An Experience Worth Every Minute

The Shin Megami Tensei series is something that is very dear to my heart, with SMT IV being one of my favorite games of all time. Something that I’m not afraid to admit is that I am not very good at video games. Hence my love of visual novels and games with turn based combat. With turn based combat it gives you time to stop and think about your next move, something that I always have issues with in video games. (Like playing a fighting game and just smashing the a button. I will never understand how people are able to input combos like that so fast) The SMT series is a great middle ground for this, with turn based combat but also having very difficult battles and intense situations. So of course, when I saw Digital Devil Saga at the store the other day, I didn’t even hesitate to pick it up.

GAMEPLAY AND PLOT

Digital Devil Saga separates itself from the mainline games by taking place not in a post apocalyptic world, but instead in a futuristic dystopia. The game follows seven different tribes who live in a world called the Junkyard, all fighting each other for the right to reach a place called “Nirvana.” Our main characters all come from the same tribe, the Embryon. At the start of the game the residents of this world are emotionless soldiers, just fighting to win. However, everything changes when an egg like object lands in their world, harboring a naked girl seen in the fetal position. When they go to check it out, bolts of light appear from the egg, piercing every single member of the Junkyard. The characters wake to find themselves with newfound emotions, and the ability to turn into demons. 

the main character’s demon form, Varuna

The main characters turning into demons is what the gameplay truly centers on. Instead of talking to demons and having them fight alongside you like in other games, there is nothing of the sort in this one. In fact, the only demons you will have in your party are your other friends who are able to turn into them. As well as that, every character’s skills are completely customizable, and it works really well. The freedom of being able to customize your characters at practically your own will feels really clean, and allows you to play the game however you want. 

I never found myself annoyed at this game’s difficulty. Even with the random encounters, which everyone knows can get really annoying, I actually enjoyed it. More battles meant more exp for my characters to level up, and for me to teach them even more new skills. The game isn’t too easy though, as there were multiple times I had to start fights over to rethink my strategy. But I was never angry at the game for being too hard or unfair, and was always able to come back with a new strategy that works. The game also has some puzzles thrown in, which I always appreciate although they aren’t that good. They’re awfully simple and weren’t too hard to figure out, but it was nice to have a bit of change from the previous areas. 

The dungeons would sometimes suffer from confusing design, though. Specifically the final one. They feature a sort of transportation puzzle, where you step on a tile and it transports you to the other side of the wall. This is used to get around walls and reach the door to the next area. This sounds fine on paper, but there is absolutely no visual cue to show you what side of the wall the transporter will take you. And the result of this is; A LOT of trial and error. Remember those random encounters I said I didn’t mind, maybe even enjoyed? When you spend thirty minutes trying to figure out a puzzle that shouldn’t be difficult just for the time to be stretched into an hour because you get an encounter every two steps, they don’t end up being too fun. 

OST AND VISUALS

My god. This game’s soundtrack is so good. I know I’ve said that about all the other games I’ve reviewed but this one is special. The soundtrack is compose by Shoji Meguro, who has done the music for a bunch of other SMT games, and he did not go easy on this one. Literally almost every single soundtrack in the game is amazing. It does such a fantastic job at converting the cyber scenery, with the tracks sounding almost techy? I know next to nothing about music and can’t describe it as great as it actually is so all I can say is listen to this, the track that plays when you have control of your character for the first time. I could listen to this for hours.

Along with Shoji Meguro coming back for the composition, Kazuma Kaneko was back for the character design. For those who don’t know, Kaneko is a big artist for the SMT series, his most known thing being giving the characters a black upper lip. I’ve always been a fan of his art, and it doesn’t stop here. His art direction in this game is incredible. The first cutscene I felt almost uncomfortable, because it did such a good job of portraying the oddness and emptiness of this fantasy world. The ending cutscene in particular I loved, which would be a great time to also get into spoiler territory. 

SPOILERS BELOW

It turns out our protagonists are trapped in some sort of simulation, after their deaths in the real world. And the Nirvana they are so desperately trying to reach is actually the real world, the place where they all died. Despite knowing this, they continue to fight and reach for Nirvana, climbing up a tall tower. In the end, they release some sort of virus and the final cutscene is them falling in the sky, unknown what will happen to them. Like I said before, the art direction in this scene is fantastic. I love the way all the characters fall in a pure white background, leaving such a bitter feeling after seeing them almost complete the goal. The end of the game implies they have made it into the real world, but is left ambiguous until the second game.

SPOILERS OVER

Overall the story in this game was so captivating, and was another major factor in my motivation to play this game. The characters also have really nice chemistry together, and I even found myself laughing at them a couple times, which shows how connected you really got to them. I ended up playing this game for about six hours straight, just because I wanted to see what happened next. 

I would go as far to say I would recommend this game to anyone trying to get into the SMT series. It’s captivating, not too hard, and simply a fun game to play. It’s not only a great starting point for the series, but a great game in general. One of my favorite games I have ever played!

Buy here!