#Shadow and Stone is too but it has a perfectly satisfying conclusion if you don't start the last section Six

[lexkent]

me coming across your blog on my "for you" page last week despite never having seen or even heard of Smallville: oh wow! fun content and pretty gifs!! hope this doesn't awaken anything in me :)

me now, knowing im about to ask you for some Clex fic recs in these trying times: .........i don't know what i expected

on a serious note, your gifs are amazing and i really do love your blog! do you know of any good Clex fics you've read or any good Lex fics regardless of pairing (will read literally anything: canon divergence, au, smut, fluff, angst, soulmates, etc) that you'd recommend? <3

it shouldn't please me so much that I've brought you into the misery of Smallville but it does 😭 and thank you so much!!!💖💖

One of these days I'm going to make a legitimate Clex rec list, but for now here are some of my favs :')

Identical Series by Lanning

If He Would Fall by sabershadowkat

Most Regretted by Tallihensia

Reconcilable Differences by astolat

Soothing out the Hurts by Tallihensia

The Perfect Life by A_Fallen_Sister

To Legends by Tallihensia

Ants And Other Higher Lifeforms by Dayspring

Escape Velocity by Bagheera

Two Halves by Dolimir

Cleaning Up is Hard to Do by arysteia

Of Gods and Men by Lenore

i think that possibly maybe i'm falling for you by Nicnac

Sealed with a Kiss by laceymcbain

Not a Villain by Tallihensia

Dancing at The Purple Parrot by laceymcbain

Fixing Things by Tallihensia

Someone To Watch Over Me by Dolimir

Lover's Choice by Tallihensia

Catharsis by arysteia

Devil's Deal by Bagheera

Cookie Dough & Candy Hearts by Dayspring

iHero by I I B N F (iibnf)

Cooking Considered As One Of The Fine Arts by Caro (thestarsexist)

Manifest Destiny by Liviapenn

The Lost Soul by tasabian

Run by Dayspring

The Reset by tasabian

Purple by Dayspring

Shadows & Stone: Smallville Stories by laceymcbain

Pheromones by Tallihensia

Time and Chance by Dayspring

A Mad Season by Dolimir

Golden by CJAndre, Noelle

Memoirs Of An Alien Who Fell To Earth by Dayspring

Let me know if you'd like a description of any specific fic or if you want any trigger warnings. there is definitely some dark content here and not all is tagged.

Also @clarklexlois has an excellent clex fic rec list with descriptions and lengths. it's actually what got me into fanfic!💖 https://clarklexlois.tumblr.com/clex-recs

[magicalgirlmindcrank]

Okay so, my thoughts on brilliant diamond and shining pearl. Choosing a spot to start for something like this is a bit difficult especially since I don't wanna forget anything but overall? I liked them. I would still put them below platinum and sorely wish they incorporated more from platinum into BDSP but they are better then the original base games I think. To get really into it I think I'll start my statements in order of perceived controversy and go from there.

I think the stylistic approach to the overworld sprites is good, and never really understood why people ripped on it when ORAS and XY did basically the same thing. It does look a little goofy in some of the more serious moments but by and large I think this was a great choice for remaking the games as largely faithful recreations of the original experience. It lets them utilize a bit more of switches GPU without having to start over from scratch had they tried to make it more like SwSh design wise (the 'grid' is especially important due to PokeRadar too)

I absolutely adore that went back to giving you consumable TMs with the most powerful ones being singles and less powerful ones being given in batches. I believe choosing who gets the earthquake or stone edge TM is a wonderful decision to have to strategize around during runs and especially challenge runs like a nuzlocke. If you use your only EQ tm on a mon and it gets KO'd you're out more than just the mon.

Speaking of challenge, while most gyms recieved only moderate changes at best and only really to the moves (can't forget there's fairy types now either!) The buffs given to Cynthia are just DELIGHTFUL. I was a bit worried she would get mollified somehow and all those fears were assuaged as my lvl 60 average team just could not get through the sheer bulk she is packing. All of her Pokemon are the same (though spiritomb now has a weakness lol) but they recieved updated natures, IVs and EVs making them far far tougher. Giving her Garchomp rough skin was beautiful turning an already beastly Pokemon into a behemoth even though I still think she deserved to mega it. I highly anticipate the increased difficulty of the second league run.

Speaking of second runs, while they didn't add much to the nummy broth that is D/P they did add the ability to fight all the gym leaders a second time at Pokemon league levels which I've yet to actually do but it sounds delightful. The other of the few additions (namely hideaways and Wi-Fi in the underground allowing access to more pokemon, following Pokemon, the handful of qol updates that have come up in the years, HMs in the poketch and the few outfits you can buy) are all fairly delectable. I've yet to explore every inch of post game as I'm racing the clock on the platinum outfit deadline (more on this in a sec) trying to obtain a shiny starter but for the most part I'm fairly happy with the games as remakes

As for stuff that I'm not fond of well... Tbh the main thing is that they threw out basically all the cool shit platinum did, while they DID include a distortion world you don't do any exploration or puzzles there like in plat. You just fight shadow giratina-o and get the orb. Not only that but as a long time mystery dungeon fan I was earnestly expecting/hoping to see Primals return to the mons (well just Dialga technically) that they were introduced with and the disappointment of their exclusion stings- maybe Legends:Arceus will fix it but I'm not exactly holding my breath.

I suppose my conclusion on the remakes is they're perfectly fine and vastly enjoyable. Sinnoh was and is THE best designed region (just the way it tucks later game areas into early areas for exploration upon return, the way you pass through Mt Coronet three times, the way the mountain is a character in itself, the way it looms in the distance of just about every outdoors arena calling to you with it's promise of ancient mystery, the way you just progress through the region as whole is very satisfying) so it never needed a great deal of reworking to be good and it is a good game. I have like four new playthroughs planned already and I'm excited to do them! It's just... I can't help but think what could have been if the games been polished up to the degree ORAS was over original R/S you know? If they had kept just a bit more of the Platinum stuff. If they added something substantial story wise to the post game. If if if.

Were I to rank BDSP from what I've experienced so far I'd put them somewhere between 3rd and 5th place for main line games. platinum and HGSS taking the obvious spots at the top with SuMo and ORAS being the other contenders.

Oh almost forgot- the music remasters are absolute fire. Might come back to this post and amend it after I finally get through every bit of post game I can find but for now those are my thoughts on the remakes. Largely positive but it leaves me with a faint bitter taste of what could have been.