One of the best written games I've played. The mysteries the story sets up early on are resolved greatly, with one the best casts of characters I've seen in a game. Every alignment feels natural with pros and cons, and all feel like valid options when compared to other MegaTen games, especially with the added context of the 8th day letting you see the results of your actions. Gameplay is great with demons and skill cracking adding tons to the strategic gameplay, even if it does get a tad grindy near the end. A masterpiece in gaming design (And beldr)

Quando penso no quão única a mídia de jogos pode ser, penso em Devil Survivor.

Eu literalmente gosto de tudo nesse jogo. Claro, existem coisas que poderiam ser melhoradas e mais dinâmicas, mas mesmo essas coisas não são ruins. Pelo contrário, eu diria, pois até esses pequenos aspectos me encheram de alegria enquanto jogava.

Devil Survivor: Overclocked é um RPG tático (TRPG) lançado para o Nintendo 3DS, sendo um relançamento do Devil Survivor original de Nintendo DS. Em DeSu1, seguimos um protagonista silencioso de cabelos azuis acompanhado de seus dois melhores amigo; Atsuro Kihara, um jovem hacker intuitivo e bastante sagaz, e Yuzu Tanikawa, uma colegial um tanto quanto medrosa e ansiosa. Esses três foram convidados para um encontro entre amigos pelo primo do protagonista, Naoya, que acaba não aparecendo, mas entrega dispositivos estranhos chamados de COMPs ao trio principal. Um pouco depois, um lockdown é iniciado no lugar onde eles haviam sido chamados, o Yamanote Circle, fazendo-os ficarem presos lá. Com a descoberta que esses aparatos misteriosos chamados COMPs tem o poder de invocar demonios, a história começa.

A premissa narrativa é básica, mas a situação em si e como ela se desenvolve é brilhantemente executada. A franquia Shin Megami Tensei é conhecida por brincar com reflexões sociais e temas pessoais, e em DeSu eles acertam mais uma vez. A extrema situação que o trio de protagonistas (e também o resto dos personagens trancados ali) faz com que o jogo lhe ofereça problemas diferentes com soluções diferentes, muitas vezes havendo mais de uma. Isso me faz retornar para o que eu disse no início desse texto de recomendação, sobre o única a mídia é, provado pela forma que Devil Survivor insere o jogador nos paradigmas causados nesse lockdown. Diversos personagens tomam atitudes diferentes e têm visões diferentes sobre a situação, e cabe ao jogador decidir como reagir quanto a isso. Devil Survivor conta com um sistema de tempo, onde cada ação tomada pelo protagonista toma cerca de 30 minutos do tempo de um dia. Isso dá ao player a liberdade de decidir quais assuntos são importantes de devem receber atenção, e quais não. Não só isso, mas a vida de personagens, a posição deles e seus conflitos pessoais dependem do player para serem salvos, tomados e realizados. Você, como jogador, tem impacto direto em todos os personagens e suas trajetórias, trazendo não apenas um fator replay absurdo como também muita imersão.

Além desse sistema que torna o jogo muito interessante por si só, há também a ótima execução dos alinhamentos. Se eu reclamo de Shin Megami Tensei IV por deixar os alinhamentos (Sendo eles Ordem, Neutro e Caos, para os desacostumados com a franquia) simplórios e barbáricos demais, aqui acontece o oposto. Mesmo o alinhamento Ordeiro, conhecido por ser pouco desenvolvido nos jogos, se torna muito interessante aqui, trazendo reflexões sobre a natureza do rancor, dos humanos e da redenção. Todos os finais possuem linhas de pensamento relativamente sensatas e coesas.

Meu último elogio para a história (que poderiam ser muito mais, porém quero evitar spoilers) é o quão espertas são as referências mitológicas aqui. Megami Tensei tende a acertar em questão de simbolismo, seja religioso ou lendário, mas as metáforas de Overclocked me pegaram de surpresa. O twist no fim do dia 6 realmente adicionou muito para a história.

Mas claro, Megaten não se faz pela história. Como é a gameplay?

Fantástica. Eu não sou acostumado com TRPGs, mas esse jogo foi divertido do início ao fim. Ele realmente te faz pensar em como derrotar os inimigos mais poderosos, requirindo muita estratégia e cuidado. As lutas contra os Bels são testes maravilhosos da sagacidade do player, e nunca são frustrantes. Devil Survivor é difícil mas não injusto, com preparo e pensamento, se derruba qualquer adversário. Coisas como cercar meu protagonista na luta contra Beldr para poder cura-lo, ou usar a habilidade flight nos demonios para enfrentar Belberith são truques de designs muito gostosos de se aprender. O jogo também se certifica de deixar o jogador em posição de sempre pensar no seu próximo movimento, afinal, a mecânica de roubar as habilidades dos inimigos existe justamente para que não tenha forma do player se aproveitar de grind, e a falta de itens solidifica isso. Todas essas decisões muito felizes se tratando da experiência que ele quer passar.

E cara... A OST É MAGNÍFICA!

Me surpreendi de ser um dos primeiros trabalhos do Takami Asano, o cara nasceu para isso! A trilha sonora de Devil Survivor utiliza principalmente de guitarras, com músicas como Battle Beat tendo até quatro, todas em timbres diferentes. A sensação que essas músicas passam é surreal. O tom ameaçador e apressado das músicas te faz vibar ao mesmo tempo que lhe deixa ansioso. Quando tocou Deep Night pela primeira vez foi um dos melhores momentos "Oh, shit!" que já tive com um jogo. As melodias brincam entre si, dando um sentimento de sujeira quando querem, o que combina com a degradação psicológica das pessoas durante os eventos do jogo.

Concluindo, esse jogo é fenomenal em todos os aspectos, e olha que me abstive de falar de como o jogo executa seus conceitos e dos seus personagens devido a spoilers. Isso é um texto de recomendação, afinal de contas, e minha recomendação é: jogue esse jogo!

at the precipice of 80+ hours and 8 playthrus. getting every single ending and defeating every single boss optional or otherwise ending with the phenomenally absurd Lucifer superboss that had me begging for luck gods to shine on me just as the final hit from Naoya struck him down. i stand victorious. and content.

i played an unhealthy amount of this game over the past month and i have nothing but positives on the way it tackles Law, chaos and boring neutral (yuzus ending good tho) but what stands out is the flipping GAMEPLAY. THESE BOSSES. R WORTH EVERY PENNY I SPENT ON THIS PHYSICAL COPY OF THE GAME. AND I SPENT 120$ MINIMUM ON IT TRUST ME SHIPPING IS CRAZY BUT I DONT REGRET A SINGLE DOLLAR CUZ MY GOD.

ill be thinking of that Lucifer battle till the end of my days the stress they induced and sheer thinking i had to do to beat it in the end alone justify the 5 star rating but thats just *1* fight out of like, a million that are all incredibly fun to tackle and utterly demolish using ur giant brains.

i am happy. this game exists. it is a part of me that will never, ever disappear. these characters are my family. Naoya is my brother for life. and the rest of the cast all fit into a giant web of sitcom shenanigans that play thru my head everytime i close my eyes. i cant. speak intellectually towards this gamecuz its just THAT special to me. i love it. in all its pain. all its glory. it is. awesome. yayayyayay.

An aspect of the Shin Megami Tensei series that hasn't really been explored in any real sense is the breakdown of society that comes with an apocalyptic situation. Devil Survivor focused wholly on this, and it makes for one of the best stories and scenarios in the entire series. Seeing peoples morals slowly fade, the atmosphere get more tense, and the situation slowly degrade and get worse and worse, there's truly nothing else like it. The gameplay is also very unique for the series, an SRPG a la Fire Emblem instead of the usual 4-in-a-row turn-based style. It works really well, and has a surprising amount of strategy in every layer of its systems. It's all thats good about SMT as a series, every fan has to give it a spin.

Easily one of the most underrated JRPGs in terms of gameplay and writing. It’s a shame that it’s mostly only known amongst Megami Tensei fans because it truly deserves to be regarded amongst games like FFVII and Chrono Trigger as a must play for JRPG fans. This game has IMO the most compellingly portrayed characters and most nuanced and engaging branching story paths in the MegaTen franchise. I would go as far as to call it one of the best JRPGs of all time in this regard. This is one of the only JRPGs to make me actively agonize over the choices I was making and really contemplate their effects on a personal level. This complexity and realism of character choice is something JRPGs don’t often attempt or execute well. Devil Survivor pulls it off almost perfectly.

The gameplay isn’t quite as strong as the writing but is still fantastic. It’s challenging, complex, and very fun to master.

As an aside, I understand the art style turning people off and making them think it's going to be some vapid anime harem game, but it’s truly not. Everyone who likes JRPGs should give this game a try. Its absolutely fantastic.

N.B. - Overclocked, due to it being a 3DS game is unfortunately not nearly as accessible as vanilla Devil Survivor. While overclocked stands as the definitive version of the game, imo, by adding content that enhances the game, the vanilla version is still fantastic and worthy of being played if you can’t get your hands on overclocked. Everything good about overclocked still applies there.

Despite it's grim subject matter and brutal gameplay, Devil Survivor is a comfort game for me. Every time I start a new playthrough, it pulls me right back in immediately. Devil Survivor has an incredible atmosphere and a very cool branching storyline that is incredibly fun to experience blind. When you're not in combat, Devil Survivor becomes a game of managing your time and planning out your future actions to pursue what's important to you. The weight of your actions is very tangible in Devil Survivor, but ultimately it's YOUR game. If you don't like a certain character, the game isn't going to hold your hand and force you to save and recruit them anyways. You can choose what you want to deal with and what's most important to you in this conflict, and it's really magical. If you're down for a challenge, Devil Survivor is a glowing recommendation from me.

Incredibly good game, from the countless biblical and demonology references, to what was showed of what humans would do under dire circumstances and the different decisions they would make depending on their background and upbringing, and a few other things as well. Really liked the different endings that were available in the game and gave different perspectives on choices. Though as any Atlus game, it definitely didn't come without its frustrations and struggles, though overall, the gameplay was fine

To be honest, I didn't expect anything from this game. The genre was a bit lacking as it was my first SRPG experience. I had experience playing Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, and I knew a few basic mechanics and generally knew what to do. But some battles gave me a hard time. Not to say that the game is difficult, but sometimes you really need to know what to do, how to assemble your team, and so on.

As for the plot, I can only say two words
I've never seen anything like it. The characters are well written, it feels like everything you do in the game has its own response in the characters' responses. I recommend trying it. The music is always on top. RIP Takami Asano.

The only drawback is that the compendium of demons is very small in comparison with other parts.

10/10
This might be the best game i´ve ever played and the only one where i had the patience to do 100%.
Devil survivor overclocked is one of those games where i had no idea what to expect since i barely see people talking about it, which is one of the reasons why it was so good. Since at the time i did not see anyone talking about it, i went with 0 exception and my god was it fascinating.
History: Ha yes, a game where your choices matter, my favorite. As in every megaten, this game has a history that shapes according to your choices of dialog and who do you decide to spend time with, just like persona. First, lets talk about dialog decisions. I dont know why i love this, but is it satisfying having the player being punished for being a jerk. Making the wrong choices can influence so much in the history, like killing a character or blocking you from getting different endings simply because you were not careful and i love this so much, since i was punished because of this in my first time playing cause i thought it would be cool to act cold and quirky. The result? had to play the whole game again to get the ending i wanted. Normally i would be mad about it, but being able to be punished for that makes me so happy cause proves that other characters are human too, and as we all know, being a jerk irl does not work most of the times, and these game apply that perfectly.
Well, as i said before, besides the dialog options, you also have to decide with which person will you spend your limited time, just like persona. This is important because for you to have certain endings, you´ll have to get along with certain characters, and that makes the time management amazing since you´ll have to decide what persons will you want to know more about in order to progress for certain endings. Not only that, but there´s always the fact that if you don´t pay attention to your time management, you might end up killing characters simply because you forgot what you were suppose to do at that specific moment of the day. It´s somewhat of a well made punishment mechanic, where is up to the player´s attention if they´ll get the ending they want or not.
Besides decisions, there also the pace of the history, which is really good. Being a game about a lockdown where people are stuck and want to get out, seeing how the game represents the population slowly losing their minds, while using not only human nature to do that but also different mechanics of the game makes this so amazing.
Finally, im going to talk about the routes, a common thing in megaten, where according to your decisions, you´ll be able to do different endings, like what i´ve talked about before. These game have 5 routes in total, being each connected to one or two characters. I´m not going to talk about each of them in detail since it would be spoiler, but here´s a quick review of them:
Yuzu´s route: Even tho these route is probably the worst, i still cant bring myself to not liking it, since it makes sense to the situation where the characters are. The fact that these route is the only one that the player has access to no matter what his choices are and the fact that the idea comes from one of the characters i dislike the most in the game kinda makes it worst than it actually is. The 8th day of this route is kinda of interesting, since it turns these route into what looks like a bad ending to something "better", i say "better" cause even tho the extra day gives more bosses and a more satisfying ending, it also defeats the purpose of what made the characters choose this ending.
Atsuro´s ending: It´s not the best ending, but definitely one of the most interesting endings because it turns the demons into what they look like to me as a player.
Naoya´s ending: One of the best two endings just because no matter the megaten, caos is always my way to go. Also because i love Naoya so much and, just like every other ending, you can see the protagonist go side with demons. The 8th Day is amazing just because you can become two different beings with the power you have and this day represents both paths fantastically. Also, the final boss of this day being one of my favorite demons in the franchise makes it even better.
Haru´s ending: My god, i love this ending so much. This path is so god damn good because its the only ending where you can see all characters liking your ideals, or at least, not wanting to murder you for your choice, and also because its Haru and Gin and i love them.
Amane´s ending: This ending is one of the reasons why i love the game, not because its the best ending, but because this might be the only game where i would do the law ending without getting mad for doing it, since i can´t bring myself to hate Amane as a character. Well, the 8th day on this one its really not that great tbh, i dont think its bad and i like it, but the only reason to exist is to make Naoya approve your decision, which is a no-go to me.
Characters: Oh boy, the characters. Well, since there are too many of them, so i wont describe one by one, but i´ll say my favorites and why all of them are great in their own way. All the characters in these game are so well made, since everyone has a different way of how do they view things and each one of them has a unique personality (besides one of them). Every single one has their own problems with the lockdown, which you can explore by choosing to pass more time with that person. As i said before, Naoya and Haru are certainly the characters i love the most. Naoya is such a great character to me for two reasons, he hates angles and he wants a reasonable revenge. As for Haru, i love her cause her backstory is fucked up and she is the perfect example of "what happens to you in the past will forever remain in your head". There are other two characters that i love simply because of their relation and interactions with the protagonist, Yuzu and Atsuro.
Well, the reason why i love the connection between these 3 is because, even in a fucked up situation like the lockdown, they will help each other, when 1 gets upset or mad, the other 2 will calm that 1 down, making them maintaining their sanity during the situation.
Ok, individually, i still love Atsuro and the only reason being that he´s your bro until the end, since no matter your choice, he will follow you and support your decision. Now, as for Yuzu, she´s still pretty good, even tho she´s the worst of the cast, does not mean she´s awful, my problem with her is that shes the only one who does not have a unique personality, since every line of her is exactly what you would expect from a girl form high school, which would be okay, if not for the fact that its IRRITATING AS FUCK. Still, pretty good most of the time cause she fits well in the situation.
For last, as for character designs, i think they all are incredible. Everyone has a unique and remarkable design, while also not being ridiculous nor stupid.
Gameplay: In gameplay, i will say, if it wasn´t for my love in pokemon and for the beautiful gameplay that SMTIVA gave to me, this would be the best gameplay i would ever had the pleasure to experience.
It was my first tactical RPG and it was just amazing in every aspect. It was kinda hard and the fact that had so much customization made it fun as fuck. Also, having variety in missions makes this game pretty entertaining, and not only in missions, but the amount of demons present in the game is immense, and since everyone of them has unique skills makes sure that the game has a super fun teambuilder aspect to it.
Soundtrack: Well, here we go for the thing that makes me think this game was made for me. Having a soundtrack based on hard rock ? Really Atlus? i can´t love you more than i already do. Every. Song. Is. Amazing. All of them go so well with the theme of the game and makes you jam in every possible situation, while also helping creating a perfect ambiance to the game. The only thing that they fucked up in overclocked compared to the original was switching the main theme song and even the new one is good enough. My favorite tracks would be:
"Sunset" is the theme that plays at the end of everyday, and my god, the melancholic theme fits perfectly. "Garuda" is also one banger that plays in the final boss which fits also perfectly since its intense but also super fast.
"Reset Vocal" that, sadly, isn´t in this game (just the instrumental) but god damn its fucking amazing as a intro.
"Confusion" playing in the battlefield for the final boss of the 8th day in Amane or Naoyas route, and fucking god i was feeling so god damn well listening to these on my first time beating Naoyas route. ITS SO SATISFYING.
Replay Value: After all that said, you can probably guess that these game has an immense replay value for a lot a reasons:
1º - In 1 playthough of these game, you wont be able to see all the story of all the characters due to the time limit given in everyday.
2º - Every route is worth exploring since all of them have different points of view, but also, you can also explore the reactions of different characters according to the path you choose.
3º - The gameplay is so versatile that you will always find different ways to play the game with different demons.
Finally, its over, my god was it long. Well, this shit was not worth it and i regret the amount of time i´ve spent on these, but well, these are the reasons why i love these game so much and why you should play it.
If you read all of these, im sorry little one and i hope you live a happy life.

Devil Survivor was offputting to me. I found the weird anime style an affront to the aesthetic of Kazuma Kaneko. I didn't have much experience with tactics games and didn't have faith in how this game could be exciting for someone with no interest in that genre. However, once I delved into the game it really extruded style in a way I hadnt thought possible for Megaten.

Plot
The game has an amazing narrative structure that is bound to it's ludo narrative. I love using ludo narrative in game design so this game marrying it's restrictions this way was a stroke of genius. I think this shonen battle structure was good as an easy to digest plot and the mixing with SOME mythology (mostly religious) was nice. The cast are recruitable and they are all mostly compelling and I like that some are just made to be unlikeable in ways that are realistic like Midori or Kaido or some are just intensely likeable like Gin, Atsuro, Yuzu and Haru.


Gameplay
The game has a weird hybrid of tactics and turn based battle BUT the game has the worst balance, If you know a handful of useful skills the game is ball achingly easy.
I do love the system of auctioning for demons and the ability to replay areas. I found that the game grew more complex over time but in a way that was a compelling balance.

Music
I have to say this is the weakest ost for me, I like a couple tracks a lot but it isn't interesting for the genre of jrpg nor does it truly stand out which is unfortunate because the music was composed by a legendary musician.

Overall Thoughts
This is one of the weirdest games to talk about because overall it's wonderful and the additions for Overclocked are great. I also think the box art goes hard.