Was It Worth It is a series here on Aggregator Reviews where we look at a given product and let you know whether you’re going to get your money’s worth from it. It can be hard to decide which items are worth your time, and most importantly, your hard earned cash. In Was It Worth It, we provide an overview, some tips and tricks (if applicable), and our personal brand of irreverent commentary. We finish off with an overall determination on whether the subject is actually worth it. With that said, let’s look at whether Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth was worth it.
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Table of Contents
Getting Digital
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth is a JRPG that has recently been rereleased as a bundle that is currently available on the Nintendo Switch and PC (via Steam). The two games, Cyber Sleuth, and Cyber Sleuth: Hacker’s Memory were originally released on the PS4 and Vita. However, the first title is no longer available on the PSN store and there were DLC shenanigans that prevented late adopters from obtaining all the Digimon.
Fortunately, there have been some excellent quality of life changes in the new titles. Notably, all the Digimon are available in game without any need for DLC. The devs have also relaxed some of the digivolution requirements; previously some of the more powerful Digimon were locked behind post-game quests. This is an amazing change, as savvy players can readily obtain Ultimate and Mega level Digimon very early in the story. Hell, I had a Champion level Digimon before completing the first quest.
Priorities
As soon as you can afford the Developer Know-How items, which cost 25k each, start putting them in one of your farms. Fill the farm with digimon who have the “builder” personality. Use the 1000 yen option to create items, specifically Tactician USBs, which increase earned experience. You’re going to want 8-9 of these USBs for the max benefit.
When the timer gets to one minute left, save your game. If you get the item you want, then great! If not, simply load your save and try again. This is also relevant for the 10,000 yen option, which can net seriously good equipment drops.
Teambuilding
Realistically, the only thing stopping you from fielding a full party of Mega level Digimon is memory. Each Digimon costs a certain amount of memory, with higher level ones costing commensurately more. The game feeds you memory upgrades throughout the story, but you’ll probably always feel like you could use just a few more points to have the team you want.
In each of my playthroughs, I would inevitably have my main 3 fighting digimon at Mega level, with a bunch of weak rookie or champion digimon soaking experience in the rear. There are plenty of opportunities to quickly grind some new Digimon throughout the game, so it isn’t like you’re stuck with the same critters.
Stats
Do you remember the first generation of Pokemon, where Special Attack and Special Defense were the same stat? It’s the same in this game: Intelligence. This means that it’s worth putting points into INT even for purely physical Digimon.
Most of the other stats are self-explanatory except for CAM and ABI. CAM is camaraderie – essentially the happiness stat from Pokemon. Some digivolutions require a certain level of CAM. ABI, or ability, is like your Digimon’s aptitude. Again, certain digivolutions will require you to surpass an ABI threshold. This can be increased by leveling and digivolving/dedigivolving your Digimon. ABI maxes at 200, and gives you 150 extra stats to assign through training or feeding.
Training
If you’ve ever EV trained Pokemon, then you’re familiar with this. You can use training devices in the digifarms to increase stats, or you can use food. In all four of my playthroughs, I never used the training items. The food is expensive at 100k each, but you can farm money pretty easily in the post-game.
High Damage Attacks vs Piercing
You’ll probably see a lot of discussion about piercing/penetrating attacks if you do any research about the battle mechanics. This is pretty self-explanatory: Def-penetrating attacks use your Attack stat to penetrate defense and deal physical damage, while Int-penetrating attacks use your Intelligence state to penetrate enemy Int to deal magic damage.
There was some confusion in the past as to whether physical penetrating attacks were calculated using the attacker’s attack or defense stat. This was a misconception and it has been confirmed that the attacks are calculated using the Attack stat.
In any case, piercing attacks are incredibly useful in the main game. This isn’t to say that other attacks aren’t also good, but the way the game increases difficulty is by boosting enemy stats, ergo, piercing attacks give you the most bang for your buck.
Movesets
With the exception of signature moves, any Digimon can learn any move. If you want your BlackWargreymon to be a healer, go for it, but be aware that there are better options. Signature moves are your bread-and-butter though, and it’s a good idea to build around them.
There are a few moves that you’re definitely going to want to have on your team:
Acceleration Boost – Accel boost doubles the damage of your next attack. Use this before using your big piercing move.
Aura, X-Aura, and Final Aura are your AOE Heals.
Charge Fields – Attack, Mental, and Speed Charge Fields are obviously incredibly useful.
Character Reversal can reverse bad matchups, but be prepared for the low accuracy to bite you.
Dispel is useful if you aren’t using MarineAngemon (why aren’t you using the best Digimon in the game?)
Mach Rush 3 can be useful if only because it’s a physical AOE that never misses – it’s the Digimon version of Swift. Power Energy is the magical version of this, but it’s a single target attack.
Perfect Revival is an AOE revive. Useful, but very expensive.
Physical and Spirit Drain restore your SP. Very useful, but this can be mitigated if you are using MarineAngemon or Rapidmon (armor).
Restore is the Full Heal item. It gets rid of all statuses.
Revive is exactly what you’d expect.
Safety Guard is “Endure”.
Status Barrier does what it says it does, but status effects aren’t hugely prevalent in the story. This is more useful in PVP (If you can find an opponent who isn’t a bot).
Texture Blow is a status move that inflicts Dot (prevents skill usage, essentially silence).
Digimon suggestions
With nearly 400 Digimon in the game, there are a lot to choose from. There are very few exceptions, but most of the Digimon you’re going to want to use are going to be Mega or Ultra level.
Lower level Digimon
Lucemon requires a bit of training before you can get a Tokomon to evolve into him, but he has an AOE light piercing attack and his stats are excellent for a rookie. If you’re going to use him, I wouldn’t necessarily bother with his digivolutions. They have good passive abilities, but there are so many better virus mons to choose from.
Sistermon Blanc (awake) can be a good support Digimon, and has stats similar to Lucemon. I’m not as big a fan of Sistermon Ciel, as there are better glass cannons.
Free Types
Omnishoutmon technically isn’t any stage, but costs as much memory as your average Mega. He’s a fast physical attacker with decent stats but his Free type also means that you don’t benefit from super effective damage. There are several fire element Megas that are better choices, such as the Wargreymons.
You can think of Free types as essentially having a defensive bonus since they don’t fall into the virus>data>vaccine triangle, but this comes at the cost of also not being able to hit for super effective damage as often.
Most of the Free type Megas are pretty decent, even if there isn’t a lot to say about them. The standouts are Imperialdramon (fighter and dragon modes) and Magnamon.
I would recommend the following:
Vikemon
Valkyriemon
Kaisergreymon
MagnaGarurumon (both forms)
Diaboromon
Data Types
This typing probably got the least amount of love in these games, but there are still some good picks.
Groundlocomon is an excellent physical tank, and can boost your party’s defense drastically. Give him some INT boosts so that his AOE special hits harder.
Kuzuhamon is Dark/Data, which makes her excellent against all the Light/Vaccines. However, she doesn’t stand out as much as Sakuyamon, who has a better special and the incredible Adroit Wisdom trait, which gives your party an enormous extra 15% INT. Kuzuhamon does have much better overall stats and an immunity to confusion, though.
Continuing with the fragile mage category, we have Dianamon, Lotosmon, and Leopardmon. Be sure to shore up their fragile defense and HP. Leopardmon’s mode change is also a good, and very fast pick.
There are also several high attack Data types that are worth looking at: Saberleomon, Boltmon, Dorugoramon, Jesmon, Gankoomon, Boltmon, Examon, and Dynasmon.
Middle of the road Datas
In the realm of “interesting but not top tier” we start with MirageGaogamon, who has decent stats and an interesting evasion-increasing passive. If you choose to use the burst mode variant, know that it is mislabeled: it doesn’t increase INT, it increases evasion! The extra physical damage is pretty damning, though.
MetalGarurumon has high speed, only costs 18 memory, has three equipment slots, and an excellent passive that boosts speed by 15%.
PileVolcanomon has decent overall stats, but his passive ability reduces incoming damage by 15%. Personally, I feel that the evasion decrease is negligible. His passive used to be even better, but it got nerfed, sadly. Special mention to Volcanomon, who is an ultimate but as a physical piercing signature as well as the same damage reduction passive.
There are only three Data-types with piercing attacks, and they’re all INT-piercing: Plesiomon, Rosemon Burst Mode, and Gryphonmon. All three of these Digimon are very good against the numerous vaccine types. Make sure you pump up their INT, HP, and Defense. They also each only cost 18-20 memory and have 3 equipment slots. These three are probably the best Data-types in the game, and you would be silly not to use them.
Vaccines
You have a plethora of options when it comes to picking Vaccine-types. This typing includes a lot of the Royal Knights as well as the final forms of protagonist digimon.
I would recommend avoiding the following Digimon:
Chaosmon
Chaosmon VA
ShineGreymon Burst Mode
These Digimon aren’t bad per se, but they can require a lot more support and planning. The Chaosmons epitomize glass cannons. Their passive grants an extra 30% damage output but isn’t worth also taking an extra 30% damage. It can be handy if you’re absolutely hoping to blitz the enemy in a single turn, such as in certain boss fights, but requires some support.
There are so many other vaccine options that I won’t be listing all of them, but will only be covering notable Digimon. If I don’t list a particular mon, it isn’t because they’re bad or not worth using.
Mandatory Vaccinations
Alphamon and Alphamon Ouryuken are excellent. Alphamon can carry you through the multiple boss battles against Royal Knights with his excellent passive, and Ouryuken is an endgame-level Digimon.
The other component for Alphamon Ouryuken, Ouryumon, is phenomenal. This was one of the three Digimon I used to breeze through the post-game dungeon, the Abyss Server.
Mastemon can reduce the time it takes to take down big bosses with her signature move, which shaves off 25% of their health. She also has a very useful passive that boosts Light, Dark, and Healing spells.
All of the Royal Knights are good choices. Some of them trend a bit defensively like Craniamon, but they all generally have good stats.
Other excellent vaccines include Omnimon, Omnimon Zwart, WarGreymon, Neptunemon, and Slayerdramon.
However, the very best vaccine is Marineangemon.
This little water sprite has an incredible healing signature and can keep your part consistently topped off on SP with its passive ability. Rushing this Digimon is definitely a good choice.
Viruses
There are so many Virus-type Digimon to choose from, on both the physical and magic sides, with plenty of piercing options as well. The only issue you’ll have with these Digimon is keeping yourself from fielding too many of them.
Let’s start with the Demon Lords:
Both Belphemon forms are great – Sleep Mode is a mage with an AOE magic piercing attack. Rage Mode has a single target piercing signature and sky-high attack, but a less useful passive ability.
Lucemon Falldown Mode is technically only an Ultimate, but has good stats and a useful passive. Satan Mode has a useful passive that converts magic damage to HP, but the 50% drop from using his signature doesn’t sit well with me. I would honestly say that the rookie form of Lucemon is more useful than Satan mode, especially since it has an AOE magic piercing signature and decent overall stats.
For what it’s worth, Leviamon is the only Mega level Virus/Water combination in this game. Everything adds up for this Digimon – good stats, passive, typing, and signature, but I consistently struggled to find room for him on my team because there are so many other great Virus and water choices.
Lilithmon did get nerfed, but is still strong, if exceptionally fragile. Competitive builds put all her extra stats into HP to keep her from getting one-shotted.
Seriously, don’t bother using Beelzemon when Beelzemon Blast Mode exists. He requires some effort to obtain but is totally worth it.
I see Barbamon as the fragile mage version of Leviamon. Yes, he’s useful, but other Digimon seem to find a more permanent role in my party.
Creepymon doesn’t really stand out.
Other notable Viruses
The following Digimon are good choices to round out a party:
RustTyrannomon or Machinedramon
Megidramon
Minervamon
Breakdramon
Puppetmon
VenomMyotismon (though GranDracmon is better)
ChaosGallantmon
KingEtemon
Merukimon
The best Viruses:
Chaosdramon is a more offensive version of Machinedramon, with a penetrating attack. Be wary of his passive, which causes you to take more damage.
BlackWarGreymon is a stellar Digimon with great stats (except INT), a fantastic passive (increase ATK by 15%), and an extra-strong dark penetrating attack. Even his typing is good, as being a Fire type means that he isn’t as threatened by all the light types running around.
Much like Beelzemon Blast Mode, Gallantmon Crimson Mode is another Digimon that may take a little effort to obtain. He is totally worth it, and can fit into any team thanks to his amazing passive ability that boosts ATK, DEF, INT, and SPD by 10%. He also has a piercing physical light signature that ALWAYS HITS.
More great viruses
TyrantKabuterimon has an AOE fire physical piercing signature, and good overall stats. I was disappointed in HerculesKabuterimon, but this bug has redeemed the line for me.
The other good big bug is GranKuwagamon. He has a low INT stat that is a bit concerning, but his other stats are great. His passive ability also boosts the damage of his penetrating plant-type piercing signature.
Titamon only costs 18 memory, has 3 equipment slots, is easy to obtain early by giving a Cyberdramon or Skullgreymon some extra INT. He has a penetrating physical earth attack that is made even more threatening by his passive, which increases his chance of a critical hit by 15%.
Arcadiamon is a postgame Digimon, which is a shame, because the entire line would have been a lot of fun to use during the story. Arcadiamon Ultra is worth using, but by the time it’s unlocked, you probably already have a solid team.
Kerpymon Black is the offensive virus mage that singlehandedly bullies all the other virus mages off my team. While he’s a little fragile, that’s offset by a strong electric INT penetrating special as well as a passive that can help sustain your entire team when you’re running low on SP.
Overall considerations:
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth has a lot going for it, and I personally enjoyed my multiple playthroughs of it on the Vita and the Switch.
To reiterate, the game is currently available in its complete form on the Switch and on Steam. You can find new physical copies of the Switch version for 39.99 at retailers like Best Buy. The Steam version is 49.99. The game tends to go on sale relatively often, and is on sale right now on the eShop for 29.99 (as of 4/23/2020).
So, now we get to the point where we weigh the pros and cons.
PROS
- Excellent soundtrack
- Two full games for 49.99, with all DLC included
- Over 300 Digimon
- Good game length – I clocked in 400-500 hours trying to fill the “pokedex”
- Postgame quests are a welcome challenge
- You aren’t shoehorned into using any specific Digimon – teambuilding is very much up to the player
- Game doesn’t take itself too seriously
- Random encounters can be reduced or eliminated outright
- Digimon can be transferred from one game to the other
CONS
- Unskippable cutscenes
- Very linear
- Can be difficult to get into if you aren’t familiar with Digimon
- Unrepentant JRPG – you better be into the genre
- Memory limitations in early-midgame can be frustrating
- Not a dating sim (Sorry, persona fans)
Was it worth it?
Yes, definitely. If you’re looking for a JRPG with a ton of bang for its buck, then this is right up your alley.
Looking for more content?
Getting Started in Pokemon Sword and Shield
Read my article about Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth on GottaBeLegend