Digital Devil Saga

I Do Not Comprehend.

Digital Devil Saga is a game for the PLAYSTATION 2.

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Digital Devil Saga has a special place in my heart as one of the best JRPG duologies ATLUS has ever produced, especially in the Ps2 era. The first game itself has a pretty interesting setting and story, only made more interesting by the second game. This review, however, only concerns the first. My review of Digital Devil Saga 2 is more of a comprehensive story review and analysis, so if you’re looking for that, head there. I’m also going to be referencing Quantum Devil Saga in this a lot, so feel free to read that as well.

First, the characters. The characters are a little bit bland in some ways, being built around one central personality trait (Heat is the angry one, Argilla is the emotional one, Gale is the smart one, and Cielo is the comic relief). This understanding of their personalities does begin to get more complicated as the story progresses, adding set-up elements for the second game that deepen the player’s understanding of how they interact with each other.

Heat is the character I’m going to bring up first, because I think he has the potential to be more interesting than he is, but isn’t purely because of how he was written for the game specifically. The concept for him as a character is consistent across different writers, but Satomi Tadashi, in my opinion, fails his characterization in some crucial ways. I’ll save that discussion for, once again, the second game. That’s a phrase you’re going to hear me say a lot. It's like how you can't really get into complex story analysis until the person you're talking to knows the whole picture, you know? Anyways, he represents full control and indulgence in the Junkyard’s new diet and powers, finding it easy to devour his enemies and expecting others to do the same.

Writing this, I’m realizing that I have a lot of grievances with this story being placed into a game’s format that are difficult to explain without having read QDS, which I personally feel does a lot of the story beats and character writing better. I can’t properly do a character analysis without mentioning both stories, which should make no sense because they’re different worlds, but… You have to consider intent vs interpretation. QDS represents the intended version of DDS that exists in Yu Godai’s mind, while DDS represents Satomi Tadashi’s interpretation of her outlines. Combined, the characters become easier to analyze. This is also because in the books, you get access to the direct thoughts and feelings of all of the characters, plus with more detailed writing that actually writes them like people and not vaguely stiff video game characters.

Serph’s personality, like all silent megaten protagonists, is merely implied. He seems to be mostly willing to do what it takes to protect his tribe and cares about people above all else, fighting Jenna for Sera’s and his friends’ sakes. He also seems to be a caring leader, putting himself into direct combat with other tribes, unlike most of the other leaders. He’s determined in a sense, and kind of awkward? He stands around in the back of areas during cutscenes a lot, it’s funny.

I’ll save the deeper discussion of all of the characters for the second game. It’s juicy.

Argilla is written sort of within the confines of the Emotional Woman stereotype and left there for this game, though her apparent lesbianism is a win for the gays I suppose. Most of her ideology exists to contrast Heat’s, which I mentioned in the summary. She is actively against the idea of eating others, to the point where she starves herself several times and must be saved by Sera’s healing song early on in the game. She prefers to use Sera’s song to sustain herself, the moral idea of cannibalism being too much for her. She has several conflicts with Heat about this, leading up to the death of her Friend, Jinana. Jinana is the tribe leader of the Maribel and developed a close relationship with Argilla throughout her time in the main cast. After she dies, Heat tells Argilla to eat her (he seems to have a hard time being sensitive or knowing what’s okay and what isn’t), and she slaps him.

She does eventually adapt though, partially for her own character arc and partially because the gameplay system wouldn’t work if she wasn’t eating the demons the main party battles.

Gale is another interesting character in that he doesn’t awaken to his emotions until the third to last dungeon in the game. He continues to be analytical and go with the most logical combat option, the sort of robotic-smart-guy trope. He goes through a lot of character growth throughout both games, going from his iconic line of “I do not comprehend.” to saying “Some things must be felt, not comprehended.” towards the mid-end of the second game. He doesn’t mind eating others because it’s the way the Junkyard works now. He often suggests plans of action that go against Serph’s morals, especially in QDS, but can be steered in the direction of the rest of the Embryon fairly easily.

There are also hints of him having some sort of past with Jenna, a major story point in the second game. The reveal of the blonde man in Jenna’s vision also foreshadows a lot of the central conflict of the second game. Gale is more interesting when paired with other characters in a conversation, the most entertaining being with Cielo, and the nicest being with Sera in 2.

Cielo exists mostly as comic relief in this game. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with this, as he is actually pretty funny and has some sweet moments with the other characters. He has the least involvement of the main cast in the first game’s story, considering he joins the party so late. He is shown to care deeply for others, though, and saves Sera several times. He also has a silly friendship with the local cat, Schrodinger. His role in the story doesn’t change much by the end of the first game.

In terms of themes, Digital Devil Saga tackles some pretty heavy ones. Mainly, adaptation and the lengths to which people will go in order to survive. Ideological conflicts about the morality of committing horrific acts in order to survive are prevalent in this story, with certain characters representing certain viewpoints in classic SMT fashion. Though there are two extremes, they aren’t presented as an alignment split or as any way to change the outcome of the story, just as two characters with two different ideas about how to go about things.

In fact, every character has a different idea about their new diet, though not always presented the same way Argilla and Heat are. Gale adapts because it makes sense to do so, while Cielo isn’t presented with an outward opinion on it. Serph seems indifferent, consuming the members of the Vanguards with Heat in the first dungeon.

Also very prominent in this game are the ideas and themes in the Hindu religion. The cycle of reincarnation (or Samsara) and karma are constantly mentioned, with Mantra being the system that allows each character to learn new skills in battle. Each base’s name is the name of a bodily chakra, the order in which the Embryon go through each dungeon starting from the root chakra of Muladhara and ascending to the crown chakra of Sahasrara. The colors of each chakra aren’t directly tied to the tribe’s colors, however, but the selection is pretty similar.

It’s also interesting to ponder what I heard mentioned in RPGFan’s Retro Encounter episode about this game, specifically about the Junkyard being an interpretation of the Hungry Ghost realm. This is enhanced by Colonel Beck’s insistence that all of them are dead and trapped in their insatiable hunger. The tribes are all fighting to ascend to Nirvana, but from my understanding of Hinduism, it’s not possible for one in the hungry ghost realm to ascend directly to enlightenment, only able to gain more karma by starting over at a higher level. I'm not sure how one would contact me to correct this but if you figure it out please let me know if I'm wrong, because I don't think it's okay to spread misinformation about other peoples' religions.

This also works because the Atma avatars are referred to as being of the Asura race, the realm of which being directly below the realm of humans. The ultimate reveal in the post-credits cutscene of the game is that beyond the reaches of the Karma Temple is not truly Nirvana, but actually the real world.

Each Atma avatar is also based on a deity in Hinduism, each also being significant to their role in the story and personality. They also influence each character’s element. Prithivi, Argilla’s Atma avatar, starts out with earth magic. Prithvi in the Hindu religion is a Devi who rules over the Earth. Varuna is a god associated with water. Important to mention, now that it’s relevant, there are some spelling differences between DDS and QDS regarding the Atma avatars. This is because, for Varuna at least, there was a typo somewhere during production that never got fixed. Varna is supposed to be Varuna, Prithivi is supposed to be Prithvi, etc. The translator of QDS, Kevin Frane, fixed these typos along the way.

As for the gameplay, it’s pretty similar to Nocturne's. Both use the press turn battle system, but the other areas of gameplay have some tweaks. The previously mentioned mantra system is how each party member learns new skills. Atma points are awarded after every battle that increases the mastery level of a certain mantra, and once mastered, the character learns the skill(s). A character can increase the atma points gained by devouring an enemy at low health, though if said character eats too many enemies, they can develop a stomach ache. Yeah, this game has tummy aches. Funniest mechanic ever. In any case, up to 8 skills (once learned) can be equipped or shuffled around to the player’s liking.

The number of active characters used in battle has been lowered down from the standard 4 to 3, a change that can add a lot of thought to the battles. Instead of only losing half of your turns on a miss or voided move, you lose ⅔ of them. Enemies (mostly bosses) still have annoying skills like Rage or Psycho Rage (renamed versions of Beast Eye and Dragon Eye from Nocturne) that grant the user two or four extra half-turn icons respectively.

The combat feels just as good as other games I’ve played in this series, fun and thoughtful. I use Nocturne as a scale for comparison with this game a lot purely because they came out around the same time, not because I think Nocturne is a gold standard for SMT. On that note, the combat in Digital Devil Saga feels like a squishier version of Nocturne’s. Less risky, but still equally capable of wreaking mass destruction.

DDS’s OST is also one of the best I’ve heard in a video game, period. The battle themes all fit the situations, with Hunting - Comrades being one of my favorites. The opening (Etro Anime’s Danger) is an incredible track that both does and doesn’t fit the atmosphere of the game, but in the best possible way. Each base has a memorable sound to it, from Muladhara’s comfortingly slow notes to Sahasrara’s building BGM that adds layers the higher you ascend the tower. It’s all very well directed and produced, props to Shoji Meguro for his incredible work on this game.

Really, each dungeon theme is incredible. I could talk about it for hours, but I won't, seeing as this page is already long enough. Though, Ajna’s main theme of Sweet Home is one of my favorites. Fitting, considering what’s widely considered the first survival horror game, Sweet Home, has the same name and is about exploring a mansion. The Brutes’ base is a mansion, if I haven’t mentioned it already. Really, thinking about it, you could totally reimagine DDS as a survival horror game. I'm not 100% sure if that's where the inspiration comes from, but I thought it was cool!

Music-related rant over. This review is almost over, I promise. The visuals are very striking for a Ps2 game, Kazuma Kaneko’s art style bringing a lot of personality to the character design. Each character is color coded to a degree, their Atma avatars sticking to this same color scheme. Serph is gray, Heat is red, Gale is green, Cielo is blue, Jinana is green and red, etc. Argilla is the only one who doesn’t stick to this color coding, her main theme being pink and her Atma avatar being brown and other earthy tones.

The bases are all fairly color coded too, not with interior, but with the lighting. There are a lot of really small things in this game that add to the general atmosphere. I’ll just stick some of the concept designing for the Junkyard in here to express what I mean.

The area concept art for this game is really cool too, actually! Check it out.