My First Experience With A Shin Megami Tensei Title, It's Well Worth It - A Fusion of Mythology and Turn-Based Combat
It's quite and original, and unusual story-line for a Japanese RPG to tackle and take on, but as the series is made by ATLUS it's not a surprise they would give us quite a deep, plot and attached cast to it. For me personally the story-line of Devil Survivor, and the general theme of the Shin Megami Tensei is what drew me in, with game-play similar to Final Fantasy and Pokemon.
Getting into the game can be quite heavy, as the story-line at first will surprise you but slowly the characters make transitioning to the plot easier, as you can talk to them and get snippets of information from them. Slowly you discover that demons are invading the human realm, particularly Tokyo where a gateway is hidden above the city, now opening and releasing demons onto the streets of the city below.
You are your friends, are given COMP's that allow you to fight the demons, and use the demons you control to fight your enemies - quite similar to Pokemon, but far more darker in theme and tone. Combat is played out on a grid-set battlefield, allowing you to strategically place your characters to either avoid counter-attacks or unleash your own on enemy demons.
Graphically the game is quite stunning, like any anime-themed JRPG games are - in particular demons and characters appear to have been well designed.
The Good:
- Deep, dark themed plot and story-line, with mythologies and history influencing plots and scenes.
- Graphically, the game-play is very well designed in regards to characters and demons, with Anime influence.
- Combat is easy to get a handle on, and there is an RTS element to your characters movements, and actions - allowing you to choose where to strategically place your party on the battlefield.
- Side missions, and the in-game auction house that allows you to purchase additional demons to use in your party and their battles.
The Bad:
- Other than a few issues regarding difficulty, I can't find any true issues with Devil Survivor.
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor is probably to me personally, one of easier titles of the franchise to get into and the world of the game - as I have heard other titles of the series are much more difficult and require a lot of forward-thinking. Devil Survivor is well worth buying for die-hard fans of RPG's, particularly JRPG fans. For those wanting an RPG with a dark, monotonous tone then Devil Survivor is what you need.