Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey: Take the Shield, Raise the Spear 

Kino

My introduction to megaten was devil survivor. I played it after I finished persona 4 and 3 fes

It was also my introduction to the series and I have a loving bias towards it

Dude same, got such a special place for me in the SMT series

Fair enough tbh difficulty as an experience isn't for everyone

I wouldn't be surprised if it was true it would make sense that a deceptive character would wear a mask for sun protection, as in Kaneko's writing he connects sun deities to being variations of YHVH

Not every scarf is a hijab

@@huanquocmanh416 I'm specifically talking about the mask, most locals consider it to be worn as hijab, but like I mentioned it has other purposes too.

i feel like he had to have been inspired by it cause thats spot on, its always cool to see what inspires his designs

yooo how do you make the smt demon icon on your profile name

You have to become a channel member

@@celkou you need to inter the demon domain with me :)

Ten years later, and I still suffer trauma from Eridanus. The game devs were obviously in league with Satan when they designed that dungeon... And I loved it! I remember when IV Apocalypse came out they talked about all the "quality of life" improvements they added to the game, but I thought it totally destroyed the stakes, sense of accomplishment, etc. Dying in that game meant absolutely nothing because you could just resurrect at the same point with no cost. Nothing felt better than in Strange Journey; either beating a boss, or making some major progress and you're limping back to a terminal, most of your demons dead, health and health items depleted, praying "Please SMT, don't make me fight another battle before the terminal!"

It might be, he might've meant he read it as a kid not that it was a kids book, he did read this sort of thing as a kid. Thanks for that bit of info

I think children are wise enough to make informed decisions on what games to play by themselves. Having another person, even if they’re family, dictate what media you consume can only hinder a person’s own personal growth. Children can be mature enough to handle difficult themes, as some adults aren’t even capable of that.

Well there’s a reason why DemiKids is a thing

I have to agree with you. There is quite a bit of sexual content in the game.

@@pvzbronygodgaming8476 is there? out side of 2 Demons with explicit mammary and 1 with a phallic shape im not sure how you could consider the game to have sexual content.

@@devranyilmaz9806 I was watching beheading videos when I was 13. Kids are absolutely not wise enough to self regulate the content they consume

Yo I did the same, first played nocturne, absolutely loved it then went back and played through smt 1 & 2 lol.

Thank you! Hiccups and editing issues aside I'm proud of this one

Honestly idk who or why anyone would say its happy when its all about nihilism. Which is kinda dumb since it completely destroys the ambiguity of the original neutral.

You can skip the spoiler sections but yeah I'd watch it after a fresh playthrough

Have you watched it?

@@stellarkym yep, since then SJ has become my second favorite Megaten game and i really liked the video :)

I feel like these game really wouldnt sell well with the visual novel presentation on modern consoles. It works well on the 3ds but not so much on a big screen or the switch. Plus the whole second screen stuff these games have.

Honestly I'm glad people enjoy the changes, just means that they served their purpose

As a counter point or just as a thing people bring up.

@@Larrue as a thing to bring up when comparing the difficulty between the 2 versions

For me it's because I am comparing the normal vs the normal. I don't want to play a hard mode to get the normal mode experience, imo normal should be a baseline and the increased difficulty settings should be for people who want a harder game.

I did too, I just thought the statement by atlus was weird

@@Larrue agreed, i watched the whole video and watching some more now, i enjoy the content and subscribed thank you

I feel like Jimenez IS supposed to be his last name, actually... I'm Chicana and where I grew up, Jimenez is a very common Mexican last name.

Latino here, Jiménez is a very common last name in Hispanic countries, so, yeah, it should be his last name indeed.

I have not seen the sj ending perceptions being "not worth going for" ever. If it was a complaint I never ran in circles who posited those complaints. I am not blaming sjr for funneling people into the new endings, my complaints are that I prefer the old story and the level of love and attention to detail they chose to put forth into it's creation. Enough love they had to make a book chronicling the development of the game just to explain it all. Sjr is a lot cheaper even if you enjoy it, there's a lot less thought or love or attention to detail.

@@Larrue You can see it on the game's TV Tropes page, but it was a very common complaint across multiple platforms for years. Sounds like you had a very narrow look into SJ's reception.

Maybe, I only used Reddit, facebook, twitter, the official atlus forums and discord .

@@JoelBurger imagine saying somebody else’s viewpoint is narrow after sourcing TV Tropes and nothing else lmao

My main issue with Redux is how it runs counter to the philosophy and tone of the original from both a gameplay and narrative perspective. Allow me to explain. Strange Journey is a game about the folly of man. Humanity’s insatiable greed that taints the Mother Earth and poisons it. To counteract this, the Schwarzwelt was created. The demons who reside in it mimic the behavior of humans and use it to their advantage. The various different sectors reflect this as well by each one depicting a particular vice of mankind. It’s all a representation of the bottomless malice of the human soul that lurks within us all to cause harm to everything and everyone around us. The Schwarzwelt is an intense, claustrophobic environment that tests the player in unique ways and causes them to think carefully. If you rush in without thinking or preparation you’re dead. It’s the same way with Nocturne in how the Vortex world is a harsh, desolate place where the strong survive and the weak are punished relentlessly. The difficulty was a deliberate design choice meant to reinforce it. Strange Journey Redux is essentially a pillow or a blanket that cushions the blow. You cannot struggle. You cannot lose. You cannot face consequences whatsoever at all. And this extends to the gameplay changes as well. I understand these were implemented to ease new players into the series but I just think it kinda trampled on the original vision the dev team sought out to show. And this can be felt in the new endings too. I don’t wish to spoil anything but it goes back to what I said. The earth is dying and humans are the cause so the Schwarzwelt is here to give man its just desserts. SJR says you cannot face the consequences of your actions. Strange Journey sets out to depict a grim and somewhat realistic situation and this new content feels like wish fulfillment where everything and everyone can be saved. I don’t think Strange Journey Redux is a terrible remaster. I just think it was Atlus trying to appease the vocal minority rather than sticking to their guns. Strange Journey is a reflection and time capsule of humanity’s hubris so the old endings being “unhappy and unsatisfactory” is perfectly fine with me.

The reason I said that I never heard of it used as a first name is because that's mostly the case, but I found a lot of used of Jimenez as a first name, corroborating what Atlus said. It's definitely not the norm though.

@@Larrue It's probably something like Latin Americans taking random English surnames and using them as given names. It's definitely not a standard thing and it'd be the equivalent of someone being named Anderson or O'Donnell

Sorry the promo poster is just the box art

@@Larrue Ah. It's still good. Great video. People like you are why this series has such a community in the United States. Have you covered Digital Devil Saga yet? It's my current favorite. I'm... disappointed by SMT V, and have a feeling when the honeymoon is over, it's going to be highly divisive.

I have a big video for smtv going over why it disappointed me haha... But for dds I'm waiting to gather more research materials, that vid might come next year

@@Larrue Cool! I'll subscribe to your channel. Persona 5 had enormous support when it first launched as well, but now you can find hundreds of videos pointing out the glaring flaws in it. SMT V will be the same way. It just needs to settle in for a bit.

Tbh balancing the difficulty should be the base normal mode.

This makes me so happy, it's really really hard even when I came back to it to write this video but it's just so engaging

SJs difficulty really comes from the map and exploration not the combat imo. If you know how demon sources work then the combat ain’t so bad

I'd probably say IV is my favorite, but SJ is a close second. It's brutality, mainly with only being able to save at terminals which were spaced far apart made major accomplishments feel really rewarding. I loved the story in IV and sometimes it was nice to be able to just run around the demons to avoid combat. That said, IV definitely lessened the stakes and made dying not a big deal because you could save anywhere and pay to be resurrected (although sometimes the price was so I, I decided to lose my progress). Apocalypse made death meaningless because you didn't even have to pay to be resurrected. I think the so called "quality of life improvements" actually really hurt RPG's. Of course the upside is when I just got burned out on Apocalypse and I just wanted to see the end and for it to be over, I kicked it down to easy mode and steamrolled to the end credits. Yeah, I'm not proud of it, but that game overstayed its welcome.

IV has the best gameplay, and it's incredibly addicting to play as a result, but its story is meh the more you think about it. SJ is a bit clunky, but more challenging, and it has the best plot and best alignment representatives in the series.

Was 5 light hearted? The plot was so nonexistent that I couldn’t tell what the tone was

​@@MILDMONSTER1234 your pfp along with the comment makes you sound so smug lol

I'm stuck on the third, no clue what to do against that thing that ate the elve

Although I recommend that you check every single wall you find, you will get a forma to open those doors although I don't remember where said forma is exactly but you have to get said forma to the manufacturers and they will give you said upgrade

I think you should try it, but don't think about it as which one is better, just go by which experience you enjoy more. If you try the original and don't like it, don't force yourself to play it more imo