The Original Devil Summoner Thread

[EvilHero]

Discuss the original Devil Summoner for the Sega Saturn and PSP.

While its open for discussion on anything about the game, i'm looking for some in game advice too. This is definetly one of the harder titles to play because of the language barrier.

Heres a couple of useful links i've found:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/sega-saturn/shin-megami-tensei-devil-summoner/hints

A nice and small series of documents someone wrote up. Contains a brief walkthrough of the game (still a bit vague, but enough to get you to where you need to go) along with some tips and a list of useful items.

http://www.youtube.com/user/arquebuser

A very useful youtube channel containing gameplay videos for both Devil Summoner and Soul Hackers. If anything, they're entertaining to watch.


I've been playing this one on and off for about a year. Still the biggest issue i'm having (and the thing Kakizaki has heard me complain OVER AND OVER about :P) is the demon conversation system. In the older SMT games, you could normally just BS your way through the conversation system by picking random options. Unfortunately, its alot deeper than that now. Not only that, but you have the loyalty system to worry about now.

So there you have it. For those of you with questions or comments on the game, share your thoughts. Anybody with experience playing this game, any advice would be much appreciated ;)

[Emilio Morales]

It's look really cool but I've only played Soul Hackers. It's a shame that the PSP edition never came here :( It was the 10th anniversary (if I'm not wrong) of Devil Summoner, why don't localize this title? And it was also a shame that was only available for the Sega Saturn, no PSX edition :( I felt like I missed a big part of the series T_T

[Tom]

I have the original Saturn version, not the PSP edition...

The interface is a little clunky, and the city maps are atrocious, and hard to navigate. The interaction (from the little bit that I played) seemed more sparse than Soul Hackers or any of the releases that followed it. It seems "lonely," if you know what I mean... Like the original Famicom/Super Famicom Megami Tensei games...

That said, the plot did seem intruiging... But not intruiging enough to motivate me to finish the game (so far)... Maybe one day. Maybe I'd be more motivated if I got the PSP version. I almost bought it, but decided against it at the last minute. (I didn't want to buy the same game twice.)

[EvilHero]

It seems "lonely," if you know what I mean... Like the original Famicom/Super Famicom Megami Tensei games...


Yeah I know what you mean. I chalk that up to the fact that other people aren't represented very well in the game. You basically just walk around and if theres someone to talk to, a dialogue box opens up asking you if you want to speak with them, only by selecting yes will you actually see another living person.

It was the 10th anniversary (if I'm not wrong) of Devil Summoner, why don't localize this title?

I heard rumors that they didn't bring it over because there wasn't enough new content. That and I don't think a game like this would be received very well in the U.S...

From what i've played of the PSP version, the difficulty has been brought down a bit and the graphics have been cleaned up a little.

[Emilio Morales]

^That was a good oportunity to let the fans have what they didn't played :( Anyway, I WILL play Devil Summoner someday! >D

[DevilRy]

The Loyalty-system isn't that hard to deal with. You just have to spam certain actions in battle that conform to their personality until they max out. It takes a while, but it's not that much different from Persona rank ups in the first three games.

The Conversation-system can be a little complicated, especially if you can't read Japanese. I don't know what to tell you there, other than maybe you need to study-up them kanjis. ;)

[Dave3]

I have this game on PSP and every time I play it I really wish it was available in english. I didn't get very far due to the language barrier but I played enough to know it'd be a title I'd really enjoy. You can probably tell from my avatar I'm still really interested in this game. One day soon I'll give it another go.

[EvilHero]

The Loyalty-system isn't that hard to deal with. You just have to spam certain actions in battle that conform to their personality until they max out. It takes a while, but it's not that much different from Persona rank ups in the first three games.


I figured the loyalty system would just be a matter of 'grinding' it out. I read you can give out jewels too, but I hear your better off just taking them into battles.

I have a question though. Does the demon's loyalty carry over through monster fusions? Or does it reset once you fuse it? I'd find it pretty tedious if you had to rebuild a demon's loyalty every single time...


The Conversation-system can be a little complicated, especially if you can't read Japanese. I don't know what to tell you there, other than maybe you need to study-up them kanjis. ;)

I figured as much on this too. :/

I have this game on PSP and every time I play it I really wish it was available in english. I didn't get very far due to the language barrier but I played enough to know it'd be a title I'd really enjoy. You can probably tell from my avatar I'm still really interested in this game. One day soon I'll give it another go.

Well if you ever decide to pick it back up, post your findings. I'm curious to see how others are taking to this game.

[DevilRy]

I figured the loyalty system would just be a matter of 'grinding' it out. I read you can give out jewels too, but I hear your better off just taking them into battles.

I have a question though. Does the demon's loyalty carry over through monster fusions? Or does it reset once you fuse it? I'd find it pretty tedious if you had to rebuild a demon's loyalty every single time...

It depends, some devils have a personality that likes to get presents. I don't know the answer to your second question. I'm guessing yes, just because different demons have different personalities, but I'm not entirely sure.

[PFV]

I have a question though. Does the demon's loyalty carry over through monster fusions? Or does it reset once you fuse it? I'd find it pretty tedious if you had to rebuild a demon's loyalty every single time...
It's been a while since I've played, but I'm pretty sure that some loyalty does transfer in your fusions.

If you don't have a real answer by the time I get home, I'll pop in my copy and try it out for you. I'm sure my save has some demons of varying loyalty.

EDIT:
The resulting demon, in every case I tried at least, went down to level 2 loyalty.

[EvilHero]

Interesting. Thats the loyalty level where you can at least command the demon to attack, right? That kind of makes sense.

Thanks for checking!

[Elizabeth]

Victor was in this game as well, right? Except he looks like a sea captain and has a maid named Mary, if I remember correctly.

What's the deal with him, anyway? If he's in all the games he has to be quite old, so is he immortal somehow?

I've always found Victor to be a rather interesting character, so any info about him from the games that weren't released in the US would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Emilio Morales]

Maybe he appears "young" at the Kuzunoha Raidou games because those two games take place before Devil Summoner and Soul Hackers, sorry if I'm screwing things up but that was just a guess, I'm not quite sure about the Devil Summoner timelines. @_@

[Elizabeth]

^ I realize that they take place before those two games; sorry if I worded my post weird. What I mean is that I thought for sure Soul Hackers takes place in the future (20XX?), so it's a good chance Victor should've passed away before then and yet there he is.

[Emilio Morales]

Or maybe he is just an "icon character" in those games, pretty much the same as the Jakyou Manor and Igor.

[raiku]

i thought us didnt get the psp remake because the code was lost...

[Sleepless Neko]

Or maybe he is just an "icon character" in those games, pretty much the same as the Jakyou Manor and Igor.

In Soulless Army, Victor said that he's immortal (talk to him in the last episode).

[Emilio Morales]

^Oh really!? I don't remember that since I've played the game a long time now. Well if he's in immortal then there's no problem for him to appear in all Devil Summoner games. :)

Now I wonder, does Igor is immortal too?

[Elizabeth]

^Oh really!? I don't remember that since I've played the game a long time now. Well if he's in immortal then there's no problem for him to appear in all Devil Summoner games. :)

Indeed he does, which is why I'm so curious is to just HOW he's become immortal. I was trying not to be rude, but I was hoping someone who knows what they're talking about would answer my questions. I asked someone on Deviantart about Victor once, but his lack of English made it really hard for me to understand what he was trying to say. He mentioned something about vampires, though.

[Emilio Morales]

There's gotta be info about Victor on the World Guidance of Devil Summoner, maybe Kakizaki can help us out here since he owns the book. :)

[Elizabeth]

Wow, I actually found something! Turns out, at least in Soul Hackers that Victor's a vampire and he's succeeded in creating an android, Mary. I have no idea how he became a vampire, though.

[Kenji]

Considering the history of the literary/movie franchises being invoked, it's not the least bit surprising. (http://www.braineater.com/dvsf.html)

Would explain the doll-like creepy aesthetic in the Raidou games, though, which is significantly after the events of Frankenstein. Maybe Dracula found him in the Arctic during Castlevania's active period? :D