#this is more of an issue with alolan pokemon since all the other variants are from other switch games

[qhazomb]

a thing i think should exist in the pokemon games:

say a pokemon has an evolution that has a region variant, like cubone for example. as of right now, the only way to get an alolan marrowak outside of the sunmoon and USUM games is to either transfer one from those games, or if there's an NPC in some other game that will trade or gift you one (like the diglett guy in SWSH). so if you caught, like, a shiny cubone in SWSH that you really wish you could evolve into the ghost/fire marrowak, well, you're out of luck.

(similar thing happened to me a while back when i found a shiny exeggcute in SV, and was sad to learn that i couldn't actually evolve it into the dragon-type alolan exeggutor, even in the 'coastal biome' of the terrarium where you can find wild alolan exeggutor, booo)

i think they should introduce a special held item that lets pokemon evolve into their regional variant evolutions even outside said region.

like, for the cubone example, give it an "Alolan Trinket" or something to hold, and instead of the regular ground-type marrowak, it'll evolve into the ghost/fire one! this also of course uses up the trinket.

we have ways to get regional variant pokemon that are variants from their very first stage brand new in a different game, by just breeding another pokemon of that variant while it's holding an everstone, but no way to get the ones that are only a variant when they evolve!

[pokemonshelterstories]

i'm a contest trainer, and i've got a ribombee, alolan raichu, and minccino who all get along really well.

theres a wild galarian ponyta that's been wandering my area, and i know it doesn't have a herd since my area doesn't typically have galarian ponyta, but we do have kantonian ponyta, who often travel in herds. im concerned since it seems like she's pretty injured, but I know ponyta can kick real hard so i don't want to freak her out when i approach.

i think she's hurt enough that i could catch her with a pokeball, but like i said, i don't want to freak her out.

i called the local rangers and the person who picked up the phone seemed really casual about this, saying that regional forms that aren't native to the area tend to die out(!?) and that its just nature taking its course(!?!?). i really want to help her because it hurts my heart to see any pokemon in pain, but is there any reason catching her would be bad? the plan probably wouldn't be to release her, since she's not a natural part of the niche here.

i have the resources to take care of her if i were to catch her, but i'm worried that she's going to upset my other pokemon. my raichu is on the smaller side (closer to 1'7") so the ponyta would become the largest pokemon in the household. would this cause a massive upset in my team?

(also i wouldn't be using her for contests, at least not until she's recovered from whatever injuries she has, so don't worry about that)

honestly, it's not unusual for us as rangers and rehabbers to let nature take its course on an injured pokemon that's still out in the wild. given that she's not a native variant, she's likely either an escapee or a released pokemon. an individual vagrant likely wont have any ecological impact, so we wouldn't need to remove her immediately. but capturing a pokemon for rehab (which we typically only do with native species/variants) or euthanasia (more likely what would happen here) takes time and resources, and it also removes resources from the natural ecosystem. if we grabbed every injured pokemon out there, things would fall apart pretty quickly! it sucks to think of a pokemon suffering, but injury and death are a normal part of life in the wild.

now, if you wanted to capture her to be your own pokemon, i don't see any issue with that in and of itself. she clearly doesn't have a social group she belongs to (i imagine some of her injuries are actually from a kantonian herd chasing her off; ponyta are a prey species and often wont tolerate a vagrant who might make them an easier target). but you're looking at a pretty tough time bringing her back to health if she is indeed healthy enough to save her, and you'd have to make sure you have access to pasture. you'd need to make sure you have the right environment to raise a ponyta in, which can be tricky if you don't already own farmland.

as far as social concerns....i don't see too many issues from your ribombee, since they're not terribly fearful and like helping injured pokemon with their pollen puffs. your minccino and raichu are more likely to be fearful of a larger pokemon, but could be slowly introduced. the main issue is that ponyta need interaction with conspecifics or at the very least pokemon that are of similar physiology/social structure to them. skiddo and mudbray are common companion pokemon outside of members of their own species. if you want to keep this ponyta, you need to be ready to also take in a buddy for her, which may be more than you're willing or able to do.

there's always the option to try and nurse her back to health with help from a vet and then rehome her as well. but at the end of the day, while i think the ranger you called should have given you a bit more of an explanation, they weren't wrong: letting this pokemon die naturally is not a bad thing to do.

[freelance-pokemon-ecologist]

So: If you were to try and categorize pokemon species, how would you do so? Would you say that the final stage of evolution for a pokemon should be the one we're basing the categorization off of, or its very first stage (i.e., would you say the Alakazam line or the Abra line?). Do you think that pokemon are simply too different to apply any real world biology to them?

Would types have any meaning, or are they a separate issue when it comes to making a genealogical tree of all pokemon since we know that pokemon are able to gain/lose regional forms, evolutions, and types in the span of merely a couple centuries (Take Scyther gaining Scizor and losing Kleavor or Hisuian Sneasel going extinct in favor of our modern one.)

Well, we know for a fact that types don’t have any meaning when it comes to determining how closely related two Pokémon are. Kantoian and Alolan Vulpix are Fire and Ice types - just about the farthest apart you can be - and are both considered close enough to be the same species, just a variant. Same for Corsola, Sandshrew, Darmanitan, Marowak, you know.

I try to take the whole evolution line into account when I can, because there’s a chance that something significant is seen in one evolution that’s less obvious in the others (Trapinch -> Flygon for instance. Vibrava on its own might be classified as a dragonfly, but together with is evos we know it’s an adult form of antlion).

My personal philosophy for catagorization is to refer to each unique Pokémon as a species, and each connected group of species as a Family (ie. Bulbasaur the species vs The Bulbasaur line/family which includes its evolutions). Determining interrelatedness means comparing two different Pokémon families, rather than the individual species within them.

I attempt to stay away from real world classifications for Pokémon because they are so different from real-world animals, and I don’t want to assume that they followed the same evolutionary path as species in the real world. That being said, I will make broad generalizations based on in-universe evidence. It’s safe to assume that invertebrates are more basal (older than) vertebrates. The fossil Pokémon line up well with the prehistory their inspirations are from - so assuming the Pokémon-world equivalent of the Cambrian Explosion/ Triassic/Cretaceous etc periods isn’t a stretch.

[auxiliarydetective]

It's here! The drawing to this post. It took hours and scaling these Pokemon to Vicky's height was an adventure. I'm way too proud of how Vicky turned out. Thankfully, Sylveon hides the ugly shoes and skirt-

As usual, Tumblr resizing the image makes it look worse than it is

First and foremost: All bases used are by SelenaEde on DeviantArt. I would not have gotten by without them.

Now for the fun details! Those include more info on the pokemon and their abilities and natures, as well as all the historical details I put into Vicky’s outfit

Up first: Vicky herself!

From top to bottom, the first detail is her lipstick. In the 1940s, different shades of red were pretty much the only color used, known as Victory Red. I got this specific shade of red from a 1940s guide for lipstick shades for blondes. Thus is also the first time I've ever drawn lipstick, so have mercy.

Her cardigan. Please zoom in to her cardigan. Clothing was rationed, so women were encouraged to knit clothing themselves - and Vicky, taking the role of a good housewife, did. Take a look at the pattern! I really worked hard on it and used authentic vintage clothing as a reference.

Now multiple minor ones, grouped together. I decided to draw her in a more casual, civilian, spring outfit. That's because a. I wanted to avoid the swastika armband (it had no business being in a cute picture like this) and b. it being spring would allow Ninetails and Rapidash to be in the same picture. The blue color scheme is a nod to her British uniform. Her skirt is the appropriate length, long enough to cover the knees but short enough to save fabric, and her shoes are almost flat, which is era-appropriate and probably a lot more practical for a spy and pokemon trainer.

Now, her Gardevoir

It's - as you can see - a shiny Gardevoir and Vicky has had it as her since she was a child. Gardevoir is very calm, admittedly a bit arrogant and maybe the only pokemon mostly unaffected by Kinch's Rotom's shenanigans. Sometimes, it fights with Hogan's Lucario over leadership, but ultimately knows when to back down. Just like its trainer, it enjoys a cup of tea, but only black tea, which Vicky herself dislikes. So, it sometimes steals a few sips from Newkirk's cup. It can be seen floating around Vicky a lot, being her trusted companion. This, while demanding the respect of Germans coming to camp, also has negative effects, since the pokemon is taller than its trainer. Lovely teasing material for Newkirk, who regularly points this out. Gardevoir's special ability is Trace, which Vicky thinks is a bit ironic because she, as a spy, also sometimes has to copy other people.

An exotic pokemon - Alolan Ninetales

The fact that Vicky has an Alolan Ninetales and not the more common variant is somewhat of a status symbol, which is amplified by its beauty. The only downside is that it gets too warm for it in the German summer, so it has to stay in its ball or in the tunnels for the warm months. Ninetales is gentle in nature, but sadly also a bit naive. It aids other pokemon and protects the ones of the Heroes and Schultz, Klink, and Helga (and later Hilda) like its pack of Vulpix. Not all of them appreciate it, but it likes to think they do. Its fluffy coat makes it very nice to cuddle with and it readily lets anyone warm up close to it. Well, as much as an ice pokemon can warm anyone up. Ninetales is not made of ice and not as cold as other ice pokemon but it's still far from a fire pokemon.

Fancy Unicorn for an English lady

Only getting to have three pokemon at a time can come with some issues, especially when Vicky realized just how warm German summers could be. Because of this, her Galarian Rapidash, the third pokemon she brought along from home, became a sort of replacement for Ninetales for summer as her second favorite. She has to be careful to give enough attention to Rapidash even in winter because it will get jealous otherwise. She usually doesn't take it into the barracks or any building with her because of its size and the fact that, as a horse/pony, it's not as mobile and not made for indoor spaces. When she has to get somewhere very fast, she sometimes rides her Rapidash through the forest. Rapidash has a rivalry with LeBeau's Fletchinder because it keeps smacking it with its wings.

"Just a bird"

With Rapidash having to temporarily replace Ninetales every year, a spot was freed up in Vicky's "German" team. Luckily, she found the perfect third member: A Pikipek she found wounded in the forest one day. Because Pikipeks are so common and it even looks like a regular woodpecker, it can fly around and deliver messages or give signals without being suspicious. She also managed to teach it simple morse code phrases and to drill holes to hide things like camera film or other important items in. It was a long and tedious process though since Pikipek has too much energy for its own good. It should not be in the same room with LeBeau's Fletchinder or they will make endless noise.

Now, the first of Vicky's hidden Pokemon, a Sinistea

Fun fact, Sinistea is 10cm tall and I used it to scale the entire picture. Because of this, @benevolenterrancy and I came up with the idea that our favourite teasing devil Newkirk would refer to people as (x amount) of Sinisteas tall. Poor LeBeau is only 15 and a half Sinisteas tall, but Newkirk always conveniently forgets that half-a-cup. Speaking of cups, I'm fairly certain a tired Kinch, Carter or Hogan would one day have tried to drink the liquid inside of Sinistea's body. Thankfully, that liquid tastes horrible and they spat it right back out, so they got to keep their soul. Whoever had that unfortunate encounter might be inclined to stir Sinistea's liquid from time to time to mess with it and make it get dizzy. Vicky loves her Sinistea and thinks it's super adorable. She knows that evolving it into a Polteageist might be beneficial to the mission, but she might not be able to get herself to change her cute cup.

Speaking of cute...

Vicky's Sylveon! At least a third of the pokemon that have come in contact are infatuated with it. Whenever Vicky is in the tunnels, it will stick to her side and not leave, feelers wrapped around her arm. Newkirk hates the little sweetheart because of its soothing aura. Just the fact alone that he can't hate it when it's close is bad enough, but he also doesn't get to fight anyone else! Where's the fun?! What makes it even worse is that his Zoroa enjoys the peaceful company of Sylveon. Vicky loves her Sylveon, no matter what anyone else says. It makes her life a lot easier and she really enjoys seeing Newkirk's softer side too. Maybe that's another reason why he doesn't like it - it makes him show his vulnerability. Sylveon gets along very well with Kinch's Rotom but also has a good relationship with pretty much every other pokemon owned by a POW.

Finally, Vicky's trusted spy companion: Absol

Her Absol can sense the Gestapo coming from miles away and kept her safe multiple times while she was still working solo. It has a difficult reputation because of its fearsome aura, but two pokemon it gets along with well are Newkirk's Zoroa and Hogan's Lucario, oddly. Probably because Lucario knows Absol means no harm. Absol spends most of its time in the tunnels and can immediately tell when a part is about to cave in, using its speed to save anyone still inside.

I'll add relationships with the pokemon of other people once the almighty master of this au does the posts for them :)

[crystalelemental]

Oh hey, there’s actually Pokemon news on the DLC.  For a minute there, I thought they forgot.  Let’s see if the news can actually convince me to spend additional money on the worst game in the series.

Alright, starting off simple, the new Regis: Regieleki and Regidrago.  Maybe this is an old man shouting about nonsense moment, but I don’t like their names.  The original trio were all simple and sounded clean.  Regieleki just sounds weird, and Regidrago is...actually that one’s fine.  I just don’t know what they’re supposed to represent.  Electric Age, obviously, but the hell is dragon?  Medieval times?  Anyway, we don’t know what their abilities do, but they are new abilities.  So when do the old regis get unique abilities that will put them on the map?  Never?

Then we’ve got the new Galarian forms!  Galarian Slowbro!  It’s Poison/Psychic!  Uuuuuugh.  See, I like the typing.  Typing’s cool.  But this is problem 1 with regional variants.  That typing should be on an actual new thing, with some kind of unique and interesting premise.  Instead it’s on a Slowbro, but the shellder bit its arm instead of its tail, and turned into a cannon thing that shoots poison?  It’s the same issue I take with Alolan Ninetales and Alolan Raichu.  I’d love an Ice/Fairy or Psychic/Electric type, if it weren’t tethered to an alt of a Pokemon I already liked.

Then we have the birds.  Articuno is Psychic/Flying, so it’s objectively the best one.  Zapdos is Fighting/Flying so it’s objectively the worst one.  Moltres is Dark/Flying so it’s okay I guess.  I kinda like them, though their retention of part-Flying is confounding, especially since the Articuno description talks about it never flapping its wings and flying through psychic ability.  Just make it Ice/Psychic with Levitate.  We only have one other Ice/Psychic, and it’s Jynx.  We had plenty of Psychic/Flying types, we didn’t need another.  But whatever, I guess it’s fine, another nice Psychic type to add.

My problem is it’s a regional variant.  See, Articuno now has Competitive.  Which is okay, I guess?  With Articuno’s stat spread, it’s not doing a ton of favors, but I guess it’s nice for answering Intimidate?  But there’s the problem right there.  If it stays put, it’s not going to be that good.  But some regional variants get different stats.  Which means they might change it to be faster or more offensive on the special side by taking away attack.  Which is something base Articuno desperately needs, but won’t get.  So this regional variant now either completely blows base Articuno out the water in every regard, or it gets to also be not that great but still gets a bunch of Ice-type moves and shit to make it stand out that base Articuno doesn’t.  Don’t get me wrong, I like the design, but I also love base Articuno, who’s been allowed to be the worst legendary Pokemon since Gen 4 at the latest.  Stealth Rock obliterated its potential as a defensive Pokemon, which is all it could ever be with those stats, and now we have a regional variant that may have gotten the treatment base Articuno needs.  But it’s a fucking regional variant.  It won’t exist past this game anymore.  And even if it does, it does nothing for the base form which still sucks, and should be more important.  I just hate regional variants so goddamn much for this exact reason.  That kickass attack its got, the potential for an expended movepool and better stat allocations?  That should’ve been for base Articuno.  And instead it goes to something that’s simultaneously just a knockoff brand of the original, and doesn’t actually count as the original.  Just make a new Pokemon.

We can’t bring back mega evolutions, so Lopunny and Mawile still suck absolute shit forever no matter what, but we can introduce new G-Max Pokemon that don’t fucking matter.  Venusaur and Blastoise get forms, and it’s basically identical to Charizard.  Guess they realized the Charizard favoritism was too much, and that all of them should be completely equal.  At least it’s better than what happened to Mega Blastoise.

You can get the hidden ability starters if you bring a Pokemon from Sword and Shield to Home.  I really like Grassy Terrain Rillaboom as a concept, but still not buying home until you can sell me on literally anything else.

Oh hey, there are move tutors!  I mean, for new moves, not for old moves that you may want tutors for.  So unclear how much I’ll care.  One of them is a priority Grass move that’s only priority in Grassy Terrain.  So questionable if that’s any good at all.

Then there’s the...Cram-o-matic?  You combine four items into a new item, but the new item depends on what you put together...okay.  Could be neat, I guess.  It really depends on what you can access and how easy it is to get those things.  Supplemental way to get BP-exclusive items is the only way this matters.

And then there’s...Max Soup.  Where you give it to a Pokemon with Gigantamax potential.  And it will become a Gigantamax Pokemon.

Aaand we’re done here.  No, seriously, fuck you GameFreak.  You had this potential all along, and you waited to put it behind a fucking paywall.  Do you have any idea how much hunting for a Gigantamax Pokemon sucks?  It would be literally impossible to accomplish, if it weren’t for the existence of a glitch you didn’t even intend for allowing people to manipulate time.  Oooh, but if Animal Crossing is any indication, that’s cheating and very bad, so I guess everyone should’ve just suffered through daily play for the last 7 fucking months, hoping they can find even one of the Gigantamax Pokemon they’re after.  Then you better hope its stats are good.  And its nature is good.  And everything else is good.  Also that you can fucking beat it at all, which is really only possible with the 5* battle difficulties if you paid for internet access because you’re sure as fucking hell not beating those matches with the default teams thanks to Solrock only knowing how to spam boosting moves IN A GAME MODE WHERE THE OPPONENT JUST NULLS BOOSTS EVERY TURN!

You made this entire endeavor as miserable as possible, driving people fucking insane for MONTHS trying to hunt down these fucking irrelevant Gigantamax forms that don’t even fucking help anything, then have the audacity to dangle an item from a fucking PAID DLC to subvert all of it?  Fuck you.  This isn’t a goddamn gacha game, you miserable fucks.  It’s a console game, it’s designed to actually be fun rather than a test to maximize human misery to rake out profit.  This is completely inexcusable.  You had this potential the whole goddamn time and waited to squeeze out even more money from the worst yet somehow most expensive game in the series by a country mile.  Absolutely not.  Fuck your blood money, fuck this DLC, and fuck this entire generation.  Find new management, because the current one’s done.

[doubleddenden]

You know its absolutely amazing how maybe a week ago Pokemon had done everything right. They had a badass knight raven, they had MOTHAFUCKIN WOOLOO WOOO and they had kaijus, interesting characters, and the wild area.

Now its practically in the gutter lol. I am a fanboy but yikes. They messed up. I wouldn't be shocked if they decide to add the rest of the pokemon they took out as a patch, but game freak is very stubborn and probably won't. They'll include all of them as a selling point in the next one tho, bet on that.

So since it's okay to talk about it now without getting death threats, we need to chat. I've actually had my grievances with Game Freak for a while and did defend them a bit, but no more.

Since 2013 they've shilled gen 1 with mostly gen 1 megas until the Hoenn remake where they still made more Kanto megas, and refused to make Alolan forms that weren't Kanto pokemon

They took out battle frontier in oras because Masuda thought mobile games would compete with it

They dumbed down LGPE because he seriously thinks mobile games are more competition and to appeal to fans that dropped after gen 1. Even with the shitty catching controls he calls it his magnum opus. What.

They've consistently refused to design at least 100 new pokemon for gen 6 and 7, probably 8 if we're being realistic. No, megas, variants, and forms do not count or else each unown and Arceus would be a separate pokemon.

While I enjoyed ultra sun, it should've been dlc.

LGPE also limits you to 153 pokemon, 2 of which you need shitty Go for.

Introduced walking with your mons, took it out, then added it back. And probably took it back again

Megas and variants are still cool. Refuse to make more and blame art block for no mega Flygon instead of hiring someone who CAN make one

Took out events where you got actual story and lore and actually got to fight and capture these legendary and mythical pokemon in favor of handing out codes or going to gamestop or just being HANDED these mythical beings because MASUDA thought the Azure Flute was too complicated

And while we're at it, some other grievances

2019, Gyrados and Steelix have to be dynamaxed to be close to their accurate sizes. Hmmm.

2019, these "better, more intricate animations" still has Scorbunny hopping once or twice to use Doublekick when Stadium and Battle Revolution had actual movements for the moves

2019, still no game like the beta footage for Battle Revolution where Groudon hyperbeams a battlefield and HALF OF DEOXYS APART.

2019, (at least as of now) we're still tweens (BW and XY being 16 and 18 if there's any exception) with the same faces and bodies and halfassed customization options for our trainers. Most fans that play are in college or older, or at least late teens. Just saying from my own experience. The character customization should allow us more freedom with that to look older or different.

Yeah, it's time to start calling them out for it. Space ain't an issue when you can use system and SD storage space or patch shit in, and ESPECIALLY an HD system that rivals the PS4 and Xbox One. Maybe instead of prioritizing a gamble that may or may not make it like Town, you should focus on your bread and butter! Just sayin!

I'm actually going to wait this time around to buy used because I can't justify paying $60 and more for games and services that won't even allow my favourites in after beating the elite 4. And I definitely can't justify Home simply because of this:

The only place Home can send pokemon to is SwSh. Everything else is one way to Home.

If SwSh doesn't have your favorite in the pokedex, its stuck in Home until they decide to make a compatible game for it. That's not fair to the consumers.

Bank will eventually stop service. At that point, if this issue isn't fixed, you either leave your pokemon collection in Sun and Moon/Ultra, or you imprison them in Home until they decide to include them. Also not cool.

Balance is bullshit for an excuse. Just ban Landorus, MegaQuaza, The Tapus or anything else you want to get rid of from competitions, but let us have them in the game.

They keep saying "we're working very hard to do X" and using all sorts of buzzwords but if this is too hard for Game Freak, maybe give it to someone who can take it seriously! I'd be down to see Sakurai or Monolithsoft try making a Pokemon game. Or give it to the Dragon Quest guys at Square Enix or the Digimon Story guys at Bandai Namco to let them make phenomenal games.

Listen, before you tell me to off myself for this or call me names, we deserve a better pokemon game. We deserve creators that don't just phone it in or are afraid to try anything new after piracy and ice cream/garbage "ruined" gen 5 apparently (it absolute did not btw and anyone who thinks so are fuckin morons).

This is the minimum requirement every pokemon game needs. The MINIMUM.

ALL POKEMON SHOULD BE AVAILABLE IN THE DAMN GAME. This doesn't mean they have to be caught! Doesn't mean there has to be a national Dex either! Sun and Moon didn't have it but had all 800+ pokemon in the files, and they were 3ds games! $90 billion, make it work.

At least 100 original pokemon that are not alternative forms or variations, none of which are legendary or similar. $90 billion company. Hire more artists.

That's it! If you can't even do that, then give it to someone who can. Simple.

When you get down to it, there's a reason #bringbackthenationaldex trended and the treehouse video plummeted with dislikes.

"We're making this game for long time fans" was a lie I guess.

Rant over.

[lvminae]

SwSh Opinions

Actually fuck it I'll make an in depth post on swsh since I'm sick and it is 2:30 am and I can't sleep.

Keep in mind that these are my opinions and I’m not out here to argue with anyone, I just want to share what I think. And there is a lot. Since I wrote this in the middle of the night and edited the next day, I probably forgot some things, but it is long enough as is.

I don’t think I actually went into anything spoiler like.

Things I like

- Characters: I adore the variety in the characters and a lot of them are loveable. Some stick out as ones I don't particularly like, and some are silly, but that variety is good and it isn't so common that it becomes irritating.

And I have reasons to care about characters I initially disliked (like Bede; his development is JUST enough for me to not hate him). Some I still don't care about, and some characters deserve more development, but it isn't bad to the point where I am not happy with it (and I will address this more later).

- Pokemon (Variety): I'll talk about pokemon later on the neutral list, but I do really appreciate just how varied and even wild the pokemon are. Design wise, anyways - I don't know jack about competitive stats and don't care.

- Wild Area: The wild area has the silly mechanic of sudden weather changes depending on the areas, and the pokemon who pop up can be repetitive when you are dex filling. But other than that, I LOVE it. It is huge, and immersive, and I much prefer running around there than on routes.

And the pokemon popping up and approaching? Amazing. Can be annoying sometimes when pokemon you don't care about chase you (looking at Tyrouge and Electrike seriously Leave Me Alone), and hunting water types that hop around is frustrating (but makes sense), but it's still a wonderful addition.

- Exp. Share: I know a lot of people are pissed off it can't be turned off, but as someone who cannot get into old games because of not having it/how long it takes to get it, I appreciate it.

Some people think it makes it too easy, but now that you can box pokemon at p much anytime, you can (mostly) avoid the effect by boxing pokemon. I say mostly cause not all situations work with it, but I don't think it is common enough to say it is bad.

- Improvements of life: To add to my point above, I enjoy things that makes the games easier. I'm not a hardcore gamer. I want to have fun and actually be able to reasonably beat a game. Difficult games aren't bad, but these are for all ages. And it is easier to make things difficult than it is to make them easier if they were made difficult, yknow?

Things like showing the effectiveness of moves is one of those things- which I am glad they kept from SuMo- because I have memory problems. Lots of fans do, or are young, or just can't remember Every Single Type Matchup. I prefer having that than having to google type advantages constantly so I don't get a 1 hit ko on either my pokemon or a pokemon I want to catch.

It isn't quite as hand holdy as SuMo was (love ya rotomdex, but pls give me a break), but it is accessible to a range of players. That is how it feels to me, anyways.

- Side quests: Having little quests that give incentive to explore the region and just give a little spice of life to the region. And they aren't super confusing to do.

- General aesthetic: I love how the region looks. It hits so many aesthetic points for me. It is a pretty game with pretty locations, and the graphics are far better than anything I would have expected for pokemon.

Seriously, I've seen people comparing it to BotW and.... That is not the style Pokemon i or ever has been going for. It's an unfair comparison. Also BotW graphics are :/ in my opinion. Beautiful locations, but I don't like how people look. Pokemon? It looks nice, all fit together well. Feels like POKEMON. Not like other games that people compare it to.

There are some graphics that need fixing, like the berry trees and the whole mess they are when you shake them. But it isn't nearly as bad as people pre release were saying. And the battle locations are fine too. Seriously pre release thoughts were a mess.

- Performance: It runs well. I haven't had issues. Frame rate is fine, very rare drops, graphics work fine. I've only had a crash once, and that's because I was chaining max raids and the vibration was too intense for my machine. I took a break, turned vibration off, and everything was fine.

Note: I know that there have been some issues with glitches and stuff, and those are an issue. I haven't experienced any myself so I can't complain. And I'm not any sort of expert.

- Regional variants: I love regional variants in general. It is just So Good. And there are more than just gen 1 variants in these games! Thank god! Obviously many are still gen 1 but they aren't Exclusively gen 1.

I'll talk about that pandering later.

- Gyms: I love how the gyms works. I love the entry trials. I love the feel of the gyms and the competition, and the cheering and the music!!! It is just a great time!

- Character customization: Not quite as extensive as I was anticipating, but still super expansive and I love it.

Things I am neutral on

- Post game: It isn't that bad, but it isn't super interesting either. And I hate the sword based dude. His hair looks like a dick. Yes this is a genuine complaint. Both his and his brother's designs are... silly, and kinda uncreative, and I don't like it.

But they do pose a challenge, and it gives an interesting look at lore and the concept of people believing their assumed ancestry gives them certain rights and just how far these people will go.

- Pokemon: I think we have a good amount of new pokemon, but overall I am... eh on the designs of some. In my experience, regions have either a good amount of good looking pokemon, or a good amount of bad looking/boring pokemon. Obviously this is purely subjective, but this region has me drawn down the middle. I have pokemon I adore and are new favorites, but also quite a few where I just.... Don't like them at all. I've never been this split on them, so while I appreciate their variety like I noted above, I don't necessarily like all of them (especially the fossils. Their story makes sense, yes, but I can't fucking stand them.)

- Dynamax/Gigantamax: I get it's ties into the story, and I love that tie. And it is the gimmick of this region, which I absolutely am ok with. But in use... yeah, having a large pokemon is fun! But I don't really... Care about it? And I only use it in gym battles where I know the leader is gonna Gigantamax (even though generally I didn't need to), or max raids.

I like it more than Z moves, but it does make me miss Mega Evolution. At least it gives people something fun to design. And some of the gifantamax designs are great (and some are.... Basically dynamax. Pikachu and Eevee especially.) The raid make for good leveling though so I do like that.

- Story: I like pokemon for the stories. I actually don't like the style of the games gameplay wise. Pokemon I can handle and enjoy because it is simple compared to other games in the genre, at least enough so where I can be pretty clueless but still have fun and drive to play/grind somewhat. Bur ultimately for me, I enjoy pokemon for the story and characters.

Story... is lacking in this game. I love what we get! It is super interesting! But it is so much on the back burner compared to other games in order to focus on the gyms that it feels... I dunno. I miss a larger, more involved story. The focus on specific characters like Hop do still give me something to focus on, at least.

But the story could have been improved overall had it not been shoved to the side so much. A different, less involved story could have worked better, or something that involved the league and gym leaders more since the gyms were the focus.

Or find a way to involve the player more! It really comes down to the goal of the game, which was the improvements for competitive play. As a non competitive player, this isn't anything I care about or want. But some do, and with that being the focus, I understand the story being a bit lackluster compared to previous games.

Doesn't mean I have to like it, though :P

- Dexit: I don't... care about dexit. Having to play only with the pokemon from the gen isn't bad, and you can still use some. Yeah, a lot of pokemon I like are missing, but that gave me incentive to use pokemon from this gen. I think people making a huge fit over it also made me just Not Care. I'll miss my old pokemon, but maybe I cam actually complete the dex for this gen.

Things I dislike

- The trading system/y link: The fact you have to have nintendo online for this is awful. It is alienating to all those players who can't afford the subscription. All you should need is an internet connection just like the other games. It's a cash grab and I hate it.

The trading system is also irritating to use in general. I know the gts was not the best, but being able to search was nice. And one on one trading was so much easier. Using these codes is problematic because people you don't know can use the same code and you might not know! It fucks up trades! It sucks. It just sucks.

- Gen 1 pandering: Leon's key pokemon is a Charizard. Charizard got a gigantamax pokemon. Most gigantamax not from Galar are gen 1. Most regional variants are gen 1. I Do Not Fucking Care About Gen 1. Meowth has both an alolan AND galarian form AND gigantamax! It's annoying! Give the other regions some light. Please. I am so, so fucking tired of pandering to gen 1. The pandering makes me hate the gen, not want to go back to it.

- Version exclusive gym leaders: This one doesn't irritate me like the other things, I just think it is dumb. Especially since they didn't change the towns to make sense for the exclusive leaders.

- Cost: I am not made of money and I really do believe it should have been the normal $40. But it is a main series game with a lot and switch games seem to generally run at that $60 mark - main ones anyways - so I'm not surprised. Just disappointed.

[zchaotic]

A fun swish of the Sword

Well, just finished the main story of Pokemon Sword.

Without spoiling much, I honestly had a good time with my mono water challenge. (Milo was a pain, the rest were pretty fair if tough.)

Pro’s-Challenge: If you are looking for a pokemon game that provides a challenge, this game will certainly give you one with how the gyms play out. The gym puzzles give good vibes to the trials from the Alola games, the gym leaders WILL give you a challenge in some way. (Bonus since you can’t over level much in this game.)

Leon had me by the skin of my teeth and it took nearly every pokemon to take him down.

Pros- A better bond with your pokemon: The Wild Zones are the biggest highlight of SwSh in how it is a wide open world where you... catch the pokemon that roam, it looks gorgeous, the max raid battle is a good concept if you want a group of buddies to help ya catch some of the biggest, baddest pokemon you will meet. (Like how it works in MMO’s.)

The camping mechanic is a personal charm to me since it allows you to make a bond with all the pokemon you brought on your journey to the top and I find it really cute how they play with each other and act as their own. It’s one way to immerse you into the game and it’s a step up from amie/ refresh.

Pros- The New Pokemon: nearly every single one of the new pokemon look amazing, are unique or haven’t been done often. I never got the chance to use a galarian variant and once I clear the post game story, I will... get to catching them all. (Least the 400 you can get.)

The pokemon given Galarian forms is an upgrade to Alolan forms if because it isn’t just gen 1 pokemon getting it this time.

Pros-Rivals: Hop was alright as a character and a good rival. The whole wanting to beat his older brother thing is a good dynamic and over time he gets a wake up call to start getting good.

Bebe is the return of the a hole rival and he was someone I loved hating. Plus he TOTALLY deserved what he got.

Marine was a sweet heart and I liked how she helps out.

I also liked how the Gym Challenge IS the central focus, how you need to be tough if you want to get to the top. It can make your blood running.

Plus I liked how the legendary pokemon were made relevant to the story right from the beginning and the mystery surrounding them. The climax battle was pretty cool. It’s an improvement to Gen 6′s legendaries. (Doesn’t say much.)

Negative-Story: Team Yell is a joke and I could spoil more... but think of them as a lesser Team Skull.

The main villain if you haven’t guessed by now is underwhelming without much going on that hasn’t already been done before in Gen 3 and his second in command is more interesting than HE is.

The climax battle has been done before only with less build up to its predecessor... plus it was easy underneath all the fanfare.

While Marine and Bebe have half decent arcs, they don’t really connect that well with the central story and one of the two’s arcs becomes less relevant as time goes on.

Hop gets most of the screen time as a rival, but again he can overstay his welcome and there isn’t more to him besides being the champs brother. I liked how he was with you in the climactic battle though.

Also most of the REALLY interesting things that happened in the main story is away from your eyes to see. That’s apparently not something for you to be interested in and the gym challenge is more important.

Compared to SM and USUM... this left me a bit disappointed and with all that happened in the story.

This along with how short the game is and how linear some of the routes are do not help.

People, just because the game is directed by Ohmori doesn’t mean the story is going to be instant gold. This game is that lesson to you all. (If ORAS’s delta episode wasn’t something you learned.)

Negative- the situation Gen 8 is in: Due to what has happened in the main story, a sequel would not make any sense due to the third legendary not having much info on him besides the bare bone and a third version would tick a LOT of people off due to how it is another 60$ you would give away, no matter if it cleaned up the story... SwSh is in a lose lose scenario and if it takes a third option of not giving us anything, it will be like Kalos.

The only route Galar has right now is something akin to a DLC expansion pack and I doubt that is going to happen.

Negative- The Dex cut: Initially when it is announce that pokemon not a part of the dex would not be able to be in the game, I didn’t mind it that much since it made sense at the time. We are nearing the 1000 marker and some pokemon are just there.

The problem is the pokemon that are cut is a larger number than I expected and some of the pokemon staying are STILL Dex filler like Delibird.

All in all, the Dex cut was a risk that could have been handled better. It is the birth of endless controversy and it doesn’t give me high hopes that any of it is going away.

As a Game, 8.5/10. Get it if you want to catch up with the latest Gen, outside of story issues, its a good experience.

Edit: The post game doesn’t change much on what I felt about the main story, but I liked the story of the post game FAR more than what we got in the main.

Mostly because we have active villains you want to punch in the face and it gives closure to some of the main characters and even spoiler, spoiler.

More people are involved and it helped made one particular character shine on his own.

[kansas-moth]

Pokemon of the Week #1

#039 Ninetales

The Fox Pokemon

Ninetales has long been one of the most popular and well known Pokemon in the entirety of the franchise and is a personal favorite of mine. The beautiful design has left it as one of the most endearing that the series has offered, though unfortunately, its popularity has never really transitioned to its effectiveness in battle.though Ninetales is by no means a terrible Pokemon, it certainly isn't going to win any Best Pokemon Awards anytime soon. Ninetales has relatively mediocre stats, though its nice movepool and nice ability in Drought gives it some utility, but unfortunately it's outclassed in many situations. With the right tools, Ninetales can be an asset to a time, but more often than not, another Pokemon will be capable of doing everything that it can do, but better.

Suggested Set:

Ninetales @ Heat Rock

Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)

IVs: 31/31/31/31/30/31

EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 Def

Ability: Drought

Moves:

- Fire Blast

- Solar Beam/Dark Pulse

- Nasty Plot

- Hidden Power (Ice)

This set takes full advantage of what Ninetales does best; the sun raises the power of Ninetales' Fire Blast and coupled with Nasty Plot, its mediocre Sp. Attack stat will be raised to threatening levels. Thanks to its decent speed, it'll be able to do some decent damage to opposing Steel-, Bug-, Ice-, and Grass-types. Solar Beam is useful when dealing with Rock- and Water-types, and thanks to Drought, Ninetales will no longer need to wait a turn to charge. However, if this is a concern of yours, Solar Beam can be replaced with Dark Pulse, though the coverage against Rock- and Water-types that would threaten Ninetales will be sorely missed. Hidden Power is used to deal with pesky Ground- and Flying-types that would otherwise plague Ninetales; Pokemon like Gliscor would otherwise be able to wall it with little trouble, though it's weak without a Nasty Plot boost.

The Heat Rock will extend the amount of time that Drought will remain active, giving Ninetales the ability to support its team. However, you can replace the Heat Rock with either a Firium-Z or Grassium-Z for a one time, incredibly strong attack. Firium-Z will turn Fire Blast into an incredibly strong Inferno Overdrive outright KO most things that don't resist it while the Grassium-Z will bypass Solar Beam's need to charge, giving Ninetales a powerful Grass-type option, being useful as a last resort.

Though this set can prove troublesome, it isn't hard to counter, so team support is necessary. Without a Nasty Plot boost, Ninetales is fairly weak and anything with a decent Sp. Defense can wall it, things like Chansey, Blissey, or Porygon2 will make Ninetales' life a living nightmare. Even with a boost, it can easily be walled. While its Speed is nice, it's not great and can easily be outsped and KO'd by faster Pokemon like Garchomp or Choice Scarf Tyrantrum. Ninetales is severely hampered by status, especially Paralysis. Entry hazards pose a major issue for Ninetales as well. All of these issues require ample support from its other team members. Defog and Rapid Spin support is almost required in order to keep entry hazards from cutting Ninetales' time short, status support and entry hazard support from its own team is useful. Spikes and Stealth Rock will make it easier for Ninetales to net KOs. All in all, Ninetales is a decent Pokemon, though it requires loads of team support to do what it needs to do. With the right tools, it'll prove to be an asset.

Alolan Spotlight:

When the seventh generation rolled around, a number of Kanto Pokemon had received special treatment and got a new form. Ninetales was among the many chosen to receive a new form. It quickly became my favorite of these Alolan variants and it's certainly an improvement over the original form, though like the original Ninetales, it has many limitations that hold it back. A nice typing in Ice- and Fairy- gives it plenty of useful resistances against Bug-, Ice-, and Dark- as well as nifty Dragon-type immunity, however its typing also gives it a number of crippling weaknesses. A 4x weakness to Steel-, along with weaknesses to Poison-, Rock-, and ironically, Fire-types makes it difficult to switch in. A shallow, but useful movepool and a nifty ability in Snow Warning gives it some usefulness, but mediocre stats hold it back severely.

Suggested Set:

Ninetales @ Light Clay

Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)

EVs: 248 SpA / 8 HP / 252 Spe

Ability: Snow Warning

Moves:

- Aurora Veil

- Blizzard

- Moonblast

- Dark Pulse/Encore/Hail

Since Ninetales is the only Pokemon with access to both Aurora Veil and Snow Warning, this gives the Pokemon an excellent supporting role. Under hail, Blizzard is perfectly accurate and extremely strong, doing heavy damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Moonblast rounds out Ninetales' great STAB and in the case that the Hail ends, it gives Ninetales a good back up to Blizzard. Dark Pulse rounds out the coverage, being effective against opposing Psychic- and Ghost-types, though it can be replaced with Encore to further enhance its role as a supporting Pokemon, trapping opponents into boosting moves or into useless status moves can prove to be the turning point in your battles, and lastly, Hail can be used to replenish the weather on the battlefield, allowing Aurora Veil to remain useful. The Light Clay will push Aurora Veil to the max.

Though the Alolan Ninetales plays an excellent supporting role, it has a few things that hold it back. While its typing provides it with plenty of offensive options and some nifty resistances, it's proven to be more trouble than worth. Being extremely weak to moves like Bullet Punch isn't great, especially when you consider how common Pokemon like Scizor and Metagross are, two of the best users of the move. Though it has access to Nasty Plot, it often doesn't have the chance to squeeze it into the moveset and because of this, Ninetales' has trouble dealing much damage unless it's under Hail. Mediocre defenses make it easy to KO Ninetales and while it's got a great Speed stat, it's often outsped by common Choice Scarf users like Nihilego, Victini, and Garchomp who can easily OHKO the Pokemon with their super-effective moves. Lastly, it's hampered by status and entry hazards, requiring support from its other teammates. All in all, the Alolan Ninetales can be a very effective Pokemon, perhaps more so than its original counterpart, but it's held back by the same limitations.

What are you thoughts on the Fox Pokemon? What kind of experiences have you had with Ninetales in battle? Tell me your stories in the comments below! Thanks for reading the ramblings of a random moth.