#thinking of playing either digimon survive or digimon world next order

[kideternity]

Digimon Savers…… I'll never forget you Digimon Savers…

#dinu yells into the void #dinu yells in the void #dinu watches digimon #digimon #literally just finished the show tonight. #WHAT A SHOW…… #digimon savers (or data squad) is deeply deeply imperfect i bitched and moaned about it to ppl on discord but i loved it. i loved it a lot. #i loved the characters and the way it goes about the world building i think the lore is really fascinating #i wish it had been longer. i wish it got appreciated by people more. #usually its a real mixed bag on if ill like cry at the ending of something #usually i dont cry anymore #but savers finale did make me cry #tamers is next on the list but I’ll probably take a break before i do ot #it* #thinking of playing either digimon survive or digimon world next order #bc i just bought next order yesterday #im just ough. i love you digimon. ill never forget you digimon.

[turqrambles]

Digimon World - Midgame - Some Assorted Thoughts

At the time of writing this post, I’m sitting at around 31 Prosperity for the first Digimon World game for the PS1, which I could consider pretty mid-game for this type of game, so I just want to write down what I think about this little adventure.

For the record, I am talking about the original Playstation version of the game. The one with the T-rating (which feels way too high for this game since there’s no swear words and the battle damage is fantasy-level at best - is it because of all the poop in this game?) and the one with the CGI Metalgreymon on the cover for the NTSC versions of the game.

I’m playing this game on a physical copy that somehow survived like five moves on my PS3, just for reference. 

(Yes that’s that actual price I paid for it. That was a big price for little kid me.)

The Past Trials of My Schoolchild Self

First thing’s first - as a kid, I actually did not like this game very much!

For starters, I didn’t get very far in the game. My Digimon would keep pooping all over the place for one since I don’t think I fully understood the timing of this mechanic. I stopped playing the game when my Airdramon was one poop away from turning into a Sukamon and I found myself unable to stop it because I saved right before my Airdramon would make the final poop, thus trapping me in an unwinnable game loop. If I turned the game back on, I could only watch as my beautiful flying feathered snake transformed into a poop with eyeballs as I was powerless to stop it.

My Digimon had to suffer for my mistakes.

But besides that, I just found the game far too cryptic to figure out just what was going on, and my Digimon would never turn into anything cool. My Airdramon really was the coolest thing my Digimon ever evolved into, so the yellow turd Digimon really was like salt on a wound.

But, to add insult to injury, one time I hatched a baby Botamon and talked to the old man, only to have this giant dinosaur run up to me and blast the literal infant into smithereens.

Greymon is a dick.

What I remember from kid me’s file of this game - I finished the Drill Tunnel, I got to the dinosaur world one time, and I’m pretty sure I entered Myotismon’s mansion one time because out of sheer luck, my Agumon digivolved into a Bakemon one time.

I know what I didn’t do - I never recruited any of the shopkeeper Digimon so I was doing an itemless run as a kid. A big mistake, considering how important items are in this game!

A Brutal Beginning

Playing this game in 2020 when I’m an adult and have a better concept in how these types of games work is making this playthrough a lot easier for me, but don’t be fooled. This game is still pretty difficult.

I’m going to be real. One of the main turn offs for this game for a lot of players, especially little kids in the year 2000 with dial-up internet and no strategy guide like myself, is that this is one of those games where the beginning starts out slow. Real slow.

Sure, most great RPGs give you a real sense of power and accomplishment once you figure out the mechanics and get stronger as you progress through the game, but in this game, you have less options at the start because, as it turns out, the shopkeepers, the superior meat farmers, the air taxi service, and all those fun little options typically available to you in other RPGs have all turned feral as a result of A Bad Thing That Happened on File Island and it’s up to you and your plucky partner Digimon to explore the wilds and beat them up one by one until they gain a little humanity (...digitanity) and expand the town. 

While it is really cool to see the town expand through the course of the game - buildings are built and lights are gradually installed - but man, the fact that you go for a long time without having a shop if you don’t know what to do kinda sucks. A lot. I kept thinking to myself about how Pokemon is a lot more generous with the item drops and, while the shop inventories at Viridian City and Pewter City aren’t great, they’re there from the beginning.

Note: To get this guy, you have to chase a rumor from a Baby Digimon that there’s a fish that shows up after a certain time on a certain map. Then you have to progress through the jungle enough that you find the one Betamon that isn’t an enemy. There. Now the shop’s open. What, are you saying that’s super convoluted? Why yes it is. Welcome to Digimon World.

Not only that, but this game’s biggest flaw comes from one tiny feature it omits from the game - Digimon World doesn’t have a world map.

See this artwork? This is the most you’re ever going to get.

You know how a lot of RPGs - your Pokemon, your Final Fantasy, etc etc - have a world map that’s easy to access from the start menu? Yeah, this game doesn’t have that. It instead prints a rather rudimentary map in both the instruction manual and on the design of the actual disc. You know what that means? You’re SOL if you ever bought this game used.

I didn’t of course, but physically cracking open my disc case just to be like “ah okay I need to go north” was more annoying than anything. Maybe if the instruction manual came with an actual physical map you can unfold would’ve been better?

The Starter Dilemma

Like most monster collecting games, you have a choice of starters at the beginning of the game. Depending on how you answer the questions at the beginning of the game (all two of them, with only one of them truly mattering), you can start with either an Agumon or a Gabumon. Cool, right?

Well, it starts the fall apart the moment you fight the first boss in the game - a wild Agumon with weaker stats than your partner. And that’s when you realize that one of the starters starts out with a major battle disadvantage at the very start.

Agumon’s starting move is a little ranged attack that it can shoot at enemies. It can hit the enemy from pretty far away so he can evade a lot of close up attacks.

Gabumon’s starting move is an ineffective little flailing of his arms that requires him to get up super close to the other Digimon in order to hit them.

Did I mention this attack is weaker than Agumon’s starting move? This type of starter set-up is utterly baffling to me. Why would you intentionally hobble one of the choices?

So if you were a kid hoping to go on a grand adventure with your happy little dog lizard (instead of doing what a lot of people recommend, which is train your dog lizard for several in-game days until he evolves into something better) expect to see a lot of battles where the enemy Digimon just casually moves out of the way as your dog lizard yells “PWAH”.

Luckily this problem ceases to exist once you start digivolving and learning new techniques, but it’s still a major bummer to start the game on.

On top of that, unlike Pokemon, your Digimon can die. It can only faint three times in battle before he crumbles into a pile of bits and data in a rather brutal cutscene involving the flesh being ripped off your partner’s wire frame while the old man Digimon just kinda glumly stands off to the side and is like “lol he ded”.

So uh, have fun with that, children who accidentally run into a boss Digimon while trying to figure out where the hell anything is.

Sometimes Being Cryptic Is Good

That being said, in an age where I can just peek at my phone if I’m stuck, this game is kinda refreshing in a “playing your first Pokemon game” kind of way.

With no in-game maps and only vague hints of what to do next purely by talking to the villagers, you’re just kinda...left to your own digivices (see what I did there) as you explore this vast, uncharted world and slowly figure out what you’re supposed to do next and, since the world is arranged in a circle around the town, you can go in multiple directions and progress in any way you want.

There’s no set progression, with the story advancing based on how many Digimon you befriend rather than what places you’ve beaten. There’s no pressing incentive to go beyond the Native Forest if you don’t feel ready for that yet. Sure, the town won’t expand if you don’t, but you can still go at things at your own pace until you get a better feel for the environment. You’re just left to experiment as you gradually figure out how to make your Digimon evolve into cooler things.

And honestly, it’s kinda fun playing a game where I don’t know the exact numbers off the top of my head in terms of how to get a certain Digimon so a lot of times I’m genuinely surprised at the evolutions I get.

You just, you know, need a lot of patience. Especially when this game’s English translation is...not great. (which is common with a lot of PS1 games)

The land changed after the land changes happened.

Current Consensus

You need a bit of patience to play this game, but it’s definitely rewarding if you stick by it. I’m certainly having fun playing this game, but I will say out loud that I’m also playing this game while watching a couple let’s plays and having GameFAQs open.

I will say that, as an adult, I actually find myself appreciate this game more than when I did as a child.  It has its flaws, but after a pretty intense learning curve, it becomes pretty rewarding. You know, when it’s not requiring me to fish The Lake Guardian at 9 am with a piece of meat attached to my fishing rod in order to improve my gym.

I give it a “It’s Fun When It’s Not Being Bullshit” out of 10.

Quick Bullet Points

This game has some bangers in the soundtrack so at least it’s pleasant to listen to.

I do like that you can evade the enemy Digimon on screen so you can reasonably enter some places with a lower leveled Digimon than what that area requires. This is just not advisable since most of the Digimon are befriended with a boss fight. That being said, item management is a big thing in this game so enemy dodging is still a useful trait.

You can buy portapotties to keep your Digimon from shitting on the ground but since your Digimon has only one use animation, it uses it by eating it.

 Cherrymon has a radically different design in this game than any other piece of Digimon media and it’s kinda funny how creepy he looks in this game.

The Monochromon Shop minigame earned the reputation that it has - it truly does suck ass and leave you at the mercy of RNG.

It’s been proven by hacking the game that the Bonus Try in the Gym exercises is rigged so never use it.

I like how this game creates recolors to make sure you can tell the difference between the recruitable Digimon and the Digimon that are just meant to be fought against....only for the series to then make these recolors recruitable, defeating their original purpose. I guess I should be glad they’re all considered proper Digimon now.

Poop is an element. You can have creatures of the Poop type.

No seriously Monochromon’s Shop minigame has given me a hatred for Veggiemon and I don’t think I can ever recover.

#Turq Plays a Game #Turq Reviews #Digimon World

[digimonadventuretimelines]

[17 - Lullaby for Zebra • Elise’s Sweet Song •]

“You, you will go there and destroy the factory which manufactures devices for the Chosen Children. If you fail… You won’t want to know.”

Those words echoed in the black furred digimon. He had nothing to lose, nothing to gain either. He was a machine, or he believed to. However, he was organic digimon. A wolf. And his master’s orders were clear.

Destroy the digivice factory. Probably giving Izumi Koushiro the biggest headache if said mission is accomplished.

But it was raining in the human world. It was also dark, and he couldn’t see anything than a flash of light till it hit him. Luckly, his body was strong enough and he survived. The car and its passengers also were fine, just shocked and scared of that lupine digimon. The couple’s Labramon and Plotmon barked furiously at the irresponsible digimon.

Those ones… Why were they yelling at him? It doesn’t matter… He got hurt with the accident, his paw was sprained and he wished he didn’t break it.

He walked till a park and hide himself inside one of those giant turtle-shaped “shelters” with slides and remained there for the rest of the night.

At the morning…

“Where you watching the stream, Elise?” Mitsuki voice was heard by the mysterious digimon, “Some things happened during it…”

“Oh, don’t worry Mitsuki” a girl at the same age as Mirai -- blond hair with bangs and hair looking like the 14yo Yamato, and green eyes wearing a cute sky blue dress -- responded to Mitsuki. Her voice was so sweet and gentle… “I was watching it, but the same moment you got interrupted I got lost. Actually, something came from the screen of my laptop.” 

“Something?” he blinked, then took his digivice from his pocket “Like this?”

“Yes! But mine is… Blue.”

“Oh…”

“Oh… a furred paw!” a child in the park, closer to where the cousins Mitsuki and Elise where, had found something cute and tried to poke it with a stick. They were all playfully with no malicious intent, but the lupine digimon roared and scared the children.

All those cries interrupted Mitsuki and Elise’s talk, catching their attention. Mitsuki approached from the group of children younger than him and his cousin.

“What’s wrong?”

They didn’t say anything, and just pointed at the pelt. Elise stood on an average distance and looked at the black fur.

“Oh a digimon...” she knelt to see it better “It’s a… Gabumon with a black pelt.”

“It’s okay” Mitsuki talked to the kids “I think it just got scared, we can handle it from here. Go play in another place please?”

The kids nodded and left; Mitsuki approached from Elise “Do you think something happened to be hidden there?”

“Hmm… It was raining last night. Maybe got lost or hurt…?” she kept going, approaching from the digimon “Hey little one? Are you hurt?”

“Be careful…”

The digimon growled, but she didn’t give up. Elise then started to hum a song, and that made the digimon reveal himself. As said previously by the girl, it was a Gabumon, but not a regular one -- it was a subspecies, BlackGabumon.

“Seems hurt” Mitsuki observed the digimon, “Little bud, did you get hurt?”

“...” BlackGabumon didn’t reply.

“Maybe we should call Mr. Kido?” Elise mused, but the mysterious Gabumon lied his head on Elise’s lap “Huh?”

“I think he liked you” Mitsuki chuckled, “Try to ask where it hurts, I will call Mr. Kido to take a look--”

“No,” Elise interrupted him, “He wouldn’t let anyone else approach from him. I can take care of this.”

“I’m not sure if it is a good idea…”

“Let’s get something for him to eat. I heard a belly noise.”

“Fine fine…”

 “More children got digivices!?” Daichi exclaimed, Hoshi nodded in response “But but how??”

“They were watching Mitsuki’s stream.”

“This seems a problem” Natsu frowned “I mean, in the past it was a big deal because non-Chosen had fear about the digimon… But now…”

“That seems the opposite of a problem” Sting intervened “This means a Chosen in our actual days won’t need to hide their digimon like before.”

“I understand that! The problem now is that you all are mercenary Chosen Children.”

“What?” Hoshi eyes widened “What do you mean, Natsu?”

“Um, means you’re not on Koushiro’s list. Means you’re like, unregistered Chosen Children. Since with the growth of the number of Chosen Children in the past… The Twelve created a contact list and then, an organization which works undercover to prevent more cases of DigiChosen being taunted by evil forces, such as the Digimon Kaiser’s case.”

“You didn’t tell me about that” Daichi squinted his eyes at her.

“I was about to tell you later” and Natsu responded by a shrug “Anyway, That registered list is important to keep in touch and to make sure no one is being used by evil guys.”

“That didn’t work at all…” Ulforce shrugged. Daichi stared at him and he quailed.

“Ok, but how many people were watching Mitsuki’s stream?” the boy asked.

“Let me see,” Hoshi began to count “Mirai, Mike, Reika, Jin… I think Elise too?”

“Five people... Counting with Kiyoko, Eiji, you and me… 10 kids with a digivice. This means it’s a reasonable number. Excluding the unknown child, we have ten kids with ten digimon partners. But, with Brave Tamer we have 11 D-TimeRune holders...”

 “We’re back!” Elise smiled, then stood by BlackGabumon’s side “I brought you some snacks. There was a DigiNoir store around. Here, eat it.”

The digimon gently took the DigiNoir box and opened it. He quietly replied “... Thank you.”

“Huh, what’s going on Mitsukiii?” Pit asked.

“Elise found a digimon” he took the digivice to let his partner see the scene.

“Oh! A Gabumon! But… Is it OK?”

“Of course it is” Elise giggled “He looks like a Zebra. Black and white. Can I call you by Zebra, Gabumon?”

“... Ok.”

“H-hey we don’t know if he’s partnered with someone, Elise…”

“... No” Zebra answered.

“Oh he talked with you…” Pit blinked.

“That’s an improvement…”

“Where did you get hurt? Should I call a doctor for you?” Elise asked, looking at one of Zebra’s paws.

“... No” then he showed the injured paw to Elise “this one.”

“Oh…” he took the digimon’s paw with caution “It’s okay I will talk with a friend, his dad is a digimon doctor. He will tell me what to do so you can heal your paw.”

“... Ok.”

Elise then took her phone and took a photo of her new friend’s paw. Also scanned it with an app created for the purpose of collecting data and information about the digimon’s health. On the next day, she went to see doctor Kido and request for his help. Joe admired the girl’s kind act and examined the data.

“Your friend will be fine, it was just a sprained paw. No broken or dislocated issues.”

“Oh thank you, dr. Kido” she sighed and her muscles relaxed. That a relief.

“I will write the procedures to help you heal his paw.”

“Oh okay.”

She took the paper with the instructions and went back to Zebra’s whereabouts with the medicine. Mitsuki thought it would’ve been a hard task… But apparently that BlackGabumon was feeling safe with Elise around. Mitsuki wondered why, and what had happened to Zebra’s paw in the first place. With no answers from the digimon, he went on a investigative mission by requesting Mirai’s eyes on the cameras around the town.

“I don’t know what you’re looking for” Mirai swirled her office chair to look at Mitsuki in the eye “but On that rainy night something came from the portal on the Sector W. And as you can see...”

She zoomed in the lupine shadow popping out of the Digital Gate. It was a Garurumon? The image was not very good due to the ambient light and the rain also messed with the colors. But Mirai is a computer genius: She ripped the video off the database, and edited it to show the details they couldn’t not see by the light and rain. It wasn’t a flawless edit, but they could see it better: A Garurumon with black fur came out of the portal.

“Do you think… This is the same digimon from the park?” Mitsuki frowned, he didn’t know what to do or what to think of “Is it dangerous?”

“Hmm… That Garurumon appears on this other camera here, and he got hit by a car. Don’t worry, no one got critically hurt. If this is one of the refugees digimon… Lupinmon’s troops will come after him.”

“... Could you tell Daichi about it please? I will warn Elise, she needs to know.”

“Hold on, you keep Elise protected and I will keep you in touch in case of something coming after the Gabumon.”

Mitsuki nodded, and he left in a hurry. Mirai frowned, then looked at the screen and saw Brave Tamer’s chat icon blinking.

 “So, what should we do about it” Eiji asked Kiyoko, his eyes paying attention at her and her walking from here to there “You said that mr. Motomiya is a digimon now?”

“I can’t think straight now! Why is it happening to my family!? And to my friends!?”

“Please stay calm”

“I can’t Eiji! My dad is being called a THREAT! My dad, the most beloved person who always cares about the others and encourages them to break their limits… Is against us! I’m not sure if Mr. Yagami won’t… Won’t condemn him.”

Deep down, Eiji had concerns as well. His uncle was one of the closest friends of Daisuke, so he believed Taichi wouldn’t do something terrible like treating Daisuke as a traitor. But Kiyoko had all rights to be concerned and skeptical about it.

All he could do was gently accept her feelings towards the situation.

“Taichi won’t do that” Miyako was present in the room alongside the digimon, Daichi, Hoshi and Natsu “He knows your dad is not doing it on purpose.”

Kiyoko ran to Miyako’s arms, hugging her mother tightly. Miyako smiled and patted the girl’s hair. The grip around her waist has loosen at the first instance Kiyoko felt her mother’s hand on her head.

“Don’t worry.”

“May I ask what should we do?” Eiji calmly repeated his question, now expecting a different response.

Daichi rested his chin on his hand, “We need to… Keep preventing my brainwashed dad to commit a terrible mistake. Meanwhile I… Uh, I will go researching how to save him.”

  Days has passed. Zebra, the mysterious BlackGabumon decided to stay with that girl in that world. However…

“Why is he taking too much time to return!?”

The shadow punched the wall, fist clenched. The tension of that action made some of the scouts step back, glancing at him with fear in their faces.

“What? Why are you looking at me, you pack of imbeciles!?” he gritted his teeth “Go back to work!”

They panicked and returned to their usual activities. A greenish Kunemon subspecies -- Dokunemon -- approached from him.

“What now?”

“The eyes of the forest said Lupinmon was breaking your control again.”

“I am aware of it, I can read my victim’s mind. He’s stubborn and strong, and that one name going through his head… That kid is a problem.”

“Kid…?”

  That kid… The new Chosen Child.

“What are you thinking of?”

Magnamon caught him staring at his own reflex on the lake, next to the facilities of the army. Something went off in his opinion that he couldn’t tell the loyal knight… Because he had no idea how to.

“It’s nothin’, don’t worry.”

“Are you sure?”

“... The man and the kid… They seemed familiar to me.”

Magnamon did not respond, only kept his eyes lying on Lupinmon and quietly heard him.

“What is this feeling? Why I… I want to help them find this ‘important person’ he meant?”

“I don’t know… But we need to do something.”

“Let’s do it then, find that human-- Argh!”

“Master, what’s going on-- Ugh!”

Flying in the air and gesturing hands to show who was inducing pain to Daisuke and Vee, a humanoid digimon with human face, but his mask had resembles of Stingmon. It wore a suit, flashing moth wings moved to keep him hovering over the duo’s heads.

“Ah, I see you’ve been questioning stuff again. There’s no reason to ask yourself about said feelings. You’re a soldier. You and Magnamon serve this cause.”

That headache kept them unable to respond, all they were doing was growling and hearing that humanoid moth-like digimon speaking inside their minds.

“You poor beings are alive to serve me. So keep loyal to me and I will keep you two alive, or else...”

Daisuke and Magnamon’s eyes glowed in red, just like the time the Digimon Kaiser had control over the digimon once. Once the pain vanished, they looked up and in a very mechanical way.

“Yes, master Papillonmon.”

Papillonmon smirked, with the Dokunemon chuckling at the scene.

#datl text chapter #daichi arc phase 1

[spoookiepie]

Hey it’s me cha girl here to talk about Digimon games

Cause like, BOY DO I HAVE OPINIONS. We just got the announcement trailer fro Digimon Survive and it looks... fine? It looks fine. Far be it from me to judge it too much based off tiny snippets in an announcement trailer, but everything shown looks... just fine.

But not like... amazing.

It looks like the battles at least will be grid, turned based, so Fire Emblem-esque. I can’t say I’m excited about that, but I bet some people are. But if I’m being honest that just... really doesn’t feel like it fits the Digimon brand. The rigid turn based stuff never really did, even less so with the even more tightly controlled grid system here.

And look, I have a soft spot for the Digimon game series. (Not ALL of them, mind you. But enough of them) But even at their best, the series has always felt like it was about 5 years behind. Even at it’s best, it’s felt a little bit cheap. Even at it’s best, and with all the love I have for certain entries into the franchise, even I can’t really say I think there’s a truly amazing game in there.

The series need a huge overhaul, is what I’m saying. In this essay I will

Problem 1; It’s a huge thematic and mechanical mess.

If I asked you what the basic core themes and mechanics of the Pokemon franchise were, you could easily rattle off the game play and battle system, the themes of friendship, and adventure, and something about ‘Catching them all’. This would hold true for every main-line entry into the franchise, differing only on the spin-offs. (these themes and ideas also carry over to the show, an important point I’ll get to later) The same could be said if I asked you about Mario, or Zelda, or Fallout. Even the Final Fantasy games, for as old and varied as they are, carry SOME core ideas - that being that they’re generally all going to be long, epic games, with emphasis on characters and story, set in pseudo fantasy worlds, and having some form of an RPG battle system. (again only straying from this in spin offs).

The Digimon games though? Not so much. Remove the actual Digimon from the first three games, and they’d be practically unrecognizable from each other. The first is a semi-open world (about as open as many PS1 era games could be), where you have a single Digimon who you essentially have to take care of, similar to the Tamagatchi-like toys the series started as in the first place. Battles are real-time and you have p minimal control over what the Digimon actually does. Meanwhile the second game is a slow dungeon crawler, with strict, 1v1 to 3v3 turn-based battles. No open Digital World, no Digimon care taking. The DW3 goes for an isometric, pixel style game, with 1v1 battles (which ARE in 3D?), and attempts to have a more robust story and host of characters. And the series just continues to spin off from there.

For visual comparison alone, check out the first 3 games of the Digimon series to the first 5 of Pokemon. These are aesthetics alone.

(pokemon image via http://www.neoseeker.com/news/23873-pokemon-then-and-now-see-17-years-of-video-game-evolution-in-a-single-comparison-image/)

Basically, there is no “core” to the Digimon games, outside of the mascots themselves. It makes the franchise as a whole feel disjointed, and it means you never really know what you’re getting when you go to play a new one. While you certainly don’t want a franchise to get old and stale, you also shouldn’t be re-inventing the wheel every single time either, cause it stops looking like innovation, and starts looking more like you don’t know what you’re about.

Problem 2; They feel cheap.

It pains me to say, but almost every aspect of Digimon games feels like it’s just a step under what it should be. Everything is aggressively just ok. The voice acting (if the game has it) is nothing of note, especially in the dubs. And the weak dialogue certainly doesn’t help.

The art and characters designs are... also just ok. The main characters in the first handful of games are aggressively generic, to the point that the ones from 2 and 3 are basically the same model. Once the games started to stray from the style of the show, the designs started to get even weaker, and the already flimsy visual design fell apart even more.  (Some of the better character designs came out of Digimon Story Lost Evolution, which OOPS, never came state side) Say what you want about the character design of the original show but this

is a pretty recognizable art style and way of character design. Like Pokemon, it’s simple, but distinct unto itself. I could easily pick this style out of a lineup.

Whereas these?

Well... yeah. Not so much. I don’t even dislike the bottom two, from Digimon World Next Order (and in actual technique alone, they’re all solid). But, I also can’t say the style is terribly distinct, or what I would look at and immediately recognize next to a whole host of other anime and light novel illustrations.

The writing (when there is much of a story) is lackluster. And no, I will never understand the people who say Cyber Sleuth was great, and had a great story and writing. I just have to imagine, if Cyber Sleuth is the bar, then they’ve never picked up a Persona game. Or many RPGs/visual novels. Or... many games in general. I found it’s characters, story, and tropes all rather predictable, and nothing struck me as particularly clever. Meanwhile, Next Order had your p run of the mill but otherwise vapid ‘save the world from the Big Bad(c)’ story. Again, a bit predictable and cliche, and mostly there to move the game along.

Everything just feels a little... meh. A little like everyone didn’t put their all into the games. It feels like the studio is banking on fans buying their stuff through sheer nostalgia, rather than really putting their all behind the games. Again, even for the entries that I personally love. And that’s a shame.

Problem 3; They have very little connection to their anime counterpart.

Look, I get it. These are games, not the anime. This isn’t Pokemon, where the two have to be hand-in-hand almost all the time. And I certainly don’t want to just recreate the show in the games, or vice versa, hereby rendering one redundant.

But

I’d argue that the vast majority of Digimon fans, are fans of the anime first, and their love of the spin off stuff like the games comes after. There will be exceptions of course, but the Digimon show is the most well known and well loved part of the franchise. And the games really don’t feel like they reflect much of that. They’re a whole beast unto themselves, and not necessarily in a good way.

For a show that so heavily emphasizes friendship and bonds, you spend a lot of time in the games alone. And characters are often written lack luster and one-dimensional, giving you very little reason to care about them. They feel oddly lonely. For a show that so heavily emphasizes the special bond between a tamer and their unique, special Digimon partner, the Digimon you get in the games are frankly... disposable.

Hell, even the Digital World itself doesn’t always make an appearance in the games. I’d argue the Digital World is a vital component of the Digimon franchise and universe. It’s so unique, it’s practically a character unto itself. And to just throw it out feels like a whole part of the franchise is missing.

So, how would I start addressing some of these problems?

Before I begin, let me just say, I’m not a game designer. I’m judging this with an outside perspective, so take this with a grain of salt. But, I’m also not a newcomer to game OR the show, and have spent a chunk of my time analyzing both. I also tend to study up on design in my spare time for fun, so I’m also not completely talking out of my ass here.

1; Consistency and Vision.

So, for starters, the Digimon games need to buckle down and figure out what their core is. Figure out your themes, your mechanics, your visual style, and what are core concepts to your franchise, beyond just the Digimon themselves. These are ideas that will be carried throughout your series. This is your core, you theme, and your vision. You can tweak things, by all means. But when I set your games out on the table, SOMETHING needs to bind them all and make them a collection. Pokemon games are still Pokemon games, even when you ignore the Pokemon themselves. Persona games are still Persona games without the Persona. A Mario game is still a Mario game when you remove the plumber himself. Art style, themes, mechanics, and world building all amount to this. What - beyond just the Digimon - makes a Digimon game?

Personally, I’d like to see these things gravitate to a more Digimon World 1/3/Next Order style. I want an emphasis on exploration of the Digital World and more freedom than the likes of Digimon World 2/4/Cyber Sleuth had.

But either way, the game’s need to figure out what they are. Stop trying to re-invent the wheel every time, and please stop trying to copy whatever another popular game did 5 years before.

And also for the love of God, this is Digimon. Stop designing characters like this

If you want to appeal to a more “mature” audience, trying actually doing something smart, than resorting to T&A.

2; Figure out where to put the budget

Now, I can bet what some people are gonna say.

“Digimon is a smaller franchise than those you keep comparing it to! It doesn’t have the budget to be a huge title like those!”

And yeah, I get it. Digimon doesn’t have the kind of money Pokemon, or Final Fantasy, or Persona have. But money also doesn’t a good game make.

Once devs have figured out what’s core to their series (see; step 1), then that’s how they need to plan out where to put their budget. Is exploration one of your core themes? Budget needs to go towards the world and map design. Is it in the characters and story? Splurge on your writing team. Right now, the games feel like they’re all a bit lackluster in every department. Frankly, I’d be ok with one aspect being cut down a bit more, to make the other core parts really shine. I don’t need 100+ different playable Digimon, for example. Take some of those out and put the resources elsewhere maybe.

3; Hire better writers

Look, I’m just gonna say it. Your writing needs to be a core thing you splurge some budget on ok? I don’t expect the best of the best, epic story telling from a Digimon game, but at least try to reach the same level of writing the original show did maybe.

THAT SAID; I’d also move away from the talking head/visual novel style of story telling and cut scenes. I’m talking THIS kind of dialogue, btw

Games like Persona, Phoenix Wright, and Danganronpa can get away with it because they have A++ stellar writing. (2 of them HAVE TO since they’re visual novels, and the writing is the core of what they are. Also, ONCE AGAIN, these three games have very distinct character and visual design, that are a delight to look at)

Digimon? While I say you NEED - DESPERATELY NEED - better writers, you’re not quite here yet, where a talking head alone is enough to keep me entertained.

I’d rather see you’re characters moving and doing stuff while they talk. Have fully rendered cut scenes, and do a little more showing than telling. Again, you’ll have to budget for this, but I think it’s worth it. (also, you don’t have to have Final Fantasy level models if you just have solid character and visual design I WILL NOT LET THIS POINT GO) Seriously. The Digital World is one worth seeing in motion, not in static back and forth exposition dumps.

4; Seriously just include the Digital World

Like I said before, the Digital World is one of the most unique worlds I’ve seen in media. To. Date. It is a perfectly weird and whimsical synthesis between the natural and the man-made. It is a perfect visual representation for what it is; An AI built world, that attempted to grow organically out of completely inorganic data created by humans from all over the world.

That is a world of endless possibilities and I want to see it.

Without the Digital World, the franchise feels a bit more hollow. The whole adventure in the original show was in the kids being sucked into a new world! A world that was exciting, and new, and weird, and whimsical, and yeah, a bit scary and even dangerous. If we’re not in the Digital World, then we’re just... in Tokyo, basically. But with some Digimon.

5. The Digimon need to be characters

Okay. Here’s... where’ I’ll probably upset the most people who are fans of the games.

You should only get one -maybe two- Digimon partners and ONLY their basic digivolution trees ok!

You got Palmon? Well, ok, you ONLY have Palmon, and her evolution tree up to Lilymon. Maybe Rosemon if we feeling fancy. She does not have branching trees. She does not DNA digivolve. She does not return to an egg, and re-hatch as a new baby lv Digimon. You just. Have. Palmon. Or Agumon. Or Veemon. Or whoever you choose/or is that game’s Digimon.

Why make this limitation? Two reasons. 1. Less resources used on modeling, stat designing, and programing 100+ Digimon partners. Cut down on the amount of Digimon you can have as a partner, and the more resources and time can be put elsewhere.

2. More importantly, the Digimon partners need to be characters. The show gave huge emphasis to the fact that each partner and their Digimon had a special bond. It was special because it was unique. One person for one Digimon, each with their own unique personality and bond. There might be plenty of Agumon out there, but this one was Tai’s Agumon. He had his own personality, his own likes and dislikes. He was special. In contrast, the Digimon in the games are completely disposable. They have no personality, if they even talk at all. And oh, don’t want Tentomon? No worries, just digivolve him to something else or wait till he dies and hatch a different egg! It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t matter.

And for a show that made me so desperately want my own, unique, soul bound monster friend, that’s... really kinda sad.

So yeah, limit what Digimon you can have, and really, really write them as their own special, unique characters. And have them bound to their trainer. Want to allow your players to choose from multiple Digimon? I have a solution. Choose your trainer. Give your players the choice between 3-5 characters to choose from. You’ll be choosing that character and their stats, along with their unique Digmon and their stats. And hey, if you wanna go above and beyond, make these trainers actual characters with personalities too, who may change the course of the story, or at least the flavor, depending on who you picked. If we use Digimon Adventure for example. Your story and stats may vary greatly depending on if you chose to play as Matt and Gabumon, or Sora and Biyomon. Maybe you could go an Octopath traveler route, and have all the characters potentially converge. Or, maybe a Seiken Densetsu 3 route, where you choose 3 of six potential characters, and your story will differ depending on which you chose, and which of those three you picked as your main.

Either way, really emphasize these characters and their bonded Digimon. This isn’t Pokemon after all, right? So why have an emphasis on how many Digimon you can obtain?

Anyway, that’s my thesis on where to at least start in fixing the jumbled mess that is the Digimon game franchise. Many of these are opinions, yes, but I hope you can at least understand where I’m coming from with most of them. And hey, I guess we’ll see what the new game has in store for us.

#digimon #digimon world #opinion #essay

[keep-on-trying]

Answering the Lingering Questions from the first 5 Digimon Adventure Tri. movies + Exploring new ones from Bokura no Mirai

I think I’m capable of doing this now. This is gonna be a whole new post. I’ll post all the questions and see if we did get answers. :D This is a pretty long post so, continue under the cut! Spoilers ahead, so proceed at your own risk!

Saikai/Reunion

What happened to the 02 kids?

Answer: They found out about Yggdrasil’s plans and were taken care off by Alphamon under the orders of Yggdrasil. Maki Himekawa was involved.

Who is Jou’s girlfriend?

Answer: Up for anyone’s imagination. We don’t know.

Is Alphamon behind the disappearance of the 02 kids? I don’t believe this has been properly answered yet.

Answer: Explained before.

How did the Chosen Digimon manage to come to the Real World? This isn’t that important of a question to me.

Answer: Wasn’t explained.

Theory: It’s just how summoning the Digimon work. It works when need be. : D

Is “the shadow of the real world“ meant to reference Dark Ocean in the beginning of the movie? I don’t think this has been answered yet. We only know the egg is Meicoomon’s and the black cube going inside of part of Apocalymon.

Answer: Wasn’t explained

Theory: I think it may have actually referenced Yggdrasil’s domain, or it’s view on the Digital World.

Digimon that die in the human world are supposed to stay dead? What exactly happened to Kuwagamons after being “killed off”. They dematerialized and went through a distortion.

Answer: Wasn’t explained :D

Theory: Whatever the case, the Reboot certainly revived them.

Alphamon is only after Meicoomon, doesn’t want to kill off the Chosen Children (even stops Kuwagamon from shooting the final beam at Garurumon). Yet he works for Yggdrasil. What was the goal here? O.o

Answer: Oh they just wanted to destroy the Real World, and Meicoomon happened to be the key. No interest in Chosen Children at all XD

Ketsui/Determination

What happened to the guns that were showcased during the first real world appearance of Ogremon? Will Part 6 showcase them more?

Answer: Bokura no Mirai showed the Army taking action against Ordinemon, possibly under the instructrions of Homeostasis, messaged by Hackmon. While the guns from this movie weren’t showcased, it’s safe to assume the Army had developed their weapons for such situation further at this point.

Who exactly sent the premonition of Ultimate/Mega evolution? I’m not 100% certain it was Maki.

Answer: It was indeed Homeostasis (thanks @jkdigi for correcting me :) )

Was the Imperialdramon here really the Jogress evolution of Wormmon and Veemon? It hasn’t really been answered. Or I’m just an idiot here.

Answer: Wasn’t explained really.

Theory: Considering we didn’t see the 02 digimons despite finding out about the 02 kids, I believe it really was. It could have been a random summoned Imperialdramon as well.

Kokuhaku/Confession

How did Maki get her hands on Ken’s D3 and the handheld communicator? Or is it some other D3?

Answer: She was in league with Yggdrasil, took care of the 02 kids, it is possibly why she got her hands of Ken’s D3 and communicator. Wasn’t directly explained, but it’s how I see it.

Why is Not-Gennai so obsessed with Digimon Kaiser disguise? We know his excuse on why he needs to use a disguise but, why Digimon Kaiser?

Answer: Wasn’t explained :D

Theory: He’s just a kid on the inside who wants to play.

Who is Not-Gennai really?

Answer: Wasn’t explained. !!

Theory: Either a split of Gennai who has the Dark Spore inside him, or it’s something else. Seen speculations of Milleniummon, Piemon etc.

Soushitsu/Loss

What is the symbol on Maki’s digivice? It’s nothing like we’ve seen before. This hasn’t been answered.

Answer: Wasn’t explained. It’s up to anyone’s imagination at this point.

Can Meiko’s digivice summon her to the Digital World? It seemed like she actually was brought to Digital World when the Digivice was glowing, and then we cut to the Trailer, that is making the sound that it does when someone crosses the gate! Or so it seemed to do.

Answer: Wasn’t explained :D

Theory: What I explained before seems like the probable case. The way original Digivices work with summoning is a mystery, ever since Adventure.

Were these Dark Masters the same one from before, or just mere puppets?

Answer: Wasn’t explained

Who are the other three Original Chosen?

Answer: Wasn’t explained. :DD

Kyousei/Coexistence

Balance is indeed the theme in the series regarding Meicoomon. Will it be Meiko’s crest? (crediting @citrus-cactus for suggesting this in the first place! Great eye!)

They talked hell a lot about how partners balance each other out. Meiko and Meicoomon are struggling with it right now. It’s the darkness of balance: chaos.

Answer: Meiko didn’t explicitly have a crest but, an animation sequence showcased the possibility of her having some sort of crest, that got tainted in fear, chaos, however you want to picture it.

Will Maki be saved? Will Daigo be saved?

Answer: No. Maki is either dead in Dark Ocean or stuck there as bride to Dagomon. Daigo died a heroic death while saving 02 kids and Taichi. ;_______;

Where did Taichi and Daigo fall into?

Answer: They fell to the place where 02 kids were held in capsules, sleeping.

How will Hikari overcome her conflict?

Answer: Beautifully. Strongly. Independently. It’s a great arc, go see it yourself!

Will Meicoomon have true evolution shown?

Answer: No.

WHY IS NOT-GENNAI UPSIDE DOWN ALL THE FREAKING TIME AND WHY IS HE INSIDE HIKARI’S MIND IN THE LAST PART OF KYOUSEI???

Answer: WAS NOT EXPLAINED!!!

Theory: I’m screaming I want to know I can’t for the life of me to think of any legit good explanation!

Yamato’s character arc? How will it be handled? Seems to revolve around him coming over the death of the dearest friend to him? (I’m not that good at analyzing Yamato)

Answer: It was definitely about taking over the duty of his best friend and dealing with Taichi’s disappearance. A character arc done well. Go see it.

Will Tailmon survive?

Answer: Yes ;_; Thanks Hackmon!

Will Meiko and Meicoomon survive?

Answer: Meicoomon died, thou she is at peace now. Meiko survived and moved back to Tottori.

Is someone fucking gonna die???

Answer: YES, THREE IN FACT!

DARK OCEAN????

Answer: FALSE ALARM! 

Total of Questions: 29 Total of Answered Questions: 16

Rest of the questions have been given some own theories on what the case would be.

Now that the old questions I had lingering have been answered somewhat, let’s have a look at the new questions that are lingering from Bokura no Mirai.

Bokura no Mirai/Future

02 Kids are fine, but we don’t know what happened to their Digimon. We also don’t know what exactly happened before they were taken down by Yggdrasil’s forces.

Theory: Before the Reboot, Not!Gennai/Mysterious Man took control of their Digimon with the infection, thus the Imperialdramon appearance in Determination. I also think that Our 8 chosen were fine with killing them, because they were in the Digital World, meaning they’d get reborn.

Why did Yggdrasil spare the 02 kids? Why not kill them? Did Not!Gennai/Mysterious Man just want to play some sicko game? Maybe Himekawa didn’t want anyone to die, and managed to make the deal on keeping them alive?

Sequel hook was left with Mysterious Man/Not!Gennai teasing about wanting to play some more (he got away god damn it!) and wondering if it should be with Daemon/Demon or Diablomon next. I got chills. But like, will there actually be a sequel for this series, thus not answering all the questions?

The teasing of Daemon/Demon kinda leaves an open room for a comeback of Dark Ocean in larger scale. So, while it only showed for a short bit as a bad ending for Maki’s depression, it has a chance at being used in possible sequel.

Did Meicoomon have memories of just Chosen Digimons or did it have all of it?

My answer: It seems unclear for some, but I honestly intepreted it as Meicoomon having backup files on Chosen Digimons only. Thou, I admit that seeing the Digimon fly back to the Digital World after the memories had return from Ordinemon to the Chosen Digimons is sort of a confusing scene. It is possible that those memories reshaped the Digital World to how it used to be.

What happened to Alphamon? He didn’t appear in this movie at all.

Theory: Yggdrasil’s plan was already in a state where Alphamon wasn’t needed.

Courtesy of @tutomon: How the heck did Taichi manage to carry four unconscious teenagers (and Gennai?) to the hospital by himself? 

Theory:  I think he may have called for few Ambulances to pick them up? Thou Taichi’s Pod seemed to land in the Ocean, we don’t really see where the 02 kids’ pods landed. : D Although, I guess it could also be that some other people saw 02 kids + Taichi, carried them all to Hospital, and Taichi left early because world needs to be saved. : D Thus being late, according to Yamato. :D

It isn’t clear why 02 kids didn’t inform the 8 Chosen about Yggdrasil. It’s possible they decided to not want to involve them in this, or Himekawa explicitly denied them to tell them about it, with reasons that sounded plausable.

This post may get updated later on with questions I don’t remember right away but will at later date :)

People have been speculation quite a bit about lack of answers on some questions being due to development getting switched into taking a sequel into account. We have been given a teaser of a new project just few hours before Bokura no Mirai premiered.

Whatever the case, most of the important questions got answered.

#lingering questions #digimon #digimon tri #saikai #reunion #ketsui #determination #kokuhaku #confession #loss #soushitsu #kyousei #coexistence #symbiosis #bokura no mirai #our future #future #tri spoilers #bokura no mirai spoilers #bnm spoilers #digimon theory

[sanzoumon]

Scrolling through the notes of that Digimon post and naturally someone clearly didn't get the message of 02.

It's not strictly about just using violence to solve problems. It was brought up more than once, specifically with Yolei and Cody, that they didn't WANT to resort to lethal force. It was a big damn deal when Silphymon HAD to deal a lethal attack (in the real world, which means that Digimon would never come back) in order to save Yolei.

She was shocked they would do something like that but they had no choice. Kari was the one to help her realize this and Yolei made peace with it because she realized it was necessary.

But look over the vast majority of the villains in 02. Ken? They tried talking to him, and yes TK resorted to violence, but the thing that ultimately did Ken in was Wormmon straight up sacrificing himself. Then Ken realized Digimon were real and realized he'd been hurting them all this time.

But it was a combination of that and Davis' willingness to not only forgive him but want to be friends with him as well. TK provided a shock to Ken, making him realize he wasn't as strong as he thought, while Davis was willing to be there for him when he lost everything.

Next, BlackWarGreymon, they made multiple attempts to reason with him - MULTIPLE. And it was clear he was just confused and didn't know what to do with his husk of a life. They had no choice but to fight him but they still continued to try and talk to him.

Owikawa? He was depressed and got manipulated by dark forces that exploited his love of Digimon and love of his dead best friend. He created Mummymon and Arukenimon because he was lonely. All he wanted was to go to the digital world and those dark forces made him think using and exploiting children was the way to go about it. AND THEY STILL TRIED TO REASON WITH HIM.

With the one damn exception of MaloMyotismon - none of them with EVIL. They were misguided and hurt individuals who didn't know how to cope with all the pain they had.

You know even considering how light 02 really is, it dealt a lot with the issues of coping with loss and feeling powerless / insecure.

Ken was tragic. Owikawa was tragic. Even Arukenimon and Mummymon were tragic because they were basically just Owikawa's children and they just wanted to survive - only to be done in ruthlessly because they, along with Owikawa, were being played the whole time.

Literally MaloMyotismon was the only outright EVIL force involved. And what was he defeated with? Not violence. Hope and light, dreams, faith, whatever you wanna call it.

Tbh with the exception of Adventure, most of the Digimon series I've seen tend to have villains that are either tragic or misguided. Tamers mastered that but 02 did a pretty decent job themselves.

Ultimately in 02 the characters never gave up on reasoning with others or attempting to find the good in them unless push came to shove and violence was necessary to protect innocents. Or in absolute self-defense.

Well, aside from the slapping. They sure liked slapping each other. But there is another point: slight amounts of violence like punching or slapping was used to snap another character out of whatever state they were in.

02 did a good job exploring violence as a necessity but not in place of compassion or reasoning.

In extreme situations violence may be necessary but it's not a solution. If anything you'll just make the other side feel, well, attacked which will cause them to further think they are justified in being horrible.

Gah!

Also as far as TK goes people just ignore WHY he resorted to violence - because watching Angemon sacrifice himself those years ago really messed him up. And this side of him is meant to be off, like his personality flipped. Even Cody points out it's weird how he can switch between being almost eager to use violence then go back to being nice and casual. TK isn't as emotionally healthy as he presents himself - almost none of the kids are. Especially Kari, the embodiment of light and goodness herself.

Point is that side of TK isn't meant to be a good thing.

I swear to God. I'm too angry over this. Fuck.

Don't rb this, I'm just mad.

#posts by me #sfw

[adventure-hearts]

tri. Chapter 5 - Recap, Analysis, Review [part one]

This is me trying to make sense of of a dense, multilayered chapter that for once brough us more answers than questions. My notes got very long and I ended up taking dozens of screen-caps, so I decided to split this post into four segments (one for each part of the movie). You can expect the others soon, over the next few days.

I hope you survive this!

Chapter 5 (Kyousei - Coexistence or Symbiosis, depending on who you ask) starts where we were left off last time: Mystery Man torturing Meiko in order to make Meicoomon snap, and telling her she should not have been born.

At once, we get another flashback from Meiko's childhood - this time, with a very specific date: Autumn 1999 -- that is, shortly after the events of Digimon Adventure. This has ties with a previous flashback (set in the summer) of Meiko finding Meicoomon in the woods. While the exact time when Meicoomon met Meiko in the human world is still unclear, everything in this chapter points to this meeting happening shortly after August 1-3, that is, after the defeat of Apocalymon.

This flashback shows us two incidents of Meicoomon's past. In the first one, she attacks a group of birds, resulting in loose feathers and a pool of blood, and she soils Meiko's shirt with it. Symbolism aside, it’s unclear what caused the blood: was she hunting or defending herself? Did she “snap” because she was scared, after finding herself away from Meiko? Anyway, this was the first time Meicoomon shown she was capable of being violent.

The second incident is much more serious.

Meiko's father is taking  Meicoomon to the lab to be examined by some Tokyo people. This happens in 1999, when human authorities were trying to make sense of what had happened with the Digimon that summer. Significantly, this seems to suggest that Meiko's father isn't exactly keeping Meicoomon's existence a secret from the authorities; nor does it seem that he’s using his daughter’s Digimon to conduct scientific experiences or anything suspicious.

However, Meicoomon snaps and destroys the lab, injuring Meiko’s father in the process.

We also learn that Himekawa was one of the people who came from Tokyo to see Meicoomon, and her connection to this digimon starts here. This gives us some clues about Maki's age; if in 1999 she was already done with her studies and working for the Agency, so she was at least in her early 20s then. You can do the math yourself, but basically Maki is at least 27 in tri., perhaps older.

Meiko witnesses the incident, in shock. But as soon as shes there, Meicoomon goes back to normal; she’s confused at first, but quickly becomes happy to see Meiko, as if nothing had happened. Maki watches everything with interest. Is this the moment when she realises Meicoomon could play a role in her plans for the Reboot?

Back in the present time, Mystery Man’s plan worked. Meicoomon has gone berserk and is wreaking havoc. The flashback serves to contextualise and explain what’s happening: It seems that what triggers Meicoomon’s transformation is being scared and/or being separated from Meiko -- in other words, Meiko's presence keeps Meicoomon calm and controlled... until now. All this will be explained later in the movie.

Anyway, it’s clear that the distortions Meicoomon is causing are making Mystery Man extremely happy. Digimon start invading the real world, a repetition of both Vamdemon’s invasion and Demon’s invasion.

Meiko calls the transtorned Meicoomon and there’s a tense moment when it seems that she can get Meicoomon to break away from her trance, just like before. Instead, it utterly fails: Meicoomon is confused, screams and agony and finally attacks Meiko. 

Meiko is paralysed and apparently has given up, as she realises that she can no longer reach Meicoomon when she’s in her evil form. As she’s about to get murdered by her own partner, Meiko remembers happy moments they spent together… but fortunately Taichi plays the gallant hero and saves her at the last moment. 

There’s another tense exchange of looks, but it appears that Meicoomon changes her mind about killing her and runs off.

The conclusion from this scene is simple: Meicoomon has snapped so deeply that Meiko can no longer reach her and bring her back to normal; yet, it seems that there’s still something inside her that keeps her from killing Meiko.

Does she? This is the first indication that Meiko’s will to live is perhaps being challenged in Kyousei.  

Takeru recalls Mystery Man’s words about Meicoomon is “the key to destroying” the world - which seems fitting as they’re seeing the Digital World go crazy under her powers. Meanwhile, Meiko is closer to accepting the truth that Meicoomon may be beyond saving at this point.

* 

Speaking of trauma, we find out what’s going on with Maki. After her reunion with Bakumon went wrong, she wanders around with a gun as she watches the destruction and fantasises that this time she will be chosen. 

What does this mean? Now that the Reboot (the plan she spent years working on) has failed, has Maki lost her sanity? Or is she revealing her new plan, a fantasy that a new crisis will give her and Bakumon a second chance to be “chosen”? 

Either way, it doesn’t seem that Maki is acting out of evil intentions or a desire to cause destruction. Raving, she wanders after her partner....

*

Back in the human world, Digimon are causing major problems. Taichi and Hikari’s mother is watching the news on TV and worrying about her kids. She decides to prepare a huge meal for them, her own little contribution to the cause. It seems that tri. Has picked Yuuko as the representative of the children’s families, and her perspective is an important one - especially in a Chapter that focuses so much on the Yagami siblings.

*

With Himekawa missing, nobody is listening to Daigo, who’s worried about the kids being stranded in the Digital World. He decides to take matters into his own hands and meets with Professor Mochizuki, who apparently is no longer invited to speak at the table during important meetings where decisions are being made. You have to wonder if Homeostasis is also behind this - don’t forget Meiko’s father has an emotional investment in this, meaning he’s probably biased towards Meicoomon (if anything, for his daughter’s sake).

Hackmon joins the conversation and finally drops some important answers. 

Homeostasis only agenda is to protect stability. Libra (Meicoomon) is no longer fulfilling her role in that balance and has become to unstable. This was why she was banished (was this why she ended up on the Real World, perhaps after Apocalymon’s demise?).

Finally, with Meiko no longer acting as a balancing force to Meicoomon’s incredible destructive power, the latter is a loose canon and it must be destroyed.

This seems a pretty heartless decision from Homeostasis, but at least it’s consistent with their role in this universe. If you see things from the perspective of “keeping the balance at all costs” this is a reasonable conclusion. Sentiment has no place in Homeostasis’ job.

*

Meanwhile, the Digital World is trying to kill the Chosen Children (and failing miserably at it; but then, after Sora’s improbable survival last Chapter, maybe they’ve all developed inhuman invulnerability). They seek refuge in a cave and try to make sense of what’s happening.

Hikari is the most intuitive member of the team and the one who has a deeper connection with the Digital World, so it’s fitting that she is the first one to sense this and to convey it to the others. Again, this is a side of Hikari’s personality that plays a big role in this movie.

*

Back in the office, Homeostasis has spoken its sentence. Without Meiko’s protection, there’s no hope for Meicoomon.

*

Then we get the scene by the fire, where we get some very subtle, and some very interesting character moments. Everyone’s core personality gets to shine through. For instance, there’s the funny contrast between Mimi’s childlike comment that they could be seeing shooting stars, and Jou’s deadpan pragmatism:

(You can go really meta and pretend this is a reference to “I wish!) 

Yamato has made his decision and is as determined as possible. Remember that he means just that - “stopping”. After all, they all realise that Meicoomon is the source of this mess and she’s causing all these troubles in the real world. But no one is considering destruction at this point. Taichi is asking Koushirou to find a way to get them home, and he’s trying.

The scene then focuses on Meiko, who’s blaming herself because this time she couldn’t stop Meicoomon. The group tries to cheer her up.

There’s a very nice sentiment there. But, remember, at this point the kids aren’t seeing the bigger picture and they still don’t know what we know. They have no idea that this trouble with Meicoomon can’t be solved with good ol’ fashioned friendship, “believing” in each other, or “accepting each other’s faults”.

Still, this scene beautifully explains the wonderful relationship between the partners, from Meiko’s point of view - specificially how they balance each other perfectly and how each duo has its own dynamic. She’s been paying attention to this. Comparing.

But Meiko is reasonably questioning their assumptions. If Meicoomon is so different, how can their relationship compare? Moreover, the partner bonds seem to have been broken beyond repair. Sora reminds Meiko that she’s stopped running and has accepted responsibility for being Meicoomon’s partner.

But now Meiko’s starting to wonder if the fault is actually on her side - she has interpreted these last events as Meicoomon snapping because of her. She’s feeling powerless, thinking that if she was a different type of partner - a different person - this wouldn’t be happening.

This sentence sums a big theme through out this episode (and throughout this series), as multiple characters come back to this difficult question, again and again.

Consider Meiko’s position at this moment: She knows something is wrong with Meicoomon (she’s always had a “problem”) but now she can no longer do anything to make her stop.  Meiko did everything right: She faced the truth, she believed in her partner, she came back for her -- and Meicoomon just tried to murder her. What if she's the problem? What if a more capable partner could have stopped this?

The main point here is this: Meiko’s right to have doubts and to be scared. This isn’t a repetition of her conflict in the previous chapters, because there has been a definit breaking point in her bond with Meicoomon. Meiko isn’t being cowardly or weak, she’s being reasonable before the facts.

#digimon #digimon adventure tri #kyosei #review / recap #analysis #meta #no one needs to get this deep #this part was pretty short in comparison beware #suggestions corrections criticism always welcome!

[jolteonjordansh]

Thoughts on Devas Arc

Okay, kind of weird to have this up shortly after talking about Battle of Adventurers (assuming I don’t take weeks to finish this one much how like it too me forever to finish talking about Pokémon Generations), but I want to get talking about this arc out of the way because I really want to watch more Tamers. And I can’t really move onto watching the next arc without writing my thoughts on the previous arc, or I’ll get episodes and opinions muddled up and it really disorients me. If my Adventure 02 thoughts ever felt like they were messy and disorganized, it was because I binge-watched the series in a matter of days unlike Adventure.

Note: I drew the line for the Devas Arc at the end of episode 24. I know some people argue that episode 23 is the end of the arc and 24 is the beginning of the next, but for reference: I am including episode 24 as part of the Devas Arc. It feels more like a transition episode much like episode 13 was for the Tamers Introduction Arc. And the way I see it, the Digital World Arc doesn’t start until they’re actually in the Digital World.

So Digimon Tamers finished up establishing itself and its world earlier. How is it now that it’s able to run free with all of these ideas it set up before?

So remember how I said there weren’t a ton of battles in the Tamers Introduction Arc and how it was definitely more story and character driven? Well man, does the Devas Arc kick the action into gear, and they manage to do it without really sacrificing some of the good storytelling elements that the Tamers Introduction Arc had started.

Right off the bat, there’s a much bigger battle with an Ultimate level Digimon in the first episode (Mihiramon) and it pushes Hypnos to utilize “Shaggai”--to send Digimon back to the Digital World, including threatening our beloved Digimon partners. When the Champion forms prove to be ineffective against stopping Mihiramon, Takato manages to get Growlmon to Matrix Digivolve to WarGrowlmon. And I gotta say, not only was this Digivolution really well-executed, it’s forcing me to go on a topic I really have done my damnedest to avoid when talking about Digimon, but I gotta address it. For the sake of organization, I’ll put it towards the end of the post. For now, let’s talk about all of the good and fun the second Tamers arc did.

The battles in this arc really take a step up, and it shows. They’re really good, full of action, and most of all: a lot of them are filled with emotion. With the exception of a couple of battles, I never felt like the fights were there just to be the obstacle of the episode. It honestly felt like each of these fights encouraged really strong character growth, had a story to tell, and built the world further. It also fixed my issue in the last arc of some insert songs being way too short-lived, since the battles are now far more fleshed out. But towards the end, there were so many new insert songs I didn’t even really get to soak them in (if anyone wants to point out names and links to me, feel free). There was even this one insert song at the end of episode 23, with this new animation that led me to believe it was a new ending. But nope! We get My Tomorrow right after it, and then episode 24 has an entirely new ending. It’s a one-time thing, and it’s really weird to say the least.

By far my favorite battle of this arc and of Tamers so far is the battle with Indramon, among the most cocky and powerful of the Devas. Not only did his fight take up two episodes and prove just how strong of an opponent the tamers were up against, it also helped give a surprising amount of development for Impmon. I was told Impmon would get a ton of character development, and my initial reaction was “Wait, this guy? He’s clearly just an annoyance for the group.” But no, they actually do a really good job making him an antithesis to partners like Guilmon, Renamon and Terriermon, yet he doesn’t come off as a true villain at this point. You do have to feel some sympathy for him during his futile battle against Indramon. Indramon being so ridiculously tough to beat just made his defeat all the more rewarding and enjoyable to watch. In the last episode with him, I kept worrying that the writers would actually run out of runtime for the episode and it would either feel rushed at some points or jarringly cut to another episode. But no, his whole fight was really well done and well-paced. Plus I’m not gonna lie, I was totally a sucker for the Blue Card that Takato’s friends made for him for another Matrix Digivolution. TEAMWORK!

The Vajramon fight that triggered Kyubimon’s Matrix Digivolution to Taomon was also really good too. I like this theme they have going with how things like a Digimon’s environment and partnering with humans influences their evolution and how the oh so “holy” Devas look down on it. I mean, I liked Kyubimon being a nine-tailed fox, but if they’re going to go with this kind of theme than I do prefer them being consistent with it. On the note of Matrix Digivolutions, I do feel like Taomon’s Matrix Digivolution animation is jarring for being traditionally animated while WarGrowlmon and Rapidmon get CG-animated evolutions. I do get why, because I do think with the way Taomon’s was done, it wouldn’t have looked as nice in CG and Taomon is sort of a more traditionally inspired Digimon while WarGrowlmon and Rapidmon have a more mechanical influence. 

I kinda couldn’t take Rapidmon’s Matrix Digivolution animation 100% seriously. I’m sorry, all of those percussions and sound effects were so ridiculous and out of place that I couldn’t stop laughing. It’s one of those instances where I feel the original sound team made some bad choices, something I think the Digimon dubs really screwed up on. I mean, Rapidmon is at least a more interesting form than Gargomon for me. The battle was at least neat, but they kind of made it misleading that Rapidmon defeated both Pajiramon and Vajramon in one blow, so that confused me a bit.

I will say, Digimon Tamers��does a good job of making you question who the real antagonists are. Impmon seemed like a total douche from the start, but then they really begin to develop him in this arc, and a tiny bit towards the end of the Tamers Introduction arc. Hypnos seems like an obvious evil, but at the same time they have recruited the “Wild Bunch”--the people who created the original Digimon program and all seem like genuinely good people. Then you have the “Mystery Man” leader of Hypnos (I’m only referring to him as this because as far as I remember, they don’t state a name for him at this point), who seems like a totally evil guy, but he goes on about protecting the people and even the tamers, but has no regard for Digimon life. Even the Devas, who seem like the certain obvious evil of this arc, have to be questioned because at the end of the day--they’re fighting for survival. They even do a really neat comparison of the Deva and Asura, and how “good” and “evil” is based on perspective. Considering I’m a sucker for this kind of theme too, I really like how thought-provoking Tamers is trying to be, especially for a show aimed at a young audience.

On the other hand, one opinion that has not changed for me on Tamers is just how so, so stupid the pedestrians of this show are. If anything, it only gets worse! I get it, this is a minor thing and I shouldn’t be this bothered by it, but it just boggles my mind how far they stretch these levels! You would think that maybe, just maybe, between a giant flying Tiger rampaging over a tower, a cobra slithering through the subways, and a sheep capable of archery and a bull wielding fucking swords, that maybe, JUST MAYBE there would be an executive order of some kind to evacuate Tokyo and cancel school? But no! Nope! Only until a giant boar starts rampaging through the streets do the police think “Oh, we should probably try evacuating citizens!” After SIX different monster attacks (not counting Sinduramon and Kumbhiramon since the former caused a mysterious power outage while the latter was more of a nuisance than anything) does the Tokyo police force consider that maybe, JUST MAYBE Tokyo isn’t quite as safe as they think it is! Even then, after Vikaralamon is defeated, things go mostly back to normal with just construction workers taking care of city damage. Even on the night of this whole disaster, we see pedestrians walking around, shopping at some places without a care in the world and school continues as usual the next day. We do get some evacuation scenes and moments of Takato’s parents trying to search for their son, but even then they’re not panicking anywhere near as much as they probably should be.

I get that I’m probably making way more big of a deal of this than it really is, but it just boggles my mind how much bystander stupidity there is. Yes, it’s a TV show for kids and there are some huge levels of suspension of disbelief to be had, but again, you can only stretch that line so far before I have to question: “What the hell is wrong with these people?”

Still, as dumb as some of these bits are, there’s just too much good hanging around here. It isn’t until here that we get to really know more about Takato’s friends other than that Kazu and Kenta picked on him a little bit for seeming crazy. But I do really enjoy seeing them get to meet Guilmon and Calumon, play with them and get more involved with the events going on. I don’t think they’re bad characters--they’re fun side characters even. After my experience with Adventure 02, you would think I would be mad about Jeri’s existence and Takato having a crush on her too, but no, I’m totally cool with it. It’s downplayed and Takato’s crush is an innocent enough case of puppy love over the dumb, hamfisted comedy side plot that is the Davis-Kari-T.K. love triangle. 

Not to mention, I really have to commend how Jeri’s interest in Digimon was handled. She’s shy about liking it, but when all of her cards fall out in front of Kazu and Kenta, they don’t make fun of her or even question her. Hell, when they actually see her cards later, they admire her collection. As someone who’s been that girl, this was a healthy and natural way of handling this kind of case. The writers could have easily had Kazu and Kenta make fun of Jeri and do the “Haha, Digimon is for boys! You don’t know what you’re doing!” joke. But no, they never make fun of her for not understanding the card game. They never even make fun of her for liking Digimon. I mean, if I really had to pick on her for anything, it might be her over-admiration for Leomon, but it never got to the point of being outright obnoxious and it was funny at times.

Also, Leomon’s gonna die, right? I mean, he literally almost died the moment he became Jeri’s partner. Just thought I’d point that out.

Speaking of characters, I do really like just how much love was put into making them very human. We really see how much they care for family and friends. Henry really cares about his younger sister (though I wish we could know a little about his other siblings) and we see how close he is to his father. We see how tender Rika’s grandmother is and how Rika respects her, and even despite her distant relationship with her mother, Rika dresses up for her before going to the Digital World to make her happy. That really made me appreciate Rika’s growing sense of humanity throughout the series. Even Takato goes through a sincere and tough moment of trying to help his parents understand how he needs to go to the Digital World to save Calumon and explaining how much Guilmon means to him. He even admits to being a “bad son”, and it’s a really heartfelt scene. And how accepting and encouraging his father is was rather heartwarming to me, while it was easy to feel sympathetic for his worrying mother.

Hell, I have to appreciate how they even made side characters important in this. Some of the kids couldn’t even bring themselves to tell their parents they were leaving for the Digital World. But when Takato, Jeri, Kazu and Kenta all confess to their teacher about leaving, they actually make it a pretty touching and good scene even when their teacher hasn’t been a crucial character.

I have really enjoyed how Tamers has been sort of an inverse of what Digimon Adventure did, dumb pedestrian moments aside. It takes place in the real world first to establish the gravity of how dangerous it can be having Digimon in the real world, and the build-up to traveling to the Digital World is much more fleshed out and important than say, when the DigiDested in Adventure were sort of just rushed back into the Digital World a second time. It’s made this series really fresh, new and enjoyable. And with all of the build-up, I’m really looking forward to how Tamers will handle the Digital World Arc, especially with how great the connections between the tamers and Digimon has been so far.

This connection really stuck out to me towards the end, where the fight against  Vikaralamon felt really helpless and Shaggai was just about to completely eliminate the Digimon from the real world. Takato’s struggle of feeling his bond from Guilmon fade whenever he Digivolves further is really unique for Digimon when Digivolution has typically been treated as just the segway to victory more than anything. Here, it’s far more special. The scene where Takato begins to yell and holler at WarGrowlmon in encouragement, while seeming kind of odd, was really powerful and felt like a sort of reconnection between the two. And it worked towards winning the battle against Vikaralamon. It was honestly a really effective scene, and between that and the first Matix Digivolution Takato had with WarGrowlmon, I’ve really enjoyed how their bonds have worked. They truly feel connected, down to Takato feeling some of WarGrowlmon’s own pain. 

And between things like the tamers’ and Digimon’s bonds, Matrix Digivolution and some of the battles in this arc, this is where I have to segway towards the topic I mentioned at the beginning of this. I’m putting my Flame Shield up here. As much as I’ve avoided talking about it when discussing Digimon, now more than ever do I need to talk about this:

My God, did Digimon do it so much better than Pokémon, and 15+ years earlier no less.

To clarify, I’m talking about the Pokémon anime’s decision to include the “Ash-Greninja” plot device. Yes, it has been several months. Yes, I am still pissed about it because it’s so, so bad and actually managed to leak into the Pokémon games for no good reason other than shameless self-promotion. But enough about why I’m mad at Pokémon for this one thing. What I want to talk about is why and how Digimon did the whole concept better. I know I should be talking about strictly Digimon here, but this struck such a nerve in me that I cannot go on without talking about it. If you’re strictly a Digimon fan that knows nothing about what has been going on in Pokémon for a while, I’m sorry if this is confusing. 

First, there’s the idea of the bond. I cannot stress enough how badly the bond is executed in Pokéani. Greninja is a Pokémon that Ash merely starts his Kalos journey in. It’s not his first journey, not his second journey, but his 8th quest in his entire life (I am including Orange Islands and Battle Frontier here). By this point, he has caught and trained with over forty different companions. Sure, we can argue that all of them are special to him in some form, but why was Greninja, this one Pokémon, so different from the others? Why did he have such a “strong” bond with this one that he was magically able to synchronize with it and give it some powered-up form? No matter how you may feel about Pokémon’s mascot, Pikachu would have made the most sense for this kind of role because Pikachu has been traveling with Ash since he started his journey. The actual bond is there. They have experienced far more than what this new creature on Ash’s team ever has.

For Digimon, it makes perfect sense for Takato and Guilmon. While Digimon (at least in the anime) has humans with only one Digimon partner, it avoids the entire trap that Pokéani set itself up for--forcing this “bond” nonsense. But this idea works especially in Takato’s case because Guilmon is a Digimon that Takato created. Takato is the first person Guilmon ever meets. Guilmon learned from Takato, and Takato learned from Guilmon. They take care of each other and have learned entirely new experiences because of their meeting. There is a true, genuine, unique bond here that could not be replicated by any other individual in Takato and Guilmon’s lives respectively.

Back to Pokéni, sure, Greninja may be important to Ash, but he has been with him an extremely short time compared to so many of his other companions. It feels extremely forced and contrived in Pokéani--it’s there just to promote one of their new monsters rather than attempting any actual good storytelling. Not to mention, the “Ash-Greninja” plot device is there to simply give Ash his victories 99% of the time rather than earning them. While Takato continues to question his bond with Guilmon as he evolves further, Ash only feels a sense of failure once when he loses one gym battle with Greninja. One loss out of the many victories that have been handed to him by just having Ash-Greninja curbstomp anything that got in the way. It makes Ash’s own questioning of his own “bond” with Greninja extremely forced, and it only happens here. It’s not a continuous struggle to become stronger and trust his partner, it’s a plot device to help him win.

Takato’s struggle to trust and bond with Guilmon as he evolves is what helps him build his strength with Guilmon, not outright give it to him like with Ash and Greninja. 

This is why when I see Takato cheer Guilmon on and feel his pain throughout battle, I feel for them. I feel the bond between those two characters. I feel like they are truly connected and growing through that connection. When I see Ash “synchronized” with Greninja and somehow feeling his pain, the fights are empty to me. Ash nor Greninja aren’t getting any stronger. They’ve just been bestowed a certain level of power, and they just steamroll to victory with it. It’s why I cringe when I see the whole “synchronization” between them. I’m not cringing because I see Ash feel pain with Greninja, I cringe because all I can think is “God, this is so stupid and forced.” But when I see Growlmon Matrix Digivolve and see Takato cheering him on and, in a spiritual sense, fighting alongside him, I feel fired up and I want to see them win.

And it works the best with Takato and Guilmon because they are partners made for each other, there from the start and experience life together and develop this bond. Greninja was cherry-picked for Ash because Greninja was popular at the time, despite him having so many other partners--even others besides Pikachu--that had a stronger bond with him than this singular trend of a Pokémon. I would be so much less harsh on this if it wasn’t a faked “bond” excuse. If they had just said Ash’s Greninja was born with some super special ability just like how the “Battle Bond” ability in-game works under certain circumstances, I would still call it a plot device, but just accept it as a single dumb writing choice. But when they reason it with a bond that feels so ingenuine, so under-developed and so nonexistent, I feel so much more upset with it and it makes me love what Tamers did for Takato and Guilmon all the more. tl;dr: Matrix Digivolution > Ash-Greninja

I get that this whole part of the post could have been its own separate post in and of itself, and I really didn’t want to go into comparing Pokémon and Digimon too much. But this arc started character development that stuck out so strongly to me that I felt it was important to bring up. Maybe it comes off as a long-winded rant, but you know what? I still give Digimon so much more credit for nailing something that could have easily gone wrong and come off as so cheesy to the point of being stupid, but instead actually made the story and characters all the more investing and impactful.

But to wrap this whole thing up and in terms of the Devas Arc, I really enjoyed it. It upped the action just as I was hoping for while still maintaining great storytelling and doing such a good job of keeping me emotionally invested as well as developing characters, new and old. It’s really set my hopes high for the rest of the series and I really want to get to that Digital World Arc. I’m really excited to keep watching this show, and I hope it continues to surprise me.

#Shut Up JJ #JJ DigiWatches #final thoughts

[doubleddenden]

So I've been thinking about the whole Pokemon Switch rumor about how it plays similarly to Digimon World... But which one?

I recently went over the world games to kind of get an idea, but the issue here is that there's varying consistencies with feeding, farming, and unfortunately bathroom breaks being the only similar things.

World 1: the worst case scenario, no commands, just yell "Do what you want!"

World 2: honestly pretty similar to a marriage between mystery dungeon and standard JRPG battles. Perhaps if you make triple battles predominate it could work?

World 3: really similar to the established series in terms of exploration and combat from what I've seen with the blend of a 2d overworld to 3d combat in 1 v 1 scenarios, from what I've seen anyway.

World 4: please no. It would change to a beat em up style fighter more akin to Rumble.

Re Digitize: see world 1

Next Order: this is probably close to what could happen, essentially your monsters still move around the field on their own but you can give them commands by holding the R1 and L1 buttons and by spending Order Points to execute higher attacks, and in cases fuse. It also has a timer placed for you to use commands, maybe 5 seconds or so if memory serves.

The main issue with the comparison I'm worried about is if they decide to introduce death and hunger as a mechanic. I highly doubt we'll get bathroom breaks as a mechanic but either way I suck at survival or pet care type stuff.

Out of the mentioned I find Next Order to be the most likely candidate for inspiration. Maybe position and timing will play a key in battles and attaining a certain amount of points allows you to use Z moves or mega evolve. I could see a farm system akin to 3 or the Story games make a scene to level your Pokemon and their stats up (so basically the Island box system in gen 7 but less clunky?).

Any way you look at it the game should still be relatively accessible to new and old fans, minus the care system. It seems to me like it could just be an added dynamic system to a static battle system we've known for so long.

#Pokemon