Hey! Isn't it, like, totally cool and awesome and unique to this fantastic game how you have to...

[Yoraiko]

Spoilers for Past-Desert-content!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey, fellow Reborn-kids!

I just wanted to express another moment of appreciation for this truly fantastic and well thought-out game. You really can see the love and time Ame has put into the gameplay at so many places.

Like, for example, isn't it absolutely fantastic in terms of enjoyment how you, after you meet the Ultra-Reshiram up in Titania's castle which of course one-hittes every single OxygenWaste of your miserable level-cap-trained team which brough you past the last ten badges, get thrown out back to the traincity and are thereby forced to walk all the way again through the trains , the grasslands, the castle and the tower back to reshiram just to get your worthless player-ass thrown out again simply because of the fact Ame decided with a sadistic against placing a PC and a healing-machine in front of the castle, which would have been way too obvious ands casual and I mean if you want something like that you can go f*ck yourself and your stinky casual-attitude and play sword and shield, right? I mean, have you considered just getting gud at the game? I bet THAT would solve things, why didn't you think of that sooner, silly? Genius! Haha! That's certainly not what we're here for, no, this forced way you have to walk again and again and again if you have to switch out your mon or lose and didn't save adds so much in terms of complexity, difficulty and most importantly fun and satisfaction when you have overcome the gimmick-legendary which has numerous boosts against you so the poor thing doesn't feel overwhelmed, by using strategizing and one of the countless ways this marvelous game gives you to overthrow your opponents... uhm... wait, no thats not right, of couse you beat Reshiram by using a cheesy and dirty trick you have googled before, but that's the point of this complex and climatic fight, probably seconds before you get your head smashed in by Lin, Titania, ZEL, the doctor, Arceus, God, a wild pikachu, some bug catcher and justmonika, but THATS THE POINT OF THIS GAME, like, right????

Let's all take another moment, but hopefully not the last, to appreciate our grandmaster Ame, the one, true queen of the iron throne and the eighteen kingdoms, who understands in every detail what a challenging and fresh experience for a pokemon game always should be like!

 

Aaaaahh, I LOVE THIS WONDERFUL GAME SO MUCH!! I LOVE ALL OF YOU!!! <3333

[Amethyst]

glad you like it and that you've played it so much! thanks for participating in our community too

[Yoraiko]

a pleasure. Keep up the good work!

[andracass]

i see you are spreading.

51 minutes ago, Yoraiko said:

get thrown out back to the traincity and are thereby forced to walk all the way again through the trains , the grasslands, the castle and the tower back to reshiram just to get your worthless player-ass thrown out again simply because of the fact Ame decided with a sadistic against placing a PC and a healing-machine in front of the castle,

it is probably worth mentioning that the hole in the back of her arena will take you out to where the healing station is in train town. this allows you to save some backtracking.

57 minutes ago, Yoraiko said:

which would have been way too obvious ands casual and I mean if you want something like that you can go f*ck yourself and your stinky casual-attitude and play sword and shield, right? I mean, have you considered just getting gud at the game? I bet THAT would solve things, why didn't you think of that sooner, silly? Genius! Haha! That's certainly not what we're here for, no, this forced way you have to walk again and again and again if you have to switch out your mon or lose and didn't save adds so much in terms of complexity, difficulty and most importantly fun and satisfaction when you have overcome the gimmick-legendary which has numerous boosts against you so the poor thing doesn't feel overwhelmed, by using strategizing and one of the countless ways this marvelous game gives you to overthrow your opponents... uhm... wait, no thats not right, of couse you beat Reshiram by using a cheesy and dirty trick you have googled before, but that's the point of this complex and climatic fight, probably seconds before you get your head smashed in by Lin, Titania, ZEL, the doctor, Arceus, God, a wild pikachu, some bug catcher and justmonika, but THATS THE POINT OF THIS GAME, like, right????

my sarcasm detector senses a bit of salt here.

i believe this comes from a bit of a misunderstanding about the game. reborn is supposed to be hard. there is a level of difficulty that the canon games are (especially more recently) sorely lacking and it is that gap that reborn seeks to fill.

there are, of course, a number of differences that this causes from a gameplay perspective, the primary of which is that you will have to play more strategically and adapt to the different battles. there are a lot of ways to do this- ev training, nature changing, rotation-based teams that swap from a pool of pokemon to best fight specific opponents. there are ways around obstacles.

but we've already had this talk before. and, indeed, my impression of you is mostly that you're here to make noise. so this is, perhaps, not specifically for your benefit, but also for those who dropped in because of the racket.

...i would add in quotes from your post, but god is it noisy. we'll just do a list.

the first comment i'd make is that this is not the first time someone has been turned off by the difficulty- there are absolutely other players who stick around for the story and don't particularly like the tough fights. that's valid! this is why lite mode is in development- we want it to be more accessible to those players while still presenting a challenge which is going to be a tough needle to thread. 

you probably remember me saying this, too.

now, part of this... i'll politely refer to it as a "run-on sentence" is that you were frequently told to "git gud". while this statement, for aforementioned reasons, is, perhaps, true, this is not really an acceptable response to people looking for help. neither is telling someone to find the best flavor of cheese for the situation. some people don't like cheese. 

ah, but, i'm still repeating myself.

so, instead, how about this: why are you here?

criticism is acceptable, but we both know that's not what this is.

if you are simply here to make noise, you will be asked to leave. if you wish to keep banging your head on a game you are clearly not enjoying, that is your own prerogative. do not scream at the rest of us while you do so.

[Yoraiko]

Hey dear friend, thanks for your response! Appreciate it. No sarcasm here.

 

Quote

 it is probably worth mentioning that the hole in the back of her arena will take you out to where the healing station is in train town. this allows you to save some backtracking.

Yeah, thats a blessing. Didnt help with reshiram but hey, appreciate it before Titania.

 

Quote

my sarcasm detector senses a bit of salt here.

Does it?

 

 

 

 

Quote

i believe this comes from a bit of a misunderstanding about the game. reborn is supposed to be hard. there is a level of difficulty that the canon games are (especially more recently) sorely lacking and it is that gap that reborn seeks to fill.

there are, of course, a number of differences that this causes from a gameplay perspective, the primary of which is that you will have to play more strategically and adapt to the different battles. there are a lot of ways to do this- ev training, nature changing, rotation-based teams that swap from a pool of pokemon to best fight specific opponents. there are ways around obstacles.

but we've already had this talk before. and, indeed, my impression of you is mostly that you're here to make noise. so this is, perhaps, not specifically for your benefit, but also for those who dropped in because of the racket.

...i would add in quotes from your post, but god is it noisy. we'll just do a list.

the first comment i'd make is that this is not the first time someone has been turned off by the difficulty- there are absolutely other players who stick around for the story and don't particularly like the tough fights. that's valid! this is why lite mode is in development- we want it to be more accessible to those players while still presenting a challenge which is going to be a tough needle to thread. 

you probably remember me saying this, too.

See, I absolutely agree with you about the official games being a joke since... Y and X in my opinion, BW2 was the last official game I really enjoyed. But there is some gray area which this game ignores at times, and at times doesn't. The problem is, the difficulty of the battles wasn't the problem here at all and wasn't the point of my - slightly irrational angered - post up there. I already beat the reshiram with a bit of playing around, its okay, and in retrospektive most of the battles in reborn never were the actual problem. No, what brought me to the silly ragewall up there is the thing which I think is, besides the horrendous puzzle-design (Devon corp), the actual mainproblem of reborn, namingly the frustrating lack of comfort, either due to Ame wanting this game to be as rough as possible or just her missing it, which can happen. This is something that can be easily fixed, if needed. This critique is a point I can back up with arguments and not with blind rage like I tend to do when I struggle with some of the incredibly-hard-balanced battles(AmariaTitaniaHouse).

 

There is no problem with Reshiram, the problem lays in the fact that you could, unlike me, be unlucky enough to not have a team with you which can beat it. So you let yourself get beaten to get teleported back and walk all the way up there again once, IF the next team is the correct one. If not, you walk up there again and again, and that is not even considering you might not have enough cures with you in which case you would need to get back to heal your team before Reshiram or even buy new potions.

 

It was similar with Luna's gym - there was no PC in front of her so if it weren't for the fact that she was relatively doable and my team was just right, I would have been forced to walk all the way back to a pokecenter everytime I would edit my team. Why?

 

In devon corp, before facing ZEL, there is no PC or more than one healing. I had to walk back through all of Ame's puzzles again and again and again and again in order to find the right team and strategy. If I messed up the eletronic plates and got hit more than one or two times, I was forced to instantly go back because I couldn't afford to waste my few potions left before ZEL. 

 

All of that and more situations all over the game could have been prevented by simply not pestering your players with pointless walking and placing a PC in front of tight fights. I really dont understand how this lack of comfort adds to the experience IF it is intended - having to walk long ways multiple times before you can confront an enemy is neither fun nor does it make reborn more difficult, it just makes it more tedious and that is such a shame. Much of my frustration for some of thouse mind-boggling hard battles only came from the circumstances surrounding them, time-consuming walking and puzzling.

 

Saying "Just save in front of those opponents" (Which I do) is not a valid argument - you can't design your game with the expectation of your player breaking the world's laws by using a meta-element(The saving function) and thereby canceling the system you have created. Your design-flaw is still there, even with the option to negate it to some extend. And that doesn't help with different teams of course. Just place a PC in front of those battles and we're all good, Ame. PLEASE. This game doesn't need this kind of playtime-stretching.

 

Quote

now, part of this... i'll politely refer to it as a "run-on sentence" is that you were frequently told to "git gud". while this statement, for aforementioned reasons, is, perhaps, true, this is not really an acceptable response to people looking for help. neither is telling someone to find the best flavor of cheese for the situation. some people don't like cheese. 

I actually got good. I came into this game as an official game-plerp, never played online, and was wrecked by every small challenge. And now, 90 hours later, I'm on a whole other level and use the strategic possibilities of the pokemon-system at least to some extend. That's awesome, so I got good. Just not as good as some of you folks, and that's okay, because I'm not capable and not willing to dive into the Reborn-challenge as deep as some of you do. But I STILL want to enjoy the game (And I DO enjoy it most of the time by now) without an easy mode. Just a bit of comfort would help. Oh, and maybe one or two puzzles less, but thats just me.

 

Quote

so, instead, how about this: why are you here?

criticism is acceptable, but we both know that's not what this is.

if you are simply here to make noise, you will be asked to leave. if you wish to keep banging your head on a game you are clearly not enjoying, that is your own prerogative. do not scream at the rest of us while you do so.

First, to answer your questioon: Obviously, and countless times stated, because I enjoy this game, and it is too good to not share my thoughts about it. While my last few posts were received mainly with "Stop complaining, get better"-responses, there still are and always were great reactions which motivate me to keep going and which surprised me when I started this playthrough.

 

The question 'why are you still here' is of the same kind as the infamous 'If you don't like it, dont watch it!"-phrase, which makes no sense. But I DO want to watch it and I DO like it, just not everything about it and I want it to be better so I can like it even more!

 

I agree that this post up there wasn't criticism - well it was, but it can't be taken serious as a ragepost and that's really all it is. I blame 90 hours of reborn cracking me a bit.

My reviews, though? They are criticism. They may be highly subjective, polemic and insolent at times, but I really try to get my points across there and I explain every single thing with examples I talk about. I listen everything I like and LOVE (Which is more and more) just like the things which dribe me crazy. The first list tends to be overseen, or at least few people comment about them. The negative feedback, though, as it is natural, stands out and makes some of you angry with me, which I can understand. That just doesn't negate the fact that probably some of my points aren't wrong and that my problems with Reborn, perhaps, aren't all completely on me.

And that is really all I want to be understood. This game is great, but it is far from perfect. Nobody should pretend it is.

 

One last thing: I stated it multiple times, but "making noise", trolling a small pokemonfangame-community, getting a bit of negative attention really isn't worth 100 hours of game time, countless hours of collecting my thoughts on reviews which I hope can be entertaining or even helpful in the best case, and translating them in a few more hours so you guys can even read them as my site is really small and I mainly write them for you. It really isn't worth that. So you can be rest assured that that isn't my goal.

 

When I beat Titania(Arceus bless my ways) I will write my next little sheet and then I think it wont be so far to me finishing Episode 18. I wont give up now, no matter how many downvotes I get over there on reddit, it doesnt matter because I really wanted to beat this game and I enjoy the world and story enough to make up for the things which crush me inside and outside.

 

An easy mode is surely a great idea in any case to extend your reach and get a lot of players in the boat who just want to enjoy the storytelling-aspects of Reborn which Ame really nails. Most of the time. Lets not talk about that fetchquest again. Its okay. MY PTSD is coming back. Have to go. Thanks for reading my waaaay to long post, I hope I could make myself understandable.

 

Nice holidays!

 

 

 

 

[andracass]

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

It was similar with Luna's gym - there was no PC in front of her so if it weren't for the fact that she was relatively doable and my team was just right, I would have been forced to walk all the way back to a pokecenter everytime I would edit my team. Why?

 

In devon corp, before facing ZEL, there is no PC or more than one healing. I had to walk back through all of Ame's puzzles again and again and again and again in order to find the right team and strategy. If I messed up the eletronic plates and got hit more than one or two times, I was forced to instantly go back because I couldn't afford to waste my few potions left before ZEL. 

 

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

I really dont understand how this lack of comfort adds to the experience IF it is intended - having to walk long ways multiple times before you can confront an enemy is neither fun nor does it make reborn more difficult, it just makes it more tedious and that is such a shame.

so, first, since i elected not to include this earlier, the game is not deliberately intended to be tedious beyond to extent to which, like, it's an rpg and this is kind of how they go. i'm certainly on the watch for ways to ease the tedium, but there are also often reasons why it exists/stays etc.

a big reason (and what i'm expecting to be the case the majority of the time here) is in-universe context.

luna's case is an example where it doesn't really make sense for a PC to be there given how isolated her actual gym is. a similar case can be made for titania. in this sense it isn't so much intentional so much as it is a side effect of other design choices.

devon is also in a similar situation (if this whole thing was planned why would it be easy) but i've also come up with something that'll make it a little less obnoxious for e19 despite that.

which, by the way.

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

due to Ame

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

we're all good, Ame.

hi i'm cass. i also make this game.

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

the storytelling-aspects of Reborn which Ame really nails.

this shit's all hers, though.

 

*ahem

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

The question 'why are you still here' is of the same kind as the infamous 'If you don't like it, dont watch it!"-phrase, which makes no sense.

i think this might've been a slight misinterpretation- it's less of a "If you don't like it, dont watch it!" thing and more of a "why are you still yelling about this thing you're watching". which leads into...

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

My reviews, though? They are criticism.

yeah bud i dunno about that one.

this post? this is criticism. it's coherent, composed, well-stated. this is something i can appreciate.

the "reviews" are, at best, an irreverent liveblog. they read like the first post. to someone who has no context and does not get the humor, it reads like the start of this thread. i would expect a reasonable reaction to the 6th instance of such a liveblog to be something along the lines of "really? another? why?"

so if we assume that

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

I mainly write them for you.

could you not?

i have (again) said this before, but even if, as you say:

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

That just doesn't negate the fact that probably some of my points aren't wrong and that my problems with Reborn, perhaps, aren't all completely on me.

it literally doesn't matter because your points do not make it through. ame won't read your blogs. i've reached a point where i no longer have the patience to, either. 

and, see, here's the thing:

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

This game is great, but it is far from perfect. Nobody should pretend it is.

who's pretending it is? if you want someone to tell you about what's wrong with the game, we can help.

big peeve of mine? lag. holy shit, the lag in this game is so bad.

rough puzzles? i sure hate route 2. where is crustle in the grid. why does it not line up with the rocks. who makes this game.

and a big one that you just barely touched on:

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

I listen everything I like and LOVE (Which is more and more)

there's a pretty clear increase in quality as you progress. now (obviously) i certainly think that the game as a whole is great, but on replays of the game you realize stuff like "y'know, up until you beat Corey, you're basically just hunting down tangrowths" and "dammit do i really have to run through jasper again???" just to name a few. 

i feel like i've reached a point where i'm just rambling a bit. 

short version:

Quote

rough puzzles? i sure hate route 2. where is crustle in the grid. why does it not line up with the rocks. who makes this game.

see this quote^*? it:
a.) criticizes the game

b.) is funny

c.) doesn't make the entire community hate me

things would probably be way different if your blogs read like your last post. i would certainly welcome that.

2 hours ago, Yoraiko said:

Lets not talk about that fetchquest again.

i won't, but there have been plans for a while, don't worry. fits in with the early game stuff.

 

^{*d.)what the fuck is this bitch quoting herself who the fuck does she think she is}

[Yoraiko]

Quote

hi i'm cass. i also make this game.

Hi cass, you free this evening? You know, we could... go hunt some shinies... fuck up a meteor base... lose some double battles together... watch the sunset from beryl bridge.... eat some cotton candy... no shared bill, though, everyone pays his own. Hope you understand.

 

Quote

so, first, since i elected not to include this earlier, the game is not deliberately intended to be tedious beyond to extent to which, like, it's an rpg and this is kind of how they go. i'm certainly on the watch for ways to ease the tedium, but there are also often reasons why it exists/stays etc.

Personally I dont agree to this degree with substance over playability, but thats just me and now I can at least partly understand where this comes from. Still looking forward to E19, though.

 

Quote

yeah bud i dunno about that one.

this post? this is criticism. it's coherent, composed, well-stated. this is something i can appreciate.

the "reviews" are, at best, an irreverent liveblog. they read like the first post. to someone who has no context and does not get the humor, it reads like the start of this thread. i would expect a reasonable reaction to the 6th instance of such a liveblog to be something along the lines of "really? another? why?"

so if we assume that

This dialogue we have right now is just that, a dialogue. It works differently than a walkthrough in which I dont have a conversation partner, especially one who can explain me like you why that is that and this is like that. I know these reports are no coherent reviews standing on their own, theyre not supposed to - I will write a full review when Im done, naturally. They're a walkthrough and mainly a collection of my thoughts, at best rewritten for better readability now and then. There are indeed people who enjoy them, although of course I know articles are never as effective as a Lets Play, so maybe I will try that stuff out someday too. Maybe with Rejuvenation. Not so likely though. Writing is more my part.

 

Quote

could you not?

Quote

it literally doesn't matter because your points do not make it through. ame won't read your blogs. i've reached a point where i no longer have the patience to, either. 

I'm afraid this is a request I can't fulfill. Mainly because, well, I'm almost fucking done. Can't stop now, can I?

 

No but my actual point here is, I dont really care for Ame or any other developer reading my stuff, as harsh as it sounds, I'm already happy when someone who played and plays the same game reads it and can connect to some thoughts. The criticism is there, just as the good points, if the developers read it or not. More importantly even is that I didn't make myself clear in my last post, so I correct that mistake: I dont write them mainly for you, I write them for me. These thought-sheets are honest and really useful when it will be time to write a complete review, I like that they help me to look back on my reborn-experience and writing is just my form of self-expression, in which form it ever may be. Writing about this games gives me the feeling I dont only waste my time playing a videogame but also producing something out of it. It may be outright shit I produce, but hey, it something, right? Without this Walkthrough I would have definitely stopped playing Reborn with the first Arceus. But it motivated me to keep going and that really is all that matters, right? Its fun to me.

 

Is it worth putting all this work into something twice translation) for a walkthrough barely anyone wants to read? No. Did I still do it? Yes. That's just the kind of person I am.

Still free this evening, cass. Just sayin'. 

 

Quote

big peeve of mine? lag. holy shit, the lag in this game is so bad.

Yeah right. Personally stuff like this is something that doesn't bother me because it is clearly not intended. I'm more annoyed by the things I think are intended and which I see as flaws.

 

Quote

things would probably be way different if your blogs read like your last post. i would certainly welcome that.

I got you covered, improvement is all part of the proccess and I'm always trying to live up to that, so of course I will try to keep my remaining parts more in an argumentative style. That's one of the reasons all my parts are cut in two halfs though, the text and the PRO/CONTRA/NEUTRAL lists. The latter are just plain thoughts I write down all the time while playing. Cant really do much about them except take out the swearing. God do I swear much into my word document all the time. Yes, I've got issues. Maybe. BUT Y'ALL DO TOO!!!!