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Completed PS: The First Journey & Red's Journey West

This project is complete. Any future revisions will be bug fixes or small updates.
Project Status
Completed
Project Version
11
V11: RJW Trainer and Pokemon Update
Please note that if you had started playing on any version below v10, your saves won't be compatible. If, however, you had already finished Oak's part, and updated shortly after having started Red's part, you may use this save:

https://mega.nz/file/wDRDzYBa#A3PMHRjDow6XKqfI-5exr8uwrThUUZfR5xFfJQRW0oo

It will start you right at the beginning of RJW. (v10 compatible)



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A swan song to the older generations who started with the originals, and a novel, thrilling, emotional story for the newer generations!!


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Experience "Generation 0" where it all began - witness Professor Oak's first journey across the Kanto Region - and after you are done, follow Red's Journey to Johto, 40 years later, in search of a very important person!
Two adventures in one! Instead of a traditional postgame, you'll get to experience a new story, throughout a challenging Johto, in the shoes of the (second) strongest Trainer in the world! Follow Red's Journey to redemption after a devastating and humiliating loss to Ethan (Gold). Witness his transformation through loneliness to maturity, as he traverses Johto together with a cast of familiar characters.

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It is the year 1957. Samuel Oak, a 20 year-old prodigy, has just returned back to his home country after spending three years in the world’s best university. With him, he brings science, technology, and the true spirit of trainerhood. On a mission to establish the first ever League in the East, Oak will have to adjust to local battling traditions, overcome bureaucratic hurdles, and introduce local uneducated Tamers to the proper way of doing things.


FIND OUT HOW IT ALL PLAYED OUT BACK IN THE 50ies! Gen 0!

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STORY
1957 Kanto is a place under heavy development. The concept of a “trainer” is relatively new – with most people who are on the creature business calling each other “Tamers”. They battle for money, they have the right to take another Tamer’s Pokemon upon winning, and they generally cause a great deal of pain to the locals.



Once Kantonians learned how to craft capsules (Pokeballs) out of Apricorns, a “creature craze” swept through the country. The rush of making easy money, putting responsibilities aside, and experiencing unprecedented freedom and strength captivated the youth. The frequent complains from seniors went unheard, students started dropping out of school, and gangs quickly formed.



In this chaotic environment, you are tasked with bringing to Kanto (and the entirety of the "Pokemon" nation)... not a ruleset, not a new way of battling, but an entire infrastructure that will eventually end up being responsible for the shaping of modern trainer conventions as we know them. Will you be able to bring law and order to the land, or will the wild environment of Kanto get you?


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FEATURES:



- Inspired by the beta versions of Red and Green, (Trainers using whips, economy based around Pokemon, early lore or concepts that got scrapped, pokemon being closer to natural organisms than wee-wee-mythological multibeings from multiverses)



- Remastered Kanto that is visually closer to how it looked back in gen 1 (hey, no nostalgia pandering here, don’t go down the genwunner route, kthxbye). For instance, Route 1 has fields on either side, not trees as in Gen 3. Kanto is much more rural, as represented in older artwork.



- Manmade items are practically non-existent, you need to make Pokeballs from Apricorns (unreal time system means you can get a ball converted relatively fast), find berries or roots, and generally be economically-minded. You can buy Pokemon but you can’t sell them.



- Establish the first Gyms and the first League, by taking down Tamer groups whose activities can sometimes be... reprehensible



- The only evolution method known is “level up” evolution. At least to those who DO know that Pokemon can even evolve in the first place…



- Many Pokemon that are known to be rare today, are ubiquitous in this era. Well, not THAT ubiquitous, but much easier to find.



- Access your “Storage Boxes” from the menu. Well, computers don't exist yet, at least in Kanto, and there is no restriction forcing teleportation upon your ...balls… if you have more than six of them. So you can simply stuff those extra mons inside your bag.



- Organize your resources carefully. Berries aside, they are limited, and losing a battle means losing a lot of money. Healing services are both rare and expensive.



- A modified HGSS soundtrack, with a couple of OG tracks in the mix, that aims to replicate the OG feeling of Kanto music in an authentic way. What would the soundtrack have sounded like back then, if it wasn’t restricted by GB’s audio hardware?



- Discover the background of various characters, from Koga to Bertha, and witness the transformation of a ragtag, loose group of Tamers into Gym Leaders.



- A heartwarming story that explains Oak’s background and his role in every future trainer’s journey
.


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CHARACTERS:


The four childhood friends:



Samuel



A 20 year-old prodigy whose intellectual prowess earned him the title of the youngest professor on earth. Returning from Unova, and now on a mission, he ventures out to open a laboratory and earn an official position in the University of Celadon. A bit grumpy and certainly not very warm. His childhood friends, who greet him upon returning, are eager to bring his heart back home.





Agatha



Agatha is a very sensitive woman whose aim is to become a nurse. Despite getting every single attempt to make Sam open up to her, shut down, she keeps going. A very giving person who borders on naivety. Always looks at the bright side of life.



John



Sam’s best (and perhaps only real) friend. He grew up with Sam’s father, whom he absolutely adored. Physically gifted, he always protected Sam from trouble, trouble that frankly, was caused in part by Sam’s social incompetency. Or perhaps, (and as counterweight to his fascination with objects) by his absolute indifference to people. John is very competitive and has an unwavering spirit. He secretly admires Sam for his intelligence, despite all his grandiose declarations that physical strength is all that matters.





Athena



Athena is a bit of a tomboy with a strong sense of adventure, and buttloads of energy. Sometimes “sense of adventure” becomes “total recklessness” and she ends up in trouble. John rescuing her all the time (yes, there’s a trend here with John) eventually got to her and she fell for him. She is the only person who can calm him down after a bad day.



=================================================================


The four childhood friends, will eventually meet again. And it’s up to Sam to decide whether fun and work can coexist, and whether those four will get to relive their childhood bliss during an adventure that will hopefully make up for the three years Sam had been away (and for Sam's obsession with studying that led to total neglect of his personal life).


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~

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~

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~

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In Red’s Journey West, you will be faced with harder (than usual) fights. If you are competent in competitive, they will be a walk in the park - otherwise, since they were designed to teach non-competitive players how to adapt to the scene, you will come out with greater confidence in your skills, as a result. So don't fret, and approach your choices with a tactical mind!

Find out the truth about Red's missing brother, and the events that transpired between Red's loss and his arrival in the West, in this emotional journey about the process of coming of age, in a time when traditional family structures have started falling apart.

On a fateful day, on the very peak of Mt. Silver, Red was dealt a decisive blow - a newcomer from Johto, with 16 badges, swept his team with ease. To someone like Red, who had never lost a battle before, it felt like the world had ended. After running away with his tail between his legs, he stumbled upon an old friend, who gave him a letter mentioning a potentially important person to Red. With purpose anew, our protagonist finally descends Route 26, and travels to Johto in search of him.

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Features:

- The game’s difficulty has been made with introducing non-competitive players to competitive tactics, in mind!

- Beta Johto content restored! Caves, routes, and a Town!

- Starters given dual typing (yeah, cliche, I know) almost all competitively “insignificant” mons buffed

- A quick-paced adventure that respects your time! Useful additions to overcome grinding

- Beta mons that got cut, in the form of corresponding later gen mons

- Secret mons for those who care about them

- more than 100 animated portraits!

- remastered and original tracks (stadium 1 and 2, colosseum, HGSS)

- L O R E


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Red
Once known as the strongest Trainer in the world, Red has been silent for the majority of his life, and most people have taken that for granted - perhaps he is just "le strong silent type", or he's been maintaining that attitude in defense against a world where battling is everyone’s only real job. Despite not showing his face to his friends and family, it looks like the latter are still looking (out) for him. Will he be able to overcome his loss and find the person he's been looking for?

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Blue
A self-proclaimed "travelling merchant", with an obvious tendency for kleptomania, and a sassy and snobby attitude, this girl is wandering Johto with an unknown purpose. She "happens" to run into the gang every now and then, and let's all hope she doesn't get to join.

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Green
The Gym Leader of Viridian, Green seems to have matured a bit after the close-call loss to Red in the Pokemon League, three years prior. His... smelling proclivity hasn't kept him away from trouble - although one could say it's exactly the fact of sniffing out things that's helped him find Red.

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Daisy
Green's older sister, and the caretaker of both Red and Green whenever Red's mom was away, she's the cheerful, wise, and strong mentor figure that Red and Green had missed growing up. She is unstoppable during a shopping-spree, and while she loves irony, she's quite tactful when she's with people. Unless that's Red or her brother, whose diapers she's helped change many a times - and that still makes them lil' babies in her view.




SCREENSHOTS:



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DOWNLOAD:



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Bugs:
  • Some item icons might show as "?", please report those.
  • Some mons are missing their cries



Community Mods:

- "Unraveled Paths" by PJ https://eeveeexpo.com/threads/4513/
A mod that gives you the option to choose between the original ending and an alternate ending. Compatible with all future versions of TFJ.

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CREDITS:


~CREDITS~
if I forgot someone PLEASE let me know immediately!

~CREDITS~


IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:


Nintendo and Gamefreak


Pokemon Essentials by:

Maruno
Poccil
Flameguru


With contributions from:

AvatarMonkeyKirby
Marin
Boushy
MiDas Mike
Brother1440
Near Fantastica
FL.
PinkMan
Genzai Kawakami
Popper
help-14
Rataime
IceGod64
SoundSpawn
Jacob O. Wobbrock
the__end
KitsuneKouta
Venom12
Lisa Anthony
Wachunga
Luka S.J.

and everyone else who helped out




~ Testing Team ~


Sandy

Ray2064

Manul

Earthescape

DemICE

Chris

SaitoHikari



~ Assistance ~

Ray - Graphics Insertion, Cry insertion

AcrylicBoredom - Cry insertion

RockyRock - Grahpics Insertion




~ Ideas ~

CocoaButterKisses

RockyRock

ArtilleryOctillery




~ Johto Dungeon Maps, Route 49, Pal Park ~

Earthescape




~ Bughunting, Feedback, Ideas ~

Skyter97

Dogboy2709

MikeCakes

Demice

Specific

Yrgulian

DilawZ08

Jingle

Alilatias

Reshad

Misfit0216

Canneon

Anty

DJ Sha'Do Umbreon

Paravoina

Ceamlyn

MMMM13

Cpt. Arroth

HeroVoltsy

Lanturn Joe

Miri33

Mariyannu

Earthescape

Erun

Coolbhupi

Chronos

FL

Pan

Ntc




~ Original FRLG maps ~

JohtoBlaziken




~ Scripts ~


Hollow Ego - Simulated/Scripted Battle

Wonsul - Storage Access from Menu

Kurotsune, Amethyst - Text Skip

FL - Unreal Time System

Luka S.J., Tenshi of War - Animated Battlers

LostSoulsDev / carmaniac, PurpleZaffre, and Golisopod User - Location Signposts

Mr. Gela, with help from Golisopod User - Namebox and Portraits

Klein Studio, Marin , edited by TrankerGolD - Fast Forward

Derxwna Kapsyla - Bicycle and surf theme permanence

GB -> Essentials, by rigbycwts, imported by Not Important to v18

Marin -> Easy Questing Interface

NuriYuri -> Fmod Audio Looping




Other snippet related:
----------------------

Vendily

Nikdie (shadow Pokemon type quadruple damage removal)

Uber Dunsparce



Eventing Tricks:
------------------

averyindahouse - Storing party


Gen 8 PBS
------------
UberDunsparce


Legends PBS
------------



====================
~ Graphics ~
======================

Portrait Bases
--------------

nephae
_64smashmaster3ds and Chocogrotto, 2000s Alola Blue (Green)


Tilesets:
---------


SirMalo's HGSS Rips for RMXP

La Pampa - Epic Adventures >

Tileset from Pokemon Epic Adventures (La Pampa)
https://pokemonworkshop.com/forum/index.php?topic=409
made available as a resource in the french dev kit and fangame community.

Associated Crediting:
Code:
Expand Collapse Copy
Alistair
Alucus
Bakura155
Bati'
Blue Beedrill
BoOmxBiG
Chimcharsfireworkd
CNickC/CNC
CrimsonTakai
Cuddlesthefatcat
Dewitty
EpicDay
Fused
Gigatom
Heavy-Metal-Lover
Hek-el-grande
Kage-No-Sensei
Kizemaru_Kurunosuke
Kymotonian/Kyledove
LaPampa
LotusKing
New-titeuf
Novus
Pokemon_Diamond
PrinceLegendario
Reck
Red-Gyrados
REMY35
Saurav
SL249
Spaceemotion
Speedialga
Stefpoke
sylver1984
ThatsSoWitty
TheEnglishKiwi
Thegreatblaid
ThePokemonChronicles
TwentyOne
UltimoSpriter
Warpras
WesleyFG
Yoh
Youri (Yuri / Nagato Yuki)
07harris/Paranoid
19dante91
27alexmad27

Akizakura16 - Interior Tileset

Kyledove - Some overworld tiles

SailorVicious - Some overworld tiles

Aveon Trainer's interiors

Heartlessdragoon (RSE Tile Rip)

RBRNNova - Tent tiles

hek-el-grande, light-pa, zerudez, phyromatical - Lava/volcanic tiles

Flurmimon - A few cave tiles

PeekyChew - Traditional Japanese Tiles

Mikenaria -HGSS Interiors

Rayquaza Dot - Some overworld tiles

ChaoticCherryCake - Truck from Public Tiles

Phyromatical - Shipwreck tiles

SailorVicious - Old Style Shipwreck


Autotiles:
-----------------

HGSS Autotiles for RMXP - Ripped by DeepBlue PacificWaves, WolfPP and SirMalo


Sprites:
----------------

Greninja and Mr. Rime

N-Kin
aXl
G.E.Z., TheAetherPlayer

ezerart
ursaluna by zerudez
Sirfitched Base

Conyjams

shadow lugia base by shadowgate31

sirfitched base by KingOFTheXRoads

noscium - drampa


All other next gen mons:
--------------------------
Falgaia,
Azria (zerudez)
KingOFTheXRoads



Trainers:
-----------
Solo993 and tebited15

joetestrikesback

DSTAR99 - Grown Red




Charsets:
------------------

Gen 4 OW Sprites by:

Neo-Spriteman

VanillaSunshine

PurpleZaffre & Maicerochico

AtomicReactor

Mighty Jetters -PMD Lapras Sprite Rip

DiegoWT - Gen 5 Chars Gen 4 Style

sonicshadowsilver

lapokefanatica



UI:
---------------------------

aki - free summary screens

zygoat - Platinum Style Battle UI



Fogs:
-----------------------------

Zuhn - cherry blossom leaves gif



Battle Backgrounds:
--------------------------

FinalArt

iametrine

carchagui

princessphoenix

Phoenix of Light92 - XY battle background rip


Other (VS sprite)
---------------

iTheRealPikachuV2



#===========================
~ Audio ~
#============================

Music:
-----------

Modified HGSS Kanto and Johto, Stadium 1 & 2, XD Gale of Darkness OST - by AenaonDusky


HGSS Midis ripped by Exabyte U

Mt. Moon Midi: Nayuki Midi Rip from RBY, modified

Surf Track Base Midi: unnamed, from khinsider.com, modified

All music edited in FL STUDIO, using FLEX, VSCO2 and Orion Vsti (all free)




"RPG Maker XP" by:
Enterbrain

Pokémon is owned by:
The Pokémon Company
Nintendo
Affiliated with Game Freak


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Questions and Miscellanous Information:


GAMEPLAY LENGTH: 6-8 hours, Oak's part, 6-9 hours Red's part

Android dark map fix as suggested by PJ:
Hold and drag the game in game library; after the menu pops up, select the "Optimize Maps" option.
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Click "ENTER" to initiate the conversion process. This may take up to 3 mins based on the game and map size.
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Click "ESCAPE" once the conversion is completed. The emulator will close abruptly, its expected.
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The game should now go from this ...
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to this!
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Q: Is this game for me?
A: If you like story-driven games with a bit of challenge here and there, then yes. The game is generally for everyone, but will probably be most enjoyed by older fans.



Q: Generation specifics?

A: Evolution: Levelup only for ALL mons no need for trading, stones etc. Gen6 mechanics, No Double Battles(well, mostly), evolutions of Kanto mons, later evos included, but baby mons not included until postgame. Psychic and Fighting types, as well as several Kanto-specific mons do not exist yet. Farfetchd is OP.


Q: Is this game complete?
A: Yes it is. Feedback greatly appreciated!

Q: What is Red's Journey West?
A: In traditional terms the "postgame" but it's an entire new game, a second part to The First Journey, playable after you finish Oak's part.



Feel free to use this version of Kanto in your game as long as you credit JohtoBlaziken and La Pampa (and their associated credit list), goes without saying.


 
Last edited:

Mr. SU

Eternal Meanderer
Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2023
Posts
8
I believe I at least managed to avoid the glaring edgy issues... hopefully.
Absolutely! I was thinking the whole playthrough “If the twist is that Sam ends up being evil just like in ~~fangame I wont mention for the sake of not causing drama~~ then I’m gonna hate this” and it ended up being pretty close to that but with such sincerity and tactful emotion I loved the ending.

Stuff about ending edge
Yeah I was exaggerating a bit too much there I’ll admit. He’s not directly responsible for the villains’s actions, just a collaborator. It’s a real gut punch of an ending with a lot to take in all at once. (My favorite kind of ending actually)

About the ending warning
At the end of the day, tfj is a very story-heavy game. Some people have no problems metal gear solid 4’s hour long lore dumps and some people fall asleep after reading for more than 1 minute. I estimate the ending cutscenes before you switch to Giovanni’s perspective at Cinnabar is about 5-10 minutes which for a big dramatic climax in a story-heavy game should ideally be quite palletable for anyone who’s been invested enough to get there. I haven’t seen the old version so I can’t compare but I found it fine myself.

Internet-y dialogue
All-in-all, there was never a point in a major cutscene that felt internet-y but I will admit, I’m about to do what may be the most pedantic constructive criticism any person has ever done for the writing of a Pokemon fangame. There’s a point where Athena uses the word “sick” to describe something (I think it was either when Sam meets up with everyone again in Vermilion or when they’re all at the tavern in Lavender) and at one point John says (I believe when he’s scolding Sam after he gets out of Mount Moon) “Think about what you’ve done, man!”

These are both kind of 90’s/2000’s slang that took me out of it way more than it reasonably should. They’re 20-somethings and friends so it’s reasonable fot them to use slang but they are very synonymous with their era which is distinctly not 50’s (and yet still around today, I use both of those words a lot myself online, hence why I consider them kind of internet-y)

This is super subjective and really nitpicky so if you don’t change them, I wont mind in the slightest. It’s quite hard to write characters being casual with each other without using slang, especially with our inherent subjective experiences and with this being a small scale project meaning you don’t have an editor.

One more thing about the general prose though.

The writing overall felt very concise and well paced which is super impressive. Pacing is one of those things it’s hard to appreciate unless you deliberately notice it’s off. The only time I felt a scene dragged on too long was the post-battle convo in Agatha’s gym but I’m not too sure how to shorten it with how (unexpectedly in the moment) important it is. It might be worth considering making it more dynamic by having Sam and Agatha walk around the room while Agatha is tending to the plants as it felt a little odd to me for such an emotional exchange in the corner of a room.

RJW is more chaotic and laid back than TFJ
That actually makes me more interested. Chaotic and naturalistic dialogue is something I doubly love reading and writing. My favorite game is The World Ends With You which is all about that kinda thing. While I love the group in TFJ, nearly every big and memorable exchange in that group is an argument with Sam. Exploring a group that butts heads but still cares for each other and shares laughs together is just what the doctor ordered after TFJ.

The Rival Raticate Lives!
This pleases me greatly, I hope he got a good retirement in the pc after carrying Blue’s team against Misty. (I’m a Bulbasaur picker so Blue likely had to rely on Pidgeotto and the Rat to win that fight)
 

AenaonDogsky

Arbiter of Doggos
Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2017
Posts
510
Absolutely! I was thinking the whole playthrough “If the twist is that Sam ends up being evil just like in ~~fangame I wont mention for the sake of not causing drama~~ then I’m gonna hate this” and it ended up being pretty close to that but with such sincerity and tactful emotion I loved the ending.

Thanks for the extra feedback! While I'd love to do some historical research regarding certain details, I am not sure how worth it would be to actively adopt 50s youngster slang into this - not only do I not have intimate knowledge of the era's vernacular... but it would probably feel very off to any kind of audience past the 1980s. I think this kind of slang gets the point across fine, for now. But I will look into it when I have the time.

Thanks so much for the Agatha post-gym part, I do remember not being able to trim that enough. I'll give your dynamic scene idea a spin.

Lastly you have a good point about the final save warning. I'm cutting it out going forward. I hope you won't find RJW too rushed (these games are exhausting to make), as I had to wrap it up a bit quick to get work done on FE. Oh, and Raticate has been boxed for chad smogon mons. Sad...
 

Xeryon

Rookie
Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2023
Posts
2
Hello,
I've been playing the game until Ethan's last fight, but I keep being stuck in the 1v2 Pikachu battle against the legendaries. I went to see some videos to see how to play it, and it seems that the fight was originally made to be a single battle (which seems far more logical). I've tried it multiple times and no matter what I try, I always loose after killing one or two mons. Is it some kind of bug, or am I horribly bad at the game?
Thanks for the answer!
 

AenaonDogsky

Arbiter of Doggos
Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2017
Posts
510
Hello,
I've been playing the game until Ethan's last fight, but I keep being stuck in the 1v2 Pikachu battle against the legendaries. I went to see some videos to see how to play it, and it seems that the fight was originally made to be a single battle (which seems far more logical). I've tried it multiple times and no matter what I try, I always loose after killing one or two mons. Is it some kind of bug, or am I horribly bad at the game?
Thanks for the answer!
Hello, the reason you are only left with one, is because you ditched a certain mon... all alone. :'( Heartless! Had you not abandoned that mon, and had it in your party, this would never have happened! Now get that poor mon back into your party, and redo the fight, it will stick through all the way to the last battle.
 

Xeryon

Rookie
Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2023
Posts
2
Ooooooh I see, thanks a lot for the hint! I love the idea (sorry Shuckie)
Hello, the reason you are only left with one, is because you ditched a certain mon... all alone. :'( Heartless! Had you not abandoned that mon, and had it in your party, this would never have happened! Now get that poor mon back into your party, and redo the fight, it will stick through all the way to the last battle.
 

Alex Frost

Rookie
Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2023
Posts
3
Hello!

Firstly, thanks for the game, it's amazing work and really cool! I would like to congratulate you all for such an amazing game, the story, graphics, sound everything was amazing. I especially loved Agatha playing the flute.

I would like to know if there is any further content planned for the game? Would there be any additions to the game in the future?

Thanks once again!
 

AenaonDogsky

Arbiter of Doggos
Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2017
Posts
510
Hello!

Firstly, thanks for the game, it's amazing work and really cool! I would like to congratulate you all for such an amazing game, the story, graphics, sound everything was amazing. I especially loved Agatha playing the flute.

I would like to know if there is any further content planned for the game? Would there be any additions to the game in the future?

Thanks once again!
Thank you for your kind words. Also glad you liked Agatha's tune, perhaps I could make it into a full song someday.

No, there won't be anything major for TFJ. Only bugfixes/minor patches from now on. TFJ is the prequel to the main game that's been out already, but is currently down in preparation for the huge update coming soon. There's also a prequel to TFJ, demo only, and another sidegame complimenting the main game. All can be found in my signature.

Take care!
 

Mr. SU

Eternal Meanderer
Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2023
Posts
8
Howdy! I'm back again after finishing plowing through Red's Journey West last night (at 3 am). This game's overall format actually reminds me a bit of one of my favorite games ever, Fire Emblem Genealogy of the Holy War. The first half of the game tells the story of a flawed character with a memorable and unique story that ends on a real gut punch (If you've heard anything about the game, you've probably heart about that) with a somewhat less polished second half about the younger generation not falling into the same mistakes as the older generation. Most people generally prefer the first half of Fe: Genealogy of the Holy War and I am no exception there.

Red's Journey West is definitely a bit rougher around the edges with me running into a glitch where I could not get the music to play when I fought Green and Daisy at Goldenrod city (I wasn't speeding up and even did multiple soft resets to try to get the music to play) and
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I believe this stemmed from the AI wanting to switch out since my Miltank used growl to lower Ethan's Gliscor's attack but the AI still wanting to attack since it had a super effective move into one of my pokemon on the field?

I also encountered errors when trying to use Diamond Storm (or any attack on it actually)while Sam's Tauros was on the field and I think I encountered some errors with Ethan's mews but it was 3 am and I was tired and just focusing on winning the fight.
The amount of constant battles could certainly get a bit tiring at times and there was a pretty huge spike in difficulty with Gentleman Richard and his big fuck you Zapdos.
So I can say pretty firmly that I

Ended up enjoying Red's Journey West more than The First Journey.

The first thing that makes RJW stick out more to me is the variety in tone. The earlygame has a distinctly bleak feel with you having no choice but to pp stall Chuck's Mankey out of counter uses, you only getting to catch one Pokemon before fighting Jasmine. While Sam lacked a portrait to attach his cold, emotionless dialogue to. Red is the opposite, having a face to react to the things happening around him, yet no words to give to the player about it. The start of the journey feels bleak due to the way the gameplay presents itself, rather than just what's happening in the story.

You can't keep the man down though, as Red reunites with Daisy and eventually Green, the gameplay starts to ease up a bit more, you gain access to more Pokemon and more fun strategies and team comps emerge. I wasn't sure how to feel when I read that RJW's mission statement was to emulate competitive play on some level, but I was very surprised to see how much stall tactics are encouraged in this. You have Shuckle as your starter, there's next to no healing items so moves like wish, rest and milk drink are very valuable (especially when you need to keep your team healthy for the first two phases of Ethan) and you're given a buffed Chikorita early on. At first I was running a balanced team but I ended up saying "fuck it, full stall" and my final team (formed shortly after Bugsy) was Shuckle, Miltank (caught before Jasmine) Meganium, Xatu, Steelix and Forretress was born.

I have some minor history with competitive play and I've played many fangames where bosses employ competitive strategies, a lot of which aren't very well designed (not naming names). However this is the first time I've ever decided to make a full on stall team for an in-game playthrough and I had an absolute blast with it. It was a very smart move to not give the player access to the toxic tm (or move tutor) though as that would probably make stall a bit too good but toxic spikes, leech seed and a lot of healing moves made good work out of a lot of bosses in the game. It was especially difficult pulling this team off against Gentleman Richard with his Nasty Plotting Zapdos and Ethan and Pryce since stall is much weaker in doubles.

I ended up growing very attached to this team, it had a lot of character to it even if it had a discerning weakness to Fire/Flying. Even if there were a ton of battles to get thrown into, I wanted to get into them near the end because I had that drive to fight and beat Ethan at the end of the game. This is typical rpg stuff of course but is something I didn't really feel with Sam being such an unlikable character in TFJ. TFJ was certainly more unique feeling but RJW feels like more of what I want and enjoy out of RPGs.

TFJ's gameplay is hardly bad by any means, but the main name of the game is simply keeping your team healthy and managing your money so you can continue to afford healing and occasionally buying a pokemon from a vendor if you want to (I only did this with Glaceon and Electabuzz). Most bosses weren't very difficult aside from the fight against Fuji and that's fine at the end of the day.


When it comes to games, I'm a very "big picture" kind of guy. I love high-level rpg gameplay that encourages me to examine what's available and learn how to use it effectively while integrating that into the story. My favorite games are ones that manage to kick it out of the park with atmosphere, music, art direction, gameplay AND writing.

So why don't we talk a bit about that writing though?

The first thing I thought when I saw that Red has a dialogue portrait was "There's definitely going to be a dramatic scene where Red finally talks onscreen". It's already happened in cannon (in a gacha game sadly), there's no way it wont happen here. This was something I kept in the back of my mind throughout the whole playthrough as I theorized about what kind of moment it would take for Red to speak (well, outside of implied dialogue). It's quite a challenge to write a character without dialogue but as the old phrase goes, "action speaks louder than words".

We see Red learning to discard his ego, not through him talking about it, but within the odd jobs we do as him and the eventual scene where he decides to willingly let another kid use his starter Pokemon. It all feels odd and uncanny in the moment for the great champion of Kanto that we played as kids clean pipes, milk miltank and give away the pokemon we associate him the most with. I can't say I was particularly invested in the romance between Red and Blue (This is really where the limits of writing a character without dialogue shine the most) but I like that it wasn't Green or Daisy that got Red to finally speak, it was someone he wasn't familiar with that reached out to him in a way that no one ever had before, the same goes with Giovanni too. He doesn't become a chatterbox either after finally having onscreen words, they're still relatively rare and I think he only speaks about 5 or so times throughout the whole game? Every word he speaks is pretty damn memorable, less really is more.

Red's posse is great too, they're a lot more juvenile given that they're teenagers instead of 20-somethings but their dialogue is generally quite fun and a lot more animated. Every memorable interaction that Sam has with the gang is an argument of some kind but with the RGB + Daisy gang, there's a whole spectrum of emotions being brought on here. Green is a total goofball at times but he has a lot of heart and the final "Smell ya later!" really got me, it is absolutely ridiculous that of all people he had a talk to about discarding your ego, understanding your emotions and finding love, it was fucking Mirror B though. (I say, as if these same goofy ass heart to hearts didn't also happen in Fated Epistle just with original characters instead of pre-existing ones) Blue is a different kind of smug goofball with some real good humor and heart, I'm curious where the origin of her laugh sound effect is from.

All in all, I'm really surprised by how taken I was by Red's Journey West, I still like Fated Epistle more (I've been a Fire Emblem fanatic for 9 years, I cannot bring myself to call another game "FE") and it wasn't perfect but damn, I was really invested from start to finish.

Also once again, is there anywhere on youtube where I can listen to the compositions for both this game and fated epistle? I would love to add a few of them to my playlist.
 

AenaonDogsky

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Howdy! I'm back again after finishing plowing through Red's Journey West last night (at 3 am).

Thanks a lot for your thorough and quality review. I really appreciate it.
Sadly, the BGM glitch is tied to the FMOD looping scripts, which while now prevent the game from crashing, cut off the sound when multiple BGMs or battling scenes play in succession. The battling script error is a direct result of deprecated v18 Essentials AI. So I cannot do anything about these lest I were to migrate the game to v21, which would take months off of FEs development. (Also, v18 is compatible with older hardware and I wanted to give players with weaker hardware a chance).

I like Fire Emblem games but I have only played SS (and a bit of the other GBA entry) and Awakening. Yeah, don't shoot me! I've known about the franchise since the days of Meele, but when I looked at it I was like "huh another jrpg with high fantasy stuff". Imagine my surprise when the first game I played that had higher-fantasy elements was SS... while those before it didn't have as much, LMAO. I can still see how the heck it's turned into a dating sim nowadays though.

I am glad RJW managed to tell some of its story through gameplay, rather than dialogue. Also super glad the teams had meaning from a semi-competitive side. Like I mentioned, I wanted this game to steer away the fear from people when it comes to competitive. There are many fangame players that avoid more difficult games, and I wanted this one to be a kind of easing up game.

Yeah, we have similar "big picture" gameplay styles. I long for the days where I could derive those feelings from a game. Now it's mostly deriving much stronger feelings from actually making games.

Blue's SFX is from a Frozen YTP. Yep. I just use it as a funny "run away laughing sound" I believe it's also from somewhere else, it's sped-up though.

Lastly, you won't need to call FE, FE again, because likely I'll just use PS when the big update drops. It's easier to remember how it ties to the other games (and that the other games are derived from it). And, I will get Soundcloud or something similar running as it pertains to original compositions - but as you can understand, I cannot upload remixes without the proper license. A Youtube might also be a possibility in the future.

Thanks again, and stay tuned!
 

Alex Frost

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Thank you for your kind words. Also glad you liked Agatha's tune, perhaps I could make it into a full song someday.

No, there won't be anything major for TFJ. Only bugfixes/minor patches from now on. TFJ is the prequel to the main game that's been out already, but is currently down in preparation for the huge update coming soon. There's also a prequel to TFJ, demo only, and another sidegame complimenting the main game. All can be found in my signature.

Take care!
I would definitely love to hear the full song! Once again it was amazing!

I understand there wont be any major development for TFJ, however the main game .., is that RJW? or are we talking about fire red and leaf green versions? the story connects really well. If its not, i would love to know and play (if possible) the main game too.

(On a completely different note..., I would have loved to see Agatha meet with someone good. The cut-scene where she left Sam's wedding crying really was a punch to the face. 😢)

Thanks for the kind reply. Stay Safe and Blessed!
 

AenaonDogsky

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I would definitely love to hear the full song! Once again it was amazing!

I understand there wont be any major development for TFJ, however the main game .., is that RJW? or are we talking about fire red and leaf green versions? the story connects really well. If its not, i would love to know and play (if possible) the main game too.

(On a completely different note..., I would have loved to see Agatha meet with someone good. The cut-scene where she left Sam's wedding crying really was a punch to the face. 😢)

Thanks for the kind reply. Stay Safe and Blessed!

It's "Fated Epistle", it will be renamed to just Postscriptum. In fact, PS: The First Journey indicates it's a "PS" game (so it derives from the Main Game). The first game on my signature. Stay tuned for the upcoming release!
 

Alex Frost

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It's "Fated Epistle", it will be renamed to just Postscriptum. In fact, PS: The First Journey indicates it's a "PS" game (so it derives from the Main Game). The first game on my signature. Stay tuned for the upcoming release!
Got it! will be waiting for the update. Im currently playing RJW and am about to get the ecruteak badge, and the story till now is amazing! i can feel a darker side to the story grow. (just hoping for green and daisy finding out their gramps is not a goody-two-shoes) 😅

Once done with this, i'll start F.E :D
 

toomanytales

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I've encountered a major bug in RJW. A few turns into Ethan's second battle, I start getting two error messages whenever I try to do anything at all with my second Pokemon, including switching and using an item. Here's the log:

[Mon Oct 09 00:41:22 -0700 2023]
[Pokémon Essentials version 18.1]
Exception: TypeError
Message: no implicit conversion from nil to integer

Backtrace:
316:Consistent AI for Vanilla v18:137:in `[]'
316:Consistent AI for Vanilla v18:137:in `pbEnemyShouldWithdrawEx?'
316:Consistent AI for Vanilla v18:217:in `pbChooseMoves'
156:PokeBattle_AI:67:in `pbDefaultChooseEnemyCommand'
151:Battle_Phase_Command:200:in `pbCommandPhaseLoop'
151:Battle_Phase_Command:191:in `loop'
151:Battle_Phase_Command:191:in `pbCommandPhaseLoop'
151:Battle_Phase_Command:183:in `pbCommandPhase'
144:Battle_StartAndEnd:320:in `pbBattleLoop'
060:PBDebug:6:in `logonerr'

=================

[Mon Oct 09 00:44:18 -0700 2023]
[Pokémon Essentials version 18.1]
Exception: NameError
Message: undefined local variable or method `b' for #<PokeBattle_Battle:0x125bb1f8>

Backtrace:
147:Battle_Action_Switching:248:in `pbMessageOnRecall'
152:Battle_Phase_Attack:57:in `pbAttackPhaseSwitch'
152:Battle_Phase_Attack:51:in `each'
152:Battle_Phase_Attack:51:in `pbAttackPhaseSwitch'
152:Battle_Phase_Attack:183:in `pbAttackPhase'
144:Battle_StartAndEnd:323:in `pbBattleLoop'
060:PBDebug:6:in `logonerr'
144:Battle_StartAndEnd:323:in `pbBattleLoop'
144:Battle_StartAndEnd:308:in `loop'
144:Battle_StartAndEnd:308:in `pbBattleLoop'
 

AenaonDogsky

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I've encountered a major bug in RJW. I start getting two error messages whenever I try to do anything at all with my second Pokemon, including switching and using an item. Here's the log:
This is an error with a script that enhances the AI, which will be updated in the next version to fix this bug.
In the meanwhile, please try hitting "OK" when/if it pops up again, it should allow you to continue regardless.

If it persists, send me your savefile and I'll start you off after the final part of the battle.
 

toomanytales

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This is an error with a script that enhances the AI, which will be updated in the next version to fix this bug.
In the meanwhile, please try hitting "OK" when/if it pops up again, it should allow you to continue regardless.

If it persists, send me your savefile and I'll start you off after the final part of the battle.
Thanks. Unfortunately hitting "OK" just causes the attacking phase of the turn to be skipped, so I'll send it over. I wonder if me setting up three layers of Toxic Spikes is making the AI freak out. Edit: I quit using Toxic Spikes and the issue seems to have stopped.
 
Last edited:

Enjanced

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I messed up. I accidentally overwrote my save file (I thought I could have multiple saves. Silly me)
I was trying to find the file itself (to see if I can roll back or something) in "c:\usr\enjanced\Saved Games" but the folder is not there.
The only "saved games" folder in under user "default" and it's empty :(
Any help will be appreciated.
 

AenaonDogsky

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I messed up. I accidentally overwrote my save file (I thought I could have multiple saves. Silly me)
I was trying to find the file itself (to see if I can roll back or something) in "c:\usr\enjanced\Saved Games" but the folder is not there.
The only "saved games" folder in under user "default" and it's empty :(
Any help will be appreciated.

You do have automatic save backups in your "PS_The First Journey" folder, inside Saved Games under your Username. I need to know what you mean by "overwrote". Did you just save normally? (replacing the standard file). Or did you do some kind of manual adjustment to your save? What version are you on? Lastly, it's unlikely that the folder simply vanished, as there is no script procedure, to my awareness, that does that - so did you remove or move your folder?
 

Enjanced

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wow man... thanks for the quick reply.
So I just started a new game and when I used the "quit game" option, I saved normally.
Ok, I found the folder. My Windows is in Spanish, so the folder is called "Juegos Guardados" (facepalm). Now how do I restore my game?
TBH, I was looking for the save file (also) to just give myself 50 super-balls and avoid using the computer 50 times (I got no patiencie)
 

AenaonDogsky

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wow man... thanks for the quick reply.
So I just started a new game and when I used the "quit game" option, I saved normally.
Ok, I found the folder. My Windows is in Spanish, so the folder is called "Juegos Guardados" (facepalm). Now how do I restore my game?
TBH, I was looking for the save file (also) to just give myself 50 super-balls and avoid using the computer 50 times (I got no patiencie)
No problem. What part of the game are you on that you need 50 balls? You get access to as many as you need a bit later. Both TFJ and RJW are designed in a way that you don't need to do external manipulation either to grind or obtain mons.

Your savefile should be called "Game.rxdata". Sort your files by date (latest) and rename the latest saved backup to "Game.rxdata".
 
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