#psmd partner is so good.. the partner i think is my favorite character honestly... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

catflowerqueen · 3 years

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Okay, so I finished the post-game (or at least, the parts of it I actually care about i.e plot and talking to characters to see their reactions), and am ready to give my final thoughts on the experience.

It was very fun, over all, and I liked it a lot. I didn’t feel as much of a personal connection as I did with Explorers, but that didn’t really take anything away from the experience. The overall plot I think was…. simpler, in some ways? Less complex, at least, despite the heavy topics. And I think it was shorter over all? I didn’t do a dungeon count comparison, but it seemed like it was shorter. Well, the “fugitive arc” seemed longer, I suppose, but that’s probably because it was slightly more complex in what was actually happening. Like—there was a bit of lead up to in where you technically weren’t a fugitive, but the circumstances surrounding the whole thing made it seem like you were away from home longer as far as gameplay went.

…I mean, I think that the original fugitive arc from Rescue Team was probably longer in terms of dungeons visited during it and implications given via the narration, but unlike other games in the series I’m pretty sure that was the only period where you didn’t have access to the hub for a major stretch of time, whereas other games had more times where you would have to be solely focused on your deposit box/Kangskhan statues and picking up stuff in the dungeons. …And, okay, you could cheat a little in Gates with Companion Mode, but in a way that just added to the feeling of how long the hero was gone, since it takes pains to make it clear this is a side-story type deal—that this is what everyone was up to back home while the main plot was happening. Which could then either add to or shorten the duration of the gameplay, depending on how much time you spent there.

Overall characterization I think was better here, although I don’t think that the partner, specifically, went through as much character growth as in other games? Like… they very clearly pointed out in Explorers at different points how much the partner had grown and changed, and there were also points like that in PSMD, but in Gates it wasn’t entirely clear? Like, there were some points where the partner talked about what their life used to be like… but it isn’t as though you actually saw that in-game. While it was clear to see friendships growing over time, and the growth in terms of acceptance of the hero eventually having to leave was clear… their attitude as far as the hero was concerned kind of seemed more static from day one? Like—the closeness was evident, it’s just that it basically went from zero to a hundred upon first meeting them and then just stayed there. I think there was more growth from the player’s end of things in regards to the partner.

And the Rescue Team partner was just very, very bland in general. There was a little growth during the fugitive arc—sort of—but… honestly, they didn’t add that much beyond being a way to provide exposition. Especially with how much they didn’t matter come post-game.

And I still feel like there was something weird with how Paradise and Post Town were treated. At some points it felt like your Paradise supporters were the closest to you and should have mattered more… but at other times there was a lot of focus on the Post Town inhabitants, and Paradise didn’t come into the equation. Which was especially jarring in the ending, where I think it was only the Timburrs who came to the party—and aren’t really treated as Paradise inhabitants, for the most part, though they would occasionally show up there—and yet Gurdurr’s response to the hero’s return was to break down in tears and need the screen to fade to black for a bit (which was actually extremely sweet). I think that the “travelers” to Post Town actually had more characterization than the people who were really inhabitants—bar the shopkeepers, who, as always, had reactions and some of them actually had little subplots of their own—which was… strange, considering how important they all supposedly were when it came to fighting the Bittercold. (And, like, I don’t really get why they chose Scraggy to be the move tutor. Considering Azumarill was just pulled randomly out of nowhere, I don’t see why they couldn’t have done the same thing with him. Or, hey—just made Quagsire the move tutor and let Azumarill do both the request board and party editing. Or leave the party editing up to you doing it yourself right before entering a dungeon—as when you were taking the magnagate paths—or having you go around Paradise and talking to individual pokemon, similar to how you did it in Rescue Team. …Though that admittedly probably would have gotten very annoying very quickly).

It was very cool, however, that you actually had to work to get the hero back. That it wasn’t just given to you like in Rescue Team or Explorers, and that everyone made a genuine effort and tried to think about what was best for hero, too. … And also that it was something I actually cared about, whereas in PSMD I felt like it was… half desperation for their own circumstances, rather than necessarily because they genuinely missed the partner? I mean—yeah, that’s kind of harsh, because it was clear that they were genuinely good friends, but… well, as in the tone of my other complaints about how the player got screwed over in that game, the partner was really their only tie to their actual past, and even then it was a tenuous one. So… I just didn’t care as much, I guess. …Also probably the fact that it was a lot simpler/more linear process and took less time to get the hero back in Gates. So… yeah, you had to work for it, and the work was satisfying, but it was also a short enough process that you wouldn’t get bored or frustrated during the duration.

The choice of what to make a cutscene and what to just keep as narration during specific plot points was also a little odd at times—I would have enjoyed to actually get to see a bit of the welcome back party after the initial glacier exploration, for example, and maybe even seeing you help building your house. (On that note—it was a cool little detail to see grass starting to grow around your house as the game went on.)

I think the gameplay mechanics were overall an improvement in Gates—though I do miss the IQ abilities just because of how rare it was to actually find team skills. It seemed more luck-based than anything, which does provide a challenge and leads to replay ability since it would lead to a different experience each time, but…. I don’t know, I just liked the other method better. It was nice to actually be able to utilize my recruits and see their growth, as well as getting to actually play as them and utilize different strategies in Companion Mode… but that also highlighted just how bad the AI and certain choices they made as far as attacking/not getting separated from the group were in comparison to how I remember the other games going.

I think as far as total experience with gameplay, mechanics, and story goes that I still like Explorers more—because it does feel like more of a challenge, after all, and that each new accomplishment, shop, or special episode that gets unlocked was due to your general efforts and hard work. Like it is a genuine reward, rather than something that just got handed to you. And the progression was clearer to see and made more sense than in Rescue Team.

So I guess my new order for favorite games in the series is: Explorers, Gates, Rescue Team, PSMD.

…I think I hit all the highlights, but I’m sure that I’ll probably think of some other stuff later, too.

Oh, also—I still think that the Timburr who speaks more formally has a crush on the hero (I mean—they actually cried, just like their boss, when the hero returned, whereas the other one was just happy. Which—yeah, people react to joy in different ways, and tears—or lack thereof—aren’t necessarily “proof,” but… I still think I’m on to something). Actually, I think a lot of the travelers also have/could easily develop a crush on the hero. Like… some of them, like Trubbish and Mienfoo, I think are just good friends with them. But I really don’t think Dwebble would have gone to all that trouble or felt that bad about things if there wasn’t a little crush or something going on. And, sure, maybe that just goes along with his overall personality—like he gets embarrassed easily or is a little vain or something, but… he addressed those letters to the player, not anyone else. Not even the partner. And, like, no one really noticed they were gone aside from the player/partner until right before Crustle made an appearance? But they expected that the player most definitely would notice. So… yeah. And they also cried when the hero returned.

#pokemon mystery dungeon #gates to infinity #analysis #my opinions

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