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The Minor Praise Thread!

The Sea Mauville is brilliant. I love how there's such a deep backstory to it all. It's really amazing what's been done with Professor Cozmo. He was once a minor character but now has an actual backstory.

I did read all the documents but the faded words made it hard for me to make out everything, can you tell me when the back story is?

Giving May her final evolved starter (plus a mega)
The facial expressions made the characters feel more alive then ever before
Archie, He's now my favorite Boss villain this guy was so cool
Steven feels like a champion to me now (because I played emerald first as a kid and never saw him as the champ)
Giving the gym leaders and elite four (except glacia) some out of gym appearances it was nice
The music (glad they atleast included the battle brain theme)
Going to space
being able to catch deoxys

From what I can understand, the Sea Mauville was not what it seemed. It was some sort of research project that ended in disaster. Prior to shuw down it was falling apart, the employees were overworked, the working conditions were horrible, and nobody seemed to be able to go home to their families. Wattson started the project but didn't seem so involved as it went on. Eventually it was shut down for unexplained reasons. Professor Cozmo never saw his father again. Also where does Phoebe appear?

Mt Pyre, talking to ghosts.
 
This game also makes me like the relationship between Team Aqua members more than Magma's. I watched the relevant cutscenes for Magma on Youtube--Maxie basically doesn't listen to Tabitha because he's known that Tabitha's been after his position. In the end, Tabitha suddenly shows his loyalty to Maxie....why?

These scenes play out better in Alpha Sapphire. Shelly comes to Archie, telling him that what he's doing is wrong--the world he imagines and the world he's going to create are completely opposite. Their conversation ends with Archie saying that he thought out of all people, Shelly would always be there for him. Why do I think this is better than Magma's version?

First, we know that Shelly and Tabitha are aware of the havoc Groudon and Kyogre would create. Why does neither of them try to warn their leaders sooner? At least for Shelly, we can see that she and Archie were very close, so perhaps she held back until the very end because she knew that if she went against him earlier, Archie would be hurt, and she wouldn't be by his side to protect him.

Second, we get a shout-out in Aqua's base, where we see a picture of a young Archie (who is bald apparently?), Shelly and Jirachi on the 7th day of ___Month of __002. This is obviously a shout-out to both the year of RS's release, and to the Jirachi plot in Pokemon Special. But this adds another dimension to Archie and Shelly--it shows these two have been together for quite some time (if we assume the current year is __014, then that's 12 years) and have even shared a special encounter with Jirachi--yet they did not abuse its power, suggesting this was before Team Aqua.

I don't usually care for these straight-ships, but I am definitely an Archie X Shelly supporter after this (sorry Matt).
 
Soaring in the sky. I discarded HM02 completely and I don't bother for this to be a bit slower. I've used it so much my left thumb is literally injured.

And Wally's battle theme. LOVE-IT
 
I have more and I'll come back when I remember them. Most of them will be Steven related though

How about Steven's relationship with Wallace? I though it was interesting that Steven considers Wallace a friend but Wallace doesn't really like Steven. Wallace views Steven as a rich pretty boy who never had to work for anything.
Are you referring to Wallace saying "I bow to the whims of the pampered heir"?
It's not that Wallace doesn't like Steven - he's actually friendly enough to call him a pampered heir outright. It seems like an affectionate nickname of some sort. you have no idea how the originshippers were excited over that XD
 
Yeah, Wallace's cheekiness just struck me as that. Most of the things I really loved were mentioned here but I also really loved that they opened up the door to alternate universes. Now I no longer need to have internal battles about what's canon. :D
 
I have more and I'll come back when I remember them. Most of them will be Steven related though

How about Steven's relationship with Wallace? I though it was interesting that Steven considers Wallace a friend but Wallace doesn't really like Steven. Wallace views Steven as a rich pretty boy who never had to work for anything.
Are you referring to Wallace saying "I bow to the whims of the pampered heir"?
It's not that Wallace doesn't like Steven - he's actually friendly enough to call him a pampered heir outright. It seems like an affectionate nickname of some sort. you have no idea how the originshippers were excited over that XD

I's hard to tell with Pokemon being text based. I really did love though that their friendship was expanded upon. Game Freak made both sides happy. Steven fans are happy he's Champion and Wallace fans are happy knowing that Wallace will become Champion. And Juan fans can be happy too knowing that he comes into the picture once Wallace becomes Champion.
 
- DexNav is easily the best mechanic Pokemon has received. Since everyone here has already stated every reason to love it, I'll move on.

- The use of the original GBA music in the Weather trio's themes. Do you know how beautiful that was?

- Giving us a visual reason on why the Cave of Origin is considered the wellspring of life. In the originals, it was a foggy cave with a pit of magma/water in it. Here, it's a breathtaking iridescent cavern.

- SOARING. This is a huge one for me, because I've been wishing for a thing like this since before Gen V. This exceeded my expectations in every way. Not only can you fly atop one of the Eon twins, but you can actually see the Hoenn region below you, and it completely removes the need for Fly. Way back in the day, I expected something like in Pokemon Ranger: using Fly in the field lets you fly above the clouds, but you don't ever actually see the world below. I don't care that Soaring is a bit slower than Fly; it's much better than it in every way (and spares you of having to lug around a Flier everywhere!)

- SO MUCH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Your neighbor not only fully evolves their starter, but also can MEGAVOLVE it too?! Wally has personality and is sincerely adorable?! There's a difference between Magma and Aqua besides "moar land" and "moar water", and it's not just in their motives; as far as I can tell, between the Admins and the Leaders, the two teams have opposite issues. In Aqua, Matt is too loyal to his bro and his dream; it almost made him blow up Mossdeep's rocket. Magma, on the other hand, has the typical bad-guy trust issues, with Tabitha wanting to take over as leader.

- ZINNIA'S THEME. Great Giritina, it's impossible to come across anyone who wasn't stunned by her theme the first time they heard it. We need more violins, not trumpets! The way the song sounded just like a Kingdom Hearts boss battle theme really won me over too

- Zinnia in general. While some aspects of her slightly hyper personality kind of bothered me (that psychotic battle grin, stealing from Wally, dissing Steven and just about everyone except the PC), she was a fresh aspect of Pokemon that I never thought would be possible. She's got a sensible design, with a nice tattered-looking cape and an unusual Keystone accessory. Aside from when she has that feral look on her face, she's normal-looking enough to not be off-putting. She singlehandily rendered the fandom's conception of a canonical timeline moot. And then she says the darndest things... like referring to her Whismur, Aster, as a "daughter", or asking you about truth or ideals, or just saying you look cute while you sleep. (hey, no big deal that she knocked you out for no reason!)

- They kept the battle themes of all the legendaries! (okay, I'm not sure if I like them using the GBC's legendary beast theme... oh well.) While some people complained these were not remixes, I'm so happy that Giritina's battle music stayed the same.
 
I also wanted to say that Maxie's speech at the Battle Resort in Alpha Sapphire is nothing short of brilliant. Game Freak really did a fantastic job there. I am truly amazed at the level of character development Maxie has in Alpha Sapphire. Overall the character development in the game is just brilliant. It's unprecedented for Game Freak to do such a thing. It's really a shame we rarely see such things from Game Freak. They're at their best when they do things like that. I do hope Shigeru Ohmori directs another game. It's clear he's an excellent director. I do feel like he was limited in some aspects though. He doesn't seem the like kind of guy to me that would say no to including The Battle Frontier. I want him to take over from Masuda as clearly Masuda's heart isn't in these days. I can't speak for Omega Ruby but Alpha Sapphire clearly tried to tell a far more different story than had been done before. XY was really just more of the same. Storywise Alpha Sapphire was the best game since BW.
 
- SO MUCH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Your neighbor not only fully evolves their starter, but also can MEGAVOLVE it too?! Wally has personality and is sincerely adorable?! There's a difference between Magma and Aqua besides "moar land" and "moar water", and it's not just in their motives; as far as I can tell, between the Admins and the Leaders, the two teams have opposite issues. In Aqua, Matt is too loyal to his bro and his dream; it almost made him blow up Mossdeep's rocket. Magma, on the other hand, has the typical bad-guy trust issues, with Tabitha wanting to take over as leader.
I get why people keep comparing Matt and Tabitha, but Matt's counterpart is Courtney and Tabitha's is Shelly (they switch roles for their respective versions). With that said, the contrast is still there. Archie is broken when he thinks Shelly betrayed him and turns to Kyogre; Maxie dismisses Tabitha's concerns because of trust issues between them stemming from Tabitha's goals of becoming Magma leader.

Not really sure what the contrast between Courtney and Matt are--people hardly talk about Courtney. Though from what I can tell, Matt is over-expressive, while Courtney is robotic.
 
Not really sure what the contrast between Courtney and Matt are--people hardly talk about Courtney. Though from what I can tell, Matt is over-expressive, while Courtney is robotic.

Courtney have lots of weird personalities imo. She is obsesed with Maxie and have Maxie's photos *from different era ^^;* on her laptop in her room.
When Maxie was 'change' in Delta Episode, she was mad and started stealing keystone to 'remind' Maxie to their old goal. She was crying after they were apologized to each other.

I don't personally like her, she is a bubblegum, moe-like character I kinda to despite, but she is more than robotic character.
 
I really love this thread! There is so much I enjoy experiencing about ORAS and I'm not even done with the game yet. I'll try not to repeat what has already been said, so here's some stuff I love about these games:

- Player Characters: They are still the same characters, but that what makes them so great. These two were always my two favorite characters (one due to his really unique appearance due to his hat, and the other was my favorite character of the anime). It's good to see them again after all these years. Even with their new designs, they are still, on the surface, the characters I grew up with and loved. I also love the facial expressions each of them have when they are not the player.

- Secret Bases: I know that his has already been brought up once but this feature is so amazing; it makes me kind of wonder why they took it out in the first place. Not only do you get to challenge yourself by battling tough trainers, it is also a way to get experience points and look at other peoples creative designs for their base. I just went into a base with some awesome decorations that I want to try out for myself when I get them.

- Music: Another topic that has been brought up, but I feel that this one needs more emphasis, even if everyone says how great the music is. I ran into a woman in a cafe in Mauville who says "Music is a mysterious thing. Just listening to a song I used to hear transports me back to that time." And what she says is completely true, to an extent, at least from my point of view. I remember when I first started the game and the GBA graphics + the music showed up and I began to feel exactly as the woman said. After going through the game and listening to more of the songs, I feel that there is something more to the music that allows ORAS to be its own entity, while still having RSE as a base. Judging by the posts in this thread, I've still got a ton of really cool music waiting for me at the end. I can't wait for the soundtrack to get released.

- Larger Region?: This one I'm not so sure on but Hoenn for some reason feels larger than the original and than Kalos (And these were really large regions to begin with). I'm not sure what gives me this feeling, but nonetheless, it amplifies the theme of exploration even more than RSE, which were exploration heavy regions in their own right.

- Steven Stone, Archie and other characters: I really love how in depth they are getting with the characters who originated from RSE, more particularly, Archie and Steven. It seems like Steven is every where, and that is really a good thing. He still keeps that mysterious vibe going on like any other champion (I believe that I'm not supposed to know that he is the champion yet, but I've played these games enough to know). He has also been my favorite champion, especially since he uses one of my favorite Pokemon Metagross. Archie on the other hand, I've only seen once, but his new design, along with his expression similar to Brendan/May, make him feel like a more expressive character. I can't wait to see more of these characters along with more of Wally and the new character Zinnia.

- Updates to the new gadgets used for exploring: I know that this is really minor, but I love how they took the tools--like the Devon Scope, Go-Goggles, and Dowsing Machine--and made them feel more real with the 3-D graphics. The dowsing machine wasn't really a change, as it was in X and Y, but I just like the antennae better.

I know that there are stuff I'm still missing, but that's all I can think of for now. ORAS have been really great games so far.
 
A small thing I noticed is the smoother movements of your character. It feels much easier and smoother to walk/run around. However, this does not seem to apply indoors.
 
I've noticed that diving when flying on your lati@s increases your speed and climbing decreases your speed. Yay physics!!
 
I recently discovered that surfing/diving with a Kyogre lets you ride on a unique Kyogre model, just like Sharpedo. Looks like another childhood wish came true! Diving also has you wear scuba gear, so it seems less weird that a trainer can hold their breath forever.
 
I recently discovered that surfing/diving with a Kyogre lets you ride on a unique Kyogre model, just like Sharpedo. Looks like another childhood wish came true! Diving also has you wear scuba gear, so it seems less weird that a trainer can hold their breath forever.

HOLY OMG THIS IS SO EPIC

Just how many unique sprites are there for Surf and Dive?? Can we ride on a unique Milotic model??
 
No Milotic's special sprite, too bad... because my main diving pokemon is Milotic and it's not shown on special sprite..

I remember read only wailmer, sharpedo, and kyogre ger special sprite while dive/surf except Lapras..
 
I'm only just at Route 119 atm, but so far, everything's been so amazing already

I especially love how so many characters have an added layer of depth, partly cause of BuzzNav. For example the fact we now know the ages of Mr. Stone and Prof. Cozmo (to name a few)

I also love the groundfloor of Devon Corp, it looks so pretty! (and I want it)
 
They really did hit a sweet spot as far as straight remake/complete overhaul.
 
Please note: The thread is from 1 year ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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