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When Pokemon Went EDGY (ThorHighHeels)
- Thread starter nsilvias
- Start date
Other fun & interesting THH video about games you might not know exist:
View: https://youtu.be/bEvihiKAwJY?si=bFnO3SOfNafZBQ9U
View: https://youtu.be/bEvihiKAwJY?si=bFnO3SOfNafZBQ9U
I wouldn't consider Pokémon Adventures to be "edgy", though. It's more of the shonen version of Pokémon. Being edgy implies a degree of self-loathing and/or angst towards the world that simply isn't there. Early Adventures is more violent, but it's a violence that makes sense in context. It's a bit more realistic approach to Pokémon than the games, so attacks and battles have more tangible consequences than simply fainting.
I just realised that while I want Pokémon to have a little more edge and weirdness these days, I should clarify that I do not want stories about 3,000 year old doomsday weapons that fracture timelines and a 3,000 year old man that burned the world because of his love for a Floette.
Still the stupidest thing Pokémon has ever done.
I don't hate X/Y the way I once did but the story remains abysmal.
Still the stupidest thing Pokémon has ever done.
I don't hate X/Y the way I once did but the story remains abysmal.
Eh, I'd say it's definitely the most edgy seeming Pokemon game on its face. You play as a reforming criminal in a desolate region full of other thugs, the only way to catch Pokemon is to steal corrupted ones, and most of the civilized areas are either run by the big bad syndicate in the open or secretly in the case of Phenac City
It's a shame it never commits to its rough and dirty setting. The second you rescue Rui you're basically doing average Pokemon hero stuff, the bad guys are cartoon villains and the thuggish rest of the pokemon trainer world is window dressing at best. I think one (just one) trainer offhandedly mentions the fact you just stole his Pokemon after you defeat him.
I mean, I watched for a minute and had to stop because I found the video deeply irritating. "concise" is not a word I'd use to describe whatever was going on there.
cmon that shit was amazing, i felt my brain being reprogrammed during that cutscene
Genuinely a series low point for me, narratively anyway.
Between a forgettable cast of friends who aren't really rivals, Team Flare having the stupidest motivation of any antagonists in the series and this weird doomsday weapon plot that was thrown in in an attempt to give the threadbare story the appearance of gravitas and sombreness at the last minute… it's just a mess for me.
I completely get why they went so hard in this direction after people's initial reactions to Gen 5 but yeah. For me it's the beginning point of the failures of modern Pokémon.
Colosseum was edgy, but in an internally logical way that made sense with the setting and characters shown throughout.
Admittedly, I've never played XD and that may be a step too far in the edgy direction for me if I ever do play it.
i don't even disagree, i just laugh every time i think about a giant man and his tiny flower bride standing in a fiery hellscape
i'm probably not the one to go to for ratings on pokemon narratives though, personally i dont even want to deal with like gen 5's. none of these people matter to me
also i'm like a gigantic fan of the DPP plotline and cyrus, that mopey bitch
XD is actually a lot more lighthearted than Colosseum is despite more or less being a direct sequel. the villains are toothless, most of the returning characters are just there to reference the last game's events or got demoted to comic relief. shadow lugia aside, there's virtually no edge at all
I laugh every time Flare activates the ultimate weapon and the houses in town are just... knocked backwards, yet totally intact, like toy houses flipped to the side. It's meant to be this really "oh damn!" cutscene and instead I'm just laughing at the silly houses lying on their backs like turtles that can't get up.
Completely fair regarding AZ. It is hilarious trying to comprehend what they were thinking.
I think DPPt is the most boilerplate post Gen 2 storyline you can get. This isn't a bad thing, though. I took it more seriously than Gen 3's silly land vs water quarrel where both teams are just as idiotic as each other.
Gen 4 is the most basic "get the badges, evil team wants to summon a god, oh no the god summoning plan backfired, now you're the champ" storyline in the franchise. It's not great but I'd put it above Gen 3's, 6's, and 8's plotlines in this vein.
And that's super interesting to me. I honestly always thought given it was a sequel to Colosseum and had both the EDGY ecks dee subtitle and the EDGY shadow lugia who's got an inverse colour scheme that it'd be even more tryhard. I really should give it a shot one day.
yeah mostly i just think it's funny that cyrus is like legitimately a character pulled from shin megami tensei 3
You know, is resetera even truly a gaming forum until we have our own collaborative Pokémon fangame that crashes and burns at less than 10% of a complete region dex designed?
I'm serious when I say that Pokemon Reborn is well-written edge. I love that game for the best-in-class Pkm game design by a country mile but the characters and plot progression are quite enjoyable, too. And the dev(s) know to balance the edge with a good bit of positivity etc., too.
Its going for something a lot closer to "standard Pokemon adventure" in vibes. Just check out the difference in the MC's design to compared to Wes:
He rides a perfectly normal scooter. Even folds in one or more areas with wild pokemon to fight and catch and gets rid of any 'pay to heal' areas. And slap in an expanded map that adds a nice lush green part of the region.
I think its part of why its less well remembered. One can argue its overall better made in some key ways... but its a hell of a lot less interesting. the grit and "stepped out of a modern FF game" bits of character design for Wes was only surface level for the most part, but it still committed to feeling distinct form the normal Pokemon RPG a lot harder.
XD's lighter tone hits hard though when you get to the SS Libra and all of a sudden the game is blaring that sad music and the whole place is already cleared out, all the pokemon stolen. Kid me had no idea how the bonsly stuff worked though, I probably spent five hours in that ship. I also like the idea that someone honestly named a location CITADARK. Sure hope everyone is behaving on a place called the dark citadel.
Me when I'm trying to eat a comically large piece of delicious pokesnack and I keep getting accosted by a disco dancer or a Sora wannabe.
Me when I'm trying to eat a comically large piece of delicious pokesnack and I keep getting accosted by a disco dancer or a Sora wannabe.
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Still sad that Shadow Lugia was never used again, also the names used there for the trainers were so ridiculous, they were barely names
Also not even having Wes and Ruri in Gale of Darkness was so lame, really hate when sequels with a different protagonist doesn't have the old one for no real reason
Also not even having Wes and Ruri in Gale of Darkness was so lame, really hate when sequels with a different protagonist doesn't have the old one for no real reason
Yep, that's totally fair. The bad guy team in both games are treated like actual, genuine existential threats. Both games have a few sympathetic members of the evil team, but their goals are just about as dangerous as you can get.
I kinda hope it's apparent from the other comments that both games are really about taking an extremely screwed up place and making it better little by little though. There is an idealistic bent to them. You absolutely have to work for it, but you can build a better world there.
I always assume that rejuvenation is actually edgier than Pokémon reborn with a more tragic protagonist.
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Edginess aside. Pokemon Colosseum/XD were interesting to me because they predominately featured double battles. Outside of a few gimmick trainers, you didn't actually encounter double battles in the main games very often. I used moves and abilities in Colosseum/XD that I never did in Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald.
At times, kinda, yeah, I guess? But it's also wackier and weirder. The story goes to both darker places and much sillier and goofier ones. It's definitely less grounded than Reborn, but in both directions.
At the same time.... the video linked feels written by someone who has liked... only played Red and blue and even then wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. Like for example he treats... breaking into a crime lair and needing to find your way through it as if its something Pokemon has never done before then.
Colosseum and XD are two of my favourite Pokemon games ever. 20 years on and Pokemon has never felt so unique since. I particular like Pokemon XG, which is a rom hack of XD that harder, has more Pokemon to catch and
actually lets you fight robo-Groudon
The Orre games are shallow? Has this dude played any other Pokémon game, ever? I'll give you the edginess, but it was 2004/05 so that's a product of the times (tribal tattoo Mario anyone?)
These are the only games in the series that actually make you engage with the game's mechanics beyond "spam A on your strongest move to win". You actually need to use status and stat effecting moves in thought out ways to win. Everything being based around double battles also makes you think much more deeply about team synergy than I ever have in the GF developed games. XD's battle CDs (effectively a challenge mode) give some of the best challenges in the franchise too by limiting your moves, turns to win etc.
These games also have some of (I'd say the) the best soundtracks in any Pokemon game. Every track is just banger after banger, I'd give anything for Tsukasa Tawada to be given the lead on another Pokémon game. They're some of the best games in the franchise, only outdone by Emerald, HGSS and B2W2 imo.
These are the only games in the series that actually make you engage with the game's mechanics beyond "spam A on your strongest move to win". You actually need to use status and stat effecting moves in thought out ways to win. Everything being based around double battles also makes you think much more deeply about team synergy than I ever have in the GF developed games. XD's battle CDs (effectively a challenge mode) give some of the best challenges in the franchise too by limiting your moves, turns to win etc.
These games also have some of (I'd say the) the best soundtracks in any Pokemon game. Every track is just banger after banger, I'd give anything for Tsukasa Tawada to be given the lead on another Pokémon game. They're some of the best games in the franchise, only outdone by Emerald, HGSS and B2W2 imo.