Topic: Shin Megami Tensei V Thread

Finally getting to grips with the 4th area. I'm strong enough now that most of the enemies run when they see me & have even managed to beat one of the key holding bosses. Right now I'm systematically searching for and destroying all the abscesses, but for the life of me can't seem to figure out how to get to the one right in the middle of the map (that whole area is high up and yet there seems to be no way to actually get there. I thought the path would become more clear once I climbed those energy cubes, but nope).

@CactusMan, I mean I've been able to climb the cubes, Odin was the boss I've beaten so far, are you saying the path to the middle abscess is around there too?

@yegs88 Thanks, so far I'm loving it. Been wanting to play this for some time, since I loved playing SMT IV and Strange Journey Redux.

@CactusMan, thanks, finally made my way up there today. I thought it was kinda fun that the abscess mini-boss was level 99 versions of the game's earliest enemies. Was kinda worried at first, but they were manageable even at that level.

Cleared all the abscesses now, and only have a few Miman left to nab, so once I grab them I'll see what side quests I'm able to tackle then finally move the story along.

Dungeons in this game were no highlight for me so i was pretty satisfied with it being so easy. Could finally use up all those Defense Bells as i have been a bit overleveled, or so i thought, until that Demeter Quest Boss whooped me more than anything else in this game so far.
I haven't done one of the DLC quests yet though and didn't go into that one hole as i was always underleveled back then, so maybe that will get hard again on my second playthrough

I’ve been avoiding this thread, because I didn’t want to see any spoilers, but I’ve been wondering what quirky cutscenes people have come across involving demons.

One obvious one kicks in when you have King Frost in your stock and talk to a Jack Frost. And there was a brilliant one with Baphomet when you talk to Shiki-Oujo (spelling?). I wasn’t expecting SMT V to be funny - especially given the tone of the rest of the game.

The only one I've seen so far (I kind of dropped out over the holidays) was between Mermaid and Selkie. Sea monsters are people too!

@JasmineDragon Thanks! Might have to go check that one out. There was no need for Atlus to put these little secrets in there, but I love that they did.

@Krull Talk to a Mermaid with a Belphegor in your party. Definitely the most hilariously bizarre dialogue I've seen in the game.

I don't think I've ever triggered a special conversation between demons, lol.

Definitely getting close to the end now & think I may be getting ready to fight the final boss(es). I'm in the Empyrean & have just saved in front of the throne right after a mini boss fight against Aliat (a black & red crystal looking enemy)

The game appears to be selling well, crossing 800k copies sold.

Probably will cross 1m sold fairly soon I'd assume.
https://www.vgchartz.com/article/452084/shin-megami-tensei-v-...

That final DLC boss is beyond hard. Anyone here beaten it and can give me some tips? I maxed out my demons and Nahobino already and i am still being stomped. not even resistance helps and there is that one attack that just randomly kills my whole party, what even triggers that?

Finished this up last night. Definitely proud of myself for sticking through it on Normal, given it was my first in the series (though to be honest I can't remember any boss I got particularly stuck on. I beat most on my first try, even if only by the skin of my teeth, and even if not I don't remember any taking me beyond the 2nd or 3rd try).

• Definitely think the exploration was the highlight. The open areas were huge, very Xenoblade-esque, and really gave you that feeling of "just one more abscess, treasure, Miman, or other point of interest" to really pull you along. I do think the high difficulty kinda dampened the adventuring spirit whenever you first started an area, but once you get to grips with things partway in the loop becomes fun.
• I wasn't a huge fan of the dungeons however. Thankfully they were few (pretty much just one "tutorial dungeon", and then two proper ones later on), but they were just evermore mazelike samey looking corridors. That's not to say the solutions to navigating them weren't clever, but I'd have preferred something much more richly themed (I actually think the "tutorial dungeon" was the best in this regard). For example, I think the Demon Lord's Castle would have been better off incorporporating the design of Tokyo Station into it's first floor before progressively degenerating into the Hellscape design by the final floor, instead of being the latter all the way through. Overall a small part of the game though so not a huge deal.
• When all is said & done I think I prefer a set party that doesn't require me to upend my entire setup every few hours, but I can definitely get the appeal. It does feel great when you build the right setup to completely null a boss' efforts, and it definitely feels good to unlock a new special fusion, especially near endgame when the level restriction is lifted and you can fuze unbelievably powerful allies. The lore behind each demon is neat to read as well.
• Story takes a bit of a backseat, and it comes off as a bit strange that they set up all these classmates of yours at the beginning to underutilize so many of them (I think there are a couple that are essentially written out by the second area, and it's not like they were all that active in the first), so definitely a bit disappointing if you're looking for a story rich environment, but you can put that aside for the core gameplay loop it's not that big a deal.

I’m nearing the end of the demon kings castle. My one complaint about the game has to be the lack of demon evolution that was in 3, 4 and 4A. The buffs and debuffs are fine and this game forces you to actually use those skills as for most RPGs I generally ignore those skills since I can usually just hit harder anyway without wasting turns to get a small damage boost. But with SMT boosts and debuffs are a much bigger deal and if you don’t use them you just aren’t going anywhere fast.

Do they typically reprint physical copies of series? I'm tempted to pick this up but the physical version seems to be going for silly money at the moment.

@RR529 I agree with you on most of these, especially your criticism on story and the dungeons, while enjoying the gameplay loop a bit more, i guess. Which ending did you go for though? and did you do all the sidequests? Those were usually the ones where i got stuck for a while.
Also, what did you think of the music? I remember the area themes being mostly more on the dislike side for me, while enjoying the battle themes more, especially late game.

@Solaine, I ended up choosing the law route, all the side quests as far as I'm aware (barring the Shiva quest(line?) & the DLC which I didn't buy), and TBH I'm not one to pay too much attention to music in games so I'm probably not the person to ask when it comes to that last point, lol.

@RR529 gotcha, thanks. Same route as me then!

@Rob3008 Silly money? Seems to be around $34.99 or less online atm.

@Ralizah Really? Can you send a link please? The cheapest on Amazon UK is €88. Ebay is similar.