Persona 5 Royal On Xbox Game Pass Will Include Over 40 DLC

Give it a shot everyone, the base Persona 5 is amazing but Royal makes it so much better comfortably my favourite JRPG ever I'm glad people who haven't had the chance get to play it.

I put an insane amount of hours into Persona 5 on on PS4, and didn't get around to trying the Royal Edition so this is good news all round. Anyone who hasn't tried it yet is in for a real treat. Easy 10/10.

@Decoy_Snake how does Royal make it better?

@uberdaddypig I had 200hrs in the base game then another 130 in Royal time well spent!!

@Carck Improved combat, new confidants, new shop in mementos, new areas in each palace, grapple hook making traversal easier, a third semester, new areas to hang out with friends, darts & pool were added, new character artwork, new cutscenes, looks sharper as it's a - at the time - current gen only game, new music tracks & if your an achievement hunter a much easier list.

@Decoy_Snake damn son that’s a LOT can’t wait! I was playing it on the PS3 a while back lmao just played up until Madarame’s castle

It will be my first time playing any persona game, unless you count Q and new cinema something something on the 3DS...

Looking forward to it

@CrazyJF If you are into any kind of dating sim/social sim games this is one of the best out there by far in terms of non sim games (Like Sims 4)

The value in this is insane! this game alone is worth the subscription price. I got some of the dlc on PS4 but to have the lot on my Series S will be amazing.

Oh I thought we'd be missing stuff because it's p5 royal instead of royal deluxe edition

@CrazyJF If you like that sort of thing Persona is much better than FE. In Persona you don't have to romance anyone and you get to choose what you do that day when you get free time. There are hundreds of variables to a playthrough which makes it fun.

FE really is more story focused and the romance/social sim is light. Persona has a lot more social activity and school life elements such as studying. There is however a deep battle system and lots of story.

I'd reccomend watching the first couple of hours on youtube.

One thing I will say is the game is huge, expect the first 2-3 hours to be a slow burn. I spent 125 hours to complete the game without all the trophies on PS4.

@CrazyJF It's more prominent in P5 than FE. If you don't enjoy sim aspects then you may not enjoy P5. I enjoy Persona 5 but it's not my favorite for one reason: the gameplay loop. You spend so much time doing the same thing over and over that it burns you out. For me at least.

I love the style of the game along with the music, combat, and the demon fusing aspect. But because you have to do the repetitive work/school tasks everyday I prefer SMT over Persona. Obviously this is just my opinion.

@Synthatron_Prime Normally I prefer SMT, and I'm hyped for Soul Hackers 2, Devil Summoner is my favorite spinoff and it's been trapped on Saturn since forever (plus 3DS.) But i have to say SMTV never hooked me. I played into the early desert parts, bounced hard off the tokyo tower boss, and never even bothered going back. I just couldn't get myself to put the effort in for some reason. It just didn't hook me like prior entries did.

@Tangerine Be warned that Persona Q has massive spoilers for P3/4, so if you played Q, you won't be as into the plot twists as you would have been. Still a fantastically amazing game, but you probably won't have as much suspense since you'll know some answers going in.

@CrazyJF FE3H is Persona-lite. It's a boring, poor implementation of the social sim in Persona, that even as a persona fan bored me too much to finish, though a lot of that was less the social and more the boring, large environment that took too long to traverse empty areas to search for things that weren't there, and you have to just follow the same route searching the same areas between every mission.

If you don't like the concept you'll hate persona. It's 50/50 social sim and dungeon crawler RPG, just how Rune Factor is 50/50 farming sim/ARPG. But if you don't like how boring the FE3H sim is, you might like the more more involved Persona one better where the map is loaded with TOO many activities, and not enough time to do them all ( you get, say 2 in a game-day, and there's like 30 on the map, and they are all important for raising bonds with a given character.

I hear people talk about how great FE3H is, and it is, if you exclude the monastery. The idea was cool, but the implementation is terrible. It does make FE feel more alive than sprites on a chess board, but it's just so boring after you repeat the loop 100 times, and it never really goes anywhere beyond a simple "thank you". Persona gives you little story plays. Often with hilarious consequences.

If you hate the sim aspect entirely, Persona and Rune Factory are absolutely not for you. If you hate the one in FE3H because it's, frankly, terrible, you might find this more to your liking.

The sheer amount of DLC sounds bad, but absolutely none of it is necessary, and the extra Personas often end up breaking the balance of the game (what little there is, anyway).

@NEStalgia Soul Hackers 2 doesn't resemble the previous Devil Summoner games tonally or in terms of how the gameplay is designed, unfortunately. It feels very... Persona-fied, from the footage we've seen, and somewhat generic as a result.

Unfortunately, the success of P5 probably means this'll happen to a number of their spinoffs.

I just hope they keep this design trend away from SMT. SMT V has some issues with its narrative structure, but the gameplay is a wonderful evolution of the 3DS-era entries.

@Ralizah Eeeewwww!! You have officially totally harshed my mellow.

Soul Hackers 1 remains my absolute favorite of all SMT games. I was super hyped for an unexpected sequel. Since I also like Persona I may not have hated Personifying it, but....if it becomes kind of generic, then I'm not happy. I think it's gone from day-1 to "wait for reviews" now. (Live a Live can fill the void though. And I may have to buy AI Som 2 full price....)

I hate that I don't like SMTV. It was my most anticipated Switch game at launch. IDK what it is, but it just....a game either "clicks" or doesn't "click". SMT Nocturne clicks but I have serious problems with the dated gameplay. SMT 4 clicked pretty fast. SMTV....I've never had an SMT game "not click at all"....but SMTV is it. Feels like a poor performing mishmash of a Persona wannabe artstyle, with a bland world of play and questing, no hook that really pulls you into the narrative or mystery at least up to that tower. Just feels like an empty environment to do combat in. And while I love the press turn combat systems, I need it to feel like it's part of something and not battle for the sake of battle. And V is the first time it doesn't feel like it does that.

Maybe I should throw it in the easy/cheat modes and just push further without much effort and see if it clicks later in.

@NEStalgia Well, I mean, that's just, like, my opinion, man. Don't let my sour grapes ruin your hype.

Aesthetically, the previous Devil Summoner games had a sort of grimy edge to them, right? Whereas Soul Hackers 2's aesthetic is very similar to the one in Digimon: Cyber Sleuth, or Belle, or Summer Wars.

In terms of the gameplay, while you can collect and negotiate with demons, humans seem to be your party members, so it seems like you only use demons to cast spell and use abilities, like in Persona.

Shops seem to have a hyper-stylized look to them, like shops in modern Persona games, with sharp colors and character portraits.

What seems weird to me is that, despite its technical issues, SMT V is weirdly high budget in a way that the games they release on power consoles aren't. Like... when you go into the shop in that game, if you recall, you actually get a detailed 3D render of the shop-keeper and his environment. It's not just an anime character portrait bordered by bright colors. It's also the only game to date that actually showcases huge environments where to-scale demons wander around and naturalistically congregate. Meanwhile, in P5 and Soul Hackers 2 (I'll link to footage: https://youtu.be/_o87ywQWpms?t=201), you're wandering around PS2-era corridors, and enemies are still represented by abstract avatars on the world map like in the 3DS games.

SMT V is interesting insofar as the narrative pacing is completely whack. The structure of the landscapes means you're wandering the wastes for tens of hours at a time with scarcely anything happening plot-wise, and then you get a collection of cutscenes that quickly rush you onto the next arc of the story.

I actually love the gameplay design of it, with a focus on exploration and puzzle-based overworld design, but it doesn't work at all with a linear JRPG plot structure, which is what they were going for. Frankly, it should have been more like Nocturne, where they let the player stew in the mystery of their circumstances and don't let an artificially imposed plot intrude on that.

Like, you remember how Pokemon games used to not have intrusive cutscenes continuously interrupt the fun? You just played the game, collected monsters, defeated bosses, and the story felt like it arose naturally from that process? SMT V should have been more like that, because it feels like that's the sort of plot structure it's designed to accommodate. And it's 80% of the way there, frankly. But then they keep dragging you back to Tokyo, so underdeveloped characters you don't care about can waste your time until the game lets you get back to the monster collecting.

It's a flawed game, but I deeply hope Atlus takes the right lessons from it and doubles down on the aspects of the game that worked brilliantly.

Looking forward to this, even though I own it for PS4. I never finished it, but I will this time on my Series X!
Hopefully we get a physical release for Switch. This game would be perfect for portable play!

@Ralizah Heh, nah, those sour grapes are probably spot on.

Yeah, classic Soul Hackers had kind of that detective noire vibe to them with an overdose of 90's cyberpunk. To be fair though, the detective noire vibe works in Persona 4, too despite the more colorful art style. I mean it has "Hackers" in the name, you have to expect some cyberpunk. Maybe upgraded from the floppies of the original though. I can deal with the aesthetic change if the tone doesn't change much. But after SMTV I have doubts. I don't mind the human companions so much as long as negotiation is still in place. In the original, you often did have human companions awkwardly assisting in various dungeons, so your demons were mostly just spell casters anyway, humans still had a center stage role as narrative party companions. The humans weren't your party but they were like an AI coop partner or something, so thematically I think that holds.

The shops sounds pretty stark. They were very "real" backgrounds of a, to paraphrase George Lucas' "used space" a "used city" aesthetic.

Yeah, I did noticed how weird the "open" world is in SMTV compared to what Atlus does on power consoles (yet no P5 on Switch, LOL). It's almost a shame they did that though. Conceptually it's great, but I think Switch really struggles with it in a way that makes it all feel less fluid, and moreover, I don't feel Atlus has a good feel for building an open world like that. There's so much wasted time and open wandering it's like Ubisoft built an SMT game at times. I give a lot of credit to them for experimentalism, but personally I feel like the design gets in the way of the game's feel, at least up to where I just got bored and walked away. Even Nocturne which has it's own problems of PS2-era endless labyrinth design, has a snappy feel to how you approach combat that keeps you on edge. Problematic with too often random encounters, not that fun to play anymore, but I appreciate the snappy on-edge feel. IV did best IMO. V suffers from too much aimless wandering/grinding and quests spread out in boring ways. In a way, the "hallway" design kind of works for SMT and V broke that. The wastes wandering is just....boring. Grindy. Uninteresting. And it demotivates me from even trying to build a decent team so I then get trashed by mobs and bosses alike.

Personally I think even Nocturne has a more focused JPRG narrative, though. It kind of keeps you on the plot points, in an open ended way, more than V, I think. Weirdly Nocturne falls down in the dungeons. The endless aimless single-texture corridor labyrinth doesn't work well after 1998. While V falls down because the "open world" is a little too reminiscent of the endless aimless single-texture labyrinths of 1998, without an overworld to break it up. They really nailed that balance with IV. And the original Soul Hackers.

I think V could work with or without the linear story. The main fix it really needs, is how to make the open world interesting and fun. Wandering back and forth dodging hordes of monsters I've already collected 4 of to do fetch quests at opposite ends of the same empty waste over and over is just boring.

I had more fun with NTWEWY's grinding which is literally just spinning in a circle in the same 20x20 tile map of a district of Shibuya fighting noise icons to wear down your fullness gauge so you can buy more food. SMTV would have benefited from having you run in a circle grinding more than having you wander the sands through uninteresting places for uninteresting quests to do things for monsters or characters you don't care about at all because they're never developed beyond a few speech bubbles.

I was hoping Soul Hackers 2 would finally give me my SMT fill...but.....sigh

Honestly I am so excited to play Persona. Never played it before. October can't come quick enough!

I've only played the base version and strikers. Can't wait to get my hands on royale.

@NEStalgia I actually felt like the open world segments compared favorably to most games I've played in that vein. The design of SMT V feels like an improvement over Xenoblade Chronicles and Dragon Quest XI in terms of overworld structure, frankly, because of the fun freedom of movement the player has, the way it rewards poking around new environments, which are usually multi-layered, and the way side-quests and abscesses give each section its own sort of emergent sense of progression without herding the player with invisible walls and cutscenes. Most of the side-quests are fairly meaningful, to the point where I actually think a lot of them include what would have been main storyline content in any other JRPG, because they grant access to powerful new demons, develop storylines for existing characters that just sort of disappear from the main plotline, and in general give you a better sense of the relationships between different demons and factions and whatnot. Battling is snappy and fun, as usual in modern SMT. And the way the overworlds are designed becomes increasingly puzzle-like as the game goes on, which makes them feel more and more like gigantic, open-air dungeons.

So I actually really dig the approach. When it's not busily trying to pretend like it has a story to tell, it's my ideal monster collecting JRPG, and the funnest JRPG I've played this generation (P5R is still fun enough, though, and the added story content at the end is amazing and actually feels like it wouldn't be out of place in an SMT game thematically, so it's probably better overall). I just wish they'd either develop the characters and story more or ditch those aspects entirely and embrace a sense of abiding mystery.

Of course, this is coming from someone who found TWEWY borderline unplayable, and barely thought it counted as a game to begin with, so that's where I'm coming from.

@Ralizah What you described definitely sounds improved post-tokyo-tower than pre. Which is all I bothered suffering through. Maybe I should throw in the easy mode or paid xp cheats just to move on to something more appealing.

Your opinion of that game is the total opposite of mine. We both went in with equal hype, but you came away with a lot of praise, and I went in so bored I didn't bother with the first boss and never touched it again (I tried one more time and still was just amazingly bored.) But you also describe a lot more interesting game than I saw so maybe if I get past that opening I'll find something more enjoyable than I thought.

That having been said, collecting monsters doesn't satisfy as an objective to me, I like the exploration mostly with the collecting being a means to an end. Something Pokemon lost sight of in recent games, and SMT kind of did too.

LOL, TWEWY is....an acquired taste. It's unique. To a fault. It's experimentalism. To a fault. And it definitely doesn't get everything right. What's there is absolutely wonderful, and the characters/world are a unique delight. TBH, if it weren't for the characters/world/story I don't think I'd suffer the weird gameplay, but it's ultimately worth it, and the gameplay kind of grows on you once you get used to it, even if it's just mashy.

TWEWY 1 gameplay centered around keeping you off balance with stylus input chaos. NTWEWY tries to duplicate that on normal buttons by having you control so many buttons at once. But in the end you end up largely mashing, and knowing when to doge, but the intentional chaos of inputs is part of the design. The one thing I will say about both games, and especially the second is, it's a slow burn. The first half of the game is just bland and boring and even as a massive fan of the first game I couldn't get into the second fully and kept putting it down. It picks up steam in the second half, story-character-wise. It's an odd game because you earn easy/hard modes as part of the skill tree. But they're not there to make the game easier or harder, they're actually part of the battle system where playing on hard, strategically, gives you more rewards letting you upgrade more, making the game, inversely, easier. Probably the hardest way to play is on easy. You'll never get better abilities that way. You don't get ultimate until the end for postgame though.

The experimentalism in gameplay fits the punk theme. But it's not necessarily the best on its own, but it's interesting. It's definitely a game you play for the characters. It should probably have an anime if it doesn't already though. The characters are super memorable, super charming, and you never forget them. The story is a bit of anime craziness, but it has it's solid poignant moments.

@NEStalgia SMT V is best enjoyed when there's a bit of challenge to it. Especially this one, since the emphasis is so heavily weighted in favor of combat and exploration over narrative or character development. My recommendation, if you ever go back to it, is to keep stocked up on elemental dampeners. Bosses always telegraph when they're going to use a super-attack and using the right dampener at the right time will nullify it, leaving them open for punishment. Also, the hydra at Tokyo Tower is weak to status effects like sleep. I was so proud of my young nephew when he defeated the boss on normal mode by abusing his weakness to sleep magic!

You shouldn't be deeply surprised that an 80 hour JRPG becomes more complex after its first five hours or so. Although the thing to keep in mind is that while more elements are added, side-quests become more involved, environments become more multi-faceted, etc. 80% of the game is still plotless overworld exploration. That's just the gameplay loop. One thing I really liked in SMT V, and I hope they include it in future sequels, was dangerous high-level enemies that the player has to learn how to navigate around. It's fun in this game and not irritating like in Xenoblade because the demon actually has to catch you to attack you, so level 80 enemies won't be one-shotting you a hundred feet away like in those games.

Like, there's a side-quest early on where you have to raid the nest of this enormous flying demon. The demon flies in patterns around the area, and you actually have to stay out of sight and time it so that you can raid the nest and escape before the demon catches you. When I did it, I messed up the timing slightly, and had this harrowing escape sequence where I ran like hell toward an enclosed area where the demon couldn't attack me.

It didn't surprise me to learn that the game director also directed the Etrian Odyssey games, and while those are more traditional dungeon crawlers, they also typically feature plotless exploration and giant enemies on the map that force the player to plan escape routes and strategize.

Monster-collecting is always a means to an end in SMT, since you'll quickly get your butt kicked if you don't fuse and negotiate constantly to keep your stock of available demons up-to-date. Which is actually what Pokemon has always been missing, and why I love SMT so much. You can bumrush through the entirety of any Pokemon game with just your starter, but monster-collecting in an SMT game is a matter of life and death. Granted, that's mostly true of the post-Nocturne games, and why my opinion of the 3DS duology is so much higher than it is for the older games (although the GBA port of SMT I holds up surprisingly well). Its turn-based combat that's refined and tactical to the point where it resembles art.

I played through about 70% of TWEWY (the first two weeks, and some of the third before I realized finishing it wasn't worth dying inside), and, honestly, the game is a mess. I agree the game's combat being chaotic nonsense is by design, but I think it's that way primarily to distract the player from how shallow and unfulfilling the combat ultimately is. The entire game feels like that, frankly: a jumbled assortment of systems, mechanics, gimmicks, etc. that never coalesce into anything bigger than the sum of their parts. There's a problem when a game never opens up, stops tutorializing, and just allows the player to explore the world.

Also, the game has hideous sound design. The caterwauling that they call music in that game just continues unabated no matter what's happening on-screen. At least have the decency to tone down the repetitive J-Pop when characters are trying to have a meaningful conversation!

As much as I hated it, I also found the sequel for super cheap last year, so I'll be giving the series one more chance at some point.

@Ralizah I'm more of an exploration and questing fan than a pure combat fan, but, yeah, the "easy" part would be mostly for getting past that first area in hopes that something more interesting lies beyond.

One other big problem I have with the game with where I am is the economy. Items seem very necessary but also very very expensive, and the grind for macca seems exceedingly tedious. I don't recall the economy in any other SMT being so stingy by a mile. I find it discourages experimentation. Again, maybe that opens up after where I am. It's difficult when a game makes the introduction so unlikable that you can't discover what might actually be good about a game, probably much like you with TWEWY. The difference being that TWEWY turned you off from the start, while I'm a big SMT fan going in and am very surprised that an SMT game didn't hook me from the start, because they always do (but sometimes lose me after the middle when it starts feeling monotonous.)

I will say that I do like "focused" exploration more than aimless. I like when the game weaves quests that make you traverse and along the way you find other quests that make you traverse. To jump to Western RPGS for example, I liked Baldur's Gate 2 more than 1 because 1 was more aimless stumbling into stuff in the wilderness, 2 sent you on quests that would ensure you'd find other quests while searching for the first one, which then leads to finding more ,etc. It's still open wandering, but with purpose. IMO they borrowed from JRPGs there - it's WRPGs that tend to be more aimless wandering (Wizardry, etc.) Remember years ago we argued about SMT being more of a WRPG made in Japan? Full circle

I still hold that SMTIV is peak SMT. It was just brilliant. The atmosphere, the gameplay, the world design, the questing, the way the buildings became the corridor dungeons borrowing some of the best Soul Hackers/Summoner play. That game was just absolute peak. What I've seen so far of V just...it takes a huge step back. Maybe, though, it does get much better later on. Someday, maybe I'll get back to it.

Hmm, it's been a while since TWEWY1, so I don't remember it tutorializing into the 3rd week. If you made it that far then it probably just isn't for you. I loved the characters though. It is kind of a mess, and the combat is definitely shallow. It's the inverse of SMT. If SMT is played entirely FOR the combat and little else, TWEWY is played for anything BUT the combat, and the combat just exists as a means for stats. The fact that you have to be in "scan" mode to even encounter enemies says something.

Forgetting details about 1 except the story, though 2, does open up more in the second half. It's still largely on rails with unskippable story beats, but the last week most of the areas are generally non-gated much of the time at least for some part of the mission day. And going back to prior days to complete side quests becomes important if you want to complete the social tree, although then you have to go through the forced story beats again which is annoying.

I always thought the game's music is good, overall, but I know what you mean about the repetatitve music in the first. I can't say it's fundamentally different in the second except there are more tracks and the tracks are less....weird? More English-track vocal versions of the music hard rock, punk, metal, and even a remix of Twister (the one with the REALLY weird synth voices from the first) as a straight-up (English) rap song. I can't say they necessarily fixed all you didn't like, but at a minimum it is improved in the sound department.

I do love the series dearly, but I do admit I love it for the world, the characters, the motif, the deeper threads, the unique look at the afterlife, and the "vibe" more than anything gameplay related at all, and freely admit, it's probably a better anime than video game.

I'll also say the first is worth finishing, if you can since the most interesting story bits are the closing bits that ties together some of the earlier mysteries. And also, it does play important pieces into the second story...albeit...also on the final day. I think anyone starting with the 2nd game and missing the first will be absolutely lost on the final day, most of it doesn't make sense without the first game.

@NEStalgia I wouldn't call most of the exploration in SMT V aimless. I almost always had a goal in mind, whether it was scripted ("this side-quest requires me to fight [x], so I need to go hunt it down") or more organic ("I need to find a way to get up to that building over there"), which is what happens when the overworld is tightly designed. Side-quests also pop up more frequently as the game goes on. There's actually a ton of stuff to do and find as you play through the game.

Yeah, the money problems lessen as you play further into the game. I was basically Scrooge McDuck by the time it was over. But it's important to keep that resource limited early on to force the player to make important choices and prioritize how their build is going to evolve.

I agree that the 3DS duology was peak MegaTen. IV: Apocalypse is still probably the most fun I've ever had with a JRPG, but I do prefer the darker tone of IV, even if it's a worse game overall. I also prefer the occult cyberpunk stylings of I, IV, and IV:A to the dark fantasy of Nocturne and V. And IV: Apocalypse has the best iteration of press-turn combat overall.

I don't think V represents a regression, though. To be honest, it's the closest Atlus has ever come to actually evolving their game design to the point where it feels like a modern product and less like a PS2 game that came unstuck in time.

I can enjoy games with crappy combat, but combat is basically... all you do in TWEWY. Fight enemies to digest food, collect pins, or bypass artificial progression barriers. That's pretty much the game. There's this mechanic where you can read the thoughts of the people around you, but other than in heavily scripted sequences that tell you exactly what you need to do, it didn't seem to get much play otherwise, making it yet another design element without purpose.

No worries. I read a wiki article about how TWEWY ends, so I should be good for the sequel.

There actually is a TWEWY anime, but it didn't... ah... review well. The majority of the game is just: "run here and fight this," so I'm not surprised that didn't translate into animated form gracefully.

This is my most wanted game this year, soo hyped

Nice. I haven't played it. I want the full experience. 🤣

@Ralizah I dunno if I got Persona vibes as much as TMS vibes which it is that team. I feel like SH2 is spiritual successor to TMS. TMS sort of crashed and burned and it has some really cool systems. Maybe they want to rework it?

But I guess TMS borrows heavily from pl

@mousieone Well, that's the thing, right? I'm not seeing any unique gameplay systems in the footage so far. It looks like stock press-turn combat, except your demons are utilized only when attacking with abilities.

Considering Tokyo Mirage Sessions is one of the few games that managed to do about as poorly on Switch as it did on Wii U, I'm not sure Atlus is hankering to greenlight any spiritual successors to it. I guess that's what happens when you advertise a project as being the marriage between two series known for hardcore gameplay and dark subject matter and wind up with an idol RPG filled with musical numbers that feels more like something you'd expect to see from a company like CompileHeart.

my only real complaint with royal is that they made the fights an bosses all around just dramatically easier.

...except for one boss that was also a wall in vanilla P5. for whatever reason, they made that wall even harder.

@Ralizah The funny thing is Atlus put out a game that could be considered a marriage of those two games, but it wasn't TMS. It still baffles me that instead of the work being divided between the two studios; they thought it best to be handled by one. And if they were going to pick one studio I feel like IS would have been a better choice. And again the game that Atlus was working on, was also around the same time but anyway.. On a tangent.

While I think most people could tear that game apart for what's it's not. I mean the FE characters are barely there, etc I think what we can all agree on is that it's more of a passion project for them like Catherine. And like Catherine Full Body, they could have greenlit this project to see where it takes them.

Anyway, as far as generic combat goes vs. OG Soul Hackers, well the first one didn't exactly set the world on fire? Like I mean I get it, it's not like the original one, and that sounds mean. But I don't think people get why there hasn't been a follow up to Soul Hackers for so long. Ergo I can't really fault them for making it look closer to more popular stuff in today's market. Maybe they probably should have just called this one "Soul Hackers" and left the two off. But when Persona went through its revamp, they didn't drop the "3". Clearly through 3-5 look nothing like 1-2 and play nothing like 1 at all.

@mousieone @Ralizah OOOHHH now TMS remains arguably my most favorite JRPG of all time. It may not be the "best" but it's pure magic. So my hype may be restored if that's it.

But, that's not Soul Hackers 2, and it's weird to use that dark cyperpunk brand for....something very opposite. And TMS was very clearly an extension of the Persona series. So IDK.

I still find it bizzarre that SH2 is on Xbox and not Switch right now though. At least Persona made it over. I love XB, but these games really are best on Switch, and ironically after gathering dust for the past 2 years, my Switch is now the system with the hugest upcoming backlog of games I can't afford to buy but need to have over next year. The Persona trilogy really needs to be Switch. And....I just bought AI Som on switch for $8. But will keep playing it on XB on my phone just because I'm already 30% done. I may have a hard time resisting AI som 2 at full price when I'm done. And I will hate myself for it.

Though, IDK if P5R will feel quite as great on Switch as power consoles. especially if it's a "remaster" of any kind.

@Ralizah So I tried SMTV again. Nope, it's just not going anywhere for me. The lack of money, the lack of stamina/magic restoration. Trouble is, I'm up at the checkpoint before the Tokyo Tower hydra. I've finished all the......demonic red light districts...whatever those red zones are called. I'm maxed at 6 demons, most are low level, most are dead. The remainder get one or two-shot. It takes way too many attacks to take down any enemies. I'm underleveled. Level 10 main character demons are like 5-7. Hydra is lv15. I decided to do a nearby side quest and they were like lv17. I have precious little macca. Not enough to revive/heal characters with enough cushion (and they'll just die again anyway), I can't do any decent fusions and don't want to waste my pixie and others I can use for better fusions because the only fusions I can do now give me like lv6 monsters (good ones need a few more levels) So I decided to grind, a bit, but then I run out of stamina/magic, and wandering the wastes looking for stupid yellow orbs is just annoying, and there aren't even any nearby.

It's like the game WANTS to do everything it can to make me hate it. Even put it in casual and though I can grind, it doesn't solve the stamina/macca issues still putting me at a dead end. And of course I have a lightning/force squad now, so I can't even dent the hydra.

I need a certain hook or on-ramp to really sink into gameplay, but I just can't really find that path in SMTV for whatever reason. The excessive scarcity of resources just turns me off from all my playstyles I think. SMT is stingy, but this is stingier, and I'm sure it gets better but I have to actually get that far to make it worthwhile.

So I bought Danganronpa for like the 5th time....and should get back to Legend of Heroes, but unfortunately TCS3/4 is still all that's on Switch, and they didn't announce the other trilogies still.

Edit: I still think it's criminal that there's not a REAL Soul Hackers sequel/reboot. That gritty cyberpunk environment is ripe for picking and they're just leaving it hanging. I think it's fairer to say taht the original didn't set the world on fire because it was on the Sega Freaking Saturn. Followed by a 3DS reboot of a niche old game that not many knew much about and all the attention was on the flashier, newer SMTIV. I don't think it's fair to say that a Saturn game "failed" because the game has no market. It had no market because it was on a dead console.

TMS had a different issue. I'm not sure the market for an idol RPG is particularly big. And "It's not FE". And it's only in Japanese while not being edgy like Yakuza. But I still thought it was a delight

@NEStalgia "Dark Cyberpunk" looks at Cyberpunk I don't know if I'd say "Dark" I mean the very premise of the game is coming back to life. Also, as people have pointed it out it looks a lot like Digimon Cybersleuth which is bright, vibrant. I mean I can see the more adult elements, but it’s still not that different from Persona or TMS. Which also deals with death. It’s not as vibrant, and favors the more comic look. Again honestly I can’t fault them for that because that style works.

SH2 is aiming for 4k60; and I'm sure they can make a 720p30 version easily. It's just companies like to do double dip thing, which leads to confused consumers and Twitter wars. People don't double dip on larger consoles, but do on Switch. Well not that often. Look at Nier Automata which coming with special costume exclusives that is clearly meant to encourage double dipping. That and Atlus has had mixed sucess on Nintendo Switch contrary to what people want to believe. I mean the big games do great but all the smaller ones crash and burn. Aegis Rim which should have been a Switch slam dunk did not sell in the West at all. Thats one that I can't understand. There is going to be a remaster version of P5R, because the trailer is 60 fps and why would you need a native PS5 version? I can't see PS4 not getting the remaster over XB1, but I say that and FFXII did do that for XB1/Switch). Again though, they are making a PS5 version, so I think the XB1/Switch will be 30 frames like the PS4 version and XSX/S, PC, PS5 will be 60. Beyond that and make cleaner visuallys I don't think they'll be much difference. It's up to you on the 60/30 thing but eh

I mean I prefer DQ11s on my Xbox compared to my Switch. And it wasn’t even a conscious decision I just didn’t get past the first town…. Like I can’t wait till they move Strikers over to Xbox because I’d replay that in a heartbeat and just being at a higher frame rate is enough to pull me over but visually I don’t care about such a things.

That said p3p I’m definitely going with the Switch version. Text size and VNs style should fit perfectly.

@Nalverus well if you can play PC I’m sure a modded will fix the difficultly issues with Royal.

Really glad this will be on Xbox and Switch. I am going to get it for Gamepass on my Series S and physical version for my Switch. It's my fave game of all time so Happy to support Atlus.

@mousieone I mean the original SH was dark cyberpunk. Environmentally and character tone were quite dark, despite the vibrant colors. Very ironically AI Som is the first thing in a long time to remind me a lot of Soul Hackers in tone. And of course it's silly at times, but when it's dark, it's dark. The cold storage warehouse has Soul Hackers written all over it. As do So, Shoko, etc.

I honestly kind of resent the treatment of Switch as double dip bait. It's working on me for now, but that probably changes the moment I can find a good way to make a "portable" Xbox that doesn't involve a $1000 phone or spending 100 hours working on a nasty Chinese knock-off android tablet to get it working right. In a lot of ways it makes Switch feel less like a second console and more like an either-or console. Either you go Switch and sit a generation behind and wait for the games to come to you, or you play everything elsewhere and keep Switch as exclusives-only. I'm making the exception with VNs (because they're just best on a handheld overall), and with Persona because I've waited like a decade for that and the death of the Vita crushed my dreams.

Though I truly can't imagine "double dipping" for costumes. But I also can't imagine buying Master Chief cat ears for $20. Or $2. I don't understand people.

Wait FFXII is remastered on PS but not XB? I honestly can't remember which console I have it on, probably PS, so that's why I can't remember that detail. I have it on Switch too, sitting in the heap of physical games I'll never play, somewhere

Good point about Strikers. I ended up buying that on deep sales both on PS and Switch, so I guess I'm covered for 60fps or handheld. Technically I already have Royal on PS, but if it's a 60fps bump and on GP, might as well do it on XB. I still have it in the backlog. P3 and 4 though really just need to live on Switch. They're literally ports of handheld ports of the games, after all. I did have the same result with DQXI if you recall, so yeah....I'd probably favor 60fps, though I never minded what I saw when I briefly played the PS4 version.

@NEStalgia Soul Hackers was interesting, because it was sort of the Japanese equivalent of something like Shadowrun, right? This mix of a grungy 80s/early 90s cyberpunk dark future filled with evil megacorps, government corruption, and environmental decay (hey, isn't that just the world we live in today?) and pronounced fantasy elements. Granted, it was more European fantasy in Shadowrun vs the Native American-esque elements in Soul Hackers, but the balance is very much the same.

"OOOHHH now TMS remains arguably my most favorite JRPG of all time."

So you're one of the handful of weirdos that actually enjoyed that game. I did my part and bought both versions of the game, but it never grabbed me.

"And of course I have a lightning/force squad now, so I can't even dent the hydra."

You're supposed to build your party to meet the needs of the challenge. Go fuse a team that can use ice magic, level up a few times, maybe learn some sleep magic, and it goes down easily even on normal difficulty. Hard mode is a little rougher in the early game, although even that becomes very approachable as the game goes on and you build frankly OP squads.

"It's working on me for now, but that probably changes the moment I can find a good way to make a "portable" Xbox that doesn't involve a $1000 phone or spending 100 hours working on a nasty Chinese knock-off android tablet to get it working right."

I mean... the Steam Deck IS a thing.

@mousieone

"That and Atlus has had mixed sucess on Nintendo Switch contrary to what people want to believe. "

I mean... that's what happens when you release a passion project that never sells tremendously well on any platform (Catherine), a game actively despised by Atlus' own fanbase (TMS), and a sequel to a game that, until this year, they refused to port to the platform (P5S).

At least the mainline SMT games have sold reasonably well. Nocturne HD did way better on Switch vs PS4, from what I recall.

BTW, where did you see stats on 13 Sentinels' performance on Switch?

@Ralizah good comparison with shadowrun! Yeah that's exactly what I wanted more of. Not a totally different thing that just uses the name. If they're going to let it die, let it die with dignity. And a remake.

Of course I'm one of the weirdos that loved that game. Even imported the soundtrack! First twewy and now this. Do you even weeb?

Oh yeah, I know how I'm supposed to build the party. But that's what I meant about the stamina/magic limitations, maca limitations...I can't really find a way to grind and build it up well. And fusing junk monsters means going back to recapture another of the early monsters. Idk, I'm just not seeing fun there, and I can't pinpoint what isn't working, but I never had that problem with an smt. Nocturne hooks me easy but then loses me in the shapeless dungeons. This one loses me at the start.

Yeah, steam deck, just the cheap one to use as a Windows box to do xcloud and remote play on slightly temps me, bit then it seems to expensive and self obsoleting to be viable. A cheaper Android device is probably more sensible for the job, but I can't find anything with a reasonable price and screen to match. One plus devices maybe. They have a cheapie but idk much about it. Steam deck... Maybe?

@NEStalgia @Ralizah I like gameplay of TMS but Ms Mary Sue coughs Tsubasa can do anything anything with a pep talk ruins it for me ._. sigh

@NEStalgia Dark... I can't wait till you do the Annihilation route ^____^ The game is going to serve you up the darkest plate of dark. A nice big helping of it.

I understand the sentiment, and it does cause this discourse around the question "Could the game have sold more if the game was delayed for the Switch port?" And maybe, but one thing though no one considers is that Nintendo has its own lineup of tailored content, and honestly I can't see anyone buying Soul Hackers 2 on Switch in between XBC3 and Spaltoon 3, do you? And it can't launch later in the year because it's up against P5R Remaster which clearly Atlus wants to make a lot of money on. I mean Switch and Steam alone should sell another million to 2 million copies. As for me, I think the Switch has so much to offer, that it justifies itself. But if your tastes aren't really for Weeb content; than the Switch really isn't for you. Which is sad because I purchased games like MK11 and Witcher 3for Switch, but the content lately is all cloud versions. Well if I'm going to play cloud; then I'll play on xCloud at no extra cost. Because I'm not spending 60 on a cloud game.

It's not 100% double dipping for "Costumes" it's double dipping for convenience of wanting to play portable, but adding easy features like costumes make people think it's a more complete version. If that makes sense.

FF XII has multiple remasters, but the best version is on XB1X with the Xb1/Switch being a close second. XBX1 is 60 frames and allows you to redo your license boards, which I believe PS4 Pro still lacks, but even if it has it now it didn't for months. Xb1 and Switch don't have 60 frames, but do have the redo license board add. Again, I don't think PS4 has this feature.

@Ralizah I can’t really pull up anything about Aegis except that it didn’t really do well over all. The Japanese sales were 40k-50k for the Switch version, but it didn’t chart in any Western eshop. I have to assume it did less in the West than Japan. Again the fact it failed to chart. It’s kind of a lack of stats that makes it obvious it didn’t perform well.

I agree with what you said about the other Atlus games, but again they do the same thing with Xbox. Catherine Classic is even in the BC program. SMT 9 didn’t have an English translation; and there are only like 3 other JRPGs on OG Xbox. And Atlus put P4A and P4AU on 360. Which the story straight spoils P4G. Which that also didn’t do so hot on Switch, hmmm wonder why…

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@Carck I'm tempted to play it again I'm not gonna lie.

@mousieone LOL, I never minded Tsubasa's pep talk induced courage, it just seemed more like tropey anime-fare than a particularly annoying character, but, yeah, now that you mention it..... But the characters were just so darned fun and the silliness of mixing the dark SMT world with idol glam was just too fun, even Tsubasa. But the game still had Maiko, and Tiki. That version of Tiki should be in every game ever made.

I still can't believe that game isn't more well liked among weeb nerds. It was just plain fun.

gulp I'm now apprehensive about taking that green route.... I'm not actually a fan of dark in that regard. And given the already ultra-dark arranged bodies I can only fear what "dark" much mean in this game on the dark route Even though you see it coming, the 2nd victim (red route) displayed as it was still was a moment that makes me apprehensive to boot the game

Soul Hackers was "dark" but not in that kind of "dark' way. The world was dark and oppressive, and the same kind of dark was implied but not shown as directly. It was still a hopeless world of demons taking over everything and corrupting it through their corporate and political benefactors.

Hmm, you're right on that. This year is absolutely loaded on Switch, especially for weeb content, and SH2 might get lost in the shuffle easily, especially with XC3. OTOH, I honestly can't imagine SH2 not failing on any platform except Switch. It's not a huge brand, it's not a very popular series, and it's technically a sequel to a game that's ONLY been on a Nintendo handheld (probably not too many Sega Saturn players around.....) so it's a sequel to a game nobody even knows about outside Nintendo and devoted Atlus fans. I could see it succeeding as a Switch exclusive even if they waited post XC3 more than PS and XB.

Well, it's interesting that Switch is predominantly weeb content, and it's also the #1 selling console....... hmmmmm....

Wow, even I didn't buy Witcher 3 on Switch. That was never going to be a great experience. I did buy Skyrim though.......

Dang, I think rebuying FFXII, XB is the only platform I didn't rebuy it on.

I'm frustrated that after all of the notE3 content, and hating Nintendo's pricing policies I now have like 10 games I want to buy on Switch in the next 10 months, and, only like 4 on XB (plus Starfield on GP which is massive for me), and like 2 on PS.

@NEStalgia Most of the characters were fun; Tsubasa started fun and became a chore. The anime trope nature would be fine if the story was still decent but to be honest Atlus is kind of known for their complex characters. Not to mention, it gave me Tokyo Xanadu vibes. However, I prefer the combat of TMS, but the story and characters of Tokyo Xanadu. Granted, TMS is supposed to be campy but sometimes it fails to really be campy as much as silly.

That said, I really wish TMS hadn't been "Attached" to Fire Emblem even if I like that version of Tiki. They could have easily reworked a few things and then actually put out a SMT/FE cross-over. Then, TMS could have just lived on its own without the burden of being something it's not. However, I played it with zero expectations because honestly I knew about TMS/Persona long before SMT, and I really don't play FE games (Warrior Games aside).

I think you'll like the end of Ai Somnium Files. It's campy and beautiful.

SH2 is a rebrand of an old brand. I get the old Brand used to live on Nintendo but again it didn't do super well or we would have seen a sequel by now. I'm guessing they are trying to do with Soul Hackers 2 what P3 did for Persona. Hence, dropping both of it's sub monikers. And while I think it would do bonkers numbers with the right timing on Switch, I'd implore you not to discount the Steam version of the game doing well. PC has been a growing audience for Atlus, and this game has potential there. The Nvidia leak still suggests a PC port of SMT V.

Well the "Weeb" content is also Japanese content, and it's the only console with a solid player base in Japan still. =p

Witcher 3 on Switch is actually okay. I've seen/had far worse experiences. It's a little blurry, but the game actually has settings to tweak it, and the font size isn't too bad. Honestly, if you can handle XBC on Switch, you can't really complain about Witcher 3.

Eh? I don't know about that for me. It was a good direct! I just mean what I personally added to my list wasn't big.

@mousieone Oh boy, Tokyo Xanadu....there's a game in my backlog I'd forgotten about. You're trying to ruin me, aren't you?

IDK, I kind of liked it leaning into the silly. There's really not much else like it. Games are srs bsns too often and Persona, TMS, and AI Som, ironically, are among the few that do. I loved how loose it played, it was just a plain old good time, and the combat was just crazy fun.

But I agree with the FE thing. There really was not much point, to me, and so little of the game involved it. It felt shoehorned. I'm not a huge FE fan, I like it, but like Souls, I suck at it, so I don't have super amounts of fun with it and am not super attached to the world, much like you, so I can safely compartmentalize the FE aspects of it, more than big fans of it can. Even though a lot of the story is a retelling of FE1, technically.... I'm kind of the other way around though with FE. I'm so. Freaking. Tired. Of Warriors games. I did try the demo for the new one and I really loved how it's put together in all ways except gameplay. If I have to raid one more fort defender in my life it will be 100 too many. Every game feels like the same game. I wish I could just watch the cutcene and character parts and just skip playing the actual game. I'd like my X button to outlive the month.

LOL that's reassuring about AI Som's ending!

SH1, it's not so much about the old brand living on Nintendo, it lived on Sega - I mean Sega Sega, not Sega Atlus....you know what I mean... but Nintendo's the only "modern" thing anyone's experienced it on.

Yeah, Steam might do ok, but that's still a different market overall. It's weird. I gave up PC and went back to consoles in large part because PC got basically zero Japanese games. And now console gets no Japanese games and PC gets them all What the heck happened in the world?! Still, I think the game is mostly dead on Xbox, though if they tie it to Persona hype, less dead than Star Ocean. And I can't see it thriving that well on PS, either. Sony having a really slow year might help it I guess?

Yeah, XC3 Japan sales I'm kind of decoupling from the rest of the world. It's a lock there. But I still think the rest of the world is a little bit of a different story. It's become popular, but it's not FF, or Persona, for sure. It's huge for the faithful. Weird anime garbage to the masses

I played XBC on 3DS. You want rough? That's rough. Like Wolfenstein on an SNES kind of rough. It's utterly lush on Switch to me.

....Though I still can't take RF5 in large doses. That's so awful. That said, did you play RF5 digital or physical? I've heard that if it's digital and you move it to the internal storage it's not as bad. They apparently load textures on the fly and the SD and game cards are too slow for that to work (and it shouldn't have been done that way, but they did.) I might try that.

My switch list, not just from the direct, at this point is:
Live a Live
Persona 3
Persona 4 (probably not 5, might stick XB there.)
Splatoon 3
XC3
AI Som 2 (probably Switch?)
Mario + Rabbids 2
Whatever the name of that side scroller from the RF creator is.
Maaaaaabye FE warriors 2, but I'm leaning toward no.

I think I'm forgetting at least something. Or assuming things that weren't announced, but I think my wallet is lighter somewhere else.

Granted some of that is old games ported, but you can't play P4 too many times. I bearly remember everything from my last Vita playthrough.

Hey I just mentioned it... It's not my fault its in your backlog. What I don't get is why NISA hasn't moved that game to Switch. Unlike the Trails game, you don't need to play other Xanadu games. It's comparable to Persona, and there was a gap that Caligula Overdose wasn't working. Now, with Persona actually being on Switch it's likelihood at better sales is less =/

Well I just mean I'll play Warriors FE but I don't seek out Warriors games.

And well China for one. PC is big in China so yeah they get Weeb games. Plus pre-builts are sold at Wal-mart now. Anyway, I don't think Star Ocean is dead on arrival but seriously picking October 7 days after Persona -___- I guess they are banking on the PS4 crowd. As for SH2, I think it has a chance on PS/PC. I don't know if it would have had one Switch right now. I don't know if waiting would have made sense. I guess that depends on next year. The marketing has been awful for it. I mean if you aren't a hard core Atlus fan, how would you know it's on Xbox. And if you're an Xbox fan how are you a hard core Atlus fan?

XB3 is one of the rare Open World JRPGs. It's getting more and more popular. Honestly though, I didn't care for the first one, but liked the second one. I need to play Torna. I'm waiting to see how I feel about 3 before purchasing it.

I didn't touch RF5, my friend did. I played Atelier Sophie 2. Highly recommend. Scratches that itch and is absolutely beautiful on the Switch.

Well DQ Treasures for me but I knew about it before.

Right now I'm

Ai Somnium Nirvana
Digimon Survive
SH2
(breather)
Persona 5 Royal
Star Ocean
DQ Treasures

Probably ScaVo but you know it depends.

And Inti Creates just announced Xbox Versions of Gunvolt. Which I swear the Megaman community on Xbox better try.

No I want P4 on everything literally. P4G is so fantastic. I mean P5/R is fun and playful but P4G reminds me of my childhood and it's so much more small scale in scope. It's also campy in the right places. Granted Kanji's dungeon was hard to make it through because I kept laughing =D

@Carck late reply, but the royal version include multiple QOL improvements, new music, and an extra storyline after reaching certain requirements.

@Beanlord thx bro