Last weekend, I made some progress in Soul Hackers 2 and I am right at the end of the game. The crazy dungeons inside the Soul Matrix got a little more complex to navigate. Saizo’s Soul Matrix is still the hardest one in my view, however I managed to complete a few more things before I finish the story. I reached 4F with all my companions, but only managed to get enough Soul Level to finish Milady’s 4F and get into 5F. There, I couldn’t open any other gates without loads of Soul Level. I’ve read that the amount of Soul Level we gain from hangouts increases significantly in new game + making it possible to complete a 5F from any character and unlock an achievement.
I completed all requests from Madam Ginko in order to get items, money, upgrades, lower prices to summon demons, what have you. It’s very important to stay on top of her requests during the playthrough to make things easier in the end. I completed all The Lost Numbers DLC quests involving a new character called Nana. She was on a journey to find information about her father, a person who worked for Yatagarasu – an organization that protects people from demons – while also learning about the story behind her true nature. This lead us to a new dungeon where we could grind to our heart’s content and defeat powerful bosses.
One day I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to fuse many demons with the money I had. Now my compendium is over 90% and I’ll maybe take it to 100%, something I could never do on a playthrough in Persona 3 Reload without a guide. With the DLC we also get some powerful demons for free from the start, but I decided to ignore them during early game because they were too overpowered. What I enjoyed the most about the game was the cyberpunk atmosphere, the art, the palette, and the interactions with demons and companions. The game is a feast for the eye, the soundtrack can be a bit limited but I already got two favorite songs – COMP Smith and Eyes of the Iron Mask.
This is as far as I got before I enter the last dungeon, or what I think is the last anyway. My two main characters – Ringo and Figue – are becoming more human by learning through interactions with other humans. They are machines made in human’s image, created by Aion, a big sentient AI, maybe composed of many other life forms, born from the digital footprints of humans. The purpose of their creation was to save the world from great danger, of course, but things didn’t go as expected as they never do. When human emotions formed inside our character’s personalities every action gained a new significance and by consequence emotions started getting in the way of what was otherwise a very objective mission. One of them went rogue and now it’s up to us to fix the world, before saving it.
These demons are adorable During the weekend, I decided to go back to Steins Gate Elite. It’s a visual novel with primary focus on time travel and creating a time machine. I started reading it some months ago but it was a bit on-and-off, the story and the characters weren’t captivating enough at first. So eventually I abandoned it and played many games in between. Steins Gate was that VN that I would read when I didn’t want to play or read anything else. Okabe was very irritating and over-the-top and I could only tolerate him in very small portions. This time I was a bit under the weather and the best thing I could do was going to bed and reading a VN that could work as a pathway to a good nap. I was at the end of Chapter 4 and initiated Chapter 5. From there on, any idea of a nap diluted in the hands of time and I was very much glued to the screen. It must have happened a little before a certain character was killed. I was instantly shocked and I had to read on. Okabe changed a lot, so much so, that I found myself wishing for his nonsense at times.
Suzuha and OkabeThe suffering and confusion brought upon Okabe during his time leaps was palpable. At a certain point even I was giving up hope and questioning the point of saving the world to be. During his hopeless mission to save a special someone he would try again and again at changing something, anything, a few hours or days before a tragedy in order to prevent it, even when it was obvious that the end result would stay the same. At this point we understand the motivations of the cast of characters, especially one that came from 30 years in the future. Real time passed so fast from then on that I ended up unlocking my first ending. The game went full circle and I stayed with Mayuri and Daru in a peaceful world, all of my friends were gone. Very easily I unlocked Suzuha, Moeka, Lukako and Faris’ routes. For Kurisu and the true ending I needed a guide.
Makise KurisuThe good part about using a good guide was that I could choose the right sms answers for the true ending and then save the game when I was one answer short. With an answer left to trigger the true ending we can instead see Kurisu’s ending and then reload the save. The funniest part was that, after I watched her ending and wept and laughed and everything, I engaged the true ending and it was exactly the same thing. Same scenes, same conversations, but I couldn’t skip them. Then the credits rolled and I thought I was doing something wrong and checked the guide again. They wrote something like “read on, trust us” and trust I did.
*** Light spoilers true ending, continue to next paragraph ***
What came after was a very substantial part of the game because it was long and tied a lot of loose ends from the beginning. Everything we see at the start of the game is explained and I didn’t notice any major plot holes. However, I played the first 4 chapters a long time ago, and I don’t remember every little detail. Kurisu’s murder in the Beta attractor field, where the game starts, is explained and that moment is revisited by Okabe and Suzuha. Okabe gets a message from his future self and finds motivation to rewrite the narrative of that worldline by use of deception. It’s genius! However, I would have enjoyed watching the deception taking place, I mean seeing the reaction of the real Okabe from that worldline. Also that shift between dead Kurisu and alive Kurisu was triggered by a worldline shift I didn’t see. I didn’t see it but Okabe certainly did because he jumped to an attractor field – Steins Gate – where everyone is alive and living their sweet lifes. In order to start anew on an attractor field without any known convergence – a new start for humanity – Okabe had to save Kurisu, and that he did. It was a beautiful ending especially because of everything that happened in order to get there, all the heartbreaks and so on.
*** End of spoilers ***
Yes, it was a great read, for sure! By pure coincidence or not, Spike Chunsoft has a sale on Steam right now, so I grabbed Steins Gate 0. The story takes place in the Beta worldline, meaning after Kurisu dies. Poor Kurisu. Her death is the first thing we see when we start Steins Gate and it’s always looming in the background even when she’s right before our eyes. Steins Gate 0 starts about the same way, with some variations and it’s intended for people who read the original novel. The very first scenes are a big spoiler! I’m very curious to see what they did with the story. The old art is wonderful. I would recommend playing Steins Gate with the original artwork and then watching the anime.
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