Any tips for getting the hang of the Digimon collection loop? I'm just wandering in the dark here since I haven't played a Digimon game in forever. My collection/fusion skills all come from SMT/Persona games. I currently have 3 digimon on the Digifarm doing "Investigation" whatever that means, and when they hit max level I just digi-evolved them into whatever shadow looked the most promising. I have 5 digimon in my battle party (2 in reserve), waiting for them to max out before digi-evolving again.
Any general tips and clarifications about the systems would be great!
I'm trying to complete my Digidex and it's pretty complicated... biggest things the game doesn't explain that you need to know are how stats work. You've probably already realized that many digimon require the pre-evolution form to attain certain level and stat milestones before evolution.
ABI: For the Digimon itself first thing you should know is that all stats reset on evolution/de-evolution except the "ABI" stat. Let's compare two Angemons.
Patamon (Level 50) > Angemon (level 1) [ABI 18]
Patamon (Level 18) > Angemon (level 1) [ABI 15]
The two Angemons have the exact same combat stats, only the "ABI" stat is higher.
ABI only affects three things: some high level digimon need certain ABI stats to level into. ABI increases the level cap. And ABI determines the amount of "EV points" you can accumulate.
So practically speaking, most Megas have ABI of 20 requirement. Some cooler ones need 40 ABI. Most bigshot Megas (like protagonist megas) need like 80 ABI. Very few digimon need 100ABI.
Best way to accumulate ABI is to just rapidly devolve and evolve over and over.
CAM: The CAM stat is from 0-100. It's basically friendship; it goes up by 1 point for every battle you complete with a digimon on the FRONTLINE only, or by feeding it food in the farm. You need it to evolve into some Digimon; the Greymon lines usually need high amounts of CAM as do some of the final megas.
DigiFarm "Training": Training in the Digifarm is the only way to add EVs to your Digimon. EV are bonus stats that stay with that Digimon even as it moves through forms. Your Max EVs is a total of 50 + ABI/2 (max of 100 EVs). Training rapidly causes you to lose CAM but speeds up the EV accumulation.
Training is super important for Megas. Many Mega pokemon require stats that are literally impossible to get without manipulating EVs. For example, Leviamon needs HP values that it's pre-evolution forms cannot reach at max level, so the only way to get Leviamon is the evolve an ultimate with lots of HP EVs.
Whenever you use "Training" the EVs that increase are based on your digimon's personality (look it up on the internet to see which personality matters).
Finally if you want to get the Digidex complete in a timely fashion, you pretty much HAVE to do EXP grinding. The EXP you get in this game is utterly abyssal. Like... the final dungeon has monsters giving like 2000 XP each, which probably requires you to fight like 100 random battles to go from level 1 to 99 (which is mandatory for some digimon!).
You've heard of "Platinum" monsters who double (additively, not multiplicative) EXP per. You pretty much need these to do any meaningful grinding.
Also you'll NEED "Tactician USBs" which are accessories that double EXP for much the same reason.
"Develop" on Digifarm: This gives you a random item when the timer ends. The timer's length is decreased by including lots of Digimon with the "Builder" personality, and making one the leader.
When you choose Develop you have to pick how much Yen you want to invest. The item tables for each investment are different; the 1000yen one gives you the EXP raising gear.
You can just keep reloading till you get one, but it's more realistic to save up to buy lots of Farm Goods (The "Developer's Knowledge") that increase Develop quality (check the shop in the Digilab). If you fill a farm with Developer's Knowledge the EXP accessory comes up fairly frequently.
Investigation just unlocks some extra quests, pretty basic stuff usually giving you medals. Collect them all at your own peril; medals don't unlock anything meaningful but are there for completionists.
Practical Early Game Advice: Don't worry about ABI. It's trivial to farm later in the game and you won't need it till you reach Megas. That means there's no reason not to digivolve ASAP.
It's trivial to get all the Rookie digimon in the early game, just keep your Digifarm filled to the brim and keep devolving and evolving between the Rookie and Baby forms. You can do this while progressing the story. You will find that Digimon level faster in the farm than in your party, given how crappy early game EXP is.
Getting all the Champion forms will take some work. It helps a ton to use PlatinumSukamon and/or try to farm some Tactician USBs.
You need to do EXP farming to reasonably finish the Ultimate and Mega digidexes. This is much easier in the late game too, since the late game shops contain items that boosts EVs without training and easy ways to reduce EVs too.
Finally if you do early EXP farming and find yourself outlevelling everything: switch to Hard Mode, which almost seems balanced for NG+. It's like SMT level hard, exploit weaknesses and tailor specific teams to specific bosses or get wiped.
