~15 hours now. I just cleared another major boss. I'm digging the scenario a lot, especially since it uses demons as the driving force behind the story. It's something that is usually lacking in the spinoffs, and even though Devil Survivor came pretty close, this is definitely more like it. Just like in SMT3, dungeons are filled with demon NPCs at various spots you can talk to, and they flesh out the nature of the dungeon and their role in it, as well as who's the big boss man in the area, etc.
One thing I didn't quite expect is how many people are actually alive in the mission. The game doesn't feel like you're all alone in a failed mission at all, but instead you definitely feel like you're part of a larger operation and there are many other people who are also taking part it in.
Aside from the major human characters with Kaneko art, there are many smaller bit roles - all of whom have names and roles in the game. It's also cool that while exploring in dungeons you sometimes run into other nameless crew members who are also exploring the dungeon, and they might give you items, or offer a bit of advice, or thank you for helping unravel a locked door, etc.
Each major area in the game has it's own semi self-contained story, just like the major dungeons in SMT3. The second area in particular reminded me a lot of the Thor story arc in the Mantra HQ in SMT3. The dungeon design itself is pretty solid, and I would say overall, the design in each of the dungeons are up there with the final story stratum of EO1. They're pretty imaginative, and the events and "puzzles" are cool.
What should also be of interest to SMT fans is that the game seems very much balanced like a Megaten game, instead of EO. There's a pretty big difference. In EO, every new area is designed to be pretty tough no matter how much ass you kicked in the last area. It keeps scaling up and you won't be able to do single runs in most of the dungeon floors.
SJ is definitely designed like a Megaten game in the sense that while it starts off pretty tough, as you familiarize yourself with the fusion options, and the combat mechanics, you will start to build really good demon teams, as well as backups, and it becomes much easier. On a whole the game is much "easier" than EO, and rewards the player significantly for building a party which is good at attacking weaknesses, as well as keeping in the same alignment to take full advantage of Devil Co-Op.
The game is definitely designed such that as story events change the main mission, you can keep playing and experience the scenario without turning the game into a draggy grind of going back and forth between the dungeon and the ship just to make small steps of progress.
That's not to say you won't die every now and then, especially if you're careless or you encounter new foes your party build might not be equipped to handle. But such deaths are not something you have to grind to overcome, but simply requires a change in strategy. There are quite a substantial number of save points throughout each dungeon, so that's another thing that really helps the pacing.
One thing I didn't quite expect is how many people are actually alive in the mission. The game doesn't feel like you're all alone in a failed mission at all, but instead you definitely feel like you're part of a larger operation and there are many other people who are also taking part it in.
Aside from the major human characters with Kaneko art, there are many smaller bit roles - all of whom have names and roles in the game. It's also cool that while exploring in dungeons you sometimes run into other nameless crew members who are also exploring the dungeon, and they might give you items, or offer a bit of advice, or thank you for helping unravel a locked door, etc.
Each major area in the game has it's own semi self-contained story, just like the major dungeons in SMT3. The second area in particular reminded me a lot of the Thor story arc in the Mantra HQ in SMT3. The dungeon design itself is pretty solid, and I would say overall, the design in each of the dungeons are up there with the final story stratum of EO1. They're pretty imaginative, and the events and "puzzles" are cool.
What should also be of interest to SMT fans is that the game seems very much balanced like a Megaten game, instead of EO. There's a pretty big difference. In EO, every new area is designed to be pretty tough no matter how much ass you kicked in the last area. It keeps scaling up and you won't be able to do single runs in most of the dungeon floors.
SJ is definitely designed like a Megaten game in the sense that while it starts off pretty tough, as you familiarize yourself with the fusion options, and the combat mechanics, you will start to build really good demon teams, as well as backups, and it becomes much easier. On a whole the game is much "easier" than EO, and rewards the player significantly for building a party which is good at attacking weaknesses, as well as keeping in the same alignment to take full advantage of Devil Co-Op.
The game is definitely designed such that as story events change the main mission, you can keep playing and experience the scenario without turning the game into a draggy grind of going back and forth between the dungeon and the ship just to make small steps of progress.
That's not to say you won't die every now and then, especially if you're careless or you encounter new foes your party build might not be equipped to handle. But such deaths are not something you have to grind to overcome, but simply requires a change in strategy. There are quite a substantial number of save points throughout each dungeon, so that's another thing that really helps the pacing.
