Top 10 Beginner Tips for Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
- Use Essences to improve your party's skills.
- Change your main character's affinities with Essences.
- Save often to avoid losing progress.
- Stock up on Spyglasses to reveal enemy weaknesses.
- Chase down Mitama for valuable loot.
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10 Tips for Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance Beginners
It's been a good year for fans of Atlus RPGs.
Between the launch of Persona 3 Reload in January and Metaphor: ReFantazio coming this October, you'd be forgiven for forgetting that Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance is available right now on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms.
As the definitive version of 2021's Shin Megami Tensei V, Vengeance is a stellar turn-based adventure that I can easily recommend to RPG fans and monster-collecting fanatics alike.
For Persona fans who are curious about the series, those games spun off from this is a great place to start.
Use Your Essences
Essences in Shin Megami Tensei are kind of like TMs from the Pokemon games—they'll let you improve and embellish your party's skills.
By using them on either your protagonist or your demons in the World of Shadows, which will appear at the Leyline Fount save points once you've made enough story progress, you can learn spells that help round out your party's elemental coverage.
Shin Megami Tensei V gives out Essences like candy.
By the time you've spent only a few hours in Daat, you'll already find Essences that outclass the ones you started out with.
Change Your Main Character's Affinities ASAP
Another cool feature of Essences is that you can use them to change your protagonist's weaknesses and resistances.
This does require the Divine Amalgamation Miracle, but you'll fortunately gain access to this early in the game.
For those new to Shin Megami Tensei games, Hama and Mudo, the Light and Darkness elements respectively, have unique properties.
All it takes is one unlucky battle where the enemies attack first, and you'll immediately lose all your progress without recourse.
Save Often
Even if you protect your protagonist from instant-death spells, your party is far from invincible.
Shin Megami Tensei V doesn't have random battles, but you never know when a quest or a story beat is going to lead into a boss fight.
Fortunately, Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance allows players to save at any time.
Aogami will warn you when boss battles are coming up in the main story, so those are always a good time to save.
Stock Up on Spyglasses
Items are incredibly useful in Shin Megami Tensei V.
They essentially give any human characters access to on-demand healing and a full array of elemental attacks, which can easily turn the tides in battle when you're in a pinch.
Spyglasses are your Scan spell.
They instantly reveal an enemy's weaknesses and their moveset, which is invaluable in boss battles.
Always Chase Down Mitama
Mitama are much more than generic demons.
In Shin Megami Tensei V, Mitama are your equivalent to the Metal Slimes in Dragon Quest or Audino in Pokemon Black & White.
Mitamas drop valuable loot when defeated, including consumable items to level up your party and relics you can sell for cash.
When you encounter a Mitama, have the Nahobino use a Spyglass.
Don't Skimp on Buffs and Debuffs
Buff and debuff skills are almost always worth having on your team.
Even a strong boss monster can feel like a common enemy encounter after you lower its attack, defenses, and accuracy.
Pay Attention to Your Party's Resistances
Don't make the mistake of only focusing on your offenses without paying attention to your defenses.
Shin Megami Tensei V uses the series' signature Press Turn battle system, which rewards your party with extra turns whenever you hit an enemy's weakness or score a critical hit.
This also applies to the enemy party.
On the Vengeance Path, Invest in Charm Resistance
For the sake of those playing the Canon of Vengeance story, don't get caught off-guard by the Charm status ailment.
You'll encounter a recurring boss early on in Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance whose signature move is a party-wide Charm spell, which can massively debilitate your entire party.
Apsaras is one of the lowest level demons you can find who has full immunity to Charm.
Later, you can also fuse Vouivre who carries the Willpower innate skill.
Talking to a Demon You Already Have Ends Normal Encounters Instantly
One of the primary ways you'll recruit new demons to your party is by using the Talk option in battle.
If you already have a particular demon in your active party, the Talk option becomes a Get Out Of Jail Free card.
This is an especially handy trick if you get stuck in a battle you don't want to fight, as using the Escape option can fail on you.
Take Your Time and Explore
Shin Megami Tensei V has so much for you to see and do at any given moment.
It can feel overwhelming at times, especially if you're just wondering when the next story beat will finally pop up.
To really get the most out of the game, your best option is to simply take your time.
Taking the time to uncover new corners of the map and complete side quests will naturally take care of that grind for you, plus you'll earn several key items in the process.
So relax, take in the sights, and only advance to your next story objective when you feel ready to.
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