Shin Megami Tensei V Gets Day One Paid DLC And Digital Deluxe Edition

Only real thing I don't like about Atlus are these Day One DLCs. Always feels scummy.

Probably won't be interested in the mitamas but the subquests might be cool.

Day 1 paid dlc is weird, but this won't detract me from buying day 1 regardless, been waiting too long for this one. Just a few weeks away now.

Oh man are those day one boosters? Sad.

DLC is always optional and has no effect on the true game or story, don't get why people complain so much

Such is the state of the modern day video game industry, Disappointing yet expected

Persona used to come as a complete game and if Atlus decided they can improve it, they just released a new version altogether. Would expect that from Shin Megami Tensei as well. I think that only P5 had some silly boost dlcs if I remember correctly.

@MikeGold not necessarily a good thing that. Like P5R is great but having an upgrade option for people that bought original would be a good thing in this day and age

10 quid to reject god once more

damn

@CactusMan Return of the true demon would probably mean the Demi-Fiend.

Sorry but Fiends being dlc is unforgivable.

@Meteoroid
Lol
This is Atlus were talking about.
Just be thankful the retail version doesnt have "Atlus" Tax

I generally don't like day 1 DLC. But if I know that the game is already packed with content to begin with, feature complete (like let's say BotW or SSBU), and those additional stuff isn't integral then it's fine with me. Hopefully it's the case with this game.

And looking at the pricing I guess it's not so bad. Usually day 1 DLC I see everywhere else is $10 a piece minimum. Though I won't be touching those Mitama content. Still sucks this isn't part of the base game already so if they're gonna do this they better give us something juicy down the road.

@CactusMan Right, I am sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you meant it would actually be Dante. Must have misread it, or something.

Unlockable extras in games seem to become extinct. Game companies would rather tease you with stuff that your 60€ purchase doesn't give you than surprise you with cool in-game extras like unlocking the Demi-Fiend in SMTV. It's their business so they can sell what they want but it just wasn't like this before. Gaming has changed so much now that games are a lot bigger projects to make and cost more to develop yet the prices of games haven't really changed. So I understand why game companies are happy to indulge in scummy microtransactions to get some extra and make it easier to break even but still day 1 DLC is just a bummer for me everytime.

At least these don't seem like something that I will be super sad about missing. I guess everyone expected Atlus to slap us in the face with their DLC at some point so here you go.

Doesn't matter, the game will be great as it is. Usually Atlus DLCs don't add much to the experience anyway. Demi fiend and Nocturne fiends look great in current gen though!

Pretty obnoxious to lock content behind an extra paywall at launch. I get that the full game is still there, but locking characters this way irks me, like they’re just trying to bleed fans of their money. I get it’s a business, but c’mon! Just my opinion…

As someone who’s never play a SMT game before, I am wondering - are these extra characters an essential purchase?

Well, if that's what guarantees we can still get full size games that try out new things, we'll live with it.

I can live without this DLC so I'm going to.

I have the game preordered, but I don't plan to buy any DLC for it.

In my book, as long as the DLC feels extra and isn't some form of returning content, then I absolutely don't mind. If it's something like Smash 4 or BotW DLC, I'll be seriously disappointed.

If the DLC is day one, then it should be included. Atlus needs to cut it out with this BS

I'm super excited for Shin Megami Tensei 5 but day one paid DLC I am NOT on board with

These have been a thing for a while and all the free items, money and experience ones were usually pretty useless anyway.
I'll probably bite this time and get the DLC with Demifiend and Cleopatra.

Of course it does, it's an Atlus game. This is why I don't buy their games any more, which is a shame.

Atlus are one of, if not THE, best developers in the world, but their business practices in general absolutely suck. I think they may be Nintendo fans.

Game developers choosing to create DLC for their games has never been a problem with me as long as the base game feels like a complete experience. What's scummy about this is that it's Day 1 DLC that could have clearly been included in the base game, but was intentionally cut so that Atlus could sell it individually for extra profit. This is especially true in a monster collecting game like SMT where your compendium will never be complete unless you buy the DLC. The fiends being DLC is also super scummy. If only Atlus would stop with these abhorrent DLC practices, they would earn a lot of goodwill with their fanbase.

@RainbowGazelle you're not forced to buy the DLC though. It's optional. If you like their games then support, if not don't bother. You can't say that other developers don't do same as well. Unless it's a mandatory dlc then I will be angry about it.

@UltimateOtaku91 it’s the (not unreasonable) assumption that content has been withheld or stripped from the game to sell as a premium.
Edit- I’m not trying to be antagonistic but I don’t understand why people want LESS for their money. Despite the PR message, the games industry is not struggling for cash and I would rather see the money remain in my own pocket.

"Return of the True Demon - $9.99"

Kirby in-game confirmed.

Atlus gonna Atlus.

They make the best JRPGs on the market, though, and none of the money/exp grinding stuff is worth owning for people who don't want to cheese the game, so I'm not worried about it.

Besides, this is still way less DLC than Persona gets, and they won't be re-releasing a new edition of the game in a couple of years like they always do with Persona.

I gotta say, though, the characters in that Nocturne DLC look great. They really make you wonder what could have been if they hadn't phoned in the Nocturne port.

Even if they are just boosters I am still not a fan of them. I understand that the company can make dlc in the two month wait period of the game going gold and release but I rather them wait a month at least before releasing booster dlc.

There is no shame in that experience game for $2.99.

Anyone who is familiar with Atlus knows they've been bonkers with DLC for a while now.

@MS7000 Hey, you made it to the first comment!

I like that they added a lower difficulty option. =) But yeah DLC on day one is low. Although I never was inclined to buy any DLC for Persona 5, so I wonder if this DLC is equally as aesthetic.

I'll be getting the Demi-Fiend DLC at the very least. The other demon quests are a toss up, I didn't really drop money on DLC for SMT4 or Apocalypse, but a series of quests to collect the Fiends and Demi-Fiend for your party?

Too cool to pass up.

@progx But no Nintendoomed in this article. =P

Day 1 demon DLC? Why not just put them in the game? I was never a fan of this practice. I have the same issue with the Nocturne remaster putting Dante as 10 dollar DLC.

Wait so Cleopatras not in the base game? You need the dlc to get her?

@UltimateOtaku91 because people love complaining almost as much as they enjoy playing the games

@Harmonie Slowly but surely, these companies will realize that offering an easier mode for people who want or need it will actually increase sales. i love to see it.

@UltimateOtaku91 to be fair in this case atlus put the fiends, who have been base game content in every other game, behind a paywall

I hope this doesn’t mean the game is too grindy. Now I’ll wait for reviews.

@armondo36 Me, too! I don't understand why this is such a contentious subject in the gaming community. Like an easy mode somehow takes away from the rest of the game? Absurd. It's just an option, an option that makes it more accessible. Not everyone plays games to be frustrated.

I am never a fan of day one DLC, but hopefully it isn't too intrusive on the main game. I don't know if I will ever get around to purchasing this one myself though. I don't play very many RPGs these days since my time is limited most days.

@Kid_Sickarus I'm not saying people should get less for their money, but games can have additional stuff for an extra price, for all we know they completed making the game and then added these optional purchases after, especially seeing as they are minor additions.

Even persona 5 had a lot of DLC as well with additional personas and a lot of costumes but nothing got said. Nearly all anime/jrpg games have additional content so people should treat this as the norm going forward

@MikeGold persona 5 had a tonne of dlc costumes and personas from previous games

Put me in the 'I think this is a scummy practice' camp. Look I am fine with paid DLC, but I mostly feel it should truly expand the scope or story of the game and seek to extend the primary products shelf life. So Day1 (unless its free pre order type stuff) just seems stupid to me. Its like putting out a flashing sign saying 'This game is not complete so spend more'. So this has been a day one purchase for me since it was announced ummm like forever ago, but I will skip the DLC until later in the products life to see if its something I really need or expands the game meaningfully.

@UltimateOtaku91 You’re right, we don’t know when the day one DLC was created. I would still prefer to see as complete a version of a game as possible at launch and this was enough for me to cancel my pre order in favour of Resi Evil 4 VR and I’ll wait for a complete version of SMT at some point in the future.

I hate to say it but I will be playing on Safety difficulty. I don’t have free time to fight damage sponges anymore.

@Ryu_Niiyama It breaks my heart, but I hate to say I think I'm in the same place. Even the E.M.M.Is drive me crazy with dying over and over again, even if they're necessary to create the titular "dread", and aren't really that difficult to get around. It's just wasting time I have too little of.

@NEStalgia Adulting has its price. I have a few "I need to play this as intended" games...most of which are still unbeaten or in shrinkwrap. But for me to see end credits now? I need to be able to storm through. I'm still working on FE3H. I don't even have time to play my beloved visual novels right now. Only games I'm like "Cowgirl up and take that beat down" are fighting games. And I'm only playing one right now. Even though VF is on a resurgence! (cries)

I feel this is more of a Sega being scummy and Atlus just doing what they're told. I don't remember it being this way or at least this bad before Sega scooped them up.

@Meteoroid These DLC:s will be highly unnecessary.
@Neoicelord You don't really need to play Apocalypse though.

Videogaming has taken a bad turn! the money grabs are rediculous and obvious. It almost makes me want to skip this one. but I love the SMT universe and probably wont. I just started SMT IV Apocolypse and loving it. not as good as IV itself but a nice add on anyway. Plus 84.99 just for the game itself yikes!

@Ryu_Niiyama That sounds all too familiar.... I never even got to the time shift in FE3H! I'm still cramming in GAA, though. Sleep can be deferred and reduced. GAA comes first. A little blue light before bed never hurt anyone.

I've become a game snacker. I think that's why Game Pass is working out so well for me. Instead of playing one 200 hour game from start to finish I play an hour of 200 games. But my RPG weakness will kill me.

I'm still waiting for them to process my opt-out form for adulting. It really should have gone through by now. Maybe I should send it again. Are there limits how many times per decade you can apply? Because I think I've applied at least 15 times in the last 2 decades.

I'm glad I steered clear of this. I have a bunch of SMT games so I won't be needing this one.

@tanaka2687 Japanese companies have been on this since like 2006. As soon as dlc became a thing Atlus, Namco, my god, Tecmo, and Capcom have had predatory dlc plans of anything they can sell at ridiculous prices. Especially costumes. Dead or alive? That time Capcom sold the ending to Asura? Every tales game since vesperia. All of nipon icchis games. It's just a Japanese thing. Different culture about dlc

@StinkyTrapDoor I think the were more known for slightly updated rereleases like persona 3 fes, p4 golden, and p5 royal. Smt 4 had the exact same dlc and smt 3 had a slightly updated rerelease. Devil survivor did too Eterian odyssey had a load of dlc and rereleases. Atlus has historically been just as bad as any other Japanese company. I think Namco is worse, but that's an opinion

For what its worth Mitama are boosters and completely destroy the game by making money and levels meaningless. Don't buy them if you want to actually play the game so that's a moot point. 10 bucks for a super boss is steep though.

@Rpg-lover It's the same DLC every time. Costumes and EXP on day one. So it's content they're intentionally holding back from the game. I can't support that.

@Xansies Yeah I think you're right I have all forms of p3 p4 and p5 😩 they scummy too lol.

@RainbowGazelle that's bad. Well, I will buy it regardless. Have waited for 4yrs for this game to arrive. I get your point though.

@MS7000 thankfully it's never too bad. The games are always great without the dlc, so it doesn't bother me too bad, in Atlus' case. It sucks for those who don't want to spend more than $60, that we won't get all the content, but i gave in & bought a few outfits in persona 5 for instance, to support them, but i would have never missed anything if i hadn't spent that extra. Thankfully, their games are some of the few worth full price, because they have tons of content already, IMO.

Super grubby. I'll wait for the inevitable discounts, which won't be for a long while I'm sure. Still have to beat P5 Royal, before I dig into another SMT. Too many games! Champagne problems.

@NEStalgia yes, Metroid is definitely frustrating, mainly because it's a waste of time, IMO. It's not strategy, or fun, to have to play hide & seek in this type of game, imo, especially when We know where to go. 1 hit kills in any game has always been horrible game design, IMO, also, but we have to suffer through it if we want to play the rest of the game, sadly. It doesn't help it looks so bad on a 4k 40"+ TV. It looks great in handheld, tho.

@Harmonie it's the design of the game ppl are worried about. If there's only 1 difficulty the game is designed around it & doesn't have to be weakened to be tailored to a lower difficulty. If they know they have to make it easier at some point, there will likely be sacrifices. Fans of any series don't like their favorite franchises changed to accommodate ppl who may still not like it anyways. Ideally, they would go back & just change the stats in an rpg to make the originally designed experience a bit easier, but we all know when a game will be made for a broad audience, it will designed with them in mind the entire time.

@twztid13 Yeah, I'm not sure how that could have been done better, but I wish it had been. On one hand, emmi are important in creating that sense of dread. You see the checkered doors and you know doom is inside, you try to avoid them, find way around, get in and out as fast as possible, with the tension of the beeping and watching every corner. It works for the mood and tension. Otoh, it's an endless string of unavoidable RNG OHKO attacks.... You can't really play through it or get better. You're backed into a corner with no escape over and over and over again until you're blessed by the RNG gods. There's no gameplay, it's no fun, you just do the same thing over and over until you get a different result. I love the game but hate the Emmi rooms. It kills the real flow of the game.

@twztid13 I don't understand your argument. Certainly time has to be put into making different difficulties, but other than that, I don't see how it fundamentally alters the game. In my eyes, it just gives options.

"Fans of any series don't like their favorite franchises changed to accommodate ppl who may still not like it anyways"

A game like SMTV getting an easy mode is stated to give people who prefer more story than gameplay a way to play the game. You could tell these people to watch the game on YouTube or something, but that isn't the intended way of experiencing the story, and plus an easy mode allows for them to still have gameplay to enjoy in addition, which is a completely different experience from just watching the story, even if it is toned down.

TBH, when I see a game that is just super hard in difficulty, I am saddened. There is so much more to a video game than difficulty, there's so much more to enjoy about them. When a super hard difficulty gets in the way of that, it ruins the experience for no reason. That difficulty can still exist, it just doesn't have to be the only one.

I've only played persona 5R and never played SMT. This type of practice won't convince me to try the series

@Meteoroid If the quests are good, sure, I definitely agree with you. But if they aren't, I think it's kind of nice that I don't have to spend that extra time doing lame quests while still feeling that I play the game in its entirety. I don't know, the word I seek is probably "meh".

I can't believe so many people are defending Day 1 DLC. You're paying MORE for content that could've easily have been in the base game, or day 1 FREE DLC like the Safety mode. "Oh, but they're a BUSINESS! They're meant to take your money." That doesn't mean any and all business practices are perfectly acceptable. Wasn't really planning on buying this anytime soon but I feel bad for the fans that know of the DLC's worth and have a paywall for certain returning characters.
Only bright side is that Atlus does have some decent sales from time to time. DLC being on sale is something I like to see.

@twztid13 want me to create an easy mode for every Souls game right now? A mode where there are 50% more bonfires or (just some kind of save point MacGuffin), your weapons inherently do more damage, and enemies inherently do less. Wouldn't have to change the fundamental design of the game at all.

Here's the thing: paid DLC is a good thing. You heard me lol

Game development is incredibly expensive, and game designers, if they're honest, believe that games should cost $100 (Sony didn't raise prices out of sheer greed). Now, they know they can't charge $100 for their products, so the perfectly fair compromise is they offer people who are REALLY into their games the option to get a few outfits or a character or an extra level or whatever, for a few extra dollars. Add up the cost of the total DLC in most games and you'll find its usually in the 40-60 dollar range. Yes, when it first started, companies often went too far, selling you the ending or armor for your horse lol, but now most DLC is harmless, so if you're offended by it, you aren't the intended audience anyway. Without paid DLC, games would probably regularly cost 70-80 dollars US, and we'd be in here complain about that 😆...

This is the coolest take. It gives the wrong impression and sent the comments off on stupid tangents.

This is the DLC included with the Deluxe Edition being made available piecemeal to everyone. Hardly “Day 1 DLC”. They did this with SMTIV as well.

@armondo36 that would be a great way to do it, but that's after the game has already been designed to be harder & adding the easy difficulty later. If they planned on the easy mode from the beginning, it can fundamentally change the game design, & those same fights may not have made it into the game.

@Harmonie i understand, & i don't always agree with that argument, but i can understand their perspective. I can also understand yours. I think if the easy mode is added afterwards, it's fine. There's no way to know of it fundamentally changed a game's development, but i can see that it's possible, & that's what those people are afraid of who don't want easier difficulties on any game. In turn based rpgs, i think it's definitely fine (my opinion, ofc), because they're likely just to alter stats to make it easier. I think that would always be fine.

Someone mentioned adding extra save points etc to dark souls, that would be the best way to do it to appease both sides, but when it's baked into the game design (like specific hard battles may not be included, or at least they could be made differently knowing it has to appease a wider audience), those are problematic to me. I would always prefer more people get to play any game, but not at the sacrifice of the original intent/vision. The problem is, there's no way to know if this is the case, so many who dislike the easy difficulty being added, would rather they just didn't touch it at all with that in mind, because there's no telling how much of the game would be "dumbed down" to make it approachable for people who may play it & not like it anyways. The devs know the niche audience they designed games like dark souls for will like it, but the masses are a toss up. That's the point i was trying to make.

@NEStalgia agreed. Also, i hate that the best upgrades are locked behind defeating the EMMI's eventually, it seems anyways (the ones I've beaten so far all have great ability unlocks). I understand the concept of locking the ability upgrades behind tough boss battles, but this just doesn't seem to flow well, IMHO, versus these particular "bosses". It's strange, cuz i think if it were just some other bosses in the same point in the mission, i wouldn't have as much issue with it, so it may be that i am just biased against the EMMI, after the things we both mentioned. I haven't played the other Metroids in a long while, but i don't remember every upgrade being locked behind boss battles. i thought we found many upgrades & abilities by exploring, & that aspect seems absent from this game, sadly. But, i get it. it was something they had in mind to try for a while, so i don't hold it against them. U & i both bought it & are playing it, so we aren't saying to "boycott" or anything because of these decisions. We just don't like that aspect of the game & hopefully when we voice our opinions about this so it can be "fixed" in future iterations, we won't be shouted down, or be called traitors to the franchise, etc, lol.

@twztid13 I don't mind the upgrades so much being locked behind them, only because EMMI battles aren't really a battle. Getting past the EMMI to get to the Central Unit and doing the miniboss rooms there is basically a glorified version of finding the normal orb rooms. From there you get an instant checkpoint to continuously retry the pretty fast and simple destruction of the EMMI (finding the right spot to do it can be tricky and take retries, but actually taking down the EMMI once you have the spot is a lot easier than evading the EMMI the rest of the time.) So I don't really think of abilities as locked behind an EMMI so much as finding an EMMI Zone connected orb room that happens to have a connected miniboss battle and the EMMI takedown sequence attached.

But yeah, the anti-EMMI bias taints anything connected with them. Thematically and tonally the game would lose something without them, yet their areas are devoid of any fun because they're just not really a functioning mechanic.

There was one point in the game, when you first get the cloak and have to evade the next EMMI using it that I thought the EMMI thing was going to work out OK. That one genuinely had some stealth mechanic strategy and skill involved. And then the next one or two have room designs where you can't really use that effectively (and the EMMI climbs all the walls you can hide on), and then you get to the BS one that can see through walls and clear through the different doored rooms, so no matter where you hide, he'll find you and you really do have to just keep blind running and hope one time the RNG works for you.

I agree, that even beyond EMMI, there is just too heavy a focus on boss battles. It seems like you come up to bosses one after another, with a combat focus that just wasn't a part of traditional Metroid. Fortunately the parts that are traditional are very good, so the extra bosses are just "bonus" mandatory annoying content that doesn't detract from the good parts, but it annoyingly kills the pace of the otherwise great traditional labyrinth exploration. It think Mercury Steam really nailed what made Super Metroid great, and improved on the feel of controlling Samus greatly, but they padded it with too many things that interrupt the pacing in ways that don't ruin the game, but keep it from perfection.

I could live with the excess boss battles, because while excessive, it's not like tricky bosses haven't been part of Metroid all along. But the EMMI....the design of those rooms and evading just feel ill thought out. Fantastic concept, but broken execution.

I think the EMMI are a one time gimmick, though. I wouldn't expect them to return in a future game even if they were popular. Classic Nintendo that each entry gets some identifiable hook that makes it unique, so we're probably safe with that.

@NEStalgia agreed!!

The Safety mode sounds like it was made for game journalists

@twztid13 I take it back, Z57 is as BS as the x-ray Emmi.... The pink hurdles are just not suited for the controls.

Ah a safety mode. Looks like I will actually try this game.

But I don’t see it on the Eshop

@iLikeUrAttitude I don’t see the safety difficulty on the Eshop