Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga (2004 Video Game) User Reviews

Battle for the right to go to Nirvana!!!

[Aaron1375 · 9/10 · 13 June 2008]

This is the first of a two part game series and a rarity in the world of role playing games as the second game is a direct sequel to this one. A lot of times in role playing game sequels, the game only shares the same name and a few features or such. Or, if it is a sequel, the characters from the previous game are not in it because it is set in the future, but this one ends and the second picks up right after. Though, despite that fact and despite the fact I enjoyed the second game too, this one is still the better of them. The story is more interesting and there is more mystery to it than the second game. While the second game starts out amazingly good, it kind of tails off near the end and gets a bit too bizarre. This game was brought to us by the creators of the Shin Megami Tensei games and the look of the game and many of the same features from those games can be found here; however, there are noticeable differences as a lot of the things present in most games of the series are not here such as having to collect demons and fusing them together. Some may be disappointed by this, me not so much as I sometimes get annoyed with that aspect of the series as it can be incredibly difficult to get what you want. Here you have a team and it is constant throughout and you have the ability to make them stronger to nearly impossible to defeat by using a very awesome skill tree that is in the second, but much more difficult to use as it is different.

The story has a group of emotionless soldiers battling on a field. A strange object lies on the battlefield, and this strange object is going to change the entire realm this people dwell in. A place called the Junkyard, where it rains constantly. In this world, groups are separated by tribes and all the tribes are battling for control of the Junkyard so that they may enter Nirvana through a tower that is at the center of this world. The object changes things drastically as it gives all those who reside in the Junkyard the ability to morph into demons and it also begins to introduce emotions. The leader of the party you control is summoned and learns that a girl found on the battlefield must be found, the tribes all beaten and the winners of the free for all will make it to Nirvana. However, it is not such a simple matter as the group of heroes must battle various tribes for control, the hunger of their new demon forms and even each other to make it through this ordeal!

The game play is standard for the must part as you battle and level up and gain strength. They let you customize Serph, the main character, but the others are done automatically. However, you do get to power them up as well using a skill tree that if you take your time and fill it up will make your party almost invulnerable to any attack. The game is great, but also has its faults as the whole tower at the end really takes way too much time to get up as they just make leveling that skill tree to the max a very long process. Some of the dungeons puzzles are kind of annoying too, and though the game overall is not as good as this one, the second one thankfully relies less on very confusing layouts and such being much more straightforward. More boss type creatures in the final area of that one too as here the last tower is kind of devoid of difficult fights save for a really annoying snake monster and the devious Angel! Though for my money that Bat was the most annoying enemy of the game!

So all in all a very good game and though the second is a direct sequel I can honestly say this one is the better of the two for me. The Junkyard is a very strange place and fun to explore. I also think the music here is better than in the second game as the music cue after Serph and Sera touch only to get pulled away is incredible. I just find it a shame that the creators of this wonder two games have not made anything else quite like them since the days of the PS2. Sure, they made the even more amazing Persona 3 and 4, but those were PS2 era as well. About the only games they have done since have been for the portable systems, which I like hand-held games okay, but I prefer playing on my television. Just glad I can revisit the Junkyard anytime and be rewarded with an incredible game and story.

Insteresting ambience and setting

[tjofcarolina · 9/10 · 1 March 2021]

Beat this one the other day. I like how original the premise is compared to other JRPGs. The main strong points here are the story, the skill system, and the music. I won't explain the story too much because it's something to be experienced but it involves the soldier main characters awakening to their emotions, whilst having to cope with violence and cannibalism being a necessity for survival even though they (Or maybe just Argilla) would prefer to be pacifist. There's this consistent somber, bittersweet tone throughout every part of the game which I absolutely love. The setting of the Junkyard is interesting. The endlessly warring tribes of the Junkyard obey the rules and doctrine of the karma temple, a neutral party that governs all, which they do not question at all until gaining their Atma. The tribes fight to try and conquer one another for eternity. There are some interesting plot twists that recontextualize everything, can't reveal them but they're intriguing. Much of the plot of this game is foreshadowing, and not much is actually revealed in the first game. I went into this game having bought both at the same time, knowing each game is basically 1 half of the same game, at least story-wise. The voice acting is excellent, especially for an English dub of a JRPG from 2005 (Final Fantasy X, one of the first major JRPGs with voice acting, released in 2003 2 years earlier) All of the actors have a lot of energy in their line delivery and deliver just the emotion needed. A standout is Angel who has a bombastic menacing voice.

The skill system is enthralling, it gives basically every party member unlimited customization and potential. How it works is you can buy a skill from the grid for money, once you do you have to battle and eat enemies to unlock the skill for use. Once you get a skill you have it forever without having to delete skills on any of your party members. (Unlike nocturne or basically any other JRPG) You can give any party member any skill with grinding and by the end, each party member will have rosters of 70ish skills. You still can only use a certain amount of skills in battle but you can switch out skills in the pause menu in between battles whenever. This system actually makes grinding fun and engaging. I often found myself going after a boss on a "test run" to see what skills were necessary and would switch out skills on my next go to the ones needed.

Digital Devil Saga's bosses often shake up the formula with unique behavior patterns and gimmicks. To give some examples, a boss that's invisible, a boss that eats the other enemies to grow larger unless you kill the others quickly, and a boss that mimics what you do.

The music is some of Shoji Meguro's best work, really atmospheric guitar tracks. Even though I love the "Hunting" random encounter track even I got tired of it after a while of hearing it endlessly. Each dungeon has an ambient track that lends each area some personality. Samsara Tunnels is a relaxing bop and "Man's Tomb" which plays for an early tomb dungeon feels appropriately claustrophobic, like you're trapped in here. It becomes even better once you begin to feel stuck in that crappy dungeon. The game has a lot of headbangers. I was gonna list my favorite tracks but stopped because I was basically listing off the full OST so I'll just give the 3 best. "Danger" by Etro Anime was added in the English version as the opening and it's perfect for the tone of digital devil saga. The Smooth female vocals are nice and the lyrics are thematically relevant despite not being made for the game. The first phase final boss theme is beautiful bittersweet and catchy at the same time. "Surely Once Again..." is a minute-long track that plays at the tail end of the game before the end and it's just so effective when that guitar kicks in, sending off the game very well. I had a sudden emotional gut punch when that guitar started up. I don't know how to describe it but it sounds triumphant and sad simultaneously. The character designs are all memorable, I like Serph's and Argilla's more the more I look at it. The demon form designs of the main cast all look awesome and none of them are forgettable, especially Varna. I'm a fan of Kaneko's art style which makes the characters look like renaissance paintings.

The dungeons have a lot of samey corridors but I did not mind this because to me the dungeons were vehicles to get to the battles. This was fine enough for me as someone who loves turn-based strategic combat. The best dungeon in the game is the penultimate one which has a lot of demon miniboss battles with interesting gimmicks (For example, a boss that only uses attacks you used against it first). The worst dungeon is the final dungeon. User reviews I'm reading of this game mention it having frustrating AI behavior patterns with enemies but I did not see this problem at all until the final dungeon which is a nightmare. Every enemy in the final has some cheap abilities which can cause instant death. The puzzles in the final area are also frustrating. My lowest point with the game was when I tried to look up a step by step walkthrough of a difficult precise step by step puzzle near the end of the dungeon to mimic, only to discover the one lets player I found had no idea what he was doing and was walking around in circles for 40 minutes. I rage quit for a couple of days. As I was approaching the end I wondered was this game even good? Did I waste 75 hours? It was a feeling like I'd been tricked or something for falling in love with it only to be kicked in the balls repeatedly. After getting my ass whupped by the final boss I decided to pursue the bonus bosses to level more and they reminded me what I loved about this game. They are each unique with some awesome difficulty and story context. The difficulty for the bonus bosses are just difficult enough to be challenging without being so hard as to be frustrating. They're often hyped up as super hard but I managed to beat each of them after 4-5 tries (No that isn't a humble brag that's an honest opinion, bragging about vidya skill is mostly dumb) I beat every bonus boss except Huang Long which is when I was like, forget it, I can take the final boss now. Metatron in particular with his steel automaton design was just really cool.

My only major complaint with this game (besides the final dungeon and pitfalls being semi prevalent) is the obscenely high random encounter rate which seems to be everyone's complaint with this game. I eventually got used to it and starting behaving with the encounter rate in mind but it was a frustrating first couple hours.