So I suppose I ought to kick the review off by saying that as far as story goes, it certainly isn't my thing, but if you never grew out of your emo phase, then the general atmosphere of its setting and characters may fall within your tolerance. I just want to talk about the game...and why you'd be much better off watching Let's Plays of Reborn, because frankly, the game's design could have been MASSIVELY improved.
First of all, it's far too big. 19 Episodes, 18 Gym Leaders AND the Elite 4 + Champion with other story bosses to slog through in between? I think that for the developers' own health, this game could have been over half its size and gotten its main points across in story. By shrinking the actions and characters down, then there's more time to grow attached to the ones that matter. This game on the other hand insists on bringing back old characters you haven't seen for nearly 10 episodes and making them do something, apparently not realising that not all characters need to contribute equally to the plot to serve their purpose in a story. That just makes it hard to be attached to any character. Off the top of my head, the only one I looked forward to seeing was Terra. And it wasn't even because she was well written - it was mostly because she was the only bloody character having any actual FUN among these miserable fuckwits.
What's more, everyone seems to be motivated by at least one other character in this game, both in dick moves and acts of kindness. Everyone that is, save for apparently the Player. We're only there to fight because we're just incidentally in the way, and every one of the Player's actions is down to instructions from someone else. I just get the impression we might as well not be there and the plot could have marched on regardless. Pro tip: don't try to write a game as though it were an anime. Completely different mediums, with a lot of actions only making sense in their own medium.
As far as playing the game goes, the Soft Level Cap in the final build appears to have been done away with as a game option, which is cool I suppose. The actual battles themselves, with the various field effects add another interesting dimension to battling, but I think that's going to be the main selling point for Reborn. As far as building a team you LIKE goes, there's always going to be a hanging dread that you can't go back and fetch a certain Pokemon, because either they're part of the Permanently Missable Content, they're locked behind story barriers that are ages away due to how friggin' huge the game is, or require conditions so obscure and complex that it's impossible to intuitively know they'll be there. Case in point, Beldum.
And that I think is basically why I say that you'll probably be better off watching Reborn than playing it: because there's no way to observe Reborn casually. It was clearly designed for Players who already know competitive Pokemon and are prepared to jump through more hoops. Hell, I can recall that one of the Gyms had quizzes where one of the question's subject was on a Pokemon's base stats. Who'd be able to answer that without a wiki? Not the wide-eyed fan who wanted to just collect their favourites and just play.
But even if you can get past all that, something that I personally find unforgivable as far as game design goes, is that there's a significant amount of drudgework involved for EVERYTHING. So many of the puzzles require a big time investment, and when you combine that with the game's length, plus the sheer number of them as a result, then it doesn't feel like a game anymore. It's now a chore. Fucking hell, Victory Road is pretty much BACK-TO-BACK puzzles, with not enough fights in between to make the payoff feel like it was worth it.
All in all, the entire game is far too bloated, does too much to stretch its absurd length even further with needless busywork, and is basically inaccessible for the casual fan of Pokemon. Just watch it on Youtube or something, unless you're playing it so you can upload it to Youtube. You weirdo.
As a Story, It's Serviceable. As a Game, It's Terrible
So I suppose I ought to kick the review off by saying that as far as story goes, it certainly isn't my thing, but if you never grew out of your emo phase, then the general atmosphere of its setting and characters may fall within your tolerance. I just want to talk about the game...and why you'd be much better off watching Let's Plays of Reborn, because frankly, the game's design could have been MASSIVELY improved.
First of all, it's far too big. 19 Episodes, 18 Gym Leaders AND the Elite 4 + Champion with other story bosses to slog through in between? I think that for the developers' own health, this game could have been over half its size and gotten its main points across in story. By shrinking the actions and characters down, then there's more time to grow attached to the ones that matter. This game on the other hand insists on bringing back old characters you haven't seen for nearly 10 episodes and making them do something, apparently not realising that not all characters need to contribute equally to the plot to serve their purpose in a story. That just makes it hard to be attached to any character. Off the top of my head, the only one I looked forward to seeing was Terra. And it wasn't even because she was well written - it was mostly because she was the only bloody character having any actual FUN among these miserable fuckwits.
What's more, everyone seems to be motivated by at least one other character in this game, both in dick moves and acts of kindness. Everyone that is, save for apparently the Player. We're only there to fight because we're just incidentally in the way, and every one of the Player's actions is down to instructions from someone else. I just get the impression we might as well not be there and the plot could have marched on regardless. Pro tip: don't try to write a game as though it were an anime. Completely different mediums, with a lot of actions only making sense in their own medium.
As far as playing the game goes, the Soft Level Cap in the final build appears to have been done away with as a game option, which is cool I suppose. The actual battles themselves, with the various field effects add another interesting dimension to battling, but I think that's going to be the main selling point for Reborn. As far as building a team you LIKE goes, there's always going to be a hanging dread that you can't go back and fetch a certain Pokemon, because either they're part of the Permanently Missable Content, they're locked behind story barriers that are ages away due to how friggin' huge the game is, or require conditions so obscure and complex that it's impossible to intuitively know they'll be there. Case in point, Beldum.
And that I think is basically why I say that you'll probably be better off watching Reborn than playing it: because there's no way to observe Reborn casually. It was clearly designed for Players who already know competitive Pokemon and are prepared to jump through more hoops. Hell, I can recall that one of the Gyms had quizzes where one of the question's subject was on a Pokemon's base stats. Who'd be able to answer that without a wiki? Not the wide-eyed fan who wanted to just collect their favourites and just play.
But even if you can get past all that, something that I personally find unforgivable as far as game design goes, is that there's a significant amount of drudgework involved for EVERYTHING. So many of the puzzles require a big time investment, and when you combine that with the game's length, plus the sheer number of them as a result, then it doesn't feel like a game anymore. It's now a chore. Fucking hell, Victory Road is pretty much BACK-TO-BACK puzzles, with not enough fights in between to make the payoff feel like it was worth it.
All in all, the entire game is far too bloated, does too much to stretch its absurd length even further with needless busywork, and is basically inaccessible for the casual fan of Pokemon. Just watch it on Youtube or something, unless you're playing it so you can upload it to Youtube. You weirdo.