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Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers |OT| New World Order, Old World Chaos

Show of hands. How many of you think the 15-16 years it took for this game to finally get to US soil was worth it? I love this game, 15 hours in, top pantheon of megaten games in my opinion, with Nocturne and Persona 2 Eternal Punishment in my mind. Just under for me is Persona 2 Innocent Sin and
Persona 4.
SMT2 is in that 2nd group too.

It was worth the wait, this game is awesome. Up there with P4 and Nocturne for me already.

Haven't played through SMT1 or 2, but I would love to eventually.
 
Show of hands. How many of you think the 15-16 years it took for this game to finally get to US soil was worth it? I love this game, 15 hours in, top pantheon of megaten games in my opinion, with Nocturne and Persona 2 Eternal Punishment in my mind. Just under for me is Persona 2 Innocent Sin and
Persona 4.
SMT2 is in that 2nd group too.

Definitely worth the wait, and this game is in the tops of my favorite MegaTen games I've played. It hits so much nostalgia buttons for me in such a good way. I think, probably more than anything else, it's the whole mid-90's cyberpunk vision of the future that is the largest selling point on the game for me. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it's a great game from a gameplay perspective. More so than in any of the other MegaTen games I've played, I feel as though negotiations can actually accomplish something.

All around great game and I'm so happy ATLUS brought it over.
 

GeekyDad

Member
You don't really need to grind MAG, you'll get plenty just from dungeons.

The sword from the casino is awesome though. I've been killing every basic enemy in one or two hits and most bosses go down in five turns or less. Get the World Armor too if you plan on going to the casino.

Hey, I like good shit. Someone explain to me this whole casino thing.

I'm curious to know what people think, too. Impressions seem pretty positive, but I know it's difficult for some people to enjoy an older game like it's new even if they're playing it for the first time. It's always been among my favorites and I'm super happy that people are finally getting to play it. And replaying it with all of these improvements is basically gaming nirvana for me, personally.


SMT2 is top tier, buddy!

I'm enjoying it the more I play it. I think I just hit the nine-hour mark, and I'm pretty much smitten with it now. The visuals are kinda on par with any of these type of grid-based dungeon crawlers, though they made some nice improvements in terms of taking advantage of the 3D effect in battle. It's all very subtle but still enjoyable. Mainly, I'm just surprised by how well the mechanics hold up to today's standards. Even the program that allows you to save anywhere is a nice, little touch. Not sure if that was part of the original, but it works well today. The characters are very endearing, the premise and setting feel contemporary to me (maybe because I'm old), and the voice acting is very enjoyable. I recognize a lot of the voices (though don't know their names).

All in all, I'm very glad to have this to tide me over 'til Animal Crossing and SMTIV. And the old touches, well, they steadily feed my need for nostalgia. A lot of times it feels like I'm playing a PS1 game (which, of course, I am), and I like that. I'm guessing if this never got translated and brought over via a current system, it would continue to be a pretty expensive piece of software to own. So, $40 for the game, an OST and some production improvements, that's a good deal for me.
 

jorgeton

Member
I think it's aged pretty well, graphics aside. Story is fun, it honestly feels more lighthearted than I expected. Almost like a black comedy. The dungeon crawling is fun and smooth. And the save anywhere app really helps the game feel more friction free. It's a very relaxing game to play after a long day. And the voice acting really adds a lot to the characters. Worth the wait, I say.
 
Hey, I like good shit. Someone explain to me this whole casino thing.

Go to the Casino in Paradigm X and convert a ton of yen to coins. I converted like 40,000 to coins. Then just start the dice game, and put 100 down on any three spots (I usually just do 2,3, 4) and if you have enough, do a frost bet for 3 times (this gives you three do overs basically). The game then randomly assigns a payout to each number, and if the dice lands on that, that's what you get. If it lands on your spot, you are allowed to reroll for more coins for no charge, and if it lands on anything but 7 you get more. Land on 7 and you lose everything you just earned.

It can get tedious, and it's easy to lose your coins, so I recommend saving right outside of the casino in case you lose your coins or get a bad roll. It took me a decent amount of time to get enough coins for the Emperor Sword, so you have to be patient.

The store in the casino carries rare healing items like somas too.
 
Playing Soul Hackers is giving me the same feeling of wonderment that I experienced when I first played Persona 1 on PS1 forever ago. The 3D first-person dungeons are an obvious similarity between the two, but the feeling is deeper than that: when I first played Persona, I'd picked up the game pretty much blind from my local game store and knew nothing about it beyond the game's own back cover copy. A modern-day RPG with swords and guns was itself a brand-new experience for me. Yet Persona also had plenty of surreal aspects hidden behind its outwardly contemporary setting--the soundtrack, the alternate reality you spend a lot of time in, the demons (duh),
the crazy localization
. It basically was like nothing I'd played before, and I loved every minute of it.

I'm not having that kind of paragraph-eliciting reaction with Soul Hackers--I'm older now, after all, and probably more cynical than I used to be--but I am spending a lot of time going "wow, this is sooo cool" to myself as I explore Amami City. Paradigm X is cool. The completely impractical gun-COMP idea is cool. The 90s hack-the-planet aesthetic is cool. Nemissa is
hot
cool. If I'd played this back in the day I would have been over the moon, but I'm just glad I'm getting an opportunity to play it now, even all these years later.
 
i am thinking of picking up this game,never played a Megaten game properly, how big is the demon collecting? aspect of the game? i also recently finished unchained blades on the 3ds, are the dungeons in anyway similar?
 
i am thinking of picking up this game,never played a Megaten game properly, how big is the demon collecting? aspect of the game? i also recently finished unchained blades on the 3ds, are the dungeons in anyway similar?

It's a main aspect and a cornerstone of the franchise. It's not a Pokemon-esque collectathon, but you'll definitely have to periodically recruit and fuse new demons.
 

M-PG71C

Member
Like others in this thread, I had to choose between this or Pandora's Tower. PT won, but only because I fear it being a late-era release for the Wii, it'll be a one and done type deal.

This one will have to wait till next month. Gives me something to look forward to at that point anyway.
 

GeekyDad

Member
Go to the Casino in Paradigm X and convert a ton of yen to coins. I converted like 40,000 to coins. Then just start the dice game, and put 100 down on any three spots (I usually just do 2,3, 4) and if you have enough, do a frost bet for 3 times (this gives you three do overs basically). The game then randomly assigns a payout to each number, and if the dice lands on that, that's what you get. If it lands on your spot, you are allowed to reroll for more coins for no charge, and if it lands on anything but 7 you get more. Land on 7 and you lose everything you just earned.

It can get tedious, and it's easy to lose your coins, so I recommend saving right outside of the casino in case you lose your coins or get a bad roll. It took me a decent amount of time to get enough coins for the Emperor Sword, so you have to be patient.

The store in the casino carries rare healing items like somas too.

Very cool. Thanks for that.
 

Vamphuntr

Member
I'm enjoying in it so far but I don't think it will be my favorite Megaten game. I really like the story and unfortunately, it seems I'm missing something for not having played the first devil summoner game
Ginko mentions what happened in Devil Summoner with Rei and the protagonist of that game. Is the first game also about the Phantom Society? Is this where Lisa's name come from in P2 IS? They are both blond after all.
.

I really like the puzzles in the mazes so far like the Zodiac Quiz, finding which old men is lying and so on. I love it when mazes have some quirks like falling though floors, puzzles, switches, warps and the like and this game delivers on that front.

What is weird is that I feel it's one of the easier Megaten game I played so far (on normal difficulty, at least). I'm only about 13 hours in at
the VR haunted house to rescue Six
but I only died once on normal and most bosses go down really easily.

It's fun to look at the different designs and new demons in this. Some are really weird! Leprechaun is amazing, though.

And WTH at the fact that I can't fuse Snappy V.V
 

Seik

Banned
Any tips for a newcomer? I just started playing...loving it so far!

I ended up wandering around and talking to people in the city and in Paradigm X, but then I saw that there was some kind of time display with days passing when I move around. Can someone explain to me the purpose of this or if I can be penalised for wandering around too much?
 

mudkyp

Member
I'm four hours into it and really enjoying it so far. I find most Megaten games to be a bit of a slow burn so I expect it to get really amazing later on. I'm a huge cyberpunk junky so this is pressing all of my happiness buttons.
 

Aeana

Member
Any tips for a newcomer? I just started playing...loving it so far!

I ended up wandering around and talking to people in the city and in Paradigm X, but then I saw that there was some kind of time display with days passing when I move around. Can someone explain to me the purpose of this or if I can be penalised for wandering around too much?
It's a moon phase display. Days are not a concern. New and full moon I particular have an effect on fusion and demon behavior, particularly during negotiation.
 

Eyothrie

Member
I wish I had a better grasp of the whole Demon aspect of the game- collecting, fusing, etc etc. Im a newcomer to SMT, and the whole thing is pretty obtuse. I really don't want to resort to a FAQ, but I may have to do this because the game just isn't explaining itself. I can't get a good feel for how this stuff works. I don't understand what Law, Chaos, Light, Dark, Nuetral (or any combination of these) mean. What is its purpose? Is fusing basically just combining abilities and increasing level? What is loyalty, and why should I feed items to demons to increase it? How does Race figure into all of this?

I see that there is a lot to enjoy here. I'm really trying to enjoy it, but the series may just not be for a newcomer like me.
 
Is there a way to look at a demon's spells without summoning them first? Is there a way to look at the moves in a demon's "extra" category at all?
 

Aeana

Member
I wish I had a better grasp of the whole Demon aspect if the game- collecting, fusing, etc etc. Im a newcomer to SMT, and the whole thing is pretty obtuse. I really don't want to resort to a FAQ, but I may have to do this because the game just isn't explaining itself. I can't get a good feel for how this stuff works. I don't understand what Law, Chaos, Light, Dark, Nuetral (or any combination of these) mean. What is its purpose? Is fusing basically just combining abilities and increasing level? What is loyalty, and why should I feed items to demons to increase it? How does Race figure into all of this?

I see that there is a lot to enjoy here. I'm really trying to enjoy it, but the series may just not be for a newcomer like me.
Everybody was a newcomer once.

Honestly, my first recommendation would be to open up the digital manual that you can access on the 3DS. Go to the fusion section and I think it explains things pretty well. In particular, read the "fusion rules" section.

Is there a way to look at a demon's spells without summoning them first? Is there a way to look at the moves in a demon's "extra" category at all?

Press right on the circle pad when the demon you want to look at is displayed on the bottom screen.
 

Eyothrie

Member
Everybody was a newcomer once.

Honestly, my first recommendation would be to open up the digital manual that you can access on the 3DS. Go to the fusion section and I think it explains things pretty well. In particular, read the "fusion rules" section.

Thanks. Will check it out this evening.
 
I wish I had a better grasp of the whole Demon aspect if the game- collecting, fusing, etc etc. Im a newcomer to SMT, and the whole thing is pretty obtuse. I really don't want to resort to a FAQ, but I may have to do this because the game just isn't explaining itself. I can't get a good feel for how this stuff works. I don't understand what Law, Chaos, Light, Dark, Nuetral (or any combination of these) mean. What is its purpose? Is fusing basically just combining abilities and increasing level? What is loyalty, and why should I feed items to demons to increase it? How does Race figure into all of this?

I see that there is a lot to enjoy here. I'm really trying to enjoy it, but the series may just not be for a newcomer like me.

I highly recommend you read the digital manual that comes with the game. Particular topics you should read are The Camp Menu and The Status Display and Personality Types.

Alignment is a lit bit tricky to explain, but:
Basically, the more extreme a demon is on the Law or Chaos axis, the less likely they'll want to be around demons on the opposite end of the axis. So like a demon that's Ex Chaos cannot be summoned into a party that already has any variety of Law demon summoned. Likewise, a Law demon won't join the party through conversation if you have an Ex Chaos demon summoned in the party.

The Light/Dark axis is a bit easier: Neutral demons are demons you encounter in dungeons that you can talk to. Dark demons are the ones you encounter in dungeons who won't really respond to talking. Light demons are demons you'll never encounter in dungeons, and they tend to be quite a bit more powerful than the other two types.

If you want to create Light demons, you have to fuse them. You can also fuse Dark demons, but they tend to be expensive to summon/maintain, and they mostly kinda suck.

That will show a list of the spells, but no description. which isn't really useful

More recent games in the series have been far better at letting you see what abilities do. At some point in the middle of last decade they realized that, oh, yeah, it might be helpful to let the player check what spells do.
 

Moonlight

Banned
My usual pattern is to spam Agi with Nemissa, spam Makakaja with Undine, and then Tarukaja. Boss fights wrap up in like, three minutes or less. It's pretty great.
 

Hylian7

Member
So I got to the Warehouse boss, everyone but my main character and one demon died, and I ran out of revival stuff. Also the escape rate is nigh impossible on regular demons. I eventually died and had to revert back to my save from the trailer, before I ever went to the warehouses.
 
So I got to the Warehouse boss, everyone but my main character and one demon died, and I ran out of revival stuff. Also the escape rate is nigh impossible on regular demons. I eventually died and had to revert back to my save from the trailer, before I ever went to the warehouses.

I noticed this, too. Escaping is usually riskier than just fighting the enemy, no matter how ill-prepared you are. Wish the mechanic was different, so that it works 90% of the time but you lose loyalty from your demon's in exchange, or something.
 

Vamphuntr

Member
Unfortunate timing :(

Especially because of the demon saying it.

aeL1gmZ.jpg
 
So I'm in the middle of the
VR Haunted Mansion
. Can anyone tell me if I'm doing this right so far?

Am I supposed to let Six stay a couple times and then take him? I've let him stay twice, in his room and the hideout.
 
So I'm in the middle of the
VR Haunted Mansion
. Can anyone tell me if I'm doing this right so far?

Am I supposed to let Six stay a couple times and then take him? I've let him stay twice, in his room and the hideout.

Basically
you let him stay all three times and then climb to the top of the tower for a final boss battle
 
Ran into more JP text I don't think was supposed to be there. Also, I need more MAG.

Have you done the Speed Demon sidequest? You'll get some cash that way. Go to the
Bath House
in Paradigm-X.

So I'm in the middle of the
VR Haunted Mansion
. Can anyone tell me if I'm doing this right so far?

Am I supposed to let Six stay a couple times and then take him? I've let him stay twice, in his room and the hideout.

Basically
you let him stay all three times and then climb to the top of the tower for a final boss battle

Make sure you get all four pieces of equipment for Nemissa and equip them ASAP.
 

Aeana

Member
It occurs to me that there is a sidequest that some people might not find because it's obscure, but it is totally worth doing. You can do it fairly early on, before the airport if I recall.
In one of the forums in Paradigm X, there's a man who talks about demons on the bypass. After you talk to him, Yurashima opens up on the map, and you can enter the bypass from there. Go through all of the sections of the bypass and you'll fight a boss. After you win, talk to the guy in Paradigm X again and give him your ID number, and he'll credit 50,000 yen to your bank account

If you're low on money, that's definitely something you should consider doing.

Ran into more JP text I don't think was supposed to be there. Also, I need more MAG.
That's what it says~ "Not enough MAG"
 
It occurs to me that there is a sidequest that some people might not find because it's obscure, but it is totally worth doing. You can do it fairly early on, before the airport if I recall.
In one of the forums in Paradigm X, there's a man who talks about demons on the bypass. After you talk to him, Yurashima opens up on the map, and you can enter the bypass from there. Go through all of the sections of the bypass and you'll fight a boss. After you win, talk to the guy in Paradigm X again and give him your ID number, and he'll credit 50,000 yen to your bank account

If you're low on money, that's definitely something you should consider doing.


That's what it says~ "Not enough MAG"

Is it available after you've completed the airport?
 

cjkeats

Member
Have you done the Speed Demon sidequest? You'll get some cash that way. Go to the
Bath House
in Paradigm-X.
Not yet, I only saw it mentioned in here when I was in the middle of the Airport. I might leave and come back.

It occurs to me that there is a sidequest that some people might not find because it's obscure, but it is totally worth doing. You can do it fairly early on, before the airport if I recall.
In one of the forums in Paradigm X, there's a man who talks about demons on the bypass. After you talk to him, Yurashima opens up on the map, and you can enter the bypass from there. Go through all of the sections of the bypass and you'll fight a boss. After you win, talk to the guy in Paradigm X again and give him your ID number, and he'll credit 50,000 yen to your bank account

If you're low on money, that's definitely something you should consider doing.


That's what it says~ "Not enough MAG"

That's interesting. Wonder how that slipped by.
 
Basically
you let him stay all three times and then climb to the top of the tower for a final boss battle

Make sure you get all four pieces of equipment for Nemissa and equip them ASAP.
Alright, thanks guys.

I'm really liking how puzzle oriented some of these dungeons are. (Other than the zodiac questions being BS) They make for a nice change of pace.

That's interesting. Wonder how that slipped by.
It is kind of strange, the only untranslated lines I've come across are in demon negotiation. Like, "Here, I'll give you [JP character]."
 

Vamphuntr

Member
The demons you get from Nemechi are kinda broken.

Pyroclastic tempest cost so few MP and pretty much trashes everything right now.

I'm really liking how puzzle oriented some of these dungeons are. (Other than the zodiac questions being BS) They make for a nice change of pace.

You simply write down the description of the zodiac statues you find in the middle of the area on a piece of paper. How is that bullshit? Did you try to do it by luck?
 
You simply write down the description of the zodiac statues you find in the middle of the area on a piece of paper. How is that bullshit? Did you try to do it by luck?
No, I went by what I knew/remembered and Google, which yielded different answers for a couple of the questions than the game wanted. It wasn't that bad in all honesty, and for most of the questions it warps you to the pedestal with the right answer if you get it wrong. I also didn't even know to push forward into the statues to see what they said until my third time past, so that might be part of it.
 
You simply write down the description of the zodiac statues you find in the middle of the area on a piece of paper. How is that bullshit? Did you try to do it by luck?

I didn't notice the statues and I just went through the questions until I got all five correct. It was good for grinding.
 

mattiewheels

And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
Anyone else have trouble hearing stuff even at the highest volume? I'm sure most of you play wih headphones but the speakers on the XL are pathetic.
 
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