Digimon Story: Time Stranger is widely regarded as the best Digimon game to date, praised for its engaging turn-based combat, expansive roster of over 450 Digimon, and improved quality-of-life features compared to previous entries. The game offers a nostalgic yet modern experience with smooth animations, vibrant graphics, and a story that, while somewhat predictable, holds players' interest. Many players appreciate the game's combat depth, character customization, and the extensive digital world exploration.
However, the game is marred by controversial DLC practices, with essential content like outer dungeons and music packs locked behind additional paywalls, even in the Ultimate Edition. This has drawn significant criticism for being anti-consumer and undermining the overall experience. Other common complaints include tedious side quests, repetitive travel mechanics, some pacing issues, and a lack of deeper world-building or protagonist development. Despite these flaws, the core gameplay loop and Digimon customization keep fans engaged and hopeful for future improvements.
Players consistently praise the game's combat system for its fun, strategic depth, and satisfying Digimon evolution mechanics. The graphics and animations are noted as clean, colorful, and smooth, successfully capturing the classic Digimon charm with modern polish. The extensive Digimon roster and customization options are highlights, providing addictive team-building opportunities. The story, while not groundbreaking, is engaging enough to maintain interest, with well-localized dialogue and nostalgic elements that appeal especially to longtime fans. Quality-of-life improvements such as shared experience for all Digimon and faster gameplay options enhance the overall experience.
The DLC strategy is the most frequent criticism, with players condemning the exclusion of key content from even the most expensive editions, labeling it as greedy and predatory. Side quests are often described as repetitive fetch tasks that pad the game length unnecessarily. Travel mechanics receive heavy criticism for being slow, tedious, and poorly designed. The story and character development, particularly of the protagonist and some supporting characters, are seen as weak or underdeveloped. Some players also mention pacing issues, lack of post-game content, and occasional bugs or technical shortcomings. The Digifarm system is noted as needing quality-of-life improvements.
The latest in the Digimon Story series is finally here! In this RPG, unravel a mystery that spans across the human world and the Digital World, collecting and raising a wide variety of Digimon to save the world.