Has Reborn changed the way you play or view Pokemon?

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

Reborn offers a more challenging experience than the fish oil games. Reborn's Gym Leaders have a full team of 6, which outside of rematches only happened in the games once with Blue in GSC/HGSS. It also has field effects that advantage and disadvantage certain moves and types. And then there's the level cap, which in the fish oil games only applies to traded Pokemon while here it applies to everything. Some people enjoy the Reborn experience and it's everything they ever wanted in a Pokemon game, while others can't stand the superheated field so they leave the kitchen.

I just remembered a conversation I had with someone I know while ORAS info was coming out. She said that Gym Leaders should all have 6 fully evolved Pokemon. And I thought that was a little much. The fully evolved part still might be a little much for the first and second leaders. It just seemed like that would be some kind of "hard mode" game that only professional competitive players and people with PhDs in Pokemon would be able to beat, neither of which I am. The person I was talking to isn't a competitive player, but she did beat Emerald with 6 Zigzagoons and Kanto's Elite Four with a Jigglypuff. Anyway, Reborn changed my mind about that. When I started playing Reborn I thought "this game looks cool but I probably won't even get past the first gym if there's a level cap and they all have 6 Pokemon". I actually beat Julia with just Braixen, who was paralyzed and at low health by the end. Some battles were difficult, but I managed to get to the end of E14, and then 15. Other than the Garchomp (which you're expected to lose to anyway) there was never a time I thought "Ok this is just too much". After playing Reborn I do think leaders should all have full teams. And field effects I always thought would be cool to have.

What about you? Has playing Reborn changed how you see or play Pokemon in terms of difficulty, features, gameplay, etc.?

[Cool Girl]

For me, it has definitely changed the way I played Pokémon! At first, I thought "Piece of cake!" because I've been playing Pokémon since I was five and I'm sixteen! Then, once I got to Corey/Shade, it's started getting harder and I needed to ask help a lot. That being said, I love a good challenge and even though there were times where I got really frustrated and wanted to quit and "leave the kitchen", I kept going and it paid off. I also like the storyline more, even though it's more adult-themed and it's gritty and not appropriate for all kids. Overall, I enjoyed playing Reborn so much that I even re-played this game over five times! I also feel like playing Reborn has improved my Pokémon skills by a lot. I strategize a lot more than I usually. What I mean by that is, when I play a regular Pokémon game on the DS, I don't really focus on my team. I just pick Pokémons that I like, random natures, random moves. In Reborn, I really took my time to save the game before I get a Pokémon, re-set the game until I get the nature that I want; instead of picking random moves for my team, I pick my movesets wisely not just for in-game, but also competitively. Overall, Reborn has made me strategize and I've learned a lot from playing it. I've learned so much that the next pokémon game I'll get for DS, I'll be doing the same strategy that I did for Reborn.

[starkidcosmo]

Lol, my strategy for gyms I can't beat in the main series is to just level-grind until my thumbs fall off, which you obviously can't do in reborn... so now in main series games I actually pay attention to stats and natures and such, even if 60% of the time i ignore them all because I really like the pokemon.

Also, since reborn has a screen for evs and ivs, that's definitely something i've started to pay attention to. I only beat Shade because I EV trained my wigglytuff for a few hours. He kicked my ass like, six or seven times before I thought to try and get more special defense, and even then I only barely beat him by screwing with his AI.

[Drymus]

I actually pay attention to when Pokemon X learns move Y at which level.

Before, I just trained and it was cool when a new move could be learned.

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

my strategy for gyms I can't beat in the main series is to just level-grind until my thumbs fall off, which you obviously can't do in reborn...

That's actually my strategy for Reborn leaders too

[Exalted]

this is very interesting topic indeed for me personally there was a time when i did not look for a competitive game and i kid you not played through kanto with a special primeape with one fighting move only. But know unless the hm slave i have doesnt have good ivs and nature i just cant continue the game(a bit over reacting but still) but once i learned of evs and ivs things changed and i started iv breeding ev breeding there was a time i liked pokemon for how cool they were but now i like them how challenging they can be and got me into the game truly,

When reborn came about i got to see competitive battling in a npc game and it game me a unique chance that no other pokemon game gave a challenging experience in which i could get creative against these already made competitve level strats and counter them on the spot with limited resources which help me hone my skills a few steps further and i can guarantee you out of 10 people who can complete a nuzlocke in reborn till end of ep 15 can easily without a sweat complete heartgold nuzlocke till red without a sweat.

so as an easy synopsis Reborn dosent help you get into competive play but demands it if you wish to play through the end and though it can get frustrating at times with hax and that damn ice gym accuracy bull but once you get through it you actually feel accomplished once done and i thats what i enjoy as to the fact that the lvl cap limits how strong you can get which makes you work under a limitation and not be just a lvl 100 party sweeping the game .

So has reborn changed the way i play yes and the same is true for the view of pokemon when you play it dosent feel like a causal startrgy game anymore it feels like a challenging experience to which i have to improve my competitive skills daily to keep up and even when i play through normal games now i have a fully ev(praise super training and horde battles) trained iv bread pokemon before the champion these days and that shows how much it effects me in general tbh as when you started the game as a kid you didnt care of that now if this is for the better or for worst is foreach person to dicide i suppose.

[Personthing]

Playing Reborn has made me open to playing more fan games, and I've honestly felt a good chunk of the fan games I've played are better designed than the real games. So it's also ruined the main series for me, and Gen 6 only shows that things are getting worse for official Pokemon games IMO. Tactics wise it's changed me a bit. I usually just ignored all the early game fodder mons aside from like Lillipup in the official games as they usually just throw good stuff at the player like candy, and that the player can afford to stick their nose to everything that they don't deem worthwhile as the canon games aren't hard enough to deem aiming for a full team most of the time.

Edited February 7, 2016 by Personthing

[mde2001]

It has made my appreciate whatever I can find, and also made me find pretty much any other pokemon game easy by comparison.

That isn't to say I don't enjoy the other games anymore, I just find them not to be much of a challenge at all compared to all of the things you have to keep in mind while playing Reborn.

[Chase]

For me - Reborn is the kind of game that is a refreshing exception to what Pokemon is at it's core. I used to be a dissenter due to the fact even - but it's really nice to feel like you've actually earned something when obtaining a quest Pokemon or an item.

I love the main series games because it's extremely rewarding for those that simply explore - and I was original not content with how linear Reborn wanted to be and how it would force your hand in some situations if you wanted to get through the stories without doing the events. This would made worse by reading the forums and hearing about how "Everyone uses this Pokemon - use it." and I would feel like in the spirit of challenge, Reborn had a tendency to rob the player of autonomy.

Then I realized that as you progress, not only do the available Pokemon increase when you progress, but so do the chances to explore - and in your exploration, the neat items (like the TMs - albeit most are trash) are still out there, along with the Pokemon to an extent.

Reborn does sort of blow away the difficulty aspect of the main series for me, but the main series will always be the feel good game that encourages me to look around, while Reborn is a game I can look to where I can have a Pokemon experience, while not having the "same" Pokemon experience.

[enu]

The way I see Reborn it only has one downside. And that is that after Reborn I don't wanna play any other pkmn games. All other games (both official and fangames) are just too easy - the only exception known to me being Rejuvenation. Yeah challenging pokemon game is what I always wanted. Finally I've found it in Reborn and it's not just about battles. Reborn has great puzzles as well - mainly Shelly's gym and Route 1.

If anyone can recommend me some other good challenging games please do so. I did play Zeta, Insurgence and Godra of course. They are all good, but after Reborn they are just not good enough.

Even in Reborn some leaders do have glaring weaknesses though. Like my Magneton OHKOd all Serra's pokes except for Froslass with Mirror Shot. Admittedly Froslass did singlehandedly slaughter my whole team the first time around which makes up for that. Then there is poor Luna of course - my Heracross beat all 6 of her pokes solo. No excuse there.

As for tactics Reborn did change one thing for me. When facing a leader I now prefer pokemon that are resistant to that leader's field-boosted STABs over pokemon with STABs against the leader. Pure offensive tactics just don't work against some of the Reborn leaders (mainly Kiki) which tought me to play more defensively unless I see some crucial weakness.

I ask a moment of silence for the poor Garchomp whom I defeated. Oh and feel free to increase its level to 100. My strategy to kill it would still work just fine. :-P (I'd have a serious problem later in Fiore mansion though.)

[Monochrome_Complex]

I now actually use Clefable. She's pretty awesome on Showdown.

[Sejiren]

Reborn has clearly changed the way I play Pokémon. I pay much more attention abilities, natures, the role of certain pokémon in battle (and outside, pickup is amazing) and EVs (which I actually specifically trained for the first time yesterday, hail the sheer force life orb nidoking), though I'm still too lazy to get perfect IVs. Strategy is much more relevant, and while I still brute-forced my way through the game on my first playthrough, this time around it is much easier and the next time, starting with episode 16, will be even better.

Not only am I much more involved on a gameplay level, but also regarding the story, which can be quite gloomy at times. But that exactly gets me to care a whole lot more about the npcs than the main series, side quests are actually interesting (well, mostly. that last part of route 1 is really dull) and the concept of finding pokémon roaming the city and tied to little quests is amazing.

[Kurotsune]

Yeah. I used to like Pokémon.

In all seriousness, coming into the community as someone with 0 knowledge on most systems and no interest in competitive, although Reborn didn't greatly change my opinion about Pokémon, it did make me appreciate the intricacies of it's niche battling community.

[Shing]

Reborn ruined my experience to enjoy playing the main games rofl.

[Darvan Korematsu]

Lemme put it like this. You know how your parents, friends, and peers may say you can do anything possible if you put your mind to it?

Well after this battle:

And this battle:

I learned that's all a complete lie.

[Tomas Elliot]

Frankly, not it hasn't. Reborn has changed the way I play or view Reborn. Much like Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel has changed the way I play or view Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. Or Persona 4 has changed the way I play or view Persona 4.

I find every game to be an experience of its own. granted, a fairly repetitive one in the case of Pokemon games, so hooray for Reborn and how it has shaken things up a bit, but I personally would never be caught applying my Reborn mindset to canon Pokemon games. Or the other way around, for that matters. I'd venture as far as to say that Reborn doesn't even share the core target demographic of the canon Pokemon games, but that would be getting into too complex discussions and derailing this topic way too much.

[Venox]

Reborn definitely changed the way i play pokemon. this game was one of the hardest pokemon games ive played,and i learn about myself a lot through playing it. i really love challenges and made me appreciate

it even more.it opened my eyes into other fan made pokemon games that i really enjoyed as well. i also appreciate the time and effort that was put in the game,made it even more fun.

this is the first pokemon game that i trained pokemon in ev training and it got me more into competitive battles, and made me more satisfied knowing that my hard work on training them paid off after beating some of the hardest trainers in the game.

(p.s sorry if i made grammar mistakes ).

[FairFamily]

Well I have to admit it did, more then I thought it would. When I reintroduced myself in pkmn after a hiatus, I made up a single team and I only trained pkmn in that team. If it meant soloing a gym leader (unlikely since the game gave some nice pkmns early) then I did. The only exception was blazeblack 2: I used a starter for a while since my favorite team had no starter in it. This game made me train temporary members as placeholders which makes me appreciate some pkmn more (who taught trubbish ,gulpin or lopunny would be great pkmn).
The game also made me breed pkmn: I'm not 31 IV breeding but I get close to. It does help that I have a ditto with 31 hp IV, 31 def IV and 29 spdef IV for a mainly defensive team. A bit related to it, is that it allows me appreciate great strategies/movesets since a small error can be the difference between victory or defeat which means I have to prepare strategies carefully. For instance the difference between victory or defeat with Shade was changing the quick attack of my lopunny (with fake out,quick attack, jump kick and strength) for substitute.

[H.P. Doom]

Reborn really heightened my perspective on training pokemon. i normally go for a team of 5-6, depending on Hm's needed. When playing Reborn, I started worrying about the right abilities and breeding for good ivs. In addition, i have an entire box full of pokemon to switch in for gyms. I also learned to appreciate pickup (the ultra potions got...). I also learned more competitive strategy and now can play OU pretty well. Reborn is one of the best things that has happened to my pokemon strategy and the worse thing to my sanity (try training 30 pokemon from lv 1 to lv 80)

[Damage]

Reborn has made me hate the original games. I was playing AlphaSaph at the same time and I must of had around 30k in cash by the third gym ample potions recoveries and everything and rolled through the gym. Also had gible gliscor and swampert I think (shortly got my mega after) so difficulty there was non-existent) Meanwhile playing Reborn I had about 100 in cash my starter, a grimer and makuhita. While being wrecked by the grass gym and constantly referencing serebii/smogon to see if cradily was cheating and how to make the pain stop. Reborn has definitely made me a smarter player which is good because challenges are always fun. I don't know how difficulty should be approached in the new games since they ARE for children but until some difficulties are added in they are impossible for me to enjoy. Also reborn has made me hateful and even more distrustful of savepoints than any other rpg.

[Vinny]

Frankly, not it hasn't. Reborn has changed the way I play or view Reborn.

I find every game to be an experience of its own. granted, a fairly repetitive one in the case of Pokemon games, so hooray for Reborn and how it has shaken things up a bit, but I personally would never be caught applying my Reborn mindset to canon Pokemon games.

Basically this. Reborn changed the way I play Reborn, and well, Rejuvenation.

I can still go through the main games with only my starter. My mind set while playing Reborn is very different than the one I have when I'm replaying ORAS.

If anything, Reborn showed me that a few features could make the main games have A LOT more potential. But the main games are also for the more casual players, so some things would never work for the main series.

A better plot wouldn't hurt though.

[bepe]

A big change for me is team composition. In a normal game I would have ~5 good pokemon and a hm slave. In reborn I have 10 fully trained pokemon I keep leveled up to swap in to my team in response to what my opponent is using.

[Masquerain]

It would have totally ruined my experience playing maingames if I didn't have the ability to view them as separate entities and make 'em fun for myself via wonderlockes and whatnot.

[robiseljak]

Not really, no... I never used any defensive moves, I don't use them now. Full offensive has always worked for me, so I don't see a problem with that, 7 pokemons were all I needed to finish E15. So basically only difference is I actually needed 6 pokemons in my team to finish, as opposed to 3-4 you need in normal games...

[AeroWraith]

Reborn has definitly changed my perspective on how I play pokemon. First off, it's gotten me to plant berries, which was something I rarely do at all in the main games. It's certainly helping me out in my current nuzlocke of diamond. It's also gotten me to actually pay attention to what EVs I would gain from defeating whatever wild pokemon, because before hand, I never really cared much about EVs. It's really made me play more effectively over all, which then made the main games so much of a breeze to play through....especially X and Y, like seriously, some of the gym leaders don't even have 4 moves on their pokemon. So for the most part, I find myself wanting to nuzlocke the main games in order to make it more interesting play through, rather than just blow right through it.