We messed up! Digimon Survive absolutely did chart at #8 in the July 2022 NPD sales charts! This is something we missed when we we really shouldn't have. Apologies for that. It certainly does paint a rosier picture of the game's American sales given that it managed to chart for July despite coming out in the aforementioned RPG sandwich- and so close to the end of the month, too! Here's a link if you'd like to see for yourself! t.co/BFoJdHJA1z
I think the games that are good candidates for future episodes are Halo Infinite (or Halo under 343 Industries in general), Saints Row (2022 Reboot), Crackdown 3, We Happy Few, and Forspoken.
But it is weird it charted in the general NPD when it didn't in the NPD chart for xbox and ps4 (but it did on the switch one), i guess it did really well in PC in the west?
It's the same with most Digimon games sales wise. Namco Bandai releases a new Digimon game, barely promote it and then they wonder why it didn't sell well.
@@raisingwings2913 That’s brutal. Where I live no copy arrived and no stores have received them as of yet. I had to buy mines through the eshop and since I loved it got it physically online.
Something else to note: when this game DID finally come out, finding physical copies of it was actually very hard! I didn’t actually get Survive until a week or two later, when I finally found it at GameStop. It was the last copy. So I think that also messed with its sales numbers. Also also worth noting, is that Xenoblade 3 suddenly moved UP a month in release, which is practically unheard of. So that release date didn’t originally look so bad. There’s was still Live a Live sure, but it wasn’t dealing with a juggernaut like Xenoblade at the same time. Speaking of a game with lots of delays, as in over a DECADE of delays, but still managing to both release and be really good, I’d love a Wha Happun video on NEO The World Ends With You.
I didn't know that but I did preorder the game as soon as I could. Yeah no the Xenoblade move up was painful, not a fan of Xenoblade I tried playing the first chronicle game but not my type of game.
Shipments were screwed up or something for what I hear for the Switch copies. I ended up finding it on Gamestops website after release though, and I believe after the first week the issue semi resolved.
As a huge fan of Digimon this game was such a great addition to our catalog. I just wish Bandai Namco would give this series more attention and care, they always shaft Digimon over any other anime game.
In one hand Digimon it’s not as big as Pokémon in terms of sales and popularity and Bandai mostly focuses on popular Animes likes DBZ and MHA cause they sell the most and Digimon it’s a extremely niche franchise that mostly sells better in Japan
I was pleasantly impressed with what they gave us with this game. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially after playing through the game fully (that includes all four pathways). Definately recommend it for any fan of Digimon or those that like visual novel storytelling.
Speaking of care and attention Pokemon fans lost their minds over the cut of the national dex in sword and Shield, but no Digimon game ever had all Digimon in it (in fact if I'm remembering the numbers properly it wasn't until Sword and Shield that Pokemon finally had more Pokemon than Digimon had Digimon; how poetic); and I doubt Bandai Namco would care if the fans complained regardless.
Digimon Survive is a great game and I’ve been throughly invested in the narrative from the beginning. It’s honestly amazing that the game went through several delays and had to restart development and still released in such an excellent state.
It's very different from past digimon games but i agree. Given what i imagined to be half a decade of development hell im glad that it's an enjoyable game despite being a little simple with a couple of the characters and in combat
I was surprised to see a flophouse on this game, but I only became aware of it leading up to launch... My heart sank when I saw the thumbnail, because I figured fans rejected this presentation or something. Good to see that it was a story of bad developement decisions from higher ups that ends with a solid game. Digimon leading into the darker elements that have been present since the beginning feels like the best direction for it to go. I love the game, and I hope it gets a sequel that has all the stuff regular fans of the cyber sleuth/world games want with the scope and style of story we got here in Survive.
Being a Digimon (game) fan is pain. Pain. And I appreciate Habu wanting the Digimon games to not be hindered by just being the samey games, wanting to tackle different types of Digimon games (like a Dating Sim!), and I'm open to more VN style Digimon games like Survive! But again, this type of market is a niche on games and I can only wish Digimon came close to Pokemon sales or popularity while doing a different thing.
Honestly I'd love to see them give the World 4 style of gameplay another try with Online play. World 4 was an absolutely solid game and is very enjoyable with friend. I think with how much we've learned in terms of game devolopment we might get something awesome, or a total flop.
habu in one of the most recent interviews has said with modern hardware (they are no longer working with vita titles that were later ported like cyber sleuth or next order), games from the main line of games (the world and Story series) would take an average of 5 years of development, that's the only reason he wants to have minor projects in between like survive, the game was supposed to have only two years of development to get the exact same product we got with Hyde as the developers
The sad thing is that being sandwiched between XC3 and Live A Live wasn't even their fault, it was just bad luck. XC3 was slated to come out in September when they first announced Survive's date, but then it got pushed forward 2 months due to the change with Splatoon's release date, something no one saw coming. Games being "reverse delayed" are an anomaly in this industry. That said, I honestly think the game is great fun and really scratched that itch of "playing through a digimon anime" for me. But Bamco really, REALLY needs to invest more resources into Digimon. Their marketing for this particular franchise sucks so much for some reason.
Especially in localization/translation, and maybe quality assurance. Because seriously, I found a couple of errors in my playthroughs, from getting pronouns wrong (as in, she's being called he's), and apparently lines appearing where they're not supposed to (apparently, there's developer notes that were left in a dialogue).
@@providence1517 yeah, I caught a few. During Ryo ultimate, it says "takuma portrait isnt shown here" in a takuma speech box. Then there is Shuuji calling Lopmon, Lopman. I also saw in moral endgame they say "Lets go save Miu" instead of Miyuki lmao
Well is mostly the outside japan side of things, in Japan Digimon has decent marketing and share of fame. they just forgot that is not just Japan that is interested in said product.
@@youkofoxy it sounds like that is the case for a lot of anime properties such as Digimon, they don't understood or care how much of an untapped market they have outside of Japan.
With how often Bandai wants to fuck over Digimon, we really can’t be surprised: plus hey more attention to this franchise that isn’t comparing it to Pokémon is always good!
@@DragonKingYara Bandai never wants to fuck over Digimon*! They just have a long history of doing really stupid shit with it! *ok the fuckin frontier movie debacle kind of counts but that's a story in its own right
@@TheShinyFeraligatr dude, did you not watch the latest digicon? They outright said that they barely have any budget. And as a salt to wound kind of deal, on the same day scamco also announced gundam metaverse, so we all know where the budget went. It is verily a miracle that this game even came out
@@FerrickAnima Yeah on top of Toei somehow using their influence to fuck over the franchise. Like with the Blu-Ray version of Adventure 2020, they actually had a booklet saying what was dropped due to Toei not letting them have an extension due to the pandemic
oh man this one hits close to home. i’m a big digimon fan and when i picked up the game at gamestop that i preordered, the cashier said they’d only gotten in the copies that people had preordered and bandai ceased production on physical copies of the game. that stung.
That’s weird, I just bought a physical version yesterday at my local GameStop (Brand New, NOT Pre-Owned). I decided to pick up the game after I watched a few stream VODs of the game in action. It looked fun and unique compared to what I know about other entries in the franchise. Ironically, I was also attempting to buy Xenoblade Chronicles 3 as well to play after I finish Digimon Survive, but not only was it sold out, they don’t know when they will get any more copies of it in stock.
Same thing here, I asked my local shop awhile back because they’ll do specific pre orders and when I picked it up he mentioned that they only received enough copies for the pre orders. Not a single game more
The edited in Digimon clips were super on point, but Apocalymon's "I HOPE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON, ALWAYS SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS!" was perfect after the review bombing salt
Digimon Survive turned out pretty dang good. Highly recommended to fans of the franchise. It's kind of like it's own take on Digimon Adventure. Instead of a mostly fun adventure, it deals with the the actuality of being trapped in an unknown world with no idea what to do. The cast didn't just magically forget who they were before arriving either. They bring all that baggage to this terrifying situation and things fall apart. They just need to survive and hopefully find a way home.
I just didn't get that feeling at all, man. I like visual no els and all, but the drama of that factor is really drained when a little T-Rex or the like is trying to deliver it. It's just silly. I adore Tactics games, and well, this one is just cut-rate at best.
I'll admit I'm probably not that far into the story yet (I'm definitely trying to get further in but I'm a busy adult with limited time for reading. Since I tend to multitask many of my games for this reason, it's hard for me to find time to devote to just one thing these days) so that could explain the disparity, but I just kind of wish there was more balance between the fighting mechanics and the visual novel mechanics. I generally enjoy VN's, but the knowledge that it's a digimon game and I could be running around fighting takes some of the fun out of it for me. They have those free areas to fight digimon so far, but you only access those during explore mode and so far it's just been the same rookies. Again, could just be because I've only gotten so far into the story but it's been hard for me to justify dropping all my other stuff to read to get to the free areas. I get that's not really the point of this game and I respect and understand why people use that as a rebuttal, I'm just explaining why it's been personally difficult for me to get into the game despite my best efforts.
I love Digimon, I love tactics games and I love a good story, but I didn't like this game at all. It's actually the first and only Steam game I've since refunded. To me it felt like a boilerplate light horror VN with Digimon attached to the side.
Survive feels truly like the Marmite of Digimon games. For people who dig it it's super fun and has one of the strongest stories we've seen in Digimon games and people who don't it's the worst thing Digimon has put out. That wait though, while technically not that long really for the industry, was VERY hard to get through. Great video Matt, thanks for showing the Digimenz some love
I love pretty much all things Digimon and i know the game has problems but it is still a solid entry even if it's just for the story itself, even if the writing could use some polish. Overall we need more slightly out there Digimon games. I don't know why but i have the feeling Digimon just lends itself to all kinds of weird shit.
@@Mahaveez Almost everything after the second season is a different continuity (the best being Tamers. The exception being Tri, which is an Adventure series, but... has very mixed reception).
I love this game. I'm not big on visual novels but I'm a fan of the approach to the lore of the digimon and the way the characters are reacting to thier adventure. The battles are a bit basic but I get a lot out of being able to digivolve digimons and having a cool looking party.
As someone whose beaten all the routes in the game, the SRPG Battles are as deep as they needed to be for game, could they have gotten more in depth? Sure, but what we got was easy enough for anyone to be able to pick up and play the battles out without needing to know SRPG General mechanics.
@@Beyblade_worrior you bought the wrong game lol. The story is 100% the reason to get this game. The combat is so shallow that you're better off playing triangle strategy, tactics ogre, diofield or whatever instead
Important note: As someone who is a big fan of Digimon and kept up with all of this, the issue a lot of fans had wasn't so much "This is a visual novel, ew" it was mostly due to the poor communication from the developers about how MUCH of a visual novel it was. This game was pushed hard as a visual novel / stratagy rpg hybrid, leaning slightly more towards visual novel (I believe the main dev said at digicon that it would be a 70/30 split between visual novel and stratagy rpg but I could be mistaken). A lot of fans were expecting something like fire emblem or devil survivor. This game is not a 70/30 split by any means, if anything you could argue it's a 90/10 split, danganrompa is less of a visual novel than this game. The strategy segments feel like small pitstops to make sure you're still paying attention. Don't get me wrong I think Survive is pretty good, but it wasn't just fans hating for the sake of it, a lot of them felt like they were misled.
I think it was over hyped. I remember them saying it was mainly a visual novel with some tactical rpg. Like seriously I had a guy saying it sucked because it was a visual novel.
Yeah I haven't really seen people mad about the VN aspect, just that they had to wait 2+ hours for a battle that ends almost instantly and goes right back to 2+ hours of VN.
This is a fairly accurate take for me on it. I was really excited for a new Digimon game, even if it had visual novel aspect, not a big fan. But it was so heavily a VN that I struggle to enjoy. The characters were weak, the story was sub par, and the actual battles were just so bland.
The straight hour of dialogue after a major event occurs at one point was kind of where I was like "Ahhh okay, this is a visual NOVEL" Still, really enjoying the game so far
Adding in the fact that they had a small developer on this it probably still made a profit. I At least hope it does and they keep going with different ideas. For all the problems the game had for me i still liked it and Digimon just needs more good games.
I really hope they stick the story structure of this game and make a jrpg from it. I love how it captures the spirit of the anime where each digimon is just a reflection of their tamer. A persona style social link system that ties to the digimon's evolution is such a neat concept as well. I wish we had more of that explored and less of the vn selections filling in for time.
10:35 Small correction, but just looking through their website I noticed that this company were the devs on Hometown Story, Harvest Moon Hero of Leaf Valley, and a Japan only Atelier DS game. So they do have a bit more semi high profile releases to their name than just a Tinker Bell game
I didn't even know people didn't like this game. Everyone I know who's a fan of the franchise and loves horror and visual novels loves Digimon Survive.
Its a shame that things didn't go better for Survive. I have my gripes with it, but its a breath of fresh air for the series. It alongside the more horror focused Ghost Game anime have made Digimon feel more unique to its contemporaries this generation. Hopefully we can see more narratively driven games for Digimon within the better received JRPG format should reception to the story be good.
I guess it does make sense one why the TRPG side was so underdeveloped compared to the VN side after the developer switch. The writer and art team probably stayed the same but the people making the game changed so the VN side kept its good writing and art directions while the actual gameplay and strategy side got hit hard so it ended up simpler then everyone expected
Holy shit it actually happened. I always joked this game would get a Wha Happun episode when it kept getting delayed, but I never thought I'd actually be right. Also, I thought the game was alright. It was always going to be fighting an uphill battle being three niches at once: visual novel, TRPG, and Digimon. But it's a passion project and it shows. A lot of love went into it. The game's biggest flaw was its choice of genre, which is entirely up to personal taste.
I don't know about passion project since it didn't look like the director of the game looked too invested like part of him seemed very sure this was not gonna surpass cyber sleuth and he seemed to want more than just the usual group of people
@@Fureiji88 Habu stated a few times that his "dream project" for Digimon would be a visual novel with tactics-based battles, and that became Digimon Survive. He may have become somewhat disillusioned at some point once the project kept meeting hurdles -- nobody can know for sure -- but the game definitely stemmed from an idea Habu was passionate about.
Wow...Didn't expect to see this game show up on here. Especially since it's actually pretty damn good. Like....actually better than I thought it would be when I spent most of its development time on the fence about whether or not I even wanted it.
What Happened isn't about about bad videogames. It's a about troublesome developments. There's been episodes for good games like Trials in the Sky SC, FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE and DOOM (2016).
@@davidjbs8127 Fair enough. Usually when I see a game on here that I recognize, it's a bad game that also had trouble in development to explain why it turned out bad 😅
@@Bag2218 It is generally the case. Its hard for a game with troubled development to turn out good. It needs good leadership and a strong idea for that to happen.
Honestly, I just really hope we can get more games exploring not only this level of dark maturity in the series, but also the big emphasis on Digimon partners being pure mirrors of their fated child’s heart. I always loved that aspect of the series and really want to see it your on more in the games like it was here
I am so glad this game finally came out. After finally sitting down and playing it (includiing all 4 pathways Harmony, Wrathful, Moral and then Truthful). This game was a pleasant ride. The story and characters really carry it. Yes the combat is very basic when compared to Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics but for a game that went through so much development hell, it still does a decent job. The Digimon roster is also very decent too, using digimon that are both classics and those that are obscure/less-known. I know the director of the game who came onboard would love to very much do a sequel provided the game sold well enough and I seriously hope he does get another shot at it. Wholeheartedly recommend this game to any fan of Digimon and those who like visual novel storytelling.
It's unlikely he'll go for a sequel since that would require this game to go on the same height or surpass cyber sleuth which far as sells go did not do too well as shown here and that's always considered a failure in general especially to companies like toei who invest not to mention at times the potential of digimon.
Once Digimon survive made it to the light at the end of the tunnel, then it turned out that the light at the end of the tunnel was the final boss which was Noah and mio, so I can see why Digimon survive didn't do well
I'll be honest, I never heard of this game until it was released and I got it the day after it came out. I found the game to be fine but nothing special, and the battle system was more annoying than fun. But it definitely did something no other game did. It reminded me of how much I LOVE Digimon, I left the series in the late 2000s and never did anything with it since. But the game made me go back to a lot of the stuff I grew up with Digimon related and made me a hardcore fan again. Survive is nothing special, but it brought back a side of me I lost years ago and loved that it came back. And sure as hell, it's here to stay.
I recommend checking on the original Digimon shortfilm by Mamoru Hosoda. The Japanese version specifically because the early Digimon dubs are full of bad rewrites that ruin the tone and character writing that make that early stuff so good in Japanese. It was made to be standalone, but the story boards were so good that Toei decided to make a full TV series sequel to this short, Digimon Adventure. If you really don't like the early episodes of Adventure, that show does take a while to hit it's stride, you can also try watching Digimon Tamers which I think is the best Digimon anime series. If you've already seen those, then I'd recommend Savers, Appmon, and V-Tamer which are really underappreciated. As for games, Cyber Sleuth is a good entry point and has a Final Fantasy X styled combat system. The original Digimon World is also charming with a really interesting aesthetic, but the v-pet RPG hybrid gameplay can be hard to figure out. Digimon also started as a virtual pet Tamagotchi spinoff. If this side of the franchise interests you, then the best starting place with the Digimon Ver. 20th.
I actually like how it actually feels like your actions have consequences. That's something I can't say about Pokemon. People dying actually made things feel more like I had to choose wisely
If you want to go back to the rabbit hole the cyber sleuth games are a great way to start, a pretty good turn based RPG with elements of story and gameplay inspired by the persona franchise The new anime ghost game is also pretty good, it gives a spookier take to the digital monsters and so far it has been considered one of the best shows that the franchise has put in recent years. Just...don't watch tri, literally go for anything but tri , hell start up with the appmon spin off everyone has already forgotten about just don't go for tri
I found the games REALY good it reminded me of how much I missed digit on (the only show I watched was data squad as a kid and fusion that I was meh when I was scrolling though netflix
Glad you covered Digimon Survive Matt, hopefully future "what happen" episodes you'll cover more jrpg games like Neo the world ends with you, Tales of Zestiria, Breath of Fire series, Fire Emblem Fates birthright/conquest, and more recently Soul Hackers 2 since everyone has mixed opinions on Soul Hackers 2.
Looking at _Soul Hackers 2_ on Steam, the first review at the time said something to the effect of 'Lower your expectations; this isn't a top tier game like a _Persona_ or a _Shin Megami Tensei."_ Check the price, and sure enough Atlus is asking $60 for it, so they're pricing it the same as those. If they're at that price point, then I can expect a game of that quality. No idea if the game is any good, mind, but it's totally fair to compare a game that comes out years later at the same price point in the same extended franchise by metrics that are the same or even more strict, not less because it has a less well known name.
@@boobah5643 true, from reviews i seen on TH-cam megaten/atlus fans is some say its "good but disappointing" since people are comparing it to SMT 5, Persona 5 and even the 1st Soul Hackers, I'll still get it just see for myself the gameplay and story. Of course most people debate if Soul Hackers 2 would have sold more if it was on Nintendo Switch, and many are ANGRY at Atlus dlc situation with Soul Hackers 2 and other Atlus titles.
In another time and place, this could have been a strong analogue to SMT Devil Survivor, but I feel like Digimon dropped the ball on a lot of what made those games so strong. There was never anything wrong with the intent of making a conversation and narrative heavy strategy RPG, but things like philosophy of alignment, fleshing out characters, and how the game handles multiple endings all pale in comparison to how they should have hypothetically worked. Hopefully Survive does lead to the development of successors that reinforce its strengths and prunes the things holding it back,
Yeah, the Digimon franchise can be perfect for this type of game. Since they have been continuing the "Story" games, Survive could hopefully convince them to look into continuing to refine this spinoff too.
As someone who enjoyed it, my sticking point is how poorly it compares to Devil Survivor. I appreciate games that take time to tell compelling stories, even at the cost of gameplay, but Devil Survivor is also a better story by most measuring sticks, completely besides annihilating it in gameplay. I hope it gets sequels or something to beef it up, because the bones of what's there are incredible.
@@aprinnyonbreak1290 I find the comparison to Devil Survivor unfair. DS was made by a company that had years and, more importantly, games to fine-tune and improve their storytelling in this realm. Digimon Survive is BAMCO's first foray into this realm, there was no way for them to be able to surpass DS this quickly.
@@toumabyakuya Eh, I don't think so. Maybe if they were a smaller fresh company, but they have been overseeing projects for Digimon for years now. They really should be well aware of what is or isn't good. As much as liked Cybersleuth, even that story had some issues in it.
@@KreuzDrache *"They really should be well aware of what is or isn't good."* You would be surprised to discover how hard it is to create an story that has as many plot deviations as Devil Survivor does and make it good. Again, this was their first try creating something like this and we aren't talking about a big company, but one that usually makes more niche games. It is actually believable that they would have troubles the first time.
Something that also affected it was that the steam page was put up literally on the day of release. Normally steam pages get put up pretty early on for release estimates and wishlists and stuff, along with bringing more attention on the coming soon pages. It was doomed to just fly under the radar and the rpg competition of that month made it way worse.
For me admittedly I didn’t realize Digimon Survive the was coming out soon until I saw it advertised at a GameStop. Some people were really mad about this game being more of a visual novel? I mean if you were going into it expecting to be like the Cyber Sleuth games you’re gonna be disappointed. But it’s dumb that apparently a bunch people bought the game without really looking into it beforehand and probably not having an open mind.
Since the Rings of Power series is currently airing, I think it’s about time for a What Happened on The Hobbit trilogy. That has one of the most tumultuous productions I have ever heard of, with switching directors six months before shooting, reshoots up the ass, and Warner Bros. executives constantly interfering with basically everything right from the start. It’s honestly a miracle they’re as watchable as they are.
Lindsay Ellis actually did a video series that’s basically an extended “What Happun?” on the trilogy. Absolutely fantastic watch, and I honestly don’t think there’s any way to top or even add to it. I highly recommend checking it out ^_^
Digimon is still top notch with their storytelling/writing. I guess its fitting that its a VN, it’s personally not my go to game genre but it looks pretty intriguing
Digimon survive is such good game. With for people who like stories and novels and digimon. This game is really good one. It has more story and you can clearly see how much characters interactions mattered in it.
Seeing how we're getting closer to the game's 10 year anniversary, can you do a What Happened on Bioshock Infinite? I remember hearing about how the game was originally going to be and it'd be nice to learn more about the making of process since there's been a re-evaluation of the game the last couple years.
The fact that you still can’t find the physical switch version is crazy. The mom & pop stores only got the Xbox version and barely any PS4 Going to wait until I can find this game on sale in a few months
Switch copies are hard to find?? Maybe it's just me, but I just bought a physical Switch copy of Digimon Survive, though I did have to ask the cashier for it since it wasn't being displayed for some reason.
Absolutely wild to see Digimon on this channel. Granted, it's not undeserved! It's a miracle Survive came out and is as fantastic as it is, Producer Habu and co. really worked so hard for this to happen.
Despite having a complicated development cycle, the fact the Digimon Survive managed to even be released is a miracle. I guess you can say the game SURVIVED
I've never played a Visual Novel game so this game was my introduction to them! I am interested in the story its trying to tell and I do admit that the gameplay feels more of a after thought what with how very slow it is, however I still think everyone should give it a chance- maybe wait for it to be on Sale if you'd like. I love Digimon and I hope we continue to get new games in the USA soon.
What happened is that people don't do their research it was advertised as a visual novel for adults with tactics gameplay. Nothing more nothing less I remember a quote stating it would be 70% story and 30% gameplay. Me and my bros enjoyed it. Theres actually a physical copy shortage for Switch and PS4 I found out from gamestop
It says a lot that nearly every negative review I've seen of the game boils down to "I don't like reading." There are some valid criticisms of it, but overall, it's a great VN, I would definitely recommend it to any Digimon fan who wants to spend >40 hours reading. Heck, it doesn't even require any knowledge of the rest of the series; it's perfectly accessible for anybody who is interested but doesn't know anything about Digimon. And honestly, if you look at the physical Japanese sales, estimated Steam sales, and estimate worldwide & digital sales, it's probably a reasonable guess that the game has sold around 150k copies, which is pretty darn good for a VN. There are a lot of big-name VNs (like AI: The Somnium Files or Utawarerumono) that struggle to reach those numbers. I hope it's good enough we'll see a sequel, but the real question is whether than met BN's expectations or not...
I know people think any and all Sonic games are just ripe for this show, but a Sonic Origins Wha Happun just wouldn't be very interesting. "Sega rushed the ports out to meet a deadline. The end."
As a Digimon fan, the wait for Survive was torture. No new Digimon games till it came out and to hear it was delayed multiple times was agonizing in the moment, but hearing it switched developers, it all kinda made sense. But, I didn't see ANY advertising for the game and I was notified it came out by Steam. That also didn't help it. I hope this doesn't discourage the Digimon team from trying new things. It was just REAL bad timing when it came out, and considering it had no advertising(that I could see), they probably knew that
I honestly didn't know this game was a thing until an article popped up on my phone about release. Saw it on the Steam home page briefly, then it sunk back into the shadows.
I actually had nooo idea Survive had such a long development, I was surprised when I saw it for pre order and immediately was taken in by “visual novel but also digimon included” and wow I’m really impressed with the game after it struggled for so long. I think I prefer the world games over all (dusk/dawn my favs) but survive is a super solid side game I think
Ironically in Japan those are called "Digimon Story" in the same series as Cyber Sleuth. Bandai America decided to make it confusing by changing the name to Digimon World even though Bandai Japan only uses that name for the v-pet RPG hybrid games.
This game was really good. It was close to being great in my opinion, but the lackluster gameplay was what held it back 🤷♂️. Love Digimon in general, really digging the darker stories they've been doing
I felt the same way. The studio didn't have enough experience and made frustrating mistakes when it came to gameplay. The biggest for me was the enemy AI being prone to run in some situations, that leads to nearly unwinnable fights with the wrong team; and just frustratingly tedious fights with a better team.
I just thought it was funny how Matt brought up "Shaolin Monks" because I recently picked that game up for a great price (got it and 7 other games in CIB condition for $10) and I had no idea how different it was from the other MK games. Love you, Matt!
With the way mainstream reviewers bashed this game, I was really nervous going into this video. But, seeing Matt go in-depth about the delays- those PAINFUL delays-actually makes a lot of sense. The game itself was a blast as a Digimon fan, but... MAN, MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN was that wait torture.
Having waited for this game since the very first announcement, I'm so happy to have finally played this game! I often wondered through the multiple delays if the game would end up on your show HEH.
great video matt, also if I may add something. I think what also didnt help for the slightly negative side came from the fact that during its original announcement in 2018 (or was it 19), it was announced during pokemons somewhat lowpoint period after sword & shield disappointed/enraged a nice chunk of the fandom. So it kinda gain some hype from that side with them seeing digimon do somethings pokemon wont (for real take alook at the trailer on the playstation in 2019. over 1 million views)....however seeing as the the game didnt sell too much after 4 years of waiting....that didnt last sadly. ALSO DO X -BLADES! PLZ
Surprised there was no mention of the myriad of release issues. Between the supply issues and game breaking bugs and the preorder bonus fiasco I figured that would’ve been mentioned
This is the first What Happened I have watched at release after spending roughly the last 6 months watching all previous episodes. I now know the style of every time and how far down things go when they go down.
The history of the TurboGrafx-16 would probably make a pretty good Wha Happun. There was a lot of conflict between NEC and Turbo Technologies, who would just straight up not allow them to release certain games that probably could have made the system compete well against the SNES and Genesis, as NEC believed they knew what the Western audiences wanted, despite being completely out of touch about it. Turbo Technologies was only allowed to release games that NEC approved, and as a result, games such as the PC Engine port of Street Fighter 2 and even Mortal Kombat, which Midway actually was interested in making a port for, was rejected by NEC.
Coming back to this after finding out Kazumasa Habu has left his position at Bandai just hurts more now. Being a fan of these games is digi-depressing.
I like the story, but the gameplay is very weak. Its enough to rest the visual novel brain, but offers no more. Also (so far, im in ch9) the new game+ is not balanced for the new units. Its started ok in my initial playthrough, but after ch9 and getting the last evolutions, it turned super easy. The story is still worth it, even if I (accidentally) chose the least horrible route (I have my gripes with how the game chooses routes as well...)
Game is fine. It is what it says on the box, which for some reason is a bad thing nowadays. I'm kind of tired of people getting up in arms about games that aren't the genre they want them to be or aren't 100% perfect. Digimon Survive is both. It's a visual novel with Fire Emblem-like combat that could be a little bit better. If that doesn't appeal to you, just don't play it.
It's a shame because this is the kind of game that does appeal to me, but falls flat in both the visual novel and SRPG elements. The story dragged, was bland, and phoned in from a mile away with how obvious the story beats were. And the SRPG gameplay left much to be desired. Was honestly boring.
I'm upset that BS critiques like that are overshadowing how awful the switch port is. Being the dumb idiot I am, I bought it day 1 on switch only for it to struggle 30 frames in the visual novel portions and for it to just tank when game play is involved. It sucks so hard because these are the kinds of games I love playing on my switch, but not at the cost of barely playable frame rates.
@@SoujiSetaP4 no it didn’t the story was great and the character development was excellent. It wasn’t even boring story wise if you paid attention it always kept you on your feet. The gameplay had excellent mechanics but it was sadly easy.
@@ThePlasmeticBrother no problems on my end nor on my friends end. I smell bs this game has suffered from a massive disinformation campaign from gaming outlets.
As someone who honestly does not like visual novels simply because they're not a game just a glorified picture book that sometimes is read too you by multiple talented voice actors I actually really enjoyed playing this the saving grace for me was the visual novel aspect was just a really long cut scene to the next fight but I love the realistic aspect this game brings to light like how at any point in time that lovable group of digi destined friends could very well die before this I only ever saw other digimon getting killed whether it's Myotismon in the original anime or a virus to be defeated and a program restored there was never any "real" threat to the humans whereas this game shows that very real possibility
After all that has happened to this game, the delays the change in developers the everything, I'm not only amazed that Survive even released at all but that it also kicks so much ass. I was expecting it to really show signs of its disastrous development history, but... not really, it's one of my favourite games of the year actually, certainly my favourite Digimon game I have played yet and the best nostalgia cash-in of the entire franchise, understanding what made Digimon Adventure so much fun better than any of Adventure's official follow-ups did. I honestly recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the franchise, this game rules. ...Now if only Bandai Namco could also have been bothered to market & translate it properly, that would have been lovely. :/
@@KreuzDrache Exactly, and at this point it is just what I expect from Bandai Namco... but if anything that makes it worse. Their devs pump out consistently great Digimon games and then the localization efforts are always very rushed and haphazard, like Bamco (at least here in the west) just straight up doesn't care for their own games outside of the big AAA stuff like the Tales series.
When I had looked a week or two ago, the reviews were Mixed on Steam. Now, they seem to be Mostly Positive with the technical issues fixed. I'm going to wait after this gets the good old Bandi Steam Sale and pick it up for $15.00 LOL
I bought Digimon Survive on release day, I've played 97.3 hours and I still have things to do in the game (I explore absolutely everything and leave the voice acting, apart from reading with my voice every dialogue in stream, you can go a thousand times faster than me). The game has many things that you can see that they wanted to have improved, such as hidden objects that will help you throughout the story. More cinematics above all But you can tell they did the best they could and I'm happy with it, it has become my favorite Digimon story
The only thing I found massively stupid was the whole thing about the day one bonus of an extra recruitable Guilmon only being available digital only if you were a European at least.
It was supposed to come with physical copies, there was just a mix-up where not every copy included the code. Some places have the DLC code on the receipt, some don't. All I had to do was contact Bandai and provide proof of purchase, and they sent me a code, no problem.
I led the QA on this title closer to it's release. Though it's not really my cup of tea, the tactics gameplay is pretty fun and I'm happy that a lot of people ended up enjoying it. Those of us who worked on it from a QA standpoint have a good idea of why the development went the way it did and the reason is extremely simple. Regardless, thank you for making this video and I hope it'll introduce this game to more people.
I'm still shocked that Xenoblade has come so far in terms of popularity that it is now a legitimate threat and competition to million dollar franchises.
I absolutely love the game and it’s insane how much content is in the game. Surprised it turned out so good despite it’s hellish development. This game got me back into the franchise so I appreciate that.
2:38 Man, I didn’t know Maes Hughes worked on this game. Seriously though, I don’t keep up with Digimon at all, but even when I’m unfamiliar with the subject matter, you still makes these videos super entertaining. Great work as always, Matt
Digimon Survive was fantastic just people got the wrong impression about what kind of game it was. Maybe it was the marketing? Of course I'm the worlds biggest digimon stan so I'm biased af.
@@yarc9 lol all the physical copies sold out and it was being scalped online. It was under produced specially the Switch version. I want to know the digital sales.
Great Episode! ^_^ The occasional updates on Facebook and Twitter were what really kept me waiting patiently for this game, and believing it actually would release eventually. I actually placed a preorder for Survive at Gamestop back in 2019, and as June 2022 approached, I double checked with them that my preorder was still active, which it was. I didn't expect anything massive, they'd made it pretty clear what the game was going to be, but I still love the game, and it has definitely exceeded my expectations.
i stayed up to date with survive news since announce ment and oh boy has it been a ride. games actually pretty solid if your big on story but i'll never stop laughing at the people complaining that the game they bought which shows its a visual novel is in fact a visual novel
DW Survive is a unique thing. You gotta give the owners of Digimon a lot of credit for not just panning it after all the issues. It was never meant to be the next big thing, yet they never gave up on it. I can think of a ton of companies that would just give up once things took a turn like this game did. They said it was coming & although it took longer than they wanted, it got delivered. Also, I would just like to complement how Digmon has never been shy about making something new. Digimon games have all been different. They rarely make a game like ones they have made before. The closest cases of them making something that's the same is like Digimon World 1, ReDigitized & Next Order. But those games all play different overall. They just use the Tamagotchi style. Point is, I love the people who make Digimon games. They go out of their way to be unique each time & although every game isn't a masterpiece, they make cult classics more often than they whiff. Which is more than you can say for the Pokemon games.
I love digimon buy visual novels have never really been my thing. I like to read books and indulge in 60 chapter fics but there is just something about visual novels I haven't never been able to vibe with. If it's ever on sale I might try it.
Still amazes me people whine about this game not being as action focused when the devs made it very clear this is a survival horror visual novel with tactical elements
@@DragonKingYara Matt exampled was perfect with Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. I can only image it those complains came from people that *never even looked at one of Survive's trailers* but that's... Pretty imposible. This isn't a game that got shadowdrop, this is a game with lengty development cycle, with plenty of trailers shown.
@@edgarlozada3858 Most gamer don't look up game news they just see "hey that game look fun" form 1 gameplay trailer or "hey I play that game before this that new one must be the same as the one I played but better".
Hate how people review bombed it for being a visual novel when it was billed to be a visual novel. It's like going to a place and they sell poop burgers and someone buys it as it like HEY THIS TASTE LIKE POOP. Well yeah that's clearly what it is.
I didn't even realize that this game got delayed so much -- I _am_ glad it finally got released though! Me and my partner haven't gotten through it fully yet, but we've been enjoying what we've seen! it's so rough to get localized Digimon games released outside of Japan. (It's also stupid as hell that people got mad that a visual novel was a.... visual novel >__> but I'm not surprised at all by that fan response lmfao) edit: it's also nice to see you cover something Digimon-related, mostly because you keep using Cyber Sleuth music in these videos and I didn't even realize you were a fan of the series lmao
Re: Visual novel Based on my experience, there was so little advertising about the game that the casual fan (or people trying to avoid story spoilers like me) wouldn't know that it was a visual novel first and a strategy RPG second. I didn't follow every scrap of news about the game so I assumed it would tell its story VN style in between missions like Fire Emblem. Then when it came out, I heard it was like 80-90% VN and the SRPG parts were half-baked. The demo that was playable at Anime Expo had both a story option and a battle option. Obviously, most people there skipped right to the battle option since you just want to play the game after sitting in line for an hour and a half. Tldr: I was excited about the idea of the post-apocalypse Digimon game, but stopped caring when I found out it was a VN.
Thank youuu, I lost track of the game's development a bit after 2020... Now I want it!!!! 💖 I love visual novels and digimon games were barely like that!!! (Btw I love your channel intro 👏 so 90's TV!)
We messed up! Digimon Survive absolutely did chart at #8 in the July 2022 NPD sales charts! This is something we missed when we we really shouldn't have. Apologies for that. It certainly does paint a rosier picture of the game's American sales given that it managed to chart for July despite coming out in the aforementioned RPG sandwich- and so close to the end of the month, too! Here's a link if you'd like to see for yourself! t.co/BFoJdHJA1z
So...what about a Xeno who happened?
I think the games that are good candidates for future episodes are Halo Infinite (or Halo under 343 Industries in general), Saints Row (2022 Reboot), Crackdown 3, We Happy Few, and Forspoken.
But it is weird it charted in the general NPD when it didn't in the NPD chart for xbox and ps4 (but it did on the switch one), i guess it did really well in PC in the west?
@@manuelalbertoromero9528 Why?
When do we get a wha happun to KoF 14?
It's the same with most Digimon games sales wise. Namco Bandai releases a new Digimon game, barely promote it and then they wonder why it didn't sell well.
They actually under produced copies
"Welp, guess that means nobody care about this franchise."
@@ironrex6979 you have no idea, it took a whole month for my copy to come
@@raisingwings2913 That’s brutal. Where I live no copy arrived and no stores have received them as of yet. I had to buy mines through the eshop and since I loved it got it physically online.
@@ironrex6979 I pre-order the physical version, it took that long because there were no copies at stock
“…fans were left to their own devices.”
DIGIVICES, MATT! IT WAS RIGHT THERE!
he cant hear you,he left the group again.
Something else to note: when this game DID finally come out, finding physical copies of it was actually very hard! I didn’t actually get Survive until a week or two later, when I finally found it at GameStop. It was the last copy. So I think that also messed with its sales numbers.
Also also worth noting, is that Xenoblade 3 suddenly moved UP a month in release, which is practically unheard of. So that release date didn’t originally look so bad. There’s was still Live a Live sure, but it wasn’t dealing with a juggernaut like Xenoblade at the same time.
Speaking of a game with lots of delays, as in over a DECADE of delays, but still managing to both release and be really good, I’d love a Wha Happun video on NEO The World Ends With You.
I'm just glad Neo:Twewy came out same with survive
Yeah, if you didn't pre-order a physical copy, you basically were never going to find one.
I didn't know that but I did preorder the game as soon as I could. Yeah no the Xenoblade move up was painful, not a fan of Xenoblade I tried playing the first chronicle game but not my type of game.
Yeah i ended up just getting a digital copy.
Shipments were screwed up or something for what I hear for the Switch copies. I ended up finding it on Gamestops website after release though, and I believe after the first week the issue semi resolved.
As a huge fan of Digimon this game was such a great addition to our catalog. I just wish Bandai Namco would give this series more attention and care, they always shaft Digimon over any other anime game.
It's all apart of being a Digimon fan! I enjoy it being a niche property but at the same time wish it was more recognized for its strengths.
In one hand Digimon it’s not as big as Pokémon in terms of sales and popularity and Bandai mostly focuses on popular Animes likes DBZ and MHA cause they sell the most and Digimon it’s a extremely niche franchise that mostly sells better in Japan
Not really related to what you're talking about but I like your pfp. It looks like the BTD5 artstyle, which is neat to see on a big scary Digimon.
I was pleasantly impressed with what they gave us with this game. I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially after playing through the game fully (that includes all four pathways). Definately recommend it for any fan of Digimon or those that like visual novel storytelling.
Speaking of care and attention Pokemon fans lost their minds over the cut of the national dex in sword and Shield, but no Digimon game ever had all Digimon in it (in fact if I'm remembering the numbers properly it wasn't until Sword and Shield that Pokemon finally had more Pokemon than Digimon had Digimon; how poetic); and I doubt Bandai Namco would care if the fans complained regardless.
Digimon Survive is a great game and I’ve been throughly invested in the narrative from the beginning. It’s honestly amazing that the game went through several delays and had to restart development and still released in such an excellent state.
It's very different from past digimon games but i agree. Given what i imagined to be half a decade of development hell im glad that it's an enjoyable game despite being a little simple with a couple of the characters and in combat
I was surprised to see a flophouse on this game, but I only became aware of it leading up to launch... My heart sank when I saw the thumbnail, because I figured fans rejected this presentation or something. Good to see that it was a story of bad developement decisions from higher ups that ends with a solid game.
Digimon leading into the darker elements that have been present since the beginning feels like the best direction for it to go. I love the game, and I hope it gets a sequel that has all the stuff regular fans of the cyber sleuth/world games want with the scope and style of story we got here in Survive.
It's out? Oh shit I know what in grabbing next
@@aaronbozack830 How did you think it ended up in this channel, did you think it got cancelled?
@@vaguely_boring It's Digimon Adventure if it was more realistic
Been hearing on and off about this game for ages now. What a miracle that it was finally released
Glad you were able to survive the wait
It's been released. For like a month now.
To be honest, I completely forgot about this game.
Being a Digimon (game) fan is pain. Pain.
And I appreciate Habu wanting the Digimon games to not be hindered by just being the samey games, wanting to tackle different types of Digimon games (like a Dating Sim!), and I'm open to more VN style Digimon games like Survive!
But again, this type of market is a niche on games and I can only wish Digimon came close to Pokemon sales or popularity while doing a different thing.
Honestly I'd love to see them give the World 4 style of gameplay another try with Online play. World 4 was an absolutely solid game and is very enjoyable with friend. I think with how much we've learned in terms of game devolopment we might get something awesome, or a total flop.
habu in one of the most recent interviews has said with modern hardware (they are no longer working with vita titles that were later ported like cyber sleuth or next order), games from the main line of games (the world and Story series) would take an average of 5 years of development, that's the only reason he wants to have minor projects in between like survive, the game was supposed to have only two years of development to get the exact same product we got with Hyde as the developers
Half of the sale would already be crazy, as Pokemon is one of the most valuable IP out there.
heck yeah Digimon Dating Sim with BanchoLilymon pls
Hahahahaha, try being an F-Zero fan. You know nothing of pain.
The sad thing is that being sandwiched between XC3 and Live A Live wasn't even their fault, it was just bad luck. XC3 was slated to come out in September when they first announced Survive's date, but then it got pushed forward 2 months due to the change with Splatoon's release date, something no one saw coming. Games being "reverse delayed" are an anomaly in this industry.
That said, I honestly think the game is great fun and really scratched that itch of "playing through a digimon anime" for me. But Bamco really, REALLY needs to invest more resources into Digimon. Their marketing for this particular franchise sucks so much for some reason.
Especially in localization/translation, and maybe quality assurance. Because seriously, I found a couple of errors in my playthroughs, from getting pronouns wrong (as in, she's being called he's), and apparently lines appearing where they're not supposed to (apparently, there's developer notes that were left in a dialogue).
@@providence1517 yeah, I caught a few. During Ryo ultimate, it says "takuma portrait isnt shown here" in a takuma speech box. Then there is Shuuji calling Lopmon, Lopman. I also saw in moral endgame they say "Lets go save Miu" instead of Miyuki lmao
Well is mostly the outside japan side of things, in Japan Digimon has decent marketing and share of fame.
they just forgot that is not just Japan that is interested in said product.
ah the summer of Mediocrity. LiveALive dumpster fire remake and Ow the Edge XC3. Digimon Survive ultimately was the best of the three.
@@youkofoxy it sounds like that is the case for a lot of anime properties such as Digimon, they don't understood or care how much of an untapped market they have outside of Japan.
I didn't think one of my favorite franchises would end up on what happun but now that I think about it it makes sense
With how often Bandai wants to fuck over Digimon, we really can’t be surprised: plus hey more attention to this franchise that isn’t comparing it to Pokémon is always good!
@@DragonKingYara Bandai never wants to fuck over Digimon*! They just have a long history of doing really stupid shit with it!
*ok the fuckin frontier movie debacle kind of counts but that's a story in its own right
@@TheShinyFeraligatr the point is that stupid shit fucks it over
@@TheShinyFeraligatr dude, did you not watch the latest digicon? They outright said that they barely have any budget. And as a salt to wound kind of deal, on the same day scamco also announced gundam metaverse, so we all know where the budget went. It is verily a miracle that this game even came out
@@FerrickAnima Yeah on top of Toei somehow using their influence to fuck over the franchise. Like with the Blu-Ray version of Adventure 2020, they actually had a booklet saying what was dropped due to Toei not letting them have an extension due to the pandemic
oh man this one hits close to home. i’m a big digimon fan and when i picked up the game at gamestop that i preordered, the cashier said they’d only gotten in the copies that people had preordered and bandai ceased production on physical copies of the game. that stung.
@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley oh no i actually was the only person who preordered it at the store so my copy was the only copy they’d gotten in at all 💀
Might be worth holding on to then, if it's that rare.
That’s weird, I just bought a physical version yesterday at my local GameStop (Brand New, NOT Pre-Owned).
I decided to pick up the game after I watched a few stream VODs of the game in action. It looked fun and unique compared to what I know about other entries in the franchise.
Ironically, I was also attempting to buy Xenoblade Chronicles 3 as well to play after I finish Digimon Survive, but not only was it sold out, they don’t know when they will get any more copies of it in stock.
They did this for Persona Q2 as well, but that was a game at the very tail end of the 3DS life cycle, and this... is not. Oof.
Same thing here, I asked my local shop awhile back because they’ll do specific pre orders and when I picked it up he mentioned that they only received enough copies for the pre orders. Not a single game more
The edited in Digimon clips were super on point, but Apocalymon's "I HOPE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON, ALWAYS SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS!" was perfect after the review bombing salt
Apocalymon only becomes a more and more culturally relevant villain with time.
@@aprinnyonbreak1290 "What am I laughing about, I'm supposed to be depressed" definitely hits a different way today vs the late 90's 🤣
_"Why do all of you get the pizza, while I get the crusts?!"_
The ultimate evil (complete w/ hot and cold running water) @@aprinnyonbreak1290
Digimon Survive turned out pretty dang good. Highly recommended to fans of the franchise. It's kind of like it's own take on Digimon Adventure. Instead of a mostly fun adventure, it deals with the the actuality of being trapped in an unknown world with no idea what to do. The cast didn't just magically forget who they were before arriving either. They bring all that baggage to this terrifying situation and things fall apart. They just need to survive and hopefully find a way home.
That sounds legit, might have to check it out
Could have used some narration from Takuma
I just didn't get that feeling at all, man. I like visual no els and all, but the drama of that factor is really drained when a little T-Rex or the like is trying to deliver it.
It's just silly.
I adore Tactics games, and well, this one is just cut-rate at best.
I'll admit I'm probably not that far into the story yet (I'm definitely trying to get further in but I'm a busy adult with limited time for reading. Since I tend to multitask many of my games for this reason, it's hard for me to find time to devote to just one thing these days) so that could explain the disparity, but I just kind of wish there was more balance between the fighting mechanics and the visual novel mechanics. I generally enjoy VN's, but the knowledge that it's a digimon game and I could be running around fighting takes some of the fun out of it for me. They have those free areas to fight digimon so far, but you only access those during explore mode and so far it's just been the same rookies.
Again, could just be because I've only gotten so far into the story but it's been hard for me to justify dropping all my other stuff to read to get to the free areas.
I get that's not really the point of this game and I respect and understand why people use that as a rebuttal, I'm just explaining why it's been personally difficult for me to get into the game despite my best efforts.
I love Digimon, I love tactics games and I love a good story, but I didn't like this game at all. It's actually the first and only Steam game I've since refunded. To me it felt like a boilerplate light horror VN with Digimon attached to the side.
Survive feels truly like the Marmite of Digimon games. For people who dig it it's super fun and has one of the strongest stories we've seen in Digimon games and people who don't it's the worst thing Digimon has put out.
That wait though, while technically not that long really for the industry, was VERY hard to get through. Great video Matt, thanks for showing the Digimenz some love
Lol leave it to the welshman to make a marmite comparison but you're not wrong though.
@@jaysteelsun Shush ;)
I love pretty much all things Digimon and i know the game has problems but it is still a solid entry even if it's just for the story itself, even if the writing could use some polish. Overall we need more slightly out there Digimon games. I don't know why but i have the feeling Digimon just lends itself to all kinds of weird shit.
What about people who only know the first season of the original show and didn't follow the saga? It seems something like a reboot.
@@Mahaveez Almost everything after the second season is a different continuity (the best being Tamers. The exception being Tri, which is an Adventure series, but... has very mixed reception).
I love this game. I'm not big on visual novels but I'm a fan of the approach to the lore of the digimon and the way the characters are reacting to thier adventure. The battles are a bit basic but I get a lot out of being able to digivolve digimons and having a cool looking party.
As someone whose beaten all the routes in the game, the SRPG Battles are as deep as they needed to be for game, could they have gotten more in depth? Sure, but what we got was easy enough for anyone to be able to pick up and play the battles out without needing to know SRPG General mechanics.
@@Fieryone233 I think they didn't really want the combat to stop ppl enjoying the story
@@Beyblade_worrior you bought the wrong game lol.
The story is 100% the reason to get this game. The combat is so shallow that you're better off playing triangle strategy, tactics ogre, diofield or whatever instead
@@BossBasher story was good just long AF in between battles but those battles were perfect to me 7/10
Important note: As someone who is a big fan of Digimon and kept up with all of this, the issue a lot of fans had wasn't so much "This is a visual novel, ew" it was mostly due to the poor communication from the developers about how MUCH of a visual novel it was. This game was pushed hard as a visual novel / stratagy rpg hybrid, leaning slightly more towards visual novel (I believe the main dev said at digicon that it would be a 70/30 split between visual novel and stratagy rpg but I could be mistaken). A lot of fans were expecting something like fire emblem or devil survivor. This game is not a 70/30 split by any means, if anything you could argue it's a 90/10 split, danganrompa is less of a visual novel than this game. The strategy segments feel like small pitstops to make sure you're still paying attention. Don't get me wrong I think Survive is pretty good, but it wasn't just fans hating for the sake of it, a lot of them felt like they were misled.
I think it was over hyped. I remember them saying it was mainly a visual novel with some tactical rpg. Like seriously I had a guy saying it sucked because it was a visual novel.
Yeah I haven't really seen people mad about the VN aspect, just that they had to wait 2+ hours for a battle that ends almost instantly and goes right back to 2+ hours of VN.
This is a fairly accurate take for me on it. I was really excited for a new Digimon game, even if it had visual novel aspect, not a big fan. But it was so heavily a VN that I struggle to enjoy. The characters were weak, the story was sub par, and the actual battles were just so bland.
The straight hour of dialogue after a major event occurs at one point was kind of where I was like "Ahhh okay, this is a visual NOVEL"
Still, really enjoying the game so far
Well a lot of visual novels nowadays like to include some kind of gameplay so it's really just a visual novel then
Hearing stories of games switching developers and getting delayed a lot is so strange considering how modern and business the vg industry is so strict
Not really. It just happened with Knights of the old republic remake if I'm not mistaken.
And also happened with Kid Icarus Uprising as well.
Survive did chart 8# on NPD overall for July in North America, this game for zero marketing it had may have actually been a reasonable success.
Adding in the fact that they had a small developer on this it probably still made a profit. I At least hope it does and they keep going with different ideas. For all the problems the game had for me i still liked it and Digimon just needs more good games.
I really hope they stick the story structure of this game and make a jrpg from it. I love how it captures the spirit of the anime where each digimon is just a reflection of their tamer. A persona style social link system that ties to the digimon's evolution is such a neat concept as well. I wish we had more of that explored and less of the vn selections filling in for time.
10:35 Small correction, but just looking through their website I noticed that this company were the devs on Hometown Story, Harvest Moon Hero of Leaf Valley, and a Japan only Atelier DS game. So they do have a bit more semi high profile releases to their name than just a Tinker Bell game
also porting Akiba's Trip 1 from the PSP to modern consoles
I didn't even know people didn't like this game. Everyone I know who's a fan of the franchise and loves horror and visual novels loves Digimon Survive.
Same here.
I have started playing it and it looks good it like mixing digimon with the blair witch project
Ive been enjoying it
But I have seen people complaining because they wanted another Digimon story game.
It's flawed, but I really like the characters and story.
@@Klonoahedgehog It's in the description lol, they openly states that it's a visual novel first
Its a shame that things didn't go better for Survive. I have my gripes with it, but its a breath of fresh air for the series. It alongside the more horror focused Ghost Game anime have made Digimon feel more unique to its contemporaries this generation. Hopefully we can see more narratively driven games for Digimon within the better received JRPG format should reception to the story be good.
I guess it does make sense one why the TRPG side was so underdeveloped compared to the VN side after the developer switch. The writer and art team probably stayed the same but the people making the game changed so the VN side kept its good writing and art directions while the actual gameplay and strategy side got hit hard so it ended up simpler then everyone expected
Holy shit it actually happened. I always joked this game would get a Wha Happun episode when it kept getting delayed, but I never thought I'd actually be right.
Also, I thought the game was alright. It was always going to be fighting an uphill battle being three niches at once: visual novel, TRPG, and Digimon. But it's a passion project and it shows. A lot of love went into it. The game's biggest flaw was its choice of genre, which is entirely up to personal taste.
I don't know about passion project since it didn't look like the director of the game looked too invested like part of him seemed very sure this was not gonna surpass cyber sleuth and he seemed to want more than just the usual group of people
@@Fureiji88 Habu stated a few times that his "dream project" for Digimon would be a visual novel with tactics-based battles, and that became Digimon Survive. He may have become somewhat disillusioned at some point once the project kept meeting hurdles -- nobody can know for sure -- but the game definitely stemmed from an idea Habu was passionate about.
Wow...Didn't expect to see this game show up on here. Especially since it's actually pretty damn good. Like....actually better than I thought it would be when I spent most of its development time on the fence about whether or not I even wanted it.
what happen isn't really for bad games, but instead for games with troubled developments
What Happened isn't about about bad videogames. It's a about troublesome developments. There's been episodes for good games like Trials in the Sky SC, FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE and DOOM (2016).
@@davidjbs8127 Fair enough. Usually when I see a game on here that I recognize, it's a bad game that also had trouble in development to explain why it turned out bad 😅
@@Bag2218 It is generally the case. Its hard for a game with troubled development to turn out good. It needs good leadership and a strong idea for that to happen.
Yeah these are actually my favorite type of What Happened? episodes. Its nice when a project comes together decently-good despite any hurdles.
Honestly, I just really hope we can get more games exploring not only this level of dark maturity in the series, but also the big emphasis on Digimon partners being pure mirrors of their fated child’s heart. I always loved that aspect of the series and really want to see it your on more in the games like it was here
I am so glad this game finally came out. After finally sitting down and playing it (includiing all 4 pathways Harmony, Wrathful, Moral and then Truthful). This game was a pleasant ride. The story and characters really carry it. Yes the combat is very basic when compared to Fire Emblem or Final Fantasy Tactics but for a game that went through so much development hell, it still does a decent job. The Digimon roster is also very decent too, using digimon that are both classics and those that are obscure/less-known. I know the director of the game who came onboard would love to very much do a sequel provided the game sold well enough and I seriously hope he does get another shot at it. Wholeheartedly recommend this game to any fan of Digimon and those who like visual novel storytelling.
It's unlikely he'll go for a sequel since that would require this game to go on the same height or surpass cyber sleuth which far as sells go did not do too well as shown here and that's always considered a failure in general especially to companies like toei who invest not to mention at times the potential of digimon.
Once Digimon survive made it to the light at the end of the tunnel, then it turned out that the light at the end of the tunnel was the final boss which was Noah and mio, so I can see why Digimon survive didn't do well
I'll be honest, I never heard of this game until it was released and I got it the day after it came out.
I found the game to be fine but nothing special, and the battle system was more annoying than fun. But it definitely did something no other game did. It reminded me of how much I LOVE Digimon, I left the series in the late 2000s and never did anything with it since. But the game made me go back to a lot of the stuff I grew up with Digimon related and made me a hardcore fan again.
Survive is nothing special, but it brought back a side of me I lost years ago and loved that it came back. And sure as hell, it's here to stay.
I recommend checking on the original Digimon shortfilm by Mamoru Hosoda. The Japanese version specifically because the early Digimon dubs are full of bad rewrites that ruin the tone and character writing that make that early stuff so good in Japanese.
It was made to be standalone, but the story boards were so good that Toei decided to make a full TV series sequel to this short, Digimon Adventure.
If you really don't like the early episodes of Adventure, that show does take a while to hit it's stride, you can also try watching Digimon Tamers which I think is the best Digimon anime series.
If you've already seen those, then I'd recommend Savers, Appmon, and V-Tamer which are really underappreciated.
As for games, Cyber Sleuth is a good entry point and has a Final Fantasy X styled combat system.
The original Digimon World is also charming with a really interesting aesthetic, but the v-pet RPG hybrid gameplay can be hard to figure out.
Digimon also started as a virtual pet Tamagotchi spinoff. If this side of the franchise interests you, then the best starting place with the Digimon Ver. 20th.
I actually like how it actually feels like your actions have consequences. That's something I can't say about Pokemon. People dying actually made things feel more like I had to choose wisely
If you want to go back to the rabbit hole the cyber sleuth games are a great way to start, a pretty good turn based RPG with elements of story and gameplay inspired by the persona franchise
The new anime ghost game is also pretty good, it gives a spookier take to the digital monsters and so far it has been considered one of the best shows that the franchise has put in recent years.
Just...don't watch tri, literally go for anything but tri , hell start up with the appmon spin off everyone has already forgotten about just don't go for tri
@@makairidah8354 yeah preferably start with Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth Complete Edition on Switch. You get BOTH GAMES FOR THR PRICE OF 1
I found the games REALY good it reminded me of how much I missed digit on (the only show I watched was data squad as a kid and fusion that I was meh when I was scrolling though netflix
Glad you covered Digimon Survive Matt, hopefully future "what happen" episodes you'll cover more jrpg games like Neo the world ends with you, Tales of Zestiria, Breath of Fire series, Fire Emblem Fates birthright/conquest, and more recently Soul Hackers 2 since everyone has mixed opinions on Soul Hackers 2.
Looking at _Soul Hackers 2_ on Steam, the first review at the time said something to the effect of 'Lower your expectations; this isn't a top tier game like a _Persona_ or a _Shin Megami Tensei."_ Check the price, and sure enough Atlus is asking $60 for it, so they're pricing it the same as those. If they're at that price point, then I can expect a game of that quality.
No idea if the game is any good, mind, but it's totally fair to compare a game that comes out years later at the same price point in the same extended franchise by metrics that are the same or even more strict, not less because it has a less well known name.
@@boobah5643 true, from reviews i seen on TH-cam megaten/atlus fans is some say its "good but disappointing" since people are comparing it to SMT 5, Persona 5 and even the 1st Soul Hackers, I'll still get it just see for myself the gameplay and story.
Of course most people debate if Soul Hackers 2 would have sold more if it was on Nintendo Switch, and many are ANGRY at Atlus dlc situation with Soul Hackers 2 and other Atlus titles.
In another time and place, this could have been a strong analogue to SMT Devil Survivor, but I feel like Digimon dropped the ball on a lot of what made those games so strong. There was never anything wrong with the intent of making a conversation and narrative heavy strategy RPG, but things like philosophy of alignment, fleshing out characters, and how the game handles multiple endings all pale in comparison to how they should have hypothetically worked. Hopefully Survive does lead to the development of successors that reinforce its strengths and prunes the things holding it back,
Yeah, the Digimon franchise can be perfect for this type of game.
Since they have been continuing the "Story" games, Survive could hopefully convince them to look into continuing to refine this spinoff too.
As someone who enjoyed it, my sticking point is how poorly it compares to Devil Survivor.
I appreciate games that take time to tell compelling stories, even at the cost of gameplay, but Devil Survivor is also a better story by most measuring sticks, completely besides annihilating it in gameplay.
I hope it gets sequels or something to beef it up, because the bones of what's there are incredible.
@@aprinnyonbreak1290 I find the comparison to Devil Survivor unfair. DS was made by a company that had years and, more importantly, games to fine-tune and improve their storytelling in this realm. Digimon Survive is BAMCO's first foray into this realm, there was no way for them to be able to surpass DS this quickly.
@@toumabyakuya Eh, I don't think so.
Maybe if they were a smaller fresh company, but they have been overseeing projects for Digimon for years now. They really should be well aware of what is or isn't good.
As much as liked Cybersleuth, even that story had some issues in it.
@@KreuzDrache *"They really should be well aware of what is or isn't good."*
You would be surprised to discover how hard it is to create an story that has as many plot deviations as Devil Survivor does and make it good. Again, this was their first try creating something like this and we aren't talking about a big company, but one that usually makes more niche games. It is actually believable that they would have troubles the first time.
Being a Digimon enjoyer is rough. Survive isn't really my cup of tea but I got it to support the brand anyway. At least the TCG is amazing.
Something that also affected it was that the steam page was put up literally on the day of release. Normally steam pages get put up pretty early on for release estimates and wishlists and stuff, along with bringing more attention on the coming soon pages. It was doomed to just fly under the radar and the rpg competition of that month made it way worse.
For me admittedly I didn’t realize Digimon Survive the was coming out soon until I saw it advertised at a GameStop. Some people were really mad about this game being more of a visual novel? I mean if you were going into it expecting to be like the Cyber Sleuth games you’re gonna be disappointed. But it’s dumb that apparently a bunch people bought the game without really looking into it beforehand and probably not having an open mind.
Since the Rings of Power series is currently airing, I think it’s about time for a What Happened on The Hobbit trilogy. That has one of the most tumultuous productions I have ever heard of, with switching directors six months before shooting, reshoots up the ass, and Warner Bros. executives constantly interfering with basically everything right from the start. It’s honestly a miracle they’re as watchable as they are.
Lindsay Ellis actually did a video series that’s basically an extended “What Happun?” on the trilogy. Absolutely fantastic watch, and I honestly don’t think there’s any way to top or even add to it. I highly recommend checking it out ^_^
I've been hoping you'd cover this. Been really interested in learning about the shenanigans that happened with this game.
Digimon is still top notch with their storytelling/writing. I guess its fitting that its a VN, it’s personally not my go to game genre but it looks pretty intriguing
Remember....wha happun doesn't mean the game is shit........
Sadly people will not understand this
Yeah, it's usually for games that had rough development.
Digimon survive is such good game. With for people who like stories and novels and digimon. This game is really good one. It has more story and you can clearly see how much characters interactions mattered in it.
Seeing how we're getting closer to the game's 10 year anniversary, can you do a What Happened on Bioshock Infinite? I remember hearing about how the game was originally going to be and it'd be nice to learn more about the making of process since there's been a re-evaluation of the game the last couple years.
Yes!!!! Would love an episode on it
That one and Infinite would be nice too. I feel we were robbed with Infinite. :(
The fact that you still can’t find the physical switch version is crazy. The mom & pop stores only got the Xbox version and barely any PS4
Going to wait until I can find this game on sale in a few months
Switch copies are hard to find?? Maybe it's just me, but I just bought a physical Switch copy of Digimon Survive, though I did have to ask the cashier for it since it wasn't being displayed for some reason.
Absolutely wild to see Digimon on this channel. Granted, it's not undeserved! It's a miracle Survive came out and is as fantastic as it is, Producer Habu and co. really worked so hard for this to happen.
This video is not about the game being bad (because it's actually good)
But the fact that it took 4 years to launch a low budget game
In my case, I love this game. I hope it becomes bigger through word of mouth. It's a great story and the gameplay is serviceable.
The way they advertised this game, I’m not surprised that people thought it was just a Tactical RPG.
I feel like Covid is going to be a reoccurring point in these videos for a long time.
Would not be surprised.
For what it's worth, the game turned out to be pretty great after all the delays.
Despite having a complicated development cycle, the fact the Digimon Survive managed to even be released is a miracle. I guess you can say the game SURVIVED
I've never played a Visual Novel game so this game was my introduction to them! I am interested in the story its trying to tell and I do admit that the gameplay feels more of a after thought what with how very slow it is, however I still think everyone should give it a chance- maybe wait for it to be on Sale if you'd like. I love Digimon and I hope we continue to get new games in the USA soon.
What happened is that people don't do their research it was advertised as a visual novel for adults with tactics gameplay. Nothing more nothing less I remember a quote stating it would be 70% story and 30% gameplay. Me and my bros enjoyed it. Theres actually a physical copy shortage for Switch and PS4 I found out from gamestop
It says a lot that nearly every negative review I've seen of the game boils down to "I don't like reading." There are some valid criticisms of it, but overall, it's a great VN, I would definitely recommend it to any Digimon fan who wants to spend >40 hours reading. Heck, it doesn't even require any knowledge of the rest of the series; it's perfectly accessible for anybody who is interested but doesn't know anything about Digimon.
And honestly, if you look at the physical Japanese sales, estimated Steam sales, and estimate worldwide & digital sales, it's probably a reasonable guess that the game has sold around 150k copies, which is pretty darn good for a VN. There are a lot of big-name VNs (like AI: The Somnium Files or Utawarerumono) that struggle to reach those numbers. I hope it's good enough we'll see a sequel, but the real question is whether than met BN's expectations or not...
Sonic Origins: What Happened
Sega wanted to make money quick, the end.
You mean *Frontiers right? 🤣
Sega. That's what happened.
I know people think any and all Sonic games are just ripe for this show, but a Sonic Origins Wha Happun just wouldn't be very interesting. "Sega rushed the ports out to meet a deadline. The end."
As a Digimon fan, the wait for Survive was torture. No new Digimon games till it came out and to hear it was delayed multiple times was agonizing in the moment, but hearing it switched developers, it all kinda made sense.
But, I didn't see ANY advertising for the game and I was notified it came out by Steam. That also didn't help it. I hope this doesn't discourage the Digimon team from trying new things. It was just REAL bad timing when it came out, and considering it had no advertising(that I could see), they probably knew that
It'd be interesting if Matt did a video on how Covid impacted games & the gaming industry
My brother and I each got a Glow-in-the-Dark Digivice from Marshall's last week and I really have begun to appreciate the franchise much more.
Check out the Vital Bracelets if you can! Great combination of classic Digivice/v-pet and a fitness watch.
I honestly didn't know this game was a thing until an article popped up on my phone about release. Saw it on the Steam home page briefly, then it sunk back into the shadows.
I actually had nooo idea Survive had such a long development, I was surprised when I saw it for pre order and immediately was taken in by “visual novel but also digimon included” and wow I’m really impressed with the game after it struggled for so long. I think I prefer the world games over all (dusk/dawn my favs) but survive is a super solid side game I think
Ironically in Japan those are called "Digimon Story" in the same series as Cyber Sleuth.
Bandai America decided to make it confusing by changing the name to Digimon World even though Bandai Japan only uses that name for the v-pet RPG hybrid games.
@@RayOfTruth oh that makes a lot more sense now!
This game was really good. It was close to being great in my opinion, but the lackluster gameplay was what held it back 🤷♂️. Love Digimon in general, really digging the darker stories they've been doing
I felt the same way. The studio didn't have enough experience and made frustrating mistakes when it came to gameplay. The biggest for me was the enemy AI being prone to run in some situations, that leads to nearly unwinnable fights with the wrong team; and just frustratingly tedious fights with a better team.
Digimon Survive may have survived coming out, but it couldn't survive getting away from......
.... The Digirap.
Huh. I though you were going to say "The Xenoblade", but that works too.
I do appreciate that there’s always one Digirap joke on any video related to the series
Thank you for including our article/interview! Big fan of your channel! ✌
I just thought it was funny how Matt brought up "Shaolin Monks" because I recently picked that game up for a great price (got it and 7 other games in CIB condition for $10) and I had no idea how different it was from the other MK games. Love you, Matt!
With the way mainstream reviewers bashed this game, I was really nervous going into this video. But, seeing Matt go in-depth about the delays- those PAINFUL delays-actually makes a lot of sense. The game itself was a blast as a Digimon fan, but... MAN, MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN was that wait torture.
Having waited for this game since the very first announcement, I'm so happy to have finally played this game! I often wondered through the multiple delays if the game would end up on your show HEH.
great video matt, also if I may add something. I think what also didnt help for the slightly negative side came from the fact that during its original announcement in 2018 (or was it 19), it was announced during pokemons somewhat lowpoint period after sword & shield disappointed/enraged a nice chunk of the fandom. So it kinda gain some hype from that side with them seeing digimon do somethings pokemon wont (for real take alook at the trailer on the playstation in 2019. over 1 million views)....however seeing as the the game didnt sell too much after 4 years of waiting....that didnt last sadly.
ALSO DO X -BLADES! PLZ
Surprised there was no mention of the myriad of release issues. Between the supply issues and game breaking bugs and the preorder bonus fiasco I figured that would’ve been mentioned
Thank you for covering this game my dude. I am enjoying this game and I want as many eyes on it as possible.
I love this game, I’m glad it managed to survive it’s development.
Heh. Survive
This is the first What Happened I have watched at release after spending roughly the last 6 months watching all previous episodes. I now know the style of every time and how far down things go when they go down.
The history of the TurboGrafx-16 would probably make a pretty good Wha Happun.
There was a lot of conflict between NEC and Turbo Technologies, who would just straight up not allow them to release certain games that probably could have made the system compete well against the SNES and Genesis, as NEC believed they knew what the Western audiences wanted, despite being completely out of touch about it.
Turbo Technologies was only allowed to release games that NEC approved, and as a result, games such as the PC Engine port of Street Fighter 2 and even Mortal Kombat, which Midway actually was interested in making a port for, was rejected by NEC.
Coming back to this after finding out Kazumasa Habu has left his position at Bandai just hurts more now. Being a fan of these games is digi-depressing.
Love this game! Great story and characters, on my third playthrough now 😃
I like the story, but the gameplay is very weak. Its enough to rest the visual novel brain, but offers no more. Also (so far, im in ch9) the new game+ is not balanced for the new units. Its started ok in my initial playthrough, but after ch9 and getting the last evolutions, it turned super easy. The story is still worth it, even if I (accidentally) chose the least horrible route (I have my gripes with how the game chooses routes as well...)
Been watching alot of digimon lately, this video came at the perfect time!
Game is fine. It is what it says on the box, which for some reason is a bad thing nowadays. I'm kind of tired of people getting up in arms about games that aren't the genre they want them to be or aren't 100% perfect. Digimon Survive is both. It's a visual novel with Fire Emblem-like combat that could be a little bit better. If that doesn't appeal to you, just don't play it.
It's a shame because this is the kind of game that does appeal to me, but falls flat in both the visual novel and SRPG elements. The story dragged, was bland, and phoned in from a mile away with how obvious the story beats were. And the SRPG gameplay left much to be desired. Was honestly boring.
I'm upset that BS critiques like that are overshadowing how awful the switch port is. Being the dumb idiot I am, I bought it day 1 on switch only for it to struggle 30 frames in the visual novel portions and for it to just tank when game play is involved. It sucks so hard because these are the kinds of games I love playing on my switch, but not at the cost of barely playable frame rates.
@@ThePlasmeticBrother it worked fine for me
@@SoujiSetaP4 no it didn’t the story was great and the character development was excellent. It wasn’t even boring story wise if you paid attention it always kept you on your feet. The gameplay had excellent mechanics but it was sadly easy.
@@ThePlasmeticBrother no problems on my end nor on my friends end. I smell bs this game has suffered from a massive disinformation campaign from gaming outlets.
As someone who honestly does not like visual novels simply because they're not a game just a glorified picture book that sometimes is read too you by multiple talented voice actors I actually really enjoyed playing this the saving grace for me was the visual novel aspect was just a really long cut scene to the next fight but I love the realistic aspect this game brings to light like how at any point in time that lovable group of digi destined friends could very well die before this I only ever saw other digimon getting killed whether it's Myotismon in the original anime or a virus to be defeated and a program restored there was never any "real" threat to the humans whereas this game shows that very real possibility
If they’re ever able to try other genres with the Digimon brand, I’d like to see them do a Warriors game.
After all that has happened to this game, the delays the change in developers the everything, I'm not only amazed that Survive even released at all but that it also kicks so much ass.
I was expecting it to really show signs of its disastrous development history, but... not really, it's one of my favourite games of the year actually, certainly my favourite Digimon game I have played yet and the best nostalgia cash-in of the entire franchise, understanding what made Digimon Adventure so much fun better than any of Adventure's official follow-ups did. I honestly recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in the franchise, this game rules.
...Now if only Bandai Namco could also have been bothered to market & translate it properly, that would have been lovely. :/
Yeah they even still had that issue with Cybersleuth too. That game had some real wonky scripts and dialog.
@@KreuzDrache Exactly, and at this point it is just what I expect from Bandai Namco... but if anything that makes it worse.
Their devs pump out consistently great Digimon games and then the localization efforts are always very rushed and haphazard, like Bamco (at least here in the west) just straight up doesn't care for their own games outside of the big AAA stuff like the Tales series.
When I had looked a week or two ago, the reviews were Mixed on Steam. Now, they seem to be Mostly Positive with the technical issues fixed. I'm going to wait after this gets the good old Bandi Steam Sale and pick it up for $15.00 LOL
I bought Digimon Survive on release day, I've played 97.3 hours and I still have things to do in the game (I explore absolutely everything and leave the voice acting, apart from reading with my voice every dialogue in stream, you can go a thousand times faster than me).
The game has many things that you can see that they wanted to have improved, such as hidden objects that will help you throughout the story.
More cinematics above all
But you can tell they did the best they could and I'm happy with it, it has become my favorite Digimon story
Not to be confused with the "Digimon Story" series of Digimon games. That has a capital S. XD
@@mgreen7804 good point, sorry XD
The only thing I found massively stupid was the whole thing about the day one bonus of an extra recruitable Guilmon only being available digital only if you were a European at least.
It was supposed to come with physical copies, there was just a mix-up where not every copy included the code. Some places have the DLC code on the receipt, some don't. All I had to do was contact Bandai and provide proof of purchase, and they sent me a code, no problem.
@@GamingintheAM0801 Lucky you. I did the same and they flatout said "Sorry, digital only."
Had no idea this even existed. Thanks for the video!
No problem!
I have been waiting for that one for a while. Both the game and the upcoming episode.
I led the QA on this title closer to it's release. Though it's not really my cup of tea, the tactics gameplay is pretty fun and I'm happy that a lot of people ended up enjoying it. Those of us who worked on it from a QA standpoint have a good idea of why the development went the way it did and the reason is extremely simple. Regardless, thank you for making this video and I hope it'll introduce this game to more people.
I'm still shocked that Xenoblade has come so far in terms of popularity that it is now a legitimate threat and competition to million dollar franchises.
I'm glad it was released. The game is a great breath of air for digimon.
It's a shame people do not like to read these day. I thought it was a good take on Digimon in a style they never tried before.
I absolutely love the game and it’s insane how much content is in the game. Surprised it turned out so good despite it’s hellish development. This game got me back into the franchise so I appreciate that.
just adding a point, at least here in Brazil the price of the game is outrageously high. perhaps this affected sales in the region
2:38 Man, I didn’t know Maes Hughes worked on this game.
Seriously though, I don’t keep up with Digimon at all, but even when I’m unfamiliar with the subject matter, you still makes these videos super entertaining. Great work as always, Matt
Digimon Survive was fantastic just people got the wrong impression about what kind of game it was. Maybe it was the marketing? Of course I'm the worlds biggest digimon stan so I'm biased af.
bandai doesnt do good marketing
It’s not the marketing since it was marketed as a visual novel tactics game day one. They were clear since the very beginning.
@@yarc9 false they marked this game well it was the low supply
@@ironrex6979 well it didnt sell
@@yarc9 lol all the physical copies sold out and it was being scalped online. It was under produced specially the Switch version. I want to know the digital sales.
Great Episode! ^_^ The occasional updates on Facebook and Twitter were what really kept me waiting patiently for this game, and believing it actually would release eventually. I actually placed a preorder for Survive at Gamestop back in 2019, and as June 2022 approached, I double checked with them that my preorder was still active, which it was. I didn't expect anything massive, they'd made it pretty clear what the game was going to be, but I still love the game, and it has definitely exceeded my expectations.
i stayed up to date with survive news since announce ment and oh boy has it been a ride. games actually pretty solid if your big on story but i'll never stop laughing at the people complaining that the game they bought which shows its a visual novel is in fact a visual novel
DW Survive is a unique thing. You gotta give the owners of Digimon a lot of credit for not just panning it after all the issues. It was never meant to be the next big thing, yet they never gave up on it. I can think of a ton of companies that would just give up once things took a turn like this game did. They said it was coming & although it took longer than they wanted, it got delivered.
Also, I would just like to complement how Digmon has never been shy about making something new. Digimon games have all been different. They rarely make a game like ones they have made before. The closest cases of them making something that's the same is like Digimon World 1, ReDigitized & Next Order. But those games all play different overall. They just use the Tamagotchi style.
Point is, I love the people who make Digimon games. They go out of their way to be unique each time & although every game isn't a masterpiece, they make cult classics more often than they whiff. Which is more than you can say for the Pokemon games.
I love digimon buy visual novels have never really been my thing. I like to read books and indulge in 60 chapter fics but there is just something about visual novels I haven't never been able to vibe with. If it's ever on sale I might try it.
I managed to get this game a few weeks after release and have had tons of fun with it since then.
Still amazes me people whine about this game not being as action focused when the devs made it very clear this is a survival horror visual novel with tactical elements
There's people complaining about that? But the game genre has been known for years!
@@edgarlozada3858 I know right!? I don’t get what causes this kind of incessant whining
@@DragonKingYara Matt exampled was perfect with Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. I can only image it those complains came from people that *never even looked at one of Survive's trailers* but that's... Pretty imposible. This isn't a game that got shadowdrop, this is a game with lengty development cycle, with plenty of trailers shown.
@@edgarlozada3858 Most gamer don't look up game news they just see "hey that game look fun" form 1 gameplay trailer or "hey I play that game before this that new one must be the same as the one I played but better".
Digimon fans upset that a digimon game switched genres makes me fucking roll
Hate how people review bombed it for being a visual novel when it was billed to be a visual novel. It's like going to a place and they sell poop burgers and someone buys it as it like HEY THIS TASTE LIKE POOP.
Well yeah that's clearly what it is.
I didn't even realize that this game got delayed so much -- I _am_ glad it finally got released though! Me and my partner haven't gotten through it fully yet, but we've been enjoying what we've seen! it's so rough to get localized Digimon games released outside of Japan. (It's also stupid as hell that people got mad that a visual novel was a.... visual novel >__> but I'm not surprised at all by that fan response lmfao)
edit: it's also nice to see you cover something Digimon-related, mostly because you keep using Cyber Sleuth music in these videos and I didn't even realize you were a fan of the series lmao
Re: Visual novel
Based on my experience, there was so little advertising about the game that the casual fan (or people trying to avoid story spoilers like me) wouldn't know that it was a visual novel first and a strategy RPG second. I didn't follow every scrap of news about the game so I assumed it would tell its story VN style in between missions like Fire Emblem. Then when it came out, I heard it was like 80-90% VN and the SRPG parts were half-baked. The demo that was playable at Anime Expo had both a story option and a battle option. Obviously, most people there skipped right to the battle option since you just want to play the game after sitting in line for an hour and a half.
Tldr: I was excited about the idea of the post-apocalypse Digimon game, but stopped caring when I found out it was a VN.
Curently playing it and ive been enjoying it quite a bit just dont expect another Cybersluth if you get this game
Thank youuu, I lost track of the game's development a bit after 2020... Now I want it!!!! 💖 I love visual novels and digimon games were barely like that!!! (Btw I love your channel intro 👏 so 90's TV!)