My Problem with Pokemon Reborn

[BabaFisi]

Let me start off by saying this: Pokemon Reborn is one of my favorite fangames, period. It might even be one of the best fan creations ever made. This post (along with a separate one on the Reddit) are not a bash on people who like the game, nor is it a critisism of the developers.

I simply wish to talk about an opinion I've had about this game since I started playing it back in about 2015:

I think Pokemon Reborn is good at being a Pokemon Game, but I do not think Pokemon Reborn is good at being a game with Pokemon in it. The game draws way to much attention to it's boatload of characters, has way too much dialogue, and doesn't immerse me in the world of Pokemon.

Pokemon Reborn is a good Pokemon game in the way that it gets it's battle system and challenge factor so right. The field effects are fun to play around with, certain boss fights are fun once you get to know them, and the scaling for what Pokemon are available at what time is an interesting concept it pulls off fairly well.

My problem with this, though, is that it this is the ONLY place where most of the Pokemon elements are, in the battle system. Storywise, Pokemon are either used as plot devices, excuses for why things happen, and for the mostpart DON'T DO ANYTHING. Pokemon is a game franchise heavily rooted in treating your Pokemon like you would an actual pet. You respect them, and theirfore, use them during the game.

In Pokemon Reborn, however, I have no reason to use Pokemon I love, because they either don't stand a chance to anything that the game throws at them, or for the bigger reason that none of them have any story significance.

You could very well take out any aspect of this game that has any ties to Pokemon, and I don't think the game's story would be much different. Pokemon Reborn is good at being a Pokemon RPG, it is not good at being a "Pokemon" game.

Another problem I have with Reborn is that I have no reason to care about the characters. Pokemon Rejuvenation I think gets it right with how you use characters. At any point in the story, there's always at most 3 or 4 characters at once, and the game has heavy cutscene use, so following the story is a must.

In Reborn, you can literally just hold the C key and not know anything about what's going on, and still progress through the game. I swear, I feel like newer players are doing this because of the amount of posts that boil down to "Where tf do I go?".

And the worst part is that there's no way to skip any of it. There's no alternative route to go through the game faster. Sure, there are alternative routes for the story, but like I just said, holding the C key and getting to the battles is a lot funner than reading all of the dialogue.

I want to care about these characters, but there's nothing to grasp onto. There's no drive for why I should care about these characters, so I don't. Cain's interactions come off a bit weird, Victoria is kind of a nothing-burger character, and a lot of the Gym Leaders feel like filler roles.

Ironically, my favorite character in the game is Fern, THE CHARACTER THAT PEOPLE HATED THE MOST!

He's exactly what people in the Pokemon community have wanted: A jerky rival character. What's not to love? He literally tries to make you get on your knees and sing his praises to get him to let you out of a cage. And the part where he gets trapped in a cage, and you letting him out immediately... It's a good character moment to show the difference between him and the player.

Least favorite has to be Lin, though. She's a dumb villian character, and doesn't even HAVE CHARACTER until the endgame! Do I feel bad for this child? Sorta? Do I think she's a good villian? No.

There are multiple points in the story where you COULD stop Lin, like when she kills Ame. You could have a decisive choice to either battle her immediately, put her in her place, and avenge Reborn's fallen champion, at the cost of weakening you before the Pulse Magnezone fight. So unless you brought healing and revives, you're screwed.

Did anyone also find it a bit weird that you fight Lin as the Champion? Like, Ame basically just died. Shouldn't you go through the Elite 4 rooms without the fights to build suspense to the final fight with Lin, instead of a really annoying Gauntlet?

I want to end off by saying this doesn't really affect my feelings towards Reborn. I love the game, but I think it has some problems that aren't going to be fixed anytime soon. I'll probably be playing this game as long as it keeps getting updates. And even when it isn't, I might still be playing it once every year or so, whether that be for a short while or a full playthrough.

Thanks for Reading!

 

(This post is copy-pasted from my post original post on r/PokemonReborn)