#then I can play smt5

[lord-prey]

Love your art! Makes me wish there was an smt iii style rpg with all your ocs and worlds as the setting

Thank you penny!!!

It’s amusing cause like, I’ve absolutely based some of my ocs off demifiend n smt3 in general 😭😭

Maybe one day I’ll try my hand at some mock up in the kaneko style or som :)

[kivaember]

#smtv#tsukuyomi#susanoo#🙏#i think a lot about identity themes and how the most notable story tsukuyomi has is one that is sort of swapped with his brother sometimes#some kind of dysphoria and survivors guilt going on#i want to put his magatsuhi under a microscope

points at you Get Me. It's what prompted my original headcanons for pre-smtv tsukuyomi and susano-o dynamics when I wrote Kojiki... but smtvv now lets me to add more flavour to it hehe

since you mentioned dysphoria :) some more under the cut

-

“Stop destroying my shrine,” Tsukuyomi mumbled half-heartedly.

“He lives!” Susano-o proclaimed, and Tsukuyomi grunted when he felt his brother’s large hands grasp his shoulders and give him a shake. Tsukuyomi grumbled when the back of his head whacked the roof a few times from the vigorous shakedown his brother gave him.

“I feared the worst, seeing you lie here so still!” Susano-o said with his usual needless dramatics. “Whatever is the matter with you, brother! Why- ah, why are you naked…”

“I’m hot,” Tsukuyomi admitted. He couldn’t think of any other reason that wouldn’t have Susano-o twisting it to something deviant and weird. “So I stripped.”

“I see…”

Susano-o released his shoulders and- Tsukuyomi frowned when he felt his brother’s hand settle on his forehead.

“You speak true, you’re… very hot,” Susano-o said, and the boisterousness leached out of his voice to be replaced with something very unwelcome: concern. “Brother, are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine,” Tsukuyomi growled, and forced himself to sit up. He almost headbutted Susano-o in the process, the oaf was leaning over him so intently, and idly fanned himself with his hand - subtly casting a half-formed bufu to try and cool his uncomfortably hot skin. His magatsuhi levels were a bit too low to do it frivolously but, saving face in front of Susano-o took precedence.

Susano-o was uncharacteristically quiet. Unlike Tsukuyomi, who was sweltering even while au naturale, Susano-o seemed thoroughly unbothered by the heat despite having those stupid furs wrapped around his waist to go with his caveman like pants. The only concession to the heat was that Susano-o’s wild mane of dark blue hair was tied back into a ponytail, making his already broad shoulders seem broader still.

Tsukuyomi felt a stab of envy, though he wasn’t sure where it was directed. As the combat Proto-Fiend, Susano-o enjoyed a strong body that accurately reflected its mythology: broad shoulders, a towering height, firm muscles, masculine, while Tsukuyomi was forced to endure the humans’ love for contrasts and balance when it came to him, since his mythology had become so obscure in the modern age.

His current body was svelte to contrast with Susano-o’s bulk, intentionally crafted to be androgynous to better balance out the feminine Amaterasu and masculine Susano-o. He understood their intent, but it rankled that their desires and perception of him was slowly overwhelming his own. He had spoken to the humans, though, and they promised a more masculine form for him in the next iteration but, well, until then, he had to sit and seethe over Susano-o’s perfect body that didn’t wilt in the summer heat.

So wrapped up in his petty, jealous thoughts that he’d never dare breathe a word to (not even to the ever loyal Hayataro), Tsukuyomi missed Susano-o moving until it was too late. Without so much as a word of warning or explanation, Susano-o promptly scooped him up into his arms-?!

“Susano-o!” Tsukuyomi yelped, startled despite himself. He immediately tried to squirm free, thrashing like a wildcat, but Susano-o’s grip was unrelenting. “Put me down-!”

“Fight all you want, brother, there’s no escape!” Susano-o cackled like a buffoon, expertly wrangling Tsukuyomi with an air of (lamentable) experience until Tsukuyomi ended up thrown over his brother’s broad shoulder like a maiden he was dragging off to his cave, only able to uselessly punch Susano-o’s back or kick him in his rock-hard abs in protest.

me trying to figure things out re: proto-fiend lore in smtvv and my vanilla smtv headcanons for pre-aogami susano-o... by obvs writing a susano-o/tsukuyomi pwp :|

well anyway here's a teaser

-

Summer. Tsukuyomi’s most hated season and yet the most inescapable. As the world entered a warming state due to humanity’s breakneck technological progress, Tokyo sizzled more and more with each orbit of the sun, and the jungle of concrete and glass only amplified this inescapable heat to the point where even demons were put in a state of lethargy and disgust - and the Proto-Fiends were no exception to this rule.

Crafted by human hands, the Proto-Fiend bodies were inherently flawed compared to their more divine kin, yet they brought advantages with them that other demons coveted jealously: Proto-Fiends were capable of growth and change, trading additional vulnerabilities for the advantage of human ingenuity strengthening them. Of course, Amaterasu, Susano-o and Tsukuyomi were free to spurn the Proto-Fiend bodies to take upon their far more divine yet stagnant forms, but they were long used to this arrangement their father had made with humanity by this point, and so usually stuck with their flawed yet limitless bodies.

However, it seemed that even Proto-Fiends weren’t immune to excessive heatwaves, especially humid heatwaves, which has resulted in Tsukuyomi’s current predicament…

“Ugh. This damn heat…”

The moon was naught but a tiny sliver in the sky, the stars concealed behind patchy yet thick clouds that contained the sticky, humid heat pressing down upon Tokyo. The night hadn’t brought cool relief like Tsukuyomi had hoped, and his little trip to Inakuma shrine for some privacy turned out to be very ill-advised as a result. As claustrophobic as Bethel Japan HQ could be sometimes, it had air-conditioning.

Tsukuyomi, sprawled out on the concave roof of his shrine, scowled at the starless sky above, genuinely contemplating shedding his current Proto-Fiend form until this oppressive heatwave had passed. It wouldn’t be too much of a hardship for the humans to construct him another vessel - Tsukuyomi was cautious enough that they had enough bodies for him to die several times over in one evening before they hit the emergency stocks - but the problem was that Susano-o and even Amaterasu wouldn’t let him forget it.

too weak to endure even a little bit of heat, they’d no doubt tease, and Tsukuyomi’s pride refused to hand them that ammunition. It was bad enough that he was the weakest among them as it was, with an identity that was ephemeral and being steadily consumed by pop culture and commercialism (the less said about Susano-o discovering ‘sexy anime Tsukuyomi’ from human entertainment, the better), but confirming their suspicions on his constitution and having them mock him, or worse, pity him? Tsukuyomi would rather suffer instead.

So he sulked out here instead, in the privacy of his shrine, slowly cooking alive in his Proto-Fiend body. Maybe for next summer he should press-gang a bunch of Jack Frosts into service… make them create a giant snowstorm localised right here… that would be lovely…

A sudden surge of ozone and a blissfully cool gust of wind stirred the stagnant air, heralding Susano-o’s boisterous arrival onto the scene. Tsukuyomi closed his eyes, too exhausted and hot to feel annoyed about his brother’s intrusion. This may as well happen. If he ignored him maybe he’ll just go away.

“Brother!” Susano-o boomed obnoxiously, the acoustic of the shrine making it echo like thunder as the oaf lumbered over. Tsukuyomi practically heard every heavy stomp of Susano-o’s feet. “Brother, are you here?”

Tsukuyomi ignored him.

Susano-o harrumphed loudly, muttering something too low for him to hear. After a moment, Tsukuyomi heard the thump and creak of his brother hauling himself up onto the shrine’s roof, the structure groaning in protest from his considerable bulk - and inelegant way of climbing! What was he doing, kicking footholds into the wall?

“I’m getting too old to climb after you like this, brother!” Susano-o bitched, only to be interrupted by the sound of clattering roof tiles and-

SMASH!

“Ah, shit. Fuck,” Susano-o said. “Crap.”

“Stop destroying my shrine,” Tsukuyomi mumbled half-heartedly.

“He lives!” Susano-o proclaimed, and Tsukuyomi grunted when he felt his brother’s large hands grasp his shoulders and give him a shake. The back of his head whacked the roof a few times from the vigorous shakedown his brother gave him.

“I feared the worst, seeing you lie here so still!” Susano-o said with his usual needless dramatics. “Whatever is the matter with you, brother! Why- ah, why are you naked…”

“I’m hot,” Tsukuyomi admitted. He couldn’t think of any other reason that wouldn’t have Susano-o twisting it to something deviant and weird. “So I stripped.”

“I see…”

[cochart]

Some SMT5 Characters in P5T style because it’s cute

I’ve been enjoying P5T during my little self-assigned winter break. I haven’t cleared the game yet, but it’s been a nice distraction.

Below is some of my thoughts on P5T if you’re interested or if you’re trying to decide whether or not to buy.

Overall, the game has been pretty enjoyable. It’s nice to see the characters you’re familiar with again and the story is decent. The art style is cute and the battles are enjoyable. The game is definitely more on the casual side and might be a tad bit disappointing for people who want a proper SRPG. On the flip side, even if you hate SRPG, you’d be able to pick this game up easily. I’d definitely recommend the game for P5 fans.

On the other hand, compared to P5S, the game does feel a little short for the price. I don’t regret preordering the game at all, but if your finances aren’t doing so well at the moment, I’d say wait till it goes on a sale.

1. As a Persona 5 spinoff

As a spinoff, I think it’s a pretty nice game. It’s nice to see the characters you love again in a different context, and the new characters are fun and likable. I’m actually quite impressed by the new characters as it can sometimes be difficult to insert new characters into a well-established franchise without making them overpowered or otherwise upsetting to the existing fans. Both Toshiro and Elle are likable, fun characters with decent stories of their own.

It’s also nice to see your favorite Phantom Thieves again. Overall, the tone of the game is more playful, so you can’t expect an in-depth character exploration you get in P5R, but it still feels like a treat.

2. As an SRPG

I think the game translated the elements of Persona franchise well into an SRPG genre. With 1 MORE and Tribangle system, you really do feel like you’re playing a Persona game. While it might be a tad bit disappointing that you can only use three characters per battle, trying to find the most efficient way to exterminate the enemies with Tribangle is pretty fun.

That said, for people coming from a more traditional SRPG like Final Fantasy Tactics or the Fire Emblem series, P5T can be a little lacking. Part of the fun in an SRPG is customizing units and building your army. In P5T, you level up the Phantom Thieves as a whole instead of individually. I think this was necessary to prevent users having to grind to level up different units, but it also makes it harder for you as a player to customize each unit meaningfully. In FE3H, for example, you can decide whether you want Felix to be a sword master or a wyvern lord. You can also decide whether you’d want your army to be sturdier with a lot of armored units or whether you’d take your chances by raising your units’ agility and hoping that they’d dodge enemy attacks. That you can’t do such customization can be a huge disappointment for people who enjoy SRPG.

On the other hand, adopting such traditional job/class system might have turned P5T into a poor man’s FE. I feel like the developers had to choose between a traditional approach at the risk of making the game look like a FE ripoff and trying to make use of Persona-typical systems at the expense of being a solid SRPG.

Overall, the game plays more like a fun puzzle game than an SRPG. If I were to compare P5T to any game, I’d actually compare it to some of the puzzle maps in FEH. My advice is if you’re looking for a solid SRPG like Fire Emblem, you should pick up a Fire Emblem game.

3. Others

While the game doesn’t feel unfinished—like Crimson Flower route in FE3H in which you feel cheated out of Edel’s story—it does feel a little short. I haven’t gotten to the final boss, but I can look at the level and guess where I am. I’ve been playing this game in bits and pieces, but I’m already 60% finished with the game. I think at this rate, I’d finish at about 35~40ish hours. Keep in mind that when I play games, I eat and drink, so it takes a little longer than it would if I were to focus completely on the game.

One thing that shortens the game is that there isn’t anything to do aside from battling. I know some people hate it when games involve little side activity like walking around and talking to characters—though you can technically talk to characters in P5T when there’s a Talk event—or farming, but I do wish there was something to do. The quests are fun, but there aren’t that many of them.

On the other hand, because you don’t have anything to work for besides getting on with the story, I’m not sure if the developers could have made the game longer without making the battles feel too repetitive. If there were job/class systems or any unit customization available, there would be something to work for, but there isn’t.

I do think there is more potential to the premise of the game though. The Kingdoms of P5T is sort of set up like Silent Hill in that the bosses are incarnations of one’s fear. I think the developers could definitely have expanded on that.

I’ve also seen some complaints that the game is too easy. The game is definitely easier than some SRPG I played. But then, I don’t think this game was made with hardcore SRPG players in mind. Also, despite the game being a bit more casual, I didn’t feel bored playing the battles. So I think the difficulty level might actually be more suitable for the general public. Aside from something like Dark Souls, games of all genres have been getting easier over the years. I know it might be disappointing to people who want more challenging games, but I don’t see the trend reversing soon. I think the best course of action if you want more challenge is to try looking into some indie games.

[eirikrjs]

UPDATE JUNE 21, 2024

Hello all,

It's been some time again since I've updated on my recovery. I've seen some significant gains in my hand lately, enough that i am fully confident now that I'll recover to 100% or near it. I can currently extend my fingers (remember, the stroke affected my left side) about 50% of the time when i try, which is a massive improvement from 0% a year ago.

My elbow is still being difficult, it can't extend at all. It likely just needs more time/therapy.

I also twisted my ankle a few weeks back. It was when i was relearning to walk in just my shoes at therapy (I always need to wear an AFO outside the house) and my ankle... just gave out. My brain's communication to my ankle likely got mixed up.

So that's me of late. I'm still Law-aligned for my own safety/sanity, but it's been going well. I got my first Halloween decor of 2024, the vintage skeleton headstone blow mold & mutant skull prop seen above , not the bloody skeleton. I'm in high spirits!

And of course, I've been playing Vengeance. I quite like it; it's been a little cumbersome playing one-handed, but totally doable with a little patience.

I got the digital deluxe version on ps4 and have been enjoying cheesing everything with the dlc.

This is no doubt the version of SMT5 that will be remembered; there'll be no arguing over this being the definitive version of the game.

My progress: Level 50 and I just met Mastema, so I'm taking it slow. I expect the platinum will take me most of the summer to complete.

[neetily]

checking in on you < 3

seeing u more active makes me really happy, but i hope you’re still prioritizing yourself and your wellbeing the most ! 🩵

also thank u for inspiring me to start writing again :’)

thank you !! i suppose i did accidentally take a bigger hiatus than intended, oopsie. thanks for your patience on that front!

and i appreciate your kind words and wishes too! tbh, i'm looking forward to finishing kinktober so that i can focus on my commission writing piece so that i can then enjoy christmas alone and play games lmfao.... i miss gaming... it's like my favourite hobby but i just havent been able to indulge in it recently...

i did get a couple of cool new games recently too that i wanna dive into, as well as finishing off some other titles i've left mid way. namely higurashi and SMT5:V.

im so happy you started writing again!!! i always get so blushy when someone says i was partly responsible for inspiring, so thank you for letting me know <3 would love to read some one day! wishing you the best !!

[p2ep]

guysss i found my switch games, they were someplace stupid -.- im so glad now i can play more smt5🔥🔥🔥🔥

[stoic--rose]

something interesting i noticed yesterday while playing smt5: when i first saw this game in 2021 and had zero knowledge or experience with smt at all, i just thought it looked like a generic anime rpg and brushed it off. but now that ive gotten into the series and played a lot of the games, i can appreciate smt5 a lot more now, and im really enjoying it! i just find that interesting that experiencing the other parts of the series completely changed my view of this one game, the human brain sure is something

[mlarayoukai]

Of all the games to rally for. Yokai Watch was right there. SMT was right there. Digimon. An endless buffet of indies. Nexomon which was so cringe with its meme humor it looped back to being charming. The fangames that Nintendo actively tries to squash but persist in discord servers and so on.

The closest thing I saw was people saying don't play pokemon play smt 5 instead when smt5 first came out but I personally think the games are nothing alike. I cannot fathom why people are fighting for a shovelware game like we're fighting for human rights. There's like a dozen pokemon fan games that are decent and don't use ai designs. I'm NOT saying it's comparable but it's reminds me when te rfs were rallying for hp. Like it's not really good can you waste your time on something else. I've been replaying old pokemon games and I'm really enjoying it. Idk why they don't think of piracy

[violasgamingpalace]

Hydra smt5 is such a great, and hard fight? Mostly because the game makes it really hard to fuse demons to counter it.

It's weak to bufu, and relatively easy to fuse bufu onto everyone for this fight, BUT the best cold skill at this point is unique to mermaid, who's weak to fire one of the main elements hydra uses to attack.

Meanwhile buffs, the normal way to beat bosses, is nerfed a bit by making your only source of rakunda and fang breaker neko shogun, who's likewise weak to fire. And he can't be fused into anything else because his demon race is annoying and only goes to high level demons.

In the end it forces you to play a lot more dangerously and aggressively. I haven't beaten him yet, but I can tell it's because I haven't been aggressive enough.

One thing though is that the Leanne sinde vs Asparus choice the player has to make before has a very clear winner. Leanne sinde's Poison weakness turns into a null on hydras toxic breath, so if you just essence fusion a bufu over she can be super strong and helpful. Zero regrets with my choice.

[shinmegamitensei2]

For the SMT ask game, #14.

14. Best soundtrack

how could you Fucking do this to me. this is the most impossible task because almost every smt ost bangs and fucks and rips and i go to bat for 99% of them

but uhhh. i can divvy this up by era i think. and none of this is going to be coherent in any way but i think you should take my word as gospel because i'm right

The Early Years (1988-2000):

Majin Tensei II: SPIRAL NEMESIS

this shit SLAPS. the music in majten2 is, uh, quite frankly incredible on the SNES, and the composers (hidehito aoki, misaki okabe, yoshiyuki ito) were on some next-level shit when they scripted out bangers such as A.D. 1995 Story and Smash Up and remakes of two of the previous game's songs (which already were AWESOME) Flame Up Fragment and Bicarbonate of Face and and and,

idk play majin tensei. i'm about to become a majin tensei blogger and stan. did you know that almost all of the majin tensei manga is translated, and all that's left is the rest of vol 4 and all of vol 5? (grabbing your face) DID YOU KNOW!@!!!!

Shin Megami Tensei II

i mean. okay. you knew i was gonna bring this up. who do you fucking think i am. the whole game is wonderfully done and atmospheric, and even with the odd dumbass-theme playing in the BG i just, i dunno, i think it still gives me chills. loading up the game and watching the text scroll to the Title Demo is a lot, listening to that banging Battle theme is intense in a way that no other smt game has reached since IMO, and the Makai map theme is just... really sorrowful! these are the PSX songs because i prefer them over the muddied instruments they used for the original SNES game, but the original isn't bad either!

Megami Tensei II

i think everyone should bare minimum play Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei (2) at least once in their lives, but replace the ost with the original NES version because ohhh my gooooood holy shit there is SUCH a world of difference between the synths used vs the really muddied KMT instrumentation. that aside, the music is just... Good. the battle theme, Death Match, is incredibly intense, TOKIO Adventurer is a fun song to walk to on the overworld map (even being interrupted by demons every 2 steps), OMEGA is a REALLY good final boss theme... it's a bummer they don't get referenced more often! the last time they were was in Majin Tensei, and then again as a total throwaway in SMT5...

The 2000s (2000-2009):

Digital Devil Saga 2

both games go on this list imo, but i uh, i personally really like 2's ost more than 1's. i have no reason for this i just think it's nice. the battle theme Battle for Survival especially, but i just like the whole thing in general? sorry i have nothing else to say here

uhhh. i don't. have. anything else to put here. the other games in this category are good but their osts don't stand out to me... except for Strange Journey, which i. never finished. oougrhghhgfdnjdfjgdgh explodes IT'S SO GOOD THOUGH SO I?? HEARTILY RECOMMEND IT ANYWAY

The Recent Age (2010-Now):

Shin Megami Tensei V

don't talk to me about 5, but if you DO talk to me about 5, talk to me about its ost. of anything in that game, the music and sound direction REALLY stuck with me, it's probably the best the series has ever had to offer

i REALLY like Strength, and yes that is entirely because it feels like OMEGA of megami tensei 2 fame; but the regular battle theme Da'at is great too, and i spent an uncomfortably long time listening to fan recreations of it from the trailers because it was that fucking good to me. honestly the fact that there's so many different battle themes and they all slap is great, they're all fun to listen to. especially Destruction, like fuck dude did they really have to go that hard? (yes)

Soul Hackers 2

gnawing and chewing on 2's ost. i don't care how many people didn't like it, i did, and i think it's really well-done. very very atmospheric! Karakucho is wonderful, COMP SMITH is the GOAT (and i'm glad so many people agree with me!), and even the idiot theme, Cats and ladle, is... very cute! i never thought it out-of-place whenever the team started goofing off, since the idiot theme was never too jarring

... also, Battle of Devil Summoner is bumpin, i'm glad we got to hear this song so many times over the normal battle theme, because. hot damn

i'm not picking a favorite out of any of these are you kidding. except maybe majin tensei 2 that one is undoubtedly a beast. but like. i think everyone should play all of these games and experience their music and have your taste in music irrevocably changed against your will

[h34vybottom]

I finished Soul Hackers 2 and got the normal ending. I have a lot of thoughts that I want to mill out, though I can easily say I think the game is mediocre. There's nothing here that will tide over any long time MegaTen fans (Fusion accidents are gone for example, or at least I never got a single one in 48+ hours of play despite getting every demon I possibly could and having a majority of the compendium filled). The story and most of the cast are pretty nothing. None of them are necessarily bad, but they're all nothing. Who gives a shit about Arrow and Figue? Nothing ass characters. The only character I've come to like is Ringo. The third act twists are pretty bad and feel like they're there out of obligation. The game is stupid easy till the final dungeon randomly ramps in level spikes. The game's normal speed feels really slow and while I played after the patch that introduced the speed up features, I did play about 10-ish hours w/out them on. It's not really ideal that the game is running at Diamond and Pearl speeds for no real reason. I did find the combat to be enjoyable enough for how budgeted the game is. I don't mind the Soul Matrix puzzles, though they get quite tedious. The DLC cutting out (As far as I know) every single costume and the ability to change music is so pathetic. Not only is the Compendium incomplete w/out giving Atlus like 15 USD, the game itself just is incomplete w/out giving Atlus almost 200 USD for the game in total. Atlus is such an awful company and they keep ramping this garbage up (They'll continue to as long as Persona keeps selling shit millions). At lot of this post has been negative but I've had a better time than I've ever had playing SMT5 and any modern Persona game. I dunno, it's fun enough. The game is kind of close to hitting PS2 era MegaTen, though it fails because of Atlus's meddling and being a budget title in modern times. Could be worse, I guess?

[laincelebi]

I started playing sonic frontiers and so far it's fun I am enjoying it a lot. Though I guess it's clear that the story suffered from last minute changes and cuts. And that messes a bit the story pacing in some parts, but I can still see glimpses of what it might have been and I hope people can too and use it as fanfic fuel cause it sure has some interesting stuff.

So far I have my own theories of what it could have been and it contains spoilers so it's after the cut. these are just for fun, things that I thought while playing it so don't take it too seriously.

Characters would have issues with memories

Maybe not exactly losing all their memories but being confused, having certain gaps in their memories. Or even being mixed up with the ancient civilization memories.

Already entering fanfic territory but i think it would be cool if each of the sonic friends was tied to a titan pilot remembering things about them. Maybe the kocos they try to help is tied to the pilots. As there is a lot of story repeating and parallels between each character pilot and Koko.

Another point would be the memory tokens, we grab them but they have no impact on the story, it only unlocks conversation i believe we would have seen characters reacting to those much more, maybe referencing older games. A curious thing is that in the Brazilian Portuguese translation memory tokens are called mnemonics which can be understood as a memory device or cue that helps you remember something. Makes me wonder if we would have some flashbacks like in breath of the wild where link remembers something by looking at certain things.

Sonic corruption would corrupt his memories also

While the corruption affects sonic a lot, There are some unused (or maybe just very hard to trigger) dialog that hints it would also corrupt his memories. With him not even remembering his name.

here is the video.

I also wonder if the line about how he should have made up his mind sooner about Amy is he regretting he might not get out of this one as corruption continues and so wouldn't have much more time with her.

Sage role would be different

I do think sage would be way more mysterious, we know right away she is Eggman's creation but the way she is described and trailers before makes me think that this would be a much later reveal...maybe that she would be something else, or just left ambiguous.

Corruption on sonic may would work differently

Not gonna lie, when i first saw the story trailer where we see the corruption on Sonic's arm my mind went to the legend of Zelda tears of the kingdom trailer. and immediately thought that he would get some fighting power from it, like don't know he being able to form an energy sword like Nahobino in smt5 or something else maybe similar to the werehog form in sonic unleashed

the more I play the more i feel like the game is unfinished, doesn't mean its a bad game, i am having a lot of fun with it so far....minus some enemies fights (squid....) I just find fascinating when you look at something and can tell something was supposed to be different even without knowing the original intentions, i would love to know what that was for this game.

[reaperkaneki]

bf and i went thru the (5+ hours) demo for the new atlus game. it definitely is Persona/SMT5 But Like Very Fantasy, in a cautiously good way? like you can tell what gameplay elements worked in previous games that they chose to work into this setting. i do love me a job system with customizable characters! dunno how much i like this one yet, but we will see.

the UI is fantastic, btw, it's a silly thing to get hung up on but hey the graphics and animations are gorgeous. might be a bit busy. has a surprising number of animated cutscenes. character designs are kinda hit or miss but everything is worth it for the magic shopkeeper npc lady she's soooo. her outfit carries it.

the actual character writing i can't say yet. the story is uh. very rpg. fantasy racism is always hit or miss (usually a miss, and its feelin closer to a miss here) but its overall pretty standard. i felt like rolling my eyes a bit. good on them for making the fantasy elves physically strong rather than magically tho lol. much darker than i expected, bodycount wise. lotta blood, dead bodies on the street, people getting cut down. and racism, cant forget ppl shoutin insults at protag for existing while having flat ears and no horns. (you'd think they'd come up with some fantasy slurs....) kinda gratuitous imo. it also does the extremely lame thing of making the villain have a good point (tribal/racism bad, classism bad, people should be equal, maybe we shouldnt lynch dogpeople for looking at Not-Elves funny) and then completely undermining that point by like. having him be super mega evil. like yall. hes the antagonist. and he sucks, for personal reasons to the party. but hes also not wrong lmfao.

the most interesting element by far is the metanarrative and the one-way glass of the fourth wall. we, the player, are addressed directly. we are named, directly. the storybook world of utopia looks to be our world, but it can't be--we don't live in a utopia without discrimination (and i'll be real pissed if the game tries to play the real world as such). the giant, grotesque, surreal monsteries that evoke a profound sense of wrongness are humans, somehow, in a world without humans. the game itself? is a fantasy, a story, a metaphor. everything that happens is just a story, and the player is influencing it somehow. i am, unfortunately, a sucker for this shit. i love a nested narrative, or else a game that justifies its weird gameplay elements within its story. (average vn enjoyer and uchikoshi fan.) it is that specific thread that makes me interested in this game, even as i'm lukewarm on the actual fantasy story.

[onemanscienceband]

lol so

I bought SMT5 back when it came out. apparently in the last few years Atlus released SMT5:V and delisted the original release. and that has caused me a LOT of headache today

i still have the ability to download and play SMT5 on my primary device, which is the one I originally played it on. But it turns out, because it was delisted, I straight up cannot download it to my second switch (i have two because long story). as far as my second switch is concerned, that game does not exist.

and talking to nintendo support, they don't know what to do! I copied them my transaction ID from the confirmation email nintendo sent to me, and on their side it looks like I never purchased the game. apparently it straight up doesnt even show that game existing as linked to my account. I can play it! on my primary switch! I booted it up while talking to the support person who insisted I never purchased it! but nope, can't download it to another device with the same account.

thanks nintendo! fuck you!

[nozomijoestar]

you reblogging so much of shin megami tensei got me back on playing the game i had for a while (smt5) but i'm really curious what the one ur reblogging is about

I want to play four (the one with the samurai) if that's the one you mean but if you mean three then that's Nocturne and I'm playing it now. You play a guy who with his two friends is spared the apocalypse but are left to all fend for themselves in the world after, infested with demons because the people that ended the world wanted to bring about the process of creating a new one. Instead of dying immediately in what's effectively now a waiting room with everyone from Heaven, Hell, and myth, the player is saved because some kid (won't spoil his identity) who's part of these forces likes you and makes you swallow a parasite. You become half human half demon. Because you're now half demon you get excluded from being able to make a Reason ie. come up with an idea for a world to replace the old one, then get sponsored by a demon to fight in the struggle to make your Reason the new world. But being excluded from making your own allows you to choose what Reason you'll sponsor and champion into existence, or you can reject all of them, or you can leave the world to be solely for demons. Among other routes.

It's demonic pokemon just like other mainline SMT in a philosophical thought experiment, because the only way to gain party members is by fighting then talking to demons to collect them. I just really like the different Reason philosophies and how they interact and what happens when you reject them all; I like what the game is trying to say about what defines a human being, even if they get made demonic, really what's the difference between a human being and a demon at all and so on. It's not very character driven, characters are more a representation of the themes, commentary the game is making etc. and implications of where those intersect or what's implied but in this case I think that's fine. The music is bangin and the atmosphere is fantastic. I know it has a reputation for being hard but so far I don't care when it'll get hard for me, the combat is fun; getting absorbed in everything else is the real reward. And I love Demi-Fiend's tattoos that are more like his demonic veins. Really that was the first thing that always made me wanna play, his design.

How do you not find this cool

[midasgutz]

i should really play through smt5 someday. the problem is that i don't like it very much. is it just me or do they really pad that one out with excess grinding segments? it's pretty fucked that you can hit weakness every turn on a boss and still end up fighting it for like 15-20 minutes. in the fucking early game??? my enthusiasm for the game just really dries up early on. but i know the 3d models are gonna be sick as fuck when you get to like level 60 in that game...