Digital Devil Saga (PS2)

Digital Devil Saga is set in post-apocalyptic future where rival gangs: Embryon, Vanguards, Maribel, Solids, Wolves, Brutes are locked in a constant battle for supremacy. Only the last remaining gang will be allowed to enter into Nirvana. Our story centers on the Embryon, who despite being the smallest gang has proven themselves to be a formidable operation thanks to their leader Serph. While locked in combat with the Vanguards, the two gangs encounter a strange obelisk not of their world. Beams of light burst from the strange object and pierces the bodies of Embryon, rendering them unconscious. After awakening, Serph is relieved to find that he and his friends are in good health but the enemy is nowhere to be seen. Even more unsettling are the strange brands that adorn the bodies of Serph and his friends, and a mysterious girl found within the obelisk itself. Not long after, Embryon discovers their brands have cursed them with the power to transform into demons, a power that is not unique to them alone. Serph and his friends must unravel the mysteries of this strange condition that has overtaken them and their enemies, completely unaware that their descent into madness is only beginning.

"Welcome to the human race."

As expected from a Megaten game, the story in Digital Devil Saga hooks you right from the beginning. Breaking from tradition is what the franchise is known for and Digital Devil Saga does a fantastic job of using the opening exposition to lay down the rules of the world and explaining the status quo, and then turning it upside down before you even pick up the controller. Some might see this as the narrative being too loose but in reality, the game does an effective job of using this plot device to put you in the same position as the characters that – much like the player – has to break away from the typical approach to combat. The mysteries here build a compelling narrative but as is the norm, certain aspects of the plot or aesthetics may be off-putting to those who are hardline anti-religious. The game borrows heavily from Hinduism and other eastern religions but this is not done in an overtly offensive manner. The only negative thing I can say about the games plot is that apart from establishing this world and its characters it doesn't build on many of the concepts for which it laid the groundwork. This is somewhat understandable as this is part one in a two part series, but I felt that there were just one too many loose ends that the writers left for the sequel.

Embryon

Digital Devil Saga is filled with rich cast of colorful characters. By default, the characters we meet approach life and death from an almost Spock-like mindset heavily steeped in the rational. After the characters get their brands, their personalities change – and for some the change is dramatic. Early on, Heat was the model right-hand man for Serph but after he is branded and his personality is made manifest, Heat lives up to his namesake; acting irrationally, questioning orders, and putting the team in danger. The personality changes are subdued for some characters like Gale for instance who by nature emphasizes the Vulcan approach to just about everything.

Where gameplay is concerned, Digital Devil Saga sticks the tried and true turn based battles.  You have five characters but only three are allowed into any given encounter, but you can swap them in and out at any time and as many times as you wish so long as that character is alive, similar to FFX. This adds a bit of strategy because although every character can learn every technique, they cannot equip all of them at once. Furthermore, certain characters are stronger when using their element and weak to said elemental opposite. For example, Heat is a fire attribute party member. Although he can learn to use almighty and ice magic, he’ll never be good as say Serph or Cielo respectively. Most enemies have elemental weaknesses that the player can exploit to score a critical hit, paralysis, and even get an extra turn. Bear in mind, your characters also have weaknesses which the enemies will exploit at every opportunity once you beat the first dungeon.

There are dozens of different techniques that your characters can learn. By defeating your enemies, you will acquire Atma Points (AP) which can be used to purchase a variety of techniques in the forms of new attacks, tag team moves, magic, support skills and feeding techniques which allow you to devour your enemies for more AP and even health buffs. There are also skills which can make you impervious to various attacks such as those of a physical, magical and status based nature. You will find that by equipping enough of these skills, you will be able to effortlessly negate your enemy’s attacks, cost them a turn and make your characters almost invincible. This player actually buffed Serph to the point where only almighty spells had any effect on him.

I do have some complaints. The battles are much too frequent (every two-to-five seconds), the game is extremely linear, there are only a small handful of side-quests, for an RPG the game is rather short, and as with most RPGs once you reach level 99, you can mop the floor with your enemies, rendering the need to learn most skills unnecessary. And as for the skills you did learn, you can plow through just about every enemy using brute force.

However, if you’re not at level 60 before you hit the half-way point you’re in for a world of pain. I cannot stress enough that this is a difficult game and the dramatic leap in difficulty after the first dungeon may turn some players off immediately. However, if you’re at all familiar with games from the Shin Megami Tensei universe then you know this is par for the course.

From a graphics standpoint the game is smooth. There are no jerky animations the characters move with a life-life fluidity. The character designs themselves are imaginative as are the environments. The only real knock I have against the game is that the environments themselves are not rendered with the same level of detail as the characters. The music is also very good. While this is no Persona soundtrack the themes certainly standout – particularly Danger by Etro Anime and several of the boss themes. It’s definitely a soundtrack worth owning.

Overall Digital Devil Saga is an amazing, must-have RPG. It does have a few hiccups and the fact that it’s part one in a two part series means that you won’t get the complete story without also playing Digital Devil Saga 2, but for Shin Megami Tensei fans it’s a no-brainer. I would also highly recommend this game for RPG fanatics, just know what you’re getting into because the Shin Megami Tensei franchise isn't known for pulling its punches.