Review of True Goddess Reincarnation 5: The Contradictory Experience of Pain yet Happiness

To be honest, I am not a veteran player of the "True Goddess Reincarnation" series, and I have not even been exposed to video games for a long time. But precisely because of this, when "True Goddess Reincarnation 5" was first launched, the response from the player community drove me even more: "This game is not suitable for new players," "I'm sure ordinary players can't continue playing it, right?" These comments made me even more curious.

Although it is a well-known Atlus flagship game with a large and mature player community, how could it attract so many enthusiasts if the game quality is not good? And if the game is done brilliantly, how can it possibly keep new players away from them? Out of such curiosity and a certain competitive mentality of wanting to conquer it, I plunged into this big pit that later made me painful and happy during the game's debut.

Tokyo once again was destroyed

The opening of "True Goddess Reincarnation 5" is quite swift and straight, and after about ten minutes of transitional storyline, the protagonist finds himself in a completely unfamiliar world. There seemed to be many scenes around that I could barely recognize, but these buildings and roads were all in a state of disrepair, with each building leaning and half collapsing. Looking up, the wind and sand covered everything in front of me.

Not long after the start of game , you arrived in Tokyo after the destruction

The main stage of this work's story is the world after destruction. Survival here is not easy, there are demons everywhere who want your life, and ordinary people without combat power may be lying dead in the wilderness at any time.

However, our protagonist naturally won't be powerless. As the plot unfolds, he transforms into the so-called "p í", and the specific meaning of this term is something you can discover in the game. In short, you have combat power to fight against demons, and you can also persuade those demons to become Zhong Mo (pronounced the same as your partner's Japanese word "Zhong Jian") and fight alongside you.

Devil's exclusive skills will also be paired with specialized skill animations

In terms of combat systems, this game continues to adopt the unique combo turn system of the series. In your team turn, you will receive an action count equal to the number of units on your side. If your attack hits a weakness or hits a critical hit, the current number of actions taken will only be reduced by half, and you can use the remaining number to take another action.

If the opponent dodges the attack, or due to attribute issues, invalidates, rebounds, or absorbs your attack, the number of actions consumed will double. This round, a team member will be unable to take action due to insufficient actions.

Targeted team configuration based on enemy attributes is the most basic operation. Suppressing attributes not only means improving damage efficiency, but also means that you can take more actions. In order to improve efficiency and win against the leaders along the way, you always need to constantly update the Zhong Mo in the team according to the actual situation. Avoid being restrained by the other party while being able to restrain them.

If it is the opponent's weakness attribute, you can see an exclamation mark

In True Goddess Reincarnation 5, players need to negotiate with various demons and challenge the difficulties along the way with them. The arrangement and appearance of these demons are not random, and each type of "wild" demon that will appear will gather in a certain area of the map. Demon enemies will wander on the map and usually have their own set of behaviors.

Although this may not be considered an ecosystem design in an open world, upon closer observation, you can see many interesting scenes - such as a happy puppet spinning in a circle, a little ghost sitting idle in an abandoned car, a werewolf patrolling a maze along a predetermined route, and so on. As long as you save the reading file, the enemies in the entire picture will refresh. If you want to turn to a designated demon, you will not be unable to rage due to poor luck.

is too full to fit, so if you come back later, you can join the team directly

Dealing with wild demons is not easy. You need to have a conversation with the demon and choose the right option to let it agree to join the team. However, different demons have completely different personalities, and even the same demon can cause you various problems. And the phase of the moon in the sky is also affecting the negotiation results. If players want to talk about demons joining the team at first sight, they have to be lucky enough.

However, after chatting with the same demon for too long, one can always explore its personality traits. At this point, give it some benefits, and the greedy and fearless demon will obediently join in. In the middle of the game, you can also gain the ability to speak well. After beating the demon to half death, it may beg for mercy from you, so you don't need to bribe it to join the team.

In terms of plot, the main storyline of True Goddess Reincarnation 5 is not very complex, and for some demanding players, it can even be considered rudimentary. Even the ending is only related to the final choice, and the many options in the main storyline have little impact.

  You can choose this kind of conversation with confidence, there's no big difference& nbsp;

However, various fragmented narratives, special dialogues negotiated with designated Zhong Mo, can all make you feel like extra plot segments are placed in every corner of the game. Its story is not limited to the main storyline, and there is actually quite a lot of side content to experience.

The most noteworthy one is the special dialogue. Negotiating with demons not only recruits them into the team, but also often triggers dialogue events among team members, such as a dispute between two demons who are also pentagonal. Players can try to trigger a dialogue with a certain demon using different team members, and see the various aspects of life in the demon community.

  Who plagiarized who& nbsp; 

A meticulously designed "torture device"

If we simply talk about the gaming experience, then the first layer of experience that "True Goddess Reincarnation 5" brings to people is undoubtedly: pain.

Firstly, the difficulty level of the game brings difficulties. Compared to other famous turn based role-playing games, this game ranks among the top in terms of difficulty. Whether in the early or mid to late stages, any small monster on the roadside can easily kill the protagonist in one turn, making you regret reading the game.

The boss battle is even more thrilling, and when there is only one last blow left to defeat the opponent, they are forced to stand up and lie down. I have encountered this sour and satisfying experience several times. Players can only save at the designated location on the map, and there is no automatic save to help them save. When they were playing recklessly, they suddenly overturned and found that the save was only a few hours ago... Thank you to Nintendo for making the Switch strong enough that I couldn't smash it.

is a huge enemy full of oppression

However, what is painful is not only the difficulty, but also the audio-visual experience. Most of the time, the protagonist will explore in the destroyed world of "Da Shi". This is a twisted, broken, and manic world. Tokyo has been destroyed for twenty years, with ruins and ghosts everywhere.

This sense of exoticism is not only reflected in the scene layout, but also in the overall visual perception and background music. The destroyed world is filled with yellow sand in the sky. In the first large map, almost the entire world is dyed with a layer of yellow. Looking up, the yellow world is overlaid with flickering white noise, hitting the player's optic nerve.

The whole world is a yellow and clear place

The second map is even more extreme, with the entire land shrouded in inexplicable red. The dim red light makes it almost impossible for you to distinguish any color, and you can only see the outline of things. Considering that the collection of elements is not yet full, it is also red. In such a world where everything is visible in red, searching for them is simply a torture to the eyes.

Each big map has different main colors, yellow, red, gray, and white. This single color eye-catching design allows the sense of apocalypse and madness of the entire world to overflow the screen.

Searching for the Red Unfinished in the Red World

Accompanied by it is also background music, which naturally does not match with beautiful music in these crazy scenes. On the contrary, most of the scene music in this game is like scratching the blackboard with nails or wiping the glass with a dry cloth, making it feel like enduring several days of delayed eardrums. Of course, this pain is not caused by a lack of game quality, but rather by an atmosphere that is matched to shape the worldview.

Speaking of which, there are many scenes in the game that make people feel comfortable, such as the fairy settlement; It's not without music that makes people happy and joyful, such as the music in the Eternal Temple. The background music during the battle automatically changes with the battle situation, and the connection is also quite smooth and natural.

This place looks noticeably more comfortable

So, this tormenting experience for players is not due to a lack of game quality, but is carefully designed to shape a worldview. If it weren't for this, it wouldn't be enough to immerse the player in the midst of the devastated consciousness, just like the protagonist, Chuangwi.

The high difficulty of overturning at any time and the repeatedly tormenting audio-visual experience of players undoubtedly make this game have a daunting high threshold. And if you try to cross the threshold, its essence will be presented to you.

The pleasure brought by stinging pain

So how did I persist in this game in the painful experience? Of course, it's because this work has a lot of fun.

Firstly, the formation of the demon team. What kind of attribute attacks will the next boss have? What are the weaknesses in attributes? What are the attribute weaknesses of the monsters that are currently most suitable for leveling on the map? Are there any skill combinations that can be used in combination? Faced with difficult battles and diverse enemies, these are the questions you often need to think about.

This kind of fun is a bit like studying build combinations in equipment driven games. There is no such thing as an all-in-one team. You always need to use your brain to see how the Zhong Demon in your hand can be combined, which stronger demons can be synthesized, and form a targeted lineup to make the battle along the way relatively easier.

The weakness of is the boss with dark attributes, and there is a particularly useful Alice that can be synthesized near its level range

Speaking of the highly tactical battles in this game, using props and skill combinations to control turn rhythm is also one of the fun. The design of the number of actions has been mentioned earlier. In order to avoid wasting the number of actions, or to remedy unexpected wasted actions, tactical choices such as who is responsible for output, who is responsible for support, when to replace players, and when to use what skills or items, often determine whether you win or die in high-intensity battles.

Each skill has its own usage scenario and effect. High level skills consume more mana, making it easier to burn MP when facing bosses with thick health bars. Low level skills do less damage, which relatively prolongs the number of combat rounds and makes you more likely to overturn. And every time I execute the right tactics to play with the enemy and applaud, it's simply as refreshing as ever.

On the other hand, the demon design in this game is full of attractive elements, especially for homestay players. Many demons can be considered potential waifu for players to enjoy and play with. For example, the mermaids that can be obtained in the early stages of the game are very captivating. As the game progresses, various goddesses, elves, female knights, and other eye-catching monsters will appear one after another.

It must be mentioned that the so-called "demon" in "True Goddess Reincarnation 5" is not the terrifying monster with two horns on its head in ordinary fantasy works, but includes almost all mythological creatures who have been deprived of "wisdom" and become demons.

So here you will see gods from different myths around the world, as well as various legendary mythical beasts. In the complete book of demons (illustrated), the origins and background stories of these demons are explained one by one. If you are interested, you can use this as a starting point to further understand those mythological stories.

, is this also considered a type of goblin?

In addition, the many user-friendly designs in the game are also important reasons why I can persist in the game. Despite the high difficulty of the game, the climb of the difficulty curve is relatively smooth, and developers provide players with sufficient remedies to face unexpected rollovers. The introduction of various elements such as vulnerability attributes, lunar phase changes, prop usage, maze mechanisms, etc. in the game is not only gradual, but also rare, none of which are optional.

In addition, the side lines will not fail due to the advancement of the main line, the collection of elements can be unlocked with money, the distribution of props and save points is regular and moderately dense, and other humanized designs. Players can always feel the friendliness of the game design while overcoming difficulties. Developers seem to anticipate what players will consider at each stage, such as the feeling of water appearing when thirsty, and the feeling of someone putting on clothes when reaching out.

Although this guy is very greedy, he is the only small shop owner

By the way, the rich experiential and exploratory content is also an important reason why this work can immerse people in this world. Each of the four major maps takes more than ten hours to pass, and there are also many side leader battles interspersed among them. Side quests are full of various small stories, often requiring you to make choices between different factions. One of the side quests requires you to steal the eggs of a giant monster bird while avoiding its sight. The thrilling and thrilling scene left a deep impression on me.

The map design is complex and orderly, with seemingly natural ruins often able to construct intricate 3D mazes. Standing on high ground, the incomplete or treasure chest makes each small building seem like a small puzzle for players to find their way. For elite monsters that exceed the scene level, one can always find a way to bypass them.

It is difficult to convey the difficulties of overcoming these mechanisms on the flat map

In the later stages of the game, there are specialized maze maps and many mechanism puzzles, which test the player's imagination in three-dimensional space and require them to have good micro operations to navigate between these mechanisms.

So, on the one hand, I was tormented by the terrifying world, and on the other hand, I became addicted to various experiential content such as leveling, catching and combining monsters, and matching skills, so happy that I forgot to even push the main storyline.

epilogue

Unlike the popular Persona 5, this game focuses more on battles and maze exploration. Players who come to enjoy the Goddess's Tales series may feel disappointed.

True Goddess Reincarnation 5 lacks a relaxed and enjoyable campus life. If you are looking forward to flirting and flirting with cute female classmates in the maze, it is recommended not to play this game. There is no campus routine here, only a maze of seven or eight twists and turns, as well as a demon that attacks you at the slightest provocation. Human friends are just saying a few words in the cutscenes, and the most comforting thing they can talk about may be flying with you all day long, just like every child in the sky.

But if you are already a turn based JRPG enthusiast and don't dislike the contradictory experience that True Goddess Reincarnation 5 brings - pain but happiness, then it will be a good choice. Difficult battles are painful, but successfully defeating enemies brings joy; The process of collecting materials for demons is painful, but synthesizing the desired waifu is very enjoyable. You really need to have enough endurance to withstand the deliberate abuse of the player's senses in the external performance of this game, in order to fully enjoy the fun that comes with it.

Of course, there's no need to be too scared. Compared to the previous installment in the series, this is already a game that even new players can play, called "Reincarnation of the Goddess". It is like a prickly rose, requiring you to endure the pain of being pricked and smell the incomparable fragrance.