Others say...

"Good, but it is part 2 of a two-parter."
So, I finally finished the second Digital Devil Saga game. The question may be, should you play the first game before this one? My answer is YES, as they are part of one story and playing them in the wrong order would make nonsense of the plot. Playing the second one alone would also drastically dilute the experience, as there are many references to the events of the first one. So this game is really not for anyone but players of Digital Devil Saga 1.

Ok, with that out of the way, I guess my advice would be to treat DDS1 and DDS2 as a two-disc single game - and buy them both. I think it's a bit of a shame that they did not release both games as a double pack, at least for a limited edition...maybe they will in the future. So for players of the first game, the story continues here. The five main characters have reached "Nirvana" and found that they are no better off than where they first started. So now they want answers, and the story concerns the revelations behind what the Junkyard actually was and where your team has now ended up. As plot twists go, it's actually been done before (I can't tell you which games it resembles to avoid spoilers!), but the resolution of the story is very mature and some scenes are extremely sad.

I won't go into any more detail about gameplay as it's all the same as DDS1 - turn based RPG action with the "press turns" system still as great as ever. You'd have to really like the Shin Megami game world by now though, as this is the third (I'm including Nocturne/Lucifer's Call, here) game for the PS2 so far to use many of the same monsters and battle skills all over again. By now I was starting to feel the repetition slightly, and when some of the monsters re-appeared, my mind went back to Lucifer's Call where I was able to employ them as team members, and I remembered how good that was. But DDS2 is still great fun to play, and at least they have brought in two brand new playable characters. Another different aspect is the way you access the Mantras (skills). You still have to buy them but the grid is now a big honeycomb rather than lots of single paths, so characters can cross more freely into each other's areas. The best skills are still waa-aay out of reach until you've done an incredible amount of levelling up, or are playing a second time through, whioch is a bit frustrating. And some of the top level skills only appear after fighting optional bosses, but I guess that's fair.

While on the subject of options, you will be doing yourself another big favour by playing DDS1 first and KEEPING THE SAVE DATA! This game can read your memory card for a DDS1 file and a clear game save will allow several handy bonuses. Some of these are money based, but others allow you acces to some extremely useful Karma Rings, which act as equippable shield/support items in this game. If you defeated the optional bosses Metatron and Beelzebub in DDS1, you'll get free rings that shield you from the two most annoying status attacks, Death and Expel. There are other rings too, none of which can be found or bought in DDS2 otherwise, and are extremely useful in fighting some tricky boss fights. Of course defeating those bosses in DDS1 was no mean feat, so if you managed to do so, you've earned these valuable accessories. Another bonus is that in the final dungeon, three of your characters may (depending on some simple choices in DDS1) each get a new super-strong skill for free, but these are so expensive to cast that I tried them out one or twice each just to see them and then never touched them again.

What I found lacking was no decent side quests or mini games. The "Space Invaders" style game was horrible and the Hee-Ho quiz was interminable, I never got anywhere near answering them all as Jack Frost appeared so rarely. There are some optional bosses, but not many, and they seem stuck on as an afterthought. They are, however suitably difficult, and only the dedicated player will defeat them, and doing so without the aid of a guide is almost impossible! Again, the game ends with a frustrating maze-like level of winding passages and warp-points, but luckily it's not as bad as the final area in the first game.

What's still good is the depth of the characterization. All the major cast members have real personalities, and there are several heavily dramatic scenes along the way which are very well depicted and voiced. As I mentioned earlier, this is a gloomy story with little feel-good atmosphere, but it certainly feels well written. And the graphics and design are still the same cool style. So, when added together with DDS1, it makes for a sizeable epic, but alone, both games fall short of the length I would expect for a single RPG game....still, its a great experience to play both, and now that both are available, interested gamers could embark on a marathon single venture, although the dropping of all stats back to starting levels halfway through (at the start of DDS2) might be a bit galling. But thats how it has to be. Enjoyable none the less.

"Better than the first"
From the major cliff hanger of the first game, this one picks right up where the last one drops off. I feel the game play is about the same with some minor improvments but I feel the story is alot more concrete in this one. The first game was more of just the introduction and the begging of this, one of a kind, story. I highly reccomend this for those who have played and enjoyed the first one. I can also say that if you haven't played the first game, this can still be an enjoyable story told to where you can still understand what is going on.

"I am finally at peace..."
The second DDS does a great job in explaining the mysteries in the DDS1, and leaves more unanswered mysteries for the players to contemplate.

Serph, the leader of the Tribe Embron in Junkyard (a computer generated combat experiment platform,) and his comrades finally reached Nirvana. However they only found the situation no better than Junkyard: people still kill and devour others to survive, and what's worse, the sun is corrupted and its radiation turns human beings into stone.

Two major groups exist in this real world: general public who have to live in an undergroud city; and the technologically excelled Karma Society, whose members have to hunt down the underground citizens for food. Constant battling has been going on... and it would be Serph's new task to put an end to this chaos.

DDS2 has a lot of improvements over the first one:

1. Mantra system is shifted to hexagonal format instead of the old linear format. Players can really customize their characters without having to spend a long time for mantra mastering in order to learn the desired skills.

2. Introduction of Karma Rings brings more flexibility to combat strategy. Various Karma Rings can boost up different stats, interfere with turn system, alters weakness/strength, imparts status modification in battle... and the ultimate one can even nullify nearly all attacks. Sweet!

3. Apart from having suprise attacks as human form, DDS2 also introduced Berserker mode, in which the characters cannot control their demonic power and go insane. Berserkers have a status of super high physical attack, nearly no defense, and inability to cast any spell. If the player won the battle with berserk players, more experience point can be earned.

4. Some new mantras and skills are also added. You'll also hit into a Jackfrost hosting a quiz contest for you. If you managed to answer 100 questions correctly, at the final dungeon you can recover the strongest bullet and a Karma ring.

The only drawback of this game is about party changes: Nearly every one of your characters will be out of the party for a while... if you are the classical one-man-is-attacker, one-man-is-healer, and one-man-is-magician type of RPG player, you'll find yourself in a very deep trouble. Make sure you have a balanced party, so balanced that if anyone dropped out, you'll still be fine.

I don't want to spoil the game but the ending of this game is really thought provoking. It's worth to beat the final boss a few times to watch this again. And don't worry, as usual the SMT series has very easy final boss. :)

And at last, some tips:

1. The disk cover is two-sided. Take it out from the plastic box, reverse it and you'll have a new cover!

2. If you have the old DDS1 clear save, you can unlock a few new Karma Rings, improve the starting stats of the characters, and gain some more money at the beginning. You can also play hard mode at the first time without going through the normal mode.

3. Hard mode has a super hidden boss.

4. If you have cleared it once, you can replay in the second cycle. If your second cycle is normal, you can inherit all the Karma Rings, Mantra experience, learnt skills, and discovered combos. You'll also get a new Karma ring allowing you to keep the characters in Berserker mode; and a new skill allowing a constant human form in battle. If your second cycle is hard, you can only get the berserker ring and the new human form skill. Nothing else.

5. If you made correct choices in DDS1 and DDS2, throughout the game you can also learn three character-specific skills. And those choices can also dictate if Heat (the old Embryon member) or Roland (the leader of the underground city) would join you at last.

Beated it for multiple times? No worry! The new series Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou will be out in Japan this winter! An all improved Shin Megami Tensei with Japan as story stage. Let's see what would happen.

"The second half... now the real fight begins!"
Digital Devil Saga 2 is arguably better than it's predecessor, as it contains several more features than the first, as well as a better soundtrack. The game also utilizes the same engine as the last two "Megaten" games on the Playstation 2 (Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and SMT: Digital Devil Saga 1). The only changes to the engine are the status screen and some of the combat features, but otherwise everything else is still the same.

The game is primarily a dungeon crawler, featuring numerous random encounters. That being said, in-game combat is essentially one of the most important parts of the game. Leveling up is not the only key to success though, as you will also have to harness the game's "press turn icon" system: When you fall into combat, your turns appear in the upper right hand corner as icons. You gain one icon for each member of your party, and depending on how you act in battle, you can use half an icon per move or blow all of your icons in one action. This adds a level of strategy to the usual 'old school turn based RPG' that has so far made each successive SMT game very enjoyable. The game also features combos, which add another level of strategy to the game. And before I move on, I must mention the "demon" factor. When you go into combat, your party members are transformed into their demon avatars. The demon avatars have at their disposal the usual spells, skills, attacks, and items. If however you are surprised (or chose to revert), you will be a human in combat. As a human you will only have the ability to use some combos and your gun. You also will have severely reduced defense as a human. Depending on the situation though, it may be beneficial to be a human. How this plays out is for you to discover.

The sound effects for the game are the same as they were in DDS 1 (as well as to a certain extent, the same as they were in SMT: N.) These sound effects are good though, and they easily capture the feel of combat. None of the sounds are inappropriate, and sometimes they can actually perplex you - you may be surprised to hear what a certain fearsome demon sounds like when he dies.

The voice acting is also the same as it was in DDS 1, which varies depending on each character. There are some characters who have well established voice actors (I.E. Gale has the voice actor of the same person who played Roger Smith from Big O). Other characters have actors that seem to deliver their lines flat, and you will either end up not caring much for them or cringe... depending on how critical you are. For the most part though, the voice acting is good (much better than games such as Dark Cloud 2.)

The music for the game is over all better than it was in the first DDS. While the music in DDS was comprised mostly of hard guitar music or techno, the music in DDS 2 merges the two together. The battle music is now a fast paced guitar and break beat onslaught. Many of the areas in the game are grinding techno tracks that feature all sorts of synths. This game easily has one of the best soundtracks that I have ever heard in quite a while.

But probably the most important aspect of Digital Devil Saga 2 is indeed it's storyline. All things considered, one should definitely not play DDS 2 without playing DDS 1 first. There is a strong chance that the player could probably grasp the story of DDS 2 without dealing with 1, but it would easily reduce the fun factor. Half of the fun in DDS 2 is easily finding out what has happened since the big changes that went down in DDS 1. There are also rewards for those who took the time to complete (or download a save from) DDS 1, as the game checks your memory card for your DDS 1 file. While I will not get into the details, you can easily have all of your party members be given a significant increase in status, as well as unlocking several very helpful items to give you a needed boost to help you complete the game. There are also skills that you can only obtain if you made a couple correct choices in DDS 1.

Still, the game easily stands alone by itself, but part of the enjoyment of playing the 'sequil' is taken away by not first playing the prequil. The sequel by itself is superior to the prequel, in the fact that it has: A much more complete story, more character customization, more combat strategy, and a completely revamped "mantra" system. As it stands, DDS 2 is indeed the "real" part of the Digital Devil Saga.

"A HUGE improvement over the first game..."
Let's sum up the series in one simple sentance...this is an existential Final Fantasy X with cell shaded graphics. It's a turn based RPG with toms and toms of cool magic and fighting techniques. What makes this game better than its predecessor is very simiple. The battles go faster, the magic acquisition interface is much more user friendly, the graphics and music are better...and the story is fantastic.
Pisture this...everything from the previous game is completely disregarded in the opening sequence of the game. Everything you know about the game is changed and your left on a desolate planet where the black sun literally turns everyone to stone. It's really cool. If you like RPS, then this series and in particular this game is a must to own!!!