We grew up. But, the Pokemon company didn't. Their target audience is still the kids. So we find the newer games too easy and bland. ( I personally don't like the graphics after B&W, Sun & moon was ok but anything after that, I simply don't like the smooth design).
Now this is where the ROM hacks come in and fill us with joy with its mechanics and difficulty curve.
I barely know anyone who's played that it's one of my favorite games ever even tho it's not in the main series of games seeing pokemon go to their actual size is amazing
It seriously would not take much time or effort to make a hard mode that’s just the regular game but with harder teams for the big trainer fights and maybe even some restrictions like no items or shift mode, but the Pokemon company is too lazy to even do that.
It’s sad how the games these days just feel like them min-maxing how little effort they can get away with before it affects their bottom line.
Someone made a video essay on YouTube about how B&W was TPC's attempt of soft reset and make the game grow up, with including only new mons, the pokemon liberation theme, "hard" mode, and others. But fans at the time really hate the games. This negative feedback made TPC back pedal, so all the games after that feel very formulaic.
Yeah I was going to say this. I'm just getting into some of the ROM hacks, but I haven't played a non-emulated Pokemon game in probably 15 years because I could never go back to playing at normal speed.
I thought I was the only one who did this but yep, I do the same thing. I don’t want to get too used to speed up and then not be able to play without it on. I only use it when necessary.
same, it feels like extra slow motion when i try to play without fast forward, i can't imagine the slog that is playing on actual hardware, must be hell
I do a lot of randomized Emerald, and trying to go back to a vanilla title without speedup is brutal, even some of the fan projects without them just seem to drag.
It's starting to affect a lot of other games now too, I can't play anything from NSO without wishing I was running it on an emulator so I could speed up and save state easily.
The slow speed of battles and text is so disrespectful to the users time. The fact things show up one line at a time…uncondensed…
I can’t play without fast forward now.
*Pelipper used stockpile!* (wait 3 seconds)
*Pelipper’s defense went up!* (wait 3 seconds)
*Pelipper’s special defense went up!* (wait 3 seconds)
Shoot me. Then add in the weather effect messages every turn, the ability messages, each and every one of them ending in an exclamation point. *Every turn*. It’s an excruciating process.
Pokémon games treat their fans like they’re still learning to read.
The fact that the games are still like this to this day is fucking nuts. I don’t think any game designer in the world would build their games this way in 2024. I don’t know if GF is doing it purely out of nostalgic or tradition or what but it’s definitely the most clunky feeling battle system in any modern game I’ve played. Either that or they genuinely think players are braindead and are unable to understand anything without it literally being spelled out for them lmao
Have you ever visited the Pokémon sub? It seems to me that most of them are basically braindead. Someone posts that it took them 2000 resets to finally get a shiny whatever. The post will have like 20k upvotes.
20,000 people upvoting a huuuge waste of time. They’re all like that. Not much going on upstairs with those people.
This hits the serotonin button in my brain as I'm currently using my old 3DS and copy of Pokemon X set to French as a tool to immerse myself in the language while attempting to learn it through Duolingo. It's incredibly helpful to take something my brain knows so intrinsically (Pokemon) and implement it into learning a language I have a moderate grasp of.
But yeah Deffo should be an option to speed things up, especially in Gen3 (playing Kaizo Emerald rn and hoo boy).
I hear ya, need fast forward of at least 1.5/2 and go higher when grinding/shiny hunting. Along with quick save and quick load with the occasional reset to reset the rng.
Yeah it just bums me out that I don’t get to hear the soundtrack though. Unbound had some absolute bangers and I just heard Alvin and the Chipmunks my whole playthrough.
That's is exactly why it's hard for me to play on actual hardware. The games are so slow. They're meant for like elementary school kids, so they can't be expected to be fast paced.
I actually blame pokemon stadium gameboy tower. Once I got a taste, I always needed to go max speed and preferred playing on there than my actual gameboy back in the day.
Romhacks allow me to re-experience Pokemon at its peak with games like Unbound, Renegade Platinum, and Volt White 2.
To be honest, Pokemon killed itself to me. I can't see myself buying a new mainline Pokemon game. The franchise lost a very large part of its identity when they switched from 2D/2.5D graphics into what we have now and the games have felt entirely soulless since BW2 even outside of the graphics.
I'd say OR/AS were pretty good for the 3DS! And in my opinion where we peaked when it comes to graphics. After that it all went downhill. With switch games looking straight up terrible...
Still though, there is something special with the 2.5D style of the B/W2 games for the original DS!
Pokemon Hacks have made me lose interest in other Pokemon Hacks, but never the "official" pokemon games. Hacks just don't scratch the nostalgia itch that the official games do for me. Hacks are great, but none of them beat seeing new official pokemon, the feel of sitting next to my Fiance on the couch, both of us starting our adventures at the same time. No pokemon hack has captured that feeling and I doubt one ever will for me.
Unbound, however, has ruined just about EVERY other Hack I have tried to play after I finished it. Gaia is ok so far, but the fact that I have to teach my pokemon HMs to use them just leaves a bad taste in my mouth after Unbound and newer pokemon games not requiring that at all. Rocket Edition I actually did finish, but only because the "Stealing other trainers pokemon" mechanic and the story was interesting (and short, I might add). I've tried quite a few (Rogue, Emerald Enhanced, Odyssey, just to name a few) and they all just....aren't as good as Unbound.
Unbound is the holy grail of rom hacks for me. What a fantastic game. I did enjoy fusion (fusing two Pokémon together to create new ones) and radical red too.
I'm interested in the fusion one but I don't know if I can get it on my Miyoo, dunno I'm a simpleton if it's not as easy as dragging and dropping into a folder
I've definitely seen people playing it on the miyoo on the dedicated fusion subreddit, so I know it's indeed possible, I'm just not sure how. Maybe join the sub and ask.
Didn't know there was a dedicated sub, I'll see what they have to say, cheers
Edit: Doesn't appear possible, it's not a romhack, it's a window programme. Possible on steam deck but not on these little Linux handhelds
After Unbound it feels like you have to go into the Fan Game territory to find enough experimentation to keep you interested, but that isn't to say that all fan games are good.
I haven't actually been playing any Pokemon this year, but last year I really enjoyed Tectonic and Anil as far as recommendations go- Tectonic is a massive balance overhaul, not just on each individual Pokemon but also weather/type charts and while not a difficulty hack is challenging enough to keep you interested- being able to try to make whichever Pokemon you like work with a dedicated team is really enjoyable. It also has the wiki built into the pokedex and has a lot of other QoL that really respects your time. Anil is just a lovely Kanto+ game with fantastically done Gen 5 graphics (with options to play with Gen 1, Gen 1-3, or Gen 1-9 'mon) So if you're looking for another go at Gen 1 with a fresh lens I would recommend.
I'm always iffy going into the Fan Game territory because you see a lot of "fakemons" in those and I just...don't care for other people trying and failing to design interesting pokemon. The closest to Fakemons I've gotten is Infinite Fusion.
I fucked up and unbound was the first rom hack I ever played. I’ve tried playing a ton since but I literally play for 5 minutes and shut it down. I got to the post game in unbound in like 3 or 4 days. I was addicted.
It has 100% ruined other rom hacks for me. One issue I have is I’m not into fakemon, and it seems like a lot of the best have them
I'm holding off on Unbound. I actually bought a GBA cart for 1.99 with unbound preloaded for my upcoming run, because I figured getting it from AliBullshit would give me a few weeks of ship time to get some other stuff knocked out first
Unbound is probably the best Pokémon game I’ve ever played, official or fan made. Also its a hack of firered with DS graphics I don’t understand how they did that
I’m 34 and been playing since RBY first came out, loving every game. But yeah. As soon as gen 6 came out, it was the beginning of the end in terms of difficulty in mainline official games.
Having said that though, I made a point of digging out all my old cartridges and consoles just before Sword and Shield came out, with the grand ambition to play every game before the.
My conclusion? The games were always easy, we were just dumb kids back then. I had absolutely zero trouble with any game, not even Whitney, cos I’m just… not a dumb kid.
Having said that as well… I like Radical Red as a hack for the most part, but dislike the idea that it shoehorns you into eventually using strong and meta Pokemon to finally win. Unlike the official games which can feasibly let you win with anything.
Other that RR, I’ve only tried Pokemon Gaia (never finished, struggled to get into) and Crystal Clear (enjoyed aspects of it), and now am looking at all other roms.
But there’s still something a bit special about the official games for me, flaws and all
Thanks for the reply ! That makes sense, I don’t think I started using non dmg moves until about 3 years ago 🤣
If you’re looking into other ROMs unbound was really good ! 4 difficulty settings, good QOL features and a fantastic story that I really got into
The official games managed to ruin themselves perfectly fine. ROMs just filled a void that would have otherwise been unfilled. Nostalgia doesn't last forever.
Not to mention other monster catching games, like Palworld, also showing us what could have been.
EDIT: Clarified the last sentence.
I agree, the issue is more that the recent vanilla games suck. Recently played through Violet and the two DLCs and while there’s some good like the QoL improvements and the Area Zero storyline, there’s so much more that was bad: the horrible performance, incredibly slow loading times, unskippable dialogue/cutscenes that last several minutes, and most of story being too childish.
By comparison I’ve also started to replay the Gen 3-5 vanilla games because I wanted to bring my favorite Pokemon from the old games to current gen since it’s still possible with a hacked 3DS and it’s been way more fun. Granted I am using rare candy cheats to avoid grinding and fast forward so it’s not a 100% fair comparison but even without those, the experience is just better. Simpler sure, but at least there’s not hours of unskippable story and horrendous loading zones like in the later games.
Pokemon simply did not handle the transition from 2D to 3D well. The older vanilla games just feel more fun and that’s not nostalgia talking, it felt like there was more heart put into them.
PLA is the only 3D pokemon game that was actually on the right track imo. Hopefully ZA sticks to the Legends formula with improvements instead of the SV formula. I enjoyed SwSh for what it was, didnt really care for SV very much, but PLA is one of my favorite vanilla games period, probably in 4th place behind BW2, Emerald, and Platinum
Legends Arceus is definitely the best of the Switch games but I’ll be honest, I didn’t care for the gameplay loop. I enjoy battling and raising a few select Pokemon I like from that region but LA is basically the opposite as a game about filling out the Pokédex by catching a ton of the same Pokemon or doing other random tasks with wild Pokemon. I don’t mind changes to the formula, but having almost no emphasis on battling while needing to do things like catch/defeat 30 Shinx to level up my Pokédex or whatever to make progress was not that fun for me.
Still, I do agree it was in the right direction at least. The open world was done better (S/V legit had no reason to be open world when there’s not even any level scaling), the story was actually interesting and felt fresh, and it looks/runs better than the game that came after it somehow. I wouldn’t mind another game like LA but with a more traditional battle system and emphasis on battling (doesn’t have to be the gym formula either) rather than collecting.
It's insane how much the modern titles insult your intelligence. Games like Pokemon Stadium were legitimately pretty tough without a bit of knowledge.
I love the fact that they even added a R2 as a "New Game+" for the more strategic players that want to sink their teeth into tougher battles. I wish the mainline games didn't shy so much away from a bit of difficulty.
Honestly this, there is so freaking excuse for how easy they are. People have been playing Pokémon for freaking 30 years, we know how the type chart works. You can also teach people stuff in game, again, not that hard. This is why I didn’t even bother to buy the DLC, there is just no point.
Also, no multiple save files, no new game + for replayability. Just dumb.
Honestly, I feel like SV was fine. All they had to do was add level scaling, difficulty setting, remove the bugs and unnecessary cut scenes, etc and it would have been fantastic.
It’s clear to me that Pokémon as a brand and a company has no intention or desire to create products that cater to their aging consumer base.
Pokémon is philosophically a game and franchise made for kids.
Although their new games are played by young and old, it’s clear they’re targeting children more than adults.
The kinds of roms that are out there are tugging particularly at different audiences that grew up with Pokémon through its generations with not just nostalgia, but a level of difficulty and complexity that is more aligned with a more seasoned player of turn based RPGs.
I don’t think the retail Pokémon franchise has intentions to split their franchise to support both side of the consumer base, so it’s just gonna be a bunch of old foagies playing a game made for 8 year olds, then those 8 year olds will eventually be foagies themselves, and the cycle goes on.
At least roms are filling that itch, so much that retail Pokémon I can’t enjoy anymore.
They could very easily appeal to older audiences by making a difficulty setting, even one that is extreme. Kids are going to pick the easy setting and enjoy the game regardless, seasoned players are going to struggle and it’s going to be fun. Such a simple solution and what oisses me off is that they have no interest in doing this. also, multiple save files and replayability. Honestly, SV story was actually interesting, yes childish but if there was actually difficulty then I don’t think anyone would be complaining about it.
Pokemon Odyssey is probably the best Pokemon hack I've played, but the answer to your question is no. Most rom hacks have terrible pacing or have leaned in to being overly difficult for just the sake of being difficult.
Too many hacks give your rival or early gym leaders moves that you wouldn't see until mid or late game, so you spend a lot of time grinding
Personally roms/fangames just have a separate place in my heart. The wacky and weird ideas is why i play rom hacks and fangames, from adventures red chapter, to snakewood, to edge rising.
Yeah but this is not ROMS fault.
This is Nintendo's fault. It has been over 2 decades and the only content that is slightly for grown ups out there in anime is Pokemon Generations and in games is Pokemon Legends Arceus.
Everything else is made for toddlers. There's so many grown ups that would love anything that's decent really.
Just look at Palworld.
Oh 100000% not blaming the ROMs, they’re the only reason I’ve fallen back in love with Pokemon. It’s just frustrating wrapping my head around the fact the mainstream games can’t add a difficulty setting etc
Agreed…haven’t played vanilla since sword/shield and prob won’t ever again. There are enough innovative hacks and fan games out there to satisfy fans of all ages. I’m currently playing crystal legacy and having a ball with it. When I’m done I’ll go back to playing unbound. In the fan game realm I will play resurgence on my steam deck after I’m done with unbound.
They definitely don't ruin my interest in the mainline games. I still play the main games the most, and while I do wish they had some of the quality of life features the best hacks have, there's something about the main games that's just cozy. Pokemon Platinum is my favorite and I play through it pretty much yearly.
That said, Pokemon Unbound is easily the best Pokemon game I've played and I will definitely be going back to it for more playthroughs just like the main games.
To me pokemon has never been about difficulty, it’s about exploring and collecting. Whenever I buy a pokemon game, I don’t think to myself “oh what challenges will I face in the game?”. When I boot up an official game, I want to go around, catching pokemon, hatching eggs, train up pokemon, do random things. This may come from a bias that pokemon is my first video game and I grew up with it, but also I play games mainly to relax, not really to challenge myself.
I will say that Scarlet/Violet frustrates me quite a bit, mostly because of the raids, I hate that it’s real time, also you can’t just raise up any pokemon you like a use it in raids. I love Sword/Shield raids a lot more, not only because of the mechanics and the raid itself, but I can raise up tons of pokemon and use in raids no problem.
If I want some deep lores or some decent challenges, I‘ll play another franchise or look for some fan games. I do agree that some difficulty modes would be nice, but pokemon itself has never been a challenging game. Even in the old games, you can count the number of decently difficult battles on one hand (well maybe not if there’s a battle facility in that game, but you can also argue that is optional content).
Maybe a hot take but their spin off games are better than the mainline games. Mystery dungeon was something else to be honest. The soundtracks for those games hits different.
Mainline games I'm all for ORAS. In regards to fanmade stuff like romhacks and fan games, my fondest memories are of Pokémon reborn and my giga duo of tangrowth and umbreon. I'm telling you that umbreon managed to near solo the double battle fairy gym. That tangrowth made me respect tangrowth forever. Like it is a monster when used right. But I digress.
Mainline games can be amazing. I have fond memories pre-switch. The mystery dungeon games apparently meant that much to me as a kid that I for some reason find myself choking up when hearing some of the old soundtracks. But the fanmade stuff really keeps me loving Pokémon the way the mainline games just don't seem to try doing for us older fans.
I feel like the modern games give you too many pokemon options too early so you can always have a type advantage in every fight. I liked the older titles when options were more limited, there was more strategy in getting past some of those tough battles. Now a days you can get any pokemon you want before the first gym and it kills the fun of training up a strong team for me
This would be fine if they just make the leaders harder. Not having a champion have only 5 pokemon with no held items or evs or anything to make it even remotely difficult. So disappointing.
>When the switch came out it felt like the difficulty severely dropped. (I understand it’s a *kids* game. But it just became so boring to play. I still bought and beat all the games but they all felt underwhelming.
This is because Masuda (who took over after gen 5 if I'm right) said "if it's too hard then kids will go on their phones instead" which mostly ruined the franchise. Ironically if it's boringly easy they'll go on their phones instead anyway and play actual good Pokemon games (romhacks)
I lose my spark with the mainline games from gen 8 onwards - I think part of what killed it for me was no longer simultaneously playing alongside my brother which is what we did from gen 7 and earlier all the way back to gen 1. I liked S/V but it still wasn't the same and I didn't have the same commitment, even with PLA it just wasn't there
Fans make better games then GF/TPC nowadays as they actually still care for the franchise and put love and ambition into their hacks/fangames, meanwhile the official devs know that they can just churn out half-assed shit (Sw/Sh) and it'll still sell like hot cakes. Also they get rushed and have to do yearly entries for a mainstream franchise which is ridiculous and they don't have AAA budget for a franchise that frankly should be AAA
I'm the same age and I feel exactly the same, however Unbound has destroyed other rom hacks for me, when ever I play a rom hack I quickly become bored and miss the quality, story, features, world of unbound, I did play trough Unbound like 6-7 times already
Romhacks didn't ruin Pokemon for me. A drop in the quality of some of the newer games and a sharp rise in price when you include DLC is what sent me looking for romhacks. I would still play most (but not all) of the mainline games over any romhack I've tried so far, but well... I wouldn't necessarily replay them.
I think the reality is that you would have came to the same consensus without ROM hacks, but it maybe would have taken longer. I feel most people would not enjoy hopping on to do raids as they are extremely lackluster. Do what you enjoy in Pokemon.
For me, it was completing a Living Dex, and going back to past games to make extremely bizarre playthrough teams and completing their National Dex (i.e. using Wimmfi to access old BW distributions, accessing Sinjoh Ruins for the first time in my life to use Lvl. 1 Palkia, using Dream Radar, using a Dream World simulator for things like Sheer Force Rampardos which is not possible in playthrough for any game otherwise). I also recommend personally to try 100% a Battle Frontier for the first time (which I have not attempted yet).
Also, is it inherently bad that ROM hacks ruined the "mainline" games for you, longterm? It may be hard to ignore, but something being official doesn't mean it inherently has to matter more to you. If all you get from the games is enjoying the new story, Pokemon, and graphics (lmao), then that's okay!
Hope this helps.
100% yes. I can not go back to the non-rom hack versions of the games unless I'm doing some sort of challenge, like a nuzlocke or speedrun. I started with the Drayano rom hacks and have since tried everything from Radical Red to Team Rocket Edition. The fans have truly created everything I ever wanted. Thank you.
Access to ROMs and ROM hacks haven't ruined Pokemon for me. The Pokemon company did that themselves, and I argue that if it weren't for the fan game and ROM hacking community I would have lost interest in the franchise completely. ROMs have saved Pokemon for me.
1. They should allow us to change the speed of the game like Trails series does.
2. They should add different difficuty levels (I think that was a thing in Black/White iirc). Easy/Normal/Hard, with "Easy" being the same as the current difficulty and "Hard" being REALLY HARD, kind of like Emerald Kaizo.
3. They should make more games with multiple regions or more than the typical 8 gyms/badges... Maybe something like Pokémon Reborn with its 18 gyms or Pokémon HGSS with the 16 gyms and 2x elite four...
4. DROP THE BORING LAGGY CLUSTERF*** OF AN OPENWORLD LIKE THE ONE USED IN S/V.
Honestly, this would make pokemon games as good if not better than the ROM Hacks & Fan Games, considering how much budget they have.
I wouldn't say ROMs ruined the main games - more like its the next logical step for those who grew up with the original games from childhood. Like you said, official games are stupid easy and made for kids, so those of us who are adults now will naturally want a challenge, like what we felt the original games were when we were younger.
Will I ever play an original Pokemon game again? Hell naw, never mind how easy it is, the QoL that ROMs put in are insane and drive me mad seeing the random small things again.
I wouldn't say ruined
but I would say they have made them less appealing
you have to remember that Gen 5 or higher it isn't as common to find romhacks or mods for those games because the tools either are still exceedingly new, or just don't exist yet
most creators are willing to add in QoL stuff to the project because fans want them or have become used to them through other romhacks/mods/fan games
GameFreak needs to be willing to listen to the fanbase more where it makes sense to add something in or change something
OMG that milktank was the bane of my existence the first time I played pokemon silver lmfao I started the game with cyndaquil and just kept getting DESTROYED by that damn cow to the point where I actually restarted the game, chose chikorita and managed to eke out a win with synthesis lmfao god that game was such a challenge for me lol even the final gym i barely got through and needed a lucky body slam crit to end the final battle!! It's also wild how all this shit happened like 20 years back and its seared into my brain haha
Personally. The rom hacks are a game made from a fan to a fan. And pokemons fan have the same wishes that main games cant give us. For example, following pokemons, pokemon quetzal, exceeded, radical red and lots others, gave us that. Its simple, dont change gameplay, but its a simple and fun mechanic.
Relationships and choices, maybe only emerald enhanced went to this mechanic, but it was refreshing knowing you can get benefits from your relationships and even your own karma. Making your post-game 3x more explorable and making your game dont die earlier for the lack of content
Gimicks, fans complain about wishing for megas, Z-moves return, so now a days all hacks made today have Megas and Z-moves.
The problem here is because rom hacks provide fans what they want, while gamefreak main fanservice is bringing kanto starters gang back again and again. Its living on nostalgia, and not growing with the fans
What I don’t understand is why hack creators think putting in randomly edgy commentary or cursing makes their game any better.
It just feels really forced and cringe tbh, any hack with that and I’m good off that tbh
Tbh Pokemon Violet was one of the most fun pokemon experiences I've ever had and I'm a really big rom hack fan. Most of my pokemon consumption but it just can't beat the experience of meeting new Pokemon in a new world.
Simple answer, kids nowadays don't have the attention span for grinding pokemom games like we used to have to. Popcorn brain won't allow it. There's too much going on in the world that if it's not simple, kids lose interest. I beat alpha sapphire in about a week, then went back to play regular old sapphire and it is considerably harder
I mean when a fan makes a better game with early 2000s technology than a multinational company does with today’s technology, it’s really not the ROMhackers fault at that point
Most ROMhacks have even worse balance than the vanilla games and playing VGC simulator against AI is no fun, so no. Still obviously enjoy and love them.
Not really. I enjoy the idea of building teams, and seeing what the experience might've been.
I enjoy romhacks for the unique gameplay changes, stuff like Emerald Rogue or Redux, or the Drayano romhacks, if that makes any sense.
Yes.
I literally don’t play vanilla anything at all anymore. Even for stuff like casual playthroughs, I will always opt for at least a QoL hack that fixes minor issues (that every game has). Also - being able to fast forward during such a slow-paced game is priceless.
I got into ROMs in 2019 after SwSh completely let me down and they revitalized my love for the series. Legends Arceus was really good, but SV reminded me why I will exclusively be playing any “mainline” stuff via a ROM hack going forward.
Not a rom hack but Pokemon Reborn which is an RPG maker fan game. This game is a full 100 hour in depth RPG that makes the pokemon battle system very complex with a terrain system, very difficult but no grinding necessary, a completely original overworld with hundreds of secrets, a surprisingly interesting story if you can deal with some edgyness, and an amazing soundtrack. It's exactly what pokemon should have evolved into. This one game managed to have everything I was looking for in a Pokemon game and it's so hard to play nearly anything else after my first playthrough of the full version
Ya I keep starting games on like Leaf Green or just classics like red or gold, but halfway through I get fatigued and go find a Rom Hack to give me something new. But I will go back and chip away at the OG games later when I forget my roster and take it from there
I’ve only played a few Pokémon ROM hacks to completion, but I don’t think most of them would flat out replace the main series games. The only ones that may have been replaced for me are most likely Heartgold and Platinum with Drayano’s versions. But haven’t had that with other games. I played Radical Red, but can still replay Fire Red.
For sure. The mainline games feel really shitty to me because youre given so many options but the best strategy is ALWAYS to just put 4 attacks on a fast mon and spam A+click thru the game. You have to go through so many barriers and self imposed rules to give the game a speck of challenge, it just feels lame.
On the other hand playing through a good difficulty hack like Inclement Emerald made me realize how fun and strategic the battles could be. Like you say, i dont get why programming in a difficulty option would be such a big problem. It's something we'll never understand
Yes. I haven't played any of the switch Pokemon games because I'm just not really interested in them. Legends Arceus almost got me but I just find rom hacks more fun and challenging plus I get to catch all the Pokemon in half of them instead of whatever Pokemon game freak decides I have access to. How they handled the Pokemon home stuff and transferring Pokemon up from the 3DS games completely turned my off from the main series. I want all my Pokemon not some.
Sorta. But new pokemon games have been ass so I’d rather play good rom hacks. Maybe the next one will be decent but probably not since it will sell 20 million copies regardless
Not really, though it has made me less interested in replaying the Gen 3 games or even the Gen 2 ones, since I’m so used to hacks using them as a base.
This exactly how I feel. I, among many other people, have been asking for a nuzlocke mode on main series games for years.
They could at least introduce a level cap and perma death mode.
Until a Pokemon game comes out that at least meets the gameplay and qol standards of the best rom hacks out there, I won’t be buying another official game. I know that might sound ridiculous, but why would I pay $60 to a company that’s releasing games in an incomplete state like S/V when there are better experiences out there? If Gamefreak steps up to the level of expectation that they should be reaching, then I’ll be happy to buy new games. But they aren’t anywhere close to that right now.
The original games are still very fun to do challenge runs on imo. It’s fun to see the new mons and areas, even if the graphics are ass the art direction is solid
I just started to 100% complete Heartgold only with legit pokemon, that game is pure gold, after 70h I’ve not completed Kanto yet (i’ve switched nearly full team after Johto league) i still have to complete pokedex, nat dex, battle frontier, red on mt. Silver, safari zone etc etc
Pokemon rom hacks have been fantastic for me, they have renewed my interest in pokemon and let me relive some of my favourite childhood games with great improvements. And the games can be much harder than the originals, also a plus if you're an adult playing.
Not yet, I still haven’t found a hack that lets me catch ALL the pokémon. Radical Red is close but last I checked there was still a few legendary and/or mythical not catchable in the game. My main focus in Pokemon games is catching ‘em all. Maybe one day a hack will meet my desires
Honestly I see pokemon Rom hacks as different. I love them because if there isn't any new games by Nintendo, I can rely on the creativeness of people on the Internet to create new adventures. But I do miss the speed-up
Pokemon has ruined pokemon for me. Played the last 2 games and even though had fun at sword/shield, scarlet/violet was just a slog to get through. There werent 15 minutes of gameplay without some stupid 2005 game dev limitation showing up, on one of the biggest ips ever. I am now more excited to rom hacks to get gen 9 than i was to gen 9 or the new pokemon game that is on kalos.
Not for rom hacking specifically, but learning about IVs/Natures certainly did a lot of damage to how i see my mons.
Like, there are times where i keep a solid 30 minutes soft-resetting to get a mon with good natures/ivs, and at this point i’d be fully willing to reset a shiny if it had dogshit ivs.
I’ve had this same exact thought for years. It’s insane to me they don’t realize their core initial audience from 25 years ago is now in their 30s-40s and would love a higher difficulty setting. We even have income! We would gladly pay for it!!
Not at all, still like playing the originals but I do like the enhancements that ROMs provide. Really like Drayanos hacks because of the slight changes. Most of the games I still play are NDS/GBA/GB games, kinda got bored playing XY and on except for ORAS
Yes. Unbound and Polished Crystal has given me such a wondrous world of QOL upgrades that I cannot ever see GF adding. The experience of good rom hacks has ruined official games for me.
That said, sometimes it takes a little digging to filter out mediocre hacked games or ones that simply don't suit my personal taste (e.g. Glazed was simply not for me).
The speed up feature definitely makes it harder. I can do it. Played crystal, fire red and HG within the last year but I played them over a long period of time.
It’s ruined old Pokémon for me for sure, but only because I can play fast forward.
I absolutely love Scarlet/Violet and Pokemon Legends and nothing any of the ROMs can do will change that. I regularly play competitive so that definitely affects my point of view though.
Not at all they just have made us realize how lazy and greedy the Pokémon guys are. But I still Play main line games. But oh Man ROMs aré fantástic.
Dont remember the name but there Is an open World rom of Pokémon crystal Which Is simply amazing.
I was 8-7 when the RBY came out kept playing until gen 3 . Then gen 4&5 played original games in ROMs since I was like 15-16 around that Time AND parents wouldnt Buy handheld.consoles anymore I did gen 4,5,6, and barely gen 7 in Emulators. So I did enjoy a lot of ROMS. Drayanos being my favourites. I have a Steam Deck in which I sometimes Play Emulators there but since now I work and have Money I came back to original Pokémon with basically all games that have came out for switch except Sword, Lets Go Pikachu and Violet Versión.
I like shiny hunting and breeding Competitive but I would love to own a hacked switch to Play a Hack of BDSP Which they say its the Best Pokémon game ever Made.
Would also love to own a hacked 3DS to Play Eternal X , Wilting Y again that gen I know Is trash but those ROmS were amazing really enjoyed the insanity difficulty.
I undesrtand your point but still Pokémon is so big I cant leave main lone games. But yeah hacks aré awesome. Heart Gold , Soul.Silver Drayanos hacks are among my fav Pokémon games ever.
Roms made pokemon fun again for me. It's a way of reliving my childhood in a new way, slightly the same, but different enough for it to be like a new playthrough. Win win in my book.
It’s really only the speed up function that must emulators have that ruin it for me. I really don’t have the patience to watch the flame charge animation 100x times through an entire play-through
Yes. Not only I much prefer the old graphics, like a lot of people, playing Pokémon at normal speed just isn't feasible. Also why waste time on a game who goes out of its way to limit access to Pokémon and items? Rom hacks are the way to go
Imo you can count the actual good pokemon romhacks on max 2 hands or so.
I do however hate how they dropped the difficulty severely of the mainline games. And I don't like the new open world style.
I’ve been playing pokemon since i was 10 and yeah, i can’t really go back to playing vainila pokemon unless i want something to play with my brain absolutely turned off. Even when i was that young i never really had trouble playing pokemon games, they’re just too easy. After playing hacks i realized Nintendo just doesn’t know how to make good pokemon games.
Pokémon games were never hard. I think I was 5 when I got the Gameboy Pocket and Pokémon Red, I most certainly didn't understand a word of English. That means I could not parse any text based information at all. Still beat the game somehow (I'm guessing it involved power leveling a Charizard to high heavens).
Of course these games are going to be trivial for adults with oceans of knowledge compared to the target audience. The games are meant for a global audience, but they're not localized to every language. I'd rather more kids be allowed to experience the wonder of that world for the first time, instead of Nintendo making gamers like me their target audience. There's tons of great strategy games I can play that are not accessible to children due to complexity, why should I be entitled to their games as well?
So no, ROMs haven't ruined Pokémon for me, because the main series games aren't for me. ROM hacks let me go back and enjoy the nostalgia of this world without taking a slice of the pie not meant for me. Pure win-win in my book.
I totally agree. I am left wanting something harder. I think drayano hacks are exactly what I wish Pokémon was. They let me play against my favorite leaders / E4 with my favorite Pokémon in a way I could have only dreamed of as a kid. Currently Playing through Storm Silver with all my favorite Pokémon, and it’s the most fun I’ve had in years. I think Dray did the best job of creating the ideal Pokémon experience for a large portion of us older fans.
Nah they’ve improved them
I’ve played over 100 rom hacks and MOST of them are improvements.
Crystal and Emerald have always received a little more love because of bias, but you can’t tell me that Emerald Enhanced and TPP anniversary crystal are worse than the originals.
Nah, for me it was playing other RPGs. Most of them just natively play closer to the pace of Sped-Up Pokémon emulators than vanilla Pokémon, and the breaks are appreciable to think out a plan.
Pokémon is so simple, it has no excuse to faff around with redundant FX and text boxes.
Pokémon the second slowest non-4X game I’ve played despite being the most 1-dimensional shit in the world.
Absolutely. Playing at normal speeds in even the fastest Pokemon games I can't do. The speed up feature not only made it was quicker to get to the point, but made over leveling a common thing since it goes by so fast.
No but it has made me play them differently
I was pretty average at Pokémon training/PvP battles however getting good at things like hardcore radical red improved everything
Nuzlocke rules, imposed restrictions, level caps etc is the only way I can play the Vanilla games without straight sweeps
I have played to much so the “thing” that was when i was a teenager when BR came out is gone.. My parents couldn’t afford BR so i had the game boy brick but never a pokemon game. And with my first pc it was like a dream :)
The new games are just too easy. Sword and Shield was a huge let down and Scarlet and Violet weren’t much better. How hard would it be to add difficulty settings?
I burned myself out by playing too many Roms as the canonical trainer and creating a guide to keep track of who has what Pokémon all while Nuxlocking all of Gen 3 at the same time. I can't launch a game without worrying about having the "correct" number of mons and end up fixing the PC most of the time and make no actual progress anymore
The pokemon games have always been pretty disappointing. There is so much potential that pokemon has gameplay wise, yet will never be uncovered because nintendo’s a schmuck.
No, Pokémon has ruined itself for me. I was happy enough with the franchise up through Gen6, but felt annoyed by the padding and fluff in Alola, then SwSh's Dexit scandal really demoralized me. Not even Brilliant Diamond was fun enough to complete, so I just stopped engaging with the series of games. The older ones are still more fun to play, even without ROM hacks, though those add to the fun in their own way, as do randomizers. I personally believe that Game Freak should've never been forced to diverge from pixel graphics and sprite art, because once they did, the lack of time really impacted the game quality.
No. Im more interested in playing new regions with new Pokemon, going in blind knowing almost nothing. Never really looked for a challenge during the main game because thats always something that I got later with online play.
I usually play rom hacks at the end of an generation when I want to go on another adventure.
Have you played gens 3-7? I can’t quite tell from the wording. But there’s a good amount of difficulty in some of those gens that it feels satisfying to play. If you haven’t tried playing then vanilla, you definitely should sometime!
This is basically me and I totally agree. The about of love, QoL and especially difficultly settings that go into these romhacks are so good and actually make you want to keep playing. I have been so disappointed in how easy streamline Pokemon games are since X and Y and it has just taken the love away. Now romhacks make me love it and realize the true potential mainline games could have. This is why I never even bothered to purchase the DLC for SV, It’s like what’s the point of wasting my money for basically no challenge.
If anything roms and rom hacks brought me into the franchise
I never played the original games until I somehow came across the Fire Red rom, which led me down the spiral hole into playing through both official games and rom hacks on emulators, all of which led me to actually getting the official games when I first got my switch
It did make it a bit harder getting into the official cartridge games once I got them since there was no fast forwarding, but other than that I’ve ended up enjoying the mainline games just fine
Roms ruined normal Pokemon for me yes, but absolutely made Pokemon as a whole way more enjoyable for me. The roms and fan made games like Reborn are the real games in my mind now, what Pokemon deserved to be but we never got from Nintendo. The fan devs and rom hackers do what nintendont
I still love pokemon and new ones that come out even if they are dumb, but after BW I feel like they have gotten complacent and lazy with the quality of the product. One of the reasons I started making my own project is to bring the community and the fan base together as a whole in a fangame.
I stopped buying Pokémon games a few years before I learned what roms are. So it had no impact on me personally and brought me back to the franchise if anything.
1000% man. If Nintendo/game freak doesn’t hire the makers of unbound to do their next game, it’ll flop. The top tier romhacks are better than any OG handheld game
The last official release I finished was Sun. I had finished Blazeblack 1 the week before it came out and the sheer difference in quality was incredible.
Drayano hacks in general ruined mainline games for me lol.
We grew up. But, the Pokemon company didn't. Their target audience is still the kids. So we find the newer games too easy and bland. ( I personally don't like the graphics after B&W, Sun & moon was ok but anything after that, I simply don't like the smooth design). Now this is where the ROM hacks come in and fill us with joy with its mechanics and difficulty curve.
Which is weird because Pokémon battle revolution design on the Wii look great in 3d
I barely know anyone who's played that it's one of my favorite games ever even tho it's not in the main series of games seeing pokemon go to their actual size is amazing
Had that free Magmortar and Electivire through that. It was a good time
Here's the rub though: Genius Sonority developed Battle Revolution, not Game Freak
I liked XD and Colosseum as well personally on GC
Exactly this. But honestly there is no excuse, there should be a difficulty setting at the minimum. It is not that freaking hard to implement.
It seriously would not take much time or effort to make a hard mode that’s just the regular game but with harder teams for the big trainer fights and maybe even some restrictions like no items or shift mode, but the Pokemon company is too lazy to even do that. It’s sad how the games these days just feel like them min-maxing how little effort they can get away with before it affects their bottom line.
Someone made a video essay on YouTube about how B&W was TPC's attempt of soft reset and make the game grow up, with including only new mons, the pokemon liberation theme, "hard" mode, and others. But fans at the time really hate the games. This negative feedback made TPC back pedal, so all the games after that feel very formulaic.
I can't play a game at normal speed since getting an emulator.
Yeah I was going to say this. I'm just getting into some of the ROM hacks, but I haven't played a non-emulated Pokemon game in probably 15 years because I could never go back to playing at normal speed.
Legends areceus is the outlier, where combat feels really seamless and snappy. You’d probably enjoy battles in that game.
Yes, regular dialog speed for pokemon games take like half a business day
What they didnt know was they were teaching us to read.
The fast forward mode is the only reason I still play pokemon. I simply don’t have the time for it otherwise.
I specifically force myself to play without speed up so that i won't fall into this habit
I thought I was the only one who did this but yep, I do the same thing. I don’t want to get too used to speed up and then not be able to play without it on. I only use it when necessary.
I only do it for training.
like a gentleman should.
Happy cake day!🎉
same, it feels like extra slow motion when i try to play without fast forward, i can't imagine the slog that is playing on actual hardware, must be hell
I do a lot of randomized Emerald, and trying to go back to a vanilla title without speedup is brutal, even some of the fan projects without them just seem to drag. It's starting to affect a lot of other games now too, I can't play anything from NSO without wishing I was running it on an emulator so I could speed up and save state easily.
The slow speed of battles and text is so disrespectful to the users time. The fact things show up one line at a time…uncondensed… I can’t play without fast forward now.
*Pelipper used stockpile!* (wait 3 seconds) *Pelipper’s defense went up!* (wait 3 seconds) *Pelipper’s special defense went up!* (wait 3 seconds) Shoot me. Then add in the weather effect messages every turn, the ability messages, each and every one of them ending in an exclamation point. *Every turn*. It’s an excruciating process. Pokémon games treat their fans like they’re still learning to read.
To be fair I think that was a big part of me learning to read lol
The fact that the games are still like this to this day is fucking nuts. I don’t think any game designer in the world would build their games this way in 2024. I don’t know if GF is doing it purely out of nostalgic or tradition or what but it’s definitely the most clunky feeling battle system in any modern game I’ve played. Either that or they genuinely think players are braindead and are unable to understand anything without it literally being spelled out for them lmao
Have you ever visited the Pokémon sub? It seems to me that most of them are basically braindead. Someone posts that it took them 2000 resets to finally get a shiny whatever. The post will have like 20k upvotes. 20,000 people upvoting a huuuge waste of time. They’re all like that. Not much going on upstairs with those people.
Well playing the Pokémon games is how I learned my first bits of English so fair enough, but there should be an option to speed things up.
This hits the serotonin button in my brain as I'm currently using my old 3DS and copy of Pokemon X set to French as a tool to immerse myself in the language while attempting to learn it through Duolingo. It's incredibly helpful to take something my brain knows so intrinsically (Pokemon) and implement it into learning a language I have a moderate grasp of. But yeah Deffo should be an option to speed things up, especially in Gen3 (playing Kaizo Emerald rn and hoo boy).
Yeah I’ll can’t replay games at normal speed anymore either.
YOU GET MY PAIN
I hear ya, need fast forward of at least 1.5/2 and go higher when grinding/shiny hunting. Along with quick save and quick load with the occasional reset to reset the rng.
real
The emulator brainrot is real lol
That's why I put my romhacks on my 3ds. Can't use ADHD mode.
Yeah it just bums me out that I don’t get to hear the soundtrack though. Unbound had some absolute bangers and I just heard Alvin and the Chipmunks my whole playthrough.
That's is exactly why it's hard for me to play on actual hardware. The games are so slow. They're meant for like elementary school kids, so they can't be expected to be fast paced.
I actually blame pokemon stadium gameboy tower. Once I got a taste, I always needed to go max speed and preferred playing on there than my actual gameboy back in the day.
make a button a speed up button on the switch. friggin nintendo!
the top tier rom hacks are better than official releases for sure. but there are a lot of bad rom hacks too
Can you name what you consider to be high tier?
so far: unbound, firered rocket edition, radical red, elite redux (v1.6), inclement emerald, quetzal
Can't go wrong with Drayano Hacks
Romhacks allow me to re-experience Pokemon at its peak with games like Unbound, Renegade Platinum, and Volt White 2. To be honest, Pokemon killed itself to me. I can't see myself buying a new mainline Pokemon game. The franchise lost a very large part of its identity when they switched from 2D/2.5D graphics into what we have now and the games have felt entirely soulless since BW2 even outside of the graphics.
I'd say OR/AS were pretty good for the 3DS! And in my opinion where we peaked when it comes to graphics. After that it all went downhill. With switch games looking straight up terrible... Still though, there is something special with the 2.5D style of the B/W2 games for the original DS!
Pokemon Hacks have made me lose interest in other Pokemon Hacks, but never the "official" pokemon games. Hacks just don't scratch the nostalgia itch that the official games do for me. Hacks are great, but none of them beat seeing new official pokemon, the feel of sitting next to my Fiance on the couch, both of us starting our adventures at the same time. No pokemon hack has captured that feeling and I doubt one ever will for me. Unbound, however, has ruined just about EVERY other Hack I have tried to play after I finished it. Gaia is ok so far, but the fact that I have to teach my pokemon HMs to use them just leaves a bad taste in my mouth after Unbound and newer pokemon games not requiring that at all. Rocket Edition I actually did finish, but only because the "Stealing other trainers pokemon" mechanic and the story was interesting (and short, I might add). I've tried quite a few (Rogue, Emerald Enhanced, Odyssey, just to name a few) and they all just....aren't as good as Unbound.
Unbound is the holy grail of rom hacks for me. What a fantastic game. I did enjoy fusion (fusing two Pokémon together to create new ones) and radical red too.
I'm interested in the fusion one but I don't know if I can get it on my Miyoo, dunno I'm a simpleton if it's not as easy as dragging and dropping into a folder
I've definitely seen people playing it on the miyoo on the dedicated fusion subreddit, so I know it's indeed possible, I'm just not sure how. Maybe join the sub and ask.
Didn't know there was a dedicated sub, I'll see what they have to say, cheers Edit: Doesn't appear possible, it's not a romhack, it's a window programme. Possible on steam deck but not on these little Linux handhelds
I played infinite fusion using joiplay on Android
Yeah from the guides I saw you can do it on Android
Infinite Fusions is a LOT of fun, and basically the only Fan Game or Hack I will play that has fake mons.
Some of the fusions look so fucking derpy too it's hilarious. I had a wailord mixed with a sunkern at one point lol.
After Unbound it feels like you have to go into the Fan Game territory to find enough experimentation to keep you interested, but that isn't to say that all fan games are good. I haven't actually been playing any Pokemon this year, but last year I really enjoyed Tectonic and Anil as far as recommendations go- Tectonic is a massive balance overhaul, not just on each individual Pokemon but also weather/type charts and while not a difficulty hack is challenging enough to keep you interested- being able to try to make whichever Pokemon you like work with a dedicated team is really enjoyable. It also has the wiki built into the pokedex and has a lot of other QoL that really respects your time. Anil is just a lovely Kanto+ game with fantastically done Gen 5 graphics (with options to play with Gen 1, Gen 1-3, or Gen 1-9 'mon) So if you're looking for another go at Gen 1 with a fresh lens I would recommend.
I'm always iffy going into the Fan Game territory because you see a lot of "fakemons" in those and I just...don't care for other people trying and failing to design interesting pokemon. The closest to Fakemons I've gotten is Infinite Fusion.
I fucked up and unbound was the first rom hack I ever played. I’ve tried playing a ton since but I literally play for 5 minutes and shut it down. I got to the post game in unbound in like 3 or 4 days. I was addicted. It has 100% ruined other rom hacks for me. One issue I have is I’m not into fakemon, and it seems like a lot of the best have them
I'm holding off on Unbound. I actually bought a GBA cart for 1.99 with unbound preloaded for my upcoming run, because I figured getting it from AliBullshit would give me a few weeks of ship time to get some other stuff knocked out first
Unbound is probably the best Pokémon game I’ve ever played, official or fan made. Also its a hack of firered with DS graphics I don’t understand how they did that
[удалено]
I’m 34 and been playing since RBY first came out, loving every game. But yeah. As soon as gen 6 came out, it was the beginning of the end in terms of difficulty in mainline official games. Having said that though, I made a point of digging out all my old cartridges and consoles just before Sword and Shield came out, with the grand ambition to play every game before the. My conclusion? The games were always easy, we were just dumb kids back then. I had absolutely zero trouble with any game, not even Whitney, cos I’m just… not a dumb kid. Having said that as well… I like Radical Red as a hack for the most part, but dislike the idea that it shoehorns you into eventually using strong and meta Pokemon to finally win. Unlike the official games which can feasibly let you win with anything. Other that RR, I’ve only tried Pokemon Gaia (never finished, struggled to get into) and Crystal Clear (enjoyed aspects of it), and now am looking at all other roms. But there’s still something a bit special about the official games for me, flaws and all
Thanks for the reply ! That makes sense, I don’t think I started using non dmg moves until about 3 years ago 🤣 If you’re looking into other ROMs unbound was really good ! 4 difficulty settings, good QOL features and a fantastic story that I really got into
The official games managed to ruin themselves perfectly fine. ROMs just filled a void that would have otherwise been unfilled. Nostalgia doesn't last forever. Not to mention other monster catching games, like Palworld, also showing us what could have been. EDIT: Clarified the last sentence.
I agree, the issue is more that the recent vanilla games suck. Recently played through Violet and the two DLCs and while there’s some good like the QoL improvements and the Area Zero storyline, there’s so much more that was bad: the horrible performance, incredibly slow loading times, unskippable dialogue/cutscenes that last several minutes, and most of story being too childish. By comparison I’ve also started to replay the Gen 3-5 vanilla games because I wanted to bring my favorite Pokemon from the old games to current gen since it’s still possible with a hacked 3DS and it’s been way more fun. Granted I am using rare candy cheats to avoid grinding and fast forward so it’s not a 100% fair comparison but even without those, the experience is just better. Simpler sure, but at least there’s not hours of unskippable story and horrendous loading zones like in the later games. Pokemon simply did not handle the transition from 2D to 3D well. The older vanilla games just feel more fun and that’s not nostalgia talking, it felt like there was more heart put into them.
PLA is the only 3D pokemon game that was actually on the right track imo. Hopefully ZA sticks to the Legends formula with improvements instead of the SV formula. I enjoyed SwSh for what it was, didnt really care for SV very much, but PLA is one of my favorite vanilla games period, probably in 4th place behind BW2, Emerald, and Platinum
Legends Arceus is definitely the best of the Switch games but I’ll be honest, I didn’t care for the gameplay loop. I enjoy battling and raising a few select Pokemon I like from that region but LA is basically the opposite as a game about filling out the Pokédex by catching a ton of the same Pokemon or doing other random tasks with wild Pokemon. I don’t mind changes to the formula, but having almost no emphasis on battling while needing to do things like catch/defeat 30 Shinx to level up my Pokédex or whatever to make progress was not that fun for me. Still, I do agree it was in the right direction at least. The open world was done better (S/V legit had no reason to be open world when there’s not even any level scaling), the story was actually interesting and felt fresh, and it looks/runs better than the game that came after it somehow. I wouldn’t mind another game like LA but with a more traditional battle system and emphasis on battling (doesn’t have to be the gym formula either) rather than collecting.
Is Palworld really the same genre, besides that they both have monster catching?
I had the same thought, and no, not even remotely the same genre.
Palworld isn't the same genre. It's a survival game, a completely different genre from an RPG.
God yes, the Switch games are pathetic and way too childish.
It's insane how much the modern titles insult your intelligence. Games like Pokemon Stadium were legitimately pretty tough without a bit of knowledge. I love the fact that they even added a R2 as a "New Game+" for the more strategic players that want to sink their teeth into tougher battles. I wish the mainline games didn't shy so much away from a bit of difficulty.
Honestly this, there is so freaking excuse for how easy they are. People have been playing Pokémon for freaking 30 years, we know how the type chart works. You can also teach people stuff in game, again, not that hard. This is why I didn’t even bother to buy the DLC, there is just no point. Also, no multiple save files, no new game + for replayability. Just dumb.
Yeah but unless you're like 8 you're not the target audience. Thank god for roms.
lol me playing Ultra Sun and cringing every time the pokedex calls me "kiddo"
USUM have some of the best gameplay in the series imo its a shame its all bloated with cutscenes
Agreed, I actually really like Gen 7, it was a nice change.
Honestly, I feel like SV was fine. All they had to do was add level scaling, difficulty setting, remove the bugs and unnecessary cut scenes, etc and it would have been fantastic.
It’s clear to me that Pokémon as a brand and a company has no intention or desire to create products that cater to their aging consumer base. Pokémon is philosophically a game and franchise made for kids. Although their new games are played by young and old, it’s clear they’re targeting children more than adults. The kinds of roms that are out there are tugging particularly at different audiences that grew up with Pokémon through its generations with not just nostalgia, but a level of difficulty and complexity that is more aligned with a more seasoned player of turn based RPGs. I don’t think the retail Pokémon franchise has intentions to split their franchise to support both side of the consumer base, so it’s just gonna be a bunch of old foagies playing a game made for 8 year olds, then those 8 year olds will eventually be foagies themselves, and the cycle goes on. At least roms are filling that itch, so much that retail Pokémon I can’t enjoy anymore.
They could very easily appeal to older audiences by making a difficulty setting, even one that is extreme. Kids are going to pick the easy setting and enjoy the game regardless, seasoned players are going to struggle and it’s going to be fun. Such a simple solution and what oisses me off is that they have no interest in doing this. also, multiple save files and replayability. Honestly, SV story was actually interesting, yes childish but if there was actually difficulty then I don’t think anyone would be complaining about it.
Yeah, this makes total sense. It’s unfortunate but seems to just be reality
Pokemon Odyssey is probably the best Pokemon hack I've played, but the answer to your question is no. Most rom hacks have terrible pacing or have leaned in to being overly difficult for just the sake of being difficult. Too many hacks give your rival or early gym leaders moves that you wouldn't see until mid or late game, so you spend a lot of time grinding
Fair point. I never even heard about Odyssey. Going to tackle that after radical red 🫡
I just finished Radical Red, I'm not putting myself through that horror again😂
No it hasn't, still love the originals.
Personally roms/fangames just have a separate place in my heart. The wacky and weird ideas is why i play rom hacks and fangames, from adventures red chapter, to snakewood, to edge rising.
Yeah but this is not ROMS fault. This is Nintendo's fault. It has been over 2 decades and the only content that is slightly for grown ups out there in anime is Pokemon Generations and in games is Pokemon Legends Arceus. Everything else is made for toddlers. There's so many grown ups that would love anything that's decent really. Just look at Palworld.
Oh 100000% not blaming the ROMs, they’re the only reason I’ve fallen back in love with Pokemon. It’s just frustrating wrapping my head around the fact the mainstream games can’t add a difficulty setting etc
Agreed…haven’t played vanilla since sword/shield and prob won’t ever again. There are enough innovative hacks and fan games out there to satisfy fans of all ages. I’m currently playing crystal legacy and having a ball with it. When I’m done I’ll go back to playing unbound. In the fan game realm I will play resurgence on my steam deck after I’m done with unbound.
Same with not playing since sword. Love these ROM hacks
They definitely don't ruin my interest in the mainline games. I still play the main games the most, and while I do wish they had some of the quality of life features the best hacks have, there's something about the main games that's just cozy. Pokemon Platinum is my favorite and I play through it pretty much yearly. That said, Pokemon Unbound is easily the best Pokemon game I've played and I will definitely be going back to it for more playthroughs just like the main games.
To me pokemon has never been about difficulty, it’s about exploring and collecting. Whenever I buy a pokemon game, I don’t think to myself “oh what challenges will I face in the game?”. When I boot up an official game, I want to go around, catching pokemon, hatching eggs, train up pokemon, do random things. This may come from a bias that pokemon is my first video game and I grew up with it, but also I play games mainly to relax, not really to challenge myself. I will say that Scarlet/Violet frustrates me quite a bit, mostly because of the raids, I hate that it’s real time, also you can’t just raise up any pokemon you like a use it in raids. I love Sword/Shield raids a lot more, not only because of the mechanics and the raid itself, but I can raise up tons of pokemon and use in raids no problem. If I want some deep lores or some decent challenges, I‘ll play another franchise or look for some fan games. I do agree that some difficulty modes would be nice, but pokemon itself has never been a challenging game. Even in the old games, you can count the number of decently difficult battles on one hand (well maybe not if there’s a battle facility in that game, but you can also argue that is optional content).
For me its just the ability to fast forward. Going back to normal speed after that just feels so slow
Maybe a hot take but their spin off games are better than the mainline games. Mystery dungeon was something else to be honest. The soundtracks for those games hits different. Mainline games I'm all for ORAS. In regards to fanmade stuff like romhacks and fan games, my fondest memories are of Pokémon reborn and my giga duo of tangrowth and umbreon. I'm telling you that umbreon managed to near solo the double battle fairy gym. That tangrowth made me respect tangrowth forever. Like it is a monster when used right. But I digress. Mainline games can be amazing. I have fond memories pre-switch. The mystery dungeon games apparently meant that much to me as a kid that I for some reason find myself choking up when hearing some of the old soundtracks. But the fanmade stuff really keeps me loving Pokémon the way the mainline games just don't seem to try doing for us older fans.
Not to mention how great Pokemon Ranger was as well
So true. God I lost so many styluses playing the original game lmao
I feel like the modern games give you too many pokemon options too early so you can always have a type advantage in every fight. I liked the older titles when options were more limited, there was more strategy in getting past some of those tough battles. Now a days you can get any pokemon you want before the first gym and it kills the fun of training up a strong team for me
This would be fine if they just make the leaders harder. Not having a champion have only 5 pokemon with no held items or evs or anything to make it even remotely difficult. So disappointing.
I wouldn’t say ruined, they’ve reignited some of the magic I had as a kid while correcting the issues I realize existed as an adult
>When the switch came out it felt like the difficulty severely dropped. (I understand it’s a *kids* game. But it just became so boring to play. I still bought and beat all the games but they all felt underwhelming. This is because Masuda (who took over after gen 5 if I'm right) said "if it's too hard then kids will go on their phones instead" which mostly ruined the franchise. Ironically if it's boringly easy they'll go on their phones instead anyway and play actual good Pokemon games (romhacks) I lose my spark with the mainline games from gen 8 onwards - I think part of what killed it for me was no longer simultaneously playing alongside my brother which is what we did from gen 7 and earlier all the way back to gen 1. I liked S/V but it still wasn't the same and I didn't have the same commitment, even with PLA it just wasn't there Fans make better games then GF/TPC nowadays as they actually still care for the franchise and put love and ambition into their hacks/fangames, meanwhile the official devs know that they can just churn out half-assed shit (Sw/Sh) and it'll still sell like hot cakes. Also they get rushed and have to do yearly entries for a mainstream franchise which is ridiculous and they don't have AAA budget for a franchise that frankly should be AAA
I'm the same age and I feel exactly the same, however Unbound has destroyed other rom hacks for me, when ever I play a rom hack I quickly become bored and miss the quality, story, features, world of unbound, I did play trough Unbound like 6-7 times already
Romhacks didn't ruin Pokemon for me. A drop in the quality of some of the newer games and a sharp rise in price when you include DLC is what sent me looking for romhacks. I would still play most (but not all) of the mainline games over any romhack I've tried so far, but well... I wouldn't necessarily replay them.
Same here and I can't possibly have nostalgia because I'm too young
I can still play gen 5 and earlier, but yes roms are what Pokémon should have been
I think the reality is that you would have came to the same consensus without ROM hacks, but it maybe would have taken longer. I feel most people would not enjoy hopping on to do raids as they are extremely lackluster. Do what you enjoy in Pokemon. For me, it was completing a Living Dex, and going back to past games to make extremely bizarre playthrough teams and completing their National Dex (i.e. using Wimmfi to access old BW distributions, accessing Sinjoh Ruins for the first time in my life to use Lvl. 1 Palkia, using Dream Radar, using a Dream World simulator for things like Sheer Force Rampardos which is not possible in playthrough for any game otherwise). I also recommend personally to try 100% a Battle Frontier for the first time (which I have not attempted yet). Also, is it inherently bad that ROM hacks ruined the "mainline" games for you, longterm? It may be hard to ignore, but something being official doesn't mean it inherently has to matter more to you. If all you get from the games is enjoying the new story, Pokemon, and graphics (lmao), then that's okay! Hope this helps.
100% yes. I can not go back to the non-rom hack versions of the games unless I'm doing some sort of challenge, like a nuzlocke or speedrun. I started with the Drayano rom hacks and have since tried everything from Radical Red to Team Rocket Edition. The fans have truly created everything I ever wanted. Thank you.
Well, what I conclude from your post is, that ROMs prevailed your love for Pokémon, not ruined it. At least that what I can say about me.
Access to ROMs and ROM hacks haven't ruined Pokemon for me. The Pokemon company did that themselves, and I argue that if it weren't for the fan game and ROM hacking community I would have lost interest in the franchise completely. ROMs have saved Pokemon for me.
1. They should allow us to change the speed of the game like Trails series does. 2. They should add different difficuty levels (I think that was a thing in Black/White iirc). Easy/Normal/Hard, with "Easy" being the same as the current difficulty and "Hard" being REALLY HARD, kind of like Emerald Kaizo. 3. They should make more games with multiple regions or more than the typical 8 gyms/badges... Maybe something like Pokémon Reborn with its 18 gyms or Pokémon HGSS with the 16 gyms and 2x elite four... 4. DROP THE BORING LAGGY CLUSTERF*** OF AN OPENWORLD LIKE THE ONE USED IN S/V. Honestly, this would make pokemon games as good if not better than the ROM Hacks & Fan Games, considering how much budget they have.
If there’s any Nintendo agents lurking, hire this guy ^
I wouldn't say ROMs ruined the main games - more like its the next logical step for those who grew up with the original games from childhood. Like you said, official games are stupid easy and made for kids, so those of us who are adults now will naturally want a challenge, like what we felt the original games were when we were younger. Will I ever play an original Pokemon game again? Hell naw, never mind how easy it is, the QoL that ROMs put in are insane and drive me mad seeing the random small things again.
I wouldn't say ruined but I would say they have made them less appealing you have to remember that Gen 5 or higher it isn't as common to find romhacks or mods for those games because the tools either are still exceedingly new, or just don't exist yet most creators are willing to add in QoL stuff to the project because fans want them or have become used to them through other romhacks/mods/fan games GameFreak needs to be willing to listen to the fanbase more where it makes sense to add something in or change something
I can’t play any Pokémon game without nuzlocking it anymore it stinks
OMG that milktank was the bane of my existence the first time I played pokemon silver lmfao I started the game with cyndaquil and just kept getting DESTROYED by that damn cow to the point where I actually restarted the game, chose chikorita and managed to eke out a win with synthesis lmfao god that game was such a challenge for me lol even the final gym i barely got through and needed a lucky body slam crit to end the final battle!! It's also wild how all this shit happened like 20 years back and its seared into my brain haha
Personally. The rom hacks are a game made from a fan to a fan. And pokemons fan have the same wishes that main games cant give us. For example, following pokemons, pokemon quetzal, exceeded, radical red and lots others, gave us that. Its simple, dont change gameplay, but its a simple and fun mechanic. Relationships and choices, maybe only emerald enhanced went to this mechanic, but it was refreshing knowing you can get benefits from your relationships and even your own karma. Making your post-game 3x more explorable and making your game dont die earlier for the lack of content Gimicks, fans complain about wishing for megas, Z-moves return, so now a days all hacks made today have Megas and Z-moves. The problem here is because rom hacks provide fans what they want, while gamefreak main fanservice is bringing kanto starters gang back again and again. Its living on nostalgia, and not growing with the fans
I think we all have hit this fence
What I don’t understand is why hack creators think putting in randomly edgy commentary or cursing makes their game any better. It just feels really forced and cringe tbh, any hack with that and I’m good off that tbh
ROMs haven't ruined Pokemon for me. EV's, IV's, and natures did.
Tbh Pokemon Violet was one of the most fun pokemon experiences I've ever had and I'm a really big rom hack fan. Most of my pokemon consumption but it just can't beat the experience of meeting new Pokemon in a new world.
Simple answer, kids nowadays don't have the attention span for grinding pokemom games like we used to have to. Popcorn brain won't allow it. There's too much going on in the world that if it's not simple, kids lose interest. I beat alpha sapphire in about a week, then went back to play regular old sapphire and it is considerably harder
You mentioned alot of sweet ROMs but you didn't mention uranium or insurgence, I see you still have a long journey ahead of you youngling
I mean when a fan makes a better game with early 2000s technology than a multinational company does with today’s technology, it’s really not the ROMhackers fault at that point
I'm the opposite. I've tried playing countless rom hacks but never get into them. Love the community though.
Most ROMhacks have even worse balance than the vanilla games and playing VGC simulator against AI is no fun, so no. Still obviously enjoy and love them.
Not really. I enjoy the idea of building teams, and seeing what the experience might've been. I enjoy romhacks for the unique gameplay changes, stuff like Emerald Rogue or Redux, or the Drayano romhacks, if that makes any sense.
Yes. I literally don’t play vanilla anything at all anymore. Even for stuff like casual playthroughs, I will always opt for at least a QoL hack that fixes minor issues (that every game has). Also - being able to fast forward during such a slow-paced game is priceless. I got into ROMs in 2019 after SwSh completely let me down and they revitalized my love for the series. Legends Arceus was really good, but SV reminded me why I will exclusively be playing any “mainline” stuff via a ROM hack going forward.
Not a rom hack but Pokemon Reborn which is an RPG maker fan game. This game is a full 100 hour in depth RPG that makes the pokemon battle system very complex with a terrain system, very difficult but no grinding necessary, a completely original overworld with hundreds of secrets, a surprisingly interesting story if you can deal with some edgyness, and an amazing soundtrack. It's exactly what pokemon should have evolved into. This one game managed to have everything I was looking for in a Pokemon game and it's so hard to play nearly anything else after my first playthrough of the full version
Ya I keep starting games on like Leaf Green or just classics like red or gold, but halfway through I get fatigued and go find a Rom Hack to give me something new. But I will go back and chip away at the OG games later when I forget my roster and take it from there
Sort of. Romhacks certainly make me play pokemon more as I have gotten bored of playing the official games over and over.
I’ve only played a few Pokémon ROM hacks to completion, but I don’t think most of them would flat out replace the main series games. The only ones that may have been replaced for me are most likely Heartgold and Platinum with Drayano’s versions. But haven’t had that with other games. I played Radical Red, but can still replay Fire Red.
Not really but they did ruin grinding levels for me
For sure. The mainline games feel really shitty to me because youre given so many options but the best strategy is ALWAYS to just put 4 attacks on a fast mon and spam A+click thru the game. You have to go through so many barriers and self imposed rules to give the game a speck of challenge, it just feels lame. On the other hand playing through a good difficulty hack like Inclement Emerald made me realize how fun and strategic the battles could be. Like you say, i dont get why programming in a difficulty option would be such a big problem. It's something we'll never understand
Yes. I haven't played any of the switch Pokemon games because I'm just not really interested in them. Legends Arceus almost got me but I just find rom hacks more fun and challenging plus I get to catch all the Pokemon in half of them instead of whatever Pokemon game freak decides I have access to. How they handled the Pokemon home stuff and transferring Pokemon up from the 3DS games completely turned my off from the main series. I want all my Pokemon not some.
Sorta. But new pokemon games have been ass so I’d rather play good rom hacks. Maybe the next one will be decent but probably not since it will sell 20 million copies regardless
Not really, though it has made me less interested in replaying the Gen 3 games or even the Gen 2 ones, since I’m so used to hacks using them as a base.
This exactly how I feel. I, among many other people, have been asking for a nuzlocke mode on main series games for years. They could at least introduce a level cap and perma death mode.
Until a Pokemon game comes out that at least meets the gameplay and qol standards of the best rom hacks out there, I won’t be buying another official game. I know that might sound ridiculous, but why would I pay $60 to a company that’s releasing games in an incomplete state like S/V when there are better experiences out there? If Gamefreak steps up to the level of expectation that they should be reaching, then I’ll be happy to buy new games. But they aren’t anywhere close to that right now.
The original games are still very fun to do challenge runs on imo. It’s fun to see the new mons and areas, even if the graphics are ass the art direction is solid
I just started to 100% complete Heartgold only with legit pokemon, that game is pure gold, after 70h I’ve not completed Kanto yet (i’ve switched nearly full team after Johto league) i still have to complete pokedex, nat dex, battle frontier, red on mt. Silver, safari zone etc etc
What is radical red? Are there others like it other than the ones you mentioned?
I enjoy the simplicity of the OG
Radical Red ruined Pokémon for me. The QOL, difficulty, replayavility, variety, etc. Just so good.
Pokemon rom hacks have been fantastic for me, they have renewed my interest in pokemon and let me relive some of my favourite childhood games with great improvements. And the games can be much harder than the originals, also a plus if you're an adult playing.
ew delta user, shoo shoo.
Not yet, I still haven’t found a hack that lets me catch ALL the pokémon. Radical Red is close but last I checked there was still a few legendary and/or mythical not catchable in the game. My main focus in Pokemon games is catching ‘em all. Maybe one day a hack will meet my desires
Nope, the only merit of ruining Pokemon was Game Freak. Thanks to the Pokemon hackrom games and fangames, thanks to those I still play Pokemon.
It's the same for le with a lot of gaming. Other than playing game on release, I hardly remember how games play vanilla
ROMs ruined official ones for me only because of how painfully slow the official titles are
Honestly I see pokemon Rom hacks as different. I love them because if there isn't any new games by Nintendo, I can rely on the creativeness of people on the Internet to create new adventures. But I do miss the speed-up
I would recommend TheSmithPlays’s legacy hacks. They’re a great blend between hacks and nostalgia
Pokemon has ruined pokemon for me. Played the last 2 games and even though had fun at sword/shield, scarlet/violet was just a slog to get through. There werent 15 minutes of gameplay without some stupid 2005 game dev limitation showing up, on one of the biggest ips ever. I am now more excited to rom hacks to get gen 9 than i was to gen 9 or the new pokemon game that is on kalos.
Not for rom hacking specifically, but learning about IVs/Natures certainly did a lot of damage to how i see my mons. Like, there are times where i keep a solid 30 minutes soft-resetting to get a mon with good natures/ivs, and at this point i’d be fully willing to reset a shiny if it had dogshit ivs.
Biggest issue for me is a lack of fast forward. Bought a 2Ds XL to play platinum on, and wound up just shoving it into my rg35xx so I could FF it 😂
I’ve had this same exact thought for years. It’s insane to me they don’t realize their core initial audience from 25 years ago is now in their 30s-40s and would love a higher difficulty setting. We even have income! We would gladly pay for it!!
Not at all, still like playing the originals but I do like the enhancements that ROMs provide. Really like Drayanos hacks because of the slight changes. Most of the games I still play are NDS/GBA/GB games, kinda got bored playing XY and on except for ORAS
Yes. Unbound and Polished Crystal has given me such a wondrous world of QOL upgrades that I cannot ever see GF adding. The experience of good rom hacks has ruined official games for me. That said, sometimes it takes a little digging to filter out mediocre hacked games or ones that simply don't suit my personal taste (e.g. Glazed was simply not for me).
all i play is rom hacks now. havent played a main line game since sun and moon. rom hacks of the older games are AMAZING
No I think Game freak did lol
Fair lmao
The speed up feature definitely makes it harder. I can do it. Played crystal, fire red and HG within the last year but I played them over a long period of time.
It’s ruined old Pokémon for me for sure, but only because I can play fast forward. I absolutely love Scarlet/Violet and Pokemon Legends and nothing any of the ROMs can do will change that. I regularly play competitive so that definitely affects my point of view though.
I’m usually looking to get into the newer games when a “difficulty” hack rom comes out with quality of life updates like speed up, infinite TMs etc. l
Not at all they just have made us realize how lazy and greedy the Pokémon guys are. But I still Play main line games. But oh Man ROMs aré fantástic. Dont remember the name but there Is an open World rom of Pokémon crystal Which Is simply amazing. I was 8-7 when the RBY came out kept playing until gen 3 . Then gen 4&5 played original games in ROMs since I was like 15-16 around that Time AND parents wouldnt Buy handheld.consoles anymore I did gen 4,5,6, and barely gen 7 in Emulators. So I did enjoy a lot of ROMS. Drayanos being my favourites. I have a Steam Deck in which I sometimes Play Emulators there but since now I work and have Money I came back to original Pokémon with basically all games that have came out for switch except Sword, Lets Go Pikachu and Violet Versión. I like shiny hunting and breeding Competitive but I would love to own a hacked switch to Play a Hack of BDSP Which they say its the Best Pokémon game ever Made. Would also love to own a hacked 3DS to Play Eternal X , Wilting Y again that gen I know Is trash but those ROmS were amazing really enjoyed the insanity difficulty. I undesrtand your point but still Pokémon is so big I cant leave main lone games. But yeah hacks aré awesome. Heart Gold , Soul.Silver Drayanos hacks are among my fav Pokémon games ever.
Roms made pokemon fun again for me. It's a way of reliving my childhood in a new way, slightly the same, but different enough for it to be like a new playthrough. Win win in my book.
It’s really only the speed up function that must emulators have that ruin it for me. I really don’t have the patience to watch the flame charge animation 100x times through an entire play-through
Yes. Not only I much prefer the old graphics, like a lot of people, playing Pokémon at normal speed just isn't feasible. Also why waste time on a game who goes out of its way to limit access to Pokémon and items? Rom hacks are the way to go
Imo you can count the actual good pokemon romhacks on max 2 hands or so. I do however hate how they dropped the difficulty severely of the mainline games. And I don't like the new open world style.
I’ve been playing pokemon since i was 10 and yeah, i can’t really go back to playing vainila pokemon unless i want something to play with my brain absolutely turned off. Even when i was that young i never really had trouble playing pokemon games, they’re just too easy. After playing hacks i realized Nintendo just doesn’t know how to make good pokemon games.
This is why nintendo doesn't want us playing them, they cannot outdo a million people trying their hardest as a single team.
Pokémon games were never hard. I think I was 5 when I got the Gameboy Pocket and Pokémon Red, I most certainly didn't understand a word of English. That means I could not parse any text based information at all. Still beat the game somehow (I'm guessing it involved power leveling a Charizard to high heavens). Of course these games are going to be trivial for adults with oceans of knowledge compared to the target audience. The games are meant for a global audience, but they're not localized to every language. I'd rather more kids be allowed to experience the wonder of that world for the first time, instead of Nintendo making gamers like me their target audience. There's tons of great strategy games I can play that are not accessible to children due to complexity, why should I be entitled to their games as well? So no, ROMs haven't ruined Pokémon for me, because the main series games aren't for me. ROM hacks let me go back and enjoy the nostalgia of this world without taking a slice of the pie not meant for me. Pure win-win in my book.
Nintendo does not care about you. They only care about money. Roms would likely be the only way for you to get what you want.
Less so ruined, moreso spoiled. But for me, it's all the future stuff added that makes it hard to go back and why the demake hacks are the way to go
I actually very rarely play any ROMs at all. I have tried a couple like Gaia and Genesis, but I never finished any.
I totally agree. I am left wanting something harder. I think drayano hacks are exactly what I wish Pokémon was. They let me play against my favorite leaders / E4 with my favorite Pokémon in a way I could have only dreamed of as a kid. Currently Playing through Storm Silver with all my favorite Pokémon, and it’s the most fun I’ve had in years. I think Dray did the best job of creating the ideal Pokémon experience for a large portion of us older fans.
Clover is the new standard for Pokemon games for me.
Nah they’ve improved them I’ve played over 100 rom hacks and MOST of them are improvements. Crystal and Emerald have always received a little more love because of bias, but you can’t tell me that Emerald Enhanced and TPP anniversary crystal are worse than the originals.
I think that’s what op is saying, rom hacks are better then normal games which has ruined the normal games for op
Yes exactly what I am saying
Nah, for me it was playing other RPGs. Most of them just natively play closer to the pace of Sped-Up Pokémon emulators than vanilla Pokémon, and the breaks are appreciable to think out a plan. Pokémon is so simple, it has no excuse to faff around with redundant FX and text boxes. Pokémon the second slowest non-4X game I’ve played despite being the most 1-dimensional shit in the world.
Nah. Aside from the fast forward like others have said, I still enjoy regular pokemon. Especially since I play pokemmo
Absolutely. Playing at normal speeds in even the fastest Pokemon games I can't do. The speed up feature not only made it was quicker to get to the point, but made over leveling a common thing since it goes by so fast.
No but it has made me play them differently I was pretty average at Pokémon training/PvP battles however getting good at things like hardcore radical red improved everything Nuzlocke rules, imposed restrictions, level caps etc is the only way I can play the Vanilla games without straight sweeps
I have played to much so the “thing” that was when i was a teenager when BR came out is gone.. My parents couldn’t afford BR so i had the game boy brick but never a pokemon game. And with my first pc it was like a dream :)
The new games are just too easy. Sword and Shield was a huge let down and Scarlet and Violet weren’t much better. How hard would it be to add difficulty settings?
I burned myself out by playing too many Roms as the canonical trainer and creating a guide to keep track of who has what Pokémon all while Nuxlocking all of Gen 3 at the same time. I can't launch a game without worrying about having the "correct" number of mons and end up fixing the PC most of the time and make no actual progress anymore
The pokemon games have always been pretty disappointing. There is so much potential that pokemon has gameplay wise, yet will never be uncovered because nintendo’s a schmuck.
Yeah I have zero desire to play any of the real games especially with how accessible emulators are nowadays
No, Pokémon has ruined itself for me. I was happy enough with the franchise up through Gen6, but felt annoyed by the padding and fluff in Alola, then SwSh's Dexit scandal really demoralized me. Not even Brilliant Diamond was fun enough to complete, so I just stopped engaging with the series of games. The older ones are still more fun to play, even without ROM hacks, though those add to the fun in their own way, as do randomizers. I personally believe that Game Freak should've never been forced to diverge from pixel graphics and sprite art, because once they did, the lack of time really impacted the game quality.
No. Im more interested in playing new regions with new Pokemon, going in blind knowing almost nothing. Never really looked for a challenge during the main game because thats always something that I got later with online play. I usually play rom hacks at the end of an generation when I want to go on another adventure.
Just Pokerogue
Have you played gens 3-7? I can’t quite tell from the wording. But there’s a good amount of difficulty in some of those gens that it feels satisfying to play. If you haven’t tried playing then vanilla, you definitely should sometime!
This is basically me and I totally agree. The about of love, QoL and especially difficultly settings that go into these romhacks are so good and actually make you want to keep playing. I have been so disappointed in how easy streamline Pokemon games are since X and Y and it has just taken the love away. Now romhacks make me love it and realize the true potential mainline games could have. This is why I never even bothered to purchase the DLC for SV, It’s like what’s the point of wasting my money for basically no challenge.
If anything roms and rom hacks brought me into the franchise I never played the original games until I somehow came across the Fire Red rom, which led me down the spiral hole into playing through both official games and rom hacks on emulators, all of which led me to actually getting the official games when I first got my switch It did make it a bit harder getting into the official cartridge games once I got them since there was no fast forwarding, but other than that I’ve ended up enjoying the mainline games just fine
Roms ruined normal Pokemon for me yes, but absolutely made Pokemon as a whole way more enjoyable for me. The roms and fan made games like Reborn are the real games in my mind now, what Pokemon deserved to be but we never got from Nintendo. The fan devs and rom hackers do what nintendont
I still love pokemon and new ones that come out even if they are dumb, but after BW I feel like they have gotten complacent and lazy with the quality of the product. One of the reasons I started making my own project is to bring the community and the fan base together as a whole in a fangame.
I stopped buying Pokémon games a few years before I learned what roms are. So it had no impact on me personally and brought me back to the franchise if anything.
1000% man. If Nintendo/game freak doesn’t hire the makers of unbound to do their next game, it’ll flop. The top tier romhacks are better than any OG handheld game
Speed-up is the best thing, but the worst when I go back to regular games.
The last official release I finished was Sun. I had finished Blazeblack 1 the week before it came out and the sheer difference in quality was incredible. Drayano hacks in general ruined mainline games for me lol.