I've been craving some more SMT after finishing up Persona 3, even though I've got Devil Survivor on the backburner [I play SRPGs very, very slowly] and so to mark the end of the ER I figured I'd take the plunge and import [oh, the woes of having an NTSC PS2 in a PAL zone, $50 inc international shipping so at least it didn't hurt my pocket too much] something that I'd had my eye on for a while: Digital Devil Saga. 
 
I've heard very good things about the games, however only from critics, nothing first hand. Those of you who have played it, what are your thoughts on it?
 
I also intend to purchase SMT III: Nocturne after I've completed these, perhaps partially because of it's reputation as one of the hardest RPGs available and I just have to have those bragging rights.
 
NB: Two SMT related blogs in a row... oh dear, I'm not becoming some sort of... fanboy am I?

After finishing Persona 3, a few minutes ago I figured I'd come and do the predictable thing: offer my musings on it in blog form. 
 
*Here be spoilers, ye be warned*
 
First, a few stats: 

Play time: 56 hours 48 minutes
Difficulty: Normal
End level: 96
Party: Yukari, Akihiko, Mitsuru
Maxed S.Links: Magician, Lovers, Sun, Star, Devil, Emperor, Hermit, Fool, Judgement, Death
Favourite Personas: Lucifer, Surt
Least Favourite Persona: Messiah [such a let down... who would know that the ultimate Persona would learn bugger all useful]
Nyx Avatar Finishing Blow: Armageddon [for dramatic effect, killed it at about 1/10th hp left]
 
I bought Persona 3 a couple months ago, after I'd been looking for a while I finally found an NTSC copy selling for dirt cheap on Ebay located in London, and damn, am i now glad that guy was selling it; otherwise I'd likely not have bothered importing it and would have missed out on this masterpiece. 

Overall, I was a little let down by the length, as after watching the Endurance Run, and from what i've read online I was expecting this to take me about 80/90 hours to complete [it's worth noting that I have vanilla P3, not FES, so this isn't including The Answer, which may be why I finished faster than I expected.], however I suppose it says wonders for the game if after almost 57 hours I'm still craving more, can't say I've ever experienced that before. 

I can honestly say the only reason I'm not posting this blog two weeks ago is because, well, I didn't want to finish the game. I had to almost force myself to sit down and load up my save that had been sitting at 30th January 2010 for half a month. I simply didn't want the game to end, and so I artifically lengthened it by allowing it to sit in limbo, my characters forever hyping themselves up for a battle they might never get to fight; but eventually I told myself enough was enough and sat down to finish it. 
 
The final few battles were rather awesome, Nyx Avatar especially, although a complete pushover. It may have been my level at the time, but Jin and Takaya were both God Handed, critted and killed by the rush in my first action... rather anti-climatic for a group who could talk so much trash.  The Nyx Avatar was similarly easy, although it took significantly longer [mostly because of the awesome journey through a humans life, as told through the Tarot arcanas], it still didn't pose a threat, with Almighty Attack only dealing 100 or so damage and it's strange habit of spamming either Agi or Bufu at the MC. Lack of difficulty aside, I felt that it was a suitable send off to an astounding journey.
 
The actual finale was perfect, from the 'battle' with Nyx; to playing two last days of school; to the final, beautiful scene between Aigis and the MC. Then there was Kimi No Kikou... ahh... Kimi No Kikou...
 
I'll leave you with my favourite piece of music from the game [and that's saying a lot, from this soundtrack], I love how this manages to incorperate multiple tracks from the score, and merge them into one epic piece that forces you to reminisce on the journey that you undertook to finally face Nyx.