pretty great game, though in comparison to devil survivor 1 it falls a bit flat in some aspects. i prefer how devil survivor 1 handled average citizens trying to survive in an apocalyptic event, compared to the jp's stuff in 2. the end to each day is less impactful this time because you always have a safe place to come back to, and the death videos aren't nearly as interesting as the death clock and laplace mail. also i think some characters like daichi, keita, and io are particularly boring or bad. that being said, i do think the septentriones are cool antagonists and once the conflicting ideologies are brought into the mix the story is pretty good. i also did enjoy some of the cast like makoto, jungo, and especially joe even though i feel like he could've been written better. overall i think it was pretty good, and i'll get around to playing the triangulum arc eventually.

Fan of the Persona/Shin Megami Tensei series of games and for a 3ds game this does not disappoint. The grid based strategy element combined with different demon racial powers/abilities is a lot of fun and there are plenty of combinations and demons to mix things up. There is an element of replayability as there are 4 endings as well.

Pros
-Extensive cast of interesting characters
-Skill crack feature and selection of your own abilities gives you lots of options and strategies to use
-Multiple endings and huge compendium of demons makes the game easily replayable, as well as being able to fully customise the stars your main character gets on level up
-harder difficulty presents a decent challenge without becoming a marathon of restarting battles

Cons
-Paying for demons is a little bit lame, the auction can be unpredictable at times and stupid Carol J bids way more than her expected amount and then you don't get that 5 star demon boi you really wanted. I ended up using the Moneybags perk on every team during Day 2 so I didn't have to grind free battles
-Carol J
-All of Carol J's family

I think compared to DeSu1's story, it's not that impactful but I still liked it regardless so it's a mixed bag for me. I loved and hated some of the characters, but generally I think character writing is ok.

Gameplay wise this sequel is a massive improvement with the race ability upgrades and some boss balancing that made it much better. DeSu 1 had infamous, massive difficulty spikes and the bosses will destroy you if you don't have specific demon team combos such as flight or phantasm with how huge boss ranges can be. I still dont like how mana is a precious resource, but it didn't become a huge problem in the end so it's alright for the challenge. I still love demon fusion with this game because you can create the most op and broken demons possible such as an all reflect demon I had that could only be damaged by almighty and wind skills.

Great sequel. Not perfect, but is a massive improvement gameplay-wise compared to the first DeSu.

I enjoyed it, but the story isn't gripping me as hard as the first one was. It is nice that the game deviated from the usual Law VS Chaos endings. The cast of characters is amazing as well. Otome, Fumi, Makoto, and Yamato are the best characters.

Persona 4's influence is all over this game. Goofy moments and fanservice everywhere. If you're into that, that's cool. I just didn't find it appropriate for the game's setting. I did enjoy it a lot, though.

My other major complaint is that the characters have personalities that are inconsistent with their alliances. A character will start to understand someone with views that are opposing theirs, then they will all of a sudden regress for the sake of the plot. Then they realize that going to extremes for their beliefs is wrong after you beat them up??? Very silly, it makes the story leave a lot to be desired. Still has some amazing moments though.

Triangulum did not have this problem. It was very enjoyable and I'm not gonna complain about more video game. Those endings hit the feelers hard

The changes made to the combat were great and I see some really unique ideas in the plot MegaTen never really attempted tackling, but the writing is mostly garbage. Seems to also be suffering from an identity crisis on what it wants to be.

It draws most of its inspiration from NGE and modern Persona, but doesn’t try to make its own identity otherwise. Interesting mesh, but the over abundance of anime tropes, way too many filler characters, and a plot that drags on for much longer than it should, it further clutters the product with nothing but incomplete concepts. Really disappointing, yet I’ve seen much, much worse.

Gameplay's still good. I'm leading with that because I just wanna get that out there before I say just how awful of a downgrade this game is from the first Devil Survivor, and that if you only care about gameplay, this is still a good game.

Unfortunately I loved DeSu1's story, and to see its themes not followed up on for the sake of some of the most generic anime shlock of all time is frankly depressing. Characters range from the most annoying tropes in existence personified to the dizzying heights of "this one's fun, actually", but mostly inhabit various ranges of mediocrity. The story's just some Evangelion ripoff, not to hate on Eva but it's not a good Evangelion ripoff. I dropped this game at the last phase of the final boss, that's how little I cared. Allegedly, the 3DS remake's new chapter actually improves the game a lot, but at that point, I just didn't care to try it.

Same great gameplay as the first Devil Survivor but really falters when it comes to writing. The characters in the original were some of the most nuanced and well-written in any Megami Tensei game (yes including the Persona games) and really any JRPG I've ever played in general. The characters in this game tend to fall victim to one dimensional writing and an overuse of anime tropes. While the former is almost always bad, the latter doesn't have to be a bad thing. The newer Persona games employ quite a lot of anime tropes but the quality of the writing usually allows these characters to be likable and memorable. For another example, the Danganronpa games employ a lot of anime tropes but make them so exaggerated and so ridiculous that it creates an engaging and memorable experience in a kitschy sort of way. Most of the characters in DS2 are unfortunately neither likable, engaging nor memorable. The game is still enjoyable in terms of gameplay and the story works well enough to keep players entertained but the whole thing really falls flat in regard to characters - one of the main things if not THE thing that made the original stand out.

Pretty game, good OST, story and gameplay felt good for about 50% of it.

Everything looked so interesting, the post-apocalyptic setting, the demons (as always, thank you SMT), the characters and their conflicts... Up to the half of it. After that, I could notice how things mostly felt surface-level in the story department, it almost felt offensive. Not to say there was no development, because they managed to write some pretty interesting things, but it mostly falls flat for me. Without spoilers, the ending stretch is the biggest offender. By some SMT-Fallout fusion, you get to pick your faction by simple choice, not with some hidden requirements like some other SMT titles. Oh and the choice is pretty interesting, some good stakes and sides... that end up being extremely shallow, underdeveloped, with some endings shafted for others, which disappointed me immensely after getting excited for its concept. After dropping the game at the 90% mark, I went to youtube to watch the cutscenes that led up to the ending, and I couldn't stand how boring and stall-y it was. Unbelievable, considering what we had in the start, the game's general themes and my next point.

The gameplay. I love SRPGs and was excited for a SMT in that style, but it wasn't satisfactory. I can see how this is all very personal, but the strategy is not in the grid/map gameplay and decision-making, it's in the demon fusion and character builds mostly. I hated it. Sometimes I had to spend HOURS fusing stuff, and it made me feel like dying, so I dropped it. The challenges the game presented felt boring to tackle (not because I was too strong, mind you), I just wanted it to end.

Maybe I should have played the first DeSu (they say the story is better) or just give up on SMT altogether considering how I hated the fusion in this one.
All in all, this is the game that felt the most like a SHARP downward slope in my enjoyment in the last years. Just played the main campaign, not the brand-new Tetragrammaton bullshit or whatever it was called.