One thing I liked the most was the inclusion of other team-members. I felt more connected to these characters as we were all on the same team and they all had great chemistry. My favourite was Emolga, he was so funny and the way he always wanted to help besides being a little hot-headed always made me smile.
I think it’s a testament to the amazing quality of the Pokémon mystery dungeon series when people call this the worst one and it’s still so great. Amazing video btw I’ve always felt this game was quite underrated
Honestly I don’t even care if the Gameplay was bad in this game. It was still extremely fun and I have a crap-ton of memories from it. Aside from that, the Story and the Music were beyond compare.
You forgot to mention that you’re not the only human that got to the Pokémon world and at one point you see lights going up. That’s Kyurem killing the transformed humans and sending them back to the human world.
I recently finished replaying Gates recently, and the story and characters still resonate with me just as much as when I was younger. It's story honestly packs the most emotional punch out of the entire series in my eyes, it's just incredible. I really enjoyed this vid, it's a nice in-depth analysis and it definitely showed why I hold the story in such high regard. I'm glad to see there's other people that liked Gates as much as I do! Also, Emolga is best boy.
I just finished Gates to Infinity myself after watching this video and heading out to buy it lol. After playing though, I can't agree more with your comment! I am utterly shocked this game doesn't seem to have the same following as the others. Such a pleasant experience. Emolga is the best!
you forgot to mention another twist on the original story formula: in this story, you're not the only human to go to the pokemon world. you're one of many, but you're the one who makes it the furthest. also, when you return to the human world, you actually stay away for a while, unlike resque team and explorers (even if explorers has a small time skip). they go so in depth about the "human coming to the pokemon world" part and it gives a lot of crucial story points sense. you also never had to wait long for story progression, unlike explorers or super mystery dungeon.
The story was the thing that make up most of the issues with pmds Gameplay mechanics. Not gonna lie I didn't expect an ending like that in Gates. 'Hey *player*. Please have a good life.' not in a million years I'll ever expect a true emotional 4th wall break in the Pokemon series would say that period.
My hot take is that the writing in Gates to Infinity is the best of the series. Yes, the gameplay leaves something to be desired compared to the other games. But when it comes to comedy, subtlety and emotion, this game always hits the hardest for me. Rescue Team is infectiously charming and simple in the best ways, but it's not very emotionally driven. Controversially, I think Explorers has the least good writing; it has its moments (the goodbye-scene is pretty tear-jerking), but a lot of the writing is repetitive, very lacking in subtlety and (bluntly) kind of annoying at times. Super is pretty alright in its writing, though a bit oddly paced. Gates to Infinity shines through as one of the most emotional gaming experiences I have had. If you can get over the less-than-perfect gameplay and the slightly slower pacing, it is a masterpiece. I tend to bawl my eyes out during the ending. (You know...these games are frickin dark, man. In Gates, there's a scene where the side characters literally contemplate how the end of the world will feel: whether it's going to blink out of existence or slowly and painfully crumble away around them. Sure, they don't use the word "death", but it's still intense.)
Agreed, as someone who played through each of the games consecutively not long ago, and with no prior knowledge, I can say that: Rescue Team is really charming, nice in its simplicity while still being creative. The downside is that it doesn't do much in terms of writing Explorers was definitely the second best for me, the writing isn't as good as people give it credit for (though it isn't bad at all), but the gameplay and sheer amount of content makes up for it Gates is easily the best in terms of writing, made me laugh the most, almost made me cry, and kept me engaged the entire game. It also looks really good for the console it released on And Super is the weakest, poor pacing, mediocre writing, and it somehow does too much and too little at the same time. Enjoyable, but disappointing for the series
@@QuokkaWaka I agree with most of what you say. However, I have really enjoyed Super ever since it came out. It has admittedly gotten worse for me in consecutive playthroughs, but still a very solid final entry (at least so far). I think the reason for the bad pacing is that the story is made to be a sort of amalgamation of all three games prior: The time spent in Serene village has more focus on a laid back and charming, episodic story format, where conflict is more innocent and easily resolved, and the hero and partner are doing rescue work independently. The bit about sneaking out and running away is also a more low-stakes throwback to becoming fugitives in Rescue Team. Also there's a younger kid who admires you. The middle section is about joining an organisation of silly explorers with a silly leader where the structure of the days and the slow unfurling of the plot is very similar to Explorers, including a special expedition to an unexplored place. Near the end of this act, a character who has so far acted as a friend and mentor reveals himself to be a villain, and banishes the heroes to a hellish otherworld without hope, from which they have to escape. The pacing is suddenly a lot less episodic, to mirror Explorers. The third act is the most obvious retread. The plot is now singularily focused, with a single goal that steadily goes on through the section. You and your partner have to travel to a very exotic, even sacred, place in order to stop a non-Pokémon entity made up of cumulated negative emotions from destroying the world with its sheer negativity. This entity has several pawns who want to see the world go, the most formidable of these being a major legendary Pokémon from the game's generation. Another of the pawns has been revealed earlier in the story to be a twist villain. In the final battle it seems like all is lost, but with the help of sheer determination and the cheers of their friends and partner, the hero manages to break the entity down, piece by piece. A reunion and party ensues. After one of the two heroes has to disappear from the Pokémon world, the post-game includes a quest to get them back. It's definitely all over the place, but I have to somewhat admire what they were going for in creating a final entry that would satisfy fans of all the previous three games. It's a fan-service game for sure, but not a bad one. The gameplay is at its best in this one, and I really like the partner character and how fleshed out they were. My biggest pet peeve with the game is that it is the only entry in which the main character never speaks a single line of dialogue out loud, which I find bizarre.
i don't think i can agree with explorers have worse writing than gates, many story beats from the previous games are repeated and unlike in explorers the twists are much more obvious because they have just been done before and the payoff isn't much worth it. yes this game does have some great writing moments such as the one you gave as an example, it just sucks that such a topic was already done in special episode 5 in explorers of sky with characters with some of the series best characters(grovyle and dusknoir). and while i don't think the story is the reason most people dislike gates, it can be considered one part of a whole.
@@SoraIndigo I disagree completely. Explorers had some of the most obvious twists in the series, even in Rescue Team I was at least _unsure_ whether or not the player was the human from the stories, but Explorers only really has Dusknoir, who is such a painfully obvious villain that I honestly think the characters being so oblivious was done as a joke. While I'm not going to pretend Munna was the most surprising twist villain out there, it was kinda 50/50 for me whether or not she was a villain, which is a big improvement from Dusknoir. Not to mention that Gates has numerous well-written moments not present in previous Mystery Dungeon games, such as the partner's lack of a family and friends growing up, and the squad wondering if the world is even worth saving. Heck, it even did the typical Mystery Dungeon beats better in my opinion, with the goodbye scene being set-up way earlier in the game and actually throwing me for a loop in its execution. There's also the fact that the writing doesn't consist solely of the story, personally I found this game to be leagues funnier than the other 3, with every single character being made to be some of the most lovable in the series through little bits of extra dialogue and interactions (except Dunsparce, even as a diehard Gates fan I can admit he's like Bidoof if he was an E-tier character). Whether it be Emolga's sudden crush on Virizion and Espeon stalking them from the cliff, Dwebble's long and arduous journey of self-discovery, or even just the townsfolk sleep-talking about how much they hate the other townsfolk, every character (except Dunsparce) in this game is gold.
I just love that game so much, after Explorers, it's my second favorite PMD, only because of the main-story, the characters and the message. Gates helped me through a hard time of my life, when I felt exactly like Virizion and later like Munna, that's why I felt like I was really a part of the world in the game. But the way the story turned out, was a glimpse of hope for me to get the strength for changing my life for the better. ❤️
Quite honestly, people can say what they want, but I really love this game. It was my first and so far only mystery dungeon experience, but it’s made me want to explore the rest of the mystery dungeon series, and I have a mass amount of nostalgia whenever I go back to play it
I think there's two important elements you leave out when talking about these games: how they look and how they feel to play. After somewhat painfully getting through Rescue Team DX, I went back to Gates and was shocked that the dungeons are not only smoother and absent of the slowdowns and stutters DX very noticeably has, but are also more visually cohesive and polished. Yes, DX's hub world and cutscenes are amazing, but I often find the actual dungeons have clashing elements to the point of distraction. Maybe I'm biased since GTI was my childhood game, but I absolutely adore how this game looks, something enhanced even more with the amazing 3DS screen. Your reviews are focused on gameplay mechanics and story, which is totally fine and an important perspective, but I feel like the graphics, sound, gameplay feel, etc. should at least get some appreciation as well, if not consideration when rating the overall experience.
Love the video. I finished playing Gates a few months ago and was disappointed to see that most people talking about this game don't really go much into depth talking about the story beyond "it's about negativity", but I thought your point on negativity being a more easily spread feeling re: clickbait was pretty interesting and something I didn't consider during my playthough. Like the research for the rest as well!
I loved gates to infinity, its the game that introduced me to the whole Pokémon dungeon franchise and I couldn't have asked for a more incredible game then gates to infinity, it was fun, back then it was newer then many other Pokémon dungeon games for its 3d graphics, I loved the characters, the concept that you can just create your own community out of nothing and bring all different kinds of Pokémon into the community. It was just so incredible. The plot, the emotions, the gameplay (even if it wasn't the best compared to other works) and even the score and theming of it all, I loved every minute of it and was absolutely shocked how everyone thought it was the supposed *Bad one* of the series, well if its the worse of the lot then Pokémon dungeons is better then I expected and I question why critics complain???
I played and completed all the games, some of them more than once, and I think that the reason why people dislike GTI is because they think that EOS is the best and there will never be a game as good as that. I appreciate that you talk about this game because I think it's really good and underrated!!
Gates to Infinity was the first pmd game I got. So I admit, there may be a bit of nostalgic bias on my part. But I can never help but feel the emotions every time I pick up this game. No matter how many times I play it, it still hits hard. The story was exciting and definitely an emotional roller coaster. The characters are all (in my opinion) memorable because they all got their own arcs and each contributed enough to the story. One of my biggest complaints about Super Mystery Dungeon is aside from a select few, most of the characters aren't really memorable or do anything special. Oh and soundtrack for Gates? God tier. I doubt even the biggest Gates to Infinity haters have anything against the soundtrack. The boss themes were imo some of the best pmd boss themes to come out (both regular boss battles and legendary boss fights in particular). The happy or hopeful moments had fitting music the makes the player actually *feel* something. The scary/bad moments were accompanied by surprisingly dreadful music for a kids game. And even a lot of the dungeon themes had catchy music. While I am aware and agree with many arguments about its blatant flaws (lack of post main story content, very limited pokemon roster, overpowered items etc) I don't think Gates is nearly as bad as many people make it out to be.
If a new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game that isn’t a remake comes out, they need to bring back Axew as a starter. Really, they also need to bring back Vulpix, Psyduck, Shinx, Cubone, Phanpy, Machop, Riolu, Meowth, Eevee, Skitty and Munchlax as starters as well.
@@angelodegiule1753 Now I honestly think that not having starters from the previous games and just focusing on the Gen 1 to 6 starters and Pikachu and Riolu was dumb, but I think I have a good idea of why Eevee wasn’t a starter in Super: the Harmony Scarves. At certain points in Super’s main story, the Harmony Scarves will activate and cause the player and their partner to evolve into their fully evolved forms. And Eevee is famously known for being able to evolve into 8 Eeveelutions. If Eevee was the player or the partner and the Harmony Scarves activated, what Eeveelution Eevee will evolve into would possibly be random, and this could basically screw you during certain bosses, like the fight against Entei. If the game chose to randomly evolve Eevee into either Flareon, Leafeon, Glaceon or Sylveon instead of Vaporeon, Eevee would have a disadvantage against Entei.
I played every single md game and in order, and while most of people tend to say "The first two pmds are way better than the 3ds ones", i say the opposite instead. While the first two actually have a good story, they don't teach us anything important (except "Don't give up" and other generic stuff). In Gates, they teach us about hope and about being positive, a thing that is happening already in the world. I LOVE this, and despite the lack of Pokemons (which i don't miss so much; seriously, in explorers of sky, we'll always use the same Pokemon, because they are the best, even if we cam choose between 493 Pokemons. Gates just offer a small number, but i mean, just pick Axew with Dual Chop and that's an easy win) and the gameplay, i have to say that Gates is my favourite Mystery Dungeon, along with Super, just because their stories actually teaches us something. (sorry for my bad english, i'm italian xD)
I think this is a great video and I'm happy to see Gates getting love, even years later. I think Gates had the best character writing in the entire series. It had some over simplified parts and way too easy gameplay, but it also added many great gameplay features, some of which it was a shame Super didn't keep. *That being said there's something very poetic about all this...* *Many* people, yourself included, skipped this game merely by negative reputation. The worst of which trashing it beyond what they even knew about it. Negativity spread more powerfully than positivity. The negative label put out by people was enough to not even try it. (Just look at the comments on this video for people saying exactly that.) "'They put the breaks on any positive thought you might have. Negativity gets so deep in your heart, and it's difficult to get it out again" -Virizion. And yet.. A spark of positivity from a few people that stands strong enough for someone to break the mold and try it for themselves. They changed the way people thought about things. A spreading positivity that, despite seemingly too weak to overcome the negativity, shows that there is something worth fighting for... So yeah, I do think Gates had flaws. Roster cut sucked, day 1 DLC is inherently bad, gameplay way too easy and not much in terms of post game. But it also had a lot that was *great*. The move ranking, the town building (and everything that came with it), the beautiful dungeons, the new-era music, V-Wave, Mysterosity, team skills (should have kept it), better QOL for recruits. *The most importantly, the thing we all care about in PMD: Story.* It had, in my opinion, the best written characters in the series. They had life to them. They had realistic outlooks and they actually changed over the story. The story was wildly dark with themes that are better appreciated when I was older. I firmly believe that the reputation of Gates is wildly blown out of proportion. The Dark Souls 2 of the PMD series. I absolutely encourage anyone who sees this one day to try it out yourself.
i wish this game had more content in it like having all 649 pokemon(at the time of gen 5) in it for example but i'll forgive the game since this was the first pokemon game on the 3ds
Gates was actually my first game in the series as a kid, and I find it interesting that so many Pokemon fans kinda decided to stop playing the newer entries around this time. It’s almost like people my age were part of a whole new generation of fans. Anyway, I absolutely adored this game when I was younger. I loved how you had a team of sorts that basically stuck by you for the entire game (Virizion, Dunsparce, Emolga, etc.), the town customization was just up my alley, and I adored the soundtrack. Probably one of the first games alongside Mario Galaxy where I realized how good video game music can really be. I still remember when I first beat this game and I cried for like five minutes straight
Thank you for making this video! I just finished replaying Gates to Infinity for the second time and fell in love with it even more than I did before! I really wish more people gave it a chance! It might not be the best in the series but it’s still a great game in its own way :)
GTI was my first Mystery Dungeon game, and was probably the one I played the most as a kid. Little 7 year old me had the time of his life playing through the story, interacting and meeting all the characters and reacting to the plot twists and the ending. I remember being shocked at the twist with Munna being evil and the 4th Wall break in the post-game where Hydreigon looks at the screen and asks if I want to come back. Unfortunately I lost my cartridge of the game and don't know where it is (I do have some ideas on where it might have ended up so hopefully I can find it), but I'll still always have the memories of my Oshawott and his partner Pikachu building their Paradise.
This may be a hot take, but I think this game has the best soundtrack in the series, as well as a better soundtrack than most of the main pokemon series games. The dungeon themes are a wonder to listen to!
That's not a particularly hot take if you ask me. I'm working on a video right now and I'm seriously contemplating using parts of the Gates soundtrack instead of the game I'm actually talking about
I played this game first and didnt realize, until you said it, that I could do multiple jobs in a single dungeon in the earlier games (which I'm playing now)! I waited for after the endgame to upgrade or do anything to paradise. (This is probably because I played this game when I was, like, 12, then set it down for 6 years because I couldnt get past glacier palace.) Because of this, though, I've found that the post-game has switched from a story to a material grind (which I'm okay with because I like grinding). Streetpass wasn't just a thing in Japan, I turn on streetpass in a Target or Walmart and I'd find lots of people! Atleast, back when the 3DS was the popular system~
Sorry, you talked about how this is a good game without even mentioning the phenomenal music soundtrack?!?! While The Explorers series has (subjectively) the most recognizable soundtrack of the Mystery Dungeon series (seriously, who hasn't cried while *Memories Returned* played), Gates has imo the best soundtrack of the entire series, and I'm so glad they brought some of that music into Dx, because more people needed to hear it.
Interesting, I never played Pokemon gti because I thought it was the "bad one" and wasn't worth the time. But after watching this video, the game really doesn't seems as bad as i thought! I always thought the story also sucked because of how the internet and reviews of the game reviewed the game. I might pick gti up and give it a shot! Thanks for this really interesting video! You can really see the effort that went into this video and it's kinda sad how this channel is so underrated, you earned a new sub!
I have Nothing to about the commentary on the game, other than it’s really helping me in my attempt to finally revisit this game and soak in the characters. Gurdurr’s story alone almost got me tearing up. Funny story though as you were asking about if people were suspicious of Sus-knoir.. I mean Dusknoir..my first time through Explorers of Time, I actually did buy into it, though that beach scene had me like “ok, what’s going on….” It was years ago, but I have a feeling that seeing the banker was a Duskull probably had me more accepting that he could’ve been actually a good guy.
Gates to Infinity was my first Mystery Dungeon game. Didn't like it at first, but then the game got way better halfway. Not bad in my opinion, I wonder what the other "good" ones are like.
As someone who recently became a fan of PMD through DX and wanted to check out Gates to Infinity because it its OST, I really liked this video and can see how nice the game's message is in spite of its flaws
damn, i remember playing gates when it first came out. It was my introduction to the mystery dungeon games and i LOVED it. I think my favourite aspects are the ost and the paradise. I loved filling in the blank spaces in the paradise and making it look all pretty.
Gates to infinity will always be the best game (At least in my opinion...) I was so into it I even beat the post game. RedAce, Axew and Pikachu from the Ace Legion are here to save the world!
There it is. My favorite game. It's been so long that I've forgotten what it was about. But that story analysis brought it all back. Thanks for this video.
There's one thing I will never forget in this game : how brutal the Munna fight is. It's simple : the fight is fair if you have the right starters (mainly Pikachu and/or Axew (as starter in his case) or not To me, it's one of the hardest fight in the entire Pokémon series, nothing comes close to it in Pokémon Mystery Dungeons series.
Honestly I really love this game. I love the characters and story so much. Heck I was actually tearing up at the rainbows of hope scene when I first played. Thanks so much for being so positive about this Game! ♥️
Hey, just wanted to say watching this video convinced me to give this game a try - and I really really loved it! I thought it was genuinely a really nice experience and I'm sad I waited this long to play. Thank you so much for your effort and time.
i watched a "md as vines" vid and mas really amused that the story can be summed up with "im sad" like lmaoo gates is probably my favorite ngl, so this was like getting hit by a
As a fan of Danganronpa (another series made by Chunsoft), the fact that this game is all about about hope conquering despair and it came out in japan the same year as the second Danganronpa game is ironically funny to me
I enjoyed gates, I also adore gen 5 (my favourite generation) so maybe the lack of other gen pokemon never really bothered me. Also just got to say, streetpass was huge here in the UK everyone used it before the switch came along.
I hope we get a remake of Gates to Infinity with more recruitable pokemon and starter choices, qol, and postgame events. We have the best story in the series and sadly we have a couple of weaker gameplay elements holding it back. All we need is these improvements and I think a Gates DX would be amazing
Talking about the missing of the hunger system got me thinking. Perhaps that i is just something to manage without nothing else to really assist it in a way like Genshin Impact and Zelda Breath of the wild where a cooking and easting system would not just be to fill the belly but to gain perks and boosts. The stuff can be as simple as speed boost, hp recover increase, and defense but also to bigger dishes giving multiple boost, last longer, or gaining ability temporary like going through walls, walk over lava and water. Or heck maybe rick vs rewards dishes like belly goes to 0 but gain a large boost to damage so long it remains that way. If they make it so you can only eat when actually hungry it could change it from 'ugh, time to get another apple' to, 'I wonder what dish I should eat next to get another boost for the dungeon'. Oh and dishes and ingredients should have their own bag or lunch box that should grow along side your inventory bag
Dang you poured a lot of effort into this video. I just subbed and liked. You really deserve more recognition because this is very well done. One of these videos will blow up one day stay motivated.
This video was pretty great, IMO. It went pretty in-depth about this game! I finished playing this game pretty recently, like... during November of last year, haha. Honestly, I really like the story still, especially since honestly, I think the message of holding on to hope can still apply to today, especially with the negativity that surrounds us. I think this game probably made me cry more than the rest of the games, at least, nowadays. When I first played the game, I actually spoiled myself by watching the Japanese version of it before it even came to the U.S. It wasn't really the best idea, TBH, since it made me know at least some of the story beats, mainly the one about Munna being bad while Hydreigon was good. I was just that obsessed, to the point where I wanted to spoil the games for myself. I mean, back when I first played the Explorers games, I ended up knowing about Dusknoir being the bad guy before I even got to the part of the game where it was revealed because I sat there and watched an old video on the anime! ..If I remember correctly. All I know is that I spoiled most of the games for myself until Super Mystery Dungeon, which I decided to go mostly blind into. Mostly, because there were some things like the soundtrack, the beginning of the game, (*Spoiler alert, I'm just gonna put this way below in-case:*) and the partner leaving (but it still shocked me since I didn't know the reason why, plus, I knew about it by accident since I was looking for the Dark Matter OST one day, IIRC.) that I already knew about. Due to me going in blind, though, I think PSMD had more of an impact. What's weird is that after PSMD, I started getting a bit more emotional at emotional moments during the rest of the games. Before playing it I didn't really feel much emotion while playing the others, but I guess PSMD made me appreciate the story, characters, and the games more. I guess it also caused me to be able to get attached to the characters in the games at that point. PSMD ended up personally being my favorite PMD game since of how attached to the characters I got in that game. Anyways, enough of my rambling, haha!
GTI was the game that got me into the mystery dungeon franchise. While this game is absolutely not perfect, I’m so glad it made me a life long mystery dungeon fan.
I’m very glad I found your channel. Your videos are very cozy. I loved this game. It was one of the last games I bought without looking at other people’s opinions, and absolutely loved how much more simple it was, the colorful and wonderful 3D models, the message/emotions of the story, etc Subscribed!
Finished playing Gates today. The only problem this game has, compared to what was done before AND afterwards, is the gameplay. It has the superior graphics of Super but a gameplay as clunky as the one from Explorers, the Pokémon selection is much smaller than both, the text speed is really slow, you can only do one request at a time, which makes building Paradise (one of the main features) really slow, the recruitment system is random, and the game is quite short, even if you consider fully completing it. Perhaps the only thing that Gates has that I wish was kept is that you don't need to go to a specific location to evolve - just enter any dungeon and level up. The visuals (which I had already stated) and the story are up to par with the series. My only complaint is that the whole "society is becoming horrible and everyone hates each other" part is a liiiiittle too relatable for 2021. I wish it weren't. I think that, if Gates were remade a la Rescue Team DX, but with an expanded selection and its gameplay flaws ironed out, it would be a tough cookie in the discussion on which game is the best in the series (currently fought between Super and Explorers).
I enjoyed this game a lot. I don't understand why do those fanboys love hating on games all the time. Like if you don't like it don't be an asshole about it if someone likes it. Specifically speaking new Vegas fan boys when I say I like fallout 4 and is my favorite. They flip.
I know i don't have a fair vision about this game because this was the first game that i really played and got invested and i would say if i did not play this game would never love games as much as i do but i love everything about this game and the history in my eyes are the best in the series. I loved this video it's great to see more that the good parts in PMD: GTI are not just parts of my love English is not my native language so sorry for any mistake but i really wanted to comment on this video because of my love to this game and the video is also great ALSO I LOVE EMOLGA IN THIS GAME AND DUNSPARCE TOO
I feel like the secondary cast almost always import in Nintendo games because they almost always have silent protagonists, so the story needs to focus on developing them instead.
@@RetroAndChill Yes that is why i like this game so much i think the secondary cast is just great and memorable so it is way easier to remember they when you do not play the game anymore and still fell attached to them
Honestly this was my personal first mystery dungeon game (so at the time I didn’t know anything about the games before it about a year later so I played those right before Super mystery dungeon came out) and yeah I get there is flaws about it but honestly. I personally didn’t mind it cause I think there are some positives about the game. I think Hydreigon was quite funny and wholesome, I thought Swanna (although she didn’t do much in the main story) was very sweet (kinda wished she did more) and honestly although Munna wasn’t the most threatening villain in a mystery dungeon game as of now but she was an interesting baddie none the less (and wouldn’t be opposed if they did another baddie similar to her in the future) Plus, I think the story (even though flawed) actually was one of my favorites. Yeah sure I do believe Super Mystery Dungeon did a better job of doing a similar story to Gates to Infinity but honestly regardless still enjoyed the story! Do I think the game is perfect? Nah not at all. But I think it was still worthy of being a mystery dungeon game despite the faults.
Being Honest, Gates Story feels better told and developed than Super, cause in the fourth MD even though its cute and wholesome, its also really slow paced even thinking that ir felt like a regular anime with filler. It take too long to even go for the main conflict and meanwhile it feels like wandering around. While in Gates, even being also a little slow paced, you ahve the chance to meet a bounch of different characters with their own personalities, marks, and even archs and then the story doesnt seem to have filler when you go for the real adventure already knowing what you have earbed alongside your time there, your friends, wich makes more effective due you had the right amount of time with each one
FINALLY, someone NOT shitting on this game, it's my firtst PMD so I'm a little biased but still, it get so much unreasonable hate (like the 3d, I really like pixels, and pokémon in general would be better in 2D, but this game is clearly not ugly and it's full of life, I can't imagine some scenes in 2D), it has the best characters (except partner, that's for super) and cool concept such as the pokemon paradise. Thank you for this.
I agree with pretty much everything you said here. I recently finished a replay of Gates and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it as an adult (I had just turned 12 when it came out so I didn’t really know what a “good game” was back then). Gates is honestly really funny and charming. I also crack up every time Victini yells “V Wheel!” haha. Gates has all the aspects of a mystery dungeon game that I enjoy: compelling characters, a plot driven story, emotional moments, and amazing music(I love leitmotifs, so the music in the pmd series is like musical crack to me lol). Gates to Infinity is definitely my least favorite out of the series (not counting the Wii ware bc I’ve never played it), but that does not mean that I don’t like it. Even with all its issues, Gates is still a better game then some of the main series games. For example, I would play Gates over Sword & Shield any day. Every series has to have a “worst” game and Gates just happens to be that. The text speed is so slow it kills me and like everyone else, I hated that they removed the personality quiz. However, I can’t really blame Spike Chunsoft. It was a huge transition to move to 3D so I can imagine all the issues they must have had. For instance, they had most of the models for Super and Rescue Team DX, so they probably had more time to focus on other aspects of the game whereas they had to make them from scratch for Gates. While there are many changes I didn’t like, I’m glad they tried something new. I’ve been a die hard fan of the series for over 10 years and even though Gates isn’t the best, it’s better than nothing. I think Spike Chunsoft really learned from their mistakes and I like the direction they’re taking the series right now. Thanks for talking about the pros and cons of this game. You are very well spoken and I would love to hear your thoughts on the other games in the series. Cheers.
One thing I noticed when playing is the dungeon generation algorithm. On top of being reduced to the point of being visually repetitive, the floors were so massive with such long hallways that each dungeon felt like it dragged on for an eternity.
I've never played this Mystery Dungeon game only because I wasn't playing pokemon at that time. I had always been behind on the pokemon games. First playing red and blue way bak in diamond and pearl Era. And I had to play slowly through each gen because my games I got, were given to me as hand me downs from my older brother when he had moved on to the next gen and no longer cared for the past gen. Once he reach black and white 2, he stopped playing so I stopped playing from there. I actually love the mystery dungeon games, playing blue rescue team and explorers of darkness. But I never heard of this game. I was also in a town where you get made fun of for playing video games if you're in middle school unless ur playing COD. And I didn't have internet either. So I ended up missing den 6 and 7 till I finally got out of my family home and lived on my own. Got my own internet and then I played x and y, then sun and moon maybe a year before sword and shield. I played super mystery dungeon at that time too. But then now, I finally found out that there was this game as well. Damn. I will be trying to get my own copy. No matter what people say about the games, I always find that I always have a different opinion from what others say.
Man this was a fantastic video I personally love the story of this game. I have to wonder if the developers borrowed some of the ideas for the story from Danganronpa (it’s the same company but I don’t know if any the PMD developers worked on Danganronpa as well or some ideas crossed over since it’s the same studio) with its themes of hope & despair. Also the soundtrack is amazing and the ending just gets me every single time.
I haven't play the game myself. But I do know one thing. Just because it isn't perfect doesn't mean it had it's own charm to it. It may not be perfect, but hey, does it really need to be for it can be a good game?
Wow i just found out about your channel and i love this review so much because it's not just a simple bash at the "worst " Pmd game you got a new sub and keep up the good work ^^
Honestly, in my happy go lucky pokemon series, I'm still in shock the main villains in this game were a suicide cult and that Kyrum murdered a bunch of people. PMD is something else and I love it for that. And the Bittercold boss fight music might be my favorite in the series.
I remember that I was going to get this game because I heard it was an easy mystery dungeon game since I’ve never played one before… well the person put super mystery dungeon and I still can’t get past salamance
This is a good video. I'll admit I didn't enjoy GTI when it came out because frankly the gameplay wasn't as interesting due to lesser variety (despite the positive changes you mentioned which were good ideas) and the lack of postgame content, but I remember having a good time with the characters. I wish there was more postgame content and more Pokémon you could recruit/interact with, but c'est la vie. The Explorers series will always have a special place in my heart and the stories have been consistently great.
Clearly Sky is superior and always will be. But I will give this game a shot and judge it not solely off of this review. Well made video, and thanks for the summary. Hopefully some explorers content will be explored again
I keep going back and forth on it. I replayed Explorers of Sky about a month ago and I have notes it's just a matter of coming up with a script for it. Frankly, the two Mystery Dungeon videos have caused me to gain a fair number of subscribers, so that's probably a sign that I should at least cover the other two, and then move on to other Pokémon Spin-Offs after that.
Honestly, Munna may be one of my favorite villains in the Mystery Dungeon series. For one thing, she's basically the nihilistic second-in-command of an omnicide cult, which is not something you'd expect to see in a Pokémon game. For another thing, we never really learn what happened to her to give her such a twisted worldview. How did she become so hateful? And, all of this coming from a Munna, one of the cutest Pokémon in the Dex, makes her all the more unsettling, and even a little frightening.
Idk, I agree with lots of the points but I missed IQ and Gummis, and the whole move leveling meant that quick attack and ranged moves just got boosted to level 20 making all other moves pointless. The story was eh, the whole power of friendship theme felt kinda baby mode, and the team attack feature was overpowered. I don't think I ever felt challenged for survival when i playedlike in the last games.
It's really interesting how this video remains honest, but is also the fresh air of positivity about this game in a whole internet of videos that do nothing but bash the game in a negative light. How fittingly thematic for Gates to Infinity.
Well, they ended up rolling back infinite-use TMs in scarlet/violet, but made it very easy to get duplicates. I would have preferred the infinite use system, but given the open-world nature of S/V, I think they get a pass, at least for me.
Or TPC telling Spike Chunsoft. "Hey, we need a Mystery Dungeon for this gen. Can you do that for us?" The jump to the 3DS has generally been a little rough for the series, but it got better. I feel like Gen 7 was a step up from X&Y. The same goes for Super over Gates.
I still come back to this game. Every time the negativity in the game showed up, the title of the game would change for me: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Kill 'em With Kindness! I know it's cheesy, but that's how I see it. I feel like I have to show them not everything has to revolve around bullying. Either walk away, or find a way to make them see reason! I know no one should have to do that for any one person, but you never know how much someone would need that positivity.
bums me out when people act like the story is more dumbed down or simple compared to the other games - its different but 100% carries the same charm for me i think the main issues making this game so unpopular were 1. art style change, 2. dex cut, and 3. no personality quiz (a boon for some players but it was sorely missed from me at least)
One thing I liked the most was the inclusion of other team-members. I felt more connected to these characters as we were all on the same team and they all had great chemistry. My favourite was Emolga, he was so funny and the way he always wanted to help besides being a little hot-headed always made me smile.
I think it’s a testament to the amazing quality of the Pokémon mystery dungeon series when people call this the worst one and it’s still so great. Amazing video btw I’ve always felt this game was quite underrated
Honestly I don’t even care if the Gameplay was bad in this game. It was still extremely fun and I have a crap-ton of memories from it. Aside from that, the Story and the Music were beyond compare.
You forgot to mention that you’re not the only human that got to the Pokémon world and at one point you see lights going up. That’s Kyurem killing the transformed humans and sending them back to the human world.
I'm trying to find that scene and can't pls help
Did you make this up? I can't find this info?
Seriously, you literally have Kyurem explaining it after killing hydreigon (well not really but you see my point), that's not complicated to find.
@@astralbirthvoid0 it's fake
@@everythingpony are you joking or serious? Because that's if yes I don't know if I must find this sad or hilarous.
I recently finished replaying Gates recently, and the story and characters still resonate with me just as much as when I was younger. It's story honestly packs the most emotional punch out of the entire series in my eyes, it's just incredible.
I really enjoyed this vid, it's a nice in-depth analysis and it definitely showed why I hold the story in such high regard. I'm glad to see there's other people that liked Gates as much as I do!
Also, Emolga is best boy.
Agreed. Emolga is great!
I just finished Gates to Infinity myself after watching this video and heading out to buy it lol. After playing though, I can't agree more with your comment! I am utterly shocked this game doesn't seem to have the same following as the others. Such a pleasant experience.
Emolga is the best!
Emolga best boi
you forgot to mention another twist on the original story formula:
in this story, you're not the only human to go to the pokemon world. you're one of many, but you're the one who makes it the furthest.
also, when you return to the human world, you actually stay away for a while, unlike resque team and explorers (even if explorers has a small time skip). they go so in depth about the "human coming to the pokemon world" part and it gives a lot of crucial story points sense.
you also never had to wait long for story progression, unlike explorers or super mystery dungeon.
“Its not about the views, Its about sending a message.”
The story was the thing that make up most of the issues with pmds Gameplay mechanics. Not gonna lie I didn't expect an ending like that in Gates.
'Hey *player*. Please have a good life.' not in a million years I'll ever expect a true emotional 4th wall break in the Pokemon series would say that period.
My hot take is that the writing in Gates to Infinity is the best of the series. Yes, the gameplay leaves something to be desired compared to the other games. But when it comes to comedy, subtlety and emotion, this game always hits the hardest for me.
Rescue Team is infectiously charming and simple in the best ways, but it's not very emotionally driven.
Controversially, I think Explorers has the least good writing; it has its moments (the goodbye-scene is pretty tear-jerking), but a lot of the writing is repetitive, very lacking in subtlety and (bluntly) kind of annoying at times.
Super is pretty alright in its writing, though a bit oddly paced.
Gates to Infinity shines through as one of the most emotional gaming experiences I have had. If you can get over the less-than-perfect gameplay and the slightly slower pacing, it is a masterpiece. I tend to bawl my eyes out during the ending.
(You know...these games are frickin dark, man. In Gates, there's a scene where the side characters literally contemplate how the end of the world will feel: whether it's going to blink out of existence or slowly and painfully crumble away around them. Sure, they don't use the word "death", but it's still intense.)
@TSnintendogamer And how, in the first game, there's the part when the towns-Pokémon want to literally hunt you down and kill you for existing
Agreed, as someone who played through each of the games consecutively not long ago, and with no prior knowledge, I can say that:
Rescue Team is really charming, nice in its simplicity while still being creative. The downside is that it doesn't do much in terms of writing
Explorers was definitely the second best for me, the writing isn't as good as people give it credit for (though it isn't bad at all), but the gameplay and sheer amount of content makes up for it
Gates is easily the best in terms of writing, made me laugh the most, almost made me cry, and kept me engaged the entire game. It also looks really good for the console it released on
And Super is the weakest, poor pacing, mediocre writing, and it somehow does too much and too little at the same time. Enjoyable, but disappointing for the series
@@QuokkaWaka I agree with most of what you say. However, I have really enjoyed Super ever since it came out. It has admittedly gotten worse for me in consecutive playthroughs, but still a very solid final entry (at least so far). I think the reason for the bad pacing is that the story is made to be a sort of amalgamation of all three games prior:
The time spent in Serene village has more focus on a laid back and charming, episodic story format, where conflict is more innocent and easily resolved, and the hero and partner are doing rescue work independently. The bit about sneaking out and running away is also a more low-stakes throwback to becoming fugitives in Rescue Team. Also there's a younger kid who admires you.
The middle section is about joining an organisation of silly explorers with a silly leader where the structure of the days and the slow unfurling of the plot is very similar to Explorers, including a special expedition to an unexplored place. Near the end of this act, a character who has so far acted as a friend and mentor reveals himself to be a villain, and banishes the heroes to a hellish otherworld without hope, from which they have to escape. The pacing is suddenly a lot less episodic, to mirror Explorers.
The third act is the most obvious retread. The plot is now singularily focused, with a single goal that steadily goes on through the section. You and your partner have to travel to a very exotic, even sacred, place in order to stop a non-Pokémon entity made up of cumulated negative emotions from destroying the world with its sheer negativity. This entity has several pawns who want to see the world go, the most formidable of these being a major legendary Pokémon from the game's generation. Another of the pawns has been revealed earlier in the story to be a twist villain. In the final battle it seems like all is lost, but with the help of sheer determination and the cheers of their friends and partner, the hero manages to break the entity down, piece by piece. A reunion and party ensues. After one of the two heroes has to disappear from the Pokémon world, the post-game includes a quest to get them back.
It's definitely all over the place, but I have to somewhat admire what they were going for in creating a final entry that would satisfy fans of all the previous three games. It's a fan-service game for sure, but not a bad one. The gameplay is at its best in this one, and I really like the partner character and how fleshed out they were. My biggest pet peeve with the game is that it is the only entry in which the main character never speaks a single line of dialogue out loud, which I find bizarre.
i don't think i can agree with explorers have worse writing than gates, many story beats from the previous games are repeated and unlike in explorers the twists are much more obvious because they have just been done before and the payoff isn't much worth it. yes this game does have some great writing moments such as the one you gave as an example, it just sucks that such a topic was already done in special episode 5 in explorers of sky with characters with some of the series best characters(grovyle and dusknoir). and while i don't think the story is the reason most people dislike gates, it can be considered one part of a whole.
@@SoraIndigo
I disagree completely. Explorers had some of the most obvious twists in the series, even in Rescue Team I was at least _unsure_ whether or not the player was the human from the stories, but Explorers only really has Dusknoir, who is such a painfully obvious villain that I honestly think the characters being so oblivious was done as a joke.
While I'm not going to pretend Munna was the most surprising twist villain out there, it was kinda 50/50 for me whether or not she was a villain, which is a big improvement from Dusknoir. Not to mention that Gates has numerous well-written moments not present in previous Mystery Dungeon games, such as the partner's lack of a family and friends growing up, and the squad wondering if the world is even worth saving.
Heck, it even did the typical Mystery Dungeon beats better in my opinion, with the goodbye scene being set-up way earlier in the game and actually throwing me for a loop in its execution.
There's also the fact that the writing doesn't consist solely of the story, personally I found this game to be leagues funnier than the other 3, with every single character being made to be some of the most lovable in the series through little bits of extra dialogue and interactions (except Dunsparce, even as a diehard Gates fan I can admit he's like Bidoof if he was an E-tier character). Whether it be Emolga's sudden crush on Virizion and Espeon stalking them from the cliff, Dwebble's long and arduous journey of self-discovery, or even just the townsfolk sleep-talking about how much they hate the other townsfolk, every character (except Dunsparce) in this game is gold.
I just love that game so much, after Explorers, it's my second favorite PMD, only because of the main-story, the characters and the message. Gates helped me through a hard time of my life, when I felt exactly like Virizion and later like Munna, that's why I felt like I was really a part of the world in the game. But the way the story turned out, was a glimpse of hope for me to get the strength for changing my life for the better. ❤️
This game is very underrated even thought it is such a awesome game and probably my most favourite mystery dungeon game❤❤❤
Quite honestly, people can say what they want, but I really love this game. It was my first and so far only mystery dungeon experience, but it’s made me want to explore the rest of the mystery dungeon series, and I have a mass amount of nostalgia whenever I go back to play it
I think there's two important elements you leave out when talking about these games: how they look and how they feel to play. After somewhat painfully getting through Rescue Team DX, I went back to Gates and was shocked that the dungeons are not only smoother and absent of the slowdowns and stutters DX very noticeably has, but are also more visually cohesive and polished. Yes, DX's hub world and cutscenes are amazing, but I often find the actual dungeons have clashing elements to the point of distraction. Maybe I'm biased since GTI was my childhood game, but I absolutely adore how this game looks, something enhanced even more with the amazing 3DS screen. Your reviews are focused on gameplay mechanics and story, which is totally fine and an important perspective, but I feel like the graphics, sound, gameplay feel, etc. should at least get some appreciation as well, if not consideration when rating the overall experience.
Love the video. I finished playing Gates a few months ago and was disappointed to see that most people talking about this game don't really go much into depth talking about the story beyond "it's about negativity", but I thought your point on negativity being a more easily spread feeling re: clickbait was pretty interesting and something I didn't consider during my playthough. Like the research for the rest as well!
I'm glad you enjoyed it my dude.
I loved gates to infinity, its the game that introduced me to the whole
Pokémon dungeon franchise and I couldn't have asked for a more incredible
game then gates to infinity, it was fun, back then it was newer then many other
Pokémon dungeon games for its 3d graphics, I loved the characters, the concept that
you can just create your own community out of nothing and bring all different kinds
of Pokémon into the community. It was just so incredible.
The plot, the emotions, the gameplay (even if it wasn't the best compared to other works)
and even the score and theming of it all, I loved every minute of it and was absolutely shocked
how everyone thought it was the supposed *Bad one* of the series, well if its the worse of the
lot then Pokémon dungeons is better then I expected and I question why critics complain???
I played and completed all the games, some of them more than once, and I think that the reason why people dislike GTI is because they think that EOS is the best and there will never be a game as good as that. I appreciate that you talk about this game because I think it's really good and underrated!!
Gates to Infinity was the first pmd game I got. So I admit, there may be a bit of nostalgic bias on my part. But I can never help but feel the emotions every time I pick up this game. No matter how many times I play it, it still hits hard. The story was exciting and definitely an emotional roller coaster. The characters are all (in my opinion) memorable because they all got their own arcs and each contributed enough to the story. One of my biggest complaints about Super Mystery Dungeon is aside from a select few, most of the characters aren't really memorable or do anything special. Oh and soundtrack for Gates? God tier. I doubt even the biggest Gates to Infinity haters have anything against the soundtrack. The boss themes were imo some of the best pmd boss themes to come out (both regular boss battles and legendary boss fights in particular). The happy or hopeful moments had fitting music the makes the player actually *feel* something. The scary/bad moments were accompanied by surprisingly dreadful music for a kids game. And even a lot of the dungeon themes had catchy music. While I am aware and agree with many arguments about its blatant flaws (lack of post main story content, very limited pokemon roster, overpowered items etc) I don't think Gates is nearly as bad as many people make it out to be.
If a new Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game that isn’t a remake comes out, they need to bring back Axew as a starter. Really, they also need to bring back Vulpix, Psyduck, Shinx, Cubone, Phanpy, Machop, Riolu, Meowth, Eevee, Skitty and Munchlax as starters as well.
supers biggest downfall is the only non starter starters being pikachu and riolu
@@angelodegiule1753 Now I honestly think that not having starters from the previous games and just focusing on the Gen 1 to 6 starters and Pikachu and Riolu was dumb, but I think I have a good idea of why Eevee wasn’t a starter in Super: the Harmony Scarves. At certain points in Super’s main story, the Harmony Scarves will activate and cause the player and their partner to evolve into their fully evolved forms. And Eevee is famously known for being able to evolve into 8 Eeveelutions. If Eevee was the player or the partner and the Harmony Scarves activated, what Eeveelution Eevee will evolve into would possibly be random, and this could basically screw you during certain bosses, like the fight against Entei. If the game chose to randomly evolve Eevee into either Flareon, Leafeon, Glaceon or Sylveon instead of Vaporeon, Eevee would have a disadvantage against Entei.
I played every single md game and in order, and while most of people tend to say "The first two pmds are way better than the 3ds ones", i say the opposite instead. While the first two actually have a good story, they don't teach us anything important (except "Don't give up" and other generic stuff). In Gates, they teach us about hope and about being positive, a thing that is happening already in the world. I LOVE this, and despite the lack of Pokemons (which i don't miss so much; seriously, in explorers of sky, we'll always use the same Pokemon, because they are the best, even if we cam choose between 493 Pokemons. Gates just offer a small number, but i mean, just pick Axew with Dual Chop and that's an easy win) and the gameplay, i have to say that Gates is my favourite Mystery Dungeon, along with Super, just because their stories actually teaches us something. (sorry for my bad english, i'm italian xD)
Another italian pmd fan!
'I also just love it whenever Victini is on-screen.'
That is so relatable, flashy entrances are sometimes so cool.
I think this is a great video and I'm happy to see Gates getting love, even years later. I think Gates had the best character writing in the entire series. It had some over simplified parts and way too easy gameplay, but it also added many great gameplay features, some of which it was a shame Super didn't keep. *That being said there's something very poetic about all this...*
*Many* people, yourself included, skipped this game merely by negative reputation. The worst of which trashing it beyond what they even knew about it. Negativity spread more powerfully than positivity. The negative label put out by people was enough to not even try it. (Just look at the comments on this video for people saying exactly that.)
"'They put the breaks on any positive thought you might have. Negativity gets so deep in your heart, and it's difficult to get it out again" -Virizion.
And yet.. A spark of positivity from a few people that stands strong enough for someone to break the mold and try it for themselves. They changed the way people thought about things. A spreading positivity that, despite seemingly too weak to overcome the negativity, shows that there is something worth fighting for...
So yeah, I do think Gates had flaws. Roster cut sucked, day 1 DLC is inherently bad, gameplay way too easy and not much in terms of post game. But it also had a lot that was *great*. The move ranking, the town building (and everything that came with it), the beautiful dungeons, the new-era music, V-Wave, Mysterosity, team skills (should have kept it), better QOL for recruits.
*The most importantly, the thing we all care about in PMD: Story.* It had, in my opinion, the best written characters in the series. They had life to them. They had realistic outlooks and they actually changed over the story. The story was wildly dark with themes that are better appreciated when I was older.
I firmly believe that the reputation of Gates is wildly blown out of proportion. The Dark Souls 2 of the PMD series. I absolutely encourage anyone who sees this one day to try it out yourself.
i wish this game had more content in it like having all 649 pokemon(at the time of gen 5) in it for example but i'll forgive the game since this was the first pokemon game on the 3ds
Gates was actually my first game in the series as a kid, and I find it interesting that so many Pokemon fans kinda decided to stop playing the newer entries around this time. It’s almost like people my age were part of a whole new generation of fans.
Anyway, I absolutely adored this game when I was younger. I loved how you had a team of sorts that basically stuck by you for the entire game (Virizion, Dunsparce, Emolga, etc.), the town customization was just up my alley, and I adored the soundtrack. Probably one of the first games alongside Mario Galaxy where I realized how good video game music can really be. I still remember when I first beat this game and I cried for like five minutes straight
These games make me cry.
No other games have been able to do that.
Thank you for making this video! I just finished replaying Gates to Infinity for the second time and fell in love with it even more than I did before! I really wish more people gave it a chance! It might not be the best in the series but it’s still a great game in its own way :)
GTI was my first Mystery Dungeon game, and was probably the one I played the most as a kid. Little 7 year old me had the time of his life playing through the story, interacting and meeting all the characters and reacting to the plot twists and the ending. I remember being shocked at the twist with Munna being evil and the 4th Wall break in the post-game where Hydreigon looks at the screen and asks if I want to come back. Unfortunately I lost my cartridge of the game and don't know where it is (I do have some ideas on where it might have ended up so hopefully I can find it), but I'll still always have the memories of my Oshawott and his partner Pikachu building their Paradise.
This may be a hot take, but I think this game has the best soundtrack in the series, as well as a better soundtrack than most of the main pokemon series games. The dungeon themes are a wonder to listen to!
That's not a particularly hot take if you ask me. I'm working on a video right now and I'm seriously contemplating using parts of the Gates soundtrack instead of the game I'm actually talking about
@@RetroAndChill Awesome! You earned a new subscriber!
I played this game first and didnt realize, until you said it, that I could do multiple jobs in a single dungeon in the earlier games (which I'm playing now)!
I waited for after the endgame to upgrade or do anything to paradise. (This is probably because I played this game when I was, like, 12, then set it down for 6 years because I couldnt get past glacier palace.) Because of this, though, I've found that the post-game has switched from a story to a material grind (which I'm okay with because I like grinding).
Streetpass wasn't just a thing in Japan, I turn on streetpass in a Target or Walmart and I'd find lots of people! Atleast, back when the 3DS was the popular system~
Sorry, you talked about how this is a good game without even mentioning the phenomenal music soundtrack?!?! While The Explorers series has (subjectively) the most recognizable soundtrack of the Mystery Dungeon series (seriously, who hasn't cried while *Memories Returned* played), Gates has imo the best soundtrack of the entire series, and I'm so glad they brought some of that music into Dx, because more people needed to hear it.
This game is what got me into Pokémon in the first place, it will always hold a special place in my heart
The only one with multiplayer.
Interesting, I never played Pokemon gti because I thought it was the "bad one" and wasn't worth the time. But after watching this video, the game really doesn't seems as bad as i thought! I always thought the story also sucked because of how the internet and reviews of the game reviewed the game. I might pick gti up and give it a shot! Thanks for this really interesting video! You can really see the effort that went into this video and it's kinda sad how this channel is so underrated, you earned a new sub!
I have Nothing to about the commentary on the game, other than it’s really helping me in my attempt to finally revisit this game and soak in the characters. Gurdurr’s story alone almost got me tearing up.
Funny story though as you were asking about if people were suspicious of Sus-knoir.. I mean Dusknoir..my first time through Explorers of Time, I actually did buy into it, though that beach scene had me like “ok, what’s going on….” It was years ago, but I have a feeling that seeing the banker was a Duskull probably had me more accepting that he could’ve been actually a good guy.
Gates to Infinity was my first Mystery Dungeon game. Didn't like it at first, but then the game got way better halfway. Not bad in my opinion, I wonder what the other "good" ones are like.
As someone who recently became a fan of PMD through DX and wanted to check out Gates to Infinity because it its OST, I really liked this video and can see how nice the game's message is in spite of its flaws
Glad you liked it. The game got a bad rap, so I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was.
damn, i remember playing gates when it first came out. It was my introduction to the mystery dungeon games and i LOVED it. I think my favourite aspects are the ost and the paradise. I loved filling in the blank spaces in the paradise and making it look all pretty.
Gates to infinity will always be the best game (At least in my opinion...) I was so into it I even beat the post game. RedAce, Axew and Pikachu from the Ace Legion are here to save the world!
There it is. My favorite game.
It's been so long that I've forgotten what it was about.
But that story analysis brought it all back.
Thanks for this video.
There's one thing I will never forget in this game : how brutal the Munna fight is. It's simple : the fight is fair if you have the right starters (mainly Pikachu and/or Axew (as starter in his case) or not To me, it's one of the hardest fight in the entire Pokémon series, nothing comes close to it in Pokémon Mystery Dungeons series.
Honestly I really love this game. I love the characters and story so much. Heck I was actually tearing up at the rainbows of hope scene when I first played. Thanks so much for being so positive about this Game! ♥️
Hey, just wanted to say watching this video convinced me to give this game a try - and I really really loved it! I thought it was genuinely a really nice experience and I'm sad I waited this long to play. Thank you so much for your effort and time.
i watched a "md as vines" vid and mas really amused that the story can be summed up with "im sad" like lmaoo
gates is probably my favorite ngl, so this was like getting hit by a
that was an agility boosted heart wow thanks
As a fan of Danganronpa (another series made by Chunsoft), the fact that this game is all about about hope conquering despair and it came out in japan the same year as the second Danganronpa game is ironically funny to me
I enjoyed gates, I also adore gen 5 (my favourite generation) so maybe the lack of other gen pokemon never really bothered me. Also just got to say, streetpass was huge here in the UK everyone used it before the switch came along.
I lived in a midsized town in the US with an aging population, so my experience was probably different than others.
I hope we get a remake of Gates to Infinity with more recruitable pokemon and starter choices, qol, and postgame events. We have the best story in the series and sadly we have a couple of weaker gameplay elements holding it back. All we need is these improvements and I think a Gates DX would be amazing
Talking about the missing of the hunger system got me thinking. Perhaps that i is just something to manage without nothing else to really assist it in a way like Genshin Impact and Zelda Breath of the wild where a cooking and easting system would not just be to fill the belly but to gain perks and boosts. The stuff can be as simple as speed boost, hp recover increase, and defense but also to bigger dishes giving multiple boost, last longer, or gaining ability temporary like going through walls, walk over lava and water. Or heck maybe rick vs rewards dishes like belly goes to 0 but gain a large boost to damage so long it remains that way. If they make it so you can only eat when actually hungry it could change it from 'ugh, time to get another apple' to, 'I wonder what dish I should eat next to get another boost for the dungeon'. Oh and dishes and ingredients should have their own bag or lunch box that should grow along side your inventory bag
Dang you poured a lot of effort into this video. I just subbed and liked. You really deserve more recognition because this is very well done. One of these videos will blow up one day stay motivated.
Thanks man. I appreciate it.
This video was pretty great, IMO. It went pretty in-depth about this game!
I finished playing this game pretty recently, like... during November of last year, haha. Honestly, I really like the story still, especially since honestly, I think the message of holding on to hope can still apply to today, especially with the negativity that surrounds us.
I think this game probably made me cry more than the rest of the games, at least, nowadays. When I first played the game, I actually spoiled myself by watching the Japanese version of it before it even came to the U.S. It wasn't really the best idea, TBH, since it made me know at least some of the story beats, mainly the one about Munna being bad while Hydreigon was good. I was just that obsessed, to the point where I wanted to spoil the games for myself. I mean, back when I first played the Explorers games, I ended up knowing about Dusknoir being the bad guy before I even got to the part of the game where it was revealed because I sat there and watched an old video on the anime! ..If I remember correctly. All I know is that I spoiled most of the games for myself until Super Mystery Dungeon, which I decided to go mostly blind into. Mostly, because there were some things like the soundtrack, the beginning of the game, (*Spoiler alert, I'm just gonna put this way below in-case:*)
and the partner leaving (but it still shocked me since I didn't know the reason why, plus, I knew about it by accident since I was looking for the Dark Matter OST one day, IIRC.) that I already knew about. Due to me going in blind, though, I think PSMD had more of an impact. What's weird is that after PSMD, I started getting a bit more emotional at emotional moments during the rest of the games. Before playing it I didn't really feel much emotion while playing the others, but I guess PSMD made me appreciate the story, characters, and the games more. I guess it also caused me to be able to get attached to the characters in the games at that point. PSMD ended up personally being my favorite PMD game since of how attached to the characters I got in that game. Anyways, enough of my rambling, haha!
GTI was the game that got me into the mystery dungeon franchise. While this game is absolutely not perfect, I’m so glad it made me a life long mystery dungeon fan.
I’m very glad I found your channel. Your videos are very cozy. I loved this game. It was one of the last games I bought without looking at other people’s opinions, and absolutely loved how much more simple it was, the colorful and wonderful 3D models, the message/emotions of the story, etc
Subscribed!
Best part was using the camera on every thing shaped as a circle to get a dungeon
Why did all your Pokemon Mystery Dungeon videos made me tear up?❤💙
Finished playing Gates today.
The only problem this game has, compared to what was done before AND afterwards, is the gameplay. It has the superior graphics of Super but a gameplay as clunky as the one from Explorers, the Pokémon selection is much smaller than both, the text speed is really slow, you can only do one request at a time, which makes building Paradise (one of the main features) really slow, the recruitment system is random, and the game is quite short, even if you consider fully completing it. Perhaps the only thing that Gates has that I wish was kept is that you don't need to go to a specific location to evolve - just enter any dungeon and level up.
The visuals (which I had already stated) and the story are up to par with the series. My only complaint is that the whole "society is becoming horrible and everyone hates each other" part is a liiiiittle too relatable for 2021. I wish it weren't.
I think that, if Gates were remade a la Rescue Team DX, but with an expanded selection and its gameplay flaws ironed out, it would be a tough cookie in the discussion on which game is the best in the series (currently fought between Super and Explorers).
Genuinely my second-favorite in the series, and not far from #1
Really well done. Please keep doing these. Views will come I promis! Love these
I enjoyed this game a lot. I don't understand why do those fanboys love hating on games all the time. Like if you don't like it don't be an asshole about it if someone likes it. Specifically speaking new Vegas fan boys when I say I like fallout 4 and is my favorite. They flip.
I know i don't have a fair vision about this game because this was the first game that i really played and got invested and i would say if i did not play this game would never love games as much as i do but i love everything about this game and the history in my eyes are the best in the series.
I loved this video it's great to see more that the good parts in PMD: GTI are not just parts of my love
English is not my native language so sorry for any mistake but i really wanted to comment on this video because of my love to this game and the video is also great
ALSO I LOVE EMOLGA IN THIS GAME AND DUNSPARCE TOO
I think the true part that i always liked about this game is the secundary characters because i think they are way more
memorable than the other games
I feel like the secondary cast almost always import in Nintendo games because they almost always have silent protagonists, so the story needs to focus on developing them instead.
@@RetroAndChill Yes that is why i like this game so much i think the secondary cast is just great and memorable so it is way easier to remember they when you do not play the game anymore and still fell attached to them
Honestly this was my personal first mystery dungeon game (so at the time I didn’t know anything about the games before it about a year later so I played those right before Super mystery dungeon came out) and yeah I get there is flaws about it but honestly. I personally didn’t mind it cause I think there are some positives about the game.
I think Hydreigon was quite funny and wholesome, I thought Swanna (although she didn’t do much in the main story) was very sweet (kinda wished she did more) and honestly although Munna wasn’t the most threatening villain in a mystery dungeon game as of now but she was an interesting baddie none the less (and wouldn’t be opposed if they did another baddie similar to her in the future)
Plus, I think the story (even though flawed) actually was one of my favorites. Yeah sure I do believe Super Mystery Dungeon did a better job of doing a similar story to Gates to Infinity but honestly regardless still enjoyed the story!
Do I think the game is perfect? Nah not at all. But I think it was still worthy of being a mystery dungeon game despite the faults.
Being Honest, Gates Story feels better told and developed than Super, cause in the fourth MD even though its cute and wholesome, its also really slow paced even thinking that ir felt like a regular anime with filler. It take too long to even go for the main conflict and meanwhile it feels like wandering around. While in Gates, even being also a little slow paced, you ahve the chance to meet a bounch of different characters with their own personalities, marks, and even archs and then the story doesnt seem to have filler when you go for the real adventure already knowing what you have earbed alongside your time there, your friends, wich makes more effective due you had the right amount of time with each one
How could you talk about negativity on internet without talking about twitter
Great video! Can’t believe I almost skipped this game.
FINALLY, someone NOT shitting on this game, it's my firtst PMD so I'm a little biased but still, it get so much unreasonable hate (like the 3d, I really like pixels, and pokémon in general would be better in 2D, but this game is clearly not ugly and it's full of life, I can't imagine some scenes in 2D), it has the best characters (except partner, that's for super) and cool concept such as the pokemon paradise.
Thank you for this.
This song was the only thing that kept me sane in said dungeon.
When i finished this game i was just stunned. I love this game and its one of my favorites. I only stopped playing because I missed my character.
Beautiful video!! I absolutely love gates and I'm very glad to see someone praising it for all the things it got right
What’s crazy is that this was my first ever Pokémon mystery dungeon game.
Eh
Gti is good.
Not the best, probably (to me) the worst, which still makes it really good.
And, it brought MANY quality of life improvements with it.
The story is great
Imagine if that Bittercold thingy ever exist in our current world
I agree with pretty much everything you said here. I recently finished a replay of Gates and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it as an adult (I had just turned 12 when it came out so I didn’t really know what a “good game” was back then). Gates is honestly really funny and charming. I also crack up every time Victini yells “V Wheel!” haha. Gates has all the aspects of a mystery dungeon game that I enjoy: compelling characters, a plot driven story, emotional moments, and amazing music(I love leitmotifs, so the music in the pmd series is like musical crack to me lol). Gates to Infinity is definitely my least favorite out of the series (not counting the Wii ware bc I’ve never played it), but that does not mean that I don’t like it. Even with all its issues, Gates is still a better game then some of the main series games. For example, I would play Gates over Sword & Shield any day. Every series has to have a “worst” game and Gates just happens to be that. The text speed is so slow it kills me and like everyone else, I hated that they removed the personality quiz. However, I can’t really blame Spike Chunsoft. It was a huge transition to move to 3D so I can imagine all the issues they must have had. For instance, they had most of the models for Super and Rescue Team DX, so they probably had more time to focus on other aspects of the game whereas they had to make them from scratch for Gates. While there are many changes I didn’t like, I’m glad they tried something new. I’ve been a die hard fan of the series for over 10 years and even though Gates isn’t the best, it’s better than nothing. I think Spike Chunsoft really learned from their mistakes and I like the direction they’re taking the series right now. Thanks for talking about the pros and cons of this game. You are very well spoken and I would love to hear your thoughts on the other games in the series. Cheers.
Woah I just noticed your views , dude you deserve way more ! Seriously !
One thing I noticed when playing is the dungeon generation algorithm. On top of being reduced to the point of being visually repetitive, the floors were so massive with such long hallways that each dungeon felt like it dragged on for an eternity.
This video was great :) you should keep making videos!
I've never played this Mystery Dungeon game only because I wasn't playing pokemon at that time. I had always been behind on the pokemon games. First playing red and blue way bak in diamond and pearl Era. And I had to play slowly through each gen because my games I got, were given to me as hand me downs from my older brother when he had moved on to the next gen and no longer cared for the past gen.
Once he reach black and white 2, he stopped playing so I stopped playing from there. I actually love the mystery dungeon games, playing blue rescue team and explorers of darkness. But I never heard of this game. I was also in a town where you get made fun of for playing video games if you're in middle school unless ur playing COD. And I didn't have internet either.
So I ended up missing den 6 and 7 till I finally got out of my family home and lived on my own. Got my own internet and then I played x and y, then sun and moon maybe a year before sword and shield. I played super mystery dungeon at that time too. But then now, I finally found out that there was this game as well. Damn. I will be trying to get my own copy. No matter what people say about the games, I always find that I always have a different opinion from what others say.
Man this was a fantastic video I personally love the story of this game. I have to wonder if the developers borrowed some of the ideas for the story from Danganronpa (it’s the same company but I don’t know if any the PMD developers worked on Danganronpa as well or some ideas crossed over since it’s the same studio) with its themes of hope & despair. Also the soundtrack is amazing and the ending just gets me every single time.
Not everything that's about hope is related to Danganronpa...
That never went back tm comment didn't age well. Because now we've got breakable TMs in bdsp and scarlet and violet. For SOME STUPID REASON
I haven't play the game myself. But I do know one thing. Just because it isn't perfect doesn't mean it had it's own charm to it. It may not be perfect, but hey, does it really need to be for it can be a good game?
Wow i just found out about your channel and i love this review so much because it's not just a simple bash at the "worst " Pmd game you got a new sub and keep up the good work ^^
The villain and theme feel a lot like a persona game
This game made me cry when I first played it so many years ago
Honestly, in my happy go lucky pokemon series, I'm still in shock the main villains in this game were a suicide cult and that Kyrum murdered a bunch of people. PMD is something else and I love it for that. And the Bittercold boss fight music might be my favorite in the series.
I remember that I was going to get this game because I heard it was an easy mystery dungeon game since I’ve never played one before… well the person put super mystery dungeon and I still can’t get past salamance
This is one of my favorite games!!! It brings back so many memories from 2014
Did you saw the RETROVERSY videos of these games? He points or pov about the cast... I still love GtI even doh Rescue team is still my king
After this video I thought "this video is good, I better sub." Then I saw I already was 😅
This is a good video. I'll admit I didn't enjoy GTI when it came out because frankly the gameplay wasn't as interesting due to lesser variety (despite the positive changes you mentioned which were good ideas) and the lack of postgame content, but I remember having a good time with the characters. I wish there was more postgame content and more Pokémon you could recruit/interact with, but c'est la vie. The Explorers series will always have a special place in my heart and the stories have been consistently great.
Clearly Sky is superior and always will be. But I will give this game a shot and judge it not solely off of this review.
Well made video, and thanks for the summary. Hopefully some explorers content will be explored again
Please make a video of Super Mystery Dungeon someday.
Are you gonna do all the games or move on? Not forcing you or putting pressure just curious.
I keep going back and forth on it. I replayed Explorers of Sky about a month ago and I have notes it's just a matter of coming up with a script for it. Frankly, the two Mystery Dungeon videos have caused me to gain a fair number of subscribers, so that's probably a sign that I should at least cover the other two, and then move on to other Pokémon Spin-Offs after that.
I knew GTI as the first one I've played
Isn’t Dark Matter from Super Mystery Dungeon derived from the same concept as Bittercold here?
Basically. They essentially just did the same villain twice
Honestly, Munna may be one of my favorite villains in the Mystery Dungeon series. For one thing, she's basically the nihilistic second-in-command of an omnicide cult, which is not something you'd expect to see in a Pokémon game. For another thing, we never really learn what happened to her to give her such a twisted worldview. How did she become so hateful? And, all of this coming from a Munna, one of the cutest Pokémon in the Dex, makes her all the more unsettling, and even a little frightening.
Buy it before the prices blow up
Idk, I agree with lots of the points but I missed IQ and Gummis, and the whole move leveling meant that quick attack and ranged moves just got boosted to level 20 making all other moves pointless. The story was eh, the whole power of friendship theme felt kinda baby mode, and the team attack feature was overpowered. I don't think I ever felt challenged for survival when i playedlike in the last games.
It's really interesting how this video remains honest, but is also the fresh air of positivity about this game in a whole internet of videos that do nothing but bash the game in a negative light. How fittingly thematic for Gates to Infinity.
Well, they ended up rolling back infinite-use TMs in scarlet/violet, but made it very easy to get duplicates. I would have preferred the infinite use system, but given the open-world nature of S/V, I think they get a pass, at least for me.
Possibly it was more of a testing for the super mystery dungeon
Or TPC telling Spike Chunsoft. "Hey, we need a Mystery Dungeon for this gen. Can you do that for us?"
The jump to the 3DS has generally been a little rough for the series, but it got better. I feel like Gen 7 was a step up from X&Y. The same goes for Super over Gates.
Good video! I skipped Gates to Infinity as well. Maybe I should go and play it.
I still come back to this game. Every time the negativity in the game showed up, the title of the game would change for me: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Kill 'em With Kindness! I know it's cheesy, but that's how I see it. I feel like I have to show them not everything has to revolve around bullying. Either walk away, or find a way to make them see reason! I know no one should have to do that for any one person, but you never know how much someone would need that positivity.
I liked listening to your video, nice job.
bums me out when people act like the story is more dumbed down or simple compared to the other games - its different but 100% carries the same charm for me
i think the main issues making this game so unpopular were 1. art style change, 2. dex cut, and 3. no personality quiz (a boon for some players but it was sorely missed from me at least)