Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner
Posted October 18, 2006
I love many aspects of RPGs. Chief among these would be the epic storylines, large casts of supporting characters and ability to steer the development of the people or creatures you control. Unfortunately, I absolutely loath turn-based combat. For me, telling my characters what to do and then watching the action unfold simply sucks the fun out of a game. I've tried a plethora of RPGs that employ this style of play and, no matter how good the rest of the game might be, I can never really enjoy it. Action RPGs are another story entirely. With that bias disclosed, I feel comfortable saying that Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner is the most fun I have had with an RPG in a very long time.
Gameplay:
In SMT Devil Summoner you assume the role of Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th, a demon summoner able to traverse the line that divides the regular world from its supernatural counterpart. Because of this ability, you are responsible for safeguarding the capital city of early 20th century Japan from the dark forces that seek to destroy the world of mortal man. Your adventures will bring you across a host of demons, which can either be destroyed or harnessed to aid in your quest.
The controls in SMT Devil Summoner are extremely intuitive. The game begins with a tutorial that teaches the basics of combat. This brief section instructs you in the use of your pistols and katana, along with providing the basics of capturing a demon and enlisting it in your cause. When you encounter demons, the gameplay shifts to a battle screen until you eliminate the enemy, escape or die. Within this mode, the player retains full control of Raidou and can pause combat to use items or issue instructions to his companions. Experience points, money and the occasional helpful item are awarded at the end of every successful fight. These allow you to power up Raidou, increasing his levels of strength, magic, vitality and luck.
The true heart of SMT Devil Summoner lies in its system for the acquisition and control of demons. When you encounter a demon at a level equal to or less than your own, you have the opportunity to capture and contain it in a small tube. You begin with six such tubes, but are rewarded with more as the game progresses.
Demons come in six classes: frost, fury, pagan, pyro, volt and wind. To capture a demon, you must exploit its weakness before attempting to contain it. Throughout the game, Raidou obtains different types of bullets that can make the most of demons' specific weaknesses. He can also use a demon already under his command to this end. For example, a frost demon would most likely be weakened by using fire bullets or attacking with a pyro demon.
Once a demon has been captured, it is yours to command and call into battle. Beyond this, you have the ability to visit the Gouma Den, a laboratory owned by a Russian who specializes in demon fusion. A new, different variety of demon can be created by fusing two that you already possess. This newly created demon will usually inherit abilities from the two you fused, in addition to possessing its own unique skills. You can also fuse demons to your sword, increasing and altering Raidou's attack power. The game contains a huge variety of demons, allowing for extensive customization of your party.
Fine tuning your band of demons is an addictive affair. As you gain experience, you are able to handle increasingly powerful allies. Throughout the whole of the game, you will be constantly reevaluating which demons you wish to partner with and making adjustments to your party to ensure that you're prepared for every possible scenario.
When not engaged in battle, Raidou is working on a case that begins with an abducted girl and winds up threatening the survival of everyone in the city. As you uncover leads, you will be able to travel to new areas of the city to continue the investigation. Your two closest acquaintances are Karumi, a private detective working the case with Raidou, and Gouta, a spirit guide in the shape of a cat who accompanies you everywhere you go. The supporting characters are well fleshed out and entertaining and there is a decent amount of humor scattered throughout the story.
Save points can be reached fairly easily throughout most of SMT Devil Summoner. While not as convenient as being able to save at any point in the game, they are frequent enough to ensure that you don't die and have to replay everything you've accomplished over the last several hours. Another nice aspect of the game is the short load times. I never found myself staring at a load screen for more than 3 or 4 seconds.
There is little negative to say about the gameplay, but there are a few things worth mentioning. When engaged in battle, all of the action is viewed from a stationary camera. This makes little to no difference at the beginning of the game, when the demons you deal with are on the small side. As you progress and your enemies and allies grow in size, the fixed camera can become frustrating. At times, it's easy to lose track of Raidou when he's fighting amidst a group of demons several times his size.
One also has to wonder why Raidou is limited to summoning one demon at a time. While this forces you to be very strategic about which demon you summon for a particular situation, it would be more fun to call up two or three demons to complement each other in an attack. Additionally, Raidou can only carry one of any specific demon. If you want to retain a demon that you also need to fuse, you are forced to either pay an exorbitant amount of yen to the Gouma Den or track another one down and capture it after the fusion. These are small quibbles and do little to affect the overall quality of the game.
Graphics:
Overall, SMT Devil Summoner is a great looking game. It's not at the same technical level as the best games of its generation, but it has good art direction and some nice character models. The designs of most, if not all, of the demons are inspired by myths from around the world and range from comical to intimidating. Also, quite a bit can be happening on the screen during a battle, but I was pleasantly surprised to rarely encounter any slow down or stutter.
If the graphics are lacking in any obvious area, it would be in the lack of progressive scan or a widescreen mode. The latter of these is especially confusing, since many of the game's cinematics and cut scenes are displayed in a widescreen format. If you are playing on a widescreen television, these segments of the game appear with black bars framing the picture on all four sides.
Audio:
SMT Devil Summoner contains no voice acting, so the audio is comprised entirely of sound effects and music. The music is actually pretty good, but it tends to get a bit repetitive, especially if you spend a lot of time in one specific area or are frequently being pulled into battles. The sound effects are perfectly adequate, but nothing spectacular. The biggest thing missing in the audio department is an option for surround sound.
Conclusion:
To me, replay value is typically most important with linear games that take around fifteen hours or less to finish. SMT Devil Summoner easily offers over 40 hours of gameplay and will offer most players even more, as they become hooked on creating the best possible band of demons. I doubt many players will finish this game and immediately want to start over. That said, the wide variety of demons definitely offers the potential to play through the game multiple times with fairly different strategies. While it's probably not enough diversity to justify back-to-back, 40+ hour adventures, I imagine quite a few players will want to revisit the game some time down the road after conquering it the first time.
SMT Devil Summoner is really a gem of a game and highly recommended to anyone who enjoys an addictive adventure with an epic feel. Die hard fans of turn-based battle systems might be a little off-put by the action-style combat, but it suits the game well and serves to broaden its appeal far beyond those who are hardcore RPG players.
Gameplay:
In SMT Devil Summoner you assume the role of Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th, a demon summoner able to traverse the line that divides the regular world from its supernatural counterpart. Because of this ability, you are responsible for safeguarding the capital city of early 20th century Japan from the dark forces that seek to destroy the world of mortal man. Your adventures will bring you across a host of demons, which can either be destroyed or harnessed to aid in your quest.
The controls in SMT Devil Summoner are extremely intuitive. The game begins with a tutorial that teaches the basics of combat. This brief section instructs you in the use of your pistols and katana, along with providing the basics of capturing a demon and enlisting it in your cause. When you encounter demons, the gameplay shifts to a battle screen until you eliminate the enemy, escape or die. Within this mode, the player retains full control of Raidou and can pause combat to use items or issue instructions to his companions. Experience points, money and the occasional helpful item are awarded at the end of every successful fight. These allow you to power up Raidou, increasing his levels of strength, magic, vitality and luck.
The true heart of SMT Devil Summoner lies in its system for the acquisition and control of demons. When you encounter a demon at a level equal to or less than your own, you have the opportunity to capture and contain it in a small tube. You begin with six such tubes, but are rewarded with more as the game progresses.
Demons come in six classes: frost, fury, pagan, pyro, volt and wind. To capture a demon, you must exploit its weakness before attempting to contain it. Throughout the game, Raidou obtains different types of bullets that can make the most of demons' specific weaknesses. He can also use a demon already under his command to this end. For example, a frost demon would most likely be weakened by using fire bullets or attacking with a pyro demon.
Once a demon has been captured, it is yours to command and call into battle. Beyond this, you have the ability to visit the Gouma Den, a laboratory owned by a Russian who specializes in demon fusion. A new, different variety of demon can be created by fusing two that you already possess. This newly created demon will usually inherit abilities from the two you fused, in addition to possessing its own unique skills. You can also fuse demons to your sword, increasing and altering Raidou's attack power. The game contains a huge variety of demons, allowing for extensive customization of your party.
Fine tuning your band of demons is an addictive affair. As you gain experience, you are able to handle increasingly powerful allies. Throughout the whole of the game, you will be constantly reevaluating which demons you wish to partner with and making adjustments to your party to ensure that you're prepared for every possible scenario.
When not engaged in battle, Raidou is working on a case that begins with an abducted girl and winds up threatening the survival of everyone in the city. As you uncover leads, you will be able to travel to new areas of the city to continue the investigation. Your two closest acquaintances are Karumi, a private detective working the case with Raidou, and Gouta, a spirit guide in the shape of a cat who accompanies you everywhere you go. The supporting characters are well fleshed out and entertaining and there is a decent amount of humor scattered throughout the story.
Save points can be reached fairly easily throughout most of SMT Devil Summoner. While not as convenient as being able to save at any point in the game, they are frequent enough to ensure that you don't die and have to replay everything you've accomplished over the last several hours. Another nice aspect of the game is the short load times. I never found myself staring at a load screen for more than 3 or 4 seconds.
There is little negative to say about the gameplay, but there are a few things worth mentioning. When engaged in battle, all of the action is viewed from a stationary camera. This makes little to no difference at the beginning of the game, when the demons you deal with are on the small side. As you progress and your enemies and allies grow in size, the fixed camera can become frustrating. At times, it's easy to lose track of Raidou when he's fighting amidst a group of demons several times his size.
One also has to wonder why Raidou is limited to summoning one demon at a time. While this forces you to be very strategic about which demon you summon for a particular situation, it would be more fun to call up two or three demons to complement each other in an attack. Additionally, Raidou can only carry one of any specific demon. If you want to retain a demon that you also need to fuse, you are forced to either pay an exorbitant amount of yen to the Gouma Den or track another one down and capture it after the fusion. These are small quibbles and do little to affect the overall quality of the game.
Graphics:
Overall, SMT Devil Summoner is a great looking game. It's not at the same technical level as the best games of its generation, but it has good art direction and some nice character models. The designs of most, if not all, of the demons are inspired by myths from around the world and range from comical to intimidating. Also, quite a bit can be happening on the screen during a battle, but I was pleasantly surprised to rarely encounter any slow down or stutter.
If the graphics are lacking in any obvious area, it would be in the lack of progressive scan or a widescreen mode. The latter of these is especially confusing, since many of the game's cinematics and cut scenes are displayed in a widescreen format. If you are playing on a widescreen television, these segments of the game appear with black bars framing the picture on all four sides.
Audio:
SMT Devil Summoner contains no voice acting, so the audio is comprised entirely of sound effects and music. The music is actually pretty good, but it tends to get a bit repetitive, especially if you spend a lot of time in one specific area or are frequently being pulled into battles. The sound effects are perfectly adequate, but nothing spectacular. The biggest thing missing in the audio department is an option for surround sound.
Conclusion:
To me, replay value is typically most important with linear games that take around fifteen hours or less to finish. SMT Devil Summoner easily offers over 40 hours of gameplay and will offer most players even more, as they become hooked on creating the best possible band of demons. I doubt many players will finish this game and immediately want to start over. That said, the wide variety of demons definitely offers the potential to play through the game multiple times with fairly different strategies. While it's probably not enough diversity to justify back-to-back, 40+ hour adventures, I imagine quite a few players will want to revisit the game some time down the road after conquering it the first time.
SMT Devil Summoner is really a gem of a game and highly recommended to anyone who enjoys an addictive adventure with an epic feel. Die hard fans of turn-based battle systems might be a little off-put by the action-style combat, but it suits the game well and serves to broaden its appeal far beyond those who are hardcore RPG players.