Geek Babble – Strange Monster World Redux

After triumphantly finishing Persona 5, I’ve been determined to make a dent in my backlog of games. Unfortunately, there’s a reason why backlogs often grow out of control. The temptation or peer pressure to play a new game is difficult to ignore. Two good personal examples are Portal and Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth.

I started Portal in mid-March after finally completing Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. As I made it to the endgame, I realized I was one of the unlucky few who suffered from motion sickness while playing Portal. Despite my desire to finish the game, headaches and wanting to vomit will likely keep me away from those final two hours.

Instead, I moved onto Persona Q hoping to make progress during my breaks at work and on the weekends. Those expectations were quickly shattered when I realized I hadn’t played the game in years, and getting back into the flow was neither fun nor easy. Further complicating the situation was an incredibly busy period at work between late March and early May which left me with extremely short lunch breaks. When late May rolled around I was in a ripe position to fall for the siren call of new games in the form of Monster Hunter: World and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux.

 

A Strange Journey Made Anew

Normally I’m weary when it comes to enhanced ports. However, the trailers and information leading up to Strange Journey Redux convinced me that it was a must-own title. I was already a huge fan of the original DS game. The idea of the game receiving an overhaul with anime cut scenes, full voice-acting, a brand new character, and a new dungeon excited me. Days after the game was released I obtained my copy and have been playing it ever since. Thanks to limited play sessions (mostly because of work), my progress has been slow. Even so, I have been able to pump about 17 hours into the game, which is more than enough time to make an impression.

The first thing to stand out is how Strange Journey Redux now has a budget. The original game feels bare-bones in comparison. This 3DS update breathes a lot more life into a game that already had interesting characters by giving everyone their own portraits. The severe lack of portraits in the original game was one of my biggest disappointments. Now everyone has a distinguishable face and it has been exciting to better know my favorite secondary characters (I’m looking at you Irving, Williams, Blair, Anthony, and Dent.) Having portraits for everyone also highlights the international feel of the cast, opposed to the other Shin Megami Tensei installments that take place in Japan.

Having full voice acting for the entire cast (that includes the demons) is another welcome addition. It’s a feature that wasn’t even present in Shin Megami Tensei IV. Atlus lifted the feature right from Persona 5 and again it’s a choice that breathes more life into an already excellent game. Demons now comment when you fight them, they join your party, attack, and even when they’re defeated in battle. My only minor gripe would be the lack of an English dub. While I don’t mind hearing the Japanese dub, the lack of subtitles during voiced lines means you don’t always have the full context of what’s happening on screen. This is also an issue I had with Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, another Atlus game that only had a Japanese dub. (To be fair, the subtitles would get in the way of the UI and crowd an already small screen.) The lack of an English dub isn’t a deal-breaker by any means, but having one would have been enjoyable.

The anime cutscenes are far and few between in Redux, but the ones presented are nice. I especially love the opening scene which features chaos on Earth, soldiers gathering to take part in the Schwarzwelt project, and fights in the demon world including Morax punching Asura– which is more entertaining than it should be. The opening illustrates the scenes and battles you might have imagined happening in the DS game since Strange Journey is part RPG, part visual novel. Some big moments in the game also received a graphical overhaul (a la SMT IV) such as when the protagonist and Dr. Zelenin first meet Mastema and when Jimenez finds Bugaboo. I’m looking forward to more of these scenes. Boss battles now share an animation style similar to SMT IV. It’s nice to have moving backgrounds opposed to the previously static ones.

The two story additions of Alex, a new antagonist, and the Womb of Grief dungeon are mostly welcome. Since I’ve been playing the game at such a slow pace I haven’t had a chance to deeply dig into Alex’s story. At this point I’m glad she’s not a potential love interest like so many new character additions in remakes or enhanced ports of older Atlus games. Alex wants the protagonist dead for unknown reasons. When I first met Alex, I was feeling like a bad ass after taking down Morax so easily in the first dungeon, so I gladly accepted her challenge to fight. Boy, she sure did a great job of painting the dungeon walls red with my protagonist’s guts.

The deadly experience leads the way to meeting Demeter, the Greek Goddess of the harvest, and unlocking the Womb of Grief. It’s an interesting dungeon consisting of six floors (at least where I am in the game), and a good way to grind and explore. According to those who have already finished the game, it is also a pathway to unlock new endings. At this moment, the dungeon is interesting, but feels like an extra burden for an already long and difficult game. However, exploring the dungeon is required for those interested in the new endings. At this point in my playthrough, it’s unclear how the Womb of Grief and Demeter are related to Alex, but I’m positive it will all make sense later.

 

I’m really enjoying revisiting the world of Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux. If you played and loved the original game, this new port is definitely worth a try. The same goes if you were on the fence about the DS game as this game brings lots of visual and audio improvements, and content not found in the original.

Second Chances as a Monster Hunter

I’ve also been playing a lot of Monster Hunter: World. I did not enjoy my original experience with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on the PSP. I found the controls to be clunky (especially with the “claw”) and the missions to be a bore. To put it bluntly: It is not that the Monster Hunter series is bad, the series just wasn’t for me. When Monster Hunter: World came around I thought I would take a pass on the series. I thought wrong.

When the demo dropped in late December, I had recently gotten a PS4. I didn’t have much to play and the visuals looked nice. I had nothing to lose except time, so I dove into the demo. My game options were limited but, tracking, chasing, and fighting monsters was surprisingly fun. The controls weren’t perfect, but thanks to having two analog sticks the “claw” was no longer an issue and it was nice to play on the big screen.

 

A few months later I bought a copy of the game (along with PlayStation Plus), customized my character and joined my friends’ games. While I was able to do a few missions on my own and challenge myself, half the fun was partying up and fighting as a group. Since my friends were at a much higher hunter rank, they were actually able to help me defeat monsters much quicker than on my own. (The downside is that having others join your session means that quests are made much harder, so partying with three other people is the best route to take.) So far MHW has been the closest thing I’ve experienced to an MMO without actually playing an MMO. Unfortunately, since I am tethered to my TV when playing Monster Hunter: World that means I don’t have many chances to play except on the weekends and after work if I get home by 3:30AM.

Limited free time or not, I don’t regret picking up this newest version of Monster Hunter. It’s one of the best console games Capcom has put out in a while and it makes me glad I gave the franchise another try.

 

So what are you currently playing and/or ignoring in your gaming backlog?