Just wrapped up at about 52 hours, with the 4th (True?ish?) ending, doing just about every side thing I saw, optional bosses, all that jazz.
I’m a fan of pretty much every change to the battle mechanics, the essence system made it easier to let go of and not hold on to demons just because they had one good skill I might want for someone else later, and made for a lot of fun customization of the player character. As a byproduct I do think the game lands on the easier side of the SMT scale, but I’m all for that in the name of fun and the variety of viable builds it allows.
I mostly agree with the sentiment here re: the world map, kind of just feels like they had to pad it out in SMT’s big return to 3D on a non (exclusively) hand-held console. Story and the characters (in particular), didn’t do much for me. Although that’s never really been a draw for me in the entries with “the good ones” either. I’m starting to think you could probably just do an SMT game with a narrator and no dialogue between human beings and that’d be just fine.
It’s easier to focus on the newer stuff that doesn’t quite land, but the core game that I love is still there, and better than ever in some respects. It’s still one of the best games I’ve played this year, all things considered.
