Michael is Low on Hit Points
Devil Survivor rises above the usual flaws of Shin Megami Tensei games and delivers a J-RPG experience for the ages
- Posted September 3rd, 2009 at 9:46 PM ET
- Subjects Devil Survivor, Shin Megami Tensei, Nocturne, Persona 3
- Tags impressions
- Image sources
1- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor [unknown]
2- Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne [unknown]
3- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 [unknown]
4- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor [unknown] - Video searches
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I used to say Shin Megami Tensei must be Japanese for Random Number Generator. I've never been a huge fan of the franchise, as a multitude of design flaws -- most often dealing with unnecessary random elements -- ruined each experience. Yet there was something in the overall series mythos that pulled me back in for each installment. Eventually I struck gold, as Devil Survivor for the Nintendo DS is the best RPG I've played in years.
First, a bit of perspective is needed here.
My first foray into the franchise was Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Unique and provocative artwork combined with an interesting "end of our world, beginning of a new world" plot had me hooked at the beginning. Often billed by series fans as an unapologetically hard J-RPG designed for the "hardcore" audience (read: me), I find the "difficulty" to be something else entirely.
Nocturne is unapologetically unfair and random.
Dungeon paths fork leaving no discernible hints for which way is the correct one. To heap more "difficulty" on the player, the wrong choice returns you back to square one. This is not competent level design.
Demon followers need to be collected into your party, and you recruit them by answering their philosophical questions. Do answer as you believe? Or do you give them the response you think they want to hear? Both are wrong, as the correct choice is randomly picked. The illusion of mentally determining the outcome here is false.
Worst yet, upon leveling up, demons sometimes get an option to lose one skill and gain another. Within one short stretch -- I shit you not -- every skill that changed was "cure" and what I always received in return was "not cure." By random luck, I completely lost my party's ability to heal. Game over man, game over.
After dropping Nocturne, a few other SMT games caught my interest, but none so much as Persona 3. With a new, even fresher art style and soundscape, P3 really hooked me with it's overarching design concept of mixing a typical RPG dungeon crawl with visual novel, dating sim-esque character development.
Unfortunately under the microscope of long term play, each individual element of the game shows their flaws. Sure the cast grows on you over the long trek, but the writing for both the main plotline and visual novel side stories is barely passable. The long dungeon crawl of Tartarus is boring, bland, and repetitive. Finally, the narrative's better areas are spread out too far over the long journey.
Oh yeah, the game is way too fucking long.
Of course, SMT's propensity for randomness rears its ugly mug once again. In battle, you control the main character only, leaving the rest of the group to busted AI routines that will let you down often.
Passing on abilities during demon fusion (awesome) is done via random chance that will have you entering and exiting the menu over and over just to get the end results you want (not awesome).
And of course, Tartarus is a randomly generated dungeon. Why bother designing actual levels? Ugh. Clever style does not compensate for the poor design of substance.
So finally, we arrive at Devil Survivor. With one single series iteration, every design flaw is cast away. No more random trait inheritance. No more random dungeons. No more random battles. A Shin Megami Tensei game finally sheds away almost all of its annoying randomness! That alone would be good enough.
But there's more. Devil Survivor features a branching, choose you own adventure style story. The plot execution takes the best elements from both linear and non-linear narrative types. Strategy takes precedence with this tactics-style RPG. Stat grinding is unnecessary, as proper planning is the real key to winning every battle... as it should be!
The game moves on a 7 day timeline with events each taking up a half hour of game world time. You're presented with a list of locations, and some will feature events, either plot elements or battles. There's no running around in towns. There's no pointless encounters. There is no filler to increase playtime. Why can't all RPGs get this right?
Devil Survivor is just the right length. Long enough to tell its tale, but not so long that it overstays its welcome. With the abundance of abilities and multiple endings available, there's also plenty of content for those who wish to play on longer. That's what we call the best of both worlds.
Of course, not much of this would matter if the individual elements fell flat. The battles test strategy and provide plenty of fun. The plot and setting are both well fleshed out and excellently produced. You'll love or hate each character, which is perfect since you're the one who chooses who to help or follow and who to leave behind. The game gets it all right.
This is the best RPG I've played in a long time, in both design structure and overall execution. If RPGs are your thing and you own a DS, let me give you my full recommendation for Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor.
1 Baka-Raptor
Ah, Nocturne, the game that was "out to get you" hard, not "fun" hard. If nothing else, Nocturne taught me to think twice before playing a game on Hard mode. Just beat Odin Sphere, which was plenty challenging on normal mode (review forthcoming).
2 RP
Have you played P4 yet? I think it improved upon a lot of the weaknesses in P3. And while the levels are still disconnected from the main world, with the way the story changes, it doesn't feel like as much of a drag as tartarus.
I really liked the story of DS, especially how the storylines would branch out depending on who lived, who died, and who you decided to follow. My only problem with it was the amount of grinding I had to in the end. Now, I don't have a problem with some grinding, but the problem with DS, was that the difference in levels between the "hard" battles and the "bosses" were too great. So you'd try to level up fighting level 40 enemies, but end up having to fight a level 52 boss, and it would just take way too many battles with the normal enemies before you were at a level to beat the boss. I only really encountered this towards the last 2 days or so, but it was a little frustrating. Otherwise, it was indeed a very good game, a lot of fun, with a good story. Although personally, The World Ends With You still edges it out for my favorite DS RPG.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ Baka-Raptor
I never do RPGs on hard mode (when offered), since more often than not, hard simply means more grinding. Nocturne was a bitch on normal too though. Lose, lose.
I'd be a bit interested in what you have to say about what I wrote previously on Odin Sphere now that you've beaten it. Obviously you liked it (or accepted it) more than I did. But did the same issues that held me up affect you at all?
@ RP
I haven't played Persona 4 yet, and I have heard that it fixes quite a few issues with P3. So I will definitely get around to it. I wanted to wait and pick it up after beating P3, but that's taking forever at this point. I think I have ~70+ hours with plenty more of the game left to go. And then there's the Answer arc...
I love the way Devil Survivor branches out. I'm genuinely surprised they did such a good job with that. I never grinded in DS until the final day, but that was all a bit unnecessary, I think. I just wanted to get some of the cooler demons before I beat the game. Of course, I'll get much more on my second playthrough, but that won't be for a while with plenty of other things on the burner.
As for The World Ends With You, what I thought would be excellent let me down a lot at first. But as I play it more (I'm not that far), it is slowly winning me over. Even if I do come to like it, I still believe that the game is poorly designed in a few areas. I'll save the rest of those comments for a post to come once I've beaten the game... or given it up.
3 Seantaku
I just read about this game the other day. I haven't played any of the other games (though I do wanna try Persona 4) this title is definitely on my "Need to Buy" list! As soon as a finish the game I'm currently playing I'll probably pick this one up. Man I love the DS!
Re Michael is LoHP
@ Seantaku
I'm shocked at just how much I've come to love that little DSi. I've played through three games on it so far, all three of which are smashing phenomenal. Devil Survivor is highlighted in this piece. New Super Mario Brothers is a great return to form for Mario, bringing him back to his superb 2d roots. And Professor Layton is the most fun using my brain that I've had in a very long time; if only I had worked this hard mentally back in college!
4 Seantaku
Yeah I agree. I got my DSi and Playstaion 3 around the same time and I love them both pretty much equally. New Super Mario was the first game I got and it was amazing! I actually just started playing Professor Layton about 2 days ago. Really makes you think!
If I was to suggest any other games for you it would probably be the Bleach fighting games. Definitely the best Bleach games out there. I also loved The World Ends With You and hopefully the more you play it the more you'll enjoy it.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ Seantaku
I just got my hands on the new PS3 Slim yesterday, and I picked up Valkyria Chronicles too. Wow, just wow. Valkyria is unbelievably good. All the hype turned out right on that one so far. I also have BlazBlue now, which will get its own post soon enough. Preview: best 2d fighter ever.
I looked up the Bleach DS games and they're developed by Treasure. No wonder you say they're good! I might have to check out Dark Souls. Though I'm not really sold on handheld fighting games in general...
5 Niles
I've been dragging my feet on getting Devil Survivor, since I bought a lot of DS RPGs this year and they've been hit and miss. Definitely going to get it now. So, the game takes place over 7 days? That sounds short.
I probably will avoid Nocturne- this isn't the first negative review I've seen, and now I have cold feet.
The Answer arc is almost 100% grind. It's also what I call a "closure game" - you get closure, whether you wanted it or not.
In a sense, P4 felt longer than P3, because of the fakeout twists. But they both cheat you out of a full year of turns, and I always screw up the social links, so to me they feel short.
Bought Valkyria Chronicles a while back without actually getting a PS3- I'm waiting to make sure the Slim model has no defects.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ Niles
If you find the main campaign to Devil Survivor too short, don't forget to take into account the replay value. There are multiple endings (not just the actual ending animation, but the end segments of the game) that you have to replay the game to get. Plus on replay is where you can get some really good demons and fight the optional uber-boss.
Some people really like Nocturne, but I think those people would be the type to read my impressions and just shrug them off. If what I say deters you, them the game probably wouldn't have been your type.
I've heard elsewhere that the Answer is a grind, so that's a no-go for me. If I really need closure, then it's the year 2009; we have YouTube for that!
While I complain about the length of P3, it's really that the game wasn't good enough to last that full length. If P4 makes significant improvements, I might be go for a long game.
I have the new Slim and everything seems perfectly fine so far. Remember, Sony made this, not Microsoft. Sony has a pretty damn good track record with hardware. And hell, their OS for the PS3 is much better than Microsoft's for the 360!
6 fangzhao
This game has kept me away from anime for a week and counting. Hell, this has a better storyline than just about all the anime I was watching, except maybe FMA:B. Naoya asking me to kill God was one event out of many that made me pause for a second and go "holy shit, this game is awesome."
Plus the choose-your-adventure style of gameplay is incredible. If you decide to go too late to Keisuke, you see Kaido killing him. If you kill Kudlak... well, I didn't dare to. That battle took a bit of time as it was. I loved those choose-your-adventure books when I was younger, I love engaging visual novels (though the standard "get in her pants" thing just turns me off), and now I've found something of the same line in RPG form... and it doesn't suck?! Holy crap.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ fangzhao
I know exactly what you mean! I barely watched any anime during my playthrough of Devil Survivor. It was always, "Just one more event..." Having the game broken up in nice little easy to digest nuggets also means that it's hard for me to know when to quit.
I also love how the story doesn't shy away from those darker and more mature themes like the one you mentioned. Very few writers have the balls to go that route, even if it isn't direct blasphemy but more along the lines of rebellion... or is it? Well, either side can be hotly debated. And thus arises the fun in the subject matter. Pure good versus pure evil may stir up emotions temporarily, but more grey areas make for a more intriguing narrative.
And thus the ability to choose your own path in the game. Your decisions have actual consequence, which is good not only on the playability side, but also on the dramatic side. It's win win, really.
7 fangzhao
Yeah, definitely. Though I remember one point in the game where you see Honda trying to escape, and you're given the option of going after the demons, the angels, or both. If that's not "grey," I don't know what is!
The choose-your-own-adventure plotline makes for possibly immense reply value, though I might not want to go back and replay a lot of things...
On another note, I wonder if your lines to the other characters really matter. Like, if you're an ass to Yuzu all the time vs. you say everything that makes her happy.
Re Michael is LoHP
@ fangzhao
I definitely think Devil Survivor does a great job of staying in the grey realm. Actually, the franchise in general often has made that sort of philosophical choice the heart of its story mechanics. That's one thing that kept me coming back game after game until I found the one that hit the rest of the right buttons.
In Devil Survivor, I think how you talk to each character inevitably decides what ending paths you have available on the final day. If you're an ass to Yuzu, she may not open up all the way and you may not be able to choose her path. Of course, there are other certain obvious choices that determine what paths you can choose (ie, letting certain characters die).