History YMMV / DevilSurvivor

** If you try to go up against the BonusBoss without heavy preparation, you will lose before you get a chance to hit him. If you try to go up against the BonusBoss ''with'' heavy preparation, you will probably lose as soon as the word "Megidoladyne" appears on the screen. Why is this attack so bad, you may wonder? First: It's [[NonElemental Almighty]], meaning ''nothing'' can resist, null or reflect it. Secondly, it's a ''field attack'', which means that it hits '''every single one of your teams.''' Thirdly, it can and WILL be promptly unleashed without warning if the BonusBoss thinks you're not giving it your all. [[FourIsDeath Fourth, and lastly,]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill its power rises by 50% EVERY time he uses it.]] This attack is already strong enough at base power that it's pretty much a OneHitKill if you don't have max or nearly maxed MAG, and even then, at level 99 you'd still probably lose half your health or so, but it'll eventually REALLY become a OneHitKill once he uses it enough times. So the solution is, defeat the BonusBoss before he can use it enough times... Which is only consistently possible with a GameBreaker strategy.

* EvilIsSexy:
** During the fight against Jezebel, you can fight evil clones of Amane. They leave their jackets almost unzipped to show off their chests.
** Some view Naoya this way.

* HarsherInHindsight: In the ''Overclocked'' UpdatedRerelease, Gigolo, aka [[spoiler:the human form the demon Loki manifests as for most of the game]], was voiced by anime voice actor Creator/VicMignogna in the English dub of the game. [[MeaningfulName Perhaps fittingly]] for a character [[Myth/NorseMythology whose mythology]] paints him as a LovableSexManiac, his name 'Gigolo' can be likewise applied as slang to playboys or people who get around having sex with other women. Fast forward to 2019, Vic Mignogna was hit with a slew of women coming forward with misconduct allegations of him both perpetrating workplace sexual harassment ''and'' inappropriate touching of female fans. It was made even worse when Vic sued Funimation for unfair firings and lost 0-17, disgracing the former voice actor in the process. Needless to say, the allegations ''really'' make [[spoiler: Loki]]'s fake name extremely uncomfortable in hindsight.

* {{Moe}}: Amane. All that dignity, quiet strength, and deep faith.

* TheWoobie:
** [[spoiler:Some view Naoya this way in Amane's ending. Some of the characters even feel sorry for him.]]
** Haru seriously needs a hug.
** ''Especially'' [[spoiler:Honda]], and '''''even more so''''' in [[spoiler:Yuzu's 8th Day]].

* HarsherInHindsight:
** In the ''Overclocked'' UpdatedRerelease, Gigolo, aka [[spoiler:the human form the demon Loki manifests as for most of the game]], was voiced by anime voice actor Creator/VicMignogna in the English dub of the game. [[MeaningfulName Perhaps fittingly]] for a character [[Myth/NorseMythology whose mythology]] paints him as a LovableSexManiac, his name 'Gigolo' can be likewise applied as slang to playboys or people who get around having sex with other women. Fast forward to 2019, Vic Mignogna was hit with a slew of women coming forward with misconduct allegations of him both perpetrating workplace sexual harassment ''and'' inappropriate touching of female fans. It was made even worse when Vic sued Funimation for unfair firings and lost 0-17, disgracing the former voice actor in the process. Needless to say, the allegations ''really'' make [[spoiler: Loki]]'s fake name extremely uncomfortable in hindsight.
** The game's premise is that Tokyo is in lockdown following the arrival of demons throughout the city. Following 2020 and the outbreak of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, this has felt very real for not just citizens of Tokyo, but the entire world.

* {{Narm}}: The various sounds the demons make in cutscenes tend to act more like NightmareRetardant than NightmareFuel. A good example is Beldr, who you'd expect to have full voice-acting and to be a BadassBaritone. Instead he just… moans. It also makes you wonder how the characters are able to understand demons in the first place.

* AcceptableTargets: {{Dirty Cop}}s. Those abusing [=COMP=]s once they get hold of them are recurring enemies and the party never bats an eyelid fighting them, and one in Amane's 8th Day tries to shoot a random bystander ForTheEvulz. [[AssholeVictim He dies regardless of the choices you make]], with the party only regretting that it puts them on thin ice with the angels.

* FirstInstallmentWins: Both ''Devil Survivor'' games are viewed as great games with fun gameplay, characters, and stories. Of the two though, most players feel that the first game is the best one, largely because the story is more complex, has ties to the larger themes of the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' series, and has that it is more replayable than the second game.

** Yuzu Tanikawa is something of a polarizing character. On the one side, you have fans who hate her for her constant whining and refusal to accept the Lockdown as the HopeSpot situation it is. It also doesn't help that [[spoiler:her route has some disastrous consequences]]. On the other hand, fans like her because she acts like how anyone else would in her situation, and in all routes other than her own, she shows off a fair amount of CharacterDevelopment. Even her detractors found themselves liking her in ''Overclocked'''s 8th Day scenario on her route where [[spoiler:she owns up to her mistakes by going back inside the Lockdown to help resolve the situation]].

* AuthorsSavingThrow: After years of skill inheritance being randomized during demon fusion, leading to annoyed gamers having to {{save scum|ming}} or repeatedly cancel and reroll to get the exact skills they want, this game finally allows the player to choose exactly what skills they want to pass on from the "parent" demons to the "child" demon. Nearly all subsequent games in the franchise[[note]]the original DS release of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' and the iOS release of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' don't have it[[/note]] include this feature, including the rereleases of ''VideoGame/Persona4'' and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'', neither of which had this feature in their original releases.

** [[spoiler:No matter the route you take, Honda's son will die.]]

* LuckBasedMission: Fighting Kudlak the second time, by virtue of being an EscortMission of the worst kind. Mari herself is entirely useless, able to do single-digit damage and only heal herself seven times, but the real lynchpin is Kaido. He shows up closer to the middle of the map, and almost every demon is attracted to him. Unless you've got your entire team set up for rapid movement, there's a good chance that by the second turn when you can reach him he'll be dead or dying. Then more demons spawn in after a few are defeated, and of course they also home in on him. It might not be as bad if he had any sort of healing prowess, but his only healer is most of the time killed off in the first or second sortie, leaving him completely reliant on your healing. To top all this off, Mari must be the one to strike the killing blow on Kudlak if you want the best conclusion for Mari, never mind that he can destroy her by sneezing on her practice. On the other hand, [[TakenForGranite the Kudlak situation can easily be rectified with Petra Eyes]] as he's not immune or resistant to status ailments.

* TierInducedScrappy: While Gin is pretty cool as a character, he has absolutely nothing going for him as a playable unit. Even beyond the fact that he's only playable on his own route, his main issue is that he has a nearly identical stat spread to Atsuro, gaining 2 [[DumpStat Magic]] over him in exchange for 1 Strength, Vitality, and Agility. This becomes a problem when Atsuro is a RequiredPartyMember for his final battle and there's barely enough physical skills to support one physical tamer, especially in the original release.