Non-Spoiler Review | Soul Hackers 2
8In this review, I'll be covering the following aspects.
Story(Non-Spoiler), Gameplay, Music, Translation/Localisation, When to Buy, and my final Verdict.
If anyone has pointers on what would make a more engaging review, I appreciate all feedback!
Note: All of the content found in the video are all optional and don't pertain to the main story.
I thought I would add a partial copy of my video script below for those of you who may have a hearing impairment, or simply have trouble understanding me. I couldn't add my whole review here, but it covers the story and gameplay section.
Video Script:
'I got myself an early copy of the game, and you guys know what that means. Time for another non-spoiler review! This time around, I’ll be covering soul hackers 2, a spin-off that breaks itself from the conventional Shin Megami Tensei gameplay in more ways than one. In this review I’ll be covering the following categories: story(non-spoiler of course), gameplay, music, translation/localisation, when to buy, and my own personal verdict.
Starting with the story of soul hackers 2, you find yourself playing a character named Ringo, an A.I who has found themselves tasked with the mission of stopping the end of the world with another A.I named Figue. In order to carry out their given mission, the pair are placed into aritificial humanoid bodies as it is required for a special reason that is disclosed earlygame. Anyhow, Ringo sets off to complete her intitial mission, but finds that all of the contacts she was meant to protect are dead...luckily she does make use of an ability named ‘soul hack’ to dive into the souls of her targets and convince them to #doitover. The side effect of coming back alive is that target’s body is also healed, which I admit is a pretty nifty side-effect. I’m not sure if I’d bother coming back alive if I still have a bullet hole left in my head. All of the initial characters she saves become her allies while seeking to achieve what they came back for in the first place.
I must admit, at the time of recording, I feel out of place with the gameplay of Soul Hackers. As it stands, it doesn’t feel great, nor does it feel bad. Perhaps due to the implementation of these modified features, I’m still going through an adapting phase. Let’s start off by covering the bases here. Soul Hackers 2 in basic gameplay is what you would expect from a Shin Megami Tensei game. Turn-based combat done right. What Soul Hackers 2 does differently here is the implementation of the sabbath ability. It reminded me of the all-out attack from the persona series, but more flexible. To conduct a sabbath, you must simply at least hit one enemy’s weakness. During the end of your player turn, the amount of weaknesses you hit will emerge in the form of your demons leaping out to perform a burst of damage upon your foes. Unlike the all-out attack from the persona series, you don’t have to hit every single enemy’s weakness, so it does give you some leeway to customising your approach to fighting enemies. I found it especially useful when fighting a gang of enemies and some had low hp. I didn’t want to waste further MP resources on taking out annoying foes who couldn’t be killed via a normal attack, so I opted to bombard other foes with weakness-inflicting skills to ensure the sabbath would clean them all up. You do get access to skills later on in the game that increase the utility and convenience of the sabbath feature. All in all, I really like how it was implemented. Also, unlike other SMT games, enemies do not benefit from the sabbath feature, so you as a player can somewhat feel at ease that an AI won’t purposefully rack up as many weaknesses to obliterate your team.
When it comes to out of battle gameplay, what came to my mind immediately was the way you engage with enemies on the map. It’s quite similar to SMT 4 and 5 where enemies are present on the map. You can attack enemies for them to hit the ground. The good thing here is that you can actually choose to walk by them or run up to them to obtain an advantage in battle. Unlike SMT5, the maps here are somewhat narrow, so I liked having the choice of engaging or fleeing from enemies. As for the series stale demon recruiting, you can find your own demons scattered around the map. By talking to them, you can gain various benefits including healing your team, finding items, and most importantly, a demon willing to join your team. They won’t come for free, of course. they’ll ask you for items, money, or a huge chunk of your MP or HP. Before you get access to the fusion area where you can buy demons you’ve owned already or fused ones who have outlived their purpose, you may be frustrated about not seeing the demons you would personally want to have. In my case, I got a fair amount, but if you’re simply unlucky, then it could be a bummer, I feel.'
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