Devil Summoner Let's Play Pt 1

Alright, I've been inspired by the brave anon who tried to make it through Devil Summoner before, I'm going to attempt it now. It seems the anon before had emulator issues that I've hopefully resolved.

My Japanese translation ability is low-intermediate level, so it may take a bit. I'm compiling a website that I'll post here as a recap every once in a while, and I'll try to post videos of bosses.

Well, here's my starting info. One interesting thing I don't remember the anon from before mentioning is that Devil Summoner actually lets you name the city the protag lives in, as well as choosing his occupation.

In this case I've just left it as the defaults:
平崎市、朝日区. [Hirasaki City, Asahi Ward]

I chose student as my occupation, but some of the other options are "part-time worker", "self-employed", "unemployed"... you get the idea. I don't know how these affect the story.

Anyway, after you enter your info, you receive a message from a guy named Redman. He introduces himself and talks a bit about Hirasaki City-- it's by the ocean, has nice parks, and has a surprisingly rich history to it. Some yakuza activity, but otherwise a nice place to live.

After Redman's brief little message, your mom interrupts you and tells you there's a phone call. Surprise, it's your girlfriend 久美子 [Kumiko]!

Apparently she wants to go to the opening of a seaside park, and wants to meet at a cafe named アフロ "Afro" before heading over there.
Anyway, mom and dad give us their blessing to go out on a date with Kumiko and shoo us out the door.

So after fussing around in my house for a while seeing all the things I could do [net access, saving, talking to mom and dad etc], it's time to go outside. Here's the charming early-3D world map.

Totally ignoring my girlfriend like a real SMT protagonist, I wandered into that big orange building you can see on the map and met this lady who wouldn't let me go any further in. Apparently this is the "Dry Casa" カーサ乾.

She says a bunch of cryptic stuff about "thirst" which I can only guess will be revealed in more detail later.

Anyway, after wandering around town talking to random women, I finally went to a different district and went to the coffee shop. It seems the coffee shop is named after the owner's hairstyle...

Turns out Kumiko was running late, so I ordered some coffee and waited for her. Later, she showed up and asked if I was mad at her for being late.

Options:
"I'm mad."
"I'll forgive you if you drink a Tabasco and Coke."

I told Kumiko to drink the tabasco and coke and she told me to stop messing around, and then ignored me for a news broadcast. Best girlfriend.

The news broadcast is about the city council's plans to expand the city. The broadcaster says it's moving along well and the politicians are all very excited that it's finally coming to fruition.

Kumiko says she's against it because she claims they're destroying old buildings but not building news ones in their place, then she asks me what I think.

>I agree with it
>I'm against it
>I need to hear more about it
>Say nothing

I'm guessing this somehow shapes the outcome of the story but I'm still really not sure.

I agreed with Kumiko on what she thought, not sure whether that gets me Chaos or Law points but I doubt they'd lock me into one alignment just based on this so I'm not too worried about it.

Anyway, after that Kumiko says she's gotta go to the library to pick up a book. So we head over to the library which is 3D and explorable! There are also a zillion people inside the library who are surprisingly talkative but have nothing really important to say.

Anyway after wandering about a bit we come to the shelf Kumiko is looking for and she gets the book. It's "Theories of Ancient Japanese Civilization" by Professor Azuma. Awesome.

She launches into a full-on dialogue tree assault about the book but it all seems to lead to the same result where she tells me more about the book.

Apparently, despite its boring title, it's a book that caused quite a sensation among professors of ancient Japanese history, because it describes a part of Japan where there were powerful magic users. Given what I know about this game's plot, it looks like this is pretty relevant to it.

Kumiko says that she doesn't believe what the book says though, and we head out of the library...

Of course, Kumiko forgot her ID card, so she asks me what she should do...

>Lend her my card [99% this is Law]
>Check the book out yourself
>Laugh at your girlfriend's failure [oh my god so tempting]

So I laughed about it, she told me to quit laughing of course...

Then she noticed I have my ID on me anyway and used it to check the book out and threatened to get me back later for laughing at her.

The librarian writes my name in the book [!] and tells her that the rental period is 1 week.

Then Kumiko says she's gotta go to the school next, so of course I'm coming along too. This unlocks a new district on the map, where the school is.

Unfortunately the front gate to the college is locked, so we have to around to the back she finds it's unlocked. She says it will take a while, so she sends me on an errand to go get tickets for the Seaside Amusement Park...

But upon arrival, there are demons there! A mysterious man appears and uses some crazy magic to turn them all into cards and then nukes them to death.

The guy tells me basically to get the hell out of the building or I'm going to die because it's been overrun by demons.

Then it's time to level up for doing ~absolutely nothing~ in the previous battle. I am the best experience leech.

Anyway, the guy says if I want to live I should follow him, and we head to the top floor where we meet this lovely guy named Takashi who wants to kill everyone in the building. Mystery man picks a fight with him and he summons some Pisacas.

Our mystery man makes quick work of the Pisacas he summons which pisses him off and causes him to run away. Afterwards I get 4 level up for doing nothing, once again.

Anyway, after beating up on Takashi, the mystery man escorts me downstairs... and suddenly a female voice calls out! It's Rei, the mystery man's partner-- and his name is actually Kyouji.

She gets angry at him for messing around and endangering me. She tells me to hurry on home and to take care.

Kyouji stops me because he's worried I'll tell someone what I saw, but Rei says that even if I told anyone, nobody would believe me! Kyouji gives in and says I can go.

Before leaving though I talk to her about the tickets Kumiko sent me to get, but she says the building where I could get them has been destroyed?!

So obviously the logical conclusion after hearing the building was destroyed was to run back to the cafe.

There, I saw a news story confirming the building had been destroyed. Also, apparently Kyouji had been injured somehow, and was taken to the hospital.

On my way out, I met some black dude with crazy hair who kidnapped me and took me to a warehouse.

He says, in no uncertain terms, that I'm going to die, and that he wants me to try to escape from the building before he kills me.

Of course, I don't escape, and he murders me. Then a cutscene plays of me being transported to the afterlife...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR10Ziolsi0

In true SMT style, I meet Charon on the other side, and he says that it's time for my soul to cross the Sanzu-no-Kawa (e.d. The River Styx).

However, before I can, I'm suddenly being pulled back, and Charon remarks that it seems like it's not really my time yet. Another short cutscene plays and...

I'm alive again and in the hospital, but something is unusual... apparently my soul is inside Kyouji, the man from before! The doctors and nurses and Rei all freak out for a while, then we head back to the detective agency. Rei says a bunch of stuff I'll translate tomorrow, I get a bunch of money and weapons, and that's all for tonight.

Notes
It's only my speculation but the large collection of white spheres might be a representation of the Amala universe, or an early prototype of the concept since this game came way before Nocturne.