Pokémon Thread XXX: Hot Skitty on Wailord Action!

[Celestia]

Regardless, I have changed my mind on Scarlet/Violet. Yes it looks underoptimized, but what I have seen (and spoiled myself, intentionally) of the story and encounters, it is an awesome game. Now if the core gameplay is not drowned in 25 pointless battles against toddlers (i.e. I can skip almost all trainers this time) it is the game for me - after it has been patched to run smoother.

All trainer battles are optional, though you may want to do at least some of them, anyways, as you get rewards for doing so, and most of those rewards are quite good.

And I definitely recommend these games. The graphics and animation are ass, and it's a buggy mess, but the characters and writing are the best in the franchise. I legit loved every main character in the game. If you want to wait for an optimization patch, I completely understand.

[Bartmanhomer]

Also, I'm going to add that all Pokemon (Generation 1-9) are pretty dope. Dope is urban slang for exceptional.

[boj0]

Yeah, I'm going to agree with that; almost 25 years, and I think I can agree that Pokemon is great. I can't think of any other series I've cared about nearly as much.

[Bartmanhomer]

Yeah, I'm going to agree with that; almost 25 years, and I think I can agree that Pokemon is great. I can't think of any other series I've cared about nearly as much.

Yes. I really can't wait for Generation 10 but that is a few years for now.

[TaiLiu]

I haven't caught up on the latest game and anime even though I google it to catch up on the latest Pokemon. But I did play the oldest version of Pokemon Go many years ago.

Oh, cool!

Also, I'm going to add that all Pokemon (Generation 1-9) are pretty dope. Dope is urban slang for exceptional.

Polite disagree on some Pokémon. But yeah, almost all Pokémon are pretty cool.

[Bartmanhomer]

Polite disagree on some Pokémon. But yeah, almost all Pokémon are pretty cool.

Ok. Which Pokemon do you disagree on?

[TaiLiu]

Ok. Which Pokemon do you disagree on?

I don't care for Jynx. Relatedly, I also dislike the many of the human-like Pokémon, which are mostly early gen fighting types. Hitmonchan has flesh clothes and looks like a man. Mr. Mime is just some dude.

I think they've been making more animal-like fighting types recently. Starting from Mienfoo on, I don't think we've had any more fighting type people Pokémon. Which is a relief.

[Bartmanhomer]

I don't care for Jynx. Relatedly, I also dislike the many of the human-like Pokémon, which are mostly early gen fighting types. Hitmonchan has flesh clothes and looks like a man. Mr. Mime is just some dude.

I think they've been making more animal-like fighting types recently. Starting from Mienfoo on, I don't think we've had any more fighting type people Pokémon. Which is a relief.

Jynx is very controversial. Hitmonchan and Mr. Mime, I have no issue with these Pokemon but I wouldn't consider them my favorite Pokemon.

[TaiLiu]

Jynx is very controversial. Hitmonchan and Mr. Mime, I have no issue with these Pokemon but I wouldn't consider them my favorite Pokemon.

Yeah, I've no affinity with them, either. I've been to zoos and felt very uncomfortable with primates in enclosures even though everyone around me seemed to enjoy it. So I guess everyone has different standards for what's too human-like. Mine might be pretty low, so maybe that's why we feel different.

[Bartmanhomer]

Yeah, I've no affinity with them, either. I've been to zoos and felt very uncomfortable with primates in enclosures even though everyone around me seemed to enjoy it. So I guess everyone has different standards for what's too human-like. Mine might be pretty low, so maybe that's why we feel different.

We all have our likes and dislikes. I like Magikarp. I know what you're thinking: Why would I like a very useless Pokemon like Magikarp? Well, I like Magikarp in the anime when it said "Magikarp, Karp, Karp!" Also, Magikarp can evolve into Gyarados. Which Gyarados is my second favorite Pokemon? I don't like Voltorb and Electrode. Very uncreative and boring to my taste. No thank you.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I've been watching a lot of those "Can I beat Pokémon [Blank] with only a [Blank]" videos lately. It's kind of the mashed potatoes of Pokémon Challenge runs, and the answer is always yes. (Except for mons like Magikarp and Caterpie if you don't allow trainer items in battle, which thankfully most of these video's don't because that makes the runs boring.) But anyway, they are somehow kind of nice to bingewatch, and I've been getting the urge to do one of my own. I'm not actually going to do it, not with a video anyway, because it's too much work, I don't want to become a professional Youtuber and if you're not posting video after video trying to make it big barely anyone will see your work anyway, but I've been getting the urge anyway. And the urge is to do an oldish vs newish showdown, doing an Armaldo* solo run (plain start as Armaldo or to show an even stronger contrast Anorith into Armaldo) in Emerald and in Omega Ruby. It's a great showcase of how much the small mechanical changes matter in these games. Generation 4 and 5 introduce so many good attacks (and existing attacks are tweaked to become good), support moves and held items that make life so much easier for this mon. Sure, a ground type with earthquake or a psychic type with, well, psychic, is good in any generation. But Armaldo gets pretty much nothing in terms of bug or rock moves, and most of what it does get has a non-100 accuracy, without options like hone claws of wide lens being available. Gen 6 itself doesn't add much in moves, items or abilities, but for this idea I'd still prefer it over gen 5 because the Hoenn remakes were used as a moment to take a look at the levels at which the generation 3 mon learn their moves and the points at which TM's and such become available. Water gun before the rock gym**, the only place you're going to use it? Much appreciated. A rock and a bug attack by level 13 rather than by level 37 in X and Y or even level 43 in Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald? Yes please. I might actually just prepare and play these runs without the whole "too much work" idea of filming and publishing it to see just how bad I can make gen 3 feel. (There are also ways in which gen 6 is harder, like improvements to opposing teams and a lack of badge boosts, (edit: and ancient power being special now) but the extra options you get should have a bigger effect.) And that's generation 3, the one where it looked like Gamefreak had mostly learned what they were doing. You can probably make an even stronger case by using Kabutops or something rather than Armaldo and including generation 1.

Anyway, That doesn't add much to the discussion, but those are my Pokémon thoughts for this week.

* Armaldo seems to be quickly becoming one of my favorite Pokémon since I realised it might be the answer to "if I was a pokémon, which one would I be?" A flawed answer, but one of the better ones available.
** Okay, sure, you're not supposed to have Anorith before the rock gym in a regular playthrough, but it's always nice when they aim for a believable world wherein a pokémon you trade over to a new game doesn't suck just because you're doing a little sequence breaking.

[Taevyr]

I've been watching a lot of those "Can I beat Pokémon [Blank] with only a [Blank]" videos lately. It's kind of the mashed potatoes of Pokémon Challenge runs, and the answer is always yes. (Except for mons like Magikarp and Caterpie if you don't allow trainer items in battle, which thankfully most of these video's don't because that makes the runs boring.) But anyway, they are somehow kind of nice to bingewatch, and I've been getting the urge to do one of my own. I'm not actually going to do it, not with a video anyway, because it's too much work, I don't want to become a professional Youtuber and if you're not posting video after video trying to make it big barely anyone will see your work anyway, but I've been getting the urge anyway. .

I recently finished a mono-ice run of pokémon reborn (fangame, not a romhack but essentially a new region built from the ground up) and did some after-action reports/AARs of the more challenging fights and victory road/league on the subreddit: it's nothing big, but it was pretty fun getting some reaction to it. I've kind of been feeling like doing a fully "liveblogged" challenge run since, making AARS after every gym/rival battle/etc. Won't make me famous, but the interactions it gave on a smaller forum were pretty fun.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I made a comic ones (photoshopped from sprites and backgrounds) about a ground type Nuzlocke I did, on the official(ish) Nuzlocke forums. Well, half a comic. I did end up finishing the run, but it had kind of become a solo run, and the comic just didn't feel like it was really worth finishing anymore.

[LibraryOgre]

And I got the Boy a Pokemon Go account. He spent most of yesterday blissed out, on a walk around a local shopping center, catching Pokemon and hitting pokestops.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

They Boy got Arceus and Let's Go, Pikachu for Christmas, so we've been looking into that. He plays for a while, gets stuck, then I play my game until I get past it, then we switch so he can play until he gets stuck again. That's just Arceus; I haven't tried Let's Go Pikachu, yet.

And I got the Boy a Pokemon Go account. He spent most of yesterday blissed out, on a walk around a local shopping center, catching Pokemon and hitting pokestops.

Nice. Another champ in the making.

[LibraryOgre]

Nice. Another champ in the making.

I've been letting him play Go on my account for a few months. He's got his own tag, and once we can arrange time with my wife's phone, we're going to half-empty my pokemon storage into his account.

[Spore]

And that's generation 3, the one where it looked like Gamefreak had mostly learned what they were doing. You can probably make an even stronger case by using Kabutops or something rather than Armaldo and including generation 1.

Pokemon is imho a decade old tradition of throwing stuff on a wall and seeing what sticks. Gen 1 + 2 were competitive nightmares; who decided maxxing ALL stats was a good idea removing any and all form of specialization from an RPG? Sure rare ingame pokemon like Tauros and Snorlax were better than the rest, but having them dominate so hard was a mistake. But there was no online competition in 1999.

But from a "writing perspective" I prefer mixed attackers or slightly bulkier types instead of heavily lopsided physical or special attackers. Yes, Gyarados is a cool pokemon. No I do not like how a GIANT SEA MONSTER who can shoot energy beams and water beams deals no damage, but biting does. Yes, I understand how it is kind of needed to balance a sea snake. No I don't like how a little yellow mouse (any pika clone really) can just shuffle on a rug and murder it with the power of static electricity (ever had a Special Sweeper use Nuzzle on a sweeper Gyarados? It is DEVASTATING.)

I get that tinier pokemon need to be viable for other kinds of players to enjoy the game, but I simply cannot look at an Arcanine or Lucario or Haxorus do battle to a Dedenne and not look pitifully at the tiny mouse.

[MCerberus]

Another fun example of 6x murder fun is that the original dragons, meant to be rare, valuable and powerful beyond reason and used by the second most powerful trainers in the game get blasted by an ice cream cone. If I remember typings correctly you can also kill godzilla real easy by punching it in the face.

There still is some success in having types other than edgy and bulky becoming powerful. There's the ever-present foxpuppies, Chancey, Primerina et al. And one must remember this comic.

[Cygnia]

Been going after the Scatterbug collection on Go right now. I just need two more bloody Ocean postcards... *sighs*

[LibraryOgre]

Just looked at completing that Cherrim request in Arceus. Looks like I have to grind shaking trees. Bugger.

[Celestia]

Just looked at completing that Cherrim request in Arceus. Looks like I have to grind shaking trees. Bugger.

Hey, it used to be worse. There was a bug that made it literally impossible to catch Cherrim; it would just break out of every ball you threw. You'd have to catch a Cherubi and evolve it.

[MCerberus]

Hey, it used to be worse. There was a bug that made it literally impossible to catch Cherrim; it would just break out of every ball you threw. You'd have to catch a Cherubi and evolve it.

Still, after the bug fix, I believe the most accurate walkthrough for that quest was written in Dante's Inferno.

[TaiLiu]

We all have our likes and dislikes. I like Magikarp. I know what you're thinking: Why would I like a very useless Pokemon like Magikarp? Well, I like Magikarp in the anime when it said "Magikarp, Karp, Karp!" Also, Magikarp can evolve into Gyarados. Which Gyarados is my second favorite Pokemon? I don't like Voltorb and Electrode. Very uncreative and boring to my taste. No thank you.

I'm not thinking that at all, since Magikarp's relatively popular. It has a lot of media appearances, there's an entire game starring Magikarp, and recently there was half an anime episode dedicated to Magikarp. Pretty cool that Gyarados is your second favorite. I had a red one when I played SoulSilver and I also have a Gyrados t-shirt. I like to wear it when it's rainy. Then I can pretend Gryrados is the one making it rain.

I like Voltorb and Electrode just cuz they remind me of the hilarious "Jiggypuff from above" episode.

No I do not like how a GIANT SEA MONSTER who can shoot energy beams and water beams deals no damage, but biting does.

I get that tinier pokemon need to be viable for other kinds of players to enjoy the game, but I simply cannot look at an Arcanine or Lucario or Haxorus do battle to a Dedenne and not look pitifully at the tiny mouse.

That's an advantage that Gens 1-3 have. Hyper Beam is physical, so Gyrados rocks at using it.

Yeah, Pokemon just kinda ignore mass (and momentum). In the show Pikachu is seen often hitting Pokemon much larger with its tail and somehow both Pokemon are evenly matched.

Just looked at completing that Cherrim request in Arceus. Looks like I have to grind shaking trees. Bugger.

Is Arceus a grindy game? Was thinking about it for the innovative mechanics but was worried that it'd be a slog to get through.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

If you were a pokémon, what type would you be? I've developed a simple test that can tell what your type would be with over 90% accuracy! No really, over 90%, guaranteed!

To take the test, you must answer one simple question: what is your favorite (English) pokémon theme song?

Spoiler: answer key

Show

Your favorite is "Gotta catch 'em all!" by Jason Paige, written for the first season: Normal type

Any other answer: you are the other <10%.

[Celestia]

Is Arceus a grindy game? Was thinking about it for the innovative mechanics but was worried that it'd be a slog to get through.

Kind of. You do need to advance your rank within the Galaxy Team by completing research tasks. However, catching and battling Pokémon is literally the core mechanic, and I can find no fault in a game telling you to engage with the game. If you like it, you won't need to "grind" because you'll be trying to complete the Pokedex, anyways. If you don't like it, then you're not going to want to play in the first place.

The only real grinding in the game is trying to 100% complete the dex, and that's only necessary if you want to get the secret boss fight. You only need to reach rank 5 to finish all the story.

[Bartmanhomer]

I'm not thinking that at all, since Magikarp's relatively popular. It has a lot of media appearances, there's an entire game starring Magikarp, and recently there was half an anime episode dedicated to Magikarp. Pretty cool that Gyarados is your second favorite. I had a red one when I played SoulSilver and I also have a Gyrados t-shirt. I like to wear it when it's rainy. Then I can pretend Gryrados is the one making it rain.

I like Voltorb and Electrode just cuz they remind me of the hilarious "Jiggypuff from above" episode.

Ok, that's good then.

[TaiLiu]

Spoiler: answer key

Show

Your favorite is "Gotta catch 'em all!" by Jason Paige, written for the first season: Normal type

Any other answer: you are the other <10%.

Spoiler

Show

Is that why I'm not immune to ghost type attacks? 😭

Kind of. You do need to advance your rank within the Galaxy Team by completing research tasks. However, catching and battling Pokémon is literally the core mechanic, and I can find no fault in a game telling you to engage with the game. If you like it, you won't need to "grind" because you'll be trying to complete the Pokedex, anyways. If you don't like it, then you're not going to want to play in the first place.

The only real grinding in the game is trying to 100% complete the dex, and that's only necessary if you want to get the secret boss fight. You only need to reach rank 5 to finish all the story.

Gotcha! That's encouraging, then.

Ok, that's good then.

Sure is.

[Bartmanhomer]

Gyarados are very useful and viable in later generations in competitive scenes from what I heard.

[TaiLiu]

Gyarados are very useful and viable in later generations in competitive scenes from what I heard.

Oh, cool. I didn't know that. It's fun in Gen IV but oh man do I wish I had more moves.

[tyckspoon]

Oh, cool. I didn't know that. It's fun in Gen IV but oh man do I wish I had more moves.

Intimidate is a really useful ability, it's got decent defensive stats and typing (just watch out for anything carrying an Electric move), and as you go through later generations they gain access to more and more moves that help cover for gaps in its moveset so it can attack with pretty good coverage from its better Attack stat (competitively, you're usually trying to get to switch it into a physical attacker that it threatens and then set up with Dragon Dance while the opponent is effectively forced to switch out their penalized 'mon.) It's never really like meta defining, but it's also never a bad pokemon. They're usually staples for in-game teams, too, since you can almost always get a Magikarp pretty early on and grind it up to a Gyarados at a relatively low level - it's often available much earlier than other similarly good pokemon.