My experience with the original Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire was always different compared
to my playtime with every other Pokémon generations. The third gen was when I thought I was too
old for the series and stopped playing. It wasn’t until I was pulled back by allure
of the fourth gen that I went and played them. And while I could see all the things it did
well, it became one of the lesser Pokémon generations in my mind. The Pokémon variety
felt poor, the story felt old-hat, and yes, I thought there was too much water. But time
has a way of changing perspective and remakes are an excellent opportunity to fix problems
that the originals had. So I came in to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire with an open mind,
and I feel I was rewarded for that mindset. The story of Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire is
essentially the same as the originals. You’re still a young trainer who moves to the Hoenn
region and decides to go on a journey to become Pokémon Champion while battling either Team
Magma or Team Aqua along the way. But the story has been expanded to flesh out the characters
and help bring it more in line with Pokémon X & Y, specifically the presence of Mega Evolutions.
It’s an appreciable effort since Pokémon storylines have become slightly more refined
over the years. But it’s the Delta Episode that really clicked
with me. After completing the main game, this brand new epilogue begins. It introduces a
new character and brings a similar kind of depth that the story in Pokémon Black and
White had. Showing the player the kind of responsibilities they have as Champion is
something the games have never really gone into. And the climax really is a great moment
for fans. But it’s not without its weaknesses. So much of it is spent going from place to
place that there’s little time to take it all in. More new areas to explore would have
made the whole thing really click, but as is, I still really want to more of this in
future Pokémon games. The best thing about Omega Ruby and Alpha
Sapphire, though, is the sheer amount of improvements and additions they’ve made over X and Y.
Getting rid of the skates and allowing for full 360 degree movement really goes a long
way in making this world fun to explore. And searching for Mega Stones is no longer the
timed hassle that it once was. But the best addition is the new PokéNav Plus. It includes
the Player Search System, Pokémon Amie, and Super Training from the previous game as well
as the new DexNav, AreaNav, and BuzzNav. The DexNav goes hand in hand with the new
sneaking ability. As you travel, you’ll see the silhouettes of Pokémon sticking out
of the grass. The DexNav will identify these Pokémon and display information about them
such as their level and ability. The more you sneak up on a specific Pokémon the more
information the DexNav will display. This makes it another way of finding the Pokémon
you want with the potential you want. But if you’re like me and don’t really care
about raising perfect Pokémon for competitive battling, DexNav still has its use. It actually
keeps track of all the Pokémon that can be caught in an area. It makes catching them
all a lot easier to track. Likewise, AreaNav helps the player keep tabs
on many different things throughout the world such as where trainers want to challenge you
again, where berries that you’ve planted are ready for harvest, and of course what
each town contains. It also serves as a way to quickly access Fly, which has been made
even more useful. Rather than just being able to Fly to towns, players can now return to
specific Routes as long as the sign marking the route has been read. It makes exploring
the region much easier and quicker than ever before. Unfortunately, I never found the same
amount of use from BuzzNav. It usually only clued you in to things happening across the
region which was never really a draw for me. And then there’s the new Soar feature. While
this is an awesome way to explore all of Hoenn in the late game, I also found it less efficient
than just using Fly. But its main use is exploring the world for Mirage Spots that contain rare
Pokémon and items. It and the Battle Resort do help expand the post-game content, but
it doesn’t feel as meaty as the Delta Episode. I also found that unlocking the Mirage Spots
containing the many different Legendaries in this game were incredibly obtuse at times.
Secret Bases and the Pokémon Contests also return from the original games, greatly expanded
like everything else. The Secret Bases can actually be turned into a kind of personal
gym to challenge your friends or just be a neat place to show off a bunch of plushies
and items. But it was the Contests that surprisingly hooked me. I never quite became enthralled
with the mode, but I did try them out more than a few times. And that may be because
of the new side-story attached to it. Seeing this story progress actually gave me a little
motivation to continue through the different Contests.
The Pokémon games have never been the most graphically intensive, but the engine that
debuted last year still does a great job of showing everything off. The world seems breathing
and alive as you explore and each Pokémon is lovingly rendered though the battle animations
are pretty much the same. The music is also well done though some of the remixes are better
than others. Once again, it’s the Delta Episode that really shows off something new
and different in terms of style. With all of these improvements, I feel like
I should like Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire more than X and Y. But that’s not the case,
and there’s a personal reason for that. I’m just not a big fan of the region. The
Pokémon variety during the main game is incredibly lacking to me, especially coming off of the
previous title. And while HM management is not that big of a deal, I still found it to
be obtrusive. But even with all of that said, this is still a much better game than the
original Ruby and Sapphire. I truly like it a lot. And I’m curious to see where Pokémon
goes from here with all of these changes and improvements. With any luck, we’ll also
see more scenarios like the Delta Episode. Thanks for watching and be sure to stay tuned
to GameXplain for more on Pokémon and other things gaming.