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chongoblog · 1 month

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My First Pokemon Playthrough

So I've noticed in my time of talking about Pokemon, I've told a lot of various anecdotes that are all a part of my very first time playing Pokemon. I was feeling nostalgic, so I figured I would share what I remember about this playthrough for everyone to enjoy. There may be a tangent or two in there and people who have followed me a while may have heard these before, but hey.

For context, I believe I was about 8 years old at the time, and after collecting some Pokemon cards, watching a kid play Crystal at summer camp, watching some of the anime, and generally being a pretty big fan (I even have Pokemon Yahtzee burned into my memory for some reason...), I finally got myself a Game Boy Advance with Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World, some Frogger game (after looking it up, it was Temple of the Frog), Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2, and, of course, Pokemon Sapphire.

I remember that my starter was Torchic. I don't remember why I chose that one, although I remember really liking the color red at the time (which I still do), so that was probably why.

I don't remember too much about my team or the general progress I made in most of the game, but I do remember Slateport City. For those who do not recall, in Slateport City in order to advance you need to get into the museum, which is blocked off by Team Aqua Grunts until you talk to someone in the shipyard. There are also Team Aqua grunts blocking the route ahead

Now, my 8 year old brain for some reason concluded that the only way to get past the Team Aqua Grunts was to intimidate them with a high enough level Pokemon or something like that. So one night, while I was supposed to be asleep on a family beach vacation, I beat down more poor level 13 Pokemon than I could count. I learned later what I was actually SUPPOSED to do, which led to me finally fighting the Team Aqua Grunts.....with a level 42 Blaziken.

And since the Name Rater was in Slateport City and my starter had evolved, I figured it was only appropriate to give him the new moniker "MAGMA MAN"

The rest of the playthrough went about as normally as tearing through the game with mostly Blaziken normally would go. There were a couple exceptions though. First off, at the Weather Institute, after I saved the day from Team Aqua, they were kind enough to gift me a Castform, but my party was full, so I couldn't get it. My 8 year old self did not read this. (Remember this, it will come back later). But I managed to make my way through the game, catching Kyogre with my Master Ball and giving it the nickname "LEGENDARY"

Then we come to the Elite Four where I hit a brick wall. I don't remember my team at the time exactly, but I do remember it was MAGMA MAN which had reached about level 80 or so, LEGENDARY which was about level 48, a level 36 Pelipper, two level ~35 Tentacruels, and some other sixth Pokemon I don't recall. And for some reason, I just couldn't beat the Elite Four with this team for some weird reason. The best I could ever get to was Drake. I felt I was utterly defeated.

That's when we bring a new character into the story. A member of my friend group at the time who we'll call "John" to protect the innocent. Now John had a very "uncle who works at nintendo" type energy to him. The group used to play Gauntlet: Dark Legacy together all the time, and when I got the GBA port of it, he convinced me to trade my recently obtained copy of the Pokemon Trading Card Game Boy game for a Gameboy-Gamecube cables, only for me to learn too late that it didn't work like that, and from there, there were no backsies (but then I got ahold of a copy of Pac-Man VS and Four Swords Adventure then I learned to emulate, so who's laughing now).

Anyway, John saw that I was struggling and he decided that he wanted to help me out. You see, he had come across an incredibly powerful and rare Pokemon that couldn't be found in the wild. He had gotten it exclusive, and I had never seen it before. It was called a "Castform". Now John had Ruby version, so he decided that as much as it ached him to part with it, he figured it would be a reasonable trade to trade this powerful Castform for the slightly less powerful LEGENDARY. I agreed.

And then he moved to Ohio.

To this day, Castform is my least favorite Pokemon because of this betrayal. I was so distraught at 8 years old that I completely restarted my game of Pokemon Sapphire. I don't remember much about that second playthrough, but there's a reason why.

This rival battle on Route 110 is somewhat infamous for being quite the sudden difficulty spike. And since I knew how to get past Team Aqua now, I didn't have an over-leveled starter to stomp my rival with ease. After losing to her about five or so times, I got frustrated and figured that whatever team I had wasn't cutting it. So I restarted again.

In my third playthrough, I made it all the way to the rival battle on Route 110. Then she stomped me repeatedly. So I restarted again.

This cycle would go on for, like, 15 resets. I didn't count, but it felt like there was hundreds. As I would keep on resetting and playing through the early-game of Pokemon Sapphire (which I had practically memorized at this point), I would start to take things a lot less seriously, sometimes picking the girl character, making my name random gibberish, etc.

Eventually, on one of these playthroughs where I started with Treecko, I actually managed to beat the Route 110 Rival Battle! And on my first try too! And thus began the epic journey of a girl named DE.

Now, I'd figured at this point that maybe only leveling up one Pokemon wasn't the best approach, so I was trying to balance my teams a bit better (I guess my rival taught me something). I was making my way through the game, and one day I'm checking out my best friend's Pokemon in Ruby, and who do I see in his box, but a Kyogre. I take a look at his name, and I can't believe it. It was LEGENDARY. John had traded it to my friend before he moved.

My friend didn't know that it was originally mine, so he offered to trade it back, which I accepted. LEGENDARY was a disobedient little bastard since I didn't have enough badges, but he got the job done. I don't remember the team I ended up using to finally beat the Elite Four, but it included my Sceptile starter, a Sableye that somehow knew only Fighting-type moves, and two Kyogres, LEGENDARY and LEGENDARY2.

And that's my first playthrough of Pokemon Sapphire. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.

#pokemon #now that im done typing this all out a minor addendum #the sableye was from my emerald playthrough #because his moveset was Brick Break Focus Punch Detect and Dynamicpunch #And Dynamicpunch was only teachable through a tutor in emerald #anyway yay story time

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sharpscion · 9 months

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TOA anniversary munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is. Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing! Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Cody

Pronouns: he/him

Birthday (no year): October 16th

Where are you from? What is your time zone? CST

Roleplay experience: Ugh idk man like 6 years or something now

Got any pets? A cat named Laurie

Favorite time of year: Fall because it's cold but not like you're gonna die cold

Some interests and things you like: I love to sit and listen to a vinyl while reading some kind of book or manga. I also like to screech in my car to songs that I like a lot!

Some fun facts & trivia about you: I'll listen to one song over and over again for like 5 months until I get bored of it. I have an odd amount of knowledge about old music and WILL share it with you without hesitation. I'm also a crazy TOA prophet because whoever I tweet about ends up joining TOA like a week after.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? I play a lot of Final Fantasy games and also League of Legends. I've played SO many games though, it's hard to keep count.

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: I really like grass and psychic types! My favorite pokemon is Musharna and it has been since N gave her to me back in black and white!

How did you get into Fire Emblem? I got the game for my birthday along with a gameboy way back when I was about 7-8 years old. That game was Binding Blade and I've been riding that wave ever since.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? I have played through almost all of them excluding ALL of fates and the tellius games.

First Fire Emblem game: Binding Blade

Favorite Fire Emblem game: Genealogy of the Holy War

Any Fire Emblem crushes? AUGH MAN- L'arachel honestly...

If you’ve played the following games, who was your first S support? Miss Olivia von Fire Emblem

Favorite Fire Emblem class: AUGH PALADIN!!!

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class? Sage honestly

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? Golden Deer, easily!

If you were an Engage character, which Emblem would you Engage with? Eirika and Ephraim this was not even a question I had to think about

How did you find TOA? Well it was first mentioned to me by N a year or so before I actually joined! I was really wanting to get back into the FE scene and so I thought this might be a good start.

Current TOA muses: Scáthach, Ephraim, Eliwood

Who was your first TOA muse? If you don’t have them anymore, could you see yourself picking them up again? Male Robin! It's probably unlikely... I love him to death but he's easily my oldest fire emblem muse and he is VERY tired.

Have you had any other TOA muses? Quanathan my beloved

Do you think you have a type of character you gravitate towards? I KNOW I HAVE A TYPE I GRAVITATE TO! I never really knew this about myself until TOA, but I seem to gravitate towards knights the most. There is just something about the kind of devotion a knight feels, and how that alters their entire existence.

What do you believe you enjoy writing the most? I typically really enjoy getting into the gritty of things while I'm writing. Explaining emotion and action, why a character is the way they are. I find this most fun with another muse who has close connections to mine.

Favorite TOA-related memory: I think my favorite moment might be when Soji and I reconnected after 10 minutes of me being in this server. We had interacted one time in indie but she had always been on my mind because of how exceptional her writing is. Turns out she remembered me too, and now we're besties and going to cons together!

How do you pronounce TOA?: I usually just say the letters themselves because I'm extra like that.

Got any delusions that didn’t see the light of day in TOA that you’d like to share? WELL LET'S SEE ahem Astram, Noah, Finn, Sonya, Sain, and so so so so so many more that I can't even think about right at this moment.

#⌜ OOC . ⌟ ✦ * · ˚#( HAPPY ANNI EVERYONE!! )

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game-boy-pocket · 2 years

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Ah... that little bit of color bleeding. That's definitely an RF cable video signal alright. the TV my Grandma had would make it even more intense, you could barely make out Mario's face in Super Mario RPG. I know it should drive me nuts and I should seek out an AV cable for the SNES or something. But that little bit of color bleeding hits me with nostalgia a lot harder than any clean high definition PNGs of 16 bit Mario sprites ever could.

I've replayed my childhood games so many times and so frequently that I never really gave the games a chance to go through the whole "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" phase. I kept playing them, just on more advanced hardware. There are only very specific things that make me feel actual nostalgia in relation to video games.

I hate the way people use the word nostalgia when talking about video games. It's usually meant in a negative or reductive way and I just can't relate to it. The games that are still celebrated today are great with or without the nostalgia, and this is also true of some less celebrated games. But the games themselves don't create the nostalgia for me. There's always got to be something else augmenting it. You put one of my favorite childhood games in front of me on a high def LCD screen and i'll have a good time with it ( adjusting to input lag not withstanding ) but it won't turn me into the villain from ratatouille at the movie's climax. Nah, it's always something else that does that. The color bleed in the case of SMW and SMRPG specifically. For pokemon, it was playing red and blue using pokemon stadium's gameboy tower or catching the TV show really early in the morning. For oldschool NES games, it's playing specifically on a Wii, a Gamecube, or immediately watching one of those DiC cartoons afterward, since my life was playing my NES arcade in the basement of Animal Crossing and then throwing on some super mario bros. super show DVDs as I eagerly awaited the shout factory's release of Zelda.

I'm rambling at this point. I missed playing on the real deal. And I have an appetite for more, after I get an everdrive for this thing, i'll start saving for a real NES. I have less nostalgia for an NES than I do a SNES, but it's there, and at any rate, I'd like to finally stand a chance at beating Mike Tyson.

#pocket plays #probably not gonna do any full play throughs of the actual carts #I want to put a little wear and tear on this thing as possible #it's been through a lot #gonna wait till i get an everdrive #besides that i'm still doing my Nintendo power run #i got a ways to go before I get to SNES

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blazehedgehog · 2 years

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How much did you enjoy playing Sonic Pinball Party?

I mean, it wasn't like, the greatest video game I've ever played, if that's what you mean. But as far as video pinball games go, I think it was probably better than most on the Gameboy Advance. Because, like, what's the nearest competition?

You have Pinball of the Dead, also from Sega, and it's pretty good! It's goofy and weird in the ways you want something related to House of the Dead to be. It uses music and sound from the arcade games, and it uses the "video pinball" format well: live zombies wander the boards, there are boss fights with giant creatures that animate and take damage, etc. It's a good time.

Then there's Nintendo's own Mario Pinball Land. And... I really don't like this game. Really, really, really don't like it. Mario is the pinball and you have to shoot him at enemies and stuff. Enemies are too hard to deal with, everything moves a little too quickly, the boards are very simple, and its extremely easy to lose a lot of progress because Mario gets lost between the flippers and falls back to a previous area. It turns in to a game where you're trying to make a single shot, missing, and having to redo a previous board because Mario fell down the pit and you couldn't recover. Maybe the most frustrating pinball game I've ever played.

(The developers, Fuse Games, then went on to do Metroid Prime Pinball on the DS, which in a total 180 is absolutely fantastic.)

I've never been much of a Pokemon Pinball fan so I can't really say much about Ruby and Sapphire Pinball.

There were a few others... Pac-man Pinball, Hardcore Pinball, Pinball Advance, etc. It's very likely I played some them but have no memory of doing so. Likely because they were just thoroughly average.

Sonic Pinball Party is a bit better than that, because most GBA pinball games are like Mario and House of the Dead there where they use pre-rendered CGI instead of sprites. Sonic Pinball Party uses actual pixel art.

It also has a weird story mode! It's extremely basic (and as I recall, impossibly difficult) but it's nice that it's there and makes it more interesting than just a straight video pinball game.

Which, I should point out, it mostly is. Unlike Pinball of the Dead and Mario Pinball, Sonic sticks somewhat strictly to the reals of real, human, actual pinball. Sometimes you get scenes like above, where Eggman is on the board, and he animates when you bop him, but it's definitely nothing on the level of those other games.

It's fine. It's serviceable. It's even enjoyable.

Unfortunately pinball is one of those things I always wanted to be way in to as a kid and could never afford to play very often. Now, as an adult, I find myself wanting to care about pinball still, but never actually playing very much. The most pinball I play is in Pinball Arcade on my phone, where the only table I own is The Addams Family.

It's a good table! I wish I could play it in other places besides my phone! I don't like that Zen Studios bought up the rights to Pinball Arcade's entire library, because Pinball FX has always always had, weird, bad, heavy pinball physics! Even after they supposedly "improved" them!

But at the end of the day I'm not losing sleep over it, either.

#questions #Anonymous #pinball #sonic pinball party #gameboy advance #nintendo #sega #sonic the hedgehog

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skylertheminish · 2 months

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Considering the 30th anniversary for Pokemon is only two years away, I guess I should type up this thing.

Way back in the 90's, I'd guess around 97-98, I got Pokemon red that I've long since lost but still have the box (which has seen better days). I played that game to death and went through so many AAA batteries as my gameboy, of which I still have somewhere in my house, is a gb pocket. Also please bring back transparent shells on your consoles Nintendo. That crystal line of N64s were so cool!

Around 2000-2001 or whenever is when I got Pokemon Silver. A massive improvement over gen 1 with quality of life changes such as assigning an item to the select button, still being able to clone Pokemon via a glitch that was present in gen 1 if I recall right, the phone function letting you rebattle some trainers and the introduction of the Day care house!... and roaming legendaries for better and worse (not forgetting the daytime mechanic and berries/held items).

My Silver version's battery has long since died so RIP my Pokemon on that cartridge. May you live on in the 3ds version whenever I get around to playing that again.

I forget when I got my copy of Pokemon Ruby but I lost the original cartridge and have since replaced it with one I got on ebay. Like with my Silver version, both my lost and replacement Ruby version have dead internal batteries. Thankfully with GBA games a dead internal battery doesn't wipe saves. I miss competitions that were introduced in gen 3. I remember being a little disappointed that generation dropped the day/night mechanic but in its place, with a working internal battery, was timed events. Interestingly this generation was also compatible with the e-reader cards if I recall right.

Generation 3 improved on battling with the introduction of natures and double battles. Something that would be the only means of battling in the gamecube games. You actually had to think if your attack would hurt your teammates for once.

I skipped generations 4-6 as I lost interest in the games during this time and was more focused on other things. I was still invested in the franchise but to a significantly lesser extent back than. It was with Pokemon Sun that I'd get back into the games again and my first ever shiny! A shiny Staru. I love me a tropical aesthetic. Would get my fingers burnt with Pokemon sword but still like it as its my homeland. Also doggo with sword.

And now here I am. Some 7 years older than the franchise, lived through the first Pokemon boom, I have some of my toys I bought but have since lost track of where they are. I'm still playing their games despite the hiatus from the games and the flaws and have since gotten back into buying Pokemon merchandise to some extent.

And yeah I still have the boxes of Pokemon Yellow, remember that game? It had a talking Pikachu on gameboy hardware!, Silver and Ruby among a handful of other GBA boxes I saved. Child me had enough sense to keep the boxes thankfully even if it only was to keep my memory cards in.

There's just something about this franchise isn't there?

To think that todays games are smaller than a gameboy cart is kinda staggering. Oh and whatever you do, don't go to Caledon city if playing on a super gameboy. My eyes remember the pain from the checkerboarding at the west end of that area.

Also had that weird little Pikachu tamagotchi thing. Lost that some 20 years ago now.

#pokemon #this franchise will be celebrating its 30th anniversary soon.

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spiremire · 3 months

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I am starting to think my new years resolution was a terrible idea

My resolution this year—my only resolution, despite there being many excellent candidates—was to finish all the video games I have instead of buying new ones.

I have. A lot of Switch games. But the switch isn't the problem. The problem is the DS and 3DS games. I still have them all (I have a ton of these too).

CAVEAT 1: It is not achievable for me to finish all these games over the course of the next year due to my other obligations, neither is that what I'm trying to do. I am trying to waste less of my own money. A 'We have food at home' type of situation, if you will.

The worst culprit is my pokemon platinum cartridge. Until I opened it, the last time it had been played was 2011 (if you know much about Pokemon games, specifically american game release dates and generational transfer, you may agree with me when I say that's a bad sign). I want to be clear that going into this, I thought this was going to be the easiest of my DS games to finish.

I cracked open the save file and was immediately blasted by the egregious choices of my preteen self

All the pokemon were gone. Well. Not all of them, but all the ones I'd beat the game with. And all the ones I'd traded from my Diamond cartridge (said Diamond cartridge was suspiciously missing from the pile and has been for a while) as well as all the ones I'd traded from my older cousin's Diamond cartridge. My cousin had all the gameboy pokemon games, which meant he had a BUNCH of legendaries and stuff. He gave me the cartridge to share with my brother, and I managed to rescue anything valuable before my brother cleared the save history (yikes lmao) Not to worry, though, they're all safe, split between my two Gen 5 cartridges.

My PC box had at least 40 unhatched starter eggs (what was I DOING) a Lv 30 Mantyke, a Lv 3 Zigzagoon, and a Lv 100 Blaziken named HOT SHOT. To say I was a little devastated is an understatement. I really wish I had pictures but I was too distracted to take them.

But the most egregious infraction in my opinion was that the Exp Share had been sent to my Gen 5 games as well. I was truly starting from scratch.

So I did some research to see what my options were.

I decided to find a Lucky Egg to solve my most immediate problem, and set off on a Chansey hunt, which I'll talk about in the next post I make about this.

But it was during my research that I realized I was going to have to break my initial resolution: finishing games instead of buying new ones. See, the original DS and DS lite console had backwards compatibility with the Gameboy Advance cartridges. Which of course means that you need to have ALL FIVE Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed and LeafGreen to make certain pokemon appear on the Routes. Best marketing scheme I've ever come across. I had an emerald cartridge at one point (also missing from my stack) and a dual slot DS Lite. I don't remember if I sold the console or not, and I don't know if the game is in a box somewhere in my mom's garage, or if it would even work if I did find it. But that's not the point.

The point is I might have to buy 5 games AND a DS console to truly finish this game in the way I'd hoped, which sort of defeats the purpose of the resolution in the first place. I would of course play through the GBA cartridges for completeness sake and also because I want to, but the audacity of Nintendo to do this to me in 2024.

And this is only as aggravating as it is because the pokemon it's populating into the game when you have the dual cartridge thing going isn't even anything Extremely Cool. It's just like. Lotad and Caterpie and such.

I guess it would help my finish my Diamond cartridge as well, if I ever end up finding it, but that doesn't really make it better.

#Pokemon Platinum #mire makes bad decisions #pokemon #this might be the funniest thing that's ever happened to me

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ringtownrangerlark · 6 months

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🤲 any chance of getting to know your mun?? I love meeting other fiore enjoyers!!

//OOC

Hello!

I don't mind talking about myself. Feel free to DM as well if you just want to chat. But to get to how I ended up here:

I actually did not particularly grow up with the pokemon games. My parents didn't have us own any video game consoles, and I had a saturday school, so I only ever saw an episode or two of the dubbed anime, and played my first Pokemon game (Alpha Sapphire) by borrowing by boyfriend's gameboy in high school. I sort of picked up stuff from cultural osmosis, but it wasn't a Big Childhood Nostalgia thing for me. I would play more Pokemon games over the years (especially as my girlfriend (I'm polyam)) is a huge fan. I liked Sun&Moon and got really into Pokemon Masters for a time.

A huge thing about me is that when it comes to fantasy (which I've been a fan of all my life) I really like naturalistic perspectives. I like any fiction where mythical creatures are treated as something with an ecology and behaviors and environmental niche. I don't know if it's something to do with me identifying as a therian/otherkin, or is an unrelated coincidence. But as a kid it's why I liked the Spiderwick Chronicles and Fablehaven, and as I've grown older, continue to like games like Bugsnax.

So when the new Pokemon Snap came out it was nearly perfect. When playing other Pokemon games, I would always get a dopamine spike when discovering/catching a new mon, but I would always get tired of constant battles, especially with any grinding. A game with no battling, where I'm expected to observe Pokemon in their natural environments, was really enrapturing for me.

I would always look for more creature collector games, but often they were basically Pokemon. And in some of these searches I read about the Pokemon Ranger games, and was intrigued, but didn't have a way to play them.

Fast forward to earlier this year, when my gf mentioned she owned the ranger games and I was able to try them. I instantly fell in love with the world. I figured I would eventually hit a barrier where my skill level would make it too difficult to continue. But I didn't find myself getting bored/put off the way I did with battles. The philosophical concept of being a ranger was perfect for me. I liked the idea of my job being to protect pokemon and the environment. I didn't find the side quests annoying because I liked the idea of helping someone find their lost pet more than I liked the idea of battling a hiker for the tenth time. Even the things I imagine other players might find annoying (like not being able to keep a permanent team or take them out of a region) I liked. One, because it meant if I was solving a puzzle, the solution was within the space I was in and I didn't need to travel a lot to find some pokemon. And two, because it fit the philosophy of the game: as a ranger, you wouldn't want to introduce species to a non-native environment. And this is personal to me, but I do have a personal connection to spring as a season (related to otherkin stuff) so the setting of Fiore having a constantly temperate Spring-themed location with a nearby forest/prairie was like *chef's kiss* in terms of places I'd like to live.

Over the years, I had liked pokemon and the general world. But I struggled to see myself as a trainer or develop a trainersona of any kind. At best, I could imagine myself as a pokemon. Playing the first Pokemon ranger game really hit me in the "this is it. If I got to live in the Pokemon world, this is the kind of life I'd want to live/the kind of person I'd want to be".

I've since played Shadows of Almia (liked the easier capture mechanics, though I think having one partner per type, while helpful, takes away some from the partner development).

I'm now making my way though Guardian signs, but getting frustrared by the changed mechanics (I don't like that assists involve putting a pokemon on the screen and having the potential to miss, rather than just influencing the capture, and recharges take forever, and I don't like not being able to choose when my partner helps).

#ooc #pokemon ranger

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bahamutgames · 8 months

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AFTERTHOUGHTS : Emerald Version

Game: Pokemon Emerald Version (September 16, 2004)

Console: Gameboy Advance (Via emulation)

Fellas! It's time for me to talk more about Pokemon! Isn't that always the best time in the world? While I'm trying to take my in-order playthroughs of these big RPG series slowly, I couldn't help myself and just HAD to play Pokemon Emerald. Seriously, I was losing my mind I seriously COULD NOT stop thinking about how bad I wanted to play it. So here we are! And now I'll tell you what I think about this game!

As always, this is NOT a review! Just me spitting up my thoughts so I can get them out of my brain and have room for more thoughts on more games! Don't take anything I say as definitive criticism, and always play ANYTHING I talk about if it seems interesting to you!

POKEMON EMERALD SPOILERS AHEAD, BE WARNED!

Opening

So, you might be surprised to learn considering how much I love Pokemon, but I've actually NEVER beaten any of the games past the first 2 generations! For a variety of reasons. Not least of all was money, I think by the time I finally got a GBA the DS may have been on its way around. And when I got it, I went for Firered cause... Charizard lol. God, I remember looking at Nintendo.com for screenshots of the GBA Pokemon games to decide which region I liked more for when my mom and brother were gonna buy me a GBA haha. Regardless, yeah! Hoenn is the region I grew up around so I have a lot of nostalgia for it. I didn't play the game and I didn't have cable to watch the anime. But this is my era of Pokemon card collecting! Delta Species! E-Reader! My first Pokemon Card ever was Spheal! ANYWAY, we're not here to talk about my Pokemon Nostalgia, we're here to talk about my brand new Pokemon Experiences! So lets get a move on and talk about Emerald!

Stuff I liked

Where to begin? As I'm sure you're aware, I'm a MASSIVE sucker for the GBA. It's an important console to me so the sprites and music from it are some of my all time favorites. And this is seriously some cream of the crop GBA content right here. Easily the best sprite work I've seen in the series in my current playthrough so far, and the music is absolutely lovely. I know the trumpets are a meme but this is great! I'm a little biased though, Firered was my childhood game so getting to see this graphic style, this soundfont, and even some straight up reused sound effects made me so nostalgic! This game just feels so safe and cozy in a way I haven't really experienced in a while.

The story and set up this game is great too! It's a bit of a departure from the previous 2. Where RBY focuses a bit on man-made monstrosities, GSC focuses on mysticism and culture, RSE focuses on prehistory and nature (which I'm obsessed with right now)! It's a great theme and I thought the idea of Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza being ancient beasts that helped shape the planet was cool. But they were particularly cool because they were SO old no one remembered what they were! People knew about Mew, but no one knew about these things? That's nuts! That's neat! Also, the evil teams, while insane, were also cool and I LOVED that there's 2 of them! Like the part where you climb up the volcano and the 2 teams are fighting was SUPER cool!

And overall the game is just filled with very unique concepts like that that really differentiate it from the first 2 games. Your dad is a Gym Leader! Cool! Double Battles (the coolest part probably) COOL! There's a town built on logs in the water, a treehouse town, a volcano town, cool cool cool! There's Pokemon that can only be caught by having a free party slot when you evolve another one. That's cool! Pokemon is always trying cool and interesting stuff with technology (the fascination with interesting technology is one of the games highlights) and I really feel like this one takes a lot of advantage of the new tech like clock based events and more storage space on the cartridge for crazier things. This game is just very different from the first 2 in all the best ways!

And where that shines the best is, no questions asked. In the Pokedex. If you'll recall, my biggest complaint about Crystal is that there are NO new Pokemon in it. Johto has one of the best Pokedex's ever imo but none of those Pokemon are actually easily available in the game. I'm happy to say Hoenn doesn't have that issue at all! There ARE Pokemon from previous generations, but they're few and far in between compared to all the wonderful new species there is to find and catch! I was encountering new things left and right! It was able to keep the excitement going just like RBY did! And likewise, the Gyms all used new Pokemon too! And Hoenn really does have a lovely Pokedex filled some REALLY stellar designs. I struggled to figure out who my final teammate should be for a long time before settling on Flygon. Tropius? Banette? Torkoal? There were SO many good ones! For anyone curious, my favorite Hoenn Pokemon is Swampert!

Stuff I didn't like

Thankfully I feel like this section isn't massive. Really there isn't much I can complain about with Emerald. But there are SOME things to point out. First off, and this isn't EXACTLY the game's fault. But not having access to time based events was a headache. Obviously that's not the game's fault cause how could they know that would become an issue later, but it is still a nitpick I had to mention lol. It does tie into a bigger problem though, held items are SO hard to get in this one. I feel like I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for some of these held items just cause so many I wanted were locked into shoal cave or whatever which you need the clock to use. Or were locked behind one dickhead dragon trainer who never wants to rematch you and you have to battle a million times to get his stupid Pokemon. But again I guess that's a nitpick.

A slightly larger issue is the water. UGH. I love that this game's region is a series of islands, that does rule. But I feel like as a consequence of that, you have to surf SO much. When IGN said there was too much water they were not lying! You surf SO MUCH which sounds cool, but it's so hard to figure out where on earth you're meant to go in those ocean sections. And then Dive just muddies the paths even more. And there are some sections where they don't even tell you where to go so you're really lost just trying to navigate massive ocean. It was a bit much.

But my biggest issue, was without a doubt. The storylines' conclusion. It all felt a little. Eh? Like it didn't live up properly to what was being built up? Before I watch the Ruby and Sapphire endings I'll write my complaints: So first off: the evil team story ending kinda sucks! The cutscenes of the beasts fighting was SO awesome but it's basically the only cool part. It's just Rayquaza showing up, and then everyone fucks off. I feel like there was a better way to handle this ending that would have made it way cooler, and I actually wrote it up back in July:

tldr, double battles are awesome and should have been more prevalent. It's a crime there's only 1 fight in the game that gives you a teammate. The evil team storyline should have ended with your team teaming up with Rayquaza to fight Groudon + Kyogre. Oh well.

Similarly, I also thought the Champion battle was oddly underwhelming. Wallace is... neat. But I was SO certain it was gonna be Steven! The whole game seems to imply as much! But then it's this dude you met for like... 2 seconds earlier rather than the bad ass you met over and over. Kinda underwhelming. But now let me watch the RS endings really quick to see how they compare.

Yeah I'm done and I gotta say, RS actually handle this way better. It feels like Groudon's power is actually contributing with the intense sunlight, you actually HAVE to battle Groudon or Kyogre to fix the problem, and I was was right, Steven is the final boss. This all makes SO much more sense and I don't really understand why they couldn't combine these elements a little nicer into emerald or why they changed the Champion at all. Regardless though, I still think Emerald was cool and I'm still happy I played the green one lol.

Final Thoughts

Yeah this game rules! I'm so glad I finally got to play the game that was around when I was a kid and really experience it for the first time! I had a blast with this one and really really enjoyed getting to see what Hoenn was all about in addition to seeing all the new and gimmicky stuff they tried and how the new technology lead to new weird things for this entry! The whole game feels so nostalgic to me even though I've never played it, and while that's a bit biased, it's the truth! The story was great, the layout was great, the game felt perfect to play, there was so much new stuff to discover and do that hadn't been done in the last 2 games. And the Pokemon distribution was GREAT! With tons of new faces to find and catch! I loved Pokemon Emerald and I totally understand why so many people speak so highly of it!

Let's roll out the tier list!

No questions asked, Emerald is my favorite of what I've played through so far! It manages to keep up the excitement of RBY with a big new world to discover that still manages to build up mystery, have new and exciting experiences, and a wonderful slew of new Pokemon that are EASY to find. While also continuing what GSC did right in terms of massively improving the last game's graphics and music and general game feel WITHOUT sacrificing good Pokemon distribution. It's the best of both worlds while still massively improving on everything! I think with a little more consideration for what made the finale of RS so good, Emerald could have been absolutely perfect. Even though this region certainly has some Pokemon designs I'm not super fond of, the ones I dislike are still cute enough and they're certainly the minority of the Pokedex. Emerald Rules!

Also, you'll notice I removed the remakes from the list. Unlike Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, whose entries I played just as early as Highschool. The Pokemon Remakes are games I played all the way back in Elementary/Middle School. AGES ago. So I don't feel like it's fair to compare them to the other games when I mostly just prefer them based on nostalgia and the benefit they have from being remakes (especially since I won't be playing any other remakes.) So going forward this tier list is just based on the original versions.

===

Thanks for reading! I'm really trying to clear out my to-do list so I can just relax when my Birthday comes up. So I'm hoping to finish my write ups on thoughts of games I played recently soon. Only one game left too! So that's nice!

I'm really trying to not bumrush this series but honestly I'm really enjoying it so I'm already kinda itching to continue. But I'm not gonna play it until later in the year at the earliest. Next stop is Platinum!

If you wanna see my beautiful team you can right here! And you can get a more in depth look at their stats here!

As always you're welcome to follow me on twitter to see what I'm up to! That's all I have for you today! Go out and play something from your childhood!

#2023 #Thoughts

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kanguin · 2 years

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How are you feeling about the newly announced pokemon game? Came out a bit fast tbh, but it looks good to me.

It looks alright but I think GameFreak employees should unionize, demand slower production cycles, better pay, and more staff.

It's simply not healthy or sustainable for a company with under 200 employees to be working nonstop on producing new content without time to let the old content breathe and take on a life of its own. This pace of releases isn't sustainable and is showing in the quality of the games being released. Numerous assets zoomed in on in the trailer released the other day have low resolution textures stretched over large planes, which is a game development canary in a cole mine for rushed work.

GameFreak is unsustainable, and at this point if it weren't kept afloat by the massive Pokemon Company it helped start and the franchise that brings in money from merch, it wouldn't last. They operate like it's still the 1990s, where games are produced by small dev teams on a regular basis, and yet no longer put in the effort they did back then. Where's the tenacity of the company that fit the original Red and Green games onto Gameboy cartridges so tightly the code has to juggle memory space to accomplish everything on such a simple gaming system? Where's the company that admitted defeat and asked for help with Gold and Silver, and were rewarded with Satoru Iwata finding a way to not only fit the code in better, but also freeing up space for a whole second region? Where's the company that loved its old games so much, it made remakes years later that didn't just update the look of the old games, but rewarded players on this return journey with expanded and extended content, Pokemon, and story? Where's the company that pushed the DS system to its limits with Black and White 2's animated graphics and 3D elements, and delivered 2 brand new, emotionally complex stories with older protagonists? Where's the company that, when switching to 3D, decided to future proof the series by creating high fidelity models for every single Pokemon, not just the ones found in the new region, and in ORAS and Gen 7, produced some of the most beautiful and colorful worlds on the 3DS?

I know I have nostalgia for these titles, but Gen 7 came out when I was already an adult in college. No, not all of their older titles were perfect, but they used to take time. There was a year between Gen 2 and 3, a year off in Gen 3 between Ruby/Sapphire and the second three titles, a year between Gen 3 and 4, another year between Diamond/Pearl and Platinum, a year between Black/White and their sequels, and a year between Gen 6 and 7.

There hasn't been a year between releases since 2015, when GameFreak releases used to come in 1-3 year spurts. To match pace with their past releases, GameFreak should have taken another year with Sword and Shield after Let's Go. Heck, they could have taken a year after USUM. But for 7 years now it's been non-stop releases, and now they're pushing to get two major releases out in the same year.

It's important to remember that games take years to develop. This means that when a game company releases games yearly, they are dividing their workforce up to work on multiple co-current projects, and this means they don't have their full effort going into one project. And for a company like GameFreak, this means dividing into teams of 70 developers or less, which makes an already tiny team even smaller.

While I got Legends Arceus and Briliant Diamond, I've hardly had time to play them with work and other interests occupying my time. So that, combined with my above frustrations, means I'm already not planning to get Scarlet or Violet later this year, if ever. I do not trust this company to make lovingly made games anymore, and I don't trust them to give me enough time to enjoy them before they toss something else at me. GameFreak needs to catch up with modern standards of game development, expand their team, and slow their production cycle, or eventually they're going to wear out their good will with both fans and employees for good.

#pokemon #long post

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slade-neko · 3 years

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Saw this video game tag thing pop up on my dash a few days ago. Wanted to do it.

1. First game you played obsessively? Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I believe I was 5yo. Still waiting on that FF7 Remake treatment.

2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc. Well if I play a game and like it, then I'll create sims of it. Does that count?

3. Who did you play with as a kid? My brother from the day I was born.

4. Who do you play with now? My brother FROM THE DAY I WAS BORN.

5. Ever use cheat codes? I wasn't lying when I made this post. {link}

6. Ever buy strategy guides? Yes! Mainly to look at the artwork though. (Don't need no guide!)

7. Any games you have multiple copies of? Lots of games, most being Left 4 Dead with 6 copies (3 Xbox 360, 1 PC case, 2 PC digitally.) What can I say, its a GOOD GAME!

8. Rarest/Most expensive game in your collection? Gold cartridge Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (maybe that's rare?)

9. Most regrettable purchase? I don't regret my purchases, but I have received games I have never played like Cubix (PS2) no clue where that game came from, but I have it somehow. Madagascar (Xbox 360) came with my Xbox 360, never opened it from its case. And Monsters Inc. Scream Arena (Gamecube) or something... it was a gift.

10. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games? I'm only friends with people BECAUSE of video games, so yes.

12. Ever get picked on for liking games? No, that'd be ridiculous.

13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has? Probably a lot, I'd say Call of Duty, but I technically played CoD 1, 2, and 4. The campaign mode was alright, but I don't really care for CoD games at ALL.

14. Favorite game music? Koji Kondo and Grant Kirkhope are two BIG ones.

15. If it was a requirement to get a game related tattoo, what would you pick? Triforce is the most basic option, but I'd rather not get a tattoo.

16. Favorite game to play with your friends IRL? Super Smash Bros. Brawl with hacks, but that was over a decade ago.

17. Ever lose a friend over a game? No, that'd be ridiculous.

18. Would you date someone that hates gaming? No, that'd be RIDICULOUS.

19. Favorite handheld console? PSP. 3DS is great, but PSP Monster Hunter has ALL of my portable gaming memories. Like playing in school after End of Grade tests with my friend.

20. Game that you know like the back of your hand? Sims 4 I like to think I know everything about Left 4 Dead. Quite a bit about Monster Hunter, more so of a series though than a specific game.

21. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now? I'd say Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. I loved it as a kid, but had a lot of complex pen & paper RPG mechanics that I never understood. I understand a lot more of it now, but its still complex as all heck. I just know you hit things, they die.

22. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories? That's the only thing I wear.

23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into? Not sure so I'll list a few. Sims 4, Smash Bros. Brawl, Monster Hunter (its a series though), or Left 4 Dead

24. First Pokemon game? Leaf Green

25. Were you ever an arcade game player? No, don't like paying to play.

26. Ever form any gaming rivalries? No.

27. Game that makes you rage? I don't get mad at games, but I had a custom modded Hard Eight mutation in Left 4 Dead that is absolute bullsh*t!

28. Ever play in a tournament? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

29. What is your gaming set up? A giant wall of video game consoles spanning from NES to Switch, 4 TVs, but I sit at a desk with a PC.

30. How many consoles do you own? "I own every console that's ever existed." - I Don't Play Games When I Play Games (My STRENTH) original song by Smooth McGroove BUT no seriously I own 32 consoles including handhelds.

31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches? Yes. 3DS gave me headaches though I only really played with the 3D feature in Ocarina of Time 3D. I think my eyes broke because I couldn't get my 3D to work very well after.

32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic? Sure I play games based on a lot of things. Literally any anime game. If I had to pick Dragon Ball Xenoverse is kinda like a dream Dragon Ball game. Oh, Attack on Titan 2 is pretty neat too!

33. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games? Some SEGA plug-n-play thing once. Played it like once and now its lost to time (or my closet.)

34. Do either of your parents play video games? Yes. Mom and Dad played NES Super Mario Bros. My Dad went HARD at that game until he saved the Princess. Then he quit forever.

35. Ever work in a game store? Or do you have a favorite game shop? "Hi. Welcome to Gamestop!"I never want to hear that again, but it was my main store until I went full digital/ online orders.

36. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game? No, I don't tend to get upset or emotional, but Bill dying in Left 4 Dead made me pretty pissed.

37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination? Never played it. I don't really play "bad" games, but maybe Sims 4.

38. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like? The Sims 4

39. A sequel that you would die for them to make? Dragon's Dogma 2 WHICH I think is actually in development, so I'd have to say Fallout New Vegas 2. C'mon Bethesda you cowards, hand the keys back over to Obsidian so they can make another good Fallout game!

40. What to you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls? Two part question, two answers. VR Headset to immerse in world, yes. Motion Controls, no.

41. A genre that you just can’t get into? MOBAs and MMOs. I don't like paying to keep playing.

42. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness? Nintendo 64 opened me up to what video games could be as a kid. Sad to say my parents' NES didn't really do that for me. And years later Fallout 3 was a big game changer for me too.

43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else? Every day of my LIFE.

44. Arcade machine that has consumed the most of your quarters? None. I'd rather emulate.

45. How are you at Mario Kart? Pretty dang good. 3-STARS MARIO KART WII, BABY!

46. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon? Yes, both of those. I preferred when Animal Crossing had more character to it. New Horizons looks so pretty, but feels so bland compared to classic AC.

47. Do you like competitive games? No. Not really. Usually amongst friends or if I can get competitive against AI Bots. I love my machine bot friends cause they don't cry like 10 year olds when they lose.

48. How long does it take your to customize your player character? Too long. I've seriously restarted games because I wasn't happy with my character's appearance.

49. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character? Yes, I am always the magic man, my brother is always brute warrior, and my friend is the ranger.

50. If you were a game designer, what masterpiece would you create? I don't really know. Honestly, I'd rather mod already good games to make them better than create something completely new.

51. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep? No, that'd be ridiculous. But I've had a friend fall asleep playing games at my house 3 different times and currently dozes off during our Minecraft sessions. So, maybe that's not a completely ridiculous thing after all.

52. A game that you begged your parents for as a kid? Kirby 64 apparently. My brother tells me we had to count out pennies to buy it. I must've been too young with no recollection, but I believe it.

53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days? It's good if its not in the game's files from the beginning and is actually developed AFTER launch... and pre-order bonuses should be standard DLC a month or two later. Some games have content lost to time because of that pre-order bullsh*t.

54. Do you give in to Steam sales? Of course. If you want a game and its on sale then why not? I typically wait just for Steam sales to get games.

55. Did you ever make someone you hated in the Sims and did mean stuff to them? No? I typically make people and characters I like in Sims. I've made villains like Dio, but he's an anime villain and I don't really HATE him despite the horrible things he's done.

56. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests? No. Never played that game.

57. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements? I try to for all the games I really like.

58. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick? The Sims 4, Skyrim, & Fallout: New Vegas. Mods make them live forever. Left 4 Dead and Monster Hunter are good choices too.

59. Do you play any cell phone games? Those aren't games.

60. Do you know the Konami Code? No? But I'll take a guess. Is it make an IP and forget it exists?

61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever? Keep forever... even the bad ones.

62. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game? PS4 Pro for Monster Hunter World. It was basically for early access since the PC version was being developed and releasing after PS4, but I don't like waiting.

63. Ever go to a gaming convention or tournament? Sort of. Been to anime cons and walked into the gaming tournament rooms only to walk out less than 10 minutes later.

64. Ever make a TV or monitor purchase based on what would be best for gaming? No, but I'm going to be doing that soon, hopefully.

65. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file? GameShark for N64, PS2, Gameboy, and Action Replay for Gamecube, DS, 3DS. And no not really, I would cheat responsibly... but there was this one time at school my friend and I borrowed another friend's Gameboy game, loaded it up with my Gameshark, tried playing, it crashed, loaded it back up, save file corrupted... we just stared at each other jaws dropped, "Here's your game back, dude. Make sure you don't play it til you get back home!"

66. Did you ever have have an old Nokia with Snake on it? No, but I remember seeing them on billboards in the game DRIV3R on PS2.

67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share? Every game I play is filled with happy memories (mostly.)

68. Ever save up a ton of tickets in an arcade to get something cool? These tiger plushes. My brother got white and I got orange. They were the coolest. Got a butt load of tickets from some jackpot spinning light game thing as I was good at the timing with repeated jackpot hits.

69. In your opinion, best game ever made? I've played quite a few masterpiece games, but to pick one, I'd say Fallout: New Vegas

70. Very first game you ever beat? Super Mario 64. I was a mere child on a Sunday morning and ate celebratory pancakes made by my Dad.

Wow, that was long... I get the feeling this was supposed to be a "send me ask with numbers" thing, but answering all at once is more fun.

#personal #video games

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bahamutgames · 10 months

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BIG RPG PLAYTHROUGH PROJECT AFTERTHOUGHTS: THE SEQUELS

Hello! I've talked about it before but it's been a little bit so I'll go ahead and update everyone: I'm trying to play through the full main series of a few RPGs! Named Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Dragon Quest, and Tales of. I plan on playing each entry alongside eachother (all the first games together, all the sequels together, ect ect) so I don't get burnt out on one specific series. And although I am probably going to be changing how I go about this ALREADY, I did recently finish going through the sequels. So lets talk about 'em so I can finally draw my new Pokemon team!

Game: Final Fantasy 2 (December 17, 1988)

Console: Playstation 1

Starting us out is Final Fantasy 2! The sequel to Final Fantasy 1! I've heard from MANY people that this is the worst FF in the series. And even though I've only played 5 main titles so far... I agree! This is without a doubt the worst one I've played so far!

This game does do a lot of cool stuff that actually becomes series staples. And I'm VERY shocked they were introduced so early in. Named characters over self inserts, multiple teammates you get over the course of the story, a more character driven plot. Chocobos. And I respect it for doing a lot of that. But ultimately the game just really drops the ball with a lot of this. None of the named characters are that interesting imo, all the teammates you get throughout the story eventually die and I don't think you ever have multiple at a time to swap between so they don't matter. And the plot in general was kinda boring I honestly don't remember most of it? Also, yeah, the gimmick of this one where every action raises different stats sounds cool but it really is not that fun and ultimately makes the game a slog. And in the end none of that matters cause you just kill the final boss with 2 blood swords in a couple hits anyway! AND BAHAMUT'S NOT EVEN IN THIS ONE!! BOOOOOOOO!!!

It does still have some good stuff in it, I think it looks fine. It actually had some pretty cool cutscenes. Again, Chocobos are in it. There's some nice music in it (although I don't remember a lot of it). Overall most of the positives just kinda get drowned out by the negatives and how boring the game is. I hate to be so brutal to it because it is an old FF game, but I find that to be less of an excuse when in my opinion FF1 was so solid! Even without named characters and new teammates it managed to keep my interest and make me really care about the world. And ultimately this one just didn't do that. Full disclosure, I did start cheating pretty early into this one cause it was just not clicking, I basically made myself invincible for most fights. Although I ran into a glitch where I couldn't do this for boss fights. So, it's a shame. But I think it'll have to go at the bottom of the tier list.

I really doubt there's any other games in the series I'm gonna dislike as much as this one. I don't know anything about FF3 but I expect it to be a little bit more fun!

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Game: Pokemon Crystal (December 14, 2000)

Console: Gameboy Color

Next up is Pokemon Crystal! The sequel to Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow! Without a doubt, this was the best of the sequels I ended up playing. A LOT of people tell me Johto are some of the best games in the series, and I actually personally believe the remakes Heartgold / Soulsilver are objectively the best Pokemon games ever made. But ultimately my opinions on the original Crystal are a little mixed, at least when placed next to Red.

So for starters. This game is SO charming. It makes SO many improvements over the original. From small gameplay tweaks like making the bag not suck down to having some of my favorite looking sprites ever? The actual battle sprites in this game are so nuts and I absolutely ADORE how they look! The music is great and relaxing, I think Johto is a super cute region and I actually like that it's a little less modern in its technology, it's a region much more in tune with its past and the game overall leans into the mystical side of the world more than Kanto did. Which focuses a little bit more on the technology side (you can see it a lot in its legendaries, GS has two Pokemon from folklore and myth while RB has a manmade monster as the big boss). I also really love that it takes place a few years after RBY. It's cute and it actually has some interesting early into the series weirdness in its world still. Particularly an interesting note, if I understood correctly. Is that the new Pokemon are NOT native to Johto and instead are new species that have just randomly shown up in the span of 3 years. Interesting stuff that absolutely is not still the way the world works today lol. But outside of that it's neat to see Team Rocket build back up, see what Oak and Bill are doing now ect ect. I also like a lot of the gyms and of course the new Pokemon are GREAT, I really still think Johto doesn't have a single bad Pokemon in its lineup. They're all adorable.

And with all that praise, you may be shocked to hear me say... I don't know if I liked this one as much as Red and Blue? Obviously it's like, objectively better. Better sprites, gameplay, it has a Day and Night cycle for crying out loud! But I think it drops the ball in a few ways. For one, I don't think Team Rocket is interesting this time, they're cool, but ultimately kinda boring. I don't think the Rival has as interesting a progression in his character as Blue did (although him stealing is starter is actually really cool lol). I found a lot of the missions not related to the main quest to be less interesting than progressively tearing down Team Rocket. And I also just thought the build up to the elite 4 was a little less cool although to be fair I don't think that one's their fault once the concept is introduced you can't really keep it the same mysterious allure twice.

HOWEVER, while I think a lot of these issues are only issues because RBY was surprisingly fun and solid in my opinion. There is one issue that I think reigns over all the others. And it's the Pokemon distribution in this game. Obviously, there's gonna be some Kanto pokemon to pad out the region, I get that. But ultimately there's WAY too many Kanto Pokemon in this game! You run into so few new Pokemon during the course of the game and THIS is what killed it for me! I didn't run into a Spinirak, the early game bug type, until like the 3rd or 4th gym badge iirc. And most of the new Pokemon are locked in Kanto, which comes at the second half of the game! I was running into tons of fully evolved Kanto Pokemon JUST so I wouldn't run into ANY new Johto Pokemon, it was nuts. When I play these games, I really wanna see the new creatures that are made. Not all the ones that came before. And I think this game particularly messed that up. I wanted Magcargo SO bad but you don't run into Slugma until a bit through Kanto, and by that point I already had a team that defeated the Elite 4! I'm not gonna train a level 3 Slugma at that point! Very frustrating. I think all, if not most Kanto Pokemon should've been locked to Kanto itself so the Johto Pokemon could shine. I barely ran into most of the Johto Pokedex and again, this is what killed the game for me.

So, ultimately, even though Crystal is superior to Red in almost every way. Personally right now, I just don't know if I found it as exciting to play. I don't know what to expect from the series going forward, but I've heard from tons of different people that one of the next 3 regions is their favorite of all time! And Hoenn was the region I grew up with! So I'm certainly excited to see if the excitement of discovering a brand new world can be recaptured going forward!

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Game: Dragon Quest 2 (January 26, 1987)

Console: SNES

Third up, Dragon Quest 2! The sequel to Dragon Quest 1! Another one that, sad to say, I was not super into. I think similar to FF2 it was a little boring, especially when compared to the charm of the first one. Although, again, I respect it for bringing in additional teammates and a ever so slightly character driven story. I also liked that it really takes place in the future of the first game. With everyone being a descendant of that protagonist and even meeting the descendant of the villain and getting help from him (he should have joined your team though).

But again, it was just VERY boring. The story didn't grip me very much which again, neither did DQ1 but I still enjoyed DQ1 more. And I would argue the first was more focused. This one really felt like I didn't know WHY I was visiting any of these places. In DQ1 everything is contributing to getting Erdrick's equipment, but in DQ2 I honestly don't know how most of the stuff we do contributes to killing Hargon. If that makes any sense. And there was SO much just running around doing nothing this time. Like, so many locations on the map you cannot walk directly to, you have to go through crazy backroads to reach them. And you run back and forth between so many locations. Maybe it was like this in DQ1 as well but if that's the case, it was SO much worse in this one I swear.

I don't know what more to say, I just found this one very boring, and while I was also not super into DQ1 when I first played it, it's really grown on me as a simple charming little game. But I don't think this one will grow on me the same way. Again, full disclosure, I cheated to make myself invincible by the time I reached the final dungeon. Which sucks but by the time I got there I was just so drained.

So I think that currently. This is my least favorite of the bunch. But, on the plus side I don't think any of them will be worse than this one? I know 3/4/5 are HIGHLY regarded, and they're personally the ones I'm most excited to play! So I'm looking forward to starting 3 whenever I get around to it!

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And that's it! Now, I know what you're thinking. Where's Tales of Destiny! And I hate to say it, I didn't play through it. And here's where things for my big replay project are gonna change. I STARTED it. But I noticed it with the first games and now especially with the second games. I have a lot of energy for 4 RPGs at the start, but by the time I reach Dragon Quest and Tales Of, I really lose my steam. And I'm ultimately just enjoying them less. So I think going forward, I'm mainly just gonna play Final Fantasy and Pokemon. Now, I will still play DQ and TO but just, not with the same intensity, and maybe not always in order. Though I will TRY to go in order. And who knows, maybe I'll lose the oomph to keep playing FF and PKMN back to back as well. But for now, I'll mainly be moving forward with those two. I know it doesn't REALLY matter and ultimately I'll play these games how I feel works best. But I just thought I'd bring it up if anyone was curious about how I'll be approaching some of their favorite games.

Anyway, that's it for me!! I'll keep y'all posted on how my playthroughs go going forward! Thanks for reading all this mess lol, have a good day!

#2023 #Thoughts

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