Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 2

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1. 12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

   
   One of the best RPG stories ever told. A TRUE saga, October 10, 2005

   By 

   C. Taylor “Silden” (Indiana, USA) –
   
     

   = Fun: 

   This review is from: Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 2 (Video Game)

   The Junkyard, a neverending war with only the promise of Nirvana to keep the warriors fighting. Everything changes when a mysterious girl appears and the “true” form of the residents of the Junkyard takes hold.

   This is how the saga begins in Digital Devil Saga, and it ends on a steep cliffhanger. Digital Devil Saga 2 is the continuation of that story, or in some ways could be considered the real story. This is where things get gritty and real. Questions are answered, but at a price, and by the end of it all you feel like you just got off an intense rollercoaster. I have never played an RPG with as incredible and deep a story as this series.

   Regarding the story, if you have not played DDS, please do not cheat yourself of the entire picture. Although there are minor recaps, they do nothing to give justice or true understanding to what happened in the first game and so much of the second game relies on some prior knowledge that although you’ll be able to play through and win without any problems, I am not sure you will get the whole message of what the series tries to bring across.

   On to the technical, first off, Graphics. If you’ve played DDS then you know how the graphics in DDS 2 are. Wonderfully done cell shading and great mood inducing dungeons. Everything is brighter and more colorful in DDS 2 than it was in DDS which makes some of the dungeons in DDS 2 even creepier. Atlus did a great job in creating the several of the dungeons, especially the final dungeon which is enormous. There are the occasional “jaggies” depending on what kind of system you are playing on, but then again this isnt designed for Hi-Def, that generation is just around the corner.

   Next up, Sound. The music in this game is outstanding. Easily on par with SMT: Nocturne, and in many cases outclassing DDS. The Underground City music is a great hip-hop/symphonic mix piece that really brings out the feeling of hopelessness that the residents of this world feel. The battle music is great, with some of the pieces being remix tracks from DDS. One thing of note about the music is that it made a turn to being more Techno in this version, while in DDS its more Rock based. The sound effects are also very well done and bring you into the game and atmosphere extremely well. Some effects, however, such as Serph/Varna’s blades coming out do not sound as crisp and clear as they did in DDS, but this is very minor and does nothing to hinder enjoyment of the game.

   Now to Gameplay. It plays like DDS did, except for a few additions. First being the new Mantra Grid system. This system is leaps and bounds above the Mantra system in DDS. DDS required that you learn one set of spells before being able to move on to the next, higher level, set of spells. So if you were learning Zan, the low level-single enemy wind spell, you could not learn Zanma, the mid level-single enemy wind spell, until you learned Mazan, the low level-all enemy wind spell. Still with me? Excellent! Now, with the new Mantra Grid system, it is fully possible to learn Zanma without EVER learning Zan or Mazan. When you learn a mantra on the grid, every mantra adjacent to the one just learned becomes “active” and learnable from that point. Learning a high level spell mantra could easily open up the ability to learn a high level physical attack mantra or vice versa. This is where the system fully seperates itself from being compared to the Final Fantasy X Sphere Grid, which the DDS system was accurately compared to.

   Some other additions to the gameplay are the introduction of “Karma Rings” which can give the character some interesting abilities. One increases defense while in human form, while another will dual cast Tarukaja/Rakunda (Strength +/Defense -) on the character wearing it. There are also special rings that can only be available if you have defeated certain bosses in DDS and transferred you save data over. Also by transferring your save data you can receive status point boosts at the beginning of the game. These boosts come in very handy and make the beginning of the game much easier so you can focus more on the story.

   Speaking of which, did I mention the story is incredible? In all my years of playing RPGs, this one is by far on the top list. My own personal feeling is that it is imperative to play DDS before DDS 2 because they link up in so many ways, and you really gain a sense of caring for the characters out of DDS, which will serve to amplify the story that DDS 2 has to share. On its own, however, DDS 2′s story is more than a match to other RPGs. Its an intense ride, and well worth the time for any RPG player to experience.

   DDS and DDS 2 is easily two of 2005′s best and I would expect to see them on all those video game award shows, and quite possibly winning a few awards. If you have not heard of Shin Megami Tensei yet, then this is a…

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2. 10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

   
   Good, but it is part 2 of a two-parter., April 11, 2007

   By 

   A. Griffiths “Adrian” (London) –
   
     

   = Fun: 

   This review is from: Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 2 (Video Game)

   So, I finally finished the second Digital Devil Saga game. The question may be, should you play the first game before this one? My answer is YES, as they are part of one story and playing them in the wrong order would make nonsense of the plot. Playing the second one alone would also drastically dilute the experience, as there are many references to the events of the first one. So this game is really not for anyone but players of Digital Devil Saga 1.

   Ok, with that out of the way, I guess my advice would be to treat DDS1 and DDS2 as a two-disc single game – and buy them both. I think it’s a bit of a shame that they did not release both games as a double pack, at least for a limited edition…maybe they will in the future. So for players of the first game, the story continues here. The five main characters have reached “Nirvana” and found that they are no better off than where they first started. So now they want answers, and the story concerns the revelations behind what the Junkyard actually was and where your team has now ended up. As plot twists go, it’s actually been done before (I can’t tell you which games it resembles to avoid spoilers!), but the resolution of the story is very mature and some scenes are extremely sad.

   I won’t go into any more detail about gameplay as it’s all the same as DDS1 – turn based RPG action with the “press turns” system still as great as ever. You’d have to really like the Shin Megami game world by now though, as this is the third (I’m including Nocturne/Lucifer’s Call, here) game for the PS2 so far to use many of the same monsters and battle skills all over again. By now I was starting to feel the repetition slightly, and when some of the monsters re-appeared, my mind went back to Lucifer’s Call where I was able to employ them as team members, and I remembered how good that was. But DDS2 is still great fun to play, and at least they have brought in two brand new playable characters. Another different aspect is the way you access the Mantras (skills). You still have to buy them but the grid is now a big honeycomb rather than lots of single paths, so characters can cross more freely into each other’s areas. The best skills are still waa-aay out of reach until you’ve done an incredible amount of levelling up, or are playing a second time through, whioch is a bit frustrating. And some of the top level skills only appear after fighting optional bosses, but I guess that’s fair.

   While on the subject of options, you will be doing yourself another big favour by playing DDS1 first and KEEPING THE SAVE DATA! This game can read your memory card for a DDS1 file and a clear game save will allow several handy bonuses. Some of these are money based, but others allow you acces to some extremely useful Karma Rings, which act as equippable shield/support items in this game. If you defeated the optional bosses Metatron and Beelzebub in DDS1, you’ll get free rings that shield you from the two most annoying status attacks, Death and Expel. There are other rings too, none of which can be found or bought in DDS2 otherwise, and are extremely useful in fighting some tricky boss fights. Of course defeating those bosses in DDS1 was no mean feat, so if you managed to do so, you’ve earned these valuable accessories. Another bonus is that in the final dungeon, three of your characters may (depending on some simple choices in DDS1) each get a new super-strong skill for free, but these are so expensive to cast that I tried them out one or twice each just to see them and then never touched them again.

   What I found lacking was no decent side quests or mini games. The “Space Invaders” style game was horrible and the Hee-Ho quiz was interminable, I never got anywhere near answering them all as Jack Frost appeared so rarely. There are some optional bosses, but not many, and they seem stuck on as an afterthought. They are, however suitably difficult, and only the dedicated player will defeat them, and doing so without the aid of a guide is almost impossible! Again, the game ends with a frustrating maze-like level of winding passages and warp-points, but luckily it’s not as bad as the final area in the first game.

   What’s still good is the depth of the characterization. All the major cast members have real personalities, and there are several heavily dramatic scenes along the way which are very well depicted and voiced. As I mentioned earlier, this is a gloomy story with little feel-good atmosphere, but it certainly feels well written. And the graphics and design are still the same cool style. So, when added together with DDS1, it makes for a sizeable epic, but alone, both games fall short of the length I would expect for a single RPG game….still, its a great experience to play both, and now that both are available, interested gamers could embark on a marathon single venture, although the dropping of all stats back to starting levels halfway through (at…

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3. 22 of 28 people found the following review helpful

   
   A Great Sequel, October 10, 2005

   By 

   Andrew Hamada (Seattle, WA) –
   
     

   = Fun: 

   This review is from: Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 2 (Video Game)

   Please Note: This review is intended for those who have played the first Digital Devil Saga.

   In almost every aspect, Digital Devil Saga II (DDS2) accomplishes the goal of sequels. While DDS1 was certainly an interesting game, it was much too easy (especially for a Shin Megami Tensei game!) and many players felt that although it was a good game, improvements could be made.

   DDS2 makes many of these improvements:

   1) Music – Some of the music from DDS1 was just ear grinding crap. The pseudo-80′s, pseudo-metal guitar riffs got real old, real fast and seemed maddeningly inappropriate for the game. The battle music in particular was aggravatingly irritating. DDS2 makes a dramatic improvement in this regard: the soundtrack is not only bearable, but actually enjoyable to listen to. The soundtrack that shipped with this game may actually see some use, unlike DDS1′s sound track, which I used as a coaster, and then as a frisbee.

   2) Character Progression – progression is much more engaging and customizable this time around. The mantra system is no longer rigidly linear: DDS2 adopts a grid layout for abilities that allows you to customize your character ability sets much more easily. It’s also much easier to see your character’s progression this way. New, useful mantras have been added to the game. Additionally, characters have more equipment than just bullets this time around: each character can now equip a ring. Rings give varied bonuses, ranging from stats (+3 magic, +1 vitality, or whatever) to other interesting abilities (autocast kaja abilities, transform/revert doesn’t take up a turn panel). FURTHER: rings can be customized by installing gems (think Diablo 2). Suddenly, items in this game became interesting.

   3) Balancing – Agility and Luck actually have a significant impact on your characters now, forcing you to reconsider dumping all your stat points into one place. Solar noise influences something other than the sale price of cells (berserk mode = very cool).

   4) Combat – Enemies received a HUGE AI boost. Your opponents will actually target your weaknesses in addition to actively protecting their own. They will heal when they’re hurt, and won’t waste time healing when they aren’t. If you beat DDS1, you can select your difficulty level, providing an opportunity for skilled gamers to be challenged.

   5) Plot – Unlike the first game, I actually feel like I begin to understand more of what’s going on as the game progresses. Granted, the events of the first game had to happen, but the pacing of the story in DDS2 is far superior.

   There are still, of course, some downsides:

   1) Level Design – still plain, still linear, still mostly a bunch of hallways. They do, at least, continue throwing in random interesting puzzles.

   2) Voice Acting – still terrible. Distractingly terrible.

   The bottom line is: if you liked the first game, you’ll definitely appreciate the second.

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