Overview

Just like its predecessor, the pre-orders of Digital Devil Saga 2 were rewarded with a promotional bonus. This time Atlus wetted appetites with a DVD featuring nine music tracks and three visual tracks. The music tracks this time give a wider perspective on Shoji Meguro's soundtrack for the game with a blend of vocal themes, battle tracks, and more intimate efforts. However, it obviously didn't intend to be a far-reaching effort to avoid spoiling the game and, of course, the sales of the subsequent soundtrack release. Let's take a closer look at the major entries...

Body

First of all, "Alive" opens the album and it's epic J-Pop at its best... or maybe worst... I don't know. The entire track just feels wrong to me. All of the familiar instrumentation choices from Meguro are there, including the fast intricate wailing guitars and the techno elements, but the vocal performance is very hard to listen to. If you like funky dance music, you might like this track, but all I can say is skip skip skip! Phew, now that that one is out of the way, it's worth discussing one of the game's main themes, "Om Mani Padme Hm". It bears many similarities to "Never Ending Rain" in its composition and melodic style, mirroring the piano and string combination, with some of the same chord work. But on the whole, this piece gives a sense of hope, where "Never Ending Rain" was more sadness. I'll likely touch more on this piece later on in the review with other tracks.

Moving on to the action themes, "Battle for Survival" keeps many of the familiar battle elements of the subseries such as the drum kit and guitar melodies. However, it enhances them with truly frantic synth work in the background. When you listen to this track on its own, it provides far too much energy to listen to it without having it become boring, but in the game itself, it works quite well. "Madness" sounds very much like its name, and takes the frantic approach of the synth in the previous track to a whole new level. Everything in this track sounds like the speed has been randomly turned up to eleven, while a simple piano and guitar melody makes its way through the mess of synth.

"Inherent Will" is a softer, slower, piano track with synth beds. Light strings appear in the piece, adding to the emotional piano melody — something that wavers between sadness and true despair. The second half of this piece totally drops away, while the piano melody becomes the focus. This builds to a powerful conclusion where the piano extends into the foreground, supported by strings and brass. This piece accompanies some of the most powerful and emotional cut scenes in the game, and its overall sound is certainly appropriate. Looking at one last rather interesting offering, "Man Hunting" is an entirely synth driven track, with a low saw-tooth melodic pattern, accompanied by heavy techno beats and light guitar work. This piece is extremely repetitive, but it doesn't try to be more than what its made of, which gives the track its real sense of funk.

Summary

The DVD provided a good reason to buy the game back in 2007. The music tracks demonstrate that Meguro has kept his flair since Digital Devil Saga while introducing a few new elements to the franchise. The three videos were also stunning viewing and gave a good insight on what to expect from the enjoyable game. I'm not sure that the package has much purpose these days, but it's a good enough reason to both purchase the game and the Digital Devil Saga Avatar Tuner 1 & 2 Original Soundtrack Integral for anyone who happens to stumble on a second-hand copy these days.