Strange Journey is a tremendous game, and was actually my introduction to megaten! And this video is lovingly well-researched, even for Larrue’s standards. Brav-hee-ho!
I just beat Strange Journey Redux. It was my first SMT game and god, it was hard. After learning those changes made in Redux, I feel like I would never beat the og game.
The type of mask (and even the patterns on it) Mastema wears is almost identical to a type of hijab women in southern iran wear. It's called a bandari boregheh, so I always wondered if Kaneko saw it somewhere, or came up with the design himself. Though it's not just a type of hijab, it protects against the intense sun.
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
@@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.
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!"
This was my first SMT and after years of playing the others this game has everything I wanted in an SMT. Especially because I'm a massive nerd for science fiction and horror books. Love it.
Even if it was never talked about as SMT IV during planning (and thanks for clarifying that, I was also mistakenly under that impression), what Kaneko had to say about "it may as well be SMT IV" afterward is still very accurate from my perspective. When this came out, it was the fourth major new entry in the series, and after having gone back and played I and II after falling in love with Nocturne (I would imagine that is a pretty common pathway for Western fans of the series lol), this game was the best thing ever at the time I played it. Hell, I've still only played it through once, going Chaos as always on a first play... I honestly can't remember if I dd a true neutral finish too, if it was possible to branch the save off late enough in the game for it to be reasonable to do, I did, and if it isn't possible to do that, I guess I have another playthrough of SJ to do eventually. I remember this game being really long, same hardcore difficulty the series has always had, completely new and interesting mechanics around alignment and how that dictates what kinds of demons you can use best in battle, and a story that was just as epic and insane as the first two... I loved the hell out of this game, by far the most time spent on any DS game, and I played a lot of them (had a flashcart so I tried basically every single game I was at all interested in, and bought the few like this game that I wanted to support the developer and knew the game was worth it). God.... good memories playing this, thanks for doing this retrospective of such a wonderful game.
Strange Journey DS blew me away and is still one of my all-time favorite games. It was my bridge from newer MegaTen to the older games and the game that got me into dungeon crawlers in general. I was pleased to see that the demon essence system got worked into SMT V's systems.
Man you have GOT to learn how to audio balance. You've obviously put so much work into this project that having the audio blast out speakers every ten minutes completely poisons. You do good work chief, just make sure you don't let yourself down.
My introduction to Strange Journey is kind of a funny one. I was introduced to Megami Tensei when I went on a huge Nintendo DS piracy spree and grabbed every game that looked interesting. One of these games was SMT: Devil Survivor, which I enjoyed at the time, but I was unaware it spun off from a larger franchise and thought it was a standalone title. And then some time later I caught an article about Strange Journey in a gaming magazine. I recognized the name "Shin Megami Tensei" and got extremely confused thinking that this gritty sci-fi space-looking game with more "realistic" art was meant to be a direct sequel to that anime SRPG I played a while back. I didn't learn about SMT as a franchise until a friend of mine commented that Abel looked a lot like P3's protagonist and subsequently told me about the other SMT games.
The book about Lucifer might be the Major key of Solomon that mentions who does what and how many legions of demons they command. Funny enough, we know the book wasn't written by king Solomon.
Strange Journey was my first "exposure" to the SMT franchise as a little kid. I never played it, but I saw the posters and the game on shelves and was SO mesmerized by the art style. I was hooked by the franchise ever since and knew I HAD to get my hands on a game ever since. My first real SMT game was SMT IV, but I never got far because an ex boyfriend stole it. I would love to get back into the games again... Thank you for the amazing, in depth video. P.S. I noticed every so often, your spoken audio would be quiet, then get very loud. Other than that, amazing, very well done content! 💘
To be fair, I agree that SMT should be rated M for Mature. Some of the demon art is pretty intense/can be scary to younger audiences, the difficulty is high af, and the themes of the game are pretty deep/tragic. SMT fucking rocks but I think parents should take a look at the game before letting their kid play it.
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.
@@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.
I'm really liking this video so far! I'm a huge fan of strange journey and the game is probably the hardest game I've ever played lmao. The only problem I have with the video is the loudness of the sound effect that plays during the transitions between chapters/sections of the video. It's really loud compared to your voice in the video and when I was watching the video while painting, the sound effect made me jump and kinda hurt my ears. I lowered the volume of the video, but when the next transition played, the transition sound effect was still pretty loud
After playing Redux to the new neutral ending I don’t understand why anyone would ever consider it a “happy” ending. The point the story drives in is that humanity is on the course to self-destruction and that the schwarzwelt will continue to appear until the earth is in a state where it is no longer needed. While the new ending creates a state where the schwarzwelt is immediately destroyed again upon appearing it does not change the fact as to why it is still appearing at all: humanity simply refused to change. The pandemic has driven this point in the real world but generally people will forgo the inconvenience of preventive measures if they convince themselves there is an immediate short term solution available. Much like how people look to science to conveniently fix the problems of disease and climate change for them the world of strange journey stopped fearing the threat of the schwarzwelt once they knew how to destroy it. Thinking we can fall back on being able to deal with a problem if and only when it becomes a problem enables us to continue down the path of environmental pollution, war, widening wealth divides, late stage capitalism etc because if we have a fix to the problems they create then we no longer need to deal with the causes. The lie we tell ourselves about being able to solve these problems if and when they appear is why we allow the causes of our problems to run with very little interference. To me this is what the redux neutral ending represented; the acceptance that humanity will continue its self-destructive ways because it refuses to learn from problems it thinks can be overcome. Humanity was spared thanks to an infinite loop but one has to ask themselves afterwards if humanity really deserved saving? It can only be worth it if you believe the people who would try to do good in the world (such as your surviving crew mates) outweighs the powerful elite majorities who cause the greatest amount of harm (such as the benefactors of Jack’s crew). The story taken as a whole is bleak no matter how they change it and feels more relevant now than it did on the original versions release.
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.
This video was great and I dig strange journey. But jeez the audio production in this video is wild. I felt like I was being jump scared every time you switched topics or played music.
I really appreciate you always covering one of the most underrated parts of games and that is it's development and conception. The thoughts and feelings of the people who made it. I'm tired of people saying "What were they thinking??" but never actually taking the effort to find that out. It makes games so much more enjoyable when you learn more about the creative process itself. You and Marsh are easily the best MegaTen channels in my eyes.
FUUUUUCK i want to watch this video so much but i've just started SJ after beating DeSu. Forgive me but i promise to watch it several days in the future.
I rented Persona from the Blockbuster I worked at way back in 2000 and was immediately hooked on just what megaten was exactly. If you were some one that was around on the nascent web 1.0 then you might remember The GIA and RPGamer having staff members that were major advocates for the series but even then there was hardly any info in the west at all about the series. Naturally, I picked up EP when it debuted here and then Nocturne a few years later. I never gave the AG translation a try. Anyway, I love these games and just recently rebought nocturne on steam and then went ebay mad picking up SMT IV and Apoc, SJ, Soul Hackers (which until I started looking in to SJ more was the one I was really excited about) and V plus a Switch. I am REALLY looking forward to watching this video after I beat SJ. I wish I didn't have as much of Nocturne to get through but maybe I will take a detour for a bit. Perhaps, a Strange Journey even. Keep the vids coming my dude!!!
@16:50 poor 9 year old me watching Event Horizon in Theaters thinking it was just gonna be a nifty Sci-Fi movie like Lost in Space or something.... ya.... no.... I had to walk out half way through it was just too damn scary.
Man ive been hopeing someone would make an hour long video on Strange Jouney since damn near it came out. Strange Jouney is such a facinateing game and has so much to say and while im not going to call it "forgotten" because folks love it, and it got a remake but much like DDS or Devil Survivor there is alot going on under the hood and behind the curtains of some of these quiet gem Megaten games and im really happy you made this video.
Those negative reviews are the reason why we can't have nice things. So many people think that actual gameplay and challenge are outdated ideas, I don't even know why they bother playing videogames, and sadly they are most part of the players.
I had no idea about the differences in the old strange journey. Even though I prefer the new stuff, I do have a respect for the tone and vibe of the old one. Granted I find that the quality of life stuff made the game very enjoyable but thats just me. Either way good shit dude, I learned alot from this.
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'm trying to make a game that more (in my honest opinion) incorporates and combines the essence of the themes of fire emblem and SMT and in researching SMT more thoroughly, I have came to conclude that a story inspired by Strange Journey's main premise is the best way to encompass both, especially since medius's final words in FE1 are "as long as there is darkness in the hearts of man, I will return"
strange journey is my favorite smt game, the only thing i feel bad about is that there is so many megaten games stuck in the ds/3ds console, those games are much bigger then those consoles, they NEED to be freed and ported to steam and switch
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.
To be honest, well there is far more passion behind og Strange Journey, I usually gravitate toward Redux as I feel that the trial and error design of alot of the Sectors in the original to be bullshit and teleporters being more common place means that I have less thing due repeating irritating dungeon design if I die especially with how many goddamn conveyer belts and garbage teleporter mazes in the game, with stuff like that subapp that tracks teleporter location being a god send.
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
Just got Redux at GameStop today because I loved this video and how it talks about the game, gonna boot it up soon and get straight into the Schwartzwelt
Your review made me buy Strange Journey. Probably rhe hardest SMT game ive played. Still not very good at it. But it might be my favorite SMT adjacent game ((outside p3p))
You can't really blame Redux for funneling players to the new endings. A long-time complaint (at least on the English-speaking front, can't say anything about Japanese reception) about SJ was that the Law and Chaos endings were so bleak that they basically weren't worth going for. It makes sense for Redux to posit them as "bad endings", because that was basically already how fans viewed them (just before the only alternative was Neutral).
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.
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.
I really liked your video, but holy shit dude the sound mixing KILLED me. Especially when you swapped tracks or played sound effects it would be like double/triple of your voice and deafen me. Needs a headphone warning.
I remember seeing a Review about Strange journey in Club Nintendo magazine MX, back in the day, they rated this game 4.5/5, because It was Really hard to grasp in difficulty lol
Redux had the Impossible difficulty though, and it's pretty damn ridiculous, and it forces game over on protag death. I'd even say that Expert counterbalances the extra tools that the game gives you.
The way I’m like 2 thirds into this video and have now no longer any idea what words are coming out of your mouth. So I guess I’m not properly spoiling the game for myself. An amazing video nonetheless
I got this game when it came out, but didn't have the patience to appreciate the game at the time and didn't have internet access to research it, so I eventually traded it away. I've always regretted it. Wednesday, I finally found it for a reasonable price on eBay, as well as Devil Survivor 1&2. They'll be here next week, and I intend to teach my kids to play! Good video! I wish I could have seen the promotional poster you mentioned. I'm a sucker for good game 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.
Some say Nocturne is the best, some say IV is the greatest, and some say V is the new future of SMT. But for me, Strange Journey is the most bleak SMT. Still love that password system so I can make funny demon playthrough.
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.
Great vid man, but the audio mixing is pretty bad. You have a low voice and then you blast some music or the transition to next section incredibly loud. Check out some audio compression techniques.
Brother, this is an AMAZING look at Strange Journey. I'm currently playing it (I'm in sector C via the original DS version). If you've got any more to say about the game in the future, I really look forward to it! 😊 BTW, any tips I should know in advance haha?
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
A very interesting video, but my God, is the production of this a mess. Sound levels are all over the place, the narration gets louder or quieter seemingly at random, the soundclips begin too early, like in 22:45, completely drowning the narration... I enjoyed it, but boy do you need an editor
Haven't watched the video yet but I'm really curious what's everyone's opinions on the games fusion system (I mean ds version)? Personally I think it's the best fusion system because it keeps demons unique unlike 4 and to the lesser extent 5, doesn't make it so you either reroll skills for half an hour or fuse a demon that you know could be better like in nocturne. Also sources are great and make constantly fusing fun and rewarding. Such a shame you get 99% of sources in 5 from treasure boxes and not from demons.
![[Mr Caption] No Todds, No Masters critique Fallout 4 (reupload)](/img/n.gif)
I love how the music theme of fights tells you that if your fight lasts longer than 45 seconds, you have a problem.
Kino
Strange Journey is a tremendous game, and was actually my introduction to megaten! And this video is lovingly well-researched, even for Larrue’s standards. Brav-hee-ho!
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
I always thought Jimenez gain the occult markings as a result of his fusion with Bugaboo. Interesting to hear they were tattoos from the start.
I just beat Strange Journey Redux. It was my first SMT game and god, it was hard. After learning those changes made in Redux, I feel like I would never beat the og game.
Fair enough tbh difficulty as an experience isn't for everyone
The type of mask (and even the patterns on it) Mastema wears is almost identical to a type of hijab women in southern iran wear. It's called a bandari boregheh, so I always wondered if Kaneko saw it somewhere, or came up with the design himself.
Though it's not just a type of hijab, it protects against the intense sun.
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
I've tried several SMT games (and did genuinely like them), but Strange Journey was the first I ever managed to beat. Amazingly informative video!
This game go hard on everything, my favorite smt.
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!"
My man Larrue making the best videos I have seen
This video goes hard, feel free to like and share it!
This was my first SMT and after years of playing the others this game has everything I wanted in an SMT. Especially because I'm a massive nerd for science fiction and horror books. Love it.
Even if it was never talked about as SMT IV during planning (and thanks for clarifying that, I was also mistakenly under that impression), what Kaneko had to say about "it may as well be SMT IV" afterward is still very accurate from my perspective. When this came out, it was the fourth major new entry in the series, and after having gone back and played I and II after falling in love with Nocturne (I would imagine that is a pretty common pathway for Western fans of the series lol), this game was the best thing ever at the time I played it. Hell, I've still only played it through once, going Chaos as always on a first play... I honestly can't remember if I dd a true neutral finish too, if it was possible to branch the save off late enough in the game for it to be reasonable to do, I did, and if it isn't possible to do that, I guess I have another playthrough of SJ to do eventually. I remember this game being really long, same hardcore difficulty the series has always had, completely new and interesting mechanics around alignment and how that dictates what kinds of demons you can use best in battle, and a story that was just as epic and insane as the first two... I loved the hell out of this game, by far the most time spent on any DS game, and I played a lot of them (had a flashcart so I tried basically every single game I was at all interested in, and bought the few like this game that I wanted to support the developer and knew the game was worth it). God.... good memories playing this, thanks for doing this retrospective of such a wonderful game.
Yo I did the same, first played nocturne, absolutely loved it then went back and played through smt 1 & 2 lol.
Strange Journey DS blew me away and is still one of my all-time favorite games. It was my bridge from newer MegaTen to the older games and the game that got me into dungeon crawlers in general. I was pleased to see that the demon essence system got worked into SMT V's systems.
Man you have GOT to learn how to audio balance. You've obviously put so much work into this project that having the audio blast out speakers every ten minutes completely poisons.
You do good work chief, just make sure you don't let yourself down.
Ouroboros gives me PTSD to this day
Still a good game tho
My introduction to Strange Journey is kind of a funny one. I was introduced to Megami Tensei when I went on a huge Nintendo DS piracy spree and grabbed every game that looked interesting. One of these games was SMT: Devil Survivor, which I enjoyed at the time, but I was unaware it spun off from a larger franchise and thought it was a standalone title.
And then some time later I caught an article about Strange Journey in a gaming magazine. I recognized the name "Shin Megami Tensei" and got extremely confused thinking that this gritty sci-fi space-looking game with more "realistic" art was meant to be a direct sequel to that anime SRPG I played a while back. I didn't learn about SMT as a franchise until a friend of mine commented that Abel looked a lot like P3's protagonist and subsequently told me about the other SMT games.
The book about Lucifer might be the Major key of Solomon that mentions who does what and how many legions of demons they command. Funny enough, we know the book wasn't written by king Solomon.
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
Strange Journey was my first "exposure" to the SMT franchise as a little kid. I never played it, but I saw the posters and the game on shelves and was SO mesmerized by the art style. I was hooked by the franchise ever since and knew I HAD to get my hands on a game ever since. My first real SMT game was SMT IV, but I never got far because an ex boyfriend stole it. I would love to get back into the games again... Thank you for the amazing, in depth video.
P.S. I noticed every so often, your spoken audio would be quiet, then get very loud. Other than that, amazing, very well done content! 💘
This game is aging like fine wine, amazing video!!
This owns. Also lol at kidcapes just inserting a whole other video essay of his own in the middle of this. Dude owns.
To be fair, I agree that SMT should be rated M for Mature. Some of the demon art is pretty intense/can be scary to younger audiences, the difficulty is high af, and the themes of the game are pretty deep/tragic. SMT fucking rocks but I think parents should take a look at the game before letting their kid play it.
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
Thank you for this video! This is definitely the most indepth video on SMT: Strange Journey I've ever seen.
Man, this video makes me want to replay strange journey, this game was my first true SMT and made me fall in love with the series
This is the most well-researched video I've seen on Strange Journey
I'm really liking this video so far! I'm a huge fan of strange journey and the game is probably the hardest game I've ever played lmao. The only problem I have with the video is the loudness of the sound effect that plays during the transitions between chapters/sections of the video. It's really loud compared to your voice in the video and when I was watching the video while painting, the sound effect made me jump and kinda hurt my ears. I lowered the volume of the video, but when the next transition played, the transition sound effect was still pretty loud
finaly someone giving this a well deserved in depth review. Great content man
After playing Redux to the new neutral ending I don’t understand why anyone would ever consider it a “happy” ending.
The point the story drives in is that humanity is on the course to self-destruction and that the schwarzwelt will continue to appear until the earth is in a state where it is no longer needed.
While the new ending creates a state where the schwarzwelt is immediately destroyed again upon appearing it does not change the fact as to why it is still appearing at all: humanity simply refused to change.
The pandemic has driven this point in the real world but generally people will forgo the inconvenience of preventive measures if they convince themselves there is an immediate short term solution available.
Much like how people look to science to conveniently fix the problems of disease and climate change for them the world of strange journey stopped fearing the threat of the schwarzwelt once they knew how to destroy it.
Thinking we can fall back on being able to deal with a problem if and only when it becomes a problem enables us to continue down the path of environmental pollution, war, widening wealth divides, late stage capitalism etc because if we have a fix to the problems they create then we no longer need to deal with the causes. The lie we tell ourselves about being able to solve these problems if and when they appear is why we allow the causes of our problems to run with very little interference.
To me this is what the redux neutral ending represented; the acceptance that humanity will continue its self-destructive ways because it refuses to learn from problems it thinks can be overcome. Humanity was spared thanks to an infinite loop but one has to ask themselves afterwards if humanity really deserved saving? It can only be worth it if you believe the people who would try to do good in the world (such as your surviving crew mates) outweighs the powerful elite majorities who cause the greatest amount of harm (such as the benefactors of Jack’s crew).
The story taken as a whole is bleak no matter how they change it and feels more relevant now than it did on the original versions release.
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.
The philosophy behind Strange Journey still lives rent free in my mind… and I love it!
Great video, please address audio levels for future vids. *wipes bloody ears*
This video was great and I dig strange journey. But jeez the audio production in this video is wild. I felt like I was being jump scared every time you switched topics or played music.
I really appreciate you always covering one of the most underrated parts of games and that is it's development and conception. The thoughts and feelings of the people who made it. I'm tired of people saying "What were they thinking??" but never actually taking the effort to find that out. It makes games so much more enjoyable when you learn more about the creative process itself. You and Marsh are easily the best MegaTen channels in my eyes.
This game is FANTASTIC, and Getting the Neutral/New Neutral ending is HARD!
I really appreciate you dug deep into background information
Finally the Strange Journey video thanks for this amazing piece!
great job! there is not many videos with interesting information about this game so thank you!
UA-cam suddenly decided to recommend me an hour and a half video about SJ, hmm.
Fine, I'll reopen the old wounds of Eridanus.
There's something about the demonica suit design that kinda reminds me of the Cybermen from Doctor Who.
I thought Kaneko was just the art guy. Didn't realize he had that much pull.
I think Meguro has improved incredibly since Strange Journey with his work on Metaphor that we currently have heard.
Amazing video, devil survivor was my first SMT, but Strange Journey is my favorite of all time.
Nice video man!
Thank you! Hiccups and editing issues aside I'm proud of this one
Hi
Finally got a around to watching this video. SSS+ Tier, good shit.
FUUUUUCK i want to watch this video so much but i've just started SJ after beating DeSu. Forgive me but i promise to watch it several days in the future.
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 rented Persona from the Blockbuster I worked at way back in 2000 and was immediately hooked on just what megaten was exactly. If you were some one that was around on the nascent web 1.0 then you might remember The GIA and RPGamer having staff members that were major advocates for the series but even then there was hardly any info in the west at all about the series. Naturally, I picked up EP when it debuted here and then Nocturne a few years later. I never gave the AG translation a try. Anyway, I love these games and just recently rebought nocturne on steam and then went ebay mad picking up SMT IV and Apoc, SJ, Soul Hackers (which until I started looking in to SJ more was the one I was really excited about) and V plus a Switch. I am REALLY looking forward to watching this video after I beat SJ. I wish I didn't have as much of Nocturne to get through but maybe I will take a detour for a bit. Perhaps, a Strange Journey even. Keep the vids coming my dude!!!
@16:50 poor 9 year old me watching Event Horizon in Theaters thinking it was just gonna be a nifty Sci-Fi movie like Lost in Space or something.... ya.... no.... I had to walk out half way through it was just too damn scary.
Man ive been hopeing someone would make an hour long video on Strange Jouney since damn near it came out.
Strange Jouney is such a facinateing game and has so much to say and while im not going to call it "forgotten" because folks love it, and it got a remake but much like DDS or Devil Survivor there is alot going on under the hood and behind the curtains of some of these quiet gem Megaten games and im really happy you made this video.
Those negative reviews are the reason why we can't have nice things. So many people think that actual gameplay and challenge are outdated ideas, I don't even know why they bother playing videogames, and sadly they are most part of the players.
I had no idea about the differences in the old strange journey. Even though I prefer the new stuff, I do have a respect for the tone and vibe of the old one. Granted I find that the quality of life stuff made the game very enjoyable but thats just me. Either way good shit dude, I learned alot from this.
Honestly I'm glad people enjoy the changes, just means that they served their purpose
On the point of difficulty, Redux adds 2 difficulty options that are harder than the original. I rarely see this point brought up and I wonder why
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'm trying to make a game that more (in my honest opinion) incorporates and combines the essence of the themes of fire emblem and SMT and in researching SMT more thoroughly, I have came to conclude that a story inspired by Strange Journey's main premise is the best way to encompass both, especially since medius's final words in FE1 are "as long as there is darkness in the hearts of man, I will return"
strange journey is my favorite smt game, the only thing i feel bad about is that there is so many megaten games stuck in the ds/3ds console, those games are much bigger then those consoles, they NEED to be freed and ported to steam and switch
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.
Pretty good video, but I'd re-edit it. There's a weird error mid-video with audio when talking about the car blinker.
To be honest, well there is far more passion behind og Strange Journey, I usually gravitate toward Redux as I feel that the trial and error design of alot of the Sectors in the original to be bullshit and teleporters being more common place means that I have less thing due repeating irritating dungeon design if I die especially with how many goddamn conveyer belts and garbage teleporter mazes in the game, with stuff like that subapp that tracks teleporter location being a god send.
I always felt like Jimenez was his last name. Especially because in the military you are called by last name and they are soldiers
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.
Legendary youtuber kidcapes featuring Larrue.
Epic video! Great work!
Strange Journey is my second favorite SMT game, but it definitely deserves the M rating.
Good write up. Just a quick note: Jiménez is exclusively used as a last name, like all names that end in -ez
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
This was a fun watch only complaint is your voice being low sometimes utter than that amazing keep up the good work my dude
Just got Redux at GameStop today because I loved this video and how it talks about the game, gonna boot it up soon and get straight into the Schwartzwelt
Your review made me buy Strange Journey. Probably rhe hardest SMT game ive played. Still not very good at it. But it might be my favorite SMT adjacent game ((outside p3p))
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
You can't really blame Redux for funneling players to the new endings. A long-time complaint (at least on the English-speaking front, can't say anything about Japanese reception) about SJ was that the Law and Chaos endings were so bleak that they basically weren't worth going for. It makes sense for Redux to posit them as "bad endings", because that was basically already how fans viewed them (just before the only alternative was Neutral).
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.
glad its finally here. great work
Strange Journey was great,i got all the endings,you know a game is good when you wanna replay it
Best SMT game heyo 😄
Thanks I can't wait for your smt 5 video I learned so much ❤️
I really liked your video, but holy shit dude the sound mixing KILLED me. Especially when you swapped tracks or played sound effects it would be like double/triple of your voice and deafen me. Needs a headphone warning.
Man u gotta balance ur sound levels better. When the music comes up i jump out of my chair.
Great video but the sound is in transitions were insanely loud
A mothman plush would be cute
Kozuka Chaos Theme, nice
man it feels like a million year's waiting for this video
I remember seeing a Review about Strange journey in Club Nintendo magazine MX, back in the day, they rated this game 4.5/5, because It was Really hard to grasp in difficulty lol
My fav MegaTen game. Nad right now my favourite game of all time.
Redux had the Impossible difficulty though, and it's pretty damn ridiculous, and it forces game over on protag death. I'd even say that Expert counterbalances the extra tools that the game gives you.
Tbh balancing the difficulty should be the base normal mode.
The way I’m like 2 thirds into this video and have now no longer any idea what words are coming out of your mouth. So I guess I’m not properly spoiling the game for myself. An amazing video nonetheless
22:45 am I missing somethin? The fuck was goin on with the editing my brother in christ
Keep up the good work
Fantastic video on my favourite game great job 😃😃😃
Great video
Everyone knows that SJ just didn't become SMT IV because it wasn't taking place in Tokyo... At least, not that much... I guess...
yeah I'm glad I skipped out on redux
saving everywhere makes it less damning to die
I got this game when it came out, but didn't have the patience to appreciate the game at the time and didn't have internet access to research it, so I eventually traded it away. I've always regretted it.
Wednesday, I finally found it for a reasonable price on eBay, as well as Devil Survivor 1&2. They'll be here next week, and I intend to teach my kids to play!
Good video! I wish I could have seen the promotional poster you mentioned. I'm a sucker for good game art.
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.
Strange Journey is GOATED!!!
Some say Nocturne is the best, some say IV is the greatest, and some say V is the new future of SMT.
But for me, Strange Journey is the most bleak SMT. Still love that password system so I can make funny demon playthrough.
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.
Amazing video
Great vid man, but the audio mixing is pretty bad. You have a low voice and then you blast some music or the transition to next section incredibly loud. Check out some audio compression techniques.
Redux is amazing
Brother, this is an AMAZING look at Strange Journey. I'm currently playing it (I'm in sector C via the original DS version). If you've got any more to say about the game in the future, I really look forward to it! 😊
BTW, any tips I should know in advance haha?
29:55 Dude, those are extremely valid reasons to rate the game for Mature audiences vs PG. Why did this make you upset?
Earth is a planet...
I've still yet to get past the second dungeon of this game
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
The freaking music stings are so loud
Once the Lore section starts, i feel like the video runs on double speed. That dude talks to fast.
I can't keep up, so many games to play.
Good shit
A very interesting video, but my God, is the production of this a mess. Sound levels are all over the place, the narration gets louder or quieter seemingly at random, the soundclips begin too early, like in 22:45, completely drowning the narration... I enjoyed it, but boy do you need an editor
Haven't watched the video yet but I'm really curious what's everyone's opinions on the games fusion system (I mean ds version)? Personally I think it's the best fusion system because it keeps demons unique unlike 4 and to the lesser extent 5, doesn't make it so you either reroll skills for half an hour or fuse a demon that you know could be better like in nocturne. Also sources are great and make constantly fusing fun and rewarding. Such a shame you get 99% of sources in 5 from treasure boxes and not from demons.
Bro I love your videos but you need to fix the sounds, the volume is not consistent and I fear I might get noise complaints.
are they gonna do a game for the 30th anniversery?