On Digital Devil Saga
Yes, I am a Warrior of Purgatory!
It shames me to say that I only discovered the Shin Megami Tensei games near the end of the Playstation 2's run. My sister saw a review for Persona 4 and thought, since I like RPGs preferably from Japan, that I would enjoy the game immensely. My mind was blown by the game and its revolutionary system that made turn-base play a thing of the past. Not to mention its well-developed characters and a plot that is interesting upon first play, but a bit of a let-down after having beat it about . . . 4 times? Then came Persona 3 which I loved even more than Persona 4 and greatly appreciated the darker plot as well as some of the more sinister imagery.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin was fun initially but grew slower and slower over time. I still haven't beaten it and I don't see myself playing it anymore in the future. It did introduce me to Maya though, who I love. And I loved the new Guilty Gear Games - I mean, Persona Arena and Ultimax. And Catherine is an excellent game with a fascinating plot that I just can't seem to get through because this is Team MegaTen and they feast upon my tears of frustration.
Then I played Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne. And everything kind of changed from there. I would definitely say that Nocturne is my favorite of the MegaTen games so far. In fact, saying that I'm biased when discussing it doesn't quite do my love for it justice. Aesthetically, the game hits all of my pings: world with virtually no humans and environments that look like the insides of a body. Check and check. Also your friends from the human world are monstrosities! Watch them turn into abominations!
Since Persona 5 is coming out in the very near future (April 4th to be exact), the Playstation Network had a sale for all MegaTen games released on the Playstation 2. And seeing as there are plenty that I still have yet to play (I'm looking at you, Raidou Kuzunoha), Digital Devil Saga seemed like the best bet.
What stood out the most to me upon playing Digital Devil Saga is that I made it through two bosses without dying. This is important to me, considering the level of difficulty that is always present in a MegaTen game. But perhaps what helped me was how similar the battle system is to Nocturne. In fact, DDS has many similarities with this game that I love so much. Even the look of the game feels extremely similar.
There are subtle differences, though. In Nocturne, often the environment had dark, muted colors while the Demi-Fiend was covered in glowing blue lines. This makes him stand out amid the non-human environment, to showcase his difference in the world. In DDS, the uniforms your team, Embryon, wears are in shades of gray and beige, as the environment has pops of neon green and red. As if to showcase the assimilation that has occurred in this world. That the environment is otherworldly here. Even more intriguing is the human girl they find, Sera, who is the only character with natural hair color: black.
In terms of design, Gale is my favorite - seeing his green hair peek out from a tan hood that looks as if it could function as a gas mask as well. All of the other characters stand out by their hair: Heat and his bright red hair, Argilla with neon pink hair, and Cielo with blue dreads. The only character that doesn't stand out is our playable protagonist, Serph, with what is supposed to be white hair, but it appears more gray in some cut-scenes.
And I can't begin to express my love for Kazuma Kaneko's artwork. Out of the entire series, my favorite design from him will always be Chiaki Hayasaka, both her human and pseudo-fiend forms. The expressions on the characters of DDS are so full of emotion - Bat is probably my favorite so far, with his perpetual shit-eating grin. Although I love Gale's dead stare.
I was a bit confused to be dropped into the plot of this game so abruptly, but I appreciate that level of vagueness. The moments of exposition in DDS come from characters you can ask questions outside of cut-scenes. Even then, the characters all seem uncertain on their existence and purpose. There are certain factions across this strange, new world known as "the Junkyard" and they're all fighting for domination. However, they find a strange item on the battlefield that pries open and releases a "demon virus" upon the world. Inside this item is a young woman, Sera.
With this virus, everyone in the Junkyard has the ability to transform into a demon. However, to survive, they have to eat. Each other.
Some are more than happy to comply with this. Such as Heat, whose reaction to every encounter is, "Let's eat them." Argilla is the most sickened by this idea and has to be convinced to eat. Gale runs more along the lines of, "Let's plan. Then let's eat them." While Cielo is too busy trying not to be eaten by Gale. What I love about this character direction is the very same thing I loved about Nocturne: giving characters negative traits that may appear to be villainous in some situations. So many RPGs rely on the characters being "good." And I have to question how "good" a Dragon Quest protagonist is if he's willing to loot every household he comes across. There is the option, through Serph and the Demi-Fiend, to make really primal decisions. Like decimate all of the Manikins! Or shall we eat Jinana and her tribe after we've made an alliance with them? It's these highly uncomfortable decisions that really make Nocturne and DDS for me.
Considering the appearance of the demons, many of the characters go through personality changes, where more primal emotions appear. But I would argue that the groups in the Junkyard were living in a rather primal environment already. They're in certain factions and trying to kill each other off, like packs of dogs. I don't think the demons necessarily make them primal so much as they exacerbate these qualities. Many of the characters seem to question feelings that we consider basic knowledge, such as Serph asking, "What is fear?" The concept of sadness is something that is new and complex to Argilla. Or Gale's constant robotic response of, "I do not comprehend."
This all makes for me being obsessed with playing DDS and it doesn't help matters when you've essentially given me what is an extension of Nocturne. I have a feeling that magazine article Chiaki was reading at the beginning of Nocturne has something to do with the Junkyard. And I am all for playing this battle system one more time.
So I guess I'm back on the MegaTen train. Just no That One Boss and I'll be okay.
Oh who am I kidding, I already know who the one boss of DDS is. I've already played a game as him.