A great VN with okay SRPG battles mixed in. What makes Survive stand out, however, is how it uses the Digimon property to propel itself in unexpected directions. While gamers were marketed a gritty Digimon game meant for a "mature" audience, I don't think many were expecting it to be quite as dark as this story is. On the gameplay side, Survive has everything it needs to be just enough. Players have access to over 100 digimon, an alignment system taken straight out of SMT (the game files even refer to them as Law, Neutral and Chaos), alignment reps, and decently challenging battles on hard difficulty. The pacing of the gameplay and the VN segments are improved by how much the game encourages you to do extra free battles, where it be to collect new Digimon companions or to grind. I've only done one route so far with 3 more left to go and I'm very excited to fully master this gem.
The game feels it was made with the budget of a Big Mac but I found it Insanely charming, like I was watching a new good season of Digimon.
I have only played Harmony Route yet, though.
I have only played Harmony Route yet, though.
which rocket scientist decided the combat should play out like uta prelude instead of the mask games bruh
Listen. I love all elements of this game individually. Digimon? ABSOLUTELY. Visual novels? Hell yeah. Tactics RPGs? Yup.
This game, and I truly hate to be this negative, blows. The visual novel portions are so tedious and poorly written. The smallest of story spoilers, but on the second morning of the game, the main character literally wakes up and asks each other character how they're doing. I'm sorry, but I don't care! And the mechanics of how the VN works feels like a chore.
I could forgive a lot of this if there was any vibe at all, but it's just nonexistent.
I've not been so disappointed in a game in a long time.
1.5 stars for tactics combat that is enjoyable.
This game, and I truly hate to be this negative, blows. The visual novel portions are so tedious and poorly written. The smallest of story spoilers, but on the second morning of the game, the main character literally wakes up and asks each other character how they're doing. I'm sorry, but I don't care! And the mechanics of how the VN works feels like a chore.
I could forgive a lot of this if there was any vibe at all, but it's just nonexistent.
I've not been so disappointed in a game in a long time.
1.5 stars for tactics combat that is enjoyable.
Bit of background: I've seen pretty much all Digimon shows and movies. I like story focused games and tactics games so had some hopes for this.
This game's mostly "eh". The story portions feel like an extended extended edition with a lot of repeats, bickering, feels bad moments, and feels annoying moments. At least the true path is a bit better. The tactics portion is average or below average.
This game's mostly "eh". The story portions feel like an extended extended edition with a lot of repeats, bickering, feels bad moments, and feels annoying moments. At least the true path is a bit better. The tactics portion is average or below average.
Digimon Survive is an attempt on my life. I know not who I have angered at Bandai Namco nor what I have done to deserve such attention, but I have clearly been designated TWTL: Too Wild To Live. I can summon no better explanation for this game and the specificity of its many faults. Someone wants me dead, and they have invested several million dollars into enacting my subtle doom.
I shall not go quietly into this long night. I will not be defeated by Digimon Survive. If I am to be silenced by such a neurotoxin, my enemies will need to up my dosage.
Let me explain.
I have been an ardent lover of Digimon since the English dub of Digimon Adventure (the original show, to ye outsiders) first aired on the Fox Kids Network in 1999. I was seven years old, and had been raised primarily by Pokemon and Power Rangers. From that day until this one, my loving has not lapsed. I have watched Adventure and Tamers a half-dozen times each. On my desk sit an etsy-made tag and Crest of Friendship and a classic 90's style Digimon V-pet. Every day I am pierced by needles of guilt as I remember that my plush Terriermon languishes in a large cardboard box rather than on proud display in this too-small apartment bedroom. It has only been a few days since I unboxed my Vital Bracelet. I have played and loved numerous visual novels. I have played and loved even more tactical RPGs. I am as ripe and juicy a specimen of this Digimon product's target demographic as I was for Digimon Adventure in 1999.
Somehow, against all odds, this is not what any of us wanted... but we'll talk about that later. First, a great deal of positivity.
Digimon Survive is drop-dead gorgeous, and the Japanese voice cast delivers their absolute best. Even as someone who does not speak Japanese (yet... every day my power grows) their delivery enhances the experience. The soundtrack is of similar quality. With regard to presentation and aesthetic, I have nothing but good things to say about Digimon Survive.
It may surprise you, reader-of-reviews, to know that I have no significant criticism of Digimon Survive's combat either. Unlike nearly every other voice I have heard on the topic, I feel that the turn-based tactical battles of Digimon Survive perform their function adequately. They are far from the thrills of a Fire Emblem or X-COM, but they are not entirely without strategy. Due to a semi-automatic frontal guard function, good positioning is critical to success, both offensively and defensively. Later in the game when more significant AoE options become available, the proper usage of unusual attack patterns tends to actually pay off. The Digivolution mechanics and steep cost of attack skills can create situations where resource management may suddenly become an actual factor. These battles are nothing spectacular and usually devolve into circling an opponent and using each Digimon's single unique attack on the target's flank ad nauseum, but there is more going on than many seem to give them credit for. Just don't expect much interesting map design. The real misfortune that befalls the combat is the repetition that ensues in the latter third of the story, where a lack of enemy variety and the circumstances of the plot make battles feel more like filler than ever before. I admit, it's possible that playing the atrocious Digimon games on the Wonderswan has made me more forgiving.
The localization, to no one's great surprise, is flawed. Digimon pronouns seem to be pulled blindly from a hat at least once per scene, and typos abound for the observant eye. Some sentences appear confused as to whom they are supposed to concern. That said, it is the best Digimon video game localization that I have yet seen. It is free of Cyber Sleuth's regular descensions into gibbering madness and sudden, permanent adoptions of baffling, unexplained nicknames. It is far from the flat, lifeless utility of Digimon World 3 or the vague, laughable nonsense of Digimon World 1. It brings believable color to its characters and inflicts no serious damage.
Those characters, in fact, are my favorite part of the game. Unfortunately, this markdown environment does not provide me the tools necessary to insert an enormous asterisk behind that statement. We'll talk about that in a minute. For now, let me confess that I love Digimon Survive's characters and that I want them to be happy. They are written with likability, believability, and depth. This is why it is such an awful, horrible shame for them to be imprisoned in so terrible a plot.
Chapter 1 is beautifully executed. Anyone claiming that it starts too sluggishly is a fool. It is an exquisitely slow burn that accomplishes all of the plot's necessary business while establishing a great deal of characterization and perfectly demonstrating the potential this story has. These moments of brilliance evaporate all too soon.
I have not marked this review with a spoiler warning. This is because there is one immensely dire warning that I must give to potential buyers of Digimon Survive, and those prospective consumers would otherwise be deterred by such a barrier.
Heed me reader: Your choices will not and cannot affect this plot in any way that even approaches significance. Character deaths on the first playthrough are pre-ordained. There are no branching paths worthy of the classification until the last third of the game, at which point the player is presented with exactly one crossroads. The circumstances of this single choice and its results have no logical basis on any previous actions by the player, nor even the choice supposedly being made in that very moment. The "choice" as presented doesn't even fit my definition of the word. A second playthrough on a cleared file allows for one additional branch which was previously locked, and tells you exactly how to get there. Despite a very similar premise and the tantalizing whispers of the game's marketing, Digimon Survive is absolutely not Until Dawn. It is not The Quarry. It is not Detroit: Become Human. Digimon Survive has never heard of a flowchart. Please make your purchasing decision with these facts in mind. Let it be known that I disagree immensely with the design decisions behind this structure, and that I harbor an extreme distaste for the writing that comprises most of the game's plot, as well as a belief that it would be more enjoyable to someone who has never seen a Digimon in their lives than someone like me.
From this point onward, I will speak openly about the game's plot. For those who still wish to see the game with unspoiled eyes, I offer this as your off-ramp. I accept no responsibility for those who choose to stay.
The first half of Digimon Survive suffers from a particular illness... one that is hugely exacerbated by the absence of choice. Starting as early as the prologue, the story adopts a pattern. Ryo's character becomes irrational, irritating, and highly repetitive, and then after a few chapters of putting up with him, dies. Immediately after Ryo's death, the position is filled by Shuuji. Immediately after Shuuji's death, Minoru gets hired for the job. I recognized Ryo as a time bomb almost instantly, and took every opportunity the game offered me to stabilize his situation. When he died anyway, I wrote it off as a "tutorial death." I found it reasonable that this one idiot who had completely closed himself off would be unreceptive to any player outreach, and would be unsalvageable in order to demonstrate to both the player and the characters that death is a possibility. I fully expected to be greeted at the start of the next chapter with a tutorial pop-up, saying "From now on kids can die, so don't guck up!" The pop-up did not arrive. I found this concerning.
The next to flip their lunatic switch was Shuuji, and his was by far the hardest to endure. Shuuji has already developed his overtly abusive relationship with his Digimon and his toxic relationship with the group as early as chapter 3. It will not develop or change until his death in the very last moments of chapter 5. Until then, the player will have no choice but to watch as Shuuji creates the same problems over and over, leading to the same redundant conversations. It contributes to an overarching problem wherein the script is somehow more padded than that of Persona 5. I believe that literally about 50% of the written lines in Digimon Survive could be cut, and it would make for a better product. Takuma provides so much clumsy, unnecessary internal monologue before any given "choice" that by the time options have been presented I have usually forgotten what the context of the question even was. Almost every single chapter after chapter 3 feels overly drawn out, and by the end of the game I was mashing the text-advance button by default, rather than in rare moments of great annoyance. No time was ever worse however than when Shuuji still lived.
It is so unspeakably infuriating to know exactly what the problem is, and be prevented from fixing it for no apparent reason, while an illusion of choice is simultaneously dangled before you. Some of this is narratively intended. The player is absolutely expected to hate Shuuji by the start of the chapter in which he finally dies. The other characters have followed suit, finally becoming almost as tired of this as you are. This is no excuse. I found chapter 5 to be a tedious exercise in abject misery, and to say that I was distressed at the start of chapter 6 to see the pattern beginning anew with Minoru would be a gross understatement. I panicked at the idea that this was how the entire rest of the game would play out. One character at a time suddenly and abruptly losing all of their sense, being as irritating as possible for as long as possible, and then triggering another repetition with their demise.
Thankfully, mercifully, this is not the case... but the case is no more interesting. From the midway point of chapter 6, Digimon Survive gives up on any sort of originality and becomes an even more saccharine Digimon Adventure. The game's latter half is as tropey as it possibly could be, and as a result bored me to tears. I sincerely believe that a non-Digimon fan would have a better time with it. Unfortunately, as established at the top of this overwrought nonsense, I am in fact, a Digimon fan. I recognized Arukenimon at first glance. I identified the full past and future of Garurumon's character the moment he appeared on screen. As soon as Takuma appeared once again in "the real world" my brain auto-completed the entire rest of the chapter, because I have seen this episode of Digimon Adventure at least half a dozen times and it is played completely straight. No new twist on any ideas presented, nothing new done with the concept, no subversion of a fan's expectations. After the player makes a ridiculous non-decision which somehow cosmically and randomly alters the events that will play out over the last few chapters, Takuma returns to find that The Big Twist is that we're now adapting (poorly, clumsily) the end of Digimon Tamers rather than Adventure. I first chose the moral ending and received an ending that was about as cliche as any Digimon product could possibly be, written with the sensibilities of a children's cartoon.
Digimon Survive's actual maturity level in its writing is at least as low as the glorified toy commercial I watched as a child, and nowhere near the eventual heights Digimon Tamers. It feels like a fanfiction written by a fifteen-year-old, where occasional darkness is wielded for shock value, but the writer doesn't know what else to do with it, so these pockets of edge are sprinkled across the piece to give an illusion of depth. The opportunity to speak to a late-twenties, early-thirties, Persona playing Digimon-loving audience is completely and utterly wasted by serving up only watered down versions of that which they have already seen, and in most cases doing it unartfully.
Taking the "moral" route (nonsense names, by the way) results in the player experiencing the whole "illusory doppelganger attacks your insecurities" trope THREE SEPERATE TIMES over the course of the game, providing a conveniently direct means of exposition or demonstrating character development instead of just... having the characters interact with each other in ways that subtly demonstrate such things. To be honest the characters don't interact with each other very much in general. Pairs are formed early and persist through the whole game. Aoi hangs out with Saki. Kaito stays glued to Miu. Minoru hangs out alone waiting for you to show up and be his friend. Miu and Aoi never talk. Minoru doesn't develop any kind of friendship with Kaito. The pairs have been chosen. The pairs must be obeyed. Unless they are core to a character's arc (Kaito and Miu) dynamics between characters essentially never change, contributing to the phenomenon of characters somehow having the same conversations over and over again.
For all of these many reasons, Digimon Survive became my personal hell. I have yelled at my screen while mashing through molasses. I have launched verbal tirades aloud against characters I am otherwise unable to affect. I have gone from elation at the mature take on Digimon Adventure shown to me by the first three chapters to crushed by the sheer maddening mediocrity of it all. My brain has done cartwheels over these last few weeks as the emotional whiplash has rocked my skull, and still I am not finished. While I already know what's in them, I haven't played all of the endings for myself yet, and I cannot rest until I have. It saddens me to know that I landed on the least interesting ending, but it saddens me more to consider the game as a whole. I reached the point of disgust long before that ending split, and no ending will redeem the crippling problems that Digimon Survive suffers as a narrative game. I will return soon to finish this battle, armed with a functional skip button and replenished patience, but for now I shall take comfort in knowing that despite their best efforts, Bandai Namco has failed to extinguish me. Better luck next time, corporation.
I shall not go quietly into this long night. I will not be defeated by Digimon Survive. If I am to be silenced by such a neurotoxin, my enemies will need to up my dosage.
Let me explain.
I have been an ardent lover of Digimon since the English dub of Digimon Adventure (the original show, to ye outsiders) first aired on the Fox Kids Network in 1999. I was seven years old, and had been raised primarily by Pokemon and Power Rangers. From that day until this one, my loving has not lapsed. I have watched Adventure and Tamers a half-dozen times each. On my desk sit an etsy-made tag and Crest of Friendship and a classic 90's style Digimon V-pet. Every day I am pierced by needles of guilt as I remember that my plush Terriermon languishes in a large cardboard box rather than on proud display in this too-small apartment bedroom. It has only been a few days since I unboxed my Vital Bracelet. I have played and loved numerous visual novels. I have played and loved even more tactical RPGs. I am as ripe and juicy a specimen of this Digimon product's target demographic as I was for Digimon Adventure in 1999.
Somehow, against all odds, this is not what any of us wanted... but we'll talk about that later. First, a great deal of positivity.
Digimon Survive is drop-dead gorgeous, and the Japanese voice cast delivers their absolute best. Even as someone who does not speak Japanese (yet... every day my power grows) their delivery enhances the experience. The soundtrack is of similar quality. With regard to presentation and aesthetic, I have nothing but good things to say about Digimon Survive.
It may surprise you, reader-of-reviews, to know that I have no significant criticism of Digimon Survive's combat either. Unlike nearly every other voice I have heard on the topic, I feel that the turn-based tactical battles of Digimon Survive perform their function adequately. They are far from the thrills of a Fire Emblem or X-COM, but they are not entirely without strategy. Due to a semi-automatic frontal guard function, good positioning is critical to success, both offensively and defensively. Later in the game when more significant AoE options become available, the proper usage of unusual attack patterns tends to actually pay off. The Digivolution mechanics and steep cost of attack skills can create situations where resource management may suddenly become an actual factor. These battles are nothing spectacular and usually devolve into circling an opponent and using each Digimon's single unique attack on the target's flank ad nauseum, but there is more going on than many seem to give them credit for. Just don't expect much interesting map design. The real misfortune that befalls the combat is the repetition that ensues in the latter third of the story, where a lack of enemy variety and the circumstances of the plot make battles feel more like filler than ever before. I admit, it's possible that playing the atrocious Digimon games on the Wonderswan has made me more forgiving.
The localization, to no one's great surprise, is flawed. Digimon pronouns seem to be pulled blindly from a hat at least once per scene, and typos abound for the observant eye. Some sentences appear confused as to whom they are supposed to concern. That said, it is the best Digimon video game localization that I have yet seen. It is free of Cyber Sleuth's regular descensions into gibbering madness and sudden, permanent adoptions of baffling, unexplained nicknames. It is far from the flat, lifeless utility of Digimon World 3 or the vague, laughable nonsense of Digimon World 1. It brings believable color to its characters and inflicts no serious damage.
Those characters, in fact, are my favorite part of the game. Unfortunately, this markdown environment does not provide me the tools necessary to insert an enormous asterisk behind that statement. We'll talk about that in a minute. For now, let me confess that I love Digimon Survive's characters and that I want them to be happy. They are written with likability, believability, and depth. This is why it is such an awful, horrible shame for them to be imprisoned in so terrible a plot.
Chapter 1 is beautifully executed. Anyone claiming that it starts too sluggishly is a fool. It is an exquisitely slow burn that accomplishes all of the plot's necessary business while establishing a great deal of characterization and perfectly demonstrating the potential this story has. These moments of brilliance evaporate all too soon.
I have not marked this review with a spoiler warning. This is because there is one immensely dire warning that I must give to potential buyers of Digimon Survive, and those prospective consumers would otherwise be deterred by such a barrier.
Heed me reader: Your choices will not and cannot affect this plot in any way that even approaches significance. Character deaths on the first playthrough are pre-ordained. There are no branching paths worthy of the classification until the last third of the game, at which point the player is presented with exactly one crossroads. The circumstances of this single choice and its results have no logical basis on any previous actions by the player, nor even the choice supposedly being made in that very moment. The "choice" as presented doesn't even fit my definition of the word. A second playthrough on a cleared file allows for one additional branch which was previously locked, and tells you exactly how to get there. Despite a very similar premise and the tantalizing whispers of the game's marketing, Digimon Survive is absolutely not Until Dawn. It is not The Quarry. It is not Detroit: Become Human. Digimon Survive has never heard of a flowchart. Please make your purchasing decision with these facts in mind. Let it be known that I disagree immensely with the design decisions behind this structure, and that I harbor an extreme distaste for the writing that comprises most of the game's plot, as well as a belief that it would be more enjoyable to someone who has never seen a Digimon in their lives than someone like me.
From this point onward, I will speak openly about the game's plot. For those who still wish to see the game with unspoiled eyes, I offer this as your off-ramp. I accept no responsibility for those who choose to stay.
The first half of Digimon Survive suffers from a particular illness... one that is hugely exacerbated by the absence of choice. Starting as early as the prologue, the story adopts a pattern. Ryo's character becomes irrational, irritating, and highly repetitive, and then after a few chapters of putting up with him, dies. Immediately after Ryo's death, the position is filled by Shuuji. Immediately after Shuuji's death, Minoru gets hired for the job. I recognized Ryo as a time bomb almost instantly, and took every opportunity the game offered me to stabilize his situation. When he died anyway, I wrote it off as a "tutorial death." I found it reasonable that this one idiot who had completely closed himself off would be unreceptive to any player outreach, and would be unsalvageable in order to demonstrate to both the player and the characters that death is a possibility. I fully expected to be greeted at the start of the next chapter with a tutorial pop-up, saying "From now on kids can die, so don't guck up!" The pop-up did not arrive. I found this concerning.
The next to flip their lunatic switch was Shuuji, and his was by far the hardest to endure. Shuuji has already developed his overtly abusive relationship with his Digimon and his toxic relationship with the group as early as chapter 3. It will not develop or change until his death in the very last moments of chapter 5. Until then, the player will have no choice but to watch as Shuuji creates the same problems over and over, leading to the same redundant conversations. It contributes to an overarching problem wherein the script is somehow more padded than that of Persona 5. I believe that literally about 50% of the written lines in Digimon Survive could be cut, and it would make for a better product. Takuma provides so much clumsy, unnecessary internal monologue before any given "choice" that by the time options have been presented I have usually forgotten what the context of the question even was. Almost every single chapter after chapter 3 feels overly drawn out, and by the end of the game I was mashing the text-advance button by default, rather than in rare moments of great annoyance. No time was ever worse however than when Shuuji still lived.
It is so unspeakably infuriating to know exactly what the problem is, and be prevented from fixing it for no apparent reason, while an illusion of choice is simultaneously dangled before you. Some of this is narratively intended. The player is absolutely expected to hate Shuuji by the start of the chapter in which he finally dies. The other characters have followed suit, finally becoming almost as tired of this as you are. This is no excuse. I found chapter 5 to be a tedious exercise in abject misery, and to say that I was distressed at the start of chapter 6 to see the pattern beginning anew with Minoru would be a gross understatement. I panicked at the idea that this was how the entire rest of the game would play out. One character at a time suddenly and abruptly losing all of their sense, being as irritating as possible for as long as possible, and then triggering another repetition with their demise.
Thankfully, mercifully, this is not the case... but the case is no more interesting. From the midway point of chapter 6, Digimon Survive gives up on any sort of originality and becomes an even more saccharine Digimon Adventure. The game's latter half is as tropey as it possibly could be, and as a result bored me to tears. I sincerely believe that a non-Digimon fan would have a better time with it. Unfortunately, as established at the top of this overwrought nonsense, I am in fact, a Digimon fan. I recognized Arukenimon at first glance. I identified the full past and future of Garurumon's character the moment he appeared on screen. As soon as Takuma appeared once again in "the real world" my brain auto-completed the entire rest of the chapter, because I have seen this episode of Digimon Adventure at least half a dozen times and it is played completely straight. No new twist on any ideas presented, nothing new done with the concept, no subversion of a fan's expectations. After the player makes a ridiculous non-decision which somehow cosmically and randomly alters the events that will play out over the last few chapters, Takuma returns to find that The Big Twist is that we're now adapting (poorly, clumsily) the end of Digimon Tamers rather than Adventure. I first chose the moral ending and received an ending that was about as cliche as any Digimon product could possibly be, written with the sensibilities of a children's cartoon.
Digimon Survive's actual maturity level in its writing is at least as low as the glorified toy commercial I watched as a child, and nowhere near the eventual heights Digimon Tamers. It feels like a fanfiction written by a fifteen-year-old, where occasional darkness is wielded for shock value, but the writer doesn't know what else to do with it, so these pockets of edge are sprinkled across the piece to give an illusion of depth. The opportunity to speak to a late-twenties, early-thirties, Persona playing Digimon-loving audience is completely and utterly wasted by serving up only watered down versions of that which they have already seen, and in most cases doing it unartfully.
Taking the "moral" route (nonsense names, by the way) results in the player experiencing the whole "illusory doppelganger attacks your insecurities" trope THREE SEPERATE TIMES over the course of the game, providing a conveniently direct means of exposition or demonstrating character development instead of just... having the characters interact with each other in ways that subtly demonstrate such things. To be honest the characters don't interact with each other very much in general. Pairs are formed early and persist through the whole game. Aoi hangs out with Saki. Kaito stays glued to Miu. Minoru hangs out alone waiting for you to show up and be his friend. Miu and Aoi never talk. Minoru doesn't develop any kind of friendship with Kaito. The pairs have been chosen. The pairs must be obeyed. Unless they are core to a character's arc (Kaito and Miu) dynamics between characters essentially never change, contributing to the phenomenon of characters somehow having the same conversations over and over again.
For all of these many reasons, Digimon Survive became my personal hell. I have yelled at my screen while mashing through molasses. I have launched verbal tirades aloud against characters I am otherwise unable to affect. I have gone from elation at the mature take on Digimon Adventure shown to me by the first three chapters to crushed by the sheer maddening mediocrity of it all. My brain has done cartwheels over these last few weeks as the emotional whiplash has rocked my skull, and still I am not finished. While I already know what's in them, I haven't played all of the endings for myself yet, and I cannot rest until I have. It saddens me to know that I landed on the least interesting ending, but it saddens me more to consider the game as a whole. I reached the point of disgust long before that ending split, and no ending will redeem the crippling problems that Digimon Survive suffers as a narrative game. I will return soon to finish this battle, armed with a functional skip button and replenished patience, but for now I shall take comfort in knowing that despite their best efforts, Bandai Namco has failed to extinguish me. Better luck next time, corporation.
After about 35 hours I finished my first playthrough (I went for the Harmonious ending) and I have to say that Digimon Survive has become one of my favorite pieces of Digimon media now and I look forward to completing the other story routes as well.
Let's get this out of the way first, you may or may not know this already, but Survive is about 75% visual novel or more accurately put 75% ADV which is a kind of visual novel that utilizes point and click adventure game elements that let you explore and investigate your surroundings, Digimon Survive is closer to something like Danganronpa or Ace Attorney than Steins;Gate or Fate/Stay Night.
Digimon Survive features a sorta Shin Megami Tensei morality system where players dialogue choices will increase one of 3 stats Moral, Wrath or Harmony and these stats influence both the direction of the story (There's 4 different story routes) and the character's partner Digimon and their digievolution process. There are also 'Free Action' segments in each chapter where you'll have a limited number of actions to talk to your party members and build up affinity with them in a Persona-like manner.
Now as for the narrative of Survive the developers promised a uniquely dark and gritty take on Digimon and they weren't kidding, I don't think anyone was expecting Survive to be this dark. We follow a group of teenagers on a camping trip who visit an ancient shrine that honors the legend of creatures known as Kemonogami and soon after are spirited away to another world filled with these strange creatures, some want to help and become their partners and others want to use them in ritualistic human sacrifice. This is a tale of how friendships can be tested under extreme stress and trauma and a horrific tale of survival in a mysterious, unforgiving environment. Survive has a very dark and foreboding horror/thriller atmosphere almost right from the start and it really makes you fear for the characters lives. Danger is waiting around every corner and you never know who could meet with an untimely death next. I will say the plot can get a little formulaic and repetitive at times in the way it is told and the pacing starts out a bit slow, but once it picks up it really doesn't relent and there's a few good twists to the mystery that will compel you to the end.
While the characters all have their tropes and archetypes most of them also feel incredibly well written and quite realistic too. These kids all have their own personal issues and on top of that have to deal with extreme stress and anxiety, they have mental breakdowns, they develop PTSD and severe trauma, they witness death and horrible acts happen to their friends. The way the cast deals with everything reminds me of a horror movie cast because they're inexperienced, immature and often times let their fear cloud their judgment and because of that a lot of the time they don't make smart decisions, there's tons of interpersonal drama and mistrust between everyone, but how they develop and come to terms with these problems and still work together as a group is what makes them such great characters to me.
Graphically the game is undeniably out of date and could pass for something you'd see on the PS3 or a very high end mobile game, but despite its graphical setbacks the game still looks visually beautiful thanks to killer art design and very expressive character models. The OST sets the tone and helps enhance the atmosphere at all the right moments as well.
So as I mentioned in the beginning the game is 75% VN, well the other 25% is tactical RPG combat and it is mostly very standard tactical RPG gameplay. If you've played something like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics you already know what to expect. Although the tactical gameplay is very barebones and nothing special battles are few and far between (Only a few in most chapters), but they provide just enough of a challenge that they never feel like a chore and the Digimon sprite work is gorgeous. For those who want more battles there is a 'Free Battle' option that unlocks where you can grind and get new Digimon to join your team with a Shin Megami Tensei styled interrogation mechanic. There's only a little over 100 Digimon in the game to collect and it mostly focuses on each of the character's partner Digimon much like the actual anime does.
I do need to mention my one biggest gripe with Survive and that is the localization and translation. There's a lot of typos or calling certain Digimon the wrong pronouns (like how Renamon is referred to as 'she' in one sentence and then in the next right after 'he' which just didn't make sense) and even improperly used words that don't correlate with what the Japanese voice actors (Who all do a marvelous job btw) are saying at times. It just makes me wish they would've paid for a full on English dub instead so what is being said at least translates to the words I'm reading.
At the end of the day Digimon Survive is not a monster taming/catching game and the tactical combat itself is definitely not even the selling point. You're mostly playing Survive for its story so if visual novels aren't your thing you should probably stay away, but for those who don't mind the extra reading and want a compelling Digimon mystery with a dark thriller twist I can't recommend Digimon Survive enough. It might not be the game a lot of people expected and its translation and localization definitely feel rushed and shoddy at times but that doesn't stop Digimon Survive from telling a compelling story and being a journey well worth experiencing.
Let's get this out of the way first, you may or may not know this already, but Survive is about 75% visual novel or more accurately put 75% ADV which is a kind of visual novel that utilizes point and click adventure game elements that let you explore and investigate your surroundings, Digimon Survive is closer to something like Danganronpa or Ace Attorney than Steins;Gate or Fate/Stay Night.
Digimon Survive features a sorta Shin Megami Tensei morality system where players dialogue choices will increase one of 3 stats Moral, Wrath or Harmony and these stats influence both the direction of the story (There's 4 different story routes) and the character's partner Digimon and their digievolution process. There are also 'Free Action' segments in each chapter where you'll have a limited number of actions to talk to your party members and build up affinity with them in a Persona-like manner.
Now as for the narrative of Survive the developers promised a uniquely dark and gritty take on Digimon and they weren't kidding, I don't think anyone was expecting Survive to be this dark. We follow a group of teenagers on a camping trip who visit an ancient shrine that honors the legend of creatures known as Kemonogami and soon after are spirited away to another world filled with these strange creatures, some want to help and become their partners and others want to use them in ritualistic human sacrifice. This is a tale of how friendships can be tested under extreme stress and trauma and a horrific tale of survival in a mysterious, unforgiving environment. Survive has a very dark and foreboding horror/thriller atmosphere almost right from the start and it really makes you fear for the characters lives. Danger is waiting around every corner and you never know who could meet with an untimely death next. I will say the plot can get a little formulaic and repetitive at times in the way it is told and the pacing starts out a bit slow, but once it picks up it really doesn't relent and there's a few good twists to the mystery that will compel you to the end.
While the characters all have their tropes and archetypes most of them also feel incredibly well written and quite realistic too. These kids all have their own personal issues and on top of that have to deal with extreme stress and anxiety, they have mental breakdowns, they develop PTSD and severe trauma, they witness death and horrible acts happen to their friends. The way the cast deals with everything reminds me of a horror movie cast because they're inexperienced, immature and often times let their fear cloud their judgment and because of that a lot of the time they don't make smart decisions, there's tons of interpersonal drama and mistrust between everyone, but how they develop and come to terms with these problems and still work together as a group is what makes them such great characters to me.
Graphically the game is undeniably out of date and could pass for something you'd see on the PS3 or a very high end mobile game, but despite its graphical setbacks the game still looks visually beautiful thanks to killer art design and very expressive character models. The OST sets the tone and helps enhance the atmosphere at all the right moments as well.
So as I mentioned in the beginning the game is 75% VN, well the other 25% is tactical RPG combat and it is mostly very standard tactical RPG gameplay. If you've played something like Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics you already know what to expect. Although the tactical gameplay is very barebones and nothing special battles are few and far between (Only a few in most chapters), but they provide just enough of a challenge that they never feel like a chore and the Digimon sprite work is gorgeous. For those who want more battles there is a 'Free Battle' option that unlocks where you can grind and get new Digimon to join your team with a Shin Megami Tensei styled interrogation mechanic. There's only a little over 100 Digimon in the game to collect and it mostly focuses on each of the character's partner Digimon much like the actual anime does.
I do need to mention my one biggest gripe with Survive and that is the localization and translation. There's a lot of typos or calling certain Digimon the wrong pronouns (like how Renamon is referred to as 'she' in one sentence and then in the next right after 'he' which just didn't make sense) and even improperly used words that don't correlate with what the Japanese voice actors (Who all do a marvelous job btw) are saying at times. It just makes me wish they would've paid for a full on English dub instead so what is being said at least translates to the words I'm reading.
At the end of the day Digimon Survive is not a monster taming/catching game and the tactical combat itself is definitely not even the selling point. You're mostly playing Survive for its story so if visual novels aren't your thing you should probably stay away, but for those who don't mind the extra reading and want a compelling Digimon mystery with a dark thriller twist I can't recommend Digimon Survive enough. It might not be the game a lot of people expected and its translation and localization definitely feel rushed and shoddy at times but that doesn't stop Digimon Survive from telling a compelling story and being a journey well worth experiencing.
The review bombers were right for the wrong reasons
Esse jogo simplesmente me ofende mano, que bagulho burro D+
Coração ta no lugar certo mas infelizmente a execução deixou a desejar. Historia tem seus momentos mas é bem morna, worst offender são os capítulos 3 a 5 em que parece que o negocio anda em círculos e são intermináveis. e muitos dos personagens são one-note. Rejogar as rotas é um martirio, o que não deveria ser quando comparado com outras visual novels. Ainda assim eu gostaria de uma sequel disso que melhorasse esses pontos e principalmente com um escritor melhor. Outro ponto que acho que poderia ser melhor é a trilha sonora, parece que tem só 10 musicas o negocio....
Digimon is a fascinating series in that it is one that always likes to change things up. It's anime series constantly refreshes it's casts, settings, and even the very rules we think Digimon abides by while the games have dipped their toes into all sorts of genres, only recently settling into two distinct mainline titles: the World games that use the Tamagotchi base for your partner Digimon meaning they have a regenerating life cycle and need to be taken care of, and the Story games that are typical JRPG affairs allowing you to collect and battle monsters in turned based combat. For long time fans like myself, Digimon never resting on its laurels is part of the appeal so when Survive was shown to be a Visual Novel hybrid with Tactical RPG battles, I was very excited to see how it turned out. The Digimon games have started to hit a standard of quality that can appeal to a broader audience than its core audience who grew up with the anime so it makes new projects all the more exciting.
So Survive itself is around 70/30 visual novel to trpg which means the bulk of the gameplay is exploring backgrounds and talking to characters in order to progress the story. These kinds of games live and die by their stories and characters and thankfully Digimon Survive strongly excels in this aspect. Celebrating the animes 20th anniversary, Survive feels strongly influenced by the original Digimon Adventure anime. 8 kids going to a summer camp get transported to a mysterious world full of dangerous monsters and end up meeting partner Digimon as they unravel the mystery of the world to return home is basically the exact same set up. Hell, even the 5 male 3 female split is the exact same! Thankfully what Survive does though is put more of a focus on the survival aspect of being trapped in an unknown world. These kids never feel safe, they struggle for supplies, constantly argue amongst themselves on the best way forward, and the tolls of this struggle actually effect these characters mentally in a realistic way. Missing their parents, the fear of being killed, the struggle of connecting with a monster that is supposed to be your destined partner all end up causing characters to lose their compsure, make mistakes and even end up losing their lives.
Yep, once again the games are free to explore things in a more bold way than the anime is and it results in an intense, gripping narrative. With the "golden route" locked to a New Game + run, you're going to see characters die on your first playthrough and it makes the survival aspect all the more real. How the characters react to seeing their friends die is what makes this an interesting and gripping Digimon tale. It takes conventions laid out by the Digimon Adventure anime and pushes out into exploring things the anime put less focus into. And yes as mentioned earlier, the game does have multiple endings. The dialogue choices that affect your endings are unfortunately colour coded into red, green, and yellow which unfortunately makes it clear where your choices are leading to which I think should only be viewable on a NG+ run, let us be blind on our first playthrough of the story.
On the actual characters themselves, I love the cast. Not everyone is likable, some treat their Digimon horribly but I like that there are people in the group that start off like that. It's realistic that not everyone is going to accept a monster that follows them around everywhere when other monsters are literally trying to kill them. It's realistic that the group are going to clash in their opinions despite everyone wanting the same end goal. The kids are a great cast, each with their own flaws and things they excel in and once you get to learn about their backstories and stuff, you can truly appreciate each individual for who they are. The Digimon partners are great counterparts to their partners here. While they keep the tradition of being extensions of their partners, they have enough individuality to balance out their partners flaws. Aoi constantly struggles with her self confidence but Labramon is always there to support her and give her belief in herself. Minoru is always joking and struggling to take things seriously but Falcomon does his best to bring back down to Earth and isn't afraid to call him out for overstepping the mark. What we get here are some of the best human/Digimon partnerships in the series.
Continuing on with the visual novel gameplay, dialogue choices not only change what ending you'll get but also Takuma's Agumon evolution. Choices can be either Moral, Harmony, or Wrathful which are tied into the Vaccine, Data, or Virus types of Digimon. That means depending on what choices you make more of, Agumon's evolution will follow the path of either a Vaccine, Data, or Virus Digimon. I won't spoil all the evolutions but it's clear the Vaccine line is Agumon's standard Greymon line but the other lines include some really neat Digimon choices and that is another fantastic thing about this game.
The choices of Digimon chosen to be in this game is so good. The focus is mainly on a lot of the original Digimon designs from the Adventure era, and while that does mean the usual suspects of Agumon, Gabumon, Patamon, the Dark Masters, etc appearing we also get a lot of rarely used Digimon, like the original design of Falcomon and the return of Kunemon. We've got stuff like Floramon and Syakomon as partners and evolution lines include some really neat picks. It's nice seeing fresh faces over the recent need to include every Royal Knight and Demon Lord Digimon in the game.
Now the weakest aspect of Survive is the tactical rpg side of things unfortunately. The map designs are simple, objectives rarely deviate from "kill all/certain enemies" and conbat itself mainly falls to trying to pull of side/back attacks. Normal difficulty rarely provides a challenge and it's the second highest difficulty in the game.
While I would've liked a deeper combat experience, I do appreciate that its simplicity makes this a lot easier to recommend to newcomers of the genre. Stuff like Fire Emblem or Triangle Strategy can so many moving parts that they're off-putting for those unfamiliar with the genre while with Survive you only really need to keep track of SP and basic positioning as well as your two equipment slots.
I really like how evolution works in tandem with the combat. It's closer to the anime in that you can evolve whenever in battle but only for as long as you have SP, run out of that and you revert back to Rookie level. Higher evolution level monsters drain 5/10/15 SP per turn and use more SP for specials so it discourages relying on pulverising everything with one Mega Digimon. That said, the SP drops aren't enough to make this a consistent thing to worry about. There was only a handful of occasions where I felt the need to drop back down to Rookie to rebuild my SP supply. I think the foundation of the tactical RPG battles is solid here, it does an excellent job of making fights feel more mechanically in line with the anime, it just unfortunately lacks the depth required to be anything other than a nice way to break up the visual novel segments.
I played this game on the Switch and while for the most part it runs fine and looks great (having Toei work on the animation side of things means the art style replicates the anime very well) there are a couple of minor performance issues. Any fog like effects cause the framerate to drop, which considering these are mostly static backgrounds with animated characters is a bit frustrating and poorly optimised. Loading times for going into battle feel too long to the point it can be off putting doing the free battles multiple times in a row because it eats up so much time. Aside from that the performance is fine from my experience.
Digimon Survive is another fantastic Digimon game in a recent line up of great titles. It captures the spirit of the original Adventure anime series and uses it to tell a more serious tale of the dangers of kids being lost in another world full of montsers that can and will kill them. Digimon is always willing to try new things and I am glad this passion project turned out so well after years of development issues. Here's hoping the team have a chance to build off the foundation they laid here sometime in the future.
So Survive itself is around 70/30 visual novel to trpg which means the bulk of the gameplay is exploring backgrounds and talking to characters in order to progress the story. These kinds of games live and die by their stories and characters and thankfully Digimon Survive strongly excels in this aspect. Celebrating the animes 20th anniversary, Survive feels strongly influenced by the original Digimon Adventure anime. 8 kids going to a summer camp get transported to a mysterious world full of dangerous monsters and end up meeting partner Digimon as they unravel the mystery of the world to return home is basically the exact same set up. Hell, even the 5 male 3 female split is the exact same! Thankfully what Survive does though is put more of a focus on the survival aspect of being trapped in an unknown world. These kids never feel safe, they struggle for supplies, constantly argue amongst themselves on the best way forward, and the tolls of this struggle actually effect these characters mentally in a realistic way. Missing their parents, the fear of being killed, the struggle of connecting with a monster that is supposed to be your destined partner all end up causing characters to lose their compsure, make mistakes and even end up losing their lives.
Yep, once again the games are free to explore things in a more bold way than the anime is and it results in an intense, gripping narrative. With the "golden route" locked to a New Game + run, you're going to see characters die on your first playthrough and it makes the survival aspect all the more real. How the characters react to seeing their friends die is what makes this an interesting and gripping Digimon tale. It takes conventions laid out by the Digimon Adventure anime and pushes out into exploring things the anime put less focus into. And yes as mentioned earlier, the game does have multiple endings. The dialogue choices that affect your endings are unfortunately colour coded into red, green, and yellow which unfortunately makes it clear where your choices are leading to which I think should only be viewable on a NG+ run, let us be blind on our first playthrough of the story.
On the actual characters themselves, I love the cast. Not everyone is likable, some treat their Digimon horribly but I like that there are people in the group that start off like that. It's realistic that not everyone is going to accept a monster that follows them around everywhere when other monsters are literally trying to kill them. It's realistic that the group are going to clash in their opinions despite everyone wanting the same end goal. The kids are a great cast, each with their own flaws and things they excel in and once you get to learn about their backstories and stuff, you can truly appreciate each individual for who they are. The Digimon partners are great counterparts to their partners here. While they keep the tradition of being extensions of their partners, they have enough individuality to balance out their partners flaws. Aoi constantly struggles with her self confidence but Labramon is always there to support her and give her belief in herself. Minoru is always joking and struggling to take things seriously but Falcomon does his best to bring back down to Earth and isn't afraid to call him out for overstepping the mark. What we get here are some of the best human/Digimon partnerships in the series.
Continuing on with the visual novel gameplay, dialogue choices not only change what ending you'll get but also Takuma's Agumon evolution. Choices can be either Moral, Harmony, or Wrathful which are tied into the Vaccine, Data, or Virus types of Digimon. That means depending on what choices you make more of, Agumon's evolution will follow the path of either a Vaccine, Data, or Virus Digimon. I won't spoil all the evolutions but it's clear the Vaccine line is Agumon's standard Greymon line but the other lines include some really neat Digimon choices and that is another fantastic thing about this game.
The choices of Digimon chosen to be in this game is so good. The focus is mainly on a lot of the original Digimon designs from the Adventure era, and while that does mean the usual suspects of Agumon, Gabumon, Patamon, the Dark Masters, etc appearing we also get a lot of rarely used Digimon, like the original design of Falcomon and the return of Kunemon. We've got stuff like Floramon and Syakomon as partners and evolution lines include some really neat picks. It's nice seeing fresh faces over the recent need to include every Royal Knight and Demon Lord Digimon in the game.
Now the weakest aspect of Survive is the tactical rpg side of things unfortunately. The map designs are simple, objectives rarely deviate from "kill all/certain enemies" and conbat itself mainly falls to trying to pull of side/back attacks. Normal difficulty rarely provides a challenge and it's the second highest difficulty in the game.
While I would've liked a deeper combat experience, I do appreciate that its simplicity makes this a lot easier to recommend to newcomers of the genre. Stuff like Fire Emblem or Triangle Strategy can so many moving parts that they're off-putting for those unfamiliar with the genre while with Survive you only really need to keep track of SP and basic positioning as well as your two equipment slots.
I really like how evolution works in tandem with the combat. It's closer to the anime in that you can evolve whenever in battle but only for as long as you have SP, run out of that and you revert back to Rookie level. Higher evolution level monsters drain 5/10/15 SP per turn and use more SP for specials so it discourages relying on pulverising everything with one Mega Digimon. That said, the SP drops aren't enough to make this a consistent thing to worry about. There was only a handful of occasions where I felt the need to drop back down to Rookie to rebuild my SP supply. I think the foundation of the tactical RPG battles is solid here, it does an excellent job of making fights feel more mechanically in line with the anime, it just unfortunately lacks the depth required to be anything other than a nice way to break up the visual novel segments.
I played this game on the Switch and while for the most part it runs fine and looks great (having Toei work on the animation side of things means the art style replicates the anime very well) there are a couple of minor performance issues. Any fog like effects cause the framerate to drop, which considering these are mostly static backgrounds with animated characters is a bit frustrating and poorly optimised. Loading times for going into battle feel too long to the point it can be off putting doing the free battles multiple times in a row because it eats up so much time. Aside from that the performance is fine from my experience.
Digimon Survive is another fantastic Digimon game in a recent line up of great titles. It captures the spirit of the original Adventure anime series and uses it to tell a more serious tale of the dangers of kids being lost in another world full of montsers that can and will kill them. Digimon is always willing to try new things and I am glad this passion project turned out so well after years of development issues. Here's hoping the team have a chance to build off the foundation they laid here sometime in the future.
I waited 4 years for this game, after multiple delays it was finally released.
Just as a preface; While it does have tactical gameplay elements, this game is a visual novel before anything else. If that type of game isn’t in your alley then you will get bored.
Of course this could be the exception to your taste, especially if you are a digimon fan. Because this game’s story is a love letter to longtime fans.
This is a game made by people who understand the appeal of digimon. With the poor marketing it has received, I encourage any digimon fan to jump on the occasion if a visual novel doesn’t turn you off completely.
For tactical game enthusiast, you might find the game too easy (No permanent death for units, every units on the field will gain exp after your victory even if they have been defeated in the process) and your options are quite limited, which will make for little to no variety in how you approach a battle but I think the engaging scenario, which is a darker take on the very first adventure anime largely makes up for it.
I wouldn’t say the story is groundbreaking but you can tell the people who worked on it know their stuff and were able to build on the established lore tell a bold story never seen before in the franchise. Coupled with a lot of easter eggs that people will recognize.
Only downside of this is that for the most part, it gets really repetitive. For someone who wants to get all the ending (5 in total) but they will themselves skipping a lot of dialogues considering that it’s basically the same story with minor differences.
There is one choice in particular that will determinate which ending you will get but the options will depend if your affinity (moral, wrathful and harmony) which are influenced by your various. If you were careful about your choices then you could technically get all 4 endings path available before reaching that branching point. Then all you would have to do is save and reload at that point to proceed with each route (which would cuts a lot of pointless replay)
Unfortunately for the 5th ending (the true ending) you have to complete a route then proceed to start from the beginning with NG+
But if you’re really into the story, it will be worth it.
Just as a preface; While it does have tactical gameplay elements, this game is a visual novel before anything else. If that type of game isn’t in your alley then you will get bored.
Of course this could be the exception to your taste, especially if you are a digimon fan. Because this game’s story is a love letter to longtime fans.
This is a game made by people who understand the appeal of digimon. With the poor marketing it has received, I encourage any digimon fan to jump on the occasion if a visual novel doesn’t turn you off completely.
For tactical game enthusiast, you might find the game too easy (No permanent death for units, every units on the field will gain exp after your victory even if they have been defeated in the process) and your options are quite limited, which will make for little to no variety in how you approach a battle but I think the engaging scenario, which is a darker take on the very first adventure anime largely makes up for it.
I wouldn’t say the story is groundbreaking but you can tell the people who worked on it know their stuff and were able to build on the established lore tell a bold story never seen before in the franchise. Coupled with a lot of easter eggs that people will recognize.
Only downside of this is that for the most part, it gets really repetitive. For someone who wants to get all the ending (5 in total) but they will themselves skipping a lot of dialogues considering that it’s basically the same story with minor differences.
There is one choice in particular that will determinate which ending you will get but the options will depend if your affinity (moral, wrathful and harmony) which are influenced by your various. If you were careful about your choices then you could technically get all 4 endings path available before reaching that branching point. Then all you would have to do is save and reload at that point to proceed with each route (which would cuts a lot of pointless replay)
Unfortunately for the 5th ending (the true ending) you have to complete a route then proceed to start from the beginning with NG+
But if you’re really into the story, it will be worth it.
Digimon Survive para mim é uma surpresa, desde o seu anuncio até poder de fato jogar. Esse este é um jogo que, para mim, exemplifica quais as potencias que podem ser trabalhadas em uma franquia como Digimon, pois se distancia do seu rival do mainstream Pokemon.
Mas o que seriam essas diferenciações?
Primeiro esta no fato do jogo não ser baseado no grinding e treinamento de monstrinhos, apesar de Digimon fazer isso bem antes de Pokemon, foi em Pokemon que esse tipo de jogo foi popularizado em consoles, daí a ideia das pessoas acharem que Digimon segue tendências de Pokemon, o que não deixa de ser verdade, já que temos jogos de Digimon que funciona na base do colecionismo e treinamento de monstrinhos. Mas a questão aqui em Survive é que, para os lados dos animes Digimon ao meu ver, sempre foi mais querido pelo fato de trazer uma aventura mais interessante e com perigos reais aos protagonistas.
Vamos lembrar que a primeira temporada de Digimon, que aqui vou chamar de Adventure 97, trazia as crianças e seus monstrinhos em um ambiente hostil e seus perigos eram bem reais, apesar de não haver o fator >morte de crianças< tivemos algumas mortes de digimons ao longo da série, e outras séries de Digimon seguiram um pouco essa filosofia, o que já distoa bastante de como Pokemon é visto.
Mas então... por que falar de Adventure 97 se o foco aqui é Survive? Bem, na minha opnião Survive busca trazer elementos do anime para um jogo de Digimon, fator que não tive nsa minhas experiências, desde relações mais próximas com os Digimon's até historias que fossem puxadas para um terror.
E é aqui que ta o mérito e a demérito desse game. Gostei muito das relações e discussões dentro do game, mas sinto que não foram bem abordadas ou até mesmo exploradas, muito dos diálogos perto do fim do game subestimam a inteligência do jogador e por muitas vezes não funcionam dentro da própria trama. A parte de luta tática do game, assim como a utilização dos itens, apesar de não ser o foco, não são interessantes, são poucos os momentos em que lutas são realmente difíceis e assim... conversar com outros digimons para faze-los seus aliados é uma ideia MAGNIFICA! Pórem não gostei tanto desse aspecto neste game, sinto que eles poderiam ter feito algo como Pokemon Mistery Dungeon faz, eles testam sua personalidade e te dão um parceiro X e ao longo do tempo você até consegue recrutar outros Pokémon, mas é através de quest, pórem essa decisão teria de ser avaliada para não aumentar tanto o escopo do game e desviar da história principal.
Quanto ao perigo que este jogo trás aos personagens secundários, achei interessante, mas ficou meio chato aturar certas pessoas naquele contexto, o que é ótimo e dimensiona bem quais os perigos de suas decisões, mas ainda acho que não é bem executado nesse game.
Enfim, Digimon Survive é um jogo bom com potencial de ser um ótimo jogo de Digimon, sempre que jogar um jogo desses e ter uma relação mais proxima com meu parceiro Digimon e viver de fato essa aventura, assim como Adventure 97, ele inclusive trás similaridades com o anime e só quem assistiu vai conseguir pegar uma boa parte delas. O problema aqui pode ter sido o desenvolvimento do jogo, interferência de executivos ou só dificuldade em amarrar tudo, até pq temos mais uma vez o Agumon como protagonista e pra mim... ta bem chatinho já, mas entendendo que o Dinossauro Pikachu agrada mais uma audiencia ampla, eu só queria ter um outro parceiro com uma outra personalidade para poder seguir uma aventura. Dito isso, vale a pena jogar Digimon Survive? Se você estiver afim de jogar uma Visual Novel, vai na fé, bota o jogo do fácil e vai seguindo, pois é até uma historinha legal de acompanhar, especialmente se você já consumiu alguma coisa de Digimon antes, agora se você for exigente com dificuldade, histórias e decisões, talvez passe raiva em certos momentos, o que pode te levar a dropar o jogo.
Mas o que seriam essas diferenciações?
Primeiro esta no fato do jogo não ser baseado no grinding e treinamento de monstrinhos, apesar de Digimon fazer isso bem antes de Pokemon, foi em Pokemon que esse tipo de jogo foi popularizado em consoles, daí a ideia das pessoas acharem que Digimon segue tendências de Pokemon, o que não deixa de ser verdade, já que temos jogos de Digimon que funciona na base do colecionismo e treinamento de monstrinhos. Mas a questão aqui em Survive é que, para os lados dos animes Digimon ao meu ver, sempre foi mais querido pelo fato de trazer uma aventura mais interessante e com perigos reais aos protagonistas.
Vamos lembrar que a primeira temporada de Digimon, que aqui vou chamar de Adventure 97, trazia as crianças e seus monstrinhos em um ambiente hostil e seus perigos eram bem reais, apesar de não haver o fator >morte de crianças< tivemos algumas mortes de digimons ao longo da série, e outras séries de Digimon seguiram um pouco essa filosofia, o que já distoa bastante de como Pokemon é visto.
Mas então... por que falar de Adventure 97 se o foco aqui é Survive? Bem, na minha opnião Survive busca trazer elementos do anime para um jogo de Digimon, fator que não tive nsa minhas experiências, desde relações mais próximas com os Digimon's até historias que fossem puxadas para um terror.
E é aqui que ta o mérito e a demérito desse game. Gostei muito das relações e discussões dentro do game, mas sinto que não foram bem abordadas ou até mesmo exploradas, muito dos diálogos perto do fim do game subestimam a inteligência do jogador e por muitas vezes não funcionam dentro da própria trama. A parte de luta tática do game, assim como a utilização dos itens, apesar de não ser o foco, não são interessantes, são poucos os momentos em que lutas são realmente difíceis e assim... conversar com outros digimons para faze-los seus aliados é uma ideia MAGNIFICA! Pórem não gostei tanto desse aspecto neste game, sinto que eles poderiam ter feito algo como Pokemon Mistery Dungeon faz, eles testam sua personalidade e te dão um parceiro X e ao longo do tempo você até consegue recrutar outros Pokémon, mas é através de quest, pórem essa decisão teria de ser avaliada para não aumentar tanto o escopo do game e desviar da história principal.
Quanto ao perigo que este jogo trás aos personagens secundários, achei interessante, mas ficou meio chato aturar certas pessoas naquele contexto, o que é ótimo e dimensiona bem quais os perigos de suas decisões, mas ainda acho que não é bem executado nesse game.
Enfim, Digimon Survive é um jogo bom com potencial de ser um ótimo jogo de Digimon, sempre que jogar um jogo desses e ter uma relação mais proxima com meu parceiro Digimon e viver de fato essa aventura, assim como Adventure 97, ele inclusive trás similaridades com o anime e só quem assistiu vai conseguir pegar uma boa parte delas. O problema aqui pode ter sido o desenvolvimento do jogo, interferência de executivos ou só dificuldade em amarrar tudo, até pq temos mais uma vez o Agumon como protagonista e pra mim... ta bem chatinho já, mas entendendo que o Dinossauro Pikachu agrada mais uma audiencia ampla, eu só queria ter um outro parceiro com uma outra personalidade para poder seguir uma aventura. Dito isso, vale a pena jogar Digimon Survive? Se você estiver afim de jogar uma Visual Novel, vai na fé, bota o jogo do fácil e vai seguindo, pois é até uma historinha legal de acompanhar, especialmente se você já consumiu alguma coisa de Digimon antes, agora se você for exigente com dificuldade, histórias e decisões, talvez passe raiva em certos momentos, o que pode te levar a dropar o jogo.
Digimon is my most special franchise so That might colour my thoughts, but I enjoyed it for the most part. Especially the second play though.
It’s a visual novel first and foremost, the tactics take a back seat. I wouldn’t mind this if there was some variety. The chapters are very regimented. They each have specific sections with no variation. Think of danganronpa, they have you other things to do, the gift machine, the v pet from 2, being able to walk around. I actually think that is the biggest issue, there is no world to look around, it is just like looking at pictures. Because there is no free roam.
The game looks really pretty though and it has care put into it, the people obviously knew about digimon law and I love that they used lesser known digimon as partners.
Another big issue was the first play though was good but the true ending play though isn’t even comparable. It is so much better. It has more story, more characters, it’s just so much better. I felt the bond of the characters in this ending path.
So I would pick it up is you love visual Novels. Or absolutely love digimon
It’s a visual novel first and foremost, the tactics take a back seat. I wouldn’t mind this if there was some variety. The chapters are very regimented. They each have specific sections with no variation. Think of danganronpa, they have you other things to do, the gift machine, the v pet from 2, being able to walk around. I actually think that is the biggest issue, there is no world to look around, it is just like looking at pictures. Because there is no free roam.
The game looks really pretty though and it has care put into it, the people obviously knew about digimon law and I love that they used lesser known digimon as partners.
Another big issue was the first play though was good but the true ending play though isn’t even comparable. It is so much better. It has more story, more characters, it’s just so much better. I felt the bond of the characters in this ending path.
So I would pick it up is you love visual Novels. Or absolutely love digimon
More visual novel than RPG which is good if you're into that sorta thing but I was hoping for a more traditional one.
Since it's so story focused much of your enjoyment will come out of the writing and the characters, but they're both so aggravating and bland you'll end up slogging through it or dropping it. I probably would've stopped playing halfway through it, but I spent $60 on it, and I did the wrathful route (btw this is one of those 'your choice affects the story' VNs), and I wanted to see how dark it would get, since that was something the marketing really hyped up. It got dark, but it wasn't horrifying or anything (cept there was one part that did take me off guard). Some of the deaths and consequences of my choices were interesting, but not mind blowing or anything.
So is this worth it? Only if you're into VNs. If you're a Digimon fan I wouldn't recommend this.
Since it's so story focused much of your enjoyment will come out of the writing and the characters, but they're both so aggravating and bland you'll end up slogging through it or dropping it. I probably would've stopped playing halfway through it, but I spent $60 on it, and I did the wrathful route (btw this is one of those 'your choice affects the story' VNs), and I wanted to see how dark it would get, since that was something the marketing really hyped up. It got dark, but it wasn't horrifying or anything (cept there was one part that did take me off guard). Some of the deaths and consequences of my choices were interesting, but not mind blowing or anything.
So is this worth it? Only if you're into VNs. If you're a Digimon fan I wouldn't recommend this.
switch version sucks, wish you could skip entire sections and fights when doing ng+
This review contains spoilers
I genuinely don't think ANYONE was more excited for this game than me, it's been the wallpaper on my Chromebook for 4 entire years now as I wait for the release that I always hoped in my heart would come. So believe me when I say, this hurts me to say probably more than any game I've had a bad experience with. (And yes, I know the game was basically rebuilt from scratch halfway through and had like 0 budget)
This game just...isn't good. It's easy to point to the combat and say it's incredible vapid, boring and grindy, which are all true. But I actually think the visual novel portion is the bigger flaw of this game. It's incredibly weird to go through a choices matter VN where your choices don't matter at all. Raising affinity has no impact on the story since all the deaths in the first playthrough are scripted and forced to trigger. Your morality plays almost next to no role in the story, only determine maybe one death towards the end of the game (possibly 2) and that's about it.
Such beautiful presentation wasted on an incredibly empty and tedious experience that even after waiting 4 years for, I don't even really want to play again. I'm not gonna sit through unskippable dialogue, scenes and battles in a NG+ playthrough when 80% of it will play out the exact same as the playthrough I just did.
This literally breaks my heart to say, but I almost wish the game had just stayed in development hell and been cancelled after all.
This game just...isn't good. It's easy to point to the combat and say it's incredible vapid, boring and grindy, which are all true. But I actually think the visual novel portion is the bigger flaw of this game. It's incredibly weird to go through a choices matter VN where your choices don't matter at all. Raising affinity has no impact on the story since all the deaths in the first playthrough are scripted and forced to trigger. Your morality plays almost next to no role in the story, only determine maybe one death towards the end of the game (possibly 2) and that's about it.
Such beautiful presentation wasted on an incredibly empty and tedious experience that even after waiting 4 years for, I don't even really want to play again. I'm not gonna sit through unskippable dialogue, scenes and battles in a NG+ playthrough when 80% of it will play out the exact same as the playthrough I just did.
This literally breaks my heart to say, but I almost wish the game had just stayed in development hell and been cancelled after all.
Just finished playing on the moral route and really really enjoyed playing. I do have a few nitpicks I want to get out of the way as I'd like to end the review with the good stuff as its sometimes easy to focus on negatives.
Cons:
So for the stuff I didn't like, its not a long list but its a list nonetheless. My first grip is while it is a visual novel and marketed as such, it does feel a bit excessive at times. The writers must be a big fan of "the rule of 3" because a lot of stuff happens in threes, meaning you kinda go through the same motions back to back to back and that can get a bit stale after a while.
Another gripe is I do wish there was a bit more difficulty in the combat sections, I didn't lose a fight until the first time you fight a Mega level boss and even then I was more so just caught off guard because until that point I was just on auto pilot, and to my knowledge NG+ does not increase boss difficulty so thats kinda disappointing.
Minor nitpick as this stuff doesn't really bother me but I know it will for some, but as the game progresses it does get a bit sloppy with some mistranslation issues. Nothing game-breaking but you'll definitely notice it a few times.
Pros:
Probably the best looking visual novel I have played, its very comparable to Danganronpa v3 for me as to which looks better, V3 has more sense of style but Survive just looks so clean and crisp.
While the plot can be somewhat predictable at times, thats not always a bad thing as often times it did what I expected it to do, but in a very extreme/unexpected way and that lead to some jaw drop moments. It also parallels the original Digimon Adventure anime a bit so thats nice nostalgia for old fans and something new for new fans.
I liked pretty much every character and they all have enough personality that anyone playing will surely be able to have a favorite and two and be able to dig into their backstory. I also really loved how the digimon partners were also given distinct personalities, excellent touch that can often be overlooked in Digimon games.
Will I play NG+? I'm not sure, as of right now I am leaning towards no, I was happy enough with my ending and playthrough and from what I have heard, NG+ doesn't do enough for me to justify playing it but I think that will depend on what ending you get on your first playthrough and how much you want to see the true ending.
Overall thoughts: If you aren't put off by visual novels and enjoy digimon in any sense or want to give digimon a try, I definitely recommend Digimon Survive. It looks good, has an interesting plot with fun characters and has very accessible, if slightly easy, SRPG gameplay to break up the sometimes heavy plot.
Cons:
So for the stuff I didn't like, its not a long list but its a list nonetheless. My first grip is while it is a visual novel and marketed as such, it does feel a bit excessive at times. The writers must be a big fan of "the rule of 3" because a lot of stuff happens in threes, meaning you kinda go through the same motions back to back to back and that can get a bit stale after a while.
Another gripe is I do wish there was a bit more difficulty in the combat sections, I didn't lose a fight until the first time you fight a Mega level boss and even then I was more so just caught off guard because until that point I was just on auto pilot, and to my knowledge NG+ does not increase boss difficulty so thats kinda disappointing.
Minor nitpick as this stuff doesn't really bother me but I know it will for some, but as the game progresses it does get a bit sloppy with some mistranslation issues. Nothing game-breaking but you'll definitely notice it a few times.
Pros:
Probably the best looking visual novel I have played, its very comparable to Danganronpa v3 for me as to which looks better, V3 has more sense of style but Survive just looks so clean and crisp.
While the plot can be somewhat predictable at times, thats not always a bad thing as often times it did what I expected it to do, but in a very extreme/unexpected way and that lead to some jaw drop moments. It also parallels the original Digimon Adventure anime a bit so thats nice nostalgia for old fans and something new for new fans.
I liked pretty much every character and they all have enough personality that anyone playing will surely be able to have a favorite and two and be able to dig into their backstory. I also really loved how the digimon partners were also given distinct personalities, excellent touch that can often be overlooked in Digimon games.
Will I play NG+? I'm not sure, as of right now I am leaning towards no, I was happy enough with my ending and playthrough and from what I have heard, NG+ doesn't do enough for me to justify playing it but I think that will depend on what ending you get on your first playthrough and how much you want to see the true ending.
Overall thoughts: If you aren't put off by visual novels and enjoy digimon in any sense or want to give digimon a try, I definitely recommend Digimon Survive. It looks good, has an interesting plot with fun characters and has very accessible, if slightly easy, SRPG gameplay to break up the sometimes heavy plot.
AVOID SWITCH VERSION
I couldn't finish the game because of the horrible port that this game has on the switch. Not gonna talk much about it just avoid that version because there is no excuse for a game like this to be borderline unplayable on the console.
The game is very slow and very much visual novely. The story is good, and if you're a digimon fan you'll be entertained. The visual novel parts are ok to exist but there are a lot of times where the dialogue just keeps repeating itself to the point of adding hours to the game with no advancement in the story. Combat is really simple. It's fun and super appealing to the art style, but it isn't very dynamic. Menu navigation which is super important in the game it's kind of a party pooper to the overall environment and vibe the game tries to give you
I couldn't finish the game because of the horrible port that this game has on the switch. Not gonna talk much about it just avoid that version because there is no excuse for a game like this to be borderline unplayable on the console.
The game is very slow and very much visual novely. The story is good, and if you're a digimon fan you'll be entertained. The visual novel parts are ok to exist but there are a lot of times where the dialogue just keeps repeating itself to the point of adding hours to the game with no advancement in the story. Combat is really simple. It's fun and super appealing to the art style, but it isn't very dynamic. Menu navigation which is super important in the game it's kind of a party pooper to the overall environment and vibe the game tries to give you
I don't really think a game that is 70% a visual novel, or more accurately an ADV game, and 30% a TRPG, is what you'd exactly expect from a Digimon game, with the last few entries leaning more to traditional JRPG mechanics and huge casts. As a big fan of the series and its world since the original Adventure anime, Survive feels like a love letter to the first few entries of the franchise, with a smaller assemble of fan favorite Digimon, emphasis on the characters and their struggles, and a story that hits familiar beats. The game actually doesn't really mention Digimon for the most part, it establishes its own lore about what these creatures are and it feels like a story that works whether you have prior knowledge of the series, or this is the very first Digimon work you're engaging with. Nevertheless, as I said, it's a love letter to the earlier parts of the series, and it indulges a lot in nostalgia and references that fans are sure to notice. Even the vast majority of the Digimon you encounter are from the original series, with Agumon of course playing a vital role in the story.
The human characters are the most important part of the narrative and the focus of everything that happens. It's a cast of teens, each one with their own issues, and they might feel a bit simple at first, some of them even annoying, but as the story progresses you get to know them more, and see them grow past of their initial template. The game is less about them being the chosen kids or heroes, and more about them tackling their own insecurities, through conflicts, fears and loss. The story certainly complements that and the dynamics among them, having a more dark tone than what most people might expect. The game is called Survive because the world these characters are transported to is a hostile environment and survival becomes their utmost priority. The Digimon they first encounter are portrayed as ruthless wild monsters and are an actual threat to them. And even beyond the Digimon, the harsh reality of being trapped to another world is a danger by itself and acts as a major psychological fear throughout the story. I wouldn't really say it's nothing we haven't seen before, Digimon was always a series with more mature themes compared to something like Pokemon, but I'm regardless happy to see such a story again, and it's certainly the main reason you should try this game.
Structure wise, Digimon Survive consists of several chapters, and at some point, there are three branching paths to take. Two of them are sort of bad endings, though they contain character moments that the main route doesn't delve into too much. The third path is basically an incomplete ending, and to uncover the true ending of the game, you need to start NG+ and complete a certain requirement while at it. Essentially, there are four different routes, and while there are certainly a lot of parts that repeat, especially at the start, the last few chapters are unique to each of them. I'm not sure if I'd suggest going through all of them, the Bad Endings have some really cool stuff though, but at the very least I'd recommend going for the True Ending, as it resolves the main conflict in a very satisfactory way.
As for the chapters themselves, they usually follow the same structure of interacting with the characters in a VN format, exploring a new area and then fighting a boss. The game gives you several options as an answer to your interactions with the other characters, and you usually have to choose the most appropriate one to further bond with them. Sometimes though, the options you choose have to do with the main character's beliefs, which is something that plays a role in their own development and how some stuff will progress. The exploration parts are quite basic, you investigate scenes and interact with the environment or talk to characters, for the most part it's just a more gamified version of the previously mentioned interactions, and even though there are some short quests, I wouldn't say it's anything really interesting. While this structure is fine for the most part, I actually found it a bit tedious at times, especially the exploration sections. The game has a tendency of having some scenes overstay their welcome, with added "padding" that artificially lengthens them, like having to go and explore several different areas despite the objective being clear. Also, while it's an important part of the game, you're usually required to talk to to all the characters each time something happens, several times too, and considering the size of the cast, that also becomes quite tedious, especially when you're going for different endings.
Lastly, an important part of the game is the combat and the battles. While I assume a lot of people are disappointed with the VN format and wanted more of a proper gameplay, I actually found the ratio between them really good, I wouldn't even mind less combat parts. I don't really want to call those sections bad, because they aren't, but they're certainly underbaked. They interact well with the story parts, as your choices often determine what your Digimon will evolve to and you get several benefits from characters that you have a high bond with, but for the most part the Tactics part is rather simple. The Digimon don't really have a ton of options and while when they reach the Mega stage of evolution there's a lot more freedom on the attacks and the movement, on a core level, the combat and the encounters remain very basic. It's also not particularly challenging in a meaningful way, and even in higher difficulties, it becomes more of a slog rather than a fun challenge. True route has some more interesting encounters, but overall, probably nothing to write home about. Worth noting though, thankfully, the game has a lot of QoL features for these parts, like increased speed or skipping animations, or options to restart the battle at a whim, so they're certainly bearable and I appreciate that. Finally, there's sort of a "Pokedex" to fill through interactions with wild Digimon, which while is a fun side activity, as you try to figure out how to get a certain Digimon or what to evolve it into, the small number of Digimon and the structure of the game don't really allow for much discovery, and the process to acquire them ends up quite inorganic as a result.
Overall, it's a game that I really enjoyed for its characters and its story, and as a fan of Digimon, I couldn't really rank it lower. Without that element, it'd probably be a 6, because some aspects of it seriously need more work, unfortunately the game's budget really limits it, even if it's part of a niche genre. The game could be a more fun experience with less repetition, less padding and more variety in areas, Digimon and scenes, though regardless, I really appreciated its minimal tone at times and still had fun with it. For Digimon fans or people interested in the series, I honestly think it's a must though.
The human characters are the most important part of the narrative and the focus of everything that happens. It's a cast of teens, each one with their own issues, and they might feel a bit simple at first, some of them even annoying, but as the story progresses you get to know them more, and see them grow past of their initial template. The game is less about them being the chosen kids or heroes, and more about them tackling their own insecurities, through conflicts, fears and loss. The story certainly complements that and the dynamics among them, having a more dark tone than what most people might expect. The game is called Survive because the world these characters are transported to is a hostile environment and survival becomes their utmost priority. The Digimon they first encounter are portrayed as ruthless wild monsters and are an actual threat to them. And even beyond the Digimon, the harsh reality of being trapped to another world is a danger by itself and acts as a major psychological fear throughout the story. I wouldn't really say it's nothing we haven't seen before, Digimon was always a series with more mature themes compared to something like Pokemon, but I'm regardless happy to see such a story again, and it's certainly the main reason you should try this game.
Structure wise, Digimon Survive consists of several chapters, and at some point, there are three branching paths to take. Two of them are sort of bad endings, though they contain character moments that the main route doesn't delve into too much. The third path is basically an incomplete ending, and to uncover the true ending of the game, you need to start NG+ and complete a certain requirement while at it. Essentially, there are four different routes, and while there are certainly a lot of parts that repeat, especially at the start, the last few chapters are unique to each of them. I'm not sure if I'd suggest going through all of them, the Bad Endings have some really cool stuff though, but at the very least I'd recommend going for the True Ending, as it resolves the main conflict in a very satisfactory way.
As for the chapters themselves, they usually follow the same structure of interacting with the characters in a VN format, exploring a new area and then fighting a boss. The game gives you several options as an answer to your interactions with the other characters, and you usually have to choose the most appropriate one to further bond with them. Sometimes though, the options you choose have to do with the main character's beliefs, which is something that plays a role in their own development and how some stuff will progress. The exploration parts are quite basic, you investigate scenes and interact with the environment or talk to characters, for the most part it's just a more gamified version of the previously mentioned interactions, and even though there are some short quests, I wouldn't say it's anything really interesting. While this structure is fine for the most part, I actually found it a bit tedious at times, especially the exploration sections. The game has a tendency of having some scenes overstay their welcome, with added "padding" that artificially lengthens them, like having to go and explore several different areas despite the objective being clear. Also, while it's an important part of the game, you're usually required to talk to to all the characters each time something happens, several times too, and considering the size of the cast, that also becomes quite tedious, especially when you're going for different endings.
Lastly, an important part of the game is the combat and the battles. While I assume a lot of people are disappointed with the VN format and wanted more of a proper gameplay, I actually found the ratio between them really good, I wouldn't even mind less combat parts. I don't really want to call those sections bad, because they aren't, but they're certainly underbaked. They interact well with the story parts, as your choices often determine what your Digimon will evolve to and you get several benefits from characters that you have a high bond with, but for the most part the Tactics part is rather simple. The Digimon don't really have a ton of options and while when they reach the Mega stage of evolution there's a lot more freedom on the attacks and the movement, on a core level, the combat and the encounters remain very basic. It's also not particularly challenging in a meaningful way, and even in higher difficulties, it becomes more of a slog rather than a fun challenge. True route has some more interesting encounters, but overall, probably nothing to write home about. Worth noting though, thankfully, the game has a lot of QoL features for these parts, like increased speed or skipping animations, or options to restart the battle at a whim, so they're certainly bearable and I appreciate that. Finally, there's sort of a "Pokedex" to fill through interactions with wild Digimon, which while is a fun side activity, as you try to figure out how to get a certain Digimon or what to evolve it into, the small number of Digimon and the structure of the game don't really allow for much discovery, and the process to acquire them ends up quite inorganic as a result.
Overall, it's a game that I really enjoyed for its characters and its story, and as a fan of Digimon, I couldn't really rank it lower. Without that element, it'd probably be a 6, because some aspects of it seriously need more work, unfortunately the game's budget really limits it, even if it's part of a niche genre. The game could be a more fun experience with less repetition, less padding and more variety in areas, Digimon and scenes, though regardless, I really appreciated its minimal tone at times and still had fun with it. For Digimon fans or people interested in the series, I honestly think it's a must though.
Get war greymon and you actually beat the game
I will be going back to do additional endings and other experimentation with the relationship level with each character, but I’d call this the most fascinating Digimon game in years. The VN parts are great. The tactical wasn’t really that complex or great but it didn’t damper it too much for me personally.
I was getting a bit tired of the TRPG stuff by the end honestly. The only complaint I have with the story is it felt like the ending was coming then it just didn’t lmao but at least it o my lasted 30 hours and not at all any longer.
Anyways, the story fascinated me more than anything. I have too many games to play at the moment but when I break through some of my backlog, I’ll be coming back for the rest of the content.
I was getting a bit tired of the TRPG stuff by the end honestly. The only complaint I have with the story is it felt like the ending was coming then it just didn’t lmao but at least it o my lasted 30 hours and not at all any longer.
Anyways, the story fascinated me more than anything. I have too many games to play at the moment but when I break through some of my backlog, I’ll be coming back for the rest of the content.
Eu sempre fui e continuo sendo um grande fã de Digimon, mas eu nunca curti muito VNs ou TRPGs, mas esse jogo fez eu gostar dos 2,a historia do jogo é muito boa, e tem personagens bem legais, e eu gostei bastante de terem colocado esse clima de terror, com consequências nas suas escolhas, eu adoraria q eles fizessem um novo anime, com esse cast de personagens e essa historia, eu recomendo pra quem curte Digimon.
after 4 years of waiting for this game i can say the wait was 100% worth it, the cast is probably the best the series has ever had, the story is extremely good and the characters deaths are f'd up, the combat was okay but could've been way better 9/10 loved it
It's a good visual novel, which a great setting and atmosphere, the writting can be on the wrong track sometimes, but you keep coming back for the characters and good dialogues. I feel they needed more resources to perfect this, but im glad it turned out great. This is an amazing game for Digimon and Non Digimon fans alike.
What i really like from the route i got tho, is that it kinda ''reboots'' the franchise in a very nice way. Its not a reboot, but you can feel it.
What i really like from the route i got tho, is that it kinda ''reboots'' the franchise in a very nice way. Its not a reboot, but you can feel it.
I don’t know man, I just struggle to enjoy Digimon games and this one isn’t really different. The game looks nice, I like the style the characters are drawn in and that’s about it. I don’t mind visual novels when the story interests me or when the gameplay that accompanies it is great, but I get neither with Survive. The story doesn’t interest me at all and the gameplay is just average for a trpg.
And while not particularly Survive’s fault, I really don’t care about Digimon creature designs besides the handful of popular ones.
I wanted this to be the Digimon game I finally enjoyed, but I didn’t get that this time.
And while not particularly Survive’s fault, I really don’t care about Digimon creature designs besides the handful of popular ones.
I wanted this to be the Digimon game I finally enjoyed, but I didn’t get that this time.
El juego tiene problemas, y no se puede ignorar, tiene muchos diálogos mal localizados por ejemplo, y sería 10 veces mejor si tuviera una buena animación. Ahora bien, hacía tiempo que no me importaban los personajes y el desarrollo de una historia.
havent been paying attention to digimon since i was like 10 and made my mom buy me a copy of rumble arena 2 on ebay this is a cute little game idk when ill get around to doing the true ending but i dont think theres anything they could do to make me think this was goty or ruin it for me. its cute
The writing in this feels almost insulting, which is probably not a good thing when the game is a book for 3/4 of its runtime. The script is so bloated and full of wasted space all in a story that never picks up until over halfway into the game and doesn't even manage to stick the landing with any of the endings I've seen. I don't think I found a single twist or tense moment well-executed; the writing was instead at its best when having lighter moments with the Digimon and not at all with the humans. Agumon alone carried the majority of the game on his back.
Most of the characters are incredibly stupid, boring, or both, and the game fails to meaningfully touch the "dark" territory with them I was told so much about outside of some really trite or unbelievable situations involving character deaths, or just gesturing meekly toward how the characters feel about their problems in life. Those feelings themselves are addressed and on some level the characters wind up feeling better, but only the emotional aftereffects of the problems are dealt with. These improvements are offset by the characters having to reset themselves to a degree in the main story, meaning they have to feel better only to a certain degree to make the non-optional writing more believable. Because of this there's very little sense of forward momentum with the characters (Digimon or human both); furthermore there's no sense of forward momentum in the game in general, as even when the main characters try forging their own path the plot just happens to them.
It feels like I have a lot more to say about this one but I can't really bring myself to go too far into depth and will just try to paint a general picture. I wasn't a fan of how few maps the game had and the tactics gameplay was sprinkled very inconsistently throughout it, being almost absent entirely from the first half while the second half sometimes had too much of it. The music also got really annoying fast, and I was bothered by how going through text with just the space bar always left a short pause no matter how quickly you press, meaning I had to sorta misuse the Skip button to actually get through text at a reasonable speed. Another small thing that bothered me was that I'm pretty positive nobody in the game actually uses the word "Digimon" to refer to Digimon, instead calling them "monsters" or "kemonogami". No idea why they never stopped to ask the Digimon what they called themselves.
I guess in terms of positives I can at least say the Digimon portraits and sprites look really good for the most part and are probably the best thing this game brought to the table. Otherwise... The tactics gameplay is just adequate but lacks depth, the Digimon roster is puny and hard to access, the presentation is meh, the localization is terrible, and the price tag is enormous for what it is. I'd say this was the worst $60 I've ever spent but it's probably not. It's definitely close, though.
Most of the characters are incredibly stupid, boring, or both, and the game fails to meaningfully touch the "dark" territory with them I was told so much about outside of some really trite or unbelievable situations involving character deaths, or just gesturing meekly toward how the characters feel about their problems in life. Those feelings themselves are addressed and on some level the characters wind up feeling better, but only the emotional aftereffects of the problems are dealt with. These improvements are offset by the characters having to reset themselves to a degree in the main story, meaning they have to feel better only to a certain degree to make the non-optional writing more believable. Because of this there's very little sense of forward momentum with the characters (Digimon or human both); furthermore there's no sense of forward momentum in the game in general, as even when the main characters try forging their own path the plot just happens to them.
It feels like I have a lot more to say about this one but I can't really bring myself to go too far into depth and will just try to paint a general picture. I wasn't a fan of how few maps the game had and the tactics gameplay was sprinkled very inconsistently throughout it, being almost absent entirely from the first half while the second half sometimes had too much of it. The music also got really annoying fast, and I was bothered by how going through text with just the space bar always left a short pause no matter how quickly you press, meaning I had to sorta misuse the Skip button to actually get through text at a reasonable speed. Another small thing that bothered me was that I'm pretty positive nobody in the game actually uses the word "Digimon" to refer to Digimon, instead calling them "monsters" or "kemonogami". No idea why they never stopped to ask the Digimon what they called themselves.
I guess in terms of positives I can at least say the Digimon portraits and sprites look really good for the most part and are probably the best thing this game brought to the table. Otherwise... The tactics gameplay is just adequate but lacks depth, the Digimon roster is puny and hard to access, the presentation is meh, the localization is terrible, and the price tag is enormous for what it is. I'd say this was the worst $60 I've ever spent but it's probably not. It's definitely close, though.
A really solid visual novel with a pretty decent story that goes some dark places. The RPG elements are really half baked and I wish they'd put more effort into them.
Also fuck Shuuji, all my homies hate Shuuji.
Also fuck Shuuji, all my homies hate Shuuji.