Best PMD story? (possible spoilers)

[Chikita]

I think the 3D animation is just not my style. I don't like it. And the gameplay is definitively poorer (less playable characters, less Pokemon to recruit, shorter story, less dungeons etc.) If the game had been in 2D, everyone would be complaining.
But I really don't see what's so special about the story. Maybe I missed something, who knows?
The beginning of Explorers was far better, hands down. You're partner actually had a goal and dreams, more than just :"I want to be an adventurer!" All his ambitions seemed believable to me.
I know it's a personal thing but when I think of Explorers, I remember many moments, that were outright touching and even made me cry. It's just not the same with GTI.

 

[Regality]

..Explorers all the way!

 

[Rakurai]

The beginning of Explorers was far better, hands down. You're partner actually had a goal and dreams, more than just :"I want to be an adventurer!" All his ambitions seemed believable to me.

Except the partner in GtI does have a goal and dreams (To make a place where Pokemon can live harmony in a world where such a thing has become a rarity).

"I want to be an adventurer" sounds more like the motive that the partner in Explorers has, since the only thing I can even recall him wanting to do initially was figure out what the purpose of that stone he found was by going on adventures.

 

[High Priest Reuniclus]

But I really don't see what's so special about the story. Maybe I missed something, who knows?

The beginning of Explorers was far better, hands down. You're partner actually had a goal and dreams, more than just :"I want to be an adventurer!" All his ambitions seemed believable to me.

I know it's a personal thing but when I think of Explorers, I remember many moments, that were outright touching and even made me cry. It's just not the same with GTI.

I was asking the same thing about Explorers's story.

You sure you didn't misplace the word 'Gates' for 'Explorers'? All the Explorers partner wanted to do was to be an explorer/adventurer, and would happily use 'you' as a crutch to do it. In a game about exploring no less - quite literally the lowest common denominator for a motivation. The Gates partner at least had the whole paradise thing going on, a goal less offensively bland than just being an adventurer.

I'm honestly more likely to cry over how much undeserved credit Explorer's story gets, but I can see a reason why it gets a lot of credit - it was the first story in the entire Pokemon franchise that wasn't, well, rubbish. It managed to be passable, which is still a gigantic leap forward compared to any other story in Pokemon until Gates came along, thus it probably vastly exceeded everyone's expectations. Gates's story on the other hand actually had something to live up to, even if in my eyes, it wasn't all that much.

Trust me, go play a game like Persona 4 or Final Fantasy 9 to see a proper good story in a game and then compare it to Explorers. Well, I guess perspective is everything, isn't it.

 

[hawkmbl]

I think the 3D animation is just not my style. I don't like it. And the gameplay is definitively poorer (less playable characters, less Pokemon to recruit, shorter story, less dungeons etc.) If the game had been in 2D, everyone would be complaining.
But I really don't see what's so special about the story. Maybe I missed something, who knows?
The beginning of Explorers was far better, hands down. You're partner actually had a goal and dreams, more than just :"I want to be an adventurer!" All his ambitions seemed believable to me.
I know it's a personal thing but when I think of Explorers, I remember many moments, that were outright touching and even made me cry. It's just not the same with GTI.

PMD GTI has more of those moments and has a darker tone, having more implied death and suicidal mentions than any "E" rated game I've played

 

[dirkac]

Okay, gonna do this again, cuz I'm just Royal Rank in GTI.

Personally, I find it a tie between Rescue Team and GTI.

I found the story and sound to be far superior than Explorers (I do love it though) and better than most of Rescue.

It was touching to have actual character development, Explorers was basically just partner=chicken. Partner+waterfall thing scenario=brave stuff. Well for CD at least. Granted, Rescue really only had Gardevoir and Gengar as CD, but eh.

Now, for Rescue reasons. Okay, I'll start this off by saying that Gengar being human and Gardevoir connections was a bit of a surprise, but it wasn't anything all too unexpected, the entire Fugitive thing was sad, but what I really liked was the difficulty, and the split patha in the post-game (Murky Cave, Meteor Cave, Mt. Faraway, Western Cave, Purity Forest, that's five "final" dungeons).
Also, it's probably all nostalgia. I did like the Meteor stuff though, and ot made more sense of why you couldn't evolve than "okay, you can't evole because you are a Space-Time distortion, and your buddy just can't evolve for lolz".


Oh, you want SBL? Fine. The WiiWare sucked, becayse it had too little major characters, and finding a cookie as the story is just, well, lame. Unlike what people sya though, it's actually quite decent. If they made some fixes maybe it could get an Eshop release on the 3DS for free?


Note, I absolutely adore Explorers, and I do not try to diss it, it just pales in comparison to the other two.

 

[hawkmbl]

To be fair the main reason I am not a fan of the explorers series, is not because of the partner (Chikorita fits the partner role better than anyone), but because of one NPC that drove me up the wall. Skuntank from team skull.

His personality didn't have anything too special, he didn't do much

Spoiler: plot

besides literally fart on your team in apple woods, acted like good people when they are really not, and then try saving you from kabutops and omastar before vanishing and never being seen again...

Gates to infinity didn't have a single bad character EXCEPT for toxicroak, though he is not as bad.

 

[Rakurai]

I liked that the obligatory villain team in GtI

Spoiler: Spoiler

was actually working for the main antagonist, instead of just being a random bunch of pests to deal with.

However, I liked how Rescue Team actually gave said group some closure, unlike its successors, where they basically just drop off the radar completely after the main story and are never mentioned again.

 

[Wolfram74]

Explorer's storyline is the best. I think that for Gates to Infinity had too much content sacrificed for good graphics, which I certainly would not trade content for. There's basically nothing to do after the game, whereas in Explorers, by the time you reached the credits, you have officially finished 1/2 of the game.

 

[jireh the provider]

After reading a couple new replies, from what I see is that, throughout the video game series of Pokemon, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers was the spark that gave pokemon a dark impression that Pokemon is getting itself open to much more serious themes like suicide, post apocalyptic worlds, and imprisonment.

I mean, one thing that made Pokemon Black and White's plot so dark and bold in certain themes, character personalities and developments, was because of PMD's plot getting serous in terms of bold topics in a unique way.

So, in my own bar graph, the time travel of dark plots started like this:

Pokemon with dark stories, deep character developments, and plots:

PMD: explorers ----> Pokemon Main series 5th Generation ----> PMD: Gates to Infinity

And I got that feeling that thanks to the PMD series, interms of Plot the Pokemon series starts to go beyond the sugary themes while keeping the sugary content checking the dark themes.

But this is something I can share easily. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is Game Freak's and Chunsoft's Pokemon Version of The Legend of Zelda series

 

[TheGiftedFlareon]

I actually like Explorers the best. The story from the Sky version made me cry for an hour. It was also my first Pokemon game too, so that adds value to me.

 

[Shymain]

I haven't played GtI, so, between Eo? and R/B, I would have to say that I honestly enjoyed Rescue Team more, plot wise.

 

[epic mew]

Explorers wins, It had the best final boss (Besides Mario and luigi:Bowsers inside story)
You can pick from alot more charcaters,
Definatley the saddest ending, Pmd1 was just saying goodbye to your pal,
Pmd3 was the same thing,
Pmd2 was saying goodbye to everyone, Having no more life.
Pmd2 had the best story,
And I cant fit more reasons, WAYYYYYY to many.

 

[LizardonX]

Explorers had the best. Now if only that Darkrai can find himself a way into the anime that would be sweet.

 

[TheShinyWriter]

I haven't played Infinity, yet, (at least, I've only played the demo,). So, I'd have to say Explorers. The original was nice, but the scene with Grovyle at the Rainbow Stoneship with the abruptness and music totally got me bawling a little. It was dark, and it contained my favorite Pokemon from the 4th Generation. I also loved how nice a Ghost-type can seem... only to betray/turn on you at the last minute: really shouts out that, 'Looks can be deceiving,'. It was alot easier than the original Rescue Team, so it was quite easy to enjoy the plot. Special episodes in Sky were another reason to like it.

 

[Zoruagible]

Gates of Infinity was the best so far.

 

[Dew Watatsumi]

I would have to say Explorers. The original was nice, but GTI seems like they could've done a lot more with it...

 

[Feeshy]

I have to say Explorers. The game really makes you love the characters, and makes them feel real. I cried both times I finished the game, and the ending was already spoiled the first time. My team from the second time around is in my signature. I started playing Gates, but I just couldn't get into it. I was extremely irritated by the fact that your character speaks and that both you and your partner are always referred to as males. The ability to choose the Pokemon that you will play is very nice, but only being able to play the Unova starters, Pikachu, and Axew really annoys me. I would rather play Cyndaquil or Vulpix than any of the Unova starters.

In Gates, I just didn't get a feel for the characters. Granted, I just played to the point right after Espeon and Umbreon do their flashy flashy sparkle thing with cards, but I just didn't like the characters. I liked that it was Umbreon and Espeon that did all the sparkly stuff, since the job seems to fit them, but that has nothing to do with the actual characters.

For the plot in Gates, I don't know much about it. I know that there was something to do with Kyreum, but besides that, I don't know anything. I liked how in Explorers there was the stuff about time getting messed up and the time gears and everything, and how it was introduced pretty early.

For graphics in Gates, they were nice, but I wasn't a fan. Sure, they looked cool, but my brain just didn't think "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon" when I saw the graphics of Gates. Using the improved graphics, I'm sure there were some cool scenes that have 3d Pokemon flying around and attacking and stuff (Which, I admit, must be awesome), but I still just like the feel of the graphics in the previous games.

Overall, I just didn't get much feeling from Gates. In Explorers, I just fell in love with the plot, the characters, and accepted the graphics. I may get around to playing the rest of Gates someday, but my opinion will never be shaken. Explorers is my favorite and always will be.

 

[Beebar234]

I honestly felt like GtI was very underwhelming in virtually every aspect other than the graphics. I thought the story RRT was fantastic and it has a special place in my heart because it was the first PMD game I played. However, the Explorer games totally destroy all the other games, especially EoS. I really feel like they are total masterpieces in the music and story as well as the gameplay. The Zero Isles and Destiny Tower are actually extremely difficult, more so than any dungeon in RRT (which was also decently challenging). GtI, in comparison, was a total cakewalk.

 

[PikaKid123]

My favorite is actually BRT, it's actually the best game I've ever played.
The storyline is incredible. Don't believe me? Well... you need to complete the game twice to really enjoy it. When I say complete the game it's actually recruiting Deoxys, and more things but I don't want to spoil the whole thing.
Then you start over and you understand everything. Just try. ;P
Some speech that look normal and boring in the first playthrough really smash hard when you understand the meaning.