Gameplay and Difficulty
The gameplay in Digital Devil Saga is your standard RPG model. You run around, get into random battles, and level up your characters. What is truly exciting is that within the battle system, you are penalized for mistakes you make and rewarded for the good calls you make as well. Everything has an elemental weakness, and if you hit that weakness you are rewarded with an extra turn. Conversely, if you use an element it is resistant to, you lose your turn. In many cases, unless you use a guide, you will have to try to kill bosses in various ways using different strategies, and making sure you are equipped with the correct skills for that particular boss. This game does not hold your hand at all. It’s trial and error, and much like Demon Souls and Dark Souls, your errors will end up sending you right to the game over screen.
Too often we are given games that hold our hands now, and do not allow us to feel that satisfaction when we defeat a boss or an enemy that had us stumped for hours. Once again I revert to Dark Souls, since that game was such a beautiful blend of satisfaction and pure masochism. In complete contrast, Final Fantasy 13 was just a terrible hand-holding game that required no thinking at all when it came to its battle system and gameplay.
There has to be a balance between difficulty, satisfaction, and reward. This does not mean that grinding is the answer. Nothing is more irritating than when developers decide to just force you to grind and make it ‘difficult’ that way. I mean difficulty in terms of strategy and trial and error. Too many games nowadays no longer care about this balance, and either makes games you are forced to spend countless hours grinding and win based on sheer numbers alone, or give up entirely and allow you to breeze through games without firing up a neuron. What has happened to the balance I desire?
Underlying Concepts
Religious themes in games have been popular, especially once Xenogears stirred the pot with its storyline and underlying concept. Digital Devil Saga does things a little differently and takes a look at God in a brand new light. Shall I ruin it for all of you? No. I refuse to do so, in hopes that many of you will pick up this gem and play through it. I will simply touch upon a few things, so please skip the next paragraph if you do not wish to spoil a few of the things this game has to offer that I will touch upon.
DDS views the world as being made up by data, and this data is in a constant cycle. When you die, your data is transferred and used elsewhere. In this manner, everyone on earth is connected, and in some way part of one another. It is reminiscent of Final Fantasy’s life stream. Everything is connected, and everything moves in a cycle. People are trying to harness this data and this power, and modify it to meet their needs and wants. Sound familiar?
While there are similarities, the difference in presentation and concept is fresh and new.
Ending Thoughts
You all need to get your hands on Digital Devil Saga. Whether that’s through Ebay or Amazon, I strongly suggest you do so. Do I guarantee you all will love it? No. There is no way in hell I can possibly guarantee my tastes will make sweet love to yours and have wonderful happy babies. But if you are an avid RPG lover, and you haven’t picked up this game…I suggest you snatch it up. The prices are very reasonable for a game that is around 40-60 hours of solid gameplay, multiplied by two.
I wish RPGs like these made a comeback, and I truly hope we see more of them in the future. Fingers crossed!
And as usual, Happy Gaming everyone!
