Actually, I wanted to request you cover 13 Sentinels, since you've mentioned Trash or Treasure. He mentioned in his review of 13 Sentinentals when explaining why he wasn't willing to cover that game's story, "I'll leave that to Nams Compendium I'm sure he's going through the game right now." XD So, basically a matter of connecting you two, even though you already know each other as streams have proven Also its another stragegy/visual novel game, with a bigger focus on the visual novel aspect more than the stragegy
If you weren’t a fan of the difficulty I’d say give majin tensei2 a chance. It’s a much more traditional tactics rpg but with lots of megaten things that make it stand out
You handled the requests for this video respectfully, and I appreciate it Ever consider reading the Devil Survivor manga adaptation? I've read 5 out of the 8 volumes, and I'd say it's a fun read! Give it a try when you have time
40:05 Yeah if you spend enough time with Kiesuke he reveals a little about his past and how he was severely bullied with no way to defend himself after trying to help someone who was being bullied. The reason he becomes so angry and vengeful and starts killing is because he's projecting himself on Midori who was just trying to help people and the people out to kill her as the bullies from his past that harassed him relentlessly including the very bully victim he tried to defend. Now that he has the power to fight back all that pent up anger and resent from his experience being bullied fuels his vengeful crusade to enforce his own justice. Hope you cover devil survivor record breaker.
Afther SH2, actually i kinda wish that DeSu 3 doesn't happen untill Atlus proves that they can make great Smt games again(SMT V is actually really good but was so flawed story wise, as well with IV A that i'm skeptic with their writers for any series not called Persona)
Ditto here. One of my favorite series, so much that I wrote my own DeSu 3 plot. Hopefully Persona 5 Tactica will succeed enough to convince them of the continued value of turn-based strategy.
@@KrimsonKattYT Wasn't Persona 4 Arena written by the creators of BlazBlue? Also, P5 did have a good story. Probably not as good a story as P4, but when you compare it to the utter sh!t that was Final Fantasy 15 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake (both of which spent about the same amount of time in development), Persona 5 is brilliant.
Some quick notes. Atsuro's route is locked behind a relatively inconsequential event on Day 3, not saving Keisuke, and since you were save scumming to "Avoid Wasted Time", you probably skipped it because you figured it wasn't relevant. Devil Survivor does this a LOT, relatively inconsequential events are rarely wasted time, it usually leads to a pay off later, like saving character's lives, unlocking bonus bosses (And thus demons to fuse), getting new members into your party, etc. Because of this, spending time with party members is usually less important than that, I don't even think it does anything BUT learn more about them, at least in 2 is unlocks buffs and demons. Another observation is that, you did a single play through, but you did a LOT of demon compendium fusing, and you mentioned you grinded free battles for money for it. Since you were playing on normal, and doing an obscene amount of grinding, you obliterated the difficulty curve, I don't think there's very many SMT games that can't be broken this way, and it's not really a fair critique of any rpg, strategy or otherwise, if you do that, and it's no surprising you didn't have any difficulties until near the end of the game, if you go through the game from start to finish only occasionally using free battles to pick up new skills, the difficulty curve is a lot more in line with SMT expectations of difficulty. And I know you did too much grinding, because you didn't mention that Leader units take 25% less damage per surviving subordinate, which is something you only really notice if you're not so over powered that you can always one shot every leader unit. Leading into that, I had the opposite experience in 4, the game was a total cake walk because I took the time to grind, optimized fusions and did all the side stuff I could, the only challenges I really had were with the bonus bosses at the end of dungeons once they're completed, but that was only because I was tackling them as soon as they were available, and I was still able to beat them with a few attempts.
I agree, especially with the grinding point. The theme in DS1 is feeling like everything is against you and never having enough resources to feel comfortable. I think that was why the compendium prices were high and fusing was something to be done as a luxury. And with that, knowing that these fusions aren't meant to be ideal but maybe just good enough to have better odds in battles. Unless someone went out of their way to do this, of course the game is going to punish the grinder with monotonous, long grinding sessions because of course they're not supposed to do that. Also (not related to your comment) I did want to note that Honda's route and a lot of other events are just something to enjoy as you try multiple endings, which are encouraged by the devs. Not everything has to affect an ending for it to be worthwhile content to enjoy.
On that note, Gin's route is infernal because of how many little missable side events are actually conditions for it. In day 5 evening I believe there's an event where Atsuro can check the script for the demon summoning program and find that there's a recall function. If you miss this one little event you're locked out of the Gin/Haru endings, which in the original was strongly alluded to be the "good" ending.
I think one thing that makes Devil Survivor work for me is that it's at its core, a deconstruction of the Mons genre. - The demons aren't seen as miraculous but terrifying. - Stock anime characters are put under realistic pressure and many of them bend or break. - The contained environment means that anxieties, fears and hatreds bubble to the surface. - Fighting with Mons isn't framed as cool, but horrifying. - You can't save everyone.
Definitely one of my favorite games in the franchise for a lot of reasons, but most notably with its setting. Many games in this franchise like to throw us into an apocalyptic setting, and don’t really get to explore the transitionary period before the world goes into chaos. It’s nice to see the differing ways people handle and cope when placed under extreme circumstances.
Yeah Keisuke does explain his reason why he acted the way he did assuming he survives long enough. In case your curious you have to tell Kaido Miss Mari is in danger of dying and he goes to save her distracting him momentarily allowing you to save both back to back. IIRC Keisuke used to protect people from bullying in High School. One day one of the people he protected flipped the script, joined with the bullies who picked on him, and began to bully Keisuke instead. This essentially warped his entire world view and caused him to become incredibly cynical. Why protect people if they are just going to stab me in the back later. The only thing he doesn’t realize is that by using Yanma he has become no better than the bullies he used to protect against.
About extra action it is quite consistent. The thing is there is passive that can resist extra, race skill that annul extra (dragon race) and active skill that can cancel extra.
I like that it's not guaranteed because it also means that enemies aren't ensured the extra turns too. There's already the damage bonus from hitting weaknesses so I don't know why every factor has to be static for it to be worthwhile.
Devil Survivor was the first SMT game I played and the reason I fell in love with the series. Also, thanks to this game, I've learned the cruelty of grinding. The game has an amazing story and gameplay with interesting and great characters. Whatever route you choose-law, chaos, neutral, or run away-the game will respect your decision and give you a satisfying conclusion to the path you've taken while at the same time bearing it's consequences. Anyway, Amane is my favorite character in this game because she is the epitome of how a law character in SMT should act and represent, and her routes are really satisfying.
I love the 8th day content cause it adds context to pretty much every ending, my favorite being Yuzu. Spoilers of course Yuzu, through the entire game, basically wants nothing to do with anything that's happening, eventually near the end of the week, she openly admits she just wants to escape the lockdown, get her life back(and yes this is as stupid of a plan as you think, and the original game makes it clear that her ending is considered the "are you fucking stupid Bad Ending"), the 8th day shows exactly why her idea was stupid, the angels see your party escaping without even attempting to make change in humanity as a farce, and outright take away humanities ability to have determination within their hearts, basically saying "If you were too scared to fight, now the rest of the world is". Also demons and angels escape through the same route you do so you essentially make the whole world worse. This 8th day ending involves you and Yuzu going right back into the quarantine and sucking it up, accepting that there is no escaping certain events and you have to face them.
Even better, if you don’t do certain things throughout the week you are by default stuck with the bad ending to Yuzus 8Th Day. So in the end attempting to fix things when you already broke it to the point of no return is still possible. We just won’t have to worry about Belberith going forward with his own plans even in that state.
the 8th days are also interesting for how they change the alignments Amane goes further into law Yuzu goes from a running away/bad end to neutral and Naoya either goes further into chaos or neutral depending if you kill or protect humans
I think what makes Yuzu's/Escape route 8th so damn interesting is the fact that not only you but the entire humanity is rejected by all alignments. For a series of games where people fight and die for their beliefs/alignment choices this is the one game where you can choose to not bother with them. Side with the angels? Demons? Your fellow humans? No, you want nothing to do with this fight you never asked for. Ultimately humanity being left to its devices free of law, neutral or chaos influence it's so weird yet so interesting to see. I agree that the original DS just treated this like a bad ending and top it off it felt like you just wasted your time so I'm glad this one of the routes that was chosen for an 8th day scenario.
@@alucard002x when I got overclocked after having played the base game on all routes I opted for yuzu first without the 8th day to get all the ng+ bonuses. It's the shortest so less to grind on a new game file
The only weird thing about this review is how obsessed you are with getting access to every single ending on your first playthrough. The new game plus settings make it so getting back there on a second playthrough is super easy so there really isn't any reason to optimize if you mess up on some story sequence. You could also say the same about the auto skills since I believe those are also carried over. I think I got the teacher killed on my first playthrough, but that just made me more intrested in learning how to save her on the next one. Also considering how difficult I found this game on my first playthrough of the original I'm starting to believe the demon compendium in overclocked might actually break the difficulty a little lol.
Yeah this game was designed with the New Game Plus in mind in a way so that you can replay it at least 6 unlike in Persona where the game was only really designed to be played 2-3 times so you can enjoy the entirety of the game
The game is designed around using NG+, especially so you can check out other scenarios. Like talking down Keisuke (instead of fighting) will lead to Midori leaving, which leads you to a very funny scene between Midori and Kaido. Or other ways, as NG+ let you safely explore "non-optimal" choices since you're basically powering through.
Yeah this game really is driven by never having access to enough. It shows in a lot of the gameplay features and intentionally builds the player's anxiety. I think the opinions featured talking about how it's a con (and overcompensating on grinding) goes to show that this game wasn't meant to appeal to them.
35:36 yeah I kinda love that, really helps with the immersive dreadful atmosphere. The anxiety of spending your time wisely is a great feeling like in Majora's Mask. It made me feel great for keeping everyone alive on my blind first playthrough. Also spending time with Honda isn't inherently a waste of time if you like him more than other characters. Playing optimal and having fun aren't synonymous, I personally didn't have fun doing multiple missions to save the dumbass cosplay girl.
While this is a strenght of the game, it also comes with the downside of unnecessery anxiety. During the first few days you think every decision counts and that missing a dialog can cause disaster later, while in fact during the first days you just a few action actually matter in the long run. The result was that I felt burnt out for no reason before even fighting the second Bel.
@@markusbarten455 I think that's why the devs encourage ppl to replay the game, knowing that they can strategize differently and see things play out through multiple paths.
The other hunters messing up your skill cracks is very much an intended feature and I like it a lot. It puts time pressure on the kill if you want to ensure the kill is cracked. If you take it slow, that's on you. That is in no way a flaw, it's just another element in what is indeed a tactical RPG.
Hey hey! Someone who did 10+ playthroughs- Great review! I agree with a lot of this. Also, Keisuke's life or death isn't ENTIRELY time based. It's also decision based! One Kaido dialogue option can save both Keisuke and Mari.
I get that you think the story doesn't fit your idea of structure/progression in a story, but its what makes every subsequent playthrough exciting/engaging. You don't need to see all the exciting parts in one playthrough for it to be good/better. Personally, I find all story bits engaging because everyone has a different perspective when it comes to what's happening around them. Regarding the extra turn mechanic, I see it more as you taking away the enemy's extra turn rather than you gaining one for exploiting the weakness. For me, the decision to make getting one unreliable is not a bad design at all.
yeah also its not even inconsistent its more so tht agility influences extra turns and SNAKE types have that stupid constrict passive that erases so much agility that its almost impossible to EX turn
You know your enemy's weakness before the fight starts, and they aren't designed to always exploit yours. Of course it would be unfair to give them a handicap by always getting less actions by this system. The chaotic nature is just what this game is nailing into the player, and it isn't even to the player's detriment necessarily.
Devil Survivor was my very first SMT experience. I'd played Persona 3 and 4 before it, but DeSu was my first step into SMT, and I really liked it. I loved the tense tone, and I liked that there was a lot of replay value since you could choose to talk to different people. I do wish that there was more of a focus on actual tactics. Much of the time it felt like brute force was the best solution, and some skills were unbalanced.
The thing with Keisuke is that he was bullied at school. His hatred comes from there. I'm surprised at your characterization of Atsuro as "anti-authority by nature" because I have the opposite experience of him. He's always very respectful of authorities, whether they are his teachers (Naoya), the military/government (Izuna/Fushimi), or gods (he shows remorse at going after the Devas). This along with some patronizing attitudes he has towards women makes me think he's actually pretty conservative. I love Devil Survivor with my soul, so thank you for covering it! I also think that the way it handles the evolution of the masses in such a critical situation is a very strong facet for it (I certainly missed it on DeSu2).
Atsuro's ending does have some Japanese Nationalism undertones so that'd make sense. I've always disliked his ending even though I don't mind Atsuro himself, as in a story that had the government planning on microwaving everyone and had the cops instantly get drunk with power once they got COMPs, giving exclusive control of the Demon Summoning App to the government sounds like a really, really dumb idea.
In order to get Keisuke's backstory and reasons why he lost it, he has to survive, so if he died, you wouldn't get those scenes. Also, I really hope he goes for Devil Survivor 2/Record Breaker, which is still my favorite SMT game. While it does improve on some gameplay, for me it was the characters. To me, the game's hyper focus on the primary trio is a detriment. Keisuke and Midori start out with decent stories to follow before stopping cold once they're in your party. Others like Izuna or Black Frost are cool, but don't add anything to the story and are just another body for your team. It doesn't help that I personally can't stand Yuzu. DeSu 2 has far better characters imo, and the Fate Links give characterization so they don't just fall flat like in the first game.
@@NamsCompendium You will probably like Devil Survivor 2 more. It has more skills, more demons, more demon race skills and a lot more tamers to get more auto skills earlier. The story isn’t as good but the gameplay is way better and the story is still ok because it is basically a rip off of Evangelion.
If you utilize the demon race skills you can kill enemies before NPCs do. That is part of the strategy rpg experience. I remember when I was dreading the stage where you have to kill multiple enemies in only a few turns but by the time I got to that stage I murdered pretty much everything in 2 turns and destroyed the requirement easily.
Overclocked was the first SMT game I played a few years ago, and I was painfully inexperienced with the Press Turn system at the time. Mastering that and demon fusion felt like a real accomplishment for me. Now I want to dive back in.
It's my personal favourite for the story, atmosphere and cast. Everyone's routes feel reasonable, even Yuzu's feel understandable considering her stress. I keep praying Atlus bring back the games, maybe a port to Switch? /Deep hopium
I just get the same route where Keisuke wasnt at the end so we share the same destiny and take the same decisions 😂 I think the part where you say you got anxiety thinking you’re missing something important is part of the expirience, days are limited and you have to choose, I love when games give that almost sense of freedom to them, and I adore this game to death
I finished this game a few days ago and it was a good experience. This is my first entry into SMT. I went with Yuzu's 8th day route, and I'm trying to get the other endings. I brought in 4 of my demons into NG+ and I went from Day 1 to Day 4 in like 1.5 hours, which will make getting the other endings so much quicker.
Strange, I don't recall ever hitting a weakness and failing to get an extra turn having played through Overclocked enough to get every ending. Valid complaints but this is still one of my all-time favorites. It's clearly designed to be replayed so you can get all the Skills and paths, and New Game + gives you extra bosses to give you some challenge amongst all the cakewalks your endgame demons would normally grant you. I've also never heard anyone call this game easy, especially after facing any of the Bels.
it only really happens with snake deity enemies who have constrict which drastically shoots down your speed making you need more hits of a weakness to get a extra turn
Underrated IMO. One of my first games in general, and I feel it strikes a perfect balance in nearly every aspect. Gameplay, worldbuilding, characters, everything is done well. Compared to mainline SMT which has amazing gameplay but worldbuilding/characterization has to be dug for with a magnifing glass, and persona which has the exact opposite issue, I'm always surprised that this series has so little recognition by comparison.
No marketing + DS ekslusive + game is hard for casuals = niche game. Just like Langrisser and Growlancer other SRPG's produced by Devil Survivor studio, those SRPG's are still mostly Saturn or PS2 / PSP ekslusive + most of games in series were released only in Japan.
It’s not underrated. Most people love this game. It’s just not widely recognized. Being a franchise spin off game from a company that only started to become part of the major public consciousness six years after this titles release. Also a of of games under the age of 32 hardly touch anything less than console AAA titles
Dude, thanks for covering DeSu! This was my first SMT game before I knew what Persona was and hoo boy did it change my view on that series! The first game on the DS was hella hard for my noob brain, but after learning the mechanics and fusion not to mention abilities, it was damn good! I even remember beating Lucifer when I was supposed to sleep and get ready for a test the next day! But my brain would not let me sleep and I HAD to defeat him and man the feeling of victory was sooooooo good!
I beat DeSu 2 last year and playing trough 1 right now. I know the lackluster story because of the overall way too happy tone for an apocalypse but people also say that about Persona 4 (a game where an assassin might kill you) yet they both became some of the stories I've enjoyed the most and some of my favorite jrpgs. I just laugh and smile a lot when reading their dialogue. I feared I'd think less about DeSu 1's darker tone given that Persona 3's plot disappointed me a lot (until the end at least), but thankfully DeSu 1's story is also enjoyable for me! currently starting day 6 and while it's simple, it has kept me hooked with intriguing dialogue and some few moral questions from time to time (which DeSu 2 didn't have).
In my first playthrough, I managed to save everyone and I was really close to get Haru's ending. But I was locked out because I didn't do all the requiered events with Atsuru, so I did Naoya's ending. It was a pain on the ass since I built the protagonist around Strength and the only party member with good Magic stats is Naoya, so I had to grind a lot to have the deamons to compensate. Someday I will try to get that and some of the other endings.
I like a lot of your points in here but a lot of the story gripes kinda not really. Keisukes issues with ppl and his change doesn't really come out of nowhere since it's established he has a hatred of bullies. Even when you first meet him it's established him and Atsuro became friends because he saved him from being bullied in middle school and how Keisuke has always been there to defend the weak guys which isn't dialog you can really miss since it's main story meeting Keisuke stuff. I don't really think personally he has a crush on Midori and went into mad simp mode with the Enma thing? Like ppl can ship it and all im w/e but I think it's more that he saw her as a sister and seeing her continually try to defend people while the people around her hated her I think had a good foil for Keisukes mentality and why he lashed out so hard. Also don't really agree on the Atsurou ending not making sense either. I personally think his ending is pretty alright, not as good as Naoya or Amanes but a lot better than Yuzus even with Yuzu's 8th day in consideration. Atsurou is still cautious of the government and doesn't have blind faith in them, he just wants a good neutral route that can return things to normal while also being able to have a bargaining chip to prevent these things from happening again. It's a nice alternative to the Haru ending with it having some more chaotic undertones I suppose. Also the angels in this game really aren't as bad as other SMT games so I think theres a little bias youre having against them seeping in from other SMT games. Angels in this are generally chill and want humanity to settle things but obviously they have to do the lockdown because of the Demons of Bel and stuff happening. Even when you go chaos they're mostly chill unless you start killing people and Amane can join your party in Naoya route if you don't go despot while she still has Gabriel inside her. Also it really feels weird how at one point you dislike that the game you can't do everything in one playthrough and then the next you're giving it praise for each playthrough being unique because of that. I think you compared this game to Persona a bit too much without giving it a chance to be it's own thing. The gameplay is more of a focus on surviving since you can't buy items and macca is hard to come by and is all about managing your resources and team building to make up for a lack of items or heal spots. It can be a little hard for escort missions but once you figure out the devil speed, phantasm, chaos wave, etc strat it really isn't too difficult and a bit fun to play with all the restrictions. really does make you feel like you're.... surviving lol. Also I found the whole complaint on the weakness system a little weird lol. Yeah, you're not guaranteed but I hardly ever remember missing a ton of Extra Turns even on Apocalypse difficulty. You're probably just using multi hit spells and getting Demons with Res or Drain along with Weaknesses. Also your stats make having natural extra hits pretty easy too. I only ever see myself losing an Extra hit if the demon hits me in my weakness, or you hit ones without a weakness. New Game Plus really enhances the game with new optional battles and being able to bring in demons from past playthrough, have your skill crack pool, etc. I think the game becomes funner the more routes you play as you unlock everything! Also time management really isn't that hard either, it's pretty obvious what events to prioritize each day with the laplace mail, i can only see maybe the Mari or Keisuke events being hard to keep up with but the game makes a point to give you a notice ahead of time when things happen to make sure you get the events done for it. DeSu 2 does that even better with the death videos and the obvious "do these events rn" for optional deaths. You might like Devil Survivor 2 more if you play that since it took a lot of stuff from the Persona series and was actually the first for ATLUS games to have a Social Link like system that gave you battle benefits before confidants were a thing. Theres a lot more characters and events but they all are part of teams so youll most likely stick to 1 of the 3 teams and whatever characters you like for Fate events to keep them in your team if you go against their natural allignment.
i have a weird attachment to this game for someone who's only played it once, and only about a year or two ago. but i saw it in a nintendo power magazine when i was probably about 12 or so and it looked like the coolest thing i'd ever seen. i couldn't get it out of my mind, but i never ended up stumbling upon a copy as a kid. i FINALLY bought a copy on ebay a few years ago, and i gotta say, i really loved it.
Devil Survivor was the only Megaten game that I've (almost) done a challenge run of, and it was completely by mistake. I didn't know the optional battles didn't consume time and were there for grinding, and the experience was pretty brutal. I survived Wendigo by the skin of my teeth. Skill cracking was always an extremely tense affair as it seemed that every choice would matter. I frequently found myself in money crunches. And then the final boss stomped my lvl 50 ass flat and I finally figured out that you're supposed to grind a bit in the still-available skirmish. At which point I noticed how horrible the level scaling effects are in this game. Level trumps strategy to an unacceptable degree in this game. If you have a level advantage, your enemy needs to exploit absolutely everything to have even a chance of winning. As Lucifer will "helpfully" demonstrate with Megidoladyne, you can build a perfect skill combination and still just die when your enemy just flexes their level a bit. Meanwhile, the less said about NG+ the better. Also, to briefly opine on Day 8, it very much does override the Day 7 finales. Yuzu's Day 8 can turn the original bad ending around, and neither of Naoya's Day 8 outcomes aligns with the explicit statement made in the original ending that the war against YHWH takes place on Earth. It's only Amane's Day 8 that really does what is said in this video and just expands what's already there. I like the Day 8 content, but I wouldn't hold it up as anything that much different from, say, P5R's Third Semester. Amane's Day 8 even introduces an entirely new antagonist that was never hinted at before, so there's your "extra character" tick for the checklist.
Something I want to say about DS that some fans might want to consider *mild spoilers below* The way NG+ works in DS is different than other megaten games. You actually _earn_ New game plus benefits. You are given points based on your playthough whether you saved certain characters, discovered the government's last alternative or reached a certain ending. It's like a trophy or acheivement system. The points allow you to unlock things for your next run such as the macca, demons or skills you cracked. You might not be able to carry everything you wanted to your next run and unlock it all again with the help of a guide to amass more points. You can even opt to not carry over anything. This also includes unlocking the fights against some story unrelated super bosses including the last superboss, which is next to the Demi Fiend from DDS as the hardest superboss in the franchise.
I consider these games to be replayable games rather than "let's save and reload until we get all events optimized" game :'D Like, its fun to replay game and see different character events than ones you saw in previous one
Atsuro hits hard, but you can't just rely on him as some enemies have physical reflect or drain. I think there is a passive to get around drain, but not reflect. There are some hard stages where enemies keep spawning. Demon negotiations should not be in Devil Survivor. These are missions, not random encounters so it doesn't feel right. The auction is fine once you get the hang of it.
The passive you're thinking about is Pierce, which works like you expected. This does mean you need to pick your battles for Atsuro's team so he's not useless while his demons carry for him.
Credits to the ambience I was in 2 moods during the entiring I was doing 2 playing the edgelord and searching a way of escaping, and that's thanks to the ambience, I was scared, like I was there, like I was the character, the game over screen also helped, it looked like a error screen, it didn't helped that I was playing through a R4, that added a small funny layer
DeSuOC's difficulty suffers from the usual updated remake syndrome all ATLUS remakes suffer: they get a bunch of extra new things without really compensating their inclusion, so the game ends up being a lot easier than the original. This is especially true for DeSu1: it did not have the compendium in the original so going hog on fusions wasn't as easy. You had to rely more on the auction to get fusion material (it wasn't even that bad tbh, I think you're pampered by the existence of the Compendium in other games). It was more annoying to level up demons to have them learn certain skills to inherit than actually getting the material, but it wasn't that hard to do at least that much by the endgame (levelling them up for the extra boss is a whole different story). The other big thing is that OC included a lot of new skills, especially some skills that originated in DeSu2 like Multi-Strike. The original Desu already had really strong nuke tactics in the form of Holy Dance and Drain for magic and Deathbound with Pierce for physical, but new skills broke the game wide open--Physical is de facto the hardest nuking system in DeSu with the inclusion of multi-strike and a physical-based non-elemental attack to deal with Phys Reflect. You could also have two Pierce teams instead of one with the inclusion of an Auto Skill that gives Pierce to your whole team, just for even more broken Phys shenanigans. One last thing: why obssess over unlocking all routes on the first run when the game was clearly made with NG+ in mind? I feel like that's Persona influencing the way you approached the game by trying to "maximize efficiently advancing your relationships with other people". That's more DeSu2's style since the Fate System in that game encourages you to actually go out and do that, whereas DeSu1 is more about taking in the world going to hell around you with everyone else caught up in their problems while it's going on.
Devil Survivor is spiritual succesor of Majin Tensei, a SMT spin-off from Super Famicom and ... Saturn (Ronde), which was basically Fire Emblem 4 + SMT. Devil Survivor is improved version of Majin Tensei + they added time managment / Visual Novel elements from Langrisser / Growlancer (NOT FROM PERSONA, Langrisser did that 10 years earlier than Persona 3). Devil Survivor, Langrisser, Growlancer, is SRPG series made by Carer Soft, and Langrisser 3 is first SRPG mixed with Dating Sim 15 years before Fire Emblem: Awakening.
So I kind of disagree that Keisuke's character isn't clearly conveyed. Maybe if you're reading what he's saying on a surface level it can seem like it comes from nowhere, but he by default hates people who pick on the weak. Atsuro was bullied in school and Keisuke was the one who put a stop to it which is why Atsuro is grateful to him. But the part Atsuro didn't know is that afterwards Keisuke was targeted for bullying and when that happened no one helped him. So he already has a very strong hatred for people who go after those he considers "good people" since that's what happened to him and he especially hates when "good people" are put into bad situations with no way out due to the malice of others. And it wasn't just Midori that sent him over. Midori was only one of many examples Keisuke saw of people trampling over others during the lockdown. The example he gave was there was a group of people who were starving and an elderly lady tried to share food with them. The result is those people beat the elderly lady to death and robbed her body of whatever she had. So from the start of him being in the lockdown, he was put into a situation that was 100% going to snap him in half. It was just a matter of when.
I think devil survivor plays the perfect balance between the charecter drama of persona. And the gritty dark ideology and world building of traditional megaten. Its not all just demons go brr law chaos. And its not a dating sim power of friendship.
This game gets me swearing like it’s 2010 and I’m playing mw2 on voice chat. It’s hard but not impossible, and even if it stressed me tf out I love it dearly
tbh unless i got the wrong idea, i feel like you might've gone into this game with the mindset of "ok lets see if the game is as kino as everyone says" rather than just wanting to play it tho? not tryin to be rude but it sorta came off that way, although that may be the point of the video since you're kinda talking about the games reception at the end. anyway great video as always nam btw, about you thinking your scripts lately have been dry, ive actually been kinda noticing a change in them lately and i really like it, i hope you can continue doing this typa shit
If tactics games where map positioning is important is what you want then check out Disgaea. In that series there's a mechanic called "Geo Panels" where certain tiles on the map will glow different colors, and depending on what Geo Symbol is sitting on it it will grant a different effect. Anything from attack boosts to invincibility. You can even stack other geo symbols of different colors onto the same color tiles to make that color grant a ton of different effects, or you can place all the geo symbols on one color, destroy them, and watch as the geo panels change colors and finally disappear causing damage to every enemy on the map. Theres also the lift anf throw mechanic, which as it says, allows you to lift and throw allies, enemies, objects, etc. Also you can do more damage to foes depending on if you're beside, or behind them but im pretty sure thats in most tactics games anyway. For example. You load up a map, and in front of you is a red 3x3 with 8 enemies on it in a circle pattern. and a tenth red tile with the geo symbol somewhere else on the map. The symbol grants anyone standing on it invincibility. So what do you do? Do you pick up and throw an ally in the center to force the enemies out? or do you grab and remove the symbol? Do you grab the enemies form the outside and take the invincibility tiles for yourself? Many solutions!
People bring up the “this game predicted covid because it’s about a lockdown” but I remember I actually bought this game for my 20th birthday, which was right before lockdown started for me here in Ireland, so it definitely felt immersive
Devil Survivor was my introduction to the Persona franchise, then I played Devil Survivor 2. Needless to say I loved both of them. After that I tried playing other Persona games but I felt like all of them are lack luster compared to the other Devil Survivor gameplay.
played this game last year it was really fun i enjoyed the characters honestly might go and replay it within the next few months to go see one of the other endings
Complaining about it being too easy, but also complaining that grinding wasn't more enjoyable? You've got a lot of great things to say, but that was a game journo tier comment. I liked the demon auction, it's not as compelling as talking to demons is at its best, but the auction doesn't get as tiresome as talking does in the second half of most games.
This was my first SMT game and I bought it on a whim after getting my hands on a $20 Nintendo gift card and a sale. It was such a blast and I'd buy it again if it was on the switch
Ya did a pretty nice analysis, theres a couplw of things here n there but yeah, really enjoyed it! ive played both original DeSu 1&2 and loved 'em, heck still do to this day! So im happy theres folks that like these games yet.
I completely agree with your point about everything being incredibly expensive in this game. I ended up having to spend way too much time farming just so I could resummon a demon I just fused because I was too under equipped to handle some of the late game Boss fights. I'd have to use everything I had just to make stronger demons but then I only have like three demons when I need to have at least eight to fill out all the parties
I love the range and double attack combo to kill off/weaken enemies without getting hit. The passive are cool, but I think I only experimented to beat big bosses.
@@westonmeyer3110I do feel its still mandatory since there are a lot of enemies who have it and they can kill or weaken you if you don’t have a ranged Demon on your team.
@@cww2490 Even if enemies have ranged attackers you can just kill them and then their team is wide open to be annihilated without being able to do anything.
I see tons of people say it’s their favorite smt game and I still think it’s underrated. First smt I ever played so I’m insanely biased but it’s just so peak
Yes, we're getting into the meat now. i hope you go into the side games more often... Can't wait for digital devil saga. edit: oh, nvm you've done them had to double check myself, since i just recently came to the channel. I'll have to watch that next.
I was stuck on this game for an entire year because of the difficulty. I loved it to bits but one I don't usually like turn based stuff nowadays and two it was such an ordeal I didn't want to do again. It's pretty wild to hear someone say it's too easy. I ended up having to have teams based around black Maria healing and reviving effectively making a tank build and that still took some doing against the tower of babel and that super powerful angel what's his name.
Played both in DS and then 3DS I loved it. In fact DS was like my gateway to strategy/RPG games I really got into the genre after finishing this game back in the day and I'm so glad you reviewed it. I was never a fan of the dub, in fact I'm not a fan of any dub at all, and that's honestly my only complain. Your video delivers exactly what you wanted to do: A complete analysis of the game. So while I would have loved to hear what you had to say about every character, route, ending and 8th day scenarios this was more of a review of the complete game and not an story analysis. Maybe something to look forward in the future? Also bro you forgot about the banger OST. I don't consider this game to be the best SMT or the best SMT spin-off but it ranks pretty high in my list. Now if I could say the same about DeSu2...
I feel like the ds version is a bit of a different experience? Like without being able to buy from the compendium and not having additional save slots it really impacts how you interact with things. For one thing, you can’t really min max your events unless you’re willing to redo portions of the day (which I’ve done a couple times in my current run). If you’re really dedicated you can still grind to do fusion chains, but you need to rely on what you have and what you can fuse from what’s at the auction. I also think a minimum battles/limited grinding challenge would be pretty difficult. The Wedndigo and Beldr fights don’t fuck around
I’m replaying Overclocked and while I agree with a lot of what you say in this video, I think there’s a couple points that stand out for the narrative. While not knowing if talking to a character will or won’t advance their story is obnoxious, I think it helps the overall way the game is supposed to be played. It’s meant to be played multiple times so the scenes that don’t advance the story, show other parts of those characters that you may have missed in previous playthroughs. Like Keisuke’s story makes more sense if you try to see all of all of his scenes.
I just picked up my 3ds and have this, Record Breaker and Soul Hackers on it. Mostly untouched. Think I need to play these old games I'd bought and sat on for so long.
First tried this smt game at 16 thought it was weird and hard for being a jrpg gave up on it 15 years later and I finally beat it and omg its such an amazing game
I don't get why everyone has issues with the voice acting, I think everybody nailed their roles (generics not included who cares they aren't noteworthy) except for naoya, he's the only person I feel like didn't have great direction
I always look this game as the middle point between persona 2 and persona 3, you'll see in DS2 the first form of social links in action. I dont think SRPG should be hard, they should be about making lasting decisions. But yeah i came from SJ before this game and it just so easy 😂 I think i like naoya's route the best, at least in the original game, its a bit fun to be the edgy villain for a change
Oh lmao speaking of Keisuke dying, i had the hilarious situation where I refused to help him go murder psycho and died in the resulting fight. I reloaded the save and picked different dialouge options, leading me to sway him over to join us again, resulting in Midori running away. The literal next and only thing I could do was the fight where he gets killed by Kaido. Hilariously enough, *Midori was with us again and reacted as if nothing had happened prior to this*. I have no fucking clue how i managed this but it still makes me laugh
![KYOTO TRIP!!!! [Persona 3 Portable] (EP29)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pEWx3A_QmNQ/mqdefault.jpg)
If you all start asking for a DeSu 2 video, I'll start fuming: www.patreon.com/NamsComp
I mean...it is a lot harder which you wanted lol
@@Nocturne989not rly 😂
Actually, I wanted to request you cover 13 Sentinels, since you've mentioned Trash or Treasure. He mentioned in his review of 13 Sentinentals when explaining why he wasn't willing to cover that game's story, "I'll leave that to Nams Compendium I'm sure he's going through the game right now." XD
So, basically a matter of connecting you two, even though you already know each other as streams have proven
Also its another stragegy/visual novel game, with a bigger focus on the visual novel aspect more than the stragegy
If you weren’t a fan of the difficulty I’d say give majin tensei2 a chance. It’s a much more traditional tactics rpg but with lots of megaten things that make it stand out
You handled the requests for this video respectfully, and I appreciate it
Ever consider reading the Devil Survivor manga adaptation? I've read 5 out of the 8 volumes, and I'd say it's a fun read! Give it a try when you have time
I think Atsuro's high physical stat is because he hacked his COMP and messed with his harmonizer
Nah Atsuro is just RIPPED
Selfish bastard… could've done the same for Kazuya for the Beldr fight
@@ArshadZahid_nohandleideasStr stat doesnt affect damage done so I doubt it would be diff for atsuro
Maybe he helped Yuzu, with her additional point.
@@ArshadZahid_nohandleideas His Level affects the Devil’s Fuge, supposedly.
It's peak
Thanks for watching
better review tbh
40:05 Yeah if you spend enough time with Kiesuke he reveals a little about his past and how he was severely bullied with no way to defend himself after trying to help someone who was being bullied. The reason he becomes so angry and vengeful and starts killing is because he's projecting himself on Midori who was just trying to help people and the people out to kill her as the bullies from his past that harassed him relentlessly including the very bully victim he tried to defend. Now that he has the power to fight back all that pent up anger and resent from his experience being bullied fuels his vengeful crusade to enforce his own justice. Hope you cover devil survivor record breaker.
7:30 “Atsuro sounds a bit too wimpy for my liking.” He was literally voiced by Shinji Ikari.
explains a lot
His japanese voice is better🥵
Just beat this game last month. 100% my favorite SMT spinoff hope we get DeSu3 soon 🙏
We won't lmao take your ass back to P5Tactica
Afther SH2, actually i kinda wish that DeSu 3 doesn't happen untill Atlus proves that they can make great Smt games again(SMT V is actually really good but was so flawed story wise, as well with IV A that i'm skeptic with their writers for any series not called Persona)
Ditto here. One of my favorite series, so much that I wrote my own DeSu 3 plot. Hopefully Persona 5 Tactica will succeed enough to convince them of the continued value of turn-based strategy.
@@KrimsonKattYT Wasn't Persona 4 Arena written by the creators of BlazBlue?
Also, P5 did have a good story. Probably not as good a story as P4, but when you compare it to the utter sh!t that was Final Fantasy 15 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake (both of which spent about the same amount of time in development), Persona 5 is brilliant.
After the joke that was Soul Hackers 2 we can only pray they don’t release DeSu3. Atlus pissed off DeSu fans anyway by releasing persona 5 tactica
Some quick notes.
Atsuro's route is locked behind a relatively inconsequential event on Day 3, not saving Keisuke, and since you were save scumming to "Avoid Wasted Time", you probably skipped it because you figured it wasn't relevant. Devil Survivor does this a LOT, relatively inconsequential events are rarely wasted time, it usually leads to a pay off later, like saving character's lives, unlocking bonus bosses (And thus demons to fuse), getting new members into your party, etc.
Because of this, spending time with party members is usually less important than that, I don't even think it does anything BUT learn more about them, at least in 2 is unlocks buffs and demons.
Another observation is that, you did a single play through, but you did a LOT of demon compendium fusing, and you mentioned you grinded free battles for money for it. Since you were playing on normal, and doing an obscene amount of grinding, you obliterated the difficulty curve, I don't think there's very many SMT games that can't be broken this way, and it's not really a fair critique of any rpg, strategy or otherwise, if you do that, and it's no surprising you didn't have any difficulties until near the end of the game, if you go through the game from start to finish only occasionally using free battles to pick up new skills, the difficulty curve is a lot more in line with SMT expectations of difficulty.
And I know you did too much grinding, because you didn't mention that Leader units take 25% less damage per surviving subordinate, which is something you only really notice if you're not so over powered that you can always one shot every leader unit.
Leading into that, I had the opposite experience in 4, the game was a total cake walk because I took the time to grind, optimized fusions and did all the side stuff I could, the only challenges I really had were with the bonus bosses at the end of dungeons once they're completed, but that was only because I was tackling them as soon as they were available, and I was still able to beat them with a few attempts.
I kinda liked the firs tone more, adding buffs and abilities to a character route makes the entire thing superficial.
I agree, especially with the grinding point. The theme in DS1 is feeling like everything is against you and never having enough resources to feel comfortable. I think that was why the compendium prices were high and fusing was something to be done as a luxury. And with that, knowing that these fusions aren't meant to be ideal but maybe just good enough to have better odds in battles. Unless someone went out of their way to do this, of course the game is going to punish the grinder with monotonous, long grinding sessions because of course they're not supposed to do that.
Also (not related to your comment) I did want to note that Honda's route and a lot of other events are just something to enjoy as you try multiple endings, which are encouraged by the devs. Not everything has to affect an ending for it to be worthwhile content to enjoy.
On that note, Gin's route is infernal because of how many little missable side events are actually conditions for it.
In day 5 evening I believe there's an event where Atsuro can check the script for the demon summoning program and find that there's a recall function. If you miss this one little event you're locked out of the Gin/Haru endings, which in the original was strongly alluded to be the "good" ending.
I think one thing that makes Devil Survivor work for me is that it's at its core, a deconstruction of the Mons genre.
- The demons aren't seen as miraculous but terrifying.
- Stock anime characters are put under realistic pressure and many of them bend or break.
- The contained environment means that anxieties, fears and hatreds bubble to the surface.
- Fighting with Mons isn't framed as cool, but horrifying.
- You can't save everyone.
Midori is necessary to obtain Black Frost...
Le diste al clavó
Definitely one of my favorite games in the franchise for a lot of reasons, but most notably with its setting. Many games in this franchise like to throw us into an apocalyptic setting, and don’t really get to explore the transitionary period before the world goes into chaos.
It’s nice to see the differing ways people handle and cope when placed under extreme circumstances.
Accel
Accel
Accel
Yeah Keisuke does explain his reason why he acted the way he did assuming he survives long enough. In case your curious you have to tell Kaido Miss Mari is in danger of dying and he goes to save her distracting him momentarily allowing you to save both back to back. IIRC Keisuke used to protect people from bullying in High School. One day one of the people he protected flipped the script, joined with the bullies who picked on him, and began to bully Keisuke instead. This essentially warped his entire world view and caused him to become incredibly cynical. Why protect people if they are just going to stab me in the back later. The only thing he doesn’t realize is that by using Yanma he has become no better than the bullies he used to protect against.
About extra action it is quite consistent. The thing is there is passive that can resist extra, race skill that annul extra (dragon race) and active skill that can cancel extra.
I like that it's not guaranteed because it also means that enemies aren't ensured the extra turns too. There's already the damage bonus from hitting weaknesses so I don't know why every factor has to be static for it to be worthwhile.
Devil Survivor was the first SMT game I played and the reason I fell in love with the series. Also, thanks to this game, I've learned the cruelty of grinding.
The game has an amazing story and gameplay with interesting and great characters. Whatever route you choose-law, chaos, neutral, or run away-the game will respect your decision and give you a satisfying conclusion to the path you've taken while at the same time bearing it's consequences. Anyway, Amane is my favorite character in this game because she is the epitome of how a law character in SMT should act and represent, and her routes are really satisfying.
I love the 8th day content cause it adds context to pretty much every ending, my favorite being Yuzu.
Spoilers of course
Yuzu, through the entire game, basically wants nothing to do with anything that's happening, eventually near the end of the week, she openly admits she just wants to escape the lockdown, get her life back(and yes this is as stupid of a plan as you think, and the original game makes it clear that her ending is considered the "are you fucking stupid Bad Ending"), the 8th day shows exactly why her idea was stupid, the angels see your party escaping without even attempting to make change in humanity as a farce, and outright take away humanities ability to have determination within their hearts, basically saying "If you were too scared to fight, now the rest of the world is". Also demons and angels escape through the same route you do so you essentially make the whole world worse. This 8th day ending involves you and Yuzu going right back into the quarantine and sucking it up, accepting that there is no escaping certain events and you have to face them.
Even better, if you don’t do certain things throughout the week you are by default stuck with the bad ending to Yuzus 8Th Day. So in the end attempting to fix things when you already broke it to the point of no return is still possible. We just won’t have to worry about Belberith going forward with his own plans even in that state.
the 8th days are also interesting for how they change the alignments
Amane goes further into law
Yuzu goes from a running away/bad end to neutral
and Naoya either goes further into chaos or neutral depending if you kill or protect humans
I think what makes Yuzu's/Escape route 8th so damn interesting is the fact that not only you but the entire humanity is rejected by all alignments.
For a series of games where people fight and die for their beliefs/alignment choices this is the one game where you can choose to not bother with them. Side with the angels? Demons? Your fellow humans? No, you want nothing to do with this fight you never asked for. Ultimately humanity being left to its devices free of law, neutral or chaos influence it's so weird yet so interesting to see.
I agree that the original DS just treated this like a bad ending and top it off it felt like you just wasted your time so I'm glad this one of the routes that was chosen for an 8th day scenario.
@@alucard002x when I got overclocked after having played the base game on all routes I opted for yuzu first without the 8th day to get all the ng+ bonuses. It's the shortest so less to grind on a new game file
The only weird thing about this review is how obsessed you are with getting access to every single ending on your first playthrough. The new game plus settings make it so getting back there on a second playthrough is super easy so there really isn't any reason to optimize if you mess up on some story sequence. You could also say the same about the auto skills since I believe those are also carried over. I think I got the teacher killed on my first playthrough, but that just made me more intrested in learning how to save her on the next one. Also considering how difficult I found this game on my first playthrough of the original I'm starting to believe the demon compendium in overclocked might actually break the difficulty a little lol.
Probably its an acquired way of play from the many years playing the games in the genre
Yeah this game was designed with the New Game Plus in mind in a way so that you can replay it at least 6 unlike in Persona where the game was only really designed to be played 2-3 times so you can enjoy the entirety of the game
The game is designed around using NG+, especially so you can check out other scenarios. Like talking down Keisuke (instead of fighting) will lead to Midori leaving, which leads you to a very funny scene between Midori and Kaido.
Or other ways, as NG+ let you safely explore "non-optimal" choices since you're basically powering through.
Yeah this game really is driven by never having access to enough. It shows in a lot of the gameplay features and intentionally builds the player's anxiety. I think the opinions featured talking about how it's a con (and overcompensating on grinding) goes to show that this game wasn't meant to appeal to them.
35:36 yeah I kinda love that, really helps with the immersive dreadful atmosphere. The anxiety of spending your time wisely is a great feeling like in Majora's Mask. It made me feel great for keeping everyone alive on my blind first playthrough. Also spending time with Honda isn't inherently a waste of time if you like him more than other characters. Playing optimal and having fun aren't synonymous, I personally didn't have fun doing multiple missions to save the dumbass cosplay girl.
While this is a strenght of the game, it also comes with the downside of unnecessery anxiety. During the first few days you think every decision counts and that missing a dialog can cause disaster later, while in fact during the first days you just a few action actually matter in the long run. The result was that I felt burnt out for no reason before even fighting the second Bel.
@@markusbarten455 I think that's why the devs encourage ppl to replay the game, knowing that they can strategize differently and see things play out through multiple paths.
@@markusbarten455It's fair to feel that way and I can understand it but honestly I think that's more of a you thing
Shoutout to Suzuhito Yasuda, the artist for this game *and* Digimon Cyber Sleuth.
The other hunters messing up your skill cracks is very much an intended feature and I like it a lot. It puts time pressure on the kill if you want to ensure the kill is cracked. If you take it slow, that's on you. That is in no way a flaw, it's just another element in what is indeed a tactical RPG.
Hey hey! Someone who did 10+ playthroughs- Great review! I agree with a lot of this. Also, Keisuke's life or death isn't ENTIRELY time based. It's also decision based! One Kaido dialogue option can save both Keisuke and Mari.
I get that you think the story doesn't fit your idea of structure/progression in a story, but its what makes every subsequent playthrough exciting/engaging. You don't need to see all the exciting parts in one playthrough for it to be good/better. Personally, I find all story bits engaging because everyone has a different perspective when it comes to what's happening around them.
Regarding the extra turn mechanic, I see it more as you taking away the enemy's extra turn rather than you gaining one for exploiting the weakness. For me, the decision to make getting one unreliable is not a bad design at all.
yeah also its not even inconsistent its more so tht agility influences extra turns and SNAKE types have that stupid constrict passive that erases so much agility that its almost impossible to EX turn
You know your enemy's weakness before the fight starts, and they aren't designed to always exploit yours. Of course it would be unfair to give them a handicap by always getting less actions by this system. The chaotic nature is just what this game is nailing into the player, and it isn't even to the player's detriment necessarily.
@@CarbonMalite yep so i dont get why he wants to always get it. I mean even the name is not the same. Its extra turn and not press turn.
Glad you finally covered this one, Nam. Great video as always!
I played Overclocked for the first time this summer and loved it. So happy you got around to this game
Devil Survivor was my very first SMT experience. I'd played Persona 3 and 4 before it, but DeSu was my first step into SMT, and I really liked it.
I loved the tense tone, and I liked that there was a lot of replay value since you could choose to talk to different people. I do wish that there was more of a focus on actual tactics. Much of the time it felt like brute force was the best solution, and some skills were unbalanced.
The thing with Keisuke is that he was bullied at school. His hatred comes from there.
I'm surprised at your characterization of Atsuro as "anti-authority by nature" because I have the opposite experience of him. He's always very respectful of authorities, whether they are his teachers (Naoya), the military/government (Izuna/Fushimi), or gods (he shows remorse at going after the Devas). This along with some patronizing attitudes he has towards women makes me think he's actually pretty conservative.
I love Devil Survivor with my soul, so thank you for covering it! I also think that the way it handles the evolution of the masses in such a critical situation is a very strong facet for it (I certainly missed it on DeSu2).
Atsuro's ending does have some Japanese Nationalism undertones so that'd make sense. I've always disliked his ending even though I don't mind Atsuro himself, as in a story that had the government planning on microwaving everyone and had the cops instantly get drunk with power once they got COMPs, giving exclusive control of the Demon Summoning App to the government sounds like a really, really dumb idea.
Devil Survivor 1 and 2 are really good...would really play if they make another one
In order to get Keisuke's backstory and reasons why he lost it, he has to survive, so if he died, you wouldn't get those scenes.
Also, I really hope he goes for Devil Survivor 2/Record Breaker, which is still my favorite SMT game. While it does improve on some gameplay, for me it was the characters. To me, the game's hyper focus on the primary trio is a detriment. Keisuke and Midori start out with decent stories to follow before stopping cold once they're in your party. Others like Izuna or Black Frost are cool, but don't add anything to the story and are just another body for your team. It doesn't help that I personally can't stand Yuzu. DeSu 2 has far better characters imo, and the Fate Links give characterization so they don't just fall flat like in the first game.
I love Black Frost, the only member who always follows you...
That’s great when are you playing desu2 though?
I hate you
I love you
@@NamsCompendium
You will probably like Devil Survivor 2 more. It has more skills, more demons, more demon race skills and a lot more tamers to get more auto skills earlier.
The story isn’t as good but the gameplay is way better and the story is still ok because it is basically a rip off of Evangelion.
If you utilize the demon race skills you can kill enemies before NPCs do. That is part of the strategy rpg experience.
I remember when I was dreading the stage where you have to kill multiple enemies in only a few turns but by the time I got to that stage I murdered pretty much everything in 2 turns and destroyed the requirement easily.
Overclocked was the first SMT game I played a few years ago, and I was painfully inexperienced with the Press Turn system at the time. Mastering that and demon fusion felt like a real accomplishment for me. Now I want to dive back in.
this game doesn’t use press turn system
@@puffingpanda7003okay, a “modified version” of the press turn system. 11:10
YES! Always love to hear people talk about my favorite and first MegaTen! Great vid! I thought it was very well structured.
It's my personal favourite for the story, atmosphere and cast. Everyone's routes feel reasonable, even Yuzu's feel understandable considering her stress.
I keep praying Atlus bring back the games, maybe a port to Switch? /Deep hopium
haru is best girl
I really enjoyed this video. I hope to see you explore more tactical RPGs in the future.
I played the OGs of 1&2, and they stuck with me. And are constantly on my mind as something I want to come back to my personal favorite SMT entries.
My first smt game bias at work, PEAK EASILY
I just get the same route where Keisuke wasnt at the end so we share the same destiny and take the same decisions 😂
I think the part where you say you got anxiety thinking you’re missing something important is part of the expirience, days are limited and you have to choose, I love when games give that almost sense of freedom to them, and I adore this game to death
I finished this game a few days ago and it was a good experience. This is my first entry into SMT. I went with Yuzu's 8th day route, and I'm trying to get the other endings. I brought in 4 of my demons into NG+ and I went from Day 1 to Day 4 in like 1.5 hours, which will make getting the other endings so much quicker.
Strange, I don't recall ever hitting a weakness and failing to get an extra turn having played through Overclocked enough to get every ending.
Valid complaints but this is still one of my all-time favorites. It's clearly designed to be replayed so you can get all the Skills and paths, and New Game + gives you extra bosses to give you some challenge amongst all the cakewalks your endgame demons would normally grant you. I've also never heard anyone call this game easy, especially after facing any of the Bels.
it only really happens with snake deity enemies who have constrict which drastically shoots down your speed making you need more hits of a weakness to get a extra turn
You can fail getting an extra turn if your agility is low
Which doesn't even matter if your MC is full magic specced
Underrated IMO. One of my first games in general, and I feel it strikes a perfect balance in nearly every aspect. Gameplay, worldbuilding, characters, everything is done well. Compared to mainline SMT which has amazing gameplay but worldbuilding/characterization has to be dug for with a magnifing glass, and persona which has the exact opposite issue, I'm always surprised that this series has so little recognition by comparison.
No marketing + DS ekslusive + game is hard for casuals = niche game. Just like Langrisser and Growlancer other SRPG's produced by Devil Survivor studio, those SRPG's are still mostly Saturn or PS2 / PSP ekslusive + most of games in series were released only in Japan.
It’s not underrated. Most people love this game. It’s just not widely recognized. Being a franchise spin off game from a company that only started to become part of the major public consciousness six years after this titles release.
Also a of of games under the age of 32 hardly touch anything less than console AAA titles
I don't even have to watch it before saying "underrated". One of my fave games in college. I was waiting for this one!
Dude, thanks for covering DeSu!
This was my first SMT game before I knew what Persona was and hoo boy did it change my view on that series!
The first game on the DS was hella hard for my noob brain, but after learning the mechanics and fusion not to mention abilities, it was damn good!
I even remember beating Lucifer when I was supposed to sleep and get ready for a test the next day! But my brain would not let me sleep and I HAD to defeat him and man the feeling of victory was sooooooo good!
I beat DeSu 2 last year and playing trough 1 right now.
I know the lackluster story because of the overall way too happy tone for an apocalypse but people also say that about Persona 4 (a game where an assassin might kill you) yet they both became some of the stories I've enjoyed the most and some of my favorite jrpgs. I just laugh and smile a lot when reading their dialogue.
I feared I'd think less about DeSu 1's darker tone given that Persona 3's plot disappointed me a lot (until the end at least), but thankfully DeSu 1's story is also enjoyable for me! currently starting day 6 and while it's simple, it has kept me hooked with intriguing dialogue and some few moral questions from time to time (which DeSu 2 didn't have).
In my first playthrough, I managed to save everyone and I was really close to get Haru's ending. But I was locked out because I didn't do all the requiered events with Atsuru, so I did Naoya's ending. It was a pain on the ass since I built the protagonist around Strength and the only party member with good Magic stats is Naoya, so I had to grind a lot to have the deamons to compensate. Someday I will try to get that and some of the other endings.
I like a lot of your points in here but a lot of the story gripes kinda not really. Keisukes issues with ppl and his change doesn't really come out of nowhere since it's established he has a hatred of bullies. Even when you first meet him it's established him and Atsuro became friends because he saved him from being bullied in middle school and how Keisuke has always been there to defend the weak guys which isn't dialog you can really miss since it's main story meeting Keisuke stuff. I don't really think personally he has a crush on Midori and went into mad simp mode with the Enma thing? Like ppl can ship it and all im w/e but I think it's more that he saw her as a sister and seeing her continually try to defend people while the people around her hated her I think had a good foil for Keisukes mentality and why he lashed out so hard. Also don't really agree on the Atsurou ending not making sense either. I personally think his ending is pretty alright, not as good as Naoya or Amanes but a lot better than Yuzus even with Yuzu's 8th day in consideration. Atsurou is still cautious of the government and doesn't have blind faith in them, he just wants a good neutral route that can return things to normal while also being able to have a bargaining chip to prevent these things from happening again. It's a nice alternative to the Haru ending with it having some more chaotic undertones I suppose. Also the angels in this game really aren't as bad as other SMT games so I think theres a little bias youre having against them seeping in from other SMT games. Angels in this are generally chill and want humanity to settle things but obviously they have to do the lockdown because of the Demons of Bel and stuff happening. Even when you go chaos they're mostly chill unless you start killing people and Amane can join your party in Naoya route if you don't go despot while she still has Gabriel inside her.
Also it really feels weird how at one point you dislike that the game you can't do everything in one playthrough and then the next you're giving it praise for each playthrough being unique because of that. I think you compared this game to Persona a bit too much without giving it a chance to be it's own thing. The gameplay is more of a focus on surviving since you can't buy items and macca is hard to come by and is all about managing your resources and team building to make up for a lack of items or heal spots. It can be a little hard for escort missions but once you figure out the devil speed, phantasm, chaos wave, etc strat it really isn't too difficult and a bit fun to play with all the restrictions. really does make you feel like you're.... surviving lol. Also I found the whole complaint on the weakness system a little weird lol. Yeah, you're not guaranteed but I hardly ever remember missing a ton of Extra Turns even on Apocalypse difficulty. You're probably just using multi hit spells and getting Demons with Res or Drain along with Weaknesses. Also your stats make having natural extra hits pretty easy too. I only ever see myself losing an Extra hit if the demon hits me in my weakness, or you hit ones without a weakness. New Game Plus really enhances the game with new optional battles and being able to bring in demons from past playthrough, have your skill crack pool, etc. I think the game becomes funner the more routes you play as you unlock everything! Also time management really isn't that hard either, it's pretty obvious what events to prioritize each day with the laplace mail, i can only see maybe the Mari or Keisuke events being hard to keep up with but the game makes a point to give you a notice ahead of time when things happen to make sure you get the events done for it. DeSu 2 does that even better with the death videos and the obvious "do these events rn" for optional deaths. You might like Devil Survivor 2 more if you play that since it took a lot of stuff from the Persona series and was actually the first for ATLUS games to have a Social Link like system that gave you battle benefits before confidants were a thing. Theres a lot more characters and events but they all are part of teams so youll most likely stick to 1 of the 3 teams and whatever characters you like for Fate events to keep them in your team if you go against their natural allignment.
i have a weird attachment to this game for someone who's only played it once, and only about a year or two ago. but i saw it in a nintendo power magazine when i was probably about 12 or so and it looked like the coolest thing i'd ever seen. i couldn't get it out of my mind, but i never ended up stumbling upon a copy as a kid. i FINALLY bought a copy on ebay a few years ago, and i gotta say, i really loved it.
Devil Survivor was the only Megaten game that I've (almost) done a challenge run of, and it was completely by mistake.
I didn't know the optional battles didn't consume time and were there for grinding, and the experience was pretty brutal. I survived Wendigo by the skin of my teeth. Skill cracking was always an extremely tense affair as it seemed that every choice would matter. I frequently found myself in money crunches.
And then the final boss stomped my lvl 50 ass flat and I finally figured out that you're supposed to grind a bit in the still-available skirmish. At which point I noticed how horrible the level scaling effects are in this game.
Level trumps strategy to an unacceptable degree in this game. If you have a level advantage, your enemy needs to exploit absolutely everything to have even a chance of winning. As Lucifer will "helpfully" demonstrate with Megidoladyne, you can build a perfect skill combination and still just die when your enemy just flexes their level a bit. Meanwhile, the less said about NG+ the better.
Also, to briefly opine on Day 8, it very much does override the Day 7 finales. Yuzu's Day 8 can turn the original bad ending around, and neither of Naoya's Day 8 outcomes aligns with the explicit statement made in the original ending that the war against YHWH takes place on Earth. It's only Amane's Day 8 that really does what is said in this video and just expands what's already there. I like the Day 8 content, but I wouldn't hold it up as anything that much different from, say, P5R's Third Semester. Amane's Day 8 even introduces an entirely new antagonist that was never hinted at before, so there's your "extra character" tick for the checklist.
Holy shit, you finally did it.
How long have we awaited this joyous moment? Bubbletea would be proud
Something I want to say about DS that some fans might want to consider *mild spoilers below*
The way NG+ works in DS is different than other megaten games. You actually _earn_ New game plus benefits. You are given points based on your playthough whether you saved certain characters, discovered the government's last alternative or reached a certain ending. It's like a trophy or acheivement system. The points allow you to unlock things for your next run such as the macca, demons or skills you cracked. You might not be able to carry everything you wanted to your next run and unlock it all again with the help of a guide to amass more points. You can even opt to not carry over anything. This also includes unlocking the fights against some story unrelated super bosses including the last superboss, which is next to the Demi Fiend from DDS as the hardest superboss in the franchise.
Three words:
Fallen Morning Star
Goddamn was he hard... but incredibly satisfying once you win.
@@thesaltyweeb Or better yet a single word:
M E G I D O L A D Y N E
The split second of Tokyo Mirage Session at 0:25 is so funny to me, I got jumpscared 😭😭😭
I consider these games to be replayable games rather than "let's save and reload until we get all events optimized" game :'D Like, its fun to replay game and see different character events than ones you saw in previous one
Atsuro hits hard, but you can't just rely on him as some enemies have physical reflect or drain. I think there is a passive to get around drain, but not reflect.
There are some hard stages where enemies keep spawning.
Demon negotiations should not be in Devil Survivor. These are missions, not random encounters so it doesn't feel right. The auction is fine once you get the hang of it.
The passive you're thinking about is Pierce, which works like you expected. This does mean you need to pick your battles for Atsuro's team so he's not useless while his demons carry for him.
Credits to the ambience
I was in 2 moods during the entiring I was doing 2 playing the edgelord and searching a way of escaping, and that's thanks to the ambience, I was scared, like I was there, like I was the character, the game over screen also helped, it looked like a error screen, it didn't helped that I was playing through a R4, that added a small funny layer
DeSuOC's difficulty suffers from the usual updated remake syndrome all ATLUS remakes suffer: they get a bunch of extra new things without really compensating their inclusion, so the game ends up being a lot easier than the original.
This is especially true for DeSu1: it did not have the compendium in the original so going hog on fusions wasn't as easy. You had to rely more on the auction to get fusion material (it wasn't even that bad tbh, I think you're pampered by the existence of the Compendium in other games). It was more annoying to level up demons to have them learn certain skills to inherit than actually getting the material, but it wasn't that hard to do at least that much by the endgame (levelling them up for the extra boss is a whole different story).
The other big thing is that OC included a lot of new skills, especially some skills that originated in DeSu2 like Multi-Strike. The original Desu already had really strong nuke tactics in the form of Holy Dance and Drain for magic and Deathbound with Pierce for physical, but new skills broke the game wide open--Physical is de facto the hardest nuking system in DeSu with the inclusion of multi-strike and a physical-based non-elemental attack to deal with Phys Reflect. You could also have two Pierce teams instead of one with the inclusion of an Auto Skill that gives Pierce to your whole team, just for even more broken Phys shenanigans.
One last thing: why obssess over unlocking all routes on the first run when the game was clearly made with NG+ in mind? I feel like that's Persona influencing the way you approached the game by trying to "maximize efficiently advancing your relationships with other people". That's more DeSu2's style since the Fate System in that game encourages you to actually go out and do that, whereas DeSu1 is more about taking in the world going to hell around you with everyone else caught up in their problems while it's going on.
Devil Survivor is spiritual succesor of Majin Tensei, a SMT spin-off from Super Famicom and ... Saturn (Ronde), which was basically Fire Emblem 4 + SMT. Devil Survivor is improved version of Majin Tensei + they added time managment / Visual Novel elements from Langrisser / Growlancer (NOT FROM PERSONA, Langrisser did that 10 years earlier than Persona 3). Devil Survivor, Langrisser, Growlancer, is SRPG series made by Carer Soft, and Langrisser 3 is first SRPG mixed with Dating Sim 15 years before Fire Emblem: Awakening.
It was not Dating Sim, it was just marriage system. It's not same.@@KrimsonKattYT
So I kind of disagree that Keisuke's character isn't clearly conveyed. Maybe if you're reading what he's saying on a surface level it can seem like it comes from nowhere, but he by default hates people who pick on the weak. Atsuro was bullied in school and Keisuke was the one who put a stop to it which is why Atsuro is grateful to him. But the part Atsuro didn't know is that afterwards Keisuke was targeted for bullying and when that happened no one helped him. So he already has a very strong hatred for people who go after those he considers "good people" since that's what happened to him and he especially hates when "good people" are put into bad situations with no way out due to the malice of others.
And it wasn't just Midori that sent him over. Midori was only one of many examples Keisuke saw of people trampling over others during the lockdown. The example he gave was there was a group of people who were starving and an elderly lady tried to share food with them. The result is those people beat the elderly lady to death and robbed her body of whatever she had. So from the start of him being in the lockdown, he was put into a situation that was 100% going to snap him in half. It was just a matter of when.
i played the original DS and the 3DS
definitely one of my favorite atlus games
That single from of Tokyo Mirage Sessions is the most we'll ever get from him regarding the most ambitious crossover of all time.
3ds/ds has some beauties from Atlus, and I have them all!!
I think devil survivor plays the perfect balance between the charecter drama of persona. And the gritty dark ideology and world building of traditional megaten. Its not all just demons go brr law chaos. And its not a dating sim power of friendship.
This game gets me swearing like it’s 2010 and I’m playing mw2 on voice chat. It’s hard but not impossible, and even if it stressed me tf out I love it dearly
Now do devil survivor 2. I prefer its plot, characters, and basically everything about it.
DS1 had better music, more realistic characters and atmosphere
Combat I agree though
tbh unless i got the wrong idea, i feel like you might've gone into this game with the mindset of "ok lets see if the game is as kino as everyone says" rather than just wanting to play it tho? not tryin to be rude but it sorta came off that way, although that may be the point of the video since you're kinda talking about the games reception at the end. anyway great video as always nam
btw, about you thinking your scripts lately have been dry, ive actually been kinda noticing a change in them lately and i really like it, i hope you can continue doing this typa shit
If tactics games where map positioning is important is what you want then check out Disgaea. In that series there's a mechanic called "Geo Panels" where certain tiles on the map will glow different colors, and depending on what Geo Symbol is sitting on it it will grant a different effect. Anything from attack boosts to invincibility. You can even stack other geo symbols of different colors onto the same color tiles to make that color grant a ton of different effects, or you can place all the geo symbols on one color, destroy them, and watch as the geo panels change colors and finally disappear causing damage to every enemy on the map.
Theres also the lift anf throw mechanic, which as it says, allows you to lift and throw allies, enemies, objects, etc.
Also you can do more damage to foes depending on if you're beside, or behind them but im pretty sure thats in most tactics games anyway.
For example. You load up a map, and in front of you is a red 3x3 with 8 enemies on it in a circle pattern. and a tenth red tile with the geo symbol somewhere else on the map. The symbol grants anyone standing on it invincibility. So what do you do? Do you pick up and throw an ally in the center to force the enemies out? or do you grab and remove the symbol? Do you grab the enemies form the outside and take the invincibility tiles for yourself? Many solutions!
People bring up the “this game predicted covid because it’s about a lockdown” but I remember I actually bought this game for my 20th birthday, which was right before lockdown started for me here in Ireland, so it definitely felt immersive
Thats cool and all, but whens the powerwash simulator video?
That’s great but when is the Garten of Banban video?
That's cool and all but when's the Paw Patrol Adventures video?
Also known as, Law alignment enjoyers holy grail
So they CAN do a proper Law ending lmao
Devil Survivor was my introduction to the Persona franchise, then I played Devil Survivor 2. Needless to say I loved both of them. After that I tried playing other Persona games but I felt like all of them are lack luster compared to the other Devil Survivor gameplay.
Devil survivor mention in 2024?? 🗣️‼️🔥
I put WAY too many hours into the 3DS version of this. And I have to say, it was highly enjoyable.
played this game last year it was really fun i enjoyed the characters honestly might go and replay it within the next few months to go see one of the other endings
I haven't played all of the smt games, but out of all of them I did play, devil survivor is my favorite and one of my favorite games of all time.
despite its flaws, DeSu 1 is my all-time fave.
kinda wish Atlus makes another SRPG (not persona) but oh well
Yes DeSu is still good, would love to see a remaster of it or a 3rd entry of it.
Devil survivor 2 on the 3ds is bot only my favorite but also the first SMT game I ever played, absolutely loved it immediately.
Complaining about it being too easy, but also complaining that grinding wasn't more enjoyable?
You've got a lot of great things to say, but that was a game journo tier comment.
I liked the demon auction, it's not as compelling as talking to demons is at its best, but the auction doesn't get as tiresome as talking does in the second half of most games.
This was my first SMT game and I bought it on a whim after getting my hands on a $20 Nintendo gift card and a sale. It was such a blast and I'd buy it again if it was on the switch
Ya did a pretty nice analysis, theres a couplw of things here n there but yeah, really enjoyed it!
ive played both original DeSu 1&2 and loved 'em, heck still do to this day! So im happy theres folks that like these games yet.
Devil survivor 1 in my eyes is peak smt i would put it in top 1
I completely agree with your point about everything being incredibly expensive in this game. I ended up having to spend way too much time farming just so I could resummon a demon I just fused because I was too under equipped to handle some of the late game Boss fights. I'd have to use everything I had just to make stronger demons but then I only have like three demons when I need to have at least eight to fill out all the parties
I love the Devil Survivor series and I really want it to get a remaster or remake so I can play on Switch
I love the range and double attack combo to kill off/weaken enemies without getting hit.
The passive are cool, but I think I only experimented to beat big bosses.
It is pretty much an unbeatable combination until the 7th day. You can destroy enemies way higher level than you easily
@@westonmeyer3110I do feel its still mandatory since there are a lot of enemies who have it and they can kill or weaken you if you don’t have a ranged Demon on your team.
@@cww2490
Even if enemies have ranged attackers you can just kill them and then their team is wide open to be annihilated without being able to do anything.
This, its sequel, and Strange Journey are my favs on DS/3DS.
i love devil survivor 1 and 2 and strange journey so much, by far my favs entries in the entire megaten franchise, smt 2 coming in aswell
I see tons of people say it’s their favorite smt game and I still think it’s underrated. First smt I ever played so I’m insanely biased but it’s just so peak
Yes, we're getting into the meat now. i hope you go into the side games more often... Can't wait for digital devil saga.
edit: oh, nvm you've done them had to double check myself, since i just recently came to the channel. I'll have to watch that next.
I keep thinking "man, this game takes place in Kamurocho?" I play too much Yakuza.
lol same
I was stuck on this game for an entire year because of the difficulty. I loved it to bits but one I don't usually like turn based stuff nowadays and two it was such an ordeal I didn't want to do again. It's pretty wild to hear someone say it's too easy. I ended up having to have teams based around black Maria healing and reviving effectively making a tank build and that still took some doing against the tower of babel and that super powerful angel what's his name.
Played both in DS and then 3DS I loved it. In fact DS was like my gateway to strategy/RPG games I really got into the genre after finishing this game back in the day and I'm so glad you reviewed it. I was never a fan of the dub, in fact I'm not a fan of any dub at all, and that's honestly my only complain.
Your video delivers exactly what you wanted to do: A complete analysis of the game.
So while I would have loved to hear what you had to say about every character, route, ending and 8th day scenarios this was more of a review of the complete game and not an story analysis. Maybe something to look forward in the future? Also bro you forgot about the banger OST.
I don't consider this game to be the best SMT or the best SMT spin-off but it ranks pretty high in my list. Now if I could say the same about DeSu2...
I feel like the ds version is a bit of a different experience? Like without being able to buy from the compendium and not having additional save slots it really impacts how you interact with things. For one thing, you can’t really min max your events unless you’re willing to redo portions of the day (which I’ve done a couple times in my current run). If you’re really dedicated you can still grind to do fusion chains, but you need to rely on what you have and what you can fuse from what’s at the auction. I also think a minimum battles/limited grinding challenge would be pretty difficult. The Wedndigo and Beldr fights don’t fuck around
I’m replaying Overclocked and while I agree with a lot of what you say in this video, I think there’s a couple points that stand out for the narrative.
While not knowing if talking to a character will or won’t advance their story is obnoxious, I think it helps the overall way the game is supposed to be played. It’s meant to be played multiple times so the scenes that don’t advance the story, show other parts of those characters that you may have missed in previous playthroughs. Like Keisuke’s story makes more sense if you try to see all of all of his scenes.
I just picked up my 3ds and have this, Record Breaker and Soul Hackers on it. Mostly untouched. Think I need to play these old games I'd bought and sat on for so long.
First tried this smt game at 16 thought it was weird and hard for being a jrpg gave up on it 15 years later and I finally beat it and omg its such an amazing game
I don't get why everyone has issues with the voice acting, I think everybody nailed their roles (generics not included who cares they aren't noteworthy) except for naoya, he's the only person I feel like didn't have great direction
people with a sense of taste play undubbed
Devil survivor has my favorite law route of the series
As a person who's main exposure to the MegaTen series was thru P3P and P4 on ps2, playing Devil Survivor felt like a window to an alternate reality.
Whelp, now you’ll get a million requests to cover the Raidou games.
I always look this game as the middle point between persona 2 and persona 3, you'll see in DS2 the first form of social links in action.
I dont think SRPG should be hard, they should be about making lasting decisions. But yeah i came from SJ before this game and it just so easy 😂
I think i like naoya's route the best, at least in the original game, its a bit fun to be the edgy villain for a change
Nam this is so easy, it's 100% underrated! (Along with Devil Survivor 2).
Finally, a GOOD megaten
Oh lmao speaking of Keisuke dying, i had the hilarious situation where I refused to help him go murder psycho and died in the resulting fight. I reloaded the save and picked different dialouge options, leading me to sway him over to join us again, resulting in Midori running away. The literal next and only thing I could do was the fight where he gets killed by Kaido. Hilariously enough, *Midori was with us again and reacted as if nothing had happened prior to this*. I have no fucking clue how i managed this but it still makes me laugh
Finally Nam on Debiru Subaiba!!