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jp's Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor (DS)

[March 30, 2019 04:19:42 PM]

I think this might the first Shin Megami Tensei game I've played and I wonder why there haven't been any recent releases in the series? (though I guess the Persona series is technically part of the Megami Tensei series?) So confusing.

Anyways, it's been fun to play a tactical RPG and this one has a few things I've found interesting:

a. Each character on the map is actually a main character and two sidekicks. For the player, these are demons that you've "hired" (in an auction) or "created" (by fusing two other demons you've hired together into a new one). So, there are great opportunities to combo special attacks off each other - but also, it means that you need to worry about your trio AND the enemy trios as well. If you kill the main character, then the sidekicks disappear - but, you lose out on the extra experience from having killed the sidekicks directly.

b. Before you start a battle, for each of your characters you can choose an ability you'd like to "crack" - if that character kills the enemy that has that ability, you can then add that ability to your character. If gives you a bit of an additional incentive/restriction as to who to kill and with whom.

c. There's all kinds of different elemental effects and resistances. I can't say I figured them all out other than weak/strong and one that heals you instead of damage. Oh, there's one that straight up blocks damage. This matters in which special attacks you choose to use but also, later in the game when you have attacks that target multiple enemies, you might not want to use them because of bad things.

d. The games sequencing of actions is unusual. When it's your turn you can do your actions in any order (move, then attack), but you can also do spells for each character and sidekick. Depending on what they have, this can be super useful. You can - heal, then attack, or heal AFTER you've attacked! This gets annoying with enemies that also have the heal ability, but I thought it was an interesting way to sequence your actions and it definitely adds some tactical interest as well.

e. A round of combat consists of everyone attacking. But, you sometimes (the enemies as well) have a bonus attack! If you attack an enemy in a particular way - dunno how exactly other than doing a lot of damage, I think - they can lose their bonus attack! I think you have more bonus attacks when you initiated the attack, but I'm not sure. I didn't quite figure it out (or understand it when explained)

I've made it to the end of the second day, the story is interesting but not THAT much - and I've had a few grindy moments and a battle I lost through no fault of my own (NPC died, was supposed to protect, but there was no way I could have) such that I've decided to put the game back on the shelf. I'm still starting down a stack of other DS games....