A look back at: Alundra 2

GREAT JOB GOOGLE YOU ROGUE COMPANY YOU RUINED THE ABILITY TO POST IMAGES ON BLOGSPOT NOW I AM USING A URL.

So I had of course planned to play Alundra 2, or should I say Flint, since that's the protagonist's name? Whatever, we can actually all tell that despite being a sequel, this game has literally nothing to do with the first Alundra, and many people hated it for that. I hated this game for something totally different.

The game, it's just honestly ugly. And I'm not talking about JUST the graphics. One of the things that I can't really get with certain action games is if the action gets to a point of tedium. And that's what actually can happen easily here. Alundra 2 thankfully allows the usage of combos, but you must unlock them with puzzle pieces as an optional sidequest. And then there's magic, which gives you both long-animated summons that do tons of damage and the simpler spells that are more on-the-spot. That's cool. The game is super awkward about its mercy invincibility after a successful hit, on either you or enemies. And the knockback, jeez, this is it, and even the first few enemies will do it, taking you like five seconds to get back up after just one blow. Not every enemy does this, thankfully, but it prevents the bum rush strategies that some other action RPGs or Zelda-like games seem to be okay with. Damage discrepancies are another thing I disliked, you seem to do very low damage, but this is fine since the enemies don't have a whole lot of health. But at the same time, it looks like you'll always be dealt tons of damage in return since you have so much more.

Not helping matters is that game cutscenes seem out of sync, or maybe that's just emulator settings, which I still don't know what the absolute best ones are for this game. And the bosses? Well, they are quite predictable after a while, some still annoying especially the ones where you have to wait until you FINALLY can charge in for an opening, and you can usually only hit them with one combo before the invisible mercy invincibility comes in and you have to wait again. Yeah, the bosses aren't really hard, they just take a while. The first Alundra also had this issue though. And of course, the puzzles take some getting used to to figure out, with the timed ones being the worst. Magic is, unfortunately, the game breaker here too, you will WANT to use it to defeat the most annoying enemy encounters in a single hit, and hey, notice those health and EP bars? Yeah, they're high enough that they go all the way to 999.

The plot is okay, nothing like the harrowing nature of the first Alundra, but still quite terrifying considering the main villain puts wind-up keys that turn things into homicidal creatures, which can include humans or even a gigantic whale who of course ends up being an entire dungeon. The music is nowhere near as great as the previous game, which oozed of atmosphere, and the cutscenes show off the slapstick comedy which may or may not be quite overdone (seriously how the heck can pirates build a raft out of a destroyed ship while BEING IN MIDAIR). So the plot oddly enough ended up being the game's strongest point, the gameplay revolves around annoying knockbacks, waiting for bosses to come through for an attack, and overpowered magic spells. Oh, and minigames, which were honestly more fun than the main game itself.

A look back at: Alundra

Three in one month, let's go! And I do plan on doing the sequel game next.

This game is one that certainly has been on the backburner, and its strongest quality has to be its sensational music track. I'm familiar with Dust to Dust, the somber theme, Coastal Cave, as well as Kline's Nightmare from playing Doom wads for a while, so to actually hear them in the original orchestration was great. Better yet, the tracks can all be listened to in one room! Though you do have to progress in-game to get to some of this stuff eventually, that's fine.

On to the gameplay, and it's basically a Playstation version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. A fine game in and of itself, so that's a hurdle that can't be crossed. But at least this game has plenty of hallmarks to coincide with its attempt at a similar yet different premise. Sword-swinging, arrows and bombs (here you get infinite ammo), medicines to heal, seven crests to pick up (like the seven crystals), life vessels (the heart containers), a religious sanctuary with a cemetery next to it, a swamp, lake, desert, and mountain, boss fights with strategy, just one village, upgrading weaponry, and plenty, and I mean PLENTY of annoying dungeon puzzles. What makes it even moreso here than in ALTTP is that you do have platforming and puzzles combined, and many dungeons actually feel way longer than they should because of these puzzle moments. If the music wasn't so good, I would have hated this.

I was hoping for a truly perfect playthrough of this, but unfortunately I capped out at 49 hit points and 49 Gilded Falcons. Three of each can be done in the casino section, and I got two, but for some reason, the roulette section was unfortunately completely bugged and I was in a dead-end room with no way out other than reloading, so that was the only one I couldn't get to. Also sometimes some textures end up disappearing when I try to save and load and speaking of loading, those loading times are quite annoying. So would I consider this a true action RPG? It's really complicated. There's significantly more immersion in this plot in my opinion, and the upgrades to weapons are certainly a thing. So I really could care less. This one does feel RPG enough to me.

A look back at: Shining Force II

A.K.A. Shining Force-but-with-a-different-plotline-that-isn't-exactly-original-because-a-hero's-hometown-is-destroyed-demons-did-it-a-princess-gets-kidnapped-and-also-many-character-names-are-recycled-and-the-gameplay-is-not-different.

Literally all this game is.in hindsight. It's seen as the better Shining Force, since you can actually progress in a nonlinear fashion at certain points, and have a much easier time to grind up your characters. Of course, this most likely means Egress'ing away from battle before you finish it, but there are some locations that trigger the closest thing this game has to random battles. The caravan is excellent for depositing items, especially those hidden Mithril pieces, but we'll get to THAT soon enough.

Yeah, plotwise, it's got the clichés I summarized above. And the character class archetypes are in display here, as is the completely intact battle system. Misses due to dodging, possible double attacks, counterattacks (I can't remember if this was new though), and experience discrepancies making several character classes like the Warrior really suffer. Thankfully, you can get secret character promotions like Baron and Master Monk, and I aimed for this stuff, it really works out so well. Bowie the Hero has to keep himself alive, and Peter the Phoenix is certainly an overpowered character. These two make the game easier, but getting the Master Monks as well as Ninja for Slade also are big deals. Some characters who join much later are worthless due to circumstances, like Rohde being horrible for movement despite being a strong long-range attacker.

Can we also discuss these names? Cause many of them are reused, plenty from the Sword of Hayja which I already checked out. Sarah for instance is a name already used by a priest in that game, and Chester was an archer. It's more egregious with names like Eric and Jaha, since the characters of those names here are in the SAME CLASSES as the ones from there! Eric starts out as a centaur knight, and Jaha starts out as a warrior. The name Luke is used for a bird warrior here, and that was used in the previous two Shining Force games I played. Could they at least give newer names so I don't get confused? This is a sequel after all, and the Sword of Hayja established that not only does Nick return in that game (he was the hero in the first Gaiden game), but also the ninja and samurai from Shining Force 1 also come into play too.

Anyways, what I definitely won't miss is the smithing of penultimate weapons. I say penultimate first cause the ultimate weapons are either the Hero's Holy Sword or cursed weapons with drawbacks like lowered defense. Finding the Mithril basically requires a guide, this is the easy part. Then you give the Mithril to a special smithy, leave town, come back, and you get your weapon. And it's always a frickin' Critical Sword. I had suffered a lot from trying to get Gisarme for Slade or Levanter for Bowie, looking all over the internet and thankfully, people HAVE been researching this RNG issue for quite a while. Therefore, it's not necessarily new. But I just wanted those weapons and timesinked a lot of the endgame until I basically gave in and finished the game. Yeah, that's certainly something that even with the research done is still a frustration moment.

At least the game can still be beaten without this stuff. It feels easier but that's cause of my experience with the former game overall.

A look back at: Final Fantasy X-2

 

I had fun. I also didn't have fun. That's the gist of it. Oh wait, did I quote some character here? I did.

Funny enough, I had a choice to check either this game out first, or Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Considering the fact it is summer break and I don't have a lot of work in the summer, this was the better option at the moment. I knew this game would take a long, long time to go through. I knew there were sidequests, minigames, and grinding. That last part, well, it's mostly the ability grinding. By the end my girls were pushing Lv75 but levels don't matter. Abilities and dresspheres do, as do all the rewards for doing all sorts of things as well. More garment grids! More dresspheres! More accessories! Half the time it felt like I was really doing a nonlinear collectathon.

That's arguably the game's biggest strength in my opinion. It's nonlinear from the start. Final Fantasy X-2 only has a measly 5 chapters, those who want to do the story will realize that the chapters don't really take as long as they really do. But since you can explore every part of Spira (except in those scenarios where places are locked), that lends way to all the sidequests, which could impact other chapters and DEFINITELY impact the percentage of completion later on. Sadly, I didn't really get 100%, this is because I decided that doing Via Infinito (among other things) was gonna take way too long, and I wanted to check out other games later. I still used a cheat code to actually put the game's completion at 100% and found out that the only thing that it really does is add new ending scenes.

I'm a little desensitized with Final Fantasy as a franchise from having played so many games in it. Tons of stuff make this a good game, the customizable garment grids and ability grinding were the gist of my gaming experience here. The return to the Active-Time battle system works out alright, being able to change your dressphere in the midst of combat is a nice touch, but in the end not entirely necessary for most battles that aren't boss battles. This is cause bar specific enemies, a good-leveled party just breezes through encounters. You only have problems whenever the encounter rate dictates you have a battle every three steps, you get ambushed quite a lot (me thinks it is an attempt to balance easy encounters), and most encounters that are troublesome have fixed-damage attacks (those annoying amorphous gel enemies in particular). Oh, and the Oversoul gimmick! Kinda cool, kinda annoying with some encounters, but really not as consequential as it looks.

Character-wise, it's nice to see new faces, who were arguably the most interesting, and the returning ones are either moving on or unfortunately got on my nerves (looking at you, Rikku and Brother). Minigames are so worth talking about. Blitzball is significantly worse but thankfully not truly necessary, but it's better playing than coaching. Gunner's Gauntlet is a kind-of fun third person shooter gimmick but I got all the prizes after figuring things out. Sphere Break is a fun math game but unfortunately requires some luck and math knowledge. The massage minigame is ENTIRELY luck, you want to hit the right spots and that is up to total chance. Shoving the band into the airship elevator was completely unnecessary. The Calm Lands minigames are also not necessary but the publicity stuff sucks. That Cactuar war minigame is beyond stupid, thankfully it's not necessary to win. Thunder Plains tower calibration was quite fun the first time, then not once you got to the last few towers. They give you directions and tutorials on most everything at least. So a varied experience, and honestly a quite worthy sequel in my book, but given how much time things took, and how I felt my usual RPG fatigue at the end, it's obvious that no NG+ playthroughs of any kind will come in soon.

A look back at: Lagoon

 

Lagoon for the SNES, mind you. Not related to Bahamut Lagoon, considering it's made by Kemco, who I'm really not familiar with much of their work at all. But it is a port for the original game that was on a long-forgotten console of sorts, excuse me, computer.

And if you like Ys. If you like Soul Blazer, well, this one could be up your alley, but it just does not seem to hit the right stride. No contact damage from your end, you do swing a sword, but damn if that isn't the smallest sword range ever. It's extremely small, you'll only know if you hit if you hear a *DING* and even then you might also get the white flash indicating damage alongside the enemy. Sometimes the enemy just gets pushed back instead. If it weren't for regenerating health and magic when standing still, no matter how slow it would be, then I wouldn't be liking this game at all. The music is a true standout, the plot is cookie-cutter in a number of ways, but gameplay matters more than most.

Speaking of magic, once I got a hole of it, it ends up becoming more of a primary means of attack. It's great until you run into the enemies who are immune to magic, where you then are forced to use the super-short-ranged sword again. You at least get several staves and crystals to experiment with magic, and I found myself using the basic staff for single-target magic the most. The higher level magic uses up a lot for screen-clearing magic but it is totally useless for me. I did level grind a lot, and this factors into strength and defense and made my sword overpowered, so the game ended up being easy, at least until the boss rush at the very end of the game. Yeah, there's one of those, you have four bosses at the end, two of which have alternate forms so essentially that means six. And oddly enough bum-rushing some of the bosses at a high level actually does work, though not with all of them.

Well, at least I finished it in a week, or actually about four days to be honest. I took two days off because I was sick. Anyways, summer break is on me so the next game will hopefully get through soon enough.

A look back at: Moon: Remix RPG Adventure

Thank you Toby Fox.

Okay, he's not the guy who made this, but whatever, a lot of his inspirations for Undertale basically came from this Japan-only release. He saw the stuff about this, an unnamed boy falling into a strange new world (though this one is the video game he was playing), the coming into contact with the strange and idiosyncratic  characters, and saving the monsters, the strange and cliche damage numbers during the beginning and ending. It seems like Undertale took it all and then some. Of course, other games Toby has experienced also helped in his craftsmanship, namely one song from Live-A-Live is the inspiration behind Megalovania.

So this is ultimately a pacifist RPG. You don't kill anything as the invisible boy at all. The hero does, and you get to experience the hero at first, but then you as the bystander boy end up catching their souls, sending them to the Moon for safety, and all sorts of things. The game essentially parodies all the conventions that fantasy RPGs have. Hero on a quest by a king and minister? Yeah, that's here, and the minister deemed him a "chosen one" and looks eerie enough to have sinister intentions. A "rabid dog" that attacks the hero? Turns out it's your Gramby's dog. And thankfully doesn't die from this. Legendary armor? It's hilariously some girl's bikini that the hero steals for some reason. The Perogon monster? An actual American family's pet which you don a suit and SET YOURSELF ON FIRE to trick the hero and save. The airship? A rocket you actually craft with the weird doctor Stein Hager. There's a weird oracle, a weird fisherman, weird Kukunte tribes, everything is weird but still manages to be interesting. Oh and the Penultimizer opponent that the hero fights near the end is really just all the monsters who die to protect the queen Aphrodite, who's you're guide fused with a dragon.

Weird, but can be frustrating early on. It's really bad that I've been working my ass off so much that I have only time on weekends and late nights to pick up this game again, luckily with summer on the horizon I'm looking at a decent enough break period to play more RPGs. But the frustration comes with not being able to do much action early on due to your action limit being small. The game actually gets easier the more you play it, you get more maximum action limits to avoid dying of fatigue or so, and doing things right also increases the love level. That's right, a game about making lots of love so you don't die. That's what this game is!

A look back at: Mega Moemon FireRed

Heh heh, I honestly wouldn't have imagined this would be something. But it sure is, and doesn't seem to get too far into other resources, instead everything is done well by a team of spriters in order to ensure nice quality. And with it, we have what is generally considered the best of the Moemon games as a whole. Mega Moemon FireRed features mega evolutions, lots of new generation moves, mons up to Gen-6, double wild battles, about six new locations, and even event distributions via password. And while all this is nice and all, really the fun is just trying to get everything in the hack for me. With it being base FireRed, many things are identical aside from Moemon and their trainers. I have even decided to pick up sprite replacement so that for future ROM hacks that don't change their dexes, I can change them into Moemon. What? I like this girly stuff. For the record my main party throughout the game included several picks that I have used in many other ROM hacks prior, and it was Magnezone, Claydol, Emboar, Crobat, Empoleon, and Florges, with Scrafty used for the final Elite Four rematch, Bibarel for the majority of HMs, and a Fearow for flying, plus Swampert, Gardevoir, Gallade, Flygon,  and Riolu were all used prior to deciding on my main party members above.

I guess I can actually use the rest of this post to critique my favorite Moemons, though I won't be providing images of their sprites, go look that up yourself.

Raticate line - honestly I like it. Rattata is a small cosplay but Raticate kinda looks genuine

Furret line - average really. Lots of fur for Furret which makes sense.

Linoone line - Linoone got that sexy hair and Zigzagoon got the obvious raccoon mask.

Mightyena line - well, Mightyena tries to be a sexy wolf girl here.

Nidoqueen line - love how they're all carrying swords

Nidoking line - see above, this is the male version of course but it still works very well.

Dodrio line - I actually kinda hate it. It's a little more difficult to do those that have multiple heads like some Kanto mons have, but they tried by having some small head things added to Doduo and Dodrio. Not a fan though.

Swellow line - Taillow is the better one.

Tangrowth line - Tangela being super messy is awesome. Tangrowth somehow has more volume

Sunflora line - of course Sunkern is cute but I question why Sunflora gotta look middle-aged

Roserade line - I LOVE Roselia's sprite, and Budew's being a baby makes perfect sense. Roserade is kind of odd with the hair but it still seems cool enough.

Jumpluff line - probably the first line where I don't really like all of their designs despite the different colors.

Vileplume/Bellossom line - Glad they didn't overdo the hair with Vileplume. Bellossom is a lame flower girl though.

Arbok line - Ekans is straight up Shantae and I love the middle-eastern vibes from Arbok

Wigglytuff line - not surprising they got microphones and seem like something from Aikatsu

Ampharos line - Sheep herders! Ampharos actually looks menacing

Farfetch'd - not entirely the best

Lickilicky line - so the tongue is the scarf. Very strange. Somehow the pink haired girls are good.

Scizor line - bug warriors! Though Scyther is too small.

Hypno line - awkward hair, okay dress on Hypno.

Swalot line - Turned both Gulpin and Swalot into connoisseur princesses. Awkward designed hair.

Kangaskhan - so this is one with two of them, kinda neat how it at least looks like a mother trying to get into the game.

Girafarig - The other tail is the whip. Real funny.

Tauros - a personal favorite design of mine. Manly cowboy.

Miltank - Well she has some obvious...mammaries

Ninetales line - This one looks like one of those girls you see in every anime that does stuff at some religious shrine and looks super devoted to what they do.

Rapidash line - Flaming good hair and design.

Electivire line - Oddly enough, I think most of the designs are boring. The suit Electivire wears isn't that great.

Manectric line - Electrike is good, but not really a fan of Manectric's.

Zangoose and Seviper - I like these two, they look like warrior cosplayers.

Plusle and Minun - These two are also surprisingly very good. Of course they would be cute cheerleaders! Top tier design for these two.

Arcanine line - All I see is a furry girl.

Castform - The plumpy hair is ridiculous but makes sense. Haven't actually seen the other weather forms.

Chimecho line - Chimecho is somehow VERY GOOD.

Venusaur line - Bulbasaur is the CUTEST, but the line doesn't really get better.

Meganium line - Chikorita and Bayleef are by far and large top-tier Moemon designs. Bayleef in particular is the girl I like. Meganium isn't that good though.

Typhlosion line - Cyndaquil is holding a mask of her Pokemon, while the evolutions act like they are Human Torch. Kinda warm. Typhlosion looks like a JoJo character.

Blaziken line - I'm kinda disappointed in this line, but at least Mega Blaziken is good (one of the few mega forms I was able to see from the front)

Legendary Johto Beasts - Warrior priestesses! Some of my all time favorites, reminds me of the valkyries.

Torterra line - Grass starters have been quite cool, but Turtwig takes the cake with the boyish school looks. Torterra is both okay and good, which is weird to me.

Staraptor line - Goes from cute maid to sexy maid quick.

Bibarel line - for a base form Bidoof has a great dress. Bibarel not as much a fan.

Luxray line - I was sort of expecting it to look like Aoi Tategami from KKPCALM, guess I was wrong.

Pachirisu - cosplay

Lopunny line - honestly what I expected it to be.

Purugly line - Glameow is what I expected. Purugly is skinny and decent.

Serperior line - of these, Servine is the best.

Watchog line - they are scouts, and I kinda enjoy the color scheme on the binoculars of Watchog.

Liepard line - domino mask for Liepard and laziness.

Stoutland line - somehow Lillipup and Herdier are the same size, and Stoutland is too small. Not "intimidating" by any means.

Zebstrika line - Eh, Zebstrika just looks like a Sonic OC.

Florges line - only the red flower variant here. And it looks exactly how I expected.

Gogoat line - You catch Skiddo on the cycling route. And the best part is, Skiddo is on a bicycle while Gogoat is on a motorcycle. These are also top-tier Moemon designs for me.

Furfrou - kind of a kid who crosses pajamas with cosplay.

Slurpuff line - These two look like rejects from KKPCALM

Butterfree line - Yep, Butterfree itself is top tier, and you get it early enough.

Beedrill line - honestly Beedrill itself tries to be an actual Beedrill.

Beautifly/Dustox line - Beautifly is easily the better one here. Wurmple itself looks weak, and the cocoons are sleepy.

Pidgeot line - I love Pidgeot's face. The rest resemble Parakarry from Paper Mario for me.

Noctowl line - both look like Harry Potter fangirls

Xatu line - I really like these two. Design-wise Xatu is certainly top-tier, they both look like they belong as the tribal leader for their groups.

Raichu line - Raichu is the best, the others are honestly cosplay. Yes, even the event Witch hat Pikachu.

Victreebel line - somehow all of these are very good? Bellsprout is very cute, Weepinbell has a funny face and is still cute, while Victreebel's got the skirt.

Parasect line - This resembles that Chun-li hairdo for Paras, and I love how it's a food server. Parasect has got that Raiden hat too.

Breloom line - didn't like Shroomish in the first place. Breloom is just Street Fighter's Cammy.

Shiftry line - average in my opinion.

Venomoth line - Venomoth is a granny while Venonat tries to be one.

Yanmega line - Love how Yanma is somewhat unique.

Ledian line - arguably more cosplay, don't like

Ariados line - well, Ariados looks sexy, but that's it.

Ninjask line - They're both ninjas which makes a ton of sense. Shedinja is appropriately awkward.

Volbeat and Illumise - if only both of these mons were decent, either way, top-tier designs.

Forretress line - Forretress itself is all over the place, while Pineco is kinda boring.

Slaking line - Vigoroth is quite appropriate.

Delcatty line - One is trying to nya you, the other is just sitting there being sexy. That's it.

Honchkrow line - looks exactly how I expected them to look

Weavile line - Sneasel is better cause of the swords and pirate hat. Weavile looks like a girl who just wants to be a part of it. A huge downgrade.

Exeggutor line - Exeggutor is a top-tier design in my book. Makes it work very well for what it is.

Sudowoodo line - Obvious actress is obvious.

Ambipom line - love how one's a skateboarder and the other's a rollerblader. Oddly enough both are top-tier designs.

Stantler - Very meh.

Kecleon - looks like the nervous geeky kid.

Pinsir and Heracross - Heracross is cuter but both look like cute amazons.

Altaria line - Top tier designs for both. Love those dresses.

Tropius - also top-tier design, looks like the Pacific Islander I would enjoy.

Dusknoir line - Why is Dusclops the only one with a reaper scythe? It should be there for the others.

Togekiss line - they're all actually good. Different eye colors for all.

Sceptile line - Grovyle is my favorite. Another good job on the grass starter. I wonder if Sceptile's sword is longer than it looks in the sprite.

Celebi line - look exactly how I expected it to look like.

Infernape line - Monferno and Infernape are top-tier designs, fit well with "fighter monkey of fire" vibes.

Wormadam and Mothim - Mothim wins by far.

Vespiquen line - This should be better in my opinion.

Cherrim line - I wasn't able to get sun-form Cherrim but I actually like both of these.

Drifblim line - can't think of this line unless I think about the Pokedex entry.

Skuntank line - obvious punk vibes

Leavanny line - Leavanny is obviously good but the rest look boring.

Scolipede line - oddly enough I don't like this line. The pre-evolutions have swords but Scolipede drops it for a smoking pipe?

Zoroark line - One is a punk 3rd grade kid while the other is a furry.

Sawsbuck line - I love Deerling. Sad that we only have spring form in this case for both by the way.

Escavalier line - Escavalier by itself is a top-tier design, maybe even top 10. Karrablast isn't bad either.

Vivillon line - Don't like the pre-evolutions, and the final could have had more variety but it doesn't. Tea is cool.

Emolga - this is a cosplay.

Trevenant line - very good designs. Unsure if I should say top-tier though.

Galarian Rapidash line - the odd thing here is I see these two and they look like they could be Pretty Cure villains instead of decent magical girl heroes.

Seaking line - Goldeen's alright but Seaking's too much.

Gyarados line - oddly enough I think Gyarados is too small.

Kingler line - the hair is way too wacky, and why goggles?

Crawdaunt line - these two look badass.

Whiscash line - Love Whiscash's design a lot.

Ludicolo line - I actually don't like how there's too much to Ludicolo's design. Lombre also looks smaller than Lotad.

Masquerain line - These are both somehow very good! Surskit got crazy hair and skates, but it works out. Masquerain's color scheme and costume work very well.

Golduck line - the umbrellas are kind of a neat touch.

Quagsire line - not actually good.

Poliwrath and Politoed - oddly Poliwhirl has my favorite design. The twintails on Poliwrath are nice and the sandal flying off Politoed is hilarious.

Azumarill line - Azumarill is made sexy but the others are basic.

Slowbro and Slowking - lazy pink-hairs. Slowking is the best.

Milotic line - Feebas looks like a rookie diver. Milotic is a very appropriate mermaid.

Armaldo line - Anorith is VERY CUTE, Armaldo is a downgrade.

Dragonite line - honestly, all are top tier designs. Dragonair is the best.

Blastoise line - another line that is not that good except for its mega (yeah I made my rival had Mega Blastoise).

Feraligatr line - the multicolor hair is what saves this ethnically diverse line.

Swampert line - Marshtomp and Swampert being cool surfer chicks is what makes them top-tier.

Latias and Latios - not bad.

Empoleon line - Prinplup is the best. There's too much with Empoleon.

Floatzel line - competitive-looking water gun-toting chicks? Awesome. Floatzel in particular is a top-tier design.

Lumineon line - very cute mermaids.

Samurott line - hey, they all get nice swords. that's cool.
Seismitoad line - oddly Palpitoad is the best, a top-tier design in my opinion too. But I guess the dress on Seismitoad works well.

Basculin - no thank you.

Swanna line - Ducklett is super cute. Swanna works well.

Accelgor line - weird how you go from knight cosplayer to ninja for this one.

Stunfisk - face is weird, but I think that might be the point.

Greninja line - this is alright.

Barbaracle line - there's too much going on with Barbaracle but that might be the point.

Dragalge line - ooh, an ominous purple orb for Dragalge. Me like.

Clawitzer line - Clauncher just looks like a Mega Man cosplay. Clawitzer enhances on this and tries to make a corrupted Mega Man (X) OC.

Goodra line - Sliggoo's the only one I don't like. Why cover the face?

Tentacruel line - Tentacool sucks but we got a bikini babe with long black hair for Tentacruel. Good.

Pelipper line - Appropriately the two are mail deliverers. Wingull is better.

Starmie line - they managed to make Starmie be very cute, and Staryu not far behind.

Lanturn line - in two minds about Lanturn but Chinchou works well.

Octillery line - these are BOTH top-tier. Love how the Remoraid has a Remoraid-shaped gun. And Octillery getting a bazooka is also great.

Cloyster line - Cloyster has interesting hair and a death skull mask. Making it the better one.

Huntail and Gorebyss - love Gorebyss being a bored mermaid. Huntail is kinda good. Clamperl oddly enough is what I expected it to be.

Qwilfish - a punk girl, what else is there?

Corsola - I actually don't like it.

Luvdisc - I oddly enough like it.

Dewgong line - mermaid-looks done right yet again.

Mantine line - once again, shrine-maiden looks, and they actually work.

Walrein line - Sealeo is the best. Walrein oddly enough has the weight to work too.

Sharpedo line - Top-tier designs here. Pirate chicks, one with a sword and the other with a blunderbuss.

Wailord line - VERY ODD DECISION to make them holy nuns. Very odd decision.

Kingdra line - spiky hair and lots of clothing and jewelry appropriate for a dragon shrine maiden. Not surprised. Seadra is the best design.

Relicanth - aw, such a cute face. For a rock type that's great.

Lapras - flute Lapras is nice. Summer Lapras is better.

Omastar line - actually don't like it.

Kabutops line - they gave Kabutops a better scythe than the Dusknoir line or Scyther. What the heck?

Cradily line - nerdy girls. Cradily looks like some sort of weird mystic.

Phione and Manaphy - both are surprisingly well done.

Carracosta line - okay

Jellicent line - only the female forms exist, because of course. Jellicent is a top-tier design.

Crobat line - it might surprise you but I actually don't like these designs at all, not even Crobat, which tries to be sexy but I think is a bit too much. The others are cosplay.

Dugtrio line - Dugtrio works very well. Love how it has the other heads as puppet things.

Steelix line - Both are nice and tall. Steelix and the armor are wonderful.

Mamoswine line - the pre-evolutions have funny faces but I love the snowboarder vibe of Mamoswine the most.

Glalie and Froslass - Glalie is 100% top-tier, maybe even top 10 design for me. Froslass disappointed me, but Snorunt with its white face is nice.

Exploud line - Loudred and Exploud are great rockers and are top-tier designs.

Mismagius line - cute Misdreavus as a trick-or-treater, while Mismagius is an obvious witch.

Dunsparce - it makes no effort to be cute. That is fine.

Probopass line - they somehow managed to make Nosepass and Probopass good. Wow.

Sableye and Mawile - Sableye isn't that great. Mawile is basically just Venom or something.

Gengar line - the pre-evolutions look like funny maids, while Gengar straddles the line.

Wobbuffet line - weird how both have random dogs with them. I love the noble lady look on Wobbuffet.

Lunatone and Solrock - even though both look like Touhou or fairies or such, they are top 10 designs in my book. Very, very cute designs.

Regis - they're all made to look gigantic. Especially Regigigas and its assets.

Rampardos line - This one tries to be the cleric from Hexen.

Bastiodon line - And this one apparently can lift Thor's hammer.

Bronzong line - most Steel types have great designs overall, but this isn't one of them, sorry.

Garchomp line - basically it's like they want to shank you.

Gigalith line - this is an example of one that gets better and better the more it evolves.

Swoobat line - Swoobat is good, Woobat is ugly.

Excadrill line - Excadrill looks like a communist general which is interesting.

Galvantula line - I'm extremely disappointed how one of my favorite Bug types turned out.

Ferrothorn line - I like the spiky dress Ferrothorn has.

Klinklang line - cute androids, reminds me of Hugtto Pretty Cure's Ruru.

Eelektross line - this one looks like it's trying to do the Smooth Criminal lean.

Haxorus line - Just too obvious with the weapons, should be better designed.

Cryogonal - very average

Hydreigon line - Deino and Zweilous look how I expect it. But Hydreigon somehow deconstructs it and manages to be a good design all the same.

Volcarona line - Larvesta's weird and Volcarona's a cosplay.

Swords of Justice - all with appropriate swords, all good.

Avalugg line - Avalugg is a top tier design with a sword and appropriate ice shield.

Carbink - appropriate cosplay

Golem line - it's odd that twintails work so well here.

Primeape line - this one makes sense for those who love MMA stuff I guess.

Grumpig line - Spoink is better and the pogo stick helps it.

Machamp line - to be honest I expected this to be better than it really is, and it's disappointing.

Clefable line - these are straight from Tokyo Mew Mew I swear.

Marowak line - uh I don't think we're supposed to see Cubone's face there? Ah oh well.

Magcargo line - the fact that both have eggs with their voluminous hair is a nice nod to how Flame Body can help in hatching eggs. I love these designs, top-tier.

Camerupt line - they made them look like packmules on purpose.

Hariyama line - the hands on Hariyama are weird.

Medicham line - interesting monks, bit of a Middle East vibe too. By the way this game did not have Mega Medicham, but every other Mega Stone was available.

Shuckle - low-tier design

Ursaring line - also low-tier designs in all honesty.

Delibird - very obvious Santa cosplay.

Gliscor line - what to make of this? Honestly I don't know.

Spinda - could be better, could have differing patterns.

Magmortar line - Magmar is a kick-ass top-tier design. I actually had to breed to get Magby by the way.

Torkoal - looks like a happy meemaw

Aggron line - more swords and steel justice, I like.

Tyranitar line - Pupitar has the best design, looks like a cool ninja. The others suck.

Snorlax line - Snorlax is what you expect. Munchlax is cute.

Absol - oddly enough this is also top-tier for design.

Aerodactyl - very cool, top-tier design

Charizard line - I'm, oddly enough, disappointed with this. The cute Charmander is decent, but the rest feel like cosplay to me.

Jirachi - looks how I expected it to.

Lucario line - Lucario is fearsome and I like that.

Toxicroak line - They both look mischevious. Cool, but Lucario's better.

Carnivine - surprisingly decent

Abomasnow line - kinda half-expected them to look like they do.

Conkeldurr line - I'm not really impressed. These are very close to the actual Pokemon.

Throh and Sawk - karate and judo boys. Throh actually looks like a guy from River City Ransom.

Archeops line - these are alright

Vanilluxe line - Vanilluxe itself is top tier and they got two girls to do it.

Druddigon - love it, top-tier

Braviary line - not bad for tribal Indian references. Though oddly I can only get the Paradox form via event, the normal Rufflet and Braviary were unobtainable.

Heatmor - she got a good flamethrower

Durant - too big

Mandibuzz line - Mandibuzz is good, Vullaby not so much.

Tyrantrum line - Tyrantrum has a huge sword, why?

Aurorus line - the faces being white is nice, but the design could be better.

Noivern line - probably the best-designed bats.

Fearow line - look like Roaring twenties girls.

Sandslash line - boring. Which makes sense considering how bored Sandslash looks.

Rhyperior line - in hindsight, I thought they were good but they're really not

Magnezone line - the Usagi Tsukino hair on Magneton is the best design. Some of it is retained in Magenzone too, but I don't like what she sits on. Magnemite is okay.

Houndoom line - they went for sexy on Houndoom, wow.

Donphan line - they went overboard on the cup size on Donphan here.

Cacturne line - well, this could be nice, but I know a better cactus mon.

Flygon line - Trapinch is creepy cute. The others do improve a bit.

Skarmory - top-tier design here.

Claydol line - Baltoy is funny cute. Claydol looks too much like a Touhou.

Salamence line - don't like it. At all. Especially Bagon's mouth.

Metagross line - interesting how they all have big freakin' hammers. It works out.

Hippowdon line - goggles are a very nice touch.

Drapion line - both feel like cosplays but Skorupi and the skirt are better.

Krookodile line - Krokorok has the best design here and feels the most Indiana Jones-like.

Maractus - This is the better cactus Moemon. Prove me wrong.

Darmanitan line - Both look like funny fiery chicks

Scrafty line - Scrafty is a huge improvement over the ugly Scraggy here. Actually looks like an evil hoodrat.

Sigilyph - kind of a cosplay here.

Cofagrigus line - Cofagrigus is the better one, and I love how she actually resembles a pharaoh.

Golurk line - these are cosplays

Bisharp line - these are dead center average

Persian line - Meowth looks like a cute schoolgirl while Persian is a seductress.

Granbull line - these two are basically the opposites of above

Muk line - I have to wonder, is their hair the sludge? Not too much a fan.

Weezing line - Now I still love the pirate inspirations, and these work out very well. Top-tier designs.

Banette line - Banette has a creepy cute stare.

Alakazam line - I think Alakazam is too brown. Kadabra has the best design.

Gardevoir and Gallade - Kirlia has the perfect ballet design here. Gardevoir is too much of a cosplay while Gallade and the swords work out.

Jynx line - Smoochum is a cute little princess while Jynx is a socialite girl. Very appropriate.

Mr. Mime line - just some jesters, nothing else.

Smeargle - a nerdy artist? Okay then...

Hitmons - all are physical men and actually hot.

Blissey line - The egg for the pre-evolutions check out well. The stethoscope on Blissey is a nice touch to the nursing role but the hair is Chibi-Usa Tsukino's in full view.

Electrode line - It looks like Electrode is pregnant here. Very weird vibes, especially since you guys give it dynamite. Oddly I don't know if this Moemon design could be better in any way.

Porygon-Z line - Porygon2 wins in design, Porygon's blocky design is also good. Porygon-Z looks like it's hypnotized.

Ditto - OH NO

Eeveelutions - all except Jolteon I like.

Rotom - There's only one form and it LOOKS like the Ice form but it's not. For that, this design is bad.

Emboar line - Loving the big cup size on Emboar, and the morning stars make them cooler.

Musharna line - Musharna's top tier. That's all I got.

Audino - half cosplay half weird

Unfezant line - the thing that bothers me the most is that Pidove, the base form usually with the childish-looking girls, looks the most like a granny. Unfezant by the way has a mask, kind of like the male form somewhat.

Garbodor line - it's actually amazing that Garbodor looks like a loving-and-caring mother with voluminous green hair and looks very, very pretty. Top-tier.

Gothitelle line - Kind of looks like what I might expect out of this.

Reuniclus line - They're all quite cute. Except Reuniclus, oddly.

Beheeyem line - Beheeyem looks like a cool code breaker.

Chandelure line - maybe I'm just tired, but I don't see how the Chandelure face on her dress is any good.

Klefki - someone ought to make this sprite better

Unown - they're all very creepy with white faces and I guess they really did do all the symbols

Legendary birds - I guess they did decently enough with these five

Deoxys - since this is based on Fire Red we only got the attack form and I actually don't like it that much.

Mewtwo - she looks like a sexy overlord

Mew - and she's got the bubblegum pop look

Spiritomb - this one is WILD

Victini - I guess it's fine but it's got a weird face and the wings don't make sense.

Chatot - Just painfully average

Lilligant line - this needs to be way more extravagant.

Chesnaught line - quite average, guess it's because it becomes a rough Fighting type soon enough.

Alolan Ninetales - last one, kinda princess-y which is nice.

Whew! Anyways if you want to anime your Pokemon experience this is a fun game to try out.