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[Boss Doggie]

So uh...

A few months ago, one of the writers in XY named Akemi Omode twitted something about a surprise for the anime. In XY she had written episodes that are tease-heavy and/or Serena-centric (one could argue all of those styled-episodes were written by her).

Come today - XY 89, 90 AND 91 are written by her - particularly because they are Serena-centric according to her twitter. 89 is the Eevee-catch episode, 90 is the double battle, and 91 is the Tripokalon performance (so it seems we'll see a performance before a gym battle).

For a hint - she wrote the recent "Chespin Does An Errand!" episode which, while not a Serena-focused ep, had a nice shipping tease moment where she asks Ash about her dress and blushing about it.

I'd like to know where this saying that the initial generations were much more difficult came from.

Literally the first time I played, I soloed Blue with Blastoise. And again with Charizard. It was only in Yellow that I even considered raising a team equally, and I beat the game with my team constantly underleveled.

Really, once you've played enough, there's not much you can do to make any of the games more difficult without restricting yourself.

I never understood it, even the Whitney meme.

Like, I was that "kid who used only his starter" back then and I used Quilava and steamrolled her.

 

[ColtraineGF]

Via the SPP network, a survey about the format for an upcoming tourney

surveymonkey.com/r/R3CWWXV

Underdog Tourney gogogogogo

Most people played 1st/2nd gen in elementary school.

As was I when I first played. That said, when people talk about difficulty the age when they first played never comes up, only that newer games be just as difficult/more difficult, which is hard since the games get easier the more you play.

I never understood it, even the Whitney meme.

Like, I was that "kid who used only his starter" back then and I used Quilava and steamrolled her.

I did this too (with Quilava, natch). In later playthroughs I traded for that Machop in the department store. Bang!

 

[Kyzer]

The only times I had trouble with Whitney were when I tried to level my Pokemon equally without grinding. I think back then I tried to skip battles a lot too

 

[Hegarol]

What about the new thread? We only got a few posts left.

 

[ColtraineGF]

The only times I had trouble with Whitney were when I tried to level my Pokemon equally without grinding. I think back then I tried to skip battles a lot too

My current habit is to battle every single trainer, as early as possible. And to keep everyone's levels stable.

Fun times~

What about the new thread? We only got a few posts left.

Ike is on that - we have just under 150 posts anyway, so it's NBD.

 

[Busaiku]

With the Too Many Pikachu cover plates, this'll actually be first time that I ever actually have Pokemon hardware, unless we count Pokewalker.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

I remember in HGSS I took on Whitney with Defense Curl + Roll Out Dunsparce just for fun. Crushed her.

 

[Keropon]

AZ's response to the Chile thing:

Knowing that they're aware of the issue is good but the last paragraph kind of wasn't necessary. "Look at all these other countries that don't keep having their applications rejected! Doesn't that make you feel better?"

Sadly, this problem is older and comes even from before Big Bang Entertainment... I still remember the whole trouble with SALO S.A. keeping TCG prizes, money, medals from tournaments and even pre-release cards and then selling them as merchandise...

Tournaments are REALLY poorly organized and sometimes kinda shady, the community doesn't want to eliminate Big Bang, but their stupid attempt at monopolizing the tournaments is getting retarded

 

[PreyingShark]

Seriously? What's with Chile and bad companies getting the license?

 

[CassSept]

I never understood it, even the Whitney meme.

Like, I was that "kid who used only his starter" back then and I used Quilava and steamrolled her.

'Meme'? If you don't kill it fast enough or don't approach it strategically rollout is gonna totally murder half your team. If you're a kid it's a brutal move that can really screw you up since it's rock type (which you most likely don't know, can't expect either and is likely SE against most your team), its gains power pretty fast and Miltank is relatively high-leveled and strong (esp. defensively) compared to what you've faced up until now (sure, Scyther is stronger but it's easier to prepare against it).

Of course no grown person should struggle against Whitney, but as a kid she was strong. And "kids who used only their starter" had it easier against her since Rollout's strength meant it decimated your more-or-less evenly leveled team, but if you had just one highly leveled Pokemon it meant you had beaten Miltank before Rollout got strong enough to murder you (five turns of doubling in power, come on).

E: By Bulbapedia 'The base power of Rollout is 480 on the fifth turn, the highest base power of any move as of Generation V.', of course it's gonna murder you if you let it last for more than 3 turns.

 

[Mr-Joker]

I had trouble beating Misty as a kid and I still have trouble beating her as an adult. Whitney's Miltank also gives me trouble.

Yeah sure the older games could be beaten with just one Pokémon but they did at least provided some level of a challenge. Heck I remember struggling against Lenora in Black and White and Cheren in Black White 2.

But in gen 6 Game Freak lowered the difficulty and I pretty steam rolled the gym leaders, elite 4 and the champion.

Only Lysandre actually gave me any sense of a challenge.

Heck in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire they pretty much hold your hands, give you a free legendary with its mega stone, along with Masuda reasoning why they didn't bring back the battle frontier.

Game Freak have clearly taken steps to lower the difficulty but offered no attempt in allowing seasoned players to increase the challenge.

 

[Keropon]

Game Freak have clearly taken steps to lower the difficulty but offered no attempt in allowing seasoned players to increase the challenge.

When B2W2 came out we slapped a finished JP B2W2 save file to an original US B2W2 cart, then we started distributing the Challenge Mode Key wirelessly to everyone who attended the release event.

Basically a lot of us started B2W2 in Challenge Mode and it was the greatest thing ever. Even today everyone remembers that as a really good idea. If B2W2 was already a good game this was certainly the icing of the cake.

Seriously? What's with Chile and bad companies getting the license?

Sadly we, as a country, are known for getting things half-assed and missing context entirely when it comes to respect people. Just read about our education system, lol.

 

[Boss Doggie]

'Meme'? If you don't kill it fast enough or don't approach it strategically rollout is gonna totally murder half your team. If you're a kid it's a brutal move that can really screw you up since it's rock type (which you most likely don't know, can't expect either and is likely SE against most your team), its gains power pretty fast and Miltank is relatively high-leveled and strong (esp. defensively) compared to what you've faced up until now (sure, Scyther is stronger but it's easier to prepare against it).

Of course no grown person should struggle against Whitney, but as a kid she was strong. And "kids who used only their starter" had it easier against her since Rollout's strength meant it decimated your more-or-less evenly leveled team, but if you had just one highly leveled Pokemon it meant you had beaten Miltank before Rollout got strong enough to murder you (five turns of doubling in power, come on).

E: By Bulbapedia 'The base power of Rollout is 480 on the fifth turn, the highest base power of any move as of Generation V.', of course it's gonna murder you if you let it last for more than 3 turns.

I was a "starter only" kid. So I got an overleveled Quilava that 2 shot her.

 

[Man God]

Misty, Whitney, and Chili/Cress/Cilan can all be total bastards. Clair can be as well because she's the first gym leader in Johto that actually has a decently high level.

 

[AnkiRendan]

Alright Poke GAF, I've been wanting to share this with you guys for a while and my friend finally finished them. She makes plushes on the side and I decided to ask her for my dream team of Pokemon. She agreed to it, but I had to choose the smallest forms because she said the fully evolved ones were "too crazy" (minus Reuniclus, because Solosis was TOO easy). My picture taking skills aren't the greatest, but here you go.

 

[Boss Doggie]

there's a poster showing all anime Kalos badges, yep Ash is gonna face Wulfric, none of that Roxie bullshit

 

[UltimateIke]

Alright Poke GAF, I've been wanting to share this with you guys for a while and my friend finally finished them. She makes plushes on the side and I decided to ask her for my dream team of Pokemon. She agreed to it, but I had to choose the smallest forms because she said the fully evolved ones were "too crazy" (minus Reuniclus, because Solosis was TOO easy). My picture taking skills aren't the greatest, but here you go.

http://s7.postimg.org/i77a09esr/image.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

Those are adorable! Your friend did a really great job. I'm jealous.

 

[PreyingShark]

there's a poster showing all anime Kalos badges, yep Ash is gonna face Wulfric, none of that Roxie bullshit

Who's Roxie?

 

[ColtraineGF]

Who's Roxie?

P-O-K-E-M-O-N

(She's the second gym leader in BW2)

 

[PreyingShark]

Oh yeeeeah, that girl! Thanks, totally forgot about her.

 

[Mr-Joker]

When B2W2 came out we slapped a finished JP B2W2 save file to an original US B2W2 cart, then we started distributing the Challenge Mode Key wirelessly to everyone who attended the release event.

Basically a lot of us started B2W2 in Challenge Mode and it was the greatest thing ever. Even today everyone remembers that as a really good idea. If B2W2 was already a good game this was certainly the icing of the cake.

Gen 5 was really amazing, just a shame that gen 6 feels so backward in comparison.

Alright Poke GAF, I've been wanting to share this with you guys for a while and my friend finally finished them. She makes plushes on the side and I decided to ask her for my dream team of Pokemon. She agreed to it, but I had to choose the smallest forms because she said the fully evolved ones were "too crazy" (minus Reuniclus, because Solosis was TOO easy). My picture taking skills aren't the greatest, but here you go.

I really like the Oshawott one.

there's a poster showing all anime Kalos badges, yep Ash is gonna face Wulfric, none of that Roxie bullshit

Hmmm I wonder if that means that Pokémon Z won't have a new gym leader.

I guess Dark type will have to wait for gen 7 to finally have their own gym.

P-O-K-E-M-O-N

I think you mean D-O-G-A-R-S

I still wish that they didn't changed in the English version, Pokémon doesn't exactly work.

 

[PreyingShark]

How do you guys think of good names for your trainer?

Can't start my JPN alpha sapphire because I can't think of a good name...

 

[Avixph]

How do you guys think of good names for your trainer?

Can't start my JPN alpha sapphire because I can't think of a good name...

I just give my trainer character my name.

 

[PreyingShark]

I just give my trainer character my name.

Normally I do that, but this is my 6th game this gen and I've already used up all the times I like. :X

EDIT: Going with えっと…アイ EDIT2: Or not.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

That Golden Pikachu Quiz on the movie site...0.o

Next level Layton shit.

 

[Busaiku]

The Pokeball factory episode is probably the best I can remember.
Some legitimately funny moments.

 

[Billyman]

The thing that gets me about the whining about the EXP Share is you can literally just turn it off. Like, when they gave it to me in the game the first thing I did was make sure it wasn't on cause I didn't like the idea of it. The end. (though I do use it for endgame grinding for multiplayer)

Because there's no option to have the EXP Share function like in the old games. It's original use made the games less of a grind fest without compromising difficulty. Now it's either have it on and make the game really easy or have it off and make it boring and needlessly difficult. There's no middle ground.

 

[Andrefpvs]

When B2W2 came out we slapped a finished JP B2W2 save file to an original US B2W2 cart, then we started distributing the Challenge Mode Key wirelessly to everyone who attended the release event.

Basically a lot of us started B2W2 in Challenge Mode and it was the greatest thing ever. Even today everyone remembers that as a really good idea. If B2W2 was already a good game this was certainly the icing of the cake.

Oh wow, what a brilliant idea. I wish I'd thought of this.

 

[OranSky]

How do you guys think of good names for your trainer?

Can't start my JPN alpha sapphire because I can't think of a good name...

If its going to be my maincart I just choose male and my name otherwise I choose female and use whatever girly name I happen to like at the time, Shiki, Asuka, Alice, etc.

 

[Boss Doggie]

That Golden Pikachu Quiz on the movie site...0.o

Next level Layton shit.

Yeah holy shit I saw the posts in the anime thread. Who the hell would figure some of those lol

 

[Boss Doggie]

preview for next ep, Bonnie is a better dragon master than Iris

also why do people never count the Pikachu-makes-a-movie ep as a special (particularly Bulba and PokeFil)?

 

[Hegarol]

When can we accept leaks of the next famitsu?

 

[dakkumauji]

preview for next ep, Bonnie is a better dragon master than Iris

wow, better and a faster dragon master than Iris

 

[JoeM86]

When can we accept leaks of the next famitsu?

Famitsu? It never has anything Pokémon related.

CoroCoro is out on the 15th, leaks usually come a couple of days before so Saturday is the best bet.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Well there's Pokken for Famitsu, but other than that yeah. Expect Coro leaks around the end of this week.

wow, better and a faster dragon master than Iris

damn straight, Bonnie is best

Speaking of which this episode seem to have been made when her VA took maternity leave (complete with a hilarious announcement title "Eureka gave birth to a boy") so she has a different VA here and probably a few more eps.

 

[Hegarol]

Famitsu? It never has anything Pokémon related.

CoroCoro is out on the 15th, leaks usually come a couple of days before so Saturday is the best bet.

Sry meant CoroCoro of course

 

[Exterminieren]

This month, I'm going to bet we get an Origin Giratina-style announcement- they'll announce Mega Zygarde and Blobby formally, but won't announce the game featuring them for a good while yet.

It might have been different if they'd announced it at Worlds, but there really isn't any signs that a new game announcement is that imminent- no teases, no Gat TV announcements or Masuda appearances, nothing.

Yes, I know ORAS was announced out of nowhere, but it did at least have a significant presence at Nintendo's Digital Event soon afterwards.

 

[JoeM86]

This month, I'm going to bet we get an Origin Giratina-style announcement- they'll announce Mega Zygarde and Blobby formally, but won't announce the game featuring them for a good while yet.

It might have been different if they'd announced it at Worlds, but there really isn't any signs that a new game announcement is that imminent- no teases, no Gat TV announcements or Masuda appearances, nothing.

Yes, I know ORAS was announced out of nowhere, but it did at least have a significant presence at Nintendo's Digital Event soon afterwards.

It was over a month between reveal and Digital Event for ORAS, though.

ORAS Reveal: May 7th
Nintendo Digital Event: June 10th

But yeah, I agree a new game reveal is unlikely in CoroCoro this month.

 

[Toxi]

Started a Nuzlocke for Heartgold. I'm kinda regretting it because holy shit there are way too many Kanto Pokemon in the early routes.

 

[Dark Orchid]

Started a Nuzlocke for Heartgold. I'm kinda regretting it because holy shit there are way too many Kanto Pokemon in the early routes.

Yeah Johto's an odd set of Pokemon. I feel like at that point in the series they mostly wanted the Kanto set to be the most common wildlife so Oak didn't look like he was lying when he said you found everything. So you have a few new common wild Pokemon with some only showing up at odd hours of the day, then a bunch of "Magmar" types that only exist in one or two places, like Sunkern, Misdreavus, Heracross, and Swinub, then a few that are now showing up in Kanto due to natural migration over the 3 year period like Houndour and Slugma, and then finally some obscure evolutions of older Pokemon. Basically, just an expansion to the original Pokemon list.

Naturally this changed in the next generation and they made sure that Oak mentioned that you only completed the regional dex.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

Johto's Pokemon are pretty odd overall...

I know due to the legacy they're often accepted by most of the traditional fans as being honorable members of the 151, but honestly I think their designs are closer to Gen III than Gen 1 (not that that's a good or bad thing on its own) as it's here I think where a lot of them started to become a bit more fantastical, colorful (there's a ton of really pastel-looking colors among them, more so displayed in the art than the still limited color palette) and a bit more off-the-wall. Oh, and Cyndaquil looks really out of place now alongside the other Fire Starters for its unusual color scheme.

And as you said, it's a shame a ton of them got pushed aside for Kanto Pokemon---the fact most of them were rather weak compared to the Kanto Pokemon, with the strongest being basically new evolutions like Scizor and Blissey, was also a bit unfortunate. I'm glad Gen IV helped balance them out a bit.

 

[Dark Orchid]

Yeah there's a bunch that seem to rely on strategies that weren't really thought out in Gen 2. A lot of them are the weird Baton Pass build where they have high speed or a defense to balance out the stat boosting they would be doing, but often have no real boosting moves that are worth passing. People just went with the eeveelutions or Scyther/Scizor and most of them were ignored until later fixed with better moves, abilities, and evolutions. Ledian and Girafarig are probably the worst offenders on that list and have never really recovered, which sucks because Ledian has a great design and a surprisingly good physical movepool for having 35 base attack.

A bunch of the others were pretty weak too, but lately it seems they've been fixing them up. Quagsire used to be pretty bad but now that water moves can be physical and it can ignore stat changes (Clefable and Klefki tremble) or absorb water attacks as HP it's a lot better. Then there's Pokemon like Sneasel who feel like they were added at the last minute over something else that was cut. Seriously, G/S sprite was the same for both games and completely the wrong color, it had types that were both special when it only had Attack going for it, its movepool was just all over the place (Surf?), and it was only located in one place and that place didn't even have anything to do with its secondary type despite there actually being an ice cave (that it was later added to in Crystal). Sneasel finally got some love in Gen 4 during the physical/special split... and then it evolved into something else.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

I always thought this was a pretty cool, and accurate imo image...

Basically the "average" design of each Pokemon Generation.

Generation 1 used that body-shape quite a bit, and the colors were pretty muted and the Pokemon were a bit tougher in design on average.

Generation 2 as I mentioned before had that very pastel look, and a lot of the Pokemon had very cute and weak looking appearances.

Generation 3 is the most colorful, and the Pokemon were a bit tougher looking than Gen 2 overall, but still quite cute.

And Generation 4 had a lot of Pokemon with that purple/dark blue color-scheme (seriously...Drifloon, Stunky, Bronzor, Spiritomb, Skorupi, Croagunk for the more apparent ones), and many of the Pokemon were rather bulky and a bit tacky looking...although truth be told out of these 4 Generic Pokemon, I would use the Gen IV one because I like the design.

I'd love to see this updated for Gen 5 and 6...not sure what it'd look like? I think Gen 5 would probably be a very abstract colorful creature since a lot of Gen 5 Pokemon were like that, maybe one that's spherical since there's quite a few like that in Gen 5 I immediately think of. I think Gen 6 would probably have more muted colors, and would likely be humanoid in appearance since Gen 6 had a lot like that.

 

[ArchedThunder]

I always thought this was a pretty cool, and accurate imo image...

Basically the "average" design of each Pokemon Generation.

Generation 1 used that body-shape quite a bit, and the colors were pretty muted and the Pokemon were a bit tougher in design on average.

Generation 2 as I mentioned before had that very pastel look, and a lot of the Pokemon had very cute and weak looking appearances.

Generation 3 is the most colorful, and the Pokemon were a bit tougher looking than Gen 2 overall, but still quite cute.

And Generation 4 had a lot of Pokemon with that purple/dark blue color-scheme (seriously...Drifloon, Stunky, Bronzor, Spiritomb, Skorupi, Croagunk for the more apparent ones), and many of the Pokemon were rather bulky and a bit tacky looking...although truth be told out of these 4 Generic Pokemon, I would use the Gen IV one because I like the design.

I'd love to see this updated for Gen 5 and 6...not sure what it'd look like? I think Gen 5 would probably be a very abstract colorful creature since a lot of Gen 5 Pokemon were like that, maybe one that's spherical since there's quite a few like that in Gen 5 I immediately think of. I think Gen 6 would probably have more muted colors, and would likely be humanoid in appearance since Gen 6 had a lot like that.

I don't think the Gen III thing is quite sharp enough, needs a few straight edges and points.

 

[Boss Doggie]

Yeah I agree, that Gen I shape is eerily common in many mons. But then again Rhydon was the first mon to be made right?

 

[ArchedThunder]

Yeah I agree, that Gen I shape is eerily common in many mons. But then again Rhydon was the first mon to be made right?

Yeah, but looking at that image again, I think the Gen I monster could use a bit of work too, Gen I didn't really have bendy arms like that outside of cute Pokemon, they typically had defined joints. I mean sure, Rhydon doesn't have defined elbows, but do it's arms even bend?

 

[harmonize]

The only Pokemon from Gen 1 that I can think of with that body build are Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Rhydon and Kangaskhan. Electabuzz might fit the bill somewhat, but it's not as common as generalizations make it out to be. Maybe it was the promo art and RGB sprites that gave off this impression, some of the portrayals of the Gen I pokemon before the anime make them look more monstrous than they've been drawn to be afterwards.

Also Gen IV's representation looks more like Pignite than anything from the fourth generation.

 

[Toxi]

Yeah Johto's an odd set of Pokemon. I feel like at that point in the series they mostly wanted the Kanto set to be the most common wildlife so Oak didn't look like he was lying when he said you found everything. So you have a few new common wild Pokemon with some only showing up at odd hours of the day, then a bunch of "Magmar" types that only exist in one or two places, like Sunkern, Misdreavus, Heracross, and Swinub, then a few that are now showing up in Kanto due to natural migration over the 3 year period like Houndour and Slugma, and then finally some obscure evolutions of older Pokemon. Basically, just an expansion to the original Pokemon list.

Naturally this changed in the next generation and they made sure that Oak mentioned that you only completed the regional dex.

Yeah, it's really fucking boring when I'm catching Zubat, Rattata, Caterpie, Weedle, and Pidgey.

But lady luck shined on me, because I got Heracross headbutting on Route 33! And he's Jolly!

 

[Mr-Joker]

I always thought this was a pretty cool, and accurate imo image...

Basically the "average" design of each Pokemon Generation.

Generation 1 used that body-shape quite a bit, and the colors were pretty muted and the Pokemon were a bit tougher in design on average.

Generation 2 as I mentioned before had that very pastel look, and a lot of the Pokemon had very cute and weak looking appearances.

Generation 3 is the most colorful, and the Pokemon were a bit tougher looking than Gen 2 overall, but still quite cute.

And Generation 4 had a lot of Pokemon with that purple/dark blue color-scheme (seriously...Drifloon, Stunky, Bronzor, Spiritomb, Skorupi, Croagunk for the more apparent ones), and many of the Pokemon were rather bulky and a bit tacky looking...although truth be told out of these 4 Generic Pokemon, I would use the Gen IV one because I like the design.

I'd love to see this updated for Gen 5 and 6...not sure what it'd look like? I think Gen 5 would probably be a very abstract colorful creature since a lot of Gen 5 Pokemon were like that, maybe one that's spherical since there's quite a few like that in Gen 5 I immediately think of. I think Gen 6 would probably have more muted colors, and would likely be humanoid in appearance since Gen 6 had a lot like that.

I think that it's important to remember that Pokémon design are based around the hardware that they came out for.

Gen 1 was released on the Gameboy so their design had to be simple, whereas later gen design were allowed to be more complex as the hardware became more advance.

 

[Watch Da Birdie]

I forgot Super Mystery Dungeon comes out in a few days in Japan...actually really looking forward to seeing how content-packed that game will or won't turn out to be. Also tempted to check up on spoilers to see if it's got a good plot like Explorers did.