/vr/ - Retro Games

I was like 12 when FR/LG came out, and I actually didn't see the point at the time, because I had already played Kanto lots. We emulated G/S, but we kept hitting walls because the roms were partially (and incorrectly) translated, so we kind of lost interest and didn't feel like waiting to find better translations nor investing all that time again. It kinda just slipped from us.
I got to try out my cousin's copy of Ruby some time later, and it really hooked me, aside from the pretty graphics and nicer sound and music, I liked the new land to explore, with new gameplay mechanics and new Pokémon (the new generation of designs could be a little hit or miss, but there were a bunch I really liked).

I talk my brother into it, and we both make sure to get different versions this time around, and we have a great time. The double battles, the timed events, the rematchable trainers which actually level up, it was all super. Discovering that there were parts where you could dive into deep water to move through seaweeds and searching for treasure was really cool to me, even cooler was accidentally stumbling upon the Sealed Chamber without being aware of it. I investigate every square inch of it, then save and close the game to ponder what's up with this place for a while.
Returning to it an hour later, and on a hunch comparing the long runic message on the most forward wall with the short strips, I try and see if a few of the short sections could be used to read the long message as if it was an alphabet, and it WAS. Fuck me, that was a thrill to discover, I was out on a roadtrip, so what I manage to scrounge is a ballpoint pen and a post-it note, which I scribble down the cipher on and then use to translate the message with. Getting concrete instructions, I set out on my quest to fulfill them.

I could have looked it up on the internet when I got home, but I resisted the temptation to find it out for myself.

>>9428869
I agree with you about G1, but I was actually even more captivated by the world in Ruby/Sapphire when it was new, Hoenn drew me in in a way which Kanto and even Johto just hadn't before.
Traversing the desert, scouring through Meteorite Falls and the volcanic area, etc, the wilderness was varied and interesting, and I liked a lot of the Pokémon designs, places like the scuttled ship really stood out to me as well. I remember thinking the graphics were really colorful, detailed, and pretty, and it made the world feel very alive to me. I missed the day/night cycle from previous gen, but the weather effects were really neat.

There was more too, diving out deep in the ocean looking for treasure when I thought I had seen most of the game, and then stumbling upon these weird ancient cave chambers which I had no fucking idea existed. With the slightly creepy music filling me with wonder, I see these weird symbols on the walls which I had seen in a couple of other places before, and I soon realize this is an alphabet, I write the (Braille) alphabet down on a piece of paper so I can reference and translate the written text in the chamber as well as the other places which had mystified me, and this sent me on quest to discover what this stuff was.

I was also a teenager by that point, so unlike with the older Pokémon games, I really took notice of the cute girls in this game. Battle Girl, Parasol Lady, Pokémon Ranger, Phoebe, May, all these pretty girls making me hot and bothered was special to me as well.

>>9430843
It's definitely different that way, yeah.