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Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey The Official Thread of Minion and Demonica

Kishgal

Banned
TheCardPlayer said:
Damn I barely touched Soul Silver, thanks to this. Anyway, where can I find
Alice
? I'm in Eridanus and I love to add her to my line-up. And I want to do it legit. No password.
You won't run into her until sector F.
 

Joule

Member
TheCardPlayer said:
Damn I barely touched Soul Silver, thanks to this. Anyway, where can I find
Alice
? I'm in Eridanus and I love to add her to my line-up. And I want to do it legit. No password.

You have to finish a Ex mission in Sector F to unlock her. After that you can just fuse her as you would other fiends.
 

botticus

Member
I started playing last night, finished exploring Antlia B1F. Safe to say I suck at demon negotiations, though I finally got a Kaso after a dozen tries. Is there anything in particular that triggers a demon asking to join you at the beginning of a battle?

I'll have to start forcing myself to do some fusing soon - I really hate fusing demons only to find out I could just recruit one of the new type in the next area, so I end up putting off any experimentation as long as possible.
 

MoxManiac

Member
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCK I just lost a bunch of progress just because i ran across a demon that just happened to case Mudo against my protagonist. BULLLSSHHHIIIITT
 

Yaweee

Member
Does the ratio of story:dungeoning lighten up soon? I just finished the first mini-boss on the first floor, and I hope this isn't a four-hour intro section like P4.
 
MoxManiac said:
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCK I just lost a bunch of progress just because i ran across a demon that just happened to case Mudo against my protagonist. BULLLSSHHHIIIITT

welecome_to_SMT.jpg
 

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
Yaweee said:
Does the ratio of story:dungeoning lighten up soon? I just finished the first mini-boss on the first floor, and I hope this isn't a four-hour intro section like P4.
Ya. The first 90 minutes are intro hell, but it becomes much better when you can start fusing stuff.
 

jony_m

Member
rainking187 said:
Got my replacement CD in the mail today. Haven't tried to listen to it yet. Surprised how fast they sent it.
this.
smtcd.jpg
 

MechaX

Member
I also got the replacement CD. Of course, I'm probably not going to listen to it right now because I've heard a lot of the game's tracks way too much as it is. But Atlus is definitely some good sports for sending out a replacement this quickly.

But as for the game, just made it to Sector G. This place is kinda boring. Dungeon palette swaps, no new music, and pretty crappy random encounters. And since Fornax went by pretty smoothly on all accounts, I'm fully expecting this sector to go straight back to Eridanus levels of ridiculousness to reciprocate. Alignment-wise, I should be happy that this is the first Megami Tensei game to make me pick a side on my first time through (Devil Survivor came close), even if it'll probably end up being completely extreme. Hell, I'm more surprised that it actually made me Law aligned, and we know how shitty Law is in this series.

But... Uh.. Are there actually any good Law demons in the 50s-60s or should I look forward to having a party of mostly neutral fiends and chaotic tyrants?
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Fornax is a bitch. I spent like an hour redoing that stupid Alice quest after I lost my save. I completely forgot where to go.
 

semiconscious

Gold Member
Y2Kev said:
Fornax is a bitch. I spent like an hour redoing that stupid Alice quest after I lost my save. I completely forgot where to go.

i had an amazingly easy time with the alice mission - until i shot her with a rock bullet :) ...

really enjoying where the story's gone at this point (fornax), & continue to be amazed at how well the writers've channeled the spirit of ed wood, dialog-wise - especially every time one of the bosses starts ranting :) ...
 
My Jirae Hua Po just hit lvl 10 and she wants to change her 'Maragi' to another skill. I tried looking for a SJ FAQs but couldnt find any. What skill is replacing my dear Maragi?
 

Kishgal

Banned
Labombadog said:
My Jirae Hua Po just hit lvl 10 and she wants to change her 'Maragi' to another skill. I tried looking for a SJ FAQs but couldnt find any. What skill is replacing my dear Maragi?
You won't know until you let it. It's somewhat random. In my experience, the change is usually crap... but every once in a while, it's something good.
 
Kishgal said:
You won't know until you let it. It's somewhat random. In my experience, the change is usually crap... but every once in a while, it's something good.
Appreciate your answer. This is my only downfall in the SMT games, they should let you know what they are learning instead of changing a good skill to a crappy one. I guess that's what the demon registration is for.

edit: AND...I got Patra (cures sleep). Ugh.
 

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
There is first person dungeon crawling and turn based combat. Those are about the only similarities.
 
It isn't as hard as Etrian Odyssey II. I remember grinding like a maniac in EO2 for like the first 10 or so hrs. Game was extremely hard in the beginning. Although this game is harder than the usual rpg's, its no where near as difficult as EO2.
 

Kishgal

Banned
Black_Mamba said:
How does this one compare to Etrian Odyssey II?
Barely. Etrian Odyssey is a Wizardry clone where the emphasis is on character building and delving deeper and deeper into a single monolithic dungeon. SJ, as with SMT games before it, is closer to traditional RPGs with many dungeons, NPCs, and a stronger emphasis on story. Party progression is through demon negotiation and fusing instead of classes and skill points. As Archie said above, the only real similarities lie in the first-person dungeon aspect.
 

Red Scarlet

Member
Labombadog said:
Appreciate your answer. This is my only downfall in the SMT games, they should let you know what they are learning instead of changing a good skill to a crappy one. I guess that's what the demon registration is for.

edit: AND...I got Patra (cures sleep). Ugh.

It's part of the risk. If it's a main demon you want to probably use for awhile, saving right before a level up can be handy if you get a crappy spell changed from a good one.
 
Labombadog said:
My Jirae Hua Po just hit lvl 10 and she wants to change her 'Maragi' to another skill. I tried looking for a SJ FAQs but couldnt find any. What skill is replacing my dear Maragi?

As a broad, general rule, you should always say no when a demon asks to replace a useful skill and only say yes when they ask to replace a redundant or shitty skill.

(My Fortuna turned that redundant Garu into Mazio earlier today. Woot!)
 

randomkid

Member
Well, I've been lurking for years and I guess this is as good a place as any for my first post. Hello GAF! (also, special shout out to Segata and Stump, you guys are my heroes and I would love to be a professional weed carrier for either of you).

Scythesurge said:
Is there any chance of me finding this game at a Best Buy? I have a nice reward zone certificate and would love to get this game.

Days and days late so who knows if you're reading, but to anyone who's thinking about getting the game at Best Buy, make sure you ask to see if they've got it in the back if you don't see it on display. I had to ask on two separate occasions for them to bring the game out for me, maybe they're hiding it because it's an M-rated DS game? Or maybe my Best Buy is just weird. In any case, I've got a nice copy of the game sitting on my shelf that I've been desperate to play, but I've been forcing myself to finish Devil Survivor first. It's really unfair to Devil Survivor because I've heard such excellent things about this game, but while I'm enjoying myself quite a bit, my mind keeps wandering to Strange Journey and how amazing it's going to be.
 

Totakeke

Member
I wish this game has a hard mode. I want to play the other paths but trudging through all that again seems pointless. It might be also better if you were actually prevented from using demons with alignment opposite to you rather than just using it to activate co-op.
 

Kishgal

Banned
Totakeke said:
I wish this game has a hard mode. I want to play the other paths but trudging through all that again seems pointless. It might be also better if you were actually prevented from using demons with alignment opposite to you rather than just using it to activate co-op.
A new cycle brings a bunch of extras, including a new dungeon, some new subapps, and new EX missions. I'm looking forward to doing another play, myself.
 

Totakeke

Member
Kishgal said:
A new cycle brings a bunch of extras, including a new dungeon, some new subapps, and new EX missions. I'm looking forward to doing another play, myself.

I've looked through a list of the new game stuffs and it seems the more interesting stuffs is only near the end of the game
except for boss rush I guess
. All the other stuffs only make the game easier for you anyway.
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
I took a break from SJ to play through RGG4 and Again, and it's killing me that I haven't played SJ in a while. I'm on Delphinus right now, and I'm dying to go back. Just a couple days more...
 
So I beat this a few days ago and I must say that, while definitely not my favorite SMT game, it's definitely a solid installment into the franchise, as well as being a damn good dungeon crawler on its own. I had so many great moments with this game, but my best one by far had to be when the stupid enemy A.I. handed me a victory practically gift wrapped with a bow on top.

Basically what happened was I was fighting
Demon Jiménez
who has around 9,000 HP. I had my trusty Doppleganger that's been with me since Carina, and another Demon that happens to reflect gun skills as well. What does the stupid A.I. do? Well, it decides to spam this ridiculously powerful gun attack that reflected back for nearly 4,000 damage the first time, 3,000 the second, and then overkilled itself with 3,000 on the third. What should have been a fairly difficult battle turned into the biggest spectacle of self-ownage to ever occur in a video game.

I'm cooking up a spoiler-free video review of this game soon, which I'll probably post here. It was a lot of fun; got me back in the mood to play SMT games. Maybe I should get back to Devil Survivor and finish that up.
 
Totakeke said:
It might be also better if you were actually prevented from using demons with alignment opposite to you rather than just using it to activate co-op.

No, that would definitely be worse. Right now there's an interesting tradeoff between maximizing co-op and picking the strictly best demons available to you; if you don't allow other-alignment demons you're just cutting off 2/3rds of the list (and if you don't even allow them to be in your stock, you're completely gimping the fusion system.)
 

duckroll

Member
So a friend of mine just received a package from Atlus today. It's supposed to the replacement CD for SJ, but all that was inside was a packing slip. Has this happened to anyone else? What can she do about it? Thanks.
 
D

Deleted member 20415

Unconfirmed Member
duckroll said:
So a friend of mine just received a package from Atlus today. It's supposed to the replacement CD for SJ, but all that was inside was a packing slip. Has this happened to anyone else? What can she do about it? Thanks.
Yes, I was coming in to post this. This is the exact same thing that happened to me. Empty envelope with a packing slip that says "Thanks for your business!" and lists the replacement CD as the contents of the envelope... but there was nothing. :(

I am going to write them and hit up their Twitter for some help.
 

Yaweee

Member
Labombadog said:
Appreciate your answer. This is my only downfall in the SMT games, they should let you know what they are learning instead of changing a good skill to a crappy one. I guess that's what the demon registration is for.

edit: AND...I got Patra (cures sleep). Ugh.

I long ago stopped letting my demons change their skills in SMT games. It's almost never worthwhile, and I don't like abusing the save system to swing the odds in my favor.

Totakeke said:
I wish this game has a hard mode. I want to play the other paths but trudging through all that again seems pointless. It might be also better if you were actually prevented from using demons with alignment opposite to you rather than just using it to activate co-op.

I'm disappointed in that, too. This the first SMT game since DDS1 to have no difficulty levels/harder second cycle, and the first since P3 to not have any kind of hard mode at all (and both remakes/ports of P3 had extra difficulty options. Also, not really a fan of bonus content being placed near the end of the second playthrough of 50+ hour RPGs.



Anyhow, I finally got Unlock A and the fusion system (usable and viewable compendium anywhere? Hell yeah!). I'm assuming I'm actually at the point in the point where the gameplay starts to become the prominent part of the game?
 

Mechar

Neo Member
NaughtyCalibur said:
So I beat this a few days ago and I must say that, while definitely not my favorite SMT game, it's definitely a solid installment into the franchise, as well as being a damn good dungeon crawler on its own. I had so many great moments with this game, but my best one by far had to be when the stupid enemy A.I. handed me a victory practically gift wrapped with a bow on top.

Basically what happened was I was fighting
Demon Jiménez
who has around 9,000 HP. I had my trusty Doppleganger that's been with me since Carina, and another Demon that happens to reflect gun skills as well. What does the stupid A.I. do? Well, it decides to spam this ridiculously powerful gun attack that reflected back for nearly 4,000 damage the first time, 3,000 the second, and then overkilled itself with 3,000 on the third. What should have been a fairly difficult battle turned into the biggest spectacle of self-ownage to ever occur in a video game.

I'm cooking up a spoiler-free video review of this game soon, which I'll probably post here. It was a lot of fun; got me back in the mood to play SMT games. Maybe I should get back to Devil Survivor and finish that up.
Looking forward to your video review! How long was your playthrough all in all?
 

TheCardPlayer

Likes to have "friends" around to "play cards" with
This...game! Can't...stop...playing. Man, best RPG on the DS. Bar none. So fucking amazing. Shit, I think I like this more than Nocturne. The art and music is doing it for me. Eridanus is such an improvement on Delphinus too. Except for that stupid
Ouroboros
. Man what a boss.
 

botticus

Member
Please tell me that you eventually get a Demonica upgrade/subapp that prevents damage from floor tiles. They're really annoying my OCD self in Bootes.

I appear to have recently broken 10% in my compendium. Eventually I hope to stick with a particular demon beyond the time it takes to max the analysis and get its source, but probably not anytime soon.
 

Joule

Member
botticus said:
Please tell me that you eventually get a Demonica upgrade/subapp that prevents damage from floor tiles. They're really annoying my OCD self in Bootes.
You do. It's quite useful in Sector E when you get there as well.
 
Mechar said:
Looking forward to your video review! How long was your playthrough all in all?

Around 50 hours. 52 to be a bit more exact. I could have went longer but I really wanted to get on with my life. This game was eating up so much of my free time it actually began to worry me. :lol
 
NaughtyCalibur said:
So I beat this a few days ago and I must say that, while definitely not my favorite SMT game, it's definitely a solid installment into the franchise, as well as being a damn good dungeon crawler on its own. I had so many great moments with this game, but my best one by far had to be when the stupid enemy A.I. handed me a victory practically gift wrapped with a bow on top.

Basically what happened was I was fighting
Demon Jiménez
who has around 9,000 HP. I had my trusty Doppleganger that's been with me since Carina, and another Demon that happens to reflect gun skills as well. What does the stupid A.I. do? Well, it decides to spam this ridiculously powerful gun attack that reflected back for nearly 4,000 damage the first time, 3,000 the second, and then overkilled itself with 3,000 on the third. What should have been a fairly difficult battle turned into the biggest spectacle of self-ownage to ever occur in a video game.

I'm cooking up a spoiler-free video review of this game soon, which I'll probably post here. It was a lot of fun; got me back in the mood to play SMT games. Maybe I should get back to Devil Survivor and finish that up.

Hey buddy! Long time. :)

I am really enjoying this game a lot. I'm glad you enjoyed it, and have beaten it (damn that was fast!). And yes, go back to Devil Survivor. Game is awesome.
 

Vamphuntr

Member
I'm almost done I think. I'm at the last sector and lost in the maze. I'm about 45 hours in. I still need to do some ex mission and to grind to get the best demons. I feel like they didn't flesh the law, chaos and neutral paths much compared to devil survivor and SMT 3. Story wise they kinda throw everything at you near the end and to be honest all three options are bad in some way. Are there any reason to go neutral? From what I've seen there are law and chaos centric ex missions and locked areas in dungeons but not for neutral. The game also balance the number of bosses so you fight pretty much the same amount for every path.

I went with law. Story wise what happened so far is pretty retarded with this path but I got a very good demon and gun from it.

Quick Q. What happen when you go with chaos or neutral instead at the last sector?

Last sector spoiler

Because with law
you fight Gore then Zelenin sings and brainwash everyone on the Red Sprite. The three wise mens are now supporting us. I'm kinda confused, are they law aligned? Now every NPC on the ships (even Irving) are talking about the lord and are calling me brother :lol :lol . When you find new formas Irvine is saying that we will do God will with it or whatever. I suppose if you go neutral then everyone on the ship agree and don't need persuasion? With Chaos does Jiminez intimidate everyone? Do you ever get to fight Lucifer? (little girl) I taught I would fight her in the law path but nope. I fought Gore and Jiminez but no Louise Ferra :( what a letdown. I heard on the chaos path that you at least fight Mastema.
 

Vamphuntr

Member
TheCardPlayer said:

Wow. Weird they gave good scores to Devil Survivor and Personas.

I do agree with some part though.

There are times when your map does not show you where to go next and your list of objectives doesn't clearly communicate what to do, and so you have no choice but to stumble around looking for hidden passageways or the next story event. This is particularly frustrating if you return to the game after a break and forget where you are.

I don't care about the map showing where to go (it's a maze and that's the point duh). But I was really annoyed when I got lost for hours because I didn't find a hidden door. Gate Search should put new gates in the map windows when I have the correct level upgrades and when I'm in it's vicinity (like forma search).

Though this gameplay mechanic was fresh and innovative when it was first introduced well over a decade ago, it's no longer particularly exciting to figure out which of the multiple choice responses you're given will gain a demon's support or its ire. The system hasn't significantly changed in recent years, and dealing with demons in such a passive manner is neither engaging nor intriguing.

This is not really accurate. The demon negotiation is one of the main aspects of the SMT games. Of course it's gonna be similar. In this one alignment had an important part in negotiation. Dialogues are really fun and varied. You also have full moon conversations and conversation when they surrender. They also changed appearances of some demons (shocking). Titania is no longer a fairy with a green skirt and Oberon is well... different.

It's much more like SMT 1 and 2 than Persona and Devil survivor. I think that's the problem with the reviewer. If you are expecting a Persona like narrative and characters interactions you will be disappointed. It's also much more hard (dungeons wise) than Persona 4.

Definitly not as good as Nocturne though. I'm at the final area and will probably beat it soon and would give it more like 8/10.
 

C-Jo

Member
Vamphuntr said:
Much more like

The Bad

It's not like Persona 3/4 and Devil Survivor.
Yeah, or that.

Though, I'd say it makes a good case for Atlus not slapping "Shin Megami Tensei" onto everything they release in the west. I'd say something like Persona can stand on its own by now.
 
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