I'm a bit conflicted on if I actually like this game or not, because on the one hand, it's a very faithful and fun remake, but in the other hand, whatever the gargantuan amount of nostalgia I have for the original, I don't think that it was actually that good.
The main thing this remake has to sell is a graphical improvement from the GBA and DS titles, since there's barely any added content aside from some balance tweaks. A great effort was put into making the game have something of a "picture book" look, which I guess was made to improve the souless 3D Pokémon models from the main series and give some flair to the 3D environments that looked good previously because of the amazing pixel art. I apprecciate the intent, but sadly it just doesn't look very good at all. You end up getting used to the backgrounds, but the Pokémon look muddy and weird, and the character portraits don't hold a candle to the original pixel art ones. The original didn't look perfect all the time either, but I'll take it any day of the week before this one.
Having this game on a modern console, with 3D spaces and after 3 more entries in the series that evolved the series in every way, really makes it show its age. The story and character interactions are very simplistic, setting aside the runaway portion of it, and there's only like around 10 dungeons in the main story, making it very short. Also, for some reason, the postgame is like x4 times bigger than the main story and I may be falling short. I know they tried their best to respect the original but I think more could have been done to balance it a bit.
Although these last 2 points are just my opinion (and I'm very biased towards this) about graphics and length, the worst thing for me was the infuriating amount of input lag that's in this game. Why? This game is a very simplistic remake of a GBA game! It has no business making me even fail inputs, specially in menus, from how big the lag is. I read somewhere that there's something wrong with the engine they use since the 3DS titles, but if that's the case they definetly should have fixed it for this entry because it makes the experience really frustrating.
However, I also think there's plenty to love about the game as well. The difficulty is still high even when you're given a lot more options and resources than in the original, and playing through the dungeons is as fun as ever. A lot of care was put in the boss fights too. In the DS games, the presentation is a little bit lackluster, but in DX there are a good amount of cutscenes that add a lot of personality to the individual bosses (and the finale of the game too). There's also individual gimmicks that mix up the gameplay and make boss fights harder to counter the fact that your items are stronger, making you try to stack up on them and save them for bosses.
The soundtrack really makes a great effort to preserve the feeling of the original songs, which I really liked. Even though my brain is wired to enjoy the old ones more, I think DX has an incredible soundtrack anyways.
I leave this game with mixed feelings, especially since I played the original so much when I was a kid. I hope that if Explorers of Sky DX is ever made it fixes the rough edges this one had, which I'm sure would then make for something really special. For this one though, I think I'll just play the original if I want to get back to it any time soon. I know nostalgia is a big part of that, but I'm perfectly fine with embracing my hypocrisy for this one.
The main thing this remake has to sell is a graphical improvement from the GBA and DS titles, since there's barely any added content aside from some balance tweaks. A great effort was put into making the game have something of a "picture book" look, which I guess was made to improve the souless 3D Pokémon models from the main series and give some flair to the 3D environments that looked good previously because of the amazing pixel art. I apprecciate the intent, but sadly it just doesn't look very good at all. You end up getting used to the backgrounds, but the Pokémon look muddy and weird, and the character portraits don't hold a candle to the original pixel art ones. The original didn't look perfect all the time either, but I'll take it any day of the week before this one.
Having this game on a modern console, with 3D spaces and after 3 more entries in the series that evolved the series in every way, really makes it show its age. The story and character interactions are very simplistic, setting aside the runaway portion of it, and there's only like around 10 dungeons in the main story, making it very short. Also, for some reason, the postgame is like x4 times bigger than the main story and I may be falling short. I know they tried their best to respect the original but I think more could have been done to balance it a bit.
Although these last 2 points are just my opinion (and I'm very biased towards this) about graphics and length, the worst thing for me was the infuriating amount of input lag that's in this game. Why? This game is a very simplistic remake of a GBA game! It has no business making me even fail inputs, specially in menus, from how big the lag is. I read somewhere that there's something wrong with the engine they use since the 3DS titles, but if that's the case they definetly should have fixed it for this entry because it makes the experience really frustrating.
However, I also think there's plenty to love about the game as well. The difficulty is still high even when you're given a lot more options and resources than in the original, and playing through the dungeons is as fun as ever. A lot of care was put in the boss fights too. In the DS games, the presentation is a little bit lackluster, but in DX there are a good amount of cutscenes that add a lot of personality to the individual bosses (and the finale of the game too). There's also individual gimmicks that mix up the gameplay and make boss fights harder to counter the fact that your items are stronger, making you try to stack up on them and save them for bosses.
The soundtrack really makes a great effort to preserve the feeling of the original songs, which I really liked. Even though my brain is wired to enjoy the old ones more, I think DX has an incredible soundtrack anyways.
I leave this game with mixed feelings, especially since I played the original so much when I was a kid. I hope that if Explorers of Sky DX is ever made it fixes the rough edges this one had, which I'm sure would then make for something really special. For this one though, I think I'll just play the original if I want to get back to it any time soon. I know nostalgia is a big part of that, but I'm perfectly fine with embracing my hypocrisy for this one.
Reviewed on May 23, 2023