I'm a sucker for nostalgia. As such, I've been very excited for the Digimon Survive game that recently released.
So excited that I not only accidentally pre-ordered a physical copy twice, but spent time playing some older Digimon titles while I awaited the fated day to arrive.
I must say, the series hasn't generated many good games. I recall Digimon World [PS1] being nigh indecipherable as a child, and that holds true now. It seems that the games were always caught between being a tamagatchi-style monster-raising affair and a coherent RPG, while never really landing on either. In my excitement I revisited Cyber Sleuth and Digimon World DS, which stand as the highest-rated entries in the franchise.
Cyber Sleuth had rave reviews from Digi-fans, but I couldn't play for more than 2 hours without cringing myself into a fetal position. The story, character design and dialogue was offensively bad, and the digimon raising system wasn't strong enough to make up for it. (No gameplay system would have been, I fear)
The DS game on the other hand had a great Digimon raising system with a cute little farm on the DS top-screen, and clear evolution routes. The story was just about the driest thing I've ever played, however. Essentially just a basic excuse to go and battle with your Digimon. I can usually stomach random RPG battles but this game bored me to tears.
Despite this I've got high hopes for Digimon Survive! The game thankfully takes a very different direction than its predecessors and I've already managed to put in a handful of hours without throwing away the cartridge in disgust.
I guess this technically makes it the best Digimon game I've played to date!