Pallet Town
So you start off in Pallet town, The game is about the Orange Islands so after speaking to Prof. Oak you head south and start your journey along side your faithful sidekick BoatMan!
I didn't like that pallet town was closed off, The same routes should have been accessible however when you try and leave Palet Town to the North someone stops you and says you've already achieved everything in this region so it stops you aswell as keeping the authenticity of using a known town
Johto
The inclusion of Johto at the beginning was good running through recognisable towns etc but there wasn't enough to do, Be it added trainer battles or little side quests that gets you helpful items like Mystic Water or other Type boosting items just to aid you a bit later and to make the short stint you do in Johto a little bit longer so it seems less like a forced add-on
Boundaries
I found the boundaries for the water a bit short, Even if your plan was to use the boatman throughout the entire game you could of extended the boundaries in the sea so it looks more fluid when standing on the shore line
HMs
The inclusion of a surfing Lapras was great I think to carry on that theme because the need for fly was quite high, A flying pokemon should have been given to you much the same way Lapras was with Fly already registered
The only other HM I remember was Strength and it was too easy to obtain, The first time you need it it's right there, Even if it was just like obtaining the running shoes where you walk in to the first building on the island to get it would have made it a bit better
The Crystal Onix
The crystal Onix was definately a good feature but I found it a bit too blue and it's stats were horrible!
A pretty good defense but because of the clashing types it had soo many weaknesses to actually use it was pointless especially with such low attacking stats, and because Crystal is a mineral I don't think the dual type was even neccesary just for it to be able to learn water types moves would have made it much better
Tilesets
I liked the use of the GSC tiles in Johto because Johto was always supposed to be Inferior technologically to pallet however it does sometimes look slightly out of place but short of a custom tileset not much of a way to fix, Having said that it's not that big a problem
Story
Some of the beginning story left it unclear as to what to do and where to go although not impossible, Running around and talking to everyone did eventually get to the solution Could only suggest having someone standing in the pokecentre who when you speak to suggests what to do next like, 'Have you seen this..' or 'Done that..?'
Just to give a bit more of an indication as to what to do, Then again it was better in the sense you really had to figure it out for yourself which I feel is lacking from a lot of Other games and leaves the player normally rushing through the game
Trainer Tower
The Trainer Tower was a good feature because I personally like to have a couple of the starters but I ended up training Charmander and Squirtle up to about level 40, The final giovanni battle being too difficult so going back to catch a level 80 one with Lugia since it wa able to pulverise opponents double it's level and because I oculd give it any move I could jsut put them to sleep to catch with a pokeball
WOuld be better if you couldn't enter a Level 80 room unless you had a pokemon of that level or higher in your party
I think the low levels using starters would be good as it gives the player a chance to use them
but after that having the 'Common' pokemon, Zubat/Pidgey/Rattata etc, from past games at higher levels purely for training purposes, That or implementing a 'Battle Tower' sort of feature but it's pretty weak in terms of training methods
Also because you couldn't leave an island after you were on it unless you had fly or beat everything you needed to It left me at the beginning being stuck on islands because the gym leaders were too tough and not having any training oppurtunities, I had fly but I intended on teaching it to Charizard once it was available because normally it is jsut an ability that makes travelling easier than a tool neccessary to aid through gameplay
Voice-Overs/Music
The addition of the Voice overs I really liked maybe a nice change from the normal 8-bit music
The sinister music on the island where the festival is, the name escapes me at present, coupled with the stormy weather made ofr a very intense portion of the game which i enjoyed
I think because of the voice overs used from 'The Power of One' the player should have been Ash but definately the OW player sprite should have matched the Backsprite/Player selection at the very least
I normally have iTunes or Radio 1 on when I am on the computer so games tend to be muted but I found myself wanting to listen on the festival island and listenening to the voice overs which was good but the battle music was slightly annoying so i ended up muting again ..
Pre-Championship
The Pre Champion Travels seemed rushed to say the least, Go here, find stuff, Battle legend, go to the next place and repeat 20 times ..
Don't get me wrong it was great to be able to find all these TMs etc that I have no doubt will help when it comes to the battle but it jsut seemed like you wanted to include the Legends and making them Mandatory in the story I wasn't too fond of for example the official games they are available but you have to find them but you don't need them to beat the quest part of the game, which i think is a better system
A few would of been ok like The legendary dogs or something Because iirc they were random encounters in past games so it would be easier jsut to go place to place to receive them but possibly after you've beaten the champion
The Legendary Birds it shows they live in the islands surrounding Shamouti so they should have been capturable there, Obviously being too high a level to beat at that point in the game you know you can come back later to get them with possibly a reminder by Lugia that balance is restored and that you should visit the islands again
As for the rest I think they should of been implemented similiar to past games but that would bring up the problem of not being enough regions for later legends so I can't really suggest an alternative..
Warning Message
The Legends warning message started to get a bit annoying aswell with the frequency it was used. It was fine the first time, But being that they are implemented as trainers I think it implys that you msut defeat them, Presuming if you actually used a pokeball you wouldnt be able to catch it jsut like you can't catch other trainers pokemon
I did like that you had to defeat the Legends in order to get them though
I didn't like the the little Chat Lugia and Ho-Oh had, it was jsut strange.. lol
Lugia
I don't know if you edited Lugia's first move, AeroBlast?, or not because I had not seen it before this game but it is waaaay too powerful, Destroying pretty much everything that comes against it with just one move that has 255pp
Aswell as the unlimited movelist, I think it's a great way around HMs though, so perhaps have it set to be able to change it's moves but only have the HMs available
The Heal feature is definately useful though aswell as the Repel feature which helped for all of the deserted islands because you were only really on them to catch legendaries and find TMs
Pokemonforever27
The inclusion of yourself as the pokemon master is the difference between a good game and a great game, It would of been better if you had incorporated an old rival or if it had been an on running new rival or even if you had created a time paradox and had you battling your future self through the help of the captured celebi, Incorporating such dialogue as after your orange island adventure you realised you had the world's legendary pokemon at yoru fingertips and the power was too much to contain so you took over the world and become the emperor of the New World Order, Sitting on your throne one day pondering over who you could battle out of sheer boredom as no other trainer even comes close to the power you hold you are reminded of the Golden GS Ball sitting in your TrophyCase and hatch a plan to go back in time to defeat the only trainer worthy, Your past self the trainer with all the passion and the power you used to have, In your crazed state you choose to go back in time with the power of celebi and defeat yourself!
It would at least explain why their is more than one of the legendary pokemon being that there is supposed to be only 1 in existence for most of the legends
Needless to say having them in the first place is annoying as they now hold no superior status, and furthermore having them at Level 100 is annoying, Especially considering the, I suppose, 'Boss Battle' pokemon increasing in an unorganic fashion of levels, They increase by 10-20 levels between battles whereas your pokemon are always left trailing behind unless you spend a heap of time in the trainer tower which isn'y an enjoyable part of any game yet it appears to form a prominent role in this one
The inclusion of Nibelung Valesti was also of high annoyance, After googling it I discovered it was a Valkyrie spell, Pretty pointless to say the least in adding it but what caused the annoyance was upon Lugia's release from the poke ball it was able to use that move and have the 'Must Recharge' message scroll along the bottom, In essence given the opposition 2 free turns
Rating
Overall I think it's a Really good, short, game.
6/10
Removing yourself from the game would put it up to a
7/10
Delivery of the other suggestions would have me rating this game even higher
The mapping is good although a bit repetitive at points
The story is strong although in parts becomes slightly drawn out
The features included are well implemented on the most part
Some screenshots:
That pretty much concludes my un-requested review of your game, Hope it helped in some way or form