Gameplay

When we talk about its playability we touch one of the most novel and particular points of this installment, because it is something never seen in the saga, the genre changes to a Roguelike of Dungeons where we will accomplish missions and climbing floors to achieve certain very specific objectives while we are faced with others pokémon in turn-based battles, keeping much of the main saga but adding characteristics of the genre, at the same time we will also go up levels and recruiting pokémon for our rescue team.

Speaking of the mission, there are 2 types of them that have to do with game history and secondary, the first ones are extensive and are attached to an event of the plot in specific, usually has several dialogues that revolve around the plot of the game without deviating much to what is not important and as a reward is advanced in the story.

And the secondary are random missions that you can go accepting when you want in the Tablon of the town, these have a range that marks their difficulty being the S the most difficult, they usually have unique objectives and have a reward upon successful completion, these rewards are usually objects, money or areas for pokémon that we recruit, these unlike the former are endless, they may repeat themselves at some point, although this is difficult because they are randomly generated by the same game.

These missions usually consist of finding or delivering an item, rescuing or defeating some pokémon.

The game has enough content as we already mentioned, but is it enough? Well, the truth is that yes, the game has more than 50 dungeons and more than 20 recreational areas ( that is where the pokémon go when they are recruited), said dungeons are very different from each other, few are those that have a certain similarity and if it is the case the random conditions and the pokémon that they are not the same, there are more extensive dungeons, others not so much, some with treasures, others with special pokémon, or with Bosses at the end, and there are even some which are divided into 2 or more ... In this aspect the game brings a lot of content, with the recreational areas too, but they are not as interactive as one would like, but they are quite detailed which despite everything is a point in favor, also unblocking is a major feat in the game.

And finally I will talk 2 of the aspects less valued in this game, the Music and its Graphics, starting with its music that is crossed out as repetitive and lacks quality in the version of Game Boy: Advance which is true, due to the limitations of the GBA in those times, that problem is solved almost completely and is not noticeable in the version of the NDS, becomes tiresome especially in very long dungeons. Soundtrack is excellent but only and exclusively in the story mode, after finishing it you will not hear many of the jewels that this title has.

And as for its graphics which have been criticized especially in the version of NDS to be identical to its predecessor knowing that this has a greater power, just say that I am against people who think that, because this game has a great Pixel Art quite detailed, with a beautiful range of colors, pokémon very detailed in its sprites, in or personal it is a design that fits as a glove to this franchise. You may or may not like it, but it's not bad, there's a lot of effort behind all this Pixel Art and you have to value it for making the movement design of the sprites of 386 pokémon (All of the first 3 generations) is not an easy task.

Conclusion

In my great personal opinion this is an excellent game that is worth playing, and more than an excellent game an excellent saga that many refuse to try because they do not know their beginnings, and if they do they dislike the the fact that it looks ''old'' or ''outdated'' and therefore miss out on the opportunity to try this excellent saga, which although it is not the best, is the beginning of a great adventure, there is no lost lost trying it, if you do not like it graphically I promise you that history makes up for it and if you are not of such long games, just finish the main story you will be at ease.