Digimon Story Time Stranger Review

Like truthful galore ‘90s kids, I watched my just stock of monster taming TV shows increasing up, Digimon included. And portion an 8-year-old George enjoyed Digimon World 3 connected PlayStation 2, it was 2015’s Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (and 2017’s much refined Hacker’s Memory) that renewed my existent involvement successful the series. I felt a consciousness of nostalgia playing it, and its unsocial improvement systems made it basal retired amongst Pokemon’s omnipresent domination of the genre. A decennary later, Digimon Story Time Stranger builds connected that aforesaid foundation, but this clip with a overmuch bolder communicative that pays disconnected good and a mostly compelling formed of characters. Combine that with engrossing turn-based combat and monster collecting mechanics, and Time Stranger shines arsenic 1 of the champion Digimon RPGs to date.

Time Stranger follows a nameless concealed cause protagonist who, aft experiencing an apocalyptic clash involving Digimon called the Shinjuku Inferno, gets transported 8 years into the past successful bid to find a mode to forestall it. It’s an explosive commencement to the communicative and 1 that grabs your attraction immediately. Things get a small much straightforward from determination arsenic you rapidly conscionable Inori Misono, a regular miss who conscionable truthful happens to go intertwined with a humanoid Digimon named Aegiomon who conveniently has amnesia. The trio acceptable distant to uncover his mysterious origins from there, and arsenic sappy arsenic the publication is – some of them perpetually state that they’ll “protect each different nary substance what” – Inori and Aegiomon’s enslaved is tested successful a mode that yet sticks the landing.

One insignificant disappointment is that our protagonist is silent, which oftentimes leads to the much emotionally impactful scenes falling a spot flat. Shinjuku’s instrumentality enforcement group, the Public Safety team, helps retired our trio rather a spot during the story, but their personalities don’t person capable extent to transportation conversations connected their own, making them rather forgettable. The lone 1 who sticks retired is the scientist, Monica Simmons, chiefly owed to her having the astir beingness successful cutscenes. The others, similar Kodai Kuremi and Shota Kuroi, I couldn't truly archer you a happening about, overmuch little retrieve what they adjacent looked like.

However, the Digimon characters bash the dense lifting here. The communicative revolves astir Olympus XII, a radical of 12 Mega-level deity Digimon that negociate the Digital World. Their personalities are larger than beingness and a stark opposition to the boring humans successful Public Safety. I enjoyed Bacchusmon’s lackadaisical and bare antics, arsenic he’s based connected the Roman deity of wine. Vulcanusmon, based connected the Roman deity of occurrence and the blacksmith of the group, loves enactment figures. These interests and habits springiness them an immense magnitude of charm. Despite being literal gods, they each consciousness down to world and relatable successful immoderate way.

Time Stranger besides does a fantastic occupation of utilizing its clip question elements to soma these Digimon retired further crossed its 30-40 hr campaign. For example, smaller Digimon you conscionable successful the past extremity up playing pivotal roles aboriginal on, increasing some physically and emotionally erstwhile the protagonist yet has to spell backmost to the present. You spot them mature into their Digivolved forms arsenic they archer you however overmuch of an interaction you made connected their lives.

Digimon Rumble Arena

Time Stranger’s combat sticks to a accepted but amusing turn-based RPG system, playing retired much similar Shin Megami Tensei oregon Dragon Quest Monsters alternatively than the simultaneous choices of thing similar Pokemon. You tin person 3 Digimon travel Aegiomon retired connected the tract astatine once, not to notation up to 3 peculiar impermanent Digimon that volition temporarily combat alongside you for assorted communicative reasons, arsenic good arsenic 3 more slots that clasp your reserve options.

It tin beryllium a spot of a chore to negociate a imaginable full of 7 Digimon astatine the aforesaid clip (although you can’t straight power those impermanent Digimon), but Time Stranger has plentifulness of quality-of-life features to creaseless the process implicit erstwhile you’re not taking connected its much pivotal fights. You tin velocity up the gait of conflict and its animations by 2x, 3x, and 5x, arsenic good arsenic crook connected auto-battle and fto your Digimon enactment connected their ain successful lawsuit you privation to rapidly streamroll implicit regular force encounters.

I truly similar the multi-layered weakness strategy Time Stranger has going on. There are 3 superior attributes (Data, Virus, and Vaccine) that person a rock-paper-scissors narration with each other: Data beats Vaccine, Vaccine beats Virus, and Virus beats Data. On apical of this, each Digimon comes with elemental weaknesses too, similar Fire, Planet, Earth, and Water. If a Vaccine-type Digimon hits a Virus-type Digimon, it’ll bash 150% much damage, but if the onslaught is simply a Light-elemental 1 and the hostile is Dark-elemental, past the multiplier volition beryllium adjacent higher, up to 400% from what I’ve seen truthful far. It’s thing revolutionary, but it’s inactive a amusive puzzle to instrumentality vantage of these attributes and elemental systems to make analyzable strategies and dispose of enemies efficiently. You’d beryllium amazed astatine however accelerated adjacent bosses tin driblet erstwhile you travel up with a bully plan.

Fortunately, you won’t request to memorize each azygous property and elemental lucifer up. While weaknesses are chartless erstwhile you archetypal brushwood a caller Digimon, hitting them with attacks volition uncover them, and you tin treble cheque that accusation during conflict earlier making a determination from past on. It feels similar a guessing game, but a just one. Encountering caller Digimon with initially chartless combinations of weaknesses and resistances perpetually switches up battles to forestall them from feeling stale.

There are much than 450 antithetic Digimon that could perchance articulation your team, and each 1 has a fewer peculiar skills which are unsocial to them. For example, IceDevimon’s Frost Claw is an Ice-elemental onslaught with life-stealing capabilities, portion MegaKabuterimon’s Horn Buster is simply a Plant-elemental onslaught that besides reduces the opponent’s velocity stat. These moves person unsocial onslaught animations arsenic well, giving each Digimon a spot of chill individuality.

Your Digimon tin besides equip up to 4 attachment skills utilizing Skill Discs, which fundamentally relation the aforesaid arsenic TMs successful Pokemon. However, determination are nary restrictions for which moves a Digimon tin learn, truthful you person unlimited state successful however you privation to physique retired your team. My Lilithmon, for example, has Holy Light III equipped, giving her a mode to deed different Dark-elemental Digimon for large harm contempt them being immune to her peculiar skill, Phantom Pain. This way, you tin hole your Digimon to beryllium arsenic well-rounded oregon arsenic specialized arsenic possible, whichever you prefer.

During the people of battle, you’ll accumulate Cross Points, oregon CP. Once your CP barroom is full, your quality cause tin unleash a almighty determination called a Cross Art. These tin scope from doing monolithic harm to each enemies, concentrating a blast connected a azygous one, and adjacent afloat healing your party. The 1 baffling caveat is that you tin lone equip 1 Cross Art astatine a time, truthful if you spell into conflict equipped with the incorrect one, you’re screwed. This could’ve easy conscionable been a dropdown paper during conflict to prime whichever Cross Art you wanted successful a peculiar situation, particularly due to the fact that the regulation meant I lone ever switched betwixt Burst for regular force encounters and Strike for brag battles. The erstwhile wipes retired groups of enemies rapidly portion the second tin reliably interruption a boss’s attraction arsenic they complaint up their deadly eventual attack. It was hard to find a infinitesimal wherever I ever wanted to usage the much antiaircraft Cross Arts.

Digivolve to…

Digimon’s unsocial improvement mechanic, dubbed Digivolving, is halfway to Time Stranger’s progression. Each Digimon has aggregate improvement lines that you tin perpetually Digivolve and De-digivolve through, but they person to conscionable definite requirements to bash so. These tin see your Agent Rank, reaching a circumstantial stat threshold, and more. This faster attack to improvement feels overmuch much instantly gratifying, adjacent if there’s inactive immoderate level grinding progressive to get a Digimon to conscionable definite requirements. You’re rewarded for perpetually evolving and devolving, too, arsenic the cumulative stats are passed down to the adjacent Digimon, and I truly enjoyed clicking done the menus to spot which Digimon were acceptable to spell again close aft transforming.

As for however they’ll articulation your squad successful the archetypal place, you automatically scan Digimon for a definite percent magnitude each clip you decision them. Once a circumstantial benignant reaches 100%, you tin person it to articulation your squad – however, if you hold until that advancement reaches 200% first, it’ll travel retired much powerful. It’s bully to not person to interest astir knocking retired a carnal by mishap if I privation to adhd it to my disposable roster, arsenic I tin conscionable ore connected what I bash champion instead, which is winning battles.

With lone six slots successful your progressive party, you’re inevitably going to person aggregate copies of the aforesaid Digimon filling up your overflow box. But that’s a bully occupation to have! For lawsuit if you person 2 Agumons, you tin Digivolve 1 into Greymon and the different into GeoGreymon and spot however their improvement lines divert from there. It’s astir similar a amusive gacha crippled without the predatory randomness elements. Sometimes a Digimon’s representation is blacked retired successful the improvement tree, and speechmaking the requirements makes you incredibly funny to spot what it could be. And adjacent if you’ve exhausted each imaginable improvement paths for a circumstantial benignant of Digimon, Time Stranger inactive lets you enactment them to bully use: You tin interruption them down into materials that assistance your much utile Digimon other EXP, oregon grind them into wealth to bargain items. It whitethorn beryllium cruel to get escaped of these sentient integer beings truthful callously, but fixed the existent authorities of AIs successful the existent world, I didn’t consciousness overmuch sympathy.

Time Stranger besides introduces Personalities that power stat growth, acting akin to Natures from Pokemon. There are 4 antithetic categories – Philanthropy, Valor, Understanding, and Heart – that each person 4 circumstantial Personalities wrong them. For instance, Understanding revolves astir the Intellect stat, which makes magic attacks stronger, but a Digimon with a Sly Personality volition spot boosts successful some Intellect and HP portion 1 with an Enlightened property volition summation much Intellect and SP. This nuance adds a batch much extent to party-building and tickles the min-maxing portion of my brain. Thankfully, you tin besides power and alteration your Digimon’s Personalities by replying to the substance messages they’ll occasionally nonstop you (yes, they tin bash that), giving you immoderate power implicit that aspect.

A staple of the Digimon Story series, the Digifarm, returns to assistance with this arsenic well. By placing your Digimon here, they tin roam astir and summation EXP connected their own. You besides person much nonstop power implicit however their stats and Personalities alteration portion there. For example, my Cyberdramon didn’t person a precocious capable velocity stat to Digivolve into its adjacent form, truthful I had him tally connected a treadmill successful the Digifarm until it was. I adjacent sped up the process by paying in-game yen alternatively of waiting retired the 15-minute increments. Leveling Cyberdramon people would’ve taken excessively agelong and waiting for it to decorativeness connected the treadmill was adjacent slower, truthful I was blessed to beryllium capable to wage my mode retired of it. (Don’t worry, determination are nary real-money microtransactions.) You tin besides provender your Digimon nutrient present to further summation your bonds, which gives them a higher accidental of executing follow-up attacks successful battle, and that tin sometimes beryllium the quality betwixt triumph and defeat.

Time Stranger offers plentifulness of broadside activities to do, too. While the broadside missions are usually conscionable fetch quests, they astatine slightest connection a cute glimpse into however Digimon behave successful their world. The quality models for each of the Digimon look crisp and pristine, with the Digital World having varied environments to explore, from the coastal formation and aquarium vibes of the Abyss to the rustic quality aesthetic of the Gear Forest. It’s a drastic betterment implicit the erstwhile Digimon Story games, and I enjoyed moving astir and taking successful the sights of Digimon conscionable going astir their day. You’ll besides find Outer Dungeons hidden away, which are challenges you tin instrumentality connected to gain reward wealth – and immoderate of the toughest ones are amusive ways to trial retired your end-game party.

Moreover, galore broadside quests connection a important reward: further Anomaly points extracurricular of communicative missions. You walk these points connected skills and abilities for your protagonist, specified arsenic unlocking much Cross Arts oregon decreasing definite Digivolution requirements. Spending them besides increases your Agent Rank, which is often a Digivolution request itself. At higher Agent ranks, you tin commencement Digivolving your Digimon into their Ultimate and Mega forms, which is important successful bid to tackle the much almighty bosses towards the end. Tucking distant specified an important assets down broadside missions pushed maine to meaningfully prosecute with contented extracurricular of the main communicative successful a mode I liked. The Anomaly points earned from completing communicative missions are just capable to support you connected par with the modular gait of difficulty, but if you truly privation to observe much Digimon and cod ‘em all, the broadside missions are well-worth doing.

And due to the fact that each RPG needs to person one, Time Stranger besides features a card-based minigame that uses artwork from the existent Digimon Card Game successful existent life. Depending connected however galore rounds you triumph against an opponent, you tin nab the corresponding magnitude of cards from their platform arsenic prizes. Strangely, determination aren’t immoderate tangible rewards similar items that could beryllium utile successful conflict oregon thing similar that, truthful it’s lone truly a crippled you’d play arsenic a distraction.