Demon Gaze II Review

Player(s): 1
Platforms: PS Vita, PlayStation 4

Do you find yourself playing a dungeon-crawler RPG and think that it could use a touch of a dating sim to make the whole thing go a little smoother? Well, if you've ever thought that then you might want to check out Demon Gaze II, the latest game from Kadokawa Games and published by NIS America!

So you say you want a revolution?

I'm a sucker for title drops.

The game drops you into the role of Signa (or a name of your choosing) who has forgotten his memory and finds himself a member of a revolutionary group who is rebelling against the corrupt ruler of Asteria, a powerful figure named Magnastar. Now our hero isn't just a wandering swordsman or a mercenary, he's a "Demon Gazer" and being a Demon Gazer this means he has the ability to control demons and use them to help the Revolutionary Party to liberate the masses. In other words our main character recruits demons to join our dungeon crawling party. The supporting cast do their best to help out the cause, but this is mostly a solo affair. If the rest of the Revolutionary Party don't take part too much in the action then how does the Revolutionary Party get its message out there? Well they use the radio of course! That's right, you're a rebel demon-controlling fighter who also helps out a pirate radio station. It really has to be said that this story might have its share of JRPG tropes (the hero who's lost his memories for example) but it has more than enough unique elements to let it stand above the rest of this somewhat overcrowded genre. How does the rest of the game itself stand up though you ask? Well, let's take a look.

Pirate Radio: The Dating Sim

Prim is definitely my favorite character here.

First let's talk a bit about graphics and art design. Graphics aren't going to truly impress anyone, but everything here looks great, decent spell effects and the like don't disappoint or distract from the experience. The art style on the other hand has a few issues with consistency. For the most part the designs and art are amazing, but there are some character portraits that feel like they were designed by a completely different team (Most of the demonize forms come to mind) but this isn't exactly a detriment to the game, it was just something that occasionally drew me out of the game. Since this is a dungeon crawler type RPG, there isn't too much else in the way of actual graphics or dynamic cut scenes, think visual novel and you'll have an idea of what to expect here. Similar to my thoughts on the first game, while I found the character designs to be great, I thought the monster designs were mostly lacking (also suffering from that inconsistency thing I mentioned earlier) and depended heavily on similar-looking or palette-swapped enemies to fill out their roster; a technique that I'll admit has been seen in JRPGs since day one, but it's 2017 and I think a little more effort could be placed into this department. It also probably goes without saying that the most care and attention seemed to be placed on the design of the female cast and it does show in the artwork.

Sound and music are nice. There are some really good tracks here, but for a game that focuses on a pirate radio station and with plot elements revolving around songs that could be used to control people I was surprised to find that there was very little emphasis on music. Don't get me wrong none of the music is truly bad, but it doesn't stand out as much as I think it should in this title. Also the limited number of vocal tracks (especially from Prim, the Revolutionary Party's songstress) was somewhat of a let-down. Now while I do feel that the music that is present is pretty good, I have to put one gripe out there; the normal battle theme is COMPLETELY out of place and since this is a song you hear a lot in the game it grated on me after a while. Voice acting is also good here, but it's your typical anime-style fare with all the tropes and stereotypes in characterization you're probably expecting to see here. With that said, seeing as most of the lines in this game were spoken far slower than I was reading the text (a problem with a lot of visual novels I play actually) I ended up skipping through most it. I must say that I don't feel I was missing much from what I did hear. Before we move away from sound there is one true complaint with the voice acting; the quips your characters make when they're in battle or when they bump into a wall in a dungeon get VERY annoying VERY quickly and I found myself wishing for an option to turn these off completely. None of these knocks against the sound design really bring the game down, but it's safe to say that sound is probably the weakest aspect of the game even though it is by no means bad.

A clip from the "maintenance" segments.

A clip from the "maintenance" segments.

Now we all come to this type of game for the gameplay and this is indeed where the game shines. The core gameplay revolves around you encountering a story scene, entering a dungeon, completing the dungeon and defeating the demon controlling it, and then training your party for the next one. This is all standard fare, but Demon Gaze II has several elements that keep you coming back to the game. Central to the game's mechanics is the "Maintenance" system which is where you improve your demons stats and skills. Demon Gaze II takes on the harem model for its party structure with all your party members being female and your male protagonist able to win them over (and increase stats/skills) by doing specific actions and placing them in their own decorated room, etc. Get a high enough level with your chosen demon and it's time for a date! I originally thought that this was just a random side part of the game and ignored it and found myself having a hard time getting through the game before I realized that this was central to building up your party. In other words, this is indeed a core element to the game just as strong as the dungeon crawling. While it can be a little grinding at times, it also serves to break up what otherwise could have been a monotonous experience. Anyhow, speaking of having a hard time with this game, Demon Gaze II can be pretty unforgiving, especially in the beginning where you only have one other member in your party. Similar to the "call for help" mechanic in the Pokémon Sun/Moon games, monsters have the ability to call for help during battles. The problem with this is that if you only have two party members you will waste turns killing one only to have the surviving monster(s) summon allies and draw a simple random battle out for several minutes. This happened to me several times in the first hours of gameplay and the game seems very oddly balanced for starting players. You can easily lower and raise the difficulty in-game though so this is somewhat a non-issue. My advice is to drop the difficulty until you get a full party and then ramp it up for the rest of the game. There is challenge and then there is just annoyance.

What else does this game have to offer besides dungeon crawling and dating? Well, a lot actually. There is a mechanic where you raise the support of your radio station (mostly automatic it seems though) and the way you complete the dungeons themselves is fairly unique involving the placing of gems that help you to control certain areas of a particular dungeon. Many of these elements are carried over from the first Demon Gaze game. While we're on the topic of the first game it should be noted that this game is largely a sequel in name only. While the game does share several core gameplay elements (and even some characters) they are largely independent of each other and each offer different core gameplay experiences. This is important for those who might be jumping into the series here at the second entry. Now there is actually a bit too much to talk about when it comes to gameplay and I can rattle on forever about it, but while a lot of it seems overwhelming at first, it has to be said that a lot of it can be mostly ignored with no detriment to your play through. So don't worry about it if you start up the game and you're wondering how you're going to get more gems, how you're going to build up your party, or what those totals mean after your broadcasts. It'll mostly take care of itself and you can just focus on the game proper. I will speak briefly about the flow of the game though. After the initial small-party hiccups I had, I actually found myself enjoying the dungeon crawling aspect of this game a lot, like I found this to be the part that I wanted the game to stay focused on. The problem with Demon Gaze II is that the new dating sim mechanics are as important to the game as the dungeon crawling and while I did eventually grow to enjoy these segments too, I initially found them too time-consuming and thought that they ruined the flow of the game. This wasn't the only complaint I had with the flow of the game though. There were times when I felt that the dungeon exploring aspect was secondary to not only the dating, but the visual novel elements in general. This means that long cut scenes, most of which can be rather silly, eat up hours of game time. It's almost like three games were being made here, a dungeon crawler, a dating sim, and a standard visual novel. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though, and these all complement each other as the game goes on, but it definitely takes some getting used to. My advice is to go in expecting this clash of genres and embrace it for what it is and not expect the most cohesive of experiences.

Meeting up with some demons.

Some battle goodness.

So we've reached the end of this review. Is this the game for you? If you're a fan of dungeon explorer RPGs or JRPGs in general then you really can't go wrong with this title. It's been a while since I found myself so addicted to one and I'm sure I'll pour many more hours into it once this review is completed. It is currently available on both the PS Vita and PS4. I believe the first game was only available on the Vita so this cross-platform approach took me a bit by surprise. That being said I think this game lends more to handhelds and feels at home on the Vita. This is supported by the fact that not only can you play the first game on the platform, but it is also home to many other similar dungeon crawling RPGs. However you manage to get this game though, I strongly recommend it as you get a lot of bang for your buck here, and I encourage everyone to get it fast as there are several DLC add-ons that are currently free within the launch window. At the time of this review this means you have one more week to pick up this free DLC. Anyhow, get it where it where you can and let's hope we see a Demon Gaze III in the future!

-Manuel (alavic_222)

(Note: This review is based on the PS Vita version of the game.)

You can find out more about Demon Gaze II here:
http://nisamerica.com/games/demongaze2/

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Graphics: AMAZING
Sound/Audio: AMAZING
Gameplay/Story: AMAZING
Value: EXCEPTIONAL
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OVERALL: AMAZING

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Disclaimer: This game was provided to us by the publisher for the purpose of this review.