Would you guys say MDDX is worth buying? I've always enjoyed them well enough based on gsmeplay, though the writing usually has me rolling my eyes by the 20th time your brain dead partner repeats some obvious fact like he just discovered air for the first time. Is the gsmeplay solid? Graphics okay? Is my boy Gallade in it since it appears some of the post Gen 3 evos were added?
Gameplay is somewhat the same as other PMD games, a big difference is that there's no regular attack any more, when you press A it either does an attack to waste a turn, or it uses the move that will deal most damage to the enemy in front of you (or the only move that can reach it, like Flamethrower if it's 4 tiles ahead or Blizzard if inside a room). You also need to press B while moving towards teammates to swap with them, but this was in Super, so it's nothing new. IQ skills are replaced with Rare Qualities, and Pokémon can only have one, and they're random, obtained through eating Rainbow Gummies or DX Gummies, with the latter guaranteeing a Rare Quality. In general they're rather good, some better than others, and they apply to your whole team inside a dungeon, so that's pretty good. Orbs can now be used against bosses too, but to make up for that they're much rarer. One big problem is the fact the game autosaves with every action, which means if you die, you lose all your items and money, and this time it actually sticks, so if you get screwed in multiple dungeons in a row, you'll have an uphill battle when it comes to progressing/recovering.
Graphics are okay, the environments look pretty good, but whether you like the artstyle or not is subjective. I personally do, it tries to imitate the artstyle of the various artworks that the main menu always had in the background and it works nicely. The problem are Pokémon's models, they're much simpler than the main games' because the game uses Unity, and it's especially visible in quadrupeds, where some bones that really should be in them are removed. Animations are also pretty simple and bland, the Pokémon don't look very lively and instead look kinda static because of that. It's another example of 2D sprites being better than 3D models, which is a horrible trend in Pokémon now.
Gallade is in it, yes. You need a male Kirlia (obviously) and Evolution Crystals, which you'll only start getting in the postgame dungeons.
Is it worth buying? Well, if you enjoyed the original Rescue Team, you'll probably enjoy this one. I've played every PMD except for Gates, and I've enjoyed this one. Thankfully the autosave thing hasn't screwed me over yet, but that's because I hoard Oran Berries and Reviver Seeds, and always start a dungeon with 3-5 of each as well as Apples and Ethers/Elixirs, and always an Escape Orb in case it ends up all going really badly.
