Fan-Rant Review: PMD DX · 8:50pm Jun 29th, 2020
Okay, so, when I released that last review yesterday, someone messaged me a video of IGN's review of the recent release of PMD DX. Now, what I heard was soul crushing. I swear, game reviewers just don't know how to review games properly. First was SpongeBob, rehydrated, which was declared as "Too Kid Friendly". Seriously, that doesn't make any sense to me. Then, we get IGN, saying "This game has too many dungeons, 6/10". I just hate that review. It's rather short sighted for a review about a dungeon crawler. To me, that's like saying Doom Eternal had too many demons or levels. So, I suppose it's up to me, some random guy on the internet no one cares about, to review a game I played. Of course, I'm going to put my love for the series aside as I do this.
BeeP
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX. That title is a bit of a mouthful, but we'll just call it DX. Now, the PMD games are a series of spinoff games that are rather popular, although not as popular as the main games. PMD is normally developed by Chunsoft, who had been making roguelike games before they were cool. Don't you dare say they aren't because of the main games. Anyway, in the early 2000's, Nintendo noticed Chunsoft's roguelike RPG's, and were like "Hey, that's pretty neat. Why don't we put a Pokemon spin on that shizzle?" And the madlads did it. They then created: Pokemon Mystery Dungeons: Red/Blue Rescue Team. Red Rescue team was essentially for the Gameboy, but Blue Rescue team was for the DS. Yep, the original. It was a hit too! Sure, it wasn't as popular as the main games, but it sold better than most spin offs did at the time. Maybe it was the fact that the player themselves were a Pokemon, or maybe it was the interesting story Arch's presented in the games, but it was an amazing game of its time. The game starts off with you, a human, transformed into a Pokemon without any recollection of why this happened. You meet a Poke-bro/sis (the game allowed you to choose your gender and your partner's gender- though subtlety) and you set off on a quest to find your identity and to go home. The music was catchy, the hub was organized, the NPC's were... Well, some were more interesting than others during the main game, but fell off post game. Anyway, again, it was a success for Nintendo. This, they made another game, even proving on the second one, and then... Gates to Infinity... The second games had set a pretty high standard since you had even more Pokemon to turn into, the story was well done and well written, the characters were memorable, and so on. Gates to Infinity dropped the ball, however. GtI was a Segway for the series to go into the 3DS, which was fine and all, but it was lackluster. It introduced a mechanic we won't ever touch on again, the characters were kinda 2 dimensional (ironic since they became 3D), the story had some twists and a couple of interesting points, but the characters kinda dragged it a bit. Also, GtI pulled a Galar region and only allowed the player 5 Pokemon to choose from, instead of the almost 20-30 from the last game. I'm willing to forgive it, since the 3DS isn't as powerful as I want to admit it is, but it was still a bit of a let down. However! Then, I believe two or three years later, we get SUPER Mystery Dungeons! It was definitely an improvement, allowing the player to choose from more Pokemon than the second game. The characters are much more memorable and likeable than the last game. There's no God damn V-Wheel, which is a double bonus for me. Next, the music was good. It couldnt rival Explorers of Time (the second PMD game), but it was good. The story was also pretty good, you go to Pokemon Hell for a bit (literally), and the end has a major plot twist I really didn't see coming. The post game was definitely better than most of the other games (except Explorers of Sky). I guess it could've been better, but a lot of fans were happy that it was better than Gates to Infinity. It was up there with Rescue Team. Now, technically there's another PMD game, but it was only recently translated to English, so I don't really want to comment on it yet. I heard it was good in Japan, but that's about all I know, so take it with a grain of salt.
And now, after four-five years, we get DX. A remaster of Rescue Team, from almost 15 years ago. So, was it good? Was the remaster worth it? Did it satisfy the expectations?... I'm not sure, so let's go over it.
The story is the same, but it feels a bit different. Before, you would get windows above text boxes to show you the emotion of characters, but now you have the window as well as the character model. Somehow, it feels a bit better, like I can actually see their expression. The music is true to heart, and it sounds great. The Hub is still organized. The dungeons, like the rest of the games, are randomly generated. Yes, the layouts can be slightly memorized, if you've been through enough of them. I admit, in the later levels and in post game, it kinda drags on after a while, but it's what you expect when you play a dungeon crawler. However, I realize that's not everyone's thing, so take as you will. However, for the most part, it's fun. There's still stuff to do after the game, and even more so in this remaster. Also, cutscenes are in the game, which just look absolutely amazing. This, in turn, makes me wonder why the hell the main games don't have these types of things as often as they should. Anyway, the design of everything was absolutely amazing, and inspired from the original artwork of the menu's background from the first game. Quite frankly, it's great. It's like watching a painting move, if that makes sense. Ultimately, it's a decent game. That much can be said since it actually managed to have more copies sold on the first week than either Gates or Super. It's extremely well rated in Japan and several European countries. So, all in all, shut the fuck up IGN, you were higher than cloud 9 to give it a 6/10 while also giving Sword and Shield a 9/10. Like seriously, what the fuck?! Sword and Shield really could've done better. The animations were ripped off, most of the Pokemon look more like statues than they did in 2D pixels, the Galardex is bullshit, the Switch can obviously handle more than the 3DS XL, the Dynamax mechanic is unimaginative and reminds me of the Super Trainer mechanic from a previous game (which was cooler), and don't even get me started on the God forsaken fact that battle animations are just as static as literally every other game. Because you know what!? If they'd just take more time and actually work on it, they could do better. But no, we're apparently brainless to such things, and we apparently need constant consumerism to keep it's relativity... *Breathes*... What was I talking about? Oh right! DX was a damn good game in my eyes, for what it is. Now, without further ado, I'm gonna go pass out.
Yes, Sword and Shield could have been done better. I loved Explorers of Time way back.
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Or Kotaku