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So, I think this is my first time ever beating Red on the original GBC Gold and Silver. I don't even know if I finished Kanto back in the day. I did defeat Red in HeartGold, though -- and with an all-bugs team!
So some thoughts on Gen 2 before diving into my Silver run (which I WILL blog about) while my phone charges...
Unless Crystal REALLY improves on these things (my memory of it says it doesn't, though), then GSC are the second worst Pokemon games (with ScarVio being the worst). I used to say GSC were #3 worst (with Sun & Moon being the 2nd worst) but I can forgive the minigame things instead of gyms more than I can forgive the horribly unbalanced slog that is GSC.
Excited to use the all-new Dark and Steel types? Well, fuck you, because they're all post-game only (except, I think, Sneasel, which is INCREDIBLY late-game).
OK, well, there's a big post-game, right? So I can use them there!! Well, everything is like super low levels. Wild Pokemon are level 3 to 16. When your Pokemon are like level 40-50 coming in. And the trainers are like low 30s. Even the gym leaders barely reach 40. So if you want to level up those new Dark and Steel types, you'll be struggling to find decent experience for them. And why bother? You can just steamroll the rest of the content with what you already have, and they're not even that good against the Kanto gyms anyway. Maybe a Dark Pokemon would help with Sabrina...? But chances are something else in your team is already more than good enough. So unless you're doing some kind of self-imposed challenge, the entire post game is a boring joke of difficulty. Self-imposed challenges being REQUIRED to make the game fun is a sign of very bad design.
OK so we can't use the new types until beating the actually interesting part of the game. Fine. But we have 100 new Pokemon to use, right? Well, a bunch of those are also locked behind post game, and the ones you get access to? Weaker (and arguably uglier) than the Gen 1 Pokemon. And you're going to be discouraged from using them, because all the superior statistically Gen 1 Pokemon are RIGHT THERE.
And Kanto being this whole extra exciting area? Well, it's a very watered-down Kanto from what we got in Gen 1. Sprawling dungeons filled with excitement, trainers, puzzles, and rare Pokemon... are now boiled down to a few tiny rooms, or even worse, completely non-existent. Say complete bye-bye to the power plant, the burned research facility, and Seafoam Islands. And remember your first major dungeon-crawling challenge of Mt. Moon? It's like two tiny rooms with stairs now that leads right to the exit, repurposed into some kind of tourist trap place.
Oh and remember all those powerful moves from gen 1, even basic ones like Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, and Giga Drain? Well, those are all locked behind post-game, too. And like I said, once you GET to post game, the game is an unbalanced, boring stomp through a pathetic attempt at reviving Kanto.
The day/night cycle is cool in theory -- but it basically just boils down to moves like Synthesis not working well half the time, and having to play the game at like 8AM to catch certain Pokemon. Neither of these types of things make the game any more fun, they just add a bit of... diversity? To the gameplay. But the actually make the game more frustrating when you're playing at the "wrong" time of day. Or even worse in some cases when you want the Blackbelt, but it's Thursday. (You'll have to wait an entire week until next Wednesday to get it!) I get it, these "features" were novel and exciting when you were like, 8 (or to me who was in high school *hobbles on cane* 9_9), but the thing is they're NOT actually good design and serve to make the game annoying most of the time.
It's not all bad. The graphcis are greatly improved from Gen 1 (and in Crystal, we even get ANIMATED sprites for the first time!), they introduced the breeding mechanic, shiny Pokemon are now a thing, and we get a friendship system complete with haircut function lol (though this is also usually more annoying than fun). Oh, and there's a big variety of music.
As for the lore and story, most of it is pretty cool, and there's a lot of flavor. But the near non-existence of an 'evil team' feels off, and Team Rocket's revival falls flat. Overall, the lore and aesthetic is one of the stronger points, though.
I just don't think the novelty of two regions and 16 badges is really that great when 90% of it is just fighting level 15-30 Pokemon when your own team has already surpassed that because they couldn't balance it. Now, I would not like level scaling to your own level, but maybe a system where each gym leader used a different team based on how many badges you've collected. So if you only have 8 or 9, they'll use their 'beginner' team, but if you have like 10-12, they'll use an intermediate team... stuff like that. Something ScarVio would really have benefitted from, too.
So yeah, most of the new and novel stuff about this game is actually horrible and unbalanced game design, making for a pretty boring and frustrating playthrough overall. No wonder I never finished it when it was new (compared to dumping hundreds of hours into Gen 3 in my college days).
Did I enjoy my replay of Gold? Yes. Did I enjoy HeartGold and SoulSilver? Also yes! Am I going to keep playing GSC? More yes, yes, yes. Pokemon games are great, and I love them all. But there has to be best and worst, and this is one of the worst. If the cluster-Muk that is Scarlet and Violet didn't exist, these would easily be the worst mainline games. Sun and Moon are quite a bit better as an overall experience, in my opinion. Though I do need to play them again to see how they hold up. And everything else besides SV and SM blow GSC out of the water for me.
Sorry, Gen 2. But you're definitely a nostalgia goggles thing. I still love ya, though. (And you did give us the sexiest Pokemon, Ariados, as well as my favorite tank, Shuckle!)
So some thoughts on Gen 2 before diving into my Silver run (which I WILL blog about) while my phone charges...
Unless Crystal REALLY improves on these things (my memory of it says it doesn't, though), then GSC are the second worst Pokemon games (with ScarVio being the worst). I used to say GSC were #3 worst (with Sun & Moon being the 2nd worst) but I can forgive the minigame things instead of gyms more than I can forgive the horribly unbalanced slog that is GSC.
Excited to use the all-new Dark and Steel types? Well, fuck you, because they're all post-game only (except, I think, Sneasel, which is INCREDIBLY late-game).
OK, well, there's a big post-game, right? So I can use them there!! Well, everything is like super low levels. Wild Pokemon are level 3 to 16. When your Pokemon are like level 40-50 coming in. And the trainers are like low 30s. Even the gym leaders barely reach 40. So if you want to level up those new Dark and Steel types, you'll be struggling to find decent experience for them. And why bother? You can just steamroll the rest of the content with what you already have, and they're not even that good against the Kanto gyms anyway. Maybe a Dark Pokemon would help with Sabrina...? But chances are something else in your team is already more than good enough. So unless you're doing some kind of self-imposed challenge, the entire post game is a boring joke of difficulty. Self-imposed challenges being REQUIRED to make the game fun is a sign of very bad design.
OK so we can't use the new types until beating the actually interesting part of the game. Fine. But we have 100 new Pokemon to use, right? Well, a bunch of those are also locked behind post game, and the ones you get access to? Weaker (and arguably uglier) than the Gen 1 Pokemon. And you're going to be discouraged from using them, because all the superior statistically Gen 1 Pokemon are RIGHT THERE.
And Kanto being this whole extra exciting area? Well, it's a very watered-down Kanto from what we got in Gen 1. Sprawling dungeons filled with excitement, trainers, puzzles, and rare Pokemon... are now boiled down to a few tiny rooms, or even worse, completely non-existent. Say complete bye-bye to the power plant, the burned research facility, and Seafoam Islands. And remember your first major dungeon-crawling challenge of Mt. Moon? It's like two tiny rooms with stairs now that leads right to the exit, repurposed into some kind of tourist trap place.
Oh and remember all those powerful moves from gen 1, even basic ones like Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, and Giga Drain? Well, those are all locked behind post-game, too. And like I said, once you GET to post game, the game is an unbalanced, boring stomp through a pathetic attempt at reviving Kanto.
The day/night cycle is cool in theory -- but it basically just boils down to moves like Synthesis not working well half the time, and having to play the game at like 8AM to catch certain Pokemon. Neither of these types of things make the game any more fun, they just add a bit of... diversity? To the gameplay. But the actually make the game more frustrating when you're playing at the "wrong" time of day. Or even worse in some cases when you want the Blackbelt, but it's Thursday. (You'll have to wait an entire week until next Wednesday to get it!) I get it, these "features" were novel and exciting when you were like, 8 (or to me who was in high school *hobbles on cane* 9_9), but the thing is they're NOT actually good design and serve to make the game annoying most of the time.
It's not all bad. The graphcis are greatly improved from Gen 1 (and in Crystal, we even get ANIMATED sprites for the first time!), they introduced the breeding mechanic, shiny Pokemon are now a thing, and we get a friendship system complete with haircut function lol (though this is also usually more annoying than fun). Oh, and there's a big variety of music.
As for the lore and story, most of it is pretty cool, and there's a lot of flavor. But the near non-existence of an 'evil team' feels off, and Team Rocket's revival falls flat. Overall, the lore and aesthetic is one of the stronger points, though.
I just don't think the novelty of two regions and 16 badges is really that great when 90% of it is just fighting level 15-30 Pokemon when your own team has already surpassed that because they couldn't balance it. Now, I would not like level scaling to your own level, but maybe a system where each gym leader used a different team based on how many badges you've collected. So if you only have 8 or 9, they'll use their 'beginner' team, but if you have like 10-12, they'll use an intermediate team... stuff like that. Something ScarVio would really have benefitted from, too.
So yeah, most of the new and novel stuff about this game is actually horrible and unbalanced game design, making for a pretty boring and frustrating playthrough overall. No wonder I never finished it when it was new (compared to dumping hundreds of hours into Gen 3 in my college days).
Did I enjoy my replay of Gold? Yes. Did I enjoy HeartGold and SoulSilver? Also yes! Am I going to keep playing GSC? More yes, yes, yes. Pokemon games are great, and I love them all. But there has to be best and worst, and this is one of the worst. If the cluster-Muk that is Scarlet and Violet didn't exist, these would easily be the worst mainline games. Sun and Moon are quite a bit better as an overall experience, in my opinion. Though I do need to play them again to see how they hold up. And everything else besides SV and SM blow GSC out of the water for me.
Sorry, Gen 2. But you're definitely a nostalgia goggles thing. I still love ya, though. (And you did give us the sexiest Pokemon, Ariados, as well as my favorite tank, Shuckle!)
