#but it's all the way at the end of the johto dex with the legendaries so i really dunno y'all. it wants to be a legendary so bad

[front-facing-pokemon]

#tyranitar #this angle somehow reminds me of the one rat from flushed away. you guys know that one? does fucking anyone remember that movie #i feel like that movie was a bit of a fever dream. i never hear anyone talk about it but i remember vaguely liking it as a kid? #i can't fathom why. i don't remember it being a particularly *good* movie‚ but that's also because i don't remember much about it in general #this is not about pokémon. here's tyranitar the one pokémon everyone thought was a legendary when they were a kid #i distinctly remember pokémon colosseum when the guy gives you the master ball he says “use this on the legendary” or whatever #and i go ok. idk what that means but i will. and i thought this was it so i used my master ball on a tyranitar #which. not an amazing use for a master ball i must say! it's not a bad pokémon by any means but it's not a legendary #but it's all the way at the end of the johto dex with the legendaries so i really dunno y'all. it wants to be a legendary so bad

[kafus]

how i caught entei in leafgreen in the most ridiculous way possible

SO last week i started a pokemon leafgreen file on my childhood cart i've had since my 5th birthday, and one my goals ended up being getting every owned dex entry possible in JUST the one copy of leafgreen without connecting to any other game… and i did. except i forgot one. ENTEI!!

like probably a lot of you reading this i COMPLETELY forgot that one of the johto roaming beasts is in every copy of FRLG. i never even caught any of them as a kid. which roamer you get is based on your starter (squirtle = raikou, bulbasaur = entei, charmander = suicune) and i happened to pick bulbasaur so my roamer was entei. it does actually ROAM in kanto, aka whenever you change locations, the pokemon moves to a new route. obviously this is a pain in the ass, but it gets even more painful because roamers can flee from the battle and they will the instant you encounter them. you get the chance to throw one ball or use one move and that's it… so like in most pokemon games, you would use a trapping move like mean look to keep the roamer in the battle and turn it into a normal legendary encounter, right? HAHA WRONG

raikou and entei are affected by the ROAMER ROAR BUG in FRLG, which means if they use roar to escape the battle (yes, even in mean look, it doesn't stop roar from working) they just disappear from the game. permanently. forever. you can never capture it. suicune is not affected by this because it doesn't have roar, but my roamer was entei, so uh. the odds were stacked against me. did i want to repetitively encounter the roamer over and over, never trapping it, just throwing one ball each time? or did i want to set up a mean look pokemon only to have to soft reset every time entei used roar? neither option sounded fun and i was going to just give up and master ball it despite REALLY wanting it in a luxury ball like all the other kanto legendaries i had already caught… UNTIL!

i am a moderator of the ribbon master discord (a different pokemon challenge) and i was just sorta liveposting my thought process about this annoying roamer when gen 3 rng manipulation extraordinaire ddeeffgg crashes into the chat and suggests this fucking bonkers idea. and his bonkers idea is galaxy brain LET ME EXPLAIN

ariados is available in leafgreen's post game by catching spinarak in pattern bush, and of course electrode is a fairly common kanto pokemon. ariados gets access to spider web, which is basically just mean look with a different name (and i completely forgot it existed), it traps the opponent in the battle. but IMPORTANTLY, it ALSO gets access to BATON PASS… which, in gen 3, passes the trapping effect! usually if you were to use spider web and swap out ariados, the opponent would no longer be trapped, but baton pass solves that! and then electrode has the ability soundproof which prevents roar from working, and it even gets thunder wave (paralysis) and sonicboom (consistent 20 damage with no chance of accidental crits) to assist in easier capture of entei! nice!! awesome!! but getting this setup in order is the most ridiculous shit i've ever done in leafgreen

PROBLEM #1: ariados gets baton pass through egg move. in gen 3, egg moves are only passed down by the father and not the mother, so i had to grab a male ledyba, grind it to a high enough level to learn baton pass, then grab a female spinarak and breed them together. unfortunately this means my ariados would be level 1 and i'd have to train it up quite a bit, which leads into my next problem…

PROBLEM #2: ariados is SLOWWW. its base speed is a measly 40 compared to entei's whopping 100! ariados needs to outspeed entei to use spider web first turn so entei can't just run away! i would have to get ariados to a very high level to outspeed entei, grinding all the way from level 1. the one plus side is that the roamers in FRLG are bugged to always have a 0 IV in defense, special attack, special defense, and speed, which means unless entei has a +speed nature, its speed would always be a predictable and relatively low 105 at level 50, which is what it's encountered at. so i had to get an ariados with a speed of 106 or higher.

to get around both these problems as efficiently as possible, while breeding spinarak, i bred quite a few to get one with a +speed nature, and ended up with a jolly spinarak. everstone doesn't work in FRLG unfortunately, so the nature was completely random each time. soon my DAUGHTER WAS BORN after like 2-3 hours of breeding because FRLG eggs are SLOOOW and i was being stubborn about the nature, which i was getting unlucky on LOL

then i maxed out her speed EVs real quick by fighting picnicker susie on route 13 over and over, who gives 12 speed EVs per battle, 24 with the macho brace, which i was using. this was just to make sure i would reach 106+ speed as fast as possible. then i grinded her levels by repetitively fighting the two trainers right outside the weird chansey dance guy's house in sevault canyon on seven island, right above tanoby ruins. using the vs seeker on them is the best grinding spot in the game since they give 20k experience per fighting both of them and there's a healing spot Right There. i was using exp share and leading with my level 100 jolteon named Egg who i adore with all my heart. ariados, now named koolaid, ended up crossing the speed threshold at level 62! yes this took a while lmao

as for electrode, i wanted one at as high of a level as possible so i hopefully wouldn't have to grind levels. i lucked out as electrode is found at a whopping level 64 in cerulean cave's bottom floor. a 5% encounter rate but as i had already caught numerous 5%s for the pokedex, i didn't really care. however it DOES have explosion and i'd rather not have the electrode explode on me before i could catch it which would then send me on a wild goose chase for ANOTHER 5% electrode… so i grabbed the random level 24 poliwhirl with the damp ability, which prevents explosion from working, out of my PC, and gave it a smoke ball from the celadon game corner so i could lead with her and easily run from each encounter that Wasn't Electrode.

now you may be wondering how i was going to handle capturing electrode once i was actually in the battle because SURELY it would just use thunderbolt or something and instantly murder my poliwhirl. however funnily enough electrode only has two attacking moves at level 64, swift and explosion. explosion obviously doesn't work, and swift is a physical attack in gen 3 due to all normal type moves being physical, this was before the physical/special split in gen 4. electrode's physical attack stat is a garbage 50 and swift only has a base power of 60 so i honestly wasn't concerned. and best of all, poliwhirl gets the move hypnosis, so i could easily put electrode to sleep and start chucking ultra balls… and the smoke ball ended up being useless because i somehow ran into electrode first try what the fuck LOL

anyways i named them gatorade to match with koolaid. truly the dream entei capturing team. i didn't even feel the need to grind any levels on gatorade, level 64 was more than enough, so i just slapped the two moves i wanted on them - thunder wave through the one-use tutor in silph co, and sonicboom through the move reminder on two island, costing me two tinymushrooms which i thankfully already had and did not have to go out of my way to grind.

however the hours worth of prep ISN'T DONE YET! because uhh…

PROBLEM #3: ariados has to be above entei's level to outspeed it (yes, even if it had a 31 IV in speed AND a speed boosting nature AND maximum speed EVs, it still wouldn't be enough at level 50), which means the repel trick can't be used to encounter it. tracking down the roamer is practically impossible without using repels to cancel out all other wild pokemon, and in gen 3, unlike later gens, you can't put a fainted pokemon in the front of the party for the repel trick instead. and if i DON'T lead with ariados, entei will run away when i try to swap into it. SO i decided i would have to run into entei once first through the repel trick method, which marks it as "seen" in the pokedex, and then i would track its location through the pokedex to encounter it while leading with ariados.

to accomplish this, i simply ran in and out of the building on route 16, going in and out of the grass in the process, which would constantly be randomizing entei's location until it happened to randomize onto route 16. i caught a staryu with illuminate as an ability to raise the chance of entei appearing, which does work while staryu is fainted (wouldn't want to go in and out of the grass while entei was on route 16 without encountering it!) and otherwise led with my level 50 magmar that was on my elite four team named Torch for the repel trick.

i bought a whopping 100 max repels for this task but i ended up getting entei within just a few lol. torch was holding the smoke ball just to be able to run away safely without any shenanigans!

and now entei was in the pokedex and able to be tracked that way!

however, there was still ONE more problem...

PROBLEM #4: luxury balls are a pain in the ASS to get in this game! they can't be bought from any shop. the only way to repeatedly get luxury balls in FRLG is to show a pokemon to selphy, a rich girl who lives in resort gorgeous on five island.

i will mostly skim over this because it's boring, but TLDR i had to continuously talk to her, fly back to the pokemon center, get the pokemon she wanted to see out of the PC because the step limit is 250 before she gets sick of waiting which is like nothing (i already had a living dex of every mon obtainable in leafgreen otherwise so this wasn't hard), surf to her, then spam A through dialogue with her butler in which i had a 70% chance of receiving a luxury ball. i did this over 40 times until i had 30 luxury balls, and sold off all the nuggets and other items she gave me. good lord this took a while

and now with ALL of that setup i was FINALLY ready to capture entei in a luxury ball. this took me literally all day and i was really excited. to consistently encounter entei, i saved in cerulean city and tracked it in the pokedex from there, opening it over and over after changing to any of the four routes connected to the city, and moving to an adjacent route from entei's location when it was close in the hopes of walking onto the same route it moved to when i did. i was following a map made by hangarofroam, he has a video tutorial on how to shiny hunt the FRLG roamers and encounter them as quickly as possible, and i highly recommend looking it up if you want to capture these roamers yourself, but tldr this is the map i was using:

and once i encountered entei i was finally able to use the strategy i had prepped so long to do... and it worked without a hitch!! entei can't try to use roar first turn because it wastes a turn trying to flee, which is prevented by ariados outspeeding and using spider web... then if it tries to use roar the next turn, i've already switched into electrode to block it with soundproof. so from there it's just a matter of whittling down entei's HP to the red with swift/sonicboom and paralyzing it with thunder wave, then tossing luxury balls until success!

and i GOT IT after 3 encounter attempts and 73 luxury balls thrown. and FINALLY i have all 171 national dex entries possible in a single copy of leafgreen with no connection to other games, and all the legendaries are in fancy ass luxury balls. i am winning.

this was ridiculous. please be proud of my accomplishments. i've had this file for less than 2 weeks and i already have over 70 hours of gameplay in it after doing all this AAAAA

also barely related but look at Egg my jolteon he had like no purpose in this story but i took a pic of him in front of entei before going on to capture entei because i love him so much pleas

thanks for coming to my fucking ted talk i am SOOO normal about pokemonsdfjkfds (joke)

#pokemon #pokemon frlg #frlg #pokemon leafgreen #pokemon leaf green #long post #kiki plays games #kiki.txt #kiki was here #lg playthrough #entei

[espiepuffs]

Can I request a Nemona X Galarian gn reader who’s also been to every region?

All around the world!

Pairing: Nemona x GN!Reader, Kieran x GN!Reader, Penny x GN! Reader (Can be interpreted as platonic/romantic, hinting at romantic at the end of Kieran’s!)

Notes: Hello anon, I really like this request idea! I hope you don’t mind, but I added Kieran and Penny due to them also being good characters to write for this specific prompt! I hope you enjoy reading it, and thank you so much for requesting!

Nemona

Nemona would find you so cool.

When she first met you, her thought process would definitely be ‘woah, they’ve been all around the world!’ to ‘imagine all the types of Pokémon they’ve caught and seen!’ which leads to a “Let’s battle, right now!”

(It’s non-negotiable.)

When she does battle you, she enjoys doing so because of all the different Pokémon you use!

Whenever you guys have rematches, she definitely encourages you to use different Pokémon, she loves a challenge >:)

Hope you’ve caught a lot, because if you know her she’ll want a lot of battles! It doesn’t matter if that Pokémon is in Paldea’s dex; she’ll be prepared for it!

She also likes to see all your different Pokémon outside of battle!

Before she met you, she’d only seen the Paldean variant of Wooper. She had no idea that that they were blue everywhere else?? That’s so cool!

As well as that, your Galarian Meowth is so cool? She’s in awe of how different it looks compared to normal ones!

She loves your Alolan Raichu. She could spend hours observing it, it’s so cute??? She’s so fascinated at how it practically ‘surfs’ on its tail.

You’ve also got a lot of questions coming your way about your Pokémon.

As well as a lot of questions about the different regions you’ve gone to!

She’s been to Unova, Kitakami and obviously Paldea, so she’s curious about the different cultures and people around them!

You’re going to spend hours talking about the different sights, people, and culture, and she’ll be listening closely to every minute, asking about things every now and then.

She’s most interested in Galar, (unsurprisingly) due to the way battles are run there.

You’re happy to indulge her, telling her about your time battling there, and of how you made your way to the semifinals of the Galarian Champion cup, of how you were beaten by a boy similar to your age named Hop.

And since it’s all broadcasted for the world to see, you invite her to watch it with you, to which she happily obliges.

Kieran

“You’ve been all over the world?! Wowzers!”

He’s so amazed. Kieran hasn’t really gone anywhere apart from Kitakami, Unova and briefly to Paldea.

He finds it so interesting, he wants to know tons about all your different adventures around the world!

He himself actually knows quite a bit about Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh due to them having similar cultures to Kitakami, but enjoys your recounts nevertheless.

He’s more into places more different to his, like Unova, Kalos, Alola, Galar and Paldea however. Not to say he doesn’t like listening to your journeys in the first four! He enjoys cultural difference and variety. As said before, he’d still be enthralled to hear about them!

He enjoys hearing about the Pokémon most, especially tales about legendary creatures, and mythicals that have practically no sightings, only having been written down in history books.

Tell him about your trips to Kalos, the food you had there and the grand Lumiose Tower that would stand tall and bright. Maybe the two of you should go there together?

Or entertain him with the story of the mythical Meloetta, how its beautiful music and dance inspired many works of art, music and song.

Kieran would want to know about your hometown the most, so tell him about Galar, and what’s happened there.

He’d definitely be interested in its history and the darkest day, as well as the battling culture there.

Wait, there are videos of you battling in the Champion Cup?! He wants to see that!

“Wowzers, you’re so amazin’ , s/o!” Is all he can respond with after he sees the way you lead your Pokémon in battle.

He’s flabbergasted, simply staring at your rotom phone once he sees that the battle’s over and done with.

Expect him to ask for battle tips from you, since you placed in the semifinals!

Have you told him about Galarian culture and traditions yet?

If not, just maybe you should be bold and tell him about the tradition of handling applins to people that you like, and hope that he isn’t too flustered after finding out to reciprocate your feelings!

Penny

Penny would know instantly that you’re a Galarian. You all stick out like sore thumbs, your accents easy to recognise and your fashion as bold as a highlighter.

Maybe it was the fact she was Galarian as well, but it was really easy to tell.

You two would spend a lot of time talking about the different brands you’d shopped at, giving recommendations to each other for the next time you’d head there.

The conversations goes from Galarian brands, to Galar itself, to all sorts of regions.

“Wait, you’ve been to other regions?!”

Penny had only been to two. Her homeland, great old Galar, and Paldea!

So you having been to every one? She’s intrigued.

She might have no intention of going to other regions at the moment, but her interest was piqued when she heard that you had.

She’s most interested about the sort of adven-tours (see what I did there?) you had and the sort of Pokémon you met.

“In Sinnoh, there were these guys that went under the name Team Galactic. They had horrid hair and outfits Penny, I think they’d need Atticus to go over there and give them new clothes for them to ever be taken seriously.”

When she hears that you’ve been to Kanto, she gets so excited and proceeds to info dump about the Sailor Sun manga because that’s where the author lives, and how it has an anime!

(Watch it with her pretty please c: )

She also likes seeing the sights there too. Show her photos of the ferris wheel you went to in Unova, or the Subway trains that you’d battle the train conductors on.

And although she’s not too big a fan of going outside herself, she enjoys looking at the Alolan beaches and how gorgeous they look at sunset. Show her Lumiose city!

She’ll be satisfied looking at anything with you!

Give her recommendations of places to go to. She probably wouldn’t consider going to them anytime soon, but she knows she’s in reliable hands when it comes to picking a place to go on holiday to.

Even after she hangs out with you and talks about all the different regions, there’s still one more thing she’s got on her mind.

She got to watch your Galar Champion Cup battles, of course!

She uses them as background noise while she’s drawing, or chilling with her veevees!

#pokémon #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon scarvi #pokemon swsh #nemona pokemon #penny pokemon #kieran pokemon #nemona x reader #penny x reader #kieran x reader

[puppyluver256]

[Image Description: Entei, one of the Legendary Beasts of Johto. It resembles a large animal that is both vaguely dog-like and cat-like, with red eyes, a brown coat of fur over most of its body, and yellow chest fur. A large red and yellow mask-like growth is on its face, with a grey section around its mouth to somewhat resemble a mustache or sabertooth fangs. It has a long grey tail resembling the smoke of an active volcano, and large grey spikes on its back resembling mountaintops. Black bands are clasped around its legs as a sort of decoration, and its paws poking out of the brown fur are a light grey. Entei's body is facing to the right of the image while its head looks back to the left, one of its front paws held up. It is standing on red stone with two openings of an active volcano visible in the distance under a dark maroon sky, both openings leaking out red and orange lava. End ID.]

-----

“Volcanoes erupt when it barks. Unable to contain its sheer power, it races headlong around the land.”

More Johto pics with Entei! Since Entei and Raikou are still roaming legendaries in HGSS while Suicune gets its Crystal-adjacent special treatment, I decided to make their backgrounds more thematic to their dex entries rather than based on where you find them. Hence the volcano when Johto has no active volcanoes, if any volcanoes at all hehe.

💖🐶 Check out my pinned post for ways to support my artwork, among other things! 🐶💖

~Likes are appreciated, but reblogs are greatly preferred as they let more people see my content! If you have something to say, feel free to give feedback in tags/comments/replies as well!~

Entei and other Pokemon concepts © Nintendo/GameFreak Artwork © PuppyLuver Studios

#pokemon #pokemon heart gold #pokemon soul silver #entei #jess drew the thing #sfw #image description

[cheemken]

sure king share evry deets abt ur trainer hcs

Dope ouo

Buckle up tho this is probs gon be long af hahaha

Anyways

Kanto Trainers

Red, Green (m), and Blue (f) are all there, Red and Green are neighbours and are childhood friends and Blue is someone they met in Cerulean. All three of em are in their mid to 20s w Green being the older one between em

Personality wise, Red isn't the silent protagonist that peeps are used to, no in my hcs he's talkative af and is probs the one who challenges both Blue and Green to battles, when he discovered about Triple Battles during their visit to Unova, he and the other two tried it and he had the most fun

Green is,, well kinda the same really, chill but also arrogant, never let Lance live it down that if he wasn't Gym Leader then he could still take on that Champion title, but he does care abt Red and Blue tho, he's like the sunshine protectors

Blue is like the one in LGPE, she wants to complete the Dex and discover more about other pkmn in different regions, she's the one to drag the boys w her searching for legendary Pokemon and she's try to post it on her socials that she found Lugia while surfing around the caves in Johto. Also kinda arrogant really, but in a more teasing way not in a looks down on others way like Green

For teams

Red - Venusaur, Poliwrath, Arcanine, Lapras, Snorlax, Raichu

Green - Charizard, Gyarados, Alakazam, Tyranitar, Machamp, Scizor

Blue - Blastoise, Gengar, Clefable, Ninetales, Kangaskhan, Dragonite

Johto Trainers

Gold, Silver, and Kris are in my hcs, I so wanna add Lyra but I also do not vibe w her so I'm gon do a pokespe and make Kris like Crystal. Anyways, Gold and Kris are childhood friends too, Gold took on the gym challenge and the league and Kris focused more on completing the dex and being the prof's assistant. Gold met Silver first and Kris met him while she was in the Ruins of Alph. All of em are in their early 20s

Gold is kinda the same as his pokespe counterpart, but a bit more calm. He loves helping around the daycare and taking care of eggs that trainers don't want. He does train and evolve them tho, and some did get to his final team to beat the league

Silver is still the same, arrogant lil shit but finally realized how shit he was in the end. Still has that snarky and sarcastic personality tho, but at least now he knows when to bite his tongue hahah. I also wanna add that Silver and Blue are still kinda siblings in my hcs, and they do love each other and Blue does look out for him as best she can

Kris is like Blue but tenfold, once there's news abt outbreaks or new locations pokemon are seen in, she'd be the first one rushing there to catch em and register them in her Pokedex. Altho, she's actually not one for keeping them, rather she'd catch them just to register their data in the dex and release them after, it's the mons who decide to stay w her or not

For their teams

Gold - Typhlosion, Electivire, Togekiss, Quagsire, Sudowoodoo, Ambipom

Silver - Feraligatr, Crobat, Weavile, Gengar, Magnezone, Alakazam

Kris - Meganium, Arcanine, Jinx, Xatu, Metagross (she doesn't really have a full team, just enough to ward off any trainer that wants to battle her)

Hoenn Trainers

Honestly just the same as in the events of RSE/ORAS so like yeah,, tho Brendan is more outgoing and May's more introverted and quiet. Brendan and May are both 19 while Wally is 18

Personality wise,,,, ah idk, I honestly just see them as like,, the same?? Like Brendan's there happy to help his dad, the prof, in his field work and such.

Wally's still a lil shy but grew a bit more confident as they went on their journey.

And then there's May, I honestly see her having daddy issues and she kinda hates Norman w a burning passion, and honestly just beat the Gyms and the league to spite her father, even went to the Frontier to beat the Frontier Brains there just to rub it in his face more how she's better than him, she is a mama's girl tho through and through the boys tease her abt it

For their teams

May - Blaziken, Aggron, Gallade, Walrein, Salamence, Metagross

Brendan - Swampert, Mightyena, Swellow, Magcargo, Breloom, Tropius

Wally - his canon ORAS team

Sinnoh Trainers

Look okay these mfers, as much as I hate Sinnoh, these three along w prof Rowan, have like angst in my hcs hahaha and it's not really on them, rather it's just Rowan seeing Cynthia, Cyrus, and Augustine in em and yeah hahah, well anyways just like in the main game, Barry and Dawn are neighbours and Lucas is the prof's assistant, all of em are around 18

Barry is just the same, also Lucas, but Dawn is more like,, she's more like a mix of people's version of Red and my version of Green, I wanna say that she does want to reach the top and be a strong trainer but she doesn't really show it and make it obvious like Barry

For their team

Dawn - Empoleon, Togekiss, Magmortar, Mamoswine, Lucario, Garchomp

Lucas - Torterra, Snorlax, Shieldon, Cranidoss (like Kris, doesn't have a full team, just enough to ward off other trainers and fight Galactic)

Barry - his canon Platinum team w Infernape as the ace

Unova Trainers

Starting off w BW, it's the same except that Hilda and Hilbert are twins in my hcs, Hilda is more on trying to stop Plasma while Hilbert was more on beating the league ofc he did help w Plasma as both of em befriended N. They're in their early 20s while N is at least in his mid to late 20s

N, Cheren, and Bianca are the same so hey. Hilbert is like his manga self, while Hilda is kinda just overall pissed at Plasma, mainly Ghetsis, that she was the one who fought him in the end. After the whole Plasma ordeal tho, she did finish the gym challenge as she didn't have the last two badges, and Hilbert waited for her, so the two could try and beat the league together

For their teams

Cheren - his canon team w Samurott as the ace

Bianca - her canon team w Serperior as the ace

N - his canon team

Hilbert - Emboar, Braviary, Bisharp, Galvantula, Caracosta, Krookodile

Hilda - Hydreigon, Mienshao, Excadrill, Archeops, Seismitoad, Zekrom

I wanna say the Deino they had was a gift from their father before he left, but since there's only one, Hilda was the one who got it as she's the older one between em, and Hilbert had to wait for his own starter. That Hydreigon does listen to Hilbert still

~

Now for BW2, just the same it, Hugh still being the embodiment of rage™, and Nate's there trying to help him stop Plasma while also beating the Gyms. In my hcs, Nate actually has no plan on taking on the league, rather he just loves to travel around and help however he can, sometimes he'd join in Rosa in the Battle Subway to try and get to the Subway Masters. As of Rosa, well, she's a determined trainer, but I wanna say like Nate she has no plans on trying to be Champion, rather she just took on the Gym challenge and liked being in the Battle Subway battling other trainers. But yeah they're like just a bit younger than the BW kids around a year or two younger w Hugh still being older than Nate and Rosa

For their teams

Nate - Emboar, Lucario, Ampharos, Watchog, Haxorus, Unfezant

Rosa - Serperior, Mienshao, Beartic, Bouffalant, Lilligant, Mandibuzz

Hugh - his canon team w Samurott as the ace

Kalos Trainers

God there's like a ton of rivals here omfs but like,,,, I'm just gon say that the rivals all have the same personalities as in the games, and then Calem is this calm and cool boii that went on to challenge the gym and the league but lost to Diantha, and then Serena's there also challenging the gyms but stopped after getting the final badge as she and Shauna ended up participating in contests together. So hey I wanna say they're around the same age as the BW trainers

Calem is the same as Dawn, quiet but competitive, he also did try to complete the Pokedex, but he gave up halfway through bc he said it's not worth it as theres already a ton of pkmn to register and find

Serena is also a bit competitive in both battling and in contests, look she just wants to win, and she will win, plus she's like,, trying to impress Shauna during contests ouo

Anyways their teams and such hahah

Calem - Chesnaught, Charizard, Tyrantrum, Hawlucha, Manectric, Aegislash

Serena - Delphox, Blastoise, Aurorus, Goodra, Sylveon, Gengar

Shauna - Greninja, Venusaur, Espeon, Sylveon, Glaceon, Delcatty

Alola Trainers

Ough, almost done omf, anyways Hau's the same, and as for Elio and Selene,, I wanna say that Elio already lives in Alola and Selene is the one from Kanto. The three became friends along w Gladion and Lillie, and yeah just the stuff that happened in the games. I wanna say they're around,,, 13-15

Ik they kinda made it canon in PokeMas that Elio and Selene still has those blank stares and such and I think it'd be comical if they still have that in my hcs hahah. But y'know more on Elio actually spacing out most of the time bc he has an active imagination, and Selene just not caring much but also trying to show people she kinda does care so they won't get offended. Selene is a bit more competitive than Elio, as he's just happy being w friends

For their teams

Elio - Incineroar, A. Persian, Wishiwashi, Mimikyu, Crabrawler, Shelgon

Selene - Primarina, Dusk Lycanroc, Salazzle, Kommo-o, A. Ninetales, Toucannon

Hau - Decidueye, A. Raichu, Vaporeon, Kommo-o, Noivern, Midday Lycanroc

Galar Trainers

Hop is the same, Gloria and Victor are siblings tho, w Victor being the older one and got his starter first before Hop and Gloria. Victor is around 18 while Hop and Gloria are around 15

Victor did take on the Gym challenge, but didn't take on the tournament himself, and instead just travelled around Galar, training in the Isle of Armour and got himself a Kubfu which he then evolved to an Urshifu

Gloria is just as determined and competitive as Hop, and actually felt a bit guilty when she beat Hop during the tournament, as she knows that his brother is the Champion, so people probably expected more from him too, but that's just the way it is. She is capable of beating Leon, but ended up losing bc she still wants to hang out w Hop and not be stuck like Leon being alone in his own tower and such

For their teams

Victor - Cinderace, Urshifu RS, Corviknight, Grimmsnarl, Dragapult, Dracozolt

Gloria - Rillaboom, Corviknight, Hatterene, Dracovish, Sirfetch'd, Zamazenta

Hop - his canon team w Inteleon as the ace and Zacian

Paldea Trainers

Ah finally hcmdnd

Idk much abt these trainers actually but I do love their dynamic so I'm keeping that hahah, just gon give Florian an actual personality, but I also want him to be like that Jack of all trades kinda guy where he does know a lot of things and it surprises everyone else that he kinda knows a lot. I wanna say that Penny and Florian are around 14 at most while Arven and Nemona are around 15-16

But yeah Florian, the kinda guy that knows a lot but also pretends he doesn't bc he doesn't want people to bother him that much. Not to say he's a mean spirited kid, more like he just doesn't want people to rely on him so much so he stays quiet whenever he can. Basically just embodies Burr's line in Hamilton being "talk less, smile more"

For their teams

Florian - Skeledirge, Garganacl, Roaring Moon, Tinkaton, Koraidon

Nemona - her canon team w Meowscarada as the ace

Penny - her canon team

Arven - his canon team

#holy shit this took a whole ass while cnmdndmd #long post #srs btw this is really long it took me an hour or so to finish this hahaha #but hey yeah hahah #pokemon #pokemon trainers #pokemon hcs #an ask and an answer #anon

[ianmrid]

...Diamond and Pearl...

Finally, I’m down to the last two pokémon I need to capture in Pokémon Platinum. These are the Sea Guardians, a pair of Mythical pokémon called Manaphy and Phione.

There is a bit of debate around the classification of these guys, as they break some of the generally accepted rules about Mythicals/Legendaries. Manaphy is definitely classed as a Mythical, but unlike all those that came before it, it is able to breed. Rather than being in the undiscovered Egg Group, it is in one of the Water Egg groups, which means when you leave it at day-care with a Ditto (it is still genderless, so it can only breed with a Ditto), an egg will actually be produced. However, this is where the controversy comes in. Hatching the egg will reveal a Phione, rather than another Manaphy, leading to the fan debate of whether or not Phione itself should be classed as a Mythical. Personally, I don’t care - just get in my ‘Dex!

On to obtaining Manaphy. This can be either very easy, or pretty hard...

The easy route: Since this is a Mythical, there were various distributions of Manaphy via the Mystery Gift system so, using the aforementioned exploit, I easily obtained multiple Manaphys in short order. Except, to me, this feels a bit like cheating. I’m happy to use the Mystery Gift exploit for those Mythicals for which there is no other, more legitimate way to get them, but that just isn’t true for Manaphy. So this brings us to...

The hard route: There are a series of spin-off games know as the Pokémon Ranger series which are also on the DS and, although they are technically classed as Gen3 games, they were known as ‘The Road to Diamond and Pearl’. To this end, they allow you obtain a Manaphy Egg via a special, post-game mission. All of the games in the series - Pokémon Ranger, Shadows of Almia, and Guardian Signs - have the ability to access this mission, but in the latter two, it requires access to the Nintendo WFC to download them, something that is no longer available. I think you can use the same exploit from the easy route to download the missions, but if I do that then the Manaphy isn’t really any more legit than just getting it from Mystery Gift directly! This leaves us with the original Pokémon Ranger.

In the original game, the post-game Manaphy Egg mission is on the cartridge already and doesn’t require downloading. The drawback is that this is available only once per game, and by this I don’t mean once per save file, I mean once per physical cartridge! This means if you buy a cartridge that has already been used for this mission, you won’t be able to use it yourself. Great! To give myself the best chance of this working, I purchased an expensive sealed copy of the game from eBay and fortunately it was indeed brand new, not just something that had been resealed Phew. Now to complete the game.

Pokémon Ranger is a fun enough little game based in the new region of Fiore where, unlike in previous regions, pokémon aren’t captured permanently in Poké Balls, but instead captured temporarily using something called a Capture Styler. This whole capture mechanic is based around the DS’s new touch screen functionality as you use the DS stylus to draw a number of uninterrupted circles around wild pokémon in order to capture them. Once you have captured them, they will follow you until you either use their powers to help capture other, stronger pokémon, clear obstacles, or heal your damaged Capture Stylus. The only exception to this is your partner pokémon, Minun, who remains with you the whole time.

You start off as a rookie Pokémon Ranger - a sort of seemingly self-appointed police force who investigate crimes, help out citizens in need, and generally deal with whatever nonsense is going down in Fiore. You work your way through the 10 missions and as you progress you get stronger and are able to have more pokémon in your team at one time. The plot involves stopping the schemes of Team Go-Rock, a music-themed evil team wo want to use the regional professor’s cutting edge Capture Styler technology to capture and control the three Legendary Beasts of Johto; Raikou, Suicune, and Entei.

The game is pretty easy with just a few challenging captures along the way, and soon all is right in Fiore again, thanks to me. In the post-game, the Ranger Net menu can be accessed in order to complete the ‘Recover the Precious Egg!’ additional mission, whereby a the remnants of Team Go-Rock steal a strange egg from the Rangers and you have to get it back. Once you recover said egg, the professor realises it is a rare Manaphy egg and suggests you send it to Sinnoh via Mystery Gift to hatch it since ‘pokémon eggs don’t hatch in Fiore’. Weird, but fine. That is my queue to send it over to my Platinum game!

Pokémon Ranger: Completed!

Back in Platinum, a short amount of cycling later, the egg hatches and Manaphy is all mine! Now this should be it - aside from a quick trip to the day-care to breed a Phione - but for a couple of reasons, the completionist in me wants to try out one more spin-off game. Firstly, there is in fact another way to get a Phione, rather than just by breeding the Manaphy that I just obtained. On top of this, this same method also allows me to get a hold of a Mew - one of the most difficult pokémon to track down legitimate versions of. Both my previous attempts needed some workarounds - a glitch in Gen1 and a distribution ROM in Gen3 - so this was too tempting to pass up. Time to play Pokémon Ranch.

Pokémon Ranch is a WiiWare title, which sadly became unavailable for purchase when Nintendo closed down the WiiShop in 2019, although if you happen to have a copy, it will still continue to be fully functional. With no Wii, or way to get hold of the game, this initially seemed like a dead-end until I mentioned this problem to my good friend, Barry (@cakeinmilk). Barry had a plan.

I will hand over to him to tell you all about it next time, in my first-ever guest article! Take it away, Baz!

#pokemon #pokemon playthrough #e plays pokemon #nintendo #game freak #Pokemon Platinum #Pokemon Ranger

[bills-pokedex]

Ask Policies

{Hey, all! The mun here. In light of not only the Gen VIII announcement as well as a few odd asks in the hopper, I’ve decided to briefly go over a few of the blog’s policies and basic worldbuilding stuff in a proper kinda sorta bible. This’ll take the place of our FAQ, which really is more of an actual joke and probably not as helpful to y’all, haha.

That said, this is a long post, so only the New Region Policy’s getting put above a cut. The rest is below a readmore for your convenience!

New Region Policy

Any time a new region is announced, all asks about it and its pokémon or features are withheld until the release date for its associated games. For example, as of this writing, Gen VIII (Sword and Shield) was just announced, along with Galar and its starters. You can still send asks about these subjects, but they’ll be withheld until Sword and Shield are released. Furthermore, for one month after release, all asks about Galar and the pokémon in it will be tagged with #spoilers to minimize exposure for people who want to be surprised when they pick up the games.

The only exception to the above rule is if a pokémon is not only announced well in advance but also makes its way into the actual published canon. For another example, Meltan had been announced well before Sword and Shield, and it had actually been featured in both the anime and Let’s Go, Pikachu/Eevee. As such, it’s not considered a spoiler, and you can still ask questions about it.

Dex entries for new regions will start to come out a month after release, not only to minimize spoilers but also because that’s an entire region’s worth of content to write. Sorry!

Repeat Ask Policy

Contrary to a few reactions in the past (which the mun apologizes for), it’s okay to send the same ask multiple times. Before you resend, however, please check the following:

1. Is the ask on the list of questions Bill won’t answer? (See below.)

2. Has your ask already been answered? (We have a weird posting schedule, so it’s unfortunately easy to miss asks. Sorry! orz All asks are tagged with the username of the person who sent it, so feel free to search for your username to check. Alternatively, please check the tag of the pokémon you’re focusing on.)

If the answer to the above is “no,” then by all means, resend!

By the by, to clarify, we tend to get backed up a lot, so our oldest asks can be a couple months old, which means your ask might just be in purgatory. Still, this is Tumblr, and it’s also entirely possible that your ask got eaten. If you’d rather ask us privately instead of resending, by all means, don’t be shy about reaching out via messenger or the askbox to check!

Asks That Straight-Up Don’t Get Answered

We’ll go a bit further into some of these things in just a second, but as a quick rule of thumb, here’s the stuff that generally doesn’t get answered:

1. Stuff that straight-up makes the mun uncomfortable. Ykinmk is, like, the mun’s favorite internet rule. That is to say, don’t get us wrong here; the mun respects the interests of others. If it makes you happy and doesn’t hurt anyone, then cool. It’s just that she would also like to ask you to be respectful of her boundaries and not send stuff that, well, is designed for your pleasure and doesn’t float your boat. These things (that we’ve actually gotten asks about, anyway) include: - Whump (stuff that focuses on the “hurt” part of hurt/comfort, usually involving graphic violence, psychological/physical torture, and/or the abuse of a character for the pleasure of the reader—and also, the biggest thing that makes the mun uncomfortable) - Age regression (particularly content focusing heavily on infantile behavior—in our case, baby pokémon exhibiting very human-like, baby-ish traits) - Poképhilia (It’s okay if Bill’s a furry and LH is slightly into it; it’s not okay for you to ask about dating tips for your gardevoir.) - Fart/odor fetish

2. Asks that the mun can’t identify or respond to. (Sometimes, we get one-liners that might be in response to another ask, but we’re not sure. Those we just kinda clean up.)

3. Asks that include a character owning or encountering a legendary or mythical (unless the answer could be hilarious). The next section will go a bit more into detail about this.

4. Asks that cover territory that’s already been covered multiple times (read: in at least five different asks). This is actually up to the mun’s discretion. Sometimes, Bill will answer such asks anyway; other times, the mun just can’t think of a way to answer repeat asks without retreading territory. Subjects that are often brought up and apply to this point include: - Pokémon that have turned hostile towards their trainer/other humans - Two pokémon that have turned hostile towards each other - Pokémon suffering from separation anxiety - How do types work?/Why has no one noticed the fairy-type until recently? - Generally, anything here: http://bills-pokedex.tumblr.com/post/171146131246/faq When in doubt, it’s always a good idea to check the tags or do a search first.

Pretty much everything else is fair game, though.

Legendary/Mythical Policy

The big one. We don’t often get asks about encountering legendaries/mythicals anymore, but there are a few here or there. To put it simply, as established through the dex entries, legendaries and mythicals are considered deities or otherwise extremely important guardians. Catching many of them will result in catastrophic imbalances of one sort or another, and that’s if you encounter them in the first place. Most of them are extremely rare and/or difficult to find, and mythical pokémon are often considered to be just that: myths. So if your character has a celebi, that’s basically the equivalent of saying you, in real life, have a pet Sasquatch.

People owning legendaries, meanwhile, is still a thing that happens, but this is exclusively a sign that you’re an extremely powerful, well-traveled trainer who was deemed worthy to partner with the legendary in question (by the legendary in question). In some cases, it even straight-up involves a ritual in which you actually prove that you’re worthy to own a legendary. (It’s probably not a good idea to ask Bill about your pet Ho-oh, on that note.)

Emergencies Policy

While this is indeed a fun fandom/headcanon blog, always keep in mind that Bill’s reactions to your questions will very likely be as true to his character as possible. (For reference, he’s compassionate, but he’s very overworked.) That is to say, if going into the askbox to ask him a question about something that would be considered a health emergency, always remember the mantra of every doctor’s office in the US: “If this is an emergency, please hang up and dial 911.”

The exception is if you’re trying for a joke answer in which Bill gets to your ask weeks/months later and then regrets everything, which is something that will never not be funny.

Fanwork Policy

Bill’s gotten a couple of questions about fan games, fan regions, and especially fan organizations/scientific projects, such as FUSE Corp. For the most part, these are treated as in-universe fiction, and there’s a very good chance that Bill will not have any idea what you’re talking about. There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. It’s one thing to incorporate different forms of canon into this blog, but fanwork is a bit more of a gray area and would probably require giving the creators a heads up or at least getting permission to use their content, which the mun would prefer to obtain herself. (She’s cool with cross-blog canon, though! The askblog community is ultimately a community, so canon swaps are excellent. That and it’s a lot easier to contact a blog owner on Tumblr than someone on deviantART, haha.)

2. There’s a very good chance that the mun likewise has no idea what you’re talking about, no offense intended. Full disclosure: It took her quite a while to figure out what FUSE Corp was. She doesn’t really visit deviantART all that often. orz

So while Bill might answer asks about these, please be prepared for a joke answer in which you end up with a very, very confused pokémon expert.

Worldbuilding

Not really something that confuses a lot of people, but the mun figures it might help to know anyway. Here are a few notes about the universe in which this blog takes place:

1. It’s a nigh-incomprehensible cross between the anime and the games. A lot of the information comes from the games, but this version of Bill comes from the anime (the lighthouse is called the Sea Cottage), Ash Ketchum exists alongside Red, and all of the shenanigans of the movies actually for real happened. Or to put it simply, read everything Bill writes in the exact sort of British accent Americans use to sound posh, and you’re good.

2. All regions are literally the regions they’re based on. Kalos is literally Paris, Johto is literally Kansai, Unova is literally New York City, and so on. This is, in other words, an alternate universe of the real world in which pokémon also exist. There is additionally a long and complicated reason why, for example, Japan has a lot of Westernized names, but that’s for another post (but could probably be summed up with “and here’s what happens when you use a legendary pokémon as your ultimate weapon in one of the world wars”).

3. Animals exist. Idk, the mun just can’t picture a world without cats.

Reaching Out/Using the Messages

The above’s a pretty extensive guide on a lot of things, and it might be intimidating, we know. If you’re not sure if something will fly, by all means, hit up our messages or send a signed-in ask prefaced with ANSWER PRIVATELY, and we’ll do our best to clear things up. Alternatively, you can also meet up with us on the Discord server linked in our profile to fire away.

Ultimately, this post isn’t really about what you can’t do (except for that one section that explicitly states it, lol). It’s more an explanation as to how the ask queue works, why Bill might answer a certain way, and generally the mun’s processes. So we hope you haven’t been scared off by this whole shebang; instead, we hope it’ll give you a better idea of how the blog works so you can ask away.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Sorry for the long post!}

#from the mun

[bigklingy]

Pokemon Generation Thoughts

Since a blog I follow did this, I thought I’d do mine. Gen 1:

Pros: -The one that started it all. -How crazily into it kids at school were. -Gym Leaders were pretty memorable. -For the time, a good twist for the final battle. -Glitches are fun to mess with. -The crit formula based on base speed was actually kind of interesting. Cons: -Incredibly glitchy, to the point where speedrunners keep finding more and more insane ways to break the game. Spawning item balls that are also trainers that are actually wild Pokemon?! Making a sign give you an Eevee?! Beating the game in 0:00?!?! I know these are glitches you’re unlikely to find without intentionally trying, but there are MANY game-breaking ones you’re very likely to encounter by accident. -Very unbalanced battle system. Psychic types are broken, some moves were coded badly and worse than useless (Focus Energy QUARTERED your crit rate), X Accuracy + OHKOs destroys the game, Wrap/Fire Spin etc were extremely annoying. -Most of the Pokemon haven’t aged well stat-wise. Gen 2: Pros: -I liked the Johto region. -Greatly fixed a lot of Gen 1′s gameplay, far less glitches. -Split Special into Special Attack and Special Defense. -Introduced breeding. -Had another entire region for the postgame, with 8 more badges. -Normal trainers have names now! Phone numbers gave them a bit of personality. -You can actually delete HMs now! -You can catch both mascot legendaries regardless of your game. Cons: -Most of the new Pokemon are extremely mediocre or outright terrible, with very few good ones (stat-wise). -IMO, second worst starters in the series. Typhlosion’s stats are directly copied from Charizard, why?? -The “split path” after the 4th badge, where you could get the 5th, 6th and 7th badges in any order, was a good idea in theory but not well implemented. Whichever path you take last ends up horribly underleveled. -Low levels overall, leading to a fairly easy main story. -Kanto is horribly balanced, almost everything is a joke for the point you have access to it. -Until Crystal, phone calls were generic and boring. In all versions though, phone calls get very annoying. -Cross-gen trading is clunky and awkward, you had to manually delete any move that didn’t exist in Gen 1. -Introduced roaming legendaries. Gen 3: Pros: -Nice graphical upgrade. -Abilities, Natures and the revamped EV system add more strategy to battling. -Introduced a new way to play in Double Battles. -The Hoenn region is pretty nice if you ignore the water areas. Some cool new area concepts we haven’t seen before, like deserts and volcanoes. -Significant plot differences between versions now. -Emerald’s Battle Frontier is very fun. Cons: -Loss of compatibility with older versions, meaning that a huge number of old Pokemon weren’t available until Kanto remakes. -Hoenn in general went really crazy with required HM usage. WHY DID THEY MAKE ROCK SMASH AN HM! -Vanilla Ruby/Sapphire have the worst postgame in the entire series by far. (Just a Battle Tower and one roaming legend) Fixed in Emerald and slightly fixed in the remakes. -Team Magma and Aqua were lame and unmemorable. Fixed in the remakes. -Introduction of version-exclusive legendaries. -Champions excluded, Hoenn probably has the worst Elite Four in the series, with incredibly boring, repetitive teams. -Completing the national dex was insanely convoluted, as Pokemon were split up across multiple games and spinoffs. You needed at bare minimum 4 games, a Gamecube and a Gamecube to GBA cable to do it. Gen 4: Pros: -Physical/Special split, increasing the viability of a lot of Pokemon. -Introduced WiFi, making trading MUCH easier. -Expanded the TM list, allowing for more options. -Most of the new Pokemon introduced had good stats and movepools. My favourite new batch of Pokemon. -Gave much-needed evolutions to many mediocre old Pokemon. -The “route split” where you can choose whether to fight Maylene or Wake 3rd, was kind of well-done. -Best starters in the series imo. Cons: -Diamond and Pearl are PAINFULLY SLOW. Both on the field and in battle. Saving takes forever. Surfing is horrendous. Platinum fixed some of this though. -Diamond and Pearl’s regional dex is horrible. Only one Fire type besides the starters, some of the newly-introduced Pokemon aren’t even in the dex! -And they made some very questionable choices to go with it. Protip: if your regional dex only has two Fire type lines, you PROBABLY shouldn’t have a Fire type Elite Four member. -Team Galactic and Cyrus are my least favourite villains by far. Their plot is a giant mess and it’s not paced well. I could go into more detail, of all their encounters before the halfway point, only one has any bearing on their main goal. The rest are just random acts of villainy for no reason. The Grunts don’t even know what the bosses are planning. -Main story is badly paced, HUGE drought between badges 2 and 3 (fixed in Platinum), and the massive level jump between Gym 8 and the Elite 4 forces a ton of grinding right at the very end (also fixed in Platinum) -No random online battling. -GTS is a mess, only trade via online forums or chatrooms. -Worst Safari Zone in the series by far. -The snow routes are awful. Good music though. Gen 5: Pros: -The fresh start the series desperately needed. -A regional dex of all new Pokemon. -Most new Pokemon have VERY good stats. -Main adventure is very balanced overall. Pokemon are available at just the right times, for the most part (Larvesta and Deino are exceptions) -Introduction of exp scaling, making it hard to get too overleveled during the main story and letting you more easily train low-level Pokemon to Lv 50 in the postgame. -HMs, besides one forced use of Cut, are entirely optional. Thank Arceus. -Gym Leaders are decently challenging, and actually do things in the story. -Some of the best storylines and characters in a Pokemon game. -Awesome twist on the formula at the end. -BW2 are full sequels instead of 3rd versions. Add new areas.. -BW2 has the best balance of old vs new in a regional dex, with an almost exactly 50/50 split. Some old Pokemon are given fresh new spins, like Riolu and Eevee being catchable early in the game. -BW2 has probably the best postgame in the series. -PWT is an awesome callback and a pretty fun battle facility. -Battle Facilities in general stopped cheating as much as they used to. -Added Shiny Charm, giving a non-cosmetic reward for completing the Dex. Cons: -Competitive metagame was kind of a mess, Smogon had to make several complex bans to try and keep everything under control. Mostly only applies to Singles though. -Introduced random online battles, but Ragequitting was rampant. -Introduced Triple and Rotation Battles, but were very under-used and barely anyone plays them competitively. -Worst starters in the series imo. -The Unova region is very linear and, at least in BW1, a quarter of it is postgame-only. -BW2′s plot was far more standard for a Pokemon game. -Some of the new Pokemon evolve at painfully high levels, which got bad when they showed up earlier in later games. Gen 6:

Pros: -First full 3D main series game. -I kind of like Kalos as a region. -Added Fairy type, helping nerf Dragons. (Though they might have gone overboard, Fairy is now kind of overpowered) -The starters are pretty good. -Ruby/Sapphire remakes were nice. -Added tons of nice Quality-Of-Life features, especially making breeding and EV training WAY easier and more accessible. -WiFi is amazing, especially the PSS. -A lot of Pokemon available in the dex. -Sycamore is a cool professor. Shame he wasn’t the Champion. -You won’t know it if you use the Exp Share, but basic trainers are actually very challenging, often having smart movesets and strategies, even egg moves. Try a no-exp share run sometime. These are actually among the hardest Pokemon games if you do. -The postgame Looker quest actually has a better story than the main game.

Cons: -Game Freak did a total 180 on their stance with Gen 5, and decided Pokemon would now be all about the old rather than the new. The games began a trend of GF extensively pandering to Genwunners at the expense of actual new stuff. Very few new Pokemon, all of them almost intentionally made rare. It almost felt like GF was ASHAMED of them, and had to hide them from the wrath of the Genwunners. Other pandering included a direct rehash of Viridian Forest, Snorlax, and a forced first encounter with a Pidgey. Not a new Pokemon, a Pidgey. -Worst tutorials in the series. It’s possible to catch a full team of 6... AND THEN BE GIVEN THE CAPTURE TUTORIAL. -Way too many rivals. Tierno and Trevor are barely there, and Calem/Serena feels undeveloped. -Team Flare are my second least-favourite evil team. They shouldn’t have bothered trying to hide Lysandre as the villain, it was so obvious. -Early pacing issues. Big gap between Gyms 1 and 2 (could’ve easily been solved by making Clemont Leader 2), Team Flare plot doesn’t start until pretty late in. -Worst Champion in the entire series. -Most Gym Leaders and all the E4 not named Seibold are jokes. (XY are weird in that on a challenge run, you’ll be steamrolling the bosses but getting destroyed by basic trainers) -THE EXP SHARE IS HORRIFICALLY BROKEN. Have it on all game, and you’ll be overleveling everyone by 20-30. It ruins what would otherwise be a pretty challenging game. -Kalos Route 13 is the worst route in Pokemon history. -THEY BROUGHT BACK SINNOH’S STICKING MUD, WHY?! -Sky Battles and Inverse Battles are really underused for something they spent a lot of effort marketing. Neither can be done in multiplayer. Sky Battles limited to a bunch of one-time trainers, Inverse Battles limited to only one. Neither can be done in multiplayer. -Controversial opinion, but I actually really hate Super Training. The EVs/Time ratio is way too small to be worth it, horde battles are far better. I only use it to finish off the last couple of EVs on a spread. -Mega Evolution is a mixed bag. It makes some weaker Pokemon useful (Beedrill, Kangaskhan, Charizard), but also makes some already good Pokemon even better (Scizor, Metagross, Gengar, Lucario, SALAMENCE). This means a lot of the more interesting Mega options go unused because you can only have one Mega slot. Evidence of not just popularity power, but more Genwunner pandering is on display. I like Charizard and Mewtwo, but I don’t think they needed two Megas. And NO Gen 5 Megas at all, and even after ORAS only one? (And it’s terrible?) -No new non-Uber legendaries, instead re-using, you guessed it, the Gen 1 legendaries. Gen 7:

Pros: -NO MORE HMs, FINALLY! -More new Pokemon than Gen 6. Each new Pokemon is given at least one unique gameplay trait, which is cool. -Alola is a pretty nice region. -Story and characters are great. Not as good as BW but a big step up from XY. -Team Skull are hilarious, playing all the unintentionally funny things about past evil teams for intentional comedy, almost acting as a bit of self-aware parody. -Genwunner pandering is less evident. Yeah only Gen 1 Pokes got Alolan Forms, but most of them needed upgrades anyway. NPCs from all gens get cameos, not just Gen 1 NPCs. -The Big Bad of vanilla Sun/Moon is a great villain. -The Exp Share is actually kind of balanced now, oddly enough. -Some of the trials are great boss fights, even better than most Gyms. -Poke Pelago’s “EV Bake Oven” allows for easy EV training. Cons: -Went back on a lot of Gen 6′s good multiplayer features. Festival Plaza is confusing and terrible. -Removed horde battles, replacing them with the extremely annoying SOS Battles. This also means EV training is a lot harder. Poke Pelago is good, but it’s non-interactive. -The first island is very hand-holdy and takes a while. -Island 3 feels oddly small for how big it’s supposed to be. -Still not THAT many new Pokemon. -Crabrawler and Charjabug’s evolution methods are DUMB, making them useless for the main story despite being catchable early. -USUM ruined Sun/Moon’s Big Bad’s characterization. Overall favourite to least-favourite: Gen 5 Gen 2 Gen 7 Gen 3 Gen 1 Gen 6 Gen 4 (But my favourite for competitive battling)

#Pokemon #Opinions #Thoughts #Generation 1 #Generation 2 #Generation 3 #Generation 4 #Generation 5 #Generation 6 #Generation 7

[sleeppaw]

So the 3DS is being discontinued

 I remember the first time I made a Wonder Trade on Pokemon Y, and received a HA Chimchar.

Getting almost all Mythicals in Generation 6 (The exception was Diancie)

Breeding a Shiny Turtoinator in Pokemon Sun (After getting both a French Turtoinator and a Japanese Ditto)

Successfully completing the Alola Dex in UltraSun

Downloading all the Daily Puzzles on Professor Layton

I will be Wonder Trading on UltraSun until when we get an announcement on when all online services on the 3DS is switched off. Plus, with the DS and 3DS games being unplayable on the Switch, I have a feeling we will be getting remakes very soon (Sinnoh and probably Unova remakes, as both were on the DS system). This will mean we will lose the ability to Trade on Generations 6 and 7 Pokemon games, as well as Pokemon Bank. If the Switch gets a Virtual Console one day, I would love to see the first three Generations on there (Especially the Generation 3 games; they didn’t require a second screen). With Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX being a remake of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red and Blue (which was originally released on the DS), I think they will remake Pokemon Ranger before the Diamond and Pearl remakes (As originally, Pokemon Ranger was released before Diamond and Pearl, so a hypotherical Ranger remake will probably come before Sinnoh remakes). Generation 4 lasted four years, so I think Generation 8 will probably last that long (Especially if they want to do Sinnoh Remakes sometime in Generation 8; I can see Let’s Go Johto coming in Generation 9 after the intial Generation 9 games are released, that way we could have the Generation 4 DS games on the Switch, possibly Generation 10 and Unova Remakes) Right now I’m looking at posts made when Diamond and Pearl was released (One comment about the Champion said “It’s about time we get a female champion to stop the fangirls drooling for their bishies”) In early 2014, when Pokemon X and Y was the only main series 3DS game, and when it was confirmed that the online services for the Generation 4 and 5 games would end, people were trying to get what they can before the Wi-Fi services were shut down. I remember when OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire was announced. A few days earlier, my brother had just beaten the Pokemon League in HeartGold and he had decided to give his 2DS a break. I decided to play on HeartGold for a bit, and the in-game radio was playing Route 102 music from the Hoenn region. A few minutes later, I looked for any news on Pokemon games and sure enough, we got news of a Hoenn remake. A region I missed out on back in the day, but somewhat familiar with the characters, I decided to ask for OmegaRuby for Christmas, and fell in love with the region, Pokemon and characters. Pokemon Sun was another favourite of mine, and a fresh change of pace, while UltraSun was the second time I ever completed a Pokedex (I completed the Sinnoh Dex on Diamond, but that was largely my brother’s tendency to restart a game) and to this day, the game with the most Shiny Pokemon on it (Something like 60, but then again, most of the Shiny Pokemon are from Ultra Wormholes); I randomly found a Shiny Golbat while hunting for a Larvesta, while hatching an egg I found a Shiny Smoochum, both were before I even got the Shiny Charm, while my most recent non-Wormhole Shiny is a Shiny Alolan Dugtrio (after the Shiny Charm). Kalos, despite the characters being forgettable, has great Pokemon and a diverse Pokedex. I enjoyed Monte D’Or, solving mysteries of the Azran people, travelling the world. Truly, the 3DS was a great system. In about five large Wonder Trades time, I will be ending my Wonder Trading in Generation 7 and by extension, the end of trading in the 3DS era. The very final Wonder Trade will be “Pokemon named after Gym Leaders and Champion from the Galar region”. Once that is over I will no longer be Trading on any 3DS Pokemon game. I will probably get Pokemon Bank and put every Legendary, Mythical and Shiny I own before moving them to HOME.

#sleepy's thoughts

[lostsummerdayz]

The Pokemon Expansion Pass Is Not As Bad As You Think

Pokemon Sword and Shield’s New Expansion Packs Leave Fanbase Polarized But Has History Always Been Kind?

By: Nay Holland

First thing’s first. Happy New Year everyone! It’s been a crazy and eventful year for Lost Summer Dayz and 2020 is about to get even more insane. I know I’m currently doing the equivalent of walking on hot Lego bricks while barefoot, but I felt like I needed at least a week to really gather my thoughts.

But no! No I do not think that the Expansion Pass is Game Freak’s way of robbing us fans! I also think that it is necessary for this to happen so we can fully appreciate a developer who has learned so much from their mistakes in the past!

To catch those unaware up to speed, Nintendo released a Pokemon Direct on the 9th of January. Those who woke up to catch the news were met with a bevy of information, highlighting the game plan for Game Freak’s famed IP for the course of 2020. If you missed out on the broadcast, the Direct can be viewed here for all the information you would need.

One of the first thing to notice is that the like to dislike ratio is sitting pretty right now.

Another elephant I’ll shoo out of the room real fast is the surprise and highly welcome announcement of an HD remaster for the first two Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX!

The game releases in March but the demo is currently available at the time of writing. Considering I’ve always wanted to try to Mystery Dungeon games, this was news I both was not expecting and news I will embrace with open arms. Definitely look for coverage in the future as I give my own thoughts from a PMD greenhorn!

Now that the Phanpy has left the room, it’s time to take on the Gigantimax Copperajah that has made his home in the building lobby.

The focus of the Pokemon Direct was to showcase the two new additions to the Galar region. There’s the Isle of Armor which looks like it would take place right at home in Alola and Hoenn with its coastal environments. There’s also the second area, The Crown Tundra, which looks more akin to the harsh hailstorm and mountainous peaks of Northern Galar. Both of these new locations house their own unique Pokemon, both new and old, rounding out to over 200 Pokemon.

The catch? Each expansion area costs $15. This makes for a total of $30 for both areas and their respective Pokemon.

Although obtaining access to these Pokemon are free, via trading with other trainers or transporting them from other Pokemon games via Pokemon Home, reactions to this news have been mixed. A common complaint I’ve seen on social media is the cost of the game plus the expansion pass and how it correlates to previous Pokemon games. Their argument is that in the past, the base game for Pokemon were $30 USD and the third version which was more “complete” was also $30, which made it $60 altogether.

With the new expansion, the base game for Sword and Shield is $60 and the expansion, being $30, makes the game $90. Some even go so far as to compare Game Freak to EA with this business decision.

I’m sure we’ve seen this lovely image floating around...

I’m here to counter these points with my own opinion as to why I feel this is a perfect decision for Game Freak to embrace the DLC/Expansion model rather than rely on an archaic method of Pokemon distribution.

Our story starts as early as Generation 1 with versions Red and Blue. Since the very beginning, each game had version exclusives depending on what version you owned. As would be tradition moving forward, Red and Blue was followed with a third game, Yellow.

While the “third game” in the series would serve as a way to acquire some of the version exclusives, the selling point of Yellow was meant to capitalize on the success of the Pokemon anime. This can be attributed by the Pikachu who follows behind you and the name of the anime protagonist as a possible selection when you name your character. There’s also the inclusion of Jessie and James as the rivals for this version.

Generation 2 was when the “Third version following the two main versions” formula was cemented. With Gold and Silver having their version exclusives once again, Crystal provided quality of life adjustments yet again.

It made it easier to catch both of the cover legendaries, Ho-Oh and Lugia, by making them available in Crystal albeit as optional legendaries. The cover legendary, which was previously an optional legendary in Gold and Silver, could also be seen as quality of life as you could catch Suicune in a traditional Pokemon battle rather than chase it, alongside Entei and Raikou, all over Johto. The largest addition which would go on to be a staple for future Pokemon games, including remakes, was the option to play as a girl.

Pokemon Yellow and Crystal were both meant to provide quality of life changes that cartridge based games needed. Before there was an option to simply update an existing game with patches, these third versions were vital to add features into already existing generations. The third generation posed the first problem that Game Freak faced when it came to transferring Pokemon from different generations.

Up until this point, the transfer of Pokemon between all six games were made possible with link cables. Pokemon can be traded to and from Generation 1 and Generation 2 so long as the Pokemon existed in Generation 1 and didn’t learn any moves that existed in Generation 2 easily enough.

Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire introduced Generation 3 and it was called the Advanced Generation for a reason. It was on entirely new hardware, so the data used to transfer Pokemon from the Game Boy and Game Boy Color era was incompatible with the Game Boy Advance Pokemon games.

This is where we hit our first instance of “All Pokemon from existing games are not available in a Pokemon game.” Outside of special Pokemon events that distributed Pokemon, there was no legal way to attain all of the beloved Pokemon from Generation 1 and 2. 

Savvy Pokemon Trainers at the time who had access to cheating devices like a Gameshark, quickly realized, however, that hidden in the game were all of the Pokemon from previous games. Data for all 386 Pokemon up to that point were included yet at the time only 200 Pokemon could be attained between both Ruby and Sapphire. That meant almost half of the Pokedex was lost in the void and this complete dex would be dubbed the National Dex.

Where are the 186 Pokemon that was missing from this game!? Why did Game Freak lie and not include all the Pokemon in Ruby and Sapphire??? Where’s my <insert favorite> HERE!?!?

Some, not all, of these questions were answered in a game that not many people expected back then.

A year after the release of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, Pokemon Colosseum was released for the Nintendo Gamecube in 2004. While praised for it being a full-fledged Pokemon adventure in 3D, some of the selling points for this game was the ability to catch Johto Pokemon. From the very beginning you have access to an Espeon and Umbreon. Shortly afterward you have the chance to catch the Gen 2 starters albeit its secondary evolution with Quilava, Bayleef, and Croconaw. Throughout the game you also have chances to catch a rogues’ gallery of various exclusive Pokemon, which leads to the chance to acquire Ho-Oh at the tail end of the journey.

After completing Colosseum, only then were you able to transfer your Pokemon from the game to Ruby and Sapphire. This was only possible with the usage of a special link cable that was meant to connect your Game Boy Advance to your Gamecube. Not only did you need to own a full priced Pokemon game and play it to completion, but to reap your rewards you needed an extra peripheral device. Even at this point, you were missing a sizable chunk of the Pokemon needed to complete the National Dex at the time.

However, later on that year, a blessing would be granted to patient Pokemon Trainers. The release of the first ever Pokemon remakes, Fire Red and Leaf Green, were released in September. Finally, all 150 Generation 1 Pokemon were able to be captured and transferred to and from Generation 3.

The Johto or Generation 2 Pokemon were a different type of beast however.

Combined with the obtainable Pokemon in Colosseum and FRLG, there were still a sizable amount of Pokemon missing from Gen 2. While you could catch the three legendary dogs from Generation 2, it was still far easier to do so in Colosseum. The only way to acquire Lugia and Ho-Oh in Fire Red and Leaf Green, outside of hacking the event in-game, was through a special event. This meant Colosseum was still an important piece to the puzzle as Ho-Oh was a guaranteed encounter in that game. 

Okay, so Ho-Oh was at least accessible in one other game, thus just about rounding out the obtainable legendaries. But what of Lugia and the others?

Enter Pokemon Emerald, a full two years after the release of Ruby and Sapphire!

The coveted “third version” of Gen 3 provided some changes to the story. Rather than Team Magma or Team Aqua being the hero and villain depending on the version, both teams were the major villains and Rayquaza, who was an optional legendary prior, is now a central legendary in Emerald. Sounds familiar to Crystal?

On top of both Kyogre and Groudon being accessible in this game, it was also possible to catch a sizable missing chunk of the Gen 2 Pokemon as well as making it easier to catch the Lati twins (As Latios and Latias were only available, in the wild, depending on which version you had)

That’s great! But can you catch Lugia?

Nope, because the final piece to this puzzle, the final corner of the Generation 3 Labyrinth, was just around the corner. Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness was released at the end of 2005 as the sequel to Pokemon Colosseum.

Now, at this point in Generation 3, there have been two main versions, two remade versions, and a console game. This is not even mentioning the Pokemon Box which was the only way you could store Pokemon outside of the handheld games, which would serve as the catalyst for Bank and Home many years later. With the release of XD, this rounded the list of games up to six and this isn’t counting buying both versions of RS and FRLG.

Hey, at least you were finally able to claim Lugia alongside any remaining Hoenn exclusives and Johto Pokemon!

Needless to say, Game Freak needed to think of something for Generation 4 onward so that nothing this convoluted could exist again. Utilizing the new hardware of the Nintendo DS and its ability to access the GBA cartridge slot, transferring Pokemon from Gen 3 to 4 was made possible with very little headache. Pokemon transferred this way couldn’t make their way back to Gen 3. After various games and spinoffs throughout Generation 3, however, this was an acceptable drawback.

Throughout the years, the line between generations and game systems was blurred to the point where upon the release of Pokemon Bank, transferring Pokemon between generations as early as 4 to as late as 6 was clockwork. It was even easy to trade with others due to the usage of GTS, then Wonder Trade, and finally Surprise Trade.

If you really want to see how intricate this transfer system works, look no further than this IGN article detailing this process from as far back as Gen 3.

So why am I saying all of this? Well, let’s look back at Generation 3 one last time so we can see how we got to this point of easy transferring. 

Consider the price of GBA games ranged around the price of $30. That’s Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire, Fire Red/Leaf Green, and Emerald, so, three games equating to roughly $90. The price of Gamecube games were around the $50 range at that time so there’s Pokemon Colosseum and XD Gale of Darkness. That’s about $100. With the games alone, it checked out to around $200 over the span of two video game systems! Spending $90 in 2020 seems like a bargain steal in comparison.

It was a time of a lot of firsts for Game Freak. It was their first time developing a system that allowed all Pokemon from older generations to become accessible in modern times. It was their first time trying out various Nintendo peripherals to explore various means of transferring. It was also their first time in perfecting a way to transfer Pokemon without the need to buy an entirely new game.

This is the major point of the new Pokemon Sword and Shield update. Much like the generations past, you do not need the expansion to obtain the Pokemon from previous games. As not all of the Pokemon are still made available even if over 200 Pokemon are being added, I have a hunch that we are not done with Pokemon news as of yet. Perhaps we shall look forward to a Sinnoh remake to obtain the unobtainable Pokemon?

In conclusion, before one goes to protest Game Freak or harass the game developer on his birthday about existing Pokemon, think about how far we have come to get to where we are at now. Be grateful that we no longer have to go through such dark ages of Pokemon transferring ever again. 

#Pokemon #pokemon sword and shield #bring back national dex #gaming journalism #video game

[smarkey12]

A Commentary on the Prospect of New Pokémon Games

WHAT’S UP, MOTHER HECKERS. At the time of my writing this, it is May 15th, 2017. The Pokémon community is starving. We have not received any official hints or leads on what the next Pokémon game will be. It’s been nearly seven months since the release of Sun and Moon and we are becoming desperate for any new game info, since it seems recently that Pokémon games have a much higher peak in popularity, but that popularity wears off extremely quickly, like the lifespan of a normie meme.

I’ve got some things to say about this, so if you’re interested, continue below!!

For the next main series game, we’ve got two feasible options. You likely know what they are by now. The first is an Alola sequel, codenamed for now as “Pokémon Stars.” I can assure you that the next Alola game would not be a “revamp” of Sun and Moon, similar to what Crystal, Platinum, and Emerald were. So many loose ends were left at the end of Sun and Moon that some type of sequel would be the only logical course for the next game. We need to see how Lillie does in Kanto, We need to see what those empty lots all around the region are for. We need a new storyline for Necrozma. 

For all those who want Kanto re-remakes, you could stretch as far as to say Alola sequels would include a trip to Kanto in order to see Lillie, but this is sadly unlikely. Gamefreak is about as likely to do this as they are to do “Pokémon Rainbow.” If the player could be brought to Kanto, they would expect to walk over to Johto as well. A game with three regions in one would be huge and way too complicated. Apart from that, and other than the whole Lillie thing, there’s really no reason to make a ANOTHER  game that has Kanto in it…yet.

And now, what this post is all about…*drumroll please…*

SINNOH REMAKES.

Ahh yes. All of Sinnoh in the glory of 3D, Gen 7 style. Remastered music. Redesigned characters. New side missions. A possible “Distortion Episode” for Giratina, or ones for ALL of Sinnoh’s many legendaries. The hints for these games are big and well-known, including (but not limited to) the lack of Sinnoh Pokémon in the Alola Dex, the many references to Sinnoh in Alola’s dialogue, the colors on Team Skull’s battle screens, the fact that Cynthia already has a 3D model, the similarity between Ultra Beasts and Giratina, as well as between Type: Null and Arceus. I want these remakes so badly, and it seems as though the time has come, my friends. Sinnoh is next in line to be remade…!

However, there are a few problems.

Our hype is becoming too intimidating. I’ve been looking at some of the tweets from the Pokémon Company recently, and no matter what it’s about, there is always at least one reply that says something along the lines of “SINNOH CONFIRMED” or “CONFIRM POKEMON STARS, YOU COWARDS!” Now, I understand the enthusiasm. I have the same thoughts and it seems obvious at this point that Sinnoh remakes are next. The key, though, is that Gamefreak doesn’t LIKE to be predictable. They’ve shown this many, many times, a prime example being Black/White 2. So, by speculating on how May is the month for games to be announced and how Sinnoh remakes are next on the table and they’d better just be announced already, we may be digging our own graves.

There is also the point of how remakes are released every 5 years, and by that standard, Sinnoh remakes should happen in 2019. I personally don’t believe this, for the same reason–Gamefreak tends not to be predictable. 

It seems that the next Pokémon game we’ll get will be the rumored “Pokémon Stars.” This is very vague, and could either mean the Alola sequels or Sinnoh remakes. It’s impossible to tell at this point (and don’t even get me started on what console it will be on. That’s a whole nother confusing debate). 

Well, that’s it. I hope you enjoyed this spiel. 

#pokemon #sinnoh #sinnoh remakes #pokemon stars #alola #kanto #necrozma #giratina #sinnoh confirmed

[le-pokerus]

My thoughts on Sun and Moon

So after a couple of months collecting my thoughts, I finally have written a list of all the stuff I liked and didn’t like about Pokemon Sun and Moon. It’s a long one, so I’ve made it nicer for your dash. (Also heavy spoilers).

Okay imma split this into four sections to make it more organised: 

things I liked about the game

things I didn’t like about the game

things have mixed feelings or am impartial about the game

things that I personally would’ve liked.

Things I liked about the game:

The silliness. In an interview with GF somewhere they said they wanted the game to focus on the fun aspect of Pokemon, so from weird dances to silly expressions and team skull not being taken seriously, I think they nailed it.

The Island Challenge! Despite really liking gyms, I thought the Island challenge was a cool thing that suited alola well (until a certain point, I’ll talk about that later).

Alolan forms. Regional variation is something I found really cool and gave some pokemon (only some) a nice twist (despite some awful forms).

The evolution music. Specifically when a pokemon evolves to or from and alolan form, giving the music a nice Hawaiian-esque sound was a little thing I liked.

A story line that doesn’t involve trying to control a legendary pokemon and using it to try and take over the world (or something like that). Yes all the previous games did it a bit differently and for different means, but by X and Y it was a stale story line and I’m glad they changed it.

Z-moves. Despite them being a bit OP at times, I quite liked them and thought they introduced a nice new battle mechanic.

Apricorn balls. Although you can only get one of each, it was nice them bringing them back even a little bit.

The new graphics. Despite really liking the graphics style of 3rd, 4th, 6th gens, I actually liked the graphics of sun and moon and it made them feel like a modern game.

Island Scan. I am a sucker for new ways of encountering pokemon, pokeradar, rustling grass, dexnav, I love ‘em. Island scan is also great, albeit not perfect and could’ve been improved, it was still a cool thing, and allowed me to catch the johto starters which is always great.

SOS battles. Speaking of new encounter methods, SOS battles not only allowed you to chain for more powerful pokemon, and increase your chances of a shiny, it also allowed you to find pokemon you couldn’t usually catch in the wild, e.g. salamence, snorlax, mereanie, lucario (although lucario was a pain in the arse due to riolu knowing fucking final gambit).

The Alola League. Pokemon leagues were always something that were just there and had been for ages, I loved the fact that the league was formed whilst you progressed and you became the first ever champion. I also liked how you defended your title against a small roster of different people rather than one (although I would’ve liked maybe another new elite 4 member instead of loads of island kahunas).

Team Skull. Honestly one of my favourite villainous teams, they’re silly and stupid and no one takes them seriously, 10/10.

Lillie. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. Oh my god Lillie is a great character, the way she develops as a character throughout the story line is really well done, and the way she stands up to her mother towards the end is great, and when she leaves is a really sad moment and actually something not done before in a pokemon game.

All the other characters. From Hau to Professor Kukui to Gladion to Lusamine and the Guzma, sun and moon had great characters whith very different personalities and personas. Most of pokemon games, the characters are just there, there’s very little back story or real personality, but sun and moon went so far into these things that honestly it makes the game worthwhile just for them.

The mini map. Having a mini map was cool and made traversing the map easier so you don’t get stuck looking for something in the wrong place.

The music was pretty cool as far as pokemon games go, more memorable than XY but still not as good as previous gens in my opinion.

Magearna QR Code. One of the main problems of pokemon is events that only run for certain times making events such as the aurora ticket, oak’s letter, and genesect impossible to get without cheating in older games. Making Magearna available by a QR code that will never expire makes it so even fans in the future picking up these old games can get this mythical pokemon without hacks and honestly have a better experience for it.

Gridless. Due to limitations of old consoles, pokemon games have stayed to a grid like overworld, and even up to xy and oras they seemed to stay like that. Now don’t get me wrong I really like the grid like map etc. but sun and moon changed that and I love it. It really does make alola seem like a real tropical island based region, and really does change the whole feel of the game.

Added to the pokedex! I like how after evolving pokemon or breeding pokemon, or getting pokemon as gift or through trade that the data for the pokemon is added to the dex on screen, something that i’ve always thought previous games would benefit from.

Things I didn’t like about the game:

The Island Challenge! Wait didn’t I already do this one? Yes I did, but they fit on both good and bad lists (but not mixed feelings). As I stated before, I like the island challenge it was a fun thing that really made sun and moon different. HOWEVER, it just stopped, like the 1st and 2nd islands were great, they had cool challenges and cool leaders, the 3rd island sorta died down, and by the 4th island it had stopped, like it felt as if GF had given up by then, it was just hey there’s one challenge and theirs no trial captain or kahuna, and it’s just 3 straight battles. At least with gyms you were always guaranteed them, there was always a gym nearby and always one to challenge after the main story, but up until the pokemon league I was like where’s the next challenge and then when i got to the league I was like oh, there isn’t one.

Zygarde. Zygarde and its cells did fuck all and was basically just a gimmick.

The Rotom Dex. Oh god where do I start? This thing just doesn’t shut the fuck up. It always has something to say even when you’ve got nothing left to really do. The markers on the map killed the exploration aspect, the unnecessary commentary when you register a pokemon to your dex. Making it difficult to touch the mini map, cuz for some fucking reason you tickle him instead.

The A button. Having the press the A button every god damn fucking time you want to go through a door. Who’s idea was this? There’s no point, it just makes the A button whittle down faster, it should have just been left at walking into it automatically makes you go through.

Fishing. Only being able to fish in certain spots. Stupid idea. 0/10.

Legendary evolution lines. Didn’t like that cosmog evolved into the mascot legendary (through another legendary). Like legendaries are supposed to be these really powerful pokemon that are just there, they’re supposed to have been created like that, not evolve from another pokemon.

Unbreedable evolutions. Speaking of legendaries evolving, I dislike that fact that cosmog and type: null evolve, are not able to breed, and are only available once, it makes a living form dex (my main pokemon quest) very difficult to complete since i have to own another game and go through that story as well to have all the evolution family.

All legendaries are shiny locked. Who’s idea was shiny locking? Not that I’m gonna hunt for them but the off chance of encountering a shiny legendary was always a cool one.

The PC boxes. XY/ORAS PC boxes were great, they were quick, easy to use, and simple. SM boxes were slow, clunky and had some unnecessary changes. They also had very little space compared to the previous gen, despite adding 81 new pokes, they only added two boxes (60 mons), meaning that a living form dex is almost impossible to have on one game.

The Battle Tree. For myself, a filthy casual, the battle tree is impossible. Unless you have made/bred a competitive team, you cannot progress at all. At least with the battle maison they had tiers, so gaining battle points wasn’t tedious. but with the battle tree, there’s just one tier and it’s the worst. You only get one BP for battle (if you win) and you need 1000 alone just to get the mega stones (which are only available there. All I can say is, thank god pokebank gives you BP.

Post game was shit. Again, the post game was lackluster and the looker missions were just doing the same thing a few times with little point to it.

The ultra-beasts. The Ultra beasts, despite being a “massive threat” didn’t do anything at all and were just catch fodder. They also just don’t fit into the pokemon universe (yeah I know they’re from a different universe, but from a franchise point of view, it’s like a halo character in a my little pony universe).

The battle scenes were slow. Too slow from encountering a wild pokemon to being able to battle it.

Surf encounters. Is it still surfing if you don’t use HM03 Surf? Regardless, the encounter rate for pokemon while surfing is ridiculously small, like you do multiple laps of a a pool of water and hardly encounter any at all.

No National Pokedex. Seriously every game has had a national dex in some form (gen 1’s dex was basically national, gen 2′s was national in a different order, ruby/sapphire got one after trading with firered/leafgreen/emerald) like why have they removed this feature? Yes bank has a national dex as of the update, but sun moon doesn’t get one making it more difficult to sort pc boxes, and it means pokes not in the regional dex don’t get a dex entry for sun moon (maybe this’ll get fixed in the future (much like ruby/sapphire was)

Legendary battles. I’m a fan of interacting with the overworld sprite to battle a legendary, however for almost every legendary in sun and moon there isn’t one: the tapus, you interact with the shrine; and the ultra beasts and necrozma are just in the grass, idk it just makes them feel weird.

More than one ultra beast. One weird thing sun and moon did was make more than one of some ultra beasts available, I get that there are more than one and it would make sense for more than one of some to come through, but when you have 4 kartana or 4 pheromosa in your box, it just makes then feel less special.

Event only Z-Crystals. This is tentative since it may be changed in the future but much like as stated before event only stuff is annoying for those who pick this game up in the future. So the snorlium-z and mewnium-z won’t be available to some players and since z crystals are an important thing, it’s kinda annoying.

A small loan of $1,000,000. So after beating the looker missions, you get rewarded with $1,000,000, although this is very nice and means you don’t have to grind for money, I feel it’s a bit too much and makes it so there’s less to do post game.

No auto save after elite 4. Just an annoyance really, all games have saved after the elite 4 and it made me lose some progress cuz it didn’t save. It also doesn’t repeat the credits and send you back home which i liked about the other games.

Experience gain. The way of how experience is calculated has been changed back to the shitty gen V method, where the lower the level you are from your opponent the more experience you gain. This sounds good in theory but the highest levels are 59 in the wild and 63 on the elite 4 which makes getting your team to level 100 or evolving some pokemon very tedious. The only reason it worked in gen v was cuz they had audino literally everywhere and they give a fairly high amount of exp, but there aren’t really any high experience giving pokemon in alola at all.

Things I am impartial or have mixed feelings about the game:

No HM’s. Although having no HM’s allowed me to finally have a six party team (which i definitely used to make sure I have type coverage, 3 fairy types is the way to go), I just missed them and only getting fly and surf post game was annoying since I always have them on my main mons.

Pokepelago. I liked a lot of aspects of pokepelaga, growing berries was made insanely easy (and better that way) gaining evolution stones and rare items was so much less tedious unlike super training, hot springs were cool, levelling up pokes was an option if you wanted. HOWEVER, the pokemon capture method is complete bs. so sometimes a wild pokemon will appear, and when interacted with mohn will say come back tomorrow to see if it likes being here or whatever, but it’s complete chance there is no way to affect if they stay, sometimes they will just disappear for no reason, honestly it’s stupid and reminds me of the awful safari zones in gens 1, 3 and 4 *shudders*.

The Batte Royal. It’s a really cool concept and adds something new to battling but it makes the game lag on all devices and it just feels too short, instead of ending when one person loses all their pokemon, it should’ve been when there’s only one player left and then add up how many pokes were knocked out by each person.

Things I personally would’ve liked:

More previous gen legendaries. Yes, I am aware you can already get 8 legendaries in the game, but there are currently 61 legendaries and mythicals, therefor I would’ve liked to have seen maybe a couple more from those gens, just so it doesn’t feel so secluded. This may also make another case of ORAS where they just added a shit ton of legendaries to make them available in that generation due to xy’s appalling legendary selection, so if they are to make them all available this gen then they might have too many in the next game.

The bicycle. Although there is poke-ride to replace the bike, it’s not the same. the bike has more maneuverability, and the fact that I have to constantly get on and off my poke-ride to get into small places due to their stupid collision boxes is something the bike would fix.

Nebby. Wait it’s not what you think! I love nebby, it’s a great character and has great memes. What i disliked was that after nebby turned into the version mascot, we kept it, yes I get that the player has to get it somehow, but I feel nebby should always have been with Lillie not with someone who met it a few days prior, I think the best way to have done it is if you’re given like a cosmog egg or something (but I guess you had to battle the mascott so idk).

Less spoilers. Not necessarily about the game itself, but GF revealed way too many pokemon prior to sun and moon. One of the biggest things I looked forward to when SM was announced was discovering new pokemon (i’’d never had a game at release so I knew them all prior) unfortunately GF decided that was not happening and showed almost all of them before the games came out, making me lose out on this experience.

A safari zone. No not the crap ones, the ones like gen 6. I would’ve liked a somewhat safari zone where you could catch more pokemon outside of the alola dex, and it would’ve been awesome if you could catch regular versions of the alola forms too.

A post game island. Sun and Moon didn’t add any new places, everything was available to explore before the elite four and i would’ve liked to have a couple of new islands to explore, I’m not talking about another huge island, but maybe just a couple small islands with maybe like a town with cool things on (like the above mentioned safari zone).

Sidequests. Yes this is a common thing for people to want from pokemon games. But sun and moon really lacked things to do rather than the main story. Really the only thing to do is the Battle Tree which is only post game and is awful, or the battle royal which is cool but laggy and over too quickly.

In Conclusion

Great, not perfect, but a hell of a lot of fun, would highly recommend. 8.5/10.

#sumo #pokemon sun moon #my posts #like if u read #this'll probs be edited as i remember things to add #my content

[sage-nebula]

Completionist, Rotom, and Legend!

Completionist: How many times have you completed the Pokédex?

Once, and I’ve borne a grudge ever since that I’ve only just (mostly) gotten over. Settle in and buckle up, because it’s story time.

So, back in the days of my youth, there were only 151 known pokémon. 151, because if you (general “you,” not you in specific) are a genwunner who forgets about Mew simply because all of the marketing back in ye olden days used to talk about “150 pokémon *winkwink*”, then I will whap you on the head with a rolled up newspaper and not even feel sorry about it. There were 151 known pokémon back then, and although my primary interest was in battling, I still decided to go ahead and complete the Pokédex just to prove to everyone that I really was the best Pokémon Master the world had ever seen. (Note: Due to how young I was, my world was mostly comprised of my elementary school. Nonetheless.) 

As it so happens, I did complete the Pokédex. Using a combination of all three of the released games at the time (Red, Blue, and Yellow in America), a Game Link cable, and both my and my brother’s Game Boy Pockets, I managed to capture and record every single pokémon. I also, due to being young and not having the scruples that I have now, used a Game Shark to capture Mew and teach my pikachu Surf. I was young, okay. I was young and extremely salty at the fact that the only ways to legally obtain Mew were through Nintendo events that took place during school hours in California and New York. And I asked my dad if he would let me skip school and also drive me to California so that I could get Mew, and he laughed at me. Game Shark (or the Mew glitch) was the only option. I don’t approve of such practices now, but eight-year-old me was a lot more desperate.

That is not the point. The point is, I completed the Pokédex, and I proudly took it to the Game Freak headquarters programmed into the game. I knew that you got a prize for completing it. I thought the prize was going to be Togepi, or that mysterious bird that Ash saw at the beginning of the anime (we in America did not yet know that this bird’s name was Ho-Oh). I thought it might even be another Mew, or else perhaps the keys to the truck. I didn’t know what it was, specifically, but I was super excited to find out after all my hard work.

And do you know what it was? Do you? Well, if not, I’ll tell you:

It was a diploma.

It was a little in-game certificate, the equivalent to a gold star or smiley face sticker saying, “Good job!” You could print it out using the Game Boy Printer. I want to say you could also take it to one of the kiosks stationed in local Blockbusters, but at the same time I’m also 99% positive those were only for printing out photos that you took in Pokémon Snap. Like, they were specifically Pokémon Snap kiosks. Either way, I had a certificate in my Red (or Blue, but I’m pretty sure it was Red Version because my Blue ended up corrupted beyond repair thanks to MissingNO/M’) for completing my Pokédex. A certificate. A diploma. A little worthless piece of paper after the months of labor I put into into those games. I was furious. I was an eight (or nine, perhaps, by this point) year old vessel of barely contained rage. All of that, for nothing. Where was my real reward, huh? Where was the awe, the admiration? Where the goddamn fuck was my Togepi?! (This was especially a sticking point, because despite all the rumors none of us had managed to find a way into the Grandfather Canyon. Of course, this is because the Grandfather Canyon was an anime-exclusive location, but we tried to get to it in our games anyway. Oh, did we try.)

That set a grudge that lasted about twenty years. On that day, with my hands squeezing my red Game Boy Pocket so hard I nearly broke it, I vowed that I would never, not ever complete the Pokédex again until the series actually ended. Never again, I said. Never. Again. And so far, I have kept that promise.

… though that said, I have been planning to half-heartedly try this gen, if only because I have a friend willing to complete it with me, and I think that would be fun. But that said, it’s going to be less fun since the ‘dex is now mostly contained in the Bank. It’s like Game Freak is laughing at me, honestly. They are doing this on purpose. Well, we’ll see who has the last laugh, Game Freak. We’ll see. We’ll see!!

(… It’ll be them. They have my dream job and I’ll never get it. I felt truly envious of one of the NPCs in Sun Version when she talked about how she got to work on the games she grew up playing as a child. I felt actual envy toward an NPC. This is probably something I should take up with my therapist.)

Rotom: What is your favourite region in Pokémon?  

JOHTO! ♥ Johto is my home. Even though the Kanto games were the ones I started with, for some reason Johto is the one that makes me feel like I’m coming home every single time I pick up one of the Johto games, or when I hear the music, or when I see pictures or art of it. It’s also constantly overshadowed by Kanto, but there’s nothing that can be done about that, unfortunately. I don’t know, there’s just something truly beautiful about Johto, though. I love all of the legends and history, I love how it has bits of industrialization here and there but is still very connected to nature and the beliefs of the people, and the connections to pokémon without going overboard about it. Johto is just a truly beautiful region, and it’s my region. I’ve loved none like it before or since.

Legend: Your favourite legendary/mythical Pokémon?

My favorite legendary pokémon is Lugia (and I’m actually wearing a Lugia shirt as I type this—the 151 design Lugia shirt, in fact), and while I can’t say the specific reason because that would give away information about myself that I’m not willing to share, Lugia is my favorite because I have a certain connection with it. There’s something that Lugia and I share that makes me feel like Lugia is my legendary, on top of the fact that its movie is one of my favorites and it has a beautiful song (that, as it happens, I can clumsily play on the ocarina). I do wish that Lugia had more sensible typing (it’s the guardian of the sea and looks like a massive sea dragon, and yet its typing is psychic/flying, I just ???), but there’s not much that can be done about that and I adore Lugia anyway. Always have.

As for my favorite mythical pokémon, that’s a tie between Mew and Victini. As far as Mew goes, I’ve always felt that there’s been something especially mysterious about it. Yes, I do like the fact that Mew can learn literally any move, and I do think it’s cute and all that, and of course I had so few scruples as a child that I was willing to use legendaries in my main party and so I did use one in the Gen I games—but more than that, I’ve just always felt that although all legendary and mythical pokémon have an air of mystery to them, there’s been something particularly mysterious and magical about Mew, the pokémon who even back then was said to be so rare that most people felt that it was only a mirage. To this day Mew holds a place in my heart, and probably always will. After all, not every pokémon can say they were responsible for frenzied mobs gathering around abandoned trucks.

As far as Victini goes, it’s just adorable. I’ve always had this image of Victini in my mind just giving a completely blank stare before spontaneously breaking out in a toothy grin and V for Victory hand sign. It’s silly and foolish and prone to shenanigans, but that’s why I adore it! It also has a fantastic typing of fire/psychic, so I mean, there’s very little not to love. ♥ Victini is great.

#pokemon meme #my dream job is to work on the scenario/story for Pokémon games #but alas that dream is an impossible one #ryttu3k #i imagine there's going to be someone out there that's like #''well *I* ALWAYS knew it was Ho-Oh bc my dad traveled to Japan and he told me'' #well OK jessica and/or shane we're very proud of you #please sit down now

[retrorendum-blog]

Pokemon Sun and Moon - Review

Pokémon is a franchise that's been in my life for pretty much as long as I can remember. Pokémon Pearl was my very first real video game, (so yes I'm a Sinnoh baby) and since then I've purchased nearly every new main series game on/ near launch day, or eventually buying them later.  The existence and names of the Gen 7 games were leaked by a German copyright website the day before they were officially announced, but how Nintendo and Game Freak released new info on the games in the following months really pumped my hype levels nearly to higher than they've ever been. It's the 20th anniversary of Pokémon as a franchise, so let's see if the newest games hold up to the impossible standards of quality for this immensely popular series.

Title: Pokémon Moon

Available On: Nintendo 2DS, Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS

Reviewed On: Nintendo 2DS

Info: Game Freak, 2016

WARNING MINOR SPOILERS FOR POKÈMON SUN AND MOON

Story: The tale of a new Pokémon trainer is one that hasn't developed very much over the years, and it doesn't deviate a ton in 2016's iteration. You're the new kid on the block, arriving to a new region with your mom, at the perfect age to begin your journey as a Pokémon master. Meet the professor and his assistant, choose your starter Pokémon, battle your rival, and get ready to catch em' all. This time however, it's a little different. The game opens to a fully rendered 3D cutscene of a young girl with a bag running for her life through a pristine, sterilized compound while being chased by men in white suits. She gets cornered eventually, and when all hope seems lost, her bag begins to glow and she disappears in a flash of colorful light. After an introduction to the regional Professor Kukui, and the Kahuna of Melemele island Hala, you find yourself on the edge of a ravine with a bridge, standing near the young girl from the earlier cutscene. Her bag begins to rustle, and out jumps a small purple Pokémon named Cosmog. Cosmog, or "Nebby" as the girl calls it, floats out onto the bridge, and proceeds to be attacked by a small band of Spearow. You, being the hero you are, dash out onto the bridge to protect Cosmog from harm. As you're covering Cosmog, it begins to glow like it did in the opening cutscene, and it explodes in a bang of light. The explosion destroys the bridge beneath you, and the two of you plummet into the dark recesses of the ravine, supposedly to your deaths. Right before you hit the ground, a yellow streak appears and whisks you up to safety. The yellow streak turns out to be the legendary Pokémon Tapu Koko, the guardian of Melemele island. It flies away before you can react, leaving behind a magical stone for you to keep. The girl helps you up and introduces herself as Lillie, Professor Kukui's strange assistant. This chain of events sets you on your course to completing the Island challenge; a child's right of passage in the Alola region, and thus you begin your journey. The story in Gen 7 scratched that slightly deeper Pokemon lore itch that I’d been craving ever since I played Pokemon Pearl a decade ago, and left me craving more. Story gets a 10/10

Visuals/ Music: Pokémon Sun and Moon are the best looking and sounding entries in the main series franchise to date, and they push the limitations of the 3DS's hardware to it's very limits. This push becomes obvious when you enter a double battle, where the DS framerate slows to a crawl every few seconds. The most impressive aspect of the visuals in the game are the aforementioned 3D cutscenes, which happen every once in a while as you progress through the story. While the constant switching between classic gameplay and unskippable story sequences may get frustrating for some who are just there to catch Pokémon and battle, I found it to be a refreshing change of pace in the games, because lore and plot have always been some of my favorite parts of video games. The cutscenes are detailed eye-candy, and each one contains people and Pokémon acting as though they were in a movie. The sound design is top-notch as well, each route and town has it's own catchy and recognizable tunes, and occasionally you hear old classic songs from earlier games remixed for a quick burst of nostalgia. The songs are all well mixed as well, with guitars, flutes, and base drums all coming together to create the soundtrack. I don't think people will be talking about the soundtrack much in the future, at least not compared to the god’s breath that is Kanto, Johto and Sinnoh soundtracks, but we can enjoy it for what it is now. The visuals and music in Sun and Moon get an 9/10

Gameplay: Pokémon's gameplay is tried and true, whittle down the opponents health in turn based combat and capture and level your monsters to become the very best like no one ever was, and all of that is in Sun and Moon as well. There are just under 100 new creatures to catpure, battle, and bond with, and with a national dex 300 strong, the wide variation in Pokémon is apparent from the very beginning. There are also two new types of Pokémon, Ultra Beasts and Alolan Variants. Ultra Beasts are Pokémon from another dimension, and are extremely tough in battle. Alolan Variants feed into the nostalgia the game creates by taking Pokémon from the original 151 in Red and Green, and giving them a new look, new typings, and new abilities. The object of the game is to complete your island challenge, and take on each Trial and their subsequent Trial Captains. The Trials are Sun and Moon's replacement for the classic Pokémon Gym system, and is a welcome breath of fresh air to veterans and a neat way to bring in newcomers. Each trial is extremely different, from finding ingredients to playing spot the difference in the dancing Pokémon, and as you play you don't know what to expect next. The trials themselves are pretty simple to complete, some of them are honestly childish, and I wish they could've been harder, but the real challenge comes right after you complete the trial. At the end of every trial is a Totem Pokémon, a larger more powerful version of an already strong monster who has the ability to call upon allies in battle. These battles can be extremely tough if you don't come prepared for them, so expect to black out a few times before actually moving on in the story. Pokémon Sun and Moon also implement some new gameplay mechanics as well. Pokémon refresh is a mode where you can feed, clean, and pet your Pokémon to bond with them, Poké Pelago is a set of islands each with their own helpful services, and the Festival Plaza is a place where you can meet and interact with the people you have street passed with. Pokémon Sun and Moon also get rid of the archaic and obnoxious HM system, instead using Poké Rides where you can surf on a Lapras, fly on a Charizard, or gallop on a Mudsdale. These games are much more difficult than in past installments, as each trainer uses their own fighting techniques and wild Pokémon can now call for help when they are in danger. All these new gameplay mechanics may not seem like very much to the average gamer or one who hasn’t played much Pokemon, but to hardcore fans like myself, it’s a pleasant surprise that really broke up the formula just enough to feel new, while still retaining the classic Pokemon feel. Sun and Moon’s gameplay gets a 10/10.

Verdict: Pokémon Sun and Moon are the breath of fresh air the franchise has been in desperate need for for years. Delivering a story unparalleled by any in the series, brand new gameplay mechanics and stunning graphics and music, Sun and Moon have the strong potential to become the new best in the Pokémon world. Having been the most preordered game in Nintendo's history and selling over 10 Million copies in 2 weeks following the launch, the games are already becoming classics. They've already become some of my favorite games of all time, I've logged 110 hours on my copy of Pokémon Moon and captured all 300 Pokémon available in the Alola dex, and it's only been a month since release. The game suffers from serious framerate drops in some places and it might not have much in the way of postgame content, but overall Pokémon Sun and Moon are my personal favorite games in the Pokémon series, and are strongly deserving of a 9.5/10.

#pokemon sunandmoon nintendo 3ds video games gaming

[bills-pokedex]

What are the different religions in each region?

Well … this is a bit complicated, anonymous, because every region hosts a varied population, which means you’ll often see a wide variety of beliefs upheld among its people. While it’s true that many regions also have a regional religion tied to local legendaries, these are often only one of many possible, and in some cases, they’re not even the predominant religion of the region.

Take Kanto, for example. Contrary to popular belief, while it’s true that Kantonians generally believe that the legendary birds are actual embodiments of their respective elements, they don’t actually worship them. Rather, the legends tied to the birds are more or less folklore on the same level as local yokai. Instead, the predominant religion of Kanto is actually Shinto, with sizable percentages of the remaining population dedicated to Buddhism and Christianity. Only a small subset of people worship the legendaries themselves, and many of them place Mew at the center of their beliefs—hence the traditional name, Myuu-no-michi (Way of Mew). The beliefs upheld by the followers of Myuu-no-michi are often animistic in nature; that is, they essentially believe that peace can be found if a person becomes one with nature.

Johto, on the other hand, exists on the other end of the spectrum. While there are many followers of Shinto and Buddhism in Johto, it’s more common to find followers of Ho-oh, Lugia, or Celebi (or all three) there. This religion is commonly called Ubame-no-michi (Way of Ilex), although it’s also called Johtoism in Common. I could go into the finer details of what this religion means (I myself am a follower of the sect that worships all three legendaries and would be more than happy to elaborate on its teachings and traditions), but to simplify it as much as possible for the sake of this post, it borrows quite a bit from Shinto, including and especially the respect for kami (which are not necessarily just the legendaries but also the essences of nature in general). Johtonian belief states that all beings have their own essences, and thus, all beings have power and purpose, which in turn means that all living creatures should be respected. Of course, there are exceptions, but generally speaking, yes, Johtoism centers around respecting nature and doing as many good works as one can within their lifetime … or, essentially, it’s Shinto, except we also worship rainbow phoenixes, ocean birds, and/or woodland pixies. (We also believe that there are three beasts who will roam the world until humans are collectively ready as a species to receive Ho-oh again, and seeing as they’re still roaming, I feel completely at ease with referring to the major kami as “rainbow phoenixes, ocean birds, and/or woodland pixies.”)

Most other regional religions fall somewhere in between. Hoennians worship Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza primarily, but their religion (Hoennism) follows the same basic tenets as Johtoism, just with the legends swapped out. (Contrary to popular belief, they do not worship the golems, the lati twins, or Jirachi; these are merely elements of their regional folklore.) By contrast, Unovans and Kaloseans, like Kantonians, don’t follow a regional religion. Rather, Christianity is the primary religion of Kalos (Catholicism, specifically), although I’ve been told more and more Kaloseans describe themselves as non-religious or Muslim. Judaism is also on the rise there as well. (And yes, a few also worship Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde, but these people form a very small sliver of the population. Christians happened to be very charismatic people right around the Middle Ages, and in any case, the Kalosean religion somewhat lost favor thanks to the bit about a weapon devastating a large part of the pokémon population.) As for Unova, it’s more of a melting pot, so while a large number of Unovans describe themselves as Christian (Protestant, especially), practically every religion in the world is represented in some form or another there. However, there is no religion centering around its regional legendaries; this is merely folklore to the Unovans, not an actual faith.

Then, of course, you have the Alolans and the Sinnohans.

While Alola is just as much of a melting pot as Unova (although, as a place where many Johtonian and Kantonian immigrants have settled, it’s more common to see representations of Japanese religions there than western ones), there’s a hardy population of native islanders who worship the local Tapu. Like Johtoism, Alola is heavily focused on respecting nature, but for the Alolans, it has little to do with essences. Rather, nature itself is everything to them. It’s a powerful force in itself, yes, but it’s also a living entity that we humans are merely privileged to be a part of. As such, the local Alolan religion (it has no real name, as it’s tied heavily to Alolan culture) is steeped heavily in traditions, celebrations, and rituals that center around the respect and worship of nature, including its guardians, the Tapu.

Sinnohans, by contrast, follow a unique belief system that centers heavily on the worship of their entire pantheon. Every one of their legendaries is considered a deity to them, but this is especially true for Arceus (their main deity) as well as Palkia and Dialga (the gods of space and time, respectively). In a way, it can be thought of as a very western tradition in that the worship of the gods supersedes the worship of nature (whereas in religions like Johtoism, it’s the other way around), although that’s not to say that the Sinnohans disregard nature at all. It just means that a lot of their beliefs and traditions focus on acknowledging their gods as the creators of all existence and thus not merely a part of it but rather masters of it. (There are also followers of Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity in the Sinnoh region, but honestly, they’re far fewer in number to the Sinnohans.)

Of course, this just describes the National Dex regions. There are many other regions out there with their own pantheons of legendaries (which themselves have varying degrees of importance to their people). Likewise, there are many other human-based religions out there, including Hinduism (one of the most worshipped religions in existence), Confucianism, Neopaganism, and so on and so forth. It all really goes to show how complex human existence really is. We each have our own ways of thinking and of living our lives, even within each individual region, and even if we share our world with such beings as Arceus, Palkia, and Giratina, we humans still have a lot of questions about who we are, where we came from, or what our purpose in this universe is—questions that we seek to answer through our vastly different faiths and belief systems. Or, well, through our inquisitive natures, of course.

#Anonymous #Kanto #Johto #Alola #Unova #Kalos #Sinnoh #our world #asks

[ianmrid]

I Want The Whole World To See! (I Believe!)

Pokémon SoulSilver: Completed!

Finishing up Gen4 with my second trip through the Johto remakes was, as always, speedier than my initial, more explorative trip. However, since these games are still rather large, with two regions, I still clocked in 50 hours, 38 minutes of gameplay. There were very few pokémon that I needed to capture here - mostly just ones I had held back in order to use them on a team - and unusually, I had completely pre-planned my team ahead of time. This was in part to make sure I had the right team to cover all the HMs I needed, and also because I wanted to transfer in my whole team as early as possible so that my levelling up was nice and even and I would be much better prepared for Red. I didn’t want to get my arse kicked again! This absolutely worked, as when I reached the climax of the game, I needed a lot less level grinding to get me up high enough to defeat him and complete the game.

This means that there was much less Pokédex focus this time out, just 227 seen / 29 caught pre-National ‘Dex, increasing ever so slightly to to 321 seen / 38 caught once the National ‘Dex was obtained. I think this is a record low of pokémon caught (discounting the semi-completed Emerald US run)!

Let’s meet the team.

Washington the Feraligatr: Finally wrapping up my usage of all the Johto starters, Washington is very useful as it has the ability to learn all three Water-type HMs; Surf, Waterfall, and Whirlpool, meaning I don’t need a second Water-type on the team. However, this leaves him very short of coverage, so I actually just taught him the latter two, and added in Dragon Claw and Avalanche for some super-effective coverage against the powerful Dragon-type that show up later in the game. Feraligatr has good all-round stats, and a strong Attack, so Washington was pretty good in this role, especially as he held a Wacan Berry to reduce super-effective Electric-type damage. This was great as Dragonite in particular would often use Thunder which, with the berry, couldn’t OHKO Washington and he would then destroy them with Avalanche (which doubles it’s base power if you take damage before you use it on that turn).

Nahuatl the Xatu: I never actually planned to use Xatu - mine is named after an ancient Aztec language - until I realised that there is almost no other Johto pokémon, that I hadn’t already used on a team before, that learns Fly. Fly is pretty much an essential move and since I didn’t want to use Lugia or Ho-Oh (mainly because I wanted my team available early and they are usually caught at level 40+), it came down to a toss up between Xatu and Delibird. Although I don’t hate Delibird, it’s far from my favourite pokémon (even if the Ice-type would have been useful), and I do like Natu/Xatu - so the choice was easy. It threw my team balance off a bit, since both the Flying and Psychic-types were covered elsewhere, so Nahuatl became a bit of a mishmash of strategies. Aside from Fly, she had Shadow Ball to take on other Psychics, Light Screen (with a Light Clay held item) to help boost the team’s Special Defence, and Pluck. Pluck, I really enjoyed, as it will deal damage as well as stealing and consuming the opponents berry. Given nearly every high level opponent has a health restoring berry on their ace pokémon, this was immensely satisfying!

Buzzkill the Yanmega: Named after the two things I can imagine it being good at doing, Buzzkill is the only new evolution to a previously established pokémon on this team, that is otherwise full of classic Johto ‘mons. Evolving from the cheery-looking Yanma, Yanmega is a big, vicious-looking, prehistoric dragonfly, and I love it. It is quick, with a great Special Attack, so I loaded up Buzzkill with dual STAB options; the Bug-type moves Bug Buzz and U-turn, and the Flying-type Air Slash. U-turn in particular is a basic but fun strategy, making Yanmega a great lead pokémon. You just U-turn on whatever you are facing, dealing huge damage if you are (super-)effective, or allowing you to bring in a better type match-up if it is resisted. The last slot was Flash as this was still a required HM in Johto, and his held item was a Charti Berry to try and mitigate his 4x Rock-type weakness. To be honest, with not amazing defences, this didn’t always work, but it did help out a few times when I was expecting Buzzkill to go down, allowing for a U-turn and a last minute escape!

セレビィ the Celebi: Something I don’t tend to use much on my teams are the Legendary or Mythical pokémon, but they do occasionally sneak in. In Celebi’s case, I’ve always liked it and I decided that I wanted to use this one in particular. This Celebi is the one that I caught in the Japanese version of Pokémon Colosseum when I was working completing the Gen3 pokédex. This took a lot of effort, and since Celebi is obtained at the low level of 5, it seemed a great opportunity to add it to my team so I used Pal Park to transfer it over. It’s name here is just the Japanese version of the name (Serebyi) as I didn’t want to try and nickname it in Japanese when I caught it (if it even gave me the option, I don’t actually recall!). Being a Mythical, Celebi has great all-rounder stats and ended up as a jack-of-all-trades. A supportive mixed attacker  with dual Psychic and Grass STAB moves in Psychic (hence why I didn’t bother with any Psychic-type moves for Nahuatl) and Energy Ball (powered up with a Miracle Seed). Aside from the HM Cut, the other move was Heal Bell which clears all status effects from you team - very handy in a support context.

Kaiju the Tyranitar: A much better choice than my HeartGold Electivire for a Godzilla-inspired nickname, Tyranitar was originally a pokémon I never planned to use. It is very popular, which put me off (I can be a stupid pokémon hipster, apparently), but I grew to really like it in Pokémon Go, where I have several very powerful ones that I use regularly, as well as a Larvitar named Shinjuku that I actually caught in Japan. So I relented and included Tyranitar on my team and it is really hard not to enjoy using it as it is so powerful! I gave Kaiju a Choice Scarf to help boost it’s not-so-great Speed, and the by-now-obligatory dual STAB moves. This time it was a Dark-type Crunch and a Rock-type Stone Edge (which, although it has shaky accuracy, devastates anything it does hit), as well as the HM Rock Climb to share the HM load. The final slot was used for Surf - which Tyranitar can rather inexplicably learn. I’m not complaining though - it freed up a slot on Feraligatr and gives Kaiju useful coverage against Ground-types!

Goodyear the Donphan: Last, but not least, a Johto pokémon I actually always wanted to use, but never managed to find a slot for until now. Donphan is not available until very late in the game so always missed out in Gen2, but with me transferring in team members from the off, this seemed like the perfect chance to add Phanpy to my team and have him evolve into Donphan. I’ve always liked the design of Donphan - the elephant/tire combination is really unique, and I think it was also really cool in the anime, so it was great to finally try one out. Aside from the ever useful Electric-type immunity, Goodyear (named after the tire brand) carried the last two HMs I needed - Strength and Rock Smash - and then my favourite; STAB Earthquake. Later in the game I also managed to get him to re-learn Thunder Fang as coverage against Water-types and a super-effective way to hit the Flying-types that are immune to Earthquake. To help counteract it’s poor speed, I gave him the Quick Claw. It is always very pleasing when this kicks in and you suddenly get to move before, and take out, an opponent before it deals you any damage!

And here they are - not as colourful as my HeartGold boys, but a nice Blue/Green/Grey aesthetic going on here:

And that is it for Gen4! All of my multiple trips through Sinnoh, Johto, and Kanto are completed. Now I just need to consolidate all the Pokédex into Pokémon Platinum and then it’s time for my favourite bits: Tops Tens and Graphs!

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