Soul Hackers

Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers is the second game in the Shin Megami Tensei spinoff series Devil Summoner.

The story is set Twenty Minutes Into the Future in a place called Amami City, where every home has a networked computer and the Internet is tightly controlled by the government. You and your Playful Hacker friends have discovered a virtual city called Paradigm-X hidden in the network, created by the Algol Software Corporation. However, something is seriously wrong with this program... as you find out when it attempts to suck out your soul. Fortunately, you are saved from the impending de-soulification by a mysterious figure called Redman who tells you that you have several souls trapped inside you, and that if you wish to solve the mystery of Paradigm-X you must experience the last moments of those souls' mortal lives.

The main characters are:

  • The Hero: A nameless Heroic Mime. A skilled computer hacker and martial artist. He cannot use magic, but has a talent for Devil Summoning. His weapon of choice is a multipurpose gun/computer called a COMP, which does everything from summoning devils to shooting up bad guys.
  • Hitomi: The Hero's best friend. A shy schoolgirl who is skilled at hacking but lacks self-confidence. She accompanies you for the first part of the game until she is possessed by...
  • Nemissa: A female devil who decides to take up residence in Hitomi's body. She is brash, mischievous and has a penchant for black leather. She's also one of the best magic users in the game.
  • Masahiro "Spooky" Sakurai: Leader of the Spookies, the Playful Hacker gang that the Hero and Hitomi belong to. A mature guy who bears more than a passing resemblance to one Fox Mulder. Has no relation to the video game developer of the same name (their names are pronounced the same but have different kanji).
  • The Spookies (Lunch, Six and Yuichi): The other members of the Spookies, they mostly provide back-up and support for the Hero.
  • Vision Quest Characters: The souls of these characters rest in the body of the Hero, and he must relive their final moments to piece together the puzzle of Paradigm-X.
    • Urabe: A devil summoner and former employee of Algol Software Corporation who resigned in disgust to their questionable practices. His Vision Quest provides a password you need to unlock some hidden features on your COMP.
    • Suda: An accomplished Dark Summoner and member of the mysterious Phantom Society, which seems to be connected to the Paradigm-X plot. However, he has started to doubt the goals of the group and is reconsidering his membership.
    • Naomi: An experienced devil hunter. She cannot summon devils, but more than makes up for this with her sheer levels of kickassitude.

The usual Shin Megami Tensei components are here (indeed, this is the earliest title in the series to have most of the elements associated with the series, particularly in the west which only started getting the series very late): devil fusion, elemental weaknesses/strengths, conversing with monsters to convince them to join your cause and an incredibly dark storyline. An important part of Devil Summoner is Loyalty. Devils gain Loyalty if you command them to use moves that their personality type prefers (eg: physical, magic, etc.) and lose Loyalty if you tell them to use a move that they hate. A Devil with high Loyalty is more likely to obey you and even make a Diving Save. A Devil with low Loyalty will routinely ignore your commands and may even leave the party. (Yes, it's as annoying as it sounds.) The only Devil that isn't subject to this is Zeed, an artificial devil who will always have complete loyalty to you and grows not by traditional fusion, but by "stealing" the stats and abilities of devils that you sacrifice to it.

Soul Hackers was for 15 years never released outside of Japan, though a fan translation from the same people who translated Persona 2: Innocent Sin was attempted it, like most fan translations, was stillborn. However, an enhanced 3DS port was released in 2012, including full voice acting, updated art, and other extra features and was finally translated the year after its release.


Tropes used in Soul Hackers include:
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