Scheduled Slacking-Off

Whenever I get deep enough into a game to start to really get it and get into the world and the setting, I like to run off and explore. Breath of the Wild found me filling in my map (and my stamina wheel) with trial locations. Skyrim found me collecting Daedra Hearts and Gold Ore for smithing and alchemy projects. Phantom Hourglass found me using the DS stylus to draw tits on the area map. These escapades are not always materially useful to my journey, but they are always good for either my immersion or at least my own satisfaction.

While Pokemon doesn't offer a great deal in terms of collecting ore or drawing tits, it DOES offer something equally addictive: capturing pokemon and bolstering the pokedex.

I finally added Cuphant, the elephant, to my team! Elephants used to be my favorite aninals, so adding this Steel-typed "Copperderm Pokemon" to my party. This brings me back up to ten pokemon, but as long as I stay on top of my leveling and my abuse of PokeJobs, things should pan out. What is more is that I found an Adamant one with a supermassive Attack stat, so this was meant to be. Bonus points: caught it in a premier ball.

Cheeto evolved into his final stage: Rillaboom. I have ambivalent feelings about this pokemon. It is a cool design and all as a silverback drummer with cool hair, but it is less cool looking than Thwackey and less cute looking than Thwackey. It isn't even close to the bottom of my list for final atage starters (those spots are permanently reserved for Emboar, Samurott, Chesnaught, and Infernape), but it is definitely not at the top (Greninja, Decidueye, Swampert, Sceptile).

I have completed enough Max Raid Battles, by now, to weigh in on them. They're...fine. I find them to be somewhat tiring and repetitive. Every once in a while, I have a fun or interesting matchup--usually against a Gigantamax pokemon or an interesting higher tiered foe--but the lion's share of my matchups involve me rushing through the match so that I can get the rewards and the capture. This is great for filling the Pokedex and the excitement as you approach the beam of an active raid den is something akin to what rushing down the steps for christmas presents feels like. However, The process is quite repetitive most of the time and has little bite to it. It needs more teeth.

Playing with friends certainly makes things more fun: my brother, his brother in law,  and I were able to defeat a Gigantamax Corviknight together. While only one of us was able to actually capture it (hint: it wasn't me), it was a fun experience.

My brother about to send out his Shuckle

Plus, if nothing else, raid battles are slowly getting me used to the mechanics of Dynamax...which may be useful for competitive play later on.

Pokedex: 122/185







On Rotation: Cufant, Toxtricity, Sandaconda

Three vs. Two: Introduction to Gen 2

I was thinking the other day (fool that I am) and I have come to the conclusion that Gen 3 (Ruby/Sapphire) is better than Gen 2 (Gold/Silver).

Because I’m an older millennial who’s been doing this way too long, it should come as no shock that my favorite game in the series is Pokemon Silver version.  Partly, this is because it has my favorite starter of all (evidence shown), but I want to say that the bulk of the love I have for this title is due to all the things it fixed from the Generation 1 games.  

Okay, if we’re being honest, it’s probably mostly the nostalgia thing.  There is no denying that this game sparks strong feelings in Pokemon trainers my age because of the timing behind it.  Nostalgia is a devious sonuvabitch: often the memories that are remembered the most fondly turn out to be ones wherein the wait was paid off.  Put another way, the things that you remember with the most childish whimsy are those things where you waited for days and weeks and months patiently—that then lived up to the hype.

It is said that when "Pikablu" opens its eyes, the famines will begin...

I would argue that Pokemon 2 was that sort of memory, the kind of experience where the buildup was worth the wait.  The year 2000 was a time distinctly before the explosion of the internet: information about Pokemon 2 (or anything, for that matter) was scarce.  All we knew in America was that the game was out in Japan—and that it was awesome.  Some lucky ones of us had a friend who was a subscriber to “Beckett Pokemon Collector” because they were trading card collectors (I was this person in my circle of friends), so we were able to glean some little bit of honey from the information contained within.  A rare few of us had a friend with a Japanese copy of the title (often this friend was that rich prick you only hung out with because this person had BOTH a Playstation and a Nintendo 64, the bastard).  We knew that it was out—we even knew the Japanese names of some of the monsters— Otachi, Arigetsu, Redian— it was a wait unlike any other.  

Everyone knew a guy who knew a guy who worked for Nintendo and everyone had heard from a very reliable source that etc. etc.  It’s no wonder that the fan theories that erupted were so widely believed: “Pokegods" like "Nidogod" and “Pikablu”.  Who was “Houou” (eventually Ho-Oh)? Why was he in the anime already?!  All we could do was suppose.  And wait.

And as it were, Gen 2 was fantastic.

The games, Pokemon gold and silver versions, improved upon everything in the red and blue versions.  They offered a much more balanced and nuanced experience at both the technical level and the world-building level.  

But we must still address the elephant in the room. There is a large caste of the pokemon community collectively referred to as “gen one-ers” that is so fanatically devoted to the original installment that they refuse to see the positives in any other titles.  Along with this, they fail to see the negatives in their own favorite game.  Red version was phenomenal, but it had a lot of issues (which I would love to get into—some other time).  As a matter of fact, a lot of things about Pokemon that are currently taken for granted amongst current fans of the series can trace their origins back to the second or third generation, not the first.  

Taking the “Gen One-ers” out of the discussion (because fuck those guys, amiright?), the bulk of the rest of the pokemon community—especially those around my age (those in their twenties)—tends to favor Generation 2: Gold, Silver, and Crystal.  Their rankings of the titles in the series often manifest as some transposition of “Gen 2, Gen 1, 'all the rest’”.

I can’t deny that I am a member of this very same crowd.  This is something that actually causes me physical pain.  I am a contrarian and I hate being “just like everyone else”.  Alternatively, I cannot deny that Generation 2, the second game in the series, is undoubtedly my favorite.

However, because I am, above all else, a critic, I feel it important to come to terms with a few things about Generation 2 that maybe aren’t so great.  I was thinking about this this morning and I came to a startling conclusion that, while Silver version may be my favorite game in the series, it may actually be one of the weaker ones.  

I think that, on this the 20th anniversary year of pokemon, it might be a good idea to look back at my favorite game in the series with a more critical eye.  I will do my best to stay grounded and to give a fair assessment of the title.  I will also try my hardest to keep this from becoming one of those unbearable buzzfeed “Top X Things that are Awesome about BLANK” lists wherein everything is rationalized with “…because it’s awesome”.

Hawlucha

Well, I think I found my favorite pokemon of the new generation!

Hawlucha is a Fighting/Flying type pokemon modeled after the lucha libre wrestling phenomenon of Central America--taking on the signature costume design and high-flying wrestling tactics of the same.  And he is freaking freaking freaking freaking awesome.  I don't think I have been so completely sold on the design of any one pokemon for a long time...as a matter of fact, I think the last pokemon I LOVED the design of was Milotic (and Sharpedo, for that matter).  Sure, I've liked many of the pokemon since Sapphire version, but I liked them in more of the way I liked the design of...say...Jolteon.  I like Jolteon and I think it is cool, but you won't see it in my top ten.  Hawlucha, YOU have made the cut.
________________________

I made my way north of Cyllage City to train Flareon (whom I have not actually used in battle yet) and to explore a little more and found myself in a stone garden not unlike stone henge.  All the trainers in the area had something to say about how important and powerful the rocks were, but I really don't see what they could mean by this.

Of course Team Flare was there.

In between talking about how much they hate puppies and the laughter of children, Team Flare dropped a few hints about some 3000 year-old legend.  I had no clue what they were talking about, but I am absolutely certain that it will all be explained in EXCRUCIATING detail very, very soon.

On my way into Geosenge City, I caught Yanma, Electrike, Sigilyph, Snubbull, Emolga , and (after three failed attempts) Hawlucha.  I am really tempted to bring-in Hawlucha over Aerodactyl, but I feel like adding another pokemon with a Flying or Ice weakness on this team would be me asking to be rolled-over.

As I stumbled around town, I found myself in battle with a trainer named "Leader Korinna" who used two Lucario.  I had met her before, but this is the first time I battled her--and it wasn't until I had defeated BOTH of her Lucario with "Hotfoot" the Flareon that I realized that she must be a gymleader.

I think I just earned a gym badge without even knowing it.

Current Squad:

FROGADIER/Froakles/lvl.22
IVYSAUR/Ivy/lvl.22
FLAREON/Hotfoot/lvl.22
FLOETTE/Pixie/lvl.21
SCRAGGY/Scrappy/lvl.22
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.22

On Rotation: Kirlia, Pikachu, Hippopotas

Exploring *cough* Totally Not Versailles *cough*

I remember reading something in passing a few months ago about how Pokemon Y's "Kalos region" is based loosely on France in the same way that Pokemon White is based loosely on the Unites States (namely New York).  This is the kind of thing that you forget about until it starts to stick out, and then it becomes all you think about and it changes your perception of the game.


Just two weeks ago, I came back from a brief excursion to France to attend the wedding of one of my sweetheart's cousins (note apostrophe placement).  I say this because realizing that I am playing a game about a place that I have visited in real life must be up in the top ten most disorienting things I have ever done (of course, right behind staying up for an entire week and also behind eating 7 McDonald's double cheeseburgers).

So here is the "Parfume Palace", a nearly exact copy of the Castle Versailles if the Castle Versailles was made of cartoons.

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I was sent here to recover the PokeFlute to wake up a Snorlax who fell asleep on the road.  I guess this means that Pokemon X and Y are definitely going to stay true to established "Pokemon lore"

I have the strange feeling that Snorlax don't exist in the wild as animals.  Rather, they exist as features of the terrain in any given area.  Every road in the pokemon world most likely has some statistical likelihood that they will, at any given moment, grow a Snorlax out of the ground in order to become blocked.  Maybe the cement they use contains some weird mineral called "Snorlaxium" or something and here is where my digression really starts to fall apart.

After arriving at the Parfume Palace and exploring every room of the Parfume Palace and playing around in the hedge gardens of the Parfume Palace I realized that I hadn't done any actual pokemon battling in over a quarter of an hour.  Usually this is no big deal but I am of the opinion that if you're playing Pokemon and more than 20 minutes go by without fighting any pokemon then you're officially doing it wrong, so I left and started exploring the surrounding grasslands where I caught Sentret, Oddish, Kecleon, and Gulpin in order to remind myself that I was playing a game and not something that could be confused for a game like a dishwasher. 

Normally I would take-up Sentret immediately over Zigzagoon for my team (since it's another favorite of mine) but I am really only keeping Ziggy for the free items I get from his ability "Pick-Up" at the moment.

Current team:

FROAKIE/Froakles/lvl.15
BULBASAUR/Bulby/lvl.15
SCRAGGY/Scrappy/lvl.15
FLABEBE/Pixie/lvl.13
PIKACHU/PikaPi/lvl.16
DODUO/Birdface/lvl.15

On Rotation: Ralts, Pickup...erhm...Zigzagoon

Hey, You Got Your Kanto in My Kalos!

After being told to meet Tree-of-the-Moment Professor Sycamore in the next town, I made my customary game first purchase of a thousand pokeballs and exactly six potions at the nearest store.  Little did I know that I would then be given ten more pokeballs and potions free from the gang of pokemon thieves (who are supposed to be my friends) I described in the last post.  While being tricked into getting fifty potions and pokeballs is not nearly as bad as the time I was tricked into catching five Lilipups, I still take this afront personally.

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Remember how in the last game, there were ONLY new pokemon?  Well in this game, the pokemon mix is actually fairly decent.  The first pokemon I encountered (and failed to catch, damn) was a Pidgey (who evolves directly into my favorite bird pokemon (that link was a joke)) and the next two were Zigzagoon and a new pokemon called Fletchling.  I caught both of these as well as a cool rabbit pokemon called Bunnelby and found out that in this game, you actually gain experience from catching pokemon as well as defeating them--which is a fairly banal change, but it was all the change necessary to convince me to try and catch every single pokemon I encountered.  I was kind of glad to have those 70 pokeballs as I made my way to the first area of the game (can you call them "dungeons"?), Santalune Forest.

Now, as soon as I stepped-into the forest I was struck with an odd sense of deja-vu: "Have I been here before?  Couldn't be...I bet there isn't a dead end to the left...wait, there is...or an item forward and to the left...there is...and the path to the right winds up and around..."

Item to the left, twisting path, Encounters with Caterpie, Weedle, and rare cases of Pikachu?  THIS IS VIRIDIAN FOREST!!!  As I would soon find out, Santalune Forest has an identical map to the Original Viridian Forest from Red Version.  What the Hell, Nintendo!  You can't take my very first pokemon adventure and lovingly recreate it in 3D with fantastic graphics and an amazing selection of new pokemon...

...

What the heck was I complaining about again?

I went on a spree here, catching Weedle, Caterpie (who evolved into Metapod), Pansage (we meet again, my old nemesis), Pansear, Panpour, a new bug type called Scatterbug, and NARROWLY MISSED CATCHING PIKACHU.

I am still a little sore about that Pikachu, because then I would be one step closer to having my three favorite pokemon on my team (Butterfree, Raichu, Milotic if you're asking).

I am immediately reminded of Red Version.  I remember back then how long I would look in Viridian Forest (which, as established, is Santalune Forest) just to find one Pikachu for my party--and how when I did finally encounter him, Bulbasaur was already level 12 and I was scared of knocking it out too quickly (Oh yeah, I chose Bulbasaur, by the way).  My solution was to use "Leech Seed" and "Growl" until his health was low enough to start tossing Pokeballs.  On more than one playthrough, I got to this point to realize I was out of Pokeballs, so it is a good thing I have 80 of them this time.

After 40 minutes of looking I decided to quit for the moment.

Current Squad:
Pokemon/Nickname/Level
FROAKIE/Froakles/lvl.9
METAPOD/Felix/lvl.8
ZIGZAGOON/Ziggy/lvl.8
SCATTERBUG/Bubbsy/lvl.7
BUNNELBY/Buns/lvl.4
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