Digimon, it’s a franchise close to my heart. I’ve probably stated this in every article I’ve written about the famed anime. It still stands today as the latest anime, Digimon Beatbreak, has debuted on Crunchyroll. I’m not here to discuss the anime, though. I’m here to discuss Digimon Story: Time Stranger.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger is set in the same universe as the Cyber Sleuth games, but it is its own separate narrative. You play as an agent of ADAMAS, a group that deals with bizarre phenomena that plague Japan. Within one such event, your agent finds a bunch of Digimon and is pulled into an epic battle for the fate of not just our world, but the digital world as well.
We’ve been here before
If you’re a fan of the Digimon franchise as a whole, the narrative will feel relatively familiar. The main character (you) finds some Digimon, has a few adventures with them, and it all feels relatively harmless. Then the penny drops, you get sucked into the Digital World, and the stakes progressively ramp up until Gods and Digital Demons are clashing across worlds, rending the sky asunder.
Honestly, the story of Digimon Story: Time Stranger is easily my favourite part of the game. Watching the main character stumble into a civil war between Digimon and watch as it spills into our world is brilliant. Add to that a narrative of a returning Digimon god and how your actions affect that being is fascinating.
The combat system is where I felt the game get bogged down, though. It’s your usual turn-based system with a rock, paper, scissors angle due to the various elemental natures of the Digimon. It is perfectly fine, rudimentary and plain jane. You have a party of 4 Digimon, 3 you get to choose and one Digimon who is always with you. Early on in the game, there is a steep difficulty as you have limited choices on Digimon, and if you’ve the wrong Digimon, you will get wrecked by early bosses. It’s not that you’ll lose; it’s that boss fights, which are the only challenging element, will take even longer to win.
Thankfully, once the training wheels are taken off, you will get stronger Digimon, and fights will become more engaging, allowing for more experimentation and fun.
Visually, the game looks decent. There is a lot of colour, and the Digital World looks good. It feels, however, that the franchise is stuck in the PS3 era graphically, which is a shame. Also, the score is hit or miss. When it comes to softer tunes that evoke more peaceful emotions, it works. However, when the battle is raring to go, it fails spectacularly. It’s that extra oomph you want when the world(s) are at stake and the game is missing that.
Change into Digital Champions
Much like other Digimon titles, one of the other highlights of Digimon Story: Time Stranger is the roster of Digimon to digivolve into. From Armour Digimon to Bio-digivolution Digimon, as well as DNA-digivolution and digivolutions only ever seen in the films, there are hundreds of Digimon to choose from. Each one has their own strengths and weaknesses, and kitting out your party is half the fun of this game. You can train them in the Digifarm to boost certain stats so that they digivolve into your particular favourites.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger is also full to the brim of side content for you to fall into. From multiple sidequests that take you across both worlds, these sidequests are simple enough. Either fetch quests or quests ending in a fight. They won’t blow you away; however, some of them have long-running narrative threads which are a lot of fun to watch unfold. There are also the Outer World Dungeons, which give you tough but rewarding objectives.
Ultimately, Digimon Story: Time Strangers is not my favourite Digimon title; that goes to Digimon Survivor, which is worth checking out if you’re up for something truly innovative in the genre. However, it is so much fun, so emotional and represents the core of what Digimon is, the power of bonds. I recommend it for fans of old-school RPGs, and I highly recommend it to fans of Digimon.
Stay tuned to GamEir. Come talk with us on Twitter (@gam_eir), Facebook (@GamEir), and Instagram (@GamEir).