《Pokémon “Zhu/Zi” has finally been officially released.
I still remember that when “Pokémon Sword/Shield” caused a lot of trouble due to visa issues and poor quality, I also briefly joined the boycott ranks. But I still couldn’t help my love for Pokémon, and I started to buy “Pokémon Sword”, “Pokémon Bright Pearl”, and “Pokémon Arceus” one after another. Had a lot of fun (what a shame).
This time, because the information before the release was too fragrant, I couldn’t bear it anymore, and once again rushed to the launch at night. What are your thoughts on “Pokémon Zhu/Purple” this time? Is this work worthy of another pampering by Pokémon trainers? I will share the most authentic game mood through the article below.
As usual, I will try my best to avoid the plot thunder and focus on sharing the game experience, but some system content will still be mentioned in the article, please be very concerned about the readers who don’t want to be thundered, and see if you want to experience the game before coming back Read it.
A brief introduction to “Pokémon Vermilion/Purple”
“Pokémon Zhu/Purple” is a turn-based battle RPG game, which will be released on the Nintendo Switch console on November 18, 2022. It is the ninth generation of the series.
Yes, the Pokémon franchise changes hands about every 3 to 4 years, bringing new adventures, systems, and most importantly – new Pokémon companions.
The adventure stage of “Pokémon Crimson/Purple” came to the “Padia” area modeled on Spain. The game system was designed with the theme of “freedom” and integrated with the academy style, whether it is plot, gameplay or Pokémon. Dream collection method, “Pokémon Vermilion/Purple” can be said to be the most free biography over the years.
This special system “Crystal Transformation” mainly emphasizes the attributes of Pokémon, and each Pokémon can be transformed into a crystal form during battle.
After the crystallization, not only the power of the moves of this attribute will be enhanced, but if the Pokémon has a special crystal attribute, it can also change its own attributes through the crystallization, making the strategic nature more varied. With the multiplayer “team battle” system, you can challenge the powerful Alien Pokémon with your friends, which is one of the main pleasures of the later game.
Winds of Liberty in Padia
The biggest change made by “Pokémon Zhu/Zi” is to fully integrate the “open world” elements into the game.
In terms of system design, the production team did not use the common question mark exploration gameplay in the open world, but integrated the unique “collection, exchange, and battle” elements of “Pokémon” into the open adventure, so that each environment has different Pokémon Dream Ecosystem, and cancel most of the map action restrictions, so that players can obtain vehicles (beasts) in the early stage, and go to high-level areas to explore at will.
This means that as long as you are willing to spend time, it is completely feasible to go straight to the high-level area to grab a high-level Pokémon as the main force of the team at the beginning of the game, and to crush the low-level small gyms. Conversely, you can use low-level lineups to challenge high-level gymnasiums and experience the ultra-difficult taste of life and death.
Regarding this point, I think the numerical adjustment of the plot in this work is more detailed than before. In previous versions, as long as the level is similar and the attributes are matched, you can usually kill the opponent in seconds, but in this game, it may only deduct 70% at most. In terms of game difficulty, it has slightly increased, which makes various boss battles more intense. , is a very positive modification.
For example, I ran to challenge the leader of the fire star team when the team level was about 20, and the opponent’s level was almost 2x, but I could slowly knock down my team lineup with just a modified car Pokémon, and finally I used the advantage of props to narrowly win in a state of almost total destruction. Such a high-intensity battle was probably only encountered when fighting the Four Heavenly Kings in the past.
Although the difficulty has increased, thanks to the new system “Let’s GO”, training has become very convenient. Just press the R button, Pokémon will find opponents to fight by itself, and you can easily get experience points without entering the battle screen (provided To win), the training is very enjoyable, and the roadside trainers will not take the initiative to challenge you to fight, so you can control the level more freely. If you want challenges such as pressing and advanced rolling, you can do it freely.
This generation also cancels the traditional stepping on the grass to randomly encounter enemies. The Pokémon will appear directly on the map. You don’t need to step on the grass every time to know if it is the object you want to catch. You can know where the target Pokémon is at a glance, and you can easily choose whether to defeat or capture it. It’s really comfortable.
This work has another design that I personally like very much, and that is the “picnic” system.
When watching the animated version of “Pokémon”, I have always been very envious of Xiaozhi and his party who can set up a picnic table at any time, throw the Poké Ball into the sky, and call out all Pokémon partners to play and eat together. This scene has finally come true in this work.
During the picnic, you can make dishes to improve your exploration ability (better catching treasures, higher drop rate, etc.) and restore your physical strength. You can also help Pokémon take a bath and accumulate favorability. The picnic system is bound, and Pokémon eggs can be collected at any time in the wild. It is really the best way to show Pokémon love.
That is to say, where did the eggs come from… It really makes people very concerned.
Beyond the Legend of Pokémon Champion
Freedom is a major feature of “Pokémon Zhu / Purple”, but I think the strength of this work that surprised me the most is the storyline.
With the college as the main axis, the adventure content starts from the off-campus research “finding your own treasure”, and breaks up the previous regular gym challenges, villain obstacles, and regional legends into “gym quiz”, “stardust road” and ” There are three quest lines in the “Legendary Road”, and each of them is endowed with a complete storyline.
Because the three main axes are independent, you can freely choose the strategy sequence during the game. In the past, the sense of interruption caused by the story interspersed in the adventure has been greatly reduced. You can freely decide when you want to challenge which adventure. The three major routes also have their own. own charm.
“Road to Stardust★” is a story about the villain “Team Star”. In the past, the villains were villains who threatened the world, but I really love one of the Tianxing team. Every captain and team member is so cute. After understanding the reasons for the Tianxing team’s chaos, I want to cheer for them. Later in the game, when I asked the Tianxing team to play, I felt that I was the bad guy.
“Road of Legends” brings out the legend of Pokémon in the Partia region, and interprets the story with the theme of “the bond between humans and Pokémon”. Although the fetter story has been used countless times in the series, it is still so moving every time.
As the three quest lines slowly progress, they will intertwine with each other in the finale. I have to say that because of the free exploration and the excellent plot, the story of “Pokémon Zhu/Purple” can be said to be my favorite generation over the years, even surpassing “Pokémon Black/White”.
In addition, Pokémon Academy is not just a decoration, but a real elective course. Each class is teaching content related to Pokémon games. For example, math class teaches you how to calculate attack damage, biology class can learn about Pokémon ecology, and history class brings out the fascinating worldview and mythology of the Partia region. legend.
Passing the exams for elective courses can not only get useful props, but also accumulate goodwill with teachers, privately see the unknown side of these teachers, and add fun to college life that can only be experienced in the Pokémon world.
The price of indulgence
“Pokémon Vermilion/Purple” is definitely the most extreme work I have ever played. As much fun as the game is, the flaws are just as annoying.
To put it bluntly, the shortcomings of this game are very obvious. Unless this is the first video game I have played since I was born, no amount of wooden eyes can ignore the fatal flaws caused by insufficient technology.
The biggest shortcoming is that freezes and frame drops are not occasional, but permanent. Regardless of the scene, regardless of the time period, even the newly added cutscenes are all stuck, and no one is spared. Not to mention being spoiled by the 3A masterpiece with 60 frames per second in the shed next door, even the “Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” N years ago can be played smoothly and the picture is not bad. Why is the latest “Pokémon” Is it like this?
Second, breaking pictures, wearing molds, and bugs can be said to be commonplace. Although it will not affect the game, these situations happen very often, and every time it happens, a play will be played. The worst situation is that the emotions that were originally brewed by the excellent plot are broken because of a model wear. Not to mention I thought I was watching an NG scene, too bad.
Then there are the shortcomings of the system.
First of all, although the game takes an open route, the interface design is not good, especially the user experience (UX). Where there is a cave, which side is accessible, it is difficult to judge through the map, and the level of the Pokémon/Gym in the area is not marked on the map. In many cases, I can only use my face to receive moves to know whether the current team can handle it current region.
In addition, the game has a lot of unnecessary things, but the necessary things have been removed. For example, every city has restaurants full of pits and valleys, and there are very few restaurants that can be visited. When you enter the door, you just jump out of the menu interface for you to order. When I eat sushi, I get Lv1 egg and egg sandwiches, so why are there so many stores?
There are sock shops, hat shops, backpack shops, glasses shops, and shoe shops in the paper doll system, but there is no most important clothes shop for players to change clothes. I just like to wear cute one-piece dresses, but what about the degree of freedom? There is also the fun of trespassing on people’s houses, talking to NPCs and digging through trash cans in the past! Nope, houses are now almost closed to trespassing.
I’m also not happy with the design of the roadside trainer. There is no need to discriminate against appearance, but in the past, challenging various trainers with distinctive personalities is also a great game. Now it is really sad to see a lot of uncles in school uniforms. I hope to see more shorts and Pokémon in the future. Fan, Bikini Big Sister and Mountain Man.
There is also a relatively minor one, that is, the GTS (Pokémon Global Switching System) has been canceled in the game. Maybe it’s tied to the Pokemon HOME app, I don’t know, but without GTS, it becomes more troublesome to make up the illustrated book in the game. Trainers who don’t have friends, or obediently put “Pokémon Zhu / Purple” two Buy all the plates and change your left hand to your right hand, or you can only look at the illustrated book and drool.
Last but not least, it’s more like making a wish. “Pokémon” doesn’t have a lot of plot, so why is there still no dubbing?
Summarize
“Pokémon Vermilion/Purple” is a work with mixed reviews. It can be said to be a very fun Pokémon game, but there are also many shortcomings that cannot be ignored.
It has more free exploration content than before. The open world gameplay combined with new systems such as Let’s GO and Taijinghua make the journey of treasure hunting full of fun. The in-depth plot divided into three main lines is a highlight of this game.
However, the optimization of the game is really poor, not only because of the poor texture quality or resolution, but also the normal lag that cannot be ignored at all. In addition, there are many deficiencies in the system, including poor guidance of moving lines, empty towns with appearances but lack of exploration details, and paper dolls changing clothes in vain.
To be honest, I really don’t know how to recommend this game. If you can accept these technical failures in the game in 2022, then “Pokémon Zhu/Purple” will actually be an excellent work that the whole family can enjoy.
When I was playing this game, I often fell into a very magical mood: one second I was still angry because of the BUG, and the next second I was excited because I found a rare attribute of too crystal Pokémon.
Just like this, I played for dozens of hours unknowingly, and I still feel unsatisfied. I just want to go home and start playing more after get off work every day. A game that allows me to play like I am in a sauna is rare in the world.
If these technical shortcomings can be corrected through updates in the future, I think this work should become a fairly classic “Pokémon” work.
“Pokémon Crimson/Purple” is recommended to Pokémon fans who are willing to pamper game manufacturers again. As for players who have never played “Pokémon” but want to enter the pit, I would suggest that you play “Pokémon Arceus” first (blink).
