𝙎𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙇𝘿 𝙔𝙊𝙐 𝘽𝙐𝙔: Soul Hackers 2 Review [Spoiler-free]
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- Опубліковано 3 лип 2024
- My Review of Soul Hackers 2! Talking indepth about the Battle System, Attention to story and gameplay features. Review Copy provided by ATLUS! Come here me talk about Ringo and other Shin Megami Tensei and Persona Games. I know other reviews pain the Metacritic review score kinda low, but I think depending on who you are this game might be great for you! - or not.
Watch Me Play Soul Hackers 2 LIVE;
/ hidingkun
Support Me Financially;
/ hidinginpublic
Artist;
/ kallehmono
Time Stamps;
00:00 Intro
02:24 Cutscene Direction
03:07 Writing
05:44 Set Design
06:57 The Stack System
09:02 Dungeon Design
11:23 The 'Mons
14:26 Gameplay Variety
15:46 Difficulty
16:42 The Summoners
17:41 DLC
19:00 Aesthetic
19:44 Music
20:57 Interesting Ideas
22:51 How I played SH2
24:08 How Does it Compare?
25:11 SHOULD YOU BUY
25:57 Outro - Розваги
Very well-written, thank you for being frank and fully descriptive of what to expect, while not just spilling out the entire game’s story or gameplay. Earned a sub
Thanks! I was trying to balance things to give people interested in a game an informed decision on if it's for them. I think that's the best thing a review can hope to do, atleast for the start of the game's release cycle. Thanks for the sub! I try to be this detailed with all I do
Awesome seeing you able to do a review for this, great video!
I think so too! Glad I could do it and thanks for watching it
wow a non P4G video!
I appreciate that this review isn't just a comparison to Persona 5 but rather it seems you've been around your share of other Atlus titles
I tried to take it as a prospective ATLUS fan, and try to describe what sorta of things people may or may not like based on their previous experiences. I think comparison has it's place when it's being used to create visual imagery or tie specific ideas to something new, thanks for watching!
*me watching this even though i already bought a $200 collectors edition* lol
HOW MUCH?!?
Relatable. I feel like I'm almost MORE likely to watch reviews of games if I've already bought it lol
@@user-bw4hy3ph6z yeah it was ridiculously high. I have a problem 😂
You better enjoy that game for many years and not drop it in a month
I too bought the collector's edition, sadly I got an email saying the items for the CE will be delayed to mid September but the game will be shipped this week
just as an atlus fan, i think its gonna be good. soundtracks may not be peak, gameplay may not be perfect, but what i appreciate is atlus trying something new while also recalling what the old games were about. while the dlc sets a certain precedent for business practices, i like the way it shows even with all these laurels atlus isnt resting - still trying new things like stack, blending new and old story concepts, and just being on fucking point with art and artstyle as usual.
buying as soon as i can of course. my pfp says it all
Yeah I think that's fair. It dips a lot into the old and a lot into the new. It's a very focused project I feel, and while it's not my fav ATLUS game to come out recently, it certainly offers enough and in some ways a unique experience from other recent projects. Thanks for the comment!
every new game is becoming more JRPG-y and less atlus-y unfortunately. this game is the absolute low point when it comes to putting the occult at the center of the game. the game doesnt look bad at all, in fact i want to play it, but if this trend continues, atlus is going to replace their reputation for making "weird occult obsucre games" with "they are the guys with the cool style and UI" and i think that will bite them in the end.
@@puer4787 You know what, that's a good point and observation.
awesome work dude!
Thanks!
First, congratulations for receiving a review copy from Atlus, a well deserved recognition for all your hard work with the Persona 4 Gold series. I feel a bit emotional just that Atlus gave you the game for review, Hiding-kun.
Second, you made me very interested to play Soul Hackers 2... But my pc is dying faster than someone fighting Minotaur with Walter in the party in SMT IV, so for now I will just wish list the game.
Wahhhh can't wait to watch you play the game! Also, can't wait for the Kanji video! Wahhhh!
Didn't expect to see the wonderful Kall illustrations on hiding in private ;^)
Gonna try to start working alongside kall and implementing his work more often
I like the cute little animated avatar. Very nice.
Thanks, I'm gonna be working alongside Kall a lot more in the future
While this game looks really good. I really hate Atlus's practice of Day 1 DLC and also the fact that they made the collectors edition EVEN more difficult to obtain then the SMT V one. It doesn't help that the price was honestly kinda ridiculous, I love Atlus Collector's editons so it felt kinda bad to pass on it. I'll probably get it second-hand one day.
That is little silly I probably get it
Man the full package is almost $100.
Considering Atlus' shenanigans with localizers recently, I wonder if those mcu style quips and jokes are genuine or just english localizers being english localizers.
I regret not studying Japanese a decade earlier.
When Ringo told an enemy to "Take this L" I knew there was some fuckery afoot
OK IF YOU ARE SEEING THIS- WE WILL BE LIVE playing Soul Hackers 2 in 8 hours! www.twitch.tv/hidingkun
The way they handle the enemies with the red, purple, and gold enemies and how you engage them is straight out of Tokyo Mirage Session. In fact I bet they borrowed a lot of ideas from TMS for this title.
Ah okay, see I never got around to playing TMS (it just really aesthetically put me off although I might check ut eventually) so for me I just thought golden hands lol
I was waiting for this
Hope it lived up!
Well-rounded reporting! Thx
Thanks for watching!
20:40 FRUITY ASS WALK
atlus characters always got that Shazam
Yee haw
The presentation for this game looks great, but like og soul hackers I’m feeling meh about everything else. Still gonna buy in hopes that Devil Survivor 3 is possible.
Faur enough. It's definitely meant for a very particular type of ATLUS fan and I can see it feeling fairly middling to a lot of people. I do hope it does decent sales wise tho bc if we got a lot more games like this or using the SMT5 engine as smaller projects that could be great!
@@HidinginPrivate smt v engine is unreal btw in case you forgot the name 💀 remember that name its a very important one
Everyday I pray for a DeSu 3 release.
Devil Survivor 3 I hope
Crazy. I had no idea this game existed until a few hours ago. I was just watching UA-cam channel Marsh's "The Soul Hackers Experience" like I always do, and all of a sudden UA-cam started slapping SH2 vids in my recommended. I'm not a gamer, but it's always a nice feeling to catch the sequel to a game you were following, thinking you were discovering a relic, even though it was just released in 1997.
Well happy you stumbled in here. Marsh makes very engaging videos. There's a lot of megaten games that feel like relics or hidden gems
just pre ordered it !😋 can't wait to get my soul hacked ! Looks amazing !
Hope you enjoy it!
This game really was a unique experience if nothing else lol. Are you gonna pick up / talk about the story DLC as well?
Mmm idk. I might make a couple more videos on SH2 at some point, but don't really like the practice of the day 1 DLC so opted to only mention it in a couple lines here.
holy shit its tony4you
Great video.
I think i'll wait for a sale for this game. I'm interested in it but it doesn't seem as 'full price' worthy as a Persona game would be.
i’m playing p3fes rn but it’s hella tempting, the graphics look cool but i just listened to this at work & thats it’s selling point for me
Well I certainly enjoy fes. There's no reason you can't play both haha. It is a very nice looking game, in terms of graphics and textures
A surprise to be sure but a welcome one.
This is a great review, and I definitely think I will enjoy this game, but I had to stop this video for like 40 whole seconds laughing at "You mean a garr licked this bread"
I'm glad to hear. I tried to present things so a person would know if THEY would like SH2. Glad you liked the gar meme, I shared it bc I also find it hillarious. More original than "you telling me a shrimp fried this rice"
As a person who's only played Persona 4 Golden since it got it's port to PC, I'm 100% getting this! I pre-ordered it a good while ago and I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning when it drops!
From what I've seen from most reviews is that this is a game that's worth playing, but it's also one where you should temper your expectations. From what I've seen, SH2 sort of looks like ATLUS experimenting with the SMT formula and playing around with systems they weren't confident enough in to put in one of their more major titles, which I'm all for. Even if some of the stuff in this game looks a little underdeveloped or could use a bit of an improvement, I'm honestly fine with it as the fact that this is coming to PC alone is enough for me as I don't own, and don't really plan to own, any other platforms to play other titles on. So yeah, really looking forward to this!
Indeed
remember, you cant be sure that something is undercooked till you taste it to compare to a well cooked meal
Do they block streaming on twitch like they do with Persona?
Nope- I will be streaming when it officially releases tonight!
I will in a few years, when Atlus decide to make it accessible in my currency as they did with P4G
Fair enough. It might be less than a few years, if you can get it used you might be able to pick it up discounted enough. I can see how the $60 and $70 USD price tag would be a heavy ask
You're a pretty cool guy, Hiding
Thanks Hugz
Thanks for the evenhanded analysis. I probably won't buy it as I am currently playing through SMT Strange Journey for the first time instead and its been quite good.
Sure thing! I wanted people to be fully informed in their decision. I liked the game but I can see it being divisive depending on what people like about ATLUS or JRPGs in general
Clicked as soon as I could
I appreciate that
Are you going to be doing one of these for Persona 4?
Lol, no plans to talk about persona 4 in any capacity ever tbh. I won't make any videos on p4
Got this game for Christmas and I think so far, it's a good way to wiggle people out of other Atlus games and expand their horizons. It certainly doing that with me since before this, I've only played Persona and if I compared it to those I'd say it's better than Persona 1, on par with Persona 4. It's certainly not perfect but I'm enjoying it regardless
Already bought it mainly because I'm a fan of smt games I just beat smt 5 on my Nintendo switch OLED and I cannot wait to get for free via Xbox game pass persona 5 and 4 persona 3 I will buy that for the switch because it's portable and I want to have that on that screen not to this one I bought it also to support more Atlas games on Xbox and I'm so glad I bought it it's such a great game I'm 10 hours in and I'm hooked love the art style love the difference love the variation yes the dungeons are a little blood but the design and the grinding is still there and it's still fun I love it.
Oh cool man
Too cool for school
@@HidinginPrivate well aside from the shooting today
School gives you a place hang out and learn about different things and make friends to talk and eat lunch with and drive I guess you are cool making this video
Best review out there, thank you. IGN and the likes suck.
you were probably told this already, but ringo was slippery to control because the game defaults to unlimited FPS but also tied ringo's movement to fps. If you go to the settings and change to 60 fps it drastically decreases her startup and stop time for walking around
Yup! I saw people talking about it these last couple days! One of the things you'll miss playing it totally blind ig haha
Can you turn off the extra items dlc you mentioned? The one that makes the game easier
Yes! It's toggleable
I'm actually enjoying this game more than SMT5. if they could make a follow up to the mainline Devil Summoner series with the press turn system and a good narrative I'd buy whatever the fuck they wanna sell me. But with this game though, I'm having a good time.... The lack of traditional devil summoning was my first big hit but was willing to play with it due to the challenge of a switch up. The story is good, better than the last current mainline title with SMTV -_- I think from here onwards... If doing some ATLUS surveys and writing in how much we want an official SMT I, II, 9, etc remake or even an official translation... but I'd rather they just translate titles that most Americans haven't played. Further more..... Devil Summoner.... Calling this Soul Hackers 2... I get why they dropped the Devil Summoner name but I don't agree with it... Yet Kuzonoha is involved, Yatagarasu is involved. I think ATLUS needs to reach back into the dirt and observe its roots. Especially when making something like this that isn't a "Persona Game" despite making it... Well... Either way, anyone who reads this comment.. next time we get an ATLUS survey.. tell them what you want. Sorry if the English is shit I'm a spic
is it connected to soul hackers 1 that’s all i need to know
Not really
it's connected to SH1/Devil Summoner in the same way the Persona games are connected.
I really want to play it but the day one story and Demon dlc reaaaally rubs me the wrong way
How's the jp voice track though? I don't actually care about the en dub and avoid them whenever possible.
I just listened to chunks of it and didn't see any glaring issues. I normally avoid dubs too but ATLUS has a good track record so that's what I went with
I love them JP dubs, but yeah, besides Arrow and Saizo, everyone else just do not hit. Kurosawa Tomoyo sounds really bland and amateurish here, and using literal child VA who only reading the scripts as Flamma is pretty bad. So, if you want to enjoy the game more, go with the English dub, they are actually good.
Reviewers be like "0/10 not Persona 6"
They complain about bland dungeons but P3 had the same floor with different paint jobs for 100 some flights and it got 8s and 9s 🤦♂️
I think it's partially a matter of game standards changing as technology progresses. Nocturne was huge in pushing the industry forward and evolving what SMT is but if it came out fresh today it's hard to imagine it getting good reviews with its lack of so many quality of life features that have become second nature at this point. I think the most important thing is for a review to let you know if you will like the game and that's what I tried to do here since I can see Soul Hackers 2 being fairly divisive
Persona 3 came out more than a decade ago, and either way it's not the only part of the game
Let's compare a decade old game to a 2022 game...
We get it Persona 5 is your first Atlus game but that doesn't mean you should shit talk the older games just because they don't have set designs for the dungeons
Why is this game not on Switch again?
Idk. The particles and lighting look like they could genuinely be some issue, but most cases have a means to turn that stuff down and I can't imagine the raw polygon count would be too much for the switch. Could have just been a part of the downs called budget idk
:)
:D
Minor feedback. It would be nice if you showed snippets of what you were refereing to when talking about it. For example, show marvel quippery when talking about it and show snippets of dialog when talking about voice work
That's fair, I was on a bit of crunch for this vid and definitely cut corners on that element. While I try to show generally related footage, I didn't show many specific examples- although I think I showed the "is she your girlffriend" line with the marvel quippery- and there's a clip on twitter of ringo saying to "take the L" that blew up a few days ago. Definitely could have included VA examples tho, thanks for the feedback!
What Megami Tensei game has told their players about demon's personalities? Demons aren't random personality wise, they just never fucking tell you!
The only exception I know is P5.
both persona 2's (at least their psp remakes, don't recall on ps1) give you a list of key personality traits that apply to the demon you wish to speak to, and some games seemingly base personality off of the alignment that can be seen in-game. However, even with this knowledge sometimes doing the same thing twice can give drastically different results, adding an element of randomness even if you know the demon's personality. games where moon phases exist also effect this. many of the games will flat out tell you when its the full or new moon affecting a demon, but some games (from what I've researched) also slightly alter a demon's conversation preferences during other moon phases as well.
I'm only going to play this game just for it's soundtrack 😂
If you like it that much, by all means. There's atleast a few great tacks in there
It’s free on Xbox Game Pass so here I am. 😊
Thanks for your review!
Considering that this is almost certainly a product made by ATLUS' "C" team (i.e. not PTeam or mainline), it looks amazing.
I'm pretty sure this game is going to be digital crack for me.
There are moments of surprising polish. I hope you do end up enjoying it!
It's made by the Tokyo Mirage Sessions team, specifically
Good optimized then?
For my pc, I ran into virtually no issues
I want stweeeeaaaaam!
I'm sorryyyyy later!
@@HidinginPrivate good thing atlus ain't mad, lol.
I would think of buying it if my fucking soul hackers copy fucking worked. I'm mads
It won't work? Why's that?
Can't believe i am attracted to fruits
I’m on Xbox, will this game tide me over till Persona Royal hits gamepass
P5R gamepass will be amazing
The weird movement on pc is tied to the frame rate. If you have it set to unlimited its actually a bad thing. Set it to 60 and you should be good.
Yup figured that out once it came out for everyone. One of the things that you don't know experiencing it in a bubble I guess
The answer is NOOO!!! Don't buy the game! You should watch hiding play the game first on stream and then buy it!!!
Good video hiding really interesting to see all your different points to the game and seeing how it could make people buy it or not. This is what a true "should u buy" video is like!
Very informative review, and it helps me and others come to our own conclusions based on our experiences. As for whether or not I'll get the game... honestly, no.
Over the past 6 years, Megami Tensei has gradually been stripped of its charm and identity, instead catering to a young-anime based audience for mass-market appeal. While each subseries in Megaten have their ownown distinct identities and quirks that set them apart from one another, lately it feels like due to Persona 5's success (despite how heavily-flawed its writing is and how formulaic the game gets), its more watered-down, homogenised aspects have bled into the entire rest of the franchise. Now, SMT V's story, instead of presenting some tough moral questions and allowing the player to explore who they'd realistically align with based on their personality and honest answers, is all style, no substance, feeling empty compared to a 3DS game that had way more limitations back in the day. And if you'd shown me the trailer for this game without any footage of the demons, I would've assumed this was yet another generic JRPG with a sci-fi coat of paint.
For what it was, Soul Hackers 1 was great. It's a perfect distillation of that iconic 90's charm from the likes of Ghost in the Shell, Serial Experiments Lain, Boogiepop and The Silver Case. It was inspired, and the characters were very grounded despite their obvious quirks. They weren't just a bunch of tired, clique anime archetypes, but actual characters with their own history, motivations and personal interests. Amami City felt lived-in, despite its futuristic 199X aesthetic (or maybe even BECAUSE of it). It shared the optimism and fears of its time with regards to the rapid growth in technology and the world wide web. It didn't necessarily need a sequel either, but if it WAS going to get one, I was hoping it wouldn't be as generic-looking as this. This just looks like diet Psycho-Pass with a plucky alt-girl and vocaloids with guns. It's flashy, but the core of what Devil Summoner is is gone.
And that brings me to another issue I have with modern Megaten games in general; they share the exact same problem as anime at large, and even a few other JRPG's. Anime generally used to be great. Inspired stories that didn't outstay their welcome, incredible characters and and an abundance of originality. After the 2000's? They prove Hayao Miyazaki's rant right. While there are plenty of exceptions, most anime are made by people with no life experiences to draw from, so they fall back on lazy writing. Instead of drawing people as people, they draw characters based on what's expected of them as "anime". Instead of creating actual characters and MAYBE using an archetype as a building block, all anime characters are these days are archetypes, that haven't been fleshed out beyond their basic templates. It's the same reason I love Xenoblade 1 so much, and why Xenoblade 2 is a major insult to good writing and identity of its franchise.
Now, for all I know, I could be pleasantly surprised by Soul Hackers 2's story. It could be better than I ever imagined, and that's great. I love it when a game dispels my doubts and fears. Hell, Xenoblade 3 did that, and it's one of my all-time favourites now. I actually was willing to give the game a fair shot when it launched. But what broke the deal for me was Atlus' awful Day 1 DLC. It's inexcusable that they've been allowed to get away with this for 8 years now, and it's only getting worse with each new game. This needs to stop, and I'm not supporting a game that's missing finished content by design. I'm not even sure I want to buy it second-hand either, because I'll still be getting an unfinished product. I know it was weird when Xenoblade 3's DLC was announced a month before that game launched, but at least the actual development on the base game was finished, and the substantial new content in the Expansion Pass started development after that (Wave 1's cosmetics and consumable items not withstanding).
I get that a lot of people will either not want to miss out, or be made unaware of the unfinished state Soul Hackers 2 is in. But in an already-stacked year of great games, and JRPG's that give me no end of joy, I have plenty of other options to fill the void Atlus themselves created. This year alone, we've had Monark, Triangle Strategy, Three Hopes, Xenoblade 3, Digimon Survive, and the upcoming Diofield Chronicle. And as far as alternatives to SMT go, I've heard good things about The Lost Child, and Undernauts brings back the dark, atmospheric dungeon-crawling.
Can't afford it right now so I got Catherine instead haha 😂
Full body or OG?
Thank you for this, now I know that this just isn't for me
Ah, while I obviously wish for people to enjoy it, I'm happy to make clear whether they will most of all.
The dungeon being ps2 level stuff is really sad
Some fans insist they miss that style of dungeon crawling-
also i will not be watching your stream sadly i wanna be spoiler free :D
Fair enough. Hurry up and buy the game and get past me so you can watch haha
@@HidinginPrivate crying ill try 😭
Private making a soul hacker review in his persona 4 channel. 😐
It's a gaming channel! I just so happen to be covering p4 rn!!
20:30 cap
Nah
@@HidinginPrivate lol
@@HidinginPrivate I personally think the music so far is up their with the big leagues of SMT and Persona it feels so futuristic to me I just love it
I still can’t get over the fact that the girls name is ringo
Ringo like Apple, it's a pun bc she's an AI computer just like the brand of Apple computers
@@HidinginPrivate didn’t know that, that’s pretty cool I just kept thinking about the guy from The Beatles
"Should you buy soul hackers 2"
*Elaborates, leaves (you to your own conclusions)*
It's a question only the prospective buyer can really answer, but I want people to be fully informed to answer that question if they need be
@@HidinginPrivate I feel like it 🔫 always has been the best way to do it, you don't really wanna tell people what to do. My comment was a complement to your style here. 😏👉👉
Lololol ????? You made a video on it? To late already bought
Yup!! Lol
So in other words
Guilty gear jrpg
No Bridget in this unfortunately
@@HidinginPrivate damn. There is no town inside her 😔
I like it more than 5 but not 3 and 4. I didn't like 5, it was to easy, way too long, and all they ever talked about was going to the palace. The soundtrack wasn't anything special either. Soul Hackers 2, the biggest sin can be the bland dungeon, but let's not pretend Persona 3 wasn't the same dungeons over two hundred floors.
Ag Ag
Ag Ag
This game looks cool but why is Ringo's butt so small? It makes me sad
It's not small, it's tight- there's a difference
From the looks of it this game is just really mediocre, it's not hitting any high highs or any low lows, just standard stuff
Yeah I felt happy playing it but pretty middling overall
No 👎🏾
No to buying the game?
@@HidinginPrivate yes 👍🏾
dungeon look so bland,character animations look awful im skipping
Well the character animations are more detailed and nuanced than any other ATLUS game that's come out to date, but yes the dungeons are fairly uninspiring (for me atleast, if you like older atlus titles it could be up your alley) I just hope I gave a solid picture of what to expect
Corny ass game
It's written like a marvel movie
The levels of "Copium" on display from early reviews is insane, this game is bad, I played it all the way thru, and it is so bad in all regards. Everything feels empty, like a neon void, the writing is even worse than SMT 5, it has no identity, not like Persona or any mainline SMT or, I don't know, Soul Hackers.
The Vtuber design BS in not a selling point, it only shows that the people that made the older games are long gone from Atlus, no wonder the soundtrack is so flat.
I'm pretty sure this is the beginning of the end for SMT spinoffs, let's pray that they don't fuck up the next Persona.
(No hard feelings towards you man)
It would have had to mess up significantly more for me to call it bad. There's a lot I don't like, but a lot of that stuff has been appreciated by megaten fans in the past. Idk how you already played it since it doesn't come out for another 2 hours worldwide. It's imo the weakest of the last 3 major releases but I can see some people really liking it still. That's why I tried to give a level handed take from multiple perspectives- I hope you can appreciate what I was trying to do here as I mention a lot of negatives. Ig we'll see tomorrow how much copium is actually around, but so far I'd say SMT5 had a lot more copies on release.
You're just flat out lying.
20:30 cap
I mean it's subjective I guess, but if you like ATLUS music it's def below regular par imo
@@HidinginPrivate I actually prefer the music in comparison to SMTV I put it on par or a bit below Persona tho