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Welcome all! Due to Altissimo taking a long break from burnout and wanting to do other things with her life and me volunteering to take up the reins for her, we decided to hold a poll about who would do the next game in this forum's Mystery Dungeon LPs (found here: http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=5ba4185ae4b05a9fecb011f0 . Poll was no longer counted after Sunday 11:59 PM, 9/23/2018 UTC -6). Due to me winning the poll, I'm officially doing at least the LP for this game. Without further ado, let's move on to information about the game and and the run.
About the Game:
Gates to Infinity (GtI or Gates) is the third game (fourth in Japan) in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, released in the 5th Generation. If you've read Alti's other PMD series (and in the LP I will assume you have), you should know what we're getting into. If you haven't, I highly recommend you do. They'll give you lots of information about the series and its gameplay. And also, you'll be supporting her work :) . This all being said, Gates does have its own fair share of changes. While I'll be covering them as I go, in general, the game is a lot easier than its predecessors. Also, this game is generally seen as the black sheep of the PMD series (except maybe the Japan only Wiiware titles, AKA "PMD3" in Japan), and in my opinion, this view is quite deserved. However, it's not all bad and the game does have some redeeming qualities, which will be covered as I go.
Also, requisite copy-paste from Alti's threads:
"Mystery Dungeon is a little bit different from the normal game in that it doesn't have a Pokédex. In other words, it's not enough to register each Pokémon as "caught": the game wants a player trying to "recruit 'em all" to actually do that - to recruit one of each Pokémon, including all the Unown forms, and have them all at the same time. So you'll all get to see me (maybe) descend into insanity as I have to do such things as recruiting Kecleon, the Eeveelutions, Chansey, Ponyta, Jirachi, Exeggcute, and even the ultra-rare Pidgey Kecleon, Dusknoir, Hypno, and some obnoxious Legendaries!" -Altissimo
To add to this, the roster for Gates is much smaller than the previous games. Instead of having all Pokemon officially released available to be recruited, only (according to Bulbapedia) 144 Pokemon are available (and this one of the many points of derision for the game), mostly from Gen 5. While this will make "recruiting them all" much easier, it's going to severely reduce Pokemon variety and provide a shorter and less involved LP. This lack of Pokemon is also reflected in the available starters:
Starter and partner options are: Pikachu, Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, and Axew.
I've only played the game once and while I won't share the starters I used (mostly because I don't mind reusing them), I don't have enough experience with them to judge how well they'll do (mostly barring that Snivy, being a Grass type, is probably going to have a hard time as always). Also, due to the game's reduced difficulty, the starters start at Level 7 instead of 5).
The insanity doesn't end here. This game has DLC - the cynical cash grab kind - and locks at least recruiting other starters behind them. I acquired the DLC, however at this time I'm having a hard time getting it to work properly in Citra (it shows up in game, I just can't go to the dungeons proper and the like). So until then, I don't know if I'm going to be able to 100% recruit everything in the game, if that's okay with you people.
About the Run:
As before, I'm going to let community members choose the starters (be thankful for your sake that Totodile does not exist in this game) and possibly their names. I already have an idea for a team name, so yeah. I'll also allow community members to submit nicknames for recruits as they come. There's also some required story recruits later on that while they cannot be nicknamed, I'll allow people to decide if they count for recruiting that species if the story recruit is not a unique species (there's room for 288 recruits in this game according to Bulbapedia, more than enough to recruit another copy of the Mon).
Also, I've played this game grand total of one time before. While I've beaten the story and postgame plot, I never got too far into it afterwards. So I have experience with the game, but have never tried to "Catch 'em all" in the game. So this will be a new experience for me (Bulbapedia will be my friend).
One last thing: I will very most likely be referencing spoilers for the other PMD games in my commentary and analyses. While spoilers for things later down the line in Gates and all spoilers for Super will be hidden behind spoiler tags (Super spoilers will likely get their own form of spoilers), all spoilers for Rescue Team and Explorers will be unmarked (assuming it's not a long section that needs to be collapsible). Do read Alti's threads if you want to be informed of the events of those games. You have been warned.
I'll give this thread some time to give me suggestions for starters and the like. After that, we'll start on the game proper.
Update 0: Introduction
Update 1: Starter Selection and Landowning
Update 2: Carpenters and Gems
Swap - Croagunk (King Feraligatr)
Ask You - Axew (King Feraligatr)
Bolt - Something in the Klink line (Altimisso)
Klink line
Gothita line
Drilbur line
Minccino line
Woobat line
Eevee line
Croagunk line
Glameow line
Bagon line
Pansear line
Pansage line
Panpour line
Golett line
Rufflet line
Joltik line
N/A
Links to Alti's past PMD LPs (please read them if you haven't!): Rescue Team Explorers
Hello all. I've finally found time to finish this update. Without further ado...
So the image on the top is the title screen with this as the opening music.
Moving on past that, we get to the main menu (Music ), which looks something like this:
Given that I "removed" my old save file (Citra only allows one active save file per game, even with different copies of the same ROM. Renaming folders is a way to get around that), we have no active save for the game. Only option here is to obviously start a new game.
(Don't know the track for this part :/)
And who is this? (I think I know who it is though.)
Are you sure, though? Can't be too sure. Maybe you're imagining things. And if you're dreaming, what's so odd about someone talking to you in your dream?
Well, that's certainly not a bit ominous. And it's definitely important, given where how it appears on the screen and all. Maybe our dreamer (the player character) is on to something.
(Mysterious Voice:) (You can now hear my voice...)
(Might you be... ...a human?)
Wow voice! Rude! Just asking the player to save the world like that! And how is a puny human like the player character going to save the world of Pokemon? Not like we have choice..... Better get that personality test rea.....
The hell was that? That also looks ominous. And something's interfering with the opening narration? I thought these where sacred, albeit never brought up again, things where we get acclimated with the game and choose our character(s). Granted, this intro is seeming more relevant than other ones I've seen in Pokemon games.....
Well, it looks like we can see the entity responsible for the opening narration for once in these games. And we can also see who interrupted them. I bet we'll meet these Pokemon later. And I know at least one of the antagonists for later in the game (let's file this away, shall we?).... Still, things don't look good for our greeter. (There's other shit I wasn't able to get or show.)
Alas, it also looks like we won't have an easy greeting into the world of Pokemon.
I dunno man. As I said though, I'm sure we'll find out later.
And now we see the player character looking at their own reflection. And this is why we don't see humans in person (my word choice....) in the PMD world. They look weird. (it's even worse in a later main menu option)
(...Huh? Wait... That blurry reflection...)
(Could that be...me?)
*The player character's reflection distorts*
(... ...!!!)
(Wh-what now?! My reflection... It wavered, and then... shifted...)
(Almost as if I changed somehow)
Yep. I was right. At least there's no personality test this time. And we're a Snivy due to fan demand.
To be serious though, I'm in the camp that likes that Gates got rid of the personality test. It really saves me time from resetting, ROM hacking, cheating, or save editing to get what starter I want. Granted, not everyone is happy about the loss of the test (main argument I've heard is that it shreds some of the personality (ha......) of the game. They have a point, but.....). Super has a nice enough compromise between both camps though.
Also, the text speed in this game is awful. It's really quite slow for no good reason. And you can't change it. While you get used to it and writing down the text in the game makes the speed effectively nonexistent in those circumstances, it's going to be annoying for the times I'm not writing down the in game text. Anyways......
Indeed you do, friend. And it's all due to your fans' demand. However, it's not all bad. You're a living meme, man (maybe not a good one, but still). Live it up. (Fun fact: Both the player and partner in this game are always male outside Japan, without fail. Why, I don't know. It does make the game even less replayable and less attractive to people who want female starters though.)
It's really not bad, man. You get to get strong and beat the crap out of your enemies! And you can do things you couldn't as a boring human. Just avoid your last form if you want to keep your hands though....... And legs........
*A light flashes and the music stops.*
(Huh? What's that light?)
(I don't know why but...)
(I feel as if that voice calling for help..)
This is probably the only intro in PMD that really ties into the plot or has relevance after it's done. I don't mind that the others never do, but the extra effort here is appreciated. Good job (here), Spike-Chunsoft.
OH SHIT! This really does not look good! Do not kill our poor Snivy friend.
The player character falls off the screen and it turns black. He is totally dead. RIP Player Character Snivy: 2018-2018. And that was the shortest game ever. I want my money back.....
Wait. No. He's alive (somehow). Good. And I'm coming after Spike-Chunsoft for putting our friend in mortal danger. It's not cool.
(And yes, like they'd ever actually kill someone in a game like this. Also, Chunsoft and another company called Spike had a merger during the development of this game, hence the differences in both the game design (and I'm not just talking about the 3D!) and well, the name of the company.)
???: H-hey! Are you OK?!
Come on, wake up... Come on!
Indeed it is. And this just confirms what I said before. The player is fine.
I didn't Axew your name, but's appreciated nonetheless (yes, I just did that). Also, does (almost) every Pokemon in this world need to name themselves after their species? Must get really confusing when there's multiple of the same species in the same area. And it also usually prevents us from having multiple relevant members of the same species in games.
What about you? What's your name?
Player: (My name? That's right. My name is...)
How convenient that you remember your name (although that's how it's always worked)! And how come Axew doesn't assume the player character's name isn't Snivy like every other Snivy on this planet? Anyways....
His name is, as can be seen in the picture, King Snek. Snek for short. Fear the name, for he shall rule the world! Also, I know the name is kind of bad --- be quiet!
Axew: King Snek? Your name's King Snek, huh? Well nice to meet you!
But... where'd you come from, King Snek?
Don't think Snek knows more than you do man. But Axew doesn't know that Snek's an amnesiac.
Well, I mean, I know you came from the sky just now...
But I haven't seen you around here before.
So I was asking where you're originally from--where your home is!
Of course it's pretty mysterious how you fell out of the sky like that...
But you can't tell me you actually live up there, right?
Axew uses some logic and then uses even more logic. Dam. He knows what's up (here).
King Snek: (Ha... Well, I suppose not...)
*cut to the sky again*
(But even if I say I came form the other side of the sky...)
(It's not like anyone would believe me. Not anyone normal.)
(If there was at least some sort of hole in the sky or something, then maybe...)
(But I don't want to lie, either...)
(I guess I'll just to go ahead and spill the beans...)
*cut back to normal*
Once every game...... (I know there's many things they do every PMD game, but this one stood out to me more as being requisite. At least, according to my notes....)
And you got turned into a Pokemon because some voice was crying for help?
So you fell straight outta the human world and into this one?
Axew believes us? I think Snek's reaction is ours' here. Again though, this is how it's worked every other game..... Also, based on what King Snek said before, Axew apparently isn't normal.
Axew: Sure, I know it's a pretty fantastic story to believe...
Humans don't exist anywhere except in fairy tales, or that's what I always thought.
And it seems totally impossible that a human could just turn into a Pokemon...
...and fall outta the sky one day.
But...you know what I think?
There are lots of mysteries in the world.
But the truth is that maybe...those things aren't really all that mysterious after all...
Maybe they're just things I don't know about yet.
And that's why they seem mysterious.
King Snek: (Wow. That's pretty...open-minded.)
This line should snap you back into to the reality that this is a kids' game.
I want to meet mythical Pokemon that no else has ever seen!
I want to explore ancient ruins and deep caves!
And more than anything, I want to have an adventure!
That's right! I want to be an adventurer!
So, you kind of have the same motivation as the PMD2 partner, except you want to be an "adventurer" rather than an "explorer" (and you have no personal treasure). Also, you said "adventure", as in one. Does that mean, after you have one adventure, you'll stop? Also, last two lines' redundancy is redundant.
And that's exactly why I traveled all the way here to--
*music cuts off*
Forgot what? Your lunch? Keys? Perfect Apple? Etc.? What?
But what is it for?
*walks over to dungeon entrance*
Augh! I've got to get there ASAP, but...
The path ahead looks really tough. It'll be hard to make it through alone...
Argh... What should I do...
Dungeon: Ragged Mountain
(Music. It's not bad and kind of catchy. Also feels adventurous, which fits.)
(While we can't recruit anything right now, future recruitable Pokemon in this dungeon are: Woobat, Drilbur, Minccino, and Klink.)
Do you need to handhold us? Snek's taking in the environment, let him (even if I don't agree with him).
Also, Gates has this feature where some dungeons have outside sections that you can walk around in and have some interaction with. It's a really nice and refreshing feature, if underutilized in my opinion.....
I dunno, find an alternate way in? I know the readers didn't see it yet (sorry), but the beginning pan around showed a cave entrance not too far way from where you're at. Then again, maybe you two didn't notice it.
*spots an entrance to the cave* (no picture :( )
Ah!
Looks like there's no choice but to try going through there.
Let's go, King Snek!
Finally we have gameplay! And I don't have to write down everything the Pokemon say! Now would be a good time to show off some of the gameplay changes in Gates. First things first: the Belly stat and IQ skills are gone (well mostly for Belly). Team Skills are the replacement of the IQ skills. We don't have any right now though, so I won't be going over it at the moment. Also, gone is the ability to use the touch screen as much in the gameplay.
Moving onto the moves screen, the only thing that's immediately noticeable is that moves have a button assigned to them. In this game and beyond, to use a move, you use L+whatever the assigned button is (instead of sifting through menus or just using L+A to use a set move). It's definitely faster. Also, linked moves are gone. This also has a replacement later in the game which I will cover later. Also, regular attacks have been mega nerfed into nigh uselessness and only do a flat 5 damage at all times (RIP). This will also be compensated a later by future mechanic though.
And the last menu I shall be showing is the options menu. While there's some removed and added options, the only thing that stands out is that there's no way to make the text speed faster! >:( (Like I said earlier, but I wanted to make sure you people saw. And I know no past PMD games had the option, but their text speed wasn't so insufferably slow that I cared.)
And about how I feel about all these changes:
I personally like the loss of the Belly stat. I found it annoying and limiting, to the point that I use cheats on PMD1 and 2 to effectively remove it.
I'm not a fan of the loss of IQ skills. They allowed for more advancement, diversification, and personalization of your Pokemon (esp. in PMD2). Sure they where a pain to grind, but as we will see, Team Skills aren't any better.
Being able to quickly use your moves is nice since I'm playing on an emulator and don't have to worry about my L button breaking (easily). If I was on a 3DS, I might be more mixed.
RIP regular attacks. While you could get cheesy powerful later in the game in PMD1 and 2, you didn't deserve this nerf. You have my condolences.
As you already heard me say, fuck the text speed.
Anyways, I continue through the dungeon, going through useless tutorial messages. And then I get to the next floor......
We see an interactable tree. Some of these outdoor dungeon sections have things you can interact with. I don't consider them puzzles, given how linear and obvious they are, but they're still nice, if also underutilized.
We walk up to the tree, interact with it, and.....
The tree obviously falls and we move onto the the next cave entrance.
After some more dungeon crawling and tutorials we reach the last area....
Axew: All right, we finally made it to the other side!
We're almost there now! Let's give it our all!
Where we are at and the view of the entire dungeon's outside as I said I'd do.
(going to continue this in another post as I'm getting concerned about the size of this post and how much the forum system can handle in one post. Ignore the attachment. I fucked up and I don't know how to remove it....)
(Fun fact: Both the player and partner in this game are always male outside Japan, without fail. Why, I don't know. It does make the game even less replayable and less attractive to people who want female starters though.)
HI!!!!! HI YES YOU CALLED!!!! that is literally the only reason why i never played it when it first came out and i am still angry about that to this day
anyway good stuff so far! the game kind of Plots at you immediately which is. interesting
We walk a little further and reach the dungeon exit:
We exit and also get to save. Also, the game shows us a message new to this game:
If I wasn't playing this as a LP, I'd ignore this. Since I'm playing this as a LP, it's tempting given how much time I've spent copying dialogue and taking picture. However, since I was a masochist and wanted to cram more in, I did indeed ignore it and moved on.
*runs a bit to where he needs to go. It's to the right.*
Now I've gotta hurry!
I'm pretty sure the letter said it was this way...
*they go where Axew needs to go in earnest*
It seems that, waiting here, was, hmm, worth it after all.
I've just been standing around here by myself, hmm?
But it was so boring that I was, mmm, thinking of heading home soon.
But now that you're here...
*shows badlands*
Hmm... Are you really sure about this?
Title drop. Also, what does even mean? And also man, you don't know this, but you wouldn't even exist if these mystery dungeons (sorry, Mystery Dungeons) didn't. Previous games and all.
You can't count on anything as expected in this kind of place, hmm?
And just like that! We're land owners! It's not the best real estate, but we can make it work. Oh the plans for world domination I could carry out with this land.....
This land now belongs to you, hmm?
You can, mmm, do whatever you'd like with it.
*Quaqsire walks off*
I'm going to have all kinds of adventures and find lots of other Pokemon like me...
And then when we work hard together...
...we'll be able to live the kind of life that'll really make you feel alive!
A real paradise! That's my dream!
I've been saving up all my Poke for just that. And now I've found the perfect land!
Well, really it's more like everywhere else was just too expensive.
So I didn't really have much of a choice...
Yeah, things kind of work out like that. It sucks.
But...this is going to be the start of all my dreams!
King Snek: (Wow... So Axew has those kinds of big dreams, huh?)
(It sure is nice to have a dream...)
(Just hearing him talk about it is enough to make me excited, too!)
Ugh........ I'm not much for sentiment, if you can't tell. Also, here we go. Partner is a confirmed guy.
They have to do this once per game...... Still, it's not a bad question here. I think King Snek will want to take over the world! Maybe. Let's hope so.
Didn't we go over this before? I highly doubt he does.
King Snek: (... ... ...)
Axew: Listen, if you don't have anywhere to go...
Why not consider helping me out?
How about you help me make my Paradise, King Snek?
(It's not like I have any more clues about what it meant now...)
(And I don't have anywhere else to go...)
(So then...)
(Maybe I really should just stay with Axew for the time being?)
(Maybe, if I'm lucky along the way.)
(I'll figure out what it is I should do...)
(All right!)
Didn't even get a faux choice. Thanks a lot, game.
Yes, really. It's not like we have a choice. And I need your land to take over the world.
*becomes really happy again like above*
(Music: Our First Meeting)
YES! Thanks, King Snek!
We're gonna be great friends! We'll be a great team!
So, King Snek, now that we're officially friends and all...
Wait?! What?! You're letting us do this?! Dude, your name is uncreative, but it's your name! We don't have the legal authority to change your name anyways. Yet.
Anyways, we indulge and give him a name. Especially so he stands out in both the plot and compared to other Axew. I know the name isn't creative, but naming isn't my strong suit. Plus, it's simple, short, and fits. And I can take it at least somewhat seriously (I had other ideas as well, like Ask You). I know King Snek's name is a thing!
Draco:
Draco? All right then, Draco it is!
Call me Draco from now on!
That's it! I'm gonna have everyone else call me that from now on, too!
Whoa man! Slow down! And how about everyone else who knows you as Axew? How are you going to get to word out to them? And wait until they hear why you adopted that name.....
*walks off a bit*
I'm definitely gonna make my dreams come true! Just you watch!!!
*dances around a lot in the background*
It's kind of...... what happens to humans that come to this world in the series.
(It all started when I heard that voice in my dream...)
(...and the next thing I noticed, my body had been transformed.)
(That's right...)
*Hydreigon chasing Munna cutscene.*
(I wonder if that poor Pokemon I heard is all right?)
(How could I forget her? I've gotta help her somehow... but how?)
But remember, he only wants to go on an adventure. As in one. He's done after that. Also, staying here will allow us to launder the resources needed to rule the world!
(I feel like something great is waiting in store for me!)
I guess so? Dude, again I can't tell. I'm not in the game with you two. However, if it's as cold as you say it is, Grass and Dragon types like you two wouldn't like it (however, even an Oshawott or Tepig would say this).
...
I guess the first thing we need to do, is build a house.
What? Surviving?! Rude word choice! You hinted at it before, but you knew this land was rigged, right? Also, no coming onto our land without paying 1000 Poke upfront.
Did you sleep well last night, hmm?
Draco: Morning, Quagsire... And no, not really...
It was a little chilly.
Turns out it's pretty tough to stay outta the wind when you've got no walls.
And this is the first mention of this trade in PMD. Then again, this series isn't really good at worldbuilding..... Also, what kind of name is Post Town?
Quagsire: Mm-hmm.
If you ask them, they should be able to build you a house, hmm?
Post Town is just a, mmm, quick walk from here. Want to check it out, hmm?
These carpenters have no idea what's coming to them. Mwhahahahahahahaha!
Next time on PMD: Gates to Infinity:
King Snek, Draco, and Quagsire will head to Post Town. Will they find a carpenter and get a house? Will they get a good price on the house? All I know is that there will be more railroading, tutorials, and slow ass text speed. Find out more next time!
And there we finally go with the first update for Gates! It took a long ass time to write and set this all up. Too long. So I'll probably be going at a slow pace with this LP. Spending ~10 hours on one update obviously takes up a lot of time.
Anyways, this is my first LP ever. Feel free to give me feedback on how I'm doing, my commentary, content, amount of pictures, etc (potentially expect more bad Axew puns though). And do feel free to give me recruit names. I'll probably have the main post have a section about potential recruits so you know what we can recruit in this game.
buying a patch of seemingly useless land seems like a bizarre way to start an game but ok. I do love how the team was just sleeping out in the open for lack of anything else to do lol
Last time we left off, we saw King Snek, Draco, and Quagsire leaving to Post Town to find some carpenters to build them a house. Let's rejoin them where we last saw them, shall we?
Wow man! There's that rudeness again! Don't forget that you used to own this place! (Though it could be reason he wanted to sell it... Not like he'll get away with this rudeness when we rule the world!)
That's a lot of humming. Why do we have to be beholden to it?
This is a highway? Whatever you say man.
Also, we've seen this before, but this is our requisite place where we select which dungeon we want to go to (when we aren't going on a job --- more on when it comes). I know it's pretty obvious, but I just wanted to be thorough here.
And so Post Town was built as a, hmm, nice rest stop for all those Pokemon.
I guess we should. Still not like we have a choice anyways....
(Music: Come On in to Post Town!)
This is probably my least favorite theme for a main settlement in PMD. It's not as universal and timeless (ha.....) as Treasure Town and isn't as memorable Pokemon Square or Super's main settlement themes. I wouldn't say Post Town's theme is bad, just forgettable (which is how a lot this game feels to me).
Well, we're here! Let's see if it lives up to the hype.
That's a bit antithetical to what you said earlier. And Pokemon can find water and relax in it anywhere, especially, well, Water types (like yourself).
This is the more likely reason why Pokemon are here. Trade fuels settlements more than just water. Though selling your supposedly famous water could be decent way to bring in the Poke........
You can deposit your items and Poke there and then, hmm, take them out later.
He basically explained it, but we'll go over it more shortly. Also, RIP the bank and storage. You will be missed.
Only 8 on any one day though.... Yep, here's the Kecleon shop. Not much has changed, except this time there's no purple Kecleon anymore. RIP. Also, you can't recruit Kecleon in this game, so there's very little point in pissing off those murderous SOBs in dungeons anymore.
*cut to normal*
There's also the inn and its restaurant, mmm, and all kinds of places.
You should feel free to use any of the shops you'd like, hmm?
Well, this doesn't seem good. Even the music agrees.
Fight, fight! Do what you made to do! Roggenrola, use your Rock attacks on Ducklett! Ducklett, you use those Water attacks on Roggenrola! You both the type advantage! Go! Oh sorry, I totally did not encourage these two to beat the snot out of each other until they faint. That totally isn't the point of Pokemon. No siree.
There's a thing in storytelling called "Show, don't Tell". The idea is that you're supposed to Show the audience important things as compared to just Telling them about it. Well here, while I've seen a bit of Showing, I mostly feel like I'm being Told things. I don't have enough frame of reference to agree with Draco's statement even though it seems I'm supposed to. I feel like I'm being cheated out of things I should have enough frame of reference for. At least for now.
I'm aware Gates goes more into this "despair" theme later. Still, throughout the game, it seems like there's more Telling than Showing in the game. Still, at least Gates tries to support its "negativity and despair" theme so its final boss's and the game's overall theme can work. Compare this to Super, which rehashes it out of nigh nowhere with nigh no support, just because Spike-Chunsoft was creatively lazy (and wanted to recycle final boss arenas).
Did you see how no one even tried to stop that fight just now?
There's just no trust between Pokemon anymore...
All right sounds good. We'll get back to you as soon as the cutscene that has us touring the town ends and leads directly into the cutscene of you finding a carpenter begins. It's all scripted out for us, you see?
Draco: All right! Thanks, Quagsire!
*Quagsire walks off*
I normally wouldn't show a thing like this, but this shows off a nice change in Gates. Instead of only being able to save in your bed/the crossroads/a Kangaskhan Rock, this game allows you to save anywhere on the overworld. Cuts down on some tedium. But if we're getting this message, then.....
My gosh! It is! The game is letting us wander a bit! Later Pokemon games like never let us wander until the tutorials are done. Granted, we're still pretty constrained at the moment (I can't leave this map and as soon as we walk over to the Cafe, the next cutscene will happen.)
Anyways, open roaming means no need to take down dialogue but means from suffering from the slow ass text speed in full force! Fun and fun!
Anyways, I said I'd go into more detail about some of the new things, and well, here we go. (I never make promises though!)
As stated before, this is the Deposit Box, essentially a composite replacement for the banks and Kangaskhan Storage. Item storage works more like PMD1, where you had stacks for all items instead each individual item taking up one space. However, held items work like they do in PMD2, so yeah. Also, treasure boxes get their own storage area now. Probably because they need to be stored individually if they want to retain the item associated with them across storing and and withdrawing.
Money storage works the same, except you can only hold 9999 Poke on your person at any time. Also, losing in most dungeons does not have you lose money. At all. Dumbing down and too easy much, Gates? You still lose some items though, albeit less than previous games. GG, Spike-Chunsoft /s.
As you can see, this is the Box Buster, ran by Rampardos (man Snek looks big compared to him. Nice sense of scale, Spike-Chunsoft /s.). Essentially he's the replacement for Xatu Appraisal in this game (makes me wonder how my item is intact once he smashes its box though). He's not open now for some lame reason I can't really remember. I think he said he smashed his shop up too much or something (it looks fine to me though).
This here is a new shop, obviously called the Gift Shop and ran by a Cinccino. When this shop opens, Cinncino will sell us gifts that will help us recruit Pokemon (I've never used them, so I don't know how they work exactly). However, as I hinted, this shop is also closed for lame reasons. Something about lack of wrapping paper or something like that. Also, Rampardos has a one way crush on Cinccino.
. To you shippers out there, I'll be open here and now: it fortunately (from my perspective) never goes anywhere. So we won't have a game bogged down too much with lovey-dovey shit. I'll be open here with another thing: I'm an aro ace, or aromantic asexual. If you don't know that means, it means I don't care about those types of relationships (among other things. However, I'm far more hostile to those types of relationships than what be normal in these groups.). So, just FYI going forward.
Anyways, I'm going to return to the main menu and show off a few things.
This is what our current main menu looks like. The only option I'm going to be concerning myself with is the Wonder Mail option right now. (also, occasionally the top menu will do a wave effect with the boss icons with the player character smiling. Probably would be a nice effect for people not as hardened as me. Also, I know the play time is high. It's what happens when you don't pause the game much when writing down dialogue. Citra doesn't have a convenient and fast way to pause the game :( .)
The Wonder Mail system has be overhauled for this game. Instead of them being robust and controlling missions, they instead are preset 8 character passwords that you can use to get some items. Barring some laziness on the part of Spike-Chunsoft, I can only guess that this was partially done to combat Wonder Mail generator abuse (like what was done with the PMD1 and 2 runs.). Most of the passwords for the US version can be found here it seems: https://www.gamespot.com/pokemon-mystery-dungeon-gates-to-infinity/cheats/ . I went ahead and put in the passwords for the Protein, Iron, Sitrus Berry, PP Manual, Joy Ribbon, and Gold Scope. I'll save the rest for the post game. What's that? I was complaining about the game being too easy and I'm not helping the problem by getting free and cheap items? I have no idea what you're talking about. Be nice and don't accuse people of stuff like that.
If you're wondering what the PP Manual and Gold Scope do, let's just say we'll find out later. I didn't even want to get the Gold Scope right now, but I needed something to show off the new Wonder Mail system.....
Anyways, we head back to the main menu and continue the game are greeted with this....
This is a thing unique to Gates. It's essentially what it looks like: it gives you a reminder of what has happened in the story since you last played. Given the more casual nature of this game, it seems to fit its pick up and play nature (especially since they think we have the memory of goldfish at times in this series.). I'm not going to be showing this off all the time (or maybe at all after this), but I'd thought I show its existence.
Also, this game does not use chapters like PMD2. I like it better that way --- it's harder to tell what will happen next in the story.
Anyways, we go back into the game and walk towards the Cafe, which initiates the next part of the plot.
(No music)
*looks to the side*
Those two Timburr over there are the carpenter's, mmm, apprentices.
Well, these two are the Timburr (Yes, they're both named Timburr.). There's almost nothing to differentiate them, so they'll be referred to Timburr and Other Timburr on a first come, first serve basis per scene in this LP.
*Timburr look at them*
Where's you, mmm, master?
Timburr: What? Our "master"?
Do you mean...the boss?
Draco: Your "boss" is the carpenter, right?
We want to build a house.
Could you take us to meet your boss?
*The Timburr look at each other and nod*
Timburr: We certainly can.
Did he just....... He did! He committed a crime against grammar! No one uses a double negative on my watch! He'll pay for this outrage! Grammar Police to the rescue!
Quagsire: Hmm, looks good. Good luck with the carpenter, hmm?
I'll be waiting out here, hmm?
Okay, you do that. Look, you've been a big help despite some rudeness, but you're letting a grammar criminal get away! What kind of fiend are you, Quagsire?! I know we're evil, but dam man, we can't let grammar criminals prosper.
Draco: Yeah! Thanks!
*the team goes into the Cafe*
While it would have been a nice twist to have Swanna be the carpenter (who says she couldn't do it?), it's too early in the game for it to be pulling any creative twists like that. A shame. Also, I question the word choice on how Timburr refers to Swanna in the third sentence.......
Other Timburr: You'll see our boss just over there...
Oh man. You just had to do it. You just had to scare them for no reason (granted, they should be used to this, but....). Some nice boss you are, Gurdurr. One of the Timburr is a grammar criminal as well, but still.
Gurdurr: What do you two want?
Timburr: H-hey, Boss... S-see, these folks here...
Please mister! We're cold and sleeping in conditions unfit for landowners like ourselves. Please accept our offer! We totally aren't trying to take over the world and totally won't work you like a slave.
*zoom in on Gurdurr*
Gurdurr: ... ... ...
*cut to normal*
Timburr: So, uh, wh-what do you think, Boss?
*cut music*
*zoom in on Gurdurr*
Gurdurr: ...
... ...
... ... ...
*cut to normal*
Timburr: Uh... B-Boss?
Are you sure there's some rule that you have to do that as a craftsperson? I'm skeptical. Sure, you might follow that line of thinking, but that doesn't mean every craftsperson keeps their word. Especially if Pokemon are supposedly getting more on edge.
Draco: Th-thank you!
*zoom in on the team*
All right, King Snek!
We're gonna build a house!
I knew it! Requisite fetch quest is requisite. While I don't expect you to work for free, what you're asking us for seems odd..... Poke seems like it would be more universally useful.
Draco: Things are looking up! The carpenter accepted our offer!
If we'll just go the Stony Cave and get him the gems he wants...
...he'll help us build a house!
You must not know your own game series too well, huh? Well, get ready for some exposition. And yes, Snek talks here!
Draco: Mysterious things are always happening in areas like this.
Like every time you go into one, its layout will probably change.
Or an underground passage will lead to someplace you'd never expect.
But there are sure to be adventures waiting for you in those kinds of mysterious places!
I thought it was mostly because you wanted a Pokemon Paradise?
Quagsire: It sure does sound fun when you put it like that, hmm?
Sometimes you can, hmm, find rare treasure!
And then everything's coming up roses, hmm?
And then...out of nowhere...
...you might get, hmm, viciously attacked by wild Pokemon.
Harsh, but in other PMD game, true statement about the realities of dungeon crawling. Since this is Gates to Infinity and since it's the second dungeon in the game however, I'm sure we'll be fine.
They're very dangerous places, so be careful, hmm?
I guess so. But it's not like we have to try hard in most of this game.
Draco: You know, Quagsire...
You do full understand the danger we're about to face, right?
Don't you think you could summon up a bit more genuine concern?
Indeed let's. Let's stop talking and do something.
The game does not force us to go to Stony Cave immediately and allows me full access to the overworld now. Let's go check out Paradise and the rest of Post Town, shall we?
(Music in Paradise: Pokemon Paradise 1)
We wander a bit around the nondescript badlands a bit and find this mailbox with a free Reviver Seed!:
In truth, this is tied to a StreetPass player rescue system. However, since we're on an emulator, we're ignoring it.
We head to Post Town, which plays its normal music. (We've heard it before, I know. I'm just being nice here. I guess.)
The overlook area on Swanna's Cafe. Not the full part of the map, but oh well.
Here's the top section of Post Town. Barring the fountain, there's nothing important happening here (yet). I also won't usually mention what NPCs say, but the Herdier and Lillipup are talking about the lack of some sort of rainbows or something and how it's demotivating to Pokemon. Why you need rainbows to give purpose to your life, I don't know.
We've seen this before, but this is the first floor of Swanna's Cafe. We can't shop here, but plot occasionally happens here, like we saw earlier.
Second floor of Swanna's Cafe, where the guest rooms are.
We head the the last part of Post Town to (where the Gold Bars are) show off the last few shops.
Ugh, the awful puns (and with this logic, everything that has "man" or the like in its name should replace that with "-mon". So Gurdurr shouldn't have said that he was a craftsman. He should have said that he was a crafts-mon. So much for consistency, Spike-Chunsoft.). We'll go over this place more once the mechanics relevant to this place come into play. The lame excuse here of why it's closed is that Roggenrola is repairing the place.
This is Glorious Gold. We'll go over this place in more detail once the mechanic pertaining to this shop actually enters gameplay. Also, Cofagrigus's shop is nominally closed. And as for this edition of Lame Excuses of Why Shops Are Closed (TM), he's supposedly setting up shop.
All in all, Post Town feels less like a town, and more like a, well, trading post. So that's where it gets its name! And it's supported by what the characters said to a degree.
This is Foongus. Foongus is a being made up of pure hatred, cynicism, greed, and evil. He reminds you of cheap cash grabs. He's likely the true reason why things are going wrong. I didn't want to show Foongus, but I thought I would just for the sake of being thorough. Foongus is the DLC shop owner, the avatar of the corporate suits at Spike-Chunsoft telling despite anything the game might have to say, it's all a lie. You need to give them your money. All of it. On overpriced content that should have been on the game at release. The game's already easy, but if you hand over your money, Foongus can give you shit that will make it easier. He's the antithesis of everything good and decent in the world. And of course he's open, because you need to give Spike-Chunsoft your money now.
Fortunately though, we're on an emulator and couldn't connect to Nintendo's servers for this even if we tried. So fuck Foongus and may he rot for all eternity in his corner. We may be evil, but Foogus is on a whole different level. We have some class. he's just pure evil.
Oh don't worry though, we'll be revisiting the existence of Foongus and his DLC later on when we do the ending reflections. But for now, fuck him.
Well, that aside, the game is still almost fully playable without the shitty DLC. And you probably don't to hear me rant about this all day long, so let's move on......
Let's get to the dungeon screen now!
Obviously we don't have much places we can go at the start of the game. And I know I wanted to stop talking about DLC, but there you go. Despite my bitching about it, I still acquired it as I might need to get it working if I want to recruit 'em all in this game (it's that bad). However, it's not loading the dungeons properly right now (still need to look into this), so right now, I'm trying to recruit 'em all.
Anyways, Stony Cave is where we need to go. I brought my Protein, Iron, and Sitrus Berry so Snek can chug them down once we're inside.
Draco: All right! Let's go!
We're going to to get those blue gems!
Dungeon: Stony Cave (Music) (A pretty catchy and upbeat theme. I like it.)
(Potential Recruits: Klink, Drilbur, Joltik, Gothita, Woobat, Braviary (later))
After a scuffle and ingesting the steroids, our favorite Snivy has a grand total of +3 HP and +2 Attack and Defense. Impressive, I know /s.
We beat the ever living shit out of some wild Pokemon and Draco grows his first level in the LP. The slow text speed infests even this as each stat gain. Goes. One. At. A. Time.
After a bit more violence (Yes, we're still very much pacifists, thank you! Geez. People thinking we condone violence in this LP...... Bring it all on! >:D), King Snek grows his first level. Neither starter gets a new move. And like Drenched Bluff, this dungeon fails to live up to its so called "dangerous" hype. Not like that's surprising for this game.
Barring the obvious narration, we find a door colored red. Gates expands the key and locked door system from previous games by having different doors need different keys or the like to open them. And the rewards are usually better. This is offset by stronger Pokemon often existing behind them. This is where the Braviary mentioned in the potential recruits section above comes into play.
Anyways, to open this door, we need a Red Key, which we don't have. We turn around and head on through the dungeon.
After B5F, we get this:
*black screen, no music*
Draco: Phew... We've come pretty far in...
*zoom in on a big blue gem*
HM Snek: (This does seem to be the end of the cave, after all...)
Looks like all we need to do is bring some of these stones back with us, huh?
Yes, we've said this a trillion times already. Take 5 gems. Bring gems to Gurdurr. He and Timburr build house. Got it? Also, it's nice to see that Snek is a more talkative than other PMD player characters.
*back to normal*
Draco: Yeah. Let's pick some out and head back, why don't we?
*digs at some gems*
*Draco walks to Post Town*
King Snek: (Draco sure is excited...)
(He must be thrilled to think he'll finally have his own home.)
(I can understand...that kind of feeling.)
*he runs to Post Town too*
The game display's Scraggy's name as "???" at this time, but we all know what kind of Pokemon he is (I hope). Anyways, what a rude Pokemon. He should hang out with Quagsire.
Draco: Man, that surprised me! What was that all about...
Dammit man! We trusted you with those gems, and you lost them! Unless.....
(Music: That is Odd...)
Snek: (What?)
Draco: *he keeps searching* That's so weird! I know I was carrying them on the way here...
No matter how many times I check...they're not here.
We did have them, but what's there to get? You either misplaced them or.....
Snek: (That is odd...)
(I know I saw Draco pick up the blue gems in that cave...)
(And Draco was walking in front of me the whole way home...)
(If he'd dropped the gems, I'm pretty sure I would've noticed...)
That's assuming he has the time. Though why's he back here so fast if he said he was in a hurry?..........
*Snek turns to Draco to say something. Draco turns to meet Snek.*
Draco: ...Hm? What is it, King Snek?
What? You want to ask that Pokemon we just saw if he knows anything?
At this point, I expect you to quickly go with Snek's plans with little resistance. And if we dropped them on the way, who's to assume it's him who found the gems? He's not the only Pokemon who travels in out of this town.
If we waste time, we're going to lose sight of him!
King Snek! Pick up those feet!
That second sentence. Thank you for think what I'm thinking. And sure, tell us where he's going. It's not like we have any leads.
Draco: Wha--?
Timburr: Scraggy is headed to for Hazy Pass. You'll find him if you go there.
Other Timburr: Yeah, so you little punks had better-- I mean, we, uh, we think think you should go.
Timburr: It happened before you two came to the inn.
When Scraggy bumped into you from behind...
Other Timburr: ...he took your blue gems.
Draco: Wh-whaat?!
B-but you... How could the two of you possibly know that?
That's a very good question. Do extrapolate our Timburr associates......
*the Timburr look at each and panic, then look back at the team*
Timburr: W-we--!
Other Timburr: W-we're sorry, all right?! We didn't mean nothing' by it!
*they run off*
Wait, what? Come back here! We need more answers! And Other Timburr. You almost absolved yourself from your crimes against Grammar! But that's the second double negative this update! This is unforgivable! Grammar Police move out!
What's there to understand? The Timburr told us Scraggy stole our gems. We should go get them back with violence (again, we're totally peaceful and would never hurt another Pokemon). Or just go back to Stony Cave. There was plenty of gems there.
The Timburr told us to get back our blue gems...
And that they were stolen when that Scraggy guy ran into us...
Stop repeating everything that was said! We get it!
King Snek: (When Scraggy...ran into us...)
Hardly seems like there was enough time to steal them in that second, though...
Draco: Yeah, but the Timburr seemed pretty serious about it...
Well, King Snek! We might as well go after Scraggy and see what he has to say!
More like we'll have to kick his ass. Though he likely will be hostile, we must never scoop to his level and confront him with peace....
They said he was headed someplace called Hazy Pass.
I'm guessing we can probably get there from the crossroads.
Might as well start there and see!! Let's go!
*free roam*
Next time on PMD: Gates to Infinity:
We pursue Scraggy and confront him about the blue gems. We learn the truth behind the theft and explore themes I never thought a Pokemon game would even semi realistically explore. Also, we might get a house. Who knows? Whatever the case, we will be one step closer to world domination!
Hew....... Another long ass update. I need to take it easier. Anyways, please feel free to give me feedback and names for recruits. Also, I'm thinking about changing the style of this LP from posts to video with commentary. Tell me what you think about that. See you next time, whenever that'll be.
Again, ignore the attachments. I keep making that mistake......
you mentioned not losing items as being something that makes the game easier - is gti actually harder than the ones before it (a la super) or is it still kinda easy?
You still lose some items in GtI if you lose, just supposedly not as much as PMD1 and 2. And yes, that makes it easier. If the punishment for failure is lighter, then by definition the game is easier. And finally, as I said, Gates is as easy as I say it is (and it will become even easier when we get access to later mechanics). There's no compensation for the game being even easier than PMD1 and 2. We might be challenged a few times here and there, but the game hardly makes up for its easier mechanics.
(Fun fact: Both the player and partner in this game are always male outside Japan, without fail. Why, I don't know. It does make the game even less replayable and less attractive to people who want female starters though.)
HI!!!!! HI YES YOU CALLED!!!! that is literally the only reason why i never played it when it first came out and i am still angry about that to this day
Just thought of this again from the Gates to Infinity recruit 'em all livestream and if I recall correctly, it's pretty much because the original Japanese game was never programmed to dynamically switch out pronouns in text boxes. Then the translators only have control over the text of the game, not the programming. A stupid reason definitely, but not a nonexistent reason.
If you've played Earthbound, the "translators can't change the programming" obstacle is on full display and the team actually went out of their way to try to work around it. E.g. in the text line "You found a <item>" the game is only programmed to fill in the name of the item, and it can't switch out "a" for "an" or remove it for plural items (and this problem doesn't apply in Japanese). So they literally made sure every item's name was both singular and started with a consonant, resulting in interesting changes like "Orange juice" -> "Can of fruit juice" and "Noodles of life" -> "Cup of lifenoodles".
