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RPG Land hits up Namco Bandai about three new Digimon World games

By Heath | September 4, 2007 at 11:16 pm

Minutes ago, RPG Land showed up and rocked Namco Bandai for just long enough to get a plethora of new details regarding the three new Digimon World games coming out on September 18.

During the call, Chris Heintz and Kit Ellis, representing Namco Bandai, started out by outlining exactly what Digimon World: Dawn and Dusk (Nintendo DS) are. It was made clear that the two feature different teams going through the same storyline, but seeing it from opposing sides. The two teams are apparently fighting for the same cause, but opposing each other. Using the local Nintendo DS wireless connectivity, players can trade monsters, battle each other for “tamer points,” and create rare digi-eggs. Some can reportedly only be created by connecting with others. Monsters cannot be traded via the DS Wi-Fi connection, only locally, but the battling and egg creation can still be done with it.

Touch screen use in Dawn/Dusk will be similar to that of last year’s DS-based Digimon title; players will see a list of combatants and status on the top screen, while the bottom will show the actual fight and be used to enter commands. With an easy learning curve and a story independent of other Digimon games and anime, Namco Bandai is aiming to please newcomers. Conversely, to make hardcore fans giddy, cameos from Data Squad will appear within the game, and a representative is quoted as saying, “…there will be challenges, even for hardcore fans.”

The other feature of the conference was Digimon World: Data Squad for PS2. First and foremost with this title, Namco Bandai was all about the emotion-based growth system which Janelle discussed in our hands-on preview of the game. The discussion revealed that the story of the game would be a side story to the Digimon: Data Squad TV series, and the same voice actors from the show would also be appearing in their same roles for the game.

When RPG Land’s representative (Heath was all up in it) noted the somewhat changing formulas for each new Digimon World game and asked if Bandai had finally found “a keeper,” the answer came that Data Squad and its new growth system is pretty unique, while the new DS titles are kind of similar to last year’s offering. The future, it was said, is uncertain at this point.

Asked by RPG Land if developers of these new games would address the various issues that earned previous Digimon World games mediocre reviews, the representatives noted that they were not aware explicitly of anything that the devs were aiming to fix, and openly regretted having to give what they called “a generic answer.” It was said that, naturally, the company is always trying to make the games better, and the reps involved here seemed particularly excited about the evolution system in Data Squad and interconnected storyline of Dawn/Dusk.

RPG Land will have some exclusive screens up for these games some time Wednesday or Thursday this week. In the mean time, we’ve got a Digimon World Data Squad hands-on preview here, and a minute-long trailer plus box art of Dawn/Dusk here.

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