I am a huge fan of the Shin Megami Tensei games. The reason is simple: fun role-playing games in a vastly different setting than other games. Cliches? Ha! It takes them and transforms them into something more pure. The concepts transcend their archetype. The newest entry into this long-running series is Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey for the Nintendo DS. And Atlus’ Aram Jabbari was kind enough to show us a quick demonstration of the game.
Strange Journey, as I understand it, starts off simple enough. Your spacecraft crashes on the moon. So you are sent down into the ground to retrieve an energy source that will power the craft. Then it’s just business as usual. At least, that’s what it should be. Instead, when Aram located the energy source, that’s when things took a turn for the worse. Guarding the source was a fearsome demon.
Right off the bat, Strange Journey feels reminiscent of other first-person exploration games. Even Aram briefly compared it to Etrian Odyssey. However, the emphasis is placed much more on the story than on exploration. But don’t even think that there are not things to do. There are subquests hidden all over the map. By using your radar on the touchscreen (it surrounds your party like a circle), you can find hidden item deposits (called “forem” in the game) to unlock more items. This is important since the protagonist relies on equipment for his skills. Change the equipment, change his skills. Furthermore, he is the only one who can use medicinal items during combat. Unlike other SMT games, you have no input how the characters level up. This places even more emphasis on collecting demons.
This means that you will have to enter combat and talk to them. Unlike other games in the series, there is an analyze bar. As you interact with the demons, you’ll get to know them better. When the bar is completely full, you’ll know every aspect of the demon, from strengths to weakness and everything in-between. Furthermore, this is also connected to the revamped combat system. Whenever a weakness is exploited, a physical attack may occur as long as other demons of the same alignment are together. So if the party is full of law demons and one of the exploits a weakness, the other two may join in the attack. Thus, the pace of battle quickens. Also, you can fuse and register demons anywhere on the map. No more quick runs to the Dark Cathedral or Victor’s Lab to get the job done.
Graphically, the game seems to push the limits of the DS. Snow was falling in the area shown. The area was like a desolate city. Demons that the party fights actually move a bit during combat. For example, a fairy-type demon flapped her wings as she waited her turn during combat. Oni breathed in and out. And best of all, the abilities/skills are all flashy and cool. Selections are also cleanly laid out.
From what I have seen, Atlus is dumping Pinesol and Pledge by the gallon onto the game. It seems to me that they are making certain that every aspect of the game shines brightly. At this rate, Atlus could, emphasis on “could,” have one of the most unique DS games for this spring. Forgive me for overhyping Strange Journey because I cannot wait to get my hands on it for myself. For more information, visit http:www.atlus.com/strangejourney.
