When I started playing TemTem, at launch, it didn't strike me as something that I'd love continuing: some features weren't implemented yet, and the graphic design didn't strike me that much, even if I was looking for a creature collecting mmorpg.
The same feeling carried on when I took it back for this season: the first impact was just lukewarm, and there wasn't a way to quickly understand which was my next objective.
I decided to give it some more chance, and, after a while, I finally managed to find a way to the next area. The fights soon picked up, and I think the main reason for this is basing the game on double battles.
The only pokémon games that does that - besides the VGC competitive scene, of course - is Pokémon Colosseum and XD. In both games, double battles add an important layer of complexity. Another thing I noticed in TemTem is that creatures seem to do decently well even if there is a pretty wide level difference - which is good, overpowering the opponent can't be fun, unless the game becomes grindy.
So then, it was the battle system that got me in the loop: I had to learn type advantages all over again, and understand how my current team could help me succeed. My little electric insect friend, with the worst individual values ever, still helped me much progressing through the cave dungeon with a very creative Chain Lightning skill, that hit three TemTem, in a clockwise order - including himself, but it never was a problem on a double-hitting same-type strong electric attack.
I got joined by two veteran players (Shinigami511 also added me on TemTem, thank you!) that kept me company during the live, and gave me advice with how to proceed, which made the game much more enjoyable, as it was a shared experience towards an objective: the next dojo leader.
Before that, I had to fight this woman at the end of the cave dungeon, and it was hard enough to make me worry about losing. It's really rare to happen in a Pokémon mainline game, and this made it very fun. After that, we even did a little hunt for a 10% encounter rate TemTem (Barnshe) and I enjoyed that as well.
The water dojo felt much like a Pokémon Gym, with puzzles and trainers, so nothing remarkable there.
Sophia, the water Dojo leader, was instead hard enough, and I had to do my best to clear it first try!
All this time with the game let me adjust to the 3D style too, and I started liking it in its own way. Shinigami, my ever-present viewer guide, also gifted me a very strong Luna TemTem - a shiny in this game - and a little shiny duck TemTem as well! I'll be training this one, and bringing the other one to competitive fights, if I ever get there, thank you so much!
This is the magic of MMORPG games: they reach to you because of the new encounters, and they're usually about people, more than creatures. And it's one of the main reasons why I play games: make meaningful encounters that tell stories.
All things considered, I warmed up on TemTem quite a bit while playing it, and I'm sure I'll get back to it! So, wait for the next episode!
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