Shin Megami Tensai's: Digital Devil Saga

Shin Megami Tensai's: Digital Devil Saga

Pros

- Amazing Storyline.
- Great Character Development.
- Finishes leaving you confused but excited about the characters.
- Fast paced and fitting music.
- Great voice acting.

Cons

- Too many random battles.
- Avoid battles item does not really work.
- Battle system could use a touch up.
- Have to spend too much time leveling up and devouring people.
- Random Battles




At this moment, you may be thinking, what makes Digital Devil Saga so great? It’s just another RPG made by Shin Megami Tensai, so what, I’ve played Nocturne. Well as great of a game as Nocturne may be, you definitely do not want to miss out on DDS, maybe not just for the gameplay, as it is similar to Nocturne, but rather for the unique storyline. DDS has many good elements such as fast paced action in battles, and many skills you can learn. In fact, I doubt you will be able to learn all the skills, even with all of the characters skills you learned combined. But nothing makes a better story than people being forced to devour each other to survive, the story is what makes DDS truly shine.

DDS features five different main characters which are all playable. These characters consist of Serph, Heat, Argilla, Gale, and Cielo. Serph is the silent main character and leader of the Embryon, which is the tribe that they all belong to. Although it is credited that he is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, he does not actually have any lines in the game. You make the choices for him through dialogue, which could affect the outcome of the second game. Heat is the hot-headed temperamental member of the group, though he feels Serph is a good leader and respects him, he feels that he is truly superior, and will take the place of Serph if anything should happen to him. Heat is voiced by Crispin Freeman. Argilla is the only woman of the group, and she wants to find a cure for what they’ve become the most. Although a worthwhile ally, she lets her affections get the most of her at times. Argilla is voiced by Amanda Winn Lee. Gale is the strategist and thinks about the consequences of his actions. Without him, none of their plans would work. He also has very little personality and takes everything everybody says literally. He also does not acknowledge words like dignity and honor, he will simply respond with, “I do not comprehend”. Gale is voiced by Steve Blum. Lastly, Cielo is the comic relief of the group. Though he isn’t very smart, he proves to be a valuable ally in battle with his agility and speed. Cielo is voiced by Dave Wittenberg.

The game starts off in a place called the Junkyard where different tribes are constantly fighting and killing each other, these tribes include the Embryon, the Vanguards, the Wolves, the Brutes, the Maribels, and the Solids. While on the battlefield, they are all struck by a weird white light that transforms them all into monsters and they all start to devour each other. Although at that moment they don’t seem to be able to control what is happening to them, they can transform back into humans at will. When they finally do transform back, the Embryon stumbles upon a weird looking girl who is passed out. She is obviously not from their world, but Heat insists that they take her in and help her because he says she seems familiar. They then bring her back to their hideout and question where she came from and who she is. She is not awake to answer any questions so Heat decides to go ask one of the other tribes about the girl, The Vanguards. On this mission, Argilla starts to feel extremely weak because she refuses to eat people, whereas Heat seems to enjoy it. As they come back from this mission, it seems that Gale is hungry and cannot control his power, so he attacks Cielo. Luckily, it seems that girl has awakened now and sings a song to help Gale control his hunger. None of them are aware of what a song is, they don’t seem to understand what anything is at this point. The girl’s name is Sera and she only knows that she is there to help everyone, she does not know anything else. Sera is voiced by Wendee Lee. Their goal is to reach Nirvana so they can find a place where they do not have to fight and kill so they can find a cure and Sera can live there in peace. As the game progresses, you will gain comrades, lose comrades, and learn more and more about these characters through trust and betrayal.

The battle system in this game is what you would expect of a typical RPG. You attack, you wait for the enemies to attack, and repeat. When you are in battle, you are usually in your transformed state and all characters have their strengths and weaknesses in attributes and elements. However, randomly when you run into a battle, the characters will not have time to transform and you will either have to waste a turn transforming the characters or you fight the enemies off with your guns as humans. Fighting in human form is obviously not as strong as demon form but if one of your characters is human while the other is demon, you will be able to attack with different combo moves such as Freeze Shot where the human goes to shoot as normal, but this time, the demon freezes the shot so it will explode on impact. These can be very affective for bosses so make sure you try out all the different possibilities. To obtain more elements like Fire or Ice you must visit a mantra shop which are available at all save points where you can buy different elements, and physical attacks as well. However, at the beginning, you should buy the first physical attack mantra, that being Devour so you can level up each mantra faster. Every time you devour an enemy, your mantra levels up that much faster. Argilla should start off by using heal mantras as she refuses to devour anyone at first. The more mantras you get, the more combo attacks you obtain as you battle your way through the game. There are many mantras to obtain and upgrade, so take your pick and I doubt you will even get them all before the end of the game. Though Gale and Cielo are not with you for a big chunk of the game, I’d recommend placing them in your party every so often as they do not gain experience when they are not in your party, unless you buy the Karma mantra if you are able to afford it. The only reason one would do any backtracking in this game is to defeat the secret bosses hidden throughout the game so you may obtain secret items in the second one. The only thing I don’t like about this game is that there are way too many random battles. I can recall so many times not even taking a full step, and yet, I run into three random battles, one right after the other. Near the end of the game, you are able to purchase an item for less random battles, but in reality, all it does is eliminate all the weaker enemies that you would run into, and puts you against just the stronger enemies in the level. Also, even with all these random battles, I am always still seriously underleveled and need to take time to level up. Even if you are at a decent level, one mistake in a boss battle could cost you the whole match and you will be forced to start over again. Shin Megami Fans should be getting used to this sort of thing.

The music in this game is outstanding, especially the battle theme. The battle theme could quite possibly be the most important part of the battle, if the music is not interesting, no matter the system, you will feel quite bored and will not feel like progressing. This game succeeds in making an amazing battle theme that makes you want to keep progressing until the end of the battle. The music in all the levels is also quite good, although it gets overshadowed with the battle music, seeing as there are random battles every five seconds. The Japanese version has a song called Pray which is quite amusing to listen to, but they never released an English translated track for it. Sera is the one who sings it (the Japanese voice actor) and Wendee Lee sometimes sings parts of it translated throughout the game, but she never sung the whole thing. It’s a shame, but I figure it’s because Wendee Lee can’t sing a full song, she can only sing portions of it. Overall, the music in this game will astound you.

Shin Megami Tensai fans, or even fans that are into dark and creepy storylines will not want to miss out on this game. This game is rare and hard to find now, but if you do so happen to come across it, or find it online, I suggest you pick yourself up a copy and start playing today. It has a unique story with lots of twists and people devouring each other, it doesn’t get much better than that. The story in this game is worth every penny alone, and I suggest you do what I did and make yourself a homemade video with all the cutscenes of this great game.

just so you guys know, i'm planning to do a DDS2 review once I beat it/record it. Btw, Heat is the best character by far in it.

And those videos are mine and I did make them, even the one that has small clips from many scenes in the game with the background music. Also, the background music in that one is the Battle Music in the game which is awesome.

Sorry bout the first vid being so small, I had to rip it and compress it about a thousand times so i didn't know what i was gonna end up with.

Awesome review! Loved the extra work you put into it, and the tid bits on voice actors are always a nice addition to your reviews (no wonder u love this game, 'cause it has one BAD ASS OVERLORD in it *cough* freeman *cough*

But besides the point, you showed me this game a couple times and the story is really dark and deep. It's a really interesting concept, and forcing someone to overcome their human instincts into this primal cannibal is really a sweet concept. I can't judge rightfully since I've never really played the game, but the story does kick ass from what little I know. Definitely worth at least checking out!

PLUS bonus points for the kick ass video you recorded and attached! Awesome as hell!

lol, he is the most badass overlord. Which reminds me, i should review makai kingdom, that game was great and funny as hell.

Also, I can recognize so many english voice actors when I hear them now, ever since i started watching a lot of animes dubbed. That's why i add them in. And to have Spike Spiegel and Zetta's voice actors in one game is awesome.

Very nice review. The videos were definitely a nice touch as well.
Depending on the price I may have to check to game out

Well, I will agree. This game was good. Not amazing, but good. I really enjoyed the battle system and cut scene's Nice review, I wish I had the equipment to do video's and stuff

i agree it wasn't amazing, the story i think was the amazing part, not the game in general. I've been looking for a dark game like that with a lot of voice acting and a dark and creepy scenery.