About Super Mystery Dungeon

[slugia94]

Hi everybody!

So, I've seen one or two threads about Super Mystery Dungeon by people who play it, but I felt I should make a new one because this is coming from someone who has not played it.

I was given one of the first Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game editions (Red Rescue Team) when it came out, and I had a bit of fun playing it: recruiting Pokémon, getting some legendaries, and I found the moving sprites really cool.

I'd like you, the community, to weigh in and tell me (and whoever is interested) their thoughts about the game, with all the new mechanics, and if it is worthwhile to play.

Thanks, guys and gals!

André

 

[Imperator161]

I enjoyed PSMD, though I get the sense it could have been a bit longer. I actually haven't had a chance to beat it yet (think I'm almost done with the main game, though), but I've had a good time with it thus far. The pacing was pretty slow to begin with (it took about half the game for the story to really get up to speed).

The main thing that concerns me, though, is that there are only a certain number of missions this time around. Once you clear all of the missions and recruit all of the Pokemon, that's it. I haven't gotten to that point yet, but many of the missions unlock multiple Pokemon, so I worry that the game won't have some of the longevity that some of the older titles have.

That being said, it's my second-favorite game in the PMD series overall. The mechanics are a bit different, but I've found them refreshing and fun to try out. And if you haven't played since RRT/BRT, the mechanics make things a lot easier than they used to be (e.g., when you recruit a new Pokemon, you don't have to drag it all the way through the dungeon to get it to join your team, and you don't have to go to lots of different friend areas to pick out what Pokemon you want to use for each dungeon). My ranking is probably Explorers > PSMD > Rescue Team = Gates (I like Rescue Team's story better, but I prefer the newer mechanics of Gates). Overall, the PMD series is one of my favorite spin-off series (probably #2 after the Colosseum/XD games), and if you haven't played all of them, I would definitely recommend giving them a try. They're a lot more story-centric than the main games, and though some of the plot elements are cliche, there's a lot of fun to be had, and they can be very moving at times. Plus, what Pokemon fan hasn't wanted to play as a Pokemon (or a human-turned-Pokemon) at one point or another?

 

[Outlier]

Gotta agree with the poster above. I adored this game but the lack of replay value is very disappointing. The soundtrack and overall presentation are wonderful. I loved the story and it was refreshing to have a unique final boss. The enemies you face are generally much tougher but there aren't many a lot of challenging long dungeons compared to previous PMD games.

The way SMD implemented mega evolutions is quite lame. It would have been nice if there were a specific bracelet you could equip and its one perk allowed you to mega evolve at least once per dungeon even if it only lasted a floor or two. Instead you have to be lucky enough to find a rare emera which means you can go through many dungeons without mega evolving at all. I almost wish they didn't include mega evolutions since the way did it seems like such a tease. Recruited Pokemon having off days where you can't access them is a giant pain in the ass. They should have done away with that rule once you beat the main story.

Other than that there are just minor nitpicks I have like the animations for certain Pokemon seeming awkward. The way Greninja stands like a human is a good example. I don't know where I'd rank this compared to the other PMD games but I can say with full confidence that it's much better than Gates lol.

On a bit of an unrelated note it saddens me how little PMD talk I see around here in general. I know the games don't come out every year so there's not always something new to discuss but the PMD series puts the main series games to shame in terms of story, characters and difficulty.

 

[waveguidebuizel]

I definitely recommend it. But then again, I have a sort of unconditional love for the series. The release hype of the Rescue Team games was the original reason I'm on the internet after all. Super Mystery Dungeon is probably my favorite of the series (I actually enjoyed the games more and more with each entry, which is an unpopular opinion). It's definitely come a long way since Rescue Team--there's more polish and better characterization. The new mechanics are pretty cool; I especially love wands, looplets, and emeras. I also found PSMD to be the most challenging of the PMD games, which makes it a lot of fun in my opinion.

 

[slugia94]

(e.g., when you recruit a new Pokemon, you don't have to drag it all the way through the dungeon to get it to join your team, and you don't have to go to lots of different friend areas to pick out what Pokemon you want to use for each dungeon). My ranking is probably Explorers > PSMD > Rescue Team = Gates (I like Rescue Team's story better, but I prefer the newer mechanics of Gates). Overall, the PMD series is one of my favorite spin-off series (probably #2 after the Colosseum/XD games), and if you haven't played all of them, I would definitely recommend giving them a try.

Yep, that was pretty aggravating, having to protect the newbie, but although I found it somehow boring to have to go to each area to get the Poké, I really liked the areas themselves, to see the Pokémon in their 'natural habitat'. And I really do have to play the Gamecube titles, especially XD, with Lugia being my favourite and all that.

 

[Pebbles]

definitely worth buying!
i played two of the older series and totally loved those
did not get the first 3DS one as it got a lot of bad reviews but this one is good, no doubt.
the beginning is a bit meh but once you through with that the fun begins
graphics are very nice, music is nice and story is cute too
​

 

[Fannie]

I agree with Imperator that there are a lot of improvements to the game mechanics. Some Pokemon do look weird to me but I can say the same thing about the main series games now that sprites are 3D. Something about the game does feel a bit more juvenile than I remember. I'm not sure if that's because I'm older though because the last game in the series I'd played before SMD was Explorers.

 

[FireSnow]

Definitely a fan of this game. As others have said, there is not much replay value once you beat it but up to that point it is a lot of fun and this was personally my favorite storyline so far in the series. I really loved all the main NPCs they had in the guild, with their unique personalities. Definitely some improvements though. Felt like at the beginning they went a little far with all the tutorials, especially for someone whos played all the PMD games, I obviously understand how to do things and I think most people in general pick up how to play pretty quickly.

For me, rankings go, PSMD = Explorers, BRT, Gates

 

[Blueredemption]

Is it worthwhile to play? Of course! I agree with pretty much everything else listed above, and here is what I believe is worth noting :)

It has a different feel to it than the previous games. I too started with Red Rescue, and I was disappointed when I found out how much they had changed. No longer are there IQ skills, as they have been replaced with a different system all together. I won't go into detail here for the risk of spoiling the fun, but if you liked using gummies in the previous games it's gonna take some getting used to. They also completely changed the way you recruit people. Now it's some web like mission thing that is limiting the amount of jobs you can actually do. I miss the way it used be, but it's not at all game breaking. I feel like the creators fell into the common trap of today's games: sacrificing some game development budget to make room for the costs of modern graphics. Then again, I am totally bias towards the older versions and clearly older than I was when I first started. The game is geared towards kids, so the changes that they had in mind when creating the game may be more tuned in their direction than ours.

Ah! Don't be fooled by all the detractors above, it was still a great game! First off, it's story combined elements from the previous games while adding it's own unique twist. They made sure to fix the errors they made with gates, like text speed and lack of selection. They even brought back the personality test, although you don't have to abide by what it thinks you are. Overall, if you liked it back then you will probably like it now too. You really have to be patient though... it has a pretty slow start... even for a mystery dungeon game.

As far as the preference scale goes, Time/Darkness/Sky > Red/Blue > SMD > Gates

 

[slugia94]

So, from what I see, some features of the first game have gone. That's not surprising, of course. Idk if it's because I have played just that one (RRT) for quite a bit, and never tried any of the more recent ones, but it seemed it was a pretty solid game and spin-off!

Also, from those of you who arranged the MD series in a kind of list (I also like to that, btw), it seems that the explorers series (Darkness, Sky and Time) are at the top of/ranking very high in each of them. Have I also missed something really great in those? I'm interested in that as well because it would probably be a bit cheaper, if I could find a 2nd hand copy.:P

Thank you for your feedback, you have half-convinced me on returning to this series, after all this time.


André

 

[Fannie]

Although I do like SMD a lot so far, I can't see myself playing it for as long as I did Explorers. It's a little more mature and very early on I knew I would replay the game many times. I think one playthrough of SMD will do for me. That is partially because I'm busier than I used to be but I definitely am not quite as excited by it as Explorers, despite it's improvements.