Digimon World

Digimon was a better anime than Pokémon. Hate me 'cus it's true.

I think I bought Digimon World as a kid. It might have been a gift, though; I don't remember. It may have just randomly appeared in my hand one day! DW may be the only game I have no recollection of obtaining. But I remember playing quite a lot of it despite never really figuring anything out. I don't think I even enjoyed it, but it triggered so many reward mechanics in my dumb brain. But why?

Digimon World is a second person RPG, which is a novel idea. You play a young kid who, like the kids in the rad anime, gets sucked into the digital world because the Tamagotchis are in trouble. He, who I named 0, meets his egg watch, Amigo, and the digital monster who will guide him through this journey, Jijimon. Jijimon informs 0 that the island we're on is dying, and the Digimon inhabitants are going feral. What few remain sane now live in the small, desolate village of File City. If we want to save File (city and island), we're gonna need to knock sense into a lot of Digimon and find out what's responsible for all this. Many mons we find can be encouraged to join and rebuild the city, returning it to a thriving home.

Before heading into the world, we need to get used to the primary game loop of the game: Green Gym. The gym is the best way to gain stats for your Digimon. You'll need to empower your friend in order to beat anyone, digivolve further to take on stronger mobs, and explore the vast regions of the island.  So you'll be spending a lot of time here. So, so much time... It can get painfully boring and tedious as there is no interaction during training sessions unless you want to gamble. And while you do this, you need to pay attention to Amigo. He needs food, gets tired, sleepy, and needs to poop. Yes, you need to take your bestie to the nearby toilet often.

Once you're sufficiently beefy, venture into the Native Forest and beat up an Agumon. You do this by telling Amigo what to do. Sometimes, he listens. You don't actually get to control anyone during combat, which is why I called this a second person RPG. All 0 does is guide the real hero by yelling vague commands. But Amigo wins, and Agumon regains his senses and opens up a bank in File. Our first resident! Other Digimon reside in the forest and nearby mine. You can also leap across a new friend's head to reach a rainforest. And from there, we explore a few canyons, plains, deep forest, ice flow, concrete jungle, and another forest. We even have to fish! Within these areas are future friends that open up new shops, clinics, arenas, fast travel spots, gym upgrades, and other cozy features. Rebuilding the city is definitely the fun part of Digimon World. Seeing this empty plot grow and fill with allies is my favorite thing to do. I'm noticing how much I love communities in video games. There's probably a psychological thing there, but I don't have the money to discuss it.

It's especially true here because the story is so bare bones. You're sucked into the world, aimlessly walk around, and only discover the enemy just before the final dungeon. There's only one thing of plot before then, and you only finally meet the main boss when you defeat him. 4/10 Plot

The plot is tertiary to the city and roguelike gameplay. You eventually learn that you have the only Digimon who can die and have to start all over again. So welcome to a second person, roguelike, open world RPG! There are about 60 Digimon, so that's a more rewarding goal than the story. 8/10 Gameplay

The music is also lacking. There's a lot of ambiance here but very few bits of actual melodic tunes. I want to say more, but I can't. It really is just not a big thing. 6/10 sound

Graphics are iffy. It's very budget esq, but the opening, ending, and post game cutscenes are surprisingly well made. They're even dubbed. And there's a lot of confusion as to where I can walk. Pallet swaps exist but make sense. But there's a lot of stuff to see, at least. 4/10 Visuals

For a potential budget title, there's a lot of charm here. If you love the Digimon anime aesthetic, the game replicates it well. There are so many natural things that look unnatural and vice versa. Since the city building aspects are the driving force, I can confirm the NPCs are rewarding. The tone of the anime is also brought here, and it's a good length for what it's going for, especially if you're into roguelikes. 9/10 Charm

Sadly, since so much of the game takes place in a gym, figuring out the time and dealing with so many unexplained mechanics, Digimon World feels tedious. Especially finding the five percent rare mons or trying to finagle the three specific ones you need for the dungeons. The loading times are also frequent and long. -7

So Digimon World gets a painfully low 24 points.

I feel like that's fitting, actually. It's a real shallow game that's aimed at the nichnist of audiences. I enjoyed the game, but I wish I hadn't bought it. I don't feel like I've grown by finishing this childhood flight of fancy. I cheated to finish this after my first Amgio died (Centarumon) and finished the game with my second (Megaseadramon). There is post game content (I think), but I don't care about beating the main boss again. I entered the final dungeon with a city prosperity of 69, so that's nice.