Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
Posted April 15, 2005
Certain primitive tribes have long held the belief that consuming their enemies will grant them their power. The modern observer might consider it bizarre and more than a little disturbing. Not surprisingly, that was also my initial reaction to Atlus’s new role-playing game, Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga, a game centered around the idea of feasting on your fallen foes.
The story is set in the Junkyard, a gray world where six tribes known as the "Children of Purgatory" battle each other for the right to enter Nirvana. The war has been a stalemate for, well, forever, until a mysterious black-haired girl hatches from a giant egg. During the hatching, everyone undergoes a handful of fundamental changes, the first of which is the ability to transform into powerful, nightmarish demons with an insatiable hunger for flesh. At the same time, something known as "Angel" has taken control of the tribes and demands slaughter — and the black-haired girl, Sera.
Gameplay:
You play as Serph, leader of the Embryon and protector of Sera, as you attempt to simultaneously take control of the other tribes and discover exactly what the hell is going on. You’re accompanied by four of your companions, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Most of the time you fight in demon form, where you have access to all your various special attacks and spells; however, if you’re ambushed or choose to revert to your human form, you only have access to your gun. Most of the time that’s a bad thing, but some enemies, usually the flying ones, are weak against gunfire.
Weaknesses – the fighting system is built around them. You get one turn for each active character. If you score a critical hit, exploit an enemy’s weakness, or pass, you only use half a turn, and the next character can either use it or lose it. Generally, an enemy’s weakness isn’t hard to guess; if they use fire attacks against you, ice attacks are probably the way to go. The unfortunate thing about this system is that each of your characters has a weakness, too. I say "unfortunate" instead of "fair" because nearly every boss (and later, even some regular enemies) can cast a spell that gives them four extra turns, often for a total of five. You can see where I’m going with this. It’s possible for bosses to have up to ten turns before you can even respond once, and many times bosses act first. I hope you saved.
To be fair, there are plenty of save points throughout the levels, and you are always warned before you enter a room with a boss (e.g., "You feel an overwhelming evil in the next room. Do you wish to enter?"), so you never have to repeat much if you die (and you will). Even run-of-the-mill battles can become frantic struggles for survival if the enemy scores a couple of lucky hits or repeatedly calls for reinforcements, and for the last half of the game nearly every enemy knows at least one instant-death spell. Coupled with a high encounter rate, casual gamers might give up and throw down their controllers in disgust. There is something to be said for difficulty, however — I felt a sense of accomplishment in defeating bosses that is often missing from other role-playing games. And perversely, it does get easier towards the end.
With each battle won, you gain macca (money), karma (experience), and atma (skill experience). So you purchase guns, items, and mantras (skills) with macca, and level them up with karma and atma. The mantra system works a lot like Final Fantasy X’s sphere grid (in fact, the entire game feels a lot like Final Fantasy — if Tidus was overwhelmed by cannibalistic cravings and Yuna had screaming breasts with teeth). Characters can unlock superior skills by learning prerequisites, laid out visually like a flow chart, with the most advanced skills costing millions of macca. As the names are sometimes in gamespeak, buying mantras can sometimes be a gamble (Samarecarm is a useful spell — want to guess what it means?). But there is a nomenclature, and anyway, half the fun is discovering what new goodies you earned once you finally master the ability. The real trick to learning mantras is becoming an expert hunter, as successfully devouring your opponents yields large amounts of atma. Strength, vitality, and the rest are handled similarly to Knights of the Old Republic; for each new level, you can allocate three points to Serph as you see fit.
Levels are enormous. One "dungeon" will take several hours. The final dungeon is — and I don’t think I’m giving anything away here — a tower that is at least thirty floors tall. Throughout all of this, there are almost no load times. A second here, a second there, but never, ever a load screen — an impressive feat on the PlayStation 2. However, such expansive environments became tedious in the two largest dungeons, with sections and puzzles being repeated throughout with minor variation, leaving me asking, "Didn’t I already do this?" Overall, though, the levels are well-designed and immersive.
Graphics:
Digital Devil Saga’s in-game graphics are good, but not great. Naturally, the cutscenes look better. I really enjoyed the animation for both, though; characters have weight and action looks natural and fluid. Character designs are also extremely well-done. Besides the human and demon forms of your party, enemies are very inventive. The entire game is heavily influenced from Indian and Jewish mythology, and the look of the angels and demons you face reflects that, as well. This being the Junkyard and all, the environments are rainy, depressingly bleak, and monochromatic. Although it’s appropriate thematically, it’s visually repetitive (and that's coming from someone who lives in Seattle!).
Audio:
From the excellent theme song to the sound effects to the strong English voice acting in every cutscene, nearly every aspect of the audio is fantastic. It’s unfortunate that there’s basically only one battle theme, one overworld theme, etc. until you get to the final stages of the game, but the strong quality of all the work involved is more than enough to overlook that.
Conclusion:
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga sometimes suffers from repetitive levels and a high encounter rate, but it is a solid, enjoyable outing that fans of the genre will definitely want to consider. The game rewards exploration with numerous extra bosses and other secrets, so expect a minimum investment of 35 hours. Recommended.
(One final note: although it is rated "mature," "teen" might be a more appropriate rating. Regardless, it is not suitable for children.)
The story is set in the Junkyard, a gray world where six tribes known as the "Children of Purgatory" battle each other for the right to enter Nirvana. The war has been a stalemate for, well, forever, until a mysterious black-haired girl hatches from a giant egg. During the hatching, everyone undergoes a handful of fundamental changes, the first of which is the ability to transform into powerful, nightmarish demons with an insatiable hunger for flesh. At the same time, something known as "Angel" has taken control of the tribes and demands slaughter — and the black-haired girl, Sera.
Gameplay:
You play as Serph, leader of the Embryon and protector of Sera, as you attempt to simultaneously take control of the other tribes and discover exactly what the hell is going on. You’re accompanied by four of your companions, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Most of the time you fight in demon form, where you have access to all your various special attacks and spells; however, if you’re ambushed or choose to revert to your human form, you only have access to your gun. Most of the time that’s a bad thing, but some enemies, usually the flying ones, are weak against gunfire.
Weaknesses – the fighting system is built around them. You get one turn for each active character. If you score a critical hit, exploit an enemy’s weakness, or pass, you only use half a turn, and the next character can either use it or lose it. Generally, an enemy’s weakness isn’t hard to guess; if they use fire attacks against you, ice attacks are probably the way to go. The unfortunate thing about this system is that each of your characters has a weakness, too. I say "unfortunate" instead of "fair" because nearly every boss (and later, even some regular enemies) can cast a spell that gives them four extra turns, often for a total of five. You can see where I’m going with this. It’s possible for bosses to have up to ten turns before you can even respond once, and many times bosses act first. I hope you saved.
To be fair, there are plenty of save points throughout the levels, and you are always warned before you enter a room with a boss (e.g., "You feel an overwhelming evil in the next room. Do you wish to enter?"), so you never have to repeat much if you die (and you will). Even run-of-the-mill battles can become frantic struggles for survival if the enemy scores a couple of lucky hits or repeatedly calls for reinforcements, and for the last half of the game nearly every enemy knows at least one instant-death spell. Coupled with a high encounter rate, casual gamers might give up and throw down their controllers in disgust. There is something to be said for difficulty, however — I felt a sense of accomplishment in defeating bosses that is often missing from other role-playing games. And perversely, it does get easier towards the end.
With each battle won, you gain macca (money), karma (experience), and atma (skill experience). So you purchase guns, items, and mantras (skills) with macca, and level them up with karma and atma. The mantra system works a lot like Final Fantasy X’s sphere grid (in fact, the entire game feels a lot like Final Fantasy — if Tidus was overwhelmed by cannibalistic cravings and Yuna had screaming breasts with teeth). Characters can unlock superior skills by learning prerequisites, laid out visually like a flow chart, with the most advanced skills costing millions of macca. As the names are sometimes in gamespeak, buying mantras can sometimes be a gamble (Samarecarm is a useful spell — want to guess what it means?). But there is a nomenclature, and anyway, half the fun is discovering what new goodies you earned once you finally master the ability. The real trick to learning mantras is becoming an expert hunter, as successfully devouring your opponents yields large amounts of atma. Strength, vitality, and the rest are handled similarly to Knights of the Old Republic; for each new level, you can allocate three points to Serph as you see fit.
Levels are enormous. One "dungeon" will take several hours. The final dungeon is — and I don’t think I’m giving anything away here — a tower that is at least thirty floors tall. Throughout all of this, there are almost no load times. A second here, a second there, but never, ever a load screen — an impressive feat on the PlayStation 2. However, such expansive environments became tedious in the two largest dungeons, with sections and puzzles being repeated throughout with minor variation, leaving me asking, "Didn’t I already do this?" Overall, though, the levels are well-designed and immersive.
Graphics:
Digital Devil Saga’s in-game graphics are good, but not great. Naturally, the cutscenes look better. I really enjoyed the animation for both, though; characters have weight and action looks natural and fluid. Character designs are also extremely well-done. Besides the human and demon forms of your party, enemies are very inventive. The entire game is heavily influenced from Indian and Jewish mythology, and the look of the angels and demons you face reflects that, as well. This being the Junkyard and all, the environments are rainy, depressingly bleak, and monochromatic. Although it’s appropriate thematically, it’s visually repetitive (and that's coming from someone who lives in Seattle!).
Audio:
From the excellent theme song to the sound effects to the strong English voice acting in every cutscene, nearly every aspect of the audio is fantastic. It’s unfortunate that there’s basically only one battle theme, one overworld theme, etc. until you get to the final stages of the game, but the strong quality of all the work involved is more than enough to overlook that.
Conclusion:
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga sometimes suffers from repetitive levels and a high encounter rate, but it is a solid, enjoyable outing that fans of the genre will definitely want to consider. The game rewards exploration with numerous extra bosses and other secrets, so expect a minimum investment of 35 hours. Recommended.
(One final note: although it is rated "mature," "teen" might be a more appropriate rating. Regardless, it is not suitable for children.)