Nobody knows bc nobody played it but this combat system is just Tokyo Mirage Sessions with the sessions that happened on each attack being placed at the end of the turn at one time in the form of Sabbath
@@harrisonwhaley7872 the fact sessions could chain into each other though was a pretty pivotal part of the session system, so from what I'm hearing this still sounds like a gimped version of that rather than the same or improved.
@@Namingway248 well it’s more regarding the fact that the largest complaint was how sessions were so time consuming. Having the sabbath at a set time and skipable is really what I meant by that. Plus this happens when you build up a stack on an enemy by hitting a weakness so when you finish your turn you could have a few stacks on a couple enemies and let sabbath deliver more damage to those same enemies you spent the turn attacking. I see what you mean about the potential for breaking sessions wide open but honestly it’s got entirely different enemy scaling to match those mechanics being so different so it’s not like the fights are any harder or easier really
Quick addendum the momentum thing I mentioned involving Ringo is an issue timed to the framerate on PC. If you set the framerate to unlimited it makes her move really slowly, setting it to 60 makes her move normally.
this is definitely the most honest review ive seen for this game, its cool that even though u got the game for free from atlus u still gave a completely honest opinion with no bias
The soul hacker games take place in the same timeline as ther persona games, which I always found weird. Not even like, the distant future. Kyouji Kuzunoha appears in Soul Hackers and Persona 2. It’s so odd because the Persona series seems pretty grounded in the real world, and yet here there was this super advance sifi city built not too long ago.
Well bare in mind that the Demons were real in Persona 1 and 2, that's why the Kuzonoha Detective Agency was around, they were even using GUMPS. Also SMT if... predates both Devil Summoner and Persona series as the female protagonist appears in both P1 and in 2 duology she's part of the Kuzonoha's.
@@dantemustdie00 Honestly, at points I kinda think that Persona doesnt follow the Devil Summoner/Raidou timelines. Like, do ANY Persona games ever mention anything about japan being invaded by a giant robot or a horde of demonic locusts with chainsaws in their faces during the 1930s!?
Atlus seems shaky when it comes to P1 and P2; mostly outside of Japan, especially after the ol' "americanization" of "Revelations" AKA Persona 1. the music really brings out the dread on PSX versions of Persona 1 and 2; but the gameplay is pretty cool. might have to look into a playthrough or something sometime just to see how P1 n 2 are.
I would love to see more of Ringo and Saizo, those two where great~ Also I feel like there where interesting ideas with the story/plot, even the group dynamics, yet they weren't really fleshed out or explored enough.
I left a similar comment on Nyarly's video, but the mechanical similarities this game has to Strange Journey just make me itch for a sequel to that game, either direct or spiritual. The ideal scenario would be something that captures or expands on the oppressive atmosphere of Strange Journey and preserves the classic 2D dungeon crawling, but expands on Demon Co-Op to result in something like the Sabbath system, and features a player character like Ringo who's just as characterized as the other cast members. It almost sounds like a joke to put it this way, but the easiest way to make that work might be a prequel-sequel game about Alex from Redux, following her through the lead-up to the apocalypse and into her decision to change history. (Which demands, of course, that you get to face off against The Marine as an optional superboss similar to Demi-Fiend)
Seems about to line up with the general impression and my surface-level observations. Maybe for completions sake down the line in a couple of years but I doubt it. My favourite part is fusion so the odd demon acquirement conditions will most likely frustrate me.
I am so with you on the press turn system not being present. It really was something I missed! I found that I appreciated the sabbath system a little more as I collected skills and what not but I feel like the press turn system would have really improved the combat altogether. I’m glad to see I’m not crazy for thinking the game was simply okay haha.
I hope Atlus doesn’t take the poor sales of this game as “we should stop making spin off games and only focus on SMT and Persona.”. A lot of the other Megaten series have cool concepts that would be interesting to see in the modern console generation. I’m personally holding out hope to see a new Digital Devil Saga game, or at least a remaster.
I’m definitely going to wait until it’s on sale. I’m finally playing through these games, and I’m surprised by how much I enjoy Nocturne, a game that’s 19 years older than this. I wonder if later systems in the game will make this unique, similar to how Tokyo Mirage Sessions has the session system and it expands during the game as you progress.
If there's anything Atlus takes away from this game, PLEASE let this be the end of blank slate protagonists. I'm sick of the character I'm playing as not having a personality of their own, let them be actual characters like Ringo!
That's one thing that I enjoyed alot with this game! Ringo was such a delight and fun to play as while also having such a cool design(like actual great fashion sense I'd wanna wear what she's wearing) Bland protagonists that just get praised and hyped up despite being so boring is getting stale and annoying nowadays
To me it have a lot of influence of Tokyo Mirage Sessions...the sabbath is like the encore system when you hit your enemy weakness, and the dungeons are really a lot like the TMS dungeons.
Have yet to play this myself, but the dungeons being annoying in that exact way and the combat having no press turns just makes the game sound like most pre-nocturne smt games. the dungeon map on the side at 19:00 made me go "damn, are we playing SMT If... right now?"
I thought i wasn't able to recruit because i was running around underleveled. They should really find a way to fix this because getting rejected in every single demon negotiation is just dumb ...
Personally, I just hope that Atlus don’t lose heart over the lukewarm reception of the game, because it has potential all being said. Also congrats on the Atlus sponsorship
Thank you for doing such a throw review. I'm a fan of a lot of atlas's RPG games and didn't know what this one was. You gave more information and honest thoughts than any of the professional gaming review sites on TH-cam. That aside it's a shame that the game is so "ok". Seems like something I'd be interested in trying if it was a part of PS Plus or something.
@@bimblor7945 a game being "ok" most of the time means it is uninspired/generic and/or utterly mediocre, considering soul hackers 2 is being sold at a whooping 60 dollars price not counting dlc, it's perfectly understandable why someone would pass on it. There are better games to get at that same price, such as atlus other recent titles, smt 5 and persona 5.
@@mizzix Soul Hackers 2 is better than SMTV in every way except the combat You should NOT be mentioning the game worse than smt4A and SJRedux as more worth it than Soul Hackers 2
Thank you for the review, I really want to know something about this game and there isn't a lot of people I can't trust to express what I need to hear.
soul hackers 2 is really the embodiment of "Its a game" Like I dont hate it, I'm enjoying my time with it, but its not something thats pushing my expectations out of the park you know? I dont think its a bad game, I still enjoy it and i'm excited to keep playing it, but thats all it is to me.
I agree with basically everything you say but I like it from what I played but it does feel off..I just really hope this does well enough so that Altus can maybe start making more spin offs or spin off sequels other than persona like if we get an announcement for Devil Survivor 3 I would go insane.
Saying this before watching the video, I got this game for Christmas and I'm enjoying it so far. This is my first Atlus game without 'Persona' in the name. The combat feels a lot like old-school Persona to me which isn't bad or great. But if the story and characters are good, I don't care about much else. I also like that Ringo, for one HAS a personality (stopped expecting that from Atlus prtoags besides Tatsuya and Maya mid-way through Persona 3) and I actually find her endearing. The characters models and the art are great though I do admittedly thing the one dungeon I've been through is a bit too bland. Here's hoping they improve but talk about not putting your best foot forward. I enjoy the city, just not the dungeons. Regardless I'm enjoying this game so far and can't wait to see how the story goes
Damn, if we couldn't require demons, they should have had an auction house (like in DeSu). It would fit thematically since a bunch of summers would totally buy and see demons. And I think that would be a better system then having this whimpy system
I mean, there is the Digital Devil Saga spin-offs. Which everyone treats in high regard. Despite having a set party with no negotiations of any kind. ...And I guess Jack Bros...? But everyone seems to love it in a ironic-memey fashion.
@@kuraux56s59 But conventions are made not on exceptions, but the norm. I think I have more of a problem with how this looks for the mechanic moving forward with the franchise. If there is an attempt to make this particular method the new norm, then I fell it would be a huge detriment to the series as a whole.
@@sdgundum990 You know... I can actually agree with you. But, to be honest. I really didnt mind the direction Soul Hackers 2 took. If anything, after SMT V. I am happy to have a Megaten game with an MC that is NOT silent. As well as characters than, rather than the lifeless cast of V. The cast here actually manages to evoke a feeling of... "...You know what? I actually CARE about what happens to these guys!"
@@kuraux56s59 Sure, I can agree with that too. Although I think a great deal of demon negotiation comes down to RNG, at the same time it removes a great deal of personality from the demons that they're not difficult to acquire as party members, and it grants the developers many ways of hiding surprise content in their interactions. Losing that, by doing a simple fetch quest, or giving a single life stone is really cheap. I think that's what the goal was in the end, making it cheap.
@@sdgundum990 When you put it like that, I hope this kind of thing is just a one-off thing for a spin-off. Rather than something that will stick permanently. After all, one of my favorite moments in Raidou 2. Was when. During a negotiation with a Nekomata. She just randomly asks The Capital's Protector... "How many kids should a couple have?" ...Excuse me!?
bought this to support a non-gacha game 10 hours into this and 100% agree w/ everything you've said i am a fusion addict so at least i can enjoy that part of it :P
I know exactly who to recommend this game to, i recommend this game to gamers who love rpgs but tend to focus more on gameplay and progression rather than story and characters
Thanks fither for looking out. I'll probably pass on this one as I was never that impressed by the trailer and the only discussion is could find on it was "oMg FEmAle pROTAgonIST" and "ohhh so pretty". I might watch someone play through the first few hours to see if it'll change my mind but i doubt it.
Yes if you skip half the side quests then you will be too low a level to recruit demons, do the side quests, level up, recruit demons, it's not complicated
I don't care what anyone else says. Ringo has a voice, and a fun personality. I already want to buy this game just because of that. I want Atlus to quit with the blank slate, voiceless protagonists.
So im still early on in the story (so please take this with a grain of salt) but so far I love everything except the not summoning demons when you attack, I love everything else about this game so much
I will say that i feel like the press turn system gets way overhyped. Like its fine but by the end of most games with them it boils down to just getting crits. The game is unique in that there is a back and forth in deciding if you want to do buffs and heals or want to get more stacks. I also feel like the game is a lot more enjoyable on hard.
People like the press turn system because it makes you strategize to end the fight efficiently, but this also accounts for your enemies just the same. It's makes for a fair battlefield, but in SH2 the combat is mostly mindless with little stakes at hand. When you do sabbaths, there are nothing but positive choices and that's it.
@@tryinglyon you say this but the same can be said about press turn. The only positive choice you can make is get more press turn The main difference is that i dont have to worry about a random miss fucking over my entire random enemy encounter. Emdgame press turn doesnt even really matter cause enemies dont have weakness.
@@zedreamcast4575 Except the negative in the press turn in the event that you do hit a weakness or critical, you can lose all your extra turns if you miss the target. You are actively accepting that when being dealt the cards and pursing using press turns. That's the risk and reward factor. And along with that, you have more flexibility with your options in what you want to do like use a specific ability or an item. You can't even focus your attacks onto a single target for max damage in SH2. It's always going to attack multiple enemies no matter what.
Damn did we play the same game cause I think it's great! Lol jokes aside I love this game but still do agree with a bunch of things you mention, like demon recruiting being weird and the gremlin in my brain telling me to hit weaknesses for more turns only to not have that happen. Also movement is still bizarre no matter how many times I claim I'm used to it and if we could see our demons alongside us in combat would really add to the whole "summoner" thing as opposed to being glorified equipment. Definitely not the type of SMT game that'll be for everyone, for me it gives me DDS vibes for some reason so maybe that's why I've ended up enjoying it so much. Great video as usual Fither!
Im probably in the minority, but i mostly play jrpgs for gameplay and progression, story and characters have always been secondary for me so gameplay focused games like this i absolutely adore
This game reminds me of Tokyo Mirage Sessions which from what I gather was just like “whatever it exists”. Which is a shame especially for something like soul hackers. Like, it’s tough really speaking on how these games should be since all I’ve played is Persona 5. So I don’t really have first hand experience unfortunately. However pretty much all I can say is negotiation and the actual battles could’ve been better for this game looking from the outside. I think the thing that’s really alluring about Soul Hackers aside for the setting and story is it’s fast paced, rock and roll combat. In this it seems pretty slow and kinda tedious like Pokémon almost(not the best comparison but hopefully you get my point). So I really think if it was more fast paced and the battle system was more unique(basically not ripping off persona). It wouldn’t be so meh you know? As for negotiation they literally could’ve just carried it over from another smt game like smt 5, or persona 5, or the original soul hackers. Basically any game with a pretty good negotiation system already and it would’ve been fine. I’m not sure why they did negotiations this way considering the first soul hackers wasn’t as tedious on this front. I think that’s about all I have to say.
This game is like persona but without the dating/school sim - which makes it more accessible to people who dont have time to play video games as much as they would like. Love p3 and p4, played p5 twice but never managed to finish it 🤷🏻♂️ Can understand why some people complain about the dungeons, but you CAN dash and its very easy to avoid enemies you dont want to fight.
U described every Devil Summoner game in one post. It is good in every way, but it is not great in one element - in exploration (maybe excpet music, because older Devil Summoner games have banger soundtracks).
10 hours into the game here’s my review: TLDR; repetitive and slow paced game. shares NOTHING in common with the original soul hackers other then its name. do not get famoosed by atlus so far my impressions are that the characters are visually unappealing and the story is so so. dungeons are extremely boring as they consist of just spamming skills to boost your movement speed and reduce encounters. quests feel extremely repetitive as they all fall under the fetch and collect category of backtrack to dungeon and collect item. combat is extremely slow due to not having the option to skip animations. and lastly more of an opinionated critique but they chose to leave out some of the most notable demons in the soul hacker series and instead elected to choose more recent demons.
It being called SH2 drove me off because it felt way too different with the new character designer and human party members. I'm not too into the way they tackled the aesthetic either this time
I actually really love the main party in this game but otherwise have basically the same opinions as you. Which is a shame because I really want to like the gameplay more.
To me the game is OK it's if you don't have any other games to play and you can get it for $30 or under that's when you get it. I payed full price and I'm OK with it but if I could have waited until it was under $30 I would be happier with it, it just not a game that is worth $60 .
@@louish5068 SMT V felt like Nocturne, SMT IV was the one kinda reminiscent of SMT 1, since it´s the only game where you see the fall of society (MIkado) excluding Devil Survivor and maybe NINE
I saw and i like characters, plot ok but gameplay is just boring and the dungeon are dull and have nothing! Also i feel like soul hackers is trying toooo hard to be persona, they should have used smt 5 gameplay of make it a dungeon crawler
I was honestly disappointed that they didn't bring back the rowed battle system of P1, P2 and Soul Hackers/Devil Summoner when I saw the trailers. But removing demon negotiation basically turned this game into a serial-numbers-filed-off Persona game, which is weird to say since P5 brought back demon negotiations after P3 and P4 dropped them.
In recent year I've been playing the shin megami series and I like their spin offs far more honestly; mirage sessions persona devil survivor absolutely loved them but so far mainline other then 4 and 4 apocalypse just felt mid if not boring this is the first spin off game I'm getting semi red flags for and going to wait till 40% to 50% off for thanks for the honest review
I beat SMT 5 and I started Soul hackers 2 and SMT 5 feels a lot better story wise and combat wise. I hope the soul hackers 2 combat gets more interesting and the story too later on cause I'm already bored of it
Honestly, (only a couple hours in at current) it seems very... Basic. Mechanically, Persona but dumbed down even harder... And i really don't gel with Ringo. She's really hard to empathise with for me. I was excited for a female protag, as i am a woman, but her being so robotic conceptually but then talking and acting like a memey 20 year old is... Hard for my brain to enjoy. I preferred Joker's level of personality more. Hell, even complete blank slates like Demi Fiend were easier to empathise with this early in the game... Still, I'm gonna push through it. Maybe it will grow on me by the end of the game.
I get what you mean man, granted I’m not far in the game, only 5 hrs in and I can’t really tell her personality at all, most of the characters don’t really have that edge factor to draw me to them besides Saizo and that’s because it’s a trope I kinda like. I thought I’d like arrow the most but he’s bland, they’re all just kinda existing.
This game just makes me sad Souls hackers is one of my favorite atlus games and this game just looks completely backwards from the original While I’m 100% on the cyberpunk aesthetic being modern and not 90s The art style to me is just bland when it comes to the Characters 3d models the 2d art looks great, like the Shop keepers are a great highlight. This like Xenoblade 2 art style to me is just awful to my eyes personally. And with such a lack of interesting mechanics, I’ll probably pass on this one.
Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of how this game looked, nor do I like the direction Megami Tensei in general is heading. If you'd shown me the trailer without the demons, I'd never have guessed it was Soul Hackers 2, because it looks so generic and bland. It looks like every other low-effort JRPG on the market, made to cater to the lowest common denominator. A massive downgrade from Soul Hackers 1's originality and proud 90's cyberpunk aesthetic. That game had more charm, personality and soul (forgive the pun) than anything I've seen here so far. This looks like your typical quirky modern anime, from people with no life experience to draw from, who can only give you a diet-Psycho Pass setting. And none of these characters look like actual characters, they look like generic anime archetypes. That's the sort of formulaic, milktose experience I expected from Persona, but it's a shame it's bled into every aspect of Megami Tensei now. I WOULD'VE given the game a fair shot at launch despite my misgivings, but what killed any chance of that happening was Atlus' persistent use of Day 1 DLC. Not only did they cut quests and demons this time, but also an entire story chapter. Removing content from a finished game and forcing people to pay extra for what should've been the full experience is unacceptable, and I'm boycotting them until they stop. There's not even any point in buying this game second-hand so Atlus doesn't get the money, because even then, I'm getting a product that's unfinished by design. It's so disappointing to see Megami Tensei fall to this level of mediocrity, but hey, 2022 is stacked with better alternatives. Xenoblade 3 is a masterpiece that I'm still playing today, AND its DLC practices are much better by comparison. If I want my Megami Tensei fix, I'll get round to playing The Lost Child, which Kazuma Kaneko himself recommended. This year alone, we got Digimon Survive, which uses an alignment system similar to SMT, and tells a darker, bold story for its franchise. And Undernauts is a dungeon-crawling RPG with a gritty, eerie atmosphere that older SMT fans will get a kick out of.
totally… its because the original team at atlus of cozy okada and kazuma kaneko were passionate about what they were doing and also DIDNT know what they were doing… kaneko in particular was an artist who sort of fell into game design. he wanted to be a rockstar. a lot of their inspo was taken from outside of video games and anime and manga… not entirely outside of anime/manga because they loved FOTNS and devilman but they werent otaku. they would even go to shrines to rid themselves of negative energy after they completed a game since they interacted with so much occult content within their games and out. and if you go look at promo pictures of those guys from the time they were dripping with style. i think this is a huge difference. it took a turn with P3. personally i enjoy p3-5 but i think disliking the modern direction is a valid, logical opinion.
Really not talking about the story. My main issue is the persona 5 flashyness of it all. Like yeah soulhackers 1 was cyber punk but it wasnt this neon mess.
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![[TH] VALORANT Champions Seoul - Grand Final - EDG vs TH](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WvObMc9VelI/mqdefault.jpg)
I think its pretty brave from Atlus to appeal to Persona 2 and Strange Journey Fans
Nobody knows bc nobody played it but this combat system is just Tokyo Mirage Sessions with the sessions that happened on each attack being placed at the end of the turn at one time in the form of Sabbath
@@harrisonwhaley7872 the fact sessions could chain into each other though was a pretty pivotal part of the session system, so from what I'm hearing this still sounds like a gimped version of that rather than the same or improved.
that why this game failed
So me
@@Namingway248 well it’s more regarding the fact that the largest complaint was how sessions were so time consuming. Having the sabbath at a set time and skipable is really what I meant by that. Plus this happens when you build up a stack on an enemy by hitting a weakness so when you finish your turn you could have a few stacks on a couple enemies and let sabbath deliver more damage to those same enemies you spent the turn attacking. I see what you mean about the potential for breaking sessions wide open but honestly it’s got entirely different enemy scaling to match those mechanics being so different so it’s not like the fights are any harder or easier really
Quick addendum the momentum thing I mentioned involving Ringo is an issue timed to the framerate on PC. If you set the framerate to unlimited it makes her move really slowly, setting it to 60 makes her move normally.
Ring and her sister is designed by someone else not shirow.
Xbox works fine too
I'm most upset that you dont see your demons models in battle outside of using a sabbath
It's similar in that regard to be like Persona more than SMT. I do enjoy seeing the Demons in the party like in Nocturne and SMT5.
@@AzumangaFan13 you at least see the Persona's being summoned to use a skill, this game doesn't do anything beyond Sabbaths.
But at the same time in Persona they only come out for the skill and that's it.
I don’t have problem with that
This is what killed the game for me honestly
this is definitely the most honest review ive seen for this game, its cool that even though u got the game for free from atlus u still gave a completely honest opinion with no bias
Salute man got sponsored by the game but still give a honest review
He wasn't sponsored he was just given a review copy, sponsored videos are a diffrent thing
The soul hacker games take place in the same timeline as ther persona games, which I always found weird. Not even like, the distant future. Kyouji Kuzunoha appears in Soul Hackers and Persona 2. It’s so odd because the Persona series seems pretty grounded in the real world, and yet here there was this super advance sifi city built not too long ago.
The Hell?
And this game takes place in the "mid 21st century", so like 2050ish, meaning that it still fits in the timeline
Well bare in mind that the Demons were real in Persona 1 and 2, that's why the Kuzonoha Detective Agency was around, they were even using GUMPS.
Also SMT if... predates both Devil Summoner and Persona series as the female protagonist appears in both P1 and in 2 duology she's part of the Kuzonoha's.
What’s persona 1-2? 👀
@@dantemustdie00 Honestly, at points I kinda think that Persona doesnt follow the Devil Summoner/Raidou timelines.
Like, do ANY Persona games ever mention anything about japan being invaded by a giant robot or a horde of demonic locusts with chainsaws in their faces during the 1930s!?
this game has the feeling of being low budget but very polished just from looking at it
Agreed
Basically. This game came out not even a year after Shin Megami Tensei 5.
Game doesn’t feel like that to me
It probably is
It's running on unity engine, so take that as you will.
I'm not familiar with P1 or P2, but the demon equip system reminds me of how PQ1 and PQ2 handled Personas being shared across characters
Yeah it's like if everyone has the wild card in a modern Persona game.
The Q system is for sure a throwback to P1 and P2 so you're right
The recruitment system in SH2 is also similar to PQ.
Atlus seems shaky when it comes to P1 and P2; mostly outside of Japan, especially after the ol' "americanization" of "Revelations" AKA Persona 1. the music really brings out the dread on PSX versions of Persona 1 and 2; but the gameplay is pretty cool. might have to look into a playthrough or something sometime just to see how P1 n 2 are.
I would love to see more of Ringo and Saizo, those two where great~
Also I feel like there where interesting ideas with the story/plot, even the group dynamics, yet they weren't really fleshed out or explored enough.
I left a similar comment on Nyarly's video, but the mechanical similarities this game has to Strange Journey just make me itch for a sequel to that game, either direct or spiritual. The ideal scenario would be something that captures or expands on the oppressive atmosphere of Strange Journey and preserves the classic 2D dungeon crawling, but expands on Demon Co-Op to result in something like the Sabbath system, and features a player character like Ringo who's just as characterized as the other cast members.
It almost sounds like a joke to put it this way, but the easiest way to make that work might be a prequel-sequel game about Alex from Redux, following her through the lead-up to the apocalypse and into her decision to change history. (Which demands, of course, that you get to face off against The Marine as an optional superboss similar to Demi-Fiend)
A fight with the Schwartz marine would be pants shittingly horro-mazing especially in 3D
It was that 40 dollar day 1 DLC that really turned me off from this game.
Just wait when Altus will release SH2 + DLC includes onto GamePass & Switch a year from now. PS users were slapped in the face, once more.
Probably isn’t that bad
Just don’t buy it, all the content you would get sucks anyways
Seems about to line up with the general impression and my surface-level observations. Maybe for completions sake down the line in a couple of years but I doubt it.
My favourite part is fusion so the odd demon acquirement conditions will most likely frustrate me.
I am so with you on the press turn system not being present. It really was something I missed! I found that I appreciated the sabbath system a little more as I collected skills and what not but I feel like the press turn system would have really improved the combat altogether. I’m glad to see I’m not crazy for thinking the game was simply okay haha.
The expressive faces reminded me a lot of persona 2 and I really hope they keep doing that in future games.
Yep, they're really expressive
I hope Atlus doesn’t take the poor sales of this game as “we should stop making spin off games and only focus on SMT and Persona.”. A lot of the other Megaten series have cool concepts that would be interesting to see in the modern console generation. I’m personally holding out hope to see a new Digital Devil Saga game, or at least a remaster.
I’m definitely going to wait until it’s on sale. I’m finally playing through these games, and I’m surprised by how much I enjoy Nocturne, a game that’s 19 years older than this.
I wonder if later systems in the game will make this unique, similar to how Tokyo Mirage Sessions has the session system and it expands during the game as you progress.
If there's anything Atlus takes away from this game, PLEASE let this be the end of blank slate protagonists. I'm sick of the character I'm playing as not having a personality of their own, let them be actual characters like Ringo!
That's one thing that I enjoyed alot with this game! Ringo was such a delight and fun to play as while also having such a cool design(like actual great fashion sense I'd wanna wear what she's wearing)
Bland protagonists that just get praised and hyped up despite being so boring is getting stale and annoying nowadays
Yeah, Ringo was a blast. Especially her expressions.
To me it have a lot of influence of Tokyo Mirage Sessions...the sabbath is like the encore system when you hit your enemy weakness, and the dungeons are really a lot like the TMS dungeons.
the game looks so good, it's stunning. i cant wait for the mods
Hm, yeah that's a good point. I imagine mods for combat and demon recruitment could easily be a thing.
@@TonyRedgrave if we can get far enough with it, we could even make an game overhaul (but that wont happen until a few years, if that)
Fither review: it is definitely a game that exists
Morbius hacker
@@junpei6180 when she said 'it's Ringing time' i morbed all over the floor, true story
@@junpei6180 The part where Ringo soul hacked the shit out of the bad guy was truly a moment ever
I can finally like SMT V
This Watch_Dogs spin off was kinda weird not gonna ngl
The weird momentum while moving is tied to FPS on PC. The higher the FPS, the weirder how she moves. They need to fix that shit asap.
Switch version would be 30fps if it comes
Have yet to play this myself, but the dungeons being annoying in that exact way and the combat having no press turns just makes the game sound like most pre-nocturne smt games. the dungeon map on the side at 19:00 made me go "damn, are we playing SMT If... right now?"
Yeah, you are basically playing Raidou with Persona 5 skins and Strange Journey combat traversing through the dungeons in Nocturne.
i keep remembering Digimon cyber sleuth when i see this game
Same, my brain kept telling me it's Kowloon when seeing the gameplay.
@@KamenracerX right?! When she is walking around outside of combat zones it's pretty similar too
That is little silly
I thought i wasn't able to recruit because i was running around underleveled.
They should really find a way to fix this because getting rejected in every single demon negotiation is just dumb ...
Personally, I just hope that Atlus don’t lose heart over the lukewarm reception of the game, because it has potential all being said. Also congrats on the Atlus sponsorship
I like Ringo. I really hope we get more interesting protagonists like her, as well as more female protagonists.
Thank you for doing such a throw review. I'm a fan of a lot of atlas's RPG games and didn't know what this one was. You gave more information and honest thoughts than any of the professional gaming review sites on TH-cam.
That aside it's a shame that the game is so "ok". Seems like something I'd be interested in trying if it was a part of PS Plus or something.
I don’t really mind game is ok I guess some people don’t like that
@@RavenGamingOverLord it's insane that people think "ok" means "fucking garbage". but they're "gamers", there's not much going on upstairs.
@@bimblor7945 No that game isn’t that bad
@@bimblor7945 a game being "ok" most of the time means it is uninspired/generic and/or utterly mediocre, considering soul hackers 2 is being sold at a whooping 60 dollars price not counting dlc, it's perfectly understandable why someone would pass on it. There are better games to get at that same price, such as atlus other recent titles, smt 5 and persona 5.
@@mizzix Soul Hackers 2 is better than SMTV in every way except the combat
You should NOT be mentioning the game worse than smt4A and SJRedux as more worth it than Soul Hackers 2
Definitely something I should check out for myself since the trailer didn’t catch me
Thank you for the review, I really want to know something about this game and there isn't a lot of people I can't trust to express what I need to hear.
soul hackers 2 is really the embodiment of "Its a game" Like I dont hate it, I'm enjoying my time with it, but its not something thats pushing my expectations out of the park you know? I dont think its a bad game, I still enjoy it and i'm excited to keep playing it, but thats all it is to me.
I think the momentum stuff might be a PC exclusive bug, didn't experience anything like that on PS5.
Altus still doesn’t know how to optimize their games
I agree with basically everything you say but I like it from what I played but it does feel off..I just really hope this does well enough so that Altus can maybe start making more spin offs or spin off sequels other than persona like if we get an announcement for Devil Survivor 3 I would go insane.
It certainly _looks_ stylish.
I was gonna preorder this and then I decided to not so idk when I'll be playing this. Looks good though.
waiting on the inevitable sale for this game
@@stonalisa3729 It actually had a pretty sweat preorder sale on amazon in the uk for about 9.99 off but I missed out
Kizniver has great designs
Congratulation for being sponsored! You made it!
Saying this before watching the video, I got this game for Christmas and I'm enjoying it so far. This is my first Atlus game without 'Persona' in the name. The combat feels a lot like old-school Persona to me which isn't bad or great. But if the story and characters are good, I don't care about much else. I also like that Ringo, for one HAS a personality (stopped expecting that from Atlus prtoags besides Tatsuya and Maya mid-way through Persona 3) and I actually find her endearing. The characters models and the art are great though I do admittedly thing the one dungeon I've been through is a bit too bland. Here's hoping they improve but talk about not putting your best foot forward. I enjoy the city, just not the dungeons. Regardless I'm enjoying this game so far and can't wait to see how the story goes
they need to team up with RGG studios and make Like A Devil Summoner
Damn, if we couldn't require demons, they should have had an auction house (like in DeSu). It would fit thematically since a bunch of summers would totally buy and see demons. And I think that would be a better system then having this whimpy system
Wtf. Demon negotiation is this series' read and butter. Bring that shit back.
I mean, there is the Digital Devil Saga spin-offs. Which everyone treats in high regard. Despite having a set party with no negotiations of any kind.
...And I guess Jack Bros...? But everyone seems to love it in a ironic-memey fashion.
@@kuraux56s59 But conventions are made not on exceptions, but the norm. I think I have more of a problem with how this looks for the mechanic moving forward with the franchise. If there is an attempt to make this particular method the new norm, then I fell it would be a huge detriment to the series as a whole.
@@sdgundum990 You know... I can actually agree with you. But, to be honest. I really didnt mind the direction Soul Hackers 2 took.
If anything, after SMT V. I am happy to have a Megaten game with an MC that is NOT silent. As well as characters than, rather than the lifeless cast of V. The cast here actually manages to evoke a feeling of... "...You know what? I actually CARE about what happens to these guys!"
@@kuraux56s59 Sure, I can agree with that too. Although I think a great deal of demon negotiation comes down to RNG, at the same time it removes a great deal of personality from the demons that they're not difficult to acquire as party members, and it grants the developers many ways of hiding surprise content in their interactions. Losing that, by doing a simple fetch quest, or giving a single life stone is really cheap. I think that's what the goal was in the end, making it cheap.
@@sdgundum990 When you put it like that, I hope this kind of thing is just a one-off thing for a spin-off. Rather than something that will stick permanently.
After all, one of my favorite moments in Raidou 2. Was when. During a negotiation with a Nekomata. She just randomly asks The Capital's Protector... "How many kids should a couple have?" ...Excuse me!?
Yoooooo Atlus sponsor? I see, nice! I'll probably buy it anyways
Same
One of the games of all time
I’m enjoying it so far.
I still want to get the game, but I thank you for the review.
I'd probably play this game, I liked Tokyo Mirage Sessions
Man nothing about this game appeals to me, this isnt soul hackers, is just a gimped smt spin off with the soul hackers name.
Yea, i'll pass
bought this to support a non-gacha game
10 hours into this and 100% agree w/ everything you've said
i am a fusion addict so at least i can enjoy that part of it :P
I know exactly who to recommend this game to, i recommend this game to gamers who love rpgs but tend to focus more on gameplay and progression rather than story and characters
Thank you so much for the turn off tips advice (and to Macca too, I just caught your video first).
The middest smt since NINE
Yooo my boy fither sponsored by the big guys at atlus good for you man
Thanks fither for looking out. I'll probably pass on this one as I was never that impressed by the trailer and the only discussion is could find on it was "oMg FEmAle pROTAgonIST" and "ohhh so pretty". I might watch someone play through the first few hours to see if it'll change my mind but i doubt it.
You're really not missing out on much. I wish Atlus'd lay off the guys behind this and TMS.
Yes if you skip half the side quests then you will be too low a level to recruit demons, do the side quests, level up, recruit demons, it's not complicated
I don't care what anyone else says. Ringo has a voice, and a fun personality. I already want to buy this game just because of that. I want Atlus to quit with the blank slate, voiceless protagonists.
Especially funny in p4 how the connect to the protag saying how he helped them and how smart and conpassionate he was and he was like "..." all game
Thar opening slaps though...
So im still early on in the story (so please take this with a grain of salt) but so far I love everything except the not summoning demons when you attack, I love everything else about this game so much
I will say that i feel like the press turn system gets way overhyped. Like its fine but by the end of most games with them it boils down to just getting crits. The game is unique in that there is a back and forth in deciding if you want to do buffs and heals or want to get more stacks. I also feel like the game is a lot more enjoyable on hard.
People like the press turn system because it makes you strategize to end the fight efficiently, but this also accounts for your enemies just the same. It's makes for a fair battlefield, but in SH2 the combat is mostly mindless with little stakes at hand. When you do sabbaths, there are nothing but positive choices and that's it.
@@tryinglyon you say this but the same can be said about press turn. The only positive choice you can make is get more press turn
The main difference is that i dont have to worry about a random miss fucking over my entire random enemy encounter. Emdgame press turn doesnt even really matter cause enemies dont have weakness.
@@zedreamcast4575 Except the negative in the press turn in the event that you do hit a weakness or critical, you can lose all your extra turns if you miss the target. You are actively accepting that when being dealt the cards and pursing using press turns. That's the risk and reward factor. And along with that, you have more flexibility with your options in what you want to do like use a specific ability or an item. You can't even focus your attacks onto a single target for max damage in SH2. It's always going to attack multiple enemies no matter what.
@@tryinglyon except you can??? Theres a commander skill that allows you to focus the sabbath all on one target.
@@tryinglyon i am sorry man but missing isn't really something you take in account. It is just a thing that happens.
Damn did we play the same game cause I think it's great! Lol jokes aside I love this game but still do agree with a bunch of things you mention, like demon recruiting being weird and the gremlin in my brain telling me to hit weaknesses for more turns only to not have that happen. Also movement is still bizarre no matter how many times I claim I'm used to it and if we could see our demons alongside us in combat would really add to the whole "summoner" thing as opposed to being glorified equipment. Definitely not the type of SMT game that'll be for everyone, for me it gives me DDS vibes for some reason so maybe that's why I've ended up enjoying it so much. Great video as usual Fither!
Soulless Hackers
That wasn’t funny joke
I don't think any games in the Devil Summoner sub-series have press turns tbh
Yeah they don't. Press turn was created in the ps2 era
Bit unfair to say when sh2 is the only devil summoner affiliated game from the post press turn era
This game looks like the night time setting was switched on tokyo mirage sessions.
Im probably in the minority, but i mostly play jrpgs for gameplay and progression, story and characters have always been secondary for me so gameplay focused games like this i absolutely adore
This game reminds me of Tokyo Mirage Sessions which from what I gather was just like “whatever it exists”. Which is a shame especially for something like soul hackers. Like, it’s tough really speaking on how these games should be since all I’ve played is Persona 5. So I don’t really have first hand experience unfortunately.
However pretty much all I can say is negotiation and the actual battles could’ve been better for this game looking from the outside. I think the thing that’s really alluring about Soul Hackers aside for the setting and story is it’s fast paced, rock and roll combat. In this it seems pretty slow and kinda tedious like Pokémon almost(not the best comparison but hopefully you get my point). So I really think if it was more fast paced and the battle system was more unique(basically not ripping off persona). It wouldn’t be so meh you know?
As for negotiation they literally could’ve just carried it over from another smt game like smt 5, or persona 5, or the original soul hackers. Basically any game with a pretty good negotiation system already and it would’ve been fine. I’m not sure why they did negotiations this way considering the first soul hackers wasn’t as tedious on this front. I think that’s about all I have to say.
Ok
Nobody:
Fither: EYYYYYYYYYYYYY
When persona 6 comes out people will praise how great this game is. I really enjoy this game.
This game is like persona but without the dating/school sim - which makes it more accessible to people who dont have time to play video games as much as they would like. Love p3 and p4, played p5 twice but never managed to finish it 🤷🏻♂️
Can understand why some people complain about the dungeons, but you CAN dash and its very easy to avoid enemies you dont want to fight.
All I want to know is why u can’t use items in ultra hard or whatever it’s called
ayyyyy, hows it going fither
Combat-pretty good
Visuals- really good
Characters - good
Story - ok
Exploration - kinda sucks
U described every Devil Summoner game in one post. It is good in every way, but it is not great in one element - in exploration (maybe excpet music, because older Devil Summoner games have banger soundtracks).
So it's mid?
Hoping someone on PC mods Press Turns into the game.
The battle system really feels lacking without it.
10 hours into the game here’s my review:
TLDR; repetitive and slow paced game. shares NOTHING in common with the original soul hackers other then its name. do not get famoosed by atlus
so far my impressions are that the characters are visually unappealing and the story is so so.
dungeons are extremely boring as they consist of just spamming skills to boost your movement speed and reduce encounters. quests feel extremely repetitive as they all fall under the fetch and collect category of backtrack to dungeon and collect item.
combat is extremely slow due to not having the option to skip animations.
and lastly more of an opinionated critique but they chose to leave out some of the most notable demons in the soul hacker series and instead elected to choose more recent demons.
I thought Kiznaiver had some cool characters so I might check this out kdfljfk
What transfers over for new game +
The game (soul hackers 2) is a weird mixture of digital devil, scarlet nexus and code vein
Its more a weird mix of Tokyo mirage sessions, persona 2, and strange journey
Gamer lights are the future
It being called SH2 drove me off because it felt way too different with the new character designer and human party members. I'm not too into the way they tackled the aesthetic either this time
I actually really love the main party in this game but otherwise have basically the same opinions as you. Which is a shame because I really want to like the gameplay more.
im not surprised at all this game is kind of bad, could just tell it was gonna be that way from the early marketing
Sure
This game gon be free by December
To me the game is OK it's if you don't have any other games to play and you can get it for $30 or under that's when you get it. I payed full price and I'm OK with it but if I could have waited until it was under $30 I would be happier with it, it just not a game that is worth $60 .
ringo thighs
Personally i was hyped for it but i find the game Mediocre, definitely gonna beat it doe.
The smt genre is losing its essence as it gets more popular
It's Persona. Persona ruined Atlus. All their new employees just want to make Persona.
@@TrevRockOne sad but true
@@TrevRockOne this is the core problem
No smt v was more like SMT 1 than basically any other smt. V was nothing like persona, but then it got criticised for being too close to its roots
@@louish5068 SMT V felt like Nocturne, SMT IV was the one kinda reminiscent of SMT 1, since it´s the only game where you see the fall of society (MIkado) excluding Devil Survivor and maybe NINE
Yeah I'm sorry, but this game is not for me. I'm 100% sure now.
Ok sure
Well it has more character than SMT V
I'm only four hours in, and I think thr game is too easy. I do like the story and mechanics, and would put this as my third favorite Megaten game
It’s excellent
I'll pass on this one.
Ok
I saw and i like characters, plot ok but gameplay is just boring and the dungeon are dull and have nothing! Also i feel like soul hackers is trying toooo hard to be persona, they should have used smt 5 gameplay of make it a dungeon crawler
Or, heck, build off of Soul Hacker 1’s gameplay and revitalize it for a newer audience.
I was honestly disappointed that they didn't bring back the rowed battle system of P1, P2 and Soul Hackers/Devil Summoner when I saw the trailers. But removing demon negotiation basically turned this game into a serial-numbers-filed-off Persona game, which is weird to say since P5 brought back demon negotiations after P3 and P4 dropped them.
@@KamenracerX ya, soul hacker dosent feel at all as a smt game. Just a generic rpg with smt skin on it. It just seems very boring
In recent year I've been playing the shin megami series and I like their spin offs far more honestly; mirage sessions persona devil survivor absolutely loved them but so far mainline other then 4 and 4 apocalypse just felt mid if not boring this is the first spin off game I'm getting semi red flags for and going to wait till 40% to 50% off for thanks for the honest review
I beat SMT 5 and I started Soul hackers 2 and SMT 5 feels a lot better story wise and combat wise. I hope the soul hackers 2 combat gets more interesting and the story too later on cause I'm already bored of it
Honestly, (only a couple hours in at current) it seems very... Basic. Mechanically, Persona but dumbed down even harder... And i really don't gel with Ringo. She's really hard to empathise with for me. I was excited for a female protag, as i am a woman, but her being so robotic conceptually but then talking and acting like a memey 20 year old is... Hard for my brain to enjoy. I preferred Joker's level of personality more. Hell, even complete blank slates like Demi Fiend were easier to empathise with this early in the game... Still, I'm gonna push through it. Maybe it will grow on me by the end of the game.
Joker level of personality, my fucking god he has none kekw
@@trueaegisform6811 he has little voice lines and stuff here and there. I preferred that.
I get what you mean man, granted I’m not far in the game, only 5 hrs in and I can’t really tell her personality at all, most of the characters don’t really have that edge factor to draw me to them besides Saizo and that’s because it’s a trope I kinda like.
I thought I’d like arrow the most but he’s bland, they’re all just kinda existing.
@@jalencunningham2012 Yeah. Bland really does describe them.
Please just say you prefer silent protagonists.
No need to lie and pretend like Joker has one, sister.
I HATE that I was right about this game. We barely have SMT content and when we do get it these days it's terribly mid. Dammit man. Now what?
Hard disagree. All the Megaten games they've released have been good recently.
This game just makes me sad
Souls hackers is one of my favorite atlus games and this game just looks completely backwards from the original
While I’m 100% on the cyberpunk aesthetic being modern and not 90s
The art style to me is just bland when it comes to the Characters 3d models the 2d art looks great, like the Shop keepers are a great highlight. This like Xenoblade 2 art style to me is just awful to my eyes personally. And with such a lack of interesting mechanics, I’ll probably pass on this one.
I think it's fine. It's definitely got flaws but I don't see where people's hatred is coming from.
Nice maybe hones review I can’t be too sure about that I probably going to buy game anyway
I’m sure game is fine
Honestly, it was pretty fun. The characters I think are it's strongest point
Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of how this game looked, nor do I like the direction Megami Tensei in general is heading. If you'd shown me the trailer without the demons, I'd never have guessed it was Soul Hackers 2, because it looks so generic and bland. It looks like every other low-effort JRPG on the market, made to cater to the lowest common denominator. A massive downgrade from Soul Hackers 1's originality and proud 90's cyberpunk aesthetic. That game had more charm, personality and soul (forgive the pun) than anything I've seen here so far. This looks like your typical quirky modern anime, from people with no life experience to draw from, who can only give you a diet-Psycho Pass setting. And none of these characters look like actual characters, they look like generic anime archetypes. That's the sort of formulaic, milktose experience I expected from Persona, but it's a shame it's bled into every aspect of Megami Tensei now.
I WOULD'VE given the game a fair shot at launch despite my misgivings, but what killed any chance of that happening was Atlus' persistent use of Day 1 DLC. Not only did they cut quests and demons this time, but also an entire story chapter. Removing content from a finished game and forcing people to pay extra for what should've been the full experience is unacceptable, and I'm boycotting them until they stop. There's not even any point in buying this game second-hand so Atlus doesn't get the money, because even then, I'm getting a product that's unfinished by design.
It's so disappointing to see Megami Tensei fall to this level of mediocrity, but hey, 2022 is stacked with better alternatives. Xenoblade 3 is a masterpiece that I'm still playing today, AND its DLC practices are much better by comparison. If I want my Megami Tensei fix, I'll get round to playing The Lost Child, which Kazuma Kaneko himself recommended. This year alone, we got Digimon Survive, which uses an alignment system similar to SMT, and tells a darker, bold story for its franchise. And Undernauts is a dungeon-crawling RPG with a gritty, eerie atmosphere that older SMT fans will get a kick out of.
trying to find who tf asked
totally… its because the original team at atlus of cozy okada and kazuma kaneko were passionate about what they were doing and also DIDNT know what they were doing… kaneko in particular was an artist who sort of fell into game design. he wanted to be a rockstar. a lot of their inspo was taken from outside of video games and anime and manga… not entirely outside of anime/manga because they loved FOTNS and devilman but they werent otaku. they would even go to shrines to rid themselves of negative energy after they completed a game since they interacted with so much occult content within their games and out. and if you go look at promo pictures of those guys from the time they were dripping with style. i think this is a huge difference. it took a turn with P3. personally i enjoy p3-5 but i think disliking the modern direction is a valid, logical opinion.
Based
Really not talking about the story. My main issue is the persona 5 flashyness of it all. Like yeah soulhackers 1 was cyber punk but it wasnt this neon mess.