The Pokemon Ranger spin-off series started out as an innovative, new way to experience Pokemon, by connecting with them emotionally and capturing them for single-use only in your party. More environmentally friendly than, say, trapping them in small balls. The original Ranger was rough on the edges, and its sequels have continuously added new features and ironed out its flaws one by one. Tracks of Light again tweaks the Ranger formula for the better, but like its own predecessor, Shadows of Almia, still leaves out a few inconsistencies that haven't been fully resolved.
Seems the Japanese were about as excited about Pokemon Ranger 3 as I am myself. On the week it was first released, that was on March 1-7, Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light sold 160,532 copies. And since the game was released on March 6th, that makes it the sales figures for two days. Considering how Ranger is always the second banana to the main line of Pokemon RPGs, that's quite some impressive stuff.
Pokemon Ranger 3 continues its dominance into the 2nd week, again topping off the top ten in the sales charts by selling 65,355 copies(although to me, that comes as a bit subdued, but it happens, right?). It hasn't pulled Nintendo's hardware sales back to the top, but no one expected it to do that either. That heavy responsibility falls on another game(I'm looking at you, Mario Galaxy 2).
Figures brought in from Media Create. And before you ask, these are Japanese sales figures. Can't believe I didn't mention that at the beginning.
Top ten in software this week:
1) Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki 65,355
2) Tomodachi Collection 35,993
3) New Super Mario Bros. Wii 34,795
4) What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!? 3D 33,920
5) Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce 2 31,674
6) Zettai Hero: Modification Plan 31,447
7) Battlefield: Bad Company 2 28,353
8) RPG Maker DS 23,766
9) Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Ultimate Hits) 22,013
10) Wii Fit Plus 21,085
Well aren't I slow. I've only begun to really get into the game, I'm about 20 hours in. Here's two more things I found interesting in the game.
Ukulele Pichu's upgrades
From the beginning of the game, Ukulele Pichu's assist can be upgraded once, twice, three times, each time the tune getting longer and Pichu playing more frantically. And then the finale! A giant bolt of paralyzing lightning!
After a rather late mission towards the end of the game, you FINALLY get your hands on Latios and its Ranger Sign, which looks a lot like a paper plane with two loose ends(don't ask, that's what I thought it looked like). Latios has its own Pokeassist in the sky too, and it flies faster than your regular ride. Think of Staraptor as your old car, and Latios is the shiny new Porsche. It needs better suspension though, Staraptor can turn better than Latios.
The time travel and multiplayer components of Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light are actually very closely related, because all the multiplayer missions take place in a temple in the past world(which will be revealed to you through multiple trips in the story). Once you've passed a certain point in the storyline, you can go back there anytime by touching the rock slab in Rainbow Island.
Below is the main hub room for the past world. In it you can go into the temple or change.level up your partner Pokemon. Ukulele Pichu cannot follow you, and you have your own sets of partners in that world. You start out with a Piplup and you gain more by completing missions.
The top screen is different...Your Styler level is reset for the past world, and your partners' power and recovery speed can be upgraded by using AP, another set of points different from Ranger Points. You gain them for each successful capture in missions and for completing it.
The tasks in each mission are simple at first...you capture a set number of Pokemon, or certain species of Pokemon and defeat a boss in a set time limit....Along the way you can break chests to gain extra time/Styler energy/ other powerups most multiplayer games have as standard items. Of course, I'd imagine with 4 people playing it'll be a race to see who gets the mission done first, and based off official trailers, you can help your partners capture Pokemon together. Below, screens of a mission, and the top screen while you're playing. The green boxes are treasure chests, and the red box is where you're headed(to beat the boss) after you've completed a task.
And then after that it's boss time.
After capturing the boss Pokemon you get your mission rank and probably a new unlocked partner. If you've captured certain species of Pokemon, rock slabs in the present world bearing that Pokemon's picture will break, opening up new paths.
By completing the multiplayer missions(you can do them solo if you want), you're rewarded when you go back. For instance, the rock slab thing I mentioned earlier, but more importantly, you get Celebi's Ranger Sign, which you can use at any time to summon the partner you had in the past world, any one of them! Cool feature there. Video for details.
The Pokemon Ranger series advances rapidly with each game in the series(well, like most good games then). Here are some of the good new features that weren't in previous Ranger games, that I've found out so far.
PokeAssists no longer involve your Capture Line. Instead, the Pokemon itself will come out and attack for you, and once it's been used, it doesn't get released, but instead goes back to your party to recharge. It gets released if it's hit by an enemy move.Video for details.
Ranger Signs. These let you summon certain Pokemon by drawing a one-stroke line on the touch screen, such as Raikou and Entei. You can ride on them and go faster, eliminating the need for Doduo to exist (hah!). Video for details.
Ranger Points. While the previous games gave you more space for your captured Pokemon, increased partner gauges and Styler charge as rewards for completing missions, Tracks of Light takes a different approach. For completing missions and quests you get Ranger Points. These can be traded in for more HP, Power, line length and so on. Much more flexible. Oh, and you get to hold 7 Pokemon right off the bat. Also eliminates the need for Ranger Ranks.
Clearing obstacles may require more than one Pokemon. Example picture below.....sometimes things may need the assistance of more than one Pokemon. Like the example, to clear out a large fire, you need 3 Pokemon with the Water Field Ability, and each one must be at least power level 2.
Pokemon with Angry status. Sometimes a Pokemon will start out or gain a red health bar while you're trying to capture it (example picture below). Especially when the Pokemon Nappers are involved. The red bar renderes your Styler almost useless against it- you have to use PokeAssists or Ukulele Pichu to finish off the red bar. Or if you're pro enough, keep looping around the Pokemon with your line. You deal about 10% of damage of what you can usually do with a regular loop, which is very much reduced. And this makes bosses a bigger pain in the ass.
Loop combo increases damage done. Pokemon Ranger 1 focused solely on consecutive loops to capture a Pokemon. Ranger 2 focused on getting the Pokemon's HP bar to zero. Ranger 3 melds both systems together perfectly. You still work on getting a HP bar to zero, but the game rewards you by increasing your damage done every 5 consecutive loops you make, up to 50. Very nice.
Stricter bonus points system for capture. You know, the extra points you get for getting no damage done to your styler, capturing quickly and with only one line, that sort of thing. Now those bonuses no longer add to your EXP, but instead add to your grade only. No bonus points = C rank, 1-4 points= B rank, 5-9 points = A rank, and 10+ points = S rank. For each S rank you get1 Ranger Point. And trust me, S isn't as easy to get anymore.
And that's about all I found out in my first six hours with the game. Again, I'll keep everyone posted as I play more~!
I got the game early! Really, I can't wait to play it, so here's my hands-on report. I'll cover my first hour with the game itself! Well, this Pokemon Ranger, from the very beginning, looks like it has improved a lot over its previous attempts, but still maintains the core gameplay. Anyway, on to my log. Click 'Read More', please~! It's tons of pictures and videos I took while playing!
00.00 I turn it on, see the regular opening stuff. Wow, 3D ocean! And then in come Latios and Latias flying in towards the distance. You can see the land of Oblivia and listen to the familiar Ranger opening theme, albeit slightly rejigged again.
00.01 I'm given the option to either start the game, or go to the Ranger Net. There are online missions for downloading right off the bat, but I'll leave them for now and start the game proper. I choose my gender. 00.02 The opening cutscene begins with a chase in the sky in 3D. Some shady-looking guys are pursuing a Latios. You ride a Staraptor and end their plot. They send a Pidgey to attack you, but like the Ranger you are, you capture it right away. They think you're a Ranger, but because of your yellow scarf not being uniform in Oblivia, they hesitate first(nearly everyone in the early game thinks that way too). Next was dodging their attacks. 00.04 Oh? My lady partner comes in to help! But then their leader comes in and shoots me out of the sky. I plunge into the ocean and drop my Styler. A Mantyke decides to play with it and I give chase. This minigame thing is swell. Hopefully I can do it more than just once~. 00.06 The cutscene where the shady guys arrive in flying machines and kidnap Pokemon with their beams. All of Ukulele Pichu's friends were taken, and it looks more than upset. 00.08 Flashback to the Fiore Region, in the Ranger Union. Apparently I was given a special mission to go to the islands of Oblivia to take down an evil team called the Pokemon Nappers. 00.10 I end up on a beach and save my game. Some old guy called Booker shows up and introduces me to Drop Island, where I am right now. I capture my first Pokemon outside of the Pidgey. It was a Wingull. Ukulele Pichu thought I was one of the bad guys and attacked me (wait little guy, I'm a ****ing RANGER goddammit, Capture On!) 00.12 Lots of cute Pokemon around (XD). In no time I had racked up about 6. The top screen looks different too.(and this was where I finally decided to start talking screenshots) 00.13 First Pokemon field ability used to cut a log blocking the road. Obvious. 00.15 I captured an Ursaring, which was used to push ol' Booker's boat into the water. Apparently he knows Ukulele Pichu very well. It decided to follow the both of us to Rainbow Island, where there was a town, and where Booker lives. Pichu wants to save its friends. Main title appears. 00.18 I go into Booker's house. Ukulele Pichu notices the Nappers pass by and gives chase angrily(psh, children). Once the lot notices Pichu's absence, I was to go to the nearby forest to find Pichu and find out what the Nappers were up to. 00.21 Apparently the semi-3D graphic thing was a trick, it looks 3D, but everything still scrolls by on a 2D plane. Still a nice trick though. I also notice the absence of a Ranger Rank- probably because there aren't any Ranger Unions around Oblivia. As far as I can see. You can carry 7 Pokemon with you right off the bat, no more limits. 00.26 I pass the forest into a cave. Bumped into Pichu going nuts around the Nappers again. 00.29 Finally decided to try my hand at a PokeAssist. The system has been tweaked, and I like this new change a lot. See the video for details.
00.35 The Nappers attacked me for the second time(the first was outside the cave). They've obtained a Ranger Sign from a nearby slab of writing. 00.37 Raikou appeared and the Nappers are scared ****less and run off. Aw, Pichu's ukulele was broken in its scuffle. Well, now that we've found it, mission clear! 00.38 I receive 50 Ranger Points. Those are used for upgrading your Styler and other stuff, but the system is currently broken and I can't cash in my points yet(damn). I also noticed you get 1 Ranger Point for each S Rank capture. 00.41 I receive my first quest- sidejobs that give out rewards and stuff(in this case, it was 10 Ranger Points, not bad). It was by Booker. He needed something from Drop Island to repair Pichu's Ukulele. So off I go. 00.45 Arrived at destination, the girl that was tagging along jumped into a large pit in a tree trunk to get it. How clumsy, she disturbed a nest full of Sunkerns and I had to capture all 6 of them. Imagine what it's like to be close to this many of them!(she did let out a scream) 00.46 Returned to Rainbow Island with the item 00.50 Something went down at the square just outside the city. I went there to check it out and a group was standing looking at some green ball of light. It was a Celebi! After a successful capture, it took me back to the past, where I met someone...an acquaintance with the playful Celebi. She told Celebi to return me to my own time at once, which it did. I get the feeling I'll be meeting her more often though. 00.52 Pichu's Ukulele is repaired. Pichu looked completely thrilled and jumps all over the place. Cute little guy~ 00.55 Ukulele Pichu wants to join me as my partner! I was taught how to use him, but as of now I haven't had the chance to try it out yet. Here's the tutorial I recorded.
00.57 I was to look for the area Ranger and made my way to the beach. Got caught up in an underwater mission that had me searching the ocean floor for one of those UFO things the Nappers were riding. Naturally Pichu can't follow me down. 1.00 I finished the mission and came back to the surface. A quick one. I had to chase a Kingdra at one point too. Check out both videos of it!
Phew....that was long. I don't think I have the energy to keep this up for the rest of the game~! Well take this as a taste of things to come! I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on interesting happenings in Pokemon Ranger 3 and expect an import review later on too!
No less than three Pokemon games will be released in the month of March. There's Pokemon Heart Gold and Pokemon Soul Silver bound for the US on March 26, but there's another Pokemon game coming out for Japan two weeks earlier, and surprise- it's a spinoff, and it's name is Pokemon Ranger: Tracks of Light! (or Pokemon Ranger: Hikari no Kiseki in Japanese). Bet no one expected this.
