This might be one of my favorite fangames I have played so far!
I really like your approach to the player-character having some actual personality and dialogue without being too distracting or feeling too out of place (in fact, I might take a similar approach in my own fangame). The story is pretty fun with a creative premise (that also has some impact on how the game plays which I appreciate greatly) and the characters are really easy to get attached to, even the new ones. I really like the selection of Pokemon that gives lesser used ones more chance to shine.
But I do however have some criticism to give as well, as much worth as it has from someone who has yet to make my own fangame, but that are still worth bringing up as both a player and a writer. Apologize for the gigantic wall of text incoming, as well as any grammatical errors:
General Criticism:
- I don't know if you have mentioned this somewhere before, but I would appreciate a clarification on which generation Acceptance is following in terms of move learnset and mechanics. This something useful and kind of important to know when planning out a team (especially when it comes to changes in abilities), and I do honestly feel that this should be mentioned somewhere in the FAQ.
- The worldbuilding and timeline-placement is a tad confusing. Keep in mind that events from later generations are almost always (with a handful of exceptions) interpreted as happening after earlier ones unless explicetly stated. And with a game that is supposed to take place a few years before Colosseum, yet somehow after the events of PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond, it makes the choice of characters really confusing and muddles the timeline even further. The fact that this game takes place before Colosseum in particular causes a lot of problems timeline-wise, especially when you take the direct sequel XD: Gale of Darkness into account, and having Ein and Miror B travel to the Poképark after Cipher supposedly were shut down at the end of Colosseum (which would explain their absence in XD) makes a lot more sense to me at least. Just to make it clear: I am not knocking their characterization, just the choice of having all of them stuck together in the same game at the same time.
Adult Gary? Okay, I can buy that.
A younger Cynthia that has yet to have acquired her iconic look? A little more shaky when combined with Adult Gary, but can still work.
A young Miror B that has yet to have his iconic haircut, let alone his name? Very shaky when combined with a Tierno that for all intents and purposes is still a teenager at the beginning of X and Y.
It might have worked better to have Miror B as his normal adult self who suckered the good-natured Tierno in through his goofy personality and their shared love for dancing, it is made clear in XD: Gale of Darkness that Miror B is no longer working for Cipher (given he is no longer a Cipher Admin and is instead referred to as Wanderer) so the idea of him being hired by Ein (who again he already knew from back in his Cipher-days) to reinforce his operation in the Poképark is not all that unfeasable.
- I personally feel that the Sewers are cut off from you far too early and for far too long, making it time-consuming to grind up any new team-member caught in Seasong Beach and makes it much more difficult to afford the moves that are now available in Cove Town given the amount suddenly available to you. I understand that you want to prevent the player from overlevelling, but it makes all the boss-fights coming up much more difficult than they really should be.
Errors I have noticed:
- The soft reset (the one caused by pressing F12) appears to be broken. I get this error every time I try to reset, whether to get a different ability for a potential team-member or getting a second try on a difficult boss-fight: Critical Error C0000005 at adress 100717E6. After this the window automatically closes itself.
- The always shiny Pidgey in the Flying Cave (whose sign still calls it the Bug Cave for the record) is no longer guaranteed to be shiny. On a similar note, the Snorunt the player can get as a starter is not guaranteed to be male anymore.
- Paldean Wooper looses its Ground-typing when it evolves into Clodsire. Is that intentional or just an error?
- I keep receiving this error every single turn that I battle against Sandygast:
---------------------------
Pokemon Acceptance
---------------------------
[Pokémon Essentials version 17.2]
Exception: NameError
Message: undefined local variable or method `movetype' for #<PokeBattle_Battler:0x1259f610>
PokeBattle_Battler:2866:in `pbProcessMoveAgainstTarget'
PokeBattle_Battler:2738:in `each'
PokeBattle_Battler:2738:in `pbProcessMoveAgainstTarget'
PokeBattle_Battler:3221:in `pbUseMove'
PokeBattle_Battler:3201:in `loop'
PokeBattle_Battler:3224:in `pbUseMove'
PokeBattle_Battler:3422:in `pbProcessTurn'
PokeBattle_Battler:3421:in `logonerr'
PokeBattle_Battler:3421:in `pbProcessTurn'
PokeBattle_Battle:2829:in `pbAttackPhase'
It isn't that big of a deal considering that the battle does continue, but it does make the battles longer than they need to be.
