Pokemon Genwunner plays Pokemon Soul Silver

By: Justin Hopkins

So, I wasn’t going to do this game till the end. Since, I had already played Silver, but with the journey kind of stalled at the moment till I can play Pokemon X or Y. I figured I should go back to this one now. A remake that is often applauded as one of the best in the series. Which I am hoping for. Gen 2 was never that interesting, but open mind this time. So, with that said, lets dive back into another playthrough with Mui and see how this goes.

My Journey

We kick off our journey with being told about Ethan and Elm wanting us to do him a favor. See Ethan with his Marill out of the pokeball. Which is something we get to do with one of our pokemon in this game. We get to Elm, who gives us our Pokemon, which was easy this time, how can I pass on a baby alligator and his name is Leon. Picking up the egg and stomped on the villainous Paulie. Before dropping off the egg so we can get the show on the road. Doing a bit of grinding when I encountered a Geodude, who shaped this run. It would have been easy for me to just build up a team like I would from Kanto, but decided, lets run with a team I never have before. Choosing pokemon for one reason or another, never made a run with. So, Mui and Leon welcomed Chris the Geodude to the team. Sweeping through the first two gyms and picked up a Wesker the Drowzee from Before Whitney and Jill the Beedrill from an attempt at the Bug Catching Contest. Who ended up being a powerhouse against Morty’s Gym. Paybacking his way through nearly the entire gym alone, only needing a little help from Leon with Morty himself. Chuck stood no chance, but Jasmine’s Steelix was a pain. Chris needed a bit more time, before he could handle it and even then was more of a fight then expecting. Along my way from the Saffir Zone, we added Rebecca the Misdreavus and the four of them made light work of Team Rocket at Mahogany Town and Pryce. Taking a break half way through the Radio Tower to mess with Breeding and hatching eggs before finishing the gym circuit. Leon’s Ice Fang and Rebecca growing into a beast made easy work of Claire and off to the league. Were we adding Claire Ursaring we went, but the nightmare. It’s no one’s fault but my own, with some of the team being really frail, but it was more then that. We are not out speeding anything and the RNG Gods were not on our side. Every confusion seemed to hit us and even when we got by Will. The same fate was waiting with Koga, but I had a game plan at least. Rebecca was becoming a dominate force on the team and after more grinding with Chris and Leon, made painful by wild Graveler’s penchant to self-destruct at the first opportunity, Mercifully punched our way through and became champion and we were finally onto Kanto, but we will talk more about that in a bit and end it here.

Review

Alright, for starters I loved the fact that you can have a pokemon follow you around. I know they brought it back in Let’s Go and all, but they should have kept that in place after this game. It such a small little thing, but being able to interact with them is probably the most fun I had in these runs so far. In a game that spends so much time telling you it is all about bonding with your Pokemon and this is such an organic way to do that, and got such a laugh from the box saying that Mismagius roaring at me.

On this run in particular, got to have fun playing with a team I would normally never play with. Figuring out ways to pull out wins with Beedrill and Geodude. Pokemon that I like, but have always run into to late to do anything or would have been more hassle then it was worth. Gaining a a lot more respect for Misdreavus then I had before. Kind of ignored it for Haunter, but was a big reason why I was able to get through without so much more grinding.

The post game is just stuffed with things to do. Picked up the Dusk Stone to Evolve Rebecca. Beating my way through the Kanto Gyms, taking special delight in destroying Misty for the countless defeats I suffered during the Poke World Tournament. Caught the five Legendary Birds the game has to offer, Mewtwo and defeated the Elite Four a second time and.. called it there. The Dogs tried my patience way to much and couldn’t bring myself to do more grinding to beat Red. Know there is more to do when you beat him, just isn’t worth it.

Now, the flaws and there are flaws. Complaining about grinding my seem like a dumb thing and it is, but it feels so much more brutal here. Feels so much harder to build up the team in victory road. Forcing you to suffer through or go else were but taking longer off smaller EXP Gains. Then after all of this, still have the grinding for the Red fight. Something that actually feels like it has gotten smoother in the later generations.

I actually found myself missing a story. Gen 5 had such a great story with N and Team Plasma. Would even take Team Magma. Team Rocket was just a small little footnote that never get going. They are here because of their presences in the first game and gave them nothing to do. Which is a shame, because they were nice way to break up the gym circuit a bit.

I had a good time with it and was better then Silver. The world is more colorful and can see why people hold it in such high regards, but think I prefer the other games in the line up to this one. There are a ton of things to do and all. Just none of it really gets me to want to push on and definitely want to replay it any time soon. Final Grade – B +

As always, I hope you enjoyed and…

Thank You For Reading.