Despite having a Nintendo system in my home at all times since they first started making consoles, I really never considered myself a Nintendo fan, or for that matter even a gamer, until Pokémon came along. After my initial exposure, picked up a Game Boy Color, both versions of the game (a habit I still practice today), and devoted myself to the franchise and its owner. For a "Pokémaniac" such as myself, a person who studies and analyzes every aspect, from the games (video game, TCG, or whatever) to the anime and manga, the series is a bit like politics. So, to me, Pokémon (regardless of being a wholly Japanese-created product) is like the United States, while Digimon, on the other hand, is more like...well, just about anywhere else in the world. While we may share similar goals at one time or another, more often than not we are at odds. With Digimon World DS, however, in which the series makes the jump to Nintendo’s dual-screened wonder, you might say I got the chance to do a little globe trekking. And, while I still consider myself a patriot (that is to say, for those of you that lost the metaphor, a Pokémon fan), I think there are a few things we could learn from expanding our cultural horizons.
In a direct comparison, I can’t say for sure whether or not Digimon is more linear than Pokemon, though it certainly gave me that feeling before I took a closer look at it. However, I can say, for better or for worse, that Digimon World DS seems to be more story-driven than your average Pokémon game (excluding the GameCube games). In those, sure, there is a story, what with some evil group or another trying to capture some oh-so-powerful pokémon or another, and then the whole quest for badges and beyond, but other than that it is all up to you. In Digimon, a similar principal applies, though, throughout the game, you will be constantly interacting with the actual monsters and not just other trainers, making it easier to become attached to the little critters. In fact, in addition to the to-be-expected fetch quests and the like that make up the earlier portion of the game, getting you accustomed to the digital world after you are sucked into it through the computer, a larger part of the story actually revolves around a single digital monster. But, more than that, as you collect them, you can also put them on a digital farm (similar to the daycare in Pokémon), where you can then talk to them and take on a variety of mundane and bizarre quests, from even more fetching to attending concerts, all to build up the friendship with your team.
When this game first starts out, it is not unalike Pokémon, with players in each game having to choose one of three critters to be their first partner. Though you can use only three, you can carry six at a time and store many more in the Digi-bank and Digi-farms (which is displayed on the top screen when you aren’t in a battle) that I mentioned earlier. After that, however, things certainly diverge. Instead of choosing from a system of elemental advantages and disadvantages, the starters in Digimon are based off of the player's attack style, either using attack, defense, or special moves. In fact, while the creatures are broken into a variety of different types – such as Dark, Holy, Beast, Bird, etc. – I never noticed any sort of strategy to the alignments (though, being new to the series, I may have overlooked one). Instead of four moves, each monster can learn only three attacks, though that list can be supplemented by adding effect–imbuing equipment, which instead of just one, come in three types: weapons, armor, and items. While those are unnecessary, since they can drastically alter the strength of your team when used right, they should be considered an important part of the strategy in Digimon World DS.
Also, in another big difference, instead of catching a digimon, you need only encounter them enough times to get 100% (or more, for an added bonus) of their scan data and create your own. Personally, I didn’t much like this element, as it rewards the player whether they win, lose, or simply run away, and it lacks the rewarding feeling you get from a carefully orchestrated pokémon battle...but to each their own. On the other hand, apart from a few design choices (I mean, why does almost everything have to eventually turn into a humanoid mecha?), one element I really enjoyed about the game was the evolutionary table. Unlike Pokémon, where generally a single pokémon can evolve into one or two others, Digimon is a world where each creature has several diverging paths, and you can even de-evolve some creatures you have created in order to re-explore their lines and possibly create new ones, though doing so means the loss of levels and moves.
Posted: 2006-12-21 21:32:50 PST