One of the best pokemon games in a long time.
There's still a ton I'd like to see in a pokemon game not present here or not returning, like more emphasis on some of the better parts of others they took out(for example, the multiplayer focus, battle towers and such) but for the most part it slices out the annoying parts of the game and adds some great stuff.
The wandering is a much stronger version and synthesis of pokemon SWSH, and the way you interact, PoGo and the older pokemon experiences. The gameplay is really interesting and while it has its rough edges, just seeing GF branch out with a title(whether this should be considered a mainline or a spinoff) is really refreshing. I was ecstatic when I first played it, and the enjoyment didn't really cool off as I went through it all. I'm going to put it down until Home is added so that I can more easily complete the Dex and the post-game stuff, but I'm super impressed.
It's unfortunate it's a bit ugly because otherwise it'd be a perfect pokemon game. It can look decent in parts, especially in handheld mode, but there's still quite a bit of texture weirdness and pop-in/draw distance problems.
The story's not too bad to boot. It has some of the pokemon NPC problems like only ever talking about pokemon, but less so than other games. I do wish they held a little more closely to the concept that the people of Sinnoh at this time were frightened of pokemon. They didn't lean in quite as hard as I wanted, since most people were comfortable training and living aside them, with some exceptions instead of overwhelming enjoyment. But what was there was good and refreshing.
It has a somewhat more varied tone than the others, too. I think the world-annihilating stories in some of the older ones vs. the less catastrophic(but still somewhat?). SWSH SUMO and XY lost direction a bit in their stories in a way, trying to balance the more grounded plot of the first two games with the grandiosity of the 3rd-5th generation. And with varying degrees of success in those, as I still enjoyed them but felt a little mixed on their narratives. But this one integrates very well without it seeming weird due to the fact that it starts off as a completely paranormal fantastical story vs. little kid ventures out to become a pokemon master. Some genuine surprises along the way. The ending of the main game at least does come a bit abruptly it felt. There are some additional things to deepen the story, but it felt a little disjointed from the events leading up to it. Like survey work, boss battle to restore peace to an area, rinse repeat. And then at the end, suddenly this whole rift deal matters a lot more than it did through most of the game after the beginning.
I was also surprised to see some difficulty! Not really from the battling save once or twice, unfortunately, but in the boss fight segments. Pretty crazy that I found myself retrying something in a pokemon game. And power creep is not as big of a problem as in past games. Typically, though I had little issue beating most wild or trainer fights, I was still underleveled and did have to strategize a bit. In battles, fighting around 4 at once like in the space/time rifts(another awesome addition) would be pretty difficult.
I can safely say this has the best music since Pokemon B/W. When it jumped up from a 2D game, it seemed like they really wanted to go orchestral, and a lot of time I feel like that hurts game soundtracks when they have high praise from their 8, 16, etc eras. The more synthesized, "chiptune"y it sounds the better for pokemon at least. But even in the generations since, they'd always have a few banger songs in there, but this one has the best overall music. I also think it works pretty well to have the music accentuate events rather than be a constant loop as you travel an area.
Also was pretty stoked I got very lucky and happened upon a shiny Hisuian Zorua. They already were one of the stronger alts in this(while most were pretty okay to not that great). And just the opportunity for shinies in this being a little more frequent is excellent.
I hope we see pokemon releases like this, or even just merge this and only have this style of game going forward. Or opt for this as the B-release rather than remaking and re-remaking games. For instance, have the A team make the standard pokemon if they aren't willing to budge, and B team makes another legends. Then swap for the next set. And also ensure they aren't crunching or have the resources they need so the games are continuing to evolve but not sacrifice something like appearance to do so. Since it seems unlikely for Nintendo to want to totally flip the switch's success, if they were to port the remaining inaccessible generations to switch and make them Home compatible, then their work would largely be done on that side of things. I wouldn't hate a black/white remake, but it also doesn't need one. Just a port would be fine.
There's still a ton I'd like to see in a pokemon game not present here or not returning, like more emphasis on some of the better parts of others they took out(for example, the multiplayer focus, battle towers and such) but for the most part it slices out the annoying parts of the game and adds some great stuff.
The wandering is a much stronger version and synthesis of pokemon SWSH, and the way you interact, PoGo and the older pokemon experiences. The gameplay is really interesting and while it has its rough edges, just seeing GF branch out with a title(whether this should be considered a mainline or a spinoff) is really refreshing. I was ecstatic when I first played it, and the enjoyment didn't really cool off as I went through it all. I'm going to put it down until Home is added so that I can more easily complete the Dex and the post-game stuff, but I'm super impressed.
It's unfortunate it's a bit ugly because otherwise it'd be a perfect pokemon game. It can look decent in parts, especially in handheld mode, but there's still quite a bit of texture weirdness and pop-in/draw distance problems.
The story's not too bad to boot. It has some of the pokemon NPC problems like only ever talking about pokemon, but less so than other games. I do wish they held a little more closely to the concept that the people of Sinnoh at this time were frightened of pokemon. They didn't lean in quite as hard as I wanted, since most people were comfortable training and living aside them, with some exceptions instead of overwhelming enjoyment. But what was there was good and refreshing.
It has a somewhat more varied tone than the others, too. I think the world-annihilating stories in some of the older ones vs. the less catastrophic(but still somewhat?). SWSH SUMO and XY lost direction a bit in their stories in a way, trying to balance the more grounded plot of the first two games with the grandiosity of the 3rd-5th generation. And with varying degrees of success in those, as I still enjoyed them but felt a little mixed on their narratives. But this one integrates very well without it seeming weird due to the fact that it starts off as a completely paranormal fantastical story vs. little kid ventures out to become a pokemon master. Some genuine surprises along the way. The ending of the main game at least does come a bit abruptly it felt. There are some additional things to deepen the story, but it felt a little disjointed from the events leading up to it. Like survey work, boss battle to restore peace to an area, rinse repeat. And then at the end, suddenly this whole rift deal matters a lot more than it did through most of the game after the beginning.
I was also surprised to see some difficulty! Not really from the battling save once or twice, unfortunately, but in the boss fight segments. Pretty crazy that I found myself retrying something in a pokemon game. And power creep is not as big of a problem as in past games. Typically, though I had little issue beating most wild or trainer fights, I was still underleveled and did have to strategize a bit. In battles, fighting around 4 at once like in the space/time rifts(another awesome addition) would be pretty difficult.
I can safely say this has the best music since Pokemon B/W. When it jumped up from a 2D game, it seemed like they really wanted to go orchestral, and a lot of time I feel like that hurts game soundtracks when they have high praise from their 8, 16, etc eras. The more synthesized, "chiptune"y it sounds the better for pokemon at least. But even in the generations since, they'd always have a few banger songs in there, but this one has the best overall music. I also think it works pretty well to have the music accentuate events rather than be a constant loop as you travel an area.
Also was pretty stoked I got very lucky and happened upon a shiny Hisuian Zorua. They already were one of the stronger alts in this(while most were pretty okay to not that great). And just the opportunity for shinies in this being a little more frequent is excellent.
I hope we see pokemon releases like this, or even just merge this and only have this style of game going forward. Or opt for this as the B-release rather than remaking and re-remaking games. For instance, have the A team make the standard pokemon if they aren't willing to budge, and B team makes another legends. Then swap for the next set. And also ensure they aren't crunching or have the resources they need so the games are continuing to evolve but not sacrifice something like appearance to do so. Since it seems unlikely for Nintendo to want to totally flip the switch's success, if they were to port the remaining inaccessible generations to switch and make them Home compatible, then their work would largely be done on that side of things. I wouldn't hate a black/white remake, but it also doesn't need one. Just a port would be fine.