Majin Tensei (1994)

Majin Tensei, for SNES

Rating: 5.5/10; Average

Not recommended even if you are a fan of strategy rpgs or the series

Majin Tensei is a half assed attempt at creating a Fire Emblem like strategy rpg in the Megami Tensei universe. I say attempt because the design and mechanics of the game lead to incredibly tedious gameplay with a decided lack of strategy, as well as a number of user unfriendly features that put this game far behind others in the genre.

You start off assigning stats to the hero and then begin with a small roster of low level demons. And 1 seriously overpowered level 27 dog demon. Now you don't have to use it, and since it costs money to summon demons and magnetite to keep them out, you would be better off not using that dog and getting more xp for the hero. Soon enough you will get the heroine and there is not a whole lot of difference between the characters. He can use the comp to summon (but not unsummon) demons, and make use of the iconic SMT dialogue system to recruit new demons. The game will not let you talk to the dark demons who will never be allies. Otherwise if you beat the percentage odds for successful dialogue based on the moon phase (which changes every turn) then you will be allowed to talk either gently or roughly. For each tone, a number of speeches with 2 options is randomly selected and each choice either continues the conversation or ends with 1 of: the demon joining for free, negotiating a fee for the demon to join, or pissing the demon off and getting punched in the face. The outcomes for dialogue choices are the same for the same demon so you can use trial and error to learn how to recruit them reliably, but the random selection of the dialogue lines means you may not get the free joining option and may have to learn multiple choices that lead to negotiation. The girl on the other hand gets magic, which allows her to attack from range, recover health, cure status effects, have everyone flee the battle and even summon a couple demons from your stock. Apart from that, they can use the same gear and you can allocate their stats as you see fit. Most gear does nothing other than improve raw stats. No weapon damage, armor values or guns. If a character maxes out strength from leveling up then they will do the same damage unarmed as with a weapon and thus a weapon would only be good for passive stat boosts, such as vitality or luck. This makes the equipment progression entirely dull and the limited inventory even more of a pain as you try to optimize level ups and equipment.

Each stage is fairly large with a variety of terrains that affect defense and movement; things like forests, mountains and deserts. Some demons are even specialized for water and only some can climb mountains. Flyers definitely stand out for being immune to terrain, which is the best thing about this game when compared to the other games in the franchise. Stages often feature fountains which restore health and mana, and generators that pump out additional enemies. Despite the stages having good victory and loss conditions, namely kill everything, reach a point or kill a boss while not letting either human die (any of your demons that die are gone for good), the stage design ends up combining with the ridiculously overpowered humans to make the game a boring slog. You don't really have to use summoned demons because the humans can handle pretty much everything on their own. Put the heroine in a fountain for infinite healing and have the hero next to her. Wait for enemies to approach, attack, heal if necessary, end turn, repeat, yawn. It does not help that the enemy takes literal minutes to move all their units each turn and there are little unskipable cutscenes for every attack and spell. It can take hours to beat a stage and most of that time is waiting for the game to let you play again. Seriously, even playing in turbo mode I was so bored with the game that I had to find something else to do in between turns; play another game on my phone, read a book or write. I kid you not, I am writing this review right now in between turns at the end of the game. A few of the levels actually had some challenge and occasionally I summoned demons for extra healing or to block an enemy in, but for the most part it was checking back every few minutes to see if the generators finally stopped spawning enemies. The game likes to throw absurdly weak enemies at you that are nothing but cannon fodder. Not only is this a huge waste of the player's time, but xp rewards for pathetic enemies is pretty good, which leads to the humans being even more overpowered. There was even 1 stage late game where it was entirely an infinite influx of trivial enemies from the beginning of the game, which required using summons to block the generators. Or you can let it run for a few hours and get a ridiculous amount of xp. That level seemed designed for power leveling. On top of all of this, the game regularly throws powerful neutral demons into the stages which always talk to you and will join even if they are higher level than you, making the entire concepts of recruiting enemies and fusing them into more powerful demons even less useful.

Demon fusion works like it does in other Megami Tensei games; combine 2 demons in an overly complicated system that requires a spreadsheet to make sense of. Oh and the result could be weaker than either parent. I have never understood why fusion has to be so complicated in this series, and this game does not do anything to make it more bearable, other than show you the result before you commit to it. There is skill inheritance where some demons can learn skills that are passed on during fusion. Demons cannot level up. Instead their xp goes towards unlocking a skill, which can be a magic spell that does not cost mana but can only be used once per lunar cycle; every dozen or so turns. Nothing spectacular especially considering how meaningless the demons are anyway.

There is a complex chart for demon affinities, which you can find in the menus. Each demon family has a specific elemental weakness for magic, which is all well and good. But there are also affinities for physical attacks between families and humans. This is not a rock paper scissors system but is rather mutual massive damage or mutual flailing about for pathetic damage, which makes the stages drag on for even longer. Especially annoying are the Fallen demon family, which are non-recruitable healers that have low affinity with humans and all families except Angels, who are low offense healers. Holy absurdly long time to kill Batman. The stages are connected by a Mario Bros 3 overworld that lacks connecting lines to show what connects to what, making it tedious to navigate if you want to replay a dungeon stage, visit the fusion house or visit the shop where you can't spend money. Oh and demons can be fused inside stages by moving them onto the same tile. Enemies can do this too sometimes, which is hilarious when it results in a downgraded demon.

Majin Tensei is a mind numbingly tedious slog that fails to have the strategic/tactical depth of games like Fire Emblem or Super Robot Wars, fails to implement the mechanics of the Megami Tensei series in a balanced way, and fails to have the engaging story, characters, interactions and setting often found in the franchise. While you can certainly play it with less emphasis on the heroes to rely on demons more, that would make the already far too long experience even longer. And this was an experience that I could not wait to conclude.

Pro

• Can return to dungeons to grind
• Decent enemy AI for camping fountains, healing and targeting
• Dialogue system for recruiting demons
• Status effects are often inflicted from demon attacks and are devastating

Con

• Unskipable fusion, attack and spell scenes
• No objective screen
• No overview map during battle
• Can’t unsummon demons
• Poor balance favoring minimal use of summoned demons
• Tedious and time consuming gameplay
• Mostly poor level design
• Limited inventory -Boring equipment system that conflicts with level ups
• Terrible world map with paths not visible and asking every time if you want to enter a location
• Complicated fusion system
• Way too many easily recruited powerful neutral demons
• Melee affinity system is pointless and makes the game more tedious
• Demon attack power goes up and down every turn as the moon changes