Improvements as clear as night and day! Let's Play Pokemon Crystal

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Improvements as clear as night and day! Let's Play Pokemon Crystal

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Well, I just finished Crosspiece's Yellow LP (great job on that, by the way) and caught up to this LP at...loving Whitney. :argh:

Yes, I am among the many who got punked by a drat cow as well. Whitney's Miltank really is just a perfect storm of problems that the player will probably not be ready for, as others mentioned. It's got a very strong STAB move that was very rare in Gen 1 (the only ones who knew Stomp were Exeggutor, Ponyta and Rapidash, IIRC), a status move that can weaken everything from 1 to all 6 members of your team, a HP restoring move, and a multi-turn move that gets stronger over time. Couple that with Whitney being the first place you encounter a Miltank at all, and you have probably one of the biggest difficulty spikes in Gen 2.

I think what makes Whitney the infamous nightmare she and her Miltank have become is the comparison to generations that happens often, and at the time, Whitney's only comparison was Gen 1's third Gym Leader, Lt. Surge. His team in all Gen 1 games had a weakness that multiple Pokemon could exploit and the Pokemon that could exploit it were easy to acquire well before fighting Surge. Whitney only has that optional Machop trade mentioned earlier, and you could pass it up thinking you could easily steamroll a Normal-focused Gym because again, Normal type in Gen 1 wasn't anything to praise about. Whitney is basically one of a few times the Pokemon franchise lures you into a false sense of security and then punishes you hard for your assumption.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2016 02:08

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 01:01

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Tardigrade posted:

Are you kidding? Psychic aside, Normal is the most dominant type in Gen 1. Tauros, Chansey, Snorlax, and Persian are all top tier. Normal also has the secret "can't be paralyzed by Body Slam" ability.

I admit, I never used any of those 4 Pokemon back in Blue or Yellow (the Gen 1 games I owned). Mostly because a lot of the other Pokemon in Gen 1 were more entertaining and appealing to younger me. Plus, Tauros and Chansey were so hard to catch in the Safari Zone, I had to resort to using the Safari Zone glitch just to catch them (same goes for Kangaskhan).

# ¿ Apr 21, 2016 03:51

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Arcade Rabbit posted:

It is really cool how Nintendo never really drops their ideas, they just file them away for when they have better technology. This to the Global Trade, the Gamecube's failed 3D to the 3DS, the original Duck Hunt and similar games to the Wii, the GBA Cable to the WiiU. Its really cool looking back on things and seeing how the different ideas and concepts have evolved to work with the advancing technology.

It is indeed. There's also the Disc Drive add-on for the N64, which met a fate similar to Mobile Game Boy Adapter (not enough interest in the product in Japan led to the device being scrapped altogether). The difference between the two is that the Disc Drive had a lot of the games intended for the add-on that got abandoned completely or jumped over to other platforms (e.g., Fire Emblem 6 was intended for the Disc Drive, but ultimately was released on the GBA). Admittedly, the Disc Drive sort of led to Nintendo finally giving into the CD as a media platform, moving beyond the company's stubborn refusal to abandon the game cartridge during the N64 era and creating the Gamecube's disc format.

Haifisch posted:

I wonder how much less divisive Voltorb Flip would be if they still let you buy the damned coins. As it is, you either have to get very good at it, resign yourself to grinding coins on the low levels, or give up and use a solver to make the grind go faster(but not faster than just buying coins would be).

I liked the minigame myself, but the fun wears off fast when you have to play it over and over and over and over for the prizes.

Yeah, Voltorb Flip is not bad, but I understand why some would be angry over it. I applaud Gamefreak for coming up with a creative solution to a problem caused by PEGI/ESRB changing their rules and making the game somewhat interesting to players on the surface. But at the same time, like Crosspiece said, it carries over some of the frustration that similar games like Minesweeper are known for. For my generation who grew up with Minesweeper, it's weird but once you realize the similarities between Voltorb Flip and Minesweeper, it gets a little more fun but still is frustrating. I do agree that if you could buy coins off of an attendant like in the original Game Corner, Voltorb Flip would probably be seen as quirky instead of divisive.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2016 21:41

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Waffleman_ posted:

Now, I DO believe that deterring piracy was the reason the Gamecube used proprietary discs instead of DVDs.

This was also allegedly one of the reasons Nintendo opted to region-lock the 3DS, since the DS was one of the most pirated platforms in recent memory. The other main alleged reason was to clamp down on Japanese gamers reverse importing games because Japan has stupidly expensive prices for games compared to international prices. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, people have found ways to get around that roadblock with homebrew apps.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2016 23:11

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Onmi posted:

Unfortunately my rear end, they've probably lost more money with me than gained it since games like SRW UX that I was going to buy I just didn't bother with. I wasn't buying an entire 2nd 3DS just so I could play imports.

The unfortunately part was more directed at Nintendo's anti-piracy attempts failing, even if it took some time to break the region lock.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2016 22:08

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Crosspeice posted:

I haven't seen all too much evidence that Sun and Moon will be a new region plus Kalos, mainly because I don't want Kalos to be an empty husk so the new region has some actual content.

I feel they are gonna do something real special for the 20th anniversary in Sun and Moon and it better be the Pokemon World Tournament, featuring practically every Gym Leader, Elite Four, Champion, Rival and Protagonist in the past 20 years. Beautiful.

A special Battle Frontier building where you fight all of the Pokemon professors, with all of them using the most broken non-legendary teams possible. Yes, even Professor Elm. :getin:

# ¿ May 1, 2016 20:13

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

hopeandjoy posted:

Elm is eggs, Rowan is Evolution, Juniper is real world evolution (Pokemon origins), and Sycamore is Mega Evolution.

I think Birch is habitats and Oak is everything? I can't remember.

I don't even remember what Birch is supposed to specialize in. Like, all I remember about Birch is that Dan Green was his dub voice actor.

# ¿ May 1, 2016 21:55

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I will never understand why the fake tree Pokemon is considered a rock type and not a grass type (or even a grass/ground type).

# ¿ May 4, 2016 01:07

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

You call the bird MoHawk

# ¿ May 16, 2016 00:36

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Krabby and Kingler. A literal small crab that evolves into a slightly larger crab with a single big-rear end claw. :effort:

# ¿ Jun 4, 2016 02:41

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Spatula City posted:

Primeape is excellent in FR/LG, Heracross is the boss in most every game where you can get it by mid-game.
RSE/ORAS has Makuhita/Hariyama, who are agreeably chufty and in particular useful against Norman because they can actually take hits and not die immediately. There's also Breloom, which is fast enough to utilize the fact that it knows Spore, and got better with the physical/special split, but prior it's still decent. Blaziken is...it's good, but I hate it.
Lucario, Scrafty, Mienshao, Hawlucha, and Pangoro are eminently usable.

I've never used Poliwrath, but as it seems to be pulling its weight here, that might recommend it as well.

Poliwrath was my usual go-to water Pokemon when I ran with Bulbasaur in Gen 1. It definitely pulled its weight and is a fairly good water type option, but then again, water types have been plentiful in this franchise. I'd say what makes Poliwrath slightly more useful compared to other fighting types is that it allows you to condense team roles down to more manageable terms instead of having to spread things around, at least for me.

Also echoing the statement on Heracross. Many a battle in my Platinum runs ended with a giant stag beetle suplexing fools into the ground. :allears:

# ¿ Jun 15, 2016 22:23

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I don't think I ever used Ball Seals. They were so meh of a concept in Gen 4 that I barely noticed Gen 5 dropped them instantly until I overheard some Gen 5 changes.

Also echoing the statement on HG/SS roms being unstable. One such example: the only way I could use a HM move with the emulator making GBS threads the bed was to switch the follower Pokemon to the one with the desired HM move (i.e., if I wanted to Fly to a town, whoever had Fly in their moveset had to be following behind me), all so the start-up animation would play out properly. Slightly annoying, but at least that issue had a very easy fix.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2016 20:15

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I vote for Off!, after the bug repellent.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2016 00:47

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Solumin posted:

Lance really does make an impression:

This artist has tons of great adorable art.

I love Lance's train of thought here. "I don't care that you're a red shirt nobody. gently caress you, Hyper Beam." A very interesting way to introduce yourself to the player character, to say the least.

Re: Shiny chat: The only wild shiny I've ever caught was a shiny Houndour in Platinum. Never got one before or since.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2016 20:31

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

FoolyCharged posted:

Nah, it's gotta be Clay for cowboy goodness, or ~~Manjaw~~ Dryden for that rocking jaw shaped beard

The Unova Gym Leaders were definitely some of the more colorful ones. Drayden alone looks like a man who has tamed Dragon Pokemon simply via chokeslams or suplexes.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2016 00:34

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Blaze Dragon posted:

He doesn't just look like that, he trains his Pokemon by wrestling with them. That's right: he trains motherfucking dragons by wrestling. Not himself, them.

Drayden is the biggest badass out of all the Gym Leaders. He uses Pokemon on you as a mercy, if he fought you directly, then that's as far as your Gym challenge goes.

Oh right, I forgot that detail about Drayden. Shame we never get to see him go up against the titular dragon legendaries of Unova.

# ¿ Jul 12, 2016 06:51

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Cheez posted:

Pryce was wearing hardly anything in that sprite. In the big ice room.

Which is why I like his Gen 4 redesign a lot. Not only does it look sensible for an Ice gym, but it gives him some added character with his snappy appearance. It's a lot better than his original design, which more or less pulled from a retirement community outfit.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2016 03:05

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Waffleman_ posted:

I like how Team Rocket's final plan is to hijack the radio stations and ask senpai to notice them.

Come on, guys, radio's dead! It's all podcasts and Spotify now!

That wasn't the case back in 1998, though!

Then again, I admire their efforts to keep going after their latest plan was stopped by a guy who is willing to frag people with Hyper Beam.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2016 04:34

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Blaze Dragon posted:

Gen 4 outright puts some of its Pokemon outside its own Pokedex because gently caress you I guess (especially gently caress you if you wanted to use a Fire type)

Diamond and Pearl screwing over Fire-type distribution is even more baffling when one of the Elite Four for the Sinnoh region IS a Fire-type specialist. You'd think that'd give them some priority over other typing distributions and be more spread out. But nope, Flint gets two Onixes (Onixi?) because the only pre-National Dex Fire types are the Chimchar line and the Ponyta line. But like rannum said, GameFreak did realize they hosed things up and shuffled the 'mons around for Platinum to make things easier for people. I'd say that Platinum is probably the best showing for Houndour because it's one of the few times you can use them effectively and without needing to jump through about a million hoops to get one. I like that fire dog a lot, and it's a drat shame that it gets shafted almost all over the place.

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

Can we agree that Johto Team Rocket is the lamest team?

They at least are the most "screwed over by the game design" enemy faction in the series. Johto's level curve really hurts everything in the region, and not just the player.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2016 23:19

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Cerony posted:

Are you confusing Flint for Bruno? Flint actually has a Steelix and only one. Gamefreak's been pretty good about not giving Elite Four member multiples of one species after Gen III. Well, other than ORAS.

Yeah, I got Flint and Bruno mixed up, mostly because I played Platinum and only briefly looked at Diamond. Then again, both had similar team issues (not enough of their specialty type to work with for a full team), albeit Bruno's the more bizarre case because GameFreak could have easily given him enough Fighting types to work with (e.g., swap in Machoke and Poliwrath for those two Onixes he has). The point is that GameFreak has this weird roller coaster approach to type distribution even after 20 years of being a big name franchise, and I probably will never understand their thought process on this topic.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2016 05:12

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Silegna posted:

Avalugg (A goddamn Glacier.)

This makes some sense since there are glaciers out floating on water in the real world. So, a Pokemon that resembles a glacier being able to learn Surf is understandable.

The rest of the list, however, is a bit of a stretch. Especially Rhydon and Aggron, who have a type weakness to water, no less. What the hell, GameFreak?

# ¿ Aug 2, 2016 20:47

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Carlosologist posted:

if you pick up Sun and Moon, consider that Exeggutor is now this

I'm still trying to understand how a longer neck causes a type change from psychic to dragon. :psyduck:

# ¿ Aug 6, 2016 21:23

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

FriskyBoat posted:

People say it (kinda) resembles a dragonfruit palm? I dunno, I always liked Exeggutor and I hope that Alolan Exeggutor is actually worth using.

EDIT: Quoted wrong comment, oops.

That's a bit of stretch (pun not intended), but it's not the first time the series has done things like "kind of resembles" before, I guess.

The Ayshkerbundy posted:

I've heard that it's a pun on the scentific name of some type of palm tree

A pun would be an equally valid explanation, to be fair.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2016 22:13

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Silegna posted:

Alolan Exeggutor is actually canon. Earlier pokedex entries say when exposed to tropical sun, it's heads would grow.

Right, I do remember that little bit. Then again, I think I used Exeggutor like...once or twice in Blue and never really used it again.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2016 22:30

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Rabbi Raccoon posted:

The ghost of mama Marowak comes back with a FLAMING SKULL

I MUST HAVE IT EVEN THOUGH THAT'S PROBABLY NOT WHAT IT'S GONNA BE AND I ALMOST NEVER USE FIRE TYPES

Pretty much this.

Marowak picking up Ghost type is fitting, given its past history with Gen 1. Fire's a bit odd, but I'll take it.

Actually, I'll settle for Totally Not Ghost Rider as its form, too.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2016 00:12

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

Also, Archer sucks. Worst boss ever.

He just failed to find the Danger Zone.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2016 00:58

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I also have no idea why Defense Curl is a TM in this game. IIRC, this is the only time it is one, so...I guess we can chalk that up to the limited amount of moves available, maybe?

# ¿ Oct 4, 2016 20:20

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

mandatory lesbian posted:

the answer is they put all the moves in a hat and pulled them out to see which ones were gonna be tm's

To be honest, I'd genuinely believe that to be the case at this point.

# ¿ Oct 4, 2016 21:04

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Dusk Balls are a beautiful thing. :allears:

# ¿ Oct 10, 2016 01:57

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Ah, Karen. The beginning of the Dark type being relegated to E4 trainers and never being allowed to be its own Gym. At least I can't fault her for using Houndoom, as I opted for using it in Platinum as my go-to Fire type. Add on that Crunch, an excellent physical move, and Houndoom is worth its weight.

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

I have no idea why Koga, of all people, was chosen as an Elite Four member instead of Blue.

My only guess is that Koga put in one hell of an application to whatever governing body elects the Elite Four, and that's what got him the promotion. Or GameFreak put up the Kanto Gym Leaders on a dartboard and that's who the dart landed on.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2016 21:33

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I didn't even know there was such a thing as a Berserk Gene in this game. :stare:

# ¿ Dec 28, 2016 01:12

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Yeah, I also didn't know that Surge's Gym Gimmick^TM was tied to repairing the Power Plant's issues. That's actually clever.

Also, I hope this mysterious scientist Char doesn't try to drop an asteroid on the planet in the near future.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2017 22:46

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

rannum posted:

As lifeless as the end results are, I always did appreciate that they tried to explain why some of the areas are like they are. Cinnabar getting volcanoed is pretty cool!

Blaine being in the lone room of the seafoam islands for no reason is less so. At least make your gym in thE HEART OF THE VOLCANO

And it'd also be a nice reference to the anime where Blaine's gym was in fact inside a volcano (or at least right on top of the magma chamber).

Ah, the days when Charizard had access to Seismic Toss.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2017 21:25

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

rannum posted:

Incidentally, I suggest everyone read up on the scrapped script of the third movie because wow http://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/movies/pm_lord_unknown_tower_entei/lord_unknown_tower_entei_mythical_third_movie.html

What the gently caress. :stare:

# ¿ Apr 11, 2017 03:17

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

Can't wait to see the reactions of people who never saw that event before.

As one of those people, I am conflicted. On the one hand, I can't help but laugh at GameFreak for not quality checking to make sure people could even do the event without resorting to cheat codes.

On the other hand, just how many illegal substances went into that cutscene's development? :psyduck:

# ¿ Apr 15, 2017 04:18

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Yorkshire Tea posted:

Garchomp

The poo poo it can do this gen is absolutely stupid.

Seconding this vote for the gloriously busted landshark dragon, Garchomp.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2017 20:32

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Garchomp and Scizor.

# ¿ Apr 21, 2017 20:31

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 01:01

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Thanks for all your hard work. I never played Pokemon Conquest, so a LP of that would be very interesting.

# ¿ May 10, 2017 21:24

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