>>717258540
>Where you have to dry follow a series of checklists to get a specific Digimon, yes.
Because they're raising sims, where the entire point is to simulate raising a pet. The objectives are making sure your digimon is trained in a specific way to stimulate its growth(evolution path)

>While Taichi's bond with veedramon was a thing it was never emphasised in the same way the anime
It's literally the same thing the two of them were very much strong friends and their faith in one another was part of the series, v-tamer made use of the mechanics of the virtual pet for evolution rather than making it completely based around the idea strong emotion...which was actually done by the very first digimon manga C'Mon Digimon which predates both v-tamer and the anime.

>We're talking about something entirely different.
We aren't. The raising and bonding aspect is integral to Digimon's identity as a franchise, it's the main appeal and that's why every aspect of the franchise reinforces this. The latest games spell it out in its advertising by straight up telling you its about bonds between man and digimon.