I was taking a second look to the Gym Leader's updated artwork. I like how Roxanne really looks like a teacher telling their students to be quiet or pay attention.
But I don't like Brawly's new teenage looks. He seemed to be in his twenties in RSE, but now he looks 10 years younger.
I don't like Wattson's shirt either. He's cheery alright, but why a floral shirt? I think the problem I have with him is the same I have with Brawly: Gym leaders are supposed to be authorities and somewhat serious and while there are young and easygoing Gym Leaders (like Wattson himself and Flannery), when you compare them to the origibnals, Brawly and Wattson's new artwork sort of moved away from that ideal and became a bit more childish, which is a step down in my opinion, though.
Flannery looks great. It's nice how her new artwork captures some of her personality.
Norman looks somehow younger than in RSE which isn't good for a character supposed to be your father. But what really annoys me are those sandals. Really dad, being a Gym Leader is your work and you doesn't even care put your shoes on?!
Haha, looks like I only have a problem with male Gym Leaders (The fact I didn't like Sidney's new artwork but liked Phoebe's kind of confirms that xD). And it's not because they look bad, but because their new artworks are somehow worse than the originals. They still look good in general, though.
Roxanne: I always took Roxanne has being some kind of honor student rather then a teacher, especially this version of her which looks younger. The interesting part about Roxanne's design I find is the color scheme. In her original artwork they used a navy blue for her dress which blended nicely with her bright magenta stockings, tie, and bow(?). However her redesign gave her a grey dress which now makes the magenta pop out. I don't know whether that's a good thing or not, on one hand you're eyes immediately go to the magenta parts of her clothes but on the other hand it oddly gives the character some sort of energy to her, going along with her younger appearance to show she has vigor while her grey clothes show she's also down to earth and educated.
Brawly: I was a bit confused about Brawly in Gen III. So he's a surfer dude, yet he trains Fighting-types (later further compounded by us getting a lucha libre wrestler who trains Water-types)? I mean he is built, but I couldn't get past the surfer dude part. I feel that the new artwork does a good job showing that she's more of an athlete now then a surfer, mainly due to the pose and wearing gloves meant for brawling. Like with a few other of the Gym Leaders they look like they de-aged him but I don't think its such a big deal. Sure this does mean he looks leaner then muscular but I think the additional athletic attributes more then makes up the missing muscle mass he had when he was just a surfer dude (though he still has aspects of that design like goggles and a skin tight clothes). Of course I still have no idea what are up with those shoes, why do they have "foot with toes" design? It kind of looks like his foot has hardened into a black mound with orange toenails.
Wattson: Looks like they're more focusing on the fact that Wattson is a retired soldier and thought the best way to do that was give him a camo floral shirt with lightning bolts. Okay? To me it's just really odd though at least he's still the happy, jolly old man we knew him from Gen III. Also, once again, look at his feet. There's a screw bolt going right through his foot! Joking aside, I do have to ask something about his military service. What was he? In the original artwork he was wearing an aviator's jacket which at the time, similarly to Brawly, I thought was odd since he's an Electric-type Gym Leader. Him wearing that yellow jumpsuit in his redesign now makes him look like he could have been some kind of mechanic which makes a bit more sense him being Electric-type. He doesn't look any less threatening, I mean he's a jolly old man who laughs all the time, even with the aviator jacket I didn't feel intimidated by the guy.
Flannery: ALL the fetishes. Well, maybe not all of them, but they did have her expose more skin by having her wear just a fire-themed bra and a piece of black clothing tied around her to look like a shorter crop top. Also is she wearing a twisted up towel as a belt? Anyway I do like the design, her clothes has the sort of thrown together look that shows she's not afraid to release some feisty fiery fury. Of course I still have no idea what Flannery is suppose to be which has been a bit of my problem with her. Is she suppose to be some kind of rocker/groupie chick? A rebellious teenager?
Norman: While Roxanne, Brawly, and Flannery don't suffer that much from being de-aged, Norman does. He's suppose to be your dad (a father of someoe who's at least 10) yet looks like a young adult! His haircut also looks odd, it worked when his design looked older but now it just looks off on a younger looking one. And that stern look makes him look more angry and/or disappointed than in his older design which looks like he's expecting you to give it your all. As for the sandals, yeah its sort of odd for him to have them. He's suppose to be very fit, apparently running 1000 miles to and from the Gym and home, but those sandals look like traditional Japanese sandals and they can't be comfortable to run a long distance in.
Aside from Norman I generally like what they done with the Gym Leaders and Elite Four we've been shown (they're different, sure, but at the same time they don't completely re-haul the character). Norman however they made look too young and don't get me started on some of the redesigns they did to Team Aqua and Magma (don't get me wrong, I like that they're expanding on their stories but just some design changes I don't like but they changed a bit too much).
We've only seen about half of the Gym Leaders and the E4, but I'm already loving their 3D designs. Some major NPCs haven't been revealed yet but I can already tell that I'm going to enjoy battling Glacia and Drake.
I'm also getting curious about how certain places would look in 3D; the Safari Zone, Shoal Cave, Gyms in the later game, and possibly Space. Can some parts of the game be open to the 3D function of the console? And if not, would Phil the Photo Guy or some reincarnation of him make a return so that we can use the camera feature again? Maybe an improved version where we can rotate the camera in any direction. I'm going to try to flash the Zubats on the ceiling of Meteor Falls.
However, I'm understanding that we might be losing out on some of the old aspects of the overworld like the Trick House, random spots to plant Berries, and the Mirage Tower. Losing these gems would not be terribly bad, especially if they cut out Trainer Hill in favor of the Battle Frontier, but it would be nice if they kept true to the original games.
Which reminds me,
R.I.P. my humble, blue sanctuary
We already know how some of the Gyms look and I like what I've seen of them so far. Roxanne's looks great as it may be the same puzzle but they really did their best to look interesting having it be some kind of archeology museum. They changes Brawly to looking like a literal gym which makes a bit more sense but I do wonder why his new puzzle works. Flannery still has the same puzzle but now they made it a bit more logical (in the original you were shooting up from sand which was somehow suspended in air, now it's just trap doors complete with a comedic falling animation, lol). Wattson Gym looks to be the same kind of puzzle yet changed, the electricity is also different colors which is nice to look at. Petalburg Gym is the same, and sadly I think they could have done something with that if they made it 3D. Finally we did get a small glimpse of Mossdeep (Tate & Liza's) Gym and it looks like it's completely different with you sliding on orbs of psychic energy (of course it could just be their old RS puzzle with a new coat of paint, but hey I ain't complaining as it looks nice). So I'm hoping they also apply the same amount of work on the Safari Zone (if it still exists) and Shoal Cave (it looks like they did a wonderful job with Meteor Falls).
As for some locations being 3D? Hmm, well going by the places XY had in 3D I can see places like Petalburg Woods, Rusturf Tunnel, Granite Cave, Abandoned Ship, New Mauville, Fiery Path, Meteor Falls, and Shoal Cave being in 3D. And Space? We never went into space, that was just a wild rumor. :P
Being able to take pictures would be nice, it was a fun feature to have and had a surprising amount of customization.
Looked at the ORAS Map, Trick House is still there. No Berry Planting spot, from what it looks like they're turning the Berry Master's house into another Berry Fields (which stinks as you won't be able have access to it early game, but at least you don't need to remember where you planted all your berries). And Mirage Tower also looks gone (along with Trainer Hill). Looks like they're just focusing on what was in RS because why would we want all the neat things that were also in Emerald *sigh*. HOWEVER where the Battle Frontier is is covered with clouds, that has to mean something, right?
Also, don't count PokeMarts gone yet. According to the map, they look like they're back. ;)
Here's the map I'm looking at, BTW:
I dont think this was posted but
Footage of Primal Groudon (and Kyogre) in a Link Battle.
It seems like, based on the timers and the lack of Drought activation, Primal Reversion is automatic (like I predicted a little while back).
Since Primal Groudon transforms before move selection, it won't have to go through turn order > speed stat on the turn it transforms. From there it seems like Groudon didnt get any faster, due to it being slower than Kingdra.
Also Groudon straight up oneshots both Starmie and Kingdra with Precipice Blades in a Double Battle...
please dont be a hyper beam clone
That is an interesting observation. Now I don't see why you would never want them to evolve first turn, but being forced to Mega Evolve first thing could play a factor of using them? Like if they both can overwrite the other's Primal Ability, you can't wait for one to Primal Evolve and then have your's Primal Evolve to overwrite their weather.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
All this talk of characters got me thinking of a certain mystery character. On Route 111 there's an optional string of battles against a family called the Winstrates. They're easy enough to beat but you're told that there's a son of the family who's the strongest one of them all. Now this is early in the game, and you pretty much go through the rest of the game without encountering this 5th family member. That is until Victory Road... where he's just another Ace Trainer which you can actually skip (and he's not that much stronger than other trainers). It's a bit of a let down, but do you think there's a possibility they could maybe do more with the character or the Winstates in general?
