applecinnabun

i have a lot of gripes about it, and a long list of things that didn't quite work. like, it has big jrpg boss fights in lieu of gym leaders, but the system doesn't fit jrpg boss fights as well as a jrpg party would. they're not terrible if approached with a "it's fine if 5 of my 6 friends get knocked out" mentality, but the game informs you that you're meant to think of KOs as significantly bad through the inclusion of nuzlocke modes and achievements. the way you beat the boss fights is by abusing the things that would never work in a 6v6 fight with another human: spamming stat reductions/buffs/healing items against a singular enemy that doesn't and can't switch out or do anything about it.

the writing is also... kind of afraid to try to stand on its own two feet. it feels as if they went for a really cartoony, simple, skeletal plot because it's an unfailable objective. there's a shrek reference.

but like... my conclusion to this list of gripes is "hey i had fun and liked it a lot." in sort of a "people will pack bond with anything" type of way, the designs were simply good enough to get me emotionally attached and not mind any of the flaws so much. it feels so good to just make friends with a digital monster, with a good design, and not have to think about the spectre of nintendo hanging over it. (also the game does have legitimate strengths too. the pixel art's incredible and the last area is really unique and creative as an environment. the unevolved designs do a fantastic job of making you curious to see what they become.)

unfortunately, the last thing required to be a true pokemon replacement is longevity. the feeling that you'll be able to take your friends with you on future adventures is really important! (after dexit you don't even get this in pokemon lmao)

that's a really tough thing to ask of an indie studio, but there's been some post launch support and hints that they're already working on a new game so, there are reasons to be optimistic about that.

if you've played it, pls ignore how absolute dogshit my type coverage is <3

#Coromon #indie games #racc recs

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in reply to @applecinnabun's post:

millie @diddgery3/7/2024, 1:02 AM

this is more or less how i felt about it when i finished it. the boss encounters were kind of a mess (the second boss and the one mirror match boss were Nightmares for me). i do not remember anything about the story whatsoever and i don't think i could tell you off the top of my head what my final team was either which is a little unfortunate. but i still had fun playing it

applecinnabun @applecinnabun3/7/2024, 1:20 AM

omg i forgot to mention the mirror match. i had to cheese it lmao, after several unsuccessful attempts i ended up just bringing a level 5 mon in front, and a real mon to switch to after and spam setup moves against the mirror'd level 5.

and then the dialogue was like "wow just goes to show fundamentals and strategy beat raw strength! what a great trainer!" and i was like "yeah i guess man :("

Fae!!!@fae-iii3/7/2024, 1:25 AM

I feel like longevity is a really big hurdle to clear for monster-collector games. I played Nexomon: Exctinction and I remember enjoying the story quite a bit and the monster designs were... there were a lot of good one's actually!

Unfortunately there's no connectivity at all between games. I think there were some updates I haven't played, but I think they just added in a selection of Nexomon 1 monsters. I would recommend because of the story and there's still 400+ monsters to collect that mostly (mostly... I have to cover that now) have a unique identity from pokemon.

Some designs fall into the palworld problem where they're clearly heavily inspired by already existing pokemon (Enercer, Barboraco, Globlob, etc.) which is always preplexing considering it's 90% original designs (afaik) displays that they absolutely know how to design original monsters.

I'll have to get around to Coromon eventually.

applecinnabun @applecinnabun3/7/2024, 2:58 AM

oh dang, nexomon has also been on my list for a while and part of my interest was that i assumed there was connectivity between the first and the second games. that's a bummer :( i'm still interested enough to give it a try one of these days but dang.

but yeah though, since you're someone that's interested enough in the genre to play nexomon, and you're a pixel artist, definitely think coromon's worth a play for you :3

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