Written 28.06.2009 - Uploaded 28.06.2009
While the Playstation 2 is slowly fading away, it is apparently determined to do it with style, especially in the Japanese RPG department. I think everyone would have been happy to lay the machine to rest after Persona 4, but Atlus is back once more with the sequel to Devil Summoner – Raidou Kuzunoha vs The Soulless Army. The first game in this series was an okay attempt at real-time combat. The game itself on the other hand was in many ways incomplete. Because of this, I wasn't very enthusiastic about the sequel. I did want to play a new game at the moment however, and finally ended up getting Devil Summoner – Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abaddon anyway. It's a good thing I did. Also, there was a cute Jack Frost doll included with the game, so what's not to like?
For those not familiar with the series, it's a lightweight RPG and detective game, taking place in early 20th century Japan. The protagonist is Tokyo's protector, Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th. I really like this setting and age, and especially the 30's are my current favourite. The setting was indeed the best thing in the first game, as it failed in most other departments. The sequel is back with much of the same strength, but there are a few new districts in the city and a village in the countryside, which takes up about half of the game's duration. Both the capital and the village are very atmospheric. The game uses the same graphics engine as the first one, and it remains the best-looking game from Atlus up to date.
There's a lot of good news to share. Generally speaking, after playing the sequel, the first game seems much like a prototype of the concept and King Abaddon feels much more like a complete game. There are small tweaks here and there. Most importantly, storytelling is now definitely better and so is the storyline itself. Finally those relatively interesting characters from earlier are properly fleshed out, and a handful of new interesting ones get introduced as well. I won't do any spoilers here, so let's just say I liked some of them a lot. The story's theme is luck, and it is strongly present everywhere. The plot has a good flow and doesn't bounce around from one thing to another like it did in the first game. Also, things are defintely more serious now, and comic reliefs are non-existent. This is good for the game.
The detective side of the game has not really been improved much. The amount of demon skills used in investigations has dropped, which is actually a good thing since now you don't need to cycle through demons looking for the right skill to use. Mind reading sees a lot of use, and another important investigation skill is transform, with which Raidou can assume the form of others. This does feel a little gimmicky, as it is not used that much, but is an okay addition. These aside, other demon skills are useful in exploration. And in exploration there are some good news: random encounters from city districts have been removed! This seemingly small improvement makes the game a lot more playable and makes runnig around acceptable.
Battles now take place only in the dark world and additionally dungeon areas in the real world. The game focuses more on the real world, which is again a good thing since dark worlds were explored pretty thoroughly previously. Dungeons in the game are pretty okay in design although a bit on the long side from time to time. However, this is in line with any Atlus game, and in that comparison this game's are actually short. They do avoid being annoying most of the time. In addition to following the plot, the player can undertake case files, which are short sidequests. Typically they are either about finding item X, bringing demon Y or defeating enemy Z.
All in all, battles are also better. There are several improvements here. The most important improvement is chancing the way MAG works. It no longer functions as fuel for summoning demons, but instead fuels their skills. Demons no longer have their own magic points or anything like that. Everything is powered from Raidou's MAG. Instead of getting filled with items, MAG is typically replenished by defeating enemies. Hitting an enemy's weakness puts them into stun as usual, and while stunned lots of MAG can be beaten out of them. This way MAG fluctuates nicely, and becomes an important part of long-term survival. With a good MAG-obtaining strategy, the player can have his demons go all-out at all times, which makes battles comfortably short. If you run out of MAG, you're in big trouble – after all, you need some MAG to hit weaknesses, and you need to hit weaknesses to rake in big amounts of MAG. Another improvement is having two demons in the battle instead of one, which also makes the enemies go down faster.
Other improvements are mostly smaller. Raidou now has a larger move arsenal at his disposal, the most important being all-new dodge and super attacks (which use MAG). Dodging allows Raidou to move around better, which adds to pace of battles. Super attacks are okay, there are three different kinds, depending on Raidou's weapon type. While the sword has become a lot more interesting, the gun is now significantly simpler and only has one type of bullets. Its only purpose now is to provide a small moment of stun. There is also one very important addition to controlling demons: by pressing and holding the call-to-side button, demons remain invincible (of course they cannot do anything either). This, and improved command system makes demons a lot better allies.
So, if weaknesses are now related to obtaining MAG, how does Raidou get new demons? The answer is not very surprising: by negotiation. This is familiar from the Shin Megami Tensei series. Negotiations can be initiated at any time and as usual, these are a short series of questions asked by the demon. Raidou's demons all have a conversation skill which may or may not help in the situation. For example, sexy voice has a favorable effect on male demons. Typically Raidou needs to give the demon something in return for its services. Since leveling up is quite rapid in the game and demons no longer need maxed out loyalty to be fused, fusion becomes quite rapid, and therefore obtaining new demons needs to be done regularly.
Fusion is also improved a lot from the first game. It's surprisingly user-friendly, especially compared to other fusion systems in Atlus' games. Demons now have eight active skill locations, a variable amount of passive skill locations and some fixed skills (conversation and investigation). Only active skills are inhereted randomly, passive skills can be selected. Since the game also has a narrower arsenal of active skills, building the demons you want is quite easy. I didn't even try out most of the active skills, because around midgame I obtained some slightly overpowered skills and then just used them until the end. You can also do sword alchemy like before, only this time it's slightly better, and you can have more than one sword. Demons are not used in the process anymore and now you need to find various materials. Victor's laboratory is now accessible through save points from anywhere.
All in all, as you can see from the improvements, Devil Summoner 2 is a good game, if not excellent. Sure, there are still many things that could use even more improvement, but seeing the amount of improvement already done, one can say it is quite sufficient this time around. Improvements in combat and fusion do result in the game being very easy, which is probably the biggest weakness here. The game offers a hard mode after completion, but it should've been available initially. I do feel like I could do a second run someday though. Completing the game took me around thirty hours, most of it quality time. Devil Summoner 2 can be played on its own without any prior knowledge of the first game, so for those interested in some good real-time combat RPGs, check this out and skip the first one. With all its improvements it becomes one of the best RPGs with real-time combat.