Pokemon Uranium - First Impressions and General Discussion

[doombotmecha]

so I picked up PU last night and played it a bit. it seems...really, really easy, compared to the reborn line, almost as easy as vanilla. The professor gives you a choice of 3 appearances, I took the boy and named him "Mort". In the lab, there was a simple "personality test" to see which one you got. I got a grass/steel type starter (name: orynx, nickname: Oryx, ability: battle armor) and started with a type advantage, but I got para-haxed by my rival's static (what) and lost the fight. the game didn't let me forget it until after the first gym, where it forgot and my rival was still salty from "losing" the first fight. The intro cutscene and music cuts are kinda sloppy but whatever. with a leech seed at level 7, once I stopped being underleveled I was able to stall several trainers out just fine. picked up a bird, dark blue with light blue on its belly, name of Birbie (nick: Birb, ability: ANALYTIC WHAT). Normal/Flying, as you might expect. A few simple fights and I had arrived at the next town

Kevlar town was pretty much the basic sandgem/vermillion/second town. I came, I saw, I participated in the mandatory pokemon center tutorial, you know, basic stuff. The next route was next to no challenge with my birb and oryx--only the sporadic mankey stood a chance, needing to beat down my birb before analytic gust killed it. I heard about some poison/water mons from a fisherman, maybe I can catch some...darn. to get them i'd need a rod and for the rod I need a badge.

Later, in a cave, I caught two new mons-- a steel/rock type (barewl) with rock head, and a ground type (grozard) with arena trap. they seem similar to aron and digglett. there's also the obligatory bat mon, this time pure poison with levitate. I took a liking to the steel/rock type and named it THE ROCK. That was completely necessary.

In the first gym city, I find that the gym leader is presently at home, but that I could go there and--

A KEY TO HER HOUSE ARE YOU CRAZY

IF SOMEONE JUST WALKED INTO MY DORM ROOM I WOULD FREAK

ok sorry just whyyyyyyyy

so I go to her house, she flips out about the same way I would until she realizes I'm here to challenge her. she goes up to her adoring fan and chews him the heck out. Imo he should be exiled. She runs a normal gym, which between Oryx and THE ROCK is next to no challenge. Sure her normal derps have yawn, but even when I switch I'm racking up leech seed damage.

by this point it is painfully obvious that this game uses the same effects for moves as reborn, but on 3d sprites so it looks...not good.

The whole town keeps dropping hints about a rival battle after the gym, so I heal before exiting, but no fight. I go to the 'mon center, properly heal, and then leave the town--

ah. there you are.

Rival Theo wants to battle!

barewl (steel/rock) gets taken down by a combination attack from all three of my main mons, and his starter, the electric/water Eletux, fails to static-hax Oryx and gets vine-whipped to death.

hooray? I hardly felt like I worked for that at all...

meanwhile, julia is always a rush...

edit: oh shoot, this probably should be in "fangame expose". sorry!

Edited August 21, 2016 by doombotmecha

[Simon]

EDIT: Actually since the general discussion thread for hasn't seen activity in awhile, I'll let this be a general discussion place for it as well.

[Lord Lime]

I liked the aesthetics of it, and a lot of the fakemon are very well done. The writing was a little iffy at times, and the story seemed lost for a lot. I do like the unique concept of fighting against the self inflicted nuclear threat. It's refreshing. The Nuclear Eeveelotion with Hyper Voice is broken

Edited August 22, 2016 by Lord Lime

[The FiRE of AcE]

To be honest, I really don't think it is fair at all to compare Uranium with Reborn; they're 2 completely different games altogether. Reborn is difficult to add a deep (albeit sadistic) layer of strategy involved and encourages experimentation. Playing through Uranium, it felt like I was playing a new generation of a Pokemon game. I had no idea what all the fakemons were, their typing, their stats, their movesets, etc. But it was really fun to explore not just the world in Uranium, but all the fakemon the makers meticulously made (not to mention online functionality as well!). I remember more than a few times where I would behold a pokemon in Uranium for the first time and exclaim, "OMG WHAT IS THAT?? I WANT ONE!!!" Even if later I got some of them and found out they were complete bootyhole. But anyways, long development times, but 2 completely different games that have their own unique perspectives. Even though Reborn was my first Pokemon fan-game and will probably be my most favorite one, Uranium is still a really damn good game.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

The first time I played Uranium was in 2014, and I didn't like it that much and ended up dropping it just after the 5th gym. I had two Pokemon on my team, battled every trainer, and was still somehow drifting between being underleveled and barely being even with opponents. Also I did the sheep (forget it's name) trade and I forgot that traded Pokemon disobey since I'd never dealt with that before (this was before I played Reborn). Also the story seemed kind of bare to me. I knew there was the nuclear Pokemon, but up to the point I stopped there was only 1 1/2 encounters with them (one was optional and I missed it by not knowing I'd only be able to go there before beating the 3rd gym) which made it seem more like a side plot than the main theme. I also didn't like Theo. I figured he'd get development later on, but he was still one of the most irritating rivals I've ever seen in any Pokemon game, including both main series and fangames.

Then I played Uranium again a few months ago doing a solo run with Eletux and got stuck at a sidequest because of a bug that made the game freeze.

Then I played again when it was finished and I like it more now. I did a solo run with Luxi. Being 15-20 levels overleveled while doing nothing different than when I had 2 Pokemon (besides having 1 less) kind of makes me wonder how I was barely scraping by with just 2. It isn't my favorite fangame and it wouldn't be in the top 5 if I made a list, but I appreciate all the work they put into it. Developing a game for 9 years and completing it is a major accomplishment, especially since I can count the number of Essentials fangames on my hands that I know of that have been completed (Uranium, Zeta/Omicron, Gray Topaz, and Raptor are the ones that come to mind. Also soon Insurgence).

(I know it's entirely possible to win with underleveled Pokemon, but being below opponents in level makes me feel insecure and vulnerable, like I'm a video game boss who's had its weak spot exposed)

[Jmanultrax1]

I never played it before, but I kept tabs on it. When it was fully released it was so much fun and it still is. I plan to enjoy this game in every aspect.

[laggless01]

I wonder with the Reborn team making new move animations, if those can/will be implemented in Uranium, too, if finished (since essentials)...

[Lissandra]

I quite enjoyed it !. I usually prefer the more difficult roms and uranium wasnt particularly hard by any means, but I can appreciate the unique designs/typings of the fakemon and whole nuclear aspect of the story was interesting.