Tag Tamers

Release date: August 3, 2000
Price: 3800 yen
Genre/System: Collection RPG, Wonderswan

Day 1

Narrator lets you choose a name in case you don't like the name Ryo. I left it as it is. Narrator goes on about the ending of Anode Tamer (Ryo and Agumon saved Taichi & co's collective asses from Millenniumon).

After this the screen fades to the hallway before Ken's room, where you 'hear' Ken calling out for Ryo from the room. Ryo enters, and they talk for a bit in front of the computer. Then the game screen flashes and Diablomon shows up on the computer.

Enter WarGreymon and Metal Garurumon. They lose, however, and as they devolve, Ryo's face icon goes to surprised mode and he stammers WarGreymon's name. Scene flashes back to the room. Much discussion and usage of '?' and '!' ensue, and at one point Ryo starts semi-running, semi-pacing around the room trying to think of a way to help. Then he gets the bright idea to send a good-luck e-mail to Taichi-tachi. At this point Ryo's face icon goes to happy mode and if this was a Tri-Ace game I'm sure you'd see either a heart bubble or musical note bubble hovering over him for a few seconds.

Battle goes back into full swing, they root for WarGreymon-tachi. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon jogress shinka to Omegamon. Omegamon beat Diablomon. Taichi's face icon appears and he thanks everyone profusedly (I counted 3 arigatou's).

Then it goes back to Ken's room where they talk for a bit about what went on. Next day Ryo comes over again. They talk more. then the game screen flashes and a D-3 comes into veiw and V-mon appears. Ryo asks who it is, V-mon introduces himself (note that V-mon uses 'ore' to refer to himself, same as Ryo), says something about Agumon. Ken figures that V-mon is a digimon (bright kid, isn't he?). V-mon seems to know Ryo's name without Ryo saying it, so he had to have been ordered to find Ryo in particular.

So they sally forth to the Digital World, where old-man Gennai, Piccolomon, and Agumon are waiting for them. Piccolomon is just as annoying with that '-pi' thing in the game as he is in the anime. Exposition galore flies about as Gennai explains something or another about Diablomon and the Digital World and why Diablomon was still around. It was about here that I took a break to type this up.

Vocab du jour for those who don't know a single word in Japanese:
1) -san - honorific used to address someone older than oneself. Similar to 'Mr.'
2) -tachi - think of this as '-and company'
3) Jogress shinka - or 'joint progress evolution'. Better known to English-speakers as 'DNA Digivolve'
4) arigatou - basically, 'thank you'
5) Ore - very informal, masculine way of refering to oneself. Ken uses 'boku', which is not quite as informal but still masculine. That probably doesn't make sense, does it?

Day 2

Alright, I was a little too scattered today to pay much attention to the dialogue, so I skipped most of what Gennai was talking about. I'll probably go back and transcribe later.

Anyhoo, afterwards Ryo and V-mon wander around town and you're given the option of entering various shops and such. Not very interesting. Once exiting the town through the little portal, Ryo and V-mon end up in an area that's been very heavily damaged, and wandering around gets you attacked by botamon. I kinda felt sorry for them since they're little baby digimon and V-mon is a child. But hey, it's a game. Anyhoo, wandering past that brings Ryo & V-mon to the mountain you saw in the opening (it's Devimon's mountain), and entering that brings Ryo to a confrontation with Diablomon.

Now, here's where things get entertaining: Diablomon kicked WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon's asses. He's an ultimate. And it only took me a few rounds with a child named V-mon to defeat him. That was awfully anticlimatic. I expected a far more difficult fight.

Once defeated, Millenniumon shows up and says some stuff. I'm starting to think that Millenniumon is Ryo's own personal Devimon. After all, Millenniumon is the final boss in Anode Tamer, Tag Tamers, and Moon-Millenniumon is the final boss in D-1 Tamers. Millenniumon must be surviving all these games just to torment Ryo in the next one. Poor boy. Probably has nightmares the same way Takeru does about Devimon. After Millenniumon finishes going on about how he was waiting for Ryo and this was all plotted, yadda yadda, the mountain blows up and Ryo and V-mon get blasted away. This blast is also responsible for turning Taichi and Agumon to stone. (Taichi and Agumon showed up to meet with Gennai)...

Afterwards, Ken finds himself alone in a forest clearing, where he meets Wormmon for the first time. I stopped there because my attention was lapsing again.

Day 3

Ye gods above, Wormmon is even more ineffectual than Malak in Final Fantasy Tactics. No wonder the Kaiser came to detest Wormmon like he did, the thing never attacks first in battle, and when he does attack, he doesn't do enough damage to kill a baby-level digimon. Wormmon = child, Choromon = baby. Wormmon should have obliterated those in one shot. But no, he never does critical damage. The friggin' Choromon can do significant damage to him! And his secondary attack... Alright, V-mon actually kicked ass, and V-mon's secondary attack does some very nice damage to the opponent's HP. Wormmon's secondary attack is a defensive measure. Gah!

Oh well, on to the story...

After the scene flashes and switches to the forest, Wormmon comes up to Ken and asks if he's okay. Ken looks around, wonders where he is, but quickly figures out that he's still in the Digital World since that is a digimon talking to him. Wormmon gives his name, says something about Gennai's mentioning the Chosen Children to him (hey, playing videogames in Japanese is educational! I've learned more japanese with FF5j and the Tamers games than I have any way else). Ken wonders where Ryo-san went off to, and asks Wormmon if he'll take Ken to Gennai. So they wander off and Wormmon gets his tail kicked by every baby digimon that comes his way. It takes him two attacks just to kill one of them. The only thing that's kept him alive was his high HP.

Then, once done with plowing through several mini-dungeons (no bosses, nothing major... just baby digimon kicking Wormmon's tail). These dungeons are basically the hollow of a big tree and the interior of a cave...

... and I was playing the FFT OST through this. There was something ironic about listening to the Deep Dungeon music while wandering into a cave with baby digimon that gleefully kick Wormmon's tail. At least in FFT's Deep Dungeon, the enemies were something of a challenge.

Ken and Wormmon finally make their way back to town, where they run across an unconscious Gennai and the Taichisicle/Agusicle. Wormmon asks what's happened to Agumon. Much talk ensues and Gennai mentions something that sounds like 'mirror site'. Much more talk and exposition takes place. At one point Ken says that he doesn't want to be a Chosen Child, and Wormmon looks pathetic until Ken consents. Much more talk about saving the world.

Ended here since I had other junk to do. Will continue later.

Day 4

The moment Gennai stops going on and on about what's going on and how the world is in danger with Millenniumon running about, Ken is then allowed to wander around town for a bit before going off to get some digimentals. First stop: Nanomon's Server-room. Nanomon explains something or another that I couldn't quite catch, then offers(?) Ken a tokomon and allows him to name it. In hopes that I would be able to have a choice in its evolution line, I named it Sabari, after the tsukaimon Savali who's the closest thing to a MarySuemon I have and appears in a couple of my fanfics.)

Anyhoo, bubbling with glee at the fact that I have another digimon to play with and that I won't have to rely exclusively on Wormmon, I then hop over to Kentarumon's Digimental Room, where I find that Gennai's already given Ken the pieces of the Digimentals of Hope and Light that Ryo probably found. Kentarumon rebuilds the Digimental of Hope for the obscene price of 500 bit and I equipped it on the tokomon. Whee. Also in the area were two residences, Deramon's Cloakroom (where you offload the digimon you don't want, apparently), Digitamamon's Jogress Room (which I can't use yet), Nanimon's shop (and Nanimon frightens me), something called a Build Shop headed by a Clockmon that's used to upgrade various shops, and Penmon's Trading Post (which I can't use yet either).

After I blew off Ken's money on items from Nanimon's shop (preparation in RPGs is usually a very good idea), I had him finally set off to one of the two portals leading outside. Once through, he reappears on an island with a bridge that leads out. I have him follow this bridge to a set of ruins that look disturbingly like it should be a stepped pyramid or ziggurat (this would be extremely disturbing if it was a ziggurat given the nature of one of my fics which includes Tag Tamers' timeline) except squashed into SD mode. Along the way Ken got to pick up the pieces of the Digimental of Kindness, and run into various baby digimon.

What's really entertaining is that Sabari the Tokomon has been using Wormmon as a shield, therefore living up to his namesake. Once battle starts up, the enemy always attacks Wormmon first, leaving the tokomon to attack only after the enemy does damage to Wormmon. And sadly, level-wise Sabari does do more damage than Wormmon.

Once done with that stage, however, Sabari levels up into a patamon (dammit, and here I was hoping for a tsukaimon) and somehow, the moment I look away to see what was on TV, Ken got teleported back to Gennai's. Gennai says something or another that I couldn't catch. During this, the screen flashes to the overworld, showing that a building has appeared next to another portal. The narrator is so kind as to explain that this is a colosseum. The screen then flashes back to Gennai's. Gennai doesn't have much else to add at that moment, so I checked the digimons' stats. Wormmon still only has one attack and one defense, but Sabari the patamon has three attacks. I love my patamon, yes I do.

So I wander around a bit more since I can't find the portal to the colosseum, and talk to a few of the residents for a bit. Finally I head back to the portal to the place where Ryo disappeared. And whoa, it points to someplace new now. With a colosseum. Right on!

Unfortunately, a D-3 peripheral seems to be needed in order to fight here and I don't have a D-3, so I can't go any further. Smeg.

Day 5

Okay, no Portable Colosseum for me. I can deal and I'm sure Ken can too. So it's back to the ruins we go, and sure enough we run across what looks like an Egyptian pyramid (...) to grab more pieces of the Digimental of Kindness. Finished with that dungeon, went back to Gennai's, watch as the D-3 Colosseum pops up in a Mayan pyramid (......).

However, since I'm in town I figure I might as well check Nanomon's server room for any new digimon. Pick up a yukimibotamon and named it Yuki (and there goes my creativity). Had the Digimental of Light rebuilt and equipped on the newest member of my party. Level Yuki up to a plotmon. Go back to Gennai's.

Gennai goes on about how the evil is becoming stronger, blah blah. Translate in full later. Go to shipwreck (technically, Black Ship) that's in the same general area as all the pyramids. Battle with a party consisting of Devimon, Greymon, and Devidramon. Sigh miserably as Wormmon gets his tail knocked unconscious and drop a Recovery MO on him and a few Hi-floppy-ALLs on the party. Once the enemy party is defeated Greymon says something about losing his memory. Teleport back to Gennai's.

Somehow or another Gennai and Piccolomon managed to jury-rig a Reload Machine that will allow Ken and Ryo to share items even though they're on different sides of the now-split Digital World. Screen flashes to Piccolomon's house where Piccolomon, Ryo, and V-mon are gathered. For a few seconds Gennai, Ken, and Wormmon show up to talk, then disappear again. Piccolomon then goes into detail about how the Reload Machine works and what can be done with it.

Since no new portals have appeared, I have Ryo run through the same ruins Ken went through on the other version of the Digital World. First was the ziggurat, and there I picked up the Digimental of Courage. Teleport back to Piccolomon's, which coincidently is in the same general area as Gennai's on the other world, and he takes the time to tell me that a VS Colosseum has popped up in the ruined tree that was in the first area Ryo was sent off to. Whoopee. Head over to Nanomon's to grab a poromon, named it Quetzal. Go back to the pyramid to grab the pieces of the Digimental of Love and level Quetzal up to a hawkmon, teleport to Piccolomon's. Mayan pyramid turns into yet another colosseum. Grab an upamon at Nanomon's and name it Creampuff. Level it up to an armadimon before going to take on this world's version of the Black Ship.

And dammit, Greymon looks like he's possessed again. Which means we'll have to fight him again. Joy. Battle with Ogremon, Greymon, and Golemon. After the battle a new portal to what looks to be a pretty big mountain dungeon appears back in town, and we get to teleport back to Piccolomon's. Again. Time to take on the mountain.

Nice thing about this mountain is that there's several floors through which the party can level up and stuff. Not-nice thing about it is that at times the paths split in two and you can't go back to take the other without having to go through Piccolomon's talking. The bosses of the mountain turn out to be Snimon, Coelamon, and MetalGreymon. Greymon seems to have a major problem with possession. Battle isn't that difficult despite the fact that that my party consists of childs. Teleport back to Piccolomon's.

Now I have the choice to actually switch back to Ken, but I take the time to stick Quetzal the Hawkmon aside so I can jogress Creampuff the armadimon with a gabumon turned over by Nanomon. In place of Creampuff now is Tsubasa the tsubumon who, after a few battles, soon levels up to a centaurmon/kentarumon. Whoohoo!

Taking a well-deserved break from hours of levelling before going on to Ken's part of the game.

Day 6

Okay, I'll admit right now that my progress is crippled by my discovering the sheer joy and abusability of the Jogress system. It's notoriously simple too, all you really need are two digimon at child level or higher, unequip any digimentals, and mash them together to get a new baby digimon. Then you level it up until it hits a decent number of EXP and jogress it again to another child, and again, and again. Each time the levelling up process goes by faster, and each time the digimon is more capable of advancing to adult and so on. It's really fun to abuse, and after hours of doing this, Ken now has a pair of powerhouses known as Angie the Angemon and Yuki the Tailmon (just a few more jogresses and they'll be able to advance to Holy Angemon and Angewomon). They more than make up for Wormmon's patheticness. Additionally, the jogress child is capable of learning the abilities of all the parents who came before. It's really fun having Yuki the Tailmon take out an entire party with elecmon's electrical area attack.

Anyhoo, this little system has been hampering my story progress, but right now Ken just has to run through the same dungeon on his half of the world that Ryo has done in the Day 5 entry. However, with the mountain dungeons beaten, a new gate opens up to another part of the Digital World. I think I'll wait and continue trying to get Seraphimon before advancing to that place.

Day 7

The next dungeon is a machine continent, and Gennai-san says there's a big evil digimon there. Nothing new. So, with items all stocked up and digimon fed, rested, and ready to go, I have Ken access the place. With Yuki the Tailmon and Angie the Angemon, the going isn't too rough and I have just enough items to keep Wormmon alive (I think that marking on his forehead is a target the enemies home in on). A Betamon warns Ken away, but we press on to the final dungeon in that area and run smack into Black Wargreymon who says he wants to see Ken's fear. Defeated him in a long battle where I had to throw recovery items on Wormmon several times, went back to Gennai's and hit up the Reload Machine to switch to Ryo.

Ryo sallies forth to clear out the same dungeon Ken did. In the process, a Gekomon's Shop pops up and Piccolomon informs us that Millenniumon's power is decreasing. And, in the last dungeon on the machine continent, a Pyokomon says that the black digimon revived. So we get to fight BWG again. Joy.

After BWG's defeat, a new portal opens up and Ryo goes back to Piccolomon. After stocking up on items, we venture towards this strange floating continent which turns out to be Millenniumon's continent. Got pwned, time to level more.

Day 8

All together now, let's sing the "Millenniumon is a Bitch" song.

*cough* Anyway, to continue. Millenniumon's continent consists of three dungeons: Ankoku no Server, Zenbou no Server, Yami no Server and Moon-Server. Now, Moon-Server should be fairly obvious and "zenbou" is odd, it can mean either a "late crown prince," "good dharma," "impure dharma," "category of defilement," or the "whole story". Because I don't have the exact kanji (what with the game being hiragana/katakana only), let's just call it the Zenbou no Server and leave it at that. However, both "yami" and "ankoku" translate to "darkness". Think of "yami" as the absence-of-light type darkness and "ankoku" as the evil type darkness. The Moon-Server is where Millie is taking residence, and looks fairly nondescript compared to the temple in Anode/Cathode Tamer and the crystal tower in D-1 Tamers. A betamon in one of the floors of the Moon-Server asks if Ryo can hear the roar of Millenniumon, says it's audible now, and notices a change. Forward march!

Last floor of the Moon-server has Millenniumon, Dagomon and Lady Devimon. Something I should point out right now about Millenniumon since I don't think I have before in the gaming diary: Millenniumon uses an ancient form of Japanese that belongs better in a samurai movie and only used by shogun and other high-ranking men. Thus, it is somewhat annoying trying to translate him correctly. So, when the opposition is defeated:

Millenniumon: *breathy chuckle* I cannot be defeated by just one power. Such a thing is impossible! Although you have the duty, you cannot unravel the key to my power. The door will never be opened.

Millie, of course, gives another breathy chuckle before disappearing. Argh. A door appears near the town but cannot be opened without six keys. Back at the base, Picolomon says that Millenniumon still has some traps laid on Ken's side, so it's time to reload.

Ken's turn to take on Millenniumon's continent. An elecmon in the Yami no Server says that there's a rumor that the door that can't be opened leads to the heart of Millenniumon, then wonders if Millie has a heart at all (though, I must point out that "kokoro", "heart", also means "soul" or "mind". Heart seems to be the best translation.) However, I suspect that the elecmon means to refer to the heart of Millenniumon's power ('cause we all know who really has Millie's heart, as is suggested in Brave Tamer). Various other digimon offer item explanations and so on, tips that aren't all that important to the story. The last floor of the Moon-Server on Ken's side has Millie with Marine Devimon and Ashuramon. In the tradition of Ogre Battle, "Fight it out!" And, when they're defeated, Millie gets his two yen in. It should be noted that he refers to Ken in a very insulting manner, as opposed to the slightly more respectful manner he uses for Ryo (though "omae" is not very respectful to begin with, "kisama" is downright insulting).

Millenniumon: Hrph. Your power is at this level after all. Maybe in a hundred years can you beat me with such power!

My inner fangirl says Millie's jealous of Ken. Anyway, he disappears too. I have Ken go back to the door to see if it has budged at all. Apparently I need 6 keys. Gennai isn't being very helpful at all. Being able to switch between Ryo and Ken is no longer dictated by The Plot, so this is as good as any to raise some badass digimon, which I was doing for several days until I was playing one night and, whoops, accidently reset my game so I have to do this all over again!

Today's lesson, kids? Never, ever play a WSC by only the light of a computer monitor, you just might end up hitting "hajime kara" instead of "tsuzuki kara" and have to restart.

Year 2, Day 9

So, after about a year of struggling to get back to where I was and trying to get around the door to Millenniumon's dungeon, I finally completed the game. Bleh. Here we go.

Ken needs to run through the Moon-Server at least 9 times, and always through the right/bottom route. This is because the keys to Millenniumon's world are pieces of the Digimental of Desire1, which are found in the second loft of the right-hand route. If anyone is surprised at this, go see the Brave Tamer gaming diary. I ended up with 4 Digimentals of Desire before I was ready.

Because I wasn't quite prepared yet, and Piccolomon wouldn't let Ryo through the door yet ("Waitppi! This is the door to the world of Millenniumon's mind... It is the world in his spiritppi! Perhaps it will be a last battle... Be prepared before opening the door at lastppi!"), I spent several more months levelling. Towards the end, Ken's party consisted of Gabriel (seraphimon with 75 jogresses, Digimental of Hope), Yuki (holydramon with 94 jogresses, Digimental of Light), and Wormmon (who doesn't level or jogress ever but he's useful for item-throwing, Digimental of Kindness); and Ryo's party consisted of Azaziel (megadramon who was supposed to evolve to a Millenniumon but never made it, 99 jogresses, Digimental of Desire), Rafael (vikemon, 76 jogresses, Digimental of Knowledge), and V-mon (useful for item-throwing, Digimental of Friendship). With all the heavy-hitters at Ultimate/Mega level and with y points over 25, we were finally ready to go.

Ryo has to shove nine of the keys into the doorway, and he backs away a bit as the door opens up. The screen goes black, leaving Ryo in total darkness. The narrator says that Ryo's spirit was absorbed by Millenniumon's dark spirit. Same thing happens to Ken. Ryo turns up in a barren wasteland hovering in the darkness, and runs up to find a giant orb of a castle hovering above. After a save, it's on to the teleport pad to the castle and hit "OK" if you want to go on to the castle.

The screen flickers violently and the castle explodes. In the chaos, Ryo is thrown into a battlefield and Millenniumon's voice sounds in from somewhere.

Moon-Millenniumon: Welcome... How kind of you to arrive so far, those who have interfered with my ambitions... Despite these chosen children...

There's a flash of white and Ken appears on the battlefield too.

Moon-Mille: (To Ken:)This is my mind world... Everything that happens here is in me. Your2 power is also limited here. Heheheh. (To Ryo:) Come now, challenge3 me! Even though you tremble with despair!

And now it's on to the final battle.
Round 1: Vikemon, Megadramon, Vmon versus Pinocchimon, Nanomon, Skullmammon
Round 2: Seraphimon, Holydramon, Wormmon versus Mugendramon, Metalseadramon, MarineAngemon
Round 3: Vikemon, Megadramon, Vmon versus Boltmon, Jijimon, Pinocchimon
Round 4: Seraphimon, Holydramon, Wormmon versus Mugendramon, Metalseadramon, MarineAngemon
Round 5: Vikemon, Megadramon, Vmon versus Boltmon, Moon-Millenniumon, Giromon
Round 6: Seraphimon, Holydramon, Wormmon versus Skullmammon, Moon-Millenniumon, Phantomon (skullmammon has Diablomon's C Cannon skill here, which permanently deletes a skill from everyone's lists, so be careful)

After his defeat, Moon-Millenniumon's crystal is cracked.

Moon-Millenniumon: Hahaha... What power is this, what destructive power is this... I... Your... That power is... that... ... ... ... ... ...

Okay then. He disappears and the scene flashes to Taichi and Agumon, who finally unfreeze. When Taichi realizes that they're not petrified anymore, he and Agumon do a bit of jumping in joy before Taichi turns to Agumon. Agumon asks if they're actually able to move again, Taichi says they really can and wonders where Ryo went off to. Just then, Ryo and V-mon run up to Taichi and Agumon. As the worlds collapse back together again, Ken and Wormmon appear. Spirits are high and everyone's happy, but when Taichi starts to say that Ryo and Ken must be tired, Millenniumon (in his old body) suddenly appears and throws the dark seeds at them. Surprised, Ken yells out that it's dangerous and runs into the line of fire. He's knocked back as he absorbs the dark seed and everyone gathers around him.

Millenniumon: Hahhahha... I cannot die... Your actions become power by continuing to learn from experience. I too... my4 dark power too is eternal...

Millenniumon collapses and disappears. The screen goes white and flashes to Gennai's house, where Ken lies unconscious and everyone's gathered around him. Wormmon, in a full-screen monologue, says that they tried to save him and apologizes for not being able to do so. Ken wakes up and pulls himself into a sitting position, much to everyone's joy.

Wormmon: Ken! (D-3 full screen) In this way, our adventure ended. Through Ryo-san and Ken's great efforts and courage, all the evil vanished... (blank white full screen) Ryo-san and Taichi-san returned to the real world. And if something happens to the Digital World again, they will come. (Taichi & Agumon full screen) Ken will stay in this world until we can say that the wound received at that time... Although it healed after awhile, Ken has shown little change. (Gennai & Piccolomon full screen) The dark seed that hit at the time... Ken got cold... But I believe, surely Ken will become gentle again someday... ... Ken was injured for our sake. Now I... I will protect Ken... ... (V-mon & Wormmon full screen) I believe, someday the three of us might go on an adventure again... ... I believe... ... ... ...

The scene fades out to the credits, which appear first in Digital World code and convert to katakana/hiragana. At the end of the credits, the Kaiser stands with his back to the camera, on a cliff overlooking the Dark Ocean at sunset.

Kaiser: I have returned to show this world... I am different from Millenniumon... I am... I am... I am the Digimon Kaiser!

The scene scrolls up to a starry sky, where "The End" appears.

Notes:

*1 - The Digimental of Desire is yokubou no dejimentaru in Japanese.
*2 - Millenniumon uses "kisama" to address Ken, which is downright vulgar.
*3 - This line is "saa, idomu ga ii," which is weird. The kanji for idomu can translate to "to challenge" or "to make love to" ... Right then. Hail Millenniumon, lord of bad subtext.
*4 - Millenniumon makes a shift in formality here from "watashi" to "wa(re)," probably indicating his personal elevation of himself.