Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga

[schild]

Your god isn't here today, priest.

[Hoax]

Nice review, sounds like an interesting game sort of (I prefer my combat to be of the non-sucking variety) but would you explain whats so good about the skill system?

I mean I could pretty much instantly see what phanton dust would make a great mmog combat system but I'm not sure I follow whats so complex/cool about this games?  Sounds like the typical skill tree dealio.

[schild]

Nice review, sounds like an interesting game sort of (I prefer my combat to be of the non-sucking variety) but would you explain whats so good about the skill system?

Simply the fact there are skill trees. THey are pretty typical, but what's interesting is that all the characters have the same skill trees instead of being stuck in the Warrior/Rogue/Priest combination or a Final Fantasy sort of combination. It lets you actually - I think for the first time - play a straight forward RPG with complete freedom as to what type of characters you have. Also, certain skill tree movement (advancement) and combinations of skills can unlock other skill trees, making it a little more robust than it would lead you to think. Basically, it was a great edition to the same combat system we've seen for years, and it's a step in the right direction. Some of the skill spheres are really goddamn cool. I'm sort of wishing Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine (the SMT MMOG) would come out in America.

[Strazos]

So a console developer finally got the hint locking my characters into roles sucked? Heh.

(Well, not counting FFT)

[Hoax]

But in a mmog where you only have one character what would make it good?  I still thinking I'm missing something, feel free to spoiler away I dont own any of the current generation of consoles (I have a ps1 somewhere I think) but I'm curious.

On a side note, I always wished the Magna Carta games had an english version the character artwork was so nice and it seemed like it must be a decent rpg considering some of the apparent fanboi'ism I've seen floating about on the net.   

[schild]

Shin Megami Tensei, traditionally, is an adult style (dark themes, gothic, etc) Pokemon type game. You're all very adept beastmasters of sorts, and each monster has different types of powers instilled in him. Imagine is that sort of game and I think it would be awesome. Always having a team of people with you works wonders for soloers.

[Alkiera]

Nice review, sounds like an interesting game sort of (I prefer my combat to be of the non-sucking variety) but would you explain whats so good about the skill system?

Simply the fact there are skill trees. THey are pretty typical, but what's interesting is that all the characters have the same skill trees instead of being stuck in the Warrior/Rogue/Priest combination or a Final Fantasy sort of combination. It lets you actually - I think for the first time - play a straight forward RPG with complete freedom as to what type of characters you have. Also, certain skill tree movement (advancement) and combinations of skills can unlock other skill trees, making it a little more robust than it would lead you to think. Basically, it was a great edition to the same combat system we've seen for years, and it's a step in the right direction. Some of the skill spheres are really goddamn cool. I'm sort of wishing Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine (the SMT MMOG) would come out in America.

As Strazos mentioned, this sounds a lot like the skill system in Final Fantasy Tactics for the PS1...  Is that the case, or how is it different?

Alkiera

[schild]

Final Fantasy Tactics had classes. This game doesn't really have classes so much as in depth diablo style skill trees.

[Hoax]

I think you should just create a detailed chart, w/ like what the abilities do and how you unlock them ect ect.

Because I'm still not really seeing what is special/different, I might but dunno feeling kind of confused here.

-No classes (anyone can go up any skill tree)
-Certain skill tree unlocks other skill tree + You need multiple skill trees (presumably not linear to each other) to unlock other special skill trees.
-The skill trees are cool
-Oh and you have a monster pet and can tame/train/takeover new monster pets.

Also I looked at a gameplay movie from Sept '04 from the mmog it was pretty ghetto looking, wonder how it turned out.

[Lum]

I haven't picked up DDS yet (really pretty busy now so it probably won't be until after E3) but Nocturne, the previous game in the series has a character development system even deeper than what Schild describes and an even darker storyline. It's out of print in the US but you can get it for about $50 from Amazon.com resellers.

[schild]

Almost every EB around here still has Nocturne in stock. I picked that up on release day when it came out and the only problem I found with it was the pacing. And that killed it for me. While the dungeons in DDS are positively monstrous, the game is paced much more efficiently.