Yes, I do not watch Pokemon or usually play Pokemon games. However, I saw a preview clip of this game on a demo disk back in 2005 and it looked like a nice role playing game. As you can see I played it when I first got it, but quit rather early as it was sort of repetitive. This time, however, I had some information from a Pokemon expert so I was able to win fights easier and my strategy was perfect. The story basically sounds like a sequel of some type...I am not sure what the first game was, but they allude to the organization Cipher as having caused trouble in the past and some heroic youth then help stop them. Flash forward so many years and Cipher is back creating what is called shadow Pokemon, Pokemon whose hearts are closed and perform dreaded shadow attacks. To combat this, researches at this facility your character lives at have created a snag machine that can capture the shadow Pokemon. There is also a long and drawn out process to open their hearts, but not being a real collector type person I just wanted to win the game. You visit many locales, but after a while the battles get to you. Rather repetitive in nature I prefer a final fantasy random encounter. Just something boring about your Pokemon fighting and not really gaining all that many abilities and not being able to equip weapons and armor. So basically an okay role playing game that would probably be more fun for a Pokemon fan as they would enjoy doing all the collecting and seeing their favorite Pokemon in 3-D. As for me, a structure that was different from people dropping from the ceiling and challenging you is needed, but still an okay game.
