These Four Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (February 28 - March 3)

It’s awesome to see Soul Hackers 2! I’ve had my eye on the game for a while but there were too many games in my backlog that I wanted to focus on first, and not actually spend $60.00 on the game. This will be the perfect incentive for me now.

Also, I’m pretty damn excited for Wo Long. Team Ninja hardly does wrong in my eyes. I highly doubt I’ll be able to finish Like a Dragon: Ishin! before it releases. I’m only on chapter 3. It’s one hell of a game, though.

You all have no excuse not to play Soul Hackers 2 now. Do it ! Get yourself a nice health dose of Ringo :3

For me soul hackers 2 was a bit disappointing, the dungeons (especially the axis/soul matrix) are some of the blandest designs I've seen from Atlus. Story is still good though and the combat is fun so still worth a try.

Gamepass always puts the games on that I already own like soul hackers 2.. grr. hoping for more launch day drops like Wo Long

Soul Hackers 2! Wow, nice!

Merge & Blade looks like a fun little time waster. Probably wouldn't play it too often but I'll at least give it a go.

I have no interest in Soul Hackers 2. It looks like an insult to the original tbh.

Count me in with the "Excited for Soul Hackers" crowd.

This is literally the only non-VR game I've bought at full price in 2 years, so it's kind of funny to see it considering I basically haven't even played it still! Great game from what I did play though if you like dungeon crawlers. Shame the game did so poorly originally. Surprise Diofield didn't go this route as well, but Square I guess is going to Square, and Sega does what Squaredon't. I'd rather have Atlus & RGG support than Square, TBH.

@mousieone I think it's time to bring the avatar back

@Sakisa It's thematically different but I'm actually surprised how much more similar it is structurally/gameplay wise than I thought. it doesn't LOOK like SH1, it's not really Persona, it's not really SH, it's kind of it's own vibe, but the gameplay, once you start playing it the structure is instantly recognizable as SH.

@NEStalgia your wish is my command. Ai-go makes her return.

@mousieone Hi-Ho!

Soul Hackers 2 is a great addition, actually very excited to play it.

@NEStalgia Well if I ever do want to try it I guess I can now, and maybe I will. Though my backlog grows ever longer with games that interest me far more. If the gameplay loop is similar to the original though that’s good at least. Have fond memories of playing it in the early 3DS days.

I started Persona 4 Golden today, and already own Soul Hackers 2 (bought it on sale during Christmas.)

Have not had a chance to play SH2, but no regrets.

I might give Wo Long a try, am sure I’ll still be playing P4G but that’s why quick resume is so awesome (sad some game I won’t mention decided to insist on always online solo play, making it incompatible with quick resume.)

@Tharsman I still feel like the one big thing that xcloud needs more than anything, even though it's expensive to implement on the servers I'm sure, is at least one quick resume slot per player. Games like P3P/P4G that don't have save anywhere, or have a pseudo-save that resets some progress doesn't work so well for pick up and play cloud gaming. And a ton of games are like that. I think that's the one feature that turns cloud gaming from "meh" to must-have.

@NEStalgia cloud-save-based quick-resume would be a fantastic feature for the ecosystem.

The biggest headaches i can see with such a system is actually S vs X. A Series S player's quick resume memory dump is unlikely to be compatible with Series X or Series X server racks.

But it would be glorious if not only save files synced, but the whole quick resume memory dump.

Dang only four games this week and one is pretty much from ea play anyone else is slightly disappointed? Just slightly

@Tharsman Yeah! Ironically totally unrelated @mousieone and I were just talking in the other thread about being able to just turn it off mid-game and back on being the main draw of the Switch. If Xcloud could do that too, right on your phone, it would seriously dent the Switch's USP wherever cloud is viable.

I think simple steps for that make most sense. I don't think cloud and local console quick resume necessarily needs to be compatible (otherwise you'd have to wait for it to upload/download a local memory dump every time you switch which would really suck.) I think it would really be ok if cloud quick resume states were separate from local. No different than if you already have two Xboxes and quick resume on one and then the other, it'll just recognize the save state is old and drop out to the menu. I don't necessarily need my cloud save state to sync to my console and vice versa, but I'd like my cloud save state to resume the next time I connect from when I disconnected. Especially since, often, I'm playing different games from GP on cloud than I might be playing on my console, anyway.

They could call it "Cloud Resume" just to avoid confusion with "Quick Resume" on local consoles.

The only real problem is cost. That means the datacenters need storage for everyone's save state, and needs to be able to retrieve it from any farm that you happen to connect to.

@NEStalgia oh yea, I agree, a cloud-specific quick-resume for at least a single game would be potentially viable, and I don't think necessarily too demanding on the storage front.

Kinda wish I hadn't used my $1 f/three months deal last year. Oh well.

I'd be surprised if SH2 doesn't also go to PSPlus Extra at some point. This game was a megabomb, and Sega will likely do whatever they can to make their money back.

The games look fine but I think we’re losing more than we’re gaining this month.

@Ralizah It's so sad because it's really such a great game for the atlus niche.

@Tharsman I dream of that every time I use it...

@NEStalgia Skipping the one platform where JRPGs tend to sell consistently well was a mistake. Especially considering, by all accounts, it's effectively just a prettied-up PS2 game in terms of the game design.

It's not only one of their lower-selling games, but was panned by both audiences and critics. Like, it was received significantly worse than Tokyo Mirage Sessions, and that's a game that actively irritated both fanbases in its respective crossover.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/wii-u/tokyo-mirage-sessions-fe

https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-5/soul-hackers-2

I do want to play it, because even mediocre Atlus games are fun, but man, was this a colossal misfire!

I have been doing fine without a memory expansion, but now I'm starting to think about it. I'm interested in 2 of these and not sure I can even squeeze Atomic Hearts last update onto my drive

@Moonglow More day one drops -like- Wo Long (Games I am interested in or haven't already brought). I would never say GP is short on date in date AA and Indie games. AAA 1st and 3rd party day in date is -currently- lacking however.

@NEStalgia @Ralizah I’m not going to wade into a conversation with you two without dinner I know better. Ralizah you wouldn’t have discord or some other form of communication on with which codes may be dropped in DM such as Twitter or some another semi anonymous platform?

@mousieone Ralizah#6794 on Discord. Unsure what code you're referring to, but feel free to hit me up!

@Ralizah request sent you’ll find out.

@Ralizah I highly don't get why it did so badly. I admittedly haven't played super far into it just because backlogs, timing, getting gp games in before they go away etc, but it's honestly excellent if you're an atlus or turn based dungeon crawler fan. I can get low sales due to skipping switch to a point but panning critics and players I just don't get. It's only a dungeon crawler but it's a genuinely good one. Anyone that liked sh1 should get into 2 fine. The redundant visual design of the virtual world is bad but that's really the only blemish.

But then I actively love smtfe tms, so what do I know?

@NEStalgia @Ralizah I’ve actually had dinner now.

SH2 did better sales wise than TMS Encore and maybe base, but critically did worse. The irony is that it’s more of an evolution of TMS. The dungeon design is most people’s biggest complaint, which is funny because now thanks to P5 everyone expects those style dungeons. Although, to the major complaint if the Soul Matrix was closer than Mementos it might have been received better.

Either way not being on the Switch hurt it terms of people play those kind of JRPGs on that platform all the time. But moving a game to a platform not known for dealing with turn based games well and a platform raise on Persona, yeah critics were going to hate it.

Switch critics have Pokémon to compare to. Granted it’s not even close to SMT V, but I do think Switch fans like a nice character driven game and would see through the flaws.

I do hope it gets more love though the protag is amazing. I want Atlus to make more speaking (and female) protags.

@NEStalgia it’s the dungeons they reuse the first three, well really each of them is one dungeon but you back tread. Kind of like how you do in TMS after you get the door unlock skill. Then there is this dungeon called the soul matrix which is needed to get advance skills but it’s very same looking and very frustrating and easy to get lost in.

The story is not complicated, but the final boss doesn’t make 100% sense. Part of that is thr issue with the lost numbers DLC, which has this one scene that explains partially some of the final boses motivations. It’s not like the DLC is cut content though, but that scene is kind of important. The dungeon that goes with that DLC is also the only one that properly uses the sabbath mechanic.

Thank you Atlas for stepping up where Square-Enix abandon us (derelict father)

Soul Hackers is a nice addition! I am keen on trying this one.

Wo Long will be great, but I already know its too hard for me, like the brilliant Nioh games. I have to pass on it for my own sanity, but anyone not cr@p like me is likely to enjoy the challange!

@NEStalgia @mousieone It'd be pretty sad if a Wii U-exclusive flop did worse than a flop available on most modern platforms! The funny thing is that I think the Switch remaster somehow did worse, despite nearly everything selling better on Switch. Aside from those twelve people who really wanted a TMS remaster, everyone was over it.

I own both versions of the game, btw.

It's hard to imagine this particular development team getting more work any time soon. Even Atlus' less well-known series, like Etrian Odyssey, still tend to find a passionate niche that love and support them.

I should appreciate their work properly, though. I've only played through the first several dungeons of TMS on Wii U. I'll be playing Soul Hackers 2 soon, and then, afterward, I'll go back and give the Switch version of TMS a proper go.

@mousieone Oh I'm familiar enough with the Soul Matrix, I'm pretty sure I did the first tier for all 3 characters, and started into the second tier for at least one of them. It's bland and samey, it's confusing, but it's supposed to be a confusing labyrinth of identical hallways because that's what SH is. Such is dungeon crawling. I get that it's a flaw and it's too much of the same without even looking interesting and why critics might hate that, but not SH1 fans.

I didn't get the Lost Numbers, DLC though, I'm allergic to Atlus day 1 DLC, and it didn't sound important from the launch descriptions. You make it sound a lot more important (ugh!)

@Ralizah Weird thing is despite how super-Japanese switch is, I have a feeling Japanese-only dialogue hurt TMS a lot where, ironically the Japanese-only Yakuza does great on XB. Not that I'm saying saccharine idol stories would do well on XB but that's funny. The whole censorship drama hurt it with the core, too, on either side.

But I truly just don't get what went wrong with SH2. Not being on Switch means it didn't find the turn based audience I guess, but it also spared it tougher competition, and even Mario underperformed as a srpg on Switch. XB isn't really a turn based market I guess (I really want it to be though ). And you're right in that, I'm afraid for PS4 if it's not called "persona' or "ff" it's not a turned based market, and even ff is questionable now. DQ did ok even on XB though, so there's that.

Maybe the biggest problem isn't the game itself but the fact that they named it as a sequel to a Saturn game from Japan that was ported early in 3DS life. Nobody new the brand, and the few that did were turned off by the art style change. Wonder if a new IP would have made it sell more, in an odd twist? What I really don't get is how EO gets love and this doesn't. They're far more similar than different.

In both cases, branding may be the biggest problem in hindsight. There's that with this, and there's "fire emblem" with tms that turned the fe audience off (though IDK why, because the FE crowd seems to be all into ecchi these days, and TMS has that in spades. )

@Ralizah ironically the first SMT game I played was TMS. I had no idea what SMT was but Nintendo made sure I’d heard ofTMS.

@NEStalgia I’ve had breakfast so I ca respond. TMS was hurt by the JP only option because the game wasn’t SMTxFE. The game it was ventured more into Persona territory and those games need dubs. That said the game was a massive departure for either franchise it was supposed to be and honestly being tied to FE and SMT hurt it.

SH2 was partially hurt by the 2: But also it feels a bit outdated compared to more recent titles. There was also very little marketing for the game in the West. And ultimately most critics wanted P6 not SH2.

As for Xbox, Atlus barely marketed to the platform. If you didn’t know where to look, you could easily be forgiven for thinking it was slipping Xbox.

Honestly, I like the game better than TMS. The DLC isn’t that important because you can YouTube the cutscene. And you’re done. But yeah Atlus day 1 DLC for the win!

Still I don’t think Xbox is hopeless. P5R did really well on GP. But it’s still funny to me “farming simulator” and “Goat Similator” can be a top played game but no one wants to try out Story of Seasons?

@mousieone Was it really a departure for FE at this point though? I feel like those games are 80% weebing, 20% strategy at this point as it is.

I still can't tell how much the dubs are needed. Again, citing Yakuza, even on Xbox, the un-Japan platform, and it does just fine being 100% sub. Can't tell me Nintendo gamers are less weeb-ing than Xbox players.

I wonder how P3 is doing on GP. I mean SH2 isn't close to being dated as much as P3's dungeons, but Persona gets all the love.

I think all of the above probably doesn't matter next to "it was barely marketed, and critics wanted P6." A classic case of publisher mishap (Purexb didn't even review or really mark the launch at all, and some of us complained, now suddenly it's a GP title and we act like it's a big get...), and being reviewed for what it isn't rather than what it is.

I would LOVE for GP to breathe new life into it. It would be hilarious if GP were to result in Xbox becoming the go-to for obscure niche Atlus titles that can't find a market on Nintendo and PS Shame TMS is tied to Nintendo IP.

In all fairness, as far as these Atlus games go, Xbox isn't any more hopeless than PS that will only play Persona

To be fair, I'm so weeb that TMS is one of my favorite games of all time, and I have also not touched Story of Seasons. The whole Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons debacle just kind of ruined the whole thing for me forever. Plus I'm more of a Rune Factory fan. RF5 on Xbox when?! Or PS? Or really anywhere it runs at over 15fps because I literally cant even OMG OwO.

@NEStalgia Engage is probably the most tactically satisfying FE game to date. Or at least on par with Conquest. The "weebier" these games get, the more improved their tactical gameplay is.

Mario + Rabbids 2 underperformed because the Nintendo playerbase wised up to Ubisoft's pricing antics. Strangely enough, parading around the first game on sale for $10 with all DLC included made people less willing to part with $100 for the game + all DLC. You literally couldn't go anywhere online without people making "this game will be $10 in a year" comments.

Nintendo fans are less used to and accepting of abusive pricing strategies like this. When we pay full price for a game, we expect it won't be in the bargain bin within the year.

Although it's also true that Switch is wildly oversaturated with SRPGs at this point. I'm actually sort of surprised the genre is still selling as well as it is, given this fact.

As someone who was a pretty big fan of the Xbox 360 (minus the controller), I've given up on the brand when it comes to Japanese games outside of the most mainstream publishers like Capcom and Sega. The player base doesn't seem interested in those games, and Japanese publishers frequently need to be bribed with GP deals to even consider porting their games to the platform. The existence of the Xbox fan who is also into Japanese games is one that is marked by pure, unfettered suffering, which is why you don't see very many of them.

Damn gamepass is on a roll. So much to play at the moment.

@Ralizah I haven't played Engage....may not actually buy it. Kind of burned out on it at this point, so it's the kind of thing I'd buy on a sale and...well...Nintendo.... but Conquest...honestly I did not enjoy it very much. I think that was the beginning of the end for me for FE. Maybe for SRPGs in general for a while.

"Nintendo fans are less used to and accepting of abusive pricing strategies like this."

Aren't Nintendo fans MOST used to and accepting of abusive pricing strategies? Still, I don't think "online conversation" and "total Nintendo (or PS) market" mean much in the same sentence. The "online conversing" part of the customer base is such a miniscule part of it. Now, of the SRPG base in particular maybe it's a lot. But of the Mario base, that's another thing. Though Ubi putting the predecessor right next to it at steep discount probably wasn't smart.

But yeah, I think betweeen Vita, 3DS, and Switch, I'm kind of good on SRPGs for the next 10+ years....I don't need much more of them for a long while. I dont' think I'd touch Xcom for Fallout Tactics really, either. Too much of a good thing. Disgaia kind of suffers from that too now. It felt kind of novel and new in the height of 3DS dominance. It feels stale now. I'd have bought Triangle Strategy on a good sale, but it seems to be going with Nintendo pricing (what was that about abusive again?)

LOL, IDK I guess it depends what Japanese games one is into. Like I said, most of what's on my Xbox is Japanese, largely just because I buy mostly Japanese games, and buy whatever I can on XB and it hasn't been disappointing so far. I don't do too much of the obscure stuff, obviously falcom is PS or Nintendo, rune factory 4 did come to xb, and 5 is still trapped on Nintendo for who knows what reason. I keep hearing that XB doesn't get Japanese games, yet when I compare what actually doesn't come, it's a small list outside ultra-niche like disgaia.

I'm not sure how to end the self-fulfilling prophecy, of XB and Japan though. Players won't switch as long as perception is it's the worst of the 3 for Japanese games. And it won't become better unless people switch. GP probably remains the best route to that. It's been very good at accumulating some JP stuff and expsing more to it. You can say that the XB market isn't into that, but the XB market isn't really different than the current PS market. It's just that the niche that likes those games happened to be on PS first, and it's hard to give them a reason to change.

I'm honestly just enjoying Xbox-anything actually putting Ringo in key art. The game was invisible at launch.

@NEStalgia @Ralizah The argument about Japanese games not doing well on Xbox is contextual and not well addressed.

To be clear, games like Resident Evil, Soulslike, and even Yakuza games don't do horribly. I think the Yakuza or LAD 7 split in the UK was like 65/35, that's not terrible. Elden Ring has been in Xbox most played for like a year now. And, I suspect Wo Long to be making records on player count. Also, interestingly enough, narrative driven games do fine as well, as do RTS games. Age 2 on console is doing quite well but there is a point to me bringing this up. It's actually "Weeb" games and those games like them that do poorly.

Of the three playerbases, Xbox is the smallest by a lot. Not counting PS5/Series X/S you have a player base that's about 1/3 of the other two, maybe slightly more, but 120 vs 40? In general, more people = more potential buyers. Now all three have a large amount of casual fans, but it's the where in the world is Carmen San Diego that makes a difference.

Xbox Casual fans are in US/Canada. They love sports games, CoD, GTA, and an occasional "Sad Dad" game Witcher, Yakuza, etc.

PS casual fans are all over including countries like China because that platform dominates more globally than the other two.

Nintendo has a huge casual audience in Japan, home to most of those games developers.

Casual audiences don't tolerate too much "Weeb", so Japanese only on what is a essentially a "Sad Dad" beatemup, is okay. It's not the same as a heavy menu based UI. LAD 7 works because it's a has an English dub, and is one of these least menu based turned based JRPGs you can play. (And whilsts not a "Sad Dad" I could argue that Ichiban is a "Sad Son" trying to get back to his father figure). All in all it's playable.

That said, some anime games do fine on Xbox because again there is some tolerance in casual audience for some "Weeb" like stuff. Most of these are known anime with English dubs. And to be fair, Playstation isn't the hot zone for Japanese games either. Some do fine, but games like Sakura Wars died. The playerbase is large enough though that it sustains some of the games better. For instance, Trails and Atelier games have established fans; they are fine.

Now, let's talk about the "Weebs" for a moment. They are a finite group that a) tends to only be on 1 platform and b) is slow to move off said platform. Nintendo originally lost these fans in the PS1/PS2 era when Nintendo lost Final Fantasy. But Playstation started to lose these fans in the PS3 era. Most moved to a handheld platform DS/PSP ---> 3DS and now Switch. In order to get that group back, you'd have to lock up about 50% of all the Japanese games coming up for the next few years. Otherwise, they ain't moving.

In conclusion-

Playstation has a big wide audience, so games will thrive.

Nintendo has the fanbase, larger audience, and well Japan, even small games thrive.

Xbox has neither so many games die.

@mousieone Good summary overall. Though I'd disagree with Nintendo to a point. The Nintendo market in Japan is dominated by kids and "Nintendo casuals". The "Nintendo casuals" generally buy only Nintendo's games. Through the PS4 era, a lot of the smaller "weeb" devs in Japan found their games sold terribly on Switch in Japan, and sold much more in Japan on PS despite much smaller market share, that market is where their customers were more likely to be. Excluding the more ecchi stuff that PS basically banned.

To a point though it's that last paragraph that really is the one that really matters. Weebs being on only 1 platform and slow to move off it. The rest is I think a little over-precise, or situational. Yakuza is...pretty weeby. You're good with GTA Tokyo until you hit the cabaret clubs, then it's all over and you're into weeb territory. If anything it's probably a gateway drug to weebism so the success of Yakuza should lead easily into sampling other weeb games. And I don't imagine DQ or classic FF did badly on Xbox which is kind of weeb prime (again, before heading into the more......awkward? stuff.)

I think "in the west" when we talk about "Japanese games" "not coming to xbox" we're mostly talking about games that go to PS and not to Switch. Switch has its own ecclectic library. I don't think most of those games are the ones people lament not being on XB. And Switch isn't necessarily where Japan is buying the kind of Japanese games that we're most talking about. PS really isn't anymore either. In reality PC seems to be the main place that Japan plays that kind of game now, and PS seems to be where the west plays it. Pulling PS's customers over isn't going to be the easiests sell for MS. But getting what's primarily PC titles now into PS should not be the prohibitive challenge that it seems to remain, even if it sells poorly. But the onus is on MS to make PC games effectively expand into XB with little to no reason for devs not to.

(Correction edit: I said Nintendo casuals in Japan buy only kid's games originally, but meant only Nintendo's games.)

Second edit: And when we talk about TMS ,it also failed catastrophically in Japan. But...again...that customer just isn't on Switch in Japan, Switch is its own unique market there. When we talk about Sh2 though, it failed on PS in Japan as well. XB doesn't matter. It did do "best" on PC in Japan which goes back to the original point, but it failed to chart at all, selling 50k or so first week, it actually did better in the west, but still failed horribly even on PS.

@NEStalgia what takes you five minutes takes me all day to respond takes you five minutes. I need time a pc and caffeine.