Pok?mon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire review

[wakka]

I managed to sink to somehow sink about four or five hours into this yesterday, and it's business as usual - a polished product and bags of fun to play.

The upgrades to the X/Y engine do look great - while the visual standard is about the same in terms of individual assets, the frame rate feels more solid and there are now additional details (like Wingulls pecking around on the ground that fly away if you get near them). There's also greater use of non-standard camera angles - it's particularly nice when you arrive at a new town and the camera pans up to show you the whole area. You can trigger the same effect by reading the main town sign too (the one where it says the name of the town and then a little motto to go with it).

In terms of gameplay the key change is the introduction of the DexNav. It's an additional mode for the touchscreen that is selectable instead of the world map (you are free to switch between them at will at any time), and while it doesn't do anything in towns, in areas with wild Pok?mon it displays silhouettes of all the Pok?mon catchable in that area. As you catch them their silhouettes then light up to show who they are.

While this isn't a gamechanger in itself, while the DexNav is enabled it will quite frequently alert you to the presence of a 'secret' Pok?mon with a flashing red target on the touchscreen. Tapping this will start you hunting for the Pok?mon. You don't want to alert it to your presence, so you need to push the circle pad ever so slightly so your character starts creeping around quietly. The closer you get to it, the more information the DexNav will display. If you're far away, you'll just know there's a Pok?mon around somewhere. As you get closer to it (and you'll see you're getting closer, as a tail or ears will be visible poking out of some long grass, twitching) then the touchscreen starts to show more information - until you can see a silhouette, the Pok?mon's typing, its level and perhaps some other info I've forgotten. To catch it you just need to keep creeping quietly towards it until you collide with it, without alerting it first of course. That then triggers your standard wild Pok?mon battle.

There is something special about all these Pok?mon - maybe they have a hidden ability or a move they would normally only learn by breeding. You're warned of their presence all the time though, so it's not like all of them are worth grabbing. So far none of them appear to be species you would not normally have encountered in that area.

I think the whole DexNav idea works really well, for a couple of reasons. Firstly because it actually makes 'catching em all' feel much more achievable and structured, rather than having to rely on Bulbapedia, Serebii etc to help you out. Once you catch all of the Pok?mon in an area there is a small message saying 'well done' on the touchscreen, which is nice and provides a feeling of satisfaction.

Secondly the element of tracking down 'secret' Pok?mon is going to be immensely useful in the endgame. Any veteran trainer will know the torment of walking around and around in circles for hours trying to find that elusive mon with a hidden ability. Using the DexNav, if you tap a Pok?mon in the area that you've already caught at some point (the picture will have formerly been a silhouette, but will have become full colour once you caught one for the first time), it will help you to find another one. Doing this repeatedly increases your 'Search Level', and therefore the quality of the Pok?mon that you find - i.e. the likelihood of their having rare moves and/or their hidden ability. This Search Level is increased on a per-Pok?mon basis - maxing out your Search Level for Weedles isn't going to help you find a Pidgey with a hidden ability, for example.

Again for me this is adding structure to the game where it is very much needed. So far I've really enjoyed using the DexNav. It might even be one of the best additions to Pok?mon (aside from the complete graphical redux of X/Y) in years.

Now for the bad stuff - the game is still way too easy. Way, way, way too easy. Without even trying you become ridiculously overlevelled, crushing entire gyms with a single Pok?mon's single move. While the game is still immensely addictive (as proven by my accidental 5 hour session yesterday), it does feel pretty ridiculous how lacking in challenge the actual main quest is.

Yeah, I know it's all about the endgame - but it would be more fun if I had to use some actual strategy before the Elite 4 and battles with other human players!

My suggestion to fix this would be an optional mode of Oblivion-style level scaling, and I'd like to see this added in future games. It would be fine to have an 'Original' mode that featured fixed enemy levels and the usual ease of progress, and some kind of 'Challenge' mode (selectable from the start), where rival trainers' Pokemon levels are set higher, they have better abilities, are more strategic and scale with your own Pok?mon's levels to maintain challenge.

TLDR This game is great, has nice graphics which are a more polished version of X/Y's already solid engine, and features an excellent gameplay addition in the form of the DexNav, which for me makes catching and collecting Pok?mon more fun. But it's still far too easy.

[bamboebahr]

Hello Wakka, I decided I'd give your review a read as you asked
Let me just say: I've been playing Pok?mon competitively for nearly 2 years now (kinda stopped since I moved to the UK), so I might have a different outlook on the game.
I agree on the graphics part, they have improved considerably although most of it might be small details: Fixed a lot of framerate issues, reduced the heavy black outline on some pok?mon (Koffing for example) and I believe some Pok?mon have more or different animations as well. I really love how the environments make you reminisce about the old R/S games, they really did a good job on capturing the feel of the game (and I love the Mr. Briny cutscene whenever he takes you anywhere).

On the topic of the DexNav: I really do like this idea as a competitive player since it can give you 'mons with insanely useful bonuses: Egg moves, Competitive Hold Items,... and it's also possible to chainNav it seems, resulting in Shiny or 6-IV pok?mon for those who have the patience. It also just gives you something fun to do as you try to collect all of the Pok?mon on every route.

The difficulty part I have to disagree on though, since this is mainly up to the player's choice. You get the XP. Share really early on in the game, just like in X/Y, but it's your own choice whether or not you want to leave it on. If you leave it: yes, the game gets fairly easy. Turn it off however, and you're in for a game that is nearly as "hard" as the original, although you have to keep in mind that none of the Pok?mon games are actually "hard", just time consuming.

I personally think this game is a lot better than X/Y (maybe because it's not in France anymore ) and although it's a remake, I still think they have improved enough to make it feel fresh.

[wakka]

Interesting - I did not know about this chain Navving feature. That sounds dope, I'm going to give it a try.

In terms of difficulty, for me switching off the Exp Share doesn't make the game more difficult, simply more arduous. Ultimately all it means is that you have to spend far longer grinding and switching Pok?mon out as soon as the battle starts. It would be a lot more fun if greater strategy was required to beat the game's enemy trainers.

For instance, gyms. Now, I know it's a time honoured tradition that every gym is devoted to a different type, and every trainer in that gym will only use that one type. But it makes it ridiculously easy! All you need is one Pok?mon with a type that's super effective against it, along with a decent STAB move, then you just stomp through bashing the A button. And that's whether you've got Exp Share switched on or not.

I reckon it would be much better if gym leaders in particular used a greater variety of types. They are meant to be bosses, after all, and it would give me way more satisfaction to receive a badge if it was actually a challenge.

They wouldn't need to abandon the typing of the gym, either. Gym leaders should use a full set of 6 Pok?mon (why are they gym leaders when they've only managed to acquire 3 Pok?mon, anyway?), and these Pok?mon should predominantly be dual type (with one of the types always being the key type of that gym). That would give waaay more variety in terms of strengths and weaknesses, instead of just a couple of pure fire Pok?mon which are easily crushed with a basic water move.

They should throw out some better strategies too, building a Pok?mon up with Swords Dance then Baton Passing into something else, instead of just lobbing out not-very-effective attack moves.

That's what I think anyway would make the quest a lot more fun. The game is super solid and I love the endgame, and battling with other human players. I just think it could use some updating in the SP mechanics.

[speedlolita]

Did they bother to remaster the Trick House? Really enjoyed that in Ruby and Sapphire.

[bamboebahr]

Speedlolita: it's in there, but not sure if it has changed any from the originals

Wakka: there's actually an explanation for why gym leaders use less than 6 pokemon and you can see it in the anime short about red and blue/green in the fight against Brock. The gym leaders have more pokemon but pick a few based on how experienced the trainersal are, since they can come from any town basically. I know this does nothing for the game but it's a nice explanation nonetheless
I've been in a monotype tournament once and those were some of the hardest battles I ever had, even against types I had the advantage over ( double shell smashed omastar hurts)

[wakka]

Ahh OK, that's cool that they explained it in the anime. A retcon of course but still

I do think however that some revision of gym leaders to make them more challenging would make the game more enjoyable.

Double shell smashed Omastar sounds absolutely absurd.

This is such a pleasant relaxing game to play.

[speedlolita]

I always enjoyed breeding Pok?mon properly from the third generation onwards but since it became so easy to get Pok?mon with perfect EVs and IVs it took all the fun out of it really. I never found the actual metagame fights particularly interesting when I used to play NetBattle.

[bamboebahr]

Depends on the formats you play really. I love the underused and neverused tiers but I hate the overused ones because it leaves little room for imagination.

And I do agree on the gym leader revision, maybe an idea to have some kind of post-game challenge where you need to battle them all again, just a lot harder and with deeper strategies

[speedlolita]

One day I'd like to see a harder difficulty option for the main game.

[wakka]

Yeah, there's already plenty to do in the postgame. It's the main quest that needs work IMO.

[bamboebahr]

Well, just don't forget it's still meant to be a kid's game, although it's mostly adults going berserk over it

[Bassman]

I really need to put some more time into these. I seem to have too many gaming distractions at the moment.

I passed across the Pokeballs from the demo, but did not see them in the game proper. Do I need to start up the Gift process when I fire up the game to actually get them?

[bamboebahr]

I never had the demo, so I don't really know

[bamboebahr]

I have finally finished the elite 4 and became champion now. I'm busy with the postgame and dear god, they went all out on that.
New islands, a whole new quest chain, etc.
It's pretty amazing

[Bassman]

There is currently a Shiny Beldum (Lv 5) Mystery Gift available. I just downloaded it to my games. Has one of those useful hits that reduce the foes HP to 1 (great for catching Pokemon). Useful for me as I am not very far into the game, though Pokeballs are not available to me yet (I am that far into the game!).