First printing packs a strategy & design book and more
When Shin Megami Tensei IV arrives in North America this summer, the first printing will come in a snazzy limited edition box set. The set includes a strategy & design book, a Shin Megami Tensei music collection, and the game in collectible slipcase packaging. Pics and more past the break.
Read more here: Crunchy Roll
“As a young boy, I was taught in high school that hacking was cool.”
It’s finally here. Soul Hackers, the one MegaTen game famous for never making it out of Japan, has arrived in North America. The 1997 Sega Saturn RPG, later ported to the PlayStation, could have been ours a decade ago, but Sony denied it an American localization. All hope seemed lost until Atlus announced that the 3DS port would be the first game to come overseas. Today, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner – Soul Hackers has gone international, but does it live up to expectation?
Amami City is the realized vision of the future, where every home has a computer connected to the internet, regulated by the government to provide every need. In the network is a program called Paradigm X, a virtual world offering all the amenities that a person could ever dream of. It’s truly amazing, and everyone wants to be selected as a beta tester. However, you (the main character) and your best friend, Hitomi, don’t want to wait. So together, you use your hacking skills to place your name in the latest wave of beta invitations. With this trickery, you get into the Paradigm X beta and experience its wonders for the first time… and then things go completely downhill from there. Facing this difficult situation is the group of hackers you’re associated with, the Spookies.
Soul Hackers is much like the other old-school Shin Megami Tensei games. Dungeon exploring is done from a first-person viewpoint while walking on a grid that allows for four-directional movement. As a Devil Summoner, you will not only face off against a myriad of demons but also convince them to join your side. By talking to demons during battle, you can hold conversations with them. Through the correct conversational choices, you can successfully negotiate with a demon to have them join your team.
Once the demon is on your team, the next step is to increase their loyalty. That requires careful observations of which attacks or spells the demon likes to do when you don’t command it, and then commanding the demon to use those moves. Choosing the same move as the demon would have chosen boosts their loyalty. Once the loyalty is maxed, the demon will take all of your orders for any of its abilities. But before then, selecting an ability it doesn’t like will cause it to either choose its own ability or ignore you entirely, doing nothing. Repeatedly going against its wishes will drain loyalty to the point where the demon might leave the party entirely. Demons cannot level up, so raising their loyalty can be seen as the equivalent of “grinding” in this game. But it doesn’t take nearly as long to raise loyalty as it does to grind levels in other RPGs, so you won’t have to spend much time grinding in Soul Hackers.
A demon’s personality determines what attacks it will prefer to use. Wild demons like physical attacks, Kind demons prefer healing spells, and so on. There are also some additional bonuses, such as a Sly demon being able to help you negotiate with other demons.
In the dungeons, demons survive on the force of a currency called magnetite. Summoning a demon in a dungeon costs magnetite and every step you take costs magnetite. As such, it’s important to consistently battle and defeat demons to keep your magnetite amount high. If it’s high enough, you won’t have to worry about running out. There’s a shop in Shibahama that converts money to magnetite, if you’re in a bind.
Demon fusion is a staple of the Shin Megami Tensei series and appears yet again in Soul Hackers. Much like the other games in the series, demons are fused together to create brand new demons with new stats and skills. Since demons do not level up, this is the best way to improve the strength of your team and pass on the skills you desire to new demons. A Demon Compendium is available to re-summon demons at the cost of magnetite. Demons can also be fused with swords to create more powerful weaponry for the main character. Some of these fusions will change the sword from Slash to magic damage, which will make up for the main character’s inability to use magic.
It is difficult to beat Soul Hackers, much like any SMT game, but there are a number of options to assist those in need. An easy mode is available for SMT beginners. Also, at any point in the game, you can raise or lower the difficulty, reveal the full map on the bottom screen, waive the requirement of summoning only demons similar to the party’s current demon alignment and have the ability to see all strengths/weaknesses for all of the opposing demons. With these hacks, Soul Hackers can either become a more accessible adventure or an extremely difficult game, whichever you want it to be.
Your COMP, in addition to storing demons, can also be upgraded with various add-ons. Likely the most useful one to you will be Back-Upper, the ability to save anywhere (you otherwise can only save at Spookies HQ or various terminals in the dungeons). Many other add-ons exist, which can heal, increase/decrease encounter rate, improve your negotiation with demons and much more. You only have a limited number of slots to install add-ons, however, so you must pick and choose.
There’s nothing to write home about when it comes to the graphics. This was originally a Sega Saturn game and the visuals have not been updated much. The user interface is a bit cleaner but otherwise you are playing what those in Japan played over a decade ago. The 3D effect allows labels like the name of the dungeon and the text boxes to pop out a bit, but otherwise the 3D is an afterthought.
Read more here: gamrReview
Atlus gets ready to hack away on Nintendo 3DS next week
It’s almost time for the North American release of Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, and Atlus is counting down the last few days with a fresh batch of screens. These shots serve to highlight some of the supporting cast, including Spooky, Lunch, Six, and Yu-ichi. Peep ‘em past the break.
Read more here: Crunchy Roll
Based on the “Shin Megami Tensei” series. Begins April 4 at 11:05a.m. Pacific Time 
Prepare yourself for another volley of spring season show announcements at Crunchyroll! Today’s first title is DEVIL SURVIVOR 2 THE ANIMATION, based on one of the entries in the Shin Megami Tensei video game series. Read on for more details!
Read more here: Crunchy Roll
Atlus officially announces plans to bring 3DS game to the west
While it seemed inevitable, Atlus officially confirmed plans to bring Shin Megami Tensei IV to North America this summer. The Nintendo 3DS entry in the series serves as the “first true successor” to 2004′s Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, and will be released as a premium title. Read on for more.
Read more here: Crunchy Roll
Upcoming sequel in mothership Megami Tensei title exclusive for 3DS.
Atlus just launched a website announcing the North American localization of Shin Megami Tensei IV, the sequel to Shin Megami Tensei III that was previously on the PlayStation 2.
The sequel is slated for a summer release and will be launched for the Nintendo 3DS. Role-playing game fans of the series can preorder the title on the official site.
Players control a member of a futuristic samurai group who can control demons using a pair of special gauntlets. The player character is tasked with salvaging a post-apocalyptic Tokyo while figuring out which faction they should align with – Law and Chaos – to determine the fate of the earth.
Atlus has yet to mention if it will be bringing the Shin Megami Tensei special edition 3DS in the region.
For more information, check out GameSpot’s preview. To find out more about the last Shin Megami Tensei spin-off, head to GameSpot’s coverage on Persona 4 Golden.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
Read more here: Game Spot News
Atlus’ release of Nintendo 3DS remake arrives in North America on April 16
Atlus is gearing up to bring Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers to Nintendo 3DS in North America on April 16, but it might help to set up the story first. Check out the latest trailer after the jump for a look at what to expect when the RPG arrives in the west.
Source: Crunchy Roll
RPG hits Nintendo 3DS on April 16 in limited boxed set
When Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers arrives on Nintendo 3DS, it’ll do so in a boxed set that includes an arranged soundtrack CD. Atlus announced the bonus earlier today, noting that quantities will be limited, and the best way to secure it is through pre-orders and retail launch copies. Read on for more.
Source: Crunchy Roll
Updated version gets a North American release date
An updated version of the Sega Saturn original, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, is due out on Nintendo 3DS, and the release has officially been set for April 16. Read on for more.
Oh, JRPGs, how I love you. Ever since I played Earthbound as a kid I just can’t quit them. Some years have been a bit sparse but 2012 was actually pretty good for JRPG enthusiasts. Pandora’s Tower was surprisingly fun and actually turned out to be better than The Last Story, though that may have something to do with differing expectations. Atelier Meruru came to the West and finished up one of the best JRPG series to come out this generation, and NISA also gave us Legasista, which was a fun trap-based dungeon explorer that could keep fans entertained for months on end.
One of the best Vita games of the year also happened to be a re-release of one of the greatest JRPGs of all time: Persona 4 Golden, and the DS had a great last hurrah with a sequel to Pokemon Black/White. Tales of Graces even finally came to the West in the form of Tales of Graces F (here’s hoping Namco get their act together and become a bit more reliable when it comes to localization).
We weren’t swimming in great titles all year, and there were a couple duds, but as a JRPG fan it was hard to be disappointed with 2012.
Here are the Nominees:
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 Golden
And the Winner is…
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 Golden
Our usual policy is that remakes/ports get their own category and aren’t up for other awards. This is because it’s our philosophy that games should only get one shot at a Game of the Year Award. This is also why Xenoblade is not on the list this year, even though it released in North America in 2012 – we counted it from its first Western release in 2011, and listed it in that year’s Game of the Year Awards. Persona 4 is in a slightly unique situation because it released on the PlayStation 2 in December 2008, at a point in time after we had voted for that year’s Game of the Year Awards, but obviously before the point in time where we could include it in 2009′s Game of the Year Awards. Therefore we’ve decided that Persona 4 Golden can compete evenly in this year’s Game of the Year Awards.
I think most JRPG fans probably know why we’ve awarded JRPG of the year to Persona 4 Golden. Persona 4 Golden is more of that amazing Persona 4 goodness that you loved on the PlayStation 2, all in the palm of your hand. There are also new events to watch and laugh at, new persona to obtain, and new relationships to be had.
Persona 4 is one of those games that doesn’t sound like it should work if you haven’t played one before. The mixture of dating sim and JRPG sounds a lot more like cheese and strawberry jam than peanut butter and chocolate, but it works immaculately. That perfect mix of gameplay elements, an intriguing storyline, and genuinely fun and interesting characters is why Persona 4 Golden is the best JRPG of 2012.
