This was actually the first Pokemon game I ever played, but I never finished it! Borrowing from a neighbour aged 5 or so, I only properly raised a Pidgeot up to level 65ish, which couldn't do the League alone. So yeah, it's nice to finally beat this one with a proper team, Pidgeot included.
Going back to Gen 1, it's interesting how much more of an old-school RPG this is. All the stuff we're glad to see the back of in Pokemon games with more sophisticated battle mechanics, such as limited bag space, HMs, and huge dungeons, are actually what keep this game compelling. It's not so much about the moment-to-moment battling as the bigger picture of travelling and dungeoneering, planning item space and such.
These RPG elements work in tandem with more player agency in figuring out where to go and a generally more open game design. The journey feels so much more personal to the player that way, even if we're all ultimately doing the same things. After a certain point in the game, a lot opens up to you, it's cool! There are some cities with a couple different routes to get to them, so I outright just skipped some parts of this game and it felt good.
Of course, poor programming undeniably brings the game down. Focus Energy halving crit-chance instead of doubling it is but a single example. However, the overall structure of the game is so appealing to me, I'm willing to forgive a lot of bad.
Going back to Gen 1, it's interesting how much more of an old-school RPG this is. All the stuff we're glad to see the back of in Pokemon games with more sophisticated battle mechanics, such as limited bag space, HMs, and huge dungeons, are actually what keep this game compelling. It's not so much about the moment-to-moment battling as the bigger picture of travelling and dungeoneering, planning item space and such.
These RPG elements work in tandem with more player agency in figuring out where to go and a generally more open game design. The journey feels so much more personal to the player that way, even if we're all ultimately doing the same things. After a certain point in the game, a lot opens up to you, it's cool! There are some cities with a couple different routes to get to them, so I outright just skipped some parts of this game and it felt good.
Of course, poor programming undeniably brings the game down. Focus Energy halving crit-chance instead of doubling it is but a single example. However, the overall structure of the game is so appealing to me, I'm willing to forgive a lot of bad.