European Internationals Recap/Feedback

[sebixxl]

Hello Smogon!
This is Sebi. Some of you might still know me as a singles player. Some time ago i switched to VGC and now i have been Casting some bigger events in Europe like Nationals and Internationals.
For everyone who missed the stream - you can still rewatch it here: https://www.twitch.tv/pokemonvgc_eu/videos/all

To my point: As i always want to improve, i appreciate every kind of constructive feedback.
Do not hestitate!

Some questions i drop:

- Did you like the stream in general?

- Did you like the casters?

- Did you like the metagame analasys and stuff?


(I´d really like to improve myself - this post is mainly for improving myself. I wasn´t told by anyone to post this here!)

 

[Greenalink]

Did you like the stream in general?
* Most of the time it was ok. The first day was the weakest because there was a lengthy amount of downtime from battle phase to interview phase with casters/Ryan Hart and then battle analysis.
Day 2 remedied that by showing another battle straight after the main battle, regardless of current situation on the 'other' battle and day 3 downtime was reduced significantly because it was top 8 which obviously means less chaotic.

- The downtime especially for day 1 was just very dull with near endless techno loops. Does the stream not have the rights to play music from the actual video games?
A Pokémon Center healing theme would be a nice notification when you're all back live to start the next segment for example.

What would be even better is (now with the new dates revealed) is to show dates for official upcoming events and a small "Did you know?" box somewhere on the page to cover useful information about VGC including:
* Spread moves
* Legal Pokémon
* Typing
* STAB bonus
* Knowing who is the fastest before the very first turn
* Combos (Drizzle + Swift Swim or Water attack/Thunder)
* Common VGC items (Focus Sash, Lum Berry, Life Orb, Choice
* Important abilities (Weather setters, Terrain setters, Beast Boost, Prankster, No Dark Void on Smeargle)
* Important moves (Protect, Z-moves)

I've attached an image taken from Street Fighter V's tournament streams when there is a bit of downtime, not only they add some merchandise but also information about mechanics and upcoming events.

Did you like the casters?
+ Good diverse casters from various UK/European countries and I think it's the first English stream to have a female caster. Cheeky British puns/Drizzle humour.
- One of the English casters was speaking a bit fast to the point he lost what he was trying to say next. I admit the amount of depth is getting bigger to the point I'm slowly forgetting certain Pokémon species/moves myself.
- For the very nit picky people, I've noticed plurals on Pokémon species like: "both Celesteelas" instead of "both Celesteela" and at one point "taking him out" when the actual species in the match was female. I think it was either Alolan Marowak or Oranguru.

I'm not going to criticise on Z-status moves like asking people on Twitter what does Z-Stockpile actually do because the info to know every Z-Status move is 100 times more complex than a typical Z-Attack move.
There's pastebins on the list but 9/10 the Z-moves you'll see in VGC 2017 are mainly going to be a traditional Z-move attack for all 18 types.


- Did you like the metagame analasys and stuff?

Knowing very little other than reading a segment on the Flying Press for best new Gen 7 mons in each format, it was a huge change compared to VGC 2016 where Gen 6 boxart mascots including ORAS Primals were so good to the point it looked like Magneto-Sentinel-Storm combo in Marvel vs Capcom 2.
I never expected to see Toxic or even Recover more than once. Heck some games had a massive U-Turn in momentum when Encore was used against the opponent's Substitute and even Perish Song against the opponent's remaining 2 Pokémon. The only part that will look dull is a Celesteela mirror and Heavy Slam is the only non-status move. Overall it felt like VGC 2014 diverse but replacing Megas with a terrain setter instead.

Oh this was a thing too.

 

[Cresselia~~]

I'd say I quite like the stream and the commentators.
But it seems that some commentators do not have English as their first language, because they have a non-British accent, and they sound like their mother tongue is a Germanic language.
Not sure if it bothers other people though.

Also, there was a female commentator who was slightly too loud, and she was going on and on about Raichu and the pancakes, which was kinda not relevant to VGC.

 

[sebixxl]

Thank you guys!
Yes indeed, we got 3 british casters and 2 german ones including @tv-rocka and myself.
I guess english is one of the hardest things for us two and that is one of the reasons i keep repeating certain phrases like "absolutely" more often than i actually want.

Keep critics Coming ladies and gentlemen! I appreciate it!

 

[Eisenherz]

- Did I like the stream in general?
Absolutely. I watched from start to finish on all 3 days (barring the interludes), so I guess that's a testimony of the fact I really enjoyed it.

- Did I like the casters?
Overall, yes. One of them, whose name I unfortunately forgot (he had a shaved head?), was fantastic, his commentary was excellent and his attitude was incredibly professional. While both German casters could surely improve on their English flow and pronunciation, I think they both did a great job and had relevant commentary and analysis, which is the most important part, and a good, positive attitude. I particularly liked your humor and the banter between you and the other casters. The girl was overall good as well, I liked her cheerful attitude, and she was clearly comfortable in front of the camera. As others mentioned, she had a tendency to mention a lot of the aesthetical stuff (cute Pokémon, the Pokéball used), but I personally wasn't bothered by it too much (no one else talked about it really, so why not). The one negative would be that at times it felt a bit as though she "infantilized" the viewers (speaking to us as if we were little kids), which was a bit annoying. This leaves the other British caster, whose name I believe was Matteo. He seemed like a very nice person and I enjoyed his insightful commentary during the matches. Sadly, when he was on camera between matches, he looked nervous beyond belief, to the point where he often lost his train of thought and said things that made no sense. Also, the interviews he conducted were incredibly cringy, as both he and his guest were clearly very uncomfortable, and he had no questions prepared (which I think was a problem for almost all interviews, not just his), which forced him to come up with questions on the fly and resulted in very strange questions.
But all in all, I think the caster team did a great job for such a marathon of streaming.

- Did I like the metagame analysis and stuff?
Yes! The usage graphics were really interesting to see, it is definitely the kind of data I wanted to have about the the event, and it also really helped to get an idea of what was going on in general, because the teams we saw on stream were not always representative of what was mostly used (which is totally fine).
As for the play-by-play analysis, there were a few mistakes here and there with the new Pokémon/abilities/moves, but it has to be expected when being this early in the new games, and any mistake or oversight I noticed was corrected shortly after. The explanations made sense with what was going on, and I definitely applaud you for staying on top of it during all the Celesteela stall-fests, during which I wouldn't have thought of many things to say myself.

Overall, I think the stream was positively successful, even though it can also be improved. On a personal level, I think you did a great job and cannot find much to criticize you about.