One lunatic's love-hate relationship with the Pokémon franchise, and his addled musings on its rights, wrongs, ins and outs. Come one, come all, and indulge my delusions of grandeur as I inflict my opinions on anyone within shouting distance.
I appreciate that even Lusamine thought it was terrible to make Hau cry.
Well, even evil has standards, right? Besides, Lusamine seems to be fond of Hau. I thought that was a good addition to the whole “wait, who’s the real bad guy again?” theme that I used for that “episode.”
Are there any Pokémon that you think ought to be retyped?
Mmm… it would have been nice if Masquerain had kept Bug/Water instead of transitioning to Bug/Flying; it would have made him more unique (although I suppose we have Araquanid now, so… eh). Shinx, Luxio and Luxray would perhaps have been more interesting as Electric/Dark as well, and they have the aesthetic down. Oh, and definitely Rufflet and Braviary as Fighting/Flying; I think that would have made them much more competent and given them a point of difference from all the other Flying-types. I don’t think anything else particularly comes to mind… maybe Gothita, Gothorita and Gothitelle as Psychic/Dark but I’m not sure I’m wild about that one. Minior is… a problem, because it’s nothing like other Flying-types and much more closely resembles a lot of Levitate Pokémon like Lunatone and Solrock, but since it has a defining signature ability you can’t give it Levitate. Not sure what I would do with that one.
Do you get the impression Gen VI was cut short? Looking back there’s a lot about it that seems unfinished. I’m not the first to think that Zygarde should have had its own game, but the Gen VI events for Diancie, Hoopa and Volcanion are really underwhelming; all they unlock in XY/ORAS is a bit of extra dialogue. Feels like a lot of wasted potential. The fact that Gen VII only has two event Pokemon (and hackers haven’t found a Marshadow event in S/M yet) makes me think this gen will be short too.
A little, yeah. Mostly what I think is strange is that they built such a unique subsystem for Zygarde with so many interesting little features, and then never really did anything with it. Clearly some of it was already planned when they produced X and Y; Thousand Arrows and Thousand Waves are both in the code for the generation VI games but were never made obtainable, and Zygarde’s Pokédex data hints at a really important role that it ought to have in the conflict of X and Y. Continue reading “Anonymous asks:”
Aren’t Harden, Flash, and Moonblast all great moves?
…what you do in your spare time is none of my concern, Billy.
Finally, I’ve been waiting for the continuation of your Moon play through! Side note, have you stumbled upon the “Nebby, get in the bag” meme that circled the internet after S&M came out?
I…
Well, I have now, and…
I…
What?
I think that Game Freak should have made an Ability that’s Chlorophyll but with a different name (a la Insomnia/Vital Spirit), and made THAT Blaziken’s Hidden Ability instead of Speed Boost. Something like ‘Blazing Legs’. This would address Blaziken’s big weakness (Speed) and encourage players to use it in sunlight, which strengthens its Fire attacks, thus powering it up in competitive without making it crazy broken like Speed Boost does. What do you think?
I kinda want it to be something more unique… I don’t know that it particularly fits Blaziken to be especially dependent on sun. Maybe something Technician-esque that gives priority to low-power moves, so she gets, like, priority Aerial Ace and priority Double Kick? Or something Motor Drive-esque that absorbs Fire attacks to gain speed (it worked for Electivire in his day, after all)?
What would happen to the meta Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina get signature Z-moves in a potential DP remake, which activate the Room effects? They fit quite well thematically- especially Inverse or Wonder for Giratina and Trick for either D or P
Well, I’m fairly confident the ubers meta can withstand damn near anything you throw at it, and a Z-move is a fairly costly thing to give a Pokémon, since the Z-crystal expends your item slot – especially considering that Dialga, Palkia and Giratina all have fairly powerful signature items (their respective Orbs) that they might prefer to use (unless they break the rules of Z-moves, the way Rayquaza breaks the rules of mega evolution, which doesn’t seem implausible – if they get signature Z-moves, the Orbs might enable them). Besides, auto-Magic Room and auto-Wonder Room don’t strike me as particularly game-breaking effects. Auto-Trick Room, maybe, especially if you give it to Dialga, who’s one of the slower uber-tier Pokémon (not that that’s saying much) – but then, if this hypothetical Z-move also forces Dialga to give up a move slot to Roar of Time, which seems likely, maybe that’s balance enough.
Poni Island, which corresponds to the real Hawaiian island of Kauai, turns out to be basically uninhabited. Gladion’s ship drops us off next to a group of brightly painted houseboats with Pokémon-inspired facades, clustered around a long pier. This is the Seafolk Village – a community of seafaring nomads and traders who visit Poni Island seasonally to gather berries. There are no permanent towns or cities – only Pokémon, and the ruins we’ve come here to see. The Seafolk have a perfectly serviceable Pokémon Centre, though, and Lillie and I are even greeted on our arrival by their chief, who knows a little about the island. Lillie explains that we need to see the Kahuna, and the Seafolk chief suggests that we visit Hapu, who lives a little way along the coast to the southeast, in the only permanent dwelling left on the island.
“Oh, we know Hapu,” I tell him. “She’s the Kahuna of Poni Island? She never mentioned that.”
“…I’m sure she can help you,” the chief replies, apparently hesitant to confirm or deny. Well, that’s not even slightly suspicious. Continue reading “Pokémon Moon, Episode 15: In Which I Awkwardly Attempt To Bond With A Strange Girl Of Dubious Usefulness”
The teleport pad leads to what seems to be Lusamine’s private laboratory – a cavernous space at the heart of Aether Paradise. We’re standing on a massive white platform made of the same synthetic material as the rest of the Paradise’s superstructure, and we must be in some closed-off part of the docking level, since there’s sea water all around the platform’s base – perhaps we’re directly below Lusamine’s mansion. At the centre of the platform, Lusamine has several consoles displaying similar information on spatial anomalies to the instruments in Professor Burnet’s lab back in Heahea City. At her side is a black metal box, glowing from within with a strange blue light and floating just off the floor. And all around her instruments… Continue reading “Pokémon Moon, Episode 14: In Which Literally All Hell Breaks Loose”
here’s the big question: do you think phione is a mythical pokemon? on a side note, darkrai is listed as a mythical pokemon wherein cresselia, the other half of the lunar duo, isn’t. which for me is weird as their supposed to be a “set”, right? anyways, what do you think?
Well, as far as I can make out, “Mythical Pokémon” just designates Pokémon that aren’t (or at least, originally weren’t in their own generation) obtainable through normal gameplay – which is why Darkrai is one, but Cresselia isn’t. Phione is obtainable through normal gameplay, but only if you already have Manaphy, who definitely is “mythical,” and although Game Freak seem to have been a bit confused by this at times, most of the time their party line is that yes, Phione is “mythical,” they just get their wires crossed occasionally. Honestly I don’t think it’s a particularly interesting question, since the term doesn’t really have any in-universe significance as far as I can tell.
Pokémaniacal 