Megami Tensei II

Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II is, as the name suggests, the sequel to Megami Tensei for the Famicom. Despite being a direct sequel to the events of the first game, it has little to nothing to do with the original Digital Devil Story plotline, and in fact closer resembles the Shin Megami Tensei games that followed it.

In the year 199X, the world thrown into nuclear war and Tokyo was hit by a missile strike. During the resulting chaos, a horde of demons from Makai managed to launch an invasion of the human world, pretty much conquering it. Cut 35 years later, where various demon lords fight it out for control of Tokyo, and humanity struggles to survive in the ruins of the city and the bomb shelters where they fled years before. In one such bomb shelter, a young man and his friend come across the sealed demon Pazuzu while playing a mysterious game known as "Devil Busters". Pazuzu, claiming to be a servant of God, declares the two as the Messiahs who will save humanity from the demons and grants one with the Devil Summoning Program that will allow him to talk to, and recruit, the demons, and teaches the other magic. Shortly afterwards, however, the bomb shelter is attacked by demons and the two are thrust out into the ruined, demon infested world.

The game follows three primary human characters. None of the characters are given official names, and must be named by the player.

  • Hero: The Heroic Mime protagonist. A resident of Bomb Shelter No. 3, he was given the Devil Summoning Program by Pazuzu in order to combat the demons. His actions will determine how the story plays out, from who will be his final partner[1], to the entire fate of the world.
  • Friend: The hero's friend. Proud, pushy, and selfish, he easily buys into Pazuzu's claims and the praise of the Messians. When the hero sides with the heroine against Pazuzu, the friend will leave. The friend will eventually transform into the Dark Hero, the game's primary rival character.
  • Heroine: The hero's main companion. Originally a witch working for Pazuzu, she realized she was simply being used by him and hid in the ruined Tokyo Tower, where she protected the people living nearby. Joins with the hero after revealing to him Pazuzu's true intentions, and stays with him throughout the game, regardless of the path he takes.

Like it's predecessor and successors, Megami Tensei II is a first person dungeon crawler using a turn based battle system, and the bulk of the players party will be made of demons who they recruited. However, demons cannot level up on their own, and must be fused together to form stronger demons. Unlike the map and cursor overworld used by later games, there is a full overworld between dungeons, complete with overworld sprites for the three human party members. Like most main Shin Megami Tensei games, the game ends if both human party members are killed.

During the era of the Shin Megami Tensei sequels, the game was remade alongside the first game as Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei for the Super Famicom. Aside from graphical updating, the remake introduced several new demons.

Tropes used in Megami Tensei II include:
  • After the End
  • But Thou Must!: A cruel variation in the original Famicom version: Rejecting the heroine means she attacks you and kills you, being much stronger than she is when she joins your party.
  • Call Back: Devil Busters, the first "dungeon" of the game, is a recreation of the first town and dungeon from the previous game. At the end of the (main) game, it is revealed that it was programmed by Akemi Nakajima, the previous game's protagonist.
    • Foreshadowing: It also doubles as this since your friend will eventually leave you as you must side with the girl to progress through the plot.
  • Crapsack World
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus: Like later games, the Messians are Judeo-Christan in everything but name. Their Deva counterparts are basically the rough draft of the Gaians from the SMT games.
  • Fetch Quest: Gathering the Five Pillars to enter Makai, then once there, gathering the jewels needed to actually get around Makai and reach Lucifer's Temple.
  • Fusion Dance: Aside from the regular method of fusing demons, if you spared Bael earlier in the game, he will fuse with Beelzebub and form Baal. Recruiting Baal is required in order to recruit Lucifer and get the game's good ending.
  • God Is Evil: And the True Final Boss, predating Shin Megami Tensei II.
  • Mistaken For Gay: If you go into an armor store for a certain gender without anyone who can wear the outfits (either they not there, dead, or otherwise incapacitated), the shopowner will ask why you are there and assume you're a little fruity.
  • Multiple Endings: 3 endings: 2 variations of the same bad ending, and one good ending.
  • Nintendo Hard: Literally. The original NES version was rather sadistically hard. The SNES remake features a lot of enhancements imported from the SMT games that make a lot of things easier such as automapping ans save points (the NES version had passwords).
  • Order Versus Chaos: While the alignment system as defined by the SMT games only exists in a crude form in this game, some demons are considered good/neutral/evil by default, and law and chaos based factions exist in simplified forms.
    • However, there is no neutral faction per se in this game, as to get the good ending, you effectively side with Lucifer, and the bad ending involves opposing him.
  • Obvious Beta: In story terms, it's basically a rough draft of the story used for the first two Shin Megami Tensei games, and many elements from the second game in particular were used and expanded on. In gameplay terms, many elements were simplified versions of their more advanced SMT versions, with Demon Negotiations being more predictable, no HP penalty for demons using physical attacks, and demon fusion is far more simple, lacking many of the mechanics that debuted in SMT2 and later.
  • Random Encounters
  • The Rival: The friend after his transformation into the Dark Hero.
  • Satan Is Good: Well, Satan is still evil, but Lucifer is treated as the game's Big Good if you unlocked the requirements to recruit him.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can be a total dick to your female companion if you want at one shop where the owner is a woman who is basically hitting on you and trying to get you to try out what is basically a series of drugs. She will try to convince that what you're doing is unwise and you should stop, and if you keep ignoring her, she'll run out of the shop in anger at your stupidity.
    • Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Of course, if you keep going past that point, you'll stagger out of the shop with a nasty status effect and a lot less money. The girl will rejoin you, but this is basically the games way of her telling you by proxy "I told you so".
  1. ↑ In the Kyuuyaku version at least
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