It was my first SMT game. I never had a problem finding my way, the quest screen always told me everything I needed. I also found the difficulty a healthy challenge, but nothing too bad once you get out of Naraku. The hardest part about finding where to go next, for me, was my unfamiliarity with location names, but after a while they feel a lot more recognizable. I tried to do all the sidequests I could, but ended up completing the game because some of the side bosses were destroying me. :P Aligned with Chaos thinking I'd screw over (SPOILER)Lucifer at the last second, and kind of regretted it once I was all locked in. I plan on getting all the endings through NG+, I loved it!