I beat Reborn! Some reflections (Spoilers)

[leo_the_greatest]

Spoiler

I started playing Pokemon Reborn when I was 17 years old, and 6 years and some months later, I've finally beaten it to completion (well one route anyways) having completed the national dex. There's a lot I can write about how much fun I've had, how much love I've developed for the game and its characters, and how I've appreciated the community despite my on and off involvement with it - I'm really busy at this point of my life hence my late completion despite having access since beta wave 1. However, I can summarize it pretty well in saying that Reborn is the perfection of the Pokemon formula and the most narratively complete game I have ever played... Which obviously makes it my favorite game that I have ever played. There are so many little things that I appreciated such as the diverse cast with trans and non-binary representation (exposing me to positive characters since before I came out as enby myself). There's also the completely reworked AI, the amazing animations, and the all-around wonderful art style among so much else. I don't think this will be my last time playing Reborn [I've got to get my money's worth having been a patron for years ;)], but I'll definitely be taking some time to play other things for a while. Before I write anything else, I just want to say thank you to the developers, the community, and everyone else who made this game possible. I'm so, so, so excited about Chasing Selene's future projects, and you can count on my support for years to come. 

A little about my most recent playthrough before I wrap this up. I started from scratch and set out to complete the national dex as I had just done so in Legends Arceus before starting (hallelujah to finally having games where you can complete the Pokedex). It was a LOT of work, and a fair bit of following guides when I'd get stuck to make sure I didn't miss anything. I also played on set battle mode with the noitems password once I discovered it was a thing. I EV trained and eventually IV-boosted my team, and it was still very difficult. I had some prior experience for the first 17 gym leaders which made things more manageable (still difficult), but E19 brought new challenges with Sapphira, Victory Road Solaris, Pulse Clawitzer/Master Mime, and Heather, all of which gave me a hard time. The post-game had plenty of challenges, but Manaphy's quest, Celebi's quest, the Amaria/Titania orb quest, and the final boss were very, very difficult. I'm sure there's plenty of challenges I'm forgetting, but the game is just packed with them. My favorite mon in the main game and for much of the post-game was Galvantula. My favorite legendary is Marshadow, and I was very happy to get to use it for much of the post-game. One thing I've seen other people say is that trick room changes the game significantly, and I'd have to agree based on my observations of how different things were once I got access to choice scarfs and weather - speed is paramount to Reborn's difficulty.

I'll leave it at that, but once again, thank you to Reborn and everyone involved. The world is a very difficult place and this game has been a wonderful escape and a glimmer of hope in terms of what's possible in terms of turning things around for the better.