By Peeps
Get your Demonica ready, its time to talk about Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. Strange Journey is a turn based RPG that is done as a first person view dungeon crawler. It does an excellent job as the spiritual successor of SMT: Nocturne, in the sense that many monster classes are the same and the difficulty is still intact. The fusion system, still utilizing mistakes, has a new feature with sources, but this allows for extremely deep demon fusion and customizing. Obtaining fiends has become more feasible with some of the new fusion setups, and now with a certain fusion application it has become easier to force fusion accidents to make it easier to get zealot family demons.
There is a smaller compendium, but it feels more organized with the alignment system set up. The recruit conversation format is still the same, only now it is possible to get opposite alignment demons to join through conversation. The battle system is different this time around with no tokens, but now done in a party based structure. This can make some battles easier, but bosses and sub-bosses still can have unrelenting difficulty. There are new status ailments, such as bomb to take the place of shock and freeze.
The co-op attacks make team planning important for many of the boss fights, as well as making the player choose alignment more carefully. The alignment system still greatly influences the story and what fights, weapons, and ex-missions the player can try. There are medals and achievements that the player can earn to encourage multiple playthroughs. The controls are simple and are easy to learn. The touch screen is used just as a map, but this makes it easier to get a better look around on room layouts.
The story is well written and dark. It does change with various alignment and event choices. The graphics are amazing and utilize excellent art and character design. Many levels become much more difficult due to some illusions used, and many levels gain deeper themes using their backgrounds. The sound quality is excellent. The music used suits situations very well, and keeps in the dark theme of the game. Some levels can become unnerving upon introduction with some of the music used. There are some glitches, most often in the main menu, but so far none that are severe.
Overall this game is a must have for any fan of the Shin Megami Tensei series, old-school rpg fans, or just anyone looking for a challenging and deep RPG on the DS.
