Pokemon-Fangame - 'Pokemon Reborn' Walkthrough 7 -There are no slaves here

Note:
Before we start, a short comment in personal intend. As I recently read, Amethyst, the creator of this fangame, is currently experiencing a personal loss. Of course I expressed my condolences in the forum like many others, going through something like this just plainly sucks. Despite all the criticism in this walkthrough of the game and its creator, of course I have nothing against the person behind it, I don't even know her, after all. Nevertheless, I will again write the criticism I felt while playing down here and I’m sure nobody minds, especially because the negative impressions of the game are increasingly giving way to the positive ones. Thanks for the attention.

I WILL BE THE VERY BEST - LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS!!
TO BREAK THEM IS MY REAL TEST,

TO HUMILIATE THEM IS MY CAUSE!

I WILL TRAVEL ACROSS REBORN

SEARCHING DARK AND LIGHT

EACH METEOR TO UNDERSTAND

THE POWER THATS BELOW

REBOOOORN

GOTTA CRUSH EM’ ALL!

IT’S YOU AND ME

WE KNOW ITS OUR DESTINYYYYbond

REBOOOORN

OOHHHH YOU’RE GONNA MAKE ME CHAMP

IN A WORLD THAT WE MUST END

REBOOORN

GONNA KILL EM AAALLL

A HATEBONER SO TRUE

OUR MONEY WILL BUY US THROUGH

YOU DRUG ME

AND I’LL DRUG YOUUU

REBOOHOOOORNNNN



GOTTA WRECK EM’ ALL

GOTTA WRECK EM’ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL



REBOHORN!

Aaaahhh. This is it. This could be it. The big explosion. The breakthrough in my gaming experience of this special fangame. Because one thing is certain: There are no slaves here. There are only free and independent Pokemon which will help ne to bring this nasty game to it’s knees. They and a lot of cotton candy and hyper-potions. The core of this new review could be so positive after I suffered through a lot so far and criticized it accordingly. I really wanted this one to be positive, so after the first third to half I thought 
‘Great, I have grown with my team to the point that nothing can really stop us, I appreciate this game as the tough experience it is is and will conquer it with my strong team!’

Unfortunately, Reborn happened. Whenever you think in this game that you are worth something, you have understood it, you are making progress and getting better, the balancing dances around the corner and kicks you right in the balls with an iron boot, stomps you laughingly and urinates on your battered body. Well, I don’t want to exaggerate, because my team has done a lot lately, but there are still some criticisms of the game's balancing that should and must be mentioned. However, this will be the last review that will deal with Reborn's balancing as a focus. I think I made my point clear.

Don't get me wrong: This part definitely symbolizes progress. By now I own 13 badges. I feel like I'm slowly, steadily approaching the finale, or at least the conclusion of episode 18. I just defeated Ciel. The last 6-7 badges have revealed a more and more smaller-growing core team of my 'slaves'. The above team, along with three to four other Pokemon, got me through the last four or five badges. The critters have gradually given me the feeling that there is not much that can be improved on them and that they can overcome any challenge with the necessary preparation and strategy. So I did the right thing and brought them to the name rater.

There are no slaves here. This is my valued team, and it will help me beat this nasty game. They’re not the pokemon that I would have chosen, but they went on this long journey with me, often proved themselves and earned their freedom. MotherOfFire as my leader who always attacks first and burns everything. BelovedWater, my water tank that can’t be broken down easily and almost defeats some entire trainers on its own. Everyone fulfills his role. Soon I’m done, we’re done. I find it counterproductive that I first had to grind several dozen Pokemon to arrive at this team, but as many players have said, it wasn’t necessary. That was just my way. It's okay.

I really want to keep going - probably until the next gym leader, but who cares. I look forward to every session, willingly face (most) challenges and am already looking forward to the moment when I am done against all doubts and whiners without using cheats, if there are any. Yes, with lots of cheap cheese and potions, but fair nevertheless. Despite all that, Reborn has annihilated and humiliated me a few more times in the past few weeks and shown that Amethyst, the worthy creator of this game, always has her little problems with the balancing.

Above all, I am referring to the infamous Triple-Battle in the house of Amaria and Titania. When I searched for some tips for the fight, which were all useless by the way so I ended up beating it myself after all, I found an interesting post in the Reborn forum, which in my opinion sums it up very well and I would like to quote:

"Well, this fight sums pretty much how bad at balancing the dev is. Yea, its doable if you go meta, use cheap mechanics or do potion spam (doable, but still pretty hard). But it's, ONCE AGAIN, a fight that says "fuck your choices, you play by my stupid rules". Even with a balanced pokemon team, you are gonna have very bad times in these type of fights. The devs of the pokemon already said it: double battles are hard to balance. Ame just treats them as if you were doing 1 vs 1, so normally they are just cheap and unnecessary hard, cause it really seems she didn't test the double fights. Flobots team is USELESS against all the 2 enemies you face with her, same as julias. All their poks just get one shotted, specially Julia's, while doing shitty dmg when they can hit. It really seems like if the enemy pokemons have perfect EVs while your allies ones have been trained by monkeys. Tbh, having to farm for hours to level up pokemons I never intended to use just because some fights aren't balanced at all is just lazy and bad. It brings absolutely no joy or provides any fun. Sometimes it seems as if Ame just wanted to make the game as hard as she can to brag about how hard her game is. Sometimes it works, and I had fun agaisnt leaders where i wiped a lot. But in fights like this one, or the one against Charlotte, sorry no. You win either by having good luck (and praying there's not much hax), by doing perfect meta play (which isn't fun, it's not a test, it's a game. I already work 8 hours per day to get told what I must do and how: D, I already have 10 trained pokemon, I'm not gonna waste more hours training more just because some parts are totally unbalanced) or by spamming pots. And I know that in the end I'll do it, it's the 4th time I "finish" the game, as most of the times between new chapters I end up losing the files so I have to start all over. Doesn't mean I feel satisfaction after finishing certain fights. "

Two comments:
1. I would disagree with Charlotte, she was tough but doable. My water starter defeated her almost on its own and would I have had a second strong water pokemon I would have wrecked Charlotte to pieces. So as we see again, much is just subjective.

2. In contrast to this fellow I DO had well over 10 trained Pokemon and have nevertheless suffered through the triple battle countless times and hours. Just sayin '.


The Reborn balancing is fatal in moments like this. There can be little discussion about that. A triple-battle with a completely useless partner, six different opponents with completely different teams and Pokemon, without the opportunity to change your team in between or at least to heal the partner's Pokemon is simply not well balanced, and it doesn't matter whether there are many players considering those battles to be fair or who made it the first time - as long as there is a large and noticeable amount of players desperately struggling with the same battles, then you know something is wrong. And if I have to hear someone say "Reborn challenges you to think in new ways, to strategize and prepare your team for every individual enemy, if you want a brainoff-feelgood experience go play SW / SH!" I see myself forced to do a slave-genocide with all the useless Pokemon resting in my box. They’re on you. 

Apart from that, the puzzles. Amethyst's great passion and designer trait. The second big stone next to the questionable balancing, which in my opinion is put in the way of the popularity and success of Pokemon Reborns. Really, I have nothing against these riddles and puzzles, which are usually really tricky but well thought out, as long as they are optional. If such incredibly exhausting and difficult puzzles are forced onto me in a Pokemon game so I can continue with the story, with the only possible way out of helplessness being Google or YouTube - external sources - then something goes terribly wrong. The battles are still fun most of the time. The puzzles? They are almost always a torture that I have to pull through. Or cheat through. I'm not proud of it, but I'm not ashamed of it either. I already spend a great deal of time with this game, so I really don't have to triple that amount by solving Amethyst's certainly complex puzzles, which she uses to prove her unquestionably high intellect.

Of course, those who are still reading these reviews, and that's still mostly the reborn community, may call it all nonsense and say I should giten gud. But then there are still great people in the community who help me with problems and give me useful feedback. The community is great, I can't complain. And man, I like this game. Really. Why? Sure, on the one hand because the story and world is so good, but on the other hand because I swore to myself that I would defeat this fangame. I will do this, I will GIT GUD and THEN, then when I have mastered the game, I have every right to say that the balancing is bad. That is the goal.

Damn. Now it looks all negative again. At the moment I actually left Reborn with a good feeling, and I will continue immediately after writing, I definitely want to continue. I was and am exhausted, yes. I hate the game at moments like the triple battle and would love to quit. But I keep going.

It's worth it somehow, to be honest: Story and world still captivate me, characters like Titania and Amaria entertain me very well, the story about Team Meteor is picking up speed and I want to know how it goes on. My team and I will do it. The few remaining badges, how hard can it be, right? Hahahahahaha !!

Seriously, I'm grateful that Reborn exists and I'm grateful that Amethyst created it and still does. I would like to give her a piece of my mind when I suffer through her puzzles and sometimes awkwardly scripted challenges, but at the end of the day I overcome them with my team and I am still there. I am still here. And soon I'll be through.
PS: Of course, Reborn in all its elements comes from a creator who has a YouTube video with the title  
"YOU ARE GOING TO FAIL - but that is okay!". Joke's on us.




Somehow I accidentally separated PRO, CONTRA & NEUTRAL this time, which makes the whole review even more confusing. Well, if you are still here at that point, you have no standards anyway x) 

PRO:
+ Calcenon City is beautiful. The white rocks, these red and purple streams ...

In addition, the atmosphere and dramatic music work great here, the NPCs and the snow convey the difficult situation convincingly. Great city.

+ And there we have the HM For gym story twist again. But I've criticized that often enough. After all, it's Charlotte, waifu.

+ Aha. Nice to see Fern is finally confirmed as a villain and definitely has no likeable side. I'm already looking forward to smash his face in.

I keep punching and restrain him, Hardy.

+ I love Charlotte so much. Clever brains at the barrier. I hope my decision didn't cost me affection with her. But WHY again doesn't she just give me the badge after her sister has just been fired by the league?
+ Saphiras ice damned cold dialogue with Siegmund at the barrier again confirms that these sisters are the best damn siblings in the damn Pokemon world and each of them deserves her own religion. Goodness, did Saphira iceburn Frankenstein here.

Ice

cold 

+ Charlotte: "ART IS AN ... EXPLOSION !!


+ Amtrine City's music is quite beautiful, just like the city itself. For me the prettiest place in the game so far! The design of the city is great. Above all, I like details such as the frozen-over Pokecenter, the crooked mountain path or the ice skating area.

+ "Plus its not like reading a diary ever got anyone in trouble"
*protagonist turns around*
Hahahahahahahaha!

+ Wow, scary, this diary in the abandoned house ... ahem, fused personalities, are we talking about ZEL?

+ I love the idea that the iceskating floor and the kids on it are the access to a hidden TM.

+ Cal is back, and he's in his cool, rebellious Chloe Price-Edgelord Bluepunk phase and texted me with things that I hardy cal about. Wuhuuu !!
 
+ The combat music on the iceberg is fantastic and contains three or four remixed original themes. Very creative!

+Heather puts the facts on the table in front of Blake. Great speech.

+The scene on top of the mountain is pure Justice Porn, too bad that it ends in the expected escape of Blake. Cal, unlike Cain, is a character really able to rehabilitate himself here.

+BaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhTerra belongs to meteor. Called it.

+ Free shortcut with Cal, gladly!

+ I love everything about this retro 8-bit Pokemon world. The sound effects, the music, the graphics ... cool design! Even the annoying Zubats are there.

+ This 8-bit version of the Reborn theme is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC.

+ I am currently in Lavandia and there is so much creativity here,  WITHOUT ANY ANNOYING PUZZLES. All right! 

+ The dialogues with Ciel and Samson compensate me again for all the suffering. And as much as I dislike Terra, I'm glad that her friends still stick to her <3

+ Onwards to save Amaria and Titania, in a cool sequence right through the waterfall of Reborn City.

+ How Titania slaughtered several Meteor members and literally uses a damn Pokemon as weapon and shield to slit another one let’s my body vibrate with enthusiasm. I'm in love. With a small pixel woman with great courage!

+ Titania is the first NPC in this game to have completely rational and logical reasons to ask for my help. So far my favorite character. 

+ The music in the sewer system is fabulous and fits the situation well.

+ I'm not even angry about all the sliding puzzles. This is how you implement mini-games in a quest without annoying your player half to death.

+ Titania and my team WRECKED those cultists. I'm already looking forward to having to defeat this woman myself ...........

+ Again praise for how Titania chops away the cultists in senseless, brutal violence like the data garbage they are. Best Gurl. I absolutely have no pity for these terrorists. This "I only obeyed orders" bullshit is Nazi logic. 

+ With a lot of luck, paralysis and blizzard, I defeated the mutant swalot. Cheesy as EVERYONE did.

+ Okay, of course I rejected Taka's wish to fight him. Yes, I already can hear you typing I just wanted to avoid the fight. That’s true too. But more importantly: Fuck him. Fuck what he does. I wish him all the suffering he can possibly get. I bet that has very, very bad consequences later and I'll bite my ass retrospectively for that, but at that moment it was the right thing to do. You don't negotiate with terrorists.

+ Titania continues to be the best-written character in the entire game. Not only is she an ass kicker by excellence, her speech towards Taka is great, finally someone who can talk some sense in a meteor. No offense Saphira. And her outburst of anger afterwards is understandable.

+ Yeah, Julia and Florinia are still alive! I feel Julia is the softer version of Terra. How would the two of them get along? 

+ Florinia who pushes Fern away gives me life. Fuck Fern.

 

CONTRA:

- We are ice cold too and just tell Eclipse's father that she is fucking dead. A player choice would have been nice here …

- Yeah wow, what. Charlotte's sister is kicked out of the top four after being kidnapped and mistreated and El is still in? I agree with Charlotte, this can't be, however incompetent the league in Reborn may be. Holy damn.

- No sorry, I won't even try the third plate puzzle in Charlotte's gym. I did two with a lot of effort, I don't have to be ashamed, I'm exhausted. Youtube.

- It is annoying that you have to go back all the way through the mountain, Route 3, the Iceberg and Route 2 to get to the Agate Circus, without a shortcut. 

- I just remembered that I HAVE TO SOLVE A FREAKING PUZZLE TO GET THE HM DIVE AND CONTINUE THE STORY !!! Why, Amethyst ?! 

Youtube.

- HOW DID BLAKE THIS PSYCHOPATH GET HEATHER LOCKED IN? THE POOR GIRL NEVER CATCHES A BREAK!!

 - MELTING DOWN A DAMN DOOR WITH A A LITTLE CHILD TRAPPED BEHIND. INGENIOUS, CAL, SIMPLY BRILLIANT!

- Four full filler fights on the iceberg up to Blake. Was that really necessary?

- And climb the whole iceberg again if you lose to Blake. Naturally.

- ......... That has to be a joke. I’m meeting the a Mewtwo in the data world that sends each of my Pokemon in one fell swoop into the dreamworld and I am thrown out? Thanks to Amethyst, you don't have to walk all the way again.

- The Mewtwo fight is a classic reborn gimmick fight. I had 20+ highly trained Pokemon up to level cap at the time, but this battle was simply not doable because everything died within one attack. I asked the friendly community for advice and got it. In the end, though, what worked again were the gravelers and their explosions. It wasn't that difficult.

But still: gimmick puzzles. Was that  really necessary?  

- Because my goat memory no longer knows where I have to go now, I run to Calcenon to Noel, who tells me I know where I need to go now. No Noel I do NOT know where to go, thank you for NOT mentioning it again because PRACTICALLY and THEORETICALLY it would have been NO EXTRA EFFORT. Of course it's my fault that I'm so stupid, but I'm still glad that I came back to Calcenon for the extra scenes with the gang.

- Without any healing anywhere in the sewer system, I run out of resources at some point, lose and I'm back in the circus. Thanks game. 

- uggghh another X-Men meteor pokemon in the sewers and no golden healing before it. Mean.

- Swalot is unbeatable with poison healing and practically no damage getting through. Again, I have to go all the way back through the sewers to defeat a single enemy. This game constantly tears you out of the atmosphere and story with its impossible battles. Not even explosions helped here, not my various teams. I had to google. And so I find out that every other Reborn player has only defeated this opponent with tricks because he is a GIMMICK (!!!!). NOBODY that I read of could defeat this opponent without using special tricks. I never had thought that of all things Blizzard destroys its poison field, and this time I did study my available field notes. Why does it have to be like that? There’s no additional fun for anyone. 

- There is a small bug with the helicopter sound, because I also hear it on Route 2 and in the Agate circus.

- The triple-fight. See above.

Neutral:

 + - The whole situation in Calcenon City makes you wonder whether Reborn has no army, military or anything like that. There only seems to be the gym leaders, but even of them there are only a handful here to fight Meteor, which occupies two damn cities. Hmmm ....

+ - ugh, family drama in Calcenon City at the barrier and of course I have to decide now. Well, since CHARLOTTE asks me, I have to answer selfishly, even though Saphira is probably right and it costs so many more lives not to sacrifice her. But I wouldn't let Charlotte die. No. Charlotte takes my ring and I'm sure that would have happened even with a yes...

+ - I don't know what to think about the fact that Charlotte’s gym is almost an exact copy of Wallace... even if it looks cool. Of course, in a lot more difficult fashion. I beat the second platform in about 40 attempts. 

+ - A PULSE AVALOGG? METEOR IS BEHIND THE ICE PYRAMID ?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

+ - "What happened to Terra between the time when she ran away and when she applied for the agate circus?"

Uh ... Xbox Live?

+ - From the stupid messages during the battles in the data world and the confusion of Samson and Ciel about Terra’s whereabouts, I’m gonna go ahead and call Terra belongs to Meteor. I hope so. Then I could smash her. Not literally.

(And yes, I wrote this before the above ...)

+ - I really like the idea of ​​the point and click puzzle in Blake's room. Unfortunately, after clicking and searching everything, I still don't have the correct solution. After googling, I found that the last four digits that I thought were preset were incorrect. The Fuck?

+ - I actually recorded the fight against Blake, but decided against releasing the video. I really only won here with pure cheese, because I spamed cotton candy and hyper potions the whole fight and stalled him with Toxic. But again, after five or six tries and all my available Pokemon, there was simply no other chance. Without the excessive use of potions, it would have cost me at least a dozen more attempts to get even close to victory, and even then it would only have happened out of sheer luck if we’re completely honest here for a minute. I’m not proud but glad I can continue. Some opponents are now far too powerful to defeat them if you don't have the right Pokemon to counter theirs. Using cheese is my only means to continue the game.

+ - Um ... of course Terra just disappears into a PC. HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, 

REBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

OOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRNNNNN !!!

+ - I just caught a dodrio here in the data world and wonder how this is possible? It's just data, isn't it? Can Terra create Pokemon at will just like that? IS TERRA ARCEUS ??

YU WHAT MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

RAWR ; ___________;

+ - In the sewer system I forced myself to do all the puzzles this time without help. Was annoying but doable. Good teamwork with Titania.

Battle recordings:

As mentioned above, one or two important battles like Blake on the iceberg are missing. Much worse, however, is that before the fight against Meteor in Amaria's house and against Ciel, I accidently moved the recording program so that only a small corner of the screen is recorded. So what you WOULD see in these two shots would be my active Pokemon in battle and nothing else. Really frustrating, but as a substitute for at least the triple-fight, I uploaded the attempt before that one which failed in the end only ... for extremely annoying reasons. Thanks for your understanding!

(For the recordings, please check out the same section of the german article because uploading those files takes a tremendous amount of time. Thank you!)



- Yoraiko