[Review] Pokemon Brick Bronze · 8:15pm Mar 19th, 2017
Goddammit, I was really hoping for this to be good!
First of all you might be asking "Kamek, why in the sweet holy mother of all that fucking cares are you reviewing a Roblox game?". To answer that I would go the easy route and say that this is my blog and I'll do whatever the fuck I want, but I felt legitimately cheated on when I discovered a few GLARING problems with the game.
Pokemon Brick Bronze is a perfect example of polishing shit. You can polish and clean the shit as much as you'd like, but at the end of the day it is still a piece of shit. I know that isn't saying much because it's a Roblox game for crying out loud, but the game lured me in with its charming trailer, its clean graphics and unique areas and the battle system which, though ripped straight from ORAS and SM, is true to the original Pokemon games. For the first few hours I was legit into it and I began recommending the game to almost everyone I saw who happened to play Roblox.
But then something happened that I was not okay with.
At first the challenge was nice. There were a few trainers with high-leveled Pokemon, but since I usually play underleveled I payed it no mind. And due to the wild Pokemon being relatively the same level as trainer Pokemon this only further made me believe that I found a real diamond in the rough. But as I continued my adventure I noticed that the levels of trainer Pokemon began drastically increasing while the levels of wild Pokemon stayed relatively the same.
I had just hit a difficulty spike. So fine, whatever, I've gotten through worse and I even challenged myself to continue playing underleveled so I could have some more fun on my adventure. But soon enough my adventure's fun was halted when I came across the third gym leader. The second gym leader's highest leveled Pokemon is 25.
The third gym leader's highest leveled Pokemon is THIRTY-SEVEN!!
That's a twelve level difference between two gym leaders! And you know what's funny? That's not what I'm complaining about. What I'm complaining about is when I get the EXP-Share. As much as I hated to admit it, the only way to get through this game was to use the EXP-Share to give my entire party enough EXP to level up and match the Pokemon I was fighting. But guess what? The EXP-Share is blocked by a fucking paywall.
A FUCKING PAYWALL.
The only way to beat the game and I can't even get it unless I use real-life money to buy it. That is beyond low. And it's not like I can just train up new wild Pokemon to help me since their levels can be, get this... 20 levels below the average the game wants you to be. After I got my fourth badge I was already going up against level 50 Pokemon, which are levels I expect to see during the endgame, not half-way through! Why the hell did the developers think I could beat the Team Eclipse boss's level 50 fully evolved starter Pokemon with my level 37-39 Pokemon? Hell, if it wasn't for the Absol with the Mega Stone I don't think I would have even come close to beating him.
And this isn't the only paywall either. To get more money in this world where money is scarce you need to use real-life money to purchase it. That isn't much of a problem before you factor in that there are better solutions to this, but more on that later. Furthermore, you have to purchase batteries with real money in a certain area to power a submarine to go into the underwater trenches, which is the only place you can find fossil Pokemon. In other words, unless you get really fucking lucky you have to pay to complete the Pokedex.
And sure, you could argue that the trading resort is a thing and that you obviously have to trade Pokemon to complete the Pokedex. And in any other situation I would agree with you. But Brick Bronze has no sister game, therefore the only reason you would trade is to get higher leveled Pokemon to actually beat the game, completely ruining the entire point of going through a Pokemon adventure with your OWN Pokemon and becoming the best there ever was.
This isn't even mentioning the numerous music glitches such as Team Eclipse grunts and even one Gym Leader having the regular battle theme. And I get its Roblox, but I do expect at least some kind of quality control on the sound.
And writing that part of the review is sad because underneath the paywalls and difficulty spikes is a genuinely good game that wants to come out but can't because the developers are too greedy for that precious "Robux". No offense.
First of all, as mentioned before, the areas and locations are very well-designed and look like they actually came straight from a Pokemon game, not to mention the models for various legendary Pokemon and Bidoof. I had tons of fun exploring the Roria region and I always got super excited whenever I found a new Pokemon on a route or in a dungeon. I honest to god felt like a kid again playing through a region I didn't quite understand yet, which was a feeling only Sun and Moon could do in recent years. The haunted house was pretty cool, the trench minigame, despite the paywall, is still super fun and reminiscent of Diamond and Pearl, and the music is solid. Not great, but certainly solid.
Furthermore, I actually really liked the story and characters. There were times when I was legitimately shocked when certain events played out or when things happened to various characters. I was attached to them and I grew to like them. That's all I can say about them though because if I said anything else it would be spoilers and I know how much people like those.
(Sarcasm)
How to make the game better? First of all, how to get more money. Have battles reward you with more money as to give you a better chance of survival. Without money you don't get many items which means your Pokemon faint more and they don't get EXP and I think you know where I'm going with this. Furthermore, have the player start out with some allowance instead of literally nothing so they can buy potions and Pokeballs and the sort; every Pokemon game does this, so why not this one?
Second of all, the trenches minigame. I understand developers need to make money off games, especially if they're free, but instead why not make it so players can spend in-game money to buy batteries to make it more fair? If they're desperate they can use Robux, but otherwise a battery would cost 5000 in-game currency or whatever. Anything really, just give us a chance to go down there again without using the real-life money many people, especially kids on Roblox, don't have. Same goes for the EXP-Share. Again, either keep the Robux price but have another set price the player can use in-game money to buy or, like other Pokemon games, have the EXP-Share given to the player in the first quarter of the game. This way people can actually have fun playing your game instead of not having fun paying for your game. I don't think I have to repeat myself on why I think this.
And finally, the difficulty spike. Easy way to fix this: LOWER THE TRAINER POKEMON LEVELS OR RAISE THE WILD POKEMON LEVELS. I cannot stress this enough. How the hell are we supposed to train level 30 Pokemon up to level 50 in one dungeon? It just isn't fair for people who want to go through an adventure without trading or paying to win. If the Robux implementation doesn't change, fine. If the lack of money starting off the game doesn't change, fine. This absolutely HAS to change to make things fair.
In conclusion, Pokemon Brick Bronze is a painfully average game with some good and fun ideas implemented poorly. If the developers made the game with the player's enjoyment in mind, they wouldn't have made such a horrible difficulty spike or have micro transaction problems that make it so only those who pay real-life money actually have a chance at beating the game. But despite these problems if the levels of Pokemon are much more balanced, then I would rate this game higher but until then...
Pokemon Brick Bronze earns...
5/10
This has been SuperKamek saying thank you, have a great night, and this is one of the only good Roblox games on the site right now besides roleplay servers and the sort. Phantom Forces and other FPS games get a free pass because of how well and fair the developers implement the micro transactions. Now if only Pokemon was an FPS game... actually wait, no, that's a terrible idea.
You have to use real money? How come Nintendo didn't pull this game instead of Uranium!?
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Because, unfortunately, Nintendo doesn't want to go against a big company like Roblox. They like picking off the smaller companies so they'll always win, despite whatever the bigger company has on their site.
IE, Pokemon.
4463149 *sigh* Oh well.
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Oh god, then Pokemon really WOULD be an FPS!
Ahhh I remember Roblox...Last I heard of it, my brother was telling me about these military rp servers that were...just a wee bit too into it.
But anyway on this, it's clear the developers are talented, based on what you're review says. Most of the issues seem to be based around the monetization system. All three issues you pointed out revolve around that, which, again, developers need to make money. But still, there's a fine line between 'reasonable money making tactic', and downright jerking the player around. This seems to be a case of the latter.
Couldn't they just add in extra masterballs and make those purchasable by cash? It's there for people who want it, but not plot or progression based. :/ (I'm not a game designer, I freely admit.)
But it's a shame that such a wonderful sounding game is held back by such an arbitrary issue. Ah well, thanks for the review my friend!
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My friends and I play Roblox ironically. Just for shits and giggles, y'know?
The developers are very talented, this I can admit, but they also seem to be greedy. Most free Roblox games have this issue where you have to pay to complete something, but most utilize this in fair ways. In obbys, for example, you can pay to jump ahead a few levels. But all levels can be completed fairly and justly. Phantom Forces as well is like a regular FPS with login starter cases and keys and you CAN pay to get new guns, but you're given a fair weapon loadout at the start, the game is simple enough to get into, and best of all you can steal killed players' guns to use them until you die, plus all the various classes means you never feel like a drag to your team. THAT is fair progression in a game!
This game has you pay to go on fossil expeditions underwater. Admittedly I was a little picky on that point because I happen to really, REALLY like fossil Pokemon and the fact I couldn't get them all made me sad, but I digress.
And thanks, I appreciate it!