The original Digital Devil Saga has a story wrapped up in Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2, which is a direct sequel to the original game. In the original game, the leaders of the many Junkyard tribes were engaged in a bloody conflict with one another to scale the Karma Tower and make their way to Nirvana. This romantic country had been promised to them. The winner of their competition was Serph, chief of the Embryon tribe and the main character of the series. After a long and winding journey, he and his companions have arrived in Nirvana. Still, they are disappointed that it is not the paradisiacal place they had envisioned. The sun has gone pitch black, and everyone exposed to its rays will turn to stone. The only people who will not be affected by this are those afflicted with the Demon Virus. The Karma Society has risen to power and taken control of the world; its members now reside in a city cloaked in a massive solar shield. The only way for Serph and his companions to find out the truth about their identities and the parts they were compelled to play in the leaders’ plots is for them to confront the organization’s leaders.
The gameplay elements of the previous game also carry over almost entirely into the sequel’s gameplay. In turn-based combat against randomly met demons, characters can either fight as humans with firearms or transform into monsters, in which case they get access to spells and other unique skills. The game adds a third option to these two options: characters can choose to go crazy, effectively pausing in the middle of their demon metamorphosis. This results in a significant increase in their physical power; however, it also results in a substantial decrease in their defense.
Like it worked in the first game, buying and mastering new Mantras grants the playable characters additional abilities. Characters can speed up acquiring these skills by consuming the experience of their adversaries by employing their special powers. In contrast to the first, the second game gives the player more leeway in selecting which Mantra to buy; they are not limited to a set number of ways on the Mantra field. Because the Mantras are linked to one another on a hexagonal grid, it is possible to progress to any Mantra immediately adjacent to one already obtained.
