Status PyramidHeadcrab Oct 12, 2023
This is an incredibly frustrating game. Not because it's difficult - in fact, it's piss easy - but because it represents a piece of the complete Pokemon experience. There's actually a really good story here, and one that really makes it feel like you're in the Pokemon world. You talk to and interact with Pokemon in ways that make sense, …
This is an incredibly frustrating game. Not because it's difficult - in fact, it's piss easy - but because it represents a piece of the complete Pokemon experience. There's actually a really good story here, and one that really makes it feel like you're in the Pokemon world. You talk to and interact with Pokemon in ways that make sense, and you totally believe the Pokemon world could be a thing.
So why are the mainline Pokemon games so awful when it comes to scenario writing and world building? Clearly, the people at Creatures, Inc. know how to write a story. They've done it twice now with this Detective Pikachu series. So why are these guys not working to integrate that strength in with the core Pokemon games, which tend to have solid mechanics but awful campaigns since the XY days?
As for Detective Pikachu itself... The actual gameplay is way too basic. It feels like it should be a side activity in a larger game. The puzzle solutions are insulting easy, just like in the first. And you can say, "Well it's for kids," but then the story covers some shockingly mature and thoughtful territory. And even if it were for kids, even THEY would find the game too easy, and I suspect they'd be bored by it.
I know The Pokemon Company basically exists to sell merchandise and the games are simply part of a "corporate strategy" or whatever, but it's so intensely frustrating to see all the pieces to a genuinely great Pokemon game carved up and sold piecemeal in several incomplete experiences.