Let's discuss: Pokémon
Let's discuss: Pokémon
The format of these posts is simple: let’s discuss a specific game or series!
Let's discuss the Pokémon series. What is your favorite game in the series? What do you like about it? What doesn't work for you? Are there similar games you like or even prefer to the original series? Feel free to share anything that comes up and react to other comments. Let's get the conversation going!
If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).
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One thing I don't think a lot of people today remember is that this was Dexit before Dexit. When RS first launched, you only had 202 Pokemon in the Hoenn Dex, a step back from GSC's 251, and the missing 184 species were not mentioned or referenced at all. At the time, I thought that they had been retconned out! Eventually, linking to later gen III games would unlock the National Pokedex, but at launch no one knew that was going to be a thing. And it was still fairly wack how many games they spread it out over, gen III as a whole was a mess.
And so that ended up being the last game I played. Skipped USUM because I didn't want to deal with this engine any longer, and then SS... Seeing how they'd just been cutting more and more corners with each game, I simply saw Dexit as the last straw. Maybe I'd have been willing to accept it if they'd actually been bringing new things to the table to compensate, but they don't. I've come to terms with the fact that the Pokemon that I know and love, the Pokemon that I grew up on, the Pokemon that I named my account after, is dead to me.
Great writeup. In retrospect it's absolutely insane how many series-defining features were introduced in Gen 2. That kind of generational leap is mindboggling.
I love your username btw, brings me back to the schoolyard, to Kangaskhans with Fly and rumours of finding Mew under the truck in Vermilion.
I agree with literally every point you've made (especially the 'had to be there' notes, it's so hard trying to explain that) but one.
Here comes a billion words on how I love Sun and Moon. Feel free to skip them, I'm just trying to add to the conversation.
Sun and Moon is on my list of faves because of the slow island vibes, the sun and moon motif... Oh. Let me take a moment and say, as a grass type trainer, I have gotten absolutely effed with starter choices. I love plants, I love flowers, and... It's insane how often the grass-type starter is the weakest in design. So let me say when Rowlet hit the scene, I fell in love. This precious little floof who turns his head all the way around to look at me in battle, and then turns into a moody teenager when he becomes Datrix (if you're petting him after battle, and you touch the feather in front of his face he gets so MAD!), finally turning into the extremely badass Decidueye? Grass/Ghost? Hell. Yes. After watching water and fire get bangers of starters for ages, only occasionally getting a starter that felt like it was "good enough" rarely, finally getting my owl was like a sword-in-the-stone moment.
I hear you on Z-Moves but I do really love the idea of doing a little Hawaiian-style dance with your Pokemon to power them up. It feels more like I'm contributing than pointing a rock at something. I actually enjoy that some of the dances look really stupid because you have to ask yourself, "Do I want to look cool right now, or do I want to look a little silly and absolutely destroy my enemies?" There's also something excellent in facing a friend in battle, and watching them choose to do a dumb pose with mounting horror. "Hahaha, Chris is doing a dance and the background is pink and oh god no he's chosen to destroy me."
Have you played ORAS? I think this was the peak for me. Good vibes, good features, massive pokedex.
Ah, completely forgot ORAS!
Combined the worst parts of gen III with the worst parts of gen VI (that is to say, the engine).
Could someone post the decoder ring for the abbreviations for us uninitiated?
Shouldn't be very hard to figure out from looking at a list of Pokémon games. RGBY = Red, Green, Blue, Yellow; GSC = Gold, Silver, Crystal; RSE = Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald; DPPt = Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, etc. etc.