Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

@Blooper987 At least you’ve played them and therefore are able to back up the claim that Pokémon games suck! Unfortunately I haven’t played a single one and hopefully if everything goes to plan it’ll stay like that. Too busy collecting PlayStation trophies and Korok seeds than pocket monsters.

@TheJGG I get why you do not like them.
Like most people I like them because I grew up with them and the anime show.

I tend to heavily dislike cute/childish games as they are of very low quality. But with Pokemon I get a nostalgia factor that I can't get out of

Still NOT my number 1 Nintendo franchise. That spot is reserved for Zelda And there is no nostalgia there as I started playing the series a few years ago.

I like Pokemon, just always been more of a casual fan with the games and play them. I was big on it during its heyday, as in having a bunch of Pokemon shirts and playing the games constantly. Nowadays, I don't play them as much and play other games I like, I'll still tune into the Pokemon Directs (or Presents?) to see what's new.

Though, I am excited for New Pokemon Snap. Also, I really like Pokken Tournament, and consider it to just be a really underrated fighting game.

I've played a fair amount of Pokemon throughout my life. Didn't get quite into the games as much as my brother did, lol. (One reason being there's only one save file per cart.) You know how I'm really into Mario? My bro's like that with Pokemon.

I may end up getting New Pokemon Snap though, it looks pretty good. Used to play Pokemon Snap quite a bit on the N64.

@MarioLover92 I'd like to also try both FE Tellius games - Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn - but both are kinda expensive online lol. I also wouldn't argue against seeing either them or some of the older entries ported over too. I did skip out on the digital Switch release of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, but the Shadow Dragon remake is superior. The game's art is amazing and is more in line with the GBA entries vs. the more anime-ish art style used nowadays. Not that I mind the latter, but FE's older aesthetics are a little more unique.

That said, Shadow Dragon couldn't quite shake the generic plot and somewhat unbalanced characters that it lifted from the original. It's a decent game overall, but I'd say it's the weakest FE I've played to date.

@TheJGG Points for the pun! X3

I'd also like for some of the 3DS FE entries to Switch over. I probably wouldn't buy them again so soon unless Intelligent Systems adds a lot of new content, but I'm all for it if it ropes more people into the series!

Some Smash fans still complain about all the sword users, huh? I came across a Reddit thread recently that mentioned that. I haven't played Super Smash Bros. Ultimate yet, but from what I've read each of the "sword fighters" has their own unique play style and moveset.

@bimmy-lee Definitely; the loop is so addicting that those critiques were only a blink in the grand scheme of things. Honestly, if I wanted to 100% everything I could easily spend at least another 50 hours gallivanting around Hyrule. XD I have high hopes for BotW 2, but I'm fully okay with Nintendo taking their time. I want another epic product, not a mess rushed out to meet a deadline.

Going off of your AoC impressions, seems like I'm in for a good time! Particularly with how much I enjoyed BotW. I quite liked Hyrule Warriors even though it was definitely not canon, but it was jammed with content for the fans. Definite comfort food, and an almost mindless way to let off some steam! I think I will enjoy Age of Calamity's structure!

Also, duly noted that the blacksmith shop is a nice place to nap.

@Heavyarms55 Overall, I enjoyed the Pokemon Presents. Here are my thoughts on the three games (Hopefully keeping this brief):

• New Pokemon Snap - This certainly looks beautiful and definitely looks like its brings back everything I enjoyed about the N64 original when I played it on Wii U a few years ago. Like you though, I am concerned about the price vs. the content on offer. Though I doubt I'll get it day one since it's not top-tier priority for me. Might wait for a sale regardless lol.
• Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl - Overall, I like what we've seen so far, and it does appear to include some content from Platinum. My only hang-up is the art style; the 3D battles are fine, it's mainly the overworld that gives me pause; I fully realize a lot of this is nostalgia, but I much prefer the 2.5D pixel art used in the original games (I've mentioned this before, but the art style used for Gens 4 and 5 is still my favorite). I suspect it'll grow on me and there is time yet for some polishing, but my initial impression admittedly wasn't the best. As long as the gameplay remains faithful, I doubt I'll have any problems. (Oh, and hopefully they inject more fire types) Let's say I'm cautiously optimistic.
• Pokemon Legends: Arceus - This stole the presentation for me. This. Looks. So. AWESOME! I like the open world feel of it, though I won't complain if at least a few parts of it are gated a bit (I'm one of those oddballs that doesn't mind some open world aspects, but I don't want it in every game, nor do I think it fits in some cases). I admit it looks a bit rough around the edges graphically, but the game isn't due to release for about a year. We were clearly shown an early build. That gives Game Freak plenty of time to refine everything.

@Tyranexx Yeah, I can understand where you're coming from. If it had been up to me, I'd have liked Pokemon to go the HD-2D route that Square Enix has been running with for some titles. But while that would be very much my cup of tea, it would probably be hard to sell to the primary audience - children.

As for Platinum content, some people have already noticed a few things, one being Porygon-Z, which was a post-game only Pokemon in D/P but main game in Platinum. And another being an NPC in one town who gives you that flower for Shaymin - which only happened in Platinum.

One thing I really want to know about are the underlying mechanics. Will this game use core series mechanics? EVs, IVs, breeding, held items, etc? Importantly, will it retain many of the newer quality of life improvements the series has added in the last few gens? Like hyper training IVs, the ability to reset EVs, the "battle ready mark" allowing older Pokemon to be made legal for official formats... will VGC even switch to these games, or will we stay with SW/SH until Legends? Competitive isn't the focus for all players of course, but it's a big part of what a lot of us care about. A big let down for me in the Let's Go games is just how painfully dumbed down the battles are. They made competitive play impossible in those games. That stupid as all hell candy system that let you max out all stats was beyond bad...

And a big part of why Pokemon has such a problem with cheating over the years started with how outrageously hard it was to make competitive Pokemon in... Diamond and Pearl. I remember spending like a week breeding Heracross and settling for one without even a single perfect 31 stat. I still have it, it has like a 30 in attack and 25 in speed. Terrible by modern standards, and terrible back then - because most people cheated to obtain competitive teams.

Interestingly aDrive on YouTube said there's evidence that upcoming merchandise related to the games features mega evolutions. This could mean that Megas are coming back in these games and that opens a whole can of new questions. The biggest being if there are gonna be any new Megas? Almost no Sinnoh specific Pokemon can Mega so it would be weird to have the in the game without getting some new ones. Then again, they just tacked them into Let's Go too...

For Legends it does look pretty cool. But rewatching the trailer leaves me with more questions. It doesn't seem like there's any sort of antagonists or plot to the game from what they showed. Just making the Sinnoh Pokedex. As much as I wanted an open world Pokemon game, if it's nothing but a collectathon with occasional battles, that would be pretty dull for the full game. No matter how cool it looks at first. Open world games need things to do. Not just big open places. I'd point at titles like Fallout New Vegas or Breath of the Wild. There are tons of things to do in those open world titles.

@Tyranexx
About New Pokemon Snap, i have never played Pokemon Snap N64 version as i didn't grow up with N64 games when i was kid but i have played Hakuna Matata PS3 (Hakuna Matata = Asia version, Afrika = Japan & USA version).
Hakuna Matata is a photography game by Sony with featuring Sony camera models and the lenses to capture the photos of African wild animals. You played as male or female photographer, you given by some tasks to take photos of specific animals from no specific criterias until the specific conditons (yawning hippo, running cheetah, etc). After you take photos, you must upload them to your laptop then send the photos that being asked from request and you will get money from them. You can use the money to upgrade your camera.

One thing that i noticed from Hakuna Matata was about the photographer (your character) behaviour when you play them.
I played as male photographer and whenever i rotate the camera angle to see his face, he will automatically refuse to see you like he didn't want someone looking at his face even you try to rotate from every angle, he will keep turn his face to different direction and never allowed someone to see his face from front. Can you imagine how snobbish he was ?? 😒

Back to New Pokemon Snap, i think my little experience from Hakuna Matata PS3 made me understand how to play New Pokemon Snap. It's not just take any photo you like by pressing square button on Left Joycon. The photo has some specific condition from what subject, their actions, their quantity, their directions, other activities they did, the specific place, etc.
I wonder if we can upgrade the camera and the other tools to upgrade the taking photo quality.

I received the tape cassette player and it's been fun!

Found an old recording of people having a karaoke party. It starts normally, with my dad hogging the microphone and other people singing quietly and awkwardly every now and then, and slowly progresses into drunken ridiculous singing. So it's quite amusing. It also has a short clip of my older brother as a small child being a pest, which was a great way to start it.

Of all the DS/3DS Pokémon games, which one is the best in your opinion? There’s a lot of games on there, including ports.

My personal favorite would probably be White 2. Though I honestly like them all.

@BabyYoda71
I think i prefer Pokemon X / Y.
ORAS was okay but no character customization.
Sun / Moon and the Ultra version are quite boring despite i have Sun and Ultra Moon (still not finished yet).

@BabyYoda71 To be honest, I don't have much of an opinion on them. Ultra Sun and X are the only 3DS entries I have, the latter is still sealed up. I picked up Pokemon X as it was the only copy the store had left months ago, and been wanting X or Y for some time. I did like what I played of Ultra Sun, again, I'm more of a casual fan. I play Pokemon when I'm in the mood for it.

@Heavyarms55 On the Platinum content: I did read about the NPC that gives the player the Gracidea Flower making an appearance and had forgotten that Porygon-Z only made a post-game appearance in D/P. That does give me hope that we'll see Giratina and the Distortion World (fingers crossed!), and hopefully-maybe the Battle Frontier?

I too am also wondering about how many of the series mechanics and more recent QoL changes will be returning. Time will tell I suppose. I've never been into the competitive scene of the games, but I agree that including those aspects you mentioned will certainly add to the games' longevity. I'm also curious on whether Megas make an appearance again; they're one of my favorite more recent series changes, and I do hope they gradually expand the pool of Pokemon who can Mega evolve. I wonder if they'll add it for the three starters?

I suspect we'll get more details on Legends over the year as its release creeps closer. I'm not very concerned yet, though I'll likewise be disappointed if it just turns into a collectathon. I have no problem with open world games as long as said world has plenty to do and just isn't a big, open sandbox of nothingness. I do hope there are other goals besides "complete the Pokedex" and that there's a decent, cohesive plot.

@BabyYoda71 On the regular DS? Hands down, my favorite games are HeartGold/SoulSilver. These were excellent remakes of the Gen 2 games with a ton of QoL improvements and other great extras. Plus, the DS games in general are home to my favorite art style in the entire Pokemon series to date. All the DS Pokemon games range from decent to amazing in my book.

On 3DS?...I'd have to tentatively say Sun/Moon. The Ultra games felt like what S/M should have been at times (more challenge, more to do, more fleshed out in general), but S/M's plot was better overall. Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire are decent remakes overall. As for X/Y...Well...mechanically they're sound games, but the plot dragged so much at one point that I nearly put down Y. And Team Flare is by far the worst team in the main series games.

@Anti-Matter If you have a Wii U and wish to try the original Pokemon Snap, it's available via the eShop! It's a fun game overall. You earned points in the game based on the Pokemon's pose, how close it is to the player in the photo and whether it's in the center, whether there are other Pokemon of the same species in the picture, and any special actions it may be doing. You can use items to help produce different effects and trigger the Pokemon to do things.

Hakuna Matata sounds like a pretty decent game in the same sort of style. Sounds like it has some similarities to what it'd be like to work for National Geographic.

@Tyranexx I'm personally a fan of single-player games, more than games with an emphasis on multiplayer. Granted there are one or two exceptions, like Gran Turismo Sport (which really pushes its online Sport mode, and locks three gold trophies behind it. On that note I might get into some online races to get them...) and to some extent Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?! I played online a lot back on Wii U, and just before NSO launched. I had a really high score, so I wasn't a pushover online.

Online racing games are difficult to enjoy, mainly because of how easy it is to get into a race where every single driver is a talentless casual who likes taking other people out. I've managed to work on my cleanliness in races (in GT Sport you get 50% extra experience points if you don't go off track, or make contact with any other car. Considering a normal race gives you about 4,000 EXP, and you'll need tens of thousands to level up, it's good.) so it'll be a nice experience if I can enter them.

Considering when you got your Switch I can't feel entirely surprised you don't have Super Smash Bros Ultimate. It's an acquired taste. I got it less for the thrill of fighting but more the staggering amount of fighters, stages, and music that's in. I've only played online once, and it was against someone I know. It's not for me, especially considering just how good pros are.

@Tyranexx My brother used to have FE: Shadow Dragon as well. I had no idea it was a remake of the first game until fairly recently.

I played a good amount of Pokemon Sun thus far. I really, REALLY want to get HG/SS. Problem is, it's insanely expensive now and I'd rather have a real copy of the game, not a bootleg. I may have to settle with getting the Crystal version on the eShop to at least be on the safe side, lol. I have my eyes set on Omega Ruby as well, though I'll get that on the eShop as well.

Even worse than Team Yell? Team Yell isn’t even evil.

You you ever wondered what SHOULD happen if Ash's Pikachu goes Against angry Lucario?

Here is the answer:

I just need to color it and add the "liquid" effects

Just try to put it in spoiler tags when you color it, since we don't want gore or disturbing content out in the open.

@Eel Ok I will. Did it get reported and that is why you are warning me or just from curtesy?

Because last time I posted gory image there were no such warnings.

Courtesy.

Mixing cute well liked characters with gore is far more likely to make other users feel uncomfortable.