Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux Review

<p><em>Shin Megami Tensei&colon; Strange Journey Redux<&sol;em> is an enhanced 3DS port of the 2010 DS original&period; Featuring a new character&comma; an extra dungeon&comma; new demons&comma; and three additional endings&comma; this is the definitive edition&period; The game adds new difficulty settings and quality of life features&period; The casual setting is what it sounds like with a massive gulf between casual and standard&period; The save anywhere further extends this iteration&&num;8217&semi;s accessibility&period; Though&comma; how does <em>Shin Megami Tensei&colon; Strange Journey Redux<&sol;em> stack up to other modern<em> SMT<&sol;em> games&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Story<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The main character is part of a special investigation unit&period; Several ships investigate Schwartzwelt&comma; a demon-infested land&comma; located in a dimensional rift&period; This rift&comma; the cause of the current demon invasion&comma; immobilizes every ship except the Red Sprite&period; Under Commander Gore and Arthur&comma; the vehicle&&num;8217&semi;s AI&comma; the team is left stranded within the Schwartzwelt&period; Through <em>Strange Journey Redux<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s 60&plus; hour adventure&comma; the Red Sprite crew travels in search of an escape route while gathering information on the Schwartzwelt&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game centers around a small cast of characters&period; The plot is nothing noteworthy&period; Though&comma; it does contain some intriguing ideas&period; Knowing when to shut up is its greatest strength&period; Many JRPG&&num;8217&semi;s fill their run-time with droning voices that add nothing to the conversation&period; <em>Strange Journey<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s story respects more conventional narrative logic and pacing&period; Very few scenes drag on longer than they need to&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Strange Journey Redux<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s promotional material features Alex&comma; a new character&comma; though her half-assed inclusion is a major misstep&period; Each of her four or so appearances rarely exceed the two-minute mark&period; Her introduction feels more like an excuse to contextualize the new dungeon&&num;8217&semi;s existence&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ll awaken in the Womb of Grief after your first encounter with Alex&period; It can be visited at any time during the story&comma; striking a proper balance of complexity without feeling like an annoying slog &lpar;Sector Eridanus&comma; anyone&quest;&rpar;&period; However&comma; Alex herself is criminally underused to the point that the promotional material feels deceitful&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Dungeon Crawling<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Running on a modified version of the <em>Etrian Odyssey<&sol;em> engine&comma; first-person exploration through increasingly labyrinthine dungeons is the name of the game&period; Antlia&comma; the first sector&comma; offers a decent stepping stone for later challenges&period; This first glacial environment is simple enough for both veterans and newcomers to acclimate to <em>Strange Journey<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s core mechanics before navigation becomes an area of concern&period; Most dungeons are well-designed with interesting layouts and gimmicks&period; Sector Eridanus is the outlier as it wades into frustrating territory&period; The combination of holes&comma; switches&comma; and a required item hunt within Eridanus&&num;8217&semi; teleporter maze makes it a nightmare&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Womb of Grief&comma; however&comma; might just be the game&&num;8217&semi;s most interesting dungeon&period; While optional&comma; progress through it is required to access <em>Strange Journey Redux<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s new chaos&comma; law&comma; and neutral endings&period; Players looking to find all six fruit fragments required for the <em>Womb of Grief&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;em>s completion will lose several hours of their life to it&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s a wonderful &&num;8220&semi;sick day&&num;8221&semi; experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Demons and Alignments<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>As the franchise&&num;8217&semi;s most distinctive feature&comma; demon negotiation still exists&comma; though minor revisions positively impact the experience&period; The act of negotiation hasn&&num;8217&semi;t changed&comma; but new underlying mechanics alter the player&&num;8217&semi;s approach&period; Alignments&comma; the series staple that determines a player&&num;8217&semi;s ending&comma; play a larger role than in other modern <em>SMT<&sol;em> games&period; Alignments are prescribed to demons as well as the player&period; A negotiation&&num;8217&semi;s difficulty hinges upon compatibility&period; If the main character and demon share the exact same alignment&comma; one flubbed response is brushed aside&comma; allowing more wiggle room for the player&period; Initiating a conversation with a demon whose alignment falls on the opposite end of the spectrum is a delicate balancing act&period; One incorrect response is enough to spark fiery rage&comma; allowing the opposition to act first in combat&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In addition to this balancing act&comma; dark-aligned demons are averse to conversation as are all demons under a full moon&period; Every few steps progresses the moon cycle&period; Acting as a basic time of day system&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s another mechanic that adds to <em>Strange Journey Redux<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s mental acuity&period; Make no mistake&period; While <em>Strange Journey Redux<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s additions make it more accessible&comma; it is still primarily aimed at hardcore role-playing fans&period; If you don&&num;8217&semi;t want to spend minutes deliberating upon things like party composition and demon fusion&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ve come to the wrong place&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Co-op Attacks<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Co-op attacks further add to <em>Strange Journey Redux<&sol;em>&&num;8216&semi;s strategic pool&period; These replace the press turn system introduced in <em>Nocturne<&sol;em>&period; Whereas the press turn system offered an extra turn or chance to perform an &&num;8220&semi;all-out attack&&num;8221&semi; when elemental weaknesses were exploited&comma; co-op attacks require more careful consideration&period; Party members perform co-op attacks when they share the attacker&&num;8217&semi;s alignment&period; A co-op attack&&num;8217&semi;s strength depends on how many members are aligned with the attacker&period; A level 1 co-op strike occurs when only one member is on the same wavelength while level 3 denotes the entire party&&num;8217&semi;s participation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This alteration doesn&&num;8217&semi;t dramatically alter the flow of combat&comma; but it is a more mentally taxing challenge for those that choose to engage with it&period; Demon fusion and forming parties has an extra layer because of this mechanic&period; Some may see it as a hassle&comma; but it fixes the press turn system&&num;8217&semi;s borderline broken nature&period; Fans don&&num;8217&semi;t buy this kind of game to experience a carefree role-playing game&period; They&&num;8217&semi;re in it because they relish in employing planned out strategies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Conclusion<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><em>Strange Journey Redux<&sol;em> is comfort food&period; Longstanding <em>SMT<&sol;em> fans will take solace in its familiarity&period; Its changes are minor enough to prevent it from feeling foreign&comma; but significant enough to satiate the worn out folk&period; Its underwhelming status as an enhanced port may put off owners of the original&comma; but it comes highly recommended to newcomers looking for a challenging turn-based role-playing game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Disclaimer&colon; <&sol;strong>Review code provided by publisher<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;