Being a fan of Digimon in the West hasn't always been easy, especially when it comes to video games taken from the franchise, with various titles confined to Japan, thus leaving fans of overseas digital monsters dry-mouthed. However, things have changed recently, thanks also to the now famous petition launched online to localize the games of the series, with Bandai Namco Entertainment which last brought the excellent Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, and now try again with Digimon World: Next Order, The “true” sequel to the game released on PS1 18 years ago and which arrives in Europe in an unprecedented version of the PS4 revised and corrected compared to what was seen on Vita in Japan, complete with a Spanish translation.
To learn more:
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
Back to the Digital World
The plot is more engaging than you can imagine
Started the game we should immediately choose our protagonist: Takuto the male and Shiki regarding the female sex. As simple as this may seem, CG footage, cutscenes and dialogue will undergo some slight changes based on the selected character. These changes, however, do not in any way alter the course of the main events, which will see the player catapulted into the Digital World against his will and immediately attacked by Machinedramon. Here the two digimon partners of the protagonist will come to our aid, a WarGreymon and a MetalGarururmon who will save the situation. After this brief introduction, which also serves as a tutorial for fighting, we will find ourselves at Floatia, a town once populated by many different digimon but which is now almost uninhabited due to the appearance of some Machinedramon who are causing havoc around the world. Our task will therefore be to repopulate the city and above all to discover the cause of these attacks. However, we will soon learn that the protagonist is not the only human to have been called back into the digital world, in fact they will make their appearance. Kouta Hirose, The beauty Himari Oofuchi, the small one Luche, a little girl with no memories of herself, the mysterious Mameo, or the protagonist of the first Digimon World, and Shoma Tsuzuki. However, there will be cameos of some characters from Cyber Sleuth such as Mirei Mikagura.
Overall at the narrative level, a step backwards has been taken compared to Cyber Sleuth, as this game focuses more on the gameplay than on the events, which are of a fairly limited duration, but it must be said that despite the appearance and at least initially the plot of Next Order may seem simple, even trivial, over time we will see situations and revelations that will push a player increasingly intrigued to know how the story will end.
Young breeders grow up
Breeding Digimon is the foundation of the whole game
The fundamental mechanics on which Next Order is based is the breeding of digimon. In the course of most of the game, in fact, we will be called upon to take care of our two partners more than in battles or otherwise. The breeding goes through various phases and moments: at the beginning we will have to choose between a group of eggs that will give life to a small digimon, each of a different nature. Once chosen these will be born immediately and we will find ourselves in look after two Digimon at the same time, which despite the differences will often need our attention at the same time as eat, go to the bathroom, sleep, however, these are some of the tasks that we will be called to carry out. Sometimes the monsters will not pay attention to our orders and we will have to scold them so that they learn the right behavior to keep, praising them instead will strengthen the bond between us and them, which will affect the Ties and Digiamic parameters, whose function is decisive in battle and which we will explain later. Breeding, however, does not consist only in this but also in developing our digimon in order to raise their parameters, make them evolve and take the field. In the city of Floatia there is a training center with structures aimed at strengthening the parters of all the statistics present which are HP, MP, Strength, Stamina, Wisdom and Speed. The six parameters are also fundamental to obtain certain evolutions instead of others and at least initially it will be impossible to have the digimon we want, this is because each creature goes through a life cycle that lasts a maximum of 20 days or a little more and that once finished will cause the death and rebirth of our little friend. that will end up with higher and higher stats with each new generation. Consequently, the inevitable life-death cycle becomes a powerful ally for the player, who over time will find himself having increasingly stronger digimon even in the early stages. All of these mechanics, combined with exploration and combat, will earn tamer experience points, which at each new tamer level reached will give skill points to distribute to our character, and thanks to them we will be able to obtain special skills that will help us in breeding, such as increasing the life cycle of digimon, new orders to be imposed in battle, the possibility of obtaining more money, materials and so on.
2 is better than 1
In Next Order we will have to face real-time battles with two Digimon
In Next Order all the clashes take place in real time, with the cadence of the attacks that will be marked by the speed of our digimon and opponents. During the battles we will not only be called to watch but we will have to encourage our partners in order to increase the authority level. The authority is mainly used to issue orders manually, thanks to menus with the abilities of each digimon that can be recalled at any time by pressing the L and R keys. When this reaches level 150 you can launch the special attack, that is a his unique and specific move capable of causing a lot of damage and sometimes even ending the fight. As mentioned earlier, this is where the Bond and Digiamic parameters become of paramount importance. Thanks to the Bond, the initial authority level of the fight will be higher and higher, while the Digiamico will affect the collaboration of our two partners in battle. For example, if a Digimon finds himself with few HP, the other can defend him of his own free will. But the true potential of the Digiamico is all when it reaches 100. Once this level is reached, in fact, we will have access to the EXE command, executable only by digimon who will have obtained a certain evolutionary stage and who will give life to a single, very powerful digimon with very high statistics and with attacks that are nothing short of devastating. The EXE guarantees victory against virtually any opponent, but can only be used once per day. THEIt is also fundamental against certain enemies, especially those of Evolved or Mega level who are very unbalanced in terms of difficulty compared to all the others and ask for a extreme grind just to be able to withstand the fight. Sometimes this can be frustrating for the simple reason that even setting the difficulty to a lower level, in fact, nothing changes. Certainly this was a choice of the developers to push those who play to train their digimon as much as possible, but given the possibility of choosing a level of difficulty it was expected that in some way it would meet the needs of each player, which it doesn't happen at all.
Explore, find, expand
Expanding the city will give access to new facilities to be upgraded more and more
In addition to solving the Machinedramon problem, we should restore Floatia to its former glory. To do this, it is necessary to explore the vast digital world, consisting of many very different areas. In fact, we pass from environments such as the Vasto Plateau, where greenery reigns, to abandoned areas such as the Desert of servers or places with a hostile climate such as the Logical Volcano or Absolute Zero but these are only alcund of accessible environments. Each area is populated by always different digimon and often we will come across some marked with the symbol "!" on the map. In these cases, these are Digimon that can be recruited in the city and that they will ask us to perform certain tasks or engage in a battle before giving their consent to go to Floatia. As they return to the city it will get bigger and bigger, until it is divided into various neighborhoods and areas, each with its main activities and attractions. Every single structure in Floatia can be upgraded once the digimon are unlocked that will open a construction company, upgrades that will give us access to more and more resources. For example, by increasing the level of the shop we will find better and better items on sale, or by doing the same with the training center the parameters of the digimon will rise more quickly after training. Other structures that come into our car are the Digivolution Dojo, which is useful for knowing which statistics to enhance to make our digimon evolve and above all in what it will evolve. obviously upgrading facilities is neither free nor easy. We will first have to collect the necessary number of materials around the world, go to the builder and wait another day for the upgrade. In essence, bringing the city to its maximum potential is a job that requires time, effort and a lot of patience, which contributes to making the longevity of the game practically infinite, but perhaps not suitable for anyone, even if probably, fans of the series, will love. without any doubt.
Half full glass
All right then? Unfortunately no. Although the one that arrived in the West is a high definition version created especially for our market, the graphics sector is greatly affected by the transition from PS Vita to PS4. The environments and digimon make better, no doubt, but the human characters seem to come out of the PS2 era and the shots are badly managed, both in battle, where sometimes we will not be able to understand who hits whom, but also during exploration, with the digimon taking up a good part of the view, even when we increase the frame to the maximum. Even the fluidity is not without defects, with a framerate that is not always stable. Although in some respects it is possible to go further, such as the graphics, and also wanting to the camera, the greatest feeling is that the heavy technical limitations of PS Vita have managed to affect the PS4 version, partly ruining what could otherwise have been a product of a certain level. An absolutely positive element is the Spanish translation, with a care worthy of major productions, a sign that Bandai Namco Entertainment really took fans to heart. Finally, a small mention also to the audio, with some very pleasant songs, first of all Accentier di Eir Guest, main theme of the game and background music during EXE evolutions. The game also has English and Japanese dual tracks, thus giving the player the option to choose the dubbing he prefers.
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Verdict 8/10 Gotta Raise 'Em All Comment Digimon World comes back and does it in the best way. As already mentioned, Next Order is the true sequel to the game released 18 years ago and in addition to everything we had appreciated in the past, some innovations have been introduced that enrich an experience that can easily last indefinitely, also thanks to the large number of digital monsters to breed, find and structures to upgrade. Unfortunately the title is harassed by a too dated graphics sector, thanks to the fact that it is an HD version of a title that already presented technical problems on PS Vita. However, this does not detract from the game, which on balance is to be considered the best title on digimon ever made to date. Pros and cons ✓ Engaging plot at the right point✓ Potentially infinite longevity
✓ Lots of Digimon to breed
✓ Excellent Spanish translation x Technically dated
x Poorly balanced difficulty
x Sporadic drops in framerate
x Badly managed shots
