POKEYMANS thread

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:02 am

Darth Rabbitt wrote:Heart Gold/Soul Silver are the best two Pokemon games, and I'd definitely recommend one of those.

The only issue I have is that I already played Silver extensively years ago. So what am I getting from replaying Silver with some differences (admittedly, a great game) vs a new pokemon.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:31 am

Off the top of my head, other than simply updated graphics, you get...

-Walking Pokemon (a la Pokemon Yellow, but with any Pokemon from Gen IV or earlier. Words cannot describe how awesome this is.)
-Approximately double the number of Pokemon in the game.
-Gen IV mechanics rather than Gen II (Abilities, Natures, and that kind of shit; more notably, ATK/SP. ATK divide on moves are on a move-by-move basis rather than based on the type of the move; for instance, Bite is now based off Attack for being a Physical move, rather than based off Special Attack because it's a Dark move. On the flip side, Shadow Ball is now based off Special Attack for being a Special move, rather than Attack for being a Ghost move. This is not only more intuitive, but also makes Gyarados and Gengar, for example, much stronger Pokemon.)
-Pal Park (a feature/area that allows you to transfer Pokemon from the GBA titles to the DS if you have the type of DS that has a GBA cartridge slot. This is also in the other Gen IV DS games (Diamond/Pearl/Platinum,) though,
-Pokewalker (a pedometer that you can put Pokemon into to level them up and/or catch rare Pokemon)
-Ability to rematch (significantly stronger versions of) all of the Kanto and Johto Gym Leaders weekly (after a certain point in the game; I think you have to beat all of the Kanto and Johto Leaders.)
-Can actually fucking register everyone in your phone.
-Don't remember the Pokeathlon very well so I can't tell you what that's like, but IIRC you can get some cool stuff from that.

On the down side, the opposite gender player character follows you around (kind of like Brendan/May in Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald) and is really fucking annoying. Also, for some reason there's some stupid subplot involving the Kimono Girls to make the version legendary more important or something. But those are really minor problems.

Heart Gold / Soul Silver is one of the few remakes of a game (any game) that has had so much new shit added (and so much of the old shit improved) that I find it hard to consider it a remake anymore.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 1:12 am

Darth Rabbitt wrote:-Don't remember the Pokeathlon very well so I can't tell you what that's like, but IIRC you can get some cool stuff from that.

You have a collection of minigames that cost nothing to play and vaguely use some "athlete stats" of the pokemon (similar to how other games have "contest stats" that have no bearing on battle, however it's usually pretty intuitive - bulky things have high Stamina, Cloyster has awful Jump), and also uses your skills with stylus use, button mashing and whatever. Some are more awkward and annoying than others. Some of them are practically auto-win for you, seriously.

When you win, you get points that you can save up and spend on crap - they have a vending machine for you to get Cheapest Lemonade/Soda/Water Evar (this is the go-to healing item for out of battle, because you load up on really cheap drinks and then just use them as needed), but you can also buy rare evolution items, stat-boosters (like Proteins and HP Up) and occasionally Rare Candy.

Also of note: you don't have to play fucking Slot Machines in this. Instead you have a game that does not cost money (downside: you can't just go slap the E4 up, walk up to the cashier and buy 50,000 Team Rocket Coins) and actually utilises your skills. There is some guesswork involved, so it's not as 100% solvable as a Sudoku, but it's kind of fun in its own right.

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I really enjoyed Diamond/Pearl but I got Diamond with my DS after a few years of not playing Pokemon, so it was all new and fresh. It has the 3Gen Contests, but they're a little more in-depth and a bit easier to build a good team for. The prizes are only ribbons and stuff, so if you don't actually enjoy it for its own sake, you can ignore it completely (and might instead want to check out a different game).

There's also tunnelling. You can pretty much burrow around underground, which lets you meet other players to say hello (a stupid requirement for getting the Dark/Ghost pokemon Spiritomb) and find fossils to revive and set up your underground hidden base.

In its own right, it's a pretty fun game, but it has something like three fucking wandering legendaries (like the three cats from regular GSC). Still, there's a fair amount of post-game to keep you entertained.

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Black and White can go fuck themselves with a cordless drill. Black 2 and White 2 are like a heartfelt apology - with tongue! - for the predecessors though. As long as battling isn't the be all and end all for you, because new additions include:

Starring in movies - better than all the other minigames in Pokemon, and it also helps teach players the tricks they might need for multiplayer
Running a shopping mall, complete with mad "Gain 32 levels!" and "Raise or Lower the EVs for various stats" and all that.
Hidden Grotto: basically, you can get rare pokemon with awesome abilities. If you get the Multiscale Dragonite, you actually win the game forever.

A big part depends on what you want out of the game.

DragonChild · Post by **DragonChild** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 2:47 am

So Pokemon conquest is surprisingly similar to that pokemon RPG thread a while back. I'm also surprised that they somehow made a pokemon game where each pokemon only had one attack work.

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 7:51 am

black/white, even the 2s with the expanded gym leader tournament, can still fuck all the way off.

No poke-athelon, which would've been simple enough to port forwards, they don't need to design new mechanics they just need to redo the old ones (which is like a 50 to 75% time savings when designing software, seriously).

Huge numbers of pokemon that you can't catch in game, you have to use the shitty dream-world thing online. Like honestly fuck you forever Nintendo.

More cut scenes and plot crap getting in your way than you can shake a stick at, and most of it isn't even averagely written. At one point in black/white 1 you even get a cut scene to go into a route area, walk like 40 steps, and trigger another cut scene before you can even fight a trainer or find new bushes or things.

No Battle Frontier, just a shitty battle subway. Battle Frontier has 5 ways to battle with co-op and lvl 50/100 options for each mode. Battle Subway has one actual way to battle and each of the level sets and co-op or not is just called another mode to make you think they have 7 modes.

Bottom Line: I don't think there will ever be a better pokemon game than Heart Gold/Soul Silver.

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 7:55 am

Is Black 2 and White 2 like the Heart Gold and Soul Silver of Gen 5, but they released it early to offer a more palatable alternative to the original B&W? By which I mean, is this an outright remake or a very similar sequel set in the same region? Probably I'll just skip straight to B&W2 regardless, but I kind of want to know.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 10:31 am

Lokathor: B2W2 has the Frontier if you really want that shit, but the arena thing now has a cage and fireworks and stuff like an MMA event.

Chamomile: B2W2 is actually more like the Yellow/Crystal/Emerald/Platinum of 5th Generation. Just... as two games. It's set in the future (albeit not much in the future) after BW ends.

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 6:47 pm

Koumei wrote:Lokathor: B2W2 has the Frontier if you really want that shit, but the arena thing now has a cage and fireworks and stuff like an MMA event.

I've never heard of this or heard of an online article confirming this. Tell me more.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:22 pm

It's known as the PTA in BW2, but otherwise, yeah, it's really guady and looks like a WWF arena and it's hard as fuck and fuck that fat rich Texan bastard.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 11:43 pm

The ghost/steel sword has an English name now, Honedge.

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:53 am

Shrapnel wrote:It's known as the PTA in BW2, but otherwise, yeah, it's really guady and looks like a WWF arena and it's hard as fuck and fuck that fat rich Texan bastard.

So it has all the frontier modes? Including rental mode which is the coolest mode in the first place?

Or what?

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:58 am

Rental mode takes something bullshit and makes it moreso, but if you like pounding hammers into your genitals, yes, it has that option. Make sure to picture everyone having a pro wrestling entrance theme as they enter the EIGHT-SIDED STEEL CAGE OF DEATH! I may as well tell you now that you'll be thinking of a Lady Gaga song when electro-girl makes her way to the arena.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 1:45 pm

So! Guess what's happening in the world of Pocket Monsters! That's right! There's going to be not one, not two, not five, but three special distribution event Pokémon over the course of the next few months!

And these Pokémon aren't any old PkMn, no sir! They're the three mascot legendries from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum (Dialga/Palkia/Giratina, respectively)! But wait, there's more! They're all... get ready... SHINEY!

Unless you're somewhere outside America, or live in Australia.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 3:47 pm

Did we conquer Australia when I wasn't paying attention?

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 4:52 pm

So there's going to be this thing called "Mega Evolutions." It seems that it's kind of like a form change, but can happen in battle. The previously shown Mewtwo form is a Mega Evolution. They have also shown Mega Evolutions for Lucario, Ampharos, Mawile, Absol and Blaziken (in the video I just linked), and Kangaskan. Kangaskan's ME is that the child hops out of the parent's pouch and its ability allows it to attack twice.

Mega Evolutions do not take up space in the pokedex, and pokemon revert at the end of battle.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Wed Aug 21, 2013 5:14 pm

I love Kangaskan's ME because there's no real physical change.

Prak_Anima wrote:Did we conquer Australia when I wasn't paying attention?

Australia, much like Imelda Marcos, is not a part of any known physical or astral plane, hence why it is known "Down Under".

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 12:59 am

Technically you can be in America and Australia at the same time, for instance by going to Pine Gap, which is located inside Australia but is an American military base.

Those MEs sound pretty cool, I'm hoping Mawile's one is completely awesome and shoots her up into RU or even OU. I know, not happening, but it'd be nice. Definitely watching the video when I get home.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 2:16 am

Prak_Anima wrote:So there's going to be this thing called "Mega Evolutions." It seems that it's kind of like a form change, but can happen in battle. The previously shown Mewtwo form is a Mega Evolution. They have also shown Mega Evolutions for Lucario, Ampharos, Mawile, Absol and Blaziken (in the video I just linked), and Kangaskan. Kangaskan's ME is that the child hops out of the parent's pouch and its ability allows it to attack twice.

Feels like a visualization of things like "Dragon Dance" or "Shell Smash". Though I hear it's based on a held item?

Also, Pokemon fighting game in the works

http://www.siliconera.com/2013/08/20/po ... h-lucario/

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 9:31 am

OgreBattle wrote:
Prak_Anima wrote:So there's going to be this thing called "Mega Evolutions." It seems that it's kind of like a form change, but can happen in battle. The previously shown Mewtwo form is a Mega Evolution. They have also shown Mega Evolutions for Lucario, Ampharos, Mawile, Absol and Blaziken (in the video I just linked), and Kangaskan. Kangaskan's ME is that the child hops out of the parent's pouch and its ability allows it to attack twice.
Feels like a visualization of things like "Dragon Dance" or "Shell Smash". Though I hear it's based on a held item?

Yeah, it sort of seems like that, but yes, it's based on an item, presumably held.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Sat Aug 24, 2013 11:59 am

It is indeed a held item, and what's more, an item that seems to be unobtainable through normal gameplay (at the very least, Blaziken's Mega Evolution item is; the only way to get it is via a special distribution event that is going to go live when X/Y gets released).

Either way, it's frankly exceedingly stupid to have a major gimmick not be a usable through normal play.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Aug 24, 2013 2:14 pm

If it's only Blaziken's that needs an event, that's no more stupid than the existence of Mew, Darkrai, Celebi... and the other eight hundred event-only pokemon.

If all of them are event-only or dreamworld-only or some other stupid thing that requires connecting, then I for one await our next generation of Action Replays with great enthusiasm, and Nintendo can fuck off.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 1:21 am

I already think that Nintendo should fuck off. They pillage our money cows and then demand that we pay for the damage.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:57 am

Mega Evolutions. Two for Mewtwo, one each for starters, Mawile...

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 3:14 am

Tentatively looking forward to this, although the "Nintendo can fuck off" is indeed being held in reserve. I have to say, Megacharizard looks pretty awsome (and Drought + more Special Attack? WHERE DO I SIGN UP?), and Speed Boost Blaziken could be crazy good. Apparently Mawile is Fairy/Steel now, which might be good or bad, but the Mega looks cool, and the benefits seem pretty decent.

There are some cool-looking things indeed. And I don't think we're due a shit game yet. Not sure there's a pattern, but there's only been one good set since the last shit one.

One thing worries me though: what if Cynthia is able to Mega-Evolve her Garchomp?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 3:19 am

Koumei wrote:One thing worries me though: what if Cynthia is able to Mega-Evolve her Garchomp?

Mega-Evolve something that can learn Ice Beam with a high Special Attack, or Ice Punch or Ice Fang with a high Attack (take your choice, there are a lot of Pokemon that can do that on that list already.) Mega Garchomp still explodes on contact with ice.