2016-10-14 23:45:12 (edited by threeblacknoises 2016-11-21 13:40:24)

To all blind pokemon players.
According to gaming site gamexplain; who recently attended a pokemon sun preview event, developer gamefreek has opted to remove the directional
pad as a navigation option in sun and moon.
Now, players must use the circle pad to navigate the game's world.
Aside from that, their is only one speed, all-out running.
This is a problem for us visually impaired people, as the precision of the directional pad allowed us to play the mainstream pokemon games.
The pokemon company is releasing a free sun and moon demo on October 18th, and I'll be downloading it soon after to check out this new method of navigation, and see if it really spells doom for us blind players or not.
I hope it doesn't, as I'm a big pokemon fan, and would still like to play the games.
I have the amazon exclusive stealbook double pack preordered at this time, but I may have to cancel it if my fears are realized.
Hopefully, I'll be able to post good news here in about a week...
Later!

2016-10-15 22:59:34

I think the circle pad should be OK, perhaps a little fiddly though. We'll just have to wait and see. I have Smash Brothers and I use the circle pad to play that a lot.

2016-10-16 15:19:34

I'm curious... how are you able to play pokemon in the first place? What about menus?

Heroes need foes to test them. Not all teachers can afford to be kind, and some lessons must be harsh.

2016-10-16 17:35:26

Menus are easy enough.
Items can't be used unless a pokemon needs them, and you can sort them in a default scripted order to.
Viewing a pokemon's status screen plays its cry, so you always know what creature you're viewing.
Attacks all have a unique sound, so once you learn the sounds, you're good to go.
As for navigation, wals or NPCS all make a sound when bumped into, so you can just follow walls and such.
Text doesn't speak, but we've got lets plays for that.
And; judging by the hype this game's getting, I'm sure their'll be no shortage of those.
Gamefaqs might even have guides with directions to, so their's that.

The sun and moon demo comes out in just under 2 days here, so we'll see how things go...
Later!

2016-10-16 20:55:22

Keep us posted, I'm quite curious.

2016-10-18 18:48:38

I've heard a lot about perspective in this game being similar to that found in that one big city in the sixth generation. The one where it's more 3d than 2d, and where hitting left on the d-pad doesn't actually move you left, but turns your character. I'm pretty sure the entirety of sun and moon are going to be designed this way. if this is the case, we're screwed. No questions asked.

Frankly, I will be interested to listen to how this game sounds, but I feel like they killed it in gen 6, and I'm just not as wowed by pokemon as I once was. Seriously, GameFreak, let it go already.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1

2016-10-18 18:59:44 (edited by threeblacknoises 2016-10-19 18:57:33)

Things may be looking up for us.
I just hurd gameXplain do a runthrough of the sun and moon demo.
You must use the circle pad, but the bumping sound is still in, plus we now have footfalls everywhere, and background ambience everywhere except inside buildings, not just in special locations like the e4.
I still have to get my hands on the demo to make any conclusions, but gamefreek put this thing out at 9 am here, and I can't download anything until I get home.
gameXplain plaied the japanese version in english due to the language options, and I only got to hear that because I downloaded the audio for it onto my memory stick before I left the house.
I really hope the game is playable, because it sounds amazing; even in mono!
The part where you have to take pictures might give us trouble though, and it's required, not optional. Oh well.
I'll post once I have mor info, but it may be a few days if nintendo doesn't see fit to send me a nice little download link for this demo like they've done in the past...
Later!

2016-10-19 18:59:26

Okay, I got the demo through nintendos official site.
Unfortunately, I only have bad news to report.
While their's more sound in pokemon than ever before, the navigation has advanced so far that we; as blind people; can't play the games.
The grid tile system of navigation is completely gone.
In it's place is a completely 3d navigation system, so you have full 360 degree control over your character at all times.
You do have to hold B to run; unlike what gameXplain reported previously.
The things that are going to stop us from playing the game are:
1. Buildings are no longer always square.
2. You must now press A to open doors/gates, and you can't be standing right in front of them.
Their must be enough space for said gate/door to open for your character to walk through it.
As A also talks and examines things, this makes navigating the world impossible.
3. directions are not constant; due to the 3d nature of the game and the constandly changing camera angles.
This means we can't follow walls like we're used to.
This is all a real shame, as other things in the game work in our favor.
for example:
the bag command in battles now brings up the exact same bag as in the field; no more memorising two different item menus.
Y is always mapped to the Poképager, so no more having to teach your Pokémon mostly useless HM moves like cut.
The beeping sound that lets you know how many Pokémon you and your oponent have is back.
Their are probably more good things, but I haven't found them yet.
Please don't hate on gamefreek for making the navigation changes.
As the blind population probably makes up les than five percent of Pokémon's total player base, the new method does make the game more aproachable for the core group of players; sighted people.
Besides, I highly doubt gamefreek and nintendo even know about the fact that blind people play their games, much less Pokémon games.
Even if they did, I highly doubt they'd make changes for us; even if we asked nicely.
Maybe this can be cause to ask aaron Baker to finish balancing Manamon; and maybe even make a sequel, or daigonite to finish braillemon properly.
Later!

2016-10-20 03:01:19

That &cks! I really wanted to play the new games when they came out.

2016-10-20 09:17:02 (edited by pulseman45 2016-10-22 23:43:36)

I heard about it long ago on GameFaq, and yes, this is the real problem, if it was only the fact you have to navigate with the circle pad it wouldn't be such a big deal. Now I always had personnal reasons to think GameFreaks know about blind players playing Pokemon, but at the same time what Threeblacknoises said is true, they can't abort that evolution just for a minority of their fanbase. Granted it's to bad, especially when I know I went through ORAS by myself for the most part, not so long ago.

2016-10-23 02:57:08

You might still be able to get people to write out walking directions, as has always been necessary for some parts of Pokémon anyway. After all, most of the challenge and fun of Pokémon isn't the navigation so much as it is battling so having to count steps more often probably wouldn't kill me.
Myself I'll probably wait until there's an emulator, that always makes things easier.

Official server host for vgstorm.com and developer of the Manamon 2 netplay server.
PSA: sending unsolicited PMs or emails to people you don't know asking them to buy you stuff is disrespectful. You'll just be ignored, so don't waste your time.

2016-10-23 03:06:17

The counting steps thing could work; provided we could get someone to write out said directions in the first place.
With a heavy heart, I just cansled my preorder of the limited edition amazon exclusive steal book double pack, but if someone can find a way to play these games, I might buy it again.
These games do so much right...
Later!

2016-11-20 06:12:56

I bought pokemon sun, and it's not that bad.

2016-11-20 10:53:13

Please can you explain what you mean by "not that bad"?
Is it just  as playable as other entries, or how is it exactly?

2016-11-20 19:04:58

Yeah, don't see how it couldn't be that bad.

Take care, it's a desert out there.

2016-11-20 20:05:12

It's a bit tricky to find where different buildings are, but once you know where they are, you can navigate just fine. Haven't gotten to any big puzzles yet, so don't know about them.

2016-11-20 20:12:38

I think where you'll have problems is some of the things like taking photos and some of the non battling island trials, like finding hidden pokemon.

Take care, it's a desert out there.

2016-11-21 03:20:54

I completed the first grand trial, and almost on the second. Sometimes on the tricky parts I just run around and hope to progress, but I've been having lots of so far. I also like a new thing where it makes a swoosh sound when you are near a trainer or if you walk away from them when you haven't battled them.

2016-11-21 04:01:16

Hmm. King zombie, are you totally blind? If you have no vission and have gotten this far I might get the game after all.

Take care, it's a desert out there.

2016-11-21 11:01:49

Me too. I mean, even though I played through ORAS mostly alone, I got helped on some things. So if the game is mostly playable I may be interested.

2016-11-21 13:39:11

O kay. I'm glad someones optimistic about this.
I have hope again! Yay!
Maybe I can get this off amazon with prime, and if I can't play it, well I can always sell it to gamestop for almost what I paid for it...
Hopefully that won't happen...
Later!

2016-11-21 23:27:04

@stirlock yes

2016-11-22 01:06:44

I was able to see to play rby, gsc, and RSE, as well as FRLG. 
tried diamond,  and couldn't hear where I was going on one route,    so couldn't make it to the third gym.  and sadly,  I never tried again.  sold  the DS and now I'm so far behind, it's not practicle to spend, the 400 dollars for pearl, white, and x.  and I don't even know what they would play on any more.  the days of transfer packs and gameboy player were good days. now you need to hard hack your system and that doesn't sit with me.

I'm a blue eyed, pale pink, kitten.
A blue-eyed, pale pink, kitten that can smash the smashing out of people.
I'm mew, and you're going to get smashed.

2016-11-22 04:26:20

I have just completed the second trial on the second island. The thing that I think will be the hardest is finding the zygarde cores and cells, they are scattered all over alola, 95 cells and 5 cores I think.

2016-11-25 06:30:26

Time for bad news, kind of.
In the 6th trial you have to take pictures of pokemon. This is possible to do, but it could take a while. I just move my DS around until I get lucky. This is what I did to complete the SM demo. Just wanted to let everyone know about this part of the game.