lets be real.... cannibal cyberpunk hinduism is a BIT played out as a theme at this point don't you think???
tokyo ghoul rip off
REND
SLAUGHTER
DEVOUR YOUR ENEMIES
THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO ESCAPE YOUR HUNGER WARRIORS OF PURGATORY
Ain't got much to say other than this is still my 2nd favorite megaten game an im glad i finally got my self a physical copy an did this replay
Edit: K maybe i do have a bit to say at least in terms of how well dds 1 does it's sorta melancholy atmosphere using the really a muted color palette compared to most of the ps2 megaten games it's music also amplifies (i think this the right word to use) it's atmosphere with the constant guitar twang i guess would be the right way in describing it making it almost seem like the guitar is crying (tho granted a lot of shoji meguros ps2 megaten tracks that use a guitar sound like that) that's all i got to say really play the game if you haven't is a damn good one
SLAUGHTER
DEVOUR YOUR ENEMIES
THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO ESCAPE YOUR HUNGER WARRIORS OF PURGATORY
Ain't got much to say other than this is still my 2nd favorite megaten game an im glad i finally got my self a physical copy an did this replay
Edit: K maybe i do have a bit to say at least in terms of how well dds 1 does it's sorta melancholy atmosphere using the really a muted color palette compared to most of the ps2 megaten games it's music also amplifies (i think this the right word to use) it's atmosphere with the constant guitar twang i guess would be the right way in describing it making it almost seem like the guitar is crying (tho granted a lot of shoji meguros ps2 megaten tracks that use a guitar sound like that) that's all i got to say really play the game if you haven't is a damn good one
i ❤️ cannibalism
Shin Megami Digital Devil Saga, as well as most other Shin Megami Tensei games, starts off in reverse to most Japanese role playing games. Rather then a band of angst ridden boy band looking heroes out to save the world, it is a group of half demons merely trying to survive in one already torn asunder.
You play the role of Serph, the leader of a tribe known as the Embryon. This tribe is essentially a rogue military group stuck in never ending gang territory wars with other tribes. This ongoing war is all in an effort to be the last standing, the reward for this? to get out of their living nightmare and go to Nirvana as promised by the Karma temple situated in the center of the post apocalyptic world.
On the Embryon's quest to reach Nirvana they will have to do a lot of fighting. And being demons they have access to a lot of skills. These skills are gained by atma points once selected. Gain enough atma points at the end of fights, get the skills. Simple right? not quite. To speed this up you can also devour the enemies you fight. Yep, you can eat your opponents. This gives you bonus atma points to learn them faster, though on the flip side if you eat to much you get stomach ache, which results in no points at all. I will never not find that hilarious.
Having a diverse set of skills is hugely important in the world of Digital Devil Saga because although it is turn based it adds some twists to it thanks to the turn press battle system. In the game you can use three characters at once, each of these characters has an icon indicating their action turn, but the key to winning is in extending those turns, whenever you get a critical hit or attack an enemies weakness with a certain skill, your turn icon will light up giving you an extra turn. However, what goes around comes around, as your characters also have weaknesses that enemies will exploit for a devastating chain of attacks, making the game fairly unforgiving at times but still feeling fair.
The voice acting in the game is top notch. Each character and their personality are acted out really well for the time this was released. (I found one of the characters a little stereotyping though) The music accompanying this is just as good. The game features a metal soundtrack mimicking the hard edged world the game is set in, and adding the feeling of speed and adrenaline to the fights.
Digital Devil Saga uses cell shading to great effect to portray the world the Embryon live in, with some excellent dungeons including castles to scrapped cruise liners. Each area full of little details like crushed elevator doors or paintings and statues. The characters themselves are modeled nicely as well, with some very unique designs, each suiting their demon form.
The game lasts a good 40 hours, not to mention an ample amount of extra bosses to fight along the way. the toughest of which the game must be replayed in a game + save to reach. so plenty to get value for money. It must be noted though that this is only part 1, it has a second part that completes the story.
Overall this is a surreal game, relieving the stale clichés a lot of RPG's seem stuck in. With a fantastic story, interesting cast of characters, and a great combat system. This is a game that should get more attention than it does imo and I would kill for Atlus to release a remaster collection.
+ Fantastic setting
+ Interesting cast.
+ Simple but challenging battle system.
+ Gorgeous art, visuals and music.
You play the role of Serph, the leader of a tribe known as the Embryon. This tribe is essentially a rogue military group stuck in never ending gang territory wars with other tribes. This ongoing war is all in an effort to be the last standing, the reward for this? to get out of their living nightmare and go to Nirvana as promised by the Karma temple situated in the center of the post apocalyptic world.
On the Embryon's quest to reach Nirvana they will have to do a lot of fighting. And being demons they have access to a lot of skills. These skills are gained by atma points once selected. Gain enough atma points at the end of fights, get the skills. Simple right? not quite. To speed this up you can also devour the enemies you fight. Yep, you can eat your opponents. This gives you bonus atma points to learn them faster, though on the flip side if you eat to much you get stomach ache, which results in no points at all. I will never not find that hilarious.
Having a diverse set of skills is hugely important in the world of Digital Devil Saga because although it is turn based it adds some twists to it thanks to the turn press battle system. In the game you can use three characters at once, each of these characters has an icon indicating their action turn, but the key to winning is in extending those turns, whenever you get a critical hit or attack an enemies weakness with a certain skill, your turn icon will light up giving you an extra turn. However, what goes around comes around, as your characters also have weaknesses that enemies will exploit for a devastating chain of attacks, making the game fairly unforgiving at times but still feeling fair.
The voice acting in the game is top notch. Each character and their personality are acted out really well for the time this was released. (I found one of the characters a little stereotyping though) The music accompanying this is just as good. The game features a metal soundtrack mimicking the hard edged world the game is set in, and adding the feeling of speed and adrenaline to the fights.
Digital Devil Saga uses cell shading to great effect to portray the world the Embryon live in, with some excellent dungeons including castles to scrapped cruise liners. Each area full of little details like crushed elevator doors or paintings and statues. The characters themselves are modeled nicely as well, with some very unique designs, each suiting their demon form.
The game lasts a good 40 hours, not to mention an ample amount of extra bosses to fight along the way. the toughest of which the game must be replayed in a game + save to reach. so plenty to get value for money. It must be noted though that this is only part 1, it has a second part that completes the story.
Overall this is a surreal game, relieving the stale clichés a lot of RPG's seem stuck in. With a fantastic story, interesting cast of characters, and a great combat system. This is a game that should get more attention than it does imo and I would kill for Atlus to release a remaster collection.
+ Fantastic setting
+ Interesting cast.
+ Simple but challenging battle system.
+ Gorgeous art, visuals and music.
“to survive, you devour others. a demon epitomizes karma in its simplest form.”
digital devil saga 1 is a lot better on a replay, in the most thematically fitting way possible. knowing the narrative conclusion and being able to fill in the blanks the story doesn’t give you paints a story of a group of people just looking to make the best out of an incredibly grim situation.
when you’re biologically hardwired to kill, eat, destroy, devour, how do you promote cooperation? the DDS cast’s personal challenges serve as a representation of humanity in general: how can we grow past our violent tendencies when they’ve become second nature to us?
in an era of risk taking and throwing shit at the wall for atlus, digital devil saga exists as an unfortunate failure, being overshadowed by atlus’ other big plot-focused PS2 games that would come out the following years. despite this, DDS seems to have a narrative quality that isn’t easily matched by most of the studio’s output. character arcs are simple but coherent and focused, all revolving around the embryon becoming salient of the world around them and becoming more than just a walking weapon.
i don’t know why i didn’t click with this story the first time, but understanding how the whole thing plays out added a surprising level of depth to my experience.
i guess next i have to play the sequel again
are you ready for the real world?
digital devil saga 1 is a lot better on a replay, in the most thematically fitting way possible. knowing the narrative conclusion and being able to fill in the blanks the story doesn’t give you paints a story of a group of people just looking to make the best out of an incredibly grim situation.
when you’re biologically hardwired to kill, eat, destroy, devour, how do you promote cooperation? the DDS cast’s personal challenges serve as a representation of humanity in general: how can we grow past our violent tendencies when they’ve become second nature to us?
in an era of risk taking and throwing shit at the wall for atlus, digital devil saga exists as an unfortunate failure, being overshadowed by atlus’ other big plot-focused PS2 games that would come out the following years. despite this, DDS seems to have a narrative quality that isn’t easily matched by most of the studio’s output. character arcs are simple but coherent and focused, all revolving around the embryon becoming salient of the world around them and becoming more than just a walking weapon.
i don’t know why i didn’t click with this story the first time, but understanding how the whole thing plays out added a surprising level of depth to my experience.
i guess next i have to play the sequel again
are you ready for the real world?
one of the best megaten games. encounter rate is a bit high and it's pretty short since it ends on a cliffhanger, but there's very little actually wrong with dds1
Nah broo don't vore your enemies haha.
You're so sexy haha.
You're so sexy haha.
Digital Devil Saga
Eu diria que é um jogo incrível mas a historia dele acaba sendo bem lenta em questão de te fazer ficar intrigado por assim dizer, isso é muito mais por conta do segundo jogo já que é sequencia direta da historia, o jogo também te dá bastantes perguntas ao decorrer da historia e fica pro jogador teorizar.
Onde ele acaba pecando em historia ele é forte em combate e outros aspectos como a musica, e meu amigo A MUSICA DESSE JOGO É UMA DELICIA DE SE ESCUTAR, exemplos de musicas "Manipura, Blade, Hunting, Big Battle".
DDS tem o sistema de Mantras que é sua principal forma de conseguir novas skills, para upar os mantras você tem que devorar os inimigos em combate oque te dá Atma Points, o sistema de Mantras te dá muito mais liberdade com as skills e personalização dos seus party members já que eles não precisam ficar presos a um tipo de skill pré setado, exemplo disso o protagonista usa magias de gelo mas ele pode aprender magias de fogo, ou você pode fazer ele focar em cura e por ai vai.
Esse sistema as vezes vai precisar que você grinde um pouco, principalmente com skills mais fortes, mas é coisa que dá pra ignorar maioria dos desafios foram feitos para que você não precise grindar tanto mas que também sejam desafiadores, eu sou macaco e decidi ficar grindando maior parte do meu tempo, qual foi o resultado disso? o chefe final sendo mais fácil que o normal.
Das minhas 56 horas de jogo boas 20 e poucas delas foram grindando, e agora eu pretendo fazer um New Game+ e ir atrás do conteúdo adicional que o jogo tem, e esse jogo tem um bocado de chefe apelão, até um amigo conhecido da franquia ;) depois de fazer isso? eu vou transferir o Save pro segundo jogo e ir pro modo hard.
Eu diria que é um jogo incrível mas a historia dele acaba sendo bem lenta em questão de te fazer ficar intrigado por assim dizer, isso é muito mais por conta do segundo jogo já que é sequencia direta da historia, o jogo também te dá bastantes perguntas ao decorrer da historia e fica pro jogador teorizar.
Onde ele acaba pecando em historia ele é forte em combate e outros aspectos como a musica, e meu amigo A MUSICA DESSE JOGO É UMA DELICIA DE SE ESCUTAR, exemplos de musicas "Manipura, Blade, Hunting, Big Battle".
DDS tem o sistema de Mantras que é sua principal forma de conseguir novas skills, para upar os mantras você tem que devorar os inimigos em combate oque te dá Atma Points, o sistema de Mantras te dá muito mais liberdade com as skills e personalização dos seus party members já que eles não precisam ficar presos a um tipo de skill pré setado, exemplo disso o protagonista usa magias de gelo mas ele pode aprender magias de fogo, ou você pode fazer ele focar em cura e por ai vai.
Esse sistema as vezes vai precisar que você grinde um pouco, principalmente com skills mais fortes, mas é coisa que dá pra ignorar maioria dos desafios foram feitos para que você não precise grindar tanto mas que também sejam desafiadores, eu sou macaco e decidi ficar grindando maior parte do meu tempo, qual foi o resultado disso? o chefe final sendo mais fácil que o normal.
Das minhas 56 horas de jogo boas 20 e poucas delas foram grindando, e agora eu pretendo fazer um New Game+ e ir atrás do conteúdo adicional que o jogo tem, e esse jogo tem um bocado de chefe apelão, até um amigo conhecido da franquia ;) depois de fazer isso? eu vou transferir o Save pro segundo jogo e ir pro modo hard.
A game I hyped so much. Everything caught my eyes. The Kaneko designs, cel-shaded graphics, Meguro music, all that good shit. And while it had all of that, I had placed a little too much hope in actually liking what I played. The gameplay system has potential but just feels overall clunky to play today but I do like the devouring system. The music is one of the saving graces, Shoji Meguro is a mastermind. Every ten steps is a random encounter, kind of annoying and you need to grind in this game, even when you fight every encounter. A lot of this is fixed in the sequel but this game would definitely benefit from a remaster with quality of life changes such as a reduced encounter rate, toggle on/off, and fast forward. Knowing Atlus, one or none of those will be included, but we can hope.
This is part one of my favorite story and concept in the genre. This game does a lot right with how it builds it's characters from one note robots to people who slowly regain their humanity and characteristics back, a lot moments in this game are here to build up the story for Digital Devil Saga 2 and honestly it's great but also a little faulty. Since this game is a huge setup, but even then the game still drags you in with it's mysteries and setting. Honestly it has it's own highlights that make it stand out between the two games. You figure out what's going on around you along with the characters and it's a game that has an extremely overbearing atmosphere with it's dead, gray, barren, futuristic locales. Dungeons aren't anything like Nocturne but they have their highlights with interesting artistic direction and fun designs. A very great experience with an even greater first half story rooted in Hinduism, a very unique and honestly fucking wild take on the religion. Very replayable to just max out everything over and over again. You can break this game in half with the skills and tactics you can do to level up quickly. It's a a little grindy towards the end, overall though the game is a lot of fun and challenging, with a lot of side bosses, quests, and enemies to earn unique skills and upgrades.
Cyberpunk cannibalism
Cyberpunk cannibalism
Serph: "Embryon it's Morbing time!"
Replayed this game awhile back and it still is one of my fav SMT titles ever. I always come back for the embryon and their character arcs. Also best SMT soundtrack imo especially because I loved Danger by Etro Anime so much.
The theme of wild instinct taking over human morals is so cool to me. I really appreciate that with the introduction of their demonic abilities their emotions also brings an instability within the characters. Seeing a world where 'culture' doesn't exist and watching the characters experience all of these emotions was really intriguing.
Something I've always enjoyed about SMT is that it's the first game franchise I've seen that's handled morality choices in a way that isn't corny or overplayed. Your first party members being Heat and Argilla serve as the duality of differing morals within the game; Heat believing in adaptability in order of survival whereas Argilla believes in the chance to regain humanity without sacrificing their morals and comrades. It would be easy for them to be oversimplified as good vs. evil but you can see their actual intentions with dignity.
Gameplay wise, I really enjoyed having your party BE the demons and utilize their abilities to kill off your enemies. I especially loved the meta of the hunger mechanic in battles and how your party goes into a berserk status making it easier to mow down your enemies and the chance to instantly 'devour' demons if they have the 'fear' status.
I also thought DDS had the coolest visual design and background setting ever from SMT, just because I really enjoyed the crossover of futuristic cyber elements and traditional buddhist imagery and architecture. I think kaneko has always been successful in using unconventional inspirations to create original 'cyber' designs.
The theme of wild instinct taking over human morals is so cool to me. I really appreciate that with the introduction of their demonic abilities their emotions also brings an instability within the characters. Seeing a world where 'culture' doesn't exist and watching the characters experience all of these emotions was really intriguing.
Something I've always enjoyed about SMT is that it's the first game franchise I've seen that's handled morality choices in a way that isn't corny or overplayed. Your first party members being Heat and Argilla serve as the duality of differing morals within the game; Heat believing in adaptability in order of survival whereas Argilla believes in the chance to regain humanity without sacrificing their morals and comrades. It would be easy for them to be oversimplified as good vs. evil but you can see their actual intentions with dignity.
Gameplay wise, I really enjoyed having your party BE the demons and utilize their abilities to kill off your enemies. I especially loved the meta of the hunger mechanic in battles and how your party goes into a berserk status making it easier to mow down your enemies and the chance to instantly 'devour' demons if they have the 'fear' status.
I also thought DDS had the coolest visual design and background setting ever from SMT, just because I really enjoyed the crossover of futuristic cyber elements and traditional buddhist imagery and architecture. I think kaneko has always been successful in using unconventional inspirations to create original 'cyber' designs.
This review contains spoilers
they were fucked up for killing those hee ho bros
my eyes also pulse when i feel strong emotions but we believe that's caused by the fact that i drink an unhealthy amount of tea and caffeine
So called "free thinkers" when Danger by Etro Anime starts playing.
Among all the different approaches Atlus has had to Megami Tensei since 1987, Digital Devil Saga has to be the most interesting one, it already differentiates itself from the mainline games heavily and builds its own identity by focusing the teological themes and references on Hinduism, everything from the architecture, names to even in-game systems draw heavy inspirations from those beliefs, and the more well-versed you are on that, the more meaning Digital Devil Saga will have, the game makes really intelligent parallels and references to Hindu religions.
But a game can't live on just symbolism, and it's in the gameplay part that Digital Devil Saga starts to show its flaws, they tried a different take on levelling and demon summoning, here, you no longer fuse and summon different demons, but instead, each party member has a set entity they can transform into, which in and off itself is a interesting idea, but the effect it had on levelling up is massively negative, because you no longer change demons (or magatamas) they had to implement a new system for skill learning, or the game would become very staple and with little variety if you could only learn pre-set skills to those entities, and this system comes in the form of Mantras, which is kinda like the magatama system from Nocturne, as in both revolve around different "equipment" that you can equip on the human characters and each one will have a type of skills for the player to learn while they level up, the problem is: in DDS, it becomes very grindy, especially if you want to defeat the optional bosses, in Nocturne, you still needed to grind if you wanted a specific skill, but as long as you had a general idea of how you wanted to build the Demi-Fiend you could just equip Magatamas that teach the types of skills you needed and have almost no need to grind, but in this game, if you want to make every party member you use somewhat decently strong, you must grind different mantras for each skill you want, and it quickly becomes tiresome.
The other major gameplay factor in Megami Tensei games are the dungeons, and i like the ones present here, they aren't as complex as the ones in Strange Journey or as trap-filled as the ones in Nocturne, instead, they have a more puzzley approach, and are pretty well thought out, i understand the criticisms some have towards them, but i personally like it.
It's hard to write about only DDS1's story without taking the second game into consideration, since everything seen here is just build up and character development for the REAL events that take place in the sequel, but for what it does, the world building is quite interesting, you get to see a bit of each faction of the Junkyard and how they operate, and the characters, both main and side, are very good and don't take long to capture your interest, it's a good story as it is, but i don't like the idea of making a whole game just to build up the sequel.
The soundtrack here (as usual in Atlus games) is amazing, super atmosferic and distinct, i think this duology's OST might be my favorite works from Shoji Meguro, and that's saying a lot, considering i really like most of his music, the visuals are also very good for the PS2 and the art direction is one of the best in gaming.
Overall, Digital Devil Saga is a solid game and a respectable attempt at a new take on Megami Tensei, even if it has major flaws, it's still an experience i enjoyed a lot, my rating is a 4/5 for the reasons i mentioned above, but i can easily see it being a 4.5 or even a 5.
But a game can't live on just symbolism, and it's in the gameplay part that Digital Devil Saga starts to show its flaws, they tried a different take on levelling and demon summoning, here, you no longer fuse and summon different demons, but instead, each party member has a set entity they can transform into, which in and off itself is a interesting idea, but the effect it had on levelling up is massively negative, because you no longer change demons (or magatamas) they had to implement a new system for skill learning, or the game would become very staple and with little variety if you could only learn pre-set skills to those entities, and this system comes in the form of Mantras, which is kinda like the magatama system from Nocturne, as in both revolve around different "equipment" that you can equip on the human characters and each one will have a type of skills for the player to learn while they level up, the problem is: in DDS, it becomes very grindy, especially if you want to defeat the optional bosses, in Nocturne, you still needed to grind if you wanted a specific skill, but as long as you had a general idea of how you wanted to build the Demi-Fiend you could just equip Magatamas that teach the types of skills you needed and have almost no need to grind, but in this game, if you want to make every party member you use somewhat decently strong, you must grind different mantras for each skill you want, and it quickly becomes tiresome.
The other major gameplay factor in Megami Tensei games are the dungeons, and i like the ones present here, they aren't as complex as the ones in Strange Journey or as trap-filled as the ones in Nocturne, instead, they have a more puzzley approach, and are pretty well thought out, i understand the criticisms some have towards them, but i personally like it.
It's hard to write about only DDS1's story without taking the second game into consideration, since everything seen here is just build up and character development for the REAL events that take place in the sequel, but for what it does, the world building is quite interesting, you get to see a bit of each faction of the Junkyard and how they operate, and the characters, both main and side, are very good and don't take long to capture your interest, it's a good story as it is, but i don't like the idea of making a whole game just to build up the sequel.
The soundtrack here (as usual in Atlus games) is amazing, super atmosferic and distinct, i think this duology's OST might be my favorite works from Shoji Meguro, and that's saying a lot, considering i really like most of his music, the visuals are also very good for the PS2 and the art direction is one of the best in gaming.
Overall, Digital Devil Saga is a solid game and a respectable attempt at a new take on Megami Tensei, even if it has major flaws, it's still an experience i enjoyed a lot, my rating is a 4/5 for the reasons i mentioned above, but i can easily see it being a 4.5 or even a 5.
Heat is just like me
I do not comprehend
heat sex. heat sex. heat sex. heat sex. heat sex. heat sex. heat sex. heat sex.
Release the Beast
Digital Devil Saga is made for the classic and true to the heart RPG fans more so than the usual SMT titles with monster/demon collection involved. If Devil Summoner is SMT x Digimon, and if Persona is SMT x Tokimeki Memorial, Digital Devil Saga is SMT x Final Fantasy. Still retains every single bit of what makes a SMT title special and unique but the mechanics are what set it apart from the rest as per usual with Atlus titles that don't follow the "SMT" brand.
We play as the leader of one of the factions found in the Junkyard, Serph. He is the leader of the Embryon faction, which is basically one of many found in the Junkyard. These factions are bound to fight in a endless war which at the start of the game we don't see really the reason why. After several confortations, a revelations in the form of a human is presented to the group. This is where they awaken their demon forms and start the feel for hunger to survive. Nirvana and the human are the key to escape from that curse.
As I was saying, Digital Devil Saga takes some inspiration from Final Fantasy. The 10th numbered title to be exact, which shaped some aspects in the combat system. Most crucial of them all is the "Skill Tree" similar to the grid that can be found in Final Fantasy X. It's honestly a great concept that falls short due to characters already being specialized in one of many skill branches from the start, so there is no real rason to start and wasting macca on skills that aren't totally necessary at large. Only Serph, the main character can totally take advantage of the skill tree since his attributes aren't locked and can be changed at will after leveling up.
In case you have played Nocturne, this looks and feels very similar when it comes to presentation. At least from an outsider perspective or just at first glance. It's production value is a huge step-up from Nocturne, specially when it comes to cutscenes and...voice acting! It's really good and Atlus USA did their homework with this one. The enviroments while not many in rough quantity were really immersive and interesting.
Talking about levels, the dungeons were really fun. I don't usually have enough patience to deal with JRPG silly dungeons mechanics in general. Though I do make exceptions every now and then and DDS dungeons were simple and fun to explore. One thing does ruin it though, wich is the rate encounter. It's very high if you don't use something like Estoma Spray. And it's even harder to know when they are about to come since there is not a rough indicative bar like in Nocturne.
But I can't be that mad, the combat is solid and the Press Turn System will never not be fun. The upgrade system let's you exploit the game in ways it clearly wasn't intended to. Hell, it's possible to clear the final boss in a bunch of minutes if you are well prepared, even being several levels under from what is required or recommended at that point of the game. So, use choose the skill you need wisely and develop your team as much as possible. It's not a hard game honestly, but it gets really tough at some sections specially towards the final dungeon.
One thing I did noted is that the pace of the story is abormal and rushes the events like there is no tomorrow. I didn't found myself that interested in the story because of it, even if it handles the pacing like most JRPGs do at the end of the day. It sort of feels, out of nowhere and the ending scream sequel bait which I already fall for. Honestly more than anything feels like Part 1 of a larger series of events that will culminate on Part 2. Not a fan of that, so that is why I lowered the score. But this doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this game, far from it.
More than anything, Digital Devil Saga left me wanting for more, with more answers than questions. Which I assume will be answered in the sequel. It is a great game on it's own but I can't safely say I'm totally satisfied with the end result, it isn't even that long too about 30 hours or so. The story was just starting to get good until it totally stopped.
Digital Devil Saga is made for the classic and true to the heart RPG fans more so than the usual SMT titles with monster/demon collection involved. If Devil Summoner is SMT x Digimon, and if Persona is SMT x Tokimeki Memorial, Digital Devil Saga is SMT x Final Fantasy. Still retains every single bit of what makes a SMT title special and unique but the mechanics are what set it apart from the rest as per usual with Atlus titles that don't follow the "SMT" brand.
We play as the leader of one of the factions found in the Junkyard, Serph. He is the leader of the Embryon faction, which is basically one of many found in the Junkyard. These factions are bound to fight in a endless war which at the start of the game we don't see really the reason why. After several confortations, a revelations in the form of a human is presented to the group. This is where they awaken their demon forms and start the feel for hunger to survive. Nirvana and the human are the key to escape from that curse.
As I was saying, Digital Devil Saga takes some inspiration from Final Fantasy. The 10th numbered title to be exact, which shaped some aspects in the combat system. Most crucial of them all is the "Skill Tree" similar to the grid that can be found in Final Fantasy X. It's honestly a great concept that falls short due to characters already being specialized in one of many skill branches from the start, so there is no real rason to start and wasting macca on skills that aren't totally necessary at large. Only Serph, the main character can totally take advantage of the skill tree since his attributes aren't locked and can be changed at will after leveling up.
In case you have played Nocturne, this looks and feels very similar when it comes to presentation. At least from an outsider perspective or just at first glance. It's production value is a huge step-up from Nocturne, specially when it comes to cutscenes and...voice acting! It's really good and Atlus USA did their homework with this one. The enviroments while not many in rough quantity were really immersive and interesting.
Talking about levels, the dungeons were really fun. I don't usually have enough patience to deal with JRPG silly dungeons mechanics in general. Though I do make exceptions every now and then and DDS dungeons were simple and fun to explore. One thing does ruin it though, wich is the rate encounter. It's very high if you don't use something like Estoma Spray. And it's even harder to know when they are about to come since there is not a rough indicative bar like in Nocturne.
But I can't be that mad, the combat is solid and the Press Turn System will never not be fun. The upgrade system let's you exploit the game in ways it clearly wasn't intended to. Hell, it's possible to clear the final boss in a bunch of minutes if you are well prepared, even being several levels under from what is required or recommended at that point of the game. So, use choose the skill you need wisely and develop your team as much as possible. It's not a hard game honestly, but it gets really tough at some sections specially towards the final dungeon.
One thing I did noted is that the pace of the story is abormal and rushes the events like there is no tomorrow. I didn't found myself that interested in the story because of it, even if it handles the pacing like most JRPGs do at the end of the day. It sort of feels, out of nowhere and the ending scream sequel bait which I already fall for. Honestly more than anything feels like Part 1 of a larger series of events that will culminate on Part 2. Not a fan of that, so that is why I lowered the score. But this doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this game, far from it.
More than anything, Digital Devil Saga left me wanting for more, with more answers than questions. Which I assume will be answered in the sequel. It is a great game on it's own but I can't safely say I'm totally satisfied with the end result, it isn't even that long too about 30 hours or so. The story was just starting to get good until it totally stopped.
i killed the final boss with agi
Digital Devil Saga es una re-imaginación de las mecánicas de SMT a un JRPG mas tradicional, remplazando el sistema de reclutamiento por el sistema Mantra (luego hablare de eso) y re utilizando el press turn que tiene Nocturne.
El juego aprovecha mejor la mecánica de press turn al poder usar ciertos movimientos ya relativamente poderosos cerca del inicio del juego, sacrificando todos los turnos, lo que da una mayor recompensa al arriesgarse, logrando diferenciarse de la mayoría de spin-offs de Megaten y mejorando el gameplay de Nocturne en cierta manera.
Pero algo que no lo mejora es el sistema de Mantra, cada personaje tiene un disque árbol de habilidades con cierto nivel, lo que permite personalizar mucho a los personajes, pero de ahí viene el principal problema del juego, los juegos de Megaten en general nunca han sido diseñados para subir de nivel rápido o grindear como loco y DDS no es la excepción, para conseguir diferentes mantras y no ser la típica build de un healer, un tanque y un buffeador tienes que poner un farmeo bastante jodido para tener un equipo variado, si tienes tiempo libre para completar RPGs al 100%, si es que vas a jugar DDS te pido PORFAVOR que te lo pases con todos los jefes, te ahorras mucho farmeo y se te hace mas amena la experiencia.
Otro detalle que me molesta es el hecho de que las formas humanas de los personajes son virtualmente inútiles, ¿con lo bien hecho que estaba el combate en serio no hicieron nada con el balance de los personajes e incentivar al jugador al usarlos?, y esto es molesto, ya que cada vez que entras a una pelea, es aleatorio si un personaje entra en su forma humana o en su forma de demonio, solo me hace que inmediatamente comenzar una pelea es transformarse en demonio en tu primer turno y nada mas, lo único útil para que es la forma humana es cuando hay enemigos débiles a armas.
Fuera de esos detalles, DDS 1 es un juegazo con un OST tremendo y muy bueno para empezar con Megaten, totalmente recomendado.
El juego aprovecha mejor la mecánica de press turn al poder usar ciertos movimientos ya relativamente poderosos cerca del inicio del juego, sacrificando todos los turnos, lo que da una mayor recompensa al arriesgarse, logrando diferenciarse de la mayoría de spin-offs de Megaten y mejorando el gameplay de Nocturne en cierta manera.
Pero algo que no lo mejora es el sistema de Mantra, cada personaje tiene un disque árbol de habilidades con cierto nivel, lo que permite personalizar mucho a los personajes, pero de ahí viene el principal problema del juego, los juegos de Megaten en general nunca han sido diseñados para subir de nivel rápido o grindear como loco y DDS no es la excepción, para conseguir diferentes mantras y no ser la típica build de un healer, un tanque y un buffeador tienes que poner un farmeo bastante jodido para tener un equipo variado, si tienes tiempo libre para completar RPGs al 100%, si es que vas a jugar DDS te pido PORFAVOR que te lo pases con todos los jefes, te ahorras mucho farmeo y se te hace mas amena la experiencia.
Otro detalle que me molesta es el hecho de que las formas humanas de los personajes son virtualmente inútiles, ¿con lo bien hecho que estaba el combate en serio no hicieron nada con el balance de los personajes e incentivar al jugador al usarlos?, y esto es molesto, ya que cada vez que entras a una pelea, es aleatorio si un personaje entra en su forma humana o en su forma de demonio, solo me hace que inmediatamente comenzar una pelea es transformarse en demonio en tu primer turno y nada mas, lo único útil para que es la forma humana es cuando hay enemigos débiles a armas.
Fuera de esos detalles, DDS 1 es un juegazo con un OST tremendo y muy bueno para empezar con Megaten, totalmente recomendado.
Did anyone ever figure out why one of the mantras in the physical skill tree is just called Wikipedia?
autistic lesbian game
O jogo tem uma das melhores histórias da franquia no ps2, mas o combate é tão, mas tão injusto tem horas. Chega a ser mais injusto que o Nocturne, com inimigos que spammam hitkill e com o longo e interminavel grind que, apesar de eu gostar, chega me irritou la pro final do jogo
O jogo é bom, talvez por ser o primeiro da duologia ele tem mais problemas, mas ainda sim eu recomendo pela ótima história.
O jogo é bom, talvez por ser o primeiro da duologia ele tem mais problemas, mas ainda sim eu recomendo pela ótima história.
let's get serphy
argilla cbt needed
This review contains spoilers
2 things hold it off being a semi-perfect game:
1-The game being too easy (it has it's difficulty spikes in the middle of the game, but early and late game is ez af)
2-Ending in a cliffhanger. It's not like it matters now, i can start DDS2 in 10 minutes if i wanted to. I just HATE duology games that finish with cliffhangers, there isn't any other way to finish it tho, but i hate cliffhanger duologies.
1-The game being too easy (it has it's difficulty spikes in the middle of the game, but early and late game is ez af)
2-Ending in a cliffhanger. It's not like it matters now, i can start DDS2 in 10 minutes if i wanted to. I just HATE duology games that finish with cliffhangers, there isn't any other way to finish it tho, but i hate cliffhanger duologies.
If you enjoyed Persona and are looking for a way to get deeper into MegaTen, I can't recommend DDS1 enough.
It's got a pretty strong atmosphere, perhaps not quite as much as Nocturne, but makes up for it with vastly stronger character writing. I haven't been so interested to hear what minor NPCs have to say in a JRPG since I first played Chrono Trigger, and the main cast has a definite chemistry.
In terms of gameplay, it runs on the same excellent Press Turn system used in Nocturne, which is hard to explain but so intuitive that I'm sad that the simplified One More system originally necessitated by Persona 3's AI-controlled party members continued to be used into Persona 5 instead of it.
But I digress, the primary difference is with your party composition. Not only are you reduced down to 3 party members, but you are also not recruiting demons anymore. Instead, you buy Mantra that, when maxed out, grant you new Skills. This means that you can build every party member's moves to your preference. This tips the balance considerably into the player's favour, which may upset more experienced MegaTen fans, but allows a newer player the agency to get to grips with combat better, which is good, because the game expects you to make good use of your tools to survive.
In the same way, the lack of demon negotiations arguably removes a layer of depth to combat encounters, but it, along with a general streamlining of its story, also contributes to the game being far better paced than the vast majority of JRPGs. The high encounter rate, especially in a few areas later in the game, can serve to slow this down, and the frequent 'ambush' encounters where you'll quickly find the least tedious option is to simply flee the battle can get grating. However, by granting the player more freedom in modifying your teams, these become problems that you have the agency to solve, which is the empowering feeling that I think separates MegaTen from most other JRPG franchises in terms of appeal.
There are some notable problems with this system, however. For example, I can appreciate that allowing the player to save and easily swap between pre-prepared Skill builds could serve to make the gameplay less interesting by incentivising the player to instead attempt to cover all of their bases in a single build. However, the result on my first playthrough as I got later into the game was spending far too much time tediously swapping between builds that allowed for buffing and builds that allowed for coverage every time I suspected a boss was coming near. This was annoying, but the alternative was making every random encounter substantially more tedious by reducing my coverage, or risking going into a boss fight only to find out that without buffing and debuffing I had no chance of winning.
In the same way there's also just a lot of little annoyances, like having to reassemble your party in the menu every time a status effect made one of them flee the battle. The fact that so much late-game content looks identical is a bit disappointing, even if the atmosphere provided by those areas is arguably the best in the game.
However, I kept on playing, because when I got down to it, the combat was snappy, delighful and empowering, and the themes were genuinely meaningful and thought-provoking. Not to mention that the music is Shoji Meguro in his prime. I still get a kick out of the opening beats of the standard battle theme, even after 30+ hours of play. The vast majority of its flaws are just the inevitable limitations of its game design pushed to their most logical conclusions, and that's something very few games can say about themselves. I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing this, and I think just about anyone with a passing interest in JRPGs will too.
It's got a pretty strong atmosphere, perhaps not quite as much as Nocturne, but makes up for it with vastly stronger character writing. I haven't been so interested to hear what minor NPCs have to say in a JRPG since I first played Chrono Trigger, and the main cast has a definite chemistry.
In terms of gameplay, it runs on the same excellent Press Turn system used in Nocturne, which is hard to explain but so intuitive that I'm sad that the simplified One More system originally necessitated by Persona 3's AI-controlled party members continued to be used into Persona 5 instead of it.
But I digress, the primary difference is with your party composition. Not only are you reduced down to 3 party members, but you are also not recruiting demons anymore. Instead, you buy Mantra that, when maxed out, grant you new Skills. This means that you can build every party member's moves to your preference. This tips the balance considerably into the player's favour, which may upset more experienced MegaTen fans, but allows a newer player the agency to get to grips with combat better, which is good, because the game expects you to make good use of your tools to survive.
In the same way, the lack of demon negotiations arguably removes a layer of depth to combat encounters, but it, along with a general streamlining of its story, also contributes to the game being far better paced than the vast majority of JRPGs. The high encounter rate, especially in a few areas later in the game, can serve to slow this down, and the frequent 'ambush' encounters where you'll quickly find the least tedious option is to simply flee the battle can get grating. However, by granting the player more freedom in modifying your teams, these become problems that you have the agency to solve, which is the empowering feeling that I think separates MegaTen from most other JRPG franchises in terms of appeal.
There are some notable problems with this system, however. For example, I can appreciate that allowing the player to save and easily swap between pre-prepared Skill builds could serve to make the gameplay less interesting by incentivising the player to instead attempt to cover all of their bases in a single build. However, the result on my first playthrough as I got later into the game was spending far too much time tediously swapping between builds that allowed for buffing and builds that allowed for coverage every time I suspected a boss was coming near. This was annoying, but the alternative was making every random encounter substantially more tedious by reducing my coverage, or risking going into a boss fight only to find out that without buffing and debuffing I had no chance of winning.
In the same way there's also just a lot of little annoyances, like having to reassemble your party in the menu every time a status effect made one of them flee the battle. The fact that so much late-game content looks identical is a bit disappointing, even if the atmosphere provided by those areas is arguably the best in the game.
However, I kept on playing, because when I got down to it, the combat was snappy, delighful and empowering, and the themes were genuinely meaningful and thought-provoking. Not to mention that the music is Shoji Meguro in his prime. I still get a kick out of the opening beats of the standard battle theme, even after 30+ hours of play. The vast majority of its flaws are just the inevitable limitations of its game design pushed to their most logical conclusions, and that's something very few games can say about themselves. I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing this, and I think just about anyone with a passing interest in JRPGs will too.