Forgotten Games: Digimon World (Playstation)

Digimon World is my favorite game for the original Playstation console. While they have released many Digimon games prior they are all crap compared to the first one. Why? They are not the same type of game! The first Digimon World game was an awesome monster raising, exploring type of action RPG that was a ton of fun to play.

All the games released after were basic, rather boring turn by turn, dungeon crawling games that were dumbed down to get the coveted 'E' rating and milk profits from the popularity of the cartoon. The new Playstation 4 one looks promising as it might actually be a real sequel to the first game, but I have not yet gotten to play it as we don't have that system. Here's a little over view for Digimon World, and why it's such an awesome title.

If you're not familiar with Digimon, it's a franchise based on a brand of digital pets that most people would knows as "tamagotchi". Back in the mid 90's everyone and your grandma had at least one of these babies, and all of our parents hated them, because when they were inevitably banned from schools guess who got suckered into taking care of them so they didn't die? The Digimon virtual pet was way more awesome then all those other dumb virtual puppies and kitties though! Know why? Well, other than dinosaurs are cooler pets than cats, it's because they could battle each other! If you and a friend both had one you could connect your device together and battle it out. AWESOME SAUCE! The success of this toy launched a full franchise that included cartoons, movies, more toys, a card game, and the game this post is about: Digimon World for Playstation.

So, the premise of the first Digimon World game was that you, the player, have actually been sucked into this virtual world through your Digivice. Your virtual dinosaur friend just got a lot more real! Much like the virtual pet in the keychain toy your new friends require feeding, care, and they can fight other monsters. They also, unfortunately, die really friggin' quickly! The ultimate goal of Digimon World is to raise your monster to be as strong as it can possibly be before it suffers a digital demise, and you have to start all over. I realize that this sounds infuriating, but it's actually pretty fun. You get a little better at it every time, and it allows you to learn from your mistakes to do a better job of raising your next Digimon.

A Digimon can also do something else neat. They can Digivolve. Yeah, I know. Like Pokemon, but don't you dare call Digimon a Pokemon rip off, because it's to awesome for that. A digimon has baby, rookie, champion, and ultimate phases. Your Digimon will always eventually make it to Champion, but Ultimate takes a lot more work. The game's digivolution system works on certain parameters that much be obtained in order for your rookie Digimon to become the monster you're hoping to get. Unlike Pokemon, a Digimon doesn't have a set evolution path, it has the opportunity to digivolve into multiple things. For example, if your Rookie Digimon is Agumon then you have a possibility of digivolving into Meramon, Monochromon, Tyranomon, Greymon, Centarumon, Birdramon, Sukamon, Nanimon, Sukamon, or Numemon.

What causes this transformation is based on a number of factors such as weight, stats, and care mistakes. If you've not gotten your specs up to par or you've had too many care mistakes while raising your bouncing baby you can expect Numemon to make an appearance. A care mistake can come from not taking them to the bathroom, not feeding them, or not allowing them to rest. While a Pokemon will happily battle forever with no rest or food a digimon requires more realistic care from you. Most top tier digivolutions will limit you to just one or two mistakes. Though, sometimes the hardest part honestly of getting a particular evolution is managing their weight. You can only force them to eat up to a certain point, and if they don't weigh enough then instead of something like cool like Greymon you might get something slightly terrifying like Nanimon. Different Digimon will require you to focus on specific stats in order to achieve your desired digivolution.

There are also some items in the game called "digivolve items". These are special items you can acquire that will allow your digimon to become a specific digimon if you feed it to them. Obviously, these items are pretty hard to come by. Usually they are awarded for completing specific objectives like winning a tournament. Sometimes you can find them as well in secret areas.

You'll need to spend time both progressing the story and training your digimon in the gym to raise their stats appropriately to get the digivolution you want. This means you'll have to split your time accordingly! The game features several fairly open maps that allow you to progress at your own pace. You and your digimon pals live on an island full of objectives to complete, items to collect and other Digimon to meet!

While training your digimon and battling is fun enough the main objective of the game is to fill your town with residents. Sadly, the town you live in has mostly been abandoned, and it's up to you to repopulate it. By exploring the island you'll find Digimon who you can convince to join you. This of course is quite advantageous to you as these residents will expand your town, and give you access to more goods and services.

Come to think of it, this is probably why I like community building games so much! Soon you'll be able to add lots of stuff to file city including an item bank, resturant, and a multi-tier item shop for you to buy things from.

Here's hoping that Digimon World Next Order can fulfill my nostalgic lust for younger days. From what I can see from Youtube videos and screen shots I'm very hopeful!