Outside Indoorsman

Okay, that's good to know. That place has been bugging me for years...

I decided, semi-randomly, to start writing a review for what I thought of Version 13 of Pokemon Rejuvenation so far. I like the game overall - I did decrease it to Casual mode before the Narcissa fight after I got sick of constantly wiping, though. I'll probably reset it eventually... ah well. Here we go! (Note: The reviews get much longer after the first two chapters - I'll probably update this as I go). (Also, the reviews are being written as I play the game, and I'm not really editing things). Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Yeah - I actually set the game down to Casual just so I wouldn't have to go back and remake my whole team to deal with Narcissa. This seems to be a major complaint - people love the game, but the bosses are too much of a Skill Gate to overcome without serious work. The only Leader I remember being that tough in Reborn consistently was Charlotte, I think... But that may just be rose-tinted memories, because I know all of them have given me trouble at some point.

Oh yeah... I actually forgot to do that... whoops. Thanks for reminding me!

I am currently trying to go up against Narcissa - but between old memories from my first playthrough of Rejuvenation and the headaches I've had just getting this far, I am thinking that I'm going to change things to Casual mode (I'm currently on Normal) until I can build up a stronger team (the fact that my team is really not built for fighting Ghost-types doesn't help). So I don't have enough green shards, and I'm wondering if there's a place I can get more. Anybody have any advice?

Night? Like, past 8:00 and all? Gotcha.

I picked up her quest at the Sheridan Help Center - the problem is, I am currently in the Goldenleaf Town arc. Did I pick up her quest too late, or since it is late in the day, is she just not here at the moment? I looked in front of Cherry Blossom Inn, but she wasn't there.

You just have to go into the menu and rename them that way. Not sure if that's a mistake or deliberate, since you can't nickname them after catching them when they're still Shadow Pokemon.

This may seem odd, but Jumpluff was a pretty valuable teammate to me in my last Rejuvenation run (I am currently restarting for V13, sort of regretting it considering how out of practice I am and how frustrating it can be fighting the Leaders...)

Well, I was planning to replay the game as a whole to see if I could revitalize my interest in it - and this certainly looks interesting.

It's one progress bar more than I expected! And take your time - as much as I love Reborn, there are other games out there. And not rushing it just means the finished product is likely to be better, right? We can wait - and I can't tell you what to do, but you should probably ignore the complainers.

One last crest idea... for a Mon' that really needs it. Jynx Crest: Jynx automatically performs Lovely Kiss on any pokemon using a physical attack on her or that she makes a physical attack on. Jynx's Attack stat is overridden by her Speed stat. Speed and Special Attack are both increased by x1.1.

This is definitely going to come in when we get to something very important...

I'd say you could probably add a all-around stat boost for Spinda too, like a universal x1.33 or something - the poor mon needs it. Anyways! I took all my previous posts, organized them, added some new ideas, upgraded the old ones... well, here you go, anyways. (Jan, you and your team will probably hate me after this... if it helps, only Tauros, Poliwrath, Rapidash, the Sandslashes, Politoed, Gastrodon, Drapion, Sawsbuck, Cinccino, Vanillluxe, Lilligant, Aromatisse, and Togedemaru were added directly in this post. Everyone else is just the same as before, more or less.) Generation 1: Generation 2: Generation 3: Generation 4: Generation 5: Generation 6: Generation 7: Generation 8:

Phione Crest: (Inspired by the mentions of warm seas in the pokedex entry). Phione's special Water-type moves deal Fire damage instead of Water damage, but still receive a boost from Rain Dance (Physical moves still deal Water damage). Once per battle, when Phione would otherwise faint, it instead goes to 1 HP and then casts Rest. Pachirisu Crest: The first non-electric offensive move Pachirisu uses after being sent out deals x1.5 damage for as long as it is out (it can be used again and retains the x1.5 damage boost), and deals damage based on Pachirisu's Speed stat instead of Attack or Special Attack. Pyukumuku Crest: (Inspired by the pokedex entry) Automatically casts Counter when hit by a physical attack. Cannot be afflicted with status and can cast Purify at will. Shiinotic Crest: Summons the Bewitched Woods terrain for as long as Shiinotic is on the battlefield. Sudowoodo Crest: Sudowoodo gains the resistances and STAB of the Grass type. Sudowoodo has also conquered its hatred of water thanks to its newfound foliage, and gained the Water Absorb and Rain Dish abilities. Lumineon: Gains the Lightningrod ability. Also allows Lumineon to learn the move Nature Power by TM (for some reason, Finneon could in Generation 7 but Lumineon couldn't - considering how OP Nature Power is in Reborn and Rejuvenation, this could help Lumineon a lot). Drapion Crest: Gives Drapion Bug-type resistances and STAB.

Good point. Er, developers - could we get your thoughts on that? Are you going to go back through the thread after this is all over, or are you just grabbing the suggestions as they come in? Also - here. Jumpluff: Before Jumpluff is hit by a super effective attack, it automatically switches out to another pokemon on the team (determined by the player), and afflicts all pokemon on the field with Cotton Spore. The pokemon that switches in takes the damage in Jumpluff's stead. Also allows Acrobatics to deal max damage at all times.

Er, I'm posting again? Is that okay, or should I just add these to my original post?

Amazing work on all of these! I'm actually looking forwards to the parts of the game in caves in my replay now.

True enough. I suppose the "things should be more fair" part of me was speaking up there. Things are not always fair. Idea for a Crest just popped up... Since it was for Magcargo, I'll stay quiet.

My thoughts on the Crests, are as follows. Please listen to or ignore my non-professional gamer opinions as you wish. One of the things about the Crests, I think, is that they are supposed to be not as good (usually) as Z moves, Megas, or dynamaxing. Mostly because you could slap a Crest onto everybody on your team if you wanted instead of the one each approach, so there's probably got to be a bit of balance (but since it is one-person and the fanbase is smaller, balance isn't as strict). Most of these are good, (Claydol and Spiritomb might actually need a nerf), but I would say Cherrim and Magcargo both could use a bit more of a buff on their Crests (and maybe Leafeon and Glaceon too, but those two aren't as stiffed in the metagame, I think). Maybe Castform should get a Sandstorm form, too... I think someone else suggested that the Darmanitan and Infernape Crests are intended more for playstyle changes than to amplify their typical approaches. That honestly makes the most sense to me, but since unlike, say, Ledian, they are good already, the effort of switching things up for them is probably more noticeable. Magcargo in particular, needs a buff. From what I've seen, that poor Mon seems to have been doing badly since it was introduced.

Both Reborn and Rejuvenation are far harder than the main series, and very lore-rich games. But their overall...fantasy levels seem to be very different, as is how they handle the storyline. Reborn mostly takes place in a fairly grounded universe - if it wasn't for the pokemon, a lot of the stuff you see could easily happen in the real world, almost. Psychological issues are commonly brought up, and the storyline is fairly streamlined. There's no need to go "outside" and do sidequests to figure out all of what is happening. Rejuvenation's the polar opposite - Team Xen is using and showing off more mystical stuff with the Rift Matter, and this is before we get into Also, the plotline often travels outside the main story, because if I didn't do some of the Help Center Requests I would have no idea what is going on at several points (there's still plenty of times where I'm baffled). But the team of Rejuvenation is doing their best - each version is often more streamlined and clear. With that said, I would appreciate an official sidequest tracker or something... Overall, in Reborn it's not hard to figure out where to go. In Rejuvenation you can often be left clueless if you didn't tackle a sidequest. Also, this is just personal opinion, but the teams on Reborn seem to be overall more... fair, then the teams in Rejuvenation? Just personal opinion. The only gym leaders I remember being super hard were Charlotte and Adrienn. Which could be related to both of them fighting in doubles, actually. But Reborn is definitely easier than Rejuvenation unless you do Casual on the latter, in my mind (just personal opinion there). Neither of them is a bad game, but Reborn is more my style, personally.

A sad story has come up - OS X 10.12 or further is required to play, so my old "donated" computer isn't good enough. Wine still works, though.

What led you to Pokemon Reborn? I was originally led to Pokemon Uranium by a public talk about the game being taken down shortly before Episode 16 came out (I think), and after that I decided to look around for more pokemon fan games. I found pokemon reborn, started playing, and I got hooked. What do you think about the battle system in the game? Way better than the original series! I hadn't really played pokemon games seriously for a few years beforehand, and my general reentry into the Pokemon fandom can be traced back to Pokemon Reborn. The difficulty is pretty reasonable - I have had a few hair-pulling fights in the past (I needed a lot of thinking to get through Charlotte), but winning the current episode has always felt good. Seeing every pokemon there is in the game also helps. My introduction to all of generation six came from Reborn, I think (at least, the pokemon that I didn't see in Uranium). What do you think about the stories/narrative in the game? The world building is... just amazing, really. The story of the Reborn Region feels a lot more... real, than the average pokemon game. Maybe it's because it's meant to be more realistic/"edgy" than the standard pokemon games, maybe because of the way Reborn isn't afraid to point out real-world problems like slums or environmental issues, maybe it's because you're going to spend a ton of time trekking your butt around nearly every location in the game. And... well, the story has you as a pretty major character, that's clear. But at the same time, you aren't the only person fighting the bad guys. You're not alone, being left to tackle an evil team because there's nobody else - it's just that things tend to fall into your lap, or they go after you in particular (the bad guys to deal with you, or the good guys for your help), and you've always got backup. You're not fighting this fight alone (really, every single gym leader and major character in the game has no issue with going out to get shit done themselves, and the Elite Four are the same). As discussed above, it feels like you are playing Pokemon Adventures: The Game. This is not even remotely a bad thing. In particular, what do you think about the queer characters in the game, like Cain and Adrienn? Cain is pretty great, in my opinion. Honestly, I wish I was more outgoing like he was - and I hope his home situation gets better eventually. Adrienn is someone that I - well, when I first flew back to Reborn in Episode 16, my initial reaction was more or less "Holy F***, they really fixed up the place while I was gone!" I wish I could find the sort of motivation to do things that xe had in them to go around and start the movement to make the city "Reborn". And as noted above, neither Adrienn or Cain is really defined by their LGBTQ - it is, at most, a side part of their characters or backstory. They would still be recognizable as themselves without it (not that I am saying they should take that out or anything, they're both great as they are!) But honestly? I always identified more with Amaria than Cain or Adrienn. At first, I think it was because I had Water types as a personal favorite type myself, and because she was really nice (and saved your life, too). In hindsight, later on when I saw more of her story, I wonder if it was also because I've had minor issues with depression in the past myself. I never had it bad enough that I tried to kill myself, and my family has always been good to me, so perhaps seeing someone trying so hard to keep their head above water with only a few friends to talk to struck a note with me (I really took the Reshiram route somewhat hard, and I am not the sort of person who gets emotional that often).

Now to wonder what the "additional bullshit" might be. Pseudo-Legendaries, perhaps? Actual Legendary Pokemon? Pokemon who fit the field's theme but aren't a part of that Leader's type? More than six pokemon at once? Stat boosts a la Totem Battles? Weather giving additional boosts? PULSE-2 Akin boosts for all major battles? Pokemon who have their base stats amplified or switched around to make a puzzle boss? So many options, so many of them horrible, so little time...