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. 

Pokemon Violet First Thoughts vol. 5

Okay, so I honestly didn't expect the lake to be the Endgame Area. Tried to go there first, but level 50 was a big step up from the high 30s where my team was at. Turns out you're supposed to do the mountain first! I also went back to the Psychic gym in the South, which is disappointingly the only example of Moorish architecture in the game.

In fact, hardly anything about this game seems representative of Spain. Yeah there's the Sagrada Familia, (transplanted from Barcelona to Madrid) and the Four Towers (transplanted from Madrid to Valencia) but that's about it for famous landmarks. There's no Alhambra, no Alcazars, no Mezquita... but maybe Gamefreak didn't want to risk stepping on any toes by including ersatz versions of these Islamic buildings? although they used the Sagrada Familia, a Catholic cathedral, without any qualms.

See, I've traveled through Spain, and Paldea just looks like Galar 90% of the time. Which, to be fair, just looked like Kanto 90% of the time. It's nothing new, that Pokemon games are only loosely based on their region. And honestly, I'm fine with that. It's important that we get a forest, a desert, a lake, a mountain, a beach, and some grasslands in every game. They could base the game on Kansas, and still be obligated to shoehorn in the ecological diversity necessary to house a proper region of Pokemon.

But at the same time, I'm kinda disappointed that they didn't take advantage of some of the cool things Spain has - the aforementioned Alhambra of Granada, a wonder of Moorish architecture with beautiful gardens. The Alcazars of Segovia, Seville, or Toledo, classic medieval fortresses. The Mezquita of Cordoba, a mosque so big they built a cathedral inside the mosque; the minarets are so large that horses could be rode up the spiral stairs. And the ruins that dot the Paldean countryside are a poor comparison to the Roman ruins found at Italica or Cartagena, which feature full amphitheaters. 

And then the Iconic Spanish Food of this game: sandwiches. That was the best they could come up with. Skipped right over paella, tapas, and empanadas - all of which could be customized for your little cooking mini-game - and went with a bocadillo. My guess is that they originally wanted to do tacos, but then somebody pointed out that those are Mexican, not Spanish, and then they said "ok how about enchiladas", and found out those are Mexican too, and they realized that nobody knew what actual freaking Spaniards eat, so they panicked and went with "sandwiches".

See, this is the same studio who thought Malasadas were THE standout food of Hawai'i. Yeah, forget about saimin, moco loco, kalua pig, poke bowls, spam musubi... I'm surprised they didn't go for the plate lunch, because it resembles a bento box (at least philosophically). Meanwhile, curry was chosen for England, because Japan also loves curry! Nevermind that English curry is just imported Indian curry, and a different style than Japanese curry. They saw one food item they recognized and clutched on to it for dear life. I would have gone with one of the UK's many savory pastries - a pork pie, Cornish pasty, beef wellington, etc. Fish and chips, or a spin on the Proper English Breakfast, might have worked as well.

The point is (now that I've made myself hungry), Gamefreak sends a few people to a foreign country to take pictures and try the food, and they report back with a half-baked understanding, upon which they cram those typical environmental features that they have to put in every game. Someone comes up with a few cheeky Pokemon that reference the region. They give the buildings a light dusting of regional flair. And that's about it. It just stings more when it's some place you're familiar with, I suppose.

Of course, I was only a visitor. Any native Spaniards are more than welcome to sound off about how well Gamefreak butchered/paid tribute to your homeland.

Pokemon Violet First Thoughts vol. 4

so I'm 45 hours into the game and have 220 in my Pokedex. I'm at 10/18 badges. I'm sure other people have already blitzed to the end by now, and probably even 100%'d the whole thing because they don't have any other obligations. But I'm still taking my time to thoroughly explore every area, capturing everything I can along the way. Forget B teams, I've got C and D teams because I keep wanting to avoid over-leveling my party.

As for the going in blind thing... yeah, I don't think I'll bother doing this again in the future. It was slightly fun to be surprised by my starter's final form, and I'm lucky it's pretty cool. But then I was shocked when Capsakid evolved into Scovillain, one of the pug-ugliest Pokemon I've ever seen. Made me almost wish I never bothered, except Grass/Fire is still a hype combo...

Also, I realized I appreciate knowing what level guys will evolve at! That gives me mini-goals to work towards, instead of leveling with a vague hope that they'll pop soon. Or the frustration leading me to look up exactly how somebody evolves, only to find out it was a stone the whole time. Or, disappointment in missing out entirely - turns out there's an evolution after Primeape that I would have never seen, and certainly wouldn't have figured out his evolution method on my own.

I never woulda figured that stuff out on my own, and only gotten frustrated! So while it was cool that twice my guys evolved right after a gym battle (without my preparation), as if the battle truly let them unlock their full potential, I kinda wish I'd known the threshold so I could have just bumped them up beforehand. And don't get me started on moveset planning, and wanting to avoid wasting TMs (even though they're practically infinite, I still don't want to waste 'em!).

I've still got a ton of game to go, but at this point I think my little experiment has proven that, for me, playing blind isn't the way to go.

Pokemon Violet First Thoughts vol. 3

doubled-back to explore the Western side of the map, and... this shit don't scale. Why don't the levels scale. At least for the gym leaders, it would be so easy to implement. But now I'm realizing I was probably supposed to come here first? Oh well, it's an opportunity to swap out my main team and raise up a B-team. The way exp works, it's really not worth shitting on level 12s with your level 25.

Also, I discovered that you can jump up steep slopes, as long as you go backwards. Skyrim horse physics, everyone! I assume I'll get some Rock Climb ability later, but for now this will do. Honestly, it made exploration even more fun.

The un-fun part, though, is how many goddamn tiny-ass Pokemon there are in this game. Can't hardly see the little pricks when I'm hauling ass across the countryside in my 1,200 pound Poke-motorcycle, but if one tiny Smolive gets in my way, instead of squashing the bitch flat, Miraidon comes screeching to a halt so we can engage in battle. I should be able to run them over and just gain exp, like when you send your Pokemon out on auto-battle.

Another thing starting to bug me is how, whenever there's an NPC standing next to a Pokemon, even if you look directly at the person, half the time the game will go "oh, you want to talk to their Pokemon? Ok, here we go!" *Pokemon squeaks, slowly turns around to face you, then chirps again* Wow thank you so much for your input, truly illuminating, now can you please shut up and let me talk to your trainer? I need to hear them tell me some bullshit about how cool sandwiches are or something.

But getting back to the levels, I also discovered a way to get to a secret cave and gym where everyone's 15 levels higher than me. So I'll come back later. It's mildly thrilling to realize you stepped into the wrong neighborhood and you're out of your league in an RPG like this, but at the same time... is it really fun? You either go "oops, my mistake" and turn around, or grind like hell to make up the difference, thus ruining the power curve for the rest of the game. Dashing around to grab high-end items before you're supposed to is cool, though.

Pokemon Violet First Thoughts vol. 2

 so, uh, the pace did not pick up.

I spent just as much time exploring every inch of this rocky region to the East of the school as I did the Southern grounds, and then even more when I was able to double-back and get the rest of the Eastern grasslands that were inaccessible from the starting side. And everywhere I went, I found swathes of new Pokemon. I've been catching 'em all, my Pokedex has almost 100 entries. And I've only done the first gym!

I've also done the first Titan, and the first Team Boss, and I was over-leveled for all of them because I spent so much time combing their areas beforehand. Well, Team Star's Mela gave me some trouble, but I was able to win thanks to Charcadet's ability to absorb Fire moves.  (btw it was hilarious, the character who showed up to help with Mela's base) I still think Arven is a dweeb who wants to defeat these mutant Pokemon and harvest their magical herbs to make freakin' sandwiches, but I'm curious what's up with him and Miraidon and Prof. Turo. There's some drama there that nobody's telling.. and as for Brassius, it was very silly to run around town with a gang of Sunflora moving at 2 fps.

The graphical issues continue, although I thought the sunset looked striking over the rocky plateaus. Maybe I'm just getting used to the jank. Although I was thinking about Legends:Arceus, and that game had some gorgeous skyboxes. And maybe the cel shading just worked better for Pokemon, I'm still not sold on how... plastic everything looks. Wasn't a fan of that art direction for the latest Pokemon Snap, either.

meanwhile, I'm starting to find brand-new Pokemon - like Lowkix the ninja grasshopper, Tinkatink the living Troll doll, and a region Fighting-type Tauros who is simply all-black. My Fuecoco evolved, and he's got a little flaming sombrero, which rocks. But most importantly, as hinted at earlier, I found a Charcadet. Who seems to be the pre-evolution to Armarouge, which is a bit odd because I thought that was exclusive to Scarlet? Or did I misunderstand, and they did a color-swap thingie and Ceruledge is the Scarlet exclusive? Cuz that's the one I really want, but Armarouge is cool too. Maybe it's a split evolution? idk... this is the sort of thing I wouldn't have to worry about if I wasn't playing blind!

Pokemon Violet First Thoughts vol. 1

First off, everything you've seen online about the performance and buggy graphics is true. Aside from the poor framerate, pop-in, and low resolution textures, this game has issues. I've walked through a door before sliding backwards to perform the opening animation, had shadows rapidly flash on-and-off, and seen a wall texture melt like a Salvador Dali painting. What's wild is that I don't remember things like this at all in Legends: Arceus. What happened!?

As for the game itself, it feels less like an evolution of LA and more like an evolution of the Wild Area from SwSh. You can sneak around, but there's no point. Locking on to a target is finicky, and it'll always start a battle anyway, so you may as well just run into Pokemon. The battles are of the traditional style, with a ton of menu pop-ups just to enter and finish a fight. Catching a Pokemon really slows the pace down, which is unfortunate because there's a TON of Pokemon to catch! like damn they really put a ton of variety so soon into the game! Again, reminding me of the Wild Area.

The environments are well-designed, once you get Miraidon and can really explore. I hope once I get all the upgrades, Miraidon will feel as good to pilot as swapping between all the Ride Pokemon. There's a few places that I don't think I was supposed to be able to access yet, but with persistence and help from the physics engine, I got up there. Just a few items, no major skips.

Then we get to school, and did you know this game has Social Links? you attend classes and then chat up the professors afterwards. Not sure what it's building towards, though. And some of these teachers are really cool, even if their classes are mainly just tutorials for 6-year-olds.

Unfortunately, you seem to be stuck with 4 shitty school uniforms and no other clothing options. Sure, you can put on hats and shoes and all that, but half the color options clash hard with the Violet uniform! Huge step backwards.

A step forwards, however - FOLLOWING POKEMON ARE BACK! I repeat, Pokemon can follow you in this game! you can actually literally choose any Pokemon and they'll follow you along! They finally put it back in a mainline game! but, it's Gamefreak, so of course it wasn't implemented properly - most Pokemon are too slow to actually keep up, so you'll just run along and out-pace them, defeating the entire point. Goddammit. Your Pokemon can pick up items while out like this, but since you'll be running ahead of them, you end up just picking up stuff yourself anyway.

The other new thing is that you can call your Pokemon to auto-pilot attack nearby wild Pokemon. Felt like summoning my Stand, I just point at a group of Hoppip and watch my Fuecoco tear through them. They gain exp and items in the background while you do other things, but you can't really go very far and can't start any battles of your own without interrupting them. Their success is based on level and typing, it ignores that the Pokemon's actual movesets, btw.

Anyway, I've played a lot, but only just got to the part where the game "begins" and I'm sent out on my Treasure Hunt quest to defeat the 8 gym leaders, 5 titans, and 5 Team Star bosses. This pacing reminds me of XY and SwSh, where you can waste a ton of time just getting to the first gym. And like those games, things will probably pick up from here.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet are here!

And for once, I'm going in blind! Well, I know what Nintendo's officially shown off in their trailers. And I saw a few leaks by accident. But mostly, I have no idea what this Pokedex is gonna look like.

Which is a first, for me. For Gen 1-2, I was familiar with the anime & cards before I played the games. Then from Gen 3-5, I would look up the Pokemon from the Japanese release. And from Gen 6-8, I'd keep my ear to the ground for leaks. The point is, I've always known what to expect from a Pokemon game. And I like it that way - I enjoy planning my team beforehand. And as Sword/Shield proved, it's hard to get excited when I don't have anything to look forward to. But then the game released, and it turned out that Gamefreak only showed off the ugly stupid Pokemon and kept all the cool ones a secret!

But, I know a lot of people prefer to play blind. They say it helps keep things fresh, they enjoy the mystery, the childhood wonder, perhaps. And I've always pooh-poohed that nonsense, largely because I've never had that experience but enjoyed the games anyway.

and yet... this time, the release date kinda snuck up on me. I honestly wasn't even paying attention until last week, and then I decided - hey, I haven't been spoiled yet. I could probably just avoid my usual internet haunts and stay that way. Yeah, I'm not especially hype for the game, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised like with Gen 8? And maybe, just maybe, that surprise will be more meaningful if I actually get it in-game instead of browsing somebody's Pokedex leak?

So that's what I'm doing! Picked up the game today and got started. I chose Fuecoco, because without knowing any of the final evolutions of the starters, I figured Fire usually ends up decent. We'll see how it goes.

Pokemon Moon First Thoughts vol. 6

Finished the game! Or at least beat the Elite Four and saw the credits.

-I can't believe I got into a Pokemon game's plot so much that I don't want to give away spoilers! Somebody, give the people in charge of story/writing a raise, they were putting in work. I felt connected to the major characters, and even the minor ones showing up at the end for the big party was cool.

-Speaking of, they did a great job handling the box Legendary this time around, though it would've been even cooler to get Nebby in your actual party, and restrict its evolution to storyline events.

-I've got some opinions on the Elite 4 themselves, but I'll save that for when we get to rating them, after the Alolan pokemon are done.

-Odd choice for Victory Road (Grand Poni Canton in this case) not to take place directly before the league, but whatever. I walked into that icy cave expecting a major dungeon and was slightly disappointed there weren't any trainers to be found.

-Have I mentioned that it's some ol' bullshit trying to get the version-exclusive colors and clothes? Your trainer customization is already so limited, why screw it up further?

-Overall, this was a great game. I was engaged every step of the way and had a lot of fun. Definitely one of my favorites, going right up there with SoulSilver and Black 2. Would love to see a Moon 2 on the Switch, like the rumors are saying, some sequel that advances the story and lets us see where the characters are in a few years.

Pokemon Moon First Thoughts vol. 5

-Before going further, I took this time to make sure I had everybody I wanted from the routes:

Mr. Bear the Stufful

Hukilau the Comfey

Dr. Zaius the Oranguru

Pikaboo the Mimikyu

Gradius the Minior

Gelato the Sandygast

Humu the Bruxish

(plus some obligatory older-gen Pokes, but whatever)

-But after cruising through the trials until now, I got stomped by Mimikyu. I knew it would absorb the first attack, but then I tried to sleep it, missed the first time, and when I hit it immediately ate its berry and recovered. Also I didn't realize it was part Fairy. Re-ordered my party, and had Papaya Pluck that bitch first thing, and it was fairly simple after that.

-Then I got humbled again, fighting one of the Route Boss trainers I'd skipped over. I let Ledian set up both kinds of screen, so when Pinsir came out I couldn't KO him before he Swords Danced twice, and then he went Brick Broke Back Mountain on my ass. For the rematch I just got rid of Ledian in a hurry, so I still had an available avenue of attack to defeat Pinsir.

-After that, the real blow to my pride came. The Route Boss up on that mountain only had one Absol, and it Night Slashed my team to death like it was straight outta some 80's horror flick. No strategy, just too stronk. But, I realized a lot of my team was right around level 30, just a few shy of evolving. Grudgingly I turned EXP share back on for a bit, and evolved 'em all. Easily won the rematch, especially with Pikaboo taking point.

-Can we just say how absolutely amazing Mimikyu is? Tanking the first hit, of any kind, is SO damn good. Some times I use it to Swords Dance, sometimes I just use it for a free attack, it lets me switch in with impunity, and then the darn thing has the speed and attack to still make a difference, and the defense to stick around afterwards, too. I'll be singing this thing's praises very highly in a few weeks, or months, or whenever it comes up.

-Team Skull is amazing. Po Town was amazing. Guzma and Plumeria are amazing. I love everything about these boneheads.

-The story is actually maybe kinda good? Is that possible? I care about the characters, and it surprised me with some bits, more than I can say for any other Pokemon game, which tend to be as by-the-numbers as possible. Still not finished, but I'm invested and want to know what happens next. This is a first for me.

-Got to Poni Island, the Kaua'i analog... and the map is showing it's basically a wasteland without civilization. Big ol' dustbin where Kapa'a should be. Ever heard of Mt. Waialeale? Rainiest spot in the world? Or that Kaua'i is known as the Garden Island? Yet you decide to make it the desert level of the game. Fucking thanks, Gamefreak.

-but seriously, Lillie is adorable and I'm even starting to come around on Hau and I want to play more but I've been so busy with other junk

Pokemon Moon First Thoughts vol. 4

Finished out Akala, and did the Electric trial in Ula'ula.

-I was playing with Exp Share on, because I was catching a bunch of dudes and swapping them out all the time, but now that my team is solidifying I turned it off, for a better difficulty curve. It's not really "hard", because the NPCs still only use 1 or 2 Pokemon, but it doesn't feel like a cakewalk either.

-Papaya evolved into Toucannon, and is definitely the MVP of my team right now. But that might just be because he's the only one who's fully evolved...

-I want to see Guzma and Kukui in a Hell in a Cell match. NOW.

-Aether doesn't appear evil, but Lusamine made a creepy face and wants to mommy everything. Also, it's funny that Pokemon has now made both animal-rights activists and conversationalists into its villains. Next they'll go after orphanages or something.

-Z-Moves aren't as busted as I was expecting, but I still think they're kinda unnecessary. The animations are actually fun to watch, but it's the posing and redundant textboxes beforehand that slow it down for me.

Pokemon Moon First Thoughts Vol. 3

Beat the second Kahuna, now I'm about to go fly to the Aether HQ to probably have them lie to my faces and tell me that they aren't secretly evil. Because Lillie was totally helping Nebby escape in the opening, and because the only people who wear all-white are yakuza or Klansmen.

-Can we talk about how saturated with Best Girls this game is? I mean, Gamefreak has always been on the leading edge of waifu technology, but I just went through that section where Plumeria, Lillie, Burnet, and Olivia come up to you in quick succession and dang.

-It didn't hurt that I'm playing the female avatar, either. I thought her little hat was too cute to pass up, and I'm having some fun dressing up and stuff. But I wish we could use any of the clothes options the NPC trainers get, that would be cool.

-Not many new additions to the squad, just Sizzle the Salandit and Skullomania the Cubone. The latter of which ran roughshod over the fire trial, one-hitting everything. I've heard people say Totem Salazzle was a hard fight, but I mean... Bonemerang. I wasn't even overleveled.

-Totem Lurantis made up for it, though. I still won, but I was getting pissed from all its Synthesis bullshit. And then its Trumbeak tagalong spamming supersonic, yeesh.

-Have I mentioned how good the music is in this game yet? I could listen to Konikoni Town's theme all day.

Pokemon Moon First Thoughts Vol. 2

Finished off Melemele, completed the first trial on Alaka, and am now ready to go into that volcano park.

-I still am not a fan of taking control away from me every area to give a little cut-scene, I just want to be left alone to wander and figure stuff out.

-but this game is funny, though! Team Skull is a hoot, Lillie keeps getting lost, and professor Kukui is like Ric Flair meets Randy Savage.

-caught some new Pokemon:
Ponyo the Wishiwashi
Orchid the Fomantis
Sooki the Mudbray
Exxon the Grimer
ACDC the Grubbin
(and a bunch of ones from past games, just out of habit)

-I love how they've replaced HMs with these partner Pokemon. Good riddance to HM slaves. Also, did they turn down the encounter rate while surfing, too?

-Accidentally went into that Fantasy Festival Plaza thing. I had no goddamn clue what was going on, people just kept asking me questions I couldn't possibly know the answer to, confetti everywhere, it's my responsibility, Cinderella's castle in the background, fat Greek kid shouting at me, people running back and forth rearranging folding chairs until somebody gets hurt, it was like a David Lynch film. I'm never going back.

Pokemon Moon First Thoughts Vol. 1

Picked up the game last night. I've been busy so I'm only about 5 hours deep, but it's not like I want to rush this anyway. I like to take my time and enjoy it, island-style, ya dig?

-I really like how the environments feel less blocky. We went to full-3D movement with XY, but you could tell it was still designed on a grid. But right away in Moon, I see paths that curve around, and the patches of grass feel especially natural.

-With that said, the technical limitations of the 3DS are on full display. The models themselves are fine, but that pixel resolution, forced outline, lack of anti-aliasing, and often terrible texture quality are very noticeable. I've heard rumors of a version for the Switch, and honestly it feels like about time Pokemon stepped into the modern realm of graphics. The utter abandonment of 3D is funny to me as well, but I guess it only served to create more lag, huh?

-I like how they're actually committed to the Hawai'ian theme. Last game was in "France" but it didn't really feel particularly French to me - the people were too polite, and smelled too good! This time, there's tan skin aplenty, and I see slang like Howzit thrown around. I'm glad they didn't go overboard and try and full Pidgin it, but it's nice! Can't wait til I get to Kauai, where I lived.

-damn there are a lot of cut-scenes and hand-holding. I just want to play the dang game already but bitches keep hassling me every 10 feet to tell me about some cool new feature and hand me an exp share or something.

-I try to run a team of only new pokemon for a first playthrough of a game, but so far I've hardly met any new ones! I've got a Litten, named Rocky after my irl cat, a Pikipek named Papaya (who just evolved into Trumbeak actually), and I'm filling out the rest with an Alolan Meowth named Bad News, Wight Lady the Gastly, Perry the Wingull, and Avedakedavra the Abra.

-the music is pretty neat, too. I dig the little jingle for picking up items, it's really keeping in theme!

Pokemon X First Thoughts Vol. 7

well, here it is, the final volume. I'm more than halfway through the game at this point, and have made it quite far enough to start opining on the Gen 6 Pokemon.

-Clawdaddy evolved into Clawitzer, and he keeps getting KO'd. but I think it's more because I keep putting him in dangerous situations than his being actually weak

-Wow, Laverre Town is really neat-looking. so was the gym, and the Furisode trainers inside. Gym Leader's Sylveon really gave my team a beating, but Hermes actually came trough, despite being a Dragon-type. I had taught it Infestation and Thunderbolt, y'see. (and the name is supposed to be a reference to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, when Hermes Costello was turned into a snail-person due to the effects of Heavy Weather. Also I liked how the "herm" suggests "hermaphrodite", which snails are. also the irony of a slow snail being named after Hermes, god of speed.)

-In general, I love the npc trainer art in this game.

-Team looks like it'll be Brave One, Solarpowered, Archnuxilean, Vanilla Ice, Clawdaddy, and Calimari. though if I meet some kewl doods, I might be inclined to switch somebody out...


Overall, I'm really enjoying this game. Love the 3D models, the movement, the music, most of the new Pokemon are neat, and all the gameplay upgrades are appreciated. I'm gonna go back into regular review mode tomorrow, starting with Chespin, so look forward to that.

Pokemon X First Thoughts Vol. 6

-Returned power to Lumiose City, Team Flare is a hoot as always

-the badlands were cool, especially how the Pokemon chased you, but the wind was frustrating

-There aren't any good Ground-types in Gen 6, so I wasn't very prepared for the Electric gym. Beat it with Gogoat's and Solarpowered's Bulldoze, though. screw that Magnemite, Thunderbolt really hurt at this stage of the game

-Got lost in the city. I feel like they should have been able to make the streets connected, instead of loading new areas every 5 seconds. breaks the immersion and ruins the point of having a giant city. between this, the lack of new Pokemon (less than 100 even counting Megas), and the frame-rate issues I've mentioned before, I'm starting to think GameFreak is just piss when it comes to optimization. makes me remember an anecdote about how Iwata was the one who condensed the GSC code to the point where they could fit Kanto in as a bonus, because it definitely wasn't planned from the start. And because of that, my friend goes "can you go to the other regions?" whenever I talk about any Pokemon game and dismisses them with a "wow that sucks you could in Gold" when of course you can't. pisses me off. especially since the new regions are larger than both Johto and Kanto put together.

-wow that one got out of hand

-caught a female Goomy, named it Hermes, 10 internet bucks to whoever correctly places the reference

Pokemon X First Thoughts Vol. 5

I guess the "15-30" sweetspot I mentioned earlier actually extends to at least level 40 in this game. Errbody evolvin' left and right all ovah herr.

-Calimari evolved, and is now more badass

-Goemon is now in his final stage, and as I thought, it's the best option out of the starters. Caught a Clauncher, named it Crawdaddy, and am training it to replace him, though...

-my dear Brave One became a Talonflame, and now is competing against Nala the Pyroar for a spot as my Fire-type. If I decide I even need one, that is.

-Looked it up and evolved Solarpowered with a Sun Stone, Parabolic Charge is still such a pro move

-That grass gym was easy, but fun. Vanilla Ice just ate everything stone-cold raw, and the few things he couldn't wipe out were Bravely dealt with, if you get my drift.

-The music is pretty good in this game, I gotta say. I usually don't listen to Pokemon music, just play the games with the sound off, but maybe I won't end up doing that this time.

Pokemon X First Thoughts Vol. 4

Didn't get a chance to play much today.

-Beat the 3rd gym, it came up pretty soon after the 2nd. Makes the gap from 1st to 2nd seem even more insane.

-I'm coming to dislike my friends. Fat kid won't say a sentence that isn't about dancing, and the Rival girl talks tough but gets beat like a rug. Shauna is cute but seriously needs to find a purpose in life, and the redhead is okay.

-Reflection Cave was pretty, reminded me of Voltstone Cave.

-Pancho evolved into a Fighting/Dark, and I'm disappointed because for some reason I thought he would be Fighting/Grass.

Pokemon X First Thoughts Vol. 3

there sure are a lot of people playing this game.

-it took freaking forever to get to the 2nd gym, holy piss. If the rest of the game keeps up this pace, it's gonna be a long long game.

-New catches (some of these might be old and I forgot to mention):
Arco Iris the Hawlucha
Calimari the Inklay
Carbuncle the Carbink
Cedric the Espurr
Vanilla Ice the Amaura
Solarpowered the Helioptile
Amazy Dayzee the Flabebe

-Picked the Ice fossil because making all Normal-type moves into Ice-type is based as heck.

-I find it funny that they give you walking, running shoes, skates, and also a bicycle. we multiple levels of speed now, baby

-Team Flare is hilarious. These fools literally just want to get fabulous, and they come right out an say they don't give a damn about other people or Pokemon. a welcome break from all these well-intentioned-extremists that have been Pokemon villains the last few times.

-still trying to feel out my final team. I usually have this sort of thing planned from the get-go, but this time around I've been just catching and trying to use everybody. Calimari seems weak, and Acro Iris is surprisingly not as good as I'd like.

Pokemon X First Thoughts Vol. 2

Played it all night and as much as I could today. Damn, I'm having fun. Just entered my favorite phase of the game, the "levels 15-30" phase, when you being actually catching cool things, dudes are evolving right and left, learning cool moves, the plot starts to kick in, and all while the levels still come easy.

-speaking of easy, the new Exp share seems kinda powerful. The guy in front doesn't split anything? EVERYONE else gets 50% of what he got? that's crazy. some might say it makes the game "easier". But honestly, Pokemon has never been "difficult", just "time-wastey". and this new exp share cuts down on the grind significantly.

-Just finished the whole "wake up Snorlax" quest. That palace was legit, reminded me of the Palacio Real in Madrid. of course I know this one must be based off something in France, but I'm pretty sure the Spanish one is better.

-New Pokemons added to the mix:
Napoleon the Furfrou
Archnuxilean the Honedge
Tony Tony C. the Swirlex
Bomba the Charmeleon
Pancho the Pancham
Skiddo (got in trade)

-Been doing some trades with random people online. So far got the aforementioned Skiddo, a Japanese Pansage, and a Japanese Pikachu.

-Goemon and Brave One evolved. Gotdayum am I glad to see a bird that isn't Normal/Flying. It's like all my prayers were answered.

-I chose the Charmander because of the following reasons:
Used a Venusaur on my last run of FireRed, like two years ago
Going to use either my starter, or Clauncher as a water-type, Blastoise would be redundant
Might use Nala or actually the Brave One as Fire, so honestly Charizard is redundant

and in the end, I just went "hell if I'm not going to use any of them in endgame anyway then why not Charizard" and just picked that mother.


how far are you guys? I'm already at level 20 even, but that friend is being pokey, so we delayed our match until level 30. If there's anyone at similar levels, we should battle or something. Friend code is 2406-5163-4164, send me an invite or whatever. If you're already at like the 5th gym, though, don't bother, you know it won't be fun for either of us.