04.29.07
Living In Sin(noh)
I spoke briefly on Monday about my pokeymans, and to be totally honest having a new quest to commit to has taken sort of a back seat to the fact that I actually have a reason to go through this whole deal again. I blitzed through Blue, shot through Silver, and ripped up FireRed. I then kind of went “bleh” on Crystal, Sapphire, and Emerald. The reason for the disparity has quite a bit to do with how much exposure I had to other folks playing the game. Blue and Silver were during the extreme craze period, and it was something new and interesting (not to mention I had a bit of a rivalry going with my sister). FireRed’s time came during a point where I was in contact with a couple other folks playing, as well as being able to utilize Pokemon Box (sadly, I can’t even do that now– I lost all of them during the Unemploying).
Crystal and Sapphire came at times where I was largely isolated from other gamers; Crystal came in 2001 and I was hard-pressed to find other Pokeplayers during my senior year of college, and Sapphire hit in 2003 when I was trapped in Coudersport. Emerald then came during a time when a) I was uber-depressed and b) I was in transition from Cleveland to Pittsburgh and thus occupied with other games. I think I could be forgiven for being slightly apathetic about going through the game three more times; say what you will about the minor changes, it really is the same damn game over and over again.
That said, I’m seriously compelled with Diamond for the key reason that it’s no longer a localized phenomenon. The WFC features– particularly the GTS, which I’ll complain about get to in a moment– make the whole deal much easier, in that now you no longer need to know someone else locally to catch what you need (or, more likely, no longer need to buy 2 sets of gear to do it all yourself). Competition and cooperation will always get me involved in a game. (That said, once upon a time I did play Counter-Strike competitively. For about ten minutes. Whether or not the game’s good, or I have any aptitude for the game, is what decides whether or not I’ll stick with it.)
I will say this, though. The Global Trade System (GTS) is the best and worst part of the online experience. It works similarly to the Auction House in several major MMOs. Players put up one of their critters for trade; they then specify the species, gender, and minimum level of the creature they’d like in return. There’s the downside. Now, since it’s all automated, it works out very well; Friend Codes aren’t necessary, but neither are they exchanged on a successful trade (you can, however, see where in the world your partner is). The core problem is that the player who completes the trade is in control. I traded away a level 13 something or another and received a level 90 Pikachu in exchange after specifying “Over Lv. 10″. Sounds good, huh? Well, it does until you realize that up until you’ve acquired a certain number of badges, traded creatures over certain levels will refuse to obey you. If the GTS allowed you to declare level ranges, or at the very least a maximum level, I’d be more eager to trade away, as I know that what I got in return would be usable. Oh, and you can only trade for critters that you’ve previously seen on your own; so as much as I would want a Ditto right now (and I really do), I can’t get one until much, much later.
A lot of the complaints do seem like sour grapes, and to be honest, they are to a certain extent. One should not buy a Pokemon game looking for groundbreaking gameplay. Fifteen hours in, though, and looking at grinding out five to seven levels on each of six critters to be able to survive the next two gyms, I’m still happy with it. Overall, the whole package is much slicker, even if I have some complaints about the patchwork control scheme and the lack of content (I miss the Silver days when after completing the main quest, you could go explore the original region as well– seriously, being able to go to the rest of the world makes more sense than having those creatures randomly show up in the new regions). I dig it greatly and I’m looking forward to putting together my old team again, with plenty of new tricks this time.
Incidentally. Last night I saw that Apple had pushed out a Battery Update for my MacBook. In all the years I’ve been a computer geek, I’ve never heard of, or needed to apply, a patch to a battery. Unprecedented? Yes. Unappreciated? Hey, if it stops the battery from exploding, overheating, losing charge, or failing to charge at all, I’m all for it.
I’ll catch you folks tomorrow (get it?), possibly with some Bailout.