Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey / Game

Un MEGATEN toujours de qualité, identique dans la mytologie mais avec un renouveau. Spoiler, à faire avant Shin Megami Tensei iV, car prélude officieuse.

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Jason

A worthy entry in the SMT series.

Commenté au Canada le 9 janvier 2012

SMT:Strange Journey is the 4th official Shin Megami Tensei game of the series.It departs from the usual urban Japan setting,and takes place in the future,in Antarctica.It is more sci-fi,with the main protagonist wearing a 'Demonica' suit,which allows for the use of apps throughout the game.You also have guns,swords,and armor that you can acquire and use throughout the game.

A lot of familiar demons return from Nocturne, as well as some new demon types.The dungeon-crawling aspect is from moving in a first-person view down many corridors into bigger sections,while engaging in endless random encounters.These are good because you definitely need to grind in order to get anywhere in this game.The combat is turn based,so you are able to take your time and think before you act.Strange Journey so far has an excellent story,and draws heavily from different religious and spiritual sources for it's plot and characters.If you've played Nocturne before and enjoyed it then you will also enjoy Strange Journey.

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D. B.

Old-School and Very Entertaining

Commenté aux États-Unis le 2 juin 2011

I'm the kind of gamer that's kind of a die-hard RPG fan. What excited me about this game was the idea of a mature storyline and a unique gameplay element of the first-person dungeon crawl. I haven't experienced much of that before this game. I'm also a gamer who doesn't require astounding graphics. I love experiencing SNES JRPGs that hadn't made it across the water back in the glory days when gaming was all about experimenting rather than industry. I have played a little bit of the first Shin Megami Tensei but decided SNES emulation via desktop wasn't portable enough so I left it alone. It's wonderful seeing where it was then and finding out how it is now.

This game is awesome because:

The lines between good and bad, right and wrong, will always be blurred. Just because you choose the side of god doesn't mean that you're doing the right thing. Light is about order and peace, but involves brainwashing in order to achieve it. The side of the demons involves murder and deceit, but only by choice which is the driving force behind chaos. Then there's the option NOT to pick a side, which actually makes the game harder. Choosing law or chaos and sticking with it means that demon negotiation will go smoother and more successfully with demons of the same alignment, but enemies of the neutral alignment never care what alignment you have, even neutral, so that's an uphill battle. Plus, playing neutral means a few extra bosses in a run-through. The interesting thing is that even since the first Shin Megami Tensei, the games feel like they want you to be neutral, and yet they make it harder for you. It'll always be harder to please both sides.

This series was the first to grasp the enemy-turn-ally gameplay that Pokemon uses. I just did a little research. The first SHIN Megami Tensei game was released about a month after Dragon Quest V in 1992, which was very popular for implementing a system of recruiting enemy characters to fill one slot in the party. Even though Shin Megami Tensei is the series known for its huge popularity in japan, its story-lines, demons, and demon conversation elements were based off a lesser known series of games of a slightly shorter name: Megami Tensei. The very first game in this series is Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei made for the MSX and Famicom in 1987. There is a fan translation of this game. The gameplay is almost identical, but the controls and breadth of the story would obviously be much less capable of entertaining than it's more modern counterparts. Pokemon wasn't introduced until 1996. This little history is only to prove that no, SMT is NOT like Pokemon. Pokemon is more like SMT, except Pokemon is family friendly and about as easy to sell to children as a toy for their happy meal. Gotta Catch'em All = Less complicated version of SMT's "Gotta Negotiate With'Em All." Pokemon is still not as original because Dragon Quest V used the monster-ally concept almost 4 years earlier.

The story is definitely attractive. Every conversation is written beautifully, from multiple standpoints, and you actually want to discover more. Sadly, you as the protagonist have little to no speech in the game. The little speech you do have is just opinion-based options. They're not necessarily boring options. Almost every conversation has a chance of changing your alignment, so your choices will always need to be thought out. Every conversation, in this sense, has a chance to change gameplay. This way, even in the story sequences, you won't feel left out. Some conversations and opinions of NPCs can actually change dependent on the choices you make. In the story sequences, there's often a lot of plot thrown at you, occasionally taking up 15-30 min of gameplay. I ate up the story sequences. The only times that dialog is kind of shallow and boring is when you start talking to everybody on your ship. They all have deep opinions but they seem awkward without the chance to create context for the character. It's nice that the authors gave so many different perspectives, but you couldn't really help the lack of context. The conversations would seem too large. The sidequests are GOLDEN for lore and creativity. You get a lot of chances to help out demons that you find in the dungeons, and you often get a unique story that has to do with their relations to the demon world or learn a little bit of history about the demon in our real life.

Demon Conversation:
When in battle, you often encounter similar questions and answers from different demons, but they almost always have a different opinion about the answers you give. You really do have to be persistent and learn about almost every demon you wish to be a part of your group. Except in the instances where you can fuse them. Fusion definitely keeps the gameplay fresh. In the original SMT, Demons didn't level up so Fusion was mandatory in order to progress in the storyline. Demons can level up in Strange Journey, but they do so very slowly, and the demons you encounter in the dungeons almost feel as if they grow Exponentially. Fusion allows the process of dealing with your environment to be more creative and simpler. But it's better for you to actually use the demons you fuse, because they give you items called Demon Sources. The sources contain abilities from a demon and allow you to decide what makes the demon you're fusing "special." Demon Sources allow you to create demons who can reflect every attack, or who has an attack of every element. It's a little more complicated to learn in game, but there are definitely possibilities. With those implementations, there is a balance of mechanics. You can be rewarded for fusing Demons, so having a conversation with enemies isn't the only way to expand your party. You also never have to worry about not seeing your demon again, because you can trade money to re-summon the demon at the exact level and progress you had already made.

Atmosphere:
This is one of the games most interesting elements. From the music, to the dungeons that increase in size, to the overwhelming disappointment the demons give to you, to the betrayal among your ranks, you'll feel like you're a part of this story in some way. The music is very moody and powerful, so it's really attractive. The only unfortunate thing is that the music is probably too large in file size, so there aren't a lot of songs to be heard. Still, you never really feel like you have heard a song too often, except in the case of the melodramatic sad song. In some conversations, that song plays and it can feel like total overkill. Essentially, it just becomes one of those jokes that you acknowledge just didn't work out for the situation, and the game continues on.

Level Design:
A lot of tiles are repetitive, but each dungeon has a theme. The dungeons themselves also change within the levels so it never feels truly old. The level design is also huge and expansive. You can spend hours just on one floor looking through every nook and cranny just to complete your map. This can be fun and rewarding, but at times annoying and defeating. Rewarding in the sense that you'll be at a much higher level and more prepared to handle whatever is coming next as well as learning where to go should you come back. It can be defeating because there are pitfalls, auto-movement tiles, warp blocks, and the worst: invisible rooms. Finding all of the pitfalls and warps and movement tiles can be frustrating but they definitely keep the overall crawl from getting repetitive. In the moment, it can be just awful. It helps me to stay calm by thinking that it really still helps you get involved in the atmosphere. Invisible rooms only make me mad. The tiles never go onto your map, and then they mix auto-tiles into some of them. Feeling lost is frustrating. This is probably one of the few elements that sometimes demands help by looking at maps online. I didn't use GameFAQs too often for this game, just mostly for the maps and the occasionally massive roadblock. Occasional.

When I play this game, I tend to focus on the positive. I feel so strongly about this game, that I really don't think I should bother writing a ton of negatives. The biggest negative is kind of a mixed bag: it's length. As a gamer, I appreciate the story and time that went into making the game. I've put around 80 hours into one playthrough and don't think I'll be ready to fight the final boss for another 10 or 15 (I'm also a gamer who doesn't like replaying games so I get as much done as I feel like in the first playthrough). A lot of that time just went into exploring the areas. I probably have spent 2-5 hours just walking through all of one floor in a dungeon here and there. Also, the difficulty demands replaying a couple segments 4-5 times. I also appreciate the challenge in an RPG as a gamer. A challenge that isn't all about leveling for brawn. The challenge is in the party alignment, the party ability, the party stats, and the luck. You can't always be guaranteed that the boss will fall easily. So it's just time that this game sucks up. If a downside to you means losing time with your friends and family, then be wary. Otherwise, you'll probably like the game if you can get used to the atmosphere and 1st person perspective. You'll also be very happy to discover some of the awesome artwork that went into creating the demons. It really has been a joy to play this game.

9 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Zarah

Five Stars

Commenté au Canada le 27 décembre 2016

My grandson was happy with this Xmas gift I purchased for him Great service

Leo Peo

Five Stars

Commenté au Royaume-Uni le 24 mars 2016

The story is amazing and I love the gameplay

Tommy

Ottimo gioco, condizioni del nuovo non perfette.

Commenté en Italie le 20 août 2014

Gioco stupendo ma scatola cartonata esterna rovinata da inutili adesivi de il negozio che una volta rimossi l'hanno danneggiata. Un gioco nuovo deve essere tale in tutto e per tutto,con tanto di cellophane esterno oltre che interno!

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