infernovolver said:
Improving? Certainly some pre-existing features are improved, but berry minigames? Contests? With each new generation comes a new game, and each time it feels like restarting the same game with a little extra. Oh joy! Over 100 new pokemon! What's that? I can't access over half of them until I beat the game? YAY. Not worth 50$ a game or buying a new system for. Now a remake. Woo. It'd be better if they made the gameplay faster, stopped forcing tutorials on you, and so on. Perhaps that'd make it more tolerable. God forbid a new game with different gameplay mechanics or a different story.
And I thought I was cynical.
There are Pokemon spin-off games that operate differently, have different plots, or in some, don't even involve humans. I never tried them due to lack of interest, but you get the idea. (then again, maybe not since getting from point A to point B and having no need to put any more time into the game because there isn't anything else to do apparently is better than the game being expanded in any way whatsoever)
Also, you can't cram so many damn Pokemon into the field in one region. It mixes things up between all, but will keep it mainly with the new stuff. (native region and all)
Opening access to the others when you beat the game (fill up your first Pokedex) is something like a reward for those who do sought to complete it, opening up more Pokemon for them to strive on. If anything, generation nostal-starters roaming in the wild as compared to bumping it up through from older games would make me happy.
I never said it was worth buying a new system for, but when I did get my DS, it was the first game I did get. Pokemon is extremely easy to get back to, even after not touching it for nearly 8 years, because you know that the core gameplay hasn't changed and stayed true to its formula (with things such as berry harvesting, contests, and exploration on the way up easily ignorable, not forcing you to play through), all while keeping the plot so fucking horrible that you stopped giving a shit about it ever being interesting, or feeling any need to be invested. If I wanted to play Pokemon for plot, then I certainly must be in over my head at that point, especially after growing up something as shallow as the show.
Does the plot make doing the same repetitive task in the AAA titles of today any less monotonous or much more fun? Coming from someone who likes JRPG's, which is usually nothing more than watching cut scenes or reading dialogue piled on top of each other, I guess it's ironic to hear me ask that, but since when does every game need some emotionally deep plot or any at all?
I still enjoy the game itself, and it's obviously that you, and pretty much most of the Escapist community, has moved on (yet still feels the need to claim that they're better in nearly every Pokemon thread because there weren't as many Pokemon then. It seems to be the reason more than half the time, oddly enough).
Besides. Platinum added in the Challenge Cup from Stadium 2 to the frontier, which is by far my favorite cup at the time, and I still love it. I have already clocked about 8 hours on that alone when I simply just need to pass the time or have limited time to play.
