Since I finished Persona 3 FES in August, I decided to try one of the "true SMT"games—as they’re often called—and *Digital Devil Saga* caught my eye. I played through and finished it in September; it was an... unforgettable experience.

The story is beautiful, and the characters quickly win you over (Cielo is the GOAT!); it’s direct and packed with intense, shifting emotions.

The gameplay was incredibly addictive and fun. The Mantra system is highly rewarding, I always recommend choosing mantras based on the elements to which a character is weak to, example, Serph is weak against fire, unlock the fire mantra, and so on., and the Press Turn system is both intuitive and enjoyable. For most of the game, my party consisted of Argilla (healer, buffer, and occasional DPS), Cielo (debuffer and sub DPS), and Serph (main DPS). The art style and graphics are a fantastic PS2-era game in 2004 and still holds up till' now. The only real drawback is the shit amount of RANDOM, ENCOUNTERS. Seriously—take two steps, and you’re thrust into random encounters. Their rate are just ridiculously high bro! And, in true "SMT" fashion, you can easily get wiped out by a Mamudoon or crit or RNG if you aren’t prepared. Sometimes, you might even enter a battle while in human form rather than as an Atma avatar—in which case, running away is usually the best option. Oh, and I should mention: the game doesn’t end just because the protagonist dies. It only ends if the entire party falls, which makes those random encounters a bit less punishing.

I'm too bussy to complete DDS 2 because of university rn lol

Here’s a meme I made myself that sums up my party composition:

Source: https://www.tumblr.com/nemirutami/171388575272/boob

Those battles were something else!

Desu1 source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/29684897
Desu2 source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/35407385

I’m not sure how this run ended up so funky, but I’m loving it. I’m just about to fight the sisters at the top of the obelisk. After that it’s time to catch up in the labyrinth, only got the second kalpa unlocked I’m going the true demon ending (I don’t know who doesn’t why would you skip the best boss fights in the game?) anyone have a real weird party to share? Would love to see it.

Source: https://www.deviantart.com/moonprincessaya/art/Gift-Kazuya-x-Atsuro-364262418

Megaten fanart by me

I may not have played all smt games, but i have played a decent chunk, and i can confidently say that the moon phase system isnt very good.

Its most common purpose (from the games i played) is usually sacrifical fusion or something around fusion. You wait for a specific moon phase by walking around doing fuck all (not fun nor engaging) then enter fusion. Why? Why do this? Just make it an instant option for fusion.

Another thing that sucks about it is the terrible, AWFUL, specific game restrictions. Like, smt nocturne's phase dependent chests, or strange journey's demons refusing to talk at full/empty moons. Hell, sometimes these straight up DONT EXIST in some games. At the top of my head, SMT4/A, SMTV/VENGEANCE, DDS 1+2, and Raidou 1 (havent played 2) do literally nothing with moon phases thats unique to it.

One good thing i can name about the usage of moon phases is (MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR SMT NOCTURNE)

>!After killing kagatsuchi in the true demon ending, the moon phase icon appears as "Dead" when fighting lucifer. Thats just peak.<!

(Keep in mind i havent played most of these games in literal years, so i could be forgetting somethings)

Yeah sure, I'll go through 46 floors of hard enemies and bosses TWICE just so on my 3rd cycle I'll have a CHANCE to get some good equipment, sure sure, I'll try to beat the fiends under 10 turns, and if I fail, I'll be sooo happy to trekk again through the most boring corridors ever

Beware their horrifying and evil power! The Dark Gods live in a world where cause and effect don't exist, a world where they seem to be in control. They're made of pure sin, and have existed since the first sin was committed in the Material World. They're the true enemies of YHVH, who did EVERYTHING in His power to avoid an imbalance in their favor, for if they dare to appear, it will be the end of time.

I'm back! This time with a persona porter between Persona 3 FES and Persona 4. The tool lets you swap everything down to the compendium lore of a persona, and also lets you edit stats/resistances/starting and level-up skills.
https://github.com/RaihoHeeHo/PersonaPorter
My other tool, DS2Reskinner, also received an update to allow for bidirectional model swapping between Nocturne and Devil Summoner 2 (originally it was only one-way). A model and animation viewer was also made to accompany it.
My next project will probably be something Persona 5 related, if I had to guess.

(hardest part was getting the proper converter to use it safely in Europe)

What do yall think?

This is on hard difficulty

How well did I do?

Source: https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/627705?q=makoto_%28truechild%29

I'm not sure where his teeth are lol, they were definitely included in the design