Review: Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (PS4, PS Vita)

If you had a half cyber body, would you dedicate your life to being a digital detective? This unique premise is explored in Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, but it's not your average story about hackers and detectives because it's a Digimon game. While other Digimon games keep collecting Digimon as the core gameplay mechanic, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth focuses on the story of the half digital protagonist and the many adventures had uncovering the truth about the Digital World. But don't fret, as this turn-based JRPG boasts killer gameplay, a decent story and it's the most fun I've had evolving creatures in a game in years.

JRPG Appreciation Post: Digivolution in Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth

The highlight of watching Digimon when I was growing up was definitely the Digivolutions. Rookie Digimon are really cute and charming, but in the show they were often put up against crazy huge beasts and it would be unrealistic to think those little Digimon could stand a chance. So appropriately, they Digivolve into equally large beasts and then proceed to kick a lot of butt while looking really cool. These Digivolutions include monstrous Dinosaurs, Wolves and Birds and the best thing about these forms was that they could Digivolve again into even more powerful forms such as Ultimate and Mega Digimon that have epic god-like powers, a huge contrast to their Rookie form. This kind of evolution kept me guessing what the next form would be and huge Digimon like WarGreymon and Omnimon always surpassed my expectations of power and general coolness.

When playing Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, I was pleased to find it's Digivolution system is a big part of the game. There are many benefits in Cyber Sleuth to Digivolving your Digimon, such as unlocking gates that lead to main story events that can only be unlocked if you have certain level of Digimon and of course, having the strongest party possible. For players of past Digimon games or even other games with monster evolution like Pokemon, Cyber Sleuth's Digivolution system adds it's own spin on the system by adding various different requirements to Digivolving into your favourite Digimon.

The Digivolution process begins in the DigiLab, Cyber Sleuth's hub for powering up the Digimon in your party and your Digibank (because yes, there are so many Digimon you need a bank). When you choose a Digimon you want to Digivolve, if you haven't met the Digimon before, you'll see a shadow, kind of like a 'Who's that Pokemon' guessing game. If it's a smaller Digimon, you'll probably have a few options to choose from, so depending on your guessing skills you could either get a really good Digimon or bad Digimon (good examples being Numemon or Sukamon). As you meet these Digimon during battles or through evolution, these shadows turn into pictures of the Digimon which makes things easier to choose. I've met a lot of Digimon now as I'm far in the game, but if there's an option of a mystery Digimon, I'll always take it because I love the element of surprise.

Choosing a Digimon to Digivolve into is only a small part of the Digivolution process. To Digivolve at all, you need to meet some requirements. Some Digimon only require a few requirements, like getting to a certain level and fulfilling certain stats.

Other Digimon require many special requirements, ranging from stats, to story events to quests being completed. It's hard to know when you'll even be able to do the story events of quests, which adds another element of mystery to the process.

Not only is this system good for appropriately progressing the through the game without being ridiculously OP, but it also makes me excited for what may be the end game quests and incentive to play further.

Most stat requirements are easy enough to raise, but two stats are more difficult than the rest - ABI and CAM. CAM is your 'Comradery level' with your Digimon, which is raised by having the Digimon in your party or using items. ABI is a more difficult to raise, as it's based on how many times you've Digivolved or De-Digivolved your Digimon. This isn't a problem for most Rookie and Champion Digimon, but when trying for strong Ultimate and Mega Digimon, I found myself De-Digivolving and Digivolving back and forth multiple times. This process may sound annoying, but I actually really like that Cyber Sleuth makes you work a little more for the powerful, God-like Digimon and considering how much stronger they are than the lower forms, I think it's fair. Most games if you grind your characters enough, you can become OP, but this system makes things much more interesting and challenging.

I've almost finished Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, but this kind of system really makes me want to come back and play it again after I'm done. I'm excited to see all the strong Digimon that I'll still need to complete quests to create and I'm sure they'll be well worth the wait. Of all the games I've played with creature evolution, I'm happy to say that so far, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth has my favourite evolution system. It makes me very eager to check out the new Digimon Story game for PS Vita that's being released in Japan in a few weeks, but for now, I'm going to finish the game and then hunt down some legendary Digital Monsters.

You can pick up Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth from Play-Asia.com!

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What do you think of Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth and it's Digivolution system? And since I'm keen for more games like this, what are some other games with great evolution systems?

Leave a comment below or send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle and let's talk!

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Make sure to follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter for updates on content and random, shorter musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

JRPGs I Played In Winter 2016!

During Winter, appropriate to the indoorsy weather, I played a lot of games. I'm meant to exclusively be playing Persona 3 in order to play it faster, but I got swayed by a lot of cool games. For a start, Final Fantasy Record Keeper got it's hooks in me again, I really wanted to play Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth and I wanted to platinum Final Fantasy X (still going for it!). Persona 3 is long and while it's really good, I wanted to keep trying new stuff. So here's what I played during Winter while I should have been playing just Persona 3. Let me know what you played too!

Persona 3 FES (PS2 Classic)

Status: 50+ hours in and going strong!

I've spent a surprising amount of time grinding and versing bosses, but I'm sure I have a minimum of another 50 more hours in the game because the story is huge! Usually by this point, I know if what I'm playing is a game that's for me and I'm pleased to say that I'm totally enjoying it. The story, albeit a little slow moving, is interesting and the whole concept of the Dark Hour still feels very mysterious. My opinions of the characters keep changing as I play the game, which is keeping my interest. I will say one thing though, although I'm enjoying it, I still haven't gotten completely hooked by the game, which is probably evident in how many games I've played while playing it. I don't want to say too much because I haven't finished the game yet, so I still have hope it'll suck me in like Persona 4 Golden did.

Final Fantasy X HD Remaster (PS Vita)

Status: finished the story, now platinuming

I'm very proud to say that Final Fantasy X is the first game I've completed in Japanese. I know the story really well, so it may not have been as difficult as playing a story that was new to me, but my Japanese reading and listening skills benefited from playing it again and it was really interesting to hear the Japanese voice staff and see the small localisation differences. (I wrote an article about my experience playing the Japanese version if you want to read more about it!)

Now I'm onto focusing on getting the Platinum Trophy for it, which is going to take some time, I know for sure it's going to take probably another 50 hours since I'm 50% in and I haven't done the lightning challenge yet or started cranking the sphere grid yet. But, since it's not my New Years Resolution to Platinum it this time, it's nice to have it as a casual game between JRPGs and it's a fun way to study Japanese.

You can pick up Final Fantasy X HD Remaster from Play-Asia.com!

Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection (PS Vita)

Status: Finished for the second time, considering platinuming it one day.

I really enjoyed playing Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection again! I needed a break from long RPGs and this Neptunia game delivered yet again as a great light game for the weekend. Since it had been a while since playing it for the first time, the story felt fresh again. I had to relearn how to play again, but after 20 in game days (which is probably equivalent to about half an hour of playing), I was right in, remembered my strategies from my first time playing and was laughing at Neptune's witty humour again. You can read my full review here.

You can pick up Hyperdimension Neptunia: Producing Perfection from Play-Asia!

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (PS4)

Status: 32 hours in and will probably finish it soon (hoping to review it this week or next week if all goes to plan!)

I'm so pleased to say that a PS4 game finally got it's hooks into me. I've had my PS4 since launch and have been a little disappointed that I had nothing that made me keep the console plugged in for more than a few days. Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth both scratches the Digimon game itch I've had (I played Digimon World on PS One a lot as a kid and it was a big favourite of mine) and means I finally have a worthy JRPG I can play on PS4. I intended to only play the game for a week, but I've been so into the monster collecting and case solving that I may as well just finish it this point.

(I kind of want to get all the Digimon too, so I may try to get the platinum trophy for this one too.... :) )

You can pick up Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth at Play-Asia.com!

Final Fantasy Record Keeper (iOS)
Status: Playing the Final Fantasy X Jecht Event

I've found a healthy way to play Record Keeper: events only. As I mentioned recently, I got back into the game during the Rikku event and after remembering how much I enjoyed weapon and character collecting, I decided to stay on, but manage my gaming time better. It's good, casual fun at the moment, although I do wish they added something like Conception II's ability to skip battles where you'll win with one hit, as I find a lot of the initial battles are way too easy if your characters are anywhere higher than 20 and while they're quick, the time could be better spent on the later levels. But anyway, I'm having fun after winning Jecht's bandana and plan to win him and maybe Tidus' memory crystal before this week's event is done.

Spring's Game Plan

Despite getting a 3DS LL for Christmas, I've barely touched it other than to check the eShop and for the occasional Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai 2 song. Once I finish Persona 3, I'd like to either jump into Persona Q or Digimon World ReDigitize: Recode on 3DS and keep my PS4 plugged into the TV for awhile. I also currently have Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls on my Vita, so that's something I'm interested in completing as well. But the main plan for Spring is to play some 3DS, which should be a lot of fun!

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What did you play during Winter? Do you have any gaming plans for Spring?

Leave a comment below or send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle and let's talk!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Make sure to follow @JRPGJungle on Twitter for updates on content and random, shorter musings on JRPG news and games. You're awesome! <3

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Looking Good! - Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth Trailer

In my other Digimon post, I asked if anyone had played Digimon Rumble Arena. Well, I now feel the need to mention the PSOne game Digimon World before talking about another new and exciting Digimon game. Digimon World was a pretty brilliant JRPG for it's time that allowed you to raise your own Digimon while rebuilding the Digimon community and really brought the Tamagochi experience to life. This is one of the many reasons I'm excited for Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth. You can check out the trailer for Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth below.

Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth excites me most because it's being aimed at adult Digimon fans, making it perfect for those who are now adults that grew up with the series. It has been described as a Cyberpunk RPG, including training, adventure and battle with multiple Digimon. The game also includes the ability to travel between the Digital World and the Real World, which is another common theme taken from the anime.

The game is set for release in Japan next year on PS Vita. There is currently a petition to have the game localised for the West, so if you're keen for the game I highly recommend signing it (I did!).

Pre-order (Import from Japan): Play-Asia

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What were your favourite Digimon games? Comment below or send a tweet to @JRPGJungle and let us know!

Have a story about a Japanese game or something else you think we should cover? Email jrpgjungle@gmail.com to let us know!