[Completed] The First Journey & Red's Journey West v.10

[Inner Rhymes]

I'm only a couple of hours in and I'm absolutely loving it. I don't know if y'all are aware, but way back, there's was a fangame called generation 0 which revolved around this very concept. Definitely felt nostalgic despite having its own style. Can't wait to progress more. Thank you so much!

 

[AenaonDusky]

I'm only a couple of hours in and I'm absolutely loving it. I don't know if y'all are aware, but wayy back, there's was a fangame called generation 0 which revolved aroind this very concept. Definitely felt nostalgic despite having its own style. Can't wait to progress more. Thank you so much!

Thank you for playing! Actually this too was called "generation 0" at first, although we had no idea a game with both the same title, and kinda the same concept, already existed! We changed the title like asap once we learned that, haha. While the concept of the first "official" trainer journey is obviously the focus here, this game's themes fall under a bigger umbrella - that of the main game, to which this serves as a prequel.
Anyways, if you liked the beginning you're definitely going to like the rest of the game, especially the later parts. May I ask you to leave a review when you're done?

Have fun!

 

[Inner Rhymes]

Hi, so I came across an oddity. I purchased a clefable with magic guard, however, poison affects it in the overworld as well I'm battle. It also doesn't learn any fairy type moves at all. Next up, meowths pick up ability doesn't seem to work at all.

 

[AenaonDusky]

Hi, so I came across an oddity. I purchased a clefable with magic guard, however, poison affects it in the overworld as well I'm battle. It also doesn't learn any fairy type moves at all. Next up, meowths pick up ability doesn't seem to work at all.

Oh, that's a bug yeah, will look into it, thanks! Also Clefable doesn't really learn any moves by leveling up (only lvl 1 moves). I assume you fell for the vendor's "offer". As far as Pickup is concerned, yes, this is intended since there were no man-made items at the time, and there are other people who would have picked up berries and the such before you, as a player, could. Mainly the vendors and other tamers.

 

[Inner Rhymes]

Oh, that's a bug yeah, will look into it, thanks! Also Clefable doesn't really learn any moves by leveling up (only lvl 1 moves). I assume you fell for the vendor's "offer". As far as Pickup is concerned, yes, this is intended since there were no man-made items at the time, and there are other people who would have picked up berries and the such before you, as a player, could. Mainly the vendors and other tamers.

Aw man! That sucks, ahaha, I really like Clefable so I thought I'd take a chance. I do have a small doubt on how to progress, but i will put a spoiler as to not sopil the game for others:

Spoiler:

I have reached the part where Silph Co has been fully built, and I am hunting down 4 gym leaders. So far I have found Koga and the girl outside Celadon city. Where are the other two located again? Thank you

 

[AenaonDusky]

Aw man! That sucks, ahaha, I really like Clefable so I thought I'd take a chance. I do have a small doubt on how to progress, but i will put a spoiler as to not sopil the game for others:

Spoiler:

I have reached the part where Silph Co has been fully built, and I am hunting down 4 gym leaders. So far I have found Koga and the girl outside Celadon city. Where are the other two located again? Thank you

Yup, you got scammed xD

So,

Spoiler:

Route 10, on the southwestern part of the route, and Cinnabar Island, inside the volcano

You can always ask that lady in that building you mentioned, she tells you where you can find them too.

 

[Kasperly]

Game was enjoyable, good job

 

[Inner Rhymes]

Just finished up my playthrough and thought I'd drop a couple of my thoughts, or a mini review. First off, I absolutely love how the dialogue/text was written, truly felt very immersive and gave it a 'high quality' feeling as well as a mature tone. The graphics as well as the slightly modified HGSS music is absolutely sick, as they did feel nostalgic, but fresh at the same time. I think the hallmark of a good fangame is when you actually feel a range for the characters despite having not been in their shoes.

If I had to be very honest about what I didn't enjoy, well, it was the certain scenarios which hinted at what's to come in your next game, as 'The first adventure' is a prequel. It did feel a little too jarring for my personal liking, and while I know you weren't pandering towards nostalgia, one can't help but find Kanto to be very nostalgic. I also wish we had some emphasis on Agatha and how she switched up towards being a ghost trainer.

That aside, I did thoroughly enjoy myself playing this fangame. I love how you took what was once a mere intial concept by gamefreak and built it into one helluva game with a healthy amount of difficulty. Never have I been more careful with spending money in any Pokémon game till now. Heck, I even lost on purpose at times because healing cost way too much, hahaha.

Good luck with what's to come!

 

[AenaonDusky]

Just finished up my playthrough and thought I'd drop a couple of my thoughts, or a mini review. First off, I absolutely love how the dialogue/text was written, truly felt very immersive and gave it a 'high quality' feeling as well as a mature tone. The graphics as well as the slightly modified HGSS music is absolutely sick, as they did feel nostalgic, but fresh at the same time. I think the hallmark of a good fangame is when you actually feel a range for the characters despite having not been in their shoes.

If I had to be very honest about what I didn't enjoy, well, it was the certain scenarios which hinted at what's to come in your next game, as 'The first adventure' is a prequel. It did feel a little too jarring for my personal liking, and while I know you weren't pandering towards nostalgia, one can't help but find Kanto to be very nostalgic. I also wish we had some emphasis on Agatha and how she switched up towards being a ghost trainer.

That aside, I did thoroughly enjoy myself playing this fangame. I love how you took what was once a mere intial concept by gamefreak and built it into one helluva game with a healthy amount of difficulty. Never have I been more careful with spending money in any Pokémon game till now. Heck, I even lost on purpose at times because healing cost way too much, hahaha.

Good luck with what's to come!

Thanks a lot for your review, we really appreciate it!
Nostalgic but fresh was what we were aiming for, and it was very difficult to maintain that balance. Also I can't express how happy I am that you could empathize with the characters, it's a big aim of the series and I'm glad we were able to maintain it with this entry too.

This game might be a prequel to the main game, but the main game has been out for 3 years already! (Though not yet finished, it's on episode 3 right now). It plays very differently to this one, so you if you decide to play it, you should tackle it as if it were a very.... peculiar JRPG instead of a traditional mon game (because it is), in absolute contrast to this one. It's understandable that the overarching narrative wouldn't make any sense right now.

Hmm, fleshing out Agatha's character further, as it pertains to future events, might be a bit difficult, but I understand what you mean. Do you have any ideas, perhaps? It is implied that

Spoiler:

she ended up with ghost-type mons because of how Sam acted towards her, especially during the credit scenes. That was the icing on the cake...

Also glad the economics of the game was actually important, we thought it might have been way too trivial. The main game is even more...well....um....strange with that stuff.

Again, thank you so much for your review, thanks a lot for the feedback and feel free to drop any further ideas you might have! If you want, try out the main game. It's a bit... strange. But everything that happened in TFJ will make much more sense if you do.

 

[AenaonDusky]

Game updated to 2.3, thanks to all who've contributed.

Changelog:

Spoiler:

- Reduced healing cost to 500 from 1000 for most healers
- Added an apricorn vendor to Pewter
- Added a couple easter eggs
- Fixed some tile bugs
- Slightly reduced berry prices
- Fixed a small graphical error in Saffron

 

[mikethepokemaster2012]

great game only thing i dont agree with is the timeline instead of the 1940s the early 50s or 60s sounds better.

 

[AenaonDusky]

great game only thing i dont agree with is the timeline instead of the 1940s the early 50s or 60s sounds better.

Thank you!
Ah, we settled for late 40ies for these reasons: proximity to "that" corresponding event (I assume you have finished the game), and because Sam seems to be older than 50 in the games. Perhaps around 60. But yeah, 50ies could work too.

 

[mikethepokemaster2012]

Thank you!
Ah, we settled for late 40ies for these reasons: proximity to "that" corresponding event (I assume you have finished the game), and because Sam seems to be older than 50 in the games. Perhaps around 60. But yeah, 50ies could work too.

Not yet been working. I understand you. I say 50s because rowan is 70 I think. He said he been with pokemon for 60 years.

 

[AenaonDusky]

Not yet been working. I understand you. I say 50s because rowan is 70 I think. He said he been with pokemon for 60 years.

Rowan? Or do you mean Oak? Do you remember where in the games this is mentioned? Thank you!

2.4 is out, changelog:

Spoiler:

1. Fixed font-related bug
2. Minor tile fixes

Please report if the font bug (e.g. startup asking for fonts loop) still persists for you on 2.4!

 

[mikethepokemaster2012]

Rowan? Or do you mean Oak? Do you remember where in the games this is mentioned? Thank you!

2.4 is out, changelog:

Spoiler:

1. Fixed font-related bug
2. Minor tile fixes

Please report if the font bug (e.g. startup asking for fonts loop) still persists for you on 2.4!

Rowan. Rowan said he been with pokemon for 60 years, to either Dawn or Lucas after giving them their dex.

 

[AenaonDusky]

Rowan. Rowan said he been with pokemon for 60 years, to either Dawn or Lucas after giving them their dex.

Ooh, derp, we didn't take this into account, only that Rowan was Oak's superior (so should have been older as well). Though as I said, there was a reason we chose that particular decade. You'll figure it out when once you're done with the game. Retcon for the win! 😅

 

[AenaonDusky]

Big fan of all your work so far! I finished playing your Post Scriptum games and now I've started this one and it's great so far! One question though, I seem to be having a glitch where I can't properly scroll through any menu. It automatically scrolls up. Anyone else having a similar issue?

Thanks again for all your efforts and great games!

Thank you, we're glad you like it!
Can you send me your savefile so I can take a look? (you can find it under "C:\Users\YourUsername\Saved Games\PS_The First Journey". Either DM it on discord or upload it somewhere and send me the link) It's never been reported before.
Thanks again.

 

[Misfit0216]

Great game so far! I love the higher difficulty level of having to maintain your team without the resources we're all used to. The story and characters feel well-written. There's plenty of nice team options and the graphics look polished and up-to-date, it's cool to see how the towns and cities are designed pre-canon. I'm super curious what the lore on the legendaries will be once I get that far. It's the type of game that really leaves you hungry for the next piece of lore!

My only complaint is the crashing. Every 5-10 minutes, my game freezes and then crashes. I'm not even able to make the route back from Cinnabar to the mainland without crashing several times, and saving only seems to guarantee a crash will happen in the next minute. I don't see anyone else really commenting on this part, so maybe I downloaded the wrong release link or something? Let me know if there's something I can do to make the game less crash-prone because I'm quite attached to the story. (:

 

[AenaonDusky]

Great game so far! I love the higher difficulty level of having to maintain your team without the resources we're all used to. The story and characters feel well-written. There's plenty of nice team options and the graphics look polished and up-to-date, it's cool to see how the towns and cities are designed pre-canon. I'm super curious what the lore on the legendaries will be once I get that far. It's the type of game that really leaves you hungry for the next piece of lore!

My only complaint is the crashing. Every 5-10 minutes, my game freezes and then crashes. I'm not even able to make the route back from Cinnabar to the mainland without crashing several times, and saving only seems to guarantee a crash will happen in the next minute. I don't see anyone else really commenting on this part, so maybe I downloaded the wrong release link or something? Let me know if there's something I can do to make the game less crash-prone because I'm quite attached to the story. (:

Thanks a lot for the feedback! Glad you like it!

Nobody has reported frequent crashing. There's been some reports of rare crashing, but nothing remotely close to your experience. May I ask for system specifications, or platform? Is there any error log? Is there any trend or pattern to the crashing?

 

[Misfit0216]

Thanks a lot for the feedback! Glad you like it!

Nobody has reported frequent crashing. There's been some reports of rare crashing, but nothing remotely close to your experience. May I ask for system specifications, or platform? Is there any error log? Is there any trend or pattern to the crashing?

Oh thanks for the reply!

My PC has Intel Core 17-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz / 16 Gb Ram / & Invidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super
I'm on up-to-date Windows 10, just did a virus scan too

Actually, while I put together this comment, I'm doing my own testing.

I'm running the game at fast-forward pretty much 99% of the time. (I feel like the default speed is kind of slow..? Maybe just me?) But, I was able to complete a long route with no crashing on default speed. I think it may be the unique way that the game is sped-up.. It's a cool feature to have - not to accidentally overlook story parts - but it seems to really mess with the game's run stability on fast-forward. Especially, when saving on fast-forward. (The game always saves luckily! But does crash right after.) And there's no error text, the game only freezes what it's doing, I'll click the screen, and then it does the standard "not responding" screen.

I'd maybe consider adding an alternative fast-forward method if that's even possible at this point, or take out the "no-fast-forwarding-on-cutscenes" feature of it? I'm not even gonna pretend to understand the nuisances of coding these games, just throwing out ideas, since I've never had problems fast-forwarding games before. But I'll try later on a laptop and see if I run into the same issue. ^^' I'm willing to test if you do make any changes. I only say these criticisms because I care a lot about this game! ;v;