Shin Megami Tensei 5's Protagonist's Inaction Against Lahmu

Goddamn is there ever a lot of Voyeuristic Paralysis Syndrome going on in Shin Megami Tensei 5’s second chapter.  I mean, standing around gawking uselessly while bad things go on around them that so easily could be prevented is an epidemic among RPG heroes all over, to be sure, but I haven’t seen levels of slack-jawed motionlessness this bad since Xenosaga 3!

Let’s count’em off, shall we?


Lahmu’s Initial Attack: Alright, so right off the bat with this namby-pamby demon dipshit who looks like something that’s been left in the back of the fridge for a few periods of “too long” stacked on top of each other, we get him arriving and stirring some shit.  Then, once his bad intentions have been made clear, Lahmu turns to gaze at the rest of the city, monologues (with no particular haste) about feeling the source of his true power out there, and then moseys off to pursue this power.  And what does our hero, the Nahobino, do while Lahmu waxes villainous about what he’s gonna be getting up to, and makes his exit?  Why, our boy stands and watches the whole time, of course!  Yeah, by all means, buddy, don’t prevent a new enemy from leaving after hearing him outright state he’s out to acquire greater power.  I’m sure that’s not gonna come back to bite us all in the ass.  I know it’s not exactly the easiest thing to take Lahmu seriously when he looks like a drain clog badly cosplaying as calamari, but come on.

Maybe our hero’s hoping for those little things in the credits that give special thanks to YOU, the viewer, and figures he’s gotta earn the title if he wants to feel special from it.  Anyway, that’s 1.


School Lobby: So upon arriving, the Nahobino discovers that Lahmu has grabbed Sahori, claiming that she’s his fated other half and the one that gives him his greatest strength and whatever other drivel he’s read on his favorite simp channels on Discord.  The Nahobino is given the choice of whether he wants his priority to be to save Sahori, or kill Lahmu...but apparently he must have thought the question was just a thought exercise, because whatever his answer may be, his next action is to just stand there and watch events unfold before him.  The lazy dumbass doesn’t even make a move when Lahmu actually drops Sahori!  She’s RIGHT THERE, like 10 feet in front of him, 2 steps and a slightly stooped back away from being fully and completely rescued...and the Nahobino does NOTHING but watch as she slowly, clumsily climbs back into what I really hope is Lahmu’s mouth.  Lahmu is then once more allowed to just wander off unimpeded, and Aogami actually has the shamelessness to remark that Lahmu needs to be put down quickly.

Maybe the protagonist has a deal with Atlus in which he gets to pocket whatever part of the game’s animation budget doesn’t get used.  At any rate, that’s 2.


Classroom: Upon arriving at the classroom at the end of the school mini-dungeon, the Nahobino witnesses a scene in which Sahori threatens her bullies, and delivers a short speech to them which makes it clear that she’s not going to grant them the mercy that they’re begging for.  And boy does he witness it.  He witnesses the hell out of this scene.  Keep your Schrodingerian cats far away if you value their ambiguity, because our hero is going on an observational rampage over here!

Now granted, the Nahobino actually does make an attempt to do something about this situation a minute later...but that’s only AFTER Lahmu has shown up and can thus adequately take steps to stop him.  For the full time that Sahori was talking, making it clear that she intended to kill the hostages before her, our protagonist had a clear, unimpeded shot at getting to and restraining her without any interference whatsoever.  There was every opportunity through Sahori’s entire speech to remove her and thus completely resolve this situation and save the lives of all involved.  The protagonist specifically waited to act until Lahmu was back on the scene and able to foil his efforts.

Maybe our guy just believes in fair play to an absolute fault.  Whatever the case, that’s 3.


Final Confrontation: After a prolonged, exceptionally boring slog through Chapter 2’s map involving constantly moving goalposts, hide-and-seek distractions, and fetch-quest delays, the protagonist finally comes upon Lahmu, whose attention is fixed entirely upon Sahori.  Aogami observes that, with Lahmu distracted, they may be able to take him off-guard, once again adding insult to injury as we all know goddamn well by this point that this chucklehead isn’t gonna do anything of the sort.  Once again, the main character is given a choice to either concentrate on saving Sahori, or on killing Lahmu, and once again, neither choice does anything to prevent him from standing there and doing absolutely nothing, as Sahori gets eaten by Lahmu, and Lahmu gets a huge power-up from it.

Maybe the Nahobino’s just got a vore fetish.  Regardless, that’s 4.

...Except, no, hold on.  This shouldn’t just count as only 1 point on our scale.  Because this dumbass isn’t JUST passively watching an anguished teenager get murdered before his eyes.  No, when Tao tries to intervene, our great hero actually reaches out and holds her back.  Yes, the Nahobino is so aggressively committed to inaction that he deliberately prevents others from being proactive and heroic.  Surely that’s worth a bonus half point there, yes?


So that’s 4.5.  An entire 4 separate instances of conflict with the same villain, all during the span of a single chapter, in which the hero of this game conspicuously just stands around and lets bad things happen in front of him, and an extra half point for the fact that he even forces his inertness upon others who might otherwise have made some kind of effort to save lives.  Even considering the puzzling inclination that RPG characters naturally have for listlessly watching the world go to shit around them, that’s the kind of poor writing that really stands out.

And remember: this idle, mindless watcher is the same guy that a resurrected Tao later decides to support for godhood, endorsing him on the grounds that he was "the only one who tried to help Sahori."  What an absolute goddamn joke.  Fuck you, Atlus, don’t piss on my franchise and tell me it’s raining.