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Episode 747: Like the Plane

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NWR_Lindy:
I'm too sad to know the episode number.http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/58960/episode-747-like-the-planeIt's Xbox Game Pass Season on RFN. James starts the show with a duo of games on Xbox Game Pass: Project Wingman and Star Wars: Fallen Order. Project Wingman is what happens when fans of Ace Combat try to make their own game, and Star Wars: Fallen Order is what happens when the developer of the best shooter of a generation gets Star Wars. He and Jon then get revved up for Forza Horizon 5. A vehicular Olympics in Mexico hides a dark, "pay to win" secret. James, a martyr stood up to oppose such plans. Jon, a natural follower, happily gave Bill Gates his money. Jon also has been playing Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, also on Game Pass. It's not a Wonder Boy, and Gui is finally able to explain to us how all these series are related. Guillaume gets us back to Switch, with Ys Origin and WarioWare: Get It Together! Ys Origin is a prequel to the Ys series, and returns to the more traditional game play, rather than the 3D world of VIII and IX. Greg closes out New Business with a look at the 3DS port of Kirby's Epic Yarn, Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn. It is one of a bunch of Wii and Game Cube games that found their way to 3DS, and he's got thoughts on its place in that pantheon.After a break, we dive in on a couple Listener Mail. First we propose some Joy-Con Alternatives for the discerning (and cheap) consumer, then we talk a little bit about IGN's review of Persona Shin Megami Tensei V. You can ask us to critique other people by sending an email.

TOPHATANT123:
SMT 5 is lightyears ahead of Strange Journey in terms of design. If you decide to go into Strange Journey and find that it's annoying and frustrating, that's a totally normal reaction in 2021 and isn't a reflection on how 5 is.

(5 is incredible by the way, can't put it down)

Oedo:

--- Quote from: TOPHATANT123 on November 19, 2021, 12:29:28 PM ---SMT 5 is lightyears ahead of Strange Journey in terms of design. If you decide to go into Strange Journey and find that it's annoying and frustrating, that's a totally normal reaction in 2021 and isn't a reflection on how 5 is.

(5 is incredible by the way, can't put it down)

--- End quote ---

Lightyears ahead how? It's an apples to oranges comparison: I'm still relatively early in SMT V, but the exploration is largely open spaces, and the first dungeon was very basic. Strange Journey, on the other hand, is a pure dungeon crawler. It's more that the design is vastly different than better or worse (I think both games are great in very different ways).

I do agree for that same reason that a negative experience with Strange Journey should not deter someone in the slightest from trying SMT V though.

TOPHATANT123:
The fusion mechanics in Strange Journey suck compared to other games in the series, you can't carry over skills so the movesets you can create are only ever the basic moveset plus one demon source.

Strange Journey's late game dungeons are horrible. Filled with trial and error designed to annoy the player. Invisible walls, blackout rooms where you have no idea where you're going, constant conveyor belt puzzles. Teleport puzzles are infuriating, to call them puzzles would be an overstatement, it's pure trial and error.

The battle system isn't press turn, instead you have co-op attacks if you're the same alignment. It's more simplistic and involves less strategy.

The MC is less interesting to develop because all of their skills come from equipment.

There are an abundance of Atlus RPGs and dungeon crawlers on the DS and 3DS that compare unfavourably to Strange Journey.

Oedo:
Which other games in the series? Most games in the series were restrictive in terms of fusion (albeit in different ways) until IV. If you played Strange Journey before IV, I'm not sure how that would annoy you. More importantly, the game was balanced around that fact.

That's disingenuous. That's like saying just give every demon you intend to use in V one skill of every element, get 8 turns, and just stomp everybody before they get a single turn in. It's not that simple in practice all the time. The strategy shifted more towards building teams for each floor in Strange Journey.

The only sector where this was egregious was Eridanus. That's not the only late game dungeon in the game though. Every Atlus dungeon crawler has some trial and error and many of the mechanics you mentioned. That's the nature of those games. It's not a Strange Journey exclusive, and it definitely didn't stop there.

I'm not really trying to defend the merits of Strange Journey (I can understand how some people wouldn't like it), it's just a bit weird to make a 1:1 comparison like this to a decade old game that I would argue is basically a different genre (or sub-genre if you want to call it that).

My point still stands that it shouldn't have any bearing if James or anybody else is debating whether to pick up V, but more because it's much more different.

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