Hello there ! Usually I only write reviews in my native language, but for once I have the chance that the creator of a Pokéhack is still quite active, and given that I sensed real effort put into this hack, I thought I could share some feedback to you and decided to create an account just for that occasion.
First, kudos on wanting to create a story-focused Pokéhack. Playing Pokéhack is kind of occasional hobby of mine and I have beaten quite of number of them, with many rehashing the official games' "template scenario" without too much originality. Boy am I tired to beat gym leaders and save the world from a more or less stupid Team !
I liked the atmosphere too, you can feel the despair and the weirdness around and there are incentive to know the truth. And there is enough mon variety to make a decent team.
Now for some (constructive, I hope) criticism :
- The tower's battles could benefit from a re-scale. The rest of the game is manageable enough, but after the power plant (which was little more than a trainer fest) it was a bit tiring for me, especially with the seemingly out of nowhere possibility to input numbers in order to mass-murder the same mons.
- I was relieved when I saw the main character wasn't amnesiac, but the "chosen one" trope is still a bit light. So okay we were chosen because we are resistant to fright (useful against the killing "rain"), but was all the mumbo-jumbo about different timelines really necessary ? Dialga and Palkya are so restricted in their powers (didnt't quit understand why) so that they cannot send several persons instead of a lone wolf ? And if we are the "classic" champion, why is a Pikachu the only Pokémon we can have as a starter ? Can't the PokéGods gather more help is the situation is that dire ?
- Some lucky eggs might be welcome in the Sylph building. I think many players ransacked the place to death through various Pokéhacks, it could be a nice reward since one's pretty much forced to grind through all the policemen battles, while it doesn't always make sense that they attack you.
- I understand the need for plot exposition, but the mechanical Abras are a bit clumsy of a device for this. Sure we would understand less without them, but they really seem like an ad hoc narrative machine rather than something well implemented in the setting- even with their teleport ability. I'm used to wall of texts (one of my favorite games is Planescape Torment) but here it was difficult to digest it, with the "all telling/ no showing" choice. Since Darkrai can seep into dreams, wouldn't that be a more fluid way of telling the backstories ? Allowing even some "cutscenes".
And for Nietzsche (a bit too obvious a reference ?), he could tell his tale himself.
- And finally, the ending. Writing good endings is not an easy task, and I'll be blunt : in my opinion, this one renders the whole experience almost pointless. The fact that our avatar dies isn't even the main issue. Even if the way it's done is disappointing : there's no way out, no possibility to defend yourself. Can't the Pokégod of time save us ? And the "congratulations, you're dead" is quite uncalled for.
No, the main issue is that it's easy to feel that our character didn't accomplish anything. The trainers beaten are of no consequence and the tower lays intact. The only thing would be that Darkai has a change of heart- but he's still controlled anyway, no ?
When I finished playing your romhack, I was left wondering what was the point of all of my actions. Clearly the antagonist won't be hindered- we were just a distraction to him !
I look forward to the postgame content you announced, because not only I feel a lack of closure, there are questions unanswered (Dreary felt rejected, allright, but more info on how a became a not-so-well intentioned extremist would be nice, for example).
All in all, I don't regret trying Pokémon Dreary, I just feel it could achieve better results with some fixes, most notably the ending.
