This was my first SMT game and it was genuinely great. It was a lot of fun :)
Anywhere from the Story, Gameplay, Characters, World Design and Visuals. It feels completely unique and unlike any other Atlus game. I'll go over each one.
Story: The concept of slowly achieving demigod status in a land barren of life due to the destruction caused by the war between Angels and Demons is genuinely such a sick idea. It feels like a complete 180 from the stories of Persona/Metaphor and I think its pretty refreshing. I played the Canon of Vengeance route so I can't speak for the other route but it was really solid overall.
Gameplay: The more I play non Persona titles the more I think press turn is the superiour system, It genuinely feels more fun and engaging in any way. It feels like I have to think more about what I do and I get rewarded if I play well and punished if I play poorly. I would like to see press turn in a modern persona game one day, I think it could be a nice change of pace.
The addition of Compendium Fusion is a great feature and hopefully will become a must have feature in all future Atlus titles, it is genuinely so simple yet so genius. It makes the act of fusing a thousand times more enjoyable, the fact that you no need to look up a fusion calculator online is so nice. I ended up fusing roughly 82% of the total compendium which is way more than I usually do in other Atlus titles, by the end I kept fusing not even because I needed new demons but just because it was fun and I felt like it, I just really liked fusing lol.
Demon negotiations are also quite fun.
Difficulty wise it felt kinda weird, the beginning was kinda challenging but after I got to the mid and then late game and got access to more powerful passive and skills I ended up dying less and less to the point that I barely died at all. It was also around the time where I got pretty OP and was able to decimate through everything in my path with relative ease. But then again I won't lie and say that it wasn't fun lol.
I do wish however that you could swap from Normal to Hard difficulty midway through a playthrough.
The game wasnt too grindy but I do wish it was easier to get money, I found myself constantly running out of Macca after like 3 fusions :( It wasn't the end of the world and it made finding Macca that much more exciting but I do wish it was easier to get Macca. compare that to Persona 3/5 where you can end up with Millions of Yen without any problem.
Characters: The characters were really cool and memorable, I genuinely loved a ton of them.
[spoiler] Anywhere from Tao and Yoko, to Yuzuru and Miyazu to Aogami and Tsukiyomi to even some demons like Hayataro and Amanazako. [/spoiler] They all brought something and I felt like they were all a great addition to the game. I cared about all of them and I was invested in their story.
World Design and Visuals:
The world genuinely looked great, I loved the artstyle of the ruined Tokyo and every place felt similar but also unique enough to explore.
It was also relatively straightforward to navigate but I did find myself frequently saying "how on earth do I get up there" every time there was a miman/treasure/amalgam in an awkward location. But usually the solution was to just keep exploring and you will most likely find a way to get up there.
Overall I would recommend this game if you're looking for a JRPG to play and if you've liked previous Atlus games you'll most likely enjoy this one. But you could probably start with this one as your first Atlus game and you'll still enjoy it.
I would like to play more SMT games one day, they definitely look fun :)
