• An Exhaustive Look at Pokemon Ruby
    38 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Rocâ„¢;52944951]I wish he had went more into detail about the Sea Mauville story because of how dark it can get, but I guess he didn't want to spoil it?[/QUOTE] If I made a seven hour analysis of a video game I wouldn't be the least bit worried about spoiling something.
why not just make this a 7 episode series?
[QUOTE=meppers;52945015]why not just make this a 7 episode series?[/QUOTE] To play Devil's Advocate, why not just watch it in seven different viewing sessions?
Pfft, this is baby-tier game analysis. All you guys come back and talk to me after you've finished [URL="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HZNS6JW"]this [B]769-page book[/B] analyzing Wario Land 4[/URL].
[QUOTE=Shugo;52945247]Pfft, this is baby-tier game analysis. All you guys come back and talk to me after you've finished [URL="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HZNS6JW"]this [B]769-page book[/B] analyzing Wario Land 4[/URL].[/QUOTE] I have no idea why but I really want some simmer fried beef on a bed of rice now...
Are we posting overly long analyses here? Okay, for all Danganronpa fans (SPOILERS): [url]https://www.docdroid.net/MOegcSt/sayaka-maizono-the-thesis.docx[/url] [sp] Let me remind you that this is a character who dies in the first case of the first game. [/sp]
[QUOTE=Shugo;52945247]Pfft, this is baby-tier game analysis. All you guys come back and talk to me after you've finished [URL="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HZNS6JW"]this [B]769-page book[/B] analyzing Wario Land 4[/URL].[/QUOTE] i read that long before watching this entire video. i love game analysis. come at me
So I just finished this (across two and a half sittings, because seven hours seriously :why:), and I have to say... in hindsight that was probably one of the best investments of time I have [I]consciously[/I] made so far. (Note: I really want to get into game design, specifically RPG design, and I've played only the original Ruby edition instead of Omega Ruby, so this may have been somewhat extra-interesting to me.) I agree with him on a lot, but also disagree with him on a few things. The difficulty curve for example needs a lot of fixing, but I'm not sure just changing the way EXP are given out is a good idea [I]by itself[/I]. In Sun and Moon (original), [sp]the experience given scales [I]massively[/I] with the level difference between you and your opponent. It to [I]some[/I] extent fixes the main game's difficulty, but really hurts the end game because there are not enough sources of high-level Pokémon you can train against. And you need to get your Pokémon to level 100 to use IV training on them, which does help with the IV issue [I]mostly[/I] but is an absolutely [I]insane[/I] grind to achieve.[/sp] Fortunately, the newer games give you [sp]rental teams shareable via QR code[/sp] (Is this actually a spoiler?) to use in most of the competitive modes. [I]Unfortunately[/I], there is no quick way to make these either and I'm pretty sure the data is [I]encrypted and/or signed asymmetrically using Game Freak servers to make it near-impossible to make custom ones quickly[/I]. Yeah. I mean for fuck's sake, those things are almost a perfect solution to the competitive Pokémon issue. Just let people go wild with these codes, [I]verify them properly[/I] (This is not trivial due to available Pokémon team complexity but it's not actually hard to pull off either, just semi-tedious to set up once.) and give each of the competitive modes an option that says [sp]'no rentals'[/sp] and you're [I]done[/I]. For good measure you could even throw in a [sp]rental team building[/sp] simulator in-game that lets you use everything but shinies for example. This would [I]obliterate[/I] the hacking incentive for competitive players. The [sp]resort island[/sp] in Sun/Moon alleviates some of these problems regarding your normal (non-[sp]rental[/sp]) Pokémon, but while the [sp]berry fields and mine[/sp] seem like relatively decently balanced shortcuts, the [sp]training island[/sp] is far too slow and the [sp]island where you get fuel for your Pokémons' caffeine addiction[/sp] gives you so many resources once upgraded that it seems completely overpowered. The [sp]rainbow beans[/sp] are borderline cheat items since with them you can max out [sp]PokéPause affection almost instantly. For whatever reason, this is also seems to be a different stat from the friendship necessary to evolve certain Pokémon, which is incredibly unclear in-game (or at least I was unable to evolve Golbat into Crobat that way).[/sp] It doesn't help that these things all work in real-time only (though there's a bug that actually lets you skip that, which is a bit of a mess). It's fine to encourage players to step away from the game for a while, but this is just tedious. [sp]Pofflés and Poké bean flavour[/sp] seems to have zero effect, unlike [sp]berry and Pokéblock flavour[/sp]. This seems like a serious oversight or missed opportunity. [I]Maybe[/I] it was scrapped for a reason, but I think it would be much more interesting to let you figure out [sp]what your Pokémon likes[/sp] using a very cheap and mostly inconsequential resource like that instead of just telling you on the status screen. I agree that the games could also be a little more courageous about letting the players go out and choose where they go next. The issue with the legendaries is actually a pretty good related problem, since you [sp]now find a lot of them without any of their story surrounding them whatsoever, or alternatively have their side-quests be strictly post-game content[/sp]. Giving them out early is a really serious balancing issue though, [sp]as the video points out regarding Latios/Latias[/sp]. What I would would be (preferably level-invariant, like [sp]the regi puzzles[/sp]) side-quests woven into optional bits of the game, with their continuations becoming unlocked as you continue. The GS ball in Gold/Silver/Crystal [sp]would actually have been[/sp] a great example of that, [sp]hadn't that conflicted with some (I think) movie plot.[/sp] I think the games really could use a little more courage in not giving you all the legendaries in every generation. These Pokémon in particular have really strong world-building associations, and while it's somewhat justified to have them now with [sp]all the parallel dimensions formally introduced[/sp] in Sun/Moon and [sp]to a lesser extent explained in[/sp] Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire (which I actually do like quite a bit as a thing that just is the case in that series, since it resolves [I]a [B]ton[/B][/I] of plot issues that've built up over time and probably isn't [I]the[/I] most outlandish thing they've done so far), it's still really weird to encounter them completely removed from that. Still, even with that the legendaries feel too anticlimactic in many cases. I haven't played through Ultra Moon yet though, so I'll see whether they've used the extra work they were able to do with those games to somewhat fix that there. Something that massively annoys me about Pokémon Bank is that it doesn't let you transfer items, and that there's seemingly no trade compatibility between different recent generations. I don't think it'd be hard to make a system similar to Gold/Silver/Crystal's time capsule to enable this with limitations, or even to just make the normal link system semi-compatible and have it tell you that something (specific!) went wrong when you try to backport an item. The games are pretty decent at preventing Missingno.s now afaik, so it's not a stretch to assume that they could pull this off if they wanted. Even if they want to slow down or delay proliferation of [sp]existing mega stones[/sp], they could probably still come up with a decent 'roadblock' à la '[sp]the ancient Kalos technology[/sp] isn't properly understood and messes up the long-distance PC transfer'. Then progressively make that available via updates as Pokémon Bank is online anyway. I do like what they did with the [sp]mega evolution lore and its gameplay collision with Z-attacks[/sp] in Sun/Moon though. It fits perfectly with how the former is [sp]the by-product of a [I]really[/I] horrible event in X/Y[/sp] and that they're [sp]discouraging its (over)use now[/sp]. I don't think it should go away completely, or even have its development abandoned because I think it is kinda cool, but at the same time I'm glad about the save they managed to do by [sp]partially superseding it with Z-attacks and regional forms. They are much less game-unfriendly while still giving them something to work with to get more (marketing) content out of their mostly solid existing lineup. Also Alola-Exeggutor[/sp] is hilarious and amazing. I've lost my train of thought, so I'll leave it at that for now. I feel like there are some more takeaways here, but that'll probably require me rewatching this while taking notes. Contests and the global connectivity modes feel like something worth having in [I]some[/I] form, but their most recent implementation are extremely lacking in my opinion. I hope something like the secret bases will reappear now that the technology is up to speed. I hope they somehow find a way to do couch multiplayer for when the series transitions to the Switch.
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