wow the fact that they made the UI interactable with the mouse is something I didn't expect specially coming from a Japanese studio, pretty nice feature
I'm actually of the opposite opinion as mean as it might sound, I hope it fails because if it doesn't that means they're just going to "Persona-ify" the shit out of other series like Devil Survivor and kill its original identity. The should see that Shin Megami Tensei 5 did really well without having to copy Persona.
Quick protip I saw earlier: If you set the tips display in your Gameplay Options menu to either "Hide" or "Display (with skip button)", it'll drastically cut load times down. It seems to ONLY be because of the TIPS screen
Yup. It seems like the game artificially increases load times so you have time to read the tip on the loading screen. Which is the dumbest shit I’ve seen in a while.
This is correct, i think if they are set to (Auto-Advance) or whatever it was called, the game deliberately waits 5 or so seconds for you to read the tip.
for anyone who doesn't know this, the loading screens are way faster if you set the option "tips display" in the gameplay options to "display (with skip button)" or "hide". also if you find the camera weirdly centered, you can change the camera position from the default "left" option to "center". also personally i found the camera moving on its own to follow ringo weird, so i changed the camera tracking option to off so i have full manual control with the camera.
One thing I like to point out is that the three human party members represents classic SMT alignments albeit never directly said . Arrow is Law, Milady is Chaos and Saizo is Neutral. A lot of the soul link choices reflect this
The way you describe the game, fun combat + a serviceable story + bland dungeon/quest design... actually makes me feel nostalgic. It sounds (and looks based on the videos) like 80% of the JRPGs from the PS2 era. When the genre was still huge and we got all sorts of lower budget JRPGs. Honestly I think I am okay with that. I kinda miss these sorts of releases. I mean I know we still get them here and there, but it's not the deluge like it used to be. I already had the game pre-ordered but seeing the response the game has gotten so far has actually made me look even more forward to it as weird as it sounds.
I feel exactly the same way. I don't need every JRPG to be an amazing experience that redefines my life. I'd even say I'm more likely to return to a 'good', comfy, 30/40 hour long JRPG than I am to an 80+ hour 'great' JRPG that's higher brow. I've been playing SH2 for a few days now and I feel like it'll be a game I return to over the years, like I have with DDS.
A lot of atlus games in the ds/3ds are similar in dungeon design and I don't hate it, I agree with you about the not "great" thing, I just finished xc3 and I don't need another emotional roller-coaster that soon
people who don't have that nostalgia for old jrpgs simply see dungeon design like this as not aging well. People aren't going to plat smt2 and games with similar design to it nowdays
I’m hoping to every deity under the confines of conceptual reality that this game sells well so that more SMT spin-offs get made with a higher budget. I’m personally hoping for a third Raidou Kuzunoha game but that’s wishful thinking.
@@puer4787 so..what? Indie games tend to have a small budget and can still sell decently well. Budget isn't always correlated to how much its going to sell
@@art-cs6us no im saying the game is going to sell little especially in japan it will be a disaster, and i think it's because thebudget was so small that people are disappointed that atlus released something of this quality in the year of 2022, after they became a huge name with p5
A nice little detail that I really like in this game, is the interaction between the party member in combat. Like they don't just say some random lines, they actually respond to each other.
7:10 A note to potential buyers, An update for the game was pushed after this vid released which added sprinting and a high speed mode for battling. So complaints about sluggishness are somewhat mitigated. Here's the notes: Dash Function - Added a “Dash” function to Ringo’s movement in dungeons and fields. You can switch between “Normal” and “Dash” as you like. (With the addition of the Dash function, the effect of the Summoner Skill “Assassin’s Stride” has been changed to, “Become undetectable to enemies for a fixed distance.” High-Speed Battle Mode - Added a “High-Speed” mode to battle. You can switch between “Normal” and “High-Speed” as you like.
Honestly, after 100%ing P4G recently, I'll take empty hallways and rooms as long as they have an actually fixed design. Anything is an improvement for me at this point.
Soul Hackers 1 did a good job at making mundane, real life locations into threatening, mysterious dungeons. Crawling factories, hotels, office buildings, airports, and more was really fun for me. Makes me sad that 2 drops the ball.
Am I missing something about Soul Hackers 1? The dungeons never blew me away and how Narly described the dungeons in this game is exactly how I felt about the dungeons and overall setting of Soul Hackers 1.
@@anthonytoledo9493 Perhaps? Stuff like the vision quests allowing you to visit the same location at multiple points in time was interesting. The music would change based on the time period, the moon phase, and the state of the dungeon (like lights on/off in the factory). And I think creating labyrinths out of stuff like supermarkets and office buildings was ahead of its time and really encapsulates cyberpunk. It’s a world familiar, but futuristic and dangerous. Not every dungeon was a winner but I think they really fit with the themes and setting.
@@thequietbisharp I see. Personally speaking I found all the dungeons that take place outside of Paradigm-X to be pretty boring and uninteresting, even in Vision Quests. Like they’re just empty hallways with an NPC on a tile sometimes. Never really understood what was so “cyberpunk” about it. To me it looks like any other game taking place in a modern day city. Maybe it’s cuz I played the game for the first time when the 3DS version was still somewhat new (and being born and raised in New York City), but I never understood all the praise for the setting.
@@matthewkozlov928 that’s what you have to do to make a new franchise cause they need to show the investors the game made enough money to invest in it just like when directors take a 10 million budget and turn it to 80 mil
I don’t think they have, the p5 director is on that game and he has a LOT of good will due to making the studio go from niche to borderline mainstreamed
@@nr2676 Atlus themselves have 3 internal studios; P-Studio for Persona, Team Maniax and Studio Zero. In terms of size and budget, they are quite small in Japam standards, with 300 employess.
Probably not, Studio Zero is just a bit more elusive. Pretty hard to atlus drop the project, as it has Director Katsura Hashino ( Modern Persona - Nocturne) and Designer Shigenori Soejima ( Persona - Soul Hackers).
Btw, there is a setting that will reduce the loading screen times. It's a set amount of time. I believe it's something to do with tips. It's pretty dumb but at least you can reduce it
Combat actually looks pretty fun. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this game but think I'll give it a go on sale. At that point the Persona games will probably be on switch and PC though so might be a while before I get to it.
Man, even if they swung and missed on some aspects I’m just so grateful this game got made. Now if we can get a strange journey 2 and a devil survivor 3 I’ll be set:) Soul Hackers is probably my second or third favorite smt game, the cast and storyline were always going to be hard to follow. Can’t wait to get this when it gets cheap on Black Friday or something:)
Virtually no one did. The original releases for the DC and PS1 were Japan only. It did get a worldwide 3DS remake, but between region locking and the fact that third party titles on Nintendo platforms are a pr*ck to find a week or two after release, it's not surprising. Don't know which region you're in, but in PAL territories getting any of the 3DS MegaTen games costs significantly more than a 3DS.
"factions aren't established well" I mean that's basically an SMT staple at this point to have different groups and have none of them fleshed out well at all lmao
@@0uttaS1TE I feel like you only say that cause standards are quite low, don't get me wrong I love smt 4 but it's pretty obvious that jonathan and walters characters were kinda twisted and forced to fit into their respective alignments around the end...and isabeau's route is just bland though it's still my favourite cause more content I guess. The best factions in the entire franchise is definitely in devil survivor 1, amazing game, amazing characters and alignments was pretty well made, characters don't feel forced into their respective alignments. I hope we get more games like it in the future. Also, naoya best boy.
Ya know, a guy like Saizo can just be a hopeless romantic and want a loving relationship without being labeled with internet terms. Thanks much, Mr Internet Lingo.
Pretty much agree with your review minus your criticisms of the music - I absolutely adore the soundtrack, even the first 5sec of your video the music you played gave me instant nostalgia of my play-through last year. I hope they continue the series and at the very least continue Ringo as a character, because I agree I think she was a fantastic protagonist and it’s because she actually has a voice and personality. I’m never all that satisfied with silent protagonists.
Honestly, the way you describe the Sabbath system makes it sound like a compelling evolution of Demon Co-Op from Strange Journey. Add that to the return of Redux’s Commander Skills, and I think it’s clear that the Soul Hackers 2 team were consciously taking inspiration from there. On the other hand, I think some of the developments in Soul Hackers 2 would make for compelling additions to a Strange Journey sequel- a protagonist with more of a personality, for example. In sum, this is making me want a Strange Journey sequel with Alex from Redux as the protagonist, set in one of her fucked-up futures.
I'm loving it quite a freaking bit so far. I really love the art style, it's this gorgeous watercolor look. Very unique and looks incredible in 4K. The gameplay is fun right from the start and the characters are pretty great. I love the voice acting, especially Ringo. The stores are so beautiful! And GIANT BLACK FROST??
I just got the game, around 5 hours in. I'm digging it so far! I honestly do love the 4 party dynamic. Let's you get close to the members (which P5R had too many at once and SMTV having no party members) I am looking at getting the older demon summoners in the future after I'm done this.
I enjoyed TMS at the time and this looks somewhat similar, so I'll have it on my radar, however I'm not buying it yet because there are games that interest me more coming out. I hope it does get released on Switch in the future though.
YES so excited for Soul Hackers 2! I hope it does really well despite rough release timing (in the hopes that atlus decides more spin offs are good and they give us another devil survivor) Also I'm glad to see Ringo has more personality. I much prefer that to blank slate characters.
Kinda reminds me of older jrpg dungeon crawlers. A bit mundane but I kinda dig those old grid based dungeons. Honestly a first person mode would be great for it I think. Maybe there’s a mod on the pc version.
I own almost every SMT game and offshoot- and even emulated/patched the SNES ones with English fan translations, I can honestly say it's a great offshoot- I'm playing 1st Soul Hacker on 3DS again also (which itself is Sega Saturn remake). If I can look forward to some mainline Shin Megami every few years, a Persona in between , and now one of these (or Strange Journey/Devil Survivor/etc.) in the off years also- Atlus will give us a nice steady supply. Sure they reuse demons and some assets some games, but each story and changes made to mechanics is enough to warrant playing these games if you like this style. SMT universe is up there with Ys, Phantasy Star, Star Ocean, and Final Fantasy for me as far as long running, branching RPG like franchises.
I thought this game would be hot garbage but it's relieving to hear they nailed so many aspects. Music might be called mediocre but I love cyberpunk style music anyway so anything scratches that itch, sad the dungeons looks so boring though
@@KyngD469 having played over 32 hours so far, the story, combat, and music are all amazing. The characters have a lot of depth as well. The only downside is the dungeons, especially the vision quest dungeon. They’re all bland hallways for the most part but there’s a dungeon or two that I liked. Overall the game is good, like 7/10.
A Note about the Loading Screens: Set the loading screen to button press. I think the autoload allows for time to read the box. button press allows you to advance the loading screen after 1-2 seconds
This should've been the default option. I have a speedy hard drive so there is literally no loading time. I think you're right they baked in the loading time so you could read the tips or story summaries.
Can confirm on the performance. I'm playing on a bloody integrated graphics card and STILL getting solid 60fps. Some stutter when loading battles, but my PC runs on an HDD, so it's to be expected. Sega games don't usually have this level of optimization and polishing when ported to PC, but seeing how the P4G port was I was pretty much expecting good out of this one. And I wasn't disappointed. Also, the game is really good. Fun stuff.
looks alright, might be a good steam deck title. was really excited to play on release, but after seeing the bland gameplay outside of combat and all the day one dlc, gonna wait for a sale...
Well you resold me on it.. After seeing just how shit the dungeons were and a few other things it caused me to cancel my preorder, i still am not getting the game but once it goes on a good discount by Black Friday i might just cop it!
@@karotconcarne3325 this guy above has half of his activities online being hating Megaten for ages, i see this guy hating Smt for more than 2 years i swear This guy literally has no meaning in life other than hating a Videogame series
I'm still fairly early in Soul Hackers 2, but I gotta say that I'm really digging it so far. Maybe that's just my bias as a Devil Summoner fan, but I'm having a lot more fun with this game than I did with, say, SMTV. I'm really hoping it sells well so we can hopefully get a Raidou 3 some day.
I actually wanna pick this game up and play it, and won't lie the biggest reason is the fact we have a TALKING PROTAGANIST, some bonus points for it being a woman too, but really it's just the fact the protagonist isn't a silent/self-insert. I don't mind silent protagonists, but it gets very boring when every game the character is a silent protagonist so this just feels like such breath of fresh air for me. Plus despite the flaws towards the dungeon design this just looks like a fun game to me, been a while since I saw a game being played I hadn't seen before and said "yep I wanna play this game now"
No wonder the two games felt so similar, didn’t realize it was the same team. If only they got a little bit bigger budget for the dungeons and the game could’ve been way better.
A first person mode or mod wouldve been a great callback to the OG megatens. I hope this does well. I do wish the aesthetics were darker like the OG and I really just wanted to see that OG style but with modern resources. This game is so bright and cheery looking.
What I can't believe is that Nyarly didn't point out is that some of those VAs are ones you know and love if you watched some and play the series of games Nyarly has or watched English Dubbed anime. Here's the VAs(ENG): Ringo - Megan Taylor Harvey - Sophia(from P5S) and Sally Brown(from Charlie Brown) Figue - Erica Mendez - Bernadetta(from FE: 3 Houses) and Sailor Uranus(from Sailor Moon) and Ayaka(from Genshin Impact) Arrow - Zach Aguilar - Byleth(from FE: 3 Houses) and Genos (from One Punch Man Season 2 onwards) and Aether(from Genshin Impact) Milady - Erica Lindbeck - Futaba(from P5) and Black Cat(from Spider-Man 2018) and Asahi(from SMT IV A) Saizo - Griffin Putau - Raian Kure(from Kengan Ashura) and Lars(from Nier Re[in]carnation) and best of all Victor - Patrick Seitz - Jeritza/Death Knight(from FE: 3 Houses) and King Cerberus[one head](from DMC 5) and fucking DIO FUCKING BRANDO (from of course Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) and many many more.
Just beat it last night. Load times were near instant on PS5. Ringo is such a great character. Hard game to suggest to others because of the dungeons, even if I liked them. I fell in love with the OST but it was a slow burn. Great review! I definitely agree it is a flawed game. I missed true ending by 2 soul points with Arrow and that felt particularly bad haha
The game definitely looks good enough for me as a JRPG fan to pick up although I will likely wait until a sale as I am currently playing through Bravely Default 2 and SMT IV.
Yeah I'll say Soul hackers it's a good game has some flaws but it's okay game and I feel like Atlas is making games to get people into the series they have and make them a little easy which is honestly perfectly fine as long as they don't do it too much it's perfectly fine it's a good way to get new people into the smt series as well of its spin-offs though you might have to worry about the fan base but that's a whole different story
Also not every game needs to be GOTY. I think a lot of people forget (or weren't alive) back even in the PS2 era when most ganes were just alright, it made the incredible ones stand out as all time classics I'm perfectly fine with an okay game if like you said, it brings people into the series or genre even
I was kinda worried because of the reviews, but it’s actually really great. Having a lot of fun with it. I love Ringo, she’s funny. The way you equip Demons reminds me a lot of Persona Q 1 and 2. Also, surprised by Arrow-was expecting him to be a generic, pardon the term, patsy surrounded by badass women, but I am glad Atlus did not go that route for this game. He’s pretty cool, and a nice change of pace from Yosuke/Kanji/Ryuji being unreasonably afraid of the girls in P4 and 5, that got old quick. Love the lore of this game, too. So far, enjoying it a million times more than SH1, which made me want to pull my hair out (I mean, any game with random encounters has that effect, really, but still, even the story for SH1 was pretty weak, with the only strong character being Nemissa).
@@alyssarasmussen1723 Junpei is the goat, best of the best friend characters of the modern Persona games as he has major story development rather than it all being locked behind social links that feel like they barely go anywhere 70% of the time.
Well, the characters actually being adults helps, so they don’t have to utilize the “I’m a teenager that still somehow hasn’t learned to talk to girls in 17 years” anime trope. Nah the characters in this game are great, all other criticisms aside, Saizo, Arrow, Milady, and especially Ringo, all have a great dynamic.
@@chadachi3970 Junpei’s pretty cool. My personal favorite is Yosuke, but Junpei is second, for me, yeah. Junpei was good, I think, because he wasn’t just the best friend, like, he actually had a life outside of Makoto, which made him feel more real, as you said. Still enjoy Yosuke more because he’s hilarious, intelligent, and also The Scene of P4G with the mail man-they really displayed how Yosuke can get and he led the charge in setting the tense mood.
@@GG256_ Yeah, it’s a breath of fresh air, lmao. I don’t mind a character being stupid with girls, but I do mind when said girls are just as powerful as the boys, and yet the boys fear the girls. That’s dumb to me, lol. Like, why is Ryuji afraid of Makoto Niijima? Isn’t she afraid of the dark? That’s who you’re going to be afraid of? Also, she’s your teammate? Come on, LOL. But yeah, they do have a great dynamic in SH2, I enjoy this game quite a bit.
I'm new to the soul hacker game didn't play the first one but for just starting and just beat the first dungeon I like the game so far, plus I really like Ringo too, she has a fun and sassy personality but still level headed and doesn't come off as mean or annoying, plus I enjoyed her rap against r.s had me smiling
With how equipping demons sounds, my immediate first thought was DDS. Obviously it doesn't work like that and the mantras though. I guess the comparisons you made are more apt.
Really wish SH2 got the same budget that persona games or hell, even SMT games, get. It feels like the team behind it tried real hard to make it great, but fell short due constrains. The character models are great, but the environments feels like they were sacrificed for them and some attack animations are like they were meant to be more flashy.
I'll probably grab it if it comes to Switch. My PC works fine, but finding time to sit down and play it is difficult. It's always better to have JRPGs portably.
Honestly it reminds me of how I am still waiting for SMT Devil summoner 1 (for psp ofc) to be finished. I remembered hearing that the translation was done but the patch wasn't implemented. Well at least P2EP portable was fully translated and playable
Honestly happy for Atlis to branch out again with the Megaten games. I want this game to succeed even though it seems like it was low priority. There’s no harm in AA games making a return.
On Ruin element: I think Cyber Sleuth solved the “aliment problem” in jRPGs (most bosses immune and it’s faster to destroy everything else normally) by making it so that all aliment attacks did damage of one of the standard types as well. For example Idle Bubble does below average water damage for when most monsters learn it (30 power instead of 55), but it has a chance to sleep and most monsters that learn it don’t have other water skills natively, while Hyper Heat deals normal for level obtained fire damage and has a chance to also lower the target’s defense. Likewise, all aliment heal skills also heal some HP to their targets. This and the fact that hard mode bosses are both vulnerable to stats and tough enough to bother with make them worth using.
I was really on the fence about this one, even with how excited I always am for a more SMT in most any form, but this sold me on it. Thank you for giving a good and honest review!
@@JNCGamingI’m talking about modern releases. I’ve played persona 2. Besides, tthe series has been drowning in the high school anime aesthetic for a long time.
@@canonsprite just dosn't feel like a devil summoner game it feels too much like a pop idol fest i would lump this with the fire emblem crossover game. it's okay if you like generic anime rpg's reminiscent of vita titles
My biggest gripe(besides the DLC) is the Demons that you have equipped when they attack they are just a black outline behind the target...The demons look so good but your never get to see your demons in combat.
They missed the opportunity to teach players simple programming skills and have the puzzles revolve around that. It's in the name! You don't even have to make the player write anything, just connect nodes a la Unreal Engine blueprints. It should probably be toggleable though.
I want this game now. As a fan of the first Soul Hackers, not getting the DLC that includes Nemissa sucks but I should try my hardest to resist because those DLC practices are the worst. I hope I can get it this week.
I was honestly waiting for the Nyarly review before deciding if I should get this game. Glad it got a decent score and when I have room in my gaming calendar I’ll pick it up.
For the $25 I paid, I'd say it's okay for just playing through the main story and nothing else. I couldn't bring myself to go for all the trophies since a handful of them require a ridiculous amount of grinding in both the Soul Matrix and every area of every dungeon, the former of which was so painfully boring. And don't even get me started on the 4F areas of the Matrix. I also found myself getting quite bored and frustrated with the last dungeon to the point I just put the game on easy and brute forced my way through 90% of it. I didn't even bother with the DLC. 6/10. And I feel I'm being nice
@@V2ULTRAKill No ? All changes from SJR are optional (extra endings, extra dungeon, commander skills, apps, save game in any moment) and game dont force you to use them, which is great. If you want play like original SJ, dont use new features and content from Redux. Its not Persona 1 and Persona 2 remaster when devs force you to play only in newest version. The only downgrade from original SJ is artstyle change, thats all.
Great review, not sure how I feel about the many changes in this game. Not being able to fuse and use demons feels weird. But I don't mind blander, less frustrating dungeons either. I loved the original Soul Hackers for that 90s cyberpunk aesthetic. I would probably buy this one at a sale when it's cheap though. But like other comments said, I hope it does well so we can finally have Devil Survivor 3 happen.
Cyberpunk and megaten go together like peanut butter and jelly. Sad to see Atlus embracing the Tokyo Mirage Sessions aesthetic so relentlessly. Other than that it's a really good game. Glad to see they're focusing more on a SMT IV style narrative experience in soul hackers 2 as apposed to the plot hole no story mess style of SMT Nocturne like they did in SMT V.
Plot hole? No story? Nocturne is minimalist and still present very well the characters and their reasons unlike SMT V. SMT IV is not that original because the game get a lot of SMT1 ideas.
Also the irony of saying « plot holes no story » to describe one game 🤡. Which is it? It’s easy to not make any plot holes or mistakes when you’re copy pasting from the best written megaten games. But IV somehow managed to blunder 🤡🤡🤡.
Of all the second opinions I could've come across, I'm glad it was yours. I'm only 40 minutes into the game and I've found it a lot of fun, and it's a lot easier to enjoy it knowing that I'm not the only one who enjoyed the stuff I enjoyed.
I like the change to ailments I almost never use them because they always miss I feel like an easy way to balance them would be to make them a good bit weaker as a damaging ability or make non ailment attacks do more damage to promote more incentive either way I think they should keep it in future titles, sucks we don't get mudo or hama though
Hey Nyarly, if you can get your hands on a copy, would you do a Challenge Run of Stella Glow for the 3DS? It's a really overlooked title in Atlus' Library, and I'd love for it to get more recognition.
Adachi in P4 turns into an Aion contruct confirmed? The eye orb he becomes has the colors of all the covenants in this game it seems like, maybe early Aion? or another server? And the flashback scene in the beginning of the game shows the creature with tons of eyes which match the style present in P4. The midnight channel is the same way someone in this game was planning on doing something to the world (imo) I feel like there's a connection going on here.
I finally got around to playing this game recently and I liked it a lot. It runs really well on PS5. I bought the DLC when it was on sale ($13 for all of it) but still feel like I didn't get my money's worth. Such is life.
So I started this game a few days ago, directly after beating Royal for the 3rd time. I kinda like some of the differences, however Royal is better to me. The story of Soul Hackers and character design is pretty amazing as well.
We need them spin-offs Especially DESU 3, please god we NEED desu 3 to be a thing... I would also say digital devil saga but that game is done story wise, i don't see how could a revival happen for that game.
Alright, here's my outsider's outlook, having only seen the gameplay in this video. 1: The Camera, Why is it at this angle? 2: Battles, they look.. hmm I imagine of course, that it's better when you're playing the game, but when you look at the things besides the menus, you're in the void, with all enemies and party members in a line. And the skill selection menu just zooms really uncomfortably looking on the character's face, though the Models and UI look nice. 3: Customisation looks hella modular. Nothing feels more epic than having almost full freedom to do whatever the hell you want with characters, and switching demons Persona style, mid battle means you could do absolutely wacko stuff. 4: Character designs. They look really cool, what else do i say? Ringo really reminds me of LAM's artstyle.. 5: skills and other stuff Health and SP scaling looks pretty intense, ~700hp/250sp looks insane at level 40, atleast compared to Persona, not sure on SMT but i don't think SMT is that insane. Seeing no Instakills is definitely a stress reliever for most, and ailments being their own type seems interesting. another thing of note, Megido was weak almighty damage, not medium, so it's good seeing differences on skills, even though the names are the same. ..Speaking of the same, Fusing. Are there any megaten games without it? And there you go, things about the game that are clear to people who haven't played it, atleast from this video.
Important note, you can change the cameras position to ringo, zoom it out, put her in the center, etc. The default settings of the game are pretty rough
Just starting playing this one. It's been on my radar for a long time, but as you mentioned it's release time was was odd. Got a sense of deja vu while playing and released this a while lot more like a sequel to Tokyo Mirage Sessions mechanically.
Fun fact with the find the item missions. It's NOT random on if you get an item to show up it's predetermined. The only random part is what demon gives it to you. Because of this you cannot just get the first half of the items reload and go to where the first half was to find more, you gotta go the rest of the dungeon.
wow the fact that they made the UI interactable with the mouse is something I didn't expect specially coming from a Japanese studio, pretty nice feature
Persona 4 Arena on PC also has that
“Thank you Altus for doing the bare minimum for a control scheme to function”
@@vanilla8956 considering how little they usually do it's a miracle
@@vanilla8956 That doesn't make it any more rare. No seriously there are like two other games that have it out of 30.
P4G already had mouse interactable UI. I'm not sure about SMT3 HD, have yet to play that.
This might be massive copium but I hope this game does well because I think it's success can pave the way to Devil survivor 3
I hope so too they were my first games in the series
that, and/or a Digital Devil saga 3 or HD remake of the originals
I'm actually of the opposite opinion as mean as it might sound, I hope it fails because if it doesn't that means they're just going to "Persona-ify" the shit out of other series like Devil Survivor and kill its original identity.
The should see that Shin Megami Tensei 5 did really well without having to copy Persona.
Do you really need a DeSu 3 if it might come out as lazily as SMT5 and this one?
@@alexandredelarge1901 Calling SMT 5 lazy is straight up disrespectful 💀
Quick protip I saw earlier: If you set the tips display in your Gameplay Options menu to either "Hide" or "Display (with skip button)", it'll drastically cut load times down. It seems to ONLY be because of the TIPS screen
You just made my day!!!
thank you!
Yup. It seems like the game artificially increases load times so you have time to read the tip on the loading screen. Which is the dumbest shit I’ve seen in a while.
God damn, fuck me sideways back and forth
This is correct, i think if they are set to (Auto-Advance) or whatever it was called, the game deliberately waits 5 or so seconds for you to read the tip.
for anyone who doesn't know this, the loading screens are way faster if you set the option "tips display" in the gameplay options to "display (with skip button)" or "hide". also if you find the camera weirdly centered, you can change the camera position from the default "left" option to "center". also personally i found the camera moving on its own to follow ringo weird, so i changed the camera tracking option to off so i have full manual control with the camera.
One thing I like to point out is that the three human party members represents classic SMT alignments albeit never directly said . Arrow is Law, Milady is Chaos and Saizo is Neutral. A lot of the soul link choices reflect this
But they don't kill each other :(
@@DrunkedOwlybut they do have hostile conversations with each other from time to time.
The way you describe the game, fun combat + a serviceable story + bland dungeon/quest design... actually makes me feel nostalgic. It sounds (and looks based on the videos) like 80% of the JRPGs from the PS2 era. When the genre was still huge and we got all sorts of lower budget JRPGs. Honestly I think I am okay with that. I kinda miss these sorts of releases. I mean I know we still get them here and there, but it's not the deluge like it used to be.
I already had the game pre-ordered but seeing the response the game has gotten so far has actually made me look even more forward to it as weird as it sounds.
I looked it up because I thought it was supposed to release in November and one of the first things I see is a video calling it a disappointment lol
I feel exactly the same way. I don't need every JRPG to be an amazing experience that redefines my life. I'd even say I'm more likely to return to a 'good', comfy, 30/40 hour long JRPG than I am to an 80+ hour 'great' JRPG that's higher brow. I've been playing SH2 for a few days now and I feel like it'll be a game I return to over the years, like I have with DDS.
A lot of atlus games in the ds/3ds are similar in dungeon design and I don't hate it, I agree with you about the not "great" thing, I just finished xc3 and I don't need another emotional roller-coaster that soon
people who don't have that nostalgia for old jrpgs simply see dungeon design like this as not aging well. People aren't going to plat smt2 and games with similar design to it nowdays
@@The_Vible smt 2 is actually really good, and I genuinely hate old jrpgs. Smt 1 and if on the other hand, I refuse to finish
I’m hoping to every deity under the confines of conceptual reality that this game sells well so that more SMT spin-offs get made with a higher budget. I’m personally hoping for a third Raidou Kuzunoha game but that’s wishful thinking.
More realistic than Last Bible
Im praying for this too.
well this game will sell little because of its small budget, it's a chicken and the egg thing
@@puer4787 so..what? Indie games tend to have a small budget and can still sell decently well. Budget isn't always correlated to how much its going to sell
@@art-cs6us no im saying the game is going to sell little especially in japan it will be a disaster, and i think it's because thebudget was so small that people are disappointed that atlus released something of this quality in the year of 2022, after they became a huge name with p5
A nice little detail that I really like in this game, is the interaction between the party member in combat. Like they don't just say some random lines, they actually respond to each other.
7:10 A note to potential buyers, An update for the game was pushed after this vid released which added sprinting and a high speed mode for battling. So complaints about sluggishness are somewhat mitigated. Here's the notes:
Dash Function - Added a “Dash” function to Ringo’s movement in dungeons and fields. You can switch between “Normal” and “Dash” as you like. (With the addition of the Dash function, the effect of the Summoner Skill “Assassin’s Stride” has been changed to, “Become undetectable to enemies for a fixed distance.”
High-Speed Battle Mode - Added a “High-Speed” mode to battle. You can switch between “Normal” and “High-Speed” as you like.
Honestly, after 100%ing P4G recently, I'll take empty hallways and rooms as long as they have an actually fixed design. Anything is an improvement for me at this point.
Wdym? I loved most of the dungeon designs in P4G
@@candybird Doesn't mean everyone else did does it? I hated the randomly generated corridors. Ill take these bland yet fixed dungeons any day.
Lol it’s copypasted from P5
@@smtandearthboundsuck8400 You're so weird dude
@@candybird dungeon in p4g is like tartarus and mementos
Soul Hackers 1 did a good job at making mundane, real life locations into threatening, mysterious dungeons. Crawling factories, hotels, office buildings, airports, and more was really fun for me. Makes me sad that 2 drops the ball.
Man even the warehouses in SH1 were threatening. That’s peak cyberpunk lol
THIS!
But that's a thing that Atlus lost with time... a feel that will proly stay in the 90s era and 90s atlus game remasters ):
Am I missing something about Soul Hackers 1? The dungeons never blew me away and how Narly described the dungeons in this game is exactly how I felt about the dungeons and overall setting of Soul Hackers 1.
@@anthonytoledo9493 Perhaps? Stuff like the vision quests allowing you to visit the same location at multiple points in time was interesting. The music would change based on the time period, the moon phase, and the state of the dungeon (like lights on/off in the factory). And I think creating labyrinths out of stuff like supermarkets and office buildings was ahead of its time and really encapsulates cyberpunk. It’s a world familiar, but futuristic and dangerous. Not every dungeon was a winner but I think they really fit with the themes and setting.
@@thequietbisharp I see. Personally speaking I found all the dungeons that take place outside of Paradigm-X to be pretty boring and uninteresting, even in Vision Quests. Like they’re just empty hallways with an NPC on a tile sometimes. Never really understood what was so “cyberpunk” about it. To me it looks like any other game taking place in a modern day city.
Maybe it’s cuz I played the game for the first time when the 3DS version was still somewhat new (and being born and raised in New York City), but I never understood all the praise for the setting.
Seems like they did a lot with a little in terms of budget. Pretty impressive in my opinion.
That is the Atlus way
Hopefully it sells well so they can make a another entry or spinoff with much more budget. I think that they didn’t want to risk it
Seems like they did a lot with a little in terms of budget and then sold it for full triple A price with day 1 DLC.
@@matthewkozlov928 that’s what you have to do to make a new franchise cause they need to show the investors the game made enough money to invest in it just like when directors take a 10 million budget and turn it to 80 mil
@@fabolousjada5070 but Soul Hackers isn’t new…
As much as I love this game, I sure hope that ATLUS hasn't completely forgotten or cancelled Project Re: Fantasy.
I don’t think they have, the p5 director is on that game and he has a LOT of good will due to making the studio go from niche to borderline mainstreamed
They said on last christmas card they reached big internal milestone. Im sure its coming, atlus is not just one team, making one game at time
Re Fantasy is developed by very small studio Studio Zero (Catherine). Thats why development of this game take too long.
@@nr2676 Atlus themselves have 3 internal studios; P-Studio for Persona, Team Maniax and Studio Zero. In terms of size and budget, they are quite small in Japam standards, with 300 employess.
Probably not, Studio Zero is just a bit more elusive. Pretty hard to atlus drop the project, as it has Director Katsura Hashino ( Modern Persona - Nocturne) and Designer Shigenori Soejima ( Persona - Soul Hackers).
It didn’t sound like you were being harsh. Just giving an honest review. I’m looking forward to playing it.
I honestly wanna see a new spinoff from the Kuzunoha branch of things. And you singlehandedly convinced me to buy this.
Btw, there is a setting that will reduce the loading screen times. It's a set amount of time. I believe it's something to do with tips. It's pretty dumb but at least you can reduce it
Combat actually looks pretty fun. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this game but think I'll give it a go on sale. At that point the Persona games will probably be on switch and PC though so might be a while before I get to it.
It is fun, but it’s very basic imo. I’m also at 3-4 hours in, so maybe it’ll get more complex later hopefully. Game feels very easy.
Man, even if they swung and missed on some aspects I’m just so grateful this game got made. Now if we can get a strange journey 2 and a devil survivor 3 I’ll be set:) Soul Hackers is probably my second or third favorite smt game, the cast and storyline were always going to be hard to follow. Can’t wait to get this when it gets cheap on Black Friday or something:)
Good to see an immediate review, love this channel
Never played the first soul hackers but I really like smt and love persona so im definitely gonna pick this up later this week.
Virtually no one did. The original releases for the DC and PS1 were Japan only. It did get a worldwide 3DS remake, but between region locking and the fact that third party titles on Nintendo platforms are a pr*ck to find a week or two after release, it's not surprising. Don't know which region you're in, but in PAL territories getting any of the 3DS MegaTen games costs significantly more than a 3DS.
@@TheBlackSeraph The game is like, a tenner on the EShop right now if you don't mind going digital.
@@vinegar4556 e shop down in March remember
"factions aren't established well" I mean that's basically an SMT staple at this point to have different groups and have none of them fleshed out well at all lmao
Idk, SMT IV's factions were pretty well written imo
@@0uttaS1TE And SMT II
@@0uttaS1TE I feel like you only say that cause standards are quite low, don't get me wrong I love smt 4 but it's pretty obvious that jonathan and walters characters were kinda twisted and forced to fit into their respective alignments around the end...and isabeau's route is just bland though it's still my favourite cause more content I guess.
The best factions in the entire franchise is definitely in devil survivor 1, amazing game, amazing characters and alignments was pretty well made, characters don't feel forced into their respective alignments. I hope we get more games like it in the future. Also, naoya best boy.
@@0uttaS1TE Only Law lol.
If you played the games you would know how dumb this comment is lol.
Ya know, a guy like Saizo can just be a hopeless romantic and want a loving relationship without being labeled with internet terms. Thanks much, Mr Internet Lingo.
I hope this sells well so that my one true love Raidou Kuzunoha can get a new game
This aged well
Pretty much agree with your review minus your criticisms of the music - I absolutely adore the soundtrack, even the first 5sec of your video the music you played gave me instant nostalgia of my play-through last year.
I hope they continue the series and at the very least continue Ringo as a character, because I agree I think she was a fantastic protagonist and it’s because she actually has a voice and personality. I’m never all that satisfied with silent protagonists.
I believe every Megaten game should do something different with protagonist, from the silent protagonist to this type of defined characters.
Awesome review! Fun fact: Disable the Tips loading screen in the Options to make load times much faster.
Honestly, the way you describe the Sabbath system makes it sound like a compelling evolution of Demon Co-Op from Strange Journey. Add that to the return of Redux’s Commander Skills, and I think it’s clear that the Soul Hackers 2 team were consciously taking inspiration from there.
On the other hand, I think some of the developments in Soul Hackers 2 would make for compelling additions to a Strange Journey sequel- a protagonist with more of a personality, for example.
In sum, this is making me want a Strange Journey sequel with Alex from Redux as the protagonist, set in one of her fucked-up futures.
I'm loving it quite a freaking bit so far. I really love the art style, it's this gorgeous watercolor look. Very unique and looks incredible in 4K. The gameplay is fun right from the start and the characters are pretty great. I love the voice acting, especially Ringo. The stores are so beautiful! And GIANT BLACK FROST??
I just got the game, around 5 hours in. I'm digging it so far! I honestly do love the 4 party dynamic. Let's you get close to the members (which P5R had too many at once and SMTV having no party members) I am looking at getting the older demon summoners in the future after I'm done this.
Nobody:
Nyarly at midnight: This is a good time frame for a video!
It’s when the review embargo ended for a lot of TH-camrs, that’s why a lot are uploading right now.
I enjoyed TMS at the time and this looks somewhat similar, so I'll have it on my radar, however I'm not buying it yet because there are games that interest me more coming out. I hope it does get released on Switch in the future though.
Same guys who made TMS made this game, so yes theirs a lot of similarities to TMS
YES so excited for Soul Hackers 2! I hope it does really well despite rough release timing (in the hopes that atlus decides more spin offs are good and they give us another devil survivor)
Also I'm glad to see Ringo has more personality. I much prefer that to blank slate characters.
Kinda reminds me of older jrpg dungeon crawlers. A bit mundane but I kinda dig those old grid based dungeons. Honestly a first person mode would be great for it I think. Maybe there’s a mod on the pc version.
I own almost every SMT game and offshoot- and even emulated/patched the SNES ones with English fan translations, I can honestly say it's a great offshoot- I'm playing 1st Soul Hacker on 3DS again also (which itself is Sega Saturn remake). If I can look forward to some mainline Shin Megami every few years, a Persona in between , and now one of these (or Strange Journey/Devil Survivor/etc.) in the off years also- Atlus will give us a nice steady supply. Sure they reuse demons and some assets some games, but each story and changes made to mechanics is enough to warrant playing these games if you like this style. SMT universe is up there with Ys, Phantasy Star, Star Ocean, and Final Fantasy for me as far as long running, branching RPG like franchises.
I thought this game would be hot garbage but it's relieving to hear they nailed so many aspects. Music might be called mediocre but I love cyberpunk style music anyway so anything scratches that itch, sad the dungeons looks so boring though
Interesting comment. What did they nail exactly? Because you listed 2 negatives about SMTs usual strengths: the music and dungeons.
@@KyngD469 having played over 32 hours so far, the story, combat, and music are all amazing. The characters have a lot of depth as well. The only downside is the dungeons, especially the vision quest dungeon. They’re all bland hallways for the most part but there’s a dungeon or two that I liked. Overall the game is good, like 7/10.
A Note about the Loading Screens: Set the loading screen to button press. I think the autoload allows for time to read the box. button press allows you to advance the loading screen after 1-2 seconds
This should've been the default option. I have a speedy hard drive so there is literally no loading time. I think you're right they baked in the loading time so you could read the tips or story summaries.
Can confirm on the performance. I'm playing on a bloody integrated graphics card and STILL getting solid 60fps. Some stutter when loading battles, but my PC runs on an HDD, so it's to be expected. Sega games don't usually have this level of optimization and polishing when ported to PC, but seeing how the P4G port was I was pretty much expecting good out of this one. And I wasn't disappointed.
Also, the game is really good. Fun stuff.
looks alright, might be a good steam deck title. was really excited to play on release, but after seeing the bland gameplay outside of combat and all the day one dlc, gonna wait for a sale...
Glad you mention the simultaneous worldwide release. SEGA/Atlus have really stepped their game up with that.
>gets a soul hackers 2 ad during the review
Guess even TH-cam wants me to get this game 😅
I'll wait for a better price if that ever happens
Well you resold me on it.. After seeing just how shit the dungeons were and a few other things it caused me to cancel my preorder, i still am not getting the game but once it goes on a good discount by Black Friday i might just cop it!
"They're boring ass locations." Okay, but so is Nocturne
>says dlc practices are bad
>still buys super deluxe premium edition
It's poetry really...
I'll just wait till it's cracked to play it.
The average Chaos fan:
Won’t even bother pirating it. Those 40-60 hours are best spent on a good game.
@@smtandearthboundsuck8400 Cool, hope you enjoy whatever it is you enjoy. For the record, any recomendations?
@@karotconcarne3325 this guy above has half of his activities online being hating Megaten for ages, i see this guy hating Smt for more than 2 years i swear
This guy literally has no meaning in life other than hating a Videogame series
@@karotconcarne3325 Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous.
I'm still fairly early in Soul Hackers 2, but I gotta say that I'm really digging it so far. Maybe that's just my bias as a Devil Summoner fan, but I'm having a lot more fun with this game than I did with, say, SMTV. I'm really hoping it sells well so we can hopefully get a Raidou 3 some day.
Im probably biased in saying this
But sans the bland dungeons
I consider Soul Hackers 2 the best release weve gotten since smt4
I actually wanna pick this game up and play it, and won't lie the biggest reason is the fact we have a TALKING PROTAGANIST, some bonus points for it being a woman too, but really it's just the fact the protagonist isn't a silent/self-insert. I don't mind silent protagonists, but it gets very boring when every game the character is a silent protagonist so this just feels like such breath of fresh air for me. Plus despite the flaws towards the dungeon design this just looks like a fun game to me, been a while since I saw a game being played I hadn't seen before and said "yep I wanna play this game now"
I'm glad that the TMS team got another chance and did a good job, I'll be paying more attention to whatever they make next
No wonder the two games felt so similar, didn’t realize it was the same team. If only they got a little bit bigger budget for the dungeons and the game could’ve been way better.
A first person mode or mod wouldve been a great callback to the OG megatens. I hope this does well. I do wish the aesthetics were darker like the OG and I really just wanted to see that OG style but with modern resources. This game is so bright and cheery looking.
Honestly, I would love a first person megaten game with modern graphics and refined controls
What I can't believe is that Nyarly didn't point out is that some of those VAs are ones you know and love if you watched some and play the series of games Nyarly has or watched English Dubbed anime.
Here's the VAs(ENG):
Ringo - Megan Taylor Harvey - Sophia(from P5S) and Sally Brown(from Charlie Brown)
Figue - Erica Mendez - Bernadetta(from FE: 3 Houses) and Sailor Uranus(from Sailor Moon) and Ayaka(from Genshin Impact)
Arrow - Zach Aguilar - Byleth(from FE: 3 Houses) and Genos (from One Punch Man Season 2 onwards) and Aether(from Genshin Impact)
Milady - Erica Lindbeck - Futaba(from P5) and Black Cat(from Spider-Man 2018) and Asahi(from SMT IV A)
Saizo - Griffin Putau - Raian Kure(from Kengan Ashura) and Lars(from Nier Re[in]carnation)
and best of all
Victor - Patrick Seitz - Jeritza/Death Knight(from FE: 3 Houses) and King Cerberus[one head](from DMC 5) and fucking
DIO FUCKING BRANDO (from of course Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) and many many more.
I’ve heard that hiding loading screen tips will drastically improve load times
Looks interesting will get it whenever it goes on sale.
Just beat it last night. Load times were near instant on PS5. Ringo is such a great character. Hard game to suggest to others because of the dungeons, even if I liked them. I fell in love with the OST but it was a slow burn. Great review! I definitely agree it is a flawed game. I missed true ending by 2 soul points with Arrow and that felt particularly bad haha
Ringo's butt is the real reason they made this game after all.
The game definitely looks good enough for me as a JRPG fan to pick up although I will likely wait until a sale as I am currently playing through Bravely Default 2 and SMT IV.
Yeah I'll say Soul hackers it's a good game has some flaws but it's okay game and I feel like Atlas is making games to get people into the series they have and make them a little easy which is honestly perfectly fine as long as they don't do it too much it's perfectly fine it's a good way to get new people into the smt series as well of its spin-offs though you might have to worry about the fan base but that's a whole different story
I've been playing VERY HARD mode (free DLC) and so far it's been a really good challenge, even comparable to that of Nocturne HARD mode imo
Also not every game needs to be GOTY. I think a lot of people forget (or weren't alive) back even in the PS2 era when most ganes were just alright, it made the incredible ones stand out as all time classics
I'm perfectly fine with an okay game if like you said, it brings people into the series or genre even
I was kinda worried because of the reviews, but it’s actually really great. Having a lot of fun with it. I love Ringo, she’s funny. The way you equip Demons reminds me a lot of Persona Q 1 and 2.
Also, surprised by Arrow-was expecting him to be a generic, pardon the term, patsy surrounded by badass women, but I am glad Atlus did not go that route for this game. He’s pretty cool, and a nice change of pace from Yosuke/Kanji/Ryuji being unreasonably afraid of the girls in P4 and 5, that got old quick.
Love the lore of this game, too. So far, enjoying it a million times more than SH1, which made me want to pull my hair out (I mean, any game with random encounters has that effect, really, but still, even the story for SH1 was pretty weak, with the only strong character being Nemissa).
at least junpei actually had a love interest xd
@@alyssarasmussen1723 Junpei is the goat, best of the best friend characters of the modern Persona games as he has major story development rather than it all being locked behind social links that feel like they barely go anywhere 70% of the time.
Well, the characters actually being adults helps, so they don’t have to utilize the “I’m a teenager that still somehow hasn’t learned to talk to girls in 17 years” anime trope. Nah the characters in this game are great, all other criticisms aside, Saizo, Arrow, Milady, and especially Ringo, all have a great dynamic.
@@chadachi3970 Junpei’s pretty cool. My personal favorite is Yosuke, but Junpei is second, for me, yeah. Junpei was good, I think, because he wasn’t just the best friend, like, he actually had a life outside of Makoto, which made him feel more real, as you said. Still enjoy Yosuke more because he’s hilarious, intelligent, and also The Scene of P4G with the mail man-they really displayed how Yosuke can get and he led the charge in setting the tense mood.
@@GG256_ Yeah, it’s a breath of fresh air, lmao. I don’t mind a character being stupid with girls, but I do mind when said girls are just as powerful as the boys, and yet the boys fear the girls. That’s dumb to me, lol. Like, why is Ryuji afraid of Makoto Niijima? Isn’t she afraid of the dark? That’s who you’re going to be afraid of? Also, she’s your teammate? Come on, LOL.
But yeah, they do have a great dynamic in SH2, I enjoy this game quite a bit.
I'm new to the soul hacker game didn't play the first one but for just starting and just beat the first dungeon I like the game so far, plus I really like Ringo too, she has a fun and sassy personality but still level headed and doesn't come off as mean or annoying, plus I enjoyed her rap against r.s had me smiling
With how equipping demons sounds, my immediate first thought was DDS. Obviously it doesn't work like that and the mantras though. I guess the comparisons you made are more apt.
Really wish SH2 got the same budget that persona games or hell, even SMT games, get.
It feels like the team behind it tried real hard to make it great, but fell short due constrains. The character models are great, but the environments feels like they were sacrificed for them and some attack animations are like they were meant to be more flashy.
I would love if these games could still have SMT in the titles, saves a lot of confusion with folk
I'll probably grab it if it comes to Switch. My PC works fine, but finding time to sit down and play it is difficult. It's always better to have JRPGs portably.
Honestly it reminds me of how I am still waiting for SMT Devil summoner 1 (for psp ofc) to be finished. I remembered hearing that the translation was done but the patch wasn't implemented. Well at least P2EP portable was fully translated and playable
Ouf, this review alleviated my worries to a degree. Thanks!
Honestly happy for Atlis to branch out again with the Megaten games. I want this game to succeed even though it seems like it was low priority. There’s no harm in AA games making a return.
Honestly persona 5 was AA...
@@JNCGaming Maybe AA in budget but it outclasses most AAA games honestly because they focused on the things that mattered.
On Ruin element: I think Cyber Sleuth solved the “aliment problem” in jRPGs (most bosses immune and it’s faster to destroy everything else normally) by making it so that all aliment attacks did damage of one of the standard types as well. For example Idle Bubble does below average water damage for when most monsters learn it (30 power instead of 55), but it has a chance to sleep and most monsters that learn it don’t have other water skills natively, while Hyper Heat deals normal for level obtained fire damage and has a chance to also lower the target’s defense. Likewise, all aliment heal skills also heal some HP to their targets. This and the fact that hard mode bosses are both vulnerable to stats and tough enough to bother with make them worth using.
I was really on the fence about this one, even with how excited I always am for a more SMT in most any form, but this sold me on it. Thank you for giving a good and honest review!
I think the game is a nice breathe of fresh air. It feels like Persona but with adults and that's something I've been asking for a long time.
Play persona 2
@@JNCGamingI’m talking about modern releases. I’ve played persona 2. Besides, tthe series has been drowning in the high school anime aesthetic for a long time.
@@canonsprite just dosn't feel like a devil summoner game it feels too much like a pop idol fest i would lump this with the fire emblem crossover game. it's okay if you like generic anime rpg's reminiscent of vita titles
Play yakuza 7.
The gameplay is closer to dragon quest than smt. But if your looking for a jrpg about adults, that's the ticket.
A year later after this game's release and I can confidently file this under "I just think it's neat."
My biggest gripe(besides the DLC) is the Demons that you have equipped when they attack they are just a black outline behind the target...The demons look so good but your never get to see your demons in combat.
You get to see them every single turn in the Sabbath??
I'm so glad I found your channel. I was so exhausted from IGN and 50 ads. You do great work!
I must admit that I love the artstyle of the game, and the UI is REALLY pretty to look at.
The game is a visual treat
They missed the opportunity to teach players simple programming skills and have the puzzles revolve around that. It's in the name! You don't even have to make the player write anything, just connect nodes a la Unreal Engine blueprints. It should probably be toggleable though.
I like seeing the personas actually do things and not just sit behind me
I want this game now. As a fan of the first Soul Hackers, not getting the DLC that includes Nemissa sucks but I should try my hardest to resist because those DLC practices are the worst. I hope I can get it this week.
I literally got the dlc because of nemissa
I was honestly waiting for the Nyarly review before deciding if I should get this game. Glad it got a decent score and when I have room in my gaming calendar I’ll pick it up.
Why wait? You know he’s an atlus bootlicker who will say nothing bad about it
For the $25 I paid, I'd say it's okay for just playing through the main story and nothing else. I couldn't bring myself to go for all the trophies since a handful of them require a ridiculous amount of grinding in both the Soul Matrix and every area of every dungeon, the former of which was so painfully boring. And don't even get me started on the 4F areas of the Matrix.
I also found myself getting quite bored and frustrated with the last dungeon to the point I just put the game on easy and brute forced my way through 90% of it. I didn't even bother with the DLC.
6/10. And I feel I'm being nice
The most honest review of this game
First Soul Hackers was review bombed too and is one of the best SMT games of all time.
Strange Journey Redux was also review bombed.
@@nr2676 strange journey redux is bad
It detracts from the original and is a failure of an enhanced edition it deserved to be shit on
@@V2ULTRAKill No ? All changes from SJR are optional (extra endings, extra dungeon, commander skills, apps, save game in any moment) and game dont force you to use them, which is great. If you want play like original SJ, dont use new features and content from Redux. Its not Persona 1 and Persona 2 remaster when devs force you to play only in newest version. The only downgrade from original SJ is artstyle change, thats all.
Great review, not sure how I feel about the many changes in this game. Not being able to fuse and use demons feels weird. But I don't mind blander, less frustrating dungeons either. I loved the original Soul Hackers for that 90s cyberpunk aesthetic. I would probably buy this one at a sale when it's cheap though. But like other comments said, I hope it does well so we can finally have Devil Survivor 3 happen.
wdym? you can fuse and use demons...
it's just a more persona-like expirience it's meh not really worthy of the soul hackers or devil summoner name
Cyberpunk and megaten go together like peanut butter and jelly. Sad to see Atlus embracing the Tokyo Mirage Sessions aesthetic so relentlessly. Other than that it's a really good game. Glad to see they're focusing more on a SMT IV style narrative experience in soul hackers 2 as apposed to the plot hole no story mess style of SMT Nocturne like they did in SMT V.
Plot hole? No story? Nocturne is minimalist and still present very well the characters and their reasons unlike SMT V. SMT IV is not that original because the game get a lot of SMT1 ideas.
@@MaledictusXCII
W, I thought I was the only one who knew this.
It steals from Smt2 a lot too.
Also the irony of saying « plot holes no story » to describe one game 🤡. Which is it?
It’s easy to not make any plot holes or mistakes when you’re copy pasting from the best written megaten games. But IV somehow managed to blunder 🤡🤡🤡.
I believe I can play it when it gets old enough to have accessible prices for my currency, probably 5 years+
Lol expecting modern games to ever lower in price or go into decent sales🤡.
Just pirate it.
@@smtandearthboundsuck8400 they'll go on sale, might take a couple of years, but they will
So I’m like 15 hours deep in this game and I gotta say that this game is literally just ok. I think all the 7/10 reviews are pretty spot on.
Of all the second opinions I could've come across, I'm glad it was yours. I'm only 40 minutes into the game and I've found it a lot of fun, and it's a lot easier to enjoy it knowing that I'm not the only one who enjoyed the stuff I enjoyed.
gotta say, I do love the neon aesthetic here. Also, the main character looks really cool. I love her glowy coat!
I like the change to ailments I almost never use them because they always miss I feel like an easy way to balance them would be to make them a good bit weaker as a damaging ability or make non ailment attacks do more damage to promote more incentive either way I think they should keep it in future titles, sucks we don't get mudo or hama though
Hey Nyarly, if you can get your hands on a copy, would you do a Challenge Run of Stella Glow for the 3DS? It's a really overlooked title in Atlus' Library, and I'd love for it to get more recognition.
this is the type of game that I wanted to get day 1 but the whole DLC issue brought it to 'I will get it when it's on sale' level
Shin Megami Tensei - Devil Summoner
Devil Summoner - Soul Hackers
Soul Hackers 2
3
Adachi in P4 turns into an Aion contruct confirmed? The eye orb he becomes has the colors of all the covenants in this game it seems like, maybe early Aion? or another server? And the flashback scene in the beginning of the game shows the creature with tons of eyes which match the style present in P4. The midnight channel is the same way someone in this game was planning on doing something to the world (imo) I feel like there's a connection going on here.
I'm a big Megaten fan and am glad to see that this game won't be a disappointment.
I finally got around to playing this game recently and I liked it a lot. It runs really well on PS5. I bought the DLC when it was on sale ($13 for all of it) but still feel like I didn't get my money's worth. Such is life.
So I started this game a few days ago, directly after beating Royal for the 3rd time. I kinda like some of the differences, however Royal is better to me. The story of Soul Hackers and character design is pretty amazing as well.
We need them spin-offs
Especially DESU 3, please god we NEED desu 3 to be a thing...
I would also say digital devil saga but that game is done story wise, i don't see how could a revival happen for that game.
Alright, here's my outsider's outlook, having only seen the gameplay in this video.
1: The Camera, Why is it at this angle?
2: Battles, they look.. hmm
I imagine of course, that it's better when you're playing the game, but when you look at the things besides the menus, you're in the void, with all enemies and party members in a line. And the skill selection menu just zooms really uncomfortably looking on the character's face, though the Models and UI look nice.
3: Customisation looks hella modular.
Nothing feels more epic than having almost full freedom to do whatever the hell you want with characters, and switching demons Persona style, mid battle means you could do absolutely wacko stuff.
4: Character designs.
They look really cool, what else do i say? Ringo really reminds me of LAM's artstyle..
5: skills and other stuff
Health and SP scaling looks pretty intense, ~700hp/250sp looks insane at level 40, atleast compared to Persona, not sure on SMT but i don't think SMT is that insane.
Seeing no Instakills is definitely a stress reliever for most, and ailments being their own type seems interesting.
another thing of note, Megido was weak almighty damage, not medium, so it's good seeing differences on skills, even though the names are the same.
..Speaking of the same, Fusing. Are there any megaten games without it?
And there you go, things about the game that are clear to people who haven't played it, atleast from this video.
Thankfully you can change the camera angle and zoom
Important note, you can change the cameras position to ringo, zoom it out, put her in the center, etc. The default settings of the game are pretty rough
I hope nexusmods makes a mod to swap ringo with figue. Figue looks beautifull. That booba nyarly!
That BOOBA!!!!!
I can't wait for a Thicker Ringo mod 🥵
bro
Down bad
Okay, who’s the badass that broke into ATLUS HQ, and renamed the main character to fucking *Ringo?*
apple
Is that a Puyo Puyo reference?
I think her name is meant to be a reference to ring 0, which is a computing term
Do I sense a cringe jojotard who thinks the world revolves around his mid as hell manga series?
@@0uttaS1TE no it's just that apple in japanese is ringo lol
Game is okay, would’ve preferred something old school out of Soul Hackers. Altus pls make DeSu 3
Just starting playing this one. It's been on my radar for a long time, but as you mentioned it's release time was was odd.
Got a sense of deja vu while playing and released this a while lot more like a sequel to Tokyo Mirage Sessions mechanically.
Fun fact with the find the item missions. It's NOT random on if you get an item to show up it's predetermined. The only random part is what demon gives it to you. Because of this you cannot just get the first half of the items reload and go to where the first half was to find more, you gotta go the rest of the dungeon.
I would love to know your thoughts post patches. The rush and battle speed up options are great