Devil Survivor

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Megami Ibunroku: Devil Survivor, released outside of Japan as Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, is a 2009 tactical role-playing game for the Nintendo DS, and the first entry in the Devil Survivor series. It is a grid-based strategy RPG, similar to Majin Tensei. The game was directed by Shinjirō Takata, who had previously directed games in the strategy RPG franchises Growlanser and Langrisser.

The game follows several citizens of Tokyo as they are placed under a lockdown in the demon-infested city and must survive using the Demon Summoning Program. Incorporeal Numbers called the Death Clock become visible on the characters indicating their time left to live, which can be lengthened depending on the party's actions. The party must ultimately choose an alignment in a very short time frame.

A remaster of the game for the Nintendo 3DS, titled Devil Survivor: Overclocked, was released in 2011.

Blurb

Japanese

崩壊まであと7日
選べ。生きるか、生かされるか。
外界と隔離され封鎖された東京で、極限状態におかれた人々の葛藤と選択の物語
Hōkai made ato nanoka
Erabe. Ikiru ka, ikasareru ka.
Gai-kai to kakurisare fūsasareta Tōkyō de, kyokugen jōtai ni okareta hitobito no kattō to sentaku no monogatari
Seven days until the collapse.
The choice is yours. Live for a purpose, or live for something greater?
A story of strife and choices made by people under extreme circumstances in Tokyo, which is quarantined and blocked off from the outside world.

English

Tokyo is in full lockdown, the government's swift and coldblooded response to a sudden demon invasion. Unsure of who to trust and armed only with a demon-summoning COMP, will you be able to survive this chaos?

Synopsis

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Gameplay

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Devil Survivor is a turn based strategy RPG where characters move around on a grid. When a unit chooses to engage another unit in combat, a turn-based battle plays out, with the key mechanic being called Extra Turn, a simplified implementation of Press Turn-style action manipulation. Battle participants may receive another action in the current engagement by striking the enemy's weakness, dodging or nullifying an attack, or landing a critical hit. Doing this to an opponent may also remove their Extra Turn. Extra Turns may be automatically granted at the start of battle based on a variety of factors.

Version Differences

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Overclocked

Main article: Devil Survivor: Overclocked
  • Full voice acting is added to the game, including an English dub for the western release.
  • There are now multiple difficulty levels.
  • An 8th day is added to the narrative.
  • An expanded roster of demons, raising the total from 116 to 136.
  • A Demonic Compendium with expanded demon profiles.

Listings

Characters

Bosses

Demons

Skills

Locations

Schedule

Credits

Development

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The main initial concept was "Tokyo Lockdown" and everything else was built from there. The theme was Survival. Research was done exploring Tokyo to determine details about where one would go without access to parts of the city, eventually choosing the Yamanote line to be locked down. The staff also looked into common psychological responses people have in real natural disasters, and realistic damages in the event of a real Tokyo Lockdown.[2]

Battles were made shorter than most SRPGs to maintain the pacing and tension. The director stated during development that a stage should take about five minutes. It was decided the player would auction for demons over the traditional demon negotation system so they could fuse demons quicker, rather than search to find demons first.[3] The change to demon acquisition with the auctions was hotly debated and divisive within the development staff[4]

The main story was rewritten several times, with the opening sequence before lockdown rewritten completely 6 times for realism. The amount of text kept expanding and the programmer was woken in the night twice to expand the character limit.[3]

The COMPs were originally an original design inspired by FOMA brand phones but Nintendo specifically requested having the COMPs resemble the Nintendo DS system[5]

Trivia

  • The game was released in Japan under the Megami Ibunroku sub-series title, which it shares with the Persona series.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Languages
Language Name Meaning
Japanese 女神異聞録 デビルサバイバー Megami Ibunroku Debiru Sabaibā Alternate Goddess Tale: Devil Survivor

Gallery

References

  1. Stephany Nunneley-Jackson, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor heading to US DS. Published February 7, 2009. Retrieved November 4, 2023. VG247.
  2. Kotou Akiko Interview about Devil Survivor - Atlus Net. Archived: Translated Kotou Akiko Interview Archive. Published August 8, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2024. Dijeh Translations.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Devil Survivor Special Feature - Atlus Net. Archived: Second Interview Archive. Published January 6, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  4. Siliconera Staff, Devil Survivor’s Character Designer Impressions Of The Nintendo DS Game. Archived: Siliconera Interview Wayback Machine Archive. Published May 27, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2023. Siliconera.
  5. Translation: "Kotou: Nintendo told us to make the COMP a fictional gaming portable based on the DS, but it was actually an original Atlus design in the beginning. However, one day, close to the development deadline, we received a phone call from Nintendo asking us if we could make it a bit more similar to the DS. So the entire design team worked at top speed to switch immediately to the new COMP design in all its game appearances. They somehow managed to fix it at the last moment, literally just before the deadline." Devil Survivor Special Feature - Atlus Net. Archived: Second Interview Archive. Published January 6, 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2024. Dijeh Translations.