How Strange but Interesting: A Review of Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux

(SMT: Strange Journey Redux Box Art)

I've never played the original SMT: SJ because it was too late to get it by the time this game came out, though I have searched for it. And to be honest, there are some commentaries in this game I'm not fond of. But I will be professional in telling why I don't like some commentaries but primarily be focused on telling the aspects of the game.

Story: In the not too distant future of 2020, Eastern Europe has been invaded again. Tokyo has had an increase in sex and drug-related crimes with overdoses and murders. The Latin American Economies have crashed and violence and turmoil have been seen. China and South Asian countries have contributed more to toxic pollution. And the United Nations seems tense and heavy with resentment towards each other. But the only thing that has united them, is a mysterious opening called "The Schwarzwelt." (Literally The Black World in German) It's open in Antartica and the only hint of what's inside are mysterious pictures of Burning Cities, Palaces of Pleasure, An Extremely Huge Department Store, and a City that doubles as a Junkyard and Landfill.

The United Nations has sent a secret army force to investigate and, if possible, stop the Schwarzwelt from expanding or all of humanity will be eradicated by being engulfed in this void. You play one of these soldiers and you are backed by American Marine Jimenez, Your Commander Gore, and a Russian Scientist Zelenin. Step into the world of Schwarzwelt to understand the mystery of why it appears while also meeting Bugaboo, a demon who persuades Jimenez to Chaos, and Mastema, the angel of Punishment who hearkens Zelenin to Law. But with a new character named Alex in the mix, who wants to kill you, and a new Dungeon led by the mysterious Goddess Demeter, gives you six possible endings to go through. It's a lot of Playthroughs but you'll have to trust yourself as you go through this STRANGE JOURNEY: REDUX.

Backstory: Inspired by films like John Carpenter's The Thing and the post-apocalyptic Damnation Alley, the Atlus team wanted to develop the new SMT: IV game. However, many elements just feel off making the reason why the game is called Strange Journey more appropriate. For example, The main setting is in a realm of alternate dimensions in Antartica instead of the usual Urban settings of Tokyo. The main cast is all adults and it's usually young teenagers who are on the path to becoming adults who take this plunge into the demon realm. And most odd is the fact that this game was originally made for the Nintendo DS instead of a home console which would've gotten a better demographic as well as how the DS is usually seen as a family-friendly console thanks to Nintendo. But Kazuma Kaneko said that this console was the perfect way to end the game off when necessary, and had to do with another Atlus series, Etrian Odyssey (I've never played it but I'd like to.) But for any Persona fan who's played Persona Q, you'll understand the whole playstyle quite easily. Just add SMT elements and there you go, SMT: SJR.

Characters:

(The Protagonist/Hero)

The Hero: An American (Japanese in the Japanese version) Marine tasked to stop the growth of the Schwartzwelt. Tugged at all sides, he must choose allies and enemies as he comes to decide the fate of the world and mankind.

(Zelenin)

Zelenin: The Law Hero of this game. She's the first female of an SMT mainline game to align with Law. A Russian Scientist searching for clues to stop the Schwarzwelt, she comes face to face with Mastema, Angel of Punishment, who guides her out of a prison in Sector Bootes and leads her on the path to be a Messiah for God.

(Jimenez)

Jimenez: A Mexican-American (At least I think he's Mexican) Marine and a brazen black sheep to the Red Sprite Team, he is looking to stop the Schwartzwelt. However, he becomes the Hero of Chaos and wishes to help the demons in conquering Earth and making a new dog eat dog world.

(Commander Gore)

Commander Gore: The leader of the forces of the Red Sprite in the Schwartzwelt. He is the Neutral Hero of this story. He is one of the most powerful and focused members of the team and promotes harmony and
Gameplay: The gameplay is a dungeon crawler so those who like fast paced RPG's might not get the thrills they would expect but the battles feel fierce and fast because you are in serious danger. The Environment is a grid that focuses on exploration and discovery. Looking up in the environment can help with predicting other places to go to and making travel faster.

(Demeter)

Demeter: The Goddess of Agriculture and the Harvest. She is the main guide of the new Womb of Grief. And now she leads us to a new place where fruit is lost and must be returned to her. However, what these fruits are for, are a mystery to us.

(Alex)

Alex: A mysterious woman who is responsible for killing the Protagonist early in the game. She would've succeeded if it weren't for Demeter's rebirthing of him. She wants to kill Zelenin, Jimenez and the Protagonist but her motivations are unclear.

(Louisa Ferre)

Louisa Ferre: A mysterious woman with a very familiar name. She looks on the protagonists one in a while when traveling to deeper sectors of the Schwartzwelt. She seems to be a part of having her own agenda but what she wants remains unclear.

(The Three Wise Men. Behind them are the pictures of the future alignment choices)

The Three Wise Men: These men are mysteriously looking at the Protagonists' choices. Not much is known but what can be analyzed is what 3 fates they see of the world.

(Mastema)

Mastema: The Angel of Punishment in Judeo-Christian Lore. He is responsible for Influencing Zelenin to law. And he is trying to destroy Schwartzwelt for the Millenium kingdom to arise.

(Bugaboo)

Bugaboo: The Bogeyman, or a variant of him. This Bugaboo is a 3/4 demon but 1/4 leaves any possibility for him to be whatever, angel or demon. After being persecuted by a rogue demon, Jimenez befriends him and also gives more sympathy to the Chaos side.

Gameplay:

The RPG battles take place in a turn-based strategy in predicting what enemies strengths and weaknesses are. In many SMT Games, Weaknesses, Resistances, Repels, and Nulls aren't mutually inherited in each game. For example, a Fairy is Resistant to Electricity but weak to Wind in SMT: IV; In SMT: SJR, she's Resistant to Fire with no noticeable weaknesses. So the main elements to use are Physical, Gun, Fire, Ice, Electricity, Wind, Light, And Darkness. And unlike the Press Turn system, (where attacking enemy weaknesses gets you an extra turn on attacking) its the who has the higher attack speed RPG (like Final Fantasy) but the new system does add a bit of help. If you attack the enemies' weakness, the entire party based on your alignment (Law, Chaos, and Neutrality) will attack. Only those who share your alignment will attack an enemy/enemies. So the game pushes you to have a solid alignment sharing party vs. the strongest demons. But there are many demons so they will be pretty strong.

(Fighting demons in Bootes: Featured demons are Lilim and Jack Frost)

Also returning are many old demons seen in many SMT DS games, but we do have some newcomers as well or rather, redesigns. Demeter is the main guide in the Womb of Grief dungeon and has Zeus as a boss. Zeus has a new design as well with a half light, half dark motif. Mada, who hasn't been seen in modern mainline SMT games, also appears too as well as Zaou Gongen, Hypnos, and the SMT design of Thanatos. Two new appearances in a long time are the demons Amon based on the Goetic demon and Anahita, a Zoroastrian goddess of Water and Rivers. But the biggest revelation to this game (pun intended) is Maria, The MOTHER MARY of Catholicism and Christianity is a summonable demon in this game. She hasn't been seen since SMT: Nine, an XBOX exclusive only available in Japan. (It wasn't that good due to being a project that had too many ideas and delivered so little. It was the basis for the Online MMO SMT: Imagine though.)

The Demon Fusion app is also here but demons only have 6 instead of 8 skills from SMT IV and Apocalypse. And inheritance of skills come from demon cores. But be very wise in using them. I haven't figured out how to get them back yet. But the sources opens up the ability of certain demons to get new abilities than just plain innate ones and a skill that is available from fusion inheritance (only sometimes).

(Alice with her stats, ready for fusion.)

And back at base, you can pay for new apps to make dungeon crawling easier, Demonicas (body armor), guns, swords, and accessories, get some missions, and save.

So primarily expect to dungeon crawl everything, go back to base for either refreshing and buying items and such. Demon fusion and a new field save are available everywhere.


Themes and Motifs: In this game, there is a different style of a theme than in previous SMT Games. For example, the major theme in this game is the human destruction of the environment. At first I thought it was going to be another environmentalist warning (I'm not an environmentalist and am personally sick of all that pandering about it when people definitely don't act like they do. Sorry for the rant but it kinda does annoy me.), but how the Atlus team tells the story is a lot darker and impactful on all kinds of environments.

(Tyrant Morax: The Leader of the forces of Sector Antlia. Behind him is the burning sector.)

The first dungeon, Antlia, is a representation of war environments happening all over the world. Specifically, in Eastern Europe, there are invasions happening all over again.

(Picture of a Youtuber's caption pic of Sector Bootes: The Second dungeon of SJR)
(Sorry I couldn't find one with a better resolution.)

(Sector Carina)

Sector Carina is seen as the Ultimate Store. (Amazon eat your heart out.) A representation of human consumption and economic gluttony. Originally characterized by the economic chaos in the South and Latin American countries (very fitting given Venezuela and to think that back in Sept. 2013 when the economy started to collapse, SMT predicted a similar, though without any political bias, situation 5 years ago back in October of 2009.) But this store has everything and more in it with Animals, toys, planes, etc.

(Sector Delphinius)

Sector Delphinius is a Junkyard. This place of both human and item waste is serving all kinds of junk and human and animal skeletons rotting and decomposing away in a grim and desolate junkyard where demons lurk and radioactive and toxic pollution reign.

(The Womb of Grief: The only new dungeon introduced in SMT: SJR)

The Womb of Grief is the newest dungeon but it has no symbolic references to it other than being a womb, but who is being born? Well, your guide for this dungeon is a very friendly and cute Demeter: The Greek Goddess of the Harvest and Seasons. She wants you to explore the dungeon and take out the bosses who guard the special fruit. But what does she truly want? That is the mystery of this dungeon. With this dungeon, if you make it far enough, you can have one of the 3 new endings of the game.

There are 4 other dungeons but I'd rather not spoil them due to their plot relevance though you already have an idea. I want it to be a surprise and I want you to personally decide your fate in this game. That's the best and only way to enjoy the game. Follow the alignment your convictions lead you to.

Positives:

The Storyline: If you're already familiar with the common tropes of SMT, then you'll come through just fine. If not, prepare for a philosophical parable of choice, free will, and ideology.

The Characters: The characters have a fascinating dynamic. I know this will sound very SJW of me but I like the diversity of the cast. The fact that everyone is from different countries since the UN is making them all travel to the Schwartzwelt makes it feel like it is a world team mission. Also, I like the contrast of the collaboration of the Red Sprite Team in contrast to the United Nations members who seem like they are ready for waring with one another and putting on facades of togetherness while the Red Sprite Team actually does get along (with the exception of Black Sheep Jimenez.)

The New Demons: Seeing the 4 newly designed demons is such a treat and shows the hard work that new series artist, Masayuki Doi is doing with creating new demon designs for the series. He's continuing the Kaneko legacy while also being innovative. I know some of us kind of flacked on him in SMT IV but he's growing quite well into demon designs.

The Graphics: They are the one up from the original game it comes off as smoother and clearer while traveling through the sectors. And it brings out the colors and life of each sector as it haunts you while traveling.

Negatives:

The Preachiness: I admit, this is the first SMT game where I wasn't as fully enveloped in the storyline due to the themes and preachiness at times where Morax wanted to destroy humans for their destructive behaviors, and other leader demons who wanted the same destruction for various reasons. The game can pretty much be a reminder of watching one's self and the environment around him but luckily it's not to where the environmentalism (The only green environmentalism mentioned is Sector Delphinius which is true that us humans need to beware of making Earth uninhabitable for anyone with toxic and radioactive pollution.) is offputting.

The Character Sprites: The New Character Sprites by Doi have garnered Criticism but the only criticism I'll give is that sometimes, they feel a bit lifeless. I don't know if it's because its a Japanese only dub or that the faces aren't fully expressive but it's a fluke but it doesn't fully distract from the experience.

No 3D: I think the game could've used the 3D aspects of the 3DS quite well and it could make the dimensions deeper just like the SMT IV and IV Apocalypse games. Both had 3D elements that made them quite enjoyable.

No Dub: It's all subbed. Not that's bad but I would've loved to hear some of my favorite actors from America voicing characters in this game. It doesn't detract from the game but I would've liked it as an "icing on the cake" scenario.

Overall: This game is a wonderful part of the SMT Lore. A couple of small flubs but noting too overdramatic to destroy the experience and the added decisions of following the new endings give a bunch of replayability to the game. And if you are a fan of Persona or Dungeon Crawlers or SMT in general, this game should be in your 3DS library.

4/5

Passwords: This game has a password system to gain new allies and you can share them with people. So here are 5 passwords for some cool demons. Enter the codes exactly as I put or else you will get no demon. This is your warning.


Nue with healing abilities: 
Top: BufuBoyz4Life

Hathor with wind and healing spells: 
Top: IuS?pmYjpV&R3?j6 
Bottom: zFlnoKHC7qVFoC?0

Rangda with All Null and Repel every element (And starts at Level 1)
Top: t9pQpzT5poMVZr9b
Bottom: 97lF2cEYrAV74y?t

Thor with Support and Strong Physical Abilities (And Starts at Level 1)
Top: kGEqAL5PZwK3rWG7
Bottom: 0uFLHhBxMKCL40Dj

Black Frost with All Elemental Skills and one Healing and one Almighty Spell (And starts at Level 1) 

Top: 1vEWnEQmV9ZkjhQZ
Bottom: 9xQsZlOIjAMmlRPA

Reading is a Virtue: Or How My Intellectual Friends and I came with the Conclusion of Reading Truly Between the Lines

(The Baudelaire Family Library before being burned down)

The Interest of Deciding to Write this Article (and the reason why I also
capitalized those letters) is due to one of my intellectual peers and an article he (R.C. is how I'll refer to him) wrote.

His Article dealt with the reasons behind why the Free Speech movement was heading in the wrong direction by citing examples like how Tommy Robinson wasn't a martyr for the Free Speech Movement and how his actions are more of a call to monetary arms for him and the recent NLF scandal in dealing with dissenting football policies on dealing with those who kneel but instead, tampering with the NLF teams chances at victory.

But when he posted these opinions on the forum we are a part of, He was met with sharp calls for the main administrator of the forum to censor and ban his article. (Luckily he's acquainted with both of us and he had refused to delete the blog post) But the irony was laid bare. Even though Freedom of Speech is eternally a human right, It's ok to censor in private settings.

But prior to this, RC and I had discussed one of my favorite authors (his too), Lemony Snicket. You Might know him for A Series of Unfortunate Events, a Book series focused on the Baudelaire Orphans as they travel guardian to guardian to escape the clutches of their "probably not 3rd cousin 4 times removed or 4th cousin 3 times removed" Count Olaf. But Snicket has a very clever motif and its application in the series as well as its importance to us in everyday life: reading and libraries.


(Justice Strauss' Library in the TV Series)

Reading is a considered virtue in each book and a library is a constant motif with all kinds of libraries being featured to solve some kind of problem in the series. In The Reptile Room, Klaus reads books on Snakes and one, in particular, helps deal with (Spoiler Alert though it's often alluded to at the beginning of the book.) the Murder of Uncle Monty Montgomery. And each library has its own theme behind it like Justice Strauss' Judicial Library in The Bad Begining, The Grammar Library of Aunt Josephine's in The Wide Window, The Library of Records at Heimlich Hospital seen in The Hostile Hospital, and (the most elaborate of them all) The Arboretum Library on the mysterious island in The End.

Snicket emphasizes how only evil people don't read and Count Olaf sure does not read. He doesn't pick up a book and has had little interest in a book. In the TV series, his library is bare and it looks like all he does is drink.










(The Daily Punctilio Headline in the first 2 episodes of ASoUE)

But even this means naught for Snicket adds a little more depth to the mix than just claiming that we should read. The primary example is due to the mistakes and lack of journalistic integrity in The Daily Punctilio. The Daily Punctilio is a newspaper styled like The New York Times (their motto: All the News in Fits of Print is a parody of the NYT's motto: All the News that Fits to Print) and The Washington Post and other such newspapers, but the Punctilio has no editors to fix any mistakes and choses sensationalist articles over truth and honesty in the papers. Yet in both the Books and the TV series, everyone takes the words for facts. The main instigator of such articles is Geraldine Julienne, a woman who I hate so much but yet hasn't appeared in the TV series yet. (It seems Elanora Poe is taking her place. But Elanora in the books is Mr. Athur Poe's [Banker and in charge of the affairs of the Baudelaires] sister. Instead, she's a combination of Elanora (Head of Staff at The Daily Punctilio) and Polly Poe (Mr. Poe's wife in the Books) Also it should be noted that Punctilio is a word which here means a petty point of conduct or procedure, which fits perfectly with how the newspaper is done. Now, this would be perfect to avoid and would have no trouble ... if everyone didn't get their news and only read this newspaper as their only reliable source of information. Everyone reads this newspaper and no one seems to question what they have read even when the Baudelaries are later made out to be murderers by the paper and let Count Olaf and his crimes go free.


(Aunt Josephine's Libary in the TV series)

But it's a very important lesson for others and myself with reading all types of stories as well as opinions as much as we can. We all know we live in a politically divided time (then again, aren't most time's politically divided so the phrase is just pretty useless) and as you know this even goes with making it hard for ourselves to talk about reading and hearing what the enemy has to say.

As you all know, my political opinions are among 3 philosophical/economic schools in general: Objectivism, Libertarianism, and Classical Liberalism. All 3 have similar bases but their fundamentals are quite different with what is promoted. Objectivism is primarily focused as a full philosophy to give guidance and examine the world in. Libertarianism is more politically motivated rather than a moral/ethical philosophy. Because people from different philosophical and religious backgrounds can still support Libertarianism. Then with Classical Liberalism, it's similar to Libertarianism but there is more of an ethical background in the various philosophers and thinkers of the Enlightenment. 


But I can't just rely purely on all Objectivist sources. If I did, it'd make me no more dogmatic than the people I claim to be arguing against. One of my other friends from the same intellectual forum (Boris) had also this to say about the difficulties of being Libertarian.

To Paraphrase: "Unlike the Republican or the Democrat who only have to read theirs and then their opponents' works, (that is the rational ones) The Libertarian must-read not only their own sources, but both Democrat and Republican sources to even more critically understand the politi-sphere."

We all need to step back a little and read things we don't like and try to give an open ear. It may not be at least fruitful to us but it does help us grow into better people. That's what we need today. And if we just reason it out, then what have we to lose but our argument.

So even though the original intent of Snicket's quote would be to read books of any genre, I can also say this is very sound advice for even us in a politicking world.