#pmd triple team time

[ravenwolfie97]

more notes comparing pmd DX and the original rescue team games!

it's throwing a lot of new items at you fast, like the Bank Orb and Rainbow Gummi and stat supplements. it's a little overwhelming to have all this stuff before the first boss lol

there's already a Kecleon shop in Mt. Steel???? oh my god why does the theme sound like that too it just randomly hits you with elevator music

AND TRAPS??? ALREADY????? WHAT the difficulty curve here is completely different! or not difficulty but more like complexity. it's so far ahead of what the original games would have and it's freaking me out a bit bhkjlk

the remixed tracks have been pretty good up until the one that comes up when you're in danger. this is just noise. bassoon was a weird timbre to mix with all of that

the skarmory fight was still pretty easy, but at least it took more than just a couple hits this time. probably was actually significantly harder, but my team just happens to have super-effective Electric and Fire moves which are. um. its only two weaknesses. lol whoops

with all the different rewards, and especially with all the other nifty items thrown at us, this reward from Dugtrio seems much more paltry lol - instead of a Pecha Scarf and Ginseng, you just get a Max Ether and a Heal Seed. though, i feel like that makes more sense than the originals, which feels much more out of left field

ohhh Wigglytuff's shop is called the Camp Corner now, and instead of Friend Areas you make little campsites for your teammates! that's cute, I feel like that makes more sense than just. um. selling you land lol. it's still basically the same though. and you get one more for free than in the originals! that's pretty nice

i did wonder just now if Alakazam noticed us, the weird human-turned-pokemon, or was just kind of staring in our direction while sensing Gengar's presence instead. even after three iterations, i'm not quite sure lol

okay so the Friend Area/Camp situation is a lot more different, and i am so utterly charmed by it. they used the old pmd sprites when you go into the camp!! i wonder what they'll do for any newer gen pokemon if they have them in here

the Rainbow Gummies/Rare Quality system is really neat, and adds a whole other level to your teammates. there are also DX Gummies which i'm very interested in. I got "Squad Up" which increases odds of Pokemon joining your team if you have multiple party members, and my partner got "Defensive Rhythm" which increases the whole party's defenses for a turn if they're being attacked, which would help a lot in a Monster House situation

the dungeon map is actually pretty different too, compared to the more recent ones, showing all sorts of stats for each dungeon. it shows the kinds of pokemon you can find there, how many floors it has in total (unless you don't know yet), how many teammates you can take, and also it shows how many jobs you have for each dungeon as well as extra things like more treasure or strong opponents. that's really interesting

you can customize your teams before you leave too, instead of cycling through the friend areas before you go! and you can also double-check your items and money beforehand! those are really cool additions!

man i do also really like that the pokemon you're trying to rescue Stay Still instead of Running Around like a chicken with its head cut off. another QoL update that is. quite nice

another interesting thing about Camps vs Friend Areas is that pokemon can join you on your adventure regardless of whether or not you have a place for them to stay, and if you keep them alive throughout the adventure, they'll give you something in return! so far all i got was money, but i presume they might be able to hand out items as well. so that's neat!

as i've been going on missions, i've been able to take 4-6 jobs per dungeon and each one of these missions gives me 50 points towards my rank, rather than the measly 5 points they had in Rescue Team. however, i hadn't been gaining points until after defeating Skarmory, so that could be part of it. but also, as rank increases, it increases the amount of items my toolbox can hold, how many jobs i can take, the capacity in each camp, and how many teams i can build. that's pretty awesome. and it seems like it'll be a lot easier to grow in rank over time. heck, in the original games, i might not even be gold rank by the time i finish the main game! i believe it'll be much faster to climb rank in this game with all these advantages

i always thought Ekans of Team Meanies was weird, particularly because it looked so much bigger than the other two. that's not the case in DX - Ekans looks weird because the upstanding part of its body is So Straight and its 3D model bends a little concavity into its body from the joint. and i don't like that

i tried a DX Gummi. i don't know what the difference is yet

there's a dungeon called Oddity Cave that apparently was in the original rescue team games through an event Wonder Code, but it was just added as a normal one in DX, which i think is pretty cool. the music for the area also seems to be a medley of Gates to Infinity dungeon themes

i forget if it came up before, but another nice QoL is that you don't immediately lose if you or your partner faints in a dungeon - the other one can keep going onwards

alright, that's enough for now. time for a break lol

[totallycorrectpmdquotes]

I'm on another PMD kick, and I stumbled across your Backfire fic on AO3, and it's super good so far! Even if it's a while to the next update, it was totally worth reading what you have so far-- so good job, and good luck with it if you ever continue!

Thank you so much! :DD

But speaking of updates...

(Chapter 1) (Chapter 2)

Uxie’s powers aren’t just limited to his lake, and affect all memories which could be traced back to the Time Gears. It’s easy to imagine the mental catastrophe this could cause in the mind of someone who’s spent nearly their entire life looking into them. In his defense, Uxie was really mad at Grovyle.

-

3.

For Chatot, it had been aparticularly frazzling evening. The Guildmaster had reorganized a storage roomwith a rather small window for Grovyle by throwing all its contents into thehall. Bidoof and Loudred carried out their orders to clear the mess away quicklyenough, although Chatot would not bethe first one to open the closets they had stuffed everything in. When OfficerMagnezone had led the secret transport of the still unconscious Grovyle,Dusknoir had followed. As Grovyle was deposited in his new bed – closer to theGuildmaster’s chamber than any of the apprentice’s, just to be safe – Dusknoirhad promptly positioned himself outside the door.

“Dusknoir, Sir,” Chatot had said,“we can have the apprentices take over that position. You don’t need to troubleyourself for us.” His intention had been to send Chimecho to take over, andmore importantly, have her make sure the Great Dusknoir was alright.

But Dusknoir had waved him offand refuted any further attempts to convince him that they could help. “I camehere to find him, I’ll guard him. It’s no trouble.”

A few minutes later, Dusknoirapparently caught sight of his reflection in one of the lower-level drinkingfountains and jumped in fright. No one dared to ask what startled him. Herefused to leave his post when dinner was ready as well, despite the fact thatGrovyle wasn’t due to wake for another several hours. And Chatot, well, mayhave reacted by bringing him a plate of leftovers sprinkled with a portion ofground sleep seeds.

He was concerned and had everyright to be! Dusknoir would surely be upset when he woke, and Chatot would takethe consequences of his actions in stride. He would apologize for hisdeception, but not for his actions. Dusknoir needed to rest – whatever ailmenthe was suffering from would not be treated if he ran himself ragged.

Night fell on the guild, andChatot enlisted Chimecho’s help to move the now fully asleep Dusknoir to theGuildmaster’s bed.

“And remember, this stays betweenus.” Chatot said, well aware that Chimecho already knew and wouldn’t say a wordabout Dusknoir’s condition. Nervousness kept him tittering about, though. “Areyou certain he has to be awake for you to examine him?”

“Sorry,” she said, and used herpsychic to gently set Dusknoir down. “If he’s against it, we could have someonetalk with him and I’ll examine him while he’s distracted.”

Chatot hesitated for a secondbefore he sighed. “You have better eyes for this than anyone in the guild. Ifyou think that would be enough for you to help him, then I trust yourjudgement.” He shrugged off Dusknoir’s bag and did his best not to look at thesleeping form. “You may take your leave and return to your quarters.” He was very aware she would not be doing that;the apprentices would be meeting in Team Relic’s room, where the two would bebombarded with questions about why they had decided to let Grovyle stay.

Chimecho nodded, and with a quietring of her bell, she left the room. Chatot watched her leave before he nudgedDusknoir’s bag closer to him. There was something strange about the bag,something that Chatot struggled to put a feather on, but it clicked when hefound a worn patch on the right side where a few rolled up pieces of parchmentwere visible. The bag was the same model as Grovyle’s.

Chatot allowed himself a momentof short, quiet laughter – he’d had such a horrifying feeling, and all it hadamounted to was that. How incrediblysimplistic. Those bags must be mass produced in the future with that samedefect. It was unfortunate that the Great Dusknoir had such a poor qualitytreasure bag.

With one long look at the piecesof parchment which, really, were none of Chatot’s business and were not something he’d be prying into,Chatot returned to his post outside of Grovyle’s room. The Guildmaster sat tothe left of the door, two crochet hooks in his hands and what looked like a half-finishedyarn apple in his lap.

“Hiya!” The Guildmaster said,loudly, but clearly trying to be quiet. “How’s Dusknoir? Is he having sweetdreams?”

“I’m sure he is,” Chatot said,and made himself comfortable to the right of the door. “And Grovyle?”

The Guildmaster put down his yarnand stared across the room. “…No,” he said, “he’s still having nightmares. Buthe’ll be awake soon. He’ll be happier then.”

Chatot glanced back, through thecurtain they’d draped over the doorway. The shadows were twisted around Grovyle,and in the dim light almost looked like they were standing over him.

Chatot pulled the curtain openfarther as Grovyle shuddered, and the illusion faded.

.-.

There was no vulpix named Breannain the Wigglytuff Guild. However, there was one who’d introduce herself by hernickname, Breeze.

She hadn’t known that Pokémon goby their species name unless interacting with their family until she was told.She was practically illiterate – everyone around wrote and read in footprintrunes, but she didn’t even know the alphabet. When asked where she was from, orwhy she had made her way to Treasure Town in the first place, all Breeze had tooffer was a shrug.

Honestly, it was impressive thatno one had figured out her secret yet. Well, they’d figured out about herDimensional Scream, but her secret of being a ‘human turned Pokémon withamnesia who couldn’t even remember her own real name’ was still safe.

Mostly.

Breeze sat beside her partner,Dusk, with their guildmates crowded into the room with them. They’d beenarguing for the past several minutes. Breeze had been reorganizing her treasurebag for most of them and left Dusk to deal with their friends’ questions.

At least Chimecho had taken pityand brought him a chalkboard so he wouldn’t strain his voice anymore.

“But I don’t understand,” Sunflora said, “he’s a bad Pokémon!”

Dusk dipped his paw in chalk duskand drew several footprints from various normal-types while Breeze triplechecked her stash of orans for any orens. She returned them to her bag as Duskgestured to his writing.

“I guess,” Sunflora hesitated,“but you can’t change nature.”

“We are still worried about youtwo,” Dugtrio said, “you may be confident in this second chance, but we wouldhate to see a horrible fate befall you.”

Breeze didn’t look at him (them?She really needed to find a chance to ask what Dugtrio preferred) and insteadgently dumped out her orbs. She started to sort them by function, thenalphabetically on top of that. Dusk used some grass and water-type footprintsthis time.

“We will not question yourdecision further,” Dugtrio said, “but know that you may fall back on us if thisfails.”

“WELL, I will!” Loudred announcedand was promptly shushed by the rest of the apprentices.

“Oh my gosh, do you want Chatot to come tell us off?”Sunflora said as she whacked him with one of her leaves. “Be quiet for once!”

“Fine!” Loudred said in whatcould barely be counted as an indoor voice. Breeze heard him stomp towards her,and kept her eyes focused on the orbs. “Vulpix, don’t do anything stupid.”

Breeze pawed categories of orbs alittle bit farther apart. “I won’t.”

“I mean it,” Loudred said, “Idon’t care if you think he’s cool,you get yourself or any of us killed we’re going to have a problem.”

Breeze licked her lips and didn’tlook up at him. “I won’t,” she repeated, “I know what I’m doing.”

“But that’s what we want toknow,” Chimecho pointed out, her voice gentle. “What is your plan? We know hewon’t remember you, and that you feel bad because of how much he’s missing, buthe nearly killed you both. Why are you putting so much faith in him?”

Dusk started to write somethingdown, but Corphish held up a claw to stop him.

“Hey-hey, no offense Riolu,” hesaid, “but I want to hear what Vulpix has to say about this. She’s been tooquiet.”

As an agreement rippled acrossthe guild, Breeze coaxed her orbs back towards her. “Uh,” she swallowed,“well…”

Breeze frowned. Why… why was she doing this? Yes, she felt badfor and identified with Grovyle, but she hadn’t been a bad person. She’d neverhurt anyone who hadn’t deserved it, and Grovyle had nearly destroyed the world.He’d tried to kill her, Dusk, Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf – everyone. What if she was looking at this all wrong? What if hestill remembered how much he wanted to hurt them, just not the why? What if she was being stupid, andputting so much trust in someone who was just going to hurt the guild?

“Come ON!” Loudred said, yellingright by her ear, “Spit it out!”

There was a muffled squawk beforea tremor knocked the apprentices off their feet.

.-.

Dusknoir sat on the edge of afrozen riverbank beside a man dressed in shades of gray. They had a pile ofrocks between them and sat in silence as they threw them into the river. Thesound of a splash was there, but the water didn’t move as it sucked the rocksdown. Dusknoir pulled out a rock, flat and circular with small protrusionsaround the edge, and handed it off to the human. Immediately after touching itthe human gasped and gripped his head. The rock fell from his hand and rolleddown the bank, bouncing twice before it finally settled in the shallows.Dusknoir stared at the man, and he stared back with blank, unseeing eyes.

Dusknoir blinked.

He was on a cliff face, a body infront of him and his hands stained a dark red. There was a loud, shrill noise.There had been for the past minute.

He turned around, and the imageof a small child with red-brown hair drifted away like smoke. The cliffblurred. The body faded.

He was in a blank but colourfulroom, and in front of him was an unfortunately familiar shadow form with a wispof white hair.

“Hello, Hope,” Darkrai said,absolutely smug, “are you having a nice nap?”

“Don’t call me that,” Dusknoirsnapped, immediately on guard. “What are you doing here?”

“What, you thought you were theonly one who followed those idiots when they fled back in time?” Darkrai said,“I knew you were dense, but I was hoping you weren’t stupid.” He sighed,overtly dramatic as Dusknoir scowled. “Of course that was too much to hope for.Tell me, what was your theory for why the brat doesn’t remember you anymore?The power of friendship between you and your minions?”

“You don’t need to act like achild,” Dusknoir growled, and continued to stare at Darkrai’s smug face. “You…did you do that to her?”

“If it’s any consolation, it wasa happy accident. I was aiming for the nuisance your friends have dumped in theother room – I planned on blasting him out of existence, but your little bratsaw me and took the hit.”

“She’s not mine,” Dusknoir corrected,“if you did this to her, why don’t you go finish the job?”

“What, and take all your glory? Please,” Darkrai grinned, “besides, Icould ask you the same thing. You’ve completed your mission. Why are you stillhere?”

Dusknoir narrowed his eye andspoke carefully. “There was an issue with creating the Dimensional Hole back.”

“Oh, why didn’t you say so?”Darkrai said, faux cheerful and still unbearably smug. He snapped his fingers,and the dream world shifted to hold a frozen Dimensional Hole. “I’ll just set thisdown right outside, and then you can finish your job.”

No! “That’s not necessary,” Dusknoir said quickly. “Besides,they’re both still far too entwined with the others in this time. I’ll needmore time to separate them so I can take them back without severely -”

“If you’re going to make excuses,at least put some effort into them.”

Dusknoir froze. Darkrai suddenlyseemed so much bigger than him. “E-excuse me?”

“I own dreams, you idiot. This is my realm.” He was barely the size ofDarkrai’s eye now. “I know you don’t want to leave. For all you try and protestyou want to stay here and enjoy this time before it’s gone, while still pretendingyou’re just doing your job. And who could blame you, especially with your history? I wonder what Dialga wouldthink of this after how much faith they put in you. I’m sure they’d be rathercross.”

“Don’t question my loyalties,”Dusknoir shouted back, and struggled to keep himself steady as Darkrai’s laughshook the dreamscape. “I’m just as loyal to Master Dialga as you are!”

The laugh grew louder. Thecolours got brighter, more saturated, and began to drip into each other.

“That’s not a very high bar,”Darkrai said. “Still, if you’re oh so convinced of your loyalties, then let memake the task simpler for you.” Dusknoir looked down and saw that his handwrapped around Chatot’s neck.

“Wait -” he couldn’t shout. Hisvoice wouldn’t get any louder than a whisper. The ground below him started toshake as the shadows morphed into Wigglytuff, and the colours dripped into thebackground of the Wigglytuff guild. Dusknoir tried to shout again, but no wordscame out.

“The Dimensional Hole will beatop Mt Bristle when you’re done,” Darkrai’s voice said, echoing fromeverywhere and nowhere at once. “Don’t take too long. Make sure you don’t needmy help again.”

A variety of faceless shadows ranin from down the hall, led by that same little girl with red-brown hair.

Dusknoir jolted, free from thenightmare. Breanna, who’d led the charge of apprentices through the guild’sshaking halls, was a vulpix again.

Dusknoir dropped Chatot and backedup as quickly as he could. The guild stopped shaking as Dusknoir raised hishands, and everyone ran over to help Chatot up. He had tiny flakes of ice inhis feathers, and Dusknoir glanced down at his hands in horror. There was norecovery from this. He would be run out – he needed to grab the two he had comefor and be done with it. He had no time to waste.

“I’m alright,” Chatot wheezed,and looked over at Dusknoir, halfway across the room. “Dusknoir, sir?”Wigglytuff grabbed Chatot and held him tight as the rest of the guild movedcloser. “Are you okay?”

Dusknoir swallowed and glanceddown at his hands. He scrambled to find the words, but his tongue was stillfrozen. He couldn’t think of what to say.

He looked up, at Chatot at first,then past him at Breanna’s horrified look. Then past her, at the green form inthe doorway he was supposed to be guarding.

Grovyle met his eyes before he ducked back, andDusknoir was confident he’d seen the whole thing.

[ao3feed-destiel]

A Plague of Fiery Hail: The Light That Burns The Sky

Read it on AO3 here!https://ift.tt/2Mt5XXt

by 48eyesand32teeth1sharptongue

John Winchester wants his sons to follow in his footsteps: hunting down Team Hell and Ghost and Dark Pokemon that have gone rogue after the tragic murder of his wife. Dean Winchester wants to be the very best, 'like no one ever was,' and to challenge the Elite Four in a triple battle with his rival and his younger brother, Sam. Castiel wants to keep Dean out of trouble, to find Arceus, and to complete the Pokedex, although not necessarily in that order.

Sam just wants to be a normal Pokemon archaeologist, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, Team Apocalypse has other plans. So does Lucifer. And after Sam's fellow intern Jess burns on the ceiling of his apartment, nothing is the same.

Words: 904, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 3 of Antifreeze

Fandoms: Supernatural, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M

Characters: Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Lucifer (Supernatural), Castiel (Supernatural), Jack Kline, Everyone again basically, Rowena MacLeod, Azazel (Supernatural), Lilith (Supernatural), Meg Masters, John Winchester, Bobby Singer, Jody Mills, Donna Hascum, Michael (Supernatural), Gabriel (Supernatural), are even more plot-relevant this time around, Chuck Shurley, Also Pokemon - Character, Also Inanimate Objects in SPN are Pokemon now

Relationships: Lucifer/Sam Winchester, Castiel/Dean Winchester, the same side pairings as the rest of this series

Additional Tags: Crack Treated Seriously, This Got Darker Than Expected, Same Warnings as ALPAS, the Pokémon AU no one asked for, Follows the first two parts as an aside due to time loops and dimension hopping, FTM Sam Winchester, Squick, Yu-Gi-Oh elements are kind of a plot point, Reincarnation, Resurrections, Alternate Universe, explicit everything, So much death, Pre-Season/Series 13, Post-Season/Series 13, Season 13 spoilers, Also all the Pokemon Spoilers, Follows the plot of SPN, Comes After ALPAS, But before the end of Stranger and Stranger, Torture, Possession, mutations, Genetic Engineering, Probably only implied noncon in this one but who knows, Every PMD is relevant, You do not need to read anything else in this series to know what is going on, Pretty canon compliant and the parts that aren't are all the deviations from ALPAS

Link: https://ift.tt/2Mt5XXt

[ao3feed-castiel]

A Plague of Fiery Hail: The Light That Burns The Sky

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Mt5XXt

by 48eyesand32teeth1sharptongue

John Winchester wants his sons to follow in his footsteps: hunting down Team Hell and Ghost and Dark Pokemon that have gone rogue after the tragic murder of his wife. Dean Winchester wants to be the very best, 'like no one ever was,' and to challenge the Elite Four in a triple battle with his rival and his younger brother, Sam. Castiel wants to keep Dean out of trouble, to find Arceus, and to complete the Pokedex, although not necessarily in that order.

Sam just wants to be a normal Pokemon archaeologist, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, Team Apocalypse has other plans. So does Lucifer. And after Sam's fellow intern Jess burns on the ceiling of his apartment, nothing is the same.

Words: 902, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 3 of Antifreeze

Fandoms: Supernatural, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M

Characters: Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Lucifer (Supernatural), Castiel (Supernatural), Jack Kline, Everyone again basically, Rowena MacLeod, Azazel (Supernatural), Lilith (Supernatural), Meg Masters, John Winchester, Bobby Singer, Jody Mills, Donna Hascum, Michael (Supernatural), Gabriel (Supernatural), are even more plot-relevant this time around, Chuck Shurley, Also Pokemon - Character, Also Inanimate Objects in SPN are Pokemon now

Relationships: Lucifer/Sam Winchester, Castiel/Dean Winchester, the same side pairings as the rest of this series

Additional Tags: Crack Treated Seriously, This Got Darker Than Expected, Same Warnings as ALPAS, the Pokémon AU no one asked for, Follows the first two parts as an aside due to time loops and dimension hopping, FTM Sam Winchester, Squick, Yu-Gi-Oh elements are kind of a plot point, Reincarnation, Resurrections, Alternate Universe, explicit everything, So much death, Pre-Season/Series 13, Post-Season/Series 13, Season 13 spoilers, Also all the Pokemon Spoilers, Follows the plot of SPN, Comes After ALPAS, But before the end of Stranger and Stranger, Torture, Possession, mutations, Genetic Engineering, Probably only implied noncon in this one but who knows, Every PMD is relevant, You do not need to read anything else in this series to know what is going on, Pretty canon compliant and the parts that aren't are all the deviations from ALPAS

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Mt5XXt

[ravenwolfie97]

alright, first things first, i gotta introduce you to my three brand new rescue teams!

Red Team Gooseberry: Duck the Psyduck & Chikorita (no name) Blue Team Fireflower: Leif the Bulbasaur & Cinder the Cyndaquil DX Team Epoch Spark: Tori the Torchic & Sparky the Pikachu

all of the teams ended up having some kind of interesting thing to them for Gooseberry, i don't think i've ever played as a Psyduck before and i neglected to give Chikorita a nickname for Fireflower, i chose Cyndaquil over Torchic as my partner here because i love both Bulbasaur and Cyndaquil a lot as starters and thought it would be nice to have my two faves together and for Epoch Spark, funny enough, from the quiz I actually got Psyduck again, but since this is a newer PMD game I had the option to freely choose as well. and after much deliberation, i decided on Torchic and thought it would be kind of funny to have my partner be a Pikachu - i purposefully chose her species, gender, and name because my very first PMD team had the protagonist as a girl Pikachu. and choosing Torchic was not just a gut decision, but also to 1. round out the protagonists' types and 2. to reference the human-turned-pokemon in the PMD manga Ginji's Rescue Team which i love and cherish dearly

anyway, i started by going through the first dungeon of the game and getting our rescue team formed, and here are some of the things i noticed between the old and the new:

first, i should mention the quiz, or more specifically the pokemon selection screens. i do find it very funny that all the pokemon are just jimmying around wildly, but it also was. just a lot of sensory input. i will give it credit where it's due - it is a lot more interesting than just selecting from a list! but i do feel like Gates and Super had it better with a literal rotating cast rather than a chaotic cloud of bustling lil guys

what i thought was interesting out the gate was the fact that barely any of the text in-game is altered. it's the exact same dialogue for most of the time, with the exception of a few additional scenes not present in the old games, like a partially verbalized tutorial and when you put on the scarves as a uniform for the rescue team - which, by the way, was super cute

speaking of text, i don't know what exactly my reasoning is for being against it, but i find the little speech bubbles in dungeons to be really annoying. it's a fun idea conceptually to have more of an inner monologue as you roam around and fight and stuff, but having something to say every time you fight or get attacked is just… too much. i didn't see an option to turn them off but i kind of hope there is one and i just didn't see it

there is a pretty steep mechanical difference between the two that is very evident when playing them side-by-side. DX is mechanically very similar to Super, and given that i haven't touched Super in a few years it took me a while to remember that this wasn't completely novel and in fact something i had to get used to before. and also while i knew the movesets got more beefy and diverse as time went on in the franchise, i forgot just how robust the movesets you get out the gate are nowadays. back in the day, Pikachu knew exactly what it would in the main series games at Lv. 5: Thunder Shock, Growl, and Tail Whip. but now, in DX, my Pikachu knows Fake Out, Electro Ball, Grass Knot, and Iron Tail! like that's insanity!! and you can't even use a basic A-button attack anymore, but that's one of the things you're immediately taught in Blue/Red! it's gonna be a weird thing to juggle back and forth, i think

i noticed there was a "Random" button when making the rescue team name, and i absolutely love it. i only went through a handful of choices but they were all really good and fun and some in particular were very silly. it was very charming i will say, though - the default was "Efficiency" and it was so incredibly close to my first team's name "Electricy" (bc Electricity was too long to fit) and it really threw me hkjjk

after listening to all three iterations of that handful of sound tracks at the beginning, especially for Tiny Woods, i still feel like DX missed the mark somewhat. i will say that the version heard in Red was closer, but it's still very well mixed in Blue. DX just has issues with the relationships between timbres and between instruments' dynamics, as i've heard in a couple of its other OST remakes. it's not as offensive in person, but it's still a bit too over the top

one of the reasons i hesitated so much on getting DX was because of the aesthetics. it's radically different from any previous PMD game, and evokes kind of a storybook feeling. playing it for myself now, as far as i've gotten, i'm not the most into it, but i do appreciate it. i think my main issue is that it feels kind of unpolished and also quite cramped. the 3d renditions of 2d spaces just feels very small, and the 3d games before this didn't have that issue at all, so i feel like it's either to do with the dev team being different than previous installations, or more than likely it's just because they're struggling to adapt something from the past rather than coming up with environments and scenarios wholecloth

i do find it kind of incredible and amusing seeing the progression of how games have changed in the last 15 years, like seeing a language select at the top of Rescue Team DX, and the fact that it autosaves so it doesn't need to include the tutorial scene in the original that teaches you to go to bed to save. i just think that's really neat :3

i think that's it concerning the first impressions. overall, i'm actually most fascinated by what hasn't changed than what has. i would have expected an updated dialogue beyond adding scenes for the more modern demographic of PMD players instead of what is essentially a copy-paste from the original games. and i know it is copy-paste because i Just read it twice over in both Red and Blue just before booting up the new game! idk if that's a bad thing, but it's strange to me that it is so unaltered. i dunno, my feelings so far are mixed, but i've only just gotten started, so we'll see what comes next!

[ravenwolfie97]

it's time to discover more new things is pmd rescue team DX

it came up before with butterfree but i neglected to mention it; the rewards you get from mandatory rescue missions are very different from the original games. they give you more money and more immediately useful items. i think that's kinda neat

i harped on the arrangement of Tiny Woods before, but the remakes of Thunderwave Cave and Pokemon Square are really good! i like em :3

i went to Felicity Bank (why it's still called that instead of like. Persian Bank or something idk) and deposited my money, and i was surprised when i got a daily present! that's really nice, only unexpected cuz i don't think that had been a thing in any previous game, and more unexpected from the bank rather than the Kecleon Shop or something

the blurbs with every attack in dungeons is still really annoying. and it seems unnecessary with the activity log right there too. which, by the way, is in such a weird place - it's like bunched up in the corner of the screen where you can hardly see it. i would say either have the log on-screen front and center where you can see it or have it be an optional thing running in the background that you can check later. having both is really strange to me

i do really like the new level-up screen where you can see all the stat increases at once. the little fanfare at the beginning is cute too

random pleasant surprise: wonder tiles don't say anything if you step on them without any status changes. nice bit of QoL adjustment there

oh, something i didn't think about until now, the physical/special split isn't present in the original games because they're from gen 3 before that was a thing, and in DX it's explicit whether a move is physical or special exclusive from their type. that's cool

also, the addition of making it apparent whether or not your teammates can use a TM before buying it is super useful!

it is really nice, especially after just mentioning this to someone else as well, that in DX you just have to accept the jobs off the bulletin board, whereas in the original games you have to take them And Then open the ones you want to do before leaving. i'm pretty sure they fixed that in earlier games too, but feeling it side-by-side it does make a huge difference

it's also really nice and funny that DX actually sets up diglett and dugtrio's deal more by first introducing diglett as a little mischief maker who also (conveniently) made a tunnel from our base directly to the pelipper post office, instead of requiring you to go all the way across Pokemon Square to get there. another good QoL thing :3

it's been a long time since the last update (most of this was written months ago) and it's so interesting seeing just how different the dungeon experience between the original games and DX - you just have so much more information available now, and the control scheme feels completely different. i know super was similar, but i literally hadn't played that game since it came out nearly a decade ago, so... damn anyway i'll post again if there's any more things to discover between mt. steel and sinister woods

[ravenwolfie97]

okay i'm doing something kind of silly and fun but also a bit ambitious

i got it in my head today to finally get Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, but i also wanted to play the original Rescue Team games since i grew up with Blue and i also have Red

so i originally intended to just buy DX and go through a new save of Blue and use Red as a backup in case i fail a dungeon and need to save myself

however, what i thought would be more fun and interesting is to play both the original Rescue Team and the new one at the same pace and compare them along the way! so that's what i have done

i will be liveblogging it under the tag "#pmd triple team time" starting now :3

[ravenwolfie97]

additional thoughts i hadn't mentioned before because i was so tired:

- another thing that is really a sign of times changing is that, for the last question of the quiz, instead of asking if you were a boy or girl, DX asks if you want to play as a boy or girl. and i thought that was pretty cool

- i know it's in Super first but i Really hate that you push your teammates by default and you have to press a button to move past them. i see very little use for pushing them unless you want to use them as a meat shield

- speaking of your teammates, i did get quite used to them just following behind by default instead of auto-going after items and enemies. i think that i could change the IQ traits for that but i hadn't found it yet

okay i can't think of anymore now i will continue through things and update after thunderwave cave

alright, first things first, i gotta introduce you to my three brand new rescue teams!

Red Team Gooseberry: Duck the Psyduck & Chikorita (no name) Blue Team Fireflower: Leif the Bulbasaur & Cinder the Cyndaquil DX Team Epoch Spark: Tori the Torchic & Sparky the Pikachu

all of the teams ended up having some kind of interesting thing to them for Gooseberry, i don't think i've ever played as a Psyduck before and i neglected to give Chikorita a nickname for Fireflower, i chose Cyndaquil over Torchic as my partner here because i love both Bulbasaur and Cyndaquil a lot as starters and thought it would be nice to have my two faves together and for Epoch Spark, funny enough, from the quiz I actually got Psyduck again, but since this is a newer PMD game I had the option to freely choose as well. and after much deliberation, i decided on Torchic and thought it would be kind of funny to have my partner be a Pikachu - i purposefully chose her species, gender, and name because my very first PMD team had the protagonist as a girl Pikachu. and choosing Torchic was not just a gut decision, but also to 1. round out the protagonists' types and 2. to reference the human-turned-pokemon in the PMD manga Ginji's Rescue Team which i love and cherish dearly

anyway, i started by going through the first dungeon of the game and getting our rescue team formed, and here are some of the things i noticed between the old and the new:

first, i should mention the quiz, or more specifically the pokemon selection screens. i do find it very funny that all the pokemon are just jimmying around wildly, but it also was. just a lot of sensory input. i will give it credit where it's due - it is a lot more interesting than just selecting from a list! but i do feel like Gates and Super had it better with a literal rotating cast rather than a chaotic cloud of bustling lil guys

what i thought was interesting out the gate was the fact that barely any of the text in-game is altered. it's the exact same dialogue for most of the time, with the exception of a few additional scenes not present in the old games, like a partially verbalized tutorial and when you put on the scarves as a uniform for the rescue team - which, by the way, was super cute

speaking of text, i don't know what exactly my reasoning is for being against it, but i find the little speech bubbles in dungeons to be really annoying. it's a fun idea conceptually to have more of an inner monologue as you roam around and fight and stuff, but having something to say every time you fight or get attacked is just… too much. i didn't see an option to turn them off but i kind of hope there is one and i just didn't see it

there is a pretty steep mechanical difference between the two that is very evident when playing them side-by-side. DX is mechanically very similar to Super, and given that i haven't touched Super in a few years it took me a while to remember that this wasn't completely novel and in fact something i had to get used to before. and also while i knew the movesets got more beefy and diverse as time went on in the franchise, i forgot just how robust the movesets you get out the gate are nowadays. back in the day, Pikachu knew exactly what it would in the main series games at Lv. 5: Thunder Shock, Growl, and Tail Whip. but now, in DX, my Pikachu knows Fake Out, Electro Ball, Grass Knot, and Iron Tail! like that's insanity!! and you can't even use a basic A-button attack anymore, but that's one of the things you're immediately taught in Blue/Red! it's gonna be a weird thing to juggle back and forth, i think

i noticed there was a "Random" button when making the rescue team name, and i absolutely love it. i only went through a handful of choices but they were all really good and fun and some in particular were very silly. it was very charming i will say, though - the default was "Efficiency" and it was so incredibly close to my first team's name "Electricy" (bc Electricity was too long to fit) and it really threw me hkjjk

after listening to all three iterations of that handful of sound tracks at the beginning, especially for Tiny Woods, i still feel like DX missed the mark somewhat. i will say that the version heard in Red was closer, but it's still very well mixed in Blue. DX just has issues with the relationships between timbres and between instruments' dynamics, as i've heard in a couple of its other OST remakes. it's not as offensive in person, but it's still a bit too over the top

one of the reasons i hesitated so much on getting DX was because of the aesthetics. it's radically different from any previous PMD game, and evokes kind of a storybook feeling. playing it for myself now, as far as i've gotten, i'm not the most into it, but i do appreciate it. i think my main issue is that it feels kind of unpolished and also quite cramped. the 3d renditions of 2d spaces just feels very small, and the 3d games before this didn't have that issue at all, so i feel like it's either to do with the dev team being different than previous installations, or more than likely it's just because they're struggling to adapt something from the past rather than coming up with environments and scenarios wholecloth

i do find it kind of incredible and amusing seeing the progression of how games have changed in the last 15 years, like seeing a language select at the top of Rescue Team DX, and the fact that it autosaves so it doesn't need to include the tutorial scene in the original that teaches you to go to bed to save. i just think that's really neat :3

i think that's it concerning the first impressions. overall, i'm actually most fascinated by what hasn't changed than what has. i would have expected an updated dialogue beyond adding scenes for the more modern demographic of PMD players instead of what is essentially a copy-paste from the original games. and i know it is copy-paste because i Just read it twice over in both Red and Blue just before booting up the new game! idk if that's a bad thing, but it's strange to me that it is so unaltered. i dunno, my feelings so far are mixed, but i've only just gotten started, so we'll see what comes next!

[ravenwolfie97]

addendum that i meant to add as well:

i was torn about choosing one of the weird pokemon as the protagonist (eevee, skitty, meowth, psyduck, machop, and cubone) since in the original games you couldn't choose them as a partner. so i was pleasantly surprised when you had the option in DX! that was a really cool addition :3

alright, first things first, i gotta introduce you to my three brand new rescue teams!

Red Team Gooseberry: Duck the Psyduck & Chikorita (no name) Blue Team Fireflower: Leif the Bulbasaur & Cinder the Cyndaquil DX Team Epoch Spark: Tori the Torchic & Sparky the Pikachu

all of the teams ended up having some kind of interesting thing to them for Gooseberry, i don't think i've ever played as a Psyduck before and i neglected to give Chikorita a nickname for Fireflower, i chose Cyndaquil over Torchic as my partner here because i love both Bulbasaur and Cyndaquil a lot as starters and thought it would be nice to have my two faves together and for Epoch Spark, funny enough, from the quiz I actually got Psyduck again, but since this is a newer PMD game I had the option to freely choose as well. and after much deliberation, i decided on Torchic and thought it would be kind of funny to have my partner be a Pikachu - i purposefully chose her species, gender, and name because my very first PMD team had the protagonist as a girl Pikachu. and choosing Torchic was not just a gut decision, but also to 1. round out the protagonists' types and 2. to reference the human-turned-pokemon in the PMD manga Ginji's Rescue Team which i love and cherish dearly

anyway, i started by going through the first dungeon of the game and getting our rescue team formed, and here are some of the things i noticed between the old and the new:

first, i should mention the quiz, or more specifically the pokemon selection screens. i do find it very funny that all the pokemon are just jimmying around wildly, but it also was. just a lot of sensory input. i will give it credit where it's due - it is a lot more interesting than just selecting from a list! but i do feel like Gates and Super had it better with a literal rotating cast rather than a chaotic cloud of bustling lil guys

what i thought was interesting out the gate was the fact that barely any of the text in-game is altered. it's the exact same dialogue for most of the time, with the exception of a few additional scenes not present in the old games, like a partially verbalized tutorial and when you put on the scarves as a uniform for the rescue team - which, by the way, was super cute

speaking of text, i don't know what exactly my reasoning is for being against it, but i find the little speech bubbles in dungeons to be really annoying. it's a fun idea conceptually to have more of an inner monologue as you roam around and fight and stuff, but having something to say every time you fight or get attacked is just… too much. i didn't see an option to turn them off but i kind of hope there is one and i just didn't see it

there is a pretty steep mechanical difference between the two that is very evident when playing them side-by-side. DX is mechanically very similar to Super, and given that i haven't touched Super in a few years it took me a while to remember that this wasn't completely novel and in fact something i had to get used to before. and also while i knew the movesets got more beefy and diverse as time went on in the franchise, i forgot just how robust the movesets you get out the gate are nowadays. back in the day, Pikachu knew exactly what it would in the main series games at Lv. 5: Thunder Shock, Growl, and Tail Whip. but now, in DX, my Pikachu knows Fake Out, Electro Ball, Grass Knot, and Iron Tail! like that's insanity!! and you can't even use a basic A-button attack anymore, but that's one of the things you're immediately taught in Blue/Red! it's gonna be a weird thing to juggle back and forth, i think

i noticed there was a "Random" button when making the rescue team name, and i absolutely love it. i only went through a handful of choices but they were all really good and fun and some in particular were very silly. it was very charming i will say, though - the default was "Efficiency" and it was so incredibly close to my first team's name "Electricy" (bc Electricity was too long to fit) and it really threw me hkjjk

after listening to all three iterations of that handful of sound tracks at the beginning, especially for Tiny Woods, i still feel like DX missed the mark somewhat. i will say that the version heard in Red was closer, but it's still very well mixed in Blue. DX just has issues with the relationships between timbres and between instruments' dynamics, as i've heard in a couple of its other OST remakes. it's not as offensive in person, but it's still a bit too over the top

one of the reasons i hesitated so much on getting DX was because of the aesthetics. it's radically different from any previous PMD game, and evokes kind of a storybook feeling. playing it for myself now, as far as i've gotten, i'm not the most into it, but i do appreciate it. i think my main issue is that it feels kind of unpolished and also quite cramped. the 3d renditions of 2d spaces just feels very small, and the 3d games before this didn't have that issue at all, so i feel like it's either to do with the dev team being different than previous installations, or more than likely it's just because they're struggling to adapt something from the past rather than coming up with environments and scenarios wholecloth

i do find it kind of incredible and amusing seeing the progression of how games have changed in the last 15 years, like seeing a language select at the top of Rescue Team DX, and the fact that it autosaves so it doesn't need to include the tutorial scene in the original that teaches you to go to bed to save. i just think that's really neat :3

i think that's it concerning the first impressions. overall, i'm actually most fascinated by what hasn't changed than what has. i would have expected an updated dialogue beyond adding scenes for the more modern demographic of PMD players instead of what is essentially a copy-paste from the original games. and i know it is copy-paste because i Just read it twice over in both Red and Blue just before booting up the new game! idk if that's a bad thing, but it's strange to me that it is so unaltered. i dunno, my feelings so far are mixed, but i've only just gotten started, so we'll see what comes next!