VideoGame A Welcome New Work Out of Atlus
Looking at Devil Survivor: Overclocked I will admit that at first I was nervous that it would provide little more than the original did and be just another case of a company focusing heavily on making remakes of popular games instead of new popular games. After all, at the time Shin Megami Tensei IV hadn't been announced yet and there were zero hints of Persona 5. Did this game turn out to be worth buying the old game again for some new content?
The voice acting is, sadly, hit-or-miss. While some like Atsuro or Honda do a fine job others like Midori felt grating and still others like Mari seemed to have little emotion. While it wasn't at all awful, particularly with the useful though awkward skip function, it is surprising considering the standards we've come to expect from Atlus games.
Other changes like the New Game+ will be different to different people. I personally felt that in the original game you were given too much, destroying any sense of difficulty. Here you have to actively work for new achievements to pay for new bonuses. However this will dismay those who were looking forward to an easier ride, especially after the first playthrough which might leave the player broke.
Combat feels like it has been made a bit easier (I was especially surprised at the second boss battle being considerably easier than the original), some new skills added make Physical and Ailment strategies more viable, the new demons are welcome additions and there is finally a Compendium to record them in.
Most important is, of course, the playable Eighth Days. Unfortunately I found that there were only three. You might say that the other two made it impossible to have an Eighth Day, but two of the three just as final in their own way. Also disappointing is that even in her own ending Yuzu still is unimportant and little help. Yuzu was a character that the writers stumbled horribly on, and this was a missed chance to redeem her. And oddly the events of Yuzu's Eighth Day really don't match the original game's ending for Yuzu. However the bosses and events are definitely enjoyable and it is the rare Atlus game where the Law ending doesn't make you feel like a complete monster. For those reasons, I would say that this is definitely a game worth buying for the 3DS.
VideoGame One of the most interesting games on the DS
Devil survivor is a very interesting take on the SMT formula. It's a strategy RPG and a really good one at that (Although that may just be my lack of experience with the genere, as I've only ever played FF Tactics on the psp and Fire emblem awakening.)
The setup is similar to SMT 1 in that it starts out with tokyo being locked down after being invaded by demons and the protagonist (a high school student) and his two friends must use COMP's and the Demon Summoning program to survive. Despite the similarities, the game is very much it's own thing, focusing more on the people trying to survive the lockdown and how life inside it changes instead of the demonic forces behind the invasion.
The gameplay no longer has you talking to demons to recurit them, but instead buying them from the devil auction (A literal auction house where you bid on demons against the NPC's) Other than that, the gameplay is the same as the other SMT games, with weaknesses, stregnths, blocks, reflections etc.
Devil survivor is one of the most interesting games on the DS and a welcome addition to the SMT Franchise. I encourage any fan of SRPG's or SMT to play it, and it's even a pretty good place to start if you've never played smt before.