mouseofleaves

[mouseofleaves]

hey just watched today’s episode of neverafter what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck

how is this happening how are they going to do ANYRHING AGHHHH I’m genuinely Concerned

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i know he ate a cheese

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I really don’t see enough people talking about how genre-breaking and innovative pokemon really is.

To explain, I’ll describe the basics of the Pokémon series mechanics that have been in every game:

1) turn based combat

2) being able to build your own team

3) type effectiveness/weaknesses

Let’s specifically look at the era: when Pokémon was released, the norm for turn based RPGs was what is *still* the norm now: my team goes, then the enemy team goes. Sometimes, each team will have subdivisions, where, say, team member 1 will go, then 2 enemies will go, then team members 3 and 4, then the other enemies, etc. These systems were quite standard for the time, at least for anything commercially successful.

Compare this to the Pokémon turn based system: there is no division between my team and the enemy team. Both sides of the battle move *at the same time*. That is still a decision that isn’t made very commonly in RPGs today, with the closest being in Final Fantasy where attacks are not necessarily made in a turn order but instead based on timers each unit has to make a move, which will sometimes make attacks coincide with one another. Pokémon still remains unique though, in that there are moves that prevent attacks from doing damage, moves that move before or after the opponent, etc. it’s all the ideas of a turn-based combat, but the actual turn order is disguised. The players need to create it themselves, either by using a different Pokémon with a different speed stat, or by using different moves, or multiple other options.

You also can never react to what the opponent does in the same way: in final fantasy or octopath traveler, when your unit takes damage, you know you can (and sometimes ought to) use an item to heal them. In Pokémon, you can never be entirely sure what move the opponent will use, how much damage it will do, and many other factors. This makes the tactics and planning that goes behind Pokémon infinitely more complex than the basics of the genre.

The concept of team-building is quite common in turn based RPGs. I won’t act as if I’m someone who’s played every game in the genre, but I know that, at the very least, FF4, SMT, and other games that came out around this time had extreme variation in your party composition. For an extreme example, FF4 had your party changing basically after every important story beat. Pokémon takes this idea to a whole other level. Even in the first games, you have 150 different options for your team. Sure, some are post-game (cough cough mewtwo), but you still have a previously unseen amount of options for who you add to your team. Even games like SMT (the precursor/basis for Persona) have, at most, ~225 units you can use in their most recent releases.

Similar to SMT, type effectiveness is also a massive step made in Pokémon. Sure, SMT has it, but SMT has, like, 8 types. Pokémon’s original release had like 12, all with multiple weaknesses, resistances, and effectiveness against other types.

As far as I am aware, no other major RPG releases use these elements to quite the same degree that Pokémon does, and yet it’s such a genre-defining system that people are somehow calling unoriginal. When I see another Pokémon game come out with no changes to the formula, I don’t think ‘they got lazy’. I think ‘they have nobody challenging them to do better’.

Tldr: pokemon is insanely innovative and I don’t see anyone mentioning it. So. Mention it more. I command thee.

[mouseofleaves]

I need me a community of strangers who will randomly dm me kindness. ik friends can do that but idk it’s something different when a random internet stranger is kind to me.

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how the fuck do people like eye contact that shit is terrifying. I’m sitting here talking to you, something purely auditory, and if need be you can look at my hands for gestures or my face for expressions. But you just stare into my eyes. Why? What the fuck is the cause of your obsession with staring into my eyes? They aren’t special, so stop staring what the fuck.

Essentially this is a rant about eye contact being an interesting concept in terms of fear. Why is staring at someone creepy and weird but eye contact is normal and expected? What makes the eyes a safe region to look at?

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college currency is basically a crypto scam

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why the FUCK do I find amusement parks scary???

Actually, writing this I think it’s just because of the concept of a place so full of light and activity being void. We never really experience an empty school, or an empty train station. But when we imagine it, it’s simply antithetical. I don’t recall a time when I was at school and didn’t see someone else around. Even when it was hours after school ended, I always saw at least one or two people nearby. And even when I’m the only person on my train car, I can always look to the next car and see someone sitting there, equally alone. The idea of walking around my school and seeing nobody is certainly frightening. The idea of riding on the train for tens of minutes, maybe even an hour, and no matter what nobody is near serves only to make me think something is wrong. Why is nobody else arriving? Did something happen? Why am I the only one who doesn’t know why I shouldn’t be here?

But it’s even more scary for an amusement park. I can think of times where I’ve been in a usually populated area with one or two people being the only other ones there. That cannot apply to amusement parks — their very existence is predicated on the notion of there being people there, running the games and rides. This likely isn’t the thought process for everyone scared of amusement parks, but I see the bright lights, loud noises, and general joy and only imagine this location with none of it. I stand there alone, with nothing but the cold air and my own shallow breath to accompany me, and it’s horrifying. What happens to this place when the staff leaves? Nothing. This place will always be dark, will always be quiet.

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dude who goes outside after it rains and is mad that they made the sky gay now

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ok but you’re not

‘hangman’ sounds like a gay game. why would you hang with a man when you could be getting bitches

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‘hangman’ sounds like a gay game. why would you hang with a man when you could be getting bitches

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I’ve never been one to really understand the concept of awkward family interactions but today that changed. I’m sitting here eating at panera bread with my father and brother and my brother starts pouring vodka into his seltzer? And is just getting drunk? And is getting mad at us? And I just have to sit here? What the fuck do I do????

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how much of a salad must one eat for it to become a partially eaten salad

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it is insane that I am heavily considering delaying my dnd-world horror short story because I’m inspired to make a different horror short story by FUCKING FAST AND FURIOUS. why was F9 like this I DONT UNDERSTAND

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bitch I’m none of them I can’t cast the fucking spell you dumb bitch

wish i was batman but only so i had the power to just stealthily leave any situation without people realizing until im gone. not for any depressing reason or anything i just don’t like when my jokes don’t land on vc

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bro thinks I’m a bard …..

wish i was batman but only so i had the power to just stealthily leave any situation without people realizing until im gone. not for any depressing reason or anything i just don’t like when my jokes don’t land on vc

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finally finished the fast and furious franchise and I’ve gotta say the most unrealistic thing they did in the entire series was try to pass of vin diesel and john cena as brothers

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why would I be able to take it just give it to me please

wish i was batman but only so i had the power to just stealthily leave any situation without people realizing until im gone. not for any depressing reason or anything i just don’t like when my jokes don’t land on vc