Devil Survivor 2 Review

Welcome to the PGRF gaming community! Everyone here is very friendly, so don't hesitate to say hi and engage in some video game discussion with all of us! From retro to modern, there's no discrimination here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask the moderators and administrators! Have fun.

Registration is simple, fast, and completely free!
Join our community!

Devil Survivor 2 Review
Tweet Topic Started: Oct 2 2011, 05:45 PM (1,724 Views)
Bolto	Oct 2 2011, 05:45 PM Post #1
Level 2 Posts: 80 Group: Members Member #1,736 Joined: Mar 18, 2010	The original Devil Survivor was easily one of my favorite DS games of all time. It had good gameplay, cool characters, and an amazing story. So naturally, when I found out that there was going to be sequel I got really excited. I've been following the game since early March when it was first announced. I was there as they revealed each of the bosses in the game, and each of the characters. It was a weird and exciting experience, because I've never really done anything like that before. But each update would just make me want the game more and more. So I decided that I would import it (Which I don't recommend doing if you only know a little bit of Japanese like me, because a lot of the characters talk in very thick dialects and I could barely understand anyone who wasn't from Tokyo.) Gameplay The gameplay has gone pretty much unchanged from the first game. The game is an SRPG, so the battles take place on a grid. You have up to four parties that you can have on the grid, each party consisting of one human and two demons. However, where the gameplay differs from most other SRPGs is when you actually attack. Once you engage in combat with an enemy the game will shift to a first person view similar to earlier Dragon Quest games. From there, your human and their demons each get one turn, and if they are able to get a critical hit or exploit a weakness they can get an extra turn. So the actual combat is in short bursts. Outside of combat you will mostly find yourself talking to the various other characters to learn more about them and advance the plot. This game has a brand new mechanic known as the Enishi System (lit. Destiny System) which works similar to the Social Links from Persona 3 and 4. Each character has five ranks, and as you talk to them they will rank up. And each of these ranks will grant you small bonuses such as elemental resistances to that character. Another big part of the gameplay is the demon system. At the beginning of the game you are given three demons to work with. But from there you can use the Devil Auction to purchase more demons with money you have earned from battle. Later on you will be able to fuse demons together to create more powerful demons. Another feature that was added to this game that wasn't in the previous is the Compendium. This makes fusing ultimate demons at the end of the game a lot less tedious and annoying. Other than that, the fusion cores from Strange Journey have been added to this game, which allows you to give the demon you are fusing little bonuses such as rare skills or EXP right off the bat. It's also worth noting that this game has added a ton of new demons and skills. This game has roughly 220 demons, over half of the amount of demons the original Devil Survivor had. Because of all of the new demons, a few new demon races have been added to the game, such as the Fiend race. Along with this, racial skills can now be leveled up. Also, a bunch of new skills have been added to the game. Now it is actually not that bad of an idea to make your main character focused on strength instead of magic, because now there are more than enough physical-based skills to split between two characters. Story For those of you who have played a few Shin Megami Tensei games you already probably think you know what to expect with this game. Well, you're wrong. This is by far the most unique story I have seen in a MegaTen game. But I can't exactly go into detail without giving some of the plot away. So I'll just say, don't expect this to be much like the original Devil Survivor or any other Megami Tensei game story-wise. The story starts with you and your two classmates, Daichi and Io, walking home from a prep-exam. The three of you discover a strange website called Nicaea which claims to show pictures and videos of deaths that are supposed to happen in the near future. The situation escalates when you get a video of the three of you dying. So you are forced to make a contract with Nicaea in order to summon demons so that you can prevent your death. As if things couldn't worse, strange disasters start happening all over Japan. This is mostly because of demons that were able to kill their owners and go renegade. However, throughout the span of a week, a single alien will fall down to Earth each day and start destroying the Japan. That being said, this game has no correlation between the story of this game and the first Devil Survivor other than the fact that they both have demons and take place over a week. They radically different other than that. While this game has 'survivor' in the title, the emphasis isn't so much on surviving anymore. The characters don't really have to worry about finding food and shelter to survive. Instead, you have a headquarters where you stay every night. Instead, the game has a much higher emphasis on saving other people. Personally, the story was probably the weakest part of the whole game. That's not to say that the story is bad. But I think that the best part of this whole game is the characters. They are just so good. Every character has an interesting story and each of them develop as the game goes on. Really, the only character that I couldn't like no matter how much I tried was Yamato. I should point out that none of the characters are carbon copies of characters from the first game, like a lot of people expected. Io and Daichi are nothing like Atsuro and Yuzu. Daichi is more of a jokester and practical thinker, and Io is more reserved than Yuzu and doesn't like to throw in her opinion. Sound All the music in this game is done by the very talented Kenji Ito. The score consists mostly of a strange combination of classical instruments with techno beats. Personally, I like this game's soundtrack much better than Devil Survivor's. All of the music is very catchy and fits well with the atmosphere of the game. There is only one track that I don't like. Actually, saying that I dislike it is an understatement. It is the game's 'comedy' track. It just sounds so out of place. Especially at one point early on in the game where it comes on right after a dramatic event. Otherwise, the music is fantastic. Two of my personal favorite tracks Presentation The character designs were all done by Suzuhito Yasuda, mostly known as the artist for the anime Durarara!. The character designs are a mixed bag for me. I really like all the character designs for the males. They are all really well done and each of them look unique. The girls, however... I just feel like I'm playing a hentai visual novel whenever one of them shows up on the screen. Half of them have boobs that are larger than their heads. Which I guess is good if you're into that kind of stuff. But I really just don't like how overly sexualized they've made the characters. Since the game takes place all over Japan, there are bunch of new backgrounds and battle areas. They are just as good looking as the ones from the original game. However, about a third of the areas are reused from Devil Survivor. This is because the game takes place mostly throughout three cities: Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. And all of the areas in Tokyo are the same ones from devil survivor. The bosses on the other hand have all been drawn by the talented Mohiro Kitoh, writer of things like Narutaru and Bokurano. While most people compare the designs of the Septentrion to the Angels from Evangelion, the alien invaders more closely resemble the enemy robots from his manga, Bokurano. Each of the Septentrion has its own unique design. While their designs are fairly basic, they display the idea that they are foreign, strange creatures beyond human understanding. Each of them have striking colors and they easily stand out from the demons we are all so used to in the Megami Tensei games. In conclusion Devil Survivor 2 is an amazing game. I think it is even better than the first game. It improves on pretty much every complaint I had with the original Devil Survivor, and added a bunch of new features. If you enjoyed the original Devil Survivor you will probably enjoy this game as well. If you haven't played the original Devil Survivor yet, I definitely recommend it as well. I'd recommend trying to find Devil Survivor or the 3DS version, Devil Survivor Overclocked, now so that you can play through it by the time this game is released in North America. Edited by Bolto, Nov 20 2011, 11:37 PM.



Aerodynamisch	Oct 3 2011, 02:47 AM Post #2
Level 7 Posts: 1,024 Group: Members Member #1,725 Joined: Mar 17, 2010	Excellent review! Can't wait to play this game in English. Loved the first SMT DS. The Overclocked version is sadly unplayable for Europeans as of now but judging from what I read, replaying the entire DS 5 times to get all the different 8th Days is not for me. I will however enjoy SMT DS2 for sure.
	Aerodynamisch - [Video Game Reviews, Retrospectives and Collecting] RPGibberish - [RPG Podcast for RPG lovers, by RPG lovers]


Bolto	Oct 5 2011, 09:27 PM Post #3
Level 2 Posts: 80 Group: Members Member #1,736 Joined: Mar 18, 2010	Overclocked only had three 8th days anyways. Two of the endings just ended after the 7th day, which was a little disappointing. And it's not like anything really shocking happened at the end of any of the 8th days, either. So you aren't missing out on all that much.



Bolto	Nov 20 2011, 11:39 PM Post #4
Level 2 Posts: 80 Group: Members Member #1,736 Joined: Mar 18, 2010	I felt like the original review was a little sparse, so I threw in some pictures and even some of the soundtrack to give everybody a better of idea what the game looks/sounds like.



Aerodynamisch	Nov 21 2011, 07:02 AM Post #5
Level 7 Posts: 1,024 Group: Members Member #1,725 Joined: Mar 17, 2010	Still waiting on SMT DS 2. I pretty much "gave up" on SMT DS Overclocked, not expecting a European release. I will probably end up watching some let's plays of the 8th days.
	Aerodynamisch - [Video Game Reviews, Retrospectives and Collecting] RPGibberish - [RPG Podcast for RPG lovers, by RPG lovers]


1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)

Fully Featured & Customizable Free Forums Learn More · Register Now
« Previous Topic · Classic Gaming · Next Topic »