Okay, so first of all, hello!
I’m Kaybee in the game, and I go by the name of Kbludoh or Liskus by those who are my closer friends, and I’ve heard about PMU from a few friends here and there who are enthusiasts about the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon universe and have played and enjoyed this fan-made game for a while. Eventually of hearing two of my friends (Leostel and Airazel) talking about events and discussing the game in voice calls, it didn’t take a lot to peak my interest and convince me to give PMU a try, considering how much I like the series. And I’ve tried it in a few different occasions, and I’d like to give some feedback, after debating a little bit about my thoughts with them.
Ignoring the clunky AI (which is understandable considering it’s a fanmade game with a small playerbase) the lack of customizable inputs (which is annoying, but we can find some workarounds or can get used to) and the serious security issue of literally having my account’s password in a unencrypted .xml file in the PMU’s folder (which is, honestly, unacceptable, but is not the main point of this post), the biggest reason I can’t have fun is literally the lack of direction there is of where I should go after completing the tutorials. I was thrown in the main city hub, and that was it. No story to guide, no directions of where I should go, no hint of what to do. You’re just… there. And that’s it.
Both Leostel and Airazel have been in this community for a long time, but relying on them to even have a semblance of where to go is a bit soul crushing for me. We have ran some dungeons, but they are so advanced in the game and are so knowledgeable of everything that I end up just walking around in a dungeon floor before they find the stairs and teleport me there (apparently, Beat Up teleports everyone, shrugs). I want to get into the game and have something to do with them, talk to them about my progress and achievements I’ve reached on my own, but I feel like I can’t do anything on my own, and I don’t want to be rushed dungeon after dungeon, not contributing to anything because… I can’t. I want to earn my stuff, but I can’t do anything without their help. It sucks. And it sucks even more considering how the dynamic of not having set turns like the Chunsoft games makes this version of PMU more interesting and more dynamic, making the gameplay actually interesting for me.
This is something that I’ve been talking about with those friends, and maybe something could be added in the game to help new players out. Maybe a NPC or a hub of NPCs could be implemented that simply has a menu with a list of the dungeons by the order they’re intended to be run, and once you’ve selected the item, it gives you instructions on how to walk to the location and the intended level. It doesn’t have to be in-depth. Just the name of the dungeon, the intended level range, and the directions to get there. That would be enough to alleviate this huge burden of having to ask around what in the world we are supposed to run.
I know my voice is small and I’m just a newbie who is akin to Joltik in an ocean of Onyx and Snorlax, but maybe this could give you guys some input on this huge barrier of entry that probably stops this community from potentially growing. Making the beginning as smooth as possible is important is one of the most important aspects to a game. The tutorials are solid, but everything after is not.
Thank you for reading this far. I hope this feedback helps the community in some way or another, and I hope at least some of the points can be considered helpful.