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Atlus announces Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (DS)
- Thread starter duckroll
- Start date
Chrono Helix
Member
Has there been any word on whether they're releasing a deluxe edition of the game?
Flying_Phoenix
Banned
charlequin said:
Did you find the source to that comment yet?
MichaelEM3
Banned
Frost Ace original to this game?
SO awesome. :lol
SO awesome. :lol
So, today's blog post is from Tatsuya Watanabe, the Map & EX Mission planner for Strange Journey. Those who have played Raidou 2 should be happy to know that he's also the Map & Case File Planner for Raidou 2.
In the blog post he talks about his involvement in particular for the EX Missions in Strange Journey. He says that there are certain important factors to consider before implementing a sidequest in the game.
Firstly, he feels a sidequest should add to the worldview and setting, and that they should help explore the nature of the demons existing in the game world, and what they actually do in the world. The nature of their existence in the dimension and the roots of their mythological references are things which can be explored outside of the main scenario, and using EX Missions for them is a good way to expand the worldview.
Secondly, sidequests must have good pace. Pacing is an extremely important aspect of gameplay to Atlus developers, and anything added to the game must complement the game systems and overall flow of the game. He says that he tried to avoid adding EX Missions which are basically glorified fetch quests which are troublesome and annoying for players, instead he tried to focus on creating meaningful quests which involved taking advantage of the Demonica Suit's functions for searching and exploring. His aim is to have missions which have objectives and solutions, as opposed to just a straightforward request.
Finally, he says it is very important that optional missions remain -optional-. By this, he means that they should always remain something that the player can choose to do optionally, but never feel the pressure to complete them within a certain time or something which will interrupt the main scenario of the game just to accomplish before it is no longer available. As such, there will not be any time restricted EX Missions in the game. They will always be available once you find them, and you can do them at your own leisure.
He does warn however, that although there are no time restricted EX Missions in the game, there will be mission which are affected or influenced by [censored word]. There will also be EX Missions which will only become available depending on [censored word]. Since this is a SMT game, I don't think we have to think too hard to figure out what he's saying. Obviously the Stance/Alignment will play a role in limiting or opening up certain optional quests as well.
Overall, today's post was extremely informative as an insight into how a planner at Atlus thinks when he designs for a game, and I found it very interesting. I hope you guys enjoy the information too. This definitely beats yesterday's entry from the dungeon planner who spent most of the post talking about his favorite B-grade Hollywood horror/thriller movies! :lol
In the blog post he talks about his involvement in particular for the EX Missions in Strange Journey. He says that there are certain important factors to consider before implementing a sidequest in the game.
Firstly, he feels a sidequest should add to the worldview and setting, and that they should help explore the nature of the demons existing in the game world, and what they actually do in the world. The nature of their existence in the dimension and the roots of their mythological references are things which can be explored outside of the main scenario, and using EX Missions for them is a good way to expand the worldview.
Secondly, sidequests must have good pace. Pacing is an extremely important aspect of gameplay to Atlus developers, and anything added to the game must complement the game systems and overall flow of the game. He says that he tried to avoid adding EX Missions which are basically glorified fetch quests which are troublesome and annoying for players, instead he tried to focus on creating meaningful quests which involved taking advantage of the Demonica Suit's functions for searching and exploring. His aim is to have missions which have objectives and solutions, as opposed to just a straightforward request.
Finally, he says it is very important that optional missions remain -optional-. By this, he means that they should always remain something that the player can choose to do optionally, but never feel the pressure to complete them within a certain time or something which will interrupt the main scenario of the game just to accomplish before it is no longer available. As such, there will not be any time restricted EX Missions in the game. They will always be available once you find them, and you can do them at your own leisure.
He does warn however, that although there are no time restricted EX Missions in the game, there will be mission which are affected or influenced by [censored word]. There will also be EX Missions which will only become available depending on [censored word]. Since this is a SMT game, I don't think we have to think too hard to figure out what he's saying. Obviously the Stance/Alignment will play a role in limiting or opening up certain optional quests as well.
Overall, today's post was extremely informative as an insight into how a planner at Atlus thinks when he designs for a game, and I found it very interesting. I hope you guys enjoy the information too. This definitely beats yesterday's entry from the dungeon planner who spent most of the post talking about his favorite B-grade Hollywood horror/thriller movies! :lol
Flying_Phoenix
Banned
Varna said:
The Megaten series has seen very significant growth (it's nearly doubled) since Nocturne's release. I could site sources but I think Nocturnes re-release after nearly half a decade implies so.
duckroll said:
That's great to hear. I can't wait to play this.
obonicus said:
obonicus said:
obonicus said:
Have... have you actually played the games? Because it seems like all you're talking about here is what "other people say" the appeal is. Why not try actually playing them and seeing for yourself what's appealing? They're video games; they're a subjective art form. They're obviously going to appeal to different people in different ways for different reasons.
I think the supernatural-flavoured "real world" setting is one aspect that is appealing about these games, but as Charlie noted, that isn't being done away with in SMT4. What's being done away with is having that real world specifically centered around Tokyo. As I'm not Japanese, that isn't a loss I'm going to feel terribly deeply. But the Shin Megami Tensei games appeal to me for reasons going well beyond that. It's the art and the mythology that HK-47 noted. It's the exquisite gameplay that... uh, some other dude mentioned. You know, the dungeon crawling and demon fusion and negotiation and all that jazz. It's the music as well. It's all these things. Play 'em for yourself, see what you like about them, and then gauge your interest in SMT4 based on that.
obonicus said:
I had a conversation with someone about this after reading Kaneko's comments, and we were initially of different mindsets but my friend eventually mostly brought me around to their way of thinking.
With regards to the idea of appealing to people outside of Japan, my initial thoughts were these: Kaneko seemed to think that Tokyo was a good setting for the Japanese audience because it gave them an environment that, even when no longer recognizable, had a tangible connection to them. However, in terms of western players without that kind of connection to Tokyo, I don't think the setting ever served to alienate a potential player. The core SMT games were never... oppressive? overbearing? about their Japaneseness in the same way that, say, Kuzunoha Raidou or Persona 3 and 4 are. So... setting the games outside of Japan isn't going to give any international players the sense of connectedness that Tokyo gives to Japanese players (since, naturally, very few people feel connected to Antarctica as a place) and it's not going to serve to remove a block or alienation factor for anyone else. But her point was that the main cast of the game isn't Japanese this time around, either, so it's more than just the setting -- you're dealing with an international crew who are all going to the same place: Antarctica. What's more, Antarctica is foreign to everyone. There's a mystery to it, right? Even though we as a civilization have explored it pretty thoroughly at this point, it's so far removed from the world that we exist in even though it's on the same planet. So I think the idea is that these people of different nationalities all go there, and they're all on equal footing because it's equally mysterious to each of them, and rather than feeling connected to the place, we can feel more connected to their experiences.
ZephyrFate said:
I've said this before, and I still think it's true: I think we're much more likely to see Persona on the HD systems than a new Shin Megami Tensei. I still believe that Atlus going through the effort of designing and animating so many different demons for the DS indicates that they intend to use this game as a jumping off point for future Megaten umbrella games on the DS, just as they built off Nocturne's assets on the PS2. I don't expect to see a core Shin Megami Tensei game on the PS360, or at least not any time soon. Maybe in three or four years.
ZephyrFate said:
I think it's still tough to say. The biggest things that SMT3 brought to the series were the third person perspective and the press turn battle system. In exchange for press turn, we're getting something new in SMT4, the combo system. We're also getting the devil source thing for fusions, which could shake that up considerably, depending. And obviously, we're stepping back from third person to first person. Is SMT4 bringing in as many new things as SMT3? Probably not. But I'm not sure that's a bad thing. It seems like this game is balanced around returning to some of the core features of the original two SMT games (hence the first person and the emphasis on alignment) while still introducing new features as well. That's a good combination, for me.
cw_sasuke said:
They didnt. But usually when you take the next main game in a franchise and put it on a handheld and it does well (which I am sure SJ will) you dont go back.
But, I hope you are right and we may see it eventually on the home console.
However, until (if) it happens, I will enjoy SJ.
charlequin
Banned
Flying_Phoenix said:Did you find the source to that comment yet?
Was "I'm not going to cite it for you, believe it or don't" not clear enough last time?
Varna said:
Sure, it's not going to do as well as P3/4, but I imagine even as well as Nocturne would be satisfactory to Atlus (given that Nocturne kicked off the trend of localizing every new Megaten game), much less hypothetically as well as Nocturne plus a boost from Persona's success.
duckroll said:
This whole post was awesome and very informative, but this part was the best. I hate time-limited sidequests in games (they make playing without a guide and getting to see/do most of the game's content be at cross-purposes with each other, which is annoying)
It actually sounds like this'll probably be just like Raidou 2's case files: always open, but alignment linked. I thought those case files were generally fun and sometimes exceptionally entertaining, so that bodes well for the EX Missions.
ethelred said:
Yup. I feel like exploring Antarctica with an international team is a pretty genius premise for pretty much exactly this reason.
7Th said:Goddamn, can't wait to go True Neutral and fuck over everyone in the game.
As far as I can tell, the #1 person you fuck over in SMT neutral paths is yourself. :lol
The website has updated, it seems all sections are complete now: http://megamisj.atlusnet.jp/
Chrono Helix
Member
Mysterious girl looks like a trap. Play record seems like the game's version of achievements.
Flying_Phoenix
Banned
charlequin said:
It was. I'm sorry for wasting your time as well as making myself look like a complete idiot and embarrassing myself, charlequin.
Based on the staff comments on the blog since last week, we have a really good idea of the core staff on Strange Journey now:
Producer, Original Concept, Character & Demon Design - Kazuma Kaneko
Director - Eiji Ishida (SMT3, Raidou, Raidou 2)
Scenario and Event Lead - Shogo Isogai (SMT3, Trauma Center series, Raidou, Raidou 2)
Composer - Shoji Meguro
Battle Planning Lead - Sawao Kato (SMT3, DDS, DDS2, P3, EO, EO2)
Direction Support, Field Planning Lead (Dungeon) - Mitsuru Hirata (SMT3, Raidou)
EX Mission Planning Lead, Map Planning - Tatsuya Watanabe (SMT3, DDS, Raidou, Raidou 2)
Fusion System - Kenichi Takamori (Could this be Kenichi Gotoh with a name change?)
Demon Negotiation System, EX Mission Planning, NPC Script - Yuki Sakamoto (P3, Raidou, Raidou 2)
Event Planning - Kazuyuki Yamai (SMT3, Raidou, Raidou 2)
It seems VERY obvious to me now, that within Atlus there is now a Kaneko-centric team which is basically separate from the on-going Persona team. The Strange Journey has a ton of staff members carried over from the Raidou games, as well as the bulk of staff who has worked on SMT3 previously at least. I guess in that sense it's not that surprising, since Raidou 2 is the only Megaten game since SMT3 to actually have Demon Negotiation, and the Raidou games are also much closer in mood and style to actual SMT, than say, Persona.
Producer, Original Concept, Character & Demon Design - Kazuma Kaneko
Director - Eiji Ishida (SMT3, Raidou, Raidou 2)
Scenario and Event Lead - Shogo Isogai (SMT3, Trauma Center series, Raidou, Raidou 2)
Composer - Shoji Meguro
Battle Planning Lead - Sawao Kato (SMT3, DDS, DDS2, P3, EO, EO2)
Direction Support, Field Planning Lead (Dungeon) - Mitsuru Hirata (SMT3, Raidou)
EX Mission Planning Lead, Map Planning - Tatsuya Watanabe (SMT3, DDS, Raidou, Raidou 2)
Fusion System - Kenichi Takamori (Could this be Kenichi Gotoh with a name change?)
Demon Negotiation System, EX Mission Planning, NPC Script - Yuki Sakamoto (P3, Raidou, Raidou 2)
Event Planning - Kazuyuki Yamai (SMT3, Raidou, Raidou 2)
It seems VERY obvious to me now, that within Atlus there is now a Kaneko-centric team which is basically separate from the on-going Persona team. The Strange Journey has a ton of staff members carried over from the Raidou games, as well as the bulk of staff who has worked on SMT3 previously at least. I guess in that sense it's not that surprising, since Raidou 2 is the only Megaten game since SMT3 to actually have Demon Negotiation, and the Raidou games are also much closer in mood and style to actual SMT, than say, Persona.
chaostrophy
Member
duckroll said:
So maybe what was one team (R&D1) split into two at some point and possibly added some staff to each team so more SMT/spinoff games could be made? I've been wondering about that since I've noticed the "R&D1" logo has been missing from the startup sequence of the past few SMT games.
TheChillyAcademic
Member
Since this is, for all complete tense and purposes, is essentially SMT 4, I have to wonder if the next Persona game (not P3PSP) will share a similar "fate". Regardless if it's in on the PSP or DS, I can see Atlus utilizing the same sort of resources and team for a portable entry in the series.
I think Atlus has been working as a whole for a few years now. After Growlanser IV was done Career Soft was absorbed, they have teams but still work as a whole and see what is needed for each project (including non-SMT projects).chaostrophy said:
charlequin
Banned
TheChillyAcademic said:
No, I don't think so. When Persona 5 comes out on PSP they're actually going to call it Persona 5.
chaostrophy said:
I'm not sure it's so much literally a "split" as that R&D1 has gotten big enough that multiple projects are going on at once, and Kaneko has maintained a certain amount of continuity in terms of who's working on "his" projects (Raidou 2, and now SJ) compared to the Persona games.
What this really makes me wonder is: if Atlus is working internally on at least two HD games (which they've claimed to be doing)... who the hell is actually working on them? :lol
Freyjadour
Member
charlequin said:
Honestly, with the psuedo-renaissance the DS and PSP have brought to JRPGs, I'm not sure I even care about that anymore :3.