#WAIT EXACTLY LIKE. THE GEN 3 POKEMON GAMES. WHEN YOU PICK A TRAINER

[moe-broey]

LIKE MAN OKAY. HERE'S THE PROBLEM.

Kind of cutes, I guess. But I think I'm running into the age old My Art Style (focused on being able to draw a character as much as possible as quickly as possible and to mirco-organism them when necessary) is Fundamentally Incompatible With the FEH Art Style and SPECIFICALLY the Askr motifs/aesthetics. Problem.

I think what happened as time went on too, is I translated the chunky thigh armor into more of a solid shape on the knees of the boots.

You can see the difference here! He doesn't have a solid knee-pad like diamond, he has a funky pattern. Not the worst example of extremely intricate pattern crimes but still the bane of my existence as an artist. (Worth saying, it works in Kozaki's art style!!!! And more conventional anime art styles, broadly speaking!!! Because those styles give you a lot more room to work with, on the character themselves, and they're more focused on details!!! That's just, my rough thoughts about it)

So there's like. Too Much Big Solid Shapes going on. Not enough space to give your eyes a break. Esp the way I ink. I think the negative space and all-blue ink Until you get to the knees, again, just gives your eyes a break.

See him Usual Style:

I feel soooooooooo bad going "but my art style 😢" bc I feel like TYPICALLY. That sentiment is used to avoid learning new things. But like.......... do you see the Problem here. I need to draw this fucker a million times and sometimes I need to hit 'em with the shrink ray.

LIKE. MAYBE. WHAT I'M GETTING AT. Is The Purpose of an art style. What it's Supposed to Do. And how it functions in tandem with You, the artist.

[1wngdngl]

Pokemon Shield playthrough

I’ve been playing this game a lot since last night, and I still haven’t gotten on the train yet ;) I like to take games slowly to make sure I notice and experience everything along the way. It looks like the best way to share my game progress is through screenshots, so that’s what I’ll do. Cut for length and spoilers - I’ve been trying to avoid spoilers and leaks for the past couple weeks, so if you want to be able to experience the games fresh yourself, now might be a good time to click away. [This post covers up thru getting the Dynamax band]

I went ahead with the “standard” female character, but you can bet I’ll be customizing her as soon as I can. What’s with that knock-kneed stance, anyway? Pokemon trainers should stand strong and confident!

Chairman Rose greets us. Everyone online was guessing he’ll turn out to be evil or something. He certainly looks suspicious, doesn’t he?

And here comes the first surprise of the LP - a brand-new Pokemon, not even seen in trailers! (except for that fuzzy 1-frame image from a while back.) Its trunk looks kinda like a soup ladle. Maybe it’s a play on a teacup/teapot elephant? I wonder if it evolves...

Here’s Leon fighting an unknown trainer - maybe a Gym leader?

I really like the art style of the map - it’s so whimsical :)

The map also shows current weather for all locations. Look at all the different stuff going on in the Wild Area at the same time! I’ve been to the real England, and I don’t remember it having such extreme weather...

The map also has a few useful features, like displaying your next objective, and showing the facilities in a town (but only once you’ve been there yourself). The towns and such all have really interesting names that emulate that old English sound.

First thing I do when I gain control in a new Pokemon game? Change the battle style to “Set”. It seems more fair, plus it helps make the game just a bit more challenging.

I’m a little sad that the old option to change menu/text box borders seems to be forever abandoned, though... >.>

My house. It’s a pretty decent-sized place. We have a pet Munchlax and a few Budew outside. My character practices her whistling.

My mom. Or “mum” as the game calls her. The dialog is noticeably slanted toward a more British dialect - I wonder how they handled the accent in other languages?

Speaking of my mom, she seems rather big compared to me, doesn’t she? Quite a bit taller. I’m guessing my character is around 12 - when I was that age, I was the same height as my mom and done growing. Maybe they think people won’t believe this character is the mom’s child if she’s too tall?

Also, my dream is to one day have a /dad/ in a Pokemon game. Seriously, why does every other house I visit have a husband and wife, and my character is always stuck being the only child of a single parent? What if in one of these games, my dad was the champion or the evil team leader - how fun would that be?

My bedroom. The pink clock on the wall reminds me of one from a previous Pokemon game - was it ORAS that had those round clocks on the wall that you could set?

My first step on my journey. Looks like my mom spends every minute gardening - I guess the Budew help her?

Ah yes, every Pokemon game needs a “power of science” guy :)

Here’s another surprise - how many Pokemon games give you a fishing rod right at the start?! Usually you have to track down three different fisherman to get the three versions of the fishing rod. I’m also happy to see that Pokeballs have their own pocket again :)

The handy map tells us where to go next, with even a little picture of our destination.

The champion of Galar, of course, has a huge house.

Wow, a Purrloin! I forgot that they stood on two legs. I like its little bed.

Also, Leon’s family decorate their house mainly in trophies.

I guess this is Hop’s room - I like his artwork. I know Leon has a Charizard - does he have these other two Pokemon too, and that’s why Hop has posters of them?

Leon’s room is mostly a shrine to hats.

Speaking of Leon, he really knows how to play to the crowd ;)

So, some people are wondering if /Leon/ will turn out to be evil in the story. I didn’t really get that vibe from him. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, but he does seem like he has some worries on his mind, like his cheer is sometimes forced?

Maybe he actually hates the limelight and gets uncomfortable with attention? Maybe he’s secretly terminally ill? Maybe there’s some massive threat about to attack the Galar region? He seems really concerned with making sure that Galar has lots of strong trainers. Maybe he knows something about the legendaries?

Alternately, some people were saying that maybe Leon isn’t actually a great champion, and his fights are rigged in his favor by the chairman. /If/ that were the case, I bet that Leon is actually unhappy with that situation and wants to make the tournament more fair.

Or maybe everything in the game is exactly as it seems ;)

Nothing important here, I just like this screenshot. I wonder if Fletchling are native to Galar too?

My first Pokemon! (in this game, at least...) I picked Sobble because he’s the most endearing.

My first battle! I like how the interface is laid out, and how detailed the background is beyond the fighters - you can even see Leon standing there.

My Pokemon's details. I don’t play competitively so I don’t know if it’s a particular “good” Sobble. It seems like this species is a fast special-attacker, so I’ll have to keep that in mind.

The Slumbering Weald (my spellchecker doesn’t even recognize that word :) ) It’s very spooky and seclusive - and it’s right next to the starter town too! You’d think if it was really that dangerous, people would put up more than a flimsy wooden gate to keep trespassers out...Hop, of course, is an idiot and runs right into it; and I, the spineless protagonist, have no option to say no. >.>

My first wild encounter! This starts the trend I noticed all during the opening hours of this game - most of the wild Pokemon are brand-new, totally-unrevealed species. Like this squirrel thing. (Although some people guessed we would get a new squirrel based on that shirt design). I wonder if it evolves?

This part was actually pretty scary, with the Pokemon (I can’t remember its name...) suddenly appearing out of the fog. The Pokemon acted almost like a hologram in battle though - my attacks couldn’t touch it.

What if the twist is that the legendary wolf Pokemon are just illusions, perhaps even man-made ones created to keep intruders from discovering some secret in the forest?

Anyway, we escape from the situation perfectly fine, because of course we do ;)

I noticed that this particular generation gives you quite of a bit of money at the start, but I guess that’s because you encounter the first boutique so early. There’s a fair number of affordable options too. Some of these Pokemon shirts I wish were /real/ shirts.

My new look :) Mostly I just ditched the dress for jeans. This looks like a comfortable outfit, although that knapsack is a bit unwieldy.

We visit the professor’s lab. She has a lot of books, plants, and a tea set. I wonder if she ever has problems with Polteageist?

The new Pokemon center design. I love that the move deleter/relearner and nickname functions are all in one place - I always hated flying around the map trying to remember where they were.

That Pokemon behind the counter is another totally new one. Could this be a Galarian Audino?

Using mystery gift, I was able to get this “Gigantamax” Meowth. However, due to my rule of only using Gen 8 Pokemon, it’s just gonna chill out in the box >.>

Leon is very generous with Pokeballs. Even the items you find on the ground are generous, often containing 2 or 3 “copies” of an item when you check it out. Is that a new thing for Pokemon?

Here I battle my first trainer that isn’t named Hop. He has that squirrel shirt and is a total pushover.

Just chilling by the professor’s house. It looks like maybe you can only fish in fishing spots (those darker circles on the water), but at least you get your fishing pole right away.

Also, I discovered that while I could not sit on beds or chairs inside, I am able to sit on this bench :)

The way the Pokemon mill about in the tall grass is very interesting. Some will try to avoid you, others like this Yamper will chase after you. It makes the routes feel a lot more populated.

I guess this is Sonia’s room. It’s very pink. I wonder if she even /wants/ to do Pokemon research, or if she’d rather be a fashion designer or something.

The in-game time of day doesn’t seem to match up with the Switch system clock, at least not from what I’ve seen so far. For example, suddenly it is sunset and I catch a falling star. (look how the reflection in the water changes :) )

I haven’t decided yet if I want to buy the Switch online service, but in the meantime I decided to at least pick my profile picture. The icons you can choose from actually reveal quite a lot about the trainer classes and gyms that are in the game. For the first time ever, we have a Dark-type gym! Their logo is a sideways version of Team Yell’s logo - does that mean that Team Yell or Marnie is the Dark gym leader?

I spent a while catching Pokemon around the professor’s house. I can’t tell if I got every possible species without looking online, but I did build up a good roster.

I found it really cool how many new, surprising Pokemon showed up this early in the game. There’s the fox one (which is a Dark type and reminds me of Zoroark), the turtle one (which has got to be a pre-evolution of Dreadnaw, probably the 1st of 3 stages), the bird one (based on the “Rook” in its name and the fact that it learns Dark-type moves early, I’m guessing it’s a pre-evolution of Corviknight), and the bug one (can’t wait to see what its final stage looks like).

I went through the party to find the best Pokemon that fit my self-imposed rules (only new, Gen 8 Pokemon, no overlap of types). I know that this means I won’t be able to use Galarian forms or Gigantamaxes of old Pokemon, but just because I’m not using them in my main playthrough doesn’t mean I can’t catch them :)

Next time: I step onto the train and leave my home behind.

[pkmn-fangamer]

Pokémon Gaia Review

Intro:

Hi guys! This is my first Pokemon fan game review. Hopefully there will be many to follow! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. If you want to skip right to the review part, you can scroll past Description and How to Play. If you want any more details on the game that I don’t cover here, feel free to send me an ask! Also, if you have any games you’d like me to review, feel free to send in requests as well.

Description:

The storied Orbtus region was once populated by a prosperous civilization. They created several monuments to their gods and guardians. Their untimely demise was brought about by a series of disastrous earthquakes; all that remains of their society are their temples, idols and story, as relics of the past.

In the present day, local archaeologist and Pokémon Professor, Professor Redwood, has noticed an increase in the region’s seismic activity. Propelled by a growing concern for Orbtus’ safety, he seeks the assistance of new Pokémon Trainers with a flair for adventure in the rural Celanto Town, a seaside town near the mysterious totem poles, and your home! Will you, along with the help of the Professor and your rival, be able to prevent the earth from consuming the region once more?

How to Play:

To play Pokemon Gaia, you’ll need to download a few things. They are Visual Boy Advance, Pokemon Gaia (V3.2), Pokemon Fire Red, and NUPS. I highly recommend watching this video, which contains links to all these necessary pieces in the description and teaches you exactly how put them all together.

Story:

From my first few minutes playing, I could tell that the story in this game would be fairly put together. It seemed to have a lot of potential, being based on the Regis and having ancient roots in regional history. However, I feel as though the story didn’t live up to its full potential. It wasn’t horrible by any means; it just could have been better. For the most part, it feels a lot like a standard main series game story.

The overall story is very formulaic. You have your silent protagonist, kind of bland rival, professor named after a tree, an evil team called the New Elders, etc. None of the characters are particularly memorable to me, but none of them are particularly bad either. One particularly interesting surprise was a character from another region in a leadership role- that’s the most I’ll say about that, though.

Overall, this story isn’t the best one you’ll ever see in a Pokemon, but it gets the job done, and serves to be fairly interesting.

Score: 7/10

Pokemon:

I’ll begin with the selection of starters. To my pleasure, the available ones are the Sinnoh starters, which feels right for this game. I’ve also never seen another fan game with solely Sinnoh starters before, and I’m partial to the Sinnoh region, so this was a pleasure for me.

The range of Pokemon available in this game is amazing. There are Pokemon included up to and including Gen 6, with every mega evolution. One person playing this game will never have the same team as another- there are just so many options right from the beginning. Just from the first three routes and towns, you can seriously build a decent team of six Pokemon. Or you can wait like I did and pick up one Pokemon at a time along the way.

One thing of note that I appreciate is the availability of all types of Pokemon, and it’s clear that there are specific areas in the game dedicated to most Pokemon types. Notably, ice type Pokemon are available in a relatively early part of the game. No main series game offers ice types before the fifth badge, whereas ice types are readily available directly after your second gym battle.

Score: 10/10

Gameplay:

The overall difficulty of the game is medium-high. I’d compare it to Gens 1-5; it’s definitely harder than 6 and 7. Trainers frequently have Pokemon about the same level as you, or only a few under. I did have to do some grinding and was actually beaten by my rival a couple of times. However, grinding is easy with the speed up button since this game is played on Virtual Boy Advance. I’d also like to note that I was pleasantly surprised that the grunts of the evil team are actually a bit stronger than the average trainer you’ll battle. This really helps bring the New Elders to life as an actual threat.

Additionally, there are several nice additional touches that really help bring the Orbtus region to life. Almost every NPC you talk to actually has something meaningful to say; they’re packed with optional side quest offers, items to give out, Pokemon to trade, and offer a wealth of information about the history of the region and local towns.

Like a normal main series Pokemon game, Gaia includes a normal eight-gym circuit, and each gym has a simple, yet unique gym puzzle that is fun to solve but not overly difficult.

The biggest deficit to me was the appearance of HMs. Like Gen 6 and earlier, HMs are not only present, but required to get around the game and find hidden places and items. For older fan games I would not count this against the creator but being that this game was finished after the release of Alola, I think this game could have been better without them.

8/10

Art/Music:

The art found in Gaia is truly reminiscent of Gen 3 games Fire Red and Leaf Green, with a decent number of maps being mostly made of these tiles. As the game went on, more areas used original tiles. There was a desert area, a farm-based area, a canyon, and so many different environments. However, one thing that I really didn’t like was the lack original design when it came to the evil team. The grunt design was imported directly from BW2, and the overworld sprite for the team leader is the old lady one from FRLG that may be slightly edited.

One of my personal favorite cities is Windmist City, which is a snowy city far north similar to Snowbelle or Snowpoint. The weather there is constantly snowy, and the snow is well animated. It’s neat to see a snowy town in Gen 3 graphics. The NPCs in Windmist are also unique, dressed in coats and drawn distinct from the default NPCs from FRLG. Another interesting city is Telemurk City, which was run by a gang, and reminded me of a more put-together Po Town from Alola.

Overall, the music is passable. There are few original tracks, with most music imported directly from FRLG. My favorite original track is the Elder Nights admin theme. I would have enjoyed more original tracks, but I do prefer this if the alternative could have been badly composed music.

Score: 7.5/10

Misc:

This isn’t a rated section, but it’s nice to know what kind of community support you’ll get going into a game. Unfortunately, while there is a decent amount of people that enjoy Gaia, there isn’t a big fandom presence. There’s only a partially filled out wiki with some not-so-reliable information, which was disappointing to me. However, there are some google sheets of helpful info that you can find in the discord channel.

I’d also like to say that while the story of this game is finished, a new version is set to come out, which should give Gaia some post game content.

Overall:

After only visiting a few of the first towns, I noticed something about Gaia that’s hard to find in a lot of fan games: a polished final product that is truly similar to a main series game. I can’t find single grammatical, language, or graphical error in the whole game, which significantly contributes to the feeling that this could be a main series Pokemon game.

All in all, I did enjoy playing this game, and would recommend it- especially to someone that really wants a game that doesn’t deviate from the Pokemon Formula. In terms of where I’d rank it among Pokemon fangames, I’d put it in the upper middle of the pack. I would rank it higher among fan games, but it lacks a sort of wow factor that the very best fangames have. Everything considered, this is a solid game that’s definitely worth a play.

Final Score: 8/10

[jaybug-jabbers]

OK! Main storyline for Pokemon: Silver is now complete for my bugrun! Breaking this up into two posts.

The final Rival battle wasn’t too bad, despite missing a team member for my Water HM slave. I got the Light Screen up and just used Shuckle’s Rollout for his Typhlosion. I was hoping Ledian’s shiny new Ice Punch might take care of Golbat but it wasn’t quite enough, so Forretress was plan B there. I was worried about Kadabra but it only took two Leech Lifes to take him out. The silly thing uses Future Sights, so my poison spider didn’t even care. :P

Then it was on to the Elite 4! Well, after some grinding. Which kind of sucked, because Victory Road ain’t exactly bug-friendly. Ah well. The whole boring Elite 4 saga behind the cut! (the Champion battle will be in a second post)

Will wasn’t too difficult. Tossed up a light screen with Ledian and 2 ice punches knocked out Xatu. Xatu didn’t carry any Flying-type moves so the best it could hit me with was Psychic. Jynx went down to Shuckle’s Rollout after a few hits, and I sent out Ariados for Exegeccutor. A risky move, yeah, but my best choice, as I didn’t have any good bug moves on this team. (ironic, I know. but gen 2 still sucks for good bug moves. Heracross sadly doesn’t get Megahorn until level 54.) One sludge bomb wasn’t QUITE enough to take it out, but Ariados just barely managed to survive a Psychic (at 3 hp). Ariados is BOSS. Followed up with another Sludge Bomb. Yanma’s Solar Beam + Quick Attack took care of Slowbro.

Koga was interesting. In this game he has three bugs on his team, so it was fun seeing his bug strats. I opened with Ledian but immediately got a freeze hax on Ariados. Oops. I used Shuckle for Crobat. The bat toxics and then began stacking Double Teams, so its strategy was obvious, but luckily I got enough Rollouts off before it got hairy. Sent Ledian out again against Forretress, and … got another freeze hack. Jeez. Lucky ladybug strikes again. I just slowly punched Forretress to death. Finally, Heracross used Earthquake to take care of Venomoth and then the tanky Muk.

For Bruno, Deja Vu soloed the venture. By the time he reached the toughest one, Machamp, and got hit by a couple Rock Slides, he was into red HP. This was perfect, because I had Reversal. Bruno used a Full Restore when I had almost taken Machamp out, but it didn’t matter, because at that point, Reversal just 1HKO.

Karen is where things got tricky. I opened with Heracross, used Reversal on Umbreon. Not powered up this time because I healed– probably shouldn’t have, but oh well. Three Reversals finally brought Umbreon into the red but by then it had gotten up three Sand Attacks and a Confuse Ray. So I just brought Yanma in to pick off with Quick Attack.

Next came Houndoom. I sent my Shuckle out, my designated poke for dealing with fire types. Got two Rollouts off and tanked a Flamethrower pretty decently, all things considered. Things were going great …but then Houndoom used Roar. I, err, didn’t know it had that. I was roared into Ledian so I put up a Light Screen while I had the chance and went back to Shuckle. But after one Rollout it Roared again. Huh. Was … the AI actually smart? My Yanma was thrown out so I used Supersonic before fainting and going back to Shuckle again. Aaaaand Roared out immediately. Yep, the AI was actually smart. They wrote code specifically for shutting down Rollout. That’s pretty cool. But also kind of problematic, for me.

A Sludge Bomb from my spider nearly killed Houndoom, but sadly, a Full Restore removed all progress. I was tossed around a while with Roar, losing pokes and chipping away with Rollout. Finally got the dog into kill range but my Quick Attacker was fainted, so I opted for speedy Ledian’s Ice Punch, which managed to do the job. It was quite messy, but finally took Houndoom out.

I still had three to go, though, and my team was pretty worn down. Gengar out next, but fortunately Heracross’ Earthquake took it out. For Vileplume, I had Ledian’s Ice Punch. I ended up paralyzed and pretty worn down with Acid (and from Houndoom) but managed to finish the job!

Finally, there was Murkrow. Oh, shit. I thought I was screwed but I still had Forretress, thankfully. Heck, it only took a few Strengths, didn’t even need to explode.

After defeating Karen, she gives a really nice quote;

“Strong Pokémon. Weak Pokémon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites. I like your style. You understand what’s important. Go on– the Champion is waiting.”

I like this gal. She gets me.

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Mar 31, 2017.

[cosmosogler]

today i got up just a little late, despite going to bed a little earlier than i have been the last few days. my dreams involved a lot of waiting and seemed to drag on for hours. it was the worst.

i did call and get my meds transferred to the pharmacy near my house and can pick those up tomorrow sometime. and... i canceled my appointments with my therapist. mom didn’t end up doing any research on new places though. i can always depend on her to not do the things i depend on her to do.

other than that all i really did was play pokemon. i gave like a third of my old competitive pokemon from gen 5 (before the breeding overhaul) to some kid while i tried to very slowly eat some soup for lunch. it took almost an hour. he was very persuasive. i hope he uses them and has fun.

i have also been wonder trading out the good pokemon that came out of my latest training nonsense. i got a lot of caterpies in return, but i also got a couple cool things. and weird things. like a shiny oricorio with 0 ivs in every stat but attack and one of the worst possible natures. i love picking up bizarre things. i have no idea what i’m going to do with it though, other than put it in my “wonder trade” box in the bank.

diogi’s gotten a lot worse over the last few days. dad actually gave her a painkiller yesterday. she can hardly hold herself up. dad said he wishes she’d stop trying to jump around every time anything mildly exciting happens. 

i also took wiley out for a walk and it took an hour to make a lap around the neighborhood. he’s lucky he’s a gorgeous dog or else the neighbors probably wouldn’t think it as cute when he insists on saying hello. by the time we were getting close to home, it was so hot out that wiley didn’t want to leave the shade every time we passed under a tree. it wouldn’t take so long if he didn’t stop to check out every bush...

eve’s got her surgery scheduled. i don’t know exactly when, but dad talked to my uncle about it so i know it’s in the books. i wish i knew how uncomfortable the tumor makes her, and whether or not the surgeries help. last time she had it done she didn’t even need to wear a cone because she didn’t pick at the stitches. so maybe she kinda knows what it’s for.

tomorrow i’m going to tentatively plan on sorting out my graduation stuff and sending out that email. and pick up my meds once they get called in. three things. i hope i can do that. and maybe i’ll ask asher when he wants to hang out next. since my fridays are free now and stuff. maybe i’ll see if we can work out how to play onitama. he was pretty good at card wars when we gave it a try, so maybe he’ll do well at this one too.

oh i did have a really fun elite four run when i forgot to refill my stock of revives before starting. it came down to one underleveled pokemon against professor kukui’s team, which might be the hardest championship battle. i won by pure luck, my serperior did that “toughed it out so you wouldn’t be sad!” thing twice in a row which let me get in the hits i needed. the next challenge was rationing out my remaining pp against a snorlax and magnezone. it took forever, and i probably could have completed an entire extra run in the time it took to win that battle had i actually bothered to prepare, but it was nice to have to struggle and roll the dice against the computer for once.

soon i will have given away ALL of my (current) non-competitive pokemon! and then... i dunno, i guess i’ll feel like maybe someone got something cool from me. after that i’ll need a bazillion bottle caps, and to train a bazillion pokemon to level 100 so i can use those bottle caps, and to collect all the money in the world so i can buy those fancy bags, and to actually do the battle tree and stuff, and fill in the missing spots in my “complete collection of every species of pokemon under my trainer id” boxes in pokemon bank... still plenty to do. i might need to re-breed my krookodile, since it only has a neutral nature instead of a good one, but my friends went through a lot of effort to hack a nickname onto him. incidentally, i have more than one pokemon that’s named on a variation of snoop dogg. 

nicknaming pokemon is a delicate art. that’s why i still have a snorunt i named “freezie pie”. 

i know i laugh at my own jokes a lot, but every time i see freezie pie, and the jittering 3 d model of a really cold triangle man, i can’t help but smile. it might be my favorite pokemon nickname other than the shiny poliwhirl eric gave me named “snoop frogg”.

anyway, it’s a little after 1 now, and i have yet again spent a good half hour rambling about pokemon using jargon nobody who doesn’t play the games will understand. effective communicator, right here!

i feel like i have something else to talk about. but there are two things keeping me from saying anything about it. the first is that i feel like i would be explaining a joke that only i understand, and explaining it would make it somehow less funny. the other reason is that i can’t remember what the thing i wanted to talk about actually was.