PokéMEH: My Problem with Gen 2
I was the prime age group for the Pokémon franchise growing up. I was 6 years old when the original games came out, and I remember peering over the shoulders of my peers as they battled via Link Cable. I received my first set of playing cards for Chanukkah when I was 7, bringing them to school and naïvely trading my holographic Machamp for a fake Charizard. There was also the TV show, which, together with Digimon, would comprise my after-school and weekend TV block. But it was my 9th birthday surprise of a Game Boy, complete with a copy of Pokémon Yellow, that really got me into the world of Pokémon, especially since I rarely received video games as presents growing up due to the expenses of Jewish day school. That was easily the greatest birthday gift ever.
I mention this because, despite being a Pokémon fanatic growing up, I never played any of the later entries. I knew they existed, thanks to the show and console outings from other franchises, but it wasn’t until high school/university that I exposed myself to them head-on. And for good reason, as Gen 2’s games, honestly, kind of sucked. They weren’t terrible, but they lacked the charm of their immediate predecessors. It feels weird saying that, what with their popularity amongst the fandom, but there’s no other way around it.
I’ve written about this before in a rant that no longer exists, but I feel it’s worth repeating because time has sharpened my prose. It’s especially worth it since someone on Twitter reminded me of my disdain for Gen 2. There’s a lot to dissect, but I’ll narrow it down to its broken levelling system. Besides, some of my critiques, like the incomplete character arc of the rival, I’ve come to peace with.
Gen 2, or more-specifically Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal, has a broken level cap. It’s not that the games themselves don’t work, as they do: they’re well-made, mostly-fun and occasionally-gripping RPGs that build on the previous generation’s mechanics. However, in terms of how level grinding, i.e. the feature that allows the player to progress through the game, functions here, well…it doesn’t. At all. It gives the illusion of functionality, but it’s not.
The key obstacle is two-fold: firstly, the game’s progress bar, which is used to level up your Pokémon and is accessible in-battle, grinds super-slowly. It’s the gaming equivalent of watching molasses: slow, boring and tedious. It starts off fun when your Pokémon’s at a low level, but as you get further along it begins to drag. What once was exciting is now dull and repetitive. What once was quick is now arduous. This is an issue with RPGs in general, don’t think Paper Mario’s guiltless, but here it’s especially bad because Pokémon is meant to be for little kids. Even by adult standards it’s much, and I’ve learned patience!
This ties into the second, and bigger, issue with the levelling feature: enemy Pokémon. Let me explain.
See, the Pokémon games use their levelling similarly to other RPGs. True, badges are equally important, but the levelling feature really highlights player skill. This is most-apparent in the Pokémon themselves, many of whom change shape, or evolve, once they reach a certain level. Levelling is important and exciting, especially when taking down stronger opponents. If you want proof, see how excited you get when you finally defeat Whitney’s Miltank after losing a dozen times.
The complication is when level grinding starts becoming tedious, a fact made worse by wild Pokémon. One of the elements that made exploring Gen 1 so exciting was finding new, wild Pokémon with higher levels than your party. You’d have a party of Pokémon in the 20’s range when, suddenly, you’d encounter a Pokémon at level 30! This presented an opportunity for level grinding, something that’d help you later on. Sure, it might’ve been annoying when your Pokémon all fainted from the fight, forcing you to “black out” and re-spawn at the last Pokémon Center, but when you won? Instant levelling up for those Pokémon involved!
Gen 2 doesn’t match suit. I’m not sure if the programmers were lazy, or if they wanted Kantō feel like a worthwhile attachment (more on that later), but in the process of repeating what worked before, they actually made level grinding worse. You could be heading to a gym with Pokémon who are way out of your league, that’s to be expected, but if the wild Pokémon don’t meet your challenge level, well…you’re screwed. You can either have your rear handed to you on a silver platter, losing in-game money in the process, or you can trek through the tall grass, wait for underpowered Pokémon to appear and slowly-but-surely whittle your way through low-reward grinding. It’s boring!
This is especially a problem once you face The Elite Four. In Gen 1, the path to Indigo Plateau was lined with guards who’d only let you pass if you’d acquired badges. This not only ensured that you’d be ready for the challenge up ahead, but it made sure that your Pokémon were levelled enough to fend off wild Pokémon, many of whom were pretty strong. If you passed the 8 tests, you were free to roam the grass, water and cave of Victory Road as you pleased, all-the-while levelling up your Pokémon. You even had the option of catching Moltres, furthering the challenge and preparation for The Elite Four.
Gen 2 isn’t that exciting. Gone are the guards, and the only obstacles in your way are your intuition and patience. Additionally, the wild Pokémon are vastly under-levelled. The Elite Four have Pokémon that are easily in their 40’s, yet the strongest Pokémon in the wild is level 30 at best. Unless you’ve either saved all of the combat for one or two party Pokémon, or even spent hours tediously grinding, you end up in trouble. And given that I always play my Pokémon games levelling my party equally, because you never know when that’ll come in handy, that’s asking for irritation.
But let’s say you do beat The Elite Four. Then what? You’re invited on a cruise to visit Kantō and train there for extra badges. The cruise itself isn’t so bad, but the Kantō portion bugs me even more than the Johto portion. Aside from Kantō being a hackneyed version of the Kantō people loved in Gen 1, because limitations, the region also magnified the levelling issue from the first-half of the game.
How do I accept the rerouted master plan of Gen 2’s Kantō if the wild Pokémon don’t match my progress? There’s a problem when your end boss, i.e. Red, has Pokémon in their 70’s and 80’s, yet the trainers, gym leaders and wild Pokémon are lower levels than the trainers, gym leaders and wild Pokémon from the first-half of the game, right? I’m not kidding either: the programmers might’ve rearranged the region to fit the new model, but they didn’t rearrange the wild Pokémon’s levels. As a result, you can be halfway done the region, come to a gym that was already in Gen 1, and yet see Pokémon that aren’t even in double-digits. How does that work?!
It’s a shame because the ideas that work, like the introduction of a clock that runs on real-time, almost make me forget that the game’s broken. I’ve also heard that the Gen 2 remakes, Pokémon Heart Gold and Pokémon Soul Silver, fix this problem, making it almost seem moot now. But even so, Gen 2 is a broken generation of Pokémon games, and that saddens me. It saddens me because it marks the beginning of the core entries’ downfall, and it saddens me because most fans refuse to acknowledge my complaints. I’m not saying you have to agree, but if I can’t get through a series of games meant for kids without getting frustrated, and I’m an adult, then what gives? Have we become accepting of brokenness because of the advancements over Gen 1?
I mention this because, despite being a Pokémon fanatic growing up, I never played any of the later entries. I knew they existed, thanks to the show and console outings from other franchises, but it wasn’t until high school/university that I exposed myself to them head-on. And for good reason, as Gen 2’s games, honestly, kind of sucked. They weren’t terrible, but they lacked the charm of their immediate predecessors. It feels weird saying that, what with their popularity amongst the fandom, but there’s no other way around it.
I’ve written about this before in a rant that no longer exists, but I feel it’s worth repeating because time has sharpened my prose. It’s especially worth it since someone on Twitter reminded me of my disdain for Gen 2. There’s a lot to dissect, but I’ll narrow it down to its broken levelling system. Besides, some of my critiques, like the incomplete character arc of the rival, I’ve come to peace with.
Gen 2, or more-specifically Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal, has a broken level cap. It’s not that the games themselves don’t work, as they do: they’re well-made, mostly-fun and occasionally-gripping RPGs that build on the previous generation’s mechanics. However, in terms of how level grinding, i.e. the feature that allows the player to progress through the game, functions here, well…it doesn’t. At all. It gives the illusion of functionality, but it’s not.
The key obstacle is two-fold: firstly, the game’s progress bar, which is used to level up your Pokémon and is accessible in-battle, grinds super-slowly. It’s the gaming equivalent of watching molasses: slow, boring and tedious. It starts off fun when your Pokémon’s at a low level, but as you get further along it begins to drag. What once was exciting is now dull and repetitive. What once was quick is now arduous. This is an issue with RPGs in general, don’t think Paper Mario’s guiltless, but here it’s especially bad because Pokémon is meant to be for little kids. Even by adult standards it’s much, and I’ve learned patience!
This ties into the second, and bigger, issue with the levelling feature: enemy Pokémon. Let me explain.
See, the Pokémon games use their levelling similarly to other RPGs. True, badges are equally important, but the levelling feature really highlights player skill. This is most-apparent in the Pokémon themselves, many of whom change shape, or evolve, once they reach a certain level. Levelling is important and exciting, especially when taking down stronger opponents. If you want proof, see how excited you get when you finally defeat Whitney’s Miltank after losing a dozen times.
The complication is when level grinding starts becoming tedious, a fact made worse by wild Pokémon. One of the elements that made exploring Gen 1 so exciting was finding new, wild Pokémon with higher levels than your party. You’d have a party of Pokémon in the 20’s range when, suddenly, you’d encounter a Pokémon at level 30! This presented an opportunity for level grinding, something that’d help you later on. Sure, it might’ve been annoying when your Pokémon all fainted from the fight, forcing you to “black out” and re-spawn at the last Pokémon Center, but when you won? Instant levelling up for those Pokémon involved!
Gen 2 doesn’t match suit. I’m not sure if the programmers were lazy, or if they wanted Kantō feel like a worthwhile attachment (more on that later), but in the process of repeating what worked before, they actually made level grinding worse. You could be heading to a gym with Pokémon who are way out of your league, that’s to be expected, but if the wild Pokémon don’t meet your challenge level, well…you’re screwed. You can either have your rear handed to you on a silver platter, losing in-game money in the process, or you can trek through the tall grass, wait for underpowered Pokémon to appear and slowly-but-surely whittle your way through low-reward grinding. It’s boring!
This is especially a problem once you face The Elite Four. In Gen 1, the path to Indigo Plateau was lined with guards who’d only let you pass if you’d acquired badges. This not only ensured that you’d be ready for the challenge up ahead, but it made sure that your Pokémon were levelled enough to fend off wild Pokémon, many of whom were pretty strong. If you passed the 8 tests, you were free to roam the grass, water and cave of Victory Road as you pleased, all-the-while levelling up your Pokémon. You even had the option of catching Moltres, furthering the challenge and preparation for The Elite Four.
Gen 2 isn’t that exciting. Gone are the guards, and the only obstacles in your way are your intuition and patience. Additionally, the wild Pokémon are vastly under-levelled. The Elite Four have Pokémon that are easily in their 40’s, yet the strongest Pokémon in the wild is level 30 at best. Unless you’ve either saved all of the combat for one or two party Pokémon, or even spent hours tediously grinding, you end up in trouble. And given that I always play my Pokémon games levelling my party equally, because you never know when that’ll come in handy, that’s asking for irritation.
But let’s say you do beat The Elite Four. Then what? You’re invited on a cruise to visit Kantō and train there for extra badges. The cruise itself isn’t so bad, but the Kantō portion bugs me even more than the Johto portion. Aside from Kantō being a hackneyed version of the Kantō people loved in Gen 1, because limitations, the region also magnified the levelling issue from the first-half of the game.
How do I accept the rerouted master plan of Gen 2’s Kantō if the wild Pokémon don’t match my progress? There’s a problem when your end boss, i.e. Red, has Pokémon in their 70’s and 80’s, yet the trainers, gym leaders and wild Pokémon are lower levels than the trainers, gym leaders and wild Pokémon from the first-half of the game, right? I’m not kidding either: the programmers might’ve rearranged the region to fit the new model, but they didn’t rearrange the wild Pokémon’s levels. As a result, you can be halfway done the region, come to a gym that was already in Gen 1, and yet see Pokémon that aren’t even in double-digits. How does that work?!
It’s a shame because the ideas that work, like the introduction of a clock that runs on real-time, almost make me forget that the game’s broken. I’ve also heard that the Gen 2 remakes, Pokémon Heart Gold and Pokémon Soul Silver, fix this problem, making it almost seem moot now. But even so, Gen 2 is a broken generation of Pokémon games, and that saddens me. It saddens me because it marks the beginning of the core entries’ downfall, and it saddens me because most fans refuse to acknowledge my complaints. I’m not saying you have to agree, but if I can’t get through a series of games meant for kids without getting frustrated, and I’m an adult, then what gives? Have we become accepting of brokenness because of the advancements over Gen 1?
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