A strong current of mixed emotions flow through me as I type out my thoughts here.This might not be the correct place to post it, it’s been years since I’ve been active on the forums, so pardon me for improper knowledge of formalities (also a spoiler alert if you haven’t played the game.)
This game (and forum page too, by extension) are one of the most decorated parts of my memory lane, ever since I watched a Youtuber (who have since privated the videos of their playthrough) enjoy the experience he was having with Insurgence. As someone from a fairly conservative household in a country with no Nintendo retail, this was my first opportunity to be a proper part of a Pokemon community, a chance for me to experience what others in a community were experiencing too- not by consuming media on the Internet, but by actually playing the game.
insurgents… split apart our families and
destroy the place we call home!
To say I merely had fun while playing would be an understatement. The dark and surreal story, the amazing music, the unique and innovative delta pokemon and new mega evolutions: it was akin to a dream come true for my middle school self. Some of my fondest memories of my teenage years are when I finally learned how to make competitive-ready pokemon (from a post on this forum no less), stumbling upon the secret base money exploit all by myself, planning out the best route for the Sonata tracks, finally beating Taen (who was really hard in 1.1.7 for some reason, even on easy),trying my luck constantly at the PokePon machine, hoping to find IV stones, finding the 6th IV stone I needed to max out my ditto on the very day my annual examinations ended, jumping in joy when the eevee I had been breeding with curse and wish turned out to be 6IV, my sigh of agony when the first (and only) shiny I found in the game was one of the level trainer’s audinos- even hearing the heatran cry the 1.1.7 start screen had brings memories flooding back, sometimes with a tear in the eye. To this day, Insurgence is the only game I’ve ever put over 100 real life hours into, and has given me my two most favourite pokemon in Volcarona and Aegislash.
The forums too, were a place I commuted to on a nigh daily basis- I remember hopping online, reading all the “new” posts (I was mostly a lurker),religiously reading every single wiki page, admiring the holon university art (including the delta turtwig line that eventually did make it into the game), wondering how some people (like Cow538) had such sick pokemon they so willingly traded and discussing people’s teams for their playthroughs. The official discord was something I thought of joining too (there’s a message from DeukBot at the bottom of my DMs too, but, being a rule-fearing sissy I saw the minimum age requirement and ended up not joining).
As good as those days were though, they too came to pass. Soon, the pressure of high school academics (and all the mental baggage that comes with it) alongside university entrance preparation drowned out these memories of a simpler time. I remember 1.2 coming out, and the hype and fun I had with it, but by then my free time had become severely limited, and hence, so had the enjoyment I could procure from the game and community. Eventually, almost all contact with this part of the internet was lost by me.
Browsing through old files, I found a few old screenshots, and the lost time capsule of memories galore being unearthed brought back powerful feelings of nostalgia. Coming back to the forums, the activity i far less- a shadow of what it was in its heyday, with large swathes of the dev team having moved on. However, despite the relative desertion of the forums, what this game, this community has meant to me is something I cannot understate. To all the developers, musicians,artists community members and second hand residents of Torren, I say a big Thank You. A Thank You for shaping my childhood memories, for making part of who I am. I am truly grateful to you all for letting me fully experience being part of an online community for the first time.
Along with the disenchantment and disillusionment that accompany the advent of adulthood, my infatuation with the pokemon franchise too seems to have waned, like a tide that is unlikely to return. In all probability, I shall continue to lurk here and might occasionally pop up in a thread. I have a backup of my old save too, but I don’t know if I’ll ever return to playing pokemon games in the near future.
Apologies for such a long winded post ranting about everything and nothing at the same time, from a time that both feels like yesterday, and also feels like it was eons ago. Thank you to whoever read my nonsense.