Devil Survivor 1 kicked my ass.
I’d argue that it’s of
the hardest games I’ve ever played; I’d make a list of the hardest games, but
it’d be pretty redundant. Outside of one
game (Sin and Punishment 2), they’d
all be Atlus products -- and it’d hardly behoove me to type Shin Megami Tensei four times in a
row. So let’s just say Atlus has a
penchant for taking a taser to your tender bits and call it a day, yes?
Though to be fair, Devil Survivor will kick your ass in
more ways than just punishing difficulty (and the occasional infuriating
escort/protect the civilian mission). Subjectivity
is at play here, but I’d argue that it’s got a really great story -- not just
with the asterisk “for a video game,” but as a story, period. You know, just in case you need to prove to
some skeptical parent that games have merit.
I dare any gaming
naysayer to play through this game and say otherwise. Or more precisely, to go through a session
with Atsuro and not come out with a newfound appreciation of life.
Who says bros will
never amount to anything?
(Warning: you’re about
to head into North Spoilerbrook, Indiana.
Read at your own risk…and be sure to have a map handy, because there are
a lot of exits you’ll need to take.)
One hour. It doesn’t even take one hour of play time
for everything in the game to go to crap.
While at first you and your two pals (one guy, one girl, natch) assume
that it’s because of your Nintendo DSes Communication Players, or COMPs,
you uncover a plot that’s been in progress for years. Really, it’s hard to blame anything on a handful
of DSes COMPs; there’s a demon outbreak in Japan which prompts a
lockdown by the Self-Defense Force, communications and power break down, and
super-demons compete for the title of king of demons. It’s all a bit troublesome, generally
speaking. Oh, and you only have seven
days to find a way to end the lockdown or the world ends…in any number of nasty
ways.
And who does the task
fall to? A blue-haired mute with
ridiculous headphones, an improbably buxom indie fangirl, and a computer nerd
with a silly hat.
Normally I’d say “God
help us all” in this situation. But I
can’t say I’m worried; after all, Atsuro is all over this shit.
Atsuro Kihara (Devil Survivor)
Broccupation: Genius Ambassador and Apocalypse Enthusiast
Fortunately, NOT improbably buxom.
I’ve been eager to get
to this part of the SMT retrospective;
out of the four bros available, I’d say that Atsuro is my favorite of the
bunch. Buuuuuuuuuuuut I’m getting ahead
of myself. So let’s start from the
beginning, shall we?
Like Yosuke before him,
Atsuro is a necessary literary device.
The main character -- the MC -- is mute outside of dialogue choices, and
the trio’s requisite girl Yuzu is the designated “freak out at 90% of
everything” character. Atsuro is
comparatively more balanced; while Yuzu’s over-reaction (and near-breakdown) at
the dark proceedings are a necessary evil, his lack of reaction is just as important. It gives him a chance to do what he does
best: get to the bottom of this mystery via incomprehensible techno-speak.
This is how you summon demons. Rather user-friendly, no?
That’s not to say Atsuro’s brazen to a fault,
or that he’s needlessly stoic, or that he’s immune to all the challenges he and
his friends face. They say that courage
is acting in the face of fear, so in that regard Atsuro’s one of the bravest
characters in the game. He’s also
pulling triple-duty; he’s the nerd who rationalizes all the tech talk and plot
points; he’s something of the group’s spokesman when they meet other
characters; he (oddly enough) is a physical fighter in battle, and can do some
serious damage if you give him the right skills. It’s a shame that physical attacks in Devil Survivor 1 paled in comparison to
magic, and at times proved almost useless, but I digress. In more ways than one, he was a valuable
ally.
And -- as is the
standard with SMT games -- Atsuro
gets his fair share of plot threads. As
an ultra-skilled hacker, he’s linked up with plenty of fellow tech experts out
there on the web, one of which you meet inside the lockdown. Unfortunately, things don’t go too well; the
friend dies before Atsuro’s eyes, but not before giving him a valued bit of
information stored away on his ruined DS COMP. It doesn’t take long for him to crack the
code and get everything he needs -- namely, the chance to blow a huge
government plot wide open (hint: it involves rigging every electronic device in
the country with a chip that will make it exude super-magnetic death rays. Wait, that’s an oddly specific hint…). While it’s only tangentially related to the
main plot, it does show an important part of Atsuro’s character: he’s
duty-bound -- perhaps even honor-bound -- to use his skills to overcome any
challenge. He wants to see better days
with his friends, and believes that technology, when used correctly, can push
humans into a brighter future. Remember
this for later, because there’s a quiz.
Well, if it'll get me closer to catching Carmen Sandiego...
Atsuro also has a
personal stake in the matter -- one that signals one of the darkest moments in
the entire game. You meet Keisuke Takagi.
Keisuke, once upon a
time, was Atsuro’s good buddy. The
former had a bit of a righteous streak, always standing up to bullies and
defending the little guy. An admirable
trait, of course, but their reunion makes Atsuro worry; the passionate knight
that he once knew has been replaced by a meek, stuttering pacifist. Nevertheless, you invite him into the party
and he proves to be quite useful. That
is, until he finds out that another character is going to be killed in a
riot. And then you find out just how
passionate Keisuke can be.
He goes absolutely
berserk. Berserk. He immediately
leaves the party, chooses to deliver justice to the wicked, and even manages to
summon a supreme demon of judgment with nothing but his thoughts. He then proceeds to slaughter anyone that
opposes him, ranging from street punks to would-be demon tamers to civilians
that don’t measure up to his standards.
More than any other character, Keisuke’s fate is in your hands; pull off
the right moves/dialogue choices, and he rejoins your party. Screw up, and Keisuke gets gutted by Pazuzu
and cast aside. Onscreen. As in, you literally see the life drain out
of him.
Atsuro wants to do all
he can to save Keisuke, and begs the MC (you) to do the same. If you manage to pull it off, he’s
thankful. If you don’t…actually, he
still handles it pretty well. He shows
his remorse, sure, and he doesn’t just forget about his old friend, but Atsuro
shows remarkably little angst about it.
I’d argue that Keisuke’s death -- in spite of the multiple playthrough
angle of the game -- is the canon outcome.
In case the demon outbreak wasn’t enough of an impetus to get it in
gear, Keisuke’s death is a grim reminder of the stakes, and an underlying yet
vital part of Atsuro’s development.
As is killing this guy. Because he's ugly.
See, whether you
succeed or fail in saving Keisuke, Atsuro remains loyal to the MC. He remains loyal to you if you decide to try
and escape the lockdown (which isn’t a very good idea). He remains loyal to you if you decide to side
with God and the angels, and have humanity submit to divine rule. He remains loyal to you even if you become the
king of demons and use them to bend the world as you see fit (personally, this
ending made me regret completing a game for the first time in my life). He’s with you every step of the way, ensuring
that you succeed and your enemies are defeated -- perhaps, as a measure to
avert the pain he felt just days earlier.
He already lost Keisuke; he won’t, lose you.
Thankfully, you can
return the favor. All the endings in
this game are tied to specific characters.
That means that if you team up with the daughter of a cult leader, you
get to work towards the servant of God ending.
Hang with your dickish cousin, and you become the evil-eyed demon
king. In my first playthrough, I chose
to side with the local bartender, and restored some semblance of peace in Japan
and the rest of the world -- a very simple, very humble ending.
Tag-team with Atsuro,
however…
Quiz time! Atsuro campaigns with the MC and their allies
-- facing off with cult members, demons made out of demons, and a supra-magical
organ -- to fulfill a certain goal. Given
the evidence, what was the ultimate summation of that goal?
A) Reset the damage
done to Japan
B) Seal off the demons
forever more
C) Use the demons to
their advantage
D) Overload the
demon-summoning system with hacking
E) Upload a virus into
the demon world, forcing a retreat to tend to their affairs
There’s no “all of the
above” here. There’s only one answer:
and that, my friends, is C.
I'll get you next time, Carmen. Next time, you're mine!
Atsuro’s
ending doesn’t just restore everything to the status quo; in line with his
ideal of “using technology to create a better world,” pursuing his ending has
the techno-sage placing demons under the control of humans. Their powers, once feared and devastating,
are now capable of being used for humanity’s benefit. Atsuro had been pondering it and hinting
about this thread throughout more than half of the game, and acting on it lets
you see just what might happen. To wit:
The times, they are a’changin.
I’d argue that what ISN’T
shown in that clip is a lot more important than what is. Ignoring the threat of humanity losing
control of the demons if they’re not careful, there’s still the implication of
all the myriad possibilities. Atsuro
almost single-handedly ensures a transformation the likes of which the world
has only seen a few times before. Nobody
would ever have guessed that the Internet, for example, would change things as
much as they have; the possibilities that lie in wait from using demons (and by
extension, the summoning program and harnessing thought energy) are several
million times more staggering and diverse.
It’s acknowledged that this COULD bring up societal and legal issues
(just like the Internet), but Atsuro’s willing to make that leap for the sake
of progressing humanity’s state-of-being.
Granted that was a choice forced upon the cast by virtue of a demon
apocalypse, but the fact still remains that between “let’s turn everything back
to normal” and “let’s make everything potentially better than normal,” Atsuro made a stand, offered his argument, and
finally used his skills to make his aims a reality.
Tl;dr: Atsuro doesn’t
just save the world. He opens the door
to a brave new world.
Isn’t it sad that
Atsuro -- again, like Yosuke before him -- isn’t the main character? Nor is he (as far as I can tell) ever referenced
again in Devil Survivor 2. It’s baffling, in my opinion; Atsuro proves
himself to be one of the most proactive characters in a JRPG; his line of
thinking isn’t just “beat the bad guys and make everything peaceful again.” But in spite of his lofty goals, or maybe
because of them, he’s still just a regular, seventeen-year-old goofball. He pokes fun at girls. He laughs out loud. His eyes twinkle whenever there’s awesome tech
around. But there’s one factor that
rises above all else.
Atsuro’s your bro. And he’s fighting for your sake.
Well, that’ll do for
now. Tune in next time when I tackle
alien ice cream with a cargo truck.
It's canon.
No comments:
Post a Comment