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What kind of game do you think Persona 5 The Royal is?

"Packaged games sold 10.28 million units in the fiscal year, an increase over last year’s 9.22 million and this was thanks to the launch of mainstay titles including Total War: Warhammer, the latest entry of the Total War series that is super popular in Europe, and has sold more than 20 million copies in 16 years. Persona 5, the new installment of the Persona series, also had a strong performance, as you might recall Atlus announcing last month that it shipped out 1.5 million copies worldwide." This is really impressive considering the fact that Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces has yet to come out. 2017 is the year for Sega to redeem themselves as a loved publisher!

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I’m a tremendous fanboy of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise ever since playing SMT IV in 2013 but I won’t spend much time gushing about that game so instead I’ll shamelessly plug my two reviews of the game and it’s sequel http://kh13.com/forum/topic/93815-metal-snake-reviewsshin-megami-tensei-iv/ http://kh13.com/forum/topic/101337-shin-megami-tensei-iv-apocalypse-re In 2015 I managed to get into the Persona spin-off series of games with Persona 4 Golden on the Ps Vita.It took me a whole summer to finish the game and I loved my time with it so much.For a while P4 was on my top 3 favorite games of all time and it’s still a game I love to death but some issues with the game’s structure and pacing that set it a bit back from being my favorite SMT game. And then Persona 5 finally arrived,after quite the long development cycle and a gap between the Japanese and English releases that lasted for more than a half a year.I spent well over 98 hours playing the game non-stop for almost two months and marathoned most of it during the last two weeks(I played 12 hours a day and couldn’t stop playing) And man.....oh man did I never see it coming(literally) . The Fabulous Phantom Thieves of Hearts In the year of 20XX(eyy look it’s the Mega Man calendar) you are a 16 year old student who got unjustly sued for a crime he didn’t commit and as a result you have been transferred to Shujin Academy in Tokyo under the care of Sojiro Sakura and immediately you’re ostracized by society for your supposed criminal record and things has just started to get worse for you as both you and one of your classmate accidentally discovers the metaverse in which you meet the talking cat Morgana who explains that you’ve been stumbled into a palace formed from the distorted desires of Kamoshida,an abusive teacher with a history of violence and sexual harassment towards his students,eventually you’ll meet Ann Takamaki,the half-American girl who’s one of Kamoshida’s victims as the three of you work together with Morgana to use the metaverse in order to steal Kamoshida’s treasure in the metaverse from his shadow which would result into a change of heart that would force him to confess his crimes.And thus the Phantom Thieves of Hearts were formed.A group hellbent on enacting a social reform in which they change the hearts of rotten corrupted adults and give hope to people who’ve been ostracized by society the same way they were. If this synopsis of the beginning of Persona 5 sounds much more exciting and eventful than Persona 4’s very slow prologue to you,then that’s because the game has a much better pacing for it’s story compared to the previous two games in the series.In Persona 4 it took 8 hours of barely anything happening just to get to the first dungeon,but in Persona 5 right from the first hour you’re thrusted into Kamoshida’s palace to start exploring the dungeon.Sure it had it’s tutorial heavy moments but they were much better paced throughout the dungeon and the pace felt more fluid and natural than it was in Persona 3 and 4.And for the most part the game keeps the excellent pacing as you progress through the story,explore the palaces & mementos,bonding with the confidants(the new social links) scattered throughout Tokyo.....etc. But what I love the most about Persona 5 is the dark and disturbing themes about society that it tackles.From it’s main theme of enslavement by a fate unjustly set for you, to suicide,depression, plagiarism and even politics later on and even themes that used to be only in the mainline SMT games.In a way Persona 5 harkens back to it’s Shin Megami Tensei roots more than any game in the series since Persona 2.It’s basically the best of both worlds where it feels close to it’s SMT roots while keeping what made the Persona games so beloved in the first place.Combine that with an excellent cast of characters from your party members to the different confidants you bond with throughout the game who feel much more fleshed out and relatable than previous games and you get one of the best stories you could ever find in a video game in my opinion.But the greatness of Persona 5 doesn’t stop here my friends cuz it gets even better Watch out for that chalk piece,ya'll need some mad charm and proficiency to dodge it Just a refreshment for those who haven’t kept up with the series:The modern Persona games from 3 onward are split into two halves:The social simulator part where you go around,do part time jobs,study along other activities all while trying to increase your social stats and bond with many NPCs through Social links.The other half is classic SMT dungeon crawling where you explore dungeons,fight demons,recruit them to make powerful Personas that you can fuse in the Velvet Room where Igor and his assistants resides, and do classic JRPG turn based combat. The social part of Persona 5 has been significantly improved compared to P3 and 4 in almost every way thanks to the Confidants(The new name for the links here) as almost each and everyone of them provides you with lots of benefits in and outside of battles.For example: Progressing through Mishima’s Confidant link will allow your party members in stock to gain experience even if they’re not used in battle(think EXP.Share from Pokemon Gen 6 and onward),progressing through Ohya’s will lower the security level increase when exploring palaces(which I’ll get to soon),while going through Dr.Takemi’s Confidant will give you huge discounts for healing items in the clinic shop on top of making very OP healing items like the Life Ointment which fully heals one fallen party member and it’s cheap to buy too....and the list just goes on. This is excellent as it gives the player even more incentive to seek all the confidants to link with everyone one of them(though most you won’t be able to until New Game+) on top of what I mentioned earlier about the confidants having more interesting stories behind them than most of the Social links in P3 and 4.On top of that the game gives you a much bigger time frame to link with them as it gets rid of the huge time skips that were in 3 and 4.To give some context,in P3 and 4 sometimes during the plot the game will just skip a whole month or two and that’s not even in the end of the game which barely gave you enough time to bond with anyone beyond your party members as you need some high social stats just to start some links so those random time skips were a really bad game design for games that puts a huge emphasis on time management. In Persona 5 however that issue has been fixed *for the most part* as the game gives you a lot of time and won’t skip a single day on you without your consent which gives you a lot more time to manage your links with your trips to the Palaces and Mementos(more on that soon).Unfortunately though, Persona 5 still kinda suffer from the same issue of having some links be very demanding when it comes to social stats.For example,just to progress through the halfway point of Makoto’s confidant link you need max level 5 charm which,unless you already took part time job and knew which magazines to purchase to increase those stats,it’s gonna take a really long time to increase those especially when you’re trying to increase other stats like Kindness and knowledge and that can be pretty cumbersome to manage especially if you were planning to romance a demanding link like Makoto. But besides that I’ve had a pretty good time with the revamped social sim features in Persona 5 and it’s overall much better than previous games despite few things that needed some more polish Studying at day,Fighting demons and pulling heists in the afternoon.Just another normal day for a highschoolar As the leader of the Phantom Thieves,your dungeon experience is divided between two types of dungeons:The Palaces in which you invade to steal the distorted desire of the corrupt adult that the group is currently targeting, and the depths of Mementos,the palace of the general public of Tokyo in which you do sidequests submitted on the Phansite and explore the randomly generated dungeon layouts. If you noticed that I bundled the randomly generated dungeons with Mementos in that statement.That’s because unlike the previous two games,Persona 5 goes back to a more traditional and more refined SMT dungeon crawling experience as the Palaces,the main dungeons in the story,are not randomly generated like how Tartarus from Persona 3 or the TV world from Persona 4 used to be.Each palace has a set number of floors and each floor has it’s own map lay out and studying them can ease your exploration a great deal especially when you’re going for hidden chests scattered around the palaces. Demons\Shadows roam around and you can ambush them by utilizing the game’s cover system to hide then jump on them to initiate a preemptive strike before battle which works pretty well for the most part.Some floors have safe rooms in which you can heal, save the game(think of them like the safe rooms from Final Fantasy IV),teleport to previously visited floors and exit the palace if you want to.When you explore a palace be aware of your alert meter as it fills up everytime an enemy finds you and if it reaches 99%(which rarely happens if you’re careful)you’ll be automatically kicked out of the palace to try another day.The goal of each palace is to locate the treasure that represent the palace’s master’s(A.K.A the Shadow-self of the corrupted target) What sets Persona 5 apart from the previous games and every other SMT game out there is how stylish and beautiful the aesthetics of the palaces you explore are and the variety of themes each palace is centered around as you go from a castle to a museum to an ancient pyramid to a floating bank in the sky to firetrucking Spaceship and casino.It makes exploring each palace more and more exciting as you progress through the game and anticipate what’s the next palace gonna look like.Sure Persona 4 sorta had that with the TV world but the randomly generated layout doesn’t take any advantage from it,but in Persona 5(which has actual dungeon design) makes much more use of it to showcase different scenarios during the cutscenes,some decent puzzle solving and storywise tells you more about that person’s psyche and how they see the world around them in a much better way than Persona 4 The only gripe I have with the Palaces is the fact that you can’t go back to a palace once you steal it’s treasure and enact the change of heart.Sure story-wise it makes sense but if you’re a completionist this can be a bit of a nightmare if you’re going for a 100% playthrough as you gotta make sure you get every chest and collect every demon you can possibly get(tho most of them respawn in mementos so don’t worry) before fighting the Palace’s boss.Another nitpick I have is how often your progress can be interrupted by a cutscene while playing,it’s not bad in most dungeons but it can get a bit obnoxious in later parts of the game. You'll never see it COMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!BY THE time it hits you,YOUR LAST SURPRISE The battle system of Persona 5 still utilizes the Press-Turn system that was introduced in SMT3 Nocturne and was later modified for every Persona game from 3 onward in which if you hit an enemy with their weakness you get an extra turn to keep attacking the other enemies.But Persona 5 adds even more tweaks to streamline it and make it more fun to play and more accessible.For example once you register an enemy’s weakness you can press R1 to automatically target the enemy’s weakness and switch to the Persona in your stock that has the spell you can use to exploit it.It might sounds like a little addition but it helps keeping up the pace of battle without needing to scroll through the menus every time you enter a battle. The Memetastic Fantastic battle UI Another change that I absolutely love is the new battle UI. Now each command is mapped to a different button which grants you a much quicker access to them without scrolling through menus like before as X is used for normal physical attacks,Up on the D-pad for guns,Triangle for Personas,Square for Items and Circle for guarding.It helps a lot especially when you’re grinding and this speeds up the monotony of the process and makes it much faster and less tedious especially since now the animations for persona summoning and attacking plays much faster compared to previous games in the Persona series which keeps up the pace for the game as smooth as a console turn based JRPG can get Hey Pix,wanna become my new fancy mask Demon negotiation is back and it’s a feature that the main series is more known for but was also featured in Persona 1 and 2 before it got dropped in 3 and 4 when the demons were dropped for Shadows. Once you knock down all demons by either hitting their weaknesses or landing a critical hit you’ll issue a Hold Up in which you have two choices,initiate an All-Out-Attack to deal massive damage or start a negotiation.Negotiation here is much more simplified than what was in previous SMT games especially P1 and 2.You can ask for three things:Ask for the demon to join you and become a Persona,ask for money or ask for an items. If you choose to ask the demon to join you you’ll need to answer two questions and how each demons responds depend on the attitude listed on a demon when you examine them.You can ease the negotiation process even further by finishing the confidant links of your party member in which sometimes they’ll interrupt the conversation if you’re failing and force the demon to give you a second chance. I love that they brought demon negotiation back because I couldn’t stand Shuffle Time from Persona 3 and 4 where the Persona you’d get is entirely dependent on a random drop at the end of a battle and that’s assuming you could get Shuffle Time in the first place so I’m so glad they brought it back heck the fact that demons are back as enemies is a huge plus for me as it’s better than the bland heartless-esque shadows from the previous two games. Buuut I have a nitpick with the negotiation process in P5.Because of how much the process has been simplified,you’ll find it more likely to encounter demons that would respond to your answers the same way as a previous demon you just encountered a few moments ago especially since they don’t demand item and money like usual.That and the fact you can only issue a negotiation if you knocked the enemy down which makes trying to obtain low level Personas a bit of a pain if you’re looking for one to use in fusion. In terms of length,Persona 5 clocks around 100 hours on average if you’re playing on normal difficulty or lower which is longer than Persona 4 by an additional 20 hours added.And while the game was paced much better than the previous two games and I personally didn’t find it an issue,I can see why the game’s length might feel a bit too bloated to some as there are some scenes and dialogue that the game could’ve done easily without like a lot of the phone group chats that most of the time have characters either summarizing what you just did or them saying the same thing a lot of times just with different sentences Slaughter your enemies with STYLE Graphically speaking,the game utilizes a modified version of the engine Atlus used for their first HD outing Catherine(For Ps3 and Xbox 360) as the game was originally developed for Playstation 3 before the Ps4 version was in development.The game looks more or less the same between the two versions only that the Ps4 version plays in a higher resolution.While the game won’t set any records in polygon count or raw graphical power compared to other Ps4 games,Persona 5 totally makes up for it with it’s unique art design. This game oozes with style in almost every corner.From the creative use of the game’s primary color choice of Red,White and Black,to the stylish battle UI,to the animated cutscenes(produced by Production I.G) especially the opening,to the finishing screens that each character has after an all-out-attack,to even the freakin menus including both your main menu and the menus for the Clinic and weapon shops.It nails the feeling of being in a comic book\manga and it’s so pleasing to look at especially when you traverse through the beautifully designed palaces.It’s the most beautiful looking Shin Megami Tensei game I’ve ever seen and I can’t wait to see what they can do in future titles like SMT 5 and hopefully Persona 6 The soundtrack for Persona 5 is once again composed by long-time SMT\Persona composer Shoji Meguro who’s been composing for the franchise ever since Persona 1 and his first big contribution to Atlus with the soundtrack of SMT3 Nocturne and Persona 3. The game has around 110 tracks in total and my God......they nailed it. This is,in my opinion,Meguro’s magnum opus and the best soundtrack that I’ve ever listened to in a Persona game by far.From the jazzy tunes like the Bank Palace’s theme “Price” to the amazingly catchy J-pop songs like the game’s main battle theme “The Last Surprise”, endgame songs like “Rivers in the Desert” to my favorite vocal theme in the entire game “Life will change” which plays in the last part of a palace leading to the treasure,to the soothing “Beneath The mask” theme that plays in Tokyo to emotional set pieces like “Regret” and “Alley Cat” ....the list goes on.It’s simply a masterpiece that I just keep humming even after turning the game off. And the best part about it is that,it didn’t go overboard with the vocal themes like in the previous two games where they felt like they should shove Lotus Juice(the band that did the vocal songs for P3 and 4) songs into every part of the games.The fact that I can listen to The Last Surprise over and over again and still keep on humming it afterwards compared to “Mass Destruction” from P3 that I got so sick of after two times listening to or the tiring “Reach out to the Truth” from P4 is just a testament to the quality of Persona 5’s soundtrack and I can’t wait until I get my hands on a physical disc of it and download all of it on iTunes. A 100+ hours adventure that I hoped it would never end.It's just that good What more can I just say that hasn’t already been said my many reviewers out there and by this overly long review that I just wrote? Persona 5 is simply a masterpiece that is rare to find something that can compare to it within the genre besides examples like Xenoblade in both this and the previous generation of consoles.When I started playing this game I kept playing 12 hours a day everyday Until I finished the game within two weeks.Rarely can any other game keep me this hooked besides an expertly crafted game within the Shin Megami Tensei franchise and P5 is just another reason why I adore and love SMT so much. Let me put it this way,my friend Pauric,who never played a Persona or SMT game before,managed to play and enjoy Persona 5 alongside me and we had a ton of fun conversing and theorizing about the game together.That’s how accessible this game is and I’m so glad Atlus is keeping the trend going ever since the release of Shin Megami Tensei IV And unlike a certain other game that came out last year that was a decade in the making yet came out unfinished,Persona 5 is absolutely worth the wait through all the delays that happened. I can’t stress enough how much of an excellent job the series’s director Katsura Hashino and his team have done in crafting this game.If you have a Playstation 3 or Playstation 4,please do yourself a favor and give this game a shot.It’s absolutely worth every penny of it’s price even if you’ve never played a Persona \SMT game before,as long as your approaching it with an open mind,you’ll be having the time of your life and the game will surely

From Siliconera "Atlus teased a new Radiant Historia game earlier tonight, and this week’s issue of Famitsu magazine reveals it as Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology, a full remake of the original game with new scenario on 3DS. No furhter information was revealed other than Perfect Chronology being a full remake of the Nintendo DS RPG on 3DS. Additional details including a game overview and new elements for the remake will be revealed in the magazine. Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology releases in Japan on June 29, 2017 for Nintendo 3DS." ... if this doesn't interest you about the game, I'll tell you what will, Yoko Shimomura! She's composed the entire soundtrack for the game. Go support this remake once it releases! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICvr93Bz1S4

For those of you who are interested in the Valkyria Chronicles franchise, Sega has kindly decided to release this game to the west for 2017 for PS4/Xbox One and PS Vita. For those who are not aware, Atlus USA and Sega USA work in the same office so I can guarantee you that Atlus helped influence this decision. I'm going to get the game to support Sega releasing more of their Japanese franchises to the west.

He said that if Sonic 2017 is a critical failure, the Sammy division are going to make a Pachinko franchise out of him and he'll never see the light of day in the console market ever again. He also said that the real reason why Persona 5 was delayed by Atlus USA because the dubbing team memes weren't dank enough on social media so they have to put that game on halt so they can make meme-ing great again!

If you know me well you’ll know that I LOOOOOOOOVE Shin Megami Tensei IV on the 3DS. It was my very first game in the Megami Tensei franchise and ever since I played it in 2013 I became a huge fan of Atlus and was further solidified when I played Persona 4 Golden last year which is another game I adore and love to death. Fast forward to October of 2015 and Atlus announced the continuation for Shin Megami Tensei IV titled:Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse(Known as SMT4 Final in Japan) which was released on February 10th in Japan and September 20th in North America with a European release in Winter of 2016.Needless to say I was hyped beyond belief for this game ever since it’s announcement and I got it day one and played it non-stop on my 3DS up to the time I’m writing this review in and what do I think of it?Well it’s easy to just tell you my obvious verdict of it but let’s leave that to the end shall we ? He's voiced by the Smash Bros announcer by the way,so feel free to write the joke yourself The story of Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse takes place during the neutral route of the original SMTIV but it’s a branching alternate continuity from what the original ending is supposed to be where a hunter cadet named Nanashi dies an untimely death by the hands of demons working for Lucifer.But before his soul pass through the Yomotsu Hirasaka,he’s met by the Irish god Dagda who offers to revive him in exchange of Nanashi becoming his own Godslayer.Thus Nanashi gets another chance in life,saves his childhood girlfriend Asahi and gets involved in an all-out war between humans,angels and demons............that is until an organization of gods named the Divine Powers enters the seen to interrupt the war between Merkabah and Lucifer(forcing the two to enter a temporary truce)and kidnaps Flynn,the hero of the previous SMTIV,and announce their plan of bringing Salvation to all.......what kind of salvation you may ask?Well you have to play the game to find out cuz that’s all I can spoil of the story While I do love the plot for Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse a lot(except for the endgame of one of the routes),the game though attempts what it has to be the most divisive twist on the alignment system ever since the Reasons from SMTIII Nocturne.Since the game continues from the Neutral route of the original SMTIV,your primary choice of alignments is two variations on the neutral alignment:Peace and Anarchy.Those are the two primary alignments to choose from in the game with two possible Law and Chaos endings on the side that references the other two possible choices from the previous game.While I do love Peace and Anarchy since it brings a new interesting twist on an alignment that was usually portrayed as the go-to choice,it might not set well with other parts of the MegaTen fandom who’re fans of either Law and Chaos so part of your enjoyment of the plot might depend on what do you think of neutrality as an alignment and whether or not you’re willing to accept a game focusing solely on it.My only real big complaint about the plot(and the game so far) is something that I don’t wanna spoil but it’s the reasoning for fighting the final boss for one of the two primary alignment which is an issue that extends to the entire mainline SMT series to be honest but other than that,I really love the game’s story especially the cast of characters that follows you on your journey: From left to right:Nozomi,Hallelujah,Gaston,Asahi,Nanashi and Toki Asahi,Navarre(who returns from SMT4 after he died a very pathetic death),Halellujah,Gaston,Toki,Nozomi(who also returns from SMT4).All of which are very well written and some of them goes through some pretty good character development(which is a rare occurance for mainline SMT titles since they focus more on world building than the individual character)and I love their interactions with each other.Overall regardless of the issues the story might have the characters are more than makes up for it and I really couldn’t be any happier. GIVE ME BACK MY MACCA YOU NEKOS I won’t spend time explaining how gameplay mechanics work in SMTIV Apocalypse since it’s more or less the same as the original SMTIV so I’ll just link my old SMTIV review in case newcomers who might read this and were confused about the game’s mechanics and we’ll move on to the changes:https://www.google.com/url?q=http://kh13.com/forum/topic/93815-metal-snake-reviewsshin-megami-tensei-iv/&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwj3i53G7vDPAhXLXBQKHQKgAT4QFggGMAE&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNEFHXYGsla4oaNnm5UXq0R9c1kYcg There are a couple of changes that were implemented to the battle system since the original SMTIV.For example smirking has been balanced\nerfed so that it wasn’t as broken as before where it used to give you perfect evasion and double your attack stats.Instead Smirking now only negates the weakness you or your demon has for one turn or until you attack and once you attack you have a guaranteed critical hit but keep in mind that this also applies to your enemies as they can do the same to you.Certain spells like Antichton that used to have overpowered secondary effects now have their effects tied to smirking.Demons now have affinities that determines how good or bad they are at utilizing certain spells.For example if your demon is weak yo the ice spell bufu then them casting an ice spell would be much weaker than that of a demon specialized in ice spells regardless of how high it’s magic stats are.Buffs and debuffs spells works the same way depending on if your demon is good at casting spells like Tarukaja or Rakunda.All that can be seen on the stats screen when you examine the demons.Demon fusion more or so works the same way except that now some demons have their own exclusive skills that only them can learn and they can’t pass it on to another demon through fusion or to you through whispering Phew,glad that those bastards are easier to negotiate with now Demon negotiations have actually been improved compared to the last game or well.......the mainline series in general.Should a demon bail on you during negotiation for one reason or another,if you happen to find the same demon later and negotiate with them,the conversation will carry on from where you stopped last time or sometimes they’d recognize you and join you instantly.That’s a change that I welcome with open arms because,while I do like demon negotiation,it was one of the most frustrating aspects about the the Megami Tensei franchise and I’m so glad that it has been updated. Finally,partners that aren't useless and are very helpful in battle Another change to the battle system is how the partner system works.In the original SMTIV the partners you had a really bad AI and they ends up screwing you over in battle then be of any help,not only that but the game picks one of them at random each battle.But Thankfully that isn’t the case in Apocalypse.You can select any partner you want and each of them specializes in a certain aspect of battle.Asahi is a healer,Navarre specializes in buffs and debuffs(He’s by far the best partner in the game ironically ),Nozomi specializes in Gun attacks and inflecting Status ailments,Gaston and Toki specializes in physical attacks.....etc.And unlike the original SMTIV your partners have actual competent AI and each of them are useful in their own way depending on how you approaches your battles(Except Gaston though cuz he literally steals your turns for himself) The mapper has been significantly improved from the last game.I have to admit that for as much as I love the original SMTIV the map in that game was so bad and later in postgame it was more confusing than helpful.Now in Apocalypse the map looks clearer and not only it displays the name of each location in Tokyo on the map.It also puts a flag mark telling you where to go next to progress the story so that you can explore at your own leisure and pace without the fear of getting lost and confused.Going through the different regions of Tokyo was also improved as the Hunter Association opens shortcut bridges between each region as you progress through the game so you don’t have to always rely on terminals advance to the next area or the next sidequest. What I love the most about all the changes in SMT Apoclaypse however is it’s accessibility when it comes to difficulty spikes.It’s the most welcoming entry in the mainline series for newcomers to get into and while that might be a turn off for veterans of the series it helps bring more new fans as the difficulty scales properly instead of having an absurdly hard first boss that can cause a newbie to ragequit in anger(Looking at you Matador and Minotaur).It’s still a hard game to beat don’t get me wrong it’s still has the challenge you expect from a Shin Megami Tensei game but it opens the door for the fandom to grow in numbers when something as accessible as Apocalypse exist I don’t really need to say much about the graphics as the game uses the exact same engine as the original SMTIV and the different locales of Tokyo are still the same as they were in the original game with some new locations added and some changes to old ones. The soundtrack is once again composed by Ryota Kozuka who composed the soundtrack for the original SMTIV.While there are a lot of amazing new tracks the game still contain and uses the entirety of the soundtrack from the original game so if you loved Ryota’s composition in the original you’re gonna feel right at home here as the soundtrack is still as magnificent as ever with mixes between techno,metal and sometimes some orchestral beats makes this soundtrack an absolute joy to listen to.I have the soundtrack of the original SMTIV and I can’t wait to buy the one for Apocalypse whenever I get to purchase it. The localization and voice acting for the game is superb as expected from the localization team at Atlus and stellar performances for most actors especially Xander Mobus as Dagda cuz he’s by far my favorite voice actor in the entire game I’m sorry if I sounded a bit fanboyish and biased but I really love this game I really do.It’s fine if you don’t agree with my opinion on it that’s completely fine but the amount of joy I had with this game is something not even this review would be enough to describe.It’s not a perfect game by any means and let’s be honest no game is perfect and not all of them need to reach the perfection status in order to capture one’s heart.The issues I had with the game never hindered my experience in a big way and I’m still having a ton of fun playing it even at the time of writing of this review I’ve put over 80 hours into the game,got all the endings and currently beating the DLC bosses and extra dungeons.As for recommending this game to people...............that’s a bit tricky.If you care about the story then you need to play the original Shin Megami Tensei IV before tackling Apocalypse,sure the game does have a brief summary of some previous events but a lot of stuff in the plot hinges on your understanding of what happened in the original.the original SMTIV goes on around $15.99 on the Nintendo e-shop so I’d suggest you give the original a shot then come back to Apocalypse if you liked what you’ve played.You’ll still be having a lot of fun in Apocalypse should you decide to jump right in regardless of the story as it has the most refined gameplay and battle system of any of the mainline entry of the series to date. The opinion of veterans might split on this game and that’s fine.But on my end I think Atlus has done it yet again.I legitmately think they’ve made the best RPG on the Nintendo 3DS by far.I love it as much as the original SMTIV and I can’t wait to see what Atlus has in store for upcoming MegaTen games like Persona 5 which I’m hyped for beyond belief and whatever they’re planning for the future of the mainline series.

It was spotted in a subway station. I know that the series started with Persona 3 and Persona 5 is coming soon so is this Atlus's way of saying Persona 6 & 7 are in the works?!

"Take a seat real quick, Europe; we need to talk. I know we haven't always gotten along together, but that's the past. And the past is the past. We're looking toward the future. And it's a bright one, because Atlus U.S.A. and SEGA of America are partnering with Deep Silver to release multiple upcoming titles in Europe." "Wait, am I talking about Persona 5? You bet I am. Oh, and there's more! Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse too. And the SEGA title 7th Dragon III Code: VFD. All releasing in Europe in both physical and digital form. And it doesn't stop there, more ATLUS and SEGA titles are in the works for this publishing deal." "We don't have any timetables for any release dates yet (it's safe to say 7th Dragon III Code: VFD won't ship simultaneously), but we'll have more on release dates in the coming weeks." Atlus & Sega.

Which version of Persona 5 are you interested in? I'm definitely getting the "Take Your Heart" Edition.

So, it's that time once again! It's been a while since I last reviewed a game so I decided to go with Atlus's 2011 Puzzle/Platformer: Catherine!

Looks like the PS3 isn't dying yet! I hope we see some gameplay soon!

YES!! They finally did it! Devil Survivor 2 is coming out of Japan early 2015! I'm so excited!!!

In case you don't know, Devil Survivor 2: Break Record is a remake of the original Devil Survivor 2 for the 3DS and it is coming out early next year for Japan. And around the same time as the release of Break Record, the second season of Durarara will be out. In the latest Famitsu scans, it shows that 3 of Durarara's well known characters will make a cameo appearance(and most likely playable characters and part of the story): Izaya Orihara, Celty Sturluson, and Shizuo Heiwajima! (P.S. Durarara & Devil Survivor 2 has the same illustrator: Suzuhito Yasuda.)

I have about $15 in my eShop account on my 3DS and Atlus is having a sale on games for $15. I want to get Etrian Odyssey Untold because the demo was awesome but I also wanna get Devil Summoner Soul Searcher cuz i'm love the SMT games. And recently WayForward said that Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is coming soon to the eShop and the price & release is unknown. I have a feeling that it'll be about $15. It's so hard to choose! Please help me!

To me, it would be a physical day 1 buy! I'm getting the PS3 version so it might be around $40 to $50. I love the series and I won't miss on this!

It's very hard to think of a voice actor for him. I was thinking of Bryce Papenbrook with his popularity or maybe Todd Haberkorn or maybe even Sam Riegel to get a step up from Teddie. As for his canon name, why not Kira Shatoshi?

It was revealed today that Atlus announced a remake of Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard- Etrian Odyssey II Untold: The Knight of Fafnir. I was quite interested in this game, like I was with The Millennium Girl. Atlus, how are you able to keep making games so fast?! http://sq-atlus.jp/

Earlier today, Atlus announced the Etrian Odyssey 2 remake but on the official website if you click the the right button, it shows a floating a orb on each page that has the letter X & D. Rumor has it that Nobody Knows the "X" is going to be a remake of Etrian Odyssey 3 and Nobody Knows the "D" might be a new installment. Atlus! Please work on Devil Survivor 2 Break Record!! Nobody Knows the "X"- http://sq-atlus.jp/x/ Nobody Knows the "D"- http://sq-atlus.jp/d/

I NEED this game!! I can't wait for TGS! I really wanna see how the characters and the settings looks like! Maybe some information will be announced at Comic Con too!

Gosh darn it Atlus! You've got a busy year! Two of Atlus's CEO talked with Famitsu about working on a new IP and a new game. Seriously Atlus, calm down! My wallet can't take it! You're still working on Persona 4 Dancing All Night, Ultimax, & Persona 5! I'm still waiting for Devil Survivor 2 Break Record that you announced last year and, to this day, still haven't said any update about it! Source: http://www.siliconera.com/2014/07/29/atlus-working-brand-new-ip-will-announce-another-game-soon/