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waywardsalt · 10 months

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small little thing abt botw/totk and the future of zelda games considering it seems likely that future zelda games might be in the same style as those two and how i feel like botw/totk don't actually feel like zelda games (kind of messy i just typed this out in a kind of informal or whatever way) (this post is long af btw so uhhhh yeah)

im part of the group that claims that botw/totk aren't 'real' zelda games but... i guess they are technically 'real' zelda games, but... they sure as fuck don't feel like it, and because of that, i'm not at all excited with the idea of future loz games being in the same style, especially with the pitfalls these last two games have fallen into having been things that past zelda games did especially well, it feels like things have been sort of flipped on their heads in terms of what's being valued or whatever

like... the best parts of older zelda games were things like the story and the characters and the puzzles and the dungeons and stuff like that... the best parts of botw/totk right now are just the gameplay. people enjoy these new characters, but they dont have the narrative backing that older games do, they don't have the same impactful arcs or roles allowed by a more linear story

the point i want to get at though is how botw/totk honestly don't feel like direct evolutions or steps up from past zelda games but rather just... entirely different game styles (open world games) with the zelda flavoring and worldbuilding and story styling slapped on top.

i mean... i feel like a half-decent example of some other well-known franchises that have jumped on this (honestly kind of thoughtless) open-world bandwagon are mario (mario odyssey) pokemon (sword/shield and scarlet/violet) fire emblem (kind of. with some free-walking segments in 3 houses and engage) and the soulsborne type games (elden ring), these are all other well known and storied game series' that have somewhat made the move to open world, and i think that switch was a bit smoother, kept the core and integrity of the games that came before much better than botw/totk did

elden ring is the easiest to explain- the gameplay loop and core mechanics are the same and build upon past games' you just have more room to run around and get killed in with some little open-world flourishes like material gathering.

fire emblem is... a bit less flexible in terms of changing up the core gameplay, and the addition of open-world segments are added to add bonuses to the strategy gameplay and allow for more support-building oppourtunities and little minigames, and its more or less evolution from echoes' dungeon-crawling bits and the customizable castle in fates. the core gameplay still effectively works the exact same, just with some little class or mechanic tweaks and additions.

mario odyssey, though each world was pretty massive, still had your typical 3d mario platforming, and the new hat stuff fit in pretty well with olderpowerups and gimmicks, and the boss battles feel and work pretty similarly to the way they used it- odyssey does feel like an evolution from past mario games (ps. playing two-player with one person as cappy snaps the game in half. its the secret easy mode lol)

the new pokemon games are pretty much just the same as past pokemon games, theyre just open world and buggy as fuck rip have extra little open-world flourishes that build on what past games set up. the battling works the same as ever and the progression is the same with a number of powerful trainers you have to battle to continue forward.

with botw/totk... the progression is dramatically different in terms of power-scaling, world presentation, item-gathering, puzzle-solving... pretty much everything in the established zelda format. i get that it was pretty much the aim with botw to have a fresh start and throw out a lot of the old standards but it just makes them feel so dramatically alien to past zelda games; theyre completely different experiences in pretty much every single way, and as such they dont feel like what we've (well, people who have started with and spent a lot of time with other loz games) learned to associate with the zelda titles.

with open world games in general it's a bit harder to have a truly impactful narrative akin to those in past zelda games, anyways. i will admit that botw was a good execution of trying out something entirely new, and the narrative and gameplay and world actually complement each other very well, so despite what i've said in the past I can't really fault it's narrative too much since it's a less traditional sort of narrative and effectively does what it aims to do very well.

totk, on the other hand, proves that this style of game does not mesh with the old style of storytelling at ALL. linear games can have proper narratives with coherent stakes, developing characters, twists and reveals and building emotion and mood- and all of that is thrown out the window with totk when they decided to try and have both a more linear story with actual reveals and development and emotion, while also letting you literally spoil it for yourself out the gate.

you can't really have a well-executed story when players are capable of doing things drastically out of order and of jumping into story beats without the prior buildup and straight-up ruining what could be otherwise emotional reveals, and players being capable of doing this is hard-baked in how the game fundamentally works. I honestly feel bad for people who found the fifth sage by accident before anything else.

you can't effectively have a linear story with character growth and plot developments and impactful moments while also allowing it to be experienced out of order and with massive time gaps in between; with this kind of stuff, you can't really have your cake and eat it too. say what you will about the linearity of past zelda games, but i bet you that midna wouldn't be as beloved as a character as she is if it weren't for the linear order of the story and its events. certain parts of storytelling may demand for a linear manner of telling that story.

botw's story works because none of the memories reveal anything groundbreaking taht you don't already know; they are optional and merely give you more information about these characters from link's past and simply inform you about the girl keeping ganon at bay. if you find a late memory first, that's fine- it technically doesnt reveal anything too important to you, it just fills in some gaps for you and your player character. it makes sense within the story itself for the world to be so open and for you to be able to do what you can; the story is not the focus, nor is it even needed to beat the game. the story was made with the gameplay and what you are allowed to do in mind, and as such doesn't include things such as in-depth character development or important plot-twists.

on the other hand, you can easily spoil totk's biggest plot twist in a handful of different ways completely by accident, just by getting curious about the world around you. this can shatter a lot of the mystery or tension in the plot and this can happen completely by accident to someone playing the game organically and blindly. the story itself doesn't take this into account, it reads more like a linear story that would be more suited to a linear style of play, coming across things in order to ramp up the stakes and let things be revealed at the best possible time. (tbh totk's story doesnt seem to take the player into account in general, if the game forcing you to watch basically the same long cutscene four fucking times says anything, jesus christ)

narrative pitfalls aside, botw/totk put heavy emphasis on gameplay, but not in the same way older zelda games did, and as such trade away the unique items and gimmick-y game-specific mechanics for a small toolset handed to you out the gate. what botw/totk do- giving you everything you need from the start and having very little true varation in the gameplay from then on out- make sense and works just fine for an open world game. there is, however, a lack of actual depth to that gameplay that other open world games do have (off the top of my head, the ability to unlock and upgrade abilities and have general character upgrades in fenyx rising as well as the impressive depths of elden ring's combat and character customization system). the most depth botw/totk has to the actual gameplay is just the fourish different weapon types and the ways you use your fourish abilities (saying fourish bc for real ultrahand and fuse are fundamentally the exact same thing). there is also just raising the little defense numbers on your armor and getting more stamina and health, but that does absolutely nothing to the actual gameplay but make link more durable.

i mean, sure, health in past loz games just makes link more durable, too, but thats how health upgrades in any other game work.

the gameplay switch makes sense, considering the switch from a linear puzzle-adventure concentric game to a more sandbox-esque open-world game, but it does not mesh with the former loz formula at all, so while the shift in style makes sense, it makes me think that you can't have a previous-style loz experience in an open-world sandboxish sort of game. especially with how in totk you can very easily bypass most of the fire temple just using the mechanics handed to you at the start. you can't have the same type of zelda dungeons in a game where you are allowed to do it 'wrong' and the game itself does not allow for the same kinds of puzzles.

i am of the opinion that so long as future zelda games work the same way botw/totk did, we will not get old-school zelda-style dungeons again.

the loss of a variety of items used for specific puzzles and environment switches is the loss of a varied dungeon experience and the loss of the same kind of world and character progression as past zelda games.

you are handed everything you'll ever need at the start of botw/totk. the only thing that will meaningfully change is how much damage you do. there are no alternate strategies opened up by new items that can double as weapons, no new traversal options or routes opened up by things such as grappling hooks or clawshots or whips or specific wands. even the battle system is drastically different, instead of being enemies that take specific amounts of hits to die while you can obtain progressively stronger swords, enemies are just damage sponges and you can get all kind of weapons that just do different numerical amounts of damage.

the bosses themselves- big staples and draws of zelda games- also work extremely differently. instead of having to leverage specific items to expose weak spots or having to fight in a specific manner to do damage, you are just asked to... do damage. even in totk's bosses, where sage abilities are most certainly helpful, the only boss i found to truly require a sage ability was the lighting temple's boss; the others i either hardly used the sage at all (i didn't use yunobo at all in the second phase of the fire temple boss and hardly had a need for tulin with the wind temple boss [esp considering i was using a 3-shot lynel bow to make the poor fucker a cakewalk]) or found that alternative solutions felt better, like resorting to splash fruit on repeat water temple fights instead of wrestling with having to activate and use sidon's ability. the sages are honestly fairly poor replacements for dungeon specific items.

this kind of causes botw/totk to play more like a poor man's dark souls or just like any other open world rpgish game. i don't play botw/totk for the experience of a zelda game, i play it because it's an open world game that i can walk around in for five minute before switching to something else because i liked something in that other game better.

the combat in botw/totk isnt designed in such a way that makes it feel good. mineru's mech is fucking dismal, but since it's just either shooting with a bow or attacking with one of three types of melee weapon with some timing for a dodge, it can get stale fast. it doesn't necessarily even feel good, since there's not enough variety for it to get really engaging. (this is def an uneven comparison, but elden ring's combat feels considerable better with the different dodges you can do and the amount of attack options you have with just one weapon, not to mention the amount of control you have over your general fighting style.) combat in botw/totk at hour 1 is the exact same as combat in botw/totk at hour 100, the only different being the amount of damage you do or how much of a beating you can take.

it just... the styles of botw/totk can't allow them to feel the same as older zelda games. the shift in style was clearly a good move to draw in series newbies and shake things up, but it comes at the caveat of making them feel distant from their predecessors and uncomfortably similar to other games like them. it's hard to avoid comparisons with elden ring when on the surface they are very similar games, one just feels more true to its core identity

this all is said without mentioning the way in which botw/totk lore feels almost dismissive of past series staples and seems intent on not looking back while also taking every fucking attempt to nudge you and say 'hey, remember that zelda game' and honestly all that shit does is make me want to play a different zelda game.

botw/totk seem altogether very desperate to distance themselves from past zelda games while also being unable to really tear itself from what came before and it just culminates in me spotting linebeck island on the map and going 'damn i miss linebeck' and turning the fucking game off to play phantom hourglass instead. say what you will about phantom hourglass, but it certainly handles its story progression and character development infinitely better than the game that lets you accidentally shatter the impact of the story by deciding to check out that cool temple in the distance of the depths

#quick note abt the examples from early on i got the verdict on soulsborne games from my friend who has actually played more than elden ring #and pokemon was kinda a guess the most recently mainline pokemon game i have is sun/moon #totk has made me really think about what i like in video games and why lmao.#it has also made me appreciate botw a lot more. i prefer the emptier hyrule of botw it just feels extra cluttered in totk #i like how in botw its a lot more natural and more fun to honestly run around in with there being no falling debris or scary holes #salty talks #totk salt #being annoying abt totk again hiiiii. id like to talk abt stuff i liked in other loz games but its hard to start without some kind prompt #im not entirely sure how i could really explain how i feel totk's story failed and why without going in circles for a while #its just. the gameplay and the intended story experience clash like fucking crazy plus the story relies too much on the player #to do a lot of emotional heavy lifting #like. if you want to start a convo with me abt this go for it but this is what i have to say for rn #loz #legend of zelda #totk #botw #totk criticism #i do really appreciate botw now im not gonna lie. its still not amazing in my eyes but i appreciate it for what it is #also i cannot believe totk made linebeck island worse fuck you #like. in botw theres a goddamn chest with 50 rupees and thats a good subtle nod to what's being referenced #in totk theres just two bokoblins and nothing else and i dont care if it wouldve been lazy to just have the chest there again #you explicitly namedropped linebeck might as well make good on it. its more fun to continue having little nods like that #i understand when people say that saying botw isnt a 'real zelda game' is bad criticism but tbh its not really a criticism its just an #observation. it comes with its ups and downs and for me it makes me enjoy these games less and makes me feel a bit alienated #if that makes sense. idk. its late and if i continue with that thought im going to lose it for sure #ig just. im upset abt how totk handled its story and im upset at the idea of... this being the future of these games yknow #it feels like a selfish sentiment but idk #long post #bitching abt totk

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hypothesis-hobbyist · 9 months

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I'm a little sad that almost a year in Splatoon 3 still feels like a lesser game than 2. A lot of this is Octo Expansion raising the bar for atmosphere, storytelling, and character development such that 3's story mode going back to being 1 and 2 was always going to be a letdown. I'm troubled that we know basically nothing about Deep Cut except bandits, big Marie fans, and that Frye has some kind of ADHD going on after watching Pearl and Marina get developed into compelling characters on their own, but maybe that just needs time.

BUT. 3's other problem is splatfests. Some of this is coding/matchmaking, in that you can get mirror matches for a majority of a fest and, it turns out, be on a minority team. Money recently won the popular vote, but I tracked my matches and half of all my open/pro matches were love/love mirrors and fully 2/3rds of all tricolors I was in were love/love/love, so it should be no wonder that people are claiming a rigged result. I don't think it's rigging, I think Nintendo has bad netcode and trying to leverage it for a three-way fest model is producing a lot of negative results. It's always more reasonable to assume incompetence over malfeasance.

Tri-Color itself is also a problem. The Zelda fest was the best so far, in my opinion, because the devs made substantial changes to the map for it instead of shoehorning a 2-sided map for a three-way match. This makes tricolors sometimes very frustrating and, honestly, FAR inferior to the old Shifty Stations, which both kept things fresh and interesting during a fest that could otherwise become boring AND were built around the gimmick. The late-2 shifties were amazing. The ones that progressively locked you out of parts of the map solved Turf War's biggest weakness, in that it made the whole match count and not the last 30 seconds.

So, where do we go from here? Hopes/suggestions:

- Side Order needs to be more like Octo Expansion in terms of storytelling, atmosphere, character development. The trailer certainly seems to suggest that, but it needs to be said.

- Tricolor should be made part of the regular fest rotation when three teams are available, otherwise you get a non-mirrored 1v1 match. This would a) Make Tricolor special and b) Make Fests feel less like meaningless effort.

- Either:

Tricolor maps need to become more different from their base maps. Right now Tricolor always feels like a worse version of the base game.

Bring back Shifty Stations. They really made the 2 Fests worth playing as much of as you could, a supposed to today where I grind to Ruler, make sure I got enough catalog levels to finish before the season ends, and tap out so as not to do more mirror matches.

- More frequent updates. I know that the season model is what other big games do but honestly I miss the occasional random new weapon/item cropping up. Right now there's no reason to go to the shops anymore.

- More character content. We know you have the power to do this, Nintendo. You've got a team that loves to do little bits of lore and world building wherever they can. Add more dialogue for your idols! Tell us more about splat bands! Why is Paruko working retail???

-Final, wishlist item: more song variety during Fests. It would be amazing if there were, like, an actual setlist on rotation in splatsville.

#splatoon #splatfest #never gonna get most of these #Please god let Side Order be good I couldn't handle it if it were bad

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itsbenedict · 2 years

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Haven't played the vidya since being a teenager but getting a family Switch for Christmas, top new and classic recs for kids (7 years old), family, couples (casual!), and me whose favorite was always Zelda games?

Ooh, I am delighted by the opportunity to put a vast and largely-useless body of knowledge to work. One set of game recs, coming right up:

For the kids:

Picking out games for kids 7 and under is tricky, because kids tend to be bad at video games at first. I don't know what kind of experience your kids have (is this their first game console? have they played a lot of games on computers or mobile devices before?), but I'll assume they're fairly green.

My top rec is going to be New Pokémon Snap, for a lot of reasons.

First, it's pretty easy to control. Each course is mostly on-rails, with the player inside an autopiloted vehicle that moves forward and navigates the course by itself. The player only has to worry about controlling the camera, which can help acclimate a kid without much experience with joystick controls to the idea.

Second, which may or may not matter to you, it's nonviolent. Sometimes the wild pokemon will get in altercations with each other, but the player never gets attacked. Super G-rated squeaky-clean.

Third, the courses are fairly short- they range from 5 to 10 minutes long, and have decisive and natural stopping points at the end. If you're planning to have any rules or restrictions on playtime, or need to regulate whose turn it is with the Switch, this is a godsend. (As a parent who's introducing a video game console to a household with multiple children, you will presumably need to be ready for trouble with sharing and appreciate any assistance the game can provide.)

Lastly- the original Pokémon Snap for N64 was my first videogame, which I got when I was 5, and I am biased would love to share that experience with a new generation.

After that... any Kirby game is probably a good option. Those games are actively made for little kids, being very easy and designed to acclimate new players to controls and concepts ubiquitous in other games. Kirby Star Allies I haven't personally played, but it's well-reviewed, looks like every other Kirby game I've played, and has 4-player local co-op- it's a pretty safe bet.

There's a couple mainline Pokémon games on the Switch, too- Pokémon as a series is pretty good for kids, thanks to the turn-based battle system with deep but approachable mechanics. Sword and Shield (one of the two, they're basically identical, Nintendo still haven't given up on that two-versions sales gimmick) aren't my favorite entries in the series but the baseline is pretty high. (There's also Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, which I haven't really looked at, which might be simpler and better for kids?) Turn-based battles are good for kids who maybe don't have the kind of reflexes or hand-eye coordination for real-time combat systems yet.

Another angle on that- it doesn't matter if kids are kind of bad at video games if their opponent is on the same level, so there's PvP type games like Super Smash Bros Ultimate or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe which, although pretty difficult and skill-intensive against CPU opponents, have simple enough basic controls that they'll be fun for the two of them going at each other, not worrying about all the advanced stuff.

For family:

I assume you mean, like, for the whole family to play together? Kirby, Smash Bros, and Mario Kart all fit that bill, for sure.

There's also Snipperclips, which is this adorable little physics puzzle-platformer where you play as... these two little walking archway-shaped thingies, except they can overlap their bodies with each other and clip each other into different shapes, which they can then use to solve puzzles. It's only two-player co-op, but it's a good one for parents to play with kids.

Also I hear Ring Fit Adventure is good, though I haven't tried it myself- it's a motion-controlled workout game that requires a peripheral device, except the exercises and stuff you do with the ring are, like, the way you attack and cast spells and defend yourself in a turn-based RPG. I don't think it's co-op at all but it's not a bad one to have around if you want to tire someone out before bed keep the kids active and healthy.

For couples:

This one's tricky, since I do not know your wife or her taste in video games, but- any of the aforementioned multiplayer family games work fine in two-player.

The game that always comes up when people talk about games for couples is It Takes Two, which is a mandatory two-player co-op game about... two terrible neglectful parents going through a messy divorce, who- when their daughter wishes on a magic book for them to stay together- get shrunk down to the size of toys and have to go on a wild Honey I Shrunk The Kids-style adventure through the house to get back to normal. By all accounts it's beautiful, extremely well-designed, and fun- but features a lot of very weird, dark, and questionable writing decisions which make it... probably not something to play around the kids. They announced literally today that it'd be getting a Switch release on November 4th.

Oh, but- hey, you haven't played any videogames since you were a teenager, so you probably haven't already experienced...

Portal 2- included in the Portal Companion Collection on Switch- has a fantastic co-op mode. I'm sure you've heard of Portal via all the memes about the cake being a lie, but there's a reason it's so beloved and influential. Basic premise is- you have a gun that shoots portals, and you have to use it to solve physics puzzles while a passive-aggressive robot heckles and/or threatens you over the PA system. Portal 2's co-op mode is continuity-free, available from the start, and features two players each with their own set of portals, which makes for some pretty mind-blowing puzzles. (And the single-player of both games is more than worthwhile, too.)

For you:

Alright, so recommending games for people I don't know is challenging, but for someone I do know but whose taste in video games I don't, that's a horse of a different color. Just starting from what you've given me here- that you liked Zelda growing up- the obvious rec is Breath of the Wild.

Pretty much everyone besides the Ocarina of Time GOAT holdouts agrees that BotW is the best Zelda yet, though it's very different from the earlier games in the series- it's totally open-world, and does a lot with physics toys like bombs and a magnet beam and stuff. It's huge, there's tons to discover, and so much of it is designed to be open-ended and allow for multiple solutions without making puzzles trivial. It's just really impressive on a design level, and there's so much of it.

Zelda games are a lot of things to a lot of people, though, so it's hard to say what the active ingredient was for you back then without more info. If it was about the exploration, then yeah, BotW will scratch that itch for sure. The puzzle-solving stuff, BotW also has plenty of (albeit in these scattered, self-contained mini-dungeons instead of huge expansive temples.)

If you were more into the feel of the progression, getting new items that gradually expand your options and open up more of the world, I'd actually look at Hollow Knight- a pretty-difficult 2D metroidvania-type platformer with a lot of Zelda DNA, where you play as a little bug with a nail in a world full of other, mostly larger and scarier bugs.

But what are the best ones?

Outside of those specific criteria you gave me, there's a few Switch games that are a) too advanced for seven-year-olds, b) not multiplayer, and c) nothing like Zelda. But I'd be remiss if I didn't recommend them anyway, because they real good.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is the latest in the Ace Attorney series- and a reboot in a new continuity, so IMO it's the best jumping-on point. (The original trilogy is also on switch, but... this one's just better.) AA is a franchise of detective games where you play as a lawyer trying to get defendants acquitted of crimes they didn't commit, and so you've got to figure out what really happened by investigating crime scenes, cross-examining witnesses, and pointing out contradictions. TGAAC takes the series to early 20th-century London and gets Sherlock Holmes Herlock Sholmes involved, and it's just wildly entertaining from start to finish.

I remember mentioning Return of the Obra Dinn when you were looking for games for that volition study you were planning (did that end up happening?), but it's on Switch and I'd recommend it just to enjoy for yourself- you play as an insurance investigator whose job is to figure out exactly how everyone on a boat died, in order to figure out how much the insurance company has to pay out. You do so by finding corpses and then using a magic pocketwatch to go back in time to a frozen instant of the moment they died, inspecting the environment to figure out who's who and how they bit it from a limited number of snapshots of the incident. Really satisfying bit of deduction that'll consistently make you feel clever.

There's also a Pikmin game on Switch- Pikmin 3 Deluxe- which is a series I really enjoy. It's a... weird one to explain. You control a small squad of tiny astronauts who've crash-landed on an alien planet (not-so-secretly post-apocalyptic Earth), and are trying to reunite and repair their spaceship with the help of a small army of inexplicably-obedient ambulatory plant-creatures that decided to follow their orders. It's a weirdly compelling mix of time-management, action, strategy, puzzle-solving, and alternate-ecosystem worldbuilding. Not really comparable to anything else I've played, but really fun and fascinating. I'd recommend it for the kids if the controls weren't so weird and demanding of precision.

Also,

I don't recall if you played it when it came out for PC/Mac/Linux, but I have a game on there now! Partnered with a guy who does ports from the framework I built it in to bring it to Switch last month. It's this short little ~2 hour mystery thing, but people seem to like it and I'm pretty proud of it!

So yeah! There's probably some other good stuff I'm forgetting because I played them on other platforms, but hopefully this gives you some good options to pick from.

#game rec #shlevy

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liugeaux · 1 year

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Ranking Zeldas

It’s simple. This is my Ranking of the 15 “main line” Zelda games. The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom got its release date today. So I figured I’d finally publish this Zelda list I’ve been sitting on for about 5 months. This mainline list includes all the major console and portable games. What it doesn’t include are the spinoffs and weird side games (examples: Hyrule Warriors, Link’s Crossbow Training, Four Swords, the CDi games, etc.). Some of the placement here is kinda controversial. Please keep in mind this is MY list, I’ll gladly read yours, but you’ll need to assemble it first(and justify the placement of each, lol). Until then, eat this 15 game list.

Note: Many of these games have been remade or remastered. Most of the remakes are pretty true to the originals. Assume I’m talking about the original unless otherwise stated.

15. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Let's start with one of the more controversial placements on this list. The Adventure of Link is so drastically different from its predecessor and consequently was very hard for me to get into. I understand that a lot of games were influenced by it, but I really don't have any love for this dud. If you enjoyed it, fantastic.

14. Spirit Tracks

Spirit Tracks was the follow up to Phantom Hourglass. Unlike Phantom Hourglass the gimmicks of the DS just didn't stand out. Also, the illusion of openness that Phantom Hourglass successfully achieved, was completely wiped away by the snooze-inducing train mechanic. There's nothing inherently wrong with Spirit Tracks, it's just rote in a way that other Zelda games are not.

13. Oracle of Ages and Seasons

These two Capcom-developed portable games suffer from being Capcom games. I'm not saying Capcom makes bad games, but they do make hard games, especially in the '90s and early ‘00s. I think the ultra difficulty of these two wouldn't be as big of a problem if they were released on a platform better suited for games of this scope. No other titles on this list are as ripe for a Link’s Awakening-style remake as Seasons and Ages, but I think these two might be lost to time.

12. Skyward Sword

By the time Skyward Sword came out, the 3D Zelda formula, established by Ocarina of Time, was too transparent for Skyward Sword to succeed. I'm sure if this were my first or second Zelda game I would feel very differently about it because again, there's nothing wrong with it. Unfortunately, the gimmick of the Wii motion Plus was not enough to make Skyward Sword’s experience drastically different from previous games.

11. Majora’s Mask

I really want to like Majora's Mask more than I do. The time loop mechanic is charming, the mask transformations is a mechanic not seen anywhere else in the series, and that damn moon is creepy. However, something about the overall presentation just doesn't come together. I've played both the original and the remake and both times I've finished the game with the same feeling of frustration and disappointment. If Nintendo were to visit the concepts of this game today, I feel like the Zelda team would be more prepared for such a weird experience, As-is, it's too messy to put any higher.

10. Phantom Hourglass

Link’s first adventure on Nintendo DS was solid. Phantom Hourglass successfully squished down a lot of the concepts found in The Wind Waker, and brought the traditional 2D gameplay from classics like Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening into a more modern setting. On top of this, the touch screen and two screen gimmicks were novel and exciting. As we get farther away from the DS and the 3DS, I don't know how those gimmicks will age, but unlike Spirit Tracks, Phantom Hourglass feels big and is a proper adventure for Link that some of the 3D Zelda’s don't achieve.

09. Breath of the Wild

This game's placement on the list is going to upset a few people. I've been very vocal about how I feel about Breath of the Wild. I recognize that it's a groundbreaking achievement in Zelda games, especially on the underpowered Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately, Breath of the Wild neutered almost everything that I liked about the Zelda series. I like the open world, but I don't like the lack of direction, I don't like weapon durability, and I don't like that I can wander into a section of the map where all of the enemies are way more powerful than me, without warning. Breath of the Wild feels like the Zelda franchise taking a step into a future where Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls have greatly influenced the landscape of gaming. While that might technically be the right thing to do, it definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Tears of the Kingdom, promises a lot more of this. Hopefully they can iron out the experience and convince me that Zelda Souls is a good choice.

08. Twilight Princess

At the time, Twilight Princess seemed like the Zelda game we all wanted. A darker motif, a tortured protagonist, and a feeling that Nintendo had finally made a Zelda game for adults. What Twilight Princess proved was that the window dressing of a Zelda game is less important than we anticipated. The dungeons are fantastic, and the wolf transformations were novel at the time, but Nintendo's unwillingness to go fully Rated R with the substance of Twilight Princess leaves the game feeling like a knock off Lord of the Rings adventure. Of course the tried and true Zelda gameplay and structure is there, but with only that in place, it's hard to rank the game higher than 8th.

07. The Minish Cap

The Minish Cap, another Capcom developed Zelda game, seems to learn from its predecessors in almost every way. The difficulty has been toned down, the tone has been lightened, and the fact that it’s a Game Boy Advance game helps The Minish Cap feel like a modern 2D classic. That's without even mentioning the Honey I Shrunk the Kids vibe the whole game has. Second only to Oracle of Seasons and Ages, The Minish Cap is hungry for a Link’s Awakening-style remake. With this being developed by a third party I don't know how easy that would be to do, but knowing Nintendo, they probably own everything regarding this game. So there's always hope.

06. Link’s Awakening

Link’s Awakening on the Game Boy was a window into the future of what portable gaming could be. It was substantial, it was charming, and it successfully adapted the core gameplay of the console experience. What it wasn't, was approachable. Link’s Awakening, the original, has aged very poorly. Luckily, Nintendo saw the opportunity to remake it. The remake improves its gameplay, inventory system, art style, and most of all it's approachability. There's something about the Link’s Awakening remake that feels like a game you want to pick up and play. Sure, playing it on a big screen makes it feel tiny compared to games like Breath of the Wild, but this remake stands as the template for reviving forgotten headaches of games.

05. A Link Between Worlds

Many of the concepts in A Link Between Worlds were carried over to Breath of the Wild. The inventory system, and the fact that there is no designated order in which you have to explore the dungeons, makes this game feel like a proof-of-concept for a much bigger game. I don't say that to be dismissive because as a standalone game, A Link Between Worlds is phenomenal. It successfully calls back to the iconic A Link to the Past and finds ways to set itself apart from not only it's predecessor but also the rest of the games in the series. Funny enough, A Link Between Worlds only further proves how unengaging Spirit Tracks really was.

04. The Legend of Zelda

The original Legend of Zelda was groundbreaking, no one can dispute that. I have fond memories of renting it as a child and trying to figure it out, despite the game giving very little direction. The charm of dropping into a world and simply not knowing what to do was exciting at the time, at least until the technology caught up to what Zelda games are supposed to be. Playing The Legend of Zelda today is quite an undertaking. Without the patience of a late '80s gamer, it's hard to dive in without some sort of guide or walkthrough. So I guess the original game’s biggest barrier-to-entry was created by the technology available at the time. That doesn't mean we can't rank it with those hurdles in mind. I love this game, but I know better than to go back and try to play it in 2023, I don't need that punishment.

03. The Wind Waker

At the launch of the GameCube, no game was more anticipated than the new Legend of Zelda, and with a darker more serious trailer played at Space World, Nintendo wrote a check they just refused to cash with The Wind Waker. This however, didn't affect my interest in the game. The Wind Waker very much feels and felt like a greatly improved upgrade of Ocarina of Time. It was beautiful, it capitalized on the power of the GameCube, and it introduced a huge open world that simply wasn't available prior to that platform. The cell-shaded art style gave Link and the other cast members a vibrant feel that very few video games have been able to replicate. The HD remake on Wii U, with its reworked ending sequence, only improves upon the already fantastic game. Despite its placement at number 3, The Wind Waker might be the most inherently playable game on this entire list.

02. Ocarina of Time

Ocarina of Time doesn't need my stamp of approval. It is widely seen as one of the greatest games ever made and I don't disagree. It has a polish and a presentation not seen in many games to that point. With Z-targeting, it perfected combat in a 3D environment and told a long intriguing story while still holding true to the formula put in place by its predecessors. In my mind, the success of Ocarina of Time was the catalyst for the dozens of 3D adaptations of 2D games that followed. Ocarina changed gaming, and no one can take that from it. Oddly enough, Ocarina's biggest sin is creating a standard that basically every 3D Zelda game has followed for 25 years. That's not really a complaint, more of an observation. Outside of a couple of puzzles here and there the game holds up and its inclusion on the Nintendo Switch online service is a fantastic way to introduce new audiences to a classic game.

01. A Link to the Past

That leaves us with one more game, A Link to the Past. The original NES game was fraught with quality of life problems. It’s hard to blame the game for that, since the NES had its limitations. The SNES, in many ways, was a system whose handcuffs were removed. A Link to the Past is a perfect video game, and is as vibrant and exciting today, as it was in 1992. It improved on the original in every single way and packaged it in a user-friendly interface that simply wasn't available on the previous console. The puzzles are solid, the action is nerve-wracking and most importantly the difficulty is manageable. It would have been easy to make this game inaccessible, but Nintendo went with a more positive-whimsy that encouraged exploration instead of leaning into relentless combat encounters that would quickly ruin much of the experience. Some have argued that the SNES is the greatest video game console of all time, and I’d say A Link to the Past is one of the cornerstones of that argument. I'm probably preaching to the choir with this one, but if somehow you made it to the end of this and you've never played A Link to the Past, do yourself a favor, no, do humanity a favor and play A Link to the Past. You might end up being a better person.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is scheduled for release on May 12, 2023. Unlike Call of Duty, or Assassin’s Creed, Zelda games only pop up every 5 or 6 years, so these releases are precious. I hope for the best, and I’ll be there day-one, but if the series is still moving in the direction I fear it is, I might end up more disappointed than I’d like. We’ll see.

#the legend of zelda #zelda #tears of the kingdom #ocarina of time #link to the past #majora's mask #a link between worlds #wind waker #minish cap #oracle of ages #oracle of seasons #link's awakening #the adventure of link #Zelda II #Twilight princess #phantom hourglass #Skyward Sword #spirit tracks

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64bitgamer · 1 year

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radramblog · 3 years

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Ultimate^2

Super Smash Brothers Ultimate has finally unveiled its final DLC character, with reactions ranging fully across the spectrum. Hot takes abound.

I mean, statistically, just about every possible opinion is going to be represented. There were at least 500,000 people watching the reveal stream, and that’s not including those viewing through restreams. That’s insane for a trailer of any kind, let alone for a console-exclusive video game DLC.

Now that it’s been like… a day and a bit, I think most of the spciest takes have probably been made, which is the perfect time for me to chip in with my own milder opinion. More of a butter chicken, really.

(no images in this one i’m lazy tonight)

I figure I’m this late already, might as well drop some notes on the other ones first.

Piranha Plant was kind of the definition of an unexpected pick. Not only was it from an already well-represented franchise, being fucking Mario, it’s also just…not a character. As such it makes an odd choice for a DLC fighter…except for the part where it was free. If you owned the game in its first month. And frankly, I don’t think people would have been happy if it wasn’t. As it is, though, it’s a perfectly fine character- surprisingly cute, actually.

I’m unsurprised about Joker’s inclusion. With how huge Persona 5 became in both Japan and the west, capitalizing on it to make a shitload of money makes perfect sense. The character plays well enough, though the meter gimmick was kind of a daunting sign of things to come. All that in mind, though, the most surprising thing about Joker being in the game is that they still haven’t put P5 on the Switch. Atlus please.

Hero and Banjo/Kazooie were announced on the same night, and I distinctly recall someone saying that this was one for the Japanese audience and one for the Americans. I mean, I’ve never played Dragon Quest, so I guess I fell into the latter? Both series have a long, well-regarded pedigree (Banjo’s lack of recent offerings notwithstanding), so both arguably deserve their respective positions. Hero is the much more notable character gameplaywise, though, with the incredibly complex mana and spellcasting mechanics. Complaints about RNG in Smash aren’t completely unfounded- though it has existed in the past in the form of, say, Luigi’s misfiring side-B- but I know a lot of people think Hero took it too far. If I’m honest, though, the weirdest thing is just having Akira Toriyama-ass 3D models in the game. Banjo’s gameplay is…awkward. The kit is kind of a mess, but at least the gimmicks weren’t going too hard, you know?

Next was Terry, perhaps the most obscure character on the entire list in 2021. I actually really like Terry in this game- while he’s still trying to emulate a similar feel to Ryu/Ken, the difference feels more natural, if that makes sense. Maybe it’s because I’ve never really devoted significant time to them, but Terry’s kit feels easier to work within than the Shotos when going between characters.

Finally for the first Pass, we had Byleth. I think it’s for the best that they announced the second Fighter’s Pass before this released, because if both 4 and Ultimate had ended their run on Fire Emblem DLCs then people would have been pissed. I mean, people were already pissed, but like…moreso. As someone who has played Three Houses, I do think the game is worth celebrating, but having yet another Fire Emblem Protagonist (read: basically a blank slate) in the game over all the substantially more interesting characters 3H has to offer is just really frustrating. Also the final smash looks like dogshit, like FE3H has overall worse animations than Smash for obvious reasons but I’m pretty sure this attack looked better the first time around.

FP2 opened with Min Min, which brings ARMS to the table. ARMS. The only first-party fighting game Nintendo has outside of Smash, so it looks a bit less weird next to everything else but…come on, man. I think this was the most confusing pick of all of them- the game came out in 2017, and having Min Min in Smash would serve as promotion for a sequel…which hasn’t been announced. There was a graphic novel in the works, but it was cancelled earlier this year. Oops? At least the stage was fun.

As much as playing them is awkward and complex, the Minecraft addition was fitting. Only the best-selling game around. I think people weren’t sure if Microsoft would go for it, but they let us have Banjo, so sure. I’m mostly just annoyed that they couldn’t get any of the songs from the actual game in there- like, you got one in from the fucking mobile game, but you couldn’t just get C418 on the phone?

Sephiroth is definitely one of the hype-ier releases from this pass. The character is iconic, as is his theme and his home game. I’ve never played any Final Fantasy game, but I can still respect the name. Once I remember how to spell it. The whole bossfight aspect to his release was also quite cool, while it lasted.

On the other hand, I have no love for Pyra nor Mythra. There’s so much wrong with these ones, frankly. They’re another swordy character, immediately following Sephiroth too, and they go back on Smash’s very deliberate decision to split characters like Zelda/Sheik and Samus/ZSS up (Yes I know Pokemon Trainer does the same thing but I have a lot more leniency for them). Add in their being from a JRPG much less well-known or remembered than the previous couple characters and the designs being…questionable, I have a big issue with the whole thing. This was also around when I kinda stopped playing the game in general, and they definitely didn’t help pull me back in.

Kazuya might have, though. With the exception of him and Sephiroth, all the characters from the Fighter’s Passes were pretty much protagonist-types, but this motherfucker pulses with the essence of bad guy. What I’m saying is that he’s fucking cool, and while he’s ludicrously complex, that makes perfect sense since…I mean just look at the combo lists from Tekken 7. His inclusion also kinda rounds out the list of biggest fighting game franchises out there being rep’d in the game, though I imagine now I’m going to have stans from Mortal Kombat or whatever on my back. They’re not going to put a fatality-capable character in Smash, guys!

Finally, this rounds us around to the original point of this article. Let’s talk about Sora. And by that I mean…I don’t really have a huge amount to say about him. Kingdom Hearts is a franchise that completely passed me by growing up, and I don’t think I have the time or energy to devote to it now. I’m sure it’s good, people seemed really excited for him to be in the game so they have to have gotten that love from somewhere, but I don’t share that feeling.

That’s not to say that I don’t think he deserves a slot. The idea of “deserving a slot” in Smash Bros is kind of an odd concept, even though it’s come up a lot so far this post. But a slot in this roster isn’t just a place in a popular fighting game, because at this point, Smash is kind of a museum of (mostly Nintendo) games- and so having representation is a forever acknowledgment that the franchise is, or has been, an icon to so many. Kingdom Hearts, to my knowledge, has 100% earned that position, and so Sora getting to be playable here makes perfect sense. He wasn’t my pick (Touhou representation never I guess), but I’m happy for those who wanted him.

As far as the actual gameplay looks, he reads like a character that kept in mind what people didn’t like about Hero when he released. It’s another sword-based character, which I think at this point speaks more about the demographic of video game characters than it does about Smash. But I appreciate that the Magic Bullshit is toned down, and that it’s also his only real gimmick (The 3-hit combo feature is A Thing, but other characters e.g. Bayonetta have already done that, so whatever). His recovery potential looks patently absurd- like he just gets Pikachu/Pichu’s Up-B as a Side-B that can also be chained with his actual Up-B? This guy better be light as hell or he’s going to be super hard to take out. I dunno, I think he looks solidly fun enough- more dynamic and aerial than the other swordfighters, at least- and that’s good enough for me.

And I guess that marks the end of Smash Ultimate. Not with a bang, but with a key…dude. It’s been a very solid run, the game managing to keep itself fresh across several years of development, even as other games have risen and fallen. Smash is kind of forever at this point, I think, though the finality of Ultimate’s ultimate character implies that this particular iteration may be coming to its end. And seeing as it is always one Smash per console, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Switch itself was nearing its endgame as well.

Okay but also it’s pretty funny how they heavily censored everything Disney out of Sora’s DLC except for that little Mickey charm on the trailer, like how much must that one shot have cost them, was it even remotely worth it, I don’t know but I kinda want to

#ramble #ssbu #ssbu spoilers #ssbu dlc #smash ultimate #video games #still mad they didn't put a song in with the doomguy costume

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crusherthedoctor · 4 years

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Jungles may commonly appear earlier than other environments on the sliding scale of video game geography, and Viridonia is no exception to that cliche. But in this case, I purposefully used a jungle as the setting for Zone 2 to make a point.

Jungle levels are full of greenery, just like with Green Hill-esque levels, which means if done poorly, they can risk ending up blending together despite the different climate. By going all out with Tricky Tropics however, and giving it its own distinct qualities, the different (yet still upbeat) atmosphere compared to Gleaming Meadows would further my point about how you can breathe new life into any level trope if you know what you're doing. And if these two zones can feel unique when compared to each other, despite all that green between them, it sets a good precedent for the potential it suggests for later zones...

Creating Zone 2: Tricky Tropics

2-1: Luscious Jungle

When comparing Luscious Jungle to previous jungles and other foresty areas in the franchise, one of the two biggest inspirations was the very first of its kind: Jungle Zone from the Master System version of Sonic 1. Specifically, how the green REALLY pops out, and gives off a warm and inviting atmosphere despite the dangers present.

The other main inspiration being, as you'll already know from reading the fic, Frog Forest from Sonic Heroes, what with taking the idea of using fruit as a gimmick for obstacles and platforming, and heavily expanding on it. Unlike in Frog Forest however, they don’t require giant frogs to activate them. They’ll help or hinder you by their lonesome.

Though I suppose the wildlife hanging around in all shapes and sizes means there's a slight touch of Dinosaur Jungle in there as well, at least in spirit... if you replaced the dinosaurs with elephants, tigers, zebras, and all the rest.

Aside from the oversized fruit, as well as the deep brown trails of soil on the ground, additional flowers and other plant life help round off all the green, with the flowers in particular taking a page or two from the most striking ones in the Amazon rainforest. This doesn't just apply to the gimmick-related flowers either, it applies to the ones that are just part of the scenery as well.

Viridonia does not half-ass its vegetation. What motivation is there to saving the place from Eggman’s insidious influence if it doesn’t look as aesthetically pleasing as possible?

And obviously, the savannah area would be considerably more yellow, though its appearance and gimmicks would prevent it from feeling like a repeat of Yellow Hills from the previous zone. The beaming sunlight peeking through the clouds mixed in with the sprawling landscape may go as far as to bring back nostalgic memories of... LEGO Racers 2?

Um, sure, okay.

And before you ask, this isn't Trudy's family either.

First Section (jungle): Jungle Classic Tiny Temple (Crash Nitro Kart)

Second Section (savannah): Rock Star (Kirby 64) Jungle Falls (Diddy Kong Racing)

2-2: Temple Village

Remember the echidna village from the ancient past, before Chaos activated his trap card and sent them all to the Shadow Realm? Violently?

Well, we've got a similar schtick here, but different at the same time. The Mayan influence remains, as evidenced with the blocky pyramids sprinkled around, but you also have huge idol structures keeping them company, not unlike the ones you see in Idol Springs from Spyro 2.

The camp site and its explorer NPCs also help to liven up the place. But then, so do the Badniks, for a certain definition of “liven up”. (By which I mean, the intention to do the exact opposite of that.)

Then you have the wooded blockades, which are similar to those in Sonic '06, but with much more colorful paint markings, despite the rust accumulated over the years. They're also less prone to making the Havok physics engine shit itself. So they wouldn't make it into Tracy Yardley's good graces.

Meanwhile, up in the trees, the process of going through carved paths within the trees may bring Honeycomb Highway from Sonic Lost World to mind. But there's plenty of wooden walkways as well, and rope bridges of varying rickety quality, with all that risk that implies. Whoever designed them may not have the most advanced skills, but they’re still more qualified than Bioware.

And going inside the pyramids themselves will cause another bout of cultural whiplash, as instead of keeping up the Mayan feel, it's more reminiscent of the Ajanta Caves in India, gold lighting and all.

Perfect for somewhere so mysterious and potentially deadly, yet still early on in the adventure, and thus nowhere near as oppressive in sheer tone as Eggman's factories or what have you.

First Section (outside): Planet Wisp (Team Sonic Racing) Golden City (Bug Bunny & Taz: Time Busters)

Second Section (inside): Leading Lights (Sonic Adventure) Deku Palace (The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)

2-3: Gloomy Bog

Gloomy Bog's rivers have been corrupted by Mega Mack. I assume you know what Mega Mack is; it's purple, it's unhealthy, and it gets a No from Trudy.

Despite this setback, the swamp otherwise has a laidback mood. The vegetation may be a darker green than two acts ago, comparable to the dark green present in the original Dreamcast version of Mystic Ruins...

...but that's to be expected for a swamp. And even so, the blue and white flowers still add some complimentary brightness and - say it with me, boys and girls - contrast.

As does the omnipresent white glow in the air, which even reflects off of some of the plants as well. It brings cloud forests to mind, except in this case, it's not actually fog.

Shining and hovering over the Mega Mack-infected rivers, it almost seems like there’s meaning to it, as if the swamp itself knows that despite its current predicament, the light will overcome and ultimately vanquish the dark. Very George Lucas as far as visual metaphors go, but whatever works, right?

As for the boardwalks, they were inspired by this concept art for Sonic Saturn, AKA one of the many decapitated heads of the video game hydra that was Sonic X-Treme(ly doomed to fail).

Fortunately for Sonic, his nose wouldn't be mutilated this time.

First Section (walkways): Misty Bog (Spyro 1) DK Jungle (Mario Kart 7)

Second Section (lake): Salad Plain (Sonic CD) The Great Boggly Tree (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)

2-4: Hornet’s Nest

In the fic proper, I compared the exterior of the giant mecha bee hive with Great Megalith from Sonic and the Black Knight. This is because it shares similar thorny fortifications on the outside, albeit in a more modern and industrial form, as you'd expect from man who will conquer the world with his tools.

Even comes with the flags and banners! Though they too have been given the Eggman flavor. (Maybe he's getting revenge for not being in that game?)

As for what's inside... well, what do you expect the inside of a giant bee hive to look like, mechanical or no? Since Donkey Kong has probably one of the most famous examples in a video game, we'll turn to his franchise again to get the gist.

It wouldn't be all yellow though. Remember, this is the plant that's producing all that Mega Mack, so among all the honey and honey-associated gimmicks, there's some purple contrast as well.

And the area outside the hive entirely? There's still a bit of honey (and Mega Mack) here and there, and though the white glow from the previous act has largely disappeared, the blue flowers and dark green plants and trees remain. So in that regard, you could say it's akin to Honey Marsh from Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly.

Less buggy, though.

Probably.

First Section (outside): Mushroom Hill Act 1 (NicoCW) Wizard Peak (Spyro 1)

Second Section (inside): Minty Mines (Spyro 2: Season of Flame) Zip Line Shrine (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze)

#Creating Viridonia #Sonic the Hedgehog #Fanfiction

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danni-dollarsign · 3 years

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A Critical Look at “Pokemon: Sword and Shield” From a Casual’s Perspective...

A/N: Hey! if you’re reading this, then thank you! I don’t know why, but I thought to myself, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to write a pointless essay about a Pokemon game?” And then I realized today was the 1YR anniversary of SWSH, so I figured I might as well just do it! So even though I’m late and probably nobody will really care to read all this nonsense, I wrote it! If you’re interested in all the analyses of PKMN SWSH, but aren’t too invested in the technical mumbo-jumbo used by the more hardcore fans, then maybe you’ll enjoy this.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that I’m literally just some rando on the internet saying my opinion. None of this should really be taken SUPER seriously - it’s mainly designed to provoke thought rather than try to argue any specific idea. So if I say something that you don’t agree with, you got two options: 1) Draft a constructive comment or DM to me and we can discuss calmly like adults, 2) shake your idea and ignore this. There’s really no need to get heated up over a video game essay, of all things, so let’s not do that lol.

But other than that, yeah! If you’re interested in more stuff like this from me (in-depth analyses of Pokemon games from the perspective of a low-key casual), lemme know! I’d love to chat with anyone about this awesome series.

So, without any further ado, let’s get into the essay (warning: it’s like ~8k words).

Introduction...

Welcome to the wonderful world of Pokemon! Love it or hate it, Pokemon has had a huge impact on popular culture in countless countries in a number of different ways, sparking memes, dreams, and happiness everywhere! It holds a very special place in my heart - Pokemon was a game that I got to share with my two older siblings, was one of the first fandoms I got into, and was a big reason as to why I grew to love creative writing so much after writing a couple fanfictions for the games. I’ve been playing Pokemon ever since my brother gave me a copy of Pokemon: Ruby and have been a devoted fan ever since. While I may not be super into the strategy and damn near mathematical aspects of gameplay, I’d like to consider myself a relatively knowledgeable fan with enough extra knowledge to give a look at one of these games from a casual, yet analytical view. So what game other than the newest title, Pokemon: Sword and Shield, with its release anniversary being today? In this casual online essay, I hope to describe all my thoughts of Sword and Shield (which I’ll shorten down to just “SWSH”) from the perspective of the everyday Pokemon fan.

General Gameplay...

Many top-title games of Nintendo are best known for their simplicity: in Super Mario Bros, you’re a mustachioed red guy jumping on monsters to try and save some random princess (who may or may not be in this castle); in The Legend of Zelda, you’re a green elf-looking guy slashing wildly at monsters with a sword given to you by some old guy in hopes of defeating some ultimate bad guy; and in Pokemon, you’re a child wandering around the region catching monsters who also accidentally saves the world before becoming the very best (like no-one ever was). And while the games themselves have grown from that initial stylistic simplicity, some have lost that creative in-depthness in favor of being playable for children. This is probably the biggest issue with the newer Pokemon games as of late.

Regardless, let’s look into the playability of SWSH.

It’s played like your regular Pokemon game; you’re a kid who journeys to become the Champion of Pokemon Battling with your friend, catching monsters known as “Pokemon” with pocket-sized balls dubbed “Pokeballs.” But I’m sure you’re all aware of that information, and are instead asking “Well, what’s the deeper plot?” Yeah, no, that’s it. You’re a kid catching Pokemon to become champion - oh, and you also accidentally save the world from a power-hungry businessman - but that’s neither here nor there.

Plot aside, the game is a bit barebones. It’s pretty linear gameplay (literally linear - the map of the Galar region is almost exactly a straight-line waltz from Postwick to Wyndon, which is a bit weird after dealing with the giant, sprawling maps of earlier generations) where you travel from place to place, beating gyms and catching ‘mons, before getting into a couple scuffles and becoming champion. For an RPG-styled game, it comes off as much too simplistic for older fans (I’d even reason that it’s too simplistic for younger players, as well). While I will say, I don’t exactly miss the days of hopelessly wandering around a pixel city, trying desperately to figure out how to move on to the next town because the answer to the puzzle is hidden in this giant area that my little peanut-brain couldn’t figure out at the time. But it is a bit demeaning to get “Hey, do you know where to go?” and “Hey, follow me so you don’t get lost!” and “Oh, yeah, want another tutorial on how to easily catch Pokemon for the fourth time in a row?” every two seconds in a city where there’s only two places to check out.

But we can’t really discuss the gameplay of Pokemon without discussing the highlights of the region. Ever since the transition from 2D to 3D, Pokemon games have begun a trend of gimmicks - which I like to call “battle enhancers” - that they use to add uniqueness to their games. X&Y had Mega Evolution, Sun and Moon (and USUM) had Z-Moves, and now we have Dynamax! As we all know, battle enhancers are the strategy by which the player uses some extraterrestrial/magic stone to physically enhance one pokemon at a time for a certain period of time - in the case of Dynamax, the pokemon either grows in size or changes in form, gaining the ability to use special type-based attacks for a duration of three turns.

Honestly, I think it’s a pretty fun mechanic! Dynamax combines the good components of both Z-Moves and Mega Evolution - new forms, awesome moves, and a ticking clock. It adds a bit more strategy to the battle enhancer, where the player actually has to plan out who and when to Dynamax (though it’s really not that hard - most everyone will save it for their ace or the pokemon with the type advantage at the very end of the battle, because that’s what you do). But it’s fun and creative, making the battle a bit more exciting when you see your beloved ace become gargantuan on a field while the audience chants in excitement. Initially, I was skeptical of the battle enhancer, but once I threw myself into the game and really got into it, I felt it was fun and cool for the region. My feelings were further improved when I learned that Dynamax was inspired by the idea that the Nintendo Switch had the potential to be played on the TV as well as in a hand-held mode. The idea of turning pokemon “big” on a “big-screen” is really just so cute to me, really. Overall, it’s a fitting concept that is paired well to the game when everything is considered.

But when you look beyond the Dynamx experience to find more content in the game… there’s really not much else. Many people (including me) were ecstatic to hear about the free-roam areas in SWSH - the Wild Areas. Here, you can do all the fun grinding stuff that makes Pokemon games a bit more challenging and fun - hatching eggs, shiny-hunting, running around in circles, Dynamax dens, etc. But when looking at other Pokemon games, that’s really it. Let’s examine Pokemon: Sun and Moon, for example. This game really shines not just for its refreshing setting and compelling plot-line, but also for it’s amount of cute and quirky mini-games to be enjoyed for a good while outside of the main story. Pyukumuku Chucking, Mantine Surfing, the Alolan Photo Club, Ultra Warp Ride Travel - a good handful of mini-games that appeal to different kinds of people! All of these mini-games aren’t just tossed in there, either - they have a fitting place in the culture of the world and add to it, rather than just reiterating it. But when you look for mini-games in SWSH, you won’t really find anything aside from just battling. Sure, there’s the Battle Tower, as well, but I’ll personally say that I’ve never been a fan of the concept of post-game NPC battle buildings. For a hardcore player, they might be fun, but as a casual who can’t devote the time to really dig into understanding how IVs and competitive breeding works, they’re really no fun. Not to mention that nothing is really being added or developed with these battle buildings; they don’t add to lore, they don’t add to the culture of the region, you don’t even really gain anything from it - they’re pretty much just places to battle the occasional familiar face and that’s it. While I’m sure plenty of people adore these facilities in the games, I’ve never been too partial to them (I’d even prefer those god-forsaken casinos over another goddamn battle frontier).

But my biggest problem lies with the release of the DLC. While I’m not against the idea of DLC in general, both The Isle of Armour and The Crown Tundra left a bitter taste in my mouth when I started thinking about the issue of playability in SWSH.

I have always been more invested in the storyline of Pokemon games rather than the battling aspects. Usually I’ve always just gotten through the main story, then wandered around to find extra post-game content or mini-games, and then moved on to other games. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing - I just figure that the games have served their purpose for me upon completion, so rather than bore myself wandering around and doing things that don’t interest me, I go find another game that has more story-based content. That being said, I finished SWSH in less time than any other Pokemon game (I’d say somewhere around twenty hours, complete with me running around in circles like an idiot before rushing through content intermittently); as a result, I was no longer actively playing the game by the time the DLC was announced.

I’ll be honest and say that when I learned about all that was being offered in both sets of DLC, I felt a bit betrayed. I’m well-aware that Nintendo is a corporate business, and therefore will always prioritize financial gain over their fans’ lasting enjoyment of their titles - that’s just a fact of life. But I couldn’t help but feel like I paid a bunch of money for the bundled titles, only to play a game that hardly could be considered worthwhile or satisfying without added headcanons or fan-works, and then get told that extra content is available that may or may not add satisfaction to the experience that’s already long since ended for me. It was just a bit disappointing - and I’m not talking about the whole “Dexit” deal (I actually was on-board with the idea of having no real National Dex - I felt it added realism to the games and would force players to get to know the new Pokemon instead of just choosing the same team they always have since Gen 1 or whatever). My gripe is that I paid for a whole game, wasn’t satisfied with the result, only to hear later that the content that I might have been missing is available to pay for? That’s incredibly annoying. Not to mention that I was further disappointed after learning about the contents of the DLC, but we’ll get into that later.

Overall, the playability of SWSH is very basic, but can be enjoyable if you suspend belief and just enjoy it for what it is. When it comes to storyline, it’s not much of a game, and doesn’t sport much post-game content besides battling.

Immersion and Ambience...

Many of my friends can attest that I tend to like silly, fantastical concepts because I personally love to throw myself into the universe being offered to me. Pokemon is really no different - the games have always sported a very immersive experience for me thanks to the combination of interesting regions and evocative music (especially the music).

I think that most every Pokemon fan has a specific region, city, and music theme that sparks a plethora of nostalgic emotions to the point of near tears. For me, that’s always been Pokemon: Platinum, the Twinleaf Town theme - just staring into the rippling reflection of the pond by the player’s home, listening to that beautiful synth clarinet playing that nostalgic melody - it makes my heart beat with so much fervent passion that I hardly have the words to describe it! And I think that sense of nostalgia - regardless of whether or not those memories are old or new - has always been a strong-suit for Pokemon games. They always have the ability to inspire such deep emotions in me and other alike in a variety of ways, further adding to the ability to immerse us into the game’s world. And whether your favorite area is as simple as Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh region, or as agonizing as Rock Tunnel in Kanto, it’s the spirit of certain cities/towns/routes that further add to the immersion of the world in question. But how well does SWSH hold those values? Spoiler Alert: Not very well.

SWSH, in the end, is still a Pokemon game - so the setting is very vibrant and colorful and everything that can hold my attention for long periods of time. But the problem arises when one begins to progress through the game and continuously forgets what’s where and where’s what. A lot of the map is painfully basic (again, due to the literal linear nature of the Galar region) and the cities themselves kind of lack their own real originality. There was an attempt at unique cities that’s become iconic of the Pokemon franchise, but it doesn’t really stick. I think most people would agree with me that the only real memorable areas in the main game were Slumbering Weald, Ballonlea, and Spikemuth, and each of these areas have their own set of problems that also make them a bit difficult to fully enjoy. At their core, most all Galarian cities have the same basic set-up: basic green plants (if plants are in that area at all), the same brick roads that lead either to the gym or to a route leading in/out of city to another city, and a giant gym/key building in the center of it all. And that’s really about it. No real interesting buildings except for gyms and Rose Tower (and I guess technically the hotels), no extraneous locations that aren’t directly related to the plot or to gimmicks - it’s very bare-bones and really can take you out of the experience.

In a hard contrast, I’ll give the example of Generation 1’s region set up - every city has its own personality that also matches the feel of the region as a whole. Every city is based on colors, and each city is themed after that, respectively (i.e. Vermillion City, the city of sunsets themed around the color orange, is home to the Pokemon Fan Club and the kick-ass electric-type gym that initiates feelings of excitement; Lavender Town, the noble town themed around the color purple, is home to the Pokemon Tower and spooky spirits that inspire feelings of somberness and reticence). Obviously, this isn’t very realistic, but the trick isn’t to replicate reality - it is to inspire reality. The Kanto region is incredibly creative, and therefore is easy to immerse oneself into the world because it’s become a world we are actively interested in. We know that it could never truly be real or plausible, but that hardly matters when we are so enthralled with the colors and set-up and feeling of the towns. We don’t really get much of that in Galar. It probably isn’t such a great idea for your final city - being Wyndon - to feel blank and lifeless when compared to minor cities in the region. And even when we find cities that hold that uniqueness we desire like in Spikemuth or Ballonlea, there’s really no other reason to be there longer than just beating the gym. It’s sad, really. Spikemuth is such a interesting, creative-looking town home to such cool characters, and yet there literally is only one path to get in and out of the town - the town isn’t even given small houses to investigate like literally every other city in the region. It’s a waste of potential! The fact that I can’t investigate such a promising setting that inspires me really takes me out of the world, reminding me that this is just a video game in which you move from Point A to Point B. It’s no longer a fantasy world for me to explore, but instead a line at the DMV to get my Drivers’ License. The only real good thing about this is that fanfiction writers get so much free-reign when it comes to writing about the city - the only thing we really learn about the city is that it’s underfunded and gloomy and that’s literally it. I would have really liked to see more inspired cities around the region where things outside of the main plot can be done, but hopefully this is just a problem we’ll see in this region.

Probably the most important aspect of immersion (in my opinion) is the music. With the potential to make or break a game for me, I hold a lot of expectations on the music found in video games (I’ve been classically trained in music since elementary school, and have always had a fondness for video game music). Pokemon music has always been some of the most inspiring pieces of art in my life - whether it be the kickass battle suite of Champion Cynthia, or the somber piano melody of Emma’s Theme, the music of Pokemon has always been the first thing I notice and analyze whenever playing the latest title. That all being said, I have quite a few notes to make in regards to the soundtrack of SWSH.

I’ll start with the pros, first. Generally, every main title has had its own feel when it comes to the soundtrack - DPP was jazzy and smooth, Sun and Moon was based on popular Hawaiian music meshed together with classic Pokemon synths, RSE was all about the horn section (trombones and french horns all the way!). SWSH, at the end of the day, isn’t much different. The region is inspired by the UK, so it’s no surprise to discover that the soundtrack was inspired by popular British Rock. As a result, a lot of themes went really hard, keeping a hint of individuality even when some battle themes hosted similar instruments. The biggest appeal of the soundtrack, I believe, was found in the little moments, namely the cheers of the gym battle themes. I think it’s safe to say that most people get super hyped when they hear those rhythmical chants coming to life whenever in the final leg of the battle, right when you begin to Dynamax. That’s amazingly exciting, never failing to suck me into that exact moment to gather the power of God and anime to defeat my opponent. While I wasn’t totally rocking out to every single song that came on, I was pretty satisfied with the music of SWSH, overall. It’s not too bad, and hosts a few bops that I still seek out to get my blood pumping.

But, as to be expected, there are plenty of cons when it comes to the soundtrack of SWSH. I could go over this for hours and hours, detailing complex definitions of music theory and basic song comprehension, but I’ll just make this nice and simple: it was really bland.

Note that I said “bland” and not “bad” - the music is fine in my opinion, I just wasn’t feeling the same feelings as I had in previous Pokemon titles. It all felt like Pokemon music, but not much else. It was like remembering hints of a memory long-lost, but you don’t really care about to dig deep into your mind for context. Towns had music, routes had music, pokemon and characters had battle themes, yada yada yada, nothing really to write home about. If I had to pick a song that honestly, truly invoked emotions beyond “Oh it’s battle time, now”, it would have to be the Battle Tower Theme, and that’s most likely because it was written by someone else entirely (Toby Fox, also known as the creator of Undertale and composer of super hard-hitting jams). And the worst part is that I never would have even been able to hear the Battle Tower theme because I hate battle buildings (which is more of a personal problem, I know, but still). Honestly, I would have preferred hearing that theme as compared to Champion Leon’s battle theme - I feel like his champion theme was very bland and lifeless, simply holding all the required elements of a Pokemon battle theme just because that’s what has to happen. It’s uninspired, faceless, and corporate, only to be completely foiled by the unique blast of energy found in the Battle Theme, which just screams “Prove that you’re the best!” over and over to me (also known as a big theme in the Pokemon games, especially in SWSH).

That’s not to say that every other theme in the game was terrible. I much enjoyed Marnie and Piers’ battle themes, but for a different reason. As we know, Piers and Marnie host a more “punk rock” style when compared to literally everyone else in-game, a trademark of Spikemuth citizens. With their occasionally cold and prickly (no pun intended) personalities, their themes go a bit harder into rock-land as compared to characters like Hop or Bede. There’s no conflict of style there - it’s “punk” with “rock”, loads of guitars and bass with a hint of synths to keep that Pokemon flare, and fits a bit better in the setting of the world. Mild conflict arises when we start looking at characters who aren’t rockstars or idols - let’s look at Bede’s theme, for example. While it really isn’t a bad theme (it’s actually, dare I say, a bop), I wouldn’t exactly say that the resulting pieces fit neatly together like they do for the Spikemuth duo. Bede’s theme requires a lot of synths to accentuate his more flamboyant and immature personality, but also holds ties with the rock guitars while also trying so desperately hard to sound like a Pokemon song. Now, I don’t think “Pop Synth Rock” is anything bad, per se; I just feel like the added rock elements didn’t do much to add to the musical representation of our cliche jerk-face “rival”. It feels like the rock elements were an after-thought rather than a planned layer of musicality. I could really say the same thing about Hop’s theme, but then I would have to re-listen to Hop’s theme because I always forget what it sounds like even after listening to it a second before.

A big problem is that not many of these themes hold lastingly memorable motifs/melodies, which is a personal pet-peeve of mine in games where the music is highly esteemed. In pretty much every battle theme (except the generic pokemon encounter theme, which is the same melody in every Pokemon game, only with variations added to fit the music theme of the region) is just an on-going strip of notes that sound nice when playing the game, but if you tried to pick out the specific melody-line of that character, it’s a bit of work to really find anything. Let’s look at a more concrete example: Lusamine’s battle theme from Pokemon: Sun and Moon is up on my list of most memorable battle themes, and will do well without the extra influence of young me’s nostalgia seeping in like it would with earlier generations’ battle themes. Lusamine, as we know, was the elite antagonist of the game, being the leader of this esteemed Pokemon protection group who later is revealed to be using Pokemon for her own demented goals of perfection. Almost immediately, the player hears the signature accents of the harpsichord playing the prime motif before the piece digs into a full orchestration. It doesn’t sacrifice anything for the sake of “sounding like a Pokemon song”, nor does it sacrifice anything for the sake of keeping with the musical inspiration. Instead, it focuses on being exactly what it needs to be - a musical representation of Lusamine, hosting orchestra-based instruments (piano, violas and cellos, horns, violins, light pad synths, etc…). Most anyone can pick out a handful of memorable motifs from her theme (the main horns melody line, the harpsichord melody line, the mid-section cello and piano melody line, etc…), and those remain in our unconscious. So, it’s no surprise that when she becomes the “Mother Beast” later on, when the player hears hints of those signature melody lines becoming distorted in the madness of the new battle theme, it invokes a particular emotion that fits elegantly with the subject matter of the plot right then. In short, it’s musical storytelling done right. In SWSH, we don’t have that extra omph of emotionally-nostalgic motifs; instead, we just get songs that play in the background of this video game, and that’s really it. If you don’t like the song, good news - you’ll probably only hear it once or twice, depending on who the NPC is. If you do, then you’re out of luck for the very same reasons. This game lacks a very basic hint of soul to its soundtrack, which is really such a jarring idea especially when you realize that they paired up with a composer who arguably has mastered the idea of musical motifs (Fox).

This really isn’t just SWSH’s problem, either. I also went through a similar heartbreak in S&M during the final stretch of the main game; after battling Lusamine and saving the region from the threat of Ultra Beasts (more or less, anyway), we the player go to challenge the champion, who is revealed to be Profession Kukui since there really is no true champion for the newly-made league. It’s hard to go from an exciting, powerful battle theme like Lusamine’s to some generic, cardboard-cut-out version of a champion battle theme for Kukui. It’s hard to invoke any sort of emotional appeal when there’s no real inspiration to be felt in the music; with no emotional connection, there is no emotion. It’s, once again, just music that plays in the background of a video game. A similar experience happens in SWSH with the player’s match against Champion Leon; though we have the potential to gain an emotional connection to a Leon Theme motif, we don’t get that. Instead, we just get music that is programmed to be exciting for our championship match that will undoubtedly change our lives forever. Bland, boring, anti-climatic - all for the sake of coloring in the lines. This has been an on-going problem in Pokemon games for years in which the Championship Battle Theme is less interesting than the Evil Team Battle Theme, which probably isn’t a good idea. It’s annoying when your villain has a better theme than the literal strongest trainer in the region - it ruins the chances of likability for the region’s “good guys” and overall is anti-climatic when it is finally time to become champion.

Overall, the ability to immerse someone like me in a game is very important when it comes to retaining players. While SWSH isn’t the worst Pokemon game when it comes to immersion (considering the fact that I actually beat the main game, which I can’t say for other main Pokemon titles…), Game Freak certainly could stand to learn from the game’s shortcomings.

Creature and Character Design...

The monster design is arguably one of the most controversial topics when it comes to any Pokemon game. Some people only care about the designs of Gen 1, others accept everything but Gen 5, and a select few could rant for hours on the stupidity of literally every Pokemon design in the franchise. Regardless, the design of the Pokemon native to the Galar region is an important topic of discussion when analysing the potential for enjoyment of the game. After all, I’m an artist who loves drawing all my favorite characters as well as my favorite Pokemon, so understanding the designs of these beloved figures is vital to understanding the game in general. For sanity’s sake, I’ll only be discussing new Pokemon introduced in this region, and will be ignoring all previous pokemon that aren’t regional variants.

Overall, the designs of the latest Pokemon are satisfactory. Because of my tendency to always suspend belief in fantasy works, I’ve very rarely had much to hate about Pokemon designs (not even in Gen 5, though I don’t particularly like any of them aside from the game cover legendaries). SWSH didn’t really bring much to the table when it comes to brand-new Pokemon, but the ones introduced are fitting and interesting: the Dragapult line, all three starters (even if I did laugh for literal hours at the discovery of Cinderace’s typing), Wooloo and Dubwool, Yamper and Boltund - just to name my top favorites. And I was totally invested in the designs of the game cover legendaries, Zamazenta and Zacian, since they held cultural relations with the region’s inspiration and therefore had actual meaning within the game besides just being cool mythical creatures. Nothing really outright bothered me with the designs or pokemon choices in this game; as I mentioned earlier, I was okay with the idea of no National Dex for this region, and that all the pokemon allowed in this game matched with the region well-enough.

But, of course, it’s not without faults. I found there to be a substantial lack of original legendaries in this game - we only have three real legendaries to catch in the main-game, four if you consider the DLC. We had a similar problem in Pokemon: Sun and Moon, but it was later amended with the introduction of Ultra Beasts (which can technically be regarded as legendary Pokemon, albeit from another dimension and not technically Pokemon). In SWSH, we are only given the option of catching more than two legendaries if we buy the DLC - this is remarkably disappointing for those who are interested in seeing new, unique Pokemon designs. I know many fans are constantly frustrated with Game Freak’s tendency to overuse Gen 1 Pokemon, but the fact that nobody is bothered by the running trend of being able to easily catch a bunch of previous games’ legendaries is beyond me. It’s essentially the same thing, overly relying on the fanbase’s sentimental nostalgia rather than moving forward to create new creature designs. I know for a fact that so many people would have been excited to catch Pokemon with cultural significance (maybe like elf Pokemon that resemble that of Seelie/Unseelie fairies, or more Pokemon that resemble chess pieces, or maybe more Pokemon that follow a theme of medieval artifacts - there are many possibilities), so the fact that they skimped out in favor of making people pay for nostalgia is ridiculous to me. This was a majority of the reason why I rejected buy any of the DLC content - why would I pay for Pokemon I’ve technically caught before? I mean, I guess it can be more for the kids who have never encountered the older legendaries, but then again, wouldn’t it be more beneficial for your game to have Pokemon that actually represent the new region? Instead of just stealing other games’ legendaries for the sake of saying that you have them, they could have just worked a little harder to design maybe three or six more cool legendary designs and centered those guys around the two DLC locations instead of just having Calyrex for The Crown Tundra. At the end of the day, it’s really just a cash-grab; the only reason I could ever see myself understandably buying the DLC for SWSH would be because I wanted to interact more with my favorite NPCs, but then again, I can just look at screenshots on Twitter and feel just as satisfied.

But not all is lost in terms of designs. Now let’s get into my favorite design portion of this segment and discuss the NPCs.

First, we’ll dig into the rivals. Personally, I really enjoyed the rivals of this game; while Pokemon is definitely running on a formula, I still was able to find enough about the three rival characters to genuinely enjoy their presence whenever they came on screen. I suppose we can expect to keep seeing this new Pokemon Trainer Rival Formula: Kind of Annoying but Too Sweet to Hate BFF Rival (Hop), 2 Edgy 5 U Rival (Bede), and Some Pedo’s Waifu Material Rival (Marnie).

Hop is arguably one of my favorite Pokemon rivals of all time (right up there with Gladion from S&M). He’s one of the only Pokemon characters to get a realistic character development over the course of the game’s playable story, which really humanizes him and makes up for his occasionally annoying personality. Over the course of the game, Hop goes from silently residing in his brother’s shadow to learning to stand on his own without needed any outside validation; much to my surprise, it’s not some half-hearted transition. Hop doubts himself during the challenge, as evidenced not just by his dialogue but in the way he actively changes his team to try and be more competitive like everybody else. I remember feeling so heartbroken in realization that Hop stopped using his beloved Wooloo, which is rightfully paired up with the excitable boy. The idea that Hop uses Wooloo, a normal-type cute Pokemon that generally wouldn’t be used in a competitive team, really adds more dimension to his character; when he learns to enjoy himself instead of letting his doubts overtake him, he returns to using Dubwool and his favorite team, demonstrating how he would prefer to have fun as himself than be someone he isn’t. I found that to be a really wholesome theme to his character, one that we haven’t really seen in a Pokemon game yet - it was a pleasant surprise! Hop is sweet and kind, always wanting to motivate the player even when he’s in his own internal turmoil. With all that added with his adorable babyface and goofy/awkward preteen disposition, he really makes for a likeable rival character.

The next rival to be introduced is none other than our classic Mean Boy rival, Bede. He’s a character the fanbase is a bit more accustomed to due to previous titles’ rivals (i.e. Green/Blue/Gary Oak from in R&G/B, Silver from SGC, technically also Gladion from S&M…), so are quite a few expectations placed on his character as a result. Also true to the typical Pokemon Jerk Rival, he has a complicated homelife (he comes from an orphanage, as we later learn) and has a similarly complicated parent-child relationship to the leading antagonist of the game (in this case, Chairman Rose). Bede constantly assumes himself to be better than he is and isn’t afraid to be a total prick about it, choosing to bully Hop upon winning battles against him to boost his own inflated ego (though there’s hints pointing to Bede actually having rather low self-esteem). All things considered, I liked Bede as a character about as much as one can like a mean rival archetype, but I was more than pleased to discover his transition to a more likably mean-spirited character when he later returns to the game to challenge the player after being disqualified from the challenge. While we’ve had a likeable mean rival before (namely Gladion), Bede is something of his own entity with how he actually has an attempt at character development that leads him to a mini-redemption near the end of the game. He’s really the first mean rival to have a transition from total jerk to slightly-peeved tsundere, which was probably a good idea on Game Freak’s part so that we wouldn’t be left with a character we downright hated after the way Bede quite literally destroys Hop’s confidence. It’s nowhere near as impressive as Hop’s character development (which isn’t super impressive to begin with, but let’s ignore that fact for a bit), but it’s still interesting to see in a monster-catching game about being the best you can be.

And then, of course, we get to the cute-girl rival, Marnie, also known as the place where I get a bit mad again. I’d like to say that I absolutely love Marnie; she has an adorable design and interesting personality that captures my attention whenever she has screen time. But she serves one purpose in this game, and one purpose alone - being the main cute girl rival of the game. Marnie has the potential to be a similarly interesting rival (cute design that meshes “punk” with “cute”, has a wholesome and fun dynamic with her gym leader older brother, uses a Pokemon that isn’t considered to be a “competitive” choice as her ace, has a cool/cute personality…), and yet we probably only talk to her about five times over the course of the main game. Little is done with her character - in fact, the only real thing she does in the game other than becoming the next dark-type gym leader is that she helps the player sneak into Spikemuth after the gates have been shut by the remarkably-harmless Team Yell. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I would have loved to have seen more done with her character. With the boy rivals being more fleshed out than her, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth because the female rival is the one left with a blank personality (and I’m not just saying that because she hardly smiles - that’s really one of the only things we get about her that gives her an actual personality). My frustrations are further exacerbated because this has always been an issue in Pokemon games, in which the girl rivals are so barebones for seemingly the only purpose of serving as some neckbeard’s waifu that they can input a personality they desire despite the fact that she’s canonically a minor. Why put in the time to give dimension to Hop and Bede, but not Marnie? And we know for a fact that Game Freak has to recognize the lack of personality given to Marnie, especially since they had previously come out with Lillie’s wonderfully sweet character arch in S&M and USUM. Personally, I feel that it was because they didn’t feel like having a more punkish girl character who also had traditionally feminine-coded interests (she’s known to have been distracted during the gym challenge by the boutiques) and ultimately decided to just not give her any further personality other than that, perhaps fearing that it would dissuade the gross creeper fanbase from latching onto her. But that’s really just speculation, so don’t take any of my nonsense too seriously. Really, I’d just rather we had a girl rival with more personality to match the other two rivals so it wasn’t so annoyingly unbalanced.

Moving on from the rivals, we get into the designs of the League Staff of the game. In most other Pokemon games, I’d never really been too interested in the gym leaders; they had always been more of minor bosses, just faces that you saw for a couple of seconds before pummeling their ‘mons and moving to the next city. But in this game in particular, there was a sudden transition from simple puzzle master to a full-on celebrity figure. I really enjoyed this! It was so nice to actually have some information on the gym leaders other than what type they sported; suddenly, they have personalities and interests - they become real to the player. Not to mention that there really is a gym leader for everyone to enjoy, thanks to their unique personalities and styles.

I’ll be a bit honest and say that some of their clothing designs are remarkably stupid for even an anime-based RPG game (I mean, I know we joke about Leon’s terrible sense of fashion in the fanbase, but can we just pause and ponder what Piers’ wears? I mean, a leather jacket with spandex? Metal boots and a work-out tank??? What is he wearing?!), but it isn’t exactly distracting. In Western cultures in particular, we can see a trend towards the glamourization of the “athleisure” style, or athletic wear designed more for everyday use rather than just working out. It was kind of fitting to see this be the primary style for the gym leaders, who can basically be described as hierarchical sports stars. Weird? Sure. But in the context of the world, it all fits together, and once again adds to the immersion aspect of the game.

Looking at our main antagonists, they are designed quite well. Chairman Rose is designed to be quite easy and fun to hate (at least for me) - he’s an important-looking businessman who’s very impressed with himself, paired up with a beautiful yet terrifying subordinate woman who does most all the hardwork for him (...actually, they kind of remind me of an antagonistic Cl. Mustang and Lt. Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist…). They also had noteworthy battle themes that popped a bit more than other battle themes in the game.

While they hardly count as antagonists, I’d like to also make a brief mention of Team Yell. They’re more annoying than anything, which is a trend that I’m not too sure how I feel about yet. It was definitely more likable coming from Team Skull, that’s for sure. I would have liked Team Yell doing a bit more damage, having them be a bit more unruly and controversial before evening them out with the whole emotional appeal of them cheering on for Marnie in hopes of saving their ruined town. But they weren’t too terrible in my opinion.

I could talk for hours on the champion of the region, too, Champion Leon. He’s a really fun and charming character overall, less of the supremely wise and powerful champion that we’ve seen in older gens and instead being a more quirky but worthwhile opponent on the path towards the crown. But I definitely preferred him more as a character than as a champion; even though his team changes depending on your starter, it’s not too challenging of a fight if you know what you’re doing, especially when you immediately know what his ace pokemon is (something we don’t really learn in other gens about the champions). While I’m sure the idea of a powerful but transparent champion can be done, Leon doesn’t really stand up as a powerful trainer when compared to other champions in the franchise. But he’s definitely still a fun, interesting character concept that I am grateful for in this particular game.

When it comes to the designs of the primary NPCs and Pokemon, SWSH continues to talk that line just above mediocrity. Not too bad, not all that great, but definitely not something to be forgotten. I’d reason that the primary strength of this generation lies within the characters that are introduced.

Uniqueness vs. Status as a Pokemon Game...

In regards to the uniqueness - how well this game stands on its own as an individual concept rather than just another Pokemon game - I’m a bit divided. On one hand, I’m a bit saddened by the watering down of content and constant reliance on concepts from older games. But I can also see that SWSH introduced a lot of interesting ideas that have inspired so many fans for this generation. And while yes, this gen didn’t have much to offer in terms of new Pokemon, new scenarios, or new lore, I do think that it does hold its own when compared to the other games in the main series. New characters are introduced to the player, all of which having good (and bad) traits that allow for lots of fan-created content with their essence; a new look into a brand-new battle enhancer that requires a different strategy than those of previous battle enhancers; a new culture found within the Galar region that can inspire many more thoughts and theories on the Pokemon world as a whole in a number of ways. We cannot pretend that SWSH isn’t an influential game just because it wasn’t ground-breaking; even with my extreme distaste for the Black and White games, I still admit that they led to important decisions and ideas that led to the creation of games I did enjoy. So, as its own entity, I think that Pokemon: Sword and Shield really has a lot of offer and would probably be an amazing game for a younger player who’s just getting into the Pokemon universe.

But I think that a lot of us long-time fans can agree that this game doesn’t quite match up with the others in terms of giving those real “Pokemon game” feelings. The problem with big-titles like this is that the company tends to lose sight of what really makes a franchise so influential isn’t the stuff found at face-value. It’s not the creatures or NPCs or game mechanics or design or any of that garbage - it’s the feelings we get when all of those things reach that perfect harmony. It’s the rumble in my chest whenever I listen to that famous intro-sequence of my old Pokemon: Ruby game; it’s the fire in my eyes when I went back to challenge Pokemon Trainer Red for the tenth time that night back in my old Pokemon: Heart Gold game; it’s the tears I cried when I watched the only interesting character, N, leave my playable character after his emotional spiel following the defeat of Ghetsis in my long-since abandoned copy of Pokemon: White. At the end of the day, Pokemon is more of an emotion I get rather than a game I play, and I think this is an idea that few people can recognize for themselves. And while I’m aware that I literally just spent several thousand words bagging and praising this game for all those face-value aspects, I also know that when you add that extra little bit of care to your work, go a little further with a character you know someone will adore, or try something new with that new battle theme, there comes a sensation that goes beyond that of love for a silly fantasy game. I’d like to think it’s something akin to inspiration.

Conclusion...

In conclusion, Pokemon: Sword and Shield is far from perfect. With a number of faults and disappointments, I can understand why a lot of fans were less than interested in giving this game the time of day. But I also want to say that this game deserves to be understood and appreciate for what it is, for what it’s done. Who knows what sort of new ideas this game has inspired? Whether it be in the name Pokemon game or someone else’s passion project, I am confident in the potential that this game has to bring someone’s dreams to fruition. It already has inspired so much amazing fan-content from the community; after so many years of being away from the fandom, SWSH was the game that drove me right back, giving me the drive to once again indulge in my middle-school days of sketching out my latest comfort character or writing out a million headcanons in a way-too plot-heavy story. Many fan-creators in this community feel the same as me, I’m sure, so it would be untrue of me to say that this game was anything less than what it was: a fun, simple game that prides itself in its characters and potential rather than complex combat mechanics or some corkboard-plot nightmare. It’s a game meant to be enjoyed, so we must remember to find our enjoyment wherever it can be found. For me, Pokemon can’t really do much wrong, but also is held up to a level of expectations that I can’t quite understand even for myself. This, at the end of the day, is a video game from my all-time favorite franchise; so long as I can find enjoyment there in it, then it’s worth it. In a world filled with nihilism and cynicism, it’s nice to visit a land where you’re wise to try and be the very best like no-one ever was, to be the next best Pokemon Master.

#pokemon #Pokemon Sword and shield #pokemon swsh #swsh #sword and shield #game review #game #analysis #review #post mortem #(does this count as post mortem???)#casual gamer #essay #video game #food for thought

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5-falsehoods-phonated · 4 years

Note

may I request some fluffy Janus and Patton cuddles?

Yes! I'm sorry this took so long to answer but I hope you enjoy it!

Controller Passing Made Easy

Summary: Having Patton in his lap just makes switching who's playing the game easier, that's all! And if cuddling ensues during and after than that's their business.

Warnings: spoilers for a boss fight in Twilight Princess if you want to avoid that

Ships: platonic Patton x Janus, platonic Mociet

Janus swore quietly as he took another hit from a bulbin he hadn't noticed sneaking behind him. The buttons clicked loudly on the old controller as he executed a rather impressive spin attack that went immediately into a finishing blow, making Link turn quickly to slash at another enemy and sending it flying into the lava. The camera angle spun wildly as he searched for more enemies, letting out a sigh when he saw there were none.

"Alright, let's see if I remember this boss."

Since Janus had been accepted and Remus...mostly accepted, the barrier between the "light sides" and "dark sides" had been much easier to walk freely across. Which allowed Janus to finally bring his console out from the other sides' common room and install it in the "light sides'" where there was much fewer outlets being used and the couch was free of mysterious stains and sticky spots from where Remus flopped down on his returns from his side of the imagination. He shuddered to think of what even a quarter of them could possibly be from.

Shaking his head he gathered what hearts he could from the pots surrounding the door and entered the last room of the dungeon just as Patton came down the stairs. His eyes flicked towards the other as the cutscene started but Patton's were glued to the screen, watching curiously as Link entered a large room with a sleeping beast chained upright in the middle of the room. He crossed the floor slowly and quietly sat beside Janus on the couch as the gem on the beasts forehead glowed red, music beginning to pick up while the monster raised its head to examine its prison. It roared as it tugged at its chains and Patton gasped out as it ripped them free from the wall and let a final challenging roar right in Link's face. The battle was on.

Quickly maneuvering behind Fyrus, the Goron Mines final boss Janus instantly remembered the gimmick as he saw the chains dragging on the ground, grabbing them as he switched on his iron boots and tried moving backward, swearing louder as it did nothing. Remembering his bow just as the monster was catching up to him he aimed and quickly shot at the glowing gem on its head, grabbing the chains again as Fyrus' steady gait turned into a stomping rampage. The top heavy boss fell hard on the ground and he quickly ran around to slash at its vulnerable gem, smirking in satisfaction knowing he was doing it right. This particular boss was one of the easiest in game to figure out and beat but it had been such a long time since he had sat down and played any kind of video game that it was almost like doing a first playthrough again; which was nice considering how many times he had beaten this particular title in the past.

With a final strike of his sword another cut scene started up, victorious music swelling as Fyrus shrunk and collapsed while twilight particles flew off of him to condense into a piece of fused shadow above, Midna taking form to reach for it and create a portal to exit the dungeon. Smiling slightly Janus made sure to save before putting the controller down and turning towards Patton.

"Was there something you needed?"

Hurt was quickly replaced with a smile as Patton stood up quickly and shook his head. "Nope, sorry! Just wanted to see what you were up to since you've been down here a while, I'll leave to let you-"

"Patton." Janus winced as he realized how his question must have sounded. "I didn't mean anything by that, I've been down here a for a couple hours and thought perhaps you were wanting the TV. I truly didn't mean anything by it."

Pattons smiled turned more genuine as he carefully sat back down, gesturing to the TV. "I haven't seen this in a while. What's it called again?"

"The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess. Thomas got this shortly after getting a Game Cube, it was one of Virgil and I's favorites."

Patton nodded. "I remember now. Did you know Thomas owns the newest one?"

"There's a new one?" Janus put the controller down curiously. He'd been a little out of the loop lately when it came to the things Thomas did unless he was actually needed.

Patton nodded again more excitedly, launching himself over to the TV and digging quickly through the game sleeves until he found what he was looking for. "This! The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild!"

Janus took it excitedly, wondering when it had come out. The cover art looked beautiful, slightly painted and bright and showcasing an expansive world to discover and explore. He looked up at Patton imploringly, eyes flicking to the switch he had noticed but hadn't touched since it wasn't technically his, content enough to play on the console he had brought up with permission. Patton laughed softly and took the sleeve from him, quickly setting up the game and handing him a different controller.

-----

"There's another one!!" Patton bounced slightly as he made Link dash towards another frog to add to their inventory. Janus smiled fondly and tightened his grip around Patton's waist, the fatherly sides soft hair tickling the underside of his chin but he made no move to sit up. He didn't really know how they had gotten into this position, sitting in front of the couch with Patton nestled comfortably in his lap with his head resting underneath Janus' chin, but he supposed it made passing the controller back and forth easier. They hadn't gotten very far in the game, both of them much too excited to explore the map and take pictures to actually progress the main storyline. As it was almost six hours later their stamina wheel was full and they had done enough shrines and collected the spirit orbs needed to gain seven new heart containers. Janus was reasonably sure that they'd probably be overpowered for most of the games bosses at this point but he didn't care and Patton didn't really seem to either, excitedly moving from one interesting thing spotted in the distance to another.

He blinked out of his thoughts as he felt Patton tap his hands with the controller, unwinding them from their previous position and taking it as the moral side settled back against him with a content sigh. Thankfully it was a "finish all the leftovers in the fridge please" day so they hadn't had to be distracted for too long as they whipped up something quickly earlier and ate before returning to their game, the other sides not doing much more than shooting them questioning looks before going about their own business. Roman and Virgil's glances were admittedly a bit more...touchy, but it didn't seem to bother Patton so Janus was content to focus on the game rather than the tense atmosphere the mindscape hadn't managed to shake yet.

Some time later Janus finally made it to the top of a glowing mountain, smiling at the scattered blupees running around before gasping as he took in a strangely beautiful creature. Snapping it with his camera The Lord of the Mountain stood in the small pond surrounded by the little bunny owl creatures, celestial patterns swirling across its glowing blue body as it moved around unaware of his presence hiding behind a bush. He tapped Pattons arm gently not having heard a reaction from him yet. Looking down as he still recieved no response he nearly melted at the sight. Patton was slumped slightly to the side, glasses askew and mouth agape as he slept still nested in Janus' lap, which he only now realized was quite cramped. His back also let it's own discomfort be known as he glanced at the clock and startled as he realized it was nearly midnight.

He set the controller down gently and with a wave of his hand turned off the TV and console, knowing that unless he shut the game down completely it would pick up where he left off. He carefully maneuvered to stretch out his tired legs, taking off Patton's glasses and setting them down on the table as well. Gently twisting he managed to get an arm under the others knees while his other supported his back, holding him close as he slowly stood up. Glancing at the stairs he scoffed and shook his head. Absolutely not, and sinking down would risk waking Patton up, which looking at his peaceful face that was something he definitely did not want. Couch it was then.

He sat down slowly and leaned back to swing his legs onto the cushions, gently moving Patton around until he was more or less laying on top of him. Thanking the stars he seemed to be an incredibly heavy sleeper he snapped his fingers to change them both into their pajamas, chuckling as Patton curled tightly into him clad in his fuzzy gray cat onesie. Janus himself had black socks and sweatpants with a comfortable dark grey long sleeve that covered his arms until they met his usual gloves. His relationship with the others was improving, but the trust was not yet established enough for him to break out his own onesie just yet. Another snap left the room blissfully dark and with Patton's warm weight on top of him he drifted almost immediately to sleep.

------

Patton blinked tiredly as sunlight knocked insistently against his eyelids. Waving his hand had the curtains drawn in an instant and he sighed into the darkness, snuggling further into the warmth beneath him.

His eyes snapped open as he lifted his head to see exactly where he was, confusion marring his features as a scaled face was seen just inches from his own. Realizing he must have fallen asleep while playing the game last night he smiled warmly at the other side, giggling as Janus shifted in his sleep and the tip of a forked tongue blepped out adorably. Settling again on the others chest, Patton sighed into the warmth and closed his eyes, content to have a late morning with the beat of Janus' heart thudding comfortingly in his ear.

This work and other one shots are also available on AO3 if you'd like! Submissions for other one shots are still being taken if theres something you'd like me to write!

#sanders sides #ask request #thomas sanders #patton sanders #janus sanders #sanders sides fic #ao3

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