Spin-Off Favorite/least favorite Mystery Dungeon games?

[Haruka_Rules!]

What are your favorite Mystery Dungeon games?

Also what are your least favorite Mystery Dungeon games?

 

[Team Gaara]

I really do like the original Red and Blue Rescue Teams best. Red Rescue Team was THE FIRST Pokemon game I ever played, and continues to be my favorite game.

I just really liked the concept of Rescue Teams more than Exploration Teams and, whatever the hell you were in Gates to Infinity trying to make a Pokemon Paradise. Rescue Teams are legitimately centered around saving other Pokemon, while the Guild was more about finding treasure and new places with a little rescuing and arresting on the side. Though, I did love the addition of Pokemon outlaws.

I also liked the story a bit better.

Spoiler

The reason for the Pokemon in local areas starting to attack others being an upset in the balance of nature, which is originally blamed on the player, who is then forced to become a fugitive was very deep to me. Then, as you return, you begin to become well known and your name is cleared, yet despite that, it gets worse with more earthquakes, and then: the best team in the area goes missing after they set out to quell Groudon, so then they need to be rescued. It just felt like a real world in the story. Finally, you discover that all of the problems were caused by a falling star headed to, basically, destroy the Earth. I also felt the heartfelt goody-bye at the conclusion was done really well, though, admittedly, not as well as Gates to Infinity.

I think the best part of the game would also be that the story expands so much more after you beat the game, including small plots with: Mewtwo's Cave, Deoxys's Cave, Lugia and the Legendary Birds, Buried Relic, Smeargle, and the Wish Cave. Which I felt Gates to Infinity in particular really lacked.

I liked the Explorers of TDS series, as well: they also included a deep story line with lots of twists and an interesting predicament involving time and the future, and a stange ability you possses. We also got a different type of attitude with the partner this tine around; whereas the first games included a braver partner, who could essentially have been the leader if not for letting you make the final decisions, the partner of TDS is much more timid, which creates a new interpretation on the relationship the heros and partners have.

Spoiler

I also liked that when you leave this world at the end, you do so for months at a time, rather than just the remainder of a day, like in the first games. It also felt more real, to me. Just like the first games, these games continue after the main story is completed, but even deeper in that it continues with the original story-line, adding more conflicts that the player and partner must deal with, such as raising a Manaphy and then having to let it go back to the water here it belongs, and being told that you are still cauing the Pokemon world to be screwed (even including slight illusions to suicide), ultimately concluding with you discovering the reasons for transforming into the Pokemon. It even has a happy ending with you reuniting with a Manaphy you raised. Sky was also great with the addition of the five extra stories that allow you to learn about other characters in the game (Which puts it right after Red Rescue Team on my list of favorites).

My only complaint about the story would probably be that your whole reason for being involved in the story line seemed to be really coincidental; in the first games, you're intentionally putting yourself out there, while here, you kind of just come across the Time Gear plot and just get sucked into it.

So obviously, I would, thus, call Gates to Infinity my least favorite game. The story was okay, but it wasn't as...I guess, dark as the others were. It didn't really seem as serious.

Spoiler

It does hold the honor of including the most unexpected final boss fight in a MD series, though. It also puts the relationship between the hero and the partner as the closest, in my opinion. Friendship was such a big thing in the game and it was played out in a good, non-annoying way. The ending was the most tear-jerking out of any of them. This game, despite being my least favorite, has the BEST post-game story of them all. Just like how you are gone for an extended period of time in TDS, you actually get to play as your partner in the post game. If I thought the other games seemed real, this one gets the medal for being the best at that. They even also actually care that you do have a life in the human world and make it a point to mention that you do have the ability to go back and forth between worlds, even if you don't actually do that in-game.

The game, overall, though, seemed much too short, only made longer by the awful fact that you can only go on one mission at a time. The post game was nice, but it didn't last long, and it just seemed like the game could have done more to expand on the rest of the world. I also didn't really find the Pokemon Paradise thing that interesting...

So Red Rescue Team is my favorite, with Explorers of Sky as a close second, and Gates to Infinity being my least favorite.

 

[Sakuraa]

My favorite games are the original Red/Blue rescue team.

Spoiler

I loved the story surrounding the player. After starting a rescue team dedicated to helping other Pokémon they quickly become a popular hero. Only to later be thrown out by their friends when they are accused of causing to the natural disasters. Then, they are later the ones who have to go back to the town that rejected them and eventually save them. I also like how we later realize that it was actually our enemy, Gengar, who was the cursed human. I felt like the rescue team was the best organization out of the three games where the purpose was solely dedicated to helping others in need. In addition, we were able to make our own rules and do things however we wanted. The only thing I disliked was how the ending had no explanation of the player never returning to the human world.

My second favorite are Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky.

Spoiler

The story here was a much more complex than the originals and almost all the characters have something important to contribute. It was focused around time and important aspects of the Pokémon world. I like how the player was given a greater backstory as a human who had the purpose of saving the world with their Pokémon partner. We are deceived by the henchman of the main antagonist into believing they are a great explorer, while at the same time being told that our original partner was a villain trying to freeze time forever. It also added in a minor conflict between Grovyle and the partner character at a later point. The partner also turns out to be the holder of the device that allows the player to confront the main antagonist. In addition, the post game explained the entire prologue of the main story. I kind of liked the guild where we started out as newbies and had to work our way up to be respected by the leader, but like I said before, I preferred the rescue team where I was my own leader.

Gates to Infinity was my least favorite.

Spoiler

I never understood the purpose of the Pokémon paradise. It basically just seemed to be a place where the partner wanted Pokemon to go to be happy. It really wasn't beneficial to anyone. The way we got sucked up into all this stuff with Umbreon/Espeon, Virizion/Keldeo, the Great Glacier, and everything just seemed so weird since we weren't a special organization, like rescue and exploration teams. I did however like how the town members started out being mean and had to have their morals and faith changed by the player and partner. In addition, there is actually a conflict with the player choosing between staying in the Pokémon world and returning home. I liked the post game where we got to play as the partner before choosing to travel between both. Other than this though, I really didn't care much for this game as much as the other two. I also didn't like how they removed the personality tests and gave us such a small selection for players and partners, limiting us to just 5.

Overall, Blue Rescue Team>Explorers of Time>Gates to Infinity.

 

[smalllady]

Definitely Explorers of Sky. I like Explorers of Time/Darkness too, but EoS fixed a few issues from Time/Darkness, such as faster saves, being able to switch Pokemon out if you recruited someone in the middle of a dungeon, and held items no longer going straight back into the bag after each mission.

Red/Blue Rescue Team was okay...but the friendship between my partner and I felt a bit flat at times.

I didn't even bother getting Gates to Infinity, since they suddenly thought it was acceptable to have less than 1/4th of all Pokemon featured in the game.

 

[Mokoniki]

My favorite is Explorers of Sky. I loved the story and characters and I find myself coming back to replay it every few months. Blue Rescue Team is second. It's what introduced me to the series and I loved the story in this one too. Gates to Infinity is last. While GtI improved upon character personalities in the story, it was really disappointing that the story was so short and they cut out the amount of Pokemon in the game.

 

[Chibster]

I like Red,Time, and Sky equally. I felt like I was more attached to my partner in Time and Sky though.

Spoiler

They were all really sad in the first place!!

I didn't even bother getting Gates to Infinity..I tried the demo and nothing sparked the same way the others did. :/

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'd probably go with Explorers of Sky. Explorers of Time/Darkness was good, but I liked the features they added in for Explorers of Sky, being able to play as Riolu and later Lucario was awesome for me and the extended epilogue was seriously needed. The characters were good and the storyline was handled quite well.

Gates to Infinity would probably be my second favorite. The missions were fun, the storyline, while not as good as the last few games, moved at a good pace and they threw in some nice twists here and there. The friendship between the player and their partner Pokemon was the best one yet and the ending made me cry so much. I always cry at the end of all of the Mystery Dungeon games, but that ending just broke me. It definitely has the best post-storyline content and has some good replay value. It was disappointing to see that they didn't include a lot of Pokemon, but I enjoyed it all the same.

Blue/Red Rescue team was okay. It didn't impress me as much as the other games did, but they were enjoyable.

 

[colours]

It's hard to say as to which Mystery Dungeon game would be my least favorite, but I'd have to say Explorers of Time. I don't think anything was necessarily wrong with it per se, but ever since I've gotten PMD Sky, I always thought Time was more or less irrelevant. To be honest, I always thought that Sky should've came right after Red/Blue Rescue Team.

Gates to Infinity is a rather difficult game for me, and that's because I'm playing as Snivy for it. It gets ridiculously hard towards the end because Volcarona is a massive bitch with Silver Wind, but yeah. Ultimately though, it's an amazing game, and my only hope is that I wish you can skip the dialogue, but it can be overlooked, somewhat.

So Gates to Infinity would be my favorite MD game at this point.

 

[Almonds]

My first mystery dungeon game was Blue Rescue Team, and I loved it. Best in-game story, and lengthy post-game content, though I wished the legendary rescuer Lucario appeared in person XDD There had been all sorts of rumors ranging from collecting all the Unowns to beating the 99-floor'd dungeons at least 5 times to battle Lucario.

Also, Explorers of Sky was pretty good as well... except that you couldn't evolve until you pretty much completed everything - in the post-game. I did like that you could do side-quest missions as other team members, too.

 

[Combusken]

Since I'm not that big on PMD, I've only played and finished Explorers of Darkness (*) and Gates to Infinity. I think they're both even. Characters and story-wise.

HOWEVER...
Gates to Infinity had some convenient changes that make me like actually playing it more; Recruited/partner Pokemon gaining exp even when you don't bring them with you in a dungeon, hunger being gone, Wonder Orbs being usable in boss battles, etc. (...But in exchange for all that, you can only do one job request at a time -__-)

(I don't think this qualifies as a spoiler but I'm marking it anyway)

Spoiler

Gates to Infinity also got pretty depressing later on, which I liked, because I'm evil apparently.

Maybe you can just say GTI is my favorite since I have more things to say about it.

(* I know Sky is better, but I couldn't get a copy at the time U__U)