Some Thoughts on the Experience of Playing Reborn

[Cassandra]

Hey, everyone!

 

So, I just finished episode 18 of Pokémon Reborn, and after spending 70+ hours on the game, I thought it would be remiss of me not to engage with this experience as well as the medium in more detail. Above all, I have to say that I am immensely grateful for the opportunity I had to play this game (completely free of charge, no less!) – the way in which it masterfully handled darker/more mature themes and provided a much more serious challenge than the traditional franchise impressed me rather deeply. In the following piece of writing, I intend to outline aspects of the story and the battle design I was appreciative of, explain how I personally interacted with these elements, and overall just tell the creators that I really enjoyed what they brought into existence so far. That’s the TL;DR of this post – you’re probably not missing that much if you quit reading now. I am used to writing rather long and structured analyses with a gradual argumentative progression that culminates in one conclusion or another; however, this post will be much more personal in that I have nothing drafted and just intend to wear my heart on my sleeves while writing it, seeing where my figurative pen takes me. I might clean it up before ultimately posting it, removing irrelevant tangents and potentially linking similar points; however, it will likely be more of a rambling meant to get out my ideas, rather than any sort of well-thought-out piece.

 

Note that I was not sure of which forum to post this content in, being a new user and all; however, I thought that discussion of aspects of the game and personal experience falls under a broad umbrella of creative writing. In case my categorization is deemed inappropriate, I am happy to oblige and take down the post.

 

Societal Outcasts and Family Relationships

What probably captivated me the most would be Reborn’s setting and phenomenal cast of characters – the manner in which it very openly centers a ruined and downtrodden city/region without shying away from addressing issues such as financial precarity and social conformity. I will have to admit that I was, at first, a bit irritated by the fact that everyone seemed to be everyone’s brother, so to speak. It was slightly baffling to me that all gym leaders and reputable trainers came from a select few families, which I guess makes sense when you consider the position of power they occupy in a world of Pokémon and how influence and power is often passed on. Nevertheless, I would say that the experience was maybe a bit alien to me, especially in relation to the Pokémon games that we are all very much used to, where most major characters don’t have that much of a relationship with one another (at least not one that predates the story) and a lot of gym leaders in particular are really much more of standalone figures that maybe play a bit of a role while you are near their respective city but then just completely fade from the story. That being said, I absolutely adore how their web of familial connections and interpersonal relationships is used to flesh out the figures further, and the fact that pretty much every single major encounter ends up being of consequence to the plot is incredible. The level of detail involved in drafting the characters and their role in the story is simply breathtaking. Their experiences sure are exemplary; however, they are often times illustrative of broader themes of the game, putting faces on abstract points about the dehumanization of the mentally ill or the function of community as both a vital structure of support and a crushing prison (among other things).

 

Now, my favorite character of Reborn would easily be Serra. On the one hand, her character most certainly resonates with me on a personal level, as she is exactly what I imagine I’ll be like in around 20 years – once I’ve graduated from the university I am about to attend and settled into a certain form of employment (and a certain mode of life), only to lose much of the flexibility and freedom of my current life in favor of the entrenched structures that govern my livelihood. Experiencing much of the struggles of this period of life whilst lamenting the fragility of what I have in face of a rapidly changing world, I can only imagine what I will be like at her age. Her gym with its mirror theme as a symbol of both her past under the observant inspection of the public eye and the instability of life was an absolute delight to go through. Seeing my take on her, it will likely not surprise the reader to hear that the little adventure after the battles at Glass Workstation – obviously something fresh in my mind right now – was such an enjoyable experience that I just closed the game and loaded my save to go through it again, and Serra was certainly a huge part of that. I loved her interactions with Radomus (partly because Radomus is probably my third favorite character after Serra and Cain because of the manner in which he exemplifies a life in the moment without much orientation (e. g., the concept of “barely hanging on”), and I kind of ship Serra and him, so I had to contain my urge to start writing romance fanfiction between the two of them) and how they highlighted the merits and flaws in her outlook on the world. The prior vision in the stars of a torn and broken Serra, as well as her extended “family,” so to speak (including Anna and Noel – actually, I only caught that the second time around because I had foreknowledge of the fact that they would be revealed as Radomus’s children), was a powerful image. And yet, her life philosophy is anything but nihilistic; though she displays signs of resignation and an acute awareness of just how transient life is, she is rather deeply committed to shaping her own future and take on a more active role, a spark most clearly ignited with regards to her son’s actions.

 

Speaking of whom, Bennett is a character I have rather mixed feelings on. He seemed like a charming and ambitious young man early on, only to completely lose any sympathy I had for him after behaving the way he did towards Luna – which really just revealed an astounding degree of egocentrism. I vividly recall him following us when we were about to challenge her, which ended in Luna stating that she held no ill feelings towards him and did not resent him for what he had done – and I was like, “Good, now go away.” But even though he had just been complicit in mistreating her, he had to force his feelings of love onto Luna and insisted on doing so even when she was very clearly uncomfortable and even fled so he could not follow her. There are few scenes in the game that inspired this sort of very visceral annoyance in me – even though plenty of characters obviously did things that were way worse (Sirius or El, for example), the familiarity and attachment we feel towards the characters involved just made this seem so much more reprehensible to me. And yet, Bennett seems to realize how unlikeable he came off in that affair in particular, and despite his antagonistic role at Glass Workstation, his interest in self-improvement and his admission of past mistakes really made me quite excited when he faced Laura (obviously, the Elite Four member he helped get fired so as to usurp that position for himself) head-on. I’m looking forward to seeing how their relationship develops in the future. In the end, I guess my view of him is mainly characterized by curiosity, especially with regards to his relationship with his mother. Obviously, his behavior may be traced back towards his upbringing in some way – maybe his mother’s own struggles and semi-acquiescent attitude meant he lacked vital support in his formative years.

 

And while I’m discussing the subject of parenting, Cain and Aya, as well as their parents (who we also received some really interesting details about), are, in some ways, prototypes of children experiencing troubles within their family alongside a generally pessimistic attitude permeating Reborn, and they choose to deal with them in different ways that reflect their diverging personalities – Cain feels a desire for freedom and shies away from serious attachments (partly because of his rather unpleasant experiences at home), traveling around the region and adopting a somewhat eccentric manner of self-presentation as a result. By contrast, the much more introverted but no less vulnerable Aya is inclined to have everything stick to her, feeling partly at fault for what ended up unfolding and believing herself to be a toxic person out of a misplaced self-assignment of blame. Honestly, I just really like both of them, as well as their relationship with one another that originates from the fact that, while Cain’s actions genuinely hurt the young woman, she still cares for him and feels a degree of intuitive sympathy (in addition to the aforementioned guilt she assigns to herself).

 

I would like to talk a bit more about that walk in the stars, though, which I think just did so much in developing and fleshing out certain characters. I really liked the part about Cal and Blake, to the point where I really hope we get some more information on Blake in particular if he makes another appearance. Cal was someone I warmed up to a lot over the course of the story (pun sort of intended), as I think his degree of self-reflection makes him extremely compelling, and though Blake seems like a bit of an asshole as of now, I would really like to get to know more about his motivations at some point. His backstory would be quite the delight to read about, too (including the reason why he retired as Ametrine City’s gym leader). Furthermore, I was appreciative of the fact that we got a little glimpse of backstory for Fern (who, obviously, we are meant to feel a good amount of animosity towards due to the story’s framing), though I am craving more of that. Kiki never really resonated with me early on in the story (I mean, her lessons seemed rather clichéd, and I thought of her as the stereotypical wise and experienced sensei character training Fighting-types or Psychic-types), but the information about her backstory and internal struggles led me to sympathize with her quite a bit. There’s also Lin’s fatalistic attitude and her implied background with Dr. Connal, which leaves me rather curious. All in all, there are just so many characters I am dying to see more of.

 

There’s one more point I wanted to comment on – one of my favorite parts of Reborn is that all characters are given at least somewhat understandable motivations, leading you to vaguely see where they’re coming from even if you disapprove of their actions. All too often, villains (a category of characters quite dear to my heart for personal reasons) are treated as being irredeemable in storytelling, and attempts to add context so as to understand them are dismissed because even, say, a tragic past does not erase people’s agency. I respectfully disagree with that assessment, for I think we are all ultimately slaves to our circumstances. And while a negative impact can never be undone no matter the individual’s motivations or backstory, there lies no harm in developing a grasp of their character (if anything, in order to simply prevent others from going down the same road).

 

Some Lessons on Strategy

Putting the absolutely mesmerizing plot aside, I was really happy about the battle design and the manner in which field effects allowed for situational advantages and/or disadvantages to make use of. I’m a more casual Pokémon player, and I’d say I’m at the somewhat awkward point where the official franchise games generally don’t pose a serious challenge to me whereas competitive playing is way out of my league. In this intermediate position, the level of difficulty in Reborn was just right for me.

 

Now, I actually did a monotype run with just Ice-type Pokémon from just before Shade’s gym onwards (what can I say? I really love monotype challenges, Ice is one of my favorite types, and I could scarcely contain my excitement when I realized I could obtain plenty of Ice-types fairly early on in the game – which is usually not possible in the main franchise –, so I spontaneously decided to just make it a monotype run), and one of the reasons I find monotype challenges so incredibly fun is that they force you to get creative in terms of strategy – it’s no longer enough to just use a Pokémon that’s well-positioned against a given trainer, and if you’re at a disadvantage against a gym, you’ll just have to find out a way to prevail regardless. Now, Reborn with its elevated difficulty certainly hammered home this point all the more, and in fact, the experience of playing through what there is so far with a monotype team really highlighted the value of strategizing to me.

 

Now, one of the leaders I was most afraid of would be Titania, and thanks to a bit of maneuvering (and X Defends), I was ultimately able to beat her on the first try with just my Sandslash, whom I had taught Brick Break beforehand. I mean, what can I say? Hail made it twice as fast, Swords Dance maxed out its Attack in two turns, I could terminate the Aurora Veil whenever I wanted, and the enhanced Defense stat basically made my Sandslash invincible (fortunately, I did not fall victim to a critical hit at any crucial point) because her team was so reliant on physical moves (and didn’t carry one Fighting or Fire-type move). In fact, the only leader I was theoretically at a disadvantage against that I seriously struggled with was Charlotte, owing to the fact that my Pokémon weren’t fast enough to quickly fire off a Blizzard and terminate the field effect. As a somewhat contrary tale, the gym leader who gave me the most trouble by far would be Terra – mainly, I would say, because I didn’t prepare adequately for the gym battle. After seeing her team and how weak it was to Ice, I got kind of cocky and really didn’t even read about the field she was fighting in, expecting the battle to be a complete and utter 6–0-type blow-out. And what a blow-out it was – just not in the direction I had been expecting. The reversal of the Physical-Special split made all my physical Ice-types almost completely useless in the gym, and that Assault Vest Garchomp with its coverage moves that, in case Stone Edge and Flamethrower didn’t already take out whatever I would send in, would just spam an always-neutral STAB Draco Meteor enhanced by the Assault Vest that would never get weaker because the damage calculations were made based on its Special Defense anyway – it completely destroyed me. I still recall my jaw dropping upon seeing how little an Ice Shard (which I had figured was all I could do) did to that thing. I lost to her twice before finally breaking through at the third try – and in hindsight, my Ninetales (which was basically the VIP of my team in the late game because I made the natural choice of running a hail-based team, and Aurora Veil allowed sweepers like my Sandslash or my Cloyster to set up fairly reliably) might have been able to deal with the Garchomp, but I couldn’t evolve a Vulpix at the time because the one Ice Stone obtainable before returning to Reborn had already been used up on evolving Sandshrew. It’s really quite something how much a bit of strategizing beforehand can do – after Terra, Ciel was a breeze (naturally enough), Adrienn was not really a big problem once I carefully brought Sandslash in, my somewhat cowardly strategy allowed me to get past Titania without issue, a Blizzard ended Amaria’s terrain advantage, and not even Hardy was really that difficult thanks mostly to my Cloyster.

 

One of the things about Pokémon I think many people do not realize is just what a plethora of strategies and tools are at our disposal as players – and I by no means exhausted the options I had (I never used Revives in-battle, for example). That’s one of the reasons I feel like this monotype run taught me a lot, and ultimately, the field effects are such a nice way to add a strategic layer that they easily stand out as one of the best parts of the gameplay (at least to me).

 

Conclusion

Playing Pokémon Reborn was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and I would like to utter my thanks to the creators for this lovely product that gave me so much quality time completely free of charge. I would certainly be interested in making at least a slight financial and/or creative contribution (to the extent that I am able to) in exchange for one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had (although, to be fair, I don’t play a lot of video games either). Either way, I’m already planning another playthrough (maybe a Nuzlocke this time?), and I’m really excited to do it again – the game is just that good.