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harusha · 4 years

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What are your top pokemon games??

Official or fangame? I’ll just list both. I will say Pokemon Reborn is my top-rated overall if we combine both lists (with HGSS and Collesseum/XD following as 2 and 3 respectively.)

On Official, it’s

1. Heartgold/Soulsilver (My favorite region is Johto, and Ethan is my favorite Pokemon protagonist so…unsurprising. The games are still genuinely good though imo because of the massive amount of content and post-game and QoL stuff like following Pokemon, auto-run, etc.) I also love the nostalgic feeling of the region. Lance is also here, and I like him and his design a lot, not as much as Volkner though. Also Proton is here, and I love the dude so. Pedometer is included here.

2. Pokemon Colosseum/Pokemon XD; I include this together since they’re a duo set in terms of story. XD is the better one gameplay-wise because of the new additions of Shadow moves, more Pokemon choices, QoL changes like saving, etc. but Colosseum is the harder of the two games imo b/c of the sparsity of Pokemon–if you can play it on laptop, mod XD with Pokemon XG for massive QoL changes (Fairy Type, more shadow Pokemon, upped difficulty, etc.)

I like how this set tries new stuff and it honestly showcases how if you the Pokemon IP to a third-party, you end up with something that tries to be different and actually plays pretty well.

3. Pokemon BWBW2; included as a set because of joint story line. Honestly, I feel like BWBW2 are objectively the last great mainline series additions. Even if you didn’t care for the story, they at least tried with it and the rivals. You had the nice rival in Bianca and the “focused/ruder” rival in Cheren, and both encompassed the themes of the game (Truth with Bianca as she realizes her ineptness as a trainer and Ideals with Cheren who strives to overcome his boundaries and the player even if he never can). N is pretty awesome, and I think Ghetsis is a better Lusamine (sorry, idc for how Lusamine’s actions are brushed over and blamed on the space jellyfish). There’s a lot to enjoy in Unova imo.

Also massive post-game stuff like Join Avenue (which encourages one of the main tenets of Pokemon, interacting with others and trading; ex. “Magnemite Coil”), half the region opening up for Post-game (White Treehollow, Kyurem’s abode, etc.). The Legendaries also have home locations for the most part, and their items aren’t just given to you by random people. A lot of stuff to do that isn’t just breeding mindlessly for shinies (I mean I love doing that, but options ya know?) or online battle.

4. Pokemon Conquest; Fire Emblem (or more accurately, Nobunaga’s ambition) meets Pokemon. I like turn-based grid tactic games, and this one’s actually pretty fun. You’re encouraged to roam around and give people different Pokemon to see which ones they’re compatible with. Also another example of what can be done if Pokemon is given to a another developer.

5. Pokemon Explores of Sky (and to a lesser extent since it’s the base, Time/Darkness); you can swap this with Colloseum/XD, BWBW2 or Pokemon Conquest depending on if you prefer Pokemon’s style of play, tactics games, or dungeon crawlers. I like this one since the story’s actually pretty good, the difficulty’s nice, and especially the post-game dungeons and content.

6. Pokemon Platinum and Diamond+Pearl to a lesser extent– the region that actually has a reasonably difficult Elite Four and champion. I love the additions they have like distortion world, the melancholic feel you get at times in the Chateau area and snowfields, and the post-game Battle Frontier. However, the games run so slow without Drayano’s mods. In terms of husbandos, Volkner’s pretty nice as well, and he’s pretty high-tier for me. Cynthia’s here as well, so I guess she counts since she’s a feature every time she shows up.

7. Pokemon FRLG-The definite version of Kanto for me. Sevii Islands, callbacks (callforwards?) to the Johto games with the Rocket Admins, decent difficulty and ability to sequence break somewhat, etc. It gives new experiences for those who’ve played the OG versions, but doesn’t change them drastically. The “you can’t evolve anything outside of the OG 151 before post-game” is stupid though. Lance is here as well, but his half Dragonite/Dragonair team annoys me b/c of how repetitive it is, but product of the time as well and the HGSS first battle had that as well but at least they’re all evolved.

8. Pokemon Red/Blue Rescue Team-I like this one since the story’s still good and incorporates the idea of a human being transported to a Pokemon world, but I just feel like Sky’s gameplay improvements and portraits for everyone trumps this one. I like Gengar a lot and his team. I also think the difficulty on this one (depending on starter and partner) is fairly good at times (The Moltres fight is actually pretty difficult if you don’t have Pikachu or a water type partner).

9. Pokemon Emerald and to a lesser extent Ruby/Sapphire–Battle Frontier, Scott and Smeargle cave (ie. post-game content), beautiful promotional artwork (including ORAS’s), fairly difficult battles at time if you aren’t prepared/going in blind with no excessive grinding (2nd May battle, Flannery, etc.), hidden secrets like Regis and Secret Bases. However, the latter half is so boring with the excessive surfing and lackluster variety. Steven’s here, and he’s a dreamboat even with the sprite graphics.

10. Pokemon Channel and Hey you, Pikachu!-Weird I know. This would be higher if I didn’t think this was a niche pick. It’s just really relaxing, and I want another one, especially if you can get more Pokemon to raise. It’s a lot more fun once you play it. I like exploring with Pikachu and it offers a look into the world of Pokemon as a non-trainer. I really want another one tbh.

11. Pokemon Rangers series (Ranked from favorite to lowest; Shadows of Almia–>OG–>Guardian Signs; all are good but that’s my preference) The gameplay is actually pretty fun, and I wish we got another one. They could use Joycons as a styler. Spencer, Sven, and Lunick are also pretty cute

12. Pokken Tournament- What battles should feel like in mainline if they injected millions of dollars into the mainline, so unrealistic expectation. I think Pokken is a decent fighting game. The moves are nice, and the music is good. This can go lower if you don’t care for fighting games.

13. Pokemon Battle Revolution and Stadium games-They’re mostly battle simulators with some mini-games. The animations are actually pretty lively and fun compared to SWSH’s. I would like to rank this higher, but there is no story mode sadly. It’s great if you want to see what Pokemon would look like in-scale.

14. Pokemon X/Y-I think these are actually pretty nice if only for the fact there isn’t excessive handholding; it’s there but it doesn’t force me to put down the game out of boredom. The outfits are genuinely pretty cute. However, the rivals are ridiculously terrible, difficulty is either too low or unbalanced if you use/turn off exp. share. Let’s put ORAS here as well b/c I think the lack of Battle Frontier and mediocre post-game, getting Lati@s early, etc. drops it down from Emerald. The PSS system is amazing though.

15. Pokemon Trozei and Pokemon Pinball series-Yeah, I’ve played these. Trozei’s actually pretty cool as a match-3 game, and pinball is pinball. You also get slightly more lore into the Pokemon world with Lucy Fleetfoot. I like match-3 and pinball so very much a YMMV. Pop Gates to Infinity and Super Mystery Dungeon here as well. Idk, they just lack the magic of the first two entries.

16. Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Dash, all the other spin-offs I didn’t talk about-they all offer something fun, but I just wish it was either updated for modern times and not released again (like with Snap) or a bit more (in the case of Detective Pikachu and Pokepark series). Pop Puzzle League games here as well. I like them, but they aren’t much besides Tetris games. Same goes for the Pokemon Trading Card games; they’re nice, but not super great imo.

???. Pokemon Box/Ranch/all the other storage games and stuff like Dream Radar-Idk what you’d want me to say since they’re storage space or gimmick games to catch HA Pokemon. You do get Extremespeed Zigzagoon which I love since the little buggers are very adorable.

Bottom Tier. Pokemon SM and USUM. I hate these games. They’re cash grabs (more so than usual) with being $40 a piece and the updated versions being barely changed (and actually feeling like what should have been released first). Incredibly handholding, areas feel half-baked, lacks areas to explore for the most part, Lillie is kinda annoying for me tbh (which hurts because you’re supposed to feel for her and the game’s story hinges on that), and the player is an actual detriment to what they’re trying to achieve story-wise. A big shame b/c Alola is a pretty region and Team Skull is great in concept, but execution is awful. Stated as someone who has bought all 4 versions to keep, and 2 extras for gifting.

Absolute Bottom Tier- Pokemon Masters, incredibly terrible mobage game coming from someone who plays FGO, FEH, etc. lack of meaningful content, grinding but meaningless b/c of said lack of content (ex. FGO gates you with mats but it makes you feel like you’re growing with your servants and offers a story and events to compensate; basically, a sense of achievement). CO-OP is pretty bad when you can just hop over to GBF or something if you want guilds and group content. I’m still gonna wait for Ethan and Volkner to appear though.

Unrated-OG RBGY and OG GSC (the remakes are superior outside of nostalgia factor imo so I think it’d be unfair for them to take a spot), LGPE (didn’t buy them b/c pricing but the colors are vibrant and I love that), SWSH (didn’t buy them because I have opinions on the cuts and stuff and price point doesn’t look appealing for what’s offered), Pokemon Mini (these were included with Pokemon Channel), Magikarp Jump+Duel (Duel was a cash grab and Magikarp Jump is cute but no real opinion on it), Pokemon Go (weird spot where I like it, but I don’t live in an area with safe walking areas so very much area-dependent), Arcade games (I don’t live in Japan for that), Perdue Farm games (they’re flash games made to promote so…), Pokemon Rumble (enjoyable but not memorable for me imo) etc.

Fangames-

1. Pokemon Reborn-150+ hours of content, visible themes that permeate the story and characters, beautiful spritework for some of the areas, intuitive usage of TMs/HMs and some logic (ex. Field Effects that emulate anime battling in turn-based rpg such as Corrosive Field; using Rock Smash to break the glass in some areas to solve puzzles, etc.), actual difficulty that hinges on how much you understand Pokemon (ex. IVs, stats, EVs, etc.) that’s fair but still difficult, puzzles and rewards for exploring and coming back to areas, etc. Fantastic game that I wish Gamefreak had attempted to emulate (perhaps not the darker themes but the ambition basically). Has some kinks with the revolving door of characters and such but still fantastic. Also offers custom shiny sprites, custom egg sprites, and online play like Wonder Trade and battling.

2. Pokemon Rocket Edition-Not done but I think this is a fantastic hack so far story-wise and how it implements its mechanics. You’re a Rocket Grunt, but you aren’t OP. It deals with the politics behind Kanto and Team Rocket. Still being worked on.

3. Pokemon Viridian Version-Another “play as a Rocket” game. Funny yet still can be serious; it takes the tone of the anime and understands when to be serious and when to not be. It feels like it would fit into the canon tone-wise, and deconstructs the “it’s cool to be a Rocket!” thing.

4. Pokemon Gaia-Excellent and a huge callback to classic Pokemon in story. It’s an OG region and offers a lot to do.

5. Drayano hacks- QoL updates but his work actually adds a lot to the games+new events.

Anyways, that’s my list. There’s a lot of Pokemon content, but this is how I feel for the most part.

#long post #i will say Piers is high tier husbando though

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transmascgarak · 6 years

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The Last jedi Review

I’ll try and keep this fairly structured, for my sake if not for anyone else.

Spoilers below the cut, and it’s a long post.

The Good

Every other reviewer has it right; the last half hour absolutely helps to make up for the other 2 hours. I can actually pinpoint the moment that the movie shifted from ‘Rather Mediocre’ to ‘Mediocre but Pretty’; when General Holdo sacrifices herself and blows up the First Order ship at light speed. Shot in silence and in slow motion, it was legitimately stunning. Someone gasped and honestly? Same.

I love Rose! She’s so sweet and determined and I can’t wait to see more of her character.

I’m glad Poe got a bit more screen time, but more on that later.

Finn’s knowledge of the FO still being useful? Nice.

The battle sequences weren’t too difficult to follow, and the last one especially was well shot so like, kudos to whoever did the screenplay for that.

There’s a brief moment where Kylo is knocked out and Hux is standing over him. He reaches for his blaster, but then Kylo moves and Hux drops his arm. Me and my brother were the only ones who laughed at that, but it was a fun moment.

Billie Lourd did really well for the small part they gave her, and honestly I’d love to see more of her character.

The little kiddo at the end with the tiniest hint that he has the force. That was a nice moment.

The cinematography for Rey’s dark-side sequence was stunning.

When Leia and Luke talked to each other right near the end had me tearing up; a really sweet moment.

Rey’s sardonic mutter of ‘Lifting rocks’ dragged a chuckle from a few of us. The following sequence was pretty neat too.

Snoke’s throne room looked cool, I guess.

Actually the fight with Rey and Kylo vs the Guards was fun to watch.

When Phasma’s helmet was split? Nice.

When Hux said something like ‘Do you think you got him?’

A counter point: They hadn’t, and I was laughing.

Mark Hamill’s glare when he drank that green milk was gold. Not sure if it was aimed solely at Rey though.

Someone ‘Aww’ed at one of the crystal-fox things that made a few of us laugh.

Can you tell I’m nitpicking

The Bad

hooo boy. where do I start?

The characterisation of a few major roles were a mess.

Kylo was constantly called a child, even though he’s over thirty, and his ‘conflict’ literally hinged on a brief moment when he didn’t pull the trigger to kill Leia. He brought Rey to Snoke, and I honestly couldn’t pinpoint his motivations to kill Snoke at the last moment. Were they to protect Rey so he could have her as an ally? Maybe. More on him in a second though.

Luke would never kill a teenager in cold blood, so fuck you Rian. I know the narration says Luke wouldn’t anyway, but that would not have been the case and we all know it. He offered Rey no support in how to counteract the dark side at all? Like it was obvious she’d never had any training, so to not actually tell her or instruct her??? I can understand that self-loathing and survivor’s guilt can be all consuming, but. His character before would never have left them alone. The fact it took him being cajoled into helping was a bit :/

They can justify it all they want but Rey wouldn’t forgive Kylo for his shit. Kidnapping her, torturing her and her friends, killing a father figure? Not even a few days ago? Nah mate.

Snoke was a generic villain, and played like a melodramatic panto villain at that. I can respect Andy Serkis for trying to milk it, but really? Really? This is the Big Bad? The Ultimate Sith Lord?

The way characters were handled in the narrative was downright dodgy. Did I say dodgy? No, I meant racist!

The fixation on Kylo was interesting I guess, but to take it to that extent was A Bit Much, and was to the detriment of other characters. NOT TO MENTION that the narrative is literally trying to paint him as this conflicted soul after he’s been a part of a fascist organisation that’s wiped out billions in one fell swoop, killed his classmates, captured and tortured main characters... Rian Johnson is a Kylo Ren fan, and by god it shows. The entire Kylo plot was garbage.

Finn being pushed to the side and not treated like a main character? Blatant racism. Him being tazed and slapped and called selfish? Racism. We’re supposed to laugh and nod and agree? FUCK that

Poe Dameron being a hot-headed, dangerous fighter vs. calm white women. Seriously.

Honestly the above point would have been more palatable if Holdo was replaced with Lando Calrissian. Lando - with a more tangible past with the rebellion for those who have only seen the films, and was the posterchild for ‘Think before you do’- would have been a much more interesting foil for Poe than the one we got.

Paige Tico was mentioned with almost the same level of advertisement as Rose, but she was in one scene and died. Honestly I wish we’d have seen more of her :/

A counter: Rose needed more advertisement.

Leia could have been used a lot more. I don’t know if it was an issue with filming, but her character definitely took a back seat.

We’d better get an explanation for that force bond. Seriously? Seriously??? How does it work? Why those two if they’re not related? People - in fandom and outside of it - will see it as romantic, and... lord please no. Kylo literally uses abusive rhetoric to keep her, “You’re nothing [...] but not to me.” He uses her past against her in that moment, and tries to isolate her from everyone else by insisting that he can see her true worth or whatever such bullshit.

The plot was a little convoluted to say the least.

Seeing Adam Driver shirtless was Not Welcome lmao

speaking of WHAT was THAT, Rian? That substitute cow?

Rey cried a lot in this; that wasn’t just me right? Like pristine-tear-trails-down-the-cheeks-crying at least three times?

No seriously what was the force bond. What was that.

Fucking yoda was there. Where was Anakin?

The Ehh

I actually like Luke force-ghosting his way out. I am sad about Luke dying, but it honestly felt in line with his character at that point. It also gave us a rather spectacular moment at the end.

I’ve seen people call a certain moment the ‘Mary Poppins’, and yeeeah. It was absolutely corny, but in all honesty it was just so refreshing to see Leia use the force in such a way.

Rey not being a Skywalker... I can’t quite articulate what I feel. Lowkey disappointed, highkey confused because they had so much set up in TFA, but at the end of the day, it’s maybe time the Skywalker legacy passed to someone else.

Laura Dern did well with what she had, but honestly other than the last half hour, she was literally a walking counterpoint to Poe. I’ll admit I haven’t read the comics, but from the film alone, she just... Comes out of nowhere.

The Finn/Rose relationship was rushed as all hell, and put next to the amount of time Rey and Kylo are shown to have some sort of force bond(?!) just screams racism to not have the white woman in an interracial relationship with a black man. It seems iffy you guys.

The casino plotline could have been cut (156 minutes. 156.) but I can understand why they did it.

Counterpoint: Benicio Del Toro’s character was kinda dull.

Finn almost sacrificing himself to save the others has left me torn. I did appreciate the parallel with Poe at the beginning of the film though.

The repeated motif of Hope was cheesy as all hell, but I can live with it.

The final final fight between Kylo and Luke made me laugh because it literally looked like a Mortal Kombat screenshot. Don’t get me wrong, it was pretty, but it was lacking in health bars.

The porg were cute, and the moment when one balefully stares up at Chewie for eating another got a laugh from us all

Overall, it was a reasonable film, but my god those flaws are difficult to ignore.

#star wars #star wars spoilers #tlj spoilers #the last jedi spoilers

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