Shin Megami Tensei Series

and

Fair enough. I guess I missed something on the first Sphere then with the stupid water thing. I'll go back and check it again later on.

Thanks.

To be specific, you need Gate Search, Unlock, and Phase Shift apps and you get those from story progress as detailed previously. Oh yeah, and you get a Rare Forma that grants you Floor Search somewhere in the very last Sphere after alignment lock.

Edited by CybranGeneralSturm on Mar 25th 2019 at 5:26:06 AM

Gotcha.

Well I think I got as far as I can get in the First Sphere. Found these two doors but I can't get through either of them presently.

More importantly, I got a Sub App that tells me where teleporters go. Holy shit, that is amazing. I've been dreading that teleporter level but I guess somebody at Atlus realized this and threw me and other gamers a bone.

Also I have to say, having finished De Su 2, it is nothing like Evangelion at all. It has aliens you fight and...that's the extent of the similarities.

I actually can see Nik's point about it not being about Evangelion.

After all, the hero isn't an emotional mess who makes things worse by merely existing (which is the real lesson of Evangelion as far as I'm concerned), and despite the possibility of death and destruction, it's actually possible to make things better in this world.

The Evangelion comparisons are more because the Septentriones/Triangulum are basically identical to the Angels, complete with a pretty white haired one who passes as a human.

The tone is the big thing to me. Even if the plot and characters were the same (they're not), De Su 2 is a relentlessly optimistic and cheery game. (As I understand it, that was another big criticism of it compared to its predecessor.)

Whatever you think of Evangelion, it is not cheery or optimistic.

Edited by Nikkolas on Mar 26th 2019 at 9:04:42 AM

Hell, Miyako can be loosely seen as a Rei analogue as well, since she's part Triangulum.

But hey, winning is possible so I say it's different enough.

Edit: This is true. I remember when first watching it on Youtube that I noticed that despite the much higher stakes compared to the first game (and the arguably much higher body count) De Su 2 was far more optimistic than De Su 1

Edited by HandsomeRob on Mar 26th 2019 at 10:05:14 AM

Notice also the Color Motifs of Devil Survivor 1 and 2.

1's main color is a very angry crimson red.

While 2's main color is a very calm blue.

Kinda off-topic but... I really recommend the Super Robot Wars games if you want to see the Evangelion cast finally get a break, a shameless plug I know.

Edited by dood9780 on Mar 26th 2019 at 9:55:14 AM

Even Persona 3 had the Evangelion moniker aimed at it. That's just an easy way to identify plot elements you've seen before in an influential work.

The anime adaptation was trying to be more of a bad Evangelion rip-off. They even made MC all moody.

Funny that, considering the game's MC has the most out-there dialogues. He brings Anime-Yu to shame.

Edited by TrueShadow1 on Mar 26th 2019 at 11:19:38 AM

Yeah. Some of the things Hamburger says about Yamato that dont apply to his game self apply to the anime. Including the whole intentionally getting subordinates killed on purpose with plans meant to waste their lives.

Like game Yamato would be disgusted by his anime incarnations incompetence.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 26th 2019 at 11:22:28 AM

On the other hand, I hear it ships MC x Yamato even more than the game does.

I can get behind that.

The game is almost a harem. Everyone is in love with you and you can flirt with all of them. Except Joe, I guess.

Edited by Nikkolas on Mar 26th 2019 at 11:29:20 AM

I knew Devil Survivor Haru was the best. She's voiced by Amanda Winn Lee. All he talk of Netflix Evangelion made me wonder what else she's done and she was Haru and EP Ulala, also great.

SMT generally has pretty great voicework. Can't think of a bad dub, actually.

Don't forget that Atsuro's voiced by Spike "Shinji Ikari" Spencer himself, and even starts insisting that the party "can't run away" late in the game.

That is ironic.

What if we CONTROLLED the Angels? Hm....

But yeah, now you mention it, he is totally Shinji. I knew I knew the voice from somewhere but I don't hear Spike Spencer much so it never occurred to me. Naoya was Gohan/Aizen and he was pretty great.

Also another great voice is Krishna from IVA. That voice s sex.

I loved Dagda's voice more.

Are demons of the same race always the same alignment? I can't help but notice as I go through SJR that all Brutes are Chaos, all Fallen are Chaos, etc..

I haven't been paying super close attention to every race, though.

Most of the time.

Amanda Winn Lee is also Akane from Super Dangan Ronpa 2 (My personal underrated female character from the game) and she voices Miu Irma from New Dangan Ronpa V 3 (My favorite female character in the whole series, and her popularity Shocked Kazutaka Kodaka a lot).

So yeah, She's great.

Do you have to cooperate with Mastema in Sector C to defeat Horkos? He makes it sound optional and the game itself gives you the option to refuse so I'm curious.

Yes. He's nothing but helpful and only reveals his true colors on Chaos and Law+.

I remember. I played the original SJ if you will recall, it was my first ever SMT game. I remember getting into arguments with you all because I went Law in that game because Mastema is nothing but helpful. And then you were all like "well, if you had gotten the other ending, you'd see he was a jackass. It's totally fair you only learn something vital like that in 1/3 routes."

Of course my views have changed in the last two or three years. Still, I don't remember Mastema being as insufferably preachy as Remiel in Devil Survivor.