Devil Survivor 2:
Been playing this along side TOPSP. Anyway, I'm surprised there hasn't been much talk about this game because it's very good. The best thing about it are the missions are all varied. Most SRPGs just often have lots of Rout missions, but this one has plenty of objectives that integrates itself into the plot well enough. I've had about 5 resets now, so the game isn't a complete walk in the park. My biggest gripe is that cash is often strapped in-game. Since Demon Fusion is such an integral part of the gameplay, it sucks that it uses up a ton of cash if you're just trying to experiment with fusing. Some other thoughts so far:
- The PCs, despite not having any base skills, are all decently varied enough, which is pretty hard to do when you only have 4 stats and like 14 PCs. I think the game manages to do this by requiring certain stat thresholds to use learnt skills. Someone like Fumi might have ridiculously stupid high MAG, she can't use any Fire type attacks that effective because the fire boosting skills require a few points of strength.
- There's some duplication in stat builds, but its quite clear the game did this so that if a PC is perma-killed, you'll still have access to someone similar. So good for the designers to recognize this.
- Fate Levels are an interesting enough concept, and they're pretty important it looks like in the last chapter of the game (where I am!). You'll need to FAQ them if you want to try and get everyone to at least 4 minimum though (which seems to be a requirement for re-recruitment). Different enough from S.Links in that they don't always enhance Demon fusion, but rather the PCs directly. They also don't require a minimum amount of point before starting a S.Link event.
- PC MVP Listing...I've found myself sticking with the MAG based characters for a large portion of the game. Not so much physicals attacks are bad, but demons that resist physicals are a huge problem if you're entire game is focused it. MAG gives you some wiggle room since there are four elements you can play with. In general...
Fumi > Otome > Airi > Joe> Keita > Hinako = Daichi > Jungo > Everyone else.
Fumi/Otome have ridiculous MAG growth. The key difference between the two is that Fumi has more Speed/Mag, but Otome has more Defense/Strength. Guess which one is more important! Airi and Joe have similar stat builds (speedy MAG based character), but Joe has more focus on Speed. In fact, he's the fastest character in the game. As a result though, his attacks are weaker than the others, but still solid. Keita falls in the spectrum of speed being just good enough along with pretty high strength, so he's great for both multi-hit physicals and single hit physicals. Hinako/Daichi are mainly multi-hit attacks, while Jungo is the equivalent of Fumi only strength based, trading in a few points of speed for more defense. Everyone else's stats are either split 50/50 between Mag and Strength or are horribly balanced (hi Ronaldo).
- Bosses - so badass. I'm currently stuck on a level where there is a bonus fusion demon that packs Life Drain, which is unblockable/resistable and deals OHKO damage. Trying to figure out how to kill it while not getting killed by the other not as silly, but still pretty powerful bosses.
TOPSP - Replaying routes. Up to Chapter 3 Chaotic. Denam facestab people for profit.
