Vulnona

OMG is there an E19 playthrough thread yet? I can't find it! Can we just keep on hyping here?!? Because...

Soon! ... But... I cannot keep my eyes open...... I... have to catch some sleep... grawr biology... (Huh. That means I'm going to download E19 first thing in the morning when the site is probably stable again after crashing from all that HYPE . Silver linings! :D Can't wait to see this thread exploded in the morning!)

With all the hype, I almost forgot to write... that this map is AMAZING!!! It's so beautiful!!! I love the colours and the shading...

Nein, hier tummeln sich mit Sicherheit noch mehr Menschen mit unterschiedlichen Erstsprachen :D Das Reborn-Fandom ist sehr divers ^^ But seriously, it's going to be hard no put the game away once it's out. I'm trying to concentrate on my exams, but I just... can't...

Tea! :3 (I'd write *brews a nice pot of sencha*, but then I definitely couldn't catch any sleep tonight...) Let's hope it's not going to be a midnight release... ...Maybe, they're going to release E19 at 9 o' clock sharp in the morning! That wouldn't be so bad. About 5pm in Germany. (If it drops around midnight, I'm not going to stay up. I'd love to, but I really can't function when I'm sleep-deprived... T.T)

Thanks! That means I don't have to start checking before it's afternoon :) Oh no! I hadn't thought of that! Ah, damn...

Ooooh, so if you say "USA release", is there also a timezone estimate? (I know there are at least four different timezones in the USA, so I'm wondering which one the devs are operating in :3) ...Though now I'm wondering why I'm even asking - regardless of the timezone, I'm gonna be checking the sidebar every five minutes anyway

I struggled with regular Rejuvenation...! God, if I think back to that Melia fight in Chapter 15... I was walled for a month! Aaaand I'm still struggling with Saki. So - nope! No Insane mode. Ever. (I value my sanity too much.)

Hmm... I haven't decided yet on a team of six, but I'll choose between my trusty... A-Ninetales Delphox Metagross Medicham Aegislash Garchomp Weavile Naganadel Mimikyu Volcarona Togekiss Gyarados Kommo-O DOOM CROW! (Prankster Perish Song Murkrow :D) Stone(s) of Steel (Sturdy Flash Carbink)

I'm so sorry, I just had to share my pain Actually, I feel sad myself everytime I look at it again. Huh. Seems I captured some of that sadness a bit too well! On another note: I don't know how to feel if Taka really stays dead... I think my heart would break all over again :( But that just goes to show how very well-crafted this section of the game really is. That's also probably where my main inspiration came from! :D At that time, I was still inexperienced with drawing more complex poses and I really wanted a good reference... but failed to find one that I was happy with. So I drew it from imagination and looked up different references to splice into one big composition sketch. Even so, there are some anatomical shenanigans that crept into the final painting... mostly in Lucia's hip and leg area and Taka's face. ... Also, Lucia doesn't have her shorts because at that point, I still thought she was wearing jeans and an 80's fanny pack... and I just pretended it didn't exist

Oh! Thanks for clarifying! I had completely forgotten about Smeargletail's screenies. And I had no idea that Flower Garden field boosts Bennett as well. So the question is indeed still open :o

I think this one was already confirmed (sort of) in the devblog post about how the gym leaders and elite 4 fared against AI trainers. It listed Laura's signature flower garden field as one of the Elite 4 terrains, so it's very likely that this is Laura's. Instead, I'm wondering whether we will fight Bennett or Elias. If Laura has her position back, that means Bennett no longer has his... but maybe, the staff kicked Elias because of his criminal behaviour and we instead get Bennett. (We are definitely fighting him at some point in his improved outfit).

Oh! In that case, let's look forward to E19 first playthrough threads! :3

What?! Closed?!? Nonooooo! We should keep a hype thread for after release where we can hype the fudge out of E19! (Doesn't need to be this one, but there should definitely be one!)

I think that would make lot of sense. Though I have to wonder how Child!Lin would survive on her own until adulthood... Now that I have read the piece of advice that E19 early game recontextualises later events, I'm torn... I really want to know how the main story wraps up, but I also want to see Ace and the changes to the early events :) Aaaah, I need more time for nice things... T.T

Oh my god, next weekend????? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!! T.T ...F-final exams aren't r-really important... aweeeeeeh... *sobs*

The first time I played Reborn was in... I think 2017 or something. Maybe even 2016. It was E16 and the version accessible to members outside the community. How I got there... it's hazy. I think I read about this game on TV Tropes, but I'm not sure. But when I saw it was a free game with ALL Pokémon from Gen 1-6 with a GREAT story, I was hooked! I remember downloading it a bit sheepishly because it was my first fangame and I was sceptical... but damn, was it a joy! I started with my favourite starter, Fennekin, and I struggled through Corey, Shelley... ah hell, basically every fight. But somehow, I kept fighting until I won. The story, the design and the characters just kept pulling me in. Seeing these characters fight without giving up was... inspiring. And I was in awe of how Reborn kept tackling uncomfortable subjects. Also, the ability to play as a non-binary protagonist and the gritty world design... it was just so different! And then, I was confronted with the WTC choice. Since the moral Titania has to learn here speaks deeply to me as well (an uncomfortable truth is better than a reassuring lie), I chose to not battle Taka because I wanted him to gather up his courage and leave Team Meteor since it goes against his morals. I felt so bad denying him the one favour he had ever asked the MC, but I was convinced that this is he right thing to do (and I kinda still am). I waited for E17 as if on hot coals, but when the desert episode rolled around, I was elated to see him join the MC in travelling the area. I loved the pieces of dialogue here and there, the backstory and how much Taka grows during this trip. But I made the mistake of going straight to the scrapyard, so I had no idea how much dialogue I was actually missing. I was in love with Tourmaline and Titania's gym - it was so fantastic!! ...but then, there was the scene with Lin, and I was utterly heartbroken. It was just so unfair to have this character die after so much character growth! This is when I looked up whether there is a way to save this character - but it came with the cost of enabling his charade to go on and the loss of the Tourmaline events, which for me is the best part of the game. So I decided that I would stick with my choice and go on. I don't remember how I managed to beat Titania, but it was so hard that I finally looked up how to optimise my team. I had never heard of natures, EVs and IVs before, but when I researched this stuff, I realised how crappy and thoughtless my team composition was. No wonder the game was so hard! So I started a new save, chose Torchic this time (big mistake! Delphox fits my battle style much better) and made better choices this time - both in team composition and story-wise (so that I would get Laura in Tanzan - I wanted that backstory!). This time, it was easier. When I got to the Tourmaline part, I took Taka everywhere but Teknite and was delighted with how much dialogue he gets in these segments. I even went back to replay this whole section after beating Solaris in Agate because I had missed Teknite Ridge (since I didn't have Pokemon with Tailwind, Power Gem, and Earthquake). The dialogue in Teknite made his death so much sadder! I was so sad, I somehow had to cope with this - this fictional(!) character's fate! Since I had just started to paint again, I decided I would capture this moment in a painting, and I invested lots of time in first sketches and drafts, choosing colours and lighting, etc. When I was finished, I felt much better. But I also wanted to talk about these characters and the game itself, and I was so happy to see the rich treasure of fanart and stories here, so finally, I joined this forum. (Around this time, I also started Rejuv to pass the time between releases.) Reborn has given me some of the greatest experiences in any medium, be it video game, film, or book. The story is so rich, the characters varied and clearly defined... there is so much to love. The resolve characters show in fighting through hardship is simply admirable, and in challenging me tactically, I learnt so much about battle strategies that I don't just feel rewarded but also like the game actively taught me something. And, last but not least, there is also the big moral choice I talked about above. Weighing options, consequences and the values behind these decisions... I've seen very few games that have pulled off a true ethical dilemma like that. Usually, choices and their consequences are not equal: one choice usually turns out to be more beneficial than the other. With the WTC choice, it's an especially well-done high risk-high loss vs. low risk-low loss scenario that forces you to acknowledge your highest ethical values (and ethical thinking in general). Do you value someone's survival more than the truth coming to light? Is a character's moral growth worth the ensuing fate? Is the decision for this character growth motivated by a genuine conviction that this is best for the character, or is it a selfish decision? And are motivations really important when it comes to actual, tangible outcomes? (The fact that we still don't know all the consequences this decision will have makes it even juicier.) This game had me so invested that I completed every sidequest, even that damn Pokedex quest with Poipole. And with that bloody ambitious art project of mine (to make a painting of every major event and the more prominent trainers), I have years ahead of me to delve into the game's best moments again and again. There are very few games I have invested so much time in and hyped that much. That makes this game really special to me. Now that I've talked so much about that painting, I feel this is a good time to share it. (And at the snail's pace I'm working, I'm gonna reach Tourmaline in 2024, so...) Click here.

Due to a discussion in the hype thread, I'm gonna post this early instead of the usual chronological order. This is the scene that started it all. The Protagonist (Lucia) Mourns A SPOILERY SPOILER

I feel ya! For me, it's tough to detect irony and sarcasm as well (and likewise, I struggle more with written forms of these stylistic devices). But as far as I can tell, nope, that was 100% factual and un-sarcastic. It would be hard for Lin to end up at the Citadel with the Grand Gates closed. But then again, the PC and Adrienn fell through cracks in the floor, too... ... ... ... "Gotta be careful where you fall!“ :D Yes. Please. My brain can't take it anymore... (And that's from a formerly avid fan! I invested so much time in trying to wrap my head around this story and minute details... only for massive retcons every second year -.- By now, it's SUCH a bloated story...!)

Seriously - even without the Kool-Aid stuff, this is still a potential plot hole. After all, if the Grand Gates closed more than a decade ago - so way before Lin was at the orphanage - then how did Lin end up at the Citadel in the first place? The Citadel is only accessible through cracks in the ground, so if there wasn't one that was then patched afterwards before the beginning of the game...

Okay, so I checked the actual in-game dialogue. So, Radomus says the Grand Gates froze "before Reborn City's collapse, more than a decade ago". He repeats that "more than a decade ago, they suddenly ceased function". Adrienn repeats this a third time when she cannov believe that she "was underground for more than ten years" until the player group found xyr. Interestingly... if you get Laura in Tanzan Mountain, she says she knew a child named Lin from the orphanage "a couple years ago". She was a little girl, just a little younger than Anna, who despite her "very young age" was terrifying and manipulative. Since Anna is 12 at the start of the game, we can assume that Child!Lin could not have been younger than 5 in her time at the orphanage with Laura since we are looking at a child who can talk, walk, laugh and scheme. Even with this very conservative calculation, there is no way Child!Lin somehow ended up under the Grand Gates at the same time as Adrienn. If anything, Child!Lin arrived there at least three years later, probably more. This probably won't make much of a difference because the child climbing up the citadel walls can still be Lin, but it's definitely food for thought. Also, it's still unknown where Lin's adoption into Terra's family falls into this timeline of events. Terra's mother mentions she "tried to adopt an orphan girl" and that meeting this girl/"kid" changed Terra in a short period of time. If this is indeed Lin, which is very likely, then this probably also takes place before Lin's disappearance/contact with the citadel. But since Terra is in her mid-20s at the beginning of the game, that would mean Terra could not have been younger than... 15? 18? Old enough to leave for the circus right after. We also know that Terra joins Team Meteor out of boredom at a time when Lin is not in charge yet, but we don't know when that happens - just that she joined before Cal. To me, it sounds like Child!Lin is something between 6-8 during Laura's orphanage time. The phrase "a couple years" usually refers to a time span of 2-4 years (or so the dictionary says). Child!Lin's unofficial sprite does not look like a five-year-old kid, but rather something like 6-8 years of age, too (though it's hard to tell). So four, maybe five years seems about accurate. ...Man, I hope E19 clears all of this up O.o

That's exactly why I hope Reborn releases in May - because that's when I'll have my exams and I am waaaaay too adept at procrastinating T.T I don't know if I'll have the discipline to not binge-play E19...!

I feel ya! Best boi :3 (I actually started this series of artworks because of the Reshiram events in the Dragon's Den. Had to get it out of my system... I was so heartbroken T.T) Thanks! <3 That Growlithe scene brought tears to me eyes when I played it the first time...

Hmm... you sure? I think if you get Laura as your companion in Tanzan Mountain, she mentions that Orphanage!Lin should be younger than Anna (12 years) now.