I have now completed the demo and have decided to do a longer, more in-depth review -
*Beautiful looking towns and routs. Though a little on the small/short side respectively, I cannot fault the aesthetics.
*I can't rate the music highly enough in this demo! The atmosphere it creates is amazing (especially in the library!)! 10/10
*The menu design is awesome.
*Professor design is really cool, and the fact he was on the TV was a cool idea for an intro
*The rivals seem really interesting. The girl has a bit more personality than the boy rival, but that might be because she's had more lines than the guy so far. I like April's attitude, like I said in my shorter comment – she is a breath of fresh air compared to her official counterparts (May, Bianca, Shauna).
*The way the kids get their adventure started is unique and I think it was a good way to show off the rivals different personalities (April being more into helping the Professor than getting her pokemon, whilst August didn't want to help the Professor until he was offered a free pokemon).
*Corella town is really pretty, but its layout is a little weird (the gazebo blocks the path).
*I love the intros to the forest/library, they're so pretty! One question though: why doesn't the lighthouse have one too (that would be sweet!)?
*Is it just me or is the capture rate of weak pokemon higher than their equivalents in the official games? Same with the 'can't escape' rate?
*The villainous team seems very interesting, it's a shame we only get to see them once in the demo, but I'm really interested in getting to know their motives.
*Although the pokemon are cute, they're not cute enough to make grinding enjoyable. Something that has to be done to infinity if the player is to stand a chance against both gym leaders.
*The second gym's layout needs a COMPLETE overhaul imo. It is incredibly annoying and impossible to know where you will end up after going down one of those holes.
The mini missions/dungeons get their own section;
*Light house – good dungeon with good obstacle concept. However, why would the library key be in the light house? This is never explained. Also, would a parent really allow a small child to play near that crumbling old lighthouse, let alone inside it? Perhaps the evil team could be intertwined with the mission to save the girl, in order to give a smoother story?
*Library – as I said in a previous comment; the payoff for all that running around is very underwhelming, as is the tiny 'basement' section of the building. The encounter rate is also way too high for such a 'running-around-a-dungeon-ish' task, especially when you're running into the same pokemon every time and there are no trainer battles. A lower encounter rate with more variety would make the library mission more enjoyable, as well as a larger basement to explore and an evil team to beat.
*Machine retrieving mission – a little simple and weirdly pointless to trek back to a place you were just 5 minutes ago, imo at least. Perhaps put a small barrier, rival battle, or more exposition on the evil team to make it more interesting?
Some notes on the pokemon;
OMGTHEPOKEMON!!! They're so damn cute! My faves so far have got to be Avinch and Barcush, but I did notice some things that seemed inconsistent;
Eearr – I thought it was weird that sand attack was able to decrease eearr's accuracy, because it doesn't rely on sight to hit opponents. Perhaps it should get a new ability that doesn't allow accuracy decrease, and causes every move to have 100% accuracy? Or maybe sound based moves lower its accuracy?
Squeeker and its evolution – Having an organic pokemon with inorganic parts doesn't work imo, and although these two are very cute, I think this rule applies to them as well.
That's all I can think of. Looking forward to playing more of this game, and thanks for the great demo!
