That... Actually doesn't sound like a half bad idea. I don't think it'd make marketing more difficult, they usually advertise the legends with pre-rendered CG commercials and casual gameplay, very little if any story footage.
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That... Actually doesn't sound like a half bad idea. I don't think it'd make marketing more difficult, they usually advertise the legends with pre-rendered CG commercials and casual gameplay, very little if any story footage.
Yeah, but the whole reason mascot legendaries exist is because they 1) play an important part in the game's story, or are at least big momentous encounters (see Gold and Silver), and 2) are swapped out with their counterpart, and are often version-exclusive. They're a big factor in why someone might choose one version over the other.
It would be weird for these legendaries to get hyped up in promotional material only for them to just chilling in a cave somewhere without any relevance to the plot. At least Gold and Silver, the feather needed to access Ho-Oh and Lugia is a reward for plot stuff.
Wha, Pokemon would never have a character change their image and Pokemon that's important to them to go along the whims of a sponsor.
(This image is a lie...)
True, they would have to make the Mascot Legendaries presence notable, but that doesn't mean the Legendaries have to be part of the main story.
I actually think it might be good to just ditch the mascot legendaries altogether. Give the games a thematic difference, like villainous teams in Ruby/Sapphire or time of day in Sun/Moon, then have the box art show a scene of the protagonist(s) in a scene reflective of that game's theme. For example, Ruby could have Brendan/May climbing Mt. Chimney, while Sapphire shows them diving or surfing, or they could both be fight scenes with Archie/Maxie. Sun could have Elio/Selene, Hau, and Lillie playing on Hau'oli Beach, while Moon could have them take a night stroll through Hau'oli City.
Basically, think the box arts of the first two sets of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, except the scenes are relevant to the game's theme and not just a selection of cute (mostly starter) Pokemon surrounded by a bunch of red-eyed Pokemon who are swiggity swooty comin' for dat booty.
Hmm... my first thought was that doing away with them altogether might not be such a good idea - I suspect that people are more likely to feel strongly about the mascot Legendaries' designs (and they're more relevant to the series) than the general themes of the game. Right now, they tend to be some of the most recognizable Pokémon of the Generation, and they're designed try to make a strong first impression by tending towards imposing and cool designs - and honestly, I think the enthusiasm and borderline competitiveness that comes with being on "team Sun" or "team Shield" is pretty fun, and it would be diminished if there wasn't really a single Pokémon to be a definitive representative of that. Many casual fans probably aren't really as passionate about daytime scenes vs nighttime scenes as they might be about Solgaleo and Lunala, or at least that's not something Game Freak can count on as easily since it's not as directly relevant to Pokémon as a series?
For that matter, just having a version-exclusive Legendary Pokémon at all is slightly more significant than most other version-exclusives, because you can't just breed several of them like you can with normal Pokémon - I'm especially a fan of what Sun and Moon did in ensuring that players could access duplicates (which is way more in the spirit of trading version-exclusives than most other games have it) but still keeping them valuable by limiting their numbers, giving incentive to prioritize the version you like where your favorite was more accessible. And at that point - if you have a version-exclusive Legendary anyway - why not put it on the box whether it's plot-relevant or not?
and hey, even if the primary purpose of version exclusives is to promote trading, there are always those people who buy both versions for personal use... it would obviously be a bad thing to try to make people do that, but if you're getting extra sales from them anyway as things are, you might not want to get rid of one of the remarkably few actual reasons to keep doing that
That said, on thinking about it more, I do think this would be a cool direction to take - in particular, what about the scenes on the covers specifically showing off some of the normal version-exclusives? Like, the cover of Sun showing off some kind of cool scene with Turtonator, Passimian and Midday Lycanroc and Moon showing off Drampa, Oranguru and Midnight Lycanroc avoiding mention Alolan forms because those were kind of a big reveal and I would understand not wanting to give that away so soon - perhaps with some older Pokémon like Braviary and Mandibuzz mixed in to make it more lively, perhaps also featuring the basic forms of the starters and/or perhaps as a connecting scene like the covers of Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team?
The thing about committing to a version based on the mascot alone is that, while it's perhaps the only "truly exclusive" Pokémon for the version, it's also one that not many people are likely to use on their in-game teams, since it comes all the way at the end and also feels like cheating to a lot of players; there are a lot of people who wait to decide until the "minor" version-exclusives are revealed simply because those make a bigger difference in the end, and I think making those the earliest reveals might make it easier for those people to settle on a version?
I dunno! I don't really think there's anything wrong with having a Legendary as a version mascot, but you're certainly right that it doesn't need to be the case every time, and I'd totally welcome having better boxart than just "one Pokémon's stock artwork against an abstract background" and the chance to pick actual team members that early on instead - that would definitely do a much better job of representing the game!
My hope with this idea is that by not being forced into a plot with mostly interchangeable legendaries, Pokemon games could explore dualities that would allow for someone to prefer a certain game for reasons besides "I like this small handful of Pokemon better than this other small handful of Pokemon". Besides Ruby/Sapphire and Sun/Moon, another example of Pokemon sort of doing this is in Black/White, where the preference of either truth or ideals results in places like Opelucid City and the place between Routes 14 and 15 being different between games. Imagine differences like that, but on a larger scale.
For an extreme example of what can be done when two games in a pair focus on two complementary themes, check out the Zelda Oracle games. With one game putting focus on puzzles and the other on action, they're completely different games. If you're not familiar with a pair of obscure Zelda titles on the Game Boy Color, I recommend checking out this retrospective/critique of them.
(The dude goes into some very in-depth analyses, and his voice is buttery, so I recommend checking it out even if you are familiar with the games)
Obviously, Pokemon games don't have to (and probably shouldn't) go to such an extreme, as the more substantial differences you put in these games, the more the dev team is essentially developing two games simultaneously (and we've already seen the corners that can get cut when the team is designing a single game with a few bits of code swapped around). But not only would the extra effort result in a more customizable play experience, but it might incentivize more people to buy both games (and it wouldn't be scummy because the other game would actually provide a new experience instead of just being an expensive way to get a few version exclusives).
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I think I mentioned most if not all of this in my first post on this subject.
But not any of this.And a small detail, though still appreciated, is each movie was given a film poster:
Another fun fact, you'll notice the titles are written in various languages:
And yes, in those languages that is what the movie is titled.
- Japanese: Brycen-Man, Invaders, Big Monster
At least in English, the movie series titles are direct translations of the Japanese word on the poster. Slight exception obviously for Brycen-Man as it instead writes out Brycen's Japanese name: "Hachiku-Man".- English: Full Metal Cop, Timegate Traveler, The Giant Woman, Ghost Eraser
- Spanish: Love and Battles
The poster reads "Amor a Primera Vista" which translates to "Love at First Sight".- German: Mystery Doors of the Magical Land
The poster reads "Die Pforten des Zauberreichs" which translates to "The Gates of the Magic Realm".- Italian: The Red Fog of Terror
The poster reads "La Nebbia Rossa" which translates to "The Red Mist".- French: Everlasting Memories
The poster reads "Un Souvenir Inoubliable" which translates to "An Unforgettable Memory".
Not to mention all the other fun trivia about the movies. I suggest looking through them for yourself.
There's a lot of interesting trivia about Pokéstar Studios. Yet another thing is that the little sister character in Full Metal Cop 3 is named Pollyanna, likely after Pollyanna from the Mother/Earthbound series, which I know that some of the people who worked on Pokémon were involved in.
...at this point, it feels like there's no end to everything that can be said about the awesomeness of Pokéstar Studios. To summarize everything about it in a simple way, I really like how much effort they put into everything about this minigame, even the minor features and references. It is probably the minigame in the series which they put the most effort into creating, at least it feels that way to me.
Thanks for the tip! I read some parts of that article, it seemed well-written and it was quite funny too.If you like that little "evolution" I'd suggest checking out a Flying Press article that I and TMan87 wrote about even more Trainer Class evolution lines: Life of Trainer Lines.(And additional credit to Kaiju Bunny, Kilima, A Cake Wearing A Hat, The Dutch Plumberjack & Ryota Mitarai for their contribution)
It also gave me a new thing to think about. I liked the part where you wrote about Furisode Girls having different personalities tied to their apperances. But I must ask, was this something you based on how they act in the games, or did you just make it up for the article? If the former, then that's really cool since that is something I never really noticed in the games. And if the latter, then I can still see it being true.
This also led me to realizing that Furisode Girls are yet another of my favorite trainer classes in the series. Since my top three are Backpackers, Fairy Tale Girls and Veterans, the Furisode Girls are my fourth favorites. I really like how there are four different designs for them in the games, I think they are the only regular trainer class with four different designs in the same game. And I think all four designs are really great too. Plus I have so many fond memories of battling Furisode Girls with Audino at the Battle Chateau in X/Y, seeing them at the Laverre Gym which has a really cool design, and in the Battle Maison where they specialize in Eeveelutions IIRC. So they are my fourth favorite trainer class in the series.
This reminded me of another thing I like which is somewhat similar to what you are talking about here. Betting at the Battle Frontier in Emerald. That was a fun feature, betting some of your BP and gaining back twice the amount you betted if you won, but losing the amount you betted if you lost. A pretty fun and somewhat risky gamble which I kind of miss in future games... but at the same time, it isn't really necessary anymore since the main purpose of it was to farm BP quickly which is easier in the future generations, especially Gen 6-7.
And while we're at it, there's another thing I wanted to post here. I was so sure that I had posted it in this thread before, but it seems like I hadn't. I could at least not find it while looking through my previous posts in this thread, but I want to apologize if I missed it which means I am making a re-post. Either way, it is this: the colors of the Alolan islands and how they all appear in several different ways. Let's take a look at all of them in order.
First, there's Melemele. It is based on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, said island's official color is golden yellow. "Melemele" is Hawaiian for "yellow". At Melemele Meadow, yellow flowers can be found, as well as Yellow Nectar. This nectar changes Oricorio into Pom-Pom Style, which is yellow. It also becomes an Electric-type, a type which has yellow as its color. The Island Guardian is Tapu Koko, which has yellow parts on of its body. It is also an Electric-type. The Island Kahuna is Hala, who wears a yellow jacket.
Next there's Akala. It is based on the Hawaiian island of Maui, whose official island color is Pink. "ʻĀkala" is Hawaiian for "pink". There's no "Akala Meadow" in the games, but pink flowers grow in the bushes at Royal Avenue, where Pink Nectar can be found. This nectar changes Oricorio into Pa'u Style, which is pink. It becomes a Psychic-type, which has Pink as its color. The Island Guardian is Tapu Lele, which is mostly Pink, and it is a Psychic-type too. The Island Kahuna Olivia wears a pink top, and her shoes seem to be light pink as well.
The third island is Ula'ula. It is based on the Hawaiian island of Hawaii (The Big Island), which has red as its official color. "ʻUlaʻula" is Hawaiian for "red". Red flowers can be found at Ula'ula Meadow, with Red Nectar which changes Oricorio into Baile Style. It becomes a Fire-type, which has Red as its color. The Island Guardian is Tapu Bulu, which has red on parts of its body. The Island Kahuna Nanu wears a red shirt, and he has red eyes too.
Lastly, there's Poni Island. It is based on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, which has Purple as its official color. "Poni" is Hawaiian for "purple". Here, purple flowers can be found at Poni Meadow, as well as Purple Nectar that changes Oricorio into Sensu Style. It becomes a Ghost-type, which has purple as its color. The Island Guardian is Tapu Fini which is mostly purple. The Island Kahuna is Hapu, who wears a purple hat. She also has purple kneecaps on her pants.
What I wanted to say here is that I really like how well the colors of each island is featured in the Alola region, they imbue the colors of each island very well if you look close. There might even be more about this that I missed, but even so, the colors were more featured than I had expected when I first decided to write about this.
Thank you, glad you like it!
TMan87 wrote the Fairy Tale Girl paths. Not sure if they did any research like looking up the dialogue each Furisode Girl gives, though I think it's mainly assuming their attitude from their appearance (clothing, pose, facial expression).
Honestly I really loved what they did in Gold/Silver (and Crystal) re: mascot legendaries. I think it strikes a nice balance between what was done with legendaries in Gen 1 and subsequent generations where they are the focus of the main plot.
Not that it did happen in GSC really but perhaps legendaries not being required to be a part of the main story would allow for better plots and more creativity from the story writers in future installments.
Not that it did happen in GSC really but perhaps legendaries not being required to be a part of the main story would allow for better plots and more creativity from the story writers in future installments.
I feel like if they didn't have legends we'd still have approximately the same kind of plots and I can maybe prove it:
XY's plotline can remove the legendary Pokemon and lose absolutely nothing. They are batteries thrown in for a boss battle and could have been replaced with just about anything. Without them you still have:
-Lysandre's nihilism
-The Ancient Weapon (his ultimate goal)
-AZ & the backstory of the wars past
Without the Pokemon, they just have to replace them with an equivalent "thing". I'm not even saying that as a bad thing about how interchangable most legends are, Legendaries are just a valid tool for story telling and one they probably like since, in most cases, it means they can tie in lore, special actions (ie: Eternatus is going berserk and our only shot is to locate the wolves and hope they come, but we only found their broken weapons we have no choice but to fight or Solgaleo is the only Pokemon that can rescue Lusamine so we need to step through Poni Canyon's history to bring it forth oh shit it was nebby!!) and a capture boss. They probably really like it since it's more interesting to tie a "creature" to it than, say, Lusamine just opening up wormholes on her own and we use Science Object to travel to her later on; you can care about Nebby getting hurt or the UBs coming down and its probabyl a lot more interesting to have Lillie & Gladion steal Cosmog/Type Null than previously mentioned Vauge Science OBject or Plans.
I've been looking at pseudo-Legendaries recently, and I feel like making a post to appreciate what interesting Pokémon they all are.
When you have 600 stat points to work with and a single goal in mind, it would be incredibly easy to come up with something generically strong, minmaxed and perfectly specialized, but instead, nearly all of them are pulled in different directions - this keeps them from being overly good at any one thing, but it also gives them a ton of room for varied and creative sets; even for the ones that have individual best sets, there are other wildly different sets they could pull off at least somewhat well.
There are a couple of qualities that I think make the average pseudo-Legendary really succeed at being interesting and versatile, and I think these were really good choices on a group of Pokémon that could easily have been stronger and less interesting than they are.
- First of all, despite their high base stat totals of 600, most pseudo-Legendaries have well-rounded stats - even in the offense they don't expect to use (for goodness's sake, the lowest non-dominant offense of any pseudo-Legendary is 95 edit: small correction here - Garchomp has 80 Special Attack - but just keep reading and you'll see why even that only adds to this...) - and their most important ones usually aren't as extreme as one might expect. They're still clearly better off than most Pokémon, because having so many stat points tends to make it hard to have any outright bad stats - nearly all of them have more respectable bulk than the average Pokémon of their archetype, for example - but I appreciate how clear they steered of intentional minmaxing.
Let's take
Garchomp as an example.
Its role at a glance is pretty straightforward - it's a fast physical attacker, a role which... really only requires two stats: Attack and Speed.
So let's look at those stats first! If you were just trying to make a strong Pokémon, and you had 600 base stat points to use, you could easily give it something absurd like... 125 Attack and 125 Speed, or 154 Attack and 130 Speed, or 150 Attack and 150 Speed - all of these are stat spreads that have been used for other Pokémon (specifically Ubers), and if you just wanted to make Garchomp perfect, it would be easy to use them and still have plenty of points to spare for bulk. Who needs Special Attack anyway?
Now, to be fair, 130 Attack and 102 Speed were already pretty insane for Generation IV... but even then, the only reason Garchomp was Uber was because of evasion clause, and it's been comfortably OU ever since. It seems like there was definitely some restraint when choosing its stats - and as excellent a speed tier as 102 was for Gen IV, Garchomp has higher HP than it does Speed, and there were clearly points to spare.
- Adding to their well-roundedness rather than specialization, most of the pseudo-Legendaries have Abilities that add to their defensive utility instead of bolstering their offenses any further.
Tyranitar's Sand Stream does residual damage and boosts its Special Defense by 50%; 
Salamence's Intimidate effectively increases its Defense by 50%, if temporarily; 
Dragonite's Multiscale doubles its Defense and Special Defense only until it takes its first hit; Garchomp's Rough Skin relies on taking hits and deals chip damage back; 
Hydreigon's Levitate is just an immunity; 
Kommo-o has three different immunities...
With the exception of Salamence's Moxie, not one pseudo-Legendary has an Ability that just directly boosts the power of its attacks (and even Moxie isn't always run in favor of Intimidate, and it was also a late addition, while Salamence itself was designed around Intimidate from the start).
- On the other hand, two thirds of our nine pseudo-Legendaries are stuck dealing with double-weaknesses to help keep them in check - often to what are already some of the most common attacking types in the game - and Dragapult, one of the three without any, is also the frailest of the bunch. That's not to say that they have bad type combinations, but I think this is another relevant point showing that they were made with balance and clear flaws in mind rather than meant to be totally ideal.
- Many pseudo-Legendaries have movepools that don't force them into any one role, which capitalizes on the versatility of their stat spreads - of the nine pseudo-Legendaries, I think all but two of them are capable of running sets that are wildly unlike what you'd expect.
- At one point, Dragonite had like six different sets that were not even similar in roles, and all of them were viable.
- Tyranitar is sometimes a borderline special tank that's most notable for its sandstorm support, and also sometimes runs straight sweeping sets despite its base 61 Speed thanks to its boosting move access.
- Salamence might usually be a straightforward attacker, but I've personally had a great deal of fun using it as offensive support, capitalizing on its unspoken niche as the bulkiest Pokémon to learn both Wish and Defog paired with the defensive utility of Intimidate and the fact that it only needs two moves for near-perfect neutral coverage.
- Garchomp, the aforementioned straightforward physical sweeper, is regularly used... as a mixed attacker (???) that's most valuable for its Stealth Rock support (???!!!).
-
Goodra, despite having the stats of a simple wall and a seemingly excellent defensive Ability in Hydration, is dominantly used offensively with Assault Vest four attacks sets, with a niche for physical Curse sets for good measure.
- Kommo-o's best set right now revolves around Iron Defense of all moves, and it also has become strongly associated with a signature gimmick of omniboosting, including Clangorous Soulblaze (a Z-Move that carried it from one of the weakest pseudo-Legendaries to OU in USUM and also paid homage to its status as the final Totem Pokémon) and its replacement Clangorous Soul (a move that presents itself as an omniboost... but by cutting HP by 33%, exactly enough to offset the Defense and Special Defense boosts it provides, it effectively becomes a mixed Dragon Dance instead - on a Pokémon that already has regular Dragon Dance - just to add a unique option and check another box from the list of physical and special moves being intentionally non-parallel). It's a pseudo-Legendary that's carried by being a gimmick Pokémon, and I love it.
- Most impressively,
Dragapult is an insanely fast offensive Pokémon with base 120 Attack and Dragon Dance access... so naturally, its best set is as a special attacker and status spreader and doesn't run boosting moves! This is exactly what I mean when I say that their movepools impact their versatility and battle styles even more than their main unifying trait of BST of 600. I'm absolutely amazed that, with its moveset alone, Dragapult somehow managed to turn an entire 120 points into a throwaway stat.
On the whole... pseudo-Legendaries are basically a million times more nuanced and interesting than they might have been in someone else's hands (certainly more so than if I had been put in charge and didn't know what I was doing! XP), and I just felt like it was worth acknowledging how distinct they always seem to be. I just think this is a really cool bunch of Pokémon and want to give them some appreciation!
When you have 600 stat points to work with and a single goal in mind, it would be incredibly easy to come up with something generically strong, minmaxed and perfectly specialized, but instead, nearly all of them are pulled in different directions - this keeps them from being overly good at any one thing, but it also gives them a ton of room for varied and creative sets; even for the ones that have individual best sets, there are other wildly different sets they could pull off at least somewhat well.
There are a couple of qualities that I think make the average pseudo-Legendary really succeed at being interesting and versatile, and I think these were really good choices on a group of Pokémon that could easily have been stronger and less interesting than they are.
- First of all, despite their high base stat totals of 600, most pseudo-Legendaries have well-rounded stats - even in the offense they don't expect to use (for goodness's sake, the lowest non-dominant offense of any pseudo-Legendary is 95 edit: small correction here - Garchomp has 80 Special Attack - but just keep reading and you'll see why even that only adds to this...) - and their most important ones usually aren't as extreme as one might expect. They're still clearly better off than most Pokémon, because having so many stat points tends to make it hard to have any outright bad stats - nearly all of them have more respectable bulk than the average Pokémon of their archetype, for example - but I appreciate how clear they steered of intentional minmaxing.
Let's take
Garchomp as an example.Its role at a glance is pretty straightforward - it's a fast physical attacker, a role which... really only requires two stats: Attack and Speed.
So let's look at those stats first! If you were just trying to make a strong Pokémon, and you had 600 base stat points to use, you could easily give it something absurd like... 125 Attack and 125 Speed, or 154 Attack and 130 Speed, or 150 Attack and 150 Speed - all of these are stat spreads that have been used for other Pokémon (specifically Ubers), and if you just wanted to make Garchomp perfect, it would be easy to use them and still have plenty of points to spare for bulk. Who needs Special Attack anyway?
Now, to be fair, 130 Attack and 102 Speed were already pretty insane for Generation IV... but even then, the only reason Garchomp was Uber was because of evasion clause, and it's been comfortably OU ever since. It seems like there was definitely some restraint when choosing its stats - and as excellent a speed tier as 102 was for Gen IV, Garchomp has higher HP than it does Speed, and there were clearly points to spare.
- Adding to their well-roundedness rather than specialization, most of the pseudo-Legendaries have Abilities that add to their defensive utility instead of bolstering their offenses any further.
Tyranitar's Sand Stream does residual damage and boosts its Special Defense by 50%; Salamence's Intimidate effectively increases its Defense by 50%, if temporarily; Dragonite's Multiscale doubles its Defense and Special Defense only until it takes its first hit; Garchomp's Rough Skin relies on taking hits and deals chip damage back; Hydreigon's Levitate is just an immunity; Kommo-o has three different immunities...With the exception of Salamence's Moxie, not one pseudo-Legendary has an Ability that just directly boosts the power of its attacks (and even Moxie isn't always run in favor of Intimidate, and it was also a late addition, while Salamence itself was designed around Intimidate from the start).
- On the other hand, two thirds of our nine pseudo-Legendaries are stuck dealing with double-weaknesses to help keep them in check - often to what are already some of the most common attacking types in the game - and Dragapult, one of the three without any, is also the frailest of the bunch. That's not to say that they have bad type combinations, but I think this is another relevant point showing that they were made with balance and clear flaws in mind rather than meant to be totally ideal.
- Many pseudo-Legendaries have movepools that don't force them into any one role, which capitalizes on the versatility of their stat spreads - of the nine pseudo-Legendaries, I think all but two of them are capable of running sets that are wildly unlike what you'd expect.
- At one point,
Dragonite had like six different sets that were not even similar in roles, and all of them were viable.-
Tyranitar is sometimes a borderline special tank that's most notable for its sandstorm support, and also sometimes runs straight sweeping sets despite its base 61 Speed thanks to its boosting move access.-
Salamence might usually be a straightforward attacker, but I've personally had a great deal of fun using it as offensive support, capitalizing on its unspoken niche as the bulkiest Pokémon to learn both Wish and Defog paired with the defensive utility of Intimidate and the fact that it only needs two moves for near-perfect neutral coverage.-
Garchomp, the aforementioned straightforward physical sweeper, is regularly used... as a mixed attacker (???) that's most valuable for its Stealth Rock support (???!!!).-
Goodra, despite having the stats of a simple wall and a seemingly excellent defensive Ability in Hydration, is dominantly used offensively with Assault Vest four attacks sets, with a niche for physical Curse sets for good measure.-
Kommo-o's best set right now revolves around Iron Defense of all moves, and it also has become strongly associated with a signature gimmick of omniboosting, including Clangorous Soulblaze (a Z-Move that carried it from one of the weakest pseudo-Legendaries to OU in USUM and also paid homage to its status as the final Totem Pokémon) and its replacement Clangorous Soul (a move that presents itself as an omniboost... but by cutting HP by 33%, exactly enough to offset the Defense and Special Defense boosts it provides, it effectively becomes a mixed Dragon Dance instead - on a Pokémon that already has regular Dragon Dance - just to add a unique option and check another box from the list of physical and special moves being intentionally non-parallel). It's a pseudo-Legendary that's carried by being a gimmick Pokémon, and I love it.- Most impressively,
Dragapult is an insanely fast offensive Pokémon with base 120 Attack and Dragon Dance access... so naturally, its best set is as a special attacker and status spreader and doesn't run boosting moves! This is exactly what I mean when I say that their movepools impact their versatility and battle styles even more than their main unifying trait of BST of 600. I'm absolutely amazed that, with its moveset alone, Dragapult somehow managed to turn an entire 120 points into a throwaway stat.On the whole... pseudo-Legendaries are basically a million times more nuanced and interesting than they might have been in someone else's hands (certainly more so than if I had been put in charge and didn't know what I was doing! XP), and I just felt like it was worth acknowledging how distinct they always seem to be. I just think this is a really cool bunch of Pokémon and want to give them some appreciation!
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I was going through Pokemon world in relation to the real world page in Bulbapedia and stumbled upon the Ruins of Conflict. It's real world location is the Puʻu o Mahuka Heiau, the highest temple in Hawaii. The part I like is that it has its own Guardian Rooster.
Heyo I'm gonna talk about my two favorite cities in the series. What makes them interesting and why I'm talking about them together is that they have completely opposite designs and aesthetics which I love equally!
And those are my two favorite cities in the series: Very different, but equally captivating and fun to traverse!
Black and White 1/2: Castelia City
This one's not a hot take, a lot of people love Castelia City and for good reason, the sense of scale this places gives is really something to behold! Imposing skyscrapers, crowded streets and a multitude of different, multi-floored buildings to explore with all kinds of goodies. You even got a shady street with a little cafe!
And what about that bangin soundtrack?
Entering into the city via Skyarrow Bridge with this on for the first time... Truly mesmerizing, the New York atmosphere is just extended further via this track!
This one's not a hot take, a lot of people love Castelia City and for good reason, the sense of scale this places gives is really something to behold! Imposing skyscrapers, crowded streets and a multitude of different, multi-floored buildings to explore with all kinds of goodies. You even got a shady street with a little cafe!
And what about that bangin soundtrack?
Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: Mauville City
As I said at the beginning, this city is just as cool as Castelia imo, but for the complete opposite reason. One thing you may not know about me is that I'm not claustrophobic at all: In fact I'm a huge fan of super duper compact architecture , and boy does the revamped Mauville deliver! Like Castelia there's a bunch to do including shops, sidequests and the gym battle with Wattson, but all of it takes place in an interconnected set of rooms that feels like a futuristic space colony, one that keeps opening up as you progress through the game and gain access to the upper floors, including the Mauville Hills apartment complex, which just adds on to the aesthetic.
Mauville's also got its own cool track:
Yeah it's used for Mossdeep and Rustboro too, but honestly I think Mauville rocks it the best. People have described it sounding like elevator music, which once again fits with the redesign, I can imagine this being played on loudspeakers, echoing through the halls as people walk around.
As I said at the beginning, this city is just as cool as Castelia imo, but for the complete opposite reason. One thing you may not know about me is that I'm not claustrophobic at all: In fact I'm a huge fan of super duper compact architecture , and boy does the revamped Mauville deliver! Like Castelia there's a bunch to do including shops, sidequests and the gym battle with Wattson, but all of it takes place in an interconnected set of rooms that feels like a futuristic space colony, one that keeps opening up as you progress through the game and gain access to the upper floors, including the Mauville Hills apartment complex, which just adds on to the aesthetic.
Mauville's also got its own cool track:
And those are my two favorite cities in the series: Very different, but equally captivating and fun to traverse!
While I think that the Alola games do have some glaring flaws, like: Rotom Dex, Lot of Alola Pokemon being too rare, terrible encounter rates, general lack of complex of dungeons, no skip option on Z-Move cutscenes, how they handled fishing, and way too many references to Kanto. I still think they are some of the prettiest games in the series, or at least when it comes to full 3D. A lot of it has to come from the new camera angle and the lack of a fixed grid, allowing various points of views that was not possible from the bird's eye view camera angle. An example would be the stars at nighttime in Hau'oli city. Seeing those stars would be an impossibility with the traditional camera. Alola also has various biomes and areas that are colorful with different varieties, like the deserts of Ula'Ula' or the black sands of the Thrifty Mega Market.
That being said, its not perfect. One massive problem I have with models in SM is that seems every model, whether it be Pokemon, NPC, or even buildings, have a high polygon count. This is obviously done for the future proofing the models for use not only just the main series games, but for other hardware like Mobile Phones and Arcade Machines. But because of these high polygon models, the game drops frame rates constantly. As a result, it looks very pixilated and blurry when up close. That's probably why it takes a lot of time for people to recognize how colorful the backgrounds are. It also does not help the game lags considerably/ frame rate drops when you have multiple Pokemon on the field, making it feel even more slow. The problems are even worse on the original 3DS, where things like extra loading time, Player model starts being ever 15 seconds longer, and text boxes having slower reaction makes it very clear they wanted you to play this on the New 3DS. And the loading screen. As someone who started Moon on the original 3DS, I could feel it straining on the hardware. I thought the game had crashed when it first started on my 3DS.
That being said, I still like SM/USM despite their flaws. They are my third favorite games, behind BW2 and Platinum, and it’s tied between HGSS. And here's a comparison of frame rate for 3DS vs New 3DS.
That being said, its not perfect. One massive problem I have with models in SM is that seems every model, whether it be Pokemon, NPC, or even buildings, have a high polygon count. This is obviously done for the future proofing the models for use not only just the main series games, but for other hardware like Mobile Phones and Arcade Machines. But because of these high polygon models, the game drops frame rates constantly. As a result, it looks very pixilated and blurry when up close. That's probably why it takes a lot of time for people to recognize how colorful the backgrounds are. It also does not help the game lags considerably/ frame rate drops when you have multiple Pokemon on the field, making it feel even more slow. The problems are even worse on the original 3DS, where things like extra loading time, Player model starts being ever 15 seconds longer, and text boxes having slower reaction makes it very clear they wanted you to play this on the New 3DS. And the loading screen. As someone who started Moon on the original 3DS, I could feel it straining on the hardware. I thought the game had crashed when it first started on my 3DS.
That being said, I still like SM/USM despite their flaws. They are my third favorite games, behind BW2 and Platinum, and it’s tied between HGSS. And here's a comparison of frame rate for 3DS vs New 3DS.
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I like how even the worst Pokemon can still be used if you feel like it. Wanna use a Ledian? Go ahead! Maractus? Right away! A team consisting completely of an unevolved Sentret? ChaoticMeatball did it, so you can too! Competitively, no, but it's nice to know that no Pokemon is completely unusable. No combination is impossible, and I love that.
That is the double edged sword that are Pokemon games.
You can use any pokemon you find really, regardless of its stats, nature or ability because the games are very easy, grindable and not really punishing, which is very kid friendly.
However, that means that in order to have any sort of challenge playing a Pokemon game, it has to be self imposed.
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This is part of why I think postgames are so important. It allows the main story to be beatable with suboptimal strategy, but still leaves something there for people who want to master a game's mechanics.
WhileI do think more difficulty options would be good and for the games to have a little more bite to them...I do really like how the games makes it (generally) easy to do self imposed challenges. It is a lot more reasonable to just go eh I wont interact with, say, Pokemonamie and get affection bonuses. It's easy to just use kind of bad Pokemon, especially if you like them. It's easy to just not use items if you dont want. Since the main crux of the game is building a team from a variety of Pokemon, its easy to do themed challenges, which kind of ties back to the bad pokemon thing. And if you dont want to overlevel, it's fairly easy to skip wild battles or trainers or turn off the exp share (*stares directly into the camera*) and deal with what you have at lower levels.
For as handholdy as the games are it very rarely imposes things like this on you. Obviously a sharp levle bump is a sign you should probably grind a little and such, but there's ltos of ways to pick and choose and its not like it's forcing the Affection mechanic or anything.
For as handholdy as the games are it very rarely imposes things like this on you. Obviously a sharp levle bump is a sign you should probably grind a little and such, but there's ltos of ways to pick and choose and its not like it's forcing the Affection mechanic or anything.
Bell Tower happens to be my most favorite location too, and Ho-Oh is my favorite Pokémon in the entire franchise. Good taste!My favorite location in the entire series is the Bell Tower as seen in HeartGold and SoulSilver. Mainly for the trees.
I mean, look at it!
As I've said before, I love Halloween and I love fall. Seeing all these beautiful autumnal colors just makes me incredibly happy, especially since I live in an area where trees are green until December, in which the leaves are orange for about 5 seconds then fall off.
Please don’t hate on Magneton and Spinda. They’re both adorable.
Here's a discussion that may be fun to start in here, that I'm not sure I've seen discussed too deeply before: deepening the characters of NPCs through their Pokémon choices.
I'm doing a repeat playthrough of XD right now and fought Rogue Cail, a prominent NPC in both Colosseum and XD. His team is as follows:
For context, Rogue Cail is the "gatekeeper" of Pyrite Town, an impoverished city with a lot of crime and little income. Cail fits the stereotypical young guy living in a rough area, with his two dogs and, I think, his drugs where Seedot is cannabis and Ralts is acid or another psychedelic. I could be way off the mark, but Ralts is otherwise a confusing member of the team since it's pretty girly, whereas the rest of his team are pretty "hard" for lack of a better word. And in Colosseum he had Machop instead of Houndour, another "hard", manly Pokémon to fit the theme. Nuzleaf and Shiftry are also notable for having Extrasensory as a signature move in Gen III, which could be why it was chosen to signify cannabis over something like Oddish since Shiftry uses Extrasensory in Cail's final rematch moveset. The connection isn't massive but tell me you can't imagine people like Cail getting their Ralts to use Confusion on them so they trip. I can see it enough to think that Genius Sonority may have thought of it when making the team. They feature Pokémon using moves on humans in their games pretty frequently.
Are there any other examples of something like this that you can think of? There are obvious things like Bug Catchers using bugs, but I think these non-type specific teams with a theme are really cool in concept and I don't think they've been done enough over the course of the series.
I'm doing a repeat playthrough of XD right now and fought Rogue Cail, a prominent NPC in both Colosseum and XD. His team is as follows:
For context, Rogue Cail is the "gatekeeper" of Pyrite Town, an impoverished city with a lot of crime and little income. Cail fits the stereotypical young guy living in a rough area, with his two dogs and, I think, his drugs where Seedot is cannabis and Ralts is acid or another psychedelic. I could be way off the mark, but Ralts is otherwise a confusing member of the team since it's pretty girly, whereas the rest of his team are pretty "hard" for lack of a better word. And in Colosseum he had Machop instead of Houndour, another "hard", manly Pokémon to fit the theme. Nuzleaf and Shiftry are also notable for having Extrasensory as a signature move in Gen III, which could be why it was chosen to signify cannabis over something like Oddish since Shiftry uses Extrasensory in Cail's final rematch moveset. The connection isn't massive but tell me you can't imagine people like Cail getting their Ralts to use Confusion on them so they trip. I can see it enough to think that Genius Sonority may have thought of it when making the team. They feature Pokémon using moves on humans in their games pretty frequently.
Are there any other examples of something like this that you can think of? There are obvious things like Bug Catchers using bugs, but I think these non-type specific teams with a theme are really cool in concept and I don't think they've been done enough over the course of the series.
I uhhh
I really don't think seedot & ralts are meant to be drug parallels, ngl. Like, genuinely that seems way off base and a big reach.
Seedot becomes a trickster spirit dark type but honestly Ralts just seems like the typical "joke". He's the tough punk with a soft heart represented by the dainty Ralts line (and to an extent the goofy frilly bulldog but that's jokes within jokes).
I really don't think seedot & ralts are meant to be drug parallels, ngl. Like, genuinely that seems way off base and a big reach.
Seedot becomes a trickster spirit dark type but honestly Ralts just seems like the typical "joke". He's the tough punk with a soft heart represented by the dainty Ralts line (and to an extent the goofy frilly bulldog but that's jokes within jokes).
I agree with R_N on this, I think you're reaching with the drug reference. But if you want I could give a whack at looking into Cail's team deeper:
Pokemon Colloseum:
Now in the original Colloseum, Cail is just a hoodlum, we see him tricking Officer Johnson into letting him go then calling him an idiot behind his back. Cail is a NPC with minor importance, he's the first trainer you catch a Shadow Pokemon from and tells you where he got the Shadow Pokemon. Then throughout the game he does give Wes useful information though only after he's been beaten in a battle. You could maybe consider him Wes's Rival in that way, he even has his own special Trainer Class, Rogue.
Team: Machop, Seedot, Ralts, Shadow Furret; Snubbull later replaces Shadow Furret.
Cail has decided to become the self-appointed Gatekeeper of Pyrite Town. Note he doesn't go through any character development in the original game, in this game he just decides he's now the gatekeeper (also note you don't need to battle him, he only says anything if you go up and talk to him). And that's it for his role in this game, you can go back and battle him every so often and he'll say he trained his party. His Pokemon movesets are also more straightforward, don't think there's much strategy or team synergy in the previous game (and also his party somehow regressed back to their basic stages and low levels).
Team: Houndour, Seedot, Ralts, Snubbull
Just going to be general here. Odd he would drop Machop instead of Seedot if we're supposed to believe he turned over a new leaf, plus muscles would make for a better gatekeeper than trickery. Possible hint he may not be all on the up and up? Who knows, if it was they don't do anything with it. But let's focus on the team he has: Houndour and Snubbull can be looked upon being guard dogs, useful to have for a gatekeeper. Ralts remains probably to show he's still got his smarts, he'd likely be a better watchman than Officer Johnson if not just more aware of things going on in Pyrite Town. Infact, maybe that's why he opted to have Seedot instead of Machop. As the gatekeeper he doesn't really have a need for extra muscle as now he's spending most of his time in once place. However since he's now spending most of his time in one place he's not as easily learning all that's going around in Pyrite Town he once used to. However Seedot being his trickster could be handy in going out and gathering information; as a Seedot it would just pretend to be inanimate and listen onto conversations and as it evolves it'll just spy from the shadows, around corners, on rooftops, etc..
However, no matter what game he's in, I got to give him this: he has a pretty well put together team. Like, I'd dare say his team puts some Gym Leaders and core series Rivals to shame. I'd say his team would even still be decent in Single Battles, especially his later teams. I'm actually shocked they thought to keep Foresight on Machop for the sole purpose if the player used Misdreavus. Then all the other little strategies here and there show Genius Sonority did want him to be a genuine challenge or a battle the player would have to be more careful with than all the others.
Pokemon Colloseum:
Now in the original Colloseum, Cail is just a hoodlum, we see him tricking Officer Johnson into letting him go then calling him an idiot behind his back. Cail is a NPC with minor importance, he's the first trainer you catch a Shadow Pokemon from and tells you where he got the Shadow Pokemon. Then throughout the game he does give Wes useful information though only after he's been beaten in a battle. You could maybe consider him Wes's Rival in that way, he even has his own special Trainer Class, Rogue.
Team: Machop, Seedot, Ralts, Shadow Furret; Snubbull later replaces Shadow Furret.
- Machop is his muscle. Cail doesn't look to be that strong of a guy, but he doesn't need to be when he has a Pokemon who can bench press a truck. This shows with its movepool. First battle has it with Karate Chop, Focus Energy, and Strength; it's made to hit hard hoping for Crits. Later on it replaces its moveset with Seismic Toss, Counter, Dig, and Foresight; a more cautious moveset that's made to get around Machop's weak spots and catch an opponent unprepared (oddly his Machop is several levels above when it should have evolved). When it does evolve into a Machoke next battle it goes back to a more straightforward moveset with Submission, Strength, Dig, and Foresight (I love how it probably only had Foresight just in case the player has Misdreavus on their team). His final battle has it fully evolved into a Machamp with all hard hitting moves: Cross Chop, Strength, Earthquake, and Rock Slide (so he not only had additional coverage but doesn't need to rely on Foresight to hit Misdreavus).
- Seedot is his trickster, something that becomes more apparent when it evolves. But even as a Seedot it might surprise you by looking like an inanimate object before startling you by moving around and running off, and by then Cail would have done what misdeed he needed the distraction for. And as it evolves it only becomes more devious in its deception becoming part Dark-type. Initial moves as a Seedot are Rock Smash & Bide, it's plan is to weaken your Defense and/or knock yourself out with your own power. Evolving to a Nuzleaf gives it a more reasonable moveset of Bullet Seed, Bide, Dig & Harden. While effective for battle I can also see how it can use these moves to assist with Cail's schemes: Bullet Seed to make a distracting noise far away, Dig to set up traps or help him escape, and Harden & Bide work together if he needs to turn and fight back against a strong opponent. Oddly Nuzleaf later has a completely different moveset just focused on attacking: Faint Attack, Dig, Growth, and Cut; not sure why he got rid of Bullet Seed. Finally as a Shiftry it's all business with Giga Drain, Faint Attack, Extrasensory & Nature Power.
- Ralts is his scheming partner. You don't get far on the streets without having some wits. At first Ralts only has Confusion and Imprison, Imprison being notable as it would lock Wes's Espeon from using its Confusion so if you're relying on it that can complicate things especially if Machop hasn't been dealt with (GASP, is that team synergy from an NPC?). When it becomes a Kirlia is gets Light Screen and Disable, reducing damage to his team and trying to disable even more of your Pokemon's moves. From then on Kirlia and then Gardevoir get a much more fiercer moveset with Psychic, Light Screen, Safeguard, and Secret Power/Thunderbolt.
- Not really going to deep dive into Shadow Furret, it was just the Shadow Pokemon that he was given by Miror B.. Though him not only having it but knowing exactly what it is shows Cail has a loose morality. After Wes snatches the Shadow Furret Cail then complains Miror B. "scammed" him as Shadow Pokemon weren't unbeatable, once again questionable behavior as he's not upset Wes just took Furret from him but upset Furret was easily defeated. It sets up his character as being selfish and having no loyalties. I think the only reason he actively helps Wes and Rui is because he just wants to battle Wes, not from wanting to do any good.
- Finally Snubbull is his replacement for Shadow Furret, essentially he just got an attack dog. And that what it does, throuhgout all its movesets they're all attacks with the only exception being the one time it has Scary Face which still goes toward it trying to be fierce. It also has Intimidate which is probably the best Ability any of his Pokemon has as he can make use of it right away (Seedot has Early Bird which is whatever, Ralts has Trace which could give you trouble, and Machop has Guts which can be trouble if you rely on status ailments), it pairs nicely with Ralts' Light Screen as now you have a Attack drop and Special Attacks do half the damage.
Cail has decided to become the self-appointed Gatekeeper of Pyrite Town. Note he doesn't go through any character development in the original game, in this game he just decides he's now the gatekeeper (also note you don't need to battle him, he only says anything if you go up and talk to him). And that's it for his role in this game, you can go back and battle him every so often and he'll say he trained his party. His Pokemon movesets are also more straightforward, don't think there's much strategy or team synergy in the previous game (and also his party somehow regressed back to their basic stages and low levels).
Team: Houndour, Seedot, Ralts, Snubbull
Just going to be general here. Odd he would drop Machop instead of Seedot if we're supposed to believe he turned over a new leaf, plus muscles would make for a better gatekeeper than trickery. Possible hint he may not be all on the up and up? Who knows, if it was they don't do anything with it. But let's focus on the team he has: Houndour and Snubbull can be looked upon being guard dogs, useful to have for a gatekeeper. Ralts remains probably to show he's still got his smarts, he'd likely be a better watchman than Officer Johnson if not just more aware of things going on in Pyrite Town. Infact, maybe that's why he opted to have Seedot instead of Machop. As the gatekeeper he doesn't really have a need for extra muscle as now he's spending most of his time in once place. However since he's now spending most of his time in one place he's not as easily learning all that's going around in Pyrite Town he once used to. However Seedot being his trickster could be handy in going out and gathering information; as a Seedot it would just pretend to be inanimate and listen onto conversations and as it evolves it'll just spy from the shadows, around corners, on rooftops, etc..
However, no matter what game he's in, I got to give him this: he has a pretty well put together team. Like, I'd dare say his team puts some Gym Leaders and core series Rivals to shame. I'd say his team would even still be decent in Single Battles, especially his later teams. I'm actually shocked they thought to keep Foresight on Machop for the sole purpose if the player used Misdreavus. Then all the other little strategies here and there show Genius Sonority did want him to be a genuine challenge or a battle the player would have to be more careful with than all the others.