Your Opinion on PBR?

[Trainer Sonjo]

Well, after browsing this thread on another Pokemon Forum, I've seen quite a few dissapointed fans. I, myself, am satisfied with the game, but saw a few weak spots in the game that probally could have been improved before the game's release. So, the question would be...

Pokemon Battle Revolution... What did you think of it?

 

[Shiny Motley]

Well..... I have a person at this daycare that I "taught" at once that said it really sucked, so he gave his copy of PBR to someone else. I never really played it, but I saw the graphics, and they look really cool. But, I must say, what's the point of the game? Collecting clothes/outfits?

 

[baratron]

Pokemon Battle Revolution... What did you think of it?

I like the past tense . Those of us in Europe haven't seen its release yet or got to play it (much. A demo version was available at the Pokemon Summer Camp tour that happened recently, but the queues for it were awful). So I don't know what I think of it yet ;D.

 

[Eevee Lover]

Well, I've played through the whole thing, so here's my insight.

The graphics are all really quite good. Much more round than previous. Yet, about the Pokemon graphics, and this pisses the hell out of me, is that they USE THE SAME BLOODY MODELS FOR POKEMON FROM THE LAST GAMES (in 3D)!!! Same movements (except when they run up to attack, but then when they reach the opponent, it's the same) for everything, except maybe a couple of tweaks. I do like it that they do run up to attack, but sometimes it turns the screen, and you don't see it physically hit the opponent, just make the attack then cut back the the attacked Pokemon. Mostly because big Pokemon attacking small ones, or land logged Pokemon attacking flying Pokemon would just look weird. There's absolutely no plot, just you going through colosseums and getting outfits. Figured there'd be such a catch when you can finally customize your trainer. And on that, most accessories are exclusive to one character. So it's like, "Oh, I like that clothing item, I'll put it on my character." but then it's only for certain characters. The thing about that, though, is that some hair colours and eye colours are exclusive to certain people! It gets really annoying, because your trainer isn't fully customizable, just what they provide. Even the colours of the clothes are absolute! I really rather like the colosseums themselves, really liked sunset colosseum altogether. Here's something I really liked: put a shiny Steelix (if you can, anyways) in Neon Colosseum, it reflects all kinds of colours all over it's body! Dunno if it happens to regular Steelix/other metal-composed Pokemon, never really tried. Another annoying thing, all of the trainers (save for Shasay, Kruger, Joe, Mysterial [more?] who have personal appearances, or avatars, if you will) are THE SAME EXACT SIX MODELS THAT EVEN YOU CAN BE!!! Thus, you're not really customed at all. I know, I'm making the game sound pretty bad, but it's not all that bad. Not to mention, the customizable phrases, and a few other things make up for it. Another point, it's only battling because it was supposed to be basically an "attachment" to Diamond and Pearl, probably because their expected popularity would make fans demand more. So yeah. my semi-rant is done.

~May update later, if anything else comes to mind.~

Can't believe I forgot the music part!
The music is OK, some is nice. Also, some little clips in the music are remixed from XD/Colosseum and only play for like 2 seconds, so they remain latent.

Reply to baratron:
Yeah, I meant that it plays the rest in my head. Also, since some people won't notice it, it would be present but hidden, as to what latent means. Sorry if it sounded bad that I said "members anyways", it's just that only members could really ask. And don't worry, attack away because you're right, I should've done that. Btw, I'll just edit out the parts that weren't exactly a good choice.

 

[Linkachu]

Hmm... PBR kept me heavily interested for about two days, aka. the length of time it took the beat the first round of arenas and finally get my Surfing Pikachu. The honest truth, though, is that I've probably only played it about five times since, and not anymore than a half hour at a time.

Do I think the game was worth my money? Yes, because with my current job I'm making enough to spoil myself once in awhile. If I was someone who barely had enough to match rent payments, I'd probably think otherwise. The game feels like the Battle Frontier of D/P... but that's really all it is. A 3D Battle Frontier-ish city with the ability to customize a trainer (and not even an overly fleshed out customization system). WiFi isn't used all that well with it either. Maybe the random battles option might be nice for some people, but it's wasted on anyone who dislikes battling teams filled with legendaries. I'm also disappointed that they couldn't even give us tag-team battles (something I was originally hoping D/P itself would have). In the end... PBR is pretty well exactly what all the game review sites describe it as: a pretty game about battling and not much else. Minus the custom trainers, even the original Pokemon Stadium games had more bells and whistles than PBR has (mini games & GB Tower being most notable. Am I the only one who could make usage out of a 'DS Tower'?).

I guess overall, yeah, I'm satisfied with it, but not enough to tell every random Pokemon fan "Yeah, you should get it. It's definitely worth your money" ... because it's really not. I'm more likely to suggest it as a rent to everyone (if anything then just to see your teams in 3D) and a buy for anyone with money to burn.

 

[baratron]

Actually, I just realised I'm sounding like a bitch in this thread, so I came back to edit my post. Let me clarify: I'm not annoyed at you for creating the topic, Trainer Sonjo. It's perfectly reasonable that people in North America would want to discuss a game they've had for several months. I'm annoyed with Nintendo for making Europe wait so damn long for games to get translated & regionalised (i.e. converted from NTSC to PAL). We in the UK have to wait until a game is translated into several other European languages before it can be released here, even though the UK English version is always identical in text terms to the US English version anyway. They never bother to change any of the spellings to British English, or anything useful like that. Grrr.

And I have no particular problem with what Morphing Emotions said about the graphics & trainer models, because I don't have the game to have played it enough to have experienced that. So I'll simply believe you. I've heard several other people saying much the same thing, so it's not a surprise ;D.

Can't believe I forgot the music part!
The music is OK, some is nice. Also, some little clips in the music are remixed from XD/Colosseum and only play for like 2 seconds, so they remain latent. Yes, I know that word. Ask if you don't know the meaning, I'd be glad to share (members, anyways).

I don't mean to attack you here, but I think that "Yes, I know that word. Ask if you don't know the meaning, I'd be glad to share (members, anyways)." sounds patronising. In my opinion, it would be better to either use the word simply without any other blethering, or use the word and give its definition. Credit your readers with enough common sense to be able to go to http://www.dictionary.com or Merriam Webster, or even Wikipedia .

Having said that, I'm perfectly familiar with the word "latent", but I've no idea what you mean by "latent music". How can music be hidden? Either it's there or it isn't. Do you mean the game plays the first couple of notes so the rest of the tune plays in your head? That's all I can think of. I'm curious to know what you mean.

 

[Valin]

My position on PBR is about the same as Linkachu's: I was into it for a couple days before losing interest, but I don't regret buying it.

I'm not much for graphics, but yeah, they are pretty good. Attacks such as Thunderbolt, Surf, and Flamethrower look pretty awesome, and I gotta give the creators props for actually showing BOTH Pokemon on screen when one of them is using a direct attack (Scratch, etc.)

The fact that you can choose to play as various kinds of trainers is pretty cool, I think. At the age of 23, I'm pretty happy to be able to be a trainer closer to my own age group. Playing as a male cooltrainer is pretty fun as he certainly has style, which can be complimeted further by getting outfits, though I wish there was more of a point than that.

Yeah, the Pokemon from before have the same 3D animations. Recalling the N64 days, I thought it was pretty awesome that the Pokemon could battle in 3D, as oppossed to still sprites, but taking a second look at it, it's really not that much different and it hasn't improved much throughout the generations. While the attacks look awesome, the battles themselves don't look very epic (Example: If an attack misses, it shows the attacking Pokemon doing nothing and the targeted Pokemon just standing there. To be epic, it should SHOW the attack and the other Pokemon dodging it in an impressive manuver).

I have to admit, some of the stadium set-ups were pretty fun. I like the mode used at the Waterfall Stadium where you pick the order of your Pokemon, then they go at it in a series of one-on-one battles, best three out of five wins. Also, I like the one at the Neon (?) Stadium, where your Pokemon and your opponent's appear on a roulette wheel and you have to drop balls to determine which ones you use in the battle (you can end up using your opponent's Pokemon, but your opponent can end up using yours too. It was weird, but fun, fighting members of my own team). I disliked the one where your Pokemon and your opponent's are generated at random, though. I wanna use MY Pokemon, dammit!
Still, I wish there was more variety, like in Pokemon Stadium. I would have LOVED there to have been a Gym Leader Castle, for instance...

So far, the one-player game has been WAY too easy and has felt somewhat juvinile as opponents are STILL using Pokemon like Staravia and Luxio. Bring on the hardcore stuff already! In its favor, though, regardless of your team's level, they can fight in any mode, as their stats are temporarily tweaked to match the requirements.

Just a random comment, but I'm happy there is an announcer again, as I missed him during the previous generation. It adds more flavor to the battles, though it can get somewhat annoying at times. Gotta give the voice actor credit for being able to name off EVERY Pokemon (I now know how "Gardevoir" is pronounced! Yay! Yeah, I don't watch the anime anymore...)

So yeah, solo play has quite a few flaws. However, I imagine, it would be great playing against another human. It would look considerably more glorious than it would fighting on the DS.

All in all, it's not a, y'know, BAD game, but it could have been better. I wish the developers would think back to Pokemon Stadium. Those games presented a significant challenge for a single player. I used to play those for hours.

 

[Dreampirate]

Living in England, I still haven't got my chance to play it yet; but it's one of the deciding factors for me between getting a PS3 or a 360 at the end of this year.

In all honesty, I was really hoping that PBR would be what I had hoped, using the Wii's power (although there's not all that much of it) it would provide something spectacular.

In my opinion, it's not. I can understand that it's all about battling, but even the previous games had mini-games or something else to keep you entertained. When I heard PBR was intended to be a strictly 3D D/P battleground, I'd hoped they would bother to add in actual actions for when a move misses, or if the attack fails or something. I heard that even though mini-games and a story mode was missing it featured the long-awaited character customisation feature, and hoped it would let you create the character you wanted with a large range of items, considering how they got rid of the mini-games and a story mode; surely there would be enough space for all that, right?

Well, I have to say the character customisation is pretty shallow, not exactly a large range of items to choose from; and a lot of the items are character specific. Apart from movement actions, not much has changed in the battle system since colosseum; considering both of these factors, and the fact that there isn't a solid storyline or anything else to do; It's just a shinier colosseum, and not really worth the price.

In spite of all that, it accomplished what it was meant to do, you can battle with all 493 pokemon in full 3D and moving, with their own animations. It's a $50 extension to D/P and for me really isn't worth my money.

I really hope the rumors are right and that this was just a testing ground for future installments...

 

[Linkachu]

Heh... I probably should've added that I also really enjoyed some of the Colosseum rules. I compare PBR to the Battle Frontier, but that's not necessarily a bad thing considering that I LOVED Battle Frontier to bits. As Raiq said, I really enjoyed the Waterfall colosseum rules, as well as a handful of others (that tournament-style colosseum would've been awesome for multi-player).

After I finish training my Pearl team I'll probably give round two of PBR the try it deserves

 

[Valin]

I really hope the rumors are right and that this was just a testing ground for future installments...

Now that you mention that, it DOES feel sort of like a trial for something else. PBR basically came off as something with potential it didn't use, so hopefully we can see that potential in the next 3D Pokemon battle game, if those rumors are correct.

 

[Razeal]

Now that you mention that, it DOES feel sort of like a trial for something else. PBR basically came off as something with potential it didn't use, so hopefully we can see that potential in the next 3D Pokemon battle game, if those rumors are correct.

This just happens to be my biggest problem with the game. This game was rushed, and it very much feels it. How is it that one of the few games on the Wii that doesn't have minigames comes from a series that traditionally has? Anyways, this feels more like a sequel to the Stadium games than the Gamecube titles did, and I didn't like the Stadium games that much. To be fair, the graphics are nice, some of the battle modes were cool (I loved the Waterfall stadium rules), and it lets me play against people online. Online though, is a double-edged sword. Could they honestly not give us more options for finding an opponent? When I fight a team of 6 Deoxys followed by a team of 6 Mewtwos, a part of me just dies. And a double battle against 2 Giratina's? Not all that fun. Paying $50 for PBR feels kind of like a ripoff.

 

[Doctor Oak]

The game was rushed. They forced it out to hit Japan two months after Diamond and Pearl and barely weeks after the release of the Wii itself. It's practically a launch title and would have had about a year in development at most - the bulk of that would have been taken up with designing the new models, animating them, working on attack animations and the various stages and updates to the programming in Colosseum and XD.

There's no way they'd have had time to do anything else to it really on such a hectic schedule - we should consider ourselves lucky that it's even online.

It's pretty unquestionable that PBR was released as a quick move to satiate the demand of people wanting to battle their Pokemon in 3D - it's almost like the original Pokemon Stadium's release in Japan in that respect - it's entirely likely that in the next year or so we will see a new game released with either features akin to Stadium's or a story mode akin to Colosseum/XD.

 

[Dragonman]

I was highly dissapointed in this game. I expected Pokemon Stadium 3, but all we got was a game where you fight... in 3-D.

It lacked everything the Stadium games had.
The ability to build a team from ALL the pokemon was reduced to a slim 36. And that's excluding the pokemon you upload from D/P and get through the trade battles.
No minigames to play. Sure, the Wii has been overloaded with minigames, but battling gets so boring after awhile.
The new features also weren't that good. I only see an extremely laggy Wi-fi setting, and customizing a trainer you can only use if you have D/P pokemon copied onto the game.
The graphics were decent. However, half of them came from the first and second stadium games. I mean, look at Arcanine! He still looks as choppy as ever!
And the replay mode? You just fought guys until you beat it, and when it's over, there's nothing left to do but Wi-fi battle!
In my opinion, this game deserves a rating of only 2 out of 5. I really wish that they did better, it could have been a great game if they had only put more effort into it...

 

[bl00d555]

the graphics are good but the way the pokemon move kinda makes mad i wouldnt buy the game but i would play in gamestop tournaments

 

[Gardevoir Master]

I saw some clips of Pokemon Battle Revolution on X-Play recently, and I wasn't very impressed. While the Pokemon did look higher-res, they looked more like plush animals than on the GameCube or N64. It just didn't appeal to me. The trainer models looked okay, I guess. I still want to play it, just to try it out.

 

[Legendary_master]

I also think that the game is interesting for a few days, but the graphics aren't too good. Games made by Square Enix have way better graphics. Except for that, it's an okay game.