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catflowerqueen · 3 years

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Still not quite finished with Gates, but I’m nearing the finish line for the main game? I think? So I have some more structured thoughts below.

(Apologies for the length, but... well, that’s part of why I’m putting it under the cut)

Most of the mechanics I think are an improvement on Explorers—and definitely on Rescue Team, since Explorers introduced a lot of improvements (like the way healing items are handled—in Rescue team you had to throw them at your allies, and only the hero could eat them directly from the bag). I like how Gates handles experience for allies left at home, and the way that you can level up individual moves and share them among everyone rather than using a ginseng on a single move for a single pokemon (that I don’t think retains that level up if you forget it but then go and remember it again? I can’t recall that part), and some of the team skills are useful… but the problem is that they are really luck-based in terms of actually acquiring them. I’ve only gotten two so far. Comparatively, IQ skills were very much based on the individual, but also a lot easier to get, allowing for a sort of customization aspect? It allowed more care and a better sense of victory, at least.

The V-wave thing is pretty cool, though, especially when paired with how exp works, even as annoying as I find Victini.

Getting rid of the hunger mechanic is I think positive overall? It does free up some inventory space, which is nice, but it also removes a bit of the puzzle and challenge for some of the longer dungeons—and I can’t help but wonder if the reason they did so is just because of how many dungeon layouts in Gates were comprised of many, many sprawling hallways with tons of intersections and small, unnecessary turns and corners, but only, like, three rooms—meaning that everyone would starve to death if the hunger system was involved. I know Explorers had some of those, too, but those were mainly for later stage dungeons, where bigger challenges were expected. It also makes a lot of the dungeons… really boring and repetitive? Like, the graphics are great, but there isn’t really too much variety of the non-plot dungeons beyond differences in color schemes? And while the puzzles involved are excellent, there aren’t really a lot of them, and so far Inflora Forest is the only one where the puzzle is still relevant after making it through the first time—the other ones seem to keep the bridges and stairs you make the first time around, leaving those sections rather superfluous.

And while I like how Companion mode lets me have more of a casual sort of playstyle, and I can build up Paradise and do mini-games without interference from the plot… It kind of makes Post Town really unnecessary beyond specified plot scenes? Like… I don’t have to wait to open any Treasure boxes. Once a dungeon ends I get instant gratification of finding out what’s in them (assuming I have enough money). Same thing with the gold bars. And since Quagsire operates as a shop as well, there is really no need for Kecleon (in Post Town—the ones in the dungeon are still extremely useful) beyond maybe him having some rarer items on occasion—but even then, getting certain shops in Paradise also makes him even more redundant.

(Though, speaking of Paradise shops: Elite boutique—not worth it. Maybe if all shops operated that way—were only around for a specific period of time before inevitably closing—it would be less grating… but there was no warning that that shop would only be run for a few days before closing forever, in addition to the fact that I have to watch Gurdurr’s sad face and laments about destroying the place [after a big part of his backstory involved someone deliberately destroying his work, mind you!] when they could have easily solved it as running more like the travelling salesmon in post town—you never know who or when someone will show up, or how long they’ll stay, but the possibility is at least there that someone will show up again.)

I also don’t like how you can’t stack missions—it really takes the emphasis off of the actual “exploring dungeons” part of the game, and puts it more on trying to build up Paradise. Which is fine, but it just doesn’t feel like traditional gameplay for a PMD game, you know?

As far as characterizations goes… It’s honestly kind of a mixed bag for me in comparison with some of the other games? Like… I do think that, overall, your immediate team and allies had better characterization visible in story, following the plot. As in, they came right out and showed you in the cutscenes, and didn’t depend on you going and talking to them individually in town, reading their diaries, and playing special episodes. I don’t think that the partner is the absolute best-characterized one writing-wise, but they were very, very well-done and do show good growth throughout (Rescue Team is the worst, mostly because of how bland they actually are—especially in the Post Game, where they are completely optional, and no longer follow you around or really talk to you at all like an individual character, rather than just another pokemon you recruit from dungeons [and on that note—I’m kind of sad that Gates got rid of the feature that actually let you talk to your team in the dungeons themselves. Sure, most of what got said was the same ten or so bland lines for everyone, but… I still liked having that option to just turn around and discuss things, especially since at some points it was unique based on where in the plot you were!)

But at the same time… that does take a little mystery out of it? Like… it makes your own (the actual, physical player’s) relationship with them a bit… less rewarding? You aren’t actually working at forming them, this way, the way you would be if you were exploring the town, happened across someone from the guild, and then decided to talk with them. That way, learning all these cool little hints and quirks was almost like a puzzle itself, something you had to work for, something that really embraced the idea of exploring and immersion.

Which is also kind of why I’m of two minds about the fact that the hero does actually have scripted lines, beyond just their thoughts and the little “running motion” indicative of things being said, but not actually described. There aren’t as many dialogue trees, you don’t really get to make that many choices, and the lack of space left up to the imagination… well, it doesn’t make me resonate with the hero as much as in other cases? I don’t really feel like they’re “me,” or could be “me,” so while they do feel in-character for the “character” of the hero… it just doesn’t feel like I’m actually the hero. It doesn’t leave space for that option the way that the other games do.

As for other characters… honestly, it’s kind of hit and miss for them as far as characterization goes, and I think a lot of that has to do with my earlier remarks about how unnecessary Post Town feels most of the time. I feel like they were really over-ambitious with their ensemble cast? Because, sure, some of them like Leaveanny, Swadloon, Lillipup, and Herdier I thought were well done… most of the others were rather forgettable? There were some travelers like Trubbish, Mienfoo and Dwebble that I really like, but I think that most of the others just don’t get enough characterization. Sure, it’s nice that a lot of them care about the player and greet them as their own individual, clearly trying to convey that relationships are being formed… but I just don’t care that much for the town as a whole? The others don’t really grab me, or add that much to the plot at all? Especially since half the time bigger plot discussions only really happen with the group in Paradise?

Like… Explorers had a lot of people, but the fact that they did travel in and out of town, and would sometimes go missing for days, but clearly had their own little stories and plots they were following was really interesting! Same with Rescue Team—the Pokémon Square was small, but it actually felt like a lived-in town? And I’m pretty sure the main towns of PSMD that you were actually using as a hub had that too—Serene Village definitely did. But Gates… I just don’t really see it. They were too ambitious, and they fell flat. I feel like maybe they could have fixed this if you were allowed to visit it in Companion Mode, too—or if they just didn’t let you visit any non-Paradise shops and only allowed Quagsire to edit your party—or if they shrunk it down so that the only thing there was Swanna’s place and the hill, and had the individual characters visit on a basis similar to Explorers, but… yeah.

As far as plot/story goes… well, some of that is hard to determine, just because of how much is involved in a good story. Characterization, like I said, is fine overall, but the story does seem really… low stakes? For the most part? Especially when compared to Rescue Team or Explorers. I think it has good progression over all—especially when compared to the mess that was PSMD!—but there isn’t quite as much of an overall… driving force? I think?

Like… okay, I know I’ve said before that it is a little weird that the hero in Explorers—and I guess also in Rescue Team—spends so much time focusing on other stuff rather than figuring out exactly what happened to them, why they turned into a pokemon, why they have amnesia, etc. (especially since that is part of their stated reason for joining the Guild in Explorers), but in all fairness… what else are they really supposed to do? They have amnesia, they have no clues as to a starting place to even look, it makes sense that they would want and need a safe place and routine figured out so that they can even start looking. And there are some hints pretty early on about their backstory/the state of the world (in dreams and dimensional screams). But the Gates hero… well they actually do have something of a starting place, and they have far more reason to really care about figuring all that out. For one thing, they do not have amnesia. The game makes that pretty clear, and the partner even makes comments on that—asking about friends and family, etc.

So why aren’t they making more of an effort to figure out how to get back home so they can actually reunite with those loved ones?? Or at least commenting on why they might not be concerned about that?? And since the hero doesn’t have amnesia, they also clearly remember the fact that they were called to the pokemon world specifically because someone was asking them for help—and they had a visual description of who they assumed that someone to be. They have a starting point. Why are they not asking around about that?? Why did they wait for more dreams to happen first? And, while it did get brough up in game a little bit, with them commenting on how maybe it wasn’t the greatest idea for them to be taking one of the spots on that initial Great Glacier Expedition because they do, actually, have some responsibility they’re supposed to fulfill, and they don’t know if they’ll have more dreams on the way… they still go on that expedition! Without bringing any of that up verbally, or to the partner who has by that point already agreed that they will go with the hero to save that pokemon as soon as their dreams clear up more.

But… like… they shouldn’t just be being so passive about this??? There are things they could all be doing to prepare! And maybe that is getting into some different facets of the partner’s personality, and showing how really dependent they are on the player—like, having their reluctance to do more be because of how much they really don’t want them to leave after (which does get brought up a little bit)… but I don’t think that’s quite what the game was going for—and if it was, then that needed to be made clearer.

So I guess over all… I think that Explorers is a better game to play if you do want something more story/plot driven, and want to, well, explore things a bit, while Gates is better for a more casual sort of play. Like… the actual plot almost seems like the side story or Special Episode in the face of building up Paradise.

Though, that probably does say more about an individual’s playstyle over the game itself, huh?

I guess… if you’re more into direct characterization via cutscenes, Gates is better (though there are times I wish it showed more of the visuals—like for some of the party scenes, or the housebuilding scene). But if you want a more integrated plot, Explorers is better—or Rescue Team, but it doesn’t have as good of a post-game).

And PSMD… well, I still stand by my earlier statements that I think the first part of the game was great, and the partner was the best-explored/characterized of them all… but it quickly lost plot cohesion and most of the adult characters are terrible people who should not be allowed around children—and the player character really got screwed over by basically everyone and never got closure for any it.

(Also, I can’t actually say anything about DX, since I don’t have a Switch, but from what I’ve seen it’s basically just Rescue Team with some improvements to gameplay mechanics? The story seemed to be pretty much the same from what little I saw.

Oh, and also Ekans’ sprite looks very, very weird.)

...I think that’s everything I had to say for now.

#pokemon mystery dungeon #explorers of sky #explorers of time/darkness #red/blue rescue team #gates to infinity #super #dx #spoilers

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rokkosmysterydungeon · 4 years

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31 Days of PMD: An Interconnected Series of Vignettes

Day 14: Betrayal

Game: Super

Theme: Emotional Turmoil & Processing

Spoilers: Post-game (actually... contains massive spoilers for all the games)

The quilava sighed wearily as she laid down on a bed of straw, surrounded by a group of four other fire-type pokémon. Her name was Madoka, and she’d been working hard the past several months to fill something called “The Arc of Connections”. The pokémon around her had a unique connection to her, because, in a weird sort of time/consciousness-shenanigans kind of way, they were also her.

Danny the combusken, Cia the infernape, Daniel the blaziken, and Dork the emboar. Some time ago, they and Madoka discovered they were all somehow the same being, a particular human, brought into the pokémon world multiple times. And each of them had saved the world in some way. All their journeys seemed to have other similarities as well, and in fact was why the troubled quilava requested this meeting. She wanted to ask her other selves advice about…

“How did you all deal with the uh… when someone you thought you could trust betrayed you?”

Madoka had, over the course of learning about her other selves and their stories, remembered that this seemed to be a common thread in all their experiences.

Dork was the first to respond. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s about Mr. Tachibana, isn’t it?” Cia interjected.

Madoka nodded, and rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling. One heave of a breath later, she elaborated on her issue. “My Team recently reached Great Master Rank and when we Rank up, the Connection Orb informs us of pokémon interested in Connecting with us. This time, he showed up. Apparently he wants to try and make up for betraying me in the past by contributing to the Arc of Connections.” She started looking around to her counterparts, trying to gauge if she had lost them in her ramble. “I don’t know what to do… I don’t want to but at the same time I feel like I have to. Like this is part of the whole test to see if I’m worthy of meeting Arceus. Yet every time I think about him… I just...”

She began shaking from the memory and her other four selves immediately stepped in with pets and comfort. One benefit of them all being versions of the same person meant they knew exactly the ways they all preferred to be comforted. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” The group insisted.

Mr. Tachibana, a nuzleaf from Serene Village, had done a number on Madoka with the betrayal he did while under the dark influence of the being Dark Matter. Shortly after she arrived in the pokémon world, he’d taken her in and acted like a father to her. Only it turned out this was a scheme to manipulate her all along; he’d been the one to give the order to scramble her brain, and then once she did the one thing he needed, he used a power shared among the Dark Enforcers to turn her and everyone she was with at the time, including their best friend, Daigo, to stone, sending all their souls to the hellish dimension known as the Voidlands. And then when she and Daigo had escaped and encountered him again, he gloated about all of it, shredding Madoka’s already battered heart.

Little wonder that even with the knowledge Dark Matter was influencing him at the time, Madoka still did not trust, or even want to think about him. Everything about the subject of him hurt.

The conversation finally continued when Danny tried the ‘using anecdote from own experience to try and help’ thing she was prone to do. “You know, when the entire town of Pokémon Square turned on me and Razr, and wanted us dead, it was difficult to swallow when we cleared my name and the townspeople apologized to us. I was thinking ‘how can I go back to trusting them when they betrayed me so easily and violently?’ I suppose the reason I eventually did forgive them was mostly because I felt I needed to in order to make my own peace with setting foot in the town again, and using key facilities I need to perform my rescue work. Our circumstances are different, and that’s not to say you definitely have to forgive Mr. Tachibana. It’s more… uh… maybe it’d help if you thought about the ways the forgiveness would help you, to help you decide.”

Daniel, who often seemed to carry herself as ‘Danny but more responsible’ due to being the evolved form of her Air Continent counterpart, nodded, and added, “Remember that you do not owe anyone you wronged your forgiveness. You are not wronging them back by not forgiving or letting back into your life. Even if they weren’t fully in control, the fact of the matter is, you were still hurt, and the face attached etches itself in your memory, logic or choice be damned. To elaborate on what Danny said, your focus is best served on brainstorming how forgiveness, or no forgiveness, would help you, and then weighing from there.”

“If it helps, you can use us as an example. Daniel hasn’t forgiven Nada and wants nothing to do with him, while I did and check in with him from time to time, helping him make sure he never becomes his evil future self.” said Cia.

The duskull she was referring to, Nada, was regarded among Cia, Daniel, and the explorer community as a whole as a weird case, because he technically didn’t do anything wrong. It was his dusknoir future self from a dark timeline, who went by Adán, that had betrayed both Team Crimson and Team Talon, but that version of him was erased, twice. It was a future that wasn’t going to happen. And yet the duskull still feared becoming that guy again.

“Yeah he sure is an example, alright...” said Daniel.

“I mean unlike Mr. Tachibana, the Nada of this timeline didn’t actually do anything, and I felt like I owed him help-” “Please don’t say that, that’s really not gonna help Madoka right now!” Daniel and Cia disagreed about Nada more than they’d both care to admit. Despite being the same person, and having a near-identical adventure, the fact both had wildly different partners personality-wise had clearly influenced the two in different ways.

“Okay, quiet everyone.” Dork raised her voice. Not to a full-on yell, but still enough to overpower the usual trained-quietness all the versions of her spoke with. “Madoka, would you like us to help you with making your mental list?”

The still-stressed quilava seemed to deflate on the bed. “I don’t know… I wish I knew the correct answer. To everything, really. I want to, I guess, know if he, er- Mr. Tachibana, if he really is trying. I don’t know if I want to start having him in my life again really, but… if he wants to make amends, to accept his help in completing the Arc?” She moved over to the window and looked outside, where all the partners, one for all 5 of the humans, were hanging out. She naturally put her gaze mostly on her partner, watching as they were showing off their Move Transform, going from their bayleef identity, Daigo, to their mew identity, Amui, and back again.

“I want to complete the Arc, for them...” she said, sadly.

Danny, ever trying-to-help, asked, “Do you feel that, you want to complete it for you, too?”

“I don’t know...”

Dork stepped in. “You know, you don’t have to decide right now.” She stepped over to the window to join Madoka in reflection. “Your partner, well, they’re immortal, and if your body’s anything like the rest of ours, you’ve got plenty of life ahead of you. You don’t have to make a decision about this now, or even anytime soon. I trust Daigo will understand.”

Madoka looked up at Dork with her bright red eyes. “Do you really believe so?”

“Oh yeah.” The emboar nodded, as the other three walked over to give Madoka back pats. Dork then thought for a second and then shared, “In fact, the pokémon who betrayed me and Andrea, that munna, her name is Dal. And I still haven’t come to my own decision on whether I forgive her or not. She’s really been trying to do good in the world now, I believe she’s making a true effort. But she and her cohorts also eliminated many humans-turned-pokémon off the face of this world, and almost got me as well. But that’s how I know, er- how I can assure you it’s alright if you still can’t decide.

Danny, Cia, and Daniel all nodded. “Very valid. You’re good at this, Dork.”

Madoka took a relieved breath as that adorable smile of hers finally returned. “Thank you Dork, thank you everyone. I definitely feel relieved for now.” She then ran to go join all the partners outside, ready to play and stuff. It was a lovely night out there, and her decision on Mr. Tachibana could always wait to be made under a different set of stars.

#writing #31 days of PMD #pmd month #pmd super #psmd spoilers #pokemon mystery dungeon

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phantom-mizero · 4 years

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In my opinion there is always one character on the good-side of every pmd game that does some really bad things that are sometimes even worse than what the bad-side in the games do. Gates to Infinity: Many Pokémon have problems stemming from depression in this game and the one thing that is actually bad is Espeon entrusting the Entercards to a child. It is the most understandable of the bunch, but so many things could have gone wrong if Munna and her gang would have found out. Espeon apologizes and I can forgive the thing because it was a tense moments after a long chase, but still. Rescue Team Blue/Red: Team ACT or more specifically Alakazam. From the first time Alakazam sees Hero he knows that they are a human and makes vague statements that can be interpreted that he knows about either the future or about the Ninetales Legend. Not to mention that he sends Hero and Partner to Xatu, which confirms this even more. Team ACT is regarded as at least one of the best teams on the continent, which also doesn't have to mean a thing, because they are just on par with Hero Partner and Absol. All of this makes Alakazam and his Team seem rather pretentious and arrogant, not to mention that Alakazam specifically doesn’t want to tell Hero any of the things he knows so they can enjoy life here more. I do not understand Alakazam’s reasons or why he isn’t even telling the Pokémon of Pokémon Square, who are literally rallying against Hero anything that he knows. Alakazam infuriates me a lot. Explorers of Darkness/Time/Sky: Chatot with his shady business practices and bad leadership skills, which makes him rather unsuited for his position. I am not mad that the guild takes a rather large sum of your earnings, but the fact that Chatot doesn’t tell you this a) upfront and b) for what it’s used is really bad. You can only guess where all the money is going to. Literally any workplace would tell you this upfront, or at least when you get the job. Wigglytuff believes in second chances, which I adore, but that makes him bad to approach for things like Team Skull, so you should go to his Assistant Chatot, who doesn’t take you serious for insulting a known explorer team, even if what you say is the truth. After you have no Perfect Apple’s he doesn’t even give Partner and Hero a chance to explain why, he just shuts them up, cancels their dinner and wants to present them as the scapegoats for when he doesn’t even know why one of their best new teams didn’t make it. Canceled Dinner also means that they would go two days while working without any food except dungeon rations, which would be kept as such, because you only have limited storage and aren’t guaranteed to find or buy extra food. The other apprentices sharing some food with Hero and Partner is not only precious but could have kept them from fainting in the dungeon the next day. Not only is all this bad leadership, but also extremely dangerous for someone who’s under an older more experienced persons guidance who want’s to learn their trade. I also don’t think that Wigglytuff knew about this, nor about the next point. On the night after the incident he tells you that you shouldn’t hope to be on the big expedition. Not only is this a dick move, but he is also just the assistant of Guildmaster Wigglytuff. Chatot can not, in anyway, make a decision like that or even tell you this because he is not the leader of this Guild and does not decide such things. He also wanted to say something, when he read Partner and Hero’s names, but knows enough about Wigglytuff that he doesn’t. On the Expedition he get’s mad when you are “too late”, even tho your whole Team is made out of new recruits and probably got lost on the way for a bit. Additionally there is extra dialog when you take the wrong path that leads you around back to the camp, so he want’s to hear your good news, because you came back, but you have none, so gets even madder about it insisting you go back in again. You don’t have to talk with Chatot after Azurill and Marill ask you to get their item for them back, but if you do he insists that, no, you can’t take the day off, because they are already understaffed. Gee whiz, I sure wonder why?! I sure do wonder why everyone turns their backs on this guild after they found out how badly this place is run. He recaps what Hero and Partner did after they came back to the guild from the bad future, before he makes fun of them, basically calling them crazy, doing a 180, when he gets accused of not trusting them for telling the truth and ends up laugh-crying out of sheer desperation because this is the first time he got backed into a corner for being really shitty to anyone because he is in a position of power. Wigglytuff assigns Chatot to look after the guild, but more importantly Hero and Partner on the mission were a bunch of dangerous criminals await them. He insist that they shouldn’t drag him down, before running after Team Skull, when he finally realizes that they’re thiefs and going even further without Hero and Partner and running into said criminals. At that point I do not care that he protects them from the criminals first attack, because he lost any loyalty or trust I ever had in him quite awhile ago. PSMD: Ampharos is an overall bad leader, who and lies and betrays Hero and Partner more than the actual bad guys of this pmd game – which is something. Ampharos sets out to Serene Village without telling anyone, with his terrible sense of direction, which makes him bumble around like he’s drunk in unknown locations. When Partner asks if he works for the Expedition Society, he declines and after getting to their base in Lively Town he says that he doesn’t work for them, because they work for him. He admits them in the Expedition Society actually as full members, but tells them that they’re only Junior members, making that up on the spot, while NOT telling ANYONE in the Society about ANY of this! He sends you off to wake Jirachi up, but does not tell you that Jirachi sleepfights anyone who tries that and acts surprised afterwards that you look as if you were just in a boss fight. This was also in a library with precious books and equipment to study astronomy, including a large and important telescope. They do a big expedition to the volcano and every member, except Hero and Partner, get told that Entei lives there, so they need to be careful. So he decides to let Buizel watch over them, because what are the chances of them getting to the peak first!? Espurr plays double agent in the late game for both sides, but I am 100 % sure that Ampharos tells her to not say anything about that to Hero and Partner so their reaction are genuine and they can bust in a few minutes later anyway to look heroic. The outcome is just that I trusted no one but Partner at this point. I was even convinced that Lapras and the shopkeepers where in on it. There is also the post-game where you only want Partner back after a really long fetch quest were it turns out that Ampharos with Xatu and Mawhile came up with a dumb kidnapping plot, with the reason that Dark Matter is still in Mew and Nuzleaf and the Beheeyem trying to get rid of it, which would erase Mew from existence. That is contradicted by Partner’s words when they disappear and the real reason that Mew is sick is because Partner was still, in a way, alive in them, but could only be brought back if Hero had strong enough emotions for them otherwise they would disappear. Ampharos is someone irresponsible and incredibly childish with a hero complex, while having negative communication skills. Yet he is quite manipulative, while he lies and withholds important information to the rest of the Expedition Society. There is also a line of dialogue where he talks about not wanting to ruin it this time, referencing that he most likely took in children in the Society before, which didn’t work out so well. The whole Expedition Society jokes about leaving because they see all of his flaws, but I actually want them to kick Ampharos out. He rather hatches big convoluted plans, not telling anyone about them, than talking something out and making plans actually with them. Literally anything that he does wrong can be fixed by talking to someone, telling them his plans and what he wants to do.

#pokemon mystery dungeon #pokemon mystery dungeon rescue team #pokemon mystery dungeon explorers #pokemon mystery dungeon gates to infinity #pokemon super mystery dungeon #pokemon mystery dungeon spoilers #pokemon mystery dungeon rescue team spoilers #pokemon mystery dungeon explorers spoilers #pokemon mystery dungeon gates to infinity spoilers #pokemon super mystery dungeon spoilers #pmd

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vaugarde · 4 years

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🍀💕💢

🍀 do you have any kins or comfort characters from your hyperfixation?

HOOHOOHEEHEE...

pmd2 partner is also very dear to me bc of their arc! back when i did kin i kinned the pmd2 hero as well, though not anymore. theyre very dear to me too though

💕 tell us about one of your favorite characters and why you like them!

feel like im cheating by doing a non pmd pokemon but i shall discuss ash’s gliscor

my appreciation for gliscor extends to the pokemon as a whole but it started with ash’s. i remember when i was little all my knowledge of pkmn was from pmd and i was just beginning to check out the main series so i didnt know a lot of pokemon, and one of the things i didnt know was evolution bc that was postgame in sky and i didnt get there yet. i Think i knew gligar from the bidoof special ep but idc much for him so i honestly dont remember being like “oh theyre from the bidoof game” when i saw her but the episode i saw was her evolution episode. so you can imagine the extreme serotonin that surged into my brain when this

turned into THIS

baby goth jasper was fucking mindblown ok i was LOSING IT when that happened. i remember being sooo upset when i couldnt get gligar in pearl and then when i couldnt figure out how to evolve one in platinum. but that was ok bc of the anime, ash’s gliscor was SO funny and silly. she wasnt meant to be some badass to make older fans feel secure, she was charming and silly and a huge joy to see onscreen. i loved her voice and her wink-bleps and her sensitivity (side note she had adhd. idc if shes a pokemon so does and ill fight on this) and her battle moments were mostly very good as well! i remember being SO mad when she was put on the bus i actually have not seen all of sinnoh league victors to this day bc i got so mad and sad she wasnt there and was replaced by something infinitely less funny for no reason i only watched the infernape episodes bc i also loved her. i was so happy when she came back for the best battle even if it was brief.

💢 what do you NOT like about your hyperfixation? is there something you would want to change about it

the development stuff has been talked to death so ill talk about a story element that really makes me mad.

i hate the way gamefreak handles abuse. with a burning passion. the only times i can recall that an abuser has been condemned for their actions is charmanders old trainer in the anime and ghetsis. everyone else has a ton of excuses made for them, and while i remember chimchar in the anime being handled well paul himself was absolutely not (they literally had cynthia praise him for his abusive training. CYNTHIA. and no one ever reported him, he faced no real consequences besides uwu he lost a battle and the narrative implies his training is “just a different method! :3” competitive players you dont deserve this analogy) and the abuse victims are usually demonized, like cyrus. lusamine abused her children but she’s beautiful and sad widow so its ok ig! /s even if she did nothing to apologize besides “oh never mind you DO meet my standards :)” and lillie is forced to reconcile by the narrative bc “well shes my mom so i must.”

the pokemon company in all areas should not tackle the subject bc nearly every time they have it has been disgusting and its very clear they dont know what theyre doing or they really feel this way towards abused people.

#sociallyunacceptableorb #mail #abuse ment

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negrek · 7 years

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Negrek Finishes Gates to Infinity

Okay, so a while back I started playing through Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity after @phoenixkratos generously loaned it to me.

Overall, I'd say this is probably the clunkiest entry in the PMD series, but it doesn't deserve the hate it gets. It's clearly rushed and in the ugly-duck stage of transitioning from 2D sprites to full 3D, but there are the seeds of a great game here. I actually finished the main storyline quite a while back, up to the point where the protagonist inevitably returns to the human world and the credits roll; just recently I picked it up to finish things up to the point where the protagonist inevitably returns to the world of pokémon. Full, spoiler-y thoughts under the cut. (Apologies for weird typos, my keyboard's inexplicably sticky all of a sudden.)

I'll start with the story, since I think that's what most people play the PMD series for, and I think they definitely took things in an interesting direction with this game. As usual, there's some cataclysmic world-ending event about to go down, courtesy legendary pokémon, but the source of the trouble this time around is very different than in previous PMD titles. Rather than being some external force, like a meteorite or out-of-control legendary pokémon, the culprit here is in a sense the common pokémon themselves: their despair and cynicism has manifested as the world-destroying bittercold that threatens to plunge everything into darkness forever. As the bittercold grows, its influence feeds into the very feelings that first spawned it, causing pokémon to distrust one another and grow ever more disconnected and sorrowful

At least, well, that's what the story wants to sell you on. My biggest criticism of the game is that the supposed dissolution of pokémon society just isn't actually there in the way the game plays out. The pokémon of Post Town are generally friendly, hospitable types, and despite having supposedly given up hope, they put an awful lot of faith in an overenthusiastic pikachu and his best bud.

Things start off great with an introductory mission where you confront Gurrdurr, who was injured in an accident, became unable to work, and turned to crime out of bitterness and desperation. Like, that's actually a really mature and nuanced plotline for a pokémon game, or most video games, period? Way better than fighting some generic evil-just-because bandits, and it plays right into the game's theme of pokémon having given up and turned their backs on one another out of despair.

The issue is... that's the only mission you actually get like that. The rest are pretty standard adventure fare, with rescues and treasures and explorations to be had. And it would have been easy to make things feel more genuinely cynical. For example, what if instead of taking Umbreon in and healing him up, he'd instead come to the town begging for help, and the townsfolk had turned him away, being distrustful of outsiders, and the player/partner had had to go out and rescue him and Espeon despite their disapproval? What if they rejected the whole notion of the Entercards and refused to help the players/eeveelutions with their quest, on the basis of it being pointless, with only a couple exceptions? Ultimately, Post Town as presented in the game is just too supportive and welcoming a place for me to buy that pokémon society is in any way fallen apart. I mean, they're complaining about their literal happiness rainbows disappearing. And I mean, that's sad and all, but really, now. If Chunsoft had really committed to the narrative the games were trying to pitch, it could have been soooo gooood. But they weren't willing to go all the way, and as a result I think it just doesn't work.

I also didn't care for the heel-face turn of the villains towards the end of the series. Again, if you're going to have me buy that munna and company were really devoted to each other and had decided that the world was too sick to go on, but at least they could all face the end together, you need to actually have some scenes with the villains cackling at each other and chasing the player character down and acting generically evil. Like, even just something like the heros manage to . And again, if they actually could have SHOWN the dynamic between munna and her companions at work instead of just mentioning it when the villains needed redeeming, it would have been soooo gooood. I honestly think a fanfic following the basic plot of the game but actually making all the informed attributes visible in the narrative could be really, really good.

I was also a little disappointed by the fact that we never got much of an explanation of what the partner's deal was. There were some hints that his past wasn't very happy at all, and that he was kind of clinging to the whole "paradise" idea as a way of coping with that, but iirc that never actually went anywhere. And I don't think it needed to, necessarily--I think little hints here and there could paint a really sad picture without wallowing in "and then his twelve brothers and sisters were left destitute on the streets and three of them died horribly of pneumonia" or whatever. (Alternatively this was resolved somehow and I just completely forgot about it, which probably means it didn't have the impact I presume the writers would have wanted it to have.)

I mean, I know, looking for subtlety or nuance in a pokémon game storyline, but they were so close! Come on, guys, you could totally have pulled this one off!

Also, a small thing that bugged me was the whole "Hydreigon as spirit of life" or whatever that was. It seemed out of place for a pokémon game, like I don't think we've previously seen any sort of direct evidence for mystical, god-like forces outside legendary pokémon. I don't know why this guy couldn't have just been an ordinary hydreigon who happens to know about the connection between the human and pokémon worlds.

I did find the route they took with the player character's role interesting; very meta. Like, the player is only one of many humans in the world, and they're also LITERALLY YOU, not some character who's turned into a pokémon for reasons, but literally a person interacting with the pokémon world through the medium of the 3DS. The fourth-wall-breaking in the epilogue kind of weirded me out, but it just unsettles me in general when game characters turn and stare directly at you through the screen, aaaa. (Ghost Trick being the game that most freaks me out with this, of course.) But this was the first PMD game to try and address things like, doesn't the player miss their friends and family back in the human world? And overall I think it was well done.

On the mechanics side, I found this game to be incredibly easy. However, my team was also axew/pikachu, and I'm made to understand that axew is easy mode par excellence. Low-level dragon dance and dual chop is absolutely absurd, and beating Kyurem in two attacks was a little anticlimactic. But assuming the difficulty is more reasonable if you choose something like oshawott or snivy, then that's fine--although I like the personality quiz, having a sort of easily accessible "selectable difficulty" option is a good thing, although it would be nice if it were more clear which were the hard vs easy picks. (Okay, I know, I know, dragon, but still.)

I'm of two minds about the fact that inactive party members gain experience along with the active party. On the one hand, the total lack of grinding is pretty cool. On the other, it means that once any of your team gets too high-leveled for a certain level of dungeon/mission, then there's never going to be any challenge in playing that kind of mission again, because all of your pokémon will completely curbstomp it with no problem. And although they did a good job of speeding up the EXP-gain process once an underleveled pokémon actually gets to a dungeon, it's still a pain to have to click through party members learning eight new moves and evolving at the start of an expedition. On the whole I think it's a good thing, but it did irritate me at times.

The speed-up inside dungeons is mostly welcome, too, but combined with the changed field of view it often resulted in my last partner cheerfully wandering off to die and me not noticing until I'm all the way across the map because my character's dashing like a maniac. This became much less of a problem once I discovered reunion scarves and the fact that even equipping them from the other side of the dungeon will zap a wayward party member back to their rightful place, but for a while there I was rather stressed about keeping track of my party members at all times.

One common complaint I saw about the game was that there wasn't much pokémon variety. I didn't think this would bother me much, personally, but I actually found it very noticeable. Although there's a pretty large absolute number of species available (around 100, I think), when you consider how many different species are necessary to round out a dungeon, and then how many dungeons you'll go through over the course of the game, the lack of variety really does become noticeable. This was especially an issue for me at the beginning of the game, where a couple particularly irritating species (looking at you, litwick and klink) were EVERYWHERE. It meant that different dungeons felt same-y, even if the environment tiles were quite different. It didn't help that the pokémon are very heavy on Unovan lines, which by and large aren't my favorites.

Also the text speed... there is no effing excuse for the slow, fixed text speed. Same deal as with SuMo there. The cutscenes did not need to be longer!

But all in all I think the mechanics were an improvement over previous incarnations, and even the storyline, to some extent. It was just the blatant unfinished nature of the game and a couple seriously irritating elements that got introduced as a result that stopped it from being a top-tier entry in the series. It's disappointing, really, because I think they were trying to do something different and cool with this one, and just couldn't commit enough time and attention to make it work.

#pokemon #pokemon mystery dungeon #negrek plays gates to infinity

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rainbow-squirrels-7 · 6 years

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Highlights from tonight’s murder mystery episode of my DND campaign, The Kleos Guild!

-We began with the PCs waiting for word when to go out to set the trap for the Song Thief

-My Druid (Bec, half-orc) was cheating at playing pool

-My Paladin (Gixa, white dragonborn) was eating ice in the cafeteria

-And my Bard (Alexander, half-dark elf) was actually composing a sincere apology for acting so shady behind Peregrine and Gixa;s backs last episode. It was very sweet actually

-He said that his bardic mentor said ‘words have power, especially for bards’ or something, and that gave me SO much backstory fodder. But it’s kind of ironic because none of them know their backstories actually happened in the future

-Anyway, then Daisy (the orc guildmaster of the Sapphire Division) came in and announced that at the location of the last Song Crystal... there’s been a murder

-So the crew warps out there and ends up in the ski-lodge like town of King’s Reach. Gixa is very happy to finally be in a place that is not sweltering

-They go up to Bremen manor and admire the Tree of Life and none of my players get the Musicians of Bremen reference I made with the statue of the animals on top of the fountains and I had to explain it to those heathens

-Agatha Bremen, daughter of the murdered man Edgar Bremen is outside waiting for them. Inside, they meet the suspects: Beatrice the tabaxi maid, Crispin the human who’s a one-armed retired Paladin, Darren the human (Agatha’s child), and Jeremy the halfling chef

-Agatha shows them the scene of the crime, seeing some impressionist paintings on the walls of the portrait gallery just before

-They find Edgar Bremen dead from three parallel slash marks on his throat. I was hoping this would make them immediately suspect Beatrice, but alas

-Right as they left that room, they heard a crash from downstairs and a scream

-Alexander and Bec then Feather Fall over the balcony, and Gixa slides down the bannister

-They go into the kitchen to find that Jeremy the chef has just been murdered in the same way as Edgar was. It was Beatrice who screamed

-Beatrice had a high, very scared of everything voice. She was constantly freaking out (as I was trying to hype up her red herring-ness). Crispin had my very best Barry Bluejeans impression voice. If Darren talked, I don’t remember their voice, and I don’t think Jeremy talked at all. Agatha just had a regular voice, but Gixa’s player said she pictured her with a British accent. I did a British accent for another character back in episode 3, and I didn’t like it, so I didn’t do it again.

-Crispin also talked with Gixa at one point, as they have Paladin in common, and Crispin explained that he was part of Phineas’ legion when they were defending Bard City a few months back from the monster attack, and the monster bit off his arm, so he retired from being a Paladin.

-The players then began going through all the Clue-style rooms (my original plan was to just plop down a Clue board, but I didn’t have one) looking for clues

-I did manage to red herring them with the silverware set up, which was really just Jeremy not getting to set the rest of the table, but Alexander thought it was suspicious that six of the knives were missing, and there were six slash marks total.

-They found Edgar’s will in the study, which included the name Leonard, whom was someone who wasn’t present in the manor, and also had one crossed off name at the bottom. In the lounge, they found more paintings, and found that they were signed by Leonard. Agatha then told them Leonard is her husband and a painter who works in Ferryrock. She also says he’s been into music lately, and that they just got a new piano. In one of the paintings, they see the staff of the manor, and one tabaxi man who isn’t present either, but he’s dressed like a butler

-In the ballroom, they found a grand piano and some sheet music. It’s described to have been written in pencil and a title was there but erased and rewritten multiple times before the writer just wrote ‘title goes here’. The writer turned out to be Charlie Jones, the bard kid who travels with the salesman Gerald, and who is a fan favorite. He and Gerald came through town recently, and Charlie had been working on this composition, and Leonard had asked for a copy to try to learn to play. The song was unfinished though, and is the first 30 seconds of this:

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arIymDYA2y8

-Anyway, they ask Agatha about the butler, and she says that he’s Virgil, and he worked for Edgar, but he was fired a few years back after he was caught embezzling money

-The PCs then go upstairs to continue the investigation, only after Alexander goes back in the kitchen and finds the flatware that had not been set. He takes the knives

-Upstairs, they find Darren’s room, which is a typical messy teenager room. They also find some papers that we would recognize as characters sheets, and also a set of dice. It’s all from the hot tabletop fantasy game popular across The Land: Suburbs and Sedans

-In Agatha and Leonard’s room, they find a book called Bardic Inspiration: For Dummies. Gixa shows it to Alexander saying “Hey, this’ll be your next birthday present.”

-They also find some messed up wallpaper, but nothing but a wall behind it

-Down the hallway, they find the library, which is the first real library they’ve been to, since the other library in the very first episode in the Town of Heroes was full of fake books

-They find that the wallpaper in this room has been messed up too, and behind it, they find a door that leads to the vault room

-Inside, they find the floating cat ghost form of Virgil, trying to steal the money from the safe. I tried to give Virgil an impression of Jenkins’ voice, but idk if it was accurate. Either way, it was pretty good.

-And it all freaking dissolved into ghost humor

-”Why does a ghost need money? IS THERE GHOST CAPITALISM??”

-But yeah, they fought the ghost Virgil, and I quickly realized that my fights are way too easy. Virgil didn’t even land a hit on them. I made a mental note to make my enemies stronger

-Anyway, after Virgil “went poof into a poof of ghost mist”, there was a bit of banter when Alexander opened the safe and Gixa was afraid he would steal the money. She poked him with her halberd, and Alexander then closed the door on the other two and Mended the wallpaper back. They got out pretty quickly, though.

-Once they got back to the balcony, they heard music coming from outside. Alexander’s player immediately said he was going to the window so he could climb on the roof, but then I realized I forgot to say that it wasn’t piano music (which would point to the Song Thief), but cello and violin music.

-Bec and Alexander Feather Fall off the balcony again and Gixa Misty Steps (or she “BAMFs down to the first floor like Nightcrawler” as I described it) and they all rush outside

-Just in time to see Daisy swing around her cello and konk the Song Thief in the back of the head. Bec immediately falls in love

-Agatha gives the players a 150 gold reward for solving the crime and ghostbusting, and Peregrine reminds everyone of the urgent Song Thief business and they all head back to Ferryrock

-Bec also asked Daisy if when this all is over, if they could get drinks sometime. Daisy was flustered and it was real cute and she said “Yeah, that would be really nice,”

-Though in my head I was thinking ‘oh heck they’re about to be sent to the future I’m wrecking this date’ even though I really want it to happen. I’ll make it happen later, after they save the world. Because I really like it. Reminds me of Aubrey and Danny

-Anyway, they warp back to Ferryrock, and Peregrine calls another town meeting to tell everyone of the Song Thief’s capture. My players manage to find Leonard in the crowd and inform him “your wife’s okay! the butler did it!”

-Oh and the Song Thief is paraded down to the city center, and my players see him without his mask for the first time. So that’s cool

-Peregrine then makes a speech about the hard work of the Kleos Guild and everything good and all that, but that she has to leave and take the Song Thief back to the future

-my players laughed too much at the ‘back to the future’ line

-She then does a magic prayer, making a time portal doorway appear. It looks like a floating rectangle of white light with a circle in the middle. Not exactly a PMD Dimensional Hole

-She was praying to Mother Time, by the way

-And she pushes the Song Thief into the portal and calls up the PCs for heroic recognition. She thanks them and the crowd loves them. And she echoes Alexander saying ‘words have power’ and she says that she wants to play one more song for them

-and she plays the Tree of Life

-which freezes them in place

-and she pushes them into the portal

-they all black out and wake up in complete darkness. not even Darkvision people could see. And they couldn’t hear anything. They tried to make sound, but it didn’t work. Any light spells they cast only lasted for a fraction of the time they’re supposed to. I ‘opened up this can of worms’ when Gixa also tried to pray to her goddess, Selune, but it didn’t work, she didn’t get any response a la Merle in The Suffering Game

-it’s cause all the gods except for Mother Time abandoned the silent future

-They all also decided that Peregrine was the evil one now (no one is evil stop putting my complex morality story into such black and white terms) and Gica tried to stumble around in the dark to release the Song Thief who was still knocked out in the room with them.

-and I ended with “and thus begins... Arc Three.”

-I want this time in the silent future to be like as bad as the hero and partner felt in their dark future, or maybe even something like The Suffering Game. I want there to be real stakes. I’m planning to make the enemies harder and have there actually be danger. And they’re going to have to decide where they stand and who they trust. Because they thought they knew Peregrine was ‘good’ and the Song Theif was ‘bad’ but Peregrine just pushed them into the portal so...

-I also accidentally established immediate silence, which I didn’t want to do because it’s going to make the next part difficult. I did need some dialogue. But Peregrine and Kes know Drow sign language, and it was already established that Alexander knows a bit of it. So maybe that’ll work. It’ll at least give me the added bonus of the PCs only getting part of the information since they’ll only be able to get fractured conversations.

-at least I have three months to figure it out. This was my last session before summer vacation. So I left them on a cliffhanger ahah. I really want Kes in the next episode to do K E S in sign language to them, so they at least know his name.

-but yeah! I’m gonna construct a very bad time for my players in this silent future! fun times!

#hawk plays dnd #dungeons and dragons #d&d #dnd

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