The main selling point of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children (outside of the adorable demon redesigns) is the fusion system, which surprisingly feels like an upgrade over previous Megami Tensei titles in terms of customizability and ease of use. As far as I'm aware, this is the first game in the franchise where you can directly choose which skills your demons inherit after fusion, something that wasn't even present in Nocturne which came out 3 years later. I expect this was originally added into the game purely to make it easier but it did end up becoming a staple QoL feature in the series after a certain point so it's neat to learn that this was where that originated. This extra layer of freedom results in your demons feeling a lot more unique, even among those of the same species, than they did in any previous entries in the franchise (with Soul Hackers perhaps being an exception). While still on the topic of demons, it was a lot of fun exploring a world where they serve as the primary NPCs you engage with for conversation and plot progression. The first major area in particular was a highlight for me as it was absolutely jam-packed with Jack Frosts (I love those funny little guys).

When it comes to the battle system, this game shrunk the number of characters present in each battle down significantly compared to the rest of the series, opting for a focus on 2v2 battles which I found to be pretty unique. I expect this was done due to some combination of hardware limitations and wanting to ensure that demon sprites were large and colorful but honestly it was a fun change of pace and the battles were typically swift and painless.

As far as what wasn't great about this game, well I find that a lot less interesting to talk about as the issues are fairly obvious.. the story is mostly nonsense, the dialogue is laughably simple, the music is repetitive and grating after a certain point, the dungeons are pretty empty and bland, etc. I'm fairly certain that my overall enjoyment of this game stems primarily from my love for the Megami Tensei franchise as a whole, but I still feel this works fairly well as a simple and (mostly) lighthearted monster collector as long as you're able to find enjoyment in an extremely elementary-level narrative.