#luvdiscs Were on purpose

[kiruvry]

instagram story pkmn requests, wanted to get a little experimental w my colouring here :] think i may stick to it

[healbellls]

// Don't reblog this post, I don't want it being spread around!

Headcanuary 2024

Day 5 - Pet

Not all pokemon they own are meant to be used in battles, this may come as a shock to some, when it comes to Gym leaders.

Morty:

Dunsparce - he doesn't quite remember where he got Dunsparce from, he has forgotten about its true origins. But he can tell this pokemon has been with him, for about as long as his signature Gengar. This pokemon used to be a house pet, back at his family's home, a fact that he can't bring himself to remember. The pokemon stays at his appartment, rarely leaving its premises. Only those closest to Morty even know, about its existence altogether;

Taurus, Fearow and Mantine - Morty owns these pokemon to help him traverse any terrain he comes across. He mainly carries these pokemon with him, whenever he travel abroad. Taurus is essential for him to get to places quickly, he was given this pokemon by a local of Ecruteak city, as a sign of gratitude for his services. Fearow is for fast flying travels, something he can't achieve when using his Drifblim. Lastly, Mantine helps him travel across bodies of water fairly quickly, Morty also shows he has a talent for surfing on top of it.

Juan:

There are several species of water pokemon commonly found throughout Hoenn's oceans, which he keeps in an aquarium inside his mansion. The most notable one is a school of Luvdisc. Another honorable mention goes to some species of pokemon, only found at the bottom of the ocean that are also kept in display;

Piplup - The way Juan acquired this pokemon wasn't through the most ethical way. But he owns a Piplup that roams around his mansion, which has no other purpose other than being cute, and being an addition to Juan's ever growing collection;

Barry:

Some of Barry's old team pokemon were left under his mother's care. Essentially, turning them into house pets of sorts. He did this, because he felt like it was the only way for him to truly get a taste, and learn more about other regions' native species. His starter Torterra, ended up becoming his mother's favorite. Which meant after his time in Unova, he basically left him exclusively with her.

Brendan:

Brendan only actually puts into use a very smaller percentage, of the pokemon species he owns. He likes capturing a good variety of new pokemon speces, wherever he goes. Some of his pokemon stay with him as his pets, but a select few of his pokemon are under his parents care.

Rowan:

Rowan isn't a trainer in any sense of the word, he doesn't enjoy pokemon battles in the slightest bit. So, every pokemon he owns is either a temporary study subject, which will be returned to/released in the wild once he is done with them. Or they are his pets. The most well-known pet is his Togekiss.

His Togekiss also carries out an important task of carrying letters and gifts, between him and his significant other. It may be old-fashioned, but they chose to keep the tradition up.

Matsuba's relationship with the band of ghost pokemon that followed him around was very different. To such an extent, they can't be considered his pets, and he most certainly wasn't their master.

Drake only owns 6 pokemon, all of which he carries with him all the time. And none of them can be considered pets, in any sense of the word.

[vilemint]

Here he is! Pokemon trainer Corazón!

Pokemon used here were used for special purposes:

Stoutland : the Big-Hearted Pokemon. I chose this big fluffy hound to be on Cora's team for its Pokedex entry, as well as it being useful in aiding rescues in winter or high mountainous regions.

Croviknight: the Raven Pokemon . Originally caught as a Rookidee, this was the only Pokemon on Cora's team for years alongside Kangaskan, while Doffy caught more Psychic and Ghost types. Mainly because he didn't want to become like his brother, and raise a team to be used for evil.

Hatenna & Hatterene: The Calm Pokemon, and the Silent Pokemon. Pretty self explanatory. Although Hatenna was found fainted on the ground, and has since been adopted by Kangaskan as it's baby since Cora has grown up. (we don't talk about what happened..). Hatterene wanted to come along as well, so it let Cora catch it so he wouldn't waste a spot on his team for Hatenna.

Kangaskan : The Parent Pokemon. Years after the death of his parents, a young Corazón found a weeping Kangaskan, missing the baby in its pouch. Knowing it's Pokedex entry, Cora sympathize with the Pokemon, and slowly Kangaskan began to protect Cora from Doffy till he was old enough to catch it, and start his own team with Kangaskan by his side.

When the injured Hatenna came along, Kangaskan eventually replaced Cora as it's 'baby' since he was grown up. Although they want Hatenna to stay in the pouch, Kangaskan allows the little Pokemon to wonder around and also find comfort sitting atop Cora's head.

Luvdisc: The Rendezvous Pokemon. Again, pretty self explanatory. It's a heart shaped Pokemon, cmon.

Kirlia: The Emotion Pokemon. It was important to Cora to have a Kirlia on his team, for their amazing ability to tune into others emotions.

[steel--fairy]

HOENN PROFILES (PART 2)

Timeline year: 2001

I created this more for myself because my notes docs are a mess and I needed a way to keep track of teams and timelines, but why not post it lol

Pokemon teams and some other tidbits for npcs who aren't as important to my fic (and 3 that are but got added here for completionist purposes P: )

☆POKEMON LEAGUE☆

ROXANNE

20 / Rustboro City / she/her

A graduate of the Rustboro Trainers' Academy who works there as a battle tactics teacher alongside her position at the gym. Has been a gym leader for roughly a year.

1st badge team: Geodude, Nosepass

8th badge team: Graveler, Rhydon, Cradily, Armaldo, Probopass

BRAWLY

20 / Dewford Town (Pewter City, Kanto) / he/him

Was recommended for the position by Bruno of the Indigo League Elite Four. Has been a gym leader for 3 years.

1st badge team: Machop, Makuhita

8th badge team: Machoke, Medicham, Breloom, Heracross, Hariyama

WATTSON

63 / Mauville City / he/him

Spent a long time as an engineer who worked closely with the city of Mauville. Has been a gym leader for 21 years.

1st badge team: Magnemite, Electrike

8th badge team: Electrode, Magnezone, Lanturn, Plusle/Minun, Manectric

FLANNERY

17 / Lavaridge Town / she/her

The newest gym leader of Hoenn, taking over from her grandfather (who had also held the titles of Elite Four member and Champion in his time). Has been a gym leader for like 2 weeks.

1st badge team: Torchic, Numel

8th badge team: Magcargo, Camerupt, Ninetails, Blaziken, Torkoal*

*includes members of her personal team

NORMAN

35 / Littleroot Town (Olivine City, Johto) / he/him

Had been considered for the role of gym leader of the gym in Olivine, but was offered this job before the Olivine leader retired. Has been a gym leader for 6 years.

1st badge team: Zigzagoon, Slakoth

8th badge team: Linoone, Spinda, Zangoose, Wigglytuff, Slaking

WINONA

27 / Fortree City / she/her

Was a star on the competitive battling circuit in her teens, but has since moved on. Has been a gym leader for 6 years.

1st badge team: Taillow, Swablu

8th badge team: Tropius, Skarmory, Pelipper, Swellow, Altaria

TATE AND LIZA

9 / Mossdeep City / he/him and she/her

A pair of psychic twins who were given the role gym leader by their mother, the previous leader. Have been gym leaders for just under a year.

1st badge team: Natu, Baltoy

8th badge team: Xatu, Claydol, Solrock, Lunatone*

*includes members of their personal teams

WALLACE

28 / Sootopolis City / bisexual / he/him

A former coordinator who is also the Guardian of the Cave of Origin. Has been a gym leader for 7 years.

1st badge team: Spheal, Tentacool

8th badge team: Luvdisc, Ludicolo, Seaking, Sealeo, Milotic

JUAN

49 / Sootopolis City / he/him

Spent 20 years as a gym leader and coordinator at the same time. He retired from both professions when Wallace took over, but has been brought back.

1st badge team: Clamperl, Horsea

8th badge team: Crawdaunt, Whiscash, Sealeo, Huntail/Gorebys, Kingdra

SIDNEY

24 / Mauville City / he/him

A former delinquent who became a trainer after a bleak accident. If he asks if you want to hear his music on ExploudCloud, politely refuse. Joined the Elite Four 3 years ago.

Owned Pokemon: Shiftry, Cacturne, Crawdaunt, Zangoose, Mightyena, Absol

PHOEBE

22 / Mauville City/Mt Pyre / she/her

A young woman who can communicate with the dead. Her family has been in Hoenn for centuries on her mothers side, but her father is from Alola. Joined the Elite Four 6 years ago.

Owned Pokemon: Dusclops, Sableye, Banette, Dhelmise, Palossand, Dusknoir

GLACIA

35 / Lilycove City (Freezington, Galar) / she/her

A bit of a hardass of a woman, but she just has high expectations. Can frequently be found tanning on a beach. Joined the Elite Four 9 years ago.

Owned Pokemon: Froslass, Glalie, Frosmoth, Darmanitan (Galarian), Beartic, Walrein

DRAKE

69 / Slateport City / he/him

Previously held the Champion title for a dozen years. After losing his title, travelled the world for many years as a sailor before rejoining the League as an Elite Four member. Joined the Elite Four 11 years ago.

Owned Pokemon: Flygon, Altaria, Kingdra, Dragalge, Haxorus, Salamence

STEVEN STONE

25 / Mossdeep City (Rustboro City) / gay asexual trans man / autistic / he/him

The Champion of Hoenn and heir to the Devon Corporation who likes to pretend he's neither of those things. Has at least 8 rocks on him at all times. Won the Championship 6 years ago.

Owned Pokemon: Metagross, Aggron, Cradily, Armaldo, Skarmory, Claydol, Aron, Carbink, Aerodactyl

☆TEAM AQUA/MAGMA☆

ARCHIE

28 / Lilycove City (Iki Town, Alola) / he/him

A former Alola native who moved to Hoenn in his teens. Has been a professional battler and a marinelife activist in his time.

Owned Pokemon: Sharpedo, Relicanth, Crawdaunt, Plusle, Golisopod, Gastrodon, Lapras

SHELLY

27 / Lilycove City / she/her

A (former) scientist who specialized in researching the impact of human land development on Pokemon. Loves a good Mudkip.

Owned Pokemon: Swampert, Muk, Mawile

MATT

26 / Lilycove City (Pacifidlog Town) / he/him

A wannabe professional battler who wasn't ever that good at battling. Made a killing as a bodybuilder, however.

Owned Pokemon: Carvanha, Tentacruel, Zangoose

MAXIE

28 / Lavaridge Town / he/him

A volcanologist with a hot temper. The head of the department at the Mt Chimney National Park that monitors Mt Chimney for signs of eruption.

Owned Pokemon: Camerupt, Claydol, Ninetails, Minun

TABITHA

27 / Lavaridge Town (Petalburg City) / nonbinary / they/them

A seismologist who used to work for Devon and currently works under Maxie. Hates kids (and most other people as well).

Owned Pokemon: Torkoal, Mightyena, Armaldo

COURTNEY

26 / Lavaridge Town (Lilycove City) / she/her

A historian with a great knowledge of myths and legends. Is... very loyal to Maxie.

Owned Pokemon: Camerupt, Grumpig, Seviper

☆OTHERS☆

PROFESSOR BIRCH

35 / Littleroot Town / he/him

A Pokemon Professor specializing in habitats. Recently finished a longterm study on Flying type migrations in northern Hoenn.

Owned Pokemon: Zigzagoon, Swablu

JOSEPH STONE

57 / Rustboro City / he/him

The president of the Devon Corporation who took over from his grandfather 35 years ago. Likes to meet up and coming trainers.

Owned Pokemon: n/a

CHAZ

16 / Lilycove City / he/him

A coordinator who thinks too highly of himself. Wants to be a Contest Spectacular idol but can't make it to that level.

Owned Pokemon: Machoke (Macherie)

[dispatches-from-the-lorecord]

Brotherly love (also the pokétch sucks)

[January 14, 2023]

{Popia140:}

Reading through my messy draft [of a work-in-progress comic about Napoleon and Pepe] :LUL:

[Screenshot of text, reading:

Oh wait! Leo! Is Leo okay?! Pepe scrambles to turn on the poketch? (IT’S AN APPLE WATCH NOW, OMGG it got an upgrade) and calls Leo.

/end text]

Very messy sneak peak, but it’s something

…for the purposes of this comic it will act like an Apple Watch, the poketch could have had an Xtransceiver-like update

{Haji:}

Yeah that makes sense

The Poketch is cute but... It sucks 😂

Hoenn and Johto peeps going "at least mine has a phone!!!" And Sinnoh peeps are like "hey, the mountain makes reception REALLY hard, okay? Besides, look, I can make the Luvdisc make kissy faces~ Isn't that adorable?"

"...."

"...Coin flip? I mean, that's fun too"

"I guess notepad is useful."

"Yeah, but if I hit a wrong button, it won't save anything."

"....."

"I'm not helping my case any. OH! But let me show you what's really cool! I have a Berry Tracker!"

"[Hoenn] Give it to me."

"[Johto just face palms]"

{Popia140:}

Another sneak peak, I’m literally restraining myself from revealing the entire script, but it’s too wholesome :StarsWeep:

[Screenshot of text, reading:

P: I’m sorry, I’m bothering you. I’m gonna end the call.

L: No. Don’t. You said you had a nightmare. Tell me about it.

P: You… care?

L: Of course I would, I’m your brother!

P: (shyly) … thank you. Lull, he was gonna hurt you. And then I called. I wanted to see if you were okay. Like an idiot.

L: Pepe.

P: Huh?

L: You’re my idiot.

Pepe pauses, then smiles.

P: Jerk.

Napoleon smiles upon hearing this.

L: Thanks…

/end text]

Oh wait, rip

Spelling error, not lull but LUM

{krizste:}

You're my idiot(affectionate)

{Trollkitten:}

Yep, that's Pepe all right

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Sword and Shield’s Pokedex culling has become infamous among the fandom to the point where people are still complaining about it long past the point where it would even matter. While I think a culling was inevitable at some point, I think it could have gone about a bit better. I think Gamefreak should have tried to take popularity and usefulness in battle more into account, as some of their choices are rather… baffling. So here, I am going to go through every single Pokemon family I would cut out of the Pokedex if I were designing the games and my reasoning why.

A few rules:

I am not cutting out any starters or mythical Pokemon. They should just be available in the code in general for events or in the former’s case as gifts for certain thresholds in dex completion or something. At any rate, no starter should be left behind. The starters is more definitie, I can live with or without the mythicals, but I’m just not considering them in general as they’re bonus promotional Pokemon.

I am not cutting any Pokemon already in the Galar dex. If they’re there, they stay.

I am not cutting any UBs. You can get Beast Balls in game and it would literally be the easiest thing to have some sort of weird Ultra Space anomalies happen now and again to justify them being in.

I’m just gonna say all non-Galar fossil Pokemon are cut, because frankly it’s more realistic to not have all fossils grouped into one region. In real life you can’t find every single dinosaur in every single country, so might as well keep that.

I am acting as if the slate is wiped clean: No Z-moves, no megas, no G-max. I’m only considering what Pokemon deserve to be in the game, be it for flavor or for competitive purposes.

And now, onto who I would cut:

The Beedrill, Pidgeot, and Fearow lines would all go. They’re all just easily outclassed by options from later generations. Raticate’s line as well, common rats in general are going to be a no-go with this list.

Primeape family can go. I just feel they don’t add much in terms of a Fighting type. There are plenty of better and more interesting options.

Tentacruel and Golem lines can go. Jellicent is far more interesting as a jellyfish, and Golem is just not very impressive nowadays in terms of Rock or Ground types.

Dewgong can go. There’s not really more a specific reason than it is utterly unremarkable.

Sadly, I’m going to say Lickitung has to go; as much as I like it, I really don’t want to have to see Lickilicky.

The first legendaries to be cut ��� Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. I have no strong opinions on these guys one way or another, but they just don’t feel like they mesh particularly well with the Galar region in general.

Furret, Ledian, and Ariados are the first to go from Johto; frankly, I don’t expect many Pokemon from Johto to make the cut, as they’re generally just extensions of Gen ! Or really gimmicky to a fault, though weirdos like Unown and Dunsparce are definitely staying in.

Jumpluff and Sunflora can go.

Granbull, Magcargo, and Ursaring can go.

Skarmory can stay out. Sorry, Corviknight is just a straight-up improvement.

Donphan and Stantler can go.

Miltank can just stay right out of the series forever for all I care.

Ho-Oh, Lugia, and the three legendary beasts can stay cut.

Mightyena and Wurmple can stay gone.

Masqurain and Exploud can stay cut.

Plusle, Minun, Volbeat, and Illumise really aren’t worth making a fus over, even if they are all cute.

Camerupt and Grumpig can stay gone, the former especially since I’m not accounting for megas.

Altaria can stay gone.

Castform is simply not worth bringing back.

Walrein, Clamperl, and Luvdisc can all stay gone, with the latter especially seeing as its sole reason for existing is gone.

Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza can stay out – the Latis and the Regis at least can have some reasonable way of fitting into Galar naturally. Can’t really justify three physical gods from a Japan-based region chilling in the UK.

Sorry Purguly, but you can stay gone.

Chingling reminded me – Chimecho can just stay gone forever. It’s sad I completely forgot Chimecho until this moment.

Carnivine just doesn’t really fit, honestly, so it can stay gone.

Lumineon can go.

Literally all of the Sinnoh legends save for Heatran and Cresellia can go, for similar reasons to other god-level legends.

Patrat and Herdier can stay gone.

The cutting of the Elemental Monkeys was a blessing, and it’s not one we should sneeze at.

Did anyone care Swanna was gone? Probably, but it should stay that way.

Foongus and Alomomola can stay gone.

Bouffalant can stay gone.

The three weather boys – Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus – can stay cut.

Vivillon, Pyroar, and Talonflame can stay cut.

Dedenne and Carbink are pretty worthless so they can stay gone.

Yveltal and Xerneas can stay gone – Zygarde can stay around, provided there’s a quest to reform it again. Pretty sure Zygarde would be pissed about the environmental damage in Galar, honestly.

Gumshoos just needs to stay gone forever. The Trump jokes aren’t worth it.

Crabominable can stay cut because it is hideous and worthless.

Oricorio and Comfey can stay cut.

Komala and Bruxish can stay cut.

The Tapus definitely need to stay cut, seeing as they’re specifically guardians of Alola.

Altogether this would cut about 161 Pokemon – a little over the entirety of Generation 1.

[spiritomb-propoganda]

Why Spiritomb is my favorite Pokemon

Surprising, I know. The little ghost rocks are hardly competitively viable (what am I saying, they aren’t competitively viable) and they take forever to find. So what draws me to them?

Spiritomb is, in my opinion, one of the best Lore Fillers out there.

A lot of Pokemon don’t really exist to be good at fighting. Unown is the most obvious example. But all the Pokemon that don’t exist to be good at fighting serve another purpose: Worldbuilding.

Luvdisc’s stats are absolute garbage, but it’s a symbol of love due to its shape.

Unown has the greatest psychic power of any legendary if you get a bunch of them together.

Heck, Regigigas is the most feared being in all of Sinnoh.

And Spiritomb? It gives us an answer to where malevolent souls go.

Spiritomb’s dex entry states that it’s made of 108 souls imprisoned in an Odd Keystone for their misdeeds. This honestly makes my mind click. Does this happen with every malevolent human? If so, what of the Spiritomb in the future? Imagine a Spiritomb with Ghetsis or Lysandre as its main personality. Bound to an odd keystone for all of eternity for what they tried to do to the world of Pokemon.

This also makes me wonder. What of the other leaders? Archie and Maxie of teams Aqua and Magma eventually recanted their original visions since they realized what harm they’d bring. But they also nearly caused their Pokemon World to end. Guzma is just a gang leader tired of what he sees as an outdated system. Giovanni ran a mafia until he met Red. Lusamine was... I  can’t even explain her plot. 

But what counts as a malevolent soul? Is it weighed on the good against the bad? Is it the contents of their heart at death that determines whether they were malevolent or benign?

And finally... is there redemption for those already Spiritombed?

[jusadode-blog]

Wonder Trade Guide?

I’ve been using a lot of the wonder trade system lately, and I’ve noticed some things new users or just unsure users could benefit from knowing.

Species:

Please do not deposit the following species onto the wondertrade unless they are bred and/or have egg moves, hidden abilities, have special IV’s (Usually if you receive one with such they will have some of the symbols filled in like the heart, star, or triangle.), or of course if they are shiny or have Pokerus.

Zigzagoon, Bunnelby, Caterpie, Wurmple, Ralts, Pidgey Whismur, Wingull, Poochyena, Hondege, Woobat, Geodude, Pansage/Panpour/Pansear, Skitty, Tentacool, Magikarp, Zubat, Tailow, Fletchling, Budew/Gloom, Tailow, Flabebe, Azurill/Marill, Luvdisc.

Short Hand Reference: If you can catch it before your third gym, it’s almost never worth it. If you have a less common game (such as Y opposed to X) then your game-exclusives are more valuable but first three zones may still be questionable.

Please trade more: Y exclusive pokemon,  second or third evolutions (excluding gloom and marill), post-evolutions that required stones (especially non store-bought stones such as sun, dusk, dawn, etc. etc.), rare-genders for the species (female combees, female Zoroark, etc.), and evolutions which required high-friendship or affection for evolution.

All eveelutions are SUPER nice to trade, and once you get to the icy and mossy rock you can farm them fairly easy.

All trade-only evolutions (or ones that will evolve if you trade) excluding Phantump/Trevant are also pretty awesome. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF HELIX IF YOU GET EXCESS WHIPPED DREAMS OR SACHETS WONDERTRADE MORE SWIRLIX AND SPRITZEES.

On Scatterbugs:

PLEASE EVOLVE YOUR SCATTERBUGS BEFORE DUMPING THEM, SOME PEOPLE AUTORELEASE SUPER RARE ONES WITHOUT TESTING IT FIRST. I have gotten so many rare Vivillion designs due grinding at the moss stone, many of which started off as scatterbugs which would have been autoreleased due to the misconception that evolution changes their starting region. It does not, however, some peoples languages and regions may be different . I.E. People who have a different native tongue than their region, people cheating the Masuda Method, etc. etc. Please always evolve your scatterbug to Vivillion before releasing, and PLEASE donate yours if you do not have the Modern pattern!

Be The Change!:

Either evolve pokemon you get that are undesirable due to prementioned things, or release them! I personally release most of those if they lack all things AND have a regular pokeball. If they have a more unique pokeball I keep them and evolve them since they can be useful for breeding and filling pokedexes at least, and may help a wonderlock trader. Please, no matter how valuable, keep personally or release any pokemons with inapropriate names or the trainer had an inapropriate name. I have gotten a total of 5 (out of thousands) of trades with variations of curse words for names, one of which including a rare Vivilion design. I kept it for my personal collection, but after getting a double I released it. Children do play these games, and there is no moderating system in place to protect them from immature or just generally rude people. Also filter out really crappy names, such as ASDJKLSADJLA unless a fairly valuable pokemon (especially for breeding, as the next person could release them after breeding or retrade for someone else to use).

Breedering Specifically:

If you get a rare pokemon, please breed it and share the joy! Rotom, Castform, Phione(from Manaphy and their selves), friend-safaris, all starters, all fossil-resurrects, please at least breed two party’s worth of eggs, hatch them, then wondertrade them off! I’m studying to become a competetive breeder, and practicing by dumping different rares and partially rares onto the thing.

If you want to be super amazing, dumping female versions are even more appreciated! I usually breed starter pokemon until I get at least one female pokemon, often leading to a generous donation to the wonder trade.

Pokerus:

If you are so lucky as to get pokerus (marked as a status thingy and shows a :l face by their symbols), don’t worry about donating trash-tier pokemon onto the wonder trade so long as they are infected! Remember, keep at least one infected pokemon in the computer at all times incase it ticks past midnight and all your pokemon are no longer contagious. I reccomend at least filling one box with infected pokemon and donating them to ensure you are doing your part to make Wonder Trade even better! Afterwards, just donate any you accidentally infected and didn’t want, or were leveling/evolving for WT and got infected.

(Thanks again to the person who gave me a infected inkay, and to the person who gave me an infected pellipper! Those were the only two I received non-hacked with pokerus, I can’t imagine how long some people must wait to get infected!)

On Hacked Pokemon:

You might eventually get a hacked pokemon through the wondetrade, often marked by being a level 100 shiny with a super rare item. It happens, and some people don’t want them and some people do. If you really don’t want it, try considering going to the GTS and giving it to someone who’s putting up trash pokemon for something, or just rewondertrading it. I personally keep them for collective purposes, excluding ones I dislike which I give away for trade-evolutions only that I need (SLURPUFF). Please do not release hacked pokemon, as it could really make a non-competetive players day.

[themoontheinconstantmoon]

Pokemon fishing rant

What is up with the fishing in pokemon? I mean, I can understand the flavor aspect of it, that you get water pokemon by fishing, but it’s always been so poorly implemented. There are two main mistakes. Over reliance on magikarp means that one water-type is much easier to catch than the others. Magikarp is also not weak. It evolves into the mighty gyarados at only level 20. This is before the third gym in most games. The inexplicable splitting of the fishing rod into three means that it is almost impossible for all three of them to feel unique, especially since you can catch water pokemon by surfing too. We end up with the old rod being useless, or the good or super rods barely being an upgrade. It feels like an excuse not to think about designing water catch rates properly  

It’s worst in gen 1. You can get a level 5 magikarp for 500 yen just before mt. moon. Then, when you get the old rod in Vermillion, you can catch… more level 5 magikarp. And that’s it. It offers no improvement. The good rod expands your water pokemon catches to goldeen and poliwhirl, then the super rod to all water types. (Tentacool was the only pokemon available by surf.) Except you get them both at about the same time. In fact, it is quite likely you’ll get the super rod first. This makes any difference between them immaterial. Moreover, you get both of them well after the fourth gym. Until then, magikarp is your only option for a water type if you didn’t start with squirtle The remakes sort of fix this problem by giving the good and super rod different catch rates, making the good rod also give you krabby and horsea once you get to the sea, except it’s all pointless because the super rod can still be obtained before the good rod and the first half of the game still has nothing but magikarp.

Gen 2 isn’t great, but improves a lot on the formula. It doesn’t abandon it as it should have, but none of the three rods feel meaningless. The old rod gives you an 85% chance of magikarp which is still high, but there’s a 15% chance of either tentacool, poliwag, goldeen, or krabby. That’s more than gen 1 or 4. Then there is the good rod. That 15% chance is now 55%. There is also a 10% chance of a staryu, horsea, shellder, or dratini. Other pokemon are sprinkled in occasionally. The super rod is disappointing, though. It expands the 10% chance to 30, but only introduces two new pokemon, and neither is very good. There is also the issue of the good rod coming at about the same time as surf. The remakes then totally shit the bed on all of it. I can understand the reason, to make the super rod better. But they sabotaged the old and good rods. The old rod now has a 95% chance of magikarp, and the good rod has 60%. The good rod also now has only a 3% chance of making the best catches. The super rod is unchanged, but the least important of the three, because nobody is altering their team in the endgame. It’s also a special “fuck you” to nuzlockers, who are never going to catch anything in the rare slots now.

Gen 3 does have the best old rod. This wins it points. Magikarp is only 70% likely to appear. The other 30% was tentacool in saltwater, or goldeen in freshwater. Combined with the fact that having dive meant there were even fewer fishing opportunities, it did reasonably well. Unfortunately, there are problems after the old rod. The good rod was very late in the game, just after the fifth gym. It does offer 4 new pokemon at 20%. The problem is that freshwater gets three of them. All ocean routes just get wailmer, and there’s 17 ocean routes. Wailord is also not as good in battle as gyarados or tentacruel, making it feel like a downgrade. The super rod is again underwhelming. It only provides two new pokemon, and that’s only on 4 of the 18 routes. In freshwater it just increases the three 20% chances to 100%. In the ocean, there is 60% wailmer and 40% sharpedo. You can get carvanha, sharpedo’s preevolution, with the good rod though. Once again, the remakes alter the data. The good rod’s 20% chance of new catches is reduced to 5. This means you’ve beaten the fifth gym, and you get a rod that barely changed from the one you had at less than half this level. They also took the sharpedo out of the ocean routes, so it’s just wailmer. On the bright side, horsea is now on two more routes, and the chances of catching it go from 15 to 40%.

Gen 4 had better placement of its rods. The old rod is before the first gym, and the good rod is before the third. The super rod is just after the pokemon league, clearing the room for really only having two rods ingame. Unfortunately, it completely fails to act on any of these advantages. We go back to the old rod catching only magikarp, and the good rod catches 65% magikarp. You might as well not have had the old rod at all, since the good rod will still catch mostly magikarp at all locations. The super rod is no better. The promise of having dozens of water types to choose from is largely wasted. It mostly just catches evolved versions instead of any interesting national dex pokemon. Sinnoh region fishing is a bitter disappointment. There were no excuses of inexperience or structural problems. The only reason for the choice was the erroneous belief that magikarp is basic.

In gen 5, the super rod is now the only rod, and it is only available after the game is complete. Unfortunately, it really could have used it. The benefit of the fishing rods before ride pokemon were introduced is that you can have them before surf, because surf is a 95 power move and you can’t hand it out at the beginning of the game. The problem is this game has surf well after the 6th gym! (5th gym in b2w2) That’s the latest it’s ever been. There’s only two wild water pokemon available before then in bw. Oshawott is only one of the three starters. You get panpour if you choose snivy, but won’t use it if you have self respect. Tirtouga is just not as cool as archen, so you probably won’t pick it as you fossil. Even with surf, only 3 more evolutionary lines are available, and only one of those is good. The absence of fishing created a larger problem.

Gen 6 is seriously hurt by its insistence on splitting the pokedex in three. I know I spent this whole rant complaining about magikarp being everywhere, but this wasn’t an improvement. Central kalos has magikarp for all old rod catches, coastal has luvdisc, and mountain has poliwag. It isn’t one hundred percent magikarp, but it still has issues. The problem here is that the old rod comes just into coastal. That means that if you do want magikarp (which is again very good), you have to backtrack. This means you are basically stuck with luvdisc until almost the fourth gym. Nobody wants luvdisc. It has no evolution and is as weak as a first stage pokemon. You might as well not have a fishing rod. At least the magikarp line was useful. The good rod once again seems like the only rod with a purpose. You get the super rod about as you cross into mountain. Mountain has no super rod exclusive pokemon. They’re all in coastal, requiring even more backtracking. You have fly by now, but it still feels bizarre and pointless. The game isn’t structuring the wild pokemon and the new rods around each other at all.

Gen 7 finally introduced the fishing rod. Not the old rod, the good rod, the super rod, or the rod Ryder carbine action 200 shot range model fishing rod with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time, just a fishing rod. Singular. The only problem is that it brings us right back to being plagued by magikarp! There’s 300 pokemon in the alola pokedex, twice the size of rby, dp, or bw. Why was it all spent on giving each patch of grass different capture data and not on making fishing not an annoying peripheral? 2 areas have 99% magikarp outside the bubbling spots. Why even have bubbling spots? They still have 50% magikarp in most places. Just have that be the normal capture data. The bottleneck problem returns, even if there’s only one rod. The fishing rod comes at about the same time as lapras paddle, the replacement for surf, and also the water-type filled land area brooklet hill. This means there is again a sudden glut of water types. It makes them feel less distinct. Ultra sun and ultra moon do improve on the overuse of magikarp. It’s unsurprisingly still everywhere, but it’s less common.

This may seem like getting worked up over something that doesn’t matter. It probably is, but a multibillion dollar game series has no excuse for mismanaging a basic feature this heavily. If I’m going to buy 7 games 28 times, I shouldn’t need a poorly designed feature to 100% them. I love pokemon, but its ceators is so complacent. They doesn’t bother to fix things until the entire fanbase complains about them twice. They know people will buy the games anyway. It just feels very cynical, and pokemon should not feel cynical.

[dreadwhoop]

Super Torment Mode Diary - Day 6-9 Recap

Day 6 (Dec 31st)

Got Goldeen! NOTE - Panola Ranch and Panola Town are considered different. No backtracking to the Town now. Same for when you reach Royal Avenue after Route 6. Onto Route 6. Lillipup...Lillipup...Eevee. Onto Royal Avenue. Centre here has weather effects for 50k! BATTLE ROYALE TIME! I got KO'd here but this won't count as an official defeat. Anyways onto Route 7. Magikarp...Magikarp...Wishiwashi... A Pyukymuku! On the water? RIGHT...got it! Onto Wela Volcano Park. Got a Salandit! A Magby! A Fletchling! A Cubone! Magby...Fletchling...Salandit ok!

NOTE - Kiawe is basically standing there like a Gym Leader. Even though it is a Totem Den and not necessarily a Gym Leader Battle I'm going to have to force the rule of highest Pokemon being boxed. Sorry Ibid - you have to stay put for now. This was a mistake I realise but again I did not know. It's not like I'm the kind of guy to reset every time something goes wrong as I know so many people do. Yeah well defeated the Totem Pokemon.

NOTE - Poke Pelago is all legal. In terms of Pokemon which visit and can be eventually captured here's a general rule - you can put them with event Pokemon but cannot use but other versions can be still found in the game as if you never caught one only seen. I must admit I did get a Murkrow this way just before running into it so didn't realise. I could impose the Kahuna rule but to be honest turning them into curiosities you can have like when you use the Pokefinder seems more reasonable. They can all be found in-game anyways.

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Onto Route 8. Magikarp x3...Wishiwashi...Yungoos...x3...Trumbeak x2...

!!!DEFEATED 9 TIMES!!! By Miltank. There really is no shame here.

NOTE - I think this should be obvious but if not - you can't RELEASE Pokemon you catch.

Used 3 Rare Candies on Gastly. Got to make sure it can Curse Miltank for the rematch.

NOTE - I am constantly having to 'grind' a magikarp's lack of being able to hit anything Ghost to use leftovers to heal. Cheesy but ALLOWED.

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Day 7 (Jan 1st 2017)

Salandit...x2...Yungoos...Trumbeak...

NOTE - Taunt bypasses the Torment rule so long as we are talking non-combat moves - rotate all combat moves as usual.

!!!DEFEATED 10 TIMES!!!

Yeah well my Pokemon were a bit underleveled...Scientist with a Shieldeon did me in got the Archeops KO'd but yeah.

!!!DEFEATED 11 TIMES!!!

Got the Scientist but a Salandit did me in on looking for the damn Stufful.

###BREAK###

Caught dat Wimpod! NOTE - Does Wimpod count as being seen? Yes. Gotta get it this route as mandatory.

!!!DEFEATED 12 TIMES!!!

Ace Trainer on Route 8 got me with her Fearow. Got a Finneon!

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Day 8 (Jan 2nd 2017)

NOTE - Locked eyes rule needs correcting - you don't necessarily have to beeline asap to a trainer BUT here's the rule - you need to defeat who you see before you leave the route and this will include the trainers who only fight you when you defeat everyone on said route even if you have to return later (very important for those trial captains on Akala of which I completely missed in my Blind playthrough since I didn't realise). If you lose to them sorry - new team same opponent. You try and try until you win. Got a Chinchou!

!!!DEFEATED 13 TIMES!!! Ok Fearow is wrecking me.

!!!DEFEATED 14 TIMES!!! Ok Fearow is wrecking me. I tried to Toxic Spikes...Flying...OH DEAR ME.

Finally defeated it! Never before has anyone thought of a Fearow being so...er...fearsome. Until now. Kinda wish it had an Alola form now.

Route 5.

Ibid is back! Ah Bonsly! Got it in one thanks Quick Ball! Why not just Rare Candy it into Sudowoodo? Done. Route 5 Trial Guide...SLOWPOKE HAHAHA.

Things I've learned during this - Starters are really strong. Grinding is sorely missed. Status inflictions are usually better than slugfests.

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Into the Lush Jungle. I'm glad to be out of Route 8 at long last. Lurantis cool! Close battle though. Ibid pulled through. NOTE - You're escorted out of Lush Jungle but you can go back in. Metapod...Trumbeak...x2...Fomantis... I got the following - Bounsweet, Paras, Comfey, Oranguru, and a Pinsir.

###BREAK###

Okay got my new team all from Lush Jungle. Time to move on. NOTE - I missed a trainer on Route 6 but I did not realise this so don't blame me because I thought going South was not progression. I know. Diglett Cave - Zubat...Diglett...Zubat... Onto Route 9 - Hi Luvdisc! Luvdisc...x2...Magikarp...Luv...x2...x3

NOTE - For future reference/stating the obvious - if you run from a Pokemon or KO a Pokemon you can capture because you have yet to capture and it is not an evolution or a Trial exception you are disqualified from the challenge.

Memorial Hill - Got Phantump NOTE - There is something known as Strategic Sacrifice which is you purposely have a Pokemon KO'd then you capture a Pokemon immediately to sub the faint spot in your party. It's limited to new Pokemon but it's an effective rotation if used carefully! Gastly...Zubat...Gastly...Phantump ok off we go. Akala Outskirts - Wingull...Nosepass...Gumshoos...Wingull...Nosepass...Magikarp...x3...

Day 9 (Jan 3rd 2017)

A STUFFUL! I found one! Got it! Went to the Ruins of Life but need Strength so bye. Back on Route 9. Hi Corsola! Critical Capture fail! Got it after. I rare candied Paras to become Parasect. Out of candies now.

Konikoni City. Ok got some Incense...massage...it's Hyp to say No! Bought Shadow Claw and Dragon Tail.

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Plume or Armor? I choose Armor. 7k. Got it. Olivia's shop has Stones - Fire/Grass/Electric/Water for 3k each.

Fighting Olivia. Okay okay here's the thing - Plumeria took down Ibid but had to be boxed anyways being highest level so no biggie.

Oranguru struggled but bested her Nosepass. Then her ace beat out my Comfey. Then Pinsir ok this is one of the greatest best moments. Pinsir goes to 1 HP. Fights back. Can't kill. Gets hit. DOES NOT DIE. Stays on 1 HP - Toughs it out for me! Then it kills the ace. YES! Olivia down! NOTE - Free roam both islands now. Hatched the fossil.

###BREAK###

NOTE - You cannot capture evolved Pokemon. Only exception is if you did not know but this rule is really more a non-blind clause. Went on a Pokemon Hunt and got - Spinarak, Shellder and Bagon.

###BREAK###

Anyways near Kukui's house was some Corsola. I helped with a Potion and got a Wide Lens for it. Sweet. Melemele Sea. There's an island offlimits. I need a pokemon like Lapras and Tauros combined - swims and beats rocks. Corsola...Magikarp...x2 Seems the fishing spot with the 3 rocks here gives you Pearl Strings since I just fished up 2.