Digital Devil Saga 2 (needs editing)

Shin Megami Tensei is a series known for its focus on gameplay, a deep battle system and a lot of customization options. Digital Devil Saga heavily relies on these elements, but this time, there is more room for story development. Let’s find out if this combination works out for the series with the following review. Please note that since Digital Devil Saga 2 is a direct sequel, there will be inevitable spoilers and comparisons for the first game.

Story
Embryon has emerged as the victor among the Junkyard tribes. After defeating Angel, the lead members can finally rise up to Nirvana, the promised land that every tribe seeks after. However, when our heroes find themselves in Nirvana, they discover a bleak and desolate world. The sun has blackened, and everyone who comes in contact with its light ends up petrified. The only way to prevent this is by turning yourself into a demon, a creature that relies on human and demon flesh in order to survive. In this apocalyptic setting, the Karma Society that has turned its people into demons, governs from its tower and tries to revitalize what’s left of their world, while an underground resistance that refused to give up their humanity tries to survive in the ruins. Embryon will find itself in the middle of warring factions, and will soon discover that the Junkyard was only the beginning of its troubles.

If there is one word to describe the story, I would say EPIC. DDS was basically an introduction to the story, ending with a spectacular cliffhanger; DDS2 develops further on the foundations laid out in the prequel. Right from the start, you will get bombarded with the apocalyptic reality of the world; a lot of new intriguing questions will be raised, new characters will be rapidly introduced, and you will find yourself emerged in no time. The story is simply fantastic, one of the best I’ve seen in an RPG in a long long time. A well-thought of plot, that is for once not filled with the usual clichés, actual answers to your questions, and a terrific use of the hints that were already given in the first game, all of this makes the story one of my all-time favorites.

Characters
Of course, a good story is nothing without a good cast, and DDS2 also delivers on this. Whereas the characters in the first game appeared to be rather cold and emotionless (which fitted in with the story), character development this time around is excellent. The love triangle between Serph, Sera and Heat gets more detailed, the rest of your party gets some well deserved background information, and the new protagonists that are introduced are intriguing to say the least.

A good game needs some decent villains, and DDS2 sure how to bring you these. From Madame Cuvier, leader of the Karma Society, to my personal favorite, Angel, they are charismatic and not just idiots bent on world domination/destruction. They have detailed ideologies behind their reasoning, they don’t just decide that they want to achieve a certain goal; the game takes the time to explain their motivations, their characters, their connections to Embryon members. All in all, I’m glad that a game finally takes the time, and more importantly has the guts to create enigmatic villains that differ from the one-sided shallow bad guys that so often appear in J-RPGs.

Looks
Graphically speaking, the game is not pushing the PS2 to its limit but that doesn’t mean that it can’t have a great look. I’m a fan of the character designs, and they are well translated to in-game graphics. I am fond of Angel in particular, because she has one of the slickest designs in the entire game, and I love her during the cutscenes. Whereas the environments in the first game where nothing special, there are some places that look really detailed this time around, but the environment designs themselves are sadly enough not really original.

One point of criticism that people have on DDS in general is that they reuse monster designs from SMT: Nocturne and that they generally have the same battle graphics. Although I can’t deny this, I don’t really have a problem with it. Seeing as the games were released at around the same time, and they both take place in the same SMT universe, it’s only natural that there are plenty of similarities. I think that these are necessary to have a common foundation for the games, something that connects them in a way.

Sound
Musically speaking, I found the soundtrack to be a step up from the first game. Even though the intro theme is not as strong as the prequel’s “Danger”, the strength of the music this time around comes mostly from the battle themes. All in all, I found the music to be quite like the themes used in SMT: Nocturne (which is definitely not a bad thing, since that game had one of the better soundtracks I heard in an SMT game). I do can make the same criticism here that I also made with Nocturne; although battle themes are terrific, the rest of the music is nothing to write home about, aside from maybe one or two themes. Not that this really matters, since you will be spending the majority of the game in battles anyway.

Digital Devil Saga was one of the first SMT games that use voice acting, something that bothered me a bit in Nocturne. Although most of the actors still had to get a bit into character in the first game, you can feel that they are more into it this time. Where as they could sound a bit too cold at first, they really do a good job now (especially Angel and Sera), and their acting really helps you to get more involved into the story. There are a few moments of overacting, but the overall VA is excellent.

Gameplay
Gameplaywise there have been a few changes, although the core elements stay the same. Unlike other SMT games, you are not some kind of devil summoner now, who controls a party of dark minions. Now your characters are all human, but with the added ability of being able to turn themselves into a much more powerful demon! Although you can still fight as a human, you won’t be able to do much damage to legendary demons with only a little handgun, and you really need the strength of your more violent half.

The battle system still uses press turns. You start out with three presses each turn, and each action consumes one. By hitting weakpoints, you can conserve half a press, but if you accidentally attack an enemies strong point (resulting in blocking or worse, absorbing), you lose two presses instead of one. Although this may sound simple, it is a lot more complicated because of the difficulty. Enemies will take every chance they get to exploit your weaknesses, they will simply cheat and use techniques that give them more presses, and they will hit you with stronger attacks that you can’t access until later on in the game. I played the game on the highest difficulty (unlocked by loading your DDS1 save, or finishing the game once), and there were some battles where I seriously got my ass handed to me. You constantly have to be on your guard, since even random battles can be devastating if you’re out of luck.

Now, just like in Nocturne, physical skills will consume HP in battle, where as magic skills will drain your MP. A small point of criticism that I also made with Nocturne, is that a character dies when he gets rid of his entire HP, but 0MP doesn’t have the same effect. I would find it more challenging if MP depletion could also mean death, like the system used in Star Ocean 3, but the game is already hard enough as it is I guess.

As you can see, the basics of the battle system remain the same, but there are some additions. At random times, characters will enter Berserk Mode. This is a combination of their demon and human form. Their power becomes uncontrollable, and their critical hit rate goes way up, but at the same time their defense and hit rate is lowered. They also loose all of their special skills and can only use their normal attack. This seems like a disadvantageous situation, but if you manage to win the battles during this mode, your experience, money and atma points will double, allowing for some fast leveling if used strategically.

One of the things that I love about the SMT games are that status attacks can actually have an effect. In most RPGs, when your party gets spells that can poison, stun or even instantly kill the enemy, they hardly ever work on your opponents. In DDS2, however, some of these attacks can be a real lifesaver, especially some of the more powerful instant death skills, or spells that reduce the enemy’s accuracy. Unfortunately, the enemy also knows how to use these spells, and you better be sure to have some skills that protect you against them, or a high level instant death spell can have a nasty effect.

One of the major new things is a revamped mantra grid. For those who don’t know this system, the grid is your only way of learning new skills. You first buy a skill on the grid, and when you fill up its meter with atma points earned in battle, you will actually be able to use it. In the first game, the grid had separate skill trees, meaning that you could follow a set path to the skill that you wanted. There are various skills, ranging from attacking or healing, to supporting skills like resistance to elemental damage or the ability to earn experience points without participating in battles.

This time around, the system has been revamped, and the skills are set in a huge roster. By unlocking one skill, you get access to all the others surrounding it, meaning that you can find a faster way to high level abilities, whereas you had to go through all of the weaker skills in the first game. For example, you can learn Diarama (medium healing spell), without going through Dia (low level spell) first. This allows for a more strategic play, and you will be learning skills a lot faster. There are also certain nods on the grid that can only be unlocked by activating all of the skills surrounding it, and most of the time these are some of the more valuable skills, or they offer stat boosts to all the characters.

One specific set of skills are hunting attacks. As I mentioned in the story section, demons need human or demon flesh to survive. During the battle, you can use hunting attacks with gruesome names like “Devour”, that allow you to absorb some of the enemy’s HP. On top of this, by killing enemies with these skills, you will get extra atma points that are very welcome to learn the more powerful skills.

Since there was no equipment in the first game (aside from the various ammunition that you could use in your human form) the only way to improve your stats was distributing points to them when you level up. This system is still the same, but this time characters can also find Karma Rings. Not only do these accessories give stat bonuses, they also provide special advantages, like better defense against instant death attacks.

Extras
As far as extras go, there are only a few optional bosses to defeat, but most of them are so tough that it’ll take a lot of time to prepare yourself before you can take them on. If you haven’t played the first game, you can only start on normal difficulty. By completing the game once, you unlock Hard Mode, and you also get access to another optional boss that can seriously kick your ass. I didn’t mind the lack of huge sidequests like the ones you find in Final Fantasy or Shadow Hearts. If you just finish the game without too much grinding, you probably won’t have activated half of the Mantra Grid, and trying to fully complete this for every character will take more of your time than any other sidequest could.

Conclusion
Digital Devil Saga 2 is one of the best games I have ever played, and my personal favorite among the SMT games mainly because of the focus on a strong story. The gameplay is deep, the battles are hard, and customization options can be endless. The story is excellent, thought provoking and the terrific voice acting and character development only enhances this. My best recommendation for anyone who’s looking for a deep, challenging RPG.

Jam it back in, in the dark.