Admittedly the main reason for this is both to express my hype for this game just existing and also to spoiler tag post my way through the story. It feels like the kind of game where I'm almost going to want to look back on how I felt about this one as I went through it.
Ever since the original Digimon anime this kind of game has been something I'd have loved to see. Now obviously I didn't even think of that at the time and even after I did, it just felt like something that wouldn't happen. But here we are. I'm sure the visual novel style of much of the game isn't going to work for some. But this style of storytelling and this kind of combat feels right. If nothing else I love the idea of dropping these characters into a crazy situation like this and just seeing them process it. All the more so with knowing how dangerous this all is.
Will just keep my thoughts on the game below. And will be doubly safe to spoiler tag them into each chapter/part. So, shouldn't be at risk of spoiling anyone.
Spoiler for Story Thoughts:
Spoiler for Part 3:
Oh boy, they are on File Island! Yeah, not exactly but I think with the glorious helping of original anime main Digimon scattered around the early part of the game that we are totally allowed to draw that comparison.
This is definitely a chapter where the main cast acts like dumb kids. Ryo...oh my goodness. This guy has hit a level that's kind of amazing. Most characters when they reach the point of crying for their mommy on repeat...die relatively quickly. I figured he was being set up for an early death with being the most intensely fooled by Arukenimon. Well he mostly fooled himself, but that's the point. But he just keeps going. He keeps it up around her, around Cyclonemon, and around Haru. Even if the kid isn't human anymore or up to something...I feel bad for him being stuck with that guy.
I get it. In this kind of insane situation there's no guarantee I'd stay sane or alive. But wow watching Ryo just unravel was something else. I felt empathy for friend and foe alike who were just taken aback by how far gone he was .
And oh boy...that was quite the end. I'm not going to look into whether this was a necessary loss or related to choice quite yet. Honestly not sure since I didn't put that much effort into Ryo outside of when I had luxury moments to at least try to pay attention to him. Kunemon had his own evolutionary line, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Could just be a fakeout. Either way...I feel the worst for the Digimon here. His partner utterly fell apart, never really trusted him, and he actually ended up dying with him.
Now that's just plain interesting. Ties the lives of the Digimon and partners together nicely. And there's some logic to it. If they gain power to digivolve from that connection then it's possible that connection can have averse affects too. Either way though...that's rough. And it'll hammer the main cast quite a bit with seeing the guy getting snagged by creepy death hands. Not even quite sucked into a void since it seemed rather...messy.
Spoiler for Part 4:
This was a pretty packed chapter. Finally tracked down Miu which was nice. The girl was a pain at times, but things worked out by the end. And she did pay for being a bit spoiled by seeing the consequences of that. Even though no one died this time it still was enough having her see all the rookie digimon that were demolished while trying to protect her. And I do think it's fair to say that she had reasons to rebel against Kaito smothering her with concern. Although I'm sure he has his own reasons for being worried. The two care about each other, but there is work to be done for them to find the right balance. For him to express his worry and look out for her, while also not taking it too far. And she's probably the first person that doesn't want to leave.
Shuuji...he's got a road to walk here. I'm worried he'll end up going the way of Ryo if I'm not careful about it. He is definitely trying to look out for everyone. Although it gets to the point of leaving him paralyzed. Can't trust Jijimon, the potential gods involved in this, or even his own partner. Obviously suspicion isn't unwarranted in this world. Especially after they were tricked by Arukenimon. But he's spinning his wheels right now. And while I get where the story is trying to take him, it's still painful watching him being so mean to Lopmon. That poor Digimon is trying hard to be supportive. Lopmon has tried everything from helping search for food, not complaining more than it can help, and agreeing with Shuuji whenever possible. But just nothing is working. Shuuji's own issues are keeping him unable to open up and as we saw with Ryo...that's not a good sign.
It was interesting seeing Garurumon as an enemy here. Of course seeing Patamon, Biyomon, and Palmon as semi-antagonistic was a strange feeling. Definitely get the feeling that Garurumon did have a partner but things didn't work out or that they left him behind. I'd have thought it might be Haru/Miyuki considering that opening, but he didn't seem to react to them in particular. Heck, I'm still curious if Haru is the actual main villain. If he's doing all this to try and recover his sister's spirit or something.
I'm also trying not to intentionally just walk the 'moral' or middle of the road line. Sure I love the Greymon line, but I'm fine with things playing out however they would if I was being honest with myself.
Spoiler for Part 5:
Man...this was a tough one too. Part of me wonders if there was a way to save Shuuji or Ryo. But part of me figures that in this playthrough there wasn't. It just feels like their deaths are a necessary part of the plot and there's no avoiding it. Not only are those deaths intense, but they provide information about the world they are in. Ryo's death showed the impact of the fog, what happens to Digimon partners when the human partner dies, etc. It was an important death for hammering home the horrors of that world. Shuuji's death does similarly. It shows dark digivolutions. Basically SkullGreymon if it didn't just create a bit of havoc and instead tried to kill Tai! It serves as a reminder that while positive feelings can spur Digimon to evolve in amazing ways...negative emotions can spiral out of control until it turns into a nightmare. I do feel like a new game plus or 'fourth path' playthrough will allow both of them to be saved. I just feel like that will be a thing. So the story can get really messy. Also I'm betting here that the next one they are setting up to potentially die is Saki. They've killed a few guys in a row and it feels like something bad will happen with her...
And honestly it's a horrible thing. I haven't felt this bad for a Lopmon since Xros Wars. This was tough. Shuuji was constantly hard on him and there's barely any time where Lopmon was allowed to have fun and be happy during this story. He was either on the run with that group at the start or being insulted by Shuuji all the more so once the group came together. It does make you wonder if some force is trying to make Digimon and humans team up. Lopmon sticking with Shuuji through all that is hard to imagine. Of course maybe the story will explain the connection and why it forms. It did seem like they were actively waiting for the main cast after all. But regardless, it was a dark situation. Shuuji is obviously the "Joe" of this scenario. But their paths clearly don't align very far. Joe (well pre-reboot Joe) didn't obsess that much on leading. But maybe more importantly he wasn't having that responsibility pushed onto him. The group just pushed it onto Shuuji and also complained when they didn't like how he was leading. The social structure of senpai and kouhai utterly broke Shuuji. He couldn't handle it and couldn't trust anyone.
It does of course feel like Shuuji's background is what really killed him. The pressures exerted on him by his father to live up to some sort of family standard was too much. It was a sad thing to see even from those dreams and illusions. Shuuji wanted to respond to the expectations of his father, but couldn't. His brother didn't seem like a bad guy, but it's hard to tell since the focus really was on the father. I'd like to think the brother just tried to cover for him. But with Shuuj's mindset he couldn't accept that. Either way I'd say his qualities of wanting to respond to expectations and be what others wanted him to be both destroyed him and was reflected in Lopmon. Lopmon wanted to be what Shuuji wanted much like Shuuji wanted to be what his father wanted him to be. But they couldn't and the end result was what it was. Shuuji broke, got violent, and that was that. His father's behavior didn't get back to him, but Shuuji being like his father got instant consequence.
It's rough seeing what happened. I thought he'd simply get smashed, but instead...he was chewed up and eaten alive. That's messed up. The tragic thing is what happened to poor Lopmon. He turned into Wendigomon and lost himself. I'll fully admit I still felt worse for Wendigomon than Shuuji. He was broken, in pain, and suffering. The most the group could do for him at that point was put him down. That hurt to see...
Really did take the wind out of my sails from the hype of seeing MetalGreymon. And yes I did manage to keep on that usual evolutionary line. But wow...poor MetalGreymon. His first appearance was basically for a mercy kill. Bringing that incredible power to the table to let Wendigomon stop. Fitting that it really did take him down in one hit when I got back to fighting. I swear Arukenimon will pay for this one. She'll regret spurring these characters towards hitting the ultimate level.
There's a lot more going on in this chapter of course. The Professor surviving was actually a surprise. I really did just write him off. Sadly he comes back after the person he kind of pushed responsibility onto got killed. I'm curious what will happen. He doesn't have a partner and I feel like he won't live long. If only so the story can give leadership more officially to Takuma. But beyond that, I found a few things interesting. It was interesting seeing Renamon show up to protect (I'd really presume) her possibly former partner. Considering how the game opened up I'm not even sure if those siblings are human anymore and if Renamon and Garurumon are technically their partners. Although her saving them would make me think that she remembers who they are.
Plus there is the interesting thing with Saki and her medical information. What happened to that girl in the past? Really there are interesting drops of information for many of them. Miu clearly had something very bad happen at the last place she and Kaito lived at. It was bad enough that he turned into an overprotective force of nature. I kind of don't want to know, but I kind of do.
Spoiler for Part 6:
It's not exactly about this part. But I am starting to notice a few hiccups on the translation consistency. Say with Labramon. The story can't quite seem to commit to calling Labramon a she or he. Well it mostly stuck to she and then for part 5 it flipped to mostly using he. I'm guessing different translators were working on their own and not syncing up on things like that. Although I feel like these kinds of things should have been caught during play testing.
Anyways though, things of course start off pretty rough here. They did just watch Shuuji get eaten alive. That's...somewhat traumatic. And I suppose while it's obvious to me playing, it might not be obvious to the characters why that happened. Obviously Shuuji's negative thoughts spiraled out of control. He was at a point of literally beating up on Lopmon and demanding evolution. Of course that downright evil line of thinking (beat up my enemies, beat up my family, kill anyone that looks down on me) will lead to a bad result. I'm just thankful the Professor did show up to point out the obvious. Because it was getting to the point where I was going to lose it with Minoru. His negative and paranoid thinking was definitely getting out of hand. Kaito was trending in that direction too, but Minoru was completely nuts.
I kind of like that Aoi gets Labramon to reach the level of Cerberumon through a non-main event sequence. Probably for the best since they can't really give everyone a major dramatic event leading to evolutions or the game really would be insanely long. I just like that Labramon and Aoi have their moment in the woods, work through some stuff, and that takes things to the next level. And it reflects the whole concept of the human mind and heart impacting evolution. The claws and power that Cerberumon has reflects what Aoi desires. And that alone is something for Aoi to chew on. That's the shape her desire for power took. In that sense I also really agree with the direction of using digimon that normally have been antagonistic as allies. Sweet Aoi is partnering up with a digimon that looks pretty dark in Cerberumon. Same goes with Saki and how Floramon digivolves into Vegiemon. Not the normal allies you'd expect.
And I say all that before freaking Myotismon becomes one of the main partner Digimon for this! Wow, they really pulled out some interesting selections here. The whole group just steadily worked towards reaching the Ultimate level. Well waiting on Minoru, but that had more story stuff going on. At least the team seems powered up and ready to wreck their way through these enemies!
I do find the Professor situation interesting. At this point he's still lacking a name. And it really makes me think he might be Haru. Even though that seems weird since Haru also exists. But I'm getting that feeling from how Haru knows the professor, the old picture, and their interactions. I don't know. We did see Haru getting thrown back into that portal after...Miyuki seemed to be killed. So it could make sense for him to have gone back and spent his life trying to learn and understand the existence of the Digimon. Then he comes back through these events. Of course it raises the question of who and what Haru and Miyuki are. Are they remnant feelings/souls that were left behind? Miyuki seems pretty lifeless. Maybe this Haru is a part of the original that desperately wanted to save his sister. I don't know. They'll have to deliver some answers for me to really get it. But clearly these two matter. Especially with now having the enemies call Miyuki a Priestess.
Spoiler for Part 7:
Ok, finally can understand the Haru thing. I was getting baffled for a while there. But clearly Haru is Renamon. That does put the pieces together pretty nicely. The original Haru (the Professor) did go back to his own world. He lost his memories of all of it. He grew up though with an instinctive draw to the Digimon. While Renamon stayed behind. Somehow she found Miyuki again. Which I'm shocked about since...that didn't look good for her. But whatever she found was basically an empty shell. To help comfort her she probably chose to mimic Haru. And she tried to keep her safe in the digital world the whole time after. While with Garurumon...it was messier. His partner disappeared and he was left feeling betrayed. I will say that's a bit dumb since he clearly saw Haru being sucked into that space and being sent away. But, I suppose some people don't make the best reads. And he was left with plenty of time to be pissed off.
And oh boy, Piedmon is part of all this. Of course he was the leader of that group! On the positive side...outside of the deaths that seemed necessary, everyone else has gotten through it alright. Not sure if it's because I'm doing a good job keeping people alive or what. But it's comforting. Now they've got to deal with this mega level threat and they aren't quite ready for that. Obviously they'll reach the mega level. But right now they aren't close. I'm curious to see how this will all work out. The game remains super engaging. And if the unique branches that are probably coming up are really good...I'll probably give this a secondary run through.
Piedmon was as terrifying to fight as expected. Sure we're stretching things to not worry so much about levels so they had a chance to actually weaken the guy with just Ultimate level Digimon. But he was definitely a threat. Absolutely one-shot every opponent that got in his range. The only benefit was that he ignored MetalGreymon long enough to throw a few Giga Destroyers into his back! It did make it a bit hilarious though to give Garurumon this big moment to digivolve...and he got taken out of the fight against Piedmon before getting a single move . I choose to think that's why he was still salty at the end of the fight.
Things have finally clicked though. I'm still not sure why Renamon is avoiding revealing things to the other kids. But whatever. At least the events make sense now and I can focus on being curious about the deities involved in all this, the fog, etc. Curious what the final part is going to exactly tie into. I suppose the current caretaker of this world will be the major threat, but who knows. It might go beyond that.
Spoiler for Part 8:
Yeah, we had to have a moment like this. Gotta include the whole "returning back to the real world for a bit" part. They really are just making a deadlier version of the original adventure . Gotta send the cast back, give them time to work things out, and decide to return. Really love Miyuki here. She's been utterly amazing since getting her soul back. Of course it's no shock she was basically unable to do anything with half her soul stolen by the big boss. But she's been a star since getting back. Using her powers to open up gates and giving the MC a small kick to the rear. Obviously I get him being shaken up and not being eager to go back. But yeah, that's the path that must be taken.
Honestly, I am curious to give the other routes a playthrough since it does seem like this branching path gets interesting. Taking the standard route of sticking with his friends. But I wonder what happens if you just say "nope, not doing it." Does Miyuki just go back by herself? Bad ending? Who knows! But I like the understandable pressure of going back into a death trap after just getting out of there.
Spoiler for Part 9 (Moral):
You don't often see the dramatic 'slap' actually end up being treated as a negative for the one giving it. Miu took that hit like a champ and just used it to further her point. Clearly bad things have happened to them and specifically to Miu in the past. But he's gotten so obsessed with protecting her from everything that he's tried turning her into a possession to be guarded at all cost instead of a family member with a will of her own. I can get him being negative on focusing too much on Miyuki since no one has seen her in her full state during this adventure besides Takuma and Agumon.
But makes sense with all the reveals. The timing seems odd since Miyuki was in the real world for most of the days the main cast should have been under siege. Maybe moving back and forth has some weird time shenanigans that I'm not grasping. Or maybe she was literally split into two people and one left while the other stayed. But either way...things aren't good. She's pretty thoroughly possessed and I don't think calling out to her is going to be good enough. It works, but not very long and not without a lot of risks. But they can't kill her. Although I'm starting to worry that will either happen or it could happen in different playthroughs. Just seems wrong for this girl to shoulder all the horrors after the price she's already paid.
Finally did get through to the mega evolution. And yeah it was pretty awesome rolling around the map with Wargreymon. Curious what other Megas Agumon could turn into. But it was nice to start off with the classic! Just ripping through these enemies. Of course the rest will likely catch up in Part 10. But for now I'm having a great time with taking the next step in power. Though I've got no idea how the story will work out. Things are definitely in a messy spot.
Spoiler for Part 10 (Moral):
Did end up getting to the point of others reaching mega. But also realizing the limits of how many characters I actually interacted with! I was able to get Aoi, Saki, and Miu to high enough bond levels that they reached that point. But I just fell short with Minoru. Kaito...was really far behind. I did want to build up a connection with him, but timing just didn't give me that much leeway. So those characters aren't likely to be that useful in the final battles. Will have to swap over to some of the free digimon I've got leveled all the way to mega to fill those spots. Which is fine. I get good use out of Gallantmon, Machinedramon, etc.
Finally got Renamon on side which was nice. Though she made it difficult! Was nice seeing her steadily reach the powered up levels of ultimate and mega. She'll also be a handy ally so long as she doesn't try to kill everyone again . And things are coming clean. I'm still not sure if they can seriously stop 'the Master' without killing Miyuki. But darn it I hope so! Maybe it will be a tragic ending that allows for the NG+ to have a bigger impact? But I guess I'll see what happens! I'm a bit nervous about other routes though. Though I can imagine how some might differ. Garurumon basically disappeared after the split so he probably was a bigger part of different routes. And maybe they don't focus as hard on saving Miyuki in other routes which puts Renamon out of the story. But for now I'll see how this story finishes up and hope it has a happy ending .
Spoiler for Part 11 (Moral):
So things definitely kept moving along. I guess this took care of my questions about Garurumon. He just...took a while to return to the story. But it all worked out. He rejoined the team, reached Mega, and it was fun washing over enemies with Wargreymon and MetalGarurumon along for the ride. So no complaints here. Saving Miyuki was as brutal a fight as expected. That thing really didn't want to give her up. And really didn't look good for a while there. The battle to get her was pretty chaotic with a lot of powerful enemies in the way. But they pulled it off.
Managed to get Miyuki back (for good I hope) and even reached Omnimon. Of course hilariously they fused while one of them was in a confused state which left him in a confused state. After wiping out most of my remaining team he broke out of it and finished the fight ! Did pay with the price of losing Renamon. But it also allowed for the info drop of seeing a digi egg being formed. Of course calling it that with the theme of this game so far feels a bit off, but it's all good . And we even started breaking into the concept of how the regular human world and world of the digimon connect. One of those times when human faith fading having caused all sorts of trouble! Kind of crazy that the main cast may have to go back and try to get humanity to rekindle their faith. That or just start cult followings and see how that goes .
Spoiler for Part 12 (Moral):
Not a bad ending. They managed to win the day. Honestly I half expected the last boss to be Apocalymon considering how heavy the S1 references were. But I suppose his origins and this guy were somewhat distinct. Not that I'm discounting the possibilities of him showing up in a true ending route or something. But anyways, they did manage to put a stop to that guy and get everyone back home. I'm a bit surprised they had the group stay behind especially since it was just based on a feeling of it being too early for them to go to the real world.
But I get the idea there. They do need to slowly build up faith and attention towards the Digital World and get some cult followers. Build up a modern urban legend about it and keep the thoughts alive regarding that world in order to protect it. Classical religion carried it in the past, but that faded heading into the modern age. Now they'll use digital social media to try and get a similar effect. And it did take to the very end, but they did eventually start calling them Digimon . And it does make sense. In the past they were really kemonogami. But now they can be something else framed through a digital lense. Not digital creatures inherently but fantastical entities that are treated like digital entities because people just don't know any better than to see them that way. Honestly that's not a bad way to establish the new status quo for Digimon and their origins.
Spoiler for Part 9 (Wrathful):
Oh my god . If Moral was a fairly idealized route, Wrathful just sends everything off the rails! RIP Saki! She wasn't the last one I could see dying. But she wasn't exactly first either! I did have a bad feeling with the focus going on Saki's medical situation. But I didn't think that would happen! I was more concerned about Miu and Kaito. Although I suppose that could still be a possibility for death and chaos. But geeze, that was rough. They did everything they could. This wasn't a death where they were completely blindsided. They tried. No surprise this utterly destroyed Aoi. She did everything she could to save Saki. She struggled until the bitter end to save her friend. But they couldn't do it. They couldn't save her. And Saki did the only thing she could in letting go in order to stop them all from going down with her. That hurt.
It feels as if that's the focus of this arc. I think calling this route or option Wrathful isn't the best call. I'd say Selfishness or Reckless fits better. Because that's what happened here. Miu was shaken up by this situation which was understandable. But Kaito lost his cool and acted recklessly. He charged out to fight. Now it was out of a desire to both protect his sister and make the enemy pay for scaring her. But Miu already made her point earlier when Kaito slapped her when she called him out. Kaito can't control his anger and uses Miu as an excuse to just vent violently. And that is what cost them here. He ran off and that set everything off. Now a lot of it is on Saki though. She was stupid here. Maybe because she couldn't avoid thinking about her own mortality and health, she couldn't just retreat. She saw one of those small digimon die and she couldn't stand letting another one die. So she took risks again and again. Even when the fog was on them Saki still couldn't listen to Aoi and accept that they couldn't save them all. And because she was reckless...it could her everything. She at least understood what she was going to cost everyone near the end. But she couldn't be saved.
No surprise Aoi just broke here. She'd been carrying the weight of leadership all that time. Everyone just acting a bit selfishly around her made things tough. And then her friend died. Saki was someone that reflected what Aoi wanted. She wanted to be more open, more cheerful, and more able to say "forget the rules" and do what she felt was right. And yet that person she thought the world of...died. She literally slipped out of Aoi's grasp and she died. That's not easy to handle and I'm not sure if she can rebound from this.
Also I will say it was kind of wild to get Machinedramon instead as a Mega. It reflects the selfish and reckless nature of Takuma in this arc. This hulking metal monster reflects the pure need for power that Takuma desired at that time. All the biology utterly drained away from Agumon and leaving a deadly machine. Can even feel the creepy darkness of this evolution in how he talks and behaves. I'm curious how this will play out
Spoiler for Part 10 (Wrathful):
You can just feel how this isn't going well for Aoi even early in the chapter. She's slipping and no one can really find a way to stop her from doing it. Even if they drew the obvious comparison to Shuuji, stopping someone on a decline like this is easier said than done. In that sense you can draw a lot of similarities between Saki/Aoi and Ryo/Shuuji. Saki spent time with Ryo and the story noted that she saw him as a kindred spirit in a way. And she died in a similar way to him. Sucked into the fog and...messy end. So I'm worried and fearing for Aoi right now. I can't see her beating up Labramon out of rage. But that doesn't mean her negative emotions won't cause Labramon to dark digivolve. Definitely not something I want to see happen. But I could really see this happening.
The other possible result is Kaito going off the deep end again and doing something stupid. But weirdly I don't feel that here (who knows, maybe they are saving that for the third regular route). It feels as if he gets his role in this. That him flying off the handle lead to Saki going off and everything got worse. So I could see him being a much more sensible person here. If not...possibly taking more of a leadership role if Aoi continues her decline.
Darn it Professor and Labramon you two had one job! Keep an eye on the girl spiraling! Also I appreciate Renamon realizing that yes...this one is kind of on her!
Spoiler for Part 11 (Wrathful):
You can definitely see the pattern at this point. Once you start getting backstories and flashbacks...it's not a good sign. No one really survives that. Aoi's flashback made sense of course. It fits that she was the kind of person that had a lot of responsibilities pushed onto her because people felt like she was a doormat. That she'd do all the work while they ran off to do what they wanted to do instead. Of course the teacher said it was bad, but he never actually put himself on the line to confront the class about it. Aoi herself didn't confront anyone on it. She just sucked it up and held herself back. And things were turning in a better direction since she'd gotten to that world. There was grief and loss, but she was opening up. And she was starting to grow to love herself a bit more. She took the lead at times, but everyone wanted to stick with her too.
Unfortunately losing Saki just was a loss too big to handle. She couldn't appreciate that Saki respected Aoi for who she was as much as Aoi did for her. Her lack of appreciation of her self worth made her think she was the one who let Saki go, that she was at fault, and she couldn't handle it. And eventually she just broke. She's a mix of Ryo and Shuuji in that sense. Losing her sanity out of grief and leaving poor Labramon with a partner that was sliding over the edge.
Wow. There are times when I feel like I've got a good handle on this game and what it will do. But there are also times when it does catch me offguard. I fully expected Aoi to just go out similarly to Shuuji. She'd go off the rails, Labramon would dark digivolve and they'd have to deal with that. And in a sense that's what happened, but not really. I absolutely didn't think they'd go Tamers on us! That they basically combined a dark digivolution with biomerge was definitely not something I was ready to call. That Aoi didn't just turn into a victim but the final boss of this route is just hard to process!
I suppose it makes sense to a degree. Evolution in this game is fueled by feelings and desires. Hard to have stronger desires than when on the brink of death. The desire not to die and to accomplish what you'd leave unfinished would have to be powerful. Aoi's darkness blossomed at the brink of death and tragically merged with Labramon. I suppose if the Master was getting all that power from absorbing humans then it doesn't surprise that Aoi and Labramon merging could create some intense power. Plutomon ironically was an easier fight than Piedmon, but having her in cutscene wipe the field still hammered the point home. As well as her crushing Piedmon in an instant.
Also seriously...that Piedmon fight before the biomerge was easily the hardest fight in the entire game! Piedmon boosting his speed basically made him impossible to hit and he was one-shotting everyone I had! This was the first time I had to leave the battle, grind on free battles while coming up with a strategy. Honestly the key was just using a speed debuff on him as much as possible. That dropped his evasion and seemed to whittle down his damage a bit.
I honestly thought that after he got a hold of Aoi that she would simply die there. And that alone would have been tragic. In her unstable mindset she truly thought that healing their enemy would make them see the light. Her line about him tricking her wasn't even fair since he never gave any indication that he wanted to cooperate. Aoi just foolishly made that choice to heal him and got herself and Labramon nearly killed for it. Really sad to see how she ended up.
Plutomon does fit pretty well as a followup for the evolution line that Labramon was on. Aoi was constantly leading Labramon to darker power as she went along. Visually Plutomon just fits in a scary way. It's just too bad she's looking like a villain that we'll have to deal with. I wish there was at least a way to spare Aoi to let her and Labramon exist in that world even if she can't go home. But with how crazy she appears...I just don't know. The group were as terrified as they've ever been here. Aoi looking ready and able to slaughter them in an instant if they even complained...
Spoiler for Part 12 (Wrathful):
Ok seriously. Aoi is basically going full Evangelion here. Trying to merge all of reality into herself. Makin everyone...one and bringing "peace". It's sad how far gone she is now. I can only imagine the confusion and grief for Labramon. She did everything she could to try and save Aoi. And yet all that's happened is Aoi going further and further down the road to madness.
It is wild that she basically walked in there and crushed the final boss by herself. I wonder what that guy was thinking when this human he cornered basically just wrecked him without mercy? Sadly it still means that Aoi has to be stopped. Otherwise there's no hope left at all for anyone.
For a moment I did honestly think that Aoi went down. That she overestimated her own power and simply got defeated. I think that was partly true in that she couldn't beat the Master head on. But man...it shows how twisted and gone she'd finally reached. I mean she was laughing over Miyuki dying, over manipulating the good hearts of her friends to try and "avenge her" and used all of it to gain near unlimited power. In the state she's in...she just doesn't get it. Doesn't get how she's tormenting the souls of Ryo, Shuuji, and Saki to the point that the main cast can hear it! She's just totally broken and it's a tragic sight. All that's left is to put her down. No matter how many times they beat her down, she's not going to come to her senses. I can't see a path where she survives. And I say this before fighting her one last time.
Wow, that wasn't a bad ending either. Obviously it was plenty tragic. Miyuki died and we never really got to see her again after the decision to go down this route. She went back to that world with the desire to save her brother, see Renamon, and save the world and just died quietly on her own. The losses were heavy this time around. Saki (Floramon) died, Aoi (Labramon) died, and Miyuki (Renamon) also died. Aoi's passing was sadly almost a relief by the time it happened. She really only came to her senses in her dying moments and not sure she would have ever been able to realize it before that point.
What made this ending really good though was the aftermath . This wasn't a "kill the enemy and everything goes back to normal" moment. Instead the process that Aoi began in fusing the worlds and opening that gate only intensified. The gate got larger and the connection between the two worlds only intensified. That alone would have made things interesting. But they really went all in with it! The world is driven into chaos with digimon showing up all over the place. Some people find partners, some don't. And some are good people to those partners and some aren't. And the main cast basically turn into these freedom fighters ! Governments are rounding up anyone with a partner to basically throw them into internment camps. Something that seems like an iffy idea since that's a good way to drive people into a corner and unleash some dark digivolutions onto the world. But regardless, that's the way they went. So the main cast are basically finding and rescuing various people and their partners. Training up their own global army ! The aim of course is finding the cooperation that Aoi died trying to find (just through the absolute wrong methods). It'd be kind of fun to see how that one played out long term!
Spoiler for Part 9 (Harmony):
While I can't be sure exactly what will happen (this game is good at pulling twists on me), I am absolutely worried for Miu. No one gets backstories shown in this game and have a good time afterwards! That's a bad sign! At least it does explain what was going on with her and Kaito. Originally I thought there was some familial abuse or something and that's what they were hinting at. Sorry to Miu's parents, because apparently that wasn't an issue. She ended up with a stalker and it was serious enough that the guy went to jail. So I do get Kaito being really overprotective after that. But I also get why Miu is upset too. As far as she's concerned, she did nothing wrong. And no matter what her family actually thinks, the impression they gave is that they thought she was partially at fault. Or at least they didn't give the impression that they saw her as 100% free of any responsibility. So she ends up getting banished to the rural area and that probably set her off. And then she's got Kaito being really hyper protective thanks to the whole stalker thing. Now I get why he is protective. His sister was stalked by someone that serious and dangerous. So I do get it. But it warped their relationship and just made things hard. I'm worried about what will happen. But...I'll see how this goes.
And yeah...that went about as expected. That sucks. Poor Miu. The moment she finally started to get Kaito to acknowledge her...this happens. She was finally getting through to him. That she wanted him facing her, even standing with her, instead of just always standing in front of her and leaving her nothing to see but his back. It's too bad since he was realizing that he needed to listen to her more. Sadly, it came at the one time they shouldn't have listened to her. In not being willing to give up anything...they ended up losing one of their own. Poor girl.
Spoiler for Part 10 (Harmony):
You can definitely read how things aren't looking good for Kaito. It might not play out in the way I expect. But I do expect some recklessness and a dark digivolution. He lost the one person he dedicated everything to protecting. He's just too raw and angry to handle this. And while trying to live up to Miu's memory and not lose anyone else is a fine mindset for everyone...it doesn't do any good for Kaito. It ends up feeling like they are treating Miu's life like a stepping stone. Even with that not being the intention...they still feel it.
Kind of a given that Kaito would snap eventually. I get the idea that they feel like they need Renamon to reach Miyuki. And they also need Miyuki in order to get home. And really Miyuki is as much a victim as anyone so abandoning her woould taste pretty bad. But even if Kaito wasn't already spiraling...that would set him off anyways. Siding with someone that sided with the person that got his sister killed? Yeah, that's not going to fly.
Dracmon must have a pretty high tolerance for negativity considering that he hasn't dark digivolved already yet. But considering how often Kaito flies off the handle it must take a lot more to throw him over the edge than it did with Lopmono. But considering Kaito is already on the level of killing everyone...it's only a matter of time.
Spoiler for Part 11 (Harmony):
Still only early on...but yeah this is going to get messy. If nothing else I'm glad to have gone down this route to better understand Kaito and Miu. But just shows how over the edge Kaito really was. I'm amazed he didn't end up in serious trouble considering he nearly beat Miu's stalker to death. I guess the authorities considered it just. Can't say the stalker didn't deserve the double whammy of getting beaten up and sent to jail. Even if it's a pretty standard path...it's still sad to see. Kaito already starting to forget what Miu even looked like in comparison to his rage. Going over the cliff to avenge her, but eventually will likely forget what she looks like or even what her voice sounds like. Even if you can see a sad ending for him coming, it'll be interesting to see how we get there...
Man, it is a good thing that I built up some respect for Kaito in other routes. Because wow...he's gone at this point. Not even the respectable kind of "going over the edge, but with the best of intentions" kind of gone. He's just completely given into his rage and utterly given up on controlling himself period. Ready to burn two worlds down and kill billions to avenge Miu. Completely disregarded how she tore him a new one after he lost his cool and slapped her earlier. Without her there to apply the breaks to his rage there's just no stopping it.
Sadly Dracmon had too much respect for Kaito. Honestly that's the only way I can look at it. Sure, he did try at points to apply the breaks. But in the end he still chose to go along with Kaito's monstrous desires and couldn't fight him on that point. The end result...is what it is. Now I didn't honestly expect a fusion with Piedmon. Myotismon has enough darkness to him as it is. Putting them together...not a good thing. That's one scary old man.
Spoiler for Part 12 (Harmony):
Oh boy. This was a ride. I did expect Kaito to die, but I didn't think it would be like that. He actually did come to his senses. And it was a reminder of what is good about him. Once that rage passes there's so much potential good there that you just wish he could reign it in more consistently. But sadly it was too late. It's sad that losing his anger led to the Dracmon part of that evolution weakening and thus Piedmon took over. Though I'm proud of him risking his life to try and save Miyuki. He might have failed, but he did the right thing at the bitter end.
I didn't think the Professor would die! Although I suppose brothers trying to save a sister and failing fit the path that this story went on. It's a sad result there. They both couldn't save her. Now the whole group did team up to stop Boltboutamon from the inside, but that didn't save their lives. It just...left them all to fade at last.
I'm finding things interesting with how this story played out. The cast coming together to try and bring hope to the world. It's kind of sweet having them work with a lab, trying to help kids understand their connections to digimon, and just hoping to combat hate and prejudice with understanding. But it also hits home that this isn't the best possible result. The world is still hurting and they can't do everything. They aren't able to really connect with those that don't have partners. Some are angry and fearful just in general. But I'm sure some are afraid of how they could be treated by those with power and feel left out to not have met their other half. It's not a bad ending. But it definitely has somber elements. Especially since so man good characters were lost in it.
Spoiler for Part 5 (Truthful):
I will say that Ryo has settled in pretty well. There were some rough spots right after his survival. Mostly having the cast acting the same way as if he died and having them be really afraid of the creepy hands. Now don't get me wrong...those things are creepy. But they weren't freaking out over hands that grabbed their friend and killed him in the original routes. It is what it is of course. They didn't want to rewrite that much more in having them be rather chill after the whole Ryo thing. The good thing though is that after that Ryo really eased into a much more likable character. I'm not sure if they can pull that off with Shuuji. Going through the early parts of this chapter reminded me why his death...really wasn't sad. I always felt worse for Lopmon dying than him. But I'm sure they'll take their best shot at redeeming him too.
Really with trauma behind him Ryo is doing good. He's still a bit rough, but less so than Kaito. There's figuring out that he's not alone and a solid bond with Kunemon forming. I appreciate Flymon being the next evolution and still not actually getting dialogue. Kind of be fun if none of his evolutions could speak words we understand XD.
Yeah, they did their best to make it work with Shuuji. I'm sure he's going to completely mellow out past this point which is a relief. It'd be a nightmare to keep him alive and a jerk after all. But hey at least Lopmon didn't have to die which is nice. Little guy deserves some happiness out of life considering what a bad hand he was dealt.
Spoiler for Taking Wrath, Harmony, and Moral endings into consideration here:
I wonder if Kaito is going to die...I was surprised when he got to keep Boltboutamon leaving the harmony route. With Aoi you could see it coming a bit since she had 3 final megas. And you have to presume one is being saved for the truthful ending for everyone. I didn't get a regular mega for Kaito in the other routes since I just didn't get that affection high enough. Now maybe that's a given and I didn't make mistakes. Or maybe he was supposed to get one and he won't need one for the truthful ending because...he doesn't make it. But who knows. Maybe he only has the bad end mega and the truthful mega. It's possible
Spoiler for Part 6 (Truthful):
As expected...we're seriously doing this. It just doesn't work. I know they'd have to rewrite a bunch of interactions. But that'd be better than trying to force everyone to freak out...over Lopmon momentarily having creepy black fog coming off of him. Nothing else happened! Plus Shuuji was clearly the more frightening thing out of that whole situation. It just doesn't work having the characters freak out on their partners and the Falcomon and Minoru temporary breakup over nothing. Without Shuuji's death it just feels silly. Thank god outside of a few Ryo and Shuuji lines you can skip through this. Because it's definitely a must-skip portion.
At least we get the Ultimate forms for Kunemon and Lopmon to shake things up a bit. Good for Kunemon that his ultimate can actually talk. At least they did keep it humorous by not letting Takuma or anyone else actually hear him . It was definitely a bit weird since I've never thought about Kunemon's actual personality. So giving it a voice was interesting.
Ok seriously, Lopmon is a treasure. It's a shame that he basically is dead for most of my play-time with this game . Of course that does make his death in the main routes so impactful. He just never got to hit the ground running. Most ofo the time he was basically getting harassed, insulted, or worn down. So it's pretty refreshing having Lopmon free to just be pure positivity and have that be respected.
Spoiler for Part 7-9 (Truthful):
Honestly there wasn't much to say about anything before part 9. It was basically the same plot with just a few moments for Ryo and Shuuji to chip in their points of view. Part 9 is where things are starting to open up. Shuuji still fell back and Aoi took over leadership, but that allowed him to support Haru in his research. I'm sure that will be the breakthrough they needed in this scenario. And Ryo is still mostly just playing a supportive role. But he's also a lot more useful than Minoru in that sense .
They finally noticed the 4 godly digimon that were in charge of things and sealed the Master away in the past. So at least they know that these four are important and that they should be trying to either find them or find out what happened to them. How did that crazy revenge seeking beast end up dominating that world and break free? Probably has to do with humanity losing their connection to the digimon, but we'll see.
Things have picked up nicely in 9 though. Finally got to move things along and the sovereigns are being brought into the picture. Makes sense that finding them will be an essential element. And I definitely like the main cast likely getting those four as alternate mega evolutions. Labramon getting to evolve into Baihumon is a fitting pick. Based on the menu it looks like Labramon, Falcomon, Floramon, and Syakomon will end up inheriting those evolutions. With Agumon doing his own thing, Kunemon and Lopmon just getting the evolutions they missed out on by...dying.
Spoiler for Part 10 (Truthful):
Ok, so dealt with Renamon and now have a couple of the Soverigns on their side. Things looking solid for them so far. Renamon as usual was definitely pushing the frustration level until finally rejoining the team. Honestly I get Ryo not being all that cool about this considering how they interacted with each other. But that's how it goes sometimes. Have to stomach people you aren't a fan of to get through things.
They are of course getting a lot of extra world building. But most of it are things you could gleam from the other routes too. Although it is somewhat interesting that it seems like these guys ended up partners with the digimon that turned into the sovereigns. With their one friend going off the rails and presumably going dark biomerge with his partner. Or at least something like that.
I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive, since I wanted a physical Switch edition and it was a pain to find one. Should be here by the end of next week, at least.
Admittedly the main reason for this is both to express my hype for this game just existing and also to spoiler tag post my way through the story. It feels like the kind of game where I'm almost going to want to look back on how I felt about this one as I went through it.
Ever since the original Digimon anime this kind of game has been something I'd have loved to see. Now obviously I didn't even think of that at the time and even after I did, it just felt like something that wouldn't happen. But here we are. I'm sure the visual novel style of much of the game isn't going to work for some. But this style of storytelling and this kind of combat feels right. If nothing else I love the idea of dropping these characters into a crazy situation like this and just seeing them process it. All the more so with knowing how dangerous this all is.
Spoiler for Story Thoughts:
Spoiler for Part 3:
Oh boy, they are on File Island! Yeah, not exactly but I think with the glorious helping of original anime main Digimon scattered around the early part of the game that we are totally allowed to draw that comparison.
This is definitely a chapter where the main cast acts like dumb kids. Ryo...oh my goodness. This guy has hit a level that's kind of amazing. Most characters when they reach the point of crying for their mommy on repeat...die relatively quickly. I figured he was being set up for an early death with being the most intensely fooled by Arukenimon. Well he mostly fooled himself, but that's the point. But he just keeps going. He keeps it up around her, around Cyclonemon, and around Haru. Even if the kid isn't human anymore or up to something...I feel bad for him being stuck with that guy.
I get it. In this kind of insane situation there's no guarantee I'd stay sane or alive. But wow watching Ryo just unravel was something else. I felt empathy for friend and foe alike who were just taken aback by how far gone he was .
And oh boy...that was quite the end. I'm not going to look into whether this was a necessary loss or related to choice quite yet. Honestly not sure since I didn't put that much effort into Ryo outside of when I had luxury moments to at least try to pay attention to him. Kunemon had his own evolutionary line, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Could just be a fakeout. Either way...I feel the worst for the Digimon here. His partner utterly fell apart, never really trusted him, and he actually ended up dying with him.
Now that's just plain interesting. Ties the lives of the Digimon and partners together nicely. And there's some logic to it. If they gain power to digivolve from that connection then it's possible that connection can have averse affects too. Either way though...that's rough. And it'll hammer the main cast quite a bit with seeing the guy getting snagged by creepy death hands. Not even quite sucked into a void since it seemed rather...messy.
How has it been so far for you? How's the balance between the VN segments and the RPG segments? I'm asking as I've been thinking about picking this up, but I'm not sure whether I sure purchase it now or wait until a sale on PSN.
How has it been so far for you? How's the balance between the VN segments and the RPG segments? I'm asking as I've been thinking about picking this up, but I'm not sure whether I sure purchase it now or wait until a sale on PSN.
It's been good for me so far. The 60-70% VN to tactical battle breakdown has been pretty consistent with what I've seen floated around. Although a lot of the time a free battle option is out there to break things up during the exploration/investigation/interaction parts. And since you can recruit wild Digimon through them it's a good place to spend time.
Definitely a VN style experience first. Just with it's own morality system (which I appreciate connecting to Agumon's evolutions). Thankfully though there is plenty of interaction. Even if you are still doing a lot of reading. Nice to choose where to spend time, get fairly regular dialogue options, and build up my team.
It's working out for me. Enough RPG elements with a good story that is only getting started at this stage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GDB
I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive, since I wanted a physical Switch edition and it was a pain to find one. Should be here by the end of next week, at least.
I also ended up going for the Switch version. Just pre-ordered with in-store pickup to make it easier. Normally I'd just wait for the postal system to take care of that side of it though.
I've only finished part 3, and in the early part of 4.
Spoiler for part 3:
I wonder if it's possible to save Ryo, I did increase my affinity with him and it was pretty high too (in the 20s) and he still died.
Spoiler for Part 3:
I wonder about that as well. I did somewhat neglect him at times, but wasn't sure how much impact it took. Part of me thinks it's an unavoidable death at least in the main story. It's important to hit home the threat level and what happens to partner digimon if their partner dies.
But I think it's gotta be possible. Maybe in a NG+ or something. I just get the feeling that he can be saved somehow.
After such a long time, feels like Bandai Namco finally managed to nailed budget - replay value again, and its DIGIMON of all title.
VN format might be not everyone cup of tea as it can be repetitive and requires you to check all possible options if you wanted it to be perfect, but for VN format this one definitely score as one of better title especially if you familiar with Digimon franchise.
Love the cast design for being low-key based on first Digi-Destined (Agumon's partner is modern Taichi, Labramon's partner is modern Sora, Floramon's partner is modern Mimi, there's also modern Joe and Yamato), feels like they traced back to first Digimon and get idea of "Hey what if we gave more 'modern' storytelling to this".
I'm not following Digimon for long time so I don't know much but I really like how:
Spoiler for :
Digimons are kemonogami, youkai that adapted to technological advance, thus no digivolve terms because it doesn't make sense for them in Survive. For the first time it sounds like the franchise should get ready for better world building if this series managed to expand into another works rather than take the easy way with "manifestation of internet or game world" as usual Digimon games.
The morality system ... I guess its replacement to the usual Vaccine, Data and Virus categorizing?
__________________
Life is simple, that's why it became complicated. -
Poor Lopmon, never had a positive moment with Shuuji, was constantly pushed away and at the end was forced into dark evolution. But damn didn't see coming what would happen next, Wendigomon eating Shuuji was shocking.
In the beginning I did wonder why the the tactical combat only had 6 slots while there are 8 main characters, but getting rid of Shuuji and Ryo fixes that problem. Although I suspect Haru's sister has Renamon as a partner especially with the reveal Garurumon was Haru's partner.
I also entertained the idea of this game getting an anime adaptation but I suspect some moments are too dark for a children anime.
Whew. Was fun getting through my first playthrough of the game. It was definitely everything I had been hoping for. Although I think they could have bolstered the tactical combat even more (add more inherent attack skills and such). But it was really good. I'm happy to have played this and will hope it gets enough love to get a similar kind of game made in the future. There's a lot of potential for this kind of digimon game and this one showed it.
Now to decide if I'm just going to explore the other moral paths (wrath or harmony) or go straight onto the fourth route. I'm curious to try and fix a few mistakes. Or even possibly make more next time...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tactics
After such a long time, feels like Bandai Namco finally managed to nailed budget - replay value again, and its DIGIMON of all title.
VN format might be not everyone cup of tea as it can be repetitive and requires you to check all possible options if you wanted it to be perfect, but for VN format this one definitely score as one of better title especially if you familiar with Digimon franchise.
Love the cast design for being low-key based on first Digi-Destined (Agumon's partner is modern Taichi, Labramon's partner is modern Sora, Floramon's partner is modern Mimi, there's also modern Joe and Yamato), feels like they traced back to first Digimon and get idea of "Hey what if we gave more 'modern' storytelling to this".
I'm not following Digimon for long time so I don't know much but I really like how:
Spoiler for :
Digimons are kemonogami, youkai that adapted to technological advance, thus no digivolve terms because it doesn't make sense for them in Survive. For the first time it sounds like the franchise should get ready for better world building if this series managed to expand into another works rather than take the easy way with "manifestation of internet or game world" as usual Digimon games.
The morality system ... I guess its replacement to the usual Vaccine, Data and Virus categorizing?
I didn't expect how much they would recapture the feel of the original series. Taking a lot of familiar elements and characteristics from that original cast and putting them into new characters. Shuuji and Joe are definitely different in some ways, but you can find the similarities too. Of course there are some characters that didn't make a direct shift over so it's not simply doing the same thing over again.
Spoiler:
It does feel like this is a great way to give a fresh push to the franchise. They don't always have to be actual digital monsters that were made when humanity started up online. Having them be more like youkai that are being framed by humanities current digital focus makes sense. It at the very least allows the franchise to get a bit more creative in some ways. Or at least they aren't as restricted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blaat
Spoiler for part 5 and early part 6:
Poor Lopmon, never had a positive moment with Shuuji, was constantly pushed away and at the end was forced into dark evolution. But damn didn't see coming what would happen next, Wendigomon eating Shuuji was shocking.
In the beginning I did wonder why the the tactical combat only had 6 slots while there are 8 main characters, but getting rid of Shuuji and Ryo fixes that problem. Although I suspect Haru's sister has Renamon as a partner especially with the reveal Garurumon was Haru's partner.
I also entertained the idea of this game getting an anime adaptation but I suspect some moments are too dark for a children anime.
Spoiler for part 5 and early part 6:
Yeah, poor Lopmon. I don't feel as bad about Shuuji since he really sank himself. I get that he had a bad home life and reasons that pushed him down a negative path. I even feel for him having responsibility pushed on him because he was older even though it didn't suit him. But he still treated Lopmon terribly despite seeing how much the digimon were doing for them. He still failed to see his role in how Lopmon couldn't advance and couldn't evolve properly. It was just blaming others and never maturing that got him killed.
The worst thing was that he really did all that to Lopmon and then Lopmon was left with the consequences. Poor guy turned into a monster, killed his partner (wow that was brutal), and then had to be put down because he was in agony.
Honestly I'd love to see this get an anime someday. I think they could make it work really well. And if nothing else it would be impactful seeing them handle that situation with Shuuji! Lopmon suffering has become the new "Leomon always dies" thing. Not always the case. But happens more often than you'd think!
Whew. Was fun getting through my first playthrough of the game. It was definitely everything I had been hoping for. Although I think they could have bolstered the tactical combat even more (add more inherent attack skills and such). But it was really good. I'm happy to have played this and will hope it gets enough love to get a similar kind of game made in the future. There's a lot of potential for this kind of digimon game and this one showed it.
Spoiler for part 5 and early part 6:
Yeah, poor Lopmon. I don't feel as bad about Shuuji since he really sank himself. I get that he had a bad home life and reasons that pushed him down a negative path. I even feel for him having responsibility pushed on him because he was older even though it didn't suit him. But he still treated Lopmon terribly despite seeing how much the digimon were doing for them. He still failed to see his role in how Lopmon couldn't advance and couldn't evolve properly. It was just blaming others and never maturing that got him killed.
The worst thing was that he really did all that to Lopmon and then Lopmon was left with the consequences. Poor guy turned into a monster, killed his partner (wow that was brutal), and then had to be put down because he was in agony.
Honestly I'd love to see this get an anime someday. I think they could make it work really well. And if nothing else it would be impactful seeing them handle that situation with Shuuji! Lopmon suffering has become the new "Leomon always dies" thing. Not always the case. But happens more often than you'd think!
Considering Wargreymon strength, its safe to assume they didn't want players distracted from storytelling.
Its understandable decision in regards to Digimon franchise target audience aside of "better safe than sorry" as one may repeat it for four-five times.
Shuuji is interesting case IMO.
Spoiler for :
You know its his fault, but you can't blame him and consider it understandable outcome.
In comparison to OG, Joe partner is Gomamon who complement his serious nature with it more laid back attitude. Gomamon itself often proven to be level-headed than it looks like. So it works despite Joe similarity of background with Shuuji (wanted to be reliable, aim to became great doctor)
Shuuji OTOH, Lopmon is timid and carrying his bad traits. As a result, Lopmon unintentionally draw out the worse of him. Its not Lopmon fault but you can see how it lead to frustration through simple idea of not having the coolest, competent Digimon on the group which ironically what some people IRL would do on similar situation.
__________________
Life is simple, that's why it became complicated. -
Considering Wargreymon strength, its safe to assume they didn't want players distracted from storytelling.
Its understandable decision in regards to Digimon franchise target audience aside of "better safe than sorry" as one may repeat it for four-five times.
Shuuji is interesting case IMO.
Spoiler for :
You know its his fault, but you can't blame him and consider it understandable outcome.
In comparison to OG, Joe partner is Gomamon who complement his serious nature with it more laid back attitude. Gomamon itself often proven to be level-headed than it looks like. So it works despite Joe similarity of background with Shuuji (wanted to be reliable, aim to became great doctor)
Shuuji OTOH, Lopmon is timid and carrying his bad traits. As a result, Lopmon unintentionally draw out the worse of him. Its not Lopmon fault but you can see how it lead to frustration through simple idea of not having the coolest, competent Digimon on the group which ironically what some people IRL would do on similar situation.
I'm pretty happy with the results of the direction they took. There's just a satisfying feel to using familiar Digimon in basically a hard mode version of the original Adventure series. Any complaints I have are pretty minimal and if they were going to put the focus anywhere, I'm glad it was with the story.
Spoiler for Shuuji:
I'm with you there. It is his fault, but I do get it. In comparison to Joe (at least original series) there wasn't nearly so much pressure but on Joe to lead. They also had good fortune and didn't lose anyone so there wasn't as much "oh god we're going to die" feeling since things usually worked out ok. While Shuuji was looked at to lead. The cast did follow the idea that seniors should lead and that put a lot of pressure onto someone that wasn't geared for it. Even more so with his clearly troubled family situation.
Not that I want to put anything on Lopmon. But the differences between him and Gomamon really helped out too. Lopmon suited Shuuji in the sense that he was similar to him. He didn't have the angry outbursts. But he reflected Shuuji's true self. He's someone that tries hard, doesn't always succeed, and has confidence issues. In that sense it's not surprising that he just couldn't find a way to get Shuuji to trust.
Gomamon was the partner that Joe needed, not the one that matched his personality. He could push back, could encourage, and wouldn't take harassment. An easy going personality that could handle Joe's up and down moments.
I just feel for Lopmon since he was clearly trying. If Shuuji could have taken one singular step in the direction of trusting him then Lopmon could have shown what he was capable of. But he just couldn't do it. No one is perfect of course. I'm sure I'd end up acting more like Minoru or maybe Shuuji than Takuma. But I sure hope I wouldn't lose it and act like Shuuji did. If so then I'd deserve what I got there.
Haru is Renamon, and the professor is Haru. The idea of a character of the main cast being the young boy from the prologue did cross my mind in the beginning and my first thought was Shuuji because of the black hair. I quickly dropped that idea and then went for the Haru is the main bad guy idea. Because hey he got annoyed every time they got dragged along with the group (preventing him from meeting up with the others) and his conversation with Ryo was weird. But then why would Piedmon need to kidnap Miyuki? But part 7 story put that theory to bed I need to come up with better theories.
Also didn't expect Piedmon to make an appearance, assumed the robed Digimon was the Digimon itself. The fights were hard because in the harmony playthrough Agumon evolves into a Data-type and data-types are weak to virus-types. Every time Piedmon attacks Agumon perfect evolution it loses 80% of his hp. Especially the part 8 fight was difficult as I only had one high level vaccine-type free digimon,
Anyway as for the end of part 8. I noticed the choices were between the two highest karma affinities (in my case harmony and wrathful) and run away so what happens if all three karma types are perfectly balanced what option do you get? I also wonder if the previous karma affinities have an impact on this choice, so if I went for wrathful option do I still get the harmony route because my harmony karma is much, much higher or do I get the wrathful route?
Note I'm one of those players who repicks the options to get the best result (yes I'm a dirty savescummer), usually for the affection, but not for the karma path (just sticking with harmony) but for the choice at the end of part 8 I did check out the run away option. The result:
Spoiler for Run away:
GAME OVER. I was hoping for a playthrough without Takuma and Agumon with Aoi and Minoru being the new main character but instead you get an epilogue with an older Takuma where the world is slowly ending due to catastrophes, none of his friends made it back and Takuma has to move to a saver zone.
Still loving the game, or to be really exact loving the story. The tactical combat can be tedious at times especially if the monsters insist on running away.
Haru is Renamon, and the professor is Haru. The idea of a character of the main cast being the young boy from the prologue did cross my mind in the beginning and my first thought was Shuuji because of the black hair. I quickly dropped that idea and then went for the Haru is the main bad guy idea. Because hey he got annoyed every time they got dragged along with the group (preventing him from meeting up with the others) and his conversation with Ryo was weird. But then why would Piedmon need to kidnap Miyuki? But part 7 story put that theory to bed I need to come up with better theories.
Also didn't expect Piedmon to make an appearance, assumed the robed Digimon was the Digimon itself. The fights were hard because in the harmony playthrough Agumon evolves into a Data-type and data-types are weak to virus-types. Every time Piedmon attacks Agumon perfect evolution it loses 80% of his hp. Especially the part 8 fight was difficult as I only had one high level vaccine-type free digimon,
Anyway as for the end of part 8. I noticed the choices were between the two highest karma affinities (in my case harmony and wrathful) and run away so what happens if all three karma types are perfectly balanced what option do you get? I also wonder if the previous karma affinities have an impact on this choice, so if I went for wrathful option do I still get the harmony route because my harmony karma is much, much higher or do I get the wrathful route?
Note I'm one of those players who repicks the options to get the best result (yes I'm a dirty savescummer), usually for the affection, but not for the karma path (just sticking with harmony) but for the choice at the end of part 8 I did check out the run away option. The result:
Spoiler for Run away:
GAME OVER. I was hoping for a playthrough without Takuma and Agumon with Aoi and Minoru being the new main character but instead you get an epilogue with an older Takuma where the world is slowly ending due to catastrophes, none of his friends made it back and Takuma has to move to a saver zone.
Still loving the game, or to be really exact loving the story. The tactical combat can be tedious at times especially if the monsters insist on running away.
Spoiler for Spoilers for part 7 and 8:
I had a bad feeling about the running away option so I just didn't pick it. Good to know how that works out though . Also I'm kind of curious how the game would handle having absolutely balanced choices by that point in the story. Not sure if they give you enough points to pull that off, but probably. Maybe it gives all three options or just randomly picks two still.
One thing I can say is that no matter what your affinities you are locked into the route you pick. So if you pick wrathful all the harmony points you have don't impact your path forward in the story. So at least the choice does actually matter for triggering your path forward.
Piedmon showing up did surprise me, but I suppose it makes sense with a lot of the original anime's digimon showing up in some way in this story to that point. And true it would be a bit tougher to face him with Agumon evolving into a type weak to him . And they really catch you with that fight where you kind of need a bunch of good free digimon to back him up against Piedmon.
I'm kind of with you when it comes to enemies running away . Not a fan of them pulling that stunt in all honesty . "Get back here so I can destroy you already!"
Miu standing up to her brother like that after getting slapped was bad ass.
Still I was really pissed off at her, Saki and Kaito for running off like that in a crucial dangerous moment. And sadly enough Miu had to pay the price for it and I liked Mermaidmon too, really wanted to see her next stage of evolution. Guess I'll have to wait to see it in a different playthrough. I guess Kaito won't take this well.
Spoiler for early part 10 harmony:
Yeah Kaito not taking it well, do I smell a dark evolution coming up? Also I said early I thought Haru was the bad guy and now we see Renomon working for the Master. Guess I was close.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FlareKnight
Spoiler for Spoilers for part 7 and 8:
One thing I can say is that no matter what your affinities you are locked into the route you pick. So if you pick wrathful all the harmony points you have don't impact your path forward in the story. So at least the choice does actually matter for triggering your path forward.
Spoiler:
I suppose that makes sense, that way you can enjoy the harmony evolution line but still get the wrathful ending. So that way players don't feel forced to play an evolution line they don't like.
And getting perfectly balance points should be doable as there are usually optional karma options during "free actions" moments but you need to know how many forced points choices there are and then balance it when a free action comes along, if needed. Still sounds like a massive pain to pull this off. Cheating might be preferable as it's less tedious.
Something I realised about Miyuki she obviously the expy for
Spoiler:
Hikari but with an evil version of of Homeostasis taking over her body. I really like it this way.
edit:
Spoiler for Final evolution of some characters:
I got the final evolution for Saki (Ceresmon Medium) and Aoi (Anubismon) both are awesome. Now I'm wondering if they get a different evolution in different karma routes, Lapramon clearly has three different final forms so I'm guessing that's a yes? Anyway I haven't gotten the final form for Falcomon and Dracmon yet. I guess I need to stop simping for the girls. Minoru and Kaita are at 50+ affection I'm guessing 70 is the threshold for the final evolution so I have a bit of a way to go yet.
Miu standing up to her brother like that after getting slapped was bad ass.
Still I was really pissed off at her, Saki and Kaito for running off like that in a crucial dangerous moment. And sadly enough Miu had to pay the price for it and I liked Mermaidmon too, really wanted to see her next stage of evolution. Guess I'll have to wait to see it in a different playthrough. I guess Kaito won't take this well.
Spoiler for early part 10 harmony:
Yeah Kaito not taking it well, do I smell a dark evolution coming up? Also I said early I thought Haru was the bad guy and now we see Renomon working for the Master. Guess I was close.
Spoiler:
I suppose that makes sense, that way you can enjoy the harmony evolution line but still get the wrathful ending. So that way players don't feel forced to play an evolution line they don't like.
And getting perfectly balance points should be doable as there are usually optional karma options during "free actions" moments but you need to know how many forced points choices there are and then balance it when a free action comes along, if needed. Still sounds like a massive pain to pull this off. Cheating might be preferable as it's less tedious.
Something I realised about Miyuki she obviously the expy for
Spoiler:
Hikari but with an evil version of of Homeostasis taking over her body. I really like it this way.
edit:
Spoiler for Final evolution of some characters:
I got the final evolution for Saki (Ceresmon Medium) and Aoi (Anubismon) both are awesome. Now I'm wondering if they get a different evolution in different karma routes, Lapramon clearly has three different final forms so I'm guessing that's a yes? Anyway I haven't gotten the final form for Falcomon and Dracmon yet. I guess I need to stop simping for the girls. Minoru and Kaita are at 50+ affection I'm guessing 70 is the threshold for the final evolution so I have a bit of a way to go yet.
Spoiler for Harmony Part 9 and 10:
It really is too bad. Miu had such an awesome moment with taking that slap. Most times the dramatic slap is in favour of the one doing the slapping. Not often you get a character taking one like that and giving a leveled verbal response to it. Definitely was starting to get through too him there.
And it was frustrating having everyone lose their heads and start running off. I'll put less on Miu since she did seem to have a plan in that throne room before Kaito ran off recklessly. Chasing after her brother isn't unreasonable even if the end result wasn't good for her. If at least Saki had kept her cool then maybe the group could have moved in a more unified fashion, but that's the way it goes. Hard for those characters in the moment to just sacrifice those little digimon that could potentially be saved.
Not looking good for Kaito. Any progress he made in realizing the issues of losing his temper all went up in smoke. And the one person that could criticize him and actually be heard...isn't there.
I didn't think that about Miyuki...but it does actually fit.
Spoiler for Some final evolutions:
At least simping had its benefits here . Aoi and Saki can pull their own weight even more with their partners reaching mega. Both clearly figuring some things out about themselves and gaining quite a bit in return. It's nice that while we can see the different evolutionary paths it's harder to gauge when and how they'll be triggered. Shows the value of Aoi and Labramon that they do have three different ways things can go for her mega form.
I got Minoru's final evolution, his affection was 68 when I booted up the game so one affection event later I unlocked Falcomon's final form just in the time for the final fight. Honestly if it weren't for the stat boosts I'd have preferred Crowmon, the multimovement and laster beam attack are way more useful.
Spoiler for part 11 Harmony:
Oh Kaito, really going off the deep end here. When Piedmon suggested to merge with Dracmon I was frustrated not only that Kaito agreed to it but he also let Piedmon absorb Dracmon and not the other way around. RIP Dracmon.
I also couldn't help but notice Aoi is really obsessed with Kaito, hints of some romance? Kaito and Aoi are Yamato and Sora's expies after all.
Spoiler for part 12 Harmony:
To no one's surprise Piedmon's personality took over Boltboutamon and becomes the main bad guy I wasn't surprised at Kaito dying but didn't expect the Professor and Miyuki to die as well, poor Renamon. I'm going to assume this is the worst ending in terms of body count.
I'm pretty sure every one saw the Boltboutamon is taking over Master's body trick coming when he volunteered to be taken over.
The epilogue was nice enough, I liked that there are discrimination between the human who have partners and those that don't. The surviving cast members seem normal enough so hopefully they a good psychiatrist to talk about what happened.
One final note I am surprised Takuma survived in this ending because in Harmony's options he has a tendency to use his body as a shield so I assumed he would sacrifice himself in one form or another but that didn't happen.
Looking forward to discover the other endings, and getting better evolution lines for Agumon.
I also couldn't help but notice Aoi is really obsessed with Kaito, hints of some romance? Kaito and Aoi are Yamato and Sora's expies after all.
Looking forward to discover the other endings, and getting better evolution lines for Agumon.
Spoiler for That reminds me (contain spoiler from another route):
Two 'ally' Digimons that fused with Master are Plutomon and Voltboutamon.
Both are Mega-level Virus-type Digimon. Aoi's and Kaito's respectively. Considering they're expy to Sora and Yamato, I wonder if it serve as reference to Sora and Yamato fell into depression before regroup with Taichi and confronting Piedmon (who also made appearance here) in OG series.
Note after clearing this game once, confronting Baihumon is indicator you're on path to True Ending.
__________________
Life is simple, that's why it became complicated. -
I did want to process my thoughts a bit (outside of my massive chapter by chapter feelings on each route).
Spoiler for Harmony and Wrathful Route Spoilers:
These two routes are very much different sides of the same coin. The one amusing similarity is that Minoru survives everything . That guy manages to dodge the death no matter what side he's on. The big thing though is Kaito vs Aoi. Of course the deaths of Miu and Saki were the triggering events for both of them going off the rails. It's interesting how they both were trying to help each other in the different routes but just couldn't do it. Both could empathize with the pain the other was going through and were filled with regrets on not being able to do something more. They really are the Matt and Sora of this group. Both caring about their friends, but having darkness that could be unleashed.
Now I did actually like Aoi's side a bit more. I feel like it hit really hard seeing Saki go and how depressed Aoi felt. But it was also really intense to see her just snap like that. It wasn't like Kaito snapping with rage. It was more sad to watch. She was back and forth between being upset at people for their selfish actions and at herself. Even getting to the point where she deluded herself into thinking she let Saki go. But Saki and Aoi cared so much about each other but that only led to further tragedy. Then she just went fully dark in trying to make understanding and cooperation happen by any means necessary. She foolishly healed Piedmon, got killed, and dark biomerged with Labramon. Plutomon was definitely scarier than Boltboutamon. I think just knowing that Aoi was in there but yet was completely broken just made it terrifying. But that's not to say that Boltboutamon didn't get his moments. It was shocking seeing what happened to Kaito and the Professor.
It's also just interesting seeing how Kaito surviving was in a route where the main cast basically turned into freedom fighters . They worked in the underground to take on corrupt governments and save kids from internment camps. While in the route that Aoi survived we have them working in a lab, helping kids, and trying to spread positive messages to ease tensions . Certainly they fit better in the routes they ended up in than swapping situations. But kind of funny how that all worked out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blaat
Whelp I finished the game:
I got Minoru's final evolution, his affection was 68 when I booted up the game so one affection event later I unlocked Falcomon's final form just in the time for the final fight. Honestly if it weren't for the stat boosts I'd have preferred Crowmon, the multimovement and laster beam attack are way more useful.
Spoiler for part 11 Harmony:
Oh Kaito, really going off the deep end here. When Piedmon suggested to merge with Dracmon I was frustrated not only that Kaito agreed to it but he also let Piedmon absorb Dracmon and not the other way around. RIP Dracmon.
I also couldn't help but notice Aoi is really obsessed with Kaito, hints of some romance? Kaito and Aoi are Yamato and Sora's expies after all.
Spoiler for part 12 Harmony:
To no one's surprise Piedmon's personality took over Boltboutamon and becomes the main bad guy I wasn't surprised at Kaito dying but didn't expect the Professor and Miyuki to die as well, poor Renamon. I'm going to assume this is the worst ending in terms of body count.
I'm pretty sure every one saw the Boltboutamon is taking over Master's body trick coming when he volunteered to be taken over.
The epilogue was nice enough, I liked that there are discrimination between the human who have partners and those that don't. The surviving cast members seem normal enough so hopefully they a good psychiatrist to talk about what happened.
One final note I am surprised Takuma survived in this ending because in Harmony's options he has a tendency to use his body as a shield so I assumed he would sacrifice himself in one form or another but that didn't happen.
Looking forward to discover the other endings, and getting better evolution lines for Agumon.
Will admit to liking Falcomon's ultimate more than that mega form. It still has good mobility so losing the double move isn't too bad. But it's mostly just improved stats with that one. Honestly on following playthroughs I've mostly just used Minoru for his personal skill to buff the movement of other characters.
Spoiler for Part 12 Harmony:
I'm more amazed that Dracmon just went along with it. The guy was loyal to an absolute fault. Although in some ways I'm surprised how Piedmon was being honest. He really wouldn't have resurfaced if Kaito stayed in rage mode. It would have remained the mostly Dracmon fueled merger with Piedmon's consciousness just gone. Of course he didn't hesitate to do what he pleased after he did resurface.
This one definitely had quite the body count. You had Ryo (Kunemon), Shuuji (Lopmon), Kaito (Dracmon), Miu (Shakomon), Miyuki (Renamon), Haru (Garurumon[though he didn't show up in this route he had to have died with the professor], and yeah...that's quite the list. Even just counting the human characters that's still 6 people. Only left Takuma, Aoi, Saki, and Minoru alive.
Will most of my thoughts on this path in my massive thoughts tab up at the top .
2022-08-02, 21:05
. "Get back here so I can destroy you already!"
