Digimon Christmas tournament ends in Japan, Nokia avatar added for Omegamon-themed event

At noon January 1st, 2018, the first event battle for Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hacker's Memory came to a close. Titled "Vaccine-type & Light-attribute Special Tournament" (ワクチン種＆光属特攻大会 Wakuchin-shu ando Hikari-zoku Tokkou Taikai) the theme of the event was using Vaccine-Light Digimon like Holydramon and Sleipmon. To commemorate the holiday season, the unique rewards available included three different colors of Santa hats, and three colors of present box, any of which players could use to decorate their Digimon for the season. Digimon tamers battled against one another to for coins, then redeemed them in the online shop for the digital accessories.

The official coin shop. Both versions of the Ryuji avatar were priced at 1000 coins, while the Youji and Tooru avatars were only 800. The most expensive item in the shop was the Digimon accessory Present Box (Gold), at 5000 coins.

As part of the limited-time promotion, four different online avatars were also available for purchase. These included two avatars based on Hacker's Memory supporting character Mishima Ryuji (standard as well as hospital-wear) and minor antagonists Shiga Youji and Kayaba Tooru. Tamers received 60 coins for a win versus a human opponent and 30 for a loss, or 30 coins for a win versus a computer opponent and 5 for a loss. The shop items were as follows:

• Santa Hat - 200 coins
• Black Santa Hat - 200 coins
• Green Santa Hat - 200 coins
• Present Box (White) - 200 coins
• Present Box (Red) - 200 coins
• Present Box (Gold) - 5000 coins
• Ryuji - 1000 coins
• Ryuji (In-patient) - 1000 coins
• Shiga Youji - 800 coins
• Kayaba Tooru  - 800 coins

The special rules for the event were;

• No level restrictions, bonus stats invalidated
• 100 Memory limit
• Vaccine-type Digimon status 50% up (Attack, Defense, Intelligence, Speed)
• Light-attribute Digimon status 50% up (Attack, Defense, Intelligence, Speed)
• Basic status errors invalidated

Unlike the primary ranked battle format for Hacker's Memory, Digimon levels were left untouched during the event, thus level 99 Digimon remained at 99 instead of being set to 50. Tamers could use any combination of Digimon as long as their combined Memory was within a 100 Memory threshold, but any bonus stats gained through training were invalidated, and they were not able to use the six standard status effects. (Sleep, Stun, Confusion, Bug, Poison, and Dot/Liquid Crystallization.)

The Battle Missions for the month had a combined payout of 5750 coins, supplemented by several titles and accessories. Completing all three earned tamers the "King Crown" accessory.

Mission 1

• Rank 1.) Battle 15 times total. (300 coin reward)
• Rank 2.) Battle 35 times total ("Christmasher" title & 700 coins)
• Rank 2.) Battle 60 times total ("Silver Crown" accessory & 1200 coins)

Mission 2

• Rank 1.) Battle 5 times total with 3 Light-attribute Digimon (150 coins)
• Rank 2.) Battle 15 times total with 3 Light-attribute Digimon. ("Light Fang" title & 300 coins)
• Rank 3.) Battle 25 times total with 3 Light-attribute Digimon. ("Bronze Crown" accessory & 500 coins)

Mission 3

• Rank 1.) Battle once with 2 or less allied Digimon getting knocked out. (300 coins)
• Rank 2.) Battle once with 1 or less allied Digimon getting knocked out. ("Crusader" title & 700 coins)
• Rank 3.) Battle once with no allied Digimon getting knocked out. ("Gold Crown" accessory & 1600 coins)

The "King Crown" hat, awarded for clearing all ranks of all Battle Missions.

"The three extortion brothers who haunt the Akihabara Mayohiga." Original image & description posted by @Digitamagon.

Some tamers used the accessories and their systems' built-in screenshot feature to spread a bit of holiday cheer; @Digitamagon took the chance to make a pun on Mercurimon (メルクリモン Merukurimon) Merry Christmas (メリークリスマスMeriikuriisumasu) and the typical Japanese abbreviation "MerryChri." (メリクリ Merikuri)

Original image uploaded by @Digitamagon.

A rare player-versus-player match on December 31st.

While one might expect the final days of the event to be busy, participants say otherwise. Many tamers chose to use the newly-enhanced battle search function to specifically avoid human opponents, selecting "NPC-only" for grinding coins. The Cyber Sleuth sub-series' AI are not subject to the same restrictions as human ones, often having impossible stats and strategies that a normal player could never replicate. One such AI currently being used is 017DEBANNSUKUNAI, whose party consists of a single Shakkoumon that always moves first and can deal 4000~6000 damage to the entire party with a single unenhanced Aramitama.

Moreover, the payout for fighting these bots is only half of what one gains from playing against humans. But for many tamers this is preferable to matching up against players who had already finished the game, or have a head-start from converting their Cyber Sleuth save data to Hacker's Memory. Well into the second tournament, tamers are still choosing to battle AI opponents rather than play against their peers.

The second event battle is "A New Year! Happy Omegamon Tournament" (新年!あけオメガモン大会) with the theme for both the tournament and the item shop being New Year's celebrations. While many such celebrations take place on New Year's Eve, or on the first day of the New Year, some traditions aren't carried out until as late as the second week of January. The Omegamon tournament will last until January 15th.

The Santa hats in the coin shop have been replaced by three colors of kagami mochi, a traditional New Years decoration in Japan consisting of three layers of mochi rice cakes topped by a Japanese bitter orange;

• Kagami Mochi (White) - 200 coins
• Kagami Mochi (Festive) - 200 coins
• Kagami Mochi (Gold) - 5000 coins
• Kagami Mochimon (Doll) - 200 coins
• Chitose - 1000 coins
• Chitose (In-patient) - 1000 coins
• Nokia - 1000 coins

The title Shin'nen! AkeOmegamon is based on the traditional expression Shin'nen Akemashite Omedetougozaimasu (新年明けましておめでとうございます) analagous to "Happy New Year." This expression is often contracted to simply Akeome (あけおめ) and from this contraction we get AkeOmegamon.

The "Kagami Mochi (White)" hat.

The "Kagami Mochi (Festive)" hat.

The "Kagami Mochi (Gold)" hat.

The "Kagami Mochimon (Doll)" hat.

Replacing the present box-shaped hats is a "Kagami Mochimon (Doll)." And replacing Ryuji, Youji, and Tooru, tamers can now purchase two avatars based on Imai Chitose and one based on Shiramine Nokia. The items will remain in the shop until January 31st.

The Nokia avatar.

The rules for the Omegamon New Year's tournament are;

• Level 50 fixed/Enhanced stats invalid
• 100 Memory limit
• Critical rate 50% up

The Battle Missions for Shin'nen! Akemashite Omegamon Taikai have a combined payout of 6450 coins, and as in the first event, the prize for clearing all of them is the King Crown accessory.

Mission 1

• Rank 1.) Battle 3 times total with Omegamon in your party. (150 coins) [Using Omegamon NX or Omegamon Zwart does not count towards this Mission.]
• Rank 2.) Battle 10 times total with Omegamon in your party. ("Happy Omegamon" title & 300 coins)
• Rank 3.) Battle 20 times total with Omegamon in your party. ("Bronze crown" accessory & 600 coins)

Mission 2

• Rank 1.) Win 5 battles total. (500 coins)
• Rank 2.) Win 10 battles total. ("Chosen Child" title & 900 coins)
• Rank 3.) Win 25 battles total. ("Gold Crown" accessory & 1800 coins)

Mission 3

• Rank 1.) During battle, deal 300 or more damage to the opponent in one attack. (300 coins.)
• Rank 2.) During battle, deal 600 or more damage to the opponent in one attack. ("Command Tamer" title & 600 coins.)
• Rank 3.) During battle, deal 1000 or more damage to the opponent in one attack. ("Silver Crown" accessory and 1300 coins.)

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Hacker's Memory will launch worldwide for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita January 19th, 2018.

Happy New Year!