Digimon World DS gives the classic anime series the gaming makeover it deserves with this stylish collection RPG.
The story premise is taken almost directly from the Digimon anime series. Your character, male or female, goes into their campus's computer lab after everyone is gone to investigate a rumor about some kind of monsters. Shortly after discovering the Digimon World website, someone sends an e-mail asking, "Do you want to open the gate to the Digital World?" Surely, your character agrees, and is sucked through the computer into the Digital World's main server.
When your character arrives, Terriermon, who tells them to register as a Digital Tamer and recieve a Digi-Farm, greets them. The game then lets go of your hand, and you are off into the world. However, that does not mean that the game throws you into a sandbox game with no compass. There is plenty to do but let us start at the beginning.
The core gameplay of Digimon World DS is a fusion of Pokemon and Final Fantasy X. When battling, certain Digimon go before others, as indicated by an “order of action” list in the top screen and you can face anywhere from one to five opponents at once. Your party of Digimon can include a total of six, but only three can be fighting at any given time. Other Digimon are "Reliefs", and can be swapped out with others at any time. However, unlike Pokemon or Final Fantasy, where only those who actually fight can gain experience, every Digimon in your party gains the same amount of experience when the enemy finally drops, some more than others if they have an ability to enhance experience gain from certain Digimon types.
Also during battles, where yours and the enemy Digimon are placed is important. There are five zones, which can be set before battle, where both yours and the enemy Digimon can wage battle from and where they are standing depicts whom they can attack. For example, GeoGreymon, once he learns Fiery Breath, can attack enemies in any two zones but they must be close to each other. His advanced fire techniques can strike other zones but how useful they are is dependent on the placement of the enemy Digimon.
In the Pokemon games, you must capture creatures in Poke Balls. In Digimon World, the process of catching Digimon could be classified as "cloning". At the beginning of every battle, your character will automatically scan every enemy by five to fifteen percent, and this scan total will not drop until you Digi-Convert the Digimon into an ally at your Digi-Farm. At that time, the Digimon’s personality and status will be set, as well as their friendship meter; depending on the total percentage you scanned it before converting them. Personality and status are important even in the early stages of the game. Personality depicts what kind of Digimon, such as Defender or Attacker, you will be using. For example, a “Timid” Digimon will have a higher Defense stat than an “Excited” one, but most of these are only for use when Digimon are training at the Digi-Farms, and gives a comical twist to the dialogue during such times.
However, what about the Evolution aspect of Digimon. Wow! Break out a notepad and get ready to take some notes. Here’s the skinny.
Digital Evolution is broken down into parts. First is the Requirements stage. To Digivolve, your Digimon must reach a set level and at higher levels, another kind of status. Once this happens, you can choose to Digivolve your ally into one to three forms, each of which has different requirements. This results in a bump in stats and a change of appearance, and often, a new skill. Nevertheless, if at some time you decide you do not like your evolved Digimon, you can chooses to “Degenerate” them. By doing so, they back one or more forms but retain all their old stats and skills, and can Digivolve again after some time. You must make some progress to do this, but it allows Digimon to break their natural level limits and grow stronger.
Digimon World DS uses the stylus mostly during the farming portions of the game. Otherwise, it is almost useless when wandering. The pad and buttons can be used almost entirely, but given the complexity of this game, the stylus was necessary in the training aspect of Digimon World DS.
Overall, Digimon World DS has some rough spots, but the game gives Digimon the RPG experience it truly deserved for years. The clever dialogue from your allies, long list of world quests, and huge database of creatures, over two hundred in total, makes Digimon World DS a truly wonderful experience for any RPG fan.