The New Classics #12: Shin Megami Tensei IV

 

The Backstory: A North-American-only physical release, which I imported way back in the days. I’ve long overcome the need to recoup every single game investment; and so, I can allow myself to be fully honest towards that game. I kinda knew the series’ basic gameplay mechanics, which are supposedly similar to the ones at work in my beloved The Lost Child; and so, I fully expected to have a blast with SMTIV. 

 

 

The Game: I certainly had a blast at first; I liked the game’s quick introduction and short tutorials, and I liked even more the fact that I was let loose in a dungeon after fifteen minutes of play. I wanted nothing more than to roam that dungeon to my heart’s content; however, the game was not exactly ready to humour me. 

 

 

See, SMTIV is hard. Like, ‘save every 30 seconds’ hard; like, ‘every battle could be your last’ hard. Mind you, I’m perfectly fine with that, as long as the game does allow me to save every 30 seconds — which SMTIV nicely does. However, it doesn’t stop there; it’s also ‘you need to strategize every step of the way’ hard. Foes are so powerful, even in the early stages, that using the elemental complementarity system to the fullest is kinda mandatory to win battles — or to survive them, for that matter. And guess what? I don’t like that, oh nooo precious. 

 

 

What I like even less is the fact that recruited demons evaporate and disappear from my party when they are knocked out cold. I don’t remember this happening in my beloved The Lost Child, which means that: a) fainted demons mercifully don't disappear in TLC, or b) TLC is so easy that my demons didn’t faint even once. In SMTIV, it takes a mere two blows to send a demon packing; and as recruitment is a bit tedious, you can’t replace them on the fly as smoothly as you’d like. 

 

 

  

The Verdict: I was left a bit disoriented and unsatisfied by my first foray into the MegaTen series. Combat feels kinda tedious, the demon collection gimmick really doesn’t resonate with me, and the game’s brand of ‘hard’ is not my cup of tea. Mind you, I’m not swearing off the series yet; now that I know what to expect, I’ll give each entry a quick try, and see if some of them strike my fancy. At any rate, SMTIV is no cult classic of mine; and as it’s a North-American game, I’ll gladly let it go.