u/NoStupidQuestion7955

Now before you go ahead and downvote me, this is not a hate post aimed at Nocturne. I understand what it tried to do and in some ways, I can even appreciate it for setting the stage for later games to build upon but I cannot in good faith say that I like it as much as other people do and that's due in no small part to how it portrays its alignments.

The Reasons in Nocturne do not follow Law, Chaos and Neutral in the traditional sense. Rather, they embrace broader existential concepts whose labellings are largely a matter of interpretation.

My issue with Nocturne is how little connective tissue there is between Isamu and Chiaki as they were before the Conception and after they develop their Reasons. Hikawa is an even more blatant example as he was already radicalised before the events of the game. It is basically just assumed you will be able to put yourself in their shoes but we are simply given too little insight to believe they would go so far and advocate for such dystopic realities.

But that is only half of the issue. Even if we were to overlook these characters' lack of motivations with the context of that aspect not being the main focus of SMT, it still doesn't change the fact that the way the narrative is structured and how their ideologies are presented makes them come off as little more than bad endings in all but name. Ironically, what was envisioned to make the alignments in Nocturne more nuanced than its predecessors ended up having the opposite effect in my opinion.

I'll be directly comparing Hikawa and Ronaldo as an example. Both of these men sought to create a world of everlasting peace, making them what most would see as the most cut and dried take on Law. However, both men also display traits commonly associated with Chaos. Hikawa was originally a member of the Cult of Gaia with a vision of humanity reaching equality with God and Ronaldo is a hot-blooded man whose hatred for Yamato often gets in the way of his judgement.

You can probably guess where I am going with this... Hikawa does a horrible job at selling the Reason of Shiijima. He talks of a world of perfect bliss but exhibits an utter lack of empathy or remorse for any of the lives lost in pursuit of his ideal world. How do I know he is not just going to throw me under the bus the second I present the smallest inconvenience to his plan? Oh, wait! That's exactly what he did! Before you had any idea who he was or what was going on with the world, he immediately decides you are a threat and would've killed you had Yuko not stepped in! Yeah, no thanks, I am not going to create a world based on the wishes of a madman!

Now, what if you took Hikawa and turned him into a more charismatic character who puts a greater emphasis on humanity's potential to be better? The answer is the funny Brazilian communist boi Ronnie. Ronaldo is a deeply flawed character for the reasons I already mentioned and whether humanity will be able to truly develop as a species in his world of Equality without any competitive spirit or willingness to challenge ideas is left very much dubious. At the same time, the game also makes the appeal in his philosophy blatantly clear to the player. Regardless of whether you agree with him or not, a world where everyone actively does what they can to help their fellow man is certainly a nice thought. A big smirk rolled up my face when I saw that Joe was on his side because yeah, why wouldn't he be, given the situation he had with his girlfriend? It certainly does help that Ronaldo actually recognises his own wrongdoings and learns to apply his justice to everyone, not forcing anyone's hand to join him and sparing even Yamato on his route.

And that's only those two. I can easily rip Chiaki and Lucifer a new one and talk about how much better Yamato and Alcor are or how it is nice that for once in the series, assuming you do not meet the requirements to unlock the Triumphant ending (which would be hard won anyway, given its steep requirements so, fair enough...), Neutral is not the objectively morally correct ending. Frankly though, I think I have already gotten my point across.

In my opinion, Devil Survivor 2 has one of the best alignment systems in the series, up there with Devil Survivor 1 and the Canon of Vengeance storyline of the rereleased SMT V. If more games did their alignments the same way as DeSu 2, I think SMT's reputation for disproportionately favouring certain alignments over others would, if not go away entirely, become a lot less egregious at the very least.

Recently, I got around to beating Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker and I really enjoyed it. In celebration of what I think is one of the most underrated games in the series, I wanted to ask all people who've played it for their favourite ending in the Septentrione arc.

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