Product Description

Set in an alternative universe, six warring factions are engaged in a deadly power struggle to be the only surviving group. The rules of engagement are irrecoverably changed by the impact of a new life-force who gives each character the power to transform into an alter-ego demon with extreme powers and skills and a taste for the flesh of defeated foes. Have you got the appetite for Digital Devil Saga?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2546 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Ghostlight
• Released on: 2006-07-21
• Platform: PlayStation2
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .28 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Set in an alternative universe, six warring factions are engaged in a deadly power struggle to be the only surviving group. The rules of engagement are irrecoverably changed by the impact of a new life-force who gives each character the power to transform into an alter-ego demon with extreme powers and skills and a taste for the flesh of defeated foes. Have you got the appetite for Digital Devil Saga?

Customer Reviews

Good game, good series.
I'm going to try and aim this review at both people who have and haven't played this games predecessor, Lucifer's Call. If you have played that game you are pretty much completely clued up in regards to what to expect...I'll get on to the differences later. If you haven't played Lucifer's Call...my advice is to play that first. Although the stories aren't connected in any way, I simply think LC is the better of the two. And it will get you used to all the customs and mythology that the Shin Megami Tensei series seems to be built around.

In Digital Devil Saga you are Serph, leader of a small band of rogues who live in a post-apocalyptic world of constantly warring "tribes" who exist and fight according to strict codes and rules of allegiance. As is customary in RPGs, a world-changing event is about to happen that throws all the tribes into turnoil, and in this game it is the sudden appearance of a black haired girl called Sera (which causes a sensation because nobody in the world has ever had black hair before), who every tribe suddenly wants to kidnap after hearing that, for some mysterious reason, she alone can unlock a forbidden (or formerly unreachable) place known only as Nirvana.

Anyway, enough of the plot. It becomes clear early on that the player is in for traditional turn based battles, and I'm glad to say the superior "press turns" system from Lucifers Call (in which you gain extra battle turns by knowing which attacks best exploit your enemies weaknesses - and likewise, the enemies also do the same with your weaknesses) is still in effect. What's different from most RPGs is that everybody in this world has a demon "alter ego" and for every battle, you will see your characters with a completely different physical appearance, usually with lots of teeth, spikes and claws. This kind of de-personalised the battles for me as it was visually just a load of monsters against monsters, but story-wise it does have some importance. Apart from that, you'll find yourself in pretty linear territory and with little room for deviation with regard to where you go after finishing each dungeon, and what you do next. What struck me most on playing was the surprisingly small scale of the game as a whole. There are only five tribes in this world, so I expected lots of twists in the story, but once the enemy tribe leaders are all thwarted in their efforts to seize Sera from you, the game is all but over, and you only have one other thing left to do, which is to take her with you and see what this so-called Nirvana is really about. Now there's a very obvious reason for this brevitiy, but it's not a very encouraging one - the game is designed very specifically to be Part One of a two game series. So if you choose to buy it, be prepared for much of the plot to be unresolved at the end, and to have to go and get Part Two to finish the story. Knowing this, I kind of expected a mammoth storyline that simply went on and on, but in reality, I think DDS1 only has about half the gameplay time of some other one disc games out there anyway, so the need to sell it in two parts seemed a bit greedy to me. It was definitely over sooner than I expected.

Now onto the next drawbacks, but these ones will only really hit gamers who played and enjoyed Lucifers Call (that's me, then). The demon recruitment system, which let you add any monster you met in battle to your own team of playable characters, is gone, which means no more fantastic variety of team members to play with. The monsters you fight agaisnt are all familiar faces from that game though, so expect to encounter those pesky physical-immune elephants (Girimehkala), and the death spell-happy goat demons (Baphomet), as well as several new faces. But on your side of things, Digital Devil Saga has a mere five members, which is low among RPGs anyway, and compared to Lucifer's Call, it seems very tame.

All the battle skills and spells still exist, along with the same unidentifiable names (Tenterafoo? Pulpina? Me Patra?), but to obtain the really good ones is much, MUCH harder work now, simply because they have to be paid for with money, and the top of the range spells like Debilitate, Dekunda, Megidolaon etc, cost massive amounts of cash, and you still have to buy and work through all the spells on the pathway to the top end (the skills are only for sale in a pre-set order, the weakest must be learned first before each next level becomes available).
Now I know in most RPGs this is the norm, and I don't mind some serious levelling up to unlock the best skills. But here, every single top skill comes at the very end of all the other skill sets, and you will most likely reach the end of the game with several pathways nowhere near finished - unless you do nothing but grind away so that all the required experience and cash gets earned. Of course, the idea is to extend replay value...I realised this as soon as I read on the web that the "clear game" mode starts you off on a replay with all mastered skill still saved, so after two or maybe even three playthroughs, you might just have learned all the really good skills that there are...phew! Sorry but that's not for me. And not even after seeing that many of my favourite basic safety support abilities like Null Death and Null Expel come way up at the top of the list. Actually, that in itself makes the game much harder that Lucifer's Call, as you have to do a lot of battling against enemies who cast all those mean spells like Hama and Mudo before you'll ever reach the abilities that protect you from them. Ok, you do get spells that cast shields against these attacks, but I wanted the permanent immunities!

This leads me to my other gripe - this being that with all 5 characters, the shopping list of skills is the same for everybody. One giant grid (a lot like the sphere grid in Final Fantasy X) shows you which paths lead to which skills. So individual character has little to do with how you deploy the skills of your team, you can make anyone into anything. Although the five characters do come pre-loaded with a definite slant (Argilla will always be the best magic caster and Heat the strongest physical attacker, etc), it's nothing like the array of abilities that the "cast of thousands" in Lucifer's Call had, giving you there the huge scope for a custom team with some real personality in it. I was very proud of my final, boss-beating line up in Lucifer's Call, but in this game everyone's going to be exactly the same at the end of the story as they were at the beginning, just with more HP and improved spells. OK, I know thats the case in most RPGs...it just goes to show how memorable Lucifer's Call really was. I'll tell you one major improvement though: you no longer have to permanently delete skills to learn new ones - hooray!

The look of the game, however is wonderful. A step up from Lucifer's Call, but still with the same anime style, except that now the graphics are even better. Thankfully they have improved on the drab locations that seemd to be repeated to infinity in that game, and some of the dungeons are now quite stunning - although they still repeat interiors over and over again for all the rooms and chambers in each dungeon! And now the characters finally have spoken dialogue. This is great, and it makes them all seem really alive, despite a very dodgy "Jamaican" accent given to one of them.

So in summary, a shorter game and with sadly less innovations than Lucifer's Call. But it looks better and it's definitely still in that league. And it actually has a better story - all the stuff about The Conception and choosing a Reason kind of went over my head last time, I'm sorry to say! So is that enough? I'd say buy Lucifer's Call first and then get this one if you want more. Although you have to buy Part Two as well afterwards...

Better Than Final Fantasy - And Less Emo
This game is a niche game that deserves to be appreciated by a wider audience. I got into the series via owning DDS2 on import, and after playing that from 10am to midnight, I have to say I was biting at the bit when I heard the first part was coming out in the UK. Do not let online reviews fool you - there is a WONDERFUL story to this game that spans two volumes. Having played the second, I can honestly say it's the best RPG I've ever seen, outside of Suikoden 1 and 2. Final Fantasy compared to this is good, but overrated.

The artwork is wonderful, as is the soundtrack. The anime-styled graphics were what got me into the second half and there's not a sign of Tolkein-esque fields in sight. Everything is based in the Junkyard, where tribes fight for supremacy.

Digital Devil Saga is the first game to introduce Serph and his companions, plus one of my favourites from this game, Heat. In ?DDS 2, the graphics are updated, as are other things. If you want the full experience, you must play this game before starting DDS2. You get to port in your game complete data, and in this game it helps unlock certain things, including Heat as a character.

Throughout, the music has a technological quality and suits the post-apocalypse setting and dark imagery the game uses. Though some tracks may get boring after a while, they are all decent in quality. The soundtrack in DDS2 is just wonderful.

The story is where this game shines. Obviously, you'll want to play this before moving onto part two, but if like me you came in on this part it also deals fine. As Serph, the leader of the Embryon Tribe, you and your companions are forced to eat other demons in order to survive, lest you be eaten. However, there are plot twists galore. There are masses of characters, all of whom have depth and are well developed. There are some genuienly sad moments.

The gameplay is good and deserves a high score as whilst it is detailed and allows for choosing your skills, it is not made overly complicated. Turns operate on something called the 'press turn system'. Each press icon equals one turn for each of your characters. Whilst this may seem easy, the bosses and enemies you encounter also have the exact same system. So if you go in with the wrong skills equipped, you'll get wiped out in no time at all. Strategy is needed. The need to learn different mantras is there, and as ever, there are the secret optional bosses. Plus a certain Demi-Fiend from SMT: Nocturne.

In all, I recommend this game if you enjoy anime-themed adventure games. Or even those with sci-fi leanings, plus if you like deep plot and gore you'll find it here. It's something that has had me up late constantly playing it.

Possibly the greatest RPG ever
After the immense disappointment of Dragon Quest, I decided to play my American import of this game again. This game just shows how dated (and how unoriginal) DQ is.

The story follows that of Serph, leader of the Embryon in the world known as the Junkward, a miserable place where the mysterious Karma Temple orders your Tribe to kill other Tribes, of which there are six, including you.

However, with all Japanese RPGs, the story changes drastically throughout and is resolved in the sequel Digital Devil Saga 2. I own both games on import and they are simply the greatest RPGs ever. Challenging, interesting, original, deep, immense, sad, beautiful..there are so many words to describe this Saga. Please, buy these games so Atlus release more Shin Megami games out here! I also recommend SMT:Nocturne/Lucifer's Call. Both are excellent games, though if you're looking for an RPG rather than a RPG/monster rancher hybrid, start here.