#stsh streams

[supertrainstationh]

Why I Quit “Pokémon Violet”.

I'm officially done with playing "Pokémon Violet".

No, I didn’t complete it.

Sadly I found my enjoyment of it so deeply sabotaged by lack of basic quality control, that I gave up on the game fairly early on, though I did put in a number of gameplay hours.

In terms of total concrete plot progress, I completed a single gym, and then briefly went into a Team Star base just to see what it was like.

The gym was by orders of magnitude the most easily completed first gym I ever encountered in a Pokémon game in terms of field-based challenges and Pokémon battles.

From what I heard, the gyms in this game can be approached in any order, but that they don't actually scale with your team's levels, or based on how many badges you already have.

If this is true, this is laughably lazy design for what is supposed to be an open world game in which you can approach challenges in any order, but if this is not true, then pardon me on not knowing in advance whether or not this is true, as I went into the game as spoiler-free as possible in the hopes of experiencing this game without outside bias coloring my experience.

The concept that gym leaders choose to face challenging trainers using a team selected based on the challenger’s current experience level is something that had already been explored in official Pokemon material more than a decade ago, so the failure to deploy it here when the game’s open structure obviously calls for it is inexplicable.

I did the Cortondo Gym first. My levels were similar to the Gym Leader's own Pokémon, but I effortlessly crushed them, and had more difficult encounters with ordinary Trainers out in the overworld in the areas I had been exploring near the city hosting that gym.

I'm someone who will ALWAYS peruse "easy mode" options if they are available. I am completely illiterate in regards to competitive Pokémon battles, and don't even have the full type advantage chart memorized. But even for me, Cortondo Gym was disappointingly lacking in difficulty.

I also want to comment on the pre-gym minigame, which was set outside the gym itself in an area on the outskirts of the town.

The olive roll maze was a neat way to tie in some of the cultural elements of the actual locations the games setting, the Galar Region, is inspired by, but the mechanic of moving the inflatable olive ball felt lame.

Though it is only a minigame which is supposed to be inconsequential, I am harsh on it because it seemed like minimal effort was put into it, regardless of its overall importance to the game.

The playable character's in-game model does not act as though they are interacting with the olive ball, and I would go as far as to say that it appears that they are unaware that the ball even exists within their universe.

Compare this to "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker", released decades earlier on far less advanced hardware of the standard definition Nintendo GameCube, in which the player character automatically looks toward objects of interest in the immediate area that can be interacted with, and the characters arms and face actually change to reflect the effort and intention of moving that object as the player makes this action happen.

But in this olive roll minigame in “Pokémon Violet”, you just walk at the ball to make it move in the direction you want, while the character mindlessly gazes forward as though nothing is happening. It doesn't feel like a minigame meant to entertain or challenge the player, it looks and feels like a collision detection demonstration assembled with minimal care or game design theory put into it.

And even so, the minigame was completely effortless to win, and I didn't even realize it was over, and that I won, until it took me to the result screen.

There wasn't even an on-screen timer to add any sense of urgency to the minigame, and I have no idea if being penalized for taking too long was even a possibility.

I've been interested in Pokémon since I first read a blurb in a gaming magazine in the mid-90's about a monster collecting and battling RPG for Game Boy that was becoming popular in Japan, and I was enchanted by its world and characters since the video games and anime first hit North American shores.

This franchise shaped my life for the better in ways too extensive and detailed to discuss here, so I'm not happy to be in a situation where even after counting down the days till release and roaming from store-to-store to find a copy, that my interest in "Pokémon Scarlet and Violet" has deflated.

In spite of how much I wanted to give this game a full playthrough, in spite of mounting frustrations, my final straw was when I actually stopped looking forward to streaming on the days I announced I was to play “Pokémon Violet”, and felt regret that I "had" to play it on my show in order to fulfill the schedule I promised to my Twitch viewers to stream the game.

The mere complexities of modern games already made me feel a slight disconnect from this title.

Going from traditional 3D Zelda games like "Wind Waker" and "Twilight Princess" to the new style introduced in "Breath of the Wild" was an extreme learning curve for me, especially in regards to operating the more sophisticated interface, though over time I was able to get the hang of it and enjoy the game.

I never imagined that I'd be in a situation where a Pokémon game of all things had a more complex user interface than the latest major Zelda release, and that I'd be mashing one button after another trying to activate nested and cryptic functions that were accessed in very simple menus even as recently as the Nintendo 3DS era.

In addition to that, this game forces the player into tutorials for the simplest of things universal to most modern games of even the mildest complexity, yet leaves tutorials for mechanics newly introduced to the Pokémon series restricted to completely optional and easy-to-miss places tied to special events.

The real killer for me is the extreme lack of polish in almost every aspect of the experience. Characters even just a single body-length away from the player's character are frequently animated with frame rates resembling a flip-book in which half the pages have been torn away.

Obvious shortfalls in the timing and pacing of Game Freak's cutscene animations lead to thinly veiled shortcuts such as cutscene text scrolling unreasonably fast even for a literate adult with an above average reading speed.

Static screenshots are sometimes used during otherwise fully animated cutscenes, and at other points cutscenes loop clumsily and unconvincingly on a particular moment as the scene waits for a player prompt to continue the narrative

Other times the graphics fail to accurately depict things that players are expected to believe are taking place within the game world. Important details essential to gameplay or story beats are sometimes not shown on screen, are mentioned only in interface or character dialog, or are rendered in outstandingly unconvincing ways.

In the first decade of the 21st Century, I owned Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube, and enjoyed games on all three systems.

Since then, I have focused my gaming habits on Nintendo systems.

I chose Nintendo DS over PlayStation Portable.

I chose Wii over PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360,

I chose Nintendo 3DS over PlayStation Vita.

I chose Wii U over PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

And today, I own Nintendo Switch, but not PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S.

If I was concerned with enjoying ultra high-resolution visuals and maxed-out frames-per-second, I would not have been choosing Nintendo systems in spite of them being the lowest performance hardware options on the market.

But even within the limitations of the Nintendo Switch, which is running a low-power-consumption mobile chipset that was arguably already out-of-date when it first hit the market six entire years ago, “Pokémon Scarlet and Violet” completely fail at taking reasonable advantage of what the system is capable of.

"Pokémon Scarlet and Violet" are 2022 releases, published exclusively on Nintendo Switch, the same system that launched in 2017 with "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

"Breath of the Wild" was was a game designed with the intention of being launched as an exclusive for Wii U, an even less powerful console released closing in on five years earlier than the Switch, and more than a full decade ago as of the time I'm writing this, with Wii U itself having been widely considered under-powered at the time of its 2012 release, being in the performance range of high definition consoles that entered the market as far back as 2005.

"Breath of the Wild" had its technical shortcomings, but even the Wii U version of "Breath of the Wild" completely annihilates "Pokémon Scarlet and Violet" in terms of rudimentary technical proficiency, and when examining "Breath of the Wild" in terms of overall presentation in comparison to " Pokémon Scarlet and Violet", the comparison is such that I'm amazed that Nintendo, who founded their brand as a video game manufacturer and publisher on industry-leading high quality, would allow their name to be associated with the latest Pokémon entries.

I can not overstate the extent to which “Pokémon Scarlet and Violet” fails to deliver on the promise of basic quality control. Games with far fewer technical problems than this game have been criticized severely by review outlets and the gaming community, and I am convinced that these new Pokémon titles are being excused for their incompetence based on good will alone in ways that no other franchise would be permitted to get away with.

In-game tutorial screens featuring screenshots for illustrative purposes are from the Japanese versions of the game, and had this text censored out with a very crudely applied distortion filter in an embarrassing and ineffective attempt hide this fact. This is something appropriate for a work-in-progress demonstration build of the game, not the final product.

The first time I caught a Pokémon, the Pokéball animation froze in mid air, leaving me to think that this was the game's way of depicting Pokemon catching, and that these new Pokéballs hovered in the air rather than falling to the ground as Pokéballs in previous games did.

No matter how good this game is, when malfunctioning animations are mistaken by an experienced player to be representations of what is actually taking place in the game world, that is a serious problem, and anyone paying money for this game deserves better.

Shadows of environmental objects regularly flicker in and out of existence in a way that's not only unconvincing and an obvious malfunction of the graphics system, but in specific instances may pose an actual safety hazard to players susceptible to seizures triggered by blinking lights, which is something a product in the Pokémon franchise in particular should have been exceptionally aware of after similar light patterns in an early episode of the Pokémon animated series triggered seizures in children, which became an international news event, but a cause of widespread condemnation and ridicule aimed toward the franchise and the companies behind it.

The seizure incident caused by the Pokémon anime so impacted the culture of the franchise’s brand management that a particular Pokémon creature featured in that episode was never again depicted in animated form to avoid even the slightest association with the public safety disaster, and references to that particular character have been kept to an absolute minimum in the decades since, so the fact that glitches which cause blinking and flickering patterns being permitted to exist within the newest Pokemon game is mind-boggling.

Characters and objects within immediate sight of the player character frequently vanish and re-appear without warning.

The player character is liable to sometimes phase through the ground, or pass through what are meant to be solid walls, breaking immersion and sometimes causing the game itself to become impossible to play.

It's been amazing to watch Nintendo fans point and laugh for years at slipping quality standards for headline games on competing systems that were significantly more powerful than Nintendo's, using them as proof that more powerful hardware and better graphics alone don't make for better games, only to see them now accuse those who point out the shortcomings and fundamental deficiencies of the newest Pokémon games of being "haters" who are holding Game Freak, The Pokemon Company, and Nintendo, to unfair and unreasonable standards.

The more extreme and irrational defenders of the state of the game have gone so far as accuse critics of lying about quality control issues to make Game Freak look bad, and claim that that the ample footage of these easy to encounter malfunctions was either manipulated by hoaxers using video editing software, or even filmed using deliberately altered copies of the game that were made to suffer glitches.

I feel I am being generous to Game Freak in saying that everyone working on the game had the best intentions, but should have spent (or been allowed to have spent) at least another year on this title.

My already stated observations of the elements of this game which are obviously struggling to function properly don't even begin to address the parts that are simply reflections of either laziness, a rushed development cycle, or both.

When exploring the game's world, I encountered  multiple duplicates of the same stores selling the same items within eye-shot of each other within the same city, or even directly next door to one another.

This was so blatant that it made me speculate if these choices were cheekily made by rebellious lower level Game Freak employees to see how far they could push the limits of corners they were instructed by their superiors to cut, before they were actually confronted over them by their employers.

What's worse, the interiors of most shops are represented in the game only as text based menu interfaces, which pull me out of the game world just as much as laughably bad character animations that resemble fan-made parody cartoons posted to the internet.

Poorly rendered, poorly applied, and obviously repetitive surface textures that make certain objects such as cliff faces and buildings resemble assets lifted from a Nintendo 64 game are just the cherry on top.

"Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon", itself a Nintendo 64 title, has every single shop in the game rendered as a location with an interior that can be entered and explored. No matter how inconsequential those store interiors were, they helped to convincingly portray a living world that is real to the characters within the game.

Menu based shops do NOT do that.

My continued fascination with the Pokémon world, and its creatures, locations, lore, and characters, can not overcome the fundamental incompetence demonstrated by "Pokémon Scarlet and Violet", which completely demolishes my ability to enjoy it, which is a shame, because the intent to create an imaginative world thriving with lively creatures, memorable locations, and characters worth helping or fighting against, is clearly present, and in some cases the heights of care put into these elements match the lows of the bad quality control.

Unless an obvious revolution in The Pokémon Company's standards of ambition and quality is reflected by the next generation of Pokemon games, it breaks my heart to say that "Pokémon Scarlet and Violet" will be the last mainline entries in the series that I will be excited for, or interested in.

I pushed myself to play "Pokémon Violet" in spite of all its bad points.

I'm regretfully ending my time with "Pokémon Violet" in spite of all of its good points.

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This was written LIVE during Episode 1 of my gaming and writing Twitch show!

If you liked this, check out my SCHEDULE and join me live next time!

[Twitch] [VOD Channel] [Writing FA] [Ko-fi]

#writing #writeblr #pokemon #review #video game review #stsh streams #a griffin writes #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon violet #pokemon scarlet #pokemon review #nintendo #nintendo switch

[starlightshowtimeproductions]

i cant believe eiji is ending stsh shirtless | Oiwa | Mastermind Trial | re: gun

This is probably the first time Oiwa's ever truly hauled ass in her entire life. As she rushes to Chase's side, she begins to unbutton her—

Oh. Eiji's quicker on the draw and already there using his own shirt to staunch the wound. Probably for the best, she assumes. Otherwise? Starlight Showtime Productions might have an X-rated film on its hands. And this is a film for decent folks to stream, okay? Saru'd have a fit, no doubt.

It's fine. It's fine. Eiji, do your thing while she cradles his head. You know, in case it gets cold. Very science-y, medical-type stuff.

"...Y-you can't just call out my husband and then shoot my boyfriend in the same breath!"

So much for avoiding labels. We're just saying whatever now, huh?

"J-just decide whatever it is that you're doing and be done with it! No more stalling! Enough posturing! Drop the curtain, or— or whatever the fuck! We! Are! Exhausted!"

#Oiwa #Chapter 6 #Trial #submission

[supertrainstationh]

The first two systems I owned as a child were Sega’s Game Gear and Nintendo’s Game Boy. Both were amazing platforms with extremes in both their strengths and shortcomings.

Now that I can run Game Boy and Game Gear cartridges to my capture card using the same equipment, I’m thrilled to be able to compare equivalent titles on both systems head-to-head.

This project will begin as a series of streams over on my Twitch channel, but I may end up fleshing these out as YouTube videos down the line.

The first pair I’ll be exhibiting together will be Super Mario Land and Sonic the Hedgehog, which I will be presenting along with televised commercials and period magazine coverage for both titles.

I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, and needless to say, I’m VERY excited!

#stsh streams #retro gaming #sonic the hedgehog #super mario land #game boy #game gear #nintendo #sega

[supertrainstationh]

Sometimes during conversations about the writing community on Twitch, I got some reactions of disbelief that such a thing could even exist on a streaming site focused round video games to begin with.

Since I already noted that the “Writers” category on Twitch often had more activity than the category for one of my favorite video games, “Super Mario Bros.”, I figured I’d record my observations and visualize the results.

Turns out more people are interested in watching other people write than some might expect!

I’ve even had other writers call the validity of my numbers into question, so I gave a detailed explanation HERE for those who are interested.

As for me, I've been streaming video games and train related shows on Twitch since May 2020, but I'm debuting writing content on my stream too, so check my floated post or Twitch channel when it will show up in my schedule!

[Twitch] [VOD Channel] [Writing FA]

#writing #writers #writeblr #twitch #stsh streams #language arts

[supertrainstationh]

Wow the save file from more than 10 years ago is just sitting on there like it were yesterday.

I swapped out the original battery in 2005, but I secured the battery with a wad of paper because I have no soldering skills, but I guess it not only held in place but also held a charge!

Can’t wait to play this on stream some day!

#pokemon #stsh streams

[supertrainstationh]

SPECIAL STREAM ANNOUNCEMENT

2/27/24 - 8:00 AM EST

POKEMON DAY LIVE VIEWING SPECIAL! ◉ 8:00 AM EST

I'll also be playing the "Pokemon Pinball" cartridge I recently added to my collection.

I'll be doing one of my rare morning streams on Tuesday 2/27 at 8 EST to catch the "Pokemon Presents" presentation being put on for this year's Pokemon Day event!

I'll be starting at 8 to play Pokemon Pinball for the first time since 1999 and discuss everything Pokemon related with whoever happens to show up!

See you in stream!

Twitch.tv/SuperTrainStationH

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MY LINKS

[🅗Twitch] [🅗TikTok] [🅗VOD Channel] [🅗 FA] [🅗Ko-fi]

#pokemon day #pokemon presents #stsh streams #pokemon #pokemon pinball

[supertrainstationh]

Sorry, but I’ve gotta cancel today’s stream too.

I visited my mom up in the north, then my dad down in the south, so I cancelled a few streams before.

But now BOTH of them are in town visiting ME! :D

It’s very rare I get to see them both in the same place, and fortunately I’m in a position to spend time with them, so I’ll be back Saturday.

See y’all soon!

#stsh streams

[supertrainstationh]

Part 1 of my playthrough of Super Mario RPG went great!

The most unexpected part to me was looking through the magazine coverage and finding that Nintendo pretty much lied about this game an actually said it had real time combat like A Link to the Past and really shouldn’t have been called an RPG at all.

Wow, what an age it was when just calling something an RPG was so bad for marketing that Nintendo themselves had to downplay the turn based combat elements.

I’ll be back for Part 2 soon!

[Twitch] [VOD Channel] [Writing FA] [Ko-fi]

#super mario RPG #stsh streams #vods #mario rpg #nintendo #retro gaming #twitch

[supertrainstationh]

Here’s Episode 1 of my writing show, “A Griffin Writes!”

This was streamed live, and was also the premier of my PNGtuber avatar by Ducksick over on Fiverr!

Why use an avatar for writing streams after appearing on camera for every video and stream I’ve done since 2009?

Well, the way I wanted to do writing streams posed certain problems with a webcam that using an avatar solved!

Not only did I write about some of my favorite and least favorite video games, but I also played Wordtris for the first time, which was unexpectedly fun and challenging!

I may or may not have debuted a fox transformation poem in there as well.

This first episode went amazing and I look forward to planning the next one soon!

[Twitch] [VOD Channel] [Writing FA] [Ko-fi]

#a griffin writes #stsh streams #writeblr #writing #english #language arts #writing stream #furry #furries on twitch

[supertrainstationh]

Just wanted to make sure it was clear, my stream tonight is at 7. PM EST tonight and not the usual 5 PM, so anyone waiting on it, please be sure to plan accordingly.

I haven’t been this excited and nervous for a stream since I first started on Twitch back in 2020, I can’t wait!

#stsh streams

[supertrainstationh]

Well I’m back, and I’m due to all the time it will take to prepare for tonight’s stream, let alone my big pngtuber writing stream premier on Wednesday, the best choice I can make for the quality of both streams is to cancel tonight’s show.

Sorry for anyone looking forward to it, but this will assure that I can put on the best shows possible.

In the next few hours I’ll be doing some food shopping, settling down to write some stuff to online pals that were waiting on me, and then its time to grind some more at getting stream stuff ready until settling down to watch some streams tonight myself!

#stsh streams

[supertrainstationh]

Here it is!

The VOD of my “Super Mario Land” vs “Sonic the Hedgehog” (Game Gear) face off!

This was a stream I was waiting to put on for years, now easily possible in real time with original cartridges thanks to the Analogue Pocket system.

I compared not only the games themselves, but examined print and television advertisement, and magazine coverage for both titles.

Both games have a special place in my gaming history, but which one came out on top in my evaluation?

Check out the VOD to find out!

The only spoiler I’ll give is that the stream went fantastic and I’m glad I waited till I had the right equipment and resources to attempt it.

Also, shoutouts to @acceptable-glitch who was waiting on me to finally post this!

Thanks for all of your support and encouragement, whether you were there live, or waited on the VOD!

[My Twitch] [My VOD Channel] [My FA] [My Ko-fi]

#stsh streams #twitch #vintage gaming #sonic #mario #game box #nintendo

[supertrainstationh]

New streaming plan.

For March I’m only streaming on Saturdays.

April I plan to move to Wednesday and Saturday.

Updated schedule soon!

#stsh streams

[supertrainstationh]

So the stream yesterday went great!

I beat Super Mario Odyssey and also played some Tetris for Game Boy!

#stsh streams

[supertrainstationh]

Pokemon 3: The Movie - I saw this one in Manhattan with my mom back in 2001. I probably wouldn’t have asked to see it - but its something she wanted to do just to get out and have some fun, and she had a free theater voucher or something.

I didn’t even see the second movie in theaters, only on home video.

I have strong memories of this one, but the clearest memories of all were of the Pichu and Pikachu short at the beginning believe it or not, and being in a theater with a bunch of very small laughing children.

I particularly appreciated the inclusion of the Pokegear as a plot device (literally) within this movie, and element from the Gold and Silver games which I don’t even remember being mentioned in the show.

I liked the sense of mystery this movie had, and it began to establish this recurring trope of Pokemon movies often revolving around there being some sort of city/fortress/base/etc that Ash and his friends either had to break into, or escape from, in order to progress the plot and resolve the crisis.

I’ll be streaming Pokemon 3: The Movie one on my Twitch channel today (11/21/22) at 5:00 EST, but you’ll need a Twitch-linked Amazon Prime account in order to see it, and it might not work outside the US.

I haven’t seen this movie since 2007 or so on VHS, so I look forward to seeing it relatively fresh-minded on the details of the plot beyond the broad strokes.

Hope you can join me!

Twitch.tv/SuperTrainStationH

#pokemon #pokemon anime #pokemon 3 the movie #pokemon movie #stsh streams #spell of the unown

[supertrainstationh]

WELCOME PASSENGERS! :D

I’m an autistic writer, gamer, and train nerd.

This blog is a curated showcase of my special interests, including Trains, Creature Art, Old Technology, Retro Gaming, Old Advertisements, and more!

I also post my own writing, and discuss the writing tools I use to overcome my dysgraphia, a fine motor disability that impacts my handwriting.

There’s also my own adventures, and the trains I’ve seen...

But most of all, I love streaming on Twitch!

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STREAMING SCHEDULE:

SATURDAY ◉ 6:00 PM EST

CURRENTLY PLAYING (May. 2024):

Kirby’s Dream Land 3 (Super Nintendo Entertainment System, 1997)

Kirby’s Avalanche (Super Nintendo Entertainment System, 1995)

Pokemon Trading Card Game (Game Boy Color, 1998)

Revenge of the Gator (Game Boy, 1989)

Other games may show up, I also do watch-along and watch-party streams!

My streams have an focus on the historical context of the games I play, so often vintage manuals, magazines, and video tapes are reviewed LIVE for research!

Times subject to change, follow me for details for delays and cancellations!

See you in stream!

Twitch.tv/SuperTrainStationH

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MY LINKS

[🅗Twitch] [🅗TikTok] [🅗VOD Channel] [🅗 FA] [🅗Ko-fi]

#autistic #furry #retro gaming #writing #dysgraphic #trains #streaming #stsh streams #twitch #furries on twitch #intro post #introduction