izigame.me

Digimon World Next Order is the closest thing we've gotten to a direct sequel of the old 1999 PS1 Digimon World monster-raising rpg.
Negative:
- The English dub is bad, but you can change it to Japanese at any time.
- The audio volume is poorly balanced. Some music tracks are loud (the victory fanfare, the digivolution theme, etc.), while others are very quiet (ambience themes, etc.). I especially dislike the new digivolution theme.
- I don't like that the training hall becomes obsolete halfway through. Doing battles is way more efficient in in-game-time, but takes way longer in real-life-time. Also, all the expensive lategame training hall upgrades are a noob trap.
- Enemy placement is a bit weird. You can go from one encounter that's a complete pushover to another where you get two-shot and both of them can be in the same room.
- The power scaling is insane. With each new region, enemy stats are multiplied. In exchange for the power scaling, they made it so that your digimon inherit a lot more stats when dying compared to the old game, but the end result is simply that you spend more time grinding stats to make progress, while your digimon also start out way stronger than anything in the earlier regions.
- Just like in "Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth", the main story repeatedly takes a break and forces you to complete side-objectives before you can continue with the story.
- 100% of the time when your digimon uses a bathroom outside of the city, your screen turns blurry up until you enter a loading screen, like by exiting the area. Only mildly annoying, but a bug that never got fixed.
- There is a rare bug that causes your digimon to freeze permanently when about to do a special attack, rendering you unable to do anything. The only fix is to exit the game and reload. It only happened once to me, but I'd still advise to save frequently.
- The story and characters are nothing to write home about. It is relatively similar to the first game in that regard (although Luche is one of the worst Digimon characters ever).
- Your digimon have less character than in the old game. For example, early-evolution digimon all make the same noises and they don't make sound while walking anymore.
- Most animations are simplistic by 2023 standards.
Pro:
- Raising digimon is fun.
- I played on normal difficulty and it was sufficiently challenging. I recommend playing on normal too if you beat Digimon World 1, otherwise start with the lowest difficulty.
- Full of nostalgia material. There are references to DW1 everywhere. Characters, music, etc.
- Combat is more engaging, you're no longer just a healing bot. The principle is still faithful to the old game though, generally an improvement.
- You now have 2 digimon at the same time. Adds more complexity and room for experimentation. "Extra Cross Evolution" is a fun mechanic (although I wish it didn't always overwrite the soundtrack).
- The game is huge. 10 regions, Over 100 digimon to recruit. The city becomes much larger than in DW1. There is more content even after you reach the story's ending ("Extra Scenarios") and beating the main story alone took me 50 hours.
- Lots of ways to make progress. A second playthrough is much faster.
- Most side quests are quick to complete and have a decent, gameplay-relevant reward.
- It has the same gameplay loop as the old game. You train, explore, fight, return home and repeat, up until the Digimon die of old age. Time management is still a major part of the game.
- You have to play blind into evolutions early on (just like in the old game), but over time you unlock information on evolution requirements. I like that it is optional to view that information, you can simulate the 1999 experience if you really want to.
- The game warns you of wild digimon that are too strong for you by making their names appear red. It makes up for the level rankings being useless and helps with directing you towards content that suits your digimons' current strength.
- You rarely spend time running around aimlessly. The menu map is detailed, the quest log tells you where to go specifically, etc.
- Autopilot and Birdramon are back and there is a new fast travel npc as well. It is overall the same fast travel system as in DW1, but with several improvements.
- I like the addition of "Tamer Skills". Most of them are useful and I don't think there are any that make the game "too easy" if you play on normal difficulty.
Verdict:
It is a game made for those who played the original PS1 Digimon World. It is modernized and fixed many of the old game's flaws. It also introduced a handful of new flaws, but I'd call it a net positive. A recommendation from me.
Anyone who has never heard of the old Digimon World will need to bring a high tolerance for unconventional gameplay, but I'd argue that these Digimon World games are a must-try for anyone interested in a pet/monster-raising rpg.