Topic: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor

When I first picked up this one, I was not sure how the game would pan out. If you are not familiar with the game, it was just released not too long at in NA and is published by ATLUS. ATLUS known for their innovative and alternative style seemed to hit the mark with this one. To begin with, I have not played any of the other Shin Megami games so I cannot tell you the relation there. But this one is centered around a tactical/turn based RPG system combine with a Poke'mon monster system. As the battles turn out, you will be faced with a standard tactical board. Each characters moves throughout the board and around the obstacles to gain advantages. Although, once you attack, you are sent to a traditional battle scene similar to the original Dragon Quest games. You then have two rounds of attacks, the character initiating the attack and the defender. Based on the battle, you may or the enemy may get an option for an extra attack. The battles work out as such until you win or loose. The great thing is, after each enemy you defeat, you are awarded EXP. You can level up mid battle and do not have to wait until the end! As far as the game and story. It is an interesting one. To start with, you are really not wandering around, most of the game is played out in menus and story line, well, from what I have done so far. The look of the game is rather neat so to speak. I don't want to say too much away about the story line, but give it a bit, it will pick up and you will be hooked! As far as the monsters, you can collect, well, buy, monsters, they call them demons, and level them up and fuse them to make different ones. The idea is very similar to DemiKids from the GBA. The role the monsters play is your characters companions. You get two monsters for every character. If they die, you can summon any monsters you have in your stock that are alive. There is plenty of magic and abilities and you get the options to gain more as you see fit. As for the main character, there is customization, the others too, for abilities and magic. The main character thought can have stats adjusted. All in all, a great game so far! Any thoughts?

I haven't played this game, but I played a SMT game for the PS2 (Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne) because of a recommendation. It's definitely an interesting game, a very dark doomsday apocalyptic RPG. Sometimes I see these Atlus RPGs at Gamestop, but I have to admit, the story summaries on the back of the case scare me.

Don't let them! It is not the complete story...It has been a long time since a story has kept me hooked on a game, it's good!