My copy is arriving on Saturday - it seems that the days of ordering on Amazon and occasionally getting games a day early has passed.
I was a fan of the base game and I don’t think the story was as bad as some people made it out to be. However I am excited for the new story that they are promising with the Vengeance route. Getting hyped up seeing the positive reviews coming through!
I have been replaying SMTIV:A this week in the run up to the release to keep me occupied. Had taken a detour into the Devil Survivor series most recently so it has been nice returning to the mainline gameplay.
What are you all thinking about the release this week? Any hopes for the new title? Fears?
I played 10 or so hours of base SMTV and really enjoyed it, but I definitely felt like it was hampered by the choice of platform, which turned me off. Tons of FPS drops and performance issues. I’m hoping SMTV:V is at least Gold rated for Steam Deck so that I still have the portability aspect.
I played through SMTIV a few years ago and have SMTIV:A, but never touched it. Is it different enough to check out, or should I just stick to SMTV:V?
SMTIV:A is a completely different story, with new mechanics and a lot of new characters. Some people think that it’s the peak of the series in terms of combat but the story is divisive. They took a few influences from Devil Survivor/Persona in terms of having a friends system too.
I think I still prefer SMTIV but it’s a tough call which is better.
First impressions from anyone? I’ve only started it during my lunch break today so the plot has not deviated yet in the Vengeance route.
Quality of life improvements do seem to be nice though.
One small gripe I’ve got is that I thought that the demons you could carry over from a save on the original game would be selectable. However it just took my most recent save and grabbed the demons I had summoned at that time. These were some early-mid game demons because the save file was from NG+ where I’d only kept the compendium but not the demons themselves.
SMTV:V is the best value re-release that atlus have ever done. The different paths you can choose at the start of the game are radically altered. I thought when I was playing the new route that it would be like a Persona 5: Royal situation but it is closer to SMTIV:A. Such good value getting two games in one.
Last update: I am loving all of the new additions. They fixed everything I had gripes about and improved it beyond what I was hoping for. I love the classic trope of travelling with the chaos and law reps! The plot also deviates a lot - I’m level 53 and have been doing all the side quests, just about finished the (new) third area and the whole thing is coming together so nicely.
SMT4 is my favourite (and SJ 2nd) but I think 5 might be my 3rd favourite… we’ll need to see how it ends.
