Soul Hackers 2: We Deserved Better 

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Personally if they were going to get rid of light/dark then psychic and nuclear would have fit the game well.

Ringo and the Zombie Pals Vs. The very Horny A.I

I want a new Digital Devil Saga so badly.

i really dont enjoy that you dont actually summon your demon in battle, rather you just use their abilities (from what ives een anyway i havent played it yet)

Good game with a lot of problems. Damn thats exactly how I feel as I'm getting closer to beating the game

The main reason I didn't bought is the overpriced in my country, not to mention day 1 DLC, a shame since Ringo is best girl

The Bad Ending felt really satisfying. It honestly served as the only reasonably decent writing that actually reflected the game's theme - grief. And it finally made Ringo feel like she was going to set off as a protagonist rather than Arrow's sidekick.

I feel Soul Hackers 2 was a bit disappointing. I was pretty excited for it and I found that the the battling was fun, but the dungeons were very flawed. Also the comp upgrading was usually not that satisfying other then when you got like a new commander skill to use in battle. I agree with you the soul matrix was super disappointing. Every floor looks the same and the first two floors there's no puzzles and like you mention it's just going straight to the end of it. I do not think Soul Hackers 2 was a bad game, but it also was not a great game. It was kind of just okay.

So, what you're saying is... that Digimon Hacker's Memory is a better Sould Hackers 2 than Soul Hackers 2? 😜 ~ Adam

The actual theme, such as it exists, seems to be an examination of how different people deal with loss or betrayal from their loved ones. Ringo to Figue (and Flamma), Figue to Raven, Saizo to Ash, Milady to (original) Iron Mask, and Arrow to... Kaburagi/Raven/Mangetsu. Looking at it from that lens, I don't think it's *bad,* just not amazing. Also is Arrow gay? That may have just become my new headcanon... This is actually what made me like Saizo the *most* of the core party - contrast his "vision of the future" (getting back together with Ash, having a kid) with Milady (becoming the new Iron Mask). Both are going back to the same cycle of violence the game dealt with, but Saizo's vision is fairly wholesome, compared to Milady leading a paramilitary group who were literally kneeling before her. I've enjoyed the game. It's on the low end of the SMT-franchise games I've played, but it's still been a decent enough time that I'm trying to finish up the last couple achievements before I put it down. *Pretty* annoyed that I can't finish the 5F soul matrix stuff before New Game Plus, though...

Really enjoyed it. 8/10 for me (10 being DDS1 and Nocturne). Good vid.

Soul Hackers 2 is literally related to Soul Hackers 1 only by name. It's too different imo in everything to be called Soul Hackers. I think the main issue is that the game got overhyped cause it's called Soul Hackers, it would have been much better off giving the game its own title but still part of the Devil Summoner sub series.

One thing about this game that really really grinds my gears is the idea that Raven was able to track down kill and impersonate a high-ranking member of Phantom Society... and nobody noticed!!! How are we supposed to believe the idea that Phantom Society was going to eventually win the war when they're so incompetent that one guy going rogue was able to do this and they're so stupid that they never noticed that he had done it?!?

*"I'm so sick and tired of the shït in my ársе, but when I try to take it out - all that appears is GAS!"* (a) Ringo, SMT: Soul Hackers 2

Well, if nothing else, at least we got Ringo out of this game. Ngl, it's rare to have an SMT protagonist with an innate personality. Or hell, female playable protagonists in general in SMT.

,,Soul Hackers was mid so this game should be too!"-Atlus

One thing I also noticed watching this video was just how poorly done the animations were done when changing from one to another. Rather than gradually leading into one they just snap to the next.

The set up for this game would have been great for different endings...would have liked to fought the Phantom's Society's "god".

You know Figue's awful when the ending where she dies is the better ending

Damn now i gotta play it

I was a bit of a hater from jump since the first trailer because of the vastly different vibe it gives off compared to the first game, and the lack of pre release English trailers till like, the day before didn't help. But im down to receive an in depth look by good ol Tony, see if my mind can change.

Congrats on getting under Atlus' radar! Doesn't feel like too long ago I watched your first video! Congrats on the growth!

I was looking forward to Soul Hackers 2, but a lack of hardware on my end led me to not being able to play it myself It's a shame to hear it didn't hit as well as it could because from what I saw and what was shown, the game had tons of potential

Coming from P5R and SMTV this game should of blown us away. It's not an L but it's not a W. The music was amazing as usual

I really enjoyed the game and did all the content. I love the characters and the story was decent. I think it’s more of a traditional turn based JRPG with dungeon crawling. The sabbath are fine imo and it doesnt have to have press turn or one more/baton. I really love the art design tho and the music is good. As for bland dungeons, while i love smt and persona i feel a lot of the series has that issue

Good video dude and agree with a lot of your points. The story did borderline stupid at times but I found the gameplay loop quite enjoyable for a game clearly on a budget. Combat was fun and I think the music fit the game really well. I’ve gotten used to mid stories in jrpg’s but the 2003 quality dungeons were pretty tragic.

First review who is actually honest and not a atlus dckrider

I thought the game was very nice, especially when compared to SMTV. Smtv was way more disappointing to me. For sure the biggest flaw imo was the dungeon design and lack of unique dungeon music. Other than that this game is tight for me.

This isn't the most disappointing Atlus game I've ever played, but it was trying really hard to be.

And on top of this it also released with day one DLC, very mid game at best.

I’m definitely waiting for a price drop or sale before getting this

I don't agree with everything but OH GOD I hated the figue stuff. It's so badly reasoned I wanted to wack her. Also some bosses turn the stack system into an absolute joke. The DLC yoshitsune boss is so badly designed and BS the person who designed it should be blacklisted from the industry. What a bad idea. I don't think SH2 is a bad game but it was def my least favorite of the last few ATLUS releases

Atlus really did fall off

i do like this more free form style vid! All your stuff is good but i wouldn’t mind more videos like these

I'd say i liked it more then most people though i wouldn't say i loved the game because it's problems do hold it back form being a truly great game. I liked everyone of the party members, i liked the visuals, i liked the combat (even if i prefer the Press turn system), i liked the story even with it's problems. what held it back for me were the Soul Matrix (mostly around the 3-4 floors), i didn't care much for the side quests even if some of them had stories i liked, and i think some characters and plot points get dropped way to early or don't get explained all to well. I do hope Soul Hackers 2 does well enough for Atlus to start investing on sequels on they're other SMT spin offs or just make more enhanced re-release of them, That or Soul Hackers itself will become a new series either way i'm interested to see what the future holds for Atlus after this.

The main points I want to disagree on was: - Saizo's got a good story, not about his girlfriend specifically but about wanting to leave the world they are in full of fighting for your life with demons and live normally with a family, but that world wasn't going to let you go, they have their house burned down just to send a message that they can't stop taking contracts cause they feel it. Ash and Saizo are both in a horrible place, and Saizo is the one trying to keep hope for both him and Ash considering she's so broken and miserable thinking she can't leave a life of killing and near-death battles. - Milady's story is explained satisfactory, she wants to know why her lover and man she's dedicated her life to would suddenly turn on her and call her traitor... That's cause that man is dead, Raven took his place, and wanted the covenant she had, meaning she had to die. That is a good resolution that could have had more screen time, but it was never not lacking in what happened. She knows why her lover betrayed her and now wants revenge. - Figue NEVER loved Raven, she is the more emotional of the AIs Aion made... Understanding human emotions more, she was more feeling and compassionate. And when Raven was this broken nihilist that wanted everything to end she only wanted to show him why humanity was worth it no matter the hardships and why his life was precious too, it wasn't a love thing it was a strong belief she held till he died before she could show him humanity's greatness. Which shook her own belief and made her snap. Made her question what Aion had programmed into her. These are just what I think from the game.

I hate that I everyone is shiting on the game I know that it's not perfect but I honestly I love it. Change my mind you can't but anyway it's not my opinion it's yours at least its only 40 euros.

The theme of stagnation is really interesting as it relates to japan, and C*VID’s effects on tech and video games.

It was good enough for me.

By far the best SMT content creator.

I am still not convinced Jack Bros is a real thing that exists in the wild and isn't just a long running April Fools gag.

The into is slowly becoming something I look forward to and I'm not complaining

finally a tony4me video after a drought of recommendations where youtube has been recommending me shit I don't even watch praise be

The digital deluxe is on sale right now for 35$ would you recommend it ?

TL;DR I didn't agree with your interpretation of Figue as a character, but I still love your videos and can't wait for the next one! That wasnt how I saw Figue as a character at all. I didn't even see her as being in love with Raven. She is new to being a human like Ringo, so there are a lot of concepts she hasn't learned about yet. One of which is the idea of raising the next generation so they can grow up and make the world a better place. That's how she's introduced to Raven, as a man who's doing exactly that. And because she has almost no prior experiences, this new concept totally takes over her personality and she starts seeing the world through that lense. Much like a child would look up to someone and totally obsess over them, and wanna be like them. When she finds out who Raven really is, she refuses to accept it, and still only sees the idealized version of him she's made up in her head. Even when she tries to bring him back, he admits he was wrong, and isn't the person Figue thinks he is. She still ignores him and continues to see him as a loving father to those children. Figue has seen all the same horrible things that Ringo has throughout the story. And while Ringo takes a more hopeful approach to try and make humanity better, Figue thinks that they are too far gone. By the end of the game, Figue's singular goal is about protecting the children from the cycle of violence in the world. And she thinks the only way to do that is to rewrite humanity as being incapable of violence, even if it costs them their individuality. I think her and Maruki are a bit similar, where they are willing to take control of everyone's lives, but do so with legitimately good intentions. I dont think her love for Raven really matters at that point if she even loves him in that way at all. Figue and Ringo both saw the same things, but came to different conclusions. And the conflict stemmed from them never really taking the time to know and understand eachother. They are both aspects of Aion, so Ringo just assumes that whatever she thinks is best for humanity, must be what Figue thinks too. Most of the game is spent with the two separated from eachother, and while Figue will provide (admittedly kind of annoying) support, she's off accomplishing her own tasks, and perceiving the events in her own way. I think that's the central theme of the game that I got. "Conflict almost always stems from a lack of communication and understanding." That can be seen with Ringo and Figue, but also several other times throughout the game, including Yatagarasu and the PS. They both want whats best for the world in their own way. Not the strongest theme ever, but I think it goes a lot deeper than just Figue falling for a man and trying to destroy the world for no reason. Ultimately, we just interpreted things differently and that's totally cool. I love your videos. Keep doing what you're doing!

I agree, the game is good but not great and it fails where other past megaten spinoffs have succeeded before which is baffling

I like the game. A lot actually. It's not as good as other SMT games I've played, Persona included but I like it a lot. To me the plot is more than serviceable, the characters are great and I like the gameplay. Though the dungeons are bit.... Eh.... To me it's a 7.5.

Found a solution to Atlus being scumbag with their DLC: only buy their games used, and email them telling them how they make no money directly from you because they are scumbags with DLC

I tried but I couldn’t get into either of the soul hackers games, for different reasons.

do androids dream of anime husbandos the video game

next up is Devil Survivor. hope the 3rd game will be good

Well i only watched half the video because I do intend to play it at somepoint, but what you said has made me think waiting for sale was the right play.

Not good enough even tho on Compendium's channel you said you liked it (outside of the Soul Matrix dungeons?)

way too much in-battle yapping like holy shit even backing out of character menus makes them talk again? were they high?

I feel that the theme of stagnation is shown but not on a grand level. You meet people throughout the game both in the main cast and small side characters that don’t change not because of a lack of attention in writing but because they refuse to. I think it’s interesting that to get the true ending (spoilers) you have to deny all of the stagnant ideologies of people you have met and who have sacrificed themselves to their ideologies in the story. Then you have to deny Figue the completion of her sacrifice.

I disagree with your analysis regarding Figue’s motivation. I dont think she fell in love with him, i rather think she got profoundly touched by him. I agree however that we needed more exposition for Figue to really understand her motivations. Also her not summoning the Great One and wanting to soul hack all of humanity to rearrange human souls to not seek conflict anymore shows that she wanted to carve her own path based on her view of the world instead of going with the predetermined way layed down to her (involking the Great one). Even Aion states before the fight that it does not agree with Figue’s decision. So i disagree that she could not think for herself. I di however agree with you that the Bad ending feels more in tune with the themes of the games. I love me a bittersweet ending with a final touch of hope!

The theme of stagnation is kind of convenient for creating a world/environment in a video game 😂

I loved the game. Level 73 on the dlc hard difficulty. Finishing the 5th floors of each ally. I give it an 8 out of 10 :). Love the new more fluid animations on the demons and the neat sabbath attacks of demons like jack frost

I got the Limited Collector’s Edition but let me say that fact that I have not touched it yet. I have a lot of JRPG backlogs that are still due to be played but I am very disappointed with what I heard and saw so far. Day 1 DLC for this including staple demons, cut story content as paid dlc, and costumes doomed it for me. I might get the DLCs in 2 years or so when it’s on a cheap sale.

Ringo is hot tho

And I'm one of a few who wants A Digital Devil Saga 3, and I don't think it's entirely impossible given that Atlus made this.

There was a second game?

Id totally buy it if it was on Switch

This is a game that I felt it came out of nowhere. Look I'm not the biggest DS:SH fan out there but yeah sure if they want to build more on that series I'm more than happy for that. I'm not sure what caused the community to develop a raging hateboner for this game before it was released but that didn't change my opinion. Oddly enough I was more interested in the release of this game by many things except the fact that it was a SMT game or a Devil Summoner game. I'm a big of Shirow Miwa (Artist), the JP VA cast and MONACA (Music) so this being a SMT game and a DS one was just the cherry on top. Now that the game is out and I have done everything available in this game: Mediocre! This isn't a good game but it's not a bad one either, I say it's worth paying for it if you have a case of a real bad SMT itch and you are looking for something to sink some hours. Otherwise please do wait for a sale I insist. At first it felt like a lazy game, then it felt like going through a developer hell's unwanted kid but once I was done I finally realized that this game is just a rushed mess to make a quick buck.

I like the story... People do crazy things when they're in love.

Wow... I heard soul hackers 2 too was a mess... but I wasn't expecting _this_ level of mess. Tony, are there any call backs to the first game or _anything_ that might point to this game needing an external info source to make this whole thing make some semblance of sense?

I probably will not play this game even if released on Switch. It is just a too strong departure from the original. Can replay Soul Hackers instead, even with all the archaic systems in place. But glad for those who supported Atlus by purchasing it. Hope it was enjoyable in some way. I actually love Atlus-too many great games over the years. Do not understand the hate they often get.

"out of all the possible ips they could've had new additions in" >digital devil saga uhhhhh.... yeah i don't think that's happening considering how 2 ended good video though

The story sounds like multiple lobotomies gone wrong VERY wrong 🤣

Dang, it takes a lot to make Tony to dislike a Megaten game this much.

probably subpar bc theyre working on p6 lol

Still a good video four months later. After seeing the poor quality of the P3P port + this, I fear that even P6 may not be that good

You... played soulhackers 1 how do you not... no you do understand soul hackers is connected to devil summoners and survivors there is a layer of data world stuff that can be seen in several locations in this game alone. Atop of the fact that magic exists and so does a form of techomagic wizardry. You ignoring that part of the world itself is pretty disingenuous and yes I'm 6 months late I played the game myself and watched someone play through soulhackers1 amongst the other spin offs

At least Saizo has a good aesthetic and sounds nice. Ringo is probably the best part of the game though. Because she *actually talks*, unlike most protags.

I'll wait for it to be free.

This game is like a step backwards to Persona 3/4 with some optimisation. I like P5 combat and exploration more than 3/4 so it kinda quite bad for me.

How is this a sequel?

I don't like any of the games atuls has released lately. Think I'll stick to the old stuff

No, no, no, Tony4 *_You_*

I love megaten..... but this..... was way off for me. It was a SLOG to get through for not much payoff otherwise... I DID however enjoy buying the demon pack, for MEGA POWER! Seriously I did! But ugh.... just didn't hit me how P5 and smt5 did... It's a solid 6 out of 10 for me.... I'll play smt 3 and 4,raidou, etc. instead! I would say Im glad I got it, but shoulda been much more ghan it was... The art and mood are great and the subject matter is awesome, however.

Being honest the story isn't that bad, it's not Shakespeare but ot was never supposed to be "deep" like other smt games. For your "plot hole" they do explain it but the pacing is so admittedly off so I can understand that. Also not defending it but figue's motivations are better explained in new game plus (only bringing this is because you yourself said you played multiple playthroughs and thats when figue hangouts unlock). Also you bring up poor characters but most of their "development" happens within soul matrix so again it comes off on your part as oxymoronic considering you admitted to liking and doing soul matrix. Finally gameplay, this probably the mlst boring smt/atlus game in awhile. Sabbaths are nowhere as fun as many other systems because how bare bones it starts off. Some of these skills shouldn't have been locked behind soul matrix. And there's no reason not to ever experiment/use aoe because there's no underlying threat of losing turns. Also have a problem with how you said building characters, commander skills encourage you to switch demons on the fly so you never have to worry about your coverage and hitting weaknesses along with the dungeon design is poor. All in all I wanted to like this game because of the characters but the gameplay was too bare bones and not challenging to engage me.

Funny enough, after fig, I just stop playing completly.........

saizo's design is one of the types of designs that I don't really like. Feels like a really uninspired attempt to make a character that looks "cool" by a 15 year old.

I just know you would hate neon genesis evangelion lol

this game makes no fucking sense at all

You liked this game and not soul hackers 1?

When I saw Mara was a DLC demon, I lost interest.

I thought it was great game.

SMT writing has never been exceptional, but there are games in the series with better stories than this and Soul Hackers.

Honestly I always felt like this game was probably the lowest budget game Atlus had created except Persona 5 Dancing and Persona 3 Dancing just from how quickly it was announced and released. I mean Shin Megami Tensei 5 isn't even a year old yet.

SH2 is kinda weak in the plot department... but hey, at least the party is going around getting directly involved in the events of the game instead of watching/relieving memories of people way more interesting and having the mc dragged along the story like SH did

Ya the game could of used more development time. Dungeons and soul matrix were turds to look at, so bland and boring. They never made repel or absorb elements on higher demons. Also there were no unique attacks made for Metatron and other high level advanced demon fusion which i see as lazy afness. Also holy shit the screwd up the demon compendium fusion prices so bad. Everthing was so expensive. A level 99 demon to resummon costs like 5.5mil macca

Soul hackers 2 sucked for me. Im playing a REAL cyberpunk game cyberpunk2077 ver.1 6 wooooo am i having fun pc! SH2 is so damn glitchy and buggy i cant even process thru the main storyline. Then the dlc glitch, infinite loading glitch, freezin and crashin, ugh what a waste of money!

its not perfect but its LEAGUES better than SMT V so thats good enough for me.

We deserved better? What makes us so damn great? All we do is shell out cash, sit on our asses and play video games. Gamers need to stop glorifying themselves so much; we are the bitchiest, laziest and most entitled group of consumers on the planet. The game was fine. The game was fun! Sure, it’s no Persona, but it was never meant to be. Sure, it’s not worth the price of a new Persona game, so just get it on sale, Jesus Christ.

Thanks for reaffirming my overall conservative desire to wait on a sale for this one in the next year or so. What is up with that pointless and insipid plot? And wait wha- the bad ending is actually the better and more peaceful of the two?

not good at all* imagine thinking getting rid of the press turn system is a good thing. and it did cloud your judgment sellout. you dared call it a good game.

Figue being the final boss came out of know where lmao.

Change title to give me my money back not good at all