Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to Safari
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga is a turn-based role-playing game with dungeon crawling. You play as Serph, the leader of a Tribe in a world where the strong rule over the weak, and the weakest are devoured by their enemies as part of the cycle of life.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Amazing amount of skill customization for your party members
The way you learn skills and assign them as needed works really well. You spend in-game money, called Macca, on a subset of skills that fall under one umbrella, like ice-related spells or a group of physical attacks. Then, once you gain enough points, you unlock those handful of skills to be able to set them freely to your character whenever you need to. The downside of this is that no one has a set "job identity", but it doesn't matter too much, since this system lets you tackle enemies and bosses with any party make up that you want. So if you're having trouble with a boss, all you have to do is shuffle your skills around and try again.
Pro Bleak, engrossing atmosphere and soundtrack
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga has a lot of personality in its style, sound, and feel. There's just something about the dreary, gray visual filter to everything that pulls you in and helps you feel at ease in the world, despite the heavy themes in the story that revolve around the strong conquering the weak. The soundtrack goes a long way to instill a sense of chill attitude for most overworld and exploration music, with the thrumming bass sounds and catchy electric guitar work adding a lot to the game's unique charm.
The memorable song that plays in the opening cinematic, "Danger", is a great representation of the cool yet troubled vibe that the game has. The music picks up when it needs to, mainly for boss battles -- in particular, the track that plays the final encounter is one to remember. Overall, Digital Devil Saga has a look and feel to it that stands out from the crowd in an attractive way, bleakness and all.
Pro Intriguing character-driven story that revolves around survival of the fittest
The plot leans heavily into the idea of a primitive, dog-eat-dog world where the strong dominate the weak. You start off as the leader of a Tribe called the Embryon, where you and your companions set out to conquer other Tribes in order to be rewarded by reaching Nirvana, a fabled paradise. You, your friends, and your Tribe's enemies can all turn into demons at will to battle it out, and then the victor must devour their foes to satisfy their primal instincts.
But you and your companions eventually begin to question this cycle as their sense of humanity kicks in, and they begin to value the bonds they share as comrades over the authoritarian laws of the ruling temple. Watching everyone "wake up" and fight against their fate is a thought-provoking experience.
Pro Strategic and rewarding turn-based combat
The battles in the Shin Megami Tensei series are unforgiving in how difficult they are, though the challenge isn't as daunting in Digital Devil Saga. You fight as a group of humans who can turn into demons, aiming to pinpoint your enemy's elemental weaknesses and exploit them. Once you find the weakness, you're rewarded with an extra turn; if you keep landing the right attacks, then the game lets you chain a finite number of turns one after another.
But this also applies to your enemies -- if they exploit your weaknesses, then they get extra turns instead. And as you get farther along in the game, you get access to buffs to your party's attack, defense, evasion, and more, as well as debuffs to debilitate your foes. The sense of satisfaction you get helps you to keep pushing forward.
Pro Thoughtful lore based on Hinduism and Buddhism
The backstories and naming conventions in the game are all nice religious references, mainly revolving Hinduism and Buddhism and the idea of reincarnation. Philosophy and religion enthusiasts may recognize the names of the major Tribe bases in Digital Devil Saga, such as Svadhisthana, Ajna, and Muladhara, all of which are the same names of chakra in Hindu Tantrism. The concept of mantra is also related to battle, as these are the subsets of skills that you unlock as you gain atma points, or AP, in battle. Reincarnation also plays a big role in the characters' lives: it's something to look out for as you progress through the story.
Pro Good starting point for new players interested in the Shin Megami Tensei games
If you're looking to get into the Shin Megami Tensei series, then this is a good place to jump in. The difficulty level is just right for easing you in to the rest of the games, which are much harder. It also has a similar atmosphere and tone to the rest of the franchise, even though it is more of a character-driven story than most others. While it is missing some of the series staples such as negotiating with demons to join your party, as well as the moral alignment system through dialogue choices, this isn't necessarily a deal-breaker.
Cons
Con High random encounter rate
The random encounter rate in Digital Devil Saga is irritatingly high, to the point where it may put you off the game entirely. You won't be able to go ten seconds in a dungeon without running into a battle. And then, you may only take half a step and you're in yet another fight. There's a certain item you can use to cut down the encounters, but only for enemies weaker than you, and it takes some time to unlock this item from the vendor. Regular fights are usually over pretty quickly, so you just have to tough it out.
Con Story ends on a major cliffhanger to set up Digital Devil Saga 2
The ending is a huge tease in the way it leaves many questions unanswered and introduces new ones. The last few cutscenes of the game are more about setting things up for the sequel, Digital Devil Saga 2, than providing closure or a complete story. You can typically beat this game in about 30 hours, but it still feels a bit short, as if things purposely got cut in half for the second installment.
Con Eventually costs a lot of in-game money to unlock skills
While it's awesome and convenient that all you have to do is buy subsets of skills and unlock them by gaining enough AP in battle, this does have its downsides. As you get to the higher-tier skills, they end up costing a lot of Macca. It's understandable to not be able to afford the more costly ones, as there is a New Game+ option where you can go after the things you missed in your first playthrough.
But you may find yourself in some trouble if you're up against a tough boss, and in order to survive the fight, you need one of the more expensive skills. If you're diligent about exploring and picking up treasure chests, you should have enough Macca to get by, but you may still need to be conservative about your spending habits.
Con Missing a few staples from the Shin Megami Tensei series
Longtime SMT veterans may dislike the absence of things like negotiating with demons to join your party, fusing those demons together to create better ones, a moral alignment system where your ideological choices shape the fate of the world, and a story that is less about the characters and more about the world itself. Digital Devil Saga does lean into the Chaos alignment concept of the strong ruling the weak, but the rest is noticeably absent. This game does stand on its own without everything else, though some players may still miss those features.
Con One particular character's accent is terrible
The voice acting is generally decent, except one character's accent is really off-putting. Cielo, one of your companions, initially doesn't have an accent until a little later on in the game when his voice changes for plot reasons. His voice actor seems to be going for a Jamaican accent, but it's so obvious that it's fake. He's also the comic relief character, so a lot of his lines are silly and dumb to try and make you laugh; they sound even worse with the bogus accent. Because he's a prominent character, you can't exactly tune him out, either.
Recommendations
Comments
