awesomepier

[sleepinglionhearts]

Pokémon trainer who started out with a froslass and then a banette decided to move in

[qrupafjzvm1]

birthday!

a neatly-folded letter is placed under a bottle of vanilla extract.

pretty sure it's been there for more than a day. you have a feeling that you were late.

hello hi if you're reading this i'm probably going in pmd to become an eevee WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

if i'm not please return this where you found it thank you very much

anyway what the heck is this letter about.

i have a tradition that started on another site where i'd talk about what I've done for the year and my resolutions for the next.

it's a gaming site, sooooooooooooo not much fanfare is possible in those posts. only about the game and the community.

so i decided, since i'm using like 5 different sites now, why not make 3 recaps?

so yeah this is one of 3 you can find, honestly would rather you don't find any of the other ones but who knows :shrug:

this one's gonna go very in-depth about fandom stuff! well, as much as i can, anyway. i didn't do much this year.

ANYWAY! first 6 months had absolutely nothing. i was locked into irl stuff and honestly had no time to think about anything else. ended in complete failure btw.

so yeah life was miserable

and then vocaloid happen.

whoo boy, fun fact: i didn't understand why people liked music they can't understand the lyrics of. like I'm a lyrics kid, i need lyrics to sing them songs, how can you enjoy a song without singing it

yeah turns out you can and WHOOOOOO what a turnaround now i'm rolling all around for a trillion years and a night while getting mesmerized and ok i'll stop

vocaloid would later bring me to other Japanese songs which i also love (yorushika anyone? pls recommend some more too)

anyway then ES happened and yup i can dream again that's great

yeah 2 years of depression and half a year of failure really takes a toll out of you, but then ES and PMD came from heaven and rescued me from the grasping hands of hell (no depictions available)

the fandom (and pokemon as a whole) probably brought me back to life in many ways i thought only techno's vids could do sooooooooooo yeah i love 'em

got an eevee plush recently actually can anyone recommend me a small pouch to go with so eve can be an explorer

oh and also ssrpg but that's honestly old news and you guys probably don't know 'em too so we'll just pass that

and splatoon, and doraemon (you didn't expect that did you), inside out had a page for a while, i was joining a dozen fandoms lmao

anyway so big problem. i can dream again. i have like, a full a4 page of fic ideas, in 11px times new roman. i can't write any of 'em.

no, i'm not saying that like i can't can't, it's more like i put myself down to write and 10 million things happen in my brain and now i'm playing the same boring games and can't write for naught

truly a curse (i'd call it adhd but i cannot get to a therapist so yeah that ain't happening)

the plan is for eve to be my hyperfixation so i can focus better? i mean i hope it works

anyway resolution!!!

i mean when it coms to fandoms my only resolution is to write more fics. i'ma be honest it's only that. you really shouldn't expect much more.

actually you can expect much more i'll try to pick up drawing at some point if i have time

so yeah that's the end of this random rambling, honestly i wanted to write more but the page's ending and so is my time, the gate to pmd's closing in like 15 minutes eek

sayonara (i'll be back with a fic i swear)

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there's something on the back of the page. "why did you expect me to use the back of a page. i am disappointed in you."

[pinkpeccary]

playing pokemon sword because the bestie lent me their copy and here are some initial thoughts:

leon's design is so funny to me. the top half is reasonable, it's very regal, but then he's got the white shorts over white leggings look which feels very silly. bad fashion king.

accidentally cancelled nicknaming starter instead of confirming so spent the first ~half hour annoyed at the game for making me go through plot instead of going to a pokemon center to change it. however being able to change nicknames in any pokemon center is good.

(i do think that having to reach past the button for "never mind" to reach the button for "confirm nickname" is mildly annoying, but it's not that big a deal)

was also really starting to get stressed about having somehow missed the part where i could actually catch pokemon and 5 minutes later the game taught me how do it (which felt late, but i guess wasn't really)

i do really like the overworld, esp being able to see wild pokemon and maneuver into / around them

that said the wild area is so overwhelming

like, in prior games i've played the routes have had maybe 10 new pokemon max? so even if you were committed to catching every new pokemon before moving on it felt very doable. here there are way too many.

(in fairness there are different sections of the same wild area that you can wander into but they're not clearly delineated so it still feels overwhelmingly large)

i like that in battles you get move effectiveness hints only once you've fought the pokemon before. it feels like a nice compromise between not having to remember all the type matchups but still having a bit of novelty / extra challenge with the first encounter.

not a fan of camping, at least not yet. the curry minigame is... fine i guess? but feels like more effort than it's worth. personally i think the "befriend your pokemon" mechanics peaked with sun and moon, where you could hang out and pet them after every battle instead of it being kind of a separate game mode.

the dynamax raid thing is annoying, especially now that the game is older. i really dislike games that require playing with friends (somewhat acceptable in one-off or post-game type things but these were fucking everywhere) ig technically can do them solo but the game seemed confident that it was too difficult without friends so i didn't try)

i mean ultimately i wasn't really expecting to like the game that much and it's solidly fine; i will probably keep playing for a while at least and opinions may change. fwiw i have generally been enjoying it so far modulo the size of the wild area. i don't love some of the new mechanics but overall it's fine. also i literally just got to the first town so i'm sure there's a lot i haven't encountered yet.

[shiny-meowstics]

some extended thoughts on gen 9 since i was gifted the game as an unintentionally late birthday gift 🤔 warning: it's long

context: i'm basically halfway through. i've gotten 4/5 titans, 4/8 badges, 2/5 star bases. my team's late 30's/early 40's. i do have a mew, but considering i got it at level 5 it's basically on the same standing as the rest of my party/obviously is not game breaking because this game doesn't give out TMs like candy like gen 8 (which, good choice tbh. kind of stinks that the TMs aren't infinite use, but I haven't used them enough to be that bothered by the choice. getting materials is easy enough, anyway)

also i've been ignoring the tera raid dens, for the most part. i've done like 2 of them solo, and? they're fine. a good way to make money if you need it since they drop things like pearls. probably easy to exploit for exp candies if you know what you're doing, but i'm not about cheesing games on my first playthrough of them

positives:

the music's alright! i miss having dedicated route themes, but what the game has to offer is fine enough. the smooth transition between area/battle music is a Very Nice Touch. some tracks are depressingly underused (looking at you, rival themes) but everyone knows that. the gym theme is a bop (aside from the one that plays at the end but. my thought on that are in a later section)

the auto battle feature?? also pretty good, i definitely prefer it than having to fight things one by one for exp. it's also extremely funny to see one of your mons just go absolutely ham and decimate a whole squad of pokemon. siccing mew at tauros that keep fucking running me down: cathartic

also not a point for or against the game but i've already found 3 shinies, lmao

mixed thoughts:

the balance of difficulty is fine (though this is with hindsight/knowing the "correct" order for the badges beforehand. if i went in totally blind, i would be singing a different tune). nothing's too strong or weak in a given area so long as you're in the correct level range, and the sheer amount of items you find lying around means you will not be wanting for potions or pokeballs, or even money. evo items are easy enough to find once you learn where they spawn. pokemon variance per area is also good and gives a good amount of options to pick through

however, if you are playing blind, it would be extremely easy to wander into an area or fight that is far above your level range, and that can be a frustrating experience. the game is paradoxically open world while having an absolute, linear path that players are expected to take (and usually don't). the nurses do not guide you to the next objective with your level/badge count in mind, they just tell you to go to whatever objective is closest iirc. would be a lot better if the badges had true scaling instead of fixed levels/difficulties

exploration/traversal leaves a lot to be desired. maybe it's because the map is already filled out at the start, maybe it's because aside from a few areas most spots look samey, maybe it's partially me not being great at keeping mental maps of areas (aphantasia), but getting around has basically amounted to "wandering around kind of aimlessly just so i can snag centers for later." i might've enjoyed it more if my progress for exploring was a little more tangible- like, let me see the map, but grey out the areas i haven't been to yet and fill it in with color/give a little notif ping that says when i've discovered a new (to me) area

*just as a disclaimer, i don't dislike open world game design. even though the areas were more like larger hubs, i think legends arceus had a pretty good balance, and i enjoy exploring in botw. in this game it's like. glaringly apparent when they're trying (key word being "trying") to keep you from getting to certain higher level areas via blocking the areas off with skills your bike dragon of choice will get later. which, i mean. if you don't want the player wandering into a level 50+ area when they're only level 14, just... don't put the level 50+ area a stone's throw away from the starter area? Just A Thought)

negatives:

i'm sorry. everyone says it. everyone knows this, but i have to say it too. oh my god this game runs like absolute butt cheeks. i am usually pretty tolerant towards spotty game performance so long as the experience as a whole is relatively stable, but this game runs like complete and utter poo poo. slow downs are constant and it's almost headache inducing when it's bad enough. i made the unfortunate decision to explore a water-abundant area. i am not going back there until i can get the titan, and after that i am never going back there ever

also FUCK veluza, me and my homies HATE veluza, that bitch needs to Fucking Leave. i'd threaten to filet it but it'd probably enjoy that

the music's fine, but the sound effect design is kind of shit. the little "ding" that plays when you navigate menus is really sharp, and i have to put the SE volume at a minimum so that it wouldn't be so grating to the ears. visual design of the game also leaves a lot to be desired, but again, nothing new and low-hanging fruit. the kind of cartoony/saturated look of the environments does not mesh that well with the semi-realistic textures of the pokemon. also i'm sorry, but i hate the finale/tera gym theme (the one that plays when the final pokemon is sent out). it's trying to be galar so bad with not nearly the same amount of charm or forethought

the lack of any real buildings/npc dialogue in towns outside of shops is palpable and as disappointing as i expected, smhh. none of them really stand out to me that much, and navigating through the larger ones are kind of annoying (but that could absolutely be a me thing, [gestures at section about exploration] )

it's extremely aggravating that this game's almost been out for a year, and aside from a handful of inconsequential bugs/one game breaking bug that they literally could not ignore, the game is still basically in the exact same state as it was at launch. this is genuinely embarrassing

[violentshine]

i've been playing pokemon lately which has stirred up the urge to list what teams/type specialty that some warrior cats would have Don't expect this to be well organized im just slapping my ideas on the keyboard These aren't actually full teams, more so who I think would be each character's closest Pokemon this also doesn't follow any strict region

Firestar- Fire types (duh) and I'm thinking he would have a growlithe and then get a charmander as his apprentice-starter

Sandstorm- Ground types,,Excadrill & Sandshrew

Graystripe- Normal types, he has a Snorlax & a Zangoose

Ravenpaw- He doesn't specialize in any (maybe due to him leaving) but Ghost types like to stick around him

Bluestar- She definitely has many ice types I just don't know who

Lionheart & Goldenflower r the rock type-sibling duo (again don't know the specific pokemon)

Whitestorm's specialty are Dragon types & Redtail's are Steel

I can't settle on a single type for Tigerstar so I think he'd just catch whatever strong Pokemon he finds. His starter was also a Charmander which is now a Charizard and he can Mega-Evolve it He also has a Krookodile

Spottedleaf works well with Psychic & Grass-I really love the idea of her having a Hatterene

Darkstripe has...Dark Types but he has one Serviper

Also each clan has at least one type of Pokemon in their "region"- Thunderclan has Bug types, Riverclan Water, Windclan...not too sure I guess either Ground or Flying? Shadowclan originally had only Dark types but during Brokenstar's time as leader, a lot of Ghost types migrated to their territory. Skyclan has Grass and Fairy. Speaking of Skyclan, Leafstar has a Lopunny & as you can tell leader's type doesn't already correlate with the type of wild Pokemon around

Yellowfang's Purugly was originally a gift from Raggedstar to Foxheart but she abandoned it after it evolved because it wasn't "pretty enough" for her so Yellowfang took it

Leopardstar has a Mioltic and perhaps a Persian ? I think when she was younger a Meowth was struggling in the river when Skyheart made a (teasing) comment about how it reminded her of Leopard when they were younger (wonder why.) Leopardfur rescued it and later the two crossed paths again when the Meowth evolved into a Persian

Russetfur most definitely has a Liepard. Not sure what Blackfoot/star has but while he was Shadowclan's deputy he had a close ghost type companion. (steel could also work for him maybe when he's leader- I think Aegislash would be a good fit)

Dustpelt specializes in Fighting types, his first pokemon was a Timburr. I also think he'd have a Watchhog (which isnt a fighting type but i still like the idea of it)

Crookedstar probably has a Floatzel ? I imagine it was one of the first Pokemon he caught but with Rainflower being the horrible mother she is she thought such a cute Pokemon deserved to be Oakheart's (Oakpaw at the time) so she switched Crooked's Floatzel for Oak's Krabby (Shellheart switched them back though). Crookedstar also has a Starmie.

Silversteam wants a Mioltic and once tried to sneak Leopardstar's one off into a battle but she does not like Feebas. And she keeps being told she won't find a wild Mioltic. Silverstream doesn't like this. She later finds a Pachirisu, and Uh.

Mistyfoot has a Vaporeon and Stonefur has a Golduck & Dewott

Goosefeather would have an Absol.

Frostfur has many Ice types, including a Frolass, Dewgong and an Alolan Ninetales. Her love her ice types started during her training with Bluestar. Brindleface has...normal and grass types...? Or maybe bug types. Yea, Brindleface specializes in Bug types. She has a Leavanny and Illumise maybe a Ladyba too

Longtail's speciality would probably just be normal & flying, he definitely has an Aipom

Hawkfrost has Ice types :) Mothwing..idk about Mothwing sorry

Scourge has a Sneasel....i also want to give him a Snubbull

i may add to this in reblogs