Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga - PlayStation 2

Great game

Another MegaTen classic. This one is a two part series.Although the demon negotiations are missed, I feel that the Mantra system offers a healthy amount of skill sets that can optimize your party to it's full potential. Par for the course, we have high encounter rates and insta-death spells. Towns are safe though? That's alright, since there's enough danger out in the fields for me to be content. The Press-Turn system is here with all it's glory. The Pass and Auto-Rush functions are reserved.The music. It's more relaxing/chaotic vibes that Shoji Meguro absolutely nails. It always feels like I'm listening to an obscure and underappreciated band in some dive bar for the first time, wondering how they haven't been discovered yet. Shout out to "Muladhara" and "Manipura" for putting me to sleep on the couch in the afternoon. The battle themes do the exact opposite, keeping me on the edge of my seat every time.This is a must have, if you're a Shin Megami Tensei fan. This includes Persona fans as well, as it seems to fit comfortably between SMT 1-3 and the Persona series. Even if you've mostly played Final Fantasy games, there's a gem of a turn-based system waiting to be played by you.

What a spectacular game made for the PS2! I only stumbled across this game when looking for other Shin Megami Tensei games, and I must say that this game is the definition of a great RPG. The storyline is genius whilst also making all protagonists, major to the main game storyline which really adds in more towards the plot as the game progresses. The soundtrack in the game couldn't have been more spot on, it is more of a relaxing part when you aren't in a battle, but when that battle starts, the game isn't joking around with the soundtrack using different tracks for times in the game where you may be ambushed or if you assume your battle against your own foes. The game play for Digital Devil Saga is quite similar to other Shin Megami Tensei games in that it uses turn icons for your every move in battle, missing an enemy or failing to attack will make you lose two turns, but if you exploit an enemy's weakness you will earn one extra turn, and the same goes for your enemies that stand in your way. The graphics of the game are really good for PS2 standards and they make the game have an interesting atmosphere towards the main world of the game. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the Shin Megami Tensei series and to play this great game.

Honestly, it's perfect.DDS is a classic turn based JRPG with a few twists. You level, you learn new skills, you crawl dungeons and fight monsters, but every aspect of it is done absolutely flawlessly. The story is great, dark, tragic, and in places even uplifting. All the characters are well differentiated and the style of the game is only matched by some of the other masterpieces of the Shin Megami Tensei series. The combat is satisfying and rewards you for fighting intelligently. Just mashing Auto-fight will not get you far in this game.As someone who adores the classic JRPG formula, I can not sing enough praises of this game or it's sequel.The only complaint is some of the bosses are trial and error. If you go into battle with inappropriate party member or missing certain skills, they can grind you into dust which may force you to reload and do a bit of skill grinding to get what you need. I only had this happen twice where I got mashed into the ground and had to reload, 1 boss fight near the end, and then against the final boss.If you're a fan of the genre, get this game, it is one of the best that's ever been made.

Digital Devil Saga. Such a unique name, right? Well that's perfect because SMT: DDS is a very unique jRPG experience. Before I start reviewing the game, let me just tell you that I'm a fan of many different jRPG series. I enjoy Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Shin Megami Tensei (namely Persona 3 and 4!), Tales of, etc etc. If you're a fan of the more popular jRPG series like Final Fantasy or Kingdom hearts, know that this game might not be for you. Though the characters of DDS may have colorful hair and eyes, that's about the only thing colorful about the game. SMT games are known for being a lot darker and more mature than most jRPGs and DDS is no exception. The game's world is very gray and feels desolate and lonely (that's not a bad thing-- that's just the mood the game is going for), characters must literally eat each other to survive, and random battles in this game can send you to the game over screen faster than you can say "Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga." That being said, DDS is a game all jRPG fans should try and check out.--Story--I'm starting with story because the only reason why I play jRPGs is because I LOOVEE stories. I don't care how fun the gameplay is, I'm a story kind of guy. For those of you who are wondering, this game took me 19-20 hours to complete. All I did was focus on the story and ignored optional bosses, so yeah.Anyways, DDS is set in a world called the Junkyard. The name Junkyard fits the world very well because, like I said earlier, it feels really desolate and gloomy. In the Junkyard there are different "tribes," which are basically villages/towns. Each tribe has a tribe leader, and the ultimate goal of the tribes is to have their tribe defeat all of the others. When a tribe leader is defeated by another tribe leader, the defeated leader's tribe members basically have to now follow the victorious leader. When a tribe successfully defeats all of the other tribes, it is said that the tribe will get to enter Nirvana, which seems to be like a sort of heaven or paradise.One day a giant flash of light flashes throughout the Junkyard and the rays of light seem to penetrate every person in the Junkyard. The people then find out that after defeating their opponents, they have the urge to literally turn into demons/monsters and devour them. To make things even more confusing for the residents of the Junkyard, a random girl with black hair and no memory named Serah appears at the sight of the flash.I'll be honest-- DDS's story has some flaws. First of all, the story moves WAAAY too slow in the beginning. It was really hard for me to get into the game because of this. There were a lot of times where I'd get uninterested in the game and not play it for weeks at a time. In fact, I had to force myself to beat this game because I hate leaving games unfinished. Another thing that bugged me about the story is that the characters are underdeveloped. Keep in mind that there is a part 2 to DDS, and the game was designed with this in mind. To understand and experience the story, you have to complete both games. I haven't played part 2 but I'm hoping that the characters will get more development in that game. Another thing that bugged me about the characters is that they feel so... forced at some times. I really don't know how to explain it so I'll try and give you a scenario. One of the characters in this game seems to have a crush on Serah after knowing her for like 5 minutes... literally. Suddenly he wants to protect her and kiss her and hug her when they've barely interacted at all! It's like the guy suddenly had a Squall-for-Rinoa-type-love the second Serah was introduced... The forced character reactions don't end there though. Someone dies (this isn't a spoiler lol, a lot of people die in this game) and suddenly one of the party members is crying and angry over the said person's death as if the two were even close. Maybe they were, but they definitely didn't interact on screen before the death. It's like the game is trying to make you feel sad at the death of a character that you JUST met. The character will go through the rest of the game saying "You killed _____! How could you!" or "This is for _____!" or "We can't let _______'s death be in vain!" Since when did this character care for _____ so much? Their relationship felt so rushed, forced, and out of nowhere. Another problem with the characters is that two of the party members seem completely useless to the story... They seem to be included in the cast just for the sake of having a 5-man party and having someone else say a couple of line a few times. It's not that these characters were unlikable or bad, they just didn't seem too important to the plot.Like I said earlier, I had to force myself to finish this game. I didn't think the story would be good enough for me to buy part 2 but I was WRONG. Towards the end of the game the story really picks up. The story gets waaay better when the characters finally start getting a little bit of true development. They start asking themselves questions like "Why is it that I know that this animal is a cat when this is the first cat I've seen?" or "Why are there no children in the Junkyard? In fact, why do I know what a child is when I have never seen one before?" or "Why do I feel sad? I do not know what 'sad,' means, but I know that is what I'm feeling." As soon as the characters started questioning the things around them, the story and characters themselves got a lot more interesting. The beginning of the story is really just "Invade Tribe X's base and defeat Tribe X's leader. Repeat for tribes Y and Z." It isn't until the characters start asking themselves why they must defeat the other tribes and devour them until the meat of the story shines through. After that, I always wanted to know what happened next. Sadly, right when things get REALLY good the game ends on a huge cliffhanger. That's to be expected though, as this is a 2 part game. However, as I watched the ending credits and clips I started to realize that I actually DID care about the characters and I actually DID want to know what would happen to them in the next game. The story can be painfully slow in the beginning, but if you stick with it you will be rewarded.--Gameplay--Believe it or not, gameplay isn't as important as story to me when it comes to jRPGs. So I'm not going to be extremely critical in this section.If you've played Persona 3 or 4, then DDS's battle system will be somewhat familiar to you. Since you have 3 party members, you have three turns in battle, each represented by a little icon in the upper right corner of the screen. Using a spell or attacking with a character will use up 1 of those 3 icons. However, if you exploit an enemy's weakness, the icon will glow instead of going away. The same thing happens if you select 'Pass' and decide to pass a turn to the next party member. If you hit an enemy's weakness on every turn with your party, then you can end up having 6 turns instead of 3. However, if you use an elemental spell that the enemy is immune to or resists, you could end up losing all of your turn icons right then and there. I know this battle system sounds confusing, but it really isn't. It makes a lot more sense and is a lot easier in game.Speaking of battles, let me just say that this game is probably the hardest jRPGs I've ever played. It's not omgwtfbbq hard but it definitely isn't as easy as a Final Fantasy game. There's no Easy mode either. There is only one difficulty setting so, yeah... You can die a lot in this game when you least expect it. Here's a fun scenario for you: let's say you've been exploring a dungeon for the past 40 minutes. You're literally 2 steps away from a save point but then you get into a battle. (Oh yeah, this game has random encounters and A LOT of them. I mean seriously, this game has the most random encounters I've ever experienced in a game. Later on in the game you can buy an item that "reduces" the encounters. The sad thing is that it only "reduces" them and doesn't make them go away completely. And to make things worse this item lasts for such a small amount of time). Anyways, you get into the battle and the enemy's side gets to attack first because... well because they CAN. It may seem unfair but there are a lot of times where the enemy's side gets to attack first. "No big deal" you think to yourself. "I've beaten tons of these guys before so this time won't be any different." Well what do you know, the first enemy decides to use a multi-target instant kill skill and knocks out one of your three party members. The next enemy decides to use a multi-target ice spell. What do you know? One of your party member's is weak to ice. Since the enemy exploited your weakness, it gets a free turn! It uses the same ice skill again and knocks out your second party member. The next enemy decides to use a skill that turns you to stone. The next enemy uses a physical attack on you and instantly kills you because you're currently a stone. Game over for you. Those past 40 mintues mean nothing now because you got game over-d. Time to start all over again! And you were only two steps away from a save point, too...I know the above scenario sounds so situational and unlikely-- but it isn't. Something like that will happen to you numerous times in this game. I guarantee it.--Music and Sound--I wasn't a huge fan of the game's music. Not because the music was boring, because it wasn't my taste in music. I'm not an expert and naming music genres, so I won't try and name this game's style of music. I will say however, that this game's music is perfect for this game's mood, tone, and atmosphere. I did really like the game's opening song though. It does a great job at showcasing the game. The ending credit song is perfect and beautiful as well.As far as voice acting goes, the voice acting was all right. Not great and not horrible. That's all I can really say.--Graphics--This game's graphics are good for a PS2 title. Everything is really smooth with the cel-shaded graphics. Also, the cutscenes were done really well. The characters moved so fluidly and there was never any jaggedness or blocky problems going on during the cutscenes.--OVERALL--Digital Devil Saga is a very sold jRPG with a very unique story and feel to it. It really does set itself apart from other jRPGs out there and I would definitely recommend it to any jRPG fan out there who wants to try out a game that doesn't have so many anime cliches or happy-go-lucky characters. I give this game an 8/10.