I'm at the end of the third area in the Canon of Vengeance campaign and so far I'm extremely satisfied. This is seriously competing for the top spot of my favorite SMT game. The changes to the story are subtle but plenty at first, then really deviate by the second and third area, with the third area of the original game being completely replaced with a new Vengeance exclusive area. Characters are fleshed out and better realized here with plenty of moments forshadowed earlier via character actions, passing dialogue from other NPCs, or even brand new side quests. All of this is new and easy to miss, but compared to the original version these characters feel much more complete. This also applies to the story and themes. Conflicting ideologies has always been central to the stories of mainline SMT and this aspect is just far better realized here, partly due to the Guest system. Two characters with conflicting ideals travel with you for the majority of your journey with both of them chiming in not just at major story events but even minor sidequests, with you being asked for your input frequently. This is a farcry from the alignment system (or lack there of) in original SMT V, and does a much better job of selling the characters and conflicts of this story. Speaking of which, the new character Yoko really fits this cast and story like a glove. She feels like the missing piece of SMT V's original cast and challenges everyone's resolve. From what I've seen so far, its really obvious that she was always supposed to be there and unfortunately just got cut during the rewrites. Gameplay changes are similarly subtle but add up in a big way. Demons having innate skills is a real game changer and adds a layer of depth when team building similar to what you'd find in a card game like Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh. Build variety has also been significantly improved thanks to all the new skills, demons, and Magatsuhi skills. Demon Haunts adds more flavor to your mons and brings stat bonuses that makes it easier than ever to continue using your favorite demon if you just can't bring yourself to fuse them away. Something I don't see talked about enough is how all of these changes actually improve the gameplay balancing rather than completely breaking it the way Persona 5 Royal does. The difficulty remains challenging throughout. When you factor in all these story and character changes to the gameplay changes, the result is just a very fun mainline SMT, that while not perfect, is far better than the original.

this will be my first playthrough of smt v , glad i waited for complete edition, currently finishing smt: nocturne remaster

Yes! It is! I’m 27 hours in and can’t stop

This feels like (earned benefit of the doubt) the version they originally wanted to make.

I missed it when it first came out so I'm looking forward to picking this up.

It feels like a whole new game to me.

It does change alot more after where you are tbh, it makes it a different experience so far to me

I only played the original for about five hours and I’m playing the new one now and I see enough differences to be worth having started over again. I’m enjoying my play through much more with some of the changes like the human characters and such is totally worth another $90 Canadian I don’t know but I’m enjoying my time with it immensely

Stiil have my switch versiom sealed… so many games to play is getting hard to manage the backlog. I Think i’ll get the ps5 version for the enhanced graphics tysm fornthe review Derek

Imo yes and it looks amazing on PS5

Tbh feeling of loneliness is the main shtick of entire smt series. I mean its an apocalypse, after all

I have not played the original. HOWEVER: Considering how integral the new characters of Yoko and the Qadištu, I can say that Canon of Vengeance will significantly change how the story plays out. There may be overall the same beats more or less, but I don't see how it couldn't make a substantial difference. But again, this is said only playing Canon of Vengeance.

So if I buy the game I should just go through the path of vengeance route even if I haven’t played the base game ?

0:48 Yes, if you pick Canon of Qadištu bootiness route. 😏 And I'm actually enjoying more this route, than the vanilla one.

I never finished my first playthrough of the original game and holy heck I love the second story path.

Ah, the ol' "It's been in my backlog so long it has a remaster" I do wanna play through the original first, but that just means I'll have three unique playthroughs of an awesome game!

Played the original release of SMTV extensively with two full playthroughs, and though I didn't 'Complete' the game, I got pretty close to 100%. Vengeance is absolutely worth playing. The first few hours definitely feel like you're playing the original game with some small to medium changes and new characters, but the second half of the game is significantly different in ways I won't further spoil here. Combine that with quality of life updates, 60fps, about 40 new demons, new aesthetics, new locations, and a bunch of other great stuff and I'd say it's a must play for fans.

So if I never played the original, should I start with the newer campaign or start with the original?

Definitely summed up where I'm leaning with my wallet on this one. To me, the new demon additions, characters, and character design are very enticing but I feel a little cheated having already played through the original to see a new definitive edition come out so early at full price. It's definitely on my list of "wait until it's 20 bucks."

The answer is yes.

People really need to play the game at least 30 hours in to see the major changes in the narrative before reviewing it. You barely even get past Minato 10 hours in.

ordered my copy and it's my first smt entry .. as a persona series fan

Flatout this is worth it.

My big question is: if you've never played it, will new game plus allow you to do the second route faster?

I loved the "original" SMTV. Put over 100 hours in it. Still not sure on a repurchase, but you kinda sum up my doubts. Likely pass on for now. Maybe if your next/updated review is more positive I might change my mind. Thanks for this video.

I'm at level 68, 100 hours in and love it theres a ton if demons each comes with their own attitude. Def worth the price of admission on the PS5

Yeah

I was thinking about buying the original SMT 5, so I would assume I should go with this one? Also, I have never played any of the other SMT games. Is this one OK to jump into? I know it is on the more difficult side, but that does not bother me. Also, I do not care about the story, just the game play.

I already played the game 3 times to get all "maria" versions. I just don't have it in me to re-buy the game again, rebuy the dlc again, and put in the time to fully capitalize on the money spent.

I repurchased it again on the switch and ps5

I’d love to hear some final thoughts if you actually keep playing this. I know it’s a decent sized game but taking 30 hours or so to really mix things up in a new campaign seems like egregiously long. I barely replay long games as it is, give me a reason to keep playing earlier than that.

So your paying 60-70 dollars for 2-3 hours of story scenes and some quality of life improvements that should have been in the game already! Sounds like an Atlus game to me lol! I guess it could be worse! Could be a something like a DLC that already existed in a previous version of the game for 40 dollars, at least Atlus would never be that much a bad company and if they were no one would be dumb enough to buy it right?!?!

Do i need to play the standard edition to understand this one ? 😂

Smt4 still better

Why TF would you make a review video before you can even recommend or justify the purchase?

Sega’s last game on Xbox

tl;dr Derek has only played 10 hours and can't answer the question stated in the title of the video.

Its not that its not worth it but when you charge people full price in a year with rpgs like ff7 rebirth, unicorn overlord, persona 3 reload, elden ring expansion, paper mario remake, dragons dogma 2 etc that is a hard sell to me. And when you already bought SMT 5 at full price last time, paying full price again isnt exactly working on me this time over. However, if I didnt play&finish smt 5 back on switch, I think this game is def a buy. The world was very depressing, but im glad I did the journey, but going back to that world again? its a hard sell

Persona over SMT.