Digimon World: Next Order Review (Dracko)
Just my thoughts on the game after reaching post-game.
TLDR: Is it worth the full price? Definitely not, get it when it's on sale (unless you're willing to pay that extra to play the game now - which was me). This is a Digimon World game, not a Digimon Story game. So it will not be the same as Cybersleuth. The gameplay was a lot different to other games I've played, but I came to enjoy it over time - though at first I was considering refunding the game. The game is a bit of a grind in terms of getting stats up. Didn't find it too straight forward at the start, but if you enjoy Digimon you'll probably enjoy this game.
For the more long-ended review, the games has a good amount of flaws. But, given that it's a port of a 2016 game I can't say that it's too much of an issue, for me at least.
This game isn't straight forward. It's going to take some time getting used to the overall game loop. You'll probably end up looking at some guides here and there. But it's pretty much grind stats to get strong enough to do more of the story. There are no levels for your Digimon, even though enemies have levels (which can be misleading - go off the colour of their HP bar).
Just to add, because I didn't realise until I looked into it and after reading other reviews, but I started playing Digimon with Digimon World Dawn and Dusk. This game is not that - Dawn and Dusk is actually part of the Digimon Story series, it just happens to be that it was translated as Digimon World. I did play Cyber Sleuth, but that was a while ago, so I forgot about this differentiation.
Evolution is based on stats, which if I recall correctly is quite similar/same to other Digimon titles. You'll need to meet these criterias for your Digimon for them to evolve. Digimon evolve after a certain number of days (Digimon age) has passed depending on their stage and if they have met the given criteria to Digivolve (e.g. You need to meet the Key Points by day X for it Digivolve). I spent a good amount of time with some wikis open to plan out evolving my Digimon - though I wouldn't recommend this early on in the game and just focus on the story and making your Digimon stronger. (Note: I would recommend battling Digimon to gain stats over the gym where possible as battling doesn't take up as much time and fatigue, and boosts multiple stats - upgrade the Learning skill tree to get +24/+26 to stats depending on what Digimon you battle)
You're limited to 2 digimon that will die and be reborn with better stats - there is an in game clock. It's a V-Pet simulator so you gotta feed your digimon, let them sleep, take them to poo (which I found odd at first) etc. Definitely a unique experience in terms of gameplay - haven't really come across games like this besides Nintendo Dogs.
You're limited to 2 digimon that will die and be reborn with better stats - there is an in game clock. It's a V-Pet simulator so you gotta feed your digimon, let them sleep, take them to poo (which I found odd at first) etc. Definitely a unique experience in terms of gameplay - haven't really come across games like this besides Nintendo Dogs.
Be mindful of the death system in this game. It's important to keep fatigue down - around below 40%. The game doesn't really display it well, so you will need to eyeball it. If you let your fatigue go over your digimon will display a Sweatdrop icon which means they have lost a bit of their lifespan. You can also get this if your MP is low too, and a few other things I'm not sure of - TLDR keep your mons' in tip-top condition where possible. You can reduce fatigue through resting and some foods. Battling and training at the gym both increase fatigue, but battling doesn't increase as much as training at the gym.
I can't say too much about the story, it's your typical power of friendship thrown in the to the Digital World kind.
The world is quite bland and looks like it's just filled with random default assets, which sort of broke some of the immersion at first - though I got used to this.
Key bindings are somewhat jank but you don't really need to press too many buttons in this game. Mostly for battles I'm using QE and WAS for selecting a command (You might have more or less if you upgrade the amount of "Orders" you can use in battle in the Tamer skill tree). Outside of battle you can just hold right-click to run and used the WASD keys, and then you can use one button for interacting and opening the menu (I used Z and left-click for majority of the game).
A bit like the world, the cutscenes are meh-ok, but I enjoyed the JP voice acting so it didn't bother me too much. Also if you set the games Music to 0 (e.g. listening to your own music), this will also set the cutscene audio to 0.
Overall I can say that the game was a fun grind, as I was able to sit through hour long sessions. I'll probably continue for another few more hours to get my Digimon to max or just another generation to get the Megas I wanted before I stop playing.