You know what? The Pokemon series was really a rollercoaster in terms of quality. Maybe that was the reasons as to why despite following it for years and knowing most of its lore, game mechanics, Pokemon and so on, i dont think i do enjoy the series as much as i wanted to. Its similar to another series i follow in that regard: NFS. There are like two or three genuine masterpieces, two or three average or decent games and the rest.... tbh, goddamn awful. I also wasnt being so interested in a remake since after what they did to the other remakes of the series.... Well, the fandom already knows that. Brilliant Pearl was a disgrace and Lets Go was pretty unnecesary. And also Firered... Now, dont get me wrong, as a Gen 1 lover, i dont have anything against Firered and i think the qol changes were necessary, i just found it a bit dull. But back to the topic...
Why i played this remake? Well, it wasnt made by Gamefreak, and tbh the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series never failed me to gave me an impression, i genuinely believe on average the PMD subseries is better than the mainline at least in terms of consistent quality. This wouldnt be a review of the game itself, that would come another day, but rather how it holds up against other remakes, because thats what we are getting lately these days for the better or for the worse.
If there is something i really hate about a lot of modern remakes is that they dont feel like an improvement on the original take but rather a reemplacement to it. Granted this is very subjective, and even PMD DX does that to a certain degree, but i feel like there is a genuinely care for the OG material. Why i said this? Well, the artstyle was basically the same as the promo material as well as the music still feeling like the GBA version, just in higher quality, like.... thats what all remakes should do. Even the best remakes fail to do this for some reason. Some may seem like they didnt wanted to risk, but its not like this is easier to do, especially when the OG artists were gone. Im still one of those who thinks that they should had stayed in 2d, not because of nostalgia, but because objectively you lose some detail and the colors are somewhat washed out. The 3d doesnt really benefit this watercolor style, but, the effort put into it is insane, and after some hours you get used to it. Pokemon really never looked so good in 3d. Other things like the portraits are also basically the same as the OG just in HD too which is important since the story gets more "melancholic" and seeing well the Pokemon emotions is part of the experience.
This review may feel like i would repeat myself a lot, but trust me, i have to yet see a remake that isnt a remaster, that feels like the OG in a "non limited form". I mean, this is not "render 96" levels, but it kind of feels close after looking at some of the game art. They even went as far to use the GBA sound chip on top of the already remastered soundtracks. That proves Red Rescue Team was always the definitive version of the OG, facts!
Speaking now about gameplay changes, they basically qol the whole thing, making it more accessible for new players. Though it may seem like a bad thing, the OGs werent exactly very friendly and you sometimes had to play against the game rules to cheap a combat and win, so they did the right thing. Easier to train and recruit Pokemon, and fix most of the OP mechanics mainly.
It may seem like the perfect remake, and in fact it is probably one of the best remakes i seen just for the fact that they maintain everything great of the OG but modernize it.... BUT.... There are a FEW..... complains i have. It does mostly every thing right compared to the originals, the gameplay is still accessible yet challenging, it doesnt punish you so much compared to other rougelikes making it the perfect one in many respects, the combat is simple yet addictive, leveling up and boosting your stats and customizing your team, the story is ridiculously heartwarming, etc, but they had to screw... some things up. With what you may ask? They got the movement controls wrong! In the OG if you moved quickly with the tap of a button and found an enemy the game would say "fu... it" and let you aproach the Pokemon slowly to let him take the hit, but here if you go anywhere but snail slow and push constantly the button like the OG and not stop at the right moment, not only you lose hunger for the dumb new mechanic of pushing opponents, but you also take the hit! And this in the later dungeons is a death sentence, i was being hit more than the OG, i still wonder why there is an speed stat if its useless if i always get hit, and i was being hit A LOT. So much that i had to went slowly, but now the dungeons take like twice or more than the OG!
Now speaking about minuscule things, the exp share in all the camps means there is now not really a reason to actually try different Pokemon except for just the design or maybe an specific moveset. Although in the OG having to train a weak Pokemon was a bit annoying, they should had to reduce the exp in the camps like about 50% or so, to incentivize using them in the dungeons. And the new CI system despite being praised by everyone is horrible.... Well, im not everyone! You have to just brute force with gummies if you want an specific ability. And sometimes they repeat or worse of all, they dont stay permanently after you unlock one like the OG! You would need like 30 gummies to unlock one, and pray you dont need that previous ability again in the future. Gummies and rare rewards are also non existent, the same with rank points which... they probably did it in that way to incentivize online rescues, but this was a remake of a GBA game! Dont force me to play online!
Other than that, is as perfect a remake trying to be faithful to the OG it can get. And also i missed these types of Pokemon games. The 3rd gen of Pokemon had a sense of adventure other games in the series lacks. The "exoticness" of the Pokemons, the enviroment design, etc, from Hoenn still feels represented in this games and i love it, its probably the only new Pokemon game i truly enjoy.
If you missed the classic Pokemon games, this may be the one you were searching for, despite being a remake, i still recommend it a lot.
