Bandai Namco had quite the presence at San Diego Comic-Con (which SmashPad wasn’t invited to this year, but you know, I have ways) this year. In addition to being one of the hosts of this year’s Fandom Party (another thing I’m salty about not being invited to), alongside Universal Studios Orlando, they had activations for Code Vein II as well as a large booth at the expo featuring demos for Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, Little Nightmares III, and Digimon Story: Time Stranger — a game that I didn’t get to play during SGF. Now that I have, I must say I’m cautiously optimistic.
Whether it matters or not, I consider myself a very casual Digimon fan. I only really watched the second or third season of it–the one where Davis was the main character, so my knowledge of the franchise is both hazy and basic. Also, since I wasn’t fortunate enough to make an appointment during SGF, I’m unsure if the demo featured at SDCC was the same one. So if you’re a hardcore Digimon fan who enjoyed a bunch of Digimon previews from other publications in June, I apologize if this one ends up being a lesser version of the ones you read a couple months ago.
The experience on the show floor featured two demos. One allowed for some early exploration of the Digital World, and the second showcases a boss fight.
Upon starting the exploration demo, I was immediately impressed by the game’s setting. Aside from standard tutorial menus that overexplained how an RPG works, the Digital World seemed bustling. Because I didn’t have too long with the demo, I didn’t mess around too much with the menus, but I appreciate the fact that the radar map on the screen followed the usual Bandai Namco interface of highlighting where it was you needed to go. To move around faster, you can even mount a Digimon, which was both a nice and charming touch. Along the linear path, I eventually came across some feisty Digimon in a shady corridor, and that’s where the real action began.
Similar to other RPGs, you can initiate combat with an advantage by using an attacking move in the exploration phase. In the case of Time Stranger, the protagonist takes out a blaster and shoots at the Digimon… which can be a little startling as I don’t remember guns ever being involved in this anime, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway, combat in the game is turn-based with the UI indicating turn order on the right side of the screen. In addition to the protagonist and enemy taking a turn, your Digimon partners also have turns, allowing you to mix and match abilities to attack enemy weaknesses. Since it was a demo, I wasn’t pressured to save magic or items, I just wanted to wreak havoc and doing so made everything pretty easy work.
Eventually, that first demo ended, so I jumped into the second demo as quickly as possible hoping nobody saw me. (I’m pretty sure nobody cared, but that’s the anxiety I have when I play a game without a real appointment with the public). As mentioned, the second demo was primarily a boss fight, so it was an opportunity to get a little bit more detailed with the nuances of the battle system.
The second demo has you scale a tower with multiple angry Digimon and chests along the way, but considering I don’t know how much time I had, I just skipped them and went to the very end. A cutscene played, and because plot is pretty much pointless to listen to in a JRPG demo that doesn’t carry over to your save, again, I paid it no mind.
Eventually you go up against Parrotmon, who was obviously the boss made evident by a huge health bar at the top of the screen, along with your typical jibber jabber between the protagonists and the enemy during the battle. It was an interesting fight that allowed me to target specific body parts, and there were even points during the bout where Parrotmon changed its elemental affinity, forcing me to think on my feet and not spam the abilities I was using throughout. Even though I was doing pretty well, when I got Parrotmon down to around 30 percent health, a cutscene happened that showed another Digimon help my party before going back into battle. From there, the fight ended up being more of a cinch, and it was over before I knew it.
After my time with the game, all I have to say is I’m excited to dive in some more. Again, I’m not a hardcore Digimon fan, but as someone that didn’t play Cyber Sleuth, I don’t know what this series actually needed. On its own, it seems like it’ll definitely stand out alongside other big JRPGs this year, and I’m excited for that.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger is slated for release on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 3, and we hope to review the game around that time.
Bandai Namco had quite the presence at San Diego Comic-Con (which SmashPad wasn’t invited to this year, but you know, I have ways) this year. In addition to being one of the hosts of this year’s Fandom Party (another thing…
Bandai Namco had quite the presence at San Diego Comic-Con (which SmashPad wasn’t invited to this year, but you know, I have ways) this year. In addition to being one of the hosts of this year’s Fandom Party (another thing I’m salty about not being invited to), alongside Universal Studios Orlando, they had activations for Code Vein II as well as a large booth at the expo featuring demos for Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, Little Nightmares III, and Digimon Story: Time Stranger — a game that I didn’t get to play during SGF. Now that I have, I must say I’m cautiously optimistic.
Whether it matters or not, I consider myself a very casual Digimon fan. I only really watched the second or third season of it–the one where Davis was the main character, so my knowledge of the franchise is both hazy and basic. Also, since I wasn’t fortunate enough to make an appointment during SGF, I’m unsure if the demo featured at SDCC was the same one. So if you’re a hardcore Digimon fan who enjoyed a bunch of Digimon previews from other publications in June, I apologize if this one ends up being a lesser version of the ones you read a couple months ago.
The experience on the show floor featured two demos. One allowed for some early exploration of the Digital World, and the second showcases a boss fight.
Upon starting the exploration demo, I was immediately impressed by the game’s setting. Aside from standard tutorial menus that overexplained how an RPG works, the Digital World seemed bustling. Because I didn’t have too long with the demo, I didn’t mess around too much with the menus, but I appreciate the fact that the radar map on the screen followed the usual Bandai Namco interface of highlighting where it was you needed to go. To move around faster, you can even mount a Digimon, which was both a nice and charming touch. Along the linear path, I eventually came across some feisty Digimon in a shady corridor, and that’s where the real action began.
Similar to other RPGs, you can initiate combat with an advantage by using an attacking move in the exploration phase. In the case of Time Stranger, the protagonist takes out a blaster and shoots at the Digimon… which can be a little startling as I don’t remember guns ever being involved in this anime, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway, combat in the game is turn-based with the UI indicating turn order on the right side of the screen. In addition to the protagonist and enemy taking a turn, your Digimon partners also have turns, allowing you to mix and match abilities to attack enemy weaknesses. Since it was a demo, I wasn’t pressured to save magic or items, I just wanted to wreak havoc and doing so made everything pretty easy work.
Eventually, that first demo ended, so I jumped into the second demo as quickly as possible hoping nobody saw me. (I’m pretty sure nobody cared, but that’s the anxiety I have when I play a game without a real appointment with the public). As mentioned, the second demo was primarily a boss fight, so it was an opportunity to get a little bit more detailed with the nuances of the battle system.
The second demo has you scale a tower with multiple angry Digimon and chests along the way, but considering I don’t know how much time I had, I just skipped them and went to the very end. A cutscene played, and because plot is pretty much pointless to listen to in a JRPG demo that doesn’t carry over to your save, again, I paid it no mind.
Eventually you go up against Parrotmon, who was obviously the boss made evident by a huge health bar at the top of the screen, along with your typical jibber jabber between the protagonists and the enemy during the battle. It was an interesting fight that allowed me to target specific body parts, and there were even points during the bout where Parrotmon changed its elemental affinity, forcing me to think on my feet and not spam the abilities I was using throughout. Even though I was doing pretty well, when I got Parrotmon down to around 30 percent health, a cutscene happened that showed another Digimon help my party before going back into battle. From there, the fight ended up being more of a cinch, and it was over before I knew it.
After my time with the game, all I have to say is I’m excited to dive in some more. Again, I’m not a hardcore Digimon fan, but as someone that didn’t play Cyber Sleuth, I don’t know what this series actually needed. On its own, it seems like it’ll definitely stand out alongside other big JRPGs this year, and I’m excited for that.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger is slated for release on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 3, and we hope to review the game around that time.
by Danreb Victorio
