnight said:
Yeah, agree, SMTIV/Apocalypse felt a lot more ‘rounded’ (despite the weird tonal dissonance of Apocalypse pasting a Shonen anime cast into the brutal demon apocalypse setting of SMTIV).
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SuperFakerBros said:
Yeah, my one real issue with that game. Still had an overall good time with it tho
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I think this (and what you wrote in prior posts), how SMT V’s more one-sided as an experience and IV’s a more rounded one, is (probably) exactly why I enjoyed IV so much but have never really “felt” V. I’ve not enjoyed exploring in it all that much, and with the lack of story / character development, there’s really just the battle system and demon squad management left — both of which I view more as a means rather than as the driving factors for these games in and of themselves, at least in terms of what I want out of them (which also makes it easier to understand why I, in contrast, not only liked IV much more but also enjoy Persona to a far greater extent).

I really hope SMT VI ends up being a more well rounded experience again. Otherwise I’ll probably just have to move on from these games (which would be fine, there are enough JRPGs to play instead).
 
Imitatio said:
I think this (and what you wrote in prior posts), how SMT V’s more one-sided as an experience and IV’s a more rounded one, is (probably) exactly why I enjoyed IV so much but have never really “felt” V. I’ve not enjoyed exploring in it all that much, and with the lack of story / character development, there’s really just the battle system and demon squad management left — both of which I view more as a means rather than as the driving factors for these games in and of themselves, at least in terms of what I want out of them (which also makes it easier to understand why I, in contrast, not only liked IV much more but also enjoy Persona to a far greater extent).

I really hope SMT VI ends up being a more well rounded experience again. Otherwise I’ll probably just have to move on from these games (which would be fine, there are enough JRPGs to play instead).
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Totally fair point, yeah I’d be happy to see something more rounded next time too. Hopefully vengeance will scratch the itch, but as you say I’ve got stacks of RPGs to play, and plenty more upcoming.

There’s so much variety in RPGs these days that people wanting different things from them is completely understandable, something I try to be measured about in my criticism of the ones I bounce off of. I like exploring and combat and messing with party formations ans interesting decisions, so games leaning into those work for me. I’m less fussed about conversations between expansive casts of NPCs that go on forever and repeat themselves (looking at you Trails) or social links/calendars (Persona), or get lost in their own jargon, but where it’s a more rounded game with a bit of everything, that’s perfect for me.

I just came off the back of TMS and that was something my initial reaction to was ‘I won’t enjoy that’. But after so many recommendations I gave it a go, and given that the social stuff is far less complex than Persona (literally a handful of short side quests) I ended up really enjoying it.
 
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PixelKnight said:
I just came off the back of TMS and that was something my initial reaction to was ‘I won’t enjoy that’. But after so many recommendations I gave it a go, and given that the social stuff is far less complex than Persona (literally a handful of short side quests) I ended up really enjoying it.
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It's funny that you mention TMS #FE, because I ultimately dropped it, given that to me it didn't offer enough social stuff / interactions between the cast members or that what was there was too shallow, haha. Different strokes and all that, yeah.
 
Imitatio said:
I think this (and what you wrote in prior posts), how SMT V’s more one-sided as an experience and IV’s a more rounded one, is (probably) exactly why I enjoyed IV so much but have never really “felt” V. I’ve not enjoyed exploring in it all that much, and with the lack of story / character development, there’s really just the battle system and demon squad management left — both of which I view more as a means rather than as the driving factors for these games in and of themselves, at least in terms of what I want out of them (which also makes it easier to understand why I, in contrast, not only liked IV much more but also enjoy Persona to a far greater extent).

I really hope SMT VI ends up being a more well rounded experience again. Otherwise I’ll probably just have to move on from these games (which would be fine, there are enough JRPGs to play instead).
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Yeah, that’s where I’m at too. It’s also why SMT III didn’t work for me. Well that and it’s BS lack of regular save points and BS dungeons. For turn-based JRPGs, since they’re not necessarily the most thrilling genres when it comes to combat, they do need more than just that for me. Like even just good humor or unique areas with some backstory to visit do it for me
 
SuperFakerBros said:
Yeah, that’s where I’m at too. It’s also why SMT III didn’t work for me. Well that and it’s BS lack of regular save points and BS dungeons. For turn-based JRPGs, since they’re not necessarily the most thrilling genres when it comes to combat, they do need more than just that for me. Like even just good humor or unique areas with some backstory to visit do it for me
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I’ll agree that I couldn’t really get into SMTIII for many of the same reasons, but even with the lack of much plot or characters I really liked SMTV. The combat, demon fusing, and party building was just that good - and Vengeance looks even better in that front, plus hopefully better story. So I’m pretty excited for it!
 
SammyJ9 said:
I’ll agree that I couldn’t really get into SMTIII for many of the same reasons, but even with the lack of much plot or characters I really liked SMTV. The combat, demon fusing, and party building was just that good - and Vengeance looks even better in that front, plus hopefully better story. So I’m pretty excited for it!
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Oh I wouldn't say that I thought SMT V was necessarily bad. It just fell massively short of what I wanted out of the series after SMT IV. The foundation was good, there just needed to be more done with the world, story, and characters. Vengeance looks like it'll be addressing a good chunk of that so I'm definitely gonna be picking it up
 
Shin Megami Tensei is and always has been a gameplay-focused affair and should stay as such.

I liked V's narrative plenty and am looking forward to see what they cook up, but if I want a character-driven story I'll keep coping for more Devil Summoner.
 
SuperFakerBros said:
Might be because it bites to have the base game basically be an early access version. I’m definitely gonna get this for the new route but, yeah, it is kinda wild to me how much they’re adding on to here all while asking full price for an enhanced re-release, even on the same system. It’s kinda how I felt about P5R, except the base game was plenty complete
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Yes, this. I'm excited for Vengeance but I am still peeved about the transition to it, enough that I won't be buying future mainline SMT games at launch. I kinda suspect the mainline SMT audience is less excited for Vengeance than it was for V, but we'll have to wait for sales data to see if I'm right.

SammyJ9 said:
I’ll agree that I couldn’t really get into SMTIII for many of the same reasons, but even with the lack of much plot or characters I really liked SMTV. The combat, demon fusing, and party building was just that good - and Vengeance looks even better in that front, plus hopefully better story. So I’m pretty excited for it!
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V is a thematic sequel to Nocturne in basically every way possible because it deliberately used Nocturne as its template. The big difference from Nocturne is that the last half to third of Nocturne is driven by the encroaching madness of the alignment representatives while the equivalent characters in V are passive until they flip out right before their boss fights.

Without changing the direction of the game, base V should have had Dazai, Yuzuru and Yakumo more present in your missions instead of it being "Nahobino do everything", so you can see them succeeding in their respective paths until they hit a wall that requires that extra bit of demonic assistance. After that you'd see them fall into the usual extremism, but you'd grok the path that led them there. Nocturne managed that really effectively, which is why it gets praise for the characters even though they're still symbols instead of well-rounded or particularly strong characters.
 
V just lacked the more urban locales I like from SMT1/2 and 4. Still had some decent areas (and the games I mentioned aren't always great) but some of the vibes were lost by going for bigger, wider zones. Even 3 still had Shibuya, Ginza etc. I wasn't really that fond of all the final area just being a bunch of floating cubes with the pantheons chilling near them either.
 
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Weiss said:
Shin Megami Tensei is and always has been a gameplay-focused affair and should stay as such.

I liked V's narrative plenty and am looking forward to see what they cook up, but if I want a character-driven story I'll keep coping for more Devil Summoner.
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Well I’m not exactly asking for Persona here. Just SMT IV level when it comes to narrative and characters. That was still plenty gameplay focused. Even like it as much as the best Persona games
 
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