14. Soul Hackers 2New megaten comes out, I play it.
Game is in the "Devil Summoner" universe, not persona, not mainline smt. Still has demons, fusing, same in universe spells and such. The game "feel" is that of a spinoff series while being rooted in megaten, as it should be, they did a good job there.
Graphics look really nice in 4k on my ps5 on this tv, smooth framerate. Really good music, not quite up to the standard of other games in the megaten umbrella, but good regardless.
Characters are really good. The main character...isn't a silent protagonist...I think all of the other megaten games I have played (p4, p5, dds1, nocturne, 4, 4a, strange journey, 5) all have silent protags. This one the main character has a real personality with really good voice acting, probably my highlight of the whole game.
Story can get kind of "anime cliche" at times which I ain't too into, but as a whole it works. The world is pretty cool, not post apocalyptic like an smt, not "cute school children being friends" like persona. Got this "cyberpunk" future aesthetic, and gets a bit more megaten crazy near the end of the game. It works. Music tracks like
this really fit in with the aesthetic.
Combat...is where this game would go from a 8/10 to a 6/10 for me though...
It isn't a pressturn system like megaten games from nocturne-current, or the "one more" system used in p3-5. You strike weaknesses and gain "stacks", at the end of the turn you do damage based on how high the stack gets. I am all for trying something different, and this system works for the most part. Feels like you rely on magic more in this game because not a whole lot of enemies are weak to gun/melee, however I feel more enemies are weak to gun/melee in this game to compensate for that. It does a good job for the most part because you'll make certain tactical choices based on what you have. Maybe strike an enemy who's weak to ice, to gain stack to kill that weakened enemy who is weak to an element you don't have equipped.
That isn't really my main issue with the combat and why I rate this game lower than I would like. It's just really...really...slow. Just the process of entering a battle and doing a move takes more time than it really needs to, they could speed up animations or something just to keep it flowing. It's fine for the first 10 or so hours, but I was pretty over it half way through the game. I don't like saying it, but I was honestly bored for 50% of my playthrough...and this is mostly because of how much of a slog the combat is. The combat isn't "bad" and it does some cool things I wish for them to keep experimenting with, but they gotta find some way to get you to chew through combats quicker, or have less combats in general or something.
This is a cool game, and getting a second megaten game within 10 months is great, but I can't recommend this title unless you are a big fan of anything megaten.
*edit*
Ohh, the biggest sin, I forgot. The ending. You can get locked out of the good ending based on not balancing the points you accumulate for your 3 party members throughout the entire game. Not knowing that getting 6 points for character A and B screws over maxing out character C, when if you put those points towards character C you would have the amount to also get A and B done. This forces you to play NG+ which gives you bonus points, and...that sucks. The moment I realized I am 6 points short, and no way to get them, I ignored all other side content and bee lined the game because what's the point. Just a feel bad moment that made me want to get the game over with, see the "bittersweet" ending and feel a bit less about the game than I otherwise would have.
Getting a good ending should be "hey you did the extra curricular side stuff you didn't have to do, you got the whatevers you need to get the good ending".
Not "ehh you didn't follow a guide and picked 2 wrong choices out of 30, so I hope you enjoy doing it again on NG+!"
LAME
*edit*
Thinking about smtv, and this game, what makes a (in my opinion) "proper" smt experience, is buffs. What makes these games...say, "lesser" than the others is the buffs have been reduced. High mana cost + set amount of turns before they expire. I mean I guess in other games the mana cost was high, but and even higher considering you could stack buffs 4 times AND LASTED UNTIL THE ENEMY REMOVED THEM...but they were really really good, like "use buffs in random battles" good. Obviously buffs are worth using in a lot of jrpgs, these games included, but being more "modern" companies like to balance things out a bit more...which kinda just makes things bland...
I did like the playstyle of debuffing the opponent like crazy, buffing myself like crazy, and going for one mega attack every 3 or so turns. It just feels like that style of play isn't really the best route in these two most recent entries. I mean, smtv you kinda do it, but...don't quite feel the same. I could even play this way in dragon quest 11 with Erik's busted ass, odd how they would discourage that playstyle.
I could be talking out my ass, but trying to understand why I think the combat in soul hackers 2 is bland compared to a nocturne or a digital devil saga, or even a dragon quest 11.