Would I enjoy Pokemon Insurgence?

[Tartar]

I have read in many places and among people on this forum that Pokemon Reborn, Rejuvenation and Insurgenceis the pinnacle achieved by Fanmade Pokemon games, and that everything else more or less pales in comparison to these three.

As someone who greatly enjoyed Pokemon Reborn for it's brilliant story and witty characters, and proceeded to play Rejuvenation and was slightly disappointed by its story (though I loved the gameplay), which aside from sequences like the Intro Scene, Blacksteeple Castle and Valor Mountain was slightly lackluster compared to the constant high-tensed story of Reborn and its witty, genuine and fascinating characters.

Would I enjoy a game like Insurgence, and how does it stack up against Rejuvenation and Reborn in terms of gameplay, the quality of its story and it's characters? And are there perhaps other Pokemon fangames which are as good or better than Reborn out there?

Edited September 28, 2016 by Tartar

[DemICE]

do you mean insurgence?

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

I think you mean Insurgence.

Gameplay: I think it has some of the best features of fangames, which include items that replace HMs and a secret base where you can EV train and level grind infinitely against an Audino trainer, difficulty modes, option of lighter or darker story, and the delta Pokemon (some of which have megas).

Characters/Story: I wouldn't say they're as detailed as Reborn or Rejuvenation's. There's not as much Gym Leader involvement as in Reborn or Rejuvenation where you frequently team up with them and learn their life story, but they're also not just badge dispensers and do have a few appearances outside their gyms. It's the same with the villains where they're not as deep as Reborn and Rejuvenation's, but you still do get to learn about their motives as the game goes on.

[Lucky98]

Insurgence is a fun game to play. However, the story isn't nearly as good as Reborn or Rejuvenation. There are some characters that are interesting, but it isn't like Reborn where you encounter gym leaders outside of battle frequently or that they travel with you. The gameplay is fun though. The game has delta species (which are pokemon of different types than normal), character customization, difficulty settings, challenge run settings (you can do things like nuzlockes, egglockes, and randomizers), and online play.

If you are looking for a game to play. I would recommend giving Insurgence a shot. You really won't know if you'll like it or not until you actually play it, after all.

Regarding other fan games like Reborn, have you played Desolation? While the current release isn't that far along, I had a lot of fun playing through it the first time.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Lucky1998

[Combat]

The game play is ok, but the plot is so bad I can't say I liked it. The game gives you the option to have a less violent or dark story at the beginning, but the dark story line made me cringe at certain times. For someone who plays for the plot, I had a hard time going through it, though I'm probably alone in my opinion. The one saving grace were the Delta Pokemon, which was one of the few reasons I continued to play it.

(Sorry for the rant, but Insurgence rubs me the wrong way for no apparent reason.)

Edited September 28, 2016 by Combat Medic

[AuthorReborn]

Deltas are definitely one of the larger points towards Insurgence, as they are interesting reinventions of previously made Pokemon. It also had megas for Pokemon such as Eevee, the Johto Starters, and Flygon tbh Mega Flygon is an insanely broken Pokemon in Insurgence so there's that if you want it, too. There's a lot of neat unique abilities and type combos in Insurgence (like D-Purrloin Ghost/Fairy, D-Trevenant Fairy/Fighting, and D-Roserade Dark/Fairy), as well as new weather conditions to work with different Pokemon.

The fights in the game are difficult at points... unless you happen to have one of the Pokemon that completely hard counter them. At which point, they're laughable.

Also, if you start the game before next update, you can get a free Delta Munchlax (Grass type) with the ability Thick Fat, which, once you level it up, will evolve into a Snorlax since it arrives at max happiness... and that's before you leave the first town. Balance doesn't really exist in Insurgence, so that is another point to keep in mind.

There's quite a bit of interesting gameplay there, but, as others have stated, don't play it for the story. It's not perfect and there's too many villains for all of them to be properly developed why have one evil team when you can have 5?, so that is unfortunate. Still, it's an interesting enough game with some neat features. If you are looking for a challenge, there's adjustable difficulty settings that range from "Easy" to "Hard".

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

there's too many villains for all of them to be properly developed why have one evil team when you can have 5?,

I actually do think it's possible for all of them to be developed. (spoilered to avoid majorly spoiling Tartar)

We know Jaern's and Audrey's stories, and there've been hints at Persephone's and Reukra's pasts. The only ones we know next to nothing about in terms of motives and history are Taen (who'll appear in another fangame by another dev team called Azurite which takes place after Insurgence) and Zenith, who has the oldest cult and will likely be developed more later on, especially given the prophecy.

[Dreamy]

It's no reborn, but Insurgence was pretty enjoyable for me. Can't compare it to rejuvenation because I only got round to beating 2 gyms in that before I got busy and haven't made it back to playing yet (but I will someday soon!)

Insurgence 1.2 will be coming out fairly soon, which should bring the game pretty much to completion, which would be a good time to start I guess

Edited September 28, 2016 by DreamblitzX

[H.P. Doom]

I would have to say, i really liked insurgence. It is a pretty fun game, with a flaw of its story. However, if you can look past its story, you'll find and enjoyable game that i'm sure almost everyone can like in someway. However, beware the balance issues because grinding might have to be a thing, so be careful of that. other than that, play it. if you dont like it, you can always stop playing.

[Sunbean]

I actually prefer Insurgence to Reborn. If you like the idea of Delta Pokemon you will like the game. The story is better to me because personally I find Reborn a bit too dark/edgy at times. So the story is pretty dark but not quite to the extent of Reborn and you can turn it off. The gameplay is also better in Insurgence in its ease and the added challenge of Deltas. But unfortunately what isn't as good as Reborn is the characters.

[Lord C]

Enjoy? Yes.

Truth to be told, I quite liked it, but the dialogue is really bad so far. Also, there isn't much of a difficulty and I actually think it isn't because of pokemon availability, but more due to the design. The hardest battle so far I had in the game was one in which our rival would have pokemons at the level cap (around 30) while ours would be around 20, leading to excessive grinding to cover this disadvantage in an area where EXP is quite scarce (luckily after this battle exp is never a problem).

The game has quite some ideas and its fun, but I feel it lacks things in its execution. Due to that, its plot takes a heavy hit and so does the difficulty. I feel you would enjoy it, for me it hasn't been as much as Reborn and Rejuvenation, but the Delta forms have a charm that vary from person to person. You may find them enjoyable and a replacement till Sun/Moon.

[Tartar]

So to sum up:

Insurgence has a in all frankness a terrible story, but has great gameplay with fun new Pokémon, but one that isn't in any way difficult nor challanging like Reborn and Rejuvenation? Is this about right?

On a sidenote, how long is the game?

[Lord C]

So to sum up:

Insurgence has a in all frankness a terrible story, but has great gameplay with fun new Pokémon, but one that isn't in any way difficult nor challanging like Reborn and Rejuvenation? Is this about right?

On a sidenote, how long is the game?

Didn't beat it yet, but apparently goes till the 6th badge.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

Currently goes to the 6th gym + 1 story event after. 1.2 which will probably come out soon (the content is apparently done and all that's left is bug fixes) will have the complete game, which will have 2 regions + a few other things.

[Tartar]

So the game is nearly done now?

And I meant more in terms of how many hours of gameplay does it have at the moment? Ie. Reborn has around 60, while Rejuvenation has around 35'ish.

[DemICE]

Also, if you start the game before next update, you can get a free Delta Munchlax (Grass type) with the ability Thick Fat, which, once you level it up, will evolve into a Snorlax since it arrives at max happiness...

i downloaded right now just to not miss this in case i wanted to play it in the future, and apparently it is actually not available anymore from the mystery gift.

except if i need to get out of prison first

Edited September 29, 2016 by DemICE

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

I'm not really sure how one would measure hours of gameplay, since different people have different paces and one person might do all the extras of a game while another might just do the main story. I have a file completed up to current version that's at 8:59 but it was a solo run with Delta Venusaur so I didn't train a team, and I also didn't do anything involving secret bases or use the online features.

[Lucky98]

So to sum up:

Insurgence has a in all frankness a terrible story, but has great gameplay with fun new Pokémon, but one that isn't in any way difficult nor challanging like Reborn and Rejuvenation? Is this about right?

On a sidenote, how long is the game?

I wouldn't go so far as to call the story "terrible." It's definitely not as good as Reborn's, but is still rather interesting at some points.

[Tartar]

I'm not really sure how one would measure hours of gameplay, since different people have different paces and one person might do all the extras of a game while another might just do the main story. I have a file completed up to current version that's at 8:59 but it was a solo run with Delta Venusaur so I didn't train a team, and I also didn't do anything involving secret bases or use the online features.

You and your solo runs...

And wow, that's a quick playtime. I may give it a go merely for the fact that it's so short.

[Twilightwing]

I have played Insurgence for about 40 hours all I have to say about is well the story isn't engaging like reborn or rejuvenation and the battles doesn't required to switch up your team often for gym leaders, But the Deltas and the community is makes it shine. Seeing Pokemon with different Typing and new megas is really fun. Even in Discord people are spriting Deltas for fun. Every Delta isn't made by a single person too so there's diversity. And look there's a mega Hydreigon coming next update

[Tartar]

If the game lacks a good story and engaging gameplay, what makes people say that the game is as amazing as it is, and equal or even better than that of Reborn and Rejuvenation?

[Commander]

If the game lacks a good story and engaging gameplay, what makes people say that the game is as amazing as it is, and equal or even better than that of Reborn and Rejuvenation?

This is something that fans of RPGs and fans of Pokemon are really split. An RPG gamer would say Reborn is only about average difficulty in terms of RPGs (it's definitely not as difficulty as people hype it up to be...even in the olden days), but the story is up there as pretty good. When comparing to Pokemon which has no standards, this looks pehnomenal because many Poke fans haven't experienced story or gameplay from Pokemon games through normal means.

Insurgence's story isn't terrible, but it has terrible execution and relies heavily on cliches making people divided what to say on it. This should not be surprising given Zeta and Omnicron and what they were like. Just picture those but with way better gameplay and a better story. It's definitely one of the better Pokemon fan-games, but due to the lack of field effects the difficulty is rather limited (then again I have made difficult fights with no field effects). I'd say give it a shot if you don't mind overlooking a faulty story since well...the amount of features is unmatched.

[Lord C]

If the game lacks a good story and engaging gameplay, what makes people say that the game is as amazing as it is, and equal or even better than that of Reborn and Rejuvenation?

Well, Deltas and new Megas are kinda charming (dat mega-flygon).

Biggest problem with the story is the dialogue. Like, we can see they thought this out beforehand. But in this game story occurs mostly via dialogue and the dialogue is bad, so as a consequence the story takes a hit. It doesn't have a flow to it, it has something it lacks that other games have that makes characters, regardless of being good or evil, feel... feel something to it. I don't know how to explain.

When I play it, I feel everything so... forced. Like, in the other games, you can feel the characters are human, regardless of their aligment or where they belong. That's something even official pokemon games do to the antagonist teams. In Insurgence, with exceptions I can count with the fingers of my left hand, most are so... lacking something. Kinda like they are enemies for the sake of it.

[teddybrer]

Sometimes I do wonder if keeping the characters mildly vague was on purpose...dialogue's definitely not a strong point but as far as character design there's a ton of potential...
Personally, I like to see it as...leaving it open for interpretation. Maybe letting the player see the character as whatever they want, instead of a set character? Which would be an interesting move. Not the best, but interesting.
It's really weird...flawed and not developed as they are, I really have fallen for many of the cult leaders.

That being said, some of the executions in plot are really, really creative. It's definitely improved on the added HM effects that Zeta/Omicron introduced (I won't mention them in lieu of spoilers) and added story to them to boot. There's a ton of hidden features, with teasers to more hidden in plain sight.

Plus there's the whole postgame thing...between it's pretty much confirmed that there will be an extra region, plus a World Tournament...that's pretty cool...right?

[Twilightwing]

Sometimes I do wonder if keeping the characters mildly vague was on purpose...dialogue's definitely not a strong point but as far as character design there's a ton of potential...

Personally, I like to see it as...leaving it open for interpretation. Maybe letting the player see the character as whatever they want, instead of a set character? Which would be an interesting move. Not the best, but interesting.

It's really weird...flawed and not developed as they are, I really have fallen for many of the cult leaders.

That being said, some of the executions in plot are really, really creative. It's definitely improved on the added HM effects that Zeta/Omicron introduced (I won't mention them in lieu of spoilers) and added story to them to boot. There's a ton of hidden features, with teasers to more hidden in plain sight.

Plus there's the whole postgame thing...between it's pretty much confirmed that there will be an extra region, plus a World Tournament...that's pretty cool...right?

oh yeah forgota second region is coming so a lot of new content will come when 1.2 comes out