Bugs and Crashes

[CanuckGamer]

First off, untranslated text :D
On Day 4, 15:00 when you talk to Huru. As she leaves the text is still in Japanese.
OMG!!!! Atlus quality is failing!!one! I can never trust them again!!!! *dies*

That aside, a more major bug.
It seems the game will crash and freeze if some stasis effects time out. If you cure them it seems to work okay but for either Petrify or Paralyze, still working it out, the game locks after a few turns when they might??? cure. Anyone else run into this???

[Enzeru]

Mine froze a couple times, as well.

As for the untranslated text, I always thought that that might be Haru's ancient tongue...?

[CanuckGamer]

Mine froze a couple times, as well.

As for the untranslated text, I always thought that that might be Haru's ancient tongue...?

Nope! It helps if you can read Japanese... I forgot what it was but it said something like "Huru walks off* or something to that effect.
No secrets, no magic spoilers, just Atlus missing a spot :3

Can you give any details about when it froze? Maybe we can track this down so it does not mess with other people...

[AdrianMorales]

I wonder if these bugs are in the Japanese ver. as well...

[Terash Cas]

Only thing I experience was the suicidal Keisuke AI wise...

...Now it crashed Keisuke had paralysis cleared up just as I was about to win 0_-

[CanuckGamer]

hmm this is weird.. I just spent a few hours on this and it seems to be somewhat random as to what effect breaks it. I've had the game lock on Mute, Stone and Paralyze so far. Or it might be if two effects are cleared at the same time.
Unsure because it is somewhat hard to control what they cast on your party :D

[dungeon_man]

Are these retail copies? If so, what were the beta testers doing? I don't want to find out I've got a $30 turd on my kitchen table.

[four_black_hearts]

Eeeww... Smelly! :frown:

[BadYeti]

Are these retail copies? If so, what were the beta testers doing? I don't want to find out I've got a $30 turd on my kitchen table.
I haven't run into any bugs/crashes yet, so it can't be all that bad. If it ends up crashing once or twice (which it hasn't yet) over the course of a full game, I wouldn't consider that too distracting.

I'd guess I'm about 15 hours into the game, on a standard retail copy played on a DS Lite, if that makes any difference.

[mjemirzian]

It's probably your DS/dirty cartridge contacts.

Atlus might overprice some of their games (like the X360 ones), but they are generally bug and error free.

[Elegnaim]

Some people are saying crashed are related to status effects timing out. I've never really experienced this myself, though personally, I WILL say that I've had lots of DS games crash on me, generally when switching areas or transitioning out of battles. So it's quite possible Devil Survivor's crashes are the DS's fault.

[Saburo Hikari]

Interesting. I've never had any of my DS games crash on me, including Devil Survivor (yet?).

[Elegnaim]

Trying to think what's crashed on me. FF3 has. Also thinking Rune Factory and Dragon Quest 4 also did at various points.

Might also depend on the DS make too. I have a DS Lite.

Usually when those games crashed it's like they're trying to access a resource and can't get to it, so it's like there was a RAM hiccup, or one of the contacts is dirty and can't be read from or something.

---edit---

Oh hey. Just had a crash during that fight with Keisuke and Midori. And it DEFINITELy was software-oriented and not the hardware. When the DS crashes from dirty contacts or something, it's just a straight freeze. This, on the other hand, involved the menus breaking down first and some other things. And it didn't seem related to any status affect timing out.

Is Atlus going to do anything about this?

[four_black_hearts]

:confused: Ugh.

[PainKilleR-[CE]]

Seriously, if your contacts are dirty, there's no telling what kind of problems you're going to have, because you're going to have problems transferring data to memory from the game card.

I have no doubt there's a chance that the game could have some glitches that cause crashes, but so far I've put a lot of hours into this game without a hitch. I was almost done with FF3 when I put that one down, and never had a crash on it, either. I also have a DS Lite, red & black, coming up on 2 years old. Of course, I don't think I've ever left it more than a couple minutes without a game in the DS slot and the cover on the GBA slot.

[Elegnaim]

I really doubt my contacts are dirty. I generally keep a game in the slot all the time, and none of my games should have dirty contacts -- especially not Devil Survivor since that was new. Still, how would I go about cleaning the contacts in the machine? I'm willing to give it a shot. Q-tips and isopropyl alcohol (at what solution)?

---edit---

Hm. Now getting indications that someone did a suspend save in battle, and the game would crash consistently at the same point when that suspend save was used. Not... good.

[DarkFuture]

LMAO I've seen that Haru speaking in Japanese text thing too.

I also remember seeing some Japanese text in P3.

As for the Devil Survivor game crashing... I've gotten that to happen twice. Both times, at least one of my characters had some sort of status effect.

[nbinney]

It froze up on me the other night in between turns in battle. I forget if I had an ailment or not. Its the only time it's happened.

[Emilio Morales]

Same here :( I was on a random fight and Keisuke got petrified, when his turn came up he was cured automatically and then the game just crashed :( At least, I was just starting the fight so I didn't loose anything because I saved before the battle.

[DarkFuture]

Status Effects: so annoying and deadly that they now affect your gaming platform.

NO ONE IS SAFE~!

[grrouchie]

I only had the game crash on me once, and that was when something came up and I closed the DS.

A few minutes later I re-opened to start up again and it was frozen.

It was during a battle, but I have no clue anything else.

[chaos_deception]

So i hear from a lot of Sources that Devil Survivor has Stability issues that often lead to the Game Locking up / Crashing.

This seems to be a problem with the US Version of Devil Survivor.

But what I would like to know is if this Problem is also an issue with the Japanese Version.

And finally will this Bug still be present on the (UK / European) Version.


Also for those that have first hand experience of this Bug, I would presume this is from using the official retail Version of the Game?


Any information apreciated, thanks.

[dungeon_man]

Is it too much to expect the game's publisher might comment on these claims?

[Moklin]

Dont know if i shouldcall a bug to this but in the 5th day, in one of the free batles, your vitory conditions are: Kill all the Demons/Dont let any SDF menber dies.
I couldn´t protect proprely the SDF menbers and one of them died, still after i defeated all the demons ,i won the batle.

[the_fifth_horseman]

I have not encountered any crashes so far, but I avoid using suspend saves in most games.

[seigyukai]

^ Same here. I'm only on day 2, but I've been frozen/shocked/poisoned/muted etc. plenty of times and never had an issue. Still, after reading this thread my heart pounds whenever an ailment occurs... anybody know if ailments inflicted upon enemies cause the same problem? It seems Atlus has taken the SMT tradition of transforming familiar status effects into badass killers to the next level:(

[djmdma02]

I had mine freeze once, it was changing turns...

[PainKilleR-[CE]]

I'm almost done with the 4th day, and haven't had it freeze once.

Of course, the only time I turn the game off is if I get into a battle and get to a point where I know I'm going to lose (of course this happens because I'll get into something and forget to fuse new demons for most of the day, then go fight the boss with low level demons). The rest of the time I just shut the lid when I'm not playing.

[Steel Greyfalke]

Just Maintain & recalibrate your DS every week to check its preformance as for games Just keep a warranty & numbers

[kat_ears_kahrain]

Only bugs I've seen so far are text bugs. Over run text boxes and misspellings.

I'm curious at those who have had lockups: What version of the DS firmware do you have?

[Silverevilchao]

I've yet to have any crashes or bugs (aside from a few demon names being too long for the text boxes), and I'm on my third playthrough of the game.

Furthermore, the copy I got was ordered from Amazon.com AND I'm playing it on one of the really old Nintendo DSs.

[seigyukai]

Hmm, I too am using the oldest of the old in DS formats. Perhaps the problem is caused by an argument between various haughty features of the newer DS models and the proud innovative features in Devil Survivor? History has shown that, in general, the more complex and fancy features a piece of hardware is blessed with the less compatible it tends to become with various software components not designed with its features specifically in mind...

[kat_ears_kahrain]

Hmm, I too am using the oldest of the old in DS formats. Perhaps the problem is caused by an argument between various haughty features of the newer DS models and the proud innovative features in Devil Survivor? History has shown that, in general, the more complex and fancy features a piece of hardware is blessed with the less compatible it tends to become with various software components not designed with its features specifically in mind...

I'm playing on the DSi and have had no lockups so far, just text issues as stated previously.

[Akeashar]

I've had it lock up twice. Easy to tell because the sound starts stuttering. I've got a DSi. Both times happened when I had petrified an enemy leader, and the round of combat went to their turn. First time was fighting some SDF, second time was the battle event at 12:00 on the 6th day. (Won't say what the event was for those that haven't played it yet)

Horrible thing about both times I was nearly winning the fight each time. Even more heartbreaking on the 6th day event.

[Kyuketsukimiyu]

I'm on day 7 and have only had the game freeze on me once. I kind of just blamed it on my old and very used DS. Now if it happens when I'm up against my final boss today....

There is of course Haru's Japanese too. I laughed pretty hard when I saw that.\

I wish I could say they way Yuzu writes her emails was a bug, but I'm pretty sure they did that on purpose. I suppose I can aprreciate the naturalized translation, but it makes me glad I don't have real friends who email me like that.

[Delition]

I did have it glitch up on me while having a status effect removed. There were a lot of people/monsters on screen at the time, though, so maybe it's some sort of memory issue? Like if you have 6+ things on the screen when you lose a status effect, the game just messes up? It didn't flat out freeze, as the music was still going and the characters were still moving, I just couldn't do anything and there was no interface or button inputs.

[Foobar]

Had it happen once in a cemetary fight. Abaddon lost an ailment and the game locked up. Only once though. Haven't seen the issue pop up again.

[elliot]

I've had three freezes so far - the last two after cleaning my contacts with isopropyl ;__; First time I've had issues with an Atlus game, ever since I played Persona on the PSX!

[raiku]

only had one text glitch

i was fighting gin in nayoas route and when gin lost, the text that said he left the battle was in jap

thats it

[seigyukai]

Argh, first lock-up within the lockdown :mad:! Atsuro was paralyzed and when his turn came the music started stuttering and the controls were non-responsive. Oh well, luckily it was just a free battle and I had only just begun to fight...

[grrouchie]

Just had my first freeze the other day.
It's the battle where you fight the zealots who defected and are looking for more comps and power.

After dealing the final blow to the last living one, the game just froze and I had to restart.

That annoyed me so much I have not picked it up again..... though today I think I'll get back to it.

[InvisibleMan]

Only bugs I've seen so far are text bugs. Over run text boxes and misspellings.

I'm curious at those who have had lockups: What version of the DS firmware do you have?
There is firmware for the DS??

[Kamades]

Having a fun - well either bug or me being retarded.

I'm on the third day, at 17:00, and just fought the Zealots. And now there is no option to advance time via talking to someone, nor am i allowed to fast forward time. There is just a single "free battle" in Shiba Park, and the Devil's Fuge Info thing in Nagata-Cho - which does not advance time.

Any thoughts?

[Ephidel]

Don't recall encountering that problem myself, but, at a guess - maybe the DF info option will lead to another one which may then grant you a progression event?

[grrouchie]

Yes, i just finished that part my self and am now stuck two battles after the zealots (i think it's two battles later, it's the big one either way) and getting my arse hammered over and over.

There are other places with info on that same thing and you have to check that out, then it lets you advance to the next story progression that passes time.

[FirebreathFishslap]

I've had it freeze up a few times on me, all times being when Petrify wears off.
It's probably that the contacts are dirty, though. I've never cleaned them, and I've had this DS for a while.

[seigyukai]

I dunno, I don't think this is a hardware issue since so many have been affected. It took me SIX tries to beat the battle on the 6th day with a multitude of angels and demons because twice the game locked-up when a paralyzed angel got his turn, twice *insert important NPC's name here* died, and once he escaped. I finally won by having two characters occupy the exit panels while the other two blazed across the field spilling holy and unholy blood alike, mwhaha! It wasn't terribly hard with an MC named Elohim who has 24 magic, 16 agility, 500 HP, holy dance, anti-most, life surge, mana surge, and effectively unlimited magic thanks to magic yang and having two tyrants for partners (Hecate and a King Frost that is resistant to fire).

[Code_Stone]

I'm on day 6 and i haven't had a single problem with mine, and I bought the game day-one. I've had no game crashing bugs and seen no Japanese text in my copy. Very odd...

[dungeon_man]

Well, let's get into more detail since Atlus refuses to provide an official answer.

The crashes seem to happen when status ailments wear off, but not always. There must be another factor causing this. Are the people experiencing or not experiencing crashes using sleep mode or mid-battle saves?

[seigyukai]

I've had to close the lid and walk away a few times while playing but almost never for an extended period, and I never once used the suspend function in battle. For me the game seems to crash only when a paralyzed enemy gets its turn... it could be that its ailment is wearing off that turn; for obvious reasons I can't be sure. That seems rather unlikely though as I've seen the game freeze when I'm sure it was only the first turn the enemy had after being paralyzed. I didn't see my first lock-up until day 5 I believe so could it be something was overlooked near the end of production? We all know the game certainly wasn't rushed to release...

[nbinney]

The crashes seem to happen when status ailments wear off, but not always. There must be another factor causing this. Are the people experiencing or not experiencing crashes using sleep mode or mid-battle saves?

I've only crashed once and I use sleep mode all the time.

[Syrra]

I've been playing on a DSi with a firmware update (as of June?) and I've never had a crash or freeze so far. I've used suspend without any ill effects.

I have seen monster names too long for character space limits and the untranslated text, however. At least it's not another Zero Wing. ;)

[fallingstarz]

Having a fun - well either bug or me being retarded.

I'm on the third day, at 17:00, and just fought the Zealots. And now there is no option to advance time via talking to someone, nor am i allowed to fast forward time. There is just a single "free battle" in Shiba Park, and the Devil's Fuge Info thing in Nagata-Cho - which does not advance time.

Any thoughts?

I believe you have to keep searching info for the devil's fuge. Scroll through all the places and find those with grey text.

I'm not sure if mine's a bug but my double attack doesn't work at all. It's supposed to be automatic? It's a racial skill but I can't even seem to cast it beforehand either. And the skill is not greyed text. Anyone else experiences this?

[Foobar]

Only bugs I've seen so far are text bugs. Over run text boxes and misspellings.

I'm curious at those who have had lockups: What version of the DS firmware do you have?
There is firmware for the DS??

Only the DSi, but its only for adding to or enhancing its current features so far.

[syl]

I played on a DS Lite and the game stalled while I was fighting the final boss in Naoya's route; memories of Noah's aurora shift:(. This was a first playthrough, but thank God that Atlus added the suspend option.
I just rebooted and the bug disappeared.
Then again, I was standing on a different part of the grid and other conditions were different.

[nbinney]

I just crashed. Day 3 17:30 in the cemetery, the enemy party was Basilisk-dead, Pyro Jack-paralysed, Silky-paralysed. It froze just as their turn was starting.

As if that battle isn't hard enough to begin with.

[Hausuke]

I'm not sure if mine's a bug but my double attack doesn't work at all. It's supposed to be automatic? It's a racial skill but I can't even seem to cast it beforehand either. And the skill is not greyed text. Anyone else experiences this?
Do you mean Double up? I can't find a double attack racial skill. It lets your team attack twice, like go into the battle screen twice (if you're talking about Double up).

I've gotten a freeze up once, but that was probably me hitting the cartridge by accident. I haven't gotten frozen by status affects yet. Besides you can just suspend your game often?

[mrnutz]

Just encountered my 2nd bug (lockup). Some details:
- Original DS (silver)
- Almost always suspend my DS instead of shutting down
- First bug, I don't remember all the details, but I do remember that I moved a character, but instead of moving they just kept walking place. Like it could path correctly to get them where they wanted to go. Since they never actually walked, the game just looped there forever.
- Second bug, system locked up with the stuttering sound. I was on a day 6 battle and I'm pretty sure I stoned a party leader. It could have been that it was that party's turn or that leader was about to unstone when it froze. That seems to be common from what I'm reading.

Anyway... I really do think someone from Atlus should get on here and at least acknowledge these problems.

[four_black_hearts]

Sorry you have had troubles, but I am on the end of my 3rd play through, and have yet to encounter any glitches except for those little bits of untranslated text. :confused:

[dungeon_man]

I had a crash last night. It was in a battle on day 5 when there was only one enemy left on the map. An NPC ally's turn came up (Izuna or her Partner), an ailment inflicted by a Badb Catha expired, and the game locked.

[Jackstar]

Just encountered a crash. Played for 5 min, day 3 battle with Midori and the civilians. Game just hung up on me and the music went crazy, as if it was in an infinite loop. I had to reset. I'm playing on my.. Pokemon Black Limited Edition DS lite, US version. :p

I hope you guys can clean up your acts for Strange Journey and P3P. Because of your awesome track record and constant fan service that generated so much goodwill, I'm quite willing to pretend this didn't happen.

[dungeon_man]

I'm quite willing to pretend this didn't happen.

So is Atlus, so it's good everybody is in agreement!

[Jackstar]

I'm quite willing to pretend this didn't happen.

So is Atlus, so it's good everybody is in agreement!

I think...they should know how to better manage their QC in future. ;)

As for Devil Survivor's shoddy port, I believe they added in a couple of typos that messed up the script, considering they left some Japanese text in the game, it is a clear indication someone messed up the translation somehow. While I'm unlucky enough to experience it, I believe it isn't a widespread issue that warrants a recall.

Though I can assure you if this isolated incident turns into a trend, I won't be handing out anymore "get out of jail free" cards.

[dungeon_man]

I'm disappointed by their unwillingness to even acknowledge the bug. The Dark Spire also had a crashing bug, so their QA appears to be slipping. I still like the games and recommend them to people, but the attitude of silence is unfriendly. At least NIS acknowledges their bugs before telling everybody they aren't going to do anything about it.

I put up with untranslated and poorly formatted dialogue in P3 and DS and shrugged off all the glitches in Etrian Odyssey, but this crashing business is unacceptable.

If a new Atlus game crashes on me repeatedly in 2010, I will spit on their name forever.

[Rednusander]

I'm only posting in this thread to debunk a few blanket statements being made about our QA department. If you've read our production diaries, (#10 is especially pertinent) each game we localize and test is a completely different beast. Some have well-organized file structures and clear-cut coding, others are programmed in such a way that the erasure of a single character can lead to a Japanese line taking precedence over its English translation.

It's not that our QA is "slipping" or "mismanaged."

Our testers play these games for weeks straight, all day long in an effort to catch these problems. The games are THEN checked and approved by the first-party. And the worst possible thing that can happen, through ALL of these checks and balances, is for an error to get through.

In this nightmare scenario, where a bug does make it out, we have also been fairly public about it. Demon's Souls has a "game-breaking bug" sticky, Class of Heroes was delayed to fix a game-breaking bug, and in many cases that you are all often not aware of, our games actually ship with fewer bugs than were in the Japanese retail version.

TL;DR version: We sincerely apologize for any frustration that a game crash has caused. In the event that you are unsatisfied with the product, please consult your retailer about reimbursements or exchanges. We are always committed to excellence, and will continue to work toward releasing products of quality.

[Archie55]

Speaking of bugs...
How 'bout that Belzaboul?? Eh, Eh???
No. But I noticed another instance of untranslated text. Not that I'm gonna start a rant, or anything, I actually think that it's kinda funny and slightly cool. I had beaten a shomikai person and in blue it showed japanese. I don't think it was anything major (OMG!! I KNOCKED ONE OF THEM DOWN!! never expected that to happen), so I don't mind.
When Naoya is in the middle of some long explaination and that happens, then I'll worry.

[Foobar]

I rationalize the untranslated parts as part of the Babel theme. People being divided up by language barriers again and all that.

[Archie55]

I rationalize the untranslated parts as part of the Babel theme. People being divided up by language barriers again and all that.
Makes some sense when you think about it like that. Not to get real religous here, but I think a lot of the game would make sense if it happened. Like the language barrier and stuff, that works out. Demon invasion? Not so much true as freaking awesome.

[LordShade]

Just encountered a crash. Played for 5 min, day 3 battle with Midori and the civilians. Game just hung up on me and the music went crazy, as if it was in an infinite loop. I had to reset. I'm playing on my.. Pokemon Black Limited Edition DS lite, US version. :p

I hope you guys can clean up your acts for Strange Journey and P3P. Because of your awesome track record and constant fan service that generated so much goodwill, I'm quite willing to pretend this didn't happen.

P3p and SJ have no major crashes in the Japanese versions. Unless they mess up the code, I doubt they will..

Also, this bug is random. Most of the time, nothing happens when a status effect wears off, Ive only had it happen to me once in 3 playthroughs, meaning it's hard to find. It makes no sense to acknowledge it outside of a basic "sorry", since it can't be worked around, and it's rare enough to not be completely game breaking.

Also, most of Atlus's US releases have less bugs than the originals. EO2 JP had a lot of bugs that made a good amount of skills do absolutly nothing. The US release corrected these. Arcana Heart PS2 had a large number of crash bugs, all of which were fixed in the US release.

[dungeon_man]

Also, this bug is random. Most of the time, nothing happens when a status effect wears off, Ive only had it happen to me once in 3 playthroughs, meaning it's hard to find.

No bug is random. They are always triggered by specific circumstances. My guess is that those circumstances are "Status effect wears off, AND..." but I do not know what the AND is. If Atlus told us those circumstances, it might be easier to avoid that bug.

Obviously, experience varies from person to person, but this bug has affected me at least three or four times on my first playthrough.


It makes no sense to acknowledge it outside of a basic "sorry", since it can't be worked around, and it's rare enough to not be completely game breaking.

They never acknowledged it at all, they just made a non-specific game-crash apology and suggested talking to a retailer about returns and exchanges. I find this insulting for everybody knows you cannot return an opened video game, and exchanging a bugged game for another bugged game is just a waste of time.


Also, most of Atlus's US releases have less bugs than the originals. EO2 JP had a lot of bugs that made a good amount of skills do absolutly nothing. The US release corrected these. Arcana Heart PS2 had a large number of crash bugs, all of which were fixed in the US release.

While that is wonderful, it is a misdirection. Consumers who are having problems with a product do not want excuses and they do not want unrelated success stories. They want solutions.

[LordShade]

Also, this bug is random. Most of the time, nothing happens when a status effect wears off, Ive only had it happen to me once in 3 playthroughs, meaning it's hard to find.

No bug is random. They are always triggered by specific circumstances. My guess is that those circumstances are "Status effect wears off, AND..." but I do not know what the AND is. If Atlus told us those circumstances, it might be easier to avoid that bug.

Obviously, experience varies from person to person, but this bug has affected me at least three or four times on my first playthrough.


It makes no sense to acknowledge it outside of a basic "sorry", since it can't be worked around, and it's rare enough to not be completely game breaking.

They never acknowledged it at all, they just made a non-specific game-crash apology and suggested talking to a retailer about returns and exchanges. I find this insulting for everybody knows you cannot return an opened video game, and exchanging a bugged game for another bugged game is just a waste of time.


Also, most of Atlus's US releases have less bugs than the originals. EO2 JP had a lot of bugs that made a good amount of skills do absolutly nothing. The US release corrected these. Arcana Heart PS2 had a large number of crash bugs, all of which were fixed in the US release.

While that is wonderful, it is a misdirection. Consumers who are having problems with a product do not want excuses and they do not want unrelated success stories. They want solutions.


What kind of solution is there?

[Fuyukaze]

Having experienced neither a bug or crash in the game, I cant help but envy those who have. Think the worst I've ever seen in an atlus title is spelling or odd sounding gramer. Neither being game breaking experiences or reasons to not continue playing the game.

[dungeon_man]

What kind of solution is there?

Instead of ignoring the problem and telling people to return their games, I'll offer some minor solutions:

1. Load up on Amrita, Affection, Ban Mystic, and Null Mystic. This allows you to prevent or cure ailments.

2. If you are hit with an ailment, perform every possible action. This delays your next turn which buys you time to end the battle or cure the ailment with somebody else.

These solutions work on the assumption that the crash is related to the expiration of status ailments.

I'm sure Atlus could offer better solutions.

[InvisibleMan]

Are these retail copies? If so, what were the beta testers doing? I don't want to find out I've got a $30 turd on my kitchen table.

Yes, the game has locked up on me two or three times now, and I'm at Day 5 in the story... But, frankly, I wouldn't call that a deal breaker, the game overall is just phenomenal.

The last time that it locked up on me was during a main event battle on the enemies' turns; one enemy was about to heal another one. It may have something to do with a particular visual effect coming up at a bad time...