Sunday 27 May, 2007

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...

Diamond/Pearl has something like the "playback" feature you mention... I think. If you haven't played for a few days when you load up you get a journal page (dated from when you last played). You can read older entries, as much as you like.. I think...in order to get your bearings and remember where it was that you left off.

I wish you could speed combat up in Diamond/Pearl though...

By the way, this is my Pokemon friend code: 0043 9437 3554
(we should trade. :-) )

Yes, I did notice the Journal thing... but then I actually read it. Not only was the journal not useful in aiding me in remembering what it was that I needed to do next, it displayed useless information like... "Fought Bug Catcher Darius on Route 202"....

I don't know this really bugged me, There were multiple times where I got semi-lost, and just needed that ONE little tiny reminder.. but was only given "Caught wild Bibarel Lv. 2" as a journal entry... with no helpful adventure logs to be found.

Oh yes; Here is my Friend Code:
Neoyaku
5455 5945 4719