Temtem

[h2]While I'm (mostly) enjoying this game, its many faults are such a turn-off I couldn't really recommend it to anyone other than die-hard Pokemon fans, and even then only with caveats.[/h2] [h3]Pros:[/h3] [list] [*]The Tems have good designs, both looks- and battles-wise! The evos make sense, and I honestly really like the change that a Tem evolves not at a set level, but after a specific number of level ups, regardless of starting level. [*]Tems have their SV and TV (IV and EV equivalents, if you're into Pokemon) values displayed in their profile, so you can tell upon catching a Tem how "good" it is, and which Tems you should breed for higher stats. [*]The battle system is always dual battles, and many Tems have special abilities (Traits) and moves which have different effects depending on their battle partner. Moves also work on a stamina system instead of a points system, requiring you to time your move uses and skip turns periodically rather than spamming your most powerful move constantly. [*]The different areas within an island have coherent designs, and the ways they connect mostly make sense. Most of them also have very obvious areas that you can't explore now but hint at a mobility upgrade you get later - and you can often see other players using those mobility upgrades. [*]Getting a mobility item gives you immediate exploration bonuses, in items, new Tem-catching areas, new Tems, new trainer battles, and new areas. It's very rewarding (and therefore extremely frustrating when it's later taken away). [/list] [h3]Cons:[/h3] [list] [*]You can't rotate the camera, and the environment isn't designed to account for this. It's easier to travel "up" than any other direction, b/c you can literally see more in that direction, which makes sliding puzzles and ledge falls an exercise in frustrating blind leaps of faith. [*]The human designs are... uncanny? They're not strictly [i]bad[/i], but there's such a huge design difference between character's faces that it looks like some of them are from a different game altogether. I initially thought it was a weird stylistic choice, where adults had semi-realistic eye and mouth designs and kids had huge anime eyes and anime expression mouths, but some of the adults have the stylistic anime faces, and some of the kids have the creepy semi-realistic faces. I don't like it. [*]Just truly terrible game design. The story and quests don't make much sense and are often obvious busywork. You are given exploration items and then immediately have them taken away for several chapters. There are multiple unwarned-for points of no return, one of which completely changes your personal Tem team with a cast of pre-generated Tems for several hours. It really seems like they didn't write or develop this game in its entirety, they just made multiple setpieces and jammed them together with no regard for if they made sense in order. [*]The writing is extremely variable. The main questline is largely nonsense, probably due to the disjointed way it was pieced together. Some of the side quests are better, and some individual dialogues are actually really good. However, there are also a lot of but-thou-must moments, which your character will explicitly call out but still cannot do anything to avoid. [*]Dialogue trees are buggy. They're supposed to grey out options you're already chosen, so that you can track conversations. Some of them will loop infinitely, never marking off options. Some will simply repeat all branching dialogues twice instead of going back to the previous choice menu. Some will reset for unknown reasons and re-highlight all the options. Not all convos are repeatable, even tho they branch, which would be normal except that many of them are one-time-only plot conversations and you can easily lose information by choosing the wrong path. Many trainer pairs, even in the first area of the game, will not display their dialogue properly so it looks like only one character is talking. [*]Tems can only be bred a specific number of times, and that number goes down faster the better the Tem's stats, and the child inherits the parent's lowest breeding times number (Fertility, in-game) instead of starting at full. There are items that can guarantee stat inheritance, but they cost real-world currency (which can be found in game if you don't mind spending days to weeks grinding for pennies' worth). Restricting the number of times a Tem can breed makes sense (otherwise you'd have a flood of max-stats Tems on the market) but the excessive restriction means that only the most obsessed can get high-stat Tem teams... or people that have paid real-world money for a quick shortcut. [*]MMO cruft - the game is always-online, despite the game being almost entirely single player until the campaign is over, and there's a lot of Premium Currency/Season Pass bs. I will give this a slight pass, since the Season Pass is largely only cosmetic items - but season pass also gives you exp boosts and in-game currency, and the premium currency is required to get Tems with high stats without grinding to catch a perfect Tem. EDIT: Upon investigation, it's actually not possible to spent real money on this anymore. Which is good, but also baffling, b/c it seems as tho they reacted to the reasonable complaints of a season pass in a paid-for game and just... left it in instead of finding an alternative way to give new players those rewards? It still means there's a ton of grind to get everything, but at least it's not pay-to-win anymore. [*]The FreeTem! group is a pretty obvious ploy to get people to log in more frequently and spend time and in-game currency doing busywork (catching and releasing specific Tems). This could have been used as a commentary on how they're actually making the problem they're trying to solve worse, like PETA or like Brits accidentally incentiveizing snake farms in India, but it's played rather straightforwardly, which makes it even more disappointing. [/list]

magine putting hours of work into a Temtem, bonding with it, training it, finally evolving it, only for that evolution to give it a new trait that completely ruins it. That kind of frustration pops up far too often. The game starts out strong, but with so many irritating design choices, I just can’t recommend it. There are simply too many moments that take the fun out of the experience.

game is dead, also comp scene is arse and they pretend to care but its lacking heavily and makes no sense

I wanted to like it as an alternative to pokemon but this game a a slog. The levelling system is insanely slow, the move sets are garbage. God forbid you end up in a place where most trainers use temtem that are resistant to you you'll have to spend hours levelling some new piece of trash monster you find in the wild and hope it has decent stats just to slog through another awful maze of boring battles while walking back to heal every two minutes. This game is frustrating, and terribly designed. Don't buy it. Story also sucks and it takes forever to get anywhere.

If you want to grind for literal days and get absolutely nowhere, give this game an install and play. Now, lemme break it down for you. Pansuns: This is the game's ingame currency, lovely! HOWEVER, everything is so marked up that you will NEVER get a cosmetic item cause you'll be getting savagely raped by late stage capitalism. -Yes, there is a way to grind more of this currency, though its by catching and releasing tems. Doesnt sound that bad right? WRONG! By the end, (after totaling for cost of cards to capture and the ones you break by trying) You will barely come out with enough to say it was all worth it. Just go play palworld if you want a more engaging experience.

Temtem is great as a MMO-lite creature collector, it just never got its chance to really shine It was weighed down by the early-access launch (and some updates iirc) being plagued by server issues and it also spent too much time in early access since it was a bit ambitious for the size of the dev team And that coupled with it not being intended as a live-service type game means it doesn't really hold much of a playerbase nowadays and you can feel it a little in certain postgame activities and some of the mmo elements But that doesn't actually mean you're missing out on much content at all, just lairs and pvp, which are only a couple of the postgame activities and they're still possible to play to some degree But none of that actually says much about Temtem as a game, which I have almost entirely good things to say about (though it may not be for everyone) Temtem is very openly and lovingly inspired by Pokemon and still manages to create its own style through it's gameplay and art style and in it's quirky writing The battle system is very tactical and coordinated and doesn't have rng attached creating a strong foundation Then add the Temtems and their unique abilities and moves as well as all the other battle features (like items and types and statuses and the synergy system) all bringing their own fun and depth to the battles I personally think that the story brings a good level of difficulty as you move through it in a way that encourages interacting with some of the nuances and complexities of the battle and team building systems, though it doesn't demand it And there's a good mix of endgame activities that do and do not require you to build and train you own team I think Temtem strikes a very fair balance of difficulty and grind "as an MMO-lite game* but its also the only creature collector I've been this invested in so I'm not sure how the grind level compares on that side My only big complaint is that some of the levels and side quests can feel a bit grindy and long, making playing through the story drag out for longer than it needs to (it can take a *while*) I think Temtem's art style is pretty cute personally, I enjoy how its smooth and bright and somewhat simplistic, it manages to be reminiscent of pokemon despite being distinctly its own style (And the music is great and captures a similar feeling) I just love how thematic and adorable the temtem designs are and how they fit into the environments they can be found in And the lumas are such gorgeous variants of the tems, i love the luma effects (and the umbra effect is cool if you're into that I guess but have fun getting those) As for the writing and story, the story is perfectly decent and the writing is very self aware and referential to a lot of pokemon/creature collector tropes in a silly and affectionate way It may not be for everyone but I enjoyed it Temtem also has a few QOL features and systems that are just natural and player friendly that make it feel crazy that some other games are missing them Plus there's some of the classic creature collector features like an arcade and fishing, because those are mandatory And theres pronouns which is always good to have Oh and the story and world can all be played with a friend! (though only some endgame activities support it and I've heard it can be buggy) I'm just a big fan of Temtem, its very enjoyable and worth playing regardless of the state of the MMO side of the game I always felt like it deserved better but was held back by its developmental struggles, its my personal favorite creature collector Its just a delightful love letter to Pokemon and creature collectors in general, its very special to me

highly recommend with friends - makes farming and progression a bit better to deal with overall. highly Don't recommend solo - farming solo and trying to progress is a slog of a journey. one mind you 5hrs into this game barely have 1 or 2 decent leveled temtem's. things that need fix - exp curve is terrible. gameplay needs balance for combat. ai adjustment (grinding every other battle is lunatic behavior)also having to constant backtrack to heal repeatedly is just bad for how spread apart each one is. end - get it super cheap quote "WITH A FRIEND"

I though this would be like Pokemon, but an additional 20 years of game design experience. Well, that's not really what you get with this game. This is more like a soulless clone than a shiny successor. Everything about this game feels extremely generic - the creature names, their design, the graphics, the narrative, the battle pass. Everything is so streamlined; Pokemon shoved into a cookie cutter bland MMO template. Simply uninspiring. But I've only played 1.5h.

A Soul-Less Grind I really wanted to love this game. I bought it hoping for a true creature-collector experience, something where I could bond with my team, explore a new world, and feel that sense of discovery. Instead, I got a math spreadsheet. The "Bonding" is Non-Existent If you’re looking for a game where you can pet, feed, or play with your creatures, look elsewhere. The most "interaction" you get is pressing a button and seeing a generic emoji bubble. There is no love here. These aren't pets or companions; they are just stat blocks with fur. It feels cold and lifeless compared to other games in the genre. The MMO Aspect Ruins the Magic The "shared world" sounds cool on paper, but in reality, it destroys the sense of progression. You’ll be struggling through the early game with the same 4-5 boring creatures for 10+ hours, only to have random players (or even NPCs!) run past you with cool, evolved monsters you won’t see for another 20 hours. I've been grinding my starter temtem in hopes to finally see their new evolution that doesn't arrive until lvl 34. My temtem was at lvl 25, and a random player online darts infront of me with their evolved, lvl 35 temtem and it completely destroyed me mentally. It completely killed the surprise and excitement of my evolution. Speaking of evolution... The Designs are... Disappointing. Regarding my starter (Houchic), I was hoping for a cool payoff, so I looked up the final form (Nagaise) and nearly quit on the spot. It is hideously over-designed. Imagine grinding 50 hours for that. No Early Fast Travel: Be prepared to backtrack through the same grass patches for hours just to turn in a fetch quest for an apple. Repetitive Encounters: The encounter variety is abysmal. You will see the same "Spriole" or "Paharo" hundreds of times before the game lets you see something new. Bland Quests: The side missions are pure busywork with zero narrative reward. Verdict: If you want a competitive 2v2 battle simulator and care about nothing else, maybe you’ll like this. But if you want a game with heart, immersion, or a sense of adventure? Save your funds (and your time). I quit after the second island, and I wish I had quit sooner.

I'mma be honest: the game is good but it's not for everyone. If you like Pokémon and come into this expecting you're going to have a fun time, here me out first. This game is slow, a lot of dialogue and a lot of side-quests. I like Pokémon Colosseum and Gale of Darkness but they haven't aged well and this game feels like those games but with more content and more endless dialogue. I never read most of it and devs know some people just wanna play the game instead of engaging with the story so the text is fast as hell and can also be skipped in its entirety which is an amazing detail to be very grateful about. I think this game is more for the old people who loved the grinding in the old games. The game is not easy but it's not hard, you just have to accept you will lose sometimes. The game gives you a type chart, which is cool, but you will have to learn it while you play the game; I screenshotted it and I always have my game windowed with it next to it because it's easy to get confused with Pokémon typings. I want to emphasise getting confused with Pokémon matchups is not a bad thing, I'm just warning you because new game= = new type chart, don't come expecting you'll roll the game because if you do, you're gonna get ran through the mud. This game requires patience. What do I mean by that? Well, this comes some negative aspects: - When I check the Temdex, the creature encylopedia, it does not tell you where the habitat of its creatures are. Painful but you can deal with it because, at the very least, most creature are found in places you would expect them to be but that is not an excuse, rather a workaround. - This game doesn't have "modern RPG" experience system. Temtems will not receive experience points unless they participate in battle. This is not a bad thing per se but that leads to grinding in some occasions in case you can get stuck in a difficult part. I'm aware Temtem gives you the exp cloak thing but it's still kinda grindy. CLARIFICATION: Take this aspect as a good or bad on your own. I used to grind Audinos in PokémonBW/B2W2 or use the VS Seeker in Platinum but as I grew older I got tired of those things and I realised that if developers want to make a game challenging, they can whether there is grinding or not so I'm not a grind = good type of fan. - Adding to the point above, the game is stingy with money in my opinion. You will most likely have money for potions, temcards, repels, you know? But the clothing is INSANELY expensive for the amount of money trainers give you. If you want to have a good experience, just do not buy clothes if you can afford them. Save that money only for useful items because spending it in a cosmetic will likely result in regret. - I don't like making comparisons to Pokémon but this is a genre and Pokémon is the most famous game so bear with me when I say that I'm not implying this game is better or worse. The creatures are really cool in my opinion, so don't be put off by them, I think the way these are designed can be different from Pokémon but that's a good thing if you want to experience something entirely new, sort of what BW were at their time. - The artstyle is gorgeous. I can not be more happy with how that cartoonish/Zelda wind waker/cell-shading style looks, it's insane how look it goods, for real. And the battle effects are so vivid and colorful. I do like the artstyle a whole lot. I know there's still a lot of the game ahead of me but with 10hrs+ in I can already see how the experience is going to be. I hope my thoughts were useful to you all. And if you decide to buy and play the game, believe me, get the following creatures: - Kaku -> Saku - Ganki -> Gazuma Believe me, they are insanely useful. Conclusion: This game is a mixbag for me. I don't regret buying it because I am enjoying it a lot despite its shortcomings but it would be unwise not to warn people who might be interested in it of its shortcomings because these can be real dealbreakers for people. It's slow, some places have two thousand trainers (like in Pokémon games and yeah this not a good thing in none of the games), it has a lot of boring dialogue but damn, the battles, when they don't come in like 7 in a row when you want to explore, are hella fun, art is pretty, creatures are cool, defiiculty is challenge and tight, don't expect to stomp on enemies even if you are 5 or 6 levels above, the game demands your attention and patience and overall I'm sad it's a MMO but anyway. I'm enjoying it, have a good day, reader.