Typically you sit down at a recreation with no thought what to anticipate. That was how I felt after I received my first hands-on time with Digimon Story: Time Stranger at Summer time Sport Fest. I’m a lapsed Digimon fan, somebody who appreciated the franchise quite a bit as a child after which simply fell off as I received older. However after I performed Time Stranger, I shortly realized I had to concentrate. This was a JRPG with some good concepts. So after I received the shot at an excellent longer preview (about 4 hours) at PAX West, I took it, as a result of I needed to see if that preliminary impression held water. And I’m completely happy to say that I believe it does. Digimon Story: Time Stranger appears to get the Digimon sequence, however there’s additionally the muse of a extremely good JRPG right here, too. I imply the type that you might spend a very long time digging into. One which may be capable of attraction to Digimon oldheads whereas creating new followers. If licensed video games have a holy grail, it’s that. And Time Stranger would possibly be capable of discover it.
Let’s get this out of the way in which earlier than I am going any farther: Digimon isn’t a
And man, there’s some unusual stuff happening on this metropolis. Issues are shut down, and no person can go wherever. And what’s all this about being ready for tremors? After taking my girl and her very small hat for a stroll and chatting with some of us about what’s taking place, I confirmed up on the Wall of Hope, which was constructed after there was an explosion in Nishi-Shinjuku eight years prior, which has been the positioning of many anomalies. After I snuck inside, I bumped into my first Digimon, and it was time to decide on my companion. I picked Gomamon – my different choices had been Patamon and DemiDevimon – and set to work clearing out the native Digimon.
Time Stranger is, at its core, a turn-based RPG, a DVD Menu Sport’s DVD Menu Sport (complimentary). Which means your Digimon are available in three varieties – Information, Virus, and Vaccine. Virus beats Information, Vaccine beats Virus, and Information beats Vaccine. However Digimon even have elemental strengths and weaknesses, too, so it’s a must to choose the appropriate strikes and Digimon for the combat, and handle your flip order, which is proven on the appropriate aspect of the display. If you happen to hit one other Digimon with an assault, you’ll be capable of verify whether or not that Digimon was weak towards it (or resisted it) sooner or later. You can too verify on every thing you’ve discovered a couple of Digimon at any time. And in the event you land a pre-emptive strike from the sector, you begin fight with a large benefit or typically win the combat outright earlier than it begins.
Essentially the most attention-grabbing in-battle selection Time Stranger makes is permitting you to make use of objects or change your Digimon on the fly with out having it take a flip. Whereas this additionally makes it simpler to get the appropriate Digimon in place and use In Case of Emergency, Break Glass objects if you want one, it additionally means enemies could be a little meaner to you, which is cool. And in the event you lose a Digimon, you possibly can pull in a alternative out of your reserve crew. When you run out, although, that’s it. The battles I performed in my time with Time Stranger usually weren’t onerous until I used to be preventing one thing I clearly shouldn’t have been, however they had been partaking.
As you battle Digimon, you earn what’s known as Scan Price. As soon as it reaches 100%, you possibly can convert that Digimon and make them a member of your crew. Wait till you get to 200%, although, and also you’ll get a stronger Digimon. It’s a kind of “If you happen to wait 5 minutes, you possibly can have two marshmallows” issues, however it’s an attractive incentive. As well as, you may as well equip Digimon with Attachment Expertise, offering entry to strikes they wouldn’t usually get. And naturally, you possibly can Digivolve (and De-Digivolve) your Digimon when you meet sure necessities. The best factor right here, although, are personalities. Relying on the way you work together together with your Digimon, their personalities will change, which is able to change how their stats stage. There’s fairly a bit to it, however I like how a lot freedom to mess around with it you have got, and the way simple it’s to construct the Digimon you need.
After all, it’s not all battles right here. There’s a story, and I used to be intrigued by Time Stranger’s plot. I met up with a woman that appeared to know my character, however who neither I nor my operator acknowledged; befriended some Digimon; received chased by a extremely massive Digimon, and largely tried to determine what was happening. We all know Time Stranger is a time-travel story, however I didn’t get to see that in my playtime. I did, nonetheless, get to leap forward a bit, and that’s the place I actually received to play with Time Stranger’s techniques.
After my bounce, I discovered myself within the Digital World with a a lot greater stage crew. I used to be in a village of Digimon that had lately been attacked by a bunch known as the Titans. I began off by serving to Shellmon, the native healer, collect some supplies to make drugs. Alongside the way in which, I discovered Digimon hanging out, listening to a live performance, and simply having fun with a while alone. It actually made the world really feel lived in, and prefer it existed outdoors of me, which is what you need in a recreation like this. After a jaunt across the village – the place I found Digimon buying and selling playing cards, one thing producer Ryosuke Hara informed me was an homage to the unique Digimon (if you recognize, you recognize) – solely to find Shellmon had been treating Divermon, who labored for the Titans and was wounded throughout the battle. After the village is attacked once more, Divermon decides to attempt to get the Titans to cease. In any case, anybody keen to assist an enemy can’t be so unhealthy.
Earlier than I completed up that storyline, although, I took a while to discover what else there was to see. One of many coolest issues was the In-Between Theater, a type of pocket universe located between the true world and the Digital World. Right here, I may go to the Digifarm, the place I may place Digimon on the farm to coach them up, enhance their Bond with me, or change their persona. There was a Digifarm in Cyber Sleuth, however the one in Time Stranger is rather more customizable, permitting you to put extra Digimon and customise the varied tiles within the farm. Hara informed me that they needed a greater Digifarm, however additionally they needed it to be like an aquarium you might customise and the place you might see your Digimon work together and mingle with each other.
That sense of “this factor is yours” additionally speaks to why your character isn’t voiced and why they aren’t assigned a companion Digimon, like most of the different members of the solid are. That is your story, and also you’re meant to place your self within the footwear of your agent reasonably than taking part in a personality that comes pre-built for you. Is sensible, proper? About this time I additionally found I may change my outfit. And man, a lot as I liked my woman’s tiny hat, it was good to have the ability to have her rock a t-shirt.
After goofing off a bit, I discovered Shellmon’s pal Whalemon, who took me to the underside of the ocean to face off with the Titans. We tried diplomacy, for the report. It simply didn’t work. So we threw down with Sharkmon and his boys. He was robust; I needed to swap my crew, use my objects, and like each combat in my time with Time Stranger, I had a number of enjoyable going toe to toe (toe to fin?) with him; he simply wasn’t a match for Aegiomon. As soon as he was little greater than Sharkmon fin soup, my demo ended.
When my time with Digimon Story: Time Stranger wrapped, I used to be exhausted. Whenever you stand up after a four-hour demo, you are feeling it, particularly at an occasion like PAX. However I used to be additionally impressed by how briskly the time glided by, how each little factor in Time Stranger match collectively, and the way considerate so a lot of its high quality of life selections had been. If you happen to get sufficient Scan Price to Convert a brand new Digimon, you’re notified and you’ll bounce to that menu with the press of a button. The identical is true of when a Digimon completes its coaching on the Digifarm. You’ll be able to even velocity up the battles if you wish to transfer issues alongside.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger understands its style, one thing Hara made clear to me after I sat down with him. A JRPG can’t simply be about an amazing story and characters or an amazing battle system. It has to nail the little issues, too, and which means investing in each high quality of life selections that make life simpler for the participant whereas giving them sufficient depth to maintain them attention-grabbing for the lengthy haul.
Primarily based on what I performed at PAX, Digimon Story: Time Stranger is trying prefer it may pull that balancing act off. Like I stated, I’m a lapsed Digimon fan, but when what I performed is any indication, you type of don’t need to be one to love what Time Stranger has to supply. You simply need to need to play a cool JRPG with time journey in it. I’m nonetheless understanding how that matches in right here (we solely received glimpses), however at this level, that simply looks as if a cherry on prime of a wonderful cocktail. You’re right here for the mixology, and Digimon Story: Time Stranger appears like a scrumptious concoction. Let’s hope the sips we’ve been offered are an correct style of the entire drink.
