I don't like harbouring gaming grudges, all the more
so if said grudge is against a game belonging to a genre I favour and if that
game happens to be a spin-off of one of my favourite series. I wrote off the DS
entries of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series after a disappointing
experience with Blue
Rescue Team, promising
myself never to touch them again; but now, one and a half year later, I felt
that it was time to give the DS branch of the series another chance and to try
my hardest to get over that saddening grudge. I had been toying with the idea
for some time and had purchased a copy of Explorers of Sky, thinking
that it would be better to start again with a brand-new entry; and lately, a
review of that game on The
Lucky Critical gave me the
boost I needed to start playing it in earnest.
And so did I. The opening quiz produced Pikachu—to my mild surprise, since I
had tried hard to obtain that Pokemon in Blue Rescue Team and failed
entirely. I had already played as Pikachu in my run of Gates
to Infinity and wanted to
try out another 'Mon, so I took the quiz a second time... And landed Pikachu
again, to my utter surprise. Well, I guess it was destiny! I thus went with
Pikachu and selected Skitty as my partner, because hey, I just cannot resist
cats. Especially if they're kittens. I decided from the get-go that this would
be a duo run because a) I didn't feel like levelling up other 'Mons and b) The
Lucky Critical's review had conveniently revealed that the last dungeon had to
be tackled with your partner only, so better get used to it right away! And so,
I dove into action with that colourful fury duo.
After 14 hours of said action, I am literally glued to Explorers of Sky
and loving it more by the hour. I certainly didn't expect that in the
beginning, given how slow and unimpressive were the early stages of the game. I
was not allowed to tackle more than one mission at once, which was annoying as
my greatest desire was to Crawl'n'Grind. Each mission was preceded and followed
by unskippable cutscenes taking place at the Guild; and although these scenes
were kind of cute and helped establish a sense of belonging to the Guild, they
became irritating after a while. There was an annoying mini-game that further
ruined the already slow pacing, and the story consisted of fending off the
attempts at stealing food perpetrated by a team of cartoonish ruffians. All
that was rather vapid, and although the game was much more pleasant than Blue
Rescue Team, I was not exactly glued to it. I would play only once in a
while, clearing a mission or two before closing my DS and diving back into Demon
Gaze.
Fortunately, this lukewarm gameplay experience was not meant to last. After
a couple of hours, the story suddenly took a most interesting turn thanks to
some unexpected developments, gaining a much broader scope in the process; and
to my utter delight, the dungeon crawling followed suit. My crawling horizons
were suddenly expanded to massive proportions, as I could tackle as many
missions and dungeons as I wanted and Crawl'n'Grind to my heart's content. And
Crawl'n'Grind I did, clearing all the Dojo's dungeons and tons of missions. Oh,
the delight! Once I was sated, I dove back into the story, without forgetting
to take a break every now and then to grind and farm useful items. After
several hours of that regimen, I'm totally and desperately hooked on Explorers
of Sky: although I'm nearly at the Final Boss' door, I feel like I've
barely scratched the surface of the game. I want to keep gorging on crawling
and grinding until I get my fill of it, and something tells me that these urges
will not be sated after beating the final boss. Which is for the best, given
that the game goes on after that. More crawling, yes please!
Of course, it certainly doesn't hurt either that the game looks and sounds
amazing. This is a late-era DS game, and it show beautifully: the colours are
splendid, the graphics bristle with exquisite details and the 'Mons detailed
animations are absolutely adorable. There is a staggering graphical gap between
that game and Blue Rescue Team, and it's all for the best given how
primitive the latter was in that department. As for the soundtrack, it is a
pure piece of ear candy with dozens of tracks in various styles, most of them
being considerably more complex than what you'd expect to find in a Pokemon spin-off
aimed mainly at kids.
Although I'm not done yet with my playthrough, I can safely say that the DS
branch of the series has totally and beautifully redeemed itself thanks to Explorers
of Sky. It has done so to such extent that I'm even considering giving
another try to Blue Rescue Team, the game that started the grudge in the
first place. Or former grudge, should I say, because this is now a thing of the
past. The present is all about playing Explorers of Sky and enjoying it
to the fullest, and you can expect more writing about that game before I'm done
with it—and after, for that matter. Until then, thanks for reading, and be my
guest anytime!
4 comments:
Kumiko 11 November 2015 at 13:45
I just have one
thing to say about this game: don't do the post game content right away.
Seriously, the post game is incredibly long and difficult, and no matter how
much fun the game is one gets sick of after doing the same thing for so long.
Trust me, I could barely look at it be the time it was over, but I was
completely happy with the game when I beat the first story.
And the crappiest thing about this game? You can't evolve your starters until
you beat the post game. And if they need a special stone to evolve, good luck
finding one. Otherwise it is one of the best rogues on the DS.
Isleif 12 November 2015 at 11:18
Well, we'll see! I just beat the final boss and I'm now on my way to Mystifying Forest and quite eager to discover that new dungeon. But if things get tedious or too difficult, I won't hesitate to stop! I've already beaten the main game anyway, so my gaming duty is done! :)
Sieg 14 November 2015 at 17:52
Oh wow, you
went, played it AND ended up loving it? I think that's the best possible
outcome that you could get from picking up a long time hated game!
Also, the music is something special in Explorers of Sky, isn't it? They're
diverse, catchy and fit the mood of the game perfectly.
Isleif 15 November 2015 at 11:33
Indeed, that's
the best possible outcome! If I have to be totally honest, I liked Explorers of
Sky even more than Gates to Infinity. The story is more touching while being
told in a more efficient and pleasantly compact way, and the graphics have a
retro touch that I totally adore.
The music is really special, indeed, and I find myself replaying the tunes in
my head quite frequently. Many tracks are quite complex, with loops much longer
that what can be found in your average video game track, and I always listened
very carefully to every new tune. It doesn't hurt that there are so many of
them, all equally excellent!
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