I have been an avid video game player for ages. I have played a lot of games, but I played mostly Pokemon when I was younger, and play it occasionally. I would like to review the game mentioned above, and discuss my pros and cons for the game. 

Does it hit the mark, or does it miss?

The first game of Mystery Dungeon 1 had its moments. Overall, I found it to be a fun, and dramatic game. Here's a rundown of PMD, in case you're not familiar with it. You're a human who enters the world of Pokemon, as a Pokemon-and they can talk! It appears that you couldn't understand them because you were a human in the original games, but now that you are one, you can see the world through their eyes.

But, there's a catch. You have amnesia, and the pokemon who finds you, coincidentally becomes your friend and partner and the two of you help pokemon together. In the first game, it was a rescue team you joined. In the second, it's an exploration team. It's practically the same thing. No difference.

The game has its pros. For instance, you have other pokemon join you in the places you go through, which are dungeons. You used to have this area where you could have only a certain amount of them join you, but that has been abolished. 

The animation is lush, especially the sunrises and....the future. There are a lot of plot twists in this game, and there's an area in the game where everything is suspended in permanent darkness. The idea is that something called "time gears" are responsible for keeping time intact.

But, when it is removed from an area, that place freezes, and everything loses color. Water is suspended in motion, and as a result, the game implies that the pokemon that were in that area die.  You heard me: die. Pokemon do die in this game.

Unfortunately, you don't stay in that area for very long, and are whisked away back to the horrendous place called the Guild where you live.

Another pro is the soundtrack. It is no longer repetitive, instead it sounds amazing and catchy, even sad.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNMyRHw5sdQ&feature=channel_video_title

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aa8wnVInz4&feature=related

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP_AUhCJP6I

There are some interesting characters as well.

Now, for the cons. In the first game, it was just you and your partner. The two of you ran a business rescuing pokemon, and by earning money from them, went up in rank. You also had items that you carried. In the first game, I got through thanks to the fact that I had a lot of money and happened to get the right moves to defeat enemies with. There was independence, too.

Your partner was patient with you, and didn't force you to do things right away.To people who haven't played this, there are parts in the storyline where you view a cutscene, then you have to go someplace. In the first one, it was optional, i.e. you could spend time leveling up and becoming stronger and then survive the dungeons. That's what helped me a lot.

A good part of the game was also spent focusing on your memory loss, and it gradually shows your true identity, but it is a key factor in the first game.

One bad thing about the second game is how little time it spends based on your memory loss or the reason why you became a pokemon, instead it makes you have a cliched ability to see into the future. Inventive, indeed.

It doesn't focus on it that much at all. The second you join your partner, they force you into joining a guild that trains you to become experts. This guild is okay, but you get vanquished of your independence, and every morning, you say the same cringe-inducing phrase over and over again.

Another con is the partner. The partner was a pokemon you choose based on a quiz you do at the beginning of the game, but that doesn't matter, since your partner is a coward. A whiny little crybaby who can't do anything by themselves. A little emo of a pokemon that is nothing like the Chikorita I had in the first game who was strong and reliable.

Also, your partner is arrogant. They think they can talk for you. Um, the character has amnesia, not speech-impairedness. They can talk. Instead of saying something, I move my feet, which is pretty useless when you consider the fact that all the other pokemon in the game talk. Why is the protagonist supposed to be the only non-talking pokemon in the game?

Now my focus goes to the guild itself. The worst part about the guild was the fact that they steal almost all of your money from you, leaving you nearly bankrupt. I had 2000 poke (the money in this game), then they steal it, leaving you with only 200. That's theft! You don't have any money to get decent items, and moves, which makes you powerless against all the strong enemies later on in the game. One would think maybe that's financial abuse? Maybe the workers here ought to form a union?

The rules were really ridiculous. The boss, who is a parrot, is the most arrogant son-of-a-gun I have ever seen. On a mission where you don't complete a task, he sends you to bed without dinner. You're always their slave!

Another complaint I have regards the villains. In the previous game, you got to literally beat the crap out of your enemies, and frighten them so they never bothered you again. Not in this game.

They suck up to your boss at the guild, and he buys it like the naive moron he is. They get you in trouble, and you never get to kick their ***es! Later on, you spare them! There are some villains that deserve pardons. These don't. They deserve to be locked in prison for life.

Also, remember what I said earlier about lush animation? Not in the dungeons. While the music sounds good, the dungeons look like something out of the late '80's, with poor sprites and attack moves. The dungeons are the most boring part of the game.

My last con is something that makes me indignant. Something that the other reviewers haven't caught onto at all! What is this?

Discrimination.Yes, discrimination. Yes, there are two main characters, but there are the pokemon you can make friends with, and they can tag along with you in dungeons, but here's the problem: they say really sappy phrases, like "I'll back you up, so-and-so." This makes them very one-dimensional.

There is an expedition later on where the whole guild goes, and you are forced to leave behind your perfectly capable team members behind. Instead, an utterly useless pokemon tags along and uses up all your items and nearly causes you to die. Thanks to that idiot, I lost so many good items.

In the game when you learn about the expedition, Chatot says "Pokemon who are not part of the guild may not come with you." Wait, wait, wait. Part of the guild? Sir, please clarify your meaning. Do you mean pokemon who live in the town and foreign countries? The last time I checked, I thought any pokemon who joined the guild was a part of it. Naturally, wouldn't the team members they form be entitled to the same rights as them? Technically, they are part of the guild, and you, sir, by not allowing them entry, are practicing discrimination.

Just because they don't live in the same quarters as us doesn't mean they should be mistreated and looked down on. I'm outraged by the fact that they allowed this bigotry. Chatot is a xenophobe who doesn't want your team to become strong. Why else would they mentally abuse you like this? Like they already do.

My team members deserve respect. I've gotten in bad situations, and they've been the ones who bailed me out. Guess what? The praise at the end of the mission doesn't go to them. It only goes to you and your partners. Never to them. It's like they're invisible, most of the cutscenes don't even show them. They're treated like scum, and shadows.

I'm not saying the first game was exempt from this, either. There was a part where you and your partner were chased from town, and the two of you have one day to get ready. I wanted to take some of my friends, but my partner didn't want to involve them. Oh, is that really any way to treat your friends? I understand it's supposed to be protective, but it's actually rather cold.

In spite of all this raving, it continues. When you're taken to the future, your friends aren't allowed, as usual. What are they, chopped liver?

This game has some good things going for it, but it has a lot of cons that make me give it a low rating.

I rate it a 6/10 for the discrimination.