Around the 25 hour mark and I'm having a blast. Combat has been satisfying and difficulty somewhat fair on Hard mode, always keeping me on my toes.
Some scattered thoughts:
- I'm undecided on the "open world" maps and light platforming elements. It's all fresh for now but I wonder if they'll get annoying in repeat playthroughs. No labyrinthine dungeons either is a bummer although the second map appears to be more complex to navigate than the first so maybe it makes up for it in different ways.
- As someone who briefly played IV and skipped Apocalypse, it took me a while to figure out the affinity system. It is hardly noticeable in a low level party, when an extra press turn trumps casting a slightly more powerful spell, but starts to be relevant once MP costs ramp up and resource management becomes important. I like to cheese things by building uber mons but specialization seems to be key in this game, at least early on.
- Anything agility-related has been underwhelming: it doesn't affect initiative order nor help to evade attacks that much. I invest the bare minimum to avoid ambushes and that's it. Sukunda/Sukukaja skills are weird too, barely make a difference to accuracy and avoidance rates.
- Miracles are an interesting way to allow gameplay customizations. More focus on demon negotiation, party slots, magatsuhi manipulation, affinities and so on. On the other hand Essences are hit or miss, have a bunch of them full of useless/weak skills.
- Don't know what to make of the story. MC being all alone fending for himself in the long forgotten ruins of humanity's demise was a cool backdrop (a la Nocturne), only for LOREDUMP to happen.
- Killer soundtrack.
- Decent performance on Ryujinx with forced 1080p + improved lod + disabled AO
mod, highly recommended. There are spots that tank framerate though.
All in all, positive first impressions. Let's see if they last.
Man I am loving the mechanic where low-level demons run away from you. Not only does it feel dope, but also removes some of the tedium that exists in other SMTs when you go back to lower level areas
This gentleman would like to have a word with you:
Might as well be a cliff racer.