SMTDS: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army Game Sample - Playstation 2
0Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army is an interesting twist within the SMT/DS universe that has its highs and lows, though I didn't particularly enjoy it personally. It is unique within the series due to its battles, which are real-time action fests much more in the vein of an ARPG where the player can run around freely and summon demons, or fight with a sword and gun. It's also interesting because it takes place in the transitional 1920s (often considered Golden, Jazzy, Militant or Fascist, depending on region, which this game seems to combine many aspects of the 20s) where as generally all other games are "modern" or take place in the future. This game seems to particularly represent Japanese culture, the righteous Taishō period (which ranged from around 1912-1926), and the "Jazz Age".
Playing as a mysterious youth (whom you name, but generally goes by the symbolic name "Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th" to most; his real first name is Jouhei) who is the embodiment of bravery and justice, he is the fourteenth person within the Kuzunoha lineage to succeed in becoming a devil summoner of "The Capital" and lives to serve and protect the people and those he cares about. He is watched over by the equally mysterious Gouto, a cat that can talk, but he's not an ordinary demon. He joins forces with the detective, Shouhei Narumi, and works undercover as his apprentice at his detective agency to take on cases "Too big or strange" for others to handle. Nothing eventful is happening until they one day get a call from a mysterious girl who asks to be killed, which sets the stage for the adventure. Along the way, you meet several strange characters-- even Grigori Rasputin himself.
The game features most staples within the SMT/DS series, such as the phases of the moon, the ability to grow the main character as you see fit, and the ability to fuse demons together. New elements include the real-time combat, the ability to manipulate enemy weaknesses to boost demon morale and execute extra powerful attacks, and the somewhat interesting ability to use monsters around towns to search on their own, find special items, or manipulate others with their powers for the purpose of gathering information, such as cooling an angry person down or reading their mind to divulge information that they wouldn't part with willingly for example. Raidou can confine the various enemies he faces inside of "kuda" for later use and can't ordinarily get monsters much stronger than himself. He can also sacrifice monsters to empower his katana.
Some things that get a little annoying is searching for certain characters and that you fight just about everywhere in the game including pretty much every town (some monsters have the ability to intimidate enemies, preventing fights for a while). You also MUST have certain types of monsters at certain intervals if you want to progress through the game, but to be honest, you should anyway.
The game has decent visuals (being one of the few 3D games in SMT/DS series to run at 60FPS, though many in-game cinemas are fairly poor quality), a good soundtrack, witty writing appropriate of the time period in which this game portrays, and a functional gameplay system (I say this because it does have some problems and is perhaps too simplistic). Overall, it's a decent game with a more light-hearted approach compared to pretty much any other games in the series, but I think one playthrough would be enough for most and it's probably more suitable for those new to SMT/DS. A sequel was later released titled "Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2 - Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon", which sought to improve on several things, namely the combat system.
This is a 15 minute video showing some stuff in the game. Enjoy.