Inexplicable Video Game Review: Devil Something 2

For whatever reason, I continually forget the name of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2. In my browsing history are searches for Devil Summoner 2, Demon Summoner 2 and Demon Survivor 2. This is despite the fact that I beat and enjoyed the first installment of the series, and I've played pretty much every other Persona / SMT game. Maybe that's what is causing the confusion - All those games just blurring together in my head, man.

Anyway. Devil Survivor 2 is basically the first game with a new story. The action is still tactical RPG, kind of like Final Fantasy Tactics minus jobs, to make an odd comparison. You get up to four leaders in fights, with each leader controlling two demons, making a primary controllable force of 12. Combat is turn-based, with positioning and movement on a map beforehand mattering quite a bit.

Like a lot of the Persona games, you primarily make your demons more powerful by combining them with other demons. The only slightly annoying thing about this - The power of demons just seem to be influenced by their level and their base level, and not just their strength or magic statistic. This can make it a bit tough to decide what demons to keep and what demons to use for merging.

Well, until the end of the game, that is. By the seventh day (think chapter; one day is one part of the game), pretty much everything can waste your party unless you have proper protection. By this, I mean the proper damage reduction skills - Some let you reflect or absorb enemy actions, even physical attacks. The last couple of boss fights are definitely white-knuckle though.

Like every other Persona game, a good portion of it is spent building relationships and trust up with the other characters. This aspect of the game is done pretty well, and unlike past games, thankfully you only have to earn four levels of trust with people, as opposed to 10. There also wasn't a horrible clunker of a plot in these, which was nice - Persona 3 and Persona 4 both had characters that I wish I could ditch and still get the good ending.

So anyway, final judgement - This is a pretty swell game, if you like your DS and you like your tactical RPGs. I scooped up for $25 on GameFly. (Random note on GameFly: If you have a membership, you can now play a bunch of PC games for free. I lost a weekend of my life to Civilization 4 as a result.)

The picture of Jack Frost comes from a random post on the Giant Bomb forums.

Buy My Crap - Littlest Pet Shop Beach Friends

So, I occasionally review video games. I had thought I sold this one months ago, but the guy / gal who won the auction never paid me, which is a problem. To clarify things, I have never even played this game - I got sent a pair to review, but the reviews were later pulled, but we were told we could keep the games. So, whatever! If you think you might be interested, or have some little siblings that might be, feel free to do as the title says and buy my crap. Surprisingly, it has gotten really good reviews on Amazon and Google. And to clarify, this is a game for the Nintendo DS.

If you want to buy my copy, my eBay auction is here. And as usual, if someone from here does buy it, I don't mind throwing in some other cheap-o game I have.

Kinda, sorta professional - Monday, June 22, 2009

[Left] Studies show that an attractive woman increases traffic by 12,783%, even if she is only tangentially related to the original content. Picture originally from this list about Guitar Hero.

I've been busy lately, which is annoying, because it means I don't write as much as I should. Just so that I can keep track of it, and to allow my readers to share in my vanity, here are some of the things I've done the past week:

June 22 - Blog - Guitar Hero, Rock Band wish list - Blast Magazine
June 22 - Review - Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiles - Blast Magazine

Kinda, sorta professional - Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Also always awesome - Top Cat.

Since I know everyone is probably still reeling from the awesomeness that is the Steve and Danielle tag team effort, I thought I would keep it simple tonight and just brag about myself. Just so that I can keep track of it, and to allow my readers to share in my vanity, here are some of the things I've done the past couple months:

June 15 - Review - OurWorld - Gamezebo
June 14 - Review - Swords and Soldiers - Blast Magazine
June 8 - Review - Steal Princess - Blast Magazine

Later tonight, I'll also have a news post up, since it has been a while since I've done one. Sneak peek for the next two weeks: Entries on Hitchcock vs. Final Fantasy VII, the art of casting subtly hot chicks for commercials, how some of journalism works behind the scenes, and I'm currently in the opening stages of tag teams with two friends.

Kinda, sorta professional - Monday, June 1, 2009

Just so that I can keep track of it, and to allow my readers to share in my vanity, here are some of the things I've done the past couple months:

May 27 - Review - Puzzle Kingdoms for the Wii (3.0) - Blast Magazine
May 22 - Opinion - What will happen at E3? - Blast Magazine
May 12 - Review - The Dark Spire for the DS (6.5) - Blast Magazine
April 14 - Review - Moshi Monsters for the PC (9.5) - Gamezebo
Feb. 16 - Review - MapleStory for the PC (6.0) - Gamezebo

Later this week, I'll have another Gamezebo piece done; I have no real clue why it has taken me so long to churn it out. Yes, I said churn - it needs to come back in usage outside of in connection to butter. Thanks.

Channel surfing and geekdom

- The other night I was watching the Kill Bill marathon on TNT, and I thought, "This is so unrealistic, there is no way they'd let her carry that samurai sword on the plane!" Then I pondered and thought about of all the things in the movie that are ridiculous, yet I seemingly keyed in on that one.

- They have been playing commercials for some Chipmunks CD every five minutes on ESPN. Like, seriously? I can't imagine there is that much overlap between demographics.

- I played through the Chrono Trigger remake for the DS recently, and it really was splendid. If you have a DS, you need to get it, because it is worth the $40. The extra features, like FMV and four more dungeons, are neat enough, and it's cheaper to get this version than the original SNES. Oh, and the PSX version sucks compared to this one.

- My feet have been killing me because of the court I've played basketball on lately. It's indoors, at an old elementary school near me, and the floor is made out of this 60-year-old rubber. It's so springy that you sink in just a bit when you try to jump or come to a stop, and as a result, my calves have also been killing me. It also means I shoot even worse than normal, but on the plus side, it forces me to focus on the defensive end, since I can't play offense as well.