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Soul Hackers 2(!) — August 2022 release


Wiper
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Played a few hours more. I really really like the animated portraits next to the dialogue boxes. I haven't played SMTV yet, is this a first? It adds so much compared to the static portraits in other JRPGS.

 

I love the

Spoiler

Yakuza

parody.

 

And everything is still snappy and fast. Even though this is clearly made at a fraction of the budget of Persona 5, imo Atlus are a bit like RZA - the quality of their output increases with fewer resources and lower budgets, forcing creativity. Really enjoying it so far, hope this keeps up.

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Another day well spent, and I'm loving it. Things have opened up to the point where I'm really having to think about where I want my character builds to go, rather than the 'Just hit everything' mode of the first few hours. So far I've not had to grind either. I've found that keeping pace with side quests team stories alongside the main quest naturally lands me in decently challenging, but surmountable boss encounters. It's a nifty game to move around in as well thanks to fast travel and generous dungeon waypoints, and loading times are minimal. Good QoL stuff too, like being able to see whether an enemy 'cluster' contains a quest-related demon before you dive in for battle. Oh, and you can save anywhere. All of these things help keep me glued to a JRPG in 2022.

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3 hours ago, Sabreman said:

Good QoL stuff too, like being able to see whether an enemy 'cluster' contains a quest-related demon before you dive in for battle. Oh, and you can save anywhere. All of these things help keep me glued to a JRPG in 2022.

A thousand times this.

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Mine lost in the mail :(. But was delivered yesterday :).

 

I played the intro bit, everything seems present and correct. It's a bit by the numbers so far, but I'm looking forward to getting properly stuck in. 

 

Playing on hard because I feel like I should be able to handle it. I'll probably regret it later :lol:

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This arrived yesterday and, with my wife at work, I played through four hours straight, which is pretty rare for a game in this day and age.

 

I really like it. I much preferred the exploration and tight gameplay focus of SMTV over the arduous social link and date-your-teacher-who-is-also-of-course-a-stripper antics of Persona 5, so this dungeon crawler is pushing all the right buttons. It's snappy, slick and very easy to play. 

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Due to being home alone for a while I've managed to put a lot of time into this. I'm really enjoying it. It's slick and streamlined, not too many systems that it becomes overwhelming but enough to keep things interesting. Lots of quality of life improvements compared to older games in the series. 

 

Also playing on hard feels right, it's a proper challenge and I died a fair few times, but it hasn't been frustrating (yet). 

 

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes SMT/Persona games, but actually also anyone who likes RPG's but who finds those games a bit daunting. This is the perfect gateway game. 

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Yeah I'm on him now, had the same experience :lol:. I'm going around doing some side stuff and fusing to see if I can manage it.

 

Spent an hour getting wiped by the 3 Halphas in Saizos soul world. Almost got them but gave up in the end, I'll be back later. 

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  • 3 months later...

I see the Digital Deluxe edition is on sale on Xbox right now. While I'm not spending £75 for the fancier version, I was wondering what it comes with extra and whether or not you can buy it separately? Kinda hard for me to check right now, so feedback'd be appreciated.

 

I hear it's mainly gunk, but I'm curious anyway.

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The Digital Deluxe edition contains an extra side-story (purchaseable separately for £7.99) and a consumable item pack (which you can buy separately for £3.99).

 

The Ridiculous Expense edition contains those, plus a £9.99 costume & music bundle (six sets, five based on other SMT games; one swimsuits, natch); a £9.99 8-demon bundle; one (1) exclusive costume (it's a maid's outfit, because of course it is); and one (1) exclusive demon (some sort of Jack Frost variant, naturally). So, if you wanted the bundles, but could live without the two exclusives, it would be £27 cheaper to buy the discounted Digital Deluxe edition and then buy the packs separately.

 

If you had the base edition but wanted everything bar the exclusives, you can get a DLC pack that contains them all for £32.99; which, you may note, is a few pennies more expensive than just buying them separately. And as the base edition isn't discounted and so is actually more expensive than the DD edition, there's no reason to go for that version anyway.

 

I'd actually buy the DD edition, if the retail version wasn't on my Christmas wishlist. I'm always down to try janky dungeon crawlers (even if they are actively trying to shit on my memory of an excellent predecessor), so if it doesn't get bought as part of that I'll be picking it up on boxing day, assuming it's still discounted.

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So what's the verdict from those who have played a fair amount of this? Reviews I have seen says the dungeons are very same and dull. Still got SMT V and Tokyo Mirage Sessions to play but that's a decent price at the moment for the deluxe edition

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1 hour ago, Vorgot said:

So what's the verdict from those who have played a fair amount of this? Reviews I have seen says the dungeons are very same and dull. Still got SMT V and Tokyo Mirage Sessions to play but that's a decent price at the moment for the deluxe edition

It's good but a bit bare bones and I lost my enthusiasm to keep playing after a while. I'd recommend buying this physical if you can so you can sell it on in case you have a similar experience. Also SMTV and Tokyo Mirage are both much better.

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25 minutes ago, Sane said:

It's good but a bit bare bones and I lost my enthusiasm to keep playing after a while. I'd recommend buying this physical if you can so you can sell it on in case you have a similar experience. Also SMTV and Tokyo Mirage are both much better.

 

1 hour ago, bradigor said:

I'm working through P5G still, but fancy this at some point if it goes on sale. 

 

Yeah think I will hold on as I've got the others to play. One for the future maybe. Cheers guys

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39 minutes ago, Sane said:

It's good but a bit bare bones and I lost my enthusiasm to keep playing after a while. I'd recommend buying this physical if you can so you can sell it on in case you have a similar experience. Also SMTV and Tokyo Mirage are both much better.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a very low bar to not pass.

Personally, if you can it's absolutely worth seeking the 3DS version of Soul Hackers 1 if you can look past the PS1-ness of it all.

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16 minutes ago, Dig Dug said:

Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a very low bar to not pass.

Personally, if you can it's absolutely worth seeking the 3DS version of Soul Hackers 1 if you can look past the PS1-ness of it all.

 

I've got the 3DS one, just want an SMT to play on the TV while my son is hogging the Switch. The Nocturne remaster looks a bit empty as well

 

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14 hours ago, Vorgot said:

 

I've got the 3DS one, just want an SMT to play on the TV while my son is hogging the Switch. The Nocturne remaster looks a bit empty as well

 

Nocturne is a very minimalist game. Almost all the NPCs are ghosts. It’s a purposely lonely game but that does help give weight to the mystique and otherness of the games world.

 

SMT V is a much busier game. Almost all the NPCs are Demons but there is a lot of character and personality on show.

 

Nocturne and V side by side are a good show of how 20 years of progress can change the presentation of RPGs.

 

That’s not to say Nocturne is entirely inferior, it always gave a greater sense of danger than V thanks in part to a particular set of bosses that get in your way should you go for a certain ending.

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39 minutes ago, Dig Dug said:

Nocturne is a very minimalist game. Almost all the NPCs are ghosts. It’s a purposely lonely game but that does help give weight to the mystique and otherness of the games world.

 

SMT V is a much busier game. Almost all the NPCs are Demons but there is a lot of character and personality on show.

 

Nocturne and V side by side are a good show of how 20 years of progress can change the presentation of RPGs.

 

That’s not to say Nocturne is entirely inferior, it always gave a greater sense of danger than V thanks in part to a particular set of bosses that get in your way should you go for a certain ending.

 

I've got Nocturne on my PS3, so may go back to it on there. But I caved and got Soul Hackers as well. I am weak

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55 minutes ago, Vorgot said:

 

I've got Nocturne on my PS3, so may go back to it on there. But I caved and got Soul Hackers as well. I am weak

I will say that the remaster does afford A LOT of quality of live improvements. Adjusted (less bullshit) boss AI and the option to choose what skills your fused demons get (as opposed to it being random) are both massive boons.

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I'm considering getting Nocturne on Switch. It's always been my favourite SMT, mostly because of the atmosphere. I heard the port is decent but not great, some slowdown and compressed audio. Especially the audio is a shame I think. But since the digital version is now on sale for 20 euro I might just get it. Or the physical version for 33...

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 21/12/2022 at 14:50, Sane said:

I'm considering getting Nocturne on Switch. It's always been my favourite SMT, mostly because of the atmosphere. I heard the port is decent but not great, some slowdown and compressed audio. Especially the audio is a shame I think. But since the digital version is now on sale for 20 euro I might just get it. Or the physical version for 33...

I got Nocturne and have been playing it for a while. It's still amazing. I'd urge anyone considering Soul Hackers to get Nocturne instead. 

 

It's got that menacing, mysterious atmosphere I associate with SMT games that later games in my opinion have never been able to live up to. The touched up ps2 graphics also look great on the OLED Switch.

 

I get quickly bored playing games these days, drifting from one half finished game to the next, but I'm 100% sure I will finish this :wub:

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