Review HPLWonder 5/5 · Jul 5, 2024
Better than the original, but that ain't such a big leap
I wasn't very excited for this game when it was announced, as I was already satisfied with the original and felt like all it needed was a better story and some quality of life improvements.
It delivered but at the end of the day, this is still smtV.
The story has been altered quite a lot, as what originally felt …
I wasn't very excited for this game when it was announced, as I was already satisfied with the original and felt like all it needed was a better story and some quality of life improvements.
It delivered but at the end of the day, this is still smtV.
The story has been altered quite a lot, as what originally felt like a horrible lack of development, now feels earned.
Originally, you had dazai for law, yakumo for neutral and atsuta for chaos. Dazai got the most development but still felt undeserving of his role, yakumo felt more like chaos than neutral and Atsuta... Did he do anything in the original game?
Now those roles are mostly preserved but instead of keeping them to the end, now you have Tao and Yoko's clashing mindsets, with the neutral path being basically the rejection of both ideologies
That's a vast improvement, as it means that the player genuinely gets to see the reasons behind the differing views, and the game is more smart about how it leads you to the endings
Originally, you picked law, neutral or chaos even if your choices throughout the game leaned towards anything else. In vengeance, you make choices, agree with tao or yoko and based on who you agree more with, the ending'll lead you to them.
It's far smarter as the player won't realize those minor choices throughout the story deeply affect the outcome of the ending, as they'd just think it's a random pointless dialogue option.
Besides the better story, I've gotta praise the new gameplay additions. New demons, guest human allies, new bosses, a shit ton of new excellent music, a full new area (and it's the best one in the game) as well as the awesome qadistu villains (agrat is the best one btw)
While I do wish some other things were improved, overall this is exactly what smtv should've been on release, and I'm glad they got the chance to make this game even better
I recommend this game both to those who played the original and those who are new (they should directly play vengeance, the original isn't mandatory)