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Atlus announces Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (DS)

The wait for this game to be localized and Soul Silver is going to kill me. As long as Atlus and Nintendo stay away from each others release schedule in 2010 I can handle playing both with equal love.

It also gives Atlus time to request for Dante to be included in the NA version. :D
 

duckroll

Member
Yaweee said:
Maybe the "major" announcement is that they're kicking random skill inheritance to the gutter, forever, because the system sucks.

Sigh. I wish. I don't have any idea what a "major" announcement would be for Atlus, outside of a new game. But they already have 3 games announced yet to be released, which might be tied for the most they've ever had in queue?

It's a "major" announcement regarding SMT:SJ, since it's from the blog. I don't think it's anything groundbreaking or anything, it's just the blogger teasing news we don't know about yet. My guess is a trailer or battle video is coming. That's all.
 

Yaweee

Member
duckroll said:
It's a "major" announcement regarding SMT:SJ, since it's from the blog. I don't think it's anything groundbreaking or anything, it's just the blogger teasing news we don't know about yet. My guess is a trailer or battle video is coming. That's all.

Oh, I thought it was from the Atlusnet blog. Nevermind, then.

I'd guess a cameo or story relationship in SJ to something else in the series.
 

Dr. Chaos

Banned
Wow, Atlus really pumps out their games. Someday when I have money again, I'll have some catching up to do.
I still haven't played Nocturne yet or the DDS titles for that matter.

The shame..

As for Strange Journey, really loving the concept of this one. Should be a treat.
 

duckroll

Member
http://dol.dengeki.com/pr/megaten_sj/

Dengeki is starting to help Atlus push SJ. Starting this thursday, they have 3 weeks of special articles planned. 4 editors will discuss various aspects of the game, giving their feedback and sharing information. 10th Sept will be about the story, 17th Sept will be about Demons and 24th Sept will be about gameplay.
 

Verilligo

Member
Very much looking forward to this, seems a lot like the EO-style SMT they've been promising and I just about loved everything to do with EO. Got my butt kicked by it, but that's part of the experience! I imagine the same will happen here.

duckroll said:
http://dol.dengeki.com/pr/megaten_sj/

Dengeki is starting to help Atlus push SJ. Starting this thursday, they have 3 weeks of special articles planned. 4 editors will discuss various aspects of the game, giving their feedback and sharing information. 10th Sept will be about the story, 17th Sept will be about Demons and 24th Sept will be about gameplay.
Is there something special about the 17th of September? I mean we've got Ys 7 and the SaGa 2 remake being released and now also some info on this game. Did I miss a memo?
 

Error

Jealous of the Glory that is Johnny Depp
FP megaten is not EO style.

There were FP megaten games before EO. Also, FP megaten doesn't play anything like EO.
 

ethelred

Member
duckroll said:
http://dol.dengeki.com/pr/megaten_sj/

Dengeki is starting to help Atlus push SJ. Starting this thursday, they have 3 weeks of special articles planned. 4 editors will discuss various aspects of the game, giving their feedback and sharing information. 10th Sept will be about the story, 17th Sept will be about Demons and 24th Sept will be about gameplay.

I reeaalllly like this shot:

point02_3b.jpg


Looks like that'll be quite a fight.

The first sentence of the Dengeki article is amusing (though mostly a reflection of what the website already keyed us into). But it's not SMT4! It doesn't have a number! :lol
 

duckroll

Member
There's a shitload of SJ info posted on 2ch by the retailer guy who posts impressions and info on upcoming core DS games all the time. Omgggggg!
 

duckroll

Member
Not much interest here I see... so I'll just summarize the important bits which are new info:

- "true proper successor to the SMT series"

- 70-100 hours of play time estimated.

- terminals in dungeons for saving and sub-application swapping.

- determine your main character build (attack type, magic type, etc) by answering 6 questions in the prologue tutorial.

- main applications and sub applications on the Demonica Suit provide a wide range of customizable abilities and functions. Very similar to the COMP installation system in Soul Hackers.

- Macca is the currency, Forma is the resource. You have to pay Macca to refine Forma into usable stuff.

- 3 types of Forma: Base Forma, Assist Forma and Rare Forma.

- Base Forma are used to create weapons, equipment, and items. Assist Forma comes in weapon, armor, accessory and healing types, and influence the creation of items. Rare Forma are used to develop applications for the Demonica Suit.

- The alignment system in SJ is the "stance" system. The main character's stance will change depending on his choices throughout the game. (the guy isn't sure if the stance attribute takes into account law/chaos or light/dark, but it's one of them.)

- Stance will have an impact in not just the story, but in demon negotiation and battles as well. The stance of a character or demon can be easily seen by the color of the name. Green/White/Red.

- He says something about how the player's "large stance" influences demon negotiation, while his "small stance" influences the character's affinity and other stuff. Not sure what exactly that means.

- The Devil Co-Op system is the brand new addition to the battles in SJ. When an enemy's weakness is attacked, demons of the same stance will have a chance of following up with an add-on attack.

- There are various other conditions and bonuses for Devil Co-op, but the guy didn't have information on those from the presentation and demo he had.

- Unknown demons encountered for the first time without any analysis cannot be negotiated with. You build a demon's analyze bar by killing that demon type, fusing it, or successfully negotiating with it for a contract. The higher the analyze bar the more info on that demon is displayed on the bottom screen when fighting it.

- 2 Demon Fusion and Special Fusion are confirmed, but he didn't see any Sword Fusion. There's definitely a compendium with registry, and you can buy demons back with Macca. You can also arrange the list by race or by level.

- There's going to be a brand new unannounced system revealed soon. It's supposed to be pretty major and revolutionary for the series, or at least that's what they're trying to hint to people. Might be something unique to either the DS or to Wifi. It will be announced soon.

- He did not see any 2D field maps in the game. :(
 
- The Devil Co-Op system is the brand new addition to the battles in SJ. When an enemy's weakness is attacked, demons of the same stance will have a chance of following up with an add-on attack.

This could make deciding on a party very interesting.
 

Coxswain

Member
duckroll said:
- The Devil Co-Op system is the brand new addition to the battles in SJ. When an enemy's weakness is attacked, demons of the same stance will have a chance of following up with an add-on attack.
I hope that by 'chance' they mean 'you get the option to follow-up with pros and cons to taking and not taking the chance', and not 'happens randomly according to dice rolls'. If it's like Extra Turns in Devil Survivor I'll puke :(
 

Archie

Second-rate Anihawk
Sounds amazing.

Error said:
wow this thread is dead :(
I'm very interested in this game (one of my most anticipated games), but there is nothing for me to contribute in this thread. :p
 

Totakeke

Member
Error said:
wow this thread is dead :(

Wow, awesome, amazing, goty, can't wait, cooool...

Not much to say other than those for every update, could be partly why. ; )



Is that a new demon with all the snake limbs on the website system update? Pretty neat concept for a demon.
 

ethelred

Member
Totakeke said:
Wow, awesome, amazing, goty, can't wait, cooool...

Not much to say other than those for every update, could be partly why. ; )

Then I'll say something different.

This:
duckroll said:
- He did not see any 2D field maps in the game. :(
... is pretty disappointing. Even if you can still get attacked by enemies like in Nocturne, I like having an overworld map and I like having areas outside of the dungeons to explore. It sounds like that's mostly (entirely?) been removed from this, which is weird for a Shin Megami Tensei game and it's not a change I'm really happy with.

Unfortunately, all the other information still sounds so great that that's the only negative thing I can say. :/
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Error said:
wow this thread is dead :(

Yeah ppl are looking more forward to the 5th persona port i guess :)
@duckroll thx for the information, sounds awesome :eek:
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
duckroll said:
- Unknown demons encountered for the first time without any analysis cannot be negotiated with. You build a demon's analyze bar by killing that demon type, fusing it, or successfully negotiating with it for a contract. The higher the analyze bar the more info on that demon is displayed on the bottom screen when fighting it.
Does this mean that if some uber rare demon that you never got through fusion shows in battle you have to kill it at least once before you can negotiate with it when it decides to appear again?
 

Acosta

Member
Error said:
wow this thread is dead :(

When I have decided that I want a game I don't like getting too much info. And thinking that I won't play this until some point of 2010 is a torture.

Thanks for the info duckroll.
 

Yaweee

Member
cw_sasuke said:
Yeah ppl are looking more forward to the 5th persona port i guess :)
@duckroll thx for the information, sounds awesome :eek:

I'm looking forward to SJ more than P3P, but the port has a lot more debate surrounding it, while the webpage/magazine updates for it have been giving a lot more information to discuss.
 

duckroll

Member
Fuu said:
Does this mean that if some uber rare demon that you never got through fusion shows in battle you have to kill it at least once before you can negotiate with it when it decides to appear again?

SMT is not Pokemon.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
duckroll said:
SMT is not Pokemon.
Yeah, that's exactly what I was trying to imply. No surprise the thread is dead with this kind of response to interest.

It's not like this worked like that in Megaten 3 or P1. I'm not against the idea, I was just asking for confirmation if my example was how things are going to play out. Maybe from the info released there was already some news about scanning the demon and still being able to negotiate with it the first time it appears, I wasn't following the updates closely so I wondered.
 

duckroll

Member
Fuu said:
Yeah, that's exactly what I was trying to imply. No surprise the thread is dead with this kind of response to interest.

It's not like this worked like that in Megaten 3 or P1. I'm not against the idea, I was just asking for confirmation if my example was how things are going to play out. Maybe from the info released there was already some news about scanning the demon and still being able to negotiate with it the first time it appears, I wasn't following the updates closely so I wondered.

I'm simply suggesting that there are no "rare" demons you would run into that you would need to negotiate. That has never been a hallmark of the series, and it has never been the point of demon negotiation. Any demon you can encounter in any dungeon area is a normal demon. Bosses cannot be negotiated with. Instead the focus for the series has always been on the fusion system. There are always more demons you can fuse, than the demons you can encounter. The "rare" or more powerful demons are never ones you are supposed to "find" and negotiate, but instead ones you have to figure out how to fuse.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
duckroll said:
I'm simply suggesting that there are no "rare" demons you would run into that you would need to negotiate. That has never been a hallmark of the series, and it has never been the point of demon negotiation. Any demon you can encounter in any dungeon area is a normal demon. Bosses cannot be negotiated with. Instead the focus for the series has always been on the fusion system. There are always more demons you can fuse, than the demons you can encounter. The "rare" or more powerful demons are never ones you are supposed to "find" and negotiate, but instead ones you have to figure out how to fuse.
I wasn't quite aware of that. Thanks for the explanation.
 
Just watched the new gameplay clip. I can only barely figure out what is going on, like always, but goddamn, the music is just amazing.
 

Hobbun

Member
duckroll said:
You have amazingly sharp eyes. :D

Here's more weirdness:

2z8z21e.jpg

Dammit, too much Katakana and Kanji in that text. All I know is Hiragana (mostly). :lol

duckroll said:
- 70-100 hours of play time estimated.

Wow, 70-100 hours? Awesome. I wonder if that estimate is with all sidequests or the main story? I can't believe it would be the main story... Either way, that is huge for a DS game.

Although that is a shame to hear that nothing was seen in regards to 2D overworld maps. I hope it is in there.
 

duckroll

Member
Hobbun said:
Wow, 70-100 hours? Awesome. I wonder if that estimate is with all sidequests or the main story? I can't believe it would be the main story... Either way, that is huge for a DS game.

I've noticed that lately DS RPGs are about as long as console games, if not longer. I have a 58 hour clear save in Tales of Hearts, a 58 hour clear save in 7th Dragon, a 46 hour clear save in Infinite Space, etc.
 

Hobbun

Member
duckroll said:
I've noticed that lately DS RPGs are about as long as console games, if not longer. I have a 58 hour clear save in Tales of Hearts, a 58 hour clear save in 7th Dragon, a 46 hour clear save in Infinite Save, etc.

Hmm, haven't noticed that yet myself. Although I haven't played those games that you mentioned.
 

NichM

Banned
Hobbun said:
Dammit, too much Katakana and Kanji in that text. All I know is Hiragana (mostly). :lol

SMT is sort of infamous for being the most kanji-intensive RPG series. It's always been a big pain for importers to muddle through.
 

Hobbun

Member
NichM said:
SMT is sort of infamous for being the most kanji-intensive RPG series. It's always been a big pain for importers to muddle through.

Oh, I wasn’t really complaining anyways. I know I won’t even come close to learning enough Japanese to be able to play the game in my comfort zone. This one I will be waiting on a NA release.

Thanks though for the heads up for future SMT titles. Hopefully I will know enough later on to import other titles.
 
ethelred said:
Then I'll say something different.

This:

... is pretty disappointing. Even if you can still get attacked by enemies like in Nocturne, I like having an overworld map and I like having areas outside of the dungeons to explore. It sounds like that's mostly (entirely?) been removed from this, which is weird for a Shin Megami Tensei game and it's not a change I'm really happy with.

Unfortunately, all the other information still sounds so great that that's the only negative thing I can say. :/

Well the guy was playing a demo, right? Didn't Nocturne use a 3D overworld map? It looked 3D, at least...
 

ethelred

Member
duckroll said:
I've noticed that lately DS RPGs are about as long as console games, if not longer. I have a 58 hour clear save in Tales of Hearts, a 58 hour clear save in 7th Dragon, a 46 hour clear save in Infinite Space, etc.

Not to mention the massive amount of time I invested into the two Etrian Odyssey games and FFT A2. Still waiting and hoping for that 7th Dragon localization, though... :/
 

duckroll

Member
Man, I totally didn't expect such an extensive article on SJ after the previous two 2-page previews in Famitsu.

This time they show off two new characters: a black-winged angel called Mansemat, and a mysterious blond girl the party encounters (Alice?!). Both are supposed to be part of the Schwarzverse, but not demons (as in, not enemies I suppose, but story NPCs).

Another big feature being revealed is that you can raise your demons and then exchange them with friends using...... nope, not wifi.... PASSWORDS! By sharing your passwords with friends, you can summon each other's demons into your own game!

The rest of the stuff just show off screenshots and details on stuff previously posted above from the retailer guy. Also of note is the Play Records you can access, which show a list of achievements within the game. There are over 150 achievements in the game. There are also over 60 different types of Extra Missions, optional missions you can accept from characters throughout the game.
 

jj984jj

He's a pretty swell guy in my books anyway.
Demon exchange using passwords? What a weird feature. :lol

The new NPCs look great, glad to finally see a story area inside the Schwarzverse.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
jj984jj said:
Demon exchange using passwords? What a weird feature. :lol

I would call the Bangai-O DS Level exchange feature weird...but passwords are kinda nice/cool. thx duckroll.... :D
 

Yaweee

Member
Achievements like Margaret's Requests in P4 would be pretty fun. I just hope that achievements and associated unlockables are cart-wide, and not bound to a specific file-- that's what Front Mission did for its new game+ features and it fucking sucked.

They're probably going to require something like nine playthroughs to get them all. Compendium benchmarks, beating the game with each allignment, extra bosses, specific Elizabeth/Margaret requests, all of the extra missions... holy crap. Hell, it could even be a dick like Raidou 2 and require you to play through the same path multiple times for some of the content (let's pray not).
 
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