Eliciting some positive Tokyo Mirage Sessions vibes, Soul Hackers 2 is a classy RPG with excellent music and a slick user interface. For starters, it has a multitude of user-friendly settings, including well-explained gameplay, audio configuration and camera tracking, speed and position. There is also an extremely useful re-sizeable and moveable on-screen translucent map and options for message speed, battle speed, auto-battle and assist that helps with known vulnerabilities. There is also real-time forwarding for cut-scenes and it's possible to use healing abilities with one button. Backtracking is handled smoothly with illusion entities that let you know what is left and quick travelling. There is a crucial performance video mode and a pointless 30fps mode. All this makes this game one of the best equipped with features and also one of the easiest to configure with the best user interface I have seen in many years.
Regarding gameplay, the RPG mechanics are interesting and intuitive. There is a lot here but everything is nicely done. You might think that the story and characters are not going to impress you at first but I played a game and I read a good book at the same time and that's something that can't be said often after playing RPGs. Without spoiling anything, this story is a deep reflection about mankind and how things could go one way or the other and how everything would still make sense. I didn't use a guide but, fortunately, I got the good ending.
Instead of the typical flat electroencephalogram in-battle dialogue, you hear realistic comments such as, "That's not going to work" and "How many times are you going to risk it?", depending on the enemies' vulnerabilities. Demons also have a wide and entertaining variety of dialogue. Voice actors for Arrow and Milady are fantastic. Characters are deep and evolve, with Ringo showing a fascinating evolution since the first lines until the last.
As slightly negative aspects, although the art is nice and stylish, dungeon graphics are simplistic. On the other hand, the game has a lot of tools for navigating and the loading screens are short. The dialogues go off on a tangent which is something positive for many RPGs lovers but some characters and actors are weaker, e.g., Ash. All those side conversations at the bar let you know the characters better.
Like in Octopath Traveller, English voices are not recorded with the best quality, Figue seems to have been recorded home, close to the microphone with input level at maximum but it's great that the game is dubbed. Some parts have text and a voice that doesn't match it, it's usual in some RPGs but distracting, nevertheless. The rumble algorithm is completely plain so it should be turned off. Mimi as guard is somewhat annoying and unnecessary although that will change later in the game. In spite of the explanations, the demons management is poorly explained. At first, I thought registering demons meant loosing them because the inventory looks exactly the same. I deleted some demons because of that. Fusion is not properly explained, you may think that fusing demons means losing them forever. For a newbie, it's confusing and overwhelming until you get the hang of it. Eventually, everything makes sense.
With one if not the most functional and stylish user interfaces, terrific music, a performance video mode, successful gameplay mechanics, a strong main cast and a focused and deep story, this RPG is consistent, intense and highly enjoyable.
Funnily it is the only game in the series I played prior to starting from the beginning this year. At the time I did not get much into it and ended up trading the 3ds game.
This time around, altough it took me a while because of some games in between (like TotK...), I actually deeply enjoyed it as it has easily my favourite gameplay in the series and I liked to play equal times with Riku and Sora and the stories are well thought and connected.
P.s: played a bit of persona 4 but I don't think I can ever again play a SMT game as I really don't like the fusion mechanic and so after just a few hours I moved to Kingdom hearts 3 to finish the marathon!!
@Banjo- Does this continue from the first Soul Hackers game - does it need you to have played that one first, or can it be played standalone without having played the (3DS Exclusive?) original?
I beat Tomb Raider DE on xbox last night. What an awesome game I slept on for years. It feels like a unique blend of zelda, assassins creed, and Indiana Jones.
@NintendoByNature happy that you enjoyed it. Many criticize it for moving too fast from damsel in distress to killing machine but I allways liked the progression and story. Also the gameplay is fantastic on k+m. Many also prefer the sequel, altough I am not included I that group I will still highly recommend it as it is also awesome (the third not so much but still enjoyable)
@Balta666 sweet deal! I will 100% Try the entire trilogy. I thought the pacing was perfect. And I've never felt as bad for a character as I did in this game. Poor thing took a beating the entire time and kept getting back up. Maybe shulk in XC, but its pretty close.
Kingdom Hearts 3 aka the movie game as it puts MGS4 legacy to rest...
Apart from it it is fun enough with it's very basic (and easy as it is the only game in the series I never died). I actually quite liked the story in the end. Just need to play the dlc but I will wait for a good price drop on it as I heard is nothing that great anyways.
@dmcc0 It's a new story with new characters. I haven't played the first entry, but you can play Soul Hackers 2 as an independent game. It's on Game Pass, on top of that.
@NintendoByNature Rise of the Tomb Raider is my favourite Tomb Raider game and it's next in queue! It has more classic elements that the other two and the whole package is more coherent.
@Banjo- Good to know, thanks for that. Not currently subbed to Game Pass as I'm trying to reduce the backlog and it was just too much of a distraction when I did have it. Soul Hackers 2 is on the wishlist though, so might pick it up at some point (or try it if I re-sub to Game Pass).
@Banjo- My son bought P5R a while back on Switch - It's one of the many games on my borrow-from-son list 😂 - but as far as I know he never actually finished it, which is very unlike him.
@dmcc0 I will write about Persona 5 Royal when I beat it. It starts okay, it has a bad start, even, in a small and dark dungeon with fidgety characters and with this Persona 5 oversized UI flashing all over the screen, but the game gets much better after a while. It's massive, so I can see why your son never finished it 😂. Soul Hackers 2 has certain things I like more, but Persona 5 Royal has many more things. This is the third Atlus game for me, the first one was Tokyo Mirage Sessions on Wii U and I also loved it.
@Banjo- Massive games are never usually an issue for him to be honest, he's racked up hundreds of hours on loads of games and last time I checked his Switch profile he'd actually spent more hours on Pokémon Home than I have on all but a couple of Switch games 🤣 The only other game I know that he hasn't finished is Ni No Kuni, but I think he got another game around the same time as that one (probably a birthday or Christmas gift) and ended up playing the other game more. He has said he'll go back to it at some point, but he's just finished the new Zelda game and jumped straight into Pikmin4. He only really plays on Switch and tends to just play one thing at a time through to completion and then go back and maybe play Smash Bros. or do the post game/collectibles/side quests for something he's already beat while he waits for the next game. He never really has a backlog to speak off.
I picked up a few Atlus games before the 3DS eShop closure and a I've got couple of SMT games on Switch too, but yet to play any of them. I did start the original Persona on the PlayStation Classic Mini ages ago, but without a tutorial or manual I didn't really have a clue what was going on and moved onto something else pretty quickly. Most PS1 games I've gone back to haven't really aged particularly well TBH, so doubt I'll go back to that one.
@dmcc0 Like him, I try to beat a game before moving on and I don't play two story games at the same time; so racing, fighting and sports games are what I play at any time. I think that playing one game at a time makes them more enjoyable and immersive and, also like him, I don't mind them being massive. Actually, I appreciate the depth and I enjoy the good games more after a while. I beat Ni No Kuni but not the post-end content (more difficult quests). I know what you mean about PS games. Most of them are rough and primitive 3D 😂.
It is a fairly bland action RPG that takes only four hours to finish (with 1000 GS). If I had pay for it I would have been disappointed but as a palate cleanser in btw other games it was enjoyable.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox (PS5)
In this entry of the long running action JRPG, Adventurer Adol & his travelling buddy Dogi arrive at the gates of the "Prison City" Balduq (in the nation of Gilia, but occupied by the invading Romun Empire). Seeing as how Adol always finds himself in the center of all sorts of shenanigans, the Romun authorities deem him dangerous and lock him away in the towering prison. With a bit of wit (& some help) he manages to escape the facility, but not before a mysterious figure shows up and inflicts him with the "Monstrum" curse, giving him supernatural abilities at the cost of not being able to leave the city's walls. Not only that, but he (and a small group of others cursed) are tasked with protecting the city from legions of invisible (to ordinary people) monsters called Lemuries. In order to seek out the truth of the curse (& to see if it can be broken) he must explore the city & all roads seem to lead back to the prison!
Combat:
Across the adventure Adol will be joined by 5 other party members (though you can only have 3 active at a time), with each one having an attack style effective against "soft", "armored", or "flying" enemies (meaning you'll generally want one type of each amongst your currently active party), which encourages you to swap out the character you're directly in control of often (some enemies, including most bosses, are neutral type & aren't weak nor resistant to any attack styles). Furthermore, if you dodge or block just as an enemy attacks you'll engage a Flash Dodge (slows down time) or Flash Guard (temp attack boost). It's overall not much different than the last several entries in the series, but it's still one of the most fun & slick action JRPG battle systems in the business.
While most of your time will be spent doing sidequests, battling monsters in the overworld, dungeon crawling & your other typical RPG stuff, events that stick out here are Grimwald Nox & Grimwald Eos challenges (the only seeming difference between the two being that Nox are mandatory, Eos are optional). They come in two varieties and either see you protecting a giant blue crystal from waves of Lemuries or trying to destroy a bunch of red crystals under a strict time limit. These are unique in that all party members, even ones who aren't in your active party (heck, even when they haven't even yet joined you elsewhere) are active as AI allies (you can only swap between directly controlling the three in your active party like normal though). At the "Dandelion" (your home base) you can expend resources to build & enhance traps/decoys that are automatically installed across Grimwald maps that help you keep the enemy waves at bay during these battles. You can also replay these challenges to aim for a better ranking (you're scored at the end, which dictates which rewards you earn upon completion). These are essentially like the "Raid Battles" from Ys VIII, but they all happen at telegraphed, set points, which I liked.
While there are healing items (no magic system though), you'll automatically regenerate health if you stand still for a bit (this initially only applies outside of dungeons, however you obtain an item very early on that does away with that restriction) and only the character you're currently controlling takes damage (meaning you can swap to someone else with more health if you're low on health), so take advantage of these features when you can to save items (and while you can save at any time from the menu, there are also the traditional save spots before boss rooms & such that will auto heal you).
Exploration:
Once things get going most chapters have a similar gameplay loop. You'll start out completing sidequests & battling monsters around town in order to build your Nox gauge, which summons a Grimwald Nox once it reaches 100. Once you complete the Nox a barrier comes down allowing you to explore a new district of the city or field area just outside town (if you filled the Nox gauge high enough, a Grimwald Eos will appear afterwards as well, which unlock an optional area upon completion). Story events in the new area will lead to the chapter's dungeon (during the first 2/3rd's of the game, a new party member will join you around this part as well). Each chapter ends with a little epilogue where you'll play as a surprise character still inside the prison, providing some big narrative twists.
The city itself has an open world quality to it (especially once the barriers start coming down) with lots of shops (places to buy/enhance weapons/equipment, medicine, and more), as well as treasure chests, collectable "azure petals", and graffiti to find. Monsters don't wander around town, instead there will be these little Grimwald portals all over the place that will summon a few if you touch them (the world & people around you will freeze in time whenever you're in one of these fights). While monsters in dungeons & field areas have a set level, the Lemuries that appear in town are scaled up each chapter.
Most sidequests DO expire, however as they are the most effective way to build the Nox gauge in order to progress the story, you'd have to go well out of your way to miss one. They can be pretty deep/important too, as you'll gain extra allies who'll hang around the Dandelion (they provide buffs during Nox/Eos events, and open up special shops inside the Dandelion that mitigate your reliance on running around all over town).
In previous games you would collect "Sacramentals" that are party wide equips (some of them were mandatory for working through dungeons, like being able to breathe underwater, giving them a Zelda like quality, while others offered QOL effects like increased EXP earned), but these are largely replaced by "Gifts" here. Essentially, each Monstrum has a unique Gift, and it can be used (no matter who you're playing as) once they join your party. Same idea though in that the dungeon/boss of a chapter will be built around the utilization of your newest party member's Gift (examples: White Cat can run up walls. Feral Hawk can glide. Doll gives you a sixth sense that allows you to see enemies/collectables through terrain, see invisible platforms, see otherwise invisible weak points on certain bosses, etc.) Gifts also make exploring the city a lot easier as well, and in some cases let you reach areas/rooms otherwise inaccessible. The game still has Sacramentals for the QOL features though (such as the aforementioned one that lets you idle heal in dungeons).
You're very much rewarded for thoroughly exploring the world, as there are characters who will reward you with goodies for filling up your map, finding "Landmarks" (scenic locations in the game world), finding azure petals, reading all the graffiti, and more. Most of these characters hang out at the Dandelion, but there are a few elsewhere in town.
Visuals:
Graphically it's nothing mind-blowing (it's a mid budget title originally designed for PS4 & Switch), but it looks nice due to the art direction, and it runs at a rock solid 60 fps on PS5.
Now, the pallette can look a little grey as it largely takes place within & beneath the boundaries of a city/prison/fortress (which I know was a disappointment for some coming off the vibrant tropical island locale of Ys VIII), however there are still a few areas where they manage to inject a bit more color, and I still thought that the main dungeons were distinct enough to feel unique (especially the spooky atmosphere of the catacombs). If you're worried about it being grimdark though, don't be. The vibe isn't any darker than your typical JRPG and there are plenty of colorful cast members & costumes (as an aside, all the DLC costumes from it's original release are part of the standard purchase on PS5).
Story:
The narrative has some very cool twists with plot points I was eager to find out more about (especially that surprise character I mentioned in the prison segments), but at the end of the day it ends up being pretty standard JRPG stuff (power of friendship, felling a "god", & all that). Still, at least it was very interesting to get there.
If you wonder why I've been referring to characters by names like "White Cat" & "Feral Hawk", it's because their Monstrum moniker is different from their regular name, and finding out who they are in their daily lives is in spoiler territory (some of them you meet long before they're revealed as a Monstrum, though in most of those cases it's easy to figure out).
As an aside, I kinda find it amusing how they don't even try with their (broader) world building & come up with names for their fantasy countries like Romn (Rome), Garman (Germany), Ispani (Spain), and I kid you not Afroca. Heck, a big part of this game's specific background lore is inspired by Joan of Arc in Britain & France's Hundred Years War, with Saint Rosvita's role in Britai & Gilia's (Gaul?)... Hundred Years War, lol.
Conclusion:
Maybe a bit of a step back from Ys VIII (largely in terms of locale variety), however it's still a very solid JRPG and I think there are a few things I think it does even better (I like that environmental exploration abilities are just natural upgrades & not tied to Sacramentals, freeing up Sacramental slots for QOL effects like extra item/gold drops & the like, and that the Grimwald Nox battles were at set points & don't interrupt you exploring like VIII's Raid Battles could sometimes do).
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
Finally finished Judgement, it’s a great game but I feel oversaturated with the Yakuza games lately, barely even felt like touching the side content. I liked the story a lot tho and even though I did like Ichiban in Y:LaD I feel Yagami is a better character overall.
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