I preordered it when I preordered my Switch 2 back in April, I wasn't going to miss out on a new 3D DK platformer and today's Direct just affirmed my choice in doing so.
The amiibo was something I was only half-expecting but I'll probably preorder that tomorrow, I'm still miffed about missing out on getting the Mario Party series DK and Diddy amiibos the regular DK Skylander combo figure.
Interesting, I wonder if this'll fix that weird freezing-in-the-dock issue my launch day Switch 2 had (I exchanged it for a new one yesterday that thankfully didn't have it) if it's a software issue.
Yeah, this isn't the first time GameStop got into hot water referencing something that happened at one of their stores and it won't be the last. I'm sure that one tweet they made celebrating the line-ups their stores had for Pokémon TCG products despite most of said people in line being scalpers is still fresh in peoples' minds.
It’s good to see that Nintendo is responding to this issue (that’s partially due to them sit in warehouses for months, I’ve heard that some have had them since November) in a timely manner. I just wish they’d respond to other issues that people are having with their systems on top of it, my Switch 2 is having docked mode-related freezing issues and I’m currently debating on using GameStop’s extended warranty to exchange it for a new one or opening up a support ticket with Nintendo.
@SillyG The batter issue is something that unfortunately can’t be fixed due to a lack of better battery tech, part of the reason why it’s so short is because of the Switch 2’s built-in VRR and upscaling. Heck, this lack of better battery tech is also why the Steam Deck hasn’t had a major revision or a sequel system yet.
As an amendment to my previous post I finalized my preorder about an hour ago (which basically amounted to double-checking the order and paying off any leftover debt, “preordering” any accessories that you couldn’t order after the initial April preorder date, and being given final receipt with a numbered sticker that serves as spot in line and as a raffle ticket) without much fanfare but line for open purchase went AROUND the building that houses the GameStop I preordered at and a few other businesses. I’m 99% sure it’s reached a point where even getting a system isn’t a guarantee.
I was also able to preorder the Switch 2 Pro Controller, an all-in-one case, and verify the manufacturer of the MicroSD Express card that I preordered yesterda (it’s Samsung so I get that nice Super Mushroom-themed one).
I preordered the MKW bundle at GameStop back in April along with a screen protector and DK Bananza. I also managed to preorder a 256 GB MicroSD Express card (because the Switch 2 would probably explode if I tried to transfer my Switch 1 data without it) and the GameStop I’m going to pick up my preorder from will have plenty of Switch 2 Pro Controllers for folks that want ‘em.
The one thing I’ m still iffy on is the case, I’m going to have to get one at some point but I’m flip-flopping on getting the all-in-one or a simple carry case.
I’m currently wondering if I need to get the Switch 2 Pro Controller as well, my Super Smash Bros. Ultimate edition Pro Controller is starting to show its age (especially with mis-inputs, something I’ve been noticing more frequently as of late).
Judging by your review it looks like it might be worth it for me, I just hope that the GameStop I preordered my MKW bundle from has a decent amount of spare controllers and MicroSD Express cards for sale.
As someone who put a down payment on a MKW Switch 2 and Donkey Kong Bananza the morning GameStop opened up their in-store preorders I don’t really see any point in doing this with either of my two Switches (I have a ACNH Edition Switch and a Pokémon SWSH edition Switch Lite), the deal is only “worth it” if you DON’T have to perform a system transfer.
And even if I had to I’d be better off selling either Switch myself, the ACNH edition goes for $10-$20 more and the SWSH edition goes for $50 more.
Heck, I’m probably better off selling my rarely-used 512GB LED Steam Deck or my gaming laptop, those are worth more than either of those Switches combined.
I’m basically parroting what a lot of other people have said about this: the price of the console is fine considering all of the new technology in it but the price of the games are genuinely awful.
As far as me picking up the console’s concerned it’s definitely got me stuck between a rock and a hard place. I’d like to get the Mario Kart World bundle because the game is essentially $50 but I also have to take a trip to this year’s Pokémon World Championships (as a spectator, not a competitor) into consideration.
I think what I’ll end up doing is putting in a prepaid preorder for the bundle at GameStop, paying in off over the weeks until release, getting Donkey Kong Bananza in a similar way, then freezing my Switch 2 spending (outside of Switch 2 upgrades of Switch 1 games) until the price of Switch 2 games drops or certain US retailers stock them for below MSRP.
@Dexter2015 I have a Steam Deck and I have to admit that, after getting a proper gaming PC for Christmas a few months ago, it’s in desperate need of a refresh.
There’s been an interesting turn of events going on regarding these vending machines over the weekend, a letter was sent out by TPCi to the various stores that host them last week saying that they in “maintenance mode” and will be offline until early next week. The current theory is that they’re adding in new software protocols to prevent people from buying out the entire machine when they’re stocked.
@jorel262 Unfortunately that will never happen, the scalpers plaguing the TCG scene are too egotistical to get a proper job or they’re already in scummier businesses that need some form of money laundering.
As someone who keeps a close eye on the TCG situation (I play the game competitively) it genuinely ticks me off to see that scalpers and investors are managing to weasel their way into the game with very little if any pushback from the rest of the Pokémon TCG community. The Pokémon Center vending machine seen in this video has a lot of problems regarding scalpers, the only form of limit they have is a $1,000 USD transaction limit and that's easily bypassed. There are reports of them having product limits (in terms of how much product is sold at any given time, there's technically product still in the machine) and remind people that loitering is prohibited but I'm not sure how well either are enforced.
Seriously, there's a video of a woman completely cleaning out one vending machine of its products. It's gotten so bad that the vendors restocking these machines have said that they won't be restocking any Prismatic Evolutions products or 151 products for the foreseeable future.
That said a lot of the problems were seeing are due to problems that largely out of the community's hands:
TPCi is unable to meet the drastically-increased demand brought onto the card game even after buying out Millennium Print Group in 2022.
TPCi is supposedly 8 months behind on printing cards.
TPCi mucking about with the pull rates of chase cards.
Distributors aren't getting enough product and either bundling desirable products with products that don't move or selling above wholesale price.
Vendors having very little incentive to put restrictions on TCG products due to it technically not being sold by them.
Vendors' online stores not having the technical means to filter out shopper bots.
Vendors selling product above MSRP with some products being sold at market value.
Vendors and distributors backdooring product.
There are a lot of problems with the TCG right now but while scalpers are the most obvious negatives that the average person would encounter it is technically a symptom of a wider problem that's bigger and more complex than people think it it.
@RBRTMNZ Unfortunately we're kind of reaching a boiling point here in the States, some of us believe that a drastic act (not necessarily one involving violence) is the ONLY way for any sort of normalcy to come back to the community due to how malignant the scalper problem has become in recent months and TPCi's lack of communication. Yes, they've said that they're "working" on increasing product and printing at maximum capacity but that's kind of pointless when the same thing about Celebrations, Generations, and other high-demand TCG sets.
I’ve always viewed the making a video game to be delicate dance between being a fun experience for players, allowing developers to make the games they enjoy making, and publishers giving developers a regional budget to make those games and making a decent profit off the games they sell.
The big problem with gaming today I feel (and other forms of entertainment if you ask me) is that the knowledge of how to pull off that delicate dance has been lost over the years due to varying factors (Developers clamoring for the same fame that comes from being a movie director and learning the wrong lesson from the late Roger Ebert’s scathing “video games cannot be art” comment, players becoming more polarized and taking Reggie Fils-Amié’s “if it’s not fun, why bother?” statement too seriously, and publishers giving developers massive budgets and trying to chase the next big craze).
Oh finally, they finally dropped a physical cart containing the first game, Bush Rescue, and Nigh- Oh wait, the third game on the cart is actually the 4th game that's also a 2D platformer.
Eh, I might get it just to have a physical copy but not having Night of the Quinkan kind of kills the deal.
@Samalik @Anti-Matter: I don't think it's due to Activision publishing the original 3rd game since you can buy a remastered version of it on Steam but I could be wrong.
@Bonggon5 The first two games aren't too bad as far as platforming games go (although 100%-ing 'em is a pain) but I can't speak for the 3rd and 4th game since I've never played 'em.
I managed to get into the program and I’ll be one of the few users to not leak it, I have SOME standards you know.
@Bunkerneath That and sign-ups were closed after 15-20 seconds of being open. You basically needed to be there, to use theme park-speak, when the rope dropped to have a chance of successfully applying.
TL;DR - We know our previous investment announcements were met with less-than-stellar responses from Nintendo fans but being oil barons can no longer fund the lavish lifestyles we live due to global issues and stopping now would be the same signing our own death certificates.
I’m not exactly happy with Saudi Arabia showing this much interest in foreign investments (or any other government-owned investment firms expressing interest in the arts for that matter) but Nintendo has been pretty firm with sticking to their guns.
@martynstuff SNK was bought out by a Chinese holdings group in 2016 and that’s how Saudi Arabia was able to eventually get a majority stake in the company.
While I’m happy to hear that Nintendo won’t use AI like other developers are I can’t help but utter a Marge Simpson-like groan over them not eschewing it completely.
That said Nintendo probably WILL find a way to use AI but not for the creative side of things, it’ll more than likely restrict it to coding and similar software-related things like AI-assisted upscaling.
Yeah, no. I wouldn't be too fond of paying $500+ USD for a Switch 2 if the only changes made to it are the obvious GPU and CPU boosts, they'd have to include other things like an OLED screen (I've been considering updating my old ACNH-themed Switch for a newer OLED model) and larger internal storage (even with first-party Switch games being well-optimized 64 GBs of internal storage it laughable today).
To put it simply, if Nintendo want me to spend $500+ USD on a Switch 2 it needs to take a page from Valve's Steam Deck.
I honestly can’t tell if Karch thinks the prices will increase or decrease but the comment about how he thinks players associate a lower price with lesser quality kind of strikes me as being a bit tone-deaf, he should see how well some games do during Steam’s quarterly sales.
That said, I can count the amount of times I bought a $70 USD game on one hand and even then one of them was slightly discounted.
I bought Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart at full price and payed for the Digital Deluxe upgrade since I bought it physically. I slightly regret it since Rift Apart, while it’s a nice R&C game, feels like it’s shorter than past games (I’d put it somewhere between Into the Nexus and the PS4 reimaging of the first game) and the writing isn’t as nice. I also haven’t played it in recent memory, I did buy it on Steam but because it was on sale (it sells for $59.99 USD on Steam and it was on sale for just a little over $40 USD) and because I had a gift card for it.
Meanwhile, I got TOTK and Pikmin 4 digitally via the Nintendo Switch Game Voucher program (I’m already paying for online, why not take advantage of any special offerings they have?), I essentially payed $49.99 USD for each title and saved myself $30 USD. Not only do I still play these games regularly I think they’re around the same as, if not better than, past games in their respective series quality-wise.
I think what’ll happen is we’ll see something similar to what Nintendo’s doing: there will be a baseline price that’s accessible to a majority of players, a slight increase for some titles but publishers will offer ways to get them for the base line price or cheaper, and sales that reduce the price to where everyone who wants to buy a game can get it. At least that’s what I’d like to see.
@MysticX You have your answer right in the tags, it's because of the Pokémon side of the issue that these talent agencies are leaning on. The same thing happened when TPC released that statement regarding Palworld too.
@UmbreonsPapa The issue of Palworld not being anything like Pokémon and TPC/GF being concerned about Palworld are technically two different kettles of fish.
The first part comes down to the game style, Pokémon is still an RPG whilst Palworld incorporates several RPG elements (the game is basically an MMORPG with the option to play it as a single-player game) whilst also combining aspects of survival/crafting elements and third-person shooters. There's also the issue of target demographics that most people tend to not touch on for some weird reason.
The second issue boils down to the issues that have plagued Pokémon games in recent years and how many players Palworld has gathered in the two weeks since its release.
Pokémon games have has many performance and graphical issues since the main line games have dropped on Switch (with some people, myself included, arguing that it's had these issues since the games moved onto the 3DS and switched from a largely 2D game to a 3D game) compared to other games released on the console, SV is probably the worst offender I've seen since XY/ORAS's Horde Battles. And yes, TPC has said that they plan on trying to fix this in future titles but it's kind of pointless if they can't even address the issue in their currently-relevant titles that'll more than likely still be somewhat relevant for 2-3 more years.
Compared to that, Palworld has some weird quirks but it looks beautiful (in part due to the game being developed in UE5 rather than Unity or a homemade engine) and plays well despite the game being in early access. And as far as glitches and bugs go the developers are actively paying attention to what people mention on social media and report to them via an in-game bug report feature.
Sales and players are a bit more difficult to pin down. Pokémon's numbers are funky since sales numbers aren't reported often but SV sold over 10 million copies in three days reached 23.23 million sales by September 2023 (SWSH sold more than 6 million during its opening weekend and 26.02 million copies by September 2023). By contrast Palworld managed to get 19 million players by the end of January (12 million from Steam and 7 million from Games Pass). Palworld's numbers exactly close to Pokémon's but for it to reach ~82% of SV's sales as of September 2023 (or ~73% of SWSH's sales as of September 2023) in just two weeks whilst also not trying to reach out to the same demographic Pokémon does is really impressive.
As far as trying it out I'd recommend it, if you're a fan of games like ARK: Survival Evolved (or even Minecraft's Survival Mode with a Pokémon-related mod like Cobblemon) then it's worth looking into.
I'm not too surprised by this, as others have said these companies are taking a cautious stance on the controversy surrounding both games.
That said, it's not really stopping Japanese influencers from talking about the game and/or streaming it.
@RavenDuroi Palworld kind of gets a pass here because of its early access nature, some of the technical funkiness that people reported on when the game first dropped has actually been fixed and PocketPair has also released a roadmap for the game showing what they plan on introducing into the game.
Pokemon gets harsher criticism because they're essentially "finished" at launch but still have issues that should've been fixed before release. Do you really want more nonsense like BDSP's Day 1 patch adding in stuff that should've been in the base game and SV's terrible performance that only got worse once The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk dropped? And this isn't even dipping into the well of wishful thinking that the fanbase has built regarding new and returning features they'd like to see in future games.
I’m gonna continue my play-through of Palworld, I’m just having too much fun.
Part of me wants to fire up my copies of Pokemon Scarlet/Violet again to update the Poke Portal News for the Flutter Mane raids and the new Mass Outbreaks but with SV’s performance issues and TPC being unwilling to delay it in order to polish it I really have to say Pokémon, at least in my opinion, has lost its spark..
~Let it die, let it die! Let it shrivel up and die...~
Good riddance to a garbage concept, and good on governments for cracking down on these kinds of scams (even if it's just for tax evasion). The only downside is that some NFT markets have tied physical items, most notably with Funko POPs.
Also, it bothers me that this article mentions that The Pokémon Company is still "interested" in NFTs despite the linked article saying that it's The Pokémon Company International that's looking into the viability of NFTs. When most Pokémon fans see TPC mentioned in a news article they think of of the Japanese company, not the international branch based in the US.
Eh, I kind stopped caring about the anime during the XY-era. The attempts at serious storytelling and certain aspects (cough*Amourshipping*cough) brought into the series at the time made me gag. I tried to get back into it during the SM-era but it it just wasn't my thing.
@JohnnyMind The problem with the current "Pokémon machine" is that it's too heavily reliant on the main games and everything, including the main games themselves, are negatively affected by this. Remember when there used to be spin-off games between main games, original TCG sets inbetween ones themed around the main games, and anime arcs that were either completely original or themed around a post-game experience in the main game? Because I sure do.
Also, giving the main games additional development support is something that needs to be done going forward. That said I do agree with @Yosher comment about the games needing a delay in some extreme cases, especially when it's painfully obvious that Scarlet and Violet were likely in-development during COVID lockdowns and suffered as a result of it.
@rotekps_aniger Yeah, TPCi more than likely went with Netflix due to getting burned by TV channels in the past. Remember when Cartoon Network cut Zoroark: Master of Illusion's prologue from the film's initial airing? That was done without TPCi's permission and probably led to them taking the anime elsewhere (in this case Disney XD and eventually Netflix).
@axelhander The problem here is that you have too many other gears moving to prevent something like this from happening again. Combine that with a fandom that’s getting dangerously close to Disney’s level of blind consumerism (think less along the lines of kids buying a Woody/Buzz/Elsa doll and more like Disney Adults buying spending thousands of dollars on a Disney Cruise or a one-day trip to one of Disney’s theme parks) and a fandom that will, for the most part, give GF a free pass and you basically have the perfect storm for broken games.
@LXP8 I assume it’s because Serebii has contacts in Japan that keep their eyes and ears open 24/7 although they tend to focus more on the VG/anime side of the IP whilst PokéBeach focuses more on the TCG (and even gets some TCG news even earlier due to digging through trademark filings made by Pokémon/Creatures Inc.). And as far as GF trying to take down the site in the past is concerned I assume it’s because a lot of that past game coverage being done with illegitimate JPN copies. I distinctly remember the site reporting that BW’s first rival battles didn’t giving you EXP when they actually do reward it in legit copies, the game has an anti-piracy measure that prevents EXP gain and causes random crashes when triggered.
I’m honestly disappointed in the lack of urgency on GF’s end when it comes to fixing the performance issues plaguing SV, some of them have significantly gotten worse after the 2.0.1 update and I can only shudder in fear when thinking how much worse they’ll get when The Indigo Disk rolls out.
As to why I think it’s not getting patched ASAP I think it’s because the problem is deeply rooted into SV’s code, it’s either too expensive/time-consuming to do so or it would require GF to rebuild the game from scratch.
Eh, I'll give them the router stuff but wave of bans that popped up due to the harsher hack checks was announced a week before and that's should've been something EVERY player took into account.
But for me the more controversial Pokémon World Championship is 2013's because of the whole Gino/Mees fiasco and TPCi's response to it. It true that the victim DID get some of his items returned he was still missing his laptop. On the other side of the issue you have the two offenders only receiving warnings and increased scrutiny during the 2013-2014 season (with one of those offenders getting a lifetime ban for deck stacking) due to the theft occurring the day after the closing ceremony.
@greengecko007 Do you have any proof of that? I really doubt Japanese players would risk fines and possible jail time over a tournament even if it’s a World Championship.
Also, two of those the factors you mentioned (EVs and Nature) are EASILY alterable on the players with IVs being a technical outlier due to Hyper Training only being able to max out IVs rather than precisely tuning them in any way.
@Dr_Lugae It's true that Japanese players don't usually generate their Pokémon but that's in large part due Japan having a law that punishes unfair competition with said law being recently amended to include save file editors (which are the main way people get hacked Pokémon into their games) and services that include altering save data and modding consoles.
Ironically enough, Kaphotics (the guy responsible for developing PKHex) tweeted out the Pokemon World Championship hashtag accompanied by a pic of a guy with a big ol' grin on his face. For those wondering why that's a big deal he's recently made a habit of pointing out how badly-hacked Pokémon have shown up in all levels of VGC events and competitors have gotten REALLY salty over that.
I can’t say I’m that surprised by this, genning is still rampant in the game due to the various QoL features that were introduced in past generations still being a bit behind the curb (want a Heatran with a Speed IV of 0 or a Cresselia with an Attack IV of 0? You’re gonna have to soft-reset until you get ‘em since Bottle Caps only maximize IVs!) and it was only a manner of time until people got caught. There’s also the issue of game hacking actually being a crime in Japan that come with jail time and fines if found guilty.
As far as how they were caught cheating is concerned, I remember reading in some of complaints that it’s based on Home transfer-only Pokémon (Urshifu, Cresselia, Landorus, etc.) lacking the internal data “flags” that tell the game that they’re from Home. In other words, they were caught with Pokémon that were directly injected into SV via illegitimate means. Those same complaints also said that they’re doing complete storage checks rather than the usual Battle Box-only checks.
Also, I think it was monstrously stupid of TPCi to allow tranfer-only ‘mon to compete in VGC this season since past Legendaries tend to be the ones folks will inject, they should’ve waited for the 2023-2024 season to allow ‘em.
@BrazillianCara It’s usually through checking the internal data. Stuff like event flags, met data, and other identifiers are used to check if a Pokémon is fake in addition to the more “visible” stuff.
@FishyS In all honesty Game Freak needs to introduce a way to give people more control over IVs, Hyper Training is good but there are some Pokémon that actually benefit from having non-31 IVs.
Also, a general rule of thumb for trading in Pokémon’s competitive landscape is to trust no one and catch/breed/inject everything yourself. That way you’ll only have yourself to blame if you DO get caught.
It was okay, it took a REALLY long time to complete and there were points where I thought I’d never complete it. It’s still not as bad as other Masterwork Research introduced later (looking at you, Wish Granted and Apex).
@siestasagrada To be fair some of the Research tasks are infamous in GO history. The Platinum Kanto Dex medal task requires the dex to be completely filled (remember that it includes Regionals and rare spawns like Farfech’d, Kangaskhan, Mr. Mime, and Tauros), sending 151 gifts to friends can be an absolute pain if your friends list has a lot of people that “gift stack”, catching a Pokémon 30 days in a row is tedious and can easily set you back if you miss a day, getting your Trainer Level to 40 is a back-breaking task the requires a serious level of dedication to taking advantage of everysingle EXP-boosting event Niantic does (and if you want to do it quickly, some more cash), and spinning 151 Poke Stops is can be tedious-if-not-impossible if you’re a rural player.
Some of these tasks have been made a bit easier thanks to changes made by Niantic (Farfech’d and Mr. Mime are a bit easier to get thanks to their Galarian variants) but it’s still a serious slog that people should know about before buying the ticket.
@EaglyPurahfan I watched some of the drama unfold on Twitter and it basically boiled down to people complaining about how the LGBTQ+ threads and posts were deleted before the blatant furry/zoophilia threads were (I can only assume that he deletions and bans were done in waves based on how many times a thread/post was flagged, the former threads had more flags than the latter) an how doing such a thing is bigoted/homophobic/transphobic, comparing these deletions and bans to the MeatCanyon situation and that it makes the headcanons in those threads truly canon (despite the MeatCanyon situation involving legal matters, the fanmade short was removed from YouTube due to the IP holders filing a DMCA complaint).
That said if this is all satire it's not particularly good satire.
@PtM To be fair to TPCi the forums usually have a stopgap in place that requires a thread or reply to be approved by a moderator before it's posted and said stopgap wasn't implemented yesterday for some unknown reason.
@tsukipon @EaglyPurahfan The furry section of the fandom seems to be really quiet right now but the LGBTQ fans aren’t happy about the headcanon threads being deleted and the users that posted threads and commented on those threads banned. IN all honesty I’m not too surprised by this, remember that Nintendo suffered a similar issue when they added the Stage Builder feature to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate a few years ago.
@PtM If it’s anything like Play! Pokémon’s Professor Program, judges, and tournament organizers then they’re technically considered volunteers.
@spottedleaf These forums have been around for a bit (I remember I started to use it back November when the Pokémon TCG Live was released globally and there are TCG Live Update Release Notes going back as far as Late May 2022), the issue is them becoming more noticeable thanks to Twitter catching wind of it and the 4th of July holiday (remember that TPCi's main HQ is in the US) more or less meant that it would be a complete ghost town moderation-wise.
Thankfully TPCi did the smart thing and locked the forums down when things got bad and it appears that a lot of the controversial content has since been deleted.
Oh, and while I was sitting on this comment I noticed that a few Twitter users were complaining about the threads they made getting deleted and having their accounts banned. The one thing that kind of shocked me was that it wasn't coming from the crowd responsible for the posts relating to Vaporeon an Gardevoir.
@TheBigK nods approvingly This guy gets it.
@jowe_gv It's honestly been a long time coming, Discord can be really iffy to some degree (remember that fiasco with one of the guys that worked on their Trust & Safety team?) and has a history of being used inappropriately by bad actors while protests surrounding Reddit's API changes revealed that the site's a digital Library of Alexandria waiting to burn. The next best thing is making your own forums like many fans have already done.
@OctoAmbush I hate to be the one to tell you this but you missed the boat, all of the Miiverse-style insanity has been deleted and I doubt TPCi will let it happen again.
@Axecon I have a feeling that's something that would get deleted pretty quickly for being "off-topic". The official Pokémon Community forums into five categories: Pokémon General (which is broken up into Video Games, Mobile Games & Apps, Anime, and News & Articles), Pokémon Trading Card Game (which is broken up into News & Announcements, General TCG Discussion, Decks & Strategies, and Bugs & Feedback), Pokémon TCG Live (same structure as the previous category), Pokémon UNITE (similar structure to the previous two categories, just swap out the TCG terms for UNITE terms), and Play! Pokémon (which only had News & Announcements and General Discussion categories).
@Battista This forum is actually operated by TPCi and they can use it to streamline things (customer support, bug reporting for various games, tournament announcements, etc.) in addition to providing fans an official place to discuss the Pokémon IP in general with some sensible restrictions.
The problems is that TPCi employees barely use it, attempts to bring up bugs affecting the TCG Live end up getting a canned response saying that users should file a Support Ticket, and very little transparency in general.
Oh wow, that’s certainly something I never saw coming. I wouldn’t be surprised if the more “controversial” threads (you know the ones) are pruned and the users either given a warning or banned from using those forums again.
And one more thing: since accounts on Pokemon’s official forum is tied to a Play! Pokémon that means TPCi staff (and possibly volunteers) will now know about some of the questionable things you’re into and will probably act accordingly.
@Aerona I can still access it, TPCi more than likely decided to send all incoming posts into a sort of “waiting room” until they’re approved by a moderator due to the sheer clustercuss that’s going on.
"Have you had any issues securing a Switch or perhaps a limited edition one over the past few years?"
Not particularly, I held off on buying a Switch due to how hard it was to get one at the time (I was fine with my 3DS) until I preordered the Super Mario Odyssey bundle and when that one started to lose its luster I picked up an ACNH Switch when they started to restock after an initial period of scalper madness.
And while I'd LIKE to get one of the fancy "limited edition" Switch OLED models I don't really see a point in doing so when my current Switch still works well and there's a chance of the next Nintendo console showing up in the near future.
@Dm9982 Agreed, I know the US My Nintendo Store already has a system like that in place for some of their exclusive products like the NSO-exclusive controllers being limited to 4 units per account so the possibility of adding more safeguards isn't out of the question.
@ScribbleDot No problem. TPCi doesn’t really mention that Live’s Expanded format is only SM-on and, as result of that, prevents you from viewing any BW-through-XY cards without enabling those options. They also don’t mention that you DO get some form of compensation for any excess cards you have when you transfer you Online account to Live.
@Vivianeat The avatars get an “eh” from me since they’re at least an upgrade from the Flash-made avatars that Online had. My only issue with ‘em are those infuriating end match animations, they border on showboating (something you CAN get reprimanded for in IRL sanctioned matches) and the end match phrases can be incredibly demeaning.
I honestly preferred Online to Live even though the former app wasn’t available on phones, Live has WAY too many problems in its current iteration (the biggest one being that everyone agrees on being phone battery drain that puts the Game Gear to shame, my personal one being the infuriating end match animations that make me want to do unspeakable things to penguins in front of TPCi’s HQ) to even consider taking it out of the global beta.
@kal_el_07241 Live (and Online too) is a TPCi-made app and they have a nasty tendency of not putting their housemade apps on Nintendo’s own consoles. But then again why would you need it on the Switch when most smartphones released in the past 2 years can run it?
@ScribbleDot If any of the cards you think are missing are Standard-legal (in this case it be Battle Styles-on) they’ll be displayed if you tap the card and then tap the “available” option underneath the card, the way they display cards can be a bit funky but they should be in there. If they’re not Standard-legal then you’ll have to mess around with the deck-building page’s filters and switch the format option from “Standard” to “all”.
@Azuris I thought so at first but the crafting system is actually pretty good and the Battle Pass often gives you 2-3 meta decks consisting of cards from the currently-released set (one free, another via the Premium option, and occasionally a third if one is needed), I just wish that it was easier to farm Credits outside of opening Celebrations packs (or any Scarlet & Violet-on set, the guaranteed holo helps a bit) when you have that set fully completed.
@link3710 PVP actually has some support via TPCi’s officially sanctioned tournaments along with the standard VGC and TCG cores, Unite also have a presence at these events too.
People are actually doing something about Niantic? I bet it’s something meaningfu-
Oh, it’s just another social media protest that the company will ignore until the loud complaints become whispers.
But seriously, people need to understand that Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/YouTube protests like this are EASILY ignored by companies if they have the skin for it, if you want actual results put that into action via an in-person protest at Niantic’s HQ.
@Wordbonder I have a feeling that it’s because of the whole “eBay is working with the seller to re-list the product” bit. It could be nothing but it could also be eBay trying to game the market, there were hints of that when they bought TCGPlayer back in October.
Huh? What kind card goes for THAT much these da-oh it’s an Illustrator Pikachu never mind.
That said, he’s listing the product at THE WORST possible time considering the rising costs of pretty much everything and less cash entering peoples’ pockets.
@Lizuka As a competitive player I can understand it to some extent. In the current format a single Lugia V/VSTAR pair is usually around $18 USD at minimum and, historically speaking, there used to be tournament-viable cards that at the very least commanded $100 USD.
I own all three of those games and a limited-edition V2 Switch already, I'm also pretty sure I can get the "Mario Red" Joy-Cons used. I'd much rather get a Scarlet/Violet or Splatoon 3 OLED model if I'm buying a new Switch.
@Bunkerneath I'm seeing an ESRB rating, that's the North American game rating board.
@gloom I have a feeling that this one is meant for families that want to focus on at-home gaming, it'd be harder to do that with a potential $399.99 USD bundle that won't see a lot of mobile usage where the OLED screen will get to shine.
Pokémon World Championships in Japan: Kind of a whatever, the host city was announced back in August 2022, the only new things here were the key art and the actual venue.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic: The Pokemon Company and Creatures Inc. are basically adding fuel to the dumpster fire that is TCG product scalping, you can’t even buy the most recent TCG set in Japan without entering a lottery or, if you’re a foreigner visiting Japan, barred from buying any products they have in stock.
Pokémon Concierge: I’m cautious about this one. It’s a Netflix production based off of a technically-foreign IP, that’s something that’s never ended well even with the original IP holders involved.
Pokémon Unite/Masters EX/Café Mix: I never into these so I’m largely ambivalent on these.
Pokémon Sleep: I never saw the point in this, there are a bunch of other apps you could use to track your sleep patterns so why would you need a Pokémon themed one? The Pokémon GO announcement was neat but I’m mildly annoyed that the Pokemon GO Plus+ gets the “choose which kind of Poké Ball you can use” function that players have been asking since the original Go Plus accessory was released back in 2016.
Walking Wake/Iron Leaves raids: This was a nice announcement and one I wasn’t really expecting. I just wish that they didn’t hide the fact that you can only catch one of each per save file on the games’ companion site.
Scarlet/Violet DLC announcement: This was something I was expecting in large part due to the success of SWSH’s DLC. As far as the actual content goes I’m cautiously optimistic but I find the lack of details for The Indigo Disk DLC to be very suspicious.
Now let's all wait and see how TPCi screws up with the whole "3 guaranteed holos per pack and all rare cards and higher will be holo" bit they mentioned a while ago.
Yeah… I’m gonna sit out on this one until I can take advantage of a sale or a store’s BOGO deal to get it for less (or possibly for free), that’s how I get most of my newer games these days.
Also, do we know if the price hike only affects international customers or is Japan getting one too?
This is a bit of a nothingburger to be honest, I have a waistline over 40 and I (and several other people who look like they have waistlines over that limit) was able to go on Bowser’s Challenge during Super Nintendo World’s technical rehearsals and its Pass Member Previews.
These rules are generally enforced by sight and tend to target people whose waistlines are over said measurement even AFTER engaging the ride’s safety features. If the ride’s safety bar engages without issue then you’re fine.
I gave the TCGL a shot when it the beta became global (I have a nearly-complete TCGO account that I could migrate at any time but I’ll wait until I accrue 125 packs and I complete Celebrations o do that) and it’s a genuine pain in the rear if you’re starting out fresh.
You get some decent-ish starting decks but they can’t really compete with the Tier 1 decks that many other players have and will be affected by the rotation happening in April, the rate at which you get the two forms of currency in the PTCGL (Credits and Crystals) is super low compared to how often you get TCGO’s tokens, the avatars are still bad despite the shift to 3D, and the UI still needs to be fixed for tablets (the lack of a proper landscape mode for tablets is just plain wrong), and the game often develops more bugs than it quashes with each update.
But my biggest complaint so far has to be the animation for avatars. You have cringy animations when you start a match, win/lose a match, and when your opponent uses the in-match emoticons. And the worst part is that you’re not given the option to turn ANY of this off.
But there is one plus that I admit are better than what the TCGO offers. The Credit system allows you craft almost any card (barring some promos like Tropical Beach and Champion’s Festival) and makes Tier 1 decks that much easier for players to get.
@Sisilly_G As much as I’d love to see a GBC-like Pokémon TCG video game come out it’s just not in the cards, The Pokémon Company doesn’t seem to be too interested in not pushing out spin-off games as of late. It’s also worth noting that both the TCGO and TCGL are TPCi-funded ventures.
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Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Donkey Kong Bananza For Switch 2?
I preordered it when I preordered my Switch 2 back in April, I wasn't going to miss out on a new 3D DK platformer and today's Direct just affirmed my choice in doing so.
The amiibo was something I was only half-expecting but I'll probably preorder that tomorrow, I'm still miffed about missing out on getting the Mario Party series DK and Diddy amiibos the regular DK Skylander combo figure.
Re: Nintendo Switch 2 System Update 20.1.5 Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
Interesting, I wonder if this'll fix that weird freezing-in-the-dock issue my launch day Switch 2 had (I exchanged it for a new one yesterday that thankfully didn't have it) if it's a software issue.
Re: Random: GameStop Tries To Make Light Of Switch 2 Staple Fiasco, But Lands In More Trouble
Yeah, this isn't the first time GameStop got into hot water referencing something that happened at one of their stores and it won't be the last. I'm sure that one tweet they made celebrating the line-ups their stores had for Pokémon TCG products despite most of said people in line being scalpers is still fresh in peoples' minds.
Re: Nintendo Supposedly Investigating Possible "Swollen Battery" Issue With Switch 2
It’s good to see that Nintendo is responding to this issue (that’s partially due to them sit in warehouses for months, I’ve heard that some have had them since November) in a timely manner. I just wish they’d respond to other issues that people are having with their systems on top of it, my Switch 2 is having docked mode-related freezing issues and I’m currently debating on using GameStop’s extended warranty to exchange it for a new one or opening up a support ticket with Nintendo.
@SillyG The batter issue is something that unfortunately can’t be fixed due to a lack of better battery tech, part of the reason why it’s so short is because of the Switch 2’s built-in VRR and upscaling. Heck, this lack of better battery tech is also why the Steam Deck hasn’t had a major revision or a sequel system yet.
Re: Poll: So, Did You Order A Nintendo Switch 2?
As an amendment to my previous post I finalized my preorder about an hour ago (which basically amounted to double-checking the order and paying off any leftover debt, “preordering” any accessories that you couldn’t order after the initial April preorder date, and being given final receipt with a numbered sticker that serves as spot in line and as a raffle ticket) without much fanfare but line for open purchase went AROUND the building that houses the GameStop I preordered at and a few other businesses. I’m 99% sure it’s reached a point where even getting a system isn’t a guarantee.
I was also able to preorder the Switch 2 Pro Controller, an all-in-one case, and verify the manufacturer of the MicroSD Express card that I preordered yesterda (it’s Samsung so I get that nice Super Mushroom-themed one).
Re: Poll: So, Did You Order A Nintendo Switch 2?
I preordered the MKW bundle at GameStop back in April along with a screen protector and DK Bananza. I also managed to preorder a 256 GB MicroSD Express card (because the Switch 2 would probably explode if I tried to transfer my Switch 1 data without it) and the GameStop I’m going to pick up my preorder from will have plenty of Switch 2 Pro Controllers for folks that want ‘em.
The one thing I’ m still iffy on is the case, I’m going to have to get one at some point but I’m flip-flopping on getting the all-in-one or a simple carry case.
Re: Video: Do You Even Need A Pro Controller For The Switch 2?
I’m currently wondering if I need to get the Switch 2 Pro Controller as well, my Super Smash Bros. Ultimate edition Pro Controller is starting to show its age (especially with mis-inputs, something I’ve been noticing more frequently as of late).
Judging by your review it looks like it might be worth it for me, I just hope that the GameStop I preordered my MKW bundle from has a decent amount of spare controllers and MicroSD Express cards for sale.
Re: Poll: GameStop Offers A Tempting Switch 2 Trade-In Deal, But Is It Really Worth It?
As someone who put a down payment on a MKW Switch 2 and Donkey Kong Bananza the morning GameStop opened up their in-store preorders I don’t really see any point in doing this with either of my two Switches (I have a ACNH Edition Switch and a Pokémon SWSH edition Switch Lite), the deal is only “worth it” if you DON’T have to perform a system transfer.
And even if I had to I’d be better off selling either Switch myself, the ACNH edition goes for $10-$20 more and the SWSH edition goes for $50 more.
Heck, I’m probably better off selling my rarely-used 512GB LED Steam Deck or my gaming laptop, those are worth more than either of those Switches combined.
Re: "DROP THE PRICE!!!" Scream Nintendo Fans During Nintendo's Treehouse Live Broadcast
I’m basically parroting what a lot of other people have said about this: the price of the console is fine considering all of the new technology in it but the price of the games are genuinely awful.
As far as me picking up the console’s concerned it’s definitely got me stuck between a rock and a hard place. I’d like to get the Mario Kart World bundle because the game is essentially $50 but I also have to take a trip to this year’s Pokémon World Championships (as a spectator, not a competitor) into consideration.
I think what I’ll end up doing is putting in a prepaid preorder for the bundle at GameStop, paying in off over the weeks until release, getting Donkey Kong Bananza in a similar way, then freezing my Switch 2 spending (outside of Switch 2 upgrades of Switch 1 games) until the price of Switch 2 games drops or certain US retailers stock them for below MSRP.
@Dexter2015 I have a Steam Deck and I have to admit that, after getting a proper gaming PC for Christmas a few months ago, it’s in desperate need of a refresh.
Re: Random: Try Not To Cringe Watching This Video Of A Pokémon TCG Scalper
There’s been an interesting turn of events going on regarding these vending machines over the weekend, a letter was sent out by TPCi to the various stores that host them last week saying that they in “maintenance mode” and will be offline until early next week. The current theory is that they’re adding in new software protocols to prevent people from buying out the entire machine when they’re stocked.
Re: Random: Try Not To Cringe Watching This Video Of A Pokémon TCG Scalper
@jorel262 Unfortunately that will never happen, the scalpers plaguing the TCG scene are too egotistical to get a proper job or they’re already in scummier businesses that need some form of money laundering.
Re: Random: Try Not To Cringe Watching This Video Of A Pokémon TCG Scalper
As someone who keeps a close eye on the TCG situation (I play the game competitively) it genuinely ticks me off to see that scalpers and investors are managing to weasel their way into the game with very little if any pushback from the rest of the Pokémon TCG community. The Pokémon Center vending machine seen in this video has a lot of problems regarding scalpers, the only form of limit they have is a $1,000 USD transaction limit and that's easily bypassed. There are reports of them having product limits (in terms of how much product is sold at any given time, there's technically product still in the machine) and remind people that loitering is prohibited but I'm not sure how well either are enforced.
Seriously, there's a video of a woman completely cleaning out one vending machine of its products. It's gotten so bad that the vendors restocking these machines have said that they won't be restocking any Prismatic Evolutions products or 151 products for the foreseeable future.
That said a lot of the problems were seeing are due to problems that largely out of the community's hands:
There are a lot of problems with the TCG right now but while scalpers are the most obvious negatives that the average person would encounter it is technically a symptom of a wider problem that's bigger and more complex than people think it it.
@RBRTMNZ Unfortunately we're kind of reaching a boiling point here in the States, some of us believe that a drastic act (not necessarily one involving violence) is the ONLY way for any sort of normalcy to come back to the community due to how malignant the scalper problem has become in recent months and TPCi's lack of communication. Yes, they've said that they're "working" on increasing product and printing at maximum capacity but that's kind of pointless when the same thing about Celebrations, Generations, and other high-demand TCG sets.
Re: Tales Of Kenzera Director Slams Publishers' Desire To Create "The Next Fortnite"
I’ve always viewed the making a video game to be delicate dance between being a fun experience for players, allowing developers to make the games they enjoy making, and publishers giving developers a regional budget to make those games and making a decent profit off the games they sell.
The big problem with gaming today I feel (and other forms of entertainment if you ask me) is that the knowledge of how to pull off that delicate dance has been lost over the years due to varying factors (Developers clamoring for the same fame that comes from being a movie director and learning the wrong lesson from the late Roger Ebert’s scathing “video games cannot be art” comment, players becoming more polarized and taking Reggie Fils-Amié’s “if it’s not fun, why bother?” statement too seriously, and publishers giving developers massive budgets and trying to chase the next big craze).
Re: Ty The Tasmanian Tiger: Bush Rescue Switch Physical Bundle Out This Month
Oh finally, they finally dropped a physical cart containing the first game, Bush Rescue, and Nigh- Oh wait, the third game on the cart is actually the 4th game that's also a 2D platformer.
Eh, I might get it just to have a physical copy but not having Night of the Quinkan kind of kills the deal.
@Samalik @Anti-Matter: I don't think it's due to Activision publishing the original 3rd game since you can buy a remastered version of it on Steam but I could be wrong.
@Bonggon5 The first two games aren't too bad as far as platforming games go (although 100%-ing 'em is a pain) but I can't speak for the 3rd and 4th game since I've never played 'em.
Re: Nintendo Asks Switch Online Playtest Program Participants To "Not Discuss Or Disclose Content"
I managed to get into the program and I’ll be one of the few users to not leak it, I have SOME standards you know.
@Bunkerneath That and sign-ups were closed after 15-20 seconds of being open. You basically needed to be there, to use theme park-speak, when the rope dropped to have a chance of successfully applying.
Re: Saudi Public Investment Fund Considering Increasing Its Stake In Nintendo
TL;DR - We know our previous investment announcements were met with less-than-stellar responses from Nintendo fans but being oil barons can no longer fund the lavish lifestyles we live due to global issues and stopping now would be the same signing our own death certificates.
I’m not exactly happy with Saudi Arabia showing this much interest in foreign investments (or any other government-owned investment firms expressing interest in the arts for that matter) but Nintendo has been pretty firm with sticking to their guns.
@martynstuff SNK was bought out by a Chinese holdings group in 2016 and that’s how Saudi Arabia was able to eventually get a majority stake in the company.
Re: Nintendo To Go In 'Different Direction' To Current AI Trends, Says Miyamoto
While I’m happy to hear that Nintendo won’t use AI like other developers are I can’t help but utter a Marge Simpson-like groan over them not eschewing it completely.
That said Nintendo probably WILL find a way to use AI but not for the creative side of things, it’ll more than likely restrict it to coding and similar software-related things like AI-assisted upscaling.
Re: Talking Point: Would $499 Be Too Much For 'Switch 2'?
Yeah, no. I wouldn't be too fond of paying $500+ USD for a Switch 2 if the only changes made to it are the obvious GPU and CPU boosts, they'd have to include other things like an OLED screen (I've been considering updating my old ACNH-themed Switch for a newer OLED model) and larger internal storage (even with first-party Switch games being well-optimized 64 GBs of internal storage it laughable today).
To put it simply, if Nintendo want me to spend $500+ USD on a Switch 2 it needs to take a page from Valve's Steam Deck.
Re: Saber Interactive CEO Doesn't Think $70 Video Games Are Sustainable
I honestly can’t tell if Karch thinks the prices will increase or decrease but the comment about how he thinks players associate a lower price with lesser quality kind of strikes me as being a bit tone-deaf, he should see how well some games do during Steam’s quarterly sales.
That said, I can count the amount of times I bought a $70 USD game on one hand and even then one of them was slightly discounted.
I bought Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart at full price and payed for the Digital Deluxe upgrade since I bought it physically. I slightly regret it since Rift Apart, while it’s a nice R&C game, feels like it’s shorter than past games (I’d put it somewhere between Into the Nexus and the PS4 reimaging of the first game) and the writing isn’t as nice. I also haven’t played it in recent memory, I did buy it on Steam but because it was on sale (it sells for $59.99 USD on Steam and it was on sale for just a little over $40 USD) and because I had a gift card for it.
Meanwhile, I got TOTK and Pikmin 4 digitally via the Nintendo Switch Game Voucher program (I’m already paying for online, why not take advantage of any special offerings they have?), I essentially payed $49.99 USD for each title and saved myself $30 USD. Not only do I still play these games regularly I think they’re around the same as, if not better than, past games in their respective series quality-wise.
I think what’ll happen is we’ll see something similar to what Nintendo’s doing: there will be a baseline price that’s accessible to a majority of players, a slight increase for some titles but publishers will offer ways to get them for the base line price or cheaper, and sales that reduce the price to where everyone who wants to buy a game can get it. At least that’s what I’d like to see.
Re: Random: Japanese Celebs Reportedly Told "Not To Mention" Palworld To Avoid Damaging Pokémon Relations
@MysticX You have your answer right in the tags, it's because of the Pokémon side of the issue that these talent agencies are leaning on. The same thing happened when TPC released that statement regarding Palworld too.
@UmbreonsPapa The issue of Palworld not being anything like Pokémon and TPC/GF being concerned about Palworld are technically two different kettles of fish.
The first part comes down to the game style, Pokémon is still an RPG whilst Palworld incorporates several RPG elements (the game is basically an MMORPG with the option to play it as a single-player game) whilst also combining aspects of survival/crafting elements and third-person shooters. There's also the issue of target demographics that most people tend to not touch on for some weird reason.
The second issue boils down to the issues that have plagued Pokémon games in recent years and how many players Palworld has gathered in the two weeks since its release.
Pokémon games have has many performance and graphical issues since the main line games have dropped on Switch (with some people, myself included, arguing that it's had these issues since the games moved onto the 3DS and switched from a largely 2D game to a 3D game) compared to other games released on the console, SV is probably the worst offender I've seen since XY/ORAS's Horde Battles. And yes, TPC has said that they plan on trying to fix this in future titles but it's kind of pointless if they can't even address the issue in their currently-relevant titles that'll more than likely still be somewhat relevant for 2-3 more years.
Compared to that, Palworld has some weird quirks but it looks beautiful (in part due to the game being developed in UE5 rather than Unity or a homemade engine) and plays well despite the game being in early access. And as far as glitches and bugs go the developers are actively paying attention to what people mention on social media and report to them via an in-game bug report feature.
Sales and players are a bit more difficult to pin down. Pokémon's numbers are funky since sales numbers aren't reported often but SV sold over 10 million copies in three days reached 23.23 million sales by September 2023 (SWSH sold more than 6 million during its opening weekend and 26.02 million copies by September 2023). By contrast Palworld managed to get 19 million players by the end of January (12 million from Steam and 7 million from Games Pass). Palworld's numbers exactly close to Pokémon's but for it to reach ~82% of SV's sales as of September 2023 (or ~73% of SWSH's sales as of September 2023) in just two weeks whilst also not trying to reach out to the same demographic Pokémon does is really impressive.
As far as trying it out I'd recommend it, if you're a fan of games like ARK: Survival Evolved (or even Minecraft's Survival Mode with a Pokémon-related mod like Cobblemon) then it's worth looking into.
Re: Random: Japanese Celebs Reportedly Told "Not To Mention" Palworld To Avoid Damaging Pokémon Relations
I'm not too surprised by this, as others have said these companies are taking a cautious stance on the controversy surrounding both games.
That said, it's not really stopping Japanese influencers from talking about the game and/or streaming it.
@RavenDuroi Palworld kind of gets a pass here because of its early access nature, some of the technical funkiness that people reported on when the game first dropped has actually been fixed and PocketPair has also released a roadmap for the game showing what they plan on introducing into the game.
Pokemon gets harsher criticism because they're essentially "finished" at launch but still have issues that should've been fixed before release. Do you really want more nonsense like BDSP's Day 1 patch adding in stuff that should've been in the base game and SV's terrible performance that only got worse once The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk dropped? And this isn't even dipping into the well of wishful thinking that the fanbase has built regarding new and returning features they'd like to see in future games.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (January 27th)
I’m gonna continue my play-through of Palworld, I’m just having too much fun.
Part of me wants to fire up my copies of Pokemon Scarlet/Violet again to update the Poke Portal News for the Flutter Mane raids and the new Mass Outbreaks but with SV’s performance issues and TPC being unwilling to delay it in order to polish it I really have to say Pokémon, at least in my opinion, has lost its spark..
Re: Oh No, GameStop Is Closing Its NFT Marketplace
~Let it die, let it die! Let it shrivel up and die...~
Good riddance to a garbage concept, and good on governments for cracking down on these kinds of scams (even if it's just for tax evasion). The only downside is that some NFT markets have tied physical items, most notably with Funko POPs.
Also, it bothers me that this article mentions that The Pokémon Company is still "interested" in NFTs despite the linked article saying that it's The Pokémon Company International that's looking into the viability of NFTs. When most Pokémon fans see TPC mentioned in a news article they think of of the Japanese company, not the international branch based in the US.
Re: Pokémon Horizons' Netflix Release Delayed To March (North America)
Eh, I kind stopped caring about the anime during the XY-era. The attempts at serious storytelling and certain aspects (cough*Amourshipping*cough) brought into the series at the time made me gag. I tried to get back into it during the SM-era but it it just wasn't my thing.
@JohnnyMind The problem with the current "Pokémon machine" is that it's too heavily reliant on the main games and everything, including the main games themselves, are negatively affected by this. Remember when there used to be spin-off games between main games, original TCG sets inbetween ones themed around the main games, and anime arcs that were either completely original or themed around a post-game experience in the main game? Because I sure do.
Also, giving the main games additional development support is something that needs to be done going forward. That said I do agree with @Yosher comment about the games needing a delay in some extreme cases, especially when it's painfully obvious that Scarlet and Violet were likely in-development during COVID lockdowns and suffered as a result of it.
@rotekps_aniger Yeah, TPCi more than likely went with Netflix due to getting burned by TV channels in the past. Remember when Cartoon Network cut Zoroark: Master of Illusion's prologue from the film's initial airing? That was done without TPCi's permission and probably led to them taking the anime elsewhere (in this case Disney XD and eventually Netflix).
Re: New Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Update Will Be Targeting Select Bugs Next Month
@axelhander The problem here is that you have too many other gears moving to prevent something like this from happening again. Combine that with a fandom that’s getting dangerously close to Disney’s level of blind consumerism (think less along the lines of kids buying a Woody/Buzz/Elsa doll and more like Disney Adults buying spending thousands of dollars on a Disney Cruise or a one-day trip to one of Disney’s theme parks) and a fandom that will, for the most part, give GF a free pass and you basically have the perfect storm for broken games.
@LXP8 I assume it’s because Serebii has contacts in Japan that keep their eyes and ears open 24/7 although they tend to focus more on the VG/anime side of the IP whilst PokéBeach focuses more on the TCG (and even gets some TCG news even earlier due to digging through trademark filings made by Pokémon/Creatures Inc.). And as far as GF trying to take down the site in the past is concerned I assume it’s because a lot of that past game coverage being done with illegitimate JPN copies. I distinctly remember the site reporting that BW’s first rival battles didn’t giving you EXP when they actually do reward it in legit copies, the game has an anti-piracy measure that prevents EXP gain and causes random crashes when triggered.
Re: New Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Update Will Be Targeting Select Bugs Next Month
I’m honestly disappointed in the lack of urgency on GF’s end when it comes to fixing the performance issues plaguing SV, some of them have significantly gotten worse after the 2.0.1 update and I can only shudder in fear when thinking how much worse they’ll get when The Indigo Disk rolls out.
As to why I think it’s not getting patched ASAP I think it’s because the problem is deeply rooted into SV’s code, it’s either too expensive/time-consuming to do so or it would require GF to rebuild the game from scratch.
Re: Round Up: Pokémon World Championships 2023 - The Best And Most Controversial Yet?
Eh, I'll give them the router stuff but wave of bans that popped up due to the harsher hack checks was announced a week before and that's should've been something EVERY player took into account.
But for me the more controversial Pokémon World Championship is 2013's because of the whole Gino/Mees fiasco and TPCi's response to it. It true that the victim DID get some of his items returned he was still missing his laptop. On the other side of the issue you have the two offenders only receiving warnings and increased scrutiny during the 2013-2014 season (with one of those offenders getting a lifetime ban for deck stacking) due to the theft occurring the day after the closing ceremony.
Re: Pokémon World Championships Disqualifies Scarlet And Violet Pros Using Hacked Monsters
@greengecko007 Do you have any proof of that? I really doubt Japanese players would risk fines and possible jail time over a tournament even if it’s a World Championship.
Also, two of those the factors you mentioned (EVs and Nature) are EASILY alterable on the players with IVs being a technical outlier due to Hyper Training only being able to max out IVs rather than precisely tuning them in any way.
Re: Pokémon World Championships Disqualifies Scarlet And Violet Pros Using Hacked Monsters
@Dr_Lugae It's true that Japanese players don't usually generate their Pokémon but that's in large part due Japan having a law that punishes unfair competition with said law being recently amended to include save file editors (which are the main way people get hacked Pokémon into their games) and services that include altering save data and modding consoles.
Ironically enough, Kaphotics (the guy responsible for developing PKHex) tweeted out the Pokemon World Championship hashtag accompanied by a pic of a guy with a big ol' grin on his face. For those wondering why that's a big deal he's recently made a habit of pointing out how badly-hacked Pokémon have shown up in all levels of VGC events and competitors have gotten REALLY salty over that.
Re: Pokémon World Championships Disqualifies Scarlet And Violet Pros Using Hacked Monsters
I can’t say I’m that surprised by this, genning is still rampant in the game due to the various QoL features that were introduced in past generations still being a bit behind the curb (want a Heatran with a Speed IV of 0 or a Cresselia with an Attack IV of 0? You’re gonna have to soft-reset until you get ‘em since Bottle Caps only maximize IVs!) and it was only a manner of time until people got caught. There’s also the issue of game hacking actually being a crime in Japan that come with jail time and fines if found guilty.
As far as how they were caught cheating is concerned, I remember reading in some of complaints that it’s based on Home transfer-only Pokémon (Urshifu, Cresselia, Landorus, etc.) lacking the internal data “flags” that tell the game that they’re from Home. In other words, they were caught with Pokémon that were directly injected into SV via illegitimate means. Those same complaints also said that they’re doing complete storage checks rather than the usual Battle Box-only checks.
Also, I think it was monstrously stupid of TPCi to allow tranfer-only ‘mon to compete in VGC this season since past Legendaries tend to be the ones folks will inject, they should’ve waited for the 2023-2024 season to allow ‘em.
@BrazillianCara It’s usually through checking the internal data. Stuff like event flags, met data, and other identifiers are used to check if a Pokémon is fake in addition to the more “visible” stuff.
@FishyS In all honesty Game Freak needs to introduce a way to give people more control over IVs, Hyper Training is good but there are some Pokémon that actually benefit from having non-31 IVs.
Also, a general rule of thumb for trading in Pokémon’s competitive landscape is to trust no one and catch/breed/inject everything yourself. That way you’ll only have yourself to blame if you DO get caught.
Re: Pokémon GO: How To Catch Shiny Mew - All-In-One #151 Masterwork Research Tasks & Rewards
I got the original back in 2021.
It was okay, it took a REALLY long time to complete and there were points where I thought I’d never complete it. It’s still not as bad as other Masterwork Research introduced later (looking at you, Wish Granted and Apex).
@siestasagrada To be fair some of the Research tasks are infamous in GO history. The Platinum Kanto Dex medal task requires the dex to be completely filled (remember that it includes Regionals and rare spawns like Farfech’d, Kangaskhan, Mr. Mime, and Tauros), sending 151 gifts to friends can be an absolute pain if your friends list has a lot of people that “gift stack”, catching a Pokémon 30 days in a row is tedious and can easily set you back if you miss a day, getting your Trainer Level to 40 is a back-breaking task the requires a serious level of dedication to taking advantage of every single EXP-boosting event Niantic does (and if you want to do it quickly, some more cash), and spinning 151 Poke Stops is can be tedious-if-not-impossible if you’re a rural player.
Some of these tasks have been made a bit easier thanks to changes made by Niantic (Farfech’d and Mr. Mime are a bit easier to get thanks to their Galarian variants) but it’s still a serious slog that people should know about before buying the ticket.
Re: Pokémon Launches Official Community Forums And It's Already A Disaster
@EaglyPurahfan I watched some of the drama unfold on Twitter and it basically boiled down to people complaining about how the LGBTQ+ threads and posts were deleted before the blatant furry/zoophilia threads were (I can only assume that he deletions and bans were done in waves based on how many times a thread/post was flagged, the former threads had more flags than the latter) an how doing such a thing is bigoted/homophobic/transphobic, comparing these deletions and bans to the MeatCanyon situation and that it makes the headcanons in those threads truly canon (despite the MeatCanyon situation involving legal matters, the fanmade short was removed from YouTube due to the IP holders filing a DMCA complaint).
That said if this is all satire it's not particularly good satire.
@PtM To be fair to TPCi the forums usually have a stopgap in place that requires a thread or reply to be approved by a moderator before it's posted and said stopgap wasn't implemented yesterday for some unknown reason.
Re: Pokémon Launches Official Community Forums And It's Already A Disaster
@tsukipon @EaglyPurahfan The furry section of the fandom seems to be really quiet right now but the LGBTQ fans aren’t happy about the headcanon threads being deleted and the users that posted threads and commented on those threads banned. IN all honesty I’m not too surprised by this, remember that Nintendo suffered a similar issue when they added the Stage Builder feature to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate a few years ago.
@PtM If it’s anything like Play! Pokémon’s Professor Program, judges, and tournament organizers then they’re technically considered volunteers.
Re: Pokémon Launches Official Community Forums And It's Already A Disaster
@spottedleaf These forums have been around for a bit (I remember I started to use it back November when the Pokémon TCG Live was released globally and there are TCG Live Update Release Notes going back as far as Late May 2022), the issue is them becoming more noticeable thanks to Twitter catching wind of it and the 4th of July holiday (remember that TPCi's main HQ is in the US) more or less meant that it would be a complete ghost town moderation-wise.
Thankfully TPCi did the smart thing and locked the forums down when things got bad and it appears that a lot of the controversial content has since been deleted.
Oh, and while I was sitting on this comment I noticed that a few Twitter users were complaining about the threads they made getting deleted and having their accounts banned. The one thing that kind of shocked me was that it wasn't coming from the crowd responsible for the posts relating to Vaporeon an Gardevoir.
@TheBigK nods approvingly This guy gets it.
@jowe_gv It's honestly been a long time coming, Discord can be really iffy to some degree (remember that fiasco with one of the guys that worked on their Trust & Safety team?) and has a history of being used inappropriately by bad actors while protests surrounding Reddit's API changes revealed that the site's a digital Library of Alexandria waiting to burn. The next best thing is making your own forums like many fans have already done.
@OctoAmbush I hate to be the one to tell you this but you missed the boat, all of the Miiverse-style insanity has been deleted and I doubt TPCi will let it happen again.
@Axecon I have a feeling that's something that would get deleted pretty quickly for being "off-topic". The official Pokémon Community forums into five categories: Pokémon General (which is broken up into Video Games, Mobile Games & Apps, Anime, and News & Articles), Pokémon Trading Card Game (which is broken up into News & Announcements, General TCG Discussion, Decks & Strategies, and Bugs & Feedback), Pokémon TCG Live (same structure as the previous category), Pokémon UNITE (similar structure to the previous two categories, just swap out the TCG terms for UNITE terms), and Play! Pokémon (which only had News & Announcements and General Discussion categories).
Re: Pokémon Launches Official Community Forums And It's Already A Disaster
@Battista This forum is actually operated by TPCi and they can use it to streamline things (customer support, bug reporting for various games, tournament announcements, etc.) in addition to providing fans an official place to discuss the Pokémon IP in general with some sensible restrictions.
The problems is that TPCi employees barely use it, attempts to bring up bugs affecting the TCG Live end up getting a canned response saying that users should file a Support Ticket, and very little transparency in general.
Re: Pokémon Launches Official Community Forums And It's Already A Disaster
Oh wow, that’s certainly something I never saw coming. I wouldn’t be surprised if the more “controversial” threads (you know the ones) are pruned and the users either given a warning or banned from using those forums again.
And one more thing: since accounts on Pokemon’s official forum is tied to a Play! Pokémon that means TPCi staff (and possibly volunteers) will now know about some of the questionable things you’re into and will probably act accordingly.
@Aerona I can still access it, TPCi more than likely decided to send all incoming posts into a sort of “waiting room” until they’re approved by a moderator due to the sheer clustercuss that’s going on.
Re: Nintendo Aims To Reduce Scalping Of "New Hardware"
"Have you had any issues securing a Switch or perhaps a limited edition one over the past few years?"
Not particularly, I held off on buying a Switch due to how hard it was to get one at the time (I was fine with my 3DS) until I preordered the Super Mario Odyssey bundle and when that one started to lose its luster I picked up an ACNH Switch when they started to restock after an initial period of scalper madness.
And while I'd LIKE to get one of the fancy "limited edition" Switch OLED models I don't really see a point in doing so when my current Switch still works well and there's a chance of the next Nintendo console showing up in the near future.
@Dm9982 Agreed, I know the US My Nintendo Store already has a system like that in place for some of their exclusive products like the NSO-exclusive controllers being limited to 4 units per account so the possibility of adding more safeguards isn't out of the question.
Re: The Pokémon Trading Card Game Online Servers Have Now Permanently Shut Down
@ScribbleDot No problem. TPCi doesn’t really mention that Live’s Expanded format is only SM-on and, as result of that, prevents you from viewing any BW-through-XY cards without enabling those options. They also don’t mention that you DO get some form of compensation for any excess cards you have when you transfer you Online account to Live.
@Vivianeat The avatars get an “eh” from me since they’re at least an upgrade from the Flash-made avatars that Online had. My only issue with ‘em are those infuriating end match animations, they border on showboating (something you CAN get reprimanded for in IRL sanctioned matches) and the end match phrases can be incredibly demeaning.
Re: The Pokémon Trading Card Game Online Servers Have Now Permanently Shut Down
I honestly preferred Online to Live even though the former app wasn’t available on phones, Live has WAY too many problems in its current iteration (the biggest one being that everyone agrees on being phone battery drain that puts the Game Gear to shame, my personal one being the infuriating end match animations that make me want to do unspeakable things to penguins in front of TPCi’s HQ) to even consider taking it out of the global beta.
@kal_el_07241 Live (and Online too) is a TPCi-made app and they have a nasty tendency of not putting their housemade apps on Nintendo’s own consoles. But then again why would you need it on the Switch when most smartphones released in the past 2 years can run it?
@ScribbleDot If any of the cards you think are missing are Standard-legal (in this case it be Battle Styles-on) they’ll be displayed if you tap the card and then tap the “available” option underneath the card, the way they display cards can be a bit funky but they should be in there. If they’re not Standard-legal then you’ll have to mess around with the deck-building page’s filters and switch the format option from “Standard” to “all”.
@Azuris I thought so at first but the crafting system is actually pretty good and the Battle Pass often gives you 2-3 meta decks consisting of cards from the currently-released set (one free, another via the Premium option, and occasionally a third if one is needed), I just wish that it was easier to farm Credits outside of opening Celebrations packs (or any Scarlet & Violet-on set, the guaranteed holo helps a bit) when you have that set fully completed.
Re: 'Hear Us Niantic' Trends On Social Media In Response To Pokémon GO Remote Raids Update
@link3710 PVP actually has some support via TPCi’s officially sanctioned tournaments along with the standard VGC and TCG cores, Unite also have a presence at these events too.
Re: 'Hear Us Niantic' Trends On Social Media In Response To Pokémon GO Remote Raids Update
@Aezetz Don’t forget the profits they get from selling that sweet, sweet geolocation data from players spinning Poké Stops and using Adventure Sync.
Re: 'Hear Us Niantic' Trends On Social Media In Response To Pokémon GO Remote Raids Update
People are actually doing something about Niantic? I bet it’s something meaningfu-
Oh, it’s just another social media protest that the company will ignore until the loud complaints become whispers.
But seriously, people need to understand that Twitter/Instagram/Facebook/YouTube protests like this are EASILY ignored by companies if they have the skin for it, if you want actual results put that into action via an in-person protest at Niantic’s HQ.
Re: Random: Rare Pokémon Trading Card Auctioned For $480K Gets Zero Bids
@Wordbonder I have a feeling that it’s because of the whole “eBay is working with the seller to re-list the product” bit. It could be nothing but it could also be eBay trying to game the market, there were hints of that when they bought TCGPlayer back in October.
Re: Random: Rare Pokémon Trading Card Auctioned For $480K Gets Zero Bids
Huh? What kind card goes for THAT much these da-oh it’s an Illustrator Pikachu never mind.
That said, he’s listing the product at THE WORST possible time considering the rising costs of pretty much everything and less cash entering peoples’ pockets.
@Lizuka As a competitive player I can understand it to some extent. In the current format a single Lugia V/VSTAR pair is usually around $18 USD at minimum and, historically speaking, there used to be tournament-viable cards that at the very least commanded $100 USD.
Re: Photos Posted Online Showcase New Mario-Themed Switch Console Bundle
Eh... I'll skip out on this one.
I own all three of those games and a limited-edition V2 Switch already, I'm also pretty sure I can get the "Mario Red" Joy-Cons used. I'd much rather get a Scarlet/Violet or Splatoon 3 OLED model if I'm buying a new Switch.
@Bunkerneath I'm seeing an ESRB rating, that's the North American game rating board.
@gloom I have a feeling that this one is meant for families that want to focus on at-home gaming, it'd be harder to do that with a potential $399.99 USD bundle that won't see a lot of mobile usage where the OLED screen will get to shine.
Re: Poll: What Did You Think Of The February 2023 Pokémon Presents, Then?
Eh, it’s easier for me to list em.
Pokémon World Championships in Japan: Kind of a whatever, the host city was announced back in August 2022, the only new things here were the key art and the actual venue.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic: The Pokemon Company and Creatures Inc. are basically adding fuel to the dumpster fire that is TCG product scalping, you can’t even buy the most recent TCG set in Japan without entering a lottery or, if you’re a foreigner visiting Japan, barred from buying any products they have in stock.
Pokémon Concierge: I’m cautious about this one. It’s a Netflix production based off of a technically-foreign IP, that’s something that’s never ended well even with the original IP holders involved.
Pokémon Unite/Masters EX/Café Mix: I never into these so I’m largely ambivalent on these.
Pokémon Sleep: I never saw the point in this, there are a bunch of other apps you could use to track your sleep patterns so why would you need a Pokémon themed one? The Pokémon GO announcement was neat but I’m mildly annoyed that the Pokemon GO Plus+ gets the “choose which kind of Poké Ball you can use” function that players have been asking since the original Go Plus accessory was released back in 2016.
Walking Wake/Iron Leaves raids: This was a nice announcement and one I wasn’t really expecting. I just wish that they didn’t hide the fact that you can only catch one of each per save file on the games’ companion site.
Scarlet/Violet DLC announcement: This was something I was expecting in large part due to the success of SWSH’s DLC. As far as the actual content goes I’m cautiously optimistic but I find the lack of details for The Indigo Disk DLC to be very suspicious.
Re: The Pokémon Company Shows Off New Silver Border Trading Cards, Arriving March
Yes, that's nice...
Now let's all wait and see how TPCi screws up with the whole "3 guaranteed holos per pack and all rare cards and higher will be holo" bit they mentioned a while ago.
Re: Poll: Would You Pay $70 For The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom?
Yeah… I’m gonna sit out on this one until I can take advantage of a sale or a store’s BOGO deal to get it for less (or possibly for free), that’s how I get most of my newer games these days.
Also, do we know if the price hike only affects international customers or is Japan getting one too?
Re: Super Nintendo World's Mario Kart Ride Has A "Waistline" Limit (US)
This is a bit of a nothingburger to be honest, I have a waistline over 40 and I (and several other people who look like they have waistlines over that limit) was able to go on Bowser’s Challenge during Super Nintendo World’s technical rehearsals and its Pass Member Previews.
These rules are generally enforced by sight and tend to target people whose waistlines are over said measurement even AFTER engaging the ride’s safety features. If the ride’s safety bar engages without issue then you’re fine.
Re: The Pokémon Company Reveals Plans To "Sunset" Pokémon TCG Online
I gave the TCGL a shot when it the beta became global (I have a nearly-complete TCGO account that I could migrate at any time but I’ll wait until I accrue 125 packs and I complete Celebrations o do that) and it’s a genuine pain in the rear if you’re starting out fresh.
You get some decent-ish starting decks but they can’t really compete with the Tier 1 decks that many other players have and will be affected by the rotation happening in April, the rate at which you get the two forms of currency in the PTCGL (Credits and Crystals) is super low compared to how often you get TCGO’s tokens, the avatars are still bad despite the shift to 3D, and the UI still needs to be fixed for tablets (the lack of a proper landscape mode for tablets is just plain wrong), and the game often develops more bugs than it quashes with each update.
But my biggest complaint so far has to be the animation for avatars. You have cringy animations when you start a match, win/lose a match, and when your opponent uses the in-match emoticons. And the worst part is that you’re not given the option to turn ANY of this off.
But there is one plus that I admit are better than what the TCGO offers. The Credit system allows you craft almost any card (barring some promos like Tropical Beach and Champion’s Festival) and makes Tier 1 decks that much easier for players to get.
@Sisilly_G As much as I’d love to see a GBC-like Pokémon TCG video game come out it’s just not in the cards, The Pokémon Company doesn’t seem to be too interested in not pushing out spin-off games as of late. It’s also worth noting that both the TCGO and TCGL are TPCi-funded ventures.