For a while, it seemed like that Text Play had hit an impassible roadblock in the form of a certain mountain that I hate. It seemed that I would not be able to get through it. As such, I decided to take a break from that game and start a Text Play of the next Pokémon fan game I intended to do: Pokémon Zeta. However, I managed to get through Mt. Snarlet in Mega Adventure.
But then again, I hit another roadblock. Turns out the game had a very nasty surprise for me after beating the Elite Four in that game. Yup, I beat the Elite Four in that game. They are no joke. But as for the nasty surprise? Well, no spoilers, but I have to prepare. That's why I haven't put up another entry in the Text Play for such a long time. I am sorry about that.
When I took a break from Mega Adventure as a result of Mt. Snarlet, I had started work on another Text Play of another Pokémon fan game, I'm a fan of: Pokémon Zeta. As I have said in the past, one of my big inspirations for that Text Play was Linkara's own Let's Play of Pokémon Omicron. You know how Pokémon games tend to come in pairs, like Red and Blue, or Gold and Silver? Well, Zeta is the twin of Omicron. I had originally intended to start this one after completing Mega Adventure, but the post-game surprise in Mega Adventure made me change my plans. I need a break. I do promise, I will get back to it one day...I hope.
But for right now, all I have to say is...Welcome to the Vesryn region! Vesryn is a nice little region. The sun shines, the Pidgeys sing, the air is clean. Yup, it's the perfect little region...well, expect for the Team Olympus infestation bothering it lately. As such, let's begin our journey through the Aroma region! This is the first entry in my Text Play of Pokémon Zeta!
I love that when you boot the game up, there's a nice take on the Pokémon theme. Before I begin, I want to warn you all that I am going to spoil the heck out of this game. You have been warned. So, with that, let's get this adventure started!
And of course, you get the classic start of meeting Professor Oak. Although in this case, it's a prerecorded message. There's a bit of a twist to it this time around. You can look at the basic controls, which are shown here.
Then there's "Adventure", which basically plays a prerecorded message from Oak about the standard Pokémon stuff: Entering a wondrous world, etc. You have to select "No info needed" to properly start the game. There have been jokes about Oak being unable to tell the difference between a boy and a girl because of how his intros go in Pokémon games. Here, having it be a recording makes...some sense.
Another neat feature is that the game asks if I want to do a challenge run. Basically, playing the game with certain extra rules tacked on. The most famous of these is the "Nuzlocke". I'm just going to do the standard game with standard rules here. Those extra challenges never really appealed to me.
The game starts with the standard spiel from Oak about how Pokémon and people live together, with a bit of a twist. The recording remarks that some people use Pokémon to get power for themselves, ...and that's why you're here.
After you reveal your gender and name, the game reveals that your rival will have "swag". So you'll have a reason to hate them. Okay. We then get some somber news. Team Olympus has attacked Nyasa Town, the home of your avatar. There were few survivors. The town has an Escape Route, so they've been shuffled off to Zarivar Town. If you want to help stop Team Olympus, there are some emergency Pokémon available for use.
The game starts inside the Escape Route, a sort of underground cave system. I'm getting flashbacks to Mega Adventure already. A woman appears and brings out her Lucario.
Hmmm, I wonder who this Wilson guy is? The neighbor from Home Improvement? Anyway, she tells Lucario to send a message: The time for cowardice is over, and that he should redeem himself. He heads off to deliver the message, using ExtremeSpeed. Huh. I wonder what this "Wilson" guy did? The woman, Aria, tells me that I'm ready for my first Pokémon, and there is some down here. The woman hopes that I surpass her as a great trainer.
A man (who suspiciously resembles Professor Oak) runs in with some news: Team Olympus found the cave! Aria needs to help fight them off. She tells Oak to take me to his lab in Zarivar Town. Oh so it is Professor Oak. The man really gets around a lot, doesn't he? Before she goes to engage in battle, she tells me she loves me and to be safe. Oak reveals Aria is my mom, and is one of the best trainers in the entire Aroma region. He asks me to follow him, and I do so. And here, we see that this fangame stays true to classic Pokémon formula in another aspect.
There are three starter Pokémon to choose from, in the standard Grass-Fire-Water trio. However, what's unusual is the game's choices in starter Pokémon. The starters in this game are Bellsprout, Horsea, and Magby. Now, I'm not sure about how rare Magby is in , but I do know that Bellsprout and Horsea are pretty common Pokémon in Kanto. It's kind of interesting that here, they're rare enough to be starters.
I decided to go with Magby. Fire starters are ones I rarely collect right off the bat (I always try to get all three, but I rarely start with the Fire ones), so I thought it would be nice to shake things up a bit. After I pick my Magby, which I named Vulcan, Oak tells me to meet him in Zarivar Town. Just continue through the cave. Hey jerkoff, my mom told you to take me there! You just going to leave me here?!
Ah, well. At least I got Vulcan backing me up, right buddy?
Thanks. Thanks a lot. Well, to be fair, we did just meet. I'm sure our bond will grow over time. I went on my way, and wanted to explore this cave a little bit. I ended up encountering a man named Jeremy, who interns at Oak's lab. He gives me some Pokéballs, and goes through the basics of playing the game. We also end up having a battle. It was an easy battle, his Level 5 Snubbull against Vulcan, who is at level 7. He invites me to meet him in the Lab when I get to Zarivar Town. The town is named after Zarivar Lake. Yeah, towns in Pokémon games tend to have a theme to their naming. Here in Vesryn, it's lakes.
I decided to explore the cave a bit. There's not a lot of people here. There's Jeremy, a young girl with a shiny Mudkip, and an old man that gives me a Potion. There's also an item here.
It's a pair of Running Shoes! These will come in handy. Once I leave the cave, I'm right in Zarivar Town. It's a small little town, with a couple houses, a Poké Mart, a Pokémon Center, and Professor Oak's lab. I imagine he has labs all over the Pokémon world at this point. There's also a small school with a couple unruly students (At least, according to the teacher) and a lonely child prodigy. The Pokémon Center has an actual police officer in there. He's taking a coffee and donut break after fighting Team Olympus.
With my exploring done, I went to the Lab. Professor Oak plans to meet up with my mother later. She's out getting some allies to take on Team Olympus. He has a favor to ask of me. One of the students in the school is starting an internship with the Professor. I've been given a simple fetch quest: Go get him.
I talked to the man in the lab...and he gave me a Horsea! Hey, got two of the starters already! Awesome! I named her Tula.
Time to go on the fetch quest! It should be simple, right? Don't even have to leave town. I arrive at the school, and the kid, named Jake, gets belligerent. He drops the act right quick when I tell him Oak wants to see him. He gets all fanboy, and even remarks he wants to meet Aria, my character's mother...who is also the Champion of the region. Neat. That's going to make the final battle...awkward.
Jake announces that he's going to be my rival. Because he has "swag". Yeah, that's hilarious. If he's got so much "swag", why am I already ahead of him on Pokémon? I got two already! And they're both starter Pokémon! Who's got the "swag" now, Jakey-boy?! He meets me at the Lab...seriously, how did he get there so fast? Oak lets him choose a Pokémon, and he picks a Horsea. Makes sense, picks the one that's strong against your choice. Joke's on him, I got a Horsea, too. And I KNOW I can also get a Bellsprout in this game. Heh. Jake got no "swag".
After this, Oak gives me a Pokédex. He tells me to go to Superior Town next. It's got a Gym, but there's also Team Olympus lurking around. Because in the Pokémon world, only kids can save the world. Adults are rather useless here. One thing, though. Oak tells me that his intern in the lab, the man who gave me a Horsea, should have given me some Pokéballs. This confused me, as there was no indication he gave me any. I checked my inventory, and there were five Pokéballs there. That's good of him, but he should have said so. Okay, then! I'm ready to go! Got a Gym to conquer, and some Team Olympus butts to kick!
I went down south to Route 301. I immediately ended up battling a trainer armed with a Wurmple and Pidgey. Vulcan easily took care of Wurmple. His Pidgey defeated Tula, but she was able to weaken it enough for Vulcan to finish off. Poor Tula. I'll train her up a bit. Route 301 is a good place to do so, as well as add some Pokémon to my team. I do want to take the opportunity to go on a bit of a rant here.
Basically, I hate Wurmple. Why do I hate Wurmple? Well, Wurmple is one of those Pokémon that has two possible evolved forms: Cascoon and Silcoon. It can evolve into either of those forms if it reaches level 7. How is it determined which of them the Wurmple you have evolves into? Personality values. But basically, it's random. Yeah. If you want both, you may have to catch a lot of Wurmple, and that can be annoying.
During the grinding process, I discovered something. There are wild double battles here!
That's pretty neat! I know they're in the "official" games, but it's cool to see that fan games can pull the feature off, too. Time to travel through Nagarex Forest. I wonder how it got that name?
There's more Pokémon to catch here, mainly Grass and Bug types. I'll have to go through it later to get every Pokémon. Traveling through the Forest, I found a berry patch, with some blossoming berries in it.
In case you're wondering, the left tree has Oran Berries, and the right tree has Pecha Berries. I do hope I get some Berry Pots in this game. Those were very useful in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Further on in the Forest, I found this Hypno wandering around.
What's it doing there? I approached it carefully, and it turns out it's very sad. It seems...lonely. Like it was looking for someone. Near the Hypno, I found this...treehouse thing?
It turns out to be a shrine. Probably to a Legendary Pokémon of some sort. The exit of the forest is right nearby, and it leads to the first major city in the game: Superior City. Named after Lake Superior, of course. Right near the entrance is an item.
It's a Dusk Ball! It's a special Poké Ball that is more effective at catching Pokémon at night. That could come in handy when hunting for nocturnal Pokémon. And with that, I think we'll stop here for now. So far, I have to admit, this game already feels a lot more polished than Mega Adventure did. It feels more like a real Pokémon game. I encountered practically no glitching like I did with Mega Adventure. There was also a great variety of Pokémon here to get. I already got over ten Pokémon in my Pokédex, and I still haven't got all the Pokémon in Nagarex yet.
I do like that the story does appear be to be trying to do something a bit different than the official games are, what with the bad guys having destroyed a town already. Gives the game a bit more maturity. If you want to play it yourself, the game has a wiki with links to download it. No emulator needed. Just download and play! So far, I recommend it!
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!
Pokémon Obtained:
(Zarivar Town)
- Horsea
(Route 301)
- Wurmple
- Caterpie
- Rattata
- Starly
- Pidgey (I named her Katie, after Katie Holt, Voltron: Legendary Defender's version of Pidge Gunderson)
- Cascoon (evolved from Wurmple)
- Metapod (evolved from Caterpie)
(Nagarex Forest)
- Petilil
- Hoothoot
- Paras
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