cj_iwakura
Member
- Release Date: 9/20/16 (US) | Q4 2016 (EU) | 2/10/16 (JP)
- Platform: 3DS, eShop
- Genre: RPG
- Developer: Atlus
- Director: Satoshi Ohyama
- Writer: Yusuke Miyata & Kazuma Kaneko
- Artists: Masayuki Doi & Kazuma Kaneko
- Composer: Ryota Kozuka
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse takes place in the 2030s, within the same setting as Shin Megami Tensei IV. Twenty-five years prior, a devastating war was waged between the angels and the armies of Lucifer.
To protect Tokyo from destruction, a great rock dome was erected, sealing off the city from the outside world. Though it protected Tokyo, resources became progressively scarcer over the following years, while angels and demons ruled over the human population.
Humans have been reduced to scraping by to survive, most taking odd jobs as 'Hunters'. The protagonist is killed while on one such demon hunt. He is then contacted in the afterlife by the demon Dagda, who offers to restore the protagonist to life in exchange for becoming his "God Killer". He soon learns that the Angels and Lucifer have themselves come under threat from a group of deities calling themselves the Polytheistic Alliance, whose leader Krishna apparently wants to save humanity.
How will the world be ruled? By the lawful kingdom of YHVH? Lucifer's chaotic reign? Through Peace? By Anarchy? The choice is yours.
And yes, yes, yes!, the infamously convoluted Tokyo world map has been updated to be easier to follow, complete with markings and identifiers, as well as multiple zoom options.
Should I play this if I didn't play IV?
Considering this tosses you into the deep end of Lucifer and Merkabah's war? Inadvisable, but opinions may vary. This is the Tokyo side of the coin, and I'm sure it fills in the blanks. It could also be an easier starting point than IV, which has a notoriously brutal first dungeon.
How does this fit into IV?
An alternate reality of the neutral ending, so (SMT IV spoilers)
Walter is with Lucy, Jonathan is with Merkabah, Nozomi's the Fairy Queen, and yes, Isabeau is alive and well.
DLC?
Too much. Including a beach party because I'm sure everyone wanted that.
http://atlus.com/smt4a/dlc.html
The real highlight will be the stuff with the SMT 1/2/3 protagonists, whenever that comes out. Hopefully more involving than IV's DLC.
How do the endings work?
I'll field this to someone who finished it.
There's technically two "good" endings this time around, both of which are, so far as I can surmise, decided by a very obvious chose in the penultimate dungeon and not through IV's convoluted machinations. The other endings are the Law & Chaos endings which cut out a significant amount of content, so they're best avoided unless you want to beat each path once.
Is the Magic build as broken as it was in IV proper?
So I hear! Others are equally fun, though.
Any trailers?
A couple.
Cast Trailer
Demon Trailer
Battle Trailer
Story Trailer
Final Trailer
Spoiler thread?
You've been warned.
Sterok's Review Thread
Metacritic
Opencritic
High-Def Digest - 5/5
God is a Geek - 9.5/10
Twinfinite - 9/10
RPGSite - 9/10
Gamespot - 9/10
GamingBolt - 9/10
GBAtemp - 9/10
CGMagazine - 8.5/10
NintendoWorldReport - 8.5/10
Destructoid - 8.5/10
TechRaptor - 8.5/10
Cubed3 - 7/10
Special Thanks
BlackJace for graphics and Nachos for collaborating.
Here's an alternate badass banner he did, because why not:
Atlus, for keeping the core alive.
Volcynika's original OT
and you, for supporting the 'Dark Souls of Persona'.
Make them bleed.