I played up to Hardy on the last release, but I've decided to start over and see the new early game instead of finishing the story form my first file.
I'm blown away. I liked the story before, enough to stay with it for 90 hours, but it could sometimes feel like stuff was just kind of happening. In e19, every story beat has so much more weight. We get to spend time with and learn more about each character before they have their big moments, and it makes the payoff SO much more satisfying. Everything feels a lot more natural. I especially like the changes to Corey's arc, it feels much more fleshed out. And again, I liked the story a lot before. But the effort that the team put into rethinking the early game really shows. It's like this project went from being a well written pokemon game to just a well written story, if that makes any sense.
And the new maps! They're gorgeous! Pokemon Reborn already felt like its own unique world in previous updates, but now... I don't even know how to describe it. Not to mention all of the small quality of life changes and minor UI improvements. The game feels so polished now. It's smooth as butter. Phenomenal work. The passion that went into this project really comes through. And I'm definitely going to check out Starlight Divide when I'm eventually finished with Reborn.
