The Minor Praise Thread!

[skyradiant]

It's kinda cool how the interface goes into static when the player descends into the Cave of Origin to challenge Groudon/Kyogre.

 

[Isaac Gravity]

Just the little bits that were garnished throughout the game that made things feel more "alive": like that random moment where you can give that poor your trainer a potion (getting nothing but the feel-good feeling of doing something nice for others.)

How fluid the movements of the PCs are. And that overworld. Just plain gorgeous. Route 120 is the most stunning area in the game visually. The battle backgrounds are also stunning. It's a shame we can't choose them in VS matches.

The music did as much as it could to stay close to the originals but still freshen it up some (this also doubles as a complaint as the trumpets were lessened as a result).

Sea Mauville. Holy crap Sea Mauville.

 

[DarkMeow]

Although seems completely ridiculous for me to take so much notice of, the remade Drought theme met all of my expectations and more.

Also, the ability to ride Latios or Latias is amazing! Although it seems kind of silly, the freedom to soar above the region is quite nice.

EDIT:

Whoops! Forgot to mention how much I enjoyed the facial expressions.

 

[Almonds]

The battle backgrounds. Meteor Falls, Route 113, the icy cavern of Shoal Cave (I thought at first it was similar to Frost Cavern in Kalos, but there's a lot more blue, and mist that actually moves ), Mt. Chimney, the desert, underwater... They are all so beautiful.

 

[Muur]

A trainer in the Maison mentioned I was Champion, I was tempted to lose to see if they said "Does this mean I'm the Champion now?". It was 6 on 6 too as it was triple. Shame their best guy was a middle stage Pokemon though, making victory easy.

 

[Alola]

Where do I even begin:

~The opening introduction. I just simply love the remix music. And I think they used it in the oRAS trailer too rather than an anime rendition. That's how good it is! Everytime I open up Omega Ruby, I always play the intro, just to hear the music. And I usually never do this.

~The opening of the game with Professor Birch. Nostalgia at its finest.

~May (as I'm Brenden, I can't gauge for him). I love how GF gave her much more expression, detail, appearances and the cool battle intro. While we're at it, the VS Rival theme is one of the better remixes of the games.

~The DexNav (need I say more?) and sneaking. I love the fact that we can actually catch Pokemon with rare moves akin to the anime.

~The DexNav.

~Being able to scan Pokemon in the overworld for Pokedex registration. It's about time! And is also anime like.

~The Hoenn world in general. The greens are green and the blues are blue. The grass sways and the the starry sky reflects in ponds and puddles. It's simply gorgeous. Congrats to GF, seriously. I also love how you get to realistically see Pokemon flying in the air (Tailow, Swablu, Wingull, Beautifuly etc) and Pokemon hiding in grass, waters, caves etc below.

~Team Aqua/Magma defeat theme. How can you not feel successful and happy after giving it a listen?

~The music in general. So far, every remix I've heard I absolutely love. Current favorites include the bike theme, VS Rival, VS Gym Leader and Route 113.

~The Fridge Brilliance of Brawly's Gym actually being a gym. Both Pokemon and people can workout and get stronger! While we're at it, the fact that Roxanne's Gym also functions as a fossil/stone museum is also pretty cool. I'm glad the gyms have practical uses rather than simply being elaborate, glorified puzzles for trainers (something we haven't really seen since Black and White era).

~A much more developed and characterized Maxie and Tabitha. While the Slateport crisis was a bit lackluster in terms of introductions, the Meteor Falls incident was just amazing. First off, all of those realistic impact craters surrounding the the cave were impressively designed. Secondly, I loved how invested May was in rescuing a stupid Professor Cosmo. The Tag Battle against Tabitha and the female grunt was pretty cool, especially when May and I both brought out our starters. Thirdly, the camera angles! Seriosuly! If anything can change how impacting a scene can be, its camera angles! May, Brendan and everyone else's facial expressions also helped. And Meteor Falls is gorgeous. Archie crashing the party and the angle panned on him was also really impressive, my word. Favorite scene of ORAS so far, "Hyahya!"

~Pokemon Contest [Spectaculars]. I loved Contests the first time around, and I love them just as much again. That awe inspiring stage, the crowds roaring applause, everything just screams awesome! They really outdid themselves. The fact that each Pokemon has a Spectacular Talent (although I loathe the running road one) is also amazing. Pikachu just couldn't stop doing the "Striking Chronicles." I also like how we have actual Contest Halls again rather than a sole one like in Emerald in D/P?Pt. I do think they should have been split into rank again as well rather than allow for all ranks to be completed at one hall, but hey. Also, the lack of Ribbons was also a bust too...

~Cosplay Pikachu. At first, I promised myself I wouldn't utilize a Pikachu in Hoenn due to using one in Kalos...but I just love her too much. Not only is she great for Contests, but all of her outfits, her black hearted tail and extra moves still has novelty.

~Lisia and Chaz. Lisia is the games Aria and she does it pretty well, along with her own genki-girlness. I actually like her character though, along with her male Altaria. Chaz is alo pretty funny, in his own jerkish ways. I do think they should have given him his own character model (especially since you can face him in Contests as well!). His female Machoke is also different and appreciated and I just love her story with her box and her crush on Ali (who amusingly, albeit understandably, doesn't return her feelings). Yay for the usual genders of Pokemon being inverted!

~The Winstrates being the Winstrates.

~The BuzNav as well. If only you could watch tv shows on it too...

And thats it so far...

 

[Norzan]

- The overall soundtrack is great so far, just as good as the original, something FRLG and HGSS failed to do.

- Team Aqua (and Team Magma for that matter) actually steal the right orb. In the original RS they would steal the opposite orb like morons.

- The DexNav is a fantasic feature and one that it's probably not going to return in a future game, that depresses me.

- The Trainers ask for rematches much more often compared to the original RSE. If i can't have the VS Seeker, i'll take this.

 

[Ampharos King]

I like the AreaNav's utility. With it, you can pinpoint locations within Hoenn that have secret bases, battle-ready trainers, and harvestable berries all with the press of a button.

It's a much more user-friendly feature than what players had to do to find berries and bases in the originals.

 

[Silverwynde]

I just finished the Delta Episode two days ago.

Spoiler

After Rayquaza destroys the meteorite, I find myself staring at a flat triangle.... which starts to glide across the screen in a very familiar pattern. Once that's done, I saw the tendrils and heard that theme, the theme I hadn't heard since I had visited Birth Island years ago. Oh my Primus, talk about some major nostalgia. Well done, Game Freak. Very well done.

 

[Norzan]

Flying directly to routes. This is such a simple thing and yet i love it, why wasn't this a thing in previous games?

 

[Dr. Buni]

Brendan and Wally have actual personalities now. Prior to ORAS, they were the blandest rivals in the series, but not anymore. I still hate Brendan's "I was hoping you were a boy" line, but during the rest of the game he is an enjoyable character and rather adorable at times. Not as adorable as Wally, though.

The remixed soundtrack is really good. It shows that what made the soundtrack good wasn't the trumpets, like some people seemed to believe

The bottom screen stuff is really helpful. It almost, if not as good as (or even better than ) the Pokétch in Generation IV. The DexNav is really useful, even if I am not a completionist and only catch the Pokémon I plan to use in my playthrough. It is too bad they will dump the feature in the next game, as they always do.

The battle backgrounds are great. I always get into a gym wondering how the background will look like, once the battle against the leader starts.

The redesigned locations are a big improvement over the originals. I was weirded by "Mallville" City at first, but now I really like it. It is a big city, but not awful to navigate like Castelia and Lumiose were. Route 113 looks stunning and that music hnnng.

Mt. Chimney actually looks like a huge mountain now and woah, it is... huge

Sneaking upon Pokémon is fun, although it would be nice if random encounters were automatically turned off once there is a Pokémon visible on the tall grass.

I enjoyed the way you get the ability to use mega evolutions in ORAS a lot more than in XY. Perhaps it is because you aren't forced to use a boring Lucario in order to get it?

Archie's redesign and everything about the new Team Aqua. Specially Matt's homoeroticism. I find it rather cool that he loves interesting strong dudes. Haha!

Etc etc. There is a lot to love in this game, although there are some kinda bad things as well (no Battle Frontier and character customization, for starter), but overall ORAS is the best remake in the series so far. I found HGSS to be underwhelming (then again, so was GSC) and although FRLG was great, it wasn't as impressive as ORAS. Granted, part of the reason for that is because ORAS is the first 2D to 3D remake in the series, but still

 

[Stratelier]

.but overall ORAS is the best remake in the series so far. I found HGSS to be underwhelming ...

Me being a fan of Emerald I must diagree with that, but it's not a deal breaker either.

Anyway, my favorite little thing is how when you trade Pokemon the ball types shown in the trading animation are now the actual ball types the Pokemon are in, not a standard Poke Ball anymore. I can start breeding and trading Shinx like a madman again.

 

[Dr. Buni]

.but overall ORAS is the best remake in the series so far. I found HGSS to be underwhelming ...

Me being a fan of Emerald I must diagree with that, but it's not a deal breaker either.

Anyway, my favorite little thing is how when you trade Pokemon the ball types shown in the trading animation are now the actual ball types the Pokemon are in, not a standard Poke Ball anymore. I can start breeding and trading Shinx like a madman again.

But Emerald is not a remake, Emerald is a third version. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ If you count third versions, then Platinum still is my favorite, since it is in my favorite game in the series.

Or it was, before ORAS. I am confused. XD

 

[Camille]

Love the addition of surfing Ace Trainers, as I've always wanted to see more Trainers actually use Surf in the overworld. The ability to fly to routes is very nice as well.