#i made a tutorial a while back i can remake it if anyone's interested?

[alelelesimz]

your lookbooks for the globetrotter challenge have been so nice and clean looking, how do you edit them if it’s ok to ask :o

ohh thank you!! nothing out of the ordinary, swre, my usual reshade and photoshop actions + this cas lightning (neutral light) and background (baby's breath) :)

[radramblog]

Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon is basically OK

Recently, I’ve partaken in some kind of cultural exchange with a friend of mine- namely, I’ve lent her my copies of the Scott Pilgrim novels (god do they kick ass), and she’s lent me her copy of Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, seeing as I never played it at the time.

Well I’ve now beaten this game, and I have some thoughts about it, so chop chop Keara the story isn’t getting any younger I expect a full book report on my desk next Sunday.

Jokes aside, this was my first experience with a PMD game since Sky (discounting the demo for Gates to Infinity), and having missed the series’s third entry (fourth if you count those Japan-only WiiWare games), it’d be remiss of me not to at least mention that maybe some of the things I’m going to complain about were originally that game’s fault. But apparently that one actively sucks ass so who cares, just shift the blame over, eh?

(ah, primary-school-tier bullying, exactly what I want in my Pokemon game, cool)

I think one of the foremost issues people have about PSMD is the story, and I can’t help but agree. The game spends what feels like forever fucking about in Serene Village, doing what could charitably described as tutorial followed by slice-of-life-ish plots, and while I love me a good slice-of-life anime, those tend to be a lot less slow than this. Also the characters tend to be a lot less one-note, but it’s a kids game, so whatever. Speaking of kids, this to my knowledge is the only PMD game where you and your partner character are canonically children, and spend a lot of time around others. The game seems to establish unevolved Pokemon as kids, which while it doesn’t really add up with the rest of the series (e.g. in the first ones, Caterpie is clearly a child, but Metapod is as well and Gulpin is at least adult enough to run their own store), it would ultimately be excusable if it didn’t make that huge section of the game so boring.

They aren’t consistent with that kids thing, by the way. When you finally reach the Expedition society, you’re met with a bunch of unevolved Pokemon (Archen, Buizel, Bunnelby, Swirlix) that are running around behaving very youthfully, who then turn around and go hey we don’t allow kids in our gang please leave. Like, the plot had been leading me to believe that the whole place was shut down, Ampharos as its final member, and those kids were just running around an abandoned building, but nope, here are your teammates for the rest of the game.

(brown sus)

The remainder of the plot is basically fine, its not like the plots in this series are the greatest on the planet (save maybe Explorers), though the focus on the villains turning people into stone felt pretty awkward. It’s like they wanted to pull off a more dramatic, more personal-stakesy plot but couldn’t actually kill anyone. This gets kind of egregious when you end up in actual hell for a bit, in what I guess is the series tradition of potentially traumatic experiences and blasted hellscapes being exposed to the protagonists. The endgame plot all seems to come at you at once, not helped by it being lots of chained dungeons without returning to towns beforehand- it wouldn’t be as bad if the whole game was like this, but with such a slow start, it just feels so inconsistent. The endgame twist was pretty spicy, I’ll admit, but it didn’t have enough buildup to feel earned in my honest opinion.

(pictured: the best character in the game)

But the plot doesn’t matter so much as the gameplay does it? And as someone who has also concurrently been playing through the first Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game on my GBA, there’s a lot of interesting comparisons to make. The dungeons on the whole are shorter in PSMD, with few of the main-game ones reaching beyond 10 floors (and not going much past it) compared to the prequels’ capping off with a 25+5 floor behemoth in Sky Tower. This is made up for by every floor of the dungeons in PSMD feeling much larger and more labyrinthine than anything in other PMD games, meaning each one takes much longer than you’d think. I dread to imagine what the 99-floor dungeons are like in this game, especially considering you now need an item to quicksave the game if you want to do anything else now. The dungeons themselves additionally really do not feel like they’ve taken advantage of the 9 years of potential design improvements and two console generations of technology improvements between games- it is frustratingly same-old same-old in the dungeon design.

These problems are capped off with the increased difficulty- that is, that every individual Pokemon is significantly more of a threat to you than in previous games, and you don’t really get the opportunity to level grind much. And I’m not opposed to difficulty in games, obviously, but what it does in PSMD is ruin the flow of the gameplay for me. What works in Mystery Dungeons previous was that blend of exploration and combat, and in Super, that gets completely broken up by protracted encounters with even the chump-tier mons you encounter along the way. Also, they made the basic attack complete shit, and I don’t like that.

That’s not to say that the gameplay is all bad. I won’t comment too heavily on the Looplet/Emera system, because I’m kinda mid on it, but it didn’t help that despite all the game’s tutorialising I still didn’t get part of it until most of the way through the story. The game does have some moments of genuine brilliance in design, though. The way you recruit more Pokemon is so much better than the luck-based mission of the previous games, wihle managing to actually make you want to go on the random missions you get thrown throughout the game- for one thing they aren’t random, but it means you have a guaranteed good reward instead of the semi-RNG system where you just end up with a bunch of Gravelerocks and berries you’ll never use. In addition, the system where on non-plot days (and in the postgame) you just get 3 random Pokemon recommended to you, that get bonus EXP if you use them that day, is a great way of encouraging the player to diversify their Pokemon usage substantially, which is nice.

There’s a few other nice gameplay things I’d like to highlight. Considering the increased difficulty, the ability to rescue yourself (read: come back with the overpowered mons the game dropped in your lap) is really nice, especially since it’s not like anyone else is playing these games who can help. The way moves get better the more you use them is nice, especially considering how much more you use one move over and over in this game compared to main series Pokemon games. The random bonus missions and travelling mons you encounter in dungeons are nice, as well as the increased variety in missions available- as well as actually being able to revive fallen escortees, it makes the mission system overall much stronger than in previous entries.

Beyond that, though, I’m not sure what else I have to say about Super Mystery Dungeon. The game is a decent entry in what can barely be called a franchise these days, considering it’s 6 years old and yet still the newest entry, excluding the remake of the first ones that came out last year. It’d be a shame if this was the note we went out on for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, but to be fair, I don’t think they’re ever going to be able to recapture the magic of the first two games. They struck gold with a lot of people, but I guess at this point, the gleam wore off.

[nationalhoranleague]

Sixteen | Doubt

Chapter Song: Us (Acoustic) - James Bay

≫ Everly - Monday, February 1, 2016 ≪

It was blistering cold out, but it was welcomed this morning. There was something about the cold air that brought along a certain kind of clarity to my thinking. It was early still, the sun wasn't to come up for another hour and a half. I have never been, am not, and will never be a morning person. I love sleep more than anything or anyone on this earth, Sidney included. But since my injury, a full night's rest has been harder and harder to come by.

The glisten of the holiday season has long been faded, my family has returned to work from their holiday breaks, and Sidney was knee-deep in the playoff run, leaving little time for himself, let alone me. I was left to my own devices and there were next to none to be left to. I had read every book that both Sidney and I had in our possession, watched what felt like all of the makeup tutorials on Youtube, and even attempted to remake some of Julia Child's classic recipes. Not being able to skate was driving me to the brink of insanity and boredom.

Behind me, I could hear the back door creak open and then quickly shut. I listened as Sidney's sleepy body shuffled across his back yard over to where I was sitting with my back to him. He leaned over the back of the pool lounge I had wandered over to this morning and pressed a warm kiss to the side of my face.

He shoved a warm mug into my chilled hands before sitting down into the chair next to me. He sighed, took a sip from his mug, and then closed his eyes as he settled himself into the metal chair.

For a long time, we were quiet, the only sounds being of the cold wind blowing around us and the pool cover in front of us rustling in the wind.

"Why are you awake?" I asked quietly, causing him to open his eyes and look at me.

He sighed. "I rolled over and you weren't there," I turned back to watching the trees swaying in front of me.

We sat quietly for another bout, in fact, we were quiet for so long that I was nearly halfway done with my coffee by the time Sidney broke the silence. "So, are you ready to fess up?"

"To what?" I asked, playing dumb with him.

He scoffed. "Don't play coy with me, Everly Grace," Clearly, Sidney is not a morning person either. "I know when something is bothering you. You're tossing and turning all night, you've been up before 6 pretty much every morning since your injury, you're not eating normally, and you've been in a mood since I've been back from my road trip." I exhaled heavily. "I'm worried about you. Did I-" He sighed. "Did I do something wrong?" He asked, his voice soft.

"No! Sid, no! I-I'm fine."

He laughed sadly, shaking his head at me. "You didn't even believe that yourself. Now, what is bothering you?"

I sighed. "Sid, not being able to skate has driven me to the brink of insanity."

"Oh, honey,"

"I have been skating since I was three, Sidney. I know nothing but figure skating. I have never, until this past year, not been able to skate whenever I wanted. Two injuries within a year is a lot to deal with, mentally and physically." I sighed. "Maybe it's too much?"

Sidney was quiet for a minute, letting the realization of what I had just said set in. It was a lot to take in and if he had said the same to me, I would have been just as stunned. Even I was shocked. Sure, I had been tossing the idea of quitting skating around in my head for weeks now, but saying it out loud made it feel like a plausible idea. "How long have you been thinking about this?" He asked incredulously.  

"Since Christmas," I confessed. "Is my body going to let me do this anymore, Sid? I mean for God's sake, I've had two knee injuries in a year! A year! I'm falling apart at the seams!" I paused, briefly. "But how could I quit? I have nothing better to do. I have absolutely no backup plan. I bet my whole life on a career that could be over in the blink of an eye." I looked over at him. "Did I mess up, Sidney?"

Sidney shook his head. "You didn't mess up, you followed your dream and have made an amazing career out of it. An amazing career. You still have so much to do, I know it in my gut."

I half smiled at him. "I don't know, bubba."

Sidney stood up, practically unfolding himself from the pool chair, he reached a hand out to me, pulling me up from the chair. "C'mon, let's go in. It's freezing out here." I followed him across the backyard.

"I thought you were Canadian?" I asked, teasing him.

He faked a soft laugh, clearly not amused with my chirp. "Why did you sound like that one vine?" I tossed my head back in true laughter. I was sure that if it wasn't for my obsession with vine references, Sidney would have no idea what a vine even is. "I thought you were American?" He mocked.

Once inside, Sidney made a beeline for the coffee pot, desperately needing a warm-up for his mug. I found a comfy spot in the window seat of the breakfast nook. He refilled his mug before making his way over to me, sliding in behind me, pressing his back to the wall. I settled comfortably in between his thick legs and dropped my head back against his chest.

"Oh, my love," I sighed. "I don't know what to do. Tell me what to do, Sid."

"No," He said, confidently. I tilted my head up to look at him, confused.

"No?"

"No, I'm never going to tell you what to do with your life, Ev." I smiled softly at him, before returning my eyes to the window which now painted a portrait of the sun rising over the trees in Sidney's backyard. "I can, however, offer some advice, if you'd like."

"Okay, shoot, Crosby,"

"I've been doing some reading since I don't know anything about figure skating," I grinned. Sidney is, by a mile, the sweetest, most caring man I had ever met. It only made sense to me that he would research and learn more about the sport that made me the person I am today. "The first qualification event for PyeongChang is the 2017 World Championships, so you're technically in the position right now to be able to take an entire year off from skating. And, for what it's worth, I think you should. Give yourself the time to heal up both psychically and mentally. "

"Yeah, I mean, I agree with you," I began slowly. "But, I don't know what I would do with myself for a year, Sid."

"Well," He began hesitantly. "I don't know if you would be interested, and I don't want you to think this is a handout, because it's not. You just-" He sighed, clearly struggling to find the right words. I turned around to face him now. "You just know me so well, and we have the same passions and work ethic and I can't think of anyone else I would want to do it."

"Okay, what is it?" I asked, now a little on edge because I was completely unsure of where he was about to take this conversation.

"I have a spot open on the foundation board."

I gasped. The foundation was Sidney's pride and joy. Even while in the middle of trying to clinch a playoff berth, he was still heavily involved in the planning of his upcoming hockey school and charity events in both Nova Scotia and Pittsburgh.

"Sid, are you sure?"

"I'm 100 percent sure, I just want to make sure that this is something you want to be involved in too."

I nodded eagerly. "Oh! I would love to,"

"Yeah? Thank God! When can you start?"

I laughed, before launching myself into his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled his lips to mine.

Liked by jeffskinner, taylorcrosby29, smellymelly, and 36,998 others.

everlygcassius: In December I sprained my ACL and as many of you have probably noticed, I have been off of the ice since. Tomorrow, I will be cleared to make my return to the ice. However, I have decided that two injuries in a year have been too much for my knee, my heart, and my mental health. I will be taking a step back from skating until 2017. I am looking forward to healing myself and returning to the international stage as a powerhouse in Helsinki for the World Championships!

≫ Everly - Sunday, February 7, 2016 ≪

For once, since my injury, Sidney was awake long before I was. In the past week, I had been able to calm down tremendously, thus allowing me to sleep in longer than the sun. I had officially accepted the position with Sidney's foundation and had informed my agent, Eva, family, and the rest of the world that I would be taking a break from skating. Most everyone was supportive, except for a few rude trolls here and there. However, I was happy and that was all that mattered to me.

I was missing skating already. But, I'm so looking forward to getting to know myself outside of the world of figure skating. I'm looking forward to finding something I was passionate about, something I enjoyed doing. I'm looking forward to having a short, busy summer with Sidney, who had recently collected his 900th point and a playoff berth in one fell swoop. I'm looking forward to working closely with Trina and the other foundation board members. I'm looking forward to so many things and amazingly, none of them pertained to skating, making me feel oddly at ease.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," I perked up, seeing Sidney sliding himself between his bedroom door and the door frame. "Want to come down? I'm making breakfast, I thought we could have an 'us' day since we haven't had a lot of time together recently."

He was right. He had been traveling just about every other game recently and was typically only home late at night or early in the morning, all but forcing me to stay at his house if I wanted to spend more than 15 minutes with him. "Yeah, are pants required?"

Sidney titled his head in thought. Suddenly, he stepped into his bedroom, where I was still buried away underneath his heavy blankets, and dropped his sweatpants on the floor, leaving him clad only in his boxer briefs. "No,"

"Good," I proclaimed, standing up on his bed now, showing him that I only had on one of his t-shirts and a pair of black lacy boyshorts.

He cackled, before coming over to my side and lending a hand up to help me down from the bed. I placed my feet on the cream carpet and began to reach for my cell phone on the charger. Sidney swatted at my hand, making me eye him curiously.

"No cell phones," He pointed over to his nightstand where his phone was still plugged in and resting on the wood.

"Okay, yeah, I like that."

It was late. Neither Sidney nor I had bothered to replace our pants, check our phones, or brush our teeth for the entire day. We had eaten our weight in junk food, had a dance party, taken two naps each, switching between little spoon to big spoon, and watched countless Disney movies. The day was both greatly needed and appreciated by us.

Sidney held onto me tightly, keeping me from rolling off the side of the couch. Our legs were tangled together, probably as equally as hairy. His face was pressed into my hair, allowing his vanilla ice cream scented breath to fan over my neck. My face was tucked into the crook of his strong arm, serving as a surprisingly comfortable pillow.

"Ev," He whispered. "Are you awake?"

"Yes," I responded giggling.

"You know I'm proud of you, right?" I froze, not knowing how to respond. "I would give anything for you not to be having to go through this right now, but I'm so proud of how you're handling yourself with grace and looking at the situation optimistically. You make me want to be a better athlete and person." He paused to let out a long yawn. "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life admiring the hell out of you, Everly Grace."

Read Change on the Fly here!

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[thicceon]

My Final Views on Pokémon Sword & Shield

There’s my Trainer! Isn’t she lovely? Anyways, this is a game I had so many strong feelings about, so I feel like jotting this down so I can give it a lil’ bit of closure.

The National Dex

This was perhaps the game’s greatest controversy leading up to release, so I want to give my thoughts on this first. I don’t mind the absence of the National Dex as long as it improves the game all around. I think it’s an okay decision moving forward. However, in these games you can tell half the existing Pokémon were cut just to save time in order to meet a holiday release, not to actually improve the game.

Presentation

The game makes a powerful first impression. The campaign’s strongest moments are probably the first couple hours. The narrative really caught my attention in the beginning and I felt SUPER hyped for my first few gym battles. The story’s climax is also pretty exciting. Game Freak did step up to the plate where it counted most, fortunately. 

Gameplay

The game is bare, short, and vapid. Halfway through it’s REALLY apparent how rushed the game is. You end up zooming through tiny routes that feel more like hallways than anything, and only have a couple Trainers in them. Most “cities” are smaller than the ones in Red & Blue. There is a town that’s literally just a corridor with a Pokémon Center and outdoor gym. This is also one of the coolest cities in the game, so seeing that wasted potential is very frustrating. 

The NPCs feel lifeless and have nothing interesting to say. I don’t see anyone else talking about this! The NPCs in BW, XY, and SM actually had some very entertaining dialogue once the tutorial stuff was out of the way, whether it was hilarious, straight-up weird, or genuinely thought-provoking and insightful. Everyone feels so...boring.

The Wild Area is...rough. It looks horrid. However, it’s still where I had the most fun in the game. It’s a great concept and I think Game Freak had a decent first go at creating an open world Pokémon experience. It wasn’t a particularly fun place to explore per se, but it was enthralling just to be able to control the camera and go where I please. Being able to see glimpses of other players here is also a wonderful addition, and something I’ve wanted from the series for a while. All in all, this area has a delightful MMO feel to it. Raids are also very fun! It’s great to have a co-op feature to play with friends, and the rewards and rarity of Gigantamax forms gives you a good reason to do them!

There are many wonderful QoL features in this game. Pokémon’s UI experience has never been smoother. There's one rather large caveat though, which is the online experience. It’s nonsensical not to include a friends list for easy trading and battling with your pals, and most of the time the stamp system just doesn’t work. It’s extremely frustrating, but sigh it’s workable.

I also must say that I hate the Exp. All being baked into the game. The feature itself is not the problem, it’s the fact that I have literally no way of turning it off, despite previous games allowing you to. This was borderline game ruining for me, as it killed any sense of satisfaction I felt leveling my Pokémon. It genuinely felt like the game was raising my Pokémon for me. Yeah, not for me.

The post-game is practically non-existent. There’s a lifeless husk that qualifies as a Battle Tower of sorts, but that’s all you’ll find, Champ. But of course, this has become standard for modern Pokémon games.

Graphics 

The Wild Area looks very shoddy, however, the rest of the game looks genuinely beautiful! The overworld textures are poor, and this is not a high-fidelity game by any means, but the general art direction and colors are gorgeous. The new Pokémon have nice models, and the older ones have greatly improved textures. The cities all look distinct and lovely. However, the pop-in of NPCs is very apparent and feels jarring. I can tolerate a little pop-in, but this draw distance is short enough where I will just about hit NPCs that appear before my eyes while biking.

Pokémon still lack battle animations that are even comparable to the Stadium games. _That’s _the type of stuff that should be improved by cutting Pokémon.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is decent and has its own flare. There are a few standout tracks, my favorite being the Slumbering Weald at the beginning. Gym battles have a great chanting effect that really adds to the atmosphere. My biggest complaints are that a few of the city themes are weak, and theres a real lack of route themes. 

Story

It feels rushed and empty, like everything else in the game. Conceptually I think it’s pretty strong, and as I said before, the climax is great. However, the story beats leading up to the climax are hilariously rushed and character’s actions begin to make zero sense. You also visit areas that were so obviously meant to be dungeons, but were condensed into single rooms. One significant scene didn’t even get a proper cutscene and was instead told via a slideshow that looked like screenshots of the models painted over. 

As for the characters, I’m extremely disappointed with how underdeveloped the main villain was, despite him having an intriguing, and surprisingly contemporary motive. I was also bummed out that Marnie, a rival advertised as being significant, had practically no story relevance whatsoever. Team Yell also was very underutilized. 

Hop was okay; decently developed. Bede is probably my favorite rival in the series since Cheren. I’m one of those people that’s been complaining for a decade about how we haven’t had a jerkass rival since Johto, and I’m very pleased to finally have one again. His arc is also solid, though a bit under-explored.

Leon was good. It’s rare for the series to tell us who the Champion we’re fighting is before it’s time to tango with them. It was nice to see him have a presence throughout the entire game, and it was interesting to see the types of responsibilities a Champion has, such as protecting the region and...signing endorsement deals.

Closing

Yeah, the game is okay. It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not a train wreck. Just okay. It’s very apparent that it was meant to be so much more though, and that’s frustrating. It feels like even 6 more months could’ve made a world of a difference. I don’t believe Game Freak is lazy. I don’t believe they’re incompetent. However, I do think the yearly release schedule of Pokémon games really hampers the potential of not only the games, but the developers.

But perhaps that’s just what we have to accept from such a juggernaut IP. Sword & Shield is about the quality you’d expect from most MCU movies, or those live-action Disney remakes. It’s solid, and it’s the standard fun you’d expect from the property, but it lacks any depth. 

But I can’t really bring myself to call it a step back for the series. It does its fair share of things better than XY and SM, even if if those two games are much fuller experiences. Right, this is a decent first real entry for the main series into the home console market. However, it’s still nothing compared to the sheer breadth of content available in the GBA or DS games.

But this game signified to me that the “golden age” of Pokémon is really gone for good. Sword & Shield was never concerned about living up to those titles though. Gaming has changed. Gamers have changed. And thus, Pokémon has changed. Most games aren’t intended to last you the better part of a year now, unless they’re a live multiplayer service with consistent updates.

As a veteran superfan that's been absolutely enamored by the franchise since before I could even read, I’ll admit that I find it a bit of a challenge to judge Pokémon games on their own individual merit, rather than against the now substantial catalogue that makes up the legacy of the series. Sword & Shield isn’t worried about living up to the past, it’s a step towards the future, clumsy as it may be. However, that future is still going to need some more substance to it before I can consider it a bright one.

[nyxabird]

What I want from Pokemon Sword/Shield

What I hope for in Pokemon Sword/Shield. I thought about making this a video, and I might still, but it’s so long that I thought a list here would be better to start with at least.

I know a lot of people are doing videos like this, where they're saying "this is what I'd love to see or not see in Pokemon Sword/Shield", but I'd honestly like to throw my opinion out there, too. There's so much we're hoping from in these games, and some of the points I think of I haven't seen other people address at all. And of course, I just have my own things that would make the games more fun for me, so. In no real order, here's what I hope for in Pokemon Sword and Shield.

1. No Fire/Fighting Starter.

Don't make Scorbunny fighting. Don't make Scorbunny fighting. For the love of god, DON'T MAKE SCORBUNNY FIGHTING.

Look. I like most of the starters overall, and both Chimchar and Torchic are some I think are really good, personally. But unlike the other two, Fire has just gotten this habit of dropping into fighting as its sub-type, and quite frankly that's just boring at this point. Blaziken, Infernape, and Emboar, all one after another, were just too much. They did REALLY good subverting this with the Fire/Psychic starter of Delphox, and while I don't personally care for it, I like the fact that Incineroar was Fire/Dark, even though its theme could have so easily been dropped into fighting.

Make it anything else. Literally anything else. No one cares what its other type is, or if it'll even have another type, as long as it ISN'T. FIGHTING. The little bandage on its face is making us worried, but with Inceniroar you proved you could have a fighting-styled theme without actually being fighting type. Please, do that again.

I, too, will accept literally any type match but Fire/Fighting. Though if I could personally choose, I'd ask for Fairy or Dark again. It'd be nice to have a Fire/Dark I actually really like.

2. No shiny locking.

Nintendo has picked up this habit of making legendaries, especially the cover Pokemon, impossible to roll as shiny.  Basically, they're hard-coded so that when you encounter them, they cannot be shiny. That needs to stop. Just... yeah. Don't do that. Stop doing that. That's really all there is to it. It's a bad thing you're doing and you need to quit. It's literally MORE work to do for no reason. Just stop it.

3. Keep easier ways to find shinies.

Easy is a bit of a misnomer, because there's no way to easily get a shiny, no matter what anyone says. But there are ways to make it easIER, and I think that needs to be kept. Whether it's chain-catching like in Pokemon Let's Go or something else, give us a way that's actually possible to do to get shinies. Do not bring back that stupid "pick the right shaking grass when all of them are two pixels different" minigame. That's a BAD WAY to do it. Give us a way, and give us a way that actually can work, not make us lose our progress because we don't have eyes like eagles.

4. No motion controls.

Now, I don't think Pokemon Let's Go had a bad catching mechanic... IF the game was in handheld mode. The idea of being able to catch Pokemon without wearing down my team was actually really good, and it was something I liked a lot. I did miss being able to battle wild Pokemon and make them easier to catch, but if the Let's Go catching mechanic comes back I won't mind...

IF it works like it does in handheld mode. Docked mode was AWFUL. There's no ifs, ands, or buts, it was just badly. Programmed. No one liked it. No one enjoyed it. It was never consistent and often times was completely opposite to whatever you wanted to do.

5. Pokemon that follow you.

Like in the Johto remakes or Pokemon Let's Go, let your Pokemon follow you. We know you can do it. You actually DID do it in the Alola games, because there's data of every single Pokemon model with walk and run cycles on the cartritage that you just never actually let us access, so don't try to claim this isn't something you can't do. On top of that, the Switch is way bigger than the 3DS' carts. You have room. You have the skill. Give it to us.

6. New Eeveelutions.

Please, please, PLEASE. Give us new 'eons. It's been way too long without getting new Eevee forms, and you have so many types you can still make it from. Give us SOMETHING. ANYTHING. You're creative, you can come up with various ways to do stuff. What about a Steel-type that evolves when you level it up holding a Metal Coat? Or a Fighting-type that evolves if you get it to a certain level? Just give us SOMETHING.

Me, personally, I'd love to see a Dragon-type, Poison-type, or Ground-type Eeveelution, because I'm always short on those types and I think they'd be awesome.

7. Bring back Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves.

They're cool, they're fun, and they make things more interesting. I've heard people complain about how it ruins competitive battling because it's unpredictable, to which I say "Why is your competitive battling completely predictable? That sounds boring and not actually competitive if you can plug in a formula and have it work." Some people say that it makes the game too easy, to which I say "Then stop using them." It's the same as people complaining there's difficulty levels in games; you think the easy mode is too easy for you, then just don't play on the easy mode. If you think Z-Moves or Mega Evolution make the game too easy for you, then just don't use them. No one's forcing you to, and taking away something other people enjoy because you have no self-control over not using them is just really rude. I mean, no one says the magic system in Dark Souls makes the game too easy, so that needs to be removed!

...actually, there probably are people who say that, depressingly enough.

Anyway. For me, I love that I can make my Pokemon feel super powerful for a moment, or just use Z-Move to skip over a specific trainer or specific Pokemon that I just don't want to deal with. It gives you options on how to handle your own game and lets you balance your own difficulty for it, which is what all the best games do. And let's not forget the core, most basic reason: they're just FUN.

8. Skippable cutscenes.

It's 2019. How do you not have this yet? Some people want to replay the game. Some people don't care about the story. Some people just want to get to a certain part. It doesn't matter. What matters is that every single cutscene in your game that doesn't require a vital decision -- and don't try to be dishonest, nothing but the opening cutscene has any actual decisions, they're all fake ones to make you feel like you're actually having an effect -- should be skippable. Straight out, out of the box. No ifs, ands, or buts.

9. No forced tutorial.

I've played Pokemon since Red and Blue. I know how Pokemon works. I know how to catch Pokemon. You're trying to teach a fish to swim.

I'm not against these tutorials. There are plenty of new people getting into Pokemon games every release, and they need it. No one doubts that. But there is absolutely no reason that these tutorials are MANDATORY. If the new people skip the tutorials, that's their own fault, not yours, and they can't complain about the bed they made for themselves. So please, for the love of god, don't torture the rest of us because some idiot might skip the tutorial and then get mad.

10. The Regional Pokedex is what matters.

Sun and Moon did this fantastically. Basically, this means that for things that require you to complete the Pokedex, like the Shiny Charm? Only the Pokemon that can be caught in the actual region count. You can still catch and register Pokemon that aren't in your Regional Pokedex, but you aren't required to in order to "complete" the Pokedex. That was something that was amazing in Sun/Moon and made the game NOT a painful, daunting slog to actually get things like the Shiny Charm in. Please do that again.

11. No HMs.

I sincerely doubt this'll be a problem, since none of the latest generation games had HMs, but this is still something that bears repeating. HMs are not fun. No one likes HMs. They're just irritating, pointless moves that get in your way and force you to either devote a slot or two in your party to a Pokemon you don't care for or trash the combat ability of the Pokemon you actually have. Whether it's Ride Pokemon or Secret Techniques or whatever... make it happen.

I, and I'm sure many other people, literally do not care if you just put a piece of plastic tape over a plot hole. If it means that we don't have to use HMs, every single one of us will ignore the giant gaping hole in space with nary a single comment.

12. Wild Pokemon that walk in the overworld.

This was, to me, the absolute best part of Pokemon Let's Go. Being able to see the Pokemon in the overworld not only makes it feel far more alive, but it makes actually hunting around a lot more enjoyable, too. This mechanic made caves FUN AGAIN. I literally HAD FUN in Mt. Moon and Rock Tunnel because of this. Those weren't fun when they were first released and every other cave after that has never been fun unless you packed hundreds of repels. Now? Caves are enjoyable because you can fight or dodge however you want, because you can SEE where things are.

13. Human Rivals.

Now I know this is a very controversial opinion, and if you don’t like that’s perfectly fine, but don’t try to insult me over it.

I hate rivals with nasty personalities that treat you like shit.

I want a rival that is actually tolerable and acts like a real person, not some entitled whiny manbaby bitch who's high on his own ego.

I will never understand how people seriously enjoyed people like Blue, who were just complete insufferable pricks. They often made me roll my eyes and ruined the experience because they were just so unrepentantly rude and assholeish, no matter what you did, and they never changed. Some people "love to hate" insufferable, intolerable assholes, I guess, and love to beat them down over and over. And if you do? Awesome! I’m glad to hear it.

But for me, they just detract from a game because they constantly have to go "Oh hey, you're that useless shitwad no one likes, hahaha let me treat you like piss on my shoe". Beating them gives you satisfaction, sure, but no matter what you do or how you win, all your interactions with them are negative. That satisfaction comes from "Hah hah, I beat up the dude who's rude to me", and that's just... to me, that doesn't stay satisfying. Eventually I just start getting angry that this shitheel won’t go away and leave me alone, because them being around isn’t fun anymore.

I don't necessarily want the rival to be your best friend or the nicest person in the world. I really liked people like Silver and Gladion, but that was because while they were assholes at the start, you saw them grow and change and become better and happier people as the game went on. Was Silver ever super chummy with you? Pft, hell no! Not even close! But that was okay, because you still saw him change into a dude who was actually tolerable and not stay as the prick with his head so far up his ass he was tasting breakfast. And that was awesome!

My favorite rivals, honestly? Are ones like Hau, who were your rivals but also your friends, so your interactions with them were positive and fun. My mood always skyrocketing whenever I talked to Hau because he was just so friendly and cute, and that’s what I found far, far more satisfying than some prick who’d come around to call me a worthless shithead.

Pokemon Rivals aren't like the big bad in games like Final Fantasy. You're stuck with them, you can't get away from them, and you're not solving some big super evil by getting rid of them and making yourself feel satisfied. You’re just having this asshole who’s being rude to you for literally no reason stalk you and refuse to let you get away.

That’s insanely creepy and nasty. You're just being BULLIED with rivals like that, and I genuinely cannot understand why people seem to love being bullied in their own game by an insufferable prick who's so drunk on their own ego they think they're Arceus' gift to the world. The satisfaction of beating them feels outweighed by the negative feelings you have of them constantly berating and putting you down.

Maybe it's just because I'm from a home life where I was constantly bullied and ridiculed by all of my cousins, but I just can't find that sort of thing enjoyable. It's part of why I don't replay the Kanto games anywhere near as much as I replay the other ones, despite Kanto being my home region. (I honestly thought PLG was better than the original because Blue wasn’t there to be an insufferable, entitled manbaby egotist)

If it were up to me, honestly, I'd let you pick your rival like you could pick your gender. One rival's the Hau-type, one rival's the Blue-type, and the one you don't pick doesn't show up in game. That way, everyone could have what they want. Barring that, I really, really don't want to see another rival that's completely inhuman because all they are is an entitled prick there to bully you. I don't care if it's like Silver or Gladion, where they're rude at first but become genuinely likeable later, or if it's like Hau where they're always nice. Just... give me an actual rival, not some guy's fragile and inflated ego wrapped in a human suit.

I genuinely have no idea how so many people think having a person who doesn’t treat you like you’re a piece of shit unworthy of life is so bad it can be considered a plague and something that needs rectifying.

14. Side games! But make them optional.

Give us more side stuff to do! Pokemon Contests, Pokeathelon, the Festival Plaza... The Battle Tower. These were all fun things to do. When they were OPTIONAL. I think we need stuff like the casino and Voltorb Flip, or an area like the Festival Plaza we can design, because those are actually fun things to do. But I also think they need to be completely skippable for people who don't want them. Forcing people into doing side-games is a sure-fire way to get that side-game hated, but making it available gives us so much more we can do. It'd sure make the post game more fun.

15. Character Customization.

Hair, eyes, skin. These should all be default customization options, either able to change very early on or able to pick at the start. Alola was pretty good at this. Do it again.

16. CLOTHES.

Clothes, clothes, clothes. For the love of god, give us clothes again. Not your shitty Pokemon Let's Go no-effort recolors your artist did while on his way home from work. Not the "two shirt models, two skirt models, and a pants model with recolors" thing you did Alola. Actual clothing. Dresses, different skirts, different pants. What about that big black coat-dress I got from Kalos? Or the boots? The hose? We know you can make these designs. Actually make them.

17. Pokeball Conversion.

Let us put caught Pokemon in a Pokeball different from what we caught in it. If we want to put our starter in a Luxury Ball, just let us spend one Luxury Ball and bam, do it! Overwrite the ball it's in now. It shouldn't really be that hard since you can outright edit IVs.

18. Secret Bases or the Underground!

Give us Secret Bases back! They were amazing and fun, and being able to make your own base -- especially a base your friend could download so they could fight you on your own time! Being able to buy and decorate, or place it randomly, was also amazing. Failing Secret Bases, give us back the Underground from Sinnoh where we could dig and find items and... well, yeah, make a base down there too.

Just give us some way to make our mark on the game world. Even better if we can set a fly-point there and put our own heal station in. That way, if there's a place we want to grind, well. We can just grind there, or if we needed a break because our Pokemon were getting battered. You don't have the make the furniture easy to get, but give us some way to make our own little spot we can get cozy in, rather than the house we'll never revisit because there's no reason to ever go back there.

19. A final area where the game doesn't cheat.

I breed Pokemon competitively. I breed until a Pokemon has the extact right IVs, the exact right nature, the exact right ability. I breed Egg Moves and everything else that would cover their types. And still, things like the Battle Tree are just an unfun, messy slogy for me. The main issue I have with it is that so many times, it seems like the game outright cheats. I can't tell you how many different teams I went in, only to find that a trainer early on had hard counters for every single member of my team. Once is circumstance, twice is happenstance, but three times is a pattern... and I had no less than ten. Different Pokemon, different team comps, different days, and still, I very regularly got hard-countered.

I don't care that these options are hard. By all means, keep them hard! They're meant to be. But stop cheating and making the AI pick out a hard-counter team to yours just because you're "doing too well". I've seen it in so many post-game Pokemons, and it really needs to stop.

[thelongestdamnreviews]

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together

HAHAHA YES I DID IT I FINALLY BEAT THE GAME THE CURSE IS BR--

Uh. 

I finally finished the game this time, clocking in a time of just over 58 hours for Neutral route cleared and not really many sidequests done.  While I played this run with a mod (if you’ve played the game, you’ll notice in the pictures some differences), I'll talk about that another time.  I should note that I've given this game at least five prior attempts each clocking in at over 20 hours over the several years I've owned it, so this is a pretty significant victory in my eyes. 

The Valerian Isles have been in turmoil ever since the untimely death of her king, Dorgalua.  He passed with no heir, and a regent installed himself into rule, although his influence only really extended through the northern part of the isles.  The Hierophant Balbatos has enacted a regime of ethnic cleansing in the south against the Walister, your people, and your leader has already been captured.  Worse, the knights who torched your town years ago are headed your way and the only help you have are your sister and best friend...

Five versus three against your favor, and they’re all veterans versus you all never having taken the field.  What’s the worst that can happen? 

I'll be making a few comparisons to Tactics Ogre's sibling series, Final Fantasy Tactics, during this review and I apologize for making so many.  Tactics Ogre originally was a Super Famicom game and it was ported to the PlayStation 1 and Sega Saturn before getting remade on the PSP quite a while later.  I've never played any of the old versions prior so this is mostly new experiences for me. 

Tactics Ogre is a turn-based tactics RPG.  Field a small team of characters in a variety of classes and fight it out through a number of battles as you clear a swath through everyone standing in your way.  Warriors use big swords, Archers snipe with bows, Clerics heal, Canopus wins entire maps, Wizards damage and rebuff with spells, and so on.  Objectives vary between "kill all enemies" and "kill the enemy leader" with very few deviations.  Instead of the almost constant limit of five troops that Final Fantasy Tactics imposes on you, you can field a maximum of 12, but the limit increases or decreases based on the map, and even maps near the end of the game won't let you take everyone along.  Enemy troops will almost always outnumber yours, but you have the advantage of human intellect, grinding, and the ability to revive your troops to counter them. 

I’m apparently really bad at taking screenshots of actual gameplay, but the anti-aliasing on the text broke on the enemy’s numbers for some reason, thus the picture. 

Though this is a modern-day remake, the game still uses sprites for characters and the battlegrounds, but instead of having the ability to freely rotate the map, you can instead tilt the map overhead for a bird's eye view to plan your next move.  And in the process, it looks like the maps actually are 3D models textured to look like sprites.  One of the final maps in the story is a translucent bridge situated over a glowing pit, and you can actually adjust the camera to look into the pit for no reason other than it looks cool.  Spells also have been given a visual overhaul as have the weather effects in battle. 

It might be a little jarring to have such advanced effects shown alongside sprites and pixel artwork, but they at least put the PSP’s hardware to work with these. 

The biggest difference this version has to its prior incarnations or its siblings is how different the class system is.  Instead of individual characters having their own character level and class level, the classes themselves level up and characters no longer have a personal level.  If you have Warrior at 22 and change Denam from a level 5 Wizard to one, his level jumps to 22.  More characters of one class fielded at the same time level faster, as do people of a lower level than the average. 

It's an interesting system on paper, but it's got more than a few issues.  While you can take a new character and stuff them into a leveled class to use immediately, you'll have to babysit anyone who switches to a new class since they'll be stuck using weaker gear until they get back up to speed, due to everything having a minimum level to use.  Classes don't unlock too often so you'll have to decide if what new things the class can bring to the group are worth the trouble of grinding the characters back to effectiveness.  EXP and SP are rewarded once the battle is won and it doesn't seem to matter what anyone on your side does to affect the final number, so you're not penalized for someone being dead weight.  Battles where you have to kill the enemy leader can be useful for quick EXP/SP, but random battles never have these conditions. 

Characters have personal reserves of SP used to unlock new skills and up to ten slots to stick into them.  Skills either boost stats, like boosting defense or max HP or boosting ranged evasion, or they grant passive bonuses like weapon skills or racial skills boosting the damage done with said weapon/against said race, or they enable the use of certain spells like Fire Magic or Dark Magic, or they give your unit class-specific actions like Fearful Impact or Speedstar.  New skills unlock slowly as that class levels, but not all of them can be transferred to other classes. 

Some skills slowly rank up as you use them and weapon skills are no different.  You’re encouraged to get at least one weapon skill up to 2 for every character to unlock heavily-damaging Finishers, so you can burst down tanky targets or other dangerous foes. 

Unlike in FFT where you can reasonably allow your characters to access the skills of prior jobs so you could have a Knight with Black Magick abilities, here skills and spells and equipment is a lot more rigid.  A Knight and a Cleric can both use Divine Magic to heal allies, but only the Cleric can use resurrection magic.  A Knight can use Axes and 1H Swords, while the Cleric can't.  They both can use Hammers, but only female Clerics get the sole Hammer the class can use.  You kinda need to plan out your characters to minimize wasted SP.  While it's not in short supply, it can be frustrating to want to try something new with an old character and then have several of their skills not apply to the new class.  There is one special class that can use almost everything any other one class can use, but only one character can use it and it comes at a heavy cost, as well as said class learning nothing naturally.  Think Freelancer or Onion Knight from Final Fantasy proper. 

Combat is speed-based like in FFT.  Each class has a base Recovery Time as well as how much RT is added per panel of move.  Then this is all factored against the weight of the equipment you have on and the RT of the weapon.  Unique characters (either fully unique or named generics) almost always have lower base RT than generics, on top of some having unique classes and dialog opportunities in some battles.  Every class has HP for living and TP to fuel special abilities and weapon finishers that unlock once the related weapon skill is at least rank 2, but some have MP which start at 0 to prevent anyone from using their strongest spells on turn one, the same way FFTA2 does it.  You're given a turn order on the bottom of the screen so you can try to manipulate the battlefield to your advantage, such as seeing if a character might be within range to kill a healer before they can act. 

But if things wind up not going your way, another new feature to the game is the Chariot Tarot, an in-game turn rewinding feature.  This unlocks in your first non-tutorial battle and allows you to rewind up to 50 turns backwards, and it even saves the 'alternate timelines' you created in that battle so if your original plan turned out better, you can jump back to it.  The game records your use of this but you can do a same-turn Chariot free of charge, to perhaps try to aim a projectile spell another way or if an attack you needed to hit got dodged.  The game points out that repeating the same actions the same way will only bear the same results, so if an Archer is having trouble landing an arrow for example, it might be worth it to same-turn Chariot by firing from every different tile in range until you make your mark. 

I didn’t test to see how many alternate timelines you could make, but having the ability to rewind at all is pretty handy. 

There are three story routes across four chapters, but they branch off instead of being three full stories from beginning to end.  There is one Chapter 1, there are two Chapter 2s, three Chapter 3s, and one Chapter 4 where they all converge again.  Law route has no branches, but Chaos can branch into Neutral at the end of Chapter 2.  Each branch has its own story sequences, but the roles characters play in them might change.  Someone who is an ally on one route might be an enemy on another, someone may live or die or even be recruitable depending on how you go.

  Once you finish the game, you gain access to the World Tarot, which allows you to travel time forward and backward, jumping to Anchor Points while you keep your gear and roster.  There are several Anchor Points sprinkled through each route's chapters, but you can't merely jump to a specific story battle at-will.  Don't go back to the start of the game and expect to zero-effort everyone you find though, as enemies will now scale to your level and their gear will too.  The World Tarot gives you an opportunity to replay story battles or to tackle another route too.  Beating the game also unlocks the CODA section of the game, four short but new chapters made originally as DLC for this version of the game, baked into the release we got here.  Progress through CODA requires certain characters to be considered alive by the timeline used to access it, so you may need to replay a good portion of the game to make the new timeline 'canon'. 

You still experience the routes as if you were playing them the first time, so Denam won’t try to change history even further.  Though one chapter in CODA does meddle with history to save a friend...

When not fighting on the battlefield, you can buy new wares in shops, recruit new people in shops, or craft new items if you have the recipes and materials.  Crafting can make very powerful equipment even early on, but the biggest caveat is that the process is very tedious.  You need to make advanced versions of materials one step at a time, and it's entirely possible that something will fail and you'll lose the materials in the process.  I believe one piece of Wootz Steel takes over 30 steps and again, there's the failure risk to consider.  You will be save-scumming quite a bit when it comes to crafting. 

You can also auction off recruited monsters for money that you can then turn around and use to buy the meat and other items processed from their bodies!  Somehow it’s even worse than FFT’s Poach/Secret Hunt because you’re doing this to members of your own team...

The last option accessed on the map is the Warren Report.  This is like the Brave Story of FFT, but it allows you to replay cutscenes as well as see an overall timeline of when events happen, and it has bios of damn near everyone you meet and fight and kill.  And they're not one-liners either--some enemies are nth generation knights or one pirate is actually pregnant (and you killed her, you monster), and so on.  The Warren Report also holds all of the Titles you earn naturally by playing or by doing specific side goals (so Achievements basically), as well as tracking the number of battles fought, Chariot Tarot uses, number of escapes, number of allied KOs, number of allied deaths, and how many people you've killed as well as to which clan they were affiliated.  And finally, it functions as a music player. 

War is hell.  All of those people you kill aren’t just faceless goons.  Just...the ones with names are the only people who show up here as opposed to every generic person having a bio. 

The music in this version has been given a full orchestral overhaul, given the 70-some names used in the credits for all the instruments, and several songs have been lengthened and given new parts.  The Warren Report also lists composer notes about the tracks, saying what kind of mood they were going for or talking about how difficult it was to get specific instruments to meld together.  The game has a percentage unlocked stat for the songs and I want to believe that most of them unlock by hearing them and winning the battles where they play, but at least one is unlocked by the Titles you earn. 

Okay, so that's Tactics Ogre.  Move your troops around the battlefield killing people until you win, then move onto the next map.  Buy or make new gear and spells and buy skills to keep your team in top shape, and experience the story across three different routes. 

It’s been a while since I last went through FFT, but it didn’t show you dead civilians a few times, did it?

What's good?  There's a lot of content here.  You can be sated with a one-and-done like I've done, but if you want to do everything in this game, you might want to set aside a couple hundred hours.  There's a bunch of side quests and extra dungeons, and one of them is even 115 battles long.  And you need to do that one in one go or you have to start over, but at least you can save between the fights this time.  And to get the most out of it, you need to do it more than once.  Yeah.  There is a lot to do here, to the point where I'd say that no other FFT can come close.  I hope you like grid-based turn-based RPG tactical goodness because this game is full of it. 

And variety too.  There are a bunch of different weapons for each type, a bunch of spells for each element, a bunch of skills for each class, and a bunch of classes for each race.  Even monsters have classes!  Though Golems and Dragons really only get to change, but demihumans like Reptiles and Orcs get access to some classes Humans can use, while they also get classes only they can use too.  And then you have Hawkmen who scoff at terrain differences and can fly everywhere, but they can only use a handful of classes. 

I'm a fan of the music.  I now wake to the Warren Report theme as opposed to E.S. Battle from Xenosaga Episode II like I have for the past forever.  And speaking of sound, the death cries are pretty lacking, especially compared to the PS1 FFT's anguished screams, but that can be ignored...even if you hear them quite a bit. 

If you're into customizing your troops, then this game will definitely scratch that itch, even with the restrictions on the skills I mentioned above.  There is actually a strategy revolving around recruiting enemies off the field in order to get their gear and to get their skills.  When enemies die in this game, they leave either a bag of loot containing some of their gear or valuable coins, or they leave a tarot card that increases stats of whoever picks it up and said card becomes a usable item in combat.  Instead of crystals you pick up to learn skills, you instead intentionally kill these recruits and then Scavenge their skills onto someone compatible.  And this doesn't get into the ridiculousness of Snapdragons or Cursed Weapons either, of which I didn't touch at all. 

There is some good scriptwork here too, though it has the same quasi semi-Elizabethan/Medieval bent the way War of the Lions did. 

What's bad?  Strangely, I felt like at least Chapter 4 dragged on a little too long, and that doesn't even count the multi-stage final dungeon.  This wasn't the first time my interest flagged since at least two other runs have gotten to the final dungeon and I just...stopped.  I imagine part of it was due to me somewhat rushing through the game (at a snail's pace?) and just wanting to finally be done with it this time, but I kinda dreaded the final part of the game since I knew it'd take a while--but I was wrong there. 

There are several fights where you're unable to leave, sort of like Riovanes in FFT.  You assault the castle's gates, then you enter the courtyard, then you break into the throne room, etc.  You can always save into another slot in case things go south, but then you have nothing to show for your efforts other than a little bit of knowledge for the next try and a need to get levels/gear/skills up to snuff.  The final dungeon is also set up this way, with maybe 12 fights if you don't take any shortcuts, and that many more you have to plow through if your team can't take on the last enemies.  At least it's a nice touch that there are sometimes alternate routes to the same goal, and yes the Warren Report tracks each of these different approaches if you’re a completionist. 

I mentioned crafting's tediousness, but that's at least optional.  A major gripe I had with the shop was the inability to compare the stats between the gear my people had on with what the store was offering.  So I'd save, buy a few things, go to the Party menu, compare, maybe reload the save and buy less or different things...  I get that it's a remake, but a Fitting Room option really would not have hurt this game one bit.  Because each tier of gear gives boosts to different stats, it's hard to tell how effective something would be until it's in your hands, and I found money tight enough that I couldn't just keep a copy of every weapon and armor on hand just for this reason.  You can use the page feature to see if whichever class is leveled enough to use the item in question, but there's no stat comparison and stats are kind of important here. 

It would have been amusing for people you kicked out to get revenge, but this never happens. 

I didn’t like how you still couldn’t see your starting position and the enemy before you commit to battle, the same way that FFT did it but not either FFTA.  Being able to change your gear or classes or skills or so on this way would’ve been a nice quality of life change, if to just make things a little less tedious.  Like knowing if you should keep your regular gear on or swap to Baldur while diving into the Palace of the Dead, to exploit Baldur doing heavy damage to the undead. 

So yeah.  Tactics Ogre is pretty good.  I think I still prefer the FFTs more but this isn't bad.  It still plays like its sibling games, just the differences can trip you up a bit if you don't adjust to how TO works its classes and all.  I think FFT and all are more accessible and more flexible, but if you've interest in other games like them, then Tactics Ogre is definitely worth a try.  It'll keep you busy for a while, especially if you decide to dive into all of the content here. 

Final stats. 

[jamesnelsonart]

Pokemon Let's Go play this game before Smash Ultimate comes out

Did you guys hear about Pokemon Go? It was really popular. It still is, actually. It will probably never get back to that point it was at when it launched and you saw groups of people playing it, but the audience has remained huge and consistent. I’m guessing GameFreak saw this success and realized they should probably do something with it. And that’s how we got Pokemon Let’s Go: Pikachu and Eevee, a reimagining of Pokemon Yellow Version which features connectivity with the popular phone game.

When these two games were announced, there was a divisive response. A lot of people were hoping for a REALLY new Pokemon title with new Pokemon, not a remake of Kanto, a region that itself has already been remade on the GBA. To top it off, wild battles are replaced by Pokemon Go-style capture sequences, abilities are gone, and you only get the original 151 Pokemon to play with. This announcement was seen as a big step back. But what this criticism fails to take into account is the fact that GameFreak has stated that a brand new core title is coming out next year, so the Let’s Go games aren’t replacing anything. If anything, these should grow the audience by introducing the casual Pokemon Go players to a simplified version of the battle system with the original 151 Pokemon so as not to overwhelm them. If they enjoy it, they may swim into deeper waters and buy the core titles. It makes sense. So… judging the games on their own merits, are they good?

I should say these games are clearly aimed for the younger fans. Pikachu and Evee have improved stats that make them quite strong. Pikachu is basically a sweeper with strong attacks and nice coverage while Eevee has kind of mediocre stats but the greatest movepool in the universe. Both of these starters can efficiently steamroll the entire game by themselves so little babies will enjoy this game a ton. You can tell this game was made for the super young as some of the puzzles from the gen1 games are simplified greatly. Also, you can now feed your pokemon stat-enhancing candies that can seriously boost their stats so even if your favorite Pokemon is something with poor stats like Lickitung or Onix, with enough investment you can still ride through single player using those ones if you wanna use your faves so this is great for casual players. Having your Pokemon follow you is cool too, you can even ride on some of them. If you want any kind of challenge, you’d best look elsewhere unless you’re interested in playing against your friends, because that’s the only challenge that can be found here. Even the small amount of postgame stuff is easy, unless you wanna fight the master trainers, but that’s more monotonous than hard. You might think you’re a winner if you beat all these people but the only winner will be the ravages of time after you fought someone with a level 70 Metapod and now you’re both using struggle because the battle actually took that long. You only gotta beat six of these guys to fight Red and you don’t get money or exp for beating him so… who cares lol. So from reading this you can probably tell that this game didn’t cater to my tastes but that doesn’t make it bad, in fact I think there’s a lot to learn from this installment.

Let me get this out of the way first: I really enjoyed Sun and Moon and all that they brought to the table. Alolan forms are cool, HMs are gone, the new Pokemon were well-received (though there were not a lot of them), z-moves are a nice addition that gave battles an unexpected twist, the story was great, playthroughs have some challenging opponents to face, and it was easier than ever to build a competitive team. After all this time some faults become apparent, however. Those games had constant cutscenes disrupting the flow for minor events, a limited selection of wild Pokemon for the adventure, and way too many tutorials that you were forced to watch. Pokemon Let’s Go might be a spin-off, but it seems clear it worked to address previous faults with the core titles. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing a lot of these changes implemented into the main series. You begin your adventure almost immediately and get to go on your way and start catching Pokemon. There are only a few cutscenes here and there and they are mainly reserved for encountering strong legendaries like Mewtwo, so they’re fine and inoffensive. I thought I would hate the fact that wild battles are gone but the more I thought about it the more I realized how obsolete wild battles have becoming in Pokemon games. You really have no chance of losing these things and if things actually manage to get risky you can always just run away. Plus if you’re interested in competitive play then captured Pokemon are often inferior to those hatched from eggs… a sad state for a game series about “catching them all”. In a recent interview Junichi Masuda complained that players just hatch eggs to get the Pokemon they wanted these days and that he wanted to bring things back to focus on catching. I think it’s safe to say he succeeded on this front. Capturing is fun and simple enough, and if you catch a ton of the same Pokemon in a row, its stats will be mostly-perfect. I would love if this wild encounter method were to be brought over to the main games. There are also some nice quality-of-life changes to make it easier to get the perfect Pokemon. Bottle Caps are easier to get to increase your stats, you can pay a lady in Celadon City to make every Pokemon you encounter have a specific nature for the day, and you can combo-catch Chansey to easily level your Pokemon up to their maximum levels to hyper train them. These are all nice. You know what isn’t nice? The strange lack of control customization. If you’re playing handheld you gotta use gyro aiming, so playing in a car is not really a thing you can do all the time. If you’re playing with the joycon the motion detector can be imprecise, making it a pain to catch Pokemon that move around. It’s kind of a pain that there’s no traditional control scheme for catching. It’s kind of strange that a game designed for mass appeal doesn’t have these basic customization features.

Speaking of mass appeal, this game has a pretty interesting way of getting casual players into competitive teambuilding by including a couple of basic battle features but keeping it limited so as not to surprise players or present too much that might turn people off to the experience. Only the original 151 Pokemon are available, along with Mega Evolutions, the Alolan forms and the new Pokemon Meltan, who evolves into Melmetal. This makes sense, as dark, steel, and fairy types didn’t exist during gen1 so the Alolan forms help to bring in more type diversity. That being said, I don’t think anyone would have objected to including the new evolved later forms of the original Pokemon to the game. Onix, Tangela, Scyther, Lickitung, Magmar, Electabuzz, Rhydon, Seadra, Porygon, Eevee, Poliwhirl, Slowpoke, Gloom, Golbat, and Chansey all got new evolutions as the games went on, and including them would’ve given us more type diversity and better Pokemon, but oh well. Abilities are gone in order to keep things simple so no one gets an unpleasant surprise when they try to attack Weezing with Earthquake. Hold Items are out as well. Movepools are also altered to keep things understandable so type matchups should proceed as a newcomer would expect them to. For example, sending an electric type out against Gyarados is usually not a great idea, as Gyarados will use Dragon Dance to outspeed it and beat it with Earthquake. But now Dragon Dance isn’t in these games, making matchups proceed in a more expected fashion. Weather is also gone, and a couple of recovery moves like Slack Off, Moonlight, and Synthesis are nowhere to be found, so Pokemon may be forced to rely on Rest without Sleep Talk. In a baffling move, Stealth Rock is a TM and Rapid Spin and Defog aren’t in the game. What the fuck, GameFreak. The move Teleport is actually useful now, it’s a negative-priority move that lets you switch Pokemon, it’s great for switching in something frail that can’t take a hit. Let’s hope they put that in the next core title. Most of this is only noteworthy for fighting other players, you will be too powerful to even need strategy for the single player, largely due to your starter and the capture system’s huge experience point rewards.

The capture system allows you to rack up a ton of experience points. Also, trainers in Let’s Go have small teams of unevolved Pokemon, so they do not do much to trouble the player. So how would you merge the capture system into a core title? Well, for starters give trainers bigger teams and have the CPUs execute real battle strategies against the player. This idea would make fights more memorable and also serve to teach the player about making their own strategies. Boom, you’d have a real game there. Let’s Go is mainly for casual players but I hope they don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater here, a lot of the new ideas presented are really good, and the game IS fun, but it lacks staying power. Imagine how much better the capture mechanic will be paired with a more… substantial game.

[instantlydelicategarden-blog]

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While my blog and digital photo books have taken over my hobby time recently, my heart is more in the realm of paper crafting even if it’s been almost a year since I tackled a project. The days are just too short to do everything I want to do, so sometimes things get put aside for a while. I know that eventually I will circle back to my paper crafts and put my obsessively over stocked craft room to good use again.

I have always been drawn to other crafters who excel in the field and have an entire bookcase dedicated to books written by fellow memory keepers sharing their tips and tricks. So, when I realized that there was a quilling artist located in Maine, I knew I had my letter Q locked up. I too have tried my hand at quilling, but on a much more simplistic and less successful level. 

Stacy Bettencourt creates incredible designs that bring paper to life. When I scrolled through her website, Mainely Quilling, and looked and the portfolio of designs she has done I am truly in awe. I recommend visiting her Pinterest board to see the range and scope of her work. It is impossible to pick a favorite although I find her quilled lobsters especially interesting probably because I love all things connected to Maine.

Below is a slideshow of pictures from Stacy that showcase her amazing designs.

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Stacy was kind enough to answer a few questions for me about her quilling art.

How long have you been quilling?

I have been quilling since late 2014.

Are you self-taught or did you take any lessons?

I am completely self-taught as are most quillers. It’s a medium that works easily and has a lot of possibilities. I think that perfectionists and control-freaks excel at it as we get to micromanage hundreds of teeny weeny pieces of paper and they have to do what we make them do – or else! (To the rubbish bin…) lol

Do you find your other art skills have helped you with your quilling projects?

I think that having innate artistic ability allows quillers to achieve excellence with their work and to create truly masterful artwork, though I have seen people with no “known” artistic talents become quite amazing quillers. Maybe it’s more to do with details and patience and persistence than artistic flair? I’m not entirely sure how it works. I think that my background in art has helped with presentation and color choices and balancing and knowing what people might like to look at.

Where do you find inspiration for your designs?

I find inspiration in my daily life mostly. I get ideas when I think of something that interests me. I love adapting photographs and illustrations into the quilled medium. I like to remake line art. I often make things that I loved as a child – hence the horse, my mother’s house, the church, the lion, etc.

Is there a piece you’re especially proud of?

I’m especially proud of the lion and the horse. The horse was truly a labor of love as she took me over forty hours to complete. The lion was around 30-40 total. The art of quilling isn’t something you can whip up in a few minutes like a sketch. Projects often go on for days, even weeks.

What has been the most challenging piece you have made?

I can’t decide which piece was the most challenging as they all have their moments but in different ways. I tend to move from one extreme to another and with this come new techniques and… of course… challenges. My mother’s house was the first multi-layered piece I did and I had to create new techniques to make it work in four separate layers. The horse was completely “combed” (a technique) and I had to use the paper as paint to create the color gradients and shading. That was a new thing for me.

Are there any tips you would give to someone starting out with quilling?

The tips that I would give to anyone starting out with quilling is to begin with a small assortment of tools and paper. It’s very inexpensive, around $20 will get you through the initial phase where you decide if you like it or not. Google and Youtube are your friends when it comes to learning techniques and finding simple patterns to try out. And possibly the best thing to do is join an online quilling community like the one that I formed last year: Contemporary Quilling. The groups are filled with a wide range of quillers from beginner to expert and you will learn more than you think is possible while gathering inspiration and confidence with your own artwork.

When someone commissions you for a piece, what is the process?

The bulk of my commissions come from someone seeing a piece that I’ve posted on the web somewhere. They use the contact form on my website or message me through my Facebook page. We have a discussion about what they are looking for and I figure out a price for them. Once that’s settled I require a 50% non-refundable deposit to begin the piece and 50% prior to delivery. Most of my customers are from the US and they span from California all the way to the northern tip of Maine.

She also shares tips and tricks on quilling on her website including tutorials which cover everything from tools of the trade to the difference in paper widths and how it impacts your design. I especially liked her video on boucle, beehive, popcorn, continuous scroll. I had no idea how easy this one was to do. And by easy, I mean trying it on a random strip of paper. It would not be easy to use it in a design and make it look as amazing as she does. But, I am going to try it out on my next scrapbook page.

She sells some of her items through her Facebook store, and can be contacted directly for commissions. Wherever your imagination can take you, I’m pretty sure Stacy can follow turning strips of paper into intricate designs full of precision and whimsy.

Do you do any paper crafting? Have you ever tried quilling?

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Q is for (Mainely) Quilling | I am in awe of these amazing paper creations. #atozchallenge While my blog and digital photo books have taken over my hobby time recently, my heart is more in the realm of paper crafting even if it's been almost a year since I tackled a project.