Support NeoGAF

[nubbe]

But you can't make a good Pokemon army unless you play the main game, so it IS important, if not vital.

It is more of an tutorial in my opinion. Personaly I wish you could skip it when you have "unlocked" one game in the same series.

You know the difference between, say, Final Fantasy 7 and Final Fantasy 8. Ok. Let's put aside what you think about those games (I didn't like FF8 myself). But in FF8, you're sucking powers out of monsters, and in FF7 you're buying and finding materia to customize your character. There's a fundamental difference in how you approach the gameplay here, you see? And yet they still use the same basic battle system, with is turn based or whatever or active turn based or whatever cheesy term they're using now-a-days.

There are Pokemons that have those kind of abilities. It's just that Pokemon doesn’t revolve around them
And you can equip your Pokemons with items to give them more strength and give them defensive capabilities.
But having a duo combat is actually a rather major change...
Weather effects change combat abilities... there is so much to Pokemon
Sadly, I think you are only looking on the surface when you say that some crossbreed or tweak doesn't change anything... there is alot more to it.
Hell, I almost think I could wipe your best team with only Shedinja #292... Not because it is godly, but because you don't know how to counter it. It only has 1 HP
It's the wide variety of Pokemon and their abilities that makes it interesting and challenging. You'll never know what you will meet or your opponent's strategy.
Even if the battle system is the same the challenge is always different since all Pokemons are different and when more are added there will be more challenges.

But never the less... Pokemon on DS will probably offer more changes... Maybe not only in the core combat system

 

[Amir0x]

Well, yes i bet you could wipe out my pokemon team with whatever gang you got together

 

[Alex]

I'd just like to see a halfway decent single player, some quality Pokemon raising and customization and some heavier added depth to the multiplayer. Y'know, the shit that should be there by now. I think I'm just upset because I fall for it everytime, damn you people.

Edit: Are some of you folks serious? I've played through Blue, Silver and Ruby single player and some decent multiplayer and outside of a new chunk of Pokemon, some clunky frills and minor rebalances the games can be almost identical. It's just as bad if not worse than Capcom and Koei zaniness, not that I mind but let's be honest here.

 

[Mejilan]

Stella Deus is loading.

Nubbe brings up a good point. The most recent Pokemon games allow you to control the weather. By summoning a storm, for example, you could augment your own abilities, and literally douse the competition. That was a neat change. Not to mention that they also added 'special affinities' (or whatever they're called) to Pokemon also have rather dramatic effects in combat. It's pretty cool stuff. Berry and item holding were neat upgrades, but those two I listed were much cooler.

 

[Lindsay]

I'd just like to see a halfway decent single player, some quality Pokemon raising and customization and some heavier added depth to the multiplayer.

What the heck? Your PKMN are pretty much completely customizable! And raising? What does that mean?? If ya want a virtual pet go play that non-game.

An Amir0x why ya always gotta come in and kill every nice god rearing PKMN thread there is? ;_;

 

[Amir0x]

An Amir0x why ya always gotta come in and kill every nice god rearing PKMN thread there is? ;_;

Hey, I've been stayin' out of Pokemon threads recently but I felt that the review raised the subject of it being more like an "expansion pack" than anything, so I thought I'd raise my concerns once more.

I want a Pokemon MMORPG, is that too much to ask?

 

[cvxfreak]

Amir0x, I fear for you when Pokemon Diamond and Pearl sales figures come out.

 

[Amir0x]

Amir0x, I fear for you when Pokemon Diamond and Pearl sales figures come out.

What, I've been through the sales figures tons of times. I accept them and move on. It's not important to me whether they succeed or fail really, although if they don't change I would prefer they don't do well. But at the end of the day one copy or eighteen million copies, it doesn't change my opinion on that the series needs a serious overhaul.

 

[Mejilan]

I expect Pearl and Diamond to do a lot worse than the GBA games.

Still, if Pearl and Diamond are really little more than Pokemon Ru/Sa with WIFI multiplayer, it'll still be close to the most amazing thing ever.

 

[cvxfreak]

What, I've been through the sales figures tons of times. I accept them and move on. It's not important to me whether they succeed or fail really, although if they don't change I would prefer they don't do well. But at the end of the day one copy or eighteen million copies, it doesn't change my opinion on that the series needs a serious overhaul.

It stems from your "it's not me, it's them who have issues"-like statement from that Media Create thread.

 

[cvxfreak]

I expect Pearl and Diamond to do a lot worse than the GBA games.

I expect them to be at around 4 Million copies when they finish up, perhaps as much as 5 Million. Emerald is bracing itself to outsell Pokemon Crystal if we believe Media Create's figures.

 

[Amir0x]

It stems from your "it's not me, it's them who have issues"-like statement from that Media Create thread.

I firmly believe that, but it doesn't change the fact that I could care less about the figures

What DOES affect me is games I love doing poorly! Now that just pisses me off! Pikmin 2 not selling 5 million copies is so sad!

I expect them to be at around 4 Million copies when they finish up, perhaps as much as 5 Million. Emerald is bracing itself to outsell Pokemon Crystal if we believe Media Create's figures.

I don't think Pearl and Diamond will come out at a time when there's enough systems to satisify 5 million sales, unless every single DS owner buys a Pokemon game which is pretty much impossible

It'll still do fantastic, though. I can see 2.5 million.

 

[Taichu]

I really hope Pearl and Diamond allow trading forward Pokemon from Fire Red/Leaf Green/Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. Just put the GBA game in the GBA slot, and have Pearl/Diamond be able to communicate with 'em.

 

[Taichu]

I firmly believe that, but it doesn't change the fact that I could care less about the figures

What DOES affect me is games I love doing poorly! Now that just pisses me off! Pikmin 2 not selling 5 million copies is so sad!



I don't think Pearl and Diamond will come out at a time when there's enough systems to satisify 5 million sales, unless every single DS owner buys a Pokemon game which is pretty much impossible

It'll still do fantastic, though. I can see 2.5 million.

It's not uncommon for people to buy both versions.

 

[Amir0x]

It's not uncommon for people to buy both versions.

Hahaha. Yeah, I know. Thus the whole gullible assessment of mine earlier

But that aside, 2.5 million per copy would be pretty crazy for such a small userbase, but it is Pokemon so I guess you can't be surprised by anything.

 

[Mejilan]

Well, no doubt like Ru/Sa did with the GBA, Di/Pe will do for the NDS... expand the userbase that is, probably even drastically.

I know I'll be picking up both.

 

[Crazymoogle]

As a Poke-idiot, can you explain to me how Emerald Green isn't the exact same freaking game for the 10th time?

*considers converting yet another to the poke-faith... (Jackfrost last time)

I expect them to be at around 4 Million copies when they finish up, perhaps as much as 5 Million. Emerald is bracing itself to outsell Pokemon Crystal if we believe Media Create's figures.

I think those are solid estimations too. Pokemon still has a lot of driving power in sales, and the DS is both new and inexpensive enough to possibly drive sales with surprising force.

Of course, it all depends on just how much Game Freak is willing to get off their ass with the production values this time around.

 

[cvxfreak]

If Pokemon comes around the holidays, which is the most likely time, then it'll have no problem selling at least 3 Million copies. Take a peek at those DS sales from last December, and add some Pokemon touch. The DS userbase is expanding every week, and with the amount of DS systems Pokemon will sell, I'm not that worried. I think lower sales will result from natural progression as a franchise rather than a lower DS fanbase.

 

[SantaC]

I realize this series has historically had its home on portables -- and has always taken good advantage of the link and transfer capabilities offered therein -- but damn, I am somewhat beside myself that Nintendo hasn't had the guts or forethought to develop a full-on console version of this franchise. Kids love it. RPG fans love it (for the most part). And Cube owners need something decent to play. Seems like it'd be a no-brainer.

Pokemon XD is in development for GC.

 

[Lindsay]

C'mon I know some GAF'ers work at EB/GS/etc so whens the game gonna be in-store? ;_;

And whats the obsession with OMG 3D Console POKéMON game anyway? Did nobody play Stadium or Colosseum? The battles take fr-ic-kin-forever because you can't turn off the battle animations (because the point of the 3D versions are to show those off, nothing more). I dearly hope that if D/P is 3D its not nearly as annoying with the animations. Do you know how horrendous that would be for simple training or random battles? I loved Colosseum dearly but geez, let a good thing stay where its best at---handhelds.

 

[Attack You]

The street date for Emerald is 5/1. We received our shipment a few days ago.

As much as I love what PKMN does, I think it's finally over for me. I've only played Blue, Silver, and Leaf Green. I played Blue to death. With Silver and LG, however, my interest fell off of a cliff after I got the last badge. At one point, Online would've been the lock for me, but now I doubt it. Doesn't help that I'm just so "meh" about everything right now...

 

[cvxfreak]

Ooo, I hope Circuit City has their's tomorrow.

 

[ferricide]

That was a pretty fantastic review(ferricide was it?).

yes, it was me. thanks.