Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire Opinions.

[nips]

----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Spoilers. If you have been avoiding all reviews so that you could play this game fresh, then I suggest you look away.
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

I did a search and was amazed to see that there was not a thread on Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire following thier American release. I've been on holiday for 2 weeks and expected to come back to atleast one thread dedicated to these games... So just incase: I'll start the ball rolling.

As I said, I've been away and with no consoles, so I had to get a new Pokemon game to pass the time. And after over 45 hours into Sapphire I've got to say: These games are a huge improvement over Gold and Silver.

Now, I loved Gold and Silver, but they seemed... over complicated. They maintained the very strong Pokemon world, but just added more things: more Pokemon, more Balls, more gadgets... in the hope that it would more be fun. And while they were very good games it just felt to me a little... well... too much.

Luckily this game has been re-simplified. There are several types of ball you can get beyond the 'Poke', 'Great', 'Ultra' and 'Master' Ball, but you can just buy them in a shop. The mobile phone is gone - which I think is a good thing and the 'Breeding System' and 'Safari Zone' also make a welcome return.

They have introduced a new 'PokeBlock' system where: you mix berries (Picked from the tress that inhabit the Hoenn region) in order to produce a treat that will increase certain characteristic of your Pokemon. This means that when fed to your Pokemon it will become more; cute, intellegent or tough for example. While this has no direct effect in battles your Pokemon will like you more (which will effect some battle moves) and can even win competitions which is important for evolution at times. You can also use Pokeblocks to attract certain pokemon in the Safari Zone which is a really nice touch - I think.

As you probably read; There is no trading with previous Pokemon games. This limits the amount of Pokemon you can actually catch to about 200. I see this as a very good thing. I felt it to too hard and sometimes impossible (without re-completeing RGBY again) to get certain Pokemon in Gold and Silver, but with this game it seems to go back to the Blue and Red feel where anything is possible as long as you have someone with the opposite colour cart to you.

(Almost) all the Pokemon are new which makes the newset installment feel really fresh, but there are no new types of Pokemon which again keeps the game slightly more simple. There are also more TMs and HMs such as 'Dive' which allows you to swim underwater where a whole different group of Pokemon dwell.

The game really does seem full of life and quite complete. The world of Hoenn (in Sapphire, possibly different in Ruby) seems to be bursting with life as people go about thier business, and with elusive Pokemon such as the 'Regi' and the incredibly difficult 'Battle Tower' after you beat the league there is plenty to come back to.

The game is much longer, with better sound and great graphical enhancements. Although games like 'Golden Sun' illustrate the graphical power of the GBA, Pokemon adheres to the old graphical style of the series. It may not be the most aesthetically pleasing GBA game, but brilliant little quirks such as reflections and foot prints really add to the environment. Along with better quality battle animations you never feel let down. The old Pokemon theme tune is back along with some other nice tunes in thier resepctive towns and a battle anthem that will make you want to knock the opponent for six. If you play this game with headphones in stereo you will love it.

---

In my opinion a huge improvement over Gold and Silver and a great step forward for the series. Unquestionably the best creature catching game at present: and with only 200(ish) catchable Pokemon on the cart, it suggests that, GBA<->GC link up may offer a GC game to let you catch the rest - a great prospect for the Pokemaniacs out there. A really well-rounded game that will have you scratching your head for months, as you level-up and catch new pokemon with the aim of comlpeting your Pokedex and beating the Pokemon League.

-Good luck; maybe we can battle sometime

[Ashe]

Your enthusiasm is contagious, I'm now going to have to get hold of this, despite the plethora of titles in my 'to do' pile.

Nice summary - Thanks

[Brats]

Two reviews have been on the main site for a couple of days now. Whilst some of the changes are welcome such as the berrys, the 4 player battles and the Pokemon contests, the main thrust of the games (wander about, fight Pok?mon, collect Pokemon, Fight trainers) remains almost exactly the same. You might argue "it wouldn't be Pokemon without that", but it is a slight shame they didn't alter the battle system more as it is what you spend 95% of the time doing and like all other Pokemon games, it does get very repetitive after a while.

But a good addition to the series and a must if you've never played a Pokemon title before.

[nips]

I do appreciate what you are saying. And I agree that it isn't an innovative title. It is a Pokemon game through and through. Personally I can't get enough of it and therefore don't find it repetative. If you can find the depth of the game and have the time to level up your pokemon etc you can get lost for hours. Just take a look at the Gamefaq guides. They have 150kb files on how to make 'Uber-Pokemon' through training techniques etc... I find it really interesting and an almost infinite challenge.

Like I said in my review, it's a simplification in many ways of G/S and a complete re-vamp of the battles may have gone against that. The Puzzles do remain pretty similar as well... but it is because it is a Pokemon game... If you ask me, when you play a Pokemon (GB) game, you don't get the name, you get the world that comes with it. You get the Pokemon, the people and the elite 4. It really wouldn't be right were it otherwise...

In my opinion it is a great extension of the Pokemon Franchise and more imortantly to me - the pokemon world.

-Each to their own!

[nips]

Oh, and I wasn't impressed by the Dual Battles. Maybe after I've had the opportunity to explore them fully though linking up etc... my mind will be changed. But the dual battles do offer even further depths to the choice of Pokemon: Do you choose a Pokemon completely different to the one in battle or one that completements it...

[MrDark]

I found the Dual Battles a bit lacking and not used enough. It didn't really change any of my battle stategies as most of the moves only affect a single opponent. Its seems like a feature that they added in during the last minute. Think I've only encountered about 15 battles with dual trainers and I'm on my 7th badge.

[nips]

MrDark, there aren't many. I hoped to get a lot when fighting my enemy team. My was I dissapointed... Ah well... Perhaps a two player link up in the next Pokemon game may be cool! Two people trying to catch pokemon together or something, teaming up to catch Latias or something! That would be cool!

[MrDark]

My favourite feature of the Pokemon games are the link up battles but its sometimes hard to find a decent person with Pokemons that are similar to your levels to battle against. I've stopped playing for a few weeks so that my friend can catch up with his team.

[?pint]

I expected something to be radically different for the newest game, but I was wrong. I just don't see why they have to keep everything exactly the same as before. Sure, it was successful, but I'm sure there are plenty of things that could have been changed which simply weren't. Such as the graphics. Many of the things, such as the grass, and the little people, and the buildings, are barely even altered since Gold/Silver, and the battle screen is the same as before. Well, the next game must be on the GameCube; a 3D adventure on the lines of Mario or Zelda. In fact, I have got a few good ideas about what they should do in the first 3D game - for instance, let you have one Pokemon 'active' while you run around, and you can issue commands to it using the d-pad or the c-stick. Like... each direction could be a move it knows, so it can use things like 'cut' and 'surf' without having to go to a submenu. If you can imagine, you can see how cool that would be. In fact, battling could be real time too, without a screen change either. Sounds fun...

[JetBlack]

Well, you can assign Pokemon moves such as "cut" and "surf" to a single button on the GBA (the "select" button") thus you don't need a sub menu, however, you're idea is still better because you can only assign one ability at a time.

I've clocked 39 hours on Pokemon Sapphire already. And I agree with all that has been said above. And yes, if you play games like Golden Sun, or others you do wonder why something haven't been changed.

I mean, please for the love of god, why can't pokemon touch each other. Does it really take all that much to have a pokemon animation where they hop to one side - hit the enemy - and hops back? I guess that's too violent for the series.

Also, in regard to "catching" them all, remember the list is not as big as you think. Since the Pokemon evolve into bigger creatures with different names you're in essence catching many of the same Pokemon, only changed, transformed.

As for Pokeblocks and such, it's a trap! Yeah, picking berries, growing them and such is great, but after a while it's madness. And to add insult to injury, if you continue to feed your Pokemon team too many of the PokeBlocks then they STOP eating them. Period. As far as I know, there is no way to continue enhancing their attributes via PokeBlocks when they decide to stop. In other words, you only have so many to offer them. Tiny little stars form around their profile picture. Once the stars fully surround the graphic, then that's it.

So choose wisely - and WAIT until much later to compete in the Pokemon contest / shows. Thus, you'll be able to tailor the Pokemon the way YOU would like. Or simply, go get some Pokemon just for contests / shows and leave your battle Pokemon alone.

So far I've been playing alone, with no one to link up with, so I can't comment on that. The two on two battles (inside the game) are based on the two Pokemon you have in your line up. The one up front and the second in line.

The only frustration I had was early on when I wasn't leveled up enough. The second Boss just waxed my donkey across the board time after time. I love playing the underdog in RPGs and such, but in this case, there's no getting around with clever HP and defense maneuvers. If you simply cannot take a hit, them you must level up. And if your attributes on your Pokemon don't match up to your enemy then forget it.

Currently I have a kick donkey team but only one has evolved twice.

[quirky]

It isn't a question of being levelled up enough most of the time though, you have to use the right type of pokemon. I was stuck for aggges on the fire Gym (I forget the number, maybe Gym 4). I tried levelling up for ages, but it still didn't work.

Eventually, I came across a new water pokemon, levelled it up a bit (but not that much, it was still 5 or so levels lower than most of the gym pokemon) and then managed to defeat the gym leader with its help.

Great game though, even if it is very similar to the previous outings.