#hes my current playthrough of hgss

[paimt]

pokemon trainer oc Reed the Wetlands Conservationist

[turtlemagnum]

so, when i was a kid i watched the shit out of the teamfourstar gaming videos, especially the nuzlockes (it actually introduced me to the concept of a nuzlocke, believe it or not). in retrospect it was a surprisingly formative experience, chikorita remains my favorite gen 2 starter because of their HGSS playthrough even though i started off where they were, preferring either cyndaquil or totodile. that chikorita's name was mr. stake, because they wanted to name him ms. stake (as in mistake) but he was a guy so they changed it to mr. he was the fucking rock of that playthrough. and recently, i found out that lanipator (the DBZA voice actor who did a lovely job portraying piccolo, vegeta, krillin, master roshi and a plethora of other characters), also one of the three guys who did the nuzlockes. apparently his current dog's name is mr. stake. and i fucking love that, it's so touching. he loved that funky video game flower lizard so much that he named a real life animal after him, and there's just something deeply sweet about that to me. i feel like mr. stake's story touched him just as much if not even more than us.

[crystalelemental]

I've finally had the time to read through your Pokemon Team characterization! Gen 5 was when I realized that, maybe the Pokemon team and the arrangement actually had something to tell about the characters, but reading through your characterization made me realize that perhaps that already happened a lot sooner than I thought! Thank you for writing all of those, I had fun reading them.

Steven was the trainer that made me want to add Skarmory to my team. Raising it was rough since it's purely defensive, but I had a good experience having it. The Claydol setting the screens...I still remember my Emerald team almost getting defeated because my 10-years old brain didn't understand why his Metagross took less damage from my Blaziken. But yeah, Steven's Emerald battle was so much fun, and I agree his ORAS fight is kind of a downgrade.

I also like your analysis of Cynthia's team, and I very much agree with them. No matter what team she's using, she'll always be a challenge and difficult to defeat...that Double Team-spamming Spiritomb, I hate it. And the fact that I had to raise my own Garchomp just to counter hers in my Shining Pearl playthrough said a lot about how strong her ace is.

And your Hop team analysis...I love it so much! I think the story and characterization behind his team composition are more apparent than the others, especially because he takes center stage in Gen 8. That doesn't mean it's a bad thing, I like it. He's one of my most favorite rivals alongside N and Hau, so I am very happy when you did a post of him.

I read through Whitney and the Poison specialists too, they're all great! This makes me want to request some as well, but feel free to take your time and do it whenever you want to. I was going to request N's BW final fight team and B2W2 seasonal teams but realized that'd be way too much to work on, so...Morty and Zinnia! For Morty, you can do his GSC or HGSS, or B2W2 version, your choice.

I'm honestly interested to see what your characterization analysis of their team will tell about them, especially Morty (other than the fact that Johto doesn't have that much Ghost Pokemon selection he resorted to the Gengar line).

There's a lot, so I'll respond fully under the cut.

In completely fairness, I'm making up a lot. None of this is confirmed, but the idea is to showcase that you can make stuff up, and that's the basis of developing a character back in those times. Gen 5 was the first character-centric game where they really had a lot to work with, and Gen 7, oddly enough, really emphasized character moments to the point you have a pretty effective idea. But before that, you just cobbled together, and I really wanted to see more of that than just the Red and Blue favoritism stuff, so I decided to try my hand at this. I'm glad it seems to be at least somewhat popular, given how some of them got a decent response outside of my immediate sphere.

I was kinda surprised that his first ORAS fight is exactly the same. Like, it's almost the same movesets. Which is kinda funny, the way things change just by mechanics and movepools. But yeah, I really love the Emerald team, definitely my current favorite fight.

Cynthia's generally tough. I haven't done the BW or BW2 fights in a long time, so I don't remember them too well, but I can't imagine it's any easier. And...yeah, my opinion on BDSP is low, but I think as a good example of "Cynthia is always really weak to setup," Cresselia swept both of her big rematches in my game. Cresselia is stupid good as a Calm Mind setter.

Hop's felt slightly like cheating because we know so much about him, but it seemed to go over well with Hop fans, so I'll take the win.

Whitney's...might have been my favorite so far? Because there's so little to go off of. Well...okay, no, Geeta's was my favorite because I have an ulterior motivation (being contrary), but Whitney felt the most cobbled together from stuff we don't know. Which I think was more fun.

I can do all three. No promises on turnaround time, but I'll give each a try. And hey, great news! Morty's in a similar bracket to Whitney, and I don't actually know much about Zinnia! So this will be cobbling together nonsense real good.

[spkmth]

          more thoughts from my playthrough of shield.     i have now beaten opal,  melony,  piers,  and raihan.

•     OPAL.     she was great.     she’s my first experience with a strong fairy-type trainer  ( my last pokémon game was hgss so it’s been a hot second )  and i was super nervous but i handled her well thanks to my corviknight and my toxtricity.     her gym challenge was really unique and refreshing.

•     MELONY.     loved the unique take on the usual  ‘arena trap’  ‘fall through the floor’  concept.     her lapras was a bitch,  but toxtricity took care of it before it had the chance to really fuck me over.     her design is a+,  though i wish i could have fought gordie.     ( wanted to fight allister more than bea so i got shield. )

•     PIERS.     where the fuck do i begin.     he was everything i wanted!     his allure ... his confidence ... his fucking battle theme ... everything was perfect.     my own obstagoon + brick break took his down easily,  along with my mudsdale for skuntank.     i really struggled against his malamar,  and immediately went to find myself a contrary inkay afterwards because a contrary malamar + superpower is op as fuck.     sneaky sneaky dark-type gym leader man.     but yeah i adored every second of my fight against him.     i’m very relieved that so many of my headcanons,  which were solely based on research,  still stand up to the canon material now that i’ve experienced it!

•     RAIHAN.     what a lovable dork.     i genuinely felt under pressure when he was watching me battle his gym subordinates.     his battle was the one i dreaded the most,  but i was prepared ;   as i suspected,  my mudsdale wiped the floor with him,  and really his gigalith was the largest threat as i’m still struggling to get a strong water-type and my poor roserade wasn’t quite up to the task of challenging it.     having played through raihan’s arc in the game,  i can now very safely say that i’m disappointed in the depth the game could have given him,  as the champ’s  ‘greatest rival’ ... i’m really glad i can give him some of the characterization the game left out.     smh leon needs to give this man more credit.

•     BIKING ON WATER.     thought i would hate this because i am a surf / fly purist,  but holy hell is this convenient and seamless and awesome.     i’ve taken so many mantines to the face in the lake of outrage,  my current fave grinding spot.

•     THE SOUNDTRACK.     i want to take a minute to recognize how immersive the music in this game is!     everything matches the environment flawlessly :   the mysteriousness of glimwood tangle,  the ethereal beauty of ballonlea,  the regality of hammerlocke,  the intimidating punk rock vibe of spikemuth ... it’s all spot on.     and the music changing the closer you get to piers ... oh boy that’s a nice touch.     marnie’s theme is still my absolute favorite theme ;   i never thought anything would beat out the theme of the legendary titans   ( regirock,  regice,  registeel )   but marnie’s is right up there with it.

•     hop and leon are still fucking irritating.     but you know who i like a lot more than i thought i would?     SONIA.     man i thought i’d dislike the shit out of her but omg she’s precious.     i do wish she’d stop asking a couple of dumb ten year olds important research questions because those cutscenes are irritating,  but that’s not her fault.     in that same vein,  magnolia is awesome.     she’s the grandma i wish i had.

CURRENT TEAM:

•     i’ve had excalibur and coalossal ever since i started the game.     knew i’d need them to go up against leon,  so we’re grinding hardcore right now to get where we need to be.

•     got lucky with flea being the daycare toxel i received!     he’s my best friend and i love his goofy run in camp.     he’s currently my highest level mon at 67 and is a permanent member of my party.

•     working hard to get grendel up to level 70 before i challenge leon.     i know i’ll need a tough fairy-type.

•     sid was the fourth pokémon i caught.     he’s gotten me out of a lot of tough spots and is also my best friend.     he found me a ton of good shit as a zigzagoon / linoone.     he’s also one move away from knowing all the moves that my piers muse’s sid knows!

•     rose is my first ever shiny pokémon in a core game!     she was a complete surprise and the battle to catch her lasted half an hour.     roserade is one of my all-time favorite shinies and i consider myself really lucky to have gotten a shiny i actually like as my first!     i’m hoping to take her against leon’s inteleon   ( i started with scorbunny )   but i might leave that to flea and put a strong ice-type on my team to challenge leon’s dragons.

HOW DOES ANY OF THIS AFFECT MY RPING?

          for piers,  it only makes me love him more.     what a mad lad.     i’m in critical condition with piers brain now.     i will never understand why some people play him as this beleaguered put-upon depressed whiner.     he’s just so badass!     as for raihan ... my relationship with my own raihan muse hasn’t changed,  but i’m sad for canon rai.     they really put him in a box,  didn’t they?     i’m glad i get to give him some deeper characterization since the games clearly didn’t,  and i’m looking forward to fleshing him out more than i already have.     man cannot subsist solely on pokégram and the desire to beat leon’s ass.