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Modojo Roundtable - The Pokemon Incident
Written by Modojo Staff on Tuesday, May 15, 2007
The Knights of the Modojo Roundtable tackle all things Pokemon. The history of the franchise, the problems with gameplay, why it is so addicting, and in short, who's the coolest of the lot.
Cody Musser: The best place to start is probably at the beginning for all of us. Where did everyone start their adventures in Pokemon land, how long have you been having them, and why do you keep coming back? Is Pikachu really that addicting, or is it Geodude?
Louise Yang: I was pretty cynical about Pokemon before I started playing it. How can so many people be addicted to this game where all you do is go around collecting pets? It was with this thought in mind that I started playing Pokemon Blue. The game was easy to pick up and childishly simple. But I couldn't stop playing it! It was kind of frustrating. The story was boring other than catching Pokemon.
After beating the story in Blue, I tried out Red. I was a bit disappointed that Red was almost exactly like Blue, but with different Pokemon. It was a stupid marketing scheme, and I was even more frustrated knowing that I was caught in its trap. After beating red, I retired Pokemon for good.
Now I'm scared I may become weak and get Diamond/Pearl.
Robert Falcon: I don't get into Pokemon that much. Really. A few years ago I saw a Pokemon movie with a friend, and then I tried out the games for a while, but I just never caught onto them. It's not like I don't see what the craze is all about, it's just that I have so many other games that I can get into without having to worry about throwing around enslaved attacking creatures.
HOWEVER, with that said, I do enjoy a good game of Pokemon Pinball, both the original Game Boy Color edition and the GBA one. Those games happen to be a lot of fun and real easy to get into. So I don't mind kicking back with those at all.
Cody: I think I remember the series before the games. It used to be on early mornings before I'd head to school, and I'd watch it with my older sister. These were the good old battle days of anime before kids were screaming "Kamehameha" on every street corner. The show led to picking up red and blue, and those, apart from Tetris, were the only games I ever played on the OG GameBoy.
I even remember that I had picked up the Super NES cartridge that allowed GameBoy games to be played on TV, and hideously mono-colorized. That was how I first got Pokemon fever. Interestingly, it never did come again. I hated handhelds for years, and the DS and PSP were the first handhelds I thought had promise. Then came Diamond and Pearl, and with them ... trouble.
Elmer Concepcion: I'm actually in a similar boat with Cody here. It wasn't the games that got me first, Pokemon fever gripped me every day after school and I sat compelled to follow the continuing adventures. The series hit that magic formula of cartoon meets toy brand, which no cartoon since Transformers has ever captured. I snapped up the manga as soon as I passed it in the local drug store. It was a brilliant story guys, and I wouldn't hesitate recommending it today as a good example of quality manga. And I smile a little with embarrassment at the thought that I dragged my parents to the local KFC just so I could get one of those Vulpix toys they were giving away. I still have that Vulpix somewhere, adorably gathering dust and disease.
So yeah, I was hooked on all the peripheral products first. And it made the game all that much more rewarding when I'd finally saved enough allowance to pick up Pokemon Yellow.
Philip Jones: By the time Pokemon came out in the UK I was already a cynical old man ( being at least 20). I do remember giving it a go, but casting it aside, probably thinking "I should be learning Soul Calibur moves!"
Justin Davis: I'd never played a Pokemon game before D/P and I gotta say... doesn't anyone else think the games are just... boring? I enjoy the collection aspect but I'm having a hard time getting past the sloooow pace.
Louise: Justin, that's the thing. The game is boring and slow. If it weren't for the collection aspect, I don't think I'd ever play it. It's a nightmare for OCD completionists.
Elmer: But... but... it's Pokemon! My inner child is screaming with indignant rage that people are calling his favorite thing ever boring!
Older me knows a little bit more sense, but I can see where the kid's coming from. There was a certain amount of pride a kid built in having the ultimate killer Pokemon team. Coupled that with seeing your favorite badass Pokemon represent on the show, and you have yourself a recipe for a kid's first geekgasm.
Eugene Kim: I know I'm already on record calling the Pokemon series "overrated," so I won't remonstrate too much more. I'm definitely with Justin and Louise; collecting is entertaining, but the RPG/story aspect is a little bland. Maybe the whole game is made by trading and battling with friends, but I don't have any friends.
Robert: See, I'd go all out for a full-blown Pokemon game. And I don't mean the combat initiated by talk like in the Pokemon Colloseum. I mean something full-fledged like Smash Bros. but with all Pokemon. I could easily get into something like that.
As far as the collection angle, meh. If I wanted to collect things I'd collect video games.
Cody: Very true all around. I think we've touched on what makes Pokemon so addicting to some: the collecting aspect, and what makes it cannon fodder to others: the collecting aspect. Strange though, how it is so massive a phenomenon even now, when most of the young ones have moved on to popular media like Naruto.
It's hard to say it, but Pokemon is pretty damn old, and it still has the capacity to sell 1 million copies in a week, so it's obviously hitting more than just a childish market. That's pretty impressive. We all seem to have our gripes about the new games though, so what in particular do you guys find to be a turn-off in playing Diamond and Pearl? What specific elements of gameplay or events make Pokemon bland or annoying?
Elmer: Well, I suppose my only turn off is the fact that it's still the same game I beat nearly a decade ago. It hasn't changed, and looking on it now it's like going back to your favorite theme park from when you were a kid. The roller coasters are still great, some new rides were thrown in and you make sure to ride em, but it'll never be like your first time. Even then, it's a great afternoon and you could keep taking your kids along for the ride.
Oh, and Naruto may be a decent show but I'd trade every Naruto game out there for another run with the Pokemons.
Cody: Every Naruto game? Even that incredibly (and I mean INCREDIBLY) sexy looking 360 one on the horizon? Well, don't answer that. Let's keep on the topic of Pokemon here, but it would be an interesting discussion to have someday about how far anime games like Pokemon and Naruto have come, and how far they still need to come to be critically accepted.
Back on topic, one of the biggest gripes I have about Pokemon is the division of experience. It is nothing less than a huge pain in the ass to train Pokemon other than your main character, and it has pretty much always been. You'll always start with this under-leveled Pokemon that you have to switch out at the beginning of each battle, every single time, in order to catch a little bit of experience and have it not get killed. There is the item that makes an attempt to remedy that in Diamond and Pearl, although I can't remember what it's called, but even still, I'd much rather have seen something like all Pokemon in the party receiving halved or quartered experience for battles even without actually appearing in the fight.
Elmer: Oh yeah, that 360 one developed by Ubisoft Montreal... Point taken.
Right on about the other Pokemon in the party not gaining experience too, but it could be considered an unconscious way to encourage the player to trade out Pokemons that aren't really all that useful to you. You should be naturally switching out your current Pokemon for one that's useful to the situation, and given enough time ideally you should find your party somewhat even in level and flexible to tackle whatever situation. Ideally, anyway. It's still a pretty lengthy grind to the top of the league.
posted May 19, 2007