LOG ENTRY: SECTOR DRAGON WORLD
Touchdown. My Pokedex is booted up, battery at 100%, anxiety levels... rising. The intel for this region was corrupted—intercepted comms just read "[object Object]"—which usually means one of two things: a hidden gem or a Glitch City nightmare. After spending time in the field, I can confirm: we are dealing with a Beta 3 Class Anomaly.
THE CATCHABILITY INDEX
I don't play for the story. I play for the slots. I need to see numbers go up. The local fauna (New Sprites) are distinct, which is a nice change from the standard Kanto clones, but the distribution is erratic. I spent three hours in the tall grass expecting a rare spawn, only to realize the encounter tables were likely unfinished. It triggers my completionist itch in the worst way possible—knowing there are slots that physically cannot be filled.
NOTE: The local Department Store is surprisingly well-stocked. Link Cable item is available in Department Store. Huge W. It gave me hope that trade evolutions wouldn't be the bane of my existence here, even if the rest of the Dex is in shambles.
THE BETA WALL
Here is the tragedy. The region has "New Plot" and "New Characters", but it feels like walking through a construction site. I found myself checking every corner, sweating, wondering if the next door leads to the void. For a completionist, an unfinished game is torture. You can't fill the bucket if the bucket has no bottom.
Missable event warning! Save before entering the cave. Specifically, the Dragon's Den area. The scripts there are unstable. I almost lost my save file trying to trigger a legendary encounter that might not even be fully coded yet.
QUALITY OF LIFE (OR LACK THEREOF)
We are back to the stone age in some regards. No physical/special split evident in this version. And don't get me started on the repels. I was begging for the Best QoL: Infinite Repel system, but it's nowhere to be found. You have to re-apply manually like a caveman.
My neurological need for 100% remains unsatisfied. 100% completion took me 85 hours in the last region I visited, but here? I hit the "End of Beta" message at the 14-hour mark. My Pokedex is stuck at a sickening 34%. Unacceptable.
FINAL VERDICT
The "Dragon World" has potential, but it's currently a ghost town of code. Unless you are a Historian documenting the evolution of ROM hacks from 2018, stay away until the architect returns.
