Devil Survivor 1: An End to the Ordinary

(The game starts with an opening monologue set to the tune Demon of Darkness.)

Man is now a race of some power.

You, son of man,

must face the power you hold.

And you must face your destiny as well…

: Hey, Yuzu. I just got an email from Naoya. He wants to know if we can hang out tomorrow.

: Naoya? Isn’t that “his” cousin?

: What’s with the airquotes?

: I should be free tomorrow…

I am your judgment.

I sundered the tongues of your fathers and shattered their arrogant power.

: Just take your time. “The language of song is boundless.” Do what your heart tells you…

If you have the will to challenge your destiny of battle, son of man, state your name…

(I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.)

As He proclaimed, this world, created in seven days, shall be destroyed by the sounding of seven trumpets.

You who have a will,

fear the numbers your eyes shall see.

Fear the time left…

(And with that, the intro cutscene is finally over. It’s still not gameplay time yet, though.)

Mid-August…

The summer of your second year of high school is almost over.

People visiting Tokyo have begun traveling back home.

It feels as if there are fewer people about in Shibuya…

years ago,

: Glad to see I have a deep and interesting backstory.

suddenly called for you to meet him outside 901…

: I’ve still got the text, too: “Reach 901. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure.” Guy’s kind of a freak.

Boy: Hey, Trielo! Over here!

A boy carrying his laptop computer runs up to you.

: Real nice of Naoya to make us meet him outside on a hot, sunny day like this. Your cousin’s a jerk.

: Of course he is. Didn’t you see his character portrait?

: Yeah, dude’s totally a villain. Anyway, I haven’t seen you since school ended. How’s your summer been? Is everything good?

: We got lucky this time. You know I love SMT.

: Damn straight. Still, it’s kind of boring right now. I couldn’t think of anything to do, so I spent all day on my laptop.

: Well, you gotta give the game some time. We’re still in the opening cutscene.

Girl: Oh, there you are! I’ve been looking for you guys!

: Aw man, when was the last time I had a YooHoo? I love those things.

: Don’t call me Yoohoo! My name is Yuzu! Sheesh, would you stop calling me that stupid nickname? Even boys at school are calling me “Yoohoo,” and it’s all your fault!

: Heheh.

: And it’s not just our class! Some of our teachers actually think my name is “Yoohoo.”

: That’s… highly implausible.

: It’s all because people like you keep calling me that!

: Haha, it’s working!

: Huh? Oh, that’s right! I ran into Naoya a moment ago, and he asked me to give these to Atsuro and you. He said that something’s come up and he won’t be able to make it.

: He bailed on us? I knew that guy was a jerk.

: Hey, who cares? Free stuff.

: Here, take them. They were a pain to carry around in my bag, too.

Yuzu opens her bag…

: For a villain, he gives pretty sweet presents.

: I wish my cousins gave out free DSes for no reason.

: Aren’t these those Communication Player things? I’ve seen commercials for them before. They’re like, “Play with people from around the world!”

: No, that’s definitely a DS.

: Well, yeah, but for the moment let’s pretend they are. “Communication Player” isn’t a very catchy name, though, so people just call them COMP- oh.

: Bugger.

: This isn’t gonna end well.

: Well, that just confirms it.

: Wait, why are we upset? This is great!

: Oh, yeah! This is where the cool stuff starts to happen, right?

: Alright, let’s get this game rolling.

Atsuro opens one of the COMPs and looks at it with wonder…

: Any demons yet?

: Wait, Nintendo let that through? I thought homebrew was taboo or something.

: What… Do you mean he made that himself? Is that even possible?

: Of course. Didn’t you know? Naoya’s famous among us programmers. He’s a genius! Something like this would be no problem for him.

: I’m surprised you knew that.

: Hey, sometimes you just gotta keep the plot rolling.

: I had no idea. Is he really that good?

: Hmm… Looks like I can’t open this folder. Must be protected.

: Protected…?

: C’mon, really? It’s not that hard a concept.

: You mean, it’s set so other people can’t mess with it? We can’t look inside, then.

: Not like we have much choice. That’s where the plot is.

: Of course. Here, let me get on it.

Atsuro connects the COMP to his laptop and begins typing furiously…

: …Huh!? H-hey, Atsuro! What’re you doing?

: What’s it look like? I’m gonna smash this folder wide open.

: You’re hacking it…? Hey, Naoya’s gonna be angry if you do that!

: Don’t be stupid. He wants us to.

: Exactly. Locking their data is how villains say “Hey, this is important! Come look at it!” It’s like a friendly greeting, except not.

: That doesn’t make any sense! Why can’t he just say “hello” like a normal person?

: Shut up, Yuzu. Atsuro, I want that folder open ASAP. I’ll bet that’s when the demons come in.

: You got it! Hehe, I can’t wait. Isn’t this great?

: No! Only someone like you would find this exciting, Atsuro!

: You just don’t get it ’cause you’re not a nerd.

: Oh, look, icons. Now we’ve got a proper HUD.

: Looks like we’ve got mail. Here, check it out.

Atsuro gave you a COMP!

on the corpse are consistent with an attack by a large carnivorous beast.

2. A large explosion will occur in Minato-ku Aoyama at 19:00. The cause is unknown.

3. At 21:00, a blackout will affect the entire Tokyo metropolitan area.

Have a nice day.

: Good job. You learned how to read.

: He’ll be attacked by some carnivorous beast…

: Not quite, but whatever.

: …!? What kind of news is this!? That’s so creepy…

: I think I saw this on an episode of Psych.

: What’s with all the yellow?

: Hey! That’s not the point!

: I’m the main character here, aren’t I? The point’s whatever I say it is.

: It also said there’ll be a blackout in Tokyo today…

: Let me guess- you left your PS2 running and didn’t save. Again.

: I almost beat the Matador, too…

: That’s enough! This is way too creepy!

: What, you never got email from the future before?

: I bet Naoya knew you were gonna tinker with the COMPs and played a trick on us.

: I doubt it. If you’re gonna mess with someone, sending them an email from the future is way more effective than pretending to send them an email from the future.

: Anyway, we still haven’t summoned any demons yet, so I’m gonna keep looking. Go kill some time until I figure it out. Oh, and take the COMPs! The non-demon-related parts still work, so we might as well get some tutorials in.

Atsuro leaves the area to take a closer look into the COMP…

: You’re gonna be a pain in the ass all game, aren’t you?

: Um… what should we do, Trielo? Why don’t we wander around until Atsuro’s done?

You and Yuzu leave the 901…

: Didn’t you just ask me that?

: We can go kill time in Shibuya, or go somewhere else. I’m okay either way, Trielo!

Press the X button to open the COMP menu, where you can save the game, among other things.

The help text at the bottom of the screen describes the currently highlighted option.

: Can it, magical tutorial voice. What are my options?

This is essentially our world map. Places marked with a clock icon are story events. I’m leaving this up to you- should we hang with Atsuro or chat up ???

: Wait, we’re letting the Internet decide? Goddammit.