History VideoGame / DevilSurvivor

''Devil Survivor'' is an interesting fusion of the old with the new. The basic scenario and first-person battle system is very similar to that of ''{{Shin Megami Tensei I}}'' but with the modern style and character-driven gameplay of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}''. ''Devil Survivor'' is also the most player-friendly ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' game yet: players can not only see a list of the demons that they can fuse and how to fuse them, but they can choose exactly what skills they inherit and even teach them new abilities. ''Don't'' take this to mean that Atlus is making the game any ''easier'', because [[NintendoHard they're not]].

* ButThouMust - {{Dialogue Tree}}s aside, the game will force several events on you each day. And no, you can't "accidentally" miss those.

* CandleJack: The name of 2 star Pyro Jacks at auct

* {{Council of Angels}}: The primary function of angels in this game, in fact it seems [[spoiler: they're the ones in charge of the lockdown, not God. Though the fact that humanity has the chance to redeem itself ''at all'' was His idea.]]

* {{Dark Is Not Evil}}: Possibly the demons the characters can summon. Notably [[spoiler: Black Frost ("''Jaaku'' Frost" or "Evil Frost" in Japan)]].

*** Better used in Yuzu's 8th day, where his name is used quite a bit, in non-optional events.

** And "Atsubro" for Atsuro, since he will [[{{HeterosexualLifePartners}} follow the MC no matter what.]]

** TheBigGuy: Midori

* FlunkyBoss: Beldr's battle. Many people have trouble with those goddamn Cait Siths and their goddamn Vidofnir buddies with Petra Eyes and their goddamn Mazan spell that will kill anyone with petrification. Oh, and don't forget the goddamn healing capabilities that they often use on Beldr if you don't kill them. Did we mention [[ItGotWorse the boss just turns around and resurrects them at full health and mana if you do kill them]]?

* GoodIsDumb: When someone joins, he/she doesn't bring the demons he/she used in the proceeding battles. Characters do minimal damage when they are your CPU allies (except when attacking an enemy [[SpitefulAI with a skill you set to crack]], ''then'' they kill it fairly well), but are able to one shot groups of monsters consistently when you are racing to obtain the highest kill count or need to keep them from escaping.

** Arguably Naoya's later {{Rage Against The Heavens}}-fueled rants qualify him.

* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler: Once again, angels show up to be condescending {{Jerkass}}es in a {{MegaTen}} game. Not to mention Belberith, the demon lord of light.]] Surprisingly though, [[spoiler:God Himself comes off as a pretty nice guy, just one surrounded by subordinates who take the Lawful part of His Lawful Goodness a bit too far]].

** What's more, many of the physical skills inflict damage based on how much HP you have, while the skills themselves [[{{CastFromHitPoints}} require HP to use.]] Meaning the skills actually get ''less'' useful the ''more'' you use them in a battle (although Health Saver tempers this problem). Mage-type characters, of course, do not suffer from this problem. You can see why magic is so favored in this game.

* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Atsuro. He frequently points out scary ideas and concepts, or worse, ''uncovers'' them.

* PlayerNudge: If you pick [[DownerEnding Yuzu's Route]] you end up fighting [[spoiler: Loki]], who chastises you for picking the "[[EasyModeMockery easy route]]" and not taking into account Naoya's suggestions to open up to the other people inside the lockdown. This is done so that lazier players realise that to open up the other MultipleEndings, they need to stop and talk to the other characters instead of simply zooming through the game.
* PlotlineDeath: [[spoiler:Nearly everyone WILL actually die unless you [[ScrewDestiny prevent it]], hence the term Devil ''Survivor'']].

* SecretTestOfCharacter: The demon invasion and lockdown was actually [[spoiler:planned by {{God}} as humanity's LastSecondChance. If they fail, then they will lose control of their own destinies and be ruled by the Kingdom of Heaven forever.]]

* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler:Naoya]]

** Non spoiler example. At one point on Day 4 you can speak with Haru, and regardless of your responses, she'll leave, and either way, the last line of text before the fade out is some untranslated japanese kanji.

* VillainousBreakdown: The MC can cause [[spoiler: Naoya]] to have one of these in a couple routes, depending on dialogue choices. In [[spoiler: Atsuro's route]], pointing out that [[spoiler: Naoya depended on the MC for all of his plans to work]] makes him lose it. And in [[spoiler: Amane's route]], the MC telling [[spoiler: Naoya]] that he doesn't hate him even after learning [[spoiler: that Naoya/Cain killed him in his past life as Abel]] makes him ''really'' lose it.

* WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou: Most of the time, it's perfectly fine to let anyone die.

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''ShinMegamiTensei: Devil Survivor'' (the Japanese title uses ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}''[='s=] ''Megami Ibunroku'' overtitle instead of [=SMT=]) is a StrategyRPG game by {{Atlus}}, released in 2009.

''Devil Survivor'' is an interesting fusion of the old with the new. The basic scenario and first-person battle system is very similar to that of ''{{Shin Megami Tensei I}}'' but with the modern style and character-driven gameplay of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}''. ''Devil Survivor'' is also the most player-friendly ''ShinMegamiTensei'' game yet: players can not only see a list of the demons that they can fuse and how to fuse them, but they can choose exactly what skills they inherit and even teach them new abilities. ''Don't'' take this to mean that Atlus is making the game any ''easier'', because [[NintendoHard they're not]].

** Since this is a [[ShinMegamiTensei MegaTen]] game, it goes without saying that the [[{{Satan}} real deal]] is present too, [[spoiler: as a BonusBoss you can fuse for your own use upon defeat.]]

* MultipleEndings: Though the endings play out somewhat differently from the mainline ''ShinMegamiTensei'' games, in keeping with the slightly less [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism cynical]] nature of the game. The Kingdom of Saints directly corresponds to the classic Law, but the SocialDarwinist Chaos from the main games is represented by [[spoiler: the Bad Ending]], [[spoiler: the King of Demons ending plays like Nocturne's [[RageAgainstTheHeavens True Demon ending]]]], and the Neutral endings are unique to Devil Survivor.

* MythologyGag: Depending on the scenes you unlock, the characters will wonder if they can try talking to demons, a major gameplay element in most ShinMegamiTensei games.
** The names of the competing bidders in the Demon Auction are characters from previous ''ShinMegamiTensei'' games. Surprisingly, a lot of the names come from ''SoulHackers'', which [[NoExportForYou wasn't even localised]]! In addition, the Occult level users are all previous [[HelloInsertNameHere Heroes/Protagonists]].

* XMeetsY - ''MegamiTensei'', {{Pokemon}} meets FistOfTheNorthStar (in that everyone has powers and is willing to ''abuse'' them for self-gain).

** FistOfTheNorthStar would be more fitting for the three main ShinMegamiTensei games, which all take place after various (and for some, nuclear-related) apocalypses and have protaganists that notably follow more chaos-aligned roots (as seen with the canon endings).

*** Considering what the entire ShinMegamiTensei series is like, and the fact that [[OlderThanTheyThink it predates Pokemon by a decade]], this is fairly normal. You just get more examples of the corruption etc than usual. Just look back to ShinMegamiTenseiI

''ShinMegamiTensei: Devil Survivor'' (the Japanese title uses ''VideoGame/{{Persona}}''[='s=] ''Megami Ibunroku'' overtitle instead of [=SMT=]) is a RolePlayingGame-slash-TurnBasedStrategy game by {{Atlus}}, released in 2009.

* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler: Once again, angels show up to be condescending {{Jerkass}}es in a {{MegaTen}} game. Not to mention Belberith, the demon lord of light.]]
** Surprisingly though, [[spoiler:God Himself comes off as a pretty nice guy, just one surrounded by subordinates who take the Lawful part of His Lawful Goodness a bit too far]].
*** [[spoiler:Unless you get the Lawful ending...]]
**** Actually, even then. [[spoiler: God gives you the blessing to rule over and guide humanity to him. Thus, it was '''you''' that went KnightTemplar on humanity, if you viewed the Messiah ending as humanity losing the right to choose good or evil.]]
***** [[spoiler: Which was done at God's behest.]]

* {{Deconstruction}}: One of the main levels on which the game works is as an absolutely ''[[NightmareFuel horrific]]'' deconstruction of the entire concept of {{Mons}} (far beyond even what other titles in the SMT franchise do; we're talking ''{{Narutaru}}'' levels of disturbing) in that it demonstrates exactly how people running around with monsters capable of lethal force in an urban setting would ''actually'' work.
** This is most obvious in the [[spoiler: event where Kaido and Keisuke confront one another, which is almost [[{{Narm}} narmy]] in how it's set up ''exactly'' like some twisted demonic {{Pokemon}} battle (facing each other across a street with the two "mons" in between, shouting commands, etc)... and then, unless you've played your cards exactly right, one side loses and the other's demon ''graphically murders'' the opponent at its master's urging. [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel Enjoy your Pikachus now, kids!]] ]]

* DissonantSerenity - The Laplace Mails you receive predict murders, explosions, mass slaughters etc. in an almost cheerful manner, [[spoiler: even as they [[PhlebotinumBreakdown start to get more and more glitched out]]. [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel Hv3 a n1cE DEaT!]] ]]

* MeaningfulName - The Laplace Mail, named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laplace%27s_demon Laplace's demon]]. Doubles as a ShownTheirWork, FridgeLogic, and NightmareFuel when you realize that the later [[PhlebotinumBreakdown degradation of said mails]] is literally ''the universe starting to fall apart on itself'' from the battle of angels and demons, along with your party [[ScrewDestiny screwing destiny]]. Thus, it's no surprise that [[spoiler: the mails stop right before TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]].

* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Atsuro. He frequently points out ParanoiaFuel and NightmareFuel-inducing ideas and concepts, or worse, ''uncovers'' them.

* XMeetsY - ''MegamiTensei'', {{Pokemon}} meets FistOfTheNorthStar (in that everyone has powers and is willing to ''abuse'' them for self-gain), with all the NightmareFuel that implies.

-->'''Kaido''': No offense, but you seem like kind of a player.

** The 3DS is region-locked though, which makes Overclocked this in full force since it too is limited to only JP and NA.

* [=~Too Long; Didn't Dub~=]: In the US version, most likely by accident; one particular line involving Gin [[spoiler:[[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jin_o_saseta2_4632.jpg fleeing from battle on Naoya's route]]]] was left in Japanese.

See also ''MiraiNikki'' for a similar concept of "Laplace Mail". Compare and contrast ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', which also features a seven-day storyline in Shibuya.

The Protagonist and his friends must now use their custom [=COMPs=] to survive the lockdown between the increasingly-panicked citizens, the invading demonic armies and those who would seek to use the power of the [=COMPs=] for their own ends. In addition to the COMP's ability to summon and control demons, our heroes have two main tools to help them survive: the Laplace Mail, which comes every morning and predicts disasters that will occur that day, and the Death Clock (not to be confused with [[{{Metalocalypse}} Dethklok]],) which displays how many days a person has left to live. Unfortunately, according to the Death Clock it seems that a terrible incident will take place on the seventh day of the lockdown, killing everyone within the Yamanote Circle... if the various dangers ''within'' the Yamanote Circle don't kill them first.

** IdiotBall: And it happens repeated times, [[spoiler: until the point where pretty much everybody trapped in the Yamanote Circle has a COMP and demons of their own and just start attacking each other regardless of reason.]]

* CosplayOtakuGirl: Midori, who got caught in the lockdown wearing a cosplay outfit. Her imagination goes off the gauge once she gains a COMP.

*** Actually, Any demons that YOU summon can be recruited by beating them. However, the only time that you get to summon your own demons is at the start of the game, for the tutorial level. (This happens to several other characters along the way the first time they get their own COMP)

** Finally {{Averted}} on [[spoiler: Yuzu's 8th Day]], the one route where you never fought them. You can, in fact, [[spoiler: assist the Devas in their plan to restore Tokyo's barrier and prevent demons from running wild via hayware COMPs.]]

** Possibly justified in the sense that they make their COMPs a client to your MC's host COMP, which could limit their skill choice to the one's your COMP has cracked in order to for them to be a part of your group. On the plus side, it also explains how your other characters cracking skills adds them to your list.

** In [[UpdatedRerelease Overclocked]], the COMPs get upgraded to [[Nintendo3DS 3DSs]]. Now there's more of a reason to say that looking at the top 3D screen feels like the demons are coming out! ...Oh wait, they're coming out actually. Oops!

**** Averted Hard later in the game when (especially in OC where two physical strikers are a possible given the rise of Pierce+) the Pierce/Phy Amp/Phys Drain/Multistrike(OC)/Deathbound(DS) combo is unlocked. Atsuro simply murders entire teams given Multistrike's(DeathBound to a lesser extent, though it does more damage consistently to a single target) properties, to elaborate Pierce makes phys do full damage against all but reflect, phys amp attaches a 1.5 modifier, and multistrike allows a physical attacker to attack each member of the opposing team 2-7 times without being penalized due to health levels, toss in Bliztkrieg for an additional modifier or even dual shadow+ and phys drain, you're looking at a character that can one round entire teams for free, whereas most mages, even Almighty spell equipped ones, are generally much slower and relegated to murdering whatever has Phys Reflect, and even then are only partially effective given the rise of Holy Strike (Almighty damage running off STR).

* IAmWho: [[spoiler: The Main Character is a reincarnation of [[TheBible Abel]] and the only human qualified to become the King of Bel.]]

See also ''MiraiNikki'' for a similar concept of "Laplace Mail". Compare and contrast ''TheWorldEndsWithYou'', which also features a seven-day storyline in Shibuya.

[[VideoGame/DevilSurvivor2 A sequel]] has been released for the original DS, due out in the West in early 2012. Details are currently sparse, but it too will involve something predicting the events of the day, a 7-day time limit and MultipleEndings.

* AchillesHeel: Beldr is a stand-in for [[NorseMythology Baldr]]. Beldr's made a contract with the very planet, so everything on it has agreed not to harm him, meaning he's invincible. Well, there is ''one'' thing that didn't enter the contract...devil's fuge, i.e. [[spoiler:mistletoe]].
** And before you get any ideas, he nulls ''everything'' but devil's fuge. Even Almighty, which can pierce any other protection.

* BarrierChangeBoss: The final boss [[spoiler:Babel]]; luckily the weaknesses are automatically given and you should be killing it quickly before it changes the second time. Ironically, that's the only annoying part, as you will most likely be using non elemental spells (though bringing Elec Dance to abuse the first weakness it picks up isn't a bad idea).

* DiscOneFinalBoss: The invincible Beldr's sudden arrival means that the game's plot just really went into overdrive.

** As well as [[spoiler:Beldr and Belial]] in the BossRush of the battle against Babel.

* FaceFullOfAlienWingWong: Belzaboul's strategy mostly consists of planting his spawn in your bodies, which [[{{Squick}} burst out and become full grown flies]]. Meaning Belzaboul is a giant demonic Bot Fly.

* FallenHero: Beldr was once a benevolent god, but is now determined to spread sorrow on Earth until ''everything'' cries since he was trapped in underworld when [[{{Trickster}} a hag]] refused to weep for him.

* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler:Belial, who on defeat fares you the best and comments on how [[HumansAreCthulhu humans are more qualified for the Throne of Bel than demons are]].]]

* HumansAreCthulhu: When defeated, [[spoiler: Belial comments how humans have much higher ability to harness the power of Bel than demons do]].

* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Babel]] transforms into a [[CosmicHorror strange...tower thing]] after you defeat the first form.
** Is it really that strange for it to change into [[StealthPun a ''tower''?]]

* PlayingWithFire: Belial.

* ShowsDamage: Babel[[spoiler:'s first form]] starts to shiver and convulse once its HP drop below about a third.

* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: The party gets embroiled in a contest between several powerful demons for [[spoiler: the Throne of Bel.]] The winner [[spoiler: gets God-like power, and it turns out that you're in the running.]]

* ThisCannotBe: Beldr's death quote.

* BeyondTheImpossible: Atlus claims that ''Overclocked'' is the largest game to have been voiced. In fact, it was so large, they thought it [[CrowningMomentOfFunny wouldn't fit inside the 3DS' cartridge]]. [[http://www.siliconera.com/2011/03/04/devil-survivor-overclocked-has-the-most-voiced-dialogue-of-any-atlus-game/ According to this post]], ''Devil Survivor'' has approximately 20,000 words voiced, 5,000 of that for 8th Day alone. Even these statistics are surprising, because games like ''{{Catherine}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' have large chunks of voice-over, the former of which ''has'' a full voice-over. On another note, this justifies the ObviousBeta for the VO (see other tropes for further info).

** [[TheWorldEndsWithYou Why does that sound so familiar?]]

** Suggestion: save [[spoiler: Mari!!]], else you [[spoiler:will be limited to 2 endings]], and one is BAD...[[DownerEnding real bad]]
*** [[spoiler: Not anymore.]]

t* HumansAreBastards: As time wears on in the locked-down loop, people start to ''snap''.

* HoYay: [[spoiler: Loki]], as he reveals when talking to Yuzu.
--> "You think you're pretty hot, don't you? I don't care about you! My love is for [[HelloInsertNameHere [Protagonist]]]!
** Arguably FoeYay, too.
*** Not surprising, considering his relation to Odin's horse, Slepnir.
* HumansAreBastards: As time wears on in the locked-down loop, people start to ''snap''.