Which one do you prefer?

[Yellowspaghetti]

Reborn or Rejuvenation. Personally, I may be in the minority, but I prefer Rejuvenation. It definitely has flaws, don't get me wrong. At times, the writing is...subpar. But, at other times, it's rather clever and likeable. I love the designs of the game more than reborn. There's so much more color and variety, in places like the golden forest, that route with the colorful trees, the jungle, gdc, it's just more...vivid. Sure, some of the cutscenes like the one in golden leaf forest seem kinda pointless, but other ones like the one with the old lady are really good. I hear a lot of people complain that the game was too easy. I really didn't think so. Is it easier than reborn? Yea. But I think that's a good thing. I really didn't play this game to have to constantly switch team memebers around, grind my ass off, and struggle. I wanted difficulty, but not that level. The characters I feel, are generally better. Some not tho: like Melia, Narcissa, Keta, Jenner, Geara. I personally like Venam more than Cain, don't really like Melia, love Aelita, and love Nim. I didn't really like Heather, Cain, or the grass guy in Reborn. The villains are pretty much identical in my eyes.  The gen 7 pokemon update really made me love the availability of good pokemon early on. What do you guys think?

[Wolfox]

I love them both, but my points go to reborn since I haven't been stck on a part there for more that a few months, while I've been stuck as a certain rejuvenation gym leader over a few years

[Yellowspaghetti]

3 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

I love them both, but my points go to reborn since I haven't been stck on a part there for more that a few months, while I've been stuck as a certain rejuvenation gym leader over a few years

Woah really? For me it was the opposite. I can't really remember if I got stuck on my run two years ago, but on the new one for version 9, I don't think I did. Maybe it's because all the pokemon I love that are amazing are in this version, like Primarina and Lycanroc. I did get stuck in Reborn quite a few times

[SomeWeeb]

Reborn - Hard as hell but rewarded with a beautifully (and terrifyingly) crafted story.

Rejuvenation - Most of the game is pretty happy from as far as I can see, and not only that, but it is fun casually. When Venam comes around everything is happy-go-lucky but when Xen comes around it switches tone VERY quickly. Gyms feel unfair however with gym leader-specific moves though.

[Tomek]

I like Rejuvenation much better because it has all those areas and routes and Reborn is just... meh, lets just put everything in one huge city

Edited July 11, 2017 by Tomek

[FairFamily]

 

1 hour ago, Wolfox said:

I love them both, but my points go to reborn since I haven't been stck on a part there for more that a few months, while I've been stuck as a certain rejuvenation gym leader over a few years

 What the ??? How it is not these gym leaders are unbeatable. How can you be stuck for years?

 

Also my preference goes to reborn. Story wise I feel that they are equal reborn is more focussed around character and morality while I feel rejuvenation is more focussed around mystery and the mystical. Aesthetic wise Rejuvenation has the edge with a far more diverse world which is absolutely stunning. However rejuvenation on the other hand feels to me lacking in the battling aspect. Now I only played intense but I always felt that rejuvenation lacks a sense of creativity in the teams that you fight. The custom moves, weather setup, butload of legendaries, overleveled stuff, easy sweeps by the foes, makes the fights feel more unfair from time to time.

 

 

[Filthy Casual]

For me, I prefer Reborn. While Rejuvenation is better than Reborn in a lot of ways, it suffers from one huge flaw: something I like to call "Sonic Syndrome". There are just way too many characters in Rejuvenation, and they all really make the plot kind of lackluster. For example, why introduce Mosely as a huge character in Goldenleaf and then never use her again? Also, why try and convince us that Melia is the next coming of Jesus, and then have her do nothing of value (she still got captured by Zetta and Geara, and needed our help to win).

[HUEnd]

I think we shouldn't face this like "You prefer X or Y", we should enjoy both games separately because the thematics are pretty different, but overall, I'd say Reborn makes me feel more involved than Rejuvenation, but that definitely doesn't make Rejuvenation 'worse' or 'not my favorite'.

[Wolfox]

8 hours ago, FairFamily said:

 

 What the ??? How it is not these gym leaders are unbeatable. How can you be stuck for years?

 

 

 

 

 

Narcissa, that's how. every time I think I have a good team it turns out that I don't, and when I do guess what, HAX HAX HAX HAX HAX! and then there's the one time I had a great team and I knew I was gonna win, the game crashed and the save file corrupted :/

that's how I've been stuck on ONE gym leader for years

[Yagami]

I prefer Reborn.In reborn,there are many story elements,side quests etc so when I challenge the gym,my pokemons are just below the level cap.So I don't have to grind.In rejuvenation,I finished V9 when all of my pokemons were below level 65.So I fought the puppet master and Neon when their pokemons were at level 72 to 74 and I was 10/11 levels below.The audino trainers are annoying because none of the audino have healing wish.After a while you will notice all of your pokemons are ev trained in HP.

But the one thing I like most about Pokemon Rejuvenation is exploring.Every time you get surf,rock climb,strength,rock smash etc.,a whole new area is unlocked.I am not even sure how many times I explored amethyst cave,Akora forest etc.I just finished v9 and got strength and now I am going to explore again.

Edit:Even though I said I prefer reborn,the more you think about it the harder it gets to decide.Honestly I love both these games.

Edited July 13, 2017 by Yagami

[Alphagar]

23 hours ago, Wolfox said:

Narcissa, that's how. every time I think I have a good team it turns out that I don't, and when I do guess what, HAX HAX HAX HAX HAX! and then there's the one time I had a great team and I knew I was gonna win, the game crashed and the save file corrupted :/

that's how I've been stuck on ONE gym leader for years

Did you see my post where I wrote what I did for her gym?

[MetrololAce]

Reborn feels a little more put together and focused. Rejuv at times seems all over the place, as if jan is constantly realigning the characters. The introduction of the spaceia character a few episodes back is a good example. Just don't know where he plans to take all that. 

On the other hand, the sprites, tiles, and tech in general are way ahead in rejuv. 

I like the characters in both games a lot and have spent hundreds of hours if not closer to thousands at this point, but ultimately I think they each have strengths and weaknesses when compared. Best to wait until they are both complete to compare though. Seems as if a lot will change by then.

[Fumble]

honestly? i prefer rejuv, though its story could use tweaking in quite a few areas (especially with the vast amount of characters, some of which who don't seem to have much relevance later on *cough* Mosely *cough*).

 

while i love reborn's story (though some areas do admittedly feel a bit too "edgy" dark, to me), it just seems really tedious replaying it, and i really dislike being stuck in the same dark, dirty city for most of the early game. rejuv, on the other hand, is pretty focused on exploration (for instance, i believe akora forest is a skippable area and pretty well-hidden, since akuwa town is honestly kinda forgettable :[) and colorful, lively areas from the start. some of my favorite areas are route 2/amethyst grotto, sheridan village, marianette's manor, teila resort, pre-angie kristilline town (post-angie kristilline just seems like another regular tropical area :/), darchlight woods, route 9, etc. they're all so different and pretty and aaaaa

 

also, rejuv's light-heartedness is something that i really love. even at times like the prison episode, there's always a few characters who still manage to make humor out of the situation (e.g. saki <333).

 

that aside, i do feel a bit annoyed at times, especially during certain boss fights (cough Mewtwo, Yveltal, Groudon, Kyogre cough :/), but i will keep replaying for our savior ANGIE ASKFSKNFFN

[C-MC]

I love both, but I had to rage quit Reborn cause I was stuck at 

Spoiler

the building where you battle the real Team Meteor leader, where I was stuck in a cage and I had to fight a guy forgot his name

but my pokemon were a bit underleved and it made me feel angry.. all that gameplay for nothing :/ BUT I might start over someday

[Personthing]

I prefer Rejuvination personally. I just have more fun playing it than Reborn and it doesn't really have any areas I dread going through whenever I decide to replay it, unlike Reborn which has two of the worst areas in any good Pokemon game I've played (route 1 and route 2 with route 1 being the absolute worst). In terms of story I have more fun with Rejuv (not saying it's perfect or something either) the constant grimness of reborn gets tiring. I still like them both a lot.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Personthing

[Mosesandfriends]

I prefer Rejuvenation over Reborn. I find replaying Rejuvenation is much less tedious and more enjoyable than Reborn. Some of the routes of Reborn are just too long and so tiring to get through (e.g. that route in Reborn with the rocks and the Crustle is SUCH A PAIN). Also, I prefer Rejuvenation's story and overall aesthetic a quite a bit more over Reborn's. It think it's because I feel like there are occasions where Reborn is trying too hard to be edgy and dark. It's always grim. Both definitely have their flaws though. The two games suffer from having characters that are randomly just thrown into the plot. Rejuvenation suffers more from this I think, especially after V9. Reborn suffers from this problem to some extent, but I think my main problem with Reborn is that it doesn't do a good job at developing some of the characters which makes them forgettable. For example, how much do we really know about characters like Noel and Anna? 

 

Ultimately, I agree with the sentiments of another comment here where they said that it is difficult to compare the 2 games fully as both are not finished yet. But right now, Rejuvenation is winning it for me. 

[CheddarSouffle]

Rejuvenation just seems to have a certain charm that Reborn lacks, but I can't really put my finger on what it is.

Both are great games though.

[Lord C]

Rejuvenation to me. Reborn's story was nice at all, but felt more of objective-based. Do this, then do that. Go here, take this, go there. Sure, the dark settings are nice and it has its nice plot points, but felt as if it lacked something.

 

 Rejuvenation felt more like an adventure to me. Go around braving the region, explore areas, fight the villains. I also have a weak spot for prophecies and time-travel sooo...

[Yellowspaghetti]

1 hour ago, Lord C said:

Rejuvenation to me. Reborn's story was nice at all, but felt more of objective-based. Do this, then do that. Go here, take this, go there. Sure, the dark settings are nice and it has its nice plot points, but felt as if it lacked something.

 

 Rejuvenation felt more like an adventure to me. Go around braving the region, explore areas, fight the villains. I also have a weak spot for prophecies and time-travel sooo...

I agree completely! Most of the areas are so dark and grimy. I love exploring around in Rejuvenation! No area feels too tedious and no puzzle is overwhelmingly difficult.

[cakeofdoom]

I have to say Reborn. I really like both games and each has some things that it is better at than the other.

 

Here are my reasons as to why I like Reborn more:

I'm a sucker for edgy and grimdark stories, it's kinda my guilty pleasure to read WH40k lore.

The plot is much more focused. I feel like everything I have to do in Reborn tie in with the overarching plot.

I like the Gym-leaders more. I think the only weak gym-leader characters in Reborn are Julia, but even she is better than Crawli or the Electric-type leader of Rejuvenation. I can't name any of their character traits other than "is blind" and "has an Electvire"

Reborn is much more professional - I never had to grind, because the game made sure my Pokemon gained enough experience through encountes (this is my main gripe with Rejuvenation)

Reborn's world is much tighter and better made. Several times it is mentioned that the city in Rejuvenation is dark. Kanon doesn't seem very impressed by the future either, but seriously, gearen city doesn't look dark, nor does it look like a bad place to live. It doesn't look like the region was ripped in pieces at any point. 

Many people mentioned that Reborn's puzzles were hard, but I found them to be alright. Meanwhile I was stuck several times in Rejuvenation and it felt much more unfair.

 

Rejuvenation is still good and its creators should all be proud though.

[ShadeStrider]

Rejuvenation is my Preference.

 

I just like the characters more. There were some that weren't that well developed (Ren), but then there are the ones that I enjoy watching, like Venam.

The MC sprites are better, and to me, that is somewhat important. If I'm gonna have an Adventure around the region, I should have the best trainer sprite. 

 

I've also had a weak spot for Time Travel and Prophecy.

 

The Added Difficulty is a nice touch.

 

Sometimes the Gameplay feels a bit unbalanced in comparison to Reborn, but it isn't anything that took away from my experience.

 

Reborn can also be a bit... Frustrating to explore at times. And It kind of overdoes the whole "Dark and Edgy" Aspect of it. Route 2 is one of those routes that I feel is just too tedious to explore (I now hate Crustle, because of It). So is Route 1 (F**K Tauros and Bouffalant). And Byxbysion Wasteland. It's kind of Like Assassin's Creed III. I play it and appreciate it for the Story, and the Gameplay is good enough, but there are some levels that I just Dread going through. I haven't had that Problem with Rejuvenation (Yet).

 

 Rejuvenation's story feels more alive. I always want to know what happens next. I just never had that experience with Reborn.

 

It also made me Want to EV train my mons. Reborn didn't really do that.

Edited July 16, 2017 by ShadeStrider

[Sceptilespy]

I prefer Reborn to say the least. I might come off as overly aggresive, but I really do love both games. 

Reborn- 

Spoiler

For one, the game's writing is pretty good. It definitely sets the tone for what a dark city full of crime should look like. Gearen City looks like a place I'd want to live. Reborn's characters aren't as memorable of Rejuv's, but they're much more well written. Even with Leaders who don't get a lot of Screen time like Corey and Serra. You learn a lot about those two in the short time you see them. And there are hints all over the region regarding their past. And then there are people like Fern who's basically a Flat character, but even then, we've learned to grudgingly love him. In short, as my thoughts are really scattered right now. Rejuv's writing simply doesn't compare. Reborn's battle difficulty is consistent. The characters stay consistent. Even though this is my opinion, I legitimately believe Reborn is just a more professional game. Reborn's graphics are better, granted, Rejuv is more colorful and I like that. Everything that happens in Reborn is related to the plot, meanwhile in Rejuv: "Who is Huey". Characters are introduced just to disappear in Rejuv, meanwhile in Reborn, we actually remember the characters that we're introduced to. Name 1 legitimate character who you had a legitimate reason to forget. El? You mean the guy with the Ditto-Arceus? Bennett. Ok you got me there, but he was the guy who helped kidnap a gym leader, and he fought you before Serra and Luna. (AND THAT'S HOW YOU MAKE A BUG LEADER.) Cain, Fern, Victoria? No way. Julia? Blows up stuff and is first leader you fight. Florinia? Helps you fight 3 stupid double battles and is sister to the biggest douche in the universe. Anyway, moving on. The puzzles. I don't think I need to speak on the puzzles. (I hate them.) Ok, so in short, Reborn has great graphics, is consistent, provides fun gameplay, and is, most of all, memorable. Rejuv is all those things, but less. ESPECIALLY IN CONSISTENCY.  

Rejuv- 

um, I got triggered for some reason, so this post is mainly about melia. So if you like melia, don't click. This point isn't as, well, anything as my reborn post was. So leave with your good impression of my beautiful profile picture and do something else. you might be thinking, oh just delete it then. but i need this off my chest lol. 

Spoiler

Ok. So let's give battles 100 points. Let's say consistency is a factor in those points. I'm going to subtract 3,000 points now. Ok, I'm just getting 9 paragraphs out the way. Anyway, Venam is cool. Melia is..., oh. OH NO. Now this is something that I'm not attempting to look at objectively. I have real life beef with this type of character. This shit pisses me off to no extent. I'm pretty sure the term is a "Mary Sue". Ok, first of all, you're not my friend. Don't invite me to go to GDC with you, I could be a drug dealer. Don't battle me out of nowhere with an all shiny team achieved via the power of BS. By the way, Zetta was created with Melia's DNA, so why doesn't he have this power. Why can't Melia make dimensional rifts? Why did Melia appear on top of the Dimensional Rift Gyarados to "help us" when she did nothing. Why does she heal our pokemon but not hers. Why is Alpha Metrenome the biggest Dues Ex Machina in the history of fiction and non-fiction. Who made her leader in Terajuma. Why did you turn right at Amethyst cave. I know Corey, I mean Keta explained that people do irrational things when they're scared. But there was literally no reason to go. You can apparently fix machines, so hardwire your brain to not be an absolute idiot. Why are you so useless in every battle. Why were you chosen to protect time and space in shit, I'm clearly much better at protecting things, including your friends and your own life. Why did you drag me into this mess. Not like it matters, if you didn't drag me in, all of your friends would've been dead. Why is Melia a superhuman. Why does nobody react the way normal people do when you die. Why do you have no flaws. Think about it, you're leading the revolution against team xen for some reason, you have good friends, you're a power ranger for time, Team xen is after you. Like, you're the perfect mary sue. and it hurts. I could go on for hours with Rejuv, but I think my point is more proffesionally explained in the Reborn spoiler. 

Anyway, I feel better after that. 

[Nyarth]

Well, they both certainly have their own pros and cons. For the sake of this argument, I'll be comparing Rejuvenation and Reborn a lot, not entirely on the basis of their own individuality. This is not a personal attack on their creators, as we already know that they are all awesome

 

(WARNING: Mega long post incoming. Mobile doesn't allow the spoiler tags, so you'll have to bear with me until I feel less lazy to pull out my laptop.)

 

Rejuvenation vs. Reborn -- Round 1: Story

 

This is probably one of the most driving points between these two games. They offer the dark, gritty story that is not in the canon games. Between these two, Rejuvenation is much lighter, but that really does not count as a flaw (as we'll get into later). Neither of them really have a bad story, as it does it's job in being entertaining, but there are a few issues between both of them concerning it.

 

Rejuvenation's, as pointed out a lot already, is obviously the structure. It feels like a lot of the stuff is random and spontaneous. There is either little to no build-up or little to no after-effect to many plot points. They either lead into dead ends or end up never being brought up enough to stay relevant. When this happens, it ends up leaving a very forgettable scenario with a small amount of impact upon the player. This is really, really prominent with the whole time-travel shtick, along with a ton of unfortunate characters that we'll be visiting later. 

 

Due to the randomness of the plot, it ends up having no driving force and set "goal" or vision in mind. It felt flimsy when you were going through events--many ending up feeling pointless.

 

On the other hand, Reborn's is very linear with the whole thing of the four keys and such. You know what is happening and why most of it is happening. It's easier for someone to follow and thus remember.

 

This isn't entirely good though. Due to the linear structure and strictness of where the player has to go, it leaves very little wiggle room. It feels less like an adventure and more like a series of overblown fetch-quests. This also badly affects characters as well, since it always feels like you're being forced into their hands. Many events always end up feeling rather synthetic then a natural occurance in the world.

 

Reborn has a really bad issue with it's edginess. A driving factor was the shock value, as that's how it's events and places would become memorable seeing how you'd never seen it before. But it's come to the point where the grimdark and edge of the game is becoming a crutch for the randomly executed events. The blood and guts eventually wore off in the game, so thus it lost the former shock value. Character deaths end up feeling hollow because they leave no impact whatsoever. Rejuvenation is able to get around this by switching between a bright and happy world to a darker one constantly, but Reborn's entire setting is about how dark this world is, which leads to events that are supposed to aid that fact just feel like another meaningless drop in the bucket.

 

Rejuvenation vs. Reborn -- Round 2: Characters

 

Okay this is probably the argument that everyone has already seen concerning these two games, so I'll put in my two cents. This is mostly focusing on Rejuvenation's since I think it should have more work in it.

 

Rejuvenation needs a lot of improvement in this field. It's been getting there--Version 9 is proof of that--but it still has a lot of work to do.

 

There has to be more direct interaction between several characters. This includes the obvious choice Ren, but he's already beginning to get the improvement button. Everyone else has already mentioned him though so I'll skip the details.

 

Melia really needs a rework. There isn't anything wrong with a "secondary protagonist" (which I think she is shaping up to be), and it's something I actually completely celebrate, but in order for it to work the character has to be extremely fleshed out and able to reflect and contrast upon the player. She needs a much stronger introduction, more inbetween interactions prior to her "death", and her personality has to be a bit more defined from the beginning so she has an actual characterization.

 

Speaking of that, a lot of characters need a bit more visible personality traits. This might just be a personal opinion, but it's beginning to blend together--with the hot-temper stuff in Venam, Saki, and Amber just feels really similar.

 

Some characters need to show up more! Poor Mosely. Poor SEC!

 

Villains are doing fine. Gears just needs a bit more build-up, the poor thing only got to use his Giratina once. I actually prefer our "evil-team duo rivals" more in Rejuvenation than Reborn's.

 

I think the actual character development is doing fine. It's a bit more prominent throughout the entire game than Reborn's. Venam is a great example of it.

 

Characters that are doing super well with this are pretty much all of the ones introduced in V8-9 since they've covered most of my issues. Nice job!

 

Rejuvenation vs. Reborn -- Round 3: Gameplay

 

I'm a liar, this section also includes world-building and such.

 

I'm a far cry from a competitive battler, so I don't really know much about the battles themselves. And I know that they would be tricky to measure to begin with as Essentials has rather bothersome AI, so I won't focus on the dynamics of the battles too much.

 

I will say I love field effects. I love them to the ridiculous extent that every Pokémon game I constantly hope that they'll be incorporated into it as heavily it is in Rejuv/Reborn. I adore them in every fangame that includes them, even if I do have a weird passive-aggressive thing against Desolation that is completely irrelevant.

 

Battling aside, Reborn is on the weaker side compared to Rejuvenation when it comes to down to the gameplay for a couple of reasons.

 

The primary of this is the world it has. Reborn is specially made for its dark and gritty cities and areas, but they end up clashing together. Aside from Reborn City, they really struggle to stand out between eachother as quite a few end up feeling generic, and it makes them really unmemorable.

 

Rejuvenation's world is incredibly colorful. The areas all have this alive-feel to them, with their own actual "culture" and their own NPC's reflecting upon this. Aevium is probably my favorite fangame region in general for this reason. 

 

The sidequests really help this fact. Not just the Help Center ones, but just the random ones you stumble upon or happen to find randomly. It adds to the whole "exploration" thing entirely and with an open-air.

 

But between the world and its own characters and how it is expanded upon, Rejuvenation and Reborn have a few differences.

 

Someone said that Rejuvenation shows things in visuals more prominently, but Reborn has much stronger dialogue in contrast. And I couldn't agree more.

 

Shadow Pokémon were a cool introduction in Rejuvenation. I just wish they were in the game more frequently, but I know that there is a reason why they were not within the story.

 

As for PULSE Pokémon vs. Rift Pokémon... Each to their own, I would say. I like that Rift Pokémon have their own "dimensions" that add to the eery effect, along with the fact they have a custom theme. I also like how PULSE Pokémon are displayed doing massive changes to the environment and areas with large effect. 

 

Rejuvenation vs. Reborn -- Round 4: The Electric Boogaloo

 

Overall, in this ridiculously long post I made at 3 AM, both clearly have their own pro's and con's, and neither really outweigh eachother in quality. It's all mostly subjective opinion to begin with and what you have more preference of.

 

As for me, I'm personally more biased towards Rejuvenation as I played it long before I ever touched Reborn, so I have more fond memories to latch onto immediately.

 

But there isn't a right or wrong answer, and there really isn't ever one in general between arguments.

[ShadeStrider]

In Reborn, I'm just a guy who's there, to do these events, drive the plot along, become a hero. I feel somewhat Disconnected to the Region.

 

In Rejuvenation, Even if the Character is the Classic Silent Protagonist (Like Link, Every Pokemon Protagonist in most Pokemon Games, The MC in South Park: The Stick of Truth), there still is a sense of Mystery to this Protagonist. I want to know His/Her's role in the prophecy. Is my Mother even my Real Mother? 

 

Also, Desolation, In my opinion, does this best. It doesn't really create a sense of mystery about the Protagonist, or make you the subject of a prophecy, but it does give you several choices that drastically affect the Storyline. You know when a choice is gonna matter later, such as giving a stone to either Shiv or Nova. The Fact that you have some degree of control over what happens creates that sense of a connection to the game, and the region.

 

 

 

 

[Nyarth]

Thing won't let me edit the text-wall, RIP. Sorry!

 

Also, while on the topic

 

5 hours ago, ShadeStrider said:

Also, Desolation, In my opinion, does this best. It doesn't really create a sense of mystery about the Protagonist, or make you the subject of a prophecy, but it does give you several choices that drastically affect the Storyline. You know when a choice is gonna matter later, such as giving a stone to either Shiv or Nova. The Fact that you have some degree of control over what happens creates that sense of a connection to the game, and the region.

 

 

Okay, hopefully this wont hijack this thread into becoming a Desolation one since it wasn't apart of the original point of the thread, but I really want to add on this.

 

This is what I kind of meant about my "passive-aggressive" thing in Desolation. The feature of your choices having a big affect on the story (and it being visible with the red/green text) is one I really liked since it's like an expanded version of the karma points/relationship variables. But there are a lot of things in Desolation that kind of irked me. Without spoilers, it's mostly lots of characters, unexplored plot points, and the fact that the beginning was a bit of a slog. Something that I did love in it was concerning the twist at the end of the current version. That was just awesome

 

To explain how I feel about it is just that it has so much potential that can make it freaking amazing, but it's not being utilized yet. This can be forgiven though as Desolation is in an extremely early stage and episode.