TLDR: I liked it. It tells a good story. It does not tell a good LOVE story- and I suspect it's because he made changes to separate this game from Olivine Lights (which is an awesome game that I'd like a copy of) and the changes he made are changes to things that everyone likes. Olivine Lights is a game a non-pokemon player might enjoy, because some story beats are universal. Those beats aren't here. If the porn was better, it'd be easier to give a 5 to.
I liked it! More "what if pokemon was the real world" stories grounded in protagonists that aren't 11 year old god slayers- meeting brilliant but personally flawed gym trainers. Good stuff.
I liked Olivine Lights a bit more for reasons I'll get into: because the game's main flaw is something Olivine Lights had that this game glaringly lacks.
The story is good. In my Olivine Lights review, I compared it to a movie. Here, I'll compare it to a serialized manga series that got cancelled a few chapters before the author was prepared for it.
Because it's got everything, mystery, intrigue, red herrings, and the addition of a wise cracking mystical pokemon was actually a genius twist, because it sets up a really excellent dramatalaguical triad.
1) You've got a mythic pokemon, who is in charge of, and failing, the one goal he's meant to do- and has to recruit people to do it. He never humanizes himself and always acts superior. His flaw is that he HAS to rely on people due to the plot because there ARE things he can't do.
2) The male lead, who succumbed to the terrible disease of being-a-male-lead. He's in town because his pokemon had a disease that needed surgery that wouldn't get fixed by a pokecenter shooting electricity through a ball (I did mention how great it is to world build pokemon like this.)
3) And Marnie. Someone who fails a lot because she hesitates and holds herself back. In a very real way, the story is crafted for HER. Time loops are happening and HER lesson is to get some confidence in herself through reset privilege. In order to learn her lesson, she HAS to get over herself and the story (and interactions with you) give her the narrative methods to do this.
So excellent set up!
And by the time you REALLY hit your stride, you solve the time loops, figure out the mystery and are disappointed- I said this feels like it was a serialized manga that got cancelled, right? Here's where it happens.
Now in a very real way, this is always going to be disappointing; so that's not the upsetting part. To me, the worst part about the ending is the lack of any growth from the protagonist. Celebi and Marnie go through massive changes growing together. Meanwhile you exist. And it's really hard to sell a love story where the protagonist doesn't ALSO grow.
If you were a static protagonist, that would be fine. The idea being that you're happy with your place in the world, and have accepted your role in the lives of others. But you are not. You're too much of a blank slate to not have any growth, and too inconsequential to either of the other characters in the triad to justify your own existence.
This is a real shame. There's plenty of stuff your character can do, and in Olivine your character DOES grow. I can understand not wanting to hit the same story beats, but I can promise you the idea of wanting to be "like no one ever was" when you were 10 and then you grew up is something that will resonate with literally everyone- including people who have never touched a pokemon game. Every single pokemon story in this genre can involve someone who just didn't make it as a professional pokemon trainer, meeting someone who has and in doing so has become flawed, and the two of you fixing each other. I'd argue that's the same species of literally every love story where class difference plays a part. Sections of libraries that resemble cathedrals are a cornucopia of this trope; so while it's understandable that there's some apprehension in wanting to repeat the SAME story beats, it's an unforced error. Sometimes different is nice. Sometimes different is saving time and water by eating dish soap soufflé so you don't have to wash dishes later.
You are going to find no lack of audience that is hungry for a story where John (lowercase)pokemon meets the hot but flawed gym leader and they fix each other. That doesn't happen here, and the exclusion is magnified when the other two characters DO fix each other and go on without you.
I preferred Olivine Lights because in the end it was about you, a gym trainer (or Cynthia) both growing together, and in the end both of you changed- with you realizing your dreams- while thwarting an evil and intriguing plot in the meantime.
Because here, it's about you being with a gym trainer on a soul-searching vacation, helping her find her soul while thwarting an evil plot in the meantime- then she goes off while you play video games. You don't HAVE to be the protagonist, but if you want to sell a love story, her presence in your life has to mean SOMETHING and that doesn't hit here.
I want to end on one thing: the story is still better than most of the other things on here. The issue is that those games will have better sex scenes. Or they'll have better gameplay. Olivine Lights' story was strong enough to stand on one leg. This game is grasping for pair of crutches that never manifest.
I liked it! More "what if pokemon was the real world" stories grounded in protagonists that aren't 11 year old god slayers- meeting brilliant but personally flawed gym trainers. Good stuff.
I liked Olivine Lights a bit more for reasons I'll get into: because the game's main flaw is something Olivine Lights had that this game glaringly lacks.
The story is good. In my Olivine Lights review, I compared it to a movie. Here, I'll compare it to a serialized manga series that got cancelled a few chapters before the author was prepared for it.
Because it's got everything, mystery, intrigue, red herrings, and the addition of a wise cracking mystical pokemon was actually a genius twist, because it sets up a really excellent dramatalaguical triad.
1) You've got a mythic pokemon, who is in charge of, and failing, the one goal he's meant to do- and has to recruit people to do it. He never humanizes himself and always acts superior. His flaw is that he HAS to rely on people due to the plot because there ARE things he can't do.
2) The male lead, who succumbed to the terrible disease of being-a-male-lead. He's in town because his pokemon had a disease that needed surgery that wouldn't get fixed by a pokecenter shooting electricity through a ball (I did mention how great it is to world build pokemon like this.)
3) And Marnie. Someone who fails a lot because she hesitates and holds herself back. In a very real way, the story is crafted for HER. Time loops are happening and HER lesson is to get some confidence in herself through reset privilege. In order to learn her lesson, she HAS to get over herself and the story (and interactions with you) give her the narrative methods to do this.
So excellent set up!
And by the time you REALLY hit your stride, you solve the time loops, figure out the mystery and are disappointed- I said this feels like it was a serialized manga that got cancelled, right? Here's where it happens.
Now in a very real way, this is always going to be disappointing; so that's not the upsetting part. To me, the worst part about the ending is the lack of any growth from the protagonist. Celebi and Marnie go through massive changes growing together. Meanwhile you exist. And it's really hard to sell a love story where the protagonist doesn't ALSO grow.
If you were a static protagonist, that would be fine. The idea being that you're happy with your place in the world, and have accepted your role in the lives of others. But you are not. You're too much of a blank slate to not have any growth, and too inconsequential to either of the other characters in the triad to justify your own existence.
This is a real shame. There's plenty of stuff your character can do, and in Olivine your character DOES grow. I can understand not wanting to hit the same story beats, but I can promise you the idea of wanting to be "like no one ever was" when you were 10 and then you grew up is something that will resonate with literally everyone- including people who have never touched a pokemon game. Every single pokemon story in this genre can involve someone who just didn't make it as a professional pokemon trainer, meeting someone who has and in doing so has become flawed, and the two of you fixing each other. I'd argue that's the same species of literally every love story where class difference plays a part. Sections of libraries that resemble cathedrals are a cornucopia of this trope; so while it's understandable that there's some apprehension in wanting to repeat the SAME story beats, it's an unforced error. Sometimes different is nice. Sometimes different is saving time and water by eating dish soap soufflé so you don't have to wash dishes later.
You are going to find no lack of audience that is hungry for a story where John (lowercase)pokemon meets the hot but flawed gym leader and they fix each other. That doesn't happen here, and the exclusion is magnified when the other two characters DO fix each other and go on without you.
I preferred Olivine Lights because in the end it was about you, a gym trainer (or Cynthia) both growing together, and in the end both of you changed- with you realizing your dreams- while thwarting an evil and intriguing plot in the meantime.
Because here, it's about you being with a gym trainer on a soul-searching vacation, helping her find her soul while thwarting an evil plot in the meantime- then she goes off while you play video games. You don't HAVE to be the protagonist, but if you want to sell a love story, her presence in your life has to mean SOMETHING and that doesn't hit here.
I want to end on one thing: the story is still better than most of the other things on here. The issue is that those games will have better sex scenes. Or they'll have better gameplay. Olivine Lights' story was strong enough to stand on one leg. This game is grasping for pair of crutches that never manifest.
