Atlus announces Devil Survivor 2....

That's pretty solid. Have you been talking to others or just focusing on those two? I've been ignoring Daichi a lot cause he reminds me of Yuzu and I'm not doing another Yuzu ending all over again.

TBH, I'm not entirely sure if I'm actually impacting anything. It's hard to get a read on these current characters. With De Su 1 it was a little clearer what peoples' motivations were but here it feels a lot less obvious and I don't know whom to talk to and how to get their values up.

edited 8th Mar '12 7:41:29 PM by ShadowScythe

I focus on Daichi and Io most of the time because they're easier to read as characters, especially Daichi's dialogues: you just need to act like his best friend XD. For Io, I choose answers that mostly agree or console her, which might be a bad idea, I dunno.

The others are weird though: I don't get Yuzuru except when he's acting like Ambiguously Gay. Hinako is definitely Midori. Keita is Kanji-expy, except the gay part. And I just met Airi and Jungo. I don't talk much to Makoto and never to Yamato, I don't trust the guy.

Keita died on me, I guess I didn't expect a timer on the main battles this early in the game

Joe's just weird. I haven't really talked enough to Hinako.

I'm not sure if hitting on Io actually raises her fate. I tend to be a bit of a tool with her cause the dialogues are funny (especially with the middle aged lady asking what I want and my response being "What DON'T I want!") but I'm starting to wonder if I might being paying a price for that.

Keita died in your game? You should answer battles the moment they appear. I really don't like killing named characters or letting them die in my game.

edited 8th Mar '12 7:49:37 PM by djmaca

I tend to do battles last in case I lose dialogue since I get the feeling the dialogue will be more important in determining the endings. But if doing the battles first doesn't take away my dialogue options later in the day I guess I'll take them first from now on.

Also, mark your spoilers.

Yeah, rule of thumb with Nicaea clips is to do the events associated with the to-be-killed character ASAP. I lost Jungo that way.

Concerning stats, do you guys think I should make my character a Mighty Glacier? I really don't see the sense of raising my Speed more than 10.

Oh man, Day 4 and there be a VERY nasty surprise.

I've reached the final boss. Word of advice, the battlefield is set up in such a way that you need Genmas or Avians if you want get anywhere quickly. You can also crack Victory Cry too.

Oh man I got this game yesterday and I'm completely in love with it, but how does it compare to 1? I need to know if that's like 1000 times better than this to see if I need to place it on my buy list.

Gameplay wise it's improved. The original didn't have the joint skill cracks, or a compendium (this was rectified for Overclocked, the 3DS remake), there were fewer demons, and of course, no Fate system.

Story-wise, the first game felt a lot more bleak than this one, even if the scale of the conflict was smaller. In this game the characters get their creature comforts taken care of so their situation is better than the first game's cast. The cast of the second is generally more upbeat and quirky than the first. That's not to say this game isn't dark, because it most certainly is, but it does have a sense of humor that was mostly absent from the first game.

I kinda like this game's plot more, but that's because I'm am astronomy buff. It deals more with astronomy and political ideas, while the first game was more classic Shin Megami Tensei, with the forces of Heaven and Hell fighting each other. I'd definitely recommend trying to get your hands on the first game if you like this one. Devil Survivor 2 definitely feels a lot harder than the first, though.

@kirbb

For me, it isn't THAT different from DS 1. Gameplay and tactics are still the same. New functions does make the game easier though. The rush comes from the death clips you receive from time to time. Fail to answer this immediately and the person involve dies.

The plot is lighter, unlike the first one. Here people don't murder each other, at least. But people do die here, as you see in the very start of the game. Also there's a lot to do due to the Social Link system.

I've been distracted by Saints Row 2 so I haven't played De Su 2 since I last posted but ^De Su 2 doesn't do the whole deconstructing Mons stuff with people murdering each other with their Demons and stuff?

So far, I like De Su 2's combat more but the first Devil Survivor has better story, characters and soundtrack. I'm really missing the crazy guitar solos.

Yup. They don't on a huge scale like in De Su 1. Here, the people are more level-headed. Sure there are characters who are killed by monsters and humans, but only unless you don't help them.

Well there are people murdering each other. We usually don't see it. Like what Ronaldo and the civilians interfering with JP's on Tuesday.

Good point. But if they don't show it, they also don't even give a hint of it. There was no hint anyone in JP was killed when Ronaldo attacked.

Anyway, my update:

Day 5: Looks like from here on in the game takes a Sand Box stance and you get to choose which side you are on.

Day5... BEST.DAY.EVER!

Oops. Think I killed off Jungo. Ah well! Saving people is what New Game+ is for.

I'm at the end of the game myself, and the last boss has blasted me three times, once on the second form and twice on the final. I blame myself for taking the game's hardest route first, the one that involves making your own path (more or less). Ideologically, it's sort of neutral+. Freedom and self-determination, but with a benevolent entity overseeing reality.

Really, if one of my characters weren't prevented from attacking the final boss for reasons of PLOT I'd be fine.

LOL.

Is that teammate Io?

Most likely talking about Anguished One.

x5. Not showing it doesn't mean it does not happen. Heck Yamato sends you a picture of people killing each other on one of the days and you have to stop two groups of demon tamers from murdering each other.

I think trying to get everyone to live on the first route is a smart idea for NG+ reasons. You get points for it. I almost failed when it came to Io since I hadn't even gotten her to rank 2 by day 6.

edited 15th Mar '12 7:51:24 AM by OmegaRadiance

What if you're on a route where people die? I've seen both Yamato and Ronaldo chose to off themselves rather than side with me, though I suspect it's because both of their Fate scores were low. It's sort of academic, given that I had a fatality earlier, but I'm curious.

edited 15th Mar '12 1:49:04 PM by Watashiwa

I don't think those count cause someone always dies.

It's the deaths you can prevent before you choose a route that count.

Gotcha. I bet I can guess who the most frequent fatality is too.

Anyway, I have a new idea for how I'm going to commit deicide. Physical team, leader with Pierce, Avatar and an Avian to deal with the sinister side of things. Put this team in the third character slot, behind MC and AO, have AO move up and then Switch him for the physical team. Winged Flight should put the team in position immediately, and then Multi-Strike or Deathbound can finish the job. After I deal with the other side I plan on sending MC in to finish the job with 40 magic Holy Dance.

Physical Attacker (Ronaldo, in my case) with Deathbound, Null-Phys, and Drain Hit coupled with Koumokuten and Feng Huang were more than enough to wreck the final boss. I love self-sustaining physical attackers.