Draft Post: Game log: Pokemon Blue

^{Note: I originally posted this on the now-defunct Cohost, as a follow up to the previous post}

Cohost is on its final days so like many, I'm posting cleaned up drafts of posts that will never be otherwise. This is really the only fleshed out one I have. I played Pokemon Blue for the first time earlier in the year and thought I'd do a smart girl writeup about it, but it mostly wound up a weird rant about the state of the series from someone who dipped over a decade ago?? hahaha. I think I'll leave some today comments on italics to elaborate on some stuff, but I'm leaving the VERY drafted notes at the end cause I think it'll be fun to look at. Also, it has been a minute so I am far form the moment this was meant for.

I played Pokemon Blue!
Attempting to keep thoughts shorts while I have another, massive post on the WIPs

Quick (Future edit: lol, lmao) context, Pokemon was for me, like with so many, a core part of my gaming experience growing up. Some of the first games I ever played that were always just there and exciting with every new release, one of my favorite series, ate up the anime too of course. I have two brothers, and between them and school friends there was no shortage of people to engage with the series socially too. I grew up with it, and it felt a little bit like it grew up with me, up until Black & White which I engaged with deeply with a slightly more developed brain (ie. 13, instead of like, 6) and still hail as my favorite generation and the peak of the series (definitely one to revisit and gush about sometime). It was my last real experience with Pokemon though! I skipped on BW2, and I didn't rush to buy a 3DS for XY, and by the time I did have one I'd fallen off the train enough I let every release after pass me by. Not out of any disillusionment or deep criticism of the series, though it has gotten plenty in that time. I'm not avoiding modern entries out of conviction, I just have other priorities. I do keep up, culturally, SPECIALLY with the soundtracks, I was tempted by Sun and Moon and Sword and Shield most, but ultimately they went on the backlog I stopped having recently.

I was going somewhere with this... right! Despite how maligned the series has been in the last decade+, despite it already being the biggest media property out there, if I honestly try to look back at my experience with it, unclouded from "nostalgia" or childhood memories, I can honestly say with my heart: Pokemon is good, its fantastic. I don't think this should be a surprise, I feel like its qualities and the grasp its had on people as a result are very apparent, and it wasn't just me being a kid, or the marketing being real good (though it is).
Tim Rogers has an amazing video going over some of this, but even as overt praise it feels a little too focused on the manipulative trick of getting people invested. If this was anything but Pokemon and the people behind it, the tricks wouldn't land as well, and if it didn't have the more manipulative marketing things like multiple versions, it would still be good.

I'm not really here to defend the series and games I haven't played, or say its perfect and free from criticism, it hasn't ever been. I haven't rushed to the 3D entries for a reason, a lot, so much, has clearly been lost in this time. However, even as the main titles are apparently falling apart at the seams, there's still a charming core that seems to pull through no matter what. I see people wishing the main series switched developers, which seems insane and absurd to me, I can only imagine that manifesting in an entirely soulless corporate product, that may be more technically "polished" than GameFreak's recent outings, but ultimately a death sentence for the series. Its wild that the biggest media property in the world is largely determined and beholden to games made by a relatively tiny team, making what are frankly weird niche competitive RPGs. I know what that kind of money people speak of tends to buy: inoffensive, truly banal garbage. That there's still continuity on the team going back all the way to the first game is a miracle. As much of a corporate product as it intrinsically is, despite the constant trading on nostalgia, how the fuck have they not completely folded into pure, total slop?? Maybe you think it has, but I still see the spark from afar. Pokemon doesn't need a new developer, it needs a new publisher, it needs to not be Pokemon™ so the people who make it can have time to breathe.

Right okay, not keeping it short, clearly- What I REALLY wanted to say was: My first Pokemon was Crystal, handed down from my older brother along with a Game Boy Color. I started with gen 2, and I never actually owned a copy of Fire Red or Leaf Green of my own: I had yet to ever play the mythical Generation 1 in full, in any form. The genesis of the series, which keeps getting paraded out for nostalgia points time and time again. So when I got a flashcart for my recently purchased Game Boy Pocket (another rant for another day, original GB screens are TOTALLY playable and I am a sicko for hardware authenticity) I decided to play one of them, on a total whim.

The actual game log (way shorter!):

So was Pokemon good from the outset? Oh yea, definitely. I'm constantly in awe of the kinds of things developers pulled off on the Game Boy, and this is no exception. It feels massive and sprawling and adventurous for what is in reality, a tiny map and a very limited number of systems and interactions. The slow walk speed and limited camera confines actually helps with this massively, in between trainer battles and random encounters, what are otherwise incredibly short routes feel like decent tracks the first time around. "Towns" and "Cities" feel properly scaled despite being comprised of maybe 3 buildings at most. The limited palette of building blocks for just about anything makes it so that each unique arrangement winds up incredibly memorable.

(here's where the notes start lol, also I guess I can put this tweet thread here)

playful around what little they have
worldbuilding, setting, even in early stages (and irl mentions) so much is already there, world obsessed with pokemon, a deep sense of discovery

(by "irl mentions" I meant to note how funny it is they have real world references like, the conceit and world wasn't ALL fleshed out, which is fun to see nowadays after so long of it being well established and trodden, but they do have a lot already in there)

dialogue, funny!! silly! I can read it in english and understand now, meta. People go on about modern games, but its core to the identity to get silly with it

(Right so, English is my second language so as a kid I don't think I really understood or internalized a lot of dialogue beyond the technical stuff, so I didn't get just how much personality Pokemon's had since day one. I tweeted about here and here it but, they're constantly taking the piss and having fun, so its weird to see people take issue with modern games doing silly bits when its core to the series)

early on you're just catching stuff and doing whatever, then the choice avalancche comes in and you lock in and start team building

progression through he map is interesting, even with the arbitrary gates they work well, add texture to the world, make it memorable, have just that little big wher eyou gotta skip the one town and what not, do some loop arounds, even as its mostly a one shot loop with an open middle

(By "arbitrary gates" I mean, the very silly pokemon thing where access is blocked off just because some random npc is doing whatever haha. Also, the tunnels and teasing they do surrounding Saffron is neat)

highlight t midpoint? kinda got chorey in the end, silph cooo, turn off battle anime, relaly tried to not be a fast forward mentality, but also not spending my time LIVING in this world so I did wanna get through

(Midpoint was the highlight of the game is I think what I meant, good balancce of fights and progression, while later its a looot of trainer battles. Was sliph co fun? Maybe? but I think it might've been the point I felt the need to turn off battle animations to speed things up a little, yea)

final stretch was real good though! the legue gate leadup,t he statues in front of it? victory road was super short lmao ok. Went into E4 totally unprepared, stuck around for the logn run, CLUTCHED it

(yeeeea the end was great!! I was surprised to see how cool the whole leadup to the pokemon league was. ALSO MY LEAGUE RUN WAS CRAZY god I wish I'd noted down more about it but essentially, I ran in to "scout things out" but then wound up all the way into lance having used up a lot of my items but still alive to a degree so I thought, CAN I stick it out? and I got through but then it was time for RIVAL (lovingly named "that boy") and I had barely anything but I saved before him so like, I had to come up with some crazy strategy and really push the limits of each matchup, my remaining health, and a ton of luck. Had maybe, one revive, and I did a lot of shenanigans with my Cleffabble's Sing and Flash, which I originally regretted teaching it hahaha. Lost count of how many restarts I did, but what a perfect way to end it)

SO MUCH POISON

cool moments, like the poke tower!

Trainers have SO MUCH RIZZ from day one this series is somethign else

very memorable boss encounters and pokemon

(some rapid fire points at the end, thats it, thank you cohost)