Ohhhhh… I probably should have known that. But nope, I pretty much only play gen 3 OU, but I have a passive interest in 1-5 and I enjoy watching ORAS even though I’ve never actually played it.
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The Well #71- CALLOUS
- Thread starter CALLOUS
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Ohhhhh… I probably should have known that. But nope, I pretty much only play gen 3 OU, but I have a passive interest in 1-5 and I enjoy watching ORAS even though I’ve never actually played it.
am i your son?
Sure! I briefly touched on my video game collection in the original post but I can certainly get into more detail with that. So, for starters, to really emphasize the size of the collection, two ish years ago my wife and I purchased this shelf, thinking it'd be enough, and then less than a year later it was clear that it wasn't and we bought a second one, and that's to say nothing of all the handheld and digital games we also have. Like you said, JRPGs are indeed my favorite and the most represented genre in our collection, but they aren't my wife's favorite and we both play a variety of genres so we have quite a bit of other stuff too. I have played video games my entire life. I was literally three when I started. I played Final Fantasy 7 right when it first came out in NA and I was absolutely blown away and I've been super into JRPGs from that point on. Final Fantasy 8 is my favorite video game of all time, with 7/9/10 all somewhere on my all time top 10 list, in addition to Telltale's The Walking Dead Season 1 and Supergiant's Pyre as non JRPG games that I really, really like.
As a collector I only purchase games that I fully intend on actually playing. If one wanted to simply collect video games- any video games- and simply amass the largest collection possible quantity wise, there are a plethora of ways one can obtain games in bulk for pennies each. I've always been in the mindset of quality over quantity and only spending money on things that actually interest me and I certainly hate clutter. That being said, my backlog is so insane between the huge size of my collection, the rate at which I add to it and the flat out lack of free time I have to actually play the games that even if I were to stop buying games all together until I've played all of the ones I already have it would conservatively take me years to catch up. There just aren't enough hours in the day, and I have many games, even dating back to PS1/PS2, that are still in factory sealed plastic.
If you can name a JRPG, or even just an RPG for that matter, I probably have it, including some rarer and more expensive games like a physical Suikoden 2 or Valkyrie Profile. I also have a good amount of strategy games, a few shooters and of course a few random oddballs that don't fit very well into generic category labels. Genres I generally don't like are Platformers, Puzzle and Sports games. I find Platformers and Puzzle games really frustrating and tedious more than fun and I'm just not a big enough sports fan to get into any of the games based on actual leagues/actual players. I'm not anti-sports, I just don't really care. Finally, my wife and I really, really love to play couch co-op games together. We've beaten a ton of things together, usually getting the Platinum Trophy, such as Overcooked 1 and 2, Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2, all the Borderlands games, all the Trine games, Moving Out, Tools Up, Castle Crashers and many others. Some games we play together one or both of us don't even overly like, but anything we can do together is a good time as far as we're concerned, and we refuse to play games against each other. Teammates or bust!
Awww... Reading this tugged on my heart strings, for real. Hearing that kind of thing from someone as accomplished and respected as you are is really gratifying.
Me in mons in three years... Man... I really, truly don't know. Truthfully I wrestle back and forth with that a lot. There are a lot of things about mons that I still enjoy such as managing team tours, socializing with friends, building teams... There are also definitely things I don't enjoy such as the really toxic and unhealthy culture certain portions of this community seem to absolutely revel in, scheduling/no penalties for people being jerks about scheduling and most of all the huge, huge, huge time and effort sink hosting big tournaments is. It directly takes away from time with my wife, which is a huge deal to me, and the older I get the more I value my ever-shrinking amount of free time. Time really, really is the single most precious resource in the world. It doesn't matter how attractive, talented, rich, intelligent, whatever you may be- ultimately, no one beats the clock. Thinking that way sometimes it's really hard to continue putting time into something I don't necessarily get all that much out of. Sometimes I feel genuinely appreciated by the community, certainly among the biggest of which that immediately come to mind are how fiercely people stuck up for me with the SPL drama last year and also during CALLOUS Invitational where the sheer amount of support and donations are insanely humbling and heartwarming. However, on the flip side of that, it feels like certain people on Smogon give me a lot of crap, seemingly entirely unprovoked, and I don't understand why and it certainly doesn't feel good. I don't understand why people have to be like that. I'm going to sign up to manage SPL again this year (co-manager still unknown) and go from there. I sincerely believe I deserve another chance on multiple levels given the BS I had to put up with last year and the drama/distraction, not to mention I won ROAPL again this year and have continued all year long to do things, including hosting tours and giving away my money, to benefit the entire competitive mons community, so we'll sign up and see what happens. Certainly if I'm allowed to manage again it's far more likely to keep me around longer than if I'm not. Either way, while I'm not quite ready to hang up the boots at this very moment, I'm certainly writing all this in the twilight of my career and I know I won't still be here when I'm 40. Like I said, let's see what happens with SPL and go from there...
You know, regrettably, with some of the wild times I had back in my traveling days, I can't say with 100% certainty that you aren't...
Hello!
Your well makes it apparent that you were one of the best Magic players in the world at one point (and more than likely you are now too!).
So my question for you is: do you believe that anyone can become a top tier magic player if they practice enough? Or is getting to the truly top level not achievable for all? Is there some special talent, some knack that, as my friends would say, some people "just got" and some people "just don't got"?
How would you answer the previous question if it were about pokemon instead?
Why do you enjoy martial arts? People have a variety of reasons from "I improve my self-discipline" to "me like punch people!", and your reason is obviously particularly compelling to you if you've opened a fighting gym.
My last of the serious questions is (I've read every single word in this well but my brain is fried so hopefully you haven't answered this already): Why ADV? Is it just because it's the first gen you played? Or is there something special about the nature of ADV that can't be matched?
What was your favorite deck type in Hearthstone? Please don't say grim patron.
How many beers would Mike Tyson have to drink before you could beat him in a fight > 90% of the time?
Finally, thanks for making all your answers interesting. This is a good way for the well to come back smogoff.
Your well makes it apparent that you were one of the best Magic players in the world at one point (and more than likely you are now too!).
So my question for you is: do you believe that anyone can become a top tier magic player if they practice enough? Or is getting to the truly top level not achievable for all? Is there some special talent, some knack that, as my friends would say, some people "just got" and some people "just don't got"?
How would you answer the previous question if it were about pokemon instead?
Why do you enjoy martial arts? People have a variety of reasons from "I improve my self-discipline" to "me like punch people!", and your reason is obviously particularly compelling to you if you've opened a fighting gym.
My last of the serious questions is (I've read every single word in this well but my brain is fried so hopefully you haven't answered this already): Why ADV? Is it just because it's the first gen you played? Or is there something special about the nature of ADV that can't be matched?
What was your favorite deck type in Hearthstone? Please don't say grim patron.
How many beers would Mike Tyson have to drink before you could beat him in a fight > 90% of the time?
Finally, thanks for making all your answers interesting. This is a good way for the well to come back smogoff.
i've missed this <3
The Magic question is a hard one. I do believe as an in general some people are just naturally better at certain things than others, but I also believe there are other people who maybe aren't as naturally talented who put in a ton of work and become really good. Can anyone who wants to get to the top level? No. The same way some people, no matter how badly they want it and how much time and effort they are willing to put in, could simply never be in the NBA, period. But could anyone who really, truly wanted to become proficient or better? I'd think so. The top level of anything is a different animal and I have countless examples of this from my own experiences. League of Legends, for example, I was a longtime Diamond 2/1 player and was able to maintain that for five or six seasons in a row. Percentage wise, grand scheme, that makes me better than the vast majority of players and it certainly makes me a good League of Legends player. However, the top level is completely completely different. I would have no business, ever, on a professional team and would get absolutely dunked on by professional/Challenger players, and it wouldn't even be close. I could lane against a Challenger opponent and be down 0-3 and behind 80 CS in ten minutes, and that's not an anomaly. There's just much, much better than you. Another example, this one obviously not relating to me personally, there's this ex-NBA player, Brian Scalabrine, who used to play for the Celtics. He hosted this special tournament thingy called the "Scallenge" ("challenge", but mixed with his last name) in which he, 45~ years old at the time and super retired, accepted challenges to 1 on 1 games against Division 1 college players and other top young talent. This guy was never even close to a standout NBA player. When in the league he was one of the worst, most unremarkable guys, his numbers sucked, he was the 7th or 8th guy off the bench and there was absolutely nothing special or memorable about his NBA career. Any guess as to how those games went? He demolished his opponents, effortlessly, and none of the games were even a little bit close. Several of them were outright 11-0 shutouts. Same concept as before- a Division 1 college basketball player, bigger picture, is statistically way better than the vast majority of basketball players in the world, and will certainly clean the guys up at the local court, but they're way, way, way worse than proper professionals by an amount most people do not fathom. So, circling back, in Magic (or Pokemon) could just about anyone become good, or some level of good? Yes. Could anyone who wants to be a top player? No.
I got into martial arts initially because of how messed up my childhood and my home life were rather than because I thought I'd enjoy it or it'd be relaxing for me. Back then it was about survival and self-preservation, not fun. These days, far removed from all that bad stuff of the past, I enjoy it because I feel like I'm making some amount of positive difference for people. Maybe I'm just helping them lose weight/get in better shape, maybe I'm helping them feel more confident, or maybe just maybe what I'm showing them will help them in a bad situation. I don't think I'm saving the world by any means, and I don't like people enough to want to save it anyway, but if I can stop a kid from getting bullied or a woman from getting raped, that's a win.
I did cover the ADV thing, yes. It was not the first gen I played. I played mons from the very beginning, including countless hours into Red/Blue and Gold/Silver as a child. I started competitively with ADV because Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald were the last cartridge games I owned, as I never had a handheld system as a kid after the Gameboy Advance, so I never got a chance to play Diamond/Pearl/Platinum or anything after. Obviously now as an adult with the means to go buy those games I could go back and do that, but it's different when you're a kid and I'm just not really inclined to do that. The cartridge games are aimed at a different target audience than myself and that's fine.
This is kind of a lame answer, but with Hearthstone, if I was laddering seriously and trying to get into Legend or top 10 in the region or w/e, I'd just play whatever the best deck in the meta was at the time. No room for fun or favorites- play what wins. It's totally fine if you're a more casual player to just stick to your preferences/what you have fun with and go as far as you can go. If you're really serious about being the best and making it to the top, you play the best deck. I enjoyed Arena more than ladder, and in almost every CCG I prefer Limited/draft over Constructed, and I'm better at it, but Constructed is always the main focus of these things.
There aren't enough beers in the world for me to take Mike Tyson. Same concept as that first paragraph. I'm a big guy and I'm a trained guy and I can take the vast majority of people if it really came to it, but I'd get my ass handed to me in about 20 seconds against a proper professional fighter, such as a UFC fighter or an elite boxer like Tyson. People don't understand the gap between those who are good at something and those who are the best in the world at something. Mike Tyson is a man I'd very much not want to meet in a dark alley...
Woah you played Castle Crashers?
whats your favorite character to play with? weapon? animal orb?
is it true that fencer/industrialist are cracked and overpowered?
whats the appeal of fire demon over fire knight and vice versa?
what was your reaction when you thought you beated the final boss for the first time and opened the chest but then this giant spider demon monster thing came out?
what are your thoughts on the gameplay? stuff like difficulty, story, boss fights, etc.
I have this on my million-year-old xbox 360 and its really cool to see someone else that plays it thats not my sister.
To be honest with you I didn’t overly enjoy the game. It felt very button-mashy and mindless and repetitive to me. I enjoy playing just about anything with my wife, but, this was not an all time favorite for me.
If you played them, any thoughts on Gwent or Artifact?
Do you have any aspirations to be a content creator for any non-Pokemon things?
Are there any pics of yourself you would be willing to share?
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I put a good amount of time into Gwent and enjoyed it. I don’t view it as a game that is necessarily meant to be ultra-competitive or something that should be an e-sport, but I think it’s a solid game. Matches can feel like they move pretty slowly and after playing a lot the grind started to test my patience, and I think at various times certain factions have been pretty clearly stronger than others as with and game of this nature, but as a whole there’s a solid core under there.
I didn’t play Artifact. I was aware of it, waited for the release and reviews since it was one of the rare instances in this genre where you have to pay upfront as opposed to dabble in F2P and then decide how you’d like to proceed, and certainly based on all the reviews I read, which is dozens, it feels like I dodged a bullet. Without actually playing it I don’t have any strong opinions, but from my understanding of the gameplay- specifically the length of a game and the heavy RNG elements- I suspect it would not have been my cup of tea.
I don’t have a passion for content creation, no. Unless you count things like Smogon or Myanimelist, which I would not, I’m not on any social media whatsoever. No Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, whatever. That world and culture do not appeal to me whatsoever. I am just very, very much not the right guy for that. If you meant content creation on YouTube outside of Pokemon, such as discussing other games or talking about martial arts or anime or something that interests me, I have indeed thought about that. If I were to do it though it’d just be the same thing I already do with Pokemon- making content that I like, for me- as opposed to trying to gain mass appeal or getting a bunch of subs or ad revenue. For sure if I were trying to do the YouTube thing “professionally”, the small, niche world of competitive Pokemon would not be my channel’s focus. I’d just sell out and talk mindlessly about Fortnight or Among Us or whatever the flavor of the month game is at that time or cover “scandals” in the gaming world and write in a way that makes them sound important and dramatic. I’m certainly capable of doing that but I have zero inclination. YouTube for me has always just been for fun and has acted as an outlet. It’s never been about trying to make money or become famous.
Pictures of me? Sure, I don’t mind. I’ve shared them on Discord plenty of times. I don’t exactly take many “selfies” at my age, but hopefully this will suffice.
Do you find Magneton better than Dugtrio in ADV? If so, do you think it is suspect worthy? Do you think anything else, if at all, is suspect worthy in ADV?
Do you think Smogon has become less and less about "being good" and more about "trash talking", "clout chasing" etc? If yes, when and what, do you think, sparked this change, and was it a positive change?
Tell us, in as much detail as you wish, about your milk intake.
Do you think Smogon has become less and less about "being good" and more about "trash talking", "clout chasing" etc? If yes, when and what, do you think, sparked this change, and was it a positive change?
Tell us, in as much detail as you wish, about your milk intake.
I don't think Magneton is better than Dugtrio, no. I don't know that most/all top players would agree with me, but I personally think Magneton is a pretty bad Pokemon. If you're not against Skarmory it's almost always the worst Pokemon of the 12 in the game and it doesn't accomplish much. That's not to say I never use it or you should never use it, but it's definitely not overpowered or something that needs a suspect test or a ban discussion. If you think trapping is lame on principle I don't necessarily disagree, but Magneton is definitely not ban worthy or something that's ruining ADV.
Is anything else suspect worthy? That's a loaded question and the timing is quite interesting as it's something that's been argued about for the past little while in the ADV Discord. Some people want to do more about Baton Pass than we already have to prevent certain types of cheese teams from being possible. Other people want to ban Sleep in some way, which can be anywhere from banning Sleep outright, banning Spore only, banning Hypnosis on Gengar only, etc. As I've touched on a little bit in one of my previous answers, I think the new generation of ADVers lean too hard towards banning things that would never have been banned this time ten or even five years ago. Banning Hypnosis on Gengar is outlandish in my mind. I believe that bans should only happen when they're necessary and something is actively causing problems/ruining the game. Others believe bans don't have to be necessary- it's fine to simply create a "more enjoyable" metagame and remove elements they do not like. I don't know if there's a right or wrong answer there, but I'm in the "it has to be necessary" camp. I don't think "I don't enjoy playing against this" or "I'm sick of my opponent always hitting Hypnosis and mine always missing 5 times in a row" is justification for a ban. I think with Hypnosis Gar in particular there's a risk/opportunity cost involved with using the move that balances it out in a huge way. Spore on Loom is way, way more busted than Hypnosis on Gar as far as I'm concerned and Loom, while definitely powerful and viable, isn't ruining the tier. ADV has long been considered the most fair and balanced of all OUs. If that's the case, why are we trying to change what isn't broken? Like I said, quite a few top players wouldn't agree with a lot of what I've said here and it's a heated, divisive issue. Now you know where I sit I guess...
I hesitate to answer the Smogon question, but I'll do my best. I'm not involved with any of the "circle jerks" and I'm not as involved with the site as a whole as some other people are, so I don't know that I'm necessarily the best person to answer this question, but I can say that I personally am turned off by the toxicity/cliques/staking one's reputation on a single match/single tournament and some of the other negative behaviors associated with the site/certain tournaments and many, many others have expressed similar sentiments to me in private conversations. Some people actively enjoy trash talking and drama. Who am I to tell them they're wrong, but that's definitely definitely definitely not me. Pokemon for me, and video games as a whole, is a hobby I partake in to unwind and destress and not think about my bills or responsibilities or things that stress me out. After I've had a long day at work or I'm generally exhausted from working a ton in general or whatever the case may be, really the last thing that I need is some random guy on the internet giving me a bunch of crap and intentionally trying to provoke me or create drama where there isn't any. I think many of you can relate to that sentiment. I wish people could just be nice to each other and mind their own business but I also recognize that the internet as a whole is, for some people, an outlet, as they feel powerless and unable to get out their frustrations in real life and they take that out on people online. I think to an extent that's the nature of the beast, but I still think we as a community can improve and do better and really crack down on some of the toxic behavior and inconsistent punishments/lack of punishments I've observed in my time here. I also think that sometimes a loud, whiny minority can ruin things for a well-behaved majority, but sometimes in the heat of the moment it's hard to keep perspective that most people who play Pokemon are decent guys and gals who just want to have fun and don't have any remotely serious behavioral issues. That's the best I've got for you...
Milk? I drink one gallon or more per day and have since I was like 6. I go through 9 to 10 gallons per week. Hood is my preferred brand and I drink whole milk, which is certainly a contributing factor to how heavy I am (295 pounds at the time of this writing). There's not really more to it than that. I enjoy it and I drink it. Some people over the years both online and in person have questioned the accuracy of this claim or think I'm exaggerating/embellishing. I'm not, but, I really don't care if someone thinks that. Of all things, what a dumb thing to lie about...
Have you ever broke a bone
E: yours or anyone else's
E: yours or anyone else's
I've never broken one of my own bones, no. I attribute that to some combination of genes, strong bones (aided by excessive milk drinking), luck and my own choices in avoiding stupid or dangerous activities. I never went through that phase as a teenager where I wanted to copy the things on Jackass or whatever. I've been in a couple bad car accidents, including flipping the car and having it roll five or six times as a teenager and being hit by a drunk driver and the car being completely totaled in my 20s and I somehow managed to walk away from both of them without any serious injuries. I've never had a cavity or poison ivy either. Look at me go!
For the second part of the question I think it's best to simply answer yes and leave it at that. Getting in fights or "winning" in a physical confrontation doesn't make you cool or a big tough guy. A lot of the time it's quite the opposite. Nevertheless, there was some of that in my past as I've touched on throughout this well, so, answering honestly- yes.
Ah, the main reason I asked was because I saw an additional restriction on BP in CI5, but it was by player request, sorry about that. I also loved Cacturne but Gligar was a bit too swingy.
Do you think using a well known unique team puts a player at a disadvantage? I don't really know how to put this distinction into words: say Skarm Tar Pert Gar Bliss Star does not qualify, but Mag + HP water Rachi is.
Ehhh… I don’t know… I have really mixed feelings on that. On one hand I do believe there’s some amount of truth to “a team is either viable or it’s not” but at the same time certain teams, definitely some more than others, really benefit from surprise value or forcing your opponent to take some risks in scouting and possibly get caught out and get snowballed on. I don’t think it could ever possibly be a good thing if your opponent knows your team from early on in the game- more that what level of bad it is depends on the team and the format of the tournament. Maybe in a best of three you can get away with defaulting to something known in one of the games. I’d imagine in bo1 it’s quite detrimental. As a whole I think matchup is under appreciated and too often brushed aside in ADV. Fairy gen players seem to talk about matchup a lot more, and some of them genuinely believe certain matchups, even with supposedly completely viable teams, are as bad as 20/80. ADV is about as balanced of an OU tier as you’re going to find, but matchup is still definitely a thing. You can’t cover everything. Some teams are weak to specific sets of Rachi or Cune. Some teams do a lot better or worse depending on whether or not they’re against Blissey. An archetype like MagDol is a complete matchup fish in and of itself and has highly favorable and highly unfavorable matchups. Some teams have no switch-in to OffStar. There’s a million examples here, but the point is the same. I’d also note that generally speaking if your team is only good if your opponent doesn’t know your sets, then the team simply isn’t good. It’s a gimmick at best. At the end of the day I think the solid happy medium is sticking to viable and proven archetypes and cores but mixing up the sets a little bit from team to team. Basically, just different variations of things that are good. If you use the same teams/same style all the time certain opponents will counterteam you and you have no one to blame for that but yourself.
I love you too Bea! <3
Like I said guys, managing Tigers this past SPL was by and large a very positive experience for me, even with the nonsense I endured to get there, and I hope they let me manage again this year, nonsense free, and we make a deep run!
I haven't spent much time thinking about this specific question, but there is soooo much in Pokemon that makes absolutely zero sense. Nidoking and Nidoqueen can't breed but somehow Skitty and Wailord can. Pokemon aren't used to commit murder, torture people or commit other atrocious crimes. Pokemon, their trainers, referees and spectators are never seriously injured or killed when hit directly with torrents of fire, targeted bolts of electricity or earthquakes powerful enough to destroy the ground of the stadium battlefield. 10 year olds are trusted to be the sole caretakers of much larger, much stronger, much smarter animals and they are free to roam about the world on foot or via bicycle with no adult supervision. Luckily, they're never harmed, kidnapped or killed and they are always very responsible and keep themselves and their Pokemon fed and safe.
The whole damn franchise doesn't make any sense! Don't put too much thought into it- just enjoy. :)
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