#hopefully Gen VIII will be better

[piraticoctopus]

Froslass headcanons

Alrighty, here’s a condensed version plus some folklore stuff. (The WIP long version goes into way more detail on certain things because I can't control myself. Hopefully I'll get around to posting it eventually.)

(Sorry about the formatting, but I couldn't get multi-level bullet points to work.)

Solitary-living, mostly nocturnal omnivore with meat as an important part of its diet; Diet shifts to almost fully meat-based during the coldest months; (I like to imagine that “souls”/“life energy” are separate from physical calories; since they can and do also eat actual food)

Tend to inhabit more forested areas, whereas Glalie prefer open habitats; This reduces resource competition between the two

Hunting method: manipulate prey by various means to lure them in, then incapacitate them by draining "life force", body heat, or directly freezing (or some combination)

Employ different tactics based on target, and thus have to be intelligent enough to learn from experience and observation; Some tactics might fall under aggressive mimicry

May alter the terrain to passively direct prey (for example, by making the route of easiest travel lead toward their dens; easiest route is where Froslass wants you to go)

Notable moves learned by level-up: Confuse Ray (since Gen IV), Captivate (from Gen V until its removal from the games in Gen VIII) (note: only works on opposite gender), Draining Kiss (since Gen VI), Will-o-Wisp (since Gen IV) (I just think this one's interesting for an Ice type)

Prey availability varies by proximity to human-inhabited areas; those living closer to humans have more room to be picky (better variety)

Humans (usually) know better than to fall for their tricks, but aren't off the table; Actual documented cases of humans killed by wild Froslass are few, but missing people are often attributed to them anyways

Teeth built for crunching frozen stuff (see wolverines as a real life example); Base Attack and Special Attack are equal, and it has access to Bite, Crunch, and Ice Fang through Snorunt; However, usually rely on Special moves

The way their mouths work means they'd either have to use the middle part of the "mask" like a weird beak, or would have to always bite off to one side or the other

Extra/unfinished food is frozen and kept for later, but will be arranged in an aesthetically pleasing way; They keep durable, non-edible remains to use as decorations

Collect non-food-related items of interest, too, such as rocks or man-made objects

Have an eye for finding beauty in the morbid and grotesque; Understanding of visual balance might make them good at things like flower arranging

Possibly possess some method for detecting thermal energy (heat) (This one is purely speculative and has no basis in canon); Seen in certain snakes and in vampire bats (only mammals to do this!); Physical mechanisms of how it works in animals might align nicely with Ice-type traits (requires heat-sensing organ and surrounding areas to maintain a cooler temperature); The diamond shape on its forehead could function as a heat pit??

Red possibly serves as an attractant of sorts?; Presence of a visually-obvious color is irrelevant if being seen by prey isn’t a bad thing (in fact, if you’re trying to bring prey to you, perhaps it's best if they DO notice you); This possibly conflicts with Snow Cloak? (unless they make themselves completely invisible to hide); Conclusion: 🤷‍♀️

I imagine that they sort of have a “torso”, but that at least the lower half of their body is hollow

Temperament generally calm, level-headed; Introverted but not inherently “shy”

Limited emotional displays and minimal outward expression; Hard to read

Face mostly obscured; Hand over mouth is a common pose, which hides it further

Capable of feeling emotion, just don’t tend to show it (there’s no need to do so if solitary, and doing so may even be detrimental)

Solitary traits impact their social behaviors: Generally bad at communicating, prefer to avoid conflict when possible, likely to stay quiet when upset

Cohabiting with others can be hit-or-miss; Will often simply maintain acquaintance-level relationships with others, apart from select individuals they decide they like; Do best when given time and space for themselves

Value self-sufficiency and tend not to seek help; Relationship with trainer may take some work because of this, especially if not caught as a Snorunt (requires patience)

Froslass would likely consider chilling in the same area as someone else while doing separate activities or just zoning out to be “bonding” (no judgment from me, because same)

Pain in the ass to do field research on, because they’re aware of observers and (like many Ghost-type Pokémon) find amusement in messing with equipment like trail cameras

Wild Froslass do not occur naturally in Hoenn

The not-headcanons-but-other-stuff:

Pokémon as a series is full of chances to explore the dangers of anthropomorphism and I could talk about it for ten years; Pokémon don't have human morals, yet some of them operate at a nearly-human level of intelligence, which is kind of terrifying to think about

Froslass is based on the yuki onna of Japanese folklore (see here for a good overview); It seems to largely be inspired by two varieties that make for an interesting combination: 1) The forest-dwelling, soul-sucking ones from Aomori/Niigata/Miyagi Prefectures, and 2) the version first written by Lafcadio Hearn [x], (this is the yuki onna story, and is the one where the yuki onna marries a human man)

Specific Pokédex entries seem to draw from other varieties, as well

If the Pokédex is taken at face value, Froslass is out here selectively hunting down physically attractive human men to take them home and eat their souls; This is exactly the image the devs have been going for this entire time, and no one can convince me otherwise

If the “Traces of a Lost Village” quest in Legends: Arceus is taken as true (and there’s no reason to believe otherwise), it implies that Froslass (or at least the one in question) is not only capable of physically disguising itself as human, but also imitating human speech and behaviors convincingly enough to pull off said disguise for years; I have seen no one talk about this particular detail despite all of the things it could do with such abilities, and it’s driving me crazy

To make that clear: the game devs of Legends: Arceus looked at Froslass, which has been stated more than once to prey on/victimize human men in some way (including in said game), and gave it the ability to convincingly disguise itself as a human woman; Combine this with the previous point about the Pokédex and Froslass is now an even more dangerous catfisher than it arguably already had the potential to be

[govindhtech]

Cooler Master Masterbox TD500 ATX Mid Tower Case Review

Cooler Master Masterbox TD500 ATX

Review of the Cooler Master TD500 Max ATX case Very cleverly done, but not fully considered

We have previously tested a Cooler Master “Max” case here at the beginning of the year, but that was for small systems with an ITX mainboard. The same partially-prepared method is used in a different case that follows today, but it concerns ATX. Although this isn’t really my style, their case specialist Alexander needs time off, and I’m hoping that passing the NCORE 100 Max exam will allow me to fill in for him. So let’s examine what Cooler Master is entering in this race together.

Delivery area and packaging The two handles on the left and right help to make the large box easy to carry even though it weighs a good 14 kg, which also pleases the letter carrier. In the unlikely event that a transport company employee has a bad day and throws package into the delivery van from the sorting centre, the sturdy foam blocks should shield it from any harm.

The slightly tinted side window made of toughened glass looks much better in one piece than in shards, so hopefully the delivery person won’t take this as a challenge.

The components that come pre-installed in the Cooler Master Max series are its unique selling point. More precisely, an AIO water cooling system with a suitably sized power supply unit and an extra-thick radiator, both from the business’s own line of goods.

As a result, a few more accessories are included than one would typically find with an enclosure. There are short sleeves, a power cable, and several tiny parts for installing the water cooling in addition to rails for 3.5′′ hard drives. However, the power supply unit’s cables and screws for the case itself are still missing.

Cooler Master Masterbox TD500 mesh v2 ATX Mid Tower case Let’s examine the case itself first, then respond to the previous page’s question. It is clearly not an entirely new design, as it is based on the Masterbox TD500 that is currently in use.We would say that it is the Mesh V2 variant based on the pattern of the glass’s notches. The model name is prominently displayed on the upper right to prevent any unintentional confusion.We would have preferred a rim that was entirely black, so we think it would have been better to leave this out. However, we think the colour is much better.

Masterbox TD500 ATX

The right side isn’t very visible, but this is where we can best showcase the paintwork, which is a little challenging to photograph.And even though the thematic shift is now quite distant, when we first opened it, we thought of the 2019 VW Golf VIII’s light grey color just with a nice, matte finish instead of a glossy one.

When the side panel is removed, the TD500 Max’s additional unique feature is exposed. The housing has built-in plugs in addition to the power supply unit already being installed. They’re even fairly tidy and have already been connected to the power supply unit at the back.The internal hub is already linked to the fans and RGB lighting. This can be powered by a button on the front or directly connected to the motherboard.

Additionally, there are two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C port, and an AUX port that can be used for both headphones and a microphone. It also comes with a power button shaped like the Cooler Master logo, of course.

Cooler Master Masterbox TD500 ATX System architecture The system should be put together as soon as possible because the power supply and cooling are already installed. But when the screw came out while we was taking the side panel off, It was a little surprised.This one is loose, in contrast to the two knurled screws on the opposite side.Now that we know where the missing screws are right on the housing, behind a little flap right in front of the power supply unit we can finally put an end to the mystery surrounding them.We started by inserting the necessary sleeved cables into the case wall connectors.

Then, the mainboard can come right after, which is subsequently connected to the power connections as well. Naturally, they also remember to include the cables for the front connections as well as the connections to the RGB fan hub. The entire water cooling system is fitted with a factory-applied template, which should simplify the process of figuring out the proper placement and amount of thermal paste.

The processor can then be connected to the pump block. You can also add the two plastic hose clips if you like the way it looks.The graphics card has been installed and connected, last but not least.Everything is completed swiftly and painlessly overall.Nearly every component, with the exception of a few cables for the front I/O, is constructed in the “main chamber.” Additionally, the side panel needs to be changed before they can discuss the stress test results.

Stress assessments Chose to compare directly against “optimal conditions,” that is, without any housing at all. By the way, you can brush up on your memory if the layout of this entire water cooling system looks oddly familiar.With the ostensibly superior Mobius fans, they have the pump design of the Atmos series. These were last seen on the AIOs in the PL-Flux series. While the version here, which is not yet available separately, has a 38 mm radiator, the other version has a thinner 27 mm radiator.

The Ryzen 9 3950X processor was tested with a 150 watt power target, the pump operating at 100% PWM, and the case and radiator fans operating at 50% speed. Additionally, the RTX 4070 graphics card’s fans were turned down to 50%.

Synopsis and conclusion You essentially don’t have to sacrifice anything with the case in terms of cooling the CPU, as the graphs have already demonstrated quite effectively. Nearly unhindered cool air flow to the radiator is allowed by the front grille. After passing through it, though, it is blasted straight into the graphics card. In my tests, this raises the GPU’s core temperature by an average of 10°C, as predicted.

This is especially clear from the GPU graph of the Prime95 test run, where there is no graphics card activity at all. This could be fixed by mounting it in the lid, but since the VRM voltage converters are 55 mm away, this might be a little close. Furthermore, the screws that come with the fans have a very big head that would hit the dust filter on top.

However, that’s only the start of my grievances. We can live with minor details like the outdated 3-pin PWM splitter cable that came with this AIO and the missing plastic card that was supposed to be used to spread the thermal paste.We should probably say “overlook” rather than “overlook,” since Cooler Master is probably not targeting people without a graphics card with Nvidia 12VHPWR or one 8-pin power supply. SATA/Molex and PCIe cables each have an unused connection on the power supply unit. Furthermore excluded from the delivery’s scope are the cables. The case did not even have a second graphics card connection.

This indicates that the compatibility list does not include most of the better graphics cards from the current AMD lineup and the RTX 3000 series. How this could have been missed during product development is beyond me. So perhaps it’s deliberate.

However, why is an already tiny target group being needlessly narrowed down even more. Although the AIO water cooling system’s 5-year warranty is praiseworthy, other manufacturers within this price range also provide a 5-year warranty for the power supply unit, and the case’s 2-year warranty is essentially meaningless. Most likely, it won’t collapse. Conclusion

After asking, We was told that the retail version should come with the missing 6+2 pin PCIe cable. In the event that this is not the case, the missing cable will be supplied without charge provided that proof of purchase is shown. Nevertheless, there isn’t a spare connector integrated into the inner wall. The idea behind this case is further undermined by the fact that the cable could only be run from the power supply unit to the graphics card when necessary.

Read more on Govindhtech.com

[sage-nebula]

The most frustrating thing about the main stories of Gen VI (Kalos) and Gen VII (Alola) is that Game Freak quite clearly hasn’t lost their touch entirely. They still can make great characters and write fantastic stories if they want to. They just seem to be refusing for the primary stories of each generation.

Take Gen VI for example. Anyone who knows me knows that I think the characters and narrative of Gen VI were garbage for a lot of reasons. I won’t get into all of the specifics now, but the tl;dr is that I felt that while there were very, very serious concepts introduced in the narrative of Gen VI, there was no emotional gravitas put behind them. They weren’t taken seriously. Combine this with the fact that the characters were shallow and two-dimensional at best (with so many of them being superfluous---you could have easily yanked Trevor and Tierno out of the game and nothing of value would be lost), and you have something that is not only a massive waste of time, but a massive waste of time that stops you every five seconds to force you to pay attention to it. It’s terrible. It’s beyond terrible. It’s an excruciating disappointment after the majesty that was Gen V, and yet . . . and yet the Kalos games still have some glimmer to them, a diamond in the rough, in the form of the post-game. The post-game was fantastic. The post-game carried emotional gravitas; while the fact that a grown man had stripped a teenage girl of her agency and made her do whatever he wanted her to do while she retained no memory of it was horrifyingly glossed over, that girl---Emma---had more depth and characterization than all of the other characters in Kalos combined. Her struggles held emotional significance. She was someone you could at least sympathize with, if not empathize with, and root for. You wanted her to succeed. And since you actually got to see her relationship with Looker develop, you felt your heartstrings yanked on when they separated at the end. To this day there are people who still want Looker to go back to Kalos for Emma, and that fact is a testament to how effective Kalos’ post-game story was in comparison to the flimsy mess that was its primary story.

Gen VII’s Alola games were a similar mess. To be fair, they had promise; the promotional materials (along with so many other things) promised to deliver on the alchemy plot that has been building for several generations now. The characters, too, were interesting for the most part; while some of them were once again underdeveloped and didn’t capitalize on the potential they could have had (Kukui), or else just underutilized despite the importance they should have had in the plot (Burnet), others had massive potential, both in their depth at the outset, as well as the potential for development as the story progressed (Aether family). Yet, was any of this capitalized on? No. The abused children in the narrative were disrespected in the end and made to go back to their abusive parent. The first female villain in the series wasn’t allowed to be treated as a villain. And all of this was even worse in the “Ultra” games, which make the original games look good by comparison (and particularly considering the fact that the gameplay was worse in Gen VII than it was in Gen VI, that’s a feat).

But still, I find it hard to say that Game Freak has lost their touch when you dial back a bit and look at Gen VI’s Hoenn remakes. While it’s true that the main story of the Hoenn remakes was just slightly updated from the original games, the Delta Episode was brand new and absolutely fantastic. It incorporated characters you had met throughout the main story, and starred one that was there, her plans were foreshadowed, you just might not have paid her too much mind on a first playthrough. And that character, Zinnia? She’s a well-rounded character with depth and, once again, a compelling arc that makes you care about her. Yes, she has her haters, and there are a slew of distasteful reasons for why that is, but the simple fact of the matter is that Zinnia is a compelling individual. However the narrative might have ultimately disrespected her in the name of making the player feel important, the truth is that Zinnia is one of the most compelling, and one of the deepest characters Game Freak has made to date. They did that. In 2014, they did that. True, that was four years ago, but it was only one generation ago. If they did it then, they can do it again.

And that’s what’s frustrating. In Gen V, they gave us a phenomenal story. In Gen VI, they gave us phenomenal post-games (since, again, the main story of ORAS was brought over from Gen III). Gen VII gave us literally nothing of value. But my point is that they can do this. They can do a good job with their characters and their narrative. Why they seem so averse to doing this in the main plot of the game, the one players spend the most time with, is beyond me, but I really, really wish they’d change their minds and get their acts together soon.

Here’s hoping they do so by the time Gen VIII rolls around. 

[zaptap]

ive made a few of these bingo sheets and theyre fun so i decided to make one not just for e3 but also JUST for splatoon 3 (not just for e3 but for like the whole lifetime of the game). also heres my updated list of characters id like to see in smash, ordered generally by which id like more and/or think are the most realistic

since min min got in i took out helix, and since i couldnt decide whether to add in waluigi or madeline i added another row (realistically i dont think any indies are getting in but i threw some in anyway). also i was like “oh yeah maybe theyd put in a gen viii pokemon” so i threw in hatterene since thats one of my favorites.

also as for waluigi (and shovel knight for that matter) i think it would be nice to see an assist trophy get in just to break that rule. also i remember being super surprised he wasnt in brawl (back then i thought he and wario were equally important) and even though that was based on a wrong impression ive still felt like he should be in there ever since

notes about the bingos under the cut

really is about time for those n64 games, especially now that mario is dead so theyre free to release sm64 on it. game boy games would be nice sometime too

would also make sense to include banjo-kazooie in that, nintendos had a good relationship with microsoft lately and the total absence of anything banjo-kazooie on the switch is odd since it’s a dlc character (every other one has a game on switch they can use for cross-marketing, even if joker’s took a while) and i think the best explanation for that would be that theyre holding off for the nso n64 app (this is easiest from a technical standpoint because all they have to do is make a deal to use the roms)

when are they putting octolings in mk8d

xenoblade chronicles x is one of the only wii u games left that they could port (aside from ones that wouldnt make much sense like splatoon and ssb4) so i guess that might as well happen sometime. also monolith soft might be doing something else besides helping with splatoon 3

im not ready for metroid prime 4 (im over halfway through mp2 and therefore the trilogy as a whole) but it’s been a while, they might show it and it could even come out this year

hal apparently recently hinted at a new kirby game or something

the upgraded switch is obviously going to be called the Nintendo Switch ͥ  since they already did the ds lite so theyre clearly naming everything in the family after the ds family, theres absolutely no flaw in this logic. idk if theyre showing it, but unlike 2019 they didnt say they werent showing new hardware (just that they were showing software, which could be taken as denying rumors, but they sometimes specify when certain things arent being shown)

metroid prime trilogy also might come this year. would make sense to release it before mp4 since not everyone is going to buy a wii u to get it (and at this point that doesnt get nintendo any money since they stopped making them)

where is detective pikachu 2. i hope it has the blue pikachu from that first tease they gave us in like 2014 (2013? that was a loooong time ago idk)

they said this was MOSTLY 2021 so i am absolutely getting my hopes up for splatoon 2

the two sinnoh games could likely be there

would be super cool if oddity came to switch. and almost as ironic as megalovania getting into smash

we havent seen the botw sequel for a couple years so we’re kind of due for an update on that

it’s ace attorney’s 20th anniversary this year so maybe theyre doing something. theyre already porting those games though so idk. maybe he’s getting in smash

whats with that watermelon mario render

i held off on watching a playthrough for ndrv3 on the off chance it came to switch and i could play a dangan ronpa game for real for once but it’s now been 4 years and we just passed the 10th anniversary of the series (albeit during a pandemic when i wouldnt expect them to have done anything) so it would be cool to see the series come to switch. i think if it still doesnt after this though i’ll just watch the playthrough, 4 years is long enough. amazed ive avoided spoilers this long, i still know next to nothing about the game

im about done with acnh but im still waiting on those splatoon items. and i ran out of storage in february so i need more of that too

nintendo did stuff for zelda’s 30th anniversary so i doubt theyre forgetting the 35th. maybe wwhd/tphd ports, idk

been a couple years since fire emblem, intelligent systems is probably up to something besides planning yet another paper mario spinoff

miyamoto forgot pikmin 4 in the oven 6 years ago and it got burnt to a crisp and thats why it hasnt come out yet because he had to start over

and splatoon

the inklings scared daft punk into quitting so now that theres no competition in the robot musician scene they should have a daft punk style group

i waited and waited and neither of my top two splatoon stages (flounder and d’alfonsino) came back in splatoon 2 so i hope just because splatoon 3 isnt in inkopolis doesnt mean they still wont return

would be sick as hell if there was a real hide and seek mode instead of just sticking to your own rules in private battles. havent played that since 2015 but it was super fun

show us the effects of the chaos world

i wanted mc craig to have a song in octo expansion and they didnt deliver. heres another chance

splatnet 3 baby

cant wait for nogami to do a funny 3 pose

abxy came back for splatoon 2.... am i gonna be that lucky again...?

salmon run doesnt make sense if youre friends with a smallfry but they could either change the story context (you just fight “evil” salmonids?) or replace it with an equally fun co-op mode

amiibo!!! i think i said this before but they should label them by weapons if these cephalopods dont have genders, would make more sense (the gendered ones had different weapons anyway)

returning characters!!!! would like to see everyone have a role of some kind

maybe #GearForAll wasnt successful in getting the emperor/spy/mecha gear, but perhaps theyll at least consider not making that stuff exclusive this time around

squid girl gear should be back. and they should call it a dress instead of a tunic because its a dress. and theres no gender now anyway

as ive said before... TRIPLIES!! you hold one in each hand and another in your mouth. and you can spin around like the tasmanian devil

remove splatfest tee annoyances: you should have a prompt at the end of a splatfest to pay to scrub your tee (to make sure you get the chunks) also it should be on a neutral brand so you dont end up with an overabundance of ink resistance up (or whatever else)

better online and cloud saves would certainly justify having a second splatoon game on the same console, as much as im loving that it exists

hopefully theres a global testfire again

sooner or later the workers will rise up and kill mr grizz

remember in splatoon 1 where if you had squid beatz (via the amiibo) you could “play” it in the lobby and change the music? then you were stuck listening to only bubble bath in splatoon 2? why did they take that option away they should bring it back

looking at those apartment buildings in the trailer i think it would be cool if you had your own room and could decorate it

an octavio redemption arc would be fun to see. in the manga he stole the zapfish because the octarians had an energy crisis, and in the end they worked out a deal to share the electricity

[cyanoscarlet]

2020 writing review

Thanks for the tag, @gladiowrites​! (I know it’s not a tag, but this is fun to do lol)

I.. honestly wrote a lot this 2020. No kidding. Quarantine productivity was real, but so is residency languishing by the wayside while everyone was busy surviving and adjusting. I highly doubt 2021 will be the same, but I’ll always cherish 2020 just because of the writing and nothing else.

This is gonna be long.

FIRST CREATION + MOST RECENT CREATION OF 2020

8:15 am  - Final Fantasy XV. Lunafreya. February 2020. - First piece ever written for the year. - Intended to be a Luna-centric AU, in which the Nox Fleurets were deposed and she’s now a regular teacher. Never managed to write anything beyond that, though, because residency. (Back then, I didn’t know it was gonna be the beginning of the end, so I had hopes. Oh well.)

irresistible!, or the summer ramblings of nene yashiro and everything that followed - Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun. Nene, Hanako. March 2020. - First one published on AO3 for 2020 (yes, there’s a distinction). - If you think the title sounds familiar, you’re right.

versus

first yuletide - Final Fantasy XV. Nyx. December 2020. - Written for the FFXV Secret Santa event on Twitter. - Before y’all object and say what unwinding is, that’s an old fic uploaded late.

ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE CREATIONS FROM 2020

Do I seriously have to choose? Omg.

take heart - Bungou Stray Dogs. Dazai/Chuuya. Gods/Humans AU. - Discovered so much about myself writing this. Also (hopefully) I managed to get into Dazai’s headspace correctly. He’s an extremely difficult character to write, so finishing this brought so much gratification.

you don’t raise heroes, you raise sons - Final Fantasy VIII. Laguna, Squall. Post-canon. - Probably my most heartfelt work of the year- scratch that, ever. Also happy with how I just let myself go writing this and didn’t need to think twice.

A CREATION YOU’RE REALLY PROUD OF

oneiric moments (or, five nights with you) - Bungou Stray Dogs. Dazai/Chuuya. - Written for the SKK Fic Exchange for Summer 2020. - Five interconnected fics. 18,985 words. - Might not be a big deal for others, but this was taxing because I don’t usually write long, multichaptered stuff. I got carried away, though. It ain’t as well-polished as my more recent stuff, but I’m proud of myself for pulling this off.

A NEW STYLE YOU TRIED THIS YEAR & A FIC THAT USES IT

I... don’t think I have tried anything of the sort. My repertoire is sorely limited compared to others, I’m afraid. I’d probably have an answer for “explored new themes,” but again, I’ve a limited arsenal, too, in that regard.

A CREATION THAT TOOK YOU FOREVER

all in a day’s work - Bungou Stray Dogs. Atsushi, Akutagawa. Cells at Work AU. - It’s still being written, with a lot of side stories planned but never drafted. - I fell out of love with BSD, recovered from that, then got busy with residency.

YOUR CREATION FROM 2020 THAT RECEIVED THE MOST NOTES KUDOS

Also take heart. While I am proud of it, I guess it hit the right spot for mainstream shippers, too, somewhat? My feelings about mainstream things have changed a lot because of things, but I am still happy.

A CREATION YOU THINK DESERVED MORE NOTES KUDOS

amīcitia - Bungou Stray Dogs. Dazai, Chuuya. Final Fantasy XV AU. - Petty indignancy for my self-indulgent baby aside, I’m also proud of how I wrote Dazai in this one, similar to take heart.  the fun they had - Bungou Stray Dogs. Kajii, Port Mafia Ensemble. - ... Guys. Please notice genfics.

A NEW FANDOM YOU JOINED AND A CREATION YOU MADE FOR IT

Everything I wrote for Bungou Stray Dogs. (I kid you not.)

If you want a single answer anyway:

on the flaming mountains - act-age. Chiyoko, Kei. Princess Iron Fan Arc. - arc words: “what shall i do with this ire?” - I wouldn’t really say I “left” the fandom, more like it fizzled out after Matsuki-sensei got arrested.

A CREATION YOU MADE THAT BREAKS YOUR HEART

a cycle of; - Bungou Stray Dogs. Dazai/Chuuya. Medico-legal AU. - Written out of much anger and frustration over things. Also because this in itself was frustrating to write.

Also  you don’t raise heroes, you raise sons. Because no matter how much I hate my family at so many points in my life, I know I can’t truly hate them from the bottom of my heart. This fic is a reminder of that.

A SIMPLE CREATION THAT YOU REALLY LOVE

express delivery for love - Bungou Stray Dogs. Dazai/Chuuya. Real World Quarantine AU. - It’s funny. It’s orthodox. It’s sweet. I don’t think it can get any better than that.

A CREATION THAT WAS INSPIRED BY ANOTHER ONE

rather be - Bungou Stray Dogs. Yosano. Pre-canon. - Inspired by yesterday is another world by @wctercress​ - The whole of primum non nocere, actually, but specifically this one, and the rest followed. - This is also my first BSD fic. Ever.

A FAVORITE CREATION CREATED BY SOMEONE ELSE

... You sure? There’s a lot, and this is just on the surface. (unleashes the proverbial waterfall)

The aforementioned yesterday is another world by @wctercress​

silencer and snow white days by EKmisao - Bungou Stray Dogs. Dazai, Chuuya. Dead Apple canon-divergent. - The aftermath of Dead Apple, in which one of two goes wrong. - They’re unrelated, I know. But they’re both sisters! Just trust me on this. - The proper entry for this would be silencer, but I can’t very well mention one without the other, so have both anyway. I read both only this year, after all. Waiting for Godot by @eternal-aegis​ - Bungou Stray Dogs. Dazai, Fyodor, Chuuya. Canon-divergent. - Amazing theme, amazing philosophy, amazing writing. It makes you think. It makes you analyze and explore. This writer definitely knows her stuff, and it shows. Catharsis by @gladiowrites​ - Final Fantasy VIII. Rinoa, Gen. Caraway. Post-canon. - The denouement to the Caraway family drama we all deserve. I love how Rinoa is presented in this fic. She’s a normal person who makes mistakes and learns her lessons. So is Fury. Burned bridges don’t always have to stay down, and this fic illustrates that wonderfully.

Culmination by @gladiowrites​ - Final Fantasy VIII. Squall, Rinoa. Post-canon. - We can’t all have happy endings. This fic also illustrates that very well. While I, a Squinoa fan, personally ascribe to the happy ending Squall and Rinoa must have had after the events of FF8, this fic is so compelling and grounded and reflective and I totally buy this. 

Here Without You by @muselover1901​ - Akagami no Shirayuki-hime. Zen/Shirayuki. Real world quarantine AU. - One of the sweetest stories I’ve ever read this year. I can definitely relate to a lot of things in this fic. I’ve been rereading all of Muse’s ANS stuff whenever I feel down, and they all hit the spot.

Savor The Moment by @joeys-piano​ - Bungou Stray Dogs. Oda. Pre-canon. - Yes, yes, YES. One of the best stories I’ve ever read this year, ever. (And I mean stories, not fanfics.) Great character study about a man named Oda and a day in his life and a page (or three) out of his book of relationships. The love poured into this is simply overflowing and precious. I’ve been following Joey since this fic was being written, and I’m so proud of him.

False Equivalences by @slowquotesquill - Dai Gyakuten Saiban. Asougi, Ryuunosuke. Fullmetal Alchemist AU. - This fic also! Oh, My Heart. The cynicism of a state alchemist and the optimism of a foreign doctor. It perfectly hits the spot for everything FMA, and we all know that SQQ’s Asouryuu fics are always to die for. It’s the ultimate combo.

The whole Promptober Leo/Will/Despair series by @eternal-aegis - Kekkai Sensen. Various themes, many of which are dark/mature. - I’ve said this with Waiting for Godot, and I’ll say it again: Aegis knows her stuff. This is her exploring further in that direction, and you can feel the improvement with every fic in the series. I really love how adventurous these stories are, and how much depth you can go with every one. Her characterization is layered and exquisite, and the underlying lore is well-thought-out. - tl;dr: B3 Goddess.

Predestined by Galkimasera - Final Fantasy VIII. Rinoa, Squall. Reverse/Fateswap AU. - A very well-written reverse AU! The circumstances of Squall and Rinoa in this ‘verse fit so well and are so well thought out. I love this AU so much, you don’t even know. It also fills my nostalgic shipper’s heart with much joy at seeing quality content in this Year of our Lord 2020.

For auld lang syne, my dear by @by-nina - Fullmetal Alchemist. Roy, Riza. Canon-compliant + post-canon. - Holiday feels, snapshots through time, and all over showing Roy and Riza’s budding relationship over the years. And it does remind me of a lot of the SKK fics I’ve written (thematic-wise). This was such a treat to read and to follow. All her FMA fics are. She does Royai so much justice. Am not yet finished reading smoke without fire, but I’ll get to that, too!

SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE CONTENT CREATORS FROM THIS YEAR

Everyone in the answer above. There’s honestly a whole boatload of more, but this is getting too long already lololol

(might edit this when I feel like it, tho!)

[freyayuki]

Final Fantasy Record Keeper 5th Anniversary Free Relic Draws with Tickets

The Final Fantasy Record Keeper (#ad) (FFRK) mobile game’s 5th Anniversary has finally begun.

Again, this is another one of those fairly recent old drafts. Since I’m scheduling these posts, by the time this gets published on my blog, FFRK’s 5th anniversary will be long over.

Anyway, as part of the game’s 5th Anniversary, players can get up to 5 tickets as a login bonus. These tickets can be used on the 5th Anniversary Relic Draw banner. Each pull costs 1 ticket. 

You can get 10 relics (weapons or armor) per pull. You’re guaranteed to get at least 1 6-star item per pull. 

Here are the results of my ticket draws:

5th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 1 Pull Results

For my first ticket, I ended up getting 2 rainbow orbs. I couldn’t help but feel rather excited when I saw those orbs. It helped that I knew at least one was going to be a 6-star item. 

Update: I finally understand the differences between these multi-colored orbs. The ones that look like disco balls, like the ones you can see in the pic below, means that you’re getting 6-star items.  

Exdeath from Final Fantasy V

The first disco orb turned out to be Santalum Robe (V), a 6-star rarity, heavy armor-type relic, which gave me Exdeath’s Ultra Soul Break (USB), Delta Hole.

To be honest, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that I got an Ultra. Sure, it’s way better and much preferable to getting a Legend Materia Relic (LMR) for a character that I don’t have anything else for. It’s also much better than getting Burst Soul Breaks since, AFAIK, Ultras are ranked higher than those.

However, I was hoping to get an Awakening Soul Break. Awakenings are second only to Sync Soul Breaks. They’re very good to have even if you can only use them once per battle. 

Of course, Ultras are great to have too, especially since they can be used multiple times. So you have a Soul Break to use after using the Awakening.

I guess it’s not so bad to have Exdeath’s Ultra. I see that it can actually imperil the dark element. This means it can lower the enemy’s dark resistance level.

IIRC, the only other Soul Breaks I have that deal dark damage are the ones that belong to Gabranth and Vayne. At least I now have more relics to choose from when fighting against enemies that are weak to dark.

The Bravery Mode of Exdeath’s Ultra reminds me of Genesis Rhapsodos’ (from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII) Awakening. His Genesis Rhapsody also gives him Brave Mode aside from the Awoken Mode.  

Rinoa Heartilly from Final Fantasy VIII

The second and final disco orb turned out to be Pinwheel+ (VIII), a 6-star rarity, thrown-type relic, which gave me Rinoa’s Ultra Soul Break, Angel Wing Ice Ruin.

Sigh. Yet another Ultra. I wish I could get at least 1 Awakening from these pulls. At the moment, I only have 4 Awakenings. I don’t even have a single Sync yet.

I actually have 1 other relic for Rinoa. I have her Chain Soul Break, which also deals ice damage. IIRC, her weapons are currently the only Soul Breaks I have that deal ice damage.

Looks like Rinoa’s Ultra also has Brave Mode. But instead of lowering the enemy’s ice resistance like Exdeath’s Ultra does for the dark element, hers boosts all her abilities and Soul Breaks that deal ice damage.

5th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 2 Pull Results

I only got one disco orb from my second ticket pull. Will this orb give me my 5th Awakening?

Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy V

Unfortunately, no Awakening for me. Instead what I got was Gilgamesh’s Guise (V), a 6-star rarity, heavy armor-type relic, which gave me Gilgamesh’s Chain Soul Break (CSB), Historic Splendor.

Yeah, I wish I had gotten an Awakening. However, after learning more about Chain Soul Breaks, my disappointment at getting this relic has lessened. 

In fact, I can say that I’m actually really glad I got this item. I still want an Awakening though. Hopefully, my next pull will give me one. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, I learned that there are different kinds of Chain Soul Breaks. Gilgamesh’s CSB is what is known as a Gen 2.0 Chain. 

This type of Chain is up to 150 hits long and greatly increases the attack of the party, similar to the buff from Ramza’s Shout Soul Break.

Chains increase the damage of an element. In this case, Gilgamesh’s Chain will increase the party’s fire damage. So why am I happy to get this Chain?

The answer is because of Genesis Rhapsodos (#ad). He’s currently my absolute, most favorite Final Fantasy character. In fact, he’s the reason why I’m playing FFRK.

It was no coincidence that I started playing this game during the Ode to a Sundered World Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII event. This is the event that introduced Genesis as a playable and recruitable character in FFRK.

Since he’s my fave, I’m always on the lookout for things that will make him stronger and better and more powerful. His main element is fire, so after learning that a fire Chain will boost his fire damage, then, of course, I wanted one.

Now that I have one, it’s time to recruit Gilgamesh to add him to my party. Yeah, I’m so new to this game that I haven’t even been able to recruit all of the characters yet. 

I also need to level up Gilgamesh after recruiting him. He’s now a priority since his Chain is gonna make my fave shine, so, naturally, I can’t wait to try this combo in the game.   

5th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 3 Pull Results

I couldn’t help but hesitate before using my 3rd login ticket on the 5th Anniversary Relic Draw banner. Am I gonna get yet another Ultra? 

The Chains are good, too, but I just got a fire one, so, at the moment, I’d like to be able to get more Awakenings.

But RNG is RNG, so there’s really nothing that you can do about it. Sigh. At least the draw is free. Still hoping not to be disappointed with this pull though.  

I finally pressed the draw button. Only 1 disco orb showed up, so I was already feeling meh about this pull. This is gonna be yet another Ultra, isn’t it?

Lightning or Claire Farron from Final Fantasy XIII

Yup, I was right. The disco ball turned out to be another Ultra. I got Royal Armlet (XIII), a 6-star rarity, bracer-type relic, which gave me Lightning’s Ultra Soul Break, Dangerous Beauty.

I like Lightning, but, ugh, why couldn’t it have been her Awakening instead? I don’t know what to say about this Ultra. 

I think this might be my second Soul Break that deals holy damage. I don’t know. Right now, I’m too disappointed to bother finding out. 

Being able to reduce the delay of physical attacks of allies in the front row sounds good, but I can only bring 5 characters for each battle, and I don’t think there’s any space for Lightning if I only have 1 Soul Break for her. 

Besides, Ultras require 2 gauges or bars before they can be used, so unless I give her the Record Materia that lets her start fights with 2 gauges, then it’s gonna be a while before she can even activate this. 

5th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 4 Pull Results

I hesitated before tapping the draw button since I was already dreading what I would get. But it’s not like I can just not pull. I mean, I could, but that would be a waste since this is basically a free pull.

Better just get this over with. So I tapped the draw button. Then I actually saw 4 disco orbs. Of course, I was hyped. I mean, how rare is that? 

Hope Estheim from Final Fantasy XIII

The first disco orb turned out to be Eagletalon (XIII), a 6-star rarity, thrown-type relic that gave me Hope’s Overstrike Soul Break, Retributive Blast.  

While it doesn’t seem that bad, it also doesn’t seem that good. It only costs 1 bar to use and it can break the damage cap, but all it does is deal damage. It doesn’t give any buffs or anything that might be of use during a battle.

Overstrikes are ranked lower than Ultras and Bursts. And they have been outclassed by Arcane Overstrike Soul Breaks. 

These cost a whopping 3 gauges and can only be used once per fight, but they deal much more damage when compared to Overstrikes.

Like Overstrikes, they don’t give any buffs and they can also break the damage cap. Overall, I can’t say I’m all that pleased to get this relic, especially since this is my first Soul Break for Hope. 

I don’t think he’ll be usable with just this. I’m better off bringing a character that has more Soul Breaks, especially if those Soul Breaks provide buffs for either themselves or the entire party.

I guess this’ll see some use if I manage to get more relics that belong to Hope. And if I need a Soul Break that deals holy damage, then maybe I can make use of this.  

Tellah from Final Fantasy IV

The second disco orb turned out to be Professor’s Robe (IV), a 6-star rarity, robe-type relic that gave me Tellah’s Ultra Soul Break, Sage’s Resolve.  

Being able to reduce the delay of the magic attacks of all allies for 2 turns sounds good. It’s unfortunate that I can’t really appreciate this much right now since most of my Soul Breaks deal physical attacks. And did I mention that my fave Genesis is a physical attacker? 

The other effects of this Ultra also seem pretty good. For instance, Genesis gets a “cause fire abilities used by the user to trigger twice” with his Awakening, and it’s super special awesome. I love every time he gets to double cast Inferno Assault or Void Destruction.

However, I don’t know what to say about the fact that using Tellah’s Ultra will eventually cause him to be instantly KO’d. It’s not like I need every single character to be alive at the end of the fight. 

Most of the time, as long as there’s at least 1 character alive by the time the enemy dies, then you win. 

I guess it’s best to use Tellah’s Ultra near the end of the fight so even if he dies soon after, the rest of the party should hopefully still be able to get the win.

Onion Knight from Final Fantasy III

The third disco orb turned out to be Zeus Mace (III), a 6-star rarity, staff-type relic that gave me Onion Knight’s Ultra Soul Break, Forbidden Wisdom.  

This Soul Break doesn’t deal damage, but it does buff the party. I just wish it also buffed attack instead of just mind and magic. 

Like I said before, most of my Soul Breaks deal physical damage. My fave Genesis is a physical attacker, and he’s always a part of my teams, so I prefer to get relics that can buff his attack.

It looks like this Ultra is gonna have to stay in my inventory for the time being. I’ll revisit this relic again when I get more Soul Breaks that deal magical damage.

Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII

The fourth and last disco orb turned out to be Healing Rod (VII), a 6-star rarity, rod-type relic that gave me Aerith’s or Aeris’ Ultra Soul Break, Innocent Cure. 

I didn’t get a single Awakening from this pull and the previous relics didn’t seem that useful to me. However, overall, I’m still happy with this draw. The real prize here is definitely Aerith’s Ultra Soul Break.

I’ve been hearing about how good Innocent Cure is, and I’ve been looking forward to being able to get it ASAP. This item is actually available for purchase in the game’s The Record Lab. But you need 1,000 Level 3 Anima Lenses to buy this. 

Needless to say, getting 1,000 Level 3 Anima Lenses is easier said than done. I’ve been waiting for the time when I could finally buy Aerith’s Ultra. 

Now I don’t need to do that anymore and could use these Level 3 lenses to get something else such as Elarra’s or Cloud’s Ultras; I’ve also heard good things about those 2 relics.

At the moment, the only other relic I have for Aerith Gainsborough (#ad) is her Awakened Arcane Soul Break (AASB), Star Pulse. Her Awakening is awesome beyond words and she’s been super useful and helpful to me. 

But the thing with Awakenings is that you can only use them once. After using Aeris’ Awakening, if the fight goes on for much longer, then she ends up with a lot of gauges or bars that I can’t use because I don’t have any of her other Soul Breaks. 

Now I finally have something I can activate after using her Awakening. This also gives me even more party-wide healing, which is awesome.

And the best part is - actually, scratch that. The best part is this entire Ultra Soul Break. Seriously, just look at all its effects, which are all super special awesome.

it activates instantly, meaning it will cast the moment you tap on the Innocent Cure button

it restores a lot of HP to the entire party at once

it grants the party Last Stand, meaning if they die, they’ll automatically get resurrected  

it reduces the delay of the party’s physical attacks for 3 turns - I think I’ve said enough about this by now

And I can use this Ultra as many times as I want throughout the entire battle as long as I have the required gauges to do so. 

In short, I can’t wait to equip this Soul Break on Aerith. Already looking forward to using it and seeing how well it interacts with my fave Genesis’ moves.

5th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 5 Pull Results

Will this next draw be able to top the last one wherein I managed to get Aerith’s awesome Ultra Soul Break? Let’s see.

Only 1 disco orb showed up, so it’s already looking pretty meh compared to the last pull where I got 4. Still, even if it’s only 1, it could very well turn out to be a great relic. At least, I hope so.

Gladiolus Amicitia from Final Fantasy XV

The disco orb turned out to be Blade of Brennaere (XV), a 6-star rarity, sword-type relic that gave me Gladiolus’ Overstrike Soul Break, Dawnhammer.   

Super disappointing, to say the least. Getting an Ultra would have been much better. As it is, this is just plain useless, especially since I have nothing else for Gladiolus.

Also, what’s with the bonus effect of this sword? Why does it give a “small boost to fire damage” when the Soul Break itself deals earth and non-elemental damage? Weird.

Overall, I hate this pull. At the very least, I wish I had gotten more than 1 disco orb, or that I had gotten something that I can actually use even if it’s only 5-stars. Sigh. I really hope the next pull will be so much better. 

5th Anniversary Relic Draw Ticket 6 Pull Results

Still so disappointed about my previous pull. Let’s just get this draw over and done with already. One rainbow orb and one disco ball showed up. Already feeling meh about this. 

Mog from Final Fantasy VI

The rainbow orb turned out to be White Cape (VI), a 5-star rarity, light armor-type relic that gave me Mog’s Legend Materia Relic (LMR), Moogle Survivor.  

I don’t have any other relic for Mog, so this is basically useless. Besides, why rely on a “small chance” when there are abilities that can lower the stats of enemies with a 100% chance?

For instance, there’s Enfeebling Jitterbug, an ability that lowers the attack and magic of all enemies by 50% for 10 seconds.

Needles to say, I already hate the results of this draw. Let’s see if the last item can salvage this pull.

Raijin from Final Fantasy VIII

The disco orb turned out to be Gokuu Pole (VIII), a 6-star rarity, hammer-type relic that gave me Raijin’s Ultra Soul Break, Dragon Soaring.  

I’m surprised to find out that this weapon is supposed to be a hammer. From just seeing the large image on the “congratulations” screen, I was so sure this was a pole. 

Heck, it even has “pole” as part of its name, so where in the world did “hammer-type” come from? Now I wonder if this is a typo or something.

I have no other relic for Raijin, and, while an Ultra is way, way better than an LMR, getting this isn’t making me want to add him to my party. 

I still hate the results of this pull. I wish I had gotten someone else’s relic even if it’s still just an Ultra Soul Break. 

For instance, what about more relics that can heal or ones that can lower the fire resistance of enemies so my fave Genesis can deal even more damage and possibly even hit their weakness (assuming you’re able to lower their resistance enough that they become vulnerable to fire). Sigh. Sometimes, this game can be so frustrating. 

Honestly though Raijin’s Ultra doesn’t seem bad at all. The barrier bit could be useful though I already have some ways to mitigate damage dealt to my characters via casting Shell (raises the party’s Resistance) and Protect (raises the party’s Defense).

The critical hit chance buff is definitely good. The problem is that I also already have a source for this via Tyro’s (from Final Fantasy Record Keeper) Ultra Soul Break, Arbiter’s Tome. 

It’s much better than Raijin’s when it comes to this particular buff because, with Tyro’s Ultra, you can get up to 100% critical hit chance.

Conclusion

Most of my pulls were terrible beyond words. Super disappointed, to say the least. While I’m super glad I was able to get Aerith’s Ultra and Gilgamesh’s Chain, I still can’t help but wish that I had gotten more relics that I could have made use of right away.

Aerith is already a part of my team so having her Ultra just made her even more useful as my primary healer. Gilgamesh’s Chain boosts Genesis’ damage so this immediately gave him a spot in my party even though this is the only relic that I have for him.

At the very least, I wish I had gotten more healing-type relics or relics that can make enemies weak to the fire element. In other words, I’d readily welcome any Soul Break that can support or buff my fave even if they aren’t Awakenings or even if they’re only 5-star rarity. I’d be interested in anything that can make Genesis shine and be even better than he already is.

Unfortunately, it’s over. We aren’t getting any more tickets. Sigh. Sometimes, this game can be so frustrating. I’m reminded of just how much I hate that it doesn’t have a pity system unlike in the Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia (DFFOO) mobile game. 

Really, if Genesis wasn’t here in Final Fantasy Record Keeper, I wouldn’t be here at all. These draws just serves as a reminder that I shouldn’t be wasting my mythril (FFRK’s pulling currency) on any banner that doesn’t feature my fave’s relics.

If Genesis gets new weapons and armor, then I definitely want to have those, so I’m gonna need all the mythril I can gather to go all in on this potential future banner. Considering this game doesn’t have a pity system and has what appears to be terrible rates, I can’t take any chances. 

Must keep saving mythril no matter what. I think I’ll only be using them on the Luck of the Realms banners because those only cost 5 mythril and you’re guaranteed to get at least 1 5-star item or higher. 

I’ll also be using them on the Lucky Relic Draw banner for Awakenings because those cost only 25 mythril and you’re guaranteed to get at least 1 Awakening Soul Break.

So, what about you? How did your FFRK fest draws go? Which banners are you planning to spend your mythril on? Who’s your favorite FFRK character? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below or by replying or reblogging this post.   

Notes:

pics are from Amazon.com; links shown above

screenshots are from my Final Fantasy Record Keeper game account

[dragonairlairgiveaways]

Thoughts on Let’s Go

So as someone who has beat the main game of Let’s Go Eevee (like I’ve said before I’ve played through Kanto so many times now. I can do it pretty much blindfolded.) I have thoughts both good and bad on it. There will be SPOILERS here so I advise you to scroll past if you’re new to Kanto especially but also if you’ve played through the region before but not here yet because there are some new things/changed details. ANYWAY: 

PROS

I really love how expressive both your Partner Pokemon and following Pokemon are. Interacting with them is such a delight and makes me even more attached to my Pokemon.

Kanto is beautiful. Whilst I wish they’d kept more of the Savannah/grassland feel it had in past generations (because it made Kanto unique vs temperate Johto it shares its landmass with), the region feels so full, vibrant and alive.

I really love the gym re-designs, even if some are only subtle. I also love seeing the Gym Leaders and E4 with defined personalities. I was ESPECIALLY happy to be able to see Sabrina’s telekinesis in action thanks to the graphics we have now. 

Pokemon distribution across Kanto is so much better than in past games and makes forming a balanced, structured team so much less of a nightmare. Same goes for the altered movesets. 

Pokemon Tower. Oh God, the cutscene was so short, sweet and subtle but made me cry. It gave us the emotional attachment the older Kanto games missed out on. 

I really appreciated the changes to important locations game-lore wise that made them more fitting. Pokemon Mansion for example made me super uncomfortable thanks to the additions of the cloning/testing equipment in the basement and the confirmation from Jessie & James that sweet old Mr Fuji is the same Dr Fuji that created Mewtwo. 

It gets its own section because Cerulean Cave is BREATHTAKING design-wise and a lifesaver with the valuable respawning items hidden in the crystal dust on the floor. 

I love the rival. He is an absolute sweetheart and I just want to hold and protect him. 

Player! Character! Is! Expressive! No more thousand-yard stare in cutscenes. 

Can Ultra Balls be this cheap in the regular games please? 

Leaf/Green finally, canonically exists other than when chosen as the player in FRLG and my heart is filled with joy by this y’all don’t even know. 

NPC Pokemon with nicknames show up with that nickname when spoken to, not with their species name and idk it’s such a small thing but makes me happy. 

I really love how self-aware this game is in terms of how Pokemon plots go by talking about the E4 and people asking/speculating that they’ll come deal with the threat. Y’know given how in past games they’ve largely been suspiciously absent and left everything to a child.

The cutscenes in general are pleasant to look at/watch and don’t run in forever and are less frequent. They hit a good balance here I think. 

Speaking of which, the ones that play before taking on the Legendary Birds/Mewtwo are INTENSE.

Pokemon Box in your bag is super convenient, I just wish it wasn’t just one big, huge box so I could organise better. 

Getting to dress up my Partner Pokemon is precious. 

Riding on Pokemon is great and there are some rideable choices that were a nice surprise. 

The replacements for HMs are so silly and I love them. 

I’m a shiny hunter so I think the new shiny hunting method is super fun and relatively easy depending on the Pokemon you’re hunting. Streaks are easy enough to build and avoid breaking and seeing the Pokemon with its shiny colouration in the overworld adds the little bit more of excitement to me. 

Cinnabar finally has an obvious volcano on the map even if you can’t actually access it in game. (it’s not like you haven’t let us roam around active volcanoes before, Game Freak.)

I really like the torches in Victory Road? Lmao it’s such a minor thing but it makes it feel more... idk.. magnificent, I guess? Like it’s a manmade cavern. The final test. It feels more like it now with those and the changes to the puzzles. 

Thank you for the random NPCs that will heal your Pokemon when you’re far from a city/town. 

The spy NPC was great. I love her. 

Rare spawns are a neat little mechanic. Area unknown in the Pokedex? LOL GUESS AGAIN. 

Cons: 

The big one: Only Kanto Pokemon. It’s a huge sticking point for me because it’s quite limiting and just... a tad annoying. I get this game was an experiment and with its success will likely come more Let’s Go side games but... it was still disappointing. Even if they couldn’t add all Pokemon from later gens, they could’ve at least added the prevolutions/evolutions of Kanto Pokemon that came later to give the region an expanded Pokedex and just added more diversity to the game. Lance having a Seadra really brought that point home for me when it literally has a DRAGON TYPE evolution he could’ve used. 

Whilst the capture mechanic is fine I miss wild battles. If you need to grind especially it’s annoying because you have to burn through Pokeballs to get EXP. It would be nice to just be able to faint wild Pokemon. 

The rideable flying Pokemon. I’d hoped for something more like the Soaring mechanic from ORAS but nope. You also have to go into the party menu to return the Pokemon to its ball to be able to move between gate/map areas. It would have been so much better if you could just press one of the buttons to do that so you didn’t have to go about constantly opening/closing menus.

Super sad Trainer Customisation is so limited. I’m pleased they kept the option for skintone choice but I wish we could at least change the eye/hair colour of the player character. What outfits we get to mix/match are cute I just wish there was more. 

The lack of Abilities pains me. They added depth to the game both in and out of battle and I sorely missed them. (Hello yes, why is your Pokemon not getting paralysed after coming into contact with my Raichu? Oh right, Static isn’t a thing here.) 

Getting Meltan itself isn’t hard even if you just briefly download Pokemon Go to get it. Getting Melmetal however? Good luck if you just play casually or not at all really with how the crate feature works. 

I like that the Go Park exists but I’m sad it replaced the Safari Zone and that it doesn’t work in a similar fashion to Pal Park. Wasting Pokeballs on Pokemon I have already wasted them on to catch one already is kind of annoying. 

You can’t ride the Legendary Birds and that is just straight up NONSENSE to me. 

I wish we could play with/feed our other Pokemon, not just our partner. Pokemon Amie/Refresh is one of my favourite mechanics in the main games so I’m sad it’s limited to only our starter here. 

Not specific to Let’s Go but given a huge part of Pokemon has always been playing with friends, having to pay for an online subscription to access trading/battling really rubs me the wrong way and I still think it’s a bad move on Nintendo’s part as a whole. When Gen VIII comes along and if Pokemon Bank gets ported to the Switch (or a similar thing) am I going to have to pay for both? That kind of sucks for kids who play if their parents aren’t willing to pay for it or for people who can’t afford it in general. 

Big Mad that outside of completing all the research in Go (Again, not something everyone can do, I have severe anxiety/agoraphobia and therefore cannot leave my house much.) the only way to get Mew is to pay the ridiculous price for the Pokeball Plus. An event Pokemon that has always been given out for free shouldn’t be behind a massive paywall. 

Grinding to be able to take on all the Master Trainers is hellish to be honest. And not a good feature in lieu of an actual post-game. 

RIP Sevii Islands, it would've been nice to at least visit the first three (since they only have Kanto Pokemon living on them in FRLG). But no. 

So overall... I liked it more than I thought I would. There are things in the game I really, really loved and hope to see more of (PLEASE let following Pokemon return in the main series, I’m begging you Game Freak). But I still have my hang-ups and things that I think removing/keeping out took away from the Pokemon experience as a whole. 

As side games I’d like to see more of them with hopefully some improvements. But I definitely have a preference for main game, regular mechanics as a whole. The games definitely won’t be for everyone and YES, they are incredibly easy even for a Pokemon game - which was the point - so for some people that might be a problem/make them boring given the lack of challenge but I’d still recommend giving them a go if you’re a die-hard fan of the franchise. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

[kmindset]

The Monsters In All of Us: Two (M)

Member: Vampire! Jungkook AU

Summary: Shh! Just read it

Word Count: 2119

Warnings: Mature content, Slightly NSFW, slightly graphic

A/N: Don’t forget, I post this story on AO3 now as well I recommend reading it ter because this got posted a few days ago and I just forgot to post the whole thing here. Username: kmindset Anyway, enjoy!

“The hunt has to be worth it tonight, Kook. I’m not stalking around in five-inch heels for another high cholesterol half-wit.” Moisturizing your face was the easiest part of the night so you rubbed it in like a light massage.

“It will. It’s opening night at that vegan bar and grill.” He bent down to rest his chin on your head. “Most of them are pretty pretentious but worth it.”

You chuckled. Tonight you and Jungkook were doing one of your favorite things Poly Baiting. Scouring night spots for vulnerable humans looking for a fun time with the both of you was horrible, very much so, but you are vampires. You have to eat too and sometimes animal blood from the butcher shop isn’t satisfying enough.

“Why are you even bothering with that? You look as youthful as the day I spotted you through your Sseugae chima.”

“Because it smells goods and what kind of youthful looking woman am I without skin care products?”

“Hm, true.” He leans down to wrap both arms around your shoulders from behind. “Even if you looked as old as you are you would be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.”

You chuckled. “One, “thing”? How specist of you. Two, if I looked as old as I am I would be bones, skin, and hopefully some hair.” You turned your head to look in his eyes. His carmine pupils drawing out a fresh wave of lust. Your hand stroked his cheek sweetly. “Thank you, sweetie.”

By the time you get there the place is packed.

There are people in trendy outfits on the dance floor at one end and other people enjoying their meals at the opposite end.

“The irony is so strong I can taste it.” You snicker.

He holds your hand, walking first. “I don’t taste anything, so let’s hurry this up.”

The music sets a fun vibe in the building making even you want to dance but Jungkook is focused on one thing. Razor sharp senses refocus. Many of those around you seem to be a good enough crowd. Some older yet trendy with a contrasting group of confused looking men sat next to a rather happy looking man. ‘Hmm, poor dears got dragged here.” you think. For a moment you contemplate setting your fangs on them but by their disgust, at the appetizer, their friend is tearing into you suspect they’re suffering enough.

“Hello!” A cheerful young man with light hair and a button with the logo greets you and shows you to an open area with a few couches. There are people lounging around and deep in their food or their own conversations.

“Hi!” A woman with two ponytails immediately greets you.

“Hi!”

“How long have you been vegan?”

Years of lying for food and general survival having you speaking a lie in no time flat. “Ah, I’m actually vegetarian looking to go vegan and my fiancee’ here is-”

“Disgruntled and hungry for anything.” He interrupts with a mocking smile. However, the woman doesn't even pick up on his ridicule as she continues smiling. A naive one and a vegan. Jackpot!

“From the reviews of the original building in Incheon, it’ll turn you vegan for sure!” She rambles on about her 6 years as a vegan and the struggle of being vegan in Korea. You’re barely paying attention when you feel Jungkook tense beside you. He seems off-put by something but you don’t smell anything. You choose to ignore him and continue chatting up the girl whose name you’ve already forgotten. Jungkook’s clairvoyance usually doesn't tense him up unless there is something unusual or bad going on and by the grip he has on your shoulder, it can’t be good. Luckily, the chatty woman excuses herself to the restroom.

Before you could even turn to him he whispers. “Something’s not right here.”

“Is it little Miss “Vegan is Better”? Because she won’t be a problem for much longer.”

He shakes his head with a deep frown. “It’s something else. I feel another in pain.”

Jungkook’s senses are so strong he can sense the pain of family and nearby vampires. A handy power for avoiding hunters and aiding your kind.

“Hunters possibly?”

He nods slowly. “We should leave.” He takes your hand to guide you out. Near the exit, the chatty woman blocks your path.

“Hey, you guys! This is my boyfriend, Rod.” She finally takes notice of your path. “Leaving already?”

“Yes. Really sorry, bit of an emergency.” You swipe her phone from her hand, quickly typing out your number in her notes with ‘Y/N: aspiring vegan’ next to it.

“We should meet up sometime and you can help me go vegan.”

Jungkook discreetly tugs on the back of your jacket in quiet urgenance. You guess the sense has gotten stronger.

She nods with an excited smile and waves you goodbye.

Once you are out the door Jungkook says. “It was him.”

You turn back in confusion of who ‘him’ is and meet the eyes of Vegan girl’s boyfriend.

He was staring back at you with a pointed glare.

Him.

“How could he be a hunter? I couldn’t smell him!”

“I don’t know! I’m freaked out as well!” Your husband is sat on the couch with head in his hands. It had been decades since you had seen him this worried. You were stood over him, stroking his hair gently. “It wasn’t a strong smell but I felt something else before the whiff. It was as if he was somehow blocking his scent. But barely.”

Jungkook’s state of distress was something you rarely saw. The scariest of times being when you were pregnant with Harley and hunters were hot on your trail from your increased bloodlust.

For a while, you thought about assimilating just to make it easier on Jungkook. Two of your sisters still lived in London from the days of King Henry VIII. They choose to stay for the better acceptance of your kind. In fact, your mother moved there with your father after her second husband was staked in Vegas and remarried your father.

“Should we report this back to Feratuan?” you ask.

He thinks for a moment. “Not yet. No need to alarm anyone for no reason.”

“No reason!? A hunter concealed his scent Jungkook! And by the way, he was looking at me you would have thought I was the one with the smell! And I guarantee you all that fucker should have been smelling is Light Blue by Dolce and fucking Gabbana!”

“Lily is here.” He announces calmy before you heard a light knock. A sign passes your lips as you cross your arms in annoyance.

“Come in.”

“Hey.” She comes in with a solemn look. Obviously, her paternally inherited clairvoyance picked up on something.“What’s going on?”

You looked to Jungkook to answer.

Her worried father sighs heavily. “We don’t know. We think a hunter was concealing his scent and that somehow he knew what we are.”

Your daughter’s eyes widened in fear. “Oh my god! Seohyun said that happened to her the other day!”

“Who?” Jungkook’s eyebrows furrowed identically to yours, both confused and alarmed.

“My friend! She’s a first gen. Only on her 2nd lifetime. She was attacked a few weeks ago!” Your mouth hung open. “It happened outside the library in Hongdae. She said she was waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up but she was attacked from behind. When her father asked why she didn’t hide or prepare herself she told him she didn’t smell them coming. It wasn’t until they were way too close that she could faintly smell them.”

“Oh my goodness! How did she escape if it was multiple?” Jungkook questioned.

“Luckily her boyfriend showed up. He’s a first gen too but on his 10th lifetime.”

“10? After 9 is when I lost count,” you mumble, momentarily distracted from the matter at hand.

Jungkook nods at his daughter’s words in understanding. Generally, vampires on a higher lifetime have had enough experience to ward of multiple hunters but an attack could still lead to death. “While you’re here, alone, we need to speak to you.”

She nods slowly and lowers to the adjacent couch.

“Your mother and I noticed Daniel’s marks. Every time we see him he seems to have a new injury. He seems fine with it yet when we ask how it happened the boy can’t seem to remember.” He explains in his best and seldom sed ‘authoritative father’ voice.”I’m not going to bullshit, Se Yeon, you know good and well what I’m leading to.”

The barely matured vampire purses her lips. She straightens up in hopes of seeming confident but you know better. More than one hundred and fifty years of motherhood and a maternal and vampiric need to protect your children has made you more than knowledgeable about all of your children. Currently, your daughter’s body language was telling you that she was trying to seem unafraid of her father’s intense gaze but inside was rather frightened and a little ashamed of the evident disappointment that he was not making an effort to hide.

“Se Yeon,” you spoke carefully, not too gentle yet still stern. “We aren’t angry. We just want to know if what we’re suspecting is true.”

If any of your hearts naturally beat there would have been many between when your heart actually did and when she spoke. “It didn’t start out so carelessly. I hadn’t fed in a few days, I am not sure if it was sheer laziness or a distaste for the crowd the weather brought, but I was stagnant.Daniel stopped by and noticed my color. He assumed I was sick and insisted on “caring for me”. I tried to tell him to leave after he brought me some horrendously made chicken soup and useless medicine. Finally, he resolved to cuddle with me. “Cuddles are the most effective meds my darling.” She mocked his words but you saw the smile she held for a brief moment. “In my carelessness and intense need for him to shut the hell up, I allowed him to lay his head on my chest.”

Jungkook was still listening intently and rather impatiently, for the point but you already had your hand over your face. “He didn’t hear a heartbeat.” you finished for her.

She nodded. “It took a moment but right when I thought he was falling asleep he sat up! It caught me off guard, my fangs nearly released. He started freaking out about how this was really bad and I needed to go to the hospital quick! There was no way to calm him and I could only think of one thing to do. So, I played along and acted as if I was afraid. I asked him to hold me. That brought him down enough to stop yelling. He pulled me in to hug me and I buried my face in his neck and…” she gestured outwardly and the two of you nodded for her to continue. “I took just enough to put him out, licked it to heal, and when he woke up he was back on my chest and I had a heartbeat.”

“Courtesy of him.” Jungkook quipped. You nudged him to be quiet.

“It was enough for him though. I asked if everything was alright and she told me about his crazy dream that I didn’t have a heartbeat. I told him everything was fine and let him hear my heartbeat. I was so scared though I told him I wanted to be alone. It was too close a call.”

Jungkook stood and rubbed his neck before ruffling his hair, a frustrated habit. “That doesn’t explain the multiple other marks, Se Yeon.”

Her eyes drifted to the floor. You moved to sit by her and held her hand in gentle encouragement. “It was addicting. S-Something about it was delectable and...familiar? I honestly don’t even know why the urge to drink from him is so strong but it’s as if-” she paused, her head shook as if she wasn’t even comprehending her actions or the taste. “It’s as if I don’t want anything else.”

Her eyes stayed on the floor as if searching for some type of answer but your worried ones drifted up to your husband’s. He was focused on her. His eyes held so many things and you knew he would never admit any of those things to his children, especially Lily, but this went far beyond the problems of your subspecies. This was a father’s worry.

He was willing to do anything and everything for them and for you. But he wasn’t sure what yet.

Additional author’s note: Sorry I forgot to add that in addition to new chapters of the story I’ve also posted the dictionary for this story to help you all understand certain words I use for this fic as well as a side story that is just Jungkook and Y/N with lots of fluff, angst, and SMUUUUUUUUT that I won’t be posting here. Pleeeeeease, go check it out. AO3 username: kmindset

[daleisgreat]

25 Years of PSone - Flashback Special!

I am back with another videogame anniversary special this week. In last week’s flashback on the Saturn & Virtual Boy I ran down all the other platforms that had milestone anniversaries this year. Of course I realized I neglected one days after posting it, and realized last month marked the 15th anniversary of the PSP in North America. I was originally going to combine my PSP memories with the PSone as we approach its 25th North American anniversary, but as you will soon see, I have quite a lot to say about the PSone, so it looks like the PSP will be touched on in the near future. With that said, hopefully I can grant you a brief reprieve from the real world times we are in if you indulge me while I reflect back on Sony’s unforgettable console debut in the gaming world.

I will start off with the PSone, which was originally abbreviated to the 1990s stateside gaming press as the PSX. When the PS2 hit in 2000, Sony retroactively changed the PSX branding into the PSone with the requisite late-gen slim design having that official branding. The PSX was later a whole separate PS2 variant only available in Japan, so the PSone labeling helped clear up any potential confusion with the Japanese PSX. As I mentioned in my flashback last week, I was initially not on board with the dawn of 32-bit systems after the initial polygonal games like Star Fox and Virtua Racing appeared ugly to my then 11 year-old eyes, and after trying the Saturn and PSone at retail kiosks shortly after their launches, I was bamboozled at the concept of ‘loading’ and being forced to wait for gameplay after not experiencing that on nearly all 8 and 16-bit games. The only bright spot I can recall in the first couple years of the PSone was having fun at my cousin’s blasting each other to bits in the excellent combat driving game, Twisted Metal. For the first few years of the PSone’s lifecycle in America, I easily dismissed it and stuck with my NES, SNES and GameBoy in those early years of the PSone because that was all my family had back then and they understandably did not want to cough up a few hundred more dollars to upgrade to a whole other platform. For the Christmas of 1997, after enough pleading with them to upgrade to a new gaming system I made my case for the N64 and was delighted to see it awaiting under the Christmas tree. That was due to my gaming preferences at the time and it being a four player powerhouse that worked ideally with my family and friends and also due to not getting my first job late in that console cycle it lead to me siding with it as my preferred console that generation. I do not regret it, but I did not miss out entirely on the PSone during this era as I had a couple friends around this time that got PSones instead and I wound up playing a fair amount of Sony’s first console hanging out at my other friend’s households.

The early NFL GameDay and Madden titles were the first big PSone games I played regularly against a friend. This video does a nice quick job explaining how the two were fierce competitors in early years of the PSone. In 1998 my friend Rich upgraded to a PSone and the bulk of my PSone playing the next two to three years wound up being at his place. We played a ton of 16-bit Madden in the years preceding, so naturally the first PSone game that was our go to was Madden NFL ‘97. It only looked like a slightly touched up version of the 16-bit games and still stuck with marginally bigger and detailed sprites (or incredibly weak looking polygonal footballers, it is hard to tell when looking at videos) when compare to the 16-bit Madden titles. I recall us then switching the football games up with Sony’s NFL game, NFL GameDay ‘98 for a little bit of variety, and being impressed with its superior polygonal graphics. That all changed a few months later when Rich got the then-brand new Madden NFL ‘99 that holiday season. That was a landmark game for the series, and it righteously blew us away when EA Sports delivered a brand new polygonal graphics engine to compete with GameDay, and its graphics and gameplay blew GameDay away. Madden NFL ‘99 also debuted the multi-season Franchise mode that is a staple in single player Madden features today, and was revolutionary back then. Rich and I played Madden NFL ‘99 regularly and it was our new favorite pigskin game that gen.

Rich and I would play a lot of other competitive multiplayer games over the next couple of years. I have good memories of us renting games on a weekend night and tearing each other up in games like Knockout Kings 2000 and NHL Rock the Rink. After I got my first job the next year I would occasionally purchase a PSone game I wanted to try to bring over to play. The N64 AKI wrestling games we played to death, and I wanted to try out what the PSone grapplers brought to the table. I recall us detesting the unplayable trash that was WCW Nitro (minus its laugh-riot of character select screen taunts), but having a pretty fun time with the deep roster and gameplay options available in the first WWF Smackdown game. I remember getting really into ECW after discovering their first wave of DVDs in 2000, and eagerly picked up ECW Anarchy Rulz. Looking back, that aging game engine from Acclaim was barely playable, but we managed to have a blast with the absurd gameplay modes available at the time like barbwire and brimstone deathmatches. After hearing how the gaming press was giving it game of the year-caliber buzz, I took a chance and picked up Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 on PSone after I could not track down the harder-to-find Dreamcast version, and it worked out for the better because that game became an institution with Rich and I as we played countless bouts of Trick Attack and HORSE against each other. I could not hold a candle most times against Rich, but could care less since the gameplay was that lethal combo of accessible and fun, and that THPS2 had one of the all-time best licensed soundtracks, with a few selections like “Bring the Noise,” “Blood Brothers” and “Guerilla Radio” that remain in my running playlists today. I know, I know, you probably do not want to read entirely about sports and wrestling games, but for most of the 90s that made up a majority of what I consumed, but rest assured I am now moving on to some of the acclaimed single player titles the PSone is renowned for. My friend and podcast co-host Chris is a big fan of RPGs and I would chill at his place and enjoy watching him play through the story of Final Fantasy VII, Star Ocean, Grandia and Final Fantasy Tactics. Chris tried to help me wrap my head around them and guided me through first couple hours into FFVII and Tactics, but I did not have the attention span for those steep learning curves of their complex battle systems, especially Tactics. I recall watching my brother get wrapped up in FFVII and Legend of Dragoon and will never forget his anger at repeatedly failing against Seipheroth in the final FFVII boss battle, but will equally never forget his glee at finally conquering him. I finally made an honest effort at putting time into a new FFVII playthrough a couple years ago on my Vita, and I managed to make it out of Midgar which I considered a huge accomplishment. I only made it a little ways past that however and never got past that tall creature in a marsh I later found out was one of those battles you were not supposed to win. Speaking of FFVII, I played the demo recently for the newly released FFVII Remake and it looks dazzling and it sounds like that first installment of the Remake is getting high marks all around, which is great to hear for one of the most identifiable and best-selling games on the PSone.

I re-uploaded this podcast from my archives where we breakdown nearly all RPGs on the PSone. Brought on a lot of RPG-vets for this episode which yielded one of my favorite episodes in our near-200 episode run! I remember hearing the legendary FFVII vs. FFVIII fan debates over the years. For the first couple of years after its release, Final Fantasy VIII was almost universally panned by gaming mags and the newly emerging online gaming media at the time before it slowly built up a vocal contingent of defenders similar to how Luigi’s Mansion got its fanbase once the ‘it is not Super Mario’ hubbub at the GCN launch gradually died down. I remember when my brother finished FFVII and with his birthday approaching understandably wanting to play the next one right away and him pleading with my mom for FFVIII for his birthday. This was a year or two after it was already out and I remember warning my brother it was not received that well, and he blew off my warnings and persisted with his birthday wishes for it. He eventually procured Squall’s journey for his birthday, and I will never forget it asking him several days later for his first update on it and him furiously responding, ‘That game sucks, I already traded it in to Gamestop!’

To put a bow on RPGs on the PSone, I would like to nudge you towards another podcast I recently uploaded from my archives in time for this flashback where we did a multi-part history of RPGs special, with the PSone getting its own episode since it had so many highly-rated RPGs. As you have read by now, I am no expert at this genre, but Chris and a few other friends I brought on are and it lead to a thorough discussion breaking down nearly every major and minor RPG on the system! It was a fun roundtable I will never forget with the first half dedicated to passionately dissecting all the Final Fantasy titles on the system to the back half making sure nearly all other PSone RPGs get their due. I have embedded it in this article for your convenience, or you can click or press here to queue it up for later. Another multi-episode special of On Tap saw us focusing on the history of comic book games. I brought on longtime friend and comic book expert Matt for the perfect co-host for this series. He took his research for this line of episodes remarkably seriously and tracked down and bought any comic book games he was missing for each system to fill in any gaps and by the time we wrapped up our comic book games history series he purchased nearly every comic book licensed game there was. When it came time to cover PSone and Saturn comic book games we spent a weekend trying out many of these games Matt tracked down online. With the exception of the excellent Marvel-licensed fighting games by Capcom and a handful of other titles, a vast majority of the rest were a dumpster fire of barely playable platformers. I vividly recall Fantastic Four, The Crow: City of Angels, Blade and Hellboy: Asylum Seeker standing out as the cream of the crap. We suffered through a lot of dreck that weekend, but it was worth and it culminated in an episode where a lot of ragging was done on some atrocious games. I do not have that episode re-uploaded from the archives as of this writing, but I plan to eventually and will embed it here soon so you can experience our pain!UPDATE 6-23-2020 - I finally uploaded the podcast covering PSone comic book games to my YouTube channel; it is embedded at the bottom of this special, or you can click or press here to check it out!

The primary reason I never got a PSone during its lifecycle was because when I landed my first job in 1999 and finally had disposable income, it was either announced or much-rumored by that point that the highly anticipated PS2 would have backwards compatibility with the PSone library so I held off on getting the system. I would however purchase a handful of PSone games in the year leading up to the PS2 launch knowing that they would work on the PS2. I loved SNES Street Racer, so PSone Street Racer was one of my first PSone games, and it had a nice bump up in visuals and somehow pulled off split screen multiplayer for up to eight players! The 3DO version of Road Rash got a nice performance boost on the PSone, but like the 3DO version also does not have support for its killer licensed soundtrack during gameplay. Sadly the PSone’s exclusive follow up, Road Rash: Jailbreak failed to deliver, and the beloved franchise has rarely been seen from since. Street Fighter Collection: Volume 2 was how I first experienced the turbo speed and hyper combos of Super Street Fighter II: Turbo that I fondly remember doing regular match-ups against my classmate Josh! The wrestling nut in me experimented with a couple other exclusive wrestling games on the system. Power Move Pro Wrestling was a decent early polygonal wrestling game, which I could have seen being addicted to if I played it when it originally released in 1996. WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game and WWF In Your House were mildly entertaining Mortal Kombat-esque takes on wrestling games, but needless to say I stuck with the N64 for my main wrestling games fix during this era. I loved both Destruction Derby titles on PSone back during this time, but I revisited them briefly in prep for this flashback and am sad to report they have not aged the best and I forgot how loose they controlled and how some inadvertent spinouts could lead to a quick demise. Another oddball title was the Kurt Warner backed Arena Football Unleashed. It is Midway taking the Blitz engine and giving it an Arena-rules makeover, but with more vicious hits and tackles that the NFL would not endorse in their games.

I want to make sure to get a couple other quick props to a few other assorted PSone memories. Loaded was a fun overhead two player action title to mindlessly blast away in coop. I was impressed with Blizzard’s port of Diablo and how well it surprisingly handled the co-op action with not too many performance hiccups. Another PC hit series my brother and I dug, Delta Force did not make as smooth of a transition to PSone with Delta Force: Urban Warfare being a bit of a choppy mess. The hit multiplayer series Worms I first discovered on PSone with Chris introducing me to the series with Worms 2 and I instantly became a fan of its fantastical weaponry like Banana Bombs and exploding sheep. One of the scant few times I got my mom to play games with me was knocking out several rounds of Jeopardy 2nd Edition where it was then impressive to hear every question…errr answer audibly read by studio host Johnny Gilbert. On one of the annual 24-hour Extra Life charity drives I participated in, a friend brought over one of the strangest PSone titles ever in Incredible Crisis, to begin to describe its zaniness would be impossible, so I will point you towards this video instead. The aforementioned Capcom Marvel fighting games you cannot go wrong with, but a decent alternative was the pair of X-Men: Mutant Academy fighting games from Activision.I remember they had Professor X as a hidden character and going to town dishing out damage with his array of wheelchair attacks! I never got into the hardcore sim Gran Turismo titles, but it was another title that I would be fine watching Chris show off its then best-in-show graphics and presentation of realistic cars and driving physics. Finally, the Tekken 2 and Tekken 3 were in regular rotation at friends. Like Virtua Fighter 2 on Saturn they proved that polygonal fighters were here to stay, and I remember being stunned how good Tekken 3 looked when next to its arcade counterpart and how Namco squeezed everything they could out of the PSone with that title.

It was a different time for WWF games in the early years of the PSone as this video elucidates how a Mortal Kombat take on a wrestling game came to be. PSone and PS2 owners were spoiled with a constant supply of demo discs courtesy of OPM and Playstation Underground. I remember Chris keeping up with the demos and him constantly popping in the latest one whenever I swung over. The Playstation Underground discs especially stood out since they were essentially a virtual magazine, complete with mini-documentaries and interview features, cheat codes and content unlocked save files. I have been able to experience these again with Giant Bomb doing an exquisite job regularly reliving this era with their ‘Demo Derby’ video series I give a high recommendation for everyone to check out. I also remember the final years of PSone’s lifecycle that introduced the concept of the $10 budget game that saw dozens of low-budget games release brand new for at that price point. A lot of these were utter trash like All-Star Slammin’ D-Ball where I discovered it is possible to screw up a dodge ball game, but there was an occasional gem sprinkled in there, and it was part of the fun chancing one when randomly perusing the racks at Best Buy on a routine payday visit back then.

My last dive into PSone gaming was downloading the various PSone classics released digitally on PS3. According to good ‘ol reliable Wikipedia, there were 265 PSone Classics released for PS3 download in North America. I downloaded around 30 of them. Most of them were $6 each, with a few multi-disc games going for $10 I think, but they frequently went on sale for half off and it was a great way to track down games I always wanted for a bargain, and having most of them being cross-compatible on the Vita was a handy bonus too! I booted up a few of them prepping up for this, and a big standout for me were the five volumes of the NAMCO Museum catching my eye with their impressive explore-able museum filled with all types of fan service that made me get a lot more than I expected when revisiting arcade classics like Galaga and Pole Position. One day I will make time for the other downloaded PSone Classics in my PS3 library I have long neglected and heard nothing but great things about like both Mega Man Legends titles and the pair of Suikoden games. Speaking of PSone Classics, that brings me to Sony’s entry into the console-mini market a couple years ago with its critical and commercial flop, the PSone Classic. I love my NES, SNES and Genesis mini consoles, but I avoided Sony’s version with its surprise amount of issues that are far too numerous to breakdown here. From what I understand, a lot of it can be resolved by modding the system, but ultimately I prefer having my PS3 be my own personal PSone Classic. My PS3-slim model still plays all my PSone discs, and combine that with my own curated PSone Classics I have downloaded on it and I see no need to upgrade to the PSone Classic and its Dual Shock-less controller.

I will wind down here by stating how I went until three or four years ago unexpectedly stumbling into procuring a physical PSone. I was helping a longtime co-worker move an old couch, and afterword we were having a quick breakfast when she suddenly had a lightbulb-turned-on look dawn on her and she exclaimed, ‘hey, you like games, right?’ I responded that I do, and she went on to say how her son left a couple boxes of games in her closet and insisted I take them for helping her out. I felt it was a bit much for moving a couch, but she persisted and double checked with her son after a quick text. Upon opening up the couple of shoeboxes when I got home I discovered it wound up being the PSone-slim, with two controllers and about 20 games mostly of the Crash Bandicoot and alternative sports variety which was fine by me! The PSone/Saturn/N64 generation I remember being a crazy ‘fanboy war’ era. Aside from the standard lunchroom verbal jabs that were exchanged, that generation in the mid-to-late 90s was when the Internet, online forums, boards and messenger programs became ubiquitous and only fueled the fire. As stated above, I remember sticking by the N64 during this time, but over the years as you have just read, I came around on the PSone over the years. I may have touched on an unorthodox lineup of games compared to what people that were playing the PSone during its active retail timespan, but I do not regret any of the PSone ‘classics’ I experienced one bit. Please check back here later this year for more Sony platform flashback specials on the PSP and PS2, and if you want more retro gaming flashbacks then please take a look underneath here for a list of my previous flashbacks!

Here is the podcast I did covering all of the comic book games released on the PSone, along with other systems from that era like the Saturn and N64. My Other Gaming Flashbacks Dreamcast 20th Anniversary GameBoy 30th Anniversary Genesis 30th Anniversary Saturn and Virtual Boy 25th Anniversaries TurboGrafX-16 30th Anniversary and 32-X 25th Anniversary

[pinkipie100]

Lance and the 25 Days Chapter VIII: Request

WELL, WELL, WELL! LOOK WHO DECIDED TO COME CRAWLING BACK!

Ah, yes, Evil Voice In My Head. It is I, Pinki, author of Lance and the 25 Days and founder of Ficcember! Now, shut up. To you however, dear reader, I apologize immensely, a thousand times for my absence! Unfortunately, I worked the rest of the weekend after Friday as well, and when I got home, I was just so exhausted that I fell right asleep and had no motivation to write. It’s my fault entirely, and I should have been more committed. That aside! This chapter is short as well, unfortunately, but I always meant it to be. Sorry if you’re disappointed, but do enjoy it while you can, as we probably won’t see Keith again for a while. Sorry. Hopefully I can post another chapter later tonight if I finish it. Thank you for keeping an eye out for updates on my late behind! Enjoy!

When Keith answers Lance’s call, the two have a less-than-amicable exchange.

Words: 758

Category: Gen

Contains: bickering, Kolivan witnessing a domestic, and being confused by it, Scrooge!Keith, atheist Keith, Christian Lance, brOTP Laith/Klance

Takes place immediately following Keith picking up Lance’s call from Chapter VII.

“Lance, what do you want?” Keith answered the transmission shortly.

“Keith! I’ve been trying to call you all morning!” Lance yelled into the screen. Keith dryly remarked that he’d noticed, and the red paladin continued, “Hey, so listen, I need you to come over.”

Keith scoffed. “What do you mean, ‘come over’? For what, a playdate?”

Lance was half concentrating on the conversation, half focusing on sewing something, apparently. Slight bags appeared to be forming under his eyes. Though this worried Keith, he trusted Lance was just training a bit more. The Cuban boy continued, “What? No! For Christmas!” When Keith gave Lance a dismissive look, the latter explained, “Look, long story short, I can sense when December comes because I wake up one midnight hits on December first. The point is, we’re getting ready for the holidays! Hanukkah for Pidge, Christmas for the rest of us! Shiro wanted you to join us, and I promised him you would. And Keith, when I make a Christmas promise, I am ready to spill blood for that promise.”

Keith shook his head first at Lance, then at the thought of Shiro’s request. “Of course Shiro asked you to do that…” he bemoaned. When Lance expressed confusion, the Blade reiterated, “Shiro’s always trying to do that. Get me excited about holidays. It’s so stupid, I don’t even celebrate Christmas…” Lance, surprised, inquired whether Keith was Jewish as well, which the other boy shot down, and when Lance then hesitantly wondered if Keith celebrated Kwanzaa for some reason, Keith strongly rejected that, as well. Finally, Keith delineated, “Lance, I don’t celebrate any holidays in December. I’m an atheist.”

Lance sat for moment, evidently flabbergasted on the screen, his face some subtle form of horrified. Keith rolled his eyes while he prompted Lance for a response, but his friend had nothing.

Lance wasn’t so much horrified at the fact that his friend wasn’t Christian, considering Shiro and Pidge weren’t either, nor were the Alteans, obviously. He was just shocked that Keith didn’t celebrate Christmas. Shiro did, despite his own agnostic standing, if only for festivities’ sake. It just seemed so central to the culture that all of the humans had grown up in; Lance couldn’t comprehend what Keith ever had to look forward to at the end of the year when he didn’t have any December holidays to get excited about. Lance hoped he at least did something special for New Year’s, but knowing him, the red paladin figured that Keith probably didn’t even keep track of when the new year arrived.

“Lance, say something,” Keith firmly urged, countenance bored.

Lance shook his head, jaw still to the floor while he cracked out, “WHY?!” Keith only sighed and whined that he didn’t see the point in celebrating the made-up birthday of an embellished fairy-tale. “Keith! You shouldn’t say that! Jesus was a real person, and he was born, so you can’t say he’s made up!” Keith reiterated that the twenty-fifth of December was simply an arbitrary guess at what day Jesus could have been born, and that the real Jesus didn’t even look like what Christians depicted him like. Lance huffed, now very angry at Keith’s Scroogelike attitude. “Well, Keith, that’s insensitive, even for you. You know, it’s one thing to bail on your best friend, but to insult an entire religion like that is just being a jerk. Think before you speak, especially during this time of year. Santa’s watching,” Lance hissed.

Keith, once more, rolled his eyes, explaining that he did not see why he should waste time and money on some stupid Christian holiday that was just manufactured by American society to boost its economy at the end of each year to look better on the world economic rankings charts. Lance shook his head at the notion, vehemently protesting every last bit of Keith’s incorrect logic. Keith just flippantly put up his hand to halt Lance’s speech. “Was this the only reason you were calling?” With a furious expression and a pouty lip, Lance nodded once. Keith sighed through his nose and finished, “Goodbye, Lance.”

“Keith, you better request time off or whatever, if not for Shiro’s sake, then Pidge’s, she wants to play dreidel with all of us-” Lance was cut off when Keith ended the transmission. Keith looked to the ground, trying to rationalize that his guilt was unwarranted. There was a bigger mission at hand- They didn’t have time for frivolous festivities! He looked up to Kolivan for affirmation.

The stoic Galra just voiced, “What’s a holiday?”

[avernale]

Have You Seen These Pokémon? Have You SEEN Them!? - Yamper and Impadimp

Impadimp and Yamper.

Yamper is fine, I guess.  An electric corgi with a pug’s head and a heart on its butt.  The image in my head when I first heard the phrase “Electric corgi” in a leak a while back was much cuter.  It’ll probably grow on me, but I don’t feel like this looks like a Pokémon.  If anything, it’s trying too hard.

Impadimp is atrocious. Seriously, what is this thing?  Is it a joke?  A placeholder? A Yokai Watch character?  Even its name offends me.  It’s the sort of near-random free-association you get when one guy just makes up a ton of fakemon on the spot.  Impadimp?  Really?  I could probably come up with five better-sounding names with “Imp” in them off the top of my head, except I’m sure they’re better off reserved for whatever this thing evolves into.  I mean, it’s too pathetic-looking not to.  It looks like a child’s drawing brought to life, which I can only assume was the concept if I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt.  That would be almost clever.  Almost.

I’m going to bring up Nessa because I noticed the life preservers on her ankles and wanted to mention them.  That’s kinda reaching, if you ask me.  Her being in what amounts to a sports bikini reminds me of Misty, except I feel like less of a pedophile for creeping on her.  “Water user in a bathing suit” is kinda low-hanging fruit in terms of character design, but not much else is going to fit the pro-sports theme in this generation.  You can see it in Leon and Milo, so chances are the remaining Gym Leaders and the Elite Four (safely assuming there is one) will follow the same basic aesthetic.

I’ve heard about how only Pokémon that are in the Galar Dex will be transferable from Home (a controversial decision apparently being called “Dexit”).  I feel like I should be more upset about this, but I’m sure there’s more than enough salt available already.  With more than eight hundred Pokémon already in the canon, this was bound to happen eventually.  Hell, it’s a little surprising this didn’t happen sooner.  With the time, effort, and resources it takes to update, rebalance, and redesign so many creatures, something was going to have to give eventually.  Even if they wanted to allow more time to get all that done, you’d probably eventually reach a point where a sequel would be practically vaporware.  Being a professional means knowing which shortcuts to take, and not taking this one would’ve been unreasonable in the long run. We can probably expect this for every generation afterward, too, barring the odd “Ultimate” game like with Smash Bros.  This is not going to be the final game in the series, and I’m sure it won’t be ending for decades.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m disappointed.  I didn’t start seriously migrating my collection until Bank came out, and I was hoping to continue the trend especially after my Pokémon Diamond game stopped working.  I’d rather not store all my Pokémon in the cloud, so they’ll probably stay in Gen VII until I need to complete a newer Pokedex.  But I was more upset that Home wouldn’t even come out until 2020, since I wanted to “begin” my game with a Ralts on my team like I did with Y and Sun.  Hopefully, they occur early on in the game anyway.  But you’ll also be able to trade directly through Home, so it’s not like your non-Galar Pokémon are worthless.  Battles are probably unlikely through Home, but the competitive scene was in need of rebalancing anyway. So, uh... git gud?  There’s worse things in game play than having to adapt or find new strategies.

Apparently, Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves won’t be a thing in Gen VIII, which is a shame.  Obviously, they weren’t going to support these anymore, but I didn’t expect them to be cut entirely.  Then again, I always felt they’d be the easiest to cut, since then you’d just have to cut out the necessary items.

But Mega Evolutions may not be going away entirely.  Dynamaxing may be Pokémon’s least creative gimmick, but have you heard of Gigantomaxing?  It was one of many things mentioned in a particular leak back in May that has proven to be disturbingly accurate so far.  Gigantomaxing was described in the same paragraph as Dynamaxing and seems to add in elements of Mega Evolution, particularly that certain Pokémon will have their own Gigantomaxed forms that are not just up-scaled versions of their normal forms.  It specifically mentioned a retro “Fat” Pikachu and a long Meowth.

Considering the Dynamaxed Pikachu seen in the trailer wasn’t particularly retro-looking, Gigantomaxing may require held items like Mega Evolution.  If this is the case, then some Pokémon may be able to Gigantomax into enlarged versions of their Mega Evolutions. Dynamaxed Steelix has been seen, but again, Gigantomaxing may require held items so it’s reasonable that a wild Steelix wouldn’t be in its Dynamaxed Mega Form.  Considering Gigantomaxing apparently works on unevolved Pokémon and turns them into memes (long Meowth = long cat?), it may just as likely that be many of these forms will be 3D versions of “Beta” Pokémon from the Gold and Silver demo.

[sage-nebula]

What do you want for Pokemon's 25th Anniversary?

Well, I’m already getting one thing I wanted, and on my birthday, at that — New Pokémon Snap! I still think it would have made more sense to make it for the 3DS or even the Wii U given that they both had cameras, but New Snap looks gorgeous, the Switch is my favorite console of all time, and so I’m definitely not complaining, haha. Despite how the first game used to make me angry given that Professor Oak didn’t know anything about photography and I’m sure that Professor Mirror won’t either, I always had so much fun playing it and I really can’t wait for the new one. It’s the best birthday present even if I’m still paying for it myself.

Aside from that, a new Ranger game would make my entire year. Granted, I’ve only played one game in the series (Guardian Signs), but I loved that game so much! I’m not exactly sure how it would work with the Switch given that the Switch joycons / controllers don’t have touch capabilities and so it would be hard to play it docked, but I’m sure they could figure it out. The Ranger series is just such a good spinoff series and it kills me that we haven’t had a new one since Guardian Signs. I think we’re long overdue.

More DLC for Sword / Shield would also be welcome. I know they said that Crown Tundra was the last we were getting, but I wouldn’t mind them going back on their word to give us another area in Galar to explore with more content. I would especially welcome this if they would announce that Gen IX wasn’t coming out until 2022 at the earliest. 2023 would even be better. Keep us going with DLC in Gen VIII while they take their time developing Gen IX. We don’t need a new game every year, it’s okay to let the series and the devs breathe. In fact, I encourage it.

If we’re not going to get more DLC, then I guess we can get the Diamond/Pearl remakes out of the way. I really don’t care for Sinnoh at all, but I’ll play the remakes when they come out (provided they’re not Let’s Go versions), and maybe that will make me like Sinnoh a bit more. (I doubt it, though.) Mostly I’d want those out of the way so that we can get to the remakes that matter, which is the Black/White remakes, although I don’t know how the sequel games will be incorporated into that. Also, if they ruin Touko / Lea’s / Hilda’s design I’m going to go berserk and complain about it a lot, but that’d be a small price to pay for getting to revisit Unova, haha. (Though I’m serious, please don’t make her any less of a hot mess tomboy, I’m begging.) 

Other than that . . . obviously I’d dehydrate myself with tears of happiness if we got an Alan figure, especially if it was both him and Lizardon. Heck, I’d take practically any merch of him at this point. I would also be psyched if it was announced that Ash and the TRio were going to retire at the end of this saga and that the next series of the anime would pick up with entirely new characters. Again, no hate to Ash or the TRio, but we’ve had 20+ years of their stories and it’s clear that the well is dry when it comes to things to do with them. Give them happy endings and then let us move on with new characters with new stories to tell. It’ll never happen, of course, but I would really like that a lot.

Anyway, those are my immediate thoughts about the 25th anniversary. I’m excited to see whatever it is that we get, though. Hopefully something will be shown this month!

[sage-nebula]

Okay, now that I finally have a minute, I can finally talk about the biggest event of the day:

GEN! 8! REVEAL! FAM!!

In a way, this was not surprising at all. The official Pokémon YouTube channel had been posting promotional videos of all the main regions for the week leading up to today (Pokémon Day), and once a Direct was announced we knew that they would not use that Direct for anything less than Gen VIII. Nintendo and Game Freak have made some questionable decisions in the past, but even they would not be so foolish as to dedicate a Direct to anything but a new set of games, particularly since they’d already promised us Gen VIII would be coming out this year. (Which is why those who are angry that this announcement wasn’t for Sinnoh remakes don’t really make a lot of sense. We were promised brand new core titles for a 2019 release. This couldn’t have been anything but that.) Even so, I am still thrilled by what I saw in the trailer, and I still want to talk about it because I’m so excited.

So:

Pros:

The Region: Some leaks that had come out ages ago suggested that the region could be based off the UK, and I’m so happy to see that was true. (Very little else in the leaks came true, but I’m okay with that, too; Sword and Shield are much better version names than Crown and Scepter.) The region itself looks like it’s going to be beautiful, both in terms of its countryside areas and its urban areas. It reminds me a bit of Unova in that way, how there’s a bit of a divide there, and with that divide emphasized in this reveal trailer, I wonder if that’s going to affect the plot. Either way, I’m truly excited about the region itself, particularly with some of the shots of it that we saw (both interior and exterior) in the trailer.

The Graphics: On that note, the graphics are so nice! There’s so much detail everywhere! In particular I can’t help but think of shots like the library the female trainer was standing in near the end, or the various towns the characters ran through . . . I know some people were hoping for hyper realistic graphics, but that’s never been Pokémon’s style. I’m just glad that these games are so, so much prettier than Let’s Go. I’m so glad all the models and the environment was fixed.

Random Battles are Back In: Speaking of things that were fixed, we can actually train our pokémon again! I was very relieved when I saw that, haha.

Gyms: We’re also back to the Gym system, which is also something of a relief. Honestly, I don’t mind the concept of the Island Trials, but I don’t feel that it was implemented well at all. The Trials themselves were basic and empty, and in many ways felt like watered down Gyms. In USUM it was even worse since you weren’t even allowed to explore during them (and instead had the Captain walking you through the Trials, such as in Mallow’s). Since they weren’t going to get creative with the Trials, I’m glad they’ve scrapped them to go back to the Gym system. Hopefully we’ll get a dark-type Gym this time around.

The Starters: The starters are all so cute! My favorite is Scorbunny (whom I keep calling Scorbunny-bun, haha), but I like Sobble and Grookey as well. Which one I pick will depend on the final evolutions (since I can’t just not look, although I will say I do miss the days of my youth when final evolutions were a surprise and you picked your starter based on first impression), just like which version I get will depend on version differences, but at the moment, if I had to just pick today? It would be Scorbunny. Little soccer bunbun is so cute, I love him. (Sobble would be my second choice, and Grookey my third.)

The Trainers: I LOVE BOTH OF THE TRAINER DESIGNS SO MUCH!! I actually feel like trainer customization might not be back in (more on that in the next section) because we didn’t see any customization in the trailer, and both of the designs are more detailed this time around (whereas the boy design at the least is usually generic in customizable games). But even if we don’t, I’m fine with that. I love both of the designs. I do wish the girl was able to wear pants for the snowy areas, but I love her sweater and her haircut, and the boy’s hat is cute. Really, they’re both fashionable and cute kids. I love them.

The Box Mascots: Of course we know nothing of the legendaries (legendary?) yet, but they look very lupine and I’m excited about that. GIVE ME MY SWORD WOLF, GAME FREAK!!

The Cons:

No Trainer Customization?: We might get a surprise here and that might be back in after all, but right now it looks like it might not be, so that’s a potential con for me.

No Following Pokémon?: Most of the shots that we saw of the gameplay looked empty (for instance, no other NPCs in town shots), so maybe we will get following pokémon and they’re just not able to show that yet. Bu tif we don’t, that’s also something that will make me sad, albeit it’s also something I can live with, haha.

No Pokémon in Overworld: While I am THRILLED that wild battles are back because that’s a deal breaker for me, one thing I actually did like about Let’s Go is that you could see pokémon on the overworld, and I do wish they had implemented that here. But again, I can live with it not being implemented, haha. I’m fine with wild battles, too.

The Miscellaneous:

Professor?: The leaks I talked about earlier mentioned that these games have no professor, and that we instead receive our starters from a princess. No idea if that’s true or not yet, obviously, but if it’s not and we do still have a professor, I want them to be either Poké David Attenborough or Poké Jane Goodall. (And on a related note, if the monarchy is in this game, let me throw down with the queen pls.)

Give Us the Great Galaran Bake Off: You know how each gen has a little side gimmick? Like we had Contests in Gen III, Super Contests in IV, PokéStar Studios in V, and so on? Give us Bake Off in Gen VIII. The Great British Bake Off has popularity that transcends its borders and it would be so great to implement that into these games. The bonus is that when the Galar anime starts up, there can be an episode where Ash somehow makes his way into the tent as a baker (and I say somehow, because you have to audition and everything and prove yourself worthy of being there irl and Ash cannot cook or bake for anything) and then is the first person eliminated because his pastries have soggy bottoms and are not crisp, and also his cakes have overbaked sponges and you cannot see the layers in there at all. (I hope the anime gives us that episode even if we don’t have the gimmick in the games. Come on, PokéAni. Show us the forbidden Poké Mary Berry and Poké Paul Hollywood, along with Poké Mel and Sue.)

Anime’s English Dub: On that note, I both am and am not looking forward to TPCi hiring garbage actors who will absolutely brutalize every single British* accent they have in their cast. If it was 4Kids, I would trust them to hire actors who know what they’re doing. But TPCi? I remember what they did to Alan. I’ll never forget nor will I ever forgive what they did to Alan. They hired a no-name rando off the street who had no talent whatsoever to voice Alan. If they do try to make the Galaran characters British, there is no way those accents will be passable. It will be a travesty. That said, if the PokéAni actually had a good job with a talented cast, I would pay them actual money to make Ash’s female companion have a Cockney or south London accent. I LOVE those accents and I would love to have a character with one on the main cast. They could also give Ash’s male companion (should he have one) a Scottish accent to just complete the whole dynamic and it’d be incredible. Like I know they’d probably go for standard pronunciation, but god what I wouldn’t give for regional accents for an English dub of the Galaran anime. It would be incredible. (*I said British instead of English here because not all British accents are English. Scotland is part of Britain, and therefore a Scottish accent is a British accent, for example. So believe me, I wasn’t conflating British and English; I know the difference, and I was incorporating all of them.) 

Unova vs. Galar Rivalry: I want to see some (friendly) rivalry between Unova and Galar, just like those posts from Ye Olde Tumblr where Americans and Brits would get into “fights” over things. Obviously Unova is not the only United States region (Alola and Orre also exist), but it’s the one up in New England, and the one most blatantly American, I feel. It’d be neat to see that in the game. (And on an unrelated note, was Galar the region that warred with Kalos 3,000 years ago? Hmm . . .)

All in all, I’m super excited and I just can’t wait for these games. November can’t come fast enough (and neither can more info, haha)!