Altairis
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Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
Turn-based RPG for the Nintendo DS
Game art AND awesome OST from Devil Survivor 2: The Animation, which I highly recommend for anyone who enjoyed the game or cannot get their hands on it (because watching LPs takes sOOO long) because it was pretty true to the storyline, while being unique. Okay, advertisement over! Turn-based RPG for the Nintendo DS
Another sidenote before I start (sorry) I have not played any of the other games in the Devil Survivor or even Shin Megami Tensei series, so I didn't have any knowledge of the game or franchise before I started playing, and so my review is mostly written so that those who haven't played the series will be able to understand somewhat. Okay, continue!
With all of the other tactical RPGs on on the market, it's unfortunate that Devil Survivor 2 seems to have taken the backseat while letting other popular tactical RPGs such as Fire Emblem rule the market. DS2 is a hidden gem among other DS titles, and any fans of games such as Fire Emblem should definitely give this a try.
The premise is very intriguing: a website named "Nicaea" suddenly appears which claims to show you the "death clips" of your friends before they actually happen. Everyone seems to be pretty dubious of this until you and your two friends Io and Daichi witness a death clip of themselves dying in a train station minutes before the train actually crashes into the station. However, instead of dying, a demon appears to you and asks if you want to die - and of course you answer no! - and so starts your journey in order to save Japan (and possibly the world?!) from this supernatural invasion and discover the origins and purpose of Nicaea!
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The way this game is played is that you have a main screen similar to a phone with its apps - you can go on missions or complete events, edit your team, fuse demons, buy demons, and a lot more. The game is played through the previously stated "missions" (battles) or "events" (story-progressing dialogues) which you can select to go on. Events are usually your character talking with another, and your "Fate" (or Relationship) with that specific character can grow and you'll get some added perks. Missions are battles where you either have a specific goal (Flee without any of your allies dying, don't let the rioters escape, etc) or just a kill-everything goal. There is also the option to participate in "free battles" which are, essentially, ways to grind without progressing in the story.
However, this setup seems to backfire on DS2 sometimes. It is way too easy to make game-changing decisions on accident if you do not know what you are doing (ex. almost everybody who is playing this game for the first time). For example, sometimes you are requested to be at a certain place at a certain time in order to prevent somebody's death clip from coming true, and if you happen to not select that mission when the ingame time comes, then there will likely be consequences. By likely, I mean that the character will die because you arrived too late. This feature of the game was only really implied, and not explicitly stated (although this could just be me) because the game does not delete the optional events from the selection screen once the mandatory one shows up. While ultimately you can still complete the game if any character dies, (the game even makes sure you can't let more than 3 die), it is a shame to accidentally make this mistake and lose a potential team member.
![[PokeCommunity.com] Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2](https://i.imgur.com/9bStDW7.jpg "[PokeCommunity.com] Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2")
Almost all the game's playable characters with the protagonist in the center
Speaking of characters, the diversity is something to be praised for. I find each of them intriguing at least a little bit, since they all seem so different from each other. In games like Fire Emblem, when I was given a selection of characters, I often trained a handful and never really touched any of the others. In certain missions, you are forced to use some characters which you might not have picked (don't worry, all their levels match yours!). This almost keeps you on your feet because it's easy to create a working strategy with 4 members and just plow through the rest of the game executing said strategy, however, by forcing you to use certain characters requires you to think of new strategies and it's a nice way to mix up the playstyle. Each character has different stats and therefore some will be more inclined to use certain magic type attacks or just physical ones.
The types of Command skills (attacks, or "Affinities") are split into magical and physical. Characters with high magic mainly use Fire, Ice, Electric, Force, Curse, Almighty, and Healing spells. Characters with high physical stats mainly use Almighty and Physical attacks. In order to use Magic attacks, your character has a certain amount of Magic Power/MP (just like PP from Pokemon). However, there is really not a reliable way to recover MP in the midst of a battle, so once you run out, sometimes you're kind of, for lack of a better word, screwed, especially when there are many demons that resist Physical attacks. Yeah, there are demons that can recover your team's MP but with the cost of some of their HP (which they'll need MP to restore) or some demons will even heal the rest of the team's using their own MP.
Now, back to the demons you fight with: in the beginning you mostly start off using demons you purchase in the Auction, yet once you unlock the fusion system, a whole new world of demon possibilities become available to you. Two demons can be fused together to create a whole new type of demon, and the skills the original demons know can be passed on to the new one. Pretty sweet. Since there are basically no restrictions when it comes to Command (or attack) skills, literally anything is possible, and you can basically get almost any attack on almost any demon.
![[PokeCommunity.com] Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2](https://i.imgur.com/FJ53zJo.jpg "[PokeCommunity.com] Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2")
Shoutout to my favorite boss
Now, I have a confession here, which brings me to mention one of DS2's large drawbacks (in my opinion of course). I haven't actually finished the game yet, and that is because some levels are almost near impossible to do without grinding, or even just in general. The demons in the free battles (grinding battles) don't exactly level up with you, so it becomes like that point before Elite Four in Pokemon games, where the Elite Four are 10-20 levels higher than all the wild Pokemon or trainers around, and so you are forced to attempt to level up with a pitiful amount of EXP each time. Some battles also require strategies that seem ridiculous to the non-expert such as myself. (... Wednesday's boss. o.e) However, once you beat a boss, you definitely feel a sense of accomplishment that makes you want to continue with this game. Even after losing probably a dozen times to this boss (I probably do suck though) I still feel at least somewhat motivated to try again, since there are so many different strategies I could create by using certain team members and equipping them with different demons and skills each time.
So there you have it! I think I covered everything important about this game. Here's a tl;dr even though you should probably read it for explanations!
(+) Good story
(+) Characters
(+) Demons and fusing system
(+) Unique playstyle
(+) Multiple endings to the game, unique playthrough each time!
(-) Too easy to make game-altering decisions on accident
(-) You will probably have to grind. A lot.
(-) Some levels are really hard, even with grinding.
Overall, I will give this game a score of 7.5 / 10. Despite its flaws, DS2 is still a great game and anyone who is a fan of these types of games or anyone just looking for a new DS title to pick up should definitely check this game out!
Also, just as a sidenote: it may seem like I talk about a lot of the negatives of the game in this review instead of just the positives, which I guess is true, however, I wanted to make sure the game's flaws were explicitly explained because, for example, I would have liked to have known about the permadeath before I accidentally let the game's best physical character die. (tears)
Thank you for reading! Hope you give this game a try.
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