>>24719578I like Bidoof a lot, especially since his perseverance is really reflected in gameplay. It's really easy to faint as him (his whole episode plays sorta like Super, actually), but just like he does, you gotta persevere and eventually you will be able to clear Star Cave, which is nice.
For me I think the partner is great on their own anyway, but like I said, it helped me through a dark time. The Partner was a lot like me when I played through it, so in a sense 'we' both helped each other through our development. Replaying Sky earlier this year and seeing a lot of little development touches shown really helped cinch it for me, too.
That's kind of what I understand about Gates too, really. You're not the first person to mention the show-don't-tell thing, and you're right in that when I actually wandered around Demo Post Town, it seemed... pretty bog-standard. Like, the construcion-Urrs were twerps, and Scraggy was a twerp (but how did he even take the stones without us noticing? Like, did we keep them in a bag we don't see on the 3d models? Did the partner just carry them and drop them (and if so how dumb must he be to not notice he dropped them)), but overall the townsmons seemed mostly normal. It really doesn't seem like it's in all that much trouble, and I think that... actually, that might be the real reason I was put off. I remember thinking clearly to myself "this town seems really basic" when I played, even though I was told that it was a "dick" place. The mixed messages made it hard to really get invested in either the town or what the town was supposed to be.
I think saying he's Grovyle with a personality is a little harsh, but then again, I've
written fics including Grovyle before, so maybe I need to keep playing my Sky replay and double-check. Hyd is a really great character for sure, though, arguably one of the most endearing to me.
