I started this game yesterday, and I'm in the middle of chapter II. It didn't draw me in to the extent that other SMT games have, but it definitely has its charm. Music and art style are amazing as well. Too many random battles though 

Anyone else have any opinions on this game?

it wasn't too bad, didn't like it as much as Nocturne or persona though....I will definitely get the sequel though.

You mean Raidou 1? Yeah, I played it and didn't last more than 5 hours, the concept's fine, but there are things wrong, the encounter rate is far too high and in the fights you only slash-slash-slash. Overall, it's a weak link of the SMT series. I won't try the sequel

The Devil Children games are much worse, I picked up "Demi Kids" thinking "hey a portable SMT game, and what I got was a bad watered down pokemon clone.

@ zexen

Maybe you should give the sequel a chance. Here are some choice quotations from the RPGFan review.

"This time around, battles only occur in specific dungeons or the demon world."

"Combat has also been jazzed up something fierce. Whereas the last game took a lot of flack for the repetitive and ceaseless battles, King Abaddon has added all sorts of new features to make every fight feel like a chance to exercise your creative faculties."

"demon conversations have made their glorious return"

"what you have here is a very polished game which even folks who hated the last one will probably enjoy."

I read it, but I don't wanna play sequels when I haven't finished the first game, I feel like I'm missing parts of the story

I just got to chapter 8. I recommend that you give this another chance, it'll probably hook you soon enough, though I completely understand your gripes with the game. One you progress, they become less annoying, and the battles, though limited, are still somewhat fun.

On a side note, do you know a good website besides Ebay to buy DDS 1/2? The prices on Ebay are too high, and so is play-asia since the Canadian dollar is too low, causing unfair exchange rate pricing.

I found DDS 1 and 2 at a local Gamestop! Muahahhahaha!

Lucky! The only non-Persona SMT game that I've seen at a local EB Games was DDS1 for $54.99, and when I tried to buy it, the clerk told me that the disk was missing, and even if it wasn't, he would have snatched it up already.