Month: Sep 2016

Anonymous asks:

Would Regigigas be more usable if instead of Slow Start, it began with very low Attack and Speed, and very high Defense and Special Defense- but every turn, the offensive stats go up +1 and defensive go down -1?

I feel like the answer is probably “no,” because I think with a set-up like that you run into the Darmanitan problem, where you have one Pokémon with two radically different strategies and it’s impossible to commit your moveset and EV spread entirely to one or the other.  Also, part of the problem with Slow Start is that the clock resets when you switch out, and in a game between two human players it’s actually not all that easy to guarantee that Regigigas will be able to stay in play without being killed for long enough to turn off his ability – this way of doing Slow Start has the same difficulty.  You can’t really play defensive because you get weaker the longer you stay in, and you can’t really play offensive because it takes you so damn long to set up.

Anonymous asks:

Which other legendaries do you think are likely to get Primal forms?

Well, at the moment, none.  I mean, I always avoid spoilers in the lead-up to new Pokémon games, so maybe I’m out of the loop on something that’s been revealed for Sun and Moon, but so far I feel like we’ve been given every reason to think that primal reversion is something specific to Groudon and Kyogre.

Pokémon Generations – Episodes 1 and 2

So, Pokémon Generations.  We should probably talk about it.  Generations is a series of 3-4 minute animated shorts that are being released each weekend on Pokémon’s official YouTube channel, as part of the ongoing barrage of promotions to mark the franchise’s 20th year.  Its aim is to shine a spotlight on a selection of memorable events from the games, in the same sort of spirit as Origins did, but covering the whole of Pokémon’s life rather than just Red and Blue.  Its point is to evoke nostalgia in veterans of each generation of games, but also to the stress their continuity – Pokémon is the same adventure it’s always been, and will continue to be, as the first episode does its utmost to stress.

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Anonymous asks:

If you could give any Pokemon a Mega Evolution, which would you choose?

I have a sort of rationale for this, which I outline here… basically I think mega evolutions should go to Pokémon 1) who are weak primarily because their stats are low, and 2) are unlikely ever to receive a conventional evolution.  Suggestions I put forward there are Ledian, Bibarel, Delcatty, and Plusle and Minun (disclaimer: I avoid spoilers on new Pokémon games, so if one or more of those Pokémon is getting a mega evolution in Sun and Moon, I don’t know and I don’t want to).  We could also add, perhaps, Seaking to that list, for most of the same reasons, and maybe Zangoose and Seviper (whose base stats are high enough that they seem unlikely to ever get regular evolutions, but not high enough for them to actually do anything).

VikingBoyBilly asks:

Pokémon generations will be what the anime should have been from the start. Calling it now. (I can’t wait to see how much they cram into 3-5 minutes! Planet Namek exploded in approximately that long)

Past experience tells me that you and I have radically different notions of “what the anime should have been,” Billy (for one thing, I actually like the anime).  It strikes me more as a successor to Origins.  But I’ll see if I can write something on each of the episodes as they come out.

Anonymous asks:

A common problem of turn-delayed moves (things like Fly, Bounce, Dive, Dig) is that they’re too predictable. I wonder, would that remain so if these moves had variants whith different typing? Things like Secret Blade (steel dig), Vine Trap (grass dig), Burning Dive (fire fly) meteor drop (dragon fly), etc, whith identical preparatory turn but different execution. Also, do you think such additions would be justifiable fluff-wise? And what would it say of a pokemon to be specialized in such moves?

So, if I’m understanding this right, the idea would be that the move looks exactly the same on the first turn?  Fly and, say, Meteor Dive or whatever we call it both give the message “the Pokémon flew up high”?  I think that does help a lot, at least for Pokémon that can learn multiple versions of the same move.  You can’t see “the Pokémon dug underground” and just say “HAHA I’ll switch in a Flying Pokémon and their attack will do nothing!” because it might turn out that your opponent is actually using, like, Stalagmite Crush or something.  I think you’d probably find that there are a lot of Pokémon for whom it wouldn’t be possible to justify including two versions of the same move (like, clearly you can’t give a Fire-type Fly variant to Delibird) but in most cases it’s probably no crazier than a typical Pokémon movepool (I mean, Pidgeot already gets Heat Wave).  You don’t even need to teach a Pokémon more than one of these moves to get the benefit, because it’s the possibility that you might have that deters the opponent from trying to exploit the delayed attack.  Adds a whole new dimension of bluffing and mind games.  Of course, you still get royally screwed over by Protect, but I think that’s sort of fine; this addresses what is probably the most important reason that Fly, Dig et al. don’t get used.

X Nuzlocke, episode 15: The Ice of Life

Dendemille Town

Ruby: I was supposed to be ruling the world by now.
Daku: [bored] We know…
Ruby: I was supposed to have achieved ultimate arcane power by shamelessly exploiting magic items with unclear abilities and vague limitations.
Daku: We know…
Ruby: And instead I’m sitting here, freezing my tail off in the middle of some me-forsaken cluster of ramshackle louse-ridden bivouacs clinging to the edge of the world, waiting for a recon report from a Golduck who worships a fossilised mollusc and the world’s stupidest Pidgeot!
Daku: Are you done?
Ruby: And where the hell is the Shelmet?
Daku: That… that is actually a very good question; where the hell is the Shelmet?
Martial: She mentioned meeting with a contact outside the human settlement.  Something about being promised information by a couple of Karrablast.
Ruby: A couple of-? PffffffBAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Martial: I fail to see what is so funny.
Ruby: HAHAHAHAHA oh, you will, trust me, just as soon as she gets back, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahaha ha ha ha… ha… ha… ah, we’re still here.  Why.
Martial: Your brother still languishes in prison, witch.  Have you already forgotten your promise to him?
Ruby: What?  No!  No, I mean- just- I mean, of course not!  But this place is a pointless backwater; we should just return to Lumiose City and burn anything that gets in our way.
Martial: We cannot risk the civilian casualties that would ensue if we attacked the city without more information about Team Flare’s activities and plans.
Daku: And we could hardly stay in Laverre City either, after the… spat… that you two had with the Cabal sorcerers.
Ruby: Fine, but we need to take real, serious action, and soon.
Spruce: Hey!  Ruby!
Fisher: We bring news, my lady!
Ruby: …oh good; my day is about to get even more pointless and dreary.
Spruce: You’ll never guess what we just found!
Ruby: [sigh] Let me guess.  A quest.
Spruce: No, A QUE- oh.  Oh, okay, you, uh… you guessed it.
Ruby: Incredible.  Duck.  Explain.
Fisher: Well, my lady, while scouting the entrance to the Frost Cavern north of this settlement, we encountered a Jynx with an interesting proposition…
Ruby: Uh-huh.  And this is her, I take it?  All right; let’s hear it…
Jynx: I grëët yoü, sørceress, in the nåme of öur Møthër Wïnter.  I äm called Brynhildr, ånd I am the læder øf thë rëbel Pøkémon fightïng tø freë the Frost Cavern frøm the tÿrånnical rule of the Abomasnow whöse låir lies in the icÿ hært of our cåve høme.
Ruby: Why- why are you talking like that.  Why do you have a Swedish accent.  You’re not Swedish.  None of us are Swedish.  We’re in France.
Spruce: What’s France?
Jynx: I døn’t knöw whät yoü’re talking abœt; I spæk with a Jynx äccent.
Ruby: [deep breath] Fine.  Whatever.
Spruce: Brynhildr wants us to help free her people from oppression!
Ruby: Uh huh.  What’s in it for us?
Spruce: That’s the best part!  Tell her, Brynhildr!
Brynhildr: The ëvil Abomasnow I åm fightïng to øverthrœw hølds a mægical jëwël of græt pøwer – an Abomasite.   Nöne of mÿ pœple cån use it, but yöür Pidgeot tells më that yoü can.  If yöu’ll ønly joïn thë mercenåry grœüps helpïng üs to fight, it’s yoürs.
Ruby: [stunned] Wha- that- but this is incredible!  It’s beyond my wildest dreams!  I-
Daku: What, because we’ve found another of your sorcerous baubles?
Ruby: No, because Spruce did something useful!
Spruce: I’m helping!
Umbriel: [somewhere in the distance] EEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHH!

Glückwunsch!  Dein Umbriel wurde zu einem Hydragil!

Continue reading “X Nuzlocke, episode 15: The Ice of Life” →