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Countdown to XY: A Nostalgia Thread
- Thread starter Stellar
- Start date
Day 1: What is your first memory of Pokémon?
I remember waking up Christmas morning in 1996..and opening the last present and it was a Blue Gameboy Color and Pokemon Red Version...I don't think i put that game down for a solid week.
Day 2: What was your first experience with a shiny Pokémon?
None besides the Red Gyarados in GS/HGSS, and I do not think that counts. So...
Day 3: How close have you come to "catching 'em all"?
I've never even completed it, not even in Red/Blue/Yellow. I think the closest I've ever come was in Platinum where I got to around 450.
Day 4: What was your first level 100 Pokémon?
Probably my Infernape in Platinum, then my Floatzel from Diamond that i traded over to Platinum, then my Haxorus from White.
Day 5: What is your favorite Pokémon and why?
Too many to list, but if i had to pick one...it would have to be Charizard. He's who i started with in Red Version, and b/c of it i have to train one in every game I play.
Day 6: Which Pokémon rumors did you believe when you were younger?
I believed MissingNo was a real pokemon, i tried to catch trainer's pokemon, i thought holding down B actually did something. Lol
Day 7: Which aspect of XY are you looking forward to the most?
The fact that we're going to know very little going into the game. I can't wait to discover a Pokemon that I've never seen before in the game, the last time I experienced that was in Gen. 3. I'm also looking forward to finding secrets on my own and just experiencing the game with knowing very little about it. That, and the customization.
Day 8: What are your Pokémon "quirks"?
I have to train one Dragon type per game, sometimes more. That and i hold down buttons when trying to catch new pokemon, even if i know it doesn't actually do anything.
Day 9: What is your favorite region and why?
Hoenn. Definitely Hoenn... the music, the pokemon.
I remember waking up Christmas morning in 1996..and opening the last present and it was a Blue Gameboy Color and Pokemon Red Version...I don't think i put that game down for a solid week.
Day 2: What was your first experience with a shiny Pokémon?
None besides the Red Gyarados in GS/HGSS, and I do not think that counts. So...
Day 3: How close have you come to "catching 'em all"?
I've never even completed it, not even in Red/Blue/Yellow. I think the closest I've ever come was in Platinum where I got to around 450.
Day 4: What was your first level 100 Pokémon?
Probably my Infernape in Platinum, then my Floatzel from Diamond that i traded over to Platinum, then my Haxorus from White.
Day 5: What is your favorite Pokémon and why?
Too many to list, but if i had to pick one...it would have to be Charizard. He's who i started with in Red Version, and b/c of it i have to train one in every game I play.
Day 6: Which Pokémon rumors did you believe when you were younger?
I believed MissingNo was a real pokemon, i tried to catch trainer's pokemon, i thought holding down B actually did something. Lol
Day 7: Which aspect of XY are you looking forward to the most?
The fact that we're going to know very little going into the game. I can't wait to discover a Pokemon that I've never seen before in the game, the last time I experienced that was in Gen. 3. I'm also looking forward to finding secrets on my own and just experiencing the game with knowing very little about it. That, and the customization.
Day 8: What are your Pokémon "quirks"?
I have to train one Dragon type per game, sometimes more. That and i hold down buttons when trying to catch new pokemon, even if i know it doesn't actually do anything.
Day 9: What is your favorite region and why?
Hoenn. Definitely Hoenn... the music, the pokemon.
I love Hoenn. I find myself replaying through my Ruby time to time... but not my other versions. It's just so tropical! There's great music throughout the game (absolutely love the Elite Four music... and now that I have it in my head, the Surf music too)! The exotic Pokemon are absolutely amazing. (Solrock? Caught one and used it throughout the entire first playthrough. Learns SolarBeam, Fire Blast, Psychic, Rock Slide. Soo cool! And Breloom, Swampert, desert mons, just so much unique Pokemon.) And although many people may not like them, I actually really love the huge water routes. Spray some repels, and weeeee! No walls to run in, just full-throttle! (I mean there are walls, just not in your way.) Dive spots were also extremely mysterious and interesting to explore (Regis anyone?). Trick House was fun to play through for some slick rewards. I actually tried really hard in the Bike "contest" thing to get a time as low as possible. Ohhh, and that leads to... Mach Bike. Holy amazingness of amazing. Why this bike isn't in the later games is beyond me. Doing tricks with Acro Bike is cool as well though. Hoenn Legendaries were actually cool compared to stuff like Palkia (okay stop making jokes about its head and neck pls) and Zekrom/Reshiram (wtf are those things on the back of them). Gods of the water, earth, and air... me like.
Only issue is that your rival sucks. Brendan/May wtf why you have to quit on us. T_T I'd like to have fought both Wally and Brendan/May after Lilycove. Well, now that I think about it, Wally kinda makes up for that with his surprise value. I mean you just didn't even expect to fight him again... in Victory Road.
Only issue is that your rival sucks. Brendan/May wtf why you have to quit on us. T_T I'd like to have fought both Wally and Brendan/May after Lilycove. Well, now that I think about it, Wally kinda makes up for that with his surprise value. I mean you just didn't even expect to fight him again... in Victory Road.
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Chiming in on Hoenn as my favourite region, by far.
Others have covered its excellent diversity and biomes, so I thought I'd say a few words about its layout. In my eyes, that is what truly makes Hoenn a "perfect" region.
Is is just so traversable, for lack of a better word. At least, Western Hoenn is. Take the early steps of the playthrough, for instance.
You go from Littleroot to Oldale. From Oldale you have to go west, to Petalburg, though later in the game, you get Surf and can travel to Cycling Road/The Trick House, and from there to Slateport or Mauville within a minute. In all the other regions (with the possible exception of Kanto, due to Cinnabar Island), the starting town is a dead end tucked away in the corner of the map, but here it is actually connected to the rest of the region.
From Petalburg you go north, through Petalburg Woods. But later in the game, you can surf to Dewford from here instead. It's a bit of a trek, but not a lot longer than the trip from Pallet to Cinnabar in the original games.
Once you get to Rustboro, the game forces you back to Mr. Briney's cottage on Route 104. Though, with the right TM, you can head through Rusturf Tunnel to get to Verdanturf (and, by extension, Mauville), or you can Surf up to Meteor Falls and trek to Fallarbor in the north.
The western half of the region is so full of late-game shortcuts that you rarely have to bring Fly if you want to go somewhere within it. Pack a single Repel and the right HMs, and you can get from most places to most others by bike in a minute or so. It isn't as easy to get to Fortree and Lilycove (though there are still multiple routes to take!), but the rest of the cities on mainland Hoenn are very well connected. Contrast Sinnoh, where Mt. Coronet is in the way of pretty much every foot expedition, or Unova, which is terribly linear. Though, Hoenn is also set up so that you're forced to take the long-winded road the first time you go, but the shortcut is usually available on your second visit. It makes backtracking a lot more fun.
East Hoenn is somewhat boring, though. But I have high hopes of a remake, which could add some interesting content to the vast seas. Perhaps a few caves in the underwater trenches, connected to the mainland? A ferry to Sootopolis? An actual settlement in Ever Grande City (the only two-building location to ever achieve city status)? I'll be waiting.
Others have covered its excellent diversity and biomes, so I thought I'd say a few words about its layout. In my eyes, that is what truly makes Hoenn a "perfect" region.
Is is just so traversable, for lack of a better word. At least, Western Hoenn is. Take the early steps of the playthrough, for instance.
You go from Littleroot to Oldale. From Oldale you have to go west, to Petalburg, though later in the game, you get Surf and can travel to Cycling Road/The Trick House, and from there to Slateport or Mauville within a minute. In all the other regions (with the possible exception of Kanto, due to Cinnabar Island), the starting town is a dead end tucked away in the corner of the map, but here it is actually connected to the rest of the region.
From Petalburg you go north, through Petalburg Woods. But later in the game, you can surf to Dewford from here instead. It's a bit of a trek, but not a lot longer than the trip from Pallet to Cinnabar in the original games.
Once you get to Rustboro, the game forces you back to Mr. Briney's cottage on Route 104. Though, with the right TM, you can head through Rusturf Tunnel to get to Verdanturf (and, by extension, Mauville), or you can Surf up to Meteor Falls and trek to Fallarbor in the north.
The western half of the region is so full of late-game shortcuts that you rarely have to bring Fly if you want to go somewhere within it. Pack a single Repel and the right HMs, and you can get from most places to most others by bike in a minute or so. It isn't as easy to get to Fortree and Lilycove (though there are still multiple routes to take!), but the rest of the cities on mainland Hoenn are very well connected. Contrast Sinnoh, where Mt. Coronet is in the way of pretty much every foot expedition, or Unova, which is terribly linear. Though, Hoenn is also set up so that you're forced to take the long-winded road the first time you go, but the shortcut is usually available on your second visit. It makes backtracking a lot more fun.
East Hoenn is somewhat boring, though. But I have high hopes of a remake, which could add some interesting content to the vast seas. Perhaps a few caves in the underwater trenches, connected to the mainland? A ferry to Sootopolis? An actual settlement in Ever Grande City (the only two-building location to ever achieve city status)? I'll be waiting.
wow surprised no one has yet said kanto or sinnoh, but i also agree with the majority of you in saying that hoenn was definitely the best region by far. the music alone is reason enough imo (the dive music, littleroot & lilycove are probably top 5 of the entire series. meteor falls is also up there!). not sure if that's just bc nostalgia but i really do think the music is a large part of what gives hoenn its distinct personality.
a part of the game that always intrigued me is that certain characters have an air of mystery just bc a lot is left unexplained - why did your rival quit? what was wally's illness? why did your parents move from johto? how did wallace usurp steven as champ? and certain plot elements like the existence of your dad, the winstrate family, flannery's backstory, peeko, scott's backstory, mossdeep space center etc. were always rly engaging plot points for me (if they didnt leave a bit to be desired in terms of leaving a lot to the imagination)
some of my favorite dialogue of the series comes from these games like the guy in petalburg who is staring at his reflection in the water or the guy in sootopolis who says something like "is the hidden entrance to sootopolis to keep ppl in, or to keep something out?" or the couple at the battle frontier with the guy & his gf [cue dramatic voice] "with you by my side, i can do anything" - or the guy who says "scott sure does seem to know how to find good trainers, but no one's ever seen him battle." is it lame that i kinda get all sentimetal when your dad says after beating him - "whats your dream, vitamin E? go and chase it! me? well, my dream has already come true." aw shucks dad *discreetly wipes away tears*
there's that plus the best starters (sinnoh close second tho), best player characters (lucas imma let u finish but brendan had the best headwear of all TIME - & may is def 2nd to rosa imo), most interesting towns (fortree, mossdeep, pacifidlog, fuckin SOOTOPOLIS man - but fallarbor town [MORE great music + adjacent rt 113 too] is where you'd find me) & best opening sequence (damn fukin machokes called shotgun i guess)
a part of the game that always intrigued me is that certain characters have an air of mystery just bc a lot is left unexplained - why did your rival quit? what was wally's illness? why did your parents move from johto? how did wallace usurp steven as champ? and certain plot elements like the existence of your dad, the winstrate family, flannery's backstory, peeko, scott's backstory, mossdeep space center etc. were always rly engaging plot points for me (if they didnt leave a bit to be desired in terms of leaving a lot to the imagination)
some of my favorite dialogue of the series comes from these games like the guy in petalburg who is staring at his reflection in the water or the guy in sootopolis who says something like "is the hidden entrance to sootopolis to keep ppl in, or to keep something out?" or the couple at the battle frontier with the guy & his gf [cue dramatic voice] "with you by my side, i can do anything" - or the guy who says "scott sure does seem to know how to find good trainers, but no one's ever seen him battle." is it lame that i kinda get all sentimetal when your dad says after beating him - "whats your dream, vitamin E? go and chase it! me? well, my dream has already come true." aw shucks dad *discreetly wipes away tears*
there's that plus the best starters (sinnoh close second tho), best player characters (lucas imma let u finish but brendan had the best headwear of all TIME - & may is def 2nd to rosa imo), most interesting towns (fortree, mossdeep, pacifidlog, fuckin SOOTOPOLIS man - but fallarbor town [MORE great music + adjacent rt 113 too] is where you'd find me) & best opening sequence (damn fukin machokes called shotgun i guess)
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Lol I've never heard anyone complain about the lack of spider pokemon in any pokemon game before now. I'm pretty sure that only Johto and Unova had spiders, yuck.
Day 9:
I got to pick Hoenn as well. Just love the diversity and the tropical environment, and I despite the nostalgia towards the 1st and 2:nd gen pokémon I can definitely say I like the 3rd gen pokémon just as much as the first two. Emerald was my first game after I quit pokémon as a kid, and I really loved the region. When I played Pearl next I didn't really like the region cause it was cold and pretty boring, reminded me a bit to much of how it is here in Sweden xD
The only bad thing about RSE was the story which I didn't think was that good.
I got to pick Hoenn as well. Just love the diversity and the tropical environment, and I despite the nostalgia towards the 1st and 2:nd gen pokémon I can definitely say I like the 3rd gen pokémon just as much as the first two. Emerald was my first game after I quit pokémon as a kid, and I really loved the region. When I played Pearl next I didn't really like the region cause it was cold and pretty boring, reminded me a bit to much of how it is here in Sweden xD
The only bad thing about RSE was the story which I didn't think was that good.
Day 1: What is your first memory of Pokémon?
I honestly doesn't have any fully accurate first memory of Pokémon. It could be either the anime or Pokémon Stadium, one of the N64 games I had as a child.
Day 2: What was your first experience with a shiny Pokémon?
My first Shiny I ever found was a Litwick when I learned about EV training, a few time after I learned about Shiny Pokémon and how rare they are. I learned how Volcarona was good in competitive playing and I tried to EV train a Larvesta, the one obtained from the man on Route 18, but I was a noob and I didn't care about natures, IVs, and abilities. I given the Exp. Share to Larvesta because I was unable to beat any Litwick with my Larvesta.
A Litwick with a light blue flame appeared and, even if I didn't know Litwick's Shiny form at this time, I recognised it immediatly as a Shiny. I used an Ultra Ball without weakening it and it was caught. I EV trained it and I evolved it into Chandelure. I now regret it to having evolved it because I actually prefer Litwick's Shiny form over Chandelure's and because it has somewhat poor IVs.
Day 3: How close have you come to "catching 'em all"?
That was in my Ruby version. My cousin had a Sapphire version and together we tried to complete Hoenn Pokédex with trades. I missed a few mons (maybe 5 of them) but my cousin completed Hoenn Pokédex. Now I don't care about "catching 'em all" when playing my games.
Day 4: What was your first level 100 Pokémon?
That was a Sceptile in my Ruby version when I was a child. It was my starter and the leader of my team that also included Groudon, Altaria, Seviper (traded from Sapphire), Ludicolo (also traded), and one other I can't remerber, maybe Magneton. Obviously at this time I didn't care about natures (I didn't evew knew their influence on stats) and I didn't knew IVs and EVs. None of the other membres in my team reached level 100, and this Sceptile currently doesn't exist because I deleted this save file.
Now when I want to rase a Pokémon to level 100 I just use Join Avenue, it's fast but It's very costly.
Day 5: What is your favorite Pokémon and why?
Maybe it will change in gen 6 but for now it is Terrakion. I loved him since I discovered gen V and I love his design and concept, even his name sounds awesome. He looks like an african buffalo and looks inspired by rhinoceros with his corpulency and rocky-looking skin. This is an awesome way to represent Prothos from The Three Musketeers, a perfect design for a Rock/Fighting typing, and he looks freaking manly. That may be odd, but he also reminds me Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda (while Cobalion reminds me Link and Virizion reminds me Zelda). I love using him in competitive battling, the Sash Stealth Rock being my personnal favourite set, and finally his Shiny form looks amazing.
Honorable mention to Magnemite for its sheer cuteness :)
Day 6: Which Pokémon rumors did you believe when you were younger?
At first I believed Legendary Pokémon where absolutely impossible to catch even with a Master Ball, but I discovered my cousin's Sapphire version where he had several Kyogre in a PC box (he traded them to his sister's FireRed Version, and restarted the game to get another Kyogre, etc.). All of them where caught with an Ultra Ball, except one of them caught with a Great Ball. I was shocked.
After that, I tried to catch Groudon and the legendary Golems. I believed the rumor saying than pressing A and down buttons at the same time increased the capture probability and I believed legendary Pokémon where impossible to catch without using this trick.
I also wondered how to get Deoxys, the missing Pokémon to complete Hoenn Pokédex (I didn't know Jirachi at this time), and I believed the rumor saying that it is available after completely beating the game and having four stars on Trainer Card. I was shocked when I discovered later than the only way to get it legitimately is an official Nintendo event.
Day 7: Which aspect of XY are you looking forward to the most?
Probably seing Pokémon into 3D models and new battle animations. Finally we will have really dynamic battles with good graphics, battles and animations will not be as bad-looking as gen V, where a lot of sprites has stupid animations (a lot of them actually look like they dance) and battles are ugly (pixelized Pokémon sprites and move animations). I have a lot of Shiny Pokémon in my gen V games and I want to see them in 3D. I am excited about 3D visual effets and it is the reason why I'll try to get an actual 3DS and not a 2DS even if the later is cheaper.
Even if I didn't liked the concept when it was at first revealed, I'm really excited about Mega Evolutions. I'm finally fine with all Mega Evolutions designs revealed so far (except Mega Blastoise, these shells on its arms suck, and Mewtwo X whose toes look very ugly), because they give new strategic options for competitive playing and I think it is better than regular evolutions (like a lot of them we got in gen IV) to make old Pokémon stronger. I'm also excited about starting a fresh new competitive metagame, I'll try to really go to competitive Pokémo gaming this gen and I'm really curious to see new strategies in a emerging metagame. Finally, I'm also excited by new Gen VI Pokémon because none of the currently revealed gen VI Pokémon look terrible IMO, I really want to see new concepts and type combinations. But if I had ONE aspect to choose, it would be the new battle graphic style, as described in the previous paragraph.
Day 8: What are your Pokémon "quirks"?
I avoid rustling grass as many as possible and I hide my screen each time an Audino appears because I hate Audino so much. I hate when this thing appears on my screen, it looks disgusting for me.
I also avoid as many as possible international breeding because I don't like when I get a Shiny Pokémon that doesn't come from a 1/8192 probability. If I absolutely want to breed a Pokémon got on the GTS (for species or egg moves, for example), I first try to get a compatible partner on the GTS that comes from the same country.
Day 9: What is your favorite region and why?
I didn't played gen II and IV games and I barely played GS remakes so I cannot choose Johto or Sinnoh. Between Kanto, Hoenn and Unova, I would choose Hoenn for the sheer diversity of landscapes and places, whit some of them impossible to see in any official game other than RSE like a route covered of ashes, a village above trees or an icy cave with regular tides.
I honestly doesn't have any fully accurate first memory of Pokémon. It could be either the anime or Pokémon Stadium, one of the N64 games I had as a child.
Day 2: What was your first experience with a shiny Pokémon?
My first Shiny I ever found was a Litwick when I learned about EV training, a few time after I learned about Shiny Pokémon and how rare they are. I learned how Volcarona was good in competitive playing and I tried to EV train a Larvesta, the one obtained from the man on Route 18, but I was a noob and I didn't care about natures, IVs, and abilities. I given the Exp. Share to Larvesta because I was unable to beat any Litwick with my Larvesta.
A Litwick with a light blue flame appeared and, even if I didn't know Litwick's Shiny form at this time, I recognised it immediatly as a Shiny. I used an Ultra Ball without weakening it and it was caught. I EV trained it and I evolved it into Chandelure. I now regret it to having evolved it because I actually prefer Litwick's Shiny form over Chandelure's and because it has somewhat poor IVs.
Day 3: How close have you come to "catching 'em all"?
That was in my Ruby version. My cousin had a Sapphire version and together we tried to complete Hoenn Pokédex with trades. I missed a few mons (maybe 5 of them) but my cousin completed Hoenn Pokédex. Now I don't care about "catching 'em all" when playing my games.
Day 4: What was your first level 100 Pokémon?
That was a Sceptile in my Ruby version when I was a child. It was my starter and the leader of my team that also included Groudon, Altaria, Seviper (traded from Sapphire), Ludicolo (also traded), and one other I can't remerber, maybe Magneton. Obviously at this time I didn't care about natures (I didn't evew knew their influence on stats) and I didn't knew IVs and EVs. None of the other membres in my team reached level 100, and this Sceptile currently doesn't exist because I deleted this save file.
Now when I want to rase a Pokémon to level 100 I just use Join Avenue, it's fast but It's very costly.
Day 5: What is your favorite Pokémon and why?
Maybe it will change in gen 6 but for now it is Terrakion. I loved him since I discovered gen V and I love his design and concept, even his name sounds awesome. He looks like an african buffalo and looks inspired by rhinoceros with his corpulency and rocky-looking skin. This is an awesome way to represent Prothos from The Three Musketeers, a perfect design for a Rock/Fighting typing, and he looks freaking manly. That may be odd, but he also reminds me Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda (while Cobalion reminds me Link and Virizion reminds me Zelda). I love using him in competitive battling, the Sash Stealth Rock being my personnal favourite set, and finally his Shiny form looks amazing.
Honorable mention to Magnemite for its sheer cuteness :)
Day 6: Which Pokémon rumors did you believe when you were younger?
At first I believed Legendary Pokémon where absolutely impossible to catch even with a Master Ball, but I discovered my cousin's Sapphire version where he had several Kyogre in a PC box (he traded them to his sister's FireRed Version, and restarted the game to get another Kyogre, etc.). All of them where caught with an Ultra Ball, except one of them caught with a Great Ball. I was shocked.
After that, I tried to catch Groudon and the legendary Golems. I believed the rumor saying than pressing A and down buttons at the same time increased the capture probability and I believed legendary Pokémon where impossible to catch without using this trick.
I also wondered how to get Deoxys, the missing Pokémon to complete Hoenn Pokédex (I didn't know Jirachi at this time), and I believed the rumor saying that it is available after completely beating the game and having four stars on Trainer Card. I was shocked when I discovered later than the only way to get it legitimately is an official Nintendo event.
Day 7: Which aspect of XY are you looking forward to the most?
Probably seing Pokémon into 3D models and new battle animations. Finally we will have really dynamic battles with good graphics, battles and animations will not be as bad-looking as gen V, where a lot of sprites has stupid animations (a lot of them actually look like they dance) and battles are ugly (pixelized Pokémon sprites and move animations). I have a lot of Shiny Pokémon in my gen V games and I want to see them in 3D. I am excited about 3D visual effets and it is the reason why I'll try to get an actual 3DS and not a 2DS even if the later is cheaper.
Even if I didn't liked the concept when it was at first revealed, I'm really excited about Mega Evolutions. I'm finally fine with all Mega Evolutions designs revealed so far (except Mega Blastoise, these shells on its arms suck, and Mewtwo X whose toes look very ugly), because they give new strategic options for competitive playing and I think it is better than regular evolutions (like a lot of them we got in gen IV) to make old Pokémon stronger. I'm also excited about starting a fresh new competitive metagame, I'll try to really go to competitive Pokémo gaming this gen and I'm really curious to see new strategies in a emerging metagame. Finally, I'm also excited by new Gen VI Pokémon because none of the currently revealed gen VI Pokémon look terrible IMO, I really want to see new concepts and type combinations. But if I had ONE aspect to choose, it would be the new battle graphic style, as described in the previous paragraph.
Day 8: What are your Pokémon "quirks"?
I avoid rustling grass as many as possible and I hide my screen each time an Audino appears because I hate Audino so much. I hate when this thing appears on my screen, it looks disgusting for me.
I also avoid as many as possible international breeding because I don't like when I get a Shiny Pokémon that doesn't come from a 1/8192 probability. If I absolutely want to breed a Pokémon got on the GTS (for species or egg moves, for example), I first try to get a compatible partner on the GTS that comes from the same country.
Day 9: What is your favorite region and why?
I didn't played gen II and IV games and I barely played GS remakes so I cannot choose Johto or Sinnoh. Between Kanto, Hoenn and Unova, I would choose Hoenn for the sheer diversity of landscapes and places, whit some of them impossible to see in any official game other than RSE like a route covered of ashes, a village above trees or an icy cave with regular tides.
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Ewwww Hoenn...
You guys need to get it straight. Johto is by far the best region in terms of aesthetics and general coolness. Sure it doesn't have a Volcano, but it also doesn't have a town you *never have to visit* (Pacifidlog Town). Nor does it have massive expanses of horrible boring ocean routes full of Tentacool and Wingull. Johto has some amazing caves to explore (Dark Cave, Mt Mortar and Mt Silver), day night cycles, The Bug Catching Contest, the mystery of the Whirl Islands and lots of other super cool stuff.
I am literally amazed how many people have responded with Hoenn... Imo, only Sinnoh was weaker in terms of layout. Orre is fantastic in terms of is flavour and the way the games portrayed the deserty/post apocalyptic style in Pokemon. You have the classic Oasis village, Phenac, the Outskirt Stand and the scary and aggressive populace of Pyrite Town. To the far north Mt Battle looms over the region...
You guys need to get it straight. Johto is by far the best region in terms of aesthetics and general coolness. Sure it doesn't have a Volcano, but it also doesn't have a town you *never have to visit* (Pacifidlog Town). Nor does it have massive expanses of horrible boring ocean routes full of Tentacool and Wingull. Johto has some amazing caves to explore (Dark Cave, Mt Mortar and Mt Silver), day night cycles, The Bug Catching Contest, the mystery of the Whirl Islands and lots of other super cool stuff.
I am literally amazed how many people have responded with Hoenn... Imo, only Sinnoh was weaker in terms of layout. Orre is fantastic in terms of is flavour and the way the games portrayed the deserty/post apocalyptic style in Pokemon. You have the classic Oasis village, Phenac, the Outskirt Stand and the scary and aggressive populace of Pyrite Town. To the far north Mt Battle looms over the region...
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Orre was great and underrated. But I'm gonna have to give it to Unova as of Black and White 2. Unova's variety of environments is on par with Hoenn now that it also includes a volcano, and unlike every other volcano in the series, it actually feels like one. I never failed to be not-impressed with Hoenn's idea of how to make a volcano. Unova's layout also feels the most realistic (BW2's horribly unrealistic roadblocks aside) by having cities which serve no purpose to plot, badge achievement, or battling hubs. Village Bridge deserves a very large mention here as one of the coolest areas in Pokemon.
Having the gyms be centerpieces for their city that exist outside of just being a battle center was great.
The Abyssal Depths.
Another big problem for me with Hoenn was the abundance of water routes, and in general the really heavy water favoritism in an area with both an active volcano and a desert. As fire is one of my favorite types, it just made for very icky travel a lot of times. That said, Hoenn still deserves some praise for Sootopolis City, which was very impressive. If there ever is a Hoenn remake, I just hope they don't force us into the limited pokedex set.
Having the gyms be centerpieces for their city that exist outside of just being a battle center was great.
The Abyssal Depths.
Another big problem for me with Hoenn was the abundance of water routes, and in general the really heavy water favoritism in an area with both an active volcano and a desert. As fire is one of my favorite types, it just made for very icky travel a lot of times. That said, Hoenn still deserves some praise for Sootopolis City, which was very impressive. If there ever is a Hoenn remake, I just hope they don't force us into the limited pokedex set.
Day 8: What are your Pokémon "quirks"?
I originally intended to skip this, since I couldn't pinpoint a quirk of any sort. However, someone mentioned the use of Pokemon they've never used, specifically less than stellar Pokemon. For a fair while now, I've also made a point to avoid Pokemon I've used before, at least as far as I can remember what those are. I don't have the need to go with sub-par Pokemon, but I also don't think I need to actively avoid them.
Day 9: What is your favorite region and why?
Now, I'd say Hoenn here.
I know many people make a complaint about how half of the region is water routes, but that itself isn't a problem. Outside of, I think 4 (One extra + Pacifidlog for Emerald) are entirely optional, and many of them are extremely short. I've never been much of a guy to go hunting for all the trainers and items, so I never had that much of a need to go through the entirety of the water routes. Where the problem arises though, is the constant barrage of exactly three different Pokemon (1% chance of Wailord on one of them makes that 4, but... no), at least on the abovesea. Trainers also don't make it much better. For Emerald, where everything, especially Water Route Trainer diversity, is better, there are 187 Pokemon, 54 of which are not water-type. They have 18 Tentacools and 16 Wingull. I could go on, but this really showcases the problem. Tentacool and Wingull are precisely the stuff you find in every single route, and out of all the 133 Water-type Pokemon the trainers use on these same routes, 34 are the same shit. That's... a fourth of them.
So, why do I like Hoenn? It's diverse in the stuff it actually does, while not having overly short routes with little to no purpose. Ignoring the pokemon you find, even the (largely optional) water routes have interesting stuff in them. I also think Hoenn did the Battle Frontier concept much better than the next Gen games did, which of course includes Johto. Now, the problem with Johto is sort of in my childhood. And the thing I remember hating to death? the Water routes between Olivine and Cianwood. In Gold and Silver, that seemed to last for an eternity. Kanto suffers the same issue, at least with HGSS. You are forced to Surf from Pallet to at least Seafoam (Maybe Fuchsia if you want to open the blockade), and there's absolutely nothing of worth on the entire area outside of trainers.
Hoenn definitely has its issues, but people really sort of overplay the issue of the water routes.
It might be partially nostalgia talking here, as Emerald is the game I *feel* I played the most. Yet, it had a surprisingly low amount of played hours, but oh well.
I originally intended to skip this, since I couldn't pinpoint a quirk of any sort. However, someone mentioned the use of Pokemon they've never used, specifically less than stellar Pokemon. For a fair while now, I've also made a point to avoid Pokemon I've used before, at least as far as I can remember what those are. I don't have the need to go with sub-par Pokemon, but I also don't think I need to actively avoid them.
Day 9: What is your favorite region and why?
Now, I'd say Hoenn here.
I know many people make a complaint about how half of the region is water routes, but that itself isn't a problem. Outside of, I think 4 (One extra + Pacifidlog for Emerald) are entirely optional, and many of them are extremely short. I've never been much of a guy to go hunting for all the trainers and items, so I never had that much of a need to go through the entirety of the water routes. Where the problem arises though, is the constant barrage of exactly three different Pokemon (1% chance of Wailord on one of them makes that 4, but... no), at least on the abovesea. Trainers also don't make it much better. For Emerald, where everything, especially Water Route Trainer diversity, is better, there are 187 Pokemon, 54 of which are not water-type. They have 18 Tentacools and 16 Wingull. I could go on, but this really showcases the problem. Tentacool and Wingull are precisely the stuff you find in every single route, and out of all the 133 Water-type Pokemon the trainers use on these same routes, 34 are the same shit. That's... a fourth of them.
So, why do I like Hoenn? It's diverse in the stuff it actually does, while not having overly short routes with little to no purpose. Ignoring the pokemon you find, even the (largely optional) water routes have interesting stuff in them. I also think Hoenn did the Battle Frontier concept much better than the next Gen games did, which of course includes Johto. Now, the problem with Johto is sort of in my childhood. And the thing I remember hating to death? the Water routes between Olivine and Cianwood. In Gold and Silver, that seemed to last for an eternity. Kanto suffers the same issue, at least with HGSS. You are forced to Surf from Pallet to at least Seafoam (Maybe Fuchsia if you want to open the blockade), and there's absolutely nothing of worth on the entire area outside of trainers.
Hoenn definitely has its issues, but people really sort of overplay the issue of the water routes.
It might be partially nostalgia talking here, as Emerald is the game I *feel* I played the most. Yet, it had a surprisingly low amount of played hours, but oh well.
Well, I love the first 2 gens but that doesn't mean I love their regions. Johto wasn't nearly as bad as Kanto (it was their first try so I understand) but it's still not that good. However, I'm gonna bandwagon here and say Hoenn is the best region. The only thing I'd change is the amount of water routes. It's a bit too much. But that's it. Everything else is pretty cool, with desert, volcano, and fortree city being among the favourite places in Pokemon games. Finally, that Frontier is far superior to the others. It's actually a place where Pokemon live (even if it's only a Sudowoodo and some Smeargle) and tons of good facilities (Pyramid ftw).
Day 1: What is your first memory of Pokémon?
If we're talking about the games, I was on a plane and found Pokemon Gold. I never got to defeat the first gym though, I was too lazy to level up my Pokemon :(
Otherwise, my first memory that I can recall is watching the Johto anime. The Lugia episodes were really nice I remember
Day 2: What was your first experience with a shiny Pokémon?
Never had one, but a friend of mine who started playing for like a month caught a shiny and yeah my other friends and I who have been playing for longer were p mad
Day 3: How close have you come to "catching 'em all"?
Didn't bother most of the time esp. since I didn't have many people to trade with
Day 4: What was your first level 100 Pokémon?
I was never diligent enough to reach that :3
Day 5: What is your favorite Pokémon and why?
Grovyle. Comes from the days when I watched the Hoenn anime, and Ash's Grovyle was the coolest Pokemon EVER, you have to agree. Especially when it uses Leaf Blade. Also Grovyle looks really cool IMO.
Day 6: Which Pokémon rumors did you believe when you were younger?
I believed that there was a move called Fire Ball that Charizard could learn, I believed that Deoxys could learn some OHKO move that never existed, and I believed that Bullet Seed was OP because it hits 5 times.
Day 7: Which aspect of XY are you looking forward to the most?
Riding Gogoats, doing the fun EV training. Also can't wait to see the graphics of Lumiose City, cos the trailer was really cool
Day 8: What are your Pokémon "quirks"?
Placing the lowest-leveled Pokemon in front. If all my Pokemon were equally leveled, the one closest to leveling up gets first spot.
Day 9: What is your favorite region and why?
Hoenn. I guess that stems from the fact that Gen III was the first time I completed a game from start to end. It was the gen where I watched the most of the anime. It was the gen with my favourite Pokemon. Hoenn was really nice since it had mountains, oceans, and really creative cities. And also, Petalburg is the only forest that was actually easy and not a maze, so I guess that's a factor!
If we're talking about the games, I was on a plane and found Pokemon Gold. I never got to defeat the first gym though, I was too lazy to level up my Pokemon :(
Otherwise, my first memory that I can recall is watching the Johto anime. The Lugia episodes were really nice I remember
Day 2: What was your first experience with a shiny Pokémon?
Never had one, but a friend of mine who started playing for like a month caught a shiny and yeah my other friends and I who have been playing for longer were p mad
Day 3: How close have you come to "catching 'em all"?
Didn't bother most of the time esp. since I didn't have many people to trade with
Day 4: What was your first level 100 Pokémon?
I was never diligent enough to reach that :3
Day 5: What is your favorite Pokémon and why?
Grovyle. Comes from the days when I watched the Hoenn anime, and Ash's Grovyle was the coolest Pokemon EVER, you have to agree. Especially when it uses Leaf Blade. Also Grovyle looks really cool IMO.
Day 6: Which Pokémon rumors did you believe when you were younger?
I believed that there was a move called Fire Ball that Charizard could learn, I believed that Deoxys could learn some OHKO move that never existed, and I believed that Bullet Seed was OP because it hits 5 times.
Day 7: Which aspect of XY are you looking forward to the most?
Riding Gogoats, doing the fun EV training. Also can't wait to see the graphics of Lumiose City, cos the trailer was really cool
Day 8: What are your Pokémon "quirks"?
Placing the lowest-leveled Pokemon in front. If all my Pokemon were equally leveled, the one closest to leveling up gets first spot.
Day 9: What is your favorite region and why?
Hoenn. I guess that stems from the fact that Gen III was the first time I completed a game from start to end. It was the gen where I watched the most of the anime. It was the gen with my favourite Pokemon. Hoenn was really nice since it had mountains, oceans, and really creative cities. And also, Petalburg is the only forest that was actually easy and not a maze, so I guess that's a factor!
As a region hoenn is strongest (hey hey look at me being different!) but not because "beauuuutiful" or other things.
The thing about hoenn is it is the only region which has a meaning to the layout. There's a hell of a lot of water because Team Aqua needs a base and there's a volcano for Team Magma. What do the other regions have? Tacked on bases? Whoopdeefrickin'doo.
The other good thing about Hoenn is that all of the Pokemon belong where they are. Who can honestly tell me they think that there should be a kangaroo in a mountain? Or a mushroom? Why are there giant dung beetles in trees? Sharks in caves? Tadpoles in a forest? All of the Pokemon in hoenn are in their correct place, and if you would like to challenge me on that I'm happy to give an explanation as to why they are there.
The thing about hoenn is it is the only region which has a meaning to the layout. There's a hell of a lot of water because Team Aqua needs a base and there's a volcano for Team Magma. What do the other regions have? Tacked on bases? Whoopdeefrickin'doo.
The other good thing about Hoenn is that all of the Pokemon belong where they are. Who can honestly tell me they think that there should be a kangaroo in a mountain? Or a mushroom? Why are there giant dung beetles in trees? Sharks in caves? Tadpoles in a forest? All of the Pokemon in hoenn are in their correct place, and if you would like to challenge me on that I'm happy to give an explanation as to why they are there.
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Hoenn debuted on the GBA and it got lots of fancy visuals. But I dunno, as dull as Johto looks, I loved how each town had it's own adventure. Sprout Tower, Slowpoke Well incident, Ilex Forest and it's "protector," Burned Tower and it's myths, Amphy and the lighthouse, etc. It really pulled me in.
Day 9: What is your favorite region and why?
Honestly this is a hard question for me, because Gen I and Gen III have nostalgia, Gen V has story and so on, but if I had to choose it'd be Gen III. The land/sea format was both awesome and annoying (and at some point confusing, so that provided a challenge). Gen III also has my most play time over (>777 hours on Emerald). Ruby + Sapphire + Emerald including re-runs would be a lot more. Play time-aside, the legendaries and story setting was simply epic. The argument of land vs sea seemed appealing to me when I was younger, and it still does to an extent, but I saw it more black and white as a kid (no pun intended). Having several of my favs such as Metagross, Aggron, Blaziken and Steven Stone as champion (one of my top favorite Pokemon charactes) along with battle frontier (I never liked the Platinum one tbh) also puts some context into why it's -overall- my favorite gen. Story-wise, at least in terms of ethics BW is more in-depth.
All in all
Gen I - Nostalgia
Gen III - Nostalgia + best overall gen
Gen IV - Competitive hub for me (my start of competitive journey)
Gen V - Best ethically-derived story
Gen VI - We'll have to see :P
Honestly this is a hard question for me, because Gen I and Gen III have nostalgia, Gen V has story and so on, but if I had to choose it'd be Gen III. The land/sea format was both awesome and annoying (and at some point confusing, so that provided a challenge). Gen III also has my most play time over (>777 hours on Emerald). Ruby + Sapphire + Emerald including re-runs would be a lot more. Play time-aside, the legendaries and story setting was simply epic. The argument of land vs sea seemed appealing to me when I was younger, and it still does to an extent, but I saw it more black and white as a kid (no pun intended). Having several of my favs such as Metagross, Aggron, Blaziken and Steven Stone as champion (one of my top favorite Pokemon charactes) along with battle frontier (I never liked the Platinum one tbh) also puts some context into why it's -overall- my favorite gen. Story-wise, at least in terms of ethics BW is more in-depth.
All in all
Gen I - Nostalgia
Gen III - Nostalgia + best overall gen
Gen IV - Competitive hub for me (my start of competitive journey)
Gen V - Best ethically-derived story
Gen VI - We'll have to see :P
Day 9:
Jotho is boring as hell dude. Mt. Mortar, Mt silver, union cave, ice path, Slowpoke's well, Dragon's den, Whirl islands, Dark cave, ruins of alph, Victory road, then you go to kanto, Rock tunnel, Mt. Moon, in the remakes they added more caves; even Blaine's gym is a damn cave. Just change the region name to "Caveland"
For me the best regions are: Orre, Unova and Hoenn, in that order. Orre was a great change from the green places or the infinities caves, also I learn to use pokemon that I rarely use, same goes for Unova, totally a new set of pokemon and a lot of cities, yeah someone complain about that, but since I'm from a small city with alot of trees nature and stuff, for me Cities are very strange thing.
Hoenn reminds me a lot where I live (Tabasco) so was like, "Pokemon, Tabasco Edition". The only thing missing was alligators and mosquitous xD
Jotho is boring as hell dude. Mt. Mortar, Mt silver, union cave, ice path, Slowpoke's well, Dragon's den, Whirl islands, Dark cave, ruins of alph, Victory road, then you go to kanto, Rock tunnel, Mt. Moon, in the remakes they added more caves; even Blaine's gym is a damn cave. Just change the region name to "Caveland"
For me the best regions are: Orre, Unova and Hoenn, in that order. Orre was a great change from the green places or the infinities caves, also I learn to use pokemon that I rarely use, same goes for Unova, totally a new set of pokemon and a lot of cities, yeah someone complain about that, but since I'm from a small city with alot of trees nature and stuff, for me Cities are very strange thing.
Hoenn reminds me a lot where I live (Tabasco) so was like, "Pokemon, Tabasco Edition". The only thing missing was alligators and mosquitous xD
Day 9: Although many regions have always been really cool in their own way, I will always stick with Sinnoh for my favorite. Sinnoh has many myths and legends and since I'm kind of a sucker for that stuff, this region has appealed to me for a while. From the Pokemon statue in Eterna City (those damn Galactic vandals) to Snowpoint Temple, Sinnoh's towns have some kind of cool story to be told and I'm always looking for them. In addition to all that stuff, Sinnoh has kind of a "quiet" feel to it, especially in places like Mt. Coronet, which give that "gosh it's raining outside time to think deep thoughts" feeling. And the music there is first-rate in my opinion.
Johto is my second fave btw because Feraligatr <3
ALSO I'M ACTUALLY GOOD AT THE GAME CORNER MACHINES THERE I BELIEVE THAT'S AN IMPORTANT THING TO MENTION.
Johto is my second fave btw because Feraligatr <3
ALSO I'M ACTUALLY GOOD AT THE GAME CORNER MACHINES THERE I BELIEVE THAT'S AN IMPORTANT THING TO MENTION.
Day 9: What is your favorite region and why?
Johto just because I'm totally biased towards Gen II. I think the fact that it was the first one with day/night cycles sealed it for me. The layout's really straightforward, but it's kinda quaint at the same time, and the otherwise ho-hum forest routes get a whole new atmosphere when you're walking through them in the late hours. Like a haunted forest hay-ride kinda atmosphere, but with tiny owls trying to peck your face off the whole time.
Ecruteak City might just be my favorite of the whole series. I love the golden-leaved trees that always make me think of Fall. Wait. Scratch that, reverse it. Fall always makes me think of Ecruteak; it's that ingrained. Probably doesn't help that I first starting playing Silver during the Fall of its release. I'm also a fan of Olivine and the surrounding environs, and I like how even at nights there's a bunch of people gathered on the beach and around the Battle Tower. You know you wouldn't want to sleep either when the toughest trainers this side of Mt. Silver are gathering together just outside of town and throwing a beach party, possibly getting plastered and betting each other they can't make their Snorlax do a back flip off the lighthouse.
Kanto introduced me to the franchise, but Johto is what made me a lifelong fan. It's the one I've been through the most, and even if I fully realize its faults, I'm totally willing to look past them. For every Sudowoodo barricade and endless cave that has that same short loop music over and over like I'm stuck on some kinda nightmarish carousel, there's something I like usually just around the corner smooth it all over. It doesn't hurt that it has some an assortment of some of my favorite 'mons all in one place, either. If I had a game "home", this might just be it. Now get that Steelix offa my lawn.
Johto just because I'm totally biased towards Gen II. I think the fact that it was the first one with day/night cycles sealed it for me. The layout's really straightforward, but it's kinda quaint at the same time, and the otherwise ho-hum forest routes get a whole new atmosphere when you're walking through them in the late hours. Like a haunted forest hay-ride kinda atmosphere, but with tiny owls trying to peck your face off the whole time.
Ecruteak City might just be my favorite of the whole series. I love the golden-leaved trees that always make me think of Fall. Wait. Scratch that, reverse it. Fall always makes me think of Ecruteak; it's that ingrained. Probably doesn't help that I first starting playing Silver during the Fall of its release. I'm also a fan of Olivine and the surrounding environs, and I like how even at nights there's a bunch of people gathered on the beach and around the Battle Tower. You know you wouldn't want to sleep either when the toughest trainers this side of Mt. Silver are gathering together just outside of town and throwing a beach party, possibly getting plastered and betting each other they can't make their Snorlax do a back flip off the lighthouse.
Kanto introduced me to the franchise, but Johto is what made me a lifelong fan. It's the one I've been through the most, and even if I fully realize its faults, I'm totally willing to look past them. For every Sudowoodo barricade and endless cave that has that same short loop music over and over like I'm stuck on some kinda nightmarish carousel, there's something I like usually just around the corner smooth it all over. It doesn't hurt that it has some an assortment of some of my favorite 'mons all in one place, either. If I had a game "home", this might just be it. Now get that Steelix offa my lawn.
Stone RG
Megas are broke
Day 9:
This one has a tie, i have been trying to decide myself between Hoenn and Sinnoh for years now but both are extremely cool to me. I like Sinnoh mainly for the awesome regional pokedex, in Platinum there are so much team possibilities w/o having to use trash pokes (dont quote me on this) and i love them all, also Cynthia, best champion ever, the storyline is probably the best written out alongside BW 1, and in general the mythology in this region makes it my favorite one.
That is, alongside Hoenn, a lot of people complain about the sheer amount of surfing, well, i love it, siince i love the sea, i find no problem in spending 1-2 hours of storyline in the surfing battles and going through everything. Also, while i think the villains to be horribly developed, the conflict between Kyogre and Groudon is too awesome to pass up, and when you have to go find Rayquaza, one of everybodys legends, its incredible. Steven and Wallace were some really cool champions, specally the former, since going up against him Red-style in Meteor Falls in Emerald, with a 75+ lvl team was an actual challenge. One of the best parts imo was May's design, which i fell in love both in the anime (as May) and in the manga (as Sapphire).
This one has a tie, i have been trying to decide myself between Hoenn and Sinnoh for years now but both are extremely cool to me. I like Sinnoh mainly for the awesome regional pokedex, in Platinum there are so much team possibilities w/o having to use trash pokes (dont quote me on this) and i love them all, also Cynthia, best champion ever, the storyline is probably the best written out alongside BW 1, and in general the mythology in this region makes it my favorite one.
That is, alongside Hoenn, a lot of people complain about the sheer amount of surfing, well, i love it, siince i love the sea, i find no problem in spending 1-2 hours of storyline in the surfing battles and going through everything. Also, while i think the villains to be horribly developed, the conflict between Kyogre and Groudon is too awesome to pass up, and when you have to go find Rayquaza, one of everybodys legends, its incredible. Steven and Wallace were some really cool champions, specally the former, since going up against him Red-style in Meteor Falls in Emerald, with a 75+ lvl team was an actual challenge. One of the best parts imo was May's design, which i fell in love both in the anime (as May) and in the manga (as Sapphire).