#but he IS mentioned in OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire

[sage-nebula]

"i love how kalos has nothing of note" that and w HY ARE THEIR TITLES SO CLUNKY. THERE'S NOTHIGN CATCHY ABOUT THEM EXCEPT MAAAYBE CLEMONT'S AND WULFRIC'S, but even then it screams of Literal Translation, Poor Implementation and i hate it, thanks. i never even played xy due ot not having a 3ds at the time and i've never seen these titles before now. i still can't get over them.

Wulfric’s sounds like it would be the beginning of his Tinder bio, I’m not going to lie. Like he describes himself as “tough as an iceberg, hot as a furnace” in hopes he’ll get more attention and actually score a date. 

Honestly, the Kalos games are not worth it, at all. While the gameplay is great, that is literally all these games have going for them. (And I mean, gameplay is important, but it can’t be expected to carry an RPG, particularly when that same gameplay—with improvements, given Soaring and the DexNav!—can be found in the Hoenn remakes.) In no particular order:

The characters are bland, one-dimensional, and entirely forgettable. This especially goes for the rival squad, who have absolutely no depth to them whatsoever, present no challenge, and constantly interrupt you when you’re just trying to explore and have a nice time. They contribute nothing of value to the story, they aren’t fun to battle against, and their constant interruptions are annoying af. Game Freak was going for another “best friends!!!!” scenario, but it feels extremely forced, and the games would have been better without them, by far.But they’re not the only ones who are bland and one-dimensional. Diantha shows up early, but she doesn’t really do much aside from have a couple lines of dialogue. She doesn’t participate very much in the story at all. Lysandre is Very Obviously Evil from the get-go, ranting about how the world is filthy and all that in practically your first conversation with him. The only one who has any characterization at all is arguably Sycamore, but his characterization boils down to being wishy-washy and unable to stand up to Lysandre, and even flat out downplaying Lysandre’s genocide plot in the last conversation you have with him (he basically says Lysandre just ~made a mistake because of his ego~ and I’ve never wanted to punch a video game character in the face so hard), so any ounce of fondness I might have had for him went directly out the window. Moreover, none of the admins or scientists or what-have-you of Flare have any characterization or importance. The only one of note is Xerosic, and that’s only in the postgame (more on that in the end). The characters are just utterly disappointing.

The story had potential, but was ruined by no one in the game taking it seriously. In Black/White, N wanted to permanently separate humans from pokémon, and this got the entire region up in arms to the point where the Gym Leaders themselves stepped up to battle against Team Plasma. In X/Y, Lysandre wanted to commit genocide on everyone except those who had paid him five million dollars to join Team Flare and then live (no joke; the only differences between game!Lysandre and anime!Lysandre is that game!Lysandre is a classist fuck who makes people pay him to stay alive, whereas anime!Lysandre uses and abuses a teenage boy in his spare time instead), and no one … did anything. People just did not give a fuck. Lysandre literally broadcasted his entire plan to everyone in the region via the Holocaster, and no one aside from the protagonist, kind of the rivals, and kind of Sycamore (who sent his assistants to do his work for him) did anything about it. No Gym Leader involvement, no Elite Four involvement, no Champion involvement, nada. Despite the fact that, again, Lysandre’s plan was genocide. That such a dark and harsh topic was treated so lightly was one of the primary things that disgusted me about these games.

Aside from Laverre City, Kalos is a boring region. I mean, Lumiose is kind of cool, I guess, but it’s also your standard big city, like Castelia City was. Laverre was interesting, but other than that Kalos just feels very metropolitan and it’s altogether not very interesting. I can’t remember a single landmark in Kalos that was particularly interesting to me.

There’s no challenge, tbh. The gameplay was great in terms of customization, mega evolution, being able to level your pokémon quickly (thank you, Restaurant Le Wow and O-Powers), and so on and so forth, but like I mentioned with the rival squad, the battles themselves weren’t challenging. This has been a problem with newer Pokémon games for a while now and so it’s not a hit against XY in specific, but if you want a challenge, the Kalos games aren’t it. (Unless you consider the arduous task of stomaching the terrible writing a challenge, in which case, mood.)

Honestly, they’re just not worth it. At least the Alola games started out having a good story, and at least they have characters worth remembering. Kalos doesn’t have that. If you want a canon story set in Kalos, go for the anime. The anime has its problems as well, but at least it also has The Strongest Mega Evolution, a SATISFYING and UNDERSTANDABLE reaction to Lysandre’s plan, and, of course, the best goddamn character that has been produced to date.

(Or characters, I should say. Can’t forget Lizardon. ♥)

So yeah, don’t worry about ever playing the Kalos games. They’re not the worst core Pokémon games to ever exist (that dishonor goes to Let’s Go), but they’re still pretty bad from a character and story standpoint, and are not at all worth it.

ETA: I forgot to talk about the postgame story, so real quick: The only enjoyable thing, from a character and story standpoint, in the Kalos games comes from the postgame story. The postgame story is once again a Looker adventure, but the focus is on a homeless teenage girl named Emma whom Looker takes under his wing. (And honestly, I have quite a few thoughts on how Alan’s story in the anime is quite similar to Emma’s, so it wouldn’t be surprising to me if Emma was partially the inspiration for Alan.) He takes in her, teaches her important life skills, has her help him out at his detective firm … and Emma, in wanting to repay him for all the help he has given her, starts looking for part-time work, which leads her to Xerosic. Emma doesn’t realize that Xerosic is evil, and he ends up using her to commit crimes (without her knowledge—she doesn’t realize she’s committing crimes) as part of his research. (See what I mean?) It’s a very emotional, well-written little story, with characters that actually have depth to them, that you actually come to love and care about. It’s leagues above what was done in the main game, so I have no idea what went wrong there. That said, since you have to suffer through the entirety of the main game just to get to the postgame, I’d still say X and Y aren’t worth it. If anything, just watch the Emma and Looker story on YouTube. You’ll save yourself time and money that way.

(Note: To any Kalos game fans who want to reblog this to start Discourse™, don’t. You won’t change my mind, I won’t change yours, and it’d be a waste of time and effort on both our parts, thanks.)

[currantlee]

My Top 5 favorite Pokémon Boss Battle Themes

So, I fell into a pit of my Pokémon nostalgia. Don't look at me, I loved these games as a kid, and I don't enjoy what they have become. That being said, I really hope the Sinnoh remakes - both BDSP and Legends - are good, since Sinnoh was my first region and I'd hate to see it butchered. Plus, they look promising. But I'm not getting my hopes up yet, I'll wait for reviews.

Anyways, one of the things I enjoyed so much about these games is the music. I could probably hum you some of the Sinnoh tunes, or even sing the lyrics I imagined for them (it's obvious that Sinnoh is still my favorite region, isn't it?). Or I could list some of my favorite music tracks from all across the series. So... I did just that to get my hype energy somewhere 😂

So yeah, I hope you enjoy this little list 😊 I tried to explain the stories and memories associated with those musical themes as well as I can for those of you who aren't into Pokémon. That being said - spoilers for Pokémon OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver and especially the Sinnoh games ahead.

Oh, and if you do know Pokémon - please leave a comment or reblog and tell me what your favorite boss battle theme is, I'd love to know!

Since Pokémon doesn't have an explicified boss definition, here is what I define as boss battles in Pokémon:

Rival Battles

Gym Battles

Elite Four Battles

Champion Battles

Commander Battles

Admin Battles

Legendary / Unique Pokémon Battles

Frontier Brain or similar Battles

With that being said, let's go!

#5: Pokémon UltraSun/UltraMoon: VS Ultra Necrozma

I will admit, I haven't played the game. I heard this battle is actually pretty difficult, but I can't speak for myself on this. Pokémon games have stopped to be enjoyable to me with Sun and Moon, which had an amazing storyline and some great gameplay concepts, but just... Not enjoyable to me. And USUM seemed like cashgrab to me. I will say though, this musical theme has something and might as well be the best legendary battle theme of modern Pokémon for me.

#4: Pokémon OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire: VS Brendan/May

In Gen3, Game Freak tried out a new approach with the rival character. See, you always have a rival in Pokémon, and up until this point, all rivals were pretty much jerks. What this new approach was? Well... Let's just say they made the rival character the crush of the player character.

Depending on whether you play as Brendan (whom everyone thought to have white hair before ORAS, except Hidenori Kusaka and Satoshi Yamamoto, who make the Pokémon Adventures manga) or as May, the other will be the rival, and let me tell you, the game pushes this ship really hard in my opinion. It's no wonder why the manga chose to write Ruby and Sapphire, Brendan's and May's counterparts respectively, as a romantic couple, who even confess their love for each other - twice.

Their battle theme conveys this perfectly: this isn't two people who hate each other battling, these are two friends, who might like each other more than you like a casual friend, battling to spend time together. Despite that, both of them are determined to not lose.

One of my favorite moments in the entire game is the ending of it. After the credits (during which Brendan and May are riding their bikes home together) have rolled, you arrive at the pond where you and your rival first met, and they will challenge you to a battle once more. It's when you hear this theme, the one you've listened to every time you battled Brendan or May during the game, and it's just an amazing moment in my opinion, one that is accompanied by this soundtrack, following absolute silence.

And yes, I prefer the remake version of this track.

#3: Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: VS Cyrus

Since Kingdom Hearts is currently my main fandom and therefore most people following me probably know more about that series than about Pokémon, let me explain who Cyrus is: Cyrus is the Xehanort of Pokémon. And that up there is his battle theme. And safe for the one time they butchered it by turning it into a disco song for USUM, it's absolutely perfect.

I especially like the beginning. It conveys intensity and the dangerous situation you're in. I mean, Cyrus literally wants to destroy the universe to replace it with a new one he will rule as a god. He also regards all emotions as weakness and will openly admit that his grunts are useless and merely tools to him. Honestly, he is the most terrifying antagonist of the entire series to me, mainly because his plan is that of a madman, but he is actually serious about it (and unlike Xehanort doesn't let go of it even after his defeat).

At the same time, the musical theme sounds hopeful - like all will be good. And I mean, all is eventually good. You have your Pokémon with you, and Cynthis (who also has a badass battle theme by the way) helps you out too. Here is a great thing about the Sinnoh plot: Cynthia has been built up as a character you can trust, and her philosophy is the direct contrast to Cyrus'. So when she helps you battle Cyrus and Team Galactic - you know she won't let anything happen to you. Despite how terrifying Cyrus is as a villain, you know you're safe, because you have not only your Pokémon, but her on your side. Oh, and she is the final boss of the game. So in the end, you and your Pokémon overcome not only the villain, but also the person who held your hand the entire time.

Sorry this turned into me gushing about the plot of the Sinnoh games, but I can't help it 😅 On with the show!

#2: Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver: VS Champion/Red

If Cyrus is the Xehanort of Pokémon, then Red is it's Yozora. And while his musical theme is technically not his alone, I definitely associate it with him more than I associate it with Lance.

One of the best things about Red in my opinion is how he is foreshadowed during the entire game. Like, in the first city you visit, an elderly man will tell you about a boy named Red who three years ago saved the neighbouring region Kanto from the evil Team Rocket. Then, you hear nothing about him for a very long time - until Blue Oak mentions him again on Cinnebar Island and you meet his worried mother at Pallet Town.

While Red is technically an optional secret boss, the game makes you want to beat him through the little details it reveals about him. That he is a legend, that he is the true Champion of the Indigo League... To me, his mother worrying about him was always what got me the most.

I have to say, I also got a soft spot for the 8-Bit-version of the theme, it's just not what I grew up with. I admittedly never played GSC. I also like the Gen7 take on the theme, which mixes the original melody with the Alolan vibes.

#1: Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: VS Dialga / Palkia

I don't know how, but they managed to make the piano in this theme as epic as a theme for those two Dr Who-deities deserve. It sounds mysterious and it makes you respect what is in front of you, without sounding bombastic like Arceus' theme (which is also freaking amazing, ngl). Not that that is a bad thing, but I feel like the mysterious vibe fits Dialga and Palkia, who are the embodiments of two very abstract concepts. Arceus is simply god, and that's that. But Dialga and Palkia are the embodiments of time and space, two concepts that are far more difficult to grasp than "god".

Dialga also has an amazing battle theme in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, which definitely deserves an honorable mention here (Palkia's theme in said game is okay, but they definitely got the short end of the stick IMO).

I really hope they're not going to butcher this theme (or Cynthia's. Or Cyrus'. Or any of the Gen4 themes really) in the remakes. But the one thing Pokémon didn't mess up completely for me so far is the soundtrack (except that one time they turned Cyrus' theme into a disco song, which really doesn't fit him at all). So I have faith in that at least.

What's your favorite boss battle theme in Pokémon? Leave me a comment if you like, I'd love to hear about it!

[sleeppaw]

Future of the Pokemon games (Remakes)

Originally, only Kanto and Johto were intended to get remakes (Kanto due to incompactability with Ruby/Sapphire, and Johto as a means to update the region to the Generation 4 standards). Hoenn was remade as by then it was the only non-3D region (Sinnoh and Unova had experimental 3D). Assuming the rumours of Johto and Sinnoh lines being missing from Galar is true, then we might get Sinnoh remakes. As for how Sinnoh remakes would work:

Teddiursa in Route 217/Lake Acuity (If you had Emerald in the second DS slot, and toggle in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, it is possible to get a Teddiursa on this route and the area around Lake Acuity. A Sinnoh Remake would put Teddiursa here)

Phanpy in Victory Road (Victory Road is traditionally where most of the Rock and Ground Types that isn’t Geodude/Onix were found). Despite Phanpy/Teddiursa being traditionally “Version Exclusives”, it is possible to get both in one game (If you have a friend on X/Y with a Ground Friend Safari, there is a chance you can get a Phanpy; plus you can breed Ursaring on both X/Y for a Teddiursa as Ursaring and Teddiursa are in the Kalos Dex. It makes sense as in real life, France does have brown bears)

Great Marsh with no step timer (Maybe an increased likelihood of finding a particular Pokemon on a certain day)

Johto, Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos Starters (Sinnoh Starter when you rescue Professor Rowan, Johto Starter after entering the Hall of Fame the first time, Unova Starter after entering the Hall of Fame the second time and Kalos Starter after entering the Hall of Fame the third time. Assuming rumours about Hoenn Starters is true, then that’s still four sets of Starters still unaccounted for, as you can get Kanto and Galar Starters; Alola Starters are Transfer-only, as well as that you can get an Alola Starter with it’s Hidden Ability in Isle of Armor depending on which Galar Starter you started with; so people who started with Cinderace will get Litten, players with Grookey will get Rowlet and Sobble players will receive Popplio)

Sinnoh will have a National Dex (Game Freak saying “No National Dex” could mean “From Galar onwards, no new region will have a National Dex”; Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos all had a National Dex. As for how they could make Perrserker/Obstagoon/Sirfetch’d/Mr.Rime/Cursola/Runerigus obtainable in potential Sinnoh Remakes, they could have someone in one Pokemon Center/town/Route say “Oh, you must be completing the National Dex? Would you like to trade (Insert Pokemon here) for this Pokemon I caught in a far-off region?” After Trading this person would then say “Professor Rowan is studying Pokemon Evolution, isn’t he? I think he would be surprised if you bring him (insert Pokemon here)” Alternatively Professor Rowan could comment on “how Linoone in a distant region can evolve” and then mutters that “I don’t know if it’s true or not” thus starting a quest chain to obtain Galar Forms from a person. This would be an ideal way to resolve potential issues with Obstagoon/Perrserker/Sirfetch’d/Cursola/Mr.Rime/Runerigus in future games, especially with potential Unova and Kalos Remakes)

Battle Frontier if possible (People criticised ORAS for not having a Battle Frontier. However, if the hypotherical Sinnoh Remakes doesn’t have a Battle Frontier, they could do it as a free DLC)

Faster save speed (Generation 4 was nortorious for how slow it was to save)

Cameos of older Pokemon Characters or references to regions (Remakes traditionally either had a cameo of a character introduced in that Generation or references to the region introduced in that Generation: FireRed and LeafGreen references Hoenn in the Post-Game, while HeartGold and SoulSilver had cameos from Cynthia, Steven and Maylene. OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire had references to Kalos, and Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee had a Mina cameo. If Sinnoh does get remade in Generation 8, I can see a couple of cameos)

I think we will see Unova Remakes, and after that, who knows? I think Kalos will have to be rebuilt from the bottom upwards (Especially in terms of region, story and characters. Tierno has potential as a contest or musical or similar rival, while Trevor has potential as someone who catches Pokemon, and that just two of the many characters in Kalos not brought to their full potential. At least Sina and Dexio was redeemed in Alola, both being Pokemon Trainers) Alola could get a remake though (As much as I like UltraSun and UltraMoon, they ruined Lillie’s and Lusamine’s character arcs there). But really, the next two regions that could get remakes is Sinnoh and Unova (Kalos will have to be rebuilt from the bottom while Alola would have to incorporate elements from UltraSun and UltraMoon. In potential Unova remakes, I could see the Pokemon World Tournament and the Western half of Unova added; in the Post Game of the Unova Remakes, I could see Brycen, Leonra and Chilli, Cilan and Cress saying they are stepping down as Gym Leaders, with Marlon and Roxie introducing themselves as potential Gym Leaders. Then Leonra can turn to Cheren and ask him if he would like to take over as a Gym Leader in Aspertia City. That would be an interesting way to add elements from “Black and White 2″ without having to remake the latter. As for how they will implement the PWT from “Black and White 2″, I could see one person in Driftveil City mention in the game after you beat Clay that “Clay has been talking about inviting the Gym Leaders and Champions from the other regions to Unova for a tournament”) About Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, a Kanto remake was going to be next in the Remake Pattern bar Third Versions (Red and Green already got remakes. Gold and Silver got remade, so has Ruby and Sapphire. What was the game released after Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire? FireRed and LeafGreen. So really, the only Kanto game that hasn’t been remade was the third Version, Pokemon Yellow. After Generation 3, the first Generation 4 game was Diamond and Pearl. As of now, Diamond and Pearl is unplayable on the Switch and once the CT releases, there could be still some Pokemon missing from Generation 8, plus next year will be Diamond and Pearl’s 15th Anniversary. What better way to bring all existing Pokemon to the current Generation than a remake?) I think the Let’s Go series will end at Sinnoh though, assuming the pattern is “Third Versions”. Unova, Kalos and Alola doesn’t have “Third Versions” and in Kalos’ case, nothing after the intial pair.

TLDR: I believe the Remakes will continue to Unova, while the Let’s Go series will go to Sinnoh

[sleeppaw]

Sinnoh Remakes, Let’s Go Johto or Detective Pikachu 2?

Here’s why:

Diamond and Pearl is currently the oldest main series game without a remake (The main series games are Red and Green, which had a “Third Version” in Yellow, followed up with Gold and Silver, whose third version was Crystal. Ruby and Sapphire was followed with FireRed and LeafGreen, which reintroduced Kanto Pokemon into Generation 3; Emerald added the remaining Pokemon that was missing. Diamond and Pearl added 107 new Pokemon; Platinum fixed problms with Diamond/Pearl while HeartGold and SoulSilver updated Johto. Black and White gave 156 new Pokemon and introduced the Unova region; older Pokemon can be obtained by transfer; these Pokemon can be brought forward to Kalos, which introduced the “Mega Timeline”, while OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire confirmed there are “Two Universes”, one, the timeline up until Black/White2, where AZ never activated his “Ultimate Weapon”, and the other where Mega Evolution exists. Sun and Moon introduced Alola, a region where Trials are a ritual for aspiring Trainers, while UltraSun and UltraMoon is in an “Alternate Universe” where the Ultra Recon Squad plays a role in the events of Alola; later on in the Post Game we are introduced to “Team Rainbow Rocket”, themselves coming from an Universe where the Villainous Team succeeded.) Sword and Shield is at the latest point of the “Core Timeline”, but there are no in-game hints to how much time has passed in the series:

Kanto and Hoenn takes place at the same time, while Johto takes place three years later; Sinnoh takes place around the time Ethan/Kris/Lyra catches the Red Gyrados (The programme Dawn/Lucas watches at the beginning of the game mentions the “Red Gyrados”). At least ten years passes before the events of Black and White, and two years after Hilbert and Hilda leaves Unova to find N we see Nate and Rosa start their journey; at the same time Calem and Serena started their journey in Kalos (Someone in Couramine City mentions that “Team Plasma has been causing trouble in Unova recently”). At the same time these events takes place, Gladion steals Type:Null from the Aether Foundation after he got fed up of his mother’s abuse. Sun/Moon/UltraSun and UltraMoon takes place two years after the events of Pokemon Black2 and White2 and Pokemon X and Y, while it is unknown when Pokemon Sword and Shield takes place. This brings me to the Remakes: In every remake, either the more recently-introduced region is mentioned (Hoenn was mentioned in FireRed and LeafGreen, while Kalos was mentioned in OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire) or characters from the recently-introduced region makes an appearence (Steven and Cynthia* in HeartGold and SoulSilver, Mina in Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee. Note: Cynthia only appears if the player has an Event Arceus in their Party) so if we get Sinnoh remakes I could see some Galar characters cameo. As for which Galar character that could make a cameo, I think it would be likely Raihan (Though Leon could cameo)

Let’s Go Johto: At this point in time, Pokemon Crystal is currently the oldest game without a remake, plus in “Let’s Go” Sabrina says she will face a Trainer three years from now.  Plus if we do

Detective Pikachu 2: It was announced some time ago, but we haven’t heard of anything since (It took a year between it was announced for Detective Pikachu to get it’s first game footage; this was due to the shift in generations between development, as Detective Pikachu was announced in 2015; Alola Pokemon started to appear in “Case Four” and were seen on the other cases.)

[sleeppaw]

I like the fact that

Pokemon Sword and Shield doesn’t have a villainous team. Team Yell isn’t actually villainous, and merely just wanted Marnie to become the next Galar Champion. After the player beats her in the Tournament Team Yell doesn’t just support her, but also the player (They, along with Marnie and Piers, even assist the player and Hop when Hop is worried about Leon). Chairman Rose isn’t really a villain, but a well meaning extermist (Awaken Eternaus in order to prevent an energy crisis in the future). I haven’t got to the Post-Game yet, but I will get to that soon. As for Dexit, it started with Pokemon Sun and Moon and the removal of the National Dex, and anyway, there’s the possibility that Home might have a National Dex. I think Sword and Shield will get a sequel, or possibly a third version after the Sinnoh Remakes (I can see the potential third version or Sw/Sh sequels coming in 2021. Why Sinnoh remakes next? It’s been 14 years since Diamond and Pearl was released in Japan (2006 Japan, 2007 rest of the World). FireRed and LeafGreen was released eight years after Red and Green, HeartGold and SoulSilver was released ten years after Gold and Silver, while OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire was released exactly twelve years after Ruby and Sapphire (If you have the Eon Ticket, Norman will mention that “He last saw the ticket twelve years ago” and throughout ORAS the characters mention things from twelve years ago). 2020 is the fourteenth anniversary of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, and I can see them using the Platinum Sinnoh Dex instead (especially when it comes to fire types; as much as I like Diamond/Pearl, there was only two fire type lines: Chimchar and Ponyta, and that was all you had before the Champion; an expanded Sinnoh Dex could have the Magby line at the Ironworks, Rolycoly at Oreburg Mine. I think they will add 50-75 extra Pokemon to the Sinnoh Dex in the possible remakes, and I could see them add Deerling into a potental Galar sequel; considering Deerling is one of those Pokemon that haven’t appeared in a regional dex outside of it’s debut generation, and Krabby, Pidove and Cherubi have appeared in the Galar Dex for the first time since their debut generation; Krabby’s inclusion into another regional dex had been long overdue, and Cherubi and Pidove haven’t been in any regional Pokedex since their debut) so Sinnoh Remakes would make sense for this year.)