Shin Megami Tensei

The basic gameplay takes a step back from Nocturne, and returns it to the first-person dungeon crawling roots of the original Megami Tensei and Shin Megami Tensei games. The story takes place in the near future, wherein humanity is slowly driving the planet to ruin. Wars are breaking out, pollution is at an all-time high, and Earth is just generally going to hell in a handbasket. Then a giant abyss appears over the Antarctic, which a newly founded global coalition dubs the "Schwarzwelt". At first the group was simply fascinated by the abyss, then that fascination slowly turns to panic when the scientists examining the Schwarzwelt realize the abyss is growing. A gathering of military and scientific personnel are formed to investigate the Schwarzwelt, tasked with learning its secrets and somehow putting a stop to it before it swallows the planet whole. Upon arrival, the team not only discover alien worlds full of demons, but they also realize they don't have a way back to Earth, so the player is soon required to use the power of the demons against them.

Characters

The Protagonist

Dubbed a member of the United States Marine Corps in the US version, though he's Japanese in the original release. The development staff explicitly stated that the protagonist was meant to be the nationality that fit whatever region the game was released in.

Zelenin

One of the members of the Schwarzwelt Team's scientific task force, a Russian scientist. She distrusts the demons, and is reluctant to use them in battle. Zelenin is Strange Journey's equivalent of a Law Hero.

Commander Gore

The leader of the expedition, tasked with bringing the team home in one piece, and putting a stop to the Schwarzwelt.

Jimenez

A member of the strike crew, of Hispanic origin. Jimenez takes to summoning demons like a fish to water, and dislikes being told how to use them. Strange Journey's equivalent of a Chaos Hero.

Arthur

A sentient computer on board the Red Sprite, the team's main ship. Arthur gives the player and the team their missions. Arthur is unfazed by the effects of the mission on the crew, so long as it gets accomplished.

Mastema

An angel who appears in a deep level of the Schwarzwelt, claiming to have been sent by God to purge the demons and guide humanity down the right path. In Israeli literature, he is depicted as arch demon, and his name is derived from "mastemah", Hebrew for hatred, hostility, enmity, or persecution.

Bugaboo

This silly looking devil becomes Jimenez's first demon.

"Strange Girl"

A mysterious person who appears on board the Red Sprite, introducing herself as "Louisa Ferre". She appears interested in how the protagonist will carry out his assignment.

Each section of the Schwarzwelt appears as a separate dungeon, with multiple floors. While the early dungeons simply consist of twisting rooms and corridors, they gradually become more sadistic, throwing moving floors pitfalls, and dark rooms that can't be mapped out at the player. Strange Journey's mapping system looks similar to Etrian Odyssey's, as it appears on the bottom screen when walking around, except the player does none of the creation. Strange Journey's floors are completely auto-mapped as you move along them, which should come as a relief to the player, since they'll have plenty else to occupy their time. The dungeons of the Schwarzwelt start out looking like Arctic caverns, then gradually change shape to reflect humanity's negative points. Later dungeons appear in the form of red light districts, shopping malls, and dumpsters full of toxic waste. They're fully 3D, and look incredibly crisp and smooth, much, again, like Etrian Odyssey.

Strange Journey carries on the core series tradition of demonic conversation. Any veterans of Nocturne or even the early Persona games should feel right at home. Tell the demons what they (seem to) want to hear, and they may join you. Get them angry, and they'll either attack, leave, or ignore further attempts at conversation. Most of the demons questions fit a certain personality type, though they are especially curious about the player's explanation for the world's sorry state, and how humanity's going to fix it.

As another throwback, alignment figures heavily into Strange Journey's gameplay and story. At first, the player will remain neutral (depicted in white font), but as the Schwarzwelt gets deeper, many questions poised by both demons and humans can change his alignment to Law (depicted in blue) or Chaos (depicted in red). Strange Journey has both multiple endings, and multiple endgame bosses depending on the player's alignment. The Fiends made infamous in the core games, and to a lesser extent, the fourth Devil Summoner game, also make a return, though they're not as integral to the plot; they're just very powerful hidden bosses.

The creepy masks worn by the cast aren't just for decoration. Along the way, the Demonica suits can be upgraded with applications that make mapping, summoning, and battle in general easier. For instance, certain apps let the player talk with demons on a full moon, detect hidden rooms, prevent fusion accidents, and recover set levels of MP while walking.

All of the equipment is forged from items called Forma, which are either detected automatically when exploring or are gifted by various demons. In another throwback to the original SNES games, the protagonist can't use magic, only swords, guns, and demons. Fortunately, the guns he can purchase frequently use stat and elemental magics, so he isn't forced to be a physical character like in earlier games.

Strange Journey completely eliminates the Press Turn system made famous in the PlayStation 2 games. Instead, if a character of a certain alignment hits a weakness, the others in the party of a same alignment will follow up with a powerful physical attack. The more that share the first attacker's alignment, the more powerful the follow up will be. The player also has to fight enemies once to get any information on them. On the first encounter, they appear as formless data. Fighting them more often reveals more about the demon, which is displayed on the lower screen, and hitting their weaknesses speeds up the process.

Kazuma Kaneko, the series' mainstay character designer, contributed many new demonic designs for Strange Journey. While some appear from lesser known games in the US franchise, such as Soul Hackers, many of them are brand new demons from all sorts of mythologies. Many of the sprites are from Devil Survivor, except they're now all animated like the sprites in the Dragon Quest remakes, and they all look fantastic. There are also a few codec-powered CG cutscenes, though they're few and far between. The Game Over sequence, where the darkness spreads from the Schwarzwelt around the Earth, is chillingly understated.

The other name considered synonymous with Megami Tensei as of late, composer Shoji Meguro, experiments with a different sound for Strange Journey. Rather than using the dark metal of Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga or the pop sounds of the newer Persona games, Strange Journey's soundtrack is full of booming symphonic pieces, including eerie demonic chants for battles and angelic choirs for the less chaotic moments.

Kaneko once admitted that this was meant to be Shin Megami Tensei IV - the only thing keeping it from an "official" numeral was that it takes place in the South Pole as compared to Tokyo, like the older games. The change to a more neutral location was done in hopes to appeal to a worldwide audience, fearing that the concentration on modern day Japan would be off-putting for foreigners. In spite of this, it's still clear that Strange Journey is the true successor to Nocturne that most Megatenists have been waiting for.