Collection essentials #496-#497: Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 (PS2)

Now it’s time to talk about an RPG series I haven’t referenced yet in the blog: Megami Tensei. This series from Atlus started in Japan in the late ‘80s on the Famicom, and continues to this day, with many sequels and spinoffs. The cute creature "Jack Frost" from these games has at times served as one of the mascots for Atlus. The games are darker than your average JRPG, often with grim themes, and sometimes borrowing elements of real-world religions. That, along with the games’ generally-high difficulty, makes it no surprise that the series was entirely exclusive to Japan for many years. 

The first mainline game in the series was Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne on the PS2, which came out in 2004 in North America. I own Nocturne, but it didn’t make my list, unfortunately. I did try it out many years ago and it intrigued me a lot, but the game’s difficulty was rather punishing in a way that turned me off.

The following year, we would get these two Digital Devil Saga games, which are spinoffs of the main series. These two games tell one story, as the first game ends in a cliffhanger and the second game picks up immediately afterward. They were designed with a broader audience in mind, including the Westerners who were new to the whole Megami Tensei thing. The Digital Devil Saga games would like the series trademark of being able to recruit enemy monsters, but would be more of a plot-centric game and would feature extensive voice acting for the first time. And I suppose it worked, because you can count me among the Westerners who took a liking to Digital Devil Saga. These were the first Megami Tensei games of any kind that I ever beat.

These games have a unique story that takes place in a dystopian setting: a digital realm known as the “Junkyard” where several tribes are compelled to destroy each other in order to reach “Nirvana”. The main cast of the game, as you’d expect, belongs to one of these tribes, known as “Embryon”. As if this wasn’t bad enough, a virus has been unleashed onto the inhabitants of Junkyard which causes them to transform into demons with a ravenous hunger. At the same time, they encounter a mysterious girl with special powers (honk if you’ve heard that one in a JRPG before) that can combat the effects of the virus. 

The gameplay of Digital Devil Saga is very much like Nocturne. It’s a JRPG where you explore the world, conquer dungeons, find items, solve puzzles, and strengthen your party. Combat is turn-based, initiated by random battles when you’re braving the hostile world. As with most Megami Tensei games, weaknesses play a huge role in combat. Not only is more damage dealt when a combatant is hit with their weakness, but the user gets an extra action afterward as well. Also similar to other Megami Tensei games, spells that strengthen or weaken combatants play a large role, even in boss fights as bosses can be weakened with spells (unlike in many other RPGs).

While transforming into demons is a curse of sorts, it also provides the primary form of combat for our protagonists. Using a special skill to “devour” enemies will lead to gaining more “AP” after battle, which can be used to learn more skills. Speaking of which, this game features a “skill tree” where players can spend AP on a variety of options to choose what characters will learn next. It provides a nice amount of customization, and a lot of thought has to be put into what skills will be most effective in the next part of the game.

The gameplay is certainly fun, though it can be frustrating at times. With the game being so heavily focused on weaknesses, it can lead to some frustrating moments when new enemies exploit a characters’ weakness and just go to town. Boss fights tend to feel like trial and error, as you’ll often want a specific set of skills learned and equipped in order to take down each one. It’s worth noting that the game always warns you when a boss fight is about to happen, so you can at least save the game ahead of time so you won’t lose progress when you almost-inevitably die the first time.

But Digital Devil Saga does an excellent job in most aspects. It presents a unique story and vibe, with good visuals and a quality soundtrack that sets the mood the game is going for. Dungeons are varied and interesting. While the gameplay is sometimes frustrating, at other times it feels like a rewarding challenge to overcome.

While they’re not my absolute top favorite RPGs on the PS2, I enjoyed my time with Digital Devil Saga a lot, and they manage to stand out in their own series and in the genre as a whole. The games have only been rereleased once a long time ago, so sadly they’re not widely available at the moment…but I think they’re likely candidates for a modern remaster one of these years, so keep your eyes peeled. If you like JRPGs but want something different than the usual fantasy setting they come with, you’ll likely find these games refreshing.