Engaging with the Kruste Brand on Why NieR Automata is More than Just Cutscenes

y'all who haven't played nier automata shouldn't read this

context: https://twitter.com/krustentier7/status/844508412729868288

I wrote this half because I wanted to write down Automata thoughts somewhere and half because I feel like there’s parts of these claims could be articulated better; I find the game to have faults as well, but I think the critique here can be better articulated for this game.
Generally I strongly agree that the game's content puts its best foot out at Route A and the rest of the gameplay afterwards isn't necessarily as good. I think the enemy variety plummets after the first playthrough and more locations would have been extremely appreciated. Most bosses suck in Route C which is a shame considering I wanted to play as A2 more. Your criticism of recycled content is valid and I feel kinda disappointed in this aspect too. However, here I'm questioning two points:

- "NieR Automata would work better as something other than a game"
- “The gameplay was designed an afterthought”

I don’t necessarily agree with these aspects specifically for NieR: Automata. I think this is much more applicable for the Drakengard games, and partially the first NieR, but Automata handles the integration of story and gameplay decently enough that separating the two ends up losing something in the process. I think it’s appropriate to say perhaps it doesn’t do “game” as well as it could, but there’s merit in what the game does set out to do in its interactivity.

On the first point:
In digital games, interactivity is a way of immersing the player into the game’s fiction. The most immediate thing to come to mind on the first point is the hyper-literal way in which the “game” aspects are treated in the story.

The settings menu scene is a very cute but interesting moment that establishes every small, unimportant action in the game, even those that don’t necessarily act upon the world, as congruent with the fiction. This is never a point of any major decision or plot twist in the story, but merely to establish this relationship between the game and fiction. Saving is justified as uploading data to the Bunker, death means that a backup version of your data is sent to a new body a respawn, etc. The menu screen being seen in 9S’ final boss hacking sequences also reinforce this bonding. No gameplay feature is unjustified in the fiction. Although most of this can essentially ignored if we were to adapt NieR: Automata’s story to a new medium and most people won’t bat an eye, having the story without the gameplay would immediately lose the connotations of androids and machines being analogous to videogame players, which is essential to the types of thematic messages that Yoko Taro often injects into his stories. We could inject the “gamey” elements into an adaptation to keep these underlying messages, but then that adaptation would just be seen as “video-gamey”, which isn’t something I’m personally too hot about. I remember the YorHa stage play mentioning the characters’ stats (HP/MP/etc.), which is the kind of concept that only really works if you “get” videogames and sounds kinda corny anywhere else.

The few moments where interactivity is used to enhance the story is few and far between, but they’re present nonetheless and really serve the NieR: Automata’s flavoring. Playing the machine at the beginning of the game and playing a damaged 2B in Route C really connect the player to the characters in these scenarios. These gameplay sequences enhance the feeling of being pathetic or helpless, though I guess it can also be achieved someway in other mediums. A more effective, subtle example is the usage of non-hostility in the game, one example being that the first Adam fight never has Adam strike first, or the entire first half of the amusement park. By this point, most players react to machines and boss fight pop-ups with violence. A film/novel/anime adaptation of Automata calls into question the morality of characters, but the game silently questions players’ own morality. It’s not really the kind of thing that most players think about, and it can sound like pretentious reaching, but for some people (like in that one Waypoint article), it provides a kind of introspection that can’t be achieved without some form of interactivity. There’s also Pascal’s decision, one of the very few lasting player decisions in the game, and the entirety of the E ending, which is only impactful due to the way in which players of the game have interacted with the system.

Ending E is much more interesting as an example which leads to the second point:

I REALLY don’t think Yoko Taro puts the story ahead of gameplay. He might really REALLY take good care of his writing, to the extent of being a sole selling point in dreadful games, but if he didn’t give a FUCK about gameplay he wouldn’t have been so stressed in the development of Drakengard 1/3 and NieR trying to have a decent playing game. I get the feeling it’s the complete opposite. Even back in Drakengard 1 he wrote a game narrative to painfully justify the kind of gameplay he had to work with; killing thousands of soldiers? Psychopaths! Frankly, Yoko Taro's reasoning for Drakengard's gameplay being crap as "killing shouldn't feel good" is bullshit to cover up a piss-poor budget, but taking this into account puts into perspective the kind of thinking he puts into making sure the story makes sense with the gameplay, rather than the other way around. Yoko Taro's bad rhythm game shit was the only deliberately obtuse thing designed for Drakengard 1/3 as a punishment to the player for their killing, and while certainly awful, it’s simple enough to see the game design of “hack and slash that then suddenly turns into a rhythm game because fuck you”. “Backwards Scriptwriting” is certainly used for story, but it’s also used for the gameplay scenarios too, a sort of “Backwards Game Design”. I get the feeling NieR: Automata leans more towards this than the other games, since the other games probably had little to no seasoned gameplay designers.

We can think back to NieR: Automata’s E Ending gameplay sequence through these lens:
- Player must fight the credits for a good ending
- In a hopeless situation, other players sacrifice themselves to help you and the player emerges triumphant

Hypothetically, what steps were taken to design the game to lead to this singular moment?
- Establish the credits sequence as possibly being congruent to the fiction; a minor element that nevertheless establishes the protagonists as androids, and all UI, including loading screens (in that one Pod scene), as part of their programming/network in the fiction. This makes it more plausible to accept the break from reality that the credits impact the narrative.
- Establish some way to incorporate combat against the credits. True to the NieR brand, shmup style gameplay is chosen due to previous series connotations, as well as providing a way to incorporate combat against simple entities with little animation (in this case, words/names). To integrate pure shmup gameplay into the fiction of literal UI, this style is introduced as a combat style of a character’s playstyle via hacking.
- Establish some form of network to connect players in order to help each other. As a single player game, the game would need to incorporate some form of online element to make sure this moment doesn’t catch players completely by surprise. This ending is thus the only reason a dead body/message mechanic and prayer is integrated into the game at all, to establish that people are in a common struggle and are willing to help. (This mechanic isn’t perfect since it isn’t integral to the main game and definitely does catch networkless players off guard and rightfully mad.)
- Establish a tangible sacrifice that players must make. This is a mirror of the original NieR’s final decision, which well establishes time and progress in a game as some of the most tangible sacrifices a player can accomplish through the medium.

From this one gameplay scenario comes many details in both the setting and gameplay that is established. Perhaps this isn’t the first idea that was conceived for the game, but we can infer that there has been some thought put into establishing this moment, particularly in the death mechanic, which has practically no other reason than to foreshadow this bit of gameplay. This goes for many other parts of the game, but it’s arguable where each point leans towards story or gameplay. For instance, in terms of gameplay, it can be thought that the Goliath battle in the City is only there to give an excuse to change the map, and that 9S’ hacking section in the Factory is there to utilize an interesting mechanic in control. Meanwhile, boss fights like Adam/Eve and 2B are mostly for introducing/giving characters screentime.

It’s variable, but it’s clear that priorities weren’t simply just to show off cutscenes. Route B has the same story but a different playstyle and some scenarios with radically different mechanics, such as the Factory. Route C has changing character perspectives that, while using the same map, does present a few new mechanics and story scenarios to make the gameplay interesting (special note to the dual machine Tower boss). I think a stronger argument that Platinum didn’t make these new gameplay scenarios more interesting or varied is valid here, but the idea that /everyone/ is playing “simply for the cutscenes” is a bit biased, as there definitely were gameplay ideas and scenarios that Platinum wanted to introduce that I was glad to engage with. Hacking may not be the most varied mechanic, for instance, but controlling enemies is something that I did enjoy quite a lot, maybe more than most people, making me insane.

Ultimately, for me at least, gameplay scenarios like that, the game settings scene, and the E ending are part of the reason I played the game; not JUST the story, but how that story is going to make me do a shit rhythm game at the end. Because at the end of the day, I think people give Yoko Taro too much credit for being “hahaha shit square enix meme guy that writes real good”, rather than the GAMEPLAY SCENARIO designer Yoko Taro, who manages to present interesting one shot bits of interactive out-of-the-box design that extends beyond mastery of game mechanics. Considering he works under the knife of Square Enix, who has painfully chased Western game design trends by the book, the few creative usages of interactivity is extremely notable. The death of 2B is not nearly as interesting as showing how dumb adjusting game settings looks from an outsider perspective. The quality and effective quantity of those mechanics are debatable, but I would argue that him being a creative game scenario designer sets himself apart far above from being just a creative writer that shouldn’t make games, and those mechanics are partially why people are obsessed with him as a designer despite his obvious failings.

This was WAY too long, but hey, I think(?) you like reading about game opinions(??)

TL;DR:
- The fiction of NieR Automata is effective and gains meaning from being a game
- The gameplay of NieR Automata dictates story development more compared to previous games
- The appeal of NieR Automata is the unknown in both story AND interesting usage of game mechanics
- I spent way too much time on stupid videogame bullshit, fuck me, ignore this

List of 10 Games from 2016 Fang Played in 2016 organized from least favorite to favorite

I only played and finished like, 10 games from 2016 (fuck 2016), so this was a low effort post, here we go.

Minor spoilers, maybe.

#10. Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight

Momodora IV is a nice side scrolling action exploration game with a flavor of those Castlevania and Souls games people like. Bought it on a whim after hearing good things about it. I tried the first two games in the series and watched a playthrough of the third, and compared to those, this game feels pretty darn good.

• Good art style that sits firmly on the edge of 16-bit anime. This is one of those games that don't mix pixel sizes and that already makes it better than a lot of other faux-retro games. 
• Controls well. Animation locked combat and general movement makes the game feel weighty and satisfying while still being a very good platformer. 
• Small issues such as weird enemy hitboxes/attacks, super fragile player health, and instant death spikes makes the game feel too old school for my tastes, but that's alright. 
• The bosses were simple, not all of them outstanding, but the good ones were pretty neat. 
• The story isn't really there at all, scattershot through dialogue bits and item lore in what feels like an intentional nod to the Souls series, but without a core theme to hold everything together in a framework. Story was never really an important part of the game experience in any of the games, but it would've made this game better for me.
• Short 5-hour game. I could've went for a good 3-5 hours more at least.
• Cats are cute.

#9. Oxenfree

Oxenfree is a real time narrative adventure (?) game I bought after the dumb 2016 Game Awards. Antinomy said this was the shitty 999 of video games so it deserves to be number 9 on this list.

• Dialogue flow is incredible. The most natural feeling branching conversation system I've experienced in a recent video game. More games need to take note of it.
• Characters are well written. I don't think any of them will stick with me at all, though.
• The walking is kinda slow, which is good for dialogue bits, but kinda dull during all other quiet sections. 
• Story has an intriguing setting with a few neat ideas.
• ...Unfortunately, I didn't really understand the cool aspect of one of those ideas until watching a video explaining the game's twists. 
• Also, every other good idea this game had that I liked was executed better in either a Zero Escape / Infinity series game or Life is Strange.
• Personally I feel like the story confuses more than answers. I don't feel like there are any clear eureka moments that really wrapped up the story neatly.
• The ending/NG+ beats feel pretty predictable considering its premise. Payoff undermined by a weird bit at the end that gets no explanation.
• I can't remember where the fuck this game mentions Calvin at all before that one scene.

#8. Pony Island

Pony Island has some neat ideas that gave more of a shock to me than Oxenfree, so it's higher I guess.

• This game really should've advertised itself without presenting its main twist as the selling point.
• The games makes some low hanging gamer references that I personally just kinda sigh at. Of course there's a Missingno joke. Of course there's an "I am error" joke. We get it. Haha. Timely.
• The hidden truth backstory is weird. It isn't used at all in the main story and is such a leap from logical connection from the main content of the game that it feels like the kind of dumb shit that Game Theory (eughhh) would come up with. Feels more like shock value than anything else.
• The sidescrolling stuff isn't all that special.
• I think in general I'm just kinda tired of Christian mythos being the basis of most games about demonic stuff and feel like it's a cheap way to make things spooky. Also Lucifer wasn't all that scary and came across as comically incompetent, kinda at odds at the intended aesthetic.
• HOWEVER, Pony Island does pull some great meta tricks up its sleeve in the last third of the game that genuinely surprised me. I want to say that the last third should have been the whole game, but it was more effective as a one off thing. 
• In general, that last fourth and the interface related sections were the best parts about the game. I had more anxiety with the desktop sections than the base game, for whatever reason, which really felt like the intended experience? 
• Also the puzzle sections were pretty satisfying to complete even though I mentioned I wasn't big on puzzles. 
• I describe this game as "much better Omikron", which is unfortunate but also pretty funny.

#7. Zero Time Dilemma

Zero Time Dilemma deserved to be higher on the list but boy it needed more time in the oven with a different recipe.

• The Decision Game in general just sounds really cool to say. TIME TO DECIDE
• Game has very strong moments and is at its best around the 3rd 4th mark of the story. Even though the previous games in the series already set up what to expect from this game, Zero Time Dilemma didn't fail to introduce some clever story beats and twists that I either didn't see coming or thought was really cool. 
• The 2nd D-team ending is probably my favorite of non-"true" endings in the Zero Escape series
• The game's true ending has fantastic moments, minus the big revealing twist. 
• The biggest twist in the game was kinda shocking, but it became a big indicator of the weird quality of the writing; either character interactions felt lacking in development, uncanny, or just.... inconsistent. It's really hard for me to swallow that the cast didn't catch onto the big twist AT ALL until the end. It soured on me really fast in hindsight. 
• The cinematic presentation kinda hampered the really dense text required to present a story with the magnitude of concepts and character interactions Zero Escape is known for. It adapted the writing style incredibly well, but it's definitely less substantial than the previous games in text size. 
• Not exactly the prettiest adventure game out there, with some stilted animations that take you out of it sometimes. 
• Carlos, Q and Diana are national treasures. I want them to find happiness and world peace.
• The ending credits music is insanely good.
• I don't have a strong opinion about the puzzles since I appreciated the dialogue in all of the series' puzzle sequences than the actual puzzles.
• Despite its faults, I realized that the story really lingered on me after the ending. That's never an easy thing to accomplish.
• Not enough Phi.
• Not enough cat Sigma.

#6. Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth

I never really got into Digimon in its prime. I think I played one of the DS games and one for the PS2 way back when (I played as a Guilemon in that one, I think), and that's it. This game is probably better than those ones.

• The meat of Digimon's gameplay of raising digital pets is a VERY satisfying gameplay loop. Grinding is strangely enjoyable because of the almost constant rate of leveling in this game. The digivolving system makes the best of the Pokemon aesthetic with the hard calculated party management and min-maxing of SMT. It is EXTREMELY satisfying making your ABI 100 Lilithmon with Acceleration Boost. Power tripping is what sells this game on the list.
• Cyber Sleuth has non-existent dungeon design. Why does Kowloon have elevators that go up 10 feet high. They do nothing but waste time. 
• Easy random encounters / tough as nails bosses in normal mode. Busted as fuck hard mode. 
• Yasuda character designs. Yasuda makes me feel dead inside every time a good game has him as the artist. 
• The story ain't terribly amazing but it was servicable for me. Fun times. It's an anime/JRPG plot with a few minor twists and turns, which is enough for me. 
• ROYAL KNIGHTS BATTLE THEME IS INGRAINED IN MY HEAD
• Graphics are really good. Runs a shitton better than Pokemon Sun and Moon.
• A lot better than expected and is better than most Pokemon games. Gameplay in particular is a lot deeper in how far it goes.

#5. Pokemon (Sun and) Moon

If these games let you go to a non-shitty Kalos region in the postgame these would be better than Heartgold and Soulsilver. This game does everything good to some extent. It's not a game that pushes any boundaries like the others but it made me happy personally, so it deserves a good position on the list.

• Surprisingly challenging at some parts. Never as hard as the older games but the enemy AI had switch tech going on and actually did a good number on my team.
• The Pokemon aesthetics have never been better. Atmosphere is really fun and refreshing in comparison to the increasing edginess of the main plots in other recent games.
• Game Freak finally embracing 3D world design really helps in making the game world feel less monotonous than previous games.
• The music is fantastic. I think it might be my overall favorite soundtrack from this list and from the Pokemon series as a whole. Pokemon games usually have the one or two stand out track that really takes the cake for me, but this game has so many good songs that I love.
• New Pokemon designs range from ehh to great. I wish they were easier to find and catch.
• Alolan forms are a small gimmick that got more advertisement than it deserved.
• Game Freak in general halfway just doesn't flesh out things well even when retaining features from past games. Why are Mega Evolutions in this game, why aren't there more, WHY ARE THERE LESS OF THEM
• I WANT MY RUNNING SHOES TOGGLE BACK GAME FREAK
• If you're tired of Pokemon gameplay it's literally the same here, the only difference is the gym leader battles are changed from strong trainer challenges to minor crowd control challenges.
• Kommo-o deserved prime time in an earlier game cuz it dies in one hit from Fairies. 
• This ended up higher than Digimon because I had a bigger smile ratio in my 20 hours playing this than the 80 hours playing Cyber Sleuth.
• I forgot to mention this game runs at fucking shit though and game freak needs whoever programmed the FOX Engine to optimize the next game christ

#4. Overwatch

I don't usually play FPSs.

• Characters are good, fun and great. The unique mechanics each one offers adds the kind of minor complexity that I enjoy in a game.
• Gameplay is pretty solid. Everything feels right and is just polished.
• Fantastic game with friends.
• I will never buy a fucking lootbox with my own money, I paid fucking 60 bucks for this game before it went on sale the week afterwards and I also have to pay for PSN like the fucki ng scrublord that I am like fuck you blizzard you're not getting more money for your SHITTY DROPRATE LOOTBOXES HOLY SHIT GIVE ME THAT SKIN NOT A VOICE LINE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
• Yeah this game is good. I feel good playing it, that's all that matters.

#3. Furi

If these were the Game Awards this would have won Fang's Surprise Pick of 2016. This game came out of nowhere and turned out to be on my Top 3 list despite a bunch of other games being more important to me, because for a free PS+ game I had a total blast.

• Combat is simple but great. There's a unique structure to its boss fights that just works really well. Lots of satisfying moments to be had in gameplay. Cool and challenging.
• Character and visual design is solid and striking. Very clear art direction to be had.
• What little story is presented is good. It goes places. 
• Could have used more polish? For instance, NieR manages to communicate bullets a lot better than this game sometimes.
• This was a great game, but I feel like I'm going to forget about this game (I nearly forgot to include this on the list at all).
• Every boss after the halfway point felt like they were going to be the final boss to me.

#2. Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse

SHIN MEGS

• Less bad SMTIV gameplay. SMTIV was already great.
• Kinda anime story which has great moments but is also disappointing sometimes.
• If you follow my shitty twitter and blog you probably already know this game so yeah let's not go into the details.
• DOPE FINAL BOSS
• DOPE DLC
• look man this game is good okay
• im tired
• dagda!!

#1. Dark Souls III

I think this game will end up a lot lower on the lists of people that I know. I also think this game gets a lot more praise than criticism that it deserves. That being said, if I had to pick out a game when someone says "2016", it's this shitty excellent game.

• More and more is Dark Souls 1 looking like an absolute accident that From Software hit the kind of world level design porn that people love. This game has barely any semblance of deviation from the path.
• The actual path is well crafted and designed, at least.
• The real problem is that it's a fantastic polishing of the concepts introduced in Dark Souls 2, not Dark Souls 1, and the latter is what I find more enjoyable.
• Very few ideas not used from previous games.
• The combat is still as great as ever. Bloodborne made this game feel a bit better to play than the previous games.
• The best bosses in the series.
• The most challenging game in the series after Bloodborne, which I attribute to the fantastic bosses.
• Multiplayer isn't shit like Bloodborne.
• I played 200+ hours of this game and enjoyed nearly all of them. It's not the best game by far on this list as a whole, but since the gameplay is what I primarily look for in the series, I enjoyed this game the most out of all the games in this list, mild disappointments aside. Thinking about the game from a designer perspective shows that it's really flawed, but buying that game new during college and just popping it in all afternoon was insanely worthwhile.
• [Nastiest Julien Voice Ever]: Weapon Arts? More like Weapon Farts haha amirite guys

Honorable Mention: Final Fantasy XV

I haven't played enough of this game to form a good opinion but I'm hoping it's good

nnoodle boiz
flavortown experience

it's better honorable mention material than Hyper Light Drifter

FFXV and HLD both feel a little off but HLD is the actual action game here so its doing something wrong

Games I played in 2016 that weren't from 2016 that deserved a spot on the list

• Life is Strange (Somewhere higher than Pony Island)
• Remember11 (THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN #1 EASILY)

#0. NieR: Automata Demo

No fuck you this demo was amazing I can't wait for an actual perfect Yoko Taro game I don't care about all these other games

Digital Devil Saga: SMT's Best Spinoff (An opinion piece/love letter)

[Spoilers will be dropped at anytime, you've been warned]

Ah, Shin Megami Tensei. One of Japan's "Big 3" JRPG franchises, and my personal favorite out of all of them. Where Final Fantasy tries to radically innovate, SMT stays grounded in what is tried and true. Where Dragon Quest stays grounded, SMT does something slightly new and different. Yes, SMT is the "Goldilocks Zone"; it sticks to the same principles that have guided the series' direction, while doing things differently just enough to bring a fresh experience (that isn't totally botched).

And this is only considering the gameplay: Shin Megami Tensei is not afraid to delve into darker/more meaningful themes than your standard video game, and with every game comes a totally unique and immersive setting, from the high-end cyberpunk of Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers' Amami City, to the desolate and lonely Vortex World of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. Each new entry gives us a taste of a fresh myriad of genres, ideas and themes that combine together with fantastic gameplay to create some of the best JRPGs have to offer.
My personal favorite game? Probably Nocturne (a pretty vanilla answer, but bear with me). But outside of the mainline series as my favorite spinoff?

I suggest you read the top of this post.

Digital Devil Saga came out behind the heels of Nocturne as a new take on the SMT series. While still using the same engine as Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga used a new approach to the classic Megaten formula. It tosses out demon recruitment/fusion, and instead of presenting a story based around the choices of the player, DDSaga presents a linear and cohesive character-driven storyline, a format that has made DDSaga a good recommendation to those more familiar with story-heavy series such as Final Fantasy. As a person who actively looks for good storylines and characters, this was a big plus for me when starting the game, and I quickly fell in love. However, many spinoffs of SMT also have linear/character-driven stories themselves, namely Devil Summoner and Persona. Persona in particular has the same amount of focus on characters as Digital Devil Saga, if not more, and as my entry point (Persona 3), I definitely hold a special place for it in my heart.

Why is it, then, that I love Digital Devil Saga the most out of all of them?

The Setting/Premise/Tone

Let's get this out of the way: transforming into demons to rend, slaughter, devour your enemies in bloody carnage within a dark world of eternal rain is the edgiest f*cking thing ever.

AND I LOVE IT.

There is no subtlety about it: you have a demonic avatar that thirsts for the blood of your enemies. Kill and consume them all to ascend to your salvation, where you find out that you've been computer simulations all along and the real world has become a barren wasteland filled with petrified people because THE SUN GOT MAD.

...okay, it is definitely more complex than that, but when you boil it down, the premise of Digital Devil Saga is bold. The thing I love about it is despite the premise on paper sounding brutal, the story never falls into melodrama or goes into emo-phases that may normally arise when someone else comes up with dark premises, nor does it get overly disgusting/gory/however you want to call it. I would probably not have enjoyed the games as much as I did if, let's say, Argilla mourned Jinana's death constantly and repeatedly throughout the story, or if every fight scene contained blood/guts spread everywhere gratuitously ala Urobutcher. The beauty of it all is that it keeps the dark overtone without being incredibly dark in itself, and that is a good thing. I like dark stories, but I don't need to have my brain drained of color because of it being "dark".

The Gameplay

Considering that Nocturne is my favorite mainline game, you can pretty much assume that gameplay is one of the big reasons why I love Digital Devil Saga.

Building off of Nocturne's engine, Digital Devil Saga utilizes the staple battle system of modern SMT games, PTB; or, Press Turn. Just like every SMT game, setup is the most important part of the game, using elemental properties to the fullest are the key to success, and you have three party members who can learn any skill they desire- waiiiit...

One of my favorite things about the gameplay is the sheer customization you can have. Because you do not collect demons, instead, party members learn skills from Mantras and can switch skills around freely. This can lead to some incredibly powerful setups that can be just as rewarding as demon fusion; believe me, the hype was real when I got Serph to learn the Resist Fire passive. And praise be unto Dyne + Boost + Amp + Mind Charge + Makakaja x4, an incredibly overpowered setup in every SMT made easier to achieve than ever before. It feels good knowing that with a little time and effort, you can effectively make nearly every boss battle a cakewalk.

...if you play your cards right, that is. Another thing I like about the gameplay is the difficulty, because despite being able to break the game via damage output, the game is still fairly difficult if you do not know what you are doing. The real challenge of the game is to be prepared for anything, because enemies are both tough and resilient to your attacks; elemental properties are played up to the maximum, as enemies will often have an incredible amount of Resists/Nulls/Repels/Drains. The game takes in account that you can use anything, and thus expects you to use everything. Because of this, the games continue to provide a competent challenge no matter how many runs of it you can play through, and it's always a blast devouring your enemies.

The major point I would like to bring up is that Digital Devil Saga was, in my opinion, a proper restructuring of the mechanics introduced within Nocturne. The games introduced elemental shields that added a layer of defensive strategy to the gameplay. Some may argue that this trivializes some of the game, but to me, it is a welcome substitute for getting demons that have the necessary resistances. The three-character limit I felt really served the mechanic well, due to the limited turns ensuring that you need to know who to set the shield to and when to defend. Not to mention, shields do not make the game easy, as enemies use these abilities to the fullest extent just as the player would; often, you'll only be able to hit a weakness on the first turn, before the enemy starts to cover it repeatedly on following turns. There was definitely some good game design on Atlus' part, and to that I commend them for it.

Also added in are combination skills, where two/all of the party use their turns together to execute powerful attacks. While I never used the skills often, I find it a very nice mechanic not just because it gives more options, but because I feel it exemplifies the theme of "comrades" throughout the games, with the Embryon working in cooperation to overcome challenges in battle. It says a lot how combo skills are only present in the Persona series and DDSaga, and I think it's a nice touch that not many people give much credit for. This, combined the exclusive mechanic of Hunt skills to help characters grow stronger, make for a very nice integration of the plot into gameplay.

One thing I would like to note is that grinding can be very time-consuming in these games. A lot of people are likely critical about this aspect of the game. However, I enjoy the gameplay enough that it isn't an issue, and that it feels great to be able to obtain powerful skills through your own ability and perseverance. It fits the "Chaos alignment" mentality that the games have. (I wonder if Yu Godai went Chaos route in her Megaten runs and used that as DDSaga's inspiration...?)

The Characters/Plot

This is probably the greatest reason why Digital Devil Saga is such a beloved installment in the Megaten franchise.

And for good reason.

First, the characters are very well written. If you only considered things from a writing perspective (and ignore gameplay/stats, voices, etc.), chances are that there won't be a single member of the cast that you will actively despise, and if you do, it will be because they were meant to be hated in the first place. Each member of the Embryon gets their place in the spotlight throughout the game, and you can really see their characters develop through the choices and experiences that they come across. This ranges from Argilla's acceptance of devouring others as a necessary evil, to Heat's struggle with feelings that he cannot deal with using force. My personal favorite, however, is Gale's character development, from a monotonous and emotionless tactician, to a man of honor and loyalty. His scene in Digital Devil Saga 2 with Fred is one of my favorite scenes from the games, because it reflects this development of his character. I really have a soft spot for all of the main cast from DDSaga, and if there's only one thing I have to say, it's that Cielo should have had some more focus. A very nice brudda, ja, but his presence in the Embryon is not as pronounced as the other members. But again, everyone was just so likable, regardless of how much attention they got, that I can overlook this. I mean, just watch the snippet from DDSaga 2 to confirm that Cielo is amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pJSLoK0IZM#t=350

Second, the plot development is incredible. It has everything; love, betrayal, friendship (in the form of comrades), humor, sadness, heroism, anti-alcoholism, to name a few things. It has many twists and turns, and even while reading about the series, playing the game through the first time definitely gave me a few surprising and emotional moments. One thing I appreciate very much is that the game has very good usage of narrative techniques, especially foreshadowing and wham lines. Okay, maybe they're not everywhere, but when they do use them, it really hits it home with you. Tell me with a straight face that the revelation of children not existing in the Junkyard was not a "holy crap" moment. Or the scene where Serph gets decommissioned by Heat in the second game.

The apocalyptic story of how the world became subject to the wrath of God is very in-line with the rest of the series, but it does it differently than the rest of the series with its focus on characters and influences from Hinduism. The latter I especially enjoy very much; Hinduism and "datapunk" (as I call it) are not two things you would immediately think of together, but Yu Godai/Tadashi Satomi managed to marry and blend the two concepts together in a seamless fashion that makes for a very nice and unique flavor. You won't be able to find anything like it anywhere else.

The Art/Design/Atmosphere

Alternative title: The part where I talk about Kazuma Kaneko.

Kaneko is undoubtedly my favorite character designer in any form of media. He has an unparalleled skill in creating distinct characters that stay true to what they are based off of, while retaining a unique design to them. Working on Digital Devil Saga, his creativity shines through. Sure, maybe the designs he created for the game aren't the first thing you would think of when imagining "Varuna, god of rain", but from a design perspective, his designs really worked with the game. In an interview, Kaneko stated that he omitted the eyes of the Atma Avatars and placed emphasis on mouths to emphasize the concept of devouring your enemies, and that has always struck me as brilliant. It's the subtle things like that which really make the atmosphere of the game so good. Kaneko really made the game come together with his strong character designs complementing strong characters themselves, giving the game an iconic look. Personally, whenever I think about Digital Devil Saga, the first thing that comes to mind is the Karma ring that the Society uses. I'm not entirely sure why; I guess a ring of hammered-in nails can really get hit into your head, eh?

Also worth mentioning is the world design and atmosphere. I can't really find the words to describe it, but the best way I can put it is that it is very immersive. When I think of the Junkyard, I can just imagine the cold, wet air passing by me, with the ruins of battle under a gloomy sky in the distance. The taste of iron blood in my mouth. The hot, dry wasteland of the Real World, with my skin tingling from the Solar Noise trying to corrupt my data. How the Sun feels like a warm, moist greenhouse. They never outright describe any of these sensations or conditions, but somewhere along the lines, I became sucked into the world of DDSaga and imagined myself in the world I was playing in. I could imagine how everything occurring on screen felt, physically. I don't know if it was just me, but out of all the Megaten games, not one of them captured the same sense of atmosphere and immersion that Digital Devil Saga gave for me; these two games are the most tangible to me. DDSaga 1 & 2 are some of the few games where 'feeling' is a heavy basis of why I love them so much.

THE MUSIC

I am a big, BIG music nut. Well, okay, maybe not in terms of composition, but I love a good soundtrack all day, everyday. And the OST of Digital Devil Saga is incredible. Shoji Meguro always changes his style to complement the games that he composes for, and this is no exception. There is a heavy focus on dissonant rock in the first game, reflecting the focus on "eat or be eaten", where as the second game is much more techno oriented, reflecting the focus on "reality as data". It's touches like these that really make an experience for me.

For a change of pace, I think I'll go down through a list of my favorite tracks from both games, in no particular order:

Junkyard: The world map/area select theme of both Digital Devil Saga games. It is a very good remix/re-purposing of Sera's song that has a style that fits both games' atmospheres. I especially love the song when it plays during the point in DDSaga 2 where the Sun begins to go haywire; to me, the song brings out how it's the Embryon's last stance. It takes on a tone of determination, yet you can hear a bit of sadness/despair as well, which can represent how hopeless their situation is; how do you coerce the Sun before the break of dawn? It is a song that can take on multiple meanings, despite it being only used on a menu screen, and I love it.

Man's Tomb: I'm not entirely sure what compels me about this particular track. It is, for the majority of it, a nice, steady guitar riff with background synths. A very simple tune, but it is one of the better normal dungeon themes in the game, in my opinion. A majority of the DDSaga dungeon themes aren't the most memorable songs in the world, admittedly. This song just has a certain quality to it that just sticks with me.

Big Battle: Has a great buildup and is simply hype incarnate. My favorite battle theme in the first game. Sometimes, less is more. God-tier guitar is god-tier.

Wolf's Pride: I can't find it on Youtube, but this is the only cutscene track in both games that I can remember clearly in my head. The scene it played in, accompanied by the guitar riffs of this track, made a lasting impression in my head that I won't forget. Rest in peace, Lupa.

Occupied Sector/Man Hunting: One of Digital Devil Saga 2's first tracks, the sounds used in the song are the first taste of the techno-feel that the soundtrack has to offer, with a heavy electronic bass and all. It represents to me the separation from the Junkyard; "Welcome to the real world!"

EGG Facility Revisited/Five Years Before: The most atmospheric track in the game, in my opinion. The first time I heard this theme, I knew that everything had gone to hell. This dungeon was actually unnerving to me, and this theme exemplified that feeling. The closest thing in Megaten to a horror-esque atmosphere, and it fit the context of the situation well. (I also just like how the bassline sounds.)

Hunting - Betrayal: Everyone's favorite DDSaga boss theme. I love this track not just because of how badass it is, but also what it represents. As a remix of the regular battle theme of DDSaga 1, to me it represents the experiences that the Embryon had in the Junkyard; those who had fallen around them, their experiences, and how they have grown from battle. This is the theme of Embryon Ass-kicking: the best of the Junkyard, right in your face. The battle with Heat/Vritra to this song is one of my favorites in Megaten. The scene itself brings out the quality of tragedy in this song when the original Hunting kicks in, as if the song is saying, "We're comrades, why must we fight like this? It isn't right!"

The Sun/Nirvana: Another great atmospheric track, one of the main things that helped shaped my aforementioned immersion inside the Sun. I've always imagined the scratchy/static percussion to be Solar Noise at work. Something I find ingenious is how this theme is a remix of DDSaga 2's Mantra Grid theme, symbolizing how Solar Data is the source of everyone's demonic power.

Divine Entity/Brahman: I don't even need to explain why it's one of the best, if not THE best, final boss theme in the Megaten series. JUST LISTEN TO IT. STRINGS. TECHNO. PIANO. THAT GUITAR.

In conclusion

Overall, Digital Devil Saga is by far my favorite spinoff of the Megaten series. It has an amazing cast, very engaging/challenging gameplay, a superb story, an incredibly unique atmosphere, and a great OST; everything I look for in a JRPG.

I could go on, but I cannot think of anything to close off this post, so I will pull something from Rasen's ask.fm that sums up my feelings nicely.

Anyways, I'm not sure what to do, now that this post is over, but I think this calls for one more song:

Long live the Embryon; your stories may have ended, but the journeys that I've spent with you all will be remembered for years to come as one of the best experiences I've had in my history of gaming. YHVH bless.

~Fang