Pumpkin Row
Platinum Member
- May 26, 2016
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So, I've been playing through the Digimon World series of games again(I'm a big fan of Digimon, most of the time), and something that occurs to me every single time crossed my mind again. Why is it that every time a good Digimon game is made, the games that follow seem to be intentionally worse? Usually the number of available Digimon are reduced over the course of the next few games, and it usually makes absolutely no sense because because they use the game graphics, and because of that can use the same sprites or models. They either add fewer Digimon than they remove, or just remove Digimon with no new content.
Digimon World: 60 playable Digimon
As the first game in the series, it's not actually that surprising that the gameplay was inherently awful and there were very few Digimon. I never checked, but this seemed to come at a time when there were no existing Mega-level Digimon anyway.
Digimon World 2: 188 playable Digimon
Here's where this cycle starts. This game was amazing, especially for its time. It had a concept never seen in any other game in the series, or in the anime. You could drive a tank-like device called a Digi-Beetle, which allowed you to replenish your Digimon's MP and HP during battle, attack enemy Digimon, catch Digimon, destroy obstacles, weaken enemy Digimon, while empowering your own. To be fair, the number is actually around 181 playable Digimon, however, I patched the game to unlock 7 more playable Digimon that had their encounters locked before release, but still existed in the game(All I had to do was turn the encounters on). They were available in the japanese version with the use of one of their Virtual Pets, but the feature was removed in the English release.
Digimon world 3: 52 playable Digimon
Yup, we just went from 188 playable Digimon to 52. In the beginning, you select a pack of three Digimon(Monmon, Agumon, and Renamon; Kumamon, Guilmon, and Patamon; or Kotemon, Renamon, and Patamon) to use through the game, and those three can Digivolve into basically any other available Digimon, but with different requirements you have to meet. For example, it's more Difficult for Guilmon to Digivolve into Greymon, then for Agumon to Digivolve into Greymon. That concept it interesting, but done significantly better later on. The gameplay itself isn't bad, we go from three Digimon in battle at a time, taking turned every turn, to a single Digimon in battle at a time that can be swapped out(Like Pokemon.), but can move twice in a single turn if it's fast enough. I like that speed plays more of a role in this game as a stat, but I despise single-character RPG battles, far less strategy involved, and I really hate the limitations on obtaining Digimon. Oh, you can obtain the other starter Digimon from the packs you didn't select, but there's little point.
Digimon World 4/X: 16 playable Digimon
Wait, what? We went from 188, to 52, to 16? Okay, it's time to get off your drugs, guys, nobody wants fewer options.
Unlike the previous downgraded game, there are no redeeming qualities here. It's not an RPG anymore, it's a hack and slash top-down game. I'm even willing to bet that the dev-team knew nothing about Digimon, and hadn't even touched the previous games in the series. At the beginning, you select one of the four playable Digimon, the others are controlled by another player or an AI. Rather than fighting like Digimon typically do, these Digimon use weapons, and specialize in a specific type. Guilmon(Who uses daggers, quick attacks for longer range), Agumon(Who uses axes, single target attacks for high damage), DORUmon(Katana, wider area for less damage), or Veemon(Sword, even wider area than the Katana, almost a full 360). You can later Cross Digivolve into the other starter Digimon, but to even access the other 12 playable Digimon, you have to complete nearly impossible tasks/quests, and even if they were easy, the gameplay lacks depth, the abilities are inaccurate, and there are VERY few Digimon to play. This game is EXTREMELY repetitive and dull. It wasn't even worth beating.
Digimon World Dusk/Dawn: 397 playable Digimon
Oh, I guess they finally figured out how to properly make a game again. We just went from 16 playable Digimon with a flummery plot, broken gameplay, and stupid gimmicks to one of the best games in the series. Digimon World Dusk/Dawn is a set of two games with Digimon exclusive between them that you are meant to trade back and forth, however, all Digimon are obtainable. At the start of the game, like Digimon World 3, you do select of a pack of three Digimon, who are at Ultimate level but later in the plot are degenerated to rookie, however, by encountering other Digimon, you scan them, and once you reach 200%, you can generate said Digimon you encountered. The battles are up to three Digimon at once, but you can swap between your three in the rear and your three in front without losing a turn, and Digimon placed next to each other benefit from defense or attack boosts. Like Digimon World 2 and Digimon World 3, you can gain attacks by Digivolving into other Digimon, but in this game it's a bit different. Each Digimon has a special attack that only it can use, but over time they gain other techniques that can be kept as you Digivolve and Degenerate it. Most Digivolve paths intersect at the In-Training level, so you can actually reach multiple paths with most Digimon, and every Digivolve path has different benefits, allowing you to gain different attacks, and stat boosts. The plot is extremely interesting, too, and makes a lot of sense. In Dawn, you play as Koh, a Lightfang tamer and in Dusk(The canonical game to the series), you play as Sayo, a Night Claw Tamer(She appears in two other games in the series thus far).
Digimon World : Lost Evolution: 314 playable Digimon
Wait... didn't we just have 397? Why are we losing Digimon again? As explained in the introduction, a lot of the games add new Digimon, but take out more than they add. This is the case here, as it adds a lot of Digimon, including the entire "Ancient" series of Digimon, however, we lost 85 other Digimon in the process. The gameplay is mostly the same, so there's not much to say. A few mechanics were improved... others were broken, such as instead of having to DNA Digivolve to obtain certain Digimon, you can just straight up Digivolve. This allows certain Digimon from the second anime series to Digivolve past Champion level without getting stuck. On the other hand, special types of Digivolutions are now bug plates instead of Digi-Eggs and spirits... so, ew.
Digimon World: Super Xros Wars Red/Blue: 393 playable Digimon
This is a strange case of destroying gameplay while adding more Digimon from the last installment, yet still having fewer than the game before that. In this game, you play as Mikey Kudo... he's pretty much the Digimon Fusion anime's Mary Sue character. This game was never actually released in America due to negative reception. A new mechanic is added in this game, you can now "Digi-Xros(Digi-Cross in Japan, Digi-Fuse in America)". It's a weaker, temporary form of DNA Digivolution, where you can use any number of Digimon to make a single, stronger Digimon. The levels of Digimon you can carry with you is also limited based on their level. All in all... you can try to ignore the awful plot and stupid gimmick and still enjoy the game, I guess? Sayo appears in the game, but she's quickly glossed over. This game was never made canon to the Digimon world series, and Cyber Sleuth ignores it entirely. Despite having to beat Sayo in the tournament, Cyber Sleuth still recognizes her as champion in her own dimension, meaning Mikey never existed, or at least never beat her.
Digimon World: Cyber Sleuth: 245
While it has fewer Digimon than the previous three games, this is a new start. The previous three games all used the same sprite style, meaning they had access to all of the previous Digimon, however, chose not to use them., This Digimon game is in 3D, using new graphics and models, and has 245 Digimon, which is a decent start. In this game, you play as Takumi or Ami Aiba, and become a hacker near the start of a game(Digimon being hacking tools, usable on the net.) You get to select from three starter Digimon, Hagurumon, Palmon, or Terriermon. This is great, because these three Digimon have never been starts before, drawing attention more Digimon. It uses a similar battle system to Digimon World Dusk, but with some tweaks. Your team that you can carry with you caps at 13, but you can keep Digimon back at the lab. If there's a limit to how many you can own, I never hit it. Like Digimon World: Super Xros Wars, there's a mechanic called "Party Memory", but unlike that game, it's not a broken mechanic. You can actually expand your party memory as the game goes on, and you can collect even more Party Memory(Each one a second time) in New Game Plus, giving you forever expanding Party Memory. Like Digimon World Dusk/Dawn, you can swap out Digimon during battle, swapping any number of your three front Digimon with up to three of your back line. Like Dusk and Digimon World 3, your Digimon can learn techniques by going through other Digivolve paths, and you can degenerate your Digimon any number of times to travel through those paths. Also like Dusk, you scan Digimon when you encounter them, allowing you to generate more Digimon to train. Like Dusk, this game also has a "Digimon Farm" feature, where your Digimon can inhabit and island you can visit to watch them train. I miss being able to check the farm on another screen(Like you could with Dusk) but it's not really that useful of a mechanic, anyway. It was just cute. All in all, this is probably the best game in the series thus far.
Digimon World: -NEXT 0rder-: 220 playable Digimon
Another case of adding new Digimon, but removing more than they add, which is what prompted this massive post that likely nobody will read. I haven't played the game yet, but it does look like it has nice graphics, though it seems to use a different battle system than previous games in the series. It's closer to Digimon World Re: Digitize/Decode. I played a little bit of Re: Digitize, but not enough to form an early opinion on this game, other than the fact that it looks like history is repeating.
I suppose this was more of a rant than anything.
Digimon World: 60 playable Digimon
As the first game in the series, it's not actually that surprising that the gameplay was inherently awful and there were very few Digimon. I never checked, but this seemed to come at a time when there were no existing Mega-level Digimon anyway.
Digimon World 2: 188 playable Digimon
Here's where this cycle starts. This game was amazing, especially for its time. It had a concept never seen in any other game in the series, or in the anime. You could drive a tank-like device called a Digi-Beetle, which allowed you to replenish your Digimon's MP and HP during battle, attack enemy Digimon, catch Digimon, destroy obstacles, weaken enemy Digimon, while empowering your own. To be fair, the number is actually around 181 playable Digimon, however, I patched the game to unlock 7 more playable Digimon that had their encounters locked before release, but still existed in the game(All I had to do was turn the encounters on). They were available in the japanese version with the use of one of their Virtual Pets, but the feature was removed in the English release.
Digimon world 3: 52 playable Digimon
Yup, we just went from 188 playable Digimon to 52. In the beginning, you select a pack of three Digimon(Monmon, Agumon, and Renamon; Kumamon, Guilmon, and Patamon; or Kotemon, Renamon, and Patamon) to use through the game, and those three can Digivolve into basically any other available Digimon, but with different requirements you have to meet. For example, it's more Difficult for Guilmon to Digivolve into Greymon, then for Agumon to Digivolve into Greymon. That concept it interesting, but done significantly better later on. The gameplay itself isn't bad, we go from three Digimon in battle at a time, taking turned every turn, to a single Digimon in battle at a time that can be swapped out(Like Pokemon.), but can move twice in a single turn if it's fast enough. I like that speed plays more of a role in this game as a stat, but I despise single-character RPG battles, far less strategy involved, and I really hate the limitations on obtaining Digimon. Oh, you can obtain the other starter Digimon from the packs you didn't select, but there's little point.
Digimon World 4/X: 16 playable Digimon
Wait, what? We went from 188, to 52, to 16? Okay, it's time to get off your drugs, guys, nobody wants fewer options.
Unlike the previous downgraded game, there are no redeeming qualities here. It's not an RPG anymore, it's a hack and slash top-down game. I'm even willing to bet that the dev-team knew nothing about Digimon, and hadn't even touched the previous games in the series. At the beginning, you select one of the four playable Digimon, the others are controlled by another player or an AI. Rather than fighting like Digimon typically do, these Digimon use weapons, and specialize in a specific type. Guilmon(Who uses daggers, quick attacks for longer range), Agumon(Who uses axes, single target attacks for high damage), DORUmon(Katana, wider area for less damage), or Veemon(Sword, even wider area than the Katana, almost a full 360). You can later Cross Digivolve into the other starter Digimon, but to even access the other 12 playable Digimon, you have to complete nearly impossible tasks/quests, and even if they were easy, the gameplay lacks depth, the abilities are inaccurate, and there are VERY few Digimon to play. This game is EXTREMELY repetitive and dull. It wasn't even worth beating.
Digimon World Dusk/Dawn: 397 playable Digimon
Oh, I guess they finally figured out how to properly make a game again. We just went from 16 playable Digimon with a flummery plot, broken gameplay, and stupid gimmicks to one of the best games in the series. Digimon World Dusk/Dawn is a set of two games with Digimon exclusive between them that you are meant to trade back and forth, however, all Digimon are obtainable. At the start of the game, like Digimon World 3, you do select of a pack of three Digimon, who are at Ultimate level but later in the plot are degenerated to rookie, however, by encountering other Digimon, you scan them, and once you reach 200%, you can generate said Digimon you encountered. The battles are up to three Digimon at once, but you can swap between your three in the rear and your three in front without losing a turn, and Digimon placed next to each other benefit from defense or attack boosts. Like Digimon World 2 and Digimon World 3, you can gain attacks by Digivolving into other Digimon, but in this game it's a bit different. Each Digimon has a special attack that only it can use, but over time they gain other techniques that can be kept as you Digivolve and Degenerate it. Most Digivolve paths intersect at the In-Training level, so you can actually reach multiple paths with most Digimon, and every Digivolve path has different benefits, allowing you to gain different attacks, and stat boosts. The plot is extremely interesting, too, and makes a lot of sense. In Dawn, you play as Koh, a Lightfang tamer and in Dusk(The canonical game to the series), you play as Sayo, a Night Claw Tamer(She appears in two other games in the series thus far).
Digimon World : Lost Evolution: 314 playable Digimon
Wait... didn't we just have 397? Why are we losing Digimon again? As explained in the introduction, a lot of the games add new Digimon, but take out more than they add. This is the case here, as it adds a lot of Digimon, including the entire "Ancient" series of Digimon, however, we lost 85 other Digimon in the process. The gameplay is mostly the same, so there's not much to say. A few mechanics were improved... others were broken, such as instead of having to DNA Digivolve to obtain certain Digimon, you can just straight up Digivolve. This allows certain Digimon from the second anime series to Digivolve past Champion level without getting stuck. On the other hand, special types of Digivolutions are now bug plates instead of Digi-Eggs and spirits... so, ew.
Digimon World: Super Xros Wars Red/Blue: 393 playable Digimon
This is a strange case of destroying gameplay while adding more Digimon from the last installment, yet still having fewer than the game before that. In this game, you play as Mikey Kudo... he's pretty much the Digimon Fusion anime's Mary Sue character. This game was never actually released in America due to negative reception. A new mechanic is added in this game, you can now "Digi-Xros(Digi-Cross in Japan, Digi-Fuse in America)". It's a weaker, temporary form of DNA Digivolution, where you can use any number of Digimon to make a single, stronger Digimon. The levels of Digimon you can carry with you is also limited based on their level. All in all... you can try to ignore the awful plot and stupid gimmick and still enjoy the game, I guess? Sayo appears in the game, but she's quickly glossed over. This game was never made canon to the Digimon world series, and Cyber Sleuth ignores it entirely. Despite having to beat Sayo in the tournament, Cyber Sleuth still recognizes her as champion in her own dimension, meaning Mikey never existed, or at least never beat her.
Digimon World: Cyber Sleuth: 245
While it has fewer Digimon than the previous three games, this is a new start. The previous three games all used the same sprite style, meaning they had access to all of the previous Digimon, however, chose not to use them., This Digimon game is in 3D, using new graphics and models, and has 245 Digimon, which is a decent start. In this game, you play as Takumi or Ami Aiba, and become a hacker near the start of a game(Digimon being hacking tools, usable on the net.) You get to select from three starter Digimon, Hagurumon, Palmon, or Terriermon. This is great, because these three Digimon have never been starts before, drawing attention more Digimon. It uses a similar battle system to Digimon World Dusk, but with some tweaks. Your team that you can carry with you caps at 13, but you can keep Digimon back at the lab. If there's a limit to how many you can own, I never hit it. Like Digimon World: Super Xros Wars, there's a mechanic called "Party Memory", but unlike that game, it's not a broken mechanic. You can actually expand your party memory as the game goes on, and you can collect even more Party Memory(Each one a second time) in New Game Plus, giving you forever expanding Party Memory. Like Digimon World Dusk/Dawn, you can swap out Digimon during battle, swapping any number of your three front Digimon with up to three of your back line. Like Dusk and Digimon World 3, your Digimon can learn techniques by going through other Digivolve paths, and you can degenerate your Digimon any number of times to travel through those paths. Also like Dusk, you scan Digimon when you encounter them, allowing you to generate more Digimon to train. Like Dusk, this game also has a "Digimon Farm" feature, where your Digimon can inhabit and island you can visit to watch them train. I miss being able to check the farm on another screen(Like you could with Dusk) but it's not really that useful of a mechanic, anyway. It was just cute. All in all, this is probably the best game in the series thus far.
Digimon World: -NEXT 0rder-: 220 playable Digimon
Another case of adding new Digimon, but removing more than they add, which is what prompted this massive post that likely nobody will read. I haven't played the game yet, but it does look like it has nice graphics, though it seems to use a different battle system than previous games in the series. It's closer to Digimon World Re: Digitize/Decode. I played a little bit of Re: Digitize, but not enough to form an early opinion on this game, other than the fact that it looks like history is repeating.
I suppose this was more of a rant than anything.
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