0ris

For me, harder does mean better. I've been playing Pokemon since before I could read, although I stopped for a while until I picked up Insurgence a while back. When USUM released , I got UM, but it was so easy it was boring. Rejuvenation does it right giving the player choice of difficulty modes. I pick Intense, whereas other players pick easier modes, and that's perfectly fine. One of the main reasons I play these games is to test my mind against challenges others have designed. The other is the story: I appreciate how dark the tone is for Rebo/Reju. It makes the game feel more like an old FF game in tone than a Pokemon game, but I prefer a gritty fictional world to a fluffy, idealistic one anyway. In terms of design for Mega Stones, I want the opponents to have access to them, but I also want the player to be able to use them if they choose. More Mega Stones for weaker, less-flashy Pokemon is ideal, especially considering that some people might have unusual favorites. Mine is Mawile, and I was overjoyed to see that it had received a fantastic Mega Evolution in XY. What if someone does in fact want a Mega Spinda, Mega Butterfree, or Mega Corsola? By adding Mega Evolution early game and balancing the Mega Stones received early game around the current opponents, it may be possible to find a way to make Mega Evolution as omnipresent as Field effects. I picked Druddigon because it's easy to control the moveset and have it make sense if it's fought around level 20. It's not going to be able to do more than Scratch the average Fairy, and the Mega form will still be slow as dirt. Poison or burn it and it's not likely to give the player too much trouble from then on, or switch between a Fairy and a Ghost until it gets even harder for it to attack effectively due to PP loss. Of course, I just really love Mega Evolution and want to make it work. It's just such an awesome feeling to watch one of my favorites jump up in power or even to see the opponent Mega theirs and just feel the rush of "how do I deal with this thing" come on. I agree with your points about explanation of Field Effects, and I realize you're right saying that it would be better to give a brief demonstration rather than walls of text. When I started Rejuvenation, I was blindsided by the different effects more than once until I started reading the attached manual. I didn't think they'd be important, but now I constantly need to keep those issues in mind. I agree that more trainers should also take advantage of terrain/weather: I was playing Reborn today and ran into the Hiker with the level 1 Aron, and I was happy to see that at least one NPC was designed with the weather in mind. It doesn't have to be that extreme, as I'd enjoy seeing even NPCs with, say a Lotad and a Pichu in rainy/water surface area (Ex. a Youngster standing in a puddle who mentions something about him having a "field advantage") in the first area. Those Pokemon shouldn't be any threat even at the early game, but might hit a bit harder or survive for longer in the right conditions.

I do agree. Mega Audino and a few others (I intend to have many more single-stage/"weak Pokemon" Megas) should be available early, especially when field effects exist. A Mega is a single Pokemon, whereas fields can alter the entire battle to a certain type's favor. High-BST Megas as you've mentioned can wait for longer periods of time. Speaking of Audino, I don't mind being able to get my Pokemon up to speed quickly, but I wonder if the consensus is if it's a good design choice or not to have limitless free experience. Insurgence had the player pay for the privilege of Audino punting, Reborn lacks easy methods for exp entirely, and Rejuvenation is at the other end of the extreme. I know if I do end up ever getting my own game off of Word and into RPG Maker, it's going to feature Mega Evolutions for the player at least as early as the second Gym and have the concept mentioned and heavily discussed at least after the first gym. My plan is to have my first Leader be an expert of sorts on Mega Evolution, and potentially for NPC ordinary trainers to use Megas once in a while (perhaps optional mini-bosses guarding items or offering gifts upon victory, or somesuch). I'm actually not as big a fan of Z-Moves. There's no way to tell when they're coming the first time around, then, BAM, the Pokemon you were using is gone. However, they're a part of the game, and they have their place for the player to use to bust open certain annoying walls. If there was a way to make the NPC trainers use them creatively, I'd be all for that.

I wouldn't mind having Mega Evolutions be implemented as early as the first gym, provided that the player is also provided the Mega Ring at least immediately after that gym battle. To me, Mega Evolution and Z-Moves add another layer of complexity, and one of the main reasons I play Reju and Reborn is the Pokemon play-style with difficulty that doesn't feel dumbed down at all. I'd like to see the aforementioned events happen as often as possible within reason (every gym leader should have those, and every important rival/enemy leader, but not random trainers). For example, I'm in the process of writing a scenario for a possible Pokemon fangame of my own, even if it being made never comes to pass. The first gym is Dragon-Type, and the Leader uses a Mega Druddigon (new for that game). Fairy-types are available before that Gym in abundance, and the rest of her Pokemon don't pose any major threats as Dragons are actually quite weak when base-stats aren't high, but it could show the player that they need to be prepared for any important player, especially Gym Leaders, throwing a Mega Pokemon that stands head and shoulders above the rest of their team at the player. How do you overcome that roadblock? Type-matching? A well-placed Z-Move? Countering with your own ace/Mega? All are possibilities, and so long as the player's options are balanced so that victory is a possibility through multiple ways, the creativity in victory that is Pokemon shows itself even better than in the simple scenarios that are omnipresent in the main-series games. As for Field Effects, I believe that first Leader should go out of their way to explain what they are and what they can do so that players unfamiliar with the Reborn system don't miss crucial information that they might ignore by not talking with every NPC or looking in every random cavern cranny. Gym Leaders having access to Field Effects and beneficial weather conditions make sense to me, since Leaders are in my opinion supposed to be the epitome of battling against their type, which should come with all of the advantages and disadvantages of being restricted to a single type. Too often in the main series games Leaders were made far too easy due to being limited to one easily exploited weakness. For example, Fire-type Leaders/Elites in all generations have been little more than jokes due to omnipresence of Surf and easy access to common Rock-types, but the heated fields and sunlight give Fire-types the power to eliminate Rock-types that lack special bulk and removes the pressure that Surf would otherwise present. In other words, I really love what's been done with Rejuvenation in every way, from the serious story to the gripping battles, and I'm as excited for the release of the next chapter as anyone. To me, it feels like a very polished game with an engaging plot and gameplay far more entertaining than any other Pokemon game (I love Reborn too, but the lag just gets me down sometimes. Oasis hunt aggghh). Also: if this post was too off-topic since I tend to really get into things, please let me know and I'll cut it down.

Club page. It's a link. Attaching a file to demonstrate its location due to it apparently being hard to see on this site. Hopefully the linked image won't bother anyone. If it does, I will delete.

I'm wondering if there's going to be any special interaction with Angie and the Silvally the player can acquire, at least as an easter egg. It'd almost be like showing a hardcore fundamentalist that you're buddies with the test-tube baby son of their God and having physical proof of that friendship in the form of said son of God smiting your enemies. I admit that when I got the magma stone, the first thing I did was put Silvally in the front of my party and try to thaw out Angie myself. I wanted to score relationship points with the cute crazy lady in the hope that I could bring her around to my side. Sadly she stayed put with no event to be had, but when she shows up again I hope she at least has some form of acknowledgement if the player has Silvally in their party.