Shin Megami Tensei V: How Not To Do An Alignment System

While I mostly enjoy Shin Megami Tensei V from a gameplay perspective, its alignment system needs work.

To begin with, let's use the Jade Empire series as an example, with its Open Palm and Closed Fist ideologies that the player character, the last Spirit Monk, can follow. Early on, you're shown that your choices have consequences, and when you make a decision that affects your alignment, the game will tell you when you have gained points. It also isn't long before your alignment choices have consequences. In Tien's Landing, one quest requires you to progress far enough toward one alignment, at which point one of two NPCs will teach you a technique depending on your alignment, while another quest is only open to Closed Fist Spirit Monks. Certain gems- equippable items that can boost your stats- are only usable by Spirit Monks of the Open Palm or Closed Fist alignment. The system doesn't realize its full potential, and the ending is solely determined by a decision made near the end of the game, but it's always transparent about the impact your choices and alignment have on gameplay.

Now for Shin Megami Tensei V. Throughout the game, you will be asked various questions, which usually have two choices, and range from whether you're willing to go home with a buddy to whether killing an enemy takes priority over saving an innocent person. Unfortunately, not only is there no indication that you get alignment points, but there's no immediate consequences to most of your choices. In fact, your key ending choice comes near the end of the game- you can choose one of three approaches to rebuilding the world, and on one of those paths, you have the opportunity to choose a secret ending if you have done certain sidequests.

Of course, the various alignment choices do actually have consequences. If you have chosen enough Law or Chaos-related choices, and choose the respective path, you will receive a special Miracle after you make your choice. If your choices throughout the game do not match your ending choice, though, you will lose out on that Miracle, and must pay 660,000 Macca- an exorbitant sum- to unlock an endgame quest that would otherwise be free. If you choose the Neutral route, none of your choices matter.

A few steps would have improved the mechanic's implementation, especially by making players more aware of it.

1. An alignment meter that shows the player's current alignment.
2. Notification whenever a player's decision affects their alignment.
3. More situations in which the alignment is relevant.
4. An in-game tutorial message introducing the mechanic.

Basically, the alignment system had the potential to be an integral part of gameplay, but instead, it sits in the background, only to surprise the player, most likely unpleasantly, at the end of the game.