Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

Written by Adam Woolcott  on April 28, 2005

Review: Devour your enemies...and then take a nap.

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Last year, RPG fans in North America finally received an entry in the long-running Shin Megami Tensei series, in SMT: Nocturne. For years, the franchise remained Japan-only, no doubt due to the 'controversial' subject matter that would have raised a ruckus in less tolerant times. Like most Atlus games, Nocturne was a niche game that drew in hardcore RPG fans but ultimately eschewed the Final Fantasy generation, as Nocturne was a definite nod to the genre pre-Final Fantasy VII. With the modest success of Nocturne in the rear window, Atlus has once again brung the SMT franchise to the US, in the form of side-story product Digital Devil Saga. While Nocturne could be considered abstract and indirect, DDS is far more accessible, and much more like the modern-day RPG in many fashions. However, don't come in expecting an epic on the scale of Final Fantasy games; while DDS has it where it counts in the gameplay department, Digital Devil Saga's rocky pacing, short playtime and mish-mash storyline may not be enough to convince RPG fans into plopping another $50 down to purchase the 2nd part of the game when it comes out later this year.

Digital Devil Saga takes place in the Junkyard, a barren, depressing world full of gray and constant rain. Within the Junkyard are 6 tribes, each hoping to eliminate the other, because once all tribes are toppled and only one remains, that tribe may enter the Karma Temple and reach Nirvana. Little progress is made though, as no tribe has an advantage over another, until a catastrophic event takes place. In the middle of a battle for tribe supremacy, a bizarre flower appears, and suddenly opens, where a black haired girl you come to know as Sera emerges. That's not the main thing though; as this happens, a series of lights erupt from the flower, and turns all the people of the Junkyard into demons, each with an insatiable hunger Ц a hunger to devour other demons. After this event, the Karma Temple summons each leader, with a request; increase bloodshed to eliminate tribes, and bring Sera to Nirvana with you. Your character is Serph, the leader of the Embryon tribe, and along with fellow party members Heat, Argilla, Cielo, and Gale, you adventure through the Junkyard, defeating tribes and working to reach the ultimate goal of Nirvana. In itself, the story is full of potential and possibilities (there's some interesting plot points that deveop); but with yet another mute lead character (Serph can only answer questions that change varying things but doesn't actually do anything like the Reason questions in Nocturne), disinteresting party members (Heat is a total assface), and little actual development of the story between dungeons, DDS's storyline becomes a mere backdrop to endless battles against fellow demons.

The game borrows the Press Turn battle system from Nocturne; those experienced with that game will leap right into the complex and strategic turn-based system that is definitely the strongest point of DDS. Like Nocturne, strategy is hugely important; many tough fights can be overcome with the right spells, be it offensive or defensive, to increase your turns per round and decrease an enemy's chances of attack by exploiting weaknesses or protecting against your own. Unlike Nocturne though, you don't recruit demons into your party; instead you eat them. Though eating isn't really necessary (you occasionally get a 'hunger' message that drops your HP a bit, but that's about it), devouring an enemy using Hunt skills increases your Atma Points for leveling and enhancing skills. Skills are done in a way that mimics Final Fantasy X, thanks to Mantras. A Mantra allows a character to learn skills in a non-linear fashion, in a Sphere Grid-like system. When you master a Mantra, you can then add that skill to your available slots, and then use it in battle; you can't have a whole bunch of skills though, the game caps you out at 8, so prepare to fiddle with skills a lot throughout the game. When you master a Mantra, you may buy another with Macca (the currency of the SMT games), to further increase skills. While this is a way to let characters evolve uniquely, it also becomes a necessary evil to top punishing bosses that you must handicap constantly.

Though not as hard as Nocturne, DDS is definitely tougher than your average RPG from recent times. Boss battles can be brutal, requiring as much strategy as fighting, and sometimes you must whittle away opponent HP slowly, instead of attacking head-on. Status effects are a constant fear, as enemies have a penchant for using them a zillion times, which can be more annoying than enemies attacking weaknesses and summoning reinforcements all the time. The key is mastering many Mantras, to round out party members in case a hostile and dangerous situation. And because random battles are incredibly high, you really have to be on your toes or death shall come fast. Even Nocturne doesn't have the encounter rate of DDS, and there's actually less means of reducing the encounters this time around. Needless to say if you hate random battles, do not purchase this game. On the other hand, if you love being terrified in a dungeon, fearing death before reaching a save terminal, Digital Devil Saga will be your scare sugar daddy.

Unlike Nocturne, there's no world map, instead DDS borrows the same kind of system as Shadow Hearts. You simply warp from place to place furthering the story in a streamlined fashion. There's not really any 'towns' so to speak, just the different bases of the 6 tribes that have some members here and there. Instead, DDS is just one huge dungeon crawl, with a few story scenes scattered around to remind you there's an actual purpose for all this fighting. The dungeons are very lengthy; and I really mean lengthy. That's one of the big problems with DDS; instead of numerous dungeons that last maybe 30 minutes, DDS has huge, repetitive dungeons that last multiple hours to go through, no help from the constant battles. A couple of the dungeons are pretty creative Ц Coordinate 136 is a creepy, yet well-designed dungeon with a few pretty cool puzzles to stump you. On the other hand, a couple dungeons are just boring mazes that are more like chores. It's this pacing of long dungeons and short story scenes that drags the game down a tad. This strategy and pacing worked in Nocturne which was meant to be a more cerebral experience, but in DDS it just makes the game boring and tired.

There's a handful of sidequests and hidden bosses to keep you playing other than the main story, like most RPGs do. These mostly consist of finding special keys to 'unlock' colored walls scattered around DDS's world which net special items, enemies, and boss encounters. Naturally doing these will increase your levels which lets you tackle the difficult enemies at the end of the game, but they're not necessary since it's not so much your level that dictates your success, but how well you exploit enemy weaknesses and defend against your own. That leads me to the biggest shame of all Ц this game, when played straight through, is far too short. When you beat an RPG in about 20 hours and they expect you to spend another $50 in 6 months for the next part (which probably runs the same amount of time), it screams of a cash-in, whether or not we're dealing with a small publisher like Atlus or a big one like EA. Why not just combine the two games into one for one huge 40 hour adventure? Nocturne is a very lengthy game, taking 40 hours or more to finish. It boggles the mind as to why they split this up into two games, unless you're thinking solely from a financial viewpoint. Especially when they're charging $5 more for a deluxe box set.

Digital Devil Saga is based upon the Nocturne engine, so it's not a surprise that the game carries the same kind of visual style. With subdued cel-shading, it looks somewhat like anime, but not quite. The game has an intentionally bland look, with so many depressing colors and worlds to traverse, with constant rain and creepy surroundings. Certain places though, like Coordinate 136 (which is the best area in the entire game) have incredible designs that stand out. Enemy designs, well...if you played Nocturne you've seen them, since about 90% of the enemies are recycled from it. This actually works in your favor gameplay-wise since most of the weaknesses remain the same, so Nocturne fanatics will know exactly what works and what doesn't on nearly every enemy. But on the graphics side, it feels like they didn't wish to make original enemies and recycled the old ones. On a good note, the camera is can be fully rotated now, instead of the snap-back camera of Nocturne which was a pain in the can. It doesn't mean all that much in an RPG with random battles but if you're writing a game review and wanna take in the details of the dungeons, it's quite nice.

Again like Nocturne, DDS has the same kind of soundtrack (which is included with the game like Nocturne), so expect an equal combination of Castlevania-like gothic themes and cheesy Sega-style rock music during battles. A new wrinkle is the voice acting, which actually is pretty decent, and sometimes great. A few times the game goes way over the top but there are quite a few characters that are done very well, such as Varin, who nails the tough-guy Colonel gimmick well, and Cielo with that almost Wakka-like Jamaican accent. The lack of voice from the actual main character, Serph (which is inexcusable these days in a story-driven JRPG), really hurts though since it cuts away the personality of the guy you're technically playing as. Otherwise, the game uses a ton of strange sound effects for enemies, but that's about it in terms of sound effects.