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Should I pre-order Shin Megami Tensei V?

Well?

  • Get it. It's not up to you. It's up to us. And the demons.

    Votes: 11 22.4%
  • Yeah, It's worth a punt.

    Votes: 7 14.3%
  • Hickory! And molasses! Them's good eats!

    Votes: 2 4.1%
  • Wait and see.

    Votes: 21 42.9%
  • Don't get this game.

    Votes: 4 8.2%
  • Other

    Votes: 4 8.2%

  • Total voters
    49

Tschumi

Member
I like:
- Persona 3 P
- Persona 4G
- Persona 5
- Persona 5R

I failed to like:
I tried to play the start of SMT 4, the kinda medieval one, and I thought it was pretty cool, but I found the combat - which I think series fans will surely consider 'superior' - to be unforgiving and confusing, I died early and didn't try again. I found the way they used Personas (well, demons* right?) to be too different to what I was used to from Persona that I struggled to wrap my head around them. I mean, be generous, I had like 3 other consoles with more accessible, more widely praised, games to play on them. I also sold my New 3DS shortly after that try.

But that doesn't mean I don't believe in SMT. I really enjoyed the start of SMT 4, I was getting ready to really love the whole deal. In general I also like the tweaks they make on Persona (or, more accurately, the tweaks Persona has made on SMT.) I think my struggles with SMT4 would have worked out if I just paid more attention to tutorials and gave it more than 60% of my attention power for the moment. I feel that SMT 5 would have enough cache to

Anyway, I've got some spare duckets, what's the word on SMT 5? Is it gonna be good? Can we be sure? Or is it better to wait before getting it? I'd be getting it on Switch...

Thanks for your help, SMT fans :)

ps. Same question for SMT 3 Nocturne HD Remaster on Swtich. Any word on that one? It's cheaper...
 
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Dream-Knife

Banned
Try SMT 4 Apocalypse as it's easier and the combat is the best in the series. SMT games are hard though.

SMT 3 isn't as good as 4 or 4A IMO.
 

Tschumi

Member
SMT 3 isn't as good as 4 or 4A IMO.
Play smt3 before it
Season 3 Nbc GIF by The Office
 

MudoSkills

Volcano High Alumnus (Cum Laude)
It depends what you liked about Persona, if it's the character interactions, then that's all much more light touch in mainline SMT games.

Both the Nocturne remaster and this have an easy mode if you find them too challenging. I personally love Nocturne but it has dated (particularly stuff like random encounters) in comparison to IV and Apocalypse.

If you're not sure about the game I'm not sure why you would specifically pre-order rather than just waiting for it to go on sale.
 
If you like Persona, the mainline isn't for you.
i think you can like both but you definitely shouldn't be expecting anything like Persona from SMTV.

i have never played a SMT game (only Persona) and V will be my first. More than a few times I've heard it being called "an adult Pokemon game". Not too story heavy; there is a plot/goal but you'll be spending most of your time going through the world, fighting/recruiting demons, and trying to save the world (I guess). Persona is more focused on story/building relationships + increasing stats and the combat/exploration is kinda there to break it up a bit. I wouldn't say it's an afterthought but I just mean the game doesn't focus heavily on combat. It's maybe 50/50. I'm expecting SMT to be something like 25% story and 75% combat/exploration.

maybe what i've understood of it isn't correct but i'm not going into it expecting Persona at all.
 
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Tschumi

Member
If you like Persona, the mainline isn't for you.
I dunno that seems simplistic, I don't know why I'm responding to it actually because you're clearly not interested in nuance, but nevertheless:

I know SMT is different, I didn't like the new 3DS (sold it after a month) which is partly why I didn't play much of SMT 4 (if only it could be on switch), but I did enjoy it for the time I played it. I just didn't feel like warpping my head around a new combat system at that time.

I wasn't looking for Persona in SMT at all, in fact I was really surprised by the connections between the two - the storytelling methods, the idea of contrasting/adjacent worlds/zones, etc - I was going into the game expecting it to be entirely different.

I think a good point's been made, I'll wait and see what people think of it before I consider buying it. Hell it'll probably available cheap in local second hand stores within a week of release anyway.
 
I like:
- Persona 3 P
- Persona 4G
- Persona 5
- Persona 5R

I failed to like:
I tried to play the start of SMT 4, the kinda medieval one, and I thought it was pretty cool, but I found the combat - which I think series fans will surely consider 'superior' - to be unforgiving and confusing, I died early and didn't try again. I found the way they used Personas (well, demons* right?) to be too different to what I was used to from Persona that I struggled to wrap my head around them. I mean, be generous, I had like 3 other consoles with more accessible, more widely praised, games to play on them. I also sold my New 3DS shortly after that try.

But that doesn't mean I don't believe in SMT. I really enjoyed the start of SMT 4, I was getting ready to really love the whole deal. In general I also like the tweaks they make on Persona (or, more accurately, the tweaks Persona has made on SMT.) I think my struggles with SMT4 would have worked out if I just paid more attention to tutorials and gave it more than 60% of my attention power for the moment. I feel that SMT 5 would have enough cache to

Anyway, I've got some spare duckets, what's the word on SMT 5? Is it gonna be good? Can we be sure? Or is it better to wait before getting it? I'd be getting it on Switch...

Thanks for your help, SMT fans :)

ps. Same question for SMT 3 Nocturne HD Remaster on Swtich. Any word on that one? It's cheaper...
Going off your post, it is a risk to pre-order for you unless you absolutely want to own the game physically. I'm operating on a little theory of mine that this game will be pretty hard to find physical copies of in a few years (currently Xenoblade 2 expansion is already high priced in North America (I know you might be in Japan, so this might not apply there)).

I'm in the same boat as you. I really wasn't that into SMT IV at all and dropped the game. I decided to pre-order this game because of 2 things. 1) physical copy rarity being likely, 2) all the demons and main character are modeled this time and look pretty good. The visual appeal is much higher and will make a difference in me enjoying the game.

You can see enemies on the map now from what I understand, so less random battles. I think I read an article that even suggested that you can run away from overpowered enemies this way before fights start. Not sure how true that is. I would expect a very similar battle system and minimal story though; similar to part IV.

If you're looking for a battle heavy, old school JRPG, and you have to have it physical, then sure. If you are fine with a digital copy though, that's not going away anytime soon and may drop in price eventually. Danjin44 Danjin44 knows the most about this game though, and I'm a novice with this series.
 

Tschumi

Member
Going off your post, it is a risk to pre-order for you unless you absolutely want to own the game physically. I'm operating on a little theory of mine that this game will be pretty hard to find physical copies of in a few years (currently Xenoblade 2 expansion is already high priced in North America (I know you might be in Japan, so this might not apply there)).

I'm in the same boat as you. I really wasn't that into SMT IV at all and dropped the game. I decided to pre-order this game because of 2 things. 1) physical copy rarity being likely, 2) all the demons and main character are modeled this time and look pretty good. The visual appeal is much higher and will make a difference in me enjoying the game.

You can see enemies on the map now from what I understand, so less random battles. I think I read an article that even suggested that you can run away from overpowered enemies this way before fights start. Not sure how true that is. I would expect a very similar battle system and minimal story though; similar to part IV.

If you're looking for a battle heavy, old school JRPG, and you have to have it physical, then sure. If you are fine with a digital copy though, that's not going away anytime soon and may drop in price eventually. Danjin44 Danjin44 knows the most about this game though, and I'm a novice with this series.
Thanks for a legit response bro, appreciate it a lot.

At the moment I guess in my mind I'm hovering around "I think if I give this a chance I'll enjoy it as much as Persona" and "I've got enough games on my playlist, would this one break to the top like the Persona games all did?"

Yeah I guess I'll wait and see. I'm sure there'll be physical copies available here, yeah...
 

Fbh

Member
The mainline SMT are all about the combat, exploration, building your team and going through dungeons.
There's a plot and it has an anime esthetic but it's usually not as filled with generic weeb shit as Persona and the plot tends to be more in the background and darker themed.

So the first question is if you think you'll be into that.

If you think you'd like that but are still unsure my advice would be to wait a bit until there are some decent beginner guides out there.
The hard part about the SMT games is understanding their systems and how to take advantage of them. It's stuff like understanding which skills to prioritize, the value of buffs/debuffs, not getting too attached to your demons early on and being willing to fuse them away for what your team needs to best a specific boss, etc.
The hard part about an infamously challenging boss like Matador (SMT3) isn't really the boss itself but understanding that instead of grinding for levels you should be fusing around demons to build a team that's resistant or immune to his type of magic. Because a LV 10 demon with that immunity will make a much bigger difference than a Lv20 one without it.

It's cool, it's like Pokémon if it wasn't designed for 5 years olds.

So I think a good beginner guide that can help you understand all of these things will be helpful in reducing frustration.
 
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Sakura

Member
I wouldn't say the plot is that minimal, at least not in IV and IV:Final.
Sure you spend a lot of time exploring and fighting, but you also spend a lot of time in Persona doing things totally unrelated to the main story.
SMT also has multiple story routes, which the Persona series does not.

the combat itself isn't that hard, it's probably the hardest in the beginning of the game when you have limited options.
The game is all about fusing demons to get stronger. If a boss is pummeling you with physical attacks, you just bring a demon that is immune to physical.

As to whether you should pre-order or not, personally I don't really see any reason to pre-order any game, so no comment there.
If you really want to know whether you will like SMTV, the only thing I can recommend, outside of watching trailers and stuff which you probably have already done, is to go back and play SMTIV or IV:Final.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
From your post I would say no, wait for reviews or give SMTIV chance and if you like the game.

there is no rush for you to buy the game day one. I pre-ordered the game because I enjoyed SMT game in the past, more than Persona series.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
SMT 3 isn't as good as 4 or 4A IMO.
I disagree but I would say SMT III is not beginner friendly since it doesn’t have QTL from later games.

I would also say despite IVA having story thats very divisive among fans, it has the best combat in the series.
 

Nezzeroth

Member
I like Persona, Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga (among other SMT spin-offs) but did not like SMT 4 either. So don't let your opinion on that game decide whether you'll like other games in the franchise.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Take out the school dating sim out of the Persona and you got SMT.
That not true at all. For one, SMT has big overworld you explore and Persona has none, in Persona you have human party while In SMT you have Demons as party members, in SMT you can customize you main character states and abilities.

As for story in SMT your choices will determine what allies you have and what boss you will fight against. Also Persona 3-5 don’t technically have press turn, what they have once more system which is different than proper press turn system in SMT.
You should wait and likely buy it day one. Pre-ordering games is for dumb people.
I personally preorder this game because the game I'm most hype about since 2017 and in my local game shop the game is sold out you can't go pick it up without pre-order.


 
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Graciaus

Member
The beginning of smt4 is notoriously difficult. Once you make it past the first couple bosses it gets a lot easier. But pre-ordering 5 is probably not a good idea.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I feel like I need to give this warning, if first time SMT player end up getting this game they should stick with normal difficulty, even if you end having hard time you can always change it to easy but if you choose hard difficulty you cant change difficulty without restart the game from beginning.
 

Type_Raver

Member
If i liked Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (and Torna), will i like SMT V?

Themes are interesting, music is 11 outta 10 but the combat looks very heavy menu based. I didnt mind Octopath traveler but it wasnt that engaging to me either.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
If i liked Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (and Torna), will i like SMT V?
They are not even remotely same type of game so I have no idea.

SMT games are turn based RPGs with heavy on you collection Demons and fusing them in order to build your party members....does that sound something you would enjoy?
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
If i liked Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (and Torna), will i like SMT V?

Themes are interesting, music is 11 outta 10 but the combat looks very heavy menu based. I didnt mind Octopath traveler but it wasnt that engaging to me either.
Completely different games.

Keep in mind that, at least from my point of view, mainline SMT stories aren't character driven, but world driven. Characters don't matter as much as what's happening in the world around them.

What I mean is, don't expect a lot of character development or lots of funny interactions (if any). In those games every character of the main cast uses to represent a philosophical point of view and have one alignment (law, neutral, chaos) and they use to stick with it for the whole game, so don't expect character evolution. You'll probably have to choose which of your friends have the philosophy that's more akin to your way of thinking, and you'll have to side them and fight the others. Or just fuck everyone up, or maybe not deciding and letting things develop by themselves.
SMT IV got criticized for that same reason, but that's how those games work and what makes them special and differentiates SMT games from the rest of JRPGs.

After all , this meme exists for a reason.

s8ggi0rbmiv21.jpg
 

Mercador

Member
That not true at all. For one, SMT has big overworld you explore and Persona has none, in Persona you have human party while In SMT you have Demons as party members, in SMT you can customize you main character states and abilities.
I was doing a massive summary, not a complete analysis of each title. Sorry.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I was doing a massive summary, not a complete analysis of each title. Sorry.
Even then structure of SMT is very different than Persona and different core combat. SMT games are not just Persona games without S.link system.
Nothing should be preordered.. ever! Just wait till it comes out, watch some reviews, than buy the game if you want.
I already know i'm gonna like this game since I'm massive SMTT fan I want the physical copy which going be hard to get, I don't need reviews to tell in SMT game is worth it for me or not.

For newcomers sure, if you don't need physical copy you can always wait and get the digital version later on if you liked what saw.
 
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Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I am getting the deluxe edition for all the bonus content. I personally enjoy SMT more than Persona because how the gameplay flows. It’s much more like a JRPG to me. I also find the combat to be more enjoyable. I think it’ll be one of the best JRPGs on the Switch.
  • Shin Megami Tensei V Digital Deluxe Edition - $84.99
  • Mitama Dance of Wealth - $2.99
  • Mitama Dance of EXP - $2.99
  • Mitama Dance of Miracles - $2.99
  • A Goddess in Training - $4.99
  • The Rage of a Queen - $2.99
  • The Doctor's Last Wish - $2.99
  • Return of the True Demon - $9.99

I don’t know if some demons are only accessible through these DLC subquests or not.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I tried to play Apocalypse, started interesting but didn't liked it ultimately. just not for me
You shouldn't have started with that, it kind of direct sequel to original SMTIV. It like playing FFX-2 without playing FFX.
 
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Astral Dog

Member
Do you remember what you didn’t like about it?
Its been awhile so honestly no, just that the gameplay started to become annoying (collecting demons) and the story/characters weren't grabbing me, i never played Persona or SMT so i didn’t knew what to expect.

However i enjoyed TMS#Fe quite a bit, fun battles and dungeons
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Its been awhile so honestly no, just that the gameplay started to become annoying (collecting demons) and the story/characters weren't grabbing me, i never played Persona or SMT so i didn’t knew what to expect.

However i enjoyed TMS#Fe quite a bit, fun battles and dungeons
If you don't enjoy Demon collecting and fusion then yeah SMT is just not for you, those are core part of the series. I'm personally addicted to it, always want create stronger demon to add to my army.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
Its been awhile so honestly no, just that the gameplay started to become annoying (collecting demons) and the story/characters weren't grabbing me, i never played Persona or SMT so i didn’t knew what to expect.

However i enjoyed TMS#Fe quite a bit, fun battles and dungeons
Maybe Atlus made it a bit more manageable. That’s what the industry does. If they bring back the core then they might as well improve upon it. Plus there’s the new easy mode for players just wanting to enjoy the game for what it is.
 

Mister Wolf

Member
Yeah you should. Its going to be a quality jrpg. Second best on the Switch since it can never top Xenoblade 2. Maybe even third best if we include Dragon Quest XI.
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member
You should only preorder a game if you essentially know you are getting it day one, damn the consequences (like would you "wait and see" on Half-Life 3?)

So as with anything you are wavering on it should be a wait and see.
 
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