Hey there, my opinions on PokeReborn and some suggestions!

[Fantasy]

So yeah, i was pretty bored surfing the internet, when suddenly, a friend of mines sends me this game in skype saying, as i quote (translated from portuguese to english of course):

-''Dude, i just found a modded pokemon... Its awesome, you gotta try it out.''

''Insert reborn link here''

At first, i was a little skeptical, but a few minutes of gameplay and my opinion radically changed! And i wasn't the only one, me and my friends usually play smite together, i showed them this link and boom, suddenly everyones hooked and playing pokemon again... So i came here, after a brief discussion with them to post some of our opinions on the game and hopefully if some devs read this, make the game better.

Now I'll divine and number my into positives and negatives, so get ready and lets start a discussion on them!

POSITIVE

• 1-The diviation from the normal format

I'll be honest here, i've gone sick of the standard formula, has soon as they told me this game had an evil team doing evil stuff, plus more gym leaders giving badges till you reach the final elite 4, i began growing skeptical... But boy was i surprised! Although there are still Gym leaders, they are way harder and actually present some sort of challenge compared to the normal games, it felt so freaking good when i finally beat Kiki and earned my 5th badge or when i finally managed to beat that goddamn Tangrowth, i had to think outside the box... My team at the time consisted of a overleved Marshtomp, a Noibat and a freshly caught Pancham, this game actually made me go out of my way, catch a Trubish and play some stall game vs that thing. It has just the right amount of that pokemon game feeling and new content.

• 2-The characters

Out of all the games, the only character i truly gave a rats ass about, was Cyrus from D&P and not because i liked him, but because he his by far the best written character and villain in the pokemon franchise... Maybe Gary Oak comes the closest to him, but come on thats Gary Mofcking Oak, heappears in the anime, without that, a guy that picked Leaf Green or Fire Red for the first time would just think his a normal douche.

But Reborn... Oh damn... I felt sorry for Corey and Heather, i was heart broken when Kiki was killed right after her best disciple betrays her and throws medichan into a freaking volcano. I busted my ass off laughing at Fern finding me inside that Nuzleaf cage and most importantly, the villains actually have personallities and make good dialogue. Heck, that whole scene with zEL being teleported by Abra was awesome! The characters themself make great interaction with one another, everytime Cain comes into the scene i know theres gonna be some good dialogue between characters.

• 3-The level cap

The level cap makes this game so much more interesting! I've always had the habit of fighting every single wild pokemon on a random encounter, so i've always been a tad overleved compared to the enemies. But this game is heaven for people like me, that level cap makes it so much easier to introduce new members to the team and you can easily play with 8-9 different pokemon, just switching then in the pc, making various teams depending on the opponents your facing and the field effect. Plus, it makes the game way more strategic, then just putting your most damaging moves on your most damaging pokemon and kill the enemy with type advantage.

• 5-Field Effects

Whoever had this idea should be hired by gamefreak... They are really well thought out and make the battle so much more interesting... I'm still clearly a newb to this game and can only name half of them in my head, but Damn, does it feel good when i discover something new and intentionally use them against my opponent.

• 6-Great amount of content

The amount of content in this game is CRAZY! Its easily double the length of a normal pokemon game and it still isnt even completed... If the quality keeps consistent I'll be really surprised this game doesnt receive much, but much more recognition. Like seriously, keep it up, there are very few games where i can enjoy more then one playthrough without getting bored. The game is always bringing something new and events introduced never feel out of place (like some RPG's, that make up some excuse for you to take that incredible important item for game progression *cough* HM *cough*).

Heck, in pokemon Diamond, freaking Rock Climb was in the middle of a snowstorm <,< What a pain in the ass that was to find.

• 7-Linkstone and other items

OH THANK YOU, as a person who grew up without friends that played pokemon, i always hated that concept, there was never that level where it felt right to evolve the pokemon, so you either grinded a weak pokemon until too long or just evolved him early, missed some moves and now have a completely overpowered pokemon in your party. This game mechanic is really well implemented and gives you a checkpoint where you should be evolving them... But not only the linkstone, one of the greatest examples of items being in the right places is the fire stone... If you've been training your growlithe, you'll be more or less level 42/43/44 when you get it, just around the level where he learns overage. Props to whoever thought of this, they really dont feel ramdom and seem to have some sort of purpose to be placed there, really good job in this aspect.

Now no gameis perfect and obivously, this game has its flaws... I'll name the ones i think should be looked at... Also, some of these have the opinion of my newb friends... And since Newbs are what keep the game alive, i think you should look at these with a little bit more attention.

NEGATIVE

• 1-Lack of fan favorites in the beggining.

I'm not talking about the starters, I'm talking about pokemon like pikachu, shinx, riolu, ralts, growlithe, shroomish, slakoth, the bird type etc...

I'm talking about pokemon you would want to keep in your team, throughout your whole playthough, available to catch before the first gym... Notice all the pokemons i mentioned are fan favorites and something people eagerly catch and train throught their respective games, its something more then your starter you look out to evolve and you grow to like.... In pokemon reborn, the closest to this, is Noibat.. To make matters worse, the level cap encourages you to catch more pokemon, however if you don't like the options, you'll have a overlevel you starter and that wont be fun at all... This in my opinion needs a serious look at, at least 2 of my friends got tired of the game because no pokemon they really liked was available up until 3 hours into the game and playing with a not obediant starter while being forced to train pokemons you dont like can be tiresome and drive people away.

• 2-City was too gloomy

I get that the art, the atmosphere isnt supposed to be friendly and go happy but that doesnt mean it should be like that during the first 1/3 of the game. The game does get visually pleasing, but for that you have to play for too long to actually get to enjoy it. For instance, the forest didn't need to be a dark place, buildings with plants growing on them dont need to look so dark, not everything needs to look like its spreading misery to make us feel bad for the people living there.

• 3-Ditto into Arceus...

I'm just gonna be blatantly honest here... That is the stupidest idea you've had... A ditto got the power to transform into a freaking god and get to use his moves and stats.... I really like the plot twist, that it was a ditto pretending to be gardevoir, but come on, seriously having it transform into a freaking Arceus?!

Not only that, but that fight takes an incredible amount of preparation and the nearest healing station is way too far... You couldve easily made some healing ruin nearby or something...

Also, a really shitty thing about it, is that the lvl75 single boss is starting to feel overused by thisa point... This woulve been much better if you just made us battle El or even better, made Ditto transform between our pokemon in a mirror match... NOW THAT WOULVE BEEN INTERESTING...

• 4-Map

Just look at it... It looks horrible and its hard to understand until after you played the game... This one should be completely changed.

• 5-Lack of Dragon types

I really don't understand why there aren't many dragon types available, im completely OK with no legendaies since i dont play them anyways.... If you think they would become to overused, just make them appear later or in areas where it would be hard to train them... Heck, having them as possible starters wouldve been better then them completely not existing. One great idea a friend fo mine had, was to pull a Corey... No, not having another trainer relasng them, just having them available whenever you feel its ok for people to catch dragon types, once if you have a certain item.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Fantasy

[mde2001]

Firstly, welcome to Reborn!

I thought I should just try to address some of the negatives (this isn't to say you aren't entitled to dislike things about the game- that's not my point at all).

1- One of the major points of Reborn is to make sure that you don't use the pokemon that get used all the time. While some people might be sad they can't use their favourites from the get go, you can come to love pokemon that are often ignored in the main series games. Of course, if you want to use the main pokemon this can be a problem, but you can catch some normal early pokemon.

2- The city is meant to be a desolate place that is devoid of life. It is meant to be really depressing and dark in the early game. If you check out the E16 status discussion, you'll see some of the refurbished maps, so it starting off really dark creates a lot of contrast when the city is fixed up. It is really miserable at first, but will be transformed into a much happier place.

3- The healing ruin isn't a bad idea. Other than that, nothing here is going to change. It is a major part of the plot that has been around for ages. It is a really tough boss, that I can never be bothered beating, but I think it does fit in stylistically with El's cultist ways.

4- I'm not a huge fan of the map either, but it works well enough. It is possible it will be expanded for fly, but if it stays the way it is, it will just be a little confusing initially.

5- Dragons are often really overpowered. You can get Noiverns and Altarias pretty early on (and a possible haxorus through the mystery egg), but the more op dragon types would make the game much easier. I think we'll get some in the next couple of episodes.

[Redo.]

• 1-Lack of fan favorites in the beggining.

I'm not talking about the starters, I'm talking about pokemon like pikachu, shinx, riolu, ralts, growlithe, shroomish, slakoth, the bird type etc...

I'm talking about pokemon you would want to keep in your team, throughout your whole playthough, available to catch before the first gym... Notice all the pokemons i mentioned are fan favorites and are something people eagerly catch and train throught their respective games, its something more then your starter you look out to evolve and you grow to like.... In pokemon reborn, the closest to this, is Noibat.. To make matters worse, the level cap encourages you to catch more pokemon, however if you don't like the options, you'll overlevel you starter and that wont be fun at all... This in my opinion needs a serious look at, at least 2 of my friends got tired of the game because no pokemon they really liked, was available up until 3 hours into the game and playing with a not obediant starter while being forced to train pokemons you dont like can be tiresome and drive people away.

The idea of some of those pokémon to be late in the game is that they are OP, what is the fun of the game if you can easily get Lucario before the Julia and easily sweep everything? Also, Pikachu, Shinx, Slakoth, and pretty much all Flying/Normal pokémon bar Taillow and Starly and catcheable before the second gym leader.

Yes, I know people love some pokémon (Heck, Tyranitar and Scizor are in my top 5 favorite pokémon), but having them too early would make everyone use it and not testing all the other options Reborn gave us (FYI, in some old Reborn version more OP pokémon were catcheable even before the first gym, like Togepi, Elekid and Shroomish up to EP9, Magikarp and Ralts up to EP11 or Magby up to EP10, but their events were axed or replaced so we had to test least used pokémon like Pansear or Espurr).

• 2-City was too gloomy

I get that the art, the atmosphere isnt supposed to be friendly and go happy but that doesnt mean it should be like that during the first 1/3 of the game. The game does get visually pleasing, but for that you have to play for too long to actually get to enjoy it. For instance, the forest didn't need to be a dark place, buildings with plants growing on them dont need to look so dark, not everything needs to look like its spreading misery to make us feel bad for the people living there.

That's the idea, a gloomy city filled with dark energies and corruption, but hey, it's clear that Adrienn will fix the city now that we are going back, there are some screnshot of the new city in the EP16 Discussion Post.

• 3-Ditto into Arceus...

I'm just gonna be blatantly honest here... That is the stupidest idea you've had... A ditto got the power to transform into a freaking god and get to use his moves and stats.... I really like the plot twist, that it was a ditto pretending to be gardevoir, but come on, seriously having it transform into a freaking Arceus?!

Not only that, but that fight takes an incredible amount of preparation and the nearest healing station is way too far... You couldve easily made some healing ruin nearby or something...

Also, a really shitty thing about it, is that the lvl75 single boss is starting to feel overused by thisa point... This woulve been much better if you just made us battle El or even better, made Ditto transform between our pokemon in a mirror match... NOW THAT WOULVE BEEN INTERESTING...

We think (no way to be sure) that Arceus live behind that door, so Ditto used the energy of Arceus near him to transform into it.

Yes, the formula of "fight a single Lv75 pokémon" was a bit overused during the first couple of episodes, not going to lie about that.

• 4-Map

Just look at it... It looks horrible and its hard to understand until after you played the game... This one should be completely changed.

The map of Reborn is way bigger than your normal pokémon game map (that's because Ame), and the game use the graphics of the 3rd generation, so yeah, it looks ugly, but it probably won't be fixed (or who knows, maybe Ame finds a way to fix it).

• 5-Lack of Dragon types

I really don't understand why there aren't many dragon types available, im completely OK with no legendaies since i dont play them anyways.... If you think they would become to overused, just make them appear later or in areas where it would be hard to train them... Heck, having them as possible starters wouldve been better then them completely not existing. One great idea a friend fo mine had, was to pull a Corey... No, not having another trainer relasng them, just having them available whenever you feel its ok for people to catch dragon types, once if you have a certain item.

Like in point 1, there are a few dragons and most of them are OP for the early game (thanks to Dragon Rage, for example).

As of now, you can get Noibat before the Julia, Axew before the Corey if you got lucky with the Mystery Egg, and well you can get some good quatity of them after Aya's battle, but yeah, this was the best way to balance the game and don't make it "too easy", otherwise everyone would be happily killing Noel and everything that came after him with their Garchomp, Dragonite, Salamence and stuff.

[Fantasy]

Reply to MDE:

Btw, can anyone tell me how to edit in a quote?

Hey Thanks

Thats basically what the post is about, to discuss some opinions, hopefully some of them may change and i'll get to enjoy the game a little but more.

1. Yeah i get that, but the problem with that is that new players aren't going to stay if they are forced to play pokemon they dont like. For instance, one of my friends literally player solo Blaziken till lvl 40 (+ HM Slave), up until he got a shiny Beedril, then spent the entirety of the skype call complaining about him not being obediant. (If not the shiny beedrill, i think he wouldve kept going ;X).

But the worse case scenario is definatly the ones that didnt even feel like keep playing, knowing they had to train some pokes they didnt like...

2. Yeah, i get that, Im not saying that its bad, just saying that it doesnt need to be so pushed. Some beauty in darkness never ruined anything. I even like the idea of watching the evolution happen during your playthrough, but in my opinion it doenst need to be pushed everywhere.

3.Problem is, its a really hard boss, that on paper, lets be honest here, sounds really stupid... Lets say im having a conversation with a friend of mine and we start talking about pokemon... I mention pokemon reborn... If i say anything about a Ditto lvl 75 transforming into an Arceus and it being a boss battle, he'll gimme that look: ''Bruh, you kidding me?).

I think that plotline is so well written and with so much potential, however it has that one battle, that just makes me wanna facepalm... Its not even a shocking reveal when he goes arceus, just judgemental look into the screen. (Pun definetly intended)

4.I hope so, i like the fact fly isnt available yet though, makes me go explore more and consider the options if its worth going back to the pokecenter

5.Thing is, if we keep going without dragons, whenever we can catch them, its gonna either be a level grind for them to evolve or theyll evolve immediatly after leveling... And lets be honest here, one option isnt fun and the other isnt rewarding :X

Edited March 10, 2016 by Fantasy

[Lord Drakyle]

You missed point 4 in your post, but onto being more serious:

I have a less than sympathetic way of expressing to people who refuse to use anything other than fan favourites that just because they don't want to experiment with less commonly used pokemon.

I also noticed the repeated mention of the lvl 75 boss fights which if you weren't aware are optional to defeat (and canonically you probably aren't supposed to beat them maybe...)

If Pokémon Reborn had everyones much loved Dragons and fan fave pokes early game it would be as stale as the original games just with harder gym leaders and more gyms

Map is eh, don't really care much about it.

As for Reborn being all damaged and ravaged I personally think it as a good step away from the repeated nonsense of perfect condition places, it also makes the experience much more invigorating to see when you get back in the latest episode thanks to your hard work and that of a certain Non Binary Gym Leader, the city will be looking good but if the teaser at end of episode 15 was anything to go by how long will that last?

Way I see it no one is forced to play the game and I don't see why the game should include as many of the loved pokemon early as it can just because people don't want to try something new (gods the conversations where people tried to justify adding Fletchling early)

But aside from all that feedback and opinions are always heard don't get me wrong i'm just a very negative person at times, but yeah hope you enjoy Reborn or enjoyed it if you finished current episode and try to remember not all things we want in life we will get, sometimes we need to change (and sometimes we need to man up and deal with it)

[Fantasy]

The idea of some of those pokémon to be late in the game is that they are OP, what is the fun of the game if you can easily get Lucario before the Julia and easily sweep everything? Also, Pikachu, Shinx, Slakoth, and pretty much all Flying/Normal pokémon bar Taillow and Starly and catcheable before the second gym leader.

Yes, I know people love some pokémon (Heck, Tyranitar and Scizor are in my top 5 favorite pokémon), but having them too early would make everyone use it and not testing all the other options Reborn gave us (FYI, in some old Reborn version more OP pokémon were catcheable even before the first gym, like Togepi, Elekid and Shroomish up to EP9, Magikarp and Ralts up to EP11 or Magby up to EP10, but their events were axed or replaced so we had to test least used pokémon like Pansear or Espurr).

That's the idea, a gloomy city filled with dark energies and corruption, but hey, it's clear that Adrienn will fix the city now that we are going back, there are some screnshot of the new city in the EP16 Discussion Post.

We think (no way to be sure) that Arceus live behind that door, so Ditto used the energy of Arceus near him to transform into it.

Yes, the formula of "fight a single Lv75 pokémon" was a bit overused during the first couple of episodes, not going to lie about that.

The map of Reborn is way bigger than your normal pokémon game map (that's because Ame), and the game use the graphics of the 3rd generation, so yeah, it looks ugly, but it probably won't be fixed (or who knows, maybe Ame finds a way to fix it).

Like in point 1, there are a few dragons and most of them are OP for the early game (thanks to Dragon Rage, for example).

As of now, you can get Noibat before the Julia, Axew before the Corey if you got lucky with the Mystery Egg, and well you can get some good quatity of them after Aya's battle, but yeah, this was the best way to balance the game and don't make it "too easy", otherwise everyone would be happily killing Noel and everything that came after him with their Garchomp, Dragonite, Salamence and stuff.

Hey

1. Yeah, thats true... But when i mean earlier, i mean 45min of gameplay, by second gym if we count the time it gets to get them, it can easily reach 2 hours of gameplay for a new player.

3. I replied to MDE with something can fill up here

4. i dont thing a zoom in and out option would be bad... that or 2 part map like gen 2 has

5. The key is to place them in the right spot, cuz if you put them too late with high level, you'll evolve them immediatly but if you place them late with a low level with becomes a grind... One of these options isnt fun and the other isnt rewarding, it should be a balance of both

[Fantasy]

You missed point 4 in your post, but onto being more serious:

I have a less than sympathetic way of expressing to people who refuse to use anything other than fan favourites that just because they don't want to experiment with less commonly used pokemon.

I also noticed the repeated mention of the lvl 75 boss fights which if you weren't aware are optional to defeat (and canonically you probably aren't supposed to beat them maybe...)

If Pokémon Reborn had everyones much loved Dragons and fan fave pokes early game it would be as stale as the original games just with harder gym leaders and more gyms

Map is eh, don't really care much about it.

As for Reborn being all damaged and ravaged I personally think it as a good step away from the repeated nonsense of perfect condition places, it also makes the experience much more invigorating to see when you get back in the latest episode thanks to your hard work and that of a certain Non Binary Gym Leader, the city will be looking good but if the teaser at end of episode 15 was anything to go by how long will that last?

Way I see it no one is forced to play the game and I don't see why the game should include as many of the loved pokemon early as it can just because people don't want to try something new (gods the conversations where people tried to justify adding Fletchling early)

But aside from all that feedback and opinions are always heard don't get me wrong i'm just a very negative person at times, but yeah hope you enjoy Reborn or enjoyed it if you finished current episode and try to remember not all things we want in life we will get, sometimes we need to change (and sometimes we need to man up and deal with it)

lol, didnt even notice point 4

Personally, i like trying all sort of janky teams, but unfortuantely, new players will want to stick to their confort zone in their first playthrough...

However, there are some fan favorites that i really dont think would hurt to see a little early on, for instance ralts, pikachu, shinx, gliscor etc

I actually didnt know that, but even some, i think there were a little bit too many lvl 75 fights :X

Thanks dude, i finished my first playthrough already, have a second save (with a trick i picked up in some thread in thsi forum while googling)... Am doing my second now

[Lord Drakyle]

What people choose is there choice and it's their loss if they decide not to play Reborn cause they can't get there way aside from all that though i'd say introduce yourself at the Grand Hall if ya want, We are all very kind people in this community, with some insanity...ok fine a LOT of insanity and always nice to get to know a little bit about newcomers.

[Personthing]

NEGATIVE

• 1-Lack of fan favorites in the beggining.

I'm not talking about the starters, I'm talking about pokemon like pikachu, shinx, riolu, ralts, growlithe, shroomish, slakoth, the bird type etc...

I'm talking about pokemon you would want to keep in your team, throughout your whole playthough, available to catch before the first gym... Notice all the pokemons i mentioned are fan favorites and something people eagerly catch and train throught their respective games, its something more then your starter you look out to evolve and you grow to like.... In pokemon reborn, the closest to this, is Noibat.. To make matters worse, the level cap encourages you to catch more pokemon, however if you don't like the options, you'll have a overlevel you starter and that wont be fun at all... This in my opinion needs a serious look at, at least 2 of my friends got tired of the game because no pokemon they really liked was available up until 3 hours into the game and playing with a not obediant starter while being forced to train pokemons you dont like can be tiresome and drive people away.

• 2-City was too gloomy

I get that the art, the atmosphere isnt supposed to be friendly and go happy but that doesnt mean it should be like that during the first 1/3 of the game. The game does get visually pleasing, but for that you have to play for too long to actually get to enjoy it. For instance, the forest didn't need to be a dark place, buildings with plants growing on them dont need to look so dark, not everything needs to look like its spreading misery to make us feel bad for the people living there.

• 3-Ditto into Arceus...

I'm just gonna be blatantly honest here... That is the stupidest idea you've had... A ditto got the power to transform into a freaking god and get to use his moves and stats.... I really like the plot twist, that it was a ditto pretending to be gardevoir, but come on, seriously having it transform into a freaking Arceus?!

Not only that, but that fight takes an incredible amount of preparation and the nearest healing station is way too far... You couldve easily made some healing ruin nearby or something...

Also, a really shitty thing about it, is that the lvl75 single boss is starting to feel overused by thisa point... This woulve been much better if you just made us battle El or even better, made Ditto transform between our pokemon in a mirror match... NOW THAT WOULVE BEEN INTERESTING...

• 4-Map

Just look at it... It looks horrible and its hard to understand until after you played the game... This one should be completely changed.

• 5-Lack of Dragon types

I really don't understand why there aren't many dragon types available, im completely OK with no legendaies since i dont play them anyways.... If you think they would become to overused, just make them appear later or in areas where it would be hard to train them... Heck, having them as possible starters wouldve been better then them completely not existing. One great idea a friend fo mine had, was to pull a Corey... No, not having another trainer relasng them, just having them available whenever you feel its ok for people to catch dragon types, once if you have a certain item.

1: As others have said, many fan favorites were in the game and available early on, but most of them either A: Trivialized many bosses easily, B: Were used by basically everyone and overshadowed everything else, or both. While I disagree with some decisions (Like Mudkip being axed, or Elekid and Magby being moved to right near the end of the current release and you have to trade their evolution items to get them so you can't even evolve them, when other fire/electric types like Arcanine or Magnezone/Magneton are better than them.)

2: It's a toxic, overcrowded and under funded city being actively sabotaged by terrorists. It's also partly like that to set up for when the city gets better in the next episode. I understand a bleak atmosphere for so long being tiring though, but I personally quite like the contrast it creates with the rest of Reborn's world.

3: I can see how the Arceus is quite hard to deal with unprepared, but the game does give you ways to deal with it, like using focus sash on a perish song user, or spamming thunderwave until El stops using full heals. The other overlevel'd bosses like the PULSE Pokemon are meant to be like that, so you can't just OHKO them.

4: I personally like the cosmetic look of the map, but it is quite incomplete and I can see why it'd be confusing.

5: Most dragon types barring Druddigon, Non-mega Altaria, and arguably Noivern and Goodra are super powerful. I'd insist that most dragons should not be available until late game.

Also it seems that your friend does not know about common candies, which lower a Pokemon's level by 1 so as to not have problems with obedience, and they are readily available in the candy shop in the Obsidia ward. Glad to hear that you like the game, and welcome to the community.

Edited March 10, 2016 by Personthing

[ZEL]

3.Problem is, its a really hard boss, that on paper, lets be honest here, sounds really stupid... Lets say im having a conversation with a friend of mine and we start talking about pokemon... I mention pokemon reborn... If i say anything about a Ditto lvl 75 transforming into an Arceus and it being a boss battle, he'll gimme that look: ''Bruh, you kidding me?).

Funnily enough, this scene was one of the things that the person who recommended the game to me did spoil for me. Complete with the ditto part and a possible way how to beat it (which I'm proud of not having used so far).

I just thought "dude I wanna try and beat that now".

Arceus is a funny battle, because at first you'll go "what the hell, how am I supposed to beat this?", but not only can you easily try the Focus Sash + Perish Song combo mentioned above, but if you give it some thought (and your Pokémon some training) then there's many ways to deal with it.

I accidentally defeated it during a test fight in my last run, oops.

Personally I gotta say I liked that the game made me wait until I could get more of my favourite Pokémon. It felt almost nostalgic to me to be using a Noctowl for the majority of the game because I couldn't get Staraptor so quickly.

The game tries to be careful not to throw overpowered 'mons at you early on (though it can't be avoided with the starters... looking at you here, Blaziken), and I guess I just can't be bothered about whether or not I get to use my usual favourites. (Though thankfully, the majority of mine are in the game. Really, the only faves I can't get yet are Skarmory and the legendary birds.)

I can easily see how it's frustrating when you want to enjoy the game and its storyline while being accompanied by the kind of team that you'd want to have, but if someone really absolutely refuses to play Reborn because it doesn't let them have what they want immediately, then it's... kinda just not the right game for them.

The normal Pokémon games don't always give you your faves early on, either.

Whether it's B&W rightfully withholding Deino from you 'til you reach Victory Road, or certain Pokémon being reserved for the post-game, you'll always have to wait for things a bit.

That said (since I'm pretty sure I'm only repeating what others already said, bleh...

• 2-The characters

Out of all the games, the only character i truly gave a rats ass about, was Cyrus from D&P and not because i liked him, but because he his by far the best written character and villain in the pokemon franchise... Maybe Gary Oak comes the closest to him, but come on thats Gary Mofcking Oak, heappears in the anime, without that, a guy that picked Leaf Green or Fire Red for the first time would just think his a normal douche.

But Reborn... Oh damn... I felt sorry for Corey and Heather, i was heart broken when Kiki was killed right after her best disciple betrays her and throws medichan into a freaking volcano. I busted my ass off laughing at Fern finding me inside that Nuzleaf cage and most importantly, the villains actually have personallities and make good dialogue. Heck, that whole scene with zEL being teleported by Abra was awesome! The characters themself make great interaction with one another, everytime Cain comes into the scene i know theres gonna be some good dialogue between characters.

Cyrus is my favourite canon character in Pokémon, and the Tanzan Mountain Base arc was my favourite scene in all of Reborn. To this day I hope there'll be post-game content or something that'll let me have that specific Abra. (Though for now I like to pretend it's the one you get in 7th street.)

Edited March 10, 2016 by Ama

[Masquerain]

Well, most everything I wanted to say has already been said by other people but I'll just add onto things anyway

1. Just like Lord Darkyle, I would be in no way sympathetic to people who don't play a game because their favorites are not available before the 2nd gym or earlier. There is a myriad of options to choose from before the first gym even, and the choices only expand past that. If you can't find a single Pokemon that you like which is available at the time, then I would claim that your interest span is incredibly low when it comes to Pokemon. As has been said by others already, the availability of pokemon is made in a way to make people use less popular options and to have things balanced. I've had enough pokemon grow on me that I never even looked twice at before. It's more fun that way.

2. City is too gloomy for a reason. It's a dystopian environment, but I assure you, if you keep playing the game, you'll be exposed to areas fundamentally different than the main city. If a person would be driven away from the game because a disaster-wrecked city is too gloomy for them, well... I'm sorry, but they clearly have not gotten the game's theme as a whole. It's meant to be that way and it shall evolve, all in due time. Rome was not built in a day.

3. I don't know what to say here, since I can't get behind the opinion it's the stupidest idea ever. It's a needed event and it is there to give you a taste of what the real Arceus' power will be like, except even stronger. Those fights are meant to be hard, just like the game as a whole is meant to be more challenging and different. As already stated, you have the choice to NOT have to defeat that Dittoceus, however, that means you siding with cultists

4. We all agree about the map, can't argue there. It does look a tad too cluttered and hard to read, but it was likely the best that could be done given the graphics the game works with

5. This point is kind of the same as point 1.. If you really want a dragon, Noibats are available early on enough, there is trapinch and swablu as well. The really OP dragons are not in the game early on for a reason

All in all, I can only agree with point 4. of the listed cons. The rest are things that would make me personally wave goodbye to any person who leaves this game because of either of them. That said, it's my own opinion, different people have different views and stuff

Edited March 10, 2016 by Masquerain

[Fumble]

1. Well, Pokemon Reborn is about trying new things, although it might be nice to have some of the fan favorites a bit earlier, like Taillow (it's not that great without the super late Toxic Orb anyway, imo).

2. Reborn City is meant to be like that, but don't worry! It'll be cleaned up later on.

3. I reacted that way to Arceus in my first playthrough, as well, and thought it was a bit cheap, too. However, I learned a few ways to beat it, no matter how cheap they are (Perish Song or Destiny Bond).

4. Yeah, that map looks pretty cluttered, and the areas we can't go to yet aren't as well developed as the other areas, which sucks.... Ame will probably update the map later, though.

5. Tbh I still don't know why Goomy isn't available, and maybe Deino in an area where Pokemon can't be one shot by Dragon Rage, since it is such a pain to evolve that oh my god (although Hydreigon is worth it). I also don't like how late Druddigon is... >.>

Nice to see you having fun, though!

[doombotmecha]

honestly the 'mon variety is one of my favorite parts of the game. Being able to use strong early-game 'mons without having to bank on using them later is great, as is discovering new combos to use on my team e.g. simple CM Swoobat for 2x special stats, or Flame Burst Growlith to manipulate fields, or Prankster/Perish Murkrow to take on threats far stronger that itself.

Honestly my biggest gripe about the game is the early reliance on weather, but hey, watcha gonna do? I can always use time-wimey clock-changey...stuff to reroll if i need to.

Also there SO MANY EARLY GRASS TYPES OH MY GOD WHY. Could you maybe...idk....save some for later?

I feel like the lack of dragons is totally fair, given that this is supposed to be a difficult game and making every gym leader carry a steel/fairy would be absurd....but I might be biased, seeing as my all-time favorite (Metagross) is available by midgame.

[AiedailEclipsed]

• 4-Map

Just look at it... It looks horrible and its hard to understand until after you played the game... This one should be completely changed.

I can't really remember where I read this, but I believe the map is that way because at the time, this was never intended to be a fangame. So, when Ame sat down and drew this massive, detailed world (which I think she described as being on four regular white sheets of paper all taped together -- you can even see the seams of them a bit if you zoom in and look carefully), it was very much designed without the constraints of RPG Maker XP/Pokémon Essentials in mind. By that, I mean that most Pokémon regions are designed as squares or horizontal rectangles -- not massive, vertical rectangles.

Take this with a grain of salt though, because I really can't remember where I read this from.

[Zane0144]

I respect all of your opinions, as indeed no game is perfect. However, as far as Arceus goes, I view it as more of a "you are meant to give up and lose boss". The nice thing about that fight is you can choose to agree with El, and then he'll "spare" you after you get wrecked so you don't have to restart or run back to the shrine. But that is a little difficult to find out if you keep siding with Radomus or restart after each loss.

But I do enjoy facing the Arceus and Garchomp as a challenge and beating them on every run with one trick or another.

[doombotmecha]

HOLY DETAILED MAP BATMAN

saving that to desktop.

Perhaps the only gripe I have with this game is the grind. just, you get to a gym leader and then suddently you're 2 or 3 levels down and you have next to no shot at victory. but i guess that's present in every game, and unlike gen 5 I have early options other than "your starter and this monkey"

[Dragon116]

I think the lack of fan-favorites in the early game is what makes reborn so special. You're forced to look at your options, and strategize ways to defeat whatever you're up against. For instance, my last Reborn run (which was hardcore mode, you can see it in my signature) showed me that Sudowoodo is a friggin beast. Since the first time I met it in Silver version, Sudowoodo had no redeeming qualities. But now that has changed, and Sudowoodo is one of my favorites. I would never have known that unless I was forced to use it.

The dark atmosphere goes with the game. There is no question what this game is about when the first scene is your train blowing up, and the city is jet black.

[Commander]

Well welcome to Reborn. As for the map...it kind of is being slowly implemented as time goes on in the game. The areas like the dessert used to be what it originally looked like (and a ton of areas were added over time including the mountains like where Croagunk is found). As for the city, I agree and disagree with that. The city concept itself is neat with all its little events, but it caused a ton of lagging problems making it a double edged sword.

As for the whole not having fan favorites at the beginning, there were more at the start originally but about 90% of the teams carried those Pokemon and nothing else which is why they were axed. It's similar to a nuzlocke where you might not get what you want but that's where the fun is. Try using something you wouldn't normally use. Reborn provides a lot of great mons even as early as episode 1 such as my legedary Arbok in my original run, but the difficulty is based upon what options you have. Even for the Hardcore mod, I made sure to make sure nothing was so difficult it couldn't be overcome with strategy and skill.

And about that Ditto-ceus, that's supposed to be an impossible battle which will affect an event in the future of the game whether or not you win it. As you've probably seen, I generally do prefer teams over a single super powerful Pokemon as teams are usually more difficult and harder to exploit compared to something like the Garchomp.

The one gripe I will say is about grinding. It's not so bad nowadays, but grinding did get a bit tedious when trying to add a new mon. I originally was part of the whole, you have to grind to get attatched to your pokemon, yet that went 180 and I added an exp share and lucky egg at the very beginning of the hardcore mod. There are just a few areas where it's a problem. Reborn tried to retaliate this by nerfing some of the leaders like Radomus's levels, while what I did was a 5 level shift. Neither of us quite got it right as I have Players being overleveled for Kiki's episode, and a bit underleveled for Radomus while I remember a lot of people were saying a few leaders in Reborn were way too easy now. In other words, levels are screwed up a bit.

[DemICE]

BTW is that a real Arceus or a Ditto transformed into Arceus? And im talking about the battle, not the plot. A Ditto transformed into Arceus has the HP of Ditto (while the rest stats are Arceus')

[Masquerain]

BTW is that a real Arceus or a Ditto transformed into Arceus? And im talking about the battle, not the plot. A Ditto transformed into Arceus has the HP of Ditto (while the rest stats are Arceus')

It's a ditto transformed into Arceus

[doombotmecha]

It's a ditto transformed into Arceus

so it still has a ditto's base health stat?

also, on the subject of "boss battle" pokemon:

I love these guys specifically because they're so exploitable, it's like a puzzle boss. also may be revenge for every weaker mon that ever wrecked me with status in the main games

case in point: the lvl 35 klinklang in the subrailnet

sent in pachirisu, paralyzed it with nuzzle, rip pachy, sent out a simple numel and used amnesia. he could only hit for about a quarter of my health after that, while I just Lava-Plumed him to death. Like, what other game requires in-depth strategy like that?

Edited March 11, 2016 by doombotmecha

[Fumble]

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's an Arceus, with Arceus' regular stats. It's also apparently Quiet Natured, according to the PBS Files, which is interesting.

[Fantasy]

I can't really remember where I read this, but I believe the map is that way because at the time, this was never intended to be a fangame. So, when Ame sat down and drew this massive, detailed world (which I think she described as being on four regular white sheets of paper all taped together -- you can even see the seams of them a bit if you zoom in and look carefully), it was very much designed without the constraints of RPG Maker XP/Pokémon Essentials in mind. By that, I mean that most Pokémon regions are designed as squares or horizontal rectangles -- not massive, vertical rectangles.

Take this with a grain of salt though, because I really can't remember where I read this from.

Oh wow, that map looks amazing

Its a shame that cant be implemented in game, its beautiful... But to be honest, the simpler the better when it comes to in game maps, easier to memorize and read... That picture could work really well as some sort of advertisement thought

[Fantasy]

Well welcome to Reborn. As for the map...it kind of is being slowly implemented as time goes on in the game. The areas like the dessert used to be what it originally looked like (and a ton of areas were added over time including the mountains like where Croagunk is found). As for the city, I agree and disagree with that. The city concept itself is neat with all its little events, but it caused a ton of lagging problems making it a double edged sword.

As for the whole not having fan favorites at the beginning, there were more at the start originally but about 90% of the teams carried those Pokemon and nothing else which is why they were axed. It's similar to a nuzlocke where you might not get what you want but that's where the fun is. Try using something you wouldn't normally use. Reborn provides a lot of great mons even as early as episode 1 such as my legedary Arbok in my original run, but the difficulty is based upon what options you have. Even for the Hardcore mod, I made sure to make sure nothing was so difficult it couldn't be overcome with strategy and skill.

And about that Ditto-ceus, that's supposed to be an impossible battle which will affect an event in the future of the game whether or not you win it. As you've probably seen, I generally do prefer teams over a single super powerful Pokemon as teams are usually more difficult and harder to exploit compared to something like the Garchomp.

The one gripe I will say is about grinding. It's not so bad nowadays, but grinding did get a bit tedious when trying to add a new mon. I originally was part of the whole, you have to grind to get attatched to your pokemon, yet that went 180 and I added an exp share and lucky egg at the very beginning of the hardcore mod. There are just a few areas where it's a problem. Reborn tried to retaliate this by nerfing some of the leaders like Radomus's levels, while what I did was a 5 level shift. Neither of us quite got it right as I have Players being overleveled for Kiki's episode, and a bit underleveled for Radomus while I remember a lot of people were saying a few leaders in Reborn were way too easy now. In other words, levels are screwed up a bit.

Hey thanks, thats good to hear about the map, im still mind blown by that concept image posted earlier, hope it pans out.

I personally have no problems with the city's events whatsoever, although some of my friends did complain about it getting really laggy when they reached that park to battle the first tangrowth... Other then that, i truly only think its exagerating in darkness on zones where it doesnt need to be... best example about that is the forest, itd be a great way to take the players mind out of all the destruction, be a little light hearted and then just to introduce it once again. It works really well to getting players attached to the game, best example of this in other game is can think of now, is that giraffe scene in the last of us... Its so unexpected, so beautiful and its placed right in the middle of all the chaos, just before and after shit went down...

The problem with that is, if the game wants to spread out and reach a bigger audience, it needs to grab the players attention from the beggining. I'm the kind of guy that likes challenges and to get passed all those hard puzzles, hence the only puzzle where i cheated and googled the answer, were those quizzes right before saving Luna... I really couldnt be bothered with reading all those books... But as for my pleb friends that really arent that much into pokemon, its hard to keep going, when all the pokes you wanna catch and train are introduced way to late into the game... There are some fan favorites that i doubt would break the game if introduced early, pokes like gligar, eevee, pichu etc... something people can add to their main team, right from the very beggining, but that the devs have complete controll over when it can evolve...

As for the levels, i honestly think they're great! One of the best things about this game is the struggle to keep them below the level cap, which is actually an hidden incentive for bigger teams, allowing players to switch with pokemons on the pc

Edited March 11, 2016 by Fantasy

[Masquerain]

I think you answered yourself when you said your friends aren't that into pokemon... It means they'd find another thing to complain about in order to not play the game anymore, since Pokemon is not really their thing enough to take up games like Reborn

p.s. Pichu is available quite early on, I believe before the 2nd gym

P.P.S Like I said before, if you can not find a single 'mon to add to your main team from the given MANY options, I fear you're the problem and not the game since it means you like nothing but the mainstream things

Edited March 11, 2016 by Masquerain