Topic: Shin Megami Tensei V Thread

@Ralizah
I know when you have even one type turned on in the settings they're pretty much everywhere. Like, 70% normal enemies, 30% mitoma. So ya, I think they're meant to be kept off unless you need some quick cash and XP. Keeping them on breaks the game entirely (which does make it odd they're turned on by default having purchased the digital deluxe). But they're nice to have in a pinch- I've turned them on briefly to get some cash quick to do a fusion I wanted, then turned it off afterward. I've got enough cash now I'm not sure I'll need them again- I reached a certain point where the coin started snowballing, but, the option is there if needed.

I have about 12 of those things that level up a demon. Don't wanna waste them early game though. Especially on one's I won't be keeping.

I have a hard time letting go of characters I like, but I've conditioned myself to let it go in SMTV, and now am constantly fusing new ones and carrying the skills forward. The compendium makes it easy, knowing I can always buy them back at any time I want. Not sure if that was in previous games but it's awesome. As is the reverse compendium. Being able to fuse without having them in my actual party is such a nice feature.

Physical copies of this game don't exist at all. Guess I gotta delete some games I'm playing to make room for it, if I want to get it next month.

So I'm stuck on something, maybe you guys can help me. I've unlocked two new essences but I keep getting an "inventory full" message and can't pick them up. It's not related to the regular inventory, I've sold items and still get the message. I can't figure it out.

@JasmineDragon, I think you can only hold one of each demon's essence at a time.

Sometimes a demon will try giving you their essence upon level up (if they've already learned all their skills), and you can also obtain essences from those yellow treasure chests, or from the Cadaver's Hollow shop (and I'm sure from the occasional other avenue).

@JaxonH Reverse compendium fusion is lowkey the best new feature in this game. No need to scour those online fusion calculators anymore.

Heh, if you're collecting relics from collection points you'll be rolling in dough eventually regardless. I've got, like, 250,000 macca right now. Not that I mind: filling out the compendium will probably be expensive.

And yeah, the compendium was one of the big innovations added in Nocturne. As fun as SMT I was, it was hard to get used to the lack of my demonic pokedex from more recent games.

I think you're onto something. I'd have to check my game, but I bet I already have those essences, I probably got them in the field already. Thanks!

@Ralizah How far are you in the compendium? I'm at like 12% and I feel like I'm at least halfway through the game. It's weird.

On the back of that essences conversation, even if you don’t have those essences, you can’t hold an infinite amount of essences, there is a cap. So it might simply be that you are holding the cap. It has happened to me a couple of times, as the game is surprisingly generous in handing them out if you go exploring the world. A good excuse perhaps to give some of your demons some very specific move sets and use up some of those essences. My personal recommendations is to make sure everyone is immune to light and dark, should you have the affinity ability unlocked and also to assign someone as your dedicated healer and another as your dedicated buffer/debuffer and give them moves from your essences around that.

In terms of the money conversation, same - never an issue with money here. You find a lot of money in the world if you’re exploring and I’d collect a bunch of relics on my way around, so I seemed to always be absolutely drowning in the stuff. Maybe not in the first couple of hours, but once I started to accumulate it just snowballed.

In terms of the fusion conversation, I do think it is a shame SMT V simplifies a lot of the fusion systems but I am also glad that SMT V does that in such a way that it makes it an easier system to use, overall. Negotiations are simpler, there are no real specific conditions to worry about with fusing, you are given a lot more information in terms of exactly what you can fuse and into what and you can’t really make any mistakes because of the simplifications. Worry free fusion.

Wow, the Demon King's Castle is actually an awesome dungeon! I mean, the performance wasn't awesome (game chugged a bit too much for my liking in there), but I love the strong theming and how it utilizes actual problem solving via fun wind puzzles.

Also, something I didn't fully appreciate until now is how Nintendo-like the game's usage of those health/mp/magatsuhi orbs are. They're definitely not strung along willy nilly, but used to invisibly guide the player through complex environments not unlike coins in a Mario game. Really cool design.

@JasmineDragon 42% at the moment, although I've been making a conscious effort to collect as many of the demons as I can. I could definitely see how someone could squeeze through this game with a low compendium percentage, though.

Just beat a French Werewolf mini boss in the shipping container/wharehouse area. I think I only lost 2 demons in the fight, so that was pretty good.

World design is great & fun to poke around in, though I'm not sure how I feel about it aesthetically. Certainly the run down Tokyo is a unique setting for a JRPG (one of the reasons I was attracted to it), but there's something about the use of color/lighting that can make things/enemies hard to pick out at times (especially with how dense some of the environments are).

People seem to be finishing this already!
I'm still on the second major area but I'm taking my time. Besides the butchering of Fionn Mac Cumhaill's name it's only getting better

...how did they manage "Mac Cumhaill" but not Fionn though? I thought the first name was the easy part.

@Kimyonaakuma Had no idea his name was pronounced "McCool," so I had a good laugh from that when he first popped up.

On a related note, I've noticed the english actors in this game don't appear to be butchering Japanese names like the ones in IV: Apocalypse did. Nobody could pronounce Asahi's name right in that game, I swear to god.

@Snaplocket Well, the dungeon is a lot denser, so there's probably more visual effects happening on-screen at once. Open world's draw distance isn't great most of the time, so there's more performance wiggle room, I imagine.

The third zone also gets a little choppy at times, although it's nowhere near as noticeable as it was in the dungeon.

I noticed poor performance in all of the open world areas, especially in handheld, but it wasn’t ever consistent. Just moments of slowdown and chugging and then fine again. It is also weird the whole game is kinda I dunno how to put it… like smudgy looking, maybe? Like you pop in other games on the system and they might not even look visually as good, but they just look crispier and brighter. I dunno how to explain it.

If it is intentional, then that is even more of a shame. All of that beautiful art design buried under a thick layer of muddiness like we’re back in the 360 era. Hopefully if it does come to PC, you can either turn the filter off or people will make mods to do so. I assume some part of that filter is to do with hardware limitations, as SMT V is able to get a lot of demons on the screen at once when you compare it to say S/S where Pokemon appear when you are like one step in front of them and everything else is empty space. And it isn’t even like S/S runs much better, either, so in some regards SMT V’s Switch performance while not always good, is still sort of a miracle in context. I don’t think any game makes my Switch’s fans louder than SMT V lol. This game hammers the Switch and shows what it is capable of.

@Pizzamorg UE4 game running at a low resolution with a lot of visual effects on display is probably the reason. It looks a lot like DQXI S in handheld mode, which was also on UE 4 and a demanding port.

Shin Megami Tensei V Steelbook Edition back in stock AND discounted to $49.99

Shin Megami Tensei V Special Edition back in stock for $119.99 on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Steelbook-Launch-Ni...

Yeah the slowdown and chugging didn't really affect the battles, just the over world stuff. I'm glad you liked the filter but I didn't personally.

@Ralizah @JasmineDragon I'm at 37% around the start of the Ginza area now. I think you can get through the game with a small variety of demons. Especially with an abundance of essences, a lot of them will become redundant. I'm making a somewhat conscious effort of fusing as much as I can to make the most out of the game. Actually been wasting a lot of time just running around, taking to NPCs and taking screenshots as well. The game is just so good

As long as you register them to the compendium beforehand, is it safe to release demons in your party?

I still have party slots taken up by early area demons such as a Daemon, Obariyon (I know I misspelled that), Mermaid, & even a Slime that are too weak to be fused into anything worthwhile, so I figure it might be better off if I cut them loose and recruit some newer demons.