Glitch City Laboratories Archives

Seriously, aren't there like 500 goddamn Pok?mon now? That's totally unacceptable. Jesus christ.

Though I'm wondering why they keep renaming all of the TMs… makes s**t hard to remember.

What I liked includes the ability to actually run

I actually have to agree with you on this one. To me, it looks like Game Freak's working more on adding gimmicks to the Pokemon games than trying to create something new and interesting, that as you already pointed out, made it different than every other RPG game when it first came out. They seem to have completely run out of creativity with the newer games; something I noticed around the 3rd generation. While the first generation had a unique antagonistic team whose goals to merely use Pokemon to make money were very realistic in the setting, and you found them as a believable foe. This idea, along with naming every evil organization "Team Something" in each game, has transformed into a group of people with uniform haircuts who wants to take over some dimension or something. Once I saw that they had put spikes on the sides of their "secret headquarters", I stopped paying any attention to them.

The creative ideas for the Pokemon themselves has definately gotten worse too, and I don't think any of these new 4th generation Pokemon are as cool as the 1st generation. It's not that D/P are bad games in themselves, it just looks more like Game Freak has made so much money off the franchise they're not trying to update the style of gameplay from generation to generation, and things have started to get repetitive.

I haven't played Platinum, so perhaps they've improved on a few things, though I admit I'm tired of seeing seperate "Pokemon Formes" as an excuse to create new, original Pokemon. It just seems lazy, and I'd rather see them add more regular Pokemon than legendaries which can't be used competitively.

I've been active on competitive D/P sites since the game out (before I bought it). The metagame is destroyed. Garchomp is broken. Platinum is going to screw things over even more with Bullet Punch-Scizor and DD-Outrage Salamence.

The GTS was a good idea, but it could have been implemented much better.

I found Pokemon DP boring as well, because all it really was is "Get eight badges and go beat the Elite Four" reused again and again, with some gimmicks put in.

In my opinion, what made Pokemon GSC really good was that its story had a lot of depth, and its characters had depth as well. Pokemon DP is only ankle-deep when it comes to that, especially with old cliches that seem to have come from other people's ideas.

That, and the English version of Pokemon DP is a bad translation.

People might say that Pokemon was never about story, but every RPG needs a very good story. Then you can push away the story later on at the end of the game and do your battles if you want.

(Though I find just battling for the sake of it kinda boring.)

I have to agree. I found Pearl boring. The idea of the games are starting to get old, and the pokemon themselves are just not like what they used to be. I found that pokemon of the 4th generation are similar to neopets, or, what I mean, are becoming similar.

Ummm….. yeah, other than this I got bored with the game (mainly because i played through the game mostly with an Action Replay DS and a Walk anywhere codes because I was too lazy to play through the game normally and wanted to be able to catch God/Arceus. After I got Arceus to level 100 I stopped playing.

Gameplay in the original GB games is more fun, mainly because of originality. And generation 2 combined the map from generation 1, which we have not seen since then.

VS seeker sucks

or decided that useless attacks like Roar were actually going to be used.

I don't actually own this game, but a friend of mine recently got it and I dicked around a bit. First off, while the melodies themselves may not be so bad overall, the music sounds absolutely horrible. This is a trend I expected to continue since the GBA series were released, but not nearly to such a ridiculous extent. Games such as Sonic Rush have proven that fantastic sound on the DS is more than possible–what's the deal here?
Personally, I don't think the music is bad, but it's simply a matter of taste. I can see that it has evolved a lot since G/S/C, and since you are very used to that I suppose I can understand your point. I have few DS games, so I am not good at comparing the quality and such to that of others.

The graphics themselves are rather interesting. I like the whole 3D-esque take they took on rendering the environments, but for some reason the rich graphics don't feel… right. I haven't enjoyed a Pok?mon game since Crystal, and I think all of the overcomplicated graphical effects and "improved" music have a lot to do with that. It feels like the games have lost the simplistic, appealing charm that used to make them great. And seriously, when's the last time you heard music as utterly badass as that featured in G/S/C? s**t is bumpin'.
Since when has Pok?mon been simple? The basics of the game were set in Red/Blue, and those have only been gradually added onto since. The graphics back then may have been slightly less detailed, but that was acceptable back then. Just like in the Mario series, they can't keep everything to the standards of many years ago. Part of the reason for the new kind of graphics is that they simply want to make more use of the DS's capabilities, like you claimed they had not done with regards to the music. These kind of graphics could not have easily been rendered on the GBA, and IMO they still keep the general "feel" they've had since R/B.

What I liked includes the ability to actually run, the convenience of the bottom screen in regards to organization, and the new advanced Pok?dex. What I don't like–or understand, for that matter–is why the item menu wasn't manipulatable on the bottom screen. I'm also kind of flabbergasted by how many different "pockets" are present for items, which makes me question if there's such a concept of over-organization. While I didn't delve too deep into what types of new items existed, I at least found that some of the bock-standard, expected items still existed. Though I'm wondering why they keep renaming all of the TMs… makes s**t hard to remember.
Have to agree with you here, although they did not rename any TMs.

One thing that really appalled me, though, was the sheer mass of Pok?mon that I've missed out on. I recognize the first, and second generations down to every individual Pok?mon, and I recognize small portions of the 3rd generation, but generation 4 is totally beyond me. I found myself embarrassed looking at some of these totally uninspired designs and equally ridiculous names (and attempts at puns). Does each game in the series really need to shell out an additional 100-150 Pok?mon designs? Is this really the only way the series can experience some sort of progression? The concept of "gotta catch them all" is becoming an increasingly testing, obscene, and unrealistic goal. Seriously, aren't there like 500 goddamn Pok?mon now? That's totally unacceptable. Jesus christ.
Personally, I think that 151 is kind of a lot. It is simply Pok?mon tradition to add 100 or so new Pok?mon each time, though I agree that a few were rather embarrassing this time. Not everybody tries to "catch 'em all", and this was actually not a main goal in Diamond and Pearl, as one only needed to see Pok?mon in order for them to add to the "Pok?dex" number.

I once found myself excited for this game solely because of the concept of online battling–something that I've been waiting literally years for–but am slowly being deterred further and further from wanting to try it out. I collected all 151 original Pok?mon, and I even obtained a good portion of the second generation, but I can't see myself being arsed in the slightest to try and get 500 of them. f**k that.

Why can't we just go retrograde and make another Game Boy game? :(

Also I agree that 4th gen music sucks. Go listen to the music in the Dragon's Den on G/S/C. That is the most creepiest, most awesome, 8-bit theme ever.

The reason why the music is so Shitty in the GBA and DS games is that they are using the MIDI music format. Interestingly enough the MIDIs are actually interchangeable between Generation III and IV games.