Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon Review

by Brandon Sultana

December 29th, 2015

3DS

 

 

Over the years there have been A LOT of Pokemon Spin-off games. Most of them range from mediocre to terrible, but throughout the years one of the better Pokemon Spin-offs has been the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series. While not quite up to the par of the main series, these games are a great example of translating the main gameplay of the series into a different style. The series has been around since the GBA, but unfortunately, the third entry of the series, Gates to Infinity, was received poorly by fans. I’ve personally never played it, but I’ve never seen anyone say many positive things about it. So how does Super Mystery Dungeon fair. Is it the return to form fans have been desperately hoping for?

 

Story

One of the hallmarks of the Mystery Dungeon series is the story and the characters. The game’s story once again tells of a person who has been turned into a Pokemon and sent to the world of Pokemon. This has been the case for all of the games, and while each title has a different take on this concept, I can’t help but feel the idea has run its course. I get that they do it so the player can “relate” to the avatar, but it’s, in my opinion, getting stale. I don’t see why it can’t just tell the story of two Pokemon saving the world. But I digress, the story is still interesting, and just like all the previous games, it’ll keep you on your toes, and it has its fair share of plot twists. The characters, despite being fairly one note and tropey, are still entertaining and likable. Looking back, I do believe that the beginning portions of the story are a little slow, as it builds relationships with characters that ultimately don't play a big part in the story, but I still enjoyed it when I was playing it. The game also brings a lot of past characters in for side missions. The way these characters are executed is perfect, as they are only ever tied to side missions. Because of this, you are able to see tons of fan favorite characters, but the new game’s story can still stand on its own. Going around and seeing all the familiar faces, complete with the same speech patterns, goofy personalities, and references to past games made going around the towns and talking to NPCs worthwhile.

 

Gameplay

The gameplay of Super Mystery Dungeon is one of it’s greatest strengths…. and weaknesses. Starting positively, the dungeon crawling aspects of this game are still very fun. Dungeons are randomly generated, so even when you inevitably revisit dungeons, the experience is still fresh. A new mechanic, Looplets and Emeras, further deepens the experience. Basically, you get looplets to give your characters. When exploring dungeons, you can find emeras to attach to the looplets that gives bonuses like immunity to certain statuses, dungeon information, and more. This adds another layer upon the solid foundations of the series. Most of the mechanics from previous entries remain, and the hunger meter returns after being dropped from Gates to Infinity. Simply put, I think the core gameplay is the best it has ever been.

 

One of the biggest changes made is how recruitment works. Rather than getting recruits by a random chance upon knocking out enemy Pokemon, they are now recruited by completing missions. The player is given a “Connection Orb” that shows you how all Pokemon are interconnected. When you connect with a Pokemon, you are given a mission to complete for them (similar to the job board from previous games), and upon completing it, that Pokemon is recruited, and more jobs open up. I loved this new system, as it really encouraged me to “catch em all” without having to pray to RNGesus that I’d get a certain Pokemon to join me. Additionally, you can now enter dungeons with any Pokemon you want, allowing you to leave the player and partner Pokemon back at base. This mechanic is usually reserved until the post-game, but in Super Mystery Dungeon, you can do this right from the get go. You can even switch team leader in the middle of a dungeon, which is super useful. However, both of these mechanics are reserved only for non-story missions. I think these changes move the series forward tremendously. Being able to switch the team leader on the fly brings tons of depth to decision making, and allowing you to bring any Pokemon you want into dungeons early on gives the player more options. I know not everyone is a fan of the Connection Orb, as there is no longer an infinite number of quests available to you, but I feel much more rewarded to do every job possible, rather than selecting them based off of the reward.

 

Unfortunately, there is a glaring weakness in this game that has existed since the very beginning of the series, being the balancing. There are certain moves, abilities and Pokemon that are stupidly strong in these games, and if you encounter them in a dungeon, they can end you. For example in the main series, multi-hit moves like Rock Blast are very weak, but compensate by hitting 2-5 times. But in mystery dungeon, each hit is very strong, so if you get hit multiple times by these moves, you are near guaranteed to use up a reviver seed. Another example is moves that hit everyone in a room like Earthquake or Uproar. You could be in a huge room, and an enemy can spam these moves and knock you your entire party multiple times before you even REACH them. Of course you have these broken moves at your disposal, but losing to them is just a really frustrating experience. To make matters worse, if an opponent manages to defeat one of your party members, and you are out of Reviver Seeds, the opponent can just evolve on the spot, making them stronger. This is a baffling design decision, as the last thing I need when down a party member, is for my opponent to get stronger. Also, in the early game, your moves are stupidly weak which is frustrating. Moves miss very frequently and at times it takes 3-4 super effective attacks to knock out foes. Your moves do get stronger as you progress, so this problem is eventually alleviated, but it makes the early game significantly less fun. Lastly, the basic attack has been nerfed dramatically. It now functions as a Dragon Rage-esque move, doing a fixed amount of damage. The problem is that it only does 5 damage, making it essentially useless. Mystery Dungeon unfortunately has a reputation of being frustrating at times, and this game is no different. For me, they aren’t a deal breaker, but I know that this can turn off some from the game.

 

Overall, I’d say that Super Mystery Dungeon is my favorite in the series. It manages to recapture what people loved about the first two sets of games, and makes a lot of good changes to bring the series forward. The balancing is a major source of frustration, and I think that the story’s main concept is starting to grow tiresome, but I believe this is the closest to perfection the series has ever gotten. The series is hit and miss with a lot of people, but if you can overcome the occasional frustration and the overall concept of everything being randomized, then I think you’ll have a good time with this one. There is so much content here to keep you busy, I foresee myself playing this game for a LONG time.

 

Great/10

+ New recruitment mechanics

+ Fun Dungeon Crawling

+ Character cameos

+ Good story…

- ...but the main plot point is growing tiresome

- Frustrating Gameplay Flaws