Recent reviews by AlphaGodith

pros;

- number go up/progression
- VERY satisfying sound effects
- loot boxes (card packs)
- collecting and achievements (both entirely optional)

basically, it is a very fun and satisfying game to play. it just feels good. you will easily waste a lot of time on this game.

cons;

- math (BIG numbers and the game doesn't do the math for you to compare your options)
- poker
- rouge-like

basically, it takes a lot of careful planning and a good understanding of a lot of different mechanics to actually WIN at this game. if losing a lot/when you have gotten pretty far makes you feel bad, you will probably have a bad time. it's not too bad once you get the hang of it tho.

conclusion; i have already spent more time in this game than i would in a movie theater, for almost the same price. worth it. it took me about 8 runs to 'win' the game (beat ante 8) and that alone was a lot of good gameplay, but now there's still a lot left to try with endless mode and the collecting/achievements.

like supermarket sim, internet cafe sim, and 'i can't believe it's not gambling' combined. very good amount of gameplay and polish for a free version, too.

has the satisfying shelf stocking and furniture organizing of supermarket sim, but with a more cozy type of store that's less likely to trigger a customer service nightmare.

similar mechanics to internet cafe sim (minus thieves and bitcoin garbage) but the customers who stop by to play games feel a lot more realistic, both in appearance and behavior.

and possibly the best part and why i was interested in this but not those other games- you get to sample your own product! it's nice to be able to open packs and collect cards when the shop is slow, instead of just having to sit there and stare at people, and it gives the game more of a solid end goal than just 'get all the expansions', so i feel like i can enjoy it at my own pace, maybe have a small shop the whole time instead of having to get a huge one.

i'm also very glad to hear that the cards are being made by a bunch of different artists, like real tcgs, and they are being payed and credited properly in the full version of the game. too many games these days are going the easy and immoral way with ai, but not this one.

it's a cute and fun game at first, but the totally unnecessary and weird inclusion of sexual (and sometimes problematically/misogynistically so) content ruins the atmosphere for me.
the potion making mechanics are great and i WANT to like the game, but there was zero need for the std and rape related requests, and their inclusion makes me super uncomfortable.

if you have infinite time to grind, and enjoy doing so, i guess you'll like this game. but personally i only find pain in spending hours collecting rare materials only to see them get flushed down the toilet with rng when all i want is to get to play with my fave digimon by my side.

according to others the game used to be decent, but at this point in time it's nothing but a collection of scams to try and get you to spend real money on things that used to be attainable just by playing.

the quests are insanely repetitive, dialogue/descriptions/names are poorly translated/inconsistent, my inventory is constantly clogged with items i can't even use without paying real money and can't even sell to npcs, so i can't even carry items necessary to do the boring-ass quests, and many times quests are blocked by people grinding the quest digimon for resources.

there really isn't anything fun about this game. there could be, but unfortunately it's all been deliberately rigged such that you either pay to win, or do nothing but grind all day every day just for the chance to MAYBE get a reward.

and for the record, i really, REALLY love digimon, and would LOVE to be able to play in an open world with my friends like this, but this isn't a game, it's a gambling subscription service.

could use some tweaks (undo button, auto-aim/target, more parts/challenges) but i got 3 hours of entertainment for just a dollar.
tempted to give negative review just cuz it thinks my username is 'profanity' tho.

for a game made by a single person, it's wonderful. if you are young and don't care about achievements and don't mind repetitive gameplay, you'll probably love it.

but right now, i cannot recommend this game to any of my own peers, as a cheevo-hunting adult. the economy in the game is extremely poorly balanced- crafting your own tools costs so much stamina that it winds up being cheaper to just buy the tools in town, and it's also more effective to buy many cheap tools than a few good ones. your house is constantly degrading, and if you don't keep even the parts your customers never see repaired, they will pay less for your goods. you are also punished for experimenting/acquiring new recipes (in the form of customers starting to ask for those newly discovered potions, and lowering the amount all of your goods sell for, to everyone, when you can't deliver potions that require insanely rare ingredients). haggling also seems weighted to be more risk than reward... one mistake after several wins sets you right back to selling at a loss.

gameplay doesn't change from season to season, making it quite tedious, and if you are trying for 100% achievements... the last one that requires you to get 1,000,000 coins is just masochistic. even with the most efficient shops it would probably take at least 10 in-game years to reach that one goal, and you wouldn't be able to enjoy any of the decorations that are the game's main draw, else you'd push that goal even further away.

if the game gets patched to fix these issues, i will change my review to a yes. it's not so lacking in content that it can't be enjoyed, but even before i knew about the 1 million achievement, i felt like the economy was too harsh, and it hampered my enjoyment significantly.

i don't usually like jrpgs and figured i'd have to force myself to play this one for the sake of my pride as a digimon fan, but lo and behold my research that determined this was the best game to get me into the series was right!

I am having a BLAST and am excited to keep playing!

there are some things that could be explained better (CAM, ABI, the farm, equipment...) but it's easily playable without those things, and they were all easy enough to look up online. lots of lovely quality of life features so even grinding(which i've done for completionist things rather than it being necessary) hasn't been painful. graphics are lovely (apart from the standard jrpg sexism) and i was able to get all my favorite digimon pretty early on without too much fuss.

JUST MAKE SURE YOU TURN THE VOLUME DOWN TO 10%. volume is WAY high for some reason and can only be controlled once in-game, the menu is ALWAYS loud even after you've changed settings in a save, so turn it down in your task bar.

and i do recommend using a controller. it technically has keyboard support but it's pretty awful.

(review made at 20 hours in, both the main game and dlc each took about 69 hours to finish. playtime beyond that 138 hours is mostly me hunting achievements and screwing around)

a lovely little otome with a bit of darkness for flavor.

looks simple and fun, but is actually quite frustrating. tons of mechanics that never get explained in-game, and starting fresh without all the abilities and tools you supposedly get later is really difficult.

good difficulty balance. first half was relaxing and easy, second half required actual effort and i made some mistakes but it wasn't frustrating.

my only complaint is that the puzzle pieces don't actually look much like sand to me. it woulda been super cool if each piece got added to a sandcastle in the bg as you completed them, or something.