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Forums > Submission Feedback > overdrive's Shin Megami Tensei IV review

This thread is in response to a review for Shin Megami Tensei IV on the 3DS. You are encouraged to view the review in a new window before reading this thread.

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Author: Follow_Freeman
Posted: March 02, 2018 (07:56 PM)
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SMT's design philosophy seems to be to have battles be 10% on-the-spot decision-making and 90% preparation. Sadly, the latter depends on getting destroyed repeatedly until you figure out what works, with copious amounts of menu navigation throughout. At least until you stumble upon an OP setup.

There's a thin line RPGs have to balance upon; avoiding gameplay that's just mashing the attack button, and avoiding gameplay that's grinding or trial-and-error. My favorite ones are games like F6 and Chrono Cross in which no grinding is required if you figure out a great setup, but you don't have to roll the dice or use spreadsheets like in SMT.

Fantastic review; does a great job of conveying problems difficult to put into words. Great job!


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Author: overdrive (Mod)
Posted: March 06, 2018 (12:08 PM)
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You know, that could be part of why these games don't necessarily click with me. I like strategy in my games, but so much of SMT's "strategy" boils down to "if you use the wrong element, you're dead; if you use the right element, you'll roll", which is more trial and error than actual strategy, as when you've figured out one enemy's weakness, you'll never struggle with them unless they get first strike or get placed in a battle with something that can repel/absorb that particular sort of attack.

In a couple years or so, I'll probably buckle down and play through Nocturne (started it once, but a mix of things, mostly personal issues, caused me to abandon it for something less in-depth), but I doubt I'll venture into this series again, unless I play a couple side-story style retro games.


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