Valkyrie90
Spiritual Concentration
- 61
- Posts
- 16
- Years
- Seen May 25, 2008
I've decided to review all the Pokemon RPGs to truly see if they have gone downhill. Feel free to post your own reviews. I'll be sure to check them out.
(^^ sorry if there are any typos ^^)
NOTE: This is all MY OPINION
POKEMON RED, BLUE, YELLOW
(^^ sorry if there are any typos ^^)
NOTE: This is all MY OPINION
POKEMON RED, BLUE, YELLOW
I believe the originals had a lot of content that the newer generations are severely lacking. In R/B/Y, the story, although basic, was catchy enough for kids (of course) to really enjoy and we all remember it. One thing I really want to mention is the Gym Leaders. In these games, the leaders were very memorable in the game and the Anime helped with that, that's something leaders in the future titles began to lack. It might have not had all the Egg Moves, Lucarios, and Volt Tackles, but it still built the foundation for more complex Pokemon titles (in gameplay and Pokemon training) for the future.
STARTERS
Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Grass, Fire, and Water became the formula for all the future starters. Most people picked Charmander for it's final evolutions awesome appearance and how it was every kids dream to tame a wild fire breathing dragon like Charizard ^^. These starters were a memorable bunch that started the franchise and they literally felt like they were your "partners" in the games adventure and again, the Anime helped with that as well.
GYM LEADERS AND ELITE FOUR
Everyone remembers, Brock, Misty, Lt.Surge, Erika, as the "good" Gym Leaders, and Koga, Sabrina, Blaine, and Giovanni, as the "evil" or more elite Gym Leaders in the game and Anime. These leaders felt very original and in the Anime, their characters, motivations, and Pokemon were really entertaining even now. They never got as complex in future games and the "big" surprise of Giovanni as the last leader really was cool.
The Elite Four in this game was very good. They were tough and never got any tougher. Lance was the most popular for having the infamous, Dragonite as well as a appealing collection of other Dragon-like Pokemon like, Gyarados and Aerodactyl. He was truly a tough opponent and Nintendo really messed up in future games with the whole thing.
LEGENDARY POKEMON
Another very memorable aspect of R/B/Y. Some were simple, like the extras, Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres being birds who's appearances matched their specific types, and some were complex, the main legendaries like the infamous Mewtwo and Mew. The extra Legendary Pokemon really didn't start to get bad until R/S/E.
GAMEPLAY AND MECHANICS
The gameplay and mechanics were simple and haven't changed too much. A Pokemon learns moves by leveling up, you find a good combinations of moves, and then go to town on fellow trainers. It was very basic to the naked eye, but for players who dug deeper into the game, they found out about when Pokemon would learn certain moves by NOT evolving them at their set levels, and the right time to evolve Stone Evolution Pokemon like Eevee at levels that would make sure they got all of their best moves. Not much else in R/B/Y, but it G/S/C it got A LOT better.
POKEMON GOLD, SILVER, CRYSTAL
STARTERS
Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. Grass, Fire, and Water became the formula for all the future starters. Most people picked Charmander for it's final evolutions awesome appearance and how it was every kids dream to tame a wild fire breathing dragon like Charizard ^^. These starters were a memorable bunch that started the franchise and they literally felt like they were your "partners" in the games adventure and again, the Anime helped with that as well.
GYM LEADERS AND ELITE FOUR
Everyone remembers, Brock, Misty, Lt.Surge, Erika, as the "good" Gym Leaders, and Koga, Sabrina, Blaine, and Giovanni, as the "evil" or more elite Gym Leaders in the game and Anime. These leaders felt very original and in the Anime, their characters, motivations, and Pokemon were really entertaining even now. They never got as complex in future games and the "big" surprise of Giovanni as the last leader really was cool.
The Elite Four in this game was very good. They were tough and never got any tougher. Lance was the most popular for having the infamous, Dragonite as well as a appealing collection of other Dragon-like Pokemon like, Gyarados and Aerodactyl. He was truly a tough opponent and Nintendo really messed up in future games with the whole thing.
LEGENDARY POKEMON
Another very memorable aspect of R/B/Y. Some were simple, like the extras, Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres being birds who's appearances matched their specific types, and some were complex, the main legendaries like the infamous Mewtwo and Mew. The extra Legendary Pokemon really didn't start to get bad until R/S/E.
GAMEPLAY AND MECHANICS
The gameplay and mechanics were simple and haven't changed too much. A Pokemon learns moves by leveling up, you find a good combinations of moves, and then go to town on fellow trainers. It was very basic to the naked eye, but for players who dug deeper into the game, they found out about when Pokemon would learn certain moves by NOT evolving them at their set levels, and the right time to evolve Stone Evolution Pokemon like Eevee at levels that would make sure they got all of their best moves. Not much else in R/B/Y, but it G/S/C it got A LOT better.
POKEMON GOLD, SILVER, CRYSTAL
In G/S/C, things slightly started to go downhill for the "story", but as far as gameplay and mechanics were concerned, it was incredible. The story was basically like always, a rehash of the first one in a new world with new Pokemon, but this was the first time new Pokemon had ever been release (new Pokemon didn't really start to go bad until D/P), so it really made the game a lot more interesting. What really makes this game shine above all other Pokemon games including the newer ones is that you could go back to Kanto and not only visit all the cities from the last generation, but BATTLE THE GYM LEADERS ALSO! Why Nintendo didn't do this with future Pokemon games? I don't know, but it truly made the game amazing even to today's standards.
STARTERS
Chikarita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile might not have been as memorable as the originals, but they still were very popular being that they were the first new set of starters. Again, the Fire-type was most popular here because of how Typlosion looked so cool. I believe Chikarita might be the most underused starter in the game's history being that it looked so feminine, not too many people picked it lol.
GYM LEADERS AND ELITE FOUR
This is really where the series started to go bad. The Johto Gym Leaders in the game and the Anime were not too memorable because their characters and Pokemon weren't that good (besides Blue being the last KANTO Gym Leader, which was a surprise.) With the exception of the last leader, Clair who was notable for being the first leader to use Dragon Pokemon, being the only last leader that was female, and for being Lance's sister. Also, she was pretty tough to beat, which was good because Lance was a complete joke in the Elite Four.
In fact, the entire Elite Four in this game was very, very bad and extremely easy to beat. The strongest Pokemon was Lance's LV 50 Dragonite which was odd because in the last game his Dragonite was in the 60s (???) Not too much to say about them, but it was neat that the former Gym Leader, Koga was now in the Elite Four, even though he was tougher to beat as a Gym Leader in R/B/Y. This was the first and only time that there was exactly 4 trainers you had to face instead of the 4 "Elite Four" and then the champion.
Also, being able to battle against Red from the previous game was very interesting because he had a Pikachu that was in the LV 90s, as well as a classic team of Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, and others.
LEGENDARY POKEMON
The Legends still had their shine here in G/S/C. The extras being Entei, Suicune, Raikou, and Celebi, while the main Legendaries were some of the coolest ever made, Lugia and Ho-Oh. Lugia being the Guardian of the Sea, Ho-oh being sort of a Guardian of the Sky. The way you found all these Legendary Pokemon was extremely well crafted. The infamous "roaming" Pokemon debuted here when you had to randomly search for the 3 Legendary Dogs which added some surprise and more strategy to the game, being that they could strike at any moment you were in grassy fields once you released them, as you had to be quick to put them to Sleep and then catch them before they escaped, but really Lugia and Ho-Oh were the main attractions. You didn't NEED the other game to get both, it all mattered on which one you got to search for first and what level it was. Lugia being the first one you'd be able to search for in Pokemon Silver which would be found in an underwater cavern being LV 40 and Ho-Oh being at the top of Tin Tower at 70, while in Pokemon Gold you'd be able to search for Ho-Oh first and their levels would swap. I believe you could pick the one you wanted to search for first in Pokemon Crystal (not sure though) with the first being LV40 and the second LV70. This also effected the moves they knew when you caught them. The Lugia in Pokemon Gold might have forgotten Aeroblast when you caught it, and the Ho-Oh in Pokemon Silver might have forgotten Sacred Fire. They truly did a good job when deciding how you'd find these Pokemon. It never got as good and balanced as this.
GAMEPLAY AND MECHANICS
This is the best part about the game besides the Legends. Pokemon breeding was introduced which has become a standard for raising competitive Pokemon today. They also added a bunch of new moves, and TMs. You were also able to trade with past games, R/B/Y in order to fill up the new National Pokedex which including all the Pokemon from those games, as well as those in G/S/C. Perhaps the biggest thing introduced in these games were the new SHINY POKEMON. With very little chance at finding/catching them, you would be able to find a Pokemon with a distinguished color from it's original. Also, the Pokemon that was "shiny" would have all it's stats increased that would pass on to any Pokemon you'd get by breeding it (this unfortunately wasn't included in the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl shinies.) This game should've set the standard for all future Pokemon RPG releases, especially since you could basically travel back in time (some Chrono Trigger action! lol) to the original stages of the game, but somehow that wasn't the case in Pokemon R/S/E.
POKEMON RUBY, SAPPHIRE, EMERALD
Now that Pokemon was on the Gameboy Advance, the game's graphics started to look a lot better and the music was good too. Actually the music is some of the best you'll hear for any GBA game and Pokemon game (I think only Golden Sun, and Final Fantasy 4 and 5 are better then this.) Some of the themes when you battle Gym Leaders and Trainers are really catchy and well done, but besides that, and the new Pokemon, everything else didn't change too much, but the games definitely feel a lot more polished then Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.
STARTERS
The last batch of unique looking starters. Treeko, Mudkip, and Torchic evolve into some of the best Pokemon in the game, even today. The series started to feel a bit "new" again being that it was on a newer generation handheld, so the starters quickly became popular and AGAIN most people preferred Torchic because of Blaziken.
GYM LEADERS AND ELITE FOUR
Not memorable one bit. I can hardly remember their names. The only 3 that stand out are Tate and Liza for the 2-on-2 battle you had against them, Norman for being your "father" in the game and for being pretty tough to beat, and Wallace for having a pretty tough Milotic.
The Elite Four is not much better, except the champion, Steven is interesting for replacing Lance from previous games and for using a unique pack of Steel, Ground, and Rock Pokemon.
LEGENDARY POKEMON
This is also another aspect that started to go downhill, but not too much. Groudon and Kyogue both were very different and original, same with Rayquaza, Deoxys, Latias, Latios, and Jirachi, but the Regi's were simply uninteresting and the methods for getting them felt pointless and this is when Nintendo began to not include important information in the games themselves. The only way you knew how to unlock the gate to a Regi was to go online or look in the Strategy Guide. Also, this was the first time that you'd have to trade with the other version in order to obtain it's main Legendary Pokemon (as well as Latias or Latios.) What really bothered me was the method you had to obtain Deoxys and Jirachi which, like most event only Pokemon is extremely difficult for most people and unreasonable. If the event is in a city you're not able to get to, then you'll never be able to get that Pokemon legit, forcing players to use cheating devices to obtain them, which can cause problems with the game. It was not smart for them to have this as a way to get certain Pokemon, same for a bunch of past Legendaries like Mew, Lugia, and Celebi in FireRed and LeafGreen.
GAMEPLAY AND MECHANICS
This aspect has some flaws, but it's mostly excellent. The gameplay is the same except for the new 2-on-2 battle mode, and so moves that effect both Pokemon in that type of battle, but some new additions like the E-Reader were pretty much pointless. The Dive TM allowed you to swim underwater with a Pokemon which would be used to reach certain areas of the game, but it was basically a glorified version of Surf. Also, in Emerald they added the Battle Tower which returned from Pokemon Crystal. It was a nice "new" addition that SHOULD HAVE been put in Ruby/Sapphire also, but wasn't.
POKEMON DIAMOND AND PEARL
The big ones, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. The newest edition to the Pokemon RPGs have definitely made an impact, but Nintendo has definitely showed that Pokemon games are starting to get old OR that they are starting to get really lazy with the game's content. The story has gotten really stale and Team Galactica is basically a laughable version of Team Rocket with a more "interstellar" gimmick. If another Pokemon game is released, they should either start completely new with a whole new complete set of 151 Pokemon, or make one last game which has all 4 regions, all 493 Pokemon, and all 32 badges.
STARTERS
Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup look very uninteresting except for their final forms. It seems like they just threw ideas together to come up with their basic forms and names, and they just don't seem that notable besides their move sets. However, they do evolve to have unique type combinations that make them some of the best Pokemon in the game. This is the first time the starter Pokemon have had types so robust and Torterra is the first starter to learn the powerful move, Earthquake (lv 32.)
GYM LEADERS AND ELITE FOUR
They are even less memorable then the leaders in R/S/E. The only ones that stand out are Maylene because she uses the popular Lucario, and Volkner for being the first final leader to use Electric Pokemon. That's all I can say about them...
Cynthia is the only real one mentioning in the Elite Four. She is very, very good, but they really just made her set of Pokemon look like what the player would actually use to beat the Elite Four or use as a competitive team for online play. Would Lance's Dragon Pokemon really beat all of Lorelei's Ice Pokemon in R/B/Y? Probably not. They just made her team look like what a real team would look like just like Blue in R/B/Y. This is arguably what all the "Pokemon League Champions" teams should've looked like.
*A side note is that Cynthia is suppose to be a Pokemon Master in the Anime*
LEGENDARY POKEMON AND THE 3 ELITE POKEMON
A thing that R/S/E started that D/P continued that got worse. Other then the Gym Leaders, all the extra Legendary Pokemon in D/P are completely boring regardless of their interesting move sets, and Palkia and Dialga aren't much different, they look like clones of eachother just with a different body shape and color, but most of their features are identical. The extras are very poorly done in appearance, which is sad because their move sets are quite good. Girantina looks like something they just threw together, same with Heatran, and Cresselia's appearance doesn't even make sense. Manaphy has a pretty difficult method of obtaining and it's not even that good of a Pokemon. Phione is laughable for being the first "baby" Legendary Pokemon that is basically a watered down version of an already so-so Pokemon that IT CAN'T EVEN EVOLVE INTO which makes it worse. It feels like they just threw random "legendary" looking Pokemon in the game to just have them be there and this doesn't only apply to the legends. Many of the regular Pokemon, like Bidoof, Kricketot, Burmy, and Cherubi are all completely useless and just look like rehashed versions of past "beginner" Pokemon like Rattata, Caterpie, and Weedle. Anyway, Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie, all look a lot like Mew and have questionable move sets. If you see their stats, you know that Azelf is the only acceptable one to use competitively unless you want to take chances with the others. Those along with Dialga and Palkia are the only ones who's appearances look decent. None of these are as "epic" as Lugia or Mewtwo. I feel as Nintendo started to add new extra Legendary Pokemon, the more they started to look less, and less interesting until now finally the main legends are starting to look the same.
Shaymin, Darkrai, and Arceus are also included, except no one is suppose to know about them yet lol. Thanks to Action Replay, we are able to use them now and they are the only Legendary Pokemon in the game that have good appearances. With their move sets, Arceus and Darkrai definitely out weigh Shaymin, but they really overhauled some of their moves and abilities to make them pretty cheap. Darkrai being able to hurt both Pokemon (in a 2-on-2 battle) with it's STAB Special Attack, "Dark Void" which automatically inflicts the Sleep condition, and it's built it Nightmare ability make it overpowered and Arceus isn't much different. It can become any type of Pokemon with it's Multitype ability by using "Plates" and it learns "Judgment", a move that becomes the same type as the Plate equipped. Arceus along with it's base stats of 300-350, is very overpowered. Besides that they are Pokemon that do deserve the title of "Legendary Pokemon" and they are on par with the classic legends.
GAMEPLAY AND MECHANICS
The game really does shine here though. Being that Pokemon was yet again on a new handheld, there were bound to be new features. The game doesn't make much use of the DS's touch screen, but that's besides the point. The ability to now battle and trade online is an excellent addition to Pokemon games, and it makes up for someone not having anyone in their area to play with, thus extending the games lifespan. Not much has changed with the gameplay again, except for the new TMs and moves, but the biggest addition is still the online play and the methods of training your Pokemon have gotten immense credibility. Although it was available in R/S/E not many considered the method of EV training that has gotten a lot more popular now that you can compete online, making opponent's to find a lot easier. A big problem is that there's not ANY information in the games (or even in some of the Strategy Guides) themselves that mention enough about EV training or any other training methods that most competitive players use, which hinders the amount of actual "competitive" players you'll find.
Nonetheless, the online play has REALLY helped out a lot with the game, and no matter how poor the story and the characters have gotten, being able to build up a good team and battle and trade with nearly endless amounts of Pokemon and players online will last a long, long time.
CONCLUSION
In my opinion, Diamond and Pearl looks like it will be the last Pokemon RPG for a very long time, at least on a handheld until they come out with another god awful Pokemon Colosseum-like game for the Wii. There just doesn't seem like anything they could add to the game at this point. Not unless they completely change the battle system and make it more current RPG based like Final Fantasy maybe. The newer Pokemon are starting to look less appealing and most of the good ones are either just Pokemon that have always been good like Alakazam, or better versions of Pokemon that were either bad, or fairly good in previous games. Also, finally including a Pokemon like Arceus "God of all Pokemon" would be awkward if it wasn't the FINAL entry into the National PokeDex.
It has been one of my favorite RPGs for years, but does Nintendo have it in them to make one last generation? If not, then they should just make one with all regions, badges, and Pokemon, with a surprise ending where you find out the entire Pokemon World was a dream including the Anime, and that Ash is really a Pokemon O_O
STARTERS
Chikarita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile might not have been as memorable as the originals, but they still were very popular being that they were the first new set of starters. Again, the Fire-type was most popular here because of how Typlosion looked so cool. I believe Chikarita might be the most underused starter in the game's history being that it looked so feminine, not too many people picked it lol.
GYM LEADERS AND ELITE FOUR
This is really where the series started to go bad. The Johto Gym Leaders in the game and the Anime were not too memorable because their characters and Pokemon weren't that good (besides Blue being the last KANTO Gym Leader, which was a surprise.) With the exception of the last leader, Clair who was notable for being the first leader to use Dragon Pokemon, being the only last leader that was female, and for being Lance's sister. Also, she was pretty tough to beat, which was good because Lance was a complete joke in the Elite Four.
In fact, the entire Elite Four in this game was very, very bad and extremely easy to beat. The strongest Pokemon was Lance's LV 50 Dragonite which was odd because in the last game his Dragonite was in the 60s (???) Not too much to say about them, but it was neat that the former Gym Leader, Koga was now in the Elite Four, even though he was tougher to beat as a Gym Leader in R/B/Y. This was the first and only time that there was exactly 4 trainers you had to face instead of the 4 "Elite Four" and then the champion.
Also, being able to battle against Red from the previous game was very interesting because he had a Pikachu that was in the LV 90s, as well as a classic team of Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, and others.
LEGENDARY POKEMON
The Legends still had their shine here in G/S/C. The extras being Entei, Suicune, Raikou, and Celebi, while the main Legendaries were some of the coolest ever made, Lugia and Ho-Oh. Lugia being the Guardian of the Sea, Ho-oh being sort of a Guardian of the Sky. The way you found all these Legendary Pokemon was extremely well crafted. The infamous "roaming" Pokemon debuted here when you had to randomly search for the 3 Legendary Dogs which added some surprise and more strategy to the game, being that they could strike at any moment you were in grassy fields once you released them, as you had to be quick to put them to Sleep and then catch them before they escaped, but really Lugia and Ho-Oh were the main attractions. You didn't NEED the other game to get both, it all mattered on which one you got to search for first and what level it was. Lugia being the first one you'd be able to search for in Pokemon Silver which would be found in an underwater cavern being LV 40 and Ho-Oh being at the top of Tin Tower at 70, while in Pokemon Gold you'd be able to search for Ho-Oh first and their levels would swap. I believe you could pick the one you wanted to search for first in Pokemon Crystal (not sure though) with the first being LV40 and the second LV70. This also effected the moves they knew when you caught them. The Lugia in Pokemon Gold might have forgotten Aeroblast when you caught it, and the Ho-Oh in Pokemon Silver might have forgotten Sacred Fire. They truly did a good job when deciding how you'd find these Pokemon. It never got as good and balanced as this.
GAMEPLAY AND MECHANICS
This is the best part about the game besides the Legends. Pokemon breeding was introduced which has become a standard for raising competitive Pokemon today. They also added a bunch of new moves, and TMs. You were also able to trade with past games, R/B/Y in order to fill up the new National Pokedex which including all the Pokemon from those games, as well as those in G/S/C. Perhaps the biggest thing introduced in these games were the new SHINY POKEMON. With very little chance at finding/catching them, you would be able to find a Pokemon with a distinguished color from it's original. Also, the Pokemon that was "shiny" would have all it's stats increased that would pass on to any Pokemon you'd get by breeding it (this unfortunately wasn't included in the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl shinies.) This game should've set the standard for all future Pokemon RPG releases, especially since you could basically travel back in time (some Chrono Trigger action! lol) to the original stages of the game, but somehow that wasn't the case in Pokemon R/S/E.
POKEMON RUBY, SAPPHIRE, EMERALD
Now that Pokemon was on the Gameboy Advance, the game's graphics started to look a lot better and the music was good too. Actually the music is some of the best you'll hear for any GBA game and Pokemon game (I think only Golden Sun, and Final Fantasy 4 and 5 are better then this.) Some of the themes when you battle Gym Leaders and Trainers are really catchy and well done, but besides that, and the new Pokemon, everything else didn't change too much, but the games definitely feel a lot more polished then Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.
STARTERS
The last batch of unique looking starters. Treeko, Mudkip, and Torchic evolve into some of the best Pokemon in the game, even today. The series started to feel a bit "new" again being that it was on a newer generation handheld, so the starters quickly became popular and AGAIN most people preferred Torchic because of Blaziken.
GYM LEADERS AND ELITE FOUR
Not memorable one bit. I can hardly remember their names. The only 3 that stand out are Tate and Liza for the 2-on-2 battle you had against them, Norman for being your "father" in the game and for being pretty tough to beat, and Wallace for having a pretty tough Milotic.
The Elite Four is not much better, except the champion, Steven is interesting for replacing Lance from previous games and for using a unique pack of Steel, Ground, and Rock Pokemon.
LEGENDARY POKEMON
This is also another aspect that started to go downhill, but not too much. Groudon and Kyogue both were very different and original, same with Rayquaza, Deoxys, Latias, Latios, and Jirachi, but the Regi's were simply uninteresting and the methods for getting them felt pointless and this is when Nintendo began to not include important information in the games themselves. The only way you knew how to unlock the gate to a Regi was to go online or look in the Strategy Guide. Also, this was the first time that you'd have to trade with the other version in order to obtain it's main Legendary Pokemon (as well as Latias or Latios.) What really bothered me was the method you had to obtain Deoxys and Jirachi which, like most event only Pokemon is extremely difficult for most people and unreasonable. If the event is in a city you're not able to get to, then you'll never be able to get that Pokemon legit, forcing players to use cheating devices to obtain them, which can cause problems with the game. It was not smart for them to have this as a way to get certain Pokemon, same for a bunch of past Legendaries like Mew, Lugia, and Celebi in FireRed and LeafGreen.
GAMEPLAY AND MECHANICS
This aspect has some flaws, but it's mostly excellent. The gameplay is the same except for the new 2-on-2 battle mode, and so moves that effect both Pokemon in that type of battle, but some new additions like the E-Reader were pretty much pointless. The Dive TM allowed you to swim underwater with a Pokemon which would be used to reach certain areas of the game, but it was basically a glorified version of Surf. Also, in Emerald they added the Battle Tower which returned from Pokemon Crystal. It was a nice "new" addition that SHOULD HAVE been put in Ruby/Sapphire also, but wasn't.
POKEMON DIAMOND AND PEARL
The big ones, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. The newest edition to the Pokemon RPGs have definitely made an impact, but Nintendo has definitely showed that Pokemon games are starting to get old OR that they are starting to get really lazy with the game's content. The story has gotten really stale and Team Galactica is basically a laughable version of Team Rocket with a more "interstellar" gimmick. If another Pokemon game is released, they should either start completely new with a whole new complete set of 151 Pokemon, or make one last game which has all 4 regions, all 493 Pokemon, and all 32 badges.
STARTERS
Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup look very uninteresting except for their final forms. It seems like they just threw ideas together to come up with their basic forms and names, and they just don't seem that notable besides their move sets. However, they do evolve to have unique type combinations that make them some of the best Pokemon in the game. This is the first time the starter Pokemon have had types so robust and Torterra is the first starter to learn the powerful move, Earthquake (lv 32.)
GYM LEADERS AND ELITE FOUR
They are even less memorable then the leaders in R/S/E. The only ones that stand out are Maylene because she uses the popular Lucario, and Volkner for being the first final leader to use Electric Pokemon. That's all I can say about them...
Cynthia is the only real one mentioning in the Elite Four. She is very, very good, but they really just made her set of Pokemon look like what the player would actually use to beat the Elite Four or use as a competitive team for online play. Would Lance's Dragon Pokemon really beat all of Lorelei's Ice Pokemon in R/B/Y? Probably not. They just made her team look like what a real team would look like just like Blue in R/B/Y. This is arguably what all the "Pokemon League Champions" teams should've looked like.
*A side note is that Cynthia is suppose to be a Pokemon Master in the Anime*
LEGENDARY POKEMON AND THE 3 ELITE POKEMON
A thing that R/S/E started that D/P continued that got worse. Other then the Gym Leaders, all the extra Legendary Pokemon in D/P are completely boring regardless of their interesting move sets, and Palkia and Dialga aren't much different, they look like clones of eachother just with a different body shape and color, but most of their features are identical. The extras are very poorly done in appearance, which is sad because their move sets are quite good. Girantina looks like something they just threw together, same with Heatran, and Cresselia's appearance doesn't even make sense. Manaphy has a pretty difficult method of obtaining and it's not even that good of a Pokemon. Phione is laughable for being the first "baby" Legendary Pokemon that is basically a watered down version of an already so-so Pokemon that IT CAN'T EVEN EVOLVE INTO which makes it worse. It feels like they just threw random "legendary" looking Pokemon in the game to just have them be there and this doesn't only apply to the legends. Many of the regular Pokemon, like Bidoof, Kricketot, Burmy, and Cherubi are all completely useless and just look like rehashed versions of past "beginner" Pokemon like Rattata, Caterpie, and Weedle. Anyway, Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie, all look a lot like Mew and have questionable move sets. If you see their stats, you know that Azelf is the only acceptable one to use competitively unless you want to take chances with the others. Those along with Dialga and Palkia are the only ones who's appearances look decent. None of these are as "epic" as Lugia or Mewtwo. I feel as Nintendo started to add new extra Legendary Pokemon, the more they started to look less, and less interesting until now finally the main legends are starting to look the same.
Shaymin, Darkrai, and Arceus are also included, except no one is suppose to know about them yet lol. Thanks to Action Replay, we are able to use them now and they are the only Legendary Pokemon in the game that have good appearances. With their move sets, Arceus and Darkrai definitely out weigh Shaymin, but they really overhauled some of their moves and abilities to make them pretty cheap. Darkrai being able to hurt both Pokemon (in a 2-on-2 battle) with it's STAB Special Attack, "Dark Void" which automatically inflicts the Sleep condition, and it's built it Nightmare ability make it overpowered and Arceus isn't much different. It can become any type of Pokemon with it's Multitype ability by using "Plates" and it learns "Judgment", a move that becomes the same type as the Plate equipped. Arceus along with it's base stats of 300-350, is very overpowered. Besides that they are Pokemon that do deserve the title of "Legendary Pokemon" and they are on par with the classic legends.
GAMEPLAY AND MECHANICS
The game really does shine here though. Being that Pokemon was yet again on a new handheld, there were bound to be new features. The game doesn't make much use of the DS's touch screen, but that's besides the point. The ability to now battle and trade online is an excellent addition to Pokemon games, and it makes up for someone not having anyone in their area to play with, thus extending the games lifespan. Not much has changed with the gameplay again, except for the new TMs and moves, but the biggest addition is still the online play and the methods of training your Pokemon have gotten immense credibility. Although it was available in R/S/E not many considered the method of EV training that has gotten a lot more popular now that you can compete online, making opponent's to find a lot easier. A big problem is that there's not ANY information in the games (or even in some of the Strategy Guides) themselves that mention enough about EV training or any other training methods that most competitive players use, which hinders the amount of actual "competitive" players you'll find.
Nonetheless, the online play has REALLY helped out a lot with the game, and no matter how poor the story and the characters have gotten, being able to build up a good team and battle and trade with nearly endless amounts of Pokemon and players online will last a long, long time.
CONCLUSION
In my opinion, Diamond and Pearl looks like it will be the last Pokemon RPG for a very long time, at least on a handheld until they come out with another god awful Pokemon Colosseum-like game for the Wii. There just doesn't seem like anything they could add to the game at this point. Not unless they completely change the battle system and make it more current RPG based like Final Fantasy maybe. The newer Pokemon are starting to look less appealing and most of the good ones are either just Pokemon that have always been good like Alakazam, or better versions of Pokemon that were either bad, or fairly good in previous games. Also, finally including a Pokemon like Arceus "God of all Pokemon" would be awkward if it wasn't the FINAL entry into the National PokeDex.
It has been one of my favorite RPGs for years, but does Nintendo have it in them to make one last generation? If not, then they should just make one with all regions, badges, and Pokemon, with a surprise ending where you find out the entire Pokemon World was a dream including the Anime, and that Ash is really a Pokemon O_O
POKEMON R/B/Y - 10/10
POKEMON G/S/C - 10/10
POKEMON R/S/E - 8.5/10
POKEMON D/P - 7.5/10
POKEMON G/S/C - 10/10
POKEMON R/S/E - 8.5/10
POKEMON D/P - 7.5/10
Last edited:
