If you aren't familiar with either of these games, here are the trailers for a basic idea.
PokeĢmon Ranger Trailer - DS Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia Trailer - E3 2008
Questions to think about:
- What does it mean to capture a Pokemon?
- What is a Ranger's duty, and what is a capture styler's role in serving that?
- What is a Pokemon's place in nature?
The Pokemon Ranger capture mechanics changed drastically from the first game, Pokemon Ranger, to the second, Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. The gist of the system is you use your "capture styler" to draw loops around a Pokemon to "capture" them. This conveys your feelings to them, allowing you to call upon them for aid. I suppose it's assumed that all Pokemon are benevolent forces of nature, and will always support the cause for justice if captured.
Ultimately, the player uses the DS stylus to draw loops around a Pokemon moving/attacking on the screen.
The Systems:
Original System (Pokemon Ranger)
- Each Pokemon requires N continuous loops to be drawn around it for a successful capture
New System (Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia)
- Each Pokemon requires X capture energy applied to it for a successful capture. This is accomplished through Poke-Assists and through drawing loops. The capture energy bar of a Pokemon quickly decreases after a short cool-down.
- There's also, later in the game, a "charge" mechanic where you let the styler sit for a period. Once the styler is charged, loops award significantly more capture energy for as long as the line is not broken. Sort of emulates the gameplay style of the original game.
The major consequences of the change:
- You can now lift the stylus up between captures
- You can use Pokemon Assists to convey your feelings to Pokemon instead of simply immobilizing them
Personal Takes
After playing through the first game, I can imagine why they changed the system.
It seemed relatively hard to scale, because they had a set number of loops for each type of Pokemon. No Pokemon of the same species had any variance, which I think is a shame. Poke-Assists also felt lack luster in the original. There were some assists that are clearly better than others (e.g. water stunning enemies), which meant you could (and often had to) completely cheese bosses with the right Pokemon. However, this issue still persists, if not more, in the new system.
My favorite part of the old system was the finesse required for certain fights, especially in the Jungle Relic. The trial bosses (Flygon especially) created unique gameplay challenges that I don't think can be recreated in the new system.
The new system on the other hand, seems very easy to conceptualize and create new Pokemon. It'd be relatively easy to add a leveling system similar to the mainline games with the "capture energy" value associated with each Pokemon. It also allows gives Poke-Assists a greater value by giving them significant potential to contribute to capture. There's also an interesting charge mechanic that seeks to reward/emulate the original game.
As a long-time Pokemon Ranger fan, I feel that something is lost by removing the consecutive loops and making it so assists can solo-carry a capture. Logically, it's hard for me to imagine why Poke-assists should apply capture energy to Pokemon. Hard to imagine dousing a chikorita in poison gas makes it more willing to see the light and fight on your side. I could imagine it makes the Pokemon less willing to put up a fight, but I don't think that should take away from the looping. Maybe every capture, there could have a strength meter that depletes as you use Poke Assists. This could make the Pokemon attack less and move slower, so it assists and doesn't do the work of looping for you. If there was another entry in the series (x to doubt), I hope they make charging a default option for the capture styler. Having it late in the game makes sense, but to me doesn't aid the gameplay as a player familiar with the game. Then again, a lot of pokemon games have pretty painful tutorialization.
I'll probably be making some more focused articles like this :)
Take care,
Quetzl