Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor

So has anyone picked this up yet? I grabbed my copy this afternoon.

50 page manual(!) is huge.

I'm already getting a kind of World Ends With You vibe to it, though from what I hear it's a bit more of a strategy RPG than the normal Megaten games.

Ironic though, since they're both for the DS.

I've put a few hours into it so far, and I'm enjoying it. I don't know why exactly, but this particular JRPG apocalypse / disaster scenario is appealing to me.

This game is the main reason I'm buying a DS.

I'm going to pick this up within the next few weeks.

So I made it through my first battle, and it is indeed a strategy RPG.

I haven't played very many of them - Valkryia Chronicles is the only other one, so not really comparable.

I agree with Joe though, the apocalypse/disaster scenario is intriguing.

Atlus games always seem to hook me in.

And Dominic - I'd grab it when you can, the store I bought it at received *two* copies in their store. It may end up being hard to find - like every other Atlus game.

Lard wrote:

I'm already getting a kind of World Ends With You vibe to it

I guess that settles it for me!

Atlus gets Amazon DotD a lot. It sure would be nice if this came up around my next payday...

I was looking for this thread this weekend, actually. Please keep the reviews coming!

Lard - I read that the actual combat was old-school JRPG, not Strat RPG. What say you?

It's pure SRPG from what I've seen so far.

Although it does go into the old school Atlus First Person view when you go into combat.

This game is fantastic. Probably my favorite DS game to date. The the story is VERY similar to The World Ends With You. The protagonists are cribbed from the Persona series. The battles are strict SRPG affairs with grid type movement against arena of enemies. The overworld sections are handled by menus and dialog sections. There is a persistent time system like the Persona games where you will not be able to do everything in one play through. There is a light pokemon element to the streamlined demon system. You bid for demons in an auction against NPCS. Once you get the demons you can train them to customize their skills and then fuse them into more powerful demons. You have a lot more direct control over the evolution of the demons in this game. Some of the systems are a little obtuse, but it's very accessible for a Megaten game. If you are looking to jump into the Megaten universe, this is a fantastic first title to try out.

So why no stylus support? Seems odd to me.

So why no stylus support? Seems odd to me.

Lard wrote:

It's pure SRPG from what I've seen so far.

Although it does go into the old school Atlus First Person view when you go into combat.

I believe I have somehow divined your true answer...somehow.

Btw MegaTen fans like JD: Persona 1 coming to PSP this year, any thoughts? I've never played a MegaTen game, but I'm interested in checking them out.

Yeah, Persona 1 is on my radar definitely, for the Snow Queen Quest alone, never mind the fact that the full soundtrack is coming with it.

I'm happy that I'm not the only Atlus fan on these boards

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Btw MegaTen fans like JD: Persona 1 coming to PSP this year, any thoughts? I've never played a MegaTen game, but I'm interested in checking them out.

I understand that Persona 1 and 2 play very differently from the much-loved 3 and 4. (Not that 1 and 2 aren't much-loved, but I don't think many people got a chance to play them.) I have only played 4 myself, so, grain of salt and all that...

It seems like other games in the series are pretty different, too, the big commonalities being RPG elements and managing a menagerie of demons.

Hoo-ray! My birthday is today and this game is what I received.

Not sure if I should unwrap it or not thought; exploration is what I always crave from RPGs and SRPGs almost never deliver this. Is there any of my beloved 'wandering around finding stuff and talking to people' or is it just the 'press A 16 times to be whisked to the next two-hour battle' that most SRPGS seem to deliver?

There is actually conversation in the game, yes.

I will preface the next statement by saying I have not read any hint/strategy guides. This game seemed to ramp up the difficulty really quickly and I am frequently getting my ass handed to me. What am I doing wrong?

great thread!

so my wife and I just recently got hooked on persona 3 & 4 (i'm playing 3, she's playing 4 and yes we are fighting over whose turn it is to use the ps2)... these have been our introductions to Altus' catalog. In fact, I bought a used psp recently just so i could get the Persona 1 re-release in September (truth be told I also wanted to play FF7)

two questions:
1. I'm a final fantasy fan so i'm used to that kind of RPG battle but i'm a bit confused on the differences between RPG and SRPG.
2. Any recommendations for other similar games would be awesome.

Look up tactical role playing game on wikipedia.

I haven't played any MegaTen games, but I look forward to Persona PSP.

shiitake wrote:

great thread!

so my wife and I just recently got hooked on persona 3 & 4 (i'm playing 3, she's playing 4 and yes we are fighting over whose turn it is to use the ps2)... these have been our introductions to Altus' catalog. In fact, I bought a used psp recently just so i could get the Persona 1 re-release in September (truth be told I also wanted to play FF7)

two questions:
1. I'm a final fantasy fan so i'm used to that kind of RPG battle but i'm a bit confused on the differences between RPG and SRPG.
2. Any recommendations for other similar games would be awesome.

If you like Devil Survivor, grab The World End With You.

These are the SMT games out for PS2

Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne
Digital Devil Saga 1&2
Devil Summoner 1&2 (DS 2 recently came out and should be fairly easy to find)
Persona 3&4

And the NEW game which has inadvertently revealed.

SMT Strange Journey (to be officially revealed July 24th)

Quotes from the site:

Phrases occasionally flash on the blue titles. Some include:

"This is a soldier's hand. It's trustworthy."
"For us, it's 'hope'!"
"Don't lose site of yourself!"
"You came here from a rich country just to die?"
"For the future of mankind, let's both hold our ground!"
"Earth is irrevocably destined to perish.
To ensure the future of mankind, we must persevere!"

Rest of the text is pretty cryptic. Something about an investigation unit sent to the South Pole.

thanks for the heads up on those games!

So having never played a Persona game before, the magic of Gamefly sent me Persona 3 FES, Persona 4, and this game...

AT THE SAME TIME.

What should I do? I've already mailed back P3 FES, since I think that might be a little too much Persona for a newbie all at once, and I figured I should play the newest ones...

Schmutzli wrote:

So having never played a Persona game before, the magic of Gamefly sent me Persona 3 FES, Persona 4, and this game...

AT THE SAME TIME.

What should I do? I've already mailed back P3 FES, since I think that might be a little too much Persona for a newbie all at once, and I figured I should play the newest ones...

Since these are long games, they don't seem suited to a rental unless you are the kind of fellow who can spend 20-30 hours a week or more on gaming. My advice? Play each of them for a few hours to get a feeling for whether you want to spend more time with them.

They might be in the same universe, but I think the gameplay will be different, and it might be overwhelming to play both at once. Personally, I usually try to keep two very different games going at once, and two long-form RPG-format games could be too much.

Holy cow this one is slapping me around! I guess it's my first real SRPG.

I'm at the fight with the Wendingo and getting jackhammered; he's killing each team member in one or two rounds.
My party members are all level 8 and ~ 85 max HP or so. Am I just too low a level to try this fight yet or is there a specific cracked skill important for this battle?

Puce Moose wrote:

Holy cow this one is slapping me around! I guess it's my first real SRPG.

I'm at the fight with the Wendingo and getting jackhammered; he's killing each team member in one or two rounds.
My party members are all level 8 and ~ 85 max HP or so. Am I just too low a level to try this fight yet or is there a specific cracked skill important for this battle?

I didn't find much in the way of crack skills that were useful in that fight. Just get as many demons as you can to hammer on him with Agi. It's definitely worth taking out his companions too, though I think you might have to do that anyway because they have Knight Soul.

Ah thanks, that Agi helped. I only had it one of my characters.

I think I found my real problem though; for some reason I thought each team member could only have *one* Demon familiar. I never even thought about there being a second 'slot' for another demon. Once I had two demons per team member it made it still a challenging fight, but one I was able to win. Hurray!

Help me out here, people: I've heard this game gets pretty freaking hard. I pretty much just started out (Day 1, 10:00), and I'm wondering if I should be going out of my way to do all of these free battles or what.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Help me out here, people: I've heard this game gets pretty freaking hard. I pretty much just started out (Day 1, 10:00), and I'm wondering if I should be going out of my way to do all of these free battles or what.

Yup.

I can't remember but was there a Day 0?

Anyway, the game gets much more difficult when you hit the first boss battle. I got my ass handed to me the first time and I had done a little grinding up to that point. I had to go back and grind out some more to get more fairies or something. I can't recall exactly, but the boss battle requires you to have leveled up enough and have the right set of demons.

Edit: I should add it's been quite a while since I played the game, so ...

garion333 wrote:

I can't remember but was there a Day 0?

There is, but it's pretty much all story prologue. There are battles, but they're story-related and super-easy.

Anyway, the game gets much more difficult when you hit the first boss battle. I got my ass handed to me the first time and I had done a little grinding up to that point. I had to go back and grind out some more to get more fairies or something. I can't recall exactly, but the boss battle requires you to have leveled up enough and have the right set of demons.

I hate to be saying this about a game, but I hope it gets harder. I've heard from a lot of people that it's difficult, though, so we'll see what I think once I hit that first boss fight. (I'm pretty sure that I'm just a turn or two away from it.)

A question about that first boss fight:

Spoiler:

Was that the fight against the Wendigo on Day One? I must have gotten the right combination of demons and skills by luck of the draw, if so, because I aced that fight on the first try.