Strange journey redux1/7/2024 ![]() I don't know if I've played enough of the Shin Megami Tensei or Persona games to consider myself any kind of a series veteran, but at least now I understand the differences between Atlus' two series and appreciate them as much as I appreciate the similarities. I feel like Captain America brightly pointing out "I get that reference!", except it's more like "I know that demon!" The demon designs in Shin Megami Tensei and Persona are iconic, and I've come to look forward to seeing Jack Frost and The Sandman as much as I look forward to seeing a Slime in Dragon Quest, or a Chocobo in Final Fantasy. Did God pick them out for you?ĭespite the different ways Persona and Shin Megami Tensei has players use demons for their benefit, I enjoy running into my old favorites from Persona in the depths of the Schwartzwelt. He was just a big kitty.) Nice glasses, four-eyes. When Persona 5 fuses demons by hanging your favorites or roasting them on the electric chair, it hits you where you live. The necessarily quick demon turnover in Strange Journey Redux might have something to do with my distant relationship ("Sorry, Shisaa, it's just business"), but I also wonder if Strange Journey Redux's straightforward demon fusion program is also part of the reason. I simply don't grow attached to demons in Strange Journey Redux the way I get attached to Personas. And with demons forming the backbone of your party instead of your armed friends supplementing battles with their demons' magic, you need to keep that churn going so you have a robust party ready at all times. By contrast, if you don't mush together demons to make stronger demons ASAP in Strange Journey Redux, you're going to find yourself outclassed by hostile demons very quickly. ![]() While the protagonists for Persona 4 and 5 are "wildcards" who can use any Persona they cook up, their personality is still bonded heavily to whichever demon they start off with (Arsene Lupin, the initial demon for Persona 5's protagonist, is the basis for his "Joker" identity and all the tricks that come with it). In Shin Megami Tensei Redux, however, demons are disposable. "Come on loser, we're going to exploit demons." Once that demon's been imprinted, they can't change it any more than they can change how they laugh, or how they walk. When they make a pact with their demons, it's symbolism for getting a handle on who they are. Your friends in Persona 4 and Persona 5 are defined by whichever demon they tote around in their soul. Until I played Strange Journey Redux, I didn't realize the term "Persona" is incredibly literal in Atlus' spin-off series. There are humans in the Schwartzwelt, but they're your fellow soldiers on your mission to delve deep into the demon dimension (and sometimes they're merely snack food for those demons-or worse, living test subjects). Incidentally, it's those demons who occasionally force me to stop and remember I'm no longer trying to form bonds with teenagers while juggling my grades and a part-time job. Still, forewarned is forearmed, so I have no trouble appreciating the corridors that form Strange Journey Redux's battleground, the demon-populated Schwartzwelt dimension. While Persona 4's randomly-generated dungeons echo the series' roots in the Shin Megami games, I found myself much more engaged by Persona 5's extravagant and glittering palaces. Going in, I knew Shin Megami is based on dungeon-crawlers of olde, which means straight corridors, albeit with some modern amenities like terminals that let you save (Etrian Odyssey V's dungeon-crawling mechanics loosened me up nicely for more of the same in Strange Journey Redux). I expected some measure of culture shock when I started up Strange Journey Redux. If you suck up a raven demon with a vacuum, make sure you don't accidentally hit "reverse" on the vacuum before using it again. I feel like I have one foot in my own house and another foot in a foreign land. There's "coming late to the party" and "coming late to the party, refusing to say 'hi' to the host, and face-planting in the chip dip after guzzling six beers."īut it's the rowdiest party guests who have the most entertaining stories, right? Playing Strange Journey Redux only after tucking a couple of Persona games under my belt has caused me to make some interesting observations. I'm only now playing my first actual Shin Megami game-specifically, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux for the Nintendo 3DS. I started with Persona 4 The Golden for the PS Vita, then moved on to Persona 5 for the PlayStation 4. Shin Megami Tensei is an old and respected RPG series that I bumbled into through the side door.
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