There's no ominous narration to start off this game, but it does open with a bird's eye view of Tokyo like Devil Survivor 1 did. This game seems to take place in the winter rather than late summer, for we open at a school that's serving as a testing site for the famous college entrance exams that consume Japanese third-year high schoolers. The Hero is met in one of the classrooms by his friend Daichi once their mock exam is over, and Daichi's immediately established as being utterly hapless for not only is he convinced that he bombed the exam but he also forgot his stuff in his own classroom and a proctor has to track him down to return it. Notably most of the Hero's dialogue options when it comes to Daichi have a smartass option (well that does describe most of them admittedly, but it's most notable with him). Daichi really is the “that guy” that every circle of friends have. With his cellphone returned to him Daichi steers the conversation away from the exam by showing his friend the latest urban legend that's captured the attention of students everywhere: the website Nicaea. He describes it as an “images of death” site that is rumored to show a user videos of their friends' demises. Doesn't it pique our curiosity, he asks?
So in registering for the site we get to the part where we're asked to name the Hero. I'm going to be lazy and just call him Hibiki Kuze, which is what his name was in the anime as it fits in the space provided. Next we're asked to choose the gender of the site's personalized navigator. If you choose male, you get a prim and proper butler figure
◊ who is every bit as formal as you can imagine. If you choose female, you get a hyperactive bunny girl
◊ who talks with a valley girl “accent” cranked way up beyond eleven. They're both named Tico and it doesn't really matter which one you pick, really. They'll explain that in the future we will receive notifications whenever a death clip of an acquaintance is uploaded, while a little window in the corner of the screen shows the pixelated remains of some poor sap smeared out on the ground. Each of them sign off in their own way, female Tico with “Have a nice wheee!”, male Tico with “May your tomorrow bE a nICE daY As wEll.” With that done Daichi says all that's left is to wait for a clip to appear. Personally he can't wait.
1st Day - Sunday's Melancholy
After the chapter title we return to find Hibiki and Daichi outside of the 109 department store in Shibuya. Daichi's bragging about some of the stuff he bought and how he already has his driver's license, and it's pretty obvious he's looking forward to living the party college life. But then he's overcome with the chapter's titular melancholy and realizes that hey, even if he gets into college the real world is just around the corner, and he sees it as a cloud looming over his head. Hibiki can either agree with him, reassure him, or basically tell him to suck it up, a recurring theme with Daichi. Regardless of which tact you take, Daichi says it's time to go home.
The overworld screen's a little different from what it was in Devil Survivor 1. Instead of a long list of locations we're only shown as many locations as there are events to watch at any one time. Right now there's only one, on Shibuya Station's subway platform. All of them have names now too. The top screen no longer shows a map of Tokyo (that's shoved off to the side next to the event list) but rather a map of Japan as a whole, with a cursor over where Tokyo is located. The day and time is also located up there, and once again I'll be converting the time to the standard twelve-hour notation for clarity's sake (right now it's 1:00 on Sunday afternoon). Hitting X takes us to the main menu which is laid out in the same manner as it was in the previous game, though it's a little smoother-looking to reflect a cellphone's menu screen, as we'll be using cellphones instead of COMPs this time around. The only options available at the moment are our empty email folder (again divided up into sub-folders: Main and System), the options menu, and the save feature.
So, let's get things started by picking the available event. Down on the platform Daichi starts to ask Hibiki about a new video game until he suddenly nudges him to point out a girl standing elsewhere on the platform who's wearing a gray uniform blazer like he is. He says that that's Io Nitta, a student from their grade, and it's quite clear that he pointed her out 'cause he's got the hots for her, given how he claims that they don't make smart, cute, and shy girls like her anymore. She actually walks over to the two and hesistantly asks if they're in the same grade as her and if the mock exam is still being held. Daichi shoves Hibiki aside to eagerly let her know that she's in the clear. As Io thanks us, all three of our phones receive an email simultaneously. Daichi comments that they must all be on the same wavelength, but then he looks and sees that all three mails are from the same sender: Nicaea.
With a somewhat eerie tone the Nicaea video player starts up, and what it shows is this very subway station, only half-collapsed and strewn with both wreckage from a derailed train and bloodied and crushed bodies. Among the victims are Io, Daichi, and Hibiki, the last of whom we're treated to a lovely illustration of his lifeless expression while he bleeds heavily from a head wound. While this game's tone may not be as relentlessly bleak as Devil Survivor 1's, it easily trumps it when it comes to on-screen violence. Remember how at the start of the first game we saw that Shomonkai member bleed out and die after trying to attack the Wendigo? Well there's a lot more where that came from in this game, let me tell you.
Daichi says that the death clip's kinda gross, apparently not expecting it to actually look real. Io wonders why she got one of us too, and apparently the user doesn't receive their own death clip as Hibiki has to look at Io's phone to see his. Creepy indeed, and as a train starts to near the station everything suddenly starts to shake: earthquake! We're treated to an FMV sequence that shows parts of the station beginning to crack and crumble as people run about screaming. The incoming train does indeed derail and crumples when it hits the end of the platform. Its midsection is lifted up into the air and comes crashing down on the three transfixed students...
The screen goes black save for Hibiki lying on the ground next to his phone, which is still on. Tico speaks up, saying that this is how we're going to die and then s/he asks if we want to live. You can actually choose “let me die” to get a very quick game over as Hibiki is presumably crushed like in the clip. But that would make for a very short, unsatisfying game, so we instead choose to say yes. Tico confirms our “strong will” and announces that the Demon Summoning App has been added to our phone. The scene fades in to show the same scene of devastation seen in the clip, dead bodies and all, but this time the three are all alive, thanks to an imp-like creature who's holding up the hulk of the train car. He introduces himself as the demon Obariyon and says that we can't die in the wreck because he's going to kill us so he can go free! Everyone tries to flee, only to end up cornered by two more demons, a Pixie and a Poltergeist.
Mission 1: Death Clip
- All demons must be defeated
- Hibiki, Daichi, and Io cannot die
Well, here we are at the first battle of the game, the tutorial. On the surface nothing's really changed since Devil Survivor 1. We can move our characters around on the map's overlaid grid, look at the queue at the top of the bottom screen to examine the turn order, and check out the stats and affinities of both the playable characters and the demons. The only real difference is that the Speed stat is no longer displayed, but it must still exist in some capacity as how would they determine move order otherwise? All characters' movement ranges have been standardized to four panels, so no more Yuzu/Amane/Black Frost situations unless you have a Vile demon or something.
The battle system also works the same as before: extra turns are awarded to party members that land critical hits/strike weaknesses/etc. Again, no real strategy to speak of for this opening mission. There's not much room to move around in thanks to the fact that we're on a subway platform that's choked with debris and dead bodies. So just make a beeline for the demons and slug away with basic physicals, that's all there is to it. As in the first game’s tutorial whenever a demon is defeated they’ll vanish, muttering that they must abide by the newly-formed contract.
Completing the mission earns us 30 EXP and 200 macca.
When the excitement dies down the three students ascertain that none of them are hurt and try to figure out what the hell just happened, only calming down when they soberly take in the carnage on the platform. Io says that they should leave and yeah, getting aboveground in this situation’s the safest thing to do. However, when they emerge on to the street they find a shocking site spread before them. The city was devastated by the earthquake. Fissures and cracks cover the streets, vehicles are totaled and tossed around like toys, and many buildings are either damaged, on fire, or leaning precariously. A large crowd has gathered beneath the 109 department store’s jumbotron to watch a newscaster reporting the occurrence of a vertical-shock quake, but the broadcast quickly goes dead, much to their consternation. Daichi and Io check their phones and see that they’re no longer getting any service either, and the latter learns from a cab driver that the radios are dead too; electronic communication is no longer possible, likely due to damage from the quake. This is sounding like a familiar scenario, isn’t it?
Then Daichi realizes that the Demon Summoning App is on his phone too, and he can’t delete it. Hibiki and Io confirm that the app is on theirs as well, and again Daichi exclaims that he has no idea how the hell this thing is happening with monsters and demons and everything. As he does so, the group is approached by a grim-faced woman in a black uniform who asks the three about what they saw in the subway just now. They dance around the question until she asks for their phones directly, at which point they hastily excuse themselves.
A short ways away, where we can see that most of 109’s facade has collapsed, Daichi and Io wonder what that unfamiliar woman’s deal was, and then the three finally get around to formally introducing themselves to each other. Daichi asks where Io lives, and since her neighborhood of Ariake is a ways away (if I remember the map from Shin Megami Tensei IV correctly it’s in the bay area and they’d have to cross a bridge to get there) he offers to have him and Hibiki walk her home to make sure she gets there safely, though they’re still worried about their own parents. Of course, Daichi being who he is, he no doubt also wants to look good in front of her. Since there’s no way public transportation is still running with the city in this state the group decides that it would be best to first start heading towards the city’s parks to see if any shelters and rescue operations are being set up.
And so the three students depart, on what will only be the beginning of another long and transforming week. The changes this time will be nothing less than cosmic...
Compendium
- Obariyon
◊
- In Japanese folklore an Obariyon is a monster that leaps out from the brush at a hapless traveler and attaches itself to their back. While extremely heavy and hard to remove, if the victim manages to reach their home anyway the Obariyon will turn into a small cache of gold coins.
- Pixie◊
- These mischievous sprites are said to be from southern England and are always depicted as being of diminutive size. In the Megami Tensei games it's traditionally been the first friendly demon that the player can recruit, until Shin Megami Tensei IV when that role was ceded to the nymph Napaea.
- Poltergeist◊
- German for "noisy spirit", Poltergeists are ghosts that make their presence known by making loud noises and moving around furniture in the households they haunt, sometimes violently. Their motives for doing so range from mischievousness to outright malevolence.
Soundtrack
- World of Dreams
- The opening theme right away demonstrates the tonal shift of the game compared to its predecessor. Unlike Reset this has a much more uplifting sound and its lyrics are more hopeful. In fact that goes for the soundtrack as a whole, as it's much more varied and melody-driven than Devil Survivor 1's. It's overall much more my cup of tea.
- Memories of the Firmament
- The first rearrangement of the opening is used as the title screen theme. On the screen at the bottom is a progress bar like what you'd see on a video player, and it actually moves in time with the song. Once it's over it's back to the opening sequence.
- Exploration
- Our basic overworld BGM. Busier than "Action" was.
- The Anguished One
- This is first used for the Nicaea introduction, but no prizes for guessing whose leitmotif it really is.
- Crumbling Routine
- Literally crumbling in this case, dohoho.
- Desperate Situation
- The first of the mission themes and it really does do a good job conveying the rush of fighting for your life.
- Attack
- The battle theme, cut from the same cloth as Devil Survivor 1's. That's okay though, I liked that one and I like this one too.
- Requiem
- This'll get a workout before the game is done.
- Enjoined Hearts
- Everything may be a mess, but who says we can't have a heartwarming moment or two during the apocalypse?
Also, just the first game, the OST leaves out the victory jingle because I don't know.
Comments
