Pibbman
01-26-2009, 08:42 PM
I recently got this game, and I'll come straight out for those who haven't seen my "Turn-based vs Action RPG" thread in general discussion forum, I'm not really a big fan of Action-RPGs period.
So suffice to say, I was pretty leery about Devil Summoner, as I picked it up because of the much rumored release of it's sequel. For me, I generally found Action-RPGs to be more of a hack and slash with an "item/EXP" system tacked on, and frankly I still do.
Anyways, once I started Devil Summoner I felt like I was quickly beginning to regret my purchase, for it felt like I had even less control than I was expecting. It's kind of hard to explain what I mean by that. However, from past experiences I knew that I shouldn't judge so quickly, so I kept pushing forward.
What caught my attention was the "weakness" and "confinement" system, at first I thought the weakness system was rather tedious, but then discovered it greatly helps me in battle. So yeah, alright I can live with that. Confinement soon came afterwards, and noticed that weakness must be struck first to even confine. Alright cool. I still felt like it wasn't enough.
Now, enter the investigative side of the game, where you can command/control your demons to do your biddings. Wow, this system alone makes it better by a lot, then include the addition of a fusion system, a devil chart and the forge system. I could see this was quickly becoming a game that actually had depth to it. Doing things such as reading minds, fusing demons to become stronger, or forging demons to your sword to help resist an element was basically everything I was hoping an Action-RPG would have.
So far I only just completed episode 3, with episode 2 being my least favorite to be honest, since I felt like I was running all over too much, it wasn't exactly the running around itself per-say, but the random encounters was nuts at one point, literally almost every 3rd step I took I was thrown into a fight.
Anyways, it was episode 3 that finally pulled me into the game, I had enough knowledge of the story to capture my lingering interest. I can only expect things to get better from here on.
This makes Devil Summoner the first Action-RPG that I like, since others like Tales of-, Kingdom Hearts (especially kingdom hearts), made me want to go and jump off a cliff since it was so damn mindless to me.
Now, that's not to say that Devil Summoner isn't without it's faults, such as the static camera system in battles made me want to pitch my controller across the room sometimes, I shouldn't have to look at my enemies shadows on the ground to figure out if I'm close enough to strike them. I also felt that only having one ally on the field while the others can have up to 6, was pretty unfair. I also disliked the fact that there is only 2 "true" save points, one being the nameless shrine, and the other in Narumi's detective agency. (keep in mind this all I know of as of the point I am in the game). Personally i'd prefer if each district had one save point.
Anyways, from my reading of Devil Summoner 2 (as in what has been released in NA, or to be released to be more accurate), the issue of the static camera deal has been addressed, and you can have 2 demons on the field along side you. Those two (honestly im ok with the save issue) are the biggest beefs I have with DS1.
I am curious as to others who are fans mainly of turn-based rpgs, if they were in a similar position as I?
So suffice to say, I was pretty leery about Devil Summoner, as I picked it up because of the much rumored release of it's sequel. For me, I generally found Action-RPGs to be more of a hack and slash with an "item/EXP" system tacked on, and frankly I still do.
Anyways, once I started Devil Summoner I felt like I was quickly beginning to regret my purchase, for it felt like I had even less control than I was expecting. It's kind of hard to explain what I mean by that. However, from past experiences I knew that I shouldn't judge so quickly, so I kept pushing forward.
What caught my attention was the "weakness" and "confinement" system, at first I thought the weakness system was rather tedious, but then discovered it greatly helps me in battle. So yeah, alright I can live with that. Confinement soon came afterwards, and noticed that weakness must be struck first to even confine. Alright cool. I still felt like it wasn't enough.
Now, enter the investigative side of the game, where you can command/control your demons to do your biddings. Wow, this system alone makes it better by a lot, then include the addition of a fusion system, a devil chart and the forge system. I could see this was quickly becoming a game that actually had depth to it. Doing things such as reading minds, fusing demons to become stronger, or forging demons to your sword to help resist an element was basically everything I was hoping an Action-RPG would have.
So far I only just completed episode 3, with episode 2 being my least favorite to be honest, since I felt like I was running all over too much, it wasn't exactly the running around itself per-say, but the random encounters was nuts at one point, literally almost every 3rd step I took I was thrown into a fight.
Anyways, it was episode 3 that finally pulled me into the game, I had enough knowledge of the story to capture my lingering interest. I can only expect things to get better from here on.
This makes Devil Summoner the first Action-RPG that I like, since others like Tales of-, Kingdom Hearts (especially kingdom hearts), made me want to go and jump off a cliff since it was so damn mindless to me.
Now, that's not to say that Devil Summoner isn't without it's faults, such as the static camera system in battles made me want to pitch my controller across the room sometimes, I shouldn't have to look at my enemies shadows on the ground to figure out if I'm close enough to strike them. I also felt that only having one ally on the field while the others can have up to 6, was pretty unfair. I also disliked the fact that there is only 2 "true" save points, one being the nameless shrine, and the other in Narumi's detective agency. (keep in mind this all I know of as of the point I am in the game). Personally i'd prefer if each district had one save point.
Anyways, from my reading of Devil Summoner 2 (as in what has been released in NA, or to be released to be more accurate), the issue of the static camera deal has been addressed, and you can have 2 demons on the field along side you. Those two (honestly im ok with the save issue) are the biggest beefs I have with DS1.
I am curious as to others who are fans mainly of turn-based rpgs, if they were in a similar position as I?