Digimon Story – Time Stranger

PS5 review

Digimon Story Time Stranger is a monster collecting role playing game that sees the player embark on an adventure across two dimensions and through time to save the world from a disaster.

Time Stranger is available on both PS5 and Xbox along with PC, unfortunately unlike the previous Digimon Story games Cyber Sleuth and Hacker’s Memory released 8 years ago it is not available on Switch 2 at launch.

Pro:

Graphics.

The game is running on a custom graphics engine but it produces the best 3D character models in the franchise for the Digimon.

As instead of the art style from Cyber Sleuth and Hacker’s Memory that had the Digimon with a similar art style to the Anime appearances where the Digimon weren’t that detailed and flat visually.

However Time Stranger sees a complete overhaul for the models where now there is a lot more texture to the models where Digimon have more defined muscles like on Wargreymon or more plush and thicker fur like on Ikkakumon and Vikemon.

It is really impressive to see the graphical leap with Time Stranger where hopefully future games iterate on these models rather than going back to the older art style, as these new models add so much personality to each Digimon.

Special attack animations are all gorgeous and were remade for this game compared to prior entries. I would recommend players experiment with all higher levels of Digimon just to see the sheer spectacle of the moves and all the extra effects each has as the higher level a Digimon the more design time and effort was put into their special attack. They also have a lot of references included like Imperialdramon attack from its Digivolution scene implemented to its special attack.

The Jogmon cards also showcase new higher fidelity artworks of the classic Digimon all the way back to their old V-Pet designs and artwork. I would recommend players look at the artworks after collecting them as they all look incredible and that a lot of work was put into them.

Story.

After Digimon Survive this game has my favourite story in a Digimon game.

As it sees the player going on a time travel adventure to try and save the future from a total apocalypse by jumping back and forth over an 8-year time period. Where players don’t just tackle the problems of the Digital World but also how the players actions have consequences in the Human World too.

Actions taken in the past also have a major knock-on effect that makes the side characters feel a lot more engaging with my favourite arc being in the Abyss Beach zone and the two members of the Olympus XII members recruited there.

What really helps this game is that almost all the game is fully voiced acted for the main story missions where the cast really do a great job of conveying strong emotion performances.

I would also tell players to also watch the Anime prelude short that Bandai uploaded on YouTube and social media as it does tie into the plot of the game and has some of the best animation that Digimon has ever had.

Finally it also has my favourite final boss fights in the entire franchise and would highly recommend to any player to see it through to the end and if they are having too much trouble to turn down the difficulty as it is definitely worth experiencing.

Digimon count.

Time Stranger boasts the largest roster out of any mainline Digimon game with 451 Digimon at launch compared to 341 Digimon in Hacker’s Memory.

This game also brings back all the fan favourites from a majority of the Anime with the protagonist Digimon and main villains. There are only some exceptions like Frontier missing a majority of its cast and Xros Wars with almost all its cast except Shoutmon and Mervamon. 

However casual fans of the prior games will be very happy with the total selection as it is the entire roster of Hacker’s Memory (Aside from Arcadiamon) plus another hundred more Digimon that tie into the plot of this game with the Olympus XII lines being added.

Cross Arts.

The main battle mechanic for this game compared to prior games is the Cross Art mechanic that the player can use after accumulating enough Cross Points in battle by either dealing damage or healing your team.

Players can unlock new Cross Arts by earning Agent Points from side quests and main missions and unlocking them in the Agent Skill trees menu.

The various Cross Arts players can use are Burst and Strike which deal damage to all enemy Digimon to major damage to a single enemy Digimon. This is in comparison to more buffing types of Cross Arts with High Field and Aura/Revive which are more useful and can turn the tide or battle by increasing the party’s stats by 50% to healing them or reviving a fallen party member.

These buffs or healing Cross Arts are a lot more useful on Mega+ difficulty where the player cannot use items during battle, so these Cross Arts are the only way to heal if the player does not have a dedicated healer Digimon on the team.

So players should not neglect the Cross Art mechanic as it is a lot more useful than it first appears early on and can turn the tide of battle in one move.

DigiRide.

This new mechanic helps speed up the traversal of these larger open zones and is called the DigiRide which is pretty self-explanatory.

As it is where the player can mount certain Digimon (over 170 of them) to travel faster or through terrain that would slow down the player such as the water in the Abyss Beach zone.

The compatible Digimon are not just the usually quadrupedal types in Garurumon but also the biped types like the Greymon line. However there are also some more fun unorthodox choices like the Great Demon Lord of Envy Leviamon a Digimon so huge in the lore it can threaten to eat the entire Digimon world and is the physically strongest in raw brute strength is shrunk down to a tiny size as the player rides it like a low-down long puppy.

The fastest DigiRide that I have discovered so far was using Beelzemon since he and the player ride his motorcycle called Behemoth for incredible speed, but since it is so large it takes up a lot of the player’s field of view especially if riding with Beelzemon Blast Mode since his giant wings do not help.

Outer Dungeons/Gift Digimon.

A fun break from the usual gameplay loop of 3v3 battles are the new optional Outer Dungeons that players can find throughout the world for additional challenges.

If players can finish these mini games then they are given a free gift Digimon, which can range from a Rookie all the way to Mega level Digimon that can help carry players through the late game such as a very powerful Insect type Digimon in the Gear Forest Outer Dungeon.

These have a variety of mini games such as a Plants Vs Zombie mini game where you stop the enemy Digimon eating giant pieces of meat with DigiAttacks or a racing mini game where the player rides a Peckmon against an enemy Digimon around a two-lap track while avoiding obstacles that slow down the player like hazards and other Digimon.

These mini games are all very simple and easy to beat but each one also has a hidden objective like not being hit by an enemy Digimon on the giant meat mission or don’t hit a hazard on the racing mini game. If players can do that then they unlock some hidden dialogue from a mystery character I won’t spoil along with items that increase a Digimon’s Talent level.

There are a total of 24 to find throughout the game and a lot are very well hidden even requiring players to use the DigiAttack in the field on hidden obstacles to uncover. 

Music.

The game has a soundtrack of over 80 different songs and the main theme song of “Wherever you are” by Reche the former vocalist of the band EGOIST who were made famous by doing all the ending songs for Psycho Pass and the opening for Fate Apocrypha.

Players can also customise the music track that plays when they are roaming around the zones, in both a boss and normal battle, in the Digifarm or Digivice itself or finally in a Jogmon card battle.

Players can also listen to the soundtrack again at any time by going into the Music Settings option under the System setting on the Digivice itself which is a great way to access it again.

The game also has DLC in the form of the Cyber Sleuth soundtrack and certain Anime theme songs but not all of them and very expensive (£16 for the Anime songs and £8 for Cyber Sleuth OST) for a list of MP3 tracks that cannot be unlocked in game either which is disappointing.

Difficulty.

Time Stranger has a very natural difficulty curve when playing on the standard difficulty without any major spikes in said difficulty in the main story only side content.

However the real fun comes from New Game+ after the player has beaten the game for the first time and unlocks the option to replay the game on the new options of Mega and Mega+ difficulty levels.

The new challenge behind Mega+ is that the player cannot use items in battle anymore and that all enemy Digimon have at least two stats maxed out at 9999. This means that when players go into the tutorial their party of all Mega level Digimon could be killed by an in-training level Digimon they encounter unless they are a high level too.

Party quality of life.

The party size mechanic from Cyber Sleuth and Hacker’s Memory using memory limit where stronger Digimon coat more total memory to use on the same team.

However now players can have a full party of 6 Mega+ level Digimon to really amplify strategy and team building, as long as they can get to Agent Rank 8 to be able to Digivolve into Mega+ Digimon.

Another limitation removed was the ABI mechanic of those prior games that would lock off the stronger possible Digivolutions for a Digimon until the player had Digivolved and Dedigivolved enough time to increase their total ABI.

As now if a player is a high enough Agent Rank, then the player can convert a recently scanned Digimon from a Rookie Digimon up to Mega+ as long as they meet the stat threshold all in one Digivolution chain to increase the pace of late game team building.

Con:

Digimon Support Skills.

The biggest loss from Cyber Sleuth & Hacker’s Memory to Time Stranger is the loss the skills that every Digimon had that was usually unique to them.

The main one that comes to mind is that PlatinumNumemon loses the bonus XP rate uses to power level your team if you have 3 of them on your team.

However for combat other unique support skills like Beelzemon Blast Mode’s support skill or being able to deal and extra 10% damage and also absorbing an extra 30% HP from using draining moves.

Since these support skills have been removed the Digimon this time around feel a bit less unique at max level and max stats aside from their special attacks.

Jogmon.

The new card battle minigame where players take turns over a 5-turn game to do battle against NPCs and their cards.

Each Digimon is represented by a level (1-7) representing the generation of the Digimon from in-training to Mega+ and an attribute (Symbol next to the number).

The game works on a triangle strategy system like Fire Emblem (Swords, Axe and Lance) or Pokémon (Fire, Grass and Water) but in Digimon it is Vaccine, Virus and Data types where they are super effective against each other in that set order along with other types that don’t adhere to that system but are fewer in number.

So when cards battle it should be that the Digimon with the higher level and favoured attribute should win the fight against an opposing Digimon. However this is not the case as that merely increases the odds of your Digimon winning and I have experienced plenty of cases of my Digimon getting swept purely due to randomness rather than strategy.

Players can also not build a deck to bring to a battle instead being giving a random hand of 5 from their entire collection of a possible 451 cards. So again plenty of times during my play through I have been given a terrible hand that had little to no chance of winning due to the games battle mechanic unless my Digimon won through RNG. 

Certain cards are also only obtained and added to your collection through being generated by chance with two compatible cards being in your hand, but since you can have a collection of 451 there is no way to guarantee getting those cards in your hands to fuse. For example, I still need to get a Wendigomon card by having two of a Lopmon, DemiDevimon or Impmon in my hand of 5 random cards from a collection of 450 cards.

That is why at the end of my play through i ended my collection at 430/451 since these fused cards cannot be obtained from any card shops and would require hours of grinding to get the chance of making them and it’s just not worth it.

Glitches.

While the game was very stable for the most part, I did however encounter a couple of persistent glitches throughout my play through.

The Outer Dungeons would occasionally not properly trigger like Survive until the End 4. Whereas after beginning the challenge and teleporting to the arena the rest of the challenge would not load and the game would softlock until I manually shutdown the game and rebooted it.

A persistent glitch that was annoying during my play through was when on occasion the Digimon would just break as in when Digivolving up or down the Digimon’s Talent/Max level would not increase. So I would normally end up using these Digimon as XP to load into my normal Digimon to increase their Talent and stats.

Other minor glitches were occasionally when the voice lines would cut out during cutscenes and side quests only to work again when the next sentence was spoken.

Digifarm.

While an improvement over the original from Cyber Sleuth and Hacker’s Memory there are still a lot of minor issues, that I have that makes it less convenient to use considering how important it is in this game.

As players cannot access the Digivolution menu from the Digifarm so if they players want to Digivolve their Digimon up or down a stage then they need to remove a Digimon from the farm back to the box and then go through a menu to manually Digivolve. Then put it back into the farm to raise its stats again to catch it up to the rest of the party if the player wants it on their team.

Players can only feed their Digimon one piece of food at a time to raise their Bond level making it very time consuming to raise their Bond to the maximum level of 100 to max out the chance of a follow-up attack in battle. Instead the player should be able to choose the quantity of food when feeding on the farm to speed up this process.

Players can only do one course of training at a time per Digimon on the farm. This is extremely tedious when trying to max out the stats of a Digimon to 9999 when embarking on Mega+ difficulty as stats are only raised over 200 points at a time so it’s very repetitive. Instead players should be able to increase the quantity of training at once if they have duplicates of the training equipment from Zudomon.

Quality of life updates.

While the game is a lot of fun there are some minor issues that could be solved with just a small quality of life updates.

These are issues like the Outer Dungeon mini game challenges could use a restart option in the menu to retry them without having to wait out the full timer when trying to do the optional challenges.

This is most apparent on the racing Outer Dungeons where the optional objective is to complete the race without hitting an obstacle or enemy and win. However if the player hits something on lap one then they need to finish the full race to then restart it.

Players cannot access the Digifarm unless they access it from the in-between Theatre by finding specific portals in each of the worlds. This can be very exhausting to keep having to return to the in-between Theatre just to access the Digifarm time after time.

When using the Digiride mechanic the Field of View is very limited and I would like to see a Field of View slider added to the option menu.

Backtracking.

Since this game is very side quest focused the ability to fast travel is very limited to the occasional Birdramon or Pegasusmon dotted around the map that the players can go up to and access to fast travel to a few points around the map.

However I would prefer the ability to fast travel to the start of the zone or Locomon/Blimpmon without having to run around the zones trying to find Birdramon. 

As there are so many loading screens to go through to access fast travel or to access the Digifarm through the in-between theatre, so having the option to warp to the transport Digimon for the region would speed up the pace of the game a lot.

Field Guide Numbering.

While the Field Guide is a great resource and very useful there are still a few issues I have with it like the Digimon’s history being limited to the last 5 forms and would like to see that expanded to the full history of that Digimon.

Then the other issue I have is that the Field Guide is in no particular order aside from all the Digimon being the same level listed together. So all the Rookies are together and all the Champions are listed together.

However in each generation the Digimon are all mixed up with no particular order since the Digimon are not in alphabetical order at first, region order or even group order like The Royal Knights or Seven Great Demon Lords being next to each other.

English voice acting.

For the most part the voice cast is amazing for the story characters the player interacts with, but my issue comes from the voice likes for the Digimon themselves when doing their special unique attacks. As it sounds like a lot of the clips they used could of used another take or more direction.

As they sound very different from how the Digimon are portrayed and don’t match their respective Digimon, as they sound more like a regular person than a towering Monster like Omnimon Zwart or a digital abomination like Diaboromon/Armageddemon.

It is a shame they couldn’t get the voice cast from the older Anime back since the majority are still around and would have been a great nostalgic call-back to hear those voices again from the various Anime or films.

Conclusion:

A fantastic RPG and my favourite Digimon Story game that stands alongside side the best games in the franchise along with Digimon Survive and Digimon World Next Order.

I would highly recommend this game to fans of the franchise and also to people who are interested in the RPG genre or other monster battling games like Monster Rancher or Pokémon.

Score: 9.3