Review time!
First, the deck that I used to beat e4 the first time:
Really loving the format. There's a lot going on here so I'll make a list to explain what's amazing about this card pool and this game and separate this review in 3 points: The Good (what I love), The Bad (some design choices that I don't like personally), and The Ugly (bugs report, lol).
THE GOOD
1-Multiple pokemon attacks. All Pokemon have 2 attacks or a pokemon power and an attack. That makes the card really hard to evaluate in a vacuum and it is much more complex to determine how and in what strategy use every pokemon card.
2-A lot of pokemon powers. The same pokemon power now appears in different species and even in different types! Deck construction gets a lot more interesting with all the old effects that we know and love but in different contexts! (want to rain dance in Fire? what could happen if we stick Healing Wind in a basic pokemon to stall?)
3-Dual typed energy requirements. A lot more pokemon have energy requirements of 2 different types in theirs attacks and even attacks that cost 2 different types at the same! Deck construction would be more streamlined for them but the incentive to explore more types in the same deck makes much more challenging to calculate energy amounts and proportions
4-New weaknesses and resistances. Some fire pokemons will be weak to fighting instead of water. Now we have some water and grass resistances. The mix and match of weaknesses and resistances would require more different attackers and support pokemons in the same deck and that will make the game more slow but take the spotlight from the trainers card that always dominated the original format.
In conclusion, this game is much more complex and slow than the original Base-Fossile TCG Format and I love that direction. I really want to continue exploring the game with new decks and strategies.
THE BAD
1-Balance issues. With all that complexity, it is sure that some cards are clearly more powerful than others because it is much more complicated to balance out the game. I can say that Greninja is probably the best starter (as was Blastoise in the original format anyways) but I won't do a full balance feedback until I continue researching the possible strategies.
2-Fake options. Again, with all that complexity it seems that we have A TON of choices, but sometimes one of both attacks is a distraction and the card is not really as good as we think at first sight. Sometimes even both attacks are not worth the effort. Hard to spot without testing a lot.
3-The format is slow. This wouldn't be an issue in paper pokemon TCG but with how slow can be the gameplay in the GBC game that could be an issue for somebody (not for me, I love slow strategy games). Luckily, we have frame skip for the more anxious.
4-I think Lugia could drag some games forever. Between Aeroblast, scoop up, Healing Wind we can stall until somebody gets decked out or we just attack for letal with another attacker. Maybe Healing Wind in a basic is not a good idea, or we can give him a weakness or less HP to stop the exploit.
THE UGLY
1. Tyranitar didn't attacked me in two opportunities with Crunch while having FF (crunch cost FC). Maybe it was because I had a pokemon with fighting resistance but I didn't tracked that when I took this note. Sorry ^^.
2. Many display errors in attacks. I don't think they are problematic and I don't care about that fix but this is what I noticed:
* Tailow's Peek displayed as Agility when attacking
* Jolteon's Quick Attack displayed as Energy Boost when attacking
* Zigzagoon team assist displayed as Quick Attack when attacking.
3. Steenee's First Aid overflowed once (showed her HP as 120 with full damage). She died in 2 attacks so I guess that display was broken but HP's data is not. I don't remember if this happened when she used First Aid with 20 damage or 10 damage. I don't know how to reproduce or if this could happen with other's First Aid users (e.g. Goomy)
4. Malamar's Flail is listed as a 10+ attack but it deals 10 damage times the amount of damage counters on it and not that amount +10. I dunno if this is just a display error or if it works as intended.
5. Zweilous resists his own take down recoil damage (dunno if it is intended).
I hope you can tell us how do you added the Bill's effect to a pokemon attack (Dunsparce) because I'm really curious about! =)
To end this review: Congrats a lot for such a good hack rom. Now I'll get back to playing because I'm really excited to try new strategies and decks =)
