solid story, mid rivals, great legends and new mons, wack postgame.

team flare's leader is among my favorite "evils", probably why I return to this once in a while, along with the OST

definitely among the best titles in this franchise, both gameplay and story wise.

the intended endgame, digistruct peak - which overlevels enemies, significantly increasing their stats - is the turnoff for it only increasing numbers, though the peak itself has new enemies every OP level or so (ammendable with mods)

new things are still being discovered by the community after all these years; build synergies, map secrets etc.


This review contains spoilers

difficulty: the game encourages you to go out of your way and capture mons you normally would never use, and also to build a sizable roster to switch around if and when needed; definitely a step up from main series, though the artificial difficulty much later on is worrying

roster: all mons up to USUM are available without (wip) mods.

qol: there are passwords you can look up to improve your experience, or challenge yourself


story: the game has 3 "routes" but 2 "endings", none of which are considered true/good/bad and is on the player to decide what they like most, there is an intended first time though

took about 2 years to get the characters i wanted as f2p; it is either that or spending money on a gacha.. nope

you can still find genuine enjoyment in the story and combat, though with the way they intend to proceed with the latter it won't last much

some key plot points (characters specifically) were temporary events, though they're considering how to rerun them so players can experience them