Devil Survivor 2



"The darkly prospering days of man have reached an end. You who have strayed from the cycle of the stars will leave not a trace of your existence. But fear not. You will no longer feel anything..."

- Quote from the Game Over screen

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 is the sequel to Devil Survivor, developed by Atlus. It was released in Japan on July 2011 and in North America on February 28, 2012.

One ordinary Sunday Twenty Minutes Into the Future, a high school senior and two of his classmates are headed back home after a mock exam session. But their trip home takes a grim turn when they each receive a email on their phones from Nicaea, a "dead face delivery site" (in beta) supposedly able to show the user a photo depicting the death of any person typed into its search engine; however, it is dismissed as a hoax due to the inscrutable quality of the results.

The email contains a high-quality video of a subway accident that kills all three of them.

To avoid their fate, the three friends sign a pact with "the devil" to become three of the thirteen Devil Messengers, gaining the power to bind and summon demons. However, soon afterwards Japan is besieged by extraterrestrial invaders called the Septentriones, with a new invader arriving on each day of the week. As Devil Messengers, the trio have seven days to defeat all seven Septentriones while using Nicaea to avoid their own deaths and prevent the deaths of the other ten Devil Messengers. Aiding them is the JP's (Japan Meteorological Agency, Prescribed Geomagnetism Research Department), a government organization who lead the attacks against the Septentriones yet seem to have their own hidden agenda regarding the unfolding events.

New features include upgradeable racial skills, and a relationship system (similar to the Social Link system in Persona 3 and Persona 4) that allows you to bond with the other characters.

Does this storyline and artistry seem familiar to you? Work on the Septentriones' story and art is done by none other that Mohiro Kitoh!

Like its predecessor, compare and contrast The World Ends With You.

"Ghost Q: "Let's have a fair, one-on-one fight!"
 * A Child Shall Lead Them: In the Chaos route epilogue,.
 * Action Bomb: Dubhe, Alioth and Merak's spawn.
 * All There in the Manual: The art book has a lot of supplemental information about the characters, such as their heights, birthdays/star signs, where they want to travel, etc., and even goes as far as to mention that Yamato has a younger twin sister named Miyako (though, as far as the game goes, she is nonexistent).
 * Ambidextrous Sprite: Fumi's dress and Makoto's badge.
 * Anyone Can Die: Just like the first game, only even worse.
 * Axe Crazy: Bifrons likes to kill humans. He'll always ask the Anguished One if he can kill any humans in sight.
 * Back From the Dead:
 * Badass
 * Badass Crew: One mission will have you characters form three of these, and depending on route the Law, Chaos, or Neutral factions will all have one, with the route your main character is on having the most badass of them all at his beck and call.
 * Badass Longcoat: Yamato and Fumi. A few characters who don't normally wear them have one at least in their possession. In fact, a LOT of characters wear these.
 * Scarf of Asskicking: And those that don't often wear these.
 * World of Badass: Most humans who have latent spiritual power have access to summoning demons. However, even those that don't can at least fight demons to some degree (as opposed to the first game, where non demon summoners were boned by default).
 * Bare Your Midriff: Turns out Kama just loves belly buttons.
 * Barrier Change Boss:.
 * Battle Royale With Cheese: The bulk of Day 7. Mostly nonlethal results.
 * Bland-Name Product: A ruined "Starbacks" can be seen in Shibuya, and Yuzuru is apparently a reader of "Shoji Leap". And Daichi is into "Aberzombie" apparel. And Joe got scammed into buying an "Armanyo" suit.
 * A complete list of these can be found here, though in Japanese.
 * Blatant Lies: Grimehkala says something good will happen if you physically attack him..
 * Well, something good for him, anyways.
 * Ghost Q as well.
 * Ghost Q summons a bunch of demons to gang up on MC*"


 * Body Surf: Done by.
 * Bonus Boss:.
 * Broken Masquerade: The existence of demons is worldwide this time around, so no one can deny demons exist this time round.
 * But Thou Must!: Interestingly, usually this is just the game getting you to stop joking around.
 * Averted in the first battle. You can choose to die, automatically getting a mission fail.
 * Butt Monkey: Daichi. You can eventually get him to man up in the end... or keep picking on him instead.
 * Call Back: A very funny one at that. If you manage to defeat both Botis and Bifrons when you first fight them,

"Daichi: Huh... I might get away with it if I said I was in love with Yamato. ...No. That's too risky. *sigh* I don't think I could keep that ruse up when I'm with the girls."
 * Chekhov's Gun: A event with Joe has him and a NPC mention Billiken on day 2 as a doll and a God of Luck. Come day 6 and said doll is a boss.
 * Chirping Crickets: Happens twice in one scene, during an event to revive Kama.
 * Co-Dragons: Botis and Bifrons both serve . Defeating both results in taking their place in every route but
 * The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Aside from combos on CP demons and humans that would be ridiculous to get, the computer enjoys finding lone characters then juggling them with a ranged demon. A few enemies even get unmentioned buffs such as anti-almighty, or making Strong reduce attacks to 75% damage instead of 50%.
 * Copy Protection: If the copy protection flags get set off, then during the first boss fight (which starts off as an escape mission then turns into a battle), after the exit is closed off, the event that is supposed to weaken the currently unkillable boss doesn't happen, rendering the game unwinnable.
 * Creepy Doll: Billiken.
 * Curtains Match the Window: Common among the cast, much like it was before. Our hero is one of the few exceptions; while he doesn't have blue hair, he has very striking Blue Eyes.
 * Deal with the Devil: A website Nicaea, rumored to show images of someone dying in the future, is much more than just that. Anybody who uses the website can form a contract and gain the ability to summon demons and cast spells through their phones.
 * Death's Hourglass: The Death Clocks and Laplace Mail have been replaced by Nicaea, a website that is able to predict how people will die, but without specifying when or where, which is relevant to the plot many times.
 * Deconstruction: Like the first game, this game takes every trope Pokémon plays straight and tears them apart. This time, you see first-hand the consequences of a failed demon contract, with a named character no less.
 * Defrosting The Ice Kings: Spend enough time with Yamato and Keita and they eventually come out as Jerks With Hearts of Gold.
 * The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: No, you can't kill Dubhe with an Almighty-element attack before Daichi drives the truck into it.
 * Naming the Protagonist after a plot-relevant character that has six letters or less than their names (either use a first name or a last name) will make the game warn you that another handle is being used with the same name. This is an easy way to tell they are into Nicaea as well.
 * Dissonant Serenity: The Septentriones' theme certainly gives off this vibe.
 * Dub Name Change: The races of the Septentriones were changed to Star for the english release. In the Japanese version their race names corresponded with their ancient Chinese name.
 * Dysfunction Junction: The majority of the cast has a tragic back story of some sort. And those who don't tend to have awful things happen to them throughout the story. There are a handful of characters that have generally happy back stories, like Otome who has recently adopted a daughter. But those can be even more tragic if you really think into it, because now Otome's adopted daughter has to live in a destroyed world.
 * Early Bird Boss: Botis, should you choose to fight him. Ziodyne and Shield All on Day 3? This Is Gonna Suck.
 * Though his speed is so low your entire party will get several shots at him before he moves more than once, and with some planning you can easily remove all his Extra Turns to trick it into spending all of his MP while you whittle away its HP. Also becomes a Disc One Nuke if you manage to crack those two skills with a Joint Crack.
 * Eastern RPG: Though it's a somewhat non-standard one. No weapons or armor. No shops (except for the Demon Auction). No healing items or items of any kind. No character classes. No dungeons.
 * Eastern Zodiac: The demons unlocked through fate and the characters personalities tend to correspond with the Chinese Zodiac. Airi for example unlocks Sheep themed demons and Daichi unlocks Monkeys. The only exception being the Anguished One.
 * Eleventh-Hour Ranger:
 * Expy:
 * Many of the cast members revealed so far resemble the previous game's cast to varying degrees.
 * The Septentriones have been oft compared to the Angels;.
 * The main trio is initially quite similar to Mikado, Anri, and Masamomi both in looks and personality. But as the gameplay continues, only the similar appearances plays out. Unless the player chooses to make the MC answer like Mikado.
 * Jungo and possibly the main character share their appearance with a previous Atlus game protagonist...
 * Eyeless Face: The random mooks from JP's are rendered this way.
 * Even the Girls Want Her:
 * Everything Fades: Even in cutscenes, whenever someone dies, they disappear.
 * Face Death with Dignity: Ghost Q and when you beat them.
 * Face of a Thug: Keita, who looks like the previous game's Kaido with light blue hair. Surprisingly, other than him being a bit too rash about things and eager to fight the demons, he isn't that much of a bad guy. To a lesser extent, Jungo.
 * Family-Unfriendly Death: Several; the first notable one is the train crash on the very first day, complete with shots of bloody corpses strewn all over the place. The Nicaea videos provide more of these examples.
 * Fantasy Kitchen Sink: A staple of the franchise. You'll summon up gods from every mythological pantheon that you can name along with ancient heroes, Goetic demons, Urban Legends, and horrors from beyond the stars.
 * Faux Yay: You can suggest that Daichi pretends he's gay to lie about his attempted peeping.
 * Faux Yay: You can suggest that Daichi pretends he's gay to lie about his attempted peeping.

": "How do I put this... Humans have become such dreadful beings.""
 * Five-Man Band: In four of the five routes, there are four major characters depending on which route you take.
 * Daichi's Routes:
 * The Hero
 * The Lancer: Daichi
 * The Smart Guy: Io
 * The Big Guy: Jungo
 * The Chick: Hinako
 * Ronaldo's Route:
 * The Hero
 * The Lancer: Yuzuru
 * The Smart Guy: Otome
 * The Big Guy: Ronaldo
 * The Chick: Airi
 * Yamato's Route:
 * The Hero
 * The Lancer: Yamato
 * The Smart Guy: Fumi
 * The Big Guy: Keita
 * The Chick: Makoto
 * Foreshadowing: The theme that plays when the protagonist is registering for Nicaea (which is where you give the protagonist his name) is the Anguished One's Leitmotif.
 * Four Is Death: There are
 * Gameplay and Story Integration: In the Turn Back the Clock ending, it is continuously stated that the protagonists will need a "strong willpower" to "keep their memories" after . Guess how the New Game+ mechanic works?
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: During the fight with bonus boss  you have to avoid  . No reason is ever given for why this differs from all of the fights with civilians or J Ps members.
 * Most likely has to do with them  While everyone else fought in the game
 * Greed: Billikens entire motivation during his battle. Where he hunts down anything that has macca and kills them to get it. If you don't have any he kills you anyway. To the point even demons are terrified of him!
 * Good-Looking Privates: The named members of the JP's, including Yamato and Makoto.
 * Graceful Loser: Botis
 * Gratuitous English: The e-mail message you get after the credits is in English even in the Japanese version.
 * Humans Are Cthulhu: One demon,, certainly feels this way after being mercilessly bludgeoned by Fumi.

"Jack Frost:"Gree-heetings from the bottom screen!""
 * I Just Want to Have Friends:
 * Ill Girl: Joe's girlfriend.
 * Improbable Age: At a mere 17 years, Yamato serves as the director and leader of JP's. Partly Justified with the explanation that command of the group has been passed down through his family for generations, and they were the ones who founded it.
 * I'm Taking It Home With Me: Taken to some ludicrous extremes by a Badb Catha when
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: If you pick Boo-njour! before the battle against Ghost Q he'll say you make worse puns than him.
 * Invisible to Normals: Dera-deka says that you have to have at least some spiritual power already to access Nicaea.
 * Irony: Abraxas is classified as a fallen demon yet Abraxas talks about repelling evil.
 * A subversion. The fallen demons are all part of the Goetia series, and all of them are summoned demons from that mythos. In their case, their roles as fallen comes from their fall from grace after Christianity came along. Among their ranks, most of them have very variable alignments with quite a few of them being benevolent.
 * Not really a subversion when Satans first time as Fallen Demon depicts him as the King of Demons instead of a servant of the Lord.
 * Just in Time / You Are Too Late: Whenever it comes to prevent a predicted death, you will either arrive just as things are getting grim, or immediately after the irreparable has happened. Even the first failed rescue mission is titled "Too Late".
 * Kenji Ito: The composer for the game.
 * Kill It with Fire: What Bifrons does to several JP's members and possibly.
 * Ley Line: The Dragon Stream.
 * Life Drain: The Life Drain skill, drain does it as well as stealing MP, and
 * Lighter and Softer: Unlike the first game, the characters are not locked in one city, so the claustrophobic atmosphere and more explicit decay of society into anarchy are missing. Compounding this is the increase in comic relief scenes and the Fate System allowing for rather sweet and happy moments.
 * Darker and Edgier: On the other hand, it takes much less time for the whole world to go to hell, and the sense that time is running out is much, much greater. Also, the lessened exposure to the anarchy of society breaking down is substituted by the knowledge
 * Literally Shattered Lives: Several times, you'll see some poor human get hit with a blast of ice magic, topple over and shatter. Ouch.
 * Most notably seen with Merak's Circumpolarity Signature Move in the opening of the battle against him.
 * Love Potion: Charm inflicts this.
 * Luck-Based Mission: The fight against . As usual for bosses, he gets an extra turn even while attacking from a range, moves insanely fast (though only two spaces at a time), and even if you can get close, there's a high chance that he'll use Megido twice in a row, which will kill pretty much anything. And of course no weaknesses and Reflect Phys. He also gets even faster as you defeat the demons around him, to the point where even ganging up on him can still end up with him having the faster turn.
 * Even without the double Megido hanging above your head, he has Revive (Recarm on fallen allies at start of skirmish) and one of his demons has Samarecarm.
 * Magikarp Power: Daichi's stat growth doesn't give him particularly impressive Strength or Magic, making him much less desirable in the first days, where most of the battles are about dishing out as much damage in one blow as possible. Crack Multi-Hit and Multi-Strike, though, and his above-average Agility lets him plow through anything that isn't immune to Physical attacks (though arguably Keita does the same job but better, and Hinako has almost exactly the same stat growth but slightly more fragile).
 * Make a Wish:
 * Medium Awareness: Justified when characters can see the enemy's name and skills, as several shots show the Demon Summoning App is basically the same as the DS's top screen.
 * Medium Awareness: Justified when characters can see the enemy's name and skills, as several shots show the Demon Summoning App is basically the same as the DS's top screen.
 * Medium Awareness: Justified when characters can see the enemy's name and skills, as several shots show the Demon Summoning App is basically the same as the DS's top screen.

"Kama: ''"TING TANG WALLA WALLA BING BANG!"'"
 * Meaningful Name: The Septentriones are named after an archaic word for "north". They are individually named after stars in the Big Dipper constellation, which is used as a guide to find Polaris, the north star.
 * Not only that, but the seven stars themselves are referred to as Septentriones.
 * Al Saiduq is also this; it's a slightly different spelling of Al Saidak, which literally means "the test", which is also another name for.
 * Monumental Damage: Plenty of Japanese landmarks either get wrecked or are shown-to-be-wrecked over the course of the game.
 * Multiple Endings: Like the first game in the series, there are multiple routes. This time the routes include.
 * Murder.Com: Replacing the Laplace Mail from the previous mail is the website Nicaea, which sends out rather gruesome videos of the characters meeting their fated demise.
 * Mythology Gag: is found in
 * is fought in
 * The max limit of experience that demons will need to level up goes up to is 65535.
 * appearance in the game is one big reference to the first Devil Survivor.
 * Joe mentions he's a fan of a Featherman Manga.
 * Nitta is a character and Shijima is a reason from Nocturne
 * My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Drain functions differently in battles between NPCs, not actually draining anything.
 * New Game+:
 * Nice Hat: Yuzuru's flat cap (overlapping with the rest of his attire), Airi's white pillbox hat, and Jungo's black bucket hat much like Atsuro's hat in the last game.
 * Noble Demon: Botis.
 * Noble Shoplifter: Done at one point by Daichi towards the beginning of the game.
 * No Endor Holocaust: Subverted. Nobody dies when Alioth crashes into Sapporo.
 * Not Evil, Just Misunderstood:
 * Obvious Beta: In-Universe example. The Nicaea app is supposed to be in beta, in the same sense as Google Beta.
 * Order Versus Chaos: Interesting not in the fact the themes are present, as they are a Mega Ten mainstay, but in the portrayal. Neutral is portrayed as a balance of extremes, but has different manners of implementations. Chaos is portrayed much like it was in the second SMT game, and Law much like it was in the first Devil Survivor. However, the twist is that Law, usually seen as somewhat extreme or somewhat negative in most games (mostly due to those who want it implemented giving it crappy publicity) actually gets portrayed fairly positively as a system of fairness and equality (i.e. all are equal before the law). Chaos has it's typical Social Darwinist outlook, and while the philosophy is valid enough (i.e. success and strength are prizes awarded the worthy), the representative for this creed isn't exactly the most charismatic salesman of the idea, as opposed to Lucifer. Neutral, usually seen as the preferred choice (in Strange Journey especially), is still shown in a ambiguous, open to interpretation light, with most of the neutral endings favoring a world much like the one before the invasion that decides the balance of Chaos and Law according to its own desires.
 * Oddly, though
 * OOC Is Serious Business:
 * The Peeping Tom: in the "Secret Garden" cutscene, Daichi and Joe decide to spy on the female cast members' physical exam.The main character can join them too, leading to an eavesdropped conversation of the girls comparing their "assets", and several minor What the Hell, Hero? moments later on.
 * Post-Modern Magik: Traditional demon summoning rituals are transformed into a cell phone app.
 * Previous Player Character Cameo: If you defeat Bifrons and Botis early then on
 * Prop Recycling: A LOT of art assets from the first game get reused here.
 * Punny Name: In the manga adaptation, the main character is given the name Hiro Kageyama.
 * Reality Subtext: The plot opens with Japan getting hit with a powerful and destructive earthquake, and the damage only persists as the Septentriones invade...
 * Real Men Wear Pink: Jungo is a chef. He's also one of the physically strongest characters in the game.
 * Redshirt Army: The gold-uniformed JP's members don't even have eyes in their facial portraits, so it should come as little surprise that they get killed by demons and Septentriones.
 * Reset Button:
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If you defeat all the demons before defeating Ghost Q he'll decide to run away and must be beaten before he escapes to unlock him.
 * Shout-Out: To.
 * To Looney Tunes when one of your dialogue options is "What A Maroon!"
 * One of the conversations with Io has her asking you how you knew she was looking for a bookstore. One of your responses is "Maerlyn's Grapefruit."
 * Reality Subtext: The plot opens with Japan getting hit with a powerful and destructive earthquake, and the damage only persists as the Septentriones invade...
 * Real Men Wear Pink: Jungo is a chef. He's also one of the physically strongest characters in the game.
 * Redshirt Army: The gold-uniformed JP's members don't even have eyes in their facial portraits, so it should come as little surprise that they get killed by demons and Septentriones.
 * Reset Button:
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If you defeat all the demons before defeating Ghost Q he'll decide to run away and must be beaten before he escapes to unlock him.
 * Shout-Out: To.
 * To Looney Tunes when one of your dialogue options is "What A Maroon!"
 * One of the conversations with Io has her asking you how you knew she was looking for a bookstore. One of your responses is "Maerlyn's Grapefruit."
 * To Looney Tunes when one of your dialogue options is "What A Maroon!"
 * One of the conversations with Io has her asking you how you knew she was looking for a bookstore. One of your responses is "Maerlyn's Grapefruit."

"Joe: Girl you know we've together such a long, long time... doot do doo do..."
 * After telling the protagonist, Joe sings a strange song as he walks away.


 * One of the demons you can fuse is Joan of Arc. Guess what her weakness is?
 * During one of Airi's Fate events, she slips up and drops a box of supplies. You can ask her if she's okay, or respond with "HAW HAW!"
 * Strength Equals Worthiness: entire reason for being a boss fight.
 * Stripperiffic: Hinako.
 * Take a Third Option: When pitted against the choice between Yamato's meritocracy and Ronaldo's egalitarianism, Daichi chooses to instead seek for an alternative solution that wouldn't harm anyone.And even though he doesn't have a clue on how to do it, he still convinces Hinako, Io and Jungo to follow him.
 * Then, the Hero can further take a fourth option by not joining any group and
 * Token Evil Teammate:
 * Token Loli: Airi.
 * The Capital of Brazil Is Buenos Aires: According to the game's artbook, Ronaldo is half Brazillian, but if you go through his route he'll occasionally greet you in Spanish.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: The protagonist and the others were going to be killed by a crashing train; in pops an Obariyon, who holds up the train and cheerily says, "No dying that way! I need to kill you!"
 * The Power of Friendship: Similar to social links in Persona 3 and Persona 4, this game will have the 'Fate System' which allows you to form bonds with other Devil Messengers, which in turn helps them unlock new elemental strengths, special abilities, and new demons.
 * Also, only characters with at least Stage 4 Fate will agree to rejoin you in the final day.
 * Mentioned word for word during
 * The Stoic: The main character. Unlike the previous game's hero, who could get pissed off/startled, DS2's rarely shows any emotion. Even his usual angry/battle-ready pose has the same neutral expression as his default pose.
 * Three Amigos: Notable in that the Protagonist and Daichi didn't meet Io until the beginning of the game.
 * Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: Though in addition to Tokyo, you also get to visit Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, and Fukuoka.
 * Taken more literally in one of the neutral endings where.
 * Two Guys and a Girl: The protagonist, Daichi and Io.
 * Subverted by Joe, who joins the group not too long after they summon their demons, and acts as a fourth to the group even though he was mostly excluded in all the promotional material for the game.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: As soon as you beat Billiken the demons decide that he was on to something and proceed to attack you for your Macca.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: It is entirely possible to allow certain members to die, and you may be tempted to do so just to.
 * Western Zodiac: Aside from the Main Character, the Anguished One and the Ticos, an artbook have stated that each of the characters represent one of the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The elements of each sign with Electricity replacing earth usually shows up as a resistance for each character at Fate 1, though there are exceptions. Their birthdays also match their respective zodiac sign.
 * As a side note,
 * Whole-Plot Reference: To Neon Genesis Evangelion.
 * To the point that the opening song sounds like it came from a 90s anime.
 * Or, staying in the franchise, Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne. World ending? Check. Gathering the will of humanity under one philosophy in order to create a new one? Check. Having to fight the administrator of worlds itself at the end to create said world? Check. Note that these themes are common in the entire franchise, but this game really does feel like a 50/50% mix of the original Devil Survivor and Nocturne...
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Yamato, Keita, and The Anguished One.
 * World of Buxom: Every playable female character is notably gifted. Yes, including the Token Loli.
 * Your Days Are Numbered: Every day starting on Sunday one Septentrione attacks Japan. Because the alien invaders are named after the stars in the Big Dipper constellation, Hinako speculates that there will be a total of seven Septentriones, with the attacks lasting a week. And according to Yamato the Septentriones have the ability to destroy the entire world.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Yamato, Keita, and The Anguished One.
 * World of Buxom: Every playable female character is notably gifted. Yes, including the Token Loli.
 * Your Days Are Numbered: Every day starting on Sunday one Septentrione attacks Japan. Because the alien invaders are named after the stars in the Big Dipper constellation, Hinako speculates that there will be a total of seven Septentriones, with the attacks lasting a week. And according to Yamato the Septentriones have the ability to destroy the entire world.