As much as I find the world fun to explore, the journey is limited by locks in the form of combats, and the key to unlock them is a Digimon partner trained to be powerful enough. I’m not fond of the high percentage of recruitments to the village that are done through fighting, though I can accept the bit of nonsense of “punch me to make me enter into sense”, the combat where you only take a supporting sideline in a beetle-like match is interesting enough for me to accept the premise. The process to get there however is not that good.
As obscure as the result (not to mistake with the process) of the Digimon raising system wants to be, it still carries too much from a tamagotchi raising the stats origin to its detriment. Each life is a methodical visit to the gym and near optional combats against dummy enemies, do not mistake these samey creatures with the unique Digimon that are allowed to be convinced back into the city, with occasional pauses to cover life necessities devoid of the biggest unexpected surprises that will really forge a bond between partners. The experiences that will stand out can and do arise if you go out on adventure knowing little to nothing, aka what most players will do instinctively on a first try, but this wears off forcibly after a few hours because, as much as you want to push it, the combat locks with high enough numbers will ask you to take a sedentary routine until you figure out, and put to practice, how to get bigger enough numbers.
You basically have two options. First, you play the lottery by keeping the playthrough blind, hoping that you reach the evolution requirements. As a last resort, you look into a guide out of despair, staring into abyss upon finding out that the requirements are not only arbitrary, but quite often contradict the “great trainer” nature, although not as much as the partner nature considering how mistreating or spoiling a Digimon is just another valid way to evolve them. Again, it’s a matter of raising the right numbers, without caring that they represent unhappiness, lack of discipline, caring mistakes or overfeeding/lack of proper feed in order to reach a desired unnatural weight. Either way, the result is that a few hours long light adventure transforms into a few dozen hours long hitting the train button simulator and a few illogical steps more if you peeked at the system behind.
For a game where a kid is brought on to reunite and revive a lost island with his juvenile innocent spirit, the progression forces you a bit too much to take a conservative and cold process towards treating your partner and your way to get through the problems of the world.
As obscure as the result (not to mistake with the process) of the Digimon raising system wants to be, it still carries too much from a tamagotchi raising the stats origin to its detriment. Each life is a methodical visit to the gym and near optional combats against dummy enemies, do not mistake these samey creatures with the unique Digimon that are allowed to be convinced back into the city, with occasional pauses to cover life necessities devoid of the biggest unexpected surprises that will really forge a bond between partners. The experiences that will stand out can and do arise if you go out on adventure knowing little to nothing, aka what most players will do instinctively on a first try, but this wears off forcibly after a few hours because, as much as you want to push it, the combat locks with high enough numbers will ask you to take a sedentary routine until you figure out, and put to practice, how to get bigger enough numbers.
You basically have two options. First, you play the lottery by keeping the playthrough blind, hoping that you reach the evolution requirements. As a last resort, you look into a guide out of despair, staring into abyss upon finding out that the requirements are not only arbitrary, but quite often contradict the “great trainer” nature, although not as much as the partner nature considering how mistreating or spoiling a Digimon is just another valid way to evolve them. Again, it’s a matter of raising the right numbers, without caring that they represent unhappiness, lack of discipline, caring mistakes or overfeeding/lack of proper feed in order to reach a desired unnatural weight. Either way, the result is that a few hours long light adventure transforms into a few dozen hours long hitting the train button simulator and a few illogical steps more if you peeked at the system behind.
For a game where a kid is brought on to reunite and revive a lost island with his juvenile innocent spirit, the progression forces you a bit too much to take a conservative and cold process towards treating your partner and your way to get through the problems of the world.