because apparently i can't get into normie shit without being quirky about it, pmd:gti is the first pokemon game i've actually genuinely touched for more than like 5 minutes and it's the 'weakest' roguelike spinoff
core gameplay loop? just kind of okay. the dungeons all felt kinda samey and the strategizing prior to entering them boiled down to "have some elixers and orans for emergencies, a reunion cape, and some status-effect clearing items if you're expecting them". only being able to run one job at a time is very annoying since it means resources are drip-fed to you and building anything in paradise can take like 4 jobs, even for some of the cheapest builds. doubly annoying is that job difficulty (and thus, reward quality) seems to be almost entirely based on the dungeon rather than length, so you're getting basically the same rewards for running a job 13 floors deep as one that's only 6. 3 party members seems to be a sweet spot since running four runs the highest risk of the party member in the back turning into a wandering idiot, plus it's the two front runners who are going to do most of the combat anyways since you're most likely to encounter enemies in the corridors that make up probably 60% of explorable floor space. overall messy and not very well thought out imo, but functional enough for baby's first baby's first roguelike (yes, the reiteration was fully intentional).
it's all the parts of the game that aren't the actual
game where it's like...whoa, this is pretty damn good
the story? cheesy and prone to overexplaining. flashbacks are everywhere and the dialogue has a habit of repeating itself for the children in the audience who may not have caught important terms that are about to be explained like "voice of life" or "magnagate". but if you can accept the fact that it's a literal baby game for babies, the story it has to tell is solid, and one of the most compelling explorations on the natures of hope, trust, and despair i've seen in just about any work of fiction. the major characters are all fun and interesting; the partner is lowkey kinda clingy, though this is pretty clearly a flaw that he overcomes by the end of the story, and as saccharine as he can be at times, the enthusiasm he has for forgiving people who've wronged him with the hope that they can change for the better is kinda infectious. i like emolga's completely unfiltered passion, dunsparce is a likeable kindhearted simpleton, virizion is one of the game's biggest sources of character development and gives one of the most effective speeches on what despair actually looks like in the real world, like, ever, and so many of the townies sell you on this world being bigger and more nuanced than it lets you actually see. like, honestly, i got into pmd from the litany of inexplicably high-quality fan work out there and was expecting to be a little disappointed - no, this game's writing is genuinely
solid, even with the babying it does.
this video essay does a better job of explaining it than i could, even acknowledging that it can be a little tough to follow where he's going at times
the music? incredible. some samples:
pokemon paradise,
theme of hope,
telluric path,
glacier palace: eastern spire,
desperation (tv tropes calls this one despair and i def prefer that name). there were only a few dungeon themes that got a little grating, though that's partly because the early game is restricted to the music from ragged mountain, stony cave, hazy pass, stompstump peak, and desolate valley - all decent in their respective vacuums, but having to run like 4 jobs (each of which can take like, 20-30 minutes?) with the same minute-and-a-half long pieces playing gets rough, and i'm honestly not really a fan of desolate valley's music? regardless, pretty much everything else ranges from solid to peak. idk what it is about these 3ds nintendo spinoffs and having
absolutely banger desert music but it's kinda unfair
visually it's a pretty game. takes advantage of cinematic angles in some key scenes to give them more weight, and the dungeons are quite nice to look at; gameplay-wise you can tell easily that it's all just smaller pieces mashed together, but it visually looks seamless. the stuff that isn't procedurally slapped together - post town, paradise, the dungeon exterior areas (think stompstump peak or holehills), the dungeon intermission rooms - can be downright stunning for an early 3ds game, though the background of the crossroads
between post town and paradise is very obviously a painting, which i find odd since places like the hill above swanna's cafe are mostly-convincing landscapes (maybe it's less obvious on a 3ds that isn't an xl model, but i doubt it).
still have yet to sink my teeth into the post-game but the main game was enjoyable in small bursts, it took me like 3 months to get through a 30 hour main game. i might get around to it somewhat soon, and then potentially move on to super? or maybe i'll replay mario & luigi dream team first idk
