#oh also i went with fuecoco as my starter

[ruroken77]

you guys... MY FIRST SHINY IN THE MAIN SERIES IS FRICKIN’ PSYDUCK AND I JUST STARTED PLAYING!!!!!!

[whoslaurapalmer]

finally evolved charcadet and omg. ceruledge is an absolute DELIGHT how gorgeous! how fancy!!

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 45 Review - The End Of The Second Chapter

What a great way to end the second chapter! The raid battle against Rayquaza was intense but great! Liko, Roy and Dot show off their improved battling tactics alongside Friede and Amethio, who shows up unexpectedly after his colleagues retreated. Just seeing the fruits of their hard work from Amethio mastering Terastal to Liko and Roy battling so competently without the need of Friede’s handholding to Liko’s Sprigatito evolving into Floragato, a rare occurrence for Grass-type starters.

The battle between the Trainers and Rayquaza was really good. I loved how Friede chose to split them up as he took Roy and Fuecoco with him and left Cap with Liko and Dot so that he could command him to use Volt Tackle to launch up Quaxly and Fuecoco in the air. The way Roy even landed a hit on Rayquaza with Disarming Voice was so cool to see! When Amethio comes into the fray, he shows off his Tera Ghost Ceruledge and the double battle with him and Tera Dark Charizard was so cool! I can see why the kids want to learn Terastal now.

I was very surprised that the writers would allow Sprigatito to evolve into Floragato. Usually, the anime writers have a severe allergy towards making Grass-type starters evolve. Since Black and White, Ash’s Snivy never evolved; Clemont’s Chespin never evolved; Ash’s Rowlett ate an Everstone and couldn’t evolve; Goh’s Grookey didn’t evolve. I was expecting the same thing to happen to Liko’s Sprigatito, but the writers actually went beyond my low expectations. I have hopes that the same will happen for Roy and Dot and that all three kids will get their Starters to be fully evolved later on. Fuecoco also learns Flame Charge. It’s nice to see Fuecoco learning all sorts of moves. I do wonder when he’ll evolve. Maybe in ten episodes?

I’m glad that the rest of the Rising Volt Tacklers are okay after the major damage the airship took. I do worry about Carkoal’s safety as it’s not present with the other evacuated airship Pokemon. Hopefully, it’s just safe in the engine room as it does look quite heavy to be evacuated safely (yet they were able to move a Nosepass with ease). Because it will take a while for the airship to repair, their adventures come to a halt here. Since the kids will attend school, I do wonder what the adults will do. Will they take up jobs nearby and meet up with the kids occasionally?

The Explorers section was quite interesting. Gibeon tells them to lay low and wait for the Rising Volt Tacklers to get the Six Heroes and then take them from them. That sounds like a solid plan for now. He also wants them to monitor Terapagos and Liko. Uh-oh. The fact that Gibeon knows Lucius, which means that he is most likely aware that she is his descendant. A glimpse of Gibeon is seen towards the end. He has white and black hair, but in a different pattern from Amethio. I’m assuming they’re related, but as ancestor and descendant as Gibeon isn’t supposed to be alive in this era. I’m convinced he’s an AI. He also has a Shiny 10% Zygarde, meaning that Legends Z-A lore will be implemented in the near future, or it’s just an easter egg for the upcoming game. I’m also wondering why Spinel smirked at the end before being dismissed from the meeting. He seems to have more ambitious goals, so I’m curious what his deal is—and it’s not because he’s my favorite or anything, okay?

Overall, the Terapagos’s Shine chapter was a good arc. It was nice seeing progression for Liko and Roy as they grow from novices to more experienced trainers. I can’t wait to see how they will grow with Dot once they study about Terastal at Orange Academy. In fact, I can’t wait to see their school adventures! What are your thoughts on the second chapter now that it ended? Are you anticipating the third chapter?

[desceros]

Ok who was your starter pokemon? OG or through the gens you’ve played if you wanna ramble?

oh boy. rubs hands together you've come to the autistic pokemon kid

gen i - charmander. i like the early game difficulty that comes w the fire typing

gen ii - cyndaquil. the actual best pokemon ever created. baby. little baby. favorite. kiss.

gen iii - treecko. especially in the remakes with the introduction of the mega evolution giving this baby the dragon typing. huff huff. leaf blade was a broken ass move.

gen iv - i went chimchar specifically bc of power up punch. broken ass move. also his speed was absolute coconuts. bit of a glass cannon in the elite 4 tho

gen v - i didn't love any of these at the time, but i went with oshawatt because i really hate pigs and snivy has terrible stats. (early childhood trauma. dont worry about it.) razor shell is a pretty good move though.

gen vi - fennekin. ohhh my god this little bitch is so busted. greninja is also very good but the psychic/fire type combo with that insane special stat is just. chef kiss. i do always restart to get modest though, just to edge out that little bit more. every time i do a nuzlock she always carries me.

gen vii - i went with popplio, largely because the fairy type is so strong typically. i was kind of disappointed with how little utility it got overall, though. i think late game litten would have ultimately been a better choice. i just. really hate incineroar's design lmao

gen viii - scorbunny. pyroball is soooo broken jesus

gen ix - i went with sprigatito because the design was sooooo cute and i was fascinated by the grass/dark typing. so even though fuecoco is inarguably the stronger pokemon bc of torch song (again. busted ass move) i like weed cat

[microsuedemouse]

I am now uhhh… 43 hours in lol? I’ve beaten the league, finished operation starfall, finished all the classes, and am about to enter area zero. some further thoughts, not spoiler-free but relatively spoiler-light I think:

WHERE are the Tired and Put-Upon Middle-Aged Man enjoyers? Larry was MADE for you. I know y’all are out there, and I’m shocked how little I’ve seen of you

Besides the technical problems (which are aggravating, but haven’t made the game unplayable for me), my biggest complaint is no longer being able to wander into people’s houses and poke around all their shit. c’mon, nintendo, that was always so much fun

(A much lesser complaint, but it’s also way less common for random people to just give you stuff when you talk to them. I do love how much stuff there is to Find in the environment, but I miss those little interactions.)

Remember how I came out of SWSH fully head over heels in love with Milo? This time it’s Jacq. Jacq is my Paldean husband. Messy purple scientist dork.

Nemona is still definitely, 100% in love with me. She’s great and I love her but also it’s kind of hilarious.

I think I found a book in the school library written by Sonia (from SWSH). I’d include screenshots but my switch and my phone hate talking to each other so… maybe later.

I am developing so many headcanons about these characters. I know, you’re shocked.

This post isn’t for those headcanons but just imagine for a moment: Kofu and Crasher Wake in a room together.

Anyway

Oh also. Ceruledge and Tinkaton are absolutely my faves from gen ix, and honestly have both shot way up my list of faves in general. In love with them both.

This is the first game in which I’ve ever removed my starter from my team though?? I love Sprigatito and Floragato but Meowscarada just doesn’t quite work for me somehow. I kept my Floragato until pretty late in the game, holding an everstone, but ultimately I wanted a better type spread and grass-only wasn’t working for me, so into the boxes he went. I’m sorry baby boy ):

(If I were to do a second playthrough I think I’d go with Fuecoco - Skeledirge is pretty great and I already know based on Ceruledge, and Hisuian Typhlosion from PLA, that fire/ghost fuuuuucks as a type combo.)

Also. I have a friend irl who plays Pokémon games ruthlessly strategically, and loves to rile me up by pretending there’s no room for sentimental attachment to individual Pokémon. “Pokémon are TOOLS, Courtney.” Etc etc. (He’s simultaneously one of the best and one of the worst people I’ve ever met. It’s a whole thing. Hard to explain. Love him with my whole heart, would vote him off the island.) Anyway the other night we had a link battle and I WON despite his aggressive approach to the game. I have no idea how hard he was trying but boy was it satisfying lmfao.

roughly eight hours into pokemon violet, I’ve barely scraped the surface, but here are some observations:

it’s genuinely very fun, but also, yeah, borked as hell. personally the camera (both camera controls and its automatic motion) is what’s most annoying, but I’m also a very casual player. people with higher demands or expectations likely have other, entirely legitimate complaints. I did have it freeze once and require me to restart.

Nemona is undeniably in love with the player character. I adore her, ngl.

this isn’t new to the franchise, but some of these characters are just… so fucking Designed. good lord.

I’m loving a lot of the new pokemon, but… can we address the fact that flamigo is just a flamingo? it’s just a flamingo. wearing a donut on its neck.

the settings are gorgeous, but the rendering/frame rate issues definitely do take away from that. it’s a bummer. relatedly, I love the design of Mesagoza, but I keep getting LOST. it’s very hard to keep track of where you are?? and the map is only moderately helpful??

not having to do the game in any particular order is neat, but also admittedly leaves me feeling a bit lost! I have too many choices lmao??

Miraidon (and its scarlet counterpart) has been contentious, I know, but personally I’m a fan ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don’t hate sprigatito’s evolutions but I really wanted my little guy to stay quadrupedal. why do they keep making guys who evolve to stand up. nintendo/gamefreak give me ANIMALS

the terastallising thing is… ehhhhhhh. I got enough of a kick out of gigantamax/dynamax in SWSH but otherwise I’ve not been a big fan of this thing where every new region has like, a Gimmick. I’m not sure it’s really necessary, even from a business perspective? idk man

did anyone else fall a little in love with Katy? bc um. I sure did

this game is giving me a great excuse to use lots of fun Spanish/Latin names so that’s definitely a plus

[gikairan]

Okay no i have to do it, i have to write a post about Fuecocos leaked evolutions.

This is going to include the pictures.

This whole like just... baffles me. It baffles me to no end.

There isnt really a good image of the mid stage that i can find? So uh... sorry for this garbage but:

And then theres the final evolution. And whatever you thought it might look like, you're probably wrong

Its Fuecoco... in a sombrero? Like, theres veerry little to distinguish it from Fuecoco itself.

(edited to add - apparently it's a bird nest with an egg. It just doesn't really come across as that in these images)

It looks.... nothing like Fuecoco or this Crocalor image? Theyre all fire crocs, sure. But this is a very different fire croc.

The fire bird is definitely a Very Good Idea. But the entire rest of the design is just... baffling to me? You gave it a hat and then you took it away. Its got a lot more straight lines and angular shapes than the very round/ curved Fuecoco and... Crocalor is also looking pretty round/ curved.

Also just generally this final evo fire croc does not vibe with me. Like, how can you make me hate a croc pokemon?? I dont understand.

Yes, pokemons got a precedent for final evos looking pretty different to anything else in the chain (Dratini being one of the most famous examples, though that has a mythological reason for being That Way i believe?)

The best starter comparison I can make is Oshawott to Samurott? But i feel like Samurott looks way more like a final evo for Oshawott than this Fuecoco one does?? It just has an obvious shell motif that carries across all 3 designs.

Fuecoco is 2 VERY similar red crocs, and then one VERY different red croc?? They could have absolutely made these 3 designs feel like a more coherent evolution line, but they didnt.... the final evo doesnt even have the cheese slices on it anymore, yet they feature prominently on the other 2 ):

It also doesnt "feel like a pokemon" to me, but thats generally because you can tell theres New Blood in the art team. Its clearly a different style, and usually that doesnt bother me. I love Yamper a lot as a pokemon, and its definitely in a different style to a lot of the older designs! But something about this just feels... Very Bad Fakemon to me.

Fuecoco went from my second choice starter to "absolutely not"

Oh and also - one final thing to baffle you all.

Its the "singer" pokemon.

Absolutely no part of the design seems to make me think "yes, this is a singer". Or that a crocodile was the best choice for a "singer" pokemon?? It just feels tacked on at a later stage, rather than something they actually considered in the design stage 😣

[selenityshiroi]

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet thoughts after the first weekend of playing:

First some pros

Gameplay is super fun

Story is interesting so far (the gym challenge less so but the other two lines are great)

Mons are varied and plentiful

Encounters are good although it's a shame they still haven't consolidated battle text into one screen yet (multiple buffs should just be one prompt not several)

Pokemon models are amazing

Traversal, once you unlock a couple upgrades, is great

Deliberate encounter shiny hunting is the most fun it's ever been (I deliberately hunted Fidough and it took me a couple hours but doing Let's Go KOs to respawn the mons was so much better than random encounters)

The Sprigatito evolution line is one of my favourite starter lines ever. May even go to number one.

In fact a lot of the new mons are top tier

The music is fire

Seriously, get me that Tera Raid song please it's living rent free in my brain

Also Tera Raid battles are such a great improvement on the SwSh Raid Dens

Tera Forms are super interesting-not a competitive player but having fun with the mechanic

Miraidon is adorable and has cat like mannerisms like Toothless from HTTYD and I love my technodragon with my whole heart

Now for some cons

Performance is pretty yikes

It got a lot better after I followed some advice (moved the data from SD to console memory, forced the resolution to 720 instead of auto to prevent upscaling attempts) but it's still not fantastic

The mons are so small and get swallowed up in the grass which not only makes shiny hunting pretty headache inducing (especially without a shiny Sparkle or sound and with a lot of subtle shinies loosing even more distinction with lighting effects in play) but makes hunting in general pretty difficult

I had no crashes in the first two days but then it crashed three times on me within an hour last night

You don't get the school lessons...by going to the classrooms??? I didn't realise you had to ask at the front desk which means I didn't find them until I'd unlocked so many it took me an hour and a half to go through them. That being said...the lessons are actually not that bad-decent detailed information and presented well. I hear there are some things locked behind them, which is why I went after them, but even as a veteran I didn't get annoyed with them

Environment models are still bad but not distracting bad (like PLA tbh)

NPC models are both great (close up or in battle) or yikes (in passing when they have a slow framerate and look like PS2 polygons

Lack of outfit customisation is sad. I get it because of the school environment but I hope DLC gives us more freedom

Shops are super disappointing...a few basic model buildings would have been nice and also given the game a chance to dump all the loaded overworld data and start afresh on exiting (maybe? Not exactly a game developer here)

Things that aren't an issue to me but I know some people are probably taking issue with/benefit of the doubt stuff:

Quaxly's 3rd evo (haven't seen Fuecoco's line yet) is one where I took one look at it and thought 'Oh...I bet some people HATE that' but I think it's amazing and it redeemed Quaxly entirely for me lol

Limited dex: we know we're getting transfer only stuff later. We know we'll probably get DLC and more mons later. We do NOT need all 1000 mons in one game. I thing it's perfectly acceptable to have the entire National Dex available on one console (so hopefully between this, SwSh and BDSP/PLA all mons are available on Switch) without them being available in one game.

But they should have taken more time...we know why they don't. Pokemon is a franchise and the games are a cog in the wheel to generate new merchandise. That wheel needs to keep turning. If they can't turn out a polished product in the time given they should invest in more staff and developers rather than take longer.

I still...still wonder if Nintendo had intended to release a Switch Pro by now but were scuppered by the pandemic and the chip shortages. Was this game planned to be a next console release and that is why optimisation is so shoddy? Is that why Zelda TOTK has been delayed twice (since it doesn't have a merch schedule to prevent more time being spent on oprimisation)? Who knows.