Probably one of the most unremarkable SMT games in the franchise, with the safest approach taken to one of the most radically unique franchises within the JRPG space. The title languishes in flat, samey combat within overlong dungeons, wrapped around a completely by the numbers budget JRPG story.
Principally, one of main reasons I get into this franchise is the satisfying progression loop of acquiring stronger demons. Most games lets you do this via demon negotiation, and subsequently fusing demons you obtain. However, Soul Hackers 2 finds a way to make that feel worse too, since recruitment is now wrested from player control and given to randomly appearing nodes, of which a random demon emerges which is two layers of RNG just to obtain the demon you want, which is absurd. On top of that, the game ends around the level 60-70 mark so you never get to experience the ceiling of demons in a normal playthrough which is pretty absurd to me. It makes the progression feel stunted, and I find myself pretty attached to certain demons because of gameplay history so it's disappointing that I just didn't get to use them here.
The story is the most painful part here, because its not even bad enough to get like AVGN mad at, because it's just the most stereotypical JRPG plot you can think of in this regard without anything else to hold it up. Character storylines come and go in a flash and it's hard to care about anything outside of just a tenuous attachment to character personalities, of which yeah Saizo and Milady are pretty cool characters but their storylines amount to nothing. The main plot just glides by then switches gears right as the ending is about ready to float on through and before you know it the game is over, nothing interesting to say, no food for thought, probably the most vapid thematics in an SMT game since like, TMS#FE but even that game had something to say about the entertainment industry.
This game really just coasts along on franchise recognition, good aesthetics, the baseline good gameplay as expected from an Atlus JRPG, but with none of the flavour, the substance, or anything that'll make this game worth talking about even years from now, and it really makes me sad because I've been opining for years about how Atlus had regressed in making SMT spin-offs, only to be met with this, I think I'd be happier with just the Persona and mainline SMTs.
Principally, one of main reasons I get into this franchise is the satisfying progression loop of acquiring stronger demons. Most games lets you do this via demon negotiation, and subsequently fusing demons you obtain. However, Soul Hackers 2 finds a way to make that feel worse too, since recruitment is now wrested from player control and given to randomly appearing nodes, of which a random demon emerges which is two layers of RNG just to obtain the demon you want, which is absurd. On top of that, the game ends around the level 60-70 mark so you never get to experience the ceiling of demons in a normal playthrough which is pretty absurd to me. It makes the progression feel stunted, and I find myself pretty attached to certain demons because of gameplay history so it's disappointing that I just didn't get to use them here.
The story is the most painful part here, because its not even bad enough to get like AVGN mad at, because it's just the most stereotypical JRPG plot you can think of in this regard without anything else to hold it up. Character storylines come and go in a flash and it's hard to care about anything outside of just a tenuous attachment to character personalities, of which yeah Saizo and Milady are pretty cool characters but their storylines amount to nothing. The main plot just glides by then switches gears right as the ending is about ready to float on through and before you know it the game is over, nothing interesting to say, no food for thought, probably the most vapid thematics in an SMT game since like, TMS#FE but even that game had something to say about the entertainment industry.
This game really just coasts along on franchise recognition, good aesthetics, the baseline good gameplay as expected from an Atlus JRPG, but with none of the flavour, the substance, or anything that'll make this game worth talking about even years from now, and it really makes me sad because I've been opining for years about how Atlus had regressed in making SMT spin-offs, only to be met with this, I think I'd be happier with just the Persona and mainline SMTs.