Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire Ramblings

Yup, another Pokemon post. It was either this or me rambling about food(again). For those who don't know, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (ORAS for short) Are remakes of a duo of Game Boy Advance games released in 2002, with the remakes coming out in 2014. So why am I talking about them, more than a year later?

I just played it. As you may have gathered, this blog typically follows whatever I am interested in at the moment. Such is what is happening now.

So, Pokemon ORAS. It's good. As in, REALLY good. First, some history. I liked the original Ruby & Sapphire, but never enough to actually dedicate my time to beat it. This pattern had pretty much held for all Pokemon games, until X & Y. Even for X & Y, I didn't really beat it because I adored the game, I beat it because it's a really easy game to just play occasionally. That's great and all, but my I never felt like X & Y ever left much of an impact. So, when I first played ORAS, I was afraid the change back to a more traditional Pokemon would push me away from playing it.



The weird thing was, the game without the ease of play, without the really grandly designed areas, was the game that really engrossed me. (For reference, I played ORAS without using the EXP share.) I don't want the lasting message to be that I liked ORAS purely based on nostalgia, even though I can't deny that nostalgia had a part, that isn't why I had such a different reaction. ORAS works because at its core game play is almost completely the same, but it adds so much in making it's story work. This isn't to say ORAS is somehow better than X & Y because it has more dialog, it's HOW it's added. More scenes are sprinkled in to add to characters that were previously underdeveloped. Originally the protagonist's father was an interesting, but nit really developed character. He didn't have a lot to say. However, in ORAS, after you beat him in a Pokemon battle he talks to another trainer's father about how he feels now that he sees his son/ daughter growing up. It seems simple, I realize, but these small additions make everything feel so much more interesting. In X & Y, I didn't care about anything in the story. The problem was a mix of too many characters with far too little development. That's not to say ORAS doesn't have it's characters that are just there to fulfill a simple purpose. For example, the group of antagonists... are not smart. At all. The game does put a lot of focus into motivations, which at the core, still make no sense. The game isn't perfect.

Anyway, that's story, but what about game play? In this case, it's improved, in my opinion, on the original completely.The Dexnav, a tool that can tell you what Pokemon live in your current location and which ones you've caught., works so well in that doesn't tell you everything instantly, but really helps on cutting down frustration when catching Pokemon. The AreaNav streamlines doing rematches with previously defeated trainers, somewhat similar to Gold & Silver, but again just streamlines and makes it waste less of the player's time. This all makes me, an easily frustrated person, actually really enjoy Pokemon's gameplay. This goal of cutting down frustration goes out the window when it comes to legendaries, which are often comically pedantic in terms of  requirements.

Still, this game is GOOD.