Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire review

Credit to linked pixiv user

It’s been a blog tradition of mine to review all of the main series Pokemon games, starting with Diamond and Pearl in 2006. And now I’ve played enough of my copy of Omega Ruby to review these new games as well =)…

It doesn’t seem like people got as excited about these remakes as they did when Heart Gold and Soul Silver were announced. I think the reason for it is because the third Pokemon generation is when many fans who got into it in the late 90s had “grown up” and moved away from Pokemon at this time. Also, Gen3 brought a lot of changes to the franchise that didn’t please fans, as I discussed in a past post. So ultimately, not many fans still playing Pokemon today have the kind of nostalgic connection to Ruby and Sapphire that they did with Gold and Silver, and so the former’s remakes didn’t garner quite as much pre-release excitement. But once the games came out, like all Pokemon games, they still proved to be very popular and sold a significant number of copies. So now that I’ve played through all of the game, how do I feel about it?

First of all, as someone who did not lose interest in Pokemon during the original Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald days, I experienced pleasant nostalgia as I played through Omega Ruby: the characters, the locations, the music, the epic conclusion with Groudon or Kyogre…ORAS keeps just about everything from the original games and adds to them. The most significant way it adds to them is in terms of the 3DS graphics. Compared to the originals on Game Boy Advance, seeing the forests, caves, oceans, and creative city structures of Hoenn brought to life in glorious 3D is great. As I said in my review of XY, the creators took great pains to make the games’ environments as detailed and immersive as possible. From random flocks of Wingull flying overhead to reflections of moving clouds in the water, Hoenn feels really real! Another advantage of the 3DS graphics that the creators utilized fully is giving the character sprites facial expressions and gestures. It’s still limited, but compared to the static faces of the old games, I can relate much more to the characters if I can see them emote even just a little bit. My favorite facial expressions have to be from frantic Flannery! XD

Credit to linked pixiv user

Like the visual aesthetics of the games, not much has changed in ORAS in terms of actual gameplay mechanics compared to XY; it simply offers some new features while getting rid of a few others. One of the first new features I personally took note of for ORAS is the ability to use PokeBank to transfer pokemon for your XY into ORAS as soon as you start the game. For someone like me who enjoys playing through pokemon games with a full team of pokemon from a variety of regions, this allowed me to get the exact pokemon I wanted to use in my ORAS team from my XY copy and use them right away. Of course, you don’t have to do this and can play through ORAS “raw” without connecting to your other games. So it’s great that you have the choice of playing through the game with the pokemon you want as soon as you start.

ORAS brings back the PSS, Pokemon-Amie, and Super Training features from XY, while also adding the BuzzNav, DexNav and AreaNav, which are all good. The DexNav is really helpful for those looking to complete their PokeDex since it shows all the available pokemon in a given location and whether you’ve caught them before or not. It works great with the new mechanic of being able to sneak up on certain pokemon that may have rare attacks, since it shows you which pokemon it is. The BuzzNav lets you get updated features from people you pass by locally, such as where their Secret Base is or if they have a special item that can be passed around (like the Eon Ticket). The AreaNav is perfect for someone like me who gets lost often, plus you can use it to find NPC trainers who want to battle again, which is great for experience since their pokemon get continually stronger. You can also use it to find people’s Secret Bases.

ORAS Secret Base

Speaking of which, Secret Bases are one of the biggest unique features of ORAS (the other being Pokemon Contests). Compared to the original games, with ORAS being on the wireless and Internet-compatible 3DS, it’s easy to get Secret Bases from people you pass by locally on the PSS or play with online. It’s fun to decorate your own Secret Base and bring your friends inside so they’ll battle anyone who comes to visit. I can’t say it’s my favorite feature, but I do find it passively fun. As for contests, I actually was never interested in them even back in the original games. And even now, I would still rather spend time raising new pokemon for battles rather than contests, so I can’t comment on them. But from what I’ve heard, they’ve been improved on as well.

There are a handful of other new things in ORAS too, another significant one being new mega evolutions for certain pokemon. I haven’t had a chance to use all of them yet, but from what I’ve seen they’re all pretty cool. There are also a few new locations to explore that were not in the original games, like Sea Mauville and the Battle Resort. Another new feature is being able to fly around Hoenn on Latios or Latias, without needing a pokemon that knows Fly. It takes a bit longer since you actually have to control the pokemon you’re flying on, and if you’re like me and tend to lose your sense of direction, it can be a bit annoying. Plus you can encounter wild pokemon on the way, and there are some places you can still only get to by using Fly. But it can be a helpful feature nonetheless if you don’t have a pokemon with Fly on you. But now you can use Fly to get to actual routes rather than just cities, so I tend to still find myself using Fly more than soaring =P But the main reason to soar on Latios/as is to get to another new ORAS feature called Mirage Spots and Mirage Islands, which appear at certain intervals or if you meet certain criteria, and allow you to catch legendary pokemon or others you can’t get anywhere else.

Credit to linked pixiv user

ORAS has a bunch of wonderful new features and keeps mostly everything from XY. Unfortunately, one poignant features it leaves out is the ability to customize your trainer. While you can choose a trainer class for yourself that will give you a certain sprite in places like people’s Secret Base or the PSS, it’s unfortunate that you can no longer customize your character’s hair and clothes, so everyone looks the same when you battle them online. Another big thing they left out in ORAS is the Friend Safari, which was a great feature in XY that let you catch pokemon you couldn’t get otherwise that may have their hidden ability and at least 2 perfect IVs. But since the games are compatible with XY, I suppose you can just catch pokemon in the Friend Safari there and then transfer them to ORAS with PokeBank.

Credit to linked pixiv user

As I’ve said, the overall gameplay experience of ORAS is the same as XY, except for the story, which is of course based on the original Ruby and Sapphire games. So taking a look at that, it’s pretty much the same as the originals, which I always thought were pretty good. I liked the fact that each version focused on one of the two teams – Team Magma or Team Aqua – so if you play both versions, you won’t feel like you’re playing the exact same game again. The general story of why they want to summon Groudon or Kyogre is a typical pokemon game story, but again, not a bad one. They do try and give the members of Team Magma and Aqua personalities and character development. To be honest, I felt like their characters were kind of “odd,” especially Courtney and Tabitha, which made it hard to relate to them. Their dialogue just seemed strange, so maybe the English version translator is to blame? But still, it’s a nitpick and didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the game. There’s also a post-game quest called the Delta Episode starring the eccentric new character Zinnia. It pretty much just involved going to different locations and either talking to or battling people along the way, before encountering Rayquaza and Deoxys. It was a fun little side-story though, and Zinnia was an interesting character.

Overall, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are great additions to the Pokemon franchise. Although they take away a couple of favorite features from XY, they add enough new stuff to make up for it in my opinion. Whether you loved XY and/or the original Ruby and Sapphire, I highly recommend ORAS! =D

Credit to linked pixiv user

No Comments… read them or add your own.

  1. chikorita157 says:

    I have finished the game while back, I felt that the Ruby and Sapphire remakes were better than X and Y. While the only big flaw is the lack of character customization which is the thing that really annoyed me, there are a lot of nice additions that make breeding for competitive battling a lot easier such as having the daycare and IV checker next to each other. While you mention that there is no Friend Safari, in some ways, the Dex Nav replaces it with the hidden Pokemon and chaining since you can see the Pokemon with the possibility of getting Pokemon with 3 IVs. Also, secret bases can be useful for training as people already created bases with three Blisseys that only knows Heal Pulse, thus making training a lot easier.

    As for me, I played the game in Japanese and have a pretty lucky run. Already have two shiny Pokemon I hatched from eggs.

    • Yumeka says:

      Yeah, it is more convenient having the daycare and IV checker near each other…you can save time by not having to Fly to the IV checker to check the new pokemon you just hatched XD

      I didn’t know you could get a pokemon with 3 IVs using the DexNav. That’s cool…though I still think Friend Safari makes it easier since sneaking takes more time. And that’s a good point about Secret Bases being used for training. Now I need to find someone with Blisseys or Audinos XD

      We need to battle again sometime!

  2. pKjd says:

    Nice review! My favorite Pokemon game of all-time was and still is Emerald; so I was extra excited for this remake. It was very satisfying in the end, although I was surprised the Battle Frontier project was just getting “started” — possible future DLC? I did however love the Delta story a lot. Zinnia instantly became my new favorite character~

    I still need to put more time into ORAS as I’m currently trying to balance this and other games I have in my backlog. Hopefully this weekend I can actually start forming my teams and have have some fun against others lol. Oh yeah, these days I only play Doubles. Blame my friend for convincing me how that’s the true way to enjoy Poke-battles :P

    • Yumeka says:

      Yeah, Emerald is still among my favorites too :3 I’m wondering about Battle Frontier as well…I hope it’s future DLC.

      That’s perfect because I’ve been into making Doubles teams lately too. Official tournaments like the one I go to every Sunday only allows Double Battles, so that’s why. Plus you can make a team with more of a strategy than you can with Singles. I still have a lot of competitive pokemon for Single Battles that I use against my friends, but I’m loving Double Battles as of lately XD I love using them on the Rating Battles on Battle Spot…I was proud that I managed to get 20 or so wins last season with one of my teams =) Let me know whenever you get your team ready! I have a few different Doubles teams I’m always looking to test out.

  3. Kal says:

    Sounds pretty good. I never did get around to getting a 3DS, so I’m still unable to play any of those. I have to sit down one day, and check out all the RPGs available on the 3DS. Remakes are always great if it is of a game you enjoyed a lot. I’m still waiting for a FFVII/Chrono Trigger remake for the PS3/4. Glad you had fun, and it’s good they are being careful with the feature of the game, and not going overboard I guess.

    • Yumeka says:

      Let me know when you do get a 3DS ;) Even if you don’t get Pokemon we can still exchange Friend Codes. I only play non-Pokemon games once in a while, but I know there are some good RPGs on the 3DS.

  4. Alexis says:

    I finished Alpha Sapphire a week ago (bought it release day and took my time) and I loved it. I’m currently enjoying all the post game features and don’t see it leaving my 3DS for a while. I was still into the Pokemon games when it was released, but for some reason the Hoenn region never grabbed me like Jhoto and Kanto had. Having played Alpha Sapphire though, that opinion has changed a lot. It’s what a remake should look and feel like.

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