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Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call
"Recommended
to lovers of Final Fantasy style RPG's or for those that can't get
enough of Dante from Devil May Cry!
Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call is a
Final Fantasy-esq RPG that is set modern day Japan that introducers the
gamer to a nameless teenager who is travelling across Japan to meet his
hospitalised school teacher. (You gotta love those Anime storylines)
Unfortunately for our hero, he is also half demon and is caught up in a
war between two opposed cult factions that threatens the very fabric of
humanity.
Although the game starts in Tokyo, your
world is soon turned into turmoil when you find the hospital that once
cared for your teacher deserted and you become drawn into the apocalyptic Conception, an event which is surrounded in occult
prophecy about the rebirth of the world. Unfortunately this means that
everyone in Tokyo dies and the city is twisted into a kind of globe
shape, with a strange moon called Kagatsuchi in the middle and vast
expanses of black desert sand or jagged-edged abysses between the
familiar city districts.
The other side-effect of the Conception is
that the city is now teeming with demons, which is a bit of a problem,
although arguably less so since you're now also a demon, thanks to the
intervention of a spooky small child and his elderly carer who
admonishes you not to disappoint the young master by doing something
daft like dying. Freshly endowed with demonic power and a very
fetching set of glowing body-spanning tattoos to prove it, you set off
into Tokyo to get to the bottom of the Conception and as it gradually
emerges, to fulfil some kind of destiny which awaits you as the world is
reborn.
Of course, you're going to be battling a lot of demons along the way,
not least because the game features that bugbear of all RPG fans, random
battles. Fighting is accomplished by means of a fairly standard
turn-based battle system which is heavily biased towards getting the
elements of your attacks (& defence) correct, as characters and
monsters in the game will often be able to deflect or even absorb some
types of damage.
The really interesting aspect of the game comes in terms of how you build your
party. You don't just battle demons, you can actually also talk to them,
either in the field or in battles themselves. This is an essential part
of the game, since you don't have any human companions in battle and you rely entirely on recruiting demons to your side, either
by bribery, cajoling or threatening them through a negotiation system
that forms an interesting new addition to the traditional RPG battle
system. You can also fuse two demons into one more powerful one at
special temples dotted around Tokyo.
The graphics are something of a mixed
blessing with heavily stylised characters that move with grace and
realism but unfortunately the backgrounds become quite repetitive. That said, that may well simply be a consequence of setting a game in a
modern city as shopping centres aren't noted for their beautiful
architecture after all. The game also contains some great special
effects that are used in both lighting and in-game magic effects.
Musically, the game remains true to its 21st century setting with a
combination of rock, jazz and even j-pop style music rather than the
baroque overtones which many games of this type adopt. Curiously,
there's no spoken dialogue in the game, with everything
conveyed through very well written text, even some character actions
being described in text. It gives the whole thing the feel of a
somewhat retro text adventure, but it's something you get used to very
quickly and it actually speeds up the game since you can skip through
conversations as quickly as you can read them, rather than waiting for
voices to catch up. While this isn't necessarily a plus point, as good
voice acting adds a lot to a game, it's hardly a distressing negative
either.
Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifer's Call is sure to be a classic RPG on the
PlayStation 2 that I'm sure will spawn many sequels because its been
quite awhile since Square released anything decent and for lovers of
Japanese RPG, this game has it all! Check it out!
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