Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance thoughts
All things considered it hasn't been that long since I started the game, but it feels like that to me.
Mostly because the game is really massive, these giant maps with a lot to do to the point I found it overwhelming at points. My save file clocked at 80 hours, with the full time registered on Steam being 92 hours. It's not that much more than Shin Megami Tensei III, which I finished in about 70, but it's really the nature of the maps that gives that impression.
And it's a weird complaint that the game has to much to do, yeah. The most common complaint people have about open world games is when the map is a bunch of nothing, and you definitely can't accuse Vengeance of doing that. And it's fun, I've said time and time again that it's a game about running around the map while Nahobino's hair goes WHOOSH and that's great every time! But to me there was a little too much of it on certain maps. This is the main issue, I guess, that I had, that when described like that sounds a little stupid. And it is a very very minor thing all things considered, I never had a boring time with this game… with the exception of Shakaan and the Temple of Eternity dungeons, which are the only two dungeons of the game pretty much, and they're an endless sequence of hallways with rows of enemies you gotta try to avoid in a way that's really not fun. But that was it. While I was iffy on the whole open world-ness of the maps at first, I can't deny how fun it is to traverse on them and doing a bunch of sidequests, and finding items, and all that. I left two or three quests undone when I finished the game and now I sort of regret that, I might go back to m last save and try them later.
But I think what made me a bit tired of the game wasn't just the maps, of course. There's very little story to the whole thing, which is on one hand weird for such a huge game, but on the other hand that's what SMT does. These are games that excel on atmosphere more than narrative the way I see it; and the story is the atmosphere, sure, with these very archetypal characters making these big sweeping statements about the world and how they plan to change it and you're a small piece on that board. Nocturne, which is the most obvious comparison to V, is very minimalist in that sense as well, but in Nocturne you had a bunch of factions, things happening, you went to various places in Tokyo and saw what was going on everywhere… There was more of a sense of progression that I didn't feel on Vengeance, and that made me take a break cause I wasn't feeling that drive to see more of the world when I reached the second big open area (and taking that break was the best decision, I came back to the game with renewed interested).
To compensate for not much happening, you do get a bunch of sidequests that are very fun to do, and concluding them leads to some neat character interactions between "Miss Chaos" Yoko and "Miss Law" Tao, who travel with you most of the game. I liked those two a lot, they have some strong yuri energy going on sometimes. The back and forth is those scenes is good, they develop and learn from one another, it's not strictly Law vs Chaos where everyone's already made up their minds, it's neat. Most other characters don't get that treatment and they disappear from the story without doing much, so I guess that goes back to what I was saying about not enough going on to keep my interest in that world.
Although, in a very sudden chagne of mind that happened just last night, I don't really mind anymore now that I've finished the story. I did have these complaints and was fairly mixed on a lot about the game while I was playing through it, but after seeing the ending it just feels like it doesn't matter in a way? I think seeing the conclusion makes me forget or forgive the issues I had at first. And that goes for most of the stuff I'm saying here. The day before I fought the last boss I thought I'd be super mixed on the whole thing, now I'm way more positive than expected. That final stretch is pretty good and that's all you need sometimes. As the wisdom goes, "Sometimes all an RPG really needs is a good ending."
(I'd written a whole paragraph talking about alignments and sidequests where you have to choose between Law and Chaos… but the more I wrote the more I thought about the story and I realized I don't care. It's fine. I don't think I should bother demanding consistency about that stuff after the way the story ended. That's Shin Megami Tensei lol It's okay if it's like that.)
(A couple of mild spoilers below as I talk about the ending)
But ultimately I liked the final conflict between Yoko and Tao with the main character in the middle (which is a twist you know it's going to come from a mile away), it's a whole lot of big and dumb fun. You've got the power to change the world as you see fit, do you keep the same cycle of violence spinning or do you destroy literally everything and give the universe a chance to start over in a less oppresive fashion? Now that's what gaming is for. I ended up with the Chaos ending (it's decided based on your choices throughout the game) so I guess I caused Armageddon. Dudes rock.
A little underwhelming that the last boss is Lucifer again, he just sort of showed up. I was afraid it was going to be a repeat of Nocturne's True Demon Ending, but not really, he just shows up and tells you that after killing God he found out about the cycle that rules the universe, called Mandala System, where Nahobino ascends to godhood and resets the universe, then a new Nahobino shows up and kills the current god and resets the universe, and so on. While that System wasn't named before, Yoko and Tao had already discussed that very same idea, so I don't know what the point was exactly. But well, I was set on destroying the universe. I guess if you end up with the Law ending you wouldn't be really be thinking about the idea that the universe operates under a system that's purposefully designed to be reset endlessly as one god kills another and begins his own universe that's inherently flawed by design and so on. This idea is so ridiculous and so much fun, the more I think about it the more I love it.
(End spoilers)
So yeah! Good game. Issues aside it grew on me a lot and I learned to appreciate it for what it is. Comparing titles in such a huge series is inevitable to some extent, so I'm glad I could eventually learn to just sit down and have fun without thinking about what I liked in other games (i.e. the Nocturne comparisons came from me trying to understand why III works better for me than V). It is very in line with what Shin Megami Tensei usually is and it even brings some new stuff to the table.
I mean, I haven't even mentioned combat in this post but it is just very fun to play. Hitting 4-digit damage in one hit gives me life. And that aside it's a fantastic looking game and the soundtrack rocks, Ryota Kozuka does a fantastic job there. I don't know if I'd ever play this game again for sheer size alone, but hey you never know. I might feel like running through Da'at one more time in the future.
Next I'm going to take some time off RPGs, since as mentioned this one was a bit too much for me, but my plan is to play Persona 2: Eternal Punishment whenever I feel like going back to the genre (and I'm fated to always go back to the genre). P2EP is probably going to be the last in my wave of SMT-playing that's been happening since 2023, I need to see some other RPGs for a change.