Well the recent leaks on Shin Megami Tensei V has certainly sparked my imagination, and honestly I've got some mixed feelings about what they say. First announced in 2017 to celebrate the 25th anniversary, an announcement where the game was so little into development that producer Kazuyuki Yamai said that it was premature for Atlus to be able to say coming soon. Jump ahead to this year where SMT V has been announced to release and a release date of November 2021 is leaked prematurely, alongside some general information and light spoilers about the story.
These leaks give some insight that this is not going to be an SMT title like the previous mainline numbered entries. For better or worse this game will break away from tradition slightly, which while something that I do praise in concept and desire is done more for some of the spinoffs, does give me pause that this might not be the next masterpiece of the franchise that I had hoped it was. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse was the last time that SMT radically departed from its roots of asking difficult questions about what direction the world should be steered towards when the apocalypse becomes inevitable or is ongoing and what the new world should be to learn from the mistakes of old and its scorn amongst fans is well deserved. Their are things that it does well and I appreciate that it tried to tackle a new direction for the questions that the alignment asks, but in doing so much of the nuance of each route is abandoned for a singular focus on what the traditional positives of the neutral route are, while being tone deaf when the plot itself contradicts them by showing some of neutral's negative traits like stagnation and still presenting them to be positives.
Only time will tell if the story holds up to the expectations we fans have for the game and patience is a virtue, but that doesn't mean that speculation or some desires for what the game can be shouldn't be shared. These are my six things that I'd like to see in Shin Megami Tensei V for a better experience.
1
One thing that you'll probably come to know about me, is that Nocturne is my favourite game in the franchise, and one of the things that I really enjoyed in that game was the puzzle mechanics some dungeons boasted. My favourite of these being the Diet Building, making use of interest perspective shifts, the natural angels of the camera, and optical illusions to throw off the player navigating their way through the labyrinth, and feeling all that extra rewarding when I was able to find my way to that area that had previously been right in sight yet out of reach.
Come to think of it most of my favourite games in the franchise boast some interesting and creative use of puzzle in the layout such as Strange Journey, Digital Devil Saga, and Persona 5. I loved figuring out how to turn on just the right switch to unlock the right airlock and stepping on the right floor tiles to change their colour in the Depths of Mementos in the latter, and using Solar Noise or the phases of Kagutsuchi to get onto the right path. While in Strange Journey Redux the puzzles themselves are much more basic, and the game needs to rely on recurring mechanics like one-way doors, slippery hallways, and hidden entrances but the developers did what they could with these limitations and definitely succeeded sense the game's puzzles kept me guessing, and invested in exploring until I found every took and cranny and all hidden rooms that I could find.
I'm not saying that any SMT game are amongst the absolute best puzzle JRPGs, or that these puzzles were as memorable or as intricate as what Zelda is known for, their are a few puzzles that weren't that well thought out, but the puzzles were a nice addition that made completing the dungeons feel more rewarding, and made me feel pretty smart and creative for figuring them out. Now not every dungeon obviously needs to be a puzzle-of-gimmick oriented, they don't even account for a half of the dungeons in Nocturne, and that's fine, I'm just asking that their are a healthy percentage of the dungeons be fun and rewarding to navigate. They are the biggest reason why I found navigating through many districts, buildings and locals of Tokyo in Nocturne to be more rewarding and satisfying than I did in SMT4, and why I would like to see something similar done in Shin Megami Tensei 5: the Structures of Tokyo standing in ruin, absent of human-life and transformed by the new demon denizens who transform what is left into their domains, and creating a unique security system that the player has to figure out and navigate to reach the goal.
2
Unpopular Opinion incoming, I actually prefer random battles like in Nocturne over the avoidable ones of 4. Now I know that their are plenty of people who are the opposite, they prefer being able to use these sprites in the area to begin a battle on their terms, and while I do understand the mindset behind this line of thinking I disagree with it. More often than not in SMT4 these battles just happened when I'm trying to get my barrings and figure out where to go next only to be suddenly ambushed from an angle that the camera couldn't see, and be forced into a battle. Killing all of the demon sprites in the area won't help because more will just continue to spawn. One of the reasons that I like Nocturne more than 5 is because of the random battles and what they add to the game: I can appreciate the atmosphere and map design a lot more when I'm not being distracted by constantly needing to be on the lookout for enemy demons incoming.
Its even worse in the Tokyo overworld, their is literally no way to avoid the demons because of how narrow the roads are, and whether or not they get the advantage or no, seems to be completely random. Eventually I got so sick of it, that whenever one was blocking my way I just saved the game and than loaded it so that I could use this opportunity to get past the demon hindering me without having to end up in a battle where they have the advantage. Compare that to Nocturne where I had this nice convenient gauge that told me when a battle would commence, meaning that I could take my time and enjoy the atmospheric visuals, rotating the camera to try and find an obscure part of the area without also needing to look out for a charging enemy sprite, or if I am low on health and want to be extra frugal with healing items, make my way to a nearby terminal to transport myself to an area like Ikebukuro or Ginza to heal through the Lady of the Fountain and save the healing items for an upcoming boss. That last one might sound contradictory at first, because most would assume that enemy sprites and avoiding them would be more useful if I wanted to avoid battles and being able to save wherever, whenever I wanted to like in four would be the better, but I argue that these random battles instead allows me for a breather, to stand still take in my surroundings with a rotating camera while trying to get my bearings on where I am, and make judgements based off of distance and how red the gauge is, over enemy sprites randomly appearing and luck being against me.
Plus if I want to grind, than all I need to do is continuously go around in a circle and wait for a battle to happen, instead of needing to round a corner trying to stalk these blocky pixel-people, only to be suddenly ambushed instead. Sense I understand that I am in the minority and that the majority prefer avoidable battles over random ones means that the return of random battles with a warning gauge is unlikely, so than that just leaves the mechanic from Persona 5 that fixes most of my issues and inconveniences with avoidable battles in Shin Megami Tensei IV, a stealth Mechanic. After I made that first video on Gamerant's article and forgot to add that their are things in Persona that could be brought over to an SMT title, I literally kicked myself for forgetting all about the features that Persona games actually have that would actually work within the context of the end of the world, though their aren't enough to make a full list of six on the topic, I realized that I should've included such examples as the rumor mechanic of Persona 2, and the stealth mechanic of Persona 5 as things that the article could've included to be more legitimate and opposed to simply being uninformed and dull.
Being able to hide grants me the breathing room to compose myself and figure the area out, maybe spot a door or an item that I didn't when I first got in, while retaining the advantages of launching a sneak attack and penalizing it when I get ambushed, while also feeling more fair as when it happens in Persona 5 it feels like its my fault for not clearing out all of the demons and failing to notice red dots on the map, rather than be at the wrong-place-at-the-wrong time when a new demon suddenly spawns at my feet and ambushes me right when I'm running away from another trying to get to the underground or the next area as quickly as possible, low on health and healing items.
On top of that, moving in the shadows like a ninja, going unnoticed by enemies and launching surprise attacks on unsuspecting demon guards is just fun. What else is there to say really, I play games to have a good time, and so long as a mechanic doesn't interfere with other aspects of the game, like difficulty, atmosphere, themes or the narrative than why shouldn't a mechanic be in the game. All the more so if it can actually improve on them, and while I don't think that the stealth mechanic could improve on any of the above, at least not by much, it would still be a worth-while mechanic to incorporate just to bring in the players who enjoyed that in Persona 5 alone.
3
I've made my stance on what IV did inferior to previous games on this list quite clear, and honestly that's only the tip of the iceberg of what I found disappointing about the game. Nocturne was a game that spoke to me on a wholly personal level, and maybe expecting something of a similar quality in IV was a bit of a stretch, sense it was a 3DS game made when the developers clearly didn't have as much experience in making a quality game for the system that can make use of what it can do while understanding the limitations, but some of the decisions are just bafflingly stupid for me, like not getting any money from winning battles, bosses being worth less EXP than regular enemies, and their is no way to avoid or attack the enemies on the Tokyo Overworld, to name just a few of the design decisions that really soured my experience, but in spite of this their is one area in this game that is done better than in any other game in the series that I've played. The Demon Fusion system it.
In most of the games before the re-release of Persona 4 on the Vita, skill inheritance was entirely random, meaning that I had to re-roll the sets until I got something that I could work with, and in strange journey the inheritance is blocked behind the use of the demon sources which need to be used in fusion to choose the inherited skills, some of which still won't be inherited at all. In SMT4 however, you can inherit any and all skills demon to demon, allowing me to create some truly specialized demons with a solid elemental skills, buffs, debuffs, and built-in resistances to eliminate the weaknesses, and its supremely rewarding to be able to do so. I remember at one point in the game I had been completely destroyed, with only my Minotaur remaining and the enemy spamming ice skills, and at this point in time being so thankful that I had managed to get resist ice on him when I fused him sense he could win the battle, and get me out of a tight situation. What's more is that IV also has the top-10 feature, a selection of the best possible demons based off of the demons you currently posses, the inherited moves and you player character's level cap. The purpose of the recommended fusion feature was to try and get more players to make use of the demon fusion mechanic after it was noted that newer players wouldn't fuse their demons, and compared to every other game in the series, I made use of fusing powerful demons, re-recruiting older ones to use as fusion material to save money, and trying to get the best possible demon for my party in 4 more than any other game.
And that isn't even the tip of the iceberg with what 4 has to offer to make Demon Fusion, simple, fun and rewarding. The Mido app has a search function allowing you to look up certain demons or moves to fuse without them being in the party, you can further shorten the list by excluding moves or a specific demon that you don't want to part with yet for whatever reason, you can look up the fusion materials used for the specific demon at any time to make it all over again if you want and you can automatically pay to make use of the necessary fusions from the compendium meaning that you don't need to sacrifice a party slot if your party is otherwise full. This is why I say that 4 has the best demon fusion system of any game that I've played.
I bring this up because Shin Megami Tensei V is going to be a mix of the profound charm of Nocturne, and the demon-raising game-play of IV which means that at least some of what I said here is at least likely to make it in, but its still worth mentioning in my opinion. Going off of future installments their might be a change to how skill inheritance works though, see in Persona 5 and the HD remake of Nocturne your demon proper is stuck with the default skills and their is no way to change them to a more useful skill upon being fused. I much prefer the free form way of 4, giving me whatever I want, be it a useful demon or just something else that I needed to fuse the demon I really want, but honestly I wouldn't mind being stuck with the Persona 5-way of having to stick it out with the default moves, at least for a time, so long as the other quality of life features that I mentioned are present in SMT5.
4
Tutorials are largely a necessity in most games in order to explain to new players the ropes of combat. Usually they are simply a single battle where the mechanics are explained by an NPC, text, or a title-card on screen, or a small stretch of an area where you are left to figure it out on your own.
For those who are following my blog as I currently play through Persona 5 and give my newgame+ thoughts on how well or poorly my first SMT title holds up after having now played the likes of P1, 3, 4, Nocturne, SMT4, Strange Journey and Digital Devil Saga, my issues with the tutorial should be abundantly clear but to quickly summarize: as a new player this tutorial helped me to learn the basics of the many layers of combat and what was needed in a way that gave me enough breathing room to process everything without feeling overwhelmed; however when I replayed the game I found the need to go through all of this again tedious and unnecessary and sense I now had more experience with the game's gimmicks and mechanics, was impatient to experience my favourite dungeon on hardmode and died twice during said tutorial, thus making me repeat it.
As a result this part of the game not only felt unnecessary sense I knew what I was doing this time around but also frustrating sense I had play through largely scripted battles repeatedly to get back to where I was and couldn't even liven up the game by doing some of the other features, like switching personas, using guns and sneaking around to get to a later stretch of the tutorial because these features weren't unlocked yet. Frankly speaking it was such a chore that I makes me now dread playing the early portion of Royal when I get around to it.
For Shin Megami Tensei V I would like the tutorial to be either something like Nocturne and IV before it, a small stretch of level where you are left to get a hang of the basics of what to due with minimal guidance or die trying; something that made Nocturne's tutorial the most rewarding to get through in any game I've ever played.
For as much as I complained about it when I wrote of my experience in playing on newgame+, I still remember appreciating how the game incorporated its tutorial into the story of the game when I first played P5, and I understand that this will be the first mainline entry for a great many players, I myself have many friends who have never played an SMT game outside of Persona, but who are excited for and looking forwards to playing V when it is released. So I understand that having a tutorial that explains the likes of smirks, the press turn system, and any other potential gimmicks to the turn-based combat could help to warm up new players who expect SMT5 to be like Persona. If that is the case than I'd like the option to skip the tutorial all together so that future playthroughs aren't needlessly delayed by a lengthy tutorial re-explaining what a returning player would already know.
5
Frankly speaking their are many things that I could ask to be in this game, that probably won't but are still worth holding a conversation of 'if only' online.
A greater use of the tendency axis of the Alignment system, old obscure demons to return, and making the
as such for a general rule of thumb I've been primarily focused on things with some sort of precedent, general things that have been implemented in other titles or that I feel are otherwise likely given modern standards and expectations towards console gaming. It would've been easy to fill this list with the likes of good characters, the press turn system, and a solid exploration of moral ambiguity, things that would've been included in the game regardless as it is an SMT title, and these are the staples that make it mainline SMT. I say this because I've seen enough videos on expectations and wishlists for Shin Megami Tensei V that usually boil down to one or two good ideas that I can agree will be implemented, and the rest being obvious inclusions that are questionable in bringing up.
However their is one recurring idea spread across them that I do agree with and it is something that traditional mainline SMT has usually faltered when doing, that being making the Law Alignment look like a positive choice.
However one obscure part of the Alignment system that makes so few appearances that I don't think I've ever played a game, other than IV Apocalypse, which I never completed because I lost the cartridge in my luggage when I moved, and have yet to track it down. That being the tendency part of the alignment. Alignment in Shin Megami Tensei primarily works like this grid here, demons are categorized into one of nine categories, yet while the aspects of the basic alignments are easy to grasp, a system that can add an additional layer of nuance and complexity to the game is largely ignored in most games, and has in fact appeared in so little games, that the wiki only has a single line for each of the tendency sub-headers.