Digimon World: Next Order - PlayStation 4

Before you take in any of this, bear in mind that this game is aimed for fans of Digimon and/or Digimon World. As such, those unfamiliar with the game or television series may have a hard time enjoying the game.Digimon World Next Order is a legitimate continuation of the story of the original Digimon World game, complete with almost all of the same mechanics of the old game with a bunch of new extra ones. It follows a Tamagotchi-style gameplay where you have to take care of your twin Digimon (originally you only had one partner) by feeding them, taking them to the toilet, training up their stats, and fighting other Digimon.For people new to the Digimon World series, this is actually the first time a Digimon World game has not been in its own continuity and probably for the better (even if you don't necessarily need to know the old game's story to enjoy this one). While the story is inherently simple-minded ('good Digimon are being turned into bad Digimon, go save them'), even with the additional kids who help the city, it works in the game's favor in order to get you back into the gameplay. For those who enjoy the difficulty of the original, you might be a bit disappointed because the difficulty curve is slightly lower, something which will not be apparent to those new to the game. It's also much easier to grind for stats to go towards earning your partners' 'digivolutions' as you can upgrade the training gear and have very early access to foods that boost training.In fact, Next Order seems to cry out 'greater accessibility', which to some people is good or bad. To me, it feels good at first and then quickly kind of dulls on me because it feels like there's too much gained at once. With the rush to make sure you have all of the extra stuff to do at the city, there comes a lack of additional new things afterward that is replaced with 'upgrading buildings' which is where the bad grind comes in of mining specific spots for handfuls of items at a time to go toward upgrades. This in itself can get tiring as you can only mine spots once a day, and plenty of them are in the midst of high-level enemies.On the plus side, your character's Tamer level does more than just passively affect things: you earn points to put towards skills of a wide variety, including skills to boost stat training, max inventory, item mining, and even prolonging the life of your partners. This is probably the best part of the game as it opens the road to being able to play your character as you see fit, whether you focus on combat, care, item farming, or give it an even split which is only mildly difficult. These skills are actually pretty vital in some cases to getting on the fast track to better 'digivolutions' and in other cases will allow your partners more versatility in combat.So, all in all, is Digimon World Next Order a good game? Yes. Despite the issues of rushing to give you access to a lot of neat stuff at the city, it is a much more accessible game than its predecessor and at least makes the stat grinding more bearable. However, it's definitely a game for the fans and not something for people who have never played Digimon, barely watched the show, or are too used to the way games like Pokemon play out. So long as you don't expect to be getting right back to earning iconic Digimon partners from the get-go, you won't be disappointed. Having said all that, if you're willing to give it a try despite not being a Digimon fan, then I suggest giving it a very fair chance and keeping in mind that difficulty is half the fun.Side Note: For those who care, the game does have dual audio, which- before you groan- has a pretty good dub voice over going for it, including a lot of actors who voiced over the original Digimon show. The Japanese side isn't as interesting, though, as it has a lot of generic-sounding actors and the voice over isn't present for Digimon in-combat, only during dialog scenes.

This is a fantastic game with a lot of heart. I'm so glad and thankful they decided to bring this over with an English dub cast! I love that I'm able to have new memories filled with these games.I'm currently still on Chapter 1 (20 hours in, though), and can say that this game is very addictive, deep, and difficult. I am playing on Normal difficulty at the moment. I would drop it, but I've heard that Easy only affects the stats it takes to get digivolutions.Please purchase this if you love Digimon. Although it's not a perfect game -- being a little lacking in story, they are on the right track, and I can see them releasing more if they see the support.Also, please release a Digimon World 3 remake or sequel! I know the Bandai Namco US doesn't have too much say in the matter, but that entire world, characters, and music is so memorable. A revised Cyber Sleuth battle system with everything else World 3 had would be incredible. Also, making (unique anime-type based) digivices relevant and the reintroduction of crests and cards would be amazing. That was always a big standout to me growing up with seasons 1-3.

For long time Digimon fans, this game is the closest in style to the original Digimon World released back in 2000. There are many wonderful bonuses for fans who have been there since the beginning, right down to remixed versions of the original soundtrack. Of course, the series has come a long way since then, and this game goes a long way to building a more complex story and adding all the many digimon that have been introduced to the franchise over the years.I only have two real complaints about the game. First of all, there have been many gameplay simplifications to ease new players into the game style, which makes the game overall easier, even on hard mode. Also, as we never got Digimon World Re:Digitize in the U.S., there are references to that game that are lost. If you can forgive these things, then I highly recommend this game.Overall, I have had a lot of fun revisiting the Digital World in this game, reliving old memories, and making new ones while exploring and raising all new Digimon partners.