quote Concrete

So I'd just have to put more effort into learning special skills if I only buy DDS2?

You'll have to put effort in learning skills in both DDS, because this isn't a RPG for soft-gamers, while I consider this game to have a medium difficulty setting even in hard mode, this game can be considered really hard for RPG beginners or soft-gamers. What I'm trying to say is that if you find, let's say, Final Fantasy X hard you won't last long in this games, after all Final Fantasy X is one of the easiest RPGs out there. So put effort on leveling characters , customizing them and learning different mantras (skills)
Side-note: The "special" skills I mentioned in my previous post can ONLY be learned if you made the right choices in both DDS1 and DDS2 and you loaded your DDS1 data to DDS2

quote Concrete

Are there any sub-quests or anything?

There are side-quest in both DDS1 and DDS2, I strongly recommend you to do the DDS1 ones because it will give you many bonuses in DDS2.

quote Concrete

I was hoping for a game that would have a larger total gameplay time.

Actually there are even shorter RPG games, I thought that the gameplay length was medium, but hey if you add up both DDS it's like 80+ hours.

quote The Ellimist

Its also important to note that if you replay the game (either one), your mastered skills will be carried over into the replay.

Yeah you are right, I forgot about that, thanks for posting it

hi, im hotaru91 from malaysia, finished up dds2 last year, just looking around if u guys might need help with the game.. XD

Hello, my name is Quizzy.

I'm a huge fan of the Shin Megami Tensei series and i'm a huge fan of the DDS series.

I just finished DDS1 (which was amazing) and now i'm moving on to this game.

I can definitely see some improvements in this game and i'm really excited to play it.