this game is always so close to being kinda great it's unfortunate, i was always excited for this one. the main thing is that the soul matrix genuinely sucks the fuckin life out of every other part of this game cuz just by existing as it is the whole game is built around this one dungeon you're gonna be spending half of your playtime on (i mean that literally, it was over half my playtime). most of your insight into characters is in the soul matrix, but the game also has to account for you possibly not doing much in the soul matrix. so the main story is basically always out of step with how these characters should be/what you know about them and ends up being underwritten in every scene. there are barely a dozen actual dungeons in this game (two of which share themes with other dungeons anyways) so the level curve gets absurd if you're not grinding the soul matrix the moment new parts of it open, putting story progression on complete hold for the next uhhhhhhhhhhh 5 hours. your goddamn BASIC EQUIPMENT all requires MATERIALS that you're mostly getting from grinding in the soul matrix along with the insane prices some of it gets to that you ALSO usually only cover with grinding in the soul matrix and man at that point it feels like the actual fuckin.....main game here is just a background element to this really uninteresting and overly long dungeon man it's so unfortunate. i think the disappointment hits this hard for me cuz soul hackers 1 is like my favorite mainline SMT and this game's setting/presentation fucking rule but it be like that sometimes

at least ringo rules tho she's just like me fr