SMT: Strange Journey

SMT: Strange Journey for the DS came out yesterday and I picked up a copy last night. I've only put a couple hours into it so far, but I must say I'm liking it so far. Aspects of the game are being introduced at a nice pace, not so fast as to leave the player overwhelmed and not so slow as to leave them bored or insulted.

The storyline isn't too bad, especially relative to a genre full of minimal effort me-too titles. The combat and character development systems seem like they'll be fairly complex. In addition to traditional JRPG staples of elemental weakness pairs, there are gun, melée and magical attacks, which different enemies may be resistant or weak against. The game uses SMT's tradition demon fusion system, allowing mini-maxers to really dig into the mechanics of building an uber team. There are also moon phases and personality alignments to contend with in building your team, as various demons are given bonuses and special status if fused during their prefered phase.

I've always been a sucker for the old school Wizardry and Eye of the Beholder style exploration games. This game seems to deliver on that front. The few dungeon levels I've seen so far have been varied, and have offered a nice variety of locked doors, NPCs to talk with and special locations.

Is the map making automatically taken care fo for you unlike Etrian Oddessy games?

Originally Posted by Damian Mahadevan
Is the map making automatically taken care fo for you unlike Etrian Oddessy games?

Yes, the map is automatically drawn as you progress through the grid of the map. I have to admit, though, I'm a huge Etrian Odyssey fan.

Yeah that is the part that while cute in EO games drove me nuts. I can see the appeal of it but for a person as lazy as me it was a no go.