From what I have seen, a lot of ROM hacks have difficulty upgrades, and I’m honestly not interested in that. I like being able to win battles with random Pokémon I like instead of having to pick the competitively viable/strong ones to beat the game. I suppose it is the curse of this being a kids game and adults usually being the hackers.
and the difficulty has been increased for a more engaging experience
So this one is probably not for me.
Now that I think of it though, kids have more free time to learn and master a video game, while adults have less free time even if the adult might have a greater capacity to learn the game than a child (and past a certain age maybe not. I don’t expect a 4-year old to really get any strategies beyond type advantage, but a devoted 9-year-old could probably wreck some adults competitively. I’d bet there are some 9-year-olds doing well on Pokémon Showdown and nobody knows because they are typing with fluent English and not throwing a fit when they lose), so “adults overall want a harder game” might not be true. Especially given the prevalence of cozy games. So I do wonder why there are so many difficulty upgrade ROM hacks (not a bad thing by the way! Just because it is not to my personal taste does not mean I think this a bad thing), is it that adults who would make ROM hacks are the type to want hard games?
Honestly? Around 10 hours or so in, I don’t find it difficult. More challenging than the original games, sure. But nothing that requires you to use an elite team.
Heck, my team includes a misdreavous, a zubat, sandshrew and vulpix so far. I’ve had some issues with water types but nothing unsolvable. And yeah, I get those pokemon because they are among my favourites. Not because they are particularly strong. If any, thanks to some balancing, the game is actually easier to do with whatever pokemon you like. I’d say you are way more flexible to pick your mons than in the OG.
I am an adult playing this one on my commute (30 mins), so I don’t have the time or the will to do all those crazy hacks (like kaizo and the likes), I think this one is a bit more challenging but because all the qol changes balance it. Otherwise the game would be so easy it’d be boring.
Hack link for the interested
From what I have seen, a lot of ROM hacks have difficulty upgrades, and I’m honestly not interested in that. I like being able to win battles with random Pokémon I like instead of having to pick the competitively viable/strong ones to beat the game. I suppose it is the curse of this being a kids game and adults usually being the hackers.
So this one is probably not for me.
Now that I think of it though, kids have more free time to learn and master a video game, while adults have less free time even if the adult might have a greater capacity to learn the game than a child (and past a certain age maybe not. I don’t expect a 4-year old to really get any strategies beyond type advantage, but a devoted 9-year-old could probably wreck some adults competitively. I’d bet there are some 9-year-olds doing well on Pokémon Showdown and nobody knows because they are typing with fluent English and not throwing a fit when they lose), so “adults overall want a harder game” might not be true. Especially given the prevalence of cozy games. So I do wonder why there are so many difficulty upgrade ROM hacks (not a bad thing by the way! Just because it is not to my personal taste does not mean I think this a bad thing), is it that adults who would make ROM hacks are the type to want hard games?
Honestly? Around 10 hours or so in, I don’t find it difficult. More challenging than the original games, sure. But nothing that requires you to use an elite team.
Heck, my team includes a misdreavous, a zubat, sandshrew and vulpix so far. I’ve had some issues with water types but nothing unsolvable. And yeah, I get those pokemon because they are among my favourites. Not because they are particularly strong. If any, thanks to some balancing, the game is actually easier to do with whatever pokemon you like. I’d say you are way more flexible to pick your mons than in the OG.
I am an adult playing this one on my commute (30 mins), so I don’t have the time or the will to do all those crazy hacks (like kaizo and the likes), I think this one is a bit more challenging but because all the qol changes balance it. Otherwise the game would be so easy it’d be boring.