I am, relatively speaking, a newcomer to the Megami Tensei world.  My first entry into the series was Persona 3, but since then I’ve tried to branch out into some of its other forms.  Most of these journeys have been fruitful; SMT: Devil Survivor was my pick for Best of the Year last year.  My most recent trip, however, did not end so well.

I picked up Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, a few months back, but didn’t get to crack into it right because (appropriately enough) I was busy trying to finish another playthrough of Devil Survivor.  When I wrapped that up (following my man Gin’s advice this time), I eagerly moved on to Strange Journey.

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Another year come and gone, and another year’s worth of games to love, games to hate, and games to make us scratch our heads and wonder who’s really running things at some of these companies. Sequels were spawned, new IPs introduced, and enough DLC to power a small nation was churned out on a daily basis. Now, as we get ready to see off the old year and usher in a new, it’s time for us at Spectacle Rock to look back at the months gone by and pick out our highlights and lowlights…

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There is a refrain that I hear often on gaming sites: “turn-based combat in RPGs is dead.”  As anyone who has been paying attention knows, it is a favorite hobby of games journalists and bloggers to proclaim the death of this, that, or the other.  For instance, adventure gaming has been declared dead on more occasions than I can count, and yet seems to be enjoying quite a resurgence at the moment; episodic Monkey Island games, some fantastic-looking titles like Machinarium, and a host of others are popping up for download on a weekly basis.

So why the eulogies for turn-based (TB) combat?  The general consensus seems to be that TB combat is simply too boring in this new world of HD graphics and multiplayer FPSes. People want speed and twitch gaming, the writers say, and turn-based is just too slow and old-fashioned to keep people interested.

This is a pretty shallow way of thinking, I’d argue.  Yes, turn-based combat is by definition slower than real-time, but that does not automatically make it boring.  Boredom is in the eye of the beholder, and for those used to speed and action, turn-based systems must feel like a long walk through a muddy swamp.  But depth and choice can be exciting, and TB systems can usually offer those in spades.

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If there is perhaps any greater compliment I can pay to a game beyond a willingness to pick it up and play it again immediately upon finishing it for the first time, I do not know what it is.  For some games, such as Civilization, this is only natural; every game is different, and each session presents an array of new factors to differentiate it from the last.  In Metroidvania type games, perhaps it is an urge to top my previous time and make my way through the game more efficiently.  In sports games, perhaps it is simply the desire to hear John Madden speak to me again.

RPGs, on the other hand, are usually a different story.  After sinking thirty or forty or more hours into a game, I generally don’t have much of a stomach to start it all over again.  Generally, there is very little need for me to ever do so; the story has been told, and telling it again is going to bring me little in the way increased enjoyment.  For my favorites, I will often pick them up again someday (I play through Chrono Trigger and FFVI every few years, simply for the joy of it), but almost never have I started one over immediately upon completion.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor has broken that trend.

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