Name_Redacted
This review contains spoilers
Mainline pokemon WISHES it could tell a story anywhere near as good as this. The game does have it's lows (namely the slow beginning and often repetitive gameplay keep it from being a perfect 5/5 for me), but the highs are so damn high that it has some of the single best moments of any video game I've ever played. Even if you don't care about spoilers for pokemon normally, I suggest you reconsider for this game, as it's got an absolutely exceptional one that I'll get into below.
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So, we all know that moment where we defeat dusknoir, and find out that we're going to disappear if we save the world. But I wanna talk about what comes immediately after that- the scene where our partner is off in the distance getting the ship or whatever ready. Something about that scene felt weird to me at first, but I couldn't quite put a finger on it, then it dawned on me- I wasn't used to seeing the partner character alone. In fact, throughout the whole course of the game, from when the player first meets the partner up until this point in the game, there has NEVER been a scene with the partner in it where you aren't by their side. And that makes sense- you're directly involved in their growth as a character, being the reason that they learn to be confident and brave, and to better themself. So having this moment come immediately after Dusknoir tells the player that saving the world will make them disappear gives the player a moment to realize what this means- them disappearing will leave their partner all alone again. This scene where the partner pokemon is alone might be an extreme outlier right now, but soon it'll be their whole life. Maybe I'm reading into it too much, but I loved that moment so much and it solidified the game as an all-time favorite for me.
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So, we all know that moment where we defeat dusknoir, and find out that we're going to disappear if we save the world. But I wanna talk about what comes immediately after that- the scene where our partner is off in the distance getting the ship or whatever ready. Something about that scene felt weird to me at first, but I couldn't quite put a finger on it, then it dawned on me- I wasn't used to seeing the partner character alone. In fact, throughout the whole course of the game, from when the player first meets the partner up until this point in the game, there has NEVER been a scene with the partner in it where you aren't by their side. And that makes sense- you're directly involved in their growth as a character, being the reason that they learn to be confident and brave, and to better themself. So having this moment come immediately after Dusknoir tells the player that saving the world will make them disappear gives the player a moment to realize what this means- them disappearing will leave their partner all alone again. This scene where the partner pokemon is alone might be an extreme outlier right now, but soon it'll be their whole life. Maybe I'm reading into it too much, but I loved that moment so much and it solidified the game as an all-time favorite for me.
2007
If you own a computer and haven't played this game, what the fuck are you doing? It goes on sale for like $1 every other week, is incredibly fun despite it's brevity (a blind playthrough typically takes about 3 hours), and I don't remember a single joke that didn't land for me.
A certified classic, and a must-play for even those who don't typically like RPGs. This game just does everything right in so many ways and is an inspiration for many of my other all-time favorites. For as much as people love to argue about this series, it's always nice to go back and just focus on the games I do love. It's still on my backlog tho because I wanna do a pre-hooktail pit run lol
2000
I would probably like this game more if it weren't ruined for me by the hellish experience that is trying to emulate the nintendo 64
2020
This game knows how to maximize the amount of time the player spends in a flow state. It feels like you're playing an MLG montage.
2016
Short but really damn fun singleplayer campaign. I just wish I had picked this game up back when it still had multiplayer. Seriously, the game is only 7 years old, why the hell did it already shut down it's servers so long ago?
2007
An absolute must-play, and my favorite multiplayer game of all time. Despite the current state of the game and it's community, if you just ignore all that, boot it up, and play a round of casual, it might take a few tries to find a game not infested with bots, but once you do, you're guaranteed to have a blast.
2020
Top level play of this game is absolutely absurd to watch. You won't get much enjoyment out of playing it for yourself though.
The game that made me finally accept that I have a massive fucking backlog. I love this game and I really do wanna finish it, but every time I get close to picking it up again there's another steam sale and I pick up another cool-looking indie game for $8 and then an old 2000s-era classic for $2, and by then I add another 20-50 hours to my backlog... Absolutely LOVE this game though, even if the investigation segments are relatively boring.
2022
I'm too gay to care about sports
2022
This review contains spoilers
Literally 1984
2022
This was the game that made me realize I don't actually like platform fighters
2021
I played this game with friends when it came out on PC. I honestly do not see a single reason to play this game singleplayer.
2020
It is a visual novel, not a puzzle game. Why else do you think they let you skip the puzzles?
2016
Fun game but I will never admit to playing it to anyone I ever meet IRL. You simply cannot trust anyone who enjoys this game to NOT be vehemently racist.