Soul Hackers 2: A Flawed Masterpiece
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- čas přidán 19. 10. 2023
- Soul Hackers 2 was a game I really enjoyed when it first came out and has shaped my identity online for the last year. But how well does it hold up a year after its release? Today, we’ll find out when I revisit and critique Soul Hackers 2
Credits:
Supplementary footage from-
Deus- youtube.com/@Doos?si=ExgIFNBI...
BuffMaister- youtube.com/@BuffMaister?si=t...
Nyarly- youtube.com/@Nyarly?si=MFsK1T...
Nam’s Compendium- youtube.com/@NamsCompendium?s...
Faz- youtube.com/@FazPersona?si=uB...
JohneAwesome- youtube.com/@JohneAwesome?si=...
Artwork-
Makoto- x.com/wukiwakoto?s=21
Eon- x.com/eondriver?s=21
TLGR- x.com/tlgr3d?s=21
Voice Work-
Minty- youtube.com/@MintJoyPictures?...
Super Cat Punch- x.com/rinscatpunch?s=21
Music used:
Various Tracks from Soul Hackers 2
Keeper of Lust from Persona 5- • Persona 5 OST 54 - Kee...
Sweatshop from Persona 5- • Sweatshop
Last Surprise from Persona 5 by Lyn Inaizumi- • Last Surprise
While all gameplay captured is my own unless specified otherwise, all content involved is NOT mine and owned by their respective copyright holders. - Hry
Ok so it has been brought to my attention that this video was recently shared on 4Chan where people there seem to be… not very big fans of this game. While it’s fine to disagree with me, I welcome disagreement. Please keep things respectful. Also I recommend either watching the video first or playing the game itself before jumping to any conclusions. Who knows, maybe you’ll see a different perspective.
4chan not liking this game is the best praise I’ve heard for this game
>I'm gonna get arrested for emulating games I don't own
Bruh...
Soul Hackers 2: A Flawed Maste-ACK
Question as I’m curious. How did you find this video? Was it recommended by someone? Shared somewhere? Or just the YT algorithm?
4chan smtg
I got introduced to Soul Hackers 2 (and by consequence the SMT series) by a friend this year and thought it was a really good game! While I wasn't such a big fan of the plot, the characters and, surprisingly, the gameplay really sold me. The sentiment of "This would've been an extraordinary game if given more time" was there the whole time but I learned eventually to love the mess that it is. I originally found your channel when looking trough the Soul Hackers 2 OST on CZcams and seeing a comment from you- I loved your pfp of Figue with sunglasses and subscribed mostly because of that. This is the first video of yours I've watched and I've got to say it really surpassed my expectations!! The production value and passion you put in your videos really shows. The quality of this video essay is something I'd find in something with a considerable more amount of views then this currently has. I'm looking forward to your next videos and getting to see more of that hilarious sunglasses Figue :)
Thank you so much for your kind words! It’s always great to hear how others find and grow to love this game. Although I don’t mention it, the OST slaps. Although I wish there was more variety of when the tracks are used.
I hope you enjoy my other content as well (although the audio quality on the FNAF video is way worse than I remember 😅).
Also also it’s still early so who knows what will happen in terms of views 🤷♂️
it's simple, devil summoner: soul hackers 2 is an SMT spinoff where you have no press turn, no devil summoning and you don't hack souls.
Loved the video it was really well made and I hope the mixed reception doesn't demotivate you from doing more content like this. I don't think the game is half as bad as people say it is. It's not perfect by any means but I think the majority of people have either not played the game because "haha ATLUS fan never plays the games" or are just persona fans that expected it to be persona, which it is not. My 1 main critque of the game was the dungeon crawling I really did not like especially the soul matrix areas it felt repetitive, a few bits of the story were a little eh but on the whole I think its a great game and Ringo is imo one of the best ATLUS Protags there is by far
Thank you so much for your kind words!
I am not discouraged from making videos in the slightest. In fact, I’m hard at work on my next one. The thing you saw in the pinned comment was just a few people who decided to mass dislike and hate one week.
And I didn’t touch on it in the video as much but up until release nobody really knew what this game was supposed to be. Was it a character focused story like Persona? Or would it concentrate more on interesting dungeons or mechanics like mainline SMT (not that mainline has bad stories, look at IV for example). Soul Hackers 2 tries to have both and succeeds in some aspects… but falls flat on its face in others.
Well, you can see it even here: there's a comment saying how this game "doesn't have demon summoning" when you constantly fight devil summoners that actually _do_ summon demons
30:25 I spot a mistake ...
But it's in the spoiler section, you've been warned if you read below.
=)
Figue gave Iron Mask the real Yellow Covenant and the virus. The reason Iron Mask couldn't summon the Great One is because Kuzanoha had a dummy covenant all along.
I just finished the game a few days ago and completed it with a 86 hour run completing everything I could in my first play through. The game has some very touchy and great moments, but I can understand how the game is so underdeveloped. Some parts even being like cliff-hanged like Komadori Orphanage. Even the endings seem so dull & rushed. But I truly did enjoy this game, it was actually the first Jrpg I technically 100% completed on a first run. Game is a good 7.5/10 for me, but definitely could’ve been better. Not to forget either, but Atlus OSTs slap, SH2 is no exception.
You also made a really well made out video essay. I want to do video essays one day, and seeing how this is the first Jrpg I “technically” beat, I would definitely consider this as an idea. Overall, you did such a great job, so entertaining and well made! You did forget to mention some features like mentioning comps, meals, requests & shops that make the gameplay much more viable, but still. You did such a great job, hope it gets better for you from here on out!
The CZcams algorithm has sent me here. I liked Soul Hackers 2 and even enjoyed it more than the first one. Some small details I really liked was the character portraits changing expressions mid dialogue. And the combat banter between the party in regular fights and during major boss battles. While I agree the combat is simplified and in the player's favor but, I still really enjoyed it. To compare, Persona 5 and especially Royal are SO HEAVILY skewed towards the player with the amount of abilities (also how easy it is to break the games) but, I still enjoy their combat. Though I did find it strange how despite having freedom of what Demons to give each party member in Soul Hackers 2. The character upgrades gave incentive to have each party member focus on certain skill types (ie: Physical & Elec with Ringo) which feels counter to the freedom of the demon system. While I really liked the cast (Saizo being my favorite), the party did have points of being overly stupid. Such as them not anticipating a trap on the New Moon raid or even making an attempt to stop the four Mothmen who kept sapping their energy.
Somethings I'm surprised you didn't mention was the required 100 Soul Points for each party member to complete their Soul Matrix which makes it even worse. Nocturne requiring the Menorah's from finding & defeating the Fiends to progress in the Labrynth of Amala. And while I agree Persona 5 has great dungeons, Mementos is still a mandatory slog to go through. I just feel it's fair to mention the downsides along with the upsides with the SMT3 & P5 examples. I also agree that Day One DLC Atlus has been doing for years now sucks (though I will say the Akechi & Kasumi P5 Tactica DLC is ironically something fans kept demanding and are now upset is real). Though I will disagree about Ai-Ho being the game's mascot since that title belongs to Ringo (with Atlus even using her during a survey to react to player feedback on what Atlus titles they were most excited for). I also disagree on saving "The Lost Numbers" DLC content for a re-release because I would rather it be $10 DLC than a full priced re-release like Persona 5 Royal that has to poorly shoehorn in an extra narrative.
I don't see the problem with Iron Mask's shift in personality. He no longer needs to hide his intentions & personality after being unmasked. If he acted anything close to how he normally did, the party would have seen right through him (or maybe not, FIgue does hold all the braincells in the group). Since you've used P5/P5R as an example in the video, I'm really interested in how you felt about a certain character in that game who hid their true intentions (I just realized how little this narrows it down after typing it XD). Because I've seen some say the same thing of "tonal whiplash" for P5/P5R which I also disagree with. While I agree that FIgue and the P5R villain you mentioned have flawed ideologies. I would also add their methods of stripping freewill from humanity as being way too monstrous that erases any positive intentions they had (at least for me). While I still like Figue in the end, I have my reasons for why I don't like the P5R villain.
Im 40 hours into the game and almost finished it, going for the 100% cause Im a fan of fusion in general. Unironically speaking, Ringo is my fav female protagonist in any game ive played, het wittiness, maturity, fine thinking and not dragging a joke for too long makes her so lovable, she isnt marketed as "strong female protagonist". She is just ringo, and the the rest of the adult cast are extremely lovable with struggles in life like any others, its such a breath of fresh air from the overused highschoolers atlus seems to love using so much.
After watching this vid. Ima probably buy if it turn out to be something i like! Thanks for the vid keep it up!
You don't know how happy that makes me. Thank you!!💜
Im doing a full rewatch on your review.
Just wanted to comment real quick that your avatar approach to Figue reminded me when I used to think of myself as Joker for a while.
Then eventually i asked friend to conceptualize a OC as a commission. Then i asked her to reworked him. Then we have my current avatar.
I definitely have replay SH2 at some point.
Ive had a similar feelings this game as i had for Tales of Zestiria. It may not be lot of people's favorite but the characters kept me going.
If i didnt enjoy any of the characters for this game, I'd probably dropped it immediately.
The voice acting was definitely also a good factor too. Great job as always Jaff!
never would i expect someone to say ''overpowered demon'' and show an image of titania
She's OP because of her resistances. Null Gun and Phys are the only null skills I added. EVERYTHING ELSE IS INATE! Meaning if you do that, you can make anyone (particularly Saizo) a nigh invincible healer.
@@jaffinator2166 amazing it takes so little work to be semi immortal in this game (unless null phys/gun are comically hard to get)
@@nightmaredoom6170 they’re actually not. And if you have Mitamas, you can permanently have access to it for any demon (albeit for a steep STEEP fee).
@@jaffinator2166No seriously! Titania was my endgame demon for Saizo and the guy became damn near unkillable until the Nana boss fight
Titania is really good in persona 4 and nocturne
Loved this analysis and it really refreshes my mind in coming back to this game. I have to agree with what you say and the ending is why exactly its helped me through a rough time in my life and helped me meet amazing people like you and the others. Thanks for creating this project and uploading this, this makes me wanna replay Soul Hackers 2 honestly! 💚🍏💜
Game has so many flaws, indeed, but on the other hand, it also gave me the motivation to do things I haven't done or cared about before, such as ripping the sound files or some of the animation videos from where they belong (I've uploaded all these I've mentioned on my channel as well). There aren't too many fictional characters that made my heart pound lately, so Ringo is kind of special for me for the time being. I hope to see her more in the future, and not just as a .png form in Etrian Odyssey 1 remastered!
7:30 I believe that later in the games story milady said she was aware that it was not Paul who killed her because the iron face that killed her had no covenant wheras paul was supposed to have a covenant. I still think the way she acts is still rather understandable given a imposter of Paul is apperently in control of the phantom society and killed her.
on a completely other note, in stark contrast to you I found the best part of SH2 to be the combat and demon fusing as I struggled my way through very hard, the inability to use items made every fight tricky and put you on a timer to kill the rather tanky bosses before running out of resources and forced me to actually do fusion chains and mitama fusions properly for once. The combat and demon fusion felt like a much more active and versatile version of what is in Strange Journey and the minibosses in the soulmatrix I´d compare to having puzzles to solve and those were propably the only neat thing about that dungeon.
1. Yeah I actually bring that up later.
2. And that’s perfectly fine! My main gripe with the combat was how basic encounters and most bosses felt one sided as they couldn’t get extra actions to mess you up like in other SMT games. But I’m glad to hear you saw more in the combat. It’s always good to hear a difference in opinion and gain new perspectives on things one may personally have issues with.
Sh2 is the peak of all time
Some things came off as half baked but I generally did love this game. Even the bland dungeons I mostly was fine with. I played the game on hard so that kept things more interesting. The game certainly has its faults but really glad I decided to try it for myself at the beginning of the year. I often think I should try that new game plus run, but I just haven't yet.
*Breaks through a wall and speaks with Jack's voice* Did someone say chaos!?
SH2 is one of the game of all times , thats much is certain.
I’ve been a fan of SMT since I first played Nocturne back in 2004. I love Cyberpunk and I enjoyed the first Soul Hackers game. I liked SH2, I even bought a Steam Deck in part to play SH2! I really liked the characters and their designs but wasn’t a huge fan of the dungeons.
I also recently bought a steam deck in part to play SH2, P3R, Metaphor and emulated older SMT games haha. It’s great.
Peak review! I loved it so much 💜
I remember having to look up guides for the later floors of the soul matrixes, they were unnecessarily confusing
Yeah Saizo's third sector in particular is unnecessarily confusing. ESPECIALLY when going back to find all the items to fuse Gurulu.
Nice to see a review of this game. IT was insane how pretty it was and everything and then just . . .
Nothing.
LIterally nothing after it was so commercialized. I got excited . . .
But I'm broke, so yeah This is a really great and deep dive on it and what happened. Thanks so much for going over this!
Yeah I cut the specific line for time but I believe one of the reasons why it was buried was because the P5R port was announced a couple months later and released a couple months after SH2. And when your release is announced between the announcement of and rereleases of Atlus’ golden goose then yeah… hype died rather quickly.
But my hope in making this was to potentially get people to try it and I hope I can succeed at that!
Im genuinely glad you mde this video! Even though i personally just didnt like the game i can definitely appreciate a different viewpoint of the game (and a more positive one at that)! Glad this video did well too! Keep it up
As someone who almost hates this game, it’s refreshing to see a different perspective. And you aren’t wrong, there are certainly aspects of the game that are enjoyable, like the fully voiced protagonist and adult cast. I hope they take these into further games, its just sad everything else outweighed those aspects for me, I tried to enjoy this game, but it just makes me angry lol.
I think the game wasn't great but was fun. It definitely wasn't as good as the first game.. I think people complain far too much about dungeon color and decoration schemes. I liked the Sabbath battle system and hope they bring it back someday. And I don't mind story DLC even if it comes day one. I preordered the story DLC for this and got Persona 5 Tactica's first story DLC day one.
Great retrospective of Soul Hackers 2! That's neat you're using the character as a Vtuber avatar. It's nice to see you finding good things about the game. The game does have its strengths. I really enjoyed the gameplay, it's SMT fun but the villains are often summoners who synergize really well, making for surprisingly tough boss battles if you play it on Very Hard. It's fun fusing demons with powerful skills as like any other SMT. But there are downsides like the story is so awkwardly explained, I just didn't like how so many important scenes were flashbacks and I dislike what they did to the Kuzonoha in this game (if you played the old games they're a family of summoners who are extremely linked to the stories). The story ends as soon as the plot gets going and I wanted to see more interactions with different summoner groups and other Tokyo residents. Routes regarding alignment would've been amazing, but even the most recent SMT V barely has route exclusive areas. The level designs were also poor, with too many long hallways and the memory levels were bland. Zeed (Zoma) was also extremely disappointing; in the old games he was a blob and you would fuse your summons into him to make a unique party member with varying skills such as a beast or dragon, it felt so amazing - as if you were creating your own companion. But Zeed in Soul Hackers 2 is an enemy only boss and he's so bland and human looking. It's so sad because for every 1 positive I give about the game I can think of 2 negatives.
1. WOW thank you so much for watching! I’ve been watching your content for years and I specifically would’ve never made it out of the Tower of Kagatsuchi without you so the fact you watched and like my video is a real honor, thank you!
2. I… honestly forgot to talk about the bar scenes which give you soul points to unlock gates in the soul matrix. But I feel like they could’ve been retooled to better fit with alignments. Maybe have the group ones give more points to the person who’s views you agree with most (it might actually work like that I just never noticed lol). But I also feel like having every character have lawful and chaotic character strengths and flaws help set them apart as unlike in some cases (cough SMTV cough) they’re not defined by their ideology.
3. If I had a PS2, or had more faith in emulating, I would probably play the Raidou games to get more perspective on the Kuzunohas. I also think they date back to SMT II (correct me if I am wrong) so I’d probably look into that a well.
soul hackers 2 is my favorite megaten game, and my favorite game ever, so... idrc what anyone else thinks, i think it's perfect. as a huge fan of the original, it really feels like they were baking these ideas for the two and a half decades since. it just feels so classic to me. and after such a drought of megaten games! i really don't understand this ungratefulness from the internet community, but i guess it's to be expected from people who probably never cared about the original anyway. i care much more about the long term legacy of this game. also, who EXPECTS a switch port these days? switch doesn't have much longer folks!
I think they got rid of Kaburagi too soon. We could have fought him at least once more. Heck they could have put him in the final dungeon instead of that red haired guy.
Truuuuueeeee
This video is a Masterpiece. Kino. Peak.
I can’t put it into words.
PS+ Members can trial this game for 2 hours, enough to say if you like it or not.
He thinks he can get arrested for emulating LOL
Jokes aside, good vid! I am also one of the few who liked this game. It’s just good dumb fun with excellent music
(17:20) Excuse me. Slowest character walking speed? No hate, but Aya Breya, from Parasite Eve, would like a word with you...
Now idk where you live but in the US emulation can't get you in trouble. It's not legal per say but atlas would have to prove profit lost to sue you over it which obviously wouldn't work.
If you really want to save time on that OC business just dye Figue a different hair color and call it a day. A LOT of OCs started out pretty much copy pasting their favorites before evolving as the years go on.
Interesting suggestion, but good news is I already have one drafted and I will debut it fully in my next project so look forward to that!
I think they made the economy this horrible with victor because people were making fun of Persona 5 mementos and how stupid easy it is to make money in that area of the game. Like I get why they made it harder to make money but holy shit this is too far the opposite direction.
I barley got to see this and well done. Most of my thoughts aligned with yours, I have issues with the game too but I really enjoyed my time with it and it’s what got me into SMT in the first place which I’ve been enjoying a lot too. I can’t believe people dunking on it made me curious enough to try it for myself to see what it’s make tick and I loved it. I do disagree on a few things like combat since it’s one of the few times I’ve enjoyed turn based and the demons but we can agree the soul matrix after two floors is awful and Ringo is a girlboss. The bar talk at the end was awesome too, it may not have been Atlus’ third pillar but it’s one we’ve come to love
For me the biggest flaw in the game is soul Matrix, that shit is borderline painful lol. Other than that, I quite like the game. Dungeons are bland, but Its easy to forgive when compared to soul Matrix lol. Other than shitty Dungeon crawling, I find the game fine. Art design is gorgeous, characters are great, Ringo is awesome and ost is actually Full of bangers
I've played that game. I enjoyed it but, about half way through i kinda was losing interest in it. I really didnt like Milady that much. I get she lost the love of her life but, that is no excuse to be a b*tch to everyone. Other than that it was a solid story and great graphics
The word 'Masterpiece' seems to have lost it's meaning in 2023, eh.
Hi.
Game is mid.
Bye.
Calling this shit a masterpiece? Opinion discarded
Wowwwww... you are so rude! Just because you have a different opinion doesn't mean you can act like that! 💀
Liking this game qualifies as having brain damage.. I'm sorry to be the bearer of such news... There is nothing masterful about this game... It's like taking away what makes SMT and Persona good, and thinking it would result on something interesting... Worst game in the franchise by far, and I hate seeing Atlus fail, they're my fav, not the best by any stretch... And they aren't just niche, they are oftenly subpar for gaming standards, but it never mattered to me, they've always been so unique... Except on SH2... Goddamn, what a piece of shit of a "game". Hopefully Metaphor becomes the third pillar.
No need to be rude. Like wtf 💀. It's fine to disagree, but insulting them isn't rignt
TYSM for speaking up. I don’t typically pay too much mind to hate comments (unless they’re in droves in which case I try to see what’s going on) but I appreciate the thought nonetheless.
@@jaffinator2166 someone got offended on your behalf... And im just making a clinical diagnosis here, i was just today talking about SH2 in a SMT imagine discord server... yeah i haven't changed my stance, and some ppl there appreciate it more than me, but really noone was able to say "Iit´s a good game"... So it isnt a hate comment, it isnt a hate comment, just being real here.