Pokemon Thread #25 - A new Tera

[Gecklund]

It really isn't, especially while docked. The game has terrible pop in to the point that you're encountering Pokemon that aren't even on your screen, the game slows down the longer you play so everything starts to stutter, most obvious being with Pokeball throws and capture animations. The camera frequently glitches through the ground and I've had 3 separate game crashes in the middle of battles. There is just no arguing against the fact that these games have ridiculous performance issues. Despite that, I've actually enjoyed the game. The Pokemon are great, the story is actually decently compelling and gets better in the post game, the exploration is great and there actually is a degree of ambition here that it didn't seem that Gamefreak was capable of. It's just really hard to get over how rough it is.

I mean I’ve beaten the game fully in docked mode and didn’t experience any of that. Only thing was in the last area it got bad but not that bad. I did have it crash once but that was it. It’s really not that bad.

 

[Mikeaveli]

It blow me away that the most profitable franchise on the planet just put out a game that looks comparable games from 20 years ago and it still has performance issues lol. You can't make this up

 

[wingsnut19]

I think the biggest travesty in all this is how they destroyed breeding, which was always one of my favourite things. I love breeding for perfect IVs and masuda hunting is still my preferred way to shiny hunt. I really don't get their decision making and how the changes that they've made to the breeding mechanic in this game are beneficial to anyone at all.

 

[HanSolo]

I think the biggest travesty in all this is how they destroyed breeding, which was always one of my favourite things. I love breeding for perfect IVs and masuda hunting is still my preferred way to shiny hunt. I really don't get their decision making and how the changes that they've made to the breeding mechanic in this game are beneficial to anyone at all.

In what way?

Spoiler

I'm not aware of any changes other than the picnic breeding.

 

[wingsnut19]

In what way?

Spoiler

I'm not aware of any changes other than the picnic breeding.

It is just way slower. And you have to walk a full cycle after an egg hatches before the next egg can hatch, no multiple eggs hatching back to back. No hatching eggs as you collect new ones. Very inefficient.

EDIT: Apparently I've been using the wrong sandwich to get a boost. Going to try again tonight to see if it is better.

 

[Gecklund]

It is just way slower. And you have to walk a full cycle after an egg hatches before the next egg can hatch, no multiple eggs hatching back to back. No hatching eggs as you collect new ones. Very inefficient.

EDIT: Apparently I've been using the wrong sandwich to get a boost. Going to try again tonight to see if it is better.

Yeah I was going to say there’s a sandwich that makes it much more efficient.

 

[Gardner McKay]

About 6 hours in. The game is fine, just so slow and I mean Everything about the game is painfully slow. The text speed ( even on fast), battle animations, overall battle pace, move speed, etc.

It's clear that the more the series progresses, the more it is dumbed down, with a generic yet awful villain group. The Pokémon designs are bland. I get that it is difficult to keep creating new ones after all these years but man.... woof. There is nothing remotely challenging about these games anymore.

 

[wingsnut19]

About 6 hours in. The game is fine, just so slow and I mean Everything about the game is painfully slow. The text speed ( even on fast), battle animations, overall battle pace, move speed, etc.

It's clear that the more the series progresses, the more it is dumbed down, with a generic yet awful villain group. The Pokémon designs are bland. I get that it is difficult to keep creating new ones after all these years but man.... woof. There is nothing remotely challenging about these games anymore.

I actually think that the "villain" group becomes pretty relatable for the age group that these games are targeted to. It just takes a bit.

I didn't like the early new Pokemon very much, but found the later ones really cool. Might just have to give it a bit.

I do wish they had kept the option to skip the battle animations. I always turn them off, doesn't really make sense to remove that as an option.

 

[Habsfan18]

The games are much shorter now too, a trend I unfortunately see continuing as the games become “larger”.

These are 20-25 hour stories now. Pretty sure games like Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum were double that.

 

[Gecklund]

The games are much shorter now too, a trend I unfortunately see continuing as the games become “larger”.

These are 20-25 hour stories now. Pretty sure games like Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum were double that.

If you just sprint through the story, then no those games are all about the same.

 

[wingsnut19]

The games are much shorter now too, a trend I unfortunately see continuing as the games become “larger”.

These are 20-25 hour stories now. Pretty sure games like Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum were double that.

I actually prefer a more condensed story because these games are pretty much all about discovering the new Pokemon for me, but yeah it does feel a bit shorter. I thought this one was quite well done though, if a bit "young".

 

[Gardner McKay]

I actually think that the "villain" group becomes pretty relatable for the age group that these games are targeted to. It just takes a bit.

I didn't like the early new Pokemon very much, but found the later ones really cool. Might just have to give it a bit.

I do wish they had kept the option to skip the battle animations. I always turn them off, doesn't really make sense to remove that as an option.

Idk. No battle tower for post game (even sword/shield had something), a massive open world that fails to have any substance (like many open world games), no sense of direction...

This game feels like it had so much potential and just fell short. It's not a bad game. It's just, barely mediocre.

While I understand what age group these games are targeting to, it was the same age group when they first debuted. I remember a sense of evil from team rocket. You wanted to be able to kick their ass. And that rival? Screw that guy/girl. Major satisfaction when you demolished them.

Team star? LOL.

It feels like another lazy, half baked open world adventure that is void of any depth. There isn't much to do and you are supposed to spend all your time exploring. As if there aren't enough of those out there.

I'm sure I am in the minority but I'd take Sword/Shield and Legends Arceus over this any day of the week.

 

[wingsnut19]

Idk. No battle tower for post game (even sword/shield had something), a massive open world that fails to have any substance (like many open world games), no sense of direction...

This game feels like it had so much potential and just fell short. It's not a bad game. It's just, barely mediocre.

While I understand what age group these games are targeting to, it was the same age group when they first debuted. I remember a sense of evil from team rocket. You wanted to be able to kick their ass. And that rival? Screw that guy/girl. Major satisfaction when you demolished them.

Team star? LOL.

It feels like another lazy, half baked open world adventure that is void of any depth. There isn't much to do and you are supposed to spend all your time exploring. As if there aren't enough of those out there.

I'm sure I am in the minority but I'd take Sword/Shield and Legends Arceus over this any day of the week.

Yeah, it depends what you're looking for. I don't really see how the open world lacks substance, but I do find the lack of some kind of battle tower odd. Makes it feel rushed.

Definitely agree that the old rivals and groups were more interesting, but it at least felt like it had a story to tell, unlike gen 7 and 8. And the "post game" story, if we can call it that, was much more interesting than most of the stories have been.

Not really sure how I feel it stacks up against Gen 8, that'll take me a bit longer, but I wouldn't take Arceus over this. I tend to only really stack gens up based on Pokemon design and not much else, and these rank pretty high for me on initial impression. Definitely better than Gen 4,5 and 7, probably better than 3 and 8, but not as good as 1,2,6.

I will admit that this game probably won't get as much play time for me as Gen 8. The performance issues really hamper the experience, and teraraids aren't that interesting.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Yeah, it depends what you're looking for. I don't really see how the open world lacks substance, but I do find the lack of some kind of battle tower odd. Makes it feel rushed.

Definitely agree that the old rivals and groups were more interesting, but it at least felt like it had a story to tell, unlike gen 7 and 8. And the "post game" story, if we can call it that, was much more interesting than most of the stories have been.

Not really sure how I feel it stacks up against Gen 8, that'll take me a bit longer, but I wouldn't take Arceus over this. I tend to only really stack gens up based on Pokemon design and not much else, and these rank pretty high for me on initial impression. Definitely better than Gen 4,5 and 7, probably better than 3 and 8, but not as good as 1,2,6.

I will admit that this game probably won't get as much play time for me as Gen 8. The performance issues really hamper the experience, and teraraids aren't that interesting.

Fair enough and I agree, the teraraids were cool.. the first 2-3 times. They then become very stale as even at level 20 and doing 2 star raids solo, they were still way too easy.

I think my issue with this open world is: in a quest to create a massive and beautiful open world, I feel as if games often suffer with substance, quality and fun. They become more about exploring these vast worlds with less and less to do in the actual game. The game is more about traveling and less doing. If they had kept it open world but maybe cut the size by 1/3rd, I think this game would have been much better.

Give me a smaller world map, with more content and better performance and I think this game goes from a 3/10 to a 7.5/10 easy. Can't go much higher than that because I don't personally love the whole exploration based, non-linear model for pokemon, but I understand that is more of a personal preference and not everyone feels that way.

 

[wingsnut19]

Fair enough and I agree, the teraraids were cool.. the first 2-3 times. They then become very stale as even at level 20 and doing 2 star raids solo, they were still way too easy.

I think my issue with this open world is: in a quest to create a massive and beautiful open world, I feel as if games often suffer with substance, quality and fun. They become more about exploring these vast worlds with less and less to do in the actual game. The game is more about traveling and less doing. If they had kept it open world but maybe cut the size by 1/3rd, I think this game would have been much better.

Give me a smaller world map, with more content and better performance and I think this game goes from a 3/10 to a 7.5/10 easy. Can't go much higher than that because I don't personally love the whole exploration based, non-linear model for pokemon, but I understand that is more of a personal preference and not everyone feels that way.

That's all fair. As much as I've actually enjoyed this game, I definitely understand anyone that is disappointed. I'm interested to see what any DLC looks like, because I actually thought that the Sword and Shield DLC was far better than the original game. Sucks that we're relying on DLC to get a proper full experience, though.

 

[HanSolo]

Yeah the story is shorter but I think it's written way better than titles going back to Gen 5.

Have to gripe though.

Spoiler

I bulled my way through the 3 main arcs and I'm at the climax arc now. I didn't have much issue getting through content at this point but Professor Sada is a hard wall because I don't have a good counter to her flutter mane (might try to adjust some moves though) and as far as I can tell you can't leave to go back and train more. You just spawn back in the room before her encounter and there doesn't seem to be an exit. Pretty dumb.

 

[wingsnut19]

After trying the proper sandwich, breeding is much faster. It actually ends up spitting out more eggs than I need when I'm just trying to get a better IV spread.

 

[Mikeaveli]

The comparisons to BOTW and even Legends Arceus really demonstrate how poorly designed this game is from a visual and technical perspective

 

[Dolemite]

 

[HanSolo]

Man was I wrong about raids. 5 star raids are no joke and I can only imagine the tinkering you need to effectively clear 6 star raids. I don't think they're something you can do with matchmade randos

Also a tip to anyone who wants both version legendaries. Don't read if you don't want mild story spoilers.

Spoiler

So the second Koraidon/Miraidon that your mountable one is afraid to fight is available to battle and catch in the post-game. You can't trade the mountable one but the second copy is tradeable and likely was only made catchable for the exact purpose of legendary swaps. Found someone for a legend swap pretty quickly. On the subject of high level raids, apparently both legends have significant niches in the raids so for anyone who wants to get into that endgame content, it's smart to have both.

 

[Habsfan18]

Anyone know what the heck this thing is? I found it standing on a rock outside of the huge city near the beginning of the game. I can’t seem to throw a Pokemon ball at it or engage in battle in any way

.

 

[wingsnut19]

Anyone know what the heck this thing is? I found it standing on a rock outside of the huge city near the beginning of the game. I can’t seem to throw a Pokemon ball at it or engage in battle in any way

. View attachment 612125

It's Gimmighoul in its wandering phase. You should be able to just interact with it and get Gimmighoul coins. You can find it in its chest form as well, which you can battle.

 

[Habsfan18]

It's Gimmighoul in its wandering phase. You should be able to just interact with it and get Gimmighoul coins. You can find it in its chest form as well, which you can battle.

Good to know, thanks! I went in completely blind this year in terms of the new Pokemon. I tried to interact with it but nothing was happening. Could have just been glitching or I was doing something wrong. I’ll head back there and try again.

 

[Habsfan18]

The quickest selling Nintendo game of all time, and the biggest launch of any console exclusive, EVER.

I mean, that’s obviously fantastic for Nintendo and incredible news for the series overall, but at the same time that just enables GameFreak to rush out more ugly and unfinished work..

I will say that ignoring the glaring performance issues, the game itself is pretty damn great, IMO.

 

[wingsnut19]

Good to know, thanks! I went in completely blind this year in terms of the new Pokemon. I tried to interact with it but nothing was happening. Could have just been glitching or I was doing something wrong. I’ll head back there and try again.

Might have to catch one in its chest form before you can interact with it in its wandering form? I'm not sure. You can generally find the chest form on top of the towers. Or maybe you weren't targeting it quite right, it's pretty finicky.