Late reply is late.

I LOVE Soul Hackers. I wish I hadn't took so long to get around to it. It's just so much fun, especially the demon negotiations. The story and characters are also very interesting; it sucked me right in and I haven't been doing any breaks with it. I think the one aspect of it that stands out the most though is the OST. Every single track I've heard so far has been something I would actively listen to outside the game. Might be because my tastes in music lean more toward dark ambient sounding songs. Time to track down the two PS2 games in the Devil Summoner sub-series next~

Yes, DeSu was a lot of fun. Haha, tell me about it. I try not to play already beaten games myself because my backlog is a monster and I need to focus on it.

Yeah, I'm surprised it did as well as it did too. Looks like RPGs are having a lot more success on the 3DS than the DS. FE: Awakening also did really well. The best numbers to date for the series in the west, I believe. This makes me incredibly happy because I want more FE and RPGs. Plus if we did not get the sequel to Bravely Default because of poor sales, I would have been so sad.

I think I will love Soul Hackers. It sounds right up my alley. I'm happy we got the chance to finally get the game in English if it's a unique game within the MegaTen umbrella. To be honest, I've only played the first Devil Survivor. I'm terribly behind with MegaTen.

ooh, Link Between Worlds. Now that's a good purchase.

I've only played about 10 minutes of Soul Hackers - I'm glad to hear it's shorter than SMT: Strange Journey (which is a great game but a huge time investment)

How is the Dark Spire? Thats a game I've wanted to get for a long time.
And is it easy to pick up where you are? I've been trying to get a copy for ages, but it will involve importing it for me because I'm in Europe, and ebay prices are really high, even for a loose cart.

I'm playing FFIV Complete at the moment as well. I played the DS version (that was the first version that I played) a couple years back when it came out, and that gave me quite mixed opinions on the game, but I'm enjoying it a bit more this time. Although saying that, I am going for 100% with a guide, and there are aspects that might put me off that...like the secret summon drops (Goblin, Bomb, Cockatrice etc) with ridiculously rare drop rates.

How is After Years? Does it flow well or does it feel disjointed from the episodic nature?

i played ff4 for the first time last year and it gave me goggles

psp version is the one i beat, i couldn't finish it on super nintendo playstation or emulator lol

I don't know, everything just feels so tiny. Maybe it's just me.

Your enjoyment of Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light really depends on how much you like the 'old school' Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games (and maybe others) because its really supposed to be a retro style RPG with a quite interesting job system and some nice vibrant/pastel graphics (well, nice in my opinion, but I see a lot of haters out there for 3D DS graphics like FFIV DS)

I'd say pick it up if you are interested, but only if its quite cheap, as it does drag a little bit towards the second half, where you have to do a lot of revisiting old dungeons and towns, picking up some legendary equipment. (Its that classic problem a lot of oldschool RPGs have where they give you an airship or boat or equivalent, and the story and game design really suffers as you have to find your own way, with little input from the characters or story)

A pretty fun game at times, and it seems really underrated. Probably worth a look if you're into that kind of thing and can deal with some flawed stuff when it comes to the battle system...Its a little odd and the difficulty is rather high for some bosses. (Although that shouldn't faze you too much as you're a big fan of SMT games!

Unfortunately none of the Gamestops (at least in my area) carry any handheld titles older than the Nintendo DS, so online is pretty much the only option I have, other than a retro-gaming store. Demikids: Dark Version is considered to be rare, and the going rate for it is anywhere from $40 to $90 depending on the condition. I'm just happy to find any GBA title complete nowadays.

It's a pretty fun game,I think.It has tons of replayability,character customization and different endings so I really suggest it:beating punks with a metal pipe never gets old and doing it with a regent haircut and shades is even better.

Wow, you have the Dark Version! Nice, that version's really rare and hard to find nowadays. I found the Light Version complete online for $20, so that wasn't too bad. I need to find time to play through it sometime, though I'd need the Dark Version to complete the Compendium in that game.

Give DeSu2 a chance. It gets better as you go along, and it'll grow on you eventually. Personally, I liked the music in DeSu2 - IMO, the soundtrack's even better than the first one was. I was afraid that the final boss music wouldn't be able to live up to the original DeSu's Babel theme - titled 'Garuda', but after hearing the final boss theme for DeSu2 called 'Akashic Record', my fears were laid to rest, it's every bit as good as Garuda, if not better. Kenji Ito is the composer behind DeSu2's soundtrack, and he's well known for his battle themes. Shoji Meguro did remix some of the tracks, and they can be found on the OST, which sadly, is available only in Japan.

Also, I like the additions and improvements Atlus made to DeSu2 over the original. Tons more demons, some great new skills, the Fate system, which determines what ending you'll get, unlike the first DeSu where you more or less had to guess, and best of all, the Demonic Compendium, which makes getting specific demons you need into your party that much easier, for the cost of some Macca. Once you get a demon you really like, register him in the Compendium (I did it with Loki) and pay to re-summon him anytime you want. Only thing I didn't like about DeSu2 was the story, I docked it a star for that, but the characters you meet in DeSu2 are better than their DeSu counterparts, which makes up somewhat for the weak story. Also, New Game+ actually gives you an incentive to play through again, since you have to earn titles to unlock New Game+ bonuses, so the better you do on subsequent playthroughs, the more bonuses you can unlock.

The only rage-worthy moment in DeSu2 came for me on Day 4 - the boss of that day was REALLY hard, not to mention he moves around at least three times, and that was the day my no-death run ended. I lost every character except one. Fortunately, if you survive, the game gets a bit more managable after that. Overall, I think DeSu2 is a worthy sequel to the first, and probably the last great game available on the Nintendo DS.

I heard about Soul Hackers getting remade for the 3DS. I originally wasn't going to buy a 3DS, since I hate region-locked consoles (especially handhelds), but Soul Hackers in English would justify a Day 1 purchase for me.

Oh yeah, I've just read the news.

If this comes to Europe, then a 3DS will have to be immediately bought.

Yeah, I was pretty much against the 3DS, but for MegaTen...anything.

...Yeah, should have done so since I picked Claude in my last playthrough and did pretty much everything I could with him then (except for one thing I'm trying to do now).

All I know about picking a different MC is that you recruit a different character in a certain point of the game (which you haven't reached yet). Plus some possible variations in cutscenes or dialogues...

The real deal of playing the game a second time (regardless of whether you pick a different MC) is looking for other optional characters to recruit. For instance, if you recruited Ashton, you can't recruit two other optional characters. But if you do recruit those two others, you might not have enough character slots to recruit the final character in the 2nd half of the game.

Ghost Trick is so cool.

Frankly I don't remember much about TtEoT item creation mechanics and character relationships, considering they're two of the most important aspects of the SO series. Plot and characters are nothing to write home about, but for the former it depends how much you like well detailed scifi settings (it's the sort of game that has a "game encyclopedia" to explain certain terms used in dialogues), and how you'll handle the final plot developments (which I didn't really like).

As for the battle, they added a new mechanic to compensate the button mashing that was SO2. It works, but in the long run it didn't sit well with me.

That's all I can remember at the moment. There's plenty of interesting stuff, but I personally didn't like it that much. If you have the money and time to spare, it's more than solid enough to give it a try.

I see you're playing Second Evolution I'm recently started replaying the PS1 original myself. What are your thoughts on it so far?

And Yeah!, to Star Ocean and Paper Mario! Yeah!, to good games!