What's a "Moral Compass Cricket Thingy"?

[Maniakkid25]

Good lord, it would, and good lord, I cannot afford that! Crack is cheaper, man!

[Moonface]

Would you get it if you could afford it or nah?

Also since I figure you're a fan of Digimon way more than Pokémon, is there anything Pokémon has done that you wish Digimon would do? Or maybe vice versa?

[Maniakkid25]

Hell yes, I would buy it, even though I shouldn't. I got no room for the thing, even something that small lol.

The one thing I wished Digimon would rip Pokemon off for earlier(and part of what makes Digimon Story so interesting) is the core gameplay loop. Pokemon NAILED its core gameplay loop in Gen 1 (buggy as it is), and Digimon could have taken notes a lot earlier than it did. The idea of exploring the Digital World, taking in all kinds of Mons as you fight for a better world is SUPER interestinf. Digimon World 2 was the first game that explored this, but got mired in its Dungeon Crawling nature and slow speed (seriously; love it to bits, but it's SO SLOW). It really isn't until Digimon World DS that Digimon nails a gameplay loop like that that's JUST distinct enough for plausible deniability, but they could have gotten on that train a lot soon than giving us shit like Digimon World 4 (bet you thought I was gonna say Data Squad, didn't you?)

[Moonface]

The one thing I wished Digimon would rip Pokemon off for earlier(and part of what makes Digimon Story so interesting) is the core gameplay loop. Pokemon NAILED its core gameplay loop in Gen 1 (buggy as it is), and Digimon could have taken notes a lot earlier than it did. The idea of exploring the Digital World, taking in all kinds of Mons as you fight for a better world is SUPER interestinf. Digimon World 2 was the first game that explored this, but got mired in its Dungeon Crawling nature and slow speed (seriously; love it to bits, but it's SO SLOW). It really isn't until Digimon World DS that Digimon nails a gameplay loop like that that's JUST distinct enough for plausible deniability, but they could have gotten on that train a lot soon than giving us shit like Digimon World 4 (bet you thought I was gonna say Data Squad, didn't you?)

When you say core gameplay loop, my mind thinks of catching Pokémon and levelling them up to take on a gym, rinse and repeat, so I'm guessing applied to Digimon it would be the same thing but a boss rather than a gym? Like how in Adventure 01 each episode in the Devimon saga I recall there would be a "bad" guy each time so they could take that as smaller area bosses you beat on your way to the big bad ruling over everything.

Heck, just give me an open world style game like the Pokémon Legends games but you start out on the island in Adventure 01, deal with the problem there then get access to cross the sea to the big continent. Bonus if the game doesn't hold back and makes it where if any of your Digimon die they get sent to that one place where all the Digimon get born so you can get them back but have to make a journey to go get them.

[Maniakkid25]

That game existed; it's called Digimon World 1. Granted, when the Digimon died, you also got sent back to the area, and Digimon would eventually die from age, but that's the core loop of the game: explore the world, fight a boss, recruit villagers, figure out the mystery of the world. Alternatively, if you want to relive Digimon Adventure, there's a PSP game that's literally just that. Sure, it was Japan-only, but Fan Translations do exist.

Personally, given how overdone "Open-world" is nowadays, I wouldn't want to see an open-world Digimon game. I've had enough of open-world. I've bitched about this before, but ooen-world feels more like a reaction to the public consensus revolting against "linear" games, and I still blame Spoony and Yahtzee for that popular opinion. Now it's used to suck out "replay value" out of people, because engagement is the only metric that matters anymore. It's bullshit.

[Moonface]

That game existed; it's called Digimon World 1. Granted, when the Digimon died, you also got sent back to the area, and Digimon would eventually die from age, but that's the core loop of the game: explore the world, fight a boss, recruit villagers, figure out the mystery of the world. Alternatively, if you want to relive Digimon Adventure, there's a PSP game that's literally just that. Sure, it was Japan-only, but Fan Translations do exist.

Oh, so in that case were you thinking of something different to what I thought in regards to Digimon using the core gameplay loop of Pokémon?

Personally, given how overdone "Open-world" is nowadays, I wouldn't want to see an open-world Digimon game. I've had enough of open-world. I've bitched about this before, but ooen-world feels more like a reaction to the public consensus revolting against "linear" games, and I still blame Spoony and Yahtzee for that popular opinion. Now it's used to suck out "replay value" out of people, because engagement is the only metric that matters anymore. It's bullshit.

True, I was just thinking of an open world Digimon game because of how at least in Adventure 01 everyone is sort of just wandering about or exploring the islands/continents in the show rather loosely as opposed to travelling a particular set route (at least my mind remembers it that way).
I feel the opinion on open-world games is slowly leaning back towards scaling things down though. Assassin's Creed seems to be a series in particular where people are getting sick of how big those games are and how a lot of the stuff in them is just there for the sake of it, and if the players don't get fatigue from open world first I won't be surprised if the industry fatigues first instead just from the ballooning costs of those games compared to more focused affairs.

[Maniakkid25]

That game existed; it's called Digimon World 1. Granted, when the Digimon died, you also got sent back to the area, and Digimon would eventually die from age, but that's the core loop of the game: explore the world, fight a boss, recruit villagers, figure out the mystery of the world. Alternatively, if you want to relive Digimon Adventure, there's a PSP game that's literally just that. Sure, it was Japan-only, but Fan Translations do exist.

Oh, so in that case were you thinking of something different to what I thought in regards to Digimon using the core gameplay loop of Pokémon?

No, I was talking about the gameplay loop you wanted out if Digimon. The loop you identify in pokemon is the correct core gameplay loop, and basically what happens in the Digimon Story series (Digimon World DS, Dawn/Dusk, and Cyber Sleuth. There are others, but I don't think they made it out of Japan). It took them a decade of video games before they finally found a decent formula. It's just the formula you mentioned (open-world adventure) I could immediately identify in a Digimon World game, hence bringing it up.

[Moonface]

Oh, I completely misinterpreted your response and thought you just wished Digimon had ripped off the gameplay loop of earlier Pokémon games rather than just wishing it had adopted the loop earlier than it did. Although looking it up, since Digimon World 1 seems to be the first Digimon game and that it has a lot of similarities with the gameplay loop of Pokémon I'm unsure now how it could have ripped it off earlier besides the game just coming out earlier than it did.

[Maniakkid25]

No, Digimon World 1 doesn't have the gameplay loop of Pokemon. Digimon STORY has the gameplay loop of Pokemon. Digimon World 1's gameplay loop is similar to the one you described here.

Heck, just give me an open world style game like the Pokémon Legends games but you start out on the island in Adventure 01, deal with the problem there then get access to cross the sea to the big continent. Bonus if the game doesn't hold back and makes it where if any of your Digimon die they get sent to that one place where all the Digimon get born so you can get them back but have to make a journey to go get them.

In Digimon World 1, you are given a Digimon, and told "Hey, File Island needs help; go do shit!" You trawl around File Island, investigating the various areas, fighting bosses, and then recruiting those bosses to make the Village at the center of File Island grow, obtaining more abilities as you do so. On top of this, your Digimon ages, slowly digivolving up to Ultimate (with a few Megas) if you are good, before eventually dying and rebirthing as a new Digimon that you get to start the process over with. They can also die if they lose too many battles. This death will invariably kick you back to the Village.

[Moonface]

Oh, heck. I somehow missed you had written Story instead of World.

So I didn't wanna come in here without a question but lacked one, so went to Guilmon's DigiWiki page to see if there was something on there of interest to ask you about and discovered Digimon Racing exists. I'm assuming you've never played it, but with how random that genre choice is for Digimon is there a genre Digimon hasn't done that you'd be curious to see?

[Maniakkid25]

I have not played it. I'm not really into kart racers in general (Diddy Kong Racing being an exception). I like arcade style racing, but often times these games have nothing to do inside of them. Then again, haven't played it, so maybe it's good? Probably better than Banjo Pilot on the same system, anyway.

I think Digimon is really at home as an RPG. I don't think it should really stray too far from that.

[Moonface]

I'm guessing you like Diddy Kong Racing because of its Adventure mode, unlike a game such as Mario Kart where it just basically has no goal to work towards?

[Maniakkid25]

Exactly that reason, yes. I like there being, you know, stuff to do. It's the big problem I have with games like Minecraft. They just drop you in a place and drunkenly say "Here's a stick; go build stuff." And while, yes, Minecraft is technically a bad example because there is an end goal (go kill the Ender Dragon), let's be honest, who's really doing that outside of speedrunners?

[Moonface]

Exactly that reason, yes. I like there being, you know, stuff to do. It's the big problem I have with games like Minecraft. They just drop you in a place and drunkenly say "Here's a stick; go build stuff." And while, yes, Minecraft is technically a bad example because there is an end goal (go kill the Ender Dragon), let's be honest, who's really doing that outside of speedrunners?

I'd say Minecraft used to be a bad example since a truly blind player wouldn't even know the Ender Dragon exists, nor that the Nether exists or even most crafting recipes so the game practically required using a Wiki to actually play it beyond just "go dig things up". It has gotten better though by adding in Advancements which are designed to guide players with objectives focused on game progression, however I can't say whether they actually allow more people to get to the end goal because despite the hundreds of hours I've put into the game I have never fought the Ender Dragon.

Not that I expect you to look in the sense of playing it, but have you ever looked at Crash Team Racing? That game has an Adventure Mode very similar to DKR so it would've probably been up your alley if you'd been aware of it at a time when you'd have cared to play another racer similar to DKR. Then there's also games like Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed that have a campaign mode similar to things like Burnout (to use an example I know you've played an entry in). Thinking about it while writing this, Mario Kart is the only racing game I can think of that has absolutely no form of campaign in it whatsoever and just leaves the player to do whatever really.

[Maniakkid25]

Well, I had an N64, not a Playstation. By the time I got my PS2, no one was really selling PS1 games anymore, so I never really ran across it outside of a one-off, maybe. I want to say I've managed to play the demo of it? It's been a long time since I've dealt with that.

If it's true that Mario Kart is really the only kart racer without a story mode or anything like that, then I guess I'm just unlucky. That's a bit of a shame, in that case, because it's definitely soured my taste. And I know lots of people LOVE the Mario Kart series, and I've got a newfound appreciation for it thanks to speedrunners, but I just can't play a game for the sake of playing the game, especially when, historically, I never had anyone to play with (I'm the only gamer in my household, and friend visits weren't common, tbh).