reviews
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- SMT Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs The Soulless Army - A Review
- Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago by Phoenix
The Good: Nice battle system with many things to do - A very user-friendly demon fusion system - Interesting setting
The Bad: The plot leaves much to be desired - The music quickly becomes repetitive - Not very appealing beneath the interesting surface
Longest. Title. Ever.
The Shin Megami Tensei series consists of some of the best RPGs I have ever played.
That said, they all have their quirks and oddities. The things that tie them together are (among other things): A silent protagonist, a generally creepy feeling, demon summoning and usually rather controversial topics. SMTDS:RKTSA features all of these, at least to a certain extent, and it can also give itself an award in the category "Longest Game Title Ever".
The question remains, however: Is this game as great as some of the other games in the Shin Megami Tensei series? To this I will have to answer a resounding "hmm".
Wrong time. Wrong bridge.
The game's story takes place in Japan during the Taisho era, which dated roughly from 1912-1926. This was a time of great turbulence in the capital, mainly due to World War I and its many repercussions. In Tokyo things are a bit unsettled, and in the thick of all this stands one Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th, licensed Devil Summoner and general badass. Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th isn't his real name, however - the player gets to find one for him at the start of the game - but rather a title. And as a Devil Summoner, Raidou (which is what he's generally referred to) is obligated to keep the peace in the capital.
And this he does. For Raidou is able to control a whole host of various demons through the use of special tubes, and he can summon any demon he want, both as an aid in battle and during his investigations in Tokyo. For Raidou is not only a certified butt-kicker; he is also a private detective. Working for the happy-go-lucky "detective" Shouhei Narumi, Raidou sniffs around for jobs that will get him and his boss food and water.
One day things suddenly turn interesting for the Narumi detective agency. A young lass calls and requests a meeting, and when the two detectives catch up with her at a bridge nearby the broad drops a real bomb: She wants to be killed. Immediately. However, neither Narumi nor Raidou have time to let their mouths hang open, because the girl - Kaya - promptly gets abducted by mysterious, red-clad guards. The story then becomes a quest to save Kaya, no matter what.
Fighting and Fusing
The story is not the real reason why players will want to stick around, though, as it's almost completely transparent and quite often rather patch-quilty. Rather, it's the devil summoning rigamarole that steals the scene. Battles in SMTDS:RKTSA are very uncharacteristically action-packed, and the player assumes direct control over Raidou. You can run around, swat at enemies with your sword, fire your gun or guard with relative ease. Summoning a demon puts it right there on the battlefield, and it will promptly go about its business following a generally decent AI (even though it shows no real understanding of enemy weaknesses, and will quite often continue to use the same ineffective spell over and over again unless instructed otherwise).
Capturing new demons is an essential part of the game, and it works like this: You need to find the demon's particular weakness (old hat to SMT fans) and, once the demon is stunned, you run up to it and mash the O button until the demon relents. Of course, you cannot confine most demons during a full moon (another staple of the series), or if the demon is at a much higher level than Raidou. Also, finding weaknesses can be quite the trial-and-error task, since the "analyze" skill only works on demons whose weakness you have already exploited.
Once a demon has been confined to one of your free demon tubes it can be summoned swiftly into battle. And do battle it must, as you need to make it loyal to you so as to be able to fuse it (more on that later). Each demon also has unique skills that are learnt through experience grinding, so expect plenty of that in this game.
When you have a few demons at your disposal and they are completely loyal towards Raidou they can be fused at the local demon-fusing basement. It's one of the best gags in the game, actually, as the demonic cellar has been built in the basement of a small item shop, and the owner has no idea what is going on below him. The owner of the demon place - the Gouma-Den - is a completely crazy man whose name is Victor, and he will fuse your demons to create entirely new ones. Later on he can also sacrifice one demon to make another one stronger, as well as fuse a demon with Raidou's sword to make it more powerful.
Demon fusing is quite essential to grasp quickly in this game, because battles can quickly become unforgiving and it pays to have many different demons at your disposal. Each demon belongs to a different "order" (such as Volt, Pyro, Fury and Pagan) and, beside latent weaknesses and strengths that can either make or break a skirmish, each order has a specific skill that is needed outside of battle to progress through the game. Frost order demons have the ability to cool down hotheads and freeze rivers, for instance. It can be very frustrating to realize that you need a certain type of demon to move on - and that you have no such demon in your tubes. Therefore it's always good to have one of each at all times.
Good - but not great
Outside the battles and the demonic joys of the Gouma-Den, however, SMTDS:RKTSA rapidly loses its shine. The music that plays in the capital is far too repetitive for its own good, the story is bland and generally uninteresting and the characters are as flat as cardboard cutouts (with the possible exceptions of Narumi and a certain Dark Summoner who turns up later). Even the battles can grow on your nerves, as they occur far too often and sometimes feel a bit unsatisfying. Admittedly, being able to move around on the battlefield is a good idea and a necessary step away from the rigid fights that the SMT series are known for, but the static camera and sometimes less-than-stellar graphics can make it difficult to make out what's going on. Raidou can also be very unresponsive at times, unleashing combos in the wrong direction or hitting the wrong enemy.
The game consists of 12 chapters, and they are very uneven in length. Some chapters feature long and tedious fetch quests, where the objective is something along the lines of "bring [insert order here] demon to location A, use it to talk to person A, walk to location B, use [insert different order here] demon to talk to person B, return to person A". Other chapters are disappointingly short, lasting only 20 minutes or even less.
There is no voice acting in the game, and this works quite well (even though it is strange to play a game in this day and age with no voice acting at all). The graphics are decent, with Kazuma Kaneko's demon designs completely stealing the show. Shoji Meguro's music is utterly unremarkable, save for a few exceptions, and there simply isn't enough of it to keep the player listening. The plot starts out decently enough, trundles on at a steady pace and finishes on a rather lame note, leaving yours truly a bit disappointed. Since the characters are very bleak you never care very much for them, and thus the ending simply fails to clutch at any heartstrings.
The final word
Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs The Soulless Army is a decent game. It features an interesting take on a battle system that has stagnated slightly over the years and it is refreshing to be able to control Raidou directly. The demon fusion system is as entertaining as it always has been, and it also feels a bit easier to grasp this time around. However, the lackluster music, the paper-thin plot and the unremarkable characters keep this game from being a winner. Fans of the SMT series should definitely check it out - chances are they won't care what I say anyway - but if you're new to the series you should do yourself a favour and begin your foray with a different game.
The Bad: The plot leaves much to be desired - The music quickly becomes repetitive - Not very appealing beneath the interesting surface
Longest. Title. Ever.
The Shin Megami Tensei series consists of some of the best RPGs I have ever played.
That said, they all have their quirks and oddities. The things that tie them together are (among other things): A silent protagonist, a generally creepy feeling, demon summoning and usually rather controversial topics. SMTDS:RKTSA features all of these, at least to a certain extent, and it can also give itself an award in the category "Longest Game Title Ever".
The question remains, however: Is this game as great as some of the other games in the Shin Megami Tensei series? To this I will have to answer a resounding "hmm".
Wrong time. Wrong bridge.
The game's story takes place in Japan during the Taisho era, which dated roughly from 1912-1926. This was a time of great turbulence in the capital, mainly due to World War I and its many repercussions. In Tokyo things are a bit unsettled, and in the thick of all this stands one Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th, licensed Devil Summoner and general badass. Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th isn't his real name, however - the player gets to find one for him at the start of the game - but rather a title. And as a Devil Summoner, Raidou (which is what he's generally referred to) is obligated to keep the peace in the capital.
And this he does. For Raidou is able to control a whole host of various demons through the use of special tubes, and he can summon any demon he want, both as an aid in battle and during his investigations in Tokyo. For Raidou is not only a certified butt-kicker; he is also a private detective. Working for the happy-go-lucky "detective" Shouhei Narumi, Raidou sniffs around for jobs that will get him and his boss food and water.
One day things suddenly turn interesting for the Narumi detective agency. A young lass calls and requests a meeting, and when the two detectives catch up with her at a bridge nearby the broad drops a real bomb: She wants to be killed. Immediately. However, neither Narumi nor Raidou have time to let their mouths hang open, because the girl - Kaya - promptly gets abducted by mysterious, red-clad guards. The story then becomes a quest to save Kaya, no matter what.
Fighting and Fusing
The story is not the real reason why players will want to stick around, though, as it's almost completely transparent and quite often rather patch-quilty. Rather, it's the devil summoning rigamarole that steals the scene. Battles in SMTDS:RKTSA are very uncharacteristically action-packed, and the player assumes direct control over Raidou. You can run around, swat at enemies with your sword, fire your gun or guard with relative ease. Summoning a demon puts it right there on the battlefield, and it will promptly go about its business following a generally decent AI (even though it shows no real understanding of enemy weaknesses, and will quite often continue to use the same ineffective spell over and over again unless instructed otherwise).
Capturing new demons is an essential part of the game, and it works like this: You need to find the demon's particular weakness (old hat to SMT fans) and, once the demon is stunned, you run up to it and mash the O button until the demon relents. Of course, you cannot confine most demons during a full moon (another staple of the series), or if the demon is at a much higher level than Raidou. Also, finding weaknesses can be quite the trial-and-error task, since the "analyze" skill only works on demons whose weakness you have already exploited.
Once a demon has been confined to one of your free demon tubes it can be summoned swiftly into battle. And do battle it must, as you need to make it loyal to you so as to be able to fuse it (more on that later). Each demon also has unique skills that are learnt through experience grinding, so expect plenty of that in this game.
When you have a few demons at your disposal and they are completely loyal towards Raidou they can be fused at the local demon-fusing basement. It's one of the best gags in the game, actually, as the demonic cellar has been built in the basement of a small item shop, and the owner has no idea what is going on below him. The owner of the demon place - the Gouma-Den - is a completely crazy man whose name is Victor, and he will fuse your demons to create entirely new ones. Later on he can also sacrifice one demon to make another one stronger, as well as fuse a demon with Raidou's sword to make it more powerful.
Demon fusing is quite essential to grasp quickly in this game, because battles can quickly become unforgiving and it pays to have many different demons at your disposal. Each demon belongs to a different "order" (such as Volt, Pyro, Fury and Pagan) and, beside latent weaknesses and strengths that can either make or break a skirmish, each order has a specific skill that is needed outside of battle to progress through the game. Frost order demons have the ability to cool down hotheads and freeze rivers, for instance. It can be very frustrating to realize that you need a certain type of demon to move on - and that you have no such demon in your tubes. Therefore it's always good to have one of each at all times.
Good - but not great
Outside the battles and the demonic joys of the Gouma-Den, however, SMTDS:RKTSA rapidly loses its shine. The music that plays in the capital is far too repetitive for its own good, the story is bland and generally uninteresting and the characters are as flat as cardboard cutouts (with the possible exceptions of Narumi and a certain Dark Summoner who turns up later). Even the battles can grow on your nerves, as they occur far too often and sometimes feel a bit unsatisfying. Admittedly, being able to move around on the battlefield is a good idea and a necessary step away from the rigid fights that the SMT series are known for, but the static camera and sometimes less-than-stellar graphics can make it difficult to make out what's going on. Raidou can also be very unresponsive at times, unleashing combos in the wrong direction or hitting the wrong enemy.
The game consists of 12 chapters, and they are very uneven in length. Some chapters feature long and tedious fetch quests, where the objective is something along the lines of "bring [insert order here] demon to location A, use it to talk to person A, walk to location B, use [insert different order here] demon to talk to person B, return to person A". Other chapters are disappointingly short, lasting only 20 minutes or even less.
There is no voice acting in the game, and this works quite well (even though it is strange to play a game in this day and age with no voice acting at all). The graphics are decent, with Kazuma Kaneko's demon designs completely stealing the show. Shoji Meguro's music is utterly unremarkable, save for a few exceptions, and there simply isn't enough of it to keep the player listening. The plot starts out decently enough, trundles on at a steady pace and finishes on a rather lame note, leaving yours truly a bit disappointed. Since the characters are very bleak you never care very much for them, and thus the ending simply fails to clutch at any heartstrings.
The final word
Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs The Soulless Army is a decent game. It features an interesting take on a battle system that has stagnated slightly over the years and it is refreshing to be able to control Raidou directly. The demon fusion system is as entertaining as it always has been, and it also feels a bit easier to grasp this time around. However, the lackluster music, the paper-thin plot and the unremarkable characters keep this game from being a winner. Fans of the SMT series should definitely check it out - chances are they won't care what I say anyway - but if you're new to the series you should do yourself a favour and begin your foray with a different game.
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Comments
I agree completely. Nocturne and DDS are damn good games. That goes for P3 too, even though it's a bit different. At least it sticks to what it does best.
The thing that disappointed me most about this was the potential it had. A detective in a monster ridden land... but they completely missed the point, and seemed to not know which way to take the series. Nocturne, though, is still the shit.
I only ever played the PSP version and I didn't have as much fun with it as I did Digital Devil Saga. I'll look into it. My PS2 is covered in dust and I need a reason to clean it off.
Yeah, this one just... lacks that certain appeal. Still a decent game, but it definitely lacks the zest you find in other SMT games.
I've heard that Devil Summoner doesn't really measure up to many other SMT titles, and that seems to be the case. I guess I'll stick with Persona. Good review!