Forum - View topicPREVIEW: Digimon Story: Time Stranger Bares its Brave Heart
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b-dragon
Posts: 628 |
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I'm cautiously optimistic- I wanted to like Survive but ended up bouncing off it. Hopefully this fares a bit better.
I'm a bit worried about the "Tracing" mechanic though. That seems like a good idea that may end up promoting a very grind-heavy experience, depending on how its balanced. |
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 926 |
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It's only as grindy as you want it to be. Considering the stats needed for Digivolving later forms or the more exotic forms, having a 200% Traced Digimon loses value later on--especially if you've already got a team of 'mons you're already using. Once you've got some reliable Champion-stages in your team, the bonus stats for a 200% Ultimate-stage are appealing but not enough to make much of a difference. |
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hera13
Posts: 3 |
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Same here—Survive never quite clicked for me, but I’m cautiously hopeful. Tracing sounds cool in theory, I just hope it’s tuned to reward normal play (exploration, side quests, boss clears) rather than endless repeat farming. If they add sane caps, diminishing returns, or pity-style safeguards so bad luck doesn’t brick progress, it could feel satisfying instead of grindy. Did they say whether Tracing ties to story milestones or is it pure drop-based?
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MFrontier
Posts: 20003 |
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Probably go with Patamon, but DemiDevimon is tempting. |
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ninjamitsuki
 Posts: 754 Location: Anywhere (Thanks, technology) |
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I enjoyed Survive but didn't care for Cyber Sleuth, I'mma wait for reviews.
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harminia
 Posts: 2221 Location: australia |
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Sounds like the system is very similar to Cyber Sleuth.
For reference (in Cyber Sleuth), the tracing (might be called scanning there) is increased every time you encounter the digimon in battle. At the end of the battle, it shows the trace % go up. It only takes a few battles to get 100%, and you can just create the Digimon from 100% if you want. Higher percentages just provide more stats so it can be good to save up if you want it stronger from the start. Battles were pretty common in Cyber Sleuth (random battles) so it didn't really involve much grinding to trace the Digimon high enough to 100%. Maybe a little bit of grinding to find the exact mon if it doesn't appear as commonly as others, and if you want the percentage higher before you create it. But you can boost stats by devolving or presumably the daycare (if it's the same mechanic as in CS) so it's not necessary to get to 200%. tbh you'll probably trace enough of the digimon of an area just by playing through it normally to be able to create them at the minimum 100%. I'm assuming it's the same in this game. Based on the review it sounds identical. It's not story based or dropped base (closest is just the randomised battles meaning sometimes you won't see the specific digimon you may be trying to trace). It's basically like EXP at the end of a battle except it applies to the digimon you fought against. (I never played Survive so I don't know how things worked there but it sounds like it didn't have the scan/trace function?) |
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 926 |
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Harminia beat me to it, but Tracing is entirely based off of encounters in battle. But there are factors that affect it; lower-stage Digimon are easier to trace, so you only need a handful of battles against Baby- or In-Training-stage Digimon to max them out. And once your Digimon are strong enough, you can wipe them out in one Digi-Attack without even going into a battle (since all Digimon appear on the map). Higher-stage Digimon like Champion- or Ultimate-stage will take decidedly more effort.
For what it's worth, it's not too hard to Trace or raise extras of the other Digimon, so the choice mostly affects the starting area. Think of it as getting a head-start on raising towards a particular Digimon. 
Yeah, Survive was completely different; everyone had pre-assigned Digimon partners, and the forms they could evolve into depended on the choices you made over the course of the story. Digimon Survive was more of a visual novel with strategy battles; it was a genuinely interesting idea, but it didn't quite get the time in the oven that it needed. (A pity, it had a fascinating take on Digimon as entities pre-computer societies had encountered.) |
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harminia
Posts: 2221 Location: australia |
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Ahh, okay! Yeah, that sounds like a cool concept. A shame it didn't live up to its potential, then. I might check it out some day anyway, just to see the different mechanics used and the story. It's always nice when they try something different, even if it doesn't always work out well. But first I really need to finish Cyber Sleuth... |
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wolf10
 Posts: 994 |
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The story for Survive is actually quite good (wonky and inconsistent Bamco localization aside), with the two "bad end" routes (Wrath and Harmony) being particular standouts that I hope get followed up on in some form. It mostly falls apart with how it structures the repeat playthroughs necessary to log all the ending unlocks on one save file, like a lot of mechanics weren't quite finished yet on the gameplay side, and the occasional event in the back half that forgets you're on the true end route. Cyber Sleuth, though, is easily one of those genre-influencing classics that surprised everyone, even the publisher. I still can't believe we're less than a month out from Time Stranger. My brain kept filing it away as a November release. (But no, that's Inazuma Eleven.) |
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