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What is the Protagonist thinking?


Enkhidu

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Since the start of the Pokémon games you rarely (or never) know what your character is thinking, sometimes you can answer a yes/no question but (for at least me) a yes/no answer is not the only thing that you should be able to answer as a protag yourself, you can't express you feelings or at least some type of movement that can show you how your character can feel, after all it's still human, no? Even if the protagonist is supposed to be yourself it's still something that lacks something (now again at least for me) what is it? Continue reading...

Now in the last generation games you can actually see some clear expressions the protag can have, like when May/Brendan sees the "return" of Kyogre/Groudon or when Archie/Maxie sees the big mistake he made and the protagonist just watches him with a disapproving face. But something it's still missing, you know what? The ability to choose you own path. In the normal Pokémon games indeed you can answer some questions, (yes/no) but what's the point? They aren't going to change anything relevant, just some speeches or reactions (like when you challenge Siebold in the Kalos League) in other cases they are going to continue repeating the same question over and over after you give them the answer they want to hear, which is what brings me to my main point.

In Pokémon Reborn you can choose YOUR OWN path, something that actually never changes in the actual games independently of your answer. It's true that sometimes your answer won't change anything no matter what you do (like when you read Titania's actual diary) but that is something that can be expected in some cases. But in others YOU choose what you want to do, and can obtain certain information that in other cases you wouldn't (example, when obtain some information about a little girl named Lin) that's something that I really like, you aren't forced to take the paths that they forcefully put you through even if they "ask" in original games.

Other thing that picked my attention was something really small, I watched that part of the game a few times and I didn't notice it before, this is when you read Lumi's diary in Ametrine City. (I had problems with putting more than one picture, I hope that this is enough)

As you can see in the picture the protagonist is giving his/her/xyr back at Shelly after she said that reading another person's diary can't give you problems, after that the protagonist turns and only looks back at Shelly when she starts reading the second entry of the diary. This made me wonder, did the protag feel guilty? Was it just a face palm reaction? Or simply a mistake?

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I guess you can inject your own interpretation into that moment. Personally, I laughed out loud at that point-- yeah, Shelly, sure, nothing bad ever resulted from reading other's diaries... so, it could be turning away to snicker. Or to hide guilt. Or to facepalm.

But yeah, I agree with you so much. It feels like you're actually part of the story, affecting it, not just a head-bobbing mannequin like in the official games. I love Reborn for this.

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"My allies always leave without me."
"If losing a Pokemon battle makes me black out, I should see a doctor."
"If I need to hop my bike across unstable rocks and living Pokemon one more time, I'm going to throw myself off Ametrine."

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I don't know about you guys but I definitely know what my protagonist is thinking, "Holy crap, all I came here for was a league challenge, I knew I should've stayed in Sinnoh." and also: "I'm definitely rating the Reborn region poorly in their tourism, I've seen rampant domestic terrorism, child abuse, torture, extreme pollution, and even murder. I'd leave and go home but I really want to win that league challenge."

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"That was just fucked up man..." upon witnessing the events atop Mt.Apophyll

"The dick's just overcompensating for something. Pun intended." In response to/ after any encounter with Fern. in addition to "You call me a loser, but... remind me, who just kicked whoms ass here?"

"What the hell are you?" After beating shade and watching as he vanishes into thin air.

"Hey, don't mind me, just gonna waltz into your house real quick, cause no one in this city locks their doors apparently..."

"Drugs are just bad, M'kaay?" after being asked if they have any "Rare Candy"

"It's just amazing the amount of crap you find lying on the ground..." after finding an item

"Apparently this city has no liter laws or anything..." While using the Item Finder within the city.

"Her husband won't wake up. I know, I'll go out and traipse about the aventurine woods looking for rare weeds instead of just buying some more of the Blissey Medicine from Spinel Town!"

"Hmmm... I could use flamethrower or something and just walk over to the other side... nah, think I'll slide across the ice instead."

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"I was a pokemon trainer before. Why the **** didn't I bring my pokemon with me?"

*Beats the living shit out of fern for whatever item/money/pokemon he owes me*

"I could probably just slide through here... Nah, to much work with that pebble in the way"

"Who keeps leaving all these items on like, every rock?"

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"Why do I even need Rock Smash for these. These are such flimsy-looking rocks, I bet I could powderize them just by thinking about it hard enough."

"Day-Care-guy, you've given me like 500 of these things and you still don't know where Eggs are from?"

"Cal, you may have assisted in an attempt to make Apophyll's ash-covered beach even ash-ier, but you gave me a ride, so you're better than any other person in this game"

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"Hey...Mom....Yeah.....I'm okay......I made it......yes.....The station DID explode....but I'm okay..."

"Oh, this Victoria chick seems like she'll all kinds of helpful."

"......GET OUT OF MY WAY, I'VE GOT FRIGGEN KIDS TO SAVE."

"Ooooookay, Cain....this......this comes natural to you doesn't it....."

"Mom....this gym leader...just jumped off of a bridge."

"NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooMEDICHAMYOUWERESOYOUNG-OMG-KIKI?I.....I wanna go home...."

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"Oh yay! I get my badge now- Wait you jumped off a bridge..."

"Where the hell do you get all these dam hats? This isn't the hat region, this is the reborn region."

"Where can I find the 4th Dragon Ball? I need to summon Shenron and ask for a bunch of leftovers, Choice items, Life Orbs, Rocky Helmets, and a shit ton of good TMs"

"Why do I want to become a lesbian just for Aya?"

"Is T3RR4 apart of Phaze Clan?"

"I swear to god, if I have to hop off another fucking Tauros again, I will personally burn down this dam forest."

"This dude put me in a cage with pokemon, what a fucking idiot."

"Why does Shade know everything? Who even is Shade? Is he god? Becuase his future telling abilities is flawless."

To Fern: "Well unlike you, I'm absolutely flawless"

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"Hey loser" --oh Christ it's about that time to kick his ass again. Let's just get this over with.--

"later loser" --bitch don't get it twisted, who just beat who?--

*WILD ENCOUNTER* --please don't be a Diglet with Arena Trap, please don't be a Diglet with Arena Trap, please don--- AH FFFFUUUUUU--

"I joined Team Meteor because I like to be on the winning side" --Really queen? (-.-') What's with this delusion that he's so good while he's not? Poor thing. Not sure if I should let him win next time. Meh he'll just keep waiting at the same point for a rematch over and over until I beat him...--

--Why does everyone seem to be able to let their Pokemon out of the ball and wreck shit and I can't? That's kind of odd.--

--These gym leaders are all quite a damaged bunch. Looks like every member has some sort of condition. This really is a "special" league, isn't it?*--*Grins*

--Why am I getting dragged into all this? I actually don't even care but they won't let me progress unless I do this shit. Stay strong, Lia, they're all mentally handicapped, you have to humor them--

--So when is Cain actually gonna make his move? Still waiting for some action. Put your money where your mouth is, dude. or... chick? still not sure--

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"You call yourself Swag Jockey? Obviously you need to get rid of those glasses because they really don't suit you at all"

"Uhm... please don't tell me you're going to just commit suicide right in front of me... oh my god you actually did it"

"Saphira, why are there Meteor Grunts still trying to battle me when you clearly have gone ahead without breaking a sweat?"

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The most egregious example of this is in Pokemon Emerald, where at some point there is a guy who asks you "Where are you from?" and your options for a reply are "Yes" and "No"...

But yeah, this is actually the deal with more or less all games with a silent protagonist. I guess it gives the player the opportunity to imagine whatever the hell they want for the actual thoughts/words of their character...

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Every time Fern shows up:

"Alright, you know the drill, (charizard sweep)..."

Overall:

"It seems without me, this region would fall apart like a house of cards in a tornado, so I may as well do the right thing and at least help save it, however I would like to do this by being as ruthless and merciless to the bad guys as possible, they only deserve the worst afterall, I'm sure my charizard wouldnt mind turning them into BBQ..."

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You still went to calcenon, fought charlotte, saved ametrine, and went into glitch world shennanigans with terra so... yeah, a valid concern. :P

Yes, of course but it wasn't "months"

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You still went to calcenon, fought charlotte, saved ametrine, and went into glitch world shennanigans with terra so... yeah, a valid concern. :P

I wouldn't be surprised if all of that only took a week maximum.

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I wouldn't be surprised if all of that only took a week maximum.

still, they've been down there quite long now. Should've thrown some food down the cascade too

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