It seems like I’m doomed to be a contrarian when it comes to Pokemon. I think Gens 1 and 2 are fantastic, I think Gen 3 is good but a bit underwhelming, I think Diamond and Pearl are very fun and playable, and I don’t like Black and White. I don’t *dislike* them either, I just think they’re okay.
I don’t like the new Pokemon. I don’t dislike them either, and past the earlygame I still found it difficult to settle on a team of six, but there are far less that excite me than in nearly any other region. I also find the learnsets head-scratching at times - on one hand, it feels like half the Pokemon I fight are trying to annoy me to death with far more Protect, sleep moves, stat raises and drops, and so on than in any other game; on the other hand, random Pokemon get very strong moves far before most others do. Thinking about the Patrats with Crunch at like level 17, or the Flare Blitz Darmanitan I had to fight before hardly any of my own team had moves over 60bp.
I don’t like the region. The routes are individually fun enough to explore, but the region as a whole is painfully linear and punctuated with roadblocks even more egregious than the Saffron City guards, to ensure you play the game exactly how you’re intended to. By the end it even gives up on trying to explain the roadblocks and just says that 'something's there, you can't go through'. I didn’t dislike the urbanisation as much as I thought I might, but there’s still a stinging irony of all the rangers talking about how great nature is in the game that removed multiple ways of interacting with nature, and where the camera can’t help zooming out to show off how cool its motorways are.
I don’t like the story. I'd rather not get into how I feel about what the story is actually saying, but weirdly enough what took me out of it the most is how it presents itself. Magma, Aqua and Galactic are not compelling antagonists, but their goals and abilities are at the very least grounded in what their desired legendaries are capable of. But teleporting ninjas? Self-raising underground castles? Alongside multiple encounters only being explained by Ghetsis wanting to ‘see what you’re capable of', none of it realy feels fitting for a Pokemon game. It’s much more compelling when it’s exploring the rivals’ character arcs - I found some of their moments to be surprisingly endearing, and I’d have loved to see focus taken away from the Team Plasma conflict and put towards exploring some of the other side characters in more depth.
I’m not critical on everything about these games. I like the presentation - the animated battle sprites have grown on me a lot, the world feels much more awe-inspiring than Gen 4 since it actually uses its 3D to convey height effectively, and the soundtrack has some all-time greats. I like the much more creative and interesting moves they added, and how they’re not afraid to let you play around with all of them. I like the fact that they had a pretty reasonable level curve going for the first time in the series. But ultimately, these games are the earliest in the series that I just didn’t enjoy all that much.
I don’t like the new Pokemon. I don’t dislike them either, and past the earlygame I still found it difficult to settle on a team of six, but there are far less that excite me than in nearly any other region. I also find the learnsets head-scratching at times - on one hand, it feels like half the Pokemon I fight are trying to annoy me to death with far more Protect, sleep moves, stat raises and drops, and so on than in any other game; on the other hand, random Pokemon get very strong moves far before most others do. Thinking about the Patrats with Crunch at like level 17, or the Flare Blitz Darmanitan I had to fight before hardly any of my own team had moves over 60bp.
I don’t like the region. The routes are individually fun enough to explore, but the region as a whole is painfully linear and punctuated with roadblocks even more egregious than the Saffron City guards, to ensure you play the game exactly how you’re intended to. By the end it even gives up on trying to explain the roadblocks and just says that 'something's there, you can't go through'. I didn’t dislike the urbanisation as much as I thought I might, but there’s still a stinging irony of all the rangers talking about how great nature is in the game that removed multiple ways of interacting with nature, and where the camera can’t help zooming out to show off how cool its motorways are.
I don’t like the story. I'd rather not get into how I feel about what the story is actually saying, but weirdly enough what took me out of it the most is how it presents itself. Magma, Aqua and Galactic are not compelling antagonists, but their goals and abilities are at the very least grounded in what their desired legendaries are capable of. But teleporting ninjas? Self-raising underground castles? Alongside multiple encounters only being explained by Ghetsis wanting to ‘see what you’re capable of', none of it realy feels fitting for a Pokemon game. It’s much more compelling when it’s exploring the rivals’ character arcs - I found some of their moments to be surprisingly endearing, and I’d have loved to see focus taken away from the Team Plasma conflict and put towards exploring some of the other side characters in more depth.
I’m not critical on everything about these games. I like the presentation - the animated battle sprites have grown on me a lot, the world feels much more awe-inspiring than Gen 4 since it actually uses its 3D to convey height effectively, and the soundtrack has some all-time greats. I like the much more creative and interesting moves they added, and how they’re not afraid to let you play around with all of them. I like the fact that they had a pretty reasonable level curve going for the first time in the series. But ultimately, these games are the earliest in the series that I just didn’t enjoy all that much.
3 Comments
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Started playing bw2 and it reminded me of a couple things I didn't fit into the review
- The pacing feels a little rushed, from gym 2 right until the end it's a constant loop of short (usually) route -> story beat if you're lucky -> gym and you blink once and you're halfway through the game. At least that's how I felt. Also didn't help the story with feeling as stilted as it is. It's a shame cause the opelucid into route 10 music combo could have been destructive if the game felt like an adventure instead of a stroll
- Trainer pokemon distribution is probably not all that bad in terms of diversity but I am going to violate the geneva convention if I ever have to see those stupid fucking monkeys ever again. Simipour learns scald as well. Scald! This is what they are doing to your children. Also a lot of cool wild pokemon are stuffed in right near the end of the game so it's not all that feasible to use them. o7s out for my guys bouffalant and durant
- I think the route music is agonisingly unmemorable in this one. The two midgame ones are so bland that I genuinely thought they were the same until I listened to them back to back. At least the battle music is good
- The pacing feels a little rushed, from gym 2 right until the end it's a constant loop of short (usually) route -> story beat if you're lucky -> gym and you blink once and you're halfway through the game. At least that's how I felt. Also didn't help the story with feeling as stilted as it is. It's a shame cause the opelucid into route 10 music combo could have been destructive if the game felt like an adventure instead of a stroll
- Trainer pokemon distribution is probably not all that bad in terms of diversity but I am going to violate the geneva convention if I ever have to see those stupid fucking monkeys ever again. Simipour learns scald as well. Scald! This is what they are doing to your children. Also a lot of cool wild pokemon are stuffed in right near the end of the game so it's not all that feasible to use them. o7s out for my guys bouffalant and durant
- I think the route music is agonisingly unmemorable in this one. The two midgame ones are so bland that I genuinely thought they were the same until I listened to them back to back. At least the battle music is good
Baird
9 months ago