>>58225105Artificial as this patch of grass feels, I mean if we let Castelia Park get away with it...
Battle Dome I'm guessing is gonna be a post-game thing. Cool I guess.
More cringe, and gym guy straight up says something like, "normally you'd be able to challenge your first gym this early...". Again with the box ticking. He says to challenge Birch City first because there was an accident or some shit. Between that and the fact that the Battle Dome is closed, the Flower Shop does nothing, and there are no other amenities anywhere aside from the Pokecenter, that means that there is literally nothing to do at all in this ENTIRE, relatively sizeable (for a Pokemon game) city. Talking to every single dialogue only awards you a Quick Claw and is otherwise pointless because of that bland, placeholder-sounding dialogue.
Your entire first city is completely empty. Honestly, what were you thinking?
On route 3 we go right back to boring sleep aid music with more MIDI trumpet farts. For some odd reason, this lady acts like I've beaten her and asks for our number for an eventual re-match even though I haven't actually fought her yet.
I will concede the banana slug is kinda cute. While I'm here I grab the osprey 'mon. WAY too generic and Pidgey-looking (the Seaghoul line from Realidea is way better), but I won't say no to flying/water. Static is nice to have on the bug, especially for capturing.
I decided to grind all my Pokemon to level 10 arbitrarily. I'm noticing several instances of back sprites being oddly much better than the corresponding front sprite.
Gotta say the screen flash from ongoing poison seems a bit seizure-inducing. I immediately like the Hemlock Wetlands a bit better than previous areas, though. The track is too short and repetitive, but at least has a unique sound. And the name, while edgy, is at least evocative. Sadly I immediately found another bug as your character "bounces" up and down when transitioning between the swamp water and the reeds.
