Nathanael’s Been Playing: Digital Devil Saga
I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for JRPGs. My first Playstation game was Final Fantasy VII and since then my life has been one long continuum of over-sized swords, preposterous outfits, and gravity-defying hairdos. Over the years I’ve worked my way through the entire Final Fantasy series (sans the online games) and most of the Dragon Quest franchise. But recently I’ve dived headfirst into the Shin Tegami Tensei games. Persona 3 and 4 were two of my favorite games of the PS2 era…even though I only played them when I was in college and the PS3 was already the go-to console. I’ve worn my 3DS out playing through every single one of the franchise’s games that Nintendo decides to release on the Virtual Store: Devil Survivor 1 and 2, Soul Hackers, and Strange Journey. Still hungry for more, I moved back to the PS2 for Nocturne, a game which I found thoroughly disappointing with its threadbare story, uninspired setting, and a sadistic lack of in-game directions for players. I spent more time trying to figure out where I was, where I needed to go, and what I needed to do in Nocturne than I did actually fighting monsters.
Disheartened but still determined, I decided to give Digital Devil Saga a go. Technically a duology, I’ve made it about 3/4ths of the way through the first game which follows a tribe named the Embryon trapped in a post-apocalyptic world where six tribes fight for supremacy. Digital Devil Saga is the game Nocturne wishes it was—emotionally engaging and thought-provoking in its explorations of the breakdown of human society and the human soul. Whereas the world in Nocturne felt unfinished, the world of Digital Devil Saga feels under populated and empty-deliberately so. To borrow a phrase from Stephen King, this feels like a world that has “moved on.” And it’s a world that I can’t wait to explore more of in the second game.
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