#do they call it smusum

[sometipsygnostalgic]

"Why is Alola so hated?"

Someone asked this question on Reddit.

The original post:

"Other than too much dialogue what is the worst thing about Alola. Alola is my favorite Pokémon games and region for a multitude of reasons but all I hear about it is that it has too much dialogue. I can understand that but later titles have just as much dialogue especially in the beginning portions of the game. So why is such an issue in these games than any other in the series. Also you thought the GD games were dark, the Aether Family are very dark concept if you want to look into them. Anyways back on topic, why are Alola considered the worst games besides the dialogue of course"

I thought about this question and I ended up writing a lengthy reply, see below. For context I should mention that Sun and Moon were my favourite mainline stories:

"So everyone is mentioning USUM, but since I was around for the launch of the games, I may as well throw my hat into the ring and explain what went wrong:

Everyone was really excited for the games to come out, but there was generally something missing from them. Promotional material was overly vague.

When the original Sun and Moon came out they had the following issues:

The story was very handholdy. I am a GREAT FAN of the story mode, but I have never replayed these games because they are basically visual novels. If you were a Nuzlocker, someone who wanted to replay Pokemon games, or if you didn't like the story, then these versions would automatically become your least favourite because of how long it takes to reach each milestone. It's also easier than a lot of prior games, not as easy as Gen 6 or 8 but up there.

While the region is IMO one of the most cohesive, it's also one of the least expansive. The Alola Region is fucking tiny. There's not nearly as many side things to do as in generations 4 and 5, and the new things they put into the Alola games were a lot less fun gimmick-wise. I like that they abandon the grid system, it needed to go, but Pokemon team don't seem to work well in 3d.

The online multiplayer was total ass. Of course, the online only got WORSE From here on out. How you get worse than Festival Plaza is beyond me, but I think Gen 7 is definitely when Pokemon jumped from having the BEST multiplayer system on Nintendo systems in generation 6 to one of the worst. Personally I was also disappointed the Festival Plaza wasn't a bit more like the Wifi Plaza, which was already a broken terrible mess but at least had some minigames. It seemed to take the wrong inspiration from Wifi Plaza, and tragically Pokemon only went downhill with online compatibility after. Because while technically the online is more fun in gen 8 and 9, it doesn't work.

The games leaked before they came out. Everyone saw concept art of the starters' final evolutions and they were SO MAD that Litten became bipedal. But there were very few surprises in Sun and Moon for people who prowled the reddit, who also seemed to be the least excited about the games.

However, what I don't think you understand is how much LOVE they had. Of all the pokemon games I've been around for the release of, I think Sun and Moon were most unanimously loved. Everyone was talking about the story, and the incredible new designs of the alola pokemon, and yeah they were having a lot of trouble playing online, but people persisted.

When Ultra Sun and Moon came out, people were veeeeery disappointed for three key reasons:

This was a dual release "third version" instead of a sequel. Again, everyone LOVED the story of the original games, by this point it felt that the "third version" idea was dated, and people wanted a damn sequel with their favourite characters! I think BW2 set a very high bar for what the Pokemon team could offer, and unfortunately I don't think they ever met that bar again after they started making 3d games.

It was on the 3DS instead of the Switch. I was NEVER expecting USUM to be Switch games, I knew Pokemon team were not ready for Switch, but for some reason people expected Pokemon Stars to be a Switch game. Everyone was reaaaaally excited for Pokemon Switch after the console launched, but Pokemon has always belonged on the DS, and I felt it had more potential for growth on that console before moving up on the chain. Of course, after the negative reaction to USUM and the begging for Pokemon Switch, Game Freak HAD to start development on Let's Go and Sw/Sh.

The things they'd added into the game were not as impressive as the other Third Versions. Pokemon Emerald and Pokemon Platinum were objective improvements from the original, though I have some things to say about Emerald's pacing. I like the minigames from Ultra, I fell SO in love with the Camera mode!!! Spent so much time fucking around in it and still have a folder in my computer to this day. HOWEVER, the people still yearn for a Battle Frontier! The Battle Factory they put in USUM seems to be based on community, which was already a pain in the ass, and as you know, it's now impossible to play online with others, so RIP to that as well. I like the changes to the Battle Tree, I love Rainbow Rocket, but while Platinum and Emerald were NECESSARY IMPROVEMENTS from the ground up, USUM only improved some of the battles and held down everything else with more, worse cutscenes.

The story was much worse than the original, choosing to cut and change content instead of improve upon what was there. The story of Platinum and Emerald doesn't come across as worse than DP and RS, but EVERYONE thinks the story for USUM is a downgrade. The reason for this is because if Lillie was the true protagonist of the games originally, the Ultra versions tried to cut her down, but only for a couple of her most important scenes. She and Lusamine basically have every scene intact except for their most important, climactic moments. It's like if instead of BW2, they made Pokemon Grey but it was split in half, and instead of being an evil fucko gunning for world domination, Ghetsis was trying to use the power of the two Dragons to stop Kyurem from freezing the world, except he still abused pokemon, and he still abused N from childhood, and N never showed up to become champion and N never realised the truth of pokemon or turned against his father. How terrible would that be?

No remakes or anything special at the end of the gen. For the past few generations we'd either had remakes or sequels, but Gen 7 released USUM and Let's Go. It's debatable whether the Lets Go games are part of gen 7, but I wouldn't consider them remakes the same way that HGSS or ORAS are, and they are CERTAINLY not a favourite with a hardcore Pokemon audience. At least Gen 8/9 had decent DLC and Legends Arceus as a halfhearted apology note, but unfortunately there was no swan song at the end of Generation 7.

I think ultimately that's what made people go from "Gen 7 could be the best yet" to "Gen 7 bad". The launch was very strong, but the followup was the poorest out of almost any gen.

My personal opinion of USUM is it is one of the best pokemon games for general battles, I think it would be a lot more fun to nuzlocke than the original Sun and Moon, but there's a lot of better pokemon games to replay than USUM, especially if you're taking modded into account. I think sun and moon were the most immersive out of the games I've played, at the very least because it had improvements like trainer models in battles without the uncanny as hell stuff you got in the next two gens. I remember the games fondly, even if I do feel bitter about the story changes."

I thought this reply was worth sharing on this blog. I put a lot of effort into it.

[gundamcalibarney]

Like Volcarona is literally called the Sun Pokemon first while Solgaleo is called the Sunne Pokemon

Which leads me to believe that Solgaleo and Lunala are In-Universe late comers to the Legendary schtick because they came straight from Palkia's toybox and during the events of SMUSUM.

So I Do genuinely believe that Volcarona had some sort of Sun Deity following because it's likely that it was considered a Sun Deity before Solgaleo showed up

[incorrect-pokespe-quotes]

Clearing Out the Askbox

She sure is! I love early SwSh theorizing :)

(hands you the arc) here you’ll do it better. 

Are you implying there are space huskies that you haven’t told me about? Spill the secrets of the alien dogs

This is unintentionally the funniest ask I have ever received, thank you. Spe not respecting women is more of a joke since the manga isn’t really misogynistic in any meaningful way, but it does have an issue I like to call FDS, or Female Dexholder Syndrome. If you read all the arcs you’ll notice a pattern: the girls don’t do ANYTHING in the final battle (Yellow being an exception but she’s a special case). Blue is eliminated from the tournament by Oak, Crystal gets frozen in ice in Ilex and really just doesn’t move the entire scene, Sapphire gets locked in an aircar, Platinum never actually fights the bad guys (seriously, every fight she’s in someone else is battling Team Galactic she’s just standing there), White was kidnapped, Whitley was also just kinda standing there, Y had a bit of a role but I forgot it, and Moon was locked in a literal dog cage.  The joke is thus that all the female dexholders have FDS and are nerfed in order to make their male counterparts look cooler in the finale when facing off against the big cad guys, so spe doesn’t respect women (also all the female dexholders who are focused on battling are overshadowed narratively by their male counterparts with the exception of Platinum, so there’s that too). 

“Are you a boy or a girl?” “Yes”

100% agreed. Sadly Crystal’s debut was a bit of a transition period-- Crystal came out after GS so it’s likely that Crystal wasn’t planned for the original draft of the story and had to be added in last minute (which is likely why there’s a massive tonal shift and her introduction hits like a freight train). Not only that, but when Crystal showed up the manga switched artists, which probably didn’t help things as Yama was still getting his bearings. So yeah... GSC could’ve handled Crystal a lot better. 

This is the fourth time you’ve sent this ask

I like the idea of a remake arc pushing Yellow’s abilities but “overzealous to the point of endangering others” isn’t really Yellow’s MO. She’s willing to put herself in danger and go with wacky plans, but she’s not stupid and she doesn’t abuse her powers in the slightest. Also I really don’t think Red OR Green is really in a position where they have the moral or actual authority to take back her dex

I stg I’ve gotten this exact ask before and like? That’s kinda rude of them :/

I’m getting Deja Vu

haha gay

Half the asks I get are legitimate nonsense so at this point I almost DO miss Jimmy Neutron

Honestly same and I really need to brush up on my ORAS, but yeah I agree. I don’t really know what it is that makes them seem so... off in the ORAS arc, but I attribute it to being sort of a step backwards from their partnership in Emerald. Maybe it’s because in ORAS they never really get a chance to breathe and be themselves in a non-stressful situation, but Sapphire acts almost uncharacteristically sensitive to Ruby’s moods and actions towards her whereas Ruby is very serious and angsty. Idk. 

That being said, seeing them doing field research and being just... good friends who care about and trust each other is something I wanted to see more of too because I think the best parts of their relationship shine when they get to enjoy each others’ company like that

Oh absolutely, Kusaka is a genius at weaving in different plot threads / events into one (typically) cohesive story. With the exception of SMUSUM / ORAS, he does it flawlessly imo.  If I had to tweak ORAS, I would have Blaise and Amber disguise themselves as this “new Archie and Maxie” to try and round up the old team Magma / Aqua members, giving them hope and an opportunity to fight for what’s right this time. Instead we got them coming back to life AGAIN and dying for the THIRD TIME, which. ok Kusaka. Ok. 

ORAS should’ve had Ruby and Sapphire doing field work and being cute together while Emerald and Wally saved the day because Wally deserves to be a hero and RuSa deserve a goddamn nap. Send Tweet. 

[ruby3818]

Is the Pokémon manga going to end at SWSH or are there more gens coming? I just wished that the author would give us an another arc where ALL DEXHOLDERS unite and fight some stuff cos it’s gonna be cool and we get to see them one more time! I wonder if you have thought this too?

I can’t see Spe ending at SwSh since Kusaka did say in a recent(ish) interview that he had no intention of ending Spe anytime soon. So we can expect to see more Spe arcs in the future ^-^.

Idk about having every dexholder reunite since there’s so many and a 20ish years age gap between the newest and oldest dexholders,, but in saying that.. I did have a theory once that it could be possible to do thanks to Hoopa being the best potential ass pull:tm:.

Basically my theory was that at the end of ORAS the thing the Battle Brains wanted to talk to Emerald about was Anabel falling into Ultra Space so we get more of that in the numbered volumes, linking the ORAS and SMUSUM arcs together. This also gives the opportunity to have Emerald appear in SM due to his connection to Anabel and the Battle Brains sending him on a mission of sorts to find her and of course bringing Hoopa with him (he could be investigating the link between Hoopa’s rings and Ultraspace or something).

So that’s Em in the SM arc. When (or if..) the Rainbow Rocket arc happens Hoopa gives Emerald the power to bring any of the dexholders to help, so basically a get out of foreshadowing free card. Naturally if Em needs help due to Archie resurfacing Ruby and Sapphire will show up to help and that’s the Hoenn dexholders taken care of. Gold and Crystal (and Silver) could also be brought over by hoopa to help, being Em’s friends, so that’s the Johto dexholders taken care of.

Red and Green will be at the Battle Tree to showcase that part of the game and to investigate potential sightings of Giovanni (Red choosing to go with Green to check it out like he originally intended in ORAS). Giovanni showing up with a battaleon of other villians would be enough for Red to call upon Yellow and Blue for help. So with Em and Hoopa’s help they join the fight.

Platinum being Moon’s sister would of course have her rushing over to Alola with Diamond and Pearl to help out so that brings the Sinnoh trio into the fray to fight either Cyrus (even though he is reformed) or Sird as the Galactic bad guy stand in.

Lack-Two being confirmed as Colress brings him into the arc to fight Ghetsis of RR and maybe as a character developement moment have him actually call upon the other Unova dexholders, admitting that sometimes friends can help you out and not to do everthing on your own etc.

Sina and Dexio being in Alola gives the Kalos link so they could recommend X and Y to help in the fight due to the reappearance of Lysandre (since we got confimation that he actually somehow didn’t die).

So basically instead of having all the dexholders fight one enemy, which would be hard to spread the focus with that many characters, we would have each dexholder group assigned a bad guy to fight therefore splitting up the screentime a little better.

It would still be pretty cluttered and with the limited extra chapters added in volumes it would be rushed but,, SMUSUM already suffered from bad pacing and misdistributed focus on characters so we really don’t have much to lose.

That’s my thoughts on it sorry if it’s a bit confusing ^-^; I tend to ramble when asked about things I’m interested in hsklf. Thank you for the ask o/

[bubby-the-clown]

Sword and Shield are failed clones of Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

I don’t know if anyone has criticized the game on this particular front yet (probably, but call me Captain Overkill, I’m here to do exactly that.) I am just a salty bitter fan who recently had the displeasure of dealing with Isle of Armor. Being a life long Pokémon fan, I am willing to put up with a lot! I love literally every single generation EXCEPT Gen 8, so please, bear with me through this wild ride.

So... what do I mean when I say “Failed Clone?” Well, what I mean is that there are many similarities and... things so blatantly recycled from SMUSUM, at least, in the story department. Let’s look at individual characters, and what makes them similar/clones in my opinion. So, let’s start off with our lovable neighborly rival: Hauop. I mean Hopau. I mean... okay, so that’s the thing... Hop and Hau are both giddy trainers who are motivated in no small part by wanting to live up to a family member they admire, who happens to give them their Pokémon. In the case of Hau, this is his grandfather, Kahuna Hala. In Hop, this is his brother, Champion Leon. These two kiddos are our first friend, a neighborly sort who chooses the Pokémon weaker to our own. They both have sunny dispositions and clash with one of our other rivals, who I will umbrella as Mean Rival.

Next is our non-combatant investigative friend who desperately wishes to unlock the secrets of the legendary Pokémon of the region. Lillie and her Tethered Counterpart, Sonia. Yeah, no, look. They both have the same goal and are both nerds who don’t fight (unless ya wanna talk about USUM’s after story, but...)

For bonus points, both live with and are the proteges of their regions’ respective professors.

Now... mean rival time. Gladion the tormented enforcer, and Bede the brash enforcer. Okay, so these two actually have a fair few differences, but I’ll cover the similarities first. Both are the mean rival who don’t have a starter Pokémon. Both work for an evil organization, and both can be pretty abrasive, especially towards each games’ neighbor. They are also both betrayed by their respective organizations, and by their parental figures.

Okay, so maybe they just copied some of the main rivals and friends? That wouldn’t be a huge issue, right? Well, uh... yeah. That’d’ve been fine, really. But strap in, cause this is only the beginning (oh dear god help me.)

So... the overarching story... in a region with a strange phenomenon that allows Pokémon to dish out extremely powerful moves, a new trainer aspires to be champion, their plucky neighbor boy alongside them. They are eventually accompanied by a girl, aid to the professor, who wishes to unlock the secrets of the legendary Pokémon of the region. This quest is very important to her, though she doesn’t take part in battle.

Eventually the future-champion confronts the evil team of the region; a ruffian group of punks out to just plain cause trouble for those trying to participate in the region’s Challenge. All the while, a benevolent corporation of do-gooders looms over the region, providing much needed aid where they can. This fanciful group is led by a dashing and well dressed corporate leader who is accompanied by their rather abrasive assistant.

Now, you eventually decide to confront a leader of sorts... one who resides in a dark and dreary, run down, enclosed town (seriously, what an odd and specific thing to copy). You work your way in, confronting evil team grunts, until you face off against the leader of that evil team! Of course, you win. (And eventually the evil team leader fights alongside you against a greater threat!)

As you venture through the region, you perform the shenanigans typical of the Pokémon series, battling people and earning tokens that will take you to the very top! However... a dark turn of events will occur that causes great calamity within the region. (This is where things kiiiinda shift over into Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon territory. So remember that when I talk about the big bad evil villain and the monster they cannot stop).

As it turns out, the do-gooders of the region’s benefactor group are actually DO-BADDERS! Because, ho boy, they are actually attempting to stop an ancient evil from attacking the region and shrouding it in darkness! Which on its own wouldn’t be evil, but through their twisted methods, they take things too far. However, they aren’t enough to stop the alien beast that shrouds the region in darkness! So you and the legendary Pokémon of the region face off against this monster and save the day! Woo hoo! And you can even catch it right before you face off in the championship battle. And then you make history by winning said battle, and then you can go off and do... other things. The end.

So uh... yeah. There are a lot of blatant similarities. Team Skull and Team Yell. The Aether Foundation and Macro Cosmos. The mega evil beast that CAUSES DARKNESS TO OVERTAKE THE LAND! There’s... so much.

I could probably make a list of the things I do actually like at some point, maybe. Y’know, if I am not executed publicly for this.

[accidentally-logince]

Do you have any advice for a beginner shiny hunter

:O!!! I do!!

Your first decision is going to be your method. Are you going to be a full odds hunter, or are you going to use hunting methods to raise your odds? That’s going to determine the kinds of preparation you do for a hunt.

Say you’re a method hunter. A popular thing to do is to get the shiny charm. That only exists in Black & White 2 and up, and you get it by completing the Pokédex. In BW2, XY and ORAS you need to complete the national dex, and in SMUSUM you just need to complete Alola’s Pokédex. That’s lots of people’s first goal when they method hunt, because it increases their odds indefinitely

Next you have to choose your method. If you want to start with an easy method, I’d recommend SOS chaining, if you have an Alola game. It’s pretty easy, and the odds are great. When you get to a chain of 70, your odds max out at just over 200. If you’re going to SOS chain, you’ll need Leppa berries. Some people use a Pokémon with the move skill swap and the ability of harvest, to give the wild Pokémon the berry, but if you’re conscious of how much PP the wild Pokémon has left, all you have to do is knock it out before it runs out. But make sure there’s another Pokémon on the field that can call for partners. For example, say you’re chaining pikipek, and the one you’re currently using to call for help is level 2. That thing is only going to have growl, so you want to let it call in another Pikipek before it runs out of PP (35 for growl) and knock out the one that’s about to struggle. And every time your Pokémon is running out of PP, use a leppa berry. You’ll also want an adrenaline orb, which can be bought at any Pokémon center after the third trial. It stays active for the whole battle, so you just need one per chain, and it makes Pokémon more likely to call for help. Then, just keep calling in more Pokémon until one of them is shiny! There’s also plenty of videos that explain it much cleaner than I have, so look for some of those if you need them

Or, if you’re wanting to do full odds, but ease in slowly, I recommend horde hunting in Pokémon XY and ORAS. Get a Pokémon with sweet scent, and stand in a patch of grass where hordes can appear, and keep using sweet scent. You’ll encounter Pokémon every time, and since you’re seeing 5 per horde, it goes crazy fast, and it’s still full odds. You’re seeing about 600 Pokémon in a hour with horde hunting, it’s a great starter hunt for full odds. Or, if you have a copy of Heartgold or Soulsilver, you could try the starters. The way the game is coded, you’re seeing all three of them, they show up shiny in the selection screen. You’re seeing about 550 an hour with that one.

If you want any more specific information, I can definitely help with that too, just send another ask :P

[bainhardt]

#RibbonQuest2019 - Part 17: Say Farewell to Jin the Ribbon Master!

The Battle Tree... a place for Jin and I to ascend to unprecedented heights (although it’s much less impressive than, say, scaling a mountain or two, if you ask me). The challenges presented here threatened to surpass any we’d encountered before. No matter what stood in our way, there was no more turning back - this was our final showdown.

As you'd probably guessed, I began my attempts using the tried and true Singles strategy of generations past, TheBigLoafer and Big Mac. Their tag team functions largely the same as before, and I achieved moderate success. There are, however, a couple more road bumps that can crop up than in gen 6, which I documented carefully when I encountered them:

Despite their veteran status and combined best efforts, this dastardly duo weren’t able to carry as hard as they used to (for now...), and I thought very carefully on how to improve the formula. The main problem, I found, was how only the two of them were contributing. Who makes the best third? Is there a Pokemon who could pick up their slack? Or is there any way to make it faster? Big Mac’s Acupressure is astoundingly slow, and occasionally misses the mark by failing to increase Attack or Speed sufficiently.

With these two points in mind, I hastily trained up the thirteenth member of Ribbon Gang.

Taking the stage is Caramell the Gyarados.

Caramell was designed to serve as more of an answer to the Slow Problem than to the Third Member Problem; Dragon Dance works like a hyper-focused Acupressure, and Mega Gyarados’ Mold Breaker ignores countless troublesome abilities.

Unfortunately, although she gave it her all, Caramell wasn’t making much more progress than Big Mac before her. Without Substitute or any defensive stat boosts to rely on, she was desperately fragile. The true answer to both problems came to me in a flash when Caramell fell to a Swords Dance boosted Talonflame... who’d had Focus Sash. That damned sash! I went back to the drawing board, redoubling my efforts. There’s gotta be a more efficient way.

And there was, with the help of two more friends.

Kannacrossit the Heracross and Kaio-ken the Blaziken, ready for battle.

Mega Heracross’ huge stats providing the muscle behind Skill Link attacks would surely punch through Sturdy and Sash with ease. Kaio-ken’s entire role was simply to power up Kannacrossit as hard as possible - survive to do that, and we’d take victory in almost every conceivable circumstance. Keeping the threats from my above notes in mind, I began climbing the Battle Tree once more, eager to see the fruits of my latest labors unfold.

AND THIS... IS TO GO EVEN FURTHER BEYOND!!

So long as I took my time and played it cool, these two working alongside TheBigLoafer proved nearly unstoppable. Kannacrossit was effortlessly demolishing every foe in her way, and watching those HP bars drop put a smile on my face each time. I felt suddenly like I was on the fast track to success.

Watching Cynthia’s Garchomp laze about was supremely rewarding.

As my streak climbed higher and higher, it started to feel as though my opponents were cheering me on, and reminding me to reflect.

Then, before I knew it, what was meant to be a test run turned into a 49-streak, and I was preparing to face Red once and for all. Despite Kaio-ken and Kannacrossit’s massive success, I knew ahead of time what Pokemon Red was able to use, and knew it was best to switch back to Big Mac (oh, and Jin, of course).

There were a couple possible hiccups which could present themselves, including Protect on Venusaur or Fissure on Snorlax, but as with the Battle Chatelaine of gen 6, I decided to charge boldly forward and hope for the best.

As soon as I saw this, I knew we’d won.

Whether it deserved to be called “spectacular” or not, we finally did it - Jin, the Ribbon Gang, and I had finally claimed our final ribbon, the Battle Tree Master Ribbon.

The quest is over!

I can’t believe we’ve finally reached the end. Although the ribbon collection is complete and Jin and friends have earned their retirement, I want to truly go out with a bang - no, not one requiring more arduous gameplay or ridiculous challenges. I want to write up a proper sendoff for Ribbon Quest in the form of an Epilogue, compiling various records and celebrating the highs and lows in summary. And I want to draw everyone in one big commemorative picture.

So while the journey officially ends here, I’m not quite ready to say my proper goodbye. Because this adventure deserves something a little more special.

POKEMON SMUSUM: COMPLETE!