Info about Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance:

Official game description:
Digital Deluxe Edition
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About the Game
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The Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Digital Deluxe Edition includes:
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• Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Base Game  
• Mitama Dance of Wealth - Increases the drop rate of items that can be sold for Macca.  
• Mitama Dance of EXP - Increases drop rate of items that give the protagonist EXP and ally demons EXP.  
• Mitama Dance of Miracles - Increases drop rate of items that give Glory points needed to learn new bonus effects.  
• Demon Subquest - Sakura Cinders of the East - Additional subquest that allows players to recruit the demon “Konohana Sakuya” if they defeat her.  
• Demon Subquest - Holy Will and Profane Dissent - Additional subquest that allows players to recruit the demon “Dagda” if they defeat him.  
Experience two complete story paths in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, both filled with conflicting and tragic choices, forcing you to confront which ideologies you are willing to fight for. As order and chaos crumble around you, forge your own path to dictate the fate of humanity.  
*   "Canon of Vengeance" – a dramatic tale of revenge by the fallen, centered around new characters and an enigmatic cohort of demons, the Qadištu, who plot their own dark designs apart from the war of those who fight to maintain order and those who seek to defy it.
*   "Canon of Creation" – an eternal conflict between angels and demons, in which the protagonist fights for the world’s fate.
Battle through a decimated Tokyo, reduced to an expansive wasteland and overrun by mythical demons. Roam across wide, open areas and explore new locations for life-saving items or encounter a multitude of demons to battle or befriend as allies, including dozens of newly added demons to this game.  
Fully evolved with stunning visuals for modern consoles, the dark lore, unnerving atmosphere, and beautiful and monstrous demons are back and better than ever. Massively expanded with new areas, demons, and music, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance features more accessible gameplay, an improved battle system, new demon experiences, and greater field exploration.  
Embark on this definitive version of the critically acclaimed Shin Megami Tensei V, massively expanded with a brand-new storyline featuring new locations, demons, and choices to make that will dictate the fate of all existence.  
• Intense, Turn-Based Combat System  
• Over 270 Demons to Recruit and Command  
• Explore a New Post-Apocalyptic Tokyo  
• Make New Allies Along Your Journey

Release date: 13 Jun, 2024

Categories: Turn-based Combat, Monster Collecting, Character Customization, Character Progression, Single-player Story, Open-World Exploration, Choice-based Narrative, Multiple Endings


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Deep demon customization and collection (weight 0.97): The game offers extensive demon customization options through fusion, skill inheritance, and unique demon traits. Reviewers appreciate the depth and flexibility of the demon system, allowing for diverse team builds and strategic approaches. The demon designs themselves are also praised for their creativity and faithfulness to mythological sources.
- "Vengeance" route improves story (weight 0.83): The "Vengeance" route significantly improves upon the original story, offering better character development, worldbuilding, and meaningful choices. Reviewers appreciate the enhanced narrative and its impact on the overall experience. The availability of both the original and Vengeance routes adds replay value and allows players to experience different perspectives.
- Excellent music and art style (weight 0.8): The game features a phenomenal soundtrack that enhances the atmosphere and elevates the battles. Reviewers consistently praise the music's quality, variety, and its ability to immerse players in the game world. The game's graphics and art style are also well-received, creating a visually stunning and immersive experience.
- Deep, strategic, and rewarding combat (weight 0.78): The game features a deep and engaging combat system that rewards strategic thinking, team composition, and exploitation of enemy weaknesses. Many reviewers praise the Press Turn system and its variations, noting that it adds a layer of complexity and excitement to battles. The combat is often compared favorably to other JRPGs, including the Persona series.
- Enjoyable, rewarding, and addictive gameplay (weight 0.65): The game delivers a consistently enjoyable and rewarding experience through its engaging gameplay loop, exploration, and well-balanced challenge. Many reviewers highlight the game's addictiveness, replayability, and overall fun factor, making it a worthwhile experience for both newcomers and veterans of the genre. Quality of life improvements and smooth performance further enhance the experience.
- Substantial content and high replayability (weight 0.58): The game provides a substantial amount of content, including a lengthy main story, numerous side quests, and challenging post-game content. Reviewers appreciate the game's replayability and the variety of activities available. The addition of new content and quality-of-life improvements further enhances the overall value.
- Balanced and customizable difficulty (weight 0.54): The game offers a balanced and customizable difficulty, with options for both newcomers and experienced players. The ability to save anywhere and adjust the difficulty at any time provides flexibility and reduces frustration. The game's strategic depth and challenging encounters are also highlighted as positive aspects.
- Appealing and varied demon designs (weight 0.28): The game features a wide variety of demons with unique and appealing designs, drawing from various mythologies. Reviewers appreciate the creativity and detail of the demon designs, as well as the ability to collect and interact with them. Some reviewers also note the presence of attractive female demons.
- Strong entry in SMT series (weight 0.23): The game is considered a strong entry in the Shin Megami Tensei series, appealing to both long-time fans and newcomers. Reviewers appreciate its faithfulness to the series' core identity while also modernizing the gameplay and improving accessibility. The game is often compared favorably to other titles in the series, including Persona.
- Combines classic and modern JRPG (weight 0.15): The game successfully combines elements of classic JRPGs with modern gameplay mechanics, creating a unique and enjoyable experience. Reviewers appreciate the game's focus on story and gameplay, as well as its challenging combat and strategic depth. The game is often compared favorably to other JRPGs, including the Persona series.

Common complaints:
- Weak, uninspired story and characters (weight 0.78): The story is a major weak point, described as generic, uninspired, and poorly written.  Many reviewers found the plot to be confusing, boring, and lacking in depth, with underdeveloped characters and minimal emotional engagement.  The original story (Canon of Creation) was particularly criticized.
- Inconsistent difficulty, excessive grinding (weight 0.65): The game suffers from inconsistent difficulty, often requiring excessive grinding to progress, especially in the late game.  Some reviewers felt forced to use DLC or exploits to overcome difficulty spikes.  The game can be punishing, with enemies capable of one-shotting the player.
- Tedious, confusing map design (weight 0.64): The game features repetitive and frustrating exploration due to confusing map design, lack of clear paths, and reliance on backtracking.  Many areas look the same, and the open world feels empty and lifeless, making navigation a chore.  Some reviewers experienced nausea due to the disorienting maps.
- Lacks autosave, repetitive playthroughs (weight 0.6): The game lacks an autosave feature, leading to potential loss of progress and frustration.  Multiple playthroughs are required to unlock all achievements and endings, which many reviewers found tedious and repetitive.
- Inferior to Persona series (weight 0.59): Compared unfavorably to the Persona series, the game lacks the same level of polish, engaging characters, and compelling story.  The absence of social elements and life sim aspects makes it harder to connect with the characters and choices made in the game.
- Light, straightforward story (weight 0.51): The story is relatively light and straightforward, focusing more on the apocalyptic world than on character development or plot complexity. Some reviewers found the plot to be predictable or lacking in depth.
- Combat-focused, minimal story (weight 0.48): The game is heavily focused on combat and party management, with a minimal story. Some reviewers found the turn-based combat repetitive and reliant on exploiting enemy weaknesses.
- Deviates from SMT essence (weight 0.46): The game deviates too much from the essence of Shin Megami Tensei, incorporating too many elements from other games, resulting in a significant change in atmosphere. The absence of community elements makes it harder to follow character emotions and sudden plot developments.
- Pacing issues, disjointed story (weight 0.22): The story suffers from pacing issues, with some sections feeling rushed or disjointed.  The Vengeance route, while improved, still has flaws in its plot and character development.  Some reviewers found the story's quality declined as the game progressed.
- Tedious demon management (weight 0.11): Managing demons can be tedious and frustrating due to limited inventory space, high fusion costs, and the need to constantly re-spec for specific boss fights.  Some DLC demons are unbalanced, making the game feel cheap if used.

Gameplay feedback:
- Semi-open world exploration (weight 0.14): The game features semi-open world exploration with intricate, multi-layered maps that encourage exploration and puzzle-solving.  Players can discover hidden routes, collectibles, side quests, and shortcuts.  The world design often feels like a dungeon, emphasizing verticality and rewarding curious players.
- Story choices and multiple endings (weight 0.09): The game presents players with choices that influence the story, alignment, and ultimately, the ending. There are multiple endings based on player decisions and alignment with different ideologies (order, chaos, neutrality). The game offers two main story paths: the original Creation path and a new Revenge path.
- Magatsuhi system adds depth (weight 0.06): The Magatsuhi system introduces a new layer of strategic depth to combat, allowing players and enemies to unleash powerful ultimate skills when the Magatsuhi gauge is full.  These skills can range from buffs and debuffs to massive damage attacks, requiring players to manage the gauge and adapt their tactics accordingly.  Some side quests are tied to this system.

Performance notes:
- Greatly improved PC performance/graphics (weight 0.2): The PC port offers significant performance and visual improvements over the original Switch version, including higher framerates (often exceeding 60 FPS, even up to 144 FPS or higher), resolutions up to 4K, and enhanced graphics. The game is now playable on a wider range of hardware, including the Steam Deck, where it runs smoothly.
- Well-optimized, smooth performance (weight 0.19): The game is well-optimized for PC and Steam Deck, with many reviewers reporting smooth performance at high settings. It runs well even on recommended hardware and the Steam Deck, often locking at 60 FPS with reasonable TDP. Some users have reported minor performance issues in later stages or on specific hardware configurations, but overall, the optimization is considered good.
- Minor graphical/performance glitches (weight 0.02): Some reviewers have noted graphical glitches, such as splotchy UI elements, and occasional performance dips during scene transitions or menu navigation. These issues can detract from the overall presentation.
- Unreal Engine enhances visuals (weight 0.01): The game utilizes Unreal Engine, resulting in improved visual fidelity and detailed effects compared to Atlus's in-house engine. This shift enhances the overall presentation and visual appeal of the game.
- Denuvo DRM present, impact varies (weight 0.01): The game includes Denuvo DRM, but some reviewers did not notice any performance impact. However, the inclusion of Denuvo is still criticized by some players.
- Controller support and keybinds (weight 0.01): The game offers native support for Sony controllers, displaying Dualshock 4 and Dualsense buttons. Most keybinds are also rebindable within the options menu, allowing for customization of the control scheme.
- Customizable Steam Deck controls (weight 0.01): The default Steam Deck controls may feel odd initially, but they can be reconfigured to player preference. Additionally, FPS drops can be mitigated by lowering the resolution and enabling FSR.
- Potential crashing issues (weight 0): Some users have reported crashes in certain sections of the game, which may be resolved by reinstalling the Steam launcher. This issue appears to be isolated, but it's worth noting for potential troubleshooting.
- Discarded vague/isolated feedback (weight 0): These points are too vague, subjective, or isolated to be useful for a general summary. They include comments on UI aesthetics, OLED screen appearance, lack of shader stuttering, general optimization, smooth operations, protagonist's hair animation, Steam Deck battery life, graphical limitations, and motion sickness. Due to the lack of specificity and broader relevance, these points are not included.
- Discarded subjective preference (weight 0): This point is a subjective preference and does not provide any specific feedback about the game itself. Therefore, it is not included in the summary.

Recommendations:
- Highly recommended JRPG experience (weight 0.72): The game is overwhelmingly recommended for both newcomers and fans of the series, especially those who enjoy JRPGs and turn-based combat. Many reviewers consider it a must-play title and a great entry point to the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, with Vengeance being the definitive version of SMT V.
- Similar to Pokemon/Persona, darker themes (weight 0.49): The game is frequently compared to Pokemon and Persona, with reviewers recommending it to fans of monster-collecting and turn-based combat. It's often described as a darker, more mature take on the Pokemon formula, with a focus on demon fusion and strategic team building.
- Worth buying, especially on sale (weight 0.35): Many reviewers recommend purchasing the game, especially during a sale, citing its replayability and engaging content. However, some suggest waiting for a discount due to the price, particularly for those who already own the original version.
- Mixed, some review bombing signs (weight 0.22): Some reviewers express extreme positive or negative sentiment without providing specific reasons, indicating potential review bombing. These reviews often use hyperbolic language and lack constructive feedback.
- Play both storylines if possible (weight 0.1): Reviewers suggest playing both the Canon of Creation and Canon of Vengeance storylines to experience the full narrative. While some recommend playing Creation first for context, others suggest Vengeance for a better initial experience, especially for those only planning one playthrough.
- Mixed feelings on re-release (weight 0.05): Some reviewers feel the re-release is unnecessary, especially for those who own the original, while others praise how Atlus handled it. There are also mixed opinions on the DLC and complete edition business model.
- Improved quality-of-life features (weight 0.05): The game includes quality-of-life improvements that make it more accessible to a wider audience. These enhancements contribute to a more complete and comfortable gaming experience.

Other player notes:
- Enhanced re-release of SMT V (weight 0.06): The game is an enhanced re-release of Shin Megami Tensei V, drawing comparisons to Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne and Persona 5 Royal. It retains the core of SMT V but with changes and additions. The game is set in Tokyo, a common location for Megami Tensei games.
- Two storylines: Creation and Vengeance (weight 0.05): The game features two distinct storylines: "Canon of Creation" (original) and "Canon of Vengeance" (new). "Canon of Vengeance" expands upon the original with new content, characters, and altered events, but it is recommended to play "Canon of Creation" first for context. The Steam version includes quality of life improvements.
- Lengthy, combat-focused, lacks auto-save (weight 0.04): The game is a lengthy, combat-focused experience with light story elements initially. It offers multiple difficulty levels and six different endings, encouraging replayability. The game lacks an auto-save feature.
- Mythological story of world reconstruction (weight 0.04): The game's story revolves around creation and destruction within a mythological setting, drawing upon religious, philosophical, and theological elements. The world is a post-apocalyptic Tokyo populated by mythological creatures from various cultures. The player's role is to rebuild the world.
- Wait for complete editions (weight 0.02): Some reviewers suggest waiting for complete editions of Atlus games due to their pattern of releasing enhanced versions later. Content updates are surprisingly free, a departure from Atlus's usual DLC approach. This point reflects a common sentiment regarding Atlus's release strategy.
- High school student becomes Nahobino (weight 0.02): The player character is a Japanese high school student who merges with a divine being to become a Nahobino. The story revolves around a war between angels and demons. The premise involves high school students shaping the world.
- Steam version has added content (weight 0.02): The Steam version of the game includes additional content and improvements compared to the original Nintendo Switch release. This includes new endings, story scenes, and bosses. Reviewers who played both versions highlight the added value of the Steam release.
- Demo version is available (weight 0.01): A demo version of the game is available, allowing players to try it before purchasing. The demo was added after some reviewers had already completed the game.
- Art style is subjectively old-fashioned (weight 0.01): The game's art style is noted as potentially appearing old-fashioned, which is subjective. The art style and background music blend dark and humorous elements. The art design is generally considered interesting.

Emotions:
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