I Don't Like SMT Soul Hackers

Twitter: @Tony4YouYT
Edited by Lames
Footage from Nam's Compendium

00:00 Intro
01:20 Ad Read
02:20 Story (No Spoilers)
05:22 Story (Spoilers)
12:11 Story Discussion
13:33 Character Discussion
18:34 Gameplay
21:42 The Good
22:46 Outro
#buyee #smt #soulhackers

Honestly I’ve been feeling conflicted with the newest news of Soul Hackers 2. The general discourse around the game seems to be positive and everyone also seems to have loved the original Soul Hackers. The handheld entries in the Shin Megami Tensei series are beloved for good reason, SMT 4 was what got most people in the series, Devil Survivor is touted as some of the best writing in the series, and Strange Journey is an incredibly mature and philosophical story. There is one that doesn’t get talked about as much, and when it does there really isn’t much to say. A game everyone says they like, but not many people go into detail why. Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner Soul Hackers is a game everyone likes, but I hate. I hated this game so much when I played it, it still sits comfortably as the second worst game I’ve played in the entire series, next to SMT if…, and continues to be an odd disconnect between me and the wider SMT community. Consider this video one big therapy session to air my grievances with Soul Hackers and an explanation why I dislike this game so much, also giving credit where credit is due as I don’t want this just to be a blind hate video. I’ll give a brief summary of the game and then go into finer details about what I like and dislike about just about everything, from the narrative, music, characters, setting, art direction, musical direction, etc. With that said there will be spoilers so keep that in mind when watching. Let’s talk about the game.
Obviously I don't like Soul Hackers and hopefully I can explain why in a manner that may convince people to understand where I'm coming from. Many people seem to love it and the hope of it being great was carried as long as I could. Sadly though as I said, I don't like SMT Soul Hackers. I hope I don't ruffle any feathers saying these things, but hey my channel was due for a more critical video. This video will serve as a soul hackers story summary, soul hackers plot summary, and soul hackers critique all in one so strap in for a long one. The shin megami tensei devil summoner series is one I hold near and dear to my heart after playing the playstation 2 entries, but Soul Hackers is one that seemed prudent to do a critique on now. The SMT Devil Summoner series is definitely one I will talk about in the future however, so you Raidou fans stay tuned.

[TonyYou]

Leave any thoughts or video suggestions here!

[KuroReisho]

I like how he says HE doesn’t like soul hackers instead of saying it’s a bad game

[bubbletea_]

i like this game, but it's no where close to being my favorite. it's pretty much almost an entirely atmospheric experience with it's dungeons, sound design, and fast paced battles with very snappy menu navigation. like persona 1 without the plot. it works well enough for someone like me. but for someone who values story as much as you, i can understand why you wouldn't like it. great video.

[ahmedfalahy]

Regarding the Loyalty System, the player is rewarded if their demons is at max Loyalty.

In battle, max loyalty demons perform better than usual.
Wild demons do more physical damage
Sly demons do more magic damage and higher accuracy
*Kind demons may even step up to protect the protagonist from a deadly hit*

And there is *mystic change*
In a shop in Paradigm X, you can transform a max loyalty demon into an item. Only certain ones work

Edit: Oh, and you can change a demon's personality using a sake. And if you are in a hurry to max a demon's loyalty, there is always gifts.

[brandonmiller]

A lot of the characters get a lot more development if you re-enter the HQ after every cutscene/before every dungeon. There's a lot of foreshadowing too, and stuff like Yuichi asking for a hacker name from Six (that's why his hacker name is Yu-Ichi, and why on the news report outing the Spookies it says he has no codename. It's just a placeholder). I only really figured that out on my 2nd playthrough though, which really made me like the Spookies as a whole a lot more.
On top of that, Soul Hackers really is more of a sequel to Devil Summoner than its own stand alone game. A lot of stuff makes a lot more sense after playing that game, like the Yatagarasu and Kyouji. You'd just have to know half decent Japanese (or mediocre, in my case) to actually be able to get anything out of it.

[uchytjes]

I have never played the game itself, but everything about the art oozes that great med-to-late 90s cyberpunk aesthetic. It's dirty and full of hacked together junk. We so rarely get that nowadays with most near-future games having a super clean aesthetic, and that saddens me.

[ShockStormRPG]

I replayed Soul Hackers and thought it had major flaws. I agree with you Tony4You Soul Hackers has major problems. I have no problem with old-school SMT. I enjoy SMT 1 and 2 a lot and don't mind first person view. With Soul Hackers I felt that it had massive balance problems. The protagonist is almost completely useless and Nemissa meanwhile is ridiculously overpowered. The demon loyalty system mechanic was very flawed and it made demons almost useless until you maxed out their loyalty since they would not listen to commands. As for the story, I felt the antagonists were very uninteresting and Yu Ichi got almost no character development. However, I did feel the setting of the game and playing as part of a group of hackers was awesome. I found the random battles very frustratingly balanced. Many of them I got bombarded with freezing status effects, instant death spells, being shocked by Zio and would sometimes game over without being able to even get a turn. It's a shame with SMT Soul Hackers since I think the music is so good and the setting is incredible. I agree with you Tony4You Soul Hackers has major problems.

[oriongear]

If there's one thing I'll say about Souls Hackers, it's that it's better than Soul Hackers 2.

[urameshitrev]

I really enjoy Soul Hackers for it's dungeon design and pretty fun and fast paced combat, especially love it's goofy endgame content.

I also really like it's atmosphere and art direction.

My dissapointment is similar to yours being the characterization of the game is spread rather thin, like the only characters that felt really fleshed out to me were Hitomi / Nemissa, Six and Spooky.

Rest of the Main cast feel just there, Antagonists besides Finnigan's goals felt too vague and the Vision quests are really cool but made me wish any of them were the Main Character instead of "The Hacker."

All the Devil Summoner references too make me more upset Atlus hasnt given us a translation of it lol

Overall a very solid game for me but I wouldnt say It was close to my favorites in this series.

I hope Soul Hackers 2 does a better job with it's characterization.

[benmcgiggles]

Soul hackers was probably my least favorite Megaten that I played so far, but I still dont think I'd go as far to say I disliked it.

I absolutely could not stand six, but the rest of the characters I thought were ok to pretty good.

I thought the story and setting weren't ground breaking, but they were still fun and interesting. I have to imagine this plot hit a lot harder in the 90's when the internet was a new thing.

As for gameplay, I enjoyed it, though some of the later dungeons really tested my patience. Amami monolith was the absolute most frustrating dungeon I've ever played in a Megaten game, and I've beaten Strange Journey. (I liked SJ but holy cow some of those dungeons)

I used to agree with you on the Demon Loyalty system, but once I understood how it worked, I actually really liked it. It makes the demons feel more like these dangerous creatures that you have to use carefully, rather than just being essentially another weapon. It also made me think more about party composition rather than just getting the strongest demons I can and making sure at least one of them heals. And Idk if i just got insanely lucky on my playthrough, but once my demons hit 5 loyalty, I never had them disobey me. I definitely don't think it should be the norm, but for that game specifically I thought it worked well.

I enjoyed the video though, thank you for criticizing it fairly rather than just shitting on it.

[MegidoMon]

The loyalty system in this game is what made me drop it. I can't stand it and I'm glad this is the only game it's in.

[hmmmmmm]

Honestly loved this game but this is a thoughtful take nonetheless tony, nice work :>

[edsainmuramasa]

seems you missed a few details that explain a lot- the phantom society has no distinct goal, it's just a way for summoners who want power to connect- you see this thru the hacked dds net emails, were they talk about their businesses, facilities, how you messed with them.. The ones you fight in this game happen to be helping/ covering for eachother. Rei Reiho is from the previous game, devil summoner, and she's from the Kuzunoha agency, not yatagarasu. Loyalty at max doesnt drop randomly, it drops if you repeat the same spell a lot in one fight, causing it to disobey - this only happened twice to me, ever.

[Leon-kgls]

I quite like Soul Hackers despite all of it's flaws. As one of the two first person entries in the series that i've played, other being Strange Journey, I have to say the one thing that really made me enjoy Soul Hackers more than Strange Journey was the how the dungeon designs were grounded in functionality and realism, rather than being nebulous and relatively intangible dungeon layouts. It's a small thing and probably shouldn't be enough for me to say I preferred my time with SH over SJ, but for some reason that was just something that was really important to me as I was playing. Though of course I give credit to SJ where it deserves it in terms of story and characters being far superior, it's definitely the Megaten game that I feel the greatest disconnect with much like you with SH. Great video btw!

[kurauxs]

Its really odd how you have SMT If and Soul Hackers as one of your worsts, and not stuff like Ronde and the NES version of Digital Devil Monogatari Megami Tensei.

And the complains of stuff about the Shadow Society and the Yatagarasu not being explained here, makes far more sense when you remember that the game's original Sega Saturn release was targeted to people who actually played the untranslated original Devil Summoner.

Not the first time there is a series where details are missed due to a major piece being untranslated.

[salsamonkey]

Even as a fan of this game, I appreciate hearing your thoughts. No game is going to appeal to everyone, and I definitely agree that the story leaves a lot to be desired. Keep making cool stuff man!

[mammothplant]

Soul Hackers is literally my favorite game but I respect your opinion and it's really rare to see a youtuber express their opinion so respectfully rather that just passing it off as fact. Good video

[Pystoria]

I definitely agree that a lot of the game's characters aren't as strong as they could've been, and what you said about the inconsistency in the Phantom Society's tone is something I hadn't noticed before. I think they definitely get more serious as the game progresses but it's still interesting to think about. I really love Soul Hackers though, it has a really comforting Saturday morning cartoon feeling to it and its atmosphere is fantastic

[UAshton]

You've got valid points. I felt much the same way at points going through this game, but I definitely loved this game still. I don't know how many other people are like this, but I value concepts and setups a lot more than most I feel. I couldn't remember much of the story for this game at all, but I still remember Amami City, Nemessa, and even the Spookies fondly to this day. Also, I loved the idea of the concept of Soul Hacking. Living someone else's final hours as a tool to gleam information is a cool as hell idea. Imagine if an SMT game gave you more liberal freedom to use it. Like what if we had a SMT investigations type game, like the Ace Attorney series, and soul hacking a victim to uncover facts about the incident in order to figure it out. Maybe you take out a boss who's involved in the affair and then you soul hack them to gain access to further information. Doubt Soul Hacker's 2 will have this level of complexity, as ad's I've seen seem to take the Soul Hacking concept in a completely different direction. Still looking forward to it though.

[mupumupu]

Hit the nail on the head honestly. I never fully understand the love for the setting as the story kinda bored me. I will say tho that Zoma fusion was a cool system that should return.