I agree that SMT IV feels super unpolished and that the Smirk system is REALLY bad in it. The story isn't bad though and it has my favorite setting probably ever, but a lot of the factions are super underdeveloped and I think the story is more unfocused than it should be. Isabeau is also so lame 😭 Also the neutral ending... while I love it, the gameplay side of things is one of the worst SMT moments ever. Apocalypse has incredible gameplay minus like one new mechanic and makes Smirk really fun, but its worldbuilding does a bit of retconning, like the hunters are made out to be much more cooperative instead of the every man for themselves type thing IV seems to lean toward. And the script is bad. I hope you liked Vengeance! There are a lot of problems with its lore but a lot of people online love to label Yoko and Tao as bad characters because they have bad takes when that's the point of the SMT games so I hope you don't fall into that (tho obviously you can dislike them for other reasons)
I think calling SMT IV's story unfocused is a good way to put it. There are aspects of it I think are really strong or at least have potential but sadly end up going nowhere. I've heard great things about Apocalypse's gameplay and would like to give it more of a chance despite being offput by the writing. Probably won't be for a while though, playing SJ, IV, and VV back to back was a lot lol I had a blast with Vengeance, honestly. I'll save most of my thoughts for the video, but I did like how Yoko and Tao were handled overall.
great video i really agree with what you said about demon designs and the story feeling like its missing alot of development same with the characters. I do like SMT IV but to me is not as good as the PS2 megaten games and even the other handlend games like Strange Journey and Devil Survivor.
Thanks! The more megaten games I play the more I realize how stacked the PS2 era was, in part because they each feel like they had a cohesive vision. SMT IV's vision feels compromised for one reason or another which is unfortunate.
I agree that SMT IV feels super unpolished and that the Smirk system is REALLY bad in it. The story isn't bad though and it has my favorite setting probably ever, but a lot of the factions are super underdeveloped and I think the story is more unfocused than it should be. Isabeau is also so lame 😭 Also the neutral ending... while I love it, the gameplay side of things is one of the worst SMT moments ever.
Apocalypse has incredible gameplay minus like one new mechanic and makes Smirk really fun, but its worldbuilding does a bit of retconning, like the hunters are made out to be much more cooperative instead of the every man for themselves type thing IV seems to lean toward. And the script is bad.
I hope you liked Vengeance! There are a lot of problems with its lore but a lot of people online love to label Yoko and Tao as bad characters because they have bad takes when that's the point of the SMT games so I hope you don't fall into that (tho obviously you can dislike them for other reasons)
I think calling SMT IV's story unfocused is a good way to put it. There are aspects of it I think are really strong or at least have potential but sadly end up going nowhere.
I've heard great things about Apocalypse's gameplay and would like to give it more of a chance despite being offput by the writing. Probably won't be for a while though, playing SJ, IV, and VV back to back was a lot lol
I had a blast with Vengeance, honestly. I'll save most of my thoughts for the video, but I did like how Yoko and Tao were handled overall.
I remember having finished SMT4 Apocolypse back when i was 15 years old without knowing anything about SMT series or just JRPGs in general 😂
That must've been wild lol
great video i really agree with what you said about demon designs and the story feeling like its missing alot of development same with the characters. I do like SMT IV but to me is not as good as the PS2 megaten games and even the other handlend games like Strange Journey and Devil Survivor.
Thanks! The more megaten games I play the more I realize how stacked the PS2 era was, in part because they each feel like they had a cohesive vision. SMT IV's vision feels compromised for one reason or another which is unfortunate.
Hmmm, Battle Network 4....Shin Megami Tensei 4....I'm starting to notice a pattern. Something with the number 4 in there lol...
🙂↕️🤔
I've noticed that too in some cases. Definitely instances where the trend bucks but it's still funny lol