Pokemon Violet First Thoughts vol. 7

Well, I've done it. Beat all the gyms, all the titans, all the Team Star bosses. Saw each storyline through to its conclusion, defeated the Elite 4, and became Champion (ended up going with a team of Palafin, Glimmora, Toedscruel, Ceruledge, Gholdengo, and Annihilape). Then, I ventured into Area Zero to finish the endgame, unlocked Miraidon's full potential, and saw the credits.

It took me 96 hours, mostly because I made sure to fill out the Pokedex as much as possible along the way - I pushed it to 364, just need the rest of the Area Zero 'mons and some trades from Scarlet, but I got everything else I could find naturally in-game. Which was interesting, because I found myself not having to train up low-level Pokemon just to get their evolution. Instead, I mostly caught their next stages in the wild. Even for Pseudo-legendaries, Stone evolutions, and Eeveelutions! Usually, the games aren't like this.

but... wow, where do I start? I want to give my immediate impression now, because by the time I finish reviewing this generation's Pokemon it will be 4 months later (oh, who am I kidding. 9 months later) and the memories will have faded. But just be aware, when that day does come, I reserve the right to completely flip my opinion. What are you gonna do about it? It's my blog!

Long post to follow, so hit the link for my full review:

Pokemon Violet First Thoughts vol. 6

 I realize I haven't been keeping you updated on my team, but that's because I don't even know what my team is, myself! There's like 15-ish peeps I want to use, and I've raised all the contenders up to level 50 so that I can compare stats and fix their natures.

Oh yeah, you can just buy nature mints in this game! As well as vitamins, all before even finishing the 8th gym. Finally, a good way to spend all that money you inevitably end up with, thanks to picking up treasures all over the place. And I picked up a fair number of mints, vitamins, and feathers, too.

anyway, here's the Pokemon I'm considering (as usual, I only want to use new-gen Pokes):

• Muchacho the Skeledirge
• Crossbones the Clodsire
• Edge.exe the Ceruledge
• Mindy the Tinkaton
• Shadowfall the Lokix
• Sgt. Peppers the Scovillain
• Thunderbird the Kilowattrel
• Minos the Paldean Tauros
• Nefertari the Espathra
• Jewel the Rabsca
• H.G. Wells the Toedscruel
• Unchained the Annihilape
• Neo-Spacian the Palafin
• Spooky the Glimmora

Additionally, I have a Pawniard who will eventually become a Kingambit, and an Arctibax who has one more evolution to go. But while I did look up the evolution methods & levels for everybody, I haven't really seen the designs yet. They seem strong, but if I don't jive with your design, you gotta hit the bricks. That's what happened to my Pawmot, who held it down for most of the early-game as a valuable Electric/Fighting type. Your services were appreciated, RIB (Rest In Box).

by the way, it's worth mentioning that I've raised up all these guys without much undue effort. Really, it's a side-effect of there being TOO much exp going around - even with wild encounters being more optional than ever! But it was like this in SwSh, where I ended up with 2 distinct teams that I swapped members between, and got all 12 of them Championship ribbons. Maybe I'll have 3 teams, this time around? I know some people complain about the Exp Share, but if you end up over-leveling that's just your hint to start trying out more Pokemon. It encourages catching and raising more than just 6, and I appreciate that.