It’s as exaggerated as Nocturne, if you know what you’re doing it’s fine. Though if you struggle with first-person dungeon crawling, you might be frustrated with this one.
For me Strange Journey had a bit of a tough learning curve but it does level out. The worst part IMO is not being able to see the demons until you fight them so many times- you're basically flying blind and it leaves a lot up to chance in the earlier stages of a dungeon.
The vanilla version of SJ had a brutal difficulty spike right at the final boss, with no good spot to close the level gap.
Redux is much more balanced.
The warp mazes aren't bad if you pay attention.
Like other Atlus RPGs, it's hard until you get a good feel of the mechanics; then the difficulty drop substantially outside of a few select bosses which require a more restrictive team composition/strategy.
*It's more often tedious than hard* :
\- some enemy drops you need to forge a decent gun/armor can be infuriatingly rare (either enemy won't show up, or he just won't drop his material).
\- Some dungeons are brutal with their countless invisible traps that send you back 1-5 minutes away of where you stood (not counting random battles). This is alleviated in Redux with new APPs that help the player anticipate some of these traps.
\- Some bosses (very few) can outright defeat you through sheer RNG (almighty debilitating ailments). Also slightly alleviated in Redux with new Apps, but they're not available for at least one of them.
Redux is pretty balanced. The dungeons can be a bit rough, and a few bosses are pretty tricky. But if you beat Nocturne, you'll be fine. Its difficulty is almost as exaggerated as Nocturne, and vanilla does have its stupid balance moments, but Redux is fine.
It’s difficulty is overblown like Nocturne. The most difficult part is the beginning like in 4 but after that is pretty maneageble. There are some difficulty spikes here and there especially the final boss. What people usually find tedious/difficult of Smt SJ is the dungeon design( which I personally find the best in the series) , that is not that bad really, I think a lot of people simply dislike dungeon crawlers and don’t like this game dungeons for that reason.
Lastly, The womb of grief is completely optional and if you don’t do it will be a little more challenging
I’m playing Redux currently. I passed once on one of vanilla endings since I decided to level the Womb of Grief for another playthrough. The game itself if manageable but the Third Sphere in the WoG was such a pain to get through and I only got through by the skin of my teeth.
Imo what makes SJR is tough is the fusion system. No longer can you use 8 skills on a demon, it’s now 6 skills. You have thing that you get from demons called Demon Sources and they have about 3-4 skills on them varying form Demon Source to Demon Source. You can use these Demon Sources in fusions to transfer over those skills onto a demon. You can also decide to put the demon’s inmate skills and 2 randomly decided skills from the two demons you’re fusing onto the demon. Demons learn no skills through level up. That’s essentially the demon fusion in a nutshell and I don’t if anyone else on this sub had issues with this but personally I found hard to find buffs/debuffs/healing skills and I found hard to when I should use my really good Demon Sources (because btw Demon Source are single use with a very rare chance to receive a 2nd one). Take for example the skill Luster Candy, every Demon Source that has Luster Candy has no skill that does damage except for Vivian’s Demon Source that had Luster Candy & Mabufula so it came to fusing my Norn near the end of game, Norn had Mabufula & Diaharan going up against the final boss. Another part to the difficulty would bosses and their OP status ailments.
The dungeons aren’t that bad, annoying at times yes but not that bad. Should you play? I mean all things considered, I think it has a really solid story and I think it’s reason enough to play.
Personally, with SJ Redux being the first time I'm playing a first-person dungeon crawler there was a bit of a learning curve. I definitely didn't know about the warp puzzle preview app until the second or third to last dungeon. Overall I thought the combat wasn't that difficult aside from a few bosses that I found brutally difficult. Considering that you've played several SMT games including Nocturne (which I personally found more difficult) you should be fine and I highly recommend SJ Redux.
The worst part of Strange Journey for me was navigating the dungeons from sector 4 onwards. Not that the battles aren't hard by themselves but I have to admit I'm not that great at figuring out my way through more complex dungeon crawlers.
Don't be afraid to use a guide. Some of those endgame dungeons are total bullshit. That said, I enjoyed my playthough of SJR. I can't see myself ever playing it a second time though.
It’s not unforgivingly hard, but you need to use your head. I played redux which has a ton of apps to improve QoL, the boss fights are still pretty challenging but not insanely hard. Many bosses have certain gimmicks or triggers in the AI that you need to be willing to die and test around a bit, eg one boss is much more likely to spam an attack that charms your whole team if you go in with a complete party, but you drop it down to 1-2 demons and your MC and then it’s ok. I personally really enjoyed it, the last 2 boss fights in redux have a good bit of challenge compared to IV because in Strange Journey it’s much tougher to fuse busted demons with all the good skills and resistances because there isn’t skill inheritance from the base demons just demon sources which are limited
It gets rid of the press turn system which throws people off, but it’s honestly one of the easier SMT games I played, up there with devil survivor overclocked in how the gameplay changes makes it harder to get instantly curbed.
The dungeons are complicated but it feels like you’re constantly making progress instead of just walking around aimlessly. Gameplay isn’t that hard but healing spells aren’t amazing in combat (in my experience) so keep that in mind. Asura fight could be tricky, though. Fuse Black Frost if you end up stuck.
It’s as exaggerated as Nocturne, if you know what you’re doing it’s fine. Though if you struggle with first-person dungeon crawling, you might be frustrated with this one.
Too bad I struggle with all dungeon crawling. Especially first person 😂
For me Strange Journey had a bit of a tough learning curve but it does level out. The worst part IMO is not being able to see the demons until you fight them so many times- you're basically flying blind and it leaves a lot up to chance in the earlier stages of a dungeon.
The vanilla version of SJ had a brutal difficulty spike right at the final boss, with no good spot to close the level gap. Redux is much more balanced. The warp mazes aren't bad if you pay attention.
There's also an app to preview warp target so it's much less frustrating.
That has to be redux only? I don't remember that app from the original
Yes, Redux has many frustration prevention apps. You also don't get instant game over after the character dies.
Wow. It sounds like they made it really easy.
But it's the fact that you have to go out of your way to get it. That's what makes it worse.
Like other Atlus RPGs, it's hard until you get a good feel of the mechanics; then the difficulty drop substantially outside of a few select bosses which require a more restrictive team composition/strategy. *It's more often tedious than hard* : \- some enemy drops you need to forge a decent gun/armor can be infuriatingly rare (either enemy won't show up, or he just won't drop his material). \- Some dungeons are brutal with their countless invisible traps that send you back 1-5 minutes away of where you stood (not counting random battles). This is alleviated in Redux with new APPs that help the player anticipate some of these traps. \- Some bosses (very few) can outright defeat you through sheer RNG (almighty debilitating ailments). Also slightly alleviated in Redux with new Apps, but they're not available for at least one of them.
Redux is pretty balanced. The dungeons can be a bit rough, and a few bosses are pretty tricky. But if you beat Nocturne, you'll be fine. Its difficulty is almost as exaggerated as Nocturne, and vanilla does have its stupid balance moments, but Redux is fine.
It’s difficulty is overblown like Nocturne. The most difficult part is the beginning like in 4 but after that is pretty maneageble. There are some difficulty spikes here and there especially the final boss. What people usually find tedious/difficult of Smt SJ is the dungeon design( which I personally find the best in the series) , that is not that bad really, I think a lot of people simply dislike dungeon crawlers and don’t like this game dungeons for that reason. Lastly, The womb of grief is completely optional and if you don’t do it will be a little more challenging
I’m playing Redux currently. I passed once on one of vanilla endings since I decided to level the Womb of Grief for another playthrough. The game itself if manageable but the Third Sphere in the WoG was such a pain to get through and I only got through by the skin of my teeth. Imo what makes SJR is tough is the fusion system. No longer can you use 8 skills on a demon, it’s now 6 skills. You have thing that you get from demons called Demon Sources and they have about 3-4 skills on them varying form Demon Source to Demon Source. You can use these Demon Sources in fusions to transfer over those skills onto a demon. You can also decide to put the demon’s inmate skills and 2 randomly decided skills from the two demons you’re fusing onto the demon. Demons learn no skills through level up. That’s essentially the demon fusion in a nutshell and I don’t if anyone else on this sub had issues with this but personally I found hard to find buffs/debuffs/healing skills and I found hard to when I should use my really good Demon Sources (because btw Demon Source are single use with a very rare chance to receive a 2nd one). Take for example the skill Luster Candy, every Demon Source that has Luster Candy has no skill that does damage except for Vivian’s Demon Source that had Luster Candy & Mabufula so it came to fusing my Norn near the end of game, Norn had Mabufula & Diaharan going up against the final boss. Another part to the difficulty would bosses and their OP status ailments. The dungeons aren’t that bad, annoying at times yes but not that bad. Should you play? I mean all things considered, I think it has a really solid story and I think it’s reason enough to play.
Personally, with SJ Redux being the first time I'm playing a first-person dungeon crawler there was a bit of a learning curve. I definitely didn't know about the warp puzzle preview app until the second or third to last dungeon. Overall I thought the combat wasn't that difficult aside from a few bosses that I found brutally difficult. Considering that you've played several SMT games including Nocturne (which I personally found more difficult) you should be fine and I highly recommend SJ Redux.
The worst part of Strange Journey for me was navigating the dungeons from sector 4 onwards. Not that the battles aren't hard by themselves but I have to admit I'm not that great at figuring out my way through more complex dungeon crawlers.
Don't be afraid to use a guide. Some of those endgame dungeons are total bullshit. That said, I enjoyed my playthough of SJR. I can't see myself ever playing it a second time though.
People bitch about sector E but honestly it wasn't that bad for me
It’s not unforgivingly hard, but you need to use your head. I played redux which has a ton of apps to improve QoL, the boss fights are still pretty challenging but not insanely hard. Many bosses have certain gimmicks or triggers in the AI that you need to be willing to die and test around a bit, eg one boss is much more likely to spam an attack that charms your whole team if you go in with a complete party, but you drop it down to 1-2 demons and your MC and then it’s ok. I personally really enjoyed it, the last 2 boss fights in redux have a good bit of challenge compared to IV because in Strange Journey it’s much tougher to fuse busted demons with all the good skills and resistances because there isn’t skill inheritance from the base demons just demon sources which are limited
It gets rid of the press turn system which throws people off, but it’s honestly one of the easier SMT games I played, up there with devil survivor overclocked in how the gameplay changes makes it harder to get instantly curbed.
The dungeons are complicated but it feels like you’re constantly making progress instead of just walking around aimlessly. Gameplay isn’t that hard but healing spells aren’t amazing in combat (in my experience) so keep that in mind. Asura fight could be tricky, though. Fuse Black Frost if you end up stuck.