Hot take: This game is absolutely overhyped. Let me explain.
A common point that is brought up as to why this game is so great is the writing and characters, specifically N the primary antagonist. N has to be the textbook definition of "manipulated by the true mastermind" trope to an extreme fault. If you can't see the fact that Team Plasma was liberating pokemon to control everyone like they were controlling N from the start you miss the main gripe I have with the story. Even with each Team Plasma rally, the crowd clearly writes off Team Plasma as zealots. In what world would Ghetsis' plan actually succeeded? Who's to say that the pokemon, once liberated would just stay with their trainers, OR just allow the trainers to capture them again? Lysandre of Team Flare had a better plan, and an actual weapon to back up his claims even. Beyond flawed logic.
I also felt that the difficulty, another point brought up about this game being good, was another part of this game that fell flat for me. Gym leaders either stat checked you until your party was at a specific level (again, I will defend Gen 6 and onward's EXP share forever), or were a cakewalk once you were above that level cap. There ALSO were instances where the game's damage calculation visibly cheats to allow the ai script to heal their pokemon to drag the battle out. I know for a fact petal dance does 4x damage to Carracosta and I quiver danced to raise Spec Attack; ain't no way it only did 20 damage Ghetsis.
About the only good parts of this game were the art and music, which is probably the main reason the pokemon fandom looks at this game with such intense rose tinted glasses. They stretched the limit of what they were able to do with 2D sprites and it payed off well, it still holds up today.
I likely will, just like I did in High School when I played it before, set the game aside for a while. I didn't care for this one when it came out at all, but I at least can appreciate it ever so slightly more now.
A common point that is brought up as to why this game is so great is the writing and characters, specifically N the primary antagonist. N has to be the textbook definition of "manipulated by the true mastermind" trope to an extreme fault. If you can't see the fact that Team Plasma was liberating pokemon to control everyone like they were controlling N from the start you miss the main gripe I have with the story. Even with each Team Plasma rally, the crowd clearly writes off Team Plasma as zealots. In what world would Ghetsis' plan actually succeeded? Who's to say that the pokemon, once liberated would just stay with their trainers, OR just allow the trainers to capture them again? Lysandre of Team Flare had a better plan, and an actual weapon to back up his claims even. Beyond flawed logic.
I also felt that the difficulty, another point brought up about this game being good, was another part of this game that fell flat for me. Gym leaders either stat checked you until your party was at a specific level (again, I will defend Gen 6 and onward's EXP share forever), or were a cakewalk once you were above that level cap. There ALSO were instances where the game's damage calculation visibly cheats to allow the ai script to heal their pokemon to drag the battle out. I know for a fact petal dance does 4x damage to Carracosta and I quiver danced to raise Spec Attack; ain't no way it only did 20 damage Ghetsis.
About the only good parts of this game were the art and music, which is probably the main reason the pokemon fandom looks at this game with such intense rose tinted glasses. They stretched the limit of what they were able to do with 2D sprites and it payed off well, it still holds up today.
I likely will, just like I did in High School when I played it before, set the game aside for a while. I didn't care for this one when it came out at all, but I at least can appreciate it ever so slightly more now.
stovetop
5 months ago