Interesting news today from Dengeki Online regarding upcoming Atlus 3DS title Shin Megami Tensei IV. Set to hit Japan sometime in 2013, with a hopeful pending US localization sometime soon thereafter, it will feature a few new gameplay mechanics. Most notable is the capacity to “grin” during battle when your characters repeatedly penetrate an enemy weakness.
Grinning impacts your defenses by temporarily buffering them, making your team less susceptible to enemy attacks. The same technique can be applied by enemy demons, however, so players will have to be careful that they don’t let their character’s defenses get impacted.
SMT IV will also feature variable difficulty, allowing newbies to the series to get the full tactical experience without getting walloped by demonic forces. Finally, the game will allow players to save anywhere in the game, a welcome feature in any portable game. Now if Atlus would only announce US localization, we would have much more to smile about…
