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Personally, I fall into the category of disliking GTI. It falls so short of the original two imo. Mostly for its underwhelming story and laughable difficulty. (Move sharing/levelling breaks everything). Honestly this is one of the games where I feel a lot of the reviews for it are actually correct. Mabye I'm blinded in nostalgia but when I play GTI I don't feel like I'm having any fun at all.
The only thing I really hate about the overall series? Goddamn traps and monster houses
Same. Not for the scare factor but for the feeling of panic of stepping into a monster house and not having a good enough orb to help and then set on by 15 Pokemon. Feels like a really cheap way to die, to the point where my inventory is low and all I can think is "please don't let the next room be a monster house" over and over again.
Went back to play more super after ranting and why oh why did they remove getting treasure chests or at least mini cutscene of you reaching the end after you get to the end of a dungeon? It's not like treasure doesn't exist and would be a cool bonus for a few exclusive dungeons or that isn't the easiest feature that adds some individuality to these dungeons, I swear I'd finish my missions then fight my way through 3 extra floors expecting something, anything to happen just to see "u left the dungeon lol". Very annoying omission.
The future chapters are actually my least favorite chapters to get through. Not because I think they're bad, not at all. But because they're just so bleak. It's such a drastic tone shift and I'm always like "take me back to Wigglytuff's Guild please."
It's not that I don't get it or don't like it. That's not the point of what I was saying. The chapters are great. I just like the relief of getting to go back to Wigglytuff's Guild more.
It's not that I don't get it or don't like it. That's not the point of what I was saying. The chapters are great. I just like the relief of getting to go back to Wigglytuff's Guild more.
Yeah, right, but what I mean that's what we are supposed to feel :P
Well, fine, right, that's not what I felt the first time - what I felt was "Man, I played Rescue Team, I should have seen this coming. I should have bought more items!"
Yeah, right, but what I mean that's what we are supposed to feel :P
Well, fine, right, that's not what I felt the first time - what I felt was "Man, I played Rescue Team, I should have seen this coming. I should have bought more items!"
lol exactly. Also, I just hate when I'm rewarded with an egg and just as the egg is about to hatch... you're thrown into the future and left wondering what pokemon you're getting out of that egg for even longer still. This is one of the reasons why I usually just sprint through these chapters.
hey, could you guys please cut down on the spoilers? use [hide][/hide] tags.
Anyway, I'm in the middle of the SMD plot (or the beginning? Not really sure) and right now it just feels kind of scripted; instead of redoing a dungeon specifically to get a mon you wanted or to get some cool reward like "Pecha Scarf + ???" or something, you just go into the dungeon, do a mission, get mons xyz and leave. Every time. There's nothing along the lines of looking for Turtwig in Mystifying Forest; going Absol hunting in Crystal Cave. Because you already have them if you did the mission... but good luck when you actually need them, because the next day they'll be AWOL.
Right now I'm at the part where the group goes on the big adventure, and it just seems weird that they're completely ignoring the Lati@s turning to stone. Like, they literally said that they were the ones who were supposed to investigate that sort of thing.
Do the recruited Pokémon actually stick around after the storyline? Because I really hope so.
To be honest, with this Spin off as my all time favorite, I can honestly see the conflict of the 2 recent versions. However, some may not notice that Gates was like the baby experiment for Spike Chunsoft whereas Super Mystery Dungeon was the expansion attempt.
Let us be honest for a moment here. Of the 4 versions of PMD, which would be the one that is the best starting point for a gamer that NEVER played a Dungeon Crawler game before or any other RPG game? From what I see, Gates to Infinity was the best warm up. But so far, I would say that The Explorers Saga (especially Sky) would be the most difficult in overall design and progress. It is almost the same difficulty in the Rescue saga. Just only in the game after...
Saving the World from a meteor coming from the ORAS timeline. Blame the other ORAS timeline from sending that meteor to the PMD planet.
So, where does Super Mystery Dungeon belong? In most instances, it's the above average with a wider target audience.
Long story short, there are the strengths of the 4 for me.
Rescue Saga - "Difficulty," Music, Progression, and "Mechanics"
Explorers Saga - Music, Difficulty, "Standout Characters," "Deeper Plots", and "Rewarding Post Game"
Gates to Infinity - Diverse roster of Developing and Complex Characters, "Music", "Memorable Pre-Post Game", and "Story Simplicity"
Super Mystery Dungeon - a combination of the best mechanics of Explorers and Gates
If I had to rank them it'd be something like this:
1 - Explorers; Great music, lovable and colorful cast, the most compelling storyline imo.
2 - Rescue Team; Pretty intriguing story line from beginning to end, the sidestory of that one pokemon in the post game was simply amazing. Suffers from poor map design though, but I'm willing to overlook that flaw since this was the 1st game. Still, imo Explorers was better.
3 - Gates to Infinity; ehg... I didn't warm up to this one at all...
I haven't played Super yet, so I can't comment on it.
Btw jireh the provider this is how spoiler tags are actually used here at smogon:
You have a point. But after writing so much fanfics, reviewing the characters and plots of the PMD series, and reviewing the requirements of writing any story, Gates to Infinity has been the one getting the most impulsive shafting of all the 4 versions to the point that it is done with very little justice.
I'll simply exclude the partner pokemon you have in this case. While it is true that this spin off franchise is no Final Fantasy Storyline nor a Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch storyline, most characters have developed like once to a new one (from one personality to a different one for the upcoming scenarios) or simply static characters (just one characteristic all throughout). In the case of Explorers, nearly all of the iconic cast have developed once (include the special episodes). Grovyle, Dusknoir, Chatot, Armaldo, and Wigglytuff are the only 5 that I know that have 2 or more memorable character developments.
Upon watching Devin's (Marriland) Gates to Infinity playthrough, most of the major casts (Espeon, Umbreon, Keldeo, Virizion, Hydreigon, Dunsparce, Emolga, Munna, Your Hero, and Your Partner) and a few Post Town residential characters undergoes / underwent 2 and more character developments. But for Super Mystery Dungeon (from watching Devin's playthrough), I'm not exactly sure how many had 2 or more character developments. The few memorable ones that I recall so far would come from Nuzleaf, Espurr, Jirachi, Ampharos, Mew, Your hero, and Your partner). But for Rescue, I can't recall any memorable developing character where even the hero and partner didn't develop much besides .... Gengar and Gardevoir.
Rescue Saga - 2
Explorers Saga - 5
Gates to Infinity - 10
Super Mystery Dungeon - 7
On a different thinking process, the music of this spin off has been very consistent. While all off the music from rescue has been remixed and reused in following sequels, in terms of version/saga exclusive music,Gates to Infinity has a larger roster of musical memorabilia compared to the dozen iconic music of explorers whereas Super mystery dungeon falls somewhere in between in quantity yet equal in quality.
PMD: Explorers of Sky might just be my favourite pokemon game of all time, right after Shadows of Alamia. It had the combination of amazing story, excellent mechanics and just fun gameplay. Haven't even tried to touch the 3DS games as the 3D models just don't seem to have the same charm as the sprites.
Recently finished explorers of sky again as the nostalgia just compelled me to and it was amazing. I wasn't as good as when I was kid though, now that i'm older and the game got easier but still a really enjoyable experience. If you haven't played this game I urge you to try it. It's one of the GOATS.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Sky was probably the best one in my opinion since it opens up many opportunities for you to do in the game.
The others was great too tbh. All are great in their own aspect
PMD: Explorers of Sky might just be my favourite pokemon game of all time, right after Shadows of Alamia. It had the combination of amazing story, excellent mechanics and just fun gameplay. Haven't even tried to touch the 3DS games as the 3D models just don't seem to have the same charm as the sprites.
Recently finished explorers of sky again as the nostalgia just compelled me to and it was amazing. I wasn't as good as when I was kid though, now that i'm older and the game got easier but still a really enjoyable experience. If you haven't played this game I urge you to try it. It's one of the GOATS.
Agreed, PMD:Sky has to be one of the best Pokemon games, if not the best. Great music + Good plot that existed + Likable characters + Huge Postgame made it feel like such a good game. PMD:Sky has features that the main series game sadly lack (Plot + Postgame are the standouts).
Agreed, PMD:Sky has to be one of the best Pokemon games, if not the best. Great music + Good plot that existed + Likable characters + Huge Postgame made it feel like such a good game. PMD:Sky has features that the main series game sadly lack (Plot + Postgame are the standouts).
But if you are here to ask me about the main series, 5th Generation was the closest generation that noted the achievements of the Explorers Saga. The first Black and White are the Main Story with Black 2 and White 2 (entire story from start to end) as the Post Game.
But if you are here to ask me about the main series, 5th Generation was the closest generation that noted the achievements of the Explorers Saga. The first Black and White are the Main Story with Black 2 and White 2 (entire story from start to end) as the Post Game.
Ok, so two days ago I finished Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, and I have a lot of things to say about it. This means that it's time for a massive hide tag comparing it with Explorers of Time, the other PMD game I got.
Dungeon Layout: Each game had its pros and cons. In PMD Explorers of Time, the dungeons were too many floors long imo, and in Super, there were just too many unnecessary ones. It's also difficult to remember the names of the Super dungeons because they're not really mentioned in the plot.
Balance: EoT had very unbalanced Speed mechanics, but in Super, multi-hit moves were incredibly broken.
Recruiting system: I'd say EoT wins this one because you can just look for Pokémon you want to get, while in Super, you have to get Mons X and Y first. Also, you can't nickname Pokémon in Super afaik which is stupid.
Final Boss: I liked Dark Matter better because EoT doesn't provide much plot to support Primal Dialga, and Super provided a more strategic fight (keep back to avoid "Mows Down the Surroundings", switch up your tactics during "Is Charging Power", etc) while EoT was basically "get lots of Reviver Seeds and hope it doesn't use Roar of Time".
Postgame: In EoT you do more than three dungeons. Win.
Feels: Super didn't really use plot for the feels (just "Oh btw, I'm Mew" out of nowhere) but EoT felt a bit too drawn out as well.
New Game Mechanics: EoT had the physical/special split, but didn't really feature many Pokémon with lopsided defenses; in Super, the Mega Evolutions feel both luck-based (chance of finding an Awakening in the first place) and broken (just... smash everything. Strategy not involved).
Plot Twist: Both the games did this very well, but Dusknoir was introduced a bit too late and Nuzleaf lost relevance when he disappeared for a while.
...and one outlandish, idiotic game theory for those who got this far.
With the addition of boxes in Super, two shops-- Kangaskhan Storage and the Duskull Bank-- became obsolete. Kangaskhan got another job in a café, but what happened to Duskull?
My theory is that Duskull felt unhappy after losing its job. It left town and went to the Sky Tower to train. Then, in the distant future, it found another Pokémon that hated the rest of the world: Primal Dialga! Dialga granted it evolution in exchange for its services, and the rest is history.
Ok, so two days ago I finished Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, and I have a lot of things to say about it. This means that it's time for a massive hide tag comparing it with Explorers of Time, the other PMD game I got.
Dungeon Layout: Each game had its pros and cons. In PMD Explorers of Time, the dungeons were too many floors long imo, and in Super, there were just too many unnecessary ones. It's also difficult to remember the names of the Super dungeons because they're not really mentioned in the plot.
Balance: EoT had very unbalanced Speed mechanics, but in Super, multi-hit moves were incredibly broken.
Recruiting system: I'd say EoT wins this one because you can just look for Pokémon you want to get, while in Super, you have to get Mons X and Y first. Also, you can't nickname Pokémon in Super afaik which is stupid.
Final Boss: I liked Dark Matter better because EoT doesn't provide much plot to support Primal Dialga, and Super provided a more strategic fight (keep back to avoid "Mows Down the Surroundings", switch up your tactics during "Is Charging Power", etc) while EoT was basically "get lots of Reviver Seeds and hope it doesn't use Roar of Time".
Postgame: In EoT you do more than three dungeons. Win.
Feels: Super didn't really use plot for the feels (just "Oh btw, I'm Mew" out of nowhere) but EoT felt a bit too drawn out as well.
New Game Mechanics: EoT had the physical/special split, but didn't really feature many Pokémon with lopsided defenses; in Super, the Mega Evolutions feel both luck-based (chance of finding an Awakening in the first place) and broken (just... smash everything. Strategy not involved).
Plot Twist: Both the games did this very well, but Dusknoir was introduced a bit too late and Nuzleaf lost relevance when he disappeared for a while.
...and one outlandish, idiotic game theory for those who got this far.
With the addition of boxes in Super, two shops-- Kangaskhan Storage and the Duskull Bank-- became obsolete. Kangaskhan got another job in a café, but what happened to Duskull?
My theory is that Duskull felt unhappy after losing its job. It left town and went to the Sky Tower to train. Then, in the distant future, it found another Pokémon that hated the rest of the world: Primal Dialga! Dialga granted it evolution in exchange for its services, and the rest is history.
Two things: Multi Hit moves are broken in every installment.
I think Dusknoir was introduced at the right time (after the Expedition) and the plot quickly sped up from there. EDIT: I also think that the Dusknoir / Grovyle relationship was very dynamic as well.
Really? I remember getting a Skorupi from EoT and noticing how underwhelming its Pin Missile attack was. Might just be the fact that Skorupi were relatively low level in that dungeon.
Really? I remember getting a Skorupi from EoT and noticing how underwhelming its Pin Missile attack was. Might just be the fact that Skorupi were relatively low level in that dungeon.
Really? I remember getting a Skorupi from EoT and noticing how underwhelming its Pin Missile attack was. Might just be the fact that Skorupi were relatively low level in that dungeon.
Yes, multi-hit moves are definitely broken. They're stronger than a regular attack and only slighly weaker than other special moves. For example, double slap hits just as hard as Tackle, but unlike the latter it'll hit multiple times in a single turn. Early on in the game even something as weak as a Doduo could take you out if it were to hit you all 5 times with Fury Attack, because that's basically taking 5 turns worth of damage in just one.
