History YMMV / ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney

* {{Narm}}: The lack of an English dub causes American characters to pronounce things like Gore as [[FunetikAksent Goah]] or Red Sprite as [[FunetikAksent Redo Sprito]].

** The fandom is divided over whether this game is main series or a spinoff. Those who call it a spinoff refer to the lack of a number, the absence of Tokyo, and slightly different gameplay. Those who count it as the fourth main game claim that there are enough similarities with the main series for it to count, as well as the fact that this game was going to be a part of the numbered series until Atlus decided against it.

* FandomRivalry: In an interesting example, there's a heated rivalry between fans of the original and fans of ''Redux''. This is due to the two being practically opposites in terms of theming and how they handle their endings: the original is one of the most pro-Neutral games in the series, with its Law and Chaos endings being [[NightmareFuel horrifying even by their usual standards.]] Redux's new endings, by contrast, contain the most hopeful and positive takes on Law and Chaos in the series while considerably darkening Neutral. Both the original and new approach have their fans, and they rarely get along.

** Anthony, for being pretty much the most relatable NPC in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' as a whole.[[labelnote:Note]]He's the guy who has fallen in love in with some [[EvilisSexy demons]].[[/labelnote]]

* EvilIsSexy:
** While it's probably debatable how "evil" they are, [[spoiler:Jimenez and Zelenin's]] OneWingedAngel forms are equal parts unnerving and alluring. Asherah is a straighter example.
** Mastema managed to gain quite the fangirl following.
** On the other side of the villains you have the [[spoiler:Mother Goddesses, in particular Mem Aleph, Maya and maybe Tiamat]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Subverted. One of the trailers for ''Redux'' contained a trailer for a Jack Bros {{Metroidvania}} game taking place in the Schwarzwelt... that says it's fake and doesn't exist. Needless to say, people wished that it was real, until a few days later when it actually came out in Japan as a limited time offer.
* UglyCute: Several demons.

** ''Redux'' adds the Lucifer equipment set, all of which are exceptionally powerful but must be obtained by defeating the new {{Bonus Boss}}es. Granted, [[PurposelyOverpowered they are worthy prizes for beating the toughest bosses the game has to offer.]] To note:

** A set of {{Bonus Boss}}es in ''Redux'', [[spoiler:the Wardens of the Womb of Grief]], all share a move called Overdrain. It's Energy Drain, but it's stronger and hits the entire party. While they're still affected by buffs and debuffs, they can bring this out immediately, and just one use of the move has the potential to turn what seems like a guaranteed victory to a near-hopeless situation. To add insult to injury, unlike Meditation and Soul Drain, Overdrain is not learnable by any of the [[spoiler:Wardens]] when you can fuse them.

* BrokenBase: The fandom is divided over whether this game is main series or a spinoff. Those who call it a spinoff refer to the lack of a number, the absence of Tokyo, and slightly different gameplay. Those who count it as the fourth main game claim that there are enough similarities with the main series for it to count, as well as the fact that this game was going to be a part of the numbered series until Atlus decided against it.

** Shifting the protagonist's nationality from Japanese to American in the North American version makes a lot of sense when you consider that [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks the United States military]] is well-known for being one of the largest and highest-spending military forces in the world. Contrast [[UsefulNotes/KaijuDefenseForce the Japanese armed forces]], which deliberately keeps its scope mostly limited to national self-defense and declines to refer to itself as a proper military. Aside from all this, it also adds a touch of closeness to the relationship between the protagonist and Jimenez, who is also American, especially if you [[spoiler:side with him and pursue the Chaos route]], and can potentially deepen his enmity with [[spoiler:Zelenin if he goes Law, due to [[UsefulNotes/TheColdWar historical tensions between the United States and Russia]].

** Shifting the protagonist's nationality from Japanese to American in the North American version makes a lot of sense when you consider that [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks the United States military]] is well-known for being one of the largest and highest-spending military forces in the world. Contrast [[UsefulNotes/KaijuDefenseForce the Japanese armed forces]], which deliberately keeps its scope mostly limited to national self-defense and declines to refer to itself as a proper military. Aside from all this, it also adds a touch of closeness to the relationship between the protagonist and Jimenez, who is also American, especially if you [[spoiler:side with him and pursue the Chaos route]].

* TierInducedScrappy: Did you get your Demonica to be tuned around your Magic stat? Might as well reset, because your Magic stat only influences the power of single-use slightly-uncommon attack items, ''not'' your gun skills that are spells in all but name.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** Jack's Squad crosses it when they set up a lab to mutilate and "fuse" demons in their own violent and flawed way, and prove they--Captain Jack included--are well beyond it when they try to fuse a human (Jimenez) with a demon (Bugaboo).
** [[spoiler: Mastema is revealed in the Chaos route to have been morally bankrupt a long time ago, but his current plan to make Zelenin his pawn and start a World of Silence in order to transcend angelhood started very soon after the two met in Bootes. It's just not revealed that he crossed the Horizon until Horologium 5F on the Chaos route.]]

** Sector Eridanus doesn't seem so bad at first... until you get a particular plot-character to move out of the way to get to the bulk of the level. Suddenly, you're dealing with unavoidable poison floors, enough hidden pits to turn the maze into Swiss cheese, one-way doors and a series of teleportation rooms with no rhyme or reason that forces you to memorize sequences just to figure out what'll let you finally move on. It's a dungeon-crawler-player's nightmare made manifest, and the game [[LampshadeHanging knows it]] when Jimenez expresses his frustration with the area.

* AcceptableProfessionalTargets: It's probably no surprise that the single most vile character in the game is the {{Private Military Contractor|s}}.

** The BonusBoss can be this if you know the trick. Unlike ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne III]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV IV]]'', ''Strange Journey'' doesn't use the Press Turn system, meaning enemies, like you, can only take one action per round. This particular boss is programmed to always use Dekunda, the debuff-canceling move, if his stats ever drop below three debuffs, and if you bring two or more demons with Debilitate or Antichthon, you'll reach that point in two turns. Or, in other words, it's quite simple to cheese him into wasting every other turn. This strategy does cost a lot of MP however, and might not be sustainable without proper preparation.

** Given similarities with ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', the protagonist has been named "SMT Doom Guy", "SMT Doom Marine", "SMT Doom Slayer", or "Japanese Doomguy" given his role as a SpaceMarine fighting demons from another realm. Another name given to him is [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Spess Mehren]].

** Bites the Dust (and other similar attacks later) inflicts the new "Bomb" status ailment; it makes the afflicted physically fragile. If they get smacked around too many times, they explode, and do damage to all other party members equal to their own total health. Just one "Bomb"ed party member (including yourself, for an instant Game Over) can wind up blowing up your entire team. Your only protection against this is an accessory or passives that explicitly protect against Bomb, but using the Cohesion Ring also leaves you unprotected against other annoying things detailed below. Also, the Bomb ailment is [[UnusableEnemyEquipment exclusive to enemies]].

** Several bosses in the Womb of Grief possess unique moves that apply a "field effect" that lasts for a few turns. Among them is Sol Canus by Zeus, which purges buffs and debuffs on top of ''preventing them from being applied for 3 turns''. Considering how vital buffs and debuffs would be to a player's strategy, sealing off their bread and butter can cause the fight to go south real fast.
** If you finish the Womb of Grief in ''Redux'' but refuse to help Alex change the future, she empowers herself and fights you. She only has one attack -- Claimh Solais -- which she uses incessantly in-battle. It's a physical attack that hits like a truck and ignores resistance, letting her easily kill you or your demons in one or two hits unless you spam buffs and debuffs. Meanwhile, her companion demons are throwing out buffs and debuffs of their own to counter your efforts, while you're also pretty much dedicating one party member to spamming healing items to offset her damage output.
** Another set of Bonus Bosses in ''Redux'', [[spoiler:superbosses Belial, Nebiros, Beelzebub, and Lucifuge, have two in particular. One, Calamity Cycle, is a favorite of Beelzebub and Nebiros, and as the name suggests, it's a buffed Disaster Cycle. But one shared between all of them is Doomsday, which goes back to the [=PS2=] spinoff method of superbosses one-shotting the party if you break one of their unspoken rules, some of which can be as major as "no debuffing."]]

* ThatOneLevel: Sector Eridanus doesn't seem so bad at first... until you get a particular plot-character to move out of the way to get to the bulk of the level. Suddenly, you're dealing with unavoidable poison floors, enough hidden pits to turn the maze into Swiss cheese, one-way doors and a series of teleportation rooms with no rhyme or reason that forces you to memorize sequences just to figure out what'll let you finally move on. It's a dungeon-crawler-player's nightmare made manifest, and the game [[LampshadeHanging knows it]] when Jimenez expresses his frustration with the area
** There are later levels that pull similar annoying stunts, but with much less frequency and intensity. After Eridanus, they seem like ''cakewalks.''
*** Sector Grus mixes a one-way-door maze on one floor with a teleporter and conveyor maze on the other. There are no shortcuts midway until you pick up Unlock C, which is positioned at the ''end'' of the Sector. If you needed to return to base to restock midway, well, hope you remembered the way forward.
*** When you access eastern Grus, available on a NewGamePlus, you find similar mechanics that you've faced in the rest of the Sector -- teleporters, pitfalls, and one-way doors out the wazoo. It's a lot more unforgiving, as several parts of the one-way door maze force you into one of its four corners, which sets you back a long way and needs an absurd amount of backtracking to pick up where you left off. Also, if you want to pick up all the treasure it has to offer, you've got two Sanctums to navigate in the one-way door maze, which force you into one of the severe-backtracking corners. The Guidance Angel and Omen Bug Sub-Apps of ''Redux'' make this barely tolerable; the original game doesn't have those luxuries.

** In as much as a story branch can be one of these, the New Chaos path in Redux. Notice how the original Chaos FinalBoss, the vanilla Law/Neutral Final Boss, and the TrueFinalBoss are all listed under ThatOneBoss above? On New Chaos, you have to fight ''all three of them''.