#Featuring: Bakemon

[digimontamerrichie-tcg]

[legofanguy]

A Digimon fanfiction featuring my oc Gwen the Goth girl and her Digimon partner Bakemon.

As Gwen have her Digimon partner put up the black decorations, the Goth girl then said to her partner, “Oh yeah, this directly make my house more gloomy.” and the ghost Digimon comment, “Yes. This reminds of my old house.”

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure 02 (Blind Watch) - Episode 17

Wait...I literally just remembered that the parents (plus a bunch of other people) saw all the digital world stuff by the final episode of season 1. What exactly is the IRL awareness of digimon?? The kids have to hide that they're going to the digital world from their parents, but maybe that's more because it's dangerous? Or was there some memory wipe thing I'm forgetting about. (This ramble triggered by a line in the dub where Matt says "Don't tell me Myotismon destroyed the studio again!?" to his dad...)

Anyway, putting my confusion aside, I really enjoyed this one. It had the good kind of callbacks instead of some cheap repeats. It was especially nice to see the S1 kids finally sit down with the new kids and tell their story. Probably should have done that already by now, but better late than never!

There was...no battle in this one?? Wild...

Notes:

-I think the movie director in the beginning of the episode had the same VA as Joe. Low key distracting.

-I liked the concept of not just a ghost being caught on camera, but a ghost that changes its movements every time you play the video back. Not sure I've seen that done before...

-Very heartwarming that they've turned Aug. 1st into a special day of remembrance amongst their friend group. I've seen fans making posts about the date before and maybe I'll start celebrating it too! (I'm an August baby so it feels extra special).

-Aside from Bakemon who doesn't count, I guess this is our first ghost digimon? Really unfair that Wizarmon didn't get to be reincarnated like everyone else :'( I wonder if we'll see him again?

-I sighed a small sigh of relief when we got hat!Mimi back. More importantly, her ridiculous pink/starry hair is gone! I hope this isn't just a temporary change. She looks really cute with pig tails

-Didn't really think about the difference between living with a single dad vs. a single mom until Takeru and Yamato had a discussion about it. Is every single mom in this series a homemaker...? (Nothing wrong with that, but it would be awkward if there wasn't at least one mom with a job).

-They censored the curry in the dub lol. American kids in the early 2000s didn't know what curry was I guess

-This episode featured a bunch of MD players to the point where it felt suspiciously like an ad. I had to google what an MD was and it's a mini-disc (like GameCube game sized). Of course, they just called it a "CD player" in the dub

-Dead at the dub line "Don't mind him dad, he's just not a happy little buffalo!" LOL (American kids also don't know what sutras are apparently)

-They addressed a question I had in my earlier post about how they were stuck using the computer lab to enter the digi-world. Koushiro finally figured out that they could connect from any computer and that the D3 device was more important. (Honestly, they should have thought of this sooner, but I guess everyone's busy with school lol).

-It felt kind of weird to me how Wizarmon was showing up on TV to get Tailmon's attention, but we never really see the kids watching TV or catching any of these appearances. They kinda just stumble across him instead because Tailmon's Wizarmon's senses start tingling. Oh well, all's well that ends well...

-Very rare episode where there's no battle and the digimon only evolve to their rookie forms. I feel like this shows that the writers trusted the kids enough to sit through an episode without all the usual stuff, so that's nice.

-I'm going to go ahead and qualify this as a Halloween episode because ooky spooky

-Wizarmon continues Gennai's tradition of giving super vague and unhelpful information. Thanks for nothing! (I guess he was mainly hinting that Ken is a victim of "the darkness." Okay, Kingdom Hearts...)

-Sad Tailmon tho ;-;

[kyanitedragon]

My Spoiler-Free Thoughts On Digimon Survive!

All-in-all, I really enjoyed it! I was fully and excitedly expecting a visual novel, and it delivered!

I’ve only seen “cheaper” visual novels before, like DDLC or Dream Daddy or Hustle Cat. And in comparison, Survive has much more work put into their sprites. They have a surprising amount of animation to them, compared to how static your typical visual novel is, which helps make the scenes a bit more dynamic.

The game was admittedly a bit text-heavy at times, but I personally found Cyber Sleuth’s text much more boring and painful to get through.

I really liked the Karma system! Most choice-based games have a very simplistic Good / Bad / Neutral system, but the system here felt very nuanced. There were multiple times where I felt the Wrathful option seemed more Moral and vice versa. I went into the game playing naturally and not aiming for any particular ending, and despite having a mostly unchanged mindset the entire game, at different points I felt myself leaning more towards the different karmas.

The characterization of the human characters is really good. You can see references to the original adventure kids, but the survive gang is so vastly different from the adventure cast, or even any of the other digimon anime casts. Personally I like digimon's reuse of tropes throughout the anime series, but getting new characterizations here was really refreshing. I found Aoi and Saki a bit lacking, and felt they were reduced to just being The Girls, but Miu and Miyuki I really enjoyed and they ended up two of my favorites.

The characterization of the digimon is especially really good. Each digimon has a distinct personality and gets a lot of screentime and attention. Some of the anime series lacked on developing certain digimon, but Survive does it really well! Even the digimon villains I felt had more character and motive than your typical digimon adventure villain did.

I really liked the choices for the main characters’ digimon and their digivolutions. And it was really nice to see the lesser-seen digimon get such a large and well-written role!

As for the digimon options for joining your party, I was a bit disappointed at how few there were. Cyber Sleuth had so many! And the digivolution options here were very v-pet-like — they don’t really make any sense. I was a little frustrated that two digimon would be in the game but not in the same digivolution lines. But it also made guessing the lines more fun.

I also really liked that Survive touched on quite a few dark themes that would have been too dark to cover in the anime series. Even Tri, despite being advertised as dark and adult-oriented, really didn't contain anything worse than the kids anime. But Survive definetly does! These dark things I had been wondering but fully accepted would never make it into the series for being too dark, and was pleasantly surprised when they showed up here. They broke my heart, in the best way.

There were a couple translation errors, but nowhere near as bad as Cyber Sleuth – which mistranslated the word “monster” as “Bakemon” repeatedly and made the game very confusing at times. The most distracting errors I found in my playthrough were:

randomly changing pronouns for the digimon partners (which imo works out, since Digimon arguably don’t have gender, although this game never covers this idea)

at one point, in someone’s dialogue they mention Miu instead of what is supposed to be Miyuki’s name, but this error is pretty clear from the scene’s context

One of my favorite and most appreciated things about this game: There are so many Quality of Life features in the game, available from the get-go!

You can skip through dialogue and scenes!

You can set battles to auto!

Auto-battling comes with several options! You can set them to: (1) no auto-digivolving (2) auto-digivolving (3) using items (4) keep the digimon together to have a better chance of tag-teaming and powering up each other (5) send your digimon to split up and fight enemies one-on-one.

You can change the difficulty before any battle.

If you fail a battle, there’s not a game over and instead you’re given several options to try again: (1) try again with no change (2) change the difficulty (3) get brought to an area to grind and level up before trying the battle again

Changing the difficulty does not change the EXP or prizes you get. As someone who’s not always the best at video games, I really appreciate how it doesn’t penalize you at all for playing on a lower difficulty.

I did get some spoilers before finishing the game (entirely my fault) but none of them took away from the game. Even when I knew certain things were going to happen, I was still shocked by them. In some ways knowing the spoilers enhanced my experience, because it upped the tension a lot. And the spoiler I had been most upset by, ended up being an early reveal so it didn't ruin the story nearly as much as I had feared it would.

So if you've gotten spoilers, don't worry! Survive is definetly the kind of story to stand on its own and still keep you entertained and surprised and guessing, even if you've gotten some spoilers!

[autoplaysdigimon]

Leaving the back page on for Reasons.

Anyway, this is the next issue I own! No Toy Town comic, sadly. Where are we up to in the story?

Thanks, Devimon!

(is this why I thought Devimon did the seperation thing intentionally? gdi shitty supermarket comics confusing me)

That’s some weird captioning.

The obligatory!

Anyway, the same deal goes here. It’s a very abridged version of the episode, not much to differentiate. I like this panel though:

If only because I feel like that second panel coud be an interesting reaction image.

what the HECK is going on with Joe’s hair????

The taunting scene is cut down to this:

which is great because what the heck?? It makes even less sense and it’s amazing.

Anyway, Bakemon does whatever that is, the make him explode, all is well, they head off to Infinity Mountain. And that’s it! (If it feels like these are too short, it’s because they are. Hell, there was more text in the blogging that I did about the episode than this comic.)

So now it’s the ads and what the heck

Literally only one of those characters featured there are in these comics. Only two of them are in the videos shown above. Good job, guys. 

[turqrambles]

Digimon World - Midgame - Some Assorted Thoughts

At the time of writing this post, I’m sitting at around 31 Prosperity for the first Digimon World game for the PS1, which I could consider pretty mid-game for this type of game, so I just want to write down what I think about this little adventure.

For the record, I am talking about the original Playstation version of the game. The one with the T-rating (which feels way too high for this game since there’s no swear words and the battle damage is fantasy-level at best - is it because of all the poop in this game?) and the one with the CGI Metalgreymon on the cover for the NTSC versions of the game.

I’m playing this game on a physical copy that somehow survived like five moves on my PS3, just for reference. 

(Yes that’s that actual price I paid for it. That was a big price for little kid me.)

The Past Trials of My Schoolchild Self

First thing’s first - as a kid, I actually did not like this game very much!

For starters, I didn’t get very far in the game. My Digimon would keep pooping all over the place for one since I don’t think I fully understood the timing of this mechanic. I stopped playing the game when my Airdramon was one poop away from turning into a Sukamon and I found myself unable to stop it because I saved right before my Airdramon would make the final poop, thus trapping me in an unwinnable game loop. If I turned the game back on, I could only watch as my beautiful flying feathered snake transformed into a poop with eyeballs as I was powerless to stop it.

My Digimon had to suffer for my mistakes.

But besides that, I just found the game far too cryptic to figure out just what was going on, and my Digimon would never turn into anything cool. My Airdramon really was the coolest thing my Digimon ever evolved into, so the yellow turd Digimon really was like salt on a wound.

But, to add insult to injury, one time I hatched a baby Botamon and talked to the old man, only to have this giant dinosaur run up to me and blast the literal infant into smithereens.

Greymon is a dick.

What I remember from kid me’s file of this game - I finished the Drill Tunnel, I got to the dinosaur world one time, and I’m pretty sure I entered Myotismon’s mansion one time because out of sheer luck, my Agumon digivolved into a Bakemon one time.

I know what I didn’t do - I never recruited any of the shopkeeper Digimon so I was doing an itemless run as a kid. A big mistake, considering how important items are in this game!

A Brutal Beginning

Playing this game in 2020 when I’m an adult and have a better concept in how these types of games work is making this playthrough a lot easier for me, but don’t be fooled. This game is still pretty difficult.

I’m going to be real. One of the main turn offs for this game for a lot of players, especially little kids in the year 2000 with dial-up internet and no strategy guide like myself, is that this is one of those games where the beginning starts out slow. Real slow.

Sure, most great RPGs give you a real sense of power and accomplishment once you figure out the mechanics and get stronger as you progress through the game, but in this game, you have less options at the start because, as it turns out, the shopkeepers, the superior meat farmers, the air taxi service, and all those fun little options typically available to you in other RPGs have all turned feral as a result of A Bad Thing That Happened on File Island and it’s up to you and your plucky partner Digimon to explore the wilds and beat them up one by one until they gain a little humanity (...digitanity) and expand the town. 

While it is really cool to see the town expand through the course of the game - buildings are built and lights are gradually installed - but man, the fact that you go for a long time without having a shop if you don’t know what to do kinda sucks. A lot. I kept thinking to myself about how Pokemon is a lot more generous with the item drops and, while the shop inventories at Viridian City and Pewter City aren’t great, they’re there from the beginning.

Note: To get this guy, you have to chase a rumor from a Baby Digimon that there’s a fish that shows up after a certain time on a certain map. Then you have to progress through the jungle enough that you find the one Betamon that isn’t an enemy. There. Now the shop’s open. What, are you saying that’s super convoluted? Why yes it is. Welcome to Digimon World.

Not only that, but this game’s biggest flaw comes from one tiny feature it omits from the game - Digimon World doesn’t have a world map.

See this artwork? This is the most you’re ever going to get.

You know how a lot of RPGs - your Pokemon, your Final Fantasy, etc etc - have a world map that’s easy to access from the start menu? Yeah, this game doesn’t have that. It instead prints a rather rudimentary map in both the instruction manual and on the design of the actual disc. You know what that means? You’re SOL if you ever bought this game used.

I didn’t of course, but physically cracking open my disc case just to be like “ah okay I need to go north” was more annoying than anything. Maybe if the instruction manual came with an actual physical map you can unfold would’ve been better?

The Starter Dilemma

Like most monster collecting games, you have a choice of starters at the beginning of the game. Depending on how you answer the questions at the beginning of the game (all two of them, with only one of them truly mattering), you can start with either an Agumon or a Gabumon. Cool, right?

Well, it starts the fall apart the moment you fight the first boss in the game - a wild Agumon with weaker stats than your partner. And that’s when you realize that one of the starters starts out with a major battle disadvantage at the very start.

Agumon’s starting move is a little ranged attack that it can shoot at enemies. It can hit the enemy from pretty far away so he can evade a lot of close up attacks.

Gabumon’s starting move is an ineffective little flailing of his arms that requires him to get up super close to the other Digimon in order to hit them.

Did I mention this attack is weaker than Agumon’s starting move? This type of starter set-up is utterly baffling to me. Why would you intentionally hobble one of the choices?

So if you were a kid hoping to go on a grand adventure with your happy little dog lizard (instead of doing what a lot of people recommend, which is train your dog lizard for several in-game days until he evolves into something better) expect to see a lot of battles where the enemy Digimon just casually moves out of the way as your dog lizard yells “PWAH”.

Luckily this problem ceases to exist once you start digivolving and learning new techniques, but it’s still a major bummer to start the game on.

On top of that, unlike Pokemon, your Digimon can die. It can only faint three times in battle before he crumbles into a pile of bits and data in a rather brutal cutscene involving the flesh being ripped off your partner’s wire frame while the old man Digimon just kinda glumly stands off to the side and is like “lol he ded”.

So uh, have fun with that, children who accidentally run into a boss Digimon while trying to figure out where the hell anything is.

Sometimes Being Cryptic Is Good

That being said, in an age where I can just peek at my phone if I’m stuck, this game is kinda refreshing in a “playing your first Pokemon game” kind of way.

With no in-game maps and only vague hints of what to do next purely by talking to the villagers, you’re just kinda...left to your own digivices (see what I did there) as you explore this vast, uncharted world and slowly figure out what you’re supposed to do next and, since the world is arranged in a circle around the town, you can go in multiple directions and progress in any way you want.

There’s no set progression, with the story advancing based on how many Digimon you befriend rather than what places you’ve beaten. There’s no pressing incentive to go beyond the Native Forest if you don’t feel ready for that yet. Sure, the town won’t expand if you don’t, but you can still go at things at your own pace until you get a better feel for the environment. You’re just left to experiment as you gradually figure out how to make your Digimon evolve into cooler things.

And honestly, it’s kinda fun playing a game where I don’t know the exact numbers off the top of my head in terms of how to get a certain Digimon so a lot of times I’m genuinely surprised at the evolutions I get.

You just, you know, need a lot of patience. Especially when this game’s English translation is...not great. (which is common with a lot of PS1 games)

The land changed after the land changes happened.

Current Consensus

You need a bit of patience to play this game, but it’s definitely rewarding if you stick by it. I’m certainly having fun playing this game, but I will say out loud that I’m also playing this game while watching a couple let’s plays and having GameFAQs open.

I will say that, as an adult, I actually find myself appreciate this game more than when I did as a child.  It has its flaws, but after a pretty intense learning curve, it becomes pretty rewarding. You know, when it’s not requiring me to fish The Lake Guardian at 9 am with a piece of meat attached to my fishing rod in order to improve my gym.

I give it a “It’s Fun When It’s Not Being Bullshit” out of 10.

Quick Bullet Points

This game has some bangers in the soundtrack so at least it’s pleasant to listen to.

I do like that you can evade the enemy Digimon on screen so you can reasonably enter some places with a lower leveled Digimon than what that area requires. This is just not advisable since most of the Digimon are befriended with a boss fight. That being said, item management is a big thing in this game so enemy dodging is still a useful trait.

You can buy portapotties to keep your Digimon from shitting on the ground but since your Digimon has only one use animation, it uses it by eating it.

 Cherrymon has a radically different design in this game than any other piece of Digimon media and it’s kinda funny how creepy he looks in this game.

The Monochromon Shop minigame earned the reputation that it has - it truly does suck ass and leave you at the mercy of RNG.

It’s been proven by hacking the game that the Bonus Try in the Gym exercises is rigged so never use it.

I like how this game creates recolors to make sure you can tell the difference between the recruitable Digimon and the Digimon that are just meant to be fought against....only for the series to then make these recolors recruitable, defeating their original purpose. I guess I should be glad they’re all considered proper Digimon now.

Poop is an element. You can have creatures of the Poop type.

No seriously Monochromon’s Shop minigame has given me a hatred for Veggiemon and I don’t think I can ever recover.

[strawberry-macchiato]

Digimon x Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

An idea that branched out from “summer 1999”

The first image is Jojo’s Bizarre Summer Adventure 1999 featuring Josuke & Gomamon, Jotaro & Gabumon, Okuyasu & Bakemon, Koichi & Digiegg, and Yukako

The second image is Jolyne activating the crest of Love with Piyomon

The last image is the Jojos fighting Over Heaven DiO as the digidestined crest floats over their head (Jotaro: friendship, Jolyne: love, Josuke: reliability, Jonathan: sincerity, Giorno: light, Joseph: knowledge, Gappy: hope, Johnny: courage)

[citrus-cactus]

Kizuna Countdown (20th Anniversary/20 Questions) #13

Favorite Non-Partnered Digimon

Ohhh, this one is hard!! Also, going to be switching back to English dub names because I’m not super-confident I know all of the Japanese ones and am too lazy to look them up atm ^^;

I really like some of the “monsters of the day” that only had one feature episode and a secondary appearance during the Dark Masters arc (Frigimon, Elecmon, and Piximon come to mind). Wizardmon is obviously a top contender for being one of the most intriguing members of Myotismon’s army (and I am still IN LOVE with that series of fanart showing, among other things, him interacting with Mr. Ishida!). But the more I thought about villains last night, the more I realized I liked DemiDevimon. I’m all about psychological harm to the DigiDestined (in the name of making them stronger, of course!), and DemiDevimon certainly delivered that. He wasn’t even half-bad at keeping the kids separated and unhappy until Tai and Agumon showed up and started getting the band back together, so props for being a pretty good minion and a nasty little fuzzball to boot (plus, props to Derek Stephen Prince-- he is so excellent in all of his Digimon roles!). I love that he made it onto TK’s first GEM figure as the anti-Patamon as well (hahaha, he needs to go in the pre-Tri hat post!)!

Actually-- and this is going to sound really weird-- I really love the random Bakemon that Tai and Agumon assault in the real world. Dude’s just minding his own business, being marginally evil, kinda having a bad day of his own, and then out of nowhere:

The whole scene and the lines they gave him in the dub never fail to crack me up. Poor guy.

[steviepatamon]

Commission Info: https://steviepatamon.tumblr.com/post/160350282875/commissioninfo

[digimontamerrichie-tcg]

[digimontamerrichie-tcg]

[digimontamerrichie-tcg]

Feels weird that Devimon is a common card while Bakemon is uncommon.