One question, does SMT IV follow the mechanics of Soul Hackers? Because I've only played two SMT games (Soul Hackers and Devil Survivor), and I don't like the Soul Hackers gameplay.

i'm halfway thru.  don't expect the game to be easy.  i'm new to the series and it is somewhat hard in a sense. and i hate the too much random monsters.

That's fine. I'm a huge fan of Pokemon, and I disliked XY very much, but I'd never say it sucks. It's likely the same situation, where the mechanics and everything are the best in the series, but that doesn't shine through to you because of how much it drops the ball in many instances. I loved the game, but it has many, frustrating flaws and I liked it more for the potential of the franchise than for the game itself. I dig the atmosphere, and the battle system, and fusing demons. Love the music, and the exploration, and the world building. I digged the story (in the beginning) and the characters (in the beginning). Then it dragged on for way to long, the story got worse, and the main cast became so one note it was a struggle to enjoy.

But honestly, I fear the last issue is more a symptom of the franchise's stupid law vs chaos story mechanic, rather than specifically this game as, from what I've read, the other SMT games are much more sparse when it comes to storytelling. Nocturne was, at least.

Either way, I welcome criticisms of the game. Much of my enjoyment of it comes from having never played any Atlas game through, let alone any SMT game. I just don't want to come off looking like I think the game is amazing. I think it dropped the ball. But what a ball.

Everyone hates Naverre. That's the point.

I would try another SMT game before you give up on it. Strange Journey lacks the presentation and production values that some of the other games, have. Remember, Persona is a dungeon crawler, too. Being able to see your avatar traverse the dungeons makes a huge difference in immersion. I haven't played SJ, soi I can't comment on how good it is, but the things turning me off is the first person dungeon crawling, which isn't an issue in SMT IV, random encounters, which isn't an issue in SMT IV, and no voice acting, which isn't an issue in SMT IV. And there's an explorable overworld, like in Persona. I'd try that one (or hey, this one) at least before assuming that the franchise isn't for you. Presentation goes a long way.

While I agree with everything, I'm desperate for an SMT that isn't completely tainted by Persona yet that I will gladly take this. If it's only as good as IV, I'll be happy. If it's a bit worse than IV, I'll be happy. Because at least it feels like SMT.

But yeah, his demon designs suck. Though it makes sense that they're using the same artists since this is likely only happening because they want to recycle old assets and the engine from IV, which I'm 100% fine with. And to go further, Masayuki Doi's character designs don't belong in mainline SMT, either.

I'm actually glad this is just a spin off, because this means they can bring back Kaneko for SMTV when it comes to the NX and uses the P5 engine. Please.

Some people thing the blond chick is Nozomi, the chick from that optional (unless you were unfortunate enough to get the neutral path) side quest.

And this is where I need to media block this game. Too many spoilers.

...Who am I kidding?

For the record, that's SMT4F, P5, PkmnZ, Fates, and #FE coming out in 2016 in the West. Great time to be a JRPG lover.

That's because you're one of those low-born Casualries.

I'm not expecting characters from SMTIV to be in this new one. Not even Nozomi.