Quote Originally Posted by Forsaken Lover View Post
@Wolf

The "you'll learn more if you go Law/Chaos" is intriguing but daunting.
Are all the games like this? Sort of pieces of a puzzle and you only get the full picture if you do all the routes?

Seems like quite the investment. I like this game but I can't imagine playing it three times, at least not back-to-back which would be the most "complete" way to understand the plot or characters or whatever.
Yes that's how they usually work though some games are more worth the effort than others. I would say SJ is one where you may just want to work on one path and then read up on the other two because the amount of new content is not necessarily worth the aggravation of going through the game multiple times, unless you truly love the gameplay.

Also how do you know the demon bosses are old nature deities?
Nature might not have been the best term to use. They are mostly old gods, in fact three of the first four bosses are based on judge like deities who were later demonized by later religions. The first four bosses are all judges of some form with the exception of Asura which is a catch all term in Vedic and Hindu religion for the "old wild gods". The later bosses are all connected by having a mother figure element to them and all being deities that are associated with either the primordial world or truth.

All of the demons, monsters and angels are based off their real world counterparts to some extent, whether it's their design or very nature. A good knowledge of mythology and religion will actually help you out quite a bit in the series.

I know Chaos isn't "supposed' to be evil. It's the route of freedom. But the problem is, "without power, what future can you claim?" In a world where everyone can do whatever, only the strong survive. That does not promote empathy or morality. I don't think Jimenez is evil, he's just selfish and petty and that can easily be exploited to do evil.

Sure he seems to love Boo but he was also the first one who was like "let's get the hell outta here!" even as the other crewmen were like "dude, we can't just abandon potential survivors."

So maybe Chaos isn't evil but it seems entirely too small-minded, at least as represented by Jimenez.
That's pretty much the point actually, the series deals with the inherent problem of freedom versus order and it's why it's usually best to find a balanced middle ground as opposed to subscribing to one ideal over another. In time, you'll start to see the cracks in Law as well.

Also I heard Devil Survivor, at least the 3DS remakes anyway, did the LNC morality thing really well. The Devil Summoner games for the PS2 and SMT3 don't have the typical moral system though and some like that.
Maybe the second game does, but the first one actually has two sets of Law and Chaos heroes to go with the two neutral heroes your stuck with for most of the game. The issue is that in all three sets, one set of those heroes is awesome and fun and really help justify their factions, the other group are completely whiny or straight up assholes with little redeeming value and sadly it's the asshole group you're stuck with for most of the game. Of anything DS1 probably did a better job than any other entry I've played in making the Law faction actually likable and not the usual assholes we've come to known in the series.

Devil Summoner's alignment system is a bit odd because it's more subdued and functions more for gameplay than story depending on the entry. SMT3 utilizes a new system but it's pretty much the classic system just retooled a bit and examined a bit differently. The best way to describe the Reasons of SMT3 is that they are the absolute extremes of the basic Law/Neutral/Chaos dynamic but the allies to these forces have been switched around and the game kind of has a sly theme about how the Law and Chaos factions are really no different from each other.

But hey, this is a magical adventure I intend to experience and come to my own conclusions on what is best. I got a lot of game to go apparently and then several other games to beat as well.

Seems you are a pretty well-informed SMT fan, WK. Hope you can keep enlightening me. Just no spoilers!@@

Also on gameplay note, thank you for the EX Mission info. trout seems so tedious but I bet it has good rewards so....
You should just sit back and enjoy the ride. Strange Journey isn't exactly the entry I would have started with but it's one I did enjoy thoroughly. Though I should warn you that the later Sectors take of the kiddy gloves in terms of difficulty and frustration factor.

The EX missions certainly have their advantages, especially the way gear is more important in this game than other ones. You'll really start having fun when the alignment missions start to become more prominent and you can take more advantage of the alignment system since they tend to give you gear only Law/Chaos can use.

My big tip for you is to find a neutral weapon (I believe it's a gun) that inflicts Stone. You would be surprised how many enemies are vulnerable to that status effect and its basically an instant death spell in this game. Even when it starts to do crap for damage the Stone effect makes it a pretty invaluable tool for wiping out mobs of enemies with little drain on your resources.