Megami Tensei Topic

[Farron]

I can sympathize with you. After many games Persona 3 and 4 were a breath of fresh air. The characters are great, they all develop quite nicely, there's also your social links which not only gives you choice of powers but a good backstory. One of my favorite games for sure.

The other good thing is that after them I became eager to try out other Shin Megami Tensei games which I have to say are excellent or are at least different from the main bunch of RPGs.

[Desert Walker]

I recently picked up Strange Journey which has been my introduction to SMT (and to Atlus, for that matter).  I've loved the game up to this point (50 hours in and reaching the end), and I'll be checking out other stuff in the series.

[kyuusei]

Strange Journey eh? Interesting way to start SMT, but not a bad one. Hell if it doesn't frustrate you then you're fit for the rest of the series.

[Starmongoose]

I can't even begin to imagine Strange Journey as my first entry in the series xD

You are made of strong stuff.

[Desert Walker]

Strange Journey eh? Interesting way to start SMT, but not a bad one. Hell if it doesn't frustrate you then you're fit for the rest of the series.

It seemed like a good start given that I don't currently have access to a PS2, liked the modern day setting, and happen to be trying to build up my DS RPG collection.  It hasn't really left me frustrated, with the exception of a couple of boss battles, but I can see how people new to the series could be frustrated given the combination of a long game with tricky dungeons (pits, etc.) and a somewhat steep learning curve.  That said, I've seen a lot of complaints about this game being ultra-hard that I can't comprehend.  The difficulty is moderately high, but my experience has been that putting in a moderate amount of effort at grinding and using the fusion system well allows me to avoid too much trouble.  I will admit, however, that the next game I play will be something with a lighter atmosphere.

[MeshGearFox]

SMT: SJ really isn't that hard. The issue is that the difficulty curve is all over the place. Some of the BOSSES are excessively hard compared to the regular fights, which are all generally pushovers. The bosses aren't really hard in and of themselves, I guess, just... comparatively.

In SMT:N the regular fights were all potentially lethal and the boss fights were still a lot hard but it wasn't such a wild oscillation.

Also the frustrating elements in SJ are more the goddamn invisible doors.

[supersonic]

Also the frustrating elements in SJ are more the goddamn invisible doors.

You bring this up in your every single post re: SJ. I think there was only one or two instances where you had to find an invisible door to progress the story and they were pretty easy to find from what I remember.

[Starmongoose]

Shhh, didn't you know supersonic?

Mesh was raped  by an invisible door as a kid.

[CDFN]

How could a door possibly...? Oh... right, the door knob...

[Fadedsun]

Also the frustrating elements in SJ are more the goddamn invisible doors.

You bring this up in your every single post re: SJ. I think there was only one or two instances where you had to find an invisible door to progress the story and they were pretty easy to find from what I remember.

I'm going to have to agree with supersonic here. I had no trouble finding those doors to progress further in Sector C.

[Vanguard]

I found all those doors no problem and I haven't even played the game.

[MindCandy]

Now SMT will have door shaped penis monsters... awesome...

[Eusis]

I found all those doors no problem and I haven't even played the game.

Looking at maps online doesn't count.

[Commander Jubby Shepard]

I don't get why everyone thinks SJ is such a difficult way to enter the series. It's how I did it (I wasn't aware P3P was an SMT game at the time (And I had only 2 hours in it, so it wasn't much anyways...)) and I've really only had trouble with one invisible door in Sector C and the second fight against Ouroborus (I so spelled that wrong...). I am kind of annoyed that I ended up taking the neutral path though...

[kyuusei]

SJ isn't the hardest SMT by far, but I've seen it turn off MANY people. It isn't easy either. But because of the atmosphere/music, I think it's a great way to enter the series.