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neoyaku2's Pokemon: Fire Red (GBA)

[May 27, 2007 02:17:46 AM]

Well, I have been going back and forth between FireRed and Pearl, and I have noticed a lot of little differences between the games...

I think FireRed has fewer interface issues than Pearl-- with it's back-and-forth touch screen to face-buttons menu control schemes. Since FireRed,a GBA game, does not HAVE to include some sort of touch screen interaction, it's menu interface is much more consistent than that of the DS games.

(I didn't find Pearl's menus particularly troublesome, but at certain times I couldn't understand why touch screen interaction was half-implemented in some segments.... i.e. the Underground, Global Trading System, and the Contests.)

Also, FireRed's battle sequences run much faster than the DS counterparts...I found this to be somewhat awkward, after playing Pearl for such an extended period of time. I also can say that the small amount of Animation that the Pokemon DO have in Diamond/Pearl makes a HUGE difference... after going back to FireRed, it was strange seeing the Pokemon not move in any way,shape, or form.

I wish Pearl had the Black-and-White Journey Playback feature that FireRed has.. where you are shown the last 4 events that took place on your adventure after rebooting the game...

I also found the diversity of the Adventure in Pearl to be far more grand, and exciting than anything FireRed could offer... but considering the structure of FireRed is exactly like it was back in 1998-1999, with Red version, I can't really fault it for this... I still love the game.

Overall, the more I play Pearl, the more I like FireRed.. The more I play FireRed, the more I like Pearl... So I have been going between the two games, analysing and observing their differences.. and just thinking alot about the Pokemon series in general...

These games are truly like nothing else...

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[February 21, 2007 08:31:59 PM]

Hmm..

I played this game again, about two days ago, and I am not as excited as I was when first playing it.

It's all because of GARY (the Rival). His Pokemon were level 19 and above, while I was still lingering around levels 11-16 with my Pokemon. And now that I have to stop all story progression in the game to spend time leveling up, I am enjoying the game, as a whole, less.

Mostly because I came to the realization that the Pokemon battle system as a whole is based around "LEVELS" far too much, and not enough on strategy (Maybe my opinion will change later in the game???). The only reason my Lvl 12 Pidgey, lost to Gary's level 17 Spearow, was because our levels are too far apart... despite me having access to many status-effecting attacks, and an overall decent attack arsenal. I beginning to see that "skill" doens't play a role here-- at least this early in the game.

I am hoping to see that when I get to level 30 or so, some of level influence will wear off... maybe my Level 30 Pidgey could take a Level 35 Spearow (??) if I think the battle through..

I will continue to study the importance of these levels in Pokemon, and hopefully I will get my "Poke-Joy" back....
I really hope so, because I plan on getting Pearl for DS, and this game will have a HEAVY influence on my decision to purchase Pearl in April/May.

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[January 27, 2007 07:02:47 PM]

A friend of mine bought this game for me for christmas. We have been having on and off discussions of Pokemon in general, and how cool we used to think Pokemon was. Turns out, we STILL think Pokemon is a pretty cool game, and still fun and engaging, despite the targeted demographic (children 8-12, or something like that...).

I still own, and have beaten, Pokemon Blue for the original GameBoy(I think that was 5th or 6th grade), and I beat both the Gold and Silver games(around 7th grade). I am in College now, and have not played a traditional Pokemon game since middle school.. sooo, I am curious to see how the passage of time, and the mix of nostalgia, will play into my enjoyment of this "updated" childhood pastime.

I started playing Fire Red, released maybe 2 years ago, just a couple of weeks ago, and for the most part it has been the exact same game as Red and Blue from the 90's... You wake up in Palet Town, you talk to Professor Oak, you select Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander.. you know, the usual.

I got about 15 mins into the game, caught Pidgey, Mankey and Caterpie.. and called it a night. I saved the game, slightly disappointed; as the only improvements came in the form of Menu-Interface, Overall Presentation, and Character Sprites... I thought it would be a while before I played it again.

I turned the game back on, the next night... Booted it up, and I was suprised! The game was in Black and White, and was reenacting what I had done the previous time I played. The game records up to 4 events...with subtitles describing exactly what happened.

EX: Say the last thing you did before you saved was going into the Item Shop and purchasing a Potion. The next time you play the game will say: "Previously, [Charater's Name] went to the Item Shop to Purchase 1 Potion." And the game will show you walking in the store, talking to the merchant, making your purchase.

I was amazed. I immediately began thinking about the code for the game, trying to figure out how they did this. Surely the game ignores some events, such as reading signs, and walking through grass, but does take note of; Who you talk to, When you enter a [Specified] City, When you Buy an item, When you heal your Pokemon, Etc.. etc... I thought to myself, "HOW USEFUL!"... I remember times when I played Pokemon Blue, and had taken a week's worth of a break, came back to the game, and was like "Hmm, I forgot what I did, and what I am supposed to do now.."

This was a really nice surprise, and has made me wonder what other little cool features has Game Freak put into this "Remake" of a 10 year old game... I think I'll play again tonight.

This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Jan 31st, 2007 at 00:21:54.

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