Pokemon: Dark Emerald, made by dannifer8, a ROMhack of my choice for the best Pokemon game in the series. This hack features a new set of starters, and changes in the team setups for Gym Leaders and the Elite Four. Oh, also, there are some more bushes found in the towns. How neat. The Graphics
Dannifer8 put effort into making subtle changes into most of the town's layouts. These changes include nothing more than placing bushes next to the houses. So, not much has changed, really. What's more, some towns have been untouched entirely. What, is Oldale Town so much better than Petalburg City so it should have changes in its layout? How unfair... These changes, however miniscule, do give the towns a little bit more flair though. It does make it a little bit nicer to look at. The extra obstacles placed on the map are a little obscuring here and there, but we'll get to that in a second. The Addictiveness
So, what's new? A few bushes in the towns, different starters, and some changes in the Leader's and Elite Four's teams which make no sense? Apart from seeing some of dannifer8's favourite Pokemon used by the League Champion, I don't see much reason for playing exactly this hack, apart from the dozens of other Pokemon hacks on this site. The Depth
Okay, so there have beens some substantial changes to the original Pokemon Emerald. However, none of these changes actually improve the gameplay in any way. The set of starter Pokemon have changed from Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip to the two psuedo legendaries Dratini and Bagon, and the third being the fan-favourite Eevee. So, that's two legendary dragons and a normal Pokemon. Do the fans like it? Heck yeah, because you get a rare Pokemon from the start, man!! Is it a balanced formula? No. Picking Bagon makes the game insanely easy from the get-go, and picking Dratini will make the game ridiculously easy on the long run. This is simply because Dratini and Bagon evolve into two of the most powerful Pokemon in the game, and getting them so early will make the game so easy it will get boring. Training? Not much of it is needed if you picked a dragon for a starter, because you'll steamroll everyone who gets in your way by the time it evolves once. Or you could just pick Eevee. And wait 'till halfway into the game when you finally get a Stone to evolve finally evolve your starter and make it useful. Ugh. Okay, so the set of starters is terrible. Then you have the changes in the Gym Leader's and Elite Four's team. I won't spoil the teams for you, but they make no sense. The changes don't seem to be tactical in any way, the different Pokemon just seem to be... there. For no reason. They don't follow the type-rule anymore (no more 'one type per Leader), all Gym Leaders and E4 members have teams of varied Pokemon. But not one of the Leaders and Elites have strategically strong teams. Like I said, take a dragon starter, stick with it for the entire game. You'll plow through everything without a sweat. The Difficulty
So, there has been a slight upgrade in the levels, but it's not very noticable. It's not much more difficult. Even more so, picking one of the two dragon starters, preferable Bagon, will make the game ridiculously easy. If you teach your legendary dragon Pokemon you can get at the start of the game a move to counter an Ice type Pokemon, it will one-shot everything in its way. Dragon Pokemon are powerful, and as such, you should be getting it later in the game in order to give it some challenge, at least. You'll laugh as the supposed 'incredibly strong' Gym Leaders tremble with fear for your awesome power. What's more, Slateport City might be somewhat easier to navigate through because of changes dannifer8 applied (which I welcome), the changes in most other towns aren't so great. More often than not, one of my Pokemon fainted because it was poisoned, and I couldn't reach the Poke Center in time because I bumped into a bush that was put there just to make it look a little more pretty. Dang it... Pokemon: Dark Emerald is not worth your time. Yeah yeah, it has an overall rating of a 9, but as a ROMhack, it shouldn't have that high of a score. It's exactly Pokemon Emerald, only with a terrible change in starter Pokemon, weird changes in Gym Leader's and the Elite Four's teams, and some slight changes in most of the town's layouts. Alright, they look okay, but they aren't practical by any means. I didn't talk about sound or story, but that's because it's all the same. Nothing has changed in order to make this lackuster hack a little interesting. Don't waste your time with this.
pros:
cons: the changes also make towns more difficult to navigate through horrible set of starters not enough relocated Pokemon to make gameplay a little more interesting changes in Gym Leader's and E4's Pokemon teams feel really weird Pokemon: Dark Emerald, made by dannifer8, a ROMhack of my choice for the best Pokemon game in the series. This hack features a new set of starters, and changes in the team setups for Gym Leaders and the Elite Four. Oh, also, there are some more bushes found in the towns. How neat. The Graphics
Dannifer8 put effort into making subtle changes into most of the town's layouts. These changes include nothing more than placing bushes next to the houses. So, not much has changed, really. What's more, some towns have been untouched entirely. What, is Oldale Town so much better than Petalburg City so it should have changes in its layout? How unfair... These changes, however miniscule, do give the towns a little bit more flair though. It does make it a little bit nicer to look at. The extra obstacles placed on the map are a little obscuring here and there, but we'll get to that in a second. The Addictiveness
So, what's new? A few bushes in the towns, different starters, and some changes in the Leader's and Elite Four's teams which make no sense? Apart from seeing some of dannifer8's favourite Pokemon used by the League Champion, I don't see much reason for playing exactly this hack, apart from the dozens of other Pokemon hacks on this site. The Depth
Okay, so there have beens some substantial changes to the original Pokemon Emerald. However, none of these changes actually improve the gameplay in any way. The set of starter Pokemon have changed from Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip to the two psuedo legendaries Dratini and Bagon, and the third being the fan-favourite Eevee. So, that's two legendary dragons and a normal Pokemon. Do the fans like it? Heck yeah, because you get a rare Pokemon from the start, man!! Is it a balanced formula? No. Picking Bagon makes the game insanely easy from the get-go, and picking Dratini will make the game ridiculously easy on the long run. This is simply because Dratini and Bagon evolve into two of the most powerful Pokemon in the game, and getting them so early will make the game so easy it will get boring. Training? Not much of it is needed if you picked a dragon for a starter, because you'll steamroll everyone who gets in your way by the time it evolves once. Or you could just pick Eevee. And wait 'till halfway into the game when you finally get a Stone to evolve finally evolve your starter and make it useful. Ugh. Okay, so the set of starters is terrible. Then you have the changes in the Gym Leader's and Elite Four's team. I won't spoil the teams for you, but they make no sense. The changes don't seem to be tactical in any way, the different Pokemon just seem to be... there. For no reason. They don't follow the type-rule anymore (no more 'one type per Leader), all Gym Leaders and E4 members have teams of varied Pokemon. But not one of the Leaders and Elites have strategically strong teams. Like I said, take a dragon starter, stick with it for the entire game. You'll plow through everything without a sweat. The Difficulty
So, there has been a slight upgrade in the levels, but it's not very noticable. It's not much more difficult. Even more so, picking one of the two dragon starters, preferable Bagon, will make the game ridiculously easy. If you teach your legendary dragon Pokemon you can get at the start of the game a move to counter an Ice type Pokemon, it will one-shot everything in its way. Dragon Pokemon are powerful, and as such, you should be getting it later in the game in order to give it some challenge, at least. You'll laugh as the supposed 'incredibly strong' Gym Leaders tremble with fear for your awesome power. What's more, Slateport City might be somewhat easier to navigate through because of changes dannifer8 applied (which I welcome), the changes in most other towns aren't so great. More often than not, one of my Pokemon fainted because it was poisoned, and I couldn't reach the Poke Center in time because I bumped into a bush that was put there just to make it look a little more pretty. Dang it... Pokemon: Dark Emerald is not worth your time. Yeah yeah, it has an overall rating of a 9, but as a ROMhack, it shouldn't have that high of a score. It's exactly Pokemon Emerald, only with a terrible change in starter Pokemon, weird changes in Gym Leader's and the Elite Four's teams, and some slight changes in most of the town's layouts. Alright, they look okay, but they aren't practical by any means. I didn't talk about sound or story, but that's because it's all the same. Nothing has changed in order to make this lackuster hack a little interesting. Don't waste your time with this.
pros:
cons: the changes also make towns more difficult to navigate through horrible set of starters not enough relocated Pokemon to make gameplay a little more interesting changes in Gym Leader's and E4's Pokemon teams feel really weird |
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