A look back at: Pokemon Liquid Crystal

Guide on Pokemon Locations here

A remake of the Johto games, specifically Crystal, is what this is. But like any other remake, this one decides to add more to it. No Sevii Islands, but this time some Orange Islands added, which while nice, ends up unfinished in the end. There's actually quite a lot to Liquid Crystal that was quite surprising though.

I enjoyed seeing Hoenn-native Pokemon, even if they were 1% encounters in most places, made things much more interesting in that regard. The level curve in the game is a lot better than the traditional Johto games too. Enhancing the plot by not only involving Team Rocket, but adding a brand new team, actually TWO brand new teams, was interesting, as was the addition of at least two new rivals (though I personally don't understand the decision to have the Tales of Phantasia battle music as Zane's rival battle music). The creators also show up in the middle of the Kanto run, for some reason just to be roadblocks as well as back-to-back battles which can certainly catch a player off-guard with their full competitive sets. There's at least four criticisms I have though:

First, what's up with the randomized weather? I actually lament calling it randomized weather because it shouldn't be, as it's either normal weather or it's just rain, the only one that's utilized. All it really can do is change up your possible strategies, preventing you from using Fire types or letting Thunder be decent or something like that. But it is not all that great in the long run.

Second, there's a distinct lack of Electric types in the Johto part of the game. I can understand not including the Mareep line as a nod to the fact that the original Crystal you couldn't get any of the Mareep line there, but what about the rest of the Electric types? The best choices are Jolteon, Voltorb, (which is in the deepest part of the Hollow Cave, really out of the way), Electrike, and Magnemite. The latter two are on Route 38, and Electrike is only a 1% encounter (both are also available more easily later, but I mean, later as in around the Dragon's Den which in my opinion is way too late), meaning a Magneton or a Jolteon is the best Electric type for a playthrough until Kanto unless you want to really hunt to get a Manectric. For the rest, Pikachu and Electabuzz are rare on Route 10, Plusle and Minun are rare in very few locations, and that's more or less it.

Third, using the Johto TMs was a nice immersion, except that there are very few moves that are actually useful at all because most of those moves weren't all that great. This meant that moves like Brick Break weren't TMs, and the only way I can use that move is to get it from a Heracross (Pinsir is not catchable in this game according to my guide). Furthermore, what's with the elemental punches? I have several Pokemon that I feel should be able to use some of these moves (Heracross, Breloom, and Metagross for example) yet they can't learn Thunderpunch for instance? However, Claydol which anatomically has really short stubs can learn both Fire Punch and Ice Punch? And Glalie can learn Thunderpunch WITHOUT HAVING ARMS OR HANDS? It's really weird. It would actually be kinda nice if more TMs were available in later department stores too, that way you don't have to worry about the one-time only TMs being wasted on a Pokemon you wouldn't use anymore.

The last main criticism is probably the burnout I received as I was trekking through Orange Islands as well as the last part of Kanto. While it makes sense that the Johto rival becomes the new leader of Team Rocket, so much that Giovanni decides that you should stop his son, it was just a goose chase of "go through familiar location, beat up grunts, find leader who narrowly misses legendary bird" until you got to Groudon. And the credits rolled after your last battle with him which was awkward. Also, you couldn't battle Red until after you talked to the weird gentlemen at Mt. Silver who were after him AND rematched the Johto League, which just isn't as fun as it seems. I liked how you could certainly continue the game after beating Red to the Orange Islands, but Team Nexus at its present honestly feels a little lame. Just the aforementioned gentlemen, the Nexus leader Zane, and the grunts who all wear the same T-shirts as Zane and seem to all choose a very select number and species of Pokemon made up this team. Grinding through them is just exhausting, and some of the routes you find them in are a little more annoying than they should be just to pass through. The idea of devices that are akin to poison damage for Pokemon though is a cool device, and it's a shame the Nexus plot remains unfinished.

There sure is a ton to Liquid Crystal, that's for sure. The best things have to be the overall encounters, but at times it can feel a lot more taxing than usual. Hopefully my guide answers some questions as to which Pokemon are available too.