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Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 |OT| Big Dipper and Bigger Boobs

Zekes!

Member
I ended up buying this today while I was out.

Goddamn it Atlus.

On another note I can't find my copy of Devil Survivor 1. I'm trying to remember if I sold it or not.
 

Koroviev

Member
what is strange journey like? thats the DS game right?

Yeah, it's the DS game. It's a first-person dungeon crawler in the mainline SMT series. Something is rather amiss in the Arctic north and you and your team are tasked with getting to the bottom of it. It's notable for featuring adult protagonists and taking place outside of Japan. It's probably my favorite DS game, but I still need to play Devil Survivor 2 (my copy is still out for delivery Q_Q).
 

mjc

Member
I grabbed a copy of this just in case Atlus decides to limit copies. Still gotta beat Overclocked first.
 

Esura

Banned
Wow, that is a brutal way to start day 1. That's gorier than anything in DS1.

So bad that they only show bits and pieces of the scene and parts of it was blurred out.

Taking nostalgia out of the equation, I'm liking how this is starting out more than DS1.
 

PK Gaming

Member
My early impressions (copy pasta'd from another forum btw)



So the start:
-MC. He's... the MC. His dialogue choices are more dickish than the original imo, but he's pretty cool.

-Daichi. The supposed Atsuro clone, though he is absolutely nothing like him. He's more of a comic relief character (the rare few that are actually likeable!) and he's a bit of a coward.
Though so far he saved my ass from Dubhe (a monster alien)
Stat wise he's really fast, with high str, good vit and crap magic. I can't imagine what he'll be like with multistrike...

-Io. The supposed Yuzu clone, though she is absolutely nothing like her. She's more calm, reserved, modest and pretty smart too. She's NOT friends the MC or Daichi early on, but she becomes part of their group rather quickly. Her stats are really unique. Instead of the token fast, mage caster, she's a mage... with pretty damn high str but low vit and speed. Also her boobs are even bigger than Yuzu, go figure.

-Joe. My own personal favorite character. If there's one thing that was wrong with DS1, was the lack of character choice until the very end. In this game you're introduced to your 4th party member rather quickly, and he's just awesome. Laid back, chill and down to earth, Joe doesn't seem to worried about the ongoing disaster. Statistically, he has the stats of a token mage (high magic + speed, low str + vit) so he's good by default.

-Premise is awesome.
The opening sequence is almost identical to my high school life with my own best friend. There isn't a lockdown, but an earthquake has leveled most of tokyo and demons are on the loose + monster aliens are at large too. Your demon tutorial person has an actual face now. Guy (???) girl (Tico) who's got infectious charm. There aren't any comps, instead people use their cell phones to fight. You're introduced to a bunch of new characters quickly, and they introduce the fate system. Basically, the nicer you are to people, the stronger they become. (I became good friends with Daichi, Io and Joe rather quickly and they all got elemental resistances)

So yeah, so far the game is damn awesome.

PS: They totally make an DS1 reference. At one point you see an SDF guard arguing with a civilian; the civilian wants to go to a certain (dangerous) area while the SDF guard opposes him. The civilian does it anyway, and SDF guard curses instead of shooting him, and says something to this effect "we're trying to help you the best way we can."

Hehehehe
 

Koroviev

Member
Initial impression is positive. This one just feels better than the first. The much improved soundtrack and character design certainly help. My only real gripe at the moment is that many of the dialog options feel trivial. In a lot of cases the choices have more or less the same meaning and don't even differ in tone.
 

B.K.

Member
I picked up a copy today and paid off Monado and almost paid off Tales of Graces F while I was there. I don't know when/if I'll ever get around to playing it. It's going into my backlog with Overclocked.
 

Jenga

Banned
this game only confirms something I've suspected about atlus for years now


they hate every single one of us, and want us to die

preferably in this game
 

Zekes!

Member
Don't take offence to this at all but;

You and a thousand other users who think they're the funny ones for posting of this. You're not, and this topic has been beaten to death.

Whoa dawg, c'mon now.

Second impression: Feels like more of the same, but in a good way. As people have already mentioned, it feels better than the first and getting Joe so early is really nice.
 

duckroll

Member
Just picked this up. Hopefully it's as good as the first one. :D

US manuals are so bloated these days... goddamn Canadian regulations. Lol.
 

duckroll

Member
Hmmmm. Played for about an hour.

- Backgrounds are really, really nice. Both the battle backgrounds and the event backgrounds seem much more detailed than the previous game, with a good amount of detail, and solid art direction.

- The train FMV was pretty lulz. Reminded me of PS1 CG FMVs.

- What's with the font color for the names in the dialogue boxes? It looks like some red/blue 3D effect thing. Really ugly and distracting. :/

- Compared to the first few fights in Devil Survivor 1, this seems super easy. Maybe I'm just really used to the game systems after the first game though. Feels good. Hope the challenge ramps up soon.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Hmmmm. Played for about an hour.

- Backgrounds are really, really nice. Both the battle backgrounds and the event backgrounds seem much more detailed than the previous game, with a good amount of detail, and solid art direction.

- The train FMV was pretty lulz. Reminded me of PS1 CG FMVs.

- What's with the font color for the names in the dialogue boxes? It looks like some red/blue 3D effect thing. Really ugly and distracting. :/

- Compared to the first few fights in Devil Survivor 1, this seems super easy. Maybe I'm just really used to the game systems after the first game though. Feels good. Hope the challenge ramps up soon.

Destructoid:
Don't spend all your time chatting up the game's many cute girls, though, as you'll need to set aside some for customizing from trial and error and some repeated battles. The first game's difficulty bar was already set pretty high, but Atlus has turned it up even higher in this sequel with battles that are so difficult that I came dangerously close to snapping my DS in half.

Dont think you need to worry about that.
 

Volcynika

Member
But I gots to chat up the ladies!

And since it's been pointed out a reviewer didn't even read the manual which nulls a complaint for the most part, ehhh to reviews. :p
 

Jenga

Banned
the game ramps up like a motherfucker on the second half


i swear the game fudges itself up just to get your ass

what's that? wanna kill the boss? here get stoned fuck you
 

PK Gaming

Member
Yeah, I don't generally listen to reviews when they talk about how "hard" games are. :p

The game ramps up immensely when you reach your first
non demon
boss. You'll cry on the 4th day's boss too. Though if you guys have played the original than you should be fine. The Beldr boss battle from the original game made me into a better player lmao. Strategy and tactics > pure leveling (though a high level doesn't hurt)
 

Torraz

Member
Going back to the small ds-lite screen is always startling, really enjoying the game so far. This might be the last game for ds that I buy, except for possibly inuzuma or ace attorney investigations 2 if a miracle occurs.
 
Picked up my copy yesterday afternoon. In the middle of the help Joe battle right now.
This is definitely the devil survivor I know and love.
The music is better than the first game (like the music in the first).
All the additions added in Overclocked are present here, and I'm already seeing some interesting new skills.
The new demon auction is interesting, though I wish you could bid more than once per auction.

Daichi feels like the Yuzu of this game, with a bit of comic relief thrown in.
Joe has some awesome dialogue and responses.
Liking calling him a pervert when he grabs Daichi
.

All in all I'm really enjoying myself so far and I look forward to diving into the game more and moving past the tutorial battles to the real challenge.
 

duckroll

Member
The game ramps up immensely when you reach your first
non demon
boss. You'll cry on the 4th day's boss too. Though if you guys have played the original than you should be fine. The Beldr boss battle from the original game made me into a better player lmao. Strategy and tactics > pure leveling (though a high level doesn't hurt)

I'm looking forward to getting my ass kicked. It's funny how I was a bit concerned that I had forgotten how to play Devil Survivor since the original was so long ago, but damn, the moment I got into a battle, it all came back to me. :D
 

bubnbob

Banned
I know this game requires strategy, but what's a good "common" warmup you guys do? I normally do a free battle every so often to crack some skills, then after a few story fights I'll do some Auction hunting, and Fusing to get some beefier monsters. Since the game actually suggests you do this instead of leveling.

I just started Day 2. I'm enjoying it, but like Devil Survivor I'm waiting for it to go all "fuck you" mode with everyone healing, reviving themselves and making all my work for nothing.
 

Kazerei

Banned
Does the demonic compendium have demon bios? I love them bios...

Yep!

I know this game requires strategy, but what's a good "common" warmup you guys do? I normally do a free battle every so often to crack some skills, then after a few story fights I'll do some Auction hunting, and Fusing to get some beefier monsters. Since the game actually suggests you do this instead of leveling.

I just started Day 2. I'm enjoying it, but like Devil Survivor I'm waiting for it to go all "fuck you" mode with everyone healing, reviving themselves and making all my work for nothing.

So far I've been doing a free battle in between every story battle, 'cause there are a LOT of skills to crack. And I check the fusion list in between every battle, and try to fuse new higher-level demons as soon as I possibly can. Not every single type of demon though, just if the fusion makes sense. So far so good...
 

Curufinwe

Member
Destructoid:


Dont think you need to worry about that.

That reviewer didn't know about the Suspend feature which makes hard battles much more manageable. You make a save once you've figured out a good start, and if you die you just reload without having to start from the beginning.
 

Jenga

Banned
The game definitely doesn't skimp on the skills/demons. I feel more powerful at this part of the game than I did in DS1, although it could be perhaps I'm closer to the end than I think.

That reviewer didn't know about the Suspend feature which makes hard battles much more manageable. You make a save once you've figured out a good start, and if you die you just reload without having to start from the beginning.

Which is basically cheating. Or using save states in an emulator.
 
That reviewer didn't know about the Suspend feature which makes hard battles much more manageable. You make a save once you've figured out a good start, and if you die you just reload without having to start from the beginning.

But that ruins all of the fun.
 

Curufinwe

Member
But that ruins all of the fun.

I had plenty of fun using Suspend judiciously and getting every ending on the first game. Restarting the same hour long battle over and over from the very beginning is not fun for me.

Using a feature built into the game is cheating... lol.
 

Jenga

Banned
I had plenty of fun using Suspend judiciously and getting every ending on the first game. Restarting the same hour long battle over and over from the very beginning is not fun for me.

Using a feature built into the game is cheating... lol.
we reject thee heretic
 

duckroll

Member
I think I beat the boss for Day 1. I liked the design of the battle because it required you to think a little about turn order and movement points/positioning if you didn't want to get super-fucked while getting to the objective. Still feels easier than DS1. It's funny how the scenario in DS2 feels so much more dire and dangerous, especially in the presentation, but the game so far feels significantly easier. I guess that goes with being more experienced with the game's systems though. Hopefully it ramps up even more soon. :D

I'm digging the soundtrack. Feels much more like a RPG soundtrack with more variety in the themes, rather than the boring ass butt rock that was 90% of DS1's OST.
 

Golbez

Member
The manual surprised me too! Was disappointed when I realized it was only half as big as it looked, but I suppose I should appreciate any kind of manual while they still exist.

Full color, too!
 

Koroviev

Member
The manual surprised me too! Was disappointed when I realized it was only half as big as it looked, but I suppose I should appreciate any kind of manual while they still exist.

Full color, too!

I think the inclusion of the character bust art is pretty nice. Just unfortunate that it's not that big on the DS :(
 

PK Gaming

Member
The game definitely doesn't skimp on the skills/demons. I feel more powerful at this part of the game than I did in DS1, although it could be perhaps I'm closer to the end than I think.



Which is basically cheating. Or using save states in an emulator.

Its not cheating in the slightest, its an extremely useful feature that makes every single battle less tedious and frustrating. lf imposed limitations are illogical, and the fact the game gives you a suspend feature (which is extremely helpful late game) is a huge boon. Its a shame the reviewer didn't even know about it; its likely that he didn't end up finishing the game as a result. There's a reason why its been in all 3 devil survivor games.

The fact they called DS1 hard makes it rather hard to believe :x

Well, if you're not well versed in SRPGs are megami games in general you will get your ass kicked. Hard. In the original DS game, It took me a while before I "got" the game. (Equal amounts of grinding, auctioning, fusing, and proper set ups) as a result a few of the bosses absolutely murdered me. Final boss and its
2 phases
wrecked me too. Though the following playthrough (non newgame+) in Overclocked was noticeably easier. In comparison to modern games, i'd call DS1 a "hard" game.
 

Mitama

Member
Got my game!

It's awesome so far, I'm currently on the 5th day and the story is beginning to pick up. So far, I like Devil Survivor's story better though. What about you guys?

I really like how the MC looks at you when you pick the right dialogue options haha, always makes me chuckle.

My MC is STR-based and doing pretty damn well so far. I love how there's such a diverse cast and how good (as in specialized) most of their stat builds are.

My favourite demons at the moment are:
- Tyrant King Frost (its racial skill, Tyranny, restores MP after each battle, it's awesome)
- Deity Thor (Awakening does 1.5x MAG dmg, really good when combined with King Frost so you can cast it every other battle + he got crazy STR)
- Kishin race, Double Up is great, especially when combined with a demon that has Evil/Chaos Wave
- Divine race, Blood Wine is very handy for my healing team

I've got 2 physical focused teams, 1 magic based and my fourth team is just empty most of the time.
 
Ahhh...this is next on my list, after KoA: Reckoning. The original Survivor may have been my favorite SMT game to date (due in no small part to its excellent storyline and multiple endings). I assume DS2 holds up, in that regard? Can't wait to get my hands on it.
 
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