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Update 30: Think You've Got Me Cornered? Circhester - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Hop Battle Theme for Solo Piano - Pokemon Sword & Shield - Piano Sheet Music This one is worth listening to, it’s just lovely. ![]() ![]() ![]() Well, looks like Hop is getting his poo poo together; a nearly full team, plus opening with his former Wooloo. Bruce hits it with a critical Low Kick and it goes down. ![]() ![]() Yeah, look, he’s actually connecting with his Pokémon again. ![]() This thing… I can never remember what type it is – it looks like a Water-type, being a sea urchin, but I swear it’s like electric or something. I hit it with a Ground move, which is super effective – and then Hop breaks out a Hyper Potion, keeping it alive one round longer. ![]() Bonham comes out next. I feel kind of bad cheesing his party with my best Pokémon, but it’s not like I’m giving up type advantages, so I throw out Alexander – only to realize I’d forgotten to rename him ![]() ![]() Sorry, mate. Since this battle is practically over, I take the opportunity to show off something of Dietrich’s that I haven’t had the opportunity yet… ![]() ![]() She rocks her enemies to death ![]() ![]() I feel bad about this fight. I completely outmatched him; It’s hard to show off the game when without actively trying you prevent your opponents from doing anything interesting. I mean, there are harder fights down the line, but I’m considering dodging trainers just so I don’t stay so overleveled. It’s kind of depressing. But then, I guess you could say this sort of matches his character arc? He also gets far more formidable down the line. I also feel it’s here that NPC Trainers’ lack of access to the Affection mechanic starts to really cost the game. Part of Hop’s character arc is accepting that he can love his Pokémon without connecting that love to his desire to live up to his brother. This is the point where he starts really embracing that and trying to focus on his team instead of looking for gimmicks to exploit in battle; it only makes sense that their Affection would start to climb in response. It would’ve also turned this flight from a curbstomp to a serious challenge, about on par with Bede’s second fight. I took most of his Pokémon out by using powerful moves strategically; Affection-driven dodges and the ability for high-Affection Pokémon to hold on with one hit point when they would’ve otherwise fainted would have bought them precious time to wear down my team, and the extra critical hits might have taken out a monster or two with some luck. But I don’t even know if that’s mechanically possible in this game. It sure didn’t show up here. Oh well. Circhester - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() He leaves. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Dec 13, 2020 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 19:25 |
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I do have a rule in my LPs where I don't use super effective attacks unless absolutely necessary so the game's aren't piss easy, but unless it's the final Rival battle I don't give them their due. No point wasting time on battles I won't really cover. It's nice gameplay demonstration of Hop's growth, but I also don't know what he was expecting using random freshly caught mons with no semblance of strategy.
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No, NPCs don't get to use affection. It didn't matter for the idiot squad in X/Y particularly but it was weird in the Alola games since Hau's entire vibe was built around him just wanting to spend time hanging out cuddling and playing with his pokemon and he wasn't interested in battling for 90% of the games. And Gladion has multiple friendship evolutions on his team. Skipping trainers will help but you also really need to be rotating new pokemon in to keep the levels reasonable, the games are too easy now to stick with a fixed team. Not my preferred style but you get overlevelled far too quickly if you don't, even without the piles of candy thrown at you. (Affection also increases EXP gain.) Black Robe fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Nov 30, 2020 |
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Falconier111 posted:[But… It was good to see you too fighting again. You’ve both grown. A lot. (Bolded for emphasis.)
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https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/22525/~/nintendo-switch-system-updates-and-change-history#v1100 New Switch update will make transferring pictures off of the platform a hell of a lot easier. ![]()
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dotchan posted:(Bolded for emphasis.) Oh goddamn it ![]() Aerdan posted:https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/22525/~/nintendo-switch-system-updates-and-change-history#v1100 Oh godbless it ![]()
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Update 31: I Have Deduced The Culprit Circhester - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST Before we split, there’s a place I want to explore, as it has secrets I wasn’t aware of until long after I started this LP. ![]() Both of these buildings are part of the Hotel Ionia, an establishment that makes the inn back in Motostoke look like a bed-and-breakfast. In the finest RPG tradition, you can go into most of these rooms and bother the inhabitants… ![]() … Not that you’d always want to. Building on the left has digital versions of the dev team hanging out in a couple of rooms, and in fact you can fight the local equivalent of the guy who designed Mew there after you beat the game. On the right, though… ![]() ![]() Follow Me - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST ???: After all the trouble of deducing things, don’t go messing it up now! *cough* I suppose I should introduce myself. The name’s Howses. Yes, THAT Howses-the great detective. I’ve been hired by the hotel. At present I have cornered the culprit of a most heinous crime. And that crime is… ![]() ![]() ![]() Howses: …But because of the noise, my marvelous deductive reasoning seems somewhat muddled at present… That’s it! You, interfering child! You will be my assistant! Listen to the stories of each suspect, and find the culprit! ![]() Dancer : It was a huge pile of Berries in the lobby, right? There’s no way I could’ve eaten that many. I’ve been saying that this whole time. Old Man: That detective sure seems like trouble, doesn’t he? I will admit that I saw the mountain of Berries, but my doctor told me to stop eating those things. I’ve got it in writing right here. ![]() Boy: Huh? Berries? I didn’t eat them. Hey, you haven’t seen my Pokémon around here, have you? ![]() ![]() Boy: Ah! My Pokémon! Where were you? ![]() Howses: After listening to everyone’s accounts, I have deduced the culprit. ![]() ![]() ![]() Howses: Because you’re a dancer! You move and shake your body so much that you need all that food for extra energy! That’s evidence as clear and sharp as the leak of a Farfetch’d! ![]() Dancer: What? What does that even mean? You’re no detective – you’re a fraud! Howses: Wh-who are you calling a fraud?! You can’t be referring to me, the great detective! Dancer I can’t deal with this disrespect! I leave it to you! You find the culprit! Howses: *gasp* Great job, boss. At this point the game frees us up to do a little detective work of our own. Let’s question the suspects! Dancer: You think I’m the criminal, too?! >yes Dancer: You’re a fraud, too! A fraud assistant to a fraud detective! >no Dancer: Good, you get it. Old Man : What? You think I’m the culprit? >yes Old Man : Sorry, but you’re totally wrong. I’ll do you a favor and keep that a secret. Let’s pretend that didn’t just happen, OK? >no Old Man : I can’t eat berries, after all. Boy : Wha?! You think I’m the culprit? >yes Boy : You’re wrong! Think things over more carefully! >no Boy : Oh! We can even ask the great detective for advice. ![]() ![]() Upon initial investigation, the Dancer does appear the most likely suspect; her confrontational attitude implies a desire to cover up her crime, and she provided no compelling evidence beyond a claimed lack of appetite. However, a bad attitude does not determine guilt; she may be intimidated by the detective, indignant over her treatment, or experiencing any number of other scenarios, and likewise, we have no evidence connecting her to the crime. As such, we cannot reasonably assume her guilt. Similarly, the boy offers no compelling proof either way beyond his presence in the lobby. However! The old man is the only one who offers any evidence to contradict the prosecution’s claims, but the evidence he offers is itself highly suspicious. Dietary restrictions on Berry consumption are not in and of themselves indicative of anything beyond a need to avoid Berries for health reasons. They are not proof of guilt. What IS suspicious is carrying around written proof of your doctor’s orders when those orders are neither unusual nor likely to be challenged. Those restrictions may well be genuine, but the presence of unnecessarily expensive proof indicates premeditation. Additionally, doctor’s orders to avoid Berries imply their presence in a patient’s diet; after all, why advise them not to eat something they already don’t need? Just because eating a certain kind of food is a bad idea doesn’t mean people won’t do it. But neither of those factors are enough to convict. The clincher? During questioning, the old man attempted to intimidate his interrogator and implied consequences from outside factors is they did not drop their line of questioning. Attempting to intimidate an officer of the law during an investigation is in and of itself obstruction of justice, and the desperation necessary to commit a crime while under investigation for another heavily implies guilt. Therefore, though we currently lack the evidence to convict, of the three suspects, the old man is the most likely culprit! ![]() Just kidding, it was the squirrel. ![]() Skwovet: Muuunch? Boy : Ah, it’s true! It’s got Berry bits around its mouth! Old Man : Yes, it definitely ate the Berries. Definitely… Dancer : Oh, you’re right. I see it now that I look more closely. Skwovet: Muuuncha. ![]() ![]() Howses : Here! Recompense for solving this mystery! Take it! He gives us the Wide Lens. ![]() Howses : I must be off now. Take care, everyone! He books it right out of the room. The Dancer follows him. Dancer : Hey, you! Wait a minute! … Immediately followed by the old man. Old Man : Hahaha! I guess I’m supposed to chase after him too. ![]() By the way, the Wide Lens? Your reward for all this? It slightly improves accuracy when held by Pokémon. In a game where the average move hits 99.7% of the time. Route 6 - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST ![]() I think I mentioned earlier that every Pokémon game needs routes or areas dedicated to specific biomes: you need a grassy route for normal Pokémon, a desert route for desert Pokémon, a cave route for cave Pokémon, an ice route for icy Pokémon. Route 9’s Galar’s water route for water Pokémon. Granted, it does have a pretty strong ice theme too, but there’re at least one and a half other ice routes in this game so I guess they had to split them up by theme. I know Britain is supposed to be cold, but I didn’t know it was supposed to be THAT cold. ![]() Grunt A:… Go on to Route 9! Grunt B: It’s Team Yell’s duty to cheer on these lovely Drednaw! And we also get to stop people from headin’ out over the water! The Drednaw snargles. ???: Yes, I understand… All I’m saying is that I can make it so that Rotom Bikes can go on water… Why, we meet again, my young Gym Challenger friend! Remember me? I gave you that bike! So, do you think you could do me another favor and teach these ruffians a lesson or two? Grunt A: It’s our duty to protect Drednaw! And that means yer gonna need to give up on the Gym Challenge! It looks like you need convincin’, so how about a Pokémon battle?! They give us an option to decline here. In fact, they almost always give us the option to decline a plot battle, as opposed to earlier generations, where people would ambush you without warning. I kind of like it, even though it cuts down on the challenge in an already easy game, because it helps you do some planning before facing down a potentially difficult fight. ![]() Not that that’s particularly likely. Grunt A: Gah! She’s gonna ride the Drednaw! Grunt B: Oi! I’ve got an idea! We can get on Drednaw first and ride it away! Grunt A: All right! Get a move on, Drednaw! See ya later, Gym Challenger! The Pokémon snargles again and wanders offscreen, followed by the Grunts. ??? : Seems you’ve come to my aid yet again. How’s the cycling life been treating you? Are you having fun? Wouldn’t it be great if you could ride your Rotom Bike on the water, too? That’s why I’m going to add these special parts, allowing it to travel along the water’s surface… Just for you! ![]() From now on, whenever you ride your bike onto water, its wheels inflate and let you cruise around or just sit on your butt in the middle of the water for the local Pokémon to come gawk at you. While Pokémon move around it like tall grass, it doesn’t have any hidden encounters: what you see is what you get. But you don’t just get Water-types; a few water-themed but not Water-type Pokémon.. ![]() …Such as, say, this punching octopus that proved nearly impossible to catch, also only appear in the water. So if you want that Pokémon – and why wouldn’t you – that’s where you go to find it. It also lets you access parts of the map, not only the water itself… ![]() …But new areas, like this set of standing stones in a distant corner of the Wild Area. This is one of the only areas in the game where you can find evolution stones just lying around, one of each type. The only reason I was able to evolve a Glaceon earlier was because there’s a person you can talk to elsewhere in the Wild Area that will dig you up random items in exchange for Watts; otherwise I’d have had to wait until now. ![]() You can also use it to access a few hidden areas in places you’ve already visited, such as this lake just past Magnolia’s Laboratory. But if you play RPGs you probably could have guessed that. Not nearly as exciting as Detective Howses. Or a puchtopus. Speaking of which, I’m going to need a name for that Grapploct. Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Dec 14, 2020 |
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Grapploct looks to me like he wants to drop some spicy wasabi beats, a la DJ Octavio. On a different hand, concerning your earlier question about how you're comparing the game to your past experience with the series, I'd say it's been enjoyable and valuable. I feel comfortable in claiming Pokévet status as well, since the only mainline games I've missed are B2/W2 and US/UM, in addition to having a deep fondness for the Orre games and an obsession with the Mystery Dungeon subseries. The fact that you didn't play every game and so weren't exposed to the gradual changes to the core gameplay means that you seeing that all at once now offers a unique perspective compared to, I assume, most of the others here following this LP, which additionally gives a contrast to Crosspeice's also great series of Pokémon LPs. And the fact that both angles exist at the same time right now has been very satisfying, in my humble opinion.
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Falconier111 posted:…Such as, say, this punching octopus that proved nearly impossible to catch, also only appear in the water. ![]() It's super annoying and it's the main reason I dumped several dozen exp candies into a Gallade with False Swipe. NyoroEevee posted:Grapploct looks to me like he wants to drop some spicy wasabi beats, a la DJ Octavio.
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Blaziken386 posted:That would be because Bruce is level 49, and it's level 50. SwSh changed how catch rates work - even a single level higher, and catching pokemon is suddenly much harder than it should be! I think almost everyone caught that Gallade for that reason. It also learns Thunder Wave and Hypnosis. Very handy for the few things you can't just throw a quick ball at.
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Blaziken386 posted:That would be because Bruce is level 49, and it's level 50. SwSh changed how catch rates work - even a single level higher, and catching pokemon is suddenly much harder than it should be! wait they did what ![]() This does explain a few things, at least... though I can't fathom why they'd add that. They already have the gym badges adding hard level restrictions on what you can catch... It also feels nonsensical in general. Why would having a lower level Pokemon out make it harder to catch a higher leveled one, especially if you have higher leveled ones in reserve...???
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Falconier111 posted:Oh godbless it I sent a message to Nintendo support suggesting they start selling the HAC-010 USB cable (which normally comes with the Pro Controller but can also be used to connect a Switch to a computer) separately.
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Falconier111 posted:I know Britain is supposed to be cold, but I didn’t know it was supposed to be THAT cold. I'm going to offer a dissenting voice on our Grapploct and suggest that it be called the Dadliest catch.
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Update 32: A Punk Vibe Route 6 - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST Tired of that theme yet? Don’t worry, it’ll be back soon enough. ![]() The middle part of Route 9 is a maze of icebergs, rocks, and tiny islands with the occasional incongruously-dressed Swimmer. In older days, Swimmers used to hang around in the water more often than on land, but here they sit around on those islands in their bathing suits challenging passersby. It all looks terribly uncomfortable. When I described the Route as a maze, I wasn’t kidding; the way forward is never clear and I got lost more than once my first time through. Now that I know what I’m doing, though, it just took me a couple minutes to skirt around the Trainers. Time for another old dumb meme! When Breeding Pokémon, you have two options. The first is to use whatever Pokémon you want to replicate and a Ditto; it will always get you that Pokémon back. This is the only way you can breed genderless Pokémon. The other is by pairing Pokémon that meet certain conditions; they have to be of opposite genders, they can’t be types glossed as babies (Toxel, for instance), and they have to share at least one of the game’s “egg groups”, collections of thematically and (theoretically) biologically similar Pokémon. You see that big round whale thing up there? That’s a Wailmer, a Pokémon introduced in Gen 3 to help fill out Water routes after they cut a lot of the Pokémon from Gen 2. Now, when the games were still sprite-based and you didn’t have models to fit on the battlefield, Pokémon used to vary in size pretty dramatically. Yeah, you had the tiny ones, but the really big ones could be on the same scale as Dynamax Pokémon here – not that you know it without checking the Pokédex, since that was the only place you could find a size comparison. Wailmer’s evolved form, Wailord, was probably the single largest Pokémon in Gen 3: ![]() (Source). Also, yes, it did weigh about as much as a cow, old Pokémon games were notorious for how bizarre units of measurement got in the Pokédex. See that tiny figure on the left? That’s a Skitty, a Pokéhousecat and one of the smallest Pokémon in those games. Sometime soon after release, Breeders noticed Skitty and Wailord both belonged to the Field egg group, which represented a mixture of mammals and the sort of Pokémon you’d run into in one of the more boring routes – meaning that a house cat and a blue whale could produce viable offspring. People made so many jokes about Hot Skitty on Wailord Action ![]() ![]() This last part of Route 9 is just a little bit of terrain leading up to the next town. In theory. In practice, the area design gets a lot more cramped and starts working in metal boxes and wooden fences and railings. ![]() ![]() ![]() Challenger: No one can challenge the Dark-type Leader like this… Other Challenger: What’s with this gate being shut? How am I supposed to get the Gym Badge now?! ![]() ![]() ![]() We head around the side to a back alley. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() On cue, a couple of Team Yell Grunts pop out from around the corner. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Battle! Marnie (8-bit; VRC6) - Pokemon Sword and Shield ![]() Here’s our second and last fight with Marnie before the finals; let’s see if she’s been keeping up. Her Liepard hasn’t, it goes down in one hit. ![]() That Toxicroak, though? Different story. It shoves around Baklava and L337 (out of retirement for one last fight) and humiliates Sporkle, which seems to be a pattern. It takes me breaking out the inestimable Mr. Blobby to finally put it down. ![]() You know how I mentioned way back at our last fight with Marnie that we’d be seeing a stereotype in Pokémon form later on? Yeah, it’s here. I mean, it’s not Jynx, but holding up those pants ![]() ![]() And finally we come back to Jekyll. I figured it’s only natural to take on her signature Pokémon with mine, even though it’s kind of mean. To his credit, Jekyll actually manages to endure a critical hit from Bruce long enough to take off a third of his health bar. And then he goes down. ![]() Right Grunt: How dare you?! Left Grunt: Oh, there’s no way yer gettin’ away with – ![]() ![]() Right Grunt: What? ![]() ![]() Left Grunt: ![]() ![]() ![]() Right Grunt: ![]() ![]() ![]() Left Grunt: ![]() ![]() ![]() Right Grunt: ![]() ![]() ![]() Left Grunt: ![]() Right Grunt: We’ll settle this later! Left Grunt: Goodfightbye! ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Spikemuth - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST This one’s another knockout, by the by. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() To me, Spikemuth is the single most disappointing part of the game. From the beginning, the Spikemuth aesthetic, as embodied by Marnie and Team Yell, stands out dramatically from the rest of the setting, whether it’s the outfits for the Pokémon. Look, I remember when Zigzagoon and Linoone were introduced back in Gen 3. They looked like forest animals. They did not have the black and white color scheme and red eyes that they do in Galar as some of Team Yell’s signature Pokémon, nor did that have a third evolved form that looked like this: ![]() From the moment you approach it and see the metal crates, Spikemuth gives off a different vibe from every other town in Galar, and indeed any town I’ve encountered in a mainline Pokémon game (don’t ask me about Colosseum). Instead of being whimsical or pastoral like every town we’ve encountered so far, it looks decidedly urban – hell, instead of the scenic views we get from other towns, the Spikemuth exterior panorama just shows us some buildings, containers, and a slightly-rusted gate. When you walk around and actually enter, the sense of strangeness just magnifies: all of a sudden, it feels like we’re in cyberpunk, walking down shadowed back streets to electronic music. Yet somehow, it doesn’t feel jarring. Startling, definitely, but the game’s been subtly prepping us for this since the third Gym. Honestly, I was more excited than I’d ever been about a Pokémon city the first time I entered Spikemuth; I wanted to see what the devs would do with this setting and eagerly set out to explore, so I set down that alleyway to the right. That alleyway to the right is the Gym, which is itself some more alleyway and a backlot. This is it. This is the entirety of Spikemuth. I actually looked it up to make sure. Yep, that’s it. The most interesting environment in Sword and Shield is also the smallest. You can’t even go into most of those buildings, in a series where home invasion is a time-honored tradition! It was loving infuriating, almost as infuriating as discovering its shortness doesn’t seem to have anything to do with time crunch; as far as I could tell in my research, the devs decided beforehand it would be one of the most disappointing locations in the game. There’s very little about this game that makes me angry; at worst, it’s irritating or stupid, not offensive or destructive. But the way they got my hopes up and let them fall through the floor like that still has me bitter. ![]() Before we head out, I'm probably going to dump Sporkle; maybe it's just Ponyta, but he loving sucks. I'm going to ask for a name for the Abomasnow I'm going to cycle in. Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Dec 4, 2020 |
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Let's name our newest member something simple, like Tauntaun.
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It really is disappointing how small Spikemuth is - even the abandoned supermarket in SuMo has more content than Spikemuth,
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Nice music, though. Also, I vote for I'M A TREE, all caps. Normally, I give this name to any Sudowoodo I run into, but this is almost as funny.
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Spikemuth is cool, but yeah, it is also extremely tiny and there's nothing here, ![]() Which is a shame, because Sun and Moon right before this had Po Town, which did the whole "antagonist team base + town + 'run down shithole'" thing in a way that was genuinely jarring and memorable, even if it was just a bunch of Team Skull fights. You'd think that there would at least be a clothing store, but nope! All of the punk-style outfits (as well as marnie's outfit, if you have the DLC) are bought in Wyndon's shop, for ridiculous prices. Why isn't that here? The town should have some reason to come back later. As a sidenote, I don't remember the actual reason for the gate being down, but I'm gonna go ahead and headcanon it as Pier's unofficial Gym Challenge. "If you can't be bothered to try and get past a door, you fail. ![]() Also, since we're here now and this is a marnie-centric update, I feel like this video is relevant?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmPyVBF5FvM (I love Marnie's theme, it's great)
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Blaziken386 posted:Spikemuth is cool, but yeah, it is also extremely tiny and there's nothing here, I think the gate gets explained in a minute. And i saw that same awesome video and thought of this thread. You beat me to it! ![]()
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On the other hand the whole story idea about Spikemuth is it's a lifeless, empty, dead town. If it had interesting shops for you to come back to that would undercut its whole deal.
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In all honesty from a ![]() I''m going to throw in the name Briggs for The Snowman inflatablefish fucked around with this message at 11:50 on Dec 4, 2020 |
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Tenebrais posted:On the other hand the whole story idea about Spikemuth is it's a lifeless, empty, dead town. If it had interesting shops for you to come back to that would undercut its whole deal. That’s the thing, though: Spikemuth is NOT dead. I mean, it’s on its way, but it still has a powerful sense of community and a functional social structure that both Marnie and Piers are dedicated to protecting. You kind of want to see more of what these characters are so driven to protect, which is why it sucks especially hard.
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The biggest disappointment for spikemouth to me is that the gym has a really fun concept, but the execution of it is so, painfully bland. It really sticks out compared to the other gyms in a bad way.
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That's the thing, it's not meant to be like Po Town where it's essentially abandoned and the only reason Team Skull hangs out there is because there's no one else to shame them about not completing the challenge. Spikemuth is meant to be fading, down but not out - it's just struggling to stay relevant in the wider Galaran culture, you can still have shops and houses you can intrude in while giving the vibe of a fading star entirely by NPC dialogue and decor.
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Update 33: Shut Your Gob! Spikemuth - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST As we go right, we run into what looks like a merch stand. ![]() Grunt: ‘Old on, mate. If you’re gonna take on the Gym mission, you’d better change into yer uniform! ![]() ![]() While every Gym so far has had both a gimmick and some Trainers, the Spikemuth Gym just has the second. Instead of figuring out some puzzles, you go through the Team Yell Grunts checkpoint by checkpoint, whether in single or double battles. ![]() The closest thing there is to an obstacle here is the occasional Kantonian Mr. Mime walling off the path. Now, there IS a Galarian Mr. Mime, an Ice-type, but we’re dealing with the original version here. Mr. Mimes sit firmly on the slopes of the Uncanny Valley. Those ear things and fixed smile have been terrifying young players for generations. Mr. Mime’s worst qualities even made it into Detective Pikachu, and the fact that that movie exists still completely blows my mind. But the most interesting piece of trivia about it? In the anime, the main character, Ash, doesn’t have a father. Nobody ever makes a big deal of it, their family is perfectly happy and stable without him, but it’s all pretty mysterious. In the first part of the anime, Ash’s mom also keeps a Mr. Mime around the house to do chores. No wonder he left home so quickly. When I was still keeping up with the fandom, there were four competing theories as to who Ash’s father was:
![]() Grunt: Gym Challenger. ![]() ![]() The first fight starts out… A little rough. By that I mean the first time someone lands an attack on my Pokémon, the Linoone OHKOs L337 on the spot. So, that’s pretty promising. It still goes down to Baklava, though, and that’s all she wrote. Grunt: But, since I lost, it was really all for nothin’! Whatever. You won, so I guess I’ll step aside. ![]() Grunt: Eh, go ahead. ![]() Grunt: Yer askin’ if we approve? ![]() Grunt: Then why you askin’ ME that? It’s not like we’re all one person. I swear… ![]() Grunt: You know what? Sure. Outsiders never ask that. So, what d’you know about Spikemuth? ![]() Grunt: Points for knowin’ Muneth’s name, but that’s ancient history. Nobody in Spikemuth cares about that. ![]() Grunt: Well… hm. I bet yer thinkin’ about Wooloo-shaggin’ jokes. ![]() Grunt: Maybe. But I ain’t never even SEEN a Wooloo, you know? Me da was a binman and me mum runs a corner shop, so me an’ my sisters were a bit better off than most. Gwen here, though, she grew up without a father. Her mum’s a wonder though. ![]() Gwen: Yeah! See, she gets it… … ![]() ![]() Left Grunt: Yeah, both her and Piers. I don’t get it. ![]() Right Grunt: He’s a private man, our Piers. Humble, too. The whole wild-eyed punk rocker thing? It’s a front. He’s a sweet man under there. Part of why we like him so much. Left Grunt: You know he runs his own label? ![]() Left Grunt: It’s true. He publishes ‘alf the bands out of Spikemuth, then funnels all the money back to them. Financial genius, that one. He talks about music bein’ pretty maths all the time… … ![]() They jump out the windows and the camera cuts away. It returns once they land. ![]() ![]() Left Grunt:You tried to steal a bike? Right Grunt: I did NOT try to steal a bike! I just wanted t’ borrow the drat thing! ![]() Left Grunt:You were going to do WHAT? Right Grunt: I… Okay, I KNOW it was a bloody stupid idea. I KNOW. I just… I just wanted to be a bit more active, you know? ![]() Right Grunt: No, not like that! By then everybody else’d scared off most of the Challengers. I wanted to do SOMETHING. Left Grunt: Leigh, mate, that’s a terrible idea no matter how ya look at it. ![]() Left Grunt: Bloody hell, really? That’s amazin’! Right Grunt: ![]() Left Grunt: ![]() … ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Left Grunt: What? Right Grunt: Oh poo poo. ![]() Left Grunt: … Was it now. Y’know, I remember bein’ told a certain someone came up with it all by herself. Right Grunt: Come the hell on, Megan, you said you thought it was cool! ![]() Right Grunt: You’re kiddin’ me, mate, the fight scenes in the first couple seasons were mad! Left Grunt: Oh God, I remember you talkin' about that. You never shut up about it! Right Grunt: Only because you wouldn’t watch it with me! ![]() Right Grunt: … ![]() Left Grunt: ![]() … ![]() ![]() ![]() Grunt: No, ‘course not! ![]() Grunt: We weren’t lyin'! We were just... Not tellin' her. ![]() Grunt: ![]() … ![]() ![]() ![]() Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Dec 14, 2020 |
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Characterizing the grunts instead of showing off the (mostly) boring battles is a great touch. Team Yell is definitely the most chill 'evil' team out there, and you can't help but love the goofballs. It really does kind of mirror that the whole game's plot feels more low stakes. Yeah, there's some stuff going on with the weird Dynamaxing at this point, but the adults are taking care of it like they should. (Though it would have been pretty fun if instead of Leon doing it himself, you get to do a Dynamax battle with him, Hop and Marnie or a local Gym Leader alongside you. How cool would that have been?) You're a trainer trying to do the challenge, you're not running around fighting organized crime syndicates or terminally dumb terrorist organizations. You're dealing with overzealous fans of another trainer, and said trainer doesn't even hate you.
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So yeah, the gym. It's a homage to old school beat em ups with mr mimes being invisible walls that don't show up until you beat everyone on screen and get a big flashing arrow letting you know to move on. Rather than do anything interesting play wise it's just a battle gauntlet. yawn.
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Falconier111 posted:
Perfect. ![]()
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FoolyCharged posted:So yeah, the gym. It's a homage to old school beat em ups with mr mimes being invisible walls that don't show up until you beat everyone on screen and get a big flashing arrow letting you know to move on. Rather than do anything interesting play wise it's just a battle gauntlet. yawn. The fact that I completely missed the gym’s gimmick both times I went through it says it all, doesn’t it?
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The beat-em-up theme is fun, but it seems really out of character for Pokemon to do a genre parody like that, so I think a lot of people don't get it until they're told about it because you're not looking for "what is this a reference to". It's a weird choice.
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Yeah, Spikemuth is kinda... bland, I guess? Even if you get the beat-em-up joke it's just a gauntlet of trainers; Opal's gym is technically the same thing but it's at least punched up a bit with the questions gimmick. We're definitely hitting the part of the game where they ran out of steam and/or time. I think if they made an overlay or otherwise incorporated more than the bare minimum the beat-em-up joke would land better and make the gym more memorable. As it is... the characters involved are memorable, but the Gym itself isn't at all. Falconier111 posted:The closest thing there is to an obstacle here is the occasional Kantonian Mr. Mime walling off the path. Now, there IS a Galarian Mr. Mime, an Ice-type, but we’re dealing with the original version here. Mr. Mimes sit firmly on the slopes of the Uncanny Valley. Those ear things and fixed smile have been terrifying young players for generations. Mr. Mime’s worst qualities even made it into Detective Pikachu, and the fact that that movie exists still completely blows my mind. But the most interesting piece of trivia about it? In the anime, the main character, Ash, doesn’t have a father. Nobody ever makes a big deal of it, their family is perfectly happy and stable without him, but it’s all pretty mysterious. In the first part of the anime, Ash’s mom also keeps a Mr. Mime around the house to do chores. No wonder he left home so quickly. I find it incredibly improbable that Ash's biological father is a Mr. Mime, considering that his mom only got one after he left the house. Among, y'know, other reasons, but. At most it's like an adoptive father thing.
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LiefKatano posted:Yeah, Spikemuth is kinda... bland, I guess? Even if you get the beat-em-up joke it's just a gauntlet of trainers; Opal's gym is technically the same thing but it's at least punched up a bit with the questions gimmick. We're definitely hitting the part of the game where they ran out of steam and/or time. Wait, she did? gently caress, it’s been a while. Maybe the joke was even more facetious that I thought it was. Also, ![]()
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I know Spikemuth is disappointing, though as a Streets of Rage fan, I appreciated the beat 'em up reference, but it isn't as disappointing to me as the final gym mission. They're pretty much the same thing, but Spikemuth has its reference at least. The last has nothing. Also, the reason Sporkle isn't pulling weight is indeed because it's a Ponyta. Those stats just don't hold up this late in the game. If you push it level 42 so it can evolve into Rapidash, it'll get better. However, it will still be a Galarian Rapidash, meaning that most of its attacks will be using Rapidash's lower Special Attack. That's actually a problem I've had with some regional variants. The stats aren't changed, so those who need a different attacking stat to go with their new typing are kinda screwed.
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Falconier111 posted:Wait, she did? gently caress, it’s been a while. Maybe the joke was even more facetious that I thought it was. Yeah, it was one of the episodes where Ash was chilling at home slacking on his training before the Indigo League, a travelling performing group had a Mr. Mime that had gotten lazy and Ash got roped into wearing a Mr. Mime costume to try and motivate it by giving it a "rival". Then suddenly a *wild* Mr. Mime wanders into the area, and at first, Ash's mom thinks it's Ash still wearing the costume. The Mr. Mime decides to stick around and help her around the house (to the point where when Brock is visiting, they fight over who gets to do with the chores), and at some point it gets caught officially off-screen. Mr. Mime has joined Ash in the most recent season, and even got used in a battle tournament in one of the early episodes. It pulled a super creepyface when the new companion character asks if it can even battle.
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Sword_of_Dusk posted:That's actually a problem I've had with some regional variants. The stats aren't changed, so those who need a different attacking stat to go with their new typing are kinda screwed. I assume they don't want to shuffle the stats around too much because they don't want the new version to completely outclass the old one, but c'mon. Alolan Ninetales is similar, even if I love it's design - the only change to its stats is moving 9 points of attack over to speed. (Atk: 76 -> 67, Spd: 100 -> 109) They couldn't have bumped up the Special Attack just a little bit? *am increasingly frustrated with
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My Galarian Rapidash served me fairly well, iirc. ...Of course you do need a TR for it to actually get the one physical Fairy move that exists, but that's kinda a Fairy problem in general.
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I haven't used one yet, but Galarian Ponyta/Rapidash doesn't seem that dire to me either, at least once it evolves. It at least gets Psycho Cut on evolution (yeah, it's a bit unfortunate that's its best Psychic STAB but still, could be worse) and Play Rough via TR, and it has pretty decent access to coverage moves. It definitely needs TM/TRs to get those though, its level up moveset is pretty rubbish. 100 attack and 105 speed is perfectly useable, although admittedly its abilities are all pretty useless and I'm not sure why they didn't help it out a bit more there. I still think I'd probably be more inclined to use it than Kanto Rapidash, mono-Fire isn't a particularly appealing type. That said, I also wouldn't want to take it into competitive or anything.
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I know it's bad form to doublepost, but I want the update to show up on the next page, so, guess what just got updated? e: good lord I miscounted ![]() Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Dec 7, 2020 |
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Update 34: I Don’t Do Encores Spikemuth - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST ![]() ![]() Grunt A: We didn’t do it for no reason, Marnie. Spikemuth just keeps gettin’ worse and worse. And all Piers says is, “Don’t worry”… Grunt B But we figured if you was the Champion, you’d bring some attention back home, maybe get some people investin’ in the town. And we know you wanted to win your whole life. So… So we decided to disguise ourselves as Team Yell and sabotage the other challengers. Grunt A: We thought, if we could stop the other Gym Challengers from reachin’ the Gym, then Ms. Marnie would be the only one to win and make it to the Champion Cup! Grunt B: And we figured that’d increase the chances of our wonderful Ms. Marnie becomin’ the next Champion! ![]() Grunt A: No – ![]() Grunt B: No, ‘course not! ![]() Grunt B: ![]() ![]() Grunt A: But – but you beat all the Gym Leaders – ![]() Grunt B: We already know you’re the strongest Trainer in the League, Marnie! ![]() Grunt A: ![]() ![]() ![]() Grunt B: ![]() Grunt A: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Grunt A: Ms. Marnie’s scoldings last for ages… ![]() ![]() Grunt A: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Battle! (Team Yell Captain) - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST I still don’t know why they couldn’t just slap Piers’s name on this song. Is he even a member of Team Yell? ![]() I felt I had to include all of these screenshots because I love how they shot this – hell, I love this whole scene. The way Piers switches from fatalism to such a clearly fake but still imposing challenge mode right before the fight is deeply compelling. Also note he’s the only Gym Leader to get his own music. ![]() ![]() His Scrafty is legit imposing; it beats L337 unconscious without losing a third of its health bar. I take the opportunity to demonstrate something and switch out to Bruce. ![]() You can use TRs on the weirdest Pokémon sometimes. I mean, I sort of get it, but it’s definitely good old-fashioned Pokémon moon logic. Back when HMs were still a thing, Fly, the move that let you fast travel between Pokémon Centers, worked almost identically to this move in combat, just a little less powerful and a little more accurate. I mean, plenty of moves still use that turn-skip mechanic – hell, Mr. Blobby’s Phantom Force is in my party right now – but there’s something surreal about seeing my footballer rabbit use something so similar to what I used to travel to Ever Grande every time I felt like getting my rear end kicked by Wallace. ![]() ![]() He’s not kidding; it takes out Dadliest before I switch in Briggs for the assist. ![]() ![]() You can’t see it in screenshots, but the screen shakes as it roars ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() HOLY poo poo. Bruce doesn’t go down like that. This is the first time he’s ever fainted in a Trainer fight. It nearly takes down Baklava, too, before I manage to beat it down. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() … It’s kind of ironic that I hyped up Melony so much when the real challenge was one gym forward. I don’t remember Piers being this formidable when I last played Shield. I was definitely sloppy on my end, this time around. I didn’t have a single type advantage on that Skuntank, for instance, and I hadn’t gone over my party’s moves to make sure they were ready for prime time. All of that is true. It is also true that Piers cut his way through my party like a hot knife, knocking out almost as many Pokémon on my team as I did on his. You know that Piers canonically can go toe-to-toe with Raihan without using Dynamax? Skill-wise, he’s one of the best trainers in the Region. It shows; every one of his troops is tough in some fashion. I also love how he’s a genuinely likable character. He’s a nice person! He looks out for his community, he raised his sister to be an upstanding member of society, he’s true to himself and does what he loves. But… Well… He isn’t perfect, by any means. As we’ll see. Falconier111 fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Dec 8, 2020 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 19:25 |
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Honestly, I don't think I could actually play SwSh after this. This has been too fun. ![]()
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