On every front, mind you — including the narrative one. That story ends up much better than I had dared hope for (spoilers!): Chitose is rescued from the claws of Eden Syndrome without any major sacrifice, Keisuke remains BFF with Yu, Erika gets her dearest wishes granted, Ryuji gets his sanity back, and nobody kicks the bucket. Hooray! The only one suffering is poor Keisuke, who's the sole retainer of memories from the Hudie epopee and now has to live knowing that he'll never again meet Erika. But hey, little Yu is still around, and more than ready to fill in the spot left by Erika — in all possible ways! I deem this ending absolutely perfect: it's bittersweet without being heart-wrenching, and it makes me appreciate the story, and the whole game, even more. (End of spoilers.)
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Not that I really needed more reasons to love HM, mind you: my 52 hours of play were absolutely delightful, and I enjoyed every single minute spent with my Digis. I cannot find a single flaw in that gem of a game — bar maybe the fetch quests, which were as tedious as they were pointless. Why make me look for NPCs all around the place when you could as well have fed me cutscenes, game? Good scenes such missions were few and far between, and the areas involved mercifully small.
I'm sure no one will be surprised to hear that the final showdown was a cinch, despite being a two-phase fight. I went at it with an full inventory and a kickass trio made of Dianamon, Ouryumon and Slayerdramon, and I quickly fell into a comfortable — and deadly — battle rhythm: Ouryumon and Slayerdramon dealt the main damage with their Special Moves, while Dianamon dished minor damage and handed healing and replenishing items when necessary. The fight was over in a matter of turns and with no major hassle, giving my run a smooth and satisfying finale. Gee, I love when level-grinding pays off!
I don't have much to add, all the less so as a good week has passed since I cleared my run. I loved that game, and I'd sure like to replay it at some point. There's just a small issue: I only have a digital copy, whose perennity is far from being guaranteed. Is it worth investing in a ludicrously priced physical copy, knowing that I already own a physical copy of Digimon Story - Cyber Sleuth, i.e. the original game? I'll mull over it; and as usual, my collector's instinct will have the final word. And now, on to the next game!
There's a version with both games coming to switch, so maybe wait and see if there's a physical version of that?
ReplyDeleteI always have one hacked console for fan translations, but it also helps with the fear of "digital copies can just go away" fear, even if so far I can still download all my delisted games from Sony.
As for the story, the fact that no one else remembers Erika and her sacrifice, especially after the things her brother did for her, still strikes me as incredible sad. Even the all so edgy and dark persona that is the pinacle of RPGs (or so they say, I personally think that persona is the worst Megami Tensei spin off, which makes me very bitter about the fact persona pretty much killed all other spin offs and possibly even the main entries) doesn't go that far in Persona 3; they do a fake out of it, but the protag's friends remember just before he/she fades away, and one of the more powerful characters is mentioned to be absent because she's looking for a way to bring them back in Persona 4, so they don't kill that hope completely.
Digimon is just raw, and it's clear Keisuke does feel anguish about that fact, and also the fact the bonds he formed with most other characters is gone too. But at least he still has Yu, that's true, and this is the closest gaming has ever got to a canon gay ending since Tales of Zesteria. Another Bamco game. They sure do have a lot of balls while being subtle about it, unlike western devs, and I love them for it. Code Vein is already shaking up to be this too just going by the alpha test, with you being able to choose your gender and yet having a female companion who feels her destiny is to be by your side.
Bamco, I'd love you a lot more if you could secure your licences for a bit longer. The original cyber sleuth has already been delisted! Good things your games go for sale under 20$ every month or so, making it easy for me to eat up all of their licensed titles.
A physical Switch version including both games would be the neatest thing ever. Fingers crossed!
Delete"As for the story, the fact that no one else remembers Erika and her sacrifice, especially after the things her brother did for her, still strikes me as incredible sad": I see your point. The main reason the ending didn't make me sad is precisely the fact that no one remembers Erika, because no memories means no suffering. In the end, everybody gets what they craved — including Erika, who escapes a surefire death and gains a level of freedom she never got to enjoy during her short human life. As for Keisuke, he can rebuilt relationships with the Hudie members; and while he may suffer from Erika's absence, he can console himself with the knowledge that she's alive and happy in the digital world. Really, that ending is a great payoff compared to the dire outcomes I had envisioned.
Funny that you should talk so much about Persona, because... Oh well, you'll see soon enough. VERY soon, in fact. ^^