Not too long ago, I spent round two hours with Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance, the Persona 5: Royal-fied model of the unique SMT V. Vengeance guarantees many new issues: a revised battle system, a brand new story department, new areas, and extra. What I discovered once I performed, was a number of punches to my metaphorical ribs. Just a few to my intestine. Positive, I spent a while with the brand new stuff, however actually, I spent most of my time being completely demolished in turn-based battles in opposition to numerous demons of a phallic and non-phallic nature. I’ll now try to summarise my time in opposition to these creatures, want me luck.
My time with Shin Megami Tensei V began a couple of hours in, with a bunch of pre-determined buddies and a staff of demons on my aspect. And to be completely trustworthy with you, I had completely zero clue the place I used to be within the story or what was taking place. I talked to somebody, they requested me if I used to be able to go, I mentioned “Sure”, after which I used to be whisked away from darkish Tokyo to the demonic different realm of “Da’at”.
From what I gathered, we gave the impression to be in Da’at to get a greater understanding of why individuals had been “turning to salt”. The zone jogged my memory of a well-lit cross between Darkish Souls’ Ash Lake and Shinjuku, besides if Shinjuku had the identical topography because the Peak District. Undulating hills residence to roaming demons, uprooted highways coated in salt, huge golden timber, all encased by huge mountains. In typical JRPG style, it was the equal of an open air dungeon with a transparent endpoint and offshoots the place you possibly can collect assets, struggle sure demons, and collect aspect quests.
My process was to speak to achieve some guardsman demons on the high of a hill, which led me to a close-by grindable rail (Magatsu Rail) that deposited me at a cliff edge. For brand spanking new gamers, it means you are capable of navigate these zones a bit faster, and for returning gamers, they act like shortcuts. For me? I spoke to a demon that tasked me with killing a god: The large fella who I would been one-shot by earlier, who was about 20 instances bigger than the rest and resembled these inflatable wobbly tube guys. Reader, I didn’t handle to kill him.
I died to enemy demons lots. Being somebody who’s by no means performed an SMT earlier than, I used to be bowled over by how tough it was. I would not say I am a turn-based maestro by any means, however I would say I’ve performed sufficient old skool RPGs to muddle my means by means of essentially the most annoying of challenges, ie, being was a frog a la Last Fantasy or taking up somebody who continuously regenerates new limbs a la Persona 5. However hardly ever did I’ve any luck in my time with Vengeance. I had a few buddies I would introduced in from the actual world, a healer and somebody with quite a lot of spells together with darkish magic. Not like Persona, the place the fight is fashionable and jovial and has a celebratory ambiance, Vengeance was the Eastenders Christmas particular.
As a complete newcomer to SMT, I did admire the flexibility to increase your flip virtually indefinitely by focusing on an enemy’s weak spot. And I loved swapping out and in numerous demons to prize weaknesses out of unknown nasties or capitalise on recognized portions. But – the preview surroundings and save positively did not assist, thoughts – I discovered the fight a bit jarring, in a demon’s capacity to make use of the ‘another’ in opposition to you if they found a weak spot in your get together you were not aware about. And within the lack of punch in your groups’ turns, as I discovered most spells, even those who would goal weak spots weren’t all that highly effective. At the least within the preview construct, most fights felt a bit knife edge, the place the knife was very a lot poking me within the chest. Nonetheless, there’s the flexibility to show down the problem if want be, which I most likely ought to’ve taken benefit of.
Not lengthy after, I obtained rushed at by what can solely be described as a cock chariot. It is in Persona 5 as effectively, so I would been pre-briefed on this specific member of the demon horde, but it surely was nonetheless terrifying because it hurtled in direction of me as I trotted round Da’at. Once more, I gave the struggle go, however merely could not discover a well past its huge well being bar and my restricted information of my demon assortment’s strengths. Ultimately I ran previous the cock chariot and in direction of a claustrophobic zone the place horse demons patrolled tight, dilapidated workplace blocks.
But extra fights ensued and that was… form of it. Would I say the preview did Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance justice? Perhaps not. However! I feel a preview for such a factor could be very exhausting to do, in equity. That is the form of recreation it’s essential to play from the beginning, to essentially perceive its intricacies, and maybe most significantly, perceive the staff you’ve got constructed.
I got here away from my time in Da’at somewhat jaded if I am trustworthy. For those who’re a Persona-liker who’s intrigued by SMT, then I would say be ready for a dungeon crawler that will not be practically as forgiving. Vengeance I am certain has loads of upgrades that make it higher for current followers, however for newcomers, I would say my transient stint was extra phallic and lots tougher than I might’ve imagined (oi oi).
