The Shin Megami Tensei series began ages ago. The first title, Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, was released in 1987 for Japanese PCs. Since this debut, the series has morphed over time and spun off into several directions. Without a doubt, the most popular brand within this franchise is the Persona games, but the series is far bigger than that.
The overall series has gone back and forth on evolutions, with the changes between Shin Megami Tensei 4 and Shin Megami Tensei 5 being the most striking in ages. This discussion will also include Shin Megami Tensei 4: Apocalypse, which was a direct sequel in 2016 for the 3DS. Since that game was more recent, most compression will pertain to it. Did Shin Megami Tensei 5 change more for the good, or did this lengthy RPG backpedal too much?
6 The Open World
Most previous games in the series were based on smaller areas. The world map would generally connect to towns or dungeons. This is the first game in the series to truly have an open world. The desert wastes of Tokyo will be at the fingertips of players quickly too, as the beginning of the game only takes about 15 minutes.
The visuals have also been upgraded in this sense. That’s an obvious statement, along with pointing out that Shin Megami Tense 5 is on a console, whereas the two Shin Megami Tensei 4 games were on a portable system. Though the Switch is technically a portable system as well, it has a lot more power behind it, and has the graphical capabilities of a console.
5 Battles Are Back In 3D
Combat is virtually the same between Shin Megami Tensei 5 and the 3DS games, and players can befriend demons by talking to them so that will join the party.. This is mostly true for the entire series. The presentation is different though, in that everything is back to full 3D. Another change is that players can now see their party in battle, whereas the 3DS games were just panels on the bottom screen.
The 3DS games did have an advantage over Shin Megami Tensei 5: They gave players companions from humans to ghosts. They weren’t directly controllable unlike party members in most turn-based RPGs. However, their presence was a constant reminder that players were not alone in this quest to redeem humanity. Shin Megami Tense 5 is missing that element.
4 Enemies No Longer Look Generic In The Field
One of the biggest strides RPGs made was allowing players to see enemies on screen. Random battles are now, mostly, a thing of the past. If players did not want to go into battle, they could run away. In the 3DS games, enemies did appear onscreen, but they looked generic, like digitized code from Tron or something.
In Shin Megami Tensei 5, every enemy on the map is rendered in full detail. This can make it easier for players to hunt down specific demons for recruitment. However, talking to demons differs between the three games. If a demon accepts a proposal or leaves, that’s the end of an engagement in Shin Megami Tensei 5. In the 3DS games, battles would continue even if one demon left or joined up.
3 There Is No Equipment
Most RPGs tend to include equipment of some sort; however Shin Megami Tensei 5 has no traditional items for players to equip. The 3DS games had the whole nine yards, from weapons to armor to accessories. There were even ways to change costumes.
Shin Megami Tensei 5 is missing all of that. Normal attacks also came in two flavors: melee and ranged. Players could equip a sword and gun, for example, in the 3DS games. Each weapon type would affect demons differently, similar to elemental spells. This mechanic continued into Persona 5, but has been eliminated in Shin Megami Tensei 5.
2 Players Can No Longer Summon & Fuse On The Go
Most gameplay elements were implemented in favor of player convenience in the 3DS games. For example, demons could be summoned and rearranged into the party whenever players wanted outside of battle. Demons could also be fused on the go. In Shin Megami Tensei 5, all of this must be conducted in the World of Shadows.
This area can be accessed at leyline founts. In this subspace, players can summon demons from the compendium, infuse spells into their character or other demons, or fuse demons together. This is also where players can spend Glory to grant their character passive abilities, Miracles, like being able to equip more skills in battle. It’s fine, but it’s not as convenient to use as the 3DS games.
1 Save Downgrades
Leyline founts have many uses outside of accessing the World of Shadows. Players can save, warp between points, go into the shop, and heal the party for a fee. Saving is perhaps the most confusing change from the 3DS games which allowed players to save at any point outside of battle.
The old saving system made it convenient for players to pop on for a few minutes at a time, fight some battles, and then log off after saving. That’s one of the reasons why portable gaming is so popular. The only way to save in Shin Megami Tensei 5 is through leyline founts and chapter breaks. There isn’t even an auto-save feature. Hopefully, more saving options can be added to the game via patches.
Shin Megami Tensei 5 was released on November 11, 2021 and is available on Switch exclusively.