Moonspeak! 1337speak! Let's Play Soul Hackers!

Opening movie.

In 1997, Atlus released a game for the Sega Saturn called Devil Summoner 2: Soul Hackers. Then, in classic Atlus-fashion, they released an upgraded version for the Sony Playstation two years later. That's the version we'll be playing.

There's a legend, passed down through the MegaTards at the turn of the century, that states Atlus USA was going to release Soul Hackers in the United States. However, the evil and wicked SCEA said "No, you will not tarnish our Playstation with that ugly game and if you EVER come back I swear to god we will eviscerate you and every single person you hold dear." Atlus USA was so frightened by the threats of SCEA, that they were afraid of releasing Persona 2 Innocent Sin in the United States as well. The legend varies according to who tells it, some say that Atlus USA was almost finished with the translation before being struck down, others say it was never even started. To find the truth, you'd probably have to ask an Atlus USA employee, but I have no idea how you would go about finding one. Even if you did, they'd probably give the standard "There are many factors that go into deciding which games we bring over. It's a very complicated process that can't be distilled down into one or two sentence answers."


Amami City, 1997. A coastal city designed to be a technological paradise and testing ground for a virtual reality world, Paradigm-X. This was made possible by funding from the Algon Software Corporation, the developers of Paradigm-X. The city provides citizens with free computer and internet access. I'm not just talking about free wireless internet around the city, I mean there are literally free computer terminals located around the city. We join our intrepid hero at one such terminal.


This is Toano Hitomi. She lives on the same floor as our protagonist, and so they've been friends since they were kids. Her father is a distinguished anthropologist.

As it turns out, these two kids are actually members of the hacking group "Spookies." At first glance, you wouldn't know it, but upon closer inspection:


Hitomi is wearing a safety orange vest, pleated and giant pocketed skirt, leggings, long socks that come to her shins, and boots.

That fellow is our protagonist. Why yes, he is wearing a green vinyl jacket and white pants. And bandaids. Why bandaids?

Clearly, they are hackers, because only hackers could wear these things seriously.

As it turns out, Hitomi is only here because the protagonist is. After all, she can't let her best friend get involved with such an unsavory element such as a hacking group without proper supervision.


But what are these two doing here at this time of night? Well, Paradigm-X, the virtual reality community, has launched. But, as hackers, they can't very well register a real account, now can they? We get our first FMV. Soul Hackers has a lot of FMV. Since this game came out in 1997, most of them are a page from FF7's "Hey we need to alter this pre-rendered background, so let's use a grainy FMV!" book. They're largely disappointing.


This particular one shows off a needlessly complicated GUI, something that should be familiar to anyone who's ever seen a computer do anything in a TV show or movie. Like, I get that they're trying to make hacking look exciting, but I can't help but feel that it's really impractical. Pretty much anything you saw in the opening movie that looked like high technology was an example of the needlessly complicated GUI. NCGUI, if you will.

Anyway, our protagonist hijacks an account to call his own:


But he'll need to put in his last name, first name, and a username:
First and last names are three characters long, katakana, hiragana, English or Kanji. The username can be up to 8 letters long, katakana, hiragana or English. You can also use numbers for both the username and the real name.

In the comic, his name is Tsukamoto Arata, but I think we can do better than that. Pants "PANTS" Pants is always popular.

So, have at it Tyrants. Give this man a name.

First things first: Are you pro or anti pants? Because I have ideas for either situation.

And just curious, but what is the gameplay like? I have no idea, but am quite interested. Also, I thought the character's hair was higher?

There are strictures to be followed. You know what you have to do.

Oh I'll be going over the gameplay in nauseating detail in a couple of updates. The guy with the big hair is from the first Devil Summoner game.

*claps*





Don't use pants.

Bandy McAid

I can probably fit "Bandy Aid" as his real name.

I vote for anything but pants (or its derivates). I'm sick of pants. Sick of them!

I don't know, he seems like a Colin to me. I mean, that's not an inherently funny name, but that's all I've got at the moment.

Scruffy Muerte. Yep.

My vote: vim emacs gnu

What? You can't really do much with three letters.

Geez I need to learn to read. Um...Apa Mla. See what I did there? Hah. Hahahoh...

This guy seems mighty impressed with how cool he is despite the fact that he's a douche.

Can we call him Mac Daddy Koo(l)?

Oh weird, that's him? I guess I kind of knew that, but on the Status screen there is only a vague silhouette.

I've tinkered with this game some, but it gets frustrating quickly when I have only the vaguest idea of what I'm doing. I'm definitely excited about this. Name-wise, I have nothing, though. I just wedged my names into the fields and called it a day.

In the grand tradition of naming Megaten protagonists after defining characteristics, I fully support BandyAid as the username, while his real name can be Pro Tag.

Actually, is the real name going to be used all that often? Or will it focus on the username most of the time?

Doh, I missed the three characters limit part, just saw the eight. BandyAid works though.

Username appears in battles, and I think Paradigm X (basically, it should, since it doesn't make sense for it not to, but I can't remember actually seeing スパインシャアク in any text boxes yet). The "real" name is for the "real" world, of course, and the protagonists' family, who you meet approximately one minute after the name entry screen, will share his surname.

Actually he looks like the type who might call himself "Bad Aid" because he's just that hardcore. damn emo kids

Hopefully, by the end of this, you'll be able to play through it yourself.

The username comes up a lot more often, and that's what I'm going to refer to him as.

Anyway, another brief update is going to be coming this evening, because we're going to have another big choice to make. Monday, though, we'll actually be getting somewhere.

Update 2: We're still not out of the prologue


Name: Band Aid (Japanese style, so in Americaland we'd call him Aid Band)
Username: BandyAid
After registering, a message appears on screen, calling him by name and yammering on about Souls. Whoever sent the message introduces itself as Redman, and gives some cryptic warnings. I'm sure it's nothing though.


Redman's cryptic warnings (RCW) are interrupted by BandyAid's cellphone. It's his sister Tomoko, and she's REALLY SUPER EXCITED about something. She's very GENKI GENKI WAI WAI and urges you to get home, quick. She's got big news! BIG NEWS!

We're automatically spirited away back to BandyAid's home. He lives in this apartment with his father, mother and sister. Dad's a saleryman, seen here reading the newspaper. The music in the home was remixed and released on the Soul Hackers Hyper Rearrange soundtrack as "Home." Yeah.


Tomoko comes in. She's in her third year of middle school, which means she's at the proper age to gain magical girl powers and still be WAI WAI GENKI GENKI. She explains that our home is now Paradigm-X compliant, what with some fancy new monitors for our computers. I'm sure only good things will come from this!


Hitomi and BandyAid head to his room to check out his freaking sweet new hardware. You can't tell because Hitomi's head is in the way, but there's a computer on the desk. An email arrives.


Fucking spam. Hitomi says it's a message from the Leader, and that it needs to be decoded. Ok, sure. I'll go with that. Somehow decoding it turns it into this:

I'll take their word for it. It says that the Hideout is being relocated to the Shibahama district's south parking garage. Let's go.


BandyAid and Hitomi's apartment complex is located in the Akanedai district. You can see the phase of the moon up in the corner, that'll be important later. I should point out that MegaTen moon phases are wacky and move really quickly compared to real life. Well, they either move really quickly or it takes BandyAid and Hitomi half a month to leave Akanedai.

Oh, this is the first time a Megaten game used the "nice" looking pre-rendered backgrounds. The two games that preceded this one, Persona and Devil Summoner, tried to use the really godawful lego maps.


BandyAid is represented by the blue peg, other people you can speak to on the map are represented by the green dots. This little icon will pop up whenever you get close enough to speak with someone. Everyone in the game has a character portrait, even nameless green town dots.



City Map. The first Devil Summoner introduced the multiple districts connected by the city map hub. Our only two options are Akanedai and Shibahama, so let's head to Shibahama. When BandyAid enters, a green dot appears from the cruiseship and starts to leave the map.


If you catch it and speak with it, you'll get a little scene where two women walk by in a hurry.


Hitomi is impressed by how expensive and fancy their clothing is. This scene is confusing because it demonstrates that Hitomi actually has good taste, and yet, her BRIGHT ORANGE VEST. SOCKS OVER LEGGINGS. Anyway, the two women hurry off. Nothing to do but go to the parking garage and wait for the Leader. It's located right beside the entrance of Shibahama.


Are we in the right place?

Suddenly, we shift to FMV as a trailer pulls up:

Yeah, there's a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle joke here, something about being a secret group but painting your logo on the side of all your vehicles. Only this is worse because this is the Spookies' Hideout and their logo says "HARD CORE HACKERS."


The Leader steps out. Real name: Sakurai Mashiro, age 25. Codename: Spooky. Nickname: Leader. Likes: Tobacco, Hacking, Sticking it to "The Man."

His codename is where the name of the hacking group comes from. Yes, I know it's stupid. It's like Talking Tyrants calling themselves Parishioners.

At least his clothing is normal-adjacent:

Inside the Hideout, Hitomi asks Spooky if he knows anything about this Redman character. Spooky isn't familiar with that name. Hitomi is still worried because Redman knew BandyAid's name, but, geez, look Hitomi: I'm sure it's nothing and we'll never hear from this Redman fella again. Ok?


Spooky has more important things to talk about though:


IMPORTANT QUESTION TIME!

What's the dealio with Hitomi?
1) She's always cheerful. She's smoking Hot
2) She's very cool. She's pretty chill
3) She's wild and sexy! She's electrifyingly sexy

We need an answer Tyrants.

Next time: We'll actually get somewhere!

I'm almost entirely sure I picked the first one, so I'll vote for #3.

edit: Does this have some sort of effect on Nemissa when she, uhh, appears?

Against all available evidence, I will select #2.

I demand to be electrified with sexy

Have you seen that orange thing? HOTT. Yes, with two Ts. And she'd have to be pretty wild to willingly wear that.

I can see no other option than number 3.

Shit.




I'd still hit it.

(That's option three.)

We'll see Tuesday.

Think more racist.

That guy shops at the same store as Lupin III.

Fair enough.
Oh wow, I just got that.

...wow.

Wild and Sexy it is!



Regardless of what you say, Hitomi gets flustered and tells you and Spooky to cut it out. Spooky laughs and says he was just teasin', then Hitomi notices something on the table. Is that a gun?



Spooky is all too happy to show off his new toy. He opens it and reveals that it's actually a "Guntype Computer."



Unfortunately, it's locked down and so he can't do anything with it. He steps out to do whatever it is that he does when he's not being a hacker. BandyAid now has some options of what he can do: He can save his game (as he'll be able to do at any Terminal), inspect the Guntype Computer, or leave. Well, the leave option is a false choice because Hitomi won't let you. That only leaves inspecting the Guntype Computer, or GUMP, if you will. After inspection, Hitomi says that they could check out Paradigm-X.



When BandyAid logs on, he's immediately greeted by a cruddy FMV displaying the Paradigm-X logo and sent to the User Counter for orientation. The User Counter kicks him over to a strange man with a bucket hat. It's CAPTAAAAAIN PARADIGM, the mascot for Paradigm-X. You can tell this game was made in 1997, because if it was made in 2007 Captain Paradigm would be an 8 year old girl named Paradigm-Tan.

Captain Paradigm explains the internet and how it works and talks about how Paradigm-X is going to revolutionize the world. After this entirely pointless scene, BandyAid is kicked back to the User Counter and finally allowed to go outside.



Paradigm-X is apparently a vaguely European city. This is the first time we've been able to freely move around in first person mode, too. When BandyAid steps forward, he bumps into a bald man who mentions Spooky. How does this guy know Spooky...? It's Six. That guy is Six.

PARADIGM-X TOUR TIME!



Paradigm-X Boutique: For when people want to change their avatar's clothing. It isn't actually a gameplay feature for us, but in Amami City I'm sure they're very excited.

VR Bank: We'll be able to store money here later, and it'll gain interest for every hour we play. The rate is like 1.005 per hour. The only real use is that the money you save here will be available for future cycles.



Forums: There are four forums littered around Paradigm-X, where you can talk to a few people. It's pretty creepy that one of them is a bathhouse. You can also warp between the forums, which might be helpful if Paradigm-X weren't so small.



Casino: Buy coins, play games, trade for fabulous prizes. None of the games are open for us just yet, but we'll definitely be back.

Next door to the Casino is the VR Theater. You'll know when you pass it because Hitomi will stop you and point it out.

In the Theater, there are two "Courses": The "A Course" has a VR Art Museum, and a VR Horror House. We'll... we'll be back later. Sigh.

The "B Course" has a VR Park, a Quiz Game ("Dungeon Q") and a Love Quiz. Remember back in 2001-2002 when those "Which Anime Character Are You?"/"Which Pokemon Are You?"/"Which Sailor Senshi would be your girlfriend?" quizes were so popular? That's pretty much what the Love Quiz is. We may come back and I need filler content, but when I ran through it I got a character we haven't met yet.



Next up is the Pet Shop "Oukokuya" and a Fortune Teller. The Fortune Teller is as useful as they tend to be in RPGs, but we'll be visiting the Pet Shop later in the game.


How subtle. From left: Blimp, Nishi, Kadokura

At the end of the alley is a blimp broadcasting Paradigm News. They're currently covering the Paradigm-X Launch Party. Nishi, the City Planner hired to help cultivate Amami City into a technoland, and Kadokura, the CEO of Algon Soft, are giving speeches. Nishi mentions that Amami City requires people to have ID cards that store all their cash and whatnot. It's very Mark of the Beast. Kadokura's just excited that his creation has gotten this far.

After the coverage is over, there's nothing left for us to do in Paradigm-x. For real, you can't pass the Blimp-o-Vision in Paradigm-X, despite there clearly being more to it. Oh well, let's log out. To do this, we have to go to back to the User Counter.

The friendly lady isn't here, but their is a disembodied voice asking for souls! A grainy FMV plays where a giant pink ball comes out of the computer straight for BandyAid. But it gets shattered by... a coyote?



Goddammit, this Paradigm-X isn't even out of Beta and the furries have already moved in. The coyote introduces itself as Redman. He needs BandyAid's help TO SAVE THE HUMAN RACE. Because... um... teenagers are always the best for this sort of thing? I don't know. He first has to send him on a Vision Quest, so BandyAid is warped to the VR Theater.



Vision Quest 1:
Captivity's Soul



STORYTIME!!!

Urabe Kouisarou was a nobody. A worthless man that no one could respect. So, he joined the Phantom Society. That was his way to be a somebody. People looked up to him. They respected him. Everything was going great, until he discovered the shocking truth about the Phantom Society: They're the bad guys. He decided to quit being a Dark Summoner for the Phantom Society.

Let me make this abundantly clear: You don't "quit" the Phantom Society.

You don't leave. You don't retire. They explained this to Urabe by killing his wife and son. Urabe was not happy about this and began to plan his revenge. A person named Redman contacted him, explaining that the very best way to get back at the Phantom Society would be to steal the Nemissa Program. We join Urabe en route to the Algon Network Service building, where the Nemissa Program is stored. Surely this reckless raid will be successful! Let's watch.



When Urabe enters the building, he's surprised that there are demons in the building. This Vision Quest is basically a training mission for new players, Urabe's several levels stronger than anything he'll encounter, as are his demons.Let's check out team Urabe:


Clockwise, from upper left: Genma Bes, Urabe, Kijo Leanan Sidhe, Chirei Putz

Art:
Genma Bes (Illusion Bes)
Chirei Putz (Earth Spirit Putz)
Kijo Leanan S�dhe (She-Devil Leanan Sidhe)

There's not a whole lot to say about this Vision Quest: Urabe and his demons are strong, the enemies aren't. Well, Putz kind of sucks hardcore, but he's still better than what we'll be fighting. Urabe is outfitted with one of the best body armors in the entire game, and two of his demons have healing magic. In the unlikely event that Urabe is going to die in battle, Leanan Sidhe will sacrifice herself to protect him. We'll learn why in future updates. You can just hit Auto Battle to deal with everything. The manual has maps of this dungeon, so use those if you have them.

We're trying to find the storage computer on the fifth floor to get the Nemissa Program. On the first floor, walk forward to the elevator. On the second floor, you'll find that the elevators are locked down, so you'll have to take the stairs. The stairs are located on the outer perimeter of the building, so just follow the outer hallway til you hit the stairs.


Above: A security guard screams as he's eaten by demons

Same deal on the third floor, except you'll bump into a security guard. Urabe tells him to get the hell out here, because, y'know, DEMONS. He doesn't listen, and a few steps later Urabe hears him screaming in agony.



Urabe finally arrives on the fifth floor's control room.



The Nemissa Program is apparently pretty big, so Urabe has to delete the Devil Summoning Program from his GUMP. After he downloads the Nemissa Program... it laughs. He's a little freaked out. He hears a voice behind him. It's Finnegan, a Dark Summoner and fellow Phantom Society member. He's here to kill Urabe.



But... Urabe doesn't have any demon allies. You might say he's pretty fucked! Urabe takes off automatically and tries to run down stairs, but is stopped by another Phantom Society member. The only way to go is up, I suppose. Urabe automatically runs up to the roof, where he realises he's cornered. He locks his GUMP down so he doesn't lose the data: