Author: pokemaniacchris

White 2 Playthrough Journal, episode 19: Draco dormiens numquam titillandus

We stare, unblinking, at Virizion’s scarlet eyes.  Virizion lowers his head and trills softly, keeping his eyes fixed on us.  He paws the ground and gives a strange, high-pitched yelp.  A flood of images fills my mind – Cobalion, Virizion, Terrakion, separately, then together, Cobalion again, alone, an Ultra Ball, our battle with Cobalion, the Ultra Ball again.  Give him back.  Wait, what?  I lean over towards Jim and whisper in his ear.

“D’you think it’s mad?”

Virizion yelps again and takes off towards us, his hooves beating the ground like war-drums.  We draw Pokéballs from our belts and dive out of the way.  I call out my Vibrava, Daenerys, and Jim calls on Falk, his Magmar.  Virizion pulls to a stop just in front of our Pokémon and attempts to disembowel them with a rapid series of impossibly graceful Sacred Sword attacks before fixing a mighty Giga Drain on Falk.  As Falk attempts to beat Virizion back with a stream of skilfully blocked Flamethrowers, I quietly gesture to Daenerys to take to the skies.  Climbing high into the air, she nails Virizion with a dive-bomb Dragonbreath, breaking his concentration long enough for Falk to join in with an especially peppery Flamethrower.  With a triumphant screech, Daenerys explodes with light and evolves into a Flygon.  She and Falk are quickly able to subdue Virizion, who meekly submits to capture.

The musketeers have, truth be told, been rather anticlimactic so far.  I initially took Cobalion’s presence to mean that the trio had some part to play in the chaos to come; they were once, after all, some of the most explosive opponents of human interference in the world of Pokémon, and really ought to have jumped at the chance to join the main conflict of Black and White.  They never did, though, and it looks like they have no particular plans to do anything about the current conflict either, other than present themselves to us in a faintly accusatory fashion and give us the opportunity to conscript them.  This, I think, is really a shame because there’s a lot of potential for Cobalion, Virizion and Terrakion to get involved in a story like this in a way that resonates with their backstories and helps players to think more about the overarching themes of the plot into the bargain.  Hmm.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

With Virizion satisfactorily defeated, we are free to move into Opelucid City, a strange town at war with itself, half clinging to the past as half embraces the future.  We are greeted as we enter by Iris, whom we met back in Castelia City.  Iris is spectacularly unhelpful, as usual, but does encourage us to visit the Opelucid Gym and challenge the leader, Drayden, which- hmm.  Hang on.  That means Iris is no longer the Gym Leader on either Black 2 or White 2.  Hmm.  Either she was fired by the Pokémon League for her massive incompetence and lack of commitment, or… something more sinister.

Eh.  Whatever.  I’m sure she’ll reveal her new purpose in time.

Like all the Gyms of Unova, we find that the Opelucid Gym has been redesigned.  Its two great dragon statues are still there, but now one rears up, almost vertical, at the back of the Gym, with trainers waiting on its arms and Drayden watching over all from atop its head.  The other dragon statue cowers meekly at the base of the first.  We consult Clyde the Guide for advice on scaling the first statue to reach Drayden, and he explains that we need to stand on the other dragon’s head and ride it as it rears up and violently smashes its face into the first dragon’s limbs, one at a time, fighting the trainers waiting on each limb.  I raise an eyebrow and ask him, as tactfully as possible, whether he is completely insane and why he is trying to get us killed.  Clyde tells us that these are Drayden’s orders, and he can only follow them like the loyal servant he is.  I shake my head and stride over to the base of the rearing dragon statue and begin shouting obscenities up at Drayden.  I narrate in some detail my nauseating Virbank Gym challenge, my nightmare-inducing experience in the Castelia Gym, and my recent hair-raising battles in the wind tunnel Skyla sees fit to call the Mistralton Gym, peppering it all with my most creative expletives.  I am preparing to embark upon a comprehensive description of all the Pokémon with whom Drayden’s mother must have been intimate in order to produce him, when I realise that he can’t actually hear me up there and slump, defeated, on the floor of the Gym.  Seconds later, I hear a long, warbling cry and see a streak of white as Jim’s Swanna, Lydia, carries him up alongside the dragon statue towards the head.

“Oh,” I mutter.

By the time I have recovered from my extensive rant, gotten over my sheepishness, and summoned Daenerys to carry me to the uppermost levels of the building, Jim has already defeated Drayden’s powerful Dragon-types and is waiting for me to give it a try myself.  Drayden gives me his customary gruff but encouraging Gym Leader greeting.  I respond with a flood of insults so rapid and slurred that even I can barely make out what I’m saying.  Drayden, to his credit, merely blinks twice at my barrage of abuse before summoning his Druddigon.  I decide that since Daenerys is already out I may as well start with her and her new Dragon Claw attack.  Dragon vs. Dragon is always a quick but dramatic affair.  Daenerys and Druddigon clash a few times, their teeth and clays flashing and sparking with pure overflowing life force.  Before long, Druddigon is crouched in submission on the ground, wounds shimmering with lingering energy, and Daenerys isn’t faring much better.  I switch her out as Drayden brings in his own Flygon, replacing her with my battle-ready Samurott, Jaime.  Jaime slashes away happily with his seamitars (this, I have only recently learned, is what Dewott’s scalchops become when he evolves, ‘seamitars’), delivering punishing Razor Shell attacks until Flygon drops in defeat.  Drayden has saved his best for last – Haxorus – but so have I.  My Arcanine, Barristan, is itching for a chance to try out his new Dragon Pulse attack, and even Haxorus’ enormous power loses some of its lustre after an Intimidate.  It’s a close thing – it always is with Haxorus – but of course I prevail.  Was there ever a doubt?  Drayden, gracious in defeat, hands me my Legend Badge.  I thank him by asserting, in mumbled tones, that he is of a fellow of loose virtue.  Jim, remembering what we came here for, asks Drayden whether he can tell us anything about the legendary Pokémon.  Surprised, but happy to help, Drayden leads us out of the Gym and takes us to his home.

Most of what Drayden has to tell us is stuff we’ve heard before anyway.  He relates the old story of Reshiram, Zekrom, the legendary heroes, their more modern counterparts, and their involvement in the Team Plasma crisis two years earlier.  He laments the conflict that exists between Reshiram and Zekrom, explaining that there’s really no reason for truth and ideals to be in opposition – it’s all the fault of the heroes whose fighting caused Reshiram and Zekrom, once a single Dragon Pokémon, to split.  He’s not sure how Kyurem, the third dragon, fits into the grand scheme of things, but he thinks it’s just as old as the other two, based on Professor Juniper’s studies on an ancient treasure kept by his family: the… DNA Splicers?  That’s what they’re called?  You’re really going with that?  Only that seems to imply a fairly detailed understanding of what these things do, informed more by modern science than by legend and myth, which must mean- oh, whatever.  Drayden speculates a little more about Kyurem’s nature, wondering if it could be just an empty husk left behind by the separation of Reshiram and Zekrom (this, you may remember, was a popular fan theory when Black and White were released).  I am broadly happy to accept Drayden’s speculation for now.  It seems to match much of what we already knew, and his regret over the conflict between the black and white dragons at least addresses my niggling irritation that these two supposed opposites are actually completely alike (even if it doesn’t really fix it).  Our reverie is broken by a series of loud explosions from outside.  Drayden, Jim and I rush outside to see-

Ah.  Yes.  Team Plasma’s battleship can fly.  Of course it can.  Wonderful.

Frowning, I send Daenerys into the air to blast a hole in its side.  Enough is enough.  Jim observes that shooting the ship down over a populated area might not be the best idea.  I take note of his objection and command Daenerys to press on.  To my surprise, when she draws near the ship a massive cannon emerges from the hull and knocks her out of the sky with a freezing bolt of energy.  The ship turns its cannon on Opelucid City, pelting the town with blasts of cold and creating huge spires of magical ice.  Once most of the city is frozen over, Zinzolin and some of his minions emerge from the ship.  Zinzolin approaches us to gloat, revelling in his own shivering discomfort as proof that he is alive.  This man really does fascinate me; he has just the right balance of erudition and sociopathy to be a perfect partner in my own schemes for world domination.  I express my delight at seeing him again and renew my offer of a partnership between us once all this Team Plasma nonsense has blown over.  Zinzolin gratefully acknowledges my interest, but points out that we both have business to attend to.  He wants the DNA Splicers.  Drayden, naturally, has hidden them and is not keen to give them up.  Zinzolin deploys his grunts and orders them to search the city.  Time for a good old-fashioned punch-up, I guess…

Presenting: Krakentoa, the Deep Flame Pokémon!

Well, here he is: a Pokémon created entirely from submissions by readers of this blog, with the neatest ideas chosen by an interminable series of polls.  Credits for individual contributions are all at the end.

Krakentoa, the Deep Flame Pokémon

Height: 22’7" – 6.9m
Weight: 492 lb – 223.2 kg

Black ‘dex entry: It occasionally bites rocks and ignites them to scare prey. The explosions are often mistaken for underwater eruptions.
White ‘dex entry: It absorbs heat by latching onto underwater vents. This makes it glow brighter, in turn attracting prey.
Black 2 White 2 ‘dex entry: They gather in groups and spew hot oil at Wailord pods. Then, the group emerges to feed on the remains.

Stats:

HP – 65
Attack – 92
Defence – 41
Special Attack – 123
Special Defence – 55
Speed – 125

Abilities: Illuminate, Sniper, Insomnia (DW)

Base experience yield: 221

EV yield: 2 SpAtk, 1 Spd
Base happiness: 70
Time to hatch egg: 26 cycles
Catch rate: 30
Experience growth: medium slow (max. 1,059,860 exp.)

Art by Adam Dreifus
Stat spread and movepool by Thatswhatbradsaid
Concept by Chewiana Jones
Pokédex entries by Lucas
Name by crazedgamer111
Species designation by Random Access

So.  What do we take from this?

Well, personally, I felt the whole thing was really kind of a pain to co-ordinate and took far longer than it should have, but I suppose we did get a pretty cool Pokémon out at the end of it, right?  I’m quite happy that he came out as a deep sea Pokémon, since the deep ocean is just fun to think about – dark, mysterious, alien – and I think we could do with more deep ocean Pokémon that aren’t legendary like Lugia and Kyogre.  This guy does that quite nicely with the opposition to Wailord that we’ve got going.  The vaguely mechanical steampunk-y appearance is also a nice contrast to the typically more organic style of aquatic Pokémon.

As far as battling aptitude goes, I think this is probably a nice balance.  The ludicrous speed and multiple extremely powerful special attacks allow Krakentoa to fill a variety of offensive roles with gusto, but the Stealth Rock weakness, cardboard defences and uninspiring abilities hold him back from being truly ridiculous.  Well, in theory at least.  Goodness only knows how this critter would perform in practice.

I’m not sure I have much more to say here.  I think I’ll just get on with trying to wrap up my White 2 playthrough journal (which, let’s be honest here, is getting ridiculous; I actually finished the game weeks ago, it’s just taking me this long to write it).  Chris out.

White 2 Playthrough Journal, episode 18: Chaos theory

Undella Town passes us in a blur.  Not literally, of course; we just weren’t paying attention.  There are a few new areas – the Marine Tube which supposedly leads to Humilau City, and the Seaside Cave which also supposedly leads to Humilau City, but neither is open to us at present.  We’re pretty sure Hugh turned up at some point and demanded some practice battles, but he said little of interest or relevance.  The road south to Black City and White Forest was much as it always has been, although the gatehouse at the end of the road is perhaps notable for being host to Game Freak’s most bizarre roadblock yet: a line of dancing fat men, who, when questioned, will explain that they are dancing for no reason, and will someday stop dancing, also for no reason.  I stare at them, transfixed, with an immovable look of “wha?” on my face, until Jim manages to drag me out of the gatehouse.  The road north towards Lacunosa Town, likewise, is largely unchanged and uninteresting – until we reach the point where it forks toward the Giant Chasm.  The Chasm itself is inaccessible, but there is someone at the junction waiting for us: Cobalion.

I tell Jim, insistently, to leave this to me.  He raises an eyebrow, but agrees.  I approach Cobalion and politely ask him whether we may continue our negotiations.  Cobalion lowers his head, ready to charge.  I smile, taking this as an affirmative, and open my mouth to begin an impassioned speech on the natural suitability of humans for command and Pokémon for obedience.  My plan, of course, is to moderate my position as the debate continues, thus creating the impression that I am a) reasonable (hah!) and b) receptive to Cobalion’s own arguments.  Unfortunately, Cobalion delivers a startlingly effective riposte in the form of a Sacred Sword attack, which neatly lops off one of my Princess Leia buns as I dodge to the side.  For a few moments I stare at Cobalion, dumbfounded.  Has this creature no conception of civility!?  I am collecting myself for a cutting remark on Cobalion’s parentage when he prepares to initiate an Iron Head attack.  The thought momentarily occurs to me that perhaps a somewhat more aggressive diplomatic strategy would have been apropos.  As I contemplate my imminent premature demise, a pair of thick green tendrils lash out of nowhere and snare Cobalion around his neck and one leg.  As he screams with rage, I spin around to see Jim’s Serperior, Ulfric, straining to keep a tight hold on the legendary Pokémon with his Vine Whips.  Jim orders Ulfric to hurl him into the air, and the Serperior obliges, flinging Cobalion roughly into a nearby tree.  The musketeer Pokémon recovers quickly, though, and within moments they are at each other’s throats, Leaf Blade against Sacred Sword.  I draw an Ultra Ball from my bag.  This has gone on long enough.  I lob the Ultra Ball with all my strength, chanting “up, down, A, B, up down, B, A” under my breath.  It strikes Cobalion and draws him in with a flash of light.  A few moments later, it’s all over.  Jim stares at me as though I’ve swiped a sandwich from his open mouth.  I poke my tongue out at him and dismiss Cobalion’s ball to the PC network.  I’ll deal with you later.

With that behind us, we arrive in the only walled city in all of Unova – Lacunosa Town.  I remember this place being kind of pointless, other than for providing some vague hints about- oh.  Ah.  Right.  Better look around.  We are soon met by Professor Juniper and Bianca, who have used Fly (i.e. cheated) to beat us here, and as usual have their own ideas about how our investigation should proceed.  Juniper drags us to the home of one of Lacunosa Town’s elders, explaining that the town has a legend we should hear.  The elder relates the familiar story to us: when the cold winds blow from the nearby Giant Chasm, a fearsome beast stalked the night, snatching away anyone who wandered outside after dark.  The town’s great stone wall was built to defend against this monster, but even to this day no-one in Lacunosa Town will leave home after dark.  Professor Juniper comments that the wall is probably what gives the town its name; lacunosus clouds are a type of cloud that are supposed to look like a fence or a net.  Jim and I have to conceal a snigger at this.  Lacunosa Town is named for its wall, but clearly the town’s founders were influenced by either an astonishing lack of confidence in their stonework or a distressingly poor command of Latin – lacunosus means “full of holes” (this, I should note, is its strictest, most literal sense; it could also be taken to mean “collapsed,” “sunken,” “waterlogged,” or just downright “inadequate”).  The more sobering thought then occurs to us that, if a legendary Pokémon as powerful as Kyurem were to attack the town, that name might turn out to be chillingly accurate.

As we go to leave for Opelucid City, we run into Hugh.  Damnit, how do all these idiots keep getting ahead of us!?  Hugh is following some rumours he’d heard about Team Plasma activity in the town, and is wondering if we’ve seen anything.  We are about to answer in the negative before switching the topic to something more conducive to Hugh’s mental stability, like hobbies or the weather, when – speak of the devil – none other than Zinzolin, the Sage leading the reborn Team Plasma, appears with two grunts in tow.  Hugh’s eyes flash and he reaches for his Pokéballs, but Jim and I interpose ourselves and attempt to negotiate.  What is Zinzolin after, anyway?  The other Sages abandoned Ghetsis when they realised he’d been manipulating them, so why is he still leading Team Plasma?  If he just wants to take over the world, couldn’t he, maybe, work with us instead?  Zinzolin laughs and explains his philosophy.  He’s actually not interested in power at all – from what I can understand, he’s mostly interested in chaos.  Zinzolin knows that Ghetsis means to tear the asunder the order of the world and the balance of nature and civilisation by forever separating humans from Pokémon, and he wants to watch.  The crazy bastard wants to watch.

I am forced to concede that it does sound like a fascinating sociological experiment.

I offer, in the event of a Team Plasma victory, to co-author a paper with Zinzolin on the extent of human sociological dependence on Pokémon.  After all, just because I’m theoretically opposed to them doesn’t mean I can’t try to create a win-win situation for myself.   Zinzolin hesitates, but agrees to my proposition.  We shake hands on it, and then return to the matter at hand – Hugh is foaming to beat up Zinzolin and his attendants, and Jim and I have a mind to join him.  Zinzolin, it turns out, is quite a strange Pokémon trainer.  One of his persistent character traits, held over from the original Black and White (which Cheren noted when we first encountered him in Driftveil City), is that he hates the cold.  This is strange because Zinzolin is actually an Ice-type specialist – his Pokémon are Cryogonal and Sneasel.  Thinking out loud, I observe that this seems indicative of a level of self-loathing.  This gets Zinzolin so flustered that my Scolipede, Tyrion, is able to steamroll both of his Ice Pokémon before he can regain his composure.  I give the sage a cluck of disapproval as Jim and Hugh finish off his equally inept minions.  Zinzolin curses, mutters something about searching Opelucid City and departs with his grunts, Hugh close behind, waving his fist and shouting something unprintable about radishes.

So, Opelucid City sounds like the place to be.

The road to Opelucid City is nearly as boring as the road to Lacunosa Town was, with the exception of the Village Bridge.  As the surprisingly apt name suggests, this is a bridge with a village on it.  I don’t think anyone actually knows why the village was built on the bridge, as opposed to the more architecturally sound option of building it next to the bridge.  I mean, okay, yes, there was the mediaeval London Bridge, but that was a) in the middle of a massive and already overcrowded city, and b) a massive fire hazard.  Village Bridge, as it turns out, is guarded – in the middle stands an odd Gentleman by the name of Stonewall, who declares that he challenges anyone crossing the bridge.  He has won 999 straight victories, and is eager to win victory number 1000!  Well, we observe, if he’s won 999 straight victories he must be pretty str-oh no wait never mind.  Though comparable in skill to the sage Zinzolin, with a powerful Durant and Lucario, poor Stonewall soon finds himself twisted into knots by Jim’s Zoroark and its mind-bending illusions.  He collapses in defeat, mourning the winning streak he’d spent two years building up (y’know, with only two Pokémon, battling about three trainers every day is actually a pretty good effort), though he vows to try again.  Once across the bridge, the rest of our journey to Opelucid City is quick and without incident… until we reach the outskirts, and find none other than the legendary Virizion blocking our path.

Another game that people sometimes mention alongside Pokemon is Digimon. Have you ever playe a Digimon game, and if you have, what are your thoughts about it?

You know, I never have.  I watched the show when I was a kid but I never actually played a Digimon game.  I don’t think they were ever as popular in New Zealand as the anime was.

What kind of games should I be thinking of here?  Are we talking about the Tamagotchi-style thingies that Digimon was originally based on, or the stuff that was developed later as spin-offs of the anime?  Seriously, if anyone wants to recommend something so I can go and grab an emulator, I’m all ears.  The anime had some really nice characterisation and, although I don’t have as much fun with the themes as I do in Pokémon, it’s a cool world to play with.

Let’s see if we can wrap this up

image

We now have art and a set of powers and skills for our Water/Fire deep sea lava lamp squid of doom.

I’ve had three sets of Pokédex entries submitted, as well as a number of names, so let’s get this done (I’ve decided to keep the submitters anonymous for now).

The sets of Pokédex entries we have to choose from are as follows:

Set number 1:

Black: It occasionally bites rocks and ignites them to scare prey. The explosions are often mistaken as underwater eruptions.
White: It absorbs heat by latching onto underwater vents. This makes it glow brighter, in turn attracting prey.
B2W2: They gather in groups and spew hot oil at Wailord pods. Then, the group emerges to feed on the remains.
Set number 2:
Black: They are filled with combustible oil that can ignite in a brilliant explosion, even under thousands of feet of water.
White: When the oil inside this Pokémon ignites, it becomes able to shoot through the water like a rocket.
B2W2: It is said that these Pokémon can communicate through the shining light of their mantles, even from miles away. 
Set number 3:

Black: It traps its foe in a thick cloud of oil, then sets it aflame. Oil-rich Pokemon like Walrein and Wailord are its preferred prey.
White: It lurks in shadowy caves on the Arctic seafloor, shining with an eerie, purplish light. By the time a curious Pokemon spots the golden glow of its eyes, it is already too late.
B2W2: By igniting their entire oil supply at once, a group of [Squiddy] can launch themselves like bullets, decimating a slow-moving pod of Wailord. Then, they feast on the remains.

Next order of business: a species designation.

Followed by height and weight.  I had three submissions here, but two of them were so similar I decided to take the average, rather than split the votes for two options that were basically the same (this is where the largest of the size options came from).  I’ve also added two more options to get a bit of choice in here.

Next: what is Squiddy’s base experience yield?  The amount of experience gained by a level 50 Pokemon defeating a wild level 50 Squiddy will be about 10 times this number.  For reference, the lowest base experience yield in the games is Sunkern’s, at 36, and the highest is Blissey’s, at 608.  Most fully-evolved Pokémon have a base yield between 150 and 250, increasing with relative power and rarity; legendary and pseudo-legendary Pokémon mostly fit into the 250-320 range.  For each option, I’ve given some examples of other Pokémon in the same bracket.

While we’re at it, what is his effort yield?  All Pokémon, you may be aware, confer ‘effort points’ as well as experience points when defeated, which accelerate the growth of individual stats.  Most Pokémon grant effort points in their own best stats, which makes this fairly self-explanatory, and no Pokémon grants more than 3.

Next is Squiddy’s base happiness.  I’m almost not sure this is even worth a poll, since almost all Pokémon have a base happiness of 70, but while we’re here we may as well.  Only 6 different levels of base happiness currently exist in the game: 0 is used by the most powerful legendary Pokémon, and also Buneary; 35 is used by the majority of legendary Pokémon, a large number of Dark- and Ghost-types, all pseudo-legendary Pokémon, and a couple of generically ‘antisocial’ Pokémon like Ralts and Aron; 90 is used only by Latias, Latios, Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus; 100 is used by Heatran, Pachirisu, Ambipom, Luxio and Croagunk (but not, strangely, by Aipom, Shinx, Luxray or Toxicroak) and the ‘cute’ legendary Pokémon; 140 is used by a handful of ‘cute’ Pokémon like Clefairy, as well as the Sinnoh lake spirits; and 70 is used by everything else.

How long do Squiddy’s eggs take to hatch?  The game actually measures this not in an exact number of steps, per se, but in ‘cycles’ of 255 steps each.  Most Pokémon hatch after 21 cycles.  A large number of early-game Pokémon from all generations take only 16 cycles, and Caterpie, Weedle, Togepi, Azurill, Pachirisu, Croagunk and Munna take only 11.  Many rare or single-stage Pokémon take 26 cycles.  All the fossil Pokémon, as well as Spiritomb, Hippopotas, Drifloon and Druddigon, take 31.  Eevee and Aron take 36.  A handful of very rare Pokémon, including all the pseudo-legendaries, Phione, and (for some reason) Basculin take 41.  Magikarp is the only Pokémon in the game who takes just 6.

How hard is it to capture Squiddy?  All Pokémon have a catch rate – the higher this number, the easier they are to capture.  Many early-game or unevolved Pokémon have a catch rate of 255.  Almost all unevolved Pokémon have a rating of at least 170.  Many Pokémon in the middle of a three-stage evolutionary path are between 120 and 90, and a lot of evolved two-stage Pokémon are between 90 and 60.  The starter Pokémon and most pseudo-legendary Pokémon at all their stages have a catch rate of 45, along with a large number of fully-evolved Pokémon, as well as Zekrom and Reshiram (due to their plot-critical status).  Many rare Pokémon like Absol, Yanmega, Tangrowth, Porygon-Z, Klinklang, Steelix, Skarmory, Relicanth and Cryogonal, as well as Dialga and Palkia, have a catch rate of 30 or 25 (again, for plot reasons).  Volcarona’s is 15, Kyogre and Groudon’s is 5, and the vast majority of legendary Pokémon are at 3, along with Beldum, Metang and Metagross.

And last but not least: which experience curve does Squiddy use?  There are six different experience curves in Pokémon, three of which are straightforward and three of which are bizarre.  The Fast, Medium Fast and Slow curves have a direct linear relationship with the cube of the Pokémon’s level, and require 800,000, 1,000,000 and 1,250,000 Exp. to reach level 100, respectively.  A lot of ‘cute’ Pokémon use the Fast curve, as well as the Misdreavus, Dusclops and Banette lines, Lunatone and Solrock, and Ledian and Ariados.  Most legendary Pokémon use the Slow curve, as well as a lot of rarer Pokémon like Braviary, Heracross, and the Ralts and Slakoth lines.  The Medium Fast and Medium Slow curves are both very common, and between them account for almost two thirds of all Pokémon.  Medium Slow is the first weird one.  It’s the curve used by all the starter Pokémon, and is actually faster than the Fast curve at low levels, but gradually slows down as you progress.  Eventually these Pokémon require the rather odd amount of 1,059,860 Exp. to reach level 100.  The other two curves are really unusual and, with just four exceptions, are only used by third-generation Pokémon.  The Erratic curve starts off excruciatingly, punishingly slow, but gradually builds steam until these Pokémon actually require less Exp. to progress from level 90 to level 100 than they did to get from 80 to 90, with a final total of just 600,000.  Altaria, Milotic, Nincada, Clamperl and Volbeat all use this curve.  The Fluctuating curve is just the opposite; Pokémon that use this curve start off with extremely rapid growth, faster than any other curve, which slows down dramatically as they progress.  Hariyama, Breloom, Wailord and Illumise all use the Fluctuating curve, and it requires a grand total of 1,640,000 Exp. to reach level 100.

Phew.  That took a lot longer than I thought it would.  I’ll leave those polls open for about five days, and that should be the end of it!

So, I just read an article on Bulbagarden’s Tumblr, explaining the speculation of two possible new types: the Love and Sound types. Their arguments include Xerneas-Yveltal = Artemis-Apollo (Greco-Roman mythology; right up your alley there!), Sylveon being released on Valentine’s Day, etc. If I could include the link here, I would :( Anywho, what do you make of it? I think it’s looking too much into things, but always love to hear your opinion!

Found it!

http://bulbagarden.tumblr.com/post/46036478839/yesterday-when-we-asked-on-twitter-and-facebook

I’m sorry to disappoint, but in general my opinion on these things is “it’s possible but I don’t think there’s sufficient evidence to decide either way.”  I honestly don’t understand why people get so invested in speculating about something we’re all going to find out in a few months anyway.  I agree with many of the points the authors make:

– Adding a new type with so many Pokémon in existence already would be difficult, but by no means impossible (if it were me doing this, I would want to make as many as half of the new Pokémon members of at least one of the new types).
– There are many existing Pokémon and moves that could become Love- or Sound-typed, mostly by stripping down Normal to a saner volume.
–  The choice of revealing Sylveon on Valentine’s day is interesting.

The reason I’m still not convinced is that the affirmative evidence basically comes down to “it’s not impossible and we don’t know what type Sylveon and Xerneas are.”  Also, speaking as a classicist, I think that linking Artemis, a goddess of chastity, with a hypothetical Love type is fundamentally absurd.  Furthermore, no actual evidence for the existence of a Sound type is presented here, let alone any evidence for identifying Yveltal as a member of it.

The authors are correct that Apollo is in one story associated with a satyr, Marsyas, in a music competition.  What they do not mention is that Apollo subsequently flayed him.

h t t p : / / i . i m g u r . c o m / m b P D Z 9 4 . j p g Opinions?

Well, it’s a little simplistic, and there are a number of specific points I disagree with, but I suppose my ultimate opinion is really just “sure, why not?”  Might write up a more thorough reflection on this later.

P.S. A clickable link for other readers (Tumblr, for some inane reason, forbids the use of links in questions) http://i.imgur.com/mbPDZ94.jpg

Well, there’s official news of a new pokemon that’s just been revealed that’s stated to appear in the next movie. One that’s either a new form of Mewtwo, or an entirely different pokemon that’s related to mewtwo in some way. Some even say it might be Mewtwo fused with either Mew or Genesect. What are your individual thoughts if its either one of these things?

Well, I don’t really like speculating on this stuff, because I just don’t see the point of that.  Any of those ideas could be used well or badly. None of them are ‘safe,’ and none of them really set off alarm bells in my head.  I like that they appear to be doing something new with an old Pokémon, especially one as iconic as Mewtwo, and the possibility that, after all these years, there really is going to be a Mewthree is, if nothing else, amusing.  If they plan to work with the idea of Mewtwo going back to the technology that created him and using it for his own ends, that could be interesting.  Not sure how else I’d do it.

This might fall inside the lines of “future game” business that you’ve mentioned and everyone’s been asking… but each generation has introduced lots of “new.” For this questions, I want to ask about new moves… Are there any new moves you’d like to see and explore with? I mean in a thematic perspective, like how adding team battles added team moves and such.

Well, I’m sure there’s room to keep adding more and weirder effects, though I’m not really very interested in that.  I’ve always been rather taken with the idea of signature moves, myself; that’s something I’d like to see more of.  A move that’s unique to a single Pokémon means it will always have something to offer that can’t be usurped, and it also emphasises that Pokémon’s particular powers.  Better chances to be awesome, combined with a closer meshing of flavour and game mechanics – that’s win-win as far as I’m concerned.  I think a lot of Pokémon could benefit from this sort of thing, but especially ones with very unusual skills, like Kecleon (who would be so much more relevant if he had an attack that changed type with him).  Worth special mention is Delibird, who has a signature move which only makes him weaker…