I was seated for the first episode of the Digimon anime when it aired on Fox Kids in August 1999, and I remember being hooked immediately. I have remained a fan of Digimon ever since, occasionally going back and watching the first few seasons of the anime and always being surprised at how emotionally-charged and exciting it is for a show that is ultimately aimed at kids. But while I’ve always enjoyed the Digimon anime, my time with the video games hasn’t been nearly as positive. Digimon World on the PS1 was cool but had some baffling design decisions that made it way too difficult for its own good, and subsequent entries went off in completely different directions and ensured that the games never really had a solid sense of identity. With Digimon Story: Time Stranger coming decades after those early Digimon games, I went in with high hopes. As a 90s kid that grew up with Digimon, Digimon Story: Time Stranger definitely struck some chords, but it’s clear that the ultimate Digimon video game still has yet to materialize.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger is a turn-based RPG where players build a team of Digimon with various strengths and weaknesses and use them to fight enemies and digivolve to more powerful forms. Time Stranger‘s turn-based combat is fairly straightforward, with certain attacks inflicting bonus damage based on the type of the targeted Digimon and other factors. Players have three Digimon that they can use in battle and three in reserve, with guest party members regularly joining the fray as well. Digimon can be equipped with new moves and other stat-boosting enhancements, and one item can be used every single turn, so players should have no problem keeping their team healed up. Time Stranger‘s turn-based combat is nothing revolutionary, but it’s got a neat Persona-like style to it, and it gets the job done.
Change Into Digital Champions to Save the Digital World
Where combat shines is with the boss fights. Over the course of Time Stranger‘s story, players do battle with extra-powerful enemies that require more strategy than the usual fare. These enemies often have a special charged attack that, if not interrupted, can be absolutely catastrophic. Time Stranger boss fights can be genuinely challenging, and they certainly give an extra edge to the proceedings.
To beat the stronger bosses in Digimon Story: Time Stranger, players will want to make sure that they digivolve their Digimon. Digivolving isn’t as easy as reaching a certain level. Specific requirements must be met for each Digimon, usually by hitting certain stat thresholds. While these stats can often be reached by leveling up, other times players will hit max level with a Digimon and won’t be able to digivolve them. When this happens, players need to start upgrading their agent using points earned by completing quests, which will in turn give stat boosts to Digimon and eventually make it possible to digivolve them.
I love how Time Stranger handles digivolving. It shows the different Digimon that a creature can digivolve into and clearly lays out the requirements to do so. But it doesn’t give away what the Digimon is unless players have already seen it or unlocked it before. This adds a sense of mystery like the TV show, and it’s always thrilling to see what a Digimon turns into. I also like the way “catching” Digimon works. Simply defeating a Digimon enough times in battle means players can unlock it for their team, which makes it especially rewarding to participate in every single fight beyond the XP rewards.
Something else that I greatly appreciated was how Digimon Story: Time Stranger pays homage to the classic anime series. The first boss is Kuwagamon, likely a nod to how the giant red bug Digimon was the first enemy that the Digidestined fought in the first episode of the show, and while exploring one of the hub worlds, I spotted the season 2 partner Digimon all standing together. If you are someone that has watched the anime, you will find all kinds of nostalgic Easter eggs in Digimon Story: Time Stranger.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger Dungeons Are Repetitive
But while Digimon Story: Time Stranger does a lot of things right, it has a fatal flaw. The game makes players go through multiple dungeons at least twice, which is incredibly repetitive and disappointing. I had a great time for the first half of the game, but the second half is largely a repeat of what came before, only with stronger Digimon to fight. There was one dungeon where, after I defeated the final boss, it immediately had me go back through the whole thing again. Instead of recycling dungeons, Time Stranger would have been better off if it had simply cut the repeats. Now, I know the repeat dungeons are due to the story’s time travel gimmick, but that doesn’t keep them from killing the game’s pacing and saddling it with a serious sense of “been there, done that.”
Time Stranger‘s story is about a trio of heroes attempting to stop an apocalypse by traveling back in time. The story bounces between eight years ago and present day, and while it’s neat to see how certain characters change and which NPC Digimon digivolve over the years, the pacing is pretty bad. Don’t get me wrong, the story has a sense of humor and there are some strong moments for sure, but most of the time it’s a lot of poorly-written, exposition-heavy dialogue and boring scenes that repeat what players just saw. This is especially a problem in the second half of the game. Players will see a story event play out, and then immediately be whisked away to a dull regurgitation of an explainer, as though the player isn’t smart enough to understand what’s going on in the relatively simple story.
The story in Time Stranger is a mixed bag of great moments weighed down by long stretches of boredom and predictable “twists,” and it’s all presented in the most generic way possible. Time Stranger graphics are as generic anime as they come, which wouldn’t be that bad if the environments and level design were more interesting. While the Digimon look great, the world they inhabit is a bunch of bland hallways.
Bland is a good way to describe Time Stranger‘s side missions, which often culminate in exciting encounters, but have multiple busywork steps to get there. The side quests have great rewards and are required if players want enough points necessary to digivolve their Digimon above Ultimate level, so they’re still worth doing, but I wish the stories and objectives tied to them were more compelling.
Beating Digimon Story: Time Stranger’s main quest took a little over 20 hours, but I had battles on 5x speed for a large portion of the game.
Digimon Story: Time Stranger does some things right, but its repetitive quests and dungeons drag the experience down significantly, to the point where it becomes almost a chore to play at times. Still, hardcore Digimon fans may be able to overlook even its most glaring flaws, as the game was clearly built with love for the franchise.