#pokemon review

[supertrainstationh]

Why I Quit “Pokémon Violet”.

I'm officially done with playing "Pokémon Violet".

No, I didn’t complete it.

Sadly I found my enjoyment of it so deeply sabotaged by lack of basic quality control, that I gave up on the game fairly early on, though I did put in a number of gameplay hours.

In terms of total concrete plot progress, I completed a single gym, and then briefly went into a Team Star base just to see what it was like.

The gym was by orders of magnitude the most easily completed first gym I ever encountered in a Pokémon game in terms of field-based challenges and Pokémon battles.

From what I heard, the gyms in this game can be approached in any order, but that they don't actually scale with your team's levels, or based on how many badges you already have.

If this is true, this is laughably lazy design for what is supposed to be an open world game in which you can approach challenges in any order, but if this is not true, then pardon me on not knowing in advance whether or not this is true, as I went into the game as spoiler-free as possible in the hopes of experiencing this game without outside bias coloring my experience.

The concept that gym leaders choose to face challenging trainers using a team selected based on the challenger’s current experience level is something that had already been explored in official Pokemon material more than a decade ago, so the failure to deploy it here when the game’s open structure obviously calls for it is inexplicable.

I did the Cortondo Gym first. My levels were similar to the Gym Leader's own Pokémon, but I effortlessly crushed them, and had more difficult encounters with ordinary Trainers out in the overworld in the areas I had been exploring near the city hosting that gym.

I'm someone who will ALWAYS peruse "easy mode" options if they are available. I am completely illiterate in regards to competitive Pokémon battles, and don't even have the full type advantage chart memorized. But even for me, Cortondo Gym was disappointingly lacking in difficulty.

I also want to comment on the pre-gym minigame, which was set outside the gym itself in an area on the outskirts of the town.

The olive roll maze was a neat way to tie in some of the cultural elements of the actual locations the games setting, the Galar Region, is inspired by, but the mechanic of moving the inflatable olive ball felt lame.

Though it is only a minigame which is supposed to be inconsequential, I am harsh on it because it seemed like minimal effort was put into it, regardless of its overall importance to the game.

The playable character's in-game model does not act as though they are interacting with the olive ball, and I would go as far as to say that it appears that they are unaware that the ball even exists within their universe.

Compare this to "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker", released decades earlier on far less advanced hardware of the standard definition Nintendo GameCube, in which the player character automatically looks toward objects of interest in the immediate area that can be interacted with, and the characters arms and face actually change to reflect the effort and intention of moving that object as the player makes this action happen.

But in this olive roll minigame in “Pokémon Violet”, you just walk at the ball to make it move in the direction you want, while the character mindlessly gazes forward as though nothing is happening. It doesn't feel like a minigame meant to entertain or challenge the player, it looks and feels like a collision detection demonstration assembled with minimal care or game design theory put into it.

And even so, the minigame was completely effortless to win, and I didn't even realize it was over, and that I won, until it took me to the result screen.

There wasn't even an on-screen timer to add any sense of urgency to the minigame, and I have no idea if being penalized for taking too long was even a possibility.

I've been interested in Pokémon since I first read a blurb in a gaming magazine in the mid-90's about a monster collecting and battling RPG for Game Boy that was becoming popular in Japan, and I was enchanted by its world and characters since the video games and anime first hit North American shores.

This franchise shaped my life for the better in ways too extensive and detailed to discuss here, so I'm not happy to be in a situation where even after counting down the days till release and roaming from store-to-store to find a copy, that my interest in "Pokémon Scarlet and Violet" has deflated.

In spite of how much I wanted to give this game a full playthrough, in spite of mounting frustrations, my final straw was when I actually stopped looking forward to streaming on the days I announced I was to play “Pokémon Violet”, and felt regret that I "had" to play it on my show in order to fulfill the schedule I promised to my Twitch viewers to stream the game.

The mere complexities of modern games already made me feel a slight disconnect from this title.

Going from traditional 3D Zelda games like "Wind Waker" and "Twilight Princess" to the new style introduced in "Breath of the Wild" was an extreme learning curve for me, especially in regards to operating the more sophisticated interface, though over time I was able to get the hang of it and enjoy the game.

I never imagined that I'd be in a situation where a Pokémon game of all things had a more complex user interface than the latest major Zelda release, and that I'd be mashing one button after another trying to activate nested and cryptic functions that were accessed in very simple menus even as recently as the Nintendo 3DS era.

In addition to that, this game forces the player into tutorials for the simplest of things universal to most modern games of even the mildest complexity, yet leaves tutorials for mechanics newly introduced to the Pokémon series restricted to completely optional and easy-to-miss places tied to special events.

The real killer for me is the extreme lack of polish in almost every aspect of the experience. Characters even just a single body-length away from the player's character are frequently animated with frame rates resembling a flip-book in which half the pages have been torn away.

Obvious shortfalls in the timing and pacing of Game Freak's cutscene animations lead to thinly veiled shortcuts such as cutscene text scrolling unreasonably fast even for a literate adult with an above average reading speed.

Static screenshots are sometimes used during otherwise fully animated cutscenes, and at other points cutscenes loop clumsily and unconvincingly on a particular moment as the scene waits for a player prompt to continue the narrative

Other times the graphics fail to accurately depict things that players are expected to believe are taking place within the game world. Important details essential to gameplay or story beats are sometimes not shown on screen, are mentioned only in interface or character dialog, or are rendered in outstandingly unconvincing ways.

In the first decade of the 21st Century, I owned Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube, and enjoyed games on all three systems.

Since then, I have focused my gaming habits on Nintendo systems.

I chose Nintendo DS over PlayStation Portable.

I chose Wii over PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360,

I chose Nintendo 3DS over PlayStation Vita.

I chose Wii U over PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

And today, I own Nintendo Switch, but not PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S.

If I was concerned with enjoying ultra high-resolution visuals and maxed-out frames-per-second, I would not have been choosing Nintendo systems in spite of them being the lowest performance hardware options on the market.

But even within the limitations of the Nintendo Switch, which is running a low-power-consumption mobile chipset that was arguably already out-of-date when it first hit the market six entire years ago, “Pokémon Scarlet and Violet” completely fail at taking reasonable advantage of what the system is capable of.

"Pokémon Scarlet and Violet" are 2022 releases, published exclusively on Nintendo Switch, the same system that launched in 2017 with "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

"Breath of the Wild" was was a game designed with the intention of being launched as an exclusive for Wii U, an even less powerful console released closing in on five years earlier than the Switch, and more than a full decade ago as of the time I'm writing this, with Wii U itself having been widely considered under-powered at the time of its 2012 release, being in the performance range of high definition consoles that entered the market as far back as 2005.

"Breath of the Wild" had its technical shortcomings, but even the Wii U version of "Breath of the Wild" completely annihilates "Pokémon Scarlet and Violet" in terms of rudimentary technical proficiency, and when examining "Breath of the Wild" in terms of overall presentation in comparison to " Pokémon Scarlet and Violet", the comparison is such that I'm amazed that Nintendo, who founded their brand as a video game manufacturer and publisher on industry-leading high quality, would allow their name to be associated with the latest Pokémon entries.

I can not overstate the extent to which “Pokémon Scarlet and Violet” fails to deliver on the promise of basic quality control. Games with far fewer technical problems than this game have been criticized severely by review outlets and the gaming community, and I am convinced that these new Pokémon titles are being excused for their incompetence based on good will alone in ways that no other franchise would be permitted to get away with.

In-game tutorial screens featuring screenshots for illustrative purposes are from the Japanese versions of the game, and had this text censored out with a very crudely applied distortion filter in an embarrassing and ineffective attempt hide this fact. This is something appropriate for a work-in-progress demonstration build of the game, not the final product.

The first time I caught a Pokémon, the Pokéball animation froze in mid air, leaving me to think that this was the game's way of depicting Pokemon catching, and that these new Pokéballs hovered in the air rather than falling to the ground as Pokéballs in previous games did.

No matter how good this game is, when malfunctioning animations are mistaken by an experienced player to be representations of what is actually taking place in the game world, that is a serious problem, and anyone paying money for this game deserves better.

Shadows of environmental objects regularly flicker in and out of existence in a way that's not only unconvincing and an obvious malfunction of the graphics system, but in specific instances may pose an actual safety hazard to players susceptible to seizures triggered by blinking lights, which is something a product in the Pokémon franchise in particular should have been exceptionally aware of after similar light patterns in an early episode of the Pokémon animated series triggered seizures in children, which became an international news event, but a cause of widespread condemnation and ridicule aimed toward the franchise and the companies behind it.

The seizure incident caused by the Pokémon anime so impacted the culture of the franchise’s brand management that a particular Pokémon creature featured in that episode was never again depicted in animated form to avoid even the slightest association with the public safety disaster, and references to that particular character have been kept to an absolute minimum in the decades since, so the fact that glitches which cause blinking and flickering patterns being permitted to exist within the newest Pokemon game is mind-boggling.

Characters and objects within immediate sight of the player character frequently vanish and re-appear without warning.

The player character is liable to sometimes phase through the ground, or pass through what are meant to be solid walls, breaking immersion and sometimes causing the game itself to become impossible to play.

It's been amazing to watch Nintendo fans point and laugh for years at slipping quality standards for headline games on competing systems that were significantly more powerful than Nintendo's, using them as proof that more powerful hardware and better graphics alone don't make for better games, only to see them now accuse those who point out the shortcomings and fundamental deficiencies of the newest Pokémon games of being "haters" who are holding Game Freak, The Pokemon Company, and Nintendo, to unfair and unreasonable standards.

The more extreme and irrational defenders of the state of the game have gone so far as accuse critics of lying about quality control issues to make Game Freak look bad, and claim that that the ample footage of these easy to encounter malfunctions was either manipulated by hoaxers using video editing software, or even filmed using deliberately altered copies of the game that were made to suffer glitches.

I feel I am being generous to Game Freak in saying that everyone working on the game had the best intentions, but should have spent (or been allowed to have spent) at least another year on this title.

My already stated observations of the elements of this game which are obviously struggling to function properly don't even begin to address the parts that are simply reflections of either laziness, a rushed development cycle, or both.

When exploring the game's world, I encountered  multiple duplicates of the same stores selling the same items within eye-shot of each other within the same city, or even directly next door to one another.

This was so blatant that it made me speculate if these choices were cheekily made by rebellious lower level Game Freak employees to see how far they could push the limits of corners they were instructed by their superiors to cut, before they were actually confronted over them by their employers.

What's worse, the interiors of most shops are represented in the game only as text based menu interfaces, which pull me out of the game world just as much as laughably bad character animations that resemble fan-made parody cartoons posted to the internet.

Poorly rendered, poorly applied, and obviously repetitive surface textures that make certain objects such as cliff faces and buildings resemble assets lifted from a Nintendo 64 game are just the cherry on top.

"Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon", itself a Nintendo 64 title, has every single shop in the game rendered as a location with an interior that can be entered and explored. No matter how inconsequential those store interiors were, they helped to convincingly portray a living world that is real to the characters within the game.

Menu based shops do NOT do that.

My continued fascination with the Pokémon world, and its creatures, locations, lore, and characters, can not overcome the fundamental incompetence demonstrated by "Pokémon Scarlet and Violet", which completely demolishes my ability to enjoy it, which is a shame, because the intent to create an imaginative world thriving with lively creatures, memorable locations, and characters worth helping or fighting against, is clearly present, and in some cases the heights of care put into these elements match the lows of the bad quality control.

Unless an obvious revolution in The Pokémon Company's standards of ambition and quality is reflected by the next generation of Pokemon games, it breaks my heart to say that "Pokémon Scarlet and Violet" will be the last mainline entries in the series that I will be excited for, or interested in.

I pushed myself to play "Pokémon Violet" in spite of all its bad points.

I'm regretfully ending my time with "Pokémon Violet" in spite of all of its good points.

---------------------------

This was written LIVE during Episode 1 of my gaming and writing Twitch show!

If you liked this, check out my SCHEDULE and join me live next time!

[Twitch] [VOD Channel] [Writing FA] [Ko-fi]

#writing #writeblr #pokemon #review #video game review #stsh streams #a griffin writes #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon violet #pokemon scarlet #pokemon review #nintendo #nintendo switch

[quakecupcake]

Hello everyone and welcome to this first part of the review here we will talk about the MAIN characters and not pokemons this time!!

☆A LOT A LOT A LOT of people think he's stupid, dumb and forget about attacks and type mastery, but what makes me like this ash is that he's childish, dumb, dumb like any kid from 10 years, the series takes its time, to develop its characters their relationship and this focuses on the gags of the series humor which is sometimes well done!☆

☆I LOVE THE GAGS of burgundy with cilan it's hilarious and adorable despite the character being really not developed...☆

☆For iris, he is a super interesting character who had a great evolution! I find this character adorable and I find the character more interesting than some pokégirl like serena for example serena is for me just a fanservice character she does not have a real pass despite just that she has known ash since childhood, so that iris at a little darker and interesting past when she was little she had no friends and she was different from the others... she was judged for anything and everything, and yet that explains why at the beginning iris didn't want anything revealing herself for fear of being judged or regetter, and despite this she continued to progress she even became a dragon master of unova!☆

☆I really like Georgia who has a lot of gags in the series, especially with his rivalry with iris, you can say what you want about his rivals, but at least he had personality and had a goal, that of making the spectators laugh.☆

☆stephan is also of this kind, except that it is his first name that at the beginning of the series the characters cannot pronounce it allows to put lots of hilarious scenes especially during his reactions 🤣☆

☆Bianca is energetic and that's what gives the character the charm there are a lot of gags on that, one of which makes me laugh in particular is when she touches the muscles of a stephan's pokemon which puts a lot on stage of abusive reaction with the reactions of stephans!☆

☆for cilan, he's a bit of a replacement for brock but as i said, the character also has funny moments when he's doing detective work, during his evaluations as well as his interactions with burgundy!☆

that will be all for my opinion of the characters of bw!

hoping to have given good argument in my remarks and I hope that you have more @burgundy-is-hilarious

I did not know how to criticize certain characters for lack of time I will do a part 2 soon :)

#pokemon best wishes #pokemon review #Anipoke #pokemon black and white #Pokemon bianca #Pokemon Georgia #pokemon stephan #pokemon aesthetic #2010s childhood #aestethic #Pokemon ash #Pokemon iris #Rival bw

[shoppncarticles]

The Elemental Monkeys

Uh, alright. So alongside your chosen starter this time around, you'll also be given a monkey matching the type your starter is strong against, who should help cover their main type weakness. For example, players who choose the Water-weak Tepig will get the Grass-type Pansage as a new partner.

I don't quite understand the purpose in creating these things, especially with how similar they all are. If you wanted more cartoon monkeys, here's a marching set of three to make your day brighter.

There's an assumption by fans that these three are meant to resemble the Three Wise Monkeys, but none besides Panpour and its closed eyes really communicate that. It would definitely do them wonders if the theming was stronger. Hopefully someone out there has done something with the three monkeys idea recently.

And yeah, they've all got matching evolutions too. Meh. What traits they have that ties them to their types are pretty minor and surface level.

Score: 1/5

I think I remember Simisear scoring absolute last place in a massive Pokemon popularity contest a while back. What a tragedy.

[Gen 5 Archive]

#pokemon #pokemon review #pansage #simisage #pansear #simisear #panpour #simipour

[keresacheron]

Polished Crystal Review and First Playthrough

I did a catch'em all first playthrought. It was great!

Despite being still in development, this Romhack is great. Is Pokemon Crystal with so many quality of life enhancements it's not funny. There is tons of bonus content, later series game mechanics, anime cameos and enhanced difficulty boss battles.

There loads of bonus areas and extra trainers, largely solving the level curve problems of crystal at the expense of making the game slightly more linear. The spritework is incredible, with the new areas looking great and the in-team sprites and future generation move animations looking both great and like they belong. There are even custom shinies.

This is HGSS+ using the Crystal game engine, and it's great. I have unlocked the new game plus, and I intend to use it sometime.

Kyoko, my trust Sturdy Donphan who I meet as a level 2 Phanphy on Route 46. Sturdy works as a focus band, and with rollout and defense curl she was great early on and several early gyms need her help as my Chikorita starter was still even with the changes. Sturdy was great, as being able to ensure a knock off or earthquake was the key to several battles. She enabled me to beat the surprise level 80 Giovanni Mewtwo by heal spamming until it ran out of PP. I always wanted to use a Donphan in a playthrough of gen 2, and now I have.

Meet Sayaka, a Guts Ursaring and Sayakas partner, caught in dark cave as a level 2 Tediursa. She too was great early game, hitting hard with strong physical type moves and doing great damage. After falling behind she evolved and spent the entire game hitting hard for massive damage. While sadly a bit slow and rarely getting in multiple attacks, when she hit she hit hard. Flame Orb is an item you get prior to E4 in game, and while she only got Facade in Kanto her friendship powered return hit hard. Ursaring was another Gen 2 pokemon I wanted to use in a playthrough, and she did fine.

Originally Pearlshine, the egg Togepi with Serene Grace whose sing proved invaluable in catching mons and stunning bosses. After becoming the Johto Champion, I battled Cynthia and got a Shiny Togepi egg with Superluck, Aeroblast and Moonblast. Since regular Togekiss can't get Moonblast in this game, I swapped them and trained up Evanescence with an exp share. Both of them were great team mates, with Pearlshine being very bulky early on while Evanescence was far more offensive.

Hatched from daycare couple egg, was Pikablue the shiny blue Pichu who soon evolved into a blue Pikachu. Equipped with a Light Ball, I decided to evolve Pikablue into an Alolan Riachu as beating gen two with an Alolan Riachu seemed sweet. This took till after beating the elite four to find the item, but it was worth it. Rename Pancake, now with Motor Drive as the hidden ability and holding a focus sash, Pancakes was my fastest team member and could on rare occasion gets off a nasty plot to do massive damage.

Mastema, the Snow Cloak Glaceon was the Eevee I got from Bill. Needing to level up in Ice Path he spent a long time unevolved and doing poorly in my team. Upon evolving though he crushed Team Rocket and became a strong special attacker who spammed high power special moves. Using a Glaceon in Johto was fun, and with a choice band to actually outspeed late game opponents he was great.

Last, but certainly not least is Suicune, a pokemon I always wanted to use in a playthrought and my originally planned team member. She originally held an assault vest which worked well with Pressure, and was an extremely specially bulky team member whose final move was mirror coat. And then I beat Sabrina, got Calm Mind and she became my Ace Mon whose ability to set calm minds sweep is the only reason I was able to beat Red and Green, and was a key part of my rematch with Lance.

#pokemon #pokemon used #pokemon archive #pokemon review #pokemon polished crystal #polished crystal #pokemon romhack #Alolan Riachu #Togekiss #Ursaring #Donphan #Glaceon #Suicune

[vixivulpixel]

We talk about Annihilape! We were never a big fan of Primeape, but something about Annihilape just has the line's concept end on a more satisfying note.

#Pokemon #Pokemon Review #Pokemon Reviews #Annihilape

[hello-frendo]

this new pokemon generation introduces two new ways of recycling old pokemon. pokemon’s past attempts have been largely more hits than misses. with regional variants beings its only current success story, other attempts have lacked the scope or creative variety necessary to grab players’ hearts. i believe one of the two new ideas has the potential to repeat regional variants’ success despite the mild confusion i’ve seen in some reactions to the premise. the other, although thematically consistent for this specific generation, suffers clear lack of effort. although i will proceed to fully go on a rant, im more just disappointed than anything.

i like the convergent evolutions as an expansion of the regional variant idea. Regional variants are pokemon’s best idea in years, but its only small constraints were that there still had to be a reason why it developed that way and that they were region locked by nature. convergent evolutions opens up the potential for reimaginings that don’t need to be bound by regions. they now can have typings and origins that are disconnected from their originals. the best example of my second point lies with gen 9′s reimagining of the tentacool line. there is no plausible explanation for how or why that line would diverge into that typing or turn from cephalopods to mushrooms, but with convergent evolutions no explanation is needed because they no longer need to share an origin.

paradox pokemon, however are just lazily designed pseudo-reskins. the idea of introducing past and future versions of pre-existing pokemon is an idea that had a lot of potential, to see it wasted like this is a shame. fossil pokemon have been a staple of pokemon since the beginning and theories have abounded about the potential relationships those pokemon could have to their modern peers. futuresque and lab-made pokemon have had a similarly long, albeit spottier, tenure with the franchise. all the paradox lines do with these ideas is slap on some frills and sharp edges for its vaguely primitive styled variants and metallic skins on it futuristic robotic variants. there is no genuine interest in doing anything with these concepts or playing with any worldbuilding potential. even mega evolutions and gigantimax forms at least had creative ideas to draw from “pokemon but more” and “pokemon but big”. those lines at least had good designs among them that were able to creatively expand on their base ideas, the closest this line comes are the great tusk and iron tread variants of donphan, brute bonnet could have been good with a bit more work, but even those barely cross that line. even within this generation i see the design team has greater capacity for interesting ideas, just not with these, these are nothing,

#pokémon #pokemon design #pokemon fan #pokemon fandom #paradox pokemon #gigantomax #gigantomax pokemon #mega evolution #pokemon review #pokemon critique #pokemon criticism #pokémon scarlet #pokemon violet #scarlet and violet #pokemon gen ix #pokemon gen nine #pokemon gen 9 #regional variants #rant

[radleysgamereviews]

Honest Review of Teal Mask DLC 3/10

I know I might get some hate for this but... underwhelming would be an understatement for The Teal Mask DLC.

Yes, there were a few new variant Pokémon and even a few new Pokémon that were introduced during the storyline of the DLC but that can't make up for the lack of storyline. To start on your new adventure, you head to the school where you meet the new professor, Briar, and are paired with three random NPCs to go off to a new region called Kitikami. Those NPCs you maybe see a handful of times, but they have no real purpose other than to be the randomly selected few to go on a new adventure. When you arrive, you meet the siblings Kieran and Carmine, and are immediately faced with a Pokémon battle with barely any time to explore or set up a proper team for this new region. That should have been my first clue that this DLC was going to lack content.

After the battles and some talking you finally get to set off on your new adventure and have one main storyline quest to follow. Without spoiling anything you are basically set free to explore the region with no clear direction on how to get to your first quest other than a pinpoint location on your map. I spent most of my time rock climbing to find these locations because pathways were very unclear. Continuing on the storyline you find out about the history of the region and about the Pokémon Ogerpon which is the main Pokémon of the DLC. Honestly the backstory of Ogerpon was the one and only interesting part of the storyline. While finding out about this history you battle the same two NPCs over and over again until the final battle where you get to catch Ogerpon and then you battle those NPCs some more. I was so bored of battling the NPCs that my team was made up of my highest level Pokémon so I could get through the battles as quickly as possible. Once you have Ogerpon the main story line of the DLC ends and you can either head back home or stay longer to complete Kitikami pokedex and receive a few more side quests to complete. In the end I chose to shiny hunt where I actually ended up finding a shiny Morpeko but the shiny hunting quickly ended because I was extremely frustrated with continuously running into small Pokémon because you couldn't see them over the tall grass.

So would I recommend the DLC… no. I think I wasted my money on it for only receiving a few new pairs of clothes, a few new Pokémon, and a crap storyline. Hopefully Part 2 of the DLC can redeem Part 1: The Teal Mask because so far, I give this DLC a 3/10.

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon the teal mask #game review #pokemon review #gaming community #video games #nintendo switch #video game review #cozy gaming community

[rikalovesrice]

Rika’s Wittle Review of Pokemon Violet (Spoilers ahead!!!)

I’ll go ahead and say that, aside from the atrocious framerate and occasional glitchiness, I had a blast playing this. It’s beautiful to see how far Pokemon has come in terms of immersion. With such a rich variety of Pokemon wherever you go in this vast landscape with different habitats, all interacting and exhibiting behaviors specific to their species (and even their natures!), I genuinely feel like I’m in the world of Pokemon. I love it so much >w< I quite enjoyed the three stories and the CHARACTERS. Ahhh the characteeersss I love them all so much lol

Now for the more spoilery bits in good old bulletins. These aren’t in any particular order but in general I’ll start with stuff I loved and things that were kinda eh. Let’s goooo~

There’s now a canon Pokemon character named Rika aaaayyyeee XD Feels a little weird, ngl

Unpopular opinion, but I actually love Meowscarada lol At first I was like, “Uuuggghhh of course they made it stand up” but the more I understodd what it was, the more it grew on me. She’s a jester, magician, dramatic sort of character and she’s a kitty........all things I adore lol

Arven is a precious bean who must be protected at all costs. Seriously, I adore him so much and his story was so saaaad T_T My poor baby...And then it turns out his dad not only wasn’t around but he freaking DIED.

AND YOOOOO SPEAKING OF WHICH I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING. Like bro, Pokemon actually went there. At first I thought Turo was stuck in the future or something and that’s why his transmission got all wonky. BUT NAH. HOMEBOY STRAIGHT UP GOT DEAD AND UPLOADED HIS CONSCIOUSNESS INTO A ROBOT LIKE???? Every time I saw his face on the screen I was like, “Why is his face so...stiff?” Oh. That’s why. AND MY POOR BOY ARVEN.

Also that final battle was legitimately a little terrifying. I loved it haha

Miraidon is electric Toothless and I loved him and we’re best friends forever uwu

I know some people may be bummed that Team Star didn’t turn out to be a bunch of hardcore criminals. But the fact that Pokemon decided to tackle a subject as serious as bullying in school? Big, big claps. And in my opinion, it was really well done and heartfelt. By the end of game I adored Team Star and little Penny. Seeing them go back to school and bumble their way back into society, awkward, shy, but being true to themselves, was so precious. (Giacomo is literally like, “Let’s yell at everyone so they know we’re friendly” and for that I cherish him)

I’d join Team Star in a heartbeat, facts.

Penny being Cassiopeia wasn’t immediately obvious to me but as soon as she mentioned her hacking skills I went, “....Waaait a second...” Might I add that when “Clive” first showed up I physically buried my face into my hands lol

Okay and then when Clavell “revealed himself” as Cassiopeia I went, “Huh?? That...How??? Makes no sense but ok...????” And then was like “just kidding” and I just...wtf dude XD 

Can I just say I love Clavell’s character? He genuinely cares about every student with all his heart and shows compassion towards Team Star. He turned out to be such a good-hearted man who wants to do right by his students and I love that.

While I do love Nemona (what’s the girl version of a himbo? lol), I will say her character felt the least fleshed out, in my opinion. But I guess it could be all that energy conceals more subtle character traits? I liked how she mentioned that people mistunderstand her because she comes from a wealthly family and assume she was born with her battle prowess. When if fact, she’s just super passionate about battling and so became really good at it. Wish the game had leaned a little more into that but Nemona still cool lol Paradox Pokemon are gonna destroy the world and she’s just like, “ Can battle? :D”

While I loved Path of Legends and Starfall Street, Victory Road was the most....meh storyline for me lol There wasn’t much to it, really. And the Elite Four and Geeta were so easy. After the nightmare that was the BDSP League I was fearing for the worst but they were about as easy as the Kalos League. But that’s overall neither here nor there for me.

Picnics were fun but I wish I could get closer to my Pokemon like I could in SWSD and pet them like the Switch has a touchscreen whyyyy T__T Or just use the same format as the washing bit but with a hand :(

Welp, following Pokemon didn’t improve all that much rip Same issue of some Pokemon just being too dang slow. Or too dang fast to the point that they look unnatural cause they keep slowing down and speeding up so rapidly. I always have to ride Neon (my Miraidon) when I let Jellica (my Meowscarada) out cause otherwise she’s just constantly startin’ and stoppin’. Still a lovely feature but I just wish it was better. The Pokemons’ mannerisms are still adorable tho <3

This game removed a lot of little shortcuts (like using items on Pokemon, certain buttons when using the Boxes, switching Pokemon around, etc.) and I gotta say, not a fan lol

Customizatiooooon. I get it, we’re students. BUT WHY DOES PENNY GET TO WEAR HER LITTLE CUTE FIT HMMMMM?????

Socks, gloves, and shoes are fine, I suppose...I just wish there were more ways to customize the uniform at least. It would be cool if the school sold jackets, sweaters, t-shirts, skirts, scarves, ties, etc. Freaking Atticus’ little compadre bought NINJA OUTFITS from the school store. Where’s my ninja outfit huh????

Also Clavell said we shouldn’t let our Pokemon out inside the school and then there are Pokemon in the school at all times for the entire game lol Plus Arven, Nemona, and Penny get to have their Pokemon out in their rooms so why can’t I??? D:<

Side note MC, Arven, Nemona, and Penny gotta be my favorite Pokemon friend group besides the SWSD squad ^^ (That shot of all of us climbing aboard Miraidon before plummeting into the Crater was so precious holy Arceus my fwieeeends)

Ehhhh what else?

Sad to say that a lot of the Pokemon designs this gen weren’t really my taste. It was hard for me to put together a Paldean team cause I just...didn’t like how so many of them looked lol

Grusha has no right being that pretty. Also poor thing ;__; Would’ve loved to know more about him.

Larry. That is all.

All the Gym Leaders were so much fun. Wish we could battle them over and over like in BDSP.

History Class was my fav because looore.

I actually riverted back to a student mentality for a bit playing lol I was like, “M’kay, I’ll take my level 2 classes, explore, then move on to my level 3 classes before dark. Lemme fight this Gym and then I’ll take my midterms. What’s that, I gotta go the Great Crater and finish the story? I should finish my finals and graduate first.” Lol

The music in Area Zero o__o

Ummmmmm

I mean yeah, the framerate is awful but we all know this probably lol The game’s performance ain’t it, sis. Like I said, this would probably be my favorite Pokemon game to date if it ran the way it should.

Looking forward to patches and whatever new updates and shenanigans will ensue in the DLC hehehe

Those are the biggest things, me guesses. Loving the game and will definitely keep playing it~

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon arven #pokemon penny #pokemon nemona #pokemon scarlet and violet spoilers #pokemon spoilers #pokemon review #rika reviews #i'm hungry and sleepy

[lunzoic]

After finally beating the game...

Big spoilers for Scalet/Violet ending!...

I think I'm echoing a lot of other people's sentiments when I say 'Huh, so that's where half the budget went'. I don't even mean that in a salty way, I'm just kind of baffled that there's such a strong contrast between the effort that went into this final area and the rest of the game. I seriously underestimated how much there was going to be too since the Pokemon tradition is that post Elite-Four content is kinda lacking, and the only hint that Area Zero was not 'postgame' was that credits had not rolled yet. I was really expecting Area Zero to just be an afterthought, similar to the usual optional postgame dungeons. Or like Ultraspace, in which: you go there, leave after having one big fight, and optionally come back later to find more ultrabeasts. And instead we got a fairly expansive dungeon that both contains the really cool paradox pokemon as well as like, the game's entire narrative weight, interesting character interactions, a big fight I was definitely not expecting, and all the actual intriguing plot elements in one ultra-concentrated dose. I actually prefer a fantastic ending to mediocre game rather than the other way around, it's just very surprising to see it happen when the opposite is so common. And yeah some of that perception is filtered by the bar of expectations being set so low by the rest of the game, and of course it was by no means a perfect ending. The jank still allows you to accidentally skip if you jump off certain cliffs, the scripted encounters with paradox Pokemon are just ok, and navigating Area Zero without Ko/Miraidon can be a pain if you take a wrong turn. But the pacing, the dialogue, the way the characters play off each other, the gradual reveals, and the whole final fight was actually incredibly well done. And it makes me feel a little sad to see that the dev team was clearly capable of making great story-driven game segments, but that it was only at the very ending of the game that they really got to flex those creative muscles. I feel like it's also created a weird dichotomy of people who could not abide the jank and put the game down or decided not to buy it in the first place/refunded it and the people who stuck it out to the end and got an unexpectedly quality finish. Good for us I guess? I definitely would have lost interest a lot sooner had friends who finished the game not given clues that they really enjoyed the ending...

More specific ending spoilers and commentary: Having an AI character being aware of having their own will being overridden was equal parts fucked up, heartbreaking, terrifying, and really effective. The way they're clearly fighting against it even as they taunt you, their whole speech about freedom and treasure, that moment when they seem to intentionally succumb to the programmed will in order to sincerely tell Arven that the original professor loved him (oh my FUCKING god)... Now THAT'S how you break the mold in terms of creating a different narrative hook than the usual formula! For me it really did retroactively change the feeling of the entire game, knowing that the 'professor' who started you on your whole journey was actually patiently waiting for you to become strong enough to venture into area zero and do what but their programming did not allow them to do. That they were vicariously enjoying every step of your adventure along the way, because their very nature as an area zero anomaly meant they could never leave themselves. Their final decision to send themselves to the past/future in order to disable the time machine, while kind of cheesy and nonsensical, was something that they willed with their own heart and wholly defied the original professor's wishes. That in their vast intellect they decided to stake the future on a bunch of teenagers is still pretty goofy but hey, it's Pokemon. Like a lot of people I did suspect that there would be some sort twist with the professor, but I did not expect THIS, nor did I expect a Pokemon game to handle a sympathetic AI character in a really emotional and interesting way. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given that Pokemon as a franchise has had various created/artificial beings who are treated sympathetically? But it does also kind of highlight once again that the game feels kind of hodge-podge in regards to what audience it's catering to, due to the entire game feeling hand-holdy and kid-friendly in its appeal and then... that entire ending happens. I can imagine some kids not even being able to finish the game, not even due to difficulty spike but because of finding the Arven and robo professor story too scary and sad. On the other hand, Pokemon at its roots has always some pretty damn heavy themes, so I guess this could also just be considered a return to form? Pokemon themselves being fully sentient creatures forced to serve their masters no matter what, the entire arc of Mewtwo being created and then destroying its own lab... I remember finding those too sad to contemplate as a kid so I kind of just. Didn't. But those aspects were never really explored to the depth they could have been within the main game's stories (I do know the movies/anime/comics have darker storylines, but those are all 'extended lore' as far as the games are concerned). So this is the first time where elements like the death of a main character and having the villain be a human (in appearance) ally with explicitly programmed loss of will who doesn't want to turn against you are THIS front and center in the story of a main series game. And it was actually done pretty emotionally and effectively, so I do applaud the decision to take a risk and make a more mature storyline happen at all.

And yes, it is not lost on me that both a reluctant final boss and the subtle use of the menu interface in the finale are reminiscent of ah... a certain other game? I might be seeing stronger connections than I should due the killer music contribution by Toby, and I don't really care if it was intentional or not, but I'm just really happy to see any game make use of those tropes to great effect.

#Pokemon #Pokemon spoilers #Pokemon scarlet and violet #Pokemon scarlet and violet ending #Professor Turo #Professor Sada #Area zero #Pokemon review #Lunz plays #I forgot I had this in my drafts oops #It's more me getting hyped about the brief moments my narrative hyperfixations appeared in the final act #than a comprehensive review lol

[aipom93]

List of Suede’s Pokémon Journey Episodes Archived

I figured it’d be a good idea to catalogue all of the episodes that I have found in case people are interested! Spaces in between the lists represent a gap in what I have. Episode 1 - I Choose You! Episode 2 - Pokémon Emergency! Episode 3 - Ash Catches a Pokémon Episode 4 - Challenge of the Samurai Episode 5 - Showdown in Pewter City Episode 6 - Clefairy and the Moonstone Episode 7 - The Flowers of Cerulean City Episode 8 - The Path to the Pokémon League Episode 9 - The School of Hard Knocks Episode 10 - Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village Episode 11 - Charmander - The Stray Pokémon Episode 12 - Here Comes the Squirtle Squad Episode 13 - Mystery at the Lighthouse Episode 14 - Electric Shock Showdown Episode 15 - Battle Aboard the Saint Anne Episode 16 - Pokémon Shipwreck Episode 17 - Island of the Giant Pokémon Episode 18 - BANNED - Beauty and the Beach Episode 19 - Tentacool and Tentacruel Episode 20 - The Ghost of Maidens Peak Episode 21 - Bye Bye Butterfree Episode 22 - Abra and the Psychic Showdown Episode 23 - The Tower of Terror Episode 24 - Haunter Versus Kadabra

Episode 26 - Pokémon Scent-sation Episode 27 - Hypno’s Nap Time Episode 28 - Pokémon Fashion Flash

Episode 30 - Sparks Fly for Magnemite

Episode 32 - The Ninja Poke-Showdown

Episode 34a - The Eight Child (APRIL FOOLS) Episode 34 - The Kangaskhan Kid

Episode 37 - Ditto’s Mysterious Mansion Episode 38 - BANNED - Dennō Senshi Porygon Episode 39 - Pikachu’s Goodbye

Episode 42 - Showdown in Dark City

Episode 45 - The Song of Jigglypuff Episode 46 - Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon Episode 47 - A Chansey Operation

Episode 49 - So Near, Yet So Farfetch’d Episode 50 - Who Get’s to Keep Togepi

Episode 55 - Pokémon Paparazzi

Episode 59 - Volcanic Panic

Episode 65 - Showdown at the Po-Ké Corral

Episode 73 - Bad the the Bone

Episode 77 - The Fourth Round Rumble

Episode 81 - Pallet Party Panic Episode 82 - A Scare in the Air

Episode 84 - The Lost Lapras

Episode 90 - Stage Fight Episode 91 - Bye Bye Psyduck Episode 92 - The Joy of Pokémon

Episode 94 - Snack Attack

Episode 96 - Meowth Rules!

Episode 100 - Wherefore Art Thou, Pokémon? - Featuring Dom Noble Episode 101 - Get Along Little Pokémon

Episode 102 - The Mystery Menace Episode 103 - Misty Meets Her Match Episode 104 - Bound For Trouble Episode 105 - Charizard Chills Episode 106 - The Pokémon Water War Episode 107 - Pokémon Food Fight Episode 108 - Pokémon Double Trouble

Episode 112 - Enter the Dragonite

Episode 114 - The Underground Roundup

Episode 119 - A Sappy Ending Episode 120-121 - Roll On, Pokémon/Illusion Confusion Episode 122-123 - Flower Power/Spinarak Attack Episode 124 - Snubbull Snobbery

Episode 126a - Double or Nothing APRIL FOOLS

Episode 130 - A Bout With Sprout

Episode 134 - Charizard’s Burning Ambitions

Episode 141 - Good Quil’ Huntilng

Episode 143 - Going Apricorn! Episode 144 - Gettin’ The Bugs Out Episode 145 - A Farfetch’d Tale Episode 146 - Tricks of the Trade Episode 147 - The Fire-Ing Squad Episode 148 - No Big Woop! Episode 149-150 - Tunnel Vision/Hour of the Houndour

Episode 161 - The Bug Stops Here

Episode 163 - Fossil Fools

Episode 165 - Hassle in the Castle

Episode 191 - The Dunsparce Deception

ORIGINS: File 1 - Red

14 Times I Screwed Up Top 5 WORST Episodes of Season 1 Pokémon the First Movie with Linkara Top 5 Episodes of Pokémon - Orange Islands This is Animation - How The Orange Islands Were Made My Top 5 Johto Journey Episodes My Top 5 WORST Johto Journey Episodes

Animenia - Holiday Hi-Jynx Animenia - Pokémon the First Movie Animenia - Pokémon the Movie 2000 Animenia - Pokémon the Movie 3 Animenia - Pokémon 4Ever Animenia - Mewtwo Returns

Pokemon Uncharted - Episode 1: Moltres

MISSING COUNT Kanto: 37 Orange Islands: 17 Johto: ~56 (I don’t know how many dual episodes there are)

From what I can tell, the episode count goes to 193, and of course there are the season break downs and Top 5 ____’s as well. I’ve still got a long way to go. Link to find all episodes and other Suede Pokémon media: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1L39TAFQBA7-hziX_zU2pGjefuePPUBxk?usp=sharing

#Pokemon #Pokemon Anime #AniPoke #Suede #That Guy In The Suede Jacket #Suede's Pokemon Journey #Archive #Internet Preservation #Geoblocking4all #ShoPro Gambit #YouTuber #Animenia #Kanto #Johto #Orange Islands #Pokemon ORIGINS #Pokemon Review #Pokemon Review Channel

[pokefae]

Reviewed Toxicroak

#mun post #my tiktok #toxicroak #pokemon #pokemon review

[pinchraccoon]

I think I'm gonna write an actual like, real review of it, but here's my mini review of Pokemon Violet to get my thoughts summarized.

The latest entries to pokemon, while a bold step in a new direction, may be a step into Alaskan snow in flip-flops. The game has some great ideas and lofty ambitions, and for what it does accomplish, there's clearly a lot of fun to be had with the product that was delivered, however, the preparation given to bring these ideas into fruition was far under prioritized.

To speak kindly of the game before speaking ill, I have always, and will always, love pokemon. It's a series that is very near and dear to me, and there's a certain magic that comes with learning all about the new creatures that have been added to the growing roster of canonized monster designs I've come to love, especially on a semi-blind playthrough, the magic of learning about and hunting down as many new pokemon is unmatched. SV does deliver on this, as I feel that this generation has a series of lovely pokemon designs that I have fallen in love with in my short time with them. (Tinkaton, Revavroom, Ceruledge, Meowscarada, and Chi-Yu are all new favorites)

Additionally, the story of SV is quite well done, easily one of the best-executed stories in pokemon in a while, and while I don't think I'm comfortable calling it "better than" the story of BW/BW2, I feel that it's comparable in quality. Characters, themes, and plot points all feel surprisingly natural in a game that theoretically allows you to go off and challenge its many hurdles in any order, utilizing the scripted events that it does have cleverly, and to great effect. I particularly enjoyed the Team Star narrative, and how it takes the "evil team" formula that pokemon has had for a long time, and juxtaposes the idea of a group of bullies onto it, only to learn over time that they're just bullied people sticking together, and aren't bad, just misrepresented.

On the basis of the typical gameplay loop, SV delivers Very well. The incorporation of overworld encounters and optional trainer battles allows the player to feel free and uninhibited by the game itself, and free to engage with exactly as much content as they would like to, whether this be picking and choosing what pokemon to battle in the wild, or which trainers if any, they feel the need to battle. SV's design philosophy seems to be prioritizing freedom as much as possible, while also meaningfully rewarding progression, and I feel that the game flow comes off as organic.

This is to say, that this game has more team-building potential out of the gate than just about any other pokemon game, with countless pokemon accessible to the player even moments from starting the game, appealing to collection freaks and competitive fans alike.

Then, what's the problem?

In short, the game is unfinished. The game, at launch, would routinely dip to what I could ascertain to be 12-17 FPS regularly, and while steps have been taken already to make the drops in framerate far less drastic, the time to do that incredibly important work is before release, not after. The framerate, the chief among issues, and generally its lack of optimization for switch hardware, sometimes spoils the other wonderful parts of the game. Finding pokemon is less intriguing when extreme pop-in only allows you to look at pokemon less than 20 feet away from you, and somewhat harms the immersion of the experience. And while updated models and style of the pokemon have been made, and they're quite impressive, it's hard to say that the pokemon "look good" when after 4 appear on screen at once, or even two pokemon with some attacks, their frames drop far below what they should.

Additionally, while this game loads quickly traveling between areas, smaller, more subtle, but similarly important loading times feel far, far too long. The boxes take far too long to load the images of your pokemon in each individual box, which somewhat harms the collection fantasy, and upon starting a battle with a wild pokemon, their "low poly open world" model will still be loaded long into the first turn. Additionally, menuing remains rather clunky and sluggish, which quickly becomes annoying when things like Wonder Trade or other such "quick" menuing activities take a minimum of 45 seconds due to their lack of optimization.

The issues I'm listing sound comparatively minor, however, in an experience as dependent on a lack of obstruction as SV are clearly trying to be, the failure to deliver on a product that runs consistently and reasonably is a major slight against it.

These issues are not deliberate design choices that simply do not work, these larger issues are a product of the dev teams' inability to put out the product that wouldn't have these problems, and the issues with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are by and large issues with management, not the dev team themselves. The worrying pace at which Pokemon games are released, especially considering that SV is not even our first major open-world Pokemon release this year, is clearly harming Game Freak's ability to provide a product that will meet the expectations of both fans AND the artists themselves.

SV is in many ways, an extremely fun game that has been weighed down by the weight of the industry, and as much as I loved the time and fun that I had with it, its issues cannot be overlooked. I can't say that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, in their current state, are "good" games. Violet is a game that I enjoyed, it's a game that perhaps will be good in the future following patches and performance updates, but at current, the development issues that are so apparent and the clear lack of optimization for switch hardware made by these issues genuinely harm my perception of the game quite a bit.

Is it fun? Yeah. Is it good? No.

#Vtuber #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon review #game review #mini review #i played this on stream and you can watch just about all of my time with it developing this opinion on my YT channel if you'd like #honestly it's a shame that this game ISN'T as good as it could be #even a delay to summer 2023 would have likely solved a lot of the issues at hand #but no we just NEEDED fall 2022 release #anyway thanks for reading this

[shoppncarticles]

The Oshawott Family

Oshawott is postively ADORABLE. Otters are already splendid animals in real life, but Pokemon's gone and made an otter so pleasantly appealing that I find it almost criminal. Look at Oshawott's glassy eyes and freckles, and its fuzzy blue coat and trusty seashell. Can you believe Oshawott was THE designated punching bag among the three starters when they were initially revealed?? What is WRONG with people??? Tepig is much, much further down on the starter ladder if you ask me.

Speaking of reveals, the Gen 5 starts were initially shown off as only silhouettes, leading people to guess what their full designs were beforehand. Oshawott's most popular assumption is... pretty infamous to say the least. I just thought it deserved mention while we were here.

I wonder if there's anyone out there who's upset we never got acorn platypus.

Anyways, like real otters, Oshawott is often seen carrying a scallop shell on its stomach. Though real otters simply carry the shells to crack open and eat the insides of later, Oshawott actually uses its shell as a weapon, which becomes a constant theme in its whole family. It's a neat way to combine both an otter's pension for shells and also their tendency to use tools.

Oshawott's first evolution, Dewott, is a great next step in its family and may be my favorite middle stage of any starter family, actually. Dewott keeps all of Oshawott's ottery charms, though turns taller, sleeker, fully blue, gets a cool hair slick and whiskers, and its darker scruff becomes the bottom of a samurai's uniform. An otter samurai who fights with scallop shells is such a fun mashup of ideas, and appeals to me ridiculously so as a marine biology enthusiast. It helps that Dewott is just as cute as Oshawott was before it, even if it tries looking more serious now.

I almost feel bad for Dewott that Mudkip and Swampert exist, because the idea of this otter with a serious, stoic samurai attitude and its trusty scallop blades rockets Dewott up to the very top of my favorite starters list, and very close to the top of my favorite Pokemon ever, though is still beat out by just how strong its competition is.

Ah well, I still enjoy Dewott and its family members quite a lot, so they can enjoy that much. Though I will say, Dewott's got the best official plush I've ever seen.

Look at this thing. This stupid plush. This is the best thing in the world.

After talking up Dewott so highly, you may think I'm disappointed by Samurott. Thankfully, you'd be incorrect, however I do like Samurott just a smidgen less than Dewott. Samurott has developed into more of a sea lion than an otter at this point, though takes on a nice deep blue shade and gains a big mustache and beard, along with a cool seashell helmet and armor plates. It's pretty simple and effective, feeling like a more classic Pokemon design without too many bells and whistles.

Samurott's default pose is in a quadrupedal stance now, though it can stand up on two legs and wield two hidden blades from the plates on its forearms though.

I don't know why they decided to keep Samurott on all fours, but looking at this image and imagining bipedal Samurott being the default makes me think I'd like it a lot less. So I guess they got that right.

For as much as Samurott might lose from Dewott during the course of evolution, it does get extra points for being a samurai sea lion decked out in seashell armor, with a sick mustache to boot.

While Samurott remains a pure Water type, it would also go on to receive a regional Hisuian form which becomes a Water/Dark type. This version of Samurott is the result of Dewott evolving in the more archaic and chaotic region of ancient Hisui, where much of civilization has yet to develop, and thus its fighting style has become more ruthless and reckless.

I like how Samurott's edgier and more destructive persona is communicated through its design here, with more its shells becoming dark with red accents, its beard becoming longer and more unkempt, and even its tail getting a jagged little extension. The gnarlier horn on its helmet is a good touch too. Hisuian Samurott even has a Hidden Ability, Sharpness, which increases the power of any moves that involve slicing or cutting, adding extra emphasis to its blades' power.

Hisuian Samurott sure has a lot more character put into it than regular Samurott, and even comes with the extra detail of potentially being based on a rōnin, a shameful samurai without a master. Regular Samurott is the disciplined, honorable samurai who fights by the rules, where Hisuian Samurott is the cutthroat bad guy who's been disgraced. It gives the two a neat parallel and something not a whole lot of regional forms get to play around with. For that reason, I end up enjoying both Samurotts evenly.

I do wonder why regular Samurott didn't get to be Water/Fighting though, since Fighting seems applicable to samurai under Pokemon's definition. Like, I know Emboar is already Fire/Fighting, but like I said in its article I don't even know why it's got the second type. Oh well.

Score: 5/5 - PERFECT!

Extremely close competition with Mudkip as my favorite starter family collectively, but you just can't beat the classics. Samurai otters are still a really great idea though.

[Gen 5 Archive]

#pokemon #pokemon review #oshawott #dewott #samurott #hisuian samurott

[retardeddyke]

shiny hunting pokemon with various randos on Reddit is so fun especially since this game is so buggy its hilarious.

One guy placed a pickle when we were making a sandwich together and it somehow made the physics engine freak out and fling the other ingredients everywhere so I had to reset so I didn't waste anything.

For some reason no matter who hosted or how many times we tried changing things none of us could see each other in the area we were shiny hunting in (area zero.) At some point I did actually appear for one person for a few seconds and he excitedly DMd me this picture

(I'm on the miriadon)

But I couldn't see any of the other people I played with and none of them saw me at any other point.

I caught two shiny Pokemon and then the game crashed completely and for some reason unlike with every other online service there's no automated failsafe so it completely erased them (rip hawlucha and slither wing no. 1)

I spent like three hours shiny hunting and ended with only one Slither Wing since every other shiny I found I let the people I was playing with catch.

It was a lot of fun but half of it felt like it was fun in spite of the game rather than because of it.

#pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon #pkmn scarvio #miriadon #koriadon #pokemon review

[vixivulpixel]

We talk about Slither Wing! It's the best of the whole bunch, which in this specific context feels like it stinks a lil.

#Pokemon #Pokemon Review #Pokemon Reviews #Slither Wing #Paradox Pokemon

[thefcguy]

Pokemon: Journeys – Review of the Saga

Inspired by @natedogx15 ‘s reviews, I decided to make this review.

Many of you might not you, but I really like Pokemon! I love the franchise, specially the anime.

For a long time, though, I stopped watching it for some complicated reasons. However, I returned watching it in Journeys! I haven’t watched all of the chapters yet, but I have seen reviews and scenes of future chapters, so, I know basically everything that happened on it.

Since I am such a big fan, I decided to give my review and PERSONAL opinion on it (it’s just my opinion, don’t judge).

(There are some spoilers below, but I don’t think they are that big)

 1- The Structure:

 The pokemon anime from gen 1 to 6 had the same formula. Ash with a group of friends would travel through a new region so that they could achieve their dreams.

Ash would fight the gyms, catch at least six pokemons, and help a lot of people along the way, usually having a rival that would be his opposite in some way.

His teammates would usually be gym leaders, monotype trainers, a coordinator/performer, and sometimes a little sibling.

They would usually have less pokemon than Ash, and arcs that would be solved in the saga they were a part of, returning on the next one showing how much they had grown after solving their issues.

This formula was pretty good and interesting, because it allowed us to get attached to the region and show us many different places with detail.

Besides, the camping scenes would usually give the pokemons time to interact with one another and have their own arcs.

However, Alola… broke this whole formula. Ash started going to school, had lots of companions, there were no gyms to challenge because Alola has the kahunas and trials systems, and there were no contests or showcases.

It was not bad, but it didn’t interest me that much back in the day. Nowadays, if I could, I would probably try to rewatch it, but, there is no easy way to doing it in my country, so… I know my judgement of Alola probably isn’t fair.

Now, on Journeys, I will be honest, there probably wouldn’t be an easy way to go back to the old formula, and there was no school in Galar so that they could use the same formula as in Sun and Moon.

So, that’s why I think that the idea of making Ash and Goh the assistants of Professor Cerise was a good solution, and I understand why they did that.

We need to remember that the original formula was created in 1997, and, back in the day, when kids stayed less time at home and actually went out to play more, the idea of Ash travelling with friends world-wide was more relatable than nowadays.

Nowadays, with technology, kids leave their houses less, and play mostly on smartphones.

To appeal to the new public, this idea of sporadic travels and always returning to the institute and the ending of the day probably makes things more relatable.

This was also probably the reason they changed how the friendships are shown here

I will be honest, I am not from the generation of those who started watching from gen 1, because I am not that old (I started on BW and then watched all the old seasons), but narratively speaking, the original formula was better at showing and presenting new regions.

Reason why Galar is the region with the most wasted potential (BW didn’t show Unova that well, but, at least we saw all of the Gym Leaders and Ash battled them all).  

As for the World Championship thing… I think it was a pretty good idea actually. It was an interesting way of finishing Ash’s arc… and a quicker one than making him rechallenge all of the past leagues and defeating the champions.

I will talk more about Ash on his section.

 The new formula isn’t perfect, but had it’s good points, and allowed us to see a lot of past characters. So… I give it 3,5 points out of 5.  

 2- Characters

 2,1- Ash Ketchum:

Before anything, I have to say, I feel bad for the writers that had to develop the new Ash for journeys, because it was a hard job. You guys probably didn’t understand what I meant, so, allow me to elaborate.

This Ash we accompany nowadays isn’t the same of when the show started. No, this isn’t one of those creepy theories. He is the same boy, but not the same character.

Gens 1 to 4 had the same Ash from beginning to end. The Ash that started as a childish and slightly arrogant boy, that became more and more mature until the point of entering the Sinnoh league with many strong pokemons. An Ash that had fun and silly moments, but also had experience and cared for those around him.

Then, we have Gen 5 Ash, who was… softly rebooted, lets be honest. I don’t hate BW like many, but I recognize that this Ash doesn’t feel the same as Sinnoh Ash (my personal favorite).

When Gen 6 came, they tried to bring Sinnoh Ash back… but they made him a bit too mature. He is not a bad character, but he is a 10 year-old that act like he is 15. He is not bad, but needed a more mature context of Ash growing up to reach its highest potential.

The writers noticed that, and tried to make him more childish in Gen 7… but they were a bit too extreme, and the character lose most of his seriousness. Again, he is not bad, but he was clearly reseted.

So, the writers in Gen 8 definitely had a hard time deciding on the new Ash.

He could be the continuation of Gen 1-4 Ash, but, it has been so long, that they probably wouldn’t know how to write for him anymore.

Making him a continuation of Gen 5 would be an awful idea, considering how much he was hated.

Gen 6 Ash wouldn’t fit in the new context, and Gen 7 Ash also wasn’t that beloved.

That’s why they combined what worked from each Ash, and made Journey!Ash.

And, I have to say, the result was pretty good too. He is not that great like Sinnoh!Ash, but he has Ash’s silly side and he remembers his experiences.

He also has lots of good moments, like his bond and story with Riolu, the fact that he remembered the pokemons in the lab, and all of the support he gave his friends.

He also had lots of interesting battles during the World Championship.

The biggest issue with Ash this season were his new pokemon and the lack of screen time.

The fact that the old formula is gone, and that they don’t camp anymore, made that Ash’s pokemon didn’t have much of an arc this saga, and not much individuality or personality.

They aren’t bad but could be better.

As for the lack of screen time, this is a result of the writers not being able of balancing the attention on Ash and Goh.

Goh’s captures had a lot more of focus than Ash’s battles and arcs.

In the end, I give Journey’s Ash 4 stars. He is not perfect, but I am happy with what we got.

2,2- Goh:

What I am going to say about Goh might seen contradictory, but it makes sense. I like Goh’s personality, arc, and concept… but I hate his role.

I really like characters like Goh, characters that are smart, always had few to no friends, and through a new friend, they learn to open up and be more confident.

It’s also really nice how he is so smart and so interested in researching pokemon, basically being a better version of Tracey.

Even his goal is interesting: Catching Mew!

The problem is how he manages to achieve his goal. As I said before, the pokemons of the trainers are also characters.

That’s why they need focus, arcs, stories, specific personalities and moments on the spotlight!

The fact Goh captures so many pokemons makes harder for them all to have great arcs or be interesting, which, combined with the new form, make them all more forgettable than the rest of Ash’s companion’s pokemons.

I think that if they made Goh be more like a trainer that wanted to be a researcher/professor in the future, it would have been better.

Like, instead of capturing every pokemon, Goh would travel to places, study their behavior, draw them, make notes, and them verify if the info on the pokedex is right about them. Perhaps, he could even discover new things!

And, during his travels, he could catch pokemon that he developed a bond with, or that would be useful in future research!

Or, I don’t know, he could have been a coordinator. A male protagonist being a coordinator would have been a nice addition, considering it never happened before.

Anyway, I just think they could have done more with Goh and his arc. I know that he was just advertisement of Pokemon Go, but he could have been better.

In the end, I also give him 3,75 stars. He is great but could have done more.

 2,3 – Chloe Cerise:

 This character is the definition of wasted potential.

Chloe could have been so much more than she ended up being.

First, her personality is kind of unique compared to the other girls. She is not overly girly (like Serena and even Dawn) nor a hot headed tomboy (like Misty and Iris).

She is a kind, shy person, but not defenseless. She is smart and sassy.

Besides, her whole plot with Eevee and wanting to understand what she wants to become is really good.

Sadly, she got just a few chapters to shine, and just two pokemon to use (and Yamper wasn’t even technically hers).

I think that if she joined Ash and Goh earlier on their adventures, she could have had a better development.

Maybe catching some more Pokemon that also feel confused like her. Like Oddish, Poliwhril, Slowpoke or Kirlia!

And the end of her character being that she still doesn’t know what to do, but continues researching, would be great, showing how there is no hurry to find your dream!

I just think that they could have shown her more and keeping her ending the same.

Her interactions with the pokegirls were also great, and I wish we could have seen more of that too. Maybe Misty or Iris could have helped (sadly, I know May couldn’t appear).

In the end, I give Chloe 4 stars, because of what she could have been.

 3- The Interactions and Character Dynamics:

This was definitely the best part of journeys. Goh, Ash, and Chloe had such good chemistry with each other!

Remember when I said about the new formula being more relatable for kids nowadays! Well, I say the same about the friendships.

Ash and Goh’s friendship of supporting each other, teasing each other and arguing with each other was a lot alike real friendships we see in our day to day lives!

Like the scene on the train where ethey compare their drawings.

They care about each other and talk to each other about how they feel.

And Chloe being so done at the two, but keeping on hanging out with them, is also a great example of friendship.

Friendship isn’t this magical perfect thing were we never get annoyed at someone, there are times there are arguments, and differences, but we all solve that in the end.

I feel like the friendship that the three have is a lot closer to real friendships nowadays than those in the past sagas.

And I also like how there was no forced shipping between Chloe and the boys. The three were friends and nothing more than that (but I don’t judge the shippers though, everyone is free to have their opinions. So, if you guys like AshxGoh, AshxChloe or GohxChloe, don’t worry, because I don’t judge).

So, for the interactions, I give it 5 stars! The three have amazing interactions with one another.

 4- Team Rocket:

 Okay… this is probably the weakest part of the season.

Team Rocket in this season was… terrible.

Usually, Team Rocket had great comedic moments, and good episodes were they bond with their pokemon.

But the biggest issue this season is that they don’t have pokemon of their own, and neither an arc.

Their highest moment this saga was the radio episode, which, to be fair, was good, but… it was just that.

There is so little to talk about them, that their section is just that.

In the end, I give them… 2 stars. Not entirely bad, cause they are Team Rocket, but this is probably the worse they have ever been.

 5- The Cameos:

Other good thing that they did this season was showing us lots of characters from the past sagas.

Not all of their returns were perfect, but they still were really good at its majority.

I really like the return of Alola’s gang episode. Now, you are probably wondering why, because I haven’t watched Sun and Moon. I just really like the idea of introvert guy becomes best friend with extrovert guy, and now he needs to handle all of the thousands of friends that his bestfriend has.

Iris’s return made her character a lot better. Again, even if I don’t hate BW, I know that it has problems. And it was great to see that they made Iris less annoying, made her more mature, and actually have powerful Dragon Types! They also made her the champion which is also great!

It's amazing to see what they have done with the character.

Dawn’s return, though, it’s complicated for me. I always say that DP is my favorite saga, and that Dawn is my favorite companion. But… I don’t think Journeys gave her all that she deserved.

I loved her interactions with Chloe and how her friendship with Ash is recognized by the writers, but the fact that they gave her no new pokemon, and didn’t update her outfit, makes it seems like she didn’t have much development.

The episodes she appears are far from bad, some being really good, but I think she deserved more, considering how great she was in DP.

Serena’s return for me was both good and bad. I loved how they made her more mature and confident on herself, her new design, how supportive she is of Chloe, and how she became more than “The girl who openly likes Ash”.

The bad thing about the chapter is how they made Contests so boring. Contests on gens 3 and 4 were amazing! The appeal stage being limited to one or two pokemons at a time gave them the chance to shine.

And the battle stage was amazing! The combinations, the strategies, the tensions, the unpredictability, and a lot more!

Now… Contests are basically Showcases 2.0. Not bad, but I really prefer how they were before.

Lillie’s return and the ending of her story was done flawlessly. I really liked Lillie’s character on the games, and it was great seeing her finally achieving happiness.

Clemont and Bonnie’s return was also good. They weren’t amazingly great characters on the XY saga, and their episode followed the same pattern. I like Clemont, Bonnie, and their return, but it was not that special.

Gary’s return was also fun, honestly. I always though him to be annoying, but enjoyed what happened to him in DP. And it was great seeing Gary motivating Goh to be better, like he did with Ash. It was great seeing him finally return.

Paul’s return was also fantastic! Seeing Paul and Ash battling was nostalgic. This time, though, he is less villainous than he used to be, but it’s great to see him as this weird source of advice. He is also a Gym Leader now, which is cool.

Cyntia’s return was also amazing, and I loved that she and Ash finally had an official battle.

It’s sad Cilan didn’t have an official return, because that could have been a way to redeem his character, like they did with Iris, but, considering how much he is hated, maybe it was for the best he didn’t return.

I already talked about the May situation, so, I won’t repeat.

And Tracey… well, no one cares that much about him, so, it’s not worth it to talk about him.

In the end, I give 4,5 stars out of 5 for the cameos. It was almost flawless.

 6- The Pokemons:

I will be quick on this one, since I already talked too much.

The good part is that they gave Ash a lot of pokemon that he should have had back in Kanto, like Dragonite and Gengar.

The bad part is the whole thing of pokemon not having that deep character arcs because of the new formula.

But, Chloe’s Eevee was good, Gengar’s backstory was sad but also interesting, and the episode of Goh and his Floette was pretty emotional.

I also like Sirfetched.

So, I guess I am going to give… 3 stars out of five. Not bad, but not that good.

 7- Conclusion:

Pokemon Journeys wasn’t perfect. In its majority, it was pretty good, but some problems ended up appearing, and it didn’t reach its highest potential.

In the end, I give Journey on its entirely… 3.85 stars out of 5. It was a good saga, but not one of my favorites.

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