It’s Lonely to be a Pokemon Trainer…Until Now
This will mark the first of our “wander” post where everything is pretty much my opinion. Alright, so lets just get into it. It’s lonely being a Pokemon trainer. There, I said it. In the TV show, there’s Misty, Brock (yeah I’m old school, those were the sidekicks I grew up with), and lots and lots of Pokemon. Not to mention the ever-present but utterly useless Team Rocket. Pokemon, to me, was a story about hanging out with your friends and getting these superpower creatures to do your biddings. You don’t have to be an X-Men. You just need to get a Pokemon that can control the weather, fly, turn into iron, or have psychic ability. The possibilities are endless! However, everything just seems less exciting in the game world.
My very first game was Pokemon Blue for the Gameboy Color and then Sapphire for the Gameboy Advance. While I did finish both games, they felt like hollow victories for me. I had no fond memories of anything that happened in the game, I didn’t feel any connection to the characters in the game OR my precious Pokemon. The character the players play actually never say a word through the whole game! Overall, the whole process was really tiring. Going from town to town, battles to battles. In a typical RPG game, you go around with say 5 characters and explore your world while you’re trying to save said world from imminent destruction. In the process, you’re also trying to get your characters to be stronger. In Pokemon, you’re doing the same thing except you’re trying to level up about 100+ Pokemon. You also travel alone and the only human interaction that occurs is via Pokemon battles with your rival and strangers on the road. And if you’re down to one Pokemon with 1 HP from some previous battles, you pray and pray that you won’t cross path with these strangers who will battle you no matter your objections. This formula continues for the rest of the Pokemon games that follows…until recently.
What I felt that was missing from the Pokemon game was very typical offerings from any other RPG games:
- Informative dialogue. Dialogue that further explains the story. Dialogue that give you some insights into the character you’re playing even if he doesn’t talk. Another RPG, Golden Sun, does that very well.
- Friendship. In any RPG, I just don’t think it’s enough to concentrate just on the player (and there wasn’t much concentration to begin with here). Humans are social creature. We like people despite our level of introversion. So for Role Playing Games, it just seems unnatural and a little sad that your character has NO friends. I mean, the Pokemon doesn’t talk to you or anything (Even thought it should’ve!).
I understand the developers had…a couple hundreds Pokemon to contend with as well as effects for their attacks, but that doesn’t mean the human factor should be neglected. I think if Pokemon had included the things I mentioned above (even just a little) with all their games, it would’ve been an even bigger success than it is now. Just give me someone to walk around with! Walking around the whole world of Pokemon was the loneliest journey ever. Thankfully, the newest Pokemon game seem to have address this issue.[/stag_one_third]
In Pokemon X and Y, the players starts off by getting his/her Pokemon from a group of fellow Pokemon trainers. From that point on, you also frequently run into this same group of trainers who start off their journey the same time you do. Even though they haven’t stuck to your side the whole time, there’s still a sense of camaraderie. The new game also improved a great deal concerning graphics for your character and the environment. You’re finally playing someone who doesn’t look like he’s an inch tall! It’s great! In fact, it looks so good that I just ordered my first Nintendo game in years as well as a 3DS XL. Pokemon is ultimately a game about friendship. Friendship with these creatures call Pokemon and other trainers. I think the older games, may it be due to the the technology of the time or some sort of budget constraints, forgot this friendship and other human factors. Here’s hoping this more interactive Pokemon style of gaming continues.