#one pokemon y so far... like 3 omega rubys

[caramel-mousse]

God I could very easily be a DS collector if I had income and less restraint

[smashwolfen]

hello i am so in awe that you have collected all the pokémon games (i finished my collection of 3ds ones a bit ago but i considered a lot of the other ones out of reach) and i was wondering how long it took? i know especially the older remakes are insane to get so i’m super curious

(This got incredibly long i'm so sorry for the wall of text my guy)

In relation to this post

Hello there! :D

Believe me, I still can't believe it myself that I managed to pull it off considering who I had to get ahold of! Been happy dancing to myself ever since I got the last game~

God it feels like it was longer ago honestly, but I only really began trying to finish the Pokemon collection just a year ago! Had to check back in my DMs with my buddy, but the day I began to seriously search for the rest of the authentic generations was May 5th 2023, the day I discovered my copy of Platinum was a repoduction, ya watch ONE video regarding reals vs. fakes and it all went down from there when I looked over the ones I owned already, luckily Platinum was the only one who was fake ;w;

I had passively over the years been picking up games as I went, but from that day last year til recently I looked where I could for the games I was missing, to be fair I had about half the collection to begin with just from growing up and finding ones out and about, I only needed to find the pair of whatever I owned already, besides gen 5.... since I somehow never played gen 5 growing up. Funny enough I didn't have to look too far, every single game I found had all been local! Facebook marketplace saved me big time I just had to wait and compare prices til I was happy with what I was willing to pay for! I scrutinized every single copy I got my hands on and triple checked everything before I was satisfied XD

The 3DS titles were very easy to get thankfully, and the same goes for you too good on ya for getting your 3DS ones! Hardest for sure were gens 3-5, specifically ALL of gen 5 they are the WORST to get since no one wants to sell them and they're required to be able to move anyone forward to the 3DS and then to the Switch! I think It'd be easier to list who I owned and who I hunted for in the year of the search.

So I owned:

Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Leafgreen, Emerald, Diamond, Pearl, X, Alpha Sapphire, Moon, UltraSun, Sword, Violet and Arceus (some I had gotten as gifts growing up and others I had gotten through yardsaling and thrifting by chance as I grew up, Emerald was 70 at a yardsale!)

The ones I got from the year of the hunt:

Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed, Platinum, Heartgold, SoulSilver, Black, White, Black 2, White 2, Y, Omega Ruby, Sun, UltraMoon, Shield, Lets Go Pikachu, Lets Go Eevee (I DID own Eevee before but traded it in before the hunt) Scarlet, Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl.

Now knowing who I had to get, we all know it costs a pretty penny, so I essentially sold things myself to fund the hunt, like my amiibos I didn't really need or want, a handful of random collectable things I picked up and kept over the years (notably a masterchief helmet from the legendary collection I got for free like 10 years ago lol) and some odds and ends I didn't need anymore and to declutter the home! I think out of my own pocket I only paid maybe 40 bucks total so I paid for everyone that way! It was all mostly luck finding everyone and keeping an eye on marketplace, and some of them I had gotten from folks I knew! Black and Black 2 actually came from one of my managers at work who sold them to me for insanely cheap, and Sapphire I got for free as I mentioned in the games post XD

If you do try to go for the complete collection, I say have a gameplan for how to pay and build that piggybank of funds, go for what you can afford! So if you see a game without a case thats usually better, you dont NEED a case or have a game CIB really, a bunch of mine dont have a case or box and I'm alright with that! Look locally at second hand stores, vintage ones, marketplace or any other local yardsale or fleamarket type thing you may have in your area, and I say this with caution, but if you HAVE to, you can consider ebay, but I strongly suggest not to when it comes to the games. I had originally tried to get a Brilliant Diamond copy from there and well, dude never sent it at all and got my money (ebay fully refunded me but that still bites). And finally get well versed in learning how to authenticate to the best of your abilities, 3DS and switch I don't think can be faked but everything else can be! I used this as my guide to figure out who was real and fake in my search and it worked very very well! Twas my bible of knowledge

End of the day it didn't take as long as one would think, but luck played a HUGE roll in this endeavor, I was smart with my money, and I was very very VERY stubborn and wanted them all XD

If you go for the complete collection like I did then I wish you the best of luck my friend! And thank you very much for the ask! It kinda got away from me while typing but yeah thats the story and process of how I got all the main series titles!

[flutternozzle]

ellie plays pkmn (2003-2017)

started writing a list of when it was i did some of my recent pokemon playthroughs, and then it morphed into trying to figure out when it was i first got Every one of the (main) pokemon games i have 😳 and it took a while, but i think this is probs abt as detailed as i’m gonna be able 2 get 🤔 gonna split this up into 2 posts tho, bcos i ended up writing a Lot 😦

so ruby was the first pokemon game i ever got, for my 7th birthday 😝 i’d been into pokemon a while before this, collecting the cards + watching the anime etc, but i’d never played a pokemon game b4 ruby 😧

my cousin then gave me his old copy of red when we went to visit them the following summer, so i can more or less pinpoint the date i got it too

i then got silver for my 8th birthday, as well as firered bcos it came out the day After my bday, and then i’d have got emerald the following xmas

yellow i got given by one of my mom’s friends from work at some point, but i can’t remember how/when i got sapphire and leafgreen.. they were definitely After emerald but Before pearl tho, so i’ve put them around 2006 🤔

i can’t even begin to guess how many times i’ve played any of these games 😅 i kept my original ruby, firered and emerald saves for years, and mainly used sapphire and leafgreen to do replays, but i even deleted + started replaying ruby and emerald at some point.. firered i definitely only ever played through that once tho, cos i traded it to a friend in secondary school at some point 😔

i can start being a lot more precise once i get to gen 4 and beyond tho 😈 mainly bcos i either started getting games when they came out, instead of as presents, or bcos they’re recent enough i can still remember 😌

so pearl and platinum i got on launch, which i can remember 1) bcos i originally wanted diamond, but we went out looking on the day it released and it had sold out everywhere, so i ended up getting pearl instead 😭 + 2) bcos i preordered platinum and got a cool giratina figure w/ it, that’s unfortunately lost atm 🙁 i kept these original pearl/platinum files all the way up til 2018/2020 respectively, which is the first time i ever replayed them 😦

soulsilver i remember getting around easter 2010, and that playthrough was the only time i’d ever played through the full game up until last year 🤯 i don’t know exactly when it was i started that 2nd playthrough, but i know i definitely started a new save while i was on holiday in 2015, and i’m p sure it wasn’t too long b4 that

i can’t remember exactly when it was i got black + black 2, but i’ve got no reason to think it wasn’t when they came out 🤔 those original playthroughs are still the only time i’ve played gen 5, and i still have the save files now.. but i think they’re probably my next games up for a replay 😳

side note: from platinum up to black 2, i used my online nickname “munchy” as my trainer name in game 😝 so, while a few years ago i released + traded nearly all of my pokemon that had my deadname as the ot (except for a few special ones, like my original swampert from ruby, and some shinies i caught in emerald 🥺) i still have all my pokemon from these games!!

i got gold from a carboot sale on holiday around 2013, along w/ a pikachu game boy colour, a ps1 and crash bandicoot 2 😝 i’ve never played it tho (apart from checking it still worked, which it did!!) but i got it cos it was cheap and a nice thing 2 have 😅

y was one of the first games in a while that i didn’t get around release, bcos i didn’t have a 3ds at the time 😔 but i’m fairly sure it was the announcement for the gen 3 remakes that made me go out and get a 3ds, along w/ y finally as well 😭 and then i got omega ruby when it came out 😎

moon i got on release, and it was the last main game i got b4 figuring out my gender, so it was the last main game i used my deadname in 😦 i did start a replay of this a year or 2 ago, but i didn’t get v far b4 abandoning it, and i should probs pick it up again soon 😔

a replay of red on the virtual console was the last game i actually used my deadname in tho.. i can’t remember exactly when it was, but i know it wasn’t v long b4 i came out, cos i was pissed off i’d just completed it and now i’d have 2 restart w/ my new name 😭 altho actually i ended up deleting the file but never replaying it, cos let’s go, pikachu! came out 😧 i also got a physical copy of blue around the same time, but i never played it

and that’s my pokemon history from 2003-2017!! ☺️ gonna do another post 4 everything since then tho, otherwise this post is gonna be Way too long 😳

[byakuyasdarling]

Ah yes, Pokémon rivals; my favourite topic

Warning: this list is massively biased. I (kinda jokingly) rag on every ‘Awful’ tier rival, so if you don’t want to here that, feel free to skip that explanation. I am pretty harsh with Marnie, I know a lot of people like her, so if you do like her PLEASE don’t read her section because I do not want to upset anyone. 

Also, I do ramble a bit how I like SWSH but they are my personal least favourite games (which is a hot take, I know), so if that would upset you please skip. Take care of yourselves <33

I created the politically correct ranking of Pokémon rivals (/j)

Anyway, epic explanation under the cut:

*if N was on this list he would fall under “Amazing”. Breath-taking story, breath-taking development, great theme songs, awesome character, fantastic team.

Why Blue is in S rank (very long explanation compared to the rest)

You cannot tell me Blue (or Green, or Gary, whatever you want to call the main Kanto rival) isn’t THE BEST RIVAL EVER. They got it SO RIGHT. He inspires hatred, AND sympathy. Literally, his grandad, the only living relative aside from his sister we even know about, loves you (the player) more than him and it’s kind of sad. 

Blue is great, he has a crappy pronunciation of ‘Bonjour’ (see Pokémon Masters), he says ‘smell ya later!’ he has class, swag, and is by no doubt the most challenging rival character. He is the only rival I never swept on a normal run. He is always demeaning you; he is always one step ahead all the way up until the champion battle where you finally beat him. AND HIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OMG.

He still is arrogant and prideful, but respects people and wants to guide people to be better at Pokémon battling and thrives when he sees others succeeding - he doesn’t mind being ‘a former champion’. HECK HE’S SO COOL AND AMAZING. 

Also he has the best champion theme and encounter theme ever. Yes, he was a previous F/O so I am super biased; but so were 3 others on this list. 

Silver and Gladion

These two were my F/Os when I was much younger (around 12). They are great rivals with great development and story arcs. Plus, they have bopper encounter themes and battle themes. Gladion was my real introduction to the oc x canon community and inspired me to take drawing on as a hobby (as well as Lillie but I did not end up drawing her as much). 

Brendan, Cheren, Hugh, and Barry

When I was 10 playing Omega Ruby, I liked Brendan a lot (so... another past F/O... he’s the final one though). I dunno, he genuinely had a good friendship with that extra spice of rivalry with our character, May. I do not like friendly rivals (if my listing wasn’t obvious), but Brendan did it right. There was a lot of touching scenes with him and May *cough*cough* Delta Chapter *cough*cough* which really made me connect with him when I was 10. Now, Brendan and May are interchangeable depending on which one of them you pick to play as, so why have I ranked Bredan far above May? Better encounter and battle theme (yes, they have different instrumentation) and he gets the childhood crush pass.

Cheren is cool, I just really like his character and his attempts to create a good strategy. He is really dedicated to what he loves and becomes a gym leader (like BLUE DID. Blue has it all, really). Plus, glasses are cute :) (he is the same age as me, I can legally say that even though that was an obvious nod to Byakuya but you never know what people will take out of context). 

Hugh is cool becomes he somewhat feels like an asshole rival, but at the same time, has a really soft side. Like, his whole motivation to be a good trainer is to save his sister’s Purrloin that was stolen by Team Plasma. He is a hero y’all. Also GREAT encounter and battle theme; huge thumbs up. 

Barry! My man! Overall, cool rival with a great team. He is the second hardest rival to me (but Blue is harder than him by a landslide still). He is really funny in both the games and the anime and despite being a bit more friendly, he still sparks a lot of rivalry with you. Plus, his dad is battle frontier brain Palmer! How awesome! He was also my first rival, so that’s something special to me too. 

Average Tier

I like Hau as a character, he feels like a genuine friend and how he develops with the main character and Lillie is really wholesome. It’s just - I dislike him as a rival, a lot. Easy fights, not the best encounter theme... just kind of there. I get why people consider Gladion as ‘the true rival’ of S and M because he really is. Hau is also a rival that chooses the starter WEAK to your starter like the gen 6 rivals (who I hate with my entire being). 

Wally had a bad-ass final battle theme song and moment. That’s literally the only reason he makes the average tier. If this was a ranking disregarding ORAS he is easily down in the ‘Awful’ tier. 

I like Pokémon Sword and Shield... except I just don’t like them as much as every other game (yes. I did play Pokémon Yellow and enjoyed it more, thank you). I know you all HATE that, but that is just my opinion - I think I have earned the right to say that after my almost 12 years of playing these games and being a VGC player for a few years. It has good characters and some cool Pokémon and yeah... gameplay? Lacklustre. I really do not know what went wrong outside of story. Somehow the competitive battle scene is not the fun it used to be. Dynamax bugs me, the lack of megas bugs me, the dex cut REALLY bugs me. I know I am not the only one who thought this game lacked the charm other Pokemon games have. Graphically though, it’s very nice for the most part.

I have gone way off-topic, but anyway, yeah. SWSH rivals make average because I like their characters (especially Hop’s development). Outside of that, not the best rivals.

May is cool for a lot of the reasons I discussed with Brendan.

Lacking Tier

I like Bianca’s whole deal with her dad and how Elesa has a nice moment to shine too - and that’s it. I know the whole theme of her team is friendship but I die inside every time I watch a Chandelure uses RETURN. It was cool she returned in BW2 I guess? I like how her battle theme matches her personality, but it isn’t anything to write home about. 

I like Calem a bit more than Serena but I do not want to pull another Brendan and May (even though I had some good reason to do that) and I’m going to put them here. Bad teams and not memorable in the slightest, Calem and Serena belong in this tier. 

Awful Tier

X and Y rivals amirite??? They just suck. They are annoying and they suck. They have 3 Pokémon in all final fights, really? At least Shauna is likeable in the anime. 

I hate Trace. But, he has one funny memory I have with my dad that makes him slightly better. We both named him ‘Blue’ since Blue is the actual Kanto rival, but then Blue showed up in LGPE... And then the two ‘Blues’ talked to each other and it was mildly amusing at the time. Anyway, he didn’t deserve Blue’s champion theme (which is even used for Blue in later games outside of his champion battle (BW2), THAT IS NOT TRACE’S THEME. Anyway, he is the gross friendly rival that attempted to fulfil the best rival’s shoes. Sorry Trace, bad luck my dude. 

I just never attached to Marnie I suppose, but I can understand that she is important to those who are invested in her. I am about to fully rag on Marnie, so please skip if that makes you upset. 

 I am going to hurt a lot of people when I said I never liked Marnie. She was always just... like why do people like her so much?? I feel like most people like her because she is ‘funny haha goth gf’ which, fair I suppose. I just think she is super lacking as a rival, she makes no real impression as an actual character, and I think if you removed her from the game it wouldn’t make a difference. Don’t want to be that guy, but I AM that guy right now. I suppose she has a cute design?? and that’s it. Again, I am really biased when it comes to SWSH and rivals, so I suppose she really got the short end of the stick with me.

[oops-prow-did-it-again]

I’m back!

So, I kinda quit using this blog a while back. There are some notes about it in my old pinned post and probably on my fanfics, lol, but basically, I felt overwhelmed by fandom and everything going on irl and I crashed. I just withdrew from like, everything. I still logged in on Tumblr but I just liked things to later view them with the boyfriend or laugh at them again myself.

Honestly, it’s not that fun, just doing that, and not really that fair to people who put effort into their posts like art, music, writing, etc., or even just people who are very passionate about a subject and may want it to reach others that are the same. Because I know I’m like that!

But anyway, this is going to be my new pinned post. So! (More under the cut, please keep reading!)

About Me

You can call me Prowess, I’m a FtM transmasc (he/him please)! I use this space to elevate my personal works, such as art or writing, while also occasionally posting about topics I am passionate about. I realized I was trans in 2020 at the age of 19 years old, in the midst of a pandemic and college fallout, so as you can imagine, I’m still riding the rollercoaster of emotions that come with that. I’m also ADHD... so expect some posts about those sort of things.

But that is hardly the focus! I am big on art and writing. While I am mostly obsessed with Pokemon, I am a lover of stories, and so generally, I love most fiction, even the really bad stuff. Along with my Pokemon stuff, you can expect posts involving ARK: Survival Evolved, The Tales of Miraculous Ladybug & Cat Noir, animated movies (Luca, Toy Story, Spirit - you name it, I probably love it), and plenty of other stuff.

While I have too many older posts to go through and try to sort out the unclean tags, going forward, I am going to use these sort of tags: subject (whatever the post is about, for example, Pokemon), characters depicted, media (whether it’s art, writing, animation, or a mix), and any warnings that may need to go with it (for example, cussing when stronger language is involved, or racism if racism is getting discussed, etc). Memes or one-off posts will likely be tagged with simply “memes.” While this is pretty true for most any blog, this is so you know if you need to block certain tags! For example, if you hate Miraculous Ladybug, you’d just blacklist ‘Miraculous.’

I will also reblog a lot of posts asking for help or boosting awareness. I will try not to inundate the blog with these, but as I will likely have to make a post asking for help at some point myself due to unfortunate irl circumstances, I want to pay it forward in advance. These will be tagged with simply “help needed!”

Below are some projects I’m working on + what you can expect from this blog.

Pokemon Retold

By far, my biggest project to date, is Pokemon Retold.

This is an expansive written anthology of all the pokemon mainline games as far as generation 8. Red, Heart of Gold, Omega Ruby, Platinum, Black, Black 2, Y, Ultra Sun, and Sword are all intended to get rewritten and posted on both my FanFiction.Net and Archive of Our Own accounts. I may also post some chapters here, but I admit Tumblr makes that difficult sometimes.

These stories are very personal to me, as I started writing them when I was struggling in college with undiagnosed ADHD, and felt like my life was falling apart and I was alone. I started writing a retelling of Sword, but the more I wrote, the more disappointed in it I felt, so I started writing Black instead and scrapped Sword altogether.

I’ve had some rough road since, but Black is complete, Black 2 is also complete, and Ultra Sun is (mostly) complete (but with plans to be heavily altered), while Red is underway!

WARNING: These stories can get DARK, and I would rather my readers be over 18. They are not dark with the intent to squick out or upset people, however; they are dark with the intention of exploring thoughts and ideas I find too difficult to think about directly. There are more personalized warnings at the beginnings of each story. With that out of the way, please just try and move on if you find yourself disliking a specific story or part of a story of mine... If you want to give constructive criticism, you are more than welcome, but tearing into me and my writing just because you didn’t like something helps nobody. Keep in mind I write these for fun and as a form of self-therapy throughout some of the worst years of my life.

Furthermore, I edit them a lot. And I do mean a lot. My FFN profile acts as a “changelog” for what has changed in the stories over the course of the time they’ve been posted.

Pokemon Retold posts are tagged “Retold.”

My FFN Profile

My AO3 Profile

Pokemon Retold: Black has been added to TVTropes! I honestly don’t even care that this person digs into it a couple of times, I was so incredibly flattered they took the time to do that at all. (But be warned the page does have some spoilers!) I have no idea if you enjoyed the story or not upon reading over that page, kind stranger lol, but I really appreciate that you took the time to do that nonetheless! <3

Creatively Destructive

This incredibly well-titled story is an idea I have for a retelling of Miraculous Ladybug. I know, I know - absolutely never been done before /s

While I know there has got to be a thousand retellings of this show by now, based on just how.... terrible, the writing is, I want to try anyway. Because I genuinely love the premise of the show! I’m just constantly disappointed by how it seems to never go anywhere with its plot or characters.

So, Creatively Destructive will be a fanfic, and when I have more information on it, I’ll post it under the tag “creatively destructive.”

Roleplays

Me and my boyfriend love to RP a lot. From Monster Hunter to Pokemon, we do a lot of different stories. Sometimes, I really get inspired by what we come up together and I want to share it with others! Be it quick art based on a scene from the RP or a quick rundown of what occurred in an RP, you can catch these in the ‘Prow RP’ tags.

Currently, we are having a lot of fun with an RP based on the Hoenn pokemon games that I am sure I’ll be posting about!

I may also be open to RPs with others in the future :> Don’t be offended that I’m not open to them already... I’m just a very easily overstimulated person.

The Ballad of the ARK

ARK: Survival Evolved is a lot of things. It’s an amazing concept, an open-world game where you befriend dinos and fight alongside tribemates against other tribes, or work together to survive the hostile environment. But the true tragedy of this game goes so much deeper than that, and I want to explore that in writing, starting with my story, my experience, and then graduating to where I think the issue primarily stems from. 

This strange memoir will be posted under the tags of “Ballad of ARK.”

Commissions

I hope to take commissions for art and writing in the future!

However, I need to figure out the parameters of what I’m willing to draw (and what I can feasibly draw), as well as what I can promise when it comes to writing, not to mention pricing.

That’s not to say I’m not open to ideas though! Feel free to message me/send me asks anyway and we’ll see if we can work something out. :)

Although I am not in a financial disaster just yet, I feel like I am not far from one. This is why I hope to try to build on commissions in the future. I know they will never support me, but I would still like to try to be useful and helpful to some. I currently live with my grandmother, having left my abusive home with my father, and although she generously allows me to live with her for the low cost of merely helping with some electricity and my own food, I struggle to remain abovewater financially due to difficulty finding work (thanks to issues with ADHD and physical problems following a bout with COVID in early January 2021).

If you would like to help anyway, feel free to subscribe to my Patreon, or make a one-time payment via PayPal. I promise no matter what or how much it is, your generosity is greatly appreciated!! <3

My Patreon

My PayPal

My Ko-fi

(Note that my Patreon is... very outdated and needs to be updated. I will do that soon!)

[0poole]

The Best and Worst parts of past Pokemon games

I’ve watched ShayMay’s 7-hour analysis on Omega Ruby and as you’d expect it’s getting me to think about what are actually the best and worst parts of Pokemon in the past. I’m still glad he literally goes through the entire game going into both the good and the bad of the game, and I’m basically only bringing it up because of the sheer amount of effort put into it. Obviously the video was made before Sun and Moon came out so thankfully some of his quandaries have been solved, but still it’s interesting to see the on and off of certain things throughout the series. Most of the time it gets better as time goes on, but still, it feels like you could get an amazing Pokemon game just by piecing together the features of past games (even if you’d definitely need a few additions to get it perfect, if that’s even possible). 

To be honest I really am slowly falling out of favor with Sword and Shield, and it kind of makes me hope that Gamefreak can still get better. Even though the games sold like hotcakes, hopefully they have the heart to realize a ton of people didn’t really like the direction, even though it still isn’t “bad,” just worse than it feels like it should be. Even though bad direction can’t be remedied by other things, the fact that they are a multi-billion dollar franchise really makes it feel like they could afford to make it better, especially when past games did do what people wanted...

Since it’s the most relevant...

DLC/”Enhanced” Versions:

I will genuinely take DLC over “enhanced” versions any day. Even though you’d think a lot could be improved between the base versions and enhanced ones, that’s usually not the case. The only ones that truly changed the game were Black and White 2, since they were treated more like sequels. Even golden games like Platinum didn’t divert much, even if it is an objectively better version than Diamond and Pearl. Considering the games are now going to be a solid 60$ each, it would be even crazier to expect someone to buy the base and enhanced versions. Only paying 30$ for multiple expansions (at least two, could be more) with the content of said expansions being put out as a free update otherwise is a much better deal. The only people this hurts are the types who reasonably wait for the inevitable enhanced version and only buy that instead, since it’s always better, even if only a little. As far as I know, however, Pokemon is one of the only game franchises that releases enhanced versions of games soon after their release (as in, not years later when technology advances and they can profit off nostalgia), so really they’re just becoming more normal by doing this. 

Of course there’s the argument that there shouldn’t be any DLC or “enhanced” versions, and all the content of the game should be included in the base game. It would obviously be preferable to not pay for it, but as is painfully obvious, even the richest groups can still be money hungry. Considering they’re inevitably going to make one or the other, DLC is going to be the better choice overall because it’s much more expandable. You rarely got to see a substantial amount of content added on in the enhanced versions. If they made us pay 30$ for the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra separately, that would be crazy. But, since it’s 30$ for both, they could easily insert more bits alongside the rest of the Expansion Pass, maybe allowing them to carry a game for multiple years under less resources on their part compared to trying to make a whole new game. That way, maybe they can devote even more resources to future generations and remakes. That’s all just speculation though. I’m kind of impatient, writing all this before the day it releases and when we get more info for the future, so basically just take this as my opinion the whole time before the DLC came out.

Honestly, though, I almost always fall into the camp of gamers completely misrepresenting the concept of DLC, saying they just cut off some of the content and made you pay extra for it. A few bad apples really soured the bunch in this case, because, even though Sword and Shield did feel kind of lacking in some places, saying the Isle of Armor or Crown Tundra would’ve been a seamless part of the game no matter what is just obviously wrong. The games felt “complete” in the sense that it is all they wanted it to be, and it has a clear start and end. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s unfinished. Again, obviously it would be better if it was free/included already, but that’s just a given. 

In a similar vein…

Remakes:

Basically, I love the usual formula for remakes. I actually really liked ORAS, and I feel like it improved on so much, making me actually like Hoenn as a region. Even though I played them closer to when they game out, RSE feel like a slog compared to modern stuff, especially with the lack of the physical/special split. I can definitely feel some nostalgia for the originals still, but 90% of the time I go back to those games looking for nostalgia, getting bored by the time I get to Rustburo, and turning it off. As mentioned by Shaymay, there’s still a ton wrong with it, but I’d much rather play them all the way through compared to the originals. I do still want to force myself through them eventually, though.

Heartgold and Soulsilver are widely considered to be the best games in the whole franchise, so I don’t have to say much. I’m not a Johto nut so I’m not the best at selling it, but I will say it feels so much more colorful and polished visually than the rest of Gen 4. 

Firered and Leafgreen have the same problems that make me dislike RSE, but Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee are the strange cases that make the future so uncertain. I liked them for what they were, but I swear God if they do that one more time it’s going to make the fanbase erupt. The Let’s Go formula worked for Kanto because a lot of the people playing Go are people who knew the original games but not the newer ones, making Let’s Go a good entry point with mostly familiar territory and slightly dumbed down gameplay. It may work again if they do a Let’s Go in Johto, but if they do it for Sinnoh, since it’s the next one on the chopping block, it’s going to fall insanely flat. Barely anyone who only loves Go also seriously wants to play through Sinnoh. There’s little nostalgia there, and the nostalgia with Sinnoh resides in everyone else who loves the games as they are/as they originally were. Plus, people say they’re some of the hardest games, so dumbing them down ruins part of the appeal more. Since remakes pretty much entirely profit off of nostalgia (and partially from people wanting to experience a region without the limitations of its origins) they really need to just, you know, remake the game. Same deal as any Pokemon game, just with better (if you’d call it that) graphics and modern sensibilities. Considering all remakes (IMO) look better than their originals, I don’t think we have to worry an insane amount about them looking as iffy as SwSh. I don’t think they look THAT bad already, but I definitely think they’re some of the ugliest in the series. 

I will say that I do still want remakes to happen. I’m a sucker for nostalgia, and I love seeing graphically enhanced versions of past regions. Also, my favorite region is up next, so I really just want to see what happens. I’m a shill so it can’t make me hate the originals more. Or, you know, maybe that just makes me a normal, reasonable person...

Graphics:

Obviously we just want texture quality, model quality, etc. But, I think there’s something to be talked about with the overall art style.

I’m not gonna lie, I was kinda into the chibi-esque models of X/Y and ORAS. It did feel like it trivialized the more serious characters, like the villains and major legendaries, as they looked too cute, so it’s probably for the best if we stick to “normal” proportions. It felt weird when I first saw Sun and Moon, but I got used to it. I always wanted to make my character look as cute as possible so the chibi style helped with that, but I have gotten some good results from Sword and Shield. 

For character customization (if it even counts as “graphics”) I think Sword and Shield really hit the nail on the head. I’m kinda biased, because Moon and Ultra Moon had a really shitty shade of purple as their designated “purple” clothing, and SwSh really got my favorite shade of it right. I do think it’s great to have one style of clothing under different, generally standardized colors. But, I definitely think we need more body types. Like, one of the main reasons I play as a girl in games like this is that the boy character doesn’t even look like me anyway, so there’s really no good reason to play either. Even if it’s just one separate character option for each gender, like a Skinny male/”Round” male/Skinny female/”Round” female I’d be fine. Obviously I’d want some character sliders at some point, like pretty much every other game with character customization does, but I can settle for one more generation. The alts could even be more shoehorned rivals like in X/Y, so they basically have the design cut out for them.

One weird graphical thing I want brought back is the little circular platform your Pokemon lands on in a battle. For some reason, I really liked that. It does make the battle feel more in tune with the overall environment without it, but sometimes the battle fields look really bland and flat without it. I’d at least want the floor to be designed in a way to look like there are devoted spots for each Pokemon to stand on, even if it’s not a separate thing like in X/Y. It just feels more satisfying. Not really a big deal though, since I’ve been able to ignore it for this long.

The big thing is animations. I am getting extremely tired of the X/Y models. That’s 3 generations so far that use them, and some of them aren’t even good. I’ll never hesitate to drive this point into the ground, but I really wish Pokemon like Xatu, Charizard, Dragonite, and Salamence are permanently floating/flying in air. If it isn’t obvious, this is the way it is because of Sky Battles in X/Y, since they didn’t want to do extra work for the Pokemon permanently suspended in air. The problem is that those four Pokemon (and probably many others) really don’t feel like they are supposed to be in the air 24/7. According to their official art and sprites, they’re all on the ground. Xatu especially was made to look super tall and stout with its geometric wings flatly put on his torso, like the totem pole it’s supposed to be. In the air, it basically just hovers with his wings out, and for some reason it looks like there’s a large gust of wind keeping it afloat. It looks really weird. Salamence is also in the same boat, since its wings are so weird and not wing-like that making it constantly fly just looks so unnatural. Mega Salamence was at least designed to look like it’s supposed to be flying, but normal Salamence really should just rest on the ground. He’s too fat to be permanently lifted by his weird wings. Charizard and Dragonite aren’t as severe, since both are clearly shown to be otherwise super capable of flight, but they do feel better on their feet. I remember watching TyranitarTube’s series on one of the Extreme Randomizer hacks of the game, and in there somehow they made a Dragonite use it’s Amie/Refresh animation of sitting still on its feet in battle. It seriously felt so much better to look at, instead of this giant, poofy dragon being carried by its comically small wings. Basically, the way you should tell whether to keep them on the ground is based on the official art/sprites. That is the way the designers intended them to be depicted, so that’s the way they should be. Some exceptions that I’m actually fine with are pretty much all the regional birds, except Unfezant. They all look pretty decent flying, since flying’s basically all they do… Even Swellow, who has the same strange gust of wind as Xatu, feels more fitting like that because it seems so much more aerodynamic. 

Apart from that, I just wish they were at least a little different. I’m not super against the muted colors they have compared to the sprites, but I wouldn’t be against more saturation. Considering how much work was put into all the different animations of the battles, Refresh, and both walking AND running animations, I unfortunately don’t think they’re going to change any time soon unless they explicitly say they’re going to change them for quality improvement. I would say the Pokemon from Gen 6 up are still pretty fine, since they were more meant for 3D.

As for battles, one of my favorite Pokemon games is, in fact, Pokemon Battle Revolution on the Wii. Not only was it super Sinnoh-focused, but it had multiple body types (even if I still look like none of them) with character customization for all, and great graphics for the time. People always look to it after citing the lacking Double Kick animation from SwSh, saying how animated the models were and how they liked the Pokemon actually running up to their target when using a physical attack. I will say that the model quality for a lot of them were still kind of iffy, and that some of the animations were a little too much. Specifically Pidgeotto, who was on one of the rental cards, was super energetic so as to seem a bit crazy, and felt a bit low-poly for the otherwise high quality of the environments and humans. However, going back to such a formula would be extremely welcome. I’m totally fine with the Pokemon not running up to their targets, but I wouldn’t be mad to see it put in, especially since the walking and running animations are already in the game. They would need to be balanced in terms of speed, though, since some of the animations in PBR felt really, really slow with that animation in there. Plus, some moves just need speed, like Quick Attack. 

In terms of the move animations themselves, I do think some of the water effects in PBR felt too realistic compared to the rest of everything. Also, people say Double Kick looked bad in SwSh (like it ever looked good), but a hell of a lot of Fighting type animations in PBR were literally just the Pokemon walking up to their target, smacking them with nondescript flashes, and that’s it. So many of them could hardly be pieced apart depending on whether they were kicks, punches, or whatever. It would’ve been better either way if they put the physical move attack animation in for Double Kick, but PBR has its fair share of shitty move animations too. Moves like Seismic Toss looked fucking insane though, and I loved it. Seismic Toss specifically is the true test of move animation quality. 

Also, it’s kinda irrelevant to anything, but I could totally get down with the Announcer from PBR returning for major battles like Gym battles or League battles. He was so much fun, even if a bit repetitive. All you need for that is a setting to turn him off, and bam. He’s a true classic.

More generally, though, I think Sword and Shield is a seriously mixed bag of graphical quality. I give the SwSh haters a lot of flack, but the one thing I 100% agree with is the texture of the trees from the Wild Area. They are god awful, even if it was in a game a decade ago. I seriously don’t know how they messed that up, since you can download better bark textures for free on the internet. Surely someone at Gamefreak could’ve done better there. If this was just a random tree in the background of some random route, then who cares, right? But no, this is practically every single tree in the Wild Area, the biggest selling point for the region and the game, where you would always spend the most time. You see so many of these trees everywhere, and they look horrible. I also hate the look of the berry trees, since they don’t seem to use the same lighting effects as everything else (just a guess though), but even apart from that the batch of lighter leaves on top of the bottom ones just looks so artificial. It looks as if they dumped a sphere of leaves on top of another sphere of leaves, like it was ice cream. Maybe some trees in the real world look like that, but sometimes it’s an artist’s job to take what sucks about reality to make it better for fiction. 

On the other hand, I think locations like Motostoke look genuinely amazing. The brick textures are pretty good (compared to the tree), and all the colors and shapes of the place look really good. Also, when they go into full-on cutscene mode, the models, scenery, and everything else really shine. Obviously I’m not the king of all visual media, but it’s just weird to see that. It’s hard to compare to past games, because everything else was either 2D or on the 3DS, which wasn’t as powerful. Even though the Wii is definitely less powerful than the Switch, it doesn’t really count since there’s infinitely less content to worry about in PBR. Much more of the work could’ve gone into the graphics. Really, there doesn’t feel like there’s any excuse unless crunching is involved on the business side of things, which I really hope isn’t an issue for their sake. I would honestly love to see them announce that they’re taking a year or two off to devote themselves fully to a new generation, instead of trying to keep a yearly schedule. Something something Miyamoto quote something something.

Stylistically, it’s also a mixed bag, but at least this time it’s all just subjective. It feels like a lot of the game is meant to be somewhat blobbed together in some ways, like its a painting meant to be looked at from afar. It feels like there aren’t major outlines for things. Specifically with the Pokemon, they don’t have that outline they’ve had for the 2 generations before. It’s never been a big deal, and I really hate how low quality the outline made the models feel, so I don’t really know which style I want. Even though it’s still decent, I feel like most 3D models made to have a super notable outline on them look a little funky sometimes with it, so I don’t know if I want that, but without it they just don’t feel as solid. I really just don’t know there. 

Music:

It feels like, even if a franchise is kinda iffy, the music is still consistently top tier. Like, no one thinks Sonic games have objectively bad music, even if they don’t like it. If they do, they’re just wrong. Pokemon’s the same, so thankfully this isn’t a test of which past game had the highest quality music. I do think the Wild Battle theme in SwSh does feel like it has a weird melody, but that is super outclassed by universally acclaimed bangers like the Slumbering Weald, and the battle themes of Marnie, Bede, Oleana, and the Battle Tower. Those aren’t just the best the generation has to offer, they’re seriously amazing themes. 

Back in Gen 7, we have the Kahuna Battle, all themes of Team Skull and the Aether Foundation, Lillie’s theme, the Ultra Beasts (which might be more contentious but I like it) and Hau’oli City at night. In Gen 6, I at least liked the themes of Laverre City, Team Flare, and ESPECIALLY the Xerneas/Yveltal battle theme. Don’t even get me started about Pokemon Battle Revolution. I could go on and on, but I at least want to spotlight ORAS here because they knocked it out of the park with Archie and Maxie’s battle theme. It was the perfect drop, because the intro felt super muted and boring, and I was afraid they completely snubbed it, but the drop completely blew me away, and absolutely perfected the theme with the crazy trumpets Hoenn is known for. Also, Zinnia’s theme is amazing, as well as many other themes that are just improvements over the originals. The one thing I’m semi-iffy on is the Regi theme, an amazing theme for my favorite trio, but I never think anyone really makes it feel as lumbering and deep as it should, considering what it’s supposed to represent. The beat is arranged as it should, but it never feels punchy enough for me. 

I’m really just praising the music here. Frankly, I see no reason to think the music is getting any worse.

Difficulty/EXP Share:

They’re basically the same thing, at least according to Gamefreak.

I always keep the EXP share on, but I do think that making it a permanent addition to the game was a major mistake. As explained in Shaymay’s video, it actually increases the overall experience you gain in battle, at least before. That seems absurd to make a permanent addition (although they likely changed it in SwSh because of that). I honestly just use it because I’m not into a challenge in games, but it should definitely be optional, if for no other reason than to be a bootleg difficulty slider. However, What about the difference between the Gen 6+ version and previous versions?

I think it’s easy. Make it like pre-Gen 6, but give you multiple shares. So, if you want to train up two underleveled Pokemon, make it so you don’t have to swap it between them. That way, if you really want to just spread the EXP thin, you can give one to everyone you have, and that’s that. Also, I think it should perfectly split the EXP, not adding anything onto it. If everyone on your team has one and you get 120 EXP, that’s 20 EXP for everyone. Of course, I do actually love the mechanic of being able to switch the share holder in to give them a disproportionately larger amount of EXP compared to everyone else. It just doubles the effectiveness of switch training, and makes it better for when you want to train them up but specifically not the higher level Pokemon you’re using to fight.

Some part of me wants to keep my precious easy mode in, but then I realize… Just make actual difficulty differences. Just give us a choice. Even if it’s just a “How well do you know the Pokemon world?” with a “I know all about it/I’m a bit unsure” text box in the beginning. In the harder variant, tutorials will be skipped automatically, trainers will have higher AI, and better teams. However, I don’t think higher levels is a perfect foil, because that can just be beat with grinding, and grinding is boring. Also, I’d have to guess the main reason why Gamefreak didn’t do this in the first place is that trading Pokemon would differ a bit between difficulties with different level curves, although apart from it just sounding like a bad thing I’m struggling to think of a genuine reason why it is. But, for the sake of playing, grinding sucks. It’s not fun, and I honestly think you shouldn’t just bump up levels and call it difficulty, because you don’t actually need skill to beat a higher level, just a better level and maybe RNG. But, if you actually had to effectively train a team of more than six, with Pokemon you swap out depending on your opponent, you would actually need to think of how you play the game. I think the main reason Pokemon games are so easy is that you can basically choose whatever you want and do almost whatever and still win. Some fights, as far as my playstyle goes, are still decently challenging because I just choose what Pokemon I like and not as much what’s good (unless something genuinely just sucks), and those battles, even though I would probably get annoyed at losing over and over, feel so much more rewarding to beat. And, of course, that’s only like a few major fights. I’ve never had any real trouble with trainers. I only think I’ve had a bit of trouble with the elite trainers in Let’s Go because I always try to use my lowest level Pokemon first to level them up, and keep my team at completely even levels. If I always just switched in the foil to my opponent, which I inevitably had, I would almost never lose a single Pokemon, mostly because of the “switch” battle setting.

But of course that begs the question of Pokemon being balanced for children and inexperienced players. I know way too much about this game, so obviously it’s a piece of cake for me no matter what, and what I want is supposedly what would frustrate everyone else. But… again, just put in the choice. People can choose whether they want to be challenged, or if they just want to play Pokemon, and if they choose wrong that’s on them, not anyone else. They could just reset the game and try again on an easier difficulty. It’s crazy to have to vouch for this, since it’s a staple in pretty much every other game in existence. Even in my casual state, I want to play a harder Pokemon. I want to test myself. Online competition is a bit much for me, but the AI is too little. Even in me replaying Pearl right now, I’m trying to use weirder and weaker Pokemon than I usually use for difficulty, and even that game was mostly a cakewalk. I’m only stuck at the Elite Four because I was somehow super underleveled. In the generation where I experience the AI switching out the most, they still just do that at random and keep in certain Pokemon that get completely walled by what I have out, only for me to stall them to death. AI definitely should switch out (and I honestly can’t remember it happening once since Gen 5, if even then) so if anything, just give them a more solid switching ability. Considering we have the opportunity to switch in whatever we want when they are about to send out something, they really need to take advantage of the power of switching.

Gyms are a big piece of difficulty that falls apart 90% of the time. The gym puzzles are rarely hard, with only a few notable exceptions requiring major thought, like the Circhester, Snowbelle, Snowpoint, and Sootopolis gyms. See a pattern? Why the heck to Ice types/themes get the worst resistances yet the best gym puzzles? Otherwise, if you’re not just fighting trainers (which you were going to do anyway) you’re bashing your head against a wall until something sticks. The Trials of SM/USUM were universally a joke, and were it not for the Totem fight they would’ve actually made me mad by how easy they are, considering they had the opportunity to revamp the whole system and knock it out of the park.

As for the Gym Leader, assuming we have to stick with the idea that they can only use one type still, they really have to cover their bases. Like, a Water gym leader would really have to have Flying type moves or Pokemon to counteract the easy Grass weakness, or something. You can’t get to the top with just one single type and nothing else. I do kind of think a master with no specific type speciality should only be reserved for the Champion, since it makes them more special, and because it seems like any old trainer can become one if they beat the last one, meaning it’s illogical for too many of them to have one special type. I can appreciate the choice philosophies of the Gyms like Raihan and Volkner, and Flint of the Elite Four, where they do specialize in one type, but they have a lot of different Pokemon involved who only have moves of that type. It still feels consistent, but also more varied. Also, I love the 1v2 dynamic of Totem fight. Not only does it blatantly put you at a disadvantage, but since the battles aren’t explicitly type based, they can put together some seriously unique strategies, like the Sunny Day Castform partner to the Totem Lurantis. It’s literally the most basic plan you can formulate, but it sure as hell made that one of the hardest early boss fights in the series, at least for me. It was pretty good stuff. Too bad other bosses like the Ultra Necrozma fight was just kind of cheap, with a +1 to all stats and super high level… Better than nothing though.

Versions:

I get that it’s a staple of the franchise, but I really hate version exclusives/differences. They’re just dumb. Specifically the differences of Black 2 and White 2 pissed me off the most, because guess what? They did have difficulty options! But… they were version exclusive. Like White Kyurem more than Black Kyurem? Or, maybe Reuniclus is your favorite Pokemon? (not bitter) Well, too bad. You’re only allowed the expressly easier mode of the game, which you only unlock after beating it normally????? That’s just stupid. I’d sort of be okay with it if you unlocked easy mode after normal mode, then unlocking hard mode after beating easy mode (like how I thought it was before I looked it up), but limiting stuff like that is just ridiculous. I mean, it’s dumb to have to unlock an easy mode after beating the normal game to begin with. I’m honestly considering trying to beat easy mode without evolving any Pokemon though. Self-imposed difficulty is fun sometimes, but yeah…

Also, the differences of Sun and Moon also are dumb. Like playing in the day, but like Lunala more? Maybe Purple is your all-time favorite color and you want to wear it? Well, too bad. Go ahead and flip your 3DS’s internal clock around, messing up all other time based games you play. It’s a gimmick that transcends Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, and Dynamax.

Now, there’s a completely new problem: Some people bought the wrong expansion pass for their game. Because there were two versions, people literally just wasted money on absolutely nothing. To be fair, those people are blind idiots, but still. I really just want one version. Please.

The whole semi-in-grouping that happens when the version exclusive Pokemon are first revealed is kinda fun, but 90% of the time people have to settle for a few Pokemon they like and a few they don’t. For example, I bought Sword specifically because I like Zacian more, and the legendaries would be much harder to come by than other version exclusives. In the meanwhile, I preferred practically every other version exclusive over Sword’s, including but not limited to my boy Reuniclus. I don’t use old Pokemon in newer generations anyway, but it still sucks to have to choose like that.

It was obviously meant to give people much more to look for, since they physically can’t get some Pokemon, and have them interact with others to get them. The only problem is that we just have the Internet now. It doesn’t help to just ask someone online for a trade for a version exclusive. It’s just an extra stepping stone that really isn’t that fun to deal with.

I was originally going to say that the games/console cost more so less people would buy them, but considering SwSh absolutely knocked it out of the park, overselling even the highest selling games from the past, that’s clearly not an issue. My sister even bought Let’s Go Pikachu after buying Let’s Go Eevee for herself, since we both initially got Eevee. Thankfully she seems relatively into buying the games now, so we can coordinate and get different versions. That’s how I was able to complete my Pokedex for the first time in Sword (although obviously there’s less Pokemon to find). I think she even bought a separate Sword version for herself too… Is this what the average consumer is like?

Honestly all of this is just sort of subjective because really it’s not a big deal, but it would be so much less of a deal and make the games much more perfect and reasonable story wise if they just used one version. For example, Circhester is clearly an Ice-themed location, but in Sword you face a Rock gym leader, instead of the Ice one. And, the opposite is true in Stow-on-side, because Sword has the more logical gym with the boxing gloves punching you around and the tough city that feels as Fighting as Fighting could be without being a literal dojo. But, in Shield you face some Ghost kid. To be fair, I do like that version exclusivity is bleeding into some of the characters too, so if there is to be version exclusives at all let there be version exclusive characters, but it would just feel so much better to have it all sorted into one place. Also, to consider past installments, Ho-oh is clearly more important to the overall plot of the world than Lugia is, as shown by Ho-oh always being an important, mystical lore figure in the Anime and such, while Lugia is just like “Wow, there’s Lugia! So powerful!” Thankfully the plot didn’t entirely revolve around them, but it could’ve if they just focused on Ho-oh. 

Story:

Pokemon has definitely had its fair share of dumb stories, which is excusable because it’s not actually the focus of the game, but it doesn’t hurt to have.

You obviously can’t talk story without talking about Black and White. Also, you really can’t talk a Pokemon story without talking about the evil Team in each game, because they’re basically the entire motor for plot. Still, though, Team Plasma is easily the best Team in the franchise for story purposes. The biggest thing is that they seem like the most reasonable team, making them seem like people who are just so into their ideals that it looks like a cult. Also, in B2W2, they actually split up into the friendly division of Plasma, where they actually carry out their goals of wanting Pokemon to be happy and free, while Neo-Plasma does all the Team Rocket-level shenanigans that mess everything up. Not only is it just reasonable, but it answers a question that comes with the overall concept of the franchise: How can Pokemon want to battle for the sake of humans, etc? It doesn’t make sense, and naturally someone in the world would take that to the extreme when they realized it. It also makes sense why the grunts are so hellbent on wreaking havoc around Unova, because they are each led to truly believe what they are doing is right for the world. Other villains like Archie and Cyrus are just like “humans are bad, let’s destroy them” which is like a lite version of this idea, but it feels almost too supervillain-y to take seriously, and the grunts just feel like henchmen. Plasma feels just real enough, with somewhat level-headed people like N making it seem like they’re almost not crazy. 

People always say Team Rocket is the best, but even though their motives are so simple enough so as to seem real and good story-wise, they do feel like they don’t really add anything to the overall idea of Pokemon. At the time it was just “Pokemon are strong so bad people can use strong Pokemon for bad” which makes sense, but really doesn’t feel like it extends beyond that. Don’t get me wrong, I would say they’re objectively second best (because subjectively Galactic is my #1) but I do think Plasma is better.

Since they’re the most recent, Team Yell is the most nothing out of this list. That only makes them second worst, above Team Flare, who felt like they were trying to do something big but fell flat. Team Yell as the resident “evil Team” feels weird, because they do almost nothing. They are only similar to Skull on the surface, that being all rough-and-tumble teenager types, as underneath them being a toxic fanbase is somewhat interesting, but they, again… just felt like nothing. The plot wasn’t even close by to them, like with Skull was, being tied in with the Aether Foundation. They’re just there to be goons and go away. At least they did lead to the first Dark type gym leader, but again… their leader is a Gym leader. We would’ve seen him no matter what he did, so it feels less interesting. I do want the Team to actually do something.

The problem is that, since Plasma already did good, how do you do something that’s original but still good? To be honest, I want it to involve Foundations, like a morally good alternative archetype to the evil Team. Our first run-in with a Foundation was led astray by a crazy leader, but it seems like they’re still good overall, so I at least want to see more of them. Maybe instead of the Team searching for world domination by using the box legendary, maybe you and the Foundation have to search for the box legendary so they can help you defeat the Team, who may or may not have the third/another legendary on their side, and you have to prove yourself to it to get it to trust you. Sort of like Sword and Shield, but more involved. Zacian and Zamazenta just sort of appear when things go bad, and that’s it. You just hear stories about them before that. That’s at least better structure-wise, although the motives and themes would still have to be dealt with. There are so many possibilities there it’s hard to choose. 

One thing, though: I definitely believe that Pokemon was never even close to an open world game, and people thinking the new games are too linear compared to the old ones just have rose tinted glasses on. Kanto had bad crossing over, where you’d sometimes find yourself severely overleveled when interacting with a story event, and beyond that all other games were pretty linear too, with only a few slight special, optional areas that aren’t involved with the plot. Of course, I still think the game would benefit from being open world. Some games don’t have to be open world, and that makes them feel sort of empty, but Pokemon as an idea is exactly perfect for that. They were toying with the idea a bit with the Wild Area, and I do think if they really went crazy with that idea it could be fun. Everyone always wants to compare it to Breath of the Wild, but I do love how seamless everything is in that game. Even with the enemies popping up out of the grass/flying down from the air/just romping in a set area like Pokemon would. Gym leaders could just use different teams based on how many badges you have, like how they imply it works in that Pokemon Origins series. Then, you might be able to scale up the Pokemon you can find too that way, like with the Wild Area. BotW’s story was very light, but if you just either use a quest system/map markers you can still manage a decent story in an open world. Plus, Pokemon has a ton of side quests anyways, like all the ghost quests they always seem to put in. You can literally “get” the quest, get distracted, and completely forget you were even doing any sort of quest because they don’t remind you in any way. Side quests could even get you extra doses of EXP for your team, giving them a use.

The Gimmick:

I don’t want every generation to have a gimmick. Ideas are severely limited in that front, and when everyone’s special, no one is. 

Mega Evolution was kinda cool, as it improved on old Pokemon without making them another part of an evolutionary chain. Also, it lets some Pokemon get different forms with entirely different strategies to them (even if they’re version exclusive…) But, as someone who plays Pokemon for the monster designs themselves, I actually kinda don’t like it. No, not because Mega designs are bad, but because they completely trump the designs they evolve from. For example, Mawile isn’t just “Mawile” anymore. It’s more of a “Not-mega Mawile.” It feels so much less complete now that it has a form on top of it that isn’t permanent. Same goes for starters like Sceptile, who feels kind of boring compared to its Mega. It always sucks when a Pokemon you like evolves into something you don’t like (Popplio for me) and you have to deal with the fact that, even if you like a Pokemon, you aren’t supposed to keep it like that, and it’s brought down because of it. I mean, I guess this is all just personal. Obviously it’s easy to like an early evolution, but it feels so much better to like a final evolution. Since Megas are both temporary in battle, not available outside of battle, and limited to the very late game usually, liking a Mega feels kinda pointless for in-game purposes, where you interact with your Pokemon the most. Plus, for Pokemon like Mawile, you’re using an “incomplete” Pokemon for as long as you don’t have the right Mega stone. It’s obviously fine when all your other Pokemon are incomplete as well, but yeah… Just kinda sucks sometimes. Plus, anything achieved by Mega Evolutions could just as easily be achieved by normal evolutions. The only issue is Pokemon like Beedrill not being able to evolve again, and Pokemon like the starters or legendaries who are already too good to get another stage. I feel like weak, 3rd stage Pokemon like Beedrill deserve that kind of treatment the most, but no one else. If they can evolve normally, evolve them normally, and if they’re already too good, just let them be.

Then there’s Z-moves, which solves one problem of Mega-Evolution: All Pokemon can get involved. No matter what, your Pokemon can unleash super cool but sometimes questionably named moves. And, apart from new animations, the special Z-moves aren’t so insanely preferable to the normal ones. It’s cool, but if every Pokemon gets to use them, it kinda gets old after a while. Also, it’s a one-time use, so if you fuck it up it’s wasted. It’s definitely not perfect, but I will say I love the special Z-move animations, mainly because it’s not just Pokemon doing stock animations for a quick little attack. They animated that Pokemon specifically for this attack, which is basically a cutscene, and it always looks better. It is a bit strange, though, that even though Z-moves are seemingly named after Zygarde, it doesn’t even get a special Z-move of its own. That dude really got the shaft when it comes to 3rd legend attention...

Now we have Dynamax and Gigantamax. I just want to say that, when it first was revealed that you can turn your Pokemon into Kaiju I was extremely hyped. More hyped than I had any right to be. Considering nothing else, Dynamax definitely is the winner in terms of visual concept. Not only does it just look cool, but I love how Gym stadiums are designed specifically to accommodate them. It’s a nice touch of worldbuilding (even though it’s basically necessary). Unfortunately… It’s easily the Jack of all trades, master of none in terms of gameplay. It’s like Mega Evolution in how you change the appearance and power of your Pokemon, and it’s like Z-moves because they have super powerful moves with special effects. Sounds alright I guess, but I really just wish they kept the previous two gimmicks instead of just making a new one that checks them both off. Also, Gigantamax actually annoys me. They try to make it seem like your Pokemon changes, but the vast majority of them either look worse or hardly change at all. Specifically, Copperaja looks like an absolute joke, even though normal Copperaja is one of my favorites of the region. But, ones like Hatterene, Corviknight, Garbodor, and Grimmsnarl hardly look any different at all. Even Appultun and Flapple have the exact same Gigantamax. Who cares? Even their moves have almost exactly the same animations as their type’s counterparts, with a slightly different particle effect. It’s so much less interesting than they make it seem, and it has all the problems of liking Megas over their base, but worse, since they’re more temporary and only allowed in certain areas. Plus, Gigantamax isn’t even a thing possible with all members of a single species. Obviously now they’re introducing a way to change that, but at that point why not just do it Mega style? It’s not even that much better, but there’s so much more work in it. It’s like less rare shinies. It did bring about a decent event in the games, those being the Max Raid Battles, which both have good rewards and good challenge to them. I don’t have friends so they suck for me, but with friends it looks awesome.

I feel like the worst part is that they probably are just going to retcon these gimmicks in the future, like they did with the Pokedex. It makes sense, but each thing was made to be such a massive deal in their respective regions, it feels lame that they’re just gone now. 

But, oh my god. You have no idea. Regional Variants are the best thing to happen to Pokemon since, I dunno, whatever. They’re amazing, and something that should never leave the franchise ever. Like a Kantonian form more than an Alolan form? Sure. It’s still there with all its power, it just has a different style in this region. That is not only biologically logical, but it brings back interest in a Pokemon without outclassing the classics. Plus, now it feels like every single Pokemon has a possibility to shine that is both permanent and preserving of the original. I just can’t get enough of it. Then Sword and Shield introduced the idea of Regional Evolutions, which can be both plain evolutions and split evolutions from the normal form like with Cofagrigus and Runerigus, meaning the possibilities are endless. Then, even further, regional LEGENDARIES. It doesn’t make sense lore-wise but who cares, the new birds look awesome as all hell and I actually like them now. It’s so perfect, I don’t want anything more than this in future games. I would kill for some Sinnoh variants of post-gen 4 Pokemon in the remakes. Hell, I hope Sinnoh gets revamped with a ton of different options across the later generations so it feels significantly different from the originals. 

As for things like Primal Reversion, I honestly don’t even know. It’s even less significant than Gigantamax, but since it has more interesting lore I’m sort of fine with it. I do hope they use it for other legends too, especially since Palkia and Dialga are just asking for it, with their respective orbs, and Dialga already having the “Primal” title elsewhere. And yes, I know he’s called “Dark Dialga” in Japanese. 

If I may be so bold, I think a neat gimmick that can be both unique, interesting, and completely alter the strategies of battle, would be some sort of temporary type inversion. That is, everything going out of and coming into the inverted Pokemon will have reverse effectiveness. It’s like the fringe little Inverse battle you can go through in X/Y, but turned into a mechanic that’s inserted into normal battles. Visually, it would give the Pokemon a negative look, as in inverting their colors and shading. I don’t see how this could single out certain Pokemon in a special way, like with a form change or anything, but maybe there could be one specific Pokemon that has an ability that does something special when it inverts. Maybe items could be made for a special use too. I was sort of half-using it for a fan region I’m half-devoted to that will likely not be a full fledged idea, but I do like it.

Roadblocks/HMs:

I’m entirely fine with the way things are now, where you just get the HMs as key items you use whenever you want, but I can sympathize with the small contingent of people who like using their Pokemon to traverse the world, instead of anything else. I definitely think anyone who prefers HMs beyond that reason is an absolute lunatic, but I think there is some sort of a point to be made, and I think a combo of Let's Go and Sun and Moon have the answer. It is so much more fun to ride your Pokemon around than it is to get a bike (and put on some seriously ugly clothing, mind you), and I think Let's Go with giving you the option to ride your Pokemon instead of using a bike is seriously fun. I used a Rapidash almost exclusively for that purpose in my run of that game. Who the hell wouldn’t want to ride a Rapidash, assuming you weren’t going to catch fire? Plus, it’s YOUR Rapidash. Ride Pokemon in Sun and Moon were still pretty good, because they served functions you wouldn’t normally expect from HMs, like Tauros being both your bike replacement and Rock Smash, while Stoutland is a dowsing rod. It does get a bit weird when you “ride” a Machamp just so it can push rocks for you, but it’s better than forcing you to teach one of your team members a normal type move at the very end of the game since you absolutely need it to move on, and having to keep it until you can fly back to the move deleter. Honestly, if you could just delete HMs on the fly, they would be so much more acceptable. Still would be worse than what we have now tho.

Basically, I think Pokemon should have inherent HM abilities in them. That is, every single Tauros you catch can smash rocks, and every single Machamp you catch can push rocks. Each Pokemon would either be capable or incapable of a task, and you only need that species to go through it. That way, you’re both using your own Pokemon, while also not limiting their moves. It also makes it easy to tell why birds like Starly shouldn’t be able to carry you and fly you around, while birds like Staraptor can. I also think any road blocks using Rock Smash or Cut should be entirely optional, and for secrets only. In order to make Fly a limited option, maybe only fully evolved Fly-logical Pokemon can use it, so you can’t just fly somewhere in the early game. But, another thing: if you can fly early, so what? It’s not like you get extra options, you only can go back to places you’ve already been to. Even though it doesn’t make sense logically, it’s a very fair piece of game design that really doesn’t have a super obvious reason why it’s limited to the middle few gyms. If you have a strong bird that can pick you up, you obviously worked enough to get some convenience. 

But then, what would be a roadblock to keep you from going too far? A horde of dancing men? Honestly, that’s just one of those things fixed by my open world idea. Maybe some areas can be super strong so as to tell you that you shouldn’t be there, and maybe implement the idea of the Wild Area where you can’t catch the strong-looking Pokemon, but apart from that make most of the world scale up with you. Surely some areas would be slightly higher leveled then the rest, though, for the sake of variety. The Wild area does get a bit stale when literally everything you encounter is exactly lvl 60. Obviously there could be some pointless story-focused roadblocks that only clear when you progress, because that is how it is in real life. You can’t just walk into some business’ office unless you have business there. Of course, you can’t exactly walk into random strangers’ houses either, but still. 

I do want to praise ORAS again because the Soar feature with the Latis was extremely cool. It was like Ride Pokemon but using the objectively coolest possible HM to control. If they sort of nerfed the Fly mechanic and made it so you did have to ride your Pokemon and fly them there like the Latis I wouldn't mind that at all. Although, surely some other people would...

Other Bits:

- I still think that, even though having every Pokemon in the game would be great, I think if it can improve the game elsewhere I wouldn’t mind them saving some space. The problem is that Sword and Shield really wasn’t the best way to suggest it would vastly improve anything. I’ve gone on ad nauseam elsewhere about that so bleh

- I love seeing Pokemon in the overworld. I do think it would benefit from the Let’s Go treatment, where you can at least see if a Pokemon is shiny or not. Either way, it gives them so much more personality, like how some charge head-first at you while some walk up and casually examine you.

- I don’t really care too much about Pokemon following you to be honest. It would obviously be preferred over the alternative, but I’m not gonna riot if it doesn’t happen. It did give a lot of personality I didn’t expect in Lets Go, like Bellsprout being so darn speedy.

- I could probably make a whole nother giant rant about the overall designs of Pokemon but needless to say I’m fine with it overall. I do sort of wish they’d do something else with the starters though, since I haven’t genuinely loved a starter since Gen 4. Honestly Chesnaught was pretty close, but I still get the urge to replace him with something more interesting. Outside of them, though, I think things are going good. Some are duds, but some are bangers like Corvinight, Grimmsnarl, Hatterene, Frosmoth, and a bunch of others which I could easily list but this is supposed to be succinct comments so

- There definitely has to be some sort of endgame content, but everyone already knows that. Seriously though, what if the colosseums from PBR become the replacement Battle Frontier? That would be dope. Although the normal Battle Frontier would be fine too, I guess…

- PBR PBR PBR. PBR is great for it’s realistic sizes of Pokemon. If you’re going to use full-size models of humans, the Pokemon should match. Or, at least make it a little more true to reality. Yes, Wailord is too damn small.

[girl-in-the-library]

I was talking with @blue-maelstrom​ and @pocket-pickett​ about Pokemon and the potential SwSh leaks and which versions we were going to get plus our starters (I think all three of us are going to get sword, I’m picking Sobble and both of them are picking Scorbunny, if I remember correctly.)

But then we started talking about how we felt about each of the generations of games, and I found it interesting the differences in our game preferences! They can tell you specifically their favorites, and while we didn’t talk much about gens 1-3 (which I know we all agree are very good, either because of nostalgia or actual quality) our favorites between 4-7 varied quite a bit.

I know we’re different people, so this shouldn’t actually surprise me, but it made me think about what my favorites in order would be, if we counted all the games in the main series (so that doesn’t include games like the Pokemon Dungeon series, Pokemon Rangers, Pokemon Stadiums, Coliseum, or Gale of Darkness, that weird one that had the Samurai, Trozei and Puzzle League and Hey You Pikachu and Pokemon Channel and Pokemon Let’s Go and Pokemon Rumble, and more that I can’t think of off the top of my head...so...yeah...)

And this is what I came up with:

This list includes games from Gen 1 to Gen 7...including the gen 1-3 remakes because Gen7 sort of made them back to be part of the mainline canon instead of just remakes: (1) Gen 2; Silver (reason: nostalgia) (2) Gen 3 remake Alpha Sapphire (3) Gen 1 original Yellow (4) Gen 3 original Sapphire (5) Gen 2 Crystal (6) Gen 7 Sun (7) Gen 5 Black 2 (8) Gen 6 X (9) Gen 1 remake FireRed (10) Gen 2 remake SoulSilver (11) Gen 5 Black (12) Gen 4 Pearl (13) Gen 3 Emerald NEVER PLAYED: Red, Blue, Gold, Ruby, Diamond, Platinum, White, White 2, Y, Omega Ruby, Moon, Ultra Moon, Ultra Sun

EXPLANATIONS AND ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT

If not for nostalgia, Silver would probably fall down to number 3, and Alpha Sapphire and original Yellow would be pushed up to 1 and 2.

Also, this is actually reordered a bit from the version I sent to @pocket-pickett and @blue-maelstrom because I’ve thought about it more. Basically, I moved the FireRed and SoulSilver down further and moved up Sun, Black 2, and X and reordered those.

I never got to play Red and Blue because I didn’t have any money as a child (They came out when I was 6 years old, I didn’t get my first Gameboy until I was 8 years old, and my parents bought me Yellow version). The very first Pokemon game I bought for myself was Sapphire. So I missed the cultural milestone that was Red and Blue. 

Up through Gen 3 I would get one version and my sister would get the other so we could trade Pokemon and find out the differences in story...so, while she also got Yellow as her first game, she got Gold and Ruby while I got Silver and Sapphire. I also got Crystal and Emerald because I was more into Pokemon than she was. FireRed came out and even though my sister didn’t want to play anymore, I definitely wanted the chance to play through the original game with the choice of the original starters, so it didn’t matter to me that she wasn’t playing with me (though I think at that point none of my friends were playing either...I didn’t know anybody who had LeafGreen, at least).

By the time Gen 4 came out, I was definitely the only one I knew who was still playing Pokemon and I was definitely buying the games for myself. Interestingly, this was also the only time I went against my gut (which told me to buy Diamond) and I bought Pearl. This was my least favorite generation. I honestly don’t remember anything about the plot at all, nor any of the gym leaders, your rival, or any other characters. I didn’t like the new evolutions for previous Pokemon that didn't evolve (like Tangela to Tangrowth, Nosepass to Probopass, Misdreaveous to Mismagius, Sneasel to Weaville...etc) or making baby-regular to baby-regular-third (like Elekid-Electabuzz to Electrovere, Magby-Magmar to Magmortar, and Magnemite-Magneton to Magnezone...etc) which is kinda weird because I like the new  Alolan and Galarian forms because I think region divergent evolutions is incredibly cool...though I kinda don't like new Galarian evolutions to older lines (like Farfetch’d to Sirfetch’d or Zigzagoon-Linoone to Obstagoon?) I guess that falls into what I thought about before. The only thing I remember liking is Lucario, and that’s mostly because I honestly enjoyed the Pokemon movie Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. 

Point is, if I had no one to play with I didn’t see the point in purchasing Diamond (which would be basically the same as Pearl except with exclusive Pokemon) or Platinum (because I didn’t like the game too much.) ...I guess I was also in my genwunner phase really hard at that point...so I’m not sure I would have liked any new Pokemon game...though I guess my genwunner phase also included gens 2 and at least part of 3, though I remember being dismissive towards at least some of gen 3. Either way, I didn’t like Gen 4, and I don’t to this day. I’m actually looking forward to the remakes whenever those come out so I can revisit the plot and the Pokemon with fresh eyes, now that I’m no longer a genwunner and don’t care whether or not I have friends who play.

SoulSilver came out on Pi Day my senior year in high school and by then, Pokemon was cool again (I was considered a Pokemon Master by the other kids in my grade, even though I had friends who were far better players than I. I was just well known for my continued love of Pokemon. I had people asking me advice when they all brought their gameboy colors and Pokemon yellow games into French class.) My friends and I all went to the mall to get either SoulSilver or HeartGold (yay! I had people to trade with again!) and then we went to my friend Maggie’s house, ate a bunch of pie, watched Pokemon the abridged series for one or two episodes, and played the original Pokemon monopoly before going back to our own houses to begin playing our new games. It’s one of my best memories of high school. SoulSilver was a nice trip down memory lane, and I loved it a lot because it was a remake of my favorite game and for the first time since Yellow, your Pokemon could follow behind you! But honestly? If my memory serves it was nothing special.

For Gen 5 I was in college and had new friends who played Pokemon. We made our way to the Prudential Center, which still had a Gamestop when Pokemon Black and White came out. I was in casual Ash Ketchum cosplay (No binder or wig, just the hat and gloves and Ash’s shirts and jeans. My hair was in a ponytail pulled through the back of the cap. I think I might have carried my Pokedex in my pocket too. RIP to that Pokedex...I may buy another one someday because it was my favorite prop.) We all bought either Black, White, or both and went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. I remember something about one of my friend’s being another’s “dipping sauce bitch” and there is definitely a picture of it on Facebook.

With regards to the actual game, and to Black 2 when that came out, I LOVED Team Plasma, even though I can never remember they are called Team Plasma, and N...though I sort of wish that the plot was related to an actual team who felt that Pokemon fighting was wrong (like N did for most of the game) and not that sort of evil puppetry...but I did also like the plot as it was. I also remember really liking some of the stuff they did with the graphics at the time. I don’t remember anything at all about any of the gym leaders or other characters. I also don’t remember the point of Black Kyurem and White Kyurem. I always think I remember less of Black/White than I do. So that was actually a generation I liked...though unless I think about what happened in it, my instinct is that it’s forgettable.

Pokemon X and Y are similar - it is a generation I definitely liked but my instinct is that it was forgettable. Yet again, I remember nothing about the gym leaders or the characters except Team Flare Red Hair Guy and Professor Friendo who totally trusted Team Flare Red Hair Guy and was like, “Haha - you joker, you’re hilarious” when Team Flare Red Hair Guy said “I’m going to destroy the entire fucking world.” I also remember going WAY TOO FAST on roller skates, being excited that you could finally customize your trainer, the fact that it was PokeFrance, and that you could give your Furfrou a haircut. I also remember the “It’s been 3000 years” thing that turned into a meme. Again, I loved this generation.

I didn’t get White, White 2 or Y for similar reasons that I never got Gold, Ruby, or Diamond - they were the Other Game, and I didn’t feel, plot-wise, the need to get essentially the same game save minor differences twice for completion’s sake.

ORAS is my absolute favorite game in the main series so far. It’s a remake of what I think is the best generation without looking through nostalgia goggles, the graphics are the best up to this point, it’s fun to revisit the whole Team Aqua - Team Magma thing that was so different from the other one-team-taking-over-the-world thing the other games had, as well as revisiting some fun features like Dive that never really came up again (I liked Dive...I don’t know if anyone else did lol). It brought back contests, which I always thought were a lot of fun, and SECRET BASES! But then...but then! The Delta Episode. The Delta Episode was STUNNING and began to bring a coherency to the entire Pokemon franchise that really hadn’t been there before. And my heart absolutely SOARED. Brilliant.

(I didn’t get Omega Ruby for, again, the same reasons as the other “Other Games”)

Then came Sun and Moon. I LOVED Sun! It had beautiful graphics, they were trying out new things (even if I didn’t think the trials really worked out gameplay wise, I was glad they tried!) The characters were amazing! I loved Hau and Lillie. Gladion was my precious emo child oh my goodness. Lusamine is amazingly crazy. Team Skull was a brilliant Team-Rocket-Wannabe made of millenials who actually just wanted a place to fit in. The designs of all the characters were incredible. I loved the idea of Alolan forms and divergent Pokemon evolution. The only thing was that there are now so many Pokemon I can’t even recognize them all. Through X and Y, even if I can’t name all the Pokemon, I can recognize them all if you show my a picture. That is...not true of all the ones in Sun and Moon. I also never really understood why they differentiated Ultra Beasts by calling them “Ultra Beasts” instead of just like...Pokemon from other dimensions? Because wasn’t, technically, Giratina also from another dimension? But that leads me to the fact that I adored that the alternate dimensions bit from the Delta Episode was further expanded on. Just <3 <3 <3.

I never played Moon (or, I suppose, Ultra Moon), again, as the “Other Game” reason...but the only reason I never played Ultra Sun was...I didn’t have the money to buy it. I’m a Real Adult now...but I’m also a Real Adult with a severe problem handling money appropriately and a mental illness that keeps me from holding down a job that allows me to actually buy little things like video games...it’s easier to justify spending money I don’t have on things like clothes or going out to eat...or even little things like a keychain because, hey, I need clothes and food, and that keychain is only $6...and a new video game is AT LEAST $60...and $60 is a lot. Basically....I’m bad at money and don’t have any to spend anyway.

That’s why I’m saving up for SwSh...I think I’ll probably get Sword because that’s what my gut is telling me. I hope that, if my sister (who is finally back into Pokemon!!!) gets one, she’ll get Shield. Though if she really wants Sword, I am probably going to get Shield just so we have opposite games again. Unlike Pearl and Diamond, where my gut told me to get Diamond but I got Pearl...my gut feeling for Sword versus Shield isn’t as strong as that. It’s a preference, not a deep sort of...something.

In every other generation, I had my head and my gut, which were usually aligned, telling me which version to get. (Aligned: Silver, Sapphire, FireRed, SoulSilver, Black, Black 2, X, Omega Sapphire. Unaligned: Diamond (gut) vs Pearl (head); Sun (gut) vs Moon (head). Pearl purchased, head over gut, Game disliked. Sun purchased, gut over head, Game liked.) I dunno if it means anything, but it’s been a pattern. For SwSh, my head and guy are aligned again, but they’re saying “I’d prefer Sword, but Shield is good too.” So I don’t know how to take that.

At the end of the day, and the end of this long analysis of the machinations of my mind with regards to Pokemon, I only have two things to say: (1) Pokemon is good and I love it and (2) I really want a Pokemon Coliseum/XD: Gale of Darkness reboot.

[fishylife]

Here’s my 3DS activity log :3

The “last played” dates aren’t accurate because in recent years, I’ve only been opening some of these games to see how far along I was in my save files lol. The only game I’ve been playing recently is Fire Emblem: Awakening.

As you can see, I am insanely not normal about Fire Emblem: Awakening (and I have not purchased any DLC for this game XD). One reason for the long play time is that I’ve had this game the longest (almost 9 years!). Actually, I bought a 3DS specifically because I wanted to play FEA. But this game also has insane replay ability and also offers lots of grinding opportunities for those who enjoy it (like me). It remains my favourite game :3

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Pokemon Y because it tried to introduce some things that were new to the Pokemon franchise. It was also the first time players were able to trade on the internet, which was great for people like me who didn’t have any irl friends to trade with. I was nearly finished the National Dex in my Pokemon Y save file, save for some of the legendaries. I also remember LOVING the ability to change my character’s clothes. That being said, it’d probably be difficult for me to pick up this game again because the fun was in filling up my Pokedex and I’m almost finished, but I would never save over this save file because I had so many great memories with it lol.

Dual Destinies is the only full 3DS game I have that was bought from the eshop. I normally only like to buy cartridge copies of games but I wanted to support the Ace Attorney series. The issue with the Ace Attorney series is its lack of replay value, which is why the play time on this game is so much lower than the others ^^;;

Bravely Default is one of the two games that I have not finished ^^;; I know I said I love grinding but the grinding in Bravely Default got a little tedious, probably because I didn’t love the battle system. This game was a gift from a friend who loved the game. In the save file with the most amount of progress, I think I’d nearly unlocked every job, but never got as far as having to beat the bosses again and again. I do know what happens, because my friend was too excited and wanted to discuss the story with me.

Pokemon Omega Ruby is the other game that I have not finished :( After the new features that Pokemon X&Y had introduced, I felt disappointed when I picked up Pokemon Omega Ruby and felt like I was transported back in time and playing the same old games again. So I lost interest :( I might play the game again, we’ll see.

I have spent the most money on Fire Emblem: Fates because of the multiple routes >.> So I’m glad that I’ve sunk a good amount of time into the game lol. The game does offer replay value similar to FEA, particularly with the reclassing. But it doesn’t offer as much grinding opportunity (i.e. not being able to second seal back to level 1). So I am slightly surprised that I’ve spent as much time as I have in this game. I do intend to pick up this game again soon, but after I’m done my current FEA playthrough, which might still be a little while lol.

I know Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia has relatively low play time compared to some of the other games here, but out of all these games here, it is my second favourite. Despite its limited replay value (lack of extensive reclassing), I found the game a lot of fun, and it might be because I’m endeared to the characters. I’ve technically completed the game, but I’ve never completed the postgame content. Next time I play, I will for sure push forward. Also, when I first played, I hadn’t known about the free pitchfork DLC gifts and I’m definitely going to try them out the next time I play. I really like how every Fire Emblem game has a completely different story and different mechanics. It really brings freshness to the series.

[atrainernamedradish]

Starter Tier List

This concept was done by a Poketuber by the name of Aura Guardian. I liked the idea of it so much that I did my own version of a few weeks ago while I was “watching” the video.

While most tier lists are based off of skill this one is based off of pure opinion. It will be ranked like your typical American grading system of A-F while adding in SSS Rank like you find in a lot of Japanese games using rank.

Rank F - Sceptile

This is the weakest Gen 3 starter for me. There is nothing I like about it., well maybe except its shiny. I don’t find Treeko cute/cool, despite my fondness for The Mystery Dungeon series I don’t like Grovyle’s design, and Sceptile (nor Mega Sceptile) appeals to me. There are better grass starters.

Emboar

Tepig is cute. That’s the ONLY reason this line is higher than the previous one.

Greninja

(I am about to get SO much backlash for this!)

I am going to have to go with Ace Trainer Liam here and say that Frogadier looks so much better than Greninja. Not only is Greninja so awkward looking but I hate its level up moveset! Originally I thought it had no business being a dark type, but honestly I’m feeling this way towards its water typing. You can argue this for its dark typing, but the ONLY reason it’s a water type is because it’s a frog (and maybe it being blue...). And unless you’re running a Protean ability Greninja than the damn thing is not that good! In my playthrough of Y with Greninja (I like to play with a starter to give it a chance) it was the weakest member on my team! My Aromatisse was far more viable and it’s not even on a competitive radar!

Charizard

Charmander is cute. I have fond memories of the anime with the entire line. I can understand why Charizard is a fan favorite. But I don’t like the way Charmeleon looks, and there are better fire starters. Sorry Charizard. Nice shiny though!

Rank D - Chesnaught

Generation 6 had some of the weakest starter designs I’ve ever seen. While Chesnaught appeals to me... the rest of the line not so much. Ironically Chespin was my reluctant pick for Gen 6, and I say this because the first evolutions are underwhelming, but a certain unnamed starter from this trio took its place.

Meganium

This starter line is okay. That’s the only reason why it is where it is on the list. I have nothing bad nor good to say about it. It’s not my favorite or despised either.

Infernape

Infernape looks pretty badass. It’s pre-evolutions I honestly don’t care for. Plus it has better competition in this trio.

Rank C - Feraligatr

Totodile is cute. Feraligatr is pretty badass. Croconaw... dear God that thing is ugly lol! It’s resonates better than the Meganium line and that;s why it’s higher on the list.

Swampert

It has a solid design and typing. It’s am automatic secondary pick for the trio it’s in.

Incineroar

This starter has come a loooong way! I initially despised this entire line! But after bonding with it I have a new found perspective of it. Unfortunately Litten is still unappealing to me, but I blame the 3D model. I though Torrecat was pretty damn ugly upon its reveal, but Pokemon Refresher showed how cute it was~ I also adore its sassy personality~ Incineroar grew on me as well. I used to find its design horrendous but then I figured out what about it I loathed, and that my friends... is its hands! They look cartoony being way too big on the Pokemon and it looks like it had all fingers instead of fingers and a thumb. Other than that... it has great charisma and I’m glad I gave the line a chance~!

Blastoise

There are not enough good middle stage evolutions for starters, and by God Wartortle is sooo adorable~! The ears just slay me~ But aside from my gushing Blastoise has a well designed water starter line. It;s not my favorite but I have nothing bad to say about it.

Rank B - Samurott

Oshawott was an easy choice for me among the Gen 5 starters. It was adorable and it won my heart instantaneously~! The final evolution in the form of Samurott wasn’t my favorite at first, but it’s grown on me~ Just wish the move pool was a little better... (Also! It should have had fighting not Goddamn Emboar! D<)

Serperior

Sassy and cute things are my weakness and Snivy was no exception to that rule. While I’m not a big fan of the middle evolution in this line, it doesn’t waver its place on this list. At some point I will use a Serperior to better appreciate this Pokemon.

Torterra

While I have not officially used one in the official Pokemon games I never realized how badly I needed the dual typing of grass and ground. Grotle was a God send in Pokemon Glazed for that stupidly overpowered first gym! (The game was great but for fuck sake the beginning of it was a pain in the ass for no reason other than that dumb idea that harder = challenging!) Torterra is a beast and one day I will finally add it to an official playthrough~

Empoleon

While I love the unique typing this final evolution has... sonavabitch do I hate the fact that it’s weak to a type it should be able to take out...! To be honest I’m not a fan of the middle evolution. It looks super awkward and doesn’t fit in with the cuteness of Piplup and the regalness of Empoleon. But in generation 4 there isn’t a contest for starters when you have such an adorable little starter who becomes something that classy and badass!

Rank A - Delphox

Fennekin was my least favorite of the first evolutions for the Gen 6 trio. While it’s still not my favorite in design, in fact, all the Gen 6 starters are unappealing to me, I adore what it becomes. Just like Torterra the unique typing of fire and psychic is desirable combination I didn’t realize I wanted (I know Victini has it but I don’t use legendaries)~ While I have used one in Pokemon X my official introduction to this Pokemon was in a fanmade game called Pokemon Insurgence (it is an amazing game which I highly recommend to any Pokemon fan), which may it and the other Delphox R.I.P. since they both perished in my egglocke 3;= While Braixen is the best designed out of the line Delphox isn’t half-bad~ That model cry though... *shudders*

Primarina

Popplio was kinda cute when first revealed. When Primarina was leaked I instantly fell in love with it~ ...Brionne... well... I hate it initially. I thought it was goofy looking upon its reveal. HOWEVER, Pokemon Refresher changed my mind so fast on that! Brionne is still awkward looking but in an adorable way now. It makes my heart melt~ I simply love Primarina and he was the star of my Ultra Moon playthrough~!

Venusaur

That’s right ya’ll, I’m a Bulbasaur fan! I chose easy mode and ain’t lookin’ back! What can I say about this dinosaur plant thing...? It’s just so cute~! And grass types are in my top 5 favorite types. While Ivysaur is a bit meh for me I can tolerate it better than other middle starter evolutions. Venusaur is just a huge more mature Bulbasaur with a big of toad in him now and sometimes all you need is for the little guy to just get a bit bigger, ya know?

SSS Rank - Blaziken

There’s no competition when it comes to playing Hoenn for your’s truly. I picked Torchic in my first playthrough of Ruby and I did the same when I picked up Omega Ruby. The only reason this starter choice is on the low end of the top is because of Combusken. I don’t hate the design but I don’t love it. To be honest I prefer Mega Blaziken’s design to normal Blaziken, but Blaziken is love none the less~<3

Decidueye

It took me FOREVER to pronounce this little shits name! But despite that lol, I simply adore this entire line~! I was Team Rowlet the moment I saw the little guy~<3! It is just so insidiously adorable, and the anime has not helped (need to actually watch it, but thanks to screen shots/GIFs none the less lol)! I don’t care what anyone says I love Dartrix~! He’s so cute and sassy and oh my God his freaking out over his hair just... *bemoans*! I love it...! Decidueye was the other starter leak I fell in love with. It’s just so cool looking and it fits with the rest of the line~ The entire line is just cute and cool and Gen 7 really had some good starter designs~ But even something so cute and cool as the Rowlet line was still beaten in the end...

TYPHLOSION

Cyndaquil is my favorite starter of all times. Pokemon Silver to this day, and that includes awesome remakes, is my favorite Pokemon game! And when I initially got the game as a pre-teen up to when the games were ported to the virtual console Cyndaquil was always my choice for a starter in Johto. Sadly I had fallen out of Pokemon for a brief time so I missed out on Heart Gold & Soul Silver (ROMs don’t count dammit lol!)... Cyndaquil is just the cutest thing while Quilava is both cute and cool with Typhlosion just being such a BAMF! The entire line proves that you can be simplistic and still have a good design. All Cyndaquil did was get bigger and meaner and it works~! And that’s why it’s on the top~! ^v^

[vega-archives]

The Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl situation.

*Op-Ed*

The Hype

Pokemon fans tend to be among some of the most abused fan bases when it comes to classic franchises. Some would say things started going south with the release of Sun and Moon, some would say X and Y, and then, of course, there is the "Gen Wunners," as they're usually called, who tend to believe strictly in gen 1 and 2 superiority. One common thread in all Pokémon discourse is that no Pokémon fan can agree with another what constitutes a "good" Pokémon game looks like.

I was born in 1992, making me the perfect candidate to be a "Gen Wunner," and I technically wear it, while I do resent the title. that is only to preface that when Diamond and Pearl was released, I was in 9th grade and found most of the Sinnoh Pokemon to be overly designed and ugly. But to the generation of Pokemon fans younger than me, Diamond and Pearl is to them what Red and Blue is to me, meaning there are thousands of people in their early 20′s who believe this to be one of the if not the best Pokemon entry and will defend this game at all cost.

So it's 2001, and the Game Boy Advanced just launched, a console incapable of trading with the previous Game Boy. This presented a problem for Gamefreak, with older Pokemon being harder to find in Generation 3′s Ruby and Sapphire, so they made remakes of the first generation of Pokemon games as Fire Red and Leaf Green. This started a trend of remakes, the latest 2014s Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (or technically Lets GO Eevee and Pikachu). This created quite the expectation for several growing early 20 somethings. “Where is my Diamond and Pearl remake?” they collectively asked. 

The Announcement

Despite the cynical takes I’ve seen on the Pokemon 25th anniversary "Pokemon Presents," I didn't think it was nearly as bad as they claim it to be. For example, I thought the intro movie was an entertaining and nostalgic look back at almost every Pokemon game in the last 25 years. The attention to detail with the titles they chose to highlight was impressive and almost like a sign that they remember when the series was overall of higher quality. While I am a bit skeptical, another highlight for me was Pokemon Legends Arceus announcement. The idea of an open-world Pokemon Game set in a past version of Sinnoh sounds intriguing, I saw how Gamefreak handled open-world areas in Pokemon Sword and Shield and you can color me unimpressed and apprehensive.

Then they show the highly anticipated and expected, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The trailer starts off pretty strong, with a montage of memorable scenes from the original DS game, which in hindsight only made the reveal of the games visuals all the more devastating.

Cut to a shot of the character Dawn in her starting home but wait, what's wrong with Dawn? she is now horribly disfigured. Im usually a fan of “chibi” aesthetics but this one felt immediately lifeless. The character has been foreshortened with the grace of someone using hacksaw for the first time. It seems as if no artistic consideration was put into how these characters would look in this new style. This feeling only grows as you continue to watch the trailer and see how the "chibi" style fared with all of the non-player characters, which, in my opinion, is far worse. It seems as if they were more concerned with making 3D models that matched the origional games sprites that they didnt stop to consider how these models appeared. 

Then comes the larger models used in battle, what some people claim to be the remakes saving grace (visually speaking at least). It’s understandable why people claim those models look better than the overworld models, but the improvement is minimal, to say the least. These battle models are larger and more detailed but just as stiff, lifeless and flat as the overworld models. Not to mention the Pokemon are using the same tired models they've been recycling since generation 6 and continue to battle in spaces that remind me of what a low budget high school play looks like.

Besides goofy and awkward walking animation, the trailer doesn't really have much else to say past this point. It really does feel like ILCA said, "you like Diamond and Pearl? here it is again, but we made it ugly".

The Fallout

This is when the situation begins to unfold in different pockets of social media, I primarily experienced it on Twitter. While it did seem like most Pokemon fans were rightfully disappointed in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearls appearance, both in terms of technical graphics and art style, it seemed like another group of fans seemed vehemently opposed to any and all criticism of the trailer claiming "we finally got what we wanted"

While it merely comes down to a matter of artistic preference, I don't think it's unreasonable to hold one of the highest-grossing franchises in the world to higher standards. Additionally, this is only one in a long series of disappointment from Pokemon titles, and I liked Pokemon Let's go. Die-hard fans who have been with the franchise from the beginning are scared that they'll never see what they consider to be a high-quality Pokemon game ever again.

Hope?

There might be light at the end of the tunnel after all. Like I previously stated, Pokemon Legends Arceus seems like an intriguing enough concept, although I do remain skeptical. Also, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were good Pokemon games, so while the art style might look silly and animate stiffly, the general game should be fun.

After all, I am looking forward to playing this game and will more than likely buy it at full price.

[inkuisitivskins]

Top 5 Series that fundamentally shaped you as a person

Ask Me My Top Five Anything!

ohhhhhh yikes. Lemme think haha, there’s several that immediately come to mind but I really wanna put some thought into this uwu I’ll try to put them in some semblance of a rational order heh

1. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (and slightly 2003)

I had always been into “anime” like Pokemon and Hamtaro when I was a kid, but it was about seven years ago when I started watching actual anime. My first was Kekkaishi on Adult Swim, and I liked it enough, but that was also during the first English dub airing of Brotherhood, and it would come on right after Kekkaishi did, so I would watch it sometimes. I think the first episode I remember seeing was a flashback of Ishval, and one scene I prominently remember was Riza talking to Ed in her apartment (when she’s cleaning her pistol and she asks Ed if he loves Winry LMAO). I thought it looked cool and I realized that my mom’s friend’s (she lives with us) son had all but one dvd set of the original 2003 anime. I binge watched it (only missing the short dvd arc where Hughes was killed, which was later in 03 than in Brotherhood), and I fell in love. After that, I dove into Brotherhood and started buying the manga volumes (which were also being released as the anime aired). It remains my favorite franchise to this day, and I’m honestly glad that I saw 03 first because??? there’s certain things I still like about it, and even though Brotherhood is the superior and truest (to Arakawa’s actual vision of the story) version, I’m glad I was able to appreciate the original. I feel like I’d be turned off by it if I watched it after the fact, you know?

What I love about Fullmetal is just the thought that goes into the characters and the events that go on. In Brotherhood, every single character, including fuckin side characters like Yoki, have a specific purpose. The story and lore of the world is so immersive and well thought out and just so intelligent? I love all of the scientific and historical allusions Arakawa makes, and the character development is so beautiful and wonderful (namely in characters like Ed and Al, whose quest changes from something that only concerned themselves to something that concerns literally their whole country and eventually the entire world, if they hadn’t have stopped Father– and Scar, who only wanted revenge, but eventually saw past it and recognized the same greater good that Ed and Al did, even going as far to make the huge mindset change from REVENGE IS ONLY THE ANSWER AND I WILL DISOBEY MY GOD IN ORDER TO ULTIMATELY SERVE THEM to Miles’s mindset of I will use what has been given to me to change minds and make the world a better place for my people)

No joke I’m literally so tempted to apply for a panel at a convention that would just be a huge love letter to this series, where I discuss all of these things I feel in depth. I have 0 idea how to apply for a panel tho haha

2. Pokemon

When I was little, I would go to my mom’s work and just hang out after school. There was one coworker she had who was a young guy, like early twenties, and he really liked me. One day, he brought Pokemon LeafGreen for me to play, and I absolutely fell in love with it (literally my first playthrough, I got in one of the Ye Olde Metapod vs Metapod Fights hahaha). I think that was around first grade, soooo like 2004 ish? It just so happened that I had a friend who was getting a DS, so she gave me her gameboy advance SP and I bought LeafGreen uwu

After that, I’ve had at least one pokemon game from each gen and a few of the spinoffs since. I have FireRed and LeafGreen, Emerald, Blue on the virtual console, Gold, Crystal (that didn’t work), Pearl, Diamond, Platinum, Black, White 2, Y, Omega Ruby, Moon, soon Moon Ultra, Mystery Dungeron Red and Blue rescue teams, Mystery Dungeon Darkness/Time/Sky, Trozei, Rumble Blast, Battle Revolution, and the original Pokemon Ranger. 

It really helped me when I was little because it exposed me to the world of creature design, which is like my ultimate career path (I would like to be a creature and character design artist for a game company, though for now I’ll settle on an art teacher haha). Some of my first shitty OCs were Pokemon ripoffs, heh. It’s just why it’s always been easier for me to draw animals and creatures; I’m only just now getting into humans tbh.

3. The Land Before Time

This is probably the most random series on this list lmao. I grew up with the original movies, like, big time. Ever since I was 5 until I was like 17, I had wanted to be a paleontologist because of these movies. I still absolutely love dinosaurs so much, and Imma rant for a second buttt

The main tattoo I want is of a Tylosaurus P. skeleton because??? i loved dinosaurs and I bought this wii game where you play as different prehistoric marine reptiles (since they’re not considered dinosaurs but still) ((and i recognize it now but that game was so bad but i loved it to death)) and one of them was a tylosaur, it was my favorite. Fast forward a few years, my aunt took me to go on a dig (which I hated bc it was out in the heat) but I met a woman there who worked at a museum and she??? invited me to come help excavate one in the lab???? and guess what the actual fuck it was

it was a tylosaurus p. skull. My exact favorite dinosaur, right down to the specific genus. 

That was incredible because I was actually able to touch and help excavate the skull? which is a big deal bc the skeletons you see in museums usually aren’t the real thing, just plasters. So the fact that I was able to touch the real deal was one of the best things to ever happen to me.

So yeah I fucking love dinosaurs and if teaching doesn’t work out I’m gonna try and do paleontology stuff

4. Okami

This was one of the first wii games I ever got REALLY SUPER into. If you don’t know what this game is, it’s a literal work of art where you play as the reincarnated Japanese sun goddess who took on the form of a wolf, and her power is that the tip of her tail is like a brush and she can paint things into existence. This really got me to make my first ever “real” OCs, even though they were mainly fan characters. One I’ve abandoned, but two became like their own entities. One I still call a fan character because her entire story has to do with the game and I can’t really tailor her into her own thing, but for the other, I made her her own series. Little Baby Dylan wrote enough content for 4 whole manga series with this bitch, because even I had an “I want to be a mangaka” phase. Obviously looking back on it now, they were garbage, but I really want to redo her series because I miss and love her. Anyway, if Pokemon introduced me to character creation, Okami introduced me to worldbuilding and lore development. 

I also kind of want to write fanfiction for the one fan character bc I feel her story is really good? I just don’t know if there’s a place for fan character-centric fics on Ao3, since she’s the main character and she only interacts with canon characters (especially since she’s kind of an OCxCanon thing and idk how well that’s accepted there;;;;; )

I doubt anyone would want to see them but I may draw them again sometime if anyone’s interested haha

5. Dark Souls

One of my first “more mature” gaming experiences along with Skyrim and Fallout 3, the Souls series exposed me to the wonders of Dark Storytelling and Dark Atmosphere and *gasp* Eldritch themes. The unforgiving and sinister nature of these games just fuckin drew me in, I was enraptured at the tone that this game was able to produce. When I branched off from the Okami verse and made the world for the fan-character-turned-original-character, I took a lot of inspiration from this game and the atmosphere it was able to create. The story was so dark and the characters were all very weird and even some could have been considered otherworldly. I still really love the feel of it all and, through it, I learned how to draw certain creepy things and evoke certain emotions from my art (see: that drawing I did of Envy’s true form haha)

Sorry this was so long Megan;;; Thank you very much for asking though!!

[jewelwriter]

My Two Cents:  Why yez, Gen 7 is the worst of them all.

Disclaimer: "My Two Coins" are to be read as such, someone's two coins about the topic at hand. IF at any point you disagree with it or agree, remember they are just my coins about said topic and the value you have of it will differ from my own because of religion, upbringing, beliefs, and logic based on your own experiences. Do not assume my coins are the international equivalent for it may be considered of a lesser value in the bank of public exchange. Thank you.

Pinks,  You asked for it.  YOU KNEW how stupid your commentary to defend Gen 7 is and yet you did it and I gotta rip you some new ones.  I’ll even go...

Yea.  I’m going this far TO KICK YOUR ARGUMENT and banish it in all it stands for to the Shadow Realm!  Though first things first.

Welcome ladies and gentlemen. You've found a wild Jewelwriter.

And here’s the reason why I’m going at it and I’ll be commenting on it non stop so if you value your gen 7 souls then escape and don’t look back.

Oh boy...  You seriously were that worried that it is a not belonging in the place where it belongs and is going to be ripped by me where I wouldn't hold back.  Trust me... I know your brain is deep in Gen 7's cave of wonders but it's time to get your head out of there and get with bleeping reality.  Trust me I'm tempted to use memes to say you are so wrong that it hurts.  And I'll get even the pictures that you point out so I'll be thoroughly ripping this up with a sword and not a chainsaw.

OH, it is... I mean seriously do I got to list them... but if I gotta say it there's going to be a gen 7 of that bleeping picture and your call of calling hypocrisy so allow me to poke of each point you pull up.

-If not counting all the added Pokemon the difference is 7 more for everyone thinks Ultra added more.  This wasn't a bugger to me since I expected a low number and its clear people aren't getting it.

-Exp isn't too bad and I was keeping it on since it was meant to be on and I still felt the challenge was more with two of the 3 starters and everyone's frog was the easy mode for people when I felt the "Charizard" of the generation is Chespin and Fennekin gets it easier at least as well be the next second since through the playthrough of X and Y, gym one has bugs with one a bug water, followed by rocks, then fighting types (Fennekin's evolution gets psychic moves to soften this) then grass types (Unless you got a poison move, Fennekin gets this faster) and then we get to electric which isn't good for both and then fairies (with fully evolved Pokes now, Chespin's line is in trouble sans poison.) then Psychic and then ice (Poor Chesnaught times two more) And Chespin and Fennekin's line doesn't get love at all in the Elite 4 either.

-Story is not bad but it's true that story wasn't good but it wasn't going for hyper twists, it was more on the nose and wasn't ashamed of it.  Pluse there was more expressions in that than both su and moon games.

-This is true that I can't fight it but I'll say that I saw them as a copy of team rocket if Giovanni decided to return just in time for a new kid to smack them stupid and if Giovani had a death cannon.

-Only the true rival of sorts being your opposite without the hat and the others...mixed.

-Skip since this is true for all Pokemon but it doesn't last longer than both Sun and moon and Ultras.

-Customization was first introduced so it would be limited.

-Fairy Pokemon is the first big shake up and I like it.

-Depends on your mega.  OH, gods.... it ranges from ...Garchomp to Mega Rayquaza (who was introduced in ORAS) though I will say this....this should have been the end of Smogon's reign.  I still want it gone!

-Postgame was in Lumiose, and it was short and otherwise, it was the battle house. (Delta episode in ORAS)

-This I don't mind... And here's the funny thing...you never could get out of that Linear road in a sense unless you are thinking gen 1 at when you take on Saffron City and gen 4 which allowed you to break that norm when crossing Mt Coronet.

-This I can get on ORAS on for teasing that and it not showing up since post battle content really shrunk in gen 6 but it's worst in gen 7 so it's not getting off that hook.

I was willing to buy X and Omega Ruby (and gained Alpha Sapphire as a gift which I thanked.) which was a good thing overall.

And now...let's see how right you represented how it is the worst....which you tried to hide.

-This is wrong... the number where it stopped before getting the special Pokemon is 78.  And I'm not counting Alolan forms.

-The Island Trials don't feel as rewarding since you only get emergen-z gemstones and nothing really marking progress.

-This is a sad truth that hurts making it fun.  Super Training allows one to EV how you want without battling and having to plot how to grow your Pokemon there.  Triple Battles I can say I'll not miss as much as Rotations since Rotations is battle intelligence pushed into one great format that you don't have to worry about Rocks and other entry hazards in a sense.  Just tactical play!  Contests came back and were lost is a sad thing since there could have been more potential if done right.  And HMs I see is sad because they were a better gate block than what those silly borders and the HM rides are which were so underused it's ridiculous.

-SOS battles are the only way to get high IV Pokemon from the wild and yet they were able to annoy to no end since it means you might get a Pokemon Interrupting your catches and will burn more resources.  They kind of fixed it with the Ultras but still exists the moment you trigger SOS.  Hypertraining is an IV copout while breeding your best mon isn't loved anymore.  Festival Plaza....oh gods that is a mess more of a mess than what happened at Gen 4's first steps into Wifi.  And the Ultra Beasts...I can't tell if they are legendary or out there Pokemon that are in the wrong series.

-This is entirely correct with how many Pokemon of Gen 1 got not only representation but given special forms....and guess what...no extra Alolan forms!

-If you picked Primarina's line you were on easy street, even on Ultra when taking on Necrozma after dealing with the BS handicap of the Pokemon getting boosted artificially to make difficulty.  Rowlett is able to take on only the first Kahuna, the new Kahuna of Poni island and for a while Team Skull/Aether President...Keep in mind of who has poison type but otherwise...You'd be recked with the owl... and Litten..let's see Bubble beam with the Kakuna of MElemele, Rocks with Akala's Kahuna, Team Skull's Bugs when you go john Incenaroar on top of the water type and bugs while on Ula Ula, And Poni island's new Kahuna if you can endure the dragon of the north star.

-I mentioned it earlier....tutorials are needed but this did it so wrong and had nearly all of island 1 be this.  You get pushed to a school of it, you get forced into battle with the false rival, and you get guided by the Nosepass by Rotom.

-Returning to Hau... he's the 'Bianca' rival which I didn't mind but knew people would uproar but I guessed it wouldn't show up at all.  I was wrong.  It was the Professor who is the true rival (as in get the starter strong to yours and would be the real challenge) and they pull that off with the best First championship battle of Alola in Sun and Moon.

-Skip since I already covered this in gen 6 but it's worst since it is to nearly all of island 1.

-This was less forgiving as we got such fewer options than before as far as attire.  Least you can lose the hat.

-the Emergen-z moves are in fact worthless.  As I stated in a bit of a comparing document.  Z-Moves are Hyper Combos that can be 'blocked', countered, or even snuffed out before you pull them off.  Mega Evolution is a boss character with upped stats that can be harder to take down in battle and would be on the field still until you KO the Pokemon.

-This has less postgame than what X&Y had and this is when counting the Looker missions vs the UB hunt for the startups and the Delta Episode vs RR Episode is at least a stronger fight to one side....and while I give Zennia the lore and potential aspects, the RR gets you all villains of the past trying to get the world with grandpa Giovani at the top who should have RETIRED by now but nope...

-(sarcasm) It's so linear here that you got a Pokedex pointing the way to where to go.  Great job Programmers. (sarcasm ends here.)

I at least hold my ground when it comes to this kind of argument.

For the picture comparing B2W2 to USUM...

[]

Pleasantly surprised [Vs] worried and sickened.

Didn't come to mind [Vs] Why would the series leave the 3DS?  Which I say is a stupid idea still!

I had a good surprise on this and took it [Vs] WAIT will you...the fact you can still play them is proof you can wait.

This was a great surprise and showed they cared [Vs] Super rushed game that barely got out before 1 year of the game's release...which most of the other mainline Pokemon games weren't released in under a year.

New story and set in a truly different timeline [Vs] it barely changed and any changes were mostly seen near the end and were cheap shots.

This would be entirely wrong Vs IT is highly true!

That's because nothing really did change sans Ultra Recon Squad as far as plot goes and the killing of an already weakened char when USUM came up.

On sales, this would be one thing on its own and yet I was able to smell bs and not buy them (somehow I still got them because someone didn't get the note I DIDN'T WANT THEM!) and it's good I rate games based on what is within them...not the sales and that.

So sorry, it still belongs to gen 7!  And there's a diff between good changes and BAD changes.  You kept ignoring all the bad changes while also trying to make it look like the other generations did it worst.... sorry but This is utter BS to the nth degree.

I haven't claimed that 8 will be worst but I have a worry about what will be in it if certain games sell well.

Also Funny you use someone that you hate for someone to be the big comment here.  I can't help but laugh it up.  (I got stories of this but that's a need to know a thing)

[-|-|-]

So excuse ME for killing all your hopes and dreams but they are really nightmares and falsehoods that you have tried to hide behind all this time.  TIME to come into the light and maybe wear this while you're at it.

As for me... this wild one runs away!

[anovel70]

December 5, 2017

This morning, I decided to wake up, just to catch my 3 Chanseys for the day. I only caught 1 in one hour of trying. They keep fleeing. However, I did come up with a strategy afterwards. Most Chanseys flee after the 1-3 turns. Therefore, on the first round, I should throw a ball. If the Chansey stays, then I give it food, then throw 3 balls, then give it food again, and throw 3 balls, and repeat that process. I am definitely not getting a Lucky Egg before the end of the year. It's a good thing to do before work.

I'm looking for good roms and emulators to play HeartGold, Black 2 (I'm getting White 2, so might as well play the other version), X or Y, Omega Ruby, Sun, and Ultra Moon. That is 6 games. I have no idea where to get good emulators for them.

Tonight at 6, I played Pokemon Black. I collected the wrong daily weather stone, missed the Royal Unova, but did a bunch of battles. I caught 3 of the Pokemon I mentioned I could catch yesterday. Seriously, I've been lazy for 6 years not catching that 100% catch rate Pokemon. I found out the Berry Clown was useless. I wrecked other trainers with my Volcarona. I realized I used up my Rayquaza and Groundon as Pokemon bargaining chips on the Global Trade many years back, so I can't wreck teams using them anymore. Time to grind Ruby for more Groundons and Rayquazas! I got good Pokemon from doing that, so it's not a complete loss.

Today, I looked at the stock market. I think GE is a good stock to get into since it's so cheap right now. I haven't put money in yet because my account is still being authorized. I'm looking for companies in industries I can see growing. Technology will definitely grow, although I'm not looking forward to that. I also looked for news, marketing, statistics, and music, since they seem to be growing as well. I'm thinking retail and miliatry will grow as well. I haven't found any good companies to invest in because they are all expensive relative to their history. I'll wait for them to go down again before I put money in. Again, this is all for my reference, so I don't expect you to understand this.

I'm also slowly putting together the Pitch Perfect video for tomorrow. I'm on Neopets daily. I'm still doing Agario daily, although today is probably my last day. I'm getting frustrated with it. I'm going to start Runescape on the 9th. I'm too nervous to do online dating.

I didn't do much with fixing my resume. I just adjusted the wording of it, and now it looks like I can apply for jobs with it. I might do that this weekend. My goal is to apply to Global Foundaries, because I've met a lot of people who work or used to work there.

I probably won't have much stuff to post tomorrow because of my video. However, I will share my thoughts on Pitch Perfect tomorrow.

To make one of my videos, I need to come up with a topic. Then I come up with a list of ideas to talk about in that topic. Usually I have a lot to talk about, so I end up cutting out some stuff to make it fit in 5 minutes. I end up talking very fast. I use my iPhone to film when I need a camera. Otherwise, I will use Powerpoint and Audacity. Then, I upload my videos onto Movie Maker and edit out the parts where I pause for a long time due to moving papers around. Once that's done, I format the video in a way YouTube can read it, and I upload it onto YouTube. Sometimes, I need to add title cards to pull up references to videos I have already done.

I need to get better at advertising my channel and my videos. So far, I only get 0-3 views per video. I want to change that in the future. This month, I have a lot of time to make my videos. However, in the first 6 months of next year, I'll be too focused on school, so I'll have to adjust to that. So far, I'm thinking of 10 week composition series, where I document my composition process on camera.

For my videos this month, I'm thinking of doing another Pitch Perfect video, a Christmas song analysis, and something else on the fourth Wednesday. I'll have a bonus video on perfect pitch because I want to play with words a little. I also want to upload a 2018 plan describing how I'll approach YouTube next year.

Next year, I plan on launching my math videos. So far, I've been doing music related things. I would really like to have a Khan Academy style approach to my channel. Except Khan Academy approaches topics as separate, while I want to show the link between topics, such as music and math, or statistics and history. I will probably not have time to do this at the beginning of the year, but once I graduate from school, I will have the time to do this.

As of today, I can finally take Agario off my to do list for December. 5 days in and 1 thing done out of the list! The rest of my list is here: dating, school preparation, job search, stock market, sell textbooks, read IEEE magazines, organize stuff on my USB drives, Neopets, Kim Possible Season 5 story,  Runescape, clean my room, play with my new technology, Nintendo stuff, Youtube videos, and work.

[oops-prow-did-it-again]

were do the one shots of pokemon character interactions go? i saw someone ask for one of nanu and white. i really want to read it. do you have an estimate for when it will be out?

I apologize in advance for how long and rambling this became! But I figured I’d clear up some questions for anyone else as well.

Short Answer - 3 months.

In the meantime, you can follow me here on tumblr as well as AO3, and FFN to keep up with the stories that are out. Reviews, comments, asks, etc are ALWAYS welcome!!

Pokemon Retold - AO3 (series link)

Pokemon Black - AO3 | FFN - Hil (Hilbert) has been dreaming of a way to escape his suffocating home for a while. He is offered a way out in the form of a partner pokémon and the offer to traverse the Unova region with his friends Cheren and Bianca. He never had the intentions of becoming champion or fighting Team Plasma, and yet, that's exactly where he finds himself--clashing with idealistic N over deadly truths. ((Warnings: referenced suicide. Occasional strong language. Mild Bianca x Cheren shipping. Occasional descriptions of blood/violence. No explicit sexual content.))

Pokemon Sword & Shield - AO3 | FFN - He's chasing a ghost and she's wishing he'd see sense. Gloria and Hop's adventure through Galar is one that will surely change them, for better or for worse. ((Warnings: Occasional descriptions of blood/violence. Occasional strong language. Brief mentions of alcohol. No explicit sexual content.))

3AM in Unova - AO3 | FFN - Sequel oneshot to Breaking the Ice. Bede discusses a one-night stand with Piers. ((The prompt behind this will end up canon, however this particular oneshot will be taken down/updated once Black, Black 2, and SwSh are finished. WARNING - strongly implied sexual content. Strong language.))

Breaking the Ice - AO3 | FFN - Prequel to 3AM in Unova. The Galarian and Unovan gym leaders meet up and have a party. Leon pulls a dirty trick on Raihan. ((The prompt behind this will end up canon, however, this particular oneshot will be taken down/updated once Black, Black 2, and SwSh are finished. WARNING - mild sexual content. Alcohol mentioned. Possible strong language.))

Some Nights - AO3 | FFN - The usually unshakable new gym leader of Ballonlea, Bede, has his heart thawed by a little girl who begs him to give her a starter pokemon and an endorsement for the Galarian Major League. ((This oneshot is canon to the SwSh retelling and will be moved to the appropriate Galar oneshot collection once I make it. No warnings.))

Marlon’s Misunderstanding - AO3 | FFN - Marlon is forced to face the music over his past following the Plasma Frigate’s attack on Opelucid City. ((The prompt behind this oneshot will end up canon, however, this particular story will be taken down/updated once Black/Black 2 are finished. WARNING - strong language. Reference to physical abuse.))

Long Answer - 

So, before I get to the oneshots, the primary stories have to be finished. What’s a “primary story”? Well, that’d be the retelling of the game(s) involved. Why do these need to be finished? Because, as I write the primary story, stuff I have planned to happen can change. If I were to write the oneshot before then, it may no longer adhere to the retelling I write of the game, and therefore end up unrelated, which is not the intention. These are all supposed to fit into the same coherent universe.

The only reason some oneshots are written prior to their primary story being finished is because I had those ideas before I intended to make this a series. Those oneshots will be edited to conform to the universe and reposted in their respective oneshot collections once their primary stories are finished.

So for Nanu and White’s (who goes by Hilda in my stories), that means Black, Black 2, and Sun/Ultra Sun (they will be merged into one story in my universe, probably just called Sun) would need to be finished. Black is currently underway and I expect to have it finished by the end of May, and Black 2 by the end of July. Sun/Ultra Sun, on the other hand, will be started in probably June and finished by the end of July. 

Actually, I’ll just go ahead and clarify my plan-

Red - Started by October 1st. Finished by November 30th

HeartGold - Started by October 1st. Finished by November 30th

Omega Ruby - Started by November 1st. Finished by December 31st

Platinum - Started by August 1st. Finished by September 30th

Black - Started April 1st. Finished by May 31st

Black 2 - Started June 1st. Finished by July 31st

Y - Started August 1st. Finished by September 30th

Ultra Sun/Sun - Started June 1st. Finished by July 31st

Sword & Shield - Started March 17th. Finished by May 31st*

*Sword/Shield is technically already finished, I have just been having to overhaul significant parts of it prior to releasing them because I started writing it prior to thinking of making this a series. 

It takes about 2 weeks to fully organize/plan a retelling and then about a month and a half to completely write it out, at least as far as I estimate it. So, with the above dates in mind, any oneshot prompts involving characters from the above regions/games will happen after the official retelling is written out. Once some of the main stories above are finished, you can expect a pretty steady stream of oneshots, likely once a week or more.

So the earliest you could expect one involving Nanu and Hilda is early August.