#so now I'm wondering -- DID we play the same postgame? I know a lot of people didn't play USUMO

[redwineconversation]

now that I'm standing next to you I think I've changed my point of view (LOSC - Lyon Postgame Thoughts)

This was the freest I've seen Lyon play in a while. I think part of that was that it was against Lille, a bottom-ranked team who didn't park the bus, meaning that even Lyon's B and C team were able to stroll around the pitch as much as they wanted with little to no resistance.

I also think that we have to entertain the possibility the starting 11 played as freely as they did because they knew Bompastor would be gone soon. The metaphorical shackles would be soon be lifted.

I'm not above saying Majri played well, but again, this was against Lille, so anyone would have looked good. I still maintain Lyon should sell her this summer, hat trick against a bottom ranked team be damned. She scored. That's good. We increased our goal differential. That's also good. She suited my agenda of wanting to fucking win, but it doesn't change the fact that she doesn't have the level to start, or score, against top level teams.

Same with Marozsan - I'm not above saying she played well, but again, this was against a bottom-ranked team who offered little to no resistance. Lyon was strolling around and their greatest foe was the ever-consistent bad refereeing. Marozsan scored. Great. I like winning. She still needs to be sold this summer. A goal against a bottom ranked team isn't going to change my mind.

Everyone was praising Joseph after the game (not sure if the praise was for coming into the game, scoring, conceding the penalty, or getting injured) but you know who deserved much more praise and is completely flying under the radar? Mendy. Her and Marques are the only two academy players I would like to see stay. The rest can be sold or sent out on loan.

I really do think Mendy is under appreciated. It's interesting to me that there's so much hype around Joseph and Benyahia, and yet it's Mendy who fits the traditional Lyon mold so much better. A quiet player who just keeps her head down, it's her vision of the game that I find so interesting. It's not to say she was the best player on the pitch. But she is the one who I could grow into herself. It's always the quiet ones. Or whatever the saying is.

Endler saved what is arguably one of the tamest penalties of all time, but I will take it for two reasons: one, I like a clean sheet, and two, it is actually really hard to suddenly have to switch on in a game so dominated by Lyon that I was wondering if Endler was going to do a Bouhaddi, and by that I mean start chatting with supporters while the game was going on.

There's not a whole lot to say about this game, really. The starting lineup was like a high B team, because there were probably more than half regular starters. Once Lyon was up significantly Bompastor started rotating.

It was really a game where things happened the way it did because that was what was expected. A top ranked team with massive offensive power destroyed the bottom-ranked team who just didn't have the resources to defend. It's hard to write this recap and be funny, because it was actually - kind of boring. It happened as expected because that's what happens when the differential between the two teams is so great.

It'll be Wednesday's match, the return game against Benfica, that I think will be more telling of where this team is really at. I hope Lyon will pull through, but I think a lot of it depends on where Lyon is at mentally more than physically. Benfica will be putting up a fight for sure. The question is whether Lyon will punch back.

[nautilusopus]

I wrote a whole fucking review for Pokemon Shield but google ate it so I'm putting it up here and making it longer.

Pokemon SwSh is bright and shiny, but has many small systemic problems that ultimately pile up into a larger Not Fun whole. I know the easy criticism is to bring up Dexit, which I'm not happy about for a variety of reasons, but I still think they could've made a fun game in spite of that. Instead I'm going to bring up other problems the game has in the hope of having some of the game's other issues actually recognised before fans and critics alike fall into the same trap that I did. Dexit is honestly just the tip of the iceberg.

First, the good:

Trainer customisation has improved, and I'm always a sucker for the little things. Clothes are affordable once more AND come in a variety of designs, something I felt was a problem with Gen 7, and the player character model actually has facial expressions. This makes the world just a bit more fun to interact with when you're no longer a blankly-staring robot child. I often find myself spinning/doing the Leon pose just for fun because it’s nice to watch your character do something quirky and expressive like that, in the same way people are endeared to Wind Waker or BOTW Link more than Twilight Princess or Majora’s Mask Link despite both of them ostensibly being blank slates.

The curry minigame is fun even if I don’t quite understand how fanning works yet (and also another opportunity to see said facial expressions). Just a tad heartbroken I can’t import my team from previous games to play with them in camp. 

Marnie's a neat concept for a rival, and one that I've personally wanted to see in the Pokemon series for a while. I'll avoid speaking about it too much for spoiler reasons, but I think most people will wind up liking her as well.

The game looks nice. Not like, astounding or anything, but the cities and towns have a lot of atmosphere baked into their design.

Lotta bangers in the soundtrack, and the presentation of gym battles as a World Cup-esque deal, complete with hyped up audience, brings a fresh, exciting take to the Pokemon League. I like the way the music changes as the battle progresses, and enjoy the little in-universe details, like the champion walking around with all his sponsors on his uniform. 

WOOLOO

MY BOY TOBY FOX OUT HERE DOING GOD’S WORK, THIS SHIT SLAPS BEST TRACK 10000/10

Now for the bad:

The game feels very small and unfinished. It constantly implies cool things are happening in the background, but you never get to participate yourself, or even see them. The closest you get is your rival showing up with a news article explaining that a fun thing happened and was resolved in the time it took you to walk 100 feet. It makes the main questline feel flat and tedious, and something tells me maybe we were supposed to get to participate in literally anything, but there just wasn't time and they had to get the game out for the holiday season.

This pairs very badly with the second thing, which is that there really isn't very much to do in Pokemon SwSh. Most of what you wind up doing is backtracking. The Wilds are a neat idea in theory, but in execution they're kind of the worst part of the game. They're also, unfortunately, the biggest. It feels like there's really only two areas in the entire game -- the empty cities/towns with nothing really in them, and the giant, open-world-esque Wilds. 

The Wilds themselves are nothing to write home about. Pokemon catching is gated off by level, but all areas of the wilds are available simultaneously. This means if you care about filling out the dex, you'll find yourself constantly walking back and forth between town and the same areas of the Wilds you've already been to, checking things off a list. There's less a sense of exploration, and more just a sense of wandering in circles occasionally checking the weather. And if you DON'T care about the dex, then there's literally no reason for you to constantly return to this gigantic, lovingly-modeled wasteland ever again, making the game feel even smaller as you hop from empty town to empty town, and there’s even less for you to do as a result.

The game is piss-easy, even for a Pokemon title. EXP share is always on because this game shares the same engine as Pokemon Let's Go, meaning you will be disgustingly overlevelled if you make the mistake of exploring the Wilds in between gyms the way I did, and remain that way for the entire game. I found myself throwing the fight against Opal a little bit just to hear all her dialogue. Otherwise you just oneshot everyone and everything, and all the fights start to feel samey very quickly. 

Also, barren postgame. Like 30 minutes tops.

Maybe I’m a fool for expecting writing from a Pokemon game, but after Lillie from Sumo/USUM I went and got my hopes up, and Hop absolutely does not deliver. I don’t hate him like some do (Hugh is still absolutely the most annoying rival and no one will ever unseat him), but he just feels like many many missed opportunities. He feels extra redundant given Marnie’s presence on top of that. 

Bad Pokemon designs. This one’s a personal gripe so it’s at the bottom of the list, but I feel like it’s still worth mentioning that I abandoned the shit out of my starter and am left with nothing to replace it with. Greedent is now my new least favourite Pokemon ever. Fuckin FNAF-ass lookin motherfucker.

As sort of a smoking gun exemplifying my point, I have 53 Revives just from wandering around in the Wilds forever. And I have 3 Hyper Potions in my entire bag and no other healing items, because the game has given me no reason to go back into town and buy anything because there’s nothing in the towns, and it’s never required me to heal because there’s really no significant battles to have either, in the story, or ones you would seek out for your own reasons. 

On a personal note, I’m 7 badges into this mess and I still haven’t finalised my team because I can’t even find 6 designs I like that also result in at least a somewhat decent type coverage (or at least flashy variety of colour). To those of you that know me and my True 100% Run, that’s fucking unheard of for me. 

Overall, disappointed. It's not terrible, but given how robust every other mainline title was, this is a big downgrade. Not worth $60. I've played more fleshed-out romhacks. This game reminds me more of Coliseum/XD than Gen 8's big debut. Mostly I just feel bad for the friend that bought me it. 

This would just be kind of a bummer on its own, but coupled with the fact that 1. half the damn Pokemon aren’t in it and Game Freak has openly stated they plan to keep doing this and 2. in spite of that the game still felt unfinished, making you wonder what the hell they spent all their time making (Gigantamax maybe? Why? You can’t even do it in-game for the most part. At least Mega Evolution was readily available. Not to mention it won’t even be available next game. Stop making up gimmicks just to discard them), it makes me seriously concerned for the future of the franchise.