The Blogtastic Blogfest that is www.getmeoutofthis.net!

« I wanted to try out Absol, which I named Nada, but Brer killed it in one hit. | Main | Scrollin' down that long, boring Pokemon post... »

February 06, 2007

I feel like ranting about Pokemon.

Quick notes before I get into the pokemon stuff. One, I totally got a rejection now. I'm like... a real semi-pro writer. Heh. Two, I beat Hotel Dusk last night. Overall, it was pretty good. I recommend it if the idea of playing a novel on your DS sounds like a good idea.

POKEMON! GAME OF THE HEAVENS!
It's no suprise that I like Pokemon. I mean, I do. Very much. Due to all my recent Pokemon show watching, I'm basically jittery with anticipation over Diamond and Pearl, coming out late April. So, for no REAL apparent reason, I'd like to ramble on about the various entries in the Pokemon series I've played and what I liked or disliked.

Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow
I had Blue, I believe. Either way, I had ended up with the version without Vulpix, which saddened me to no end. I went through great pains not to have that occur to me any other times. What can I say about the original? It was good. Very good. It did things many other games hadn't tried before, wrapped in classic RPG action. You can't dispute it was good, because it WAS.
So many good memories of it, too... catching Kurt a million Zubats... learning of the MissingNo. glitch and getting a million billion Masterballs... ahh, it was a great time.

Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal
I would like to submit that these were, by far, the best Pokemon games thus made. Here are the reasons why GS is amazing.
1. Timed events. You had a clock and calendar, which made some Pokemon come out on certian times of day, which was huge. The calendar let them have special daily events, like the Bug Catching Contest on tuesdays, which was also huge. It made Johto feel alot more... real, and gave you more reasons to keep playing.
2. Bonuses. The fact that, after you beat the Elite Four, you got to go back to Kanto and fight powered-up versions of their gym leaders was FUCKING HUGE! The game world doubled in size, and the game length added about a third. You also got to fight Red (the trainer from the first game) at the end of the cave where Mewtwo used to be. The fight was crazy hard, but hey, he still had a Pikachu. A really high level one, but awwww... Pikachu... Anyway, the fact that Ruby and Sapphire did not do something like this was an incredible letdown. I realize now that they did it so they could release Fire Red and Leaf Green, but that doesn't make it any less of a sad point.
3. Mystery Gift. I'm sorry, it's just humorous and funny and fun.
4. Dark and Steel. The addition of these two types really did add to the game, keeping Psychic from being godly like in the first game, as well as changing up some old favorites. I love Magnemite to death now that he's part Steel.
5. Hold Items. Just one more level of customization and niftyness for your Pokemon. The fact that most of the good items you go through events that only occurred on specific days just added to the coolness, I think.
6. Female Protaginist. Well, okay, they added that option in Crystal, which I never played. But I still appreciated it.
7. Pokemon Breeding. Party full of Eevee's FTW! Ditto is the whore Pokemon! It'll sleep with anything!

Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald
I actually tried to buy a copy of Emerald since I'm on this kick, to give these games a second try, especially since Emerald adds the Battle Frontier, which is like another little continent with it's own gym leaders. For no apparent reason, though, the game is still 35 dollars, which is idiotic considering I can buy a copy of Fire Red or Leaf Green, vastly superior games, for 20. Anyway, Ruby Sapphire was a huge letdown. Here is another list as to why.
1. Where did the Timed Events Go? They were gone! All the stupid clock was for was growing stupid berries. They just threw all the coolness out the window.
2. Where's the Level Curve? This is the only Pokemon Game in which I haven't beaten the Elite Four, and that's because, when I got to Victory Road, all my Pokemon were about 10 levels too low. I'm not doing 10 levels of grinding! This is the only Pokemon game I can remember where that happened, and I blame it. Pokemon is about grinding, of course, but that's just an obscene amount.
3. Enough with the Water already! The number of new Water pokemon was obscene. The number of water movement moves your Pokemon had to know was idiotic. There was way too many Water Pokemon and way too many water dungeons.
4. Pokemon Contests. They were a cool idea, but insanely frustrating to try to do. It didn't give me any incentive to go through all the trouble.
5. Team Aqua and Team Magma. Team Rocket will always be first in my heart.
I suppose I'll admit it did some good things, too, though.
1. Pokemon Powers: They were pretty neat, and normally gave you added incentive to try and use Pokemon you wouldn't normally.
2. Running Shoes: It's about damn time I can run in the fucking game.

Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green
A remake of the originals, I loved these to death. They basically retained all of the good stuff from Ruby and Sapphire, such as the Pokemon Powers, and brought it to this remake of the original. I realize quite a bit of my fervor for this version was nostalgia, but if I wanted to introduce someone new to Pokemon, I'd probably give them one of these. The Number Islands were also a nice addition, and a place to catch all the Johto Pokemon not in Ruby and Sapphire. I didn't get very far in them, though, as I needed to catch something like 90 different types of Pokemon to continue, and I don't do that. I only catch Pokemon I'm going to use or think I'm going to use.

Pokemon Collectable Card Game
I heart cards. I heart Pokemon. This was a no brainer for me. It was also a ton of fun. I think it managed the "Card Game RPG" just about as good as one can. Certainly better than Capcom Vs SNK Card Battle Clash, although that was fun, too. It also really felt like Pokemon, going to the different gyms and training against decks based on different types, then battling Gym Leaders. I like it. I wish they'd make a new one with the new cards I haven't used.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team
What can I say? It's a Pokemon Dungeon Crawler, and as good as it can be for that. Picking Eevee as myself was a cosmetic choice, but Eevee learns nothing good move-wise, so basically that choice kept me from beating the game. There was quite a bit more after the last boss, too, if you're really obsessive with your dungeon crawlers. I still love how the Kangaskahn in town called you "Honey" and "Sweetie." It's too perfect.

Pokemon Snap
Fucking Amazing. Seriously, it like... almost invented a genre. The game was short, but so very creative and re-playable. You could just fuck around all day in it. As much as me and my friends joke about the "great multiplayer," it definately deserves to be recognized. I certianly haven't seen a more compelling picture-taking game... well, maybe Dead Rising, but that was just sort of a side silly thing.

Pokemon Colluseum 2
I have the second one. It's not really all that amazing, although I remember playing the mini-games a lot with friends, and you can Mystery Gift right there on the game! These games are mostly a waste of money, though, I will admit. The new one might not be, though, for Diamond and Pearl, as I believe it can play online right with the DS versions, so you can fight it out at home on a bigger, more impressive display.

---

Well, there you go. That's all the Pokemon games I've played and some thoughts. Here's to hoping I don't explode with need before the new ones come out. Here's also to hoping the new one's follow Gold and Silver's example and not Ruby and Sapphire. They added online play and trading, which is fucking awesome, but everything else better live up to that good decision!

Posted by poetfox at February 6, 2007 11:53 AM

Comments

Post a comment