Platform: 3DS
Release: 2016
I wanted to play Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse on release day (or very close to it) back in September 2016, but there was a slight complication in that Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice had come out out two weeks before and well, we know who won that battle, since my blog post for Spirit of Justice went up in Feb 2017. Since then, it remained in my backlog, occasionally resurfacing as something I should get back to, but not to the point where I was ready to commit to it, until this past fall when I wanted a shorter RPG and foolishly thought that SMTIV:A was going to be a medium length game.
It might be for some people. But I am a micromanager/compulsive demon collector, so folks, this was not a medium length game for me. It wasn't as bad as Persona 5 or Persona Q2, which I've previously complained about, but it was definitely in the "long" category.
Still, I was glad I finally got to it, because it's really different from the more abstract themes of the mainline games, and yet (or perhaps because of it), it really gets into the weeds on how this whole gods and demons and humanity interaction works. Why do gods want human worshipers? How do humans in turn affect the gods around them? I didn't expect this, especially given that its predecessor, the Shin Megami Tensei IV without a subtitle, focused primarily on the angels versus Lucifer conflict.
Seeing the local Japanese deities angered and dismayed by the interloping foreigners make it clear how absurd it is that the angels and Lucifer are battling for control over humanity in the remains of a country that was never Christian to begin with.
