Shin Megami Tensei IV: Final - full Famitsu interview translated

A portion of a Famitsu interview with dev Kazuyuki Yamai...

F: First, I would like to ask you about the details of the development behind SMT4F.

Yamai: After the release of SMT 4 there were several voices in our company asking whether we could release a ‘Maniax’ version as well, but after serious consideration, our ideas kept expanding and we ended up starting development on an unexpected new game. While there were various things going on with SMT 4, it was a game where we did everything we could, but there had been for some time feedback suggesting that a different approach to its world would be interesting, so we decided we’d make everything clear using this opportunity. This also lead to the title: FINAL.

F: SMT4F features the war between monotheism and polytheism, a new spin on the story.

Yamai: From the very beginning, Shin Megami Tensei has constantly presented a dark story and world view which deeply entwined human drama with the gods and demons often depicted in RPGs as allies or enemies, with both sides using or toying with each other. This is something I learnt from Kaneko as well, but I also want to pay attention to in this game: this is Megaten, where you can taste the feeling of falling from grace and the complications it causes in the lives of humans. Moreover, touching on the subject of the relationships between gods, demons and humans in SMT4F…actually no, let me tell you first why demons and gods are concerned with humans in the first place, since that’s an interpretation of the game’s basis.