As with Pokémon Sword and Shield, Nintendo wastes little time letting you know that you made a mistake buying the game with the hopes of recapturing the wonder and joy you felt playing these games as a kid.
Instead of pester balls (which, in the original, were used to elicit new behaviours, reactions and as a puzzle-solving tool), we are now given "illumina orbs" (which need to be unlocked individually on each island). The illumina orb system is basically the same as the pester ball system except there is really no indication as to what the hell it does in any given situation. Sometimes you throw one at a Pokemon and it will react. Other times, it will simply explode in the Pokémon's face and it won't react or do anything at all. You can throw it at the Crystabloom plants from which the orbs derive, making them glow, which sometimes causes the environment to become alight and any Pokémon nearby to react accordingly and, again, other times, apparently doesn't do anything at all.
With a seemingly infinite number of Pokémon now to choose from, one would think that repeating the same ones in multiple levels would be easily avoidable. Alas, you can expect to replay one level a couple times, looking to get a great shot of one Pokémon or another, only to find that the same Pokémon willingly presents itself on the next course for an easy shot for which Professor Mirror (who???) will give the player a diamond rating on a star system in which 1 star is the lowest, 4 stars is the highest and each number of stars receives an individual score that will determine if they're bronze stars, silver stars, gold stars or diamond stars. Because more complicated means more fun, right? If there was anything that needed changing from the last game, it was Professor Oak's charming rating system. People hated it! Is my sarcasm font working?
Nintendo clearly had no idea how to make this game longer/worth buying without making it more repetitive, grindy, slower and incomprehensible. And make no mistake, it's not worth buying at full price. It'll be on the clearance rack in no time. Wait until then, if you simply have to play it.
Instead of pester balls (which, in the original, were used to elicit new behaviours, reactions and as a puzzle-solving tool), we are now given "illumina orbs" (which need to be unlocked individually on each island). The illumina orb system is basically the same as the pester ball system except there is really no indication as to what the hell it does in any given situation. Sometimes you throw one at a Pokemon and it will react. Other times, it will simply explode in the Pokémon's face and it won't react or do anything at all. You can throw it at the Crystabloom plants from which the orbs derive, making them glow, which sometimes causes the environment to become alight and any Pokémon nearby to react accordingly and, again, other times, apparently doesn't do anything at all.
With a seemingly infinite number of Pokémon now to choose from, one would think that repeating the same ones in multiple levels would be easily avoidable. Alas, you can expect to replay one level a couple times, looking to get a great shot of one Pokémon or another, only to find that the same Pokémon willingly presents itself on the next course for an easy shot for which Professor Mirror (who???) will give the player a diamond rating on a star system in which 1 star is the lowest, 4 stars is the highest and each number of stars receives an individual score that will determine if they're bronze stars, silver stars, gold stars or diamond stars. Because more complicated means more fun, right? If there was anything that needed changing from the last game, it was Professor Oak's charming rating system. People hated it! Is my sarcasm font working?
Nintendo clearly had no idea how to make this game longer/worth buying without making it more repetitive, grindy, slower and incomprehensible. And make no mistake, it's not worth buying at full price. It'll be on the clearance rack in no time. Wait until then, if you simply have to play it.
