Looking for some Pokémon fans to talk about the good ol' days

[Darren]

Hey!

Decided to jump back onto the N-Europe forum (since I stopped using social media, i've had an itch for forums again), and see if I can find some new people to chat with about one of my favourite franchises ever: Pokémon. It's something i've got a lot of love and nostalgia for, and it'd be great to speak to other fans who have been enjoying it throughout the years.

[Hero-of-Time]

@Glen-i you have been summoned.

[bob]

You might need to specify which days were the good old days before you draw Glen's ire.

[Glen-i]

Pokémon natter, eh? Always up for that.

You refer to the "good ol' days" in the title, but that's subjective. (EDIT: Damnit, @bob! I hate that you predicted me perfectly!) Most people's favourite Pokémon game tends to be the first one they played when they were a kid.

Not me though, I'm weird.

Despite being a fan of the series since the Game Boy, I think the DS era of Pokémon is the pinnacle of the mainline series. Specifically, from Platinum to Black2/White2.

The four different games here are just constant high quality, with the fifth generation being my favourite mainline games ever.

The series hasn't quite gotten to those heights since. Sword/Shield was getting there, but with Scarlet/Violet going open world, I have little confidence it will reach it anytime in the near future.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Glen-i

[martinist]

I only really played Pokemon seriously for the first two generations. Got all 150 in Pokemon Blue around 2000 or so with my friend that had Red but I never had a gameboy printer so I couldn't print out my tiny little certificate on that crappy heat transfer paper. I also played gold but I didn't complete the Pokedex in that one. Was a real surprise when I found out I had to do Kanto again after beating the pokemon league in Johto though lol.

I've dabbled in pokemon Platinum years ago but I never really took it seriously. Still fresh in the box and I see the price on that thing has went way up so I might consider selling it one day.

Dissapointed I never jumped on Fire Red or Leaf Green on the GBA when I could have. I have the same regrets with Heart Gold and Soul Silver actually. I really liked the first two generations of pokemon but then I kind of grew out of it I guess.

Edited October 8, 2022 by martinist

[EEVILMURRAY]

I also can wade in here too. 

 

Side note: It all went downhill after Gold/Silver ¬_¬

[Dcubed]

Yeah.  Pokémon Black/White and White 2/White 2 was the series peak.  A soft reboot of the series that was brave enough to ditch the entire cast of previous Pokémon (until post-game), with a brand new set of 151 mons, an interesting new story driven focus that moved beyond the usual Team Evil & Pokémon Gym concept (a story that even dared to challenge the very concept of mainline Pokémon games themselves, essentially being cockfighting simulators!), excellent level design and pacing; a huge, exciting and colourful handcrafted world to explore, masses of post-game content and excellent battle mechanics.  Gen 5 really had it all.

Gen 6 (X/Y) attempted to recapture some of what made Gen 5 so incredibly good, but fell flat on its face while doing so.  And the shift to 3D meant that much had to be sacrificed in terms of level design and such… Still, it had the best rendition of the series’ signature battle system; especially with the introduction of Mega Pokémon, as a much needed rebalancing that made previously useless Pokémon now competitively viable! If you love the battle system of Pokémon? This is the game for you.

Gen 7 (Sun/Moon) went way too far with the story, with so many incessant cutscenes that just wouldn’t stop, you’d think that Hideo Kojima directed it! And the amount of linearity and handholding was utterly suffocating.. and on top of that? The new Z-Move gimmick broke the careful balance achieved during Gen 6.  Thoroughly disappointing.

Gen 8 (Sword/Shield) actually took things back to more of a Gen 4 kind of structure, and it was all the better for it.  Some excellent new Pokémon designs, interesting gyms and cool set pieces; with some actual non- linear exploration!! A real breath of fresh air after Gen 6 and (especially!) Gen 7.  Unfortunately, the game was blatantly unfinished, with a massive chunk of Pokémon cut, and huge portions of planned content cut (including Mega Evolutions, and most traditional handcrafted Route/cave/dungeon environments).  Game Freak simply stretched themselves too thin during this time period, and it really really shows in the final product.  It’s a real shame, because conceptually it’s a real return to form for the series; but just not in the state it was released in.

And unfortunately, it seems that Game Freak have given up on the idea of making a traditional handcrafted game in HD… as they’ve switched to the Open World format with Legends Arceus and Scarlet/Violet… Damn shame.  Sadly, it seems that Pokémon isn’t really for me anymore; but hopefully the battle mechanics will at least return to something closer to the heights of Gen 6 this time around.

Edited October 9, 2022 by Dcubed

[Darren]

Hey! I always planned to come back to this and respond, but unfortunately life got busy, as it does for us all. However, I am here to reply to those who kindly sent a message back. Apologies for the length of time, and hopefully you're still around!

On 03/10/2022 at 9:21 AM, bob said:

You might need to specify which days were the good old days before you draw Glen's ire.
 

Good to meet you @bob the good ol' days for me were the late 90s and early 2000s era of Pokémon, so the first two or three generations that I grew up with and have fond memories of.

On 03/10/2022 at 9:51 AM, Glen-i said:

Pokémon natter, eh? Always up for that.

You refer to the "good ol' days" in the title, but that's subjective. (EDIT: Damnit, @bob! I hate that you predicted me perfectly!) Most people's favourite Pokémon game tends to be the first one they played when they were a kid.

Not me though, I'm weird.

Despite being a fan of the series since the Game Boy, I think the DS era of Pokémon is the pinnacle of the mainline series. Specifically, from Platinum to Black2/White2.

The four different games here are just constant high quality, with the fifth generation being my favourite mainline games ever.

The series hasn't quite gotten to those heights since. Sword/Shield was getting there, but with Scarlet/Violet going open world, I have little confidence it will reach it anytime in the near future.

@Glen-i Good to meet you, Glen! I think you're right, there's a lot of people who deeply appreciate the games they have their first experiences of, however as i've got older, I have appreciated other generations, such as Emerald and Platinum a lot more. I also feel that HeartGold & SoulSilver are far superior games to my beloved Pokémon Crystal, however the latter still remains my favourite. The DS era was the strongest, in my opinion. In 2020 I had the chance to obtain Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. It blew me away, and I can't believe how I slept on it originally.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on Scarlet & Violet in the time since your last message!

On 08/10/2022 at 5:53 PM, martinist said:

I only really played Pokemon seriously for the first two generations. Got all 150 in Pokemon Blue around 2000 or so with my friend that had Red but I never had a gameboy printer so I couldn't print out my tiny little certificate on that crappy heat transfer paper. I also played gold but I didn't complete the Pokedex in that one. Was a real surprise when I found out I had to do Kanto again after beating the pokemon league in Johto though lol.

I've dabbled in pokemon Platinum years ago but I never really took it seriously. Still fresh in the box and I see the price on that thing has went way up so I might consider selling it one day.

Dissapointed I never jumped on Fire Red or Leaf Green on the GBA when I could have. I have the same regrets with Heart Gold and Soul Silver actually. I really liked the first two generations of pokemon but then I kind of grew out of it I guess.

Hey @martinist this post could be me. I appreciated those first two generations the most. I had Blue, and I bought Crystal soon after. Taking my first steps into Kanto while playing Crystal blew me away, as it did for so many others who played. I doubt we will see something as noteworthy in the modern era and beyond.

You definitely missed something special with FireRed & LeafGreen, and HeartGold & SoulSilver TENFOLD! It saddens me how expensive these games are these days, and I truly hope you get the chance to lay your hands on them and enjoy them in some form in the future.

On 08/10/2022 at 6:07 PM, EEVILMURRAY said:

I also can wade in here too. 

 

Side note: It all went downhill after Gold/Silver ¬_¬

I disagree, give Emerald and all the DS games another chance, including the spin-off titles such as Mystery Dungeon. There are some fantastic moments!

On 09/10/2022 at 1:45 AM, Dcubed said:

Yeah.  Pokémon Black/White and White 2/White 2 was the series peak.  A soft reboot of the series that was brave enough to ditch the entire cast of previous Pokémon (until post-game), with a brand new set of 151 mons, an interesting new story driven focus that moved beyond the usual Team Evil & Pokémon Gym concept (a story that even dared to challenge the very concept of mainline Pokémon games themselves, essentially being cockfighting simulators!), excellent level design and pacing; a huge, exciting and colourful handcrafted world to explore, masses of post-game content and excellent battle mechanics.  Gen 5 really had it all.

Gen 6 (X/Y) attempted to recapture some of what made Gen 5 so incredibly good, but fell flat on its face while doing so.  And the shift to 3D meant that much had to be sacrificed in terms of level design and such… Still, it had the best rendition of the series’ signature battle system; especially with the introduction of Mega Pokémon, as a much needed rebalancing that made previously useless Pokémon now competitively viable! If you love the battle system of Pokémon? This is the game for you.

Gen 7 (Sun/Moon) went way too far with the story, with so many incessant cutscenes that just wouldn’t stop, you’d think that Hideo Kojima directed it! And the amount of linearity and handholding was utterly suffocating.. and on top of that? The new Z-Move gimmick broke the careful balance achieved during Gen 6.  Thoroughly disappointing.

Gen 8 (Sword/Shield) actually took things back to more of a Gen 4 kind of structure, and it was all the better for it.  Some excellent new Pokémon designs, interesting gyms and cool set pieces; with some actual non- linear exploration!! A real breath of fresh air after Gen 6 and (especially!) Gen 7.  Unfortunately, the game was blatantly unfinished, with a massive chunk of Pokémon cut, and huge portions of planned content cut (including Mega Evolutions, and most traditional handcrafted Route/cave/dungeon environments).  Game Freak simply stretched themselves too thin during this time period, and it really really shows in the final product.  It’s a real shame, because conceptually it’s a real return to form for the series; but just not in the state it was released in.

And unfortunately, it seems that Game Freak have given up on the idea of making a traditional handcrafted game in HD… as they’ve switched to the Open World format with Legends Arceus and Scarlet/Violet… Damn shame.  Sadly, it seems that Pokémon isn’t really for me anymore; but hopefully the battle mechanics will at least return to something closer to the heights of Gen 6 this time around.

I regret that I never played White 2, nor owned it until a couple of years ago, when I purchased it from a friend who was offloading her collection. I plan to play it soon, however I have been saying that for the past year or so...

I have mixed feelings on the series beyond the DS era, and too many to list here today. I do however really appreciate some of the new Pokémon designs, and it was great to see a region based on my home country of the UK with Sword & Shield.

A lot of my love for Pokémon does remain firmly in the past these days, but I do appreciate that it's still going all the same.

[Cube]

@Darren , you might find this thread interesting:

 

 

[Glen-i]

4 hours ago, Darren said:

In 2020 I had the chance to obtain Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. It blew me away, and I can't believe how I slept on it originally.

Welcome to the club! That makes five of us here now. Explorers of Sky is my favourite Pokémon title, but I don't need to explain to you why that is.

[Hero-of-Time]

27 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Welcome to the club! That makes five of us here now. Explorers of Sky is my favourite Pokémon title, but I don't need to explain to you why that is.

Who are the five?

You, Hazel, Dcubed, Julius and Sam?

[S.C.G]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Who are the five?

You, Hazel, Dcubed, Julius and Sam?

[bob]

I believe @Glen-i was including @Darren in his five, so one of those has to go.