Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness

"Good RPG, but just barely misses the high mark the Gameboy Advance games have set"

Pokemon XD, the sequel to Pokemon Coliseum, which I found to be a cumbersome and all around unsatisfactory game in the end at best. This game is a VAST improvement over it's predecessor, but still has it's faults.

Story: 7/10:

For the first time in a Pokemon game(well since Crystal anyway), I found the story to be good. In typical RPG fashion, you play as a angst-ridden teen/adult/whatever who wakes up from a dream(or simulation in XD's case) and goes about his/her normal life until "fateful event" happens and you go on a quest to return to normalcy only to end up saving the world. That might sound boring, but XD puts a slightly different spin on things, much like Chrono Trigger did, and well, it works. There is pure gold in the game's dialogue . Unlike the first game, I CARED about these characters. I WANTED to play all the way to the end. And the ending did not disappoint me.

Expect to spend anywhere from 20-40 hours through the story, depending on how you play.

Graphics: 8/10:

Fairly good. The environments look lush and a lot of attack animations were fixed from the first game, which hampered my experience with it. The battle fields are more varied and detailed this time around, and the Pokemon models, while rehashed and cleaned up from the Stadium games look ok. The battle interface is improved and the camera for battles is more dynamic and interesting than the first game.

But could it have hurt to change some of the Pokemon models? Really. Psyduck got a model change, why not Ninetales, Machamp and Smeagle, the ones people actually use?O_o

Music: 10/10:

In a word, stunning. From rock, to country, to Final Fanstasy-like tunes all the way to classic 80's music, the game does not disappoint in this department. Unlike the first game, which had good music but it kept repeating over, and over, and OVER, this game knows when to vary. The Cipher Admin theme and the Shadow Lugia battle music are awesome, just awesome.

Gameplay: 7/10:

The nitty gritty. The meat and potatoes.

The first hour of the game is fairly dialogue extensive, but after that you are free to stat traversing the world, gaining experience, catching new pokes, and adventuring. The first game had a major problem: there were little Shadows to snag early on, which made team creation rather limited. In this game there is over twice that amount, and there are places called Poke-Spots in which to catch wild Pokes(9 in all) and you can trade some of those to get 3 others. Variety in team building is a major staple in the Pokemon games and XD has corrected the first game's major flaw.

99/100 total to catch, 163 Pokes in the game total, evolution wise.

Also purifying Shadows was made easier in this game thanks to the Purification Chamber, in which you can purify 9 Shadows at once, meaning you get to actually start training pokes sooner.

There are many more places in the game to explore than the first, and some of the dungeons are modeled in the same vein of the GBA games in which you fall through floors, solve puzzles and such like that.

After the main quest is done, there is still more to do. There are Battle Sim CDs, 50 in all, in which to are given rental Pokemon in order to solve a puzzle in battle in a set amount of turns. And there is Battle Bingo, in which by choosing panels you are given a Pokemon in which to battle others. Choose the wrong panel, and you may lose EP(life points so to speak), fight against a strong Pokemon and other such things.

The is also a battle area in which to use the Pokes you raise for tournament style play. It is similar to the Double Battle mode in the first game's Battle Mode and the Battle Frontier/Tower in the GBA games, and it is just as hard as them. The first game didn't even have anything like that so afterwards there was really no point in trading over as there was really nothing to do. Not the case in XD:GoD.

Like in the first game, you can challenge Mt. Battle, a training area for EXP and rare Pokes. Three this time around, namely the Johto starters Totodile, Chikorita, and Cyndiquil who know the elemental hyper beams. And the levels of the Trainers are higher, making for somewhat faster leveling up.

Unlike in the first game you have MUCH more control over how you build your teams. ALL tms are available and you can obtain items like the Macho Brace(doubles stat points gained in battle) and the Holy Grail of Pokemon, the Lucky Egg(increases earn EXP significantly) for faster, more effiencent training. There are some good places to EV train in this game, unlike in the first game.

Now, the bad.

-There is no where to breed in XD. That is just unforgivable. When you catch a Shadow, you cannot get another of it's kind without trading so if you got a bad nature and stats or want certain Egg Moves, you are screwed without a GBA. The Purification Chamber is all but useless after all 83 Shadows are cleansed. If breeding where an option available in the game, it could have acted as an Egg incubator. Imagine....being able to hatch 9 Eggs at once. It would have upped the replay value even more...so....WHY GAME FREAK.....WHY?

-There is also no option to choose your gender at the beginning at the game as in the GBA games. This doesn't bother me, but I'm sure girls that play these games will be pissed.

-You cannot turn off the animations. Though battles look nice, it takes awhile to get thorugh battles sometimes.

-The Battle Mode loses the cups and only has Ouick Battle and Multi-player. While Multi-player itself is improved(rule editing, stage select,etc), I see no option to play against a CPU. But this is(somewhat) forgivable since you can engage in tournament style battles in the Story Mode.

So many sad pandas.....=/

Conclusion:

This game on it's own merit is fairly good, and if you have a GBA it's even better. If you like any of the Pokemon manga based on the games(which puts the anime to shame in every possible way) you will love the story.

Newcomers to Pokemon will be surprised while people who dislike games that require strategy, many hours preparing teams, or just plain don't like Pokemon will be turned off. But hey, who knows? You may be pleased.

It's so close, yet so far from the status of the GBA games, but it's a step in the right direction all right.

P.S.
If you MUST buy a GBA game to go with this, get Pokemon Emerald. A wider selection of monsters, berries that reduce stat points are available in case you messed up EV training in XD:GoD, move tutors that can teach many good moves over and over, the ability to BREED the Pokes you capture in XD:GoD, the BF, which is great for testing out teams for competitive play and more make it the perfect companion title.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/05, Updated 10/11/05