#it’s like that one Pokémon shiny that’s barely any different from the original

[front-facing-pokemon]

On the whole "Shinies are picked manually from gen 6 onwards, early shinies were auto-generated" - its... Debatable. It definitely seems like a lot were - which is why a lot of blue Pokemon become pink, such as Vaporeon and Kingra, while it would make sense for Pokemon like Gengar and Dragonite to get such horrendous shinies.

But there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. The same colours get swapped differently on different Pokemon, and no one person has figured out the formula for how shinies are determined. Then there's the "gen 6 onwards are manually coloured" theory - and that is all it is, a theory. It does seem to be the case, as some shinies are phenomenal and would definitely not get randomly swapped like that (Pallosand is one of the big arguments for that) but then there are others that are... Just not very good shinies, like Talonflame.

There's absolutely zero confirmation from Game Freak as to how shinies are decided, and there definitely a TREND that we can see involving it, but they're all just theories.

Lockstin & Gnoggin has a video called "Is This How Shiny Pokemon Were Made" which covers a LOT of information on shinies and the speculation behind how shinies are made.

i am seeing a LOT of mixed opinions on what is actually the truth here. compelling evidence from both sides, it seems? though two mentions of lockstin & gnoggin by now (though with seemingly two differing opinions about the fate of shinies pre-gen-6?) so i'm going to make a solid bet that we're all just grasping at straws and patterns for how we Think shinies are determined. is that fair enough to say? i always thought they were all deliberate and the ugly ones were just a matter of taste, with the ones that barely change being a matter of someone being lazy or something. but also i guess the "ugly" ones can be a matter of taste even in recent gens—i don't think indeedee's is that bad, and tandemaus… well, they could've done to change the actual body instead of the li'l pants they're wearing. togedemaru is definitely underwhelming. it would make sense that there's some sort of algorithmic approach to choosing shinies, especially considering how we have seen some shinies change in color over the years (see: the shiny ralts line, for example, in which they appeared purple back in the 3d gen 3 spinoffs, pokémon colosseum and gale of darkness), but then doesn't entirely track once we get to pokémon like sneasel, whose original appearance was completely different, but even after its body colors were changed in pokémon crystal and onward, it still retained the same shiny. and yet sylveon is still the only good shiny out of all the eeveelutions (sorry bleep blorp espeon and pink vaporeon), which was the eeveelution released in gen 6 (umbreon is still good, i guess, but doesn't change a ton), where we're all supposing they started "manually picking." i think all this was sparked from an ask about helioptile's shiny, which seemed to be a reference to something—i'm sure there's plenty of other shinies that fit that bill, but with over a thousand pokémon out there to come up with shinies for, are we ever gonna be able to prove that it's not just a coincidence? like i thought the nacli line was a very obvious minecraft reference but i don't think anyone agrees with me on that one. then again, they did go out of their way to name a pokémon fucking "lechonk" which i'm still not over being one of the most annoying names they've ever created. so sorry lechonk fans but i swear toby fox had a hand in naming that one

[pkmn-elavir]

Star Seekers: Characters

Star Seekers:

Raiko:

He/Him - 20 - Jolteon/Dusk Lycanroc Mix - Electric/Rock - Bold - Quick Feet - 0.8 m/2’7”

Moveset:

Thunder Shock

Bite

Thunder Fang

Rock Tomb

Raiko is very rambunctious and energetic, rarely sitting still. He likes adventure and battles, but of course only if his opponents are up for it, as it's all just for fun.

Fun Fact(s): Only one I don't even remember where I got the idea for. He has existed since 2019 and I have barely anything left of whatever the original idea was.

Roku:

He/Him - 22 - Archen/Zorua Mix - Flying/Dark - Careful - Defeatist - 0.6 m/2’0”

Moveset:

Fake Tears

Pluck 

Feint Attack

Ancient Power

Roku lives in a hidden underground base. He rarely leaves the base, fearing running into any other Pokémon.

Fun Fact(s): Started as an idea for an ask blog about a weird Archen who lives in an abandoned underground base. Originally was set in the regular Pokémon world with humans, he was just a weirdo who walked on his wings. He then got redesigned into Archen/Zorua mix.

Joki:

They/Them - 25 - Vaporeon Variant - Water/Grass - Relaxed - Water Absorb - 1 m/3’3”

Moveset:

Giga Drain

Water Pulse

Aurora Beam

Aqua Ring

Joki is quiet and calm most of the time, preferring solitude but not minding the company of their friends. They're very laid-back and always there for their friends.

Fun Fact(s): Created alongside Raiko but actually had something written down about them: The idea was a kelpie, or similar water creature inspired Vaporeon. The name is Finnish for river, but apparently also how you'd spell the word for vapor in Japanese with the Latin script. Very fitting for a Vaporeon. Later decided for them to be a Vaporeon variant with Water/Grass typing.

Toren:

He/Him - 26 - Umbreon/Houndoom Mix - Dark/Fire - Naughty - Unnerve - 1.1 m/3'7”

Moveset:

Bite

Fire Fang

Taunt

Scary Face

Likes to tease others, though he can come across as a little scary. Usually has Fern pull him back in line.

Fun Fact(s): First of the characters made specifically for this story. Decided to make him a mix of some of my favourite dark types. Decided to make the Umbreon markings red instead of yellow since I felt they looked better and then just went wild on the design from there.

Fern:

He/They - 28 - Leafeon/Ninetales Mix - Grass/Fire - Sassy - Chlorophyll - 1 m/3’3”

Moveset:

Magical Leaf

Flamethrower

Sunny Day

Synthesis

Seems nice and friendly but is even meaner than Toren, though can hold himself back better. Tends to behave as an older brother to the younger members.

Fun Fact(s): The one whose colours I struggled the most with. I could have gone for autumnal yellow orange brown, but I simply don't like those colours much so I went with shiny version so it would work with the greens better. The turquoise came from not wanting to use the brown of Leafeon and the purple of shiny Ninetales didn't work well so I went with something entirely different instead.

Vari:

He/They - 50s - Absol - Dark - Serious - Justified - 1.2 m/3’11”

Moveset:

Detect

Slash

Night Slash

Zen Headbutt

Very serious protector. Rarely interacts with others, so he’s a bit awkward around other Pokémon. Very kind and only wants to help others to the best of their abilities.

Fun Fact(s): The design idea was an immediate idea, but then I struggled with the name. I went with varis (Finnish for crow) but without the s.

Legendaries:

Zero:

They/Them - Centuries - Reshiram/Zygarde Mix - Dragon/Fire - Quiet - Turboblaze - 4 m/13’1”

Moveset:

Outrage

Blue Flare

Earthquake

Glare

Loner who rarely shows themself around others. Though they prefer solitude, they cannot abandon someone in need.

Fun Fact(s): Started from an idea to fuse my two favourite legendaries together. I made a custom preset in Feral Heart to make the idea true many years ago. Though I have no idea what the character's name was, as all of that is gone, I had some images saved. The name is just first thing I thought of when mixing some of the letters from the legendaries together. For this story though I decided to use Zygarde's 10% instead of the 50% I used originally, so it's a new design.

Astrolupe:

They/It - Eons - Astrolupe - Psychic - Gentle - Starblind (Prevents the opponents from targeting any other Pokémon) - 3 m/9’10”

Endlessly kind and caring, always working hard to make sure everyone is happy, even to the point of neglecting their own well-being.

Fun Fact(s): Idea that started as me realizing I wanted a legendary but none of the existing matching with the theme and design I like together. Eventually worked out as a way of explaining the eggs. The name is just space related word + canine related word that felt like they worked well enough together.

Cygnova:

He/They/It - Eons - Cygnova - Dark - Lonely - Slow Pull (Lowers opponents’ speed over time) - 4.2 m/13’9”

Used to enjoy his job and working together with Astrolupe, but grew bitter as Pokémon began seeing death as a terrible thing. It withdrew from Astrolupe, though they were the only one who truly loved it. Struggling with the various negative emotions led to him striking at Astrolupe.

Fun Fact(s): Counterpart to Astrolupe that didn't exist at first but realized I might as well make and went from there. The name is Cyg from the first known black hole Cygnus X-1 (abbreviated Cyg X-1) + nova from supernova. I somehow accidentally gave both of them exactly 4 tails without meaning to. I just drew tails till I felt it was a good number. Apparently that number was exactly 4.

Side Characters:

Zar:

He/Him - 18 - Flygon - Ground/Dragon - Jolly - Levitate - 2 m/6’7”

Moveset:

Earthquake

Dragon Claw

Fly

Helping Hand

Enthusiastic and optimistic. Travels around to help other Pokémon with their troubles.

Fun Fact(s): A character I made a custom preset on Feral Heart. Simply called Flygonaut because the idea was Flygon + Raz Psychonauts. I guess I just felt the names and aesthetics (goggles) worked well I suppose? Anyway I do love Flygon so I decided to add him to this story as a side character.

Pokidoki:

He/They - 24 - Mightyena - Dark - Quirky - Quick Feet - 1 m/3’3”

Moveset:

Thief

Yawn

Sucker Punch

Play Rough

Very strange Mightyena who seems to not have grown up at all. They just want to play around all the time.

Fun Fact(s): Another character originating from Feral Heart. Pokidoki was one of my several FH accounts and I decided to make a character representing each account and this was Pokidoki, a red and white Mightyena with a big red collar. I kept the name even if it's a bit strange as an actual name. Decided to add them as another side character to show up in the story.

Character Height Comparison:

[apple-pecan]

Pokémon FireRed (2004)

i will not waste time on an intro because everyone already knows what pokemon is. and everyone already knows that FireRed and LeafGreen are remakes of the original games yeah yeah yeah whatever. but would you believe me if i said i've never beaten a pokemon game before? "yes", you say? well, uh, fuck. either way, i decided i might as well try to finish the games that started them all. or at least the remakes because i dont think i could stare at black and white screens for too long.

as far as remakes go this isnt half bad. this was made during gen 3 so expect similar gameplay to ruby/sapphire/emerald. it's been modernized quite well with the addition of held items, natures and abilities and what not. however, even with these shiny new features and QoL changes, kanto is still kind of an annoying place to be.

for example, the early game hell in many old pokemon games is especially rough here. when you start the game, you have barely any money to afford potions and/or pokeballs, only being able catch pidgeys and rattatas and bug pokemon with stupidly low levels (unless your patient enough to catch pikachu with it's 5% appearance rate, i wasn't), having to navigate a forest with pokemon that can easily poison you (oh yeah hope you have money for antidotes too asshole), trainers that barely give you any money, two gym leaders that will ruin you if you picked charmander, having to navigate a really fucking annoying cave to get to said second gym leader UGH. but once you beat misty it's smooth sailing from there. until the elite four at least.

it's fun finding all the little creatures in the grass and smoking other trainers with your specialized party, it's an addicting gameplay loop that still endures which is why there's like 60 of these games now. there are a few issues i have, mainly the concept of HMs. they're special moves you can learn that have uses outside of battle like cutting down trees and flying to towns you've visited before. however, you can't unlearn them for a good portion of the game so if your pokemon has learned one, they now have one less move slot to work with. so the "solution" is to just have a useless pokemon thats in your party only to use HMs, meaning now you have only 5 real pokemon on your team. it's insane that this was an issue in every single fucking game in the series until sun and moon, 20 years after the original games. better late than never i guess.

another issue is how EXP is divided among pokemon. only pokemon that were active in a battle get EXP, and depending on how many you sent out, it's divided for each one. i.e. if you used two pokemon and the enemy gives you 600 EXP, they each get 300 instead. three pokemon, 200. thing is most wild pokemon you caught suck ass until they start getting levels so you have to do what's called "switch training" which involves putting the one pokemon you wanna grind levels for at the front so they're sent out to battle first, and when the battle starts, immediately switch to your actual good pokemon and win the battle that way. eventually, your weak pokemon will get stronger.

this whole process takes forever and call me a basic bitch but i actually like the EXP Share in later games. all it does is save hours of your life grinding, but the one issue it does have is that it makes the games too easy, in which case, there's something inherently wrong with how the the main gameplay of the entire series is balanced. pokemon should stop trying to uphold traditions and try something entirely new! maybe take a few pages from other monster collector games like digimon and persona/SMT... but they WONT because these games are too mega popular and have a huge competitive scene and the last time they tried to do something different and bold with the main series (black and white) everyone hated them BECAUSE they did something different and no one FUCKING BOUGHT THEM!!!!! oh yeah wasn't this a review of firered

gigantic rant i had aside i still quite enjoyed my time with firered, when the game works it really works. when i finally have a team of pokemon i like and start demolishing trainers and gym leaders left and right it's really engrossing, even if the kanto games haven't aged the best. im still glad i beat it though and i wanna play more in the future, maybe try emerald or platinum next. i never quite got into pokemon the same way i did with other RPGs like final fantasy or dragon quest but it's still a fun series with lots of good monster designs, and when i do actually get to play the multiplayer with friends i always have a ton of fun. a good time, but if i see ONE more pidgey or rattata...

NOTE: i love you dragonite. i love you. i want hug. eevee too. baby

[azoreaneve]

Legends Arceus seed RNG manip tutorial

Ok because there's barely ANY tutorials online about this (and no, discord is NOT an archive of knowledge) ever since the switch emulators got nuked, I want to share the ideal way to RNG manipulate seed spawns on Pokémon Legends Arceus. Not outbreaks, but the seeded spawns.

So what you need is the game, a way to check your pokémons' IVs and abilities (e.g. PKHeX), some way to take notes or screenshots, and of course the pla-reverse-gui (on Lincoln-ML's github). To maximise the chances of getting shinies you'll want to get perfect research on the pokémon and own the shiny charm.

In PLA the whole map of an area is seeded when you load in (you reseed by leaving to the village and returning to the area) with each spawner having its own seed. If you know the seed of a spawner you know exactly what pokémon will show up after you catch/KO the current ones on that spawner. There are multiple types of spawners, some will always spawn 2 pokémon, some always 1, and some will spawn an inconsistent number of pokémon, like 1-3.

These latter ones currently can't be RNG'd because we can't figure out the seed. Single 'mon spawners are just not worth it because there are no multiple paths to the pokémon generated so you will easily need some 60 iterations to get the same pokémon that you'd get in 10 on a double spawner.

Pokémon respawn when the time changes (e.g. from "morning" to "midday") or when the weather changes. Static alpha spawners take multiple time changes to respawn, I personally wouldn't bother with those.

Unfortunately you can't control the weather… or can you? Well...

I recommend doing this RNG manipulation during the quest to meet the lake trio. When you're ostracised from the village there is NO WEATHER at all to fuck up your respawns. You also don't have to talk to the fucking professor and go through multiple prompts just to leave an area. Life is much simpler.

Onto the real tutorial

Have autosave off for all of this.

Pick a spawner, let's use a triple qwilfish one here. Go to the area of it, bring 3 empty slots in your team, get near the spawner, and save. Catch all 3. You need to be able to distinguish future qwilfish from them so jot down some characteristics like gender, level, stats.

Reload. We will now discover what the seed finder calls pokémon 1. Catch/KO 1 pokémon, ensure the other 2 are still there and didn't run away or somehow despawn (happens A LOT with stuff like basculin). Teleport to camp. Rest/advance time, preferably to some other day time to prevent day pokémon from despawning into drifloons and fucking all of this up. Go back to the spawner, catch everyone there. One of the qwilfish will be different from the originals, that's your pokémon 1 and you can fill in its data on the seed finder.

Reload. We will now find pokémon 2 by basically the same method. Catch/KO 2 pokémon instead of 1, ensure the remainder doesn't randomly despawn, go rest to advance time, save when you get to the spawner, then catch everyone there. You should have an original qwillfish, pokémon 1, and a new qwilfish which is pokémon 2. These are iteration -1 of the generator.

If this is not the case then you got fucked over by a weather or time change or a 'mon despawned when it shouldn't, or you caught a pokémon from another spawner by mistake.

Fill in the seed finder data. Ideally evolve your pokémon if you're getting small ones so you can fill in multiple measurements to save on calculation time.

Seed finder will toss you a seed, put that into the generator as well as the filters you care about. In my case I have max shiny odds and want a shalpha fish with whatever stats.

If you didn't save AFTER catching pokémon 2, you can pick any of these. If you did save however (like to trade the pokémon for IV checking), you'll have to pick paths which start on 3, because you despawned everyone from iteration -1 and then iteration 0 will have 3 'mons.

You can open path tracker if you want to be anal and catch everything to make sure you progress correctly. But basically all you need is to follow the path and on each advance catch/KO the number of pokémon stated. So a person who saved after getting pokémon 2 will pick a path like 3-1-2-... which means now they advance time, go to spawner, catch/KO 1 pokémon, advance time, catch/KO 2 pokémon at the spawner, etc etc, until they catch/KO the last pokémon, advance time, and find at the spawner whatever it is they manipulated for.

Please note that alphas can't spawn near other alphas. If you want to manip for an alpha and there's one close enough to hear the alpha music in the spawner, then go despawn it before your manipulated alpha is meant to spawn.

Anyway enjoy your hunts! It's a slow but very easy to accomplish method and nearly impossible to fail. Also more relaxed than MMOs and allows you to catch "skittish" or "neutral" pokémon who you can't multi-battle like in the MMO RNG manipulations.

[not-my-final-account]

My O.C is Wings! She is also kind of like a persona for myself. I made her when I was 7 (so that’s when I consider she got her powers(she was just a regular girl before)) and have been building on her ever since so while I’ve tried to balance out her powers she is basically a god

My O.C’s bad is usually a rock ledge or some where out of the way and vaguely comfortable (or that’s what she tells herself) while on a mission, she has a really comfortable fluffy bed at home (she still lives with her parents) and night-dreams about some nights when she can’t sleep

My O.C has a triangle shape, she’s sharp (not like a square which is blunt) but kind (not like an pentagon which is mean/posh, or an octagon which is wise), in her childhood she was a kind innocent cloud with no defined shape.

My O.C’s favourite thing to do on a rainy day is to fly in and above the clouds that are raining

If my O.C was gifted a shiny rock, depending on who it was: she would be suspicious of it, sharpen it and make it into a special knife, or if she really loved them she would add it to a new necklace or tie it into her greenstone one

My O.C would barely manage to beat any gyms (still can’t beat Minecraft but knows all the glitches and techniques) but would try to collect ever evolution and type(or species, sorry I don’t play Pokémon) of Pokémon in the game.

My O.C would try all the classes, play a diffrent one each game and settling on her favourite, but she only really knows Ratatattat (it’s a card game that has loads of different names I think, we’re(again she’s kind of like a persona) quite good at it)

My O.C technically lives in the modern day, but can move through realities and time and is often gone on a mission. When home her favourite game is constantly changing, but when she’s playing with a friends it’s Minecraft

My O.C cannot stand her brother, she secretly loves him(not in a weird way) but is constantly arguing even though they actually agree on most (big) things

My O.C can understand all languages, a side effect of travelling through so many ‘places’ and her powers I suppose

My O.C is -1, she can (literally) burn air (I’m not even kidding, her wings can catch on fire (like she can pick up fire with her hands and breathe fire) which is cool and dramatic but annoying when working with gas ovens), she inherits this from me -the girl who made a bright purple chocolate cake

My O.C chooses weapons, spiralling out of the time limit and leaving the judges scared or fascinated over her explanation on rankings in war (to be honest I’d chose Star War, not a comparison, just wanted to add it here)

My O.C has all the powers in the world. Original, I know, I’ve tried to balance it out with an actually small (for once) dose of trauma, and lacking the training to control all of them. And no, she (again) technically lives in this universe, but they might be normal in some places she travels too.

My O.C can sing (but not in front of a crowd, or anyone for that matter), and she likes to draw although she considers that a hobby, mind you everyone (as in an ally, person she’s working for(she always chooses the good side), or friend) who manages too get a glimpse of her sketch book says she should be famous, she just takes the compliment and tries to steer the conversation away from her

Yes. Full stop, she might not have been born in the wilderness, but she has the rough training and skills to walk out of it (with mild hypothermia, which force knows how she managed to get)

My O.C LOVES the ocean, she enjoys swimming almost as much as she dose flying and is often called a fish, she tries to respect the sea and sometimes mutters Māori prayers when going on a boat to pay tribute to her heritage. She has remarkable sea legs for someone with their head in the clouds.

No. She tries, she really dose, but she can’t seem to get it right, often having to remind herself to even breathe, she has mild insomnia which is made worse by her mind(she sometimes goes to a dark place and it can be hard to drag herself out of it), she only really gets thirsty after activities and for all her health flaws she rarely ever has a problem with dehydration and when she dose it’s more because she’s stuck in the middle of a desert than its actually her fault. But eating on the other hand… she was always a picky eater, and while she will eat what she is served she rarely ever finishes it and often has (sometimes bad, other times barely noticeable) stomach aces from lack of food (on the topic of food, she has a sweet tooth but can’t stomach much sugar and breakfast is her favourite meal, but sometimes she has to skip it)

My O.C’s first choice is her Dad, he is someone who she knows will lead the way and someone who will protect her rather than her having to protect them, like she would a friend, she has a favourite cousin/best friend too, they grew up scheming pranks together and are inseparable when given the opportunity to be together, he makes her feel strong and brave.

Her family dying is her worse nightmare, but usually her nightmares are about bad feelings and instincts

My O.C acts at the first sign of harm to her family, she values them over herself and will not hesitate to hand herself over if she believed it would help them.

I don’t know what item she would bring, I suppose she would bring something spiral but I’m not sure

It would be her greatest failure, I don’t know what it is yet- but many people died and she can’t forgive herself, she often gets trapped in her own mind mourning it.

Same as above ^^^ I think it would depend, on one hand she tells herself not to mess with history, to change time, make the same mistake the people in the movies do, on the other hand she desperately wants to undo her actions to save those innocents (or, as anyone but her would say, herself in a way)

My O.C is convinced she is going to die doing something stupid, she’s probably right, to be honest the other options are: dramatic last stand, it’s 50/50 (no one tell her but there’s a third option that she becomes a god of sorts)

Depending on the situation, either saving as many people as she could, or with her family.

Yet Another OC Ask Game

After hoarding them for months, I decided to make my own. Let’s go from fluffy to angsty, shall we >:)

🛏️ What does your OC’s bed look like? What would they like their bed to look like?

🐁 Capybaras are friend-shaped. What shape does your OC have?

🌧️ What is the favorite thing for you OC to do on a rainy day?

🪨 Someone gifts your OC a shiny rock. What do they do with it?

🐹 Which would be your OCs favorite Pokemon? What kind of trainer would they be?

🎲 If your OC played a pen and paper RPG, what class would they pick? Warrior, mage, thief, ranger, cleric, paladin, druid, necromancer, bard (or other, if that’s not enough).

🎮 If your OC lives or would live in the modern world, would they like video games? What would be their favorite game?

👎 Is there someone your OC can’t stand, despite them being on the same side or sharing basic values?

🌈 Does your OC speak more than one language? If so, how many and which?

🥪 On a scale from ‘burns water’ to ‘5 course menu’ how well can your OC cook?

📚 Your OC has to improvise a 10 minute lecture about a topic of their choosing. What do they chose?

🪄 Does your OC have any special powers? If so, are they normal in this OC’s universe?

🎨 Does your OC have any craft skill, as a hobby or profession? If so which?

🌳 Would your OC survive for a week on their own in the wilderness?

🌊 Has your OC ever seen the ocean? If not, do they want to? What do they think of it?

🥞 Does your OC take proper care of themselves, like getting enough sleep and eating properly?

🤝 Does your OC have someone they want at their side when they are scared? Who?

🌌 If your OC has a nightmare, what’s it most likely about?

🪤 What is one thing that could be used to lure your OC into a trap?

🎒 If your OC had to pick three things of all their belongings to keep, which would they chose?

🕐 Was there ever a time your OC would have given everything to turn back the clock 5 minutes? What happened?

🎭 What is the one thing your OC regrets most? Would they undo it, considering how their life turned out?

🔪 What does your OC think how they’ll die? 

📅 If your OC had one day left to live, how would they spend it?

[kalos-absurd-crusade]

H e r e W e G o!

[mrslittletall]

Don’t tell me where to go.  Earlier I watched a video about the flaws in Pokémon Sun/Moon. One of them I heavily agreed with, that annoying red flag that indicates where you should go next. In an already very linear game.  Imo, it is just unneccessary. I barely am able to explore the world and even when I am allowed to go exploring, sooner or later I have to go back to the part where the latest roadblock was. I probably haven’t forgotten about it, because I am stuck in a small area. Also, Rotom Dex is reminding me constantly where to go anyway. So why is there this red flag on the map? It’s pointless.  Thinking about this, I started Trials of Mana to get the last spirit. The remake, not the original. And just like in Pokémon Sun/Moon, I got annoyed. There is always that glowing big star on the map, telling me where to go even though this game is as linear as Sun/Moon! The elfin elder told me to go the mana goddess statue in the northwest of the forest, I can press on minus and see a map with this exact same statue on it and still, a shiny glowing star points on it! It is unneccessary!  I played the original, the original didn’t had a map, the map was also divided in screens because old game and guess what? I still was able to found this mana statue! In fact, even just two weeks ago because I like to play the original with my husband.  Why are games so adamant to tell you where to go? Heck, even one of my favourite games, Okami, did it. Not often, but at a few points, mostly when you have to hurry (but actually have all the time in the world), a glowing red arrow shows in which direction you should run. This actually gets me out of the immersion. That giant red arrow doesn’t make any sense, especially when Okami normally never tells you where to go with a marker, you just can look into your log and normally get Issuns latest hint where to go, but you have to find out yourself just how to get there. And mostly, in this “hurry to a location” events you already know where the location is, because you have to run back to it!  I am getting more and more annoyed by this... do the game developer think we gamers are stupid? That we can’t find our way? That we have trouble when there isn’t a giant marker on the map, especially in linear games? Alright, now let’s talk about Open World games. One example I play atm is Death Stranding. That game actually TELLS me where I need to go, BUT, while I know where I need to head, the way to the location isn’t clear at all. Often you can’t just cross in a straight line, the world is in your way and you are just a basic human without any superpowers (ok outside of the whole BT sensing thing and not being able to die thing), but you get the gist.  The thing is, you have to go from point A to point B and have to figure out HOW you get there. Do you pack a bunch of ladders to scale the mountains in your way? Do you try to find a way around the mountains? Do you pack weapons to take out the MULE camp in your way or do you try to sneak through it? Do you try to avoid the timefall and the BTs or do you take them head on?  You have a lot of choices in this game how to handle the situation and it is beautiful. Moreso, the game profits from its online features. When you are alone, you can see and use structures of other players, you can see signs that warn you and you can see footpathes that have been created by other players. It really makes it fun to reconnect the world and connect with the other players you never see but know are there.  Alright, different game. Zelda Breath of the Wild. That game has a huge world. You are in a tutorial arena in the beginning, but after you got all your shieka stone apps, you are free to leave.  And that is meant literally. Once you are done with the tutorial, BotW lets you do WHATEVER you want. You can literally go straight to Hyrule Castle and defeat Ganon and it is a common speedrunner thing.  But you don’t have to defeat Ganon. The game gives you several objectives, like tame the titans or find the shrines or the memories.  Now, the only thing that downright points to where to go are the titans and they are actually pretty easy to spot from a hight point, because they are HUGE. Everything else? Find it on your own. You get a sensor for shrine and you get quests for them. Nothing ever points to them with a marker, you have to solve the hints and find the shrine yourself. The same for the sidequest of the game. You get pointed to who gave you the quest, which is a good thing because it isn’t easy to remember where they were, but the actual quest? Read the text and figure out where to go. Normally it is near the quest giver, so just exploring a bit will help.  And the memories! You have twelve photos and have to find the places they got shot at. So how do you find the needle in the haystack?  There is this painter in each main town and a few stables and you can show him the photos, he then gives you a hint just where to search! I pretty much found every memory with his hints, I just needed to look up the last memory that wasn’t on the shieka stone because it had been three years since I visited that area and I forgot where it was (I still remembered that it existed, so iconic did it look).  BotW gets praised a lot for his sense of freeness and I totally get why.  Ok, now let me talk about the last games for now...  Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro.  When I started Dark Souls, I was really upset. Why? Not because the asylum demon crushed my sorry ass five times, not because I thought I had to beat him with the sword hilt, not because of the boulder trap that killed me.  That game had no map! I would get so lost! I am HELPLESS without a map!  To my surprise... I was completely fine without the map. Sure, in the beginning I got awfully lost and stumbled to the skeletons, but then I found the Undead Burg. I fought myself through it, explored, remembered where which enemy was when I was running back to Taurus the 20th time (I really struggled, ok?) and the gameworld... just made sense.  It became a really aha-moment when the shortcuts clicked into place. Granted, the shortcuts aren’t a big part of the game anymore after the lordvessel, but the first half is beautifully done! Finding the shortcut back to Firelink, finding the back exit out of Blighttown, seeing how Anor Londo opens up, the shortcut in Sen’s Fortress, beautiful. That was what let me thought about Dark Souls as Metroidvania. That game is a Metroidvania. Sadly, Dark Souls 2 and 3 don’t have it as much anymore, especially Dark Souls 3 is a lot more linear, but still has loads of optional stuff to do for me and most importantly, never tells me where to go.  Bloodborne is a lot like the first Dark Souls and also different. Bloodborne has a lot more areas that are disembodied, but they have that beauty of the Metroidvania in them. One of the most mind baffling things was finding the back entrance to Iosefka’s clinic... coming from the Forbidden Woods! And the finding out, HEY, that is that gate I saw at the start of the game and couldn’t open!  Slowly, you open up Yharnam and even the other areas like the nightmares have cool shortcuts to find. It feels like your exploring got rewarded, that you don’t have to fight through all this enemies anymore, only a few, to get back to the boss.  Now let me talk about the last game... Sekiro.  This game opens up at a certain plot point and your only hints? You talk with Kuro and Emma and they tell you a few things they found out about. I was SO confused. I had no idea what they were talking about and where to go. So I decided to check the areas out they talked about and try to make sense of the riddles they told me.  I couldn’t find a lot at first and went back often to listen to their riddles, until I just went full risque and jumped into a pit only to find out that this indeed had been the right solution!  One by one, I found out how to find the other locations.  The game never pointed them out for me, I followed the hints and found them myself.  So, to conclude. Video games, please don’t tell me where to go.

[pkmn-fangamer]

Pokémon Solar Light & Lunar Dark Review

Intro:

The game starts in Soltree Town in the players room. The player is sitting in front of his/her TV and is watching a battle between two Pokémon trainers. Your mother comes in and tells you that your best friend, Rodney, is waiting for you downstairs to get your first Pokemon from Prof. Pinewood. You walk to the lab with Rodney and the Professor lets you choose one of three Pokemon. After choosing your starter, Rodney runs out of the lab. The Professor tells you about a young girl named Keira, who is getting the last Pokémon, but it seems that she has forgotten it. After finding Keira in Mossy Town her mother tells you to go back to your house, because your mother has a gift for you. Back in Soltree Town you receive the PokéCom and the Running Shoes from your parents.

From then on, the player will set off on adventures through the Rikoto region. Along the way, the player, Rodney, and Keira will battle eight Gym Leaders, while trying to complete the Pokédex. After managing to obtain all eight Badges, the player will head to the Pokémon League to battle the Elite Four and the Champion.

How to Play:

Download and extract this file to the folder of your choice. If you don’t have a program to unzip files, I recommend Peazip, which is safe and works well. Once extracted, double “Game.exe” to play.

Story:

The story progresses like a main series game’s plot. It’s notably most similar to RSE/ORAS, because there are two evil teams present: Team Solar and Team Lunar. They’re racing to find specific stones to revive and control their respective legendary of interest. Unfortunately, the climax of their role in the story is pretty disappointing to me, but I won’t say any further so not to spoil you. Aside from the villains, you have your usual tree-based professor, a few rivals, and your eight gym leaders. There’s also a mega evolution specialist, who battles in her castle, and is portrayed as unofficial gym leader. I especially liked this detail.

The characters are just okay, and dialogue can be a little jumbled at time. I like that you have three rivals rather than one, but they’re not very well fleshed out. Each has a gimmick, but not much personality past that. The gym leaders were also okay, but not overly memorable. The only honorable mention is Jax of the Elite Four, who I believe should have been the champion of the game.

There are some adult themes present in the story, but I don’t mean this in an explicit sort of way. Rather, the game addresses adult issues you’d find in the real world. For example, to use the taxi service in Rustbolt City, you need to battle their boss to convince him to pay his workers more, as they’re on strike at the time. You are also asked to steal for a robber at one point during a quest, which is pretty neat.

Overall, the plot and characters weren’t too impressive, but they weren’t terrible, either. There was a good foundation for both that was lost along the way, it seems. However, the story and characters are still serviceable and fulfill their overarching role.

Score: 7/10

Pokemon:

In this game, there are Fakemon instead of Pokemon, and this can be seen as either good or a bad. While the sprite work for the Fakemon grew on me, some are heavily based on already existing Pokemon. Also, some Pokemon don’t have the highest design quality. Lastly, many of the better Fakemon don’t evolve until they’re pretty high leveled, anywhere from the high 30s to the low 50s, kind of like in Gen 5. This can be seen either as a good or a bad thing, I suppose.

Luckily, there’s a lot of good things about the Fakemon too. First is the sheer amount of them: there are 358 Fakemon to choose from, which is more original Pokemon than have ever been put into a new game at once. This gives you a huge selection to choose from, so no two people will ever have the same team. The downside of this is it’s hard to keep track of them all. However, there are some great ones to choose from, whose movepools and abilities have been handpicked with care.

The original moves made for this game are also a nice touch. One that stood out to me is Thunder Strike, which is a nice middling electric move that’s more powerful than Thunder Shock, but less powerful than Thunderbolt.

I also absolutely love that your first party Pokemon walks with you. This is a feature that really should be brought back in main series games, and the fact that they took the time to draw all 358 original Fakemon (and each shiny form!) as walking companions is very impressive.

Score: 8/10

Gameplay:

In terms of difficulty, this game is very middling. It’s not too easy or hard. If you battle all the trainers and a good portion of wild Pokemon during your journey, gym leaders won’t be overly difficult. However, grinding in this game can be difficult without the presence of the speed button, so keep this in mind when you use a repel or skipping trainer battles.

One of my favorite attributes in a fan game is a lack of HMs, and I was pleasantly surprised that this game replaced HMs with key items. This opens up a fifth slot in your party; no HM slaves needed!

The gameplay in SLLD (Solar Light & Lunar Dark) is brought to life through its attention to detail in many areas. I’d say you can spend up to two hours in almost every town and its surrounding area, just doing quests, finding hidden items, and talking to NPCs without getting bored. There are so many places to explore, each with a completely different set of Pokemon.

My biggest grip in this area is the length of space between towns. The worst example of this is the journey between Waytide City and Coralite Town. In the space between them, there is Route 9, then Goopool Swamp, then Route 10A, then Rainbow Reef, then Route 10B, then finally Coralite Town. There is one single player to heal your Pokemon in this entire stretch, and if you don’t bring a ton of healing items and repels, there’s no way you’ll make it the whole way continuously. There’s also a ton of trainers on every route, too many in my opinion, and if you don’t battle them all, you’re destined to be underleveled for gym battles.

Score: 8.5/10

Art/Music:

The overworld art is well done, mostly in Gen 5 style. I haven’t seen art like this in another fan game yet, so props for that.

Original music can be found in about 80% of the game, and is generally well-composed. I rarely found myself listening to other music while playing the game. It’s very electronic, and comparable to Gen 5, but I actually like this soundtrack better than the Unova one. This brought me to wonder: why is such a common track, the wild battle music, from Sinnoh when almost all other music is original? This also goes for the Pokemon Center and a few other themes. My best guess is that composing those tracks would have taken a lot of time.

In terms of character art, most of it is solid. However, the female player character is obviously heavily inspired by Lyra from HGSS. The sprite isn’t bad per say, but it is very obvious. On the other hand, the male player character looks very original.

There are a few visual/sound errors that I would fix. First, the selection highlight isn’t apparent enough. This may seem minor, but this can be the difference between winning a battle or losing if you accidentally switch in the wrong Pokemon. Additionally, both the sound for stat rising and falling is the same- it always sounds like your stat is going up. There are also a couple of Pokemon missing their cries when sent into battle.

Score: 8.5/10

Misc:

The fan content for this game is pretty great. There’s a very active discord channel, and a pretty up-to-date, accurate wiki.

Overall:

One stand-out quality of this game is the sheer amount of content it contains. Before I mentioned the amount of Pokemon created, and this goes for the size of the map as well. There are more towns and areas of interest in this game than any individual region, and as a result you can get in a huge amount of playtime. I ended my run-through with almost 30 hours. However, the downside to inserting a massive amount of content into anything can make the issue of quality control. While the quality of most things in this game is above average, some things did suffer a bit. For example, there are so many routes and areas, it probably was impossible to compose music for all of them. As a result, the Surf and Bike theme are both the cheesy Pokemon Essentials themes.

On the topic of glitches: unfortunately, there are a handful of them. Most aren’t game breaking, but the one that stood out to me is the fishing contest one. When you are warped to the fishing contest, you’re trapped inside the building’s roof instead of in front of the building. As a result, you have to open your menu and quit the contest, automatically putting you in last place. Another is in the Subhail Icecaps towards the end of the game. The game can barely handle surfing in this area, and constantly stalls, almost crashing whenever you surf.

Overall, I would recommend this game to almost any Pokemon lover. I’d especially recommend this one for Unova lovers, as this game is a fresh new adventure quite reminiscent of that region. If you’re looking for a traditional Pokemon game with Fakemon in it, this game should be a winner for you.

Final Score: 8.5/10

[arendalphaeagle]

I actually really like Shiny Espeon, specifically in Gen 3 when it's a bright lime green (green is my favorite color). Shiny Groudon is also really great in Gen 3, when it took a more golden hue as opposed to the more mustardy barf-ish yellow-green color it's now associated with. There are actually only few shinies I actually dislike due to a displeasing color scheme (e.g. I was never really a huge fan of Bruxish, but its Shiny is even worse).

Some of my favorite Pokémon also have great shinies (e.g. Lopunny, Tsareena, Hawlucha, etc). Skiddo/Gogoat also has a great Shiny, it's actually the one time I went Shiny Hunting for, back in the Gen 6 days.

If I had to choose what kind of Shiny is worse, I would pick shinies that are barely any different any day. Whether one finds a shiny ugly or not is subjective (see the Espeon and Groudon examples aforementioned), but when one cannot tell the difference between a shiny and a non-shiny, then you've got a problem. After all, what's even the point of hunting after a shiny if it's barely any different from the original (or worse, if they're identical)? You'd only be wasting your time, and when finding a shiny is a 1 in 4000 or so chance, you'd be spending hours, if not days, on a Pokémon you'd normally find within a few seconds.

Pikachu and Leafeon actually have okay Shinies. One is more orange and another is brighter. But then you have Gengar and Garchomp, whose Shinies are only a tinge bit grayer than usual (at least their Mega Evolutions fix this problem).

But then you have Shinies who are only different because the object they're holding is different, such as Komala or Tinkaton, which is even worse. That implies that they are actually not Shiny at all and just found a different-colored item. When you give Farfetch'd an onion stalk that is like purple instead of green, that won't automatically make it a Shiny, right? And why would it? The Pokémon itself isn't special; just the item it's holding. So why should we treat a normal-colored Tinkaton with a rusty brown hammer on the same level as a black Charizard?

Here's one for the Pokemon fans

Should be self explanatory but as examples:

Option 1: Shiny Espeon

Obviously there are lots of examples of really weird and ill fitting colour palettes in shiny variants but I'm going with Espeon as it's the one most often cited as an 'ugly' shiny compared to the colours of the original. But this category also includes pokemon where the shiny colour scheme is so glaringly obvious it ruins the originals 'coolness'

See also: Shiny Groudon, Shiny Mismagius and any pokemon with the neon green or muddy yellow shiny variants.

Option 2: Shiny Gengar

This is the choice for pokemon where you would struggle to know which is the shiny without seeing the sparkles or putting the original next to it. Gengar is one of the best examples where the colour scheme is so close to the original without even a change of eye colour to denote its special qualities.

See also: Shiny Pikachu, Shiny Leafeon, Shiny Snorlax

And to be clear this isn't hating on your fave pokemon or fave shiny or anything. It's just which type of shiny is the most disappointing to you personally.

Also for funsies include in the tags your fave pokemon and whether you like it's shiny variant!

[atomic-insomnia]

writing tag meme

tagged by @danafaithwriting !

1. Which writing advice do you dislike the most?

Weird one but basically any writing advice that is like "SCREW that writing advice, you actually need to do the opposite!!!"  Like, I know what they mean.  But I'm capable of deciding for myself how relevant it is to my work, and a lot of the time the 'opposite' advice seems to miss the point of the original statement.

2. How do you create your characters?

Oh it's a mashup; a lot of times it's seeing a character I like somewhere else and being like "hey...I could do that..."  Other times somebody just pops into my head, I write them down, and usually they change radically from what they originally were.  Lots of times I'm just like "I need someone to ask this question"/"Deliver the mail"/"Get hurt so the main characters can save them"/etc. and I quickly fill in someone, but I end up getting attached and giving them more traits & backstory

3. How long does it take you from getting the idea to actually write it down?

lol I have ideas I still haven't written down...the main WIP I work on was a couple weeks; I was supposedly going to write a different novel for NaNoWriMo but I liked my dumb fanfic idea better and the words just weren't flowing for the "real" novel, so I gave in and wrote the other one.  I didn't win NaNo that year but I stuck with the story and made it less of a fanfic and more original

4. What’s the most you’ve written for a story (aka word count?)

oof...I believe the collected parts of my main WIP add up to more than 100K over several years of NaNoWriMo plus dozens of oneshots and character studies...and it still doesn't have a well-defined plot

5. Do you have a headcanon which you haven’t told yet for your current story? Which one?

Oh, tons, but most of them aren't relevant to the story at all.  Like if my MC were a pokémon, she'd be a Meowth, because she likes shiny things & yellow/gold/tan and I like cats.  Pokémon doesn't even exist yet in the time period I'm writing.

Uhhh...the MC's sister talks to her houseplants because "they don't ask me for money," so there's that.  I also know everybody's middle names, even the ones who technically shouldn't have middle names based on the culture they come from

6. With which of your MCs would you get along the best?

Probably Nash, the mentor-character who knows everybody but is barely aware of reality.  They like to ramble about nonsense and are the sort of person you can get way into weird tangents and just keep going.  They probably won't remember you the next time they see you, though.  They're the sort of person I enjoy talking to, that weirdo that just gets you.

7. Where do you get your inspiration from?

Just about everywhere.  If I see something cool there's a 90% chance I'll be like "hey fit that in somehow"

8. Do your wips (if you have more than one) fit together? or if you only have one: do you plan on having fitting stories?

Some of them do, but a lot of the time I then try to work them into 1 story and it gets even bigger and more convoluted.  Most of them, no--although sometimes I put in references that only I'd ever get, just because I find it funny

9. Which one of your characters do you like the most?

Vinny, the sidekick who ended up getting his own backstory & arc.  He puts up a too-cool, tough-guy front but he's so easy to fluster and is so weak for sob stories he ends up very smol & soft & I love him.  Which is a shame because his stuff gets cut whenever I edit.

10. Would you like to get published?

Nah, not really.  Sometimes I think hey, that'd be neat, but it's not my goal.  I'm still deciding if I'll ever put it online or if I'll just write the whole thing for myself.

11. Do you prefer to schedule your writing time, or go only whenever the creativity strikes?

I gotta schedule--if I don't have any motivation when it's time to write I'll let it go, but I just don't have free time to go whenever I feel the ~Muse~ awaken

12. Home, coffee shop, or library for writing?

Home only.  I can't work with other people moving around and making noise (and potentially looking over my shoulder, which sounds paranoid until you actually start trying to write in public and immediately there's some stranger like "HEY whatcha writin' can you put me in it you should add a giant robot"<--based on a true story)

13. Would you ever collaborate with another writer on a story?

I used to RP, but if that taught me anything it's that I'd want ground rules as to, for example, what we both want from this story so we aren't trying to undo each other's plans, what our headcanons are for the same character, what schedule we're working on, etc.

I'm not much for tagging so if you see this go ahead and do it!

[emmajustin20]

Pokémon Go: Top 5 Best and Worst Shiny Pokémon

Pokémon is a mighty franchise that offers anime, films, video games, and toys for their fans. However, they have more surprising things for their fans, which includes mobile games as well. After releasing the shiny Pokémon in Pokémon Go, the fans are so happy. Pokémon Go has provided numerous cool features, and they keep updating the game for their fans. Shiny Pokémon enhanced the popularity of the game along with the playing time of gamers.

The shiny Pokémon are relatively rare in the game. They don’t just appear on any random location. Shiny Pokémon are beautiful, and they heralded via a shower of glittering stars. Their unique color makes them iconic. Every shiny Pokémon is rare even if players don’t like the color of some Pokémon. There is a vast list of shiny Pokémon, and here we have mentioned the five best and the five worst shiny Pokémon of Pokémon Go.

Worst: Ditto

Ditto is one of the rarest Pokémon. Fans love this Pokémon because of its tiny shape and size. It can turn into any desired Pokémon with more abilities. The standard color of Ditto is adorable, and fans expected that shiny would be greater. Unfortunately, the shiny version of Ditto is nowhere better than the original Ditto.

Best: Gyarados

Magikarp and Gyarados are both popular Pokémon. Gyarados makes Magikarp highly popular, but their shiny versions are way more adorable. The original Magikarp is in red, but its shiny is of golden color. The normal Gyarados is light blue, and its shiny version is in red. The shiny color of Magikarp and Gyarados are brilliant. Catching Magikarp is relatively easy, but getting shiny is not easy for any player.

Worst: Elekid

Finding the shiny version of Elekid is one of the hardest things in the game. It’s an electric type Pokémon and that’s why it’s in yellow. However, its shiny color is also yellow, but that barely noticeable. Its evolved version Electabuzz is more recognizable in shiny form as compare to Elekid.

Best: Dragonite

The shiny green color on Dragonite seems pretty odd, but most of the players like this green color a lot. Dragonite is a highly preferred Pokémon in battles. The green color isn’t the only thing that fans love about Dragonite, but they also love its dragon type design.

Worst: Forretress

Forretress is a Steel/Bug-type Pokémon that evolved from Pineco. The design and size of this Bug/Steel-type Pokémon are incredibly amazing. In its normal color, it is red from inside, and its silvery color looks fantastic. However, its shiny form is a complete waste, and probably no player in the game loves it. Its shiny form is entirely in bronze color.

Best: Charizard

Charizard is a fan-favorite Pokémon of players, and it has one of the finest shiny forms in the game. In its normal form, the beast looks cool, but its shiny form is black that looks stunning.

Worst: Espeon

The Eeveelution is one of the greatest things in Pokémon Go. Eevee is the only Pokémon that can evolve into seven different types of Pokémon. Espeon is also a form of Eevee, which is a Psychic-type Pokémon. Its original color is pink that looks decent, but the shiny form is in radioactive green color that looks odd.

Best: Metagross

Metagross is a powerful Pokémon, and its shiny form makes it a highly desirable Pokémon. The original blue body and cross on the eyes of Metagross are amazing. Nevertheless, its shiny form comes in a silver body that makes its highly desirable shiny Pokémon.

Worst: Nidoqueen

Nidoqueen is a great Pokémon, but its shiny form is very disappointing. In Pokémon Go, Nidoqueen has the most terrible shiny form. The shiny color combination doesn’t suitable for this Pokémon. The original form of Nidoqueen is in Blue, and its shiny form has pink lines on the body that makes it one of the worst shiny forms.

Best: Rayquaza

The shiny legendaries are a hit or miss. Among several shiny legendary Pokémon, Rayquaza has the best shiny form. Rayquaza is Dragon/Flying-type, and it is one of the strongest Pokémon in the game. The original form of Rayquaza is of green color, but its shiny form is of matte black that looks outstanding.

Conclusion – Not every shiny Pokémon has the best color combination, but they all are included in the rare category. To acquire shiny Pokémon, players have to do so much exploration in their areas. In the events and community days, players have high chances of getting shiny Pokémon.

I’m Emma Justin . I’m a web developer living in USA. I am a fan of technology, entrepreneurship, and web development. I’m also interested in education and writing. You can visit my company website with a click on the button above. Also read Our Blog, Easymzon

Source: Pokémon Go: Top 5 Best and Worst Shiny Pokémon

[clarilune]

Reviews and Why They Are Important

When I was eleven years old, my cousin (who’s a year older than me) suggested that we join a Pokémon forum. Since I was a fan of the Pokémon games, I agreed and became addicted to hunting down shiny pokémon, clinging very strictly to the discussion on shiny pokémon in the forums. (And now I have 15 legitimate shinies, caught through chaining and random encounters. -fist pump-) [EDIT 2017: Now I have almost 30. Sorry. Had to brag for a second.]

While I was (and still am) a gamer, I also was (and still am) a writer. Becoming frustrated with my original ideas, I decided fanfiction would be a good exercise for my skills. I began with Pokémon fanfiction and became addicted to it. Initially, I didn’t want to write. I only wanted to read and gain inspiration, so I fell in love with amazing stories like “The Legendarian Chronicles.” (Which is still a damn good story. Just saying. It’s written by Chibi Pika. Go read it.) Stories with epic adventures inspired me, so I sat down and started writing. However, there was something I very clearly lacked: planning.

Once upon a time, I didn’t plan out characters. I gave them faces and names, improvising personalities when the time came. I didn’t consider their histories unless it was relevant to the plot. I didn’t think anything else of the character unless it was directly related to the plot. Speaking of plots, I didn’t plan those out either. I didn’t even stop and think about what would happen. I only wrote in the moment and unthinkingly submitted chapters, eager for positive feedback.

After I’d written one chapter for a hurriedly designed story, I was certain I was going to get all sorts of praise upon submission. I thought people would tell me how my writing was amazing and my characters were spectacular. I was obsessed with writing description, so of course I went into blocks of detail about the environment and how things appeared. It gave me a great satisfaction. I felt that some people would receive the same enjoyment I received when writing it. I started a thread with my story as the title and waited impatiently.

One day passed by. After logging onto my account, the eleven-year-old I scampered to the thread I had started…only to discover that there was nothing. No one had replied or posted any sort of review.

I glanced at the number of views the thread had received. 60? How were there 60 views yet no reviews?

Slightly discouraged and peeved, I edited my post with a desperate demand for reviews. To spare myself from further frustration, I logged off and swore I wouldn’t get on until the next day. If I restrained myself, surely I would be rewarded with SOMETHING, right?

The next day, I reluctantly went to the thread. I had learned that getting my hopes up was never good. It never gave me anything in return.

Except, this time, someone had replied.

Barely able to contain my glee, I went to the response.

My jaw dropped.

It was perhaps the LONGEST review I had ever seen from anyone in my entire life. At first, I was happy. I started smiling so immensely that the muscles in my face ached. However, very soon, my smile began lowering into a frown.

I had never received constructive criticism up to that point. This was my first attempt at a fanfiction, and the first review I had ever gotten was probably one of the longest reviews I’ve ever encountered in my entire life, filled completely with criticism, tips, and advice. There wasn’t a single thing that the person had complimented about my writing. They analyzed each detail of the story, noting the lack of realism, grammatical errors, flat characters, and poor storyline.

I was stunned. My writing had always been praised by my family, friends, and teachers. I had been typing stories and sharing them in class since I was in kindergarten! I wanted to become an author…and now this person was saying my writing needed some definite improvement.

I didn’t flame or act petty in response. Instead, I asked, somewhat bitterly, “Was it really THAT bad?” It was the only thing I could do to keep myself from crying.

The person was thoughtful in their response, still very careful with their words. “No…There are just a lot of things you need to work on. You do have some decent lines of description, but the story is riddled with flaws right now. Brush up on grammar guides. Plan out your characters. Get a good idea of the plot. If you apply yourself and work on it some more, you’ll get a pretty good story going.”

At the time, I didn’t understand it. I hated that person. It felt like a personal attack. It felt like they had crushed my dreams with that review. They had made me realize that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was…so it made me think, “How can I ever become an author now?”

I quit the site, and I quit writing Pokémon fanfiction.

A few years passed. I started getting back into my love for fanfiction, but this time it was for a different fandom: Kingdom Hearts. That was when I joined fanfiction.net, but I promised myself I wouldn’t be publishing anything on the site. At least not for a long time, anyway.

Well, that backfired. The first Kingdom Hearts story I ever published was called “Wholesome” and I had written it on a whim. After my first attempt at fanfiction, I became obsessed with revising and editing…but I hadn’t learned from that reviewer at all.

I still hadn’t planned out any of the characters or the plot or anything before submitting the chapter. I tried planning out a few details of the characters as I went deeper into the fic, but ultimately I couldn’t plan any of the characters or the plot well. The story was also really difficult for me to write. I wanted my writing to be absolutely perfect, so it took me forever to finish one chapter. I became so stressed with actually writing it that the fun was taken out of it.

I wrote other things, other stories, but I felt myself missing Pokémon fanfiction. As I published other stories on the site, I still hadn’t learned from that one reviewer. I wasn’t planning stories or characters, as they had very specifically recommended. All of my stories were in dire need of it.

It wasn’t until reading and reviewing dozens of fanfictions later that I realized that that reviewer was correct. They had offered me all the steps for improvement, and I had refused it time and time again. I had been writing with so much discipline that it was stressful. It became incredibly difficult for me to enjoy it. And I couldn’t enjoy the process because I hadn’t planned anything out.

Because of that person, I now have the knowledge needed to write a good fanfiction. Because of that person, I now write very constructive, lengthy reviews to other authors in the hope I can pay it forward and help someone out as much as that person had helped me. Because of that person, I am now confident in my writing and have an awareness of the characters and the plot. Because of that person, I no longer expect blatant, pointless praise and have a desire to grow as a writer.

Untamed was the first story that was easy for me to write. I thoroughly planned out the characters, the plot, and the premise of the story. Most importantly, I didn’t stress about writing it. I wrote it for fun. That was perhaps why it was so easy, and why it’s still so easy for me to write.

So, why am I bringing this up? Because it shows that just ONE review can make a difference. At first, I was truly crushed by what that person had exposed in my writing. But now, I am incredibly grateful for what they did. The review was longer than any of the reviews that I write…and that’s saying something because I write extremely long reviews. Of course, that person also turned out to be an English major (Figures.) and is still extremely dedicated to fanfiction, but that’s beside the point. (I see them every now and again on ff.net and become torn between messaging them a thank-you or running in the opposite direction. They’re not THAT intimidating, but it’s as if I’m an eleven-year-old again whenever I see them.)

With that said, I’m not saying people should go out of their way to write huge reviews just because they feel obligated to. Do it because you want to help the person. Do it because you want the person to receive feedback for their effort. Do it because you want to.

This means people should review whenever they feel like it. But, if you have something to say (and I mean anythingatall), then you should say it. If you like the story, say it. If you dislike the story, say it. Authors only improve and thrive if they receive feedback for their efforts. Doesn’t everyone deserve that?

I’m not posting this because I feel I need more reviews or anything like that. I just think that some people have a very distorted perspective when it comes to reviews. Some people think reviews are what fuel the story. I remember there was this Kingdom Hearts fic I was following that received HUNDREDS of reviews. I only ever reviewed the story once and didn’t do anything for it until the author held a tirade. Apparently, the number of reviews per chapter had declined, so the author threatened to not post the next chapter until her demands had been fulfilled. People scampered to review after this, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I reviewed with a sour tone and then deleted the story from my favorite’s after it had been completed.

Reviews do not fuel the story. Authors fuel the story. HOWEVER, authors sometimes struggle to fuel the story when no one supplies them with feedback. People want to know what others think of their creations. It leaves them feeling secure whenever someone says something.

This shouldn’t be the case, but we’re so solidly set in this willingness and desperation to gain approval from others that everyone depends upon reviews.

If someone truly loves someone’s writing or story enough, they will review. If someone truly dislikes someone’s writing or story enough, they will review. Plain and simple.

With that said, if you like or dislike a story and you DON’T review, you are screwing with the system. You’re probably missing out on a valuable opportunity to help someone. Whether it’s to give them a confidence boost, constructive criticism, or general feedback, not letting the author know your thoughts and feelings deprives them in the cruelest way.

For writers: you can write for enjoyment, but listen to what people have to say and be grateful if someone does say something. When you publish things, you are putting your work on display for THEM. People read to enjoy themselves in the same way you write out of enjoyment. Aim to inspire, but don’t seek mindless praise.

For readers/reviewers: say something. Let the author know what you liked or disliked about the story or chapter. Did you like this character? Did you like this description? Did you dislike what happened here? Out of the effort that they’ve done to write the story for YOUR enjoyment, the least you can do is tell them what you thought about it.

As my parting conclusion, I want to say everyone deserves a review like the one I received when I was eleven. I have learned and grown because of that person’s willingness to reach out to me despite all of the constructive (which I had interpreted as negative at that point in time) things they had to say. When I decide to stop being a scared little girl, I’m going to thank that person and let them know that they helped me out more than they could imagine.

It takes only one to make a difference. It’s so scary how true that is.