Shin Megami Tensei V is currently in development for the Nintendo Switch, which may come as a surprise to longtime fans of the series. The gap between SMTIII and SMTIV was a substantial nine years, jumping from the PlayStation 2 to the Nintendo 3DS. The advancements between these two titles were few, with the latter actually taking a step back in representing its monsters as 2D portraits, but SMTIV was still very much a gargantuan Role-playing game, featuring 70-90 hours of gameplay, a fully-voice-acted story, and many monsters to obtain and unlock.
In many ways, SMTIV was meant to be a newcomer-friendly entry in the franchise, its fresh-faced party of human protagonists learn of the corruption and melancholy present in the various interconnected narratives of the SMT mythos just as the player descends into its punishing and rewarding gameplay systems (literally and figuratively). In some ways, the title’s narrative is mysterious and unsettling, ambiguous even in the majority of its four alternate endings. Despite feeling like a full-size Role-playing game crammed into a 3DS cartridge, however, SMTIV was not a perfect game. It’s narrative felt like a series of vignettes at times that continued to pose questions rather than answer them. Only if the player stuck to a rather difficult alignment were they able to have most of the plot revealed in more straightforward terms.
How might Atlus have salvaged this imbalance between representing a storied franchise while also remaining approachable? Conveniently enough, players need only look to it’s pseudo-sequel, SMTIV Apocalypse (Known as SMTIV Final), for that answer. While the protagonist Flynn from the original title was a newcomer to the customs and harsh realities of Tokyo, the protagonist of Apocalypse is instead a denizen of Tokyo himself, an "unclean one" in the eyes of the samurai of Mikado. This reversal of perspective allows the game to experiment with vastly different concepts in addition to those established in the first title. Reincarnation, the afterlife, possession, inheritance, and understanding are all subjects broached during the expanse retread of SMTIV's locales, and a cast of characters with a variety of unique traits are introduced in order to facilitate these narrative shifts.
There is no doubt that the original SMTIV was bleak. Its horrors are cosmic and hellish in nature, but the player is only able to understand them by playing through the neutral path of the game, being left in ignorance towards protagonist Flynn's true nature on any of the three other paths. Either of the two paths in Apocalypse shed light on the nature of both Nanashi and Flynn from the previous game. However, many of the characters in Apocalypse have roles similar to characters encountered in the original SMTIV, but their emphasized importance allows them to achieve character development throughout the game. This is something that SMTIV's somewhat black and white dichotomy of party members lacked, as the entire party hailed from Mikado. The culture and customs of that society were far more innocent and old-fashioned in nature, the concept of knowledge something of a forbidden fruit. In that sense, their ignorance and the multiple revelations that occur throughout SMTIV are somewhat justified (and may perhaps enhance the horrific nature of a number of them), but Apocalypse's ability to merge the worlds of Mikado, Tokyo, and elsewhere through its cast is more refreshing and grounded. While a number of the party members are a bit more cartoonish, they are likable due to actually having their own character arcs.
The added bonus, of course, is that the mechanical improvements of Apocalypse make party members a welcome inclusion. In addition, side quests and their completion are far easier, as is follow the narrative objectives, and some tight modifications to the way Smirking works make Apocalypse feel like the greater of the two titles. While it would be easy enough to follow the overarching narrative of both SMTIV and Apocalypse by playing the latter by itself, the comprehensive experience is one of the most impressive and extensive of the entire 3DS library of Japanese Role-playing games. Though Apocalypse adds a number of new areas, it still traces its way through SMTIV's version of Tokyo. Still, the amount of unique content spread across both titles and their dual-narrative nature make both titles must-plays on the system, even if Apocalypse feels liek the superior product. If you should feel somewhat lost while playing through SMTIV, take hope in the notion that all will eventually be revealed in Apocalypse, and hope that Atlus takes all the marked gameplay and narrative improvements in mind as they continue to work on Shin Megami Tensei V.
This article is part of an ongoing dialogue about narratives in Role-playing games running through the month of May. Did you enjoy a certain installment of SMTIV more than the other? Which Shin Megami Tensei title is your favorite? Who is the best: Isabeau, Asahi, or Toki? As always, we encourage discussion, so feel free to leave a comment below, or subscribe and share for more content.
How might Atlus have salvaged this imbalance between representing a storied franchise while also remaining approachable? Conveniently enough, players need only look to it’s pseudo-sequel, SMTIV Apocalypse (Known as SMTIV Final), for that answer. While the protagonist Flynn from the original title was a newcomer to the customs and harsh realities of Tokyo, the protagonist of Apocalypse is instead a denizen of Tokyo himself, an "unclean one" in the eyes of the samurai of Mikado. This reversal of perspective allows the game to experiment with vastly different concepts in addition to those established in the first title. Reincarnation, the afterlife, possession, inheritance, and understanding are all subjects broached during the expanse retread of SMTIV's locales, and a cast of characters with a variety of unique traits are introduced in order to facilitate these narrative shifts.
There is no doubt that the original SMTIV was bleak. Its horrors are cosmic and hellish in nature, but the player is only able to understand them by playing through the neutral path of the game, being left in ignorance towards protagonist Flynn's true nature on any of the three other paths. Either of the two paths in Apocalypse shed light on the nature of both Nanashi and Flynn from the previous game. However, many of the characters in Apocalypse have roles similar to characters encountered in the original SMTIV, but their emphasized importance allows them to achieve character development throughout the game. This is something that SMTIV's somewhat black and white dichotomy of party members lacked, as the entire party hailed from Mikado. The culture and customs of that society were far more innocent and old-fashioned in nature, the concept of knowledge something of a forbidden fruit. In that sense, their ignorance and the multiple revelations that occur throughout SMTIV are somewhat justified (and may perhaps enhance the horrific nature of a number of them), but Apocalypse's ability to merge the worlds of Mikado, Tokyo, and elsewhere through its cast is more refreshing and grounded. While a number of the party members are a bit more cartoonish, they are likable due to actually having their own character arcs.This article is part of an ongoing dialogue about narratives in Role-playing games running through the month of May. Did you enjoy a certain installment of SMTIV more than the other? Which Shin Megami Tensei title is your favorite? Who is the best: Isabeau, Asahi, or Toki? As always, we encourage discussion, so feel free to leave a comment below, or subscribe and share for more content.
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