As we continue to march through games, I have to admit I was looking forward to this one. After all, I have yet to play a game in the franchise I did not like, and this one certainly was not going to be an exception. However, there was little chance it was going to stand up against the incredible standards the last game reached... and it did not. But on it's own, it remains one Hell of a game.
Story: Welcome to the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado, a medieval realm where the upper class (known as Luxurors) lives in the inner grounds of the castle doing the business and planning work while the peasants (known as the Casualries) toil the lands of the countryside. Everyone has their place and few ever leave it.
But there is one way to do so, for there is a class that is above all and not decided by your family or origins, and that is the class of the Samurai. Effectively the knights of the realm, these are the people who protect the kingdom and it's people from the threats to their lives and ways of life, inside and out. But their main threat is from demons who occasionally rear their ugly faces.
So how does one become a Samurai? Well, they are not made so much as chosen. When someone comes of age, they are allowed to submit to the Gauntlet Rite. The gauntlets in question are ancient and holy relics, literally metal groves with a small screen which communicate with each other, and each will accept the one meant to wear and use them in service of the land. This is where you come in. As the game starts you are a simple Casualry who has come of age and decided to take the Rite... and as fate would have it, one of only five this year to be selected. Welcome to your new life as a Samurai!
And as you train for your new roll, you learn some secrets about the world kept from the civilian population, like the fact that so few demons show up at all is because you are there at the castle. You see in the center is a tunnel known as Naraku and only Samurai are allowed into it, It is too dangerous for most to follow because unknown to them. it is where all the demons come from. Your main job has become to guard the entrance and from time to time go down there and clear it out before the creatures can come up. But with this in check, the citizens remain safe and sound and without knowing, they can't panic about it.
But all of this all of this was fated to change one day when demons started appearing across neighboring towns with no obvious source. The closest to it are rumors of a "Black Samurai" distributing books to the Casualries just before things started to get messed up. Are they connected? Who are they? And what will it take to bring them in? With this basic start, you will begin your trail down the story of the kingdom, Naraku, and the world itself as much of how things really are is hidden from the population.
To explain much more is to do a disservice to the story itself, which will have you exploring well beyond this kingdom before you are done and discovering these truths for yourself. And for the most part it flows very well. The writing is believable for the world it's in and the game will even make you smile with some touches of very ironic meta (Isabeau's manga of choice early in the game is a great example). Overall this is simply a joy of a story to follow.
Unfortunately this joy is marred by three of the four endings you will ultimately have to reach, and just as disappointing it is incredibly hard to get anything but one of these three endings. The easiest (and always available to you) ending to reach is one of the most soulless things I can honestly say I've ever seen in an RPG, as if the writers just decided "yep, we're done" and walked away while the "good' ending is too closely related to it to not leave a sour taste in your mouth, leaving only the classic "bad" and "neutral" endings as worth it. But what you will have access to is decided based on your choices through the game, so you may not get access to either one (and if you played without a guide, your odds of getting the only really satisfying one are so slim you might as well say fuck it).
7/10
Graphics: When playing SMT IV, you will find a game that blends 2D art with a 3D world and does so very effectively. Whenever you are in a cutscene, expect the game to use a mix of scenes using highly detailed sprite-work when showing wide-angle scenes with anime style artwork when up close on actions.
This same style-breakdown will also be used in combat, though in that case, the anime style work is used for bosses, characters, and generally artwork for opponents big enough to allow for the finer work the hand-drawn art allows. Put this over a painted background and the result is anything from pleasing to absolutely beautiful.
This same style-breakdown will also be used in combat, though in that case, the anime style work is used for bosses, characters, and generally artwork for opponents big enough to allow for the finer work the hand-drawn art allows. But in battle this art also extends to the bottom screen, showing you and your party of demons as profile pictures with the health and technique power of each above them, making it both pleasing and useful. Which is a good thing as below these pictures will be the main menu to list the types of commands you can use with the list of each using the space over the pictures as needed. It leaves both screens looking great and being efficient in battle, the best of both worlds.
In addition to this, you will also spend a lot of time navigating the game dungeons and towns which take a distinctly 3D view, placing the camera behind your hero. And here the game shines exceptionally strong, right from the first one in the Naraku as the understructures of the castle greet you in the firelight of it's torches and slowly moves below to the caves underneath. But there will be a lot more variety to the world you play through from forests to ruined cities to even organic alien looking spaces called domains which will play a large roll in how the game plays. It all looks great, despite the limits of the hardware and all without a hint of slowdown!
But that is not to say everything is perfect, however. That 3D world, for example is well populated, but you will notice it is not often with humans, much less things that are identifiable. Rather you will find yourself sharing these worlds with demons, but demons marked by clouds of blue cubes that form vague shapes. There are other games in the franchise where this would work out well and even fir themes of the game, but for this one it's just jarring against what usually nothing more advanced in looks then modern times. And in addition, there are places where you will navigate via a top-down map with a cone representing where you are on it, and this is where things just get too busy for it's own good. It still looks good, but it can be hard to see where you can go. But seeing how this is literally an issue in one location and teleportation will make it less and less necessary as you progress, this is a very small complaint compared to an overall stellar presentation.
8/10
Sound: Expect the sound in this game to also be really good, too! This really isn't due to sound effects as these are as limited as one would expect for a turn-based RPG. Rather, expect the stars to be the music and the voices.
If you know the SMT franchise, you already know the music is going to be a treat, and this game will not disappoint. Right from the start, you will treated to a heavy throbbing track as the title displays that while nothing you will want to dance to, will feel perfect for the darker mood and themes this game is about to delve into (again, as the series is known to do), mixing metal and angelic tones to an amazing effect. It also sets a range for the game within a single song as the music ranged from metal during boss fights that absolutely carry their energy to the player, to mystical tones reminiscent of a quiet time of revelation, to even dark and forboding moments of dread when you know you are either about to walk into something horrible or find out just how bad things really are in the lands you walk, just under the surface. This game hits all the right notes (pun intended), and if there is any one flaw, it's that you likely wont have much of it stick with you long after the game is over. Some of it will (like that metal raging through boss fights) but not a lot.
Nor is the music the only star here as this is the first game in the series to be almost fully and completely voiced. If a character says it, a voice actor gave it character with one exception... and I'm hard pressed to think of any time where this was done badly. Everything is done believably, even when situations get really strange (and they will), making the main characters even more memorable. As for that exception well that is yours. Most of the time the main character will not so much speak as you will be told "he explains that" or "he tells them this" or the like. This seems to be done to allow you to fill in your own voice for them and also works remarkably well. I can attest since only as writing this did I realize he has lines that are actually not spoken... specifically when you select how you want to answer questions of other characters. Unlike the rest of his "lines" these are actually spelled out, but you are so used to the natural quiet given the character by then, you simply don't notice.
9/10
Gameplay: If you like JRPGs, you are going to love this game, but it may not be the best one you've ever played. In fact, I don't even put it as the best in this franchise (so far), but considering the caliber I've experienced with it, that is not calling it bad by any means. SMT IV is a turn based RPG which uses a quest system to push along the story and any side-plots you stumble into. In essence, at any given time you will have at least one main quest given to you by a character who needs your help, points you in a general direction, or even convinces your party of something needing to be done and completing them will progress the story along. This differs from other turn based RPGs in that it seems more structured then most, but also more rewarding since completing any quest (side or main) will often produce a healthy dose of experience points and potentially reward items beyond any monster you had to beat to get there, allowing for a much more general helping of leveling up along the way as you play.
And that combat will make it very necessary, as you are going up against demonic hoards that the game is not afraid to let get the best of you. Expect the game to start exceptionally hard with battles you are lucky to get out of alive. But that doesn't mean you have to face them alone. In fact you will have allies in the form of demons you bring with you and allies who join your side. The latter is not quite as important as for the most part while you will have three, only one will join you in any given battle, and they will only take one extra shot at the AI's control at the end of your turn. Your real help are your demons.
And this brings us to the trademark mechanic of the SMT franchise, negotiations. When you get into a fight with demons, you can choose to attack with any of the moves you have available, or talk to them. If you do the latter you will enter a negotiation with them which depending on you and the AI, could end in several ways: from enraging the creature and ending turn right there to it leaving, giveng you something, or even agreeing to be part of your team. When the last option happens, they then become summonable for one of your 3 spare party slots to be part of any battle you get into, which due to the turn system, is very advantageous.
When you start a turn in combat, you will be given an action point for each party member you have. Normally any one action will a point, but how they get used may change this. For example, if you choose to have you or one of your demons skip their actions, you will use a half-point doing so instead of a full one. In addition if you can hit with a critical hit or your enemy with their weakness, you will also only use half a point, at the same time, using one they block or worse from will cost you turns, turning each battle into a tactical event you will have to plan how to fight. You won't be going in blind, though, as you can review the details of your party or the enemy at any time... provided you have already won a battle with the enemy first.
In addition, what demons you keep also becomes a tactical decision since you can keep more then your party, letting them all use abilities when outside the fight as well as the franchise tradition of letting you fuse multiple demons together to create new more powerful ones. Although choosing to rush this may not be your best idea since these demons "teach" you skills you yourself can use. In essence here is a mechanic where once a demon has leveled up enough to open up all their additional skills, they will offer their library to you, even leveling up your skills if you already have any of them.
But this demon fusion system is one of my few real issues with the game. Maybe it was done to make better use of the portable screens, but when you do this, you get a scrolling list of all the demons you could make and selecting one will then show a list of all the combinations you can use to do it. I would much prefer to go the other way and select the first monster I'm ready to give up and then see what I would get based on who I would combine them with, as this prevents you from wasting your time looking at demons who you would be crippling your team to summon. It works well enough, but it feels less efficient then how other games did it, particularly towards the end when I would be scrolling through over 100 possible monsters to find one I like.
How you get into those battles have also changed, and I'm not sure it was for the best. This time, you will find demons spawn in the map while you run around the main map or dungeons and running into them will start the fight. On the map there is little you can do to effect it, but when in dungeons you can attack them before they do you to get bonus damage before you begin fighting. If you seriously dislike random encounters you will probably like this better, but I find that to be at your discretion.
7/10
Bugs: For everything right and wrong with this title, the game itself ran perfectly. There were no bugs here.
Score: If you are a fan of turn-based RPG games, this is another one you would be doing a disservice to yourself to miss. It is a very solid title on it's own and a great game overall. Is it the best this series has to offer? I can't say so, as the game before it (SMT III) is even better, but I think that speaks for the strength of this series and not against this one title. If you can still get ahold of this and a 3DS to play it, I would say absolutely do so.
8/10
Source: Nintendo
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