>>12673717Coming from someone who didn't like the story in Explorers that much, (Still a lot better than anything else in Pokemon) I can honestly say I loved the story in Gates. For the first time ever in Pokemon, I actually empathized with a lot of the characters within the game, an absolutely vital component for me to care about any story. That being said, the text is even slower than Explorers and the dialogue is extremely 'parroty.' Expect a lot of things to be stated and then rephrased. At least there's less pointless flashbacks.
There is only one post game event, but I absolutely adored it while it lasted
Delaying your return to the pokemon world (actually, you become a dimensional traveler so your parents and friends don't become worried sick) really allowed the ending to sink in more as the post game stars the partner as the lead character (Who might I add is a great character unlike the full, needy Explorers partner. Explorers just cheaply undone the ending right after the credits finished. Hey, at least there's no Aegis cave!
As for gameplay, I feel as though a lot of the choices were actually blessings in disguise. The lack of hunger in almost all dungeons didn't affect the game at all for me - just bring a few apples and you're fine. SUCH an engaging mechanic outside of the 'reset to level 1' dungeons where you can't being items.
The whole team getting experience and the removal of IQ in favour of Team Skills encouraged me to use a whole variety of pokemon instead of just using me and the partner as I did in Explorers who were so fed on gummis, vitamins and levels that playing anyone else was a waste of time, and I was certianly not willing to grind for hours on end to bring another pokemon up to the standards of me and the partner. Sure you can get almost 500 pokemon in Explorers, but it doesn't count for much if I only ever used 2.
I also enjoyed building up paradise and it was enough to convince me to achieve perfect rank.
