Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, like its predecessors in the flagship Shin Megami Tensei series, heavily uses a concept new to many who have not played previous Megami Tensei games or tabletop RPGs - alignment. A character's or demon's alignment represents his or her moral and ethical outlooks; basically, the character's personality in a nutshell.
There are six different alignments, and two separate axes; a character has one alignment from each axis. The first axis contains the Law, Neutral, and Chaos alignments, and reflects the character's basic nature. A Law-aligned character desires order and stability, while a Chaos-aligned character desires ultimate freedom - a Neutral character is somewhere between the two. The second axis, containing the alignments Light, Neutral, and Dark, represents the character's general attitude. A Light-aligned character is benevolent and selfless, while a Dark-aligned character is malevolent and selfish. Again, Neutral characters are in between.
A demon's alignment is determined by its family; all demons in a family will have the same alignment. For example, all demons of the Jaki family are Dark-aligned and Neutral-aligned; they are generally cruel and selfish creatures, but they don't care one way or the other about law or chaos. This is reflected in the type of demons in the Jaki family; among the Jaki demons are gremlins, creatures noted for their tendency to break machines; wendigo, a type of yeti that eats people; and Grendel, from the epic of Beowulf, who needs no introduction.
The main character's (and his demons') alignments affect several facets of the game.
Alignment Effects[edit]
Demon Recruitment[edit]
Demons of different alignments from your main character are more difficult to recruit. You don't see eye-to-eye, so it's more difficult to convince the demon that it's worthwhile to fight alongside you. Demons of differing alignments start out with a worse attitude, are more likely to take offense when you say something wrong, and are more likely to attack you or simply leave after a failed negotiation. Needless to say, it's best to try to recruit demons of the other two alignments only if you have to.
Demons of the Dark alignment cannot be recruited through negotiation.
Co-Op Attack[edit]
Only demons of the same Law-Chaos alignment as the attacker can join in a successful Co-Op Attack. Light-Dark alignment does not affect a character's ability to join a Co-Op Attack.
Storyline[edit]
The main character's alignment affects how the final sector of the game plays out, and which of the game's three endings you receive after defeating the final boss. Depending on your alignment, you will face different bosses late in the game; one alignment even substitutes the final boss for another. There are three endings to the game: one for a Law-aligned main character, one for a Neutral-aligned main character, and one for a Chaos-aligned main character.
Alignments[edit]
Law[edit]
Demons who are Law-aligned believe in total, unyielding order. The rule of law is everything to them. Law-aligned demons who are also Light-aligned are benevolent protectors of the weak. They seek justice and equality for all. Dark-aligned Law demons, however, seek to bend the law to their own purpose, no matter who they have to step on to get there. A Law-aligned demon's name is blue-colored.
Two prominent demon families in the Law alignment are Heralds and Divines, otherwise known as angels. This tends to imply that God is on the side of Law. However, not all Law-aligned demons are good; the Vile family exemplifies this, with demons such as Baphomet among them.
Chaos[edit]
Chaos-aligned demons seek complete and total freedom. They believe that the ability to do what you want, when you want, is far more important than the stability laws provide. Light-aligned Chaos demons will protect the freedoms of others, as well as their own; Dark-aligned demons who follow Chaos, however, use their power to take what they want, regardless of others.
Two Chaos-aligned demon families of note are the Fallen, composed of those angels who did not pass God's muster, and thus were removed from their positions (demons of the Fallen family are Neutral, not Dark, however, so they must have fallen for some other reason than evil), and the Tyrant family, which includes many of the game's early bosses (most of whom are obtainable in-game as party members).
Light[edit]
Light-aligned demons are generally of benevolent nature. They prefer to help humanity rather than make war, and thus are the rarest alignment of demons to find in random encounters. Pallas Athena (the Greek goddess of wisdom), Hachiman (the Japanese patron god of the samurai), and Thor (the Norse god of thunder, and a powerful warrior preventing the world from being overrun by giants) are all Light-aligned demons.
Dark[edit]
Dark-aligned demons are cruel and rapacious, desiring nothing more than their own benefit, irregardles of the harm to others. A Dark-aligned demon cannot be recruited through conversation; any attempt to recruit them will automatically fail. Loki (the Norse trickster god whose machinations cause Ragnarok), the Hecatonchires (a Greek titan destined to slay the gods), and Baphomet (the bull-headed patron demon of black magic) are all Dark-aligned demons.
Your main character is always considered to be Light-aligned on the Light-Dark alignment axis, and this is why the main character is innately immune to light-based attacks. This alignment cannot be changed.